closed

[beautifullies]

Who: Claire Fraser and Caleb Brewster
Where: tea room on whatever floor is convienient
When: post-event
Rating: PG for approximatemy 1 F bomb
Summary: Claire is doing some mending and she won't mind sharing what she knows.
The Story:

The somewhat chaotic events of the past week, what with the gifts (glad she and Jamie didn't get anything) that either divulged frightening information about Wonderland or needed to be returned to others. Mostly, she'd stayed out of it, not quite wanting to bury herself in conspiracy this time around. As such, she's been in her room with books and her husband, but now she'd rather be out, see others, friends.

As such, she wanders with the mending she needs to do and settles into a tea room, keeping the door open to passers-by. She's by no means a prolific seamstress, but her time in Castle Leoch did teach her a thing or two and she can mend Jamie's thing quite nicely, or make scarves if needed. She won't be making entire wardrobes anytime soon, but she can make do.

She has tea, adequate lighting (a rare time she appreciates how bright lights have become in the future. Why are they so harsh?) and a small radio playing classical numbers. She imagines she looks every bit the part of a good housewife until she shatters the allusion the moment she accidentally pricks her finger.

"Oh, fucking hell."

It's a bit louder than she meant as she brings her thumb to her lips, attempting to staunch the bleeding. No, she's certainly not a professional.

Comments

[beardman]

Everything seems to be normal again - Or what passes for normal, here. Caleb still isn't used to all the modern conveniences or the magical aspects of the mansion, but he's... Well, he's getting there. He's always been the type to roll with the punches, and he's doing his best to do that here, too.

Really, the thing that's bothering him the most now is the absolute abundance of free time... He spent his adolescence working the family orchard and his adult life either on whaleboats or at war, and neither of the two tend to allow for a lot of time hanging around. Now, of course, it's the opposite - Everything is provided, there's no apples to harvest or whales to hunt or reports to take, and it's.

It's maddening.

Ben's found things to do, but as much as he can appreciate a good book, Caleb isn't a Yale man like Bennyboy, and so the library doesn't hold the same glory for him as it does for his friend. He's practiced throwing his hatchets, he's cleaned his room, and he's even gone down to visit Gaius and spoil him with treats behind Ben's back, but what now? He's not exactly in the mood to get deep into trying to understand more of this Wonderland business so soon after a big mess like what they just had, either... So instead, he's wandering the halls.

The sound of music and swearing catches his attention and he follows it to an open door, and is pleased to find a familiar face there!

"Well," he says, leaning against the doorframe with a grin. Try as he might, he can't make his tone sound serious at all. "That's hardly appropriate language."

[beautifullies]

Claire can understand Caleb's need for something to do quite well. She'd gone from traveling the world to going to war and then hurtled backward through time. And in the time she went to, there was constant danger, she was always on the move with Jamie. Now, here, she's keeping her mind as busy as she can but it's different, there's no...reward for your work, really, no urgency because most of it can be done for her.

Maybe that's why she insists on mending things at least this much. When Caleb catches her she doesn't even have the good sense to blush - he's heard worse in the course of being a soldier, no doubt - and she retrieves her thumb to look it over for damages.

"Don't tell me I'm too salty for you." she teases right back at him. "Although, you haven't heard cursing until you've heard it in Gaelic. Some things don't need interpreting at all with the right tone."

[beardman]

That earns her a laugh. "No, no. I've been a sailor, so I'm afraid you'd have to do a bit worse than that to be in the runnin'," he replies, tone gleeful. He's heard tirades that could peel the paint off the walls, and 'fucking shit' doesn't come close - But it is unusual to hear from a lady, particularly one as tidy and nice as Mrs. Fraser... Well, Anna was married to a provincial congressman and lived in a manor house and still had a few barbs up her sleeve for whoever managed to earn them, so maybe it wasn't too strange.

"You're right, though - Can't say I've heard much Gaelic but I have known a few Indians and others in my day. You don't have to speak the language to know when you've been called a son of a bitch, that's for sure. What's got you so upset, though?" he asks, curious.

[beautifullies]

Claire invites him in further and, satisfied that the bleeding has stopped, she picks up one of Jamie's kilts from her lap and shows it to Caleb. "Sewing, mending for my husband." Which sounds so very 18th century of her.

"I'm afraid the needle got the better of me this round. One would think with the overabundance of light that wouldn't happen, and yet you heard me from outside."

[beardman]

Caleb takes the invitation and takes a seat nearby. "Oh! I had expected everyone here just pulled what they needed from the closets." He smiles a little. It's nice that she's still doing those sorts of things for her husband. It gives a sense of normalcy and it also seems very thoughtful. She could simply pull a new kilt from the closet, but instead mends the one that he has and must already be fond of.

"It's not too bad, is it?" he asks, holding his hand out. "I'm not much of a doctor but I suppose I could cut it off for you if you need."

[beautifullies]

Claire obligingly extends her hand out as if he's really to inspect it for anything. "I think I'll see if it festers first before I call in the medical professionals," she says seriously, though she is very much teasing. They both know that pinprick will be fine.

"How my husband manages to rip his tartan when there's no battle and no hunting is beyond me in any case. Still, I've heard the winters to get cold here, so after this, I might start knitting. Would you like a scarf, Mr. Brewster?"

[beardman]

Caleb takes a moment to examine her hand, then nods a little. "In my uneducated opinion, you'll be fine." He gives her a little grin and releases her. "Not that it's much worse than those doctors, sometimes."

Her offer took him by surprise. "Wh - For me? I'd love one, though I don't know if it's fair to go asking another man's wife to knit you something," he teased, though it wasn't entirely untrue - Some men got very uncomfortable with their wives having male friends, but he got the feeling that, much like their Anna back home, Claire wasn't the sort to appreciate being told who she could and couldn't be friends with.

[beautifullies]

The day James Fraser tried to tell her who she should and shouldn't speak with will be the day everyone gets to see a Show. Or at least hear one through the walls. So, she says as much out loud.

"Jamie isn't worried," she says with what can only be a smirk. "What color would you like? I can get anything here, so I may as well."

[beardman]

Caleb knew he liked her for a reason. He'd take a strong-willed lady's company over a demure little flower any day. "Well, if he ain't worried, then..." He thinks for a moment. What color? Well, there is a color they're all pretty attached to - "Blue," he says, finally. "If it's not any trouble."

"Is it a lot of work, knitting?" He's tied nets and mended sails and his own clothes at that, but sometimes the sort of things women do with their yarn and their thread and their pins seems like magic.

[beautifullies]

"Blue it is," Claire agrees, mentally noting it, then she shifts the kilt and begins working on a stitch. Not exactly knitting, but still, mending.

"It's not very hard once you learn. It's repetitive and calming; I do some of my deepest thinking when I'm knitting. Though I remember tossing the whole lot of something into the fire once in frustration as I learned."

[beardman]

Caleb watches as she mends James's kilt, her slender fingers working so carefully. Her stitches are neater and more delicate than anything he's ever done, but he supposes she's likely had a fair bit more practice than he has.

It sounds nice to have something like that to do, something calming and productive. There's no real need for nets here and he can only do target practice so many times in a day. "...Do you think you could teach me?" he asks, suddenly.

[beautifullies]

Claire looks up in surprise and gives him a lopsided smile. "You'd like to learn how to knit?" It's not that a man couldn't knit, it's just that she's never met one who might be remotely interested.

[beardman]

"I think so," he says, smiling back. "It seems like a useful enough skill. And besides, what else am I gonna do here?" He holds his hands out in gesture to the room. "Not much whalin' to be done in Wonderland, is there?"

[beautifullies]

"Well, from what I've heard something lives in the ocean. But that said, I would be more than happy to teach you, I think it could be lovely," Claire says with a brighter smile. "We can meet here whenever you'd like."

[beardman]

"Does it?" he asks, suddenly intrigued, but pauses - No, you know what? It's probably some kind of magic horror. He's pretty sure he doesn't want a thing to do with that.

Pretty sure.

...No, part of him really does. But for now, the knitting.

"Great! We can get started as soon as you have the time, then. It's not like I've got loads of important engagements to schedule around, after all."

[beautifullies]

"Nor I, so we might as well begin as soon as I'm done with Jamie's kilt. Unless today is too sudden?"

He may not have a future daily schedule, but right away could still be short notice.

[beardman]

"Not too sudden at all." Caleb smiles at that. It can't be too hard, can it? He's honestly a little excited by the idea!

God, he's only been two months and being here's already made him boring. Well, but maybe there is something to be said for domesticity. It's been a long time since he's been able to settle himself for more than a day or so without war or work on his mind.

"What will I need? Shall I go get it from my closet?" Needles and yarn, surely, but are there other things?

[beautifullies]

"We can get all we need from the closet here, no need to go back to your room. Let's see..." She thinks up everything he'll need - needles and yarn, of course, a crochet hook and a yarn needle. Then, she nods to him.

"It should all be there if you would be so kind and check?"