agentlenet | psychic thread

[The gentle brush against the Strangers' minds comes in early evening. It is, as all mental touches are from Fayura, soft and unassuming, much like a polite knock at a door. Once as many minds are connected as she thinks will open the door to her, she speaks.]

I am curious, Strangers, what you would do with the young man who shot and killed Councilwoman Vera.

Many of you come from worlds where there are laws against murder. While we have no such laws here, when a Blood male in a Queen's Territory kills another without cause, she may demand a price from him. Sometimes, that is his own life if he was negligent enough with his temper and sometimes, it's something less.

My trouble is this: if I execute him according to the laws of the Blood, of which he is not one, the Guilds will rouse their people into a furor and attack not only me, but the people of Draega. If I turn him over to the Ebon Council, the Guilds will do much the same, and that will incite the Council to strike back. And if I return him to the Guilds for accolades instead of punishment for taking a life, the Ebon Council will have cause to rip apart the Guilds and anyone in their way to extract from him the price for murdering one of their own.

Were you me, what course would you take? And please try not to shout over each other; this is as many of you as I could reach.

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[ Those are two very separate questions, and Piper think that they're both important. ]

It wouldn't be indefensible, but... I don't know, I think states have different laws about that. [ She pauses, considering, then continues honestly: ] I think that it would be justified, and that stopping someone from hurting other people is the responsibility of the truly strong. But I also think that - there has to be a measure. If you're strong enough to stop an attacker, but you kill them instead, on my world you're held to account for that, just not to the same degree. [ A thought suddenly occurs to her - ] That sounds like part of the issue with punishing the young landen - what are your people's options? Death or what else?

[ But all while she's answering this question, there's an undercurrent in her thoughts - Fayura's second question definitely struck a chord. There may be impressions received of painful memories, grief and loss. ]

I don't... know. [ She thinks of the reservation, but she doesn't want to try to speak for her people, even if it's her story as well, even if the bitterness she'd refer to had been pointed at her, as half white, all her life. And it had been the same when she'd gone out in those fancy schools her dad had put her in - because she was half Cherokee, she wasn't the same, she was looked down on, she was Other. How do you help people celebrate differences they've been taught to hate?

But then... she thinks of the Romans and the Greeks. ] ...maybe you don't start with those differences. Maybe you start with points of similarity instead. Then maybe you get a few people to lend their strength to each other and you just... keep going.

[ A sudden flush of self-consciousness. ] I don't know, does that make sense?

Exile. Or service. If I trusted Councilwoman Vera's family not to retaliate, that's how I would have solved this. But I don't.

[Piper's emotions are a turbulent wash of surf against a bluff, rough and uncertain and full of shy self-consciousness. Fayura weathers them silently and without judgment. If anything, she wants to be a safe harbor for the young woman.]

It is hard to be different, isn't it? To be similar enough that you look like everyone else around you, but different enough that they know you don't belong. [Piper's sense of otherness? Fayura understands it.] The Ebon Council, the rest of the Blood... I, too, am kin but not kind. I'd thought that would be enough to help me, but it hasn't been.

But you make a good point. The planting season starts soon, and we all need to eat. The farmers get on with each other better than most of the cityfolk do. Perhaps they can help us learn, too.

[ It is hard to be different. Piper had only learned about a year ago that some of her most obvious, jarring differences could be explained. She really was Other, she was the daughter of a mortal and a goddess... and she'd never be able to explain to her dad who she was, why she'd gotten into so much trouble, that she'd been telling the truth when she said she just asked for things and people gave them to her. Knowing the truth had helped in a lot of ways, given her new purpose, introduced her to others like her... but in other ways it'd just made the differences between her and her family even deeper. It sucked. It hurt. And she shied away from talking about it.

But there is, for a moment, a hint of yearning in their connection. It would be good, maybe, to talk about this with someone who could understand. But she doesn't really know Fayura, and that yearning is ruthlessly cut off.

Focus, Piper. ]

People have to want to change, and change is hard. It's not easy to admit when you've been wrong, and from what I've learned - there's a lot of wrong to go around here, on both sides.

But you're right, too. Having a common enemy can draw people together. And hunger is a good common enemy. She's seen how stretched the resources in the city have been. If the city folk can get on doing something about that together instead of just complaining about it... that'd be good.

[ This... had gotten a bit far off from her point about mutual accountability, but maybe she should wait to raise that point again after her conversation with Prince Verim? She still just... thinks that there should be consequences for anyone who murders anyone, even if it's just... restitution, somehow. ]

[Piper cuts off that thread of yearning, and Fay isn't surprised. Though this isn't the same reaction as many have had to her, it's in line enough that it isn't unexpected, and it doesn't wound her much anymore.]

Hopefully soon, we all see a step in the right direction. Perhaps by asking a jury of landens and Blood to come to conclusion about this young man, we can make that first step.

[A pause.]

If Verim is fussing at you, let me know, and I'll flip the blankets off his toes.

[ The yearning may have been cut off, but it won't be forgotten. There is just... a lot coming through in this method of communication. She is still defensive over her own wounds, and there are rejections in her past she's not yet ready to face. ]

It will give them a voice and force them to meet each other on equal ground. [ Piper sends Fayura the equivalent of a small, hopeful smile through their mental connection. ] I think that sounds like it's going to be difficult, but a good opportunity for them.

[ If Verim is fussing -- Piper gives a brief and breathy laugh, a sudden relief of tension. ]

Fussing is a great word. [ Not because of what Verim is doing, but because of what she is sure she is going to be in for when she tells Jason about this. ] It's okay. It's - weird, but it's okay. Thank you.

[ And there's a smile of female solidarity in those words. Men.

...or well. Males, she supposes. ]

[The break in tension is relief as much for Fay as for Piper, and she smiles faintly. This, she thinks, is what she needs to give the entire city—quite hard to do. But the more she experiences moments like these, the more she learns from the Strangers, the closer she thinks they all move toward a better solution.]

If it gets too weird, you're more than welcome to give him the mental equivalent of a bucket of cold water poured over his head. And if you don't feel comfortable doing that, say the word, and I will.

Kindly, of course.

[ Piper can't help grinning. This is something familiar. And that feels good after all this awfulness. ]

I'll keep that in mind. [ The mental equivalent of a bucket of cold water, huh? She hopes she can manage something like that, it sounds like something she should work on. ] Thank you, Lady Fayura.

psychic thread

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i always tl;dr and i am sorry

never apologize!

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