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Post by The Jenn on Dec 8, 2008 14:56:29 GMT -5
Felaria chewed on the inside of her right cheek for a minute, mulling over his words. "I guess I'mma hafta talk to you later 'bout some 'o the Court stuff, then. I wanna know what kinda stuff I'll be jumpin' into once I get there, an' I haven't heard some o' the stuff you been sayin'. As for sewin' stuff, I can prolly round that up without too much trouble. Wash is easy too. I'll just need t' start a fire an' get some water boilin'. I know we got a clean rag you can use for that."
She grabbed her plate and whatever he was done with, and then bustled out to the kitchen to do as she'd said. Using cold water for a bath was no fun, and she didn't imagine it was any better without fur all over. She left him with the necessary supplies to clean himself and his clothes, including a thick bar of homemade soap purchased from one of the neighbors who was good at that sort of thing.
After asking around to see who had sewing supplies, she managed to round up a needle and some thick thread that one of their cousins used on his bedding. Of course, that was a half hour walk out and then back again, so she expected him to be done by the time she got back. Her granddaddy always snoozed for an hour or so before noon.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 14, 2008 18:51:50 GMT -5
He was thankful for the wash. Even though he was thoroughly uncomfortable considering the circumstances. Esterberry mulled over what had been happening during his bath, and continued to mull over things once he was redressed and looking at his damaged clothing.
At least his pants were in decent condition. The man slipped his shirt on, checking the tears in it. He sighed as he tugged on his sleeve, it almost complete came off. That was...fantastic.
He sighed as he sat on the bed. He felt ill. He felt sticky. He felt completely and utterly annoyed. Despite all this he probably shouldn't be a complete and utter jackass to the person who saved his life. Most of the time he hated the Esterberry snark in him, and yet....
Harold sighed again and glared at his vest. When she came back he would apologize to her and tell her properly about courts. In theory. He didn't know how do deal with her, at all. Or this place. Or anything.
Finding himself. Yeah. Great idea.
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 14, 2008 22:20:53 GMT -5
The silly man had a lot of things to get used to if he was going to survive in the swamp for however long he stayed. Honestly, she would have liked to tie him back up like she'd found him, only on a bed, but she had a feeling that wouldn't be especially welcome and she wouldn't get where she wanted. There were plenty of stories of swamp folk going out and dragging back unwilling foreigners to either stay or produce a child. Hell, she knew people who'd done it. Some of them gave the Golfam a bad name with the outside world. Others... well, maybe they were just lonely and a little crazy. She wasn't like that, though. She had plans to leave anyway.
...which meant that maybe she could convince him to come along for the ride, or something like that. He was a damn fine-looking man and she knew she was pretty. Maybe if she could convince him of that...
Still, that wasn't her biggest priority. She wanted to get more information out of him on what the Courts were really like, but she didn't want to do it around her granddaddy. That would be all she needed, him listening in on someone badmouthing where his little girl was about to go. She didn't want to upset him, but she wanted some answers.
Late one night, after the fat old rat had gone to bed and about a week after she'd found Harold tied to a tree, she tapped lightly on his door and opened it. With a grin. Maybe she could catch him sleeping?
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 14, 2008 22:33:46 GMT -5
The week was an odd one. After numerous times of correcting their grammar in his head, and once correcting it out loud when he had trouble figuring out what was actually being said. He was still at a loss half the time but he was getting used to it. Sort of.
The man wasn't asleep when she knocked. He had been thinking. That's all he really could do. He didn't have a desk or anything to write with. No books. He wasn't going to try to borrow anything while he was still a complete and utter stranger. Instead he ponder over all the stupid things he had done to get him where he was.
The hatred he had for the courts grew. And... he began to worry. He had heard horrible stories--true stories--about the new Queen of Hearts and what she had done to people.
The knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts. "Is there something you want?"
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 14, 2008 22:42:14 GMT -5
Aww, he was awake. That's what Felaria had honestly been hoping for, since she wanted to talk to him, but still. Petting his hair would have been a fun bonus before she woke him up. She closed the door behind her and moved to sit next to his bed in the nearby chair. "Yeah, I was hopin' to talk to you for a little. I haven't really pushed, but I wanna know more about the Courts. You may've been a Club an' I'm a Heart, but there's gotta be thing that're the same, yeah? I wanna know about those things. Why'd you hate it? Why'd you like it. Who tied you up t'that tree an' why?"
She crossed her arms over the back of the chair, sitting in it the wrong way, and rested the chin of her muzzle on them. It was dark, but she'd brought a lantern and she could see the glass of his monocle reflecting the small flame. Damn it. She really liked him. "Also, I'm kinda curious about you. Well, I mean, more you-you, not just Court-you."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 14, 2008 22:57:48 GMT -5
Harold smiled. Of course she wanted to know more about the courts. That was every little girl and boy's dream wasn't it? The watched her lean over the chair the wrong way with an eyebrow arched high. She really was a pretty girl, unlike most of her region. She certainly was completely different than what he was used to.
The other comment caught him by surprise. His eyebrow, however couldn't move any higher.
He cleared his throat. "I suppose I should start positive then. I enjoy courts because of the people in them. When I first joined everyone was rather friendly. They treated me like I belonged, not like I was "just that smart kid" back when I was in school. Being the part of a group was something amazing."
And then everything went down hill. "But the current Queen is rather strict. Things changed quickly, and their King just made it worse. Paperwork. And so many other duties. It stopped being fun. It stopped being wonderful. All the charm wore off.... I've heard stories about the new Queen of Hearts. She makes the court of Clubs look like a walk in the park. Jacks can have just about any job. It mostly focuses on what they specialize in. I mostly worked as a researcher, and ended up employing some servants and librarians."
"As for why I was tied up then, someone who I thought was a friend ended up tying me up. He wanted my title bad enough that he was willing to kill me for it. He didn't know that I was planning to leave. The arrangements had already been made...." He shrugged.
"What exactly do you want to know about me? Do you have any worries about joining the courts...?" She should. He really should just tell her about the Queen of Hearts. She probably wouldn't believe it if he just came out and said it.
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 15, 2008 0:05:37 GMT -5
Half of Felaria's brain engaged itself by listening to him. The other half admired the way his face moved while he spoke. It was so weird. She couldn't really tell what he was thinking by his face, but at least his words were clear enough, even if his accent was strange.
"Sounds like it was good when it was good, an' nasty as shit when it wasn't. How much power's the Queen got over the resta the Court? Everything seemed just dandy for you until that changed. Were the King an' the Queen the biggest reasons you left? Would you've ended up stayin' if it wasn't for them? And... hey, so what's the Queen o' Hearts like? You say she's new? We don't get much news in here." She really didn't know anything about anyone in the Courts right now. She was just confident enough with herself and her abilities to believe herself ready for it. She was also fifteen. That might have had something to do with it.
"I wanna know who you were before you was a Jack. I wanna know about you. What kinda stuff d'you like? Hate? Where've you been?"
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 15, 2008 0:19:23 GMT -5
"All the power belongs to the Queen, but the King can keep the Queen in check if they're being unreasonable. However, when the Queen and King... agree on everything things get tough. Things in the court of Clubs went down hill rather fast." He sighed. It was depressing to think that his future had fallen apart, completely in front of him.
But the Queen of Hearts? That was terrifying. "I've heard nothing good about her. She is a blood thirsty person who demands absolute control over the courts. She despises vermin... enough that she ate one prospective noble when they came to the courts with an interest. I wouldn't... recommend getting anywhere near there. She is the typical Highlander bitch and so much more. She's a venomous snake and doesn't care who she has to kill to remain on top."
His eyebrows were knitted with worry as he looked at the girl sitting in front of him. She didn't deserve for anything like that. She certainly didn't deserve to be eaten because of some nasty Queen.
"Before I was before I was a titled noble?" He changed the subject as quickly as he could. Lingering on the Queen of Hearts wasn't something he was fond of. "I... was a nerdy boy who went to school in Esterberry for the majority of his life. People picked on me because I was a frail little human boy who was smarter than them. I was at the top of all my classes.... and had no friends. It was pretty lonely and I had no luck with women or much of anything."
"Might I ask who you are exactly?"
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Post by The Jenn on Dec 21, 2008 1:39:10 GMT -5
"Huh. Sounds like a whole lotta crap, the way you put it." Shame about his Court, and a shame about hers, apparently. A venomous bitch of a Highland snake? That didn't sound too good. Felaria had never seen a Highlander in person, but she'd heard all sorts of nasty stories about how snobby they were. She'd heard the same thing about Esterberry, too, but Harold didn't seem nearly that bad. No, he'd actually been pretty good about everything, even though it was obvious that he wasn't used to swamp living.
The smart kids got picked on here, too. She didn't realize just how smart he had to be for a bunch of Esterberry kids to pick on him for being intelligent, but the principle was the same. The women comment perked her right up, though. "No luck with women? So you don't have any lady-friends waitin' for you back in the Court or somesuch?" She didn't care how obvious the question may have been. Hearing that had made her entire night.
"Me? Eh. I was born with my biped, which was pretty special, an' born a Heart, which isn't so common 'round these parts. Born a Ten and hit Jack with my granddaddy's help. Both my parents died when I was a baby an' the old rat raised me ever since. Been real good to me, granddaddy. It was him who first got me thinkin' 'bout the Court. Wanted me t'make somethin' of m'self where my mama didn't."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Dec 24, 2008 21:05:37 GMT -5
He raised an eyebrow at the 'lady-friend' comment. He really hoped she didn't mean what he thought she meant. "I suppose... I don't," Harold said quietly. He was happy for the subject change, he didn't know if he could deal with relationships and his past for very long.
Harold was surprised by her story. She made it rather simple, even though it was probably more complicated than that. "You don't have to join the courts to make something of yourself. Just because you have a title doesn't make you anything. I doubt anyone will remember my name even though I was a member of the courts trying to make something of myself."
That was a bit harsh, wasn't it? He bit his lip. Honestly he should be nicer to someone like her. Coming out and saying what he was actually thinking--was something he hadn't done for years. This is what he'd been looking for, even if it was drab and depressing.
He laughed. He caught himself though, and choked it down. "I'm sorry. I suppose I'm just a little tired."
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