MOUNT JUSTICE

September 14, 12:04 EST


"Wait, wait, wait," Wally said, mouth half-full of chips. "You and Supey are going undercover in Belle Reve to find out what the hell a handful of ice pops are up to?"

"Swallow before you speak," I hissed, drawing a hand up to my face, "I don't need to see your freaking bolus."

I practically heard him roll his eyes, "yes mom."

"To answer your question," M'gann cut in, "we are going undercover. Connor and I are going because we can fake being the Terrors." Connor was Superboy's new name, picked for his civilian identity, and we had all taken to calling him it. Superboy was more of a title, and he didn't have a Kryptonian name like Clark, so Connor was the new default.

"Tommy and Tuppence Terror?" Rob asked, "the super-strength twins who've been rampaging through the south?"

"No, it's different set of twins from California, they have telekinesis," she replied sarcastically.

I faked a gasp, pretending to wipe a tear from the corner of my eye, "was that sarcasm? I'm so proud."

She giggled behind her hand, "I learned from the best!" All of a sudden her smile fell away, "I'm sorry I'll have to miss your performance."

"Don't worry about it, there'll be one in like, three months for sure," I said, trying my best to reassure her. M'gann had been more excited than me to watch me dance, and had called me crying immediately after receiving the mission assignment from Bats.

Her face lit up, "to celebrate Christmas, right?"

I couldn't help smiling at her sheer childlike joy, "that's right. God knows what kind of costume Stephanie'll dream up this year, but it'll be either inappropriate or hideous, or both."

"Halloween'll come before then though," Rob pointed out, "so get excited for that first."

M'gann damn near combusted at the thought, hands clasped in front of her, eyes shining. There was the distant sound of heavy footfalls followed by three other pairs of feet and I patted her on the knee, "cavalry's here for you."

She jumped up, flinging herself into my arms. Despite myself I found my brain mapping out her face and the distinct, sunshine scent she carried with her, just in case.

She went around hugged the rest of the room, even wrapping Artemis in a bear hug and when Bats, Kaldur, Connor and Martian Manhunter appeared at the door she was ready to go.

As soon as I settled back into my seat my phone started vibrating, Jessi's caller ID flashing from where my phone rested on the table. Holding out a hand to cut Wally off mid-sentence, I held the phone to my ear, "hello?"

Jessi's voice came from the other line, "Ari, how much do you love me?"

"Not that much," I deadpanned, crossing my legs.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to come save me? My dad flew in for tonight and he and my mom are doing the passive aggressive thing."

I found myself scowling, her parents were a Dr. Phil episode waiting to happen, "where's Will?"

"Out with his friends, probably getting high somewhere. C'mon, you can bring those friends you mentioned."

I winced, I had offhandedly complained about Wally and Artemis, not even thinking about how I was going to explain how Dick's other best friend lived halfway across the country. "You do know Wally lives in Central City right? In Missouri, of all places?" Wally's eyes snapped up and I held out a finger, trying to placate him.

"And you told me he was flying in to see Dick this weekend, please? I want to meet them."

"Hold on," I dropped the phone from my ear, muting the receiver so Jessi couldn't hear me, "before I get yelled at, yes your SID's are safe, and also do you want to meet my psychotic friend?"

"Psychotic?" Wally asked.

I waved my hand, "the one with the ridiculous brother? I'm dancing for her thing tonight."

Artemis peered over the pages of her book from her curled position on the armchair, "shouldn't she be practicing? And shouldn't you, since you were complaining the whole time how little notice you had?"

I checked the clock on the wall, "it's like noon, the performance is at eight, if I start practicing this early I'll be worn out by the time I have to dance it for real. Day of rehearsals are pretty lax, I'm heading in at like six to see the stage and go through last minute stuff, we run through our pieces and get the hell out so other people have a turn and then Jessi gets to abuse my face and stuff me in whatever costume she picked out."

"Oh," Artemis said, blinking slowly, "I didn't realize it was so hectic."

I shrugged, "tiny performances like this usually are, if it was with an actual dance company it would be way more structured and you wouldn't have seen me for the past two weeks, but as is it's just going to be a lot of running around like a chicken with my head cut off in a three hour timeframe."

Jessi's voice curled into the air, "did you ask them yet?"

I momentarily un-muted myself, "will you hold on?"

"Hurry up!"

I looked back up at them, "please? She really wants to meet you two and I don't want to subject her to her dad all day, he's an ass. Plus that gives you two an excuse to come see me tonight."

Artemis lowered the book, "I don't know about that, is it fancy?"

Her hesitance made more sense now that I knew her background, "no, it's not gross and stuffy. You'd fit in wearing what you are now, Wally too, but he might want to brush the crumbs off his shirt."

That earned me a glare from him but she smiled, a rare expression, and any ire on Wally's part was instantly made worth it. He stopped staring me down too, instead shifting his gaze to Artemis' smile and I repressed the urge to gag as he stared dumbly at her.

"Wait," Rob said, "isn't there the whole matter of secret identities to worry about?"

I flicked my eyes towards him and then back to Artemis. He made a good point. I unmuted myself and brought the phone back up to my face, "Jessi hold on I'll call you back."

"Wait-"

I hung up on her, speed dialing Bruce's number. He picked up on the third ring, "yes?"

"Don't kill me but I may or may not have told Artemis confidential information about my identity."

There were a few seconds of silence and Rob and Wally nearly got whiplash from how fast they turned their heads. Bruce's voice was severe, "what did you tell her?"

"Not much, just how I got into the business and other such fond childhood memories." Rob turned to Artemis, almost asking something with his eyes and she curled further into her seat.

Bruce's sigh crackled across the line, "and what do you want to do about it? Get her to sign a confidentiality agreement?"

"No, I want to give her clearance to know who I am."

"Absolutely not."

I extended a finger towards the room and walked out, ducking into a hallway, "that's utterly unfair."

"Your identity is intrinsically linked with Dick's at this point, you can't tell me you're willing to hand over his too."

I rolled my eyes, "Wally already knows who we are, M'gann could reach into my brain and take everything I know if she wanted. You don't make me wear freaking sunglasses but Rob-"

He cut me off, "you know that's because you wouldn't even if I asked you to, and because it's your mother who has power over you there."

"Oh bullshit," I hissed, "admit it, the only reason you make Dick hide his identity is because you're trying to ingrain your rules in him because you want him to take on the Batman mantle eventually. For fuck's sake, I'm one of six people who know what his birthday is, none of the other League members are like this with their protégés."

"That's enough."

"You're right, it is enough, I'm telling her who I am, and she's coming to my thing tonight because she's my friend and I want her there. If you have a problem, take it up with my mother."

"Ara-"

I hung up, flicking through my contacts to dial Jessi. Marching back into the living room, Artemis, Wally and Dick's heads whipped up. "My last name is Williams, Wally already knows that, but no one else does so unless you're in the mood to bring down the wrath of Batman on yourself keep it between the four of us," I deadpanned, finally finding Jessi's number.

My eyes flicked up to Artemis' face as she lowered her book into her lap, "Arabella Williams?"

My name came out as more of a question as she tried it out and I nodded as I hit the call button, "Williams, meaning son of William. Oh, do yourself a favor and don't google me, you're too smart for your own good."

Jessi picked up, "well?"

I rolled my eyes, "Artemis is coming with me against her will and Wally's staying here."

"Awww, but I wanted to see them in action. They sound hilarious. I suppose you can't leave Dick all by his lonesome though." I made a little noise of assent, nabbing my bag off the couch, gesturing for Artemis to get up.

She raised an eyebrow and I stuck my phone between my shoulder and ear, clasping my hands in a pleading gesture. She sighed, grabbing a bookmark off the coffee table and I mouthed a quick thank you. Holding my phone again, I swung my bag onto my shoulder, "meet us on the corner of 5th and O'Donnel, okay?"

"On my way," she said, quickly followed by a dial tone. Tucking my phone in my bag, I turned to Dick, "you don't happen to have a USB with a virus that could get me backdoor access into an electronic seating chart lying around, do you?"

"Do I even want to know?" He asked, propping his face up on his hand to turn and look at me.

I shrugged, "probably not, if you're looking to avoid perjury."

He rolled his eyes, standing and making for the hallway that lead to our rooms here. I decided to follow him, pushing past the threshold and plopping down on his bed. He was rifling through his desk, and I found myself pinning my hands between my knees, "so I might have picked a fight with Bruce."

He laughed under his breath, "what else is new?"

"No, like an honest to god fight over telling Artemis my name. I hung up on him. You may have been involved. Just a little bit."

He stopped to look at me, "you didn't."

I dropped my gaze away from his, "possibly?"

He sighed, sitting down next to me, "I can fight my own battles you know."

I turned to face him, staring where his eyes would be if his sunglasses didn't cover them, "you shouldn't have to."

"No more picking fights with Bruce," he said, handing me the USB.

Standing up, I took it out of his hand, "no promises."

As I was headed out, I stopped in the hall and poked my head back around the doorframe, "Rob?"

He jumped a little, "yeah?"

I smiled, "thank you."

Artemis' voice called from down the hall and I raced back towards the Zeta Tubes before he could answer. She was waiting up against the wall, doing her best to look unhappy as Wally made his usual dorky quips. Her eyes flicked to me as I approached, and she stood up straight, "ready to go?"

I waved the USB in the air, "ready as I'll ever be."


GOTHAM

September 14th, 17:37 EST


"And then," Jessi said, sucking in air between breathy laughs, "he turns around tells her, 'oh and I'm rescheduling the end-of-term recital'. And she just… goes completely red and fucking squawks!"

"So," Artemis said, eyes bright, "you're telling me you sweet-talked the owner of your music school into switching the date of your recital because there was a party you wanted to go to that night?"

Jessi flopped down on a conveniently located bench, "yep, sounds about right. All I had to do was bat my eyelashes and tell him that I had only had two weeks to prepare and rehearse the choreography. Plus everyone else caught wind of it and they started pressing the issue too, because all of us would kill for extra time."

We were in Robinson Park, walking around and entertaining Artemis with stories from our shared adventures. The sun was starting to lower in the sky, turning everything a hazy blue. I sat next to Jessi, "only you would concoct a diabolical plan for the sole purpose of going to a rager."

"It was Sebastian Lockwood's end of summer party, I had to be there!" she exclaimed with flailing hand gestures. "Plus with the sheer amount of money my dad donated to that music school the owner's practically on his payroll."

Artemis pointed a raised clock a few feet away, "if you guys want to be there for six you should be on your way soon."

I flicked my eyes over to it and realized she was right, we had like twenty minutes. I stood, "okay, so here's what we're going to do. I'm going to arrange your guy's seating when I get there, and there are ushers that'll bring you to them. Just make sure you get Wally and bring him on time."

Artemis looked wary but nodded, "I'll probably go home and tell my mom."

"Sounds like a plan!" I said, flashing her my brightest grin. We parted ways there, considering she lived on the opposite end of Robinson from where we needed to be. A quick cab ride later and we were outside of Jessi's music school.

When we came in we approached a graying receptionist who had the most horrible case of resting bitch face I had ever seen. As soon as she saw us though her face stretched into a warm smile, "names and performance number?"

"Jessica Vasquez and Arabella Williams, B7," Jessi answered smoothly. The secretary checked something off and stood up, leading us to a dressing room.

The room was beautiful but tiny, painted a clean white with black laminate flooring. The icing on the cake was that the walls were covered in enormous mirrors, each one surrounded by light bulbs, old-school vanity style. The receptionist handed us a key, "if you two need anything I'm out front. The stage should be free in five minutes or so."

We thanked her, and as soon as the door closed Jessi turned to me with an evil grin, "do you want to see it?"

I blinked, "see what?"

"The costume!" she said excitedly, setting her giant purse on the counter. She gestured wildly at me, "turn around!"

I rolled my eyes, turning away from her, "this is a bit dramatic."

"Ari, sweetheart, we've been friends for a month or so now. You should know dramatic is my middle name." There was the crackling of something being extricated from a plastic bag and the soft hiss of fabric unfolding, "okay, you can look!"

I turned and had to hold in a little noise of surprise. It was beautiful. The base of it was a navy blue camisole leotard, and from there a translucent, frothy skirt with a slit at the front for movement fell that was same the colour. It was embroidered with silver sequins in a swirling pattern around the hem that floated up to space out and form various constellations. It was surprisingly modest, and I couldn't believe I was going to get to wear it, "Jessi, oh my god."

"Isn't it beautiful?" she said happily, "I had it specially made, another thing you can thank the extra time for."

I shook my head, "it's absolutely gorgeous, thank you so much."

She hung it on a nearby rolling rack and pulled a makeup bag out of seemingly thin air with a manic grin, "and now, for the main event."

I held out a hand, "give me a minute before you attack my face, I have to use the bathroom."

She waved me off amiably enough and I slipped out of the room, USB drive in hand. Making my way to the receptionist's desk, I popped my head around the corner, "um, excuse me? I think there's a girl at the end of the hall asking for you."

She smiled up at me, "thank you sweetie, I'll go right now." I nodded, darting out of sight as I heard her footsteps clack down the hall. I immediately plopped down at her desk, plugging in the USB and getting to work. Thanks to Dick's absolute beauty of a virus, it took all of fifteen seconds to bypass the seating chart's minimal security. I cleanly added in Artemis and Wally's names, making sure to move them into decent seating that kept them well out of view of Bruce, Selina, Alfred and Dick.

I closed out of everything and reopened whatever she had been looking at down to where the cursor had been pointed, ducking around the corner again just in time for the receptionist to come back, mumbling to herself. Deeming my mission successful, I headed back to Jessi.

As soon as I opened the door she pulled me inside, a terrifying array of makeup products laid out. She settled her hands on her hips, "sit, now."

I groaned, but sat placidly in front of one of the mirrors. As she came around behind me a thought popped into my head, "what's with the performance numbers?"

"Oh, it's in order of when you're performing," she said as she began twisting my hair back into the half-up, half-down style we had agreed on. "A's go before intermission, B's go after and then the numbers decide what order you go in after that."

I hummed agreeably, it was a logical system, "so when are we going then? In the middle of the second half?"

She laughed nervously, "we're going last."


In the hushed quiet of the stage right before we began, I found the only thing I could think about was the influx of text messages I had gotten right before the show had started, when Jessi had been halfway through my eyeshadow.

That and the fact we were going last.

Most dancers would kill to go last, and objectively, I knew it was an amazing stroke of luck. The first and last performances were the most vied for spots, because that was when people really paid attention, and when you could make the biggest impression.

It was also the absolute worst spot to make mistakes.

This was ridiculous, I ran around fighting for my life and punching bad guys in the face on a nightly basis, and I couldn't think about throwing myself around on a stage to music for twelve minutes without my legs shaking.

"Will you calm down," Jessi whispered from next to me, "this isn't even your recital, I should be the nervous one."

"And that would be so comforting," I snarked back, "if we both didn't know that a dancer can make or break a performance. If I fuck up, it hurts you too."

"Except you won't fuck up," she assured, pasting on a bright smile as the MC's voice cut though the dark.

"Ladies and gentlemen, for our last performance of the night, please welcome to the stage Jessica Vasquez on piano," Jessi strode out, the spotlight following her as she smiled and waved to the crowd, and I darted out into the dark, striking my beginning position, "and her dancer, Arabella Williams!"

A second spotlight hit me, stinging my eyes as I focused on keeping a neutral facial expression until the music started, made difficult as I noted a very Wally-esque wolf whistle. I slowly let my mind blank, the rest of the performance falling into place around me just as we had planned it earlier with the tech booth. Jessi sat at the piano, the first few sweet notes of the beginning piece filling the air, and the light faded from a spotlight to an overall dimmed effect, making the constellations on my skirt stand out as I twirled lightly on my toes.

From there I relied purely on muscle memory from weeks of repeated practice, the style of dance was mostly lyrical, leaning towards the ballet end of things in the first piece and then to more contemporary movements after that. I tried to feel the music, trying to keep emotion on my face at all times. It helped that it was beautiful, Jessi was a stunning pianist, the sound pouring from her side of the stage absolutely mesmerizing.

But most of all I felt free. I never really felt like myself unless I was dancing, Catgirl and Arabella and all the other facets of my existence twisting together as I moved. It was expression in it's purest form, the very definition of body language.

It all came to a head at the climax of the last piece. It had started out soft, a sharp contrast to the fast-paced one we had placed in the middle, and now it had worked itself up to a huge crescendo and I had come to the most difficult move in the whole of the choreography.

I launched into fouetté turns, spinning so fast the crowd and the lights of the stage seemed to blur together, and then slowed fractionally to pull my left leg up straight in the air, throwing my body into the movement to keep momentum, determined not to fall over. My abs felt like they were on fire as I lowered into pump turns and then a pirouette as the music softened. I fell away from my previous position, moving through a few last delicate, straining movements before falling onto the floor in a sweaty heap as the music faded to a close and the lights on my end of the stage dimmed to black.

I couldn't believe it was over, face pressed into the cool linoleum of the stage floor. Body almost on autopilot, I stood, moving over to Jessi in the spotlight where she was already smiling and waving to the crowd. I followed her lead and the MC ran up on stage, the house lights coming on slightly. He gestured to us, "ladies and gentlemen, Jessica Vasquez and Arabella Williams!"

There was a thunderous clapping and then the grin on my face turned genuine. We had done it, it was done and we had done damn near perfectly. The rest of the performers ran out on stage as the MC called their names and I distantly noted a runner rolling the piano out towards the wings as we all formed a great big line, ending in the first performers. We grabbed hands, bowed, and as we rose the lights came on completely.

It took all of about five minutes to grab our stuff from the dressing room and go. We returned the key to the now-harried looking receptionist, and when both of our names were called at once we smiled and parted ways, already planning for this. We'd meet up for brunch tomorrow morning.

I walked towards the sound of my name, getting about five feet before I was brutally attacked with the smell of roses as Selina wrapped me in a hug. She pressed a quick kiss to my cheek, uncharacteristically excited, "you did so well minou! I'm so proud of you!"

I smiled, returning her hug in full force, "merci maman." She grinned at my use of French, turning around to take a bouquet of what looked to be sorrel and amaryllis out of Dick's hands, who grinned at me and mouthed a quick 'good job'. A swell of affection curled in my chest, both at him and the flowers. I looked up at Selina, "parental affection and pride?"

She nodded and Alfred piped up from where he was standing, "it was a beautiful performance, Miss Williams."

"Thank you, Alfred, and Arabella." I stilled suddenly, raising an eyebrow as I spotted a single stem of a strange white flower in the bouquet.

"Cardamine," Bruce said in a strange tone of voice, "it means paternal error."

It took a second for it to click but when it did I offered him a grin, throwing my arms around him, "apology accepted, I'm sorry too. But it's not really me you have to apologize to."

Taking my flowers from Selina, I grabbed Dick by the wrist, "we'll be right back, if we don't find Artemis and Wally they might kill each other."

We dashed off to the sound of Selina's protests, Dick slipping on a pair of sunglasses he had brought with him, smart boy. Spying Wally's distinctive ginger hair, we wove our way through the crowd, stopping dead just as the pair came into view.

I turned to Dick, "are they… laughing?"

"It would appear so," he mused, "I can't believe they're actually getting along."

"Should we just… leave them alone? So we don't spoil the moment?"

Before we could decide, Wally saw us, face lighting up, "hey!"

He waved us over and I cherished the delicious hiss of my skirt as we came towards them. Artemis was grinning, "that was actually really beautiful, you're an amazing dancer."

"Isn't she?" Rob said with an affectionate grin and I nudged him playfully.

Wally was ridiculously excited, "that part at the end! Where you spun in one spot for like a minute!"

He twirled his finger in the air for emphasis and I laughed, "that part killed me, you have no idea how many times I fell over in rehearsals."

Artemis' eyebrows knit together, "so how much of that was hard? I don't know anything about dancing."

"Probably about sixty percent of it was difficult," I said slowly, pausing to think about it, "I wanted it to be a genuinely challenging, I didn't want to just get up there and flounce around for three songs and act like it was my best. So yeah, probably sixty percent actually hard moves with filler in between them."

"Either way it was freaking awesome!" Wally exclaimed, and I felt a rush of gratitude for him and everyone else in the pit of my stomach.

I looked over at Dick, cupping my hand over my face to whisper in his ear, "how much begging do you think we'd have to do to convince the parentals to let us go to Rosie's with these two?"

He rolled his eyes at this ridiculous method of communication, leaning over to whisper back, "barely any, all considered. Especially because Alfred's here, Selina might put up a fight though."

Nodding, I turned back to Wally and Artemis, "give us like five seconds and we'll be right back."

They looked confused but agreed and we dashed back to Bruce, Selina and Alfred, the trip made significantly easier now that some people had left the lobby. Skidding to a stop in front of them, I turned on my best puppy dog eyes, "maman, figure du père, autre figure du père, combien tu m'aimes?"

Selina narrowed her eyes, "what do you want?"

"We were wondering if we could go to Rosie's with Wally and Artemis," Dick answered, taking off the sunglasses for the full pleading effect.

Selina shook her head, "I want you at home tonight."

I pouted a little, "you can shower me with love and compliments any day of the week, please?"

"Let them live a little Selina," Alfred said brightly, giving us a conspiratorial wink, "they're teenagers after all."

She sighed, "I suppose, but I want you to take a cab home together, and don't stay out too late."

She turned to Bruce with an unsaid 'anything to add?' and he shrugged, "be safe."

We thanked them profusely, running back to Artemis and Wally, and when we got back they were doing the civil flirting thing again. Had we travelled to some sort of parallel dimension where they knew how to express their weird tension in healthy ways? Usually at this point they'd be glaring at each other and making snarky comments. "You guys coming?" I asked, heading for the door.

"You didn't say we were going anywhere," Artemis pointed out, the two of them following us to the door nonetheless.

"We're going to Rosie's," Dick informed them, hailing a cab with practiced ease.

Her eyes lit up, "is that the place with the really good chocolate milkshakes?"

I grinned, "it is indeed."


We eventually settled into a booth at Rosie's, Wally and Artemis looking fairly normal on one side and Dick and I looking absolutely ridiculous on the other. I had an assorted bouquet on my lap and was wearing a dance costume, in full stage makeup complete with fake eyelashes and he was wearing sunglasses indoors at ten o'clock at night.

A surprisingly perky waitress approached the table with a handful of menus and I had the impulse to capture this bizarre and beautiful moment forever. Patiently waiting for her to run through the little spiel she was forced to do, I held out my phone, "do you mind taking a photo of us?"

She smiled, taking my phone and backing up a bit, and despite Artemis' grumbling, we all pressed together and grinned. The telltale fake click came from my phone and she handed it back to me, chuckling under her breath. I had to admit it was a funny picture, what with the stark divide between the two sides of the table and our facial expressions. Artemis looked slightly uncomfortable as Wally flung an arm around her, and Dick and I were looking at them out of the corner of our eyes, identical smiles on our faces. I showed it to the table and we burst into laughter, and I sent it to the three of them without being asked.

A sudden idea grabbing me, I propped up my menu and stole Wally's, who was across from me on the outside of the booth, "menu fort!"

Laughing, we arranged our menus to hide the outside world and it was only when I found myself rubbing my sore cheeks that I realized I had been smiling since I had walked offstage.


I FINALLY WROTE JESSI'S RECITAL!

This chapter is pretty much entirely about it, but I really wanted to put emphasis on it because dancing is a really huge part of Arabella's life, like any dancer. I don't actually know much about how recitals work, given that the only time I've ever danced was when I was a little kid and did ballet but I did some research (the sheer amount of time I've spent researching for this story is ridiculous) and I do sing and act, so it isn't much of a stretch of the imagination to try and write something like this. Plus Jessi attends a private music school and they tend to vary widely in terms of how they do recitals and whatnot, but if any of you dance drop me a review and tell me how I did.

While you're at it, tell me how I did on the dancing itself. I don't actually know much about dancing in terms of the movements, so I tried to make it more of an emotional thing, but I must have spent a solid two hours watching contemporary/lyrical/ballet dance videos on YouTube, god help me. I got the inspiration for Arabella's little leg lift/spinning thing from a lyrical performance by Grecia Cruz to Piece by Piece by Kelly Clarkson, go check that out on YouTube it's actually really amazing.

Arabella and Selina are speaking French! I have a headcanon that was previously mentioned that Selina's obsessed with all things French, and she and Arabella might speak in it in bits and pieces throughout this whole affair, and Arabella mostly uses it when she's trying to butter Selina up (and observant readers may notice Arabella only refers to Selina as mom in French, in English she's just Selina). Bless the Canadian school system, I actually speak the language so hopefully it's not too atrocious but here's the translations for what they were saying:

"Minou" means kitten, and it's a term of endearment Selina calls Arabella constantly (please note that minou can mean something completely different in a different context, let's just say the French refer to female genitalia in a very similar way to the English)

"Merci maman" is another pretty simple phrase, it just means thanks mom/mama, maman is the informal way of say mother, as opposed to mère.

"Maman, figure du père, autre figure du père, combien tu m'aimes?", means "mama, father figure, other father figure, how much do you love me?" and it's basically Arabella being the little sassy little shit she is.

And that's it for the French, they also mention Victorian Flower Language, which is a whole other bag of worms that may or may not come up again later but please note for the time being that Selina and Arabella communicate in it.

That's got to be the longest author's note I've ever written, but stay tuned for the next update on Sunday, I promise, and I'll see you next time!