rootsandflcwers

[rootsandflcwers]

//Moved to @withinkandquill.

[rootsandflcwers]

Roxane breathes a near-silent sigh of relief, some of her nervousness fading. She never really dated, her husband sort of happened upon her very early on in their lives, but she knew there were supposedly rules. Rules like be on time. Rules like don’t talk about your kids constantly. Rules like keep the conversation positive and upbeat.

She’d had to break all of them within the first few minutes, but at least he understood. Not just empathized with the plight of a single mother raising their small children through grief and behavioral problems, but understood all the little things that come with parenting too.

“Brianna is seven,” she says, her voice coming more confidently now, “and Rosanna is two. Yours?”

Roxane couldn’t help but smile at the repeated introduction, a breathy chuckle the best she could at stifling her own nervous laughter.

“I do,” she says, though she doesn’t need to, as she puts the car in drive and pulls out back onto the road. “And no, not traffic,” she adds. It was surprisingly light today, actually, as their short drive was already beginning to show. “Kids, actually.”

Roxane had been nervous about dating again, about how the girls would handle it. Their father had only disappeared a little over a year ago and little Brianna was stills rather averse to any attempt by anyone to win her well-guarded affection. She had even pushed Roxane away. This would be her first time being left alone.

At first she thought she was going to have to get a babysitter, which wasn’t really going to be an option. Luckily, their father’s brother had volunteered to stay with them, and she had hoped it would make the difference. It didn’t. Not really.

“My oldest has a hard time adjusting to change and I haven’t left them with anyone else since she was small. Even then, it was sparingly. She wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of me going out tonight. I hope you don’t mind. I really did try to be on time. I’m not usually a fifteen-minutes-late kind of woman.”

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Roxane smiles, relief in the sudden slope of her shoulders. She hadn’t been worried that Brianna would do well - she had always had Roxane’s talent for music and dance - but she had worried about the girl’s ability to fit in and to enjoy it. Everything had been so hard on her since the loss of her father. It would be good to get her back out into the world, laughing and playing with other kids her own age.

“Oh, no. If there’s more, she can stay. I don’t mind. In fact, it would be alright if I ran a quick errand while she’s watching the movie, right?”

@bloodyxballet

Dylan looks over at the children getting ready for their class and notices that there is a new student then he sees you, the only new parent in the room so he walks over and sticks out his hand “I’m Dylan Mercer, your child’s new ballet teacher and don’t worry to much and I won’t break them to bad.” He laughs brightly while looking at you “I am just kidding you know that right?”

[rootsandflcwers]

Paul Bettany as Dustfinger in Inkheart

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Paul Bettany as Dustfinger in Inkheart

Fear

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All confusion was quick to fade from Rosanna’s expression the moment Hel seemed to understand and it was just as quick to be replaced by an eager smile. After all, what could be better than a game with a brand new friend? It was enough to even take the worst of her anxiety and thrust it from the forefront of her mind.

“Everyone knows these games,” she comments, before pausing to ponder the most appealing choice. It wasn’t just about what she wanted either, but about predicting what Hel wanted to play. Luckily, she had lots and lots of practice appealing to her older sister.

“How about…hide-and-seek?” It seemed like the best choice, one that skewed in Hel’s favor. She probably knew all the best hiding places while everything here was a complete mystery to Rosanna. The challenge might make it more fun for her too, though, so long as she didn’t lose every time.

“You don’t know any games?”

Confusion reigns as Rosanna’s gaze travels up and down the woman again. She looks like a grown-up, which means she must know a lot of stuff. Could it be possible that some grown-ups didn’t know about games? The question is quickly brushed off, though, in favor of suggestions. She was far more eager to help than she was to understand.

“It’s okay. I can teach you. We can play hide and seek, or tag, or hopscotch.”

[rootsandflcwers]

inkheart » playlist (instrumental)

"Perhaps there's another, much larger story behind the printed one, a story that changes just as our own world does.

— Cornelia Funke

[rootsandflcwers]

Raised voices make Rosanna flinch, but otherwise she stands stone still in the corner of Mo’s workroom, dark eyes moving from one person to the other in an attempt to follow the frantic pace of the conversation. But each new detail seems to set her mind spinning all over again, confusion reigning even as the words themselves begin weaving into something she could understand though she still could not comprehend the implications.

Her heart beats uncomfortably fast in her chest. Her breaths come a little quicker, tinged with the high notes of the shrill cry threatening to escape her if she cannot escape this. Rosanna closes her eyes tight against the rising feelings of panic and overwhelm that she can’t even name, scrunching up her whole face in the effort. A few frightened tears make their own escape down her still-round cheeks as her hands rise to cover her ears, a feeble attempt to black out anymore confusing details before they come.

“Stop it,” she cries among the cacophony. “Stop. I don’t like it.”

Continued from x; @firejugglinghobo

[rootsandflcwers]

@firejugglinghobo sent: “Where she stops...” for a starter based off the whump wheel (secrets revealed)!

————

Dark eyes fix on Dustfinger from across the room - intense in their scrutiny and made ever more so by the hard set of her jaw and the press of her lips against one another - and in this moment of heavy silence, Roxane imagines all the secrets he may keep. It would be all too easy, and while she likes to believe she knows her husband better than most, she cannot help but doubt. Perhaps it is even because she knows her husband that she cannot help but have her doubts.

But his face remains as curiously unreadable as ever, a fact that she actually finds some comfort in. Even after all this time, he seems largely unchanged. How unfortunate that she feels so fully changed herself that it is almost hard to connect the woman she was now to the girl she had been then.

“And…that’s all?” Roxane asks, tentatively. There’s a part of her that isn’t even sure if she wants to know, a part of her that knows no matter how he answers, she will make the choice to believe him. “Nothing else?”

[rootsandflcwers]

[rootsandflcwers]

//since i was here last i posted an inkheart fic among others. take a look at ablaze if you're interested. :)

[rootsandflcwers]

A Mother from Alvito, August Riedel, 1848

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a commission for @kennabeth 💫

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Hulk (2003)

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Isolda Dychauk as Lucrezia Borgia in Borgia | requested by @lvsfgrss

[rootsandflcwers]

[rootsandflcwers]

For Brianna:

What is her favorite pastime? How does she spend free time most often?

Answer posted here. :)