| | | | ✧ @1854s ... are you willing to stand with the righteous?
she’s done her level best to tidy up her desk : loose journal pages stacked atop one another, their corresponding too-full journals their own pile ( she’ll tip-in the pages later ! ), & her pen next to the close inkwell. still, ink dots her desk & colours her fingers, which mina carefully hides by folding her hands in front of herself.
“ mister holmes … ” she begins, a little wary, though her tone remains unwaveringly polite. “ — well, yes, of course, ” is the continued response, instinctual, & yet — “ though i’m afraid i must admit i am not entirely sure as to what cause or reason you refer. ” she is, it seems, at a loss as to why the question, though she cannot find much fault in it being asked. it is a good thing to know, after all. both of oneself, & also of others. the tilting of her head is subtle, & she surveys holmes with a warm glance, trying to find an answer perhaps in the fold of his clothes or the sharp cut of his jaw, but she finds nothing.
“ … may i enquire, then, as to the reason for asking such a thing ? ” she’s sure lucy would come up with all sorts of fantastical reasonings that could be possible : slaying a dragon to rescue a princess ; saving local townsfolk from a corrupting outside force ; believing in oneself & in the good of others, even when all hope seems lost. she’s also certain lucy would be imagining herself as the princess in the first suggestion. mina smiles, & then looks slightly horrified at herself. “ oh, i do apologise ! i never offered you a cup of tea ! ” her own has long been finished, the perfect accompaniment to the scratching of her pen. “ would you like some ? i can fetch you some right away. ”
