eachdraidh | 3rd Chassé | Video for Both Courts

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3rd Chassé | Video for Both Courts

[After the madness of the dogs, Ryan's mostly taken to spending time holed up in his room in the castle with Kelsi and her specialty-made tea, readjusting to make things more normal again.

Of course then he wakes up to a message from her.

"❤To Mr. Fred Astaire❤
I got asked to go on a quest!!!!!
It's alright, Sif is with me. We're going to deal with a manticore. I don't know what that is but I brought a few books of me along the way.
See you when I get back!

PS. I took your hat so I won't feel so lonely. Sorry!"

There were several things wrong with the equation:

1.) Kelsi ended up going on a quest.
2.) Kelsi ended up going on a quest without him.
3.) Kelsi ended up going on a quest without him and with his hat.

Then there was also the other question…who the hell is Sif?

Fine. Whatever. He can deal with being apart for a few days. Anyway he had his own business to go about. He needs to get back to his training and the longer he puts off the advice from Queen Solais, the worse off he'll be.

When the video on his locket clicks on anyone watching will notice that Ryan's sitting on a cliff in the sunken ruins. He's busy watching a small group of mermaids swimming below him and the bit of sunlight filtering through the cracks in the walls are bouncing off of his hair now that it's not sheltered by one of his hats. He's humming a song under his breath for a few moments as he continues to watch, only mildly aware he's even humming that particular song to set the mood. Maybe he was more homesick now than he initially thought. Whatever. He can't do anything about that now, he has other goals to reach.

Truth be told, he's kind of wondering if he should ask at all considering everything else that's going on right now. Yeah. He's aware of the things happening at Redgate. He's heard the broadcasts from other people, but…

…but if he doesn't ask now, how the hell is he supposed to really help in the future?]

Weird question. If you were a mermaid, what would be the most flattering thing a person could tell you?

[A beat.]

Scientific purposes only, I swear.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What are you trying to do—kiss a fish?

Edited 2014-11-25 18:17 (UTC)

No, not quite. Gross. [But it's Katsa so he at least looks a little less insulted.] Pretty sure the fish wouldn't be that great at kissing anyway.

Poor Ryan. If it's kissing you want, you'll have to start looking in places with a few more people around, if they like a bit of obvious flattery. Why are you asking, then?

Ha ha ha, very funny. [And in a show of utmost maturity, he actually winds up sticking out his tongue. Let's not talk about kissing people in Drabwurld shall we?] I'm not looking to kiss mermaids. I'm looking for their help with something. Not-kissing.

[…it's Katsa. He can trust Katsa, can't he?]

I want to get better with the powers the monarchs gave me a few months ago and I think the mermaids and the naiads are the right people to do it. But I think I have to suck up to them first before I can even get that far.

[ intriguing choice of words ryan... tell us more about sucking up to mermaids

]

Seems like kissing could help with that, too, if they're that sort of people.

[ okay okaY she's done now, though she can't help much with any of that :c ]

Why can't you just ask outright? It's what you'll do anyway, and if they're that good at what you need.

[WOW THAT IS RUDE. (Though truth be told he's sort of missed having someone like that around, and perhaps that's a bit masochistic. Or maybe he's just been hanging out with jocks for too long.)

Still, Katsa has a very good point.]

I mean I would, but I'm just thinking it might go over better if I take an interest in them instead of approaching them and demanding answers for something. [And because the queen told him to do it this way, and as far as Ryan knows you don't fuck with the queen's orders.]

Besides I need something to kill time until Kelsi gets back. [Shrug. Somehow it's not that weird to mention the fact that he's sort of sulking.]

Hm.

[ okay, finding something to do, that's fair. but still... ]

I just think asking them to share their skills is taking enough interest in them as it is. Especially if that's all you really want out of them. Otherwise maybe they'd like you better if you're not the one to speak first, hard as it might be, and they take an interest in you instead.

[Pardon him, he's just going to laugh. A lot.]

If I wait for them to take interest in me I'm going to be here forever. [17 years living in Sharpay's shadow has taught him that not speaking first is probably the worst thing he could do.]

I kinda just have a feeling if I flat-out ask them for help they'll say no. [Not that he's tried yet.] So…that's why we're taking this approach.

[ she doesn't quite understand why he's laughing and her response is a little more snappish than necessary. ]

Maybe you should dance for them, then.

[He immediately stops laughing and his entire face closes off from any sort of expression.]

...right. Maybe I should. [He won't but wow that kind of hit a little hard.

...then again, he's kind of a joke at this point and he's 100% aware. Getting better, of course, but he's still someone who's not equipped to fight or from a world where magic makes sense. What the hell is he thinking?

And then of course Kelsi's out there chasing some dangerous monster with some lady named Sif and we're back to point A of "fuck Drabwurld.]

Might give them reason to pay attention, at least.

[ she's handling this all wrong, she can tell, and she doesn't have any idea why. honestly, katsa's been trying to give real suggestions!! but she sucks at this. people are really hard and she's going to rise to a frustrated defense ]

I don't know. They can't do it, can they? And it's your talent. You want them to have a reason to take interest in you, and admire you, and give them something in return. Share with them a piece of yourself if you want them to share theirs. It's not like you're without your own resources.

[It's okay Katsa, Ryan just gets his feathers ruffled easily still. Nevertheless he's just frowning into the camera as he listens to her, rolling his eyes near the end.

Right. Solid advice, and yet he's still sort of pissy. Give him a second.]

I guess not. […except something about the way she says it makes it suddenly click. Wait. It's…kinda like the summer before senior year, isn't it? Having to share a piece of himself with the Wildcats by playing in that baseball game and signing on as their director in order to get them to accept him. It's the same principle and just like that every bit of his anger dissipates. Or it gets suppressed and will come out later in a huge onslaught of rage that'll rival the Hulk's, who knows.]

It's not like your Grace, Katsa. I'm not the best at it so even if they can't do it I--look, I mean, it's not like I can exchange dance lessons for magic lessons. They're not comparable.

[…and there's a deep breath.]

…so. Back home there's this girl. She's kind of like the queen of our kingdom, East. Anyway so the queen's really, really good at getting people to fawn over her, people worshipped her all the time. And…when you're that popular, you start to realize you can get anyone to listen to you and do your bidding most of the time. So the queen, well, she didn't think anything of it one day when she was approached by a peasant that had just transferred from a whole other kingdom, and this peasant wanted to be just like her, be her royal vizier I guess. She wanted to be with her all the time and she would do the queen's bidding and the queen didn't even think anything was amiss because why would she? She was being praised and she could walk all over the peasant without a problem.

One day though the peasant revealed who she really was, a magician in disguise who was only following the queen to overthrow her. And the queen was so helpless that she nearly crumbled and the kingdom almost collapsed.

But don't worry, the kingdom was saved after a knight waiting in the wings sent the magician and the queen out of the kingdom.

The point is…the queen wouldn't have trusted the magician if the magician showed her hand right away. It was better for the magician to be humble and play a part so that the queen was hardly suspicious and the magician could gain all of the information she needed.

That's why I can't show them my talents. I want to have something for later down the road just in case.

Does…does that make sense?

Edited 2014-11-26 03:15 (UTC)

I suppose it does. I know sometimes secrets are necessary—rarely, where trust is involved, but sometimes—though the mermaids don't seem to be so much of a threat...

[ she frowns. okay, this is familiar. ]

...I've heard this story. Is this queen the same princess who wanted to marry the knight?

[ no, really. or at least some version of it. at least you can say they're consistent—! but this queen really doesn't seem to learn ever does she

priorities, katsa. ]

Try telling that to literally almost everybody I've talked to today. It's like I missed out on "learn that mermaids are violent creatures" day at school. [There's a shrug.] Sometimes I just like having my secrets.

[...wat.] Um, yeah. How'd you kno--

--Kelsi told you didn't she. [He laughs a little though.] Yeah, the princely knight who ended up being stalked by the queen for a good couple of years. The queen even went as far as to convince the seasonal court vizier to transplant a bunch of peasants and the princely knight to one of her smaller kingdoms to try and appoint the knight to her court and ditch the peasants. Luckily the prince has a good head on his shoulders most of the time.

[And unknown to Ryan, Katsa is aware that the queen has a brother who he is pointedly leaving out of this story for the moment.]

I've never heard of mermaids before, either, so I wouldn't know what they are or aren't. [ shrug ] But you have your training, however much or how little. You'll remember it if there's a need.

[ Katsa sighs. The story grows even more complicated, and she debates whether she should even try to continue to follow it. ]

Yes. She told me. Your kingdom sounds like a mad place, though no madder than most, I expect. [ ...except Monsea, but that's an entirely different matter. ] At least there's a prince who'll be a good king when the time comes.

Wait, like, never? Not even in stories? [Katsa what a sad, weird world you live in.] That's sort of what I'm asking their help for, actually. Training. Why not ask the ones who live in the water for help with water magic?

[It's a trial to be honest and sometimes Ryan doesn't even want to keep up.]

Our kingdom was perfectly fine until the peasant showed up and sort of flipped the entire caste system on its head when she started courting the prince. Or...the prince started courting her? I'm actually not sure who started it. Anyway there was a really well-balanced order before the peasant-girl entered the kingdom and then this huge uprising happened and the queen was temporarily dethroned. Not that it lasted long.

...the prince is going to be a great king someday. [And there's a weird little smile on his face as he thinks about it. It's pretty obvious he's quite fond of the prince.] He's had a lot of practice with fair judgment and in placating the queen, even after the queen devised an evil plan to enlist the prince as her head knight while booting her perfectly capable head knight down into the land with the peasants. Even though the power went to his head the prince eventually apologized to the peasants and changed the caste system again. He's...very good that way. It's a weird almost naive goodness. A kind of goodness where he does what he can to make sure no one falls behind, that mages and knights get their chance to show the kingdom what, precisely, they can do, and a kind of goodness that means fighting 'til the end for what's right.

I don't know. Maybe I just want to be like that prince since he's not here. I think that's why I'm willing to take chances.

Never, not even in stories. [ to be fair, she didn't exactly do a lot of reading in her youth, so maybe she's just behind on the fairy tale uptake? ] Nor magic either, except for the power of Graces, but I think that makes sense enough.

[ She considers offering to threaten to make them give help, but... no.. that seems like not the best plan, maybe. ]

Kelsi told me that he and the girl helped others gain their freedom. Overturn corruption. If that's the case, maybe—maybe he'd rather you just be like you, whatever that is you want to be.

Remind me to tell you some stories about them sometime. Our version of the stories, anyway. They're a little more interesting than the ongoings of East.

[Well, to be honest, Katsa and Sharpay would be on the same page if such a suggestion came up but instead he just sort of tilts his head, frowning in thought.]

She's right. None of us could really do it without those two. But I don't know about that. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly I want to be now.

[ she's not looking directly at the locket as she responds ]

Well. There's more time in the future for that. I'd rather hear your mermaid stories.

Tell you what. When Kelsi gets back from slaying this scorpion monster thing, we'll both tell you mermaid stories. And other fairytales.

...mostly because I know she knows how to play some of the songs from the movies.

You know, you both keep saying these things, but it's yet actually to happen.

[ but katsa's smiling for a moment before her pause ]

...Kelsi's not... trying to do that alone, is she?

We'll make it happen! [He sounds a little too enthusiastic about that, but maybe it's just because the pair of them are both avid storytellers.] Somehow, even if it's just a phone call. Um...locket call. Whichever.

[But he suddenly looks a little concerned again the moment Katsa brings up Kelsi's quest.]

No. She told me she was going with Sif, whoever that is. [And an annoyed huff.] She didn't even tell me in person, she just left me a note and stole my hat.

The Lady Sif, of Asgard? [ katsa blinks, then fights against a smile of both relief and amusement at ryan's annoyance ] I spoke to her a few days ago. She seemed to be someone who wouldn't easily stand for defeat. You'll have your hat back soon enough, or at least a new one to replace it.

Sure. [The tone suggests that he has absolutely zero idea if it's the same Sif, but that sounds a lot better. He totally knows the word "Asgard." He's still sort of sulking though and a hand moves up to his head like he's going to adjust his hat before remembering that it is, in fact, gone.]

Hope so. [There's a pause…and then he finally just blurts out-] I guess I just thought it'd be me first. I've been here longer and I've been training more. Why would they send her out after some…manticore-thing?

[ katsa shifts, uncomfortable. so—it wasn't just a decision at the spur of the moment, then. someone sent her. ]

Does anyone with any sort of power in this land care about what's best for the people? [ a glare at no one in particular. ] I'm almost surprised now she's not alone now. But that isn't stopping you from doing something on your own, either, is it?

[ missing the point here, probably. ]

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