If Things Were Different
Title: If Things Were Different
Author: FeistyFox
Rating: M
Pairing: DG/Cain
Summary: What would have happened if DG had never heard the witch? What if she had grown up in the Outer Zone knowing who she was and what she was supposed to be? Would it be what her family expected or would she have veered off in another direction entirely? Take a look...
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I don’t own Tin Man or anything associated with it. The characters just like to hang out with me.
Dashing through her suite she rushed into the bathroom and started the water running in her tub as Raw shut the main doors to her room. “Did you really need to wait this long to come and get me?”
She heard him huff at her through all three connected rooms as she bent down and unlaced her boots. Her viewer wandered into the doorway of her bathroom where she had plopped down on her bottom. “Raw distracting sister so she would not find. Or did DG want to be forced into twelve dresses instead of two?”
She tossed the first of her grease-smeared boots to the side with a sigh of defeat. “Ok, ok, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” It really was her fault, she had been high strung lately and had been losing track of more than just the time. Raw knew why. In fact he was the only one that knew why. She was afraid to tell Az or her mother. She knew they couldn’t feel it, not even a little bit. The thing was, with all the magic around Finaqua, and with her mother and sister in residence, not to mention the sudden addition of her uncle, she couldn’t pinpoint it. It was bearing down on them and soon it would strike.
She felt herself going stiff all over and suddenly Raw placed both his paws on her shoulders. “DG must be patient. Wanted to see uncle. This is why we are here.” He pushed his gift into her and she began to slump backward. Raw caught her and made sure her back was against the wall before he let go. “DG clever to get sister to invite. Will be easier to get duke alone at Finaqua.”
“And what if he can’t feel it?” Her uncle wasn’t in line for the throne. Like her, he had made no vows as her mother and sister had, but he had a distinct disadvantage. He was male. True he had magic, but not as much as a woman in the Gale line had, and she had made choices in her younger years that made her more sensitive than anyone else had been in centuries.
She saw the hesitance in Raw’s dark eyes. “Will worry if happens. Now must get ready.” She didn’t bother to give him one of her fake smiles because he would detect the insincerity. Instead he squeezed her shoulders and stood, shutting the bathroom door as he left. Ridding herself of her other boot she quickly stripped down and slid into the bath. She scrubbed at her skin and hair until she got all the oil out of it, which inevitable took longer than ten minutes before she scrambled toward the nearest towel.
Using her magic to take care of her dripping hair she scrubbed her skin dry as she stumbled toward her wardrobe. Her mother was already going to skin her for being late so another thirty seconds of scolding for wearing pants didn’t seem like much of a burden. Picking out a slim black pair she shimmied into them before scooping up an embroidered white top and dark green vest. She refused to wear a dress unless she was at court or under scrutiny at Central City. They were impractical and got in the way. Stepping into a pair of green slippers she exited her room and found Raw waiting patiently for her in one of the chairs that sat in front of the large floor length windows that dominated her sitting room. The rain did not appear to be slowing down. She extended her magic and felt for the edge of the storm. After a brief tingle at the edge of her awareness she concluded that it would pass by first light tomorrow morning.
When Raw saw her he rumble out a low laugh. “Mother will not be happy.”
She grinned knowing exactly what he was talking about. “Nope, but I’ll be comfortable. Besides, I think it’s a cute outfit, even if they are, gasp, pants!” She spun in a circle to show it off knowing it had no affect on the viewer at all and not caring one wit. Raw was the only friend she had, other than her sister, and she only acted like herself when the two of them were alone. She threw a hand to her forehead dramatically. “What respectable man will look at me twice with these on?”
The viewer gave her a knowing glance. “Tin Man liked looking at DG in pants.”
She stopped spinning abruptly. She didn’t think that was funny at all. “That’s not nice.” The only reason men ever looked at her was because of her rank. Sometimes they looked at her because of her magic. Other than that they had no reason to.
“Why DG sad? Liked him. Was having fun.”
She shrugged and brushed at some nonexistent lint on her shirt. “He didn’t even know who I was. He won’t talk to me once he finds out.” At least it had been fun while it lasted. That was all she had expected really.
“Why not talk to DG? Tin Man having fun too.”
“Because I’m a princess.” Her hands fell to her sides. In her experience once a man found that out, one of three things happened. They started to simper and preen which was annoying but she got used to ignoring it, they panicked and ran off, or worse they started to try to win her over so they could use her. It had gotten to the point that she simply avoided people unless she was forced to deal with them, and any ideas about courting anyone, even briefly, were out of the question.
She didn’t have the stomach for playing a part in court games. While she would put up with being shown off at events for Az’s sake, she refused point blank to see anyone that offered any kind of proposal to her. She’d heard the rumors that went around those functions about her, most of them completely false and those that were based on real events were so far out of the context of what happened that they made her sound insane at best.
The thing was most of the men that wanted to see her in private, and the women that wanted to befriend her, were the ones that spread those rumors. Everyone was so full of insincerity that most of the time she wanted to rip her hair out and scream at the top of her lungs, which of course she couldn’t. That would have disappointed her mother and made her sister look bad. She loved Az enough to behave at court, although sometimes the margin was dangerously thin. It was all so fake.
So she was jaded by the whole system, she had been by the time she was twelve. Thank Ozma she had met Raw. He had never once asked her for a higher status or for gifts. He treated her like herself and not a princess, or a junky, or a crazy person. To Raw she was only Deeg. It was a relief to be able to be herself instead of whoever it was everyone else expected her to be all the time. Wearing a mask got old fast.
Her sadness wasn’t about a brief talk with a man she’d never have another real conversation with again either. She was just feeling sorry for herself. Raw had been right when he said she’d been having fun talking, flirting would be a better term, with the man. He had been friendly enough, after his initial outburst, and he had taken her teasing in stride. Not to mention the fact that he had hidden her from the heir apparent when he thought she was a low level mechanic, that had been nice. She didn’t even want to think about what his eyes had done to her, she hadn’t thought the butterfly thing was real. Wrong, so very wrong. He was hands down the best-looking man she’d ever seen.
She sighed and jerked her head to the door. “I have to go. If I’m any later mother will kill me.” This was a pointless line of thought. She had more important things to worry about
then a conversation with a stranger in the garage who most likely was only being sociable. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“When talk to uncle?”
She made a face and glanced past him where the rain was hitting the glass. “I’ll try tomorrow after he and mother have caught up. I don’t need anyone to get worried for no reason if I’m imagining things. Maybe I’ve been alone with my own magic for too long.”
“No.” Her eyes flew back down to Raw’s. “Raw not have magic but can feel change coming. DG in center.”
“That’s comforting.” Her voice was laced with sarcasm.
Raw’s low voice sounded worried. “Did not ask to be comforted.”
Her lip twitched. “I know. See you in a while Raw.” He nodded to her and turned back to the view of the lake. She knew he liked to meditate by himself and they had been too busy the last few days for him to do so. She shut the door softly behind her and headed toward the queen’s suite. Her mother had told her to be there fifteen minutes ago for their private family dinner. Rounding a corner she jogged to the door and knocked quickly.
“Enter.” Her mother’s soft voice floated through the wood and she quickly opened the door and slipped inside. The first thing she saw was a flash of annoyed amethyst and then she caught sight of her uncle as he twisted around from his seat at the small round table her family was sitting at.
“Dorothy Gale!” He shoved his chair back and was halfway to her before she registered that he moved. She felt her face split into a wide grin and laughed merrily as he wrapped his arms around her and spun her around. He set her down holding her at arms length as he smiled happily at her. “You are even more beautiful than I remember.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Thanks, Uncle Liam. How are you?”
He threw an arm around her shoulder and guided her to the table. “I am very well.” He pulled out the empty chair for her and she sat down between him and Az, who gave her a brief look. The look clearly read ‘why must you push mother the way you do?’. “I can’t say I have any complaints at all.” She wished she could say the same. Despite her anxiety she was more than happy that her uncle was here. She hadn’t seen him in ages. “And your trip? The rain hasn’t stopped all day.”
He waved a hand. “We had some car trouble but your steward told me Azkadilla had the car moved to the garage.” Ahh. Of course, it must have been Az who did it. She nodded as she picked up a glass and sipped some water.
“I didn’t know anything about a car.” Her sister said as she smoothed the napkin in her lap. “You can thank, Deeg for that.” Her sister was now glaring at her accusingly. She’d been caught red handed. Drat.
“I’m sorry about that assumption, Dorothy. I thought Azkadilla had heard about it first.” He sounded so bad about it and she couldn’t understand why.
“That’s ok. All I did was move it. Did they get your things to your room?” She left out the part about fixing the truck. That would lead to a conversation that she didn’t want to have right now.
“We did. I must say, Lavender, you do have a very efficient staff.” She thought that was an understatement. The men and women that worked here were hard working and deserved all the praise they received. She had never waited more than five minutes for anything she had asked for and the palace was spotless. She wasn’t entirely sure her mother and sister appreciated them as much as they should.
“How was your trip away, Dorothy?” Her smile never faltered as her brain scrambled for a way to state this in a way to get him alone without sounding suspicious.
“Aww, its just DG, Uncle Liam.” His blue eyes twinkled as she continued. “It was interesting enough, but Az and mom have already heard all about it. I’d be happy to bore you with the story tomorrow while they start talking treaties and party plans again.” There, she thought that sounded pretty good.
“That sounds lovely. Why don’t we have lunch together?” Perfect. That would put the rest of her family on the other side of the palace. Especially if she made sure they had lunch out on one of the terraces. Now that she had more of a plan than she had had yesterday she managed to relax through the rest of the meal. She even managed to get away for the night before her mother could say anything about her clothing, which she gave herself high marks for.
By the time she got back to her room she felt her body starting to wind down. When she opened her door Raw opened his eyes and hummed softly. “Ready to sleep at last. Good.”
She nodded in agreement. “Did you meditate?”
“Yes. Better now. Can see and hear more clearly.”
“Anything new?” She hoped there was. She needed information.
“Friendship. Pain. Choices.” He shook his head. “Jumbled together.”
“It’s better than nothing.” She reassured him. She didn’t need him thinking she thought his gift was anything less than useful. “It’s better than thinking I’m crazy.”
“DG not crazy.”
“I know.” It came out as a sigh. “I am tired though.”
“Sleep now. Raw go.”
“Goodnight.” Reaching to him as he passed she hugged him tightly. “Thank you for coming back with me.” He hugged her back for a moment before letting her go.
“Raw follow heart. DG does same.” With that he left her to fall into bed. It was the first time she really slept in as long as she could remember.
Author Note: Oh my. DG has a secret!
Author: FeistyFox
Rating: M
Pairing: DG/Cain
Summary: What would have happened if DG had never heard the witch? What if she had grown up in the Outer Zone knowing who she was and what she was supposed to be? Would it be what her family expected or would she have veered off in another direction entirely? Take a look...
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I don’t own Tin Man or anything associated with it. The characters just like to hang out with me.
Dashing through her suite she rushed into the bathroom and started the water running in her tub as Raw shut the main doors to her room. “Did you really need to wait this long to come and get me?”
She heard him huff at her through all three connected rooms as she bent down and unlaced her boots. Her viewer wandered into the doorway of her bathroom where she had plopped down on her bottom. “Raw distracting sister so she would not find. Or did DG want to be forced into twelve dresses instead of two?”
She tossed the first of her grease-smeared boots to the side with a sigh of defeat. “Ok, ok, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” It really was her fault, she had been high strung lately and had been losing track of more than just the time. Raw knew why. In fact he was the only one that knew why. She was afraid to tell Az or her mother. She knew they couldn’t feel it, not even a little bit. The thing was, with all the magic around Finaqua, and with her mother and sister in residence, not to mention the sudden addition of her uncle, she couldn’t pinpoint it. It was bearing down on them and soon it would strike.
She felt herself going stiff all over and suddenly Raw placed both his paws on her shoulders. “DG must be patient. Wanted to see uncle. This is why we are here.” He pushed his gift into her and she began to slump backward. Raw caught her and made sure her back was against the wall before he let go. “DG clever to get sister to invite. Will be easier to get duke alone at Finaqua.”
“And what if he can’t feel it?” Her uncle wasn’t in line for the throne. Like her, he had made no vows as her mother and sister had, but he had a distinct disadvantage. He was male. True he had magic, but not as much as a woman in the Gale line had, and she had made choices in her younger years that made her more sensitive than anyone else had been in centuries.
She saw the hesitance in Raw’s dark eyes. “Will worry if happens. Now must get ready.” She didn’t bother to give him one of her fake smiles because he would detect the insincerity. Instead he squeezed her shoulders and stood, shutting the bathroom door as he left. Ridding herself of her other boot she quickly stripped down and slid into the bath. She scrubbed at her skin and hair until she got all the oil out of it, which inevitable took longer than ten minutes before she scrambled toward the nearest towel.
Using her magic to take care of her dripping hair she scrubbed her skin dry as she stumbled toward her wardrobe. Her mother was already going to skin her for being late so another thirty seconds of scolding for wearing pants didn’t seem like much of a burden. Picking out a slim black pair she shimmied into them before scooping up an embroidered white top and dark green vest. She refused to wear a dress unless she was at court or under scrutiny at Central City. They were impractical and got in the way. Stepping into a pair of green slippers she exited her room and found Raw waiting patiently for her in one of the chairs that sat in front of the large floor length windows that dominated her sitting room. The rain did not appear to be slowing down. She extended her magic and felt for the edge of the storm. After a brief tingle at the edge of her awareness she concluded that it would pass by first light tomorrow morning.
When Raw saw her he rumble out a low laugh. “Mother will not be happy.”
She grinned knowing exactly what he was talking about. “Nope, but I’ll be comfortable. Besides, I think it’s a cute outfit, even if they are, gasp, pants!” She spun in a circle to show it off knowing it had no affect on the viewer at all and not caring one wit. Raw was the only friend she had, other than her sister, and she only acted like herself when the two of them were alone. She threw a hand to her forehead dramatically. “What respectable man will look at me twice with these on?”
The viewer gave her a knowing glance. “Tin Man liked looking at DG in pants.”
She stopped spinning abruptly. She didn’t think that was funny at all. “That’s not nice.” The only reason men ever looked at her was because of her rank. Sometimes they looked at her because of her magic. Other than that they had no reason to.
“Why DG sad? Liked him. Was having fun.”
She shrugged and brushed at some nonexistent lint on her shirt. “He didn’t even know who I was. He won’t talk to me once he finds out.” At least it had been fun while it lasted. That was all she had expected really.
“Why not talk to DG? Tin Man having fun too.”
“Because I’m a princess.” Her hands fell to her sides. In her experience once a man found that out, one of three things happened. They started to simper and preen which was annoying but she got used to ignoring it, they panicked and ran off, or worse they started to try to win her over so they could use her. It had gotten to the point that she simply avoided people unless she was forced to deal with them, and any ideas about courting anyone, even briefly, were out of the question.
She didn’t have the stomach for playing a part in court games. While she would put up with being shown off at events for Az’s sake, she refused point blank to see anyone that offered any kind of proposal to her. She’d heard the rumors that went around those functions about her, most of them completely false and those that were based on real events were so far out of the context of what happened that they made her sound insane at best.
The thing was most of the men that wanted to see her in private, and the women that wanted to befriend her, were the ones that spread those rumors. Everyone was so full of insincerity that most of the time she wanted to rip her hair out and scream at the top of her lungs, which of course she couldn’t. That would have disappointed her mother and made her sister look bad. She loved Az enough to behave at court, although sometimes the margin was dangerously thin. It was all so fake.
So she was jaded by the whole system, she had been by the time she was twelve. Thank Ozma she had met Raw. He had never once asked her for a higher status or for gifts. He treated her like herself and not a princess, or a junky, or a crazy person. To Raw she was only Deeg. It was a relief to be able to be herself instead of whoever it was everyone else expected her to be all the time. Wearing a mask got old fast.
Her sadness wasn’t about a brief talk with a man she’d never have another real conversation with again either. She was just feeling sorry for herself. Raw had been right when he said she’d been having fun talking, flirting would be a better term, with the man. He had been friendly enough, after his initial outburst, and he had taken her teasing in stride. Not to mention the fact that he had hidden her from the heir apparent when he thought she was a low level mechanic, that had been nice. She didn’t even want to think about what his eyes had done to her, she hadn’t thought the butterfly thing was real. Wrong, so very wrong. He was hands down the best-looking man she’d ever seen.
She sighed and jerked her head to the door. “I have to go. If I’m any later mother will kill me.” This was a pointless line of thought. She had more important things to worry about
then a conversation with a stranger in the garage who most likely was only being sociable. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“When talk to uncle?”
She made a face and glanced past him where the rain was hitting the glass. “I’ll try tomorrow after he and mother have caught up. I don’t need anyone to get worried for no reason if I’m imagining things. Maybe I’ve been alone with my own magic for too long.”
“No.” Her eyes flew back down to Raw’s. “Raw not have magic but can feel change coming. DG in center.”
“That’s comforting.” Her voice was laced with sarcasm.
Raw’s low voice sounded worried. “Did not ask to be comforted.”
Her lip twitched. “I know. See you in a while Raw.” He nodded to her and turned back to the view of the lake. She knew he liked to meditate by himself and they had been too busy the last few days for him to do so. She shut the door softly behind her and headed toward the queen’s suite. Her mother had told her to be there fifteen minutes ago for their private family dinner. Rounding a corner she jogged to the door and knocked quickly.
“Enter.” Her mother’s soft voice floated through the wood and she quickly opened the door and slipped inside. The first thing she saw was a flash of annoyed amethyst and then she caught sight of her uncle as he twisted around from his seat at the small round table her family was sitting at.
“Dorothy Gale!” He shoved his chair back and was halfway to her before she registered that he moved. She felt her face split into a wide grin and laughed merrily as he wrapped his arms around her and spun her around. He set her down holding her at arms length as he smiled happily at her. “You are even more beautiful than I remember.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Thanks, Uncle Liam. How are you?”
He threw an arm around her shoulder and guided her to the table. “I am very well.” He pulled out the empty chair for her and she sat down between him and Az, who gave her a brief look. The look clearly read ‘why must you push mother the way you do?’. “I can’t say I have any complaints at all.” She wished she could say the same. Despite her anxiety she was more than happy that her uncle was here. She hadn’t seen him in ages. “And your trip? The rain hasn’t stopped all day.”
He waved a hand. “We had some car trouble but your steward told me Azkadilla had the car moved to the garage.” Ahh. Of course, it must have been Az who did it. She nodded as she picked up a glass and sipped some water.
“I didn’t know anything about a car.” Her sister said as she smoothed the napkin in her lap. “You can thank, Deeg for that.” Her sister was now glaring at her accusingly. She’d been caught red handed. Drat.
“I’m sorry about that assumption, Dorothy. I thought Azkadilla had heard about it first.” He sounded so bad about it and she couldn’t understand why.
“That’s ok. All I did was move it. Did they get your things to your room?” She left out the part about fixing the truck. That would lead to a conversation that she didn’t want to have right now.
“We did. I must say, Lavender, you do have a very efficient staff.” She thought that was an understatement. The men and women that worked here were hard working and deserved all the praise they received. She had never waited more than five minutes for anything she had asked for and the palace was spotless. She wasn’t entirely sure her mother and sister appreciated them as much as they should.
“How was your trip away, Dorothy?” Her smile never faltered as her brain scrambled for a way to state this in a way to get him alone without sounding suspicious.
“Aww, its just DG, Uncle Liam.” His blue eyes twinkled as she continued. “It was interesting enough, but Az and mom have already heard all about it. I’d be happy to bore you with the story tomorrow while they start talking treaties and party plans again.” There, she thought that sounded pretty good.
“That sounds lovely. Why don’t we have lunch together?” Perfect. That would put the rest of her family on the other side of the palace. Especially if she made sure they had lunch out on one of the terraces. Now that she had more of a plan than she had had yesterday she managed to relax through the rest of the meal. She even managed to get away for the night before her mother could say anything about her clothing, which she gave herself high marks for.
By the time she got back to her room she felt her body starting to wind down. When she opened her door Raw opened his eyes and hummed softly. “Ready to sleep at last. Good.”
She nodded in agreement. “Did you meditate?”
“Yes. Better now. Can see and hear more clearly.”
“Anything new?” She hoped there was. She needed information.
“Friendship. Pain. Choices.” He shook his head. “Jumbled together.”
“It’s better than nothing.” She reassured him. She didn’t need him thinking she thought his gift was anything less than useful. “It’s better than thinking I’m crazy.”
“DG not crazy.”
“I know.” It came out as a sigh. “I am tired though.”
“Sleep now. Raw go.”
“Goodnight.” Reaching to him as he passed she hugged him tightly. “Thank you for coming back with me.” He hugged her back for a moment before letting her go.
“Raw follow heart. DG does same.” With that he left her to fall into bed. It was the first time she really slept in as long as she could remember.
Author Note: Oh my. DG has a secret!