homeless_pard | We'll just see about this...

Entry tags:

jason au

We'll just see about this...

Who: Requiem and Jason
When: A day after the shopping trip? (long enough to set lights and get planters planted)
What: Trying to piece together just what the hell is going on here.

He was still braiding his hair when he stepped into the donor quarters. Sure, it was easier to just go to the club, but he wasn't always in the mood for the lights and noise, hence seeing if any of the donors were still available and willing...

...the donor quarters were always slightly brighter than other areas because the most common occupants were not vampires (not that the Circus was ill lit by any means) but it seemed even brighter than normal. Perhaps one of his meals yesterday had been high? It would explain the mild headache and sensitivity to light today? And would explain why he was loathe to go to the club. He was never at his best when post-drugging.

He tied off his braid with a leather thong then nodded, pulling his hood up. It was a 'necessary part of his character' the cape, and comforting besides, fewer people dicked around when it came to donating when he was caped. Something about the mystery and darkness inherent made them bend their necks to him easier.

Appearances. Feh.

He finally glanced around then blinked, those were...grow lights? Not sun lights, they didn't hurt, they were just bright. And plant troughs had been added, he could smell the damp earth and the tease of herbal scents just under the smell of bee balm blossoms. Well, that was new, he wasn't certain who had decided the donors needed such but he certainly wasn't going to complain?

He was half way to the planters, curious about what had been seeded, before he spotted the man on the couch. What was Jean Claude's pomme doing here? Their Master would have said if the man had fallen out of favor, and yet these were the general quarters. "...Jason?" Perhaps he'd brought a lover and fallen asleep waiting while said lover recovered in a room?

It seemed the most plausible answer honestly.

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"Ah...you...did not intend to hold to your word about the Hunter?" she winced.

"...what did I miss?" Requiem asked, poking his head back in and looking between the two.

"My...word?" Jason was wracking his brain. "About not taking the hunter's side? I meant it, if that's what you mean."

He turned desperate eyes to Requiem. "Oaths?"

"Aye, that you will not...switch side carelessly? That you will at least try to weigh that I have done no wrong here?" her hands were shaking so she settled them in her lap?

"...you promised something?" he blinked.

Oh shit. She's back to shaking because of something he said. He held up his hands placatingly. "No, I'm not switching sides. You've given me no reason at all to think you'd deserve being hunted down. I just...the whole 'witnessed' thing was nothing I'd ever heard before. But if you mean a promise, then yeah, I'm willing to make it a promise."

He offered her a small smile. "Plus, I already promised I wasn't going to let any one hurt you, right?"

He eyed Requiem for a moment and gave a faint shrug.

"Witnessed?" he blinked. "Ah, it's...old. Very old. It means you have said something truly important to the one you're talking to, something they underscore the importance of so you don't casually forget it." To the best he could explain?

The terror was a little obvious, and it was something to think about honestly.

"...aye. Aye you did, I'm sorry to offend you..."

Jason was watching the two warily. "I'm not offended, Khemrys," he said slowly. "Just confused. We both have some cultural learning curves to deal with, it's fine."

He did offer a smile. "I won't forget. Ok?"

He was going to have to ask Requiem more about this when Khemrys wasn't around to start shaking in panic again.

"...aye....yes. Yes we do." She at least was picking up on the fact people here said yes more than Aye? Still. Still, she had apparently said summat strange enough to startle him. "Thank you."

"I'll take Jason now," Requiem noted gently. "We'll be back before dawn."

Jason nodded to Requiem and gave her another smile. "Basics, root vegetables, meat."

Then he turned and followed Requiem out of the room. He didn't offer any conversation until they were already sitting in the car.

"Ok, I know you have something to say about that back there. What was that 'witnessed' stuff?"

Requiem settled easily in the passenger seat, tucking the cape expertly and buckling in, "it means you said something important, Jason. Deeply important. It means eve should it come out that she isn't as she says, you have promised to be on her side. To the degree that you will help her fight clear and free, eve should you die doing so."

Jason blinked. "All of that?"

He took a moment, then started the car and pulled out of the lot. He drove for a few minutes, lost in thought.

"I do believe her. She was afraid that if we met that hunter he'd find some way of charming us into turning against her, and was asking that we just remember that she hasn't hurt anyone..."

He sighed. "I mean, come on, Requiem: I'm sure you've been on that side of things from humans before. I know I have. She was scared and I told her I wouldn't just switch sides like that."

"Jason," he sighed. "She ran for years in her story. You are the FIRST to say you are on her side. That is far more than a passing comment." Obviously.

"You're lucky this oath doesn't interfere with your bond to Jean Claude. Not that she can enforce such, but the expectations can get complicated." That he was aware of anyway! "How much of your attention is...genuine?"

Jason frowned, keeping his eyes on the road. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Jason, this won't get you into her bed." Just to be clear. "In the manner you wish."

Jason let out a slow, half growled breath. "I'm not trying to get her into bed. Don't get me wrong, she's gorgeous and I like her, but she's been on the run for years and now in some strange world and was fucking terrified when I found her."

He sighed, shaking his head. "I'm trying really hard to just be helpful and to ignore how hot she is."

It's not an easy thing to ignore.

"So, factoring that you consider your attentions genuine?" he noted simply. "What do you intend for her then? Is she to become a donor that lives in the Circus?"

Jason's nose crinkled in near disgust. "I don't know, Requiem! She's been here, what, two days? What is she supposed to do, go get an apartment? With her steady job and bank account? That she has with what, a fucking green card from the gate to Strange Medieval Land? I think everyone is going to be going off book with this."

He sighed. "I don't know what to do. She needed clothes so I took her to get what she's comfortable with. She wants something to do to be useful, I took her to get her plants and stuff. I'm going to get some food to stock the fridge because she suggested to Jean Claude that she cook for some of the donors...shit, don't let me forget to look for a 24-hour grocery store on the way back."

"You're taken on a patron role, Jason. You have to think about these things, and keep thinking about these things because she will run things through you." If she stayed. She wouldn't know to do otherwise.

"A store," he chuckled. "Do you cook, Jason? Do you have any idea what to buy?" Just...a question. He didn't know if Jason cooked at all!

He looked slightly miserable as he drove. He liked the idea of seeing her as much as possible, but these archaic roles and oaths were a bit much for him.

"No, I don't cook," he snipped half-heartedly. "She said basics. And root vegetables. And meat. I figured I'd grab things I recognized and text Nat when I can't think of anything else."

Or the minute he gets through the door.

"I can help identify basics," he chuckled softly, ignoring the snippiness. "She will adjust, if she stays, but initially you will have a large influence on her. More than a High Lord, there are meant to be layers between such lofty positions and such as she." So to speak.

Jason frowned again. "What do you mean, 'such as she'? What the fuck; she does that, too. Always 'not meant for one such as me' or 'I'm odd-looking' or 'I don't deserve any happiness because for some reason I can't see how drop-dead gorgeous I am because I grew up around a bunch of blonde bimbos."

Yeah, he might sound a little hot.
And embellishing.

"....a stillmistress," he noted simply. "Unless they are wed to a high lord and dabble, generally Still workers are considered necessary but lower ranking people in a keep." That was what he meant?

"I don't know if she was raised to wed higher, but from what you say she's likely to a bastard, and one with foreign blood in the area."

His eye was beginning to twitch. "I don't understand your time, Requiem. Or whatever her world's is like. I don't get it and I don't like it; being shitty to someone because of who their parents were? I mean, people still do that, but it's...not like that."

He collected himself quietly for a moment. "I don't want to find that gate. She was so scared when she thought Jean Claude was going to send her away or make her try to find her way back to her world. They want her dead there. Can you honestly not smell any of that from her?"

"Station is usually blood aligned, no matter the century, Jason." Truth, sadly. "It may shift some on merit, but it still holds. What did your parents expect for you after all?" Was this it? He seemed to come of decent breeding...

"I can. Terror is easy to instill though, which is why I HAVE to check it Jason."

He didn't respond right away; that cut a lot deeper than he thought it would. It took awhile for him to work his way through those feelings. When he answered, his voice was soft but vaguely bitter. "Clearly not this or they'd be speaking to me, wouldn't they."

"Obviously they're idiots," he noted simply. One grew used to such tales in their circles. "But let me guess, decent life, high hopes, money for school? Bloodlines, Jason, intended to set you in good standing." Just like in olden times.

That and 'lower' families hard a hard time abandoning their children for life choices, barring terrible circumstance.

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