i said i'm fine, please just drop it. ( for renoir ! )
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE [ACCEPTING] FEAT. @krohft
IT DOES NOT TAKE RAISING SEVERAL CHILDREN to see through the thinly veiled lies lara is telling, him & herself. they show more plainly on her face than even she realizes, a tension to her mouth that has not been there before, a haunted flicker in her eyes . . . it would be heartbreaking to anyone, more so to see it on one who lived under his roof for years, sat at his table & played fetch with his children. though a grown up now, there will always be some of the girl all but dumped onto their door step, a notion impossible to shake off. "it's good to see you again," renoir says instead, prodding & probing having never been the treatment lara responded well to. but offer her space to try out all other options first & she will return when she deems it time. not necessarily his preferred approach, patience not the virtue most dear to him, but better still than to have her shut down completely. & the ugly truth is: there is no immediate action to be taken. there are not letters to be written or arrangements to be made that will be beneficial to her situation. there's barely anything one can do in the long run, though this, too, is no talking point to open up today. if the impatience wears on him, he can scarcely imagine the noise thundering behind lara's eyes. it is why he offers her only a smile, soft &, so he hopes, fatherly. he knows she will come on her own terms if council is to be given———— how it always has been & old habits die ever so hard. (& YOU WILL SIT ACROSS FROM HER IN THE SITTING ROOM, LISTENING, WAITING. JUST AS YOU DO WITH ANY CHILD OF YOU THAT IS RELATED BY BLOOD.) "alicia will be delighted to that you are here." & then with a pause that feels longer than it likely is: "so am i."
