b/c i need to post this somewhere
Jun. 15th, 2008 08:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tinpraI don't know that you'll be interested if you've never seen Tin Man, but it took so much work to get this future-scene out that I need to post.
The gun was in his hand and pointed at the face of his attacker before he was even fully awake. He cocked the safety. And his assailant whimpered.
Cain’s eyes focused. In the dim light of the setting moon, Delia’s honey-brown hair was a warm, tangled halo. He couldn’t see her brown eyes in the bad light, but for sure there was too much white was showing. It probably had something to do with being on the business end of his firearm.
Naming himself ten kinds of fool, he thumbed the safety back on and raised his gun. “Delia…darlin’, I—”
A shape unfolded from the dark. Immediately the safety was off and he was drawing down.
Light blazed, blinding Cain. But in that second before he turned his head away he saw her. Princess Azkadellia. In one night he’d drawn down on a child and a princess of the realm. If his own pride didn’t have him strung up by the balls, either the Queen or her Consort would see to it. And once his son found out the particulars, he doubted Jeb would raise much of a fuss.
Cain thumbed the safety and raised the gun. “Princess I—”
The Princess Azkadellia swept forward, her light dying as her focus changed, leaving everything with a glowing edge as his eyes adjusted.
“Your Highness I didn’t—”
She stopped him with a look as she gathered Delia into her arms. The child immediately wrapped her long skinny legs around the princess’ waist and her narrow arms around the princess’ neck. It should have been a funny picture—the princess in her nightgown with a whip-thin child stuck on her like a barnacle—but she was far from amused. If looks could kill, Wyatt Cain had a feeling he’d be in a bad way.
With that parting shot of pregnant silence, she turned on her heel and stalked out of his room, leaving the door open wide. Delia’s eyes latched onto his and he turned away in shame.
He heard her wail moments later.
§§§
“I want Cain.”
Azkadellia walked the length and breadth of her impressive room, the leggy child still in her arms. Though they ached and her back had begun to protest, she refused to put Delia down until she could make her understand that bad things could have happened if she had remained with Captain Cain.
“I know you do, sweetheart.”
“I want Cain.”
The force behind Delia’s protests had weakened as she tired herself out, but not adamancy…or her misery. She lapsed into silence, but Azkadellia could feel her new tears wetting her shoulder where her nightgown had been shifted by the girl’s constant wiping her face there. She had screamed, she had wailed, she had sobbed until Azkadellia had been sure that she would be sick. She had done everything except try to fight and wiggle her way out of the princess’ arms. For that, at least, Azkadellia was grateful. But it pained her to see, to feel, the child so miserable and to know that she was its source.
Carefully shifting Delia in her arms, hoping that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep, Azkadellia slowly walked into her sitting room and from her sitting room into the hall where her personal guard stood waiting at attention.
“Please send someone to find Captain Cain,” she said calmly. “I want him brought to me immediately, unless it would somehow tear him from matters of state.” She hoped that her voice conveyed how much less important she considered ‘matters of state.’
Delia lifted her head from Azkadellia’s shoulder. Her red rimmed eyes confirmed that she had been crying. “Cain?”
They thought that she was about seven or eight annuals old, but it was times like these when she seemed younger. “Yes, dear heart. He’s coming.”
Delia dropped her head back onto the wet shoulder, holding Azkadellia even closer.
By the time he arrived, in a state of half dress that made the princess wonder exactly what activity he had been pulled from, she and Delia were settled onto a chaise lounge and Delia was nodding off. But she awoke instantly, if cautiously, when she heard two pairs of boots on the carpeted floor.
“You summoned me, Your Highness.” If he disapproved of the summons, there was no sign of it.
“I did. It would seem that although you drew your weapon on her, Delia will not be happy if she is not with you. Please take her.” She wondered if she’d kept the sourness out of her voice, but didn’t think she had. Not from him.
Captain Cain took a step forward then stopped. “If you don’t mind my saying so, Highness, but the barracks are no place for a little girl. Even in the officer’s quarters.”
“Of course not. Please feel free to use one of the guest rooms on this floor. The one that had been prepared for you is still available and should suit.” He would see to the girl. The small issue of proper rooming was thus no issue at all.
Nodding reluctantly—surely any man who had drawn down on a little girl wasn’t exactly pleased to see her again so quickly—and took the final step that brought him within arms-length of the chaise.
Almost as if to a magnet with a stronger one pull, Delia turned out of the princess’ arms and launched herself at Captain Cain. She buried her face in his neck. Azkadellia rose slowly as he backed away. “I bid you both good night, Captain.”
He nodded as best he could, considering the burden he carried. “Goodnight, Highness.”
§§§
He kept seeing her, standing in the cold room made colder by bright moonlight: she’d been barefoot and barefaced, nightgown splotched with tears, wrinkled and twisted from Delia’s mishandling, her long hair in disarray. If she didn’t do something with it before going to bed, she’d be up with it half the morning, probably wishing for a good pair of shears to cut the whole thing off. Adora wasn’t much for cussing unless her hair was in just such a way. ‘A wreck and a ruin’ she used to call it, which were about the only words out of the whole argument between herself and her unwilling hair that could be repeated in polite company.
Delia was almost a surprise—hot in his arms when he had expected her to be just as chilly as the princess’ voice.
He tucked the girl into the large bed, done in deep forest green, midnight blue and a blaze of gold, and smoothed back the tendrils of hair that had escaped her night-braid. “Now why’d you have to go and upset your mo—”
He caught himself and his words before they could do any damage. Thinking of Adora and tucking Delia into bed had him remembering tucking a very young Jeb into bed after he’d tried his mother’s very last nerve. And that had been a job she’d walked into with both eyes wide open, fully intent on being somebody’s mama. They’d talked about children long before they were married and had agreed that seven or eight or nine would be just about right. Princess Azkadellia on the other hand…
“Be nice to the princess,” he amended as he continued to stroke the girl’s forehead. She watched him with rapt attention. “She’s just trying to help you out. Okay?”
Delia nodded. “Okay,” she whispered. “Where are you going?”
He turned around. “Just gonna pull up this chair, sweetheart, and bring it close to the bed. That all right by you?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He settled himself in the chair, fixing the buttons on his shirt. Somewhere around redoing the fourth mismatched button, he realized he’d been talking to a princess of the realm with his shirt untucked, half done, suspenders somewhere around his knees.
Sighing he gave Delia, finally asleep, a long measuring study. For someone who’d apparently gotten what she wanted, she looked about as unhappy as the princess had when she handed the girl over.
The gun was in his hand and pointed at the face of his attacker before he was even fully awake. He cocked the safety. And his assailant whimpered.
Cain’s eyes focused. In the dim light of the setting moon, Delia’s honey-brown hair was a warm, tangled halo. He couldn’t see her brown eyes in the bad light, but for sure there was too much white was showing. It probably had something to do with being on the business end of his firearm.
Naming himself ten kinds of fool, he thumbed the safety back on and raised his gun. “Delia…darlin’, I—”
A shape unfolded from the dark. Immediately the safety was off and he was drawing down.
Light blazed, blinding Cain. But in that second before he turned his head away he saw her. Princess Azkadellia. In one night he’d drawn down on a child and a princess of the realm. If his own pride didn’t have him strung up by the balls, either the Queen or her Consort would see to it. And once his son found out the particulars, he doubted Jeb would raise much of a fuss.
Cain thumbed the safety and raised the gun. “Princess I—”
The Princess Azkadellia swept forward, her light dying as her focus changed, leaving everything with a glowing edge as his eyes adjusted.
“Your Highness I didn’t—”
She stopped him with a look as she gathered Delia into her arms. The child immediately wrapped her long skinny legs around the princess’ waist and her narrow arms around the princess’ neck. It should have been a funny picture—the princess in her nightgown with a whip-thin child stuck on her like a barnacle—but she was far from amused. If looks could kill, Wyatt Cain had a feeling he’d be in a bad way.
With that parting shot of pregnant silence, she turned on her heel and stalked out of his room, leaving the door open wide. Delia’s eyes latched onto his and he turned away in shame.
He heard her wail moments later.
“I want Cain.”
Azkadellia walked the length and breadth of her impressive room, the leggy child still in her arms. Though they ached and her back had begun to protest, she refused to put Delia down until she could make her understand that bad things could have happened if she had remained with Captain Cain.
“I know you do, sweetheart.”
“I want Cain.”
The force behind Delia’s protests had weakened as she tired herself out, but not adamancy…or her misery. She lapsed into silence, but Azkadellia could feel her new tears wetting her shoulder where her nightgown had been shifted by the girl’s constant wiping her face there. She had screamed, she had wailed, she had sobbed until Azkadellia had been sure that she would be sick. She had done everything except try to fight and wiggle her way out of the princess’ arms. For that, at least, Azkadellia was grateful. But it pained her to see, to feel, the child so miserable and to know that she was its source.
Carefully shifting Delia in her arms, hoping that perhaps she had drifted off to sleep, Azkadellia slowly walked into her sitting room and from her sitting room into the hall where her personal guard stood waiting at attention.
“Please send someone to find Captain Cain,” she said calmly. “I want him brought to me immediately, unless it would somehow tear him from matters of state.” She hoped that her voice conveyed how much less important she considered ‘matters of state.’
Delia lifted her head from Azkadellia’s shoulder. Her red rimmed eyes confirmed that she had been crying. “Cain?”
They thought that she was about seven or eight annuals old, but it was times like these when she seemed younger. “Yes, dear heart. He’s coming.”
Delia dropped her head back onto the wet shoulder, holding Azkadellia even closer.
By the time he arrived, in a state of half dress that made the princess wonder exactly what activity he had been pulled from, she and Delia were settled onto a chaise lounge and Delia was nodding off. But she awoke instantly, if cautiously, when she heard two pairs of boots on the carpeted floor.
“You summoned me, Your Highness.” If he disapproved of the summons, there was no sign of it.
“I did. It would seem that although you drew your weapon on her, Delia will not be happy if she is not with you. Please take her.” She wondered if she’d kept the sourness out of her voice, but didn’t think she had. Not from him.
Captain Cain took a step forward then stopped. “If you don’t mind my saying so, Highness, but the barracks are no place for a little girl. Even in the officer’s quarters.”
“Of course not. Please feel free to use one of the guest rooms on this floor. The one that had been prepared for you is still available and should suit.” He would see to the girl. The small issue of proper rooming was thus no issue at all.
Nodding reluctantly—surely any man who had drawn down on a little girl wasn’t exactly pleased to see her again so quickly—and took the final step that brought him within arms-length of the chaise.
Almost as if to a magnet with a stronger one pull, Delia turned out of the princess’ arms and launched herself at Captain Cain. She buried her face in his neck. Azkadellia rose slowly as he backed away. “I bid you both good night, Captain.”
He nodded as best he could, considering the burden he carried. “Goodnight, Highness.”
He kept seeing her, standing in the cold room made colder by bright moonlight: she’d been barefoot and barefaced, nightgown splotched with tears, wrinkled and twisted from Delia’s mishandling, her long hair in disarray. If she didn’t do something with it before going to bed, she’d be up with it half the morning, probably wishing for a good pair of shears to cut the whole thing off. Adora wasn’t much for cussing unless her hair was in just such a way. ‘A wreck and a ruin’ she used to call it, which were about the only words out of the whole argument between herself and her unwilling hair that could be repeated in polite company.
Delia was almost a surprise—hot in his arms when he had expected her to be just as chilly as the princess’ voice.
He tucked the girl into the large bed, done in deep forest green, midnight blue and a blaze of gold, and smoothed back the tendrils of hair that had escaped her night-braid. “Now why’d you have to go and upset your mo—”
He caught himself and his words before they could do any damage. Thinking of Adora and tucking Delia into bed had him remembering tucking a very young Jeb into bed after he’d tried his mother’s very last nerve. And that had been a job she’d walked into with both eyes wide open, fully intent on being somebody’s mama. They’d talked about children long before they were married and had agreed that seven or eight or nine would be just about right. Princess Azkadellia on the other hand…
“Be nice to the princess,” he amended as he continued to stroke the girl’s forehead. She watched him with rapt attention. “She’s just trying to help you out. Okay?”
Delia nodded. “Okay,” she whispered. “Where are you going?”
He turned around. “Just gonna pull up this chair, sweetheart, and bring it close to the bed. That all right by you?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He settled himself in the chair, fixing the buttons on his shirt. Somewhere around redoing the fourth mismatched button, he realized he’d been talking to a princess of the realm with his shirt untucked, half done, suspenders somewhere around his knees.
Sighing he gave Delia, finally asleep, a long measuring study. For someone who’d apparently gotten what she wanted, she looked about as unhappy as the princess had when she handed the girl over.
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 12:20 am (UTC)o.O
*stamps foot*
*holds out on the cookies until I get more*
*must know what is going on*
no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 01:40 am (UTC)*munches on graham caingerbread*
no subject
Date: 2008-06-16 03:01 am (UTC):D
no subject
Date: 2008-06-17 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-17 02:27 am (UTC)I will take anything you want to give. ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-06-17 12:39 pm (UTC)Anywho, synop: Cain and Az rescue an orphan (Delia) who becomes attached to each of them uniquely while a search is done for any living relatives or a family to place her with. I'm hoping to use Delia as a way to explore some of the Az related issues I mentioned in the TM friending meme, as well as break those issues down. Otherwise it's about the lamest plot ever.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-17 01:45 pm (UTC)Are you kidding?! I'm gonna corner the market on EVERY flavor of -gerbread! Supply and Demand, baby!! :)
Otherwise it's about the lamest plot ever.
Please... I think it's fantastic.
*plops down at your feet, waiting for the rest*
Like I said... payback :)
no subject
Date: 2008-06-17 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-17 03:09 pm (UTC)with Pepsi...
in the cafeteria.
and the living room.
and the car.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-17 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-17 04:57 pm (UTC)o.O
Yeah...
Actually... last night, I did..
*wonders why*
Crap... it was funny. Oh, that's right: Cain and Victoria's Secret...
Good times...
no subject
Date: 2008-06-17 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-17 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-17 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 03:10 am (UTC)just an fyi: no s on toward ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 03:12 pm (UTC)o.O
no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 03:19 pm (UTC)Never fear.. no one is perfect ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 12:43 am (UTC)o.O
no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 04:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 05:19 pm (UTC)Spell it however you want to spell it. I'm not leaving...
no subject
Date: 2008-06-30 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-01 02:30 am (UTC)This is phenomenal. I hope you do more. I really enjoyed reading it.
I hope you don't mind, but I friended you.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-01 05:17 pm (UTC)