Who: Rose Hathaway & Sydney Sage What: Truth Plot Shenanigans Where: Starbucks When: Saturday afternoon (backdated) Warnings: references to eating disorders Status: Complete gdoc
It had been a while since Rose and Sydney really talked and Rose was curious to know if the other girl was adjusting any better to life in Madison Valley. She knew that Sydney was from a point in time when she was still very anti-supernatural and that made things difficult in a town where people were so open about their abilities. Of course, Rose had the benefit of knowing that in the future, Sydney did change her views on such things and, in fact, was able to practice magic herself. She hadn’t shared that with her friend yet for fear of scaring her.
Dimitri apparently wasn’t so circumspect and let slip the fact that Sydney married Adrian in the future. She wished he hadn’t told her that, but it was too late to take back the information. And maybe it would help Draco in his pursuit of the Alchemist. Rose was definitely in favor of them dating since Adrian wasn’t here. Sydney needed someone to help her relax.
When she spotted the girl in line behind her at Starbucks, she decided to stick around and wait for Sydney to get her drink. “What’s up, Sydney?” she asked. “Haven’t talked to you in a while. How’s everything been?”
***
“Rose,” Sydney said warily. She’d avoided the Dhampir and the Moroi as much as she could while still monitoring their activities on the network - partly because those supernatural creatures still made her uneasy, and partly because she didn’t want any chance for anyone to confirm what Dimitri had told her: that in her future she was going to be with Adrian.
It was still unbelievable to her. Adrian was nice - for an evil creature of the night - and he had the facial structure of a classical Roman statue, but she couldn’t ever imagine being with him in that way. Added to that the fact that both Draco and a complete stranger claimed that she could do magic - a completely ridiculous accusation - and Sydney was left to wonder if at some point in her future she was killed and replaced by a doppelganger.
“Things are well; I’m taking those courses we talked about.” That was the one thing good that had come out of her talks with Rose: the Dhampir had opened her up to the possibility that she could pursue her studies here, unlike at home.
“How about you? How are you doing?”
***
“I’m mostly bored,” Rose said. “I mean, I’m glad that things aren’t as crazy here as they are at home, but I miss the excitement of Court sometimes.”
She blinked, a little surprise that she had given Sydney such a candid response. Normally, she told people she was good, happy here, and enjoying the break from her crazy life back home. And those things were true, but underneath it all, she did miss the hustle and bustle of life at Court as one of the Queen’s primary Guardians.
***
Sydney, however, wasn't surprised to hear it. Maybe Rose usually did keep that information to herself, but it wasn't anything that Sydney didn't already know. Rose was a Dhampir; fighting and protecting was what they were made for.
“You had Strigois attack your wedding,” she pointed out. “That would’ve been excitement for anyone.”
***
Rose nodded, the corners of her lips twisting up into some that was almost a smile. “Yeah that was kind of fun,” she said. “I mean, I’m still glad that it was some sort of weird fluke and we don’t have to deal with the Strigoi all the time, but it somehow seemed appropriate for me and Dimitri.”
In some weird way at least. Their relationship was forged in their shared passion for their calling so celebrating their marriage with a fight against a common enemy wasn’t necessarily a terrible thing.
“How are your classes going?”
***
“Only you would consider a Strigoi attack fun,” Sydney said, shaking her head. “That's exactly what they warn us about in Alchemist training: that your bloodlust wouldn't be content with just the Strigoi, that-”
She abruptly snapped her mouth closed. What had possessed her to say such a thing? While she'd always been frank about her wariness about Dhampir and Moroi, she'd never, ever, gone into detail about Alchemist teachings. That was forbidden. And she'd just spilled it as easily as Dhampir spilled blood.
“Never mind,” she said hastily. “I have to get going.”
***
“Woah, hey, that’s not even remotely true,” Rose protested. “We don’t have bloodlust. We’re trained to provide a very specific duty and it’s a duty that we hope we won’t ever have to provide. Being a Guardian is 99% boredom and 1% sheer terror. But don’t tell me that the fact that we get an adrenaline rush from that 1% makes us bad people.”
She shook her head. It was no surprise that the Alchemists felt that way about the Dhampirs. Being from further in the timeline than Sydney meant that Rose knew a lot more about how the Alchemists operated than she probably should.
***
Sydney shook her head. “That doesn’t make you bad people. The fact that you’re the offspring of vampires and humans makes you an unnatural abomination. I understand the relationship between Alchemists and the Moroi Court is a necessary evil, but one that makes my skin crawl, and I don’t know how Dmitri could ever think that Adrian and I could ever end up together. He may be handsome, and sweet, but he’s also an evil, blood-sucking creature of the night.”
Sydney cringed even as she heard the words come out of her mouth. How was she saying all these things without any sort of discretion whatsoever? And wasn’t she in the middle of making a hasty exit? Why wasn’t her mouth cooperating?
***
It stung a little to hear someone that she considered a friend say things like that about her and her people. Sure, Rose understood that what the Alchemists did was akin to brainwashing and that Sydney hadn’t broken her programming yet, but that didn’t make it hurt less. And when she was hurt, she tended to lash out. The fact that there was something going on that seemed to be preventing people from having any filter meant that she was about to give Sydney a reality check.
“Sydney, the fact that you and Adrian are going to get married is only one part of what you have to look forward to in your future,” Rose said. “I’m not sure of everything that happened in Palm Springs, but you definitely revised your opinion of the Moroi being evil creatures of the night. To the point where being with Adrian got you tossed in re-education and we had to help rescue you.”
She definitely hadn’t planned on telling Sydney any of that. Or what she said next. “Maybe it had something to do with the fact that you found out you’re a witch.”
***
Sydney’s horror at the prospect of being thrown into re-education was matched only at her horror at Rose’s flat reveal that she was a witch. That other woman - Lily - and Draco had both accused her of having magic, but she’d pushed that from her mind and dismissed it as a mistake on Lily’s part and spite or wishful thinking on Draco’s. But now Rose was telling her the same, using her knowledge of her future.
Still she denied it. “It’s impossible. Magic is evil! I would never get into it.”
***
“Wake up, Sage, and smell the coffee that you’re so addicted to,” Rose said, still feeling a little stung by her friend’s harsh words. “Why would I make up something like that? Besides, if you haven’t noticed, no one has been able to lie. The network is full of people blurting out secrets that they’d rather keep.”
If it wasn’t for that, Rose would probably would have been able to hold her tongue and not spill what she knew about Sydney’s future. “The Alchemists are a bunch of corrupt assholes. You figure that out and work against them.”
***
Rose was putting words to vague thoughts Sydney had had but didn't dare delve too deeply into, and it filled her with a deep sense of unease.
“They're not corrupt,” she said shrilly. “They're just short-sighted and too caught up in rules to care about the people who work for them and -”
She stopped short, horrified to hear herself putting those thoughts into words. This was exactly the kind of thing someone got sent to re-education for.
***
It was no surprise to Rose to hear Sydney put those thoughts into words. She had heard the same, and much more, in her own time. The fact that Sydney cut herself off before completely expressing her feelings was a disappointment, but Rose knew it would take the other girl some time before she was willing to accept the truth of the situation.
“That’s not how you feel in the future, Sydney,” she said, her tone softening a little. “And I know you don’t believe me, but seriously, no one is able to lie right now. Just check the network and you’ll know I’m telling you the truth.”
And while she was on a roll, she couldn’t help but add another thing. “Also? You need to start eating. Your father is a giant douche and gave you issues that you shouldn’t have.”
***
“My father is a douche, but that doesn't mean he isn't right.”
The words came out before Sydney could stop them, and she sucked in a sharp breath. She had never gone so far as to criticize her father before, and certainly not in those terms or to someone else. Rose had to be right: there was something at play here that was affecting everyone's ability to dissemble...which meant Rose was telling the truth about Sydney's future.
This was all too much.
“I'm going to go,” she said, and hastened out before she could say - or hear - anything else.