Olenna Tyrell (queen_of_thorns) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-06-26 16:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, olenna tyrell, tywin lannister |
Who: Olenna Tyrell and Tywin Lannister
What: Dinner and catching up
When: Backdated: Saturday, June 15th. Early Evening
Where: An expensive restaurant.
Rating: Family Friendly
Status: Complete
Tywin Lannister did not have doubts. He did not have second thoughts. He did not stray from a plan of action unless it called for immediate improvisation. And right now, as he sat at the window seat of a particularly high-end restaurant that he frequented for the sirloin, he was absolutely certain that meeting with Olenna Tyrell was just a meeting. It was not a date. It was catching up with someone who he considered a good friend, much like Kevan.
Well...not exactly like Kevan. Part of the joy of knowing Olenna was trading barbs with an intellectual equal. There were very few who understood Tywin to his very core, but Olenna came close.
He remembered her from his youth, back before Joanna when they’d both been firmer and wilder. Tywin had been dour and serious; Olenna had disguised her seriousness with a quick wit to match his own. Had they been in love? Tywin hadn’t given the matter much thought. For so many years, Joanna and Cersei had been the loves of his life. They could make him smile.
Then Joanna died, and the best part of Tywin went with him. He hadn’t cried on that day, but he’d been fully aware of something...taking place. Something had slipped over him, like a cloak, and he’d worn it ever since. Cersei seemed to fade slightly.
Still, Olenna Tyrell turning up was...unexpected. Not that he was having doubts.
It had been quite some time since Olenna had spoken to, let alone seen, Tywin Lannister. She honestly couldn’t remember exactly when it had been. So much had happened over the last couple of years, after they’d both gone their separate ways and each married other people that it was hard to keep track of sometimes.
When she’d finally joined Valarnet, after being informed about it from Margaery and Loras, Tywin was one of the last people she’d expected to see on the Network and even that small bit of contact had brought back memories from before Luthor. Memories that she hadn’t thought much of in a long time. Her relationship with Tywin had been quite different from her relationship with Luthor and while Tywin had been rather serious, compared to how much more upbeat she had been, they had, had some good times. So, it hadn’t really been a question of whether or not it was a good idea to take him up on his suggestion of dinner.
She’d taken a cab to the restaurant since she still didn’t have a car; she had only been in The OC for a couple of days, after all. That was certainly on the list of things she needed to do once the closing went through on her condo went through. After paying the driver, she went inside, taking a look around for Tywin.
Tywin looked up and saw Olenna. She was certainly looking well, considering her age. He lifted a hand to head level so she could see him. How long had it been? Forty years, maybe? There had been the odd mutual acquaintance ‘party’....it came with running in similar circles. But Tywin, who possessed a sharp memory, couldn’t remember exactly the last time he saw her. He just remembered her as she was when they were in their twenties.
It wasn't until she saw him that Olenna seemed to recall seeing him once after they'd both been married. They had introduced one another to their respective spouses and that had been the last time they had seen one another. She had heard about the births of his children and the unfortunate death of his wife, through others, but this was to be the first contact they'd had in ages.
"Hello, Tywin," She said as she approached the table and took the seat across from him. She didn't need anyone to pull her chair out for her, fully capable of getting into her own chair. Her need to do things on her own came, partly, from the fact that over the last few years Mace had been insisting on doing things for her, which infuriated her to no end. She wasn't a decrepit old woman yet, despite the fact that sometimes she played the part with others. It all depended on who she was with at that moment. And that was certainly not the role she was playing today, "You look far better than that tiny photo on the Internet."
“You as well,” said Tywin. “And here we are: the oldest of the Tyrell and Lannisters still living. No use denying the truth of it.” He casually motioned over a waiter. “So tell me, Olenna. How was Sweden, besides neutral?”
Olenna nodded, "I suppose we are. Although, I'm sure my son is looking forward to taking over that title," Not that she thought that Mace wanted her dead, but it was clear that despite being an adult, he had little power over anything the family did, because Olenna was very involved and As far as she was concerned, her son wasn't the brightest. She was glad that they didn't have a family business or anything, because Mace would wind up running it into the ground, "Do you honestly want to know about Sweden? Why don't you tell me what has brought you to Amercia, never mind California."
Tywin almost smiled. “Don’t all children want their parents dead?” he asked. “As for what brought me to America...business. As always.” Tywin didn’t say it with any bitterness, he simply said it as a fact of duty. “And the Baratheons were here. My daughter got married, Jaime got a job here....best to keep the family together.”
"My son will be greatly disappointed, because I intend to live for a very long time. I've made it this far, why would I die now?" Not that mid sixties was that old now a days anyway. If she had it her way, she'd live past a hundred. "Baratheons? Last I heard they weren't doing so well since the father died," Olenna had never met the Baratheons, but they were yet one more prominent family in England who owned their own business, so it was a name that was in the papers often. "I take it your daughter married one of them?" It was almost ironic that they were talking about this when, unbeknownst to her, Loras was dating one of them as well.
Tywin nodded. “It was similar to a business arrangement. The Baratheons are still going strong, with some outside help. And Cersei married Robert Baratheon. The great stag,” he said, spitting the word ‘stag’ with some bitterness. “And your grandchildren? Margaery and Loras?” Tywin bristled slightly in disgust at the memory of receiving Renly Baratheon’s text by accident.
“Margaery and Loras seem to be doing quite well.” Olenna was extremely proud of her grandchildren; all of them, not just Margaery and Loras. “Margaery is studying law and Loras is still doing mixed martial arts and hoping to compete in the next Olympics. My other grandchildren, back in Sweden, are also doing quite well.” Olenna was about to speak again when a waitress came by to take their drink orders.
“Good to hear. I only wish my children were living up to their name. Instead they seem content to follow their impulses,” he said, forcing the waitress to....well, wait. Tywin ordered a steak along with a bottle of red.
Olenna placed her own food order at Tywin then waited until the waitress left before speaking again, “You have another son, don’t you?” Of course she knew that Tywin’s wife had died giving birth to his youngest son and even now she felt for him as well as his children, who had then had to grow up without a mother. “And if I recall hearing correctly, you have grandchildren of your own, correct?”
Tywin nodded, a little reluctantly. “Tyrion, yes,” he said, quickly dropping the subject. He didn’t want to talk about the imp. He never wanted to talk about the damn imp. “Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen. They’re mostly good children. No horrible personality defects to speak of...yet. They’re still young.”
It was more than obvious that Tywin didn’t want to talk about his youngest son and were he anyone else, Olenna probably wouldn’t have let the subject drop, but she knew Tywin and how he could get if pushed. Of course, simply because she was choosing to drop it now didn’t mean she wouldn’t think about doing it again if they left this dinner on good terms, “This is the perfect time for you to be around them then. Soon they won’t want to be seen in public with old fogeys like us.” She smirked across the table at Tywin.
Tywin was dangerously close to actually smiling. “Did you think this was where we’d be? When we were in our twenties, did you think the pair of us would spend so much time worrying ourselves rotten over what our children get up to?” asked Tywin. “I can’t say I expected to live this long myself. I thought I’d drop dead the second I saved the family name. Where did you think you’d be?”
And had he smiled, Olenna would have kept his secret so as not to ruin his reputation as the most unhappy man in California, "I honestly don’t know where I thought I’d be. Alive and well, of course, which I appear to have accomplished.” She smirked, “And I only worry about my son, because he had been known to make some rather horrendous decisions, such as naming one of my grandsons Garlan. What exactly was going through their heads at that time is beyond me.” If she were completely honest, she never would have thought, in a million years, that she’d be sitting there with Tywin again. It had been so very long and they’d changed quite a bit, but despite all of that, she found that she was enjoying being with him quite a bit, “And what, pray tell, did you think you were going to drop dead from?”
“Pressure,” he said simply. “Or the relief from pressure. The waiter arrived with their orders, set their plates before them and departed. Tywin began to cut into his steak, and decided to do the same to the tension. “After Joanna died, I toyed with the idea of contacting you. Out of grief, perhaps. Sitting here now, maybe I ought to have contacted you sooner. I did care for you, Olenna. That should be obvious.” He ate a piece of steak, looking back to her as if expecting her to give him his stock options.
Olenna began cutting into her own food as Tywin spoke and she stopped to look up at him, listening. Setting down her own utensils, she reached across the table and placed a hand over Tywin’s, “I know you did.” He might have had other things on his mind back then, such as his father’s company, but they had been together long enough that she’d known that he cared, “I should have contacted you when I heard. Offered my condolences.” She had still been married then, but now they were both widowed and in the same city and had time to get to know one another again and perhaps be friends. Honestly, she wouldn’t have minded if they wound up a little more than friends; after all, she was older, not dead.
Tywin lifted his eyebrows. “Not getting soft in your old age, Olenna?” he asked. “What was it they called you? Queen of Thorns?”
“Only for certain people, Tywin.” She removed her hand from his and took a sip of her win. She wasn’t really a big drinker, but there were certain times when you had to have wine and dinner with old friends was one of those times, “That blasted nickname. You would think people would be more creative.”
“You can’t be surprised at an uncreative name, considering the circles the pair of us run in,” he said. “Baratheons and Starks and all the rest. Bull-headed and blunt-tongued.” Tywin was silent for a while as he ate; he knew how to savour food when it was well-prepared. “Your Margaery. She is unmarried, isn’t she? Smart girl, would you say? Good prospects?”
Olenna nodded as Tywin brought up Margaery, “Margaery is more than simply smart. She’s studying law at the moment as well as the teaching assistant to her Languages professor.” She took a bite of her food, followed by a sip of wine before responding to Tywin’s second question, “She is still unmarried, yes. I don’t believe she has anyone at the moment.” Before she had made the move to America, Olenna had kept in touch with Margaery by phone quite often.
Tywin nodded in consideration. Jaime hadn't married yet; a bond with the Tyrells would certainly be a smart move. But he decided not to broach the subject. "Were you angry for long? After things ended with us?" he asked bluntly.
If she’d known what Tywin was thinking she probably would have laughed, because the idea of arranging a marriage for Margaery was extremely laughable. Her granddaughter was far too independent to go along with something like that. However, what he did ask caused her to pause for a moment, having not expected it. Setting her utensils down, she looked across at Tywin, “I wouldn’t say I was angry, but I was upset. I loved you, Tywin. Eventually, I came to understand why it hadn’t worked out at that time though.” Sometimes she did wonder what her life would have been like if they hadn’t broken up, but in the long run she had been happy with the way her life had turned out.
Tywin’s expression didn’t seem to change, but something in his eyes softened. “I had loved you too,” he said finally. Or something close to love. “Shall we take a walk somewhere?”
The look in his eyes didn’t go unnoticed and she nodded in response to his question, a smirk turning the corners of her lips up, “A walk would probably do us good. Stretch these old bones after sitting for so long,” She teased as she picked up her wine glass and finished it off.