[Speak Out] A Clean Sweep

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa has been listening to people all day, spilling truths they kept inside, hidden from others and even from themselves. On the phones or in town, everyone seemed to be affected in varying degrees. ]

[ It was beginning to weigh on her mind; the alarming number of people professing to something they had no idea what it was, the torrent of words

Comments

[velesdonnersen]

[Tarvek has been in and out today, listening, trying to learn what he can learn... He's been monitoring himself frantically, trying to strike a balance between the pressure to speak, and the obligation to hear and learn.]

[Eventually the fear of speaking outweighed the need to learn. He's home when Ilsa knocks. Seeing the fearful, brooding look in her eye he lets her in, and quickly conducts her to the study, saying to the children and Luka that his friend wishes to speak with him: a truth, and one he can say freely. He pours Ilsa a small shot of scotch.]

It's got you, too? I think I've got a light case, and thank the lightning for that: there are things in my skull that aren't mind to tell.

How can I help you, liebchen?

[ooeeooahah]

[ Her hand shakes just a little as she takes the glass and knocks back the shot. ]

I'm on the edge of wanting to tell the entire town my life history. But... I'm thinking you should hear it first.

[ Her hand is steadier as she hands back the glass. ]

How important is someone's bloodline in your world?

[velesdonnersen]

[Eyes narrow.]

Depends. But -- mostly? On my level? Very. Noble lineage and spark lineage both determine almost everything you can be...and how you can be it.

[He shrugs, and looks embarrassed.]

I'm... Ilsa, back home I have to care about it. And if I start telling you why, I'll be the one telling his life story, not you. But be sure to ask me. Even tonight, when you can trust my answers, even if you don't like them.

Suffice it to say that it matters, and that I believe in systems that at least try to compensate for that. But it does matter, and I've been known to use that when it suited my needs.

[ooeeooahah]

[ She nods. ] About what I thought. I've not got anything to compare on that front. No great noble line attached to my family tree. On the human side of my family, the only thread that is constant is the mage abilities.

[ She folds her hands before her, then opens them as one would a book. An image coalesces of two teenaged girls sitting in a back yard who are then joined by an older woman leaning on a cane. ]

My sister Nadine, Mama... and Daddy

[ The three are joined by a large bat-winged man, dressed casually, carrying a tea tray. ]

[ Ilsa is watching Tarvek's face. ]