The Roof | Thursday Evening

[bookbeltof_love]

Success!

Nina had managed to work out the finicky little details of her spell-present for Prompto and now it was just time to bring it outside and let it absorb.

Which, like, mostly just had her sitting outside, on a blanket, with her spell book open to the evening sky. Hard work, totally. The intricate runes and lines were glowing a soft, pale blue that was barely noticeable.

To keep herself busy while her book was doing its job, Nina was sewing. Not costumes for Foomy this time, but a costume for the little stuffed toy squirrel she had.

[Open, of course!]

Comments

[legionqueen]

There were good days, and there were bad days. Yesterday... well, she'd overextended herself. She knew that. And she'd paid for it. Today was not great, but better than she had been?

"So what brought you up here?" she asked. Not the garden, clearly.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"The sky," Julius admitted. "Feeling a little unsettled and some time in the sky always helps." Beat. "Uh. You know. Being up high in the sky. Not like in the sky."

THAT WOULD BE WEIRD, RIGHT? HA.

[legionqueen]

"Of course not," Jules said reasonably. "You would need one of those 'airplane' devices for that. Or wings, I suppose," she added as an afterthought. Though that was clearly a joke, because humans didn't have wings!

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

HA HA. YES. WINGS. SO SILLY!

Well, it was clear he did not have any! See? Zero wings for Julius!

"Ha ha yeah..." He said, laugh sounding weak and awkward. "So, uh, how about you? Also wanted to come up for the, uh, sunset and night air."

He wasn't going to ask how she was doing. She was walking by herself, which meant 'better' and she didn't seem likely to want to fuss.

[legionqueen]

"I wouldn't trade Camden for anything, of course," Juillenne said, giving her familiar a fond scritch between the ears, "but when I was little, I always hoped I'd end up with a crow for a familiar, like my mother and my grandmother."

"As for why I'm up here," she said, "I like to check in on the plants in the garden. Make sure they're doing all right."

They looked to be doing far more than all right, for the record.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Julius looked back at the garden. They looked...big? Which probably meant healthy?

...He didn't have a lot of experience with plants. As was probably obvious.

"Is this your rooftop garden?"

[legionqueen]

"No," Jules laughed. "It was here when I got here, last year. I think someone from the school was tending it." And they'd been doing a passable enough job; after all, the flowers and plants had still been alive.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"It's really pretty," Julius offered, because that was about all he was capable of judging. "So you tend gardens and Nina owns a bookstore and Elli has plans to work at the infirmary. Everyone here is so hardworking and responsible! I'm gonna have to step up my game if I want to keep hanging out with you all."

He...mostly played MMOs and collected bachelor degrees.

[legionqueen]

"I don't know," Jules tapped her chin. "I think you're pretty okay just the way you are."

Besides, collecting bachelor degrees wasn't something most people in high school could say they'd accomplished! And uhhhh, leveling up in MMOs took dedication??

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Oh, but they were pretty useless! Well, okay, Accounting had potential, but Pop Culture and Art History? Bethesda had had a few choice words about throwing away his time on pointless things.

"Really?" Julius asked, blinking at her in surprise.

DAMMIT, JULES, STOP SAYING THINGS NO ONE ELSE EVER HAD.

[legionqueen]

Yeah but both Pop Culture and Art History meant he was conveniently well-suited to go to school in the recent past!

"Really," Jules said firmly.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

He was definitely prepared for any and all nerdy cultural references anyone wanted to make!

"Thanks, Jules," he said with a warm smile. "...Definitely not doing anything to stop being my favorite sibling."

[legionqueen]

"Maybe that was my plan all along," she smirked. Except wow, it didn't really take much to get to that point, did it?

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Not attempting to harm him was an amazing first step!

"Cunning," he said, tapping on the side of his head. "I like it."

[legionqueen]

“Not that cunning, if it’s been all of a week and you’ve already caught on to my dastardly plan,” she pointed out.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"...Well, five days," Julius teased.

[legionqueen]

"Not helping!" Juillenne stuck her tongue out at him.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Julius chuckled. "Okay, okay, sorry," he said. "I'll be nice."

To the shock of nobody, really.

[legionqueen]

Yeah, she'd known him for all of a week five days and she could already tell 'nice' was pretty much his default state.

"Good," she said primly. "I like you better when you're nice, anyway."

Not that she had actually seen him not-nice, but. Boy could use some positive reinforcement.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

That opinion was probably reinforced when Julius dropped his phone to stare up at her. "Y-you do?"

[legionqueen]

“Uh, yeah?”

WHY WAS THAT EVEN A QUESTION?

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

BECAUSE HIS NICENESS WAS THE TRAIT HIS FAMILY HATED MOST ABOUT HIM, OBVIOUSLY.

"Th-thanks, Jules," he said, the tips of his ears turning red.

[legionqueen]

Which was stupid, because there were plenty of things one could accomplish by being nice that were sometimes downright easier than being all backstabby and ruthless!

“Is it weird or something?” she had to ask. “That I think you’re nice?”

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Not according to dragons there weren't. If you couldn't get it by guile or violence, it wasn't worth getting.

"Uhh..." He sighed. "Remember we were talking about families and expectations and not living up to them? Yeah."

[legionqueen]

Oh yeah, they’d fit right in with most poisoners Juillenne knew.

(Even if Arsinoe was evidence that a lot of that was nurture rather than nature)

“I’d say I was surprised, but honestly, there are people like that where I’m from too,” she said with a sigh.