öpën pöst.

[proofread]

Comments

[adumbrated]

how is it spring already? did you already celebrate its coming lol?

[proofread]

oh naturally! we had a grand time.
did you celebrate?

[adumbrated]

what did you guys end up doing?

and sadly not yet! i've been buried with work but i am open to any suggestions on what i should do now that i have some free time.

[proofread]

a run in the woods, a small party with family and friends. the lightning bugs were gracious enough to provide evening mood lighting.
how would you like to celebrate spring?

[proofread]

[ x. ]

oh gosh! what an honor! but no, i'm just me! a simple phil who hangs out in the trees with her family.

[hexcoustic]

But being able to communicate with animals is a definite Disney Princess quality!

[proofread]

does this mean i need my own "i want" song?? 😏🎵

[hexcoustic]

Absolutely!!! What would you sing about?

[proofread]

[ x ]

don't you see magic everywhere? hear music in the breeze? i find this kind of fun in nature.

[demimondaines]

the most i know of nature is the seine through paris. flower beds in jardin du luxembourg.
too bad flowers wilt so quickly.

[proofread]

what a shame for such beautiful places! does it truly rain as often as they say?

[demimondaines]

we aren't london, but we get our fair share.
can't blame paris for a rainy day, though. it's homely. allows for hot chocolates and irish coffees.

[demimondaines]

[ attached: image862 ]

what do you see?

[proofread]

oh it's almost ghostly! seeing a ghost at an old train station perhaps.

[demimondaines]

no ghosts except my own. only dusk and rain.
and iron gates in inner paris on my way home, all locked.

[proofread]

it looks very romantic. i know everyone says that all the time but it's true!
are you almost home?

pick and choose.

[demimondaines]

( one ) ( two ) ( three )

[proofread]

[ mornings in the late spring are dewy, fresh. the weather up north is preferable to the marshlands of the south, where she and her brother once lived. philippa, who approaches anything with the usual levels of confidence and flair, had been uncharacteristically nervous for madeleine's arrival. her exquisite text-friend who spends her days passing by wrought iron gates in paris and walking by manicured parks, is here in the flesh.

she just wants these weeks together to be beautiful.

there are small cabins in arcadia, one of which she has taken care to decorate and make comfortable for them both as they spend some time a way's away from civilization. she's hung glass mobiles from the trees that tinkle in the breeze and sprinkle rainbows across the porch. there are even rose petals in the outdoor tub this morning, as promised.

entirely in her element, her heart feels light and she walks on air in those first few days. she gently takes madeleine's hand across the small breakfast table. ]

I did promise you a bubble bath.

[demimondaines]

[ Maine is a short flight from Montreal and she had taken a couple of weeks out of her calendar for the specific purpose of visiting Philippa, a break that proved much needed. Mr. Tremblay had made her work hard for her money. Really, it had been a rough weekend. Coming to the woods with the other girl has been a soothing step back into the kind of wilderness she has never experienced before, even Chartres was mostly fields and stone. The trees here are so tall. The cabin so cosy, a luxury, surely, that she will rarely be offered in any other contexts.

Thus, as Philippa takes her hand over breakfast, referring to the tub that she's decked in rose petals and an outdoor view, she smiles and inclines her head slightly to one side in amusement. You did, she murmurs, gently, stroking the girl's fingers softly before releasing her, returning to her bread with butter and other luxuries they've picked up at the harbour town nearby. She likes how at home Philippa seems in this environment, it makes it a bit less disturbing how she's a complete stranger to it herself.

A bit safer.

She glances out at the tub through the window, the petals still littering the water remnants at the bottom of it, the way she left it this morning. She felt like a goddess, doing that soak. As if nature itself was answering to her. Philippa's very own brand of magic, she thinks. That unyielding optimism. ]

Will you find me more rose petals when these go bad?

[proofread]

[ it's the opposite of a gilded cage, what philippa offers her. it's meant to be a longer taste of that kind of life, quaint and vibrant, an escape from the world madeline knows. it's an offer that only someone like phil can make, not any sort of temptation, just another act of kindness to someone she has come to care about.

the touching, she likes, keeping it tender and benign, and she already misses her hand when they return to their breakfast. she pulls the kettle over and replenishes her own floral cup with her personal blend of white tea and blueberries. her long legs are pulled onto the adirondack chair, folded into a pretzel, her hair braided away from her face with ribbons woven through her black strands. she seems to glow with happiness today, though that might just be because madeleine seems to be happy. at peace. ]

I can certainly conjure that up, [ she replies after a sip of her drink, deciding she needs a spot of sugar. as if the jam she had brought wasn't enough for her sweettooth. ]

What would you like to do today?

[proofread]

[ the beach isn't her normal haunt. philippa has always been someone who stayed amongst the trees, either in her family's cottage or running through the forest with all her friends. but there was something about today that has her biking out to the coast and staring out to the horizon.

she hadn't brought a suit – not that swimming in the nude was ever off-limits but in her time on this earth, she's found humans are very particular about where and when they are stripped down to her skin. no one is around, anyway, but most people are on their lunch breaks at this hour.

her gloves go into the pockets of her knee-length green sundress and she at least takes her sandals off, sticking them in the basket of her bike. with the bike locked safely on the dock, she sprints straight towards the water, laughing as she kicks the water up. the sun is high in the sky and she doesn't think she could be any happier. maybe she can bring a shell and some sea glass back home to make a pretty necklace for her niece.

work has been overwhelming. there isn't anything fresh air can't fix, though. ]

[proofread]

[ the house is a disaster.

that is nothing new, not with phil's overactive imagination and a little girl to dote on. their little house is now a castle and they have decorated it as such with scarves in place of tapestries. lily is the princess dressed in an old hanbok of auntie's who is able to rule their woodland kingdom for the day.

after pushing the living room furniture against the walls, the braids auntie has twisted in elaborate designs have quickly become undone after a dozen on the open rug. the house is a disaster but it's full of endless giggles and smells like snickerdoodles. all of this results in a tuckered out little girl who has suddenly fallen asleep in philippa's arms on discarded couch cushions after tea time. ]

Dear old dad, [ she whispers, slowly ( struggling and ) getting to her feet with lily in tow. ] Would you do the honors of putting Her Highness to bed?

[ecotones]

[ By and large there isn't much that Lily wants for. Her father isn't the wealthiest man in the world, but he brings in enough income to support his daughter and more than cover his share of the joint expenses he shares with his sister. He's an almost obnoxious doting father, and lavishes attention on her whenever Lily seems to want it.

But he's still her just her dad, and sometimes it seems like she wants some time with another girl.

Jason is eternally grateful to his younger sister for stepping in to fill the role in Lily's life that her own mother vehemently refused after finding out the true nature of Lily's dad. Sometimes it weighs heavy on his heart that a child as incredible as Lily (unbiased, objective fact) would have even one person in this world who would reject her, but with an aunt like Philippa he also has all the hope that Lily doesn't even recognize the loss.

It's enough for him that he won't even sigh dramatically over the fact that he's bound to be roped into the cleanup for a party he didn't even participate in.

Instead he laughs a little (quietly) at Phil still insisting on remaining in-character despite the fact that her playmate has knocked out for the night. Tuckered out or not, Jason is still just as slow and careful with his own movements as he reaches out to gently scoop his sleeping daughter out of her aunt's arms. ]

Ahhh... so it's true that the weight of the crown is heavy. Look how tired it's made her.

[proofread]

Indeed.

[ they'll always have each other one way or the other, through the rocky years of separation up until the arrival of this precious little girl. there was no question in her mind whether she would drop everything to be able to help him out when it came to raising his child. despite their shared years of experience, child-rearing had not been a major factor in any of it, but she thinks they have done a pretty decent job so far.

family units come in all shapes and sizes these days. well, they always have been varied and interesting in their own ways but it has become more acceptable in certain countries to go against the grain. at least here, no one would ever bat an eye at a pair of siblings coming together to raise a little girl.

she clasps her hands under her chin as she watches big bro scoop the kid up into his arms. ] She looks so small when you hold her, [ phil chuckles, shaking her head as she gently removes the crown lest it gets crushed when they finally put her to bed. ]

I told her we'd have tea and sandwiches when she wakes up.

[proofread]

1. I don’t know how to sext. What do you say? What do you don’t say?
2. I should know better than to open your texts at the grocery store
3. [ text her! ]