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Challenge 033
Story title: Ladies’ Chat
Author: Ingvild
Word count: 490
Rating and warnings: For everyone who isn’t bummed by AUs (canon divergence type).
Characters and/or pairing: Dorothy, Mariemaia
Summary: Continuation of the AU. Mariemaia gains some insight into stuck-up Romefeller minds.
”Dorothy?”
”Yes, Mariemaia?”
”Why is your grandfather and his friends so frowny when they see me?”
Dorothy chuckled. “First of all, Mariemaia dear, my grandfather doesn’t have friends. He has underlings, future underlings, and people he wishes were his underlings but who he has to pretend he thinks are on his own level.”
Mariemaia stared at her, trying to decide whether or not she was serious.
“Second, they frown when they see a lot of people. You just notice it more when it is you because you’re eight years old. What happens with other people is a little more abstract for you than what is happening to you, specifically.”
“Okay, fair enough, but why are they frowning at me?”
Dorothy’s smile could almost be described as “fond”, which given that she usually went for “enigmatic” was rather touching.
Other people might have tried to sweeten the answer to the child. Dorothy, however, was and always would be Dorothy – a person marching to her own drum, always happily flouting social mores as she pleased.
“Dear girl, they are frowning because they think that you have changed your father too much, robbing him of his glorious future by their design, and because you are Colony-born.” Almost gently, she added, “the future-robbing is pure idiocy, of course. Your father was always going to be the author of his own fate, and if he chooses to incorporate you, then that is what he will do.”
Mariemaia stared at her, stricken, but only for a moment. Quickly, her face grew hard and distant.
“They are very stupid people,” she muttered.
Dorothy laughed loudly, startling Mariemaia. She stared at her older cousin in confusion, her face losing its hard expression and moving on to confusion. “Why are you laughing?”
Dorothy let her laughter taper off, but kept her warm smile. Mariemaia wondered if other people ever got to see Dorothy smile so freely.
“My dear, I’m laughing because that is the best description I have ever heard of them, and it is so simple that it seems silly that I have tried to find more flowery ways of describing them for years.”
Mariemaia couldn’t quite suppress a giggle, looking like a child again with her face mobile once more. She didn’t notice Dorothy’s almost imperceptible sigh of relief; the girl was a little disconcerting when she went all still and intense.
“What is their problem with colonists, anyway?” she asked. It was a rhetorical question, so Dorothy didn’t answer.
Not out loud.
Oh, sweetie. It’s because you’re all so clever and resourceful and refuse to be put down. It’s because little girls like you can run rings around them in debates, because you all make machines that can’t be matched here on Earth, and because no matter how hard they try to put you down, you’re still rising against them. It’s because they’ve tried to steal your future, but now you might end up stealing theirs.
Author: Ingvild
Word count: 490
Rating and warnings: For everyone who isn’t bummed by AUs (canon divergence type).
Characters and/or pairing: Dorothy, Mariemaia
Summary: Continuation of the AU. Mariemaia gains some insight into stuck-up Romefeller minds.
”Dorothy?”
”Yes, Mariemaia?”
”Why is your grandfather and his friends so frowny when they see me?”
Dorothy chuckled. “First of all, Mariemaia dear, my grandfather doesn’t have friends. He has underlings, future underlings, and people he wishes were his underlings but who he has to pretend he thinks are on his own level.”
Mariemaia stared at her, trying to decide whether or not she was serious.
“Second, they frown when they see a lot of people. You just notice it more when it is you because you’re eight years old. What happens with other people is a little more abstract for you than what is happening to you, specifically.”
“Okay, fair enough, but why are they frowning at me?”
Dorothy’s smile could almost be described as “fond”, which given that she usually went for “enigmatic” was rather touching.
Other people might have tried to sweeten the answer to the child. Dorothy, however, was and always would be Dorothy – a person marching to her own drum, always happily flouting social mores as she pleased.
“Dear girl, they are frowning because they think that you have changed your father too much, robbing him of his glorious future by their design, and because you are Colony-born.” Almost gently, she added, “the future-robbing is pure idiocy, of course. Your father was always going to be the author of his own fate, and if he chooses to incorporate you, then that is what he will do.”
Mariemaia stared at her, stricken, but only for a moment. Quickly, her face grew hard and distant.
“They are very stupid people,” she muttered.
Dorothy laughed loudly, startling Mariemaia. She stared at her older cousin in confusion, her face losing its hard expression and moving on to confusion. “Why are you laughing?”
Dorothy let her laughter taper off, but kept her warm smile. Mariemaia wondered if other people ever got to see Dorothy smile so freely.
“My dear, I’m laughing because that is the best description I have ever heard of them, and it is so simple that it seems silly that I have tried to find more flowery ways of describing them for years.”
Mariemaia couldn’t quite suppress a giggle, looking like a child again with her face mobile once more. She didn’t notice Dorothy’s almost imperceptible sigh of relief; the girl was a little disconcerting when she went all still and intense.
“What is their problem with colonists, anyway?” she asked. It was a rhetorical question, so Dorothy didn’t answer.
Not out loud.
Oh, sweetie. It’s because you’re all so clever and resourceful and refuse to be put down. It’s because little girls like you can run rings around them in debates, because you all make machines that can’t be matched here on Earth, and because no matter how hard they try to put you down, you’re still rising against them. It’s because they’ve tried to steal your future, but now you might end up stealing theirs.