[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

[jokeswithknives]

A slim arm appeared in the doorway, hand at the end of it wagging a bright red apple. Juliette's pale face slowly appeared around the door frame, bright eyes framed by long dark hair. She grinned at the Club king, then took a bite of the apple as she slithered around the door and stepped lightly into the room.

"Whatcha doin', 'lisha?" she sing-songed, walking on her tiptoes until she could peer over his shoulder, ever curious.

[the_songbird]

"I think Finn is making some headway," Elani says with a smile as she pokes her head in to Elisha's office.

She didn't really want to bother him with work right now, particularly if he's supposed to be recuperating, but good news was good news, right? And she certainly wouldn't begrudge him some time to spend doing something some might consider frivolous.

After all, hadn't she done the same the night before?

[maskofhearts]

Bond was in the door before Hadyn was, much to the younger man's dismay as he juggled food and two bottles of water. And it wasn't as if he could just sling the pup over his shoulder so easily anymore- for one, he squirmed. For another, he'd grown to be three times the size he'd been when he'd first come home. Now he was in the uncoordinated stage of his developed me- paws that were too big for his size, legs that just didn't want to work as fast as he wanted to go. In short, Hadyn wondered if the pup was going to brain himself to death from flying into walls instead of stopping or turning here lately.

"Bond wanted to say hi," he said with a soft smile as he set the food and waters down on a side table. "I think it was because Q was ignoring him from on top of the dresser." Q was not enjoying the new found playfulness of a three month old puppy.

"You're looking better."

[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.

[belowcastle]

He peeks at the king's latest artwork out of habit more than anything else expecting to see something abstract and (to him) incomprehensible. Therefore, he's pleasantly surprised to see a pleasant little vignette of a wedding scene.

"Master Fox and his lady, milord?" He ventures as he places strong, black coffee before Elisha.