Morrigan | Afternoon | Closed to Lachlan
It had been a long time since Morrigan had gone to a Turning Festival. Though there were four a year, she usually worked through them. Working gave her a reason to avoid them, but this one... well. This one was different. For the first time in a long time, Morrigan felt some hope. It wasn't perfect; the empty space where her faith used to be was still very much so empty, and she still felt many different sorts of pain, but that was the way of life.
There were still reasons to be hopeful. The Aurellian staff had been given the day off for the holiday. Glynn had run out of Faidoux and Morrigan had more mobility than she'd had in years. She and Lachlan had recently started speaking, and he wanted her to go to the Turning Festival. She and Calvin had were tentatively writing each other, even if it had been three weeks now since she'd seen him. She and Krishna had seemed to enjoy each other's company the other night when they'd had dinner together. These were all recent things that were inspiring hope in Morrie.
So, when she returned to her room after checking on the needs of the Manor and organizing the day to find a package had been left for her with a rose on top of it -- Lachlan might as well have signed it -- her mouth formed a straight line instead of a frown. When she opened it and saw a very pink and very finely tailored dress, perhaps her mouth even quirked up into very a small smile. Morrie wasn't entirely sure why. She dressed in dark colours that covered a lot of her, moreso in the Clovennian style than the Aurellian. But this dress was very much so Aurellian. Bright colour, flowing fabric, bare arms, low neckline... Morrigan wasn't sure she could imagine herself in it, but there was a certain meaning behind her brother giving her such a clearly Aurellian dress. And though it was a darker pink than the typical pastel of Canwyn, Morrigan thought that though she might feel out of place in it, she would not really look out of place. Besides, though she had mixed feelings about it, she thought that it would send a message she didn't want to send to Lachlan if she did not wear his gift.
So, she dressed in that beautiful pink dress, but she didn't otherwise fuss over herself. In fact, she left her face largely bare, and left her long hair down for once instead of pulling it back as she usually did. It helped her to feel more covered when her dark hair brushed her shoulders, at least. That was also why, even though it was spring now, she still wore her long, dark jacket.
Because she had spent the morning working, Morrigan didn't arrive in time to participate in the procession. She did, however, arrive in time to hear Calvin's words about Calyx, that turned into words of advice. Whether or not we grow flowers, we are all of us a kind of gardener. Friends, let choose kind words and generous actions, even among those whom we don't understand.
For one moment, though she was standing at the edge of the gathering, on the outskirts, Morrie felt almost choked up. She knew that she had made a lot of mistakes, recently and throughout her life, but... perhaps there was yet time to nurture and grow the good things. That was a perspective Morrie had held before in her life and it had not turned out well, but hope was insidious.
That point was driven home as her eyes fell on Lachlan moving towards her through the crowd. He must have been watching for her, and to reward his attentiveness to her arrival, she clenched her jaw against the blush she refused to experience, and took off her jacket to reveal the pink of the dress.
"I assume this was from you?" she asked him in lieu of a greeting, her eyebrow quirking up at her brother curiously.