Weiss' eyes fluttered open and she looked around. It was still hard to believe she wasn't in Schnee manor anymore. But the other girl laying next to her was proof of that. And the drastically different make of bed and everything else wasn't Atlassian. The blankets at least seemed to be made of fleece which was warm and comforting. Yes, it was the middle of summer, but she always preferred to stay curled up underneath as many blankets as possible. It always felt like such a hug.
She did look around and saw the sun rising. Well, at least she was back on her normal schedule to some degree… But she should be rising at about six. They hadn't set the clock up so she wasn't sure what time it was. And Blake wasn't awake yet either… She hoped that she would wake soon… She didn't want to wake her by moving.
Thankfully, she did see Blake's ears twitch and her eyes fluttered open. She sat up and stretched, releasing Weiss from her old. Then offered Weiss her earring. Weiss sat up and stretched as well, attaching the earring to her ear. She put her hands on her lower back and helped to stretch that as well. What a long night… But not as long as the one before…
"Morning, Weiss. How are you feeling?" Blake smiled and did shift to the edge of her bed.
"Fine. I slept pretty well." Blake's presence did seem to calm her r at least off her some sort of solace for bed. It was better than the first night where she hadn't been able to sleep at all. She really hoped she could move past this soon enough. She couldn't keep troubling Blake like this. Plus, there was no telling what Blake would be planning for her… This was not going to end well. The Belladonnas would eventually find something to do with her. She knew it. They were planning something for her and she still wasn't sure about it… It felt like she was lying about the lack of arranged marriages. How could any society like this function without them? Bloodlines were so important for this sort of culture. It meant keeping lines clean without any sort of outside interference from other races and lower classes. They obviously mattered here since Blake herself was a scandal, being half Misum and Lider. How did they function without arranging marriages?
However, her brows did furrow as something hit her. "How am I supposed to shower without my toiletries?" She hadn't showered or bathed since getting here. Her hair was definitely feeling it and so was her skin. She didn't wash her hair everyday but she did shower. It felt gross to not have showered since coming here. She wasn't sure what would happen if she left it alone too long.
"Oh, right… I can call Turi. I was going to have her come over anyway, but I didn't have a chance to call her yesterday. Do you want to shower soon?"
"That would be nice." Weiss ran her fingers over her scalp and felt her hair unhappy. She really could feel how unhappy her scalp and hair were thanks to the increased heat and humidity. She could only imagine how much worse her skin was after the extended time outside in the awful humidity yesterday.
Blake grabbed a shell-shaped thing then put it up to her ear. "Oh, hey, Turi; sorry for bothering you but I have some asks of you. Well, would you be willing to stay with us to help Weiss learn some Misum manners? Also, she needs some things from Atlas." Blake paused for a moment. "Oh, you did that last night? That's good. If you wouldn't mind making one more trip there…" From there, it fell into a normal conversation for a little while. Afterward, Blake hung up.
"She should be here in about ten minutes. Can you wait that long to shower? If not, you're free to borrows some of my shampoo and soap."
Weiss shook her head. "I can wait; it's not too big of a deal." She settled against the pillows. Hopefully they would be able to deal with all of the logistics of transferring her toiletries… She had so many that she was glad she had her own bathroom.
She frowned. "Blake, will I be able to get refills when I run out of stuff?" That was a real worry for her. Some of her products were almost empty and she would be getting more from President Jacques soon enough…
"We can have either Auria bring the stuff or I could honestly go get it myself. As long as Auria lets me know when the stuff is there, someone can bring it here. Though, in the end, it would be best if you could use fae shampoo and such. Don't brands in your worlds sometimes stop being produced?" Blake frowned.
Weiss sighed. "Don't remind me." One time one of her favorite shampoos had gotten discontinued and it had thrown her off for weeks. It was one of the few times President Jacques had allowed her to use a computer beyond schoolwork. She'd thankfully found something with a similar formula that worked, but it'd taken some serious research to do she couldn't imagine switching to new products entirely. "But what—do you not have brands here?"
Blake shook her head. "We have beauty specialists who can easily create formulas for individual people. A lot of them actually go to human universities to learn and get degrees. If we take your stuff to one of them, they could come up with formulas similar enough to what you use, and then we can give them over to our own personal specialist. She isn't as learned as the other fae, but she still knows enough to make things from scratch as long as she has the formula."
Weiss frowned thoughtfully at that. If she was going to stay here, it did make sense to switch to formulas native to this world. Plus, if something did get discontinued, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Plus, she wouldn't have to keep using plastic bottles. They were all biodegradable, but she hadn't seen any plastic so far here in the fae realm. Even the clock they'd gotten had a metal and glass bottle. Everything she used was biodegradable but still… Probably best to switch glass bottles and native ingredients.
"All right. Maybe we could do that later today?" She didn't want to seem like she was being ungrateful or hassling Blake or anything… She was still a prisoner here and doing anything to upset her captors was unwise.
"Yeah, that's fine. We can go after breakfast." Blake smiled. "How does that sound?"
"That sounds good." That was a few hours off yet, but she could be patient. She did feel bad for hassling somebody with her products, though. Between skin and haircare, she had to have at least two dozen different ones. It'd be a lot to ask of anybody to create formulas for. Hopefully it wouldn't cost too much or be too much of a hassle for the person.
It didn't take too long for a woman that looked…eerily similar to herself to come through the door. She had a small bag slung over her shoulder. "Oh my. It's nice to meet you." The resemblance really was uncanny. Same white hair and blue eyes as a Schnee. Though she did seem to lack the usual decorum and presence Schnees had. She wasn't lacking in presence entirely, but she lacked the posture and manner a schnee should have had.
"Er. It's nice to meet you too?" She swallowed a bit.
"Weiss, this is Turi Digeneres. Turi, Weiss Schnee." Blake smiled and motioned to them. Weiss got up off the bed and offered a curtsy despite being only in a nightgown.
Oh, Holy Father.
Her face heated up.
She was only in a nightgown to greet a stranger! How scandalous! President Jacques would have had her head for this had he known! She would have been dead multiple times over for all the stunts she'd pulled since arriving here! How was she supposed to get over all of this?! She really should have died by now!
Turi folded one hand into a fist and put it against her palm, offering a small dip of her height. Huh, what an odd form of greeting. Fae were incredibly strange. She still couldn't get over the fact she would have to eventually eat with her hands when she went to the Misum court. That still made her want to die inside. How was she supposed to survive such an unsanitary way of eating? At least that wouldn't be for quite some time by the sound of it…
Weiss sat back on the bed and Turi approached, then handed her the bag. "Here. This is everything that Auria gave me." Weiss noded and dug around, seeing glass bottles and containers everywhere. It did make sense to keep the toiletry bottles back on Remnant since it'd arouse suspicion if they weren't there but…
"You couldn't have at least labeled them?" She frowned. She was grateful to have her stuff back, but there were no labels. They could have at least taped some paper to the bottles or something! Figuring out what was what would be an absolute nightmare!
"Oh dearie me; I didn't think about that. My apologies…" Turi put a hand over her mouth. Weiss groaned internally. Great… Just great… She didn't know what was what and she didn't know what to wash her hair with! The heat had done a number on her skin too. Now she didn't know what to apply… She could identify things by fragrance to some degree, but not everything had a fragrance. Her shampoos and conditioners would be easy, but not the skincare stuff. Oh Holy Father, what a nightmare!
"Do you want to go back to room to shower or stay here?" Blake asked.
"I'll shower there… I need to sort through everything and figure out what's what."
"All right. Either I can lead you there or Sayaka can." Blake or the starling… It didn't matter in the end, she supposed. She still wasn't sure of the route between the rooms.
"I suppose I'll let the bird lead me." She didn't want to keep imposing on Blake. It was bad enough with her sleeping with her. Plus, after the shower, she could start digging into her books before breakfast. If she could get everything sorted out, she could tell the beauty specialist what went into everything. If only she had her notebook with her… She had all of the formulas and ingredients written down so she knew what everything went into her toiletries was… "Now, if you'll excuse me…" She left Blake's room and headed back to her own.
‡
Blake sighed and her ears drooped after Weiss left. She was taking responsibility for her actions by taking care of Weiss, but that didn't mean it wasn't taxing. She was in this for the long haul and she wouldn't abandon Weiss, but it didn't mean she wasn't already kind of exhausted. It'd only been a few days, but it certain felt a lot longer than that.
"Do you want to talk about it, Blake?" Turi asked. She pondered the offer. Turi could probably read Weiss' thoughts even with the shielding ring. Fortune tellers were the same breed as Name Keepers, so the soul wouldn't be easily hidden from them. It took somebody of great age and power to escape either of them. Most Name Keepers carried immense power themselves, so they were people not to cross.
"I suppose I have been holding a lot in… I don't think she's a bad soul, but what I did sense before the shielding ring was difficult at best." Blake flopped back on her bed, staring at the canopy. Hurt created a lot of mindsets that were foreign to her. She had been hurt herself, but not to the point of PTSD. How long was it going to take to break these mindsets Weiss had? They ran so very deep that she wasn't sure if they'd ever be fixed…
"What did you sense?" Turi slipped into Blake's desk chair (she heard the wheels on the carpet). She probably really shouldn't be talking about Weiss, but she needed to talk to somebody. She'd been holding all of this in for what felt like an eternity. If she held it in much longer, she felt like she might explode.
"Well, she's extremely paranoid to put it very lightly. She thinks we're out to get her. She thinks all we want to do is use her for some nefarious purpose like arrange a marriage for her. Can you imagine fae arranging a marriage?!" She knew it had been done in the past, but that had been a very, very long time ago. Not even her great-grandparents had been alive in the generations that had arranged marriages. It was so long ago it was almost out of the collective consciousness. Nobody could remember when the last arranged marriage had happened. They were actually illegal in both courts. If they did arrange Weiss to somebody, there would be hell to pay via the law. She probably should have mentioned that the previous day but trying to deflect Weiss' worries had been her main priority. She could pull up the lawbooks form the family library to show Weiss that she could not and would not arrange a marriage for her. It would totally be up to her if she ever got married. Though with the girl's general trauma and distrust of people, she wasn't sure that would happen. She really didn't know if it was possible to bring down the girl's paranoia.
"I can see why," Turi put in. "While I was an outsider to Mantle, people were desperate to arrange their daughters to men, sometimes as young as twelve or fourteen." Blake couldn't help but feel the color drain from her cheeks. Twelve or fourteen…? How could somebody do that to somebody so young? Human society made no sense to her. There hadn't been any wars in Koiria for millennia! Yet they'd had untold wars and conflicts within the same amount of time! How had humans not completely destroyed themselves in the nearly a hundred sixty thousand years they'd existed?! She really didn't understand mortality. Granted, Blake was also quite mature for her age… Most fae teenagers were still playing with toys and doing makebelieve. They had lessons in the nobility, but they were largely left to be simply children.
"I know, I know; it's disgusting but mortal folly is the driving force behind them. They live such short lives. They're like the flickering of a candle flame." She heard Turi sigh.
"I can't believe she was already betrothed… It's so hard to imagine how they live such short lives." She would outlive Weiss by many orders of magnitude. How would she cope with the loss of somebody in a few short decades…? It…was hard to fathom losing somebody so very young especially if they might become close… It wasn't a very appealing prospect… But she couldn't leave Weiss to be raped once she got married.
"How was your husband with you?" She had no perspective on those human cultures. She hadn't studied them because hearing stories from her paternal grandparents of the wars was terrifying enough. She really didn't need to hear horror stories of these kingdoms otherwise. She really didn't understand humans at all. Hopefully Turi's experience wouldn't be too horrible…
"Oh, he was pretty great… Probably not as great as a fae man, but he truly loved me and I loved him. He never laid a hand on me when I didn't want him to in any sense. Be it sexual, platonic, or anything else, he almost always asked me what I wanted. He really was a good man. He was a really down-to-earth type, real practical about everything. He never got too big for his britches, so to speak." She heard Turi sigh again, though it was in more of a longing sort of way. She felt a small bit of missing escaping from Turi's soul though she quickly put a lid on it. Even the best fae could sometimes drop their shielding a bit when emotions ran high.
That was good though… At least she'd found somebody to respect and treasure her… She couldn't imagine getting past one thing though? "Why a human? And so young?" Turi hadn't even had all of her legal rights in Koiria. She'd only been a child when she'd decided to go have kids and get married. She didn't understand. Physically mature, sure, but not emotionally, socially, or anything like that. Brains did stop developing about 25, but it took another 75 years for a fae to be even slightly competent enough for a lot of basic things. Blake wanted her apprenticeship to start, but she hadn't aged far enough yet. It was frustratingly annoying. She wanted to move out of childhood and into adulthood. She was more than mature enough to make that sort of decision. Even her parents said so!
"Because we were compatible. Do I need anything greater than that? He treated me well and followed a lot of the tenants of a good spouse should. I wouldn't settle for anything less than what I deserve as a fae." She felt Turi's energy momentarily flicker disapprovingly. "There were a lot of men that tried to get me to marry them, but I could sense their true intentions. So many of them were more like what you described Weiss would be facing if you allowed her to remain in Atlas.
"As for why… You know how frustrating it is to be denied a lot of basic dignity. The human realm afforded me the respect I wanted. Thirty was no longer a child; I was an adult. If you want respect, ditch Koiria and go to Serlia in a few years. You'll be considered of age at seventeen." That…did honestly sound tempting, she had to admit. She should've been playing make believe for another fifteen to twenty years, not looking for apprenticeships. But by the same token…
"I have to take care of Weiss. I can't just abandon her. Who knows how close we'll be in a few years?" She frowned at that. It really did sound tempting, but she couldn't abandon her charge. That would be incredibly cruel. Plus, the world had changed pretty drastically since Turi had been to Serlia. Things had progressed further and it seemed the world was more interconnected than when Turi had been there. How could she prepare for that when it went against all she was used to? How was she supposed to adapt to a new world entirely? She heard horror stories from her grandparents. She would rather stay where things known and predictable than have to try to transition like Weiss was right now. And she would really miss everyone she loved here. How would she build an entirely new support network only have to have it die off within a few decades?
The idea was appealing on the surface, but the actual logistics made it a nightmare.
"Thanks, but I think I'll stay here." She really didn't want to lose everyone she cared for before she even reached maturity. It didn't feel like that would be nice.
"Anyway, how about we get back to Weiss?" Turi offered. "We got a bit off topic. You were saying she was paranoid."
Right. "Dydre told me she has something called PTSD from her treatment at home. I found a few books at the store about it, but it's going to take me time to get through them." There was the book absorption spell, but she still preferred to read things normally. Maybe she ought to consider doing it though… She really needed information on how to handle Weiss. There had to be more tomes out there on it. And if there were, she really needed them.
"PTSD, huh? I could go raid my sister's stash. I know she has a lot of books on it. They might be of use. And she isn't here to yell at me if I borrow them for you." Turi giggled and Blake looked up at her canopy. That definitely sounded tempting. She needed information and she wasn't sure what books were good and which ones weren't.
"If there are any good primer books, those would be good too." Yeah, from the sound of it, absorptions was going to be her best bet. She really didn't have much choice. She needed to figure out why she acted the way she did so she could handle her better. It really was a no-win situation if she held out on Weiss. She needed to not be so harsh with her. Thankfully the shielding ring would go a long way with that. Now almost nobody could get upset with her simply for her thoughts. About the only people that could read her would be fortunetellers, Name Holders, or clergy that had special insight into the soul. Weiss wouldn't be able to hide from Turi and her mother. At least Turi was being kind and not responding to her own thoughts…
Turi sighed and nodded. "Those will probably be at the top of her collection… She wouldn't have used primer books since she was fifty or so. I'll have to really dig for those… She's never happy when I go digging in her books. But what she doesn't know won't hurt her." Turi giggled again.S he didn't have siblings so she couldn't relate. Turi and Auria were the closest things she had to them but they were so much older it was hard to related to some of their struggles. They were much closer in age, only a few decades apart. Blake was over a century younger than Turi and two centuries younger than Auria. She really did appreciate the Misum court was more open than the Lider court to her mere existence. She was still very much a scandal but it was far less so. She still don't pick up the reason on why she was less of a scandal in the Misum court, but she was grateful. It was nice to be more accepted even if plenty of people still shunned her. The Digeneres family was kind to her and more or less accepted her as one of their own.
"That will definitely be helpful. Thank you."
"Is there anything else you want to discuss about Weiss?"
Blake sat up and shook her head. "It's mostly the paranoia that's driving me nuts. I suppose I understand a little better now why she is the way she is. Do you have any further potential insights into Atlassian or Mantaline culture?" That was probably a good ask. Again, it wasn't wasn't perfect as it seemed like human culture had shifted rather dramatically (yet somehow not at all?) from Turi's time.
Turi tapped her chin. "I'm not entirely sure. You know the basics of Atlassian culture. Technologically, we are more primitive, but culturally, we've been much further along than them for millennia. They really don't accept somebody as a person unless they're a straight human male. And that's usually with pale skin. I know there are people with of her skin colors in Atlas, but very few of them hold much power."
"Humans are disgusting." How things operated when their systems were based in discrimination boggled her mind.
"Blake, we discriminate based on eye color and social status. We really aren't so different."
"That's preposterous! It's the natural order of things!" As far as anybody knew, things had operated this way since the creation of Koiria.
"Are you unnatural then, Blake?" The question made her fall silent. She wasn't unnatural… She was just born across racial boundaries… A lot of people did call her unnatural though…
Were fae and humans really not as different as she thought? Serfs belonged in their places. Wars had proven that time and again. Despite outnumbering the nobility, the serfs always lost their little rebellions. There was no point in going against the order that had been established millennia ago. But by the same key…
She shook her head. She could sort through this later. She really didn't need this sort of potentially world-shattering nonsense so early in the morning. She had enough to deal with thanks to Weiss.
"A few years in Atlas would teach you a lot about discrimination. Especially since you would seen as the absolute dregs of society." Blake's ears flattened at that. Why would she go somewhere and choose to be discriminated against? She had a perfectly comfortable life here with her parents and the few friends she did have. She already said no to the human world excursion. Why would she wanted to leave what was pretty all right despite the scandal and the way people didn't know how to treat her. She would find her way in the world even if it would be difficult. She knew the path she wanted to take and she would do that.
With that, Turi hopped out of the chair. "Anyway, I'll go talk to your parents about setting me up in a room. I will go visit my own parents at least twice a week, so I won't always be here. Talk to you later, Blake." Turi left and Blake stared at the door. Turi could be infuriating at times, but that was just fortunetellers as a whole breed. They marched to the beat of their own drums. They generally didn't give a damn about what others thought. She loved Turi, but she could be infuriating at times.
But she shrugged and started getting ready for the day.