Eleventh Cream Cake: [Action]

[vor]

[Very early in the morning, Gregor can be found in the back yard of house 60, carefully snipping a bit of black hair and setting it into a brazier he found for specifically this purpose. He adds a carefully constructed hatchwork of rosewood dowels. Two sprays of a perfume he found that smells a little like he remembers her wearing. Lastly, a white winter flower, waxy and perfect and elegant.

Twenty-one years ago on this day, Princess Kareen Vorbarra was killed.

The offering in the brazier burns quickly, thanks to the perfume, and with little smoke until the delicate white flower atop the pile withers and blackens.]

Comments

[complicatedliar]

[Loki doesn't intrude on Gregor while he does this. He can sense ceremony easily enough, and while he's curious he knows better than to interrupt. He simply stands back, leaning on the wall of the house, and observes.]

[vor]

[After a few minutes, Gregor speaks very quietly, unaware of Loki's presence.]

I'm making some progress.

[He stops for about thirty seconds, then sighs. The flame has begun to flicker, flashing bright and dark as it spends the last of its fuel. Like the flame, he feels like he has already run out of things to say out loud. Everything else may as well be said in his heart. She's just as likely to hear it.]

[complicatedliar]

[Well, if he'd been silent before, he's going to be even more quiet now that it's become this personal.

After a moment of consideration, he simply makes himself invisible. He'll pretend to walk out of the house when Gregor's about done.]

[vor]

[When the offering finally burns out, Gregor empties the brazier and picks it up, turning to go back into the house and have some breakfast.]

[complicatedliar]

[Loki is inside when Gregor comes in, cup of tea in one hand, book in the other. He glances up at his housemate.]

[vor]

[A flash of a smile.] Hi. [Headed into the kitchen. Instant oatmeal ftw.]

[complicatedliar]

Good morning. [Loki sips his tea.] Out a bit early?

[vor]

Barrayaran tradition. [Heating up water and talking from the kitchen.]

[the_other_leblanc]

[She hadn't slept yet- everything of the past few days weighed heavily on her mind. She hasn't managed more than a snatch of it here or there during the experiment. On the one hand it's left her tense and anxious enough to wander in the predawn today- on the other it's quite likely put off the usual shift up. Maybe it is deliberate. After everything else she's had to live through- for a second time apparently, she's not exactly eager to see the rest.

Adele's about to turn back for the long hike home when she comes across someone familiar. Greg? A friend. Whatever it was he's doing it seemed quite personal and horribly private. She makes an attempt to walk back the way she'd come without causing noise as to alert him.]

[vor]

[Which would be the right thing to do, but it's around that time that he tips the brazier over and dumps out the ashes with a sigh. As he turns, he catches her out of the corner of his eye and glances in her direction.]

Hey.

[the_other_leblanc]

Greg.

[She dips her head in greeting, hesitates a moment before stepping forward but does so in a timely if timid fashion.]

Would...it be prying to ask what it was you were burning?

[vor]

Death offering. It's a tradition on Barrayar. My planet.

[the_other_leblanc]

...An offering to appease the dead, or an offering to respect and remember the dead?

[vor]

A little of both.

[the_other_leblanc]

What does one usually burn, to respect the dead? I never... [She shakes her head, putting that thought aside. She, herself, does not know Greg quite well enough to say just now.]

[thedicearecast]

[Amelia is up early that day, trying to work off her anxiousness about what she would be doing that night.  She opts for a simple walk, since most of what she’d do in the Battle Dome she’s either had her fill of lately, or would need a partner for—the very partner that’s on her mind in the first place.
 
She’s not paying attention to where she’s going outside of making sure she doesn’t bump into anyone or anything.  So Amelia’s not aware of just how close she wanders to House 60 until she’s in the backyard, and sees Gregor making his offering.  She recognizes the ceremony as the one he taught her, to offer some relief when Vash had died.  Knowing that, Amelia doesn’t immediately speak up, but she doesn’t leave either.  Gregor can tell her one way or another, but staying still means she won’t disturb him any more than she already has.]

[vor]

[It takes him a while to realize she's there. When he does, he glances at her, faintly irritated but not showing it. Do people have to hover? He misses having Armsmen who can shoo people away.]

Can I help you?

[thedicearecast]

No. Just didn't want to startle you.

[She nods her head toward the offering.] You want to talk about it?

[vor]

[He has to remember she's new to this. She's a "full disclosure" sort of person. And, truth to tell, it might do Gregor some good to be a little less "no disclosure whatever." He sighs.]

My mother.

[thedicearecast]

[New to his ways, sure. But in Amelia's mind, it's just right to offer, especially after he helped her. Ironically enough, it would've been one of the few times she was willing to walk away if he had said no.

But he doesn't. Instead he speaks two words that hit Amelia so hard, she has to fight to get out a reply.]

I'm sorry.

[vor]

[He watches the subtleties of her reaction, then glances back toward the brazier.] It was a long time ago.

[thedicearecast]

That doesn't matter. [A lesson Amelia's had the opportunity to learn ten times over. Not even ending things with Gasback made the pain lessen the last time.]

[Action]

[uccellodifuoco]

[It's not often that one gets to see someone making an offering, a small ritual in memory of someone they lost. Or maybe it's just that most people, like Ikki himself, do those things in secluded places as far away from privy eyes as it's possible. Normally a backyard would fit as a place for those things, but when the backyard points to the forest... It's not as private as it could be.

Ikki was returning from a morning walk with his young wolf when he spots Gregor. He doesn't interrupt, but he makes no move or attempt to leave the scene either, instead choosing to lean against a tree and wait until the other is done, eyes closed as he patiently waits. Close enough to be noticed if someone looks to the forest, far enough to not "intrude" with just his presence, at least until it's noticed.]

[Action]

[vor]

[Gregor does glance up occasionally at Ikki, but relaxes when he sees there is no intention to intrude. When he finishes, dumping the brazier and picking it up, he gives Ikki a little wave.]

[Action]

[uccellodifuoco]

[He hopes that wave means that he's done, if not... Too bad. He tried to not intrude and bother more than he had already done accidentally. As Ikki pulls himself away from the tree, his pet is ahead of him, having taken the wave as a hint as well, or rather, as an invitation judging by the way the animal makes a beeline towards Gregor.

On his part, Ikki chooses to just stand at the edge of the back yard.]

Are you always an early bird?

[Or is it because it was a special occasion? He doesn't particularly ask about the occasion, though, that's Gregor's business.]