[OPEN Mini-Log] After the Storm

[witheredpeonies]

Who: Annabel Lee (witheredpeonies) & You
What: Clearing her Mind
When: After the Gala
Where: Oak and Iron Tavern
Warning(s): None yet, threads will carry warnings in subject lines

The Gala had been eventful, and now Annabel Lee is tempted to close herself up like a fan. A dangerous thought, given she genuinely does need allies, given the danger represented by everyday life in Pumpkin Hollow. So she figures out a way to be out in public without feeling vulnerable: she brings her personal chess board to the Oak and Iron, sets it up, and begins playing openings for herself, while offering a mild smile to anyone who walks into the room.

Care for a game?

Note: Annabel Lee is a very good chess player; she's defeated every potential suitor for several years in a ruthless manner. While it's not impossible to beat her, many characters will not.

Comments

[somebodychildofanyone]

"...Maybe so." The lightest brush of River's thumb, there against Annabel's hand. "Annabel...you amaze and delight me. Every talk has been a new challenge, every little joke and verbal parry has my heart fluttering. But I'm not an abstraction. I can't be. I'm gonna drink, and fight, and bleed, and say stupid shit. I'm almost as new at this as you."

[witheredpeonies]

"I don't want you to be an abstraction. I think I want you to be my friend, first. Not as a dismissal of the possibility of more, but. Because I think I really need a friend more, right now." Somehow, putting that into words feels childish. Juvenile. Petty? No, not that, not quite.

[somebodychildofanyone]

A nod, small, quiet.

Softly: "You said some things back there, Annabel."

River's ready to be a friend. But she was still hurt more deeply than she ever expected.

[witheredpeonies]

"I know. I did. Things based in my world's view of women and what we're supposed to be." She looks up, makes eye contact. "What I've always been supposed to be, too."

[somebodychildofanyone]

"It hurt. It was a damn relief when the vampires attacked, that was a problem I could at least solve, but...woke up this morning and it still hurt." River's eyes close again, and she focuses on her breathing. "...I had a better reputation as a merc than I ever will as a necromancer. That you'd consider me at all was like a dream. And then..."

And then what happened, happened.

[witheredpeonies]

"And then I tore you apart." A sigh.

"I am sorry for that. I...Zelda and Eddie pointed out how awful that was, to me, that night."

[somebodychildofanyone]

A shaky breath out. River nods, but...

"I can't say I didn't get my own licks in. I was mad, and cast insults on your character that I really shouldn't have, not as a friend or a swain."

[witheredpeonies]

"I might have deserved them, at that point. A little bit." She ducks her head.

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Still." A tiny squeeze, just River's thumb against Annabel's hand. "If...if we want to try again later, we know to talk now. In the meantime, my door is always open to you, Hell or high water. Standing invitation."

[witheredpeonies]

"Both hell and high water feel like they might end up being literal here." Not that she wouldn't look for River under those circumstances. Either of them. All of them.

Possibly fading? Definitely more chess on the table

[somebodychildofanyone]

"We'll get this solved," River murmurs. "Now...I think I've got some games to lose. I can't be embarrassing a friend with my shitty chess game."