Who: Gwyneth and Viola Dupree What: Sort-of-mother and sort-of-daughter run into each other. Also in which Gwyneth gets a little magical pick-me-up. When: Monday afternoon, 2/28/11 Where: Vancouver, Washington Rating: M for Manipulation. Of the motherly sort.
Gwyneth hated the idea of going out in public feeling the way she did, looking the way she did. The thinning white hair was unsightly, the shriveled skin abominable, the arthritis-gnarled fingers revolting. To top it all off, her back was nearly out of commission and she was forced to use a cane, a cane to get around. It was the ultimate humiliation for a woman who had spent centuries in her prime and had enjoyed envious glances from other women and leering looks from some men. Conclusively, then, if she had her way, she wouldn't have had to go out at all, but a need for groceries and the like demanded it.
There had been some grumbling on Gothel's part about nourishment hardly being a necessity when they were clearly going to die any day now, but Gwyneth had ignored her. Deimos was working on something, after all, and the poltergeist had never let her down yet. Surely he'd find a way to fix her dilemma. He had to. She had never been this close to death before, not even when she had been forced to fake her own death all those years ago, and it terrified her. If a solution wasn't found soon, she'd be dust. Again. Not an experience that she particularly wanted to relive. It had been akin to disintegrating from the inside out and had been exceedingly painful. No one should have to die that way, least of all her.
The reason behind the golden flower's sudden disappearance was beyond her. Why after all these centuries would it be taken away from her? Had she offended some higher power? Surely they should've realized that if it was placed in her path the way it was there was no possibility of her not making use of magic? She honestly couldn't say she knew anyone who would've acted differently. Whether or not this was because she was so self-involved that she couldn't see any logic other than her own was not a topic up for debate.