fandomtownies | The Park, Friday Afternoon

Entry tags:

The Park, Friday Afternoon

Issa had lost her interest in climbing trees, at least today. Instead Seivarden had to watch her chase ducks, which meant most of the time lying flat on the ground, tail whipping back and forth, and making noises. The ducks had the advantage of being able to fly.

The flamingos had the advantage of having sharp beaks, which meant that after one attempt at attacking them, Issa had decided they didn't exist.

Seivarden was sitting on a bench with a mug of tea, finding the whole thing a lot more peaceful than tree climbing.

[Open park]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Without any classes and without any Waynes or Eleanors to pester, Troy was feeling a little bored and restless, and, figuring he pestered Astrid enough these days, decided to head down to the park with a football in hand to toss it around a little and pretend that this school actually had sports and that he was clearly the best at them.

The cat chasing the ducks worked as a pretty good distraction from that plan.

And eventually he had to quirk a chin at the person on the bench who also seemed to be watching and ask, "So I missed it. What'd the ducks do to piss off that cat?"

"She's a cat," Seivarden said to the kid. "It's enough that they exist."

Troy looked a little skeptical about that answer. "Mmmmm, I don't know," he said, eyes narrowed thoughtfully at the ducks, tossing the football idly between his hands. "You sure it's not anything more than that? Like....a turf war, or something?"

Look, he was bored. And if making up a potential turf war between ducks and cats was going to stave off the boredom at least for a little while, Troy was going to seize the opportunity to entertain that idea.

"I'm sure she thinks she owns the park, so I suppose you could call it that."

Seivarden took a sip from her mug.

"She's a cat."

"Is she a talking cat?" Troy asked, because that was a thing, he had one for a sibling once! "Maybe we could ask her."

She's not," Seivarden said.

It wasn't an unreasonable question.

"She's good at making her opinion known anyway."

Again, a cat.

"Are you used to cats?"

"My big sibling when I first got here was a cat," Troy explained, in a tone that made it clear that this experience pretty much made him an expert. "She could talk, but didn't have any magical powers. Which is dumb. What's the point of even being a talking cat if you don't have magical powers? But it's fine. Lots of other people have magic powers, and there was even this one guy who was a ghost."

Which was a pretty good exchange, in his opinion.

"Mae?"

It had been a while, but Seivarden still remembered her least favourite student.

"Yeah," said Troy, grinning faintly. "That's her. You knew her too?"

"She used to be one of my students," Seivarden said, with a sigh.

"It was a while ago, but she made an impression by being the most annoying student in the class."

There was a considering pause.

"How'd she manage to do that?" he asked, with the tone of someone who might have pulled out a notebook and a pen to take notes with if he was a nerd.

Seivarden looked at him.

"I've never known anyone fail to wear gloves in so many ways."

Stark had spent, he thought, entirely too much time inside his own apartment and alone this week. It was too easy to hide out after a week like last week but he didn't want to do that so today he was making sure to at least leave the apartment.

So far that had only involved a short walk to the Perk for one of his usual excessive coffees and now a stop in the park. But that was still better than staying shut inside.

"The birds seem to be winning."

"Luckily," Seivarden said. "I prefer to not have to pick up dead ducks."

She took a sip from her mug.

"Tea?"

"It is usually better to avoid things like that," Stark said agreeably.

He shook his head and held up his own cup. "Coffee." Thoroughly uncivilized and sugary coffee. The best kind.

It was a kind of uncivilised that Seivarden was so used to by now that she took it for granted. She laughed.

"I should have guessed."

"It's tea sometimes. But I like the coffee too."

And homemade sugary coffee wasn't nearly as good as the ridiculous things from the Perk.

"I brought this from home," Seivarden said. "The inhabited planet in the system we're in has been terraformed for growing tea. A lot of it is quite good."

"Just to grow the tea? The whole planet?" That seemed a lot of effort for tea, no matter how much you liked it.

"It's more efficient," Seivarden said. "And tea is always going to be in demand."

"There are worse things to devote an entire planet to. But was it inhabited already?"

The galactic empires he was familiar with would have no problem displacing a planet worth of people to grow plants.

"Yes, they became citizens after the Radch annexed the planet."

Seivarden smiled, taking another sip.

"Then more workers were needed. At least slavery was banned."

Stark narrowed his eye at that.

"As it should be. Everywhere."

"As it should be," Seivarden agreed. "It is in all of the Radch. Tea growing is better than slave trade for everyone but the slave traders."

She looked over at Issa.

"The Radch do enslave AIs though, which The Republic of Two Systems doesn't."

She suddenly missed Breq terribly.

"Of course growing tea is better. Anything is better than selling people."

Stark was just going to glare at nothing in particular for a moment. Don't mind him.

Seivarden ignored the glaring. "Slaves generally aren't people to slavers, are they? Someone I really love is a ship AI. When I knew her as a ship I thought she was just a... tool."

She looked down into her mug.

"Although oddly enough I tried to go looking for her after I woke up after a thousand years in suspension. Only a ship and the Lord of the Radch live that long."

Half of this was to herself.

"I've always been a person in spite of the opinions of others," Stark said, trying not to snarl as he did so.

Now was an excellent time to take several long sips of coffee.

"Your friend was a ship and then wasn't?"

"I've never questioned that you are," Seivarden pointed out.

"Breq as she is now is the last remaining body of the troop carrier Justice of Toren. The rest of her was blown up by the Lord of the Radch."

Stark took a moment and few more sips of coffee before responding.

"No. You haven't," he agreed. "You're right." It was just a bit of a sore spot at times.

"Your friend is a ship who had multiple bodies?"

And people thought his living ships were odd!

"Radchaai warships used to have bodies connected to them," Seivarden said, hoping Stark wasn't going to ask about details.

"Breq, who she is now, managed to escape the explosion."

She smiled a little.

"She's good at beating bad odds."

"Oh. That's good. For her and for you."

A bit confusing but still clearly a good thing. Remaining alive usually was.

"Leviathans have Pilots bonded to them. But just the one."

Relieved not to have to explain ancillaries, Seivarden said:

"I admit I worry a little. I would prefer not to have her have to grow back another leg."

"How do they bond?"

Was it voluntary?

"...Another leg? How many has she grown back?" How many had she had to begin with?

"It's permanent, with the Pilots. They grow together once they've bonded. Fully integrated with the ship. Pilot is an extension of Moya and Moya is an extension of Pilot."

It was voluntary for some of them! And Stark had bonded with Talyn voluntarily, though that was different, and then Crais had threatened to murder him so maybe he wouldn't bring that up just now.

"She lost one in an... accident that she's currently growing back," Seivarden clarified.

"They... grow together?"

"Pilot regrew an arm once." Stark was definitely picturing Breq as looking something like Pilot. He might be surprised to know she did not look like a giant purple space crab.

"Yes, they do. Connected completely.

Stark would be very surprised if he met Breq, who was neither purple nor a crab.

"And they agree to this?"

Stark would be very surprised indeed.

"Moya and Pilot did." The second time. "Not all of them are given options." Peacekeepers were kind of terrible to 'lesser species' like that.

"No? Well, things are complicated everywhere, I suppose."

Seivarden took a sip of tea.

"There were, maybe are, I hope only were but I don't know, Leviathans kept under Peacekeeper control all their lives. They don't get options. They don't get choices," Stark said sadly. "But they're meant to be free. Like the rest of us."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Park, Friday Afternoon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject