Building Bridges [Closed] - Printable Version
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RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - Tindome - 01-02-2020
Unfortunately for them both, Bridget was the least equipped to understand the effect the King had on people, and was therefore incapable of foreseeing the plausible outcome of this entire situation.
"Thank you, Lady Corey," he said with a pleased smile. "Wave goodbye to the librarian," he suggested to the woman in his arms, as if she were another of the children.
The trouble with Bridget was that she was incapable of being properly menaced. It left her mostly unaware of how he was likely to respond to someone who seemed to reflexively cower.
He grinned down at Tiffany, all sharp teeth, and made no move to set her down. "Shall we have a meeting about architectural logistics?" he asked. "Boring is optional."
He paused. "You didn't break anything, did you? I didn't hear anything, but I don't know if halflings these days are particularly delicate."
"Thank you, Lady Corey," he said with a pleased smile. "Wave goodbye to the librarian," he suggested to the woman in his arms, as if she were another of the children.
The trouble with Bridget was that she was incapable of being properly menaced. It left her mostly unaware of how he was likely to respond to someone who seemed to reflexively cower.
He grinned down at Tiffany, all sharp teeth, and made no move to set her down. "Shall we have a meeting about architectural logistics?" he asked. "Boring is optional."
He paused. "You didn't break anything, did you? I didn't hear anything, but I don't know if halflings these days are particularly delicate."
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - Viala - 01-18-2020
Tiff found herself waving numbly in response to the king's words, too dazed to really put up any sort of resistance to something so childish. She probably should. This was probably racist in some way she wasn't really thinking about. Most things involving her size tended to be.Mostly though, she was kind of incredibly terrified! Was Bridget actually going to leave her with him?? In his arms??
Which, speaking of, he looked down at her with that terrifying, sharp-edged smile that was much much closer than she really would have preferred, and Tiff practically felt her soul escape from her body. "Ah," she started, thinking about perhaps turning that sound into something resembling a 'yes' or possibly a 'maybe' or if she was feeling bold a request to stop being held like a child, but then he kept going and she had to focus on that question now.
"Halflings are. Actually kind of sturdy?" Why did it come out as a question. It wasn't meant to be a question, but that lilt had entered her voice at the end and turned it into a question and now she was vaguely annoyed about it. Fantastic. "So... no, I think I'm okay?"
She really wanted him to stop holding her. Could that be a thing she could ask him to do? Wasn't that something Bridget had said she could do? Glancing over at Bridget, hoping for some kind of help, she paused as she watched her engage with the variety of children that were present, for some reason. That was cute. And her reassurances that she was coming back were helpful as well, though it would probably be for going to the dungeon. Less ideal.
Whatever the case, it bolstered her enough to take a breath, shifting her attention back to the King reluctantly. "Um," she started, her voice wavering slightly, "can I request to... be put down, please? Maybe?" She really needed to stop talking in questions.
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - SolitareLee - 01-18-2020
Bridget's eyes glanced between the King, and Tiff, who was still in his arms. She couldn't smell anything, not from this distance in the open air, but she could still read body language. She wasn't great at that on the best of days, but Tiff was broadcasting. Slowly, her tail rose and stiffened, her ears pinned forward. If she'd had hackles, they would have been raised. A growl rose in her throat. She swallowed, somewhat painfully, almost coughing. She couldn't growl in front of the children. She'd freak them out. Or worse, they'd get excited about it. Not being rude seemed less important, suddenly. There weren't foreigners here, other than Tiff, and that was a technicality that would probably be taken care of in short order. The garden was less formal than the throne room, and the children were often rude just because they were children. She was going to be down in the dungeons later, anyway. She could afford to be a bit of a brat.
She opened her mouth to remind Tiff of what she'd said, but to her surprise, Tiff remembered on her own. She maybe wasn't as firm about it as she could have been, but most people weren't, when dealing with the King. The boldest of hearts--quite literally--still tended to waver towards the side of being overly polite when uncertain. It was progress. Bridget let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
It would be fine. She could trust him, she reminded herself. In ten years, he had never done anything to hurt her. And he'd never do anything to hurt a scared woman. He'd play a little, sure, and maybe she'd get a bit of a fright, since she seemed predisposed to be scared of him, but only exposure would fix that. Eventually, she'd get used to him, and how scared she felt at first would be a humorous memory.
A child pulled at her skirts, and her ear twitched down to half-listen to the demands for the promised ride. She held up a finger, silently--a librarian's reflex she'd developed ages ago now. Her eyes stayed on the King and Tiff.
He'd put her down, obviously.
She just. Wanted to see it, was all. Once she saw it, she could take care of the children. She shouldn't need reassurance, ten years in. Normally, she'd scamper off cheerfully and without a second thought. But for whatever reason--Tiff's fear, or her similarity to how dumb Bridget had been when she'd first arrived, perhaps--she found she really, really needed to stay for a moment and see Tiff's feet touch ground.
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - Tindome - 01-31-2020
"Oh, wonderful!" he said cheerfully. Sturdy was always good. Especially at her size. A delicate constitution in this castle would be dangerous. Bridget would probably end up killing her.
He frowned a little. "That seems a bit drastic," he said. "Or—no. You mean set down, onto the ground. Yes?"
He gave her a little toss upward, because it was the easiest way to catch her waist in his hands, holding her out at arm's length with his fingers splayed over her ribs for stability. "How about… hm." He regarded the ground with suspicion as he considered her shoes, then took two steps to the right. "Here." He set her down like a carefully placed piece of furniture, then patted the top of her head. Not for any real reason; it just felt like the thing to do when setting someone down.
"You were going to tell me," he prompted, "about… buildings." He didn't remember if that was actually what she was going to tell him about. Buildings felt close enough.
He frowned a little. "That seems a bit drastic," he said. "Or—no. You mean set down, onto the ground. Yes?"
He gave her a little toss upward, because it was the easiest way to catch her waist in his hands, holding her out at arm's length with his fingers splayed over her ribs for stability. "How about… hm." He regarded the ground with suspicion as he considered her shoes, then took two steps to the right. "Here." He set her down like a carefully placed piece of furniture, then patted the top of her head. Not for any real reason; it just felt like the thing to do when setting someone down.
"You were going to tell me," he prompted, "about… buildings." He didn't remember if that was actually what she was going to tell him about. Buildings felt close enough.
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - Viala - 02-03-2020
She couldn't help it.She gave a tiny little shriek when he tossed her, just a brief one. Barely an 'aa'. More like an exhalation than anything else, cut off as abruptly as it started once he caught her again. She stared at him afterwards, eyes huge in her face, looking for all the world like a startled cat being held.
He could probably feel her heart hammering in her ribs.
He probably didn't care.
She blinked owlishly at him as he set her down, and then patted her head, feeling vaguely like she should be offended. Actually, she should probably be feeling a lot of things right now, but it was kind of difficult to do so when everything in her mind was shrinking away from the very thought of being near the King. Distantly, she made a mental note to examine in a little further detail why exactly he was scary; maybe if she could quantify it a little better than 'Large Humans Are Terrifying', then she could start to rationalize reasons not to be scared of him.
...right! She needed to focus on his questions right now. Or...
...maybe she needed to stop focusing? That was what Bridget had said, right? To just... stop thinking. Just let the words pour out. Overthinking was her issue, right?
So. Time to stop thinking.
"Architecture is the better term, and you wanted to know about why I like it!" She reminded him, her hand going behind her back and lacing together. "Could we walk while I explain? It's easier to talk about when I'm moving, 'cause my hands tend to go everywhere and I'd rather not smack anyone in the face because people don't really tend to appreciate that!" A sort of cheer had entered her voice, similar to how she had spoken earlier to Bridget in the waiting area; the same sort of mindless optimism that had marked her out.
Her eyes flicked up towards the King's, maybe hoping she could maintain some form of eye contact, but then her stomach gave a sudden lurch and she decided that wasn't really the greatest idea.
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - SolitareLee - 02-03-2020
All the tension drained out of Bridget in a sigh of relief. Honestly! She was being so silly. She shook her head at her own ridiculousness. Tiff had remembered to ask, and of course the King had done it. The King always did it! What was she thinking, honestly? She was letting her weird wolf hormones get in the way of her good sense. Which happened! Less now than it used to, and never in this particular direction but. Well, she was getting older. Maybe she was getting protective over small, delicate things. The fact she'd felt no concern about the children around Avi was waved off. That was probably it. Normal, parental-ish wolf instincts.
And look at Tiff! She was still a little stiff, and her rapid-fire speech felt a little nervous, but she was doing way better! It would go fine. Bridget had helped. Tiff would get her job, Avi would get his halfling, and she'd get the children out of their way. Everyone would be perfectly happy, including her, because she was always happy when other people were. As soon as she saw it all work out, the knot in her chest would untie. She was sure of it.
Her fears put to rest, Bridget led the children a bit further away from Tiff and the King, into the garden and out of sight. If this was all caused by wolf hormones, it wouldn't be good to transform right by the King. And she wouldn't want to spook Tiff, either, who had so much else on her mind and didn't need any distractions. Instead, she waited until she was firmly out of sight.
She glanced up through the trees, gauging how strong she felt. She was pretty sure she could manage the transformation back. She might need some recovery time in-between, but well, that would just give Avi more time to win Tiff over. And Tiff time to win Avi over, she supposed, although that was probably long accomplished.
"Miss Bridget, was that your girlfriend?" Gina asked, all cheerful, childlike curiosity. Despite the innocence of the question, Bridget flushed slightly.
"No, she's a new hire of the King's," Bridget replied, speaking as though it was a foregone conclusion because she considered it one. "I was just helping her navigate the castle."
"Why were you rolling around in the grass?" Julian chirped in.
"We tripped."
"Together?"
"I fell when I caught her," she said with a sigh. "Would you like answers to your questions, or would you like a ride?"
"Answers," Julian replied at the same time as everyone else said "a ride!" Bridget laughed.
"A good thing we're going to the library, then. As many answers as you want, in there."
With Tara still riding her shoulders, Bridget took a few steps away, and then gave herself a full body shake. It wasn't necessary but it helped the shift, which rippled down her body in a quick second. Tara let out a little shriek as she did, but was still sitting safely on Bridget's shoulders when she had four paws on the ground. The children cheered and clapped as if they'd never seen a giant blonde wolf before. It probably helped that they were normally in bed by the time she looked like this. Several of the children immediately ran up to bury their hands in her thick fur. Even on all fours, she was taller than they were, a good five feet at her shoulder. She gave Julian a proper lick on the face, then butted her head against Adam, gently, but with enough force that he wobbled slightly.
She lowered herself onto the ground so they could clamber up behind Tara, wincing slightly at the number of uncautious childrens' hands pulling on her fur. She wondered if the King would be in the mood to brush the tangles out of her fur tonight, or if she was going to have to go around brush in mouth to find someone. Plenty of people loved dogs; it wasn't hard to find someone to spend the night with.
It was a lot of children to carry, but her back was long and she was very strong. As long as they held on tight, it would be fine. And there were worse things than falling off a wolf, anyway. Childhood was full of such happily won injuries.
She started at a stately walk, then a trot, letting the children find their balance and good places to grip. Once it seemed like they were all on pretty firmly, she sped up. It wasn't safe to run in the castle, let alone full-tilt with a lot of children on your back, but she gave them a good, easy lope around the garden before heading in towards the library. The castle was loud during the day, busy as a beehive with workers of all stripes and too many children. A lot of them would be redirected towards the new home being built, but that wouldn't be done for months.
Actually, she should probably direct Tiff towards that whole project, Bridget realized. It wasn't too late to have an experienced architect on board for that planning. Clouds above, that little rat girl could definitely use the help.
It made her happy to think of a future with Tiff in it, just one more busy bee around the castle.
Ah! There it was, the happiness. She'd been sure it would show up eventually. Things never stayed complicated for long. Satisfied that the universe had been put all in the right order, she carried the children off to the library.