Scene #9326: Helicopter Dad Roland

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Audrey Basque	SUMMER BREAK!!! ... is a lie at Nova Heliosanctus. It's more like a whole two weeks inbetween the end of one semester and the start of another. But two weeks is two weeks, and Audrey, more than ever, needs those two weeks desperately. She's at the Library today! The uniform is on, immaculate, her hair is done fresh, and though she still has quite the collection of band-aids on (including cute night sky themed ones that Kukuru provided), it hardly seems to bother her. She's whistling a tune or another, carrying (small) stacks of books from place to place, using it as an excuse to say hi to everyone while she shuffles Gen Works' hauls to their proper floors; even Netzach got a hi!! Though, him being a slob aside, it's not like Audrey dislikes him even a fraction as much as, say, Petra seems to. That done, she settles back at her desk, a bit winded from using the stairs so much, which was mistake number one. And mistake number two was forgetting to even say hi to Roland! She rises back from her desk, to peak around the corners of General Works (even the hidden ones!! like Qetra's hideout) and see if the man is hard at work today or if he's out and about on some errand.
Angela	Netzach isn't the sort of person to pry into Audrey's business or her numerous injuries, though they do cluck a little in sympathy, assuming it's work related. They continue to seem chill and while they seem to be more inclined to make art rather than their actual job, their chillmaxx attitude isn't exactly cruel or anything in this sort of situation. Forgetting about Roland is a mistake many people have made and for those people, it was their last mistake. Of course, nobody in the Library really knows about THAT side of Roland but it doesn't stop him from being able to get the drop on anyone. As she rises up from her desk and peaks around the corner--she doesn't see Roland. Instead, just as she's about to pull back from peeking around the corner, she hears the CHOMP of an apple behind her. And behind her, leaning against the wall behind Audrey, is Roland, biting into the apple. "Hey Audrey!" He smiles, friendly as ever. "Who're you looking for?" He tosses the apple into the air and catches it with a kind of mercenary chill. "How'd Finals go? Ace 'em all no problems?" He isn't exuding any menace at all of course, though suddenly being somewhere unexpected can be a bit spooky in of itself!
Audrey Basque	"BWAH!!" Audrey, in her GOOD MOOD ZONE, did not expect that at all. She ends up on her rear, though bursts out laughing more than being mad after the fact as she dusts herself off and slowly rises. She understands the allure of Just Being Behind Someone, she's used her tricks to do that to Petra once or twice, but she's too polite to do it with more others. It's also very true that Audrey can pass off her injuries as BATTLEDOME related. She does go in there now and again! Actually, just thinking about the fact she's responsible for who knows how many people by now disappearing from the City - after hearing Lilian rant about how that happens on the public band, and that's just how the City is - makes her simultaneously giddy and queasy. Knowing they're supposed to be bad people helps the scale lean a bit more one way than another, at least. "Roland! You, actually! And ah..." How DID finals go? "Most of them went alright. I mean, most of them were papers I had to hand in, not finals proper, but... y-yeah, they went alright." She nervously rubs one of her sleeves, at the wrist level, like trying to calm an itch or an ache. "Come to think of it though..." Expert deflection. "What are schools even like, in the City?"
Angela	Roland tries to lash out with a hand to catch Audrey before she tumbles but he apparently wasn't expecting that level of reaction. "Ah shit--sorry! Wasn't thinking--" Roland begins and then Audrey starts laughing, getting Roland to smile back. "--That my face was that bad to look at." Roland crouches down, offering a hand to help pull Audrey back up to her feet if she wants it. Though she can also use this opportunity to get the drop on Roland if she feels like it! "Looking for me?" He asks. "Well you found me." His eyes slant to the wrist injury for a moment. He knows better than most the need to mask but he feels like he'd be a bad p--friend if he didn't say anything at all. But while he's figuring out how to phrase it, Audrey asks him a question. "Oh, I was ... I guess I was mostly schooled by my granny, I didn't really go to normal classes anywhere or anything. I was born poor in the Backstreets so Fixer was my only real option to make a name for myself and get ahead. S'why I fought in the war too though that didn't really work out even if I got part of what I was owed..." He frowns. "But I've been looking into it. Or, well, I had been. A lot of schools are all about getting people out of the Backstreets and into Nests so if you can't get top scores in the school, you can end up out of a lot of money and without any prospects. But it's still good to learn so it's tough for me to say it's totally exploitative. Not all schools ''are'' about that, but they're bound to use--well--older material, less up to date knowledge, no support from the Wings means you don't get to learn about the sort of shit you need to in order to get a job at the Wings. Singularity adjacent stuff. Obviously they don't go into too much detail about the workings of their Singularities so they know something about what they need to do. The schools in Wings are probably better, but I don't know much about 'em. Probably got the same vibe as your school really, depending on the District." He pauses a moment and adds, "Hey. Can I ask you something? I get maybe you don't want to talk about it but I feel it would be worse if I just didn't say anything."
Audrey Basque	"Haaa, no, no, your face is quite fine, Roland," Audrey smiles, accepting the hand up and all. Though Roland is certainly not her type, if she even has a type leaning that way. Well, Roland is far too old to be her type even if she did! He really, really is more like the cool uncle. The secretly an assassin uncle. "I just wanted to say hello, since I didn't see you while I was saying hi to everyone else!" The truth, of course. "You seem in a good mood today too. Has Angela been treating you nicely?" She did open the door to the school talk, but now she realizes how dire the situation is. "You weren't properly schooled at all? ... and this is normal?" Horrifying. Look at this rich spoiled princess finding out poor people don't even get school, sometimes. "So... older books, materials... and they're about guiding people towards working for the government. Huh." No, really, that's DIRE. But it fits her vision of the City. The idea they might have the same vibe as her school makes her squint in disbelief, though. "If there is but a single school in the entire City that is even half as prestigious and comfortable as Nova Heliosanctus, Roland, I will personally endeavor to teach you magic." Listen, she's a bit proud of her school. Roland deflects too, though, and she blinks. "Huh? Is something the matter? Ask away."
Angela	Roland certainly isn't into Audrey that way either. If he was fifteen years younger maybe but he is a married man and if there's a surrogate role that he sees her in, it is decidedly not in that direction. "Ahh,.. Nah Angela's fine to work for. Outside of our first meeting it's been pretty smooth. Don't know she appreciates my sense of humor though." He traisl off and adds, "...Huh... I seem in a good mood? Guess I'm doing alright." He seems surprised by the assertion but unwilling to deny it. Roland's eyes widen when he senses Audrey is spooked by his schooling situation. "Woah woah woah! Don't get the wrong idea! I did get an education, I mean, I've had real good teachers. It just wasn't traditional. Granny made sure I could read and write and live in The City without getting eaten by it." He quirks his head. "Yeah, all work ultimately goes to the Wings. Unless you're in a Syndicate but even then your work is heading Wingwards, one way or another." He then, rubbing the back of his neck, adds, "Well I don't know much about Nest schools but uh... What is Nova actually like?" Is something the matter though? "Well... I've noticed you coming in injured a lot. Is something the matter? I guess that's a question I've got too. If you don't want an old guy like me prying I get it but..."
Audrey Basque	"Well, it's good at least that your grandmother saw fit to prepare you, but the idea this is normal is... a little bit baffling, if you'll excuse me," Audrey notes, before adding: "Though, it isn't unheard of for prestigious houses in the Hidden Continent to personally educate their heirs, it would usually be more likely that they attend a high grade school. And as schools go," Audrey chains into, because it answers Roland's query, "Nova Heliosanctus is the best of the best. Its teachers are prominent experts in their fields, retired magi if experience and renown. Its students go through rigorous tests and rites. We enter at fourteen, and either fail along the way or leave at twenty-three, after nine years." Well... "Or twenty-two, for some of us lucky ones. Or twenty-four, for the unlucky ones." School years are a trap like that. Audrey, of course, will graduate at twenty-two, because she's that cool. Is she glowing? Just a bit. "We learn the fundamentals of many Traditons, of magic and its origins, but we also specialize along the way in a field of our choosing. Like Unified Celestial Theory, for me, but there are dozens and dozens of various paths for students to choose." The Harvard of magical schools. She seems about to keep going on about how great and grand her school is until Roland asks about the obvious. She deflates, trying to think of how to put it. Roland, of all people here, would know she ISN'T sustaining injuries in the battledome. And he was there to retrieve the Pole Star and saw she didn't get injured then, either, so much as briefly flattened... "A-Ah, I mean, it's... um..." She certainly cannot tell Roland. "T... training? Remember the Shrine that Petra mentioned to those two?" Not strictly a lie. "Actually, have you ever been? It's kind of a neat area that simulates battlefields. It even lets you turn pain down, though, Petra's not keen on doing that since it misses the point."
Angela	Roland says, "Well I got plenty an education in the school of hard knocks," with a wry smile suggesting it's supposed to be a joke but probably comes across as sad more than anything. "Obviously I'm not anything fancy like an heir. They probably get educated by Butlers and tutors, I dunno. " He frowns, unfortunately, rather than smile when he hears about how Nova Heliosanctus is like and he asks before he can stop himself. "You sure that its just less fancy versions of what you've got outside the magic lands?" That's his name for the Phantom Circle appatently. "But..yeah, you're obviously smart. I'm sure you would've excelled wherever they put you at." Didn't Angela say Lilian specialized in biology of all things? And something else that slips his mind. Is that, like, magic biology?? T... training? Maybe it is not strictly a lie. Maybe it isn't even a lie at all, but Roland's smile as he hears that indicates that he isn't quite buying that as the whole story. "One thing the school of hard knocks teaches you is you get a good eye for when someone's hiding something from ya. Maybe I can tell you some of the tells sometime, but..." He exhales. "I get it. You don't gotta tell me. But I'm worrying."
Audrey Basque	Of course lying to Roland would certainly not work out well. Not that she'd know why, but she's not exactly gifted with a poker face to begin with. "I understand. And I appreciate it. But..." How to put it. She twists and spins words in configurations until it sounds less awful, which is a feat given the subject matter. "How do I put it... what is happening is, I think, ultimately making me... happy. Happy in that way that if someone asks you to explain, you can't. It doesn't make sense, not to you, and it won't make sense to them especially." She raises an arm, to show Roland her wrist, lifting the sleeve up just a bit, and her glove too, to show the uncovered gash. The fact it looks like a razor wire dug in, to someone who probably knows exactly what razor wire wounds look like, isn't something she can anticipate. "I thought about covering this one up. A lot, actually. And... then I just didn't. And I don't know why, but it makes me feel a bit more confident. And terrified of what people are thinking and saying. But confident." She lowers the arm back down, placing the sleeve back over and adjusting the cuff. Bless this uniform, at least, for having cuffs and gloves. "I wonder if this is what it's like for Petra, always showing off all her injuries and scars like nobody's judging. Or, maybe, like what they think and say is beyond unimportant."
Angela	Roland can't hide the surprise in his eyes when Audrey says the current situation makes her happy, though he seems more understanding when she explains it. He breathes in through his teeth when he sees the barbed wound. That might scar, he thinks. "Fixers sometimes compare injuries. Treat is as signs of them getting tougher, battles they survived." Roland says. "Doubly so when there's a war going on." Is this something that could, like, affect her in school? He's not sure. He's never been to a school except for the aforementioned school of hard knocks and the school of hard knocks doesn't penalize scarring or wound-receiving. It'd be way easier if it didn't make her happy, Roland thinks. Since it IS, is it something he should even be getting involved with? He isn't sure what he'd do if it was his kid, but he'd know his kid better than he strictly knows Audrey. He'd probably freak out, he thinks, but... "Petra leads a pretty different life." Roland says. "But it sounds like you kinda like getting to say 'I don't care' to society's expectations a little. You'll tell me if it stops making you happy right?" Wait, he thinks, isn't that in of itself an over-reach? Audrey doesn't owe him anything. He rubs at his face with his hand. Audrey saying it makes her happy hasn't lowered his worrying all that much. Maybe he's even more worried htan before actually. Who is he going to ask about this anyway? Petra?? "Sometimes you don't know you're closing off futures you might want without realizing it." Roland adds glumly.
Audrey Basque	"Mm. I'm not a Fixer though. I don't really benefit from showing off scars like you might. If anything it's making some of my schoolmates kind of..." She didn't say friends. She thought about it. Maria never really was. Sylvie is... debatable. "So, this is... kind of bad, really. Not... "I'm going to get in trouble or expelled" bad, I guess, but... people talk. I think if my parents found out they'd ask a lot of questions, but I can just say, it's Concord stuff, don't worry about it." A bit of honestly. Roland inspires that. She stops, to consider the matter of saying 'I don't care' to society. That's something Petra keeps bringing up. It's something Lilian keeps bringing up, too, though not to her. She's starting to get it, but... "Maybe I like that? I don't know. But you're right, Petra's leading a very different life from me. I'll tell you though. Promise." She doesn't owe him anything, but he's been nice and keeps her safe in the BATTLEDOME. That's kind of worth something, too. "Maybe I'm closing off futures. Maybe I'm opening up new ones. I'm hoping I'm opening them without closing any though. But the more I think about it, the less I look at my study field and think, yeah, that's what I want to do for the next two hundred or three hundred years. You know?" Enlightened problems. When you live centuries, thinking about the years ahead is simultaneously exciting and daunting. How do you pick what you want to spend centuries doing with your life?
Angela	Roland thinks it's a little ridiculous of himself worrying about the wellbeing of any of his present coworkers, frankly, but he can't help it. Some feelings are just incited within him even when they push against his goals directly. He shouldn't care about anyone here. He should just pretend he cares and then leave it at that. He doesn't even know if he'd prefer it to all be for nothing or for it all be something. Everything ''he'' lost. He doesn't know. He thought this would be simple. He'd learn what he needed to know and then do what he needed to do but... ...He can't even kill her. He's not even sure if she's the right target. Maybe it's Petra. But it's definitely not Audrey. She got pulled into this somehow. WHere is the version of him that didn't care? The version of him that sluaghtered anyone regardless of how tangential their connection was? He wishes he had his mask. That he could use his mask. "That's a long time to want to do anything," Roland admits. "But what do you want to do for the next two hundred years? Adventure?" He is a bit awed at the very prospect of it. He's going to be long dead before Audrey's even half done with her life. But he's kind of okay with that honestly. There's lifetime-boosting augments but there's some serious limits there.
Audrey Basque	"Ha... adventure?" Audrey imagines herself, the wandering astrologer and wizard, going from place to place, solving problems, doing fortunes for people, stretching and shrinking land, flattening hills to build on-- the childish dream of a carefree life, where tomorrow doesn't matter. And even for rainy days, she'd have her tower. She'd have some dwelling in China. She'd have home. ... she'd have Petra. But then she's hit by the crushing weight of everything she'd lose doing that. Her standing back home. Maybe even her family's support. Everything she's entitled to, by right of blood. It's a heavy cost to pay for a life of uncertainty. "I don't know. If I knew, I wouldn't be wondering if what I'm doing is the right thing or not. If I'm messing up harder than I've ever messed up before or if I'm just righting the ship I almost sank. I mean... that's really complicated, right? To figure out." She deflates a bit. "Some people have aspirations like conquering the world, becoming the Demon King of Time, attaining humanity, or transcending humanity. I... just want to get through school, and then figure myself out. That's so..." Petra's Lilian-toned 'loser' echoes. "Lame, isn't it?"
Angela	Roland hopes Audrey can at least get to choose for herself before it's chosen for her, but he's oblivious to how similar a thoughtline that is to Angela's. He is, however, someone who was born from nothing and had nothing given to him by right of blood so there is only so protective he can be of Audrey's. It's weird thinking of a rich nigh-immortal girl with super powers feeling so alienated from the world of plenty that she can even find value in, well, places like this. In gashes on the arm. Isn't it a little shortsighted, maybe? ... But he knows better than anyone to just say that right? It really isn't his place to talk. But he admits, "It does sound complicated." He admits. "Though, I don't know, never had to worry about how I was 'thought of', just about having enough strength that people would think twice about making me an example. ... well, I guess there was a time or two I had to. But I don't think it really matches what you've had to carry." ''Lame, isn't it?'' "Most people in the multiverse have smaller aspirations than that. I don't think it's lame to want to push through something--especially when you're pretty close to being done with it." Roland adds, rubbing at his neck. "It's clear there's at least something about that place you still love, though I don't know if it's the prestige or the knowledge." He shrugs both shoulders. "But I'd say you've got hundreds of years to look forward to. You don't have to just be one thing for all of it, you just gotta make sure you get hundreds of years of worth out of it instead of the fifty or sixty years I've got to look forward to. Or not! It's your life."
Audrey Basque	"Matches? Roland, if you're thought of poorly in the City, you get made an example of or disappear. If I'm being thought of poorly... it won't be pleasant, but I'm not going to get attacked on the streets so everyone knows I'm a bad mage. Well... nothing close to what you have to deal with." No, really, Roland's life is a lot high stakes. Not that she doesn't think it's important she be seen as powerful and important and a prodigy and... "Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that what you've had it rougher. I think." As she made a point of telling Petra, until recently she didn't even know what real pain felt like. Hundreds of years... yeah. She doesn't think about it enough, because she didn't have to until recently. Is she going to outlive practically everyone she meets here, come to think of it? That's dire to think about. And one more existential crisis she doesn't need on her plate. Wondering if she's improving or throwing away her future, while grappling with what it means that she keeps going back to Petra for more pain, and being unsure about who and what she wants to be... without even going into the matter of Lilian. Let's not pile on the immortal's dilemma. "I guess so, on both counts. It's not like I hate my school, and it's not like I have to dedicate the rest of my life to just one pursuit. Even though... that's probably what's expected of me. Don't put yourself down though! I'm sure you can push a hundred. And if not, Angela can always put you in a small boxy robot body."
Angela	''If you're thought of poorly in the City, you get made an example of or disappear.'' "Nah. In the City you can be disappeared no matter how special, cool, tough, or skilled you are. Maybe you'd have lower odds if you weren't useful or liked but you can also be disappeared for being ''too'' well thought of." He gives a hapless shrug with both his shoulders. "I guess it feels like quibbling over the details when there's nothing approaching a guarantee." He has seen enough of Audrey's abilities to be confident in, "No way you'd ever be seen as a bad mage. If you're a bad mage I'd be terrified of a good one." ''You've had it rougher, I think.'' "...It's not exactly a contest." Roland isn't willing to disagree on the matter though, his gaze shifting away. But he doesn't go around saying exactly how his life is rougher, does he? It's kind of convenient that everybody assumes he has had a rough life by virtue of having a normal City life. But. ...The truth is, he knows, until recently he had it pretty good. It was still unfair against him but there's way too many poor saps in the Backstreets to go 'woe is me' about it. But if he was pressed on how exactly he had a rough life, he's not sure he'd be able to keep his trap shut. So it's convenient. Making an enemy of a mage, he thinks, means making an enemy of someone who can piss on your grave and carry that grudge well past whatever family you might have remembering it. Roland thinks about vengeance now and again you could say. Roland grimaces at the idea of doing one thing for hundreds of years. "Wel that's fine if it's something you can get hundreds of years of love out of it." ''Angela can always put you in a small boxy robot body.'' "Don't even joke. She threatened to make me into a popcorn machine." Roland's just pale enough to prove he isn't entirely sure it was a joke. The truth is, Roland doesn't expect to live so much as five more years let alone fifty. What exactly does he expect to do once he gets his revenge and has nothing left to live for? "But hey." Roland smiles. "If I'm around in seventy years, don't let me stop you from using your phenomenal magic power to make my life a little easier."
Audrey Basque	"You know, saying you can just die no matter what in the City isn't improving your argument," Audrey says, crossing her arms and staring at Roland flatly and with very much judgment. "That's not really a problem for me, is what I'm saying. I didn't grow up worried if I didn't meet expectations I would--" She pauses. Hm. "Okay maybe I did a little bit but that's not the same thing at all." She's just desperate, it's different. Still, she smiles. "I'm a prodigy, of course. You will not meet a greater mage from my world who is also my age. But... combat is unusual for Enlightened. It isn't saying much. We aren't trained or expected to fight a single time in our lives. To seek it out like Miss Rook or I do--" Oh. No no no no she wasn't supposed to say that out loud like that. That's AWFUL. She doesn't-- SEEK it out, does she? She fumbles. "Erm. Um. So anyway. That. Y-Yeah. It's not a contest. But if it was, I think you'd win." Now she's embarrassed. "A-A popcorn machine?" Terrifying. Angela truly is scary, sometimes. "O-Oh, but, of course. If you ever need anything, I'm a call away. It'd be rude otherwise."