The Estate, After Lunch, (Morning Fandom Time)

[glacial_queen]

When Mallory had been asked by Queen Ilyse and Prince Audric to come tutor their young daughter, he had been honored and delighted. Several months later, the shiny had been rubbed off both the honor and delight, but he had become fond of enough Karla to continue to teach her for years, up until the tragic accident that had claimed her parents' lives and gotten her shipped off to live with the local Hourglass coven her aunt Kay had been a part of. When Hobart had announced Karla's 'death,' Mallory had spent a week mourning the spoiled, yes, but also sweet, imaginative, and precocious child he had taught.

In the years she'd been gone, time and nostalgia had blunted the worst of her childhood antics, helping him forget that classes were just as often characterized by biting, kicking, crying, and arguing as they were learning, studying, and behaving (Darkness bless behaving.) All that had come rushing back to him over the past four days, dealing with her much-younger self--and her much-younger friends. Even being the Steward to the headstrong and still impetuous Queen and her entire Court was easier than this.

Mallory couldn't help but reflect on these facts as he pulled Karla down the hall by her ear. He'd caught her in his office a few moments earlier "playing" some kind of game that had involved a jam sandwich and a great deal of ink all over his desk, his chair, and the floor. Coincidentally enough, those were the same places he could see much of his paperwork, also under the ink. Any last ideals he'd had about respecting the Queenly dignity she was due as an adult when flying out the window (possibly with more of his papers) as he'd grabbed her ear and began dragging Karla towards her room, a bath, and the tender mercies of anyone who was not him.

What neither of them had been expecting, however, was for the filthy, shrieking child was to suddenly return to being an equally-filthy-but-less-inclined-to-shriek adult halfway towards their destination. It was Mallory who ended up yelping when the ear he was pinching shot up two feet in the air.

"Karla!" he said, half-surprised and half-thrilled. "You're back!" Before she could respond, however, he was grasping her shoulders with a hissed, "Don't you move or I will throttle you," and running off to find Julian, Morton, and anyone else he could find. Their Queen was an adult again. They were going to get this bloody coronation over with before something else could happen, come Hell or high water.

[NFB, open for folks what are here, SP is gonna be a thing, pls to be waiting for OCD]

Comments

Re: The Coronation

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah facepalmed, muttering, "So I'm even more oblivious than I thought. Good to know." She sighed and let her hand drop, feeling flattered and bewildered all over again. "Although maybe it's good I didn't notice, I was sort of his commanding officer, and that could've been-- even more awkward, and. Yeah." She shook her head. "So. Yes. Well. Nice to know." Especially with... Okay, stuff to tell you, and it's miles into the Awkward Zone. Bear with me?

Re: The Coronation

[glacial_queen]

*Always, darling.* Karla snagged two glasses of wine and handed one to Dinah. Somehow she bet that whatever Dinah had to say would go better with alcohol.

Re: The Coronation

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Sooooooo much alcohol. Dinah took several long sips, then said pretty quietly, "Um. So. I had a crush on someone. Who does not have a crush on me back. Still kinda do. I'm getting over it. But. Achey. You know."

Re: The Coronation

[glacial_queen]

"I know," Karla said, giving Dinah a sympathetic squeeze. "Hottie archer from New Gotham?" she asked. "Or some Santa Cruz boy you met...?"

Re: The Coronation

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Ha. Ha-ha. Dinah gave a very small laugh. "The second one. Um. You know him."

Take a moment....

Re: The Coronation

[glacial_queen]

Karla did, but she took it in the wrong direction.

"Ozzy?" she asked, wrinkling her brow. "But I thought he really liked you!"

Okay, so she didn't know him, but she knew of him and that was practically the same, right?

Re: The Coronation

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Nooo. Not.... Ozzy." Dinah was turning redder, and redder... "And not Trucker, if that was your second guess." She tried to say it out loud. And found it was just too embarrassing, still. So she held Karla's hand and sent, Priestly was very sweet when I needed him most.

Re: The Coronation

[glacial_queen]

Karla...was not as discreet, no.

"Priestly?!" It wasn't...quite...a screech?

Re: The Coronation

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah dropped Karla's hand and backed off a step, her hand going up to brush her hair back, head down. "Say it a little louder, I'm pretty sure he didn't hear you in Fandom."

Re: The Coronation

[glacial_queen]

"Sorry, sorry!" Karla said, stepping forward and grabbing Dinah's hand again. "I was just surprised. You never said anything when we teased you, so I just didn't even think..."

That was obvious, Karla.

Re: The Coronation

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

It wasn't true then. It was just funny. Of course I didn't say anything, I thought you guys were hilarious.

Dinah took a big gulp of her wine, and clutched at Karla's hand. "But. Well. All that time crashing on his couch, this summer..." She shrugged helplessly.

Re: The Coronation

[glacial_queen]

"During the war?" Karla asked, even though it was fairly obvious. "And him being so understanding and there for you when everything else was so up in the air?"

Re: The Coronation

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah nodded slowly but vehemently. "So. Yeah. It kind of snuck up on me, and then I had this impulse and... He's not in the same place. I mean, he said never say never, but for now, it's... not."