Open!! Princess would like to steal that lap. :3c?

[mtsilver_conquor]

Who: Eva + Khardeen. Eva and You. Princess and you?
What: Eva and Khardeen have a chat. Eva fiddles with the Welcome Leaflets in prep for new arrivals; and Princess is Sassy. also that's his laundry basket now.
Where: Various.
When: Egret 28-30
Warnings: see subject lines.

Closed: Khardeen (day 28, morning)
She'd managed to beg off any explanations until today, which was good. She'd needed the day to decompress and get her head back on straight. It wasn't as straight as it could be, but she was doing better than two nights ago. It'd taken the whole day and she was not ashamed she'd spent it in leaf-print PJs and a cloak with a pillow or two that had been liberally hugged. Honestly, it'd been a day well spent and a needed break for her mind.

Now it was to deal with the donphan in the room. - Which is why she'd grabbed a thermos or two of tea and a plate of food and headed to find Khardeen. Was she looking forward to the topic? Oh hell no. But she'd promised and Eva as, if nothing else, some who kept them.

"Hey, got a moment or two? I've some explanations for you."


Standard Car- OTA
Eva is very prompt to make herself at home on one of the tables in the Standard Car in the coming days, and gives absolutely zero cares she very much stands out -she is, after all, dressed in what looks suspiciously like stolen clothing from the aborted mission. None of it is orange, and most of it's actually in greeny-browns tones outside the vibrant blue sash she's sporting. Eva doesn't care if she's called out- it feels good to be in something other than PJs or trainclothes thank you very much.

Though, if that doesn't get attention, she's covered the table in paper, be it from her notebook or welcome leaflets in the process of being edited yet again, or what looks like some sort of calendar (or two...) in the making. The first one -the nonpersonal one- will later be pinned up next to all the ICPs.

Now and again, though, she does flag down somebody. "Hey. Do you mind giving this a look over?"


Princess- Anywhere, OTA. (Eva by calling her)
There is a bored fairy-type pokemon on the train, and for those who can sense it, there's a feeling of coiled power within; he is level 80 after all and impossibly stronger than he looks. One of the strongest pokemon in the universe. And Eva's turned him loose with a strip of cloth tied to the collar that says 'if he's too annoying, call for Iden'no Eva.'. Because of course she has when she trusts the fairy.

The fabric is annoying but after a few rounds of scratching, Princess doesn't seem to mind and heads off in search of his own entertainment- AKA You. Princess isn't picky.

Sassy Smug Highlights include:
--Begging for food from the kitchen -he's cute :3c? (and, as people sould know by now, eats anything and everything)
--smugly camping out in various laundry baskets (clean, dirty, empty. Does not matter. They are his now)
--Cat-loafing on a table. Any table. You mean it wasn't designed for him? Too bad. He's here now. Deal with it. :3
--Chairs too, though more likely to hide under them and try and trip people up via telekinesis on shoes/pants. As long as it doesn't seriously hurt people, he will pull pranks where he can. He is a fairy after all.
--Any open laps on people who look like they'd give good scratches. Or people he knows by scent. Laps are laps after all.
--Or maybe he's Singing. Because you know, it's fun cause people to randomly drift off, or take a nap.
--He's stolen a beanbag and won't give it up. The smuggest pokemon ever.

Of course, that doesn't mean he can't be found with his human, be it hiding behind her skirts or taking over her lap so she can't work. The clefairy doesn't seem to care. Though, some may catch them napping in the Game Car at night, Eva sprawled out against a beanbag yet somehow curled around her pokemon.

If disturbed, they both look up with an uncanny blink and Eva curls defensively around the clefairy. "Hmm?"

Comments

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Fate. We call Fate a fox, and every so often, it grabs someone and yeets them into whatever destiny it has planned."

She sounds so, so unhappy about that. "But, like I said, I do actually know how to survive mid-air ditches. The first thing you do is recall the bird, wait a few seconds, then send it out under you. The landing's shit and you do go into another dive, but you pull out soon enough and you're back to flying. But if there's not much room, then all you do is ready to go right into a roll. Not the nicest but it keeps you alive at least."

[sell_tickets]

"Yeets?" he asked with a laugh. "And how does remembering a bird help? I think maybe I should teach you how to build an airslide next time we're outside somewhere with some height."

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Yeets means to throw or punt." Often unwillingly, but she's not getting into her issues with fate.

"Remeb... Ah. Sorry, sorry. Terms from my world." Even after all the time on the train, she still forgot. "You've seen Princess's monsterball, yes? And the flashes of light that signal his return to or vanishment from the world? To ditch a bird means to jump off the pokemon you're riding while mid-air. When you do that, you then have to recall it back to it's monsterball ASAP as the recall beam doesn't have an unlimited range. And then you have to send it out again directly under you."

[sell_tickets]

He blinked picturing this, and fighting his instinctive urge to throttle her for her own good. "And you want to do something like this... why....?"

[mtsilver_conquor]

Eva gaze turns hollow and haunted. "Because there was no other choice. Just because I know how to do it safely doesn't mean I'd do it for fun. Freefall without a flier under you is terrifying."

[sell_tickets]

He snorted a bit, some humor coming back to his blue eyes. "Can you kindly inform Jaenelle of that? While I'd grant that she rigged up a neat trick for us out of that, we'd all prefer a few less heart attacks. apparently she's been jumping off buildings since she was little."

[mtsilver_conquor]

Eva's eyes go wide, like she's suddenly on the spot re: that request, and as far as she knows, she is, even though he could just be asking as a friend, but at the same time, she can't assume that because Warlord here, and-

Gods.

"Uhh... I can try? She's... Umm... She sounds like she's of your status, my lord. Which is far above my own, even with all the titles because of my fame, and also above my boyfriend too, who's a Kazoku Family child, and I'm so not-, but you're a Warlord. Um."

The ground needs to swallow her up right now. Please.

[sell_tickets]

He laughed. "Calm down, first of all being a Warlord is just my Caste. I think you're confusing it with being Aristo, which I also am and also doesn't matter. Because you're a friend. Status like that doesn't matter with friends. And she's actually higher than I am both as an Aristo and in Caste, but she also prefers to be informal with her friends."

He was quite amused, honestly. "The only ones who might object to you telling her what to not do will pull back those objections when they hear WHAT it is you're telling her not to do. You don't serve her, so she's less likely to growl at you over it. Honestly it'll probably be me she'll go hissy cat at."

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Ah. That's good to know. It's... It's not like that back home."

As far as she knows and she's pointedly not going to think on that.

"Why would she get hissy at you?"

That seems a safer topic.

[sell_tickets]

"Because, as she will no doubt inform all who can hear her, I am a stubborn snarly over protective fussy bossy male," he said with a rich laugh. "I promise you, neither Caste nor wealth stops anyone I know from being either stubborn sheep or going hissy cat." A bright smile.

then a drop more serious. "There are times that call for formality, and knowing when those are and how to act is part of protocol. But there are some easy warning signs to know if you are getting close, or maybe even there. If a Blood Male, as I am a Blood Male, has glazed eyes, you want to be very still, very polite, and ask nicely for a favor." It was more complicated than that, but based on the relationships she was likely to have with any Blood Male who arrived, that was the best way to keep her safe. And alive. "If the air gets cold or ice starts to form on things, again, polite and as exact and formal as possible. And, you know, if you see one of the Blood killing someone... formal is probably your safest bet there too, until you know Protocol. But the rest of the time, most of my friends and the court? We'd rather be friends and friendly than fuss with Caste and Rank and such."

Then he grinned again and leaned back, "and if it helps at all, some of the strongest, richest, and most powerful Blood I know... are afraid of members of their own staff," he said with a laugh. "But then if you ever saw Mrs. Beale with her cleaver you'd be afraid of her too," he teased.

[mtsilver_conquor]

Eva nods, and while there's a slight head-tilt, there's a seriousness in her eyes that is so very rarely seen on the train outside missions. "Understood. Wouldn't be the first time I've had to be careful around those who could take me apart if they were so minded or I so much as breathed wrong."

The humour's a little morbid, but it's very much truth and she doesn't seem to bothered by it. "Oh, probably! It's my understanding that staff have the wonderful ability to make life either wonderful, or unpleasantly tolerable, and I'd hazard that replacing them is more trouble than it's worth."

[sell_tickets]

"More like no one has the ****s to fire her," he said with a laugh. Then he shook his head. "Actually no one would want to, she makes the best food in the realm. And listen, if you're under my protection you'd have to work hard to get any of my friends to actually want to kill you. It is just hard when we ride the killing edge. But we also have training how to pull each other out."

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Could be that, too," Eva agrees readily enough.

"The killing edge would count as if they were so minded, though I've got good instincts; comes with owning more than a few predators." Like say aerodactyl, for one. "But, in all honestly, it is good you can pull each other out. But, since they're not here, and I am a team leader. If I absolutely had to, would knocking you out somehow end it?"

[sell_tickets]

"If you could actually knock me out? Maybe. But when we're riding the killing edge we're faster and a whole lot more lethal. Thankfully I'm a Warlord, not a Warlord Prince. They can go from happy and easy to riding the killing edge and a heartbeat away from slaughter in under a second. My temper usually takes a lot more work. I also have a happier nature, generally." He gave her a grin. "I much prefer to laugh than to go cold. So I work towards that goal."

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Good, because I never want to have to knock out a friend." But she would if she had to, and Sing would be useful, even if it only brought a precious handful or two of seconds, it'd be enough of a distraction to actually knock him out.

"But I would if I had to. Also... Could I ask that you keep what I've said and implied about Fluffy to yourself?"

[sell_tickets]

"I'm not sure I could repeat or explain it if I wanted to," he assured her." He considered. "If I... or any other Blood male goes cold and you need to stop us, your best bet is to as politely as you can ask us a favor that is... obviously and ridiculously easy. Something you clearly could do for yourself. The request coming from a female who is not our enemy has a chance of slowing us down enough to actually start thinking again, and the absurdity might be enough to pull us the rest of the way back. Might. Once you learn Protocol, you'll learn better ways, but that is about the best stopgap I can think of, and is far better than trying to knock one of us out. And if it is someone other than me? Tell them I told you what to do and send them at me. I have a higher chance of survival if they're still ***** than anyone else on the train."

That last part was a lie, of course. He was male and Blood. He would be the most tempting target. But protecting is a right and he was claiming it.

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Noted. Yet if I can't do that for whatever reason, it's better to ask as a favour, to, like, pick up something I dropped or to escort me to the next car or to turn the page of a book I'm reading?" There's a hint of a quick mischief-making grin amongst the seriousness about to her. "I'll be sure to come up with a list of such."

She seriously will. This is life or death matters in her mind, and her psychic scent might/should tell how serious she's taking it no matter how her words come across as.

"As for the other thing..." she means what she asked. "Would..." a swallow. She's not a diplomat and if she asked before this talk, she doesn't recall. "Would that be a favour, Khardeen-dono? Unless I asked it before-?"

[sell_tickets]

"Escort you back to another car is probably the best on that list," he said with a chuckle. "Daemon especially is known for messing with books. Or maybe he just does that to Surreal." He grinned impishly.

"Would which be a favor?"

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Alright," Eva says simply before a wry but tired smile crosses her face.

"Could I ask that you keep what I've said and implied about Fluffy to yourself? Please."

[sell_tickets]

"Ah, no that wouldn't be a good example of one to use because it requires inaction, not action." He gave her a small smile. "doesn't distract from whatever *****ed us the ****s off."

[mtsilver_conquor]

Eva shakes her head. "I'm not talking about hypotheticals. I'm talking about now, here."

Despite how steady her voice is, fear is worming its way into her mind. "If someone from my world arrives, and they can't ever know the truth about Fluffy."

[sell_tickets]

"I already said I wouldn't say anything, you're fine, Eva." He kissed her temple.

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Thank you."

It's heartfelt and honest and so maybe she leans against him - an older brother? maybe?- a bit bonelessly for a few seconds before straightening and offering a wry smile. "I- sorry. I don't think I actually remember asking, which tells me I was likkly exhausted."

[sell_tickets]

He kissed the top of her head and put an arm around her to pull her gently back. "Which tells me you need all the more fussing." he said, teasing gently.

[mtsilver_conquor]

Eva shrugs as best she can with a wry grin.

"Maybe, but it's also a sign I was mentally exhausted. PTSD is 'funny' with human memory like that. But, I promise I'm fine, now."