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[rathercommon]

crystal | letter | cease and desist notices slipped under her door | action

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[rathercommon]

Really.

[ Kitty's voice immediately goes dry. ]

What did he say?

[champions]

( Lightly, )

He said that we would probably hate each other, but that as we believe ourselves entitled to answers and information, it might be something to bond over.

( Her tone remains jovial. ) I thought we might form an alliance for a sort of... gentle revenge for his rudeness, if an opportunity presents itself.

( Or if she makes an opportunity happen. ) Or we can at least publicly feign being friends to make him uneasy.

[rathercommon]

Wait -

[ Frowning - ]

Why would we hate each other? According to him.

[champions]

You know, I didn't ask. ( Conspiratorially, ) Generally speaking, when people dislike me it's because I am Antivan or a mage or wealthy or because of my wonderful taste in wine and fashion. I have heard it said that I am whimsical and aggravating, but usually it is my cousins saying these things, so I imagine by normal standards I'm a very reasonable person.

Take your pick. I still think it would be funny to bamboozle Kostos.

[rathercommon]

Erm - yes, I'm in. [ But, because she can't ever contain her curiosity - ] Sorry if this is impertinent - I expect it might be, but I don't want to offend, and we'll get back to wrecking Kostos' day in a moment. But - I thought mages weren't allowed to be wealthy. I thought they had everything taken away from them.

[champions]

We did. When I was discovered to be a mage, I was forcibly removed from my family, and sent to the Circle in Rialto.

( The sound of a match, a pause, and a breath. Cigarillo, lit. )

But the Circles are fallen, the war is on hold, if not over, and during a delegation to negotiate how phylacteries were to be handled earlier this year, it was determined that mages would be entitled to the same legal rights as any others. Including inheriting their wealth and responsibility from their families.

( A pause, fond. ) And even if it had not, I am still a Vivas. My family have been determined to ensure I was still one of them.

( When she continues, it is a little wryly: ) I don't suppose you have any traumatic life events that you would like to discuss? Fair is fair.

[rathercommon]

[ Taken aback - ] What? Erm - no. Thank you. I'm all right.

[ Which...maybe that's rude. She'd sounded like she'd been requesting one. But - how on earth could she answer that question, honestly? So, instead, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear - ] So then Kostos - He's from a fine family, too, isn't he? He and Nikos both? So - does that mean Kostos is going to be taking over Nikos' inheritance? They seem to be at one another's throats so often - is that why?

[champions]

( Not the smoothest recovery, Kitty. On her side of the crystals, Marisol smiles. )

Nikos and Kostos' business is theirs to discuss and to share as they see fit, but I think if that is your assessment, you are severely underestimating both of them, and their character.

[rathercommon]

[ With a shrug - ]

Even decent people of strong character can go a little bit mad when family and money end up mixing. Had a neighbour who killed his brother over inheritance. Didn't even need the money - he was perfectly fine on his own - but the world teaches you to believe that a person's value is in their wealth, and so plenty of people think that inheritance means love.

[champions]

You don't know them at all, do you? ( Especially not Nikos. ) That's your loss. They are good men, though they do their utmost to convince people otherwise.

( With a quiet laugh, ) They are both far better people than me, just don't ever tell them that you know they're decent. They'd be horrified.

[rathercommon]

I don't think I've said a single thing to either of them that hasn't horrified them. Or, well - [ A shrug - ] Annoyed them, at least. But I don't think they're bad; I just know that people can be - complicated.

[champions]

Start talking to them about flamingoes if you really want to see them sigh the sigh of the long-suffering.

[rathercommon]

Flamingoes?

[champions]

I have some as pets. The boys pretend to hate them.

[rathercommon]

Don't they make dreadful pets?

[champions]

They are a joy. If they were in the house— yes, they would be terrible.

[rathercommon]

So as long as you don't have to deal with them, they're good?

[champions]

Oh, no. I love spending time with them. I just don't want their waste, shall we say, in the house. Flamingoes are not so easy to house train.

[rathercommon]

Mm. Well, I'd like a bit more out of them than simply sighing.

[champions]

Sighing? Are flamingoes famous for that in your world?

[rathercommon]

Nikos and Kostos.

[champions]

They do sigh more than most people, but it has so much feeling. Disgust, often, sometimes other things.

satinalia, because like hell im wasting flint in skeleton makeup;

[katabasis]

The sailors, all streaked with their paint and tar and canvas, aren't long for the Gallows' courtyard. Once they've secured their haul of wine casks and assorted bottles (nevermind whatever else the vanguard had managed to strip or steal from either the tables or those in attendance), off goes the dock cart with its host of howling and snarling men. They disappear into bitter cold night, their captain all in black with them.

For a time anyway. Flint must return to the island fortress almost directly after he's seen his men returned to the Walrus because it's still early in the evening, the festivities in the courtyard yet to reach their fever pitch, as they cross paths on some narrow back stairwell as Kitty's going up and he's coming down them. The death's head mask is gone and he's washed his face, though there are traces of black still about his eyes and some tar streak like a gash on his neck.

He pauses on the the landing when he sees her. The letter he carries in hand is tucked inside his coat as he resumes his descent.

"Miss Jones. Not turning in so early, I hope."

god he's such a loser and I love him so much

[rathercommon]

The charms of the Satinalia party had worn thin rather quickly for Kitty. The problem was that it was just so transparent - the whole thing clearly invented to provide an outlet for the frustrations of the oppressed, providing a mockery of social change in order to suppress any possibility of real change. They make the fool into a king, upturn the social order, and in doing so make it into a joke. They give the common folk a sanitized version of power - the power to break the rules, to drink and eat and dance - and pretend that it's a pointless joke so that they never actually crave it. And they provide an outlet for the common folk's frustrations - it's all right if you're feeling powerless now, it's only two months to Satinalia, and then you'll get yours! Social control through playacting at freedom.

She had been down there to see the pirates' raid, though. She'd recognized Captain Vane, and had seen someone who looked like Captain Flint, but surely, she'd thought, it had been her mistake - But there's still greasepaint on his neck and a little smudge clinging to the side of his nose and so in spite of her bad mood she can't help but stop and gape a bit.

"Captain Flint," she greets in return. A moment as she contemplates how to ask this question diplomatically, and then she decides to simply be blunt - "That really was you out there? With the - " Stupidity isn't quite the best word, and so she simply waves a hand in a vague gesture like a cart rolling across a cobbled courtyard.

wow excuse you he's clearly super cool

[katabasis]

He continues down the stairs to meet her, the upright nature of his step transformed into some thoughtless swagger by the loosened line of his shoulder. "Was it?"

For a moment, it seems like he might simply brush past her in the narrow stairwell - 'Hello and goodbye, Miss Jones'. Instead, he pauses just there on the stair above her, close to the wall should she have somewhere pressing to be. Even if he'd scrubbed clean every trace of tar and grease, the dark shirt he's wearing with it's macabre embroidery of pale skeletons about the collar is telltale enough.

"I take it you've had your fill of dancing."