On Island Time [Closed] - Printable Version

On Island Time [Closed] - Printable Version

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On Island Time [Closed] - megs - 05-01-2017

megs && saronym
ouo

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - megs - 05-01-2017

It had been a few months past a year since Julianna’s husband had been brought back from the dead. The how’s and the why’s of such an event had still yet to be explained to her, and they probably never would be. Though she had been unable to remember him at the time, her memories having been ripped away from her by devious and conniving siblings, in the months that had followed his reintroduction into her life, she had found herself regaining memories of him little by little. Owen was more than willing to fill in the gaps in her mind left behind by careless and volatile magic. One the one hand, it was like starting over, learning another person all over again. At the same time, she still knew him better than she knew anyone else.

Which is exactly how, she knew the innocent expression he wore currently was a big, fat ruse.

Julianna sat next to Owen, who occupied the head of the table in the dining room of the summer cottage in Macrilan. They had moved to the island to be closer to Nicholas as he attended school at the magic college. Nicholas sat across from her, and was telling a very animated story from that morning’s trip to school over dinner. Her youngest child was speaking, but Julianna’s icy stare was entirely for Owen. Her ears had pinned backwards towards the crown of her head, currently absent of an actual crown. Upon returning to the isles she had picked up her regular duties as the sitting monarch. She still wore the elaborate blue gown that she had appeared to the high court in.

The dusky, shimmering orange of Nic’s excited tone enveloped her mind and pulled her attention back to the little boy.

“...and then dad took the guy’s wallet! He said he wouldn’t teach me how to do it because I’m too young and you wouldn’t like it.” Nicholas spoke between bite of pasta. “ Mom, when I’m older can dad teach me?”

Julianna forced a chuckle. Only an amused sound in her throat paired with a sharp exhale through her nose. Her tail twitched where it hung over the chair. “Maybe, when you’re older,” she suggested, vaguely, turning her attention to Owen again. Normally, she would be entertained to have her youngest and his father so close. It amused her to see the way Nic was influenced by Owen. Their hair parted and slicked back in the same direction. Jeans and crisp button ups. The way they had strolled into the manor wearing matching sunglasses. At current, she was displeased with the morning he’d had with their impressionable son.

“It sounds like you had a very exciting morning,” Julianna began, setting her silverware down noiselessly, and pulling her napkin from her lap. “Your father didn’t tell me about all the fun you had before school.” Her words were heavy with implications, and this time her eyes did not leave her husband.

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - saronym - 05-01-2017

Innocent expression he wore indeed. Owen seemed to find the vegetables on his plate very interesting. He focused much of his attention on the broccoli piled on the glass and fed himself each piece very deliberately as Nicholas rattled on about their morning. He suppressed a cringe, turning it into a bland smile at the buttered floret entering his mouth when Nic broached the subject of their having been followed and the wallet snatching and the escape.

His chewing slowed down and grey eyes flicked from son to mother while the table awaited Julianna’s judgment on Nic’s future in pick pocketing. Owen ran his tongue over his teeth to hide another smile, one of amusement at her tacit approval to allow Nic to learn.

Julianna was prompting him to speak, to confess as it were. He glanced at the silver laid so silently, so royally at the sides of her plate. A sign of trouble. She always reverted to regality when he was in trouble.

Owen picked up his wine glass and sipped at the deep red liquid to buy himself time. He set the glass down again with as much care and silence as she. He was like a bad boy at the principal's office, avoiding eye contact with his accuser. The bland smile that barely curved his lips came back. It was the expression he presented to Julianna before answering.

“I wouldn’t bother you with trifles such as this on your day before the court, love.”

His gaze turned softer when he looked to Nicholas for assistance, “Besides, we handled it didn’t we?” Owen reached over and ruffled at Nic’s hair to endear himself to the boy.

“We dusted him. Nothing more to say on it.”

Owen returned his eyes to Julianna, giving her a pointed look. Having a child in their midst they were reduced to speaking in codes. Speaking in euphemisms. No doubt she’d heard of the slaying of a man in broad daylight at a motel known for its criminal aspects. No doubt she had already put two and two together.

There, of course, was plenty more to be said about it.

But Owen seemed more interested in his food. He went right back to eating as if the matter were settled.

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - megs - 05-01-2017

Julianna pushed her unfinished plate a bit forward, signifying that she was finished. Her appetite had been lost in the weight of the conversation. The unspoken parts of it, that were kept hushed for the sake of the child in their company. She picked up her own wine glass to have something to do with her hands, and continued to survey Owen over the rim as he spoke.

Nic laughed when Owen reached his hair. Enjoying the attention, but still playfully pushing his father's hand away and replacing it with his own to smooth down the fine copper hairs that had been disrupted by the gesture.

“I wouldn’t really call this a trifle,” Julianna replied as her ears pushed to attention. She set the glass down and her eyes flickered to Nic, and then to his empty plate. She sighed upon catching Owen’s look in her direction. The nature of the conversation couldn’t fully be broached in Nic’s presence.

“Sweetheart,” she chimed, smiling when Nic turned his attention towards her. “Why don’t you go get ready to start your homework? I will be there to help you shortly.”

“Okay!” Nicholas pushed away from the table without argument, eager to be excused. He knew that he could get away with fooling around in his room until one of his parents showed up to enforce homework time. And since he knew they were using their ‘we need to talk’ voices with one another, it would be a quite sometime before one of them appeared.

Sighing, Julianna turned in her chair to face Owen. She rested one arm on the back of it and crossed her legs. The slit up the side of her dress revealed a strip of tan leg from her ankle and upwards to her thigh. In a less serious context, the position would have wholly been for his approval. But the disapproving expression she wore broadcasted, that this was not the context.

“I suppose I don’t have to ask what you were doing while you were gone all afternoon?” She pressed him for answers, picking up her wine again and taking a delicate sip. Indeed she had heard about the motel. The area was a blemish on the otherwise seemingly pristine island and she entertained complaints on it daily. Julianna cocked her head at Owen , as she waited for an answer, black hair sliding over one shoulder.

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - saronym - 05-01-2017

Owen’s eyes widened a touch though he wasn’t looking at Julianna, but at his nearly emptied plate. It wasn’t the sort of widening that signaled surprise but more of an exasperated ‘wow’ kind of expression. “It’s a figure of speech…” He muttered as he stabbed at the last of his pasta and captured it in his mouth.

He chewed the food and washed it down with wine while Nicholas was dismissed from the table. He waited while Julianna arranged herself nicely, facing him more squarely for their … confrontation as it seemed to be becoming. Her posture was haughty.

Despite the connotation of her posture, she was worth a stare kind of stretched out in her chair that way. Owen looked long at her legs since they seemed to be arranged in such a way that lent themselves to his gaze. His eyes traced the line of her body upwards until they met green eyes distilling disappointment and frustration.

Owen picked up his own wine glass, “I checked out the guy.” He admitted before taking a swig that finished off his cup. Only the tiniest pool of red liquid remained at the bottom when he set it down again. Owen surveyed his wife for a moment while chewing his inner cheek. He seemed to be weighing her up for the next part, though he knew that she already knew.

“And I took care of it.” He shrugged as if it were nothing to him and stared at his fingernails for a moment before pushing himself up from the chair. He still spoke in code. He could have said And I killed him. But for some reason he felt the need to shield Julianna from what he’d done. To sugar coat it as something else.

They were supposed to be enjoying a new life. He thought of his time on the isles as a forever sabbatical from violence and power struggles and all that he'd involved himself in with the CAF. And here it was catching up with him again.

Owen gathered each abandoned plate, stacking them one on top the other along with the silver, and transported them to the sink.

“I take it you completed business with the court today?” He said as if to change the subject.

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - megs - 05-02-2017

I took care of it.

Her brow furrowed as he inspected his nails. The phrase hung between them for a few silent moments, until Owen stood up. Her tail flickered erratically behind her head. Julianna knew what the words actually meant, even though he refused to say them to her. As if she didn’t know they way he tended to take care of things. Especially those that could be perceived as threats. She sighed sharply as he gathered plates and silverware and moved away towards the kitchen.

Julianna pushed herself out of the chair to follow after him, gathering up wine glasses from the table before she joined him at the sink. Despite returning to the Isles and taking up her usual duties, they didn’t have servants at the cottage. She finished off her wine as she walked with big sips. The voluminous skirts of the elaborate dress swished noisily as she walked.

“Completed is generous,” she replied, indulging his subject change if only for a moment. “They are...old and have opinions that are hard to sway. I’ll reconvene with them on the issues in a few days.” Setting the glasses in the sink, Julianna remained next to Owen, leaning her butt on the counter. She crossed her arms over her stomach. She stared straight ahead, ears falling off either side of her head. Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth she chewed on it, thoughtfully.

“It was the C.A.F. wasn’t it?” She turned just enough to lean her forehead against his bicep. “We were supposed to be safe here,” she complained softly.

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - saronym - 05-04-2017

Owen busied himself with rinsing the plates off so that they could be loaded into the washer. He let a silence lapse between them after she informed him briefly about her progress with the court. In his periphery he could see her worrying at her lip and staring off at nothing.

He kept fiddling with the dishes even after she leaned against him. Just for a few moments and then he sighed and dried his hands on a towel.

“It was, yes.”

He said as he moved to occupy the space in front of her. His hands moved up her arms to her shoulders and one slid behind her neck coaxing her into his arms. “We are safe here, love.”

Though he couldn’t be entirely sure whether that was true or not. Somewhere inside he felt the same dark fear he’d noticed when Anita was taken. His instincts had been right then.

“He was just probing for information. Surveilling me. Us probably. He was a low level informant, not even a real card carrying CAF operative. Really more like a private eye.” Owen rested his lips against her forehead for a moment pensively before adding: “It’s not every day a disgraced general comes back from the grave, full of secrets, with a potential motive for revenge. You know? And I showed them I don't appreciate the intrusion.”

He pressed a series of gentle kisses against her hair line before pulling away to search her face for her feelings on the matter.

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - megs - 05-05-2017

Julianna folded into her husband’s arms as he contradicted her claims. Attempted to reassure her that they were safe. His warmth and his scent were not as comforting as usual, not when she was wrought with the tension of the news. Her ears pressed to the top of her head and she closed her eyes to the feeling of his lips against her forehead. His words coiled tight in her chest; disgraced, secrets, revenge. She wondered if he had ever considered revenge against the Covenant.

“You killed a man, today,” she corrected, quietly, because he wanted to prove that he didn't have to sugarcoat things for her. Concern and disappointment mingled in her gaze as she peered back at him. It wasn’t that she was disappointed in him for the hit, it was that he had had to. That once again he had been resorted to killing to make a point. Her ears sprung to attention, swiveling towards him. She didn’t mention that part where he’d lied to her about his intentions and whereabouts when he’d been out that day.

She pulled away from him, not because she was upset with him, but because she needed to pace. Needed to blow off the excess energy that accompanied her nerves. She ran her hands over her hair, moving back and forth across the kitchen tile in a short line. Her barefoot steps were light and quiet, but that elaborate dress swished noisily.

“Does Nicholas know what the man really wanted? Did you the informant say anything to about his employers? Have you talked to Darcy?”

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - saronym - 05-12-2017

Owen’s wince when she accused him of exactly what he’d done was slight but visible. A pressing of his lips together and a subtle squint. The thought of what he’d done displeased him. He took no joy in it, nor that his wife had to be privy to the fact either.

She slipped easily out of his arms because he let her. He could have just as soon tightened his arms asking her to stay, but he sensed she needed a bit of space. She proceeded to pace and fidget with her hair. He remained still, policing himself to avoid any unnecessary nervous or anxious gestures lest he fed her emotions.

Three quiet ‘nos’ followed each of her questions. He shook his head before explaining himself. “Nicholas thought it was all a game. I made it fun for him and kept him calm. He was aware, however, that we were being followed, as you know. The informant essentially indicated that he could be paid off for information, but those types are never trustworthy. I have reason to suspect that Darcy may be subject to investigation, as well, so I’m not sure it’s safe to call him. I would rather speak with him in person where I can be assured we are speaking privately.”

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - megs - 05-12-2017

All of the breath seemed to leave her in a single and prolonged sigh. She placed one hand over her stomach, frowning as if it were bothering her. She was wrought with nerves over all and it was possible the tight bodice of the elaborate dress wasn’t helping. Julianna nodded in understanding, processing what he was saying. Her tail started to sway, conveying she was pleased about some things. That Nicholas had been left out of the scary parts of the ordeal. “So, we have to go back?” Her ears fell to either side of her head. The fingers spread across her stomach clenched into a fist and she very much looked like she could cry.

“We have to go back there?”

The quick flips of her tail at her feet advertised her displeasure. The thought of having to go back to Colorado, potentially to the C.A.F distressed her. She knew Owen’s next move would be to suggest he go alone, and she didn’t like that either. Julianna inhaled, and released it quickly. And then she did it again, and once more in a concerning succession. She was hyperventilating, she was suffocating.

“I need to change,” she announced, suddenly, turning away from Owen and feeling very close to breaking down. She didn’t want him to see it, didn’t want to contradict what she had just said about being able to handle it.

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - saronym - 05-16-2017

One could watch the way thoughts of the CAF twisted Julianna’s gut. It was all in her hands. The way she held herself and then balled her fingers into a fist. Owen stepped towards his wife, reaching to touch her arm. Offering her comfort. She was too keyed up.

“Love..”

He was pleading with her.

It was no use. She was close to tears. He could sense that in her like you could smell the rain and feel the pressure drop.

She was all but running from him now. He understood the need to, but he pursued her.

“Julianna.”

He followed her into their bedroom. He closed the door into the frame quietly as if he were placing a delicate tea cup down. Moving up behind Julianna, Owen placed his hands on either shoulder, engulfing the joints with his hands. “Let me help you.” He offered before gathering her hair and moving it around to one side so he could examine the back of the dress. Owen wasn’t sure what was going on with it in terms of freeing her.

His hands hesitated. “Can you - just show me? I don’t want to break anything.”

He so preferred clothing that could be unhooked, unstrapped, unbuttoned, or pulled off with no trouble or second though in the complete dark. Those were the kinds of clothes he preferred.

But he was learning.

“We don’t have to go to the CAF, per se. Why don’t we just arrange a visit to Darcy at home? Under the guise of having dinner with him and Renton and the kids. We can talk business at some point during that.”

He stopped his work with her dress and bent to kiss the back of her neck just between the shoulder blades. He wrapped her up in his arms from behind and stared at her in the vanity mirror they were standing in front of. He liked the way they looked together. The differences in their height, the contrast of their skin. They made an attractive pair.

“Wouldn’t you like that? To see Darcy and the family? We only have to talk about this unpleasantness a little bit. But for the most part it could be just dinner with dad.”

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - megs - 05-18-2017

Julianna’s intention had been to get away from him so she could cry. He’d never really been comfortable around her tears, and knew this was the reaction he’d been trying to avoid. But he had come after her like he always did, smoothing hands over her shaking shoulders, that heaved with her sobs. She sniffed when he draped her hair across her chest and reached behind her back to gesture vaguely at the laces that secured her tightly into the dress.

“You just have to loosen the cords,” she explained, voice thick with emotion, as she let her hands fall back to her sides. She waited patiently, as he slackened each eyelet. The relief of being free of the dress and his reassuring words drew a heavy sigh from her. Her ears twitched as he kissed her, tail swaying as she stepped out of the dress, which piled up on the floor. How quickly she went from regal queen in a gown, to a scared wife in black panties.

Her ears pressed to her head as he grabbed hold of her before she could get too far. Julianna had ceased crying already, but her face was a bit red and a bit wet, and held onto the arms that held her. She leaned her head back, resting it against his collar, observing their reflection in the glass. She nodded when he asked if she would like to visit their friends. “Yes,” for a moment she sounded like a petulant child that had been offered ice cream in exchange for behaving at the doctor’s office. “I miss them,” she continued.

She turned in Owen’s arms and wrapped her own around his back, pressing her body against his and hiding her face against his chest. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - saronym - 06-05-2017

A gentle smile spread across his face when she agreed to visit Darcy and Renton. It wasn’t the agreement per se but the way she said it. A little pout to her lips and resignation in her voice. Though she cried she hadn’t made a mess of herself. A subtle flush and shine on her cheeks from tears. A dampness to her eyelashes.

He slackened his arms around her enough so that she could resituate herself facing him. He petted at her hair and around her ears. “Everything will be fine, love.” He reassured her again.

He held her for a moment that way and then pushed her far enough away from him so that his thumbs could clean off the tears that were drying under her eyes. When he was finished his hands moved to their familiar resting place on her waist.

“Should we get Nic into bed?” He asked without realizing that they’d just finished dinner not even a half hour ago. It was still so easy for him to lose track of time. He had no sense of it anymore.

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - megs - 06-06-2017

Anita knew she had missed dinner when she arrived to the cottage just before dark. It had entirely been her intention. She didn’t want her night back home to start with being trapped at the dinner table with her nosy and well-meaning parents. Anita found that her parents were too much now that they were back together. Too loving, too attentive.

She was happy for them, of course. Her parents were soul mates, and they needed each other. But after growing up without her father, and her self-inflicted isolation and the guilt she had held onto for so long made being around them weird for her.

Her parents had moved to Macrilan to closer to Nicholas and the magic college. Anita had chosen to stay in the States for a few more months; she still sort of felt like she was finding herself. With Owen pressing her to figure out what she was doing with her life, she used staying with Cain and Keiavan as an excuse to bum around on her own a bit longer. Her mother, however, as insightful as she was had given her a timeline. Anita agreed to join her parents in Macrilan after four months.

And here she was now. Curls bouncing and dark sunglasses high on her nose as she approached the cottage. Cottage was an understatement. She gazed up at the building from the end of the walkway. It was practically a miniature castle. Her leather boots were mostly silent on the cobblestone path. The floral pattern of the shoes matched the strange aesthetic she had going on with her tie dye leggings and her cut off shorts and her tank top. Her tail swayed near her feet. Anita hiked her bag higher on her shoulder, head turning this way and that as she surveyed the gardens. Weeping willow trees lined the edges of the property, she’d have to find a nice big one to smoke under later.

Needless to say, she was unaware of what had happened earlier that day. Didn’t know that her father and her brother had been tailed, or that her father had ‘taken care of it.’ Anita had not considered that no one was expecting her to show up this evening, just as she rarely thought that she would go unrecognized.

RE: On Island Time [Closed] - saronym - 06-15-2017

Charlie had taken a shift on guard duty for the royal family. She had been cross trained for the position and had volunteered at the first offering to test out how she might enjoy the vocation of protecting them. Her shift had just begun and she was completing her first circle of the perimeter when she came upon a woman in a bright outfit approaching the cottage and a steady pace.

“Ma’am.” Charlie tried to get her attention. “State your business at the royal estate.” The woman in bright tights that clung to her legs kept moving as if she hadn’t heard her.

“Ma’am!” She raised her voice somewhat, not knowing how aggressive she was allowed to be.

Charlie had been briefed on the entire royal family history. An assassination. A resurrection. CAF ties. And now tails on the King and young Prince in the city.

She wouldn’t risk any threat. Charlie took off at a dash towards the woman. She made a sort of angled line towards her and tackled the woman so that she would land in the grass that lined the cobblestone path. The woman’s bag was knocked askew and spilled a mixture of cosmetics, sunglasses, money, a lighter, and other things on the grass next to them. With the potential perp secured under her thighs, Charlie pinned the woman's hands down to the grass and tried again.

“I said state your business at the royal estate!”

Her voice was high pitched, a bit flustered, and breathless from the exertion. She didn’t know the protocols completely or when to exert force. This was her first day on duty and she was tackling small girls already. What a day.

She stared down at the woman she was straddling which caused the length of her ponytail to fall forward over her shoulder and dangle towards the face of the woman beneath her. Charlie’s ears were at full attention and her tail completely still behind her head. She was staring down at a strikingly pretty girl with a halo of curly hair spread out on the grass.