(no subject)

[eldorne_girl]

[Delia is outside. Jeans and black shirt and leather jacket, she doesn't look anything like a lady, sitting perched there on the fence looking at the horses.]

[late afternoon, getting cool, but she seems content just to stay there. It's the one thing in Milliways that reminds her of home. Not of court, but home. Eldorne, with it's hills and grasses and many, many horses.]

[she had been talking to Mithros earlier, a whispered apology as she stroked his neck and said, not today, lovely. Your mistress is angry with me, I can't ride you today..]

[later, maybe.]

[later.]

[but now the great warhorse has moved on, and she's just sitting there in the open air.]

Comments

[eldorne-girl.livejournal.com]

Because I can. Because I want to. Because I have to.

[Delia answers, lightly.]

[un_fallen]

He nods.

"I think you're getting warmer."

[eldorne-girl.livejournal.com]

Duty?

[un_fallen]

"That's a good one," he says.

"Course, you might need more than that because not everyone does what they think they're supposed to.

[eldorne-girl.livejournal.com]

Want. Need. Pride, sometimes.

We all have our buttons, all have our things that we think we must do because of X.

[un_fallen]

"Yeah." He's nodding, looking back out at the horses.

"That's the sort of thing I mean."

[eldorne-girl.livejournal.com]

You've lost me.

[she admits]

[un_fallen]

He laughs again, and shrugs.

"Probably doesn't matter. I tend to look a little more deeply than is strictly necessary."

[eldorne-girl.livejournal.com]

Interesting, though. And who is to say what 'strictly necessary' is?

[un_fallen]

"Yeah... at a guess, I'd say 'strictly necessary' is probably something less than 'creepy and obsessive.'"

Raguel crosses this line often, though he still insists it's his job.

[eldorne-girl.livejournal.com]

Ah, obsession.

[un_fallen]

"Right," he says, eyeing her.

He can't quite believe that she's talking about Thom.

[eldorne-girl.livejournal.com]

[Now that, my dear Watson, would be because she's not.]

Oh, Alanna never tell you what I did? For Roger?

[un_fallen]

"Ah," he says, nodding. His expression darkens slightly, but it's not really as though he'd forgotten.

"Yeah, I heard some of that story."

[eldorne-girl.livejournal.com]

I bullied and coaxed Thom all winter to raise Roger from the dead - something that no one knew could be done.

Does that not speak at least a little of obsession?

[un_fallen]

"It speaks a lot of obsession." He doesn't say this like it's a good thing.

"And yet you also say you care about Thom."

[eldorne-girl.livejournal.com]

[Delia looks down]

I do. That was...when I was nineteen. I'm twenty-three now. And...Roger is a drug. I love him and I hate him and I am so incredibly tired of him.

He's also not here, and Thom is. I also love the Princess Josiane Rittevon of the Copper Isles and Alexander of Tirragen and I care deeply for Valentine of Verona. Because I love one person does not mean I cannot love another. It's just different.

[un_fallen]

"It's an interesting perspective," he says slowly, as though they were discussing the weather.

"In getting Roger back you killed Thom. And now you turn your attentions to Thom because he is here and Roger is not. I haven't stopped by to lecture you on fidelity, but it does seem to be the more common practice, when people speak of love." He shrugs.

"Maybe Thom doesn't mind. But I admit I can see Alanna's point."

[eldorne-girl.livejournal.com]

[a faint smile]

I have never pretended to be faithful, Raguel. But I am loyal. And it's hardly a 'now' I turn my attentions to Thom. We've known each other since he went to the convent.