Log: Traditions

[x-siryn.livejournal.com]

Terry and Bobby celebrate her 19th birthday. She gets presents. Backdated like crazy



Terry skipped up the walk, her hand laced with Bobby's, head swimming from song and cider (just a wee bit, because she'd been bought a drink and it would have been rude not to take it) and happiness at how the day had turned out. They'd given the contractors the day off and so construction had ceased, giving her back her blessed silence if only for a few hours. She was beginning to think that it would never truly end and she'd have to endure the pounding, scraping, banging and swearing for the rest of her life, destined to continue even in her dreams. It had been pointed out that she was being somewhat melodramatic about that but no one was surprised. When they stepped inside--the door was rarely shut and never locked, open for friends and neighbours at all hours--she paused and just took in the quiet, expression peaceful. Then she rose up on her toes and tugged her husband down for a kiss, "Thank you, a grhá." She pulled back and her eyes sparkled, "Presents?"

"...Oh man. I knew I was forgetting something!" Bobby teased, grinning and giving a lock of her hair a tug. "I'll go get it, greedy girl." Wrapping a harp was a bitch; wrapping it so that someone wouldn't know what it was just by the shape was even worse, so Bobby had just tied a bow onto the...little sticking up higher piece. Yeah, that spot. He headed up the stairs toward the room he'd been storing it in (that was one cool thing about the Keep. Lots and lots of closets and hiding places for presents) and rolled it out of the closet carefully.

Terry, rather predictably, only lasted about three minutes before she bounded up the stairs after Bobby, gripping the rail at key points where she knew the stairs slipped a bit. "Where have you gone?" she called out, pitching her voice to carry without making it very loud. "Is it a pony?"

"It might as well be," Bobby grunted under his breath, awkwardly shifting his hold so he could roll the harp out of the room and set it on the landing. "Up here."

She dashed up the last couple steps and threw herself to a halt with a squeal of glee that was just the safe side of too loud. "Are you serious? That's mine?" she looked from harp to husband to harp and back, flabbergasted. She'd made a couple of casual comments about missing her harp but she'd only ever considered hiring one. Terry approached the harp slowly, circling it like she was afraid that getting too close would make it vanish. "Where on earth... it's not new, is it?" The wood looked worn but that could have just been clever (and useless) aging techniques.

"Nah, I found it in a shop in town. It like...called to me," Bobby answered, beaming. Totally worth it to see her expression, yup. "I knew it had to belong to you, so I bought it from the guy. Got a pretty good deal, I think. It wasn't easy getting it up here, either, let me tell you."

"It's incredible. I can't even believe it." She stopped by his side and wound her arms around his waist, squeezing tightly. "It must have been a fortune, even if it's a good deal." She wanted to play now but figured that it probably needed to be tuned first. Maybe if she got up early tomorrow she could do that before the construction started up again.

"Yeah, maybe. But you've been saying you missed having one, and hey. Authentic celtic harp...thing. We can write it off, or something." Bobby grinned, holding her close. "Happy birthday, love."

She hugged him back a moment longer then wriggled out of his arms and went to the harp, unable to resist trying it out, just a little bit. Without a chair, she couldn't do much more than brush her fingers over the strings but even that casual touch sounded clear and pure. Her eyebrows went up, impressed. "Sure, you had it tuned first too?" she asked, turning back.

"Uhhh...sure," Bobby replied with a shrug. He hadn't asked the guy to tune it, but maybe he had anyway. It wasn't a music shop he'd gotten it in, just a second-hand shop, but hey, maybe he was into music. It was possible. "It's in tune then? We should decide where you want it." Hopefully not too far from where it was; he didn't care for the idea of lugging the thing up and down multiple twisty flights of stone steps, just the two of them.

Terry considered, chewing on her lip and trying to decide where she wanted a music room. So far her guitars were just living in the closet in their bedroom but putting the harp in there was probably overkill. "How about the second floor in the north tower? It's got a pretty view and it's actually finished." Unlike everything else, she didn't say. It was possible for her to restrain herself on occasion.

Bobby nodded. "Sounds good. Do you want to move it now, or wait until tomorrow and grab a few of the workmen to help?" Both ideas had their pros and cons. If they did it themselves, it would be harder, but at least the harp would be in good hands. More people carrying it meant the work would go easier, but contractors weren't exactly known for their gentle touch. In the end it was up to Terry. Her present, her decision.

She ran her hands over the strings again, torn then turned back, shaking her head. "It can wait for tomorrow when we have help. Tonight we're all by ourselves. No one to bother us." Terry smiled slowly and reached up to pull a couple of pins from her hair. "Actually, that gives me an idea. We are all alone tonight."

Bobby watched her hair fall in sections, a faint smirk spreading as he shifted closer. "Completely alone," he agreed, reaching out to rest his hands on his wife's hips. "Did you have anything special in mind?"

"Oh," said the birthday girl airily, resting her arms on his shoulders and tilting her head coyly to one side, smirking right back, "sure we could think of something. Are there any more presents?" It was her day, she was allowed to be greedy.

"Mmm...maybe," Bobby retorted with a grin, leaning in to kiss her lightly. "But you'll have to convince me you deserve it," he whispered against her lips, chuckling.

She pulled herself up against him, pleased as always with how tall he was even if it made her have to work a little harder to reach his mouth, and kissed him back with considerably more force. "Sure that's not a hardship for me. You make doing the convincing such fun."

On second thought, it might be a better plan to give her the present now and leave the convincing for after. It was sort of defeating the purpose, but they'd still both enjoy themselves, and that way they didn't have to get up for present-giving. "Mmm...okay. You can have your other present. But then you have to convince me you deserve it. Promise?" he teased, sliding a hand slowly along her spine.

Terry smiled against his mouth and eased away, "I promise. You can judge when I've been convincing enough."

"Deal. I might need a lot of convincing, though," he murmured, grinning widely as he took her hand and headed for the library. Her other present was actually wrapped, tucked into a little-used desk drawer where it would hopefully escape notice.

The library had the misfortune of being one of the few rooms that was done and thus served as something of a catch all for every activity that wasn't eating, meaning that finding any one thing in it would be a trick unless you already knew what you were looking for and where it was. Terry had to clear a stack of textbooks and course catalogues from the edge of the desk before she could sit on it, waiting expectantly as he retrieved the gift.

Bobby dug the wrapped package out from beneath a stack of papers, contracts and various notes that had been shoved into the drawer, handing it over to her with a smile. "It's kind of anticlimactic after the harp," he warned, leaning back in the desk chair to watch her unwrap it.

She smiled and teased, "Should have planned it better then." Most people grow out of the need to rip the paper off gifts; Terry never had. Paper tore loudly and quickly then was tossed away. The folio inside was treated with rather more respect and she spent several minutes just carefully leafing through the music inside, humming snatches to herself, harmonizing as needed until she reached the end. "You're going native on me, a fear céile, buying such things," she said finally and leaned over to kiss his cheek, "These are wonderful."

Bobby waited patiently as she looked through the sheet music, smiling tenderly as she lost herself to the notes, humming along as she scanned the pages. "Hey, what good is a new harp without some new music, right?" he commented, grinning as he stood up and slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. "Glad you like them." He kissed her hair and glanced down at the music, although he was impatient to move on to other things now that the presents had all been given and happily received.

"They're lovely." Terry tilted her head back, wrapping her arms around his neck. It was a simple matter to tug herself up against him, wrap her legs around his waist and snuggle in, resting her head on his shoulder and kissing his throat. "And so are you."