Vanguard: Awakening

Freedom's Price: Chapter Nineteen

"To begin, I urge you all to relax and order your favorite dinner, because you're going to want a lot of energy for our main event... An electrical music rile!"

Cedric scratched his head idly, "A... what?"

Grey howled in excitement, "Oh, yes! This is gonna be awesome."

Cedric turned to face the Man-Maker, "She seems excited? Oh - Mani?"

Even she seemed rather excited for the coming event, it shown clearly on her bright brown orbs. She turned to face Cedric, "An EMR - Or Elecrical Music Rile. We haven't had one of these in forever. Lots of music, lovely cage dancers, and of course everyone else getting in on the action. Be cautious though dear, these events get... Quite hot and heavy."

Cedric could swear he witnessed a steam erupting from her maw. Wild. He chuckled at his own joke.

"Hot and heavy huh? Well, I've never been to a rave or anything - so now I guess I'll enjoy seeing it first hand."

"A rave?.."

"Ah, just another name for a rile I picked up. I think..."

"I see, well do enjoy dear, this show should be absolutely scrumptious."

"I'm sure it will be..." He answered flatly, nursing his drink. He noticed many of the crew getting up and going to the opposite end of the bar, forming a line. It appeared they were all ordering something. Food, he guessed - since he was on the proper 'bar' side where Rainbow found purchase.

"Now then, Animas abound - for our introductory show, a sultry ballad from Gardenia!"

"Gardenia?" Cedric asked.

"She suffers from albinism, like myself dear." Mani answered, "She's a white vulpes, gorgeous girl. Barely just recently turned thirteen. She has a lovely voice, still can't charm the males like I can though."

"That sounds... So wrong." Cedric commented.

"What does, dear?"

"Being thirteen... Where uh, I was raised - adulthood began at eighteen. A thirteen year old would still be considered a child, very young at that."

"You come from such a strange upbringing. This is normal honey, I'm not sure where you were raised but it certainly doesn't sound like you were born in the Empire. Ah, I won't pry though."

He nodded. It made a lot of sense, thinking about it. Dogs and cats grew up when they were about one or two, they also only lived about seventeen to twenty years at most. For the Korellei, this was much the same. Unlike humans, who could grow to be as old as one-hundred and twenty on average, weren't considered proper adults that could voice consent until eighteen or twenty-one, depending on the country. Korellei had much shorter life spans, so while awkward to him - it was normal for them. If Cedric heard about a thirteen year old sultry dancer, he'd be absolutely appalled. For the Korellei though, who grew up significantly faster and had much shorter life spans - maturity came much earlier. Had they not explained that to him, he never would have noticed. In fact, he very rarely saw any Korellei show any signs of old age. Either they aged very well, or it was something more sinister. Either way, he'd have to accept what the norm was for them and not compare it to his own. They were completely different biological specimens with radically different culture and histories. In fact, this thirteen year old Korellei looked more like nineteen or twenty to him, if he had to take a guess at a visual comparison now that he began to witness her emerge from the curtains.

Thinking about it now, something much more concerning crossed his mind. If he fell in love and had a family, his wife would die before he barely got into his mid fifties. He could technically get another wife and STILL outlive her too. He felt like an Elf in fantasy, far outliving any human - making half elves extraordinarily rare. If someone got married to a ten year old Korellei at eighteen, they would theoretically outlive them by three lifetimes, and that's assuming average life span. Their first partner would die at old age while they were just hitting thirty-eight! That was assuming fourty was on the high end and thirty was the average. At least it seemed, Mani still looked no more than maybe fourty? Because of her albinism which oddly didn't also give her red eyes, maybe he just couldn't see any graying in her fur. Perhaps this odd mixture of traits was what made it so easy for her to find partners. Was he... Basically talking to a grandma? He shuddered at the thought.