[OOC] Secret Santa!
Hello, Santa~
First and foremost, let me thank you for your time and consideration! So, don't worry because I'm sure I'll appreciate everything with all my love. If you have any questions please do let me know, especially since I can't remember what I wrote when I signed up.
Oh right, this is Shinobu/Spock/Flynn/Himeno/Damon/Kahlan. ♥
First and foremost, let me thank you for your time and consideration! So, don't worry because I'm sure I'll appreciate everything with all my love. If you have any questions please do let me know, especially since I can't remember what I wrote when I signed up.
Oh right, this is Shinobu/Spock/Flynn/Himeno/Damon/Kahlan. ♥
Lutwidge prided itself on turning out well-rounded graduates, fluent in several languages, proficient on at least one instrument and capable with a sword. To this end, students were able to book one of the piano rooms for an hour, with or without instructors, outside of class hours. Students were highly encouraged to use the instructors to refine their technique, and were explicitly instructed that they were only to be in the piano room for an hour at a time.
Every prefect meeting, the issue of Elliot Nightlay’s insistence on using a piano for longer than his allotted time was raised, and every time no decision was made as to how to stop him from doing this. Eventually Ada decided to take matters into her own hands and pencilled her own name into the slot immediately after Elliot’s. She noted then that he didn’t have a tutor listed and, after flicking through the schedule over the last few months, never had requested one. She prepared a list of piano instructors to give to Elliot at the handover of the room, complete with specialties.
“Elliot, it’s Ada,” she announced as he finished his piece, a wild and angry toccata about the rampage of the youngest Sinclair girl, decades dead, as she slaughtered all in her path with her illegal chain in the name of vengeance. Elliot’s head whipped around and he scowled at her. “It’s my turn to use the room now,” she added. As she stepped into the room, she noticed the letter resting on the piano cover and recognised the handwriting. “Oh, is Gil writing to you too?”
“Of course he’s writing to me, he’s my brother!” Elliot snapped, slamming the key cover closed with an irritated shove. “When he remembers, anyway. He’s always running off whenever Pandora tells him to go and he has things at home to take care of. He hasn’t been home in months and frankly I’m tired of it! Doesn’t he know with Fred, Claude and Ernest gone -!” He stops then in a great tearing rush, staring resolutely at his hands resting on the closed key cover. Ada politely pretends she didn’t see the tears in his eyes.
“He has always been terrible at writing letters,” Ada offered. “It took him a year to write to me after he was adopted into your house.”
“That’s because you’re a Vessalius,” Elliot muttered to his hands.
“Eventually, I had to send Snowdrop over to give him a message. Then he wrote promptly for a while.” Ada took a moment to pet Snowdrop, who was resting against her leg and purring for attention. “Would you like to borrow Dinah?” Elliot snorted at this, before realizing who he was talking with.
“Why are you being nice to me?” he demanded. Ada smiled.
“Because you’re Gil’s little brother, which makes you my little brother.” Elliot shot her an incredulous stare over his shoulder. “Even if Gil is the older brother that sometimes we younger siblings have to keep in line.”
After a moment, Elliot picked up the letter and tucked it into his music folder. “He just said that they hadn’t found any new leads about the Headhunter, but that Pandora were hopeful of finding someone who knew anything in the future.” He jerked his chin up defiantly, waiting for one of the cutting remarks about how the Nightlay House should have been burned out. Ada had deducted points for anyone who made them in her hearing, but she knew that that was just ensuring that she didn’t hear the worst of them.
“He’s a good brother to you,” she said instead.
“How would you know?” Elliot demanded angrily. His eyes went wide and he flushed as he realized what he had said, and to whom.
“Oz was a very good brother to me,” Ada replied quietly. “And we loved Gil with all of our hearts. It’s why I’m so happy to see him with another family that loves him, together with his brother. Take care of him, Elliot.”
It was only when Elliot was at the door that he replied. “Yeah. I will.”
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Ada’s racing footsteps slowed as she came closer to the piano room. Elliot was playing in there again, puzzling over a melody rather than reading off sheet music. She’d come enough times to know that this was what Elliot did when he composed. This, plus their earlier argument, gave her pause.
Right on the hour, Elliot stopped playing and Ada entered the room with a sigh.
“You came early today,” he observed, shoving his notes into his music bag. “I would have thought you’d be spending more time with your brother.” Ada shook her head.
“He just left. I’m glad; I love him but it’s so much to take in.”
“You? Overcome?” Elliot snorted. “Yeah right. How does it feel to not be the heir anymore?”
“I never was,” Ada corrected. “Uncle Oscar and I always knew that one day, Oz would come back from the Abyss. I was just making sure he had a place to come back to.” She smiled at Elliot’s incredulous expression. “We didn’t expect it to be this soon.”
“This soon? This soon?” Elliot exploded. “Ada, he’s been gone for ten years! You were waiting for ten years for him? No wonder Vanessa said you were crazy!” Ada’s smile turned a little wry.
“That’s why we didn’t tell anyone. We knew it would happen, because Pandora said it would. But ... we couldn’t tell everyone about it. Who would believe us?”
“Some brother,” Elliot said sourly, “that you waited ten years for.” He clenched his jaw, a sign that Ada knew meant he was biting back words that Ada wouldn’t want to hear. “I’m happy for you,” he said instead, not quite keeping the sulky tone out of his voice.
“What was he like with you?” Ada wondered. Elliot clenched his jaw again. “Be honest, Elliot. It’s why I like you.”
Elliot made a face. “When I see your father, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind,” he said instead. “What sort of man raises his child like that? It’s despicable! And I heard that he hasn’t even seen him since he came back and it’s no wonder he’s as messed up as he is! He can’t even think about how it hurts to be left behind when someone dies because he’s running so fast towards his death! What sort of family does that?”
“Uncle Oscar loves us,” Ada replied. “Oz just needs to realise that.”
Elliot gave her a shrewd glance from under his hair. “Did he do that to you too? Make you think you’re worth nothing?”
“No,” Ada said finally. She said nothing after that, the only sound came from Elliot as he ground his teeth. “When I see him, I’m going to tell him exactly what I think of him.”
Ada sat, staring at the piano, after Elliot left. Her wandering fingers caught on a soft corner where one shouldn’t be, and she tugged at it delicately. A folded up sheet of paper had been wedged in the join of the key cover, with Elliot’s winter address written in bold, hurried strokes. She smiled at this, tucking it into her blazer’s inner pocket. She already had it from Vincent, but it was nice of Elliot to give her his address to write to over the winter break.
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