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Post by Circe on Nov 16, 2019 16:47:29 GMT -6
"Here, you're going to want this." Catherine said tossing the other a heavy parka. She herself was dressed in a heavy sweater and boots with a similar coat. Recent days had seen a cold rain fall across the area, with outlying areas receiving a combination of rain and ice creating dangerous conditions. However that didn't mean there would be no training for Tyrus though, the mirror system took care of that.
"Don't touch anything unless you want to end up arriving in pieces." She added. That wasn't precisely how it worked, but she was taking advantage of the other's ignorance of magic and the unseen.
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Post by demikara on Nov 16, 2019 16:55:02 GMT -6
That didn't sound good and Scotty pulled on the parka and decided not to touch anything. This is why she much preferred mundane ways of getting around. There was no worry about being torn to pieces if you put in your destination wrong. Driving was pretty safe, so long as you weren't stupid about it. She didn't think the same was true of the mirror system. "Is it that cold out where we're going? And where are we going?" She didn't exactly think that there would be a field trip for her any time soon.
She didn't exactly want to even be here but she didn't have much of a choice in the matter, that had been made clear. The guard was standing nearby still, making certain she couldn't exit the room.
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Post by Circe on Nov 16, 2019 17:02:49 GMT -6
"Yes. Outlying areas here get colder than the city and we'll be outside for most of our time there." Catherine explained plainly as she ran her fingers down along the edge of the mirror. A series of runes lit up around the frame, and the surface rippled briefly before the reflection changed. It showed a dark landscape glazed with ice far out away from anything else.
"Where are we going? Property owned by one of the family." Catherine said. "You'll be meeting Eliodoro, so behave yourself." The threat was clear, Scottlyn was to behave or loose the privilege of leaving with a chaperone.
Grasping the other firmly by the arm, Catherine stepped forward and through the mirror with her sister in tow.
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Post by demikara on Nov 16, 2019 17:11:59 GMT -6
Scotty stepped through it as well and grimaced at the sensation. At least they were through quickly. There was a roof over the mirror, and an open garage where several four wheelers were parked. Tyrus was waiting on one of them and he got off and came over. "Is this La Principessa Marietta?" He looked her over and raised an eyebrow, clearly not impressed. "You have cause so much trouble, kid. I'm Principe Eliodoro to the court. Outside of the court, you may call my Tyrus. It's considered my private name, for when I'm doing things that aren't directly related to the family."
He was going to start from square one with this kid, and she was going to fight every step of the way. At least they all knew it. He was prepared for that one.
Scott scowled. "Scotty. My name is Scotty, not Marietta." And she hated being called Marietta like nothing else. "How are you a prince? Or are you a half brother I didn't know about?" That was always a possibility. It wasn't like she would know if she had anymore half siblings given how little she had to do with her biological unseen family. They weren't people she wanted to spend time with. she had thought about it, with Catherine, at some point. But there were too many bad memories there, too much shared pain.
Plus the other seemed to hate her or something.
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Post by Circe on Nov 16, 2019 17:42:20 GMT -6
"Indeed it is." Catherine replied as she removed a glove from her right hand. Turning back towards the mirror, she ran her ungloved hand down along the same side as the other mirror. Instead of activating it this time, she deactivated it, now signaling to the network of other mirrors that that was an inactive line and no one could come through. Sure, there were other methods besides the mirror, but individuals with that talent were often few and far between.
"Scottlyn, manners." Catherine said harshly to her sister, while giving Tyrus a look that said she was sorry for anything else that came out of the other's mouth. "Or did those not ever get installed at any point?" She asked bluntly. This was going to be a headache of epic proportions, and the only reason her and Tyrus were handling it was that Brandon wanted very little to do with the court. He played nice for the most part, but only attended the required gatherings or when summoned for necessary things.
"Tyrus is related, yes." She added wondering what other inane and insistent questions the other would have. "I'll allow him to explain if he wants, if not then no more personal questions. It's rude."
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Post by demikara on Nov 16, 2019 17:49:50 GMT -6
"I'm not a half brother no." He said simply. "There was an incident and I'm a member of the royal family. That's all you need to know Scotty. It's considered incredibly rude to ask personal questions in the unseen world. I can see we're going to have to work on your manners too." He gave Catherine a set of four wheeler keys and frowned at the dhampir among them. Brandon and Catherine had both said the situation was dire. He hadn't expected it to be quite this bad though. She didn't even seem to have the basic manners that the'd expect from someone in the Unseen. "You have a choice. You can ride with Catherine or myself. You're aren't trusted to ride on your own just yet."
Soctty scowled. "I'll ride with Catherine." At least Catherine wasn't a complete stranger like this jerk was. She wasn't going to be thrilled with any of this. "Why am I here? The guard didn't say." And neither had anyone else. It had very much just been a follow me or else sort of venture so far and she wasn't impressed by any of it. And she couldn't even run away at this point. It was too cold and she didn't know where way the nearest town was or how far away it was.
She couldn't run away at all and they had made damned sure of that.
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Post by Circe on Nov 16, 2019 18:07:14 GMT -6
"Fair enough." Catherine shrugged pulling her glove back on and inserted the key into the fourwheeler, starting the engine. Everyone's patience with Scottlyn had run out, and while much of the family had hoped that they wouldn't have to deal with her and her problems, it seemed that they were having to do something now rather than later. Especially given the fact that a courtier of a lower rank had dragged the dhampir in seeking a reward for delivering what he thought was just one of the family out for an unsanctioned joy ride. "You're here to start learning how to defend yourself." Catherine explained as the atv roared to life. Releasing the brake and sticking the fourwheeler into gear, she pulled out of the garage and followed Tyrus.
As they sped through the cold and dark property, Catherine wondered if her only living sibling could put the past behind herself to focus on the present. She had hoped by giving the other something to do other than bar hop and show up to work late would be beneficial, but she was seriously questioning if that would be the case.
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Post by demikara on Nov 16, 2019 18:15:02 GMT -6
Tyrus led the way to his house and parked the ATV out front, and lead the way into his work out room. He stripped off his parka and hung it at the front door, but pocketed the ATV keys. He didn't trust the kid yet though. "This way. You're also here to learn about court manners and how not to offend everyone you come in contact with in the Unseen. And please, keep in mind that this could be a matter of life and death if you offend the wrong person." He wasn't going to play nice. She had to know the stakes. She would learn manners or she'd start a war or get someone killed.
"I don't see why I even have to be part of the Unseen at all! It's not like I absolutely need blood to survive. And I can just ignore all the rest of the stuff and not do magic." She burst out, not wanting to handle any of this. It was ridiculous, that she was expected to participate in a society whose first action had been to jail her!She didn't want anything to do with any of them at all!
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Post by Circe on Nov 16, 2019 18:21:34 GMT -6
"Scotty, calm down. Part of this is working through the issues you have." Catherine said gently placing her hands lightly on the other's shoulders. "Tyrus is right, you're going to get yourself killed or even me or Brandon killed if you offend the wrong person." She explained. Brandon had done that one and largely lived to tell the tale, especially given that his aunt had been Dallas's only warden at the time. Given how the unseen tended to see wardens and MCU, it was a miracle not much more had happened.
"Unfortunately magic is a necessary thing for some people, you might be able to go through life not using it. But for some of us it's a matter of survival." Or not succumbing to the slow downward spiral that accompanied it's disuse if tied to the veil. She doubted that Scotty had that problem, and in many ways envied the naivety that the other addressed the world with.
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Post by demikara on Nov 16, 2019 18:30:52 GMT -6
Scotty didn't see how her actions could cause someone else to get killed, but she subsided for now. "It's not like I have much of a choice." She muttered, Her shoulders dropped and she sighed. There wasn't much of a choice in any of this. But it was what it was and she might as well play along. It wasn't like there was another option. Besides, if she kept it up long enough, maybe they'd let their guards down and she could escape. "How are we starting?"
"Conditioning." Tyrus answered and handed her a sheet of paper. "These exercises, in this order. There's an outfit for you to change into in the bathroom." He pointed the door out. "And I'll be here to answer any questions you have. Once you've gone through everything, and I will know if you skipped anything, then we'll move on to some self defense exercises. I'll be giving you some books to study and memorize, since when you aren't here, you'll be in your rooms." He wasn't going to go easy on her. They had to make up a lot of ground. Brandon had been gentle and kind about the lessons. He was not going to be nearly as kind and slow.
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Post by Circe on Nov 16, 2019 18:58:38 GMT -6
Once Scotty had gone to the bathroom to change, Catherine removed her own coat and hung it up as well. "I'm sorry to do this to you Tyrus," She apologized. Her youngest sister was determined to be difficult and no one could change her mind otherwise. "She needs to learn." She added thinking back to events earlier in the evening. Scotty had launched a surprise attack on her and Catherine had not even expected it. To her that said her skills were slipping, and for Scotty it said the other had become a liability that needed to be taken care of as soon as possible.
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Post by demikara on Nov 16, 2019 19:07:57 GMT -6
"It's not dissimilar to what I'm doing now." He pointed out and smiled. "Hers is just going to be a bit more intense. I'll be able to re-join the court once I get a hold of these new abilities. She will be able to re-join the court once she learns...a great deal." It would be a longer journey than his own was, that was for sure. If she was smart, she'd buckle down and learn quickly. The sooner she learned everything, the sooner she could wander mostly as she wanted, after all.
If she wasn't smart, she'd drag her feet and they'd all have to deal with this for some time.
Scotty stepped out, dressed in the new outfit. It had still had tags on it. She wasn't thrilled that she was having to exercise, but if it got this overwith, she'd play along. Grudgingly, she began the warm up indicated, moving slow more to drag her feet than anything else.
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Post by Circe on Nov 16, 2019 19:16:22 GMT -6
"You're doing fine, it's her I worry about." Catherine disagreed. The sooner Tyrus at the least could rejoin the court, the better as far as she was concerned. Scotty meanwhile was so insistent on dragging her feet, that Catherine couldn't even think of what to do with the other. But running her through training exercises till she was exhausted would hace to do for now. "At least you're willing to learn, meanwhile all she wants to do is think at you hard or use a psionic blast to get out of doing anything remotely uncomfortable."
Catherine was still a bit preturbed from the behavior she had been met with earlier in the evening, and she suspected that this wasn't going to be any different. Turning her attention back to the young woman she frowned with disapproval, "Actually do the warm up Scotty.. don't just play at it."
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Post by demikara on Nov 16, 2019 19:28:50 GMT -6
Scotty groaned and picked up the pace, actually doing the warm up. Once it was done, she moved to the next exercise and Tyrus sighed. "She's going to drag her feet for everything, isn't she? I'll do what I can with her." He said and shook his head. "And thanks. I think I'm almost ready for court again. Large gatherings still give me a headache, but it takes longer." And it was easier to handle. He was getting there at least.
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Post by Circe on Nov 17, 2019 19:08:07 GMT -6
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Another week had passed, and it was time yet again to drag Scotty through the mirror at the court and resume her lessons with Tyrus. Not enough time had passed however to tell if the girl was ever going to get even moderately skilled at defending herself or not offending others. It was still a regular occurance for her to pepper Catherine with questions whenever she felt necessary, whether they were polite or not. At one point, the other had rounded on Scotty and shouted obscenities in everything from Romanian to Fae Gaelic out of sheer frustration. Grigoire wouldn't let her do much with the other besides the lessons with Tyrus and continued house arrest.
Then there was the issue of the Council's request, they had really been as polite and nice about it as they could. In practicality they had bent over backwards to get her to come back, and if the compensation package that June had sent her later on had been any indicator, officers were fixing to get paid a whole lot better too. She had submitted her answer three days prior, well within the week she had asked for, and earlier that day she had been sworn back in to serve as Dallas's only warden once more. It wasn't ideal, but it also gave the court some amount of political immunity if it ever came down to it, and the Council knew it.
They would have to tolerate her and Tyrus in their respective positions or suffer the consequences; and neither was terribly interested in putting the screws to the Council more than once.
"Are you going to have any more rude questions tonight?" Catherine asked her sister before they stepped through the mirror.
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