Havemercy Fic - Crossing the Line (7/28)
Title: Crossing The Line
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,498 for this chapter
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to the wonderful Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, although there may be one or two of my own creation :)
Summary: When he decides to search for an art tutor, little does sixteen year old Etienne know that he's about to embark on an adventurous summer of maturity, secrets and self-discovery. However, he's not the only one in the family who's been hiding things, as Castle Nevers will never be the same again.
Author's Notes: Thanks to manyfacesofme22 for betaing!
( Previous chapters)
William
“I’m bored,” moaned Perry.
We were sitting on the fence of the farm where Alex worked, just so I knew he could watch me doing nothing whilst he worked his ass off. I’d expected him to come over and say something by now, but he was keeping his silence, settling on giving me a glare every now and then. Whatever. Like he’d ever tell Ma and Pa.
“Shut up.” I gave Perry a push to get my message across. He fell off the fence and spat on the mud track after he’d gotten back up.
“Bastard,” he muttered.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
He sat on the fence, and Joel sighed.
“Problem?” I asked.
“No.”
“I’ve got a problem,” Rafe spoke up. “I’m too fucking bored.”
“Ain’t we all?” I muttered darkly. I wouldn’t even mind seeing Alfie right about now, just to give us something to do. I always thought the lessons were bad, when our tutor made us sit and read about the history of Volstov or do maths sums. I would stare out the window and wish I could just go outside. Then as soon as summer rolled round, I found myself with weeks and weeks of nothing to do. I’d always get bored by the end of the first week, and it would just get worse from there. Every year was the same.
As it was, we hadn’t seen Alfie or any of the boys upriver for a week or two. They must be planning something and I didn’t like it, not one bit.
“At least you’ve got a job,” Joel reasoned. “If you’re so bored, why don’t you go and help your brother out?”
“I don’t want to.”
“It would give you something to do.”
“I ain’t doing it. If you’re so keen, why don’t you help him?”
He looked like he might actually be tempted.
“Fuck, Joel, it was a joke.”
He shrugged and stared at the ground.
I hate the summer, I thought. I hate the countryside. I bet in Thremedon, or some other city, there were plenty of things for people to do, and they wouldn’t have to count the trees or sheep to occupy their minds. Life in Nevers was so dull.
We sat there for a while longer, the boys drifting off separately until I was the last one left. I swung my legs over the fence and started slowly along the field to where I could see Alex feeding the hens. I stopped a few feet away from him and watched, stuffing my hands into my pockets.
When he’d emptied the bucket, he looked up at me.
“Want something?” he asked bitterly.
“Just seeing how you are, brother of mine.”
“Well I get off in five minutes, so you’ve timed it well.”
“I think so.”
I followed him back to the Duchamp’s house and leaned against the doorframe, watching him put everything in its place for the night. He called a goodbye to old Duchamp, and we set off down the track together.
“You must have quite a bit of money saved up now,” I commented.
“Don’t.”
I held my hands up in mock surrender. “I’m just saying. You’ve been working dead hard on that farm for weeks now, your earnings must show that. How much do you have now? A hundred chevronets? A hundred and fifty?”
“I said don’t.”
“What are you going to buy with it?”
He didn’t answer, but started walking quicker.
“C’mon Alex, I’m only trying to be friendly. Or have you got it all saved up? You could escape to the city, or woo a girl-”
He rounded on me. “Shut it, Will!”
I put my hands up again. “All right! You gonna say that to Ma, if she starts asking those questions?”
“I don’t know,” he murmured, in a voice I figured I wasn’t supposed to hear.
When we got home I actually got dressed for dinner, because there’s only so many times you can annoy Ma before she does something rash, like ground you, no matter how old you are. I thought having nothing to do outside was bad, but I knew it was a thousand times worse having nothing to do whilst stuck inside the house.
It soon turned out it was a good thing I’d changed, as Pa announced at dinner that Hal’s letter had arrived. Ma pressed her lips together as he read it aloud, and I watched them getting thinner and thinner every time Uncle Roy’s name was mentioned. She would take that anger out on me if I put a foot wrong, so I knew I couldn’t push her too far. Hal’s letters always put her on edge. When it became obvious why Hal had left - not for the ‘Versity, or whatever reason he gave at first, but because he wanted to bite the pillow with Uncle Roy - she was fainting for days. She used to shudder whenever she thought of letting someone like him look after her children, and the influence he could have had on us. She dreaded the arrival of his letters every month, and would be in a mood for days after Pa read them to us.
Worst of all, I thought, was how obviously excited Etienne and Emilie were whenever they heard from Hal. They were too young to remember him trying to encourage them to read, and only had memories of him playing with them and caring for them when they were ill. I’d thought he was all right, as a child, and he always tried to keep me entertained, but he kept saying I couldn’t do this or I couldn’t do that. Jumping into the deepest part of the river or climbing the highest tree in the grounds couldn’t have been that dangerous.
His letters used to be exciting, telling us of his part in the war and about the bits of the dragons being found, but now they usually contained information on his research or the latest work that Uncle Roy was doing. This latest letter was no different.
The letter got passed around during dinner, Alex and Emilie and Etienne only daring to read it after they’d finished eating. Ma retired to bed early, claiming a headache, and Etienne and Emilie left together afterwards, taking the letter with them.
I was heading to my own room not much later when I heard giggling in Etienne’s room. I pushed the door open without knocking and saw Etienne and Emilie sitting on the bed, Hal’s letter between them. They stopped talking abruptly when I entered.
“Share the joke,” I said.
“Look in the mirror,” Emilie suggested. She’d started getting cheeky in the last year or two.
“Respect your elders.” I assumed they’d been laughing at something in the letter. “You gonna reply to that again?”
They both nodded.
“I’m sure he’d like to hear from you, too,” Etienne said.
“And what would I say? That life in the country is still boring, and that you still can’t step anywhere without getting sheepshit on your shoes, and that, no, I haven’t been on the marsh recently, so you’ve no reason to worry about my welfare.”
“You used to love Hal,” Emilie reproached me. “He used to try so hard to entertain you. You’re lucky he put up with your tantrums the way he did, nobody else has the same patience for them.”
“And you want to mind that tongue of yours.” Still, it was true what she was saying. Hal was all right, for a Nellie. “And anyways, ‘entertain’? He never tried to make you read about Slipfinger the Penniless and his fifteen different adventures.”
“They’re not all that different,” Etienne sympathised.
“Don’t I know it,” I muttered.
It was clear they weren’t going to tell me what they’d been laughing about, so I said my goodnights and walked down the hallway to my room. After a minute, I tiptoed back down the hallway, as quietly as I could, and waited outside the door.
“Honestly though, Etienne, your face! It was so funny, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so shocked.”
“It’s all right for you to laugh; you weren’t the one who got wet.”
“And Jude! Every time he re-enacted it, it just got funnier.”
“Hmmm. He’s nice though, isn’t he? Jude?”
“Yeah.”
There was a pause.
“What?” asked Etienne.
“What?”
“What’s that smile for?”
“Nothing! It’s just…it’s nice you get on so well with him.”
There was another pause before they started talking about something else, and I went back to my bedroom. That had been interesting. I hadn’t heard either of them mention anything like this before, and it wasn’t like those two to keep secrets. Me? Yeah. Alex? Blatantly. But Etienne and Emilie were the good kids - and Alex, in our parents eyes, I remembered with a sneer - and for them to go behind everyone’s backs, it had to be for something important.
I had to find out who this Jude person was.
Next
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,498 for this chapter
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to the wonderful Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, although there may be one or two of my own creation :)
Summary: When he decides to search for an art tutor, little does sixteen year old Etienne know that he's about to embark on an adventurous summer of maturity, secrets and self-discovery. However, he's not the only one in the family who's been hiding things, as Castle Nevers will never be the same again.
Author's Notes: Thanks to manyfacesofme22 for betaing!
( Previous chapters)
William
“I’m bored,” moaned Perry.
We were sitting on the fence of the farm where Alex worked, just so I knew he could watch me doing nothing whilst he worked his ass off. I’d expected him to come over and say something by now, but he was keeping his silence, settling on giving me a glare every now and then. Whatever. Like he’d ever tell Ma and Pa.
“Shut up.” I gave Perry a push to get my message across. He fell off the fence and spat on the mud track after he’d gotten back up.
“Bastard,” he muttered.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
He sat on the fence, and Joel sighed.
“Problem?” I asked.
“No.”
“I’ve got a problem,” Rafe spoke up. “I’m too fucking bored.”
“Ain’t we all?” I muttered darkly. I wouldn’t even mind seeing Alfie right about now, just to give us something to do. I always thought the lessons were bad, when our tutor made us sit and read about the history of Volstov or do maths sums. I would stare out the window and wish I could just go outside. Then as soon as summer rolled round, I found myself with weeks and weeks of nothing to do. I’d always get bored by the end of the first week, and it would just get worse from there. Every year was the same.
As it was, we hadn’t seen Alfie or any of the boys upriver for a week or two. They must be planning something and I didn’t like it, not one bit.
“At least you’ve got a job,” Joel reasoned. “If you’re so bored, why don’t you go and help your brother out?”
“I don’t want to.”
“It would give you something to do.”
“I ain’t doing it. If you’re so keen, why don’t you help him?”
He looked like he might actually be tempted.
“Fuck, Joel, it was a joke.”
He shrugged and stared at the ground.
I hate the summer, I thought. I hate the countryside. I bet in Thremedon, or some other city, there were plenty of things for people to do, and they wouldn’t have to count the trees or sheep to occupy their minds. Life in Nevers was so dull.
We sat there for a while longer, the boys drifting off separately until I was the last one left. I swung my legs over the fence and started slowly along the field to where I could see Alex feeding the hens. I stopped a few feet away from him and watched, stuffing my hands into my pockets.
When he’d emptied the bucket, he looked up at me.
“Want something?” he asked bitterly.
“Just seeing how you are, brother of mine.”
“Well I get off in five minutes, so you’ve timed it well.”
“I think so.”
I followed him back to the Duchamp’s house and leaned against the doorframe, watching him put everything in its place for the night. He called a goodbye to old Duchamp, and we set off down the track together.
“You must have quite a bit of money saved up now,” I commented.
“Don’t.”
I held my hands up in mock surrender. “I’m just saying. You’ve been working dead hard on that farm for weeks now, your earnings must show that. How much do you have now? A hundred chevronets? A hundred and fifty?”
“I said don’t.”
“What are you going to buy with it?”
He didn’t answer, but started walking quicker.
“C’mon Alex, I’m only trying to be friendly. Or have you got it all saved up? You could escape to the city, or woo a girl-”
He rounded on me. “Shut it, Will!”
I put my hands up again. “All right! You gonna say that to Ma, if she starts asking those questions?”
“I don’t know,” he murmured, in a voice I figured I wasn’t supposed to hear.
When we got home I actually got dressed for dinner, because there’s only so many times you can annoy Ma before she does something rash, like ground you, no matter how old you are. I thought having nothing to do outside was bad, but I knew it was a thousand times worse having nothing to do whilst stuck inside the house.
It soon turned out it was a good thing I’d changed, as Pa announced at dinner that Hal’s letter had arrived. Ma pressed her lips together as he read it aloud, and I watched them getting thinner and thinner every time Uncle Roy’s name was mentioned. She would take that anger out on me if I put a foot wrong, so I knew I couldn’t push her too far. Hal’s letters always put her on edge. When it became obvious why Hal had left - not for the ‘Versity, or whatever reason he gave at first, but because he wanted to bite the pillow with Uncle Roy - she was fainting for days. She used to shudder whenever she thought of letting someone like him look after her children, and the influence he could have had on us. She dreaded the arrival of his letters every month, and would be in a mood for days after Pa read them to us.
Worst of all, I thought, was how obviously excited Etienne and Emilie were whenever they heard from Hal. They were too young to remember him trying to encourage them to read, and only had memories of him playing with them and caring for them when they were ill. I’d thought he was all right, as a child, and he always tried to keep me entertained, but he kept saying I couldn’t do this or I couldn’t do that. Jumping into the deepest part of the river or climbing the highest tree in the grounds couldn’t have been that dangerous.
His letters used to be exciting, telling us of his part in the war and about the bits of the dragons being found, but now they usually contained information on his research or the latest work that Uncle Roy was doing. This latest letter was no different.
The letter got passed around during dinner, Alex and Emilie and Etienne only daring to read it after they’d finished eating. Ma retired to bed early, claiming a headache, and Etienne and Emilie left together afterwards, taking the letter with them.
I was heading to my own room not much later when I heard giggling in Etienne’s room. I pushed the door open without knocking and saw Etienne and Emilie sitting on the bed, Hal’s letter between them. They stopped talking abruptly when I entered.
“Share the joke,” I said.
“Look in the mirror,” Emilie suggested. She’d started getting cheeky in the last year or two.
“Respect your elders.” I assumed they’d been laughing at something in the letter. “You gonna reply to that again?”
They both nodded.
“I’m sure he’d like to hear from you, too,” Etienne said.
“And what would I say? That life in the country is still boring, and that you still can’t step anywhere without getting sheepshit on your shoes, and that, no, I haven’t been on the marsh recently, so you’ve no reason to worry about my welfare.”
“You used to love Hal,” Emilie reproached me. “He used to try so hard to entertain you. You’re lucky he put up with your tantrums the way he did, nobody else has the same patience for them.”
“And you want to mind that tongue of yours.” Still, it was true what she was saying. Hal was all right, for a Nellie. “And anyways, ‘entertain’? He never tried to make you read about Slipfinger the Penniless and his fifteen different adventures.”
“They’re not all that different,” Etienne sympathised.
“Don’t I know it,” I muttered.
It was clear they weren’t going to tell me what they’d been laughing about, so I said my goodnights and walked down the hallway to my room. After a minute, I tiptoed back down the hallway, as quietly as I could, and waited outside the door.
“Honestly though, Etienne, your face! It was so funny, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so shocked.”
“It’s all right for you to laugh; you weren’t the one who got wet.”
“And Jude! Every time he re-enacted it, it just got funnier.”
“Hmmm. He’s nice though, isn’t he? Jude?”
“Yeah.”
There was a pause.
“What?” asked Etienne.
“What?”
“What’s that smile for?”
“Nothing! It’s just…it’s nice you get on so well with him.”
There was another pause before they started talking about something else, and I went back to my bedroom. That had been interesting. I hadn’t heard either of them mention anything like this before, and it wasn’t like those two to keep secrets. Me? Yeah. Alex? Blatantly. But Etienne and Emilie were the good kids - and Alex, in our parents eyes, I remembered with a sneer - and for them to go behind everyone’s backs, it had to be for something important.
I had to find out who this Jude person was.
Next