[Jester looks surreptitiously between her mother's image and Liem's face, her mouth curling into a small smile, enough to let her tiny fangs poke past her lips.]
I know, right? Ugh, I miss her so much. [A blue fingertip brushes carefully over her mother's tiny, wistful face. This was the day her Mama had finally agreed to let her go outside, and Jester can see the barely-restrained worry around the edges of Marion's expression as she turns back to look out over Nicodranas.
Jester nods, bells tinkling softly.] Ja, she was already really famous. Men would travel from all over, really important men, just to hear her sing and vie for a chance to spend a night with her. She hid it really well, when she got pregnant with me, and pretty much nobody even knew she had a daughter. Lots of people still don't, actually.
[Liem's eyebrows raise in surprise at the news that Jester is, apparently, a complete secret to a lot of her mother's admirers. Having a secret baby sounds like it would be difficult enough for an ordinary woman, let alone a famous courtesan.]
That sounds like something out of a story, [he accuses her.] People really don't know?
[He can't see any reason why Jester would mislead him about this, but it's certainly unusual. What kind of fears would lead to a woman like Marion Lavorre keeping the entire existence of her child a secret?]
[Jester's not really surprised by Liem's reaction; it's a pretty common one for people not familiar with sex work as an everyday way of life, after all. Still, she raises her eyebrow at him, a little dubious.]
Well, think about it for a minute. Most men who pay for sex aren't into, like, moms. She was still really young when she had me, you know, and a lot of those guys, if they knew? They would think she was all used up. Which is stupid and fake, obviously, but tell that to men.
[She huffs, blowing her bangs out of her face.] But to answer your question, there's probably, like, 12 people in the world not including my friends who know I exist, and whose daughter I am. Even fewer people know about my dad.
[She's just one little mystery, wrapped in enigma!]
[Jester's explanation earns a doubtful frown from Liem. It's true that he doesn't have any personal experience with sex work, and given Jester's background, he's inclined to believe that she knows what she's talking about. But he wonders if this might be one of those things that comes from cultural differences between different countries and worlds, because after all… well, sex workers are the opposite of virginal, and while contraception does exist in Golarion, it's far from infallible, especially for those who can't afford magical protection. Certainly he would expect a fair percentage of lower-income sex workers to end up with children at some point during their careers, and that doesn't make people who frequent those establishments "into moms" so much as being into… sexually active adults. Right?
But then, Liem definitely falls into the intersection of "men who pay for sex" and "men who are into moms," so perhaps he's undervaluing the importance of childlessness to Marion's reputation. Also, this isn't the first time Jester had made a statement about Marion's work that didn't make sense to him, so her home is certainly quite different from his. In any case, there's little point in going into it.]
That's a lot of secrecy. Is your father someone well known also?
Ja, well, when you're famous all the world over like my Mama, it's a big deal to a lot of people. [Jester's mouth stretches into a small, mischievous grin.]
Well, sort of. To certain kinds of people. But he wasn't when he met my mom. He was just a lowly sailor, and they totally fell in love and stuff, but then he left her when she was still pregnant with me...it's all really complicated, but he sort of accidentally became a crime lord while he was trying to prove himself worth of Mama.
[And now the pieces of the puzzle are likely falling together for Liem. A famous courtesan and a crime lord: the perfect storm to create the grinning blue devil before him.]
[Jester's story earns a rather pointed eyebrow raise from Liem. He doesn't by any means find the idea of her father being a crime lord hard to believe; if anything, it's probably more believable than if she'd claimed he was just a local cobbler or something.]
He accidentally became a crime lord?
[How, pray tell, does someone do something like that by accident? As the son of a literal dead man he's in no position to call bullshit on dad stories, but it does sound kind of far-fetched.]
Mmhmm, apparently it 'just sort of happened.' Though I think he had to have realized at some point, right? Anyway, he was just trying to prove himself worthy of Mama, which was obviously stupid. [She grins, sharp teeth exposed at the corners of her mouth.] Nobody's worthy of her.
[She nods, though, at Liem's follow-up question.] He does, now. We only met in the last couple of years, and it took him forever to admit I was his kid. I mean, I'm freaking blue. I get it from him, you know, he's a Water Genasi.
[Liem leans against the arm of the couch, watching Jester with mild fascination as she tells him a bit more about her parents. The way she speaks about them, it’s not hard to see which parent made a bigger impact on her. The phrase “mama’s girl” seems appropriate here; Liem wonders what kind of relationship he might have had with his own mother if she hadn’t died bringing him into the world. As things were, his uncle and sister rarely spoke of her, so he had almost no idea what kind of person she really was.]
I’ve not heard that term before. “Water genasi.” But I didn’t realize that neither of your parents were human.
[Truthfully, it hadn’t occurred to him to question why Jester was blue when her mother was red. When fiendish energies are involved, he assumes children can be born looking any number of unexpected ways.]
Oh, really? [Jester lilts her head curiously; she supposes they don't have Tieflings in other peoples' worlds, either, so it shouldn't come as too big a surprise.] It means he's, like, descended from elemental spirits or whatever. So I guess that I am, too!
[She beams at him, winking one violet eye, and now at last she sees her opening. A free pass to ask a question that's always seemed a bit rude to ask out of nowhere.]
That reminds me, though. I know we've been friends for awhile... [She gives Liem a sheepish grin.] I've sort of been assuming you're, like, some kind of elf I don't know about? But I'm pretty sure most elves don't have fangs. So...what are you?
Oh— That sounds like what I would have called “undine.”
[Liem clarifies, his curiosity satisfied by the discovery. Like the difference between centaurs and jinba, it’s probably just a difference in terminology for the most part—and does clarify somewhat why Jester would have inherited blue skin from her water genasi father.
Her question, however, makes him momentarily go still with surprise. An uneasy feeling begins to squirm in the pit of his stomach, brought on as always by the prospect of fielding questions about his heritage. But if anyone is likely to take his vampire ancestry in stride, it seems like Jester should be at the top of the list.]
That’s the first time anyone’s accused me of being an elf.
[A wry smile tugs faintly at the corner of his mouth.]
No, my parents were both human. At least, originally. [When they were both alive, he means.] I’m half-vampire.
Undine... [Jester repeats the foreign word softly, filing it away as another word for what she is. She laughs almost shyly at Liem's response to her poorly-made guess, shrugging, her tail thwacking against the floor. But when he actually give her an answer, she blinks a few times, her gaze wandering up and to the right as a few errant puzzle pieces click into place.]
...Ohhhhh. Is that why you, like, never eat very much? Because if I ate as much as you do, Liem, I would be dead. Wait—
[Her eyes are very wide, very sparkly saucers.] Are you dead, Liem?!
[Although he’s happy to confirm that this revelation doesn’t seem to have been especially shocking for Jester, he knows almost as soon as her eyes start going wide that he’s going to have to dispel some wild idea seeded by his confession. He holds up a staying hand.]
I’m not dead.
[It’s not like it’s an unreasonable question; if an undead man can father a child, who’s to say the child itself wouldn’t be undead too? Still, he doesn’t want there to be any confusion on this matter.]
The reason I prefer not to eat much is probably because of what I am, but I would still have to if it wasn’t for this.
[Turning his raised hand, he indicates the ring on his little finger—a gold band set with garnet.]
[Jester cuts off slightly as Liem raises his hand to stay her questioning.] Oh. That's good. Because if you were, that would mean my 'Detect Undead' is very broken.
[She smiles slightly, treading carefully because she can sense that this might be a bit of a sensitive subject. She knows what it's like to be questioned about who you are and what that means, and while she usually fields those questions pretty cheerfully, it gets tiresome. So Liem's ring is a good diversion, and she eyes it with a wary yet curious eye.]
So...you can just not eat or drink anything at all and you won't die?
That’s right. It reduces the amount of sleep I need as well.
[He offers his hand to Jester in case she’d like a closer look, although he makes no move to take the ring off. She’s welcome to look, and even touch to some extent, but the ring has to stay put.]
I’ve always had difficulty eating and sleeping enough, though admittedly I do less of both now.
[Just imagine a Liem who looks even more tired and ill-fed than usual; that’s what he looked like when he first arrived on Noctium.]
I’ve been wearing the ring since before we met, so you wouldn’t have noticed the difference, but I purchased it a while ago to improve my health.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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I know, right? Ugh, I miss her so much. [A blue fingertip brushes carefully over her mother's tiny, wistful face. This was the day her Mama had finally agreed to let her go outside, and Jester can see the barely-restrained worry around the edges of Marion's expression as she turns back to look out over Nicodranas.
Jester nods, bells tinkling softly.] Ja, she was already really famous. Men would travel from all over, really important men, just to hear her sing and vie for a chance to spend a night with her. She hid it really well, when she got pregnant with me, and pretty much nobody even knew she had a daughter. Lots of people still don't, actually.
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That sounds like something out of a story, [he accuses her.] People really don't know?
[He can't see any reason why Jester would mislead him about this, but it's certainly unusual. What kind of fears would lead to a woman like Marion Lavorre keeping the entire existence of her child a secret?]
Why would she hide it?
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Well, think about it for a minute. Most men who pay for sex aren't into, like, moms. She was still really young when she had me, you know, and a lot of those guys, if they knew? They would think she was all used up. Which is stupid and fake, obviously, but tell that to men.
[She huffs, blowing her bangs out of her face.] But to answer your question, there's probably, like, 12 people in the world not including my friends who know I exist, and whose daughter I am. Even fewer people know about my dad.
[She's just one little mystery, wrapped in enigma!]
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But then, Liem definitely falls into the intersection of "men who pay for sex" and "men who are into moms," so perhaps he's undervaluing the importance of childlessness to Marion's reputation. Also, this isn't the first time Jester had made a statement about Marion's work that didn't make sense to him, so her home is certainly quite different from his. In any case, there's little point in going into it.]
That's a lot of secrecy. Is your father someone well known also?
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Well, sort of. To certain kinds of people. But he wasn't when he met my mom. He was just a lowly sailor, and they totally fell in love and stuff, but then he left her when she was still pregnant with me...it's all really complicated, but he sort of accidentally became a crime lord while he was trying to prove himself worth of Mama.
[And now the pieces of the puzzle are likely falling together for Liem. A famous courtesan and a crime lord: the perfect storm to create the grinning blue devil before him.]
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He accidentally became a crime lord?
[How, pray tell, does someone do something like that by accident? As the son of a literal dead man he's in no position to call bullshit on dad stories, but it does sound kind of far-fetched.]
Does he know you?
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[She nods, though, at Liem's follow-up question.] He does, now. We only met in the last couple of years, and it took him forever to admit I was his kid. I mean, I'm freaking blue. I get it from him, you know, he's a Water Genasi.
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I’ve not heard that term before. “Water genasi.” But I didn’t realize that neither of your parents were human.
[Truthfully, it hadn’t occurred to him to question why Jester was blue when her mother was red. When fiendish energies are involved, he assumes children can be born looking any number of unexpected ways.]
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[She beams at him, winking one violet eye, and now at last she sees her opening. A free pass to ask a question that's always seemed a bit rude to ask out of nowhere.]
That reminds me, though. I know we've been friends for awhile... [She gives Liem a sheepish grin.] I've sort of been assuming you're, like, some kind of elf I don't know about? But I'm pretty sure most elves don't have fangs. So...what are you?
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[Liem clarifies, his curiosity satisfied by the discovery. Like the difference between centaurs and jinba, it’s probably just a difference in terminology for the most part—and does clarify somewhat why Jester would have inherited blue skin from her water genasi father.
Her question, however, makes him momentarily go still with surprise. An uneasy feeling begins to squirm in the pit of his stomach, brought on as always by the prospect of fielding questions about his heritage. But if anyone is likely to take his vampire ancestry in stride, it seems like Jester should be at the top of the list.]
That’s the first time anyone’s accused me of being an elf.
[A wry smile tugs faintly at the corner of his mouth.]
No, my parents were both human. At least, originally. [When they were both alive, he means.] I’m half-vampire.
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...Ohhhhh. Is that why you, like, never eat very much? Because if I ate as much as you do, Liem, I would be dead. Wait—
[Her eyes are very wide, very sparkly saucers.] Are you dead, Liem?!
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I’m not dead.
[It’s not like it’s an unreasonable question; if an undead man can father a child, who’s to say the child itself wouldn’t be undead too? Still, he doesn’t want there to be any confusion on this matter.]
The reason I prefer not to eat much is probably because of what I am, but I would still have to if it wasn’t for this.
[Turning his raised hand, he indicates the ring on his little finger—a gold band set with garnet.]
It keeps me from needing food or water.
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[She smiles slightly, treading carefully because she can sense that this might be a bit of a sensitive subject. She knows what it's like to be questioned about who you are and what that means, and while she usually fields those questions pretty cheerfully, it gets tiresome. So Liem's ring is a good diversion, and she eyes it with a wary yet curious eye.]
So...you can just not eat or drink anything at all and you won't die?
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[He offers his hand to Jester in case she’d like a closer look, although he makes no move to take the ring off. She’s welcome to look, and even touch to some extent, but the ring has to stay put.]
I’ve always had difficulty eating and sleeping enough, though admittedly I do less of both now.
[Just imagine a Liem who looks even more tired and ill-fed than usual; that’s what he looked like when he first arrived on Noctium.]
I’ve been wearing the ring since before we met, so you wouldn’t have noticed the difference, but I purchased it a while ago to improve my health.