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Fandom Library, Wednesday

You know, it had been a hard and confusing couple of days and Arden was just going to spend her shift reading. Sure, she had stuff she could be doing, but you know what else? She also had a book she could finish and she knew which one was going to be a priority today.

Maybe if anybody saw her, they'd assume it was some kind of class assignment. Or maybe they'd accept that sometimes, a little bit of escapism was what a girl needed. Whichever.

But she wasn't completely shirking her responsibilities! If anyone showed up, she'd be happy to help them. Though maybe people could time their visits to coincide with chapter breaks? That would be dope.

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At least somebody understood her priorities, Cal. And also, Lydia.

"She knows," Arden said. "She helped raise me. But she can't know that I'm telling people what I am. Or else she'll get really mad and point out that I'm risking her life, too, and maybe even will tell Callista where I am, because if I'm being dumb enough to tell people stuff that can get folks killed, I probably shouldn't be allowed out without supervision. You know?"

"...I just think that would be really hypocritical of her, considering," Gray said, "you know." He gestured vaguely to encompass the extremely nonhuman sex Grimm had had with his brother who she had just met.

To be fair: Bellamy.

"Grimm isn't exactly not hypocritical," Arden sighed. "But also, to her way of thinking, she told a little secret. Djinn are just kinda like that, especially if they can get information out of it. Like, Duke gives random people his real name so they can summon him for stuff and he can either learn stuff or mess with them, depending on his mood. Djinn are..." She shrugged. "Yeah, just like that. And they're always scrupulously sure to never make it seem like anyone else exists but them. Me talking about what I am? Big secret, and the kind that hints at a wholeass society just by virtue of being the kind of secret it is. Her risk is calculated, mine's stupid."

"But it's not like you asked to be born," Gray protested. "Any more than I did, with all the bullshit that comes with that."

"When has that ever stopped anybody?" Arden asked quietly. "Doesn't change what we are, and, with Othersiders, doesn't change what the law is."

"But it's a stupid-ass law. Especially if you don't even know why. Like, at least we Nephilim know why the angels hate us. And it even kind of makes sense! But even they're like, 'Well, they didn't ask to exist so it's not like we can genocide them about it.' They're just buttholes."

Well, Uriel had done a little more than that, but Gray didn't know that part yet.

"Elves are a predator species," Arden said with a shrug. "Just dressed up in fancy clothes and bureaucracy. Maybe they picked us once humans were deemed too dangerous to hunt. That's what the Duskwatch is. The Otherside's paramilitary policing organization. They're supposed to be for all of us - well, everybody but me - but they're mostly marshmallows anyway."

Okay, now she'd lost him again. "Then what are you so worried about if they're a bunch of marshmallows?"

Possibly they were using that word really differently.

Suuuuuuuper differently!

"Oh! Sorry, yeah. Um, all of us supernaturals have different scents that people can pick up on, from our magic. Vampires smell like iron and ashes. Djinn smell like lemon zest. Elves smell like toasted marshmallows and herbs. It's why I don't like the smell of marshmallows. Gives me panic attacks. So people call elves 'marshmallows,' mostly to be derogatory."

Edited 2024-07-10 21:09 (UTC)

"Oh! We don't have anything like that." He gasped. "Does that mean you can't have s'mores?!" A tragedy.

The way she recoiled at the very word probably answered his question for him.

"Professor Amicitia was really great and didn't have marshmallows at all in his camping class. Professor Atreides, too. I just...can't. Different from how I can't with birds, but still can't."

"I'm so sorry." She was missing out on so much gooey goodness. "You can't eat birds either? Are birds scary too? Should I stop saying birds?"

Okay, Arden had to laugh a little bit. "No, no. I mean, I can't eat birds, I would definitely puke, but that's because - remember how I said the sky feels like home? Well, sylphs, like, vibe with birds so hard that we can't eat them. It's like eating people." She gave a shudder. "Still, I'm pretty sure I get the better end of things? Oreads - earth Elementals - supposedly weren't able eat anything with hooves. No pork. And undines couldn't have fish. And dea...huh. I don't know what they wouldn't be able to eat."

"Huh," Gray said. "That blows. I mean, I can eat birds, and I have feathers." He thought about it. "I can eat people, too, sort of." Not dirty.

Yeah, Arden's mind hadn't gone to dirty, it was still stuck on, "Sort of?!"

If you ask her, sort of eating people was way weirder than not being able to eat birds.

"The Nephilim drink blood," Gray told her. "It's, uh. It's the sign of the damned. We don't have to, like vampires or fallen angels, we just...can. Like a bonus thing."

Bonus damned.

"Is there a reason why you would?" Arden asked, relaxing once Gray explained that was like vampiric. That just happened sometimes.

"Yeah?" Gray said, ruffling at his hair again. "A lot, really. We like it. It tastes good to us. There's like a strength boost. It, uh, can be really...intimate. There are some magic rituals it's necessary for. And it makes alcohol work for us. That or ambrosia, or we can't get drunk, unless it's straight absinthe for some reason." He gave her a wry grin. "The club we go to back home is run by a vampire, so obviously that part's not an issue."

Arden nodded. "The book I mentioned before mentioned that back when there were Elementals around, vampires used to bid on them. I guess there's something in our blood that's tasty and gives their magic a kick? So they'd bid on who'd get to drain whatever Elementals had gotten caught, since they couldn't keep them as pets."

Elves were obviously the biggest danger to her existence, but vampires were a close second, according to Callista, Duke, and Grimm.

"I haven't noticed you smelling particularly delicious or anything, if that helps, and...well, I'd love to say our vampires wouldn't do that, but some of them would. Some vampires aren't very nice. Not in Echo Bay, though. Konnar runs a tight ship." And if he didn't get to any vampires that went around draining people first, Gray's family would.

"That would be very weird if you did," Arden said, with a laugh, though she definitely did smell like fresh air and petrichor, like a morning after rain. "I know the Detente allows for vampires to drain humans, but there are restrictions on numbers and how to dispose of them and stuff."

The Detente was a very thorough document.

Gray theatrically draped himself over a chair. "You guys have way too many rules. And so many of them are about murder. It's making me sleepy."

"Most of the rest are about reproduction and property rules," Arden said, laughing. "Those parts are even more boring."

"Noooooooo," Gray moaned. "Not property rules. Do those involve murder, too? They do, don't they?"

"...Yeah, actually," she admitted, trying not to laugh too loudly. "About what happens if people encroach on either human territories or other Othersiders."

StAy In YoUr WoRlD wHeRe YoU'lL bE sAfE! That was what you sounded like, Cal.

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

napking - 2024-07-11 01:03 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Talk to the Aide - NFB, please!

afraid_of_marshmallows - 2024-07-11 01:19 (UTC) - Expand

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