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[beautifullies]

𝑂ℎ, 𝐼 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑. 𝐴 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑠. 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙. 𝐴 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑦𝑒𝑠?

[ She still has some imagination, and she likes imagining herself silver-haired with plants and grandchildren one day. No grandchildren here, but she might have everything else. God help her if she's still here when her hair goes completely silver. ]

𝑁𝑜𝑤, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑊𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑦. 𝐼𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡, 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟, 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒? 𝑁𝑜, 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝐼 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑧𝑦. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑓 ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑟ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑠 𝑤𝑒'𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑐ℎ.

[theidlemaiden]

𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘦. 𝘈𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭, 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺.

[ And if she does go silver one day, Hilda can help her dye it if she feels so inclined to. That being said, Hilda is under the impression that whatever hair colour Claire chooses to wear is one she could pull off. ]

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦! 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺.

[familysucks]

I'm a prayer away if you need me.

[beautifullies]

𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑛.

[ she can't help it and neither could I. ]

[godshattering]

There's a terrace on top of the loft where we live. If we're able to later, we can transplant one of the offshoots to add to the garden, too, to appreciate it even more.

[ Or for Hilda to appreciate it, since too late Claude realizes putting 'we' on that is a bit of an assumption he's not sure he's entitled to. His hope Hilda will enjoy it, though, is very real. ]

That all sounds like a wonderful plan to me. I'll look forward to both. Thank you again, Claire.

[beautifullies]

𝑂ℎ, 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑙, 𝐻𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑎. 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛. 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒, 𝑑𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒, 𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑓-𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔.

[ Short of blaring hard rock and being a general pest, which Hilda most certainly is not. ]

[beautifullies]

𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐, 𝐼 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒. 𝑊𝑒'𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛, 𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒.

[ ooc: this is what I had in mind! It will be a happy cherry on top that she gets so many in one go! But there's also something more like this which is a little tamer :D ]

[theidlemaiden]

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘰, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶? 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺.

[beautifullies]

𝑂ℎ, 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎, 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡. 𝑂𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟ℎ𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑚, 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡.

[theidlemaiden]

𝘖𝘩, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯.

[ That sounded like more dirt - and work - than Hilda preferred to have in her life. ]

𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 - 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘐'𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥, 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘦.

[beautifullies]

𝑂ℎ, 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑎.

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝐼'𝑚 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛, 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔.

[restingstitchface]

𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈𝑒 𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝒻𝑒𝓌 𝓌𝑒𝑒𝓀𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒽𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝒸.

𝒞𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒, 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊?

[beautifullies]

𝐴𝑠 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠, 𝐼 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒. 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒. 𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑.

[restingstitchface]

𝒲𝑒𝓁𝓁, 𝐼 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒹𝓁𝓎 𝒷𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓌𝒾𝓈𝑒, 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝐼? 𝑀𝓎 𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓇 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓅𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒸𝒾𝓇𝒸𝓊𝓂𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈. 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓃𝑜 𝓈𝓀𝒾𝓃 𝑜𝒻𝒻 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝓉𝑜...

𝒮𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎. 𝐵𝒶𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒶𝓁𝑜𝑔𝓎.

[Did she lose skin off her back being eaten alive? Who knows.]

[beautifullies]

𝑌𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑜𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑑.

𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑟𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒.

[restingstitchface]

𝐼 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓈𝒶𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓈𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒶𝓃 𝓊𝓃𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝑒𝓍𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒. 𝐼 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇.

[beautifullies]

𝐷𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠? 𝐴𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔.

[restingstitchface]

𝑀𝓎 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒷𝓁𝑒𝑒𝒹𝓈 𝒶𝓉 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒾𝓃𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒶 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝒹𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒶𝓈𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓆𝓊𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓎𝓁𝓁𝒶𝒷𝓊𝓈.

𝑅𝑒𝑔𝒶𝓇𝒹𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈, 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝑔𝓁𝒶𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝒻𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁.

[beautifullies]

𝑌𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝐼 𝑑𝑜, 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦. 𝐸𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑑-20𝑡ℎ 𝐶𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑦, 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒.

𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒; 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ-𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡?

[restingstitchface]

𝒜𝓌, 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓁𝓎?

𝐼 𝓈𝓊𝓅𝓅𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓅𝒶𝓎 𝒶 𝒽𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓋𝒾𝓈𝒾𝓉.

[beautifullies]

[ Claire isn't sure what to make of the writing, tone is hard to convey, but it feels mocking. Still, she thinks off a reply. ]

𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑢𝑝, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜, 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒.

[restingstitchface]

𝒲𝑒𝓁𝓁, 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇.

𝒮𝒽𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝐼 𝓈𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝓎 𝓉𝑜𝓂𝑜𝓇𝓇𝑜𝓌? 𝒲𝑜𝓇𝓀 𝓀𝑒𝑒𝓅𝓈 𝓂𝑒 𝒷𝓊𝓈𝓎 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒾𝓉.

[beautifullies]

𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜; 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙. 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼'𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒.

𝑊𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑙, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑔𝑒𝑡; 𝐼 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠.

[restingstitchface]

𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒'𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝓅𝒶𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃. 𝒜𝒷𝓈𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝑔𝓇𝑜𝓌 𝒻𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇, 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇? 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓈𝑒𝓅𝒶𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓍𝒾𝑒𝓉𝓎 𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓎. 𝒜𝒽, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝑔𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓇.

— october, backdated to claire's birthday

[theidlemaiden]

[ They had met for their usual tea and catch up in Nocwich which is when Hilda had taken the opportunity to hand deliver Claire's gift. She had made the woman promise not to open it until she returned to Solvunn. It wasn't like it was anything offensive or embarrassing that couldn't be opened in the middle of the tea shop, but Hilda had insisted, claiming to be too sheepish to be there when she did open it.

Some of it had to do with being uncertain whether or not it was a silly purchase or if Claire would find it useful at all. She was normally the sort of person who was incredibly confident in her ability to buy people gifts but as of late even that confidence had taken a bit of a hit. More than that though, it's the contents of the note itself that are the bit embarrassing her.

When Claire does return to her home and opens the large, nicely wrapped box, the smell of leather will hit her first. Wrapped in tissue and a duster bag is a beautifully handstitched doctor's bag that comes with an adjustable strap. The hardware is polished to shine and just below the clasp of the bag stamped in gold, are Claire's initials. It's spacious on the inside, lined with a simple pattern.

A smaller, card version of the bag seems to house the note that accompanies the present. When she opens the "bag", a slip of paper pops out of it with the accompanying words: ]

𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘦! 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘳𝘺, 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶?

𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘮 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺.

𝘹𝘹 𝘏𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘢