The dawn bell woke the sleepers. As they emerged from their rooms, they discovered that Niko had come. He sat with Crane and Rosethorn, who appeared not to have gone to bed at all.
"Tris," Niko said, "eat breakfast quickly, please. We're riding to Summersea."
"One moment." Crane looked as if he'd been caught by surprise. "Why her? Her vision-skills aren't as strong as yours-"
"Thanks ever so," Tris mumbled, pouring tea for herself.
"I can make far better use of her," persisted Crane. "There is work to do as we await your results."
"You cannot make better use of her," Niko said sharply, dark eyes glittering. "I will have to do a past-visualization working at some point. For it I require her strength and stubbornness. An extra pair of eyes will not come amiss, nor her ability to control water."
"She is a clear and accurate note-taker," protested Crane. "She thinks about the notes she is given. I made infinitely more progress yesterday, with her and Rosethorn and the boy, than I had until then."
Rosethorn flapped a hand as if she fanned herself. "Spare my blushes," she murmured. Briar snorted.
"I do not begrudge the acknowledgment of credit where it is due," replied Crane loftily. "We have a good team. Breaking it up now is most ill-advised."
"Find another scribe," Niko snapped. "I'll have the duke send his, if necessary-"
"Is this what it'll be like when I'm older and boys are fighting for the chance to kiss my hand?" Tris murmured to Sandry. The noble giggled.
"I do not want a ducal scribe; I want this girl. May I remind you-"
"I will not go into the sewers without her!" Niko barked.
Everyone stared at him. Tris turned white. "Sewers?" she squeaked.
"The disease spreads as the water level in the sewers rises and damaged pipes leak into wells. It's plain the two are connected," Niko said. "If we are to go there without drowning, I need Tris. If I am to have power to work the spells that reveal the past and to follow the trail to whatever mage concocted this- horror-I will need Tris. No one else will do."
"Not the sewers," whispered the redhead, trembling. "They're dirty."
"I know," replied Niko, his voice sharp.
For a long moment, no one said a word. Finally Crane sighed. "May she return to me when you are done?"
"I don't want to go," complained Tris. "Can't I stay with Crane and Rosethorn?"
"We must," Niko retorted. "Eat your breakfast."
"I'm not hungry."
"Then change into old clothes. We need to do this now."
[ Mick watches the video several times over the course of a day or two. Normally he'd just avoid it, knowing Tris hates his guts, but the subject of adults using kids as tools is one that he has not been able to let go. Not since juvie and meeting Len. Heck, he hasn't had the best of luck with his foster families either but that has always been different. The way they had talked about Tris has sounded a lot more like Lewis about Len than Mick liked.
He actually searches her out at lunchtime, bringing with him a couple of bars of chocolate and a six pack of beer. He places them on the table in front of her. ]
Tris pulls out her communicator and looks to see what scene Mick got before
she answers aloud. It isn't the one she expected based on his response.
She sounds somehow both stubborn and mildly confused when she replies, but
not angry.
"Niko cares about me. The man who taught me how to control my power and
told me there's nothing wrong with me was allowed to ask favors. He and
Crane both knew I hate sitting idle. I go mad with nothing useful
to do. I just don't like getting filthy."
She pauses a moment before admitting, "I was a tool or a threat rather than
a child for the first ten years of my life. I know what it looks like, and
that wasn't it."
"Didn't sound like he was asking." Mick looks at her, studying the expression for a moment. Another thing he had seen was people not recognising when they were being used. Was that what was going on here?
"I've seen too many kids not allowed to be children."
Tris folds her arms in front of her. "I wasn't allowed to be a kid long
before Niko met me. There's a limit to how much of that growing up can be
undone. Niko was the first person to look at me as a child in years, but
he wasn't going to watch people die just because he and I were both
squeamish. If he'd drowned because I refused to accompany him, I'd have
lost my teacher and been stuck in a plague ridden city with no cure in
sight." Niko hated going down there even more than Tris did.
"The thing about my magic is that it's tied to my emotions. He had to
drill control and ethics into me or I'd kill someone every time I'm
angry. Sometimes that meant telling me what to do. There's only so much
leeway you can give a girl who causes lightning strikes and hailstorms
every time she gets upset. I don't have the luxury of being careless. I
never did. And unlike my birth family, Niko always put my well being
first."
Mick studies her for a long moment, taking the words in and actually considering that he might be wrong in his assumptions. "As long as you're sure about that." If she isn't Mick would be tempted to go have a talk with this Niko.
"A bit of chaos is healthy sometimes though." He still firmly believes that. "That tight control sounds like someone else I know, and he didn't have it drilled into him in a good way."
"Not the kind of chaos that means I demolish buildings if I ever get
drunk." In other words, she won't be touching those beers. She does reach
for some of the chocolate, though. "Thank you."
As she unwraps it, she adds, "Control was the best thing Niko could
possibly have given me. I'd been out of control and terrified of myself
for as long as I could remember. Finally being able to stop things
from happening was wonderful."
"Healthier than the alternative. I can lose my temper now. It's
safe to do that, because I can keep a grip on my power when I do. Barring
floods. I'm working on further precautions for those." She grimaces,
because Mick has seen what floods do to her, that time Eliot had to
intervene to keep her from killing him.
The second part of that surprises her, though. Tris tilts her head.
"She's my foster mother. I ended up with her when I was ten. We live
together on the Barge."
She didn't actually realize that their connection wasn't well known to
anyone who had been on board for a long time.
"I know. She told me." And the look she gives Mick is a long, considering
one, because if she has trouble trusting him in general, she certainly
struggles more to trust him with a member of her family.
"Neither of us does well at letting go after breaches," she says after a
moment, in as neutral a tone as she can manage. It's the closest she's
letting herself come to warning Mick, even though she wants to.
Rosethorn's feelings stay tangled up with the people she loved in alternate
lives, and Tris can't stand anyone having that kind of grasp on her mother
unless they're going to treat her properly.
Mick meets her eyes during that long look, folding his arms. He's used to it. He is used to being distrusted and judged. He takes a breath after her warning. "It's not easy, but Rosethorn and I seem to have worked it out." Mostly by more or less avoiding each other.
Tris pauses a moment, not sure how much Rosethorn would be willing to
share. Finally, she goes ahead and tells him, "You were worried about me
being used as a tool, but I wasn't. Not the way Rosethorn was. I
was an object to be afraid of. But she doesn't stop caring just because
she wasn't quite herself in that breach, or because she never wanted
another brother in the first place."
The unspoken don't hurt her is still there, just as obvious as
before.
"The same way I never wanted another set of birth parents, but Jean and
Cold still mean something to me." Rosethorn wasn't the only person who
came out of that breach with a mess of mixed feelings and new connections.
"Well, she isn't alone in the not wanting a family. But this place doesn't give us much of a choice." He frowns when she mentions Cold. At the mention of Cold being a father in the breach. He has never thought that Cold wanted to be one. Not with how things were with Lewis. He grits his teeth. Part of him wants to tell her to back off, to protect Cold from any memories. But it is too late now.
And part of him is happy. The part that had been Rose's big brother is happy that she still cares. And furious that Tris implied he might hurt her.
He turns to look around the room, it is easier than to face Tris and all the complicated emotions. "Don't worry." He finally admits. He has no plans to hurt Rosethorn.
"No, it doesn't," Tris agrees grimly. She didn't mind her family in the
last breach, because it was familiar. She was born to a family that
didn't approve of what she was, and Erskine stole her away before they
could reject her completely. It was like her real life, only gentler.
Being born to parents who wanted her, though... the breach with Jean and
Cold was the one she's struggled with most, by far.
She hesitates a second, then says, "Good." She'll trust his word for now,
not that she has much choice in who Rosethorn chooses to let into her
life. That doesn't mean she'll ever be anything less than prepared to make
him regret it if he ever breaks that promise.
Tris is far too observant to miss the look on his face when she mentioned
Cold. Circling back to the subject unprompted, she tells Mick, "I don't
expect anything of him, but he was a far better father than my real one. I
made sure he knew that."
Mick turns back to her. "Fathers are... Len and I didn't have good fathers. Lewis was worse than my dad. Len's always been uncomfortable with the whole idea of fathers last I checked. So don't push it. Don't ask him to be something he doesn't want to be." Mick doesn't believe in subtle warnings, might as well say it out loud.
Tris gives Mick an unimpressed look. "Were you not listening when I said
that I didn't expect anything of him? I'm not looking for a father. Mine
disowned me when I was nine, and I'm just fine without, thanks ever so.
But he deserved to know he was a good one."
She thanked him for not giving her more issues with family than she already
had, actually. And she can't just suddenly stop caring about him now that
she's started.
Mick frowns. He is not sure it had been good anyway. But done is done.
"He would make a good dad, but I am not sure he wants to be one." He frowns. He isn't sure about sharing Len with someone with someone who dislikes him so much even if it just as friends. In some ways, he wishes it was just him and Len against the world the way it used to be.
"And you look like you've done well without a father, sounds to me like he didn't deserve you anyway."
"I'm not trying to be his daughter," even if she has no intention of
backing out of his life again. Tris very deliberately refrains from
mentioning that she thinks Odd is more of a danger there than she is. But
Cold clearly cares about him, so Mick had better stay out of things where
Odd is concerned.
"Neither of my parents deserved me. My foster family does." Tris
cares a lot about Rosethorn, for very obvious reasons.
Mick looks at her for a long moment, trying to judge if he believes her or not. Eventually, he just gives her a nod. He does. At least for now. Not that he has a choice, it really doesn't matter what he thinks here.
"Good." He gets up, grabbing the beers since she's said she doesn't want them and then moves to let her eat in peace.
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stormandwind) wrote2018-03-13 04:22 pm![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
lastvoyages
Age 11: Two grown men fight over who gets Tris as an assistant
"Tris," Niko said, "eat breakfast quickly, please. We're riding to Summersea."
"One moment." Crane looked as if he'd been caught by surprise. "Why her? Her vision-skills aren't as strong as yours-"
"Thanks ever so," Tris mumbled, pouring tea for herself.
"I can make far better use of her," persisted Crane. "There is work to do as we await your results."
"You cannot make better use of her," Niko said sharply, dark eyes glittering. "I will have to do a past-visualization working at some point. For it I require her strength and stubbornness. An extra pair of eyes will not come amiss, nor her ability to control water."
"She is a clear and accurate note-taker," protested Crane. "She thinks about the notes she is given. I made infinitely more progress yesterday, with her and Rosethorn and the boy, than I had until then."
Rosethorn flapped a hand as if she fanned herself. "Spare my blushes," she murmured. Briar snorted.
"I do not begrudge the acknowledgment of credit where it is due," replied Crane loftily. "We have a good team. Breaking it up now is most ill-advised."
"Find another scribe," Niko snapped. "I'll have the duke send his, if necessary-"
"Is this what it'll be like when I'm older and boys are fighting for the chance to kiss my hand?" Tris murmured to Sandry. The noble giggled.
"I do not want a ducal scribe; I want this girl. May I remind you-"
"I will not go into the sewers without her!" Niko barked.
Everyone stared at him. Tris turned white. "Sewers?" she squeaked.
"The disease spreads as the water level in the sewers rises and damaged pipes leak into wells. It's plain the two are connected," Niko said. "If we are to go there without drowning, I need Tris. If I am to have power to work the spells that reveal the past and to follow the trail to whatever mage concocted this- horror-I will need Tris. No one else will do."
"Not the sewers," whispered the redhead, trembling. "They're dirty."
"I know," replied Niko, his voice sharp.
For a long moment, no one said a word. Finally Crane sighed. "May she return to me when you are done?"
"I don't want to go," complained Tris. "Can't I stay with Crane and Rosethorn?"
"We must," Niko retorted. "Eat your breakfast."
"I'm not hungry."
"Then change into old clothes. We need to do this now."
no subject
He actually searches her out at lunchtime, bringing with him a couple of bars of chocolate and a six pack of beer. He places them on the table in front of her. ]
Kids are not tools.
[ is the only explanation he gives. ]
no subject
Tris pulls out her communicator and looks to see what scene Mick got before she answers aloud. It isn't the one she expected based on his response. She sounds somehow both stubborn and mildly confused when she replies, but not angry.
"Niko cares about me. The man who taught me how to control my power and told me there's nothing wrong with me was allowed to ask favors. He and Crane both knew I hate sitting idle. I go mad with nothing useful to do. I just don't like getting filthy."
She pauses a moment before admitting, "I was a tool or a threat rather than a child for the first ten years of my life. I know what it looks like, and that wasn't it."
no subject
"I've seen too many kids not allowed to be children."
no subject
Tris folds her arms in front of her. "I wasn't allowed to be a kid long before Niko met me. There's a limit to how much of that growing up can be undone. Niko was the first person to look at me as a child in years, but he wasn't going to watch people die just because he and I were both squeamish. If he'd drowned because I refused to accompany him, I'd have lost my teacher and been stuck in a plague ridden city with no cure in sight." Niko hated going down there even more than Tris did.
"The thing about my magic is that it's tied to my emotions. He had to drill control and ethics into me or I'd kill someone every time I'm angry. Sometimes that meant telling me what to do. There's only so much leeway you can give a girl who causes lightning strikes and hailstorms every time she gets upset. I don't have the luxury of being careless. I never did. And unlike my birth family, Niko always put my well being first."
no subject
"A bit of chaos is healthy sometimes though." He still firmly believes that. "That tight control sounds like someone else I know, and he didn't have it drilled into him in a good way."
no subject
"Not the kind of chaos that means I demolish buildings if I ever get drunk." In other words, she won't be touching those beers. She does reach for some of the chocolate, though. "Thank you."
As she unwraps it, she adds, "Control was the best thing Niko could possibly have given me. I'd been out of control and terrified of myself for as long as I could remember. Finally being able to stop things from happening was wonderful."
no subject
no subject
"Healthier than the alternative. I can lose my temper now. It's safe to do that, because I can keep a grip on my power when I do. Barring floods. I'm working on further precautions for those." She grimaces, because Mick has seen what floods do to her, that time Eliot had to intervene to keep her from killing him.
The second part of that surprises her, though. Tris tilts her head. "She's my foster mother. I ended up with her when I was ten. We live together on the Barge."
She didn't actually realize that their connection wasn't well known to anyone who had been on board for a long time.
no subject
"She was my little sister in a breach." He offers as an explanation as to why he cares.
no subject
"I know. She told me." And the look she gives Mick is a long, considering one, because if she has trouble trusting him in general, she certainly struggles more to trust him with a member of her family.
"Neither of us does well at letting go after breaches," she says after a moment, in as neutral a tone as she can manage. It's the closest she's letting herself come to warning Mick, even though she wants to. Rosethorn's feelings stay tangled up with the people she loved in alternate lives, and Tris can't stand anyone having that kind of grasp on her mother unless they're going to treat her properly.
no subject
no subject
Tris pauses a moment, not sure how much Rosethorn would be willing to share. Finally, she goes ahead and tells him, "You were worried about me being used as a tool, but I wasn't. Not the way Rosethorn was. I was an object to be afraid of. But she doesn't stop caring just because she wasn't quite herself in that breach, or because she never wanted another brother in the first place."
The unspoken don't hurt her is still there, just as obvious as before.
"The same way I never wanted another set of birth parents, but Jean and Cold still mean something to me." Rosethorn wasn't the only person who came out of that breach with a mess of mixed feelings and new connections.
warn, implied child abuse
And part of him is happy. The part that had been Rose's big brother is happy that she still cares. And furious that Tris implied he might hurt her.
He turns to look around the room, it is easier than to face Tris and all the complicated emotions. "Don't worry." He finally admits. He has no plans to hurt Rosethorn.
Re: warn, implied child abuse
"No, it doesn't," Tris agrees grimly. She didn't mind her family in the last breach, because it was familiar. She was born to a family that didn't approve of what she was, and Erskine stole her away before they could reject her completely. It was like her real life, only gentler. Being born to parents who wanted her, though... the breach with Jean and Cold was the one she's struggled with most, by far.
She hesitates a second, then says, "Good." She'll trust his word for now, not that she has much choice in who Rosethorn chooses to let into her life. That doesn't mean she'll ever be anything less than prepared to make him regret it if he ever breaks that promise.
Tris is far too observant to miss the look on his face when she mentioned Cold. Circling back to the subject unprompted, she tells Mick, "I don't expect anything of him, but he was a far better father than my real one. I made sure he knew that."
Re: warn, implied child abuse
Re: warn, implied child abuse
Tris gives Mick an unimpressed look. "Were you not listening when I said that I didn't expect anything of him? I'm not looking for a father. Mine disowned me when I was nine, and I'm just fine without, thanks ever so. But he deserved to know he was a good one."
She thanked him for not giving her more issues with family than she already had, actually. And she can't just suddenly stop caring about him now that she's started.
Re: warn, implied child abuse
"He would make a good dad, but I am not sure he wants to be one." He frowns. He isn't sure about sharing Len with someone with someone who dislikes him so much even if it just as friends. In some ways, he wishes it was just him and Len against the world the way it used to be.
"And you look like you've done well without a father, sounds to me like he didn't deserve you anyway."
Re: warn, implied child abuse
"I'm not trying to be his daughter," even if she has no intention of backing out of his life again. Tris very deliberately refrains from mentioning that she thinks Odd is more of a danger there than she is. But Cold clearly cares about him, so Mick had better stay out of things where Odd is concerned.
"Neither of my parents deserved me. My foster family does." Tris cares a lot about Rosethorn, for very obvious reasons.
Re: warn, implied child abuse
"Good." He gets up, grabbing the beers since she's said she doesn't want them and then moves to let her eat in peace.