[Maybe you should ask Laura what would make her happy and go from there.
It had sounded very simple when Athessa had said it at the party. And Matthias had jumped to his feet and gone running off, fully prepared to track Laura down and ask her just that, in that very moment. Halfway up the stairs to her room, all of the wine and elfroot in his stomach and his wherever-elf-root-goes (veins?) had sent a wave of dizziness through Matthias like no other, and he had sat down upon the stairs instead and then he had just fallen asleep, so--
Well. The next morning he'd woken up and thought, maybe there was a better way to ask Laura, and he had decided to think about it for a bit, which then became quite a bit.
But here they are today, sat on the battlements in the sunshine together and eating lunch. Matthias, with his mouth absolutely full of pork pie, looks over at Laura and thinks, all right. Now.]
Hey-- [Oh, hang on. He pulls a face and holds up one finger--hang on, hang on--swallows his bite so he's not asking this with globs of pork in the way--] Er, sorry. What would make you happy? Like--really genuinely happy. In the future, I mean. Not--the big future, necessarily, but maybe that as well, if you've thought of that--but it can be the close future if that's easier.
[ The battlements are the ideal place to eat: the breeze is high, the smell of the city is low, and Matthias is next to her with a pork pie in his hands. Hers is filled with some kind of fish, salty and potatoey and thick-crusted.
Matthias speaks, then pauses, and Laura waits, swallowing her own bite of pie in turn. ]
I-- [ Don't know. What would make her happy? An orange. Going someplace new. Kissing Matthias. Petting Biter. Feeling like a person. She falls quiet, thinking, then asks: ] What would make you happy?
[ Maybe she can figure out her answer when she knows his. ]
[But he doesn't mind, and he grins over at her to show her.]
I'd be happy like this, I reckon. If we were together somewhere and we had things to do--jobs and all--and we were helping people, and we got to travel, and we had a place to live. Food to eat. I don't think I need very much. But I'd want, y'know, the world, and all, to be better as well. I dunno that I could be really properly happy if things weren't better.
[ She gives him a small smile, one that sticks around as she listens to his answer. And the more he talks, the more glad she is she asked, even if it might be cheating. He wants to know about the future, about what would please her months or years from now. ]
I am not sure. But--
[ If she's going to play, and play fairly, she has to try coming up with an answer. So she thinks over the possibilities as she finishes her pie, wiping her fingers on her breeches. Her answer, when it comes, is hesitant. ]
When people meet me...I want them to think I am normal. I do not want them to see a murderer, or a...
[ The words stick in her throat. After a moment or two, she gives up; some things, she can't bear to voice, even to Matthias. ]
[His smile softens. Gooey, is how he would describe it, self-consciously; right now, he's not paying attention to what his face looks like, because he's listening to Laura. They're sort of sat facing one another, but at an angle. Perfectly placed for him to shift over so he's shoulder to shoulder with her instead, and he can lean against her companionably.]
Well, I talk to you like this 'cause I like you. [Well. Now he's conscious of his face, and how pink in the cheeks he's gotten, but he pushes on--] So all we've got to do is make people like you, which will be easy, 'cause you're easy to like. And I would know, seeing as I like you.
[Simple sound logic. He bumps his shoulder against hers, then goes back to leaning.]
We'll be heroes of Riftwatch. Everyone will automatically like us a little bit, just based on that. That'll give you, what, like twenty or thirty points, I reckon, just to start with.
Strangers will not like me at first. [ Strangers distrust most people at first, she's found, but she's inclined to think they distrust her longer. Because of the claws, or how she behaves. ] And we'll meet many strangers when we go into the world.
[ Because she likes Matthias' dreams, too: travel, helping others, finding other, better-smelling places to sit together and eat their midday meals. And a place to come home to, small enough that a fire will warm it. ]
Sometimes I try to talk more like other people. And to move more like them. But it feels... [ She shrugs. Strange. Like putting herself in a costume, not unlike the cat disguise she'd worn in Nevarra. With an attempt at his accent and pattern of speaking, observed over the course of a year: ] And if I bollocks it up, then they'll be even more suspicious, I reckon. They'll know I've been playing a part the whole time.
[They'll get back to serious stuff in a moment. He's not done with that. But for this moment, Matthias turns so he's facing her, and puts the last bit of pork pie down on the stones in case he ends up so shocked by whatever comes next that he drops it.]
I didn't know you could that. Impressions, like. Do it again.
[ She smiles a little, her shoulders coming a little hunched. ]
Sometimes I can.
[ Sometimes she sits in her room, or up on a rooftop, and tries to make her voice sound like others'--in her own register, but warping the shapes of the sounds until she could be imitating Bastien, or Fitcher, or Derrica. Only with Matthias can she reliably think of things that really sound like what he would say, though. ]
You're easy to do, y'know, because I talk to you a lot. Other people, they're harder.
[He laughs again, pleased and something a little like pride--she's so cool, how did he end up with a cool girlfriend?]
Yeah, but that's brilliant. You could likely do anyone if you spent enough time talking with them. I couldn't do that. Like I've spent just as much time talking with you, right, and there's no way I could sound like you. Not that closely. You wouldn't even want to hear me try.
I reckon that's a special skill of yours, then. Something you could show off. It'd charm people, like.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
action but let's say it's before the abomination and i'm just late ok (sorry)
It had sounded very simple when Athessa had said it at the party. And Matthias had jumped to his feet and gone running off, fully prepared to track Laura down and ask her just that, in that very moment. Halfway up the stairs to her room, all of the wine and elfroot in his stomach and his wherever-elf-root-goes (veins?) had sent a wave of dizziness through Matthias like no other, and he had sat down upon the stairs instead and then he had just fallen asleep, so--
Well. The next morning he'd woken up and thought, maybe there was a better way to ask Laura, and he had decided to think about it for a bit, which then became quite a bit.
But here they are today, sat on the battlements in the sunshine together and eating lunch. Matthias, with his mouth absolutely full of pork pie, looks over at Laura and thinks, all right. Now.]
Hey-- [Oh, hang on. He pulls a face and holds up one finger--hang on, hang on--swallows his bite so he's not asking this with globs of pork in the way--] Er, sorry. What would make you happy? Like--really genuinely happy. In the future, I mean. Not--the big future, necessarily, but maybe that as well, if you've thought of that--but it can be the close future if that's easier.
no subject
Matthias speaks, then pauses, and Laura waits, swallowing her own bite of pie in turn. ]
I-- [ Don't know. What would make her happy? An orange. Going someplace new. Kissing Matthias. Petting Biter. Feeling like a person. She falls quiet, thinking, then asks: ] What would make you happy?
[ Maybe she can figure out her answer when she knows his. ]
no subject
[But he doesn't mind, and he grins over at her to show her.]
I'd be happy like this, I reckon. If we were together somewhere and we had things to do--jobs and all--and we were helping people, and we got to travel, and we had a place to live. Food to eat. I don't think I need very much. But I'd want, y'know, the world, and all, to be better as well. I dunno that I could be really properly happy if things weren't better.
[Well. He squints.]
And... maybe I wouldn't live in the Gallows.
no subject
I am not sure. But--
[ If she's going to play, and play fairly, she has to try coming up with an answer. So she thinks over the possibilities as she finishes her pie, wiping her fingers on her breeches. Her answer, when it comes, is hesitant. ]
When people meet me...I want them to think I am normal. I do not want them to see a murderer, or a...
[ The words stick in her throat. After a moment or two, she gives up; some things, she can't bear to voice, even to Matthias. ]
I want people to talk to me like you talk to me.
no subject
Well, I talk to you like this 'cause I like you. [Well. Now he's conscious of his face, and how pink in the cheeks he's gotten, but he pushes on--] So all we've got to do is make people like you, which will be easy, 'cause you're easy to like. And I would know, seeing as I like you.
[Simple sound logic. He bumps his shoulder against hers, then goes back to leaning.]
We'll be heroes of Riftwatch. Everyone will automatically like us a little bit, just based on that. That'll give you, what, like twenty or thirty points, I reckon, just to start with.
no subject
[ Because she likes Matthias' dreams, too: travel, helping others, finding other, better-smelling places to sit together and eat their midday meals. And a place to come home to, small enough that a fire will warm it. ]
Sometimes I try to talk more like other people. And to move more like them. But it feels... [ She shrugs. Strange. Like putting herself in a costume, not unlike the cat disguise she'd worn in Nevarra. With an attempt at his accent and pattern of speaking, observed over the course of a year: ] And if I bollocks it up, then they'll be even more suspicious, I reckon. They'll know I've been playing a part the whole time.
no subject
Hey! You can't do me! That's not on!
[They'll get back to serious stuff in a moment. He's not done with that. But for this moment, Matthias turns so he's facing her, and puts the last bit of pork pie down on the stones in case he ends up so shocked by whatever comes next that he drops it.]
I didn't know you could that. Impressions, like. Do it again.
no subject
Sometimes I can.
[ Sometimes she sits in her room, or up on a rooftop, and tries to make her voice sound like others'--in her own register, but warping the shapes of the sounds until she could be imitating Bastien, or Fitcher, or Derrica. Only with Matthias can she reliably think of things that really sound like what he would say, though. ]
You're easy to do, y'know, because I talk to you a lot. Other people, they're harder.
no subject
Yeah, but that's brilliant. You could likely do anyone if you spent enough time talking with them. I couldn't do that. Like I've spent just as much time talking with you, right, and there's no way I could sound like you. Not that closely. You wouldn't even want to hear me try.
I reckon that's a special skill of yours, then. Something you could show off. It'd charm people, like.