a few of my favorite things

Maeve

It is a lot. That's a bit of an understatement, but Maeve knew that Seren probably realized that. She drew in a breath before taking a swig from her drink, letting the sweet fizz spread over her tongue, nodding slowly. "It's a lot... I wish for his sake that things would be quiet, but that's just not going to happen." Maeve loved Torchline. It was her home. The issues it had were just a part of it, but that wasn't going to fly anymore. Not with the war.

"I'll do whatever is asked of me. If Sunjata or Safrin ask me to help then I'll help. I have no desire to.. to take it from him. I just want to help." However if Safrin wanted her to take it from him then she would. She couldn't deny the goddess. Not if that's what she wanted. Maeve knew of what happened to those who didn't listen to her. While she was nothing but kind and gentle with Maeve thus far, the Madame wasn't interested in getting on her bad side, "I think I'm going to give Locke the other one. It just makes sense and if he needs me..."

The rest goes unsaid. They both know what it means. "I haven't talked to him yet about moving back to the Halenani. I'm afraid of how he might take it. I've been with him a whole season now.." She confessed softly, looking up at her, releasing a heavy sigh as she drew her knees up to her chest.

And I was catching my breath
Staring out an open window
catching my death

Glitter in the sky, glitter in my eye, shining just the way I like

The girl nodded quietly. Quiet was a luxury only few were able to savor, and those days were running out. Even her own peace was becoming chipped at the edges, and Seren had barely begun to look at the paths available to her. The struggles began from here.

"I think you would do well, for what it's worth," she told her friend. "You are level headed, and you care about people. Anyone can wear a title... but I think you would make a good Governor, if that is how things end up." Slipping an arm around Maeve's shoulders, Seren gave her a little squeeze.

"As for Locke... I wish I had any good advice. But you're the one who knows about love and that stuff." Her smile was a rueful, lopsided little thing. "Do you have to move back to the Halenani?"

Seren

Maeve

Maeve smiled softly, leaning into Seren's loose embrace, "That's very kind of you to say, Seren. I'd like to think I'd do a good job." She murmured, dropping her head against Seren's shoulder for a moment, allowing herself this comfort. It's been a lot. Seren always had a way of providing her with gentle reassurance. It's a easy give and take that they've developed. One that she was grateful for.

She lifted her head, huffing out a soft laugh that didn't fully light up her eyes, a touch of something that edged on bitterness tinged the sound. "I never said I knew anything about love, Seren. Sex? Pleasure? Carnal desires? Yes, I know all about that. Love? I've never truly been in love until Locke." Maeve told her quietly, chewing lightly on her bottom lip, unease swirling in her belly as she took a slow breath. "Running a brothel isn't the same as another business. Especially not in Torchline. That place never sleeps. I need to be there and living there makes it easier." Especially when she's needed so often.

"I was going to ask him to come with me, but I don't know if he'll want to move out of his place." Maeve ran a hand through her hair, pushing the curls from her face, turning to look at her as uncertainty danced in her eyes.

And I was catching my breath
Staring out an open window
catching my death

Glitter in the sky, glitter in my eye, shining just the way I like

Leaning her head down to rest a cheek against the top of Maeve's head, Seren didn't know what to say. It seemed like an easy choice to her, who stood on the outside. Locke, or the Halenani? Seren knew what she would go for. But then, it was not her project. Not she who had been working day and night for over a season to rebuild. It wasn't her who had to potentially pick between a career or a love that must be quite fragile, for things like this to topple it.

"I have faith in you," she whispered, for Maeve's ears only. "No matter what happens, I will always stay with you." It was not the same, of course. Friends did not lovers make. At least not in this case. But perhaps it was enough, to tide this woman over until all the answers were laid out for examination.

Straightening, Seren kept an arm about Maeve even as she reached for a bottle of something that seemed a touch stronger than what they'd had so far. Filling both of their cups, she raised hers to Maeve in salute.
"Let's forget about troubles for a little while, shall we? This is a party - and I am on a mission to laugh until it ends."

Seren

Maeve

It wasn't just Locke or the Halenani. That wasn't the choice at all. Hell, it wasn't even really a choice, was it? She wanted him to live with her, but he didn't like brothels. He had his own home. She'd been living there, but did that mean she could call it hers to? Theirs? They hadn't talked about it and she didn't want to assume. Maeve took a breath, leaning into friend, taking comfort in the support she offered. "Thank you, Seren. I'm glad to know I'll always have you, at least." She murmured in response, offering her a small smile as she drew back, holding out her glass for the woman to fill up once more.

"That sounds wonderful. I could use a distraction." Maeve hummed, taking a large sip of her drink, surprised by the slight burn that it left behind as it settled in her belly. "Now, how are you planning to get your laughs, hm?"

And I was catching my breath
Staring out an open window
catching my death

Glitter in the sky, glitter in my eye, shining just the way I like

Knocking back her own drink, Seren coughed and spluttered when the contents burned her throat. Wine was one thing, she'd had that before, but this stuff hit different in a lot of ways.

"Well," she began, when she could breathe again. "Did I tell you about this one time I strayed into the Fingers? I was having a lovely old time, wandering about, looking for pirates... when this voice suddenly came echoing down the tunnels. Singing sea shanties, would you believe it?"

And so the girl launched off into a wild tale of spirits and adventure, where the truth soon strayed so far off track that the real origins paled in comparison. Something about a bet made, and wild competitions over a magic mirror that shattered and was gathered up again, until the spirit became so tired of Seren's alleged clever solutions that it threw its figurative hands in the air and stalked off, muttering about the woes of getting involved with demigods.

"... and that is how I came over this." With a gesture worthy of a street magician, Seren pulled a large tray from her pocket realm. White-washed and sea-battered, with glass mosaic re-fracturing the light of lanterns and torches all around.

It... may or may not be familiar to Maeve, as something that once belonged to a brothel they both knew. At the very least it certainly fit the gaudy style Seren imagined such a place should have.

Seren

Maeve

There was something delightful about watching Seren throw herself into a story, intent on whisking both of them away on this wild tale that the younger girl was concocting, but she was happy to listen to it no matter how crazy it was. When Seren finally finished her tale, pulling out a tray that Maeve absolutely recognized from the Halenani, knowing that the girl had found it when she was helping to clean up. Maeve laughed, bright and happy, shaking her head as she reached for the tray. She turned it over in her hands, head tilting this way and that as she looked at her broken reflection in the mirror pieces, peeking over at the starchild.

"This looks oddly familiar, little star..." Maeve teased, narrowing her eyes at the other girl, a playful glint in her eyes. "Are you sure you didn't find this in the rubble of the Halenani? It was definitely a spirit?" She didn't care either way, but it was too fun to poke and tease at her to just let it go.

And I was catching my breath
Staring out an open window
catching my death

Glitter in the sky, glitter in my eye, shining just the way I like

Wide eyed looked back at Maeve, and managed to appear slightly offended that her word would ever be doubted thusly.
"Of course I am sure!" she insisted. The tray had definitely been picked up elsewhere, during a beach cleanup with her uncle Jata. But Maeve didn't need to know that. "I'm telling you. Each and every mirror shard right there is magical. Try it, if you don't believe me. Only, since it's broken you might probably need a few days before anything happens. Go on, make a wish!"

Because the mirror in her story had been a wishing one, that made marvelous dreams come true just by speaking them. Now Seren wiggled her eyebrows at her friend, keen to see what kind of things the other girl might wish for.

Try as she might, Seren could not think of any for herself.

Seren

Maeve

Maeve was fairly confident that this tray was from the Halenani, but she wasn't sure enough to actually argue with the other girl. Not that it mattered. This was just fun and games anyway. The Madame held the mirror up, looking into the glass for a moment, closing her eyes as she felt her heart still beating a staccato against her ribs. She took a breath, thinking hard about her words, "I wish more than anything..." Maeve began softly, considering her next words carefully, but too embarrassed to say them outloud. Not that she thought Seren would judge her. She knew her friend wouldn't, but it felt silly. "To live happily." The 'ever after' was silent, but it was still there. "If you can't do that... Then I suppose a cupcake will do."

The Madame tacked on at the end, opening her eyes and passing the tray back to her friend, smiling softly. "It has some time to work now, don't you think?" She wrinkled her nose, gently nudging her friend with her shoulder before flopping back into the grass, flowers swaying around them as the lights played above them. "Seren... What's it like having two parents?" The Madame asked suddenly, fingers tracing idly over her belly, eyes looking up into the heavens.

And I was catching my breath
Staring out an open window
catching my death

Glitter in the sky, glitter in my eye, shining just the way I like

Seren watched, gaze soft and warm where it rested upon the young Madame. It was a girl's wish, a tender hearted wish - and even a real magic mirror might have some struggle with fulfilling it.
Surreptitiously, Seren summoned a little star monkey. It coalesced into being near a table, and filched several cupcakes. Taking a roundabout route, Seren tried to distract her friend by pointing out a person in a funny hat - et voila, when Maeve turned back she would find not one, but three cupcakes sitting on the bench beside her. The icing was a little messed up, but they looked fine to eat all the same.

"I think," Seren smiled, "that means you are going to be live very happily. While you eat the cupcakes. What comes after that is likely up to you."  Reaching out, she poked a finger into Maeve's cheek - and quickly stole one of the baked goods for herself. Because sharing was caring, right?

It was while Seren busily devoured the pastry that Maeve changed the subject. "I wouldn't know," the girl answered with a light shrug. "I have three. And we've never lived together, all at once like most families do..." Glancing over at her friend, Seren's light smile faded at the sight of Maeve's dreamy look. She cleared her throat and turned more serious.

"But... well. It is warm. And comfortable, I suppose." Leaning back, the starchild had to think. "I face every day with the knowledge that I have someone on my side, at my back. Watching over me, ready to support me whatever may come. Mother, father... Remi... They love me, and I love them, and there is nothing I can't say to them, or do, that will change that."

There could come storms that would rock the boat, and terrible times were ahead that might test every bond ever tied to another soul. But at her core, as the foundation for everything Seren was and would ever become, lay love. Warm hands to hold hers, as she struggled to find her feet. Warm hugs and kisses when the world seemed a large and frightening place. Cautioning words, and reassuring words, and words that spoke to her of kindness and acceptance.

"I don't think I can describe it," she murmured softly.

Seren

Maeve

It was a girlish wish. Something that Maeve likely wished for when she was a child. To have someone sweep her off her feet and for them to live happily ever after in a little house with kids of their own. It was what she had wanted more than anything, but life didn't work that way and magic mirrors weren't real. That's just the way things went, but Seren, made at least one wish come true.

Three cupcakes with only slightly smooshed icing appeared beside them, Maeve laughed softly at the sight of them, tempted to sit up and take one for herself. That was before she got distracted by her own line of questioning, caught up in what Seren had to say on the matter, surprised by the surge of jealousy she felt. Not only did Seren have a mother, but two fathers too. Safrin, Ronin, Remi... So many people to love and support her. How was that fair? Three parents all to herself when Maeve didn't even have one. It wasn't Seren's fault, but the green monster reared its head anyway, making her wish that she'd been so lucky.

"It must be nice... Even though you aren't always together. Just knowing you have them." Maeve murmured, turning over to look at Seren, offering her a small smile. The jealousy was already fading. She really was happy for her friend. Maeve knew that her parents loved her more than anything and despite the fact that Maeve never knew that love herself, she was relieved that Seren never had to experience that herself.

And I was catching my breath
Staring out an open window
catching my death

Glitter in the sky, glitter in my eye, shining just the way I like

It wasn't fair. But then, nothing in life ever truly was. Some were born blessed, while others had to fight for every scrap. Seren had luck on her side. She was among the favored ones. Loving parents, education and powers to boggle the mind, a good physique, no small amount of natural talent and a good heart to top it off. Every path lay open to her and there was nothing she could not accomplish if she set her mind to it. It was a priviledge, and one that came with responsibility.

She did not see the jealousy flare within her friend, but Seren did sense it in the tension, in the words that never quite said 'I wish I had that'.
"It is," she admitted, not trying to brush it off. "I am among the fortunate ones. And, if you do end up having a child, I have no doubt that they will be too." Because that's what this was about, wasn't it. "But it's not like you are alone, right? You have Locke, and you have me. And even if everyone else disappear, Safrin will always remain."

It was the easiest thing, to be generous and share ones fortune when she had so much of it. It wasn't as if her mother's love for her would diminish by sharing it among others.

Seren

Maeve

Had it been anyone else, they likely would have reacted for worse than Seren did. That was one of the things Maeve loved about her. She was so kind. More kind than some people ever really deserved. The Madame didn't hate her life. No, that wasn't it at all. There were moments she wished were different. She wished she knew her mother. She wished her father hadn't been a cruel drunk. She wished that she didn't have to fight tooth and nail to simply live, but she had no other choice than to do so because doing nothing simply meant death. Maeve wouldn't wish that on anyone. The fact that Seren had been spared such a fate brought her peace in all honesty.

"I hope so." She confirmed softly, turning to face her friend as she tugged her down into the flowers with her, slinging a loose arm over her waist. "I'm not alone, no. Promise you'll always be there for me, Seren. If you're able to..." It was a big promise to ask of her. Something that Maeve didn't ask lightly, but she yearned for the confirmation that no matter what, Seren would be there for her.

The Madame held out her pinky, the finger extended to the starchild as she waited for her to hook her own with it, intending to seal this promise in the most sacred of ways.

And I was catching my breath
Staring out an open window
catching my death

Glitter in the sky, glitter in my eye, shining just the way I like

Tumbling down next to her friend, with the cup held aloft to keep from sloshing half-full contents over herself, Seren giggled and snuggled in close. Hip to hip, wrapped about one another, she hooked into Maeve's pinky finger without hesitation.

"Always," she swore, and leaned in close until her forehead touched Maeve's. "Always, if I am able. If not right away, then as soon as I can. I have your back, Maeve. And you have mine, right? You'll always be on my side?"

Beyond borders and regions, over lovers and parents and demanding gods, they were friends, right? Not alone. Never alone.

Seren