[prp] this is not a terrible idea (lady & julian)

[cibarium]

"Hey, Nerys."

Julian generally made more pop culture references the more he liked someone, so naturally Lady had heard many, and he was always willing to drop whatever they'd been doing and put on the TV show or movie at least explain the reference, especially when it was to something that happened after 2007. This particular one was from a good decade or two before that, though. Nerys was the name of a character from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and one day Julian called Lady that on a whim. It was because she reminded him of the character a little bit sometimes.

He didn't have a shift at Equinox today, and so opted to kill some time helping Lady out with some chores. This was a win for both of them, since he promised to show her Shadow the Hedgehog now that he'd finally picked up a new GameCube from a used games store. In the present, though, he was calling over to her during a small break from tending to the various needs of the chickens. "You mind talking about Noble s**t?"

shibrgane

sure i'll do your homework

 

[shibrogane]

"Ezra's a jerk and I don't like him and I don't care if he feels sad about it, I'm lots sadder," was Lady's first response, and then she actually processed the question. She straightened up. "I mean, I can. Some stuff's private but I'll try not to be mysterious about it."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Julian jerked in surprise, but his outward mood didn't change at all when Lady's reply started with Ezra and kept going with Ezra. Ezra was an unpleasant topic by all accounts; in addition, Lady was still a teenager who deserved more patience than adults did; in further addition, Lady had been trapped in magic purgatory for nearly a decade and that was probably traumatizing. Lastly, she very well may have been right about who was sadder about s**t. ******** if he knew.

His brow scrunched a bit as he formulated his first thoughts now that he was clear to speak them. "I got some of the story on what a Noble is from this guy with plants all over him, who I astrally projected to in my sleep," he begun, visibly still annoyed the dream projection part was a thing he could experience now. He had a dreamself now and it was some Homestuck bullshit. "He didn't do a very good job, because he was high."

Lady was 17. That was old enough to know that when people said or did dumb s**t, sometimes it was because they were high.

"I get the awesome magic power at great personal cost bit... so what I'm trying to figure out is, exactly how much is the Court like high school?"

shibroane

 

[shibrogane]

"I don't remember getting beaten in high school," said Lady, but she was much less strident now. She settled down on her butt in the crispy brown winter-grass and gathered Valiant into her lap. "When I was with the Spinel Lady, she created limits for the othercreatures. She restricted their ability to interface with this world. She said it was to protect them from us. From humans, I mean."

She ran her fingertips over Valiant's soft feathers. "She didn't interact with Adoelle or Ezra much at all."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Nobles can do s**t like that?" Color Julian shocked, visibly even. "I know you're all supposed to have all this influence in the Negaverse and s**t, but that sounds kind of direct."

He uncrossed his arms as Ophelia, the lavender member of the flock he'd named, approached him so she could continue pecking purposefully at the ground near someone she liked. "Since being part of the ruling class always means getting ******** kidnapped, I guess they can't all be winners." Lady's tone suggested the Spinel Lady had made a huge douche move, and he was inclined to agree. "Present company excluded."

shibogane

 

[shibrogane]

"That's what they're supposed to do," said Lady. "You don't have to get kidnapped, though. Sometimes people choose to go. That's what I heard, anyway."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Lemme guess, that still gets to suck in some way." He really wanted to joke about being sent on fetch quests to prove himself, but figured Lady had gotten enough witty bullshit for one day.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"It depends on who mentors you, I guess," said Lady. "Ezra wasn't so bad compared to the Spinel Lady. She had to have my teeth regrown, sometimes..." She looked down at her chicken. She looked up at Julian. "You don't want to become a noble, do you?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"I don't know. It's not something I'd run off and do for shits and giggles," Julian frankly answered. "That would be taking a big s**t on everything you've gone through." He was sickened beyond belief by the anecdotes, but made an effort not to show it, since that could just make such things harder to talk about, and being able to talk about this s**t was important.

"I asked Eve about going moonwalker some time ago. She told me it probably wasn't a good idea because of what it does with her legs, and she was right. I didn't really want to do it anyhow, and we both knew that was why I asked. It still made me feel like s**t." He took a hit from his vape pen, fully aware the vape pen made him look like a douchebag. "Magic isn't ever going to be able to improve my life, but I have to deal with being magic anyway."

Sometimes Julian needed to talk about things too.

shibrgane

 

[shibrogane]

Lady frowned down at Valiant. Valiant sat quietly in her lap until she set him on her shoulder so she could get up to pace. "I don't think it's supposed to improve your life," she said. "I think it's supposed to be a responsibility. Which is why I'm ignoring it, mostly." She walked in a wide circle around the yard, barefoot even in the February cold. "I mean, what would you even be looking for? Because all you really have to do to be a noble is kill your fetch, or beat your fetch so badly that they knuckle under."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"What's a fetch?" asked Julian, scowling from the sudden confusion.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"A corpse that can shape-shift. It's why nobody noticed I was gone. It pretended to be me so well that nobody ever wondered."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Julian's Cool Grown-Up Facade was crumbling faster by the second.

"And... what happens if you don't kill the fetch or beat it half to death?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Then you become a fetch," said Lady. "And it takes your life. And you have to steal lives, and try to kill them or beat them half to death."

She said, "I guess it's like high school if you mean Battle Royale high school. Survival of the fittest."

Lady was quiet for a long moment.

"I wouldn't have survived if my brother hadn't been there."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Good he was around, then," remarked Julian. "Want to go to Sonic?"

shibrogane