RP:The Ways In 'Witch' We Grieve

Part of the Larketian Fault Lines Arc

Summary: Josleen invites Alvina to Fort Macon to catch up, only to find out that Valrae (previously met by the Queen and mentioned by Valen) was exiled from Cenril for a murder she may or may not be responsible for. Alvina confides this secret under duress, her break up with Hudson only the night before.

The Queen's Lavish Tea Room

Josleen invited Alvina to the castle for some quality girl time. She ensured they would meet in the castle by citing (and grossly exaggerating) the nightmarish security logistics that accompany the Queen when she travels, even within the city. In truth, she wasn’t sure whether or not Hudson would be home at any given time, and she needed to speak to Alvina without him present. She feels she owes her friend the truth, even if it is painful. As she waits for Alvina in her favorite tea room, she begins to doubt the wisdom of telling a new mother bad news about the father of her children. Is she doing Alvina more harm than good by telling her this? The Queen lounges on a crushed velvet chaise in a loungewear gown that would cover a child’s private school fees for a month. Gigi rests in his gold-threaded dog bed, his head on a stuffed toy squirrel. “Floria, can you fetch some lettuce for Gigi? He seems anxious.” Josleen is convinced that her dog suffers from anxiety and that lettuce helps soothe his nerves. Coincidentally, Gigi only appears nervous when Josleen herself is. How odd.

Alvina arrives with a lackluster excitability. Here she is, being ushered through hallway after hallway, filled with the finest of tapestries and the most skilled of swordsman. A visit with the QUEEN of Larket, who also just so happens to be her best friend. This irony of their meeting is not lost on the bard. Instead of navigating some off shore cove with Josleen in disguise, they are in Macon’s castle instead of running away from him. Everything about the world feels topsy turvy to Alvina when she thinks about this. Just a few days ago, she’d almost been killed. It’s all so quaint and unimportant, compared to the lavish adornments of a lush house and fine china. Some impossible, twitch man that’s all knees and elbows, opens the door to Josleen’s tea room and announces Alvina in a shrill, bird like voice before closing the door behind her. The woman does her best to not look a bit unnerved by the extravagant nature of the room itself. At least Macon got all his money legally. At least there were no backroom dealings or under handing veins in Larkets political system. It must be so lovely to enjoy all the wealthy with a clear conscience. “Jos..” She sighs, letting her frown resituate itself in a smile awash with relief. “Thank you so much for inviting me. I thought I might go crazy after the past few months…” Bad introduction, let’s try again. Her right hand lifts to rub against her throat, a thin scabbed line is almost invisible beneath her hands. She pulls it away, to not draw attention to it. “Oh my gosh, your gown…” She starts, her lips wide in an ‘oooo’ girl kind of face. Tell me where you got this dress. “Gigi!” Alvina blinks. Is that dog lying in lettuce? Better not to ask questions.

Josleen rises to greet Alvina with a warm huge and cheek-to-cheek kiss. “Alvina! It’s been criminally long.” She notices the line beneath Alvina’s hand but says nothing. Could that have been Hudson? He’s a cheating bastard, but abusive too? Josleen isn’t sure what to think. Surely not, but then again, you never know with men. Look at Kelovath. Gigi leaps up to greet Alvina, sniffing her excitedly, his entire body shaking with the effort. The best thing about Alvina is that she smells like man-dog (Hudson). Second best thing about Alvina is that she smells like a cat (Aria). Third best thing about Alvina is that mom likes her. Fourth best thing about Alvina is that she smells like an easy mark for begging scraps. Josleen waves off the compliment to her gown and reciprocates. “You have that motherly glow. I’m jealous. You look like you didn’t gain a pound.” A white lie she hopes will one day be told to her. “Come, sit. Have you lunched yet? I can have the kitchen whip something up. Anything you like.” A servant approaches to take orders. Josleen asks for tea and an egg sandwich. Once Alvina has ordered something, Josleen asks, “How’s motherhood? The girls?”

Alvina orders a tea but no food. She’s stiff and pets Gigi so the poor thing won’t explode from effort. The lie is obvious but she doesn’t mind it. Some good news was appreciated. “Motherhood is a mixed bag, right away. Everyone says ‘oh my precious babies’ and yes, gods, they do the cutest things but they don’t tell you how terrible they can be. Hudson use to call them demons.” Uh oh. Use to? “But they settle down. You learn how to talk to each other. Even if you still can’t figure out what they want half the time...Nanny’s are a life saver and baby weight is cruel.” A flat fact, made obvious by her thigh thighs and more hourglass-like figure where once she was lithe and nimble. Not to mention exhausted, the bags under her eyes tell a thousand tales. “How is marriage?” Alvina swoons, now thinking it’s not in the plans for her life to ever been married. She can only imagine it’s some blissful magic that makes every moment together lovey dovey pull your eyes out of the socket gross and ten levels of bow chica wow wow intensified. “I’ve seen the way you two look at each other…” Or to be fair, the way Josleen looked at Macon, just like the Larket Charity Ball. “You must be so happy.” The bard sighs again, feeling GiGi licking her hands under the table. Licking. Still licking. Okay it’s starting to hurt a bit now, so she puts her hands on the table and tries to dab the glistening saliva off with the tea napkins.

� Josleen smiles sadly at the blissful story of demon children. The Queen fears she’ll never have any of her own. Political repercussions aside, that worry uproots her sense of womanhood. How much of a woman is she if she’s mother her own child? She says marriage is wonderful, she is happy, Macon has been good to her, etc. She returns to the subject of Alvina’s family, which she fears is soon to be fractured by a two-timing lycan, again. “Used to call them demons? Has he changed his mind.” Her smile strains with force as she speaks about Hudson. “You know I ran into Hudson recently, at the spa. I’m sure he told you?” Unless he was lying about his whereabouts to meet with that Valrae, then he was lying. Josleen pries, still lying to herself that she is unsure if she should tell Alvina about her suspicions of Hudson. In truth, the Queen most certainly will. It’s a matter of timing.

Alvina looks at Josleen carefully over the rim of her tea cup. It’s still too hot to drink, so she just blows on the liquid casually. It’s so great that you’re happy! You deserve it, really. Marriage looks great on you. You’re beaming, like a brand new person, almost! “No, he didn’t mention it...but...I should probably tell you Josleen that Hudson and I have split.” She’s racking her mind for some memory of Josleen knowing what Hudson did for a living. It certainly wasn’t running a nail salon, that’s for sure. “He’s...got into some trouble with some people and...I don’t think he’s thinking clearly.” Understatement of the century. “We are...separated.” Indefinitely. Without thinking, she tries to drink her tea again and burns her tongue. Wants to curse, but doesn’t. “I should bring the girls sometime...to visit. I’m sure they’d love to see their aunt.” A forced smile, and she’s breaking off little tea cookies to sneak Gigi.

As Alvina divulges that she and Hudson have split, Josleen sighs with relief! Realizing how strange that may look, Josleen is quick to correct. “I’m sorry. I am of course devastated that things didn’t work out. I know you loved him, and he’s the father of your daughters, but... sometimes that isn’t enough.” She nods as Alvina explains that Hudson had a bad run in with shady people. Josleen knows in broad strokes what Hudson’s real business is. Unbeknownst to Alvina (maybe?), when Josleen was with Ansel and living near hand to mouth, Hudson gave her a job at a store in Xalious that laundered money for him. Josleen is glad those days are behind her, and has not kept abreast of Hudson’s evolving business. However, this may mean that Hudson hired Valrae -after- he and Alvina split, and also that Alvina knows about Valrae’s presence in Larket. “How long ago did you split? The reason I was relieved is because I visited the nail salon he opened and was surprised to find that witch Valrae there. She made a terrible impression on me, absolutely no class. And well, I assumed if she’s working for Hudson then… surely they must be… Did you know?” She pauses to gauge Alvina’s reaction, and if poor, she holds her hand. “If it makes you feel any better, dear, she’s a whore who is also bedding one of my knights, apparently.” The Queen purses her lips then sips her tea. Gigi, for the record, was right about Alvina being an easy mark for table scraps. Sucker. This has suddenly and miraculously become his favorite thing about Alvina. He happily eats the snacks, and when they are finished, puts a paw on her thigh to demand more.

Alvina laugh-sighs into her hands, like she’s trying to pretend she’s not on the verge of crying to talk about him. “L-last night, actually. Very new development…” But her face told her she’d know about Valrae. Always Valrae in the way. And now even Josleen saw it, thought they were together. It would make sense to think Hudson didn’t have time to worry about his family and making sure they were safe if he was nailing Valrae at the nail salon. It does not make her feel better to hear Josleen call her a whore...because calling Valrae all sorts of names did not repair the broken damage of her family or her life. Okay, it made her feel a little better. Josleen is now holding her hand and looking at her in what Alvina can only assume is pity. Alvina is trying to look at Gigi, who is only looking at her with hunger. “P-please tell me something good going on with you..” She whispers, needing a moment to not talk about this.

Josleen holds Alvina’s hand and rubs her back in big, reassuring circles. “I’m so sorry he did this to you. I’ll be here if you need anything. If you need any help with the girls or just need another adult in the house, I can come over.” It isn’t like she works. Alvina asks her to talk about her own life, and Josleen shakes her head. “It’s alright to cry. This is a tough thing to go through.” She hugs Alvina and holds her for a moment, letting her get the tears out with the glare of Josleen’s pity in her face. “We can paint his face on a dart board, if you like. She’ll lose him in the end. How you get them is how you lose them.” It still has not occurred to Josleen that the main motive behind the break up is Hudson’s illicit activities. To Josleen, it must be the affair.

Alvina sniffles, trying not to ugly cry too hard in front of Josleen. It’s embarrassing and just downright uncool. They haven’t seen each other in ages, why did it have to go this way? “I just want to find a good guy…” Another wave of sobs while she tries to catch her breath. “Linken left...Hudson left...for other women, they all left me like there’s something wrong with me. Jos what’s wrong with me…” Gigi looks a little concerned, because Alvina isn’t feeding him any crackers. He digs his paw into her thigh again with no response. Alvina covers her face with her hands to try and look less pitiful. It doesn’t really work. “I wish Valrae would just disappear…” It’s a futile hope, a cry in the wind to something that would never be. Valrae would always be there, ruining her life, until the end of time.

� Josleen cradles Alvina’s hunched over back as she coos, “Nothing is wrong with you. They’re weak, scared children afraid of a real woman who pushes them to be good, honest, committed men. They need floozies and whores to make them feel big. But the good men do exist. They do.” Josleen suddenly thinks of one: a lord, rich, handsome, with a serious and important job—Reinhardt. He’d be perfect for Alvina. Of course, Alvina is too heart-broken now to think of dating and men, and so Josleen tucks her match-making plans into her pocket for later. “I know. I wish she’d disappear too. Her misdeeds will catch up with her, and Hudson too.” Josleen decides to lighten the air by joking something that Alvina would never agree to, “Maybe I can have Valrae exiled for being a menace to society.”

Alvina thinks for the briefest of seconds that this is the perfect plan and Josleen should do it. But...Damn it. It just isn’t fair! Valrae and Hudson could roll around in secret places with each other but Alvina couldn’t even say anything in a broken hearted wave of misery to hurt Valrae. Oh? But couldn’t she? “She’s already exiled from Cenril, what’s one more city?” She laughs, bitterly before sniffling and trying to straighten herself upright. “Oh Jos, I’m so sorry...that idiot had me tricked but good…” A heavy sigh, while she considers how long Hudson must have kept Valrae tucked under his belt for the second time. There’s no going back now, is there? “I’m just going to focus on work and try to get over it...There’s got to be something else for me to do...You know, like, be a mom I guess.” It doesn’t sound glamorous alone. She envies Josleen’s situation, wishes she could switch and have a devoted honest partner. Maybe she had said Macon wasn’t very cute to Hildegarde but...what are looks when they treat you right? Plus, maybe he was cute in a ‘I’m use to your face’ way to Josleen. Love had a way of making people a lot cuter. Alvina hugs Josleen, kisses her cheek before wiping her tears on her palms. “You better come see the girls soon...before they walk and talk their way out of the house and into some fancy college abroad and only write to tell me their having the time of their lives while I’m a shriveled up old woman in a cottage by the sea.” How heartbreakingly romantic.

Josleen remembers that Valen had said something about Valrae running in with the law. “You don’t need to apologize to me for Hudson’s bad behavior. He tricked you, and he should pay. And he will. He’ll regret losing you. As for that mess in Cenril, I think I heard something about that. Why was she exiled from Cenril?” Though Josleen doesn’t say so, it is possible that if he crime were severe enough, Josleen may be able to have her exiled from Larket on those grounds. Still, she says nothing to that effect. Once Alvina has answered, “Oh stop. You will meet someone. Take some time to take care of yourself, and when you’re ready, you’ll meet the man who deserves you.”

Alvina continues to sniff, now stable enough to drink her tea. Here’s where she has to be careful. Should she tell Josleen she took the fall for Hudson killing someone or should she just attribute the murder to Valrea entirely? “ Murder,” She says simply. “Her ex boyfriend. She used some witch magic on Hudson and made him werewolf out and punch the dude to death in front of me. Hudson swears she wasn’t involved. That her ex boyfriend was abusive and total scum. That he deserved it and that it was his Lycan rage. I went to Valrae and told her what happened...because I didn’t know at the time that’s what happened. She went out later and tried to wipe the memory of the guard that saw Hudson do it. She gets arrested shortly after. Hudson comes home to show me the paper, says that Valrae was taking the fall for him but I don’t know if that’s true….”

Josleen ‘s eyes widen as the crime is indeed very serious. But the story is also confusing. Josleen decides to sit on this for now, look into it on her own, and decide what to do with this later, if anything at all. “That’s… She sounds dangerous. Not sure how I feel about a woman like that roaming the streets.” Hudson’s involvement similarly confounding. She won’t go after Alvina’s baby daddy, and her own friend on some level (even if at the moment he is persona non grata), without harder evidence. For the moment she takes care of her friend. More reassuring words, maybe wine, however much time Alvina needs before she needs to go home to be with her girls.