the war is finally over for florinda mcgonagall (lionhearts) wrote in neeps, @ 2018-01-02 23:50:00
Who: Florinda McGonagall and Shona McGonagall What: Do I have a story for you …. When: Boxing Day afternoon BACKDATED Where: Shona's house Warnings: Discussions of the ongoing draaaaaaaaama
"There's not enough warming charms in the world to send me out there in that, not further than the porch anyroad," Florrie said as they watched Shona's children agitate to be let out into the snow since the snowfall and wind gusts had been let up from yesterday. "Not until I have to go home, anyroad, or back to Merc's to check on Georgi. I should have brought him and the salamander with me. I feel like I'll never be warm again." The exaggeration was accompanied by a mournful face and a pout of equally ridiculous proportions.
“Sounds like you need more cocoa,” Shona said with a smile, coming from behind to squeeze Florrie’s shoulder before opening the door for the kids to run out. Flora was still pulling on a snow boot as she struggled out the door, eager to keep up with Mal, who wasn’t slowing down even with his jacket half-unzipped. “And maybe a hot bath, but I get the feeling you’d rather use a bathroom that isn’t decorated with Paddington Bear cut-outs and sparkly alphabet stickers.”
"If I could use the bath salts Aureliana got me for Christmas, I might consider it. It's not nice to take the tub forever when you're sharing the loo the way we do at the Cattery," Florrie pointed out. "I may wait until Georgi and his salamander have vacated the premises and borrow Gabi's tub. But in the meantime, I'll definitely take more cocoa, and I'll even let you spike it with something that'll keep me a little warmer." That was why everyone in Scotland had more than they needed to to drink: it was too bloody cold to do anything else.
"And I'll catch you up on all the family drama from the other side and you'll want spiked cocoa as well."
Shona raised her eyebrows and summoned the whiskey without another word, and then poured a generous measure into her cousin’s mug. “All right. Talk.” To an outsider, Shona’s directness might seem cold, but her family knew it was merely her nature not to mince words, just as it was merely her nature to smile encouragingly as she gave Florrie the floor.
Florrie had intended to start with the basics of the tale but found herself elaborating and almost unable to stop as she went on. "At the Macmillan party, when Cav and I went out into the garden, Ellie showed up and slapped me.” Shona’s eyes widened; her glance darting around Florrie’s face to try and find the place Ellie had hit. It was unsuccessful, but the worry refused to diminish regardless. “I reacted by reflex, because you know they train us to deal with violent patients in the field. So I bound her. Doc was with her and Merc showed up almost immediately, and we released her as soon as we were sure she wasn't hurt. But she kicked at Cav and then stormed off with Doc trailing in her wake and went home with Merc. It bruised up but it's already mostly healed.” Shona still couldn’t shake her concern. Just because the bruise was healed didn’t excuse the fact that there had been one to begin with.
"And I've talked to Lorna, and told Aureliana and Gwen by journal since they'll have to clean up the mess, and I helped Gregor with Lynn the next morning at King's Cross and he though Cav might have done it, after that stupid Circe article, and Merc is wandering around like a human thundercloud, and apparently Ellie has been hitting more people than I imagined, and everyone is being so nice about it and I feel awful because Ellie needs help, not to be yelled at, and I don't even know whether I did the right thing, and, and--"
She buried her face in her hands for a moment, and Shona scooted across to put an arm around her, pressing a kiss into her cousin’s hair. Florrie then popped back up to say, "I feel as though I must have been overreacting when I bound Ellie, but she was kicking people when I released her, so maybe I shouldn't have. And I'm concerned for Ellie but I feel all the time as though I need to worry about how everyone else is handling it, and I don't know what to do to make myself feel better about it. And I'm certain I upset Aunt Minerva and poor Poppy because Aunt Minerva made Poppy look at me before I got on the Express. I should be doing something to make things better for Ellie but I have no idea what it is. I can't even figure out how to make it better for myself."
Shona took a breath to compose herself. A few breaths, actually, and not a few sips of their special hot cocoa. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think you were overreacting.” She held up a hand so she could continue without interruption for just a few moments longer. “You can’t control how other people react, but you can talk to them, and tell them how you’re feeling, and hope they take it from there.
“We’ll get Ellie the help she needs.” Shona was firm. Maybe she didn’t know how yet, either, but there was a solution. They just had to find it. In her Soothing Mum voice, she added, “We’ll talk to Aunt Minerva and Poppy. Maybe Poppy will even have a suggestion.”
There were a couple of other things that Florrie realised she'd forgot to tell Shona. "I had breakfast with Doc this morning. He's moved back to An Nead." Which was the biggest and most important thing for Shona.
“I’m sorry, what?”
"He's moved back to An Nead," Florrie repeated. "With Ellie."
“No, I heard you,” Shona replied, slightly uneasy. “I was just hoping I’d heard you wrong.” "I know, it's awkward. But he says he needs her as much as she needs him. Also there's been a meeting today to decide Elsie's future at Portree, so there may be less of a problem on your side of things than that sounds like." Probably she should have let Doc tell Shona some of these things, but here they were and Florrie was tired of holding back. "I don't think she's going to get the sack but apparently, just between us, I'm just the last person she's lost her temper with. So there's going to be some sort of measure taken to deal with the crisis. She'll need the whole family to support her through this."
Florrie hadn't realised how much trouble this was going to present for Montrose, even if it was more for Portree. But the expression on Shona's face told her that it was. She reached over to take Shona's hand and smiled. Montrose was a family too, and they would work through whatever was happening to them together.