August 19, 1200
"My father's not coming to our wedding."Holladrin's words were laced with neither anger nor sorrow, but an ill mixture of resentment and exasperation and defeat. Searle would have almost preferred to find her throwing furniture in a rage or sobbing on the rug. Neither would have been a happy sight, and both would have been the frustrated aftermath of dashed hopes, but at least there would have been hope there to begin with.
Holladrin's father had been letting her down for so long she no longer entertained the thought that he wouldn't.
"Oh." If there was something he could say to make it better, it was beyond Searle's imagining. His own father had never let him down. "Well... maybe that's for the best. You don't need him.""You're right." But she picked at the nail of her thumb with her index finger--her never-fail tell of uncertainty. "He'd probably just sulk around the whole time anyway."
"Hmm." It may have been harsh to so readily agree to criticism of a man he'd never met, but Holladrin's father had proven to Searle time and time again just how possible it was to hate a complete stranger. If they ever did meet, he doubted his own capacity to offer a handshake instead of a slug across the jaw. For Holladrin's sake...
...well, she needed some form of closure, maybe. Some final note. But other than that, there couldn't have been any upside to her father's showing up any time soon.
For her sake--no matter what happened--he would never be that kind of father to any children they had.
"You're so lucky. Your father is always so... present. Your mother too. And, obviously, your mother is alive.""I am lucky." Almost twisted, really. In many ways, who one's parents were could make or a break a person--and who one's parents were was always, invariably, a matter of pure random luck. "And you deserve to have been so much luckier."
Holladrin sniffed, picking at her nails again. Taking compliments couldn't have been easy for someone whose only parent had spent their entire life neglecting them; it would be some years yet, he'd come to terms with the fact, before she'd truly believe him when he spoke the truth about her. For now, he'd take a small smile when she was done, and her leaning on his shoulder with a sharp breath, hair liquid gold against his fingers.
"At least I'm lucky to have you."NEXT CHAPTER:
5 comments:
Searle is Arydath's older son with Tarien. Holladrin is Octavius's granddaughter/ward. They'll be getting married in October.
Man, so many sitting around posts lately--but, frankly, I just can't be arsed to put any effort into posing these days.
Heh, my sims often sit around, too. XD
Mostly because when they don't, they have a tendency to wander off.
Didn't Octavius give Holladrin's father an ultimatum a few years back? What happened to that?
We'll be seeing Octavius before the wedding (though that reminds me--since he's seventy now, I have to age him up to elder before I shoot that post), so I'm sure he'll have some thoughts on this.
Do you work with free will turned on? I have it off, but that doesn't cancel all automatic behaviors, alas--like refusing to stand right under a ceiling light. :S
I feel really sorry for her but Searle is right. Apart from having him there because wedding, there wouldn't be anything to look forward to. He's so sweet and so protective.
Sitting around is frequently more realistic than anything else. Sitting or standing. I mean, they really wouldn't be marching around trailing hands on the backs of couches or something. Sitting is good. You capture a lot of emotion and that's the most important thing.
Yeah... Holladrin's father's presence would really only be symbolic, and not even in the way she'd expect. He'd cause more hurt than comfort. It's a tough thing for someone like Searle to understand, but he puzzled it out and he's right.
Thanks! Yeah, I think that's part of it too; a lot of times, in a story like this where it's inevitably going to be more about people's lives than any one action-packed event, it makes the most sense for them to be seated. In any case, I'm glad it's not detrimental. :)
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