I may have to make you a crown of flowers for that, you realize? Mary and I used to make them as children. Perhaps I'll find enough daisies and dandelions to weave one together for you.
Contrary to appearances, I was a child at one point in my life, you know? We Englishmen do not spring fully formed from the heads of our fathers, whatever the legends may say.
Did you never do something like it? I can picture it very clearly for you, your feet bare and the sun shining down, casting ripples of light across the dark your waves of your hair.
[ what the fuck, how can he fluster her so easily?
At least this is all in text...]
I did it a few times as a child. I would sit beneath the vhenadahl - the large tree in the center - and work on things for my parents. My mother knew how to weave and my father was a carpenter. I expected one day to work with my hands. I made daisy chains once for Summerday.
I’m picturing you sitting by the lake, cavorting with your sister, decorating her hair.
And she would decorate mine, in turn, whether I wanted it or not.
You did end up working with you hands, at least. Perhaps not with wood or with threads, but with something just as vital. Blood, bone, and flesh. Your magic knits these things together, reshapes what is broken. I think their parents could be proud of that and what you've accomplished in this place.
[He won't speak of the Wardens, but in Duplicity? Yes. What Neria has accomplished is something to be proud of.]
[ And in the heartache of old memories that are not hers, she can truly imagine it well. The grief Jonathan felt when he took Mary's life - the first and second time - is a pain that echoes when he speaks of her. She can only wonder at how he must feel when he says her name, like the summoning of a ghost long gone.
She feels it, too, in the way he speaks of her parents. Neria hasn't the heart to tell him the rest of the story and to stain the kindness he is giving her. So what she types back, instead, is: ]
I wonder sometimes what they would think. But it has been so long that it is not their approval I seek. Yours means more to me. And I hope to do right by our workers and the people we care for. They are the ones who are never far from my thoughts.
[ Nor are you is unspoken and perhaps too strong, so she lets it be. ]
Alice won't be the newest addition to our green-leaved family for too long. I have a small mountain of catalogs by my door of what some of the local nurseries offer if you want more indoor plants to tend. Alice is a low-light plant; we can get others.
[It hurts. Every time he thinks of her, he can see Mary in death, her face twisted with rage, mind shattered because of what he'd done. And then her begging for an end. Begging him to end her a second time. But that is not the sum of his sister. He wants Neria to know these other pieces of her, to know there was more than just what she saw in that memory.]
And perhaps I'll be a pest for you. You seem to be giving me license to build my verdurous army. It is a dangerous thing to give me such a catalog, Neria. Are you prepared for what may come of it?
We're all pests as children. I'm certain you were fine.
[ But she really doesn't know how to handle Jonathan when he's being quite so teasing. It's difficult not to smile, so she doesn't try to fight it. ]
Oh, I'm quite terrified of what you might do with a floral catalog. I think the more color we have here, the better. Do your worst, Jonathan Reid. I look forward to seeing what catches your eye.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 04:18 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 04:20 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 04:31 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 04:32 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 04:40 am (UTC)From:Well, it’s just odd. Endearing, truly, but odd. But it was also difficult to picture you dyeing your sister’s hair with berry juice.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 04:46 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 05:01 am (UTC)From:At least this is all in text...]
I did it a few times as a child. I would sit beneath the vhenadahl - the large tree in the center - and work on things for my parents. My mother knew how to weave and my father was a carpenter. I expected one day to work with my hands. I made daisy chains once for Summerday.
I’m picturing you sitting by the lake, cavorting with your sister, decorating her hair.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-02 06:39 am (UTC)From:You did end up working with you hands, at least. Perhaps not with wood or with threads, but with something just as vital. Blood, bone, and flesh. Your magic knits these things together, reshapes what is broken. I think their parents could be proud of that and what you've accomplished in this place.
[He won't speak of the Wardens, but in Duplicity? Yes. What Neria has accomplished is something to be proud of.]
no subject
Date: 2019-04-02 11:22 pm (UTC)From:[ And in the heartache of old memories that are not hers, she can truly imagine it well. The grief Jonathan felt when he took Mary's life - the first and second time - is a pain that echoes when he speaks of her. She can only wonder at how he must feel when he says her name, like the summoning of a ghost long gone.
She feels it, too, in the way he speaks of her parents. Neria hasn't the heart to tell him the rest of the story and to stain the kindness he is giving her. So what she types back, instead, is: ]
I wonder sometimes what they would think. But it has been so long that it is not their approval I seek. Yours means more to me. And I hope to do right by our workers and the people we care for. They are the ones who are never far from my thoughts.
[ Nor are you is unspoken and perhaps too strong, so she lets it be. ]
Alice won't be the newest addition to our green-leaved family for too long. I have a small mountain of catalogs by my door of what some of the local nurseries offer if you want more indoor plants to tend. Alice is a low-light plant; we can get others.
I sure did butcher the English language a bit. Thank you for understanding it, anyway. 8')b
Date: 2019-04-03 03:13 am (UTC)From:[It hurts. Every time he thinks of her, he can see Mary in death, her face twisted with rage, mind shattered because of what he'd done. And then her begging for an end. Begging him to end her a second time. But that is not the sum of his sister. He wants Neria to know these other pieces of her, to know there was more than just what she saw in that memory.]
And perhaps I'll be a pest for you. You seem to be giving me license to build my verdurous army. It is a dangerous thing to give me such a catalog, Neria. Are you prepared for what may come of it?
no subject
Date: 2019-04-03 03:26 am (UTC)From:[ But she really doesn't know how to handle Jonathan when he's being quite so teasing. It's difficult not to smile, so she doesn't try to fight it. ]
Oh, I'm quite terrified of what you might do with a floral catalog. I think the more color we have here, the better. Do your worst, Jonathan Reid. I look forward to seeing what catches your eye.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-04 05:07 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2019-04-04 02:05 pm (UTC)From:Perfect. A tropical oasis and quality medical care. Who could ask for more?
no subject
Date: 2019-04-04 03:14 pm (UTC)From:Certainly not I, my friend. Thank you once more for Alice. I'll take a look at your catalog before I go to bed tomorrow morning.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-04 03:32 pm (UTC)From: