RP:The Things We Do For Love

From HollowWiki

Part of the Larketian Fault Lines Arc


Part of the The Dust Up In Cenril Arc


Summary: Alvina and Hudson, after a rough night of parenting, sit down to discuss the moral dilemmas of the Witch Detector, the witch put to death without a trial for cursing Josleen (IC SECRET: The wrong witch was blamed, it was actually Valrae that put a curse on her), and Hudson's own methods of protecting his family. Huds ranks himself closer to the "Macon" end of the "Macon - Fitz" due course spectrum and Alvina vows to keep a closer eye on Larket's papers to make sure the machine isn't misused in her absence.


The Landon Estate

Alvina was having a rough day. After she got back from meeting with Pilar, the girls became hellions that refused to do anything she asked. They fought with each other over giant, different colored building blocks and myriad other infractions. ‘She’s touching me, that’s mine, etc’. When Hudson gets home, she looks a mess; her long hair was frizzed and her shoulders tense as she goes about making the easier possible dinner to satisfy the tykes before their respective bath and bed times with Hudson’s help. They were a more solid team since the boxing match and after party in the Cenril Tavern. This alone provided sanity to make it through the day. Alvina’s just finished tucking Luna in, she’d been very insistent that she have at least two stuffed animals in her bed tonight. The worn out mother plops down on the couch next to Hudson, sighing wearily and looking at the ceiling. There was no saving anything about her appearance now without a hot shower and long night of rest. “I don’t know if I told you, today’s been a blur, but I went and saw Pilar in Kelay with the girls. I think that’s why they are tiny nightmares. There might have been some tense discussion in relation to…things.” That’s a low key way to say ‘possible murder machine that I built with my own two hands’ but maybe she was the only one feeling on the fence about it. Or thinking about it at all.


Harper had been easier with her father, had fallen asleep a page or two into the bedtime story. And so Hudson had managed to excuse himself for private adult time in the living room. He's eating something like Oreos and reading the sports section when Alvina surfaces and installs herself next to him. He automatically curls an arm around her, offers her the sleeve so she can take a cookie for herself. "I know, they gave you a hard time today," he comments, wisely staying away from any comments about her appearance. Of course he still thinks she's beautiful, it's just there's a range of beautiful where your wife is concerned. This falls squarely in the 'still beautiful, but obviously had a trash day' end of the spectrum. "Tense discussion with Pilar?" Hudson doesn't follow. He knows that Pilar has some sympathies with witches, but he doesn't connect the two. He assumes that it's more likely that they're having some sort of woman disagreement, and he sits up somewhat to look at her. "What's going on with Pilar?"


Alvina takes a cookie, immediately eats it, and takes two more for good measure before handing the sleeve back. There’s a bit of cookie dust trapped on her lip now, it’s part of the ‘trash day’ accessory kit. She exhales from her leaned back position, displeased by the prospect of discussing witch things. “Pilar read the paper and had some things to say to me about it…” She says, once she eats another cookie and straightens up to look at Hudson out of the corner of her eye. “Seems she’s in your camp. I’d been worried about her because she stopped answering my letters; I guess when the paper came out. Thinking I’m some mad scientist or something…” The more she talks about it, the lower her tone gets. “How many of these did you eat before I got here? Was dinner bad?” She asked ruefully, feeling subtle guilt start to curl up on her chest like a kitten, content to rest in the most uncomfortable place possible.


This topic... Hudson emits a grunt that's two parts trepidation one part 'I hear you.' He's silent as she explains, though dread has taken root in him. He wonders if Alvina had talked to Pilar about their argument, and reads a little into the way she pivots away from her disagreement with Pilar to ask about his choice in snack. "Only like two," he says. "Dinner was fine. I feel bad now, I should have fired up the grill and let you relax." Easy to offer to help after she'd already handled things. A quiet sneaks in, briefly, after he's said that. "Obviously you're not a mad scientist," he says, carefully, mindful that it's a bad look for them to fall silent and for him not to respond to her attempt to talk about the witch machine. "Are you and Pilar... OK now? I forgot that she's pretty liberal, we talked about it one time after that stuff happened at the nail salon." That time that it had been vandalized, and one of the girls brutally beaten for resisting arrest. He looks at Alvina, who seems to be invested in looking at the cookies and not him. Time to say The Things. "You know I think you're a good person, baby, I'm sure Pilar thinks the same..."


Alvina frowns, waving off this belated offer to grill. “I’d already done the shopping and pre-work…” She replied after a bit, it hadn’t been an issue. She likes cooking and feels weird that he’s suddenly sensitive about her day. The cookies become very interesting, she’s turning one over, trying to figure out the best way to pull them apart without getting crumbles everywhere. Her fingers are bracing each half of the cookie when Hudson starts to reassure her. She can’t tell if she’s frustrated because of her own assumptions on how he feels or because she can’t tell how he really feels. They’d agreed to disagree so the territory is tender. “I remember…” She says, without any hint of impatience. Just stating a fact. The look on Joannie’s face when Alvina had rolled up and the guards who slunk off as if nothing had happened. What had that girl been accused of in order to get arrested? Maybe it was a problem among the guards, for being too aggressive and not an order? It’s common for incidents like brutal beatings to take place when guards say they feel like they are ‘in danger’. It’s no excuse, and that thought floats around in her head before she replies. “If I’m a good person, why didn’t I hesitate to say yes to this when the first words out of your mouth, and Pilar’s, is basically ‘how could you’?” It’s less a question of moral, and more a question of what’s different here? They had the same ideals, Pilar and Alvina…but where Pilar saw something bad, Alvina hadn’t. Why?


An alarm bell is sounding in Hudson's head. He sighs, feeling Alvina bristle - at herself, at the situation - beside him. "I don't know, we all process information differently and Josleen is your best friend, it's complicated." He does believe that. He helps Alvina pry the two sides of a cookie loose, and he trades her the side with more frosting. "Here, don't say I never do anything for you," he says before popping his half in his mouth and chewing thoughtfully beside her. The cat is here with them and after what feels like a small eternity of turning around repeatedly, curls up sitting halfway on both of them. She is also sitting suspiciously and likely strategically close to the cookies. Hudson is feeling a belated annoyance that it had taken Pilar saying something to bring the point to Alvina. When he'd said something, it had been colored by Valrae. "I guess Pilar really shook you up about this," he comments, knowing better than to say some of this stuff aloud. As much as he appreciates Alvina's possible change of heart, he halfway doesn't want to talk about this, because it always leads in a certain direction. "What did she say?"


Hudson’s rebellion to the idea had been a lightning strike; one in a million, quick to write off as some witch based annoyance / anomaly that she wouldn’t get into. But Pilar…who didn’t have a history of witch love affairs shared his enthusiasm that this might not be the best idea. It’s clear based on the boxing match that Fitz also agrees, making Alvina all the more tender for it. When lightning keeps striking in the same place, you start to take notice. Would Uma have said anything to Alvina? No way, she’s too nice and knows about the Valrae thing. Maybe Uma just assumes she has some witch bias. Maybe she does. “Thanks,” She smiles weakly and licks the frosting off the inside of the cookie before eating it. “It isn’t just Pilar but…she said there was another article in the paper about a witch that was subject to sentencing without a trial. I don’t know the details of what she was accused of or what the rest of the situation was…or if it’s true. I know sometimes those papers post alarmist columns to stir the pot…” And she doesn’t want to believe it. It’s getting harder and harder to keep up this imaginary idea of nothing going on. Alvina is trying to keep her tone soft, like tip toing around a bear trap. It’s still sensitive between them and can easily cause tempers to rise. She’s working hard on her mannerisms and what she says to prevent it, but she swears she hears a mild scuff in Hudson’s tone. Possibly her own paranoia of upsetting someone, she ignores it. “I guess I just want to know what you think, in a way that doesn’t start war.” She holds up her hands, preemptive surrender in case of misinterpretation.


Hudson pulls in an extended breath as Alvina mentions the witch who'd been executed. He doesn't exactly appreciate Alvina's joke about starting a war, but for both of their sakes he abides by the principle expressed therein. "Well that witch was accused of hexing Josleen," he says, carefully. "Whom we know is pregnant... So... I'm less bothered by that particular incident, actually I think Macon's in the right. I'd do the same if it were you." Of course, the witch who'd been executed had been falsely accused, and the real perpetrator had been Valrae, but he doesn't know that. And it's a good thing, it would explode his brain, probably. "In general though, I'm a private citizen, not a King," he continues, equally carefully, "If I want to take a person apart for coming at my wife, it's illegal and I could go to jail for it if they catch me, and it's not a defense that I was pissed off that someone came at my wife. So... while I don't privately disagree with Macon standing up for his woman, it's wrong for him to use the crown to do that publicly and with impunity. It sets a nasty precedent, I think." He sighs, lifting a hand to shoo the cat's face away from the sleeve of cookies.


Alvina is watching Hudson’s face as he talks, trying to smooth down her hair and eventually surrender to the hair powers that be. The idea of protecting your woman, it’s on the tip of her tongue to mention that…crazy guy that had been following Valrae. That Joe Blow that Hudson had so casually murdered, in a one two punch protecting Valrae and his secret occupation (or at least trying to). Even if that guy had been a menace, they’d all be caught up in repercussions for that one thing. It’s the same, she realizes, except she isn’t a Queen and therefore it’s not considered as high a crime to come after anyone not in the royal family. “I’m glad Jos is okay…” She sighs, eventually, still chewing on her thoughts. “It is different since she’s the Queen…attacks on her are seen as attacks on Larket itself. Or the king, especially since she’s pregnant. There’s more than one life involved.” But was it worth using your power to go above the opinion of the people? It wasn’t a republic in Larket, though. That’s like trying to compare apples and oranges. Macon’s word was basically law and while that gave room for some abuse of power, skipping a trial for Josleen’s attacker. But what if she was innocent? Then he’d have taken her life for no reason other than cheap closure and rotten vengeance. “It should be legal,” She says after a while. “For you to protect your wife. It’s self defense isn’t it? A trade off, if someone else comes aggressively at you with ill intent. It’s the rest of the chain reaction…The negative spurred on by their assault. It’s a consequence for their decision.” Was it illegal? “Maybe it’s encourage people to not attack each other…if it wasn’t such a grey area.” Alvina takes note of Hudson careful navigation of the subject and appreciates it, steering away from witches and more to basic rights and ruling ideals. “What do you think Fitz would have done, if it had been Uma?”


"I think Fitz can lose his cool in the moment but barring any sort of confrontation, he would have had a trial, he's a real believer," Hudson says quickly, with conviction. He wraps the cookies up, since the cat can't be trusted to sit near them without trying to put her paw in them every three seconds. He untangles himself from Alvina for the second it takes him to leave them on the coffee table. "There's protecting your wife and then circumventing the process to go after someone after the fact, when your wife is - it turns out - completely fine, just shaken up," says Hudson, thinking of the man he'd put down with a baseball bat in an abandoned house in Larket. "If I'm honest, I see that distinction, it's why Fitz is a good guy... even if he is loud and an idiot sometimes." He frowns, shifting uncomfortably. "I don't know, Alvina, the whole thing is complicated because it's witches and Macon's already got a bad track record there, it's not some like, bad guy who went after Josleen. But sure, like I said, I would have done same as Macon... in fact I have done same as Macon. Nobody messes with my woman and gets away with it, I know exactly how he feels about it. I'm glad I'm not king, because I'd have a hard time staying in the rules, too."


Alvina reaches for one more cookie before Hudson wraps them up, it’s a struggle to weave between Aria and the package while it’s in his hands. She presses the cookie to her lips, thinking hard on what Hudson’s said and closing her eyes. Don’t say that to me…she whines, internally. She doesn’t like to think about the bad aspects of his shady business. Of the men who’d tried to take them before Pilar stepped in. Of the drugs or the dangers. If Hudson feels like his temper is similar to Macon, he admits that he thinks his own ways of dealing with things are not on the level. He’s not up there with Fitz, who is somehow the superior justice warrior in this scenario. “Are we sure Jos is fine though?” Curses were tricky business. Even good magic was hard to see sometimes, she remembered from using Valrae’s potions and charms to conceive Luna and Harper. “Just because she seems ‘fine’ doesn’t mean she is?” It’s no excuse; she doesn’t want to go back to this Macon v Hudson topic. She was never Macon’s biggest fan to begin with. “I’m sorry,” She says when Hudson leans back to wrap his arm around her, cookies safe from the green eyed feline menace who's sulking and stretching dramatically to show her displeasure. “It’s just…there’s so much information and it’s neither one thing or the other, it’s muddled in this grey in-between that I can’t see through clearly.” She gestures to some imaginary orb in front of her, smoothing out it’s sides and squinting.


"I don't know if she's fine, but you still don't get to circumvent a trial generally speaking without legal repercussions or at least the risk of them," comments Hudson. That's right, ordinary private citizens had to cover up their crimes and therefore took the rest of leaving a trail of evidence that would lead to their arrest! That's what real men do, Macon, they put themselves at risk of going to jail and making their wives single mothers! He lets Alvina settle against him, and looks at her hands, moving to indicate the complexity of the situation. "Well... sure, it's complicated," he agrees, again taking care to gingerly step around inflammatory subjects in how he responds to her. "I guess I'm just also thinking, babe, there's the old saying... where there's smoke there's fire. There's just a lot of smoke, so to speak, most places don't have this kind of smoke... And this thing with Josleen is like pouring oil on the situation. It's just a bad look for everyone." He flattens his palm to Alvina's belly. There's not a lot of action to be felt in there yet, but he likes to check anyway. A holdover habit from the last pregnancy. "It's hard to talk to you about this stuff," he says. "I don't want you to get the wrong idea with how I feel about all of it. I would feel the same way if it weren't witches, I hope you know that..." He's hardly objective when it comes to looking inward, so of course he can't be entirely sure that it's the case, but he believes it when he says it.


“That’s fair,” Alvina huffs, letting Hudson’s hand fall on her stomach with mild amusement. It’s easy to remain calm when he’s biting his tongue, but still that guilty feeling is on her chest, kneading it’s sharp claws into her skin. He would do what Macon did, but that doesn’t make it right. “I told Pilar the same thing I told you, if it ever came down to it being used unfairly, I’d rip it apart piece by piece. I wonder if we can start getting the Larketian Herald delivered here so we can keep up with the news…” Not a bad idea. “I know it’s hard…” Since we disagree right now, “but I appreciate you doing it anyway.” This comment about witches stings, Alvina lets it burn like whiskey in the back of her throat before she tries to reply. “It’s hard not to think that we have different biases…” A pause, while she considers Uma. “But that’s why we have these rough talks. So we can learn from our experiences and make better decisions together.” OOPS. Where was that thinking when they Larketian Crown asked you to make a witch device Alvina? Her face flushes, realizing the hypocritical nature of her statement and finally eating the cookie she’s been holding onto to buy her time. “I know I’ve already said it but I’m sorry we didn’t talk about it before it happened. Clearly you know a thing or two and I shouldn’t take it so…personally.”


Hudson nods slowly at the idea of getting the paper. "We can ask the housekeeper, she'll make it happen," he says, letting the silence creep in while Alvina formulates a reply to this remark he's made about his bias toward witches as a whole. He resists the urge to say 'I know,' in response to her raising the issue of having discussed things beforehand. "It's alright," he reassures her. He sighs, thinking about how of course it's all personal. And about how now they've burned up time doing this. It's not that he had better, sexier plans for the evening - they're both tired - but now those plans are pretty clearly not possible even if he wanted to have them. "It's really fine," he reiterates. At this point, he has memorized his talking points on these sorts of discussions by heart. It's not that he doesn't mean what he's about to say, it's just that you become accustomed to what the inside of your dog house looks like, and therefore you know how to navigate it better, over time (unless you're an idiot who likes to keep enraging your wife). "It's my fault you take things personally sometimes and I'm glad you felt like you could talk to me about this, even though it is one of those things." That presses on the old bruise, that is. "I don't want you to feel less, that's my number one thing about all of this. If you feel bad, talk to me."


Alvina slumps against him further until her head is in his lap and she’s looking up at him with those bright emerald eyes of hers. She smiles, it’s rather lax considering the subject matter. “Isn’t that the point of being married?” She queried with that same grin. “We get to figure out new and exciting ways to have discussions and put up with each other through the rest of the time? Makes sense to me.” She shrugs in his lap, the motion awkward and confined to the space afforded by the couch and Hudson’s arms. “Hey, I feel bad about something.” She says, in a voice that implies it’s fictitious. “I feel bad that you aren’t kissing me.” Her lips curl in a dramatic frown as she looks up, pouting as much as she possibly can. “I think we need to have a long discussion about the lack of kisses in this living room…”


Hudson feels the tension surrounding the moment dissipate as Alvina smiles. He mirrors the expression in a more mild format. "Put up with," he muses, amusement lingering in his tone. "Maybe you're putting up with me, I feel pretty lucky most days. It's fine, though." His eyes give away his laughter. They sit comfortably for a moment, and he's about to suggest they pack it up and head to bed but she's trying to flirt with him out of nowhere. Now he actually chuckles and then leans over Alvina to kiss her. It's a romantic finish to their difficult discussion but now cat has returned and is trying to sniff their faces. Hudson shooes her. "Get outta here, Aria, you're making it weird," he tells her, but she returns, excited that this moment is now about her. She meows plaintively, and tries to stand on Alvina. Hudson is over it already, and after shooing the cat again he pulls Alvina up beside him, touching her on the back as they sidestep the cat weaving around their legs. "Let's continue that discussion elsewhere..."