[PRP] inconsiderate (Lalollie)

[Rejam]

It would never have occurred to her--not in this situation, at least--to put her personal desires first. Of course she wanted to see her brother. Of course she wanted that tiny, annoying little anchor of banality amidst all the upheaval that was the Clans. Of course she wanted small familial comforts and someone to pick on while she found her way through the strange newness.

But she had tasks to do, first. She'd not had a proper spiritual communion with a priestess since the beginning of her self-imposed exile. Ritual was important, in all its forms: the fragrance of incense and the sounds of a priestess's quarters important now, as ever, in achieving the proper mindset. And mindset was vital right now. Kallistrate was ready to work.

The priestess in question was not Una (they'd never be Una, not ever again), but she was accommodating, willing for a compassionate one-on-one with a humble, penitent practitioner. It felt odd to attempt meditation without the (ritual, ritual) ritual of simultaneously braiding her hair, but she was working at it. And had been, on and off, for three days.

Three days was a long time for a rumor to travel in the confines of the tower.

She took a deep breath.

and be blue

 

[and be blue]

It was quiet, and it was calm: a serious focus that filled the air around the pair of them.

And into it stepped a whirling dervish.

He was quick, at least, and quiet -- at first. He didn't disturb the peace of the room with his footsteps, lingering near-silent by the door to watch the pair of them and make sure that the rumor mill, in this case, had been correct. He had laid eyes on the elaborate fall of braids around her head, the part of her lips and the slight gap between her teeth, the familiar upturn of her nose.

Ollie waited, before he broke her peace, and Lala was just lucky that the candle went out before it collided with the side of her head. By the time she turned, he was reaching for more, hop-skipping across the room so she wouldn't have an easy target in return.

"You are terrible!" He hadn't changed much, and his voice certainly hadn't changed, but maybe he'd gone just a little bit deeper and just a hair taller. "The worst! Three days! And you're here, and me just circling endlessly through the same tasks! Did you know?"

He raised a second candle, ready to throw, already moving to another position.

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[Rejam]

and be blue

The priestess' actual Guardian moved as if to show them both summarily out, but the priestess, a silent bystander, raised a hand. This was good drama. No sense in cutting it short.

Lala rose, then subsided back to the floor so as to make a strategically smaller target, watching Ollie all wary-eyed and indignant and embarrassed and enraged and rubbing at the burgeoning bruise. At a small movement from her brother she flinched, throwing up her hands to protect her face. Dignified.

"Oliatos. This is a sacred space," she hissed between her teeth. And then, in contradiction of what she'd just said, she yanked a bangle off her arm and flung it right back, with equal force. "Show some respect."  

[and be blue]

The bracelet made him flinch but it was the words that made him pause: eyes turning to the priestess for a moment, dark eyebrows knitted in the middle of his forehead and mouth pressed into a deep, furious frown. Ollie thought about it, at least. Considered the potential ramifications of fighting in a sacred space, throwing sacred objects. Disrespecting his elders.

Then, somewhat pointedly, he threw the second candle at her. It had force behind it, this time. It would bounce.

Before she could retaliate he took off through the door again, taking her bangle with him. Let Lala decide if she wanted to stay and clean up the mess of go after him.

rejam

 

[Rejam]

and be blue

The question was answered a few seconds later, when an incense burner, scattering ash, rebounded off the side of his head.

"You little brat," she hissed. "That was blasphemous." The incense burner was followed by a little hammered bronze bowl, possibly for the collecting of sacrificial blood. She had apparently stocked up on ammunition before storming out.  

[and be blue]

He wasn't crying, but this was mostly because he didn't cry: training from a young age had killed any tendency toward tears. By this point, though, the anger had also faded out some, killing the desire to storm off. He blinked at her, swatting aside the bronze bowl, and his mouth had gone soft.

It was not quite a pout, but it was close. All at once, he sat down in the dirt.

"You're the brat." Which wasn't exactly a great retort, but it was a heartfelt one.

rejam

 

[Rejam]

and be blue

She paused, watching him for a moment, and then she calmly reached up to feel for the strand of hair his initial attack had knocked loose. She teased it loose, braiding it rapidly to the end, and then wove it through the rest of her hair--enough time to bought to ensure that they wouldn't be bothered. Possibly a priestess was even now stifling peals of laughter.

"Duty first above all things, Ollie," she said, not ungently as she folded up to sit near him. Not too near though. She was still eyeing him warily, lest he decide to launch a second physical assault.  

[and be blue]

"You can say that. You could have said that, three days ago." Ollie shook his head, tugging knees up against his chest: somewhere between furious and miserable that mixed up into a tiring knot of tension. "Not now."

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[Rejam]

and be blue

After a moment she leaned back on her palms, looking over Ollie's shoulder at nothing in particular and silent for a long time.

"I was gone for a long time," she said finally. "It was unsettling to come back and find everything so different."  

[and be blue]

Let her make all the reasoned arguments she liked. In response, Ollie just blew air through his lips in a very rude sound, without even looking at her.

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[Rejam]

"I deserved that," she said after another pause, "but you're being a little a*****e. a*****e."  

[and be blue]

This time, at least, he turned his head to repeat the rude noise directly at her, face half-hidden behind the sloppy tangle of his hair.

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[Rejam]

and be blue

She made it back, louder. "If you keep being a little a*****e about this I'm not going to give you any of the stuff I brought you back. Then what."  

[and be blue]

There was a pause before he replied: a pause in which his eyes lit up, whether he intended it or not, and some [but not all] of the frustration was sapped from his voice. "Then maybe I'll go away for years and years and, when I come back, just sit in the training yard for three days and pretend you don't exist."

rejam

 

[Rejam]

and be blue

"Then you'll be in my debt, because I wasn't pretending you don't exist, you little brat. I've been--" she hesitated, a little leery even now, but plunged ahead "--bored out of my skull for days, Ollie. Daaaaaays. I felt that I needed to--to right myself. Right things, I mean, as much as I can--before I saw you."

Kallistrate did not often betray emotion that wasn't raw anger. She didn't here, save for the tiny hitch in her voice.

"Anyway, you ruined that, you little s**t head. So the damage is done, I guess." She stood up, shaking out her robes, and reached to grab an antler and give it a little chiding shake. "Come with me and I'll show you where I'm staying right now, and give you your gifts, you materialistic thing--ought to be in Conquest. And you can show me what you've been learning while I was gone."