#deirdre you are so dear to meeeeee

[princessmacedon]

"Happy birthday my dear, sweet Maria!" Deirdre's smile is as bright as the yellow and white daisies she has woven into a flower crown as she places it gently atop her darling friend's head. The flowers suit her beautifully, Deirdre thinks. Sunny and cheerful and bursting with life.

Maria stands with her head tilted forward, obedient and still, as her longtime friend crowns her with a wreath of spring. Or... very nearly still, at least; her fingers wiggle digit-by-digit over her skirt as she waits, from the left to the right and then left again, restless like the upwardly-skewed line of her lips.

"Hee hee... Thank you, Miss Deirdre!" Adventurous fingertips ghost over the daisies with which she has been appointed, and in finding the petals cool and delicate to the touch, Maria retreats in satisfaction. "They're so pretty!" Though she can't see them now that they sit atop her head, she'd seen them just before -- and besides! The crown is a gift from Miss Deirdre, and it makes her feel pretty, so surely it must be true!

"I like them very much!" She smiles, and she turns, and she half-twirls her skirt, and then-- Maria pauses as her uniform slowly flutters back into place, looking up at the woman with hopeful eyes. From when Maria in her childishness had sought to protect her, to the moment in that distant dream when Miss Deirdre sent her away to safety instead... for a passing heartbeat, she stands and remembers all of it, her heart swelling with affection.

"...May I hug you, Miss Deirdre? Please?" Her head tips, a shining grin knocked back into its rightful place. "I have so many things to thank you for!"