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

[…well. Truthfully, he should have expected this and he might be a little mad at Kelsi still for going and pulling a Sharpay on him by ditching him, but he can still do a little investigative work.

However he can't stop himself from just giving her a mildly perplexed look.]

No. Nooo, no no. I mean don't get me wrong, Kelsi's the love of my life and I took her to our senior prom and I hang out in her bedroom a lot and everything, but she's…definitely not what I'm looking for lover-wise.

[...and suddenly Ryan's starting to question the nature of his relationship with Kelsi and what other people might assume. Huh. He can't really blame her for assuming so though; this isn't East where people knew the pair of them quite well. On the other hand, at least Katsa's apparently clueless of Kelsi's girl-crush on her. Might need to talk to her about that.]

Sorry if we totally misled you.

How do you not—

[ katsa groans and drops her head to her knee so she's no longer looking into her locket. THIS IS GETTING ABSURD WHY CAN SHE NEVER TELL WHAT ANYONE IS ACTUALLY FEELING ABOUT ANYONE ]

Is this something you usually have to clarify?

[Poor Katsa. He's still watching her and he's realizing just how many worlds out there really, really don't ever have to deal with trivial bullshit.]

Sometimes, but the benefit of our world is that most people know my sister and I share several pairs of jeans and spend more time than normal dedicated to musical theatre. [He rolls his eyes skywards. Those are very shitty qualifiers, but he's heard enough rumors about himself to pull out the most vague, basic ones.] Kelsi's…Kelsi. She's sweet and adorable and she'd be a great girlfriend for anybody but I wouldn't appreciate her the way she deserves.

If it helps I don't think you're the only one to think that about us. [He has a suspicion that Lancelot thinks the same thing, too.]

[ she doesn't understand what he means by jeans and musical theatre either so she's just... going to.... ignore it....... and lift her head and roll her eyes ]

At least that's more self-awareness than I suppose most people could ask for. [ including herself. whoops, still embarrassing. katsa chews on her lower lip before deciding to ask her next question. ]

If she's the love of your life, why isn't she what you're looking for in a lover? You've never planned to marry her?

[ not that katsa cares whether anyone marries anyone, but she's just downright curious, now ]

You'd be amazed how self-aware I can be. [And also how modest, apparently. And self-centered. And oblivious. Ryan is sometimes his own problem.

The question's hard to answer, really, and he just sort of shrugs in return.]

…maybe if we can't find anybody to be with we'll end up marrying each other, but no. I've never planned on it. She's kinda like Mary Poppins. Wait you won't know who that is… Um. There's a story where I'm from about this British nanny who's basically magical but the tagline's always "Mary Poppins: practically perfect in every way." That's Kelsi. She doesn't see it most of the time but she's literally the best person somebody could be with and…the problem is that there's one giant flaw with Kelsi that I can't get past. That's why we're not dating.

...You know there's no need for either of you to marry anyone.

[ it's not her business to ask it's not her business to ask it's not her business to ]

What flaw?

No, of course not. I'd just rather not end up alone for the rest of my life, you know?

[…thus…the root of the problem. He's quiet again before he shrugs, attempting to make this as casual as possible.]

She's a girl. Kinda can't really change that about her.

Oh. No, I suppose there's nothing either of you can do about that.

[ she leans back. that answers most of the confusion. ]

Unmarried doesn't have to mean alone, either. I won't ever marry.

Yeah. [There's also the part where Kelsi won't date Ryan because he's a boy but he's not going to mention that. Just thank god Katsa's just rolling with it. It gets a little easier every time he mentions it to somebody, at least, but nothing's easier than just letting people draw their own assumptions.] I mean I wouldn't want to change that about her anyway. I like her as a girl, just…not in a lover sense.

Why not? I mean if you don't mind me asking. [Though it makes sense. Katsa's strong. Katsa doesn't need anybody, right? And maybe he's just carrying this conversation because he's snooping and he genuinely likes talking to her, wants to learn more about her.]

That's straightforward enough. [ she shrugs ] I've no desire to hand my freedom over to anyone—to be expected to manage the house and servants and bear children, or to make promises about a future I can't see. Even if I wanted any of those things, I wouldn't want to hang onto anyone and prevent them from loving anyone else, either. Mostly I belong only to myself, and that's how it'll always be; though I still have others.

[That makes sense and all it does is further prove that Katsa is, in fact, one of the coolest people he's met. He wants to be independent like that, but old habits are hard to break and when you've been pretty co-dependent for most of your life... Nevertheless it makes sense. Ryan's from a world where he's learned that women shouldn't be expected to manage the house and servants (and anyway isn't that what servants are for?)

Whatever.]

I guess I never really saw it as handing over my freedom so much as it is sharing it. You know, sharing the ability to go anywhere and do anything and work together to make life better. ...but unless things change back home I can't exactly do that unless I marry a girl. I mean I can but it's not considered legal?

Not that that matters, that's not the point.

[Hold it.] Katsa are you alone here? Have I ever asked you that?

That's a nice idea, but that's not what marriage is. [ as she sees it in her world, anyway. ] I don't want to hand over even a piece of myself—and I can do all of that sharing without promises I don't know that we can keep.

[ to katsa, the important thing is belonging. even if her husband never restricted her freedom or tried to change her, she would always know that the freedom was a gift—it would not belong to herself, and it would change her to be someone's wife. no matter who the person might be. ]

Do you mean is there someone I know here from my world? [ well, speaking of marrying and not marrying... ] Yes, the Graceling Prince Po of Lienid, seventh son of Ror. And I think an Ungraced smith as well, though I didn't know him before I came. [ INACCURATE: KATSA AND GENDRY ARE JUST IDIOTS WHO MISCOMMUNICATE ] I wish sometimes I could see my cousin Raffin as well, but he's not a fighter, and he wouldn't want to be anywhere without Bann. I'm glad enough to have Po.

[ more than most people know, really. she smiles. ]

Are you and Kelsi the only ones from yours?

Why not? That's how it works for my parents. [Yes but Vance and Derby Evans are a special case to most things. Ryan's vaguely aware of his privilege at least.] I can respect that though, wanting to be 100% independent. I guess it's just…you know. I've spent most of my life being part of something and sharing everything. It wasn't until really, really recently that I started being on my own. I mean I know it's not the same as marriage but it's kind of the same idea? I'm not explaining this very well. [So instead he just buries his head in his hands.]

[…Graceling Prince huh? First of all what kind of name is Po? And secondly there's the fact that Katsa, too, sort of wishes someone could be here with her. Kelsi and Ryan have talked about who they wish would show up often enough even though none of them are fighters.] At least you're not completely alone. [Don't think he doesn't see that smile, missy.] Maybe I'll have to meet this Graceling Prince myself. And anyway we're not fighter either and we showed up. It's possible.

[He nods in response though.] Yeah, so far. She showed up a few months after I did. I'm not saying I want our friends to show up, but…it wouldn't be so bad if they did. We'd be together and we could work it out. That's how we always do it. [Always, of course, equating to about a year before they all split up for college but whatever.] There are some people I wouldn't mind seeing that I'm not sure Kelsi would be happy about though.

[ she thinks about saying more when Ryan buries his head in his hands, about her only recently gaining her independence being exactly the reason she had no desire to give it away again, but she decides against it. she's not quite ready to go into the details behind that with him. she doesn't know what to say, so she says nothing. ]

Raff would be able to help Kelsi with her medicines, at least. He's a good person. And Po easy enough to spot: he has the strangest eyes in all our seven kingdoms as well as here, and the Lienid are an odd people. You'll know if you ever see him.

[ also u ask what kind of a name is Po but trust her that nickname is a blessing considering his full name is Greening Grandemalion

she tilts her head ]

How so would you be happy while she wouldn't?

[It's cool he gets it. She has absolutely no reason to share those details with him and he knows better than to press, especially since he's dropped a few big bombs on her already.]

She'd like that, I bet. She's trying really hard to learn as much as she can about being a healer. [He pauses again though.] Stranger than yours? I mean not that your eyes are totally strange but just--different. I'll probably find him soon enough.

[…you know, it's better that he doesn't know that because why are old kingdoms so weird?]

…well. You remember the queen from our stories? Kelsi's not really her biggest fan, but I go back and forth between never wanting her to show up and wanting her to be here more than anything. That's how. I mean I know Kelsi would do what she could to get along with her but it's hard to say how that'd go over.

One of his eyes is gold and the other silver. They're hard to look at at first even for a Graceling, when most people won't look us in the eyes already: they're bright, like lights.

[ she focuses very hard on saying that nonchalantly. ahmm. time to roll her eyes as the conversation moves on. ]

I don't blame Kelsi, from what I hear of her. A queen who thinks of herself and not her people may be like most kings and queens, but not a good one. But what makes her so different to you?

It almost sounds magical. [Katsa plz.] What's his Grace then?

[…ah. Yeah. That question. Uhhh…]

Well…the queen's my sister. We're twins. So I guess that makes me a rebel prince in the story.

Edited (Apparently notepad doesn't understand abbreviations ) 2014-12-06 00:23 (UTC)

He's a Graced fighter. [ not a lie, technically?? he's graced, and he's a fighter, but that's definitely not what his grace itself actually is. sorry ryan u don't get to know ] His people particularly value hand-to-hand fighting.

Twins, though? [ katsa stares at him for a long moment—and then she clamps a hand over her mouth and laughs into it ] Another rebellious royal. I imagine that would make things a bit more complicated, and I can't say I envy the sound of your relations.

So kinda like you. [In this conversation Ryan doesn't get how Graces work. And also Ryan doesn't suspect that Katsa's withholding a lot of information but whatever whatever whatever.] Hand-to-hand combat's pretty cool. I learned a little bit during some stage combat courses but…you know. Not enough to actually do damage.

[Don't think he doesn't hear that laughter!] It's not funny! …okay, it's kinda funny. [No it's actually pretty ridiculous. Their whole world is ridiculous.] It's complicated. The queen and I used to have most of the kingdom under our control. [Or rather Sharpay did and Ryan went along with it…] And then the other prince and his peasant girl sort of turned the tides and the queen got really mad and decided that it would be wiser to bring the other prince in to rule the kingdom together.

The problem was that she had another prince aka me who looked a lot better in a flower crown than Troy does, by the way, that she ever-so-rudely kicked out of his throne to give to the other prince instead. Even though the rebel-prince had ruled by her side and was totally good at his job she kicked him out and abandoned him for somebody else with a higher ranking. Soooo without a kingdom to rule, the rebel prince ended up wandering into the peasants' lair and joining their side to bring down the queen a few notches.

…even after all of that she forgave me though. She's not a bad person, but sometimes she's just…[He just throws his hands up in frustration.] I know how to handle her better than anybody though and this is the longest we've ever been apart. You can see why it's really, really complicated.

[ she stops bothering to pretend she's not amused but is still shaking her head almost in disbelief through his story. she'll be remembering that flower crown and definitely asking about it later. ]

It's not so complicated. Or the part about queens and princes and control, anyway. That's not unlike most of the kings in my seven kingdoms, always making and breaking alliances to grab at their power. The rest of it—maybe.

It's just difficult to imagine you with a sister. Especially someone Kelsi wouldn't be pleased to see.

I'm pretty sure our kingdom features a lot more singing, dancing and costume changes than yours. But I guess it's all the same. She's always wanted to be a star and be the best. We both do. She got it in her head that she needed to be with the most popular boy in order to have full control and I guess when you look at it that way? It makes sense why she did it. Not that she did it in the best way possible but. Power does stupid things to people.

[He just sort of purses his lips together as he thinks.] My sister's always treated Kelsi more like a servant than a friend. We were co-presidents of the drama club and Kelsi was the composer so somehow she got it in her head that Kelsi had to write everything suited for her instead of what Kelsi wanted. And Kelsi was afraid of her for a really long time. ...and probably me, too. It's just another thing that changed when the other prince and I swapped roles.

But imagine it! Twice the blonde, twice the sparkles, twice the singing. [He rolls his eyes then.] Hard to imagine what she'd do if she showed up.

It sounds unbearable. [ but she's grinning—not unkindly. ] And I'd be a fair enough match for her. Power makes it easy for people to do terrible things, not just stupid—you're lucky if the best it was was stupid. We probably wouldn't get along well, I'm afraid.

We'll do our best not to double-team you then. [But it's nice to know she's entirely serious even though he's self-aware enough to know they're a bit overwhelming. (Poor Troy...)] I think if she had the right resources she would have done terrible things to get her way. I mean she wouldn't kill anybody or hire a hitman or anything but she's smarter than most people think. I'm sort of hoping she's calmed down a little since I left.

[But probably not.]

At least you, Kelsi and I get along. Isn't that what counts here?

[ katsa's scale of terrible is probably a lot more extreme than ryan's, so she raises her eyebrows at the addendum that sharpay's "terrible" wouldn't include killing or hiring anyone, but... she just... chooses not to comment. ]

Is it?

[ she considers that. they get along. she's come so far since she left the middluns, really, that she could make new friends at all. still, katsa, can't help herself, and she adds on the next— ]

Staying alive counts.

[~~…wow the word "not" for "not serious" should have been in that last tag oops~~ Oh without a doubt it's more extreme, and honestly? He actually wouldn't put it past Sharpay to hire somebody if it came down to it, he's just blissfully unaware.]

I was kinda going for something not obvious, but that counts, too. Which kinda brings me back to the whole Kelsi thing.

Just kinda lie to me and tell me she'll be totally fine.

3rd Chassé | Video for Both Courts

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