[Leslie knows very little about courtship, but she’s pretty sure people don’t usually bury courting gifts. Right? Even so, she’s very sympathetic to the idea of losing a gift. Her own room has a canvas that “Mr. Krüger” gave her hanging on the wall opposite the foot of her bed, which looks much more like abstract art at best, or “someone spilled a lot of blue shades of paint and dripped yellow when trying to clean it off” at worst.
Trawling is not exactly a job for one person, especially one person the size of Leslie. If she were to attempt it on foot, she’d need at least someone to hold the net on the other side of the river. A boat would be more likely as a solo expedition...for someone who knew boats. Leslie hasn’t even been on the love boats from that one festival, so learning two new skill sets at the same time is not likely in the cards.
That’s why tonight, shortly after sundown, she is not out alone, but with Edelgard, thanks to mentioning this problem of needing to find help to fulfill the quest to her housemate a few days prior. Right now, they walk towards where the rented river boat will be waiting for them, weighted net aboard.
She’s wearing a possibly unnecessary yellow rain coat, with a kind of bucket hat that is secured to her head with a strap under the chin. More plausibly necessary will be the huge, stompy rubber boots she’s wearing. They go up over her knees, but she’d had to stuff them with socks to make them not fall off. The bag hanging from her shoulder holds, among other things, some snacks she’d prepared during the day to bring with them if they felt a need for a short break. (Not that Edelgard needs non-bloody food anymore, but she wouldn’t want to leave the emperor out.)
As the river comes into sight, Leslie finally asks:]
Is it...normal to bury courting gifts when you are courting?
[Her tone of voice has clearly pressed x to doubt but is not 100% certain that it couldn’t be something done by people around here. She’s certainly learned some surprising cultural things over her time here.]
[Edelgard, somewhat amused by the request, had agreed to go along with it all as a means of getting out of the house. It is an odd one, all things considered, but not so odd that she'd dismissed the notion out of hand. If anything, this might be a good opportunity for her to keep an eye on her Ward and maybe build up her confidence.
Of course, that doesn't mean that she's not going to be surprised by the inquisitive young lady's queries. She chuckles, shaking her head, a little bewildered by this particular question.]
No, not really. [She runs a hand over the hat, ruffling it a little bit.]
I suppose for a dragon it may be, but I don't think that's normal for most people. I don't know about merrow, though I think this is a bit unusual.
[Leslie can’t help but smile at the hat ruffle, nodding afterward at the things Edelgard mentioned.]
And I don’t think a dragon would put it somewhere it could get lost.
[She looks off in the direction of the river thoughtfully.]
It’s strange. She seemed so upset to have lost the gifts, so I don’t think it was a kind of courting where they’re only doing it on behalf of their families. I would have thought she would put them somewhere safe that she could look at from time to time, instead of storing them like some animals I read about before helping with the field trip to the edge of the Wilde a few months back do with food before winter.
[Edelgard nods at that. A dragon, yes, they did jealously guard everything they touched, didn't they?]
I don't know. I suppose perhaps it's a Merrow trait? They seem to like to collect shiny things, but get distracted easily with the acquisition of more.
[That's her best guess, anyway.]
...Or she was a flighty person to be courted. That's possible too.
[Despite the many holes in Leslie’s knowledge of romance, she’s actually aware of the concept of a gold digger if not the phrase. She had to spend a lot of her childhood supporting someone attempting to marry the crown prince for the power of being empress.]
Do you mean that she might have hidden some of the gifts so the person courting her might forget how much money has already been spent on her and be more generous?
[Leslie frowns. Now that she’s thought of it, she can’t dismiss the possibility.]
I hope it isn’t something like that. That sounds very...um. I don’t want to say mercenary, since I know a very good person who used to be in a mercenary group. [By the more traditional definition of a mercenary rather than the adjective. She pauses speaking for a second as she thinks back to the memory she’d seen from Byleth’s mirror in the dream months ago.] Two people, with General Eisner. What I mean is, it sounds very greedy of the woman who put out this quest.
[She does mean that, Leslie. And that is very clever, and very cynical of you. Which she supposes she should expect, all things considered, given your upbringing.]
And yes, I think it is possible that she's a very greedy person. However...that works to our advantage, does it not?
[[She turns to grab one of the weighted trawling nets.]
We get to profit off of her misfortune. Perhaps not as much as she did by being courted, but it's honest work.
[Given Leslie’s upbringing, it’s amazing that she isn’t more cynical.
She thinks this over as she does her best to help with setting up the netting. It’s something that would have been probably impossible, back when Edelgard first met her, but the last half year has been very good for building up her strength to more standard child levels. (Well, standard if the average is not taken of only when members of the Officers Academy were her age.)
Height remains an issue, though, being even shorter than Edelgard.]
It’s good for us, but I still feel bad for her suitor. Not that it would change even if we weren’t doing this.
[Edelgard was confident in her ward's abilities to handle this, certainly. Or she wouldn't have asked. She watches though, just to be sure she's not struggling, but this isn't too difficult. The weights aren't heavy.]
Yes, I suppose I do as well, but I know very little of them other than they were apparently quite wealthy.
[Offering extravagant gifts and the like for just courting? That's quite a bit. She...had mostly gotten tea and teddy bears.]
[It’s not too difficult, but when she tries to do too much at once, it becomes too awkward for her to work with and she has to accept that she will have to make a couple of trips for things she was trying to do in one go.]
Is it only wealthy people who give courting gifts? Or is it just how many there are?
[Leslie is quick to scurry to the lever, though she pulls on the lever in a more controlled manner. Not that she’s strong enough even now to likely break anything by yanking the lever down.
At the same time, she continues to absorb this information on how courtship works, and yet another question occurs to her.]
Have you ever been courted, Lady Edelgard? There would have been less time for such things with a war going on, but you are the sort of person I would think people would wish to be engaged to.
[Her ideas of what makes a person an attractive fiancée are just a mishmash of her limited understanding, but, on top of Leslie’s high regard for Edelgard, she is an emperor with a strong work ethic and good manners, so she fits both the aristocratic more mercenary use of courtship and Leslie’s vague understanding that people who get married form a family.]
[Edelgard freezes up at the question, a little surprised at it. But she doesn't for very long. It's embarrassing to be asked so directly, but she has an answer.]
...Yes, actually. Byleth has made her intentions to court me clear. And I've reciprocated so, I would say that yes, we are courting.
[Leslie is so unaware of the non-friendship parts of Edelgard and Byleth’s relationship that it takes her a moment to process this new information. When she does, though, she looks delighted.]
Oh, how wonderful! After everything both of you have done, it’s wonderful to know that you will get to experience a woman’s greatest happiness when it is all done.
[Some of the toxic messages Leslie got from her upbringing were less obvious to her. At least Edelgard accidentally dodged awkward questions based on Leslie’s other observed case of courting where the man courted the woman by wording it as Byleth courting her. who is the feudal lord and who is the handmaiden]
[It's probably for the best that this comes from Edelgard, and gently. And it pleases her greatly to see Leslie's face light up like that.]
I think that I am quite fortunate, yes. I have a wonderful partner, and I have my dear friend Hubert, and I have the opportunity to get to know a little treasure like you. After everything, it's nice to have some semblance of a normal life.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
unyieldingmarch) wrote2015-09-30 10:14 pm
Before-Everything-Goes-Wrong-In-Dorchacht-th of Septeril
Trawling is not exactly a job for one person, especially one person the size of Leslie. If she were to attempt it on foot, she’d need at least someone to hold the net on the other side of the river. A boat would be more likely as a solo expedition...for someone who knew boats. Leslie hasn’t even been on the love boats from that one festival, so learning two new skill sets at the same time is not likely in the cards.
That’s why tonight, shortly after sundown, she is not out alone, but with Edelgard, thanks to mentioning this problem of needing to find help to fulfill the quest to her housemate a few days prior. Right now, they walk towards where the rented river boat will be waiting for them, weighted net aboard.
She’s wearing a possibly unnecessary yellow rain coat, with a kind of bucket hat that is secured to her head with a strap under the chin. More plausibly necessary will be the huge, stompy rubber boots she’s wearing. They go up over her knees, but she’d had to stuff them with socks to make them not fall off. The bag hanging from her shoulder holds, among other things, some snacks she’d prepared during the day to bring with them if they felt a need for a short break. (Not that Edelgard needs non-bloody food anymore, but she wouldn’t want to leave the emperor out.)
As the river comes into sight, Leslie finally asks:]
Is it...normal to bury courting gifts when you are courting?
[Her tone of voice has clearly pressed x to doubt but is not 100% certain that it couldn’t be something done by people around here. She’s certainly learned some surprising cultural things over her time here.]
no subject
Of course, that doesn't mean that she's not going to be surprised by the inquisitive young lady's queries. She chuckles, shaking her head, a little bewildered by this particular question.]
No, not really. [She runs a hand over the hat, ruffling it a little bit.]
I suppose for a dragon it may be, but I don't think that's normal for most people. I don't know about merrow, though I think this is a bit unusual.
[Press X to doubt for sure.]
no subject
And I don’t think a dragon would put it somewhere it could get lost.
[She looks off in the direction of the river thoughtfully.]
It’s strange. She seemed so upset to have lost the gifts, so I don’t think it was a kind of courting where they’re only doing it on behalf of their families. I would have thought she would put them somewhere safe that she could look at from time to time, instead of storing them like some animals I read about before helping with the field trip to the edge of the Wilde a few months back do with food before winter.
no subject
I don't know. I suppose perhaps it's a Merrow trait? They seem to like to collect shiny things, but get distracted easily with the acquisition of more.
[That's her best guess, anyway.]
...Or she was a flighty person to be courted. That's possible too.
[Edie's not saying she's a gold digger...]
no subject
Do you mean that she might have hidden some of the gifts so the person courting her might forget how much money has already been spent on her and be more generous?
[Leslie frowns. Now that she’s thought of it, she can’t dismiss the possibility.]
I hope it isn’t something like that. That sounds very...um. I don’t want to say mercenary, since I know a very good person who used to be in a mercenary group. [By the more traditional definition of a mercenary rather than the adjective. She pauses speaking for a second as she thinks back to the memory she’d seen from Byleth’s mirror in the dream months ago.] Two people, with General Eisner. What I mean is, it sounds very greedy of the woman who put out this quest.
no subject
[She does mean that, Leslie. And that is very clever, and very cynical of you. Which she supposes she should expect, all things considered, given your upbringing.]
And yes, I think it is possible that she's a very greedy person. However...that works to our advantage, does it not?
[[She turns to grab one of the weighted trawling nets.]
We get to profit off of her misfortune. Perhaps not as much as she did by being courted, but it's honest work.
no subject
She thinks this over as she does her best to help with setting up the netting. It’s something that would have been probably impossible, back when Edelgard first met her, but the last half year has been very good for building up her strength to more standard child levels. (Well, standard if the average is not taken of only when members of the Officers Academy were her age.)
Height remains an issue, though, being even shorter than Edelgard.]
It’s good for us, but I still feel bad for her suitor. Not that it would change even if we weren’t doing this.
no subject
Yes, I suppose I do as well, but I know very little of them other than they were apparently quite wealthy.
[Offering extravagant gifts and the like for just courting? That's quite a bit. She...had mostly gotten tea and teddy bears.]
no subject
Is it only wealthy people who give courting gifts? Or is it just how many there are?
no subject
[Less to give, less to share...you know.
Edelgard waits for Leslie patiently and when it's all moved over, she flings the netting into the water.]
Dear, would you please pull the lever over there? It'll make this more taut.
no subject
[Leslie is quick to scurry to the lever, though she pulls on the lever in a more controlled manner. Not that she’s strong enough even now to likely break anything by yanking the lever down.
At the same time, she continues to absorb this information on how courtship works, and yet another question occurs to her.]
Have you ever been courted, Lady Edelgard? There would have been less time for such things with a war going on, but you are the sort of person I would think people would wish to be engaged to.
[Her ideas of what makes a person an attractive fiancée are just a mishmash of her limited understanding, but, on top of Leslie’s high regard for Edelgard, she is an emperor with a strong work ethic and good manners, so she fits both the aristocratic more mercenary use of courtship and Leslie’s vague understanding that people who get married form a family.]
no subject
[Edelgard freezes up at the question, a little surprised at it. But she doesn't for very long. It's embarrassing to be asked so directly, but she has an answer.]
...Yes, actually. Byleth has made her intentions to court me clear. And I've reciprocated so, I would say that yes, we are courting.
[Or as near enough as to be indistinguishable.]
no subject
Oh, how wonderful! After everything both of you have done, it’s wonderful to know that you will get to experience a woman’s greatest happiness when it is all done.
[Some of the toxic messages Leslie got from her upbringing were less obvious to her. At least Edelgard accidentally dodged awkward questions based on Leslie’s other observed case of courting where the man courted the woman by wording it as Byleth courting her.
who is the feudal lord and who is the handmaiden]no subject
I think that I am quite fortunate, yes. I have a wonderful partner, and I have my dear friend Hubert, and I have the opportunity to get to know a little treasure like you. After everything, it's nice to have some semblance of a normal life.