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| Details |
| Author: | Disknight |
| Summary: | Rozalin drops by the Aspenwood vineyard to say thanks to Bertrand and Priscilla. She brought some gifts too! |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Rozalin walks down the path leading to the entrance of the Aspenwood vineyard. She’s dressed in some sturdy cotton pants and a thick, orange wool sweater with a gray scarf wrapped around her neck to keep out the cold. She hums a little folk tune while she leads along her old draft horse, Red. The horse itself is wearing a riding saddle despite not having a rider at the moment and saddlebags stuffed with yet unknown contents and a huge sack balanced over its rump.
Eilin the stablehand hurries to meet her, cap and scarf hiding even more of their face than usual. "Hey. I remember you." There's a smirk just barely visible. "And your rider," they add, teasing.
Rozalin waves as they approach, “Nice to see you too.” Rozalin says sarcastically with a wink, playing along, “Just thought I’d stop by to say hi. Is Berdie here? Uh, I mean Bertrand.”
"His horse is here," Eilin says. "So he's probably home, or at least on the grounds. You taking any of that inside?" They nod towards the sack. "We could make Bennett carry it." Bennet Lessly, as Rozalin knows by now, is another of the grooms, a giant of a man with infinite patience.
“Ah, don’t sweat it. It’s not heavy. Just some caramel corn for y’all. You can take this one though.” Rozalin reaches into one of the saddlebags and grunts as she pulls out a big sack of fruits and vegetables. She takes an apple from it and feeds it to Red before handing it off. “Can’t be lettin the horses go without a treat yeah?”
"Oh, thanks." They hoist the sack up with more effort than it took Rozalin. "You want me to get Red settled in too?" Eilin checks. They don't know the planned length of Rozalin's visit.
“Eh, why not. Just don’t go too crazy. I’m not plannin on stayin too long. Already imposed enough as it is.” Rozalin chuckles a little. “Just gotta grab these first.” Rozalin grunts again as she gets on her tippy toes to grab a pair of wrapped packages out of the other saddlebags and take the sack off of Red’s rump. This horse is way too big for her but she swears by him.
Eilin gets into Red's field of view on the same side Rozalin was leading him from, taking the lead from her. "Hey, Red, you remember me, don'cha?"
Red snorts at Eilin giving them a little shower of horse spit. “Hey! Be nice.” Roz gives the beast’s shoulder a scratch, “And this here corn’s for all y’all.” Roz said shouldering the sack, “So make sure Berdie ain’t hog it all to himself ya hear?” Roz ends with a wink.
"Tell Miss Fisher that," Eilin says, chuckling as they lead Red towards the stables.
Rozalin gives them one last wave off and then keeps pressing on until she’s upon the manor itself, looking around for someone to let her in.
Ellia Fisher, the cook, gets the side door for Rozalin. Her apron today reads 'MY KITCHEN, MY RULES.' There's a covered pot on the stove, and the room smells like some sort of soup in progress. "Oh, hello!"
“Hi Miss Fisher. Somethin’s smellin good.” Roz says with a smile. She hefts the sack and the wrapped packages. She looks a little ridiculous being this tiny woman carrying so much stuff.
"It better!" Ellia giggles. "Come in, come in. What've you got there? Need a hand?"
“You can take this off my hands I think.” Roz shrugs off the huge sack of caramel corn, “With the harvest in I thought I’d make a big batch of my caramel corn to give to y’all as a thank you for puttin me up for a while. My special recipe. Got chocolate and chilies in it.” Rozalin breaks into a smirk, “Can I trust ya to make sure everyone gets some?”
Ellia accepts it from her, bringing it over to the counter to set down. "Oh, that's so kind of you! Yes, of course."
“Thanks. Don’t mention it. Y’all were real good to me.” Rozalin smiles. “Say, you know where I can find Bertrand? Got some presents for him and Priscilla. Wanna say a proper thank you to them too.” She asks.
"At this time of day?" Ellia glances at a clock, then nods. "Why don't you have a seat in the parlor and I'll send someone to fetch them for you?"
“Oh, uh. Alright.” Rozalin gets a little bit of a guilty look feeling like she’s dropped in at a bad time but makes her way to the parlor to have a seat. She sets the presents down next to her and grabs one of her breasts when she thinks no one is looking, “Shit, why’re these things so sore lately?”
It's a bit of a wait. Within five minutes, a maid - a quiet, shy woman whose name Rozalin never got while she was staying here - wheels over a cart with some basic refreshments: water, tea, a little plate of cheese and crackers. "Lord Bertrand said he and his wife would be down in about ten minutes," the maid mumbles. She looks younger than Rozalin, with long, straight black hair that falls over one of her eyes, and she doesn't make eye contact. "Can I get you anything else while you wait?"
“Oh naw I should be ok. Thank you though.” Rozalin smiles and waves her off. Before she can leave she pipes up again though, “Oh hey, I made some caramel corn for everyone. It’s in the kitchen now. You should ask Miss Fisher for some before it’s all gone, kay?”
The young woman gives her a small, shy smile. "Thank you," she says very softly, and leaves the room.
Rozalin smiles after her and rubs her chest a bit more making a strained expression, “Damn it, I’ve been late plenty of times before but this is ridiculous…”
It is a little less than ten minutes, as predicted, when Priscilla's voice sing-songs, "Hellooo!" from down the hall. She appears in the doorway a few moments later with her hair down and her cheeks flushed. "Rozalin!"
There are footsteps in the hall behind her. Birdie is on his way.
Rozalin gets up from her seat and waves excitedly, “Priscilla! Nice to see ya!”
Priscilla waves back. "I was wondering if you'd stop by! I have some sketches," and here she looks at her empty hands like they aren't supposed to be empty. "Birdie!"
Bertrand appears in the doorway with one of Priscilla's purses dangling from his arm. His hair is up in a messy man-bun rather than the ponytail, and he is wearing a Winter Veil sweater with a pattern reminiscent of a pine forest in winter. "You have so many sketchbooks," he says. "It might be in here? Or I can run back upstairs if you tell me which one I'm looking for. Hey, Rozalin! Sorry for the wait."
“Hey, no worries.” Rozalin chuckles a little, “I did kinda stop by outta the blue. I hope you’re doin ok.”
Bertrand hands off his wife's purse to his wife and pours himself a glass of water from the tray. "I'm doing great."
"Absolutely!" Priscilla beams. She sits down on a loveseat and rummages furiously through her purse, pulling out two different sketchbooks. "Which one did I…" Oh, no. She doesn't even know which sketchbook has the art relevant to Rozalin. She begins to flip through them - this could take her a minute.
Bertrand asks, "How about you?" and drinks a good amount of water.
“I been ok. Done harvestin the corn now. I took some of it to make for a snack for everyone so make sure you stop by the kitchen later. And that’s most of the crops on the farm so the worst is past us for now, then I just gotta get ready for winter.” Rozalin gets a little wistful smile and seems to drift off a touch thinking about something else, “Made sure to have a little fun before gettin straight back to work though.”
"Oooh, I get to try your cooking!" Priscilla seems excited about this.
Birdie leans against the arm of the loveseat next to his wife, waiting for Rozalin to sit again before he does. "That sounds great. It's getting colder out by the day."
“Yeah…” Rozalin sits back down and puts a hand on one of the packages, “Bit of a late start this year but it’s all under control now.” She turns to Priscilla, “It’s my special recipe. It’s really good! Got some chocolate for it and plenty of spices too.”
Priscilla is rapidly flipping through her sketchbooks. "That sounds tasty. Thank you!"
"She loves chocolate," Birdie confirms.
Rozalin smirks, “I’ll have to keep that in mind. Gonna have to make you some real food sometime when I got a bit more coin to throw around.” She grabs the packages and sets them in her lap, “For now though I made you somethin else.”
"Well, now I'm really curious," Birdie says. "Those're for us?" He sits down next to Priscilla, setting his water glass on a side table.
“Yup! Why dontcha go ahead and open em up.” Rozalin grins and gets up to hand them each a package.
Birdie sets his on his lap and takes Priscilla's for her, putting it down in between the two of them. "Scilla, whatever you drew for Rozalin isn't going to go anywhere, why don't you open your present and you can find it after?"
Priscilla closes the sketchbook and reaches for her present. "Well, if you insist," she says, laughing, and unwraps her package.
Inside of the package is revealed to be a blue and green plaid dress. It feels very sturdy and has plenty of pockets all over it. With it too is a cream colored sweater and bloomers, presumably for wearing underneath the dress. All in all it’s a cute but functional cottagecore outfit.
Rozalin watches with wide eyes to see Priscilla’s reaction.
Priscilla goes, "Oh, did you make this too?" with delight. She holds up the dress and seems surprised to find out that there's more still in her lap. "And a sweater! Oh, Birdie, look, it has pockets!"
Birdie has made no move to open his own package yet. Not while his wife is being cute.
“Sure did!” Rozalin says proudly, “Told ya I’d make ya somethin when I got the chance.”
Priscilla stands up to hold the dress up against her body to measure it. "Thank you, this is absolutely darling." She lays the dress over the back of the loveseat and strokes the fabric of the sweater with one hand, then settles back down. "I will wear it," she promises, and she sounds like she means it. "Birdie, yours too!"
Bertrand clears his throat, the faintest trace of a blush coming to his cheekbones. "Yes, of course." He opens his own package.
“Hey don’t mention it. I owe ya one for lendin me those clothes. Took the liberty of takin the measurements while I was at it so it should fit like a glove.” Rozalin beams and now watches Bertrand.
Inside of his package is a thick dark blue greatcoat. It has lots of pockets inside and out for holding various things and lots of buttons holding down a large collar, various flaps, and other features allowing it to be modified to adapt to changes in weather. As one last detail, however, it has the white wings of Cobalt Company embroidered on the upper arm of one sleeve and the gold lion head of the Alliance on the other.
Rozalin scratches her neck and looks a bit embarrassed while Berdie takes it out.
"Oh, this looks sturdy as anything," Bertrand says, grinning, and immediately stands up to try it on.
Priscilla goes, "Pockets!" Every girl loves pockets.
“Y-yeah. Figure you’ll want somethin nice for goin around adventurin or if you gotta go military again.” Roz clears her throat and rubs her legs together nervously, “Should keep you plenty warm and dry. Got some special oil to waterproof the fabric.”
"That's real thoughtful of you," Birdie says. He adjusts the collar and walks around a bit, sticking his hands in the pockets. "Yeah. I like it. Thanks, Rozalin."
Rozalin slowly slips into a smile, “No problem. I’m glad you like it.” She says with an uncharacteristic bashfulness.
Bertrand crosses to the glass wall that leads out into the greenhouse to look at his reflection in the coat. "I do," he says, grinning. He shrugs out of it, making sure the sleeves are neat as he folds it over one arm. "Scilla, want me to hang things up and bring you some more of your sketchbooks?"
This is exactly the sort of task that a servant could handle, but Priscilla nods. "Could you check my desk for the green one, please? And here, take this up for me." She passes him the clothes that Rozalin has given her - except for the sweater, which she promptly puts on.
"I'll be right back," Birdie promises Rozalin, and ducks out.
Rozalin pauses for a second not quite sure what to say next, "Glad to see you two are still gettin along nicely." She offers.
"Of course we are," Scilla says, giggling. "I've got some sketches of you somewhere, and also one of your dear Red that I wanted to give you, but it's a nightmare finding anything specific that I've done." She opens a sketchbook and shows Rozalin a sample spread of two pages at random. "See?"
There is very, very little blank space on either page. One of them is taken up predominantly by a drawing of little Arnold Aspenwood balancing on one leg, playing hopscotch, but along the sides are sketches of some plants, a clock, a jellyfish, and a set of hand studies. The opposite page is several different birds, a couple of butterflies, a turtle shell, and a hand holding a fork.
“Oh damn that’s really good.” Rozalin’s eyes go wide, “Afraid I never got much past drawing silly little castles and magic forests and pirate ships and goofy animals and stuff from when I was little.” She snickers “Guess I picked up other hobbies instead.”
Priscilla chuckles. "I picked up a few hobbies over the years, but art is the one I made a career out of. It'd be nice to have more time to do everything, wouldn't it?"
“Y-yeah, I guess so huh.” Rozalin scratches her head like she hasn’t really considered that very much before, “Get so caught up with things sometimes you don’t even notice how much you’re workin right?”
"I used to forget meals when I was living by myself," Priscilla says, smiling. "I'd just start doodling in the early afternoon and suddenly it would be time to cook dinner and I'd forgotten lunch."
Rozalin laughs, “I’d have had fifty guys tryna break down the kitchen door if I forgot to make dinner.”
"Fifty?" Priscilla laughs merrily.
“O-oh I, uh, used to work in a kitchen when I was younger.” She says in a higher tone than normal. She clears her throat to calm herself, “Guys get real rowdy when they’re hungry ya know.”
"Oh, I see." Priscilla giggles. "I bet!" She just accepts this at face value.
Birdie returns around then with two different sketchbooks in different shades of green. "You have so many of these," he says, dropping them off in Priscilla's lap as he slides back into his spot.
Rozalin snickers seeing all the sketchbooks, “I mean it’s gotta be somewhere right?”
"This one, I think," Priscilla says optimistically, and picks up one of them. It actually doesn't take her too long to go, "Here!" and rip a page out neatly along the perforations. She holds it out to Rozalin.
It is double-sided. The side Priscilla presents is actually just a single thing - a pencil sketch, fully shaded, of Red the draft horse, looking somewhat smug.
On the other side are much less finished sketches of Rozalin herself. Most of them are of her face exclusively but there is one of her from the waist-up pointing at someone, clearly mid-conversation.
Rozalin’s eyes light up when she sees it, “Hey! That’s just the stupid face he always makes when he’s feelin extra stubborn.” She laughs a little, “Wow thank you. This is great.”
"You're welcome!" Priscilla smiles. "Oh, I should give you a folder to take it home in so it won't get all bent."
Bertrand looks at her and starts to rise from his seat, but Priscilla holds a hand out to stop him. "Stop showing off how fit you are and drink some more water," Priscilla scolds. "I'll get this one."
Rozalin smiles at both of them, “I really appreciate it. I mean it.” A beat, “So… anything crazy goin on out here since I been gone? Been peaceful I hope.”
"Nothing crazy," Bertrand says as Priscilla leaves the room to fetch a folder. "It's quiet out here. The cottage is still being built - I forget if I ever mentioned, but Scilla and I are getting a smaller place of our own."
"Oh hey, wouldja look at that! Bet it'll be nice havin a little space all to yourselves, huh?" Rozalin shoots him a wink.
Bertrand grins. "I sure hope so."
Priscilla returns to the room with a rather sturdy-looking but plain folder, which she passes over to Roz.
"Thanks." Rozalin smiles at Priscilla, "Hear you two are gettin a place of your own now. One a bit more reasonably sized." She winks again.
Priscilla giggles. "We are!" She snags a piece of cheese off the refreshments tray and eats it as she sits back down.
Rozalin chuckles, "Sounds excitin. It's good havin some space to yourself. I got real tired of city livin now that I been back in Westfall. Too cramped up in Stormwind."
"I like being closer to nature," Bertrand says.
"I understand that." Rozalin nods along and smiles, "Damn, it's just nice to see y'all. Been a little lonely out on the farm lately." She puts on a brave face but her eyes betray her sadness.
"Aw, I get it," Priscilla says, nodding. "It's awfully lonely living by yourself."
"Yeah…" Rozalin purses her lips and seems to get a little lost in thought for a bit, but she finally manages a small smile, "I think I'll find a way to manage though. And besides, I got you two and a bunch of others I know I can call on if I need some company, right?"
"Yeah, of course," Birdie says.
Priscilla smiles warmly at her. "Mmhm!"
Rozalin's expression brightens up, "Thanks. That means a lot to me." She picks up a little piece of cheese from the tray and fiddles with it, "Where's your new place gonna be at?"
And they continued to chat the day away…