InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I'm Tweak & that's news to me"

Sir Rune Halvari (hisactualson) wrote in watchers_rp,
@ 2017-05-26 00:30:00

Entry tags:

#day 007/07 may, freja, rune

Who: Freja and Rune
Where: Freja's room
When: Morning

While he could've waited until later to do this, Rune decided that morning was the best time to find his youngest sister in her room. Otherwise he'd have to trail her around the castle, ask Rona for permission to steal her... it was a hassle that would likely have their mother demanding to know what, exactly, he thought he was doing. Rune decided he didn't want to deal with all that. Instead, he went straight to Freja's room and knocked on the door until she answered. Without waiting for an invitation - what was that between siblings? - he walked in and draped himself on her bed with an air he distinctly hoped was helpless.

"Freja," he informed her, voice muffled a bit by the mattress. "I think I'm in love."

Had he really thought about it, or had he spoken with someone already, he may have used the more appropriate term of 'lust', but Rune wasn't the most logical member of the Halvari family. In his mind he had sat across from a lovely noblewoman who had the proper pedigree and had he mentioned that she was lovely? Clearly she spoke her mind, she laughed freely and she seemed to care little for whether or not he liked her. That was what did it, really, she didn't care what he thought. Rune had gone to many of those little dinners over the years and the woman was almost always overeager, pushed by her family into trying to catch his eye, and someone who didn't care was as refreshing as a cool drink of water when he was hungover.

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hisotherson
2017-05-29 02:22 am UTC (link)

Freja was having to rise earlier in Arcadie than she had in Valhalla. At home, her schedule was much more flexible. Here, it depended on Rona, and she needed to be available. So she was actually awake when Rune came to visit, but it was a very near thing. She was still in her nightclothes, the heavy blue robe she usually wore over her nightdress thrown over a chair and entirely ignored since her first morning here. The heat was killing her. Her second night she'd caught a server putting a bed warmer in and she'd had to shoe them away. These Southerners were trying to kill her. Today it at least didn't appear as though it would be hot, but the humidity was already throwing her for a loop. She disliked it immensely, and they kept telling her it was only going to get worse.

She sighed heavily as Rune flopped on her bed, and she shoved the door closed behind him. Last thing she needed was some servant seeing and being horrified by familiarity. Freja rolled her eyes and strode over to one of the windows to open it wide. She turned and sat on the open windowsill. "I'll give you two bits if you can tell me her full name and the color of her eyes."

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hisactualson
2017-05-29 06:15 pm UTC (link)

At his sister's remark, Rune propped himself up enough to see that she was by the window. And still wearing her nightclothes. He'd have been embarrassed by that if she was anyone but his sister - or someone he'd spent the night with - but since it was Freja he hardly thought it mattered.

"The Lady Gia Ridell!" He proclaimed with a grin, though he stayed laying. "And her eyes are blue. Shockingly blue. They dance when she smiles, and she smiles often." That these smiles had likely been at his own expense truly had gone right over his head. His hand went out. "Pay up."

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hisotherson
2017-05-30 01:38 am UTC (link)

Freja burst out laughing. Some girls would idolize their big brothers, convince themselves that the heir could do no wrong, that he was a golden child in which all hopes of the future were placed. Freja thought those girls were idiots. She loved Rune, adored him, would happily die for him, but considered it her solemn duty to take him down a peg whenever possible. Ego didn't get men anywhere, and he had enough to blanket the realm. So yes, Freja laughed. A good, hard, gut-clenching laugh, even as she headed to her dressing table and removed two coins from a purse. She turned towards Rune, hand over her heart, until she had her laughter more controlled.

"Oh dear, dear brother," she sighed, taking her time walking around the room and back towards her bed. She'd heard a most interesting story from Synnove the previous night, and Freja was absolutely delighted to be the one to burst this particular bubble. "Lady Gia is queer," she said flatly, dropping the bits into Rune's outstretched hand. "Queerer than a summer snow in Empyrean. I have it on very good authority that you made a proper arse of yourself while she fawned over our sister. Flirted with her most brazenly! And you didn't notice because you weren't thinking with your head." Well, not the right one, anyway. "But by all means, have father extend a proposal to her brother. Perhaps Lord Ridell would be happy to be rid of her, and at the very least, Lady Gia probably wouldn't mind you keeping mistresses. Assuming that you shared."

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hisactualson
2017-05-30 01:51 am UTC (link)

Rune had to admit that he was a little taken back when his sister started laughing as though he'd said something funny. He ran over every word he'd uttered since he entered her room and found not a single one worthy of such a reaction. Not a one! Sometimes he was funny and he expected to be laughed at. Now was not one of these times. Now was a time when he was truly serious about a matter, serious enough that he'd tell his father, and Freja was laughing at him. Perhaps it was good he'd come to her first. She could tell him what was so funny and he could make sure not to repeat it to their parents.

He blinked once, twice, three times when Freja made a declaration about Gia that just couldn't be true. Yes, she was different, but... Rune hardly noticed the bits in his hand, though he did slip them into his pocket as he shifted on the bed, sitting up now, his smile replaced by a frown. "She did not fawn over Synnove," he denied, recalling every detail he could about the dinner. All that came to his mind were those eyes and smiles, and how he had felt as though they were meant for him. Surely Freja was wrong. "How can you know that?" Assuming she knew anything and wasn't just trying to pop his bubble. "Why would she have come to a dinner with me if she is that?" The matter of mistresses he ignored. He wouldn't have those when he got married. He'd be faithful like their father was.

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hisotherson
2017-05-30 02:20 am UTC (link)

Freja rolled her eyes in exasperation. Really, was Rune that thick? Or did she still have to fight through the outer shield of his ego? "She went because Synnove went, you dunderhead. Dear, sweet, Synnove, who would have lived a chaste cleric's life if not for one man. Our poor, innocent sister. She's easily the best and most righteous of all of us and even she knew what was going on. She's the one that told me, for pity's sake!"

Sighing heavily, Freja plopped down into the chair at her dressing table. "And besides, if there's anything I have learned here, it's that gossip spreads like wildfire. They say Lady Gia doesn't even pretend to have an interest in men. Her brother lets her have her way, and there's a lot of gossip about why." And good for Lady Gia. If her family wasn't going to push her into a marriage, then she figured no one else should have a problem with it, either. A noble daughter was always thought of as a political tool, but if this lady had a family that wouldn't force her into a life she didn't want, Freja thought that was a difference to be celebrated - not mocked.

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hisactualson
2017-05-30 05:30 am UTC (link)

He was trying to make sense of what Freja was telling him, but for whatever reason, he was having quite a bit of trouble processing it. The idea that a woman would like Synnove over him wasn't something he'd ever considered. Had he had a brother then he'd have understood something like that, but he only had sisters. Three of them. Very pretty sisters, yes, but that was the sort of thing men looked at. Unless they were men like those in the tavern he and Khala had been in - oh. Rune's entire body seemed to deflate until he was forced to lay back on the bed with a groan, staring up at the ceiling. If men could buy him drinks, tell him his rear looked good in those pants and make propositions very like ones he'd made to women, then could women not be the same?

Rune didn't even think he could blame them if that were the case. Women were lovely and if he'd been born one he'd likely have been the same way. "But surely," Rune said weakly, those eyes still seeming to hang in front of him. To say nothing even about the rest of her. "Even they marry and have children." Having children required a very certain act. The Lord Ridell - whose name Rune did not know - surely wasn't going to let his sister continue to do whatever she wished. That wasn't beneficial to the family and the head of the family did what was beneficial. Would I force Freja to marry? That was besides the point, Freja was different. "Imagine how beautiful our children would be."

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hisotherson
2017-05-30 05:41 am UTC (link)

Rune was such an idiot. But he was her idiot brother, and Freja loved him dearly. Even now. She chuckled softly and leaned forward, resting her elbow on her knee and her chin on her hand. "I imagine they must," she said, conversationally. "Or join the church. I don't know that I've honestly ever met a woman interested in other women that way. Plenty of men, mind you. Remember that lordling they sent us from that house in Mag Mell, the one with the funny sigil? I can never remember his name, I always think of him as Sir Flouncing of the Tightpants." Freja shook her head. It wasn't important.

"That's not the point. The point is... would you really want a wife who didn't want you?" Freja's tone was gentler now, because she knew the answer would be no, and it was one of (yes, alright) many reasons why she loved him so. "I think you deserve better than that. It doesn't sound like it'd lead to a very happy marriage."

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hisactualson
2017-05-31 02:05 am UTC (link)

"Why men that you recall and not women?" Rune didn't know why he was asking that question. Maybe as a way to defend himself against accepting the possibility that the most beautiful woman he'd ever been put up against wouldn't like him because he was a man. He could accept it being because he was Valhallan over that! Somewhere in his mind a voice piped up that it didn't well matter what he could accept, but Rune had gotten very good over the years at ignoring that voice. Freja likely would've called it his conscience, Synnove the same while Rona said it was what passed for his brains. "I met a few of those the other day with Khala. They kept buying me ale. I imagine most of them are married with children."

Rune sighed heavily, staring down at his clasped hands. He disliked imposing his views on people, truly he did, but in some things he just knew he was right. In this he was certain he was right. "It could be a passing fancy of hers. Or she hasn't met the right man. Or she puts about rumors and airs to dissuade men who are easily dissuaded, waiting for the right one..." Rune was aware he was grasping at straws, but she was beautiful and he was a little hopeless. "I'm sure many come to love each other after marriage. How many marry for love?" Their sister hadn't.

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hisotherson
2017-06-04 02:19 am UTC (link)

"I don't know if I've ever met a woman that way. It's not like they advertise it on their foreheads," Freja pointed out. "But Sir Flouncing of the Tightpants was most certainly that way. His sense of hero worship with you far exceeded the ordinary. He sighed a lot, too."

She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "It's not even about marrying for love, but you'd be marrying a woman that doesn't want to lay with you! Might not be willing to do the deed at all. You might have to force her, and I don't think you have that in you. By all means, court her if you like, but know what you're in for."

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hisactualson
2017-06-05 04:52 pm UTC (link)

Rune thought he might remember the man that Freja spoke of. Maybe. He didn't pay attention to men outside of the training yards unless they were in a tavern, and if they made him uncomfortable he tended to stop paying attention. "I can hardly blame someone for thinking me his hero," he said anyhow, like he always would have. "I am a marvelous specimen of a man." Which was just why he couldn't understand why a woman wouldn't want him. Or why they might wish to have Synnove in his place.

His stomach tightened unpleasantly at the idea of forcing a woman to sleep with him. Of all the things he'd ever done or planned to do, that wasn't one of them. It was akin to the idea of sleeping with a child. Even those men in the tavern the other day who'd whistled and flirted with him were leagues better than that, for they weren't forcing themselves on him when he was unwilling. "No," he agreed, though his voice was miserable. "I couldn't live that sort of life. All of my intentions once I marry are to be as good as father is, as Bourne and Rona are." For he'd seen them together and they were a good fit. His mind had imagined someone as beautiful as Gia being as good a fit for him. "I may try to see if perhaps you and Synnove are wrong. It wouldn't be the first time."

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hisotherson
2017-06-05 11:48 pm UTC (link)

Freja's jaw dropped. "When?" she demanded, sitting a little straighter. "Name the time. I certainly can't think of one for myself, and Synnove is practically a saint." Had they been born in Tírna there was no doubt in Freja's mind that Synnove would be the undisputed heir, whether she wished it or not.

"At any rate, try if you like. You've been warned, at least." Freja would have liked to say that Rune would look for the signs next time, but if she was as beautiful as it was said, odds were good thoughts and sense would abandon him altogether again.

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hisactualson
2017-06-06 04:42 pm UTC (link)

"Why is it that I claim you have been wrong at least once in your life and you demand proof?" Rune asked, more than a hint of amusement in his voice. "I'm not saying you're lying to me, Freja, I'm saying you could be wrong. The world wouldn't end if our saintly sister was wrong about something. I do believe she once told me that trees change color in autumn to please us rather than because they are dying." He felt himself grin. "And you were a child once. I remember it fondly. Children are often wrong." Himself included.

Rune nodded, pushing himself off the bed and stretching his hands up towards the ceiling, hearing a little crack in his back as he did so. It was a reminder that he hadn't yet been to the training yards yet. "Do you have to go straight to Rona this morning or could you come down to the yards? No one would say anything if you were with me."

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hisotherson
2017-06-07 12:31 am UTC (link)

Any possible insult that could have been dug from his words was forgotten at the mention of the yards. He was right, no one would say anything to the heir of Valhalla. It wasn't quite solving the problem herself, but it would do. Perhaps she could show her worth today, and that would be the end of it.

"Rona would understand," she decided, standing up. "But I have to dress, so you'll have to wait outside."

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