[His nose, as usual, was correct. It was far less cake-like and more sweetbread, wheat disguised with honey, raisins, and sesame. Only the shape and the powdered sugar on top served to pass it off as a cake.]
Yes. It's tradition.
[For the dead. For the church. She'd learned it from that woman's mother, who hauled her up each week and took her to the church, to sit in the pews and confess, (but she'd had no memories to confess from), to bow her head and (pretend to) pray.
[ tradition, she says. nic tries to think of the funeral traditions back home, and can only recall two: the ones for twilights, and the ones for the members of the monroe family.
the monroes had a pretty big ceremony, at least by comparison. everyone work their blackest blacks, and treated each body with reverence as they were lowered to the ground.
twilights were thrown into a ditch. if there were even enough bodies to warrant digging a new one.
nic doesn't really know how to mourn; people died, twilights and humans both, some more than the other, some earlier than the other, and that's all there is to it. (not to say he doesn't know what loss feels like. but the two are fairly mutually exclusive.)
maybe havoc really is mourning. at the very least, she is feeling a loss. a loss of a good ally is a fairly detrimental blow in this business, in all the businesses, and attachment or not, a loss is still a loss. even if it's mostly just a disadvantage.
without warning, he reaches for the slice of cake with his free hand. he could have just as easily taken the whole thing, but he takes only a portion, leaving about 30% of it left. easy, too, to stuff what he's got into his mouth and chew. maybe even obnoxiously. ]
Objectively, she knew how humans tended to mourn. She's drawing on that knowledge now. She knew they tended to cry, (Amber had cried, the first Contractor in the world had cried- what did it mean?), so she'd seen to it she looked as if she had. She knew they tended to withdraw, and that wasn't hard at all.
As to what she really felt, if she were really in mourning... she wasn't going to think about it.
And he just. Reached out and took a messy, not quite solid slice of the food she held out to him, stuffed it in his mouth...
... Was he making some sort of point?]
... that's good.
[She still kept holding the plate out as if expecting him to take the rest.]
[A normal person would probably be offended. Their cooking wasn't good enough to finish? Havoc, on the other hand... was well aware her ingredients on the Neheda were limited, in addition to the inkling she had that Nicolas was the type to try and be contrary simply because he could.
So she only shrugged, finally, withdrew the plate.]
Suit yourself.
[Greetings and other polite manners were for other people- she only ducked her head and made to go.]
[ he doesn't make any move to stop her, but that's to be expected. he does, however, lift his hand back up to idly lick the remnants of the cake off his fingers.
and it's only when she's down the hall that he speaks again. ]
nExT TIme SneEzE. YouR NoSE And eYEs aRen'T rED EnOUgh.
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no subject
YOu MAkE iT agAIn?
no subject
Yes. It's tradition.
[For the dead. For the church. She'd learned it from that woman's mother, who hauled her up each week and took her to the church, to sit in the pews and confess, (but she'd had no memories to confess from), to bow her head and (pretend to) pray.
She still remembered how to make it.]
no subject
the monroes had a pretty big ceremony, at least by comparison. everyone work their blackest blacks, and treated each body with reverence as they were lowered to the ground.
twilights were thrown into a ditch. if there were even enough bodies to warrant digging a new one.
nic doesn't really know how to mourn; people died, twilights and humans both, some more than the other, some earlier than the other, and that's all there is to it. (not to say he doesn't know what loss feels like. but the two are fairly mutually exclusive.)
maybe havoc really is mourning. at the very least, she is feeling a loss. a loss of a good ally is a fairly detrimental blow in this business, in all the businesses, and attachment or not, a loss is still a loss. even if it's mostly just a disadvantage.
without warning, he reaches for the slice of cake with his free hand. he could have just as easily taken the whole thing, but he takes only a portion, leaving about 30% of it left. easy, too, to stuff what he's got into his mouth and chew. maybe even obnoxiously. ]
nOT bAd.
no subject
Objectively, she knew how humans tended to mourn. She's drawing on that knowledge now. She knew they tended to cry, (Amber had cried, the first Contractor in the world had cried- what did it mean?), so she'd seen to it she looked as if she had. She knew they tended to withdraw, and that wasn't hard at all.
As to what she really felt, if she were really in mourning... she wasn't going to think about it.
And he just. Reached out and took a messy, not quite solid slice of the food she held out to him, stuffed it in his mouth...
... Was he making some sort of point?]
... that's good.
[She still kept holding the plate out as if expecting him to take the rest.]
aww that's a pretty icon of her
it's worked out fine so far.
hand a mess, but face relatively sugar-free, he meets her look of expectation with one of question. ]
nOt GOOd EnouGh To fiNiSH thOUGh.
[ looks like you'll have to eat the rest yourself. ]
all caught off guard by kindness o regressor!havoc
So she only shrugged, finally, withdrew the plate.]
Suit yourself.
[Greetings and other polite manners were for other people- she only ducked her head and made to go.]
pinches her cheeks
and it's only when she's down the hall that he speaks again. ]
nExT TIme SneEzE. YouR NoSE And eYEs aRen'T rED EnOUgh.
no subject
Advice.
Havoc only ducked her head once more in acknowledgement, though she did file it away for future use.
Pepper. She could use pepper.]