Umbertiel

[Drusia]

Sister Rose's eyes got big as Desiree ate one of the mushrooms. "You -- you shouldn't do that," she said. "That kind of mushroom should be cooked before it's eaten, and you have to make sure to throw away the water it's boiled in. You should be all right from just eating one, but if you start feeling queasy or having hallucinations, tell me right away so I can try to neutralize it."

What? But, I thought if they were safe to eat... oh...

I follow Rose back to camp and then take a moment, while she's occupied with Lillith, to be quietly sick near the trench that serves as a toilet.

I hate this! Why am I even here? I sit at the edge of camp, feeling foolish and miserable.

OOC: Sorry for the delay - we're remodeling here, and I've been way behind on everything online. I haven't even read Errant Story in weeks. ^^;; If anyone wants to come talk to Desiree, I'll try to keep up with responses.

[Jack Rothwell]

Eli broke off his musical interlude at the sight of his town kin looking so miserable. He threw the harmonica in a playful gesture to Maduin (OOC Why? I don't know./OOC) and moved to join her.

"Desiree?" He asked in the gentlest tones he could muster, blanching slightly as she turned to look at him and he saw the unhappiness on her face. "Umm... bad time to talk?"

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose felt herself caught in the eye of an emotional storm. Over there, Desiree was being quietly sick (had the mushroom done that? Just nerves, more likely ... at least I hope so), while Eli, she was glad to see, was moving to give her comfort and reassurance. She could see Argus and Brad having an earnest conversation about something; Brad's "proposal," probably. That too was good. Argus might be able to cool his jets enough to keep something bad from happening. (And who knows, it might even get Argus himself thinking about ... about ...) Maduin and Bryce were cooling off from a dance. She'd have to have a word with them at some point; to say the Orthodox church frowned on same-sex couples would understate the case rather severely, and to behave as they'd been behaving when they got to Umbertiel would be ... risky. Still, why interfere with their happiness here and now?

That left Lillith, who seemed to be thinking about what Rose had just said. As the girl took it in, Rose indulged in a bit of remembrance about her own engagement ...

If any of Rose's relatives had been watching, they'd have been scandalized, despite being about as "liberal" as pillars of even the Reformed Veracian Church could ever be. Fortunately, they were all back in Emerylon, hundreds of miles from Albigenish, and they didn't have scrying magic that Rose knew of.

"You know, that play was awful," Kenny said, his arm around her in bed and pulling her closer to him.

"Mmm-hmm," Rose purred, still basking in the afterglow of lovemaking, as she nestled her head on his shoulder and stroked his bare chest. Well, the play was awful. With the euphemistically-described "diplomatic" work in Albigenish finally ramping down and the city getting peaceful again, they'd both managed to be off duty at the same time for once, and had wandered into a production about an "elf princess" abroad in human lands. It was billed as being inspired by one of the great elven playwrights of antiquity, Smerylon or something like that. (Rose doubted it; surely an elf playwright would have had better taste.) By intermission, they'd had all they could stand, and got up and left for a quiet walk along the Albigenish River. That had led back to quarters, and to ... other things.

Kenny sighed contentedly. "Guess we'd better get married, then." If it was a complete non-sequitur, neither of them particularly noticed.

"Mmm-hmm," Rose repeated from the comfort of his shoulder, her smile only a fraction wider than it had already been.

And that was that.

An observer in the present who'd had access to that memory, and that time, would have noticed that, although her eyes were slightly moist as she looked back ten years through time, the smile on her lips was very much as it had been for this not-entirely-traditional "proposal."

[OOC: If the people whose real-life engagement story, as told to me, is mirrored in this flashback are reading this, I'm going to be profoundly embarrassed. You know who you are...]

[Sareth]

At the reminder of Sister Rose's age, Lillith visibly twitched. Evidently she had forgotten the differential in aging between the elves and half-elves. Wisely, though, she refrained from commenting. Instead she sat quietly listening. As Sister Rose drifted off Lillith opened her mouth to say something, and then caught the slight smile and moist eyes. Her lips pursed thoughtfully a moment, then she smiled.

"I keep forgetting about how differently humans and half-elves age." The smile grew wider and her eyes got a mischievous twinkle. "Which means I have plenty of time to think about things, but you..." Her eyes slid to glance towards Argus. "You are wasting time."

With a giggle the girl got up from the stew and walked back to the cart, rummaging around in it and conspicuously not looking at Sister Rose.

[Drannin]

Argus sighed, feeling exhausted. "Then... perhaps you should act on that on your own time. Privately. With Lillith. As in, just the two of you. Just talk to her. And see how you feel about it. Then just work from there." Weave, but he was trying. Really, he was. But Brad... was getting it, but just not processing. It was, frankly, a little frustrating.

[Graybeard]

Brad nodded. "Okay, I think I'm finally getting it." He started to tick things off on his fingers.

"You should care deeply about each other. Got that. But you should always be sensitive to the other one's needs and wishes, and not take things too fast, just because you yourself love deeply. Got that. You should see both the joy and the pain of what's been before, and accept it and be open with it and know that what went before is still part of the person you love. Got that. You should, I guess I'd say, share the private moments in private, even while you let other people see that you love each other in public. Check. You should have thought it all through ... right. You should be sure it's something you both want. Got that." He nodded, convinced that everything added up, and then he continued.

"So when are you going to propose to my cousin? Lillith and I can take a walk to give you that kind of privacy, if you want us to."

The thing was: both his tone of voice and his facial expression suggested he was dead serious.

-----------

Sister Rose watched Lillith go, thinking, that imp. (Of course, there was a physical smile on her face, and something similar in her mind.)

She turned back toward the stew pot ... just in time to catch a glimpse of Argus and Brad, out in the trees, talking to each other. And to see Argus' face turn a most improbable color.

Uh, oh. I hope he's all right, but that doesn't look good. Better check. She started in the pair's direction, already starting to summon Healing magic.

[Drannin]

Argus blinked, mind suddenly locking up. "Bwuh?"

Harker came out of nowhere. "'Member how he was sayin' 'take your time?' The Boss is an expert at that. Now let's hush up, huh? Rose is comin'."

Argus glanced down at his familiar. "Bwuh?"

Harker sighed. "Great. You broke his brain. Wonderful."

[Porcelain Fish]

[OOC]TREACHERY!!! [/OOC]

Maduin only just barely managed to contain his look of exasperation at Lillith's words. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately Rose's attention was on Argus. No one else was looking at him at the moment, except for, of course, Bryce. Maduin's hand closed around the harmonica, and he kept the warm smile on his face with an effort. He was definitely going to need to implement the measures he'd already begun preparing.


"That stew smells simply divine, Lillith dear," Maduin said warmly as he left the dance floor to stand beside her. Just wait until the dancing starts, he thought to himself. His gaze dropped to the harmonica still in his hand. This tune is one you'll find particularly . . . haunting.

[Drusia]

"Desiree?" He asked in the gentlest tones he could muster, blanching slightly as she turned to look at him and he saw the unhappiness on her face. "Umm... bad time to talk?"

"Yes," I reply. Then, before he can leave, I say "No." I wipe at my tears. I must look so stupid.

I don't know what to say. "I just threw up," it what I end up saying. Great. Just... great.

"I ate a mushroom because how was I supposed to know they were only safe after you cook them if we were colleting them for supper and there aren't any like this near Snamish and I didn't study mushroom saftey because I never expected to be doing this and I don't know what I'm doing," I say, my frustration pouring out of me like... well, rather like my most recent meal.

[Jack Rothwell]

Eli nodded and made sympathetic noises as Desiree brought him up to speed. The priestess definately needed cheering up. He leaned back and took a deep breath, and prepared to sacrifice himself on the altar of dignity.

"I've got a story for you." He began, quickly making a clarification at the puzzled expression on her face. "Don't worry, there's a point coming."

He cleared his throat. "When I was 25 there was this girl I liked. I mean, really liked. In a puppy-dog eyed, visualising marriage and skipping through fields of corn hand-in-hand sort of way. I. Liked. Her." He smiled at the ridiculousness of the memory. "So, one evening when I was out with my nearest and dearest we ran into said lady in The Grey, and I saw my chance."

He shifted uncomfortably but didn't slow the story. "I was nervous, really nervous. You could say I didn't know what I was doing. I was so nervous in fact, that I decided the best solution to working up the courage to go and speak to her was to drink half a dozen pints of Bronson's Perculiar and saunter over in the most confident manner I could manage. I walked to her, introduced myself, then threw up on the table she was sitting at." Was that a glint of amusement he saw in her eye? "It gets worse, some of it spilled over and gave her dog a shower." He laughed. "It was embarassing to say the least, I was laughed out the pub that day. BUT... you know what? I didn't let it break me. I woke up the next day, fought through the hangover and went and found this woman. I apologised to her, struck up a proper conversation, and a month later we were dating."

He shrugged at the conclusion of the tale, hardly an epic, but it made the point he was trying to make. "We live and learn. We're all lost at sea to some degree. Don't let it break you."