OOCS, Into A Wider Galaxy, Part 638

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Tread Softly Around Sorcerers

The little head of the younger copy of her son pops up from her lap. “Is something wrong?”

Geed’Rella, because she refused to do the silly thing he wanted which was naming all the Bright Forest Sorcerers Roob, shakes his head.

“Uh... you know that most if not all Sorcerers really like The Undaunted right?” Geed’Rella, formerly Naird’Rella the Smaller asks.

“I am aware.” She says as she continues fiddling with his hair. Naird’Rella and now Geed’Rella are very cuddly as children. Also as adults, but with how tall they grow it becomes a lot more awkward to cuddle and baby her boy. Boys. Her boys.

“Right well, we saw how the Rivals acted and the undaunted saw something familiar. They tested it, they know the source of The Rivals.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah! There’s some other kind of energy like Axiom, a few soldiers have it, it’s apparently the source of Matriarch Syndrome and both Bruna’s Rival and the rival of last generation have it. They want to take a look at Bruna’Rella and see if she also has it, which is likely, then try to explain things to her so things end well.

“Bruna is still upset with you.” Baroness Rella remarks lightly.

“It was harmless.” Geed’Rella insists.

“Bruna very much disagrees.”

“The mushrooms absorb all kinetic impacts, and getting Naird comfortable around kinetics again is only good.”

“That is fine in itself. Doing a dramatic play of Naird shooting you in a rash of paranoia and using red sauces to simulate blood and sausages for gore is well beyond the pale.”

“It was funny! And on video!”

“It was cruel. She thought she got you killed and turned her brother into a murderer.” Baroness Rella scolds him.

“Then why was I getting cuddles?”

“I wanted the cuddles, and I wanted to make sure you didn’t run off and make things worse. Bruna needs some time alone to recover.”

“It was just a joke.”

“She saw a child getting shot with a coilgun and spray blood and organs. The fact it was a bag tied to your armour that detonated doesn’t change the fact she now has the image of her beloved brother murdering his younger self in her head now.”

“Then maybe she should have done something other than convince me she was a lunatic. She got a guard with an artillery grade maser cannon to point it at her because she’s that crazy. I get she hates the rival, but that was taking it too far.”

“And faking your brutal murder in front of her is not the answer to that. Which is why you are sitting with me through the entire council meeting.”

“But the Undaunted want to use me to teleport here so they can check up on Bruna.”

“Bruna is occupied.”

“Doing what? Sulking because I pranked her with red sauce and sausages?”

“And a high powered weapon!”

“We tested it it only takes like this much mushroom to completely ignore coilshot.” Geed’Rella protests holding up his thumb and forefinger just a centimetre apart.

“Still an awful thing to do.”

“Well she acted awful! Nearly fighting in a queen’s palace while there’s huge things happening? She needed to have a bit of a smack in the face.”

“You still went too far.” Baroness Rella says.

“Right well... The Undaunted want to ask you about coming here so that they give Bruna a scan and see if things are going to be okay with the rivalry and things.”

“And with Mori in transit to Centris as we speak, examining her is out of the question. Intercepting a ship in the Axiom Lanes defines the terms dangerous and illegal.” Baroness Rella says. “How important is this examination?”

Geed’Rella shrugs.

“It can be held off, but... the Satha family just went through one and I don’t think that Bruna’Rella will let it stand that they get something done for them that she doesn’t make sure we get.”

“Have they now?” Bruna’Rella asks sternly. She had slipped into the room without either the Baroness or Geed noticing her. She gives Geed a dirty look, clearly still upset. But here on business. “Anything else I should know about the foul Satha?”

Geed’Rella considers. Thinks then decides to smirk.

“Yes, of the two soldiers that are coming, Warli’Satha calls dibs on the medic saying she saw him first and Thera’Satha was flirting hard with the other one. The Specialist.”

“Is this another joke?”

“No.” Geed’Rella says and Baroness Rella lightly holds him by a horn and turns his head.

“Is it?”

“No it’s not.” He assures her and she sighs.

“I am NOT going to let that Satha slime get the better of me in anything!”

“Geed. Why?” Baroness Rella asks.

“Because Roob’Satha is showing me Warli’Satha composing an email to mock Bruna as we speak.”

“Oh. Okay. That is a good reason. Must they come?”

“You can tell them no, but this... was going to happen no matter what.”

“Of course. You are going to help your sister with this and... seeing that smirk on your face tells me that this is still no punishment.”

“What? I was on the council with you.”

“And if you were feline you would have been purring. I’m trying to punish you for near traumatizing your sister. Not give you extra cuddle time or a show to watch. So I will still be looking for a way to punish you for what you’ve done.”

“There’s nothing you can do that I can’t laugh off.”

“Which is an issue. I don’t want to hurt you, I want you to learn to not do such things. Or at least learn that there are limits to fun and jokes that are not to be crossed.” Baroness Rella says and Geed’Rella shrugs.

“No one got hurt, the mess was clean in a minute.”

“That is not the point.”

“Then what is the point?”

“The point is you badly upset your sister.”

“Because she upset me! Because she cares more about getting into a fight with a cousin than making sure I’m okay! Because she made me think that maybe, just maybe, Naird wasn’t a son so much as a playing piece because of just how crazy she looked.”

“And then you were told that she cannot help it and is compelled to act in that way.”

“Rival doesn’t mean fight on sight! She could have given the woman a cold shoulder and left with me! She could have ignored her, or gone into a contest about who loves their lost brother more or anything! But no! Fight on sight! If Roob’Satha wasn’t confirming things from his side I wouldn’t have believed things! We both had to make sure! This is wrong and stupid and she deserves a scare until she learns to keep her dumb rivalry from spilling over!”

“It is not your place to teach Bruna anything!”

“Then who’s is it?! Look at her! She’s getting angrier and angrier at the thought of things! She’s so controlled by the rivalry that I can tell her anything about the Satha woman and I could always get her to do either that or the opposite! This is messed up!”

“I am not a slave of my rivalry!”

“Can you even imagine your life without it?! Don’t answer that! You don’t have to or want to because if the answer is no then you ARE a slave to it! Trapped and locked in as tightly, if not tighter than I was when I WAS A FUCK TOY!” He roars at her then stops. “That was too much. That was way too much.”

Then he’s gone.

•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Rapidly Shifting Locations)•-•-•

There is a flicker of a tiny figure on the top of a rocky outcropping. He’s on the lichen for just a moment then gone.

A tiny figure is then on a mushroom very, very far away appears for only a moment before it’s gone from there as well.

“No, not here either.” Geed’Rella says as he flickers into being upon the green sea that is made of the upper leaves of The Dark Forest.

“No.” His voice manifests out of purple mists a before a figure is already gone before it can fully disrupt the area.

There’s a clatter as a chunk of piping is picked up and raised up.

“Hey can...” Geed’Rella begins to say even as the pipe comes down. He’s gone before it can land.

Sparks ring out as the chunk of copper hits the concrete and the man holding it narrows his eyes. Purple is invading the sclera and he tosses away the now deformed and cracked pipe.

“Invasive little fucker. Don’t know what his deal is. Don’t care either. I’m making my way.” He says shoving his hands into his jacket pocket and walking further down the alleyway of the slum he was in. “Mine, and no one elses. Not Tiny Terry and his family flock of flapping freaks, not some purple fart cloud’s, mine. No matter where it leads. I’m in control. Me.”

Lakran Eight has long since fallen from prosperity and prominence, it was the kind of world where anyone could just vanish into the cracks.

•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Council Chamber, Rella Family Palace, Soben Ryd)•-•-•

“Bruna?” Baroness Rella asks and her daughter is refusing to look at her. Turned away and her eyes screwed shut tight. “Bruna’Rella, look at me.”

Her child, so troubled, so driven and so very, very aware of her own hangups turns to her. “Are you alright?”

“No. No I’m not.”

“Is there any way to make this right?”

“... I am compelled in my behaviour to hate a woman I barely know. Screaming at her, fighting with her and always comparing myself to her. It’s like a nail driven through a horn and into my head whenever I think of her. I hate it. And he just goes and thinks that I need to be punished for it!? That I somehow don’t know that being like this is wrong?! That Warli’Satha isn’t my enemy? But I have to force myself not to curse her name?! It’s destroying my life! No! It has destroyed my life! I can’t even think of a future that doesn’t involve fighting her! I... I am a slave of my own...”

“You are not a slave! You are bearing a mantle, a mantle of madness and cruelty. But it will not lay on you forever. A day will come where it will fall from your shoulders and you can and will be more than a rival to the Satha.”

“I’ve tried to break it mother. I tried so hard. All I got for my efforts was a scar and further awareness of just how trapped I am! I don’t know what to do!”

“When did this happen!?”

“When Warli’Satha the bitch, damn it, when SHE told me that she adores our games and will forever try to best me. I looked for a way to break the game, to get one over on her in a direction she didn’t expect and... I did something. I still can’t stop myself when she’s near but... I don’t want to do this anymore! I don’t even have a life! I’m in my forties! I’ve never even entertained the idea of a man! But hearing about how The Bitch called dibs on one and I’m already planning the names of our children! I don’t even know what species we’re dealing with here! This isn’t right! This isn’t normal! This has to stop!”

“Bruna, I didn’t know.”

“How could you? I didn’t tell you anything. And the Rivals are the fucking sideshow of the family. Burnt out nitwits when we’re retired, psychotic troublemakers and endless overacheiveers when we’re not.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What could you say or do about it? Is there anything you can do to make it right? To make me not a hateful bitch? Because I still am! All the impulses are there, but I’m aware of it! The hypocrisy and blinders are gone! I know what I’m being made to do and it’s disgusting!”

•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Backyard, Shay-Noir Family Home, Serbow)•-•-•

“Shhh.” Before he can say anything or do anything he is shushed and he looks to see Vernon resting with his daughters draped over him. “Your mind is very loud and very confused, but my little girls are very innocent. Remember they are here.”

“I uh...” Geed’Rella begins before deciding to leave.

“Don’t.”

“Hunh?”

“Sit down, and talk calmly and quietly. It’ll help, and so will I.” Vernon offers softly. Geed’Rella sits cross legged on the grass near him. “What is the problem?”

“... I messed up.” Geed’Rella admits.

“How?”

“I said something I shouldn’t have. It hurt them. Probably a lot. I don’t know what to do next.”

“Yes you do.”

“What?”

“You know what to do, but it’s not easy. So you’re looking for an easier answer. The problem is that the easier answers have bad side effects. They start at bad only get worse actually.” Vernon says.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. So there’s no secret to being happy with someone?”

“You have to want to be happy with them. All of them. And they have to return it. That’s the big secret.”

“That’s not a good secret.”

“It’s the secret a lot of people don’t like finding. That the big trick is just wanting something bad enough that you stop caring about other things. The answers come after that.”

“So I have to want it. Badly?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. That’s a lot easier said than done.” Geed’Rella says. “How do you do that?”

“Remind yourself why you want it. Give yourself every reason. Every excuse and why. Answer it all. If you can’t bring it up, then you need to find more.”

“... Thanks.” Geed’Rella says and is gone.

“Good luck.” Vernon says knowing the other Sorcerer can still hear him.

•-•-•Scene Change•-•-• (Council Chamber, Rella Family Palace, Soben Ryd)•-•-•

“-it’s all just...” Bruna’Rella trails off as a pair of arms wrap around her from the side and Geed’Rella is back.

“I’m sorry.” He says more into her thigh than at her as he hugs as tightly as his tiny frame will allow. She crouches down and he lets go only long enough to hug her around the torso and shoulders and is burying his face in her side. “I’m sorry.”

She wraps her arms around him and shifts it into a hug and a carry. She holds him close as Baroness Rella blinks at the sudden, but very welcome shift.

“Okay uh... I’ll have to thank someone later for this. Both of you the... oh no. Come on.” Baroness Rella begins before a flashing light indicates that someone one the council is trying to speak with her directly. She hugs both her children. “We’ll make this work. Now both of you shoo, and yes Geed, you can bring them. But only with Bruna’s permission. Okay?”

“Okay.” Geed’Rella says.

“Thank you mother.” Bruna’Rella says as she catches the whole meaning and she carries her brother out of the room leaving The Baroness to dealing with the affairs of state and diplomacy.

She affixes a smile to her face and activates the audio.

“My apologies for the delay, the family is very busy and in a moment that requires my own wisdom and not some second hand source.”

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