Sorry for using this thread (and others) as an avenue for my own personal woes.
On the Road to Elspar [Book 1] (Dryad Mercenary Schoolgirl Quest)
- Thread starter Kei
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
Sorry for using this thread (and others) as an avenue for my own personal woes.
Vindictus
XENO
- Location
- Texas
What happened, if you don't mind me asking?
Honestly, it's kind of a tragicomedy.
My Bachelor's was in hospitality management. But I graduated in the aftermath of the Great Recession, and the places I wanted to work in became understandably protectionist where labor and work visas were concerned. Plus - if I'm going to be honest - I was never really cut out for business anyways. (There's something hypocritical about this statement: Now that I realize that maybe I'm not super cut out for academia either, I wonder if I would've been satisfied with a mind-numbing job I wasn't suited for that would pay the bills while I focused on my true passion: Writing.) I took a few contract gigs before deciding that - since I have always been interested in politics as a child (my parents forced me to watch the news on weekdays on top of school homework starting at age five) - I could go for a Master's in international relations and political science, with some urging from my mentors in that field.
After spending more time than was really necessary on my Master's, I graduated...and had problems immediately getting employment. Those aforementioned mentors suggested that I improve my job prospects by going for a PhD, which would help if I was going into academia and/or research (which I thought at the time was...maybe not something that really suited me, but suited me better than business). So I applied for a PhD program while also applying for a full-time position at my current office. I got accepted to both, and while I was ready to drop the PhD program application in favor for work, the CEO of the think tank I got hired by promised that I could do both. This...was a promise that wasn't kept, possibly due to my own uselessness. A compromise solution was ironed out: I could stay part-time while working on my doctorate.
Earlier this year, there was an internal restructuring: New CEO, new board of directors, new direction. Having to answer to our dissatisfied shareholders, our think tank's new management decided to put on their seriousface by doing two things: Removing all part-time positions, and removing any job openings that didn't require a PhD. Full-time research assistants (the position I was originally hired for) already employed - all of them with Master's degrees, like me - would be allowed to stay, but there would be no more job openings for people without a PhD.
So, in other words: Because I elected to pursue a PhD based on a promise that wasn't kept, I am being phased out because I'm not a PhD, a situation that could've been avoided had I remained a full-time research assistant whose employment remained guaranteed.
Seriously, fuck my life.
Thank you very much.
In other news, "1.16 The Aftermath at Faulkren" has been proofread, edited, and posted on SpaceBattles and Royal Road. It's a bit of a rush job, but I honestly just wanted to get it over with. Please consider supporting me on those platforms too. Thank you.
- Location
- Nova Scotia
- Pronouns
- She/Her
On a lighter note, based solely on this quest... Show of hands, though, who is actually surprised to learn that Kei is working on a PhD in international relations and political science?
Vindictus
XENO
- Location
- Texas
I mean, I'm not, because I've talked to Kei about stuff elsewhere and the subject came up, but I don't think it'd be a shock for anyone here lol
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
I'm surprised she's this committed to that as a cover story, at least?
Like, that entire post was just code for "I left my PMC ahead of 'downsizing' and am now stuck in Roanapur, please send help".
HeellllooooooOP
Simping for Monster Girls
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Do you plan on getting the RR version of this quest up to where it is in the SV version?
It is a work in progress. What's actually happening is that I'm going through the process of proofreading and editing every update before posting it on both Royal Road and SpaceBattles. It's slow and admittedly kind of frustrating, and I'm admittedly kind of wondering at this point whether or not it's even worth it. x_x
this is kind of what i feel about my writing at this point
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
At least you're actually writing. I have tons of ideas for stories and have written exactly none of them.
(Also Elspar is 360k words, that's like multiple novels. Of course it takes a while to get through.)
(Also Elspar is 360k words, that's like multiple novels. Of course it takes a while to get through.)
Neianne 5
So @Elpis informed me of a friend who was drawing up a commission sheet, and asked if she could use Neianne as an example. I happily said yes, and, well...
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa i dont know how im getting all these fanarts >_<
Massive thanks to Agata Panasiuk, who has an ArtStation account in the link, and who will be accepting commissions soon (probably)~ >_<
aaaaaaaaaaaaaa i dont know how im getting all these fanarts >_<
Massive thanks to Agata Panasiuk, who has an ArtStation account in the link, and who will be accepting commissions soon (probably)~ >_<
2.13.2 Swords and Flowers (Part 2)
All I can say is that this update was originally supposed to be longer, except I decided to cut it short to insert an impromptu vote, with already-written content being saved for a future update. Hopefully, this will expedite the speed in which the next update is written. But we've all heard that before.
"So," asks Mia eagerly from the row behind you as the cheering dies down, as Wilhelmina and Nikki and the rest of Squad Seven return from their victory against Alvimere's Squad Six, as the lower bracket round enters its second match with an instructor preparing to announce the next two squads to face each other in full squad combat. "Are you dating Florence Regilaine?"
"N-N-No, I'm not!" you squeak, your face heating in mortification at the suggestion. You try not to avert your eyes from the inquisitive stares of your fellow Faulkren apprentices around you. You don't even register the instructor announcing the two squads participating in the next match, at least until Aphelia and the rest of Squad Two rise from their seats. While Aphelia looks amused herself, she at least casts you a sympathetic look on her way down, and it's four less sets of eyes on you. On the other side of the arena, four apprentices you vaguely recall as Silleton's Squad One similarly make their way down from the bleachers.
"I thought you were dating Lady Zabanya," says Jessica, sitting with the rest of Wilhelmina's squad, carefully buffing out a scratch in her shield with a cloth. Her tone has a measure of respect in it. Elizabeth is, after all, in direct earshot.
"I-I'm not doing that either!" you exclaim. You try your best to pointedly not look in Elizabeth's direction. She makes this very difficult.
Clutching her chest with a look of hurt so insincere it can't come off as anything but mocking, Elizabeth lets out a sound halfway between a melodramatic gasp and a laugh: "Neianne! How could you toy with my maiden heart so thoughtlessly?"
"Y-You're not helping!" you protest accusingly. And you're not a maiden, you don't add. Even thinking that is probably a sign of her having rubbed off on you just a little.
Elizabeth looks at you with those wide, angel eyes. "Did that time in my bedroom really mean nothing to you, then?"
"Y-Y-You zapped me!" you accuse, face incandescent. You instantly regret the words as they leave your mouth, especially when the apprentices around you break out in excited, scandalized gasps. Nothing to do about that now, but you still try. "There was nothing else!"
"Some girls enjoy that," says Azalea, openly amused. "Or, so I'm told." This is greeted by more tittering and giggles from many, and a half-sly, half-bored sort of look cast her way by Elizabeth. You've never otherwise seen the latter pay much attention to Azalea.
Lucille turns around in her seat, grinning, but you notice she doesn't actually look directly at Elizabeth. She still doesn't approve of that connection, obviously. "Our resident dryad is stealing so many hearts."
Azalea raises a prim eyebrow: "Oh, am I not a resident dryad?"
Lucille waves this off with nonchalant unconcern. "You're the only dryad highborn in Caldrein, you don't count." Beside her, you see Melanie wince just a little.
Azalea could've considered Lucille's words insensitive right there. But, more likely than not, she recognized that this is Lucille - harmless, well-meaning Lucille - and so the dryad merely laughs, "I'm secretly elven, apparently!"
Lucille's smirk is a bit lopsided, and a few people around her fidget uncomfortable as she drawls, "Oh, don't worry, you're doing a much better job at being elven than I am."
"Lady Lucille is p-perfectly fine," Melanie says quietly but firmly.
"I dunno, she might have a point," Penelope mutters, made brave by being on the far side of her squad from Melanie. Still, this elicits a baleful, murderous glare that is defused primarily by Lucille pulling Melanie into a hug, a playful and distracting gesture. You see Wendy shoot Penelope a withering look, as if she'd just prodded a dangerous animal to see what would happen.
The match between Faulkren Squad Two and Silleton Squad One, thankfully, is still higher on everyone's list of priorities that attention is diverted away before speculation on your love life can resume, at least for a few short minutes. And although Squad One puts up a good showing, it really wasn't very hard to predict victory on Aphelia's behalf. Silleton puts up a good showing, but with her typically, dancer-like methodic grace, Aphelia simply dismantles her opponents in a series of deft maneuvers, with fellow dryad great swordstaff wielder Bria holding the van, Kasha supporting the squad with magecraft, and Shelly filling in where needed with longsword or bow.
And at the center of it all is Aphelia Meredith Treiser, the squad leader who choreographs this battle like a dance. As a fellow squad leader, it is almost breathtaking to watch her work, to direct her squadmates where they are needed most. She alternates between specific commands and vague instructions to play to their strengths, her orders economic, given almost as an aside while she - like Shelly - alternates between short-range swordplay and long-range magecraft. Under her leadership, Squad Two moves as a unit, daring but precise maneuvers covered by long-range support positioned at all times in the best vantage points. The van defends the rear, and the rear ensures the van never comes to harm. It is methodical, almost predictable, in a manner of speaking; but predictability itself does not guarantee a countermeasure. And it doesn't take long before Squad Two systematically dismantles their counterparts from Silleton in a resounding victory.
Your fellow apprentices from Faulkren Academy explode into cheers. That's two victories for you in the lower bracket thus far.
As Squad Two makes their way back from the arena and up the bleachers, Azalea takes the opportunity to lean in and - in a voice that carries too well over the cheering, audible to anyone within earshot - asks, "So what did you do on your date?"
"I-It wasn't a date!" you insist, flushing. You were hoping that Aphelia's match and victory would be sufficient to distract everyone from the previous line of conversation; in this you are evidently hopelessly naive. "We just w-went to a blacksmith's to look at swords. And then w-went to see the shrines. And then had some tea."
Azalea hums thoughtfully, as if she's appraising your words from a position of great knowledge and experience. "Sounds like a date to me."
Despairingly, you look over to the rest of your squad in hopes that they will back up your interpretation of precisely what a date is in solidarity. Tragically, Elizabeth is too busy enjoying your suffering, Sieglinde is too busy nursing what looks like a migraine, and Mysterious Mask is too busy being mysterious with a fox mask.
"You think she'll buy you a nice sword if you hang off her a bit?" someone suddenly asks you innocently at too loud a volume. Helen, a fellow Faulkren apprentice from Squad Seven. Her words don't seem to carry some kind of moral judgment, but something deep in your gut twists at this question.
You have resigned yourself to embarrassment, to being teased about your questionably-platonic activities with other apprentices, but there's something about this particular interpretation of your actions that sits deeply ill with you. "I'm not..." you gulp, trying to form a response as words fail you.. "...Th-That's not why I spent the day with her." You have never thought of yourself as someone who consciously hangs onto Caldrein's rich and powerful and privileged. That others think that of you is a tremendously discomforting thought.
"No, of course not," Helen easily allows, oblivious to your unhappiness. "But it'd be a nice benefit, wouldn't it? A buster sword sword must be expensive to actually craft."
Grinning, Mia opines, "Neianne just likes girls with taste and class."
"Regilaine?" snorts Nikki with a raised eyebrow. "Taste and class?"
"She's still a Regilaine!" Mia laughs. "I'm sure her style appeals to someone." Why is she looking at you so pointedly when she says that last word?
"No blonde elf is safe with Neianne on the prowl!" crows Helen to the laughter of those around her. You are not one of those who joins in on the merriment, despite your best efforts to pretend that you are unoffended and untroubled by this line of conversation.
The teasing mercifully dies down by the time the lineup for the next match is announced. Unfortunately, "Faulkren, Squad One" and "Dalcheth, Squad One" give you little reason to be pleased. Hazel and her squad descend from their bleachers to excited cheers, whereas Lucille mostly just looks resigned as she is encouraged with polite, modest applause. This open display of passive defeatism seems like it irks Penelope, but she always seems irked. Wendy, on the other hand, manages to steel her expression, which you've come to expect from her, even though she seems to have gotten friendly with the opposing squad leader in her time here.
Like the previous match, although Lucille and Wendy and Penelope and Trudy put up a valiant effort, the outcome was never really in question. Faulkren's Squad One holds on decently well enough where Hazel isn't, but Hazel simply plows through all four of them one-by-one. The Sandrian aseri prodigy swiftly outmatches Wendy, and outright ignores Penelope's attempt to play the terrain to her advantage. Lucille attempts to move up to support her endangered squadmates during this time, a valiant move that only serves to put her in a more vulnerable position, although you doubt staying back with her shortbow really would've mattered much. Trudy falls swiftly afterwards under the combined assault of the remaining three Sandrian apprentices.
You are among those who try to comfort Squad One's ejection from the Inter-Academy Tournament when they return. You suppose you try to find solace in the fact that the predictability of the outcome blunted the sting; Lucille awkwardly laughs it off, Wendy maintains a cool composure, and Penelope doesn't seem excessively spiteful with the result. Still, that your fellow Faulkren apprentices stop teasing you as a result doesn't bring you as much solace as it could've.
The lower bracket ends with Alvimere's Squad One prevailing against Llyneyth's Squad Five, leaving both brackets with four squads each.
Dinner after the lower bracket round tastes like ash in your mouth. It has nothing to do with the food itself, of course, prepared with the usual care and luxury expected of Llyneyth Academy; nor does it have anything to do with the good cheer of the Faulkren apprentices, who have maintained a respectable record of two victories out of three matches.
No; with the commotion around you ringing hollow in your ears, your mind is preoccupied with the passing conversation from earlier today. About whom you have allowed yourself to become close to. About how others perceive you relative to the friends you have made at Faulkren.
It's not as if you have consciously attempted to curry favor from the rich and the powerful and the privileged of Caldrein. You were initially drawn to Sieglinde not only because she was quiet and mysterious and dependable-looking, but because she seemed to get you: An urbanized dryad trying to fit into Caldran plainsfolk society, someone who has experience with both mainstream Caldran culture and what few years you've spent in the dryad commune of Thionval. You have close relations with Azalea because she is a fellow dryad who similarly understands your plight, if - ironically - to a lesser degree compared to the elven Sieglinde. You are friends with Elizabeth not just because she's a squadmate, but because - for whatever reason - she has taken an interest in you, and you often enjoy her company, even if her methods of expressing affection are sometimes a source of distress for you. You are friendly with Lucille because she is friendly to you, and your heart aches for the tribulations she has experienced.
It has never once occurred to you that you might somehow benefit materially from these relationships. You have always looked to them as models to aspire towards. It now occurs to you - innocently or otherwise - that others may not look at your efforts in the same way.
The pile of mashed potatoes stewing in a combination of butter and olive oil are delicious. It's too bad that you really aren't in a mood to enjoy it.
In the back of your mind, you wonder if this is a concern that you would like someone to confide with. It is awkward, then, that your closest confidantes from Faulkren are from the upper social strata: Sieglinde, Elizabeth, Azalea, Lucille; even Wilhelmina and Aphelia. There are, of course, other alternatives, those of more common birth such as Vesna and Wendy. How receptive of your concerns would they be, though? How close are you really to these apprentices? How intimately do they understand your concerns?
[x] Stephanie
[x] Sieglinde Corrina Ravenhill
[x] Elizabeth Irivich Zabanya
[x] Vesna Rainer
[x] Azalea Cherilyn Charmaine
[x] Lucille Lorraine Celestia
[x] Melanie Aster
[x] Wendy
"So," asks Mia eagerly from the row behind you as the cheering dies down, as Wilhelmina and Nikki and the rest of Squad Seven return from their victory against Alvimere's Squad Six, as the lower bracket round enters its second match with an instructor preparing to announce the next two squads to face each other in full squad combat. "Are you dating Florence Regilaine?"
"N-N-No, I'm not!" you squeak, your face heating in mortification at the suggestion. You try not to avert your eyes from the inquisitive stares of your fellow Faulkren apprentices around you. You don't even register the instructor announcing the two squads participating in the next match, at least until Aphelia and the rest of Squad Two rise from their seats. While Aphelia looks amused herself, she at least casts you a sympathetic look on her way down, and it's four less sets of eyes on you. On the other side of the arena, four apprentices you vaguely recall as Silleton's Squad One similarly make their way down from the bleachers.
"I thought you were dating Lady Zabanya," says Jessica, sitting with the rest of Wilhelmina's squad, carefully buffing out a scratch in her shield with a cloth. Her tone has a measure of respect in it. Elizabeth is, after all, in direct earshot.
"I-I'm not doing that either!" you exclaim. You try your best to pointedly not look in Elizabeth's direction. She makes this very difficult.
Clutching her chest with a look of hurt so insincere it can't come off as anything but mocking, Elizabeth lets out a sound halfway between a melodramatic gasp and a laugh: "Neianne! How could you toy with my maiden heart so thoughtlessly?"
"Y-You're not helping!" you protest accusingly. And you're not a maiden, you don't add. Even thinking that is probably a sign of her having rubbed off on you just a little.
Elizabeth looks at you with those wide, angel eyes. "Did that time in my bedroom really mean nothing to you, then?"
"Y-Y-You zapped me!" you accuse, face incandescent. You instantly regret the words as they leave your mouth, especially when the apprentices around you break out in excited, scandalized gasps. Nothing to do about that now, but you still try. "There was nothing else!"
"Some girls enjoy that," says Azalea, openly amused. "Or, so I'm told." This is greeted by more tittering and giggles from many, and a half-sly, half-bored sort of look cast her way by Elizabeth. You've never otherwise seen the latter pay much attention to Azalea.
Lucille turns around in her seat, grinning, but you notice she doesn't actually look directly at Elizabeth. She still doesn't approve of that connection, obviously. "Our resident dryad is stealing so many hearts."
Azalea raises a prim eyebrow: "Oh, am I not a resident dryad?"
Lucille waves this off with nonchalant unconcern. "You're the only dryad highborn in Caldrein, you don't count." Beside her, you see Melanie wince just a little.
Azalea could've considered Lucille's words insensitive right there. But, more likely than not, she recognized that this is Lucille - harmless, well-meaning Lucille - and so the dryad merely laughs, "I'm secretly elven, apparently!"
Lucille's smirk is a bit lopsided, and a few people around her fidget uncomfortable as she drawls, "Oh, don't worry, you're doing a much better job at being elven than I am."
"Lady Lucille is p-perfectly fine," Melanie says quietly but firmly.
"I dunno, she might have a point," Penelope mutters, made brave by being on the far side of her squad from Melanie. Still, this elicits a baleful, murderous glare that is defused primarily by Lucille pulling Melanie into a hug, a playful and distracting gesture. You see Wendy shoot Penelope a withering look, as if she'd just prodded a dangerous animal to see what would happen.
The match between Faulkren Squad Two and Silleton Squad One, thankfully, is still higher on everyone's list of priorities that attention is diverted away before speculation on your love life can resume, at least for a few short minutes. And although Squad One puts up a good showing, it really wasn't very hard to predict victory on Aphelia's behalf. Silleton puts up a good showing, but with her typically, dancer-like methodic grace, Aphelia simply dismantles her opponents in a series of deft maneuvers, with fellow dryad great swordstaff wielder Bria holding the van, Kasha supporting the squad with magecraft, and Shelly filling in where needed with longsword or bow.
And at the center of it all is Aphelia Meredith Treiser, the squad leader who choreographs this battle like a dance. As a fellow squad leader, it is almost breathtaking to watch her work, to direct her squadmates where they are needed most. She alternates between specific commands and vague instructions to play to their strengths, her orders economic, given almost as an aside while she - like Shelly - alternates between short-range swordplay and long-range magecraft. Under her leadership, Squad Two moves as a unit, daring but precise maneuvers covered by long-range support positioned at all times in the best vantage points. The van defends the rear, and the rear ensures the van never comes to harm. It is methodical, almost predictable, in a manner of speaking; but predictability itself does not guarantee a countermeasure. And it doesn't take long before Squad Two systematically dismantles their counterparts from Silleton in a resounding victory.
Your fellow apprentices from Faulkren Academy explode into cheers. That's two victories for you in the lower bracket thus far.
As Squad Two makes their way back from the arena and up the bleachers, Azalea takes the opportunity to lean in and - in a voice that carries too well over the cheering, audible to anyone within earshot - asks, "So what did you do on your date?"
"I-It wasn't a date!" you insist, flushing. You were hoping that Aphelia's match and victory would be sufficient to distract everyone from the previous line of conversation; in this you are evidently hopelessly naive. "We just w-went to a blacksmith's to look at swords. And then w-went to see the shrines. And then had some tea."
Azalea hums thoughtfully, as if she's appraising your words from a position of great knowledge and experience. "Sounds like a date to me."
Despairingly, you look over to the rest of your squad in hopes that they will back up your interpretation of precisely what a date is in solidarity. Tragically, Elizabeth is too busy enjoying your suffering, Sieglinde is too busy nursing what looks like a migraine, and Mysterious Mask is too busy being mysterious with a fox mask.
"You think she'll buy you a nice sword if you hang off her a bit?" someone suddenly asks you innocently at too loud a volume. Helen, a fellow Faulkren apprentice from Squad Seven. Her words don't seem to carry some kind of moral judgment, but something deep in your gut twists at this question.
You have resigned yourself to embarrassment, to being teased about your questionably-platonic activities with other apprentices, but there's something about this particular interpretation of your actions that sits deeply ill with you. "I'm not..." you gulp, trying to form a response as words fail you.. "...Th-That's not why I spent the day with her." You have never thought of yourself as someone who consciously hangs onto Caldrein's rich and powerful and privileged. That others think that of you is a tremendously discomforting thought.
"No, of course not," Helen easily allows, oblivious to your unhappiness. "But it'd be a nice benefit, wouldn't it? A buster sword sword must be expensive to actually craft."
Grinning, Mia opines, "Neianne just likes girls with taste and class."
"Regilaine?" snorts Nikki with a raised eyebrow. "Taste and class?"
"She's still a Regilaine!" Mia laughs. "I'm sure her style appeals to someone." Why is she looking at you so pointedly when she says that last word?
"No blonde elf is safe with Neianne on the prowl!" crows Helen to the laughter of those around her. You are not one of those who joins in on the merriment, despite your best efforts to pretend that you are unoffended and untroubled by this line of conversation.
The teasing mercifully dies down by the time the lineup for the next match is announced. Unfortunately, "Faulkren, Squad One" and "Dalcheth, Squad One" give you little reason to be pleased. Hazel and her squad descend from their bleachers to excited cheers, whereas Lucille mostly just looks resigned as she is encouraged with polite, modest applause. This open display of passive defeatism seems like it irks Penelope, but she always seems irked. Wendy, on the other hand, manages to steel her expression, which you've come to expect from her, even though she seems to have gotten friendly with the opposing squad leader in her time here.
Like the previous match, although Lucille and Wendy and Penelope and Trudy put up a valiant effort, the outcome was never really in question. Faulkren's Squad One holds on decently well enough where Hazel isn't, but Hazel simply plows through all four of them one-by-one. The Sandrian aseri prodigy swiftly outmatches Wendy, and outright ignores Penelope's attempt to play the terrain to her advantage. Lucille attempts to move up to support her endangered squadmates during this time, a valiant move that only serves to put her in a more vulnerable position, although you doubt staying back with her shortbow really would've mattered much. Trudy falls swiftly afterwards under the combined assault of the remaining three Sandrian apprentices.
You are among those who try to comfort Squad One's ejection from the Inter-Academy Tournament when they return. You suppose you try to find solace in the fact that the predictability of the outcome blunted the sting; Lucille awkwardly laughs it off, Wendy maintains a cool composure, and Penelope doesn't seem excessively spiteful with the result. Still, that your fellow Faulkren apprentices stop teasing you as a result doesn't bring you as much solace as it could've.
The lower bracket ends with Alvimere's Squad One prevailing against Llyneyth's Squad Five, leaving both brackets with four squads each.
Dinner after the lower bracket round tastes like ash in your mouth. It has nothing to do with the food itself, of course, prepared with the usual care and luxury expected of Llyneyth Academy; nor does it have anything to do with the good cheer of the Faulkren apprentices, who have maintained a respectable record of two victories out of three matches.
No; with the commotion around you ringing hollow in your ears, your mind is preoccupied with the passing conversation from earlier today. About whom you have allowed yourself to become close to. About how others perceive you relative to the friends you have made at Faulkren.
It's not as if you have consciously attempted to curry favor from the rich and the powerful and the privileged of Caldrein. You were initially drawn to Sieglinde not only because she was quiet and mysterious and dependable-looking, but because she seemed to get you: An urbanized dryad trying to fit into Caldran plainsfolk society, someone who has experience with both mainstream Caldran culture and what few years you've spent in the dryad commune of Thionval. You have close relations with Azalea because she is a fellow dryad who similarly understands your plight, if - ironically - to a lesser degree compared to the elven Sieglinde. You are friends with Elizabeth not just because she's a squadmate, but because - for whatever reason - she has taken an interest in you, and you often enjoy her company, even if her methods of expressing affection are sometimes a source of distress for you. You are friendly with Lucille because she is friendly to you, and your heart aches for the tribulations she has experienced.
It has never once occurred to you that you might somehow benefit materially from these relationships. You have always looked to them as models to aspire towards. It now occurs to you - innocently or otherwise - that others may not look at your efforts in the same way.
The pile of mashed potatoes stewing in a combination of butter and olive oil are delicious. It's too bad that you really aren't in a mood to enjoy it.
In the back of your mind, you wonder if this is a concern that you would like someone to confide with. It is awkward, then, that your closest confidantes from Faulkren are from the upper social strata: Sieglinde, Elizabeth, Azalea, Lucille; even Wilhelmina and Aphelia. There are, of course, other alternatives, those of more common birth such as Vesna and Wendy. How receptive of your concerns would they be, though? How close are you really to these apprentices? How intimately do they understand your concerns?
[x] Stephanie
[x] Sieglinde Corrina Ravenhill
[x] Elizabeth Irivich Zabanya
[x] Vesna Rainer
[x] Azalea Cherilyn Charmaine
[x] Lucille Lorraine Celestia
[x] Melanie Aster
[x] Wendy
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hmmm, this actually seems like a kind of trouble some question.
Kinda feeling Wendy, maybe...?
Kinda feeling Wendy, maybe...?
- Location
- United Kingdom
[x] Melanie Aster
Considering those mentions of some people thinking Lucille acts too familiarly with her, Melanie seems like a decent option? If nothing else she'd have more experience with that kind of talk, though I don't know if she'd have any worthwhile advice.
Considering those mentions of some people thinking Lucille acts too familiarly with her, Melanie seems like a decent option? If nothing else she'd have more experience with that kind of talk, though I don't know if she'd have any worthwhile advice.
Mother Nyx
Mother of Elpis
- Location
- The Kei Klub
- Pronouns
- She/Her
One, it's too late to clean that up, Neianne. Two, you'd think you're stop falling for this trap with as many times that Lisa has laid it, but here we are. And finally third,
yes. This.
Okay, I know there is a world of context and hurt feelings and emotions that we can totally dig out from this exchange and the bit after it but I was absolutely expecting a deadpan Florence to appear right behind them in response. Just, get magically summoned by the call back.
Penny continues to nurse her death wish. I continue to lose any semblance of care about whether she lives or dies.
"Behind every mask is a face and behind that is a story." - Mark Rubin
Annnd, here we come to the choice. Okay, so, @NemoMarx is kind of right in that Wendy would have a bit of a unique take on this. But, since this is a case of there being no real wrong answer and more of a bag of consequences, I rather go with...
[X] Melanie Aster
I know, surprising right? Ya'll know I'm an Elizabeth shipper (and apologist) but I honestly don't think that she'd help in this situation. She wouldn't really understand or care what the issue is. Not because she herself is a noble but because of what I perceive as her general apathy towards being noble. Sieglinde is also a bad choice. Steph might be a better choice that I'm giving her credit for but I'm still on the fence on her so, admittedly bias talking.
The real question is why Penny isn't on this list, I'd love to see how that self destructs.
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Hmm, I think a lot of this vote centers on what we want Neianne to get out of it. In this instance, I don't think our Squad would be too helpful if we're looking for sympathy, advice, or consolation. Elizabeth is likely to tell us "Who cares what they think?" I think Sieglinde is likely to offer similar sentiments if offered more sympathetically. Stephanie's situation is pretty unique here given she appears to be actively avoiding any relationship deep enough for someone to start getting at the truth behind her circumstances.
Lucille may have some insight on inter-class relationships, but from the other end, and I'm not sure that perspective would be enormously helpful to Neianne. Azalea might come closer given her semi-unique status as a dryad highborn and what has come with that. I think we're most likely to find a helpful ear from one of Neianne's commoner friends - and I think Vesna is the best option there though Wendy doesn't seem like a poor choice either, but only because we've built a rapport with her through our training, otherwise I'd be wary of her own life experiences seeing Neianne's concerns as "first-world problems" compared to what she and Penelope have experienced. Melanie feels a bit too centered on her devotion to Lucille that I'm not sure she'd see the issue the way Neianne does right now.
Now there are other motives for having Neianne confide in someone about this that would change the calculus but this is the angle I'm taking right now at least.
[x] Vesna Rainer
Lucille may have some insight on inter-class relationships, but from the other end, and I'm not sure that perspective would be enormously helpful to Neianne. Azalea might come closer given her semi-unique status as a dryad highborn and what has come with that. I think we're most likely to find a helpful ear from one of Neianne's commoner friends - and I think Vesna is the best option there though Wendy doesn't seem like a poor choice either, but only because we've built a rapport with her through our training, otherwise I'd be wary of her own life experiences seeing Neianne's concerns as "first-world problems" compared to what she and Penelope have experienced. Melanie feels a bit too centered on her devotion to Lucille that I'm not sure she'd see the issue the way Neianne does right now.
Now there are other motives for having Neianne confide in someone about this that would change the calculus but this is the angle I'm taking right now at least.
[x] Vesna Rainer
Yeah, Elizabeth wouldn't care and would be actively unhelpful. Sieglinde I think would *try* but wouldn't get it. And tbh I don't see any of the nobles as being wildly helpful here.
Melanie's an obvious option given her similar relationship with Lucille.
Vesna... uhhh... I barely remember her existence. Are we close enough? Does she have relevance? I strike her off for those reasons.
Wendy isn't Penelope, but their whole issues seem the opposite of helpful here.
Steph... maybe, but we'd have our other drama going on here as well... although, we did see Steph seeming to have a similar secret relationship with uhhh Katriel? So she might actually be a good choice here. 🤔
- Pronouns
- Him/He
Hrm. This is a plot that has been building for a long time. For all the assumed skirt-climbing that low born girls are expected to do, we haven't really seen any, just the accusation of doing so. Nieanne hasn't really seen people badly trying to curry favor in her social circle, it's always been strangers being hanger ons that, well, she doesn't really know that well, just treating them as hanger ons.
[x] Azalea Cherilyn Charmaine
I think she's the best choice. As a 'new nobility' and a very recent participant of intersectionality, I think she's the best person to have a good conversation with this sort of assumptions people place on you. She gets it from both sides, being seen as a noble sometimes, and as a Dryad other times, depending.
Melanie is almost proud of being seen as a Noble's thing (rather then a person with a personal relationship with anther person), but Azalea is wise to the world and willing to address the implications of things better.
Edit: And also Azalea plays no part in the conversation that dips into racial or sugar-mama implications, she just teases us about going on a date, which we factually did even if Nieanne is in denial.
[x] Azalea Cherilyn Charmaine
I think she's the best choice. As a 'new nobility' and a very recent participant of intersectionality, I think she's the best person to have a good conversation with this sort of assumptions people place on you. She gets it from both sides, being seen as a noble sometimes, and as a Dryad other times, depending.
Melanie is almost proud of being seen as a Noble's thing (rather then a person with a personal relationship with anther person), but Azalea is wise to the world and willing to address the implications of things better.
Edit: And also Azalea plays no part in the conversation that dips into racial or sugar-mama implications, she just teases us about going on a date, which we factually did even if Nieanne is in denial.
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Well, of all the people on that list, Vesna is the only one we had meet our family!
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Neianne... It was a date. Stop denying it. She frikken kissed you (on the cheek, but still) for crying out loud. Denying it is just going to confuse Florence (and possibly hurt her feelings) if she overhears you. Anyway, on to the vote.
[x] Azalea Cherilyn Charmaine
I'm not sure Melanie will be as helpful as people are thinking she would be. Melanie has her own hang-ups regarding Lucille that will color her response. Azalea, on the other had, I think will both understand the issue and possibly have useful advice.
Vesna, admittedly, would provide an actual non-noble perspective, and I think she's unlikely to have anything bad to say, so I think she'd also make a good pick. I do want to see more Azalea though.
[x] Azalea Cherilyn Charmaine
I'm not sure Melanie will be as helpful as people are thinking she would be. Melanie has her own hang-ups regarding Lucille that will color her response. Azalea, on the other had, I think will both understand the issue and possibly have useful advice.
Vesna, admittedly, would provide an actual non-noble perspective, and I think she's unlikely to have anything bad to say, so I think she'd also make a good pick. I do want to see more Azalea though.
Mother Nyx
Mother of Elpis
- Location
- The Kei Klub
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Could you even imagine if it was Stephanie or godddess forbid Elizabeth?Well, of all the people on that list, Vesna is the only one we had meet our family!