[PRP] middle fingers (lady & jeremiah)

[azuredreams]

The listserv had positively blown up with messages after Lady had let loose on them. Except that none of it had been truly directed at her at all. With what happened at the Court when they had all gathered last on top of this, he would not be able to let it sit.

It was with what was extra of the chocolate-dipped kholotz that he was stepping out of the back door of his house, the one that went into the shared backyard between the houses (the husbands and the wives did share it), and heading next door.

Not that he really expected to find her on the chicken coop. Jeremiah paused, looking up at her (was that Valiant?), before he wiggled his fingers in greeting.

"I come bearing gifts," he said to her. "To curry favor with you, Lady."

shibrogane

what am i doing. oh, i know, having fun > : D

 

[shibrogane]

It was Valiant. Lady was there, too. She was typing on her phone busily, with Valiant sitting patiently in her lap. Her face was tear-streaked and why shouldn't it be? She'd only been telling that Lacroix guy the truth. It wasn't her fault if other people didn't want to hear it! In fact it was the opposite of her fault. (Valiant opened his beak at Jeremiah, seemed to think better of it, and settled back to attempting to preen Lady's shirt, which had a lot of sparkly sequins on it.)

"No," she said, "I don't want favor curried with me. I want everyone over the age of 20 who isn't Julian or Lyoshka to die in a fire." To add emphasis to this declaration, Lady flopped backwards to stare up at the sky. "A big fire," she said. "So all of you can fit."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Valiant was given a head tilt, as well as an eyebrow raise, before he focused back on Lady once more.

"Well, that might be a little problematic," replied Jeremiah. "As last I checked I'm impervious to fire." Also he was relatively sure that America probably was not that far away from twenty. "Also because you may not always want us to be in a fire."

A step closer to the coop was taken. "... and are you certain you don't want some of this? It's chocolate-dipped kholotz, home-made and all."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I could make something work," said Lady darkly. She sat up and squinted down at Jeremiah, Valiant making soft chicken-noises in her lap as she scooted towards the edge of the roof. "Since when do you make kholotz? And anyway you guys are jerks, so, fire. Fire cleanses." She had been playing Bioshock Infinite. Aleksy, not her Aleksy, had given it to her.

Lady stuck her hand out for the kholotz.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Spare me the Bioshock references." The container was held out for her to take and, of course, it would be delicious. "... though fire does cleanse." Which was the last thing he was going to say on the matter because-

See: Jeremiah's tithing with Ezra.

"I learned after Aleksy came back," he told her, "and because sometimes it makes things better."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Lady broke off a tiny tiny piece of kholotz for Valiant, who took it politely from her fingertips. "Our secret," she told the rooster. Then she said, "Nothing can make this better. My Aleksy's dead. He's gone and he's never never never coming back and it hurts but it's true and I don't know what to do about it."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah let out a breath, eyes closing for a moment before they opened back up. "No and, to be frank, I don't either." Never make up for what the fetch did to him. "He isn't Lisichya but he is-" His hand flipped through the air.

"I was close with him, you know. If you want to know things about him. It probably is not the same but perhaps it would help a little?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"No," said Lady, so vehemently that Valiant startled, his wings flapping wildly until she patted him down. "No, because--it's not the same--there are things you'd tell me that Aleksy would never ever ever want me to know. And knowing him more now that he's gone forever would just make it worse, because... because I'll never know if it's true. Or what he would have told me himself."

She sighed, miserably.

"It's all just gone," she said, waving a hand. "All of it."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Details about his life, the things that are not so personal and private, would probably not hurt. This Aleksy arranges his flowers differently than-" Jeremiah stopped then and shook his head.

"It is not the same," he agreed, deciding to take the foot out of his mouth, "and perhaps you are mourning that loss. Yet you still have an Aleksy who I am certain wants to know you and likely feels the same way you do in some regard. He has lost his best friend, his boyfriend, and his sister in one fell swoop."

shibrogane

*wishes brain worked* *wishes so hard*

 

[shibrogane]

"I'm not his sister, either," said Lady. "He knew his sister. They came back from Russia together. She was his age and pursuing her master's degree in cyberforensics. She was going to be somebody, and I'm just nobody, I don't even know half of what she did and I don't even look or act anything like her at all. He doesn't like me."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah watched her for a moment before he spoke. "How old are you? Excluding the time bullshite of other ashdown."

It wasn't like he did not know but he did have a point in asking.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Seventeen," said Lady. "I mean, twenty-five, but I don't remember all those years. It doesn't even feel like that time was real."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Still young, still a teenager-" Jeremiah looked up to the sky then to Valiant and to the coop where Earnest and the others were roosting.

"Still have all the opportunities to be somebody. It's all there for you and," he gave her a look, "unless Aleksy said he did not like you, I would not assume he does not like you." There was a pause. "... and even then sometimes that is possibly affection."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"He's my brother," said Lady. "He's different enough that he doesn't feel like it but it's not like he suddenly developed new tells when he's lying or unhappy."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"So then he is unhappy he lost his sister but likely still happy he has one. As stupidly optimistic as it sounds: give it time, I am certain he will love you just as much. Just as you will care for him.

"If it doesn't, free pass to toss me into a fire as many times as you want until I do start to burn." Jeremiah was quiet after he said that, a soft exhale of breath escaping.

"For what it is worth, I believe you are strong, Krasnya. Stronger than anyone, even yourself, gives you credit for."

shibrogane