i’ve been waiting on the fault line | OTA

[limier]

WHO: Wren Coupe, Melys, Casimir Lyov, Finch Wicker + YOU
WHAT: Catchall for the month
WHEN: Mid- whatever this month is i give up
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: Will edit as appropriate

 

Editing these in as I go, if you’d like a specific starter please hmu on plurk or discord (oeste#8807). ♥

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[untiltheyarent]

Another new servant is here to teach him the ropes, at least as well as she's learned them. Fifi is no stranger to young men, least of all the lovelorn type, and though patient with him for much of their work, she seems to know exactly when to wave a hand in front of his face and suggest he get back to work.

"You followed a girl here," she says at last one morning, her accent thick Orlesian, "she is not reacting well?" It's conversation for conversation's sake. Maybe the poor little bastard just needs to let it out.

[justnice]

It's easy to fall into old habits, even inside a new routine. Easier, for having another elf about, and this one near enough Robin's age — kinder for it —

"We're engaged," Maybe he shouldn't be talking about this, the way that Fern doesn't seem to. Maybe that's just what they're doing now: Not talking, acting like it's nothing for anyone to know. It feels wrong, but so does the alternative. "I am, at least."

It's got to be alright, here and now. Fifi probably doesn't even know Fern, why would she? The whole point of taking work indoors was to give her some space.

"It's not like I can just up and run off —" His voice cracks a little, and shame-faced, he turns to tug a sheet into place. It's not the sort of thing he wants to be angry about. And then what? Plant turnips this year, beets next year? "— It doesn't matter."

But he's still talking. Because of course he is.

"She’s got one of those things in her hands, a shard.” She's got far more than that, but that’s really not his to share. "We can’t go home anyway."

[untiltheyarent]

At first Fifi is surprised, then confused. They're engaged? He's engaged?
"Then she has called off the engagement?" she asks, holding the opposite end of the sheet so he can tug it with more accuracy, "quel dommage." There's sympathy there, but also a certain level of world-weary acceptance. He's young, he'll find another.
"It is good of you to stay nearby. Perhaps she is simply upset, because of the shard?"

[justnice]

"No. Well, I mean," His brows pinch in a little — still wondering over the shape of the Orlesian — "Not exactly."

"She's acting like it's done, but she won't say it." He stoops to tuck it in. "We were going to get married next month. I promised her family, and the hahren."

"I told her I didn't care about her hand, that we could stay until they got it sorted, and she just." A frown. "She said some things. I don't know."

"I guess I just don't see what's so bad about where we were."

[untiltheyarent]

"Ah." Fifi doesn't know every person in the world, but she's seen the worst in men and women both, and it doesn't take much for her to see the truth in situations people prefer to talk themselves around.
"Give her time," she muses, straightening the sheet, "or don't. People change, it's life."
She picks up one of the pillows and fluffs it, a touch more violently than one might imagine is required. "Find another girl, if it suits you. But if this one's changed her mind, you are both wasting your time."

[justnice]

He delays to watch her a moment, the force with which the batting shakes.

Finch doesn’t know how they do things off in Orlais (on fire or stacked in boxes tall enough to hide the sky), but it's got to be a little strange, to be so far from home. Not the same kind of strange, maybe, but.

Wasting your time,

"I don’t know about that." At last. From the way he's been talking, Finch doesn't know much at all. "We’ve all got to look out for each other, don’t we?"

It’s not exactly an earnest question, too quiet, too full of its own little doubts. He wouldn’t be here if there weren’t certain things he’d made up his mind about, but it’d be nice to be wrong about them, all the same.

"Can I ask you something?"

[untiltheyarent]

A sympathetic smile is cast his way-- they've all got to look out for each other. Yes, that's true, and sweet of Finch to think so. Poor thing.

"Oui," she says absently, prompting him to ask.

[justnice]

"How do you know how to start over?"

His head tips aside,

"I mean, how do you know what to do?"

[untiltheyarent]

Though Fifi's smile fades, the expression it becomes isn't unkind; thoughtful, rather, as she pauses and folds her skinny arms over her apron.
"You just... do," she uselessly replies, "it is not a thing that can be taught, as I know it. You find what works, and you do it." She offers an apologetic shrug. "What makes you happy?"

[justnice]

It's a good question. It's not one he has any ready answer to. It isn't a matter of sorrow so much as — well, if you never stop to think about the joys, what do they really matter for?

"Not worrying, I suppose. When everything just stops for a bit." His own smile returns, shallow, rueful. "But that's unrealistic."

[untiltheyarent]

Fifi watches him a moment, with a sort of weary affection. Poor boy. Sweet boy.
"Not entirely," she replies with a shrug, "there are ways to make everything stop, if only for a little while. And it's hardly a life." A small laugh, directed mostly inward.