Chapter Text
It had all begun on a rainy day. Water pounded down upon the roof, falling into a crashing war with the booming brush of the wind flying through the leaves of trees locked outside of windows. From the inside, shadows of the storm turned into what seemed to be an almost visible static, as it melded with the dust turning up to the air by a solitary girl walking by. It probably didn't help that she was brushing her hand gently along the old moulding of the hallways where it kissed the wallpaper at her waist, turning it up in the first place, but what caused the dust is not what mattered at the moment. All that mattered, from the dust, was what it caused itself.
As the girl finally met her destination— a dark corridor only lit by the gloomy daylight grasping to sift through clouds— she finally slowed to eventually, a pause. She turned to her left, in which a large painting framed with bronze, and then paneling, and then curtains hung in a solemn glory embraced by cold window light. The girl saw her own visage there; The same curve of the face, the same dull blue in the eyes only matching further with a layer of dust, the same shape of glasses, only a crisp white contrasting her usual choice of a deep and rich ruby red.
And then the dust did its duty, sworn a millennia ago just for such a purpose in inanimate life; To taunt and to torment, to irritate and to interrupt, to cause symptoms of a thousand things one didn't have, and to summon a bodily overreaction strong and eternal. There was only a stray second to cover her mouth and nose before a sneeze sharply erupted from the young girl, only serving a break in the silence and more particles in the air than there were before, in the first place. Her eyes widened, having forgotten her ability to let out quite a sound as many oft do when the dust and the pollen leaves them at rest for even a moments notice. The sneeze had caught her off guard. More importantly, such a sound would alert whomever laid behind the door at the very end of the hall, which although had been unbeknownst to readers in the seconds beforehand, was verily known to the young lady standing there in the hall. And of course, as the door began to open, the approaching silhouette signified to her that it had become too late to rush and hide away in order not to be in trouble for loitering.
The voice belonging to previously stated silhouette rang well throughout the acoustics under possession of the almost cosmically and metaphorically long corridor.
"Oh hello there, Jane–ey! I didn't think I would see you around today!"
Jane could hear in the silhouette's voice how that 'see' was not spelt s-e-e. Oh, how she was doomed, to be caught by her yet again once more. As the soon-to-be-formerly obscured figure was met with the same static-y glow from the windows that had been already bestowed upon Jane, the first thing to be revealed was the ratty mess of ebony hair. Birds' nests and mangles of tangles dangled from her locks, but it was with a commonality of knowledge that none of it was due to mistreatment (beyond the obvious severity in neglect...), but rather due to the possession of an amorous feeling towards the planet's oceans deep as the Hadalpelagic zone– specifically, swimming within it— and horns reaching so tall and lengthy that their hair had been rendered highly difficult to brush, since it was hard enough to keep their head balanced in the first place, and even harder to focus on the location of said head in order to keep those horns within the confines of where the ceiling had been specifically modified for them to fit.
"Oh, don't you even stare so sure-ly at my hair like that—" It was often difficult for Jane to fully understand them, with all of the oceanic puns and wordplay shoved between every other word and phrase. She usually just translated them in her head, hoping to pretend and make believe that the lowly irritant just simply never happened, that maybe they were just crazy or something similar, or had no tone control when it came to their voice. Unfortunately, every time they spoke in that tone, Jane remembered exactly the motives behind her actions, and the puns and wordplay came back to her all over again. Such an incredible waste, but she knew it'd truly be the only way if she hoped to eventually live with it in actuality.
Nevertheless, she did also remember to look away, and eventually did so. Instead, she gazed up and further higher to the figure's face— with intensely pale but beautifully dark, almost taking on that fuchsia tone she spread to all her clothing, such as the bedazzled glasses that very well could've been goggles as well. They hid the figure's eyes, but Jane could still feel the glare. She mustn't stare, and she should've responded, and most importantly, she shouldn't be here. Jane swallowed down her anxiety before finally beginning to respond;
"Apologies, miss. Good afternoon."
"Aw, the-ere we go. I was almost worried I spooked you! You're practically clamming up, Jane."
"I am alright. Sorry for worrying you."
"Oh it is alright. Alright as hell, even!"
Jane hated Her Imperious Condescension. It was rather unfortunate that upon an accident (or two, or three…), she was placed indefinitely beneath the care of the creature. Those horns were not human, and that trait was complimented by the eerily wide grin she upheld as she place a hand lightly onto the upper back of her ward, turning to face the painting as well. The painting mirrored a similar pose, although featuring the Condesce on the opposite side to Jane.Jane held the same hesitant eyes that she held in the painting now, feeling wary of the Condesce's presence by default. It didn't help that it was a painting and not a mirror. Jane couldn't judge as to whether she'd rather not be able to try and figure out the creature's next moves by looking, or not have to see that uncanny, threatening gaze from behind her spectacles.
"So, what brought you into my hall-way, hm, human young?"
"I don't think a whale could fit into this hallway. I don't think we're inside one, either."
"Now is not the time to get sassy." The Condesce was quick to be frustrated with Jane, by now. Jane never allowed the puns to last for long. But it wasn't Jane's fault! This was not a household of nonsense, that had been made clear by a forever long past, and yet despite the enforcement that Jane kept her antics to a minimum, her guardian absolutely insisted upon performing something so frivolous as a consistent habit. If the older lady wouldn't dare allow her to act how she wished, then she wouldn't let a single fish-or-ocean-pun go by to be said by the Condesce. It was simply how things could be fair, her one and singular stand against the other that could be kept.
"I'm not being sassy. It's hard to understand you. Do you want me to not know what you're trying to say? I can't imagine that you—" Jane had in fact been very sassy at the moment, and was responded to accordingly as the Condesce tightened her grip on the young girl's shoulder to an almost painful extent. Five sharp stings for each sharp nail almost digging into her skin, pulling more tension back into the room the moment Jane had seemed to have gained what looked like a semblance of confidence against her.
"What the shell do you think you're doing, human young. I hope you know I am current-ly ve-ery upset with you. Now hush up," She snipped out as she left a harsh pat onto Jane's shoulder before taking the hand away, still standing closely behind in order to make sure that the girl didn't get away before she was done with her, "And listen."
Jane stayed silent at that. She knew better than to further poke at the bear when times were this tight. She knew very little about the past behind the Condesce and her actions, but what she did know concerned her. She knew the Condesce was some sort of leader somewhere far, far away, where people looked like her and not like Jane or anyone else on Earth. She knew that whatever reason, someone as high as Her Imperious Condesencion was doing some sort of small task on Earth herself, so it must be fairly important. However, a multitude of things still yet remained a mystery to Jane, such as the goal at the end of all the other's plans. Jane knew they'd remain that way for a while though. After all, she certainly hadn't really proved herself worthy of knowing much by now, what-with her attitude towards her new-ish guardian.
"I have big plans for you, wiggler. The bigg-est plans of all. In a few sweeps, or years, I will complete everything I had to do here, and I shell return to what I was doing back before. You whale be alone, and I whale be declared dead, and you shell gain everything that I've built up in this useless planet. I hope you shell use the power wisely, as I shell soon teach you the ebb and flow of it all. For now though, I give you one and only task— Learn not to fear me, but to fear me. I whale teach you lessons you couldn't dream of sea-ing anywhere else, if you obay. Obay me, and everything in your life is guaranteed, Jane."
Well, that was… strange. Quite a sudden change in behaviour. Jane couldn't tell very well if it was a trick, or her going crazy, or some real change in her personality. It leaned very far towards 'too good to be true'. However… the Condesce seemed genuine. Maybe, just this once… Jane would hear the Condesce out, just to better investigate, of course. What could go wrong?
She sighed, before audibly giving in to the figure now almost visibly rising in authority and power, "Fine. What plans do you have?"