I'll Make You Eat Your Words [Open]

[Vyn]

"Hey there little guy. You want a cookie? Huh? You want a cookie?"

Tybalt's ears flattened back against his skull and he stared at the bipedal ox with a look of disdain that could have killed. Yet, miraculously, the man kept offering him the fucking cookie. Wiggling it in front of his face and babbling the same stupid phrase in the same stupid baby voice. Like he was some kind of blasted ACE.

The ox in all of his 'infallible' kindness had witness Tybalt being forcibly kicked out of the store where he had been trying to buy some lunch.

No clubs.

He got it. He got it, but this meathead had to add insult to injury and treat him like he was stupid too? Tybalt's teeth drew back and he just smiled. "Yeah. I do." Whatever. Give me the cookie and shut up! When the ox felt he'd crooned enough crap at him, the man finally wandered off and Tybalt was free.

Crunching down the cookie, Tybalt walked around the corner and immediately took his aggression out on a trashcan. He kicked it, thrashed it, and when it was on the floor he jumped up and down on the cheap tin until it finally crumbled into a pan underneath him.

[Kari Muffin]

Linnea was used to being looked down upon in the court of hearts. Most of the people just turned away and ignored her. If they said anything she knew that either her Father or Mother would get upset. And really, no one wanted that.

But here in the outside world she was "normal."

Though she was fairly high ranked compared to quite a few people. And it was hard not to notice her considering the smell. Her tail twitched as she scurried along.

Then she heard something. She turned around to see a boy being offered a cookie. He didn't look particularly dim... or particularly young. He as a Torquehelm though. So that could explain it, maybe a little? Mom had said people took pity on the reason or something like that.

She watched as he walked off, obviously angry about something. So why not follow. When she peaked around the corner she wasn't particularly surprised to see the boy was kicking things.

"You know, that's pretty unfair to the trash can. It can't hit back."

[Vyn]

Though he had smelt the squirrel's presence long before she'd actually spoken, he forcibly ignored her up until that point. Her voice made his ears flatten back and a mildly surprised sneeze to escape him.

For such a stinky thing, she had a pretty cute voice.

"Hmph. Like the trashcan cares? It can't feel anything." He rolled his eyes and, with a final stomp, turned to face her. He stood before her, the proud conqueror of a crumpled hunk of tin, and waited for her to recognize the blemish of society that he was.

Absently he noted that she too was a Club, but he'd already learned how little that really meant. Even Clubs found a way to look down on him, as if they were any better than him? He could raise his rank, he wasn't a stupid, magic-less Ace, and he was going to show them all one day.

And just like that the bad mood that he'd almost stomped out was back again. Without stopping to censor himself, he blurted out the first angry thought that popped into this head: "Why do you stink like that? I thought pretty girls were supposed to smell like roses and stuff?"

[Kari Muffin]

Linnea blinked at the boy when he looked like he had been victorious over the trashcan. She wasn't the least bit impressed by the little boy, and gave him a rather critical look. Then she finally noticed the mark on his chest.

A two of clubs?

She'd never met someone that low before.

She would have said something cordial in response to his remark, but he suddenly decided to insult her and compliment her at the same time. The squirrel's ears pulled back as she looked at him with her bright yellow slitted eyes. "Maybe the man talked down to you because you're a jerkface rather than a two." She said as she brushed back part of her mane with a paw. "With that attitude you're going to go nowhere in life. You didn't even introduce yourself before dishing out an insult. Your parents must have tried to pound respect into that skull of yours."

[Vyn]

Crap. Tybalt flinched the moment the little squirrel narrowed her unusual yellow eyes. Really, the longer he looked at her the more interesting he found her... but, he'd totally said the wrong thing. Not that he'd tried to censor himself any.

And she'd seen that humiliating encounter with the thickheaded oxen?

Standing up there with that little girl glaring at him, Tyb suddenly felt like the biggest idiot in the entire world. His ears collapsed back against his skull and he slumped off the can, never once looking back up into those critical eyes. She was right, and that was the worst part... Well, in every way except for his parents. They were both pretty easy on him, it was the rest of the world that liked to try and beat things into his head.

At least she hadn't attacked him or anything. He'd lost his tailtip in stupid scrabbles that started just like this.

He kicked at the loose gravel. "I..." He thought of a thousand excuses for why he'd done what he'd done but ultimately Lethe's advice came bubbling into mind: Excuses don't matter, it's your actions that count. He heaved a heavy sigh and thrust a paw out. "I'm Tybalt and I'm sorry for what I said... I'm just having a bad day, and you're right, I'm a jerkface." He finally glanced up, ears still low. "...I hope I didn't hurt you're feelings."

[Kari Muffin]

Much better.

At least people outside of the Court of Hearts listened to her. Then again this could hardly be considered a victory. It wasn't like he was an adult or anything impressive.

Linnea shrugged. "My name is Linnea. And I'm not all that offended. I do smell pretty bad, but I can't really help it. It's my region and Daddy is pretty convinced that people don't really mind the smell."

Mommy Xiven didn't mind. Daddy didn't mind. Family didn't mind. The rest of the world actually thought it was horrible. So she was probably going to go with the rest of the world when she was old enough to actually get someone to fix the smell.

"Do you have a lot of bad days?" She asked with a careful curiosity. He was a two, and from the looks of it no one really respected him. But so far, besides being rude, he didn't seem all that bad.

[Vyn]

Good, this was... salvageable.

Sometimes Tybalt forgot he importance of being nice to people and let his anger get away from him. Why was it that blasted little girls were always criticizing him about this? At least this one wasn't his sister.

"It's nice ta meet you. I didn't? I'm glad..." He tilted his head a little, ears slowly pulling forward as misery turned to interest. He thought a moment, pulling back one of the boring regional lectures his tutor blabbed at him. "So... you're from The Bog...?" A mix? Surely... He knew that Bogs had a smell and the whole air tank thing was pretty unmistakable when he noticed it, but the rest was off. And she sort of looked like someone wrote all over her and then spilled water on the ink. He was pretty certain that wasn't from anywhere. "...But your markings don't match."

Did he have a lot of bad days? The wolf could have howled with laughter but he contained it to a vague chuckle. "Every single day is a bad day when you're a Two of Clubs. I'm gonna change it, though. One day people will actually listen to me." And then all those bastards that had kicked him and called him stupid would pay. Oh how they would pay.

[Kari Muffin]

Linnea had been explaining herself for as long as she could remember. One day she hoped that she wouldn't have to. "I'm albino because of my Daddy, and the writing is because of my Mommy's weird." She motioned to the book that was attached to her. Most people were utterly fascinated by it.

Her tail curled around her as the boy continued to speak of his bad day. Maybe being a two of Clubs was like being a Club in the Court of Hearts. Though people treating you like an idiot to your face was a different story. Her eyes narrowed at the thought of Emeraude treating her like she was a four year old. "Why can't you try to change it now? I imagine if you acted like this all the time rather than staring blankly and kicking trash cans you could change people's view on you. And... it's not that hard to to up your rank. I used to be an eight."

[Vyn]

So it was writing? The canine leaned in a little, head tilted in curiosity though he resisted his urge to touch the pages of her strange... book. "Huh, that is weird, but it looks really cool all together." Least she wasn't a boring plain old Torque like he was. "Is it uncomfortable, that book thing?"

Her question caused the boy to bristle again, though not at all at her. She was cool, she seemed to get things like he did. Kids his age usually did unless they were a spoiled git of a heart or something. Guh.

"It's not like I don't usually try to be nice, most people just... never react well to me. As if I'm going to degrade away into a feral ace or something and if they are nice they're like that meathead earlier. I know what he was trying to do, but I'm not an idiot. No matter what I said he'd just smile and say 'look how well you speak!' and never hear a word out of my mouth." Tybalt snorted and smoothed his fur back down. She'd already raised her rank? "I mean, it isn't like I'm not working now..." Sometimes he just got a little sidetracked with anger or depression or, though he truly hated to admit it, he just didn't really know where to start.

He paused, staring thoughtfully at her 10 of Clubs. "What's it like? I mean, you're a pretty decent rank, people must respect you?"

[Kari Muffin]

Linnea eyed the boy with a mildly curiosity. Was his binding a clip on? That didn't seem very normal. Then again bindings were something that were a little beyond her understand. If Torquehelms needed them, why did her Mommy not have one? She'd asked, but she had never really gotten an answer she was satisfied with. And she wasn't about to ask this boy about it... he'd probably get offended.

"Thanks... it's not really uncomfortable." She wiggled her butt to emphasis her statement. "It's just like having a mane, just another part of the body, even though it's made of paper. The only problem is when someone pulls them out. I bleed quite a bit."

Her tail curled around her as the boy answered her question. Well. He was a two. She supposed people just liked being mellow dramatic about that sort of stuff. People were... special like that.

Then he asked his question.

The squirrel snorted, choking back laughter. She sat on her hind legs, bringing up a front paw to run through her mane. "I live in the Court of Hearts. It doesn't matter what I'm ranked, I don't get respect from anyone. The other kids... I wouldn't call it respect. But my parents love me... and that's all that really matters I guess."

At least that's what everyone told her.