[open -- nest]

[new_inglewoodblues]

The nest Ragnelle has been building in the woods needed a few more blankets now that the temperature has dropped a few more degrees, so this morning she was in the mansion raiding cupboards. Now she's outside in the lee of Nightingale's summer house with a basket of comforters, cutting them into pieces with a little knife so they'll be easier to incorporate, like leaves in a squirrels' nest. The time indoors has warmed her up, and her hands move quickly with the knife.

Comments

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet laughs again, surprised and a little delighted by the way Ragnelle chooses to phrase that. "You were won? What, were you a carnival prize? You don't seem like the kind of woman who gets handed out to a man just because he did something mildly impressive."

[new_inglewoodblues]

"I chose him to win me," Ragnelle agrees, pleased. "But the winning must be done, or else Men think thee no great prize."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Oh, sure, you have to play the game." Janet rolls her eyes. "You must have liked him if you picked him out just to win you, though."

[new_inglewoodblues]

"Comely and a Man of great honor, who wed me to save his uncle's life, though I were passing foul, and when he knew me fair, quick to give me all I would.¹"

¹If she were Claudius, she might call Gawain a sweet, submissive boy.

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Good catch, then," Janet says a little dryly. "Passing foul?" This she asks with another spike of interest. More than anyone else here, Ragnelle reminds her of someone she might have met in Fillory.

[new_inglewoodblues]

She laughs. "Wouldst thou have the whole tale entire?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"If you want to tell it. And if you're not too busy with arts and crafts."

[new_inglewoodblues]

"Mary, I can do my work and tell tales. 'Tis not a long one." Unlike with Claudius, when she teased the story out to see what he would do, she's mostly direct with Janet. "My stepdam laid a curse on me that made me like unto a monster, full terrible to look on, and, worse, halting and sore. She tied a riddle to the curse."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Your stepdam! Shit. Rude of her." This is right out of a fairy tale. It seems like at least half the people here are maybe from books or plays or legends, but Ragnelle has this whole extra quality to her, an additional layer of fantasy. It makes Janet homesick, but she likes it. "Did she do this for any reason, or was she just feeling really evil that day?"

[new_inglewoodblues]

"In aid of her son, my brother, that he might reclaim his lands. And," she allows, "I was mightily a thorn to her."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Mightily a thorn is such a great turn of phrase it makes Janet smile. "Good for you," she says. "So, this guy solved the riddle?"

[new_inglewoodblues]

"Ay, he did, and gave me dominion of all of him, his lands and goods and his sweet self."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"I love it when someone gives me dominion over lands, goods, and their sweet self," Janet says brightly. "I might even be tame for a little while for that, too."

[new_inglewoodblues]

"Thou hast the right of it! It pleased me well indeed." She grins at Janet. "Thou lookst well-made to be wild."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"I didn't think I was until we went to Fillory. I mean -- I'm not, completely. I like having a bed and food that someone else cooked and access to good wine and strong cocktails. But..." There's a little gleam in her eye when she returns Ragnelle's smile. "Yeah, I did find something wild in me there, too."

[new_inglewoodblues]

"Good. It likes thee well."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet almost gets the feeling she used to get at Brakebills when she raised her hand in class and the professor said Oh, yes, good contribution, Ms. Pluchinsky. Except better, because Ragnelle is way more fun than any of them, as much as Janet hungered silently for their approval. "I'm going to take that as a huge compliment."

[new_inglewoodblues]

"I say only what I mean, and that often. Thou art sharp. I like to see a sharp thing prick them that touch foolishly."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"I am sharp, yes," Janet says with another little grin. "I've always been pretty prickly, but I think Fillory turned it into real sharpness. Thank fuck."

[new_inglewoodblues]

"Rude and fearsome. 'Tis well."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet practically preens at that. "You're not so bad yourself."

[new_inglewoodblues]

She laughs. She's done destroying the blankets, and she gathers all the pieces into the basket and gets to her feet, resting it on her hip. "Mary, I should have come here before Camelot, I would have got me a marriage sooner."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"I don't really do marriage," Janet's starting to say, and then she actually hears everything Ragnelle said, and lifts her eyebrows. "Camelot?"

[new_inglewoodblues]

"Ay, ay, that is where my lord liveth."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Jesus," Janet says with a slightly resigned laugh. "There's a lot of Camelot going around here. At least you're not another fucking knight."