OPEN | prompt three | PAIN

[wrens]

prompt three | P A I N dressing-room style. start your own thread. tag others. wash, rinse, repeat. open to all.

 

Comments

hadrian twine | nwob

[ex_agnomen677]

You never know. [beat. Smile.] Maybe they did.

[ex_insistently_818]

[ Mina has a way of smiling that makes people think she doesn't like them very much. Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't. ]

Did you?

[ex_agnomen677]

[The smile stretches. This is the face of a man who has nothing to worry about.]

You decide.

[ex_insistently_818]

[ There are very few people within the cabal that Mina considers 'untouchable'. The queen — obviously — is one. And Hadrian, by proxy, is another. Which is why her own smile stretches in return. And the more it spreads the more her distaste for him seems apparently saccharine. ]

But I'm terribly awful at guessing games. And I do hate being wrong.

[ex_agnomen677]

You don't have to guess. [He leans his back against the wall, arms crossed. There's something about Hadrian that is always provocative and inviting in a challenging way, no matter who it is he's talking to. Some take it as an offense, others are happy to play along. Very few manage to make him falter.] Just tell me how you want it to be.

[ex_insistently_818]

[ Mina's smile shifts, grows a little less off-put and a little more smug. She's the only daughter of a Very Important Witch in the cabal and which means that Mina is afforded quite a lot of courtesy without having done much to earn it herself. As a result she's grown up vain and entitled; being spoken to like the way Hadrian just has appeals to her very much.

Still, she keeps her voice curled, couched and coy. ]

Oh. I could never do that.

[ex_agnomen677]

[Of course not. He watches her, eyes narrowing just slightly, waiting to see if she says or does something else. Hadrian can see (or guess) what's at the core of her personality, what makes her the spoiled brat that'd be so much fun to watch collapsing on her own flaws and insecurities. More than a few have had an important place within the cabal and been screwed over by their own arrogance. What makes Hadrian think he's so much better than them?

Well. He's still here, isn't he.

The pause is broken with a movement of his head, looking off to the side.]

That's a shame.

[ex_insistently_818]

[ As far as Malfosse witches are concerned, the Hollows are considered both among the best and the absolute worst. In a cabal where vanity runs rampant there are few who outstrip them (though they would argue it is more than earned, given how closely to the queen's hand their bloodline has always sat). They are faithful, where necessary, but everyone else is treated with veneered disdain. Mina assumes Hadrian is lying to her because that's what everybody does.

Her smile twitches as he looks off. ]

And why is that?

[ex_agnomen677]

It's always a sad day when a pretty girl like you says no.

[ex_trueborne_441]

[ He hasn't been paying attention. When his father speaks, little Giles looks up, his mouth slackjawed for a moment before he shuts it to ask: ]

Did what?

[ex_agnomen677]

[Hadrian was distracted as well, forgetting momentarily that his son was next to him while he was paying attention to the message. His hand drops on Giles' head as a sign of... something, after a brief glance, and he proceeds like it's a perfectly natural topic to approach with a child.]

Enjoy the pain. Torture. Some people get off on that.

[ex_trueborne_441]

[ A sign of something is better than no sign at all, and although Ellen acknowledges her son in a perfunctory way, it is a far cry from even the vaguest of gestures from his father. A smile flickers across his features before he straightens, his face puckering with confusion again. ]

But we don't, [ Giles says, as if this is all the proof he needs in insisting that 'getting off' on pain is a bad idea. It may not be perfectly normal conversation, but Ellen has gone to great lengths to ensure that hers is no normal family. ]

[ex_agnomen677]

I don't know about you. [Obviously joking, Hadrian crosses his arms with a smirk, a little more distant from his son again.] I sure as hell prefer other things.

[ex_trueborne_441]

I don't! [ Giles is eager to respond, chirping the answer in a birdlike manner that his mother would surely chastise him for, were she there to hear it. ] So we don't! There are a lot of things that are way better.

[ Giles nods. ] Tons.

[ex_agnomen677]

'Course there are. [And there's a pause. It's nice to see that the queen's two daughters have managed to get themselves a brother that isn't half as rotten as they're expected to be, but very strange to think (and sometimes easy to forget) that the boy is his son, too.] Name three.

[ex_trueborne_441]

[ It's quite possible that, if Giles had been born with not a drop of magic in him, that his mother wouldn't have bothered with him at all. Granted, that he was born a son is still considered something of a waste, but for little Giles that has unknowingly been his saving grace. Not much is expected from him beyond that: be a good boy, complete your lessons and say yes, mummy whenever she asks something you. So he's allowed to be something other than rotten. His sisters, on the other hand, won't be nearly as fortunate. ]

Um— [ He gives this considerable and quite serious thought before counting off on his fingers: ] Dinosaurs! Um, dragonflies! Um— ummmm. [ Giles tries to think of something his mother would like him to say. ] —magic?

[regime]

[ Historically, queens of Malfosse have been known to take more than one drone. It allows for insurance, an increase of numbers and possibility, but Ellen has done exceedingly well given the path she has chosen for herself. She may not respect Hadrian, but she is fond of him in her way. And he has provided her with exceptional children (barring Giles). ]

Does it matter in either case? [ Her tone is not rhetorical. ] Best to move on, dear, mm?

[ex_agnomen677]

And let such an interesting topic go to waste? [Beat. He smiles at his queen.] Unless you have something better in mind.