Loshis 39, 2719 | Midday
Professor Keyes’ Office
.
”You can be a real cheeky little snot sometimes!”
Niamh’s voice was a huff, the exasperation clear to hear as she sat beside Gus’s desk chewing on a fingernail. There was a perfectly serviceable chair behind the desk and he wasn’t due in today but she wouldn’t sit there because it wasn’t her place.
Her brother snorted at her words.
”A real cheeky little snot! Wow, Niamh. You really- That’s almost a swear coming from you,” he teased from his perch on the windowsill. He was up on his toes as he scrubbed a wet cloth across the pane.
”And there it is again! I’m older than you for one thing and I’m also- I know more than you-”
”You’ve had a better education but you don’t necessarily know more,” Fionn countered, cutting her off. There was a squelchy squeaking as he scrubbed vigorously at a stain, tongue finding the corner of his mouth as he concentrated. ”For someone with all your access, there’s a lot that you don’t know. A lot that you haven’t looked into but then you never did ask the right sort of questions.”
The young woman got to her feet with ‘hmph’, feet too loud on the wood floors as she paced. She didn’t like sitting and watching him while he cleaned but he neither needed nor wanted her help and she was free to talk to him. It wasn’t as if she was twiddling her thumbs but he seemed to make her seem lazy. The eldest Madden was just as prone to allowing servants to pick up for her as any other Anaxi-raised galdor of a certain level of breeding so he didn’t know why she couldn’t just sit there. She did a bit of tidying up after Harper - Oh and what a huge selfless act that was by the way she talked about it! - and she thought that she was meant to do things.
His sister was feeling guilty but he knew from experience that if he gave her something to do, even something simple and non-taxing, she’d make a big deal of it. He’d rather work at a reasonable pace and get things done rather than having to listen to extra complaints from her before he had to go take over from her anyway. Her guilt came in waves and it was more likely to appear when she was feeling self-conscious like now. They had been talking about passives, initially about their biological and monic nature, but it had turned into something a bit different. She thought that she knew everything and he’d dared to challenge that view so she’d resorted to hurling poor attempts of insults at him in her frustration.
”I don’t have to put up with this, you know. I could leave right now and leave you alone here,” Niamh proclaimed, a slight tremor in her voice even as she made her ‘threat’. Her field passed within his range and he sensed her feelings. Upset, angry, maybe frustrated. There was also that nervous energy that so often permeated her field. Fionn had said some things that he suspected she was having a hard time coming to terms with, mainly because she didn’t want to do so.
He made no reply and she dropped back into her chair after a minute with a sigh. A quick glance her way revealed crossed arms and a troubled expression on her face as she considered.
The final year student was rather stressed he knew between one thing and another but she also had difficulty venting these things. The friends she’d made at Brunnhold were really just acquaintances and she didn’t seem able to share things with them. As such, she spent more time around her brother when she had a chance, the boy a confidante that she hadn’t had before - not since their childhood at any rate. It was why she was here on her day off from classes. She lingered because Gus had stayed at home for the day, having things to attend to and so they had privacy. She never knew where to put herself around the professor, how to relax around him. Fionn had some cleaning to do although he had plans to wander down to Laboratory Beta later in the day with his sibling to do ‘work’ there.
A silence stretched out between them, just the rhythmic sounds of his scrubbing, drying and polishing punctuating the air. Fionn could work in silence, sticking within the confines of his own thoughts and he’d discovered that his sister was happy to do so as well. It might be less of a companionable silence at the moment but she’d get over herself.
He had worked his way down the window and moved onto a new one, beginning at the top, when the knock came.
”I’ll get it,” Niamh assured him, and he grunted in reply. If it was someone looking for Keyes then she could just handle it, no sense losing his rhythm now. However, as soon as she opened it and delivered her greeting, Fionn changed his mind.
”Oh hello there! Are you here to see Professor Keyes about something? I’m afraid that he isn’t here right now. If it’s about cleaning, he doesn’t need that done.”
Just from the way she said hello, Fionn knew it was a passive at the door. It was her tone and choice of words. She sounded as if she was talking to a child, overly bright, sympathetic and also deeply patronising. By the time she’d gotten to the remark about cleaning - she probably gestured his way - he’d dried his hands and carefully but quickly dismounted the windowsill backwards.
”Lady’s sake, Niamh! Do you have to talk to other passives like that?” he snapped, approaching the door with some annoyance before he’d even seen who it was.
”Like what?” his sister asked, truly bemused as she looked from him to-
”Aurelie!” he blurted, the beginnings of a surprised smile finding its way into his face before he could think about it. Hazel eyes were suddenly fixed on him a little too intently, Niamh staring at him and the smile faltered, his face starting to warm. Well shit.
”Uh… hello! What are you, um… doing here? I mean… can I help you with something? To do with Gu- Professor Keyes.”
Professional. He could be professional. No, he wouldn’t look directly at Niamh.
”Oh! You know each other!”
Talk about stating the obvious! Niamh seemed to be awfully good at that.
”Are you here to see Professor Keyes or Fionn?”
Fionn spluttered, his face definitely heating more.
”See me? Why would- Actually piss off, why are you even talking?” he snapped. It just slipped out in his annoyance and embarrassment. All the wrong words but it wasn’t her business. She just needed to back off.
Some colour entered the tops of his sister’s cheeks, a slight warmth and pulse in her field before she smothered the oozing feelings. Instead she turned her attention to Aurelie as if he didn’t exist.
”Would you like to come in? I’m Niamh, by the way. Fionn’s sister. I’m sorry that he has the manners of a kenser.”
Don’t start shouting…