Audience: Yuri Leclerc

[probe]

Comments

[aubins]

[ i am immediately convinced this is a mystery AI thing and am concerned. ]

Don't worry, I'm gonna-- [ he's actually just getting a scoop of the jellies and putting them in a cup lid. ]-- try them like this, instead of putting them in my drink and maybe then finding out I don't like them.

[ he'll get her an almond drink too. almonds for little-A. ]

[probe]

[no it's just me making shit up i promise.]

Ooh...that's smart. [she will wait for dranks patiently.] And if you decide you don't like 'em, I'll take them off your hands. Sound good?

[aubins]

[ trembles slightly ]

Sounds like you want my snaaaacks. [ he'll allow it. ] Yeah. No waste that way as well.

[probe]

What can I say? I don't like missing opportunities! [hehe.]

What do you think of this room so far? [she will take the boba though and eyeball the nail polish.]

[aubins]

It's incomprehensible. But kinda fun at the same time? I have no idea what these machines do and sometimes they go all blue or black on me, but... they're different. These common where you're from?

[ pink a shade, any shade, lust. ]

I did have something I wanted to ask out of general curiosity as well, by the way. But that can come after we've chosen your nail colour and had a chat.

[probe]

--are you the one who bluescreened one of the computers? [yuri...but she picks a nice shade of pink, wiggling the bottle in front of him. this please!] They're pretty common! You know how I told you about maid cafes? There're PC cafes, too! People can come by and use the computers for work or to browse the internet or anything like that.

[she's very clearly curious what he wants to ask, but she'll let it slide and humor him until he's ready.]

[aubins]

[ ... ] I thought you guys knew and saw everything.

[ that's not a yes but it's not a no. (he left a sorry note?) ]

Do you just have a cafe for everything? Books? Painting? Music? [ he'll grab the polish and make a start on her nails. there's some sparkly stuff too because these nails gonna be CUTE. ]

[probe]

Not everything! Not all of us can be watching all the time.

But no. A cafe for books is really just called a library. And we have museums and concert venues and stuff. [she holds her hands still for nail time.] A little of everything.

[aubins]

Then I will remain silent and no one can accuse me of anything.

[ ha. ]

Lots of things for entertainment, I see. [ nail time nail time. ] That sounds nice. We get some down time but a lot of it isn't spent playing games or stuff like that.

[probe]

Considering what's happening in your world? That doesn't surprise me. [just casually.] But we have whole districts for entertainment purposes. It's a pretty big industry.

[aubins]

Imagine if we were all reading books all the time instead of training and planning battle tactics.

[ we'll say he's done doing base coats and is onto colour. ]

I know an opera singer or two, but it's not really the same thing as the computers and videos your entertainment industry seems to do.

[probe]

At least you'd be educated. That's important, too.

[she tilts her head though.] You mean like that lady I saw in your memory?

[aubins]

It does help.

Yeah, that's one of them. She was all the rage in the Empire before she up and left for the academy.

[probe]

Did she ever say why she left?

[aubins]

Not specifically to me, but I know she used her connections from the opera house to get to the Academy. There were plenty of rumours of her dating habits while she was there, so she was probably looking for a ticket to guarantee herself a stable life.

[ ... ] Don't blame her if that's what it was. There's a lot of nobles at the academy at one time, and she's a very pretty lady.

[probe]

I don't think I could ever blame someone for wanting something stable, even if the means are a little shady. That's what it was like for Date, too. [as she recently, like, very recently, found out.]

Do you blame her at all? [the implication is he doesn't, but she's checking.]

[aubins]

Technically speaking, I don't think it is shady. Not really. People arrange marriages for far more nefarious reasons than "I want financial security and support in my life". Although most of the time people are more blunt about what they're after.


Not for that not. And not really, overall. [ ... ] We had a misunderstanding once, but that was more my fault than anything.

[probe]

...people have misunderstandings all the time. [first and foremost, but she thinks this over.]

You haven't thought about an arranged marriage, have you?

[aubins]

Yup. I dragged this one out a big longer than I should've though. I just didn't want to talk about it, until she cornered me.

Nah. I kept my Crest as much of a secret as I could, so it's not like House Rowe knew they had anything worth bargaining with before I ran away.

[probe]

At least it's out in the open with her now. So it's fine.

[hm?] ...what does your crest do for you?

[aubins]

Mine specifically? Makes me more aware of when someone's going to counter attack me, so I can prevent it. It's difficult to explain: it's more like an extra sense, or some kind of magic you can't make a conscious choice to use.

[probe]

So it's just always on? That has to be really helpful in battle at least. Even if it's not turned on here.

[aubins]

Something like that? It's not like a light, it's just... there. And sometimes it kicks in. Crests are a sing of links to ancient bloodlines, powerful ones, first and foremost. And then they give you an edge in battle.

I understand why things revolve so closely around them, even if I don't care for it exactly.

[rainbowings]

Can you ever, like, remove it? Or are there people without crests? What happens to them?

[aubins]

... You know, I'm not sure. I wasn't born with one, like people normally are. It just appeared one day when I was still pretty young. More people are born without them than not, though. Crests are just a sign of prestige people have latched on to.

Houses will arrange marriages based on the likelihood of children born to that family receiving a Crest or not. So houses without many prominent Crests in the bloodline are always at a disadvantage.