[OTA] Beware of Greeks bearing gifts

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

Zoe's twenty-first birthday had started well enough, with murmured birthday wishes from Victor and a promise of dinner tonight before he left to start his day either in his office here or the one over at Club Castle. And it had, for a few hours at least continued well. She dropped in on the accounting office to check on Penelope - she might be taking the day off, but her assistant was still new enough that she liked to check in before disappearing for the day. Then she'd dropped into the Head of Finance's office to hand over the expenditure reports for September and smile at Edison's side-eye. He was a Six, after all, and had some idea that Zoe had plans to challenge him at some point, but there was little he could do about that.

And he wouldn't be wrong, anyway.

The day only went south when she headed down the hall and found a pair of Heart Twos with a box. The library was quiet this time of day, and she hated to let people into Victor's rooms, so she nodded in that direction, letting them put it on a table deep in the stacks and dismissing them before she opened the note. She recognized the handwriting, after all.

Darling, Happy Birthday and a belated congratulations on your impressive achievement of Five. Of course, if you'd stayed put, you could be a Nine with your dear, dear brother by now, but I'm sure you're intelligent enough to not realize that.

I'd hate to leave this day unacknowledged. These are some things I thought you'd enjoy, dear.

Charlotte Huntly Kattalakis

Well, Zoe thought as she picked up the yellowed letters and unfolded the first. They ran the gamut: letters from Charlotte, letters from Aunt Maggie, letters from someone named Maria. Correspondence of a more...professional sort - off-Deck jobs, compensation for them.

It was all supposed to upset her, Zoe thought. And it...didn't, really. She'd known even if she'd pretended not to, what kind of man her father had been. She'd seen things, she thought, and then she blinked when she saw a black velvet box tossed carelessly in the corner of the box, reaching over to pick it up. Inside were earrings, and a note old enough that the paper had started to yellow.

Για Ζωή, για εικοστό πρώτο έτος της ηλικίας της.

"Papa," she murmured, and leaned back in the chair as she looked down at the jewelry. Would he be upset with her for what she'd done with her life? Did it matter? It shouldn't, certainly, especially not after this summer, but...

Well.

Maybe it did, a little.

[Translation: For Zoe, on her twenty-first birthday.]

Comments

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

Zoe remembers too. She remembers waving Dafydd off because her six foot tall friend clearly was frightening Leigh, and she remembers the network of scars Leigh showed her on her arms.

Cookies are a more cheerful way to celebrate today, even with everything else.

Like Eileen, Leigh finds Zoe outside, on a bench in the Spade garden. Somehow she's gotten roped into babysitting a pair of Spadelings who are playing in the new children's area, so she's put aside the embroidery for a book - something she can look up from fairly frequently. Which is what she does when Leigh wanders in. "Hi," she says with a quiet sort of smile. The last time she saw Leigh, after all, was at the hospital, and while she'd mostly been there for Chives, she couldn't help but see the pain everyone else was in.

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

"H'llo," she says softly, holding out the small container of cookies. "Um. I think I remembered right? It's your birthday today?" It had been good of Zoe to come. She probably remembers the pain in Leigh's face then, the pain that's held back now behind a strained smile.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"It is," Zoe says with a smile, and scoots over on the bench so Leigh can sit down. "I'm twenty-one this year. Did you bake these?" She asks as she opens the container and takes one out.

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

They're somewhat generic in shape: candles, cake slices, gift boxes, flowers. All very nicely frosted, though.

She nods her head. "Yup. Ginger and chocolate chip and all kinds of flavoured frosting."

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"They look delicious," Zoe says as she bites into a yellow-frosted flower. "Want one? I'm stuck here, anyway, until their parents get back." She waves at the twins - it's always twins in the Deck - before extending the box.

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

She's already sampled a few in the process of baking it, but she takes a pink candle anyway, to be polite. "'nk'you. I don't think it's so bad out here to be stuck in, at least? And they're not misbehavin' or anything."

Yet.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"No, it's nice out today, not too cold yet." She wrinkles her nose as she keeps an eye on the kids. "I'm not the biggest fan of winter."

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

"S'better when you've got all the stuff to go 'long with it. I never really got to throw snowballs before last year. And hot chocolate jus' tastes better when it's cold out." Leigh smiles a bit, just a thin edge curving upwards.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"That's true. Mulled cider, too." And mulled wine, actually, but that was a more recent discovery for her. "And gingerbread. Cookies and the cake."

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

"Plus the decorations. Anything you want and it'll all taste good." Is it okay for Leigh to take another cookie? Because she's eyeing the yellow tulip. "And it's fun to come in from snowball fights and start baking."

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

Zoe nudges the cookies closer. "I might try sugar cookies this year. I was barely up to brownies last winter, but I think I can manage something a little more advanced.

"Would you like to help?"

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

"That'd be... nice. I mean, if we do it in the kitchens here." Change of scenery. That's her reason and she's sticking to it. Even with Chives around.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"I know my way around these, a little better." It doesn't really occur to her yet why Leigh doesn't want to bake at Diamonds. "And I haven't baked as much since Arcana left, really."

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

"At least they're not round to be all scary and confusing now. S'just that weird door." She fidgets with the hem of her sweater and her voice lowers a little. "I heard a bunch of kids went over there last week and none of them could open it."

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"It's probably best to stay away, without an adult around." Not that an adult could really do anything about children disappearing, but it seemed wise to at least take the precaution. "But I think it might be something only the Arcana can do."

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

Leigh tilts her head, taking another cookie. "You think they'll ever come back?"

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure." Zoe sounds thoughtful as she leans back. "I know they agreed not to without warning, and that The Magician and The Tower aren't allowed at all, but...I don't know. It would seem strange to make the effort to come here and never come back again."

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

"Maybe in a hundred years. When we've mostly forgotten about what happened." Leigh nods assuredly. "I read that in a bunch of books."

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"I can see it now," Zoe says wit a grin. "They come back, and they go: you've forgotten again?"

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

"And we wouldn't know what they were talking about, but at least maybe they won't do dumb things like they did this time." There's a lot to blame them for. It makes a nice target, their being gone.

It would be nice to blame them for everything, but that's a step Leigh can't quite take.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"I hope that they don't try to take us all back again. That they were convinced it was a bad idea. Not all of them thought it was a good thing in the first place, I think." In fact it had seemed to only be The Magician.

And as much as Zoe would like to blame him for everything, she can't quite do that, either.

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

"I think it would be neat to visit. For- for field trips and like that. Y'know. Cultural exchange," Leigh explains, gesturing vaguely.

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"It could be." Though it's clear Zoe's not sure about that. She got a too personal view of The Magician's obsession. "But I don't think it'll happen for a while. I'm not sure if we're even still...talking."

[allthesamemask.livejournal.com]

Leigh laughs. It's short, a little weak, but genuine. "Maybe we could slip a note under the door. Do you think that would get through or it would just come out the other side here?"

[headfollowheart.livejournal.com]

"It's probably worth a shot." Zoe looks thoughtful. "I was thinking of picnicking up there at some point, anyway, with some friends. If you want to come?"