Inbox: Abraxas

[philancer]

INBOX text / action / horizon Roses are red, violets are blue,
and right now it seems I'm missing you.
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— throughout january

[theidlemaiden]

[ The moment the opportunity to return to the islands has surfaced, Hilda had been keeping a quiet, almost tentative eye on Sylvain and Claude. Whereas Claude hadn't brought up much of the experience at all, Sylvain had at least spoke about it in passing. Using that to piece together what other friends had gone through in the pit and her own visit after the fact in the recovery efforts, Hilda had a fairly clear picture of those held closest to heart had gone through.

Breaching the subject is another matter however. It's in Hilda's nature to skirt around the not so cheerful topics in life. In part, it's for her own protection – ignorance was bliss for her. The other part of her however, the one with the more serious answer, is that if she did bring it up, she didn't know how she'd possibly help them soothe the wounds the cultists had left behind. The easy answer is simply never bringing it up in the hopes that someone else would. But that didn't feel right either. Because if she didn't bother, if she didn't try, then what was the point in staying by either Claude or Sylvain's side? That being said, she still had to find a way to build her bravery.

December comes and goes. January arrives in a flurry of activity that brings more gloom in the aftermath of their efforts on the island. It keeps all three of them busy and there's some nights where she doesn't see either of them. She knows this can't be easy for either of them - or rather hasn't been if any of her observations are anything to go off of. But then she formulates a plan. Granted it's not necessarily an original plan (Sylvain was the one that started it first) nor does it have any other goal than trying to keep his spirits up – but she has to start somewhere.

Notes follow him wherever he goes. Or rather, that's the impression he might get. Folded up birds, little paper lanterns, hearts, stars, flowers, a mouse, a cat, a fox can be found every day in obvious places like his pillow when he returns in the evening, his coat pockets, the kitchen, amongst the plants he's using to grow his tea ingredients, tucked into the saddle of whatever horse he chooses to ride the day he visits the stables, his bag. There's nothing special about them at first, no words to accompany them. Sometimes there's the occasional silly doodle of whatever the papercraft is giving him words of encouragement or silly, flirty phrases. But eventually the corresponds begin.

Today's note comes in the shape of a paper airplane that she probably learned how to make thanks to the Doctor. It floats gracefully through the air to wherever he is, smacking gently into the side of his face to get his attention. Read me! is written in neat script on it. Somewhere behind him there's the briefest flutter of a giggle and the sound of receding footsteps but when he turns around no one is there. If he opens the note he'll read: ]

𝘔𝘳. 𝘎𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳,

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 "𝘧𝘭𝘺" 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨.

𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘴? 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦.

𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘴! 𝘌𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘭𝘥 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮.

𝘐 𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.

𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘎𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘭 𝘹𝘹

[ Below her signature is a drawing of two foxes at a table happily dining on some food. ]

[philancer]

[ As he’d very insistently dragged her along as his +1 that night, despite all her protests to the contrary, he doesn’t leave her a note in return. But as each one she’d left him had brought a smile to her lips, later that week, she’ll find a single pink rose in perfect bloom left on her pillow beside a rose-scented candle wrapped in a ribbon.

Wrapped around the rose’s stem is a narrow strip of paper, since he doesn’t quite have her talent for paper art. But he had played around with some words and leaves them for her in a carefully penned hand.

The surest escape from the pit of despair
Is to cradle a person and tell them you care
So drop your defenses
And heighten your senses
So the next breath you take will be one that you share.

A few days later, it’s a small confectioner’s box of cupcakes with pink icing. There’s a little doodle of a fox with a rose in his mouth and a bow wrapped around one ear on the lid of the box, with the simple message of:

Sweets for my sweet.

And just before the weekend, when she arrives home, it’s to find the tub filled with steaming water and softly scented suds, the room lit aglow with soft candlelight and a thick, plush towel and robe waiting for her. This time, there’s a little plush fox seated on a stool with a note cupped in it’s paws and a bottle of wine and a single glass waiting beside it, with only the words:

You deserve a little pampering. Sorry there’s no mud. ]

[theidlemaiden]

[ When she had embarked on this quest to keep his spirits up, Hilda hadn't expected small gifts in return. But finding the rose, the candle, and the box of sweets bring a fond smile to her face every time and is so Sylvain of him to do. By the time she stumbles upon the drawn bath and the stuffed fox, her heart swells in an unexpected way. Despite the accompanying note being short and sweet, she reads it several times over with pink cheeks and soft eyes and the fox plushie held close to her. After a moment she turns on her heel to go in search of another glass and Sylvain in the hopes that he might join her in the tub.

From that point on the fox plushie becomes a bit of a messenger so to speak, accompanying her notes wherever and whenever it becomes appropriate. The day that business takes her away to Aquila overnight, he'll find the fox with an accompanying nightcap that seems handmade seated on his pillow with the note stuck to his belly:

You've been working hard. Get to bed early tonight!

Before he sets out for the start of his day, he'll find a note in the shape of a bunny and a bottle sun cream on top his bathroom sink that reads:

Just because it's winter doesn't mean the sun can't burn you! Don't forget to apply some of this to your face.

A little illustration of a fox with sun cream on its nose and some sunglasses also accompanies the note.

Another day, he'll find the fox perched in the kitchen by his teas, holding a brand new tin. The accompanying note reads:

Straight from the Solvunn tea festival to kickstart your day.

Another bunny note stuck to the tin has instructions for the tea preparation but at the very end Hilda has added:

Or best served however you like. I've never had a cup of tea better than yours. They taste like care and love. They taste like magic.

The morning after that he'll find four rabbit-shaped notes stuck to the bathroom mirror. Drawn on them are several illustrations of a little rabbit with a pink bow between its ears and a fox in a meadow. One image shows the bunny rolled onto its back laughing at the fox as it pulls a silly face, tongue out playfully as its tail wags. Another scene shows the fox pouting as it dons a silly hat. The bunny is doubled over giggling. The last scene is of the fox trying to catch a goose while the little bunny cheers him on, gleefully laughing. ]

I love the way you make me laugh at you.