you're the first one when things turn out bad

[temptationaccomplished]

Who: EVERYONE, you're all invited. Or invited to happen upon this, if you missed the invite, and spot it happening in the Great Hall.
What: Aziraphale wants to show off his best friend, so he's invited you all to a tea party.
Where: The Great Hall
When: Tuesday after classes
Warnings: Tyzias is a menace, there's no reason to think anything at ALL about The Arrangement, and if the invite was any indication, the ineffables probably cannot be contained



Due to circumstances which will not be discussed (but, namely, that Pallidus cannot be in indirect sunlight), and using weather as an excuse, Aziraphale's planned tea party out on the lawn has been moved indoors.

He's gone all out. There is plenty of tea (with optional sugar and cream), biscuits (by which we mean crisp cookies), some small cakes that are rather adorably decorated, a fruit pie or two, and treats provided by Sunset Shimmer. (And possibly booze, if Tyzias did decide to bring some). Casual though the gathering is, he's set a proper table to hold their food, with a table cloth, a few candles, some nice napkins. This is not slipshod work. This is the work of someone aesthetically living in a past century who feels like he has waited a good millennia for this moment and is going to do this right.

And what This is, is introduce his demon best friend to polite company. As Crowley put it.
It's true, though. Except where Tyzias is concerned, anyway.

In the center of the table is a small, homey potted plant. Nothing particularly extravagant. Leafy and green and moderately well-cared for, recently purchased, and even more recently labeled with a tag that says "For: Crowley." The "for" was added secondary, after it occurred to Aziraphale that it looked a bit like he'd named the plant Crowley. Which he had not.



Aziraphale, aka Mr. Fell, is playing the anxious, bustling, gracious host as best he can, while being utterly preoccupied with his friend: a tall, gangly ginger who he introduces to everyone as "Crowley." Any assumptions one might make about the two apparently middle-aged, man-shaped beings is entirely one's own assumptions. But if Aziraphale is glowing with joy and affection, and eager to tell stories about the two of them, that's just how it is.

When things settle down and everyone has been served tea and introduced, he might try to show off some silly card-tricks: absolutely typical sleight-of-hand like humans perform, and not performed especially well. He's doing this mainly to annoy Crowley and seems to delight in that, even if he is a little genuinely embarrassed at how rusty his skills have gotten.



Come, join in, mingle. Hang out with your fellow classmates and enjoy some treats. We're coming up on the end of a year and, like a harvest festival, it's time to make new friends, rekindle old bonds, share in some good food, and party before the winter.

Comments

[princepallidus]

Okay, that comparison makes him laugh. Not too much; the party hasn’t been that crazy yet.

“Oh, no, that I can agree with. It shouldn’t have been a problem, but King Rodai didn’t, ah, quite manage to tell Tyria before she was called to Cavernae so...” It was definitely worse than just fearing who or what you were asked to marry.

Pallidus ran fingers through his thick, dark hair. “I would rather things had gone differently, but it was out of my hands.”

[tiredcharmer]

"..."

Tyzias slumps, forehead gently bumping against the table. Pallidus was a decent man, all things considered, but she couldn't help but to feel sorry for the poor girl who got saddled with him.

"So she's fated by a magically enforced contract to marry you. Is that right."

[princepallidus]

I mean, when you put it like that...

"Kind of? It's more complicated than that. The magic of demon deals are, well, not fickle, but no different than any other contract." Pallidus shrugs. "As it involved someone outside of their majority, their guardian, in this case, her father, was able to make a deal without her consent, but now that she is of age, it's still up to her to decide if she wants to marry me."

Pallidus bites his bottom lip, suddenly unsure. "... I don't actually know what it would mean should she decide against it. Father insisted we have a year-long engagement to allow her ample time to decide it that's what she wished. Were she not to agree, I'm honestly at a loss as to what I would do."

He couldn't imagine a future without Tyria by his side. Or perhaps he just didn't want to imagine it.

[tiredcharmer]

"Of course. There's nothing complicated or traumatizing about getting abducted to the Underworld, away from all your friends and family, to be ceaselessly courted by a creature straight out of the fairytales they tell to naughty children.

"A very polite creature straight out of the fairytales they tell to children, but still."

[princepallidus]

“Excuse me? I am not the one who offered the deal to her father. I am not the one who accepted the deal. And I am not responsible for her parents’ negligence in informing her of the betrothal.”

Seriously, what the hell Tyzias? Pallidus thought it would be pleasant reminiscing about missed loved ones. Instead he was facing accusations as though he were some monstrous cad. Or maybe just a monster.

[tiredcharmer]

Tyzias looks at Pallidus, droll. God, what a prick. The good kind of prick, but a prick nonetheless.

"I'm not saying any of that is your fault. But I am saying that you continued to participate in this system despite clearly knowing that it was wrong on some level.

"Also, Pallidus? Your eyes."

[princepallidus]

"Partici-" Pallidus huffs, incredulous. "I'll have you know, I do not have the ability to opt out either. Yes, it was wrong to have so much obligation dropped upon her, but that was her parents' decision. Either way, she would have had to marry someone of noble birth, whether they were demon or human. She told me she had previously received letters of intent.

"Beyond Tyria, there has never been any other option for me." For more reasons than just the existence of the deal.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Pallidus tried to rein in his outrage. He hadn't ever really spoken of his own feelings regarding the arrangement with anyone outside his brothers before. With his father, there was never any room for discussion at all.

Still simmering, he glared at her through the corner of his eye. "What about them?"

[tiredcharmer]

"One, they're glowing like a motherfucker. Moreso than usual. You alright?" Tyzias's concern is obviously genuine, completely untouched by the contempt she has for Pallidus's situation on his home world. It's almost like Tyzias is used to having completely impersonal yet very heated debates on a variety of esoteric concepts just to prove a- oh, right. Lawyer.

"Two, even if you're inside the system and are as chained by it as anyone else, you can still work to subvert it. The 'deal' isn't nearly as bad as I thought it was at first, so thank fuck for that, but have you considered that any system that overwrites the autonomy of young girls is inherently unjust both above and belowground, and as a somebody within that system you have some small power to change it?"

[princepallidus]

He didn't understand why her opinion on things affected him so greatly. If anything, whatever happened in this realm of existence didn't have any real weight on how things went back home, so he really shouldn't care. He didn't care. He really didn't.

He released a soft breath, and the shine to his eyes dulled back to its typical flat red. He responded dully, "Allergies."

"I will admit I am, unfortunately, too selfish to wish to be alone for the rest of my existence."

[tiredcharmer]

"That isn't selfishness. That's self-preservation, it's different." Tyzias sighs, tracing her fingertips around the rim of her wineglass. "Maybe I could've elucidated by points better. It's just... when you're in a position of power, you need to at least evaluate your ability to change things if a system is broken, and try to do what you can to fix it. That's moral obligation.

"But the key is doing what you can. Ultimate self-sacrifice isn't for everyone, and I don't begrudge people who aren't willing to risk it all on something that's guaranteed to not work." Tyzias takes a sip of her wine, assessing the red inside with an unreadable expression. "Back home, I toed that line, but convinced myself that it wasn't worth it. That I should just do what I could without causing too much of an upset, otherwise it would only make things worse. That was the only logical decision I could've made in the face of the odds I was facing.

"But now, with everything that's happened since I left... well. It tips the scales in the other direction. Now I'm convinced that if I get back home, it's my duty to bring down the Empire, because now I actually have a chance at doing it.

"Eternal sacrifice isn't for everyone. Hell, the fact that I'm actually considering it proves that I'm really fucked up and should probably see a therapist. But there's always a choice between action and inaction, and I'm no longer fine with the second.

"...fuck, I totally lost the thread there, didn't I?"

[princepallidus]

Pallidus could be stubborn when he wanted to be, and yeah, he kind of wanted to be right now, but when she started talking more about herself rather than pushing against him he felt compelled to listen. Slowly, the tension eased out of his stiff shoulders and by the time she finished he was watching her with an uncritical gaze.

"You have strong convictions, and that's admirable," he murmured, subdued. "I don't fault you for feeling as you do. And... I agree with what you're saying. Would that I could do more to help Tyria's situation it's just..."

He sighs. "I may be a prince, but you highly overestimate my influence. My father is not one to change his mind and he would remind me that until I am King I have no real power."

Perhaps after Tyria and he married, when they had children of their own, they could work to make things easier for their sons and daughters. But that was putting the cart before the horse now, wasn't it?

"You do have a lot of strength, Miss Entykk. I don't doubt you'll manage to make a true stand against the oppression in your world with your abilities. I wish I could say the same for myself, but I am afraid as I am now, my father could easily kill me should he wish." Pallidus gave her a wry smile. "Not that he would wish to, but he would do it if he had to. Refusing to marry Tyria wouldn't likely land me in such a bad spot, but I doubt he would ever try to help me find a wife again if I went against him, and that's perhaps just as bad."