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The gentle piano of Castle Town drifted over their garden, and the dark leaves bent with it. All Susie could hear was the wind.
The two worked at the westmost cliffside garden in silence for a while. It was a silence that inched into a stilted camaraderie; Queen floated off in her chair whenever Susie shuffled towards her to give her room to plunge the next stake in a flowerpot, and vice versa.
Susie decided that gardening was... alright. It wasn’t at all like creating music, like Lancer had said it was; but settling into a rhythm and getting blue-gray clay and dirt on her arms and using all her strength to set a stake just right was kinda satisfying. And it made him happy talking about it, too, so maybe she’d come out here at night when she couldn’t sleep to hiss at any Virovirokun and Ambyu-lances that came to steal seedlings.
“Susie?” Queen suddenly called from across the garden.
“UH, yeah?” Susie frantically patted down her fluffed-out feathers and dropped her remaining stakes, turning her head 270° to look. Dammit, man, that wasn’t subtle! she thought.
Queen cut a solemn figure across the way, sitting on her chair of throne, her clam-shaped bucket hat flopping over her visor and her cheek resting on one of her fists as she misted. “Hey Susie Why Did You Come Here To Garden With Me?”
“...Uhh??”
“Lancer Must Have Told You Beforepaw He’d Be Busy With Rouos, And Those Funny Little Band Guys” Queen’s visor warped quizzically to her right. “And From What I Gathered Earlier / You Do Not Yet Like Me Enough To Spend Time With Me Without Proper Incentive, Right?”
Susie chewed on her smile, feeling sweat prickle on her neck. “What gave you that idea?”
“I Have A List Of Supporting Evidence Actually / An... Extensive One / But It Is Not Relevant” A few flashes of recordings evidently taken in Cyber World cycled rapidly through Queen’s visor. “Distinctly Lacking Relevancy / Not Important In Any Way”
“...did you... wanna give me proper incentive, or something...?” Susie couldn’t help but bare her teeth at the thought. “Because, uh, that’s FINE— you don’t have to—”
“I Do Not Wish To Muddle Your Original Intentions With My Own / It’s Just That / You May Tell Me Why OK?”
“Why what??”
Queen floated over the rows of greenery and began descending next to Susie. “Why Did You Come Down Here? / ...Did You Want To Talk With Me About Something? / We Can... Get It Over With / Whenever You’d Like / Also If You Wanted To Spy On Me For Seam That’s Cool Too Dude”
“.........”
“........................”
Susie stood, shoving her fists in her pockets, and swallowed. “...wanted to talk to you ABOUT Lancer, actually.”
Queen’s chair halted midair. “OK Hit Me Susie”
Susie bent down to pick up the stakes she’d dropped. “Queen, do you really wanna be Lancer’s mom?”
“...” Queen made a processing sort of whirr. “What?”
“Do you really wanna be Lancer’s mom so bad, Queen?”
“Of Course??” Queen’s smile was blankly bewildered. “The Heck Kind Of Question Is That I Have Already Signed The Legal Papers / They Were Of Course Fabricated By Swatch And Lancer Working Together Who Do You Take Me For / But I Think That Makes It Even More Legitimate—”
“Okay, cool. You knew him for, what.” Susie straightened up, leveled her gaze at Queen. “Three minutes? Five?? Before deciding you were his mom?”
“Well I Have Known Lancer For A / Sufficient Amount Of Time By Now / And Have Learned: / His Food Preferences / His People Preferences / His Funny Turns Of Phrase Preferences / The Games Th—”
“You didn’t know him,” Susie said, twitching.
Queen turned her full attention upon her. “Is There / Something Wrong With That?”
Susie stabbed a stake into the next flowerpot. “You walked right in and decided he was your responsibility, huh—?”
“He Can Be Lots Of People’s Responsibilities” Queen floated after her, taking care to adjust the slightly crooked stake. “I Just Decided To Add Myself To The Famed Lancer Dad Pile / The More People That Care About Him The Better Right?”
Susie looked down, rubbing dirt off her knuckles.
“Right Susie?”
Susie plunged the stakes into the soil and turned to face Queen. “...Is Lancer just... another chance for you?”
“??? Bro?”
“You KNOW what I’m talking about!” Susie stabbed a claw right at Queen’s face, accidentally smacking a ripe tomato off its vine. “A chance for you to do the right thing! Right??? A do-over?”
Queen’s visor dipped into exquisite confusion. She reached down to pick up the tomato Susie had swiped off, and then winced, sitting back up in her chair and expanding her knee layers to peer into them. “Susie If It’s Okay Could You Get That For Me”
“...sure.” Susie bent down and set the tomato in Queen’s outstretched palm. “Here.”
Queen caressed the tomato’s uneven surface with her free hand. “Susie Do You Not Trust Me With Him?”
“...” Susie ground her teeth. “...he... likes being around you, I guess.”
Queen’s smile twitched at its edge, just the tiniest bit, as she poked a claw into her knee. “Do You Not Trust Him Then?”
“I trust him!” Susie nearly slapped the tomato away again, whipping her claw back in Queen’s face. “That’s— shut UP, of course I do!! That’s not the problem!”
“Then What Is The Problem?” Queen’s voice was somehow entirely genuine as she uncrossed her knee.
“I—” Susie hesitated. “I don’t— I.”
She realized her shoulders were shaking from how tight she was holding them, and sagged, letting her arm drop.
“Look. I just want him to be okay,” she muttered, hating how crumpled her words sounded (hating herself for Queen’s expression beneath her stupid novelty clam hat). “...And you— you might be another... him.”
“Another... Lancer?”
Susie gripped her elbows and looked away. “...never mind,” she said eventually.
Queen looked out, over the garden. “He Was That Bad, Huh?”
“...”
“Lancer Has Never Mentioned Anything Of The Sort”
Susie’s head snapped up. “You—”
“No No I Believe You” Queen rested her cheek on her fist again, brow wrinkling. “Why Would You Lie About This?”
Susie winced and looked away again.
Queen’s inner circuitry whirred; she reached out, and set the tomato on Susie’s head with utter gentleness.
(Susie opened her mouth, and decided to close it.)
“Susie” Her chair whirred a little lower to Susie’s eyelevel. “You Are A Nice Girl / Did You Know That”
Susie swallowed. “Uhh, I’m just...”
“You Are Trying” Queen’s face was... tentative. “I Think That’s / Sweet / And Also / I Guess / You Have Ample Reason To Be Worried?”
She laughed. “But I Promise On My Circuits I Won’t Roboticize Lancer’s Face Unless He Asks Me To LOLLL”
“Uhh, okay.” Susie cough-laughed too. “That’d be great. Because... that was stupid of you. And kind of... scary.”
“...Yeah / It Was Very Stupid Of Past Me” A dazzling grin. “Thank Goodness Present Me Is Here And Much Less Stupid”
“Yeah,” said Susie, awkwardly smiling a little. “Heh...”
“Oh Speaking Of Present Me It Appears We Are Almost Done With Our Chores / How Wonderful! I Missed Feeling Accomplished”
Queen looked back at Castle Town, to the east, and then back at her. “Um Susie / To Alleviate Your Concerns / Would You Like To Talk With Lancer And Rougles About This? / Our Sitch? / I Will Help You Figure Out How / I Am Skilled In Both Conflict Escalation And Resolution / ...It’s OK You Can Ruminate It Over While We Stab In These Remaining Stakes”
“But I’m not part of—” began Susie, faltering.
“SHh Sh ShS h SHSHs Sh” said Queen, scooping the tomato off Susie’s head with care and passing it to her. “Don’t Question It Sweetie You’re In This Hole With Us Whether You Acknowledge It Or Not”
Susie looked down at the tomato, mostly bewildered, as Queen floated away.
“...Okay, sure,” she said eventually, her smile growing just a little more as she shoved the tomato in her pocket and hurried after her with the stakes.
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week 3 day 1 of queencember: love