07.01b: The Seventh Winter (Fireside Chat)

[misfit]

"Dworkin may not have intended whispers, but in a group such as this they are inevitable. Such is the price of secrecy. In the absence of hard facts people will invent their own to suit their own natures. Some will invent tales that will aggrandize them, while others will create dark rumors to portray themselves as the victims. I for one find amusement in their idle speculations and moreso in their chagrin when they are found to be baseless."

Nuall glaces at the commotion by the refreshment table, and then goes back to his conversation.

"So friend Quin, you said something about a wager? I am fond of games and gambling. How shall we proceed? "

[Joshua]

"That's right, you're one of the lucky ones. How about a challenge?" He smiles, "Three things you and Asai have in common for three yes or no questions, truthfully answered. Specifically, three things form your past, and the fact you both walked a pattern doesn't count, it was two different patterns."

He looks between the lemur and human, "Seem good? Three things should be easy, and as consolation if you lose, I'll name three things you have in common."

[misfit]

"I am willing to take you up on your challenge my friend, but I cannot speak for the Lady. For this challenge to proceed she must be a party to it. It would be rude indeed for me to try and ferret out details of her life without her consent. How say you Lady? Do we take Quin up on is challenge or find some other sport?"

[Veyska]

((Sorry for slow reply, brain was AWOL when I first read the message and then I got distracted by errands today and forgot again...))

"I presume the challenge can be won by discussion and not simply hedging our responses with vague answers in the hopes the professor will be lenient in their grading?"

[Joshua]

"So, you're both non-committal," he grins, "But you don't have to demonstrate the other two. And yes, i'm expecting discussion."

[misfit]

"The other two...sounds like you've conceded one point already.

Things in common from out pasts? In common with such an uncommon woman? Hmmm...I grant it would a challenge indeed, for I hope her past is a more...noble...one than my own."

Nuall grins impishly.

"Very well, let's start with the basics of my past. As Quin and I have discussed earlier, it is of little moment now so I see no reason not to share some of it with you. Perhaps it will help you find these common points our mutual friend claims are there.

I am the seventh son of a Duke in my home...Shadow I believe you call them. I had three sisters as well, also all older than me. My parents tried to give me the education they felt right for a noble, even though we all knew that there was no chance of me ever holding any title of importance. The only service I could really be to my family was to marry for the family's political gain. I was just a pawn in their machinations. From an early age I found this offensive and fought back in the only way I knew. I rebelled against all that they tried to teach me, and began a campaign to be an embarrassment to the family. I spent my family's money on the most expensive garb and dedicated my time to drinking, gamble and brawling."

Nuall pauses and thinks for a moment. " You know, when I put it that way, it almost makes me sound like a bad person. Fortunately I know better." He smiles and winks.

"So milady, is there anything there that you think might suggest one of these similarities of which Quin speaks?"

[Veyska]

Asai arches one "eyebrow" as Nuall makes the passing remark about hoping her past was more noble than his, but holds her peace until he finished. "I will assume you were intending the 'virtuous' rather than the 'lineage' sense of the word 'noble', otherwise I have to wonder if someone hasn't spiked some of the drinks or food." She gives Nuall a grin that is equally impish but a lot pointier. "My lineage is as common as a common housepet's and frankly I don't really see why humans and other creatures get so bothered about ordinary bloodlines." A diffident shrug. "I was raised and trained to be useful around the university and I didn't mind this as I was able to learn far more than my human masters might have expected. Alcohol was prohibited to all but the staff, though those with the right connections could always get around that restriction, so I never developed a taste for it - I'd much rather have the fruit or grain before it turns - and other than one student several shadow-decades ago nobody was particularly interested in teaching an animal how to gamble. As well, given that the humans of my home shadow stand over two times taller and are proportionately larger than humans here, brawling was just simply out of the question."

Asai turns back towards Quin, her posture shifting subtly; a student sitting up straight to answer a teacher's question, almost. "Well assuming repeating something stated before is acceptable, neither of us is used to being in charge. For that matter, neither of us was really ever given the chance, but I don't know that that qualifies as an additional similarity. Both of us obtained, through one means or another, reasonably high quality educations, at least on a shadow-relative scale."

[misfit]

"So it would seem we were both born to situations that gave us advantages over the common people of our types. In the end we both rejected the roles that others assigned to us and followed our own paths."

"So friend Quin, how stands our score?"

[Veyska]

A snort of amusement. "I wasn't really ever given a chance to reject my role. Dworkin showed up, piqued my curiosity, and never really got around to explaining the whole dilemma of time differences. I suspect in time I would have begun to chafe, but it's equally possible some chance happening would have resulted in a place being opened for me among the staff. Perhaps a clean break was for the best, perhaps it was not. If there truly are infinite shadows out there, perhaps some day I will find out what might have been but until then it is this past I have to live with."

[Joshua]

"I feel like I've been had... but that's... you were both pets, both educated, and both have no idea what having power is like." He shakes his head... "So, 3 yes/no questions, I will answer or find the answer to. Within reason."