Oh, ha ha. Think there's a court missing its jester somewhere - you know, you can't just compare everything with horns to a clemar, that's just rude.
[ and yet he mostly just sounds like he's been bullied as opposed to mad about it. in the meantime he looks at the poro held in his hands. it is very soft. ] What's the point of this thing, it's a walking stuffed animal...
it is exactly that. the poro allows him to squish it, seeming like it enjoys the motion. its little leggies kick kick kick. ]
You're telling me you don't lay around getting fed grapes all day with a fancy outfit like that? [ she says wryly, pushing her hair out of her face. the poro yawns widely in his face and watches him with sleepy content. ]
Looks like it likes you. You really are kindred spirits.
[ help - the wry comment gets a huff, and he looks down at the poro with a similar expression. something wry, something nostalgic. something a little sad, somewhere, deep below the surface. ]
Not even back when things were normal. [ fondly: ] My father would say a noble lord ought not rest on his laurels - there's a land to run and people to be helped. He'd not even let me sleep in past the sunrise, most days.
He was right, but I was a brat about it anyhow. [ with a soft chuckle. ] Some things are better learned when you're older.
[ ... anyway. that's kind of sad, and so he shifts with the sleepy, content little fluffball, and makes his way over to vi. ] Come here, why don't you get covered in goat hair - I bet it likes you too.
[ huh. she should be annoyed that he's a noble, but she isn't. vi's been around cait long enough to know that it isn't all black and white, that sometimes, someone does see the side where the grass is less green. maybe cait fucked that one up, but there was something there.
strohl doesn't look down on her. he doesn't have that topsider smell to him, so vi takes this in stride, watching him with an expression that isn't sympathetic, necessarily, but understanding. ]
... My dad was like that too. [ she says, as a casual aside. ] You earn your keep, just like everybody else.
[ and then, when he brings the fluffball over, she snorts, and reaches to rub behind the horns. its legs shoot out straight and it goes all stiff, like WAH. and then it melts. oooooh... nice. ]
[ his voice quiets a little. just as casual. ] ...Sounds like a good man.
[ the 'was' doesn't go unnoticed, and something soft twists in his chest in sympathy. standing in the shadow of his parents is a daily occasion for strohl, and seven years have done very little to ease the grief. he's done little to live up to their legacy beyond just trying to hold their lessons like ashes fluttering through his fingers, and being in this strange place seems to live little room for it. not sympathetic, but understanding. he gets it, too.
he gives the poro an obnoxious little push in her face afterwards. it's still very gentle because he's not a monster but also get goat hair'd idiot ]
Not like we have much keep-earning to do on 'vacation'. I thought I'd cook something for my roommate, but there's not a damned kitchen anywhere. It might really make me lazy. [ it won't ]
[ she'll give him that much. she doesn't know how much she wants to talk about it - years, and it still hurts, but she figures... yeah, he probably gets it. he actually probably gets it more than she knows, in fact, but it's fine.
she huffs out an amused sound when he shoves the goat at her, and she just takes it from him because it's basically like holding a stuffed animal. it is so pliant and loving. you could do whatever you wanted to this thing and it'd be like yay! so vi holds it and pets it, but leaves room for him to pet if he wants to, as well. ]
You any good at it? [ a beat. ] Man, I don't think you've been lazy in your life, and I've known you five seconds.
[ courtesy of lord halia - that slightly nostalgic smile remains as he goes to start scritching the poro under the chin, in the meantime. ] Cooking, laundry, cleaning, house management - all of it. I didn't really do it much until recently, but I like to think I'm a decent hand at it.
You look like you'd taste good. [ to the poro - he is clearly joking and cutely baby talks it. ] Huh? Little guy? Might make a good dinner...
[ he baby talks this little creature and it doesn't speak human words so it really just is like a dog where it's like yeah!! yeah!! wriggling around happily at being scritched and threatened with stew. vi is so amused by it. ]
Wow, you'd make a perfect househusband, huh. [ teases. vi said you're gonna make a great wife to someone someday ]
I can't cook worth a shit, by the way, so I'm leaving that up to you, if we do find a place.
[ help. he snorts and gives her a huffy look. a househusband... ]
Something like that. [ when he has all the little lord and lady haliaetuses and carries on his family line in the comphet of it all....
still, goodnatured as ever as he's bullying (?) the little poro, mostly just babytalking it and grabbing onto its little feets and wiggling them. ]
Oh, I'm not going to be your househusband, that's for sure. [ nyehehe. teasing. ] I'm not letting Hulkenberg anywhere near it, either, so that's fine. You can wash dishes.
[ buts so easily and casually talking about it like, yeah, duh, if we find somewhere to hole up, of course that includes you. ]
she laughs at that, watching him play with the poro. ]
Don't worry, you're not my type. I like 'em with a little more around here. [ gestures at. her chest. she likes boobs. which is such a funny thing to say because then he follows up with the casual assurance that she'd just get invited to dinner, even though she invited herself.
a beat. the poro lets out a low little woooo sound, licking her arm, and she blinks a few times before easing back into her shitlord persona. ]
Great. It's been ages since I've had anything but prison food, so even if you fuck up, it'll be better than slop.
[ GOD he makes a face at this he does not want to look at your boobs
however!! he's going to make fun of her for this until the very last part, and it catches his attention - head tilting up just slightly to look at her from where he's playing with the goat fluffball baby. ]
[ yeah. of course. visibly - anger flashes across his face, expression momentarily thunderous. ]
Of course. [ scathing. sure, right. it's always like that. no different in euchronia, either - what person in power doesn't hunt down an easy scapegoat? what person in power doesn't sacrifice the lives of many for their own gain? how many people suffer because someone else manipulates a system? ]
Sorry, Vi. I know that doesn't mean anything, in the end. [ but, still. it pisses him off!! ] You know who threw you in there?
[ she doesn't mind the anger, honestly. she feels it. she wasted so much time, locked away. it itches under her skin, the reminders everywhere. ]
Nah. I feel like you mean it, so. [ she says, idly, brushing at her nose with her shoulder. ]
I've got a good idea, but I don't care about that specific guy. Wasn't personal, I was just convenient. It's all the topside's deal, and they're never going to change.
he folds his arms across his chest, frown deepening even further. it doesn't sit right - it reminds him of home. of grand trad, really, the execution of the lower classes in the streets. he jitters a little where he's standing, frowning deeper. ]
Yeah. Our city - their city, we're just the dirt under their nails. Piltover. City of Progress. The topside is exactly what it sounds like, clean, fresh air, scientists with their heads up their asses.
I'm from the undercity. Fissure folk, with barely any clean water and people who can't make ends meet. Home sweet home.
[ i forgot she was holding a poro in this thread so she'll let it go for now, though it doesn't go far it just flops out at her feet and starts snoring. ]
[ yeah, that feels familiar. like walking through the back alleys of grand trad - yet, the best meals he ever had, the best time he's ever had has been spent in the dingy hushed honeybee. it's frustrating to hear that kind of social stratification occurs everywhere, if not surprising. ]
Sounds like an awful 'city of progress', if the progress' on the backs of the people who live there.
[ the undercity really is like if you took sunshade row and put it underground. like if you took the paripus problem, and put it out of sight. ]
That's always how it is. It's how it's always been - I grew up knowing that I was less than any of them. [ she says, with a touch of fury to her voice. she shoves her hands in her jacket pocket, glancing away. ]
... You're a noble, right? You'd be a topsider.
[ like just... in social standing? that's where he'd be. but she doesn't say this like she thinks he's the enemy, she says it in the sort of way where - she'd want to trust he'd try to fix things. hesitantly. like she's been burned before. ]
[ yeah. man - hearing that grinds his gears but he can't say it's surprising, either. prejudice and despair are the norm, but it burns strohl now as much as it always has, if not more now that he's spending his time traveling with will. ]
My parents always taught me that nobility is not about having status or being better. It's about the fact that if you've been granted some sort of privilege by society, you ought to use it to help people. Not just your friends, or your cronies, or your sycophants - people, your people. It is a responsibility.
[ he's made a similar point before, reiterated now. nobility is a sacred duty. noblesse oblige. ]
I don't stand for a society like what your topsiders do. Euchronia's no different - I watched a man use his last words to scorn Will, say he couldn't bear to be saved by an elda. It's ridiculous. [ he's getting a little heated again, as usual - the awful soldier as much as the paripus in the mines, miserable, used as bait. it makes his stomach churn. ] But, we're going to make it different.
[ she watches him for a moment, and she feels it - she knows that anger, too. she's felt that anger since she was a little girl, and it's cooped up, now, it's curled in her chest like a heavy little ball. but. ]
You know, you say that, and I believe you, a little.
[ dangerous. that's dangerous, because she's been burned before. recently. so, so recently, right before she got here. we're doing this to make things better. join up with me, and you'll see. vi rolls her shoulders. ]
I knew someone who thought the same as you. She rejected the desk job her mother got her to be out on the streets, hands on. But she lost it. Whatever good she thought she was going to do went out the window and into the gutter when her mother got caught in the crossfire.
If the gunk under your shoes, the lowest of the scum, the people you're trying to save, killed your captain? Would you still believe in what you were trying to do?
I've never considered anyone the gunk under my shoes.
[ never once. but, he knows what she's saying, and he gives its due weight.
in the future, he'll face the horrors of horrors - he'll face will transformed into a monster, and he'll face it with fear and regret it for the rest of his life. in the split second, strohl will return to himself, but that split second of doubt will rattle him - though not enough to send him crashing down. for now, though, he considers what could happen, if someone gutted will in the middle of the street.
there's a long, thoughtful silence. and eventually, slowly, strohl says: ]
I wouldn't stop believing in it. I'd be furious - course I'd be furious. Beyond it. I'm sure I'd lose my temper - I'm not going to pretend that I'd handle it with only kindness and grace in the very moment, no matter how much I'd like to.
But...the actions of one person don't determine the behaviour of many. Good or bad. If I were to blame a whole group of people for one action, I'd be no better than any of the bastards I've met on our way. That was their choice to make, their consequence to face, not the people's.
If someone killed Will, it'd be mine and the others duty to carry things on the way he'd want it to be. It's what we've done since we started for the Prince, anyhow.
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Oh, ha ha. Think there's a court missing its jester somewhere - you know, you can't just compare everything with horns to a clemar, that's just rude.
[ and yet he mostly just sounds like he's been bullied as opposed to mad about it. in the meantime he looks at the poro held in his hands. it is very soft. ] What's the point of this thing, it's a walking stuffed animal...
[ ...
squish squish (gentle) ]
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[ she absolutely is enjoying the fact that she gets to bully him though. it has been a hot minute since she has had anybody to bully. ]
I’ve got no idea what the point of them is, they’re useless for anything other than eating and being fluffy.
[ they are made of love… it squeaks and gives strohl a big sparkly eyed look. friend??? ]
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its giving this energy.... ]
Think I can tell. [ it is however very fluffy...squish squish ] Sounds like a charmed life, doesn't it?
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it is exactly that. the poro allows him to squish it, seeming like it enjoys the motion. its little leggies kick kick kick. ]
You're telling me you don't lay around getting fed grapes all day with a fancy outfit like that? [ she says wryly, pushing her hair out of her face. the poro yawns widely in his face and watches him with sleepy content. ]
Looks like it likes you. You really are kindred spirits.
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Not even back when things were normal. [ fondly: ] My father would say a noble lord ought not rest on his laurels - there's a land to run and people to be helped. He'd not even let me sleep in past the sunrise, most days.
He was right, but I was a brat about it anyhow. [ with a soft chuckle. ] Some things are better learned when you're older.
[ ... anyway. that's kind of sad, and so he shifts with the sleepy, content little fluffball, and makes his way over to vi. ] Come here, why don't you get covered in goat hair - I bet it likes you too.
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strohl doesn't look down on her. he doesn't have that topsider smell to him, so vi takes this in stride, watching him with an expression that isn't sympathetic, necessarily, but understanding. ]
... My dad was like that too. [ she says, as a casual aside. ] You earn your keep, just like everybody else.
[ and then, when he brings the fluffball over, she snorts, and reaches to rub behind the horns. its legs shoot out straight and it goes all stiff, like WAH. and then it melts. oooooh... nice. ]
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[ the 'was' doesn't go unnoticed, and something soft twists in his chest in sympathy. standing in the shadow of his parents is a daily occasion for strohl, and seven years have done very little to ease the grief. he's done little to live up to their legacy beyond just trying to hold their lessons like ashes fluttering through his fingers, and being in this strange place seems to live little room for it. not sympathetic, but understanding. he gets it, too.
he gives the poro an obnoxious little push in her face afterwards. it's still very gentle because he's not a monster but also get goat hair'd idiot ]
Not like we have much keep-earning to do on 'vacation'. I thought I'd cook something for my roommate, but there's not a damned kitchen anywhere. It might really make me lazy. [ it won't ]
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[ she'll give him that much. she doesn't know how much she wants to talk about it - years, and it still hurts, but she figures... yeah, he probably gets it. he actually probably gets it more than she knows, in fact, but it's fine.
she huffs out an amused sound when he shoves the goat at her, and she just takes it from him because it's basically like holding a stuffed animal. it is so pliant and loving. you could do whatever you wanted to this thing and it'd be like yay! so vi holds it and pets it, but leaves room for him to pet if he wants to, as well. ]
You any good at it? [ a beat. ] Man, I don't think you've been lazy in your life, and I've known you five seconds.
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[ courtesy of lord halia - that slightly nostalgic smile remains as he goes to start scritching the poro under the chin, in the meantime. ] Cooking, laundry, cleaning, house management - all of it. I didn't really do it much until recently, but I like to think I'm a decent hand at it.
You look like you'd taste good. [ to the poro - he is clearly joking and cutely baby talks it. ] Huh? Little guy? Might make a good dinner...
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Wow, you'd make a perfect househusband, huh. [ teases. vi said you're gonna make a great wife to someone someday ]
I can't cook worth a shit, by the way, so I'm leaving that up to you, if we do find a place.
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Something like that. [ when he has all the little lord and lady haliaetuses and carries on his family line in the comphet of it all....
still, goodnatured as ever as he's bullying (?) the little poro, mostly just babytalking it and grabbing onto its little feets and wiggling them. ]
Oh, I'm not going to be your househusband, that's for sure. [ nyehehe. teasing. ] I'm not letting Hulkenberg anywhere near it, either, so that's fine. You can wash dishes.
[ buts so easily and casually talking about it like, yeah, duh, if we find somewhere to hole up, of course that includes you. ]
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she laughs at that, watching him play with the poro. ]
Don't worry, you're not my type. I like 'em with a little more around here. [ gestures at. her chest. she likes boobs. which is such a funny thing to say because then he follows up with the casual assurance that she'd just get invited to dinner, even though she invited herself.
a beat. the poro lets out a low little woooo sound, licking her arm, and she blinks a few times before easing back into her shitlord persona. ]
Great. It's been ages since I've had anything but prison food, so even if you fuck up, it'll be better than slop.
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[ GOD he makes a face at this he does not want to look at your boobs
however!! he's going to make fun of her for this until the very last part, and it catches his attention - head tilting up just slightly to look at her from where he's playing with the goat fluffball baby. ]
... Prison, huh? What'd you do?
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anyway, that's fair. she adjusts the puffball in her arms, ignoring the complaining it does, and then: ]
Good question.
[ this could be mysterious but the way she says it kind of indicates she doesn't know. ]
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Strohl Smells An Injustice ]
...what happened?
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[ shrug. ]
Short version is topsiders needed a scapegoat for something, and everybody else was dead.
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Of course. [ scathing. sure, right. it's always like that. no different in euchronia, either - what person in power doesn't hunt down an easy scapegoat? what person in power doesn't sacrifice the lives of many for their own gain? how many people suffer because someone else manipulates a system? ]
Sorry, Vi. I know that doesn't mean anything, in the end. [ but, still. it pisses him off!! ] You know who threw you in there?
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Nah. I feel like you mean it, so. [ she says, idly, brushing at her nose with her shoulder. ]
I've got a good idea, but I don't care about that specific guy. Wasn't personal, I was just convenient. It's all the topside's deal, and they're never going to change.
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he folds his arms across his chest, frown deepening even further. it doesn't sit right - it reminds him of home. of grand trad, really, the execution of the lower classes in the streets. he jitters a little where he's standing, frowning deeper. ]
... You keep saying that. Topside.
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Yeah. Our city - their city, we're just the dirt under their nails. Piltover. City of Progress. The topside is exactly what it sounds like, clean, fresh air, scientists with their heads up their asses.
I'm from the undercity. Fissure folk, with barely any clean water and people who can't make ends meet. Home sweet home.
[ i forgot she was holding a poro in this thread so she'll let it go for now, though it doesn't go far it just flops out at her feet and starts snoring. ]
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Sounds like an awful 'city of progress', if the progress' on the backs of the people who live there.
[ derisive as hell ]
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That's always how it is. It's how it's always been - I grew up knowing that I was less than any of them. [ she says, with a touch of fury to her voice. she shoves her hands in her jacket pocket, glancing away. ]
... You're a noble, right? You'd be a topsider.
[ like just... in social standing? that's where he'd be. but she doesn't say this like she thinks he's the enemy, she says it in the sort of way where - she'd want to trust he'd try to fix things. hesitantly. like she's been burned before. ]
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[ yeah. man - hearing that grinds his gears but he can't say it's surprising, either. prejudice and despair are the norm, but it burns strohl now as much as it always has, if not more now that he's spending his time traveling with will. ]
My parents always taught me that nobility is not about having status or being better. It's about the fact that if you've been granted some sort of privilege by society, you ought to use it to help people. Not just your friends, or your cronies, or your sycophants - people, your people. It is a responsibility.
[ he's made a similar point before, reiterated now. nobility is a sacred duty. noblesse oblige. ]
I don't stand for a society like what your topsiders do. Euchronia's no different - I watched a man use his last words to scorn Will, say he couldn't bear to be saved by an elda. It's ridiculous. [ he's getting a little heated again, as usual - the awful soldier as much as the paripus in the mines, miserable, used as bait. it makes his stomach churn. ] But, we're going to make it different.
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You know, you say that, and I believe you, a little.
[ dangerous. that's dangerous, because she's been burned before. recently. so, so recently, right before she got here. we're doing this to make things better. join up with me, and you'll see. vi rolls her shoulders. ]
I knew someone who thought the same as you. She rejected the desk job her mother got her to be out on the streets, hands on. But she lost it. Whatever good she thought she was going to do went out the window and into the gutter when her mother got caught in the crossfire.
If the gunk under your shoes, the lowest of the scum, the people you're trying to save, killed your captain? Would you still believe in what you were trying to do?
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[ never once. but, he knows what she's saying, and he gives its due weight.
in the future, he'll face the horrors of horrors - he'll face will transformed into a monster, and he'll face it with fear and regret it for the rest of his life. in the split second, strohl will return to himself, but that split second of doubt will rattle him - though not enough to send him crashing down. for now, though, he considers what could happen, if someone gutted will in the middle of the street.
there's a long, thoughtful silence. and eventually, slowly, strohl says: ]
I wouldn't stop believing in it. I'd be furious - course I'd be furious. Beyond it. I'm sure I'd lose my temper - I'm not going to pretend that I'd handle it with only kindness and grace in the very moment, no matter how much I'd like to.
But...the actions of one person don't determine the behaviour of many. Good or bad. If I were to blame a whole group of people for one action, I'd be no better than any of the bastards I've met on our way. That was their choice to make, their consequence to face, not the people's.
If someone killed Will, it'd be mine and the others duty to carry things on the way he'd want it to be. It's what we've done since we started for the Prince, anyhow.
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