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 Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:46 am
It was the very first Sunday of the month, a day when Hafwen would have a break from her routine, starting by allowing herself to sleep in till no later than 10 am followed by a light brunch and then making sure that her assignments were done before leaving her dorm for a certain princess' 'castle' so that she could be in time for mid-afternoon tea. She would usually be clad in something comfortable - a pink sweatshirt and navy blue jeans today given the time of the year, something fancier for sure if it was a special occasion like the princess' birthday - couldn't afford to disappoint her best friend on her big day after all.
Usually she would bring something with her to go with the tea, pastries or cakes since one could hardly go wrong with either. Today was no exception either, evident by the box of chocolate lava cakes she had with her as she stood at the front door of the Haynes residence, pausing to rub her hands together before pressing the doorbell to announce her arrival.
"Princess Mercy? Your humble subject has arrived!" She proclaimed with a wide smile on her face.
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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:21 pm
The door opened shortly and a middle-aged woman stood in the door way. Smiling at Hafwen, she nodded her greeting at first, before stepping aside.
"Afternoon Hafwen, Mercy's in her room as usual." Annabelle said, as she moved back a little more to yet the young woman into the house. "I'll be in my office if you two need anything."
She made sure to close the door behind Hafwen, and it wasn't long before she was out of sight down the hall.
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Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 10:54 am
"Good afternoon to you too, Mrs Haynes and thank you for having me over as always." Hafwen responded in kind with a slight dip of her head, the smile on her face still in place although she was starting to feel a little silly at having allowed herself to get too carried away with her role as Princess Mercy's subject to actually announce her arrival in that manner to an adult.
Well, she supposed that she could count her blessings at least that it hadn't been someone else at the door like, god forbid, Mercy's obnoxious older brother Johnathan. She was so sure that he would never ever let her live that down. Dumb jocks and their grossly inflated egos that were at least the size of the football that they played with.
Having been a regular visitor to the Haynes residence, the adolescent knew her way around the house and where most of the hallways and rooms led to so she made her way directly to Princess Mercy's room next, the earlier incident with her mother already tucked in a corner of her mind and forgotten for the time being. It certainly wouldn't do for her to be late for Princess Mercy's afternoon tea party and keep her waiting. Totally unacceptable at all.
Standing at the closed door of Princess Mercy's room, she glanced at her watch to check on the time, noting with relief that she was still relatively punctual with plenty of minutes to spare before she raised her hand to knock upon it. "Princess Mercy? Your humble subject has arrived!" Came her announcement of her presence yet again and then she simply waited.
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Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:46 pm
"You may enter, Lady Hafwen!" Mercy called through the door, she placed Sir Fuzzington and Lady Floppymuffin in their respectful places at the table. As well as a chair for Lady Hafwen and herself. It was a nice circular one - so she didn't have to worry about sides - only that Hafwen was seated directly to her right in the place of honor.
Where the girl who was closest thing to her sister - and - best friend deserved to sit.
Once finished, she left the old worn-out teddy bear missing an eye and wearing a general's field cap and a no less worn, but much better maintained Rabbit plush in a sundress sit patiently to await the final guest, as she turned and took a few steps toward the door, smoothing down the front of her own sundress and doing a final spot check of the room to ensure everything was properly in place.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 1:55 am
Upon hearing the princess' call to indicate that it was indeed alright for her to enter the room, Hafwen turned the knob then gave the door a gentle push, a wide smile on her face now as she removed the box of chocolate lava cakes from the bag to present it to the princess who, as expected, now stood before her. "Good afternoon, Princess Mercy. I hope I haven't kept you waiting for long."
Came her formal greeting first and foremost following which she presented the gift with a curtsey. "And I hope that you're in the mood for some chocolate today since I've got us some chocolate lava cakes to go with our tea this lovely afternoon." The cakes weren't ready to serve in their current state of course but it wasn't something that a couple of seconds in the microwave couldn't rectify in a jiffy, and she certainly was looking forward to hearing what the princess thought about them when she had a bite later on.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:23 am
Mercy smiled at Hafwen, returning her curtsey with a slightly lower dip. She really didn't expect Hafwen to call her princess, but she really kept it up regardless of if Mercy told her it was fine to call her lady as well, so she wasn't going to fight the girl on the issue - at least this week.
"No, no, you're right on time as usual," Mercy said with a slight giggle, motioning for her to place the box of cakes wherever. "And thank you, you know how much I love chocolate."
She moved over to the hot-pot that her parents let her keep in her room for this occasion, and pushed down the switch to start the water to boil. "So, Lady Hafwen, how would you like your tea?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:49 am
"Of course since only dum dums will hate something as heavenly as chocolate and we all know that you're not a dum dum." It really was only in Mercy's presence other than Hywell's that Hafwen could be herself and act in any way she wanted without the fear of being judged or any potential ensuing consequences, hence her childish speech during the course of interaction with the young female from time to time.
Remembering that there were no ovens or microwaves for that matter in Mercy's room, she helped herself to a medium-sized plate, setting out the four chocolate lava cakes that were contained within the box atop it before turning to the little princess. "Just black with a dash of sugar will do today m'lady. May I have permission to use the microwave to heat up these cakes real quick so as to ready them for serving?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:10 am
Mercy couldn't help but let out a quick girlish giggle when Hafwen commented on her not being a "dum dum." It was something she really liked about her older counterpart, she didn't try to make a show of acting her "age" or any of that silliness, she knew they were doing this to have fun, and in Mercy's mind that's all that mattered. She would stop having tea-parties when it stopped being fun and entertaining to her and she didn't see an end in sight for a very long while.
Sure, some of the other girls at school teased her about her hobbies, but she refused to let that get to her. Sure, they fawned over the latest boy-band or whatever, but she wasn't the type to do that. Firstly, her daddy despised what he called the "insipid caterwauling of these prepubescent snots," and so she wasn't allowed to listen to boy-bands at all.
Secondly, she kind of agreed with her father, and really had no desire to listen to girly sounding boys singing about "love" and wanting to "be your man," how was that even romantic? What did BOYS know of love anyway.
Her Daddy knew what love was - else he wouldn't work so hard to provide for his wife and children. She knew he loved them all - even if he wasn't always around. When he was though... She got all the hugs and snuggles she could ever want from him and her mother. Lately not so much -but they were both busy so - in a way, she understood.
It was still lonely sometimes though, being the only girl in the house beside her mother, and her mother always busy writing. Mercy would never dream of interrupting her mother's work, because it was important - at least to her mother.
Which is why she enjoyed having Hafwen over even half as much as she did. So when she asked if she could heat up the cakes, it didn't take her more than a moment to smile and simply nod. "Of course Lady Hafwen, you know our house is always open to you for your use."
This was true, she couldn't count the number of times she'd invited Hafwen to stay a night over a weekend if she had the time - usually when she wasn't feeling so hot or the other girls at school were making her miserable. It was good to have a friend to commensurate with. Plus she was a good window into what boys were like when they were older - as it was, most of them were just snotty and well... mean. Sometimes even worse than the girls were.
But that wasn't the purpose of today, today was to have fun!
Once the water started to boil she added the tea-bags and started the tea to brewing, pushing Hafwen's to the side a bit so she could add the sugar when they were fully dark. Her own would remain unaltered for the moment. She'd come to like the full flavor of the tea and didn't like to add much too it usually.
When they had brewed she threw the bags away and added Hafwen's sugar, bringing them carefully to the table and setting them on their small plates.
Then she sat and waited, hands folded in her lap, for Hafwen to return with the snacks.
They had a lot to talk about today...
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 9:05 am
It was really amazing how big Destiny City seemed at times, yet relatively small for its inhabitants to make connections when need be. For there was no other reason otherwise for Hafwen's and Mercy's paths to cross at all given their respective family backgrounds, if not for a chance meeting between their fathers who used to be in the same class back in high school - one a workaholic police detective now while the other was a lawyer with a pretty successful practice.
What brought them together after all the formal introductions were over and done with, Hafwen supposed, was probably the ease with which they related to each other in spite of the difference in age between them both. And the rest as people usually said was history. There was no telling if they would remain as close as they were now in the future however, but Hafwen did know that she was going to darn well try as best as she could instead of letting this bond slowly fizzle out just like that.
The teen had been to the Haynes residence often enough to know her way around without accidentally landing up in someone's bedroom or personal space during her search for the bathroom or kitchen like she was now, making her way down the hallway to her intended destination after a simple nod and a smile to indicate her appreciation to the little princess for her response.
Sliding the plate into the microwave, she shut the door before hitting the Start button, letting the appliance run its minute long program until the beep that followed told her that it was ready. Following all that, she grabbed the tea towel off the counter, using it as a barrier between her hands and the plate to retrieve the lava cakes and then started making her way back to Mercy's room, mindful of the fact that the plate could scald her hands if she was not careful.
It would only be a minute or two after Mercy had taken her seat when Hafwen returned with the heated up lava cakes, a wide smile on her face as she set the plate down in the middle of the table before taking up the remaining empty chair that was supposed to be her seat. "I hope I didn't keep everyone waiting too long..." She really couldn't wait to see what the younger redhead thought about the cakes when she finally took a bite out of them.
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 11:17 pm
"No, not at all," Mercy smiled at Hafwen, bowing her head slightly as she came and sat down, eying the cakes for a moment she brought her hand to her mouth to hide a small grin. "Those look really good," she added, before once more making eye contact with her friend.
"So, how are things at school?" Mercy began, picking up her teacup and taking a small sip - pinky up! Like a proper lady would after all. "Also soccer, how is that coming along?"
She took another sip and then averted her gaze for a moment to the door. "And boys - have you met any you like yet?" Hafwen should have seen that question coming - it was one of Mercy's biggest obsessions with her older friend.
Boys - older ones. She was so infatuated with finding her prince charming that she very often forgot that he was probably still only her age - and that meant his only interest would be pulling her hair and shoving a frog down her dress.
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:54 pm
"They are good apparently. Everyone in school has been raving about this dessert store for a while and these happen to be the bestsellers." Reaching for the dessert server, Hafwen slid one of the cakes onto Mercy's plate before helping herself to one as well. "It's a chocolate lava cake. There's partially melted chocolate contained within so you'll need to first break open the cake with your fork to let the chocolate cool off some then tuck in." She demonstrated what should be done with her own cake, cutting a bite-sized piece and dipping it in the chocolate before picking it up with her fork and smiling at her younger friend. "Bon appétit!"
Popping the cake into her mouth to slowly savour it, she reached for her teacup for some tea to wash it down, a thoughtful expression on her face at the questions that were posed to her. "Brutal ever since the new semester started. The assignments and projects keep coming in one after another. I swear that the teachers are in cahoots with one another to make our lives miserable and keep us busy so that we can't even have a breather to meet much lest hang out with any of the boys." She chuckled though she noted with amusement the way Mercy's eyes had lit up, maybe looked a little hopeful even when she asked about her luck with the male gender. Not that she was actively looking to get hooked up with one at the moment any way given that she had both school and soccer to deal with at the moment. Someone would probably come along when the time was right, hence she didn't see any point in fretting about this aspect of her life at this point in time.
"As for soccer, the coach asked me to take the entire week off practice since the flu bug's making its rounds and I haven't been getting much sleep lately." Oops. Maybe she shouldn't have blurted that out like that. Wouldn't be good if Mercy started worrying and fussing over her for that. "So how are things going on your end? School's still fun and all that jazz I take it?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 11:15 pm
Mercy put the cup down slowly, before folding her small hands into her lap, and turning her head back to Hafwen with a slight frown. "You need to get your rest!" she scolded her friend - not loudly, but with firmness. "I would hate it if you got sick because you weren't sleeping well!"
Wringing her hands into her dress she sighs a bit before looking down into her lap.
"School is... erm... going okay..." She shakes her head before slowly looking back up to Hafwen. "I mean, I don't get along as well with my classmates because they think I'm... odd." She smiled softly to Hafwen. "They'd rather listen to boy bands or talk about what they watched on t.v."
Mercy wasn't a big t.v. watcher thanks to her mother and father - they'd rather she'd read.
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Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:12 am
Well, looks like the cat was out of the bag so why not just come clean with it entirely? Hafwen figured, a strained look on her face as she tried as best as she could to fill Mercy in on what it was she was going through at the moment. It really wasn't like her to worry her bestie like this but she didn't want the younger girl to get the impression that she was trying to keep anything from her since they were supposed to share everything with each other after all.
"I'm trying. Haven't been staying up much to be honest. It's just a little hard with the odd dreams I've been getting lately." It was probably a passing phase. An anomaly triggered by the stress from school perhaps? At any rate, it was definitely not something that either of them could do anything about other than talk about it so no harm done there.
And now it was her turn to get concerned, the obvious change in the younger girl's demeanour not something that she could brush off or overlook as she shared what exactly was bothering her. "But you aren't odd at all. Far from it in fact. It's just a silly label that some people have a habit of using when others are doing something different and way cooler than them."
Tilting her head to the side, she reached across the table to gently squeeze Mercy's arm, a soft smile on her face as she tried to propose something that could help resolve the problem somewhat. "... do you have any idea what they're watching on the telly? It's not wrong to keep doing your own thing but if you want to, we could watch them together whenever I'm over so you can have something in common to chat with them about." There was only so much she could do but it was still worth a shot in her opinion since there was only so much words of reassurance could do for her friend at this point.
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Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2013 8:47 am
Mercy shook her head slowly, but smiled when Hafwen gave her arm the gentle squeeze. Allowing her eyes to slowly drift back up to her older friend, she shook her head again as if making a point. "My parents would never allow me to watch any of it, you know how they are about the television in general. Asking to watch even half of what my peers watch would get me laughed at - or worse, told not to even think about turning on the t.v."In truth, she really didn't mind all that much - she really did prefer books and the occasional radio drama to actual television. Sometimes she'd catch book readings on public radio and that just made her day. Sighing a little she smiled weakly at Hafwen. "But look, here I am making you worry about me - when we should be focused on these odd dreams of yours!"She was a good one for shifting subject on Hafwen when she didn't want to talk about something - even if it was bothering her. "So, what are they about?"
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Posted: Fri May 03, 2013 4:24 pm
It really wasn't Hafwen's way to just accept that there was no way around any problem she encountered in life. She would even go as far as to say that she already had some sort of plan formulated in her mind on how to resolve this. A daring proposition which would have her bringing her laptop over with some pre-streamed videos of said television programs from the internet that she could share with Mercy without running into the risk of her bestie getting into trouble with her parents.
But all that planning were for naught apparently when the younger girl chose to change the conversation topic to refrain from addressing the issue any further. As much as she disliked giving in like this without putting up a good fight or even trying, she had to conscientiously remind herself that the choice was still Mercy's to make in the end and she ought to respect it whether she liked it or not.
Settling for the alternative which would be to indulge in the younger redhead's curiosity about her dreams, she settled back into her seat, took a sip of her tea before continuing. "The desert. Sun high up in the sky. Hot, dry, no shade anywhere in sight. Strange orange and green sand that I'll be trying to wade my way through. Always the same dream whenever I get it."
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