Happens sometimes when you stop aging, I think. To keep from getting crotchedy.
Am I not always trying to sweet talk you?
Given that the worst trouble I've been in was Denver, I figure it was in everyone's best interest. I'm young, comparatively, and Edward was older than any of our Elders. If I was a catch for his stage, I don't want to imagine what he'd do if he'd got his hands on more of us.
Something like that. Or that every good jokester needs a straight-man to play off.
I mean, I can shit talk you, too, if that'll put you at ease.
Definitely can be, but it depends a lot on where you're at, how healthy the community is. Whole mood of a place changes if you walk in to old clan grudges and unpaid favors.
Could you wait until I'm around to do it? I wanna see how that plays out.
Good. I like how you listen.
Right? Though some of them go unpaid for a reason, usually because they're waiting to cash in with a better ask, if Kindred are refusing to help or hoarding boons it's a bad sign.
I can, sure. I welcome further heckling from the audience. It might rival the reaction he has each time I give him a new passport.
[Something about Jesper just invites Kaz to regress to a stage where prank playing feels pragmatic. He doesn’t question it so he can’t talk himself out of it. Birdie too has become someone who helps sand off his old man edges at times.]
It works out nicely, doesn’t it? Were you ever quiet growing up?
I can’t pretend I haven’t done some hoarding of favors myself, so yeah, I get the concern.
Oooh, can I see you do that, too? I don't think I've had the privilege yet, and the way you bring it up makes it sound fun.
[ She's happy to sand. After growing up around planing mills and sawdust, it's like second nature. ]
Only on a rare occasion, usually when I was in trouble.
The system works pretty well for the most part. Usually there's a Harpy around to keep track of who owes what, and whether a debt can be considered repaid or not. Without that, some will try to get out of favors by doing the least possible.
I’m not exactly a shining beacon of physical appeal myself by most standards. I don’t care at all what someone looks like as long as they make good on their end of bargains.
Learned from their mistakes? A good habit to pick up.
They’ve probably seen language change so much in their time.
Good to hear. Some of us choose transformation, like my crab friend. Others, it's a natural extension of their Embrace and they don't get to decide what it looks like. And they're usually the ones with the best information and document skills around.
I was a very observant child when it came to how to not get grounded.
They really have. That's where some of those dead language codes come from, they're old enough to have learned the language while it was still alive.
Most I know just look the way they do from a lifetime of getting beaten up and never seeing a dentist. They usually have some talent to have survived that long, though what those talents are can vary.
I imagine the creative lies were part of the fun.
That’s one thing about living such a long time I do find appealing.
It can be a little more dramatic than that, on a wide and varied scale. I'll let you know if I think you need to brace yourself before we do introductions, if they even want to meet in person. Usually they'll send a ghoul up top instead.
Very much so! Dad was easy, but I think it's because he thought the lies were funny.
It is very interesting, isn't it? I'm practically a baby compared to them, but I've seen some of it already. Mostly just with slang, and regional stuff going between places.
I’ve dealt with proclaimed ghosts and shadow monsters and demons, too. Fangs, wings, fur and smoke in the wrong places. I wouldn’t worry about either impressing or horrifying me with how things appear. I’ll probably still think on what the person’s strengths and weaknesses might be that are perceivable, but I do that with everyone just in case.
Not that it’s on my future list, but I’d be inclined to how your dad perceived things, too. If a lie is good it should be rewarded.
I can imagine you would have. It’s changed even in my time and I haven’t hit three decades yet. I enjoy picking up regional slang a lot, being in a port city. You get a lot of variations of it from people that visit or move here. And accents to go along with it.
Very good to know. I'll admit that at first it took me a bit to adjust when I started meeting them in person, but they're well worth the change in perspective. Beyond the strengths and weaknesses, but those will probably impress you, too.
He was always pragmatic like that. Even if the lie wasn't good and just funny enough to amuse him.
Oh yeah, you're well positioned to see all those changes and morphs in real time, aren't you? What's your favorite bit you've heard from somewhere else?
Something about a book and its cover? Or a song and its album cover.
I’m waiting for an outrageous lie now, you know. The next time I come home and something ridiculous is going on behind my back.
Hm, well, the first two that come to mind are business-related. Where I come from, you ask “how down” when asking how injured you want someone. One of my crew from Ravka used to ask “over or under” to mean the same thing, what degree should the attack be at. Another one around here is asking “what business” to ask what someone wants, and someone I know from Novyi Zem just asks “working or playing” for a shorthand version of their own.
I couldn’t encourage what wasn’t present in some capacity already.
Ghouls sound a little like a gang’s lieutenants. Being sent out on business for their boss. Perhaps I should tell Jesper that he can go by that instead. So the language can work both ways, of course.
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noreasonneeded) wrote2024-03-25 08:40 am
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Am I not always trying to sweet talk you?
Given that the worst trouble I've been in was Denver, I figure it was in everyone's best interest. I'm young, comparatively, and Edward was older than any of our Elders. If I was a catch for his stage, I don't want to imagine what he'd do if he'd got his hands on more of us.
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I don't have the ego to think anyone is always trying to sweet talk me.
I get it. It's even worse when people like that target your own.
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Your lack of ego doesn't make it less real. For the record.
An unfortunately common issue among Kindred that don't care about their reputations outside their domains.
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Fair enough. I guess it’s something I’m still getting used to then, outside of Nina doing it as a form of shit talking.
By and large it seems like quite an insular existence.
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I mean, I can shit talk you, too, if that'll put you at ease.
Definitely can be, but it depends a lot on where you're at, how healthy the community is. Whole mood of a place changes if you walk in to old clan grudges and unpaid favors.
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No. I like how you talk.
I can’t blame them for getting uppity over unpaid favors.
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Good. I like how you listen.
Right? Though some of them go unpaid for a reason, usually because they're waiting to cash in with a better ask, if Kindred are refusing to help or hoarding boons it's a bad sign.
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[Something about Jesper just invites Kaz to regress to a stage where prank playing feels pragmatic. He doesn’t question it so he can’t talk himself out of it. Birdie too has become someone who helps sand off his old man edges at times.]
It works out nicely, doesn’t it? Were you ever quiet growing up?
I can’t pretend I haven’t done some hoarding of favors myself, so yeah, I get the concern.
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[ She's happy to sand. After growing up around planing mills and sawdust, it's like second nature. ]
Only on a rare occasion, usually when I was in trouble.
The system works pretty well for the most part. Usually there's a Harpy around to keep track of who owes what, and whether a debt can be considered repaid or not. Without that, some will try to get out of favors by doing the least possible.
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So, often actually?
The did pick the right being to harp on the details, I suppose.
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You assume I got caught more than I got away with things.
Oh, Harpy is just a title. Like Prince and Seneschal and Primogen.
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Maybe a few more times at the start than later on as you figured out newer and more creative ways to evade your troublemaking evidence.
I just meant based on the wordplay of harping on things, nothing mystical about it, anyway. I just enjoy a good word application.
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You'd have me to rights if you don't take into consideration that I had three brothers less adept at hiding their own shenanigans.
True! Nobody loves a pun that I've seen like an Elder.
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Learned from their mistakes? A good habit to pick up.
They’ve probably seen language change so much in their time.
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I was a very observant child when it came to how to not get grounded.
They really have. That's where some of those dead language codes come from, they're old enough to have learned the language while it was still alive.
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I imagine the creative lies were part of the fun.
That’s one thing about living such a long time I do find appealing.
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Very much so! Dad was easy, but I think it's because he thought the lies were funny.
It is very interesting, isn't it? I'm practically a baby compared to them, but I've seen some of it already. Mostly just with slang, and regional stuff going between places.
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Not that it’s on my future list, but I’d be inclined to how your dad perceived things, too. If a lie is good it should be rewarded.
I can imagine you would have. It’s changed even in my time and I haven’t hit three decades yet. I enjoy picking up regional slang a lot, being in a port city. You get a lot of variations of it from people that visit or move here. And accents to go along with it.
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He was always pragmatic like that. Even if the lie wasn't good and just funny enough to amuse him.
Oh yeah, you're well positioned to see all those changes and morphs in real time, aren't you? What's your favorite bit you've heard from somewhere else?
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I’m waiting for an outrageous lie now, you know. The next time I come home and something ridiculous is going on behind my back.
Hm, well, the first two that come to mind are business-related. Where I come from, you ask “how down” when asking how injured you want someone. One of my crew from Ravka used to ask “over or under” to mean the same thing, what degree should the attack be at. Another one around here is asking “what business” to ask what someone wants, and someone I know from Novyi Zem just asks “working or playing” for a shorthand version of their own.
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Oh, I've got a few lined up waiting for the right moment. Gonna have to wait a bit, though, for you to forget you're expecting it.
Those are all very good to know. And I think I've heard "what business" before, so it's stretched out to Kindred speech now, too.
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Has it? I’m curious to know the overlap there, or if it’s just general cultural osmosis.
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Some clans stay very closely tied to Kine business, either personally or through their ghouls, depending on a whole hose of other factors.
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Ghouls sound a little like a gang’s lieutenants. Being sent out on business for their boss. Perhaps I should tell Jesper that he can go by that instead. So the language can work both ways, of course.
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They kind of are, though with more complicated loyalties and ensured longevity. There's quite a few out there older than I am.
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