We'll just see about this...

[homeless_pard]

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.

Comments

[homeless_pard]

"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?"

[jasonpschuyler]

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."

[homeless_pard]

"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!

[jasonpschuyler]

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.

[homeless_pard]

"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.

[jasonpschuyler]

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.

[homeless_pard]

"....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."

[jasonpschuyler]

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?"

[homeless_pard]

"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."

[jasonpschuyler]

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."

[homeless_pard]

"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.

[jasonpschuyler]

Or he was just the idiot. He knew he had done a lot of stupid shit...

"The point is, I'm doing what I can. I have options, even if I don't like a lot of them. She has no options in her world. Even just trying to be a stillmistress, she's got her head...dame-lady putting a hit out on her. Why, because she's different? I just...I can't. It's wrong."

He shook his head. "It's no different to me than all of us pushed out of our families for being 'monsters'."

[homeless_pard]

"It wasn't just because she was different," he noted simply. "And yes, it's wrong. It was wrong then, it's wrong now, and she fled, as many have fled in the past. The rest will take time, because this is at once a larger, and a smaller, world than hers was. Getting angry and upset won't change that."

But still, "oaths are also reassuring though. Something concrete in a world of shifting sand, so there's that."

[jasonpschuyler]

Jason nodded almost sadly, staring ahead at the road for awhile. "I don't want to make some mistake and give some oath without knowing it. Especially if it ends up making trouble for Jean Claude. I'm just...trying to help."

His voice trailed off slightly at that. He was, and the conversation was really driving it home to him that he could be helpful, but being anything more wasn't going to happen with a girl like Khemrys. Not if he was going to keep her from being hurt in this world.

[homeless_pard]

"Saying witnessed bothered you though? Was it the formality or has no one registered your promises before?"

Ah, yes, he could practically hear Jason thinking properly. Good. If this was legit it was going to be delicate. "I'll quiz her on her medical knowledge later. Perhaps she could be a doctor in the shifter community?"

[jasonpschuyler]

"I said I meant it," he snipped again. "It just threw me: she did it a couple of time where she'd say 'witnessed' and the air around me went all funny. It was...weird."

He gave a shrug. "She'd probably like that: she was pretty mad at finding that poison stuff at the tea shop. But if she could figure out things that work with our metabolism, I know I wouldn't say no to a good pain reliever. Or someone who can help with stitches so we don't have to cut the damned scars out. She already does a little bit of everything it seems."

[homeless_pard]

"Air went funny?" he blinked, shifting his attention to Jason entirely. That needed explaining yes.

"And of course. There weren't others to do such things in older times unless you were rich. Everyone had to do a little of everything, especially women, as fewer men were willing to also learn domestic work such as cooking and clothing making."

[jasonpschuyler]

He nodded. "Like everything stopped for a split second, even the air. It was...weird."

Wait, was it really weird? Requiem suddenly sounded like that was something odd as well.

He shrugged. "I don't know if these days it's so much 'unwilling' as 'unnecessary' to know all that. I'm a shit cook, but I don't need to know how to cook. I can order in or get something to heat up. But I wouldn't ever ask someone to wait on me like the old housewife routine."

[homeless_pard]

"Old housewives didn't wait on their husbands," he chuckled softly. "They worked endlessly just like their husbands did in most cases. In ideal homes. Like now there are imbalances, and abuses by either, but in most...there was less 'waiting on' below blue blood levels and more 'the person you still want anything to do with when exhausted every day'." Just to set that right.

"Weird," he mused, considering that. "I'll have to witness that. Perhaps she's a witch."

[jasonpschuyler]

Jason's idea of "old-fashioned" was definitely more along the lines of 1950's housewife. Complete with absentee father and mother barely hiding her drinking.

He frowned. "Like...a witch witch?" That made him a little uneasy, but he hadn't had pleasant experiences with witches in the past.

[homeless_pard]

That was an adorable idea wasn't it? 1950's being 'medieval'. Feh.

"Perhaps. Binding you to your word." It was possible.

[jasonpschuyler]

The frown deepened. "She doesn't seem like she'd do that, though...not on purpose? She seemed just as confused as I was when I asked her about it."

Right?

[homeless_pard]

"Yes, hence I should pay attention," he sighed. "It may be a commonality in her world." If she was from another world.

"It's also possible it's a compulsion laid on her." If she was an infiltrator.

[jasonpschuyler]

He shook his head, pulling off the highway towards the park. "Your paranoia is fucking contagious, Requiem. Barely in the car twenty minutes and you have me second guessing everything."

Even in the dark he was able to remember the turns. He didn't come to this park often, but often enough to know his favorite spots. Thankfully there were no gates, but it still was supposed to be a day-use only park. He pulled into one of the parking lots and parked as tucked away as he could make his car.

"Ok, let's start walking."

[homeless_pard]

"My job," he pointed out, again. Why did this continue to shock people? Security was slightly important in this world. Especially when establishing an independent kiss.

Walking at night was at least pleasant? "The triumvirate is delicate and cannot be depended on for long term protection."