[OTA] a Few Threads Hold Us Together

[cipherspeak]

There was little he, personally, could do about the latest discovery just beyond the Outposts - maybe if the script had been in Aramaic, he might have been of some use - so he'd ordered rubbings and lured Fin into productivity with chocolate and coffee. Then he'd slipped past Hadyn to go talk to the engineers about how the constant quakes were effecting the structural integrity of the castle. That was, he thought, something he knew at little more about; if your job in the military had been in explosives, it usually helped to know how much C4 it would take to bring a building down.

Not that he explained to the chief engineer the provenance of this particular knowledge.

After he'd done all that, he supposed that the general consensus was that he should have some tea and get back in bed. He was in his office instead, but at least the papers stacked next to him weren't reports to sign off on. They were completed watercolors, on a particular theme. Sketches from a few parties this year - Victor and Zoe at the Berthier wedding, Hadyn and Zoe dancing at the Spade ball - and more private moments as well, of the four close friends and Ben Mackinnon. Sophie Berthier, too, and some of the bride's other close friends; there was every a painting from memory of Lasandra Adare. She and Zoe had been friends, as Elisha remembered. She might have been the other bridesmaid if she hadn't left.

He was sewing the watercolors into a book with heavy silk thread, and the last picture to be in the little book of memories was less an actual event and more something he imagines would happen. Zoe in the dress he'd asked to see the week before and Victor in the formal kilt that matched the one waiting in Elisha's closet. He'd finished it the day before, before Hadyn got home.

It had seemed like a good thing to paint on Valentine's Day.

Comments

[the_songbird]

"Gift of a distraction?"

She hopes you don't mean dancing on tables, Elisha. She's not really that sort of girl.

"What do you mean?"

But at least he's got her curious.

[cipherspeak]

"That would be up to you, I suppose?" He says, raising an eyebrow. "Admittedly, I was thinking of singing." There was bound to be a lot of that, after all, between the groom and the best man.

Elisha would not be subjecting people to his singing voice, however. Unless Victor was asking for it.

[the_songbird]

Well, singing would make the most sense. "I could do that," she says, slowly. "I'll have to think of the right song though, I suppose."

But then, she's still got a bit of time to determine that.

"I guess we'd both be playing to our strengths, then, hm?" She asks, nodding down toward the paintings he's binding together.

[cipherspeak]

Dancing on tables, on the other hand, was probably a little out of character. Though it could also be fun.

Elisha's youth had the occasional misspent moment.

"It seems like it," he agrees, though he's not sure Victor would say that painting was Elisha's strongest point. Definitely one of the more socially acceptable ones. "Hadyn's organizing the music, I hear. Or at least convincing the groom and best man that they should include some songs neither sung by Sinatra nor native to either Ireland or Scotland."

[the_songbird]

Someone could probably talk her into it, but probably not at a wedding reception.

"I'll talk to Hadyn about it, then. And come up with something that is neither Sinatra nor Celtic." As much as it might pain the groom and best man. Zoe might appreciate it.

[cipherspeak]

"You could put some Queen in there and I wouldn't have a problem with it." Though he, personally, is tempted to slip in AC/DC, just for Victor's face.

"It's something fun to do, at any rate." As opposed to everything else Elani's been doing recently.

[the_songbird]

She smiles warmly, considering her performance of the night before. "You're right about that. I think we could all use a little."

"Maybe We are the Champions?"

Killer Queen would probably be pushing it.

[cipherspeak]

He'd been thinking more along the lines of Under Pressure, but anything with proper use of guitars worked, really.

"I'm confident that among all of us, it'll be an interesting party."

[the_songbird]

"Best sort of thing for a party to be." She'll flash him another smile and move back toward the door. "And if you don't need anything from me...I'll go back to my office and look busy."