Lá Bealtaine [open thread, come one come all]

[mnemosyne]

"Hmmm." That considering look once more, the corner of her mouth pulled toward the center, her left cheek distended from the odd little expression. She has the edge of her lower lip pulled between her teeth and glances down at Calden's boots as he asks her whether she wants them just plain like mine. It is a Very Difficult decision, so says everything about the girl. Particularly when she admits, in quite the same tone of voice she used to point out that thee not-a-cowgirl object of Jimmy's evening's affections was actually a park ranger. "I don't know what tooling is.

"Plain is ok, but maybe I want a little decoration. Just not too fancy." A small, barely perceptible eyeroll for things like too fancy boots. From a girl wearing a crown of flowers and dragging a cowboy to tell her mother she should have boots. "I bet they're good for keeping rattlesnakes from biting you, too." Oh, she's been plotting this campaign for a while. She's been Looking Things Up (quite possibly on Wikipedia). "Did that ever happen to you?"

Ellie leads Calden through the crowd, threading her way to the spot where her mother and Emmett are chatting. Emmett has a mug of the homebrew Nora's been tending all evening in one hand, his cane in the other. Éva has no more than a bottle of water, held loosely in her left hand. They're chatting quietly, comfortably, watching the crowd more than they watch each other. As soon as Calden and Ellie come into view, Éva's eyes are fixed on the pair, her expression alert but still except for the hint of inquiry sketched into the arch of her elegant brows.

"That's my mom," Ellie confides to Calden as the pair draw close. "And that's uhm - " a deep breath that pulls up her small shoulders, "Mister Metzger. Mom, this is - " there's a pause, then. A considered glance up at Calden's face. She doesn't know his name. But she does know what he is. " - a cowboy. He has something to tell you that I oughtta have cowboy boots and why."

"Does he." Returns Éva, with a rather bland expression meant to smother her quirk of bemusement at Ellie's declaration. The leading edge of her alertness, her awareness that Ellie was bringing leading over a stranger has eased itself out of her shoulders and spine. There's room at the corners of her mouth for the quirk of an incipient smile that she does not allow to be fully born.

"Éva Illésházy." She holds out her right hand hand, fingers and palm still damp from her water bottle A glance toward Emmett, " - this is Emmett Metzger."