GET AWAY FROM THE INTERNET
Who ; has_a_hardline and arbitrating
What ; Grounded from the internet, diplomacy lessons, tiny pants and manly names.
When ; After this.
Where ; A teleporter near Arbiter's place, and then somewhere that isn't there.
Warning(s) ; What is this I don't even...
( I'm cutting it down right now! )
What ; Grounded from the internet, diplomacy lessons, tiny pants and manly names.
When ; After this.
Where ; A teleporter near Arbiter's place, and then somewhere that isn't there.
Warning(s) ; What is this I don't even...
( I'm cutting it down right now! )
It was no place for a human or a small Sangheili child. Which is why he's waiting at the outskirts of the forest near the teleporter, not giving a shit what Tucker thought about his coddling. ]
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Tucker is... unsure face about how to react to Arbiter when she's face-to-chest with him. Why are these guys so tall anyway? She settles for being an ornery bitch and after letting Junior down so he can gape in awe, points a finger at him in irritation and grits her teeth behind her visor.]
I'd hit you in your stupid patronizing face it I wasn't absolutely sure I'd probably break my hand.
[Cross arms. Sulk forever.]
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Enough.
[ He sinks to one knee in front of her in a clatter of armor. ]
I did not agree to this meeting to endure lectures. Sacrosanct has become too dangerous to allow this to continue. The child must be named and accepted into a clan lineage so that his training may begin. He must have a male family member to guide his sword hand.
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Woah woah woah. Back the hell up. [Confused tone of voice is very confused.] I though I was coming here to teach you how not to get your dumbass shot. And now we're talking about namings and clans and training.
[And names. Oh boy names. Tucker's voice is getting a little snarky at that, and she puts a hand on her hips and smirks behind the helmet.] Don't like the name he has now?
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A name given to him by humans will never be recognized by other Sanheili. He must have a proper given name and a clan, a family and a history, or he will forever be considered an outcast. Or worse, a criminal. The greatest shame among our kind is to be stripped of our names.
[ He already knows Tucker is going to argue all of this, but. ]
It is a legal formality, but a necessary one. I cannot train him until he has undergone the naming ceremony and he needs to be trained. Every day that passes is a day wasted. He is already at a disadvantage because of his age.
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[Because if he asks her who the father is, she is going to kick him in the face. He is at just the right height for her to do it to. Tucker sighs when he mentions legal formalities and a ceremony. Geez what was it with the Sangheili and ceremonies? They had one for fucking everything when she had learned about them, and Tucker was pretty sure they were lying to her about at least eight of them. She gives him a suspicious look from behind the visor and crosses her arms.]Alright. What are we gonna have to do to make ( ... )
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I have lost the right to the Vadam name. It may be restored someday, now that the Prophets have been overthrown, but until that time I cannot offer that name without warning of the dishonor it currently carries.
If there is another surname you wish to grant him, that is your right.
[ No, he's not going to say a word about the father. ]
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Shame that you lost it. You seem better than most of the Sangheili I've worked with. If those guys, The Prophets, were the ones who fucked with your name; well they're gone now so fuck whatever they did to mess it up. Far as I'm concerned, it's perfectly good to me. Junior Tucker doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.
[Tucker forgets who she's told her first name to. She's pretty sure the list starts at "no one" and ends at "her parents were probably drunk when they named her".]
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...I was punished for failing to stop the destruction of a Halo ring. I cannot profess regret for that action now, since the rings were revealed to be weapons that should have remained lost forever, but that venture also saw the outbreak of the Flood. For that I deserve harsher punishment yet.
Nevertheless, the rank of Arbiter affords opportunity for penance. Even a shamed creature such as myself can set some things to rights.
[ He speaks with his eyes on Junior's, apparently unable to tear them away. It's been longer than he cares to admit since he's seen his own hatchlings or held their small weight in his arms. Even the expected duty of training his nephews had been superseded by his career. Junior is the first hatchling he has seen in person since before the attack on Reach. ]It would be my great honor to perform the naming ceremony and formally adopt him into my clan. It will give him the right to bear arms and undergo sword training, and all Sangheili will know him as a valued son of ( ... )
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She tilts her head at him and rumbles something that is definitely not English but it sounds clipped and not exactly proper, like any sort of dialect Arbiter would be used to. It's actually rather rudimentary, but manages to Comfort Junior enough so that he can look back at Arbiter without feeling too nervous.] Fuckin' terrible at reassuring you like that, geez.
I doubt there's anyone here to argue that, in case you're wondering. [So fucking casual. She even shrugs a little.] ( ... )
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Also good god woman what is that awful gutter dialect. ]
It will no longer be your burden alone. He will be as a sister's son to me, and insult offered to him will be insult offered to the clan Vadam.
[ He shakes his head, rising to his feet again. ]
On Sanghelios the ceremony would be elaborate and widely attended, but here a battlefield adoption will do. You the guardian must give him leave to pledge himself to another clan, so that his loyalty will not be divided between the family that bore him and the family that would adopt him. [Not that it really mattered here, since Tucker didn't have a clan, much less one that might suddenly try to make demands on a son that had been adopted into a more powerful family.]I will offer him a proper name, he must speak the words of acceptance, and then mingled blood will ( ... )
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Herp derp she doesn't know what you're talking about. Gutter what now?]
So he's like your nephew now? [She is okay with this. The last thing she needs is explaining fathers do Junior. Though now that Arbiter's here, he can cover some of that shit.]
There's nor going to be any issue with clans here dude, unless you consider York, Red and me to be one.
[She is just going to calmly raise an eyebrow now though.] Mingled blood... Well. Alright then.
[This almost sounds like a gang initiation ceremony...]
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[ l-lol no, no he doesn't. A cooperative cross-species mishmash of strays, yes, a united clan that functions in any way like a Sangheili clan, no. Which is for the best, really.
Also hesitate hesitate hesitate. ]
...I have debated a name for him for some time. I wish to submit Fal 'Vadam for your consideration, to honor a great figure from our history. Fal 'Chavam was the last Arbiter to stand for a free Sanghelios, against the Covenant, before the Hierarchs turned the rank into their personal weapon.
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Nephew it is then. I'm pretty much totally okay with that. [Because at least you aren't trying to be his dad, which would probably make her want to kill you, Arbiter.]
[She thinks on the name for a bit before before leaning next to Junior and tapping him on the head affectionately. He looks up at her, growls that he 'has been paying attention okay?' and sifts awkwardly in place before nodding. Content with his opinion, Tucker smirks behind her visor because no one should really see her being this fond with her weird as fuck kid, and nods at Arbiter.]
Yeah, that's alright. Might as well be a name with some kind of meaning to it. Something he can hold onto at least. [Not that she isn't going to call him Junior every chance she gets. But at least the kid can have on name he isn't mildly annoyed to be called and that doesn't make Arbiter pull a face ( ... )
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