It's Not the Fall of Your Empire [girl!Nikko - Veritas: The Quest, PG]
Title: It's Not the Fall of Your Empire
Fandom: Veritas: The Quest
Rating: PG
Spoilers, etc.: Through the aired series, though it's mostly AU fill in bits and pieces.
Notes: Features girl!Nikko, an updated timeline, and wacky Nikko/Calvin whatnot that actually doesn't happen or go anywhere. Use of Miss Srimmage's from the Macdonald Hall book series is wholly my construction and speaks to my crackaddle brain and general laziness. Title from Sahara Hotnights', "Empty Heart".
Notes x 2: This would not have been written without storydivagirl, so it's an appropriate birthday present. I would never have thought of even watching Veritas again if hadn't been for her, much less write it in any way. Her encouragement along the way, as well as her constant interest and friendship in all things makes her a valued friend, even if we'll never be BFF. She's a jewel of fandom, and I only wish more people could discover our little secret.
Happy birthday, darling!
At the moment, it's a toss up as to whether listening to her father and the headmistress arguing (and they're really not arguing so much as they're kvetching and bonding over Nikko's Lack of Responsibility -- just with a lot of yelling), or the fact that she can't sit idly by on the bench outside the school office, unable to twirl a strand of hair around her finger, is more distressing.
After a moment's hesitation and a few good snaps of her gum, Nikko determines that the hair issue wins. Stupid braids, totally very not Blair Waldorf of her, but then again, who does she have to show off for at Scrimmage's anyway?
And as for her father and the whole getting kicked out school thing, what did he expect, sticking her in some girls school in the middle of freaking Ontario. What, he couldn't even manage Toronto proper?
Besides, this time it wasn't that bad -- hell, the actual police were across the street at Macdonald Hall -- all she had done was cause a distraction for her friend, Bruno. Granted, that distraction had blown up the bathroom at the end of her hall, but really, the particular shade of Pepto pink tile really needed to go.
Getting kicked out is a total over-reaction in Nikko's opinion. But as Solomon exits the office, not even looking at her as he gives orders to grab her gear and follow, Nikko can sense that maybe her act of remodeling has finally pushed her father past his limits.
*
Those guys are shooting at them -- him. Nikko, for a split second when she isn't ducking down, hands over her head, irrationally wants to yell at her dad that in no uncertain terms, blowing up a bathroom is not nearly as bad as having heavily armed men chasing you... while you attempt escape in a Ford Taurus station wagon.
The hell?
Solomon is one to talk about responsibility. What kind of mild mannered archeology professor gets shot at? In Canada.
And wait, when did her dad turn into Batman?
*
It's not that people think she's stupid. In fact, whether they want to admit it or not, she's a damned genius. But she's heard it time and time again, "Nikko just doesn't apply herself".
That's true enough, in a way. Nikko reads. Reads a lot, in fact. Sometimes she actually reads what she's been assigned in class, but she always finds more interesting, more challenging things hidden away in the stacks of her school libraries. Books coated with layers of dust because no one's bothered to open them in years -- not because they are out of date or useless, but because they're above the level of everyone in the school.
Fine, so she has a lot of issues, but lack of self-esteem in that particular area is not one of them.
So it comes down to this, Nicole Zond is brilliant, easily bored and is currently tagging along with her dad around the world on some mythical, highly tricked out quest. After years of boarding schools that did little or nothing to really educate her, this is proving to be the best schooling that Nikko could hope for.
And she doesn't even have to take gym. Talk about bonus.
*
For a foundation called Veritas, Nikko thinks that there a lot of lies. Or, if not lies, half-truths and omissions. She sees it in her father's eyes all the time, the things he wants to tell her and can't, protecting her from the monsters under the bed. Of course, Nikko recognizes her father's omissions for what they are, but she's spent too long fighting to take the protection for what it is.
She's a teenager after all, with daddy issues galore. Anyone that expects anything less than a sour attitude and rebellion is an idiot.
*
Juliet probably thinks that this is some kind of girly bonding thing, but it's really that Juliet was around and Maggie would've just told her dad if she'd asked her to do it.
"Are you sure, Nikko?"
Nikko rolls her eyes and heaves a sigh. The scene must look crazy -- she's sitting in front of a giant mirror, sheet draped over her shoulders with Juliet standing behind her, a gleaming pair of scissors in hand. She looks like a Junior League Sweeny Todd.
"Yes, I'm sure. Chop it."
The decision to cut off her hair was actually made on the plane back from Paris, when Nikko figured out that if this was going to be her life from now on - dust and maps and mud and guys with guns - that the braid hanging halfway down her back was simply impractical.
Besides, going Sinead was as good of an act of rebellion as any, right?
But Juliet hesitates, looks from the scissors up to meet Nikko's eyes in the mirror. Her lips press into a thin line, but then her face softens once more. "If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right."
Nikko's about to ask if Juliet wants a matching 'do, when Juliet grabs her hand and un-wraps the sheet from Nikko's shoulders.
"C'mon, there's a salon down the street."
And that's how Nikko ends up watching as inches of her hair vanish. It takes longer than she had anticipated, cutting it all away, the stylist taking it down to a mere inch and a half. It's a dramatic difference, but as she runs her hands over her head, Nikko knows it was the right thing to do. It's not exactly the most flattering cut, but it's what she wanted, and Nikko likes how big her eyes look in the mirror, the rest of her features standing out in sharp relief too.
Nothing more to hide behind, and Nikko suddenly feels so much lighter. She's all smiles when she meets Juliet in the waiting area. Her tutor just smiles back, nods, and Nikko hates to admit it, but maybe they just bonded. But only a little bit.
Back at the office, her dad raises an eyebrow and looks ready to launch into a speech when a look from Maggie silences whatever he was about to say. Maggie, for her part, smiles warmly, says that Nikko looks very grown up, and goes back to her work. Vincent pats her shoulder and goes into sensei mode with something about 'denying the enemy', so Nikko takes that as approval.
Calvin, passing through the main hall, nose buried in a book, snorts when he sees her. "Oh yeah, now you blend in."
There's something about the way he says it, though, that makes her stop, snark dying on her lips. She'd expected the understated reactions of these guys, but she never expected Calvin to look at her like that, dismissive and considering all at the same time.
Interesting.
And as the blush rises on her cheeks, Nikko suddenly wishes she had her hair to hide behind again.
*
Calvin's getting better. Nikko knows this because they took the thermal sheet off, so now he doesn't look so much like a burrito from Moe's.
But she'll tell him about it anyway, once he's really okay, because it'll piss him off and make her laugh and that's how they work. Plus, it's a lot easier than teasing him about trying to flirt with Juliet, just before the plane crashed. What would she say? "Does your manly charm always bring down aircraft?"
She will also tease him about the whole thing where he thought he was being attacked by penguins. Because really, how can she not?
Except that when it happened, Nikko started to laugh, and felt warm and it had nothing to do with the geothermal properties of the pyramid. And Vincent caught her, and while no once else would've ever noticed, Vincent -- well, Vincent notices everything. It's his job.
*
"You ran off without communication, without protection --"
Solomon's glare cuts short Nikko's snort of laughter, but she can’t hold back a faint smile, because even though she even sort of likes Juliet now, her tutor’s not what Nikko would really call "protection".
"This isn’t funny, Nikko. You could have been captured, killed..."
Nikko waves her hand dismissively, but stops short of rolling her eyes. "Fallen down a well, I know, I know."
Though he's been pacing the living area of their small Venetian suite, Solomon whirls on his daughter, face stony and just as cold. "I could have lost you, Nikko."
It takes all of her strength not to flinch. Nikko knows that her father cares, that he loves her, but there's so much there, under the surface: her mother's death, his absences before and after, her all-but-virtual abandonment in boarding schools all over Europe and the States.
She wants to speak the words that forever linger on the back of her tongue when he speaks like this. Say them softly, sharp as ice. "You lost me before you even knew me."
But Nikko only bows her head, a silent acceptance that her father is right, at least partly. She bites her tongue and only wipes away her tears only when Solomon has left the room.
*
They used to dance like this at Scrimmage's. Midnight kitchen raids, five girls in pigtails and bunny slippers, dancing and singing along to old Madonna songs at the top of their lungs; and oh, the havoc they would wreak once the night really got under way.
Nikko misses it sometimes, that feeling of 'us against the world'. Veritas is always fighting against something, for something, but it's not the same. They have so many resources, so much combined knowledge and skill -- at school they made do with clever girls and metaphorical tin cans and balls of string.
But she can still dance around the kitchen at midnight in her jammies, eating ice cream out of the container and using the spoon as a makeshift microphone.
This is how Calvin finds her singing along to Shakira in the middle of the night, as she's trying to pry loose another spoonful of rum raisin.
"I think your timing is a half second off."
Spinning around, Nikko's jaw drops as Calving continues laughing at her. But then conditioning kicks in, and who cares if she’s in pink Hello Kitty shorts? She's Nicole Zond, and Calvin Jones of all people does not get to mock a time honored ritual.
"What are you even doing here this late?"
Still chuckling, Calvin holds up an old book. Musty too, Nikko can smell it from across the kitchen's marble counter top.
"You know," she begins, "I've heard that there are better ways of going blind. You should try one. At home."
Calvin doesn't even blink.
Nikko quickly realizes that she's playing in a different league now; this used to work on high school boys.
She watches, mesmerized, as he puts the book down and moves it aside, leaving his large hands flat on the counter. Calvin leans forward, arms braced and wide shoulders hunched just slightly, and for a moment they just stare, and breathe. It is game of chicken, and Nikko isn't sure what the stakes are. Hell, she's not even sure of what she'd want the stakes to be in the first place. Nikko has no intentions; she just wants to see where this will go.
"You, Nicole, know more than you should"
"Some would say I’m a genius."
Calvin rolls his eyes and continues. "By the time you grow up, I hope you know how to use it."
Nikko blinks first. "For the record, you didn't shoot me down, Calvin Banks. Insulting someone isn’t the same as flirting with them."
"Good to know, because then you'd have hit on half of the city. Generally speaking, being indiscriminate isn’t an attractive trait."
"Neither is being a condescending ass," Nikko sneers. But by then, Calvin's snagged his book and is walking away without a second glance.
"Oh," he adds, second glance at hand, "nice Hello Kitty, by the way."
The orange, while thrown with much force, misses Calvin's head by inches.
"I'll tell Vincent that your aim could use some work."
*
Star pupil is a title that Nicole gave up on a long time ago, possibly sometime around a grade school construction of an erupting volcano for the science fair. It's not that she can't, or even that she won't. Nikko's just rough around the edges. She doesn't do -- or see -- things like everyone else. She sees around, and through, making connections that no one else will be able to follow. She got that from her parents.
And like it or not, her headstrong, heart-following ways are inherited as well, from Hallie and Solomon. She's her father's daughter as well as her mother's. Deep down in a place Nikko doesn’t like to think exists, she hopes that Solomon's finally starting to realize it.
She doesn't want his acceptance in the normal flowery terms. No teddy bears or pink cards, no balloons and long hugs. She just wants his respect, pure and simple.
But while she's waiting for that, she'll take Vincent's respect as proxy.
He talks to her like an adult, or near to one. He teaches, advises and jokes. He doesn't pull any punches, and slowly grinds into her the fact that she might not be big and muscle bound, but she’s smart and quick, and when she wants to be, focused.
There are many kinds of power, he says. That is one of them.
Vincent teaches her how to meditate. When she rejects the babbling brook and all other nature sounds as meditation aids, he lets her try German industrial and house music instead. Soon she doesn't even need it.
Nikko gets into the habit of meditating at night, when Veritas is quiet and at peace. The gym is somehow soft and warm, and she is easily able to relax. Sometimes, when the day has been long with study, tension with Calvin, or fights with her father, Nicole will fall asleep, curled up like a little girl on the floor.
It is Vincent that will carry her to her room, tuck her in and turn out the light. She knows it is Vincent that does this because the following mornings, it is Vincent that returns her sheepish look while her own father carries on about stars and dirt, mystery and danger.
*
It is creeping into autumn when Nikko starts to think of this place as home.
It starts when a picture goes up on the dresser in her room; a picture of her mother and father, noses deep in books and maps, a young Nikko at their feet. None appear to be paying attention to any of the others, but if she looks closely, they’re all touching.
The Zond family bond.
--end--
Fandom: Veritas: The Quest
Rating: PG
Spoilers, etc.: Through the aired series, though it's mostly AU fill in bits and pieces.
Notes: Features girl!Nikko, an updated timeline, and wacky Nikko/Calvin whatnot that actually doesn't happen or go anywhere. Use of Miss Srimmage's from the Macdonald Hall book series is wholly my construction and speaks to my crackaddle brain and general laziness. Title from Sahara Hotnights', "Empty Heart".
Notes x 2: This would not have been written without storydivagirl, so it's an appropriate birthday present. I would never have thought of even watching Veritas again if hadn't been for her, much less write it in any way. Her encouragement along the way, as well as her constant interest and friendship in all things makes her a valued friend, even if we'll never be BFF. She's a jewel of fandom, and I only wish more people could discover our little secret.
Happy birthday, darling!
At the moment, it's a toss up as to whether listening to her father and the headmistress arguing (and they're really not arguing so much as they're kvetching and bonding over Nikko's Lack of Responsibility -- just with a lot of yelling), or the fact that she can't sit idly by on the bench outside the school office, unable to twirl a strand of hair around her finger, is more distressing.
After a moment's hesitation and a few good snaps of her gum, Nikko determines that the hair issue wins. Stupid braids, totally very not Blair Waldorf of her, but then again, who does she have to show off for at Scrimmage's anyway?
And as for her father and the whole getting kicked out school thing, what did he expect, sticking her in some girls school in the middle of freaking Ontario. What, he couldn't even manage Toronto proper?
Besides, this time it wasn't that bad -- hell, the actual police were across the street at Macdonald Hall -- all she had done was cause a distraction for her friend, Bruno. Granted, that distraction had blown up the bathroom at the end of her hall, but really, the particular shade of Pepto pink tile really needed to go.
Getting kicked out is a total over-reaction in Nikko's opinion. But as Solomon exits the office, not even looking at her as he gives orders to grab her gear and follow, Nikko can sense that maybe her act of remodeling has finally pushed her father past his limits.
*
Those guys are shooting at them -- him. Nikko, for a split second when she isn't ducking down, hands over her head, irrationally wants to yell at her dad that in no uncertain terms, blowing up a bathroom is not nearly as bad as having heavily armed men chasing you... while you attempt escape in a Ford Taurus station wagon.
The hell?
Solomon is one to talk about responsibility. What kind of mild mannered archeology professor gets shot at? In Canada.
And wait, when did her dad turn into Batman?
*
It's not that people think she's stupid. In fact, whether they want to admit it or not, she's a damned genius. But she's heard it time and time again, "Nikko just doesn't apply herself".
That's true enough, in a way. Nikko reads. Reads a lot, in fact. Sometimes she actually reads what she's been assigned in class, but she always finds more interesting, more challenging things hidden away in the stacks of her school libraries. Books coated with layers of dust because no one's bothered to open them in years -- not because they are out of date or useless, but because they're above the level of everyone in the school.
Fine, so she has a lot of issues, but lack of self-esteem in that particular area is not one of them.
So it comes down to this, Nicole Zond is brilliant, easily bored and is currently tagging along with her dad around the world on some mythical, highly tricked out quest. After years of boarding schools that did little or nothing to really educate her, this is proving to be the best schooling that Nikko could hope for.
And she doesn't even have to take gym. Talk about bonus.
*
For a foundation called Veritas, Nikko thinks that there a lot of lies. Or, if not lies, half-truths and omissions. She sees it in her father's eyes all the time, the things he wants to tell her and can't, protecting her from the monsters under the bed. Of course, Nikko recognizes her father's omissions for what they are, but she's spent too long fighting to take the protection for what it is.
She's a teenager after all, with daddy issues galore. Anyone that expects anything less than a sour attitude and rebellion is an idiot.
*
Juliet probably thinks that this is some kind of girly bonding thing, but it's really that Juliet was around and Maggie would've just told her dad if she'd asked her to do it.
"Are you sure, Nikko?"
Nikko rolls her eyes and heaves a sigh. The scene must look crazy -- she's sitting in front of a giant mirror, sheet draped over her shoulders with Juliet standing behind her, a gleaming pair of scissors in hand. She looks like a Junior League Sweeny Todd.
"Yes, I'm sure. Chop it."
The decision to cut off her hair was actually made on the plane back from Paris, when Nikko figured out that if this was going to be her life from now on - dust and maps and mud and guys with guns - that the braid hanging halfway down her back was simply impractical.
Besides, going Sinead was as good of an act of rebellion as any, right?
But Juliet hesitates, looks from the scissors up to meet Nikko's eyes in the mirror. Her lips press into a thin line, but then her face softens once more. "If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right."
Nikko's about to ask if Juliet wants a matching 'do, when Juliet grabs her hand and un-wraps the sheet from Nikko's shoulders.
"C'mon, there's a salon down the street."
And that's how Nikko ends up watching as inches of her hair vanish. It takes longer than she had anticipated, cutting it all away, the stylist taking it down to a mere inch and a half. It's a dramatic difference, but as she runs her hands over her head, Nikko knows it was the right thing to do. It's not exactly the most flattering cut, but it's what she wanted, and Nikko likes how big her eyes look in the mirror, the rest of her features standing out in sharp relief too.
Nothing more to hide behind, and Nikko suddenly feels so much lighter. She's all smiles when she meets Juliet in the waiting area. Her tutor just smiles back, nods, and Nikko hates to admit it, but maybe they just bonded. But only a little bit.
Back at the office, her dad raises an eyebrow and looks ready to launch into a speech when a look from Maggie silences whatever he was about to say. Maggie, for her part, smiles warmly, says that Nikko looks very grown up, and goes back to her work. Vincent pats her shoulder and goes into sensei mode with something about 'denying the enemy', so Nikko takes that as approval.
Calvin, passing through the main hall, nose buried in a book, snorts when he sees her. "Oh yeah, now you blend in."
There's something about the way he says it, though, that makes her stop, snark dying on her lips. She'd expected the understated reactions of these guys, but she never expected Calvin to look at her like that, dismissive and considering all at the same time.
Interesting.
And as the blush rises on her cheeks, Nikko suddenly wishes she had her hair to hide behind again.
*
Calvin's getting better. Nikko knows this because they took the thermal sheet off, so now he doesn't look so much like a burrito from Moe's.
But she'll tell him about it anyway, once he's really okay, because it'll piss him off and make her laugh and that's how they work. Plus, it's a lot easier than teasing him about trying to flirt with Juliet, just before the plane crashed. What would she say? "Does your manly charm always bring down aircraft?"
She will also tease him about the whole thing where he thought he was being attacked by penguins. Because really, how can she not?
Except that when it happened, Nikko started to laugh, and felt warm and it had nothing to do with the geothermal properties of the pyramid. And Vincent caught her, and while no once else would've ever noticed, Vincent -- well, Vincent notices everything. It's his job.
*
"You ran off without communication, without protection --"
Solomon's glare cuts short Nikko's snort of laughter, but she can’t hold back a faint smile, because even though she even sort of likes Juliet now, her tutor’s not what Nikko would really call "protection".
"This isn’t funny, Nikko. You could have been captured, killed..."
Nikko waves her hand dismissively, but stops short of rolling her eyes. "Fallen down a well, I know, I know."
Though he's been pacing the living area of their small Venetian suite, Solomon whirls on his daughter, face stony and just as cold. "I could have lost you, Nikko."
It takes all of her strength not to flinch. Nikko knows that her father cares, that he loves her, but there's so much there, under the surface: her mother's death, his absences before and after, her all-but-virtual abandonment in boarding schools all over Europe and the States.
She wants to speak the words that forever linger on the back of her tongue when he speaks like this. Say them softly, sharp as ice. "You lost me before you even knew me."
But Nikko only bows her head, a silent acceptance that her father is right, at least partly. She bites her tongue and only wipes away her tears only when Solomon has left the room.
*
They used to dance like this at Scrimmage's. Midnight kitchen raids, five girls in pigtails and bunny slippers, dancing and singing along to old Madonna songs at the top of their lungs; and oh, the havoc they would wreak once the night really got under way.
Nikko misses it sometimes, that feeling of 'us against the world'. Veritas is always fighting against something, for something, but it's not the same. They have so many resources, so much combined knowledge and skill -- at school they made do with clever girls and metaphorical tin cans and balls of string.
But she can still dance around the kitchen at midnight in her jammies, eating ice cream out of the container and using the spoon as a makeshift microphone.
This is how Calvin finds her singing along to Shakira in the middle of the night, as she's trying to pry loose another spoonful of rum raisin.
"I think your timing is a half second off."
Spinning around, Nikko's jaw drops as Calving continues laughing at her. But then conditioning kicks in, and who cares if she’s in pink Hello Kitty shorts? She's Nicole Zond, and Calvin Jones of all people does not get to mock a time honored ritual.
"What are you even doing here this late?"
Still chuckling, Calvin holds up an old book. Musty too, Nikko can smell it from across the kitchen's marble counter top.
"You know," she begins, "I've heard that there are better ways of going blind. You should try one. At home."
Calvin doesn't even blink.
Nikko quickly realizes that she's playing in a different league now; this used to work on high school boys.
She watches, mesmerized, as he puts the book down and moves it aside, leaving his large hands flat on the counter. Calvin leans forward, arms braced and wide shoulders hunched just slightly, and for a moment they just stare, and breathe. It is game of chicken, and Nikko isn't sure what the stakes are. Hell, she's not even sure of what she'd want the stakes to be in the first place. Nikko has no intentions; she just wants to see where this will go.
"You, Nicole, know more than you should"
"Some would say I’m a genius."
Calvin rolls his eyes and continues. "By the time you grow up, I hope you know how to use it."
Nikko blinks first. "For the record, you didn't shoot me down, Calvin Banks. Insulting someone isn’t the same as flirting with them."
"Good to know, because then you'd have hit on half of the city. Generally speaking, being indiscriminate isn’t an attractive trait."
"Neither is being a condescending ass," Nikko sneers. But by then, Calvin's snagged his book and is walking away without a second glance.
"Oh," he adds, second glance at hand, "nice Hello Kitty, by the way."
The orange, while thrown with much force, misses Calvin's head by inches.
"I'll tell Vincent that your aim could use some work."
*
Star pupil is a title that Nicole gave up on a long time ago, possibly sometime around a grade school construction of an erupting volcano for the science fair. It's not that she can't, or even that she won't. Nikko's just rough around the edges. She doesn't do -- or see -- things like everyone else. She sees around, and through, making connections that no one else will be able to follow. She got that from her parents.
And like it or not, her headstrong, heart-following ways are inherited as well, from Hallie and Solomon. She's her father's daughter as well as her mother's. Deep down in a place Nikko doesn’t like to think exists, she hopes that Solomon's finally starting to realize it.
She doesn't want his acceptance in the normal flowery terms. No teddy bears or pink cards, no balloons and long hugs. She just wants his respect, pure and simple.
But while she's waiting for that, she'll take Vincent's respect as proxy.
He talks to her like an adult, or near to one. He teaches, advises and jokes. He doesn't pull any punches, and slowly grinds into her the fact that she might not be big and muscle bound, but she’s smart and quick, and when she wants to be, focused.
There are many kinds of power, he says. That is one of them.
Vincent teaches her how to meditate. When she rejects the babbling brook and all other nature sounds as meditation aids, he lets her try German industrial and house music instead. Soon she doesn't even need it.
Nikko gets into the habit of meditating at night, when Veritas is quiet and at peace. The gym is somehow soft and warm, and she is easily able to relax. Sometimes, when the day has been long with study, tension with Calvin, or fights with her father, Nicole will fall asleep, curled up like a little girl on the floor.
It is Vincent that will carry her to her room, tuck her in and turn out the light. She knows it is Vincent that does this because the following mornings, it is Vincent that returns her sheepish look while her own father carries on about stars and dirt, mystery and danger.
*
It is creeping into autumn when Nikko starts to think of this place as home.
It starts when a picture goes up on the dresser in her room; a picture of her mother and father, noses deep in books and maps, a young Nikko at their feet. None appear to be paying attention to any of the others, but if she looks closely, they’re all touching.
The Zond family bond.
--end--