Shinobu is quiet for a long moment. "Before I tell you," he says, "I need you to promise me that you'll tell me if it's too much for you. Not because you're young, but because it's something that's hard for a lot of people to hear."
He lapses into silence again, perhaps for a little too long. His mouth is dry. Possibly he should have gotten himself a glass of water or something, maybe gotten Claudia something too... He's stalling. He forces himself to speak.
"You know I was originally from a much earlier era. I never told you just how I got to the 2020s, though."
"I figured it was some kind of time travel," Claudia says, after a long moment. "I mean, I don't know if I'd have believed in time travel before I got here, but this place really broadens your mind, you know? I've got an uncle who's a big purple cat from space now. Or... maybe it was a Rip van Winkle thing or, um, Japanese Rip van Winkle. Mimi called him Urashima Taro, I think? Only he married a dragon instead of going bowling with some gnome guys. Or there was this movie that Janine dragged me to a few years ago, Flight of the Navigator, where this kid got abducted by aliens and time didn't pass the same way for him, 'cause of space stuff. Janine understood it, I didn't really."
"It would have been better if it was, I think." Maybe. He pauses again. "Are you familiar with A Midsummer Night's Dream? It's related, I promise." Unfortunately.
Claudia frowns. "That's a Shakespeare, right? I don't really get Shakespeare. There's a lot of old words that don't seem like they mean the same thing they normally do and the dialog is kind of hard to follow." She thinks for a moment. "I saw Romeo and Juliet on TV once and it was okay. But I think it's maybe easier when people are actually talking and you're not just trying to read the play."
Sorry, Shinobu. She doesn't mean to be so bad at actual literature, but Shakespeare is kind of homework reading.
That's okay, Claudia; reading Shakespeare in English tends to throw him too.
"Seeing people acting it out usually gives more context, I think. And language changes over time and Shakespeare apparently really liked his wordplay." Which has nothing to do with anything, but Shinobu has tried reading Shakespeare in English and honestly still kind of gets turned around until he's dizzy on some of the phrasing.
"Anyway, there's a play of his called A Midsummer Night's Dream, which among other characters features Titania and Oberon, the king and queen of the faeries."
"Oh right," Claudia says. "I forgot she was a fairy too. She always looked more like an evil witch and she never gets tiny like the fairy godmothers did."
"I think it's easy to forget, since most of the other Disney fairies don't really look or act like her." Not that he's aware of, anyway.
"Anyway, the Gentry - the faeries in my world are generally very powerful and very... the best word to describe them would probably be 'amoral.' They don't really understand human ways of thinking, and I'm not sure they're entirely capable of learning. But they're curious. And that combined with their power and amorality makes them very, very dangerous. If a mortal draws their attention for whatever reason, they'll simply take them - spirit them off to their realm and do with them what they will."
Claudia bites her lip. She's terrible at school and probably was the dumbest member of the BSC, but she's not so dumb that she can't see where this is going.
"So they kidnapped you," she says, in a small voice.
"Ninety," Shinobu says, his own voice barely above a whisper. "Inside, it felt like - I don't even know how long; I kept losing track. But when I got out..."
He returns her hug somewhat hesitantly, but no less heartfelt for that. "Thank you."
Ninety. Right. Because even if Shinobu was supposed to be from when Mimi had been a girl, he was also from thirty years in the future. Thirty years in the future, Claudia would be the same age as Thace's boyfriend and boy was that weird when she thought about it.
"I'm so sorry," she repeats. Then, biting her lip, she asks, "Did they say things about you being cute all the time? The bad fairies that took you?"
That would definitely be a reason to not like to hear about being cute, she thinks. A really good one.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
no subject
no subject
He lapses into silence again, perhaps for a little too long. His mouth is dry. Possibly he should have gotten himself a glass of water or something, maybe gotten Claudia something too... He's stalling. He forces himself to speak.
"You know I was originally from a much earlier era. I never told you just how I got to the 2020s, though."
no subject
no subject
no subject
Sorry, Shinobu. She doesn't mean to be so bad at actual literature, but Shakespeare is kind of homework reading.
no subject
"Seeing people acting it out usually gives more context, I think. And language changes over time and Shakespeare apparently really liked his wordplay." Which has nothing to do with anything, but Shinobu has tried reading Shakespeare in English and honestly still kind of gets turned around until he's dizzy on some of the phrasing.
"Anyway, there's a play of his called A Midsummer Night's Dream, which among other characters features Titania and Oberon, the king and queen of the faeries."
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
"Anyway, the Gentry - the faeries in my world are generally very powerful and very... the best word to describe them would probably be 'amoral.' They don't really understand human ways of thinking, and I'm not sure they're entirely capable of learning. But they're curious. And that combined with their power and amorality makes them very, very dangerous. If a mortal draws their attention for whatever reason, they'll simply take them - spirit them off to their realm and do with them what they will."
no subject
"So they kidnapped you," she says, in a small voice.
no subject
no subject
Oh lord, this was so-- and Shinobu-- No. No.
Before she really even thinks anything further, Claudia finds herself wrapping her arms around Shinobu and holding tightly to him.
"I'm so sorry," she says.
no subject
He returns her hug somewhat hesitantly, but no less heartfelt for that. "Thank you."
no subject
Thirty years in the future, Claudia would be the same age as Thace's boyfriend and boy was that weird when she thought about it."I'm so sorry," she repeats. Then, biting her lip, she asks, "Did they say things about you being cute all the time? The bad fairies that took you?"
That would definitely be a reason to not like to hear about being cute, she thinks. A really good one.
no subject
no subject