let me heal the wounds you've held on to for all these years Who: Vivi and Juliette What: Vivi brings Juli Boris. Realizes Juli needs clothes. Where: The guest house When: 24 Virgo 15 September [backdated] Rating: PG Status: Complete!
She had accompanied Audrey back to her quarters and fetched Boris. The elder Coulombe sister did not question why Genevieve wished to take possession of the dog, but then, the countess knew that Audrey was not dense. A bit dramatic, yes, but surely she knew that Genevieve was returning Boris to his owner. She had parted with Audrey, cautioning the young woman to ensure that she actually ate something, made a note in her communicator to speak with Arielle, and headed off towards her own estate.
It seemed that Boris knew exactly where she was taking him; as soon as she turned onto her the street that led to her estate, the great beast started happily trotting, pulling the much lighter countess behind. When they reached the gates, Boris’ tail was wagging so violently that it felt like lashes against her skin as she reached over to unlatch the lock. Without prodding, he began a quick gallop towards the guest house.
Genevieve shook her head and followed behind.
She knocked a few times prior to entering. The first thing she noticed was how sparsely decorated things were. Genevieve frowned, recalling the trinkets and miscellany that had adorned the shelves and tables when Juliette and Audrey had lived here mere months ago. Perhaps Juliette simply did not feel comfortable displaying such personal effects?
Boris rushed by, heading towards where Genevieve assumed Juliette was.
Juliette would be found in the living room, having sprung up from the couch in something like panic at the sound of the door opening. Panic, however, turned into delight as Boris came bounding into the room, and by the time the Countess had appeared, Juliette was already on her knees on the floor, arms wrapped around the shaggy dog who was all but quivering with his excitement. She had to blink back the tears which threatened to come to her eyes before she could look up.
“Countess.” Certainly a warmer tone than the last time they had spoken. “I did not expect one visitor today, let alone two.” She picked herself up eventually, though one hand remained on the dog’s head, and glanced at the tea tray on the coffee table (the only sign that this house was inhabited aside from the magicks book she had set aside on the sofa cushion). “May I offer you some tea?” She didn’t have much in the house but she would scrounge up some sort of accompaniment to the beverage, surely, poor hostess that she was.
“I simply thought that I would bring Boris about. Cloak and Dagger may miss him, but they do only like him in small doses.” She smiled, shaking her head at the offer. “I’m afraid I had lunch not too long ago.” And unlike Audrey, Genevieve had finished her meal and tea. “Thank you, though.”
She looked around the living room, noting that it was less inhabited looking here than in the foyer. The magicks book was noted - perhaps she should give Juliette a scroll on her next birthday, if it was something she was interested in? - but aside from it and the food, it looked no different than when she had inspected it shortly before the girl had moved back in. There was no good way to inquire as to the state of the house without sounding unbearably rude, but now that she was thinking about it, she had only seen Juliette in a handful of outfits in the near month that she had been here.
“This may seem an odd question, but do you need help unpacking? I cannot help but notice that the place looks rather… unfurnished.”
“Ah.” Juliette was not quite composed enough to refrain from clasping her hands together and looking down at them as though they might provide an answer (they did not). “I do not need assistance, thank you.” Her small bag of things had long ago been unpacked, but a knapsack did not fill a house. She knew it looked bare, but…
Well, she had enough to get by with, didn’t she? She was planning on purchasing another few tunics and some undergarments with her next salary, but really, she was fine.
“I am very grateful,” she said, hoping to change the subject. “For Boris, I mean.” The question sprung to her mind, unbidden -- did Alys ask about me at all? but was quashed down mercilessly as it always was. Alys was probably glad to have the constant reminder of Juliette out of the house, that was all.
Genevieve frowned. Audrey had said that Juliette had left in a rush - something that she ought to have remembered sooner than this. There was another glance around, slower this time, and the countess sighed. “You are quite welcome. I’m sorry it took a bit of time to retrieve him. I have been a bit tied up with the goings on of the wedding and such.”
At least she had food. It would not take much to procure some tunics and simple dresses. She would have to be remeasured, of course; a growing girl with the training routines that Juliette had would not stay in a single size whilst still progressing. Knick knacks and the like could be acquired as Juliette saw things she liked. “If you would like, I can accompany you to the Bazaar later this afternoon. You are in need of clothing and such, are you not? It would have been difficult to take much and keep it in the barracks.”
“You --” do not have to do that. The words died in her throat. Perhaps it was foolish, but the Countess had kept her word -- she had let Juliette be, she had not pried, she had not attempted to stage any sort of intervention with Alys, she had returned Boris. Was it foolish, the young monk wondered, to trust her again?
Possibly very foolish. But…
“You are… observant,” she finished the sentence at last, still feeling dreadfully uncomfortable. But she could not simply stay here in her corner on her own -- Alys was one thing, but this was something else. (And she could admit, deep down, that she had missed the almost-mothering, having never been exposed to any prior to her involvement with Countess Genevieve Albrecht.) “The barracks are not spacious.”
Better this truth than the one where she admitted to not caring whether she wore her few clothes down to rags as long as she could get out of her sister’s estate as quickly as possible.
“If… you are not too busy… I would be… pleased,” or at the very least not dismayed, “to accompany you.”
“Then shall we say in an hour or so? I’ve been promising to look at some swatches that were sent to me that I have been putting off. I shall come get you when I am done.” She patted Boris on the head, who looked quite happy to be there. “And I shall send Michel down with some bowls and food for Boris.” She hadn’t retrieved them from Audrey’s.
“Thank you.” A pause. “For your patience. I am attempting to… adjust.” And this admission was more honesty than she felt truly comfortable giving, but she offered it, anyway.
Trust was hard, but loneliness was harder, it seemed. She could not survive with Pyr’s (increasingly confusing) company alone, and the part of her that craved affection missed the woman standing across from her desperately.
“There is nothing to thank me for, Juliette.” She smiled kindly at the girl, but kept her distance. There was still tension and distrust there, and she did not wish to overstep any boundaries that the girl may have set up. “You have all the time in the world to adjust - there is no one to say otherwise. Now, I will leave you to get reacquainted with Boris, and I shall see you in an hour.”
“In an hour,” Juliette responded.
When they had said good-bye and she was left alone in the empty house once more -- if slightly less alone than she had been previously -- she looked down at Boris and murmured, “I am sorry. I should not have left you.”
By the devotion in his eyes, it was clear that he had already forgiven her. As she moved towards the bedroom in search of her slightly nicer tunic, she thought that she might need to take a lesson from him in this particular virtue.