2018-09-27: A Normal Life

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<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia Seren wants some closure with her parents but isn't nearly brave enough to just drop in on her own. She has asked a small cadre of PALS to come along with her... or if you wish to be technical, one pal, one kind of weird role model beastman type, and her mother. But hey! Lydia was pals with Riesenlied before she adopted herself into Riesenlied's family and she thinks White Knight Leo is pretty cool so that's kind of like being a pal! It works!

Lydia Seren is wearing baskar leathers, star patterned gloves,a star patterned /shirt/, and ... huh her pants don't have stars on them. That's weird. And black boots. This is pretty much the outfit Lydia LEFT town in.

Lydia's parents live in a modest home (by Baskar standards) carved into the rockside in a relatively prominent location, Light from a fire pot flickers through the window, providing some warmth to the abode. Notches have been carved into the side of one of the walls with numbers next to them, ending at '12'. Rather than a wooden door, a cloth covers the entrance and similarly keeps heat in.

"Well this is the place," Lydia says. "Exciting huh? Can't see why anybody would want to travel the world with this kinda atmosphere right?" Lydia laughs nervously, fidgeting with her gloves.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied, mother to all.

Well, not to Mother, one supposes, and a whole lot of other people who don't particularly view her in positive light at that. She drapes herself a little closer around her shawl, glancing around the Colony as she sucks her breath in. It feels a bit awkward to be here again, but she remembers well her meeting with Halle and...

... well, how charmingly positive that turned out to be.

"We'll be with you, Lydie," she expresses softly and gives her a gentle hug.

... meanwhile, there might be a little Lord of Calamity lurking about who's heard of Lydia's decision, but she hasn't shown herself yet. Maybe stuffed herself in a tiptoe-ing barrel or something.

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

Now that he's stranded on Filgaia again, with the Guard once again scattered, and Mother awake, Leo has more important things to do than attend to a family reunion. He's is framing this, in his head, as a young woman in need of moral guidance and support during a difficult time. It's especially easy because Lydia is a young Beastwoman, even if her attitude and beliefs are different from his sister's, growing up. He's done everything he can so far to pursue the handful of leads he has. He can afford to do this.

This doesn't make Baskar Colony any less... disappointing. Leo follows after Lydia, wearing a repaired, refurbished uniform--it definitely sticks out from all the locals, who're mostly wearing earthtones or colorful homespun. He stops just behind Lydia, inspecting the house before him and remembering a farmhouse on the outskirts of Raculi. "Quaint," Leo says. "And it looks like someone's home." He glances through the window, at the firepot, and allowing Riesenlied to have her moment with Lydia. He hasn't said much to her.

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

Prissa is wearing her normal clothes, sans most of the heavy iron - while she has the sword belt with the shamshir stuck into it, the majority of her crap is securely jugged up at the KinCara. She didn't want to be weird, or to overshadow things.

She looks up and around as they approach the place, and has, for the most part, been silent. "Well," she answers Lydia in a thoughtful drawl, "I think it looks pretty good. I understand how you could get sick of it. But I have heard far worse."

She whistles a tune that has a weird sort of osccilatory note in it for a few bars, half-indifferently.

To Leo, Prissa says, after she hears 'quaint,' "May I ask you a question, Mr. White Knight?"

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

"Hm?" says Leo, turning to Prissa.

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

"You know the Ronso Fangs?" is Prissa's question.

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

"The what?" says Leo.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Yeah I'm just kinda shittin' on myself," Lydia agrees. A long time ago she was dazzled by stories of the wasteland, the lights of the SEED cities, but she has much fonder memories of this place now. Not this particular house, though Lydia's eyes do slant towards those notch marks. She gives Prissa a brief confused look but mom-hugs can help. At least in this case. "Sorry to make you do this," Lydia murmurs to Riesenlied. She suspects that Prissa won't be getting any heat but Riesenlied probably will be taking a great deal of heat and Leo? Uh...she has no idea.

Lydia raps her fist against the side of the 'door' frame. "Heeeey." She says. "It's Lydia. I'm..." Pause. "Here."

She steps through the curtain and into the home proper.

This leads directly into a kitchen area where a green haired middle aged woman is scrubbing away at some dishes. Stairs lead to an upper area that is presently closed off and a middle aged man wearing glasses is snoozing nearby in a chair.

The woman turns around and says, "Look who finally decided to visit. Sagi, wake up." 'Sagi' does not wake up and she doesn't move to wake him just yet. "I know you have been in town but you haven't been visiting. I guess you don't care about your parents anymore, mm?"

Lydia grimaces but before she can get a word in edgewise.

"And by the Guardians, what have you done to your face?"

'Sagi' stirs awake. "Mm? Lyra?"

"Rand..." Lydia's mother begins. "Lydia's back."

Sagi blinks a few times and turns to look. He doesn't seem to have the best eyesight. "Ah." He says.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

There's a softly bashful and worried look towards Leo, but Riesenlied nods quietly even if he hasn't said much -- she's at least requested that they be present and supportive for Lydia and is glad the White Knight agreed to do so--

She glances to Prissa. "...??" Her horns wiggle for a moment.

She's distracted by Lydia as she blinks towards the two, but bites her lip and has a soft little smile. ... from what Lydia's told her about her parents, it's... going to be pretty awkward for her as well, given how enormously covered in scales she's become, not to mention her horns.

"Hello... good afternoon," she bows.

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

Leo holds the curtain aside with one hand, bowing his head a little so his horn doesn't scrape the top of the archway. It's... plain, inside, but homey. Leo steps into the kitchen, and takes up position behind Lydia, his back straight and his bearing serious. He doesn't so much as flinch as Lydia's mother(?) chides her for not visiting. "Good afternoon," Leo says.

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

And so comes the home coming.

Prissa steps forwards, hands folded behind herself. She leaves aside the dark question of Leo's origins for now in order to render a deep bow to Sagi and Rand alike. "Good evening," she says, letting her accent thicken. "I bring you greetings from what you would call 'your moon.'"

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia exhales faintly, just wethering this for the moment without saying a word.

Lyra is startled by Leo. Riesenlied, she knows of, and she smiles at Riesenlied and it might even come across as genuine if Riesenlied hadn't seen Lydia give fake smiles like this all along. "Well if it isn't Granny Halle's guest! I heard from Carol that our daughter was hanging around you. I believed it immediately, 'That's so much like our little troublemaker here'. That's what I thought."

Lydia's fingers curl inward slightly. She is glancing a little far off in a corner where a simple toolbox in laying, untouched.

"It must have been so hard to leave your people behind." Lyra continues. "Not like Lydia here--"

Lydia hisses, "It wasn't easy," under her breath.

"Don't mumble," Lyra says.

Lydia looks up sharply. Sagi in the meanwhile has started hobbling closer and looks at Riesenlied, then over to Leo. "Lydia what did I say about bringing your 'beastman' friends over? They make your mother uncomfortable--"

Lydia's fist closes tight. Then she lets out a long breath and she says, "You guys done?" Again it is kind of quiet and under her breath. She has anticipated this reaction from her parents, more or less but...

"Huh?" Lyra asks. "The moon?" They seem more confused than hateful. "Is this some kind of joke?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied... looks more than just a bit awkward for a moment, bowing her head gently. She lowers her head, not even really needing the Dragon's Tear to know when someone's giving her a fake smile. It's more than just that, really, the way the body language comes across...

"She hasn't been any trouble at all," Riesenlied expresses. "Lydia's been very sweet around our community, and she's done a lot of great work to help the homeless and those who need."

She cringes a little as Lyra continues with Lydia, and she doesn't exactly have... much of an in without being belligerent, really.

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

"The Ronso and I are both from the Moon," Prissa continues, folding her arms before herself loosely. She sways back and forth a little but this seems to have no real direct connection to things, although her purse-lipped poker face is definitely proof she is not in the 'happy' or 'artistically enthused' zone.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia perks up when Leo speaks up. "Y-yeah, I brought Leo here because you always told me that beastmen couldn't have happy lives." She is less certain about whether she 'cares' about them, which is kind of a shocking revelation in this moment. She gives Leo a kind of hilarious slackjawed look for a moment before looking down and thoughtful. "Couldn't be successful. But Leo is one of the biggest dudes on Lunar! And he's not even the only one. Beastmen have been honored throughout their history."

"The--" Sagi pauses, looking over to Prissa for a moment, and then back to Lydia. "The Ronso may be honored on the moon, but that doesn't change that your mother doesn't care for it."

Lydia runs her hand down her face in frustration.

Lyra misconstrues Leo, "Do you worship Althena now? Is this how you wish to spend your time with us?"

"No!" Lydia says. "Though I'm gonna say that the Guard has never treated me like shit because I have /horns/!"

"This is why I can't talk about this," Lyra murmurs to Sagi. "She always gets upset over nothing."

"Over nothing!" Lydia shouts. "You tried to make me to /hacksaw/ off my own horns!" Tears are in her eyes threatening to spill out.

"We didn't /make/ you do anything. Your life is your own, Lydia." Sagi says. "We just asked you to."

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

If /this/ is what Lydia had to deal with since childhood, then Leo would be surprised if she /didn't/ run away. The Beastman looks down as the older Baskar couple explains themselves while simultaneously failing to explain themselves. "No,"Leo says, "your daughter serves your Guardians, who, I might add, entrusted her with the fate of your world." The heat is building in his voice. Every word Lyra says makes it worse. "Oh. /I/ see. You simply /asked/ your daughter to mutilate herself, didn't you?"

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

There's a really uncomfortable silence that -- well, is more than uncomfortable for Riesenlied at that revelation, really. She tries to speak, but no particular words come out. 'Over nothing'. It--

She places a hand to Lydia as she begins tearing up--

--then the cloth cover to the entrance doorway flips.

A 13-year old steps through; she's pretty diminuitive, possessing grey hair and eyes and a lanky and wirey build. She's got a vest and shirt on underneath, and slacks and a belt that looks like it belongs to an adult that's been looped over several times.

It's Janey!

"Hey," she calls out, much to Riesenlied's surprise. "J-Janey--? Why are you--"

"Sorry, mama. I heard Lydie was gonna go talk to her olds, and I got worried," she puts her hands in her pockets. "I just wanted to snoop and be nosy, really, but..."

She pauses, hunching over for a moment, but steps over the threshold as she looks at Sagi and Lyra. "'sup? My name's Janey, but that's just a name I picked up when I was nine 'cause I read a bunch of Calamity Jane stories and thought she was the raddest 'cause she never took crap from anyone."

She puts a hand to her forehead. "So, lemme introduce meself as Muse to you. That's m'real name, that's the name my parents gave me."

Muse tilts her head and says, "'least, before they gave up on me. Do I look human to you? Well, I'm a mouse beastkid -- used to have big, floppy mouse ears and a rat tail." She leans over and parts her hair--

--where there's two giant scars with stitching over her the top of her scalp.

"Before a Granas-obsessed lady runnin' the Little Twister orphanage I got unlucky enough to get dumped into thought I was a spawn of Valmar, so she snipped m'ears and tail off. Snip snip snip, just like that."

Muse's expression tenses grimly as she says, "Ma'am, sir, I don't know ya, but d'you think that's what's best for your daughter? Y'might be sayin' to yourself, 'I just want my daughter to be safe, I just want her to not stand out, I'm just sayin' what my wife's sayin'."

Then it turns to a scowl.

"But that kind of shit thinkin's made her feel awful and little for just /being/ what she is, if y'don't mind me swearin'. If y'don't think we beastpeople get shat on enough just for havin' horns or tails or cheek marks or wings or anythin', y'ain't seen the worst Ignas' got on display."

Muse takes a breath.

"So if y'really care about bein' her parents, shape the heck up, please, yer doing your daughter a lot of damage and I don't think you even know half the pain she goes through."

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

Prissa breathes in through her nose. She lets it out.

She looks towards Riesenlied - and then towards Janey, her brow furrowing. Janie speaks at some length and Prissa does not catch exactly every single word that the girl says, but she gets the gist.

Prissa looks at the ground for several seconds. Then she raises her head to look towards Sagi.

"Cut off your hand," she tells Sagi. She unfastens her belt and says, "I have the sword right here. Very sharp. I don't care which one. Your hand offends me. Cut it off."


<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia realizes in this moment that she forgot to, uh, tell Leo about that. ... woops. She didn't forget to tell Janey about coming here, however, she just chose not to. Because she didn't want Janey to be here to hear this sort of talk. Because, well, you can guess why.

Lydia goes quiet. She doesn't interrupt Janey in the slightest. Instead, she watches as Janey tells her parents what's up. She is shaking.

Sagi and Lyra don't interrupt Janey either, though Lyra tries to when the mention of Janey's parents abandoning her comes up--ultimately the reveal of those scars is horrifying enough that even they're shutting up.

Only when Janey is done does anybody of the Seren family speak.

"We..." Lyra says. "We just wanted her to have a normal life."

Lydia then gives Prissa a smile and a pat on the arm. "Thanks. Didn't come here for that, but...I appreciate the thought."

She looks towards Sagi and Lyra and exhales, shaking out her hand. "Sorry, you're right. I shouldn't have started yelling. It never helped before, so it was dumb of me to think it'd start now. I know I've had m'problems, and that I've got a temper and all that. I think it's hereditary, but I'm workin' on it."

She looks to Janey. "And I'm sorry to you too. I didn't want you to have to be reminded of all this. Thanks for saying all that nice stuff...But I didn't come here to ask them to suddenly be my parents again. I've got sisters to think of." She smiles at her. "And--thank you Leo. I'm sorry for not warning you. I didn't even think about it." She looks back to her parents.

"You were right too. I was given a hard time because I was a beastman. Because I was Baskar. I won't say it wasn't tough. I suffered. A lot. But I think...it turned out that suffering wasn't that big of a deal in the end. It felt really bad at the time, not gonna lie, and I hurt some people too. Most of 'em forgave me the moment I asked for it. I've never felt closer to Rigdobrite in my life. Granny Halle made me feel welcome here again. She accepted the family I made for myself. Riesenlied--"

"A metal demon--" Lyra begins but Lydia just talks over her.

"--and Noeline have given me a home in which I can be happy. And be myself. You told me once if I wasn't happy about what you were saying I should find a new family. Well, I went out and did it. Truth is, I always knew I would have to deal with shit because of what I was, but it turns out the world wasn't as bad as you made me think it was. It was way better, I have found many kind people. The worst I've ever had to deal with was you." Considering what Solaris did to Lydia's body, well, that's saying something.

"And I mean, I learned out in space there that I can be pretty awesome if I try hard to be. I can help other people feel better about themselves too. I can even save the world."

"Sagi. Lyra." Lydia says. "I used to really hate you. I said all sorts of nasty things about you. But I don't feel that way anymore. I don't hate you at all. I just kind of...pity you, you know? You should know better, considering what our people have been through, but it's not just that. I'm going to be just fine. I wanted you to know that. I'm going to be better than fine, actually. I'm gonna be a great hero. Like Leo. Like Riese. And I'm going to save the world from Mother. And I'm going to make a LOT of money like Prissa. And it's just a shame." Lydia shrugs. "Because you're not gonna get to be a part of that. You're gonna miss everything. My moms, my sisters, my friends--they're gonna get to be a part of it instead."

She smiles. "And don't worry, okay? You're Baskar and Baskar stick together. I'll save you too. And when I'm old and wrinkly and running this colony, I'll be sure that you are honored." She exhales faintly. "You'll have everything you ever wanted."

And with that she turns on a heel and leaves out the way she came. She doesn't wait for an answer.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"Yeah."

Muse -- because she is still appropriating her role as Muse right now -- doesn't cry, because Muse made a promise a long time ago to herself that only when she and Mikaia and all the others are safe and can live without being terrified of the sick sawing noises in the basement can she be allowed to cry.

And that's why Janey exists.

"You just wanted her to have a normal life," she repeats. "That's what my parents said too. 'We're too poor.' 'We're not able enough to give you a normal life.'"

She puts her hands into her pockets again.

"Thing is, excuses like that can taste like the sweetest honey you'll never be able to afford, 'cause that's all it is-- empty things to sugar over how /tough/ facing things head-on and honestly can be."

Muse looks to Lydia and scratches her head. "... yeah, that's your choice. But I think it's important that it be told like how it is."

Riesenlied herself swallows gently as she places her hands on Lydia's shoulders, gently. Unlike Muse, her own eyes are well past the verge of tears, but as Lydia's statement comes to a close, she quietly nods as she expresses:

"... I may be a metal demon, and it is up to you whether or not you choose to believe me."

She takes a whispering breath, and then continues, "But I would let what Lydia has shown you, not just today but in all the preceding months -- and the months to come -- she is a young woman and a daughter both that I am extremely proud of and will continue to love and care for, and I would have it no other way."

She turns gently and steps after her daughters -- because Muse is heading out as well -- placing one hand to her heart as she does so.

<Pose Tracker> White Knight Leo has posed.

Leo doesn't say anything more. He can't bring himself to say anything more. He just stands there, fists tightening in rage--rage that only gets worse as one of Riesenlied's adopted children walks in and tells her story. Fortunately, both Muse and Lydia explain things far more eloquently and empathetically than he ever could. He's not sure what he could say to either of them. Even Lydia's apology doesn't seem to blunt it.

The White Knight walks out after Lydia without so much as a 'good day'. When they're all outside, he looks down at the young Beastwoman, his expression softening. "You did well," he says. "Goddess willing, they will at least come to regret what they did to you." It's not fair. How many others on this wretched world have suffered as she and Muse did? He doesn't know.

It's not fair. And he can only hope that Althena will somehow /make/ it fair.

<Pose Tracker> Prissa has posed.

Prissa is stoically silent as Lydia pats her arm. She looks at her, and she says to her, "You are welcome." Then she looks back at Sagi and Lyra and she remains quiet for a moment as Lydia speaks. It is heartwarming.

But Prissa... is a person who is moved by beauty and murderous steel; and her heart, though not broken, is much closer to stone.

She is the last one to leave. She stops proffering her sword, and as she is tying it back to her belt, she spits on the floor.

"'A normal life,'" she says, witheringly. "Perhaps an understandable wish. But 'normal' is cheap pig iron, not gold or feum funaci. If your tribe buys 'normal' with blood and mutilation, you will not have a tribe for long."

Then Prissa leaves.

OUTSIDE:

"They are fortunate that they are your kin, Lydia," Prissa says, her voice almost drawling, her tone more aggressively flat. She mad. "Is this typical for Filgaia? You had mentioned that, 'Beastmen' were not always popular, but a statement like this. Like this! They make an alloy of cruelty and cowardice! Picking on someone weaker than them. I'd slake a blade in their blood but I would not want to dishonor the steel."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia feels like a great weight has been lifted off her shoulders, like a backpack she had worn all her life has finally been taken off and dumped on the floor.

"Heh, I owe you and Margaret a lot." Lydia tells Leo. "If you see her again can you thank her for me? I haven't seen her in a while, but honestly she's one of those people I was kind of a jerk to but she was actually really cool when we like actually talked." She glances back to her old home. "Whether they regret it or don't isn't my business anymore. Thanks for coming with me. If you ever need my help, you've got it, man."

Muse and Prissa get the last word. It's hard to tell what the effect is right now. Maybe they're having a change of heart, or maybe they're furious, maybe it's too late to really worry about that, maybe in the future wounds can heal and understanding can prosper.

But that's in the future. Today is today.

Lydia gives Muse a big hug. "And you...! You made me proud! I was worried over nothin'! The world better watch out for you or you're gonna run all over it!" She isn't crying any more. "Got the best sisters on Filgaia!"

That's what she's doing when Prissa finally walks out. She got the last word. Lydia looks between her and Leo for a moment before saying, "Typical for Filgaia? Nah, I wouldn't say that. Filgaia is a rough world, but like you said...it has a lot of wealth. You just gotta look in the right spot. Sometimes that's in the bathroom, but sometimes it's right here." Before she probably would've answered affirmatively and it's not as if she has changed her mind on how big this problem is on Filgaia, but it's a change of perspective, a more hopeful outlook rather than a fatalistic one.

"Sorry for not warning you about that. My parents aren't even the worst of it, really, that's out there--Kislev put all its beastmen in a ghetto a while back so don't get me wrong, it can be pretty bad but that's just people who don't have as much power over us as they think they do. Filgaia..."

She smiles again. "Filgaia is a beautiful world worth fighting for."

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