[Slightly Backdated] Merrymeet Outfit Planning

[witheredpeonies]

Whitlock Needleworks sits in the heart of Downtown Hollow, and mid-February a sign shows up in the window: NOW TAKING MERRYMEET ORDERS. Clearly, the new seamstress has noticed the opportunity to serve the masses, locals and offworlders alike.

Come get your gal.

Comments

[witheredpeonies]

"Why did you spare his life?"

Like, he's just said a lot, but that's the first important detail she wants to be sure she has clarity on.

[lordoftheozarks]

"Because he was innocent and he did not deserve to die. Because killing my sister was a favor he'd done for me, without realizing it. I owed him. That he was an attractive man as well as a kind one were secondary to that fact. I simply could not stand by and watch him die for what I felt to be my own sins."

[witheredpeonies]

"I see. What happens if-and-when we do whatever we've come here to do and you're sent home?"

By this point, Annabel's leaning against the counter, taking up space in that subtle way, that unspoken reminder that he's come to her in her own space. But it's not imposing, not meant to intimidate him specifically.

[lordoftheozarks]

He watches her lean and stays utterly still himself. Neither a retreat nor a play to claim back any of the space he lost.

"If I'm given a choice, I do not think I will return home."

He's been thinking about that for some time. When he thinks about what he misses from his other life, it comes down to very little. The people close to him, yes, he will miss those. But, it took losing his position of power to realize how little he enjoyed having it to begin with.

"If I am forced to leave, and if all is just as it was when I left, then I will have to continue on in my arrangement with Max. Because it remains just as true now that the only hope he has for his survival is to stay within my protection."

[witheredpeonies]

"I see. Tidy, the idea of staying here, being able to wash your hands of the arrangement you began. But you're not the only one who'd make that choice, given the opportunity."

One eyebrow lifts. "Is there anything else you'd like the court to know, before we pass our judgment?"

[lordoftheozarks]

"Am I not?" Not for the first time does he wonder what arrangments Ms. Whitlock might be eager to wash her own hands of.

"One thing, your honor," he tries for whimsy but it falls flat. "I'm not ignorant of what I've put him through. I was once kept as a Pet, myself. Though I have ultimately failed, what I did to him, I did because I believed it would make life less painful for him than it was for me. If I must return home, I will try to make amends. I will try to conduct things differently."

[witheredpeonies]

Annabel nods slowly, once he's done talking.

"Are you ready for my verdict, Lord Osborne?" As she has in the past, she accords him his title while getting emotionally honest with him, never taking that from him to cause him pain, not since the gala.

[lordoftheozarks]

He smiles sadly when she uses his title--the very thing he is speaking of throwing away if he never returns--and closes his eyes, head bowed as if in prayer.

"I am."

[witheredpeonies]

She clears her throat, stands straighter.

"The court finds...that litigating crimes committed back home over and over again is a path to madness and a distraction from the effort we're putting in to make this world a little better. You want to do better, let's do better. I'm not saying that anything you did with regard to your Max is right or okay or wrong. I'm saying...knowing that about your past doesn't undo the impression I have of who the man you are here is. You tell me it's what you had to do back home, and I'm accepting that, but underlining that we're not in either of our homes, now."

[lordoftheozarks]

He lets out a breathy laugh, and the tension leaves him with all the suddenness of a marionette with cut strings. River does have such brilliant taste in partners, for the most part.

"I find the court to be very fair in its assessment. Thank you." He smiles for her, and it's the kind of smile that he reserves for a friend.

"We are not, no. But, I hope we can make this a home given enough time and effort. I am making the effort. I will continue to do so."

this one could wrap here?

[witheredpeonies]

"You won't make it alone. I promise you that." Not on River's behalf (though she's certain of the truth of that), but for herself.