Lady Jace Beleren
Don't Feed the Pervert
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2014
- Location
- United States, East Coast
Being a part of a Family meant a lot of things about your life. One was born with powers, unique to your lineage. The Families, though less so in the modern day, took care of one another. While they had struggled to survive a millenia back, fighting with the normal humans to escape slavery, then resisting the merge back into normal society as long as they could, the Families had managed to do in a short time what others dreamed of.
They amassed a fortune and, when they split from their small settlements and became the new "normal" around the world, that fortune had been split as well. Whether by luck or skill, each Family made their way in the world. So, just as each gift was unique among the Gifted, each Family had their own financial strengths.It was this strength that made humans almost revere the Gifted, seeing them as equal to the humans' upper class. The truth was that each of the Families were in their own class. There were some, like the Usagi and the Acherus, that had money to spare. They rolled around in expensive cars and had personal body guards picked from the elite. Then, there were Families that, while wealthy, the others would never let true hardship consume one of their own, but without the immense luxuries. They would never have to put in a day of real work, and to the humans that was more than one could ever want. To the other Families, it was not... shameful. It simply made navigating the social circles a little more rocky. When it came to the most important social activity, marriage, it made things absolute hell.
The ratio among the Gifted, last time a survey had been taken, was five to one. For every five males born to a Family, there was one female born. To add salt to the wound, gifts and their markings were only passed down the maternal line. A generation without a woman meant an end of a Family. So, the prospect of marriage had become a sacred responsibility. For most, the weight of this fell on the daughters. For a son, it was simply the only way to find a partner. Again, for the lower Families, this was different. Sons were to marry for status to climb the ladder. Of course, for a daughter, this was doubly so. They had all the bargaining power, after all.
Today, Adriel was to do his best to leverage his existence to make his Family stronger. The Faltur Family had been on the bottom almost since the split happened. The story was that it had been bad luck. A bad investment that was meant to be a sure thing. A small bailout from the collective Families and a few rumors later, Faltur was seen as a joke. His great-grandmother had taken exception to this and managed to be shrewd and cunning in marriage and business alike. That had become the spirit of the Family. Do what it takes for the Family. Always for the Family. His sister, Astra, had taken eight husbands. Eight! His mother, despite being close to the later stage of life even for a Gifted, still tried for another girl. There were thirteen of them in total, two daughters to show for it. A generation ago, Adriel might have been happy to be the fourth husband to a mid-level Family. Now, he was aiming for first and high. Another generation of this and Faltur would be alongside the greats. That is, if this went well. There were a thousand things that could go wrong and most of them were exceptionally reasonable. She might not like him. She might have already found her future husbands and was doing this as a formality. Worst of all, they might have mistaken him for Adriel Archerus when they made the appointment. That one, sadly, had also happened. The damn Halos were always first pick for everything, even being remembered.
Adriel had been born not as a Halo, but as a Wing. It did not help that Archerus has taken a pair of open wings as their symbol. Then, being spiteful, Faltur had taken a golden ring. Archerus could levitate objects, themselves included. Faltur, in a rather unique scenario, could fully use their wings. The comparisons almost drew themselves and Faltur always came up short.
That was why Adriel had ridden here in a modest, standard car. No doubled seats or fancy drink bars. His guard doubled as the driver and Adriel would have been hard-pressed to remember his name. They all came from an agency and with thirteen children to watch over from his generation alone, one could not rely on personal service. The man would be gone tomorrow, off to watch his brother or his aunt. What he could afford, a luxury that he would not allow his Family to forgo, was a private room at nice establishment. It was a place that specialized in matchmaking meetings. There were human equivalents, but Adriel had heard rumors that normally places like this were rather... seedy in the human world. A place for a quick hookup. This room was open and tasteful, a love seat in the corner of the room along with a pair of plush chairs for more modest meetings. The table was set already, waiting for a meal to be ordered. There was even a connecting door to a bedroom for those that wanted to check for compatibility. That, however, he did not expect to need.
Checking the clock on his phone for probably the thousandth time in the last five minutes, Adriel sighed. She was not late, not that it mattered. He was simply stressed. After all, despite the aspiration he had when he entered the room, when he was planning the date itself, there simply was not much about him that he found appealing. Humans liked him well enough. They found his wings enthralling. Gifted were different. Beautiful was simply normalcy. He found himself average at best. Clicking the phone over to the camera, Adriel pushed at his hair, making sure it stayed just right, barely passing over his eye without obscuring. His shirt and sweater were smooth and unwrinkled, his tie neatly tied. Despite the chair's best efforts, his wings were neat and flawless, no stray feathers ready to drop off and embarrass him. Everything was perfect. Then a knock came from the door.
His hands slipped in surprise, letting the phone fall with a dull clunk on the carpet. It rolled wildly on the corners, going from one arm chair to the other and landing with the camera face up. Oh God. What would she think if she saw that? That he was some pervert trying to sneak shots of a Gifted daughter for some website? Of course, he could not afford to get it either. What would she think if she walked in on him with his head to the floor, wings sticking up wildly as he reached? All he could think to do was stand and take a sharp step forward, kicking the phone hard and letting it slide all the way over to the love seat. This managed to catch him off balance and he stumbled forward just in time to see the door open.
There he was, half thrown over the arm chair, wings splayed wide for balance and his face stained crimson, his neat hair now hanging partly across his face.
They amassed a fortune and, when they split from their small settlements and became the new "normal" around the world, that fortune had been split as well. Whether by luck or skill, each Family made their way in the world. So, just as each gift was unique among the Gifted, each Family had their own financial strengths.It was this strength that made humans almost revere the Gifted, seeing them as equal to the humans' upper class. The truth was that each of the Families were in their own class. There were some, like the Usagi and the Acherus, that had money to spare. They rolled around in expensive cars and had personal body guards picked from the elite. Then, there were Families that, while wealthy, the others would never let true hardship consume one of their own, but without the immense luxuries. They would never have to put in a day of real work, and to the humans that was more than one could ever want. To the other Families, it was not... shameful. It simply made navigating the social circles a little more rocky. When it came to the most important social activity, marriage, it made things absolute hell.
The ratio among the Gifted, last time a survey had been taken, was five to one. For every five males born to a Family, there was one female born. To add salt to the wound, gifts and their markings were only passed down the maternal line. A generation without a woman meant an end of a Family. So, the prospect of marriage had become a sacred responsibility. For most, the weight of this fell on the daughters. For a son, it was simply the only way to find a partner. Again, for the lower Families, this was different. Sons were to marry for status to climb the ladder. Of course, for a daughter, this was doubly so. They had all the bargaining power, after all.
Today, Adriel was to do his best to leverage his existence to make his Family stronger. The Faltur Family had been on the bottom almost since the split happened. The story was that it had been bad luck. A bad investment that was meant to be a sure thing. A small bailout from the collective Families and a few rumors later, Faltur was seen as a joke. His great-grandmother had taken exception to this and managed to be shrewd and cunning in marriage and business alike. That had become the spirit of the Family. Do what it takes for the Family. Always for the Family. His sister, Astra, had taken eight husbands. Eight! His mother, despite being close to the later stage of life even for a Gifted, still tried for another girl. There were thirteen of them in total, two daughters to show for it. A generation ago, Adriel might have been happy to be the fourth husband to a mid-level Family. Now, he was aiming for first and high. Another generation of this and Faltur would be alongside the greats. That is, if this went well. There were a thousand things that could go wrong and most of them were exceptionally reasonable. She might not like him. She might have already found her future husbands and was doing this as a formality. Worst of all, they might have mistaken him for Adriel Archerus when they made the appointment. That one, sadly, had also happened. The damn Halos were always first pick for everything, even being remembered.
Adriel had been born not as a Halo, but as a Wing. It did not help that Archerus has taken a pair of open wings as their symbol. Then, being spiteful, Faltur had taken a golden ring. Archerus could levitate objects, themselves included. Faltur, in a rather unique scenario, could fully use their wings. The comparisons almost drew themselves and Faltur always came up short.
That was why Adriel had ridden here in a modest, standard car. No doubled seats or fancy drink bars. His guard doubled as the driver and Adriel would have been hard-pressed to remember his name. They all came from an agency and with thirteen children to watch over from his generation alone, one could not rely on personal service. The man would be gone tomorrow, off to watch his brother or his aunt. What he could afford, a luxury that he would not allow his Family to forgo, was a private room at nice establishment. It was a place that specialized in matchmaking meetings. There were human equivalents, but Adriel had heard rumors that normally places like this were rather... seedy in the human world. A place for a quick hookup. This room was open and tasteful, a love seat in the corner of the room along with a pair of plush chairs for more modest meetings. The table was set already, waiting for a meal to be ordered. There was even a connecting door to a bedroom for those that wanted to check for compatibility. That, however, he did not expect to need.
Checking the clock on his phone for probably the thousandth time in the last five minutes, Adriel sighed. She was not late, not that it mattered. He was simply stressed. After all, despite the aspiration he had when he entered the room, when he was planning the date itself, there simply was not much about him that he found appealing. Humans liked him well enough. They found his wings enthralling. Gifted were different. Beautiful was simply normalcy. He found himself average at best. Clicking the phone over to the camera, Adriel pushed at his hair, making sure it stayed just right, barely passing over his eye without obscuring. His shirt and sweater were smooth and unwrinkled, his tie neatly tied. Despite the chair's best efforts, his wings were neat and flawless, no stray feathers ready to drop off and embarrass him. Everything was perfect. Then a knock came from the door.
His hands slipped in surprise, letting the phone fall with a dull clunk on the carpet. It rolled wildly on the corners, going from one arm chair to the other and landing with the camera face up. Oh God. What would she think if she saw that? That he was some pervert trying to sneak shots of a Gifted daughter for some website? Of course, he could not afford to get it either. What would she think if she walked in on him with his head to the floor, wings sticking up wildly as he reached? All he could think to do was stand and take a sharp step forward, kicking the phone hard and letting it slide all the way over to the love seat. This managed to catch him off balance and he stumbled forward just in time to see the door open.
There he was, half thrown over the arm chair, wings splayed wide for balance and his face stained crimson, his neat hair now hanging partly across his face.
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