Académie Royale de l'Arcane

     Sucette ignores Roy's second offer of chocolate.  Is this normal behavior for vampires, to do the same thing over and over again?  Maybe being dead keeps them from moving forward at the same pace as the living.  For the moment. though, she pays it no mind.

     Vera, on the other hand, really puzzled her.  She's both insulting and claiming that she's being friendly.  It makes no sense.  Is it a foreign thing?  Still, Sucette says to her, "it isn't doctrine, Vera.  It is respect.  I politely let you how I wish to be addressed and you take offense, as if respecting my title is a burden to you.  How can we have a friendly conversation if you won't even grant me the dignity of addressing me the how I want?"

     But Vera doesn't seem to be interested in friendly conversation.  She's probably invited Sucette to the fire only to belittle and dismiss her.  People can be cruel at this school.  Even the vampire seems friendlier than a lot of the living students she's met over the years here.  Yet, Sucette wants this conversation to go well.  In spite of the insults, there was something about Vera that made her want to stay an continue the conversation.  She just refuses to suffer more indignities for the sake of continuing it.

     "It seems that not using titles has made this conversation even shorter and unfriendlier, Druidess Vera.  I do not wish to continue it with you.  Goodbye," she says to Vera.  To the vampire she says, "and goodbye to you, Roy."  With that she leaves the vampire and the impolite and insulting woman to her fire.

     That Vera is just like the other students. Pointlessly mean.  As she has done many times before, Sucette continues the argument in her head after the fact simply because it is too impolite to say what she wants to say out loud.  It would be satisfying to actually say them, sure, but it wouldn't be constructive at all.

     Doctrine?  As if refusing to eat a chicken killed by a farmer because the earth might be unhappy with it isn't doctrine.  She has nothing against earth mages, surely, but Vera plainly can't see they have their own doctrines.  And hell, so what if it were doctrine?  How does explaining why she has a title negate the need to use it?  Even if Noyé were some stuck up royal it would still be disrespectful to refuse to use her title.

     And "Druidess Vera"?  If Sucette isn't so angry she might smile at that.  The woman doesn't want to be called by her title; she makes it very obvious what she thought of them.  Is Sucette suppose to insult her by calling her something that she is so disdainful of?  She wants to be referred to as simply Vera but then pounces on Noyé when she does just that?

     No, she realizes it doesn't matter what she says.  Vera would have found a way to demean her.  "A-Noyé-ing"?  She's like a child, a bully who takes pleasure in hurting others.  Nothing Sucette could have done would have changed anything.  The earth mage invited her over to the fire for no other reason than to insult her.

     Sucette has only made it twenty or so yards from the fire in the open commons.  Arguing in her head is faster than against another person.  Yet she continues this one-sided mental debate for no other reason than it's all she can do.

     This talk of Vera's about culture.  She claims to understand Gauldish culture when she obviously doesn't.  They're both students at the Académie!  They're both working hard to improve themselves.  Yet Vera is dismissive of Sucette because of what she imagines her background to be?  The druid knows nothing about her and yet judged her from before they even spoke, like a predator sizing up her prey.  

     Vera thinks using Sucette's title would create some kind of power imbalance between them.  So she belittles the woman to "make them even" not realizing that Noyé came into the conversation as an equal.  Insulting someone to make a conversation friendlier?  Absurd.

     Oh, what is the point of these mental arguments?  It's only making her feel worse.  Why couldn't she say these things to the horrid woman?  Why must she retreat when it is clear she's in the right?  Sucette wonders about this as she makes her way to one of the stone staircases leading away from the commons.

"Good till now. You try and be nice to.someone and what do you get? I should have known better, none of these nobles can have a friendly conversation. They act like the world ends if you have a bit of informality."

Vera tears another chunk from her rabbit and chews and swallows past the lump in her throat. She didn't want to eat anymore she was too angry. Still if she didn't finish the meal she'd lose her power. Gaia's rules were very strict.

All Vera had wanted to do was be nice to someone who clearly needed a friend. Apprently though that person couldn't just be a person. They had to be a title as well and apprently they couldn't stand the insult of just being a person. Even when you explain as nicely, well as not punching her in the facely, as you can why you'd rather not use titles.

Roy shrugged. It hadn't bothered him too much, to be honest. He was used to being in the background.

"Well, I am kinda small and thin and hard to see sometimes...besides, she said goodbye and stuff. She was probably just busy."

Hearing a soft sound from the hallway, Roy turned and saw an odd-looking fox with nine tails. How strange. Didn't they only have one?

"Vera, you know animals. Look at that. That fox has a bunch of tails. That's not normal, is it?"

Vera's instinctive reaction to being lunged at was to shout and take a swing. She then glared at the spot the fox used to be as star dust hit her in the face. She sense the slight weight of the by Roy and whirls as he shouts.

"OH IT'S ON!"

She charges at the creature intent on punting it across the commons.

Roy jumped back as the fox vanished, startled. What was going on? What was this thing? He looked about desperately for where it might have gone, and spotted the mask. It certainly was pretty and well-made, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to try to grab it. After all, it might curse him. He turned to Vera, worried.

"I don't think this is a good idea, Vera. It might be some kind of spirit or something, and we don't want to mess with that. It's troubles."