A Lesson in Aristocracy

XIX - Waltz

"You? You're a member of VEL?"

"Please don't tell anyone. Please. I just really need to talk to someone about all this. It's been stuck inside and-"

"I won't, Quetsan." She gripped his hand gently, squeezing it after a moment.

"Thank you."

"Now, why'd you hurt Arden?"

"I..." he gulped, looking away from her. "I had to. Pinqel was supposed to recruit Arden, but he couldn't because of his Splint, so I tried to take over and do it and I was doing so good but when I tried to convince him to join this morning I got confusedandIfreakedoutandstabbedhimbecause-"

"Slow down. Deep breaths, Quetsan."

Quetsan's breaths were shaky and quick, his hand beginning to tremble lightly.

"I'm never good enough! Never! It's always been Pinqel, Pinqel, Pinqel."

"Don't compare yourself to Pinqel. You're different people." She said gently.

"Too different! So different! Why do I have to be him? He's such an asshole! Why am I the bad one? I do nothing but work, and work, and fight, and fight, and try, I actually try! He just has that stupid fucking brain of his, ooooh I can remember EVERYTHING-"

Essie pulled him delicately closer, beginning to stroke his hair. He whimpered quietly before leaning in to her, resting against her shoulder.

"Quetsan, you're not your brother." She repeated, her tail wrapping around his waist.

"It's hard. Everything I do is held up to his standard. I just wanted to help, but... but-"

"But what? You can tell me." She cupped his face, wiping a few of his tears away with her thumbs.

"Arden's a sympathizer. I fucked up bad."

"Arden's a sympathizer?!" She asked in alarm, releasing his face. Her hands stayed frozen in the air before she cleared her mind, once again letting them hold Quetsan's features.

Quetsan nodded slowly. "He had children's toys all over the floor - in his house, that is - and then there was this kid, and it turns out that Arden was harboring a Lozenfi child which is very illegal and his Lozenfi basically told me Arden was a good guy and yougettherest."

"...Where is he now, then?"

"In the central VEL headquarters of Veldis, I think."

"And you came here instead of checking on him?"

Quetsan gulped. "I don't think he wants to see me."

"Why not? Aren't you two friends?"

"I stabbed him in a very... bad place."

"You stabbed his dick?"

"No! No, no, the gills. The ones on his side - remember the brick? I stabbed him there."

Essie stared at him. "I still don't follow why you did this stuff. Just... tell me everything when you feel better." She brushed some of his deep red hair out of his face before planting a kiss on his forehead. He went wide eyed, looking up at her.

"Let me fix my makeup, and then we can have a ball in here."

"My suit has blood on it," he sniveled.

"It's okay."

"Th-then your makeup is fine too!"

She giggled at the sentiment, laying Quetsan down on the couch and walking over to her gramophone. She filed through a few vinyls before setting one on it, cranking the thing quite a few times before an admittedly crackly rendition of a beautiful song began to sound.