tushanshu | VIII. Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you!

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VIII. Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you!

[AUDIO, public. The morning after the event ends and Tu Vishan starts moving again.]

I am not alone, I gather, in detecting a change in the air here. It is rather like waking on the very first day of the Season, with all the possibility that lies ahead—or waking the morning after the last day, with the happy knowledge that one need not be at home to anyone that day. We have, I suppose, escaped the fate of Des Esseintes's tortoise.

[AUDIO, private to Dorian Gray.]

I have finished Mr Findley's novel, Dorian. A most marvellous book; quite gorgeous and affecting.

But I must ask you, dear boy—is what he writes about Oscar true?

[He's already guessed that it is. This is less a real question than the confirmation of a sense of creeping dread.]

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Is it? [ She perks brightly at that. She's always eager to learn more about other worlds, but even more so when she can make comparisons to Krypton. ]

Our guild system is global. Was, sorry. [ She sobers, but not much. Using past tense has started getting easier. ] Everyone enters a guild when they graduate.

Ah, nowadays in my world, when one is finished with one's education, one enters into an occupation, but there are no guilds to organise them anymore. Through a happy accident of birth, however, I was spared the need to go into trade.

Why is that a happy accident? [ On Krypton joining the work force and helping to advance and maintain their society is a matter of great pride. She can't imagine thinking of it as a burden. ]

As a son to an aristocratic family, little is expected of one save to marry well and not disgrace the family name. It is a pleasant life that has afforded me the opportunity to meet the most interesting people, in charming settings.

[Please forgive Henry's dreadful snobbery and idleness, Kara.]

What do you do all day?

[ judging you, tbh ]

[Let's be honest: he deserves the judgement.]

There is no shortage of engagements, charity concerts, and social calls that one must make. Idleness is dreadfully hard work.

You do a lot of charity work, then? [ You are a useless slug. ]

[He is. And he does know it, but he refuses to be ashamed of it, which possibly makes his uselessness all the more infuriating to others.]

I provide for my fellow-man in what ways I can, although I do not agree with my female relations that what the indigent of the East End require is an afternoon concert to uplift the spirits—though the quality of the performance is often a certain sort of comedy.

As much as I love a good concert, I don't really see how that helps anyone.

In fact it does nothing, I believe—merely salving the consciences of the wealthy, in that they feel they have done a charitable thing when in fact they have merely imposed their own pastimes on others. But where it would be rude in the drawing-room, it is philanthropic in the East End.

Why, what's wrong with the East End?

The East End of London is a dire mass of poverty and human misery, the ostensible improvement of which is a pet project of many a well-bred lady. It is nobly meant, to be sure, but poorly executed. I think in the end their methods only breed more resentment amongst the lower orders, rather than uplifting them in any real way.

[ Okay, now this is something she has to ask about. ]

Why is it only the women?

[Excellent question! ~~And I am sorry for the answer, though Henry is not.~~]

Because they have little head for business and much idle time on their hands, and many are afflicted with a positive mania for religion, which encourages such endeavours.

[ What

...

Give her a minute.

...

No seriously though what. ]

That doesn't answer my question at all. Why is it only the women that have these qualities?

Ladies are designed by nature to be the moral guardians and practical voices of civilised society, are they not?

[Perhaps just a fraction of a second too late, he remembers the cautions about modern women handed to him by people like Dorian. He also remembers Aisha punching him in the face. Thus, a hasty amendment:]

It is no doubt different in your world and time, of course, and in the future of my own world.

[ She just gapes at him. And then finally collects herself. ]

I see. I understand that your world has a much poorer knowledge of science than mine. I can see how you might make that mistake.

[Henry is no fool—even if his views on women are very much a product of his time and class—and he knows to grab an opportunity for escape when one appears.]

We may all be very grateful for more enlightened worlds and times, my dear. I apologise if I have inadvertently offended you.

[Said smoothly, even contritely; it's not even a false apology, even if his essential opinions on women's natures remain fundamentally unchanged.]

It's alright. I'm still getting used to how relatively primitive other worlds are. Things that seem obvious to me are revolutionary to other people.

[He feels a faint irritation at "primitive", but as he actually understands when one ought to stop digging, he chooses not to address it.]

Well, that is one wonderful thing about this city, is it not? That we should all have such a remarkable opportunity to learn from one another.

It is. I love hearing about other worlds.

As do I, my dear girl. One appreciates one's own so much more as a result.

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VIII. Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you!

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video; TwT at least she isn't planning on punching him, it would probably kill him

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