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It's something of a truism that "it's not like the Empress is going to make a speech or anything" when the Masquerade folds up. Regardless, there comes a time when the incessant requests to be allowed to make a documentary about the Golden Coven are met not with "absolutely not", but instead, "let's talk".
Elspeth does a fair amount of the negotiating for this - she does run PR. Harley, presently thirteen, is allowed to sit in on a few of the storyboarding discussions - the documentary will not be fictionalized, but they still have concern for narrative flow. It's going to be very long, after all.
Significant portions of the documentary will be conjured recordings of events, from outside or even first-person perspectives, but an entire segment is devoted to personally profiling members and peripheral associates of the Golden Coven, one by one. Harley's not on the list - it's mostly a history documentary, with younger generations present almost entirely for 'where are they now' color, and he's not, technically, her son - but Elspeth and most of her family is. And Harley is permitted to lurk around the studio setup while various people prep with their interviewers, or eavesdrop, or - if they are sufficiently non-vampiric to allow makeup to stick - get that applied. It's a big production; the supernatural community would have found it just as convenient to spread it out, but the film people want everything taken down, edited for a consistent look-and-feel, and released according to schedule within a certain time frame.
So there are a lot of people around. Mostly vampires, but plenty of hybrids - there are most of Emmett and Rosalie's kids, over there, with the proud parents themselves - and wolves; Jacob is over with Elspeth - and even a few humans, ranging from imprints to Lizzie who's with Carlisle, Esme, and Lily, and also Alice and Jasper and their son Brandon. People not normally seen around the Golden Capitols have been hauled in. There's Marcus, no longer as craquelure thanks to magic, and Didyme at his elbow, literally radiating happiness. (Bella rendered her power opt-in along with several other mind-affecting abilities that can't be turned off, but it's very inviting, so people usually do so opt.)
And of course Bella and Edward themselves are present, flitting around, mingling. Their interviews aren't until later.
Kerron waves to Harley when he shows up.
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"Baking stuff! I like baking, it's awesome."
He hugs Carlisle too.
He hugs Carlisle too.
"Do you usually go by recipes or just make it up?" asks Brandon.
"I go find a recipe if it's something I haven't done before but somebody else has," he says. "Or if I wanna remember how to do something tricky. Otherwise I just go by memory or make it up."
"Going by memory doesn't count as - oh, do you not have that hexed?" asks Brandon.
"No," giggles Harley.
"Why not?" asks Alice curiously.
"'Cause it's more fun when I can forget stuff," he says.
"Why?" asks Brandon, fascinated.
"Well - okay, cooking, for example," he says. "If I remembered exactly how I made something last time, and it turned out really good, then I might just decide to do the same exact thing again. But that would be boring as hell if I kept doing that! If I don't remember it exactly then I'm going to do something different, and maybe it'll turn out worse and I'll figure out how I did it before and go back to that, but maybe it'll be even better and then I'll do it more like the new way next time. Or maybe it won't be better or worse, just different. I like different."
"Well, I mean," says Brandon, "I can remember exactly how I made particular lego sculptures when I was eight months old, but if I would find it boring to make them again, I don't have to. I don't see where forgetting has to come into it."
"I suppose you'd always be consciously varying a theme or starting from scratch," says Esme. "You wouldn't be surprised the same way."
"I suppose you'd always be consciously varying a theme or starting from scratch," says Esme. "You wouldn't be surprised the same way."
Harley beams at Esme. "Exactly."
Lily appears. "Hi guys. I'm all interviewed."
"Did you bite the interviewer?" asks Brandon with mock interest.
Lily scowls. "No."
"Did you bite the interviewer?" asks Brandon with mock interest.
Lily scowls. "No."
"...Do you bite people a lot or something?" says Harley.
"No!" says Lily.
"More than never," says Brandon.
"Brandon," sighs Jasper.
"More than never," says Brandon.
"Brandon," sighs Jasper.
"I used to bite people," Harley says cheerfully. "When I was like two."
"I don't just go around biting people," says Lily.
"Of course not. You have to be pretty riled first," says Brandon, smirking.
"I'll get riled," Lily snaps, and Brandon holds up his hands in a placating gesture.
"Of course not. You have to be pretty riled first," says Brandon, smirking.
"I'll get riled," Lily snaps, and Brandon holds up his hands in a placating gesture.
Harley giggles.
Lily crosses her arms. "Anyway, my interview went fine, thank you for asking, she had lots of thoughtful questions about how our family is put together compared to families that have to deal with aging and dying and crap like that, and about me personally, and stuff."
"Cool," says Harley.
"Elspeth hasn't technically adopted you, right? I guess if she did you'd be my grand-nephew," Lily says, peering at Harley. "If we insisted on humanizing all the relationships, which like I explained to the interviewer is a little silly."
"Nah, she hasn't," he says. "Humanizing as opposed to what? Vampirizing?"
"Basically. Or I think I heard someone say 'transhumanizing', I liked that. Like, you can't even do that anyway without it being weird, because me and Alice and Jasper and Bella and Edward and Rosalie and Emmett all have Mom and Dad as parent-figures, but then if you cash that out, whoops, incest, and for everyone except me it was mostly a convenient front, except, built on actual scaffolding of respect and stuff. Jasper's older than Mom, but - whatever, you can watch my interview later if you care."
"Huh," says Harley. "Maybe I will."
"You live in the Québec capital, right? With wolves?" Lily inquires. "What's that like?"
"Very fluffy," he giggles. "And there's always somebody who'll eat my pie."