05-02-2016, 05:09 PM
MEANWHILE. LATER THAT FIRST EVENING, a continuation of a vignette.
Nick is happy with the rabbit. Pen does not even make a noncommittal noise when he suggests a rabbit instead of a dog. Silence is the best policy.
There is a certain fixed quality to the regard Pen puts on her book, especially after she glances over it at Nick and Yorick only to see him take a page of a book out of the animal's teeth. Pen has the book held firmly in two hands and open right in front of her face, so if she wants to see (she doesn't) what's happening over by the fire she'll have to lower it or raise it.
Pen likes animals just fine; she maintains a civil relationship with them, especially since she can visit them whenever she wants, in other people's homes. Beat. And then, as she reaches for her glass of wine, rings glittering in the firelight, "I think it's a good name for a bunny."
She peers over her book. It's not eating Nicholas's book while he looks at it all indulgent any longer. Good. She can take him just cuddling with it: that's adorable as long as it doesn't nibble on books. Rabbits. "The Y and O are like a pictogram of a hare poking its head out of a burrow hole. The K is also a bit like a hare pictogram." She smiles; it's a candle-light smile, for a moment she looks at the restful rabbit in Nick's lap the rise-and-fall of its sides the occasional flick of an ear.
"Also it is literary. 'Alas, poor Yorick' when it comes time for a new Yorick. He may be destined for haruspicy or hepatoscopy. I bet his bones and blood would be useful in charms too."
Such is Mage Animal Babysitter Reading Hour.
Nick is happy with the rabbit. Pen does not even make a noncommittal noise when he suggests a rabbit instead of a dog. Silence is the best policy.
There is a certain fixed quality to the regard Pen puts on her book, especially after she glances over it at Nick and Yorick only to see him take a page of a book out of the animal's teeth. Pen has the book held firmly in two hands and open right in front of her face, so if she wants to see (she doesn't) what's happening over by the fire she'll have to lower it or raise it.
Pen likes animals just fine; she maintains a civil relationship with them, especially since she can visit them whenever she wants, in other people's homes. Beat. And then, as she reaches for her glass of wine, rings glittering in the firelight, "I think it's a good name for a bunny."
She peers over her book. It's not eating Nicholas's book while he looks at it all indulgent any longer. Good. She can take him just cuddling with it: that's adorable as long as it doesn't nibble on books. Rabbits. "The Y and O are like a pictogram of a hare poking its head out of a burrow hole. The K is also a bit like a hare pictogram." She smiles; it's a candle-light smile, for a moment she looks at the restful rabbit in Nick's lap the rise-and-fall of its sides the occasional flick of an ear.
"Also it is literary. 'Alas, poor Yorick' when it comes time for a new Yorick. He may be destined for haruspicy or hepatoscopy. I bet his bones and blood would be useful in charms too."
Such is Mage Animal Babysitter Reading Hour.