ataraxion | [video] - like a velvet glove cast in iron

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[video] - like a velvet glove cast in iron

[Elsa is in her cabin, and she looks different than she has on the network in the past. Her hair is still in a braid over her shoulder, but her dress is high-necked and mostly black, and it makes her face look very pale, even in comparison to her everyday appearance. The fact that her eyes are noticeably red-rimmed and puffy doesn't help. Her demeanor is circumspect now, but it's obvious that she's been crying.

She also wears a pair of fine teal leather gloves.]

Hello, everyone. I -- I have two things to say.

[She pulls a plant into the picture. It has pretty yellow blossoms, but it's beginning to droop: maybe her cabin isn't the right environment for it. It's in a glass jar of water for the time being.]

The first is... this plant was in my locker after the most recent jump. I don't know what it is, or how to care for it. I'd be grateful for anything you can tell me.

[She doesn't promise a reward, because what does she have to give?]

The other thing is...

[She hesitates, then swallows, pressing her lips together, visibly determined to soldier on regardless of how subdued and defeated she feels. She should probably apologize for what she did to the eighth floor, but that would mean publicly admitting to the exact nature of her powers, so for now, she decides to stick to the plan she's already made.]

Does anyone have any gloves that they're not using? I only have this one pair, so I'd like to borrow some for a while, if that would be all right.

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[ oh hey, did someone say gloves. ]

I got a dozen or so spare pairs, but I don't know if they'd fit you.

[ since he has big teenage boy hands and he can see from the video that she's a little more delicate. ]

[She attempts a very small smile, something that looks tight and impermanent on her face just now.]

No, they'd do. They don't have to fit well.

Why do you have so many?

[She's not going to admit just yet that she's followed that other conversation. It's not polite to snoop!]

I have a pair of kid gloves which I found in my strongbox when I first arrived. You may indeed borrow them, of course.

( elizabeth doesn't hesitate. instead, she locks the conversation from this point onward to the best of her ability. once that is done, her features shift from pleasant neutrality to an expression of genuine concern. )

Elsa, what is wrong?

Thank you.

[And indeed, the expression that breaks across her face is almost pathetically grateful. It doesn't last, collapsing into an attempt at a smile that seems more distressed and embarrassed than anything.]

I had bad dreams.

[At any other time, that would be less than forthcoming, and might sound like an excuse, but just at the moment, it's meaningful.]

Edited 2014-11-23 19:25 (UTC)

( there is no need for thanks. elsa's happiness and comfort are more than enough recompense for this small favour. so, she continues to smile at her quietly until she mentions the dreams. and then the smile vanishes. )

As did I. Where are you at the moment? If I may, I will come to you.

( and they can sit together in silence or talk about it. given what she knows they already have in common, she feels as though she should be there to help her through this. )

I'm in my cabin. Number 50 on the eighth floor.

[The smile on Elizabeth's face is comforting -- patient. Even if there were extenuating circumstances, Elsa isn't sure that she deserves anyone's forbearance just now, but talking to someone who understands might help.]

[He is unused to this device, but how upset the young woman is seems to strike a chord with him. He's never been able to walk away from someone obviously in need.]

I know a little about plants, mistress, but I haven't seen one like that before. What have you tried in caring for it?

Nothing much, except making sure that it has water. That's how it was given to me, and it seemed to be thriving, so I thought I should continue the same thing.

[She shakes her head slowly, ruefully.]

I can't say that know much about plants at all. It wasn't a very big part of my education, partly because I wasn't outside often. I can identify some trees and flowers, willows and birch and elm... nothing like this.

Where I lived before coming here, we had gardens that we all helped to take care of. I'm finding the gardens here have such huge variety though...

[What she says sinks in. How can someone have some a sheltered upbringing? Even in the court at Starkhaven he was encouraged to be outside, mostly get out of his parent's hair.]

Was there anything else with it when you were given it?

No, just the jar and the water and the plant. I don't know if it's supposed to be this way forever, or if it was only meant to be temporary.

Have you ever found something you didn't expect to find in your locker? It happens all the time here, but this was the first time it's happened to me, aside from when I arrived. Sometimes it's something from home, but... this wasn't mine. I've never seen it before in my life.

Try varying the amount of water you give it. Some like more, some like less. It may just be trial and error.

I have only found things that belonged to me in my locker - my armor and weapon, mostly. But then, I have not been here for very long, truly.

I'll try it. Thank you. Even though they're not familiar to me, I like the flowers... I want to keep them alive, if I can.

The place you were before, with the gardens... may I ask what it was like?

Are there other people in the gardens who could help you?

Kirkwall? It is... a large city, set on many levels. Depending on how well thought of you are depends on how high up you live. I lived in the Chantry, serving as a Brother there... a place of contemplation and prayer. [Though he would be leaving before much longer, an odd thought.]

Oh, I've heard of Kirkwall! It's not in my own world... not that I know of, anyway. But someone I talked to a few months ago was from there. She said it's a very big city.

You were a monk?

[A cloistered existence isn't so far from her own upbringing, a way of living she had decided never to embrace again... but there was a certain peace in it. And people who live lives of contemplation and prayer usually do so with other like-minded people, don't they? They probably don't have to spend most of their time alone in their rooms unless they want to. In fact, privacy might be the more difficult thing to achieve.

Focusing on this subject allows her to pay attention to something other than her own very recent unhappiness. For now, she also sets aside the idea that other people in the gardens could help her, with the intention of coming back to it.]

Yes, I have a couple of friends from Kirkwall here. It was good to see them.

Yes, I suppose I was, from what I understand of the phrase. Though not now. [Almost... but not quite. The life of contemplation and prayer, it had been part of his life for so long, but it was time to move on, find another path for himself.]

[Her expression becomes more curious.]

Why not? I mean, aside from being here.

[She's still a queen here, she thinks, even if she's far away from anything she has to rule. That's probably only temporary... isn't it?]

Unfortunately, I have other familial duties to perform that take presidence. Well. Sort of. It's a little complicated. [He gives her a wry smile. How do you even explain about your royal background?]

[Things that would draw a monk out of his monastery... what could do that?]

Is it something related to an inheritance?

[Because, if so, she can understand that more than most. The years between her parents' death and her own coronation had sometimes felt like watching sand pour through an hourglass, as if her own entirely necessary privacy was slowly draining away.]

[The laugh he gives is somewhat bitter.] You could say that. My family ruled [he stutters slightly on the tense] rules over one of Kirkwall's neighboring city states, and cutting a long story short, I am next in line for the throne.

[Well, that must be a complicated situation. Not just to have to take a throne that you might not really want, but... maybe to feel obligated to reclaim the throne you don't really want. In any case, if her new friend is telling the truth, he's not a minor lord at all.

If she had been left alive, would she have tried to reclaim her throne from Hans of the Southern Isles? She thinks she would have.]

I see. Did someone conquer it, or... there was an usurper?

[She sounds like this line of discussion is entirely natural to her.]

[He kept calm. He'd had years to get used to the fact his entire family had been murdered - even if he hadn't gotten on well with them. It still hurt, still burned deep inside.]

A so-called friend of my parents had my entire family killed.

[That distracts her even further from her own problems. Her expression falls, her eyes widen in horror, and her hand, gloved in teal leather, comes up to cover her mouth.]

Oh, no! That's terrible. What will you do?

[Before... he wasn't sure. If anything, this place, and the time to think away from distractions has clarified the decision he made.]

Here... I can do nothing. Back home I intend to restore the throne to it's rightful heir, not an upstart cousin.

It must be hard to have to wait.

[She pauses for a beat, thinking something over, then continues,]

That's very different from being a monk.

Did you... have dreams last week?

[The revenge and restoration scenario he has described hits a little close to home, in that it's not completely unlike what she'd wanted to do to Hans and the reasons she'd thought she wanted to do it. Yet what she had really done, in full possession of her faculties, was simply to banish him and send him home as a prisoner. His wrongs had been righted, his plans had been foiled -- there had been no need to exact any revenge deeper than that.]

Yes, and no. The Chantry was my life for so long, it was hard to decide to finally give that up. And yes, very different from my previous life. [A difficult decision to make in the long run. He had loved being a brother in the Chantry. It had been his whole life, once he decided to throw himself into it wholeheartedly.]

I... I did. Yes. [Dreams of his old, pre-Chantry life, where whoring and drinking were common place. He'd left that behind such a long time ago.]

[It's easier to slip in a reference to her position in life than to walk around telling everyone she's a queen right away. She's barely ruled, but she hasn't chosen exile this time, either.]

When my parents died, a few years ago, being queen was just about the last thing I wanted. Once I got used to it [(referring to it this way leaves out a great deal about the process of "getting used to it" that she isn't willing to discuss in public just now)], it wasn't so bad. But no one had hurt them... they were lost at sea in a storm.

I don't know if I could avenge someone. I think I might want to, if it came to that, but....

[But it's more in her nature to forgive than to want to inflict a grinding punishment.]

Is that the sort of thing you dreamed of?

Edited 2014-11-30 08:18 (UTC)

I've never seen a plant like that before, but I'm sure it's nothing a trip to the library can't fix! [ Hence the movement Elsa might see via the feed. ] Give me a few minutes and I'll figure it out for you.

I don't have any gloves, though... I hope that you find some soon. Are you cold?

Cold? I... [there's a difference between keeping the truth to yourself and actively lying, and Elsa toes that line, rueful and ashamed]... no, it isn't that. I don't get cold often; I'm from a cold country. No.

It's that my hands are very sensitive lately.

Are you sure that library is a good place to look?

Was anyone else able to help? There must be a pair of gloves on this ship, it's enormous!

Oh, yes. It's... electronic, they say, so they're not real books, but there is so much information there. I know there's also some kind of garden on board; maybe one of the people who work there could help you!

A few people have offered to. I'm very grateful.

[Her head tilts in curiosity.]

I've used the library, but all I seem to be able to find is terrible romances about star-crossed lovers.

Have you spent much time in the gardens?

[Elsa has, from time to time, but it's not somewhere she feels very confident about going just now.]

Really? [ She wrinkles her nose. ] Well, I wouldn't visit there often if that was all I could find. I can make some recommendations if you like to read.

[ Elizabeth then tilts her head, considering. ] Not too much, yet, but I'd really like to spend more time there. It seems more like home to me than most of the ship.

Cold hands? That's the worst. I usually just pull the sleeves of my sweater over 'em 'cause my gloves don't have fingers most times.

That's a good idea if your hands are cold, but mine are just... [she visibly searches for a word]... sensitive. I want to protect them.

[She wants to protect everyone else, but that's not what she's going to say.]

Gotcha. [she'll respect your ~secrecy~ for now] Well, I can check around engineering for a spare pair of gloves if you want. They might not be pretty, but they'll cover your digits just fine.

[Hey, that "winter wonderland" had "nothing to do with her." For the time being. She loves her powers, but losing control is just humiliating, no matter how extenuating the circumstances or how much she thought she was in control at the time.]

That would be wonderful.

How do you like working in Engineering?

No problem!

It's only the best job ever. Except, you know, when things get all crazy. And creepy. And basically terrible.

[Is it ever good at all?]

What kinds of things do you do there?

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[video] - like a velvet glove cast in iron

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