Auria sat there with Whitley, letting the boy cry himself out. She could feel the deep sorrow penetrating the deepest recesses of his soul. A part of him wanted to die due to missing his father so much. She wished she could reason with him, but that was the last thing he needed right now. Plus, he wasn't liable to believe her. Manipulation and terror had been all he knew. How was she supposed to convince him that the abuse wasn't okay? Weiss thought everything was her fault. How much worse would the most isolated, manipulated child be?
She threaded her fingers through her hair. He sniffled and looked up at her. "Y-You really aren't Weiss… She would n-never…" he mumbled. Well, at least convincing him hadn't been too hard. Her behavior was so un-Weiss-like that she really did stick out. But she could at least still mess with Atlas' upper class the following night. She could claim her so she stayed silent while her 'true' personality remained dormant. "W-Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Because everyone deserves some level of kindness in their lives. You're no different, Whitley. You lost somebody so important to you." His sadness really was objectively wrong, but she had to validate his emotions. He'd probably never had that happen in his life before, or at least not in the way she was doing. Sometimes Gelé would pretend to validate Weiss' emotions then come back and gaslight or even beat her for what she was feeling. There was no way he had ever validated Whitley's emotions before.
"Thank you…" His voice remained weak while she petted his head. The poor boy deserved so much better than what he'd gotten. He didn't deserve the abuse and manipulation he'd been forced to endure his entire life… Hopefully they could help undo some of the damage he'd received over his life. She wasn't sure if any of the three siblings would fully recover. This abuse and manipulation went to the very cores of their souls… She could feel some splintering on Winter's soul and the scars ran extremely deep there…
"How about you go take a nap, Whitley? I know it's still early in the day, but I can tell you're exhausted. Getting some more rest isn't a bad idea." SHe kept the suggestion light, trying to push him into taking care of himself. He had probably never been allowed to nap since he was a toddler. That was sad… Naps could be wonderfully restorative. And he could clearly use it after the exhausting morning.
"But that would be unsightly," he muttered. "Father wouldn't approve…"
"He doesn't have to approve anymore. You can do what you want. Your studies will be here later. Why don't you rest?" He looked up at her but he didn't fight. He went to his bed and curled up under the covers. It didn't take too long for him to fall back into an uneasy sleep. She nudged him under deeper with a spell, trying to help him feel as restored as possible when he came to again.
With him taken care of, what to do next…? She really didn't know. Her options were so limited here. All she could think to do was grab the books from the library and wait until Whitley woke up.
She sat his books to the side of his desk then brought hers forward from the library. She felt a bit more settled down, so she started studying again. It was all she could really do to keep herself busy for right now…
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Auria blinked when Weiss' scroll went off several hours later. Whitley remained fast asleep, snuggled into his bed.
Come to the hidden room.
Auria slipped out of Whitley's room and asked the staff where Winter was. She was prideful as most Misum were, but it was easier to swallow that and get to where she needed to go faster. This would all be solved if these stupid humans had starlings to act as their guides! Why did they overlook the ability of the little birds especially when they could be trained to speak so well?!
At the scene, she was greeted by Winter looking at an ancient journal. Several of the boxes had been moved out of the room and opened. What looked like giant thread spools with shiny material sat inside them. She was familiar enough with cardboard and plastic, but this didn't have the look or energetic signature of either. "What is this, Winter?" At least it was a question even Weiss would ask. Searching the girl's memories brought up a blank for what this might be.
"Old film reels. I though I had read about something to do with them in Nicholas' journals and I was right. He recorded a lot of his journeys." What the hell was film? She searched Weiss' mental lexicon and came up empty. Recording? She at least knew what that meant. So film was some sort of medium to record things. But how?
She opened Weiss' scroll and tapped in the question.
Oh. Movies.
Fae were no strangers to using modern cameras to take movies and pictures. BUt it operated on a uniquely magical medium. The closest she could compare it to was Weiss' scroll. She saw the videos on Weiss' scroll from Winter and knew they were indeed videos. Fae loved to combine modern human amenities and magic to create unique mediums and technologies all their own.
"I see…" Things made more sense now. So Nicholas had created videos of his travels as well as journals. It was interesting. Most fae used them to record family events and other things. She knew they definitely weren't using it to its full effect, though. The CCTS infrastructure offered far more than what fae did. But getting that sort of infrastructure in Koiria would mean some destruction of the environment which they really couldn't afford. They had managed to strike a balance between industry and nature so that way all the races could coexist. "Will we be able to watch them?"
"I'll need to find a specialist in old forms of media. Physical film strips hadn't been used in decades anywhere. We'll need to have a lot of this converted to digital for preservation. That is assuming that it's still in good enough condition to preserve." Winter frowned and Auria could sense her worry. That was a good question. A lot of the film was over forty years old from what she could see on the boxes. Would something that had been sitting in storage for so long be okay? Fae technology could last centuries, sometimes even millennia. But they had magic to ensure things lasted a very long time. Humans didn't have that though.
"Hopefully we can find somebody." Thankfully, there were people out there for almost anything. Hell, her own job was relatively niche in Koiria. Not many people entered the mental health field since it wasn't a huge thing for the nobility. Most people were fine for the majority of their lives. Things like depression and PTSD were relatively rare for nobles. Mental health was seen as something for the peasantry to deal with. Trauma simply didn't happen to the nobility most of the time. "Are you going to find someone to preserve the journals too?"
Winter looked at her and pondered for a moment. "I hadn't thought about that but I probably should." The paper in that journal looked awfully brittle. Once again, fae had the edge due to magic. They had some documents dating to the dawn of civilisation, over 150,000 years ago. They were a bit rare, but they did exist. This paper looked like it would crumble if handled too roughly.
"Could I look at them?" She could bolster the strength of the paper and leather without too much issue. It would make the work of the preservationists either… Plus, it might give her insight into the family line. She was still curious how Turi's little family had gone from mine workers to having a near monopoly over the planet's most precious resource. Human lives could change a lot but she hadn't expected this amount of change in less than a century and a half. Going from peasant to nobility was crazy in her eyes. How could anybody cause such a huge leap to happen? Weiss had only been taught a propagandistic view of the SDC, so seeing the formation process would be nice.
"What ones would you like to start with?"
"I'll start in order." Maybe she could find out when and where Turi had left too… She really didn't know much about her sister's time in the human world. She had always kept journals too… Maybe that was where Nicholas had gotten the idea?
"I'll have them brought to your room. then."
"I'm currently studying in Whitley's room, so that's probably the best place to drop them off."
"Very well." It seemed like the conversation was winding down, so she curtsied to Winter and headed back to Whitley's room. She couldn't ask too many crazy things of her 'sister' out in the open. There were people around, so she'd have to wait to ask about the starlings… Maybe she could see about a free-flighted macaw too… She missed her little menagerie of different birds… The cost could be nothing to the monolithic SDC…
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Several more hours passed until Whitley woke and he sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Good afternoon," Auria said. That made him freeze as she turned to face him.
"I can't believe I did that! I missed so many lessons! Father's going to—" He stopped. Auria could feel his soul twist in remembrance of his father's death. Poor boy… He really deserved better than what Schnee manor had to offer. Hopefully Vale would treat him better than Atlas. She couldn't be positive it would, what with Weiss' limited memories. But the way Winter acted, it was a lot better than Atlas… Not that it was a high bar to clear. Fae had their own difficulties, but things were still generally better than this.
Auria rose and wrapped her arms around him. "I know it's hard to think this now, but things will get better…" she murmured. His breathing hitched and he shook his head. SHe couldn't blame him for not believing. Deaths were hard to deal with especially for someone that felt like their life had never faced hardship. She really wished she could do more for him… Right now, she could only be here for him.
"We should probably have lunch…" he croaked. That…was a good idea, though she wasn't sure he'd feel up to eating. Not eating when stressed seemed to run in the family.
"How about I go ask the cooks to fix us something light and bring it up here?" She kept her tone soft and gentle while she rubbed his back. Poor kid… She almost wished she could feel awful about Gelé.
Almost.
But she knew the SDC was in better hands with Winter at the helm. The company might see profit loss in the short term with whatever policies Winter set up. But it would bounce back, stronger than ever in the future. She had absolutely no doubt Winter would make things far better than they had been under Gelé.
"But eating in your room is wrong…" Whitley looked up at her, blue eyes wide. Yeah, she could agree it felt off. Most fae took all meals with others when possible. No matter which court or race one was, meals were communal. She'd taken meals alone plenty of times before, though, so it was wasn't as big a deal for her.
"Things are different now, Whitley. The rules are all up in the air now. Plus, do you really feel like walking to the dining room?" The gentle question made him look down and he shook his head. That was what she'd thought. He was beyond distraught and dealing with emotions wasn't easy for him. He was absolutely exhausted. It was best to make things as gentle as she could for the next few days. Vale seemed like it would be another massive upset for him. There would probably be no way to ease him into that particular change.
"I'll be back in a bit, then." Auria stood up and kissed his head before going to the kitchen. The chefs tensed a bit with her in the room. She could feel how much they were anticipating something negative. She politely asked for a light lunch to be brought to Whitley's room with the reminder for hers to be vegetarian. Then she withdrew back to Whitley's room. No need to upset things more than necessary.
However, she did see a few staff members drop off some boxes to a very confused Whitley. The cardboard was crumbly and in far worse shape than those that contained the film containers. Why hadn't—
Okay, bad question.
Gelé only did something if it directly benefited him. And preserving old journals was not of a direct benefit to him. Hopefully she wouldn't be the one to destroy Schnee family history by trying to learn about her own history…
"W-What is all of this?" Whitley squeaked once Auria re-entered the room and the staff had withdrawn. She could at least speak freely now. Having to hide was definitely an annoyance… If Whitley didn't become dependent on her she was definitely 'dying' within the next year. She did not like Serlia so far. All of this was a mess she hated. She wanted to go back home to resume her studies. A few decades off wouldn't hurt her too much, but it was time she could've been spending with patience or leaning to hone her craft even further… Gods, all of this was so obnoxious.
She knelt next to the boxes and her hands glowed as she applied reinforcement spells to the cardboard. "Your grandfather's old journals. I have some questions about what he might have seen as a young man. We are related, Whitley; my sister stole away to the human realm and had children at an unfathomably young age for a fae. I want to see if he has anything to say about my sister." She was not a preservationist or archivist by trade. Her reinforcement spells wouldn't be great, but they could at least keep these boxes and journals from crumbling to dust… These boxes were in horrible shape… Hopefully the journals were in better condition…
She heard Whitley scoff and saw him fold his arms. "That old fool? What could he possibly have to say that's interesting He was so easily—"
"I didn't ask your opinion." The comment was merely an observation but it was more than enough to silence him. She really had not asked for his opinion and wasn't interested in hearing his propaganda-filled rant. "I want to see how many generations separate us mainly. Plus, someone has to read and preserve these journals. I don't have anything to do for the time being, so I can do it." Hopefully she'd be able to find more things to do once they got to Vale… But for the few days they were in Atlas, it would be her main timesink.
With the boxes taken care of, she grabbed one of the journals and sat on Whitely's bed. "Do you want to sit at your desk?" She figured she might as well give him the choice. The desk chair was fairly comfortable but she didn't want to upset him further. If he wanted to study, she would let him. No point in keeping him from it if that has how he wanted to spend his time.
"Um, I suppose." He sat awkwardly at his desk and made a face. Oh, right… She'd taken over for the time he'd been asleep. She snapped and the desk reset to his original setting with her books on the floor. "Woah… What was that?"
"Some basic magic. If you're close enough to us, you could learn to use it too. BUt that probably wouldn't be wise for us on Serlia—"
"Serlia?"
"Remnant's original name. But yeah, you'd have to hide it if you have the right concentration of fae blood. It's going to be difficult enough for me, so I wouldn't suggest you learn it even if you have the right concentration." Three percent was the cutoff point. If he had that amount, he was fae enough. In theory, he could learn and go to the fae realm… But that felt like a bad idea overall. If anybody blabbed about the fae realm, then who knew what consequences there would be. According to her history lessons, there were times the two realms had coexisted relatively peacefully with open trade.
But with Atlas being the way it was, she didn't trust them to know. They would want dominion over the fae. They would want to infuse magic into their technology. Granted, enslaving all but the youngest of fae would be an uphill battle. And trying to tear a fae family apart… It'd be all-out war. The two realms would go to war and Atlas would lose. Fae didn't have the same technologies humans did, but magic would prove an overwhelming opponent to deal with. And with many fae being thousands of years old, they would make even the most experienced of humans look like infants.
It was probably best to keep the magic to herself.
She simply saw Whitley nod as she went back to his studies. Poor boy was so beaten down… Vale would hopefully provide him with much greater opportunities for growth… She wanted to see him flourish…
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Interesting… Quite interesting…
She was taking her time with the journal, reinforcing all the pages one by one. She had quite the task ahead of her with the many hundreds of journals still remaining. But she was definitely getting some interesting insights.
It'd been a few hours since they'd had lunch, so dinner was starting to approach a bit. They'd both eaten in silence, keeping to their individual studies. Not that Auria minded too much. Keeping her focus on the journals was important to her. There was so much to dig through.
"Whitley, would you like to hear about life in post-war Atlas?" The boy had known his own types of hardship but he hadn't known another type. She wasn't framing it as learning about Nicholas—he had made his feelings clear on the matter. But maybe if he was interested in history, he'd want to hear that perspective. Nicholas' early journals were definitely going to be instrumental in making sure she understood his life.
And maybe help Whitley learn some empathy for the lower classes. The Atlassian upper class was basically nobility. She could see Weiss had no empathy for the SDC workers which meant Whitley likely didn't either. Very few nobles had any sympathy for their serfs and saw them only as ways to make money.
"Not really." Whitley frowned as he looked up from his studies. Well, that was disappointing. How could she convince him to listen to his grandfather's journals? It was important to maintain family bonds when and where possible. If only Gelé hadn't filled his children's heads with lies and shut them down to so much of the world. Teaching Whitley right from wrong was going to be so difficult… But he seemed to respond well to gentleness… That was probably the best way through to him… But, at the same time, she might have to simply push things on him so he could learn. Sometimes that was the best way to handle things. A firm but gentle hand was sometimes what was needed.
"May 5th, 2090
"Grandma and Grandpa stopped by today. Grandma had some sweets for me today from her home. I was so excited! I still don't know where she's from since she's never told anyone. It's weird though; how can she be from somewhere else and not have an accent? I've met a lot of Valian soldiers and they always have a funny accent when they speak…
"She also never seems to have to travel when she goes home. How can somebody not leave Atlas but still not go home? I really don't get it. It's so weird.
But I love Grandma Turi! She's so nice and sweet! She cares for me all the time when I'm sick. I never seem to stay sick for long when she takes care of me. I love it so much when she drops by!
"May 27th, 2090
"Today was another hard day. We didn't have power again due to the lack of dust. As usual, the aristocracy had power and were all warm and cozy in their mansions. I hate them so much. They get to trade with Vale and other kingdoms while people like us starve and freeze to death. It's been eleven years since the Great War ended. I might be young, but I can see the difference. The aristocracy can escape almost everything because they have money. Why does money choose who lives and who dies? It's not fair!
"They look down on us poor humans as much as they look down on the Faunus. Why can't they spare some of that money to help us?! We're the ones suffering, not them! I don't understand!
"And I've heard that they want to make some sort of floating city… It's just rumors, but it comes from some of the older Faunus that work in aristocratic homes. They sat that the aristocrats want to lift a city up over Mantle…
"How would they do that, though? There isn't enough dust to keep the city running on a daily basis. And all of our resources are going toward rebuilding Mantle right now. Would they really divert resources away to build some extra city? We can't even meet the needs of the average person. My family can barely afford to eat most days and getting journals can be hard too. Thankfully Grandma Turi can get me nice leather-bound ones from her home on the occasion she visits here." Interesting. This was all so very interesting. It certainly did explain the fae magic she sensed in these older journals. Some were play notebooks, but some contained fae magic and would be much easier to preserve than the ones that were the simple notebooks… Still, the vast majority were simply plain notebooks.
"Wait. He hated the upper class?" Whitley frowned thoughtfully at that. "I thought the lower classes loved the upper class. We provide them with money to live…"
Auria snorted at that. Oh, what a sweet summer child he was. He really didn't understand the first thing about the world. "No, not really. A lot of the time, the lower classes hate the upper classes. The upper classes tend to exploit the lower classes and only give them table scraps and that's if they're generous." She'd learned how much the serfs could disdain their lords if they understood how the system worked. Most didn't, but for those who did, many wanted to see it the serfs couldn't do much about it… There had been rebellions in the past but they never worked. The lower classes were unfortunately stuck where they were in the fae realm…
"Exploit? But we pay them! There's no exploitation there!" She saw Whitley bristle and she sighed. She didn't have the information necessary to show him that. Weiss' knowledge was limited in most areas. She knew business and management, but she didn't understand living expenses and the like. And if there were something she could guess about Schnees, it was that they liked cold, hard facts. She couldn't toss up made-up numbers at Whitley and expect him to get it. She would need real-world ones. She could probably get what she needed in a few hours, but she didn't have that time right now. After dinner, maybe.
"And why is he listening to Faunus? They're just a bunch of filthy animals." Auria wanted to bristle at that, but she kept herself calm. Fae saw each other through fae races, not human-like or Faunus-like, but still… Some of her best friends were fae with Faunus traits.
How was she supposed to convince him of that? She needed time to do research. Maybe prominent Faunus research? She didn't know; she'd figure it out in due time. She'd look into it later once she got the breathing room to do research. Hopefully Winter wouldn't mind her abusing the printer..
"Well, we at least know one thing: the rumors were true…" Auria looked around them. They currently sat on the aforementioned floating city. She didn't think they used dust to raise the city, though… She could faintly feel colossal magical energy at the bottom-most part of the city. What it was, she didn't know. She doubted she would ever find out. In a world that had lost its magical memory, knowing about the that would likely paint a target on her back. She wished she could learn, but it was beyond her at the moment. And probably always would be since they were leaving for Vale in a few days. She did not see herself willingly coming back to Atlas unless there was very good reason for that… As long as she had Nicholas' journals, she had about all she needed of Atlas as momentos. Why would she ever want to come back to this hellhole?
"Can I do some research tonight and get back to you tomorrow, Whitley?" She kept her tone gentle and neutral, trying to not upset him. She was absolutely furious, but she understood. He'd probably never met a Faunus in his life. Part of her wished she could take him to the fae realm. Blake would honestly be a fantastic person for him to meet since she was incredibly intelligent, articulate, and kind. But maybe she could could find somebody in this world for him to meet. There were plenty of Faunus. She'd eventually network and find him someone to talk to.
Whitley blinked and looked at her. "Um, sure, I guess. What exactly did you have in mind?"
"You'll see~" She smiled at him, then crossed the room to pat his head. "I'll give you a nice lesson on the real world tomorrow." Then again… She frowned. Would the computer Weiss normally used…
Oh right.
She did have an uncensored scroll. She cold screenshot things then print them off. Same with copy and pasting text. It was still a bit hard to know how to handle these technologies… Fae used a bit of human tech, but nothing like the CCTS and computers. Plus, she wouldn't know where to start looking… It wasn't like Weiss herself really knew how to open search for the CCTS.
She transferred the two boxes of journals to Weiss' room. "I'll leave you alone for now, okay?" He nodded and she returned to Weiss' room.
Oddly, there was a text message from an unknown number on the scroll. This is Winter's friend. Call me when you get a chance. Winter had friends…?
She shot a quick text over to Winter who confirmed the number. She never would've guessed. How could the sister with the stick up her ass have a friend? Oh well. Maybe it'd prove useful.
With that, she hit dial and called. Who knew what this would hold…?