Musings [Finished!]

[Bee]

It was an afternoon in which they were doing nothing in particular. Just sitting around the apartment, up in Mom's greenhouse (and oh, she would murder them if she knew, but she was at Court, so ha ha).

The neighborhood was calm. Dreadfully so. Thalia hated boredom more than just about anything--more than arson and murder, more than people who stood in front of you in line for eight years at the cafe and still hadn't decided what they wanted when they got up to the counter.

She had an itchy desire to do something, something fantastic, something grand. The neighborhood had seemed small and cramped, lately. Even with their little network of connections. The world was too small. She wanted to test herself, do something for the world. She thought she might know the right way to go.

Thalia blew a bubble with her little wand. It turned into a box of cereal, floated away, and popped on the ceiling.

Something needed to pop.

She turned and looked at Iskra. "So I was thinking about applying for a title."

[Dark]

Iskra had been almost-dozing in the soft, filtered sunlight of the greenhouse, lazily following the odd-shaped bubbles as they made their ascent, and didn't immediately respond to Thalia. For a moment she thought she might have misheard, but Thalia had a rather serious expression on her face for one who spent most of her waking moments completely disconnected from reality. Iskra stretched out and considered.

"Ya want ta enter the courts." Not exactly a question, but Iskra couldn't help but wonder why, though Thalia rarely needed a reason. Iskra felt something twist unpleasantly in her stomach. The opportunities and influence such an action would open up were staggering, and it was a good career move, but Iskra wouldn't be able to follow her friend. There was no way a Lowlander would be accepted into the courts, in any sort of capacity. The regional stigma was just too great. It probably didn't even occur to Thalia, precious thing that she was.

Still, if that was what Thalia wanted, Iskra would do her best to support her friend.

[Bee]

“Hmm-hmmmm,” Thalia confirmed, blowing a couple new little bubbles. These ones were a little doggie and a little bone, and they floated happily into the sky a few feet before they exploded. She sighed rapturously. “I was just thinking of what an adventure it would be. Aside from all the paperwork you have to fill out to so much as go to the bathroom, anyway.” Hadn’t Mom yelled about that? Thalia didn’t know why, quite. Mom was good about shoving her paperwork off on her underlings. Underlings lived in fear of Mom.

Well, they would live in fear of Thalia, too!

She was very scary.

“But! That’s what they have Jacks for, right? And I would be able to handle it. I can wrangle people. And I was thinking…I was thinking, what I’d really need by my side was a Tosiek, right? Because he’s all sly with his words. And then I’d need an Iskra, because she’s practical.”

[Dark]

Iskra blinked, surprised and flattered that Thalia wanted her along for the adventure. But Iskra was practical--practical enough to know that the Court wouldn't easily accept her, even if she stayed in Thalia's shadow. Still. Something fluttered, deep in her gut, as she considered the possibilities. Maybe, just maybe...

But the reality was that she was Lowlander; Lowlanders didn't do politics, or even polite company. They weren't allowedto be anything else; and no matter how well-off Iskra was compared to many others from her region of origin, she was still one of them in the eyes of everyone else. She loathed being stuffed into Their stereotypes, but she couldn't influence the way other people thought about her if they were dead set against her from the start. And the Court and higher-ups would be, guaranteed.

She frowned, trying to think of a way to convey this to Thalia. Communicating with Thalia was always tricky. She went for direct:

"Ya know 'm Lowlander, ya?"

[Bee]

Of course Thalia knew that Iskra was a Lowlander, it was as obvious as the green swirls on her cheeks, but she hardly saw the point. Well, she could, from a certain point of view, being that some people weren't overly fond of Lowlanders, but this she felt was different. She was not to be persuaded from this position.

"Yeah, but you're powerful," Thalia pointed out. She blew a particularly large bubble, watching it expand, before she finally shook it off the wand. It floated away and didn't pop within her sight. She felt that this was symbolic somehow but she didn't have any patience to suss it out. "When you've got enough skills, no one cares what you look like, you can shoot them in the face with magic." She wiggled her bubble wand at Iskra. "Besides, if you don't try to rise above other people's stupid, you never will."

[Dark]

Iskra smiled faintly; she rather enjoyed the mental image of shooting someone in the face, perhaps a bit too much. On the most basic level, Thalia was correct. Iskra wasn't helpless: she had a keen eye for things, and she had recently grown in power; she wouldn't be a liability anymore if a situation turned towards bloodshed. And she was very practical; such practicality would be a highly-desirable quality to have in a sometimes too-frivolous Court. If she were honest with herself, she longed for the challenge; and she didn't want to be left behind.

Even if she had to remain in Thalia's shadow it was still worth it; Thalia's friendship was more important than the opinion of a couple over-opinionated asses, and it wasn't like they would have anything to say that she hadn't heard already.

Time to take a stand, she supposed.

"A'right. 'm in."