Isle of Ikea, Sunday Evening

[arboreal_priestess]

"So we're not leaving without getting a bed and some meatballs. Everything else is optional, but definitely those two things."

Verity had been threatening to drag Liam to Ikea ever since the giant snowstorm and she'd seen the empty expanse he called a bedroom. Honestly, Liam? A chair? If their physical relationship ever moved past the whole 'glowing cloud of purple light' thing, Verity figured they'd sometimes want a place to retreat to where they didn't have to negotiate with mice for a bit of privacy.

Which they couldn't do with just a chair.

"Also, considering the size of the store, maybe we should have brought along a couple of guide ropes and maybe a GPS," she added as the doors opened and she took in the sheer size of the store. Though maybe having the entire island being named for it should have given her a clue. "Uhhh...excelsior?"

[For the guy!]

Comments

[arboreal_priestess]

Uh-huh. Sure friend. Verity was pretty sure he'd given the controls a thumb's up and an arpeggio on an air-piano.

"Well, we poor souls from the early twenty-first century have to make due with buttons," she said, with a sigh to let him know how truly wretched it was.

[firstofitskind]

Truly, so terrible!

Except...

"Um," Liam said slowly. "I'm not... from the future or anything." It was the same year here as it was back in his reality!

It's just that his canon had late-90s ideas of what 20 years in the future would be like, okay.

[arboreal_priestess]

Bet they hadn't guessed there'd be so many Nazis!

"Really?" Verity asked, frowning. "Huh. I...don't think I knew that." Or if she had, she'd completely forgotten because of the whole 'working ship that teleported through space when you high-fived the controls.'

[firstofitskind]

"Oh," Liam said sheepishly. "Well, uh. Yeah. The Taelons 'officially' arrived in 2008, and that's probably really the major diverging point between my reality's history and what you'd be familiar with."

Yes, ten years ago was 'history'. Shh.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Huh," Verity said thoughtfully, shaking her head. "I always just assumed yout were from, like, 2299 or something with all that tech."

Well, now she felt sheepish.

[I never saw this! I'm sorry!]

[firstofitskind]

Liam shrugged. "The Taelons were pretty quick to get together with human scientists and engineers to work on integrating himan and Taelon technology. At least, in areas where they figured it'd be beneficial to them."

[no worries omg!]

[arboreal_priestess]

"What better way to show their good intentions--and make sure humanity was exactly where they wanted them," Verity mused quietly. "Hmmm. Diabolically clever."

[firstofitskind]

“You don’t even know the half of it,” Liam said, rubbing at one palm with the thumb of his other hand.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity noted the gesture, a worried quirk to her eyebrows. "Should I drop it?" she asked softly.

[firstofitskind]

It was a nervous habit, one he wasn't always really aware of.

"No, it's fine," he said, giving her a tight smile. "Humanity was in the midst of a war when they arrived, with their message of 'peace'. It wasn't until years later that we found out they'd already been observing Earth for some time at that point."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity would keep an eye out for it, though.

"Aren't we always, though?" she asked. "Hell, America alone has been at war for almost as long as I can remember."

Which was depressing as hell to think about.

[firstofitskind]

"True enough," Liam nodded. "But it's not just that they waited for a convenient moment to step in and save humanity. The Taelons manufactured that moment by setting off a weapon that killed thousands right when both sides were starting to entertain the idea of peace talks."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Jesus," Verity murmured. "So they could come in like heroes and peacemakers and ensure that everyone would trust them while they insinuated themselves...everywhere."

[firstofitskind]

"And made it seem like humanity needed them, when really, it was the other way around," Liam said. He'd been so angry, when he'd first found out that particular truth. Looking back, though... there was less anger, and more pity, for a race so wrapped up in their own fear of extinction while simultaneously convinced of their superiority that they couldn't just ask for help.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Well, approaching humanity with your hand out hasn't historically gone so well," Verity admitted, thinking about the cryptids who had tried to help the humans in an effort to live in peace. Most of them were extinct. "But they didn't have to manufacture a peace on bodies, either. There had to be a better way, if only they'd looked."

[firstofitskind]

"Turn all the 'ifs' into gold and we'd all be millionaires," Liam said quietly.

[arboreal_priestess]

"True enough," Verity said, aware it was the height of arrogance to really even have much of an opinion on the Taelon and what they could have done differently. It would be like Liam preaching about the naga. "I'm grateful to them, though; even with all the violence and bloodshed."

She reached for his hand. "You don't make up for all of it, I'm sure, but I'm really glad you're here."

[firstofitskind]

No, he didn't make up for all of it, but they'd already discussed that particular topic, at least in part. So Liam just curled his fingers with hers and smiled softly at Verity.

"Me too," he said. "I have to admit, I never imagined being able to be with someone who just liked me for... me." And not what he could do for them as a Companion Agent or Resistance leader.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Well, I mostly like you because the mice do," Verity lied, checking the price tag for the space bed since he'd mentioned liking it. "And it's possible they mostly like you for the food."

Look less besotted when you try to sell that, Verity.

[firstofitskind]

"Uh huh," Liam said, raising an eyebrow at her. "I'm pretty sure they also like me because I pay attention to their recitations."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Careful, that's how they got my mom," Verity warned. "She studies their liturgical calendar and their catechisms and they might just leave my dad's worship for her if they ever split up."

Not that Verity was worried about that. Her parents were rock solid. The Healy-Price-Bakers loved and loved hard.

[firstofitskind]

Liam shrugged. "I like them too, as it happens, so... there are definitely worse fates."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Just wait till the first time we forget to invoke the Ritual of Food for Privacy," Verity muttered. "We'll see how fond you are of them, then."

[firstofitskind]

"The what?" Liam frowned.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity gave him a smile that was known to put concern in the hearts of cryptids. "Oh, have you not been paying attention?"