Re: [declan and clementine, marvel]
[Clementine wasn't near as well off as she pretended. She'd lost a whole lot of the money the hotel gave her, and all in houses she hadn't kept any. That house in Tuxedo Park she'd signed on over to Jake, for all the good it had done. It was sitting out there, empty, no one living it and the boy not selling it to get himself some schooling. Too much damn pride, and she didn't have a lick when it came to taking money. Rich folks, they took money all the time, and that's how they were rich, and Clementine didn't think a lick 'bout it. But Jake, he had some misplaced pride from his daddy. And the the tri-level, she'd lost hundreds of thousands on that pipe dream, and all to get two men living with her that had their own notion of things. But she had netted some money from the tri-level sale, and that was what she was using for this boat.
But less rich or not, she was still entitled as could be, and she was real terrible at budgeting. She walked on down that dock like she could buy any damn thing she pleased, and maybe part of her thought she could. Declan there, he made her feel like she was younger, like her daddy would get her any damn thing she pleased. She almost forgot the man was dead, head smashed in, and she looked on over her shoulder in time to see Declan watching, but not in time to see that bottle get itself popped open.
Declan caught up a few minutes later, and she leaned warm against his side. It was the kind of contact he'd shied from when they were real small, and she did it deliberate now. She wasn't a little girl no more, and she fit just fine against his side.] You think I should go bigger? Hard for me to sail if I do. [She said it like she was dirty some, trouble some, angel some, and she grinned at the seller as Declan held out a hand to shake.
She'd grown up plenty traditional enough to let Declan do the haggling. She just looked on up at her brother and gave him a smile that was all southern belle and azaleas blooming in spring.] You help me step on? [The boat was docked in water, and the step wasn't anything dangerous, but she asked all the same, even as she stepped on away to the edge of the dock and held a hand out to Declan, real prim-like.]