first chapter; action/video

[cagemyhappiness]

[action]

[Anyone happening to be near the outskirts today might be treated to something of an unusual sight; one of the guardian wolves padding into sight, carrying Eleanor by the scruff of her shirt. Both are soaking wet, and Eleanor bears the unmistakable signs of someone taken for a very rough ride. The watchful wolf lays her small, unconscious

Comments

video;

[mellifluently]

No one back in your home world can hear you, I'm afraid. The vine only allows us to communicate with each other. Are you alright? You look hurt.

video;

[cagemyhappiness]

[a slow tilt of the head to one side; there's an air of consideration in the face of this new development.]

Is that so? [silence as she thinks about the idea of her absence within the childish, play-pretend society being a permanent thing] I suppose it doesn't matter, then.

I'm fine.

video;

[mellifluently]

Yes, and no one knows why. The Queen and her people won't tell us.

[She doesn't usually welcome too many people - recollecting the various ways in which she's ignorant and helpless only upsets her. But she's really more concerned about the other girl right now to get caught up in that.]

Are you sure? You have a bruise, here. [She lifts a hand to her own cheek to indicate the area.] It looks painful.

video;

[cagemyhappiness]

Well, of course not. They would lose power.

[And Eleanor, in turn, doesn't usually speak this much; but the circumstances are different now. She doesn't have a niche anymore, will no longer have her silence be understood by others. Eleanor mimics the gesture, not wincing when the bruise is touched.]

....It'll go away eventually.

video;

[mellifluently]

I think they have enough power, considering their ability to bring us here.

[She isn't one for games of secrets and politics, really rather naive in many ways, and she wouldn't truly understand how that sort of power might work in this situation anyway.]

It will go away faster, if treated properly. I have a lotion for bruises. [A very slight tilt of her head.] And some towels.

video;

[cagemyhappiness]

It's never enough, to them.

[She would know, from all her watching on the sidelines; there were so many times Diana or Meg didn't have to be so particularly cruel, and yet they were. The dark eyes narrow a little.]

In return for what?

video;

[mellifluently]

[Her lips press thin for a moment, but she doesn't understand the Queen and those close to her that appear on the vine sometimes, and she knows she can be naive. She can't argue over it, and it would be a poor way to welcome this girl to the Gardens, anyway.]

Nothing. You're hurt, and I can help.

[It's the truth, and she offers it earnestly.]

video;

[cagemyhappiness]

I'm fine. [the repeated phrase is said flatly, like everything else; still, Eleanor turns a little to the side, touching her empty birdcage as if to reassure herself of this claim.]

I'm not stupid; you would want something, and I have nothing.

video;

[mellifluently]

[Mahalia ignores the repeated phrase, doesn't want to argue over whether the girl is fine or not, just needs her to accept her help. Her eyes catch on the birdcage curiously, but she doesn't let it distract her.]

I'm not saying you are. I believe in altruism. I truly wouldn't want anything from you for it.

video;

[cagemyhappiness]

If you mean that, then promise it.

[A childish test. In her world, the breaking of one's word is an open invitation to punishment.]

video;

[mellifluently]

[Childish, perhaps, but Mahalia understands it, to an extent. She knows there are people who break their promises, but she still believes in them, and she keeps hers.]

I promise. I will help you without anything being given in return.

video;

[cagemyhappiness]

[She stares and stares and stares, young eyes inscrutable and cold. Then, at last, reluctantly:]

...all right.

video -> action;

[mellifluently]

[She nods, thankful that she's finally had her help accepted.]

Stay where you are. I'll get one of the cats to bring me to you.

[She dismisses the mirror, fetching the towels and lotion she'd spoken of, then sets out to find a cat. The first one that crosses her path, she has guide her to Eleanor. On approaching the other girl, she dips her head in greeting.]

My name is Mahalia. [She offers the towels, plush, white sheets.] Here, for you to dry off.

action;

[cagemyhappiness]

[Eleanor's left pondering over that, the idea that the small animals once sent scurrying by her fellow orphans are now something of servants. It's an intriguing idea, and one she indulges until Mahalia shows up- then, Eleanor only regards her blankly and slowly stands to execute a curtsy. It's stiff, painful, and she'd wince if she was anyone else.]

Countess Eleanor.

[The rules, meaningless as they might be here, must still be followed. Slowly and with great suspicion, she wordlessly takes a towel and clumsily sets to drying her short hair.]

action;

[mellifluently]

Ah, you're a countess.

[She looks a little surprised, dips into her own curtsey once Eleanor's taken one of the towels.]

You seem very young for a title like that, but I suppose it must happen sometimes.

action;

[cagemyhappiness]

Mmph.

[the response is muffled by the towel; she stops for a moment to peek out at Mahalia and repeat it.]

I was born with it.

[it's said...with the just faintest hint of a challenge. It's a lie, of course- she's an orphan, she has nothing, she's common as dirt. But the illusion is one of the few things Eleanor does possess.]