Christmas isn't a season.

[thecourier]

Who: Dan Palmer (thecourier), Nathaniel Howe (noble_son), Emiel Regis (mandrakes), AJ Crowley (saunteredvaguelydownwards), R (keephersafe), and maybe you!?!?! Special guest appearance by Mirror!Crowley (neversauntered).
Where: All over the mansion.
When: Ewaymas!
Rating: PG-PG13 unless otherwise specified.
Summary: Top levels/etc for all my people during Ewaymas. Open top-levels inside, closed top-levels happily available on request. Please contact me on hardtostarboard if you want something special!

Comments

[noble_son]

It wouldn't be your aim that would give you trouble.

[In the time he's been here, he's handed no one else this bow, and it's with some consideration that he offers it out to Wendy now. It isn't her aim he doubts, but rather her ability to draw a bow with the considerable draw weight of this one.]

But I invite you to attempt it.

[like247]

[She can't help but smile. Since meeting Nathaniel, he's always been there for her, helped her with this place. She's glad to have him there now, making this offer.]

Thanks. Let's see what I can do.

[She takes the bow, recognizing that it wasn't at all like the ones she's seen other hunters use. Not modern and sleek. This was the real thing.

She tries though. Nocking the arrow, lining herself up with the target. Hooking her fingers around the bowstring, she draws back. She's skilled in ways most girls her age aren't, but she's still a slim teenage girl.

She tries again, drawing back but frowning.]

Not enough, is it?

[Not releasing the arrow, not wasting the shot if she hasn't got it drawn back enough as her arm shakes trying to do it.]

[noble_son]

[It's a good effort, considering her stature. Colour him impressed.]

I'm afraid you won't be shooting very far like that.

[He remembers Clint's bow - how light it had been and how easy to draw. He could have got used to a bow like that, but it would never have been the same.

Nathaniel steps to Wendy's side, and after a small smile at her places his hands over hers, fingers between where hers lie to avoid crushing or hurting her hands against the bow.]

Draw back. As much as you can, right back to your cheek. I'll help you, don't worry.

[like247]

[She smirks at him, nose wrinkling.]

Why I didn't let go and look like an idiot. I've fired the compound bows in my world, and used a crossbow. This thing though? The tension is insane.

[And she sounds damn impressed by that too.]

Okay, counting on you to not let me look like an idiot.

[Smiling though as she braces herself, pulling back with all that she can manage.]

[noble_son]

It was my grandfather's. [He tells her as he draws the bow back with her, their combined draw enough to easily pull it into the correct position.]

Made from a single piece of ancestral heartwood.

[If he lets go now, he'd probably break all of her fingers. He doesn't.]

Are you ready?

[like247]

Whoa, that's pretty cool. We have my grandfather's pocket watch, but nothing cool like this.

[But she's more eager than ever to do as he asks, to show him that she can truly manage this and use the bow that means as much to him as this one must.]

What's heartwood?

[Asking it in a low, breathy voice as she braces herself for this.]

I'm ready. I can do this.

[noble_son]

Wood from the core of a tree.

[He could have waited to give her that answer, but he speaks it quietly as she readies herself. Nathaniel knows he's taking a good deal of the draw weight, and with the odd position he's standing in it will feel terrible later, but this feels important, somehow.]

Let go. [He tells her, as his fingers loosen their grip.] Now.

[like247]

[She falls quiet, considering that. Why you would do that and what it would mean.

Instead trying to pull herself into that moment, focusing on the pull of the string, the tautness and how it seems to thrum through her entire body.

No hesitation, letting go as soon as Nathaniel gave the word. Exhaling sharply, her body still tense from the way that her muscles were tight from pulling back.]

The wood there is older, stronger, right?

[Not looking at the arrow, but her head canting slightly to look back at Nathaniel. ]

[noble_son]

Right.

[He straightens up, wincing slightly at the slight tweak of pain across his shoulder. That position was probably ill-advised, but worth the effort.

Nathaniel takes the bow from her, and turns it over to show a mark branded into the wood.]

This is my family's crest, here. A bow like this will outlast me, but I doubt I will have any children to pass it on to.

[like247]

[Wendy is grinning wide, from ear to ear even. She's been learning so many new things in Wonderland, and she's excited for what all she might gain in her time in Wonderland. Even if she can't remember it all.]

Dude, okay that's cool. How old is it then? And you could always adopt. Has to be someone you find in your world whose, you know, worthy of it.

[noble_son]

At least a hundred years.

[It puts things into perspective, perhaps, in terms of just what level of technology the place that Nathaniel comes from is at. Most of what he's seen in Wonderland has been beyond anything he'd experienced before, and that was before the events and curses.

Curses, he was familiar with.]

I imagine it will pass to my sister. She has children.

[like247]

[She's quiet about that, considering that.]

Dude, that's... that is seriously an heirloom. You should totally pass it on to her. How many kids? I didn't even know you had a sister.

[She says it almost like a light accusation.]

[noble_son]

One, a son.

[He chuckles softly, smiling at her, though the expression fades slightly as he continues.]

I had a brother, too. Thomas. He died during the Blight.

[like247]

You... Oh.

[She shifts, nudging him with her shoulder. Without the threat of danger of their heads, not immediately, she worries about being overly affectionate. For now. But she wants him to know she feels for him.]

I'm sorry. I just... I couldn't even imagine.

[noble_son]

[Nathaniel only shakes his head.]

I was lucky to only lose one sibling. Had I been anywhere near Ferelden when the Blight was at its height, I might have been taken by it, too.

[He would have been fighting.]

[like247]

[Wendy gives him a look for a moment and then leans in, hugging him if he lets her.]

I'm glad you're here. Never had a big brother before.

[noble_son]

[He lets her, though it's more through surprise than actual permission. It takes a moment before he puts an arm around her to gently hug her back, a small and uncommonly soft smile on his face.]

That's a pity, Wendy. Because you make a marvellous little sister.