[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

[somuchheart]

"Elisha, I-- what's that?" After a couple knocks of warning, Blythe steps into the room curiously, peeking over at what he's doing.

[cipherspeak]

"It's a...wedding book, I suppose," Elisha says as he knots off the thread and tests the pages. "Except with sketches instead of photographs. See?"

He pauses on a sketch of Blythe and Zoe sitting in a tree grinning wildly with some kind of secret.

[somuchheart]

"Oh, that's beautiful." She smiles brightly as she sees the picture. "That was a good moment to choose. Man. This past summer was pretty nice." Which, of course, reminds her of how 'not nice' things are now. A slight crease appears in her forehead before she asks, "... have you been having problems with, uh... fights? Now that the number of people who live in the Castle is skyrocketing?"

[cipherspeak]

"It was, wasn't it?" It had been stressful, hard at the time. New position, losing Sieben- and it was a loss, no matter how he'd felt about him - and Laureline and Ceiro. But compared to now...

"There was an attempt at a riot, a week or so ago. I thought about just beating the instigators over the head." Tensions were high all over, and the Deck had never been a happy, fluffy family.

Even in the Hearts, and he glances at her. "Feuding?"

[somuchheart]

"Mmm, yeah. We caught a couple Hearts in a duel the other day. I think they didn't expect me to get angry." She laughs, just a tad bit self-conscious. "I think they didn't know I could be angry. I might have blew up at them, but... um. At least they got the message?" She tugs on her hair.

[cipherspeak]

"We'll, you're sweet and petite. They probably forgot that you sped up to Ten with knife-throwing and sheer bad assery." Did you knock their heads together or just give them the raw edge of your tongue?" Elisha probably would have done both and put them on the shittiest duties he could come up with him but that was him.

[somuchheart]

She can't help but splutter a little, laughing. "I yelled at them and sent them to work in the kitchens. I... sort of wish I could have sent them to Chives, to be honest." Her lips curl up, just the slightest bit mischievous. "I'm not sure that Sean will be particularly mean."

[cipherspeak]

"No, probably not. I bet you can count on Cooper, though." He'd never struck Elisha as a man who put up with much shit, frankly.

"Set them to working in the laundry if that doesn't work," he adds with a grin. "No one enjoys bleach except Chives."

[somuchheart]

She curls up in her seat, laughing a little more. "One of them's a Seven. He won't take it very well. Then again, he shouldn't have been an idiot in the first place if he wanted to be treated like a Seven."

[cipherspeak]

"If he wants to behave like a fifteen year old Two, treat him that way. How are things otherwise?" Change in Faces was never easy, after all, as he knew way too well, and Blythe had been holding up the Hearts alone for several months.

[somuchheart]

"... Shuffling a bit, if that's not too cliche." She runs a hand through her hair. "I think it'll be okay, though. Just... it's not a good time for any more change right now, you know? Or, at least... that's how I feel. I supposed people can disagree."

[cipherspeak]

"Theo will probably want to make his mark." It was the way of it. But they were in a crisis, and he imagined that Theo would recognize it. "I don't suppose you've been talking about Queens yet."

Not that he could talk, there.

[somuchheart]

"Honestly? Now that there's a King, that's a burden lifted off the HR department. If Theo wants my opinion, he'll get it, but it's pretty much up to him now. I trust his judgment." She looks down at her hands. "And there are other things for HR to worry about right now."

[cipherspeak]

"You're getting a lot of people in the Castle, too?" He sighs, a little tired as closes the book.

"I'm starting to wonder at what point we'll run out of room."

[somuchheart]

"Yeah. It's... a lot of people. A lot of people to trust not to be stupid." She runs a hand through her hair. "I'm afraid to ask anyone to share rooms with other families. I don't want more fighting."

[cipherspeak]

"The Deck breeds feuds," Elisha agrees. "But if they keep moving in, we're going to have to ask them. The Castles don't have unlimited space."

Of course, hopefully they could solve the problem before that happened, but you had to prepare for whatever eventualities.

[somuchheart]

"And hopefully, it doesn't get to that." She spreads her palms helplessly. "It's just... the problem is something so... bizarre. Who would know how to fix it?"

[cipherspeak]

He's silent for a moment, staring off across his office for a long moment before he speaks.

"I can only think of one particular group," he admits. "And I'd be hesitant to invite them."

[somuchheart]

"Mmm... yeah, how about no? I'd hate to have to stoop to inviting them back. I mean... we finally got rid of them."

[cipherspeak]

"We'd probably never get rid of them again." Which was why he hadn't contacted Christophe. But he would, if it got much worse.

[somuchheart]

She mulls it over for a minute, then stretches. "I don't know. Maybe I could scare them off. You know, considering how badass I am."

[cipherspeak]

"We could just stage a repeat of last time. That seemed to do the trick." Knives and guns were eloquent that way, though.

[somuchheart]

"... I don't think I've touched a knife since then, to be honest. I'm so terrible at time management," she admits with a self-conscious little laugh.

[cipherspeak]

"I only get as much practice sparring as I do because I have regular partners." Hadyn, primarily, though there was no reason to tell Blythe that. "But really, this is the first time you've had almost a full set of Faces in months. I don't think Tunde was ready for the level of work that goes into being a Face."

[somuchheart]

"I know we have a full set now, but... god, I don't think there's time to take off now and sit around practicing. I mean, not only are there Acely duties or whatnot, but the whole HR staff has their noses to the grindstone and... it's like we're not getting anywhere."