Isn't This Supposed To Be More Maya's Problem?
You give her a bright smile and reply, "Sure thing!" with a chirp in your voice.
Her smile widens for a moment before she pivots back towards the edge of the stage and walks off, beckoning for you to follow. You hop up and do so. The audience cheers as you leave.
You shake your head as you pass off-stage. You're
still not used to that.
"Feels weird, right?" says Fren, grinning down at you.
You blink, snapping out of the momentary fugue. "Um. I..."
She tilts her head at you, cocking an eyebrow. "Yes?"
You look down. "Okay, yeah. A little."
"You get used to it," she says, leading you on through the backstage area. "Most of the time, anyway. Sometimes it'll still hit you. That's just about
all of the Exiles out there, and they're cheering for you."
You flush. "I mean, you're out there too..."
"
I am not Princess Kakara," she says, smirking.
"Scion Kakara," you say on reflex.
"Half the world thinks of you as a Princess," she says, waving her hand. "And they're cheering for you because you went out there and acted like one should."
Your flush deepens. You've had compliments before, but from
this woman? This woman who could, if she weren't probably soft-balling her questions, run rings around you? This woman who's taken the art you love and mastered it beyond anything you could imagine? "What do you mean?" you ask, trying not to grin like an idiot.
"You came out there with a message you wanted to sell, justifying who you are and the choices you've made instead of scraping in the dirt for a bit of validation," she says, opening a door for the both of you. "And I'd say you did pretty darn well." She steps through, and the two of you enter a dressing room.
At least, that's what you assume this is. It looks the part, even if it's pretty bare-bones given the speed of the construction. Fren takes a seat and gestures towards the other chair in the room, smiling. "There you go. Oh, and..." She plucks the microphone off of her shirt collar and pinches it into shrapnel. "Just to be clear about this."
You blink and smile. "Thank you."
She crumbles the remnants of the electronics off to the side. "Of course. I mean, either of us could still have one on under our shirts, but that..." She shrugs. "Eventually you just have to trust somebody, you know?"
You nod eagerly, paying close attention.
She props her chin up on her hand. "Off the record, Scion, what
are you trying to get at today?"
Communication [Fren vs. Kakara]: 178 vs. 132.
You shrug without thinking. "I...don't really have any one thing in mind." You blush, a little embarrassed to admit that to her. "I mean, you invited me and I came, but it's the first time I've been up in front of everybody, and, well...there's a lot I need to talk about. I was ready for a lot of things, but I didn't have any
one thing."
She nods and adopts a more clinical, lecturing tone. "That's a purpose. You're here to
make an impression. You've appeared to the Cult, you've appeared to individuals. Now you're appearing to our people. You need to have a message in mind. An image. Which I saw that you did."
"Yeah!" you say, nodding as you listen. "I was trying to be a little casual about it. I want to look like I'm taking it seriously, but I didn't want to act all stiff and formal."
"It
would have been out of place for the setting I gave you," she says, extending her fingers to cover her mouth.
The gesture cuts off a lot of your ability to read her expression, and you feel a little anxious. "Did...did I do it right?"
"I'd say so, yes," she says, a chuckle in her tone.
You duck your head, crestfallen. "...you're laughing at me."
"No, no!" she says, although she
does laugh. Her hand comes away, revealing a bright grin. "Well, yes, laughing, but not
at you."
"What
at?" you ask, folding your arms.
Communication [Fren vs. Kakara]: 152 vs. 79.
"...you're
adorable," she says, still grinning.
Your eyes widen, and you turn crimson. "
Eep?" Your eyes widen further, and you slap your hands over your mouth, wishing that you could sink into the floor.
Kais on high, this is how Maya feels all the time why meeeeeeeee?
Fren laughs again in spite of herself. "You are! You're twelve years old, but you're doing
so well. It's impressive, and amazing to see, and it is adorable. I'm Vegetan, Scion. My nobility is formal and distant and never speaks to a journalist without using the social protocols.
You are a cute little girl who leaks earnestness like a sieve." She curls up in her chair, giving you a wide smile.
You hide your face in your hands. "Thank you," you say, grinning wildly at the praise even as bashfulness strangles the words to squeaks. "I. Um. Thanks. That means a lot."
"Do you listen to my show?" asks Fren.
"I
will," you say, instantly wondering whether you should have not said that. "But, um. No? I mean, just the yearly round-ups, I don't think it's dumb, I just-"
"It's fine, it's fine," she says, waving it off. "Somebody as comfortable with human culture as you has TV. Especially at your age, I know it's more interesting unless you like what's on the radio a lot." She leans back as you begin to master your blush and lower your hands. "I have to admit, I'm even more impressed with you now than I was out there. You're keeping it together very well if this is how you react to somebody praising you."
You giggle nervously. "Well, not everybody knows this stuff like you. I can tell you're better than me. And, um. Nobody. Actually calls me adorable? So I'm...not really sure how to react to that and I kinda feel like I'm breaking down and now I know how Maya feels
all the time and. So." You blush again. "...did any of that make sense?"
"I think I just about managed to follow it, yes," she says, eyes sparkling. "Tell you what," she says, uncurling her legs and leaning forward, getting on eye level with you. You mimic the pose without a second's thought as she says, "I think you and I could work together on this, Scion," she says. "I have my own questions, yes, but I don't think we can't help each other here."
You get a bit of control over yourself and give her a guarded look. "I mean...it depends on your questions..."
"I'm not going to press you if you tell me you can't talk about it," she says. "I do want to ask again, though: you really can't talk about what caused you to withdraw from public recently?"
Communication [Fren vs. Kakara]: 112 vs. 91.
You relent a bit, shrugging. "I can't, but Dad's making an announcement really soon. It's short-notice, so I don't think he's sent invitations yet, but I'm pretty sure you'll be there."
"That's good enough for me," she says. "Other than that, I really did want to dig in to your Masqued life. A lot of people aren't the happiest about it, but I can see that there are so many fascinating stories there! Especially with your friend Jaron," she says. "I know that what you've said already is how you plan to move on, but do you think we could get some stories on that when we're back out there and chatting again? After that, I wanted to move on to talking about your appearance at the Ancestral Council. It was your first public appearance, but for anybody not a part of the Faith, it's all been secondhand. People have been dying to know. What do you say?"
Papata Fren is offering you the chance to work with her as a friendly interviewer if you work with her on what topics she wants to cover. Your response?
[ ] Yes. A thousand times yes. You want this woman on your side. *fangirling intensifies*
[ ] No. While nothing she's suggesting
sounds objectionable, that itself is a little odd. You can still remember how she went for the throat near the end of that last bit of the interview.
[ ] Write-in. Counter-offers such as, "yes on this topic, no on this one," go here.
THIS VOTE IS NOW CLOSED.
Kakara is turning thirteen years old soon. She was going to be a massive fangirl about
something eventually.
Is there a bit of Mentor Crush in there as well? Who knows? Not Kakara; romance is still not on her mental map to a significant extent (the winning vote last time was
literally, "dunno, haven't thought about it"). Not even
she knows whether or not she likes girls. All she knows is that Papata Fren is really good at this and would totally be able to run rings around Kakara and she's
so cool-
You get the idea. Little girl who gets nearly zero praise for her attitude and preferred skill set suddenly has somebody praising her for it? I'm sure you remembered what happened when Cynthia Balor did that, and Cynthia has no obvious qualifications as an expert in the art of being a pacifist the way Papata is so
obviously skilled at the art of talking with people.
Hope you enjoyed the update, folks! Sorry about the delay; been harder to find free time lately, but I'm back in the game! See you soon!
TWO-HOUR MORATORIUM, AS PER USUAL
