#(A HINT OF REAL TONITONI THONKIES)

[abyssmalice]

It prickles at her mind, the blase way Tem treats her own past. Of course, Tonia is old enough to understand that not every person fits the national stereotypes or whatever - sure, it conflicts with her own personal opinions, but Tonia's personal opinions also include I think the Tsaritsa is better off not being the Tsaritsa also she's a clown who should wear clown makeup so, she gets it. She can, anyway.

The issue is that from experience, people don't just get those opinions from the get-go without something or another instigating it. Every child begins as a blank slate, but never inclined to anything negative - after all, the world is the world and it is new and pure in every newborn eye. No one begins knowing what hate or disinterest is automatically, that needs to be taught.

So Tonia frowns disapprovingly at all the disparaging commentary (though she does give a brief stink eye at the flippant implication that Morepesok is backwater like okay, well, okay, fine, maybe it is a little (lot) backwater compared like, the capitol, but her home gets a pass okay!!), her eyes occasionally glancing between Tem and the poster in her hands, thinking.

Thinking, putting the pieces together, whatever ones she has or thinks she has anyway. A disinterest for home, a disinterest for family. Posturing that might seem defensive, even? No one is born with such disconnection to these things unless it's foisted upon them.

Though, there's always the possibility Tem is just like that, just that sort of person - but, well, let's not assume.

Let's confirm the hypothesis. "That doesn't answer the question, and not the real point anyway," Tonia harumphs, cheeks puffing a bit petulantly. "Even if you don't care about your family, well, that doesn't mean your family doesn't either, right? I mean - it looks like they do, since they put up a poster for you..."

She pauses and reads it again. There's a small, sincerely thoughtful frown on her face now. "...So they should. They're family. Even if they might not like you, they should still care." The yellowing paper crinkles in her hands. Tonia pointedly does not think of her own family - the weirdly strained relationship between her brother and everyone else, from long ago. "But this message in the poster makes it sound like they just don't. It reads like they just gave up on you from the start, somehow. I don't like it."

　　TEM SIGHS THROUGH HER NOSE, and it sounds a bit defeated. She should be teasing Tonia for being so interested in her history, but instead, she finds herself becoming tired. Either Tonia is purposely missing the point, or she really wants there to be more to this. ( And this, really, but Tem just doesn’t see it that way. All of it is meaningless to her. )

　　“ Exactly. It’s one of the most important things to a Snezhnayan. So I don’t really fit the profile, do I? None of that matters to me. ” Well, alright, she does have the love of firewater. “ You’re a Snezhnayan, but you hate the fatui, even though they’re hailed as celebrities in our country. People differ; it’s really not that much different. ”

　　Tonia still doesn’t know the extent to which Tem was part of the fatui, though she obviously has her inklings about the now-adventurer being affiliated with the military at some point.

　　She smirks the slightest bit. “ You mean like you and your brother? ” Not even close; Tem is from the heart of the city, where everything is kept up with the times, despite her devolving into a mountainside recluse later on. “ Sorry, but I grew up privileged. ” She even adds a tiny little bow, as if introducing herself for the first time.

　　Tem can’t help but roll her eyes as Tonia reads the final words from the poster out loud. She even snorts. “ I may as well be. They’re so dramatic. ” Her fingers twitch with the urge to grab the poster and rip it to shreds, but she digs them into her arms instead. “ I guess I could’ve left a note if you think a missing poster is such a stupid thing to leave behind, but I couldn’t be bothered. Oh, well. ”

@abyssmalice