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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 31, 2018 11:09:56 GMT -8
"Oh, I couldn't."
Tilly quirked a slight frown, initially, but the prospect was frighteningly... possible.
She'd always assumed that word back would be unwanted, but there was nothing rightly stopping her from sending a letter, at least. Especially if it wasn't truly clear that it was Tilly who was sending it.
"It's been years..." She almost whispered to herself as she fidgeted with a strand of hair, wrapping it around her finger. She still had the urge to reach for her hat, if it weren't on the table surface.
"...What would I even write about?"
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 31, 2018 11:16:03 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
He rose a brow, impressed almost, as he looked to Tilly; his eyes flicking to the paper infront of him then Tilly again.
"The... Wedding, maybe?" He chuckled and flared his teeth, shrugging again as he swayed in his seat excited by the possibility; he started a small bit on Courcy's invitation, before cocking his head to Tilly as he drew,
"It doesn't have to be particularly about you... Just ask how things are doing with them. Just say you've done well for yourself, grown to be a beautiful lady with a fair sum of wealth and property under your name. That you've means to be married now... Maybe that you're expecting a child..?" He hummed and sighed.
"What isn't there to tell them is the real question. And who to address it to..."
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 31, 2018 11:36:05 GMT -8
Tilly's hands moved from her hair and the back of the chair to come together, linking the fingers underneath her chin like some philosopher.
"Think I'll send it to Freddie-- he's the only one who'd really said good-bye to me." A little, incipient smile began to spread across her face as she thought more.
"I'd love to see his face when he reads it. I swore to him that I'd never get married." She smiled dreamily and looked up to the ceiling, "D'you think he'd visit? Especially if we had our own place to stay...--" The smile faded some, "...Maybe not; I think he'd have heard of this place. Father and him'd be busy getting his share of the business. He wouldn't be able to make it..."
She looked back to the paper and took a breath,
"It wouldn't hurt to try."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 31, 2018 11:42:01 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"Aye... It wouldn't hurt, but it's probably for the best that he doesn't. What with the dangers of simply coming here." He nodded solemnly as he gave one glance to Tilly's small smile, sharing his own with hers for a moment as he finished sprucing up Courcy's invitation before standing up and sticking the quill into the inkwell.
"I'll let you handle that forray, if your wrist is up to it." He smirked and nodded to the chair,waving to it humbly as he moved around to inspect the bed.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 31, 2018 12:04:48 GMT -8
"Right, yeah..." Tilly nodded distantly, seating herself on the chair as she produced another blank page to stare at while she left the quill in the inkwell.
Where was she to begin? To be defiant that she'd not only survived where others thought that she'd failed, but that she thrived, too? But there was some resentment that the people who brought her into the world refused to subsequently care for her-- that her own mother would rather hire a worker to mother her.
Tilly scratched her brow; she didn't rightly hate them for it, either. If anything, it made her more determined to do right by her own child.
She let her left hand dip down to feel along her navel. She never thought too hard on what went on within. To think that there was a child there was dizzying.
Reaching for the quill, then, she started to write.
'Frederick,' it said at the top.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 31, 2018 12:14:18 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
As he'd begun to finnick with the bed post, easing out a hazardous nail, he noted Tilly's seating with a small smile... He wondered how hard this must be for her, the thought never crossed his mind to contact his own kin. Partially because it'd no doubt bring a plethora of assassins after him yet again... Then again, if they knew enough to send them already...
He vanquished the thought as he moved closer to Tilly's back and saw to massaging her shoulders; his thumb curling into the collar to peel it down to her shoulders, wherein he began to palm her bared shoulders,
"I know I'd be delighted to hear from you again... I'm sure Fredrick will be too. You're a bloody welcome ray of sunshine, no matter how far away you are." He assured her softly as he watched her write on...
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 31, 2018 12:51:22 GMT -8
Tilly stalled on the following words. The greeting was always the easiest part in a letter. She swirled the pen-tip in the ink and watched the ripples it left in its wake.
"I'm certain he thinks I've died." She pushed her blonde hair away from her face. It was strange to feel it ungreased. "If I were him, I'd have been certain that I'd have died."
She fiddled with the pen in her hands, thinking. And then she smiled.
"I don't think he'd believe me if I told him I went off to kill monsters and the like." She chuckled, but still hesitated with the pen...
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 31, 2018 12:59:21 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
"Aye, aye, definitely... Forgoe the mention of monsters." He chuckled and hummed as he continued easing some tension out of Tilly's shoulders. He'd played the part of giving half-truths before, it was a terribly addictive skill.
"If you must, tell him that you've earned the coin by... Helping an Heir clean out his Estate." He explained with a cheeky smirk and shrug.
"It's the truth, after all." He mused to himself with a satisfied shrug.
"I hardly believed magic existed until I came here, let alone ghouls, hags, and wraithes..."
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 31, 2018 13:17:50 GMT -8
"Why don't I tell him I was so good at slaying monsters that I was able to retire early off the money I'd made from it?" Tilly proposed with a wry grin, giving the pen a more subdued twirl, so as not to splatter ink every which way.
She shifted in her chair, but still neglected to begin writing.
"...But I think I'd like to write this privately." She turned to look at him and give him a weak smile, "If you don't mind."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 31, 2018 15:23:52 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
He was taken aback, yet, he quickly realized why... He cleared his throat and nodded as he nodded and stooped down to kiss her brow before he took as step away towards the door, letting his finger trail lightly, forlornly, across the table.
"I should check on Florence." Lekalis gave an affirming nod as he faced Tilly and kept a steady, happy smile about his lips.
He pursed them, suddenly, and squinted at her; exaggerating a pensive face as he crossed his arms over his chest and hummed,
"Do remember to tell of your Lordly, Dashing and utterly Flawless Husband." He jested, chuckling as he waved away the notion immediately,
"I'll be back, try and grab us some food--" He motioned to the other papers,
"-- Leave a not if you trot off somewhere before I come back, if you could?"
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 31, 2018 15:49:41 GMT -8
Tilly nodded, with a smile as she mimed his characteristic two-finger salute.
Still, a little part of her was sad to see him go.
"How could I not remember?" She grinned, draping her arm around the back of her chair so that she might watch him a second or two longer when he departed.
"I think, once I finish, I might go out and tell Courcy about the wedding. See if I can't smoothe it over with her." Planned Tilly out loud with a pensive squint and a respective smoothing gesture of her hand, as though flattening a tablecloth. "...and let me know what Florence thinks, too. I'm curious! Ah, and--"
She pointed a finger upwards as she made to sweetly ask; she couldn't resist. Her toes tapped against the hay-strewn floor.
"And could you pick up some fruit while you're out? Pears or apples and the like?"
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 31, 2018 15:55:00 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
Making a list in his mind, he bobbed his head up and down, he counted the three off on his finger as he planted a hand on the door,
"Pears, Apples, and The Like. Gotcha." He affirmed with a mirrored two-finger salute as he nodded again.
"You've a better touch on Courcy than I do... I want to be surprised but I'm really not; you're bloody amazing at making friends." He smirked and tapped the toe of his boot against the floor, before kicking the door frame lightly in thought.
"Guess I'll be seeing you..?" He shrugged, it was strange to do... He felt an unfair chain binding them together. The prospect of seeing her go felt like it might tear the heart from his very breast.
"... Yeah, I'll be... I should go." He hummed, his face scrunching up as he visibly struggled with the prospect. Lekalis' eyes flicked to the bed and he hummed harder, forcibly,
"You really make this hurt, y'know? Looking adorable like you are..."
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 31, 2018 16:12:00 GMT -8
"It helps when your name's not... 'Spike' or 'Blade' or 'Blood'. You tend to come off a lot tougher than I do." Tilly teased with a cheeky grin and a chuckle as she waggled a hand at him. But seeing him float on to the exit of the shack, she found her feet making to follow him, rising out of the chair.
She took one of his hands and held it between them.
"It'll make it all the sweeter when you come back, really." She assured, pinning a silky lock of Lekalis's hair behind his ear. She watched his eyes for a moment before, leaning forward on her toes with a hand flattened on his shoulder, she made to softly kiss him on his lips.
Coming back to rest on her heels, she smiled at him, "So come back soon, alright?"
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 31, 2018 16:17:01 GMT -8
/Lekalis/
He leant in and relished the sensation of her lips upon his; the soft touch more than enough to lift his spirits.
Lekalis' hand reached out to hold her waist, and it took all the will in his mind to keep from pulling her closer. Instead, he relaxed and rubbed her boney curves one last time before he pulled himself away from her.
"Tough names bring tough folk..." He pointed out with a breath that he'd held forever.
He cast upon her a love imbued smile, and shrugged as he cracked open the door to the outside air,
"... I'll not be gone forever too long." He bowed his brow gently as he slipped away into the night and immediately felt regret pile up in his gut as he shut the door and made stiff steps on and away from their freshly owned abode...
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 31, 2018 22:13:37 GMT -8
With the door stuffed as shut as it was able, the room felt like a candle with its light blown out. Tilly stood there and watched the door dumbly for another moment before she sighed and wheeled around slowly on her heels to face the table again. "Looks like it's just you and me, little sprout." She smiled faintly at Beansprout, perched so peacefully in her hat, as she approached the table. Reaching out, she preened momentarily at the plant-y dagger, shifting him so that he was nestled what she thought was to be more comfortably in the band of her hat. Scooting the chair in, it left small grooves in the hay floor of the shack. A luxury, truly, after what felt like a lifetime of sleeping on the abbey's pews or at some table in the tavern. The simple fact that she was here on her own whim only was empowering. Her fingers arced and wiggled, as though she were testing them for the first time. Watching the tendons flex, these hands had always served her well, and succeeded where luck or muscle failed. Now it was time to pray they would not fail her now as she began to write. Surprisingly, it took her little time at all, considering the length she'd written. Normally she would consider that to be a warning sign, and practiced caution in form of intense proofreading. She preferred to send it as it was. Donning her hat, ensuring that Beansprout was still rooted safely within, she rushed out the door with all the hurry of one being chased. ~*~ The letters were sent, with a sum of coin to speed along their journey to their respective destinations. Money well-spent-- money she needed to spend. And certainly not much, in the grand scheme of things... It still made her stomach do flips, and she already felt thoroughly spent from the sheer act of writing the letter in itself. She took a breath to steel herself, both from the past and the present, and jogged to where they'd last left Courcy... ~*~ The words at the top of the page are stilted, with short tails and stilted loops. As the writing goes on, the hand seemed to have gotten lazier: the loops resumed their extravagant form, and the writing rose high and low, as though stretched out. The letter was rolled up, and bound with a simple string of twine that had been tied into a bow. Frederick, It spelled out on the portion that could be read.
It's been some time, hasn't it? Six years exactly.
I know you and Margerie and all the rest never expected me to make it. I know that's why you were the only one to come and say good-bye. I might as well have been dying-- for all intents and purposes, I am dead to you lot. That is the way it goes.
I'd like to confirm that I'm far more than live. I'm doing better than ever.
I won't lie and say that it's always been easy. There were uncountable mornings that I'd woken up, surprised to have survived through the night. I'd slept in gutters and in trees and everywhere in-between. Until I came to the Darkest Estate, I thought I'd seen the greatest adversity anyone could find.
As it turns out, I'm quite stubborn when it comes to staying alive. I've been on the nasty side of a sword and a bayonet and a rifle more times than I can count.
Really, you haven't lived until you've been beaten within an inch of your life. It's quite exhilarating.
The stubbornness Margerie tried to train out of me served me well, I'd say. I'm quite good at slaying foul beasts and the like here-- good enough to retire off the gold I'd made from it. I didn't even have to die again to earn it.
I'm doing well, now. There's a lovely man I'm set to get married to within a fortnight. We're expecting a baby to be due sometime in the early winter.
The sequence of events might alarm you, but I assure you that tradition here is much different than it is in Whitstead. Women strutting about in pants isn't as much as a crazy idea, here.
Indeed, one might find the best and the worst of humanity in this Estate. My husband is a fellow you might have pegged to be the latter, but rest assured that it is only circumstances outside his control as well as unfortunate rumors that would give that perception.
He's a great man who takes good care of me: Lekalis Fanuschrat.
I remember sneaking off to come to your wedding, to meet your Theresa. She was a sweet-heart, really. I'm sorry every day not to have been able to see your little one. He'd be quite old by now, wouldn't he?
I can't say I expect you to write back. I know it's difficult to get a letter out without anyone knowing who it's going to.
But if I were you, I'd want to know.
Take care, Freddie. Don't forget to smile every now and then.
Your un-sister,
Tilly.
At the end of the letter, the following engraving of sanguine invention had been carved. It certainly spelled doom and disaster, and the messenger's blood chilled as he held the paper in his hand.  |
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