In Ur Garden; Up Ur Tree

[onlytolerable]

 Sophie learned her lesson during the Arcana incursion. She'd spent far too much time buried in old tomes. On more than one occasion, she'd had to be carried to bed. So now, she paces herself. She gets the same amount done as she searches in vain for mentions of past magical failures--at least they have jumping off points--but she makes time to take the occasional break and clear her head.

That  still doesn't explain why the 8 of Diamonds is seen outside scrambling up trees.

Curiouser and curioser.

Comments

[onlytolerable]

Good thing he's of the male persuasion then, isn't it?

"Come on. Triple dog dare you." She scrambles lower to a branch sturdy enough to support whipcord thin Ten and slender Eight. "It's for Sitara." She adds the last as enticement.

[diemwnt]

Sitara is a well-played card, to be sure. It's absolutely got him setting briefly into that suspended place that comes between action sometimes while his mind catches up with itself.

/You can tell me just as well from the ground, I'm sure./

No dice, Sophie. This is actually one of his nicer suits.

[onlytolerable]

Bah. She'd almost had him. There are times to coax and cajole and times to not. This time belongs to the latter, so with mock pout she swings down to the ground.

/I bet you're a champion tree climber./ She pauses to daintily dust off her behind. /Tree house. Sitara needs a tree house./

[diemwnt]

...damn it. He does want to help with that.

Maybe when he's not dressed so neatly. That seems like it must be a reasonable compromise.

/Is there a timeline for that need?/

[onlytolerable]

/Not until Spring, at least./ She shrugs. /Needed to clear my head. Do you think she'll like it?

[diemwnt]

That's a feeling he knows. Which means, because he's learning more properly about this physical contact thing, one hand will be sacrificed briefly to nudge back a strand of her hair.

/Of course she will. Probably like helping to build it./

[onlytolerable]

She wrinkles her nose like a wayward child at the attention, but she smiles nonetheless. Nice to have someone who understansd.

/I was hoping you'd say that. I'm not sure Adrien can swing a hammer, and I know I won't get him up a tree. Are you buried in work right now?/ Between the anomolies and loss of yet another Jack she means.

/I'd like you to stop by for dinner. I'll be asking the peacock and the sweetheart./ You know, just in case the family that disappears together will be together. She's not nervous. Oh, no.

[diemwnt]

He's a conservative man when it comes to the use of his hands, of course. He's had to be, in his life. But the tick, when he's busy and tired and needing strength, of reaching up to squeeze his own shoulder absently isn't easy to repress.

/A little swamped. Running to see E-V-E for a bite./ She might set his heart in a bit of a bind from time to time, but she kept him honest at lunch time when Leigh didn't get to him first. /Can I bring mam?/

[onlytolerable]

She just stops herself from observing he made it sound like he was going to bite Eve. She doesn't want to scare him off of possible relationships by teasing, at least not by teasing too early. At least he was taking time for himself, something they both were learning how to do.

/Always. I'd be disappointed if she didn't come. Adrien adores her. It's no wonder Cadogan Thomas had become such a marvelous man once you met his mother.

[diemwnt]

He would appreciate it if he knew.

/I'll tell her./

But before he did, he'd allow himself to smile. Having his mother here had absolutely started the smiles kicking up much more regularly.

[onlytolerable]

They're both smiling more than they used to. If they're not careful, people will think they've gone loony.

/Coq au vin. Even I can't mess that up. Seven?/

Suddenly, she gives him a quick hug. Don't go crawling through any strange buildings, brawd.

[diemwnt]

Or that the rebound trio are all finally sleeping together they're finally content in their lives, have hit their stride in spite of the world shuddering to pieces around them.

/It's a date./

[onlytolerable]

Hitting something, at any rate--possibly the bottle.

/Don't say that to your mother if you want to avoid another round of matchmaking./

[diemwnt]

Hardly. But soon.

His laugh, as ever, is a sharp huffed sort of noise.

/There is no avoiding it. One simply gets used to it. You and Adrien are lucky./

[onlytolerable]

/I'd probably be married now/ she admits, /life tied up like a package. Sometimes she feels the hole inside her where her parents ought to be. Other times, listening to Zoe go on about her mother, for instance, she was grateful she'd avoided all those arguments and recriminations.

/You're completely different around her. It's nice./ Good to see him relaxed and happy, more him than he was even with her or Adrien. Relaxed.

[diemwnt]

His smile is a little quizzical, brows coming together slightly as he tilts his head.

/Different?/

He had been different around his father, he knew. That... hadn't been a good thing.

[onlytolerable]

/Bad word choice. More Cadogan./ She uses her sign-name for him, a "C" followed by a touch to her heart. /Hard to explain. More you./

Happy.

[diemwnt]

Time surely for a light tap on the nose as he shakes his head.

/Like being with S-I-T-A-R-A makes you more happy?/

He's on to you, madam.

[onlytolerable]

She wrinkles her nose and swats at his hand (deliberately missing).

/S-I-T-A-R-A makes everyone happy./ So do stoic Welshmen and annoying peacocks.

[diemwnt]

And Sophie. Sophie makes everyone happy. Thank goodness neither of them would ever have to admit it--and that they had Adrien to squawk it for them as well.

/As does my mother, I've been finding./

[onlytolerable]

/She does indeed./ It was no wonder Cadogan had grown into the man she knows after she'd met his mother.

/And her son. Don't sell yourself short./

[diemwnt]

His mother explained what was good in him. His father had explained what was horribly ugly in him.

He was glad his mother was the only one who had the honour of meeting Sophie.

/Flatterer./

[onlytolerable]

/Not me. Someday you'll believe it./ He was the best man she knew, and she'd keep reminding him until it sank in.