Hild (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
light_of_the_world) wrote2017-02-17 12:26 pm
light_of_the_world) wrote2017-02-17 12:26 pm
Entry tags:
let me go, let me lie low
The few days that had passed since Valentine's Day had been horrendous for Hild. No one had made her to feel uncomfortable. Krem and Gannicus, of course, had laughed, but their fondness and love outweighed any embarrassment she might have felt from them. Things with Ellie were more complicated, but as Hild had no true intention of disturbing her relationship, and Ellie had no desire to do so either, they had tacitly agreed not to speak of the thing again. The rest had not been so terrible; overwrought though she had been, nothing said had been truly embarrassing, only wrapped up in overdramatic sensibility and phrasing.
All the same, it grated on her. Yes, the magic of the city did this to people, at times, but this had not been city magic. This had been the magic of one man, one man who decided his enjoyment ranked above others. She had escaped all the previous attempts by him and by Darrow magic to manipulate her personality and person. It felt no less unfair that she should be swept up in such a thing now.
Beneath all this, too, lurked the anger at herself for having drunk the wine in the first place. She had faltered; she had let her vigilance slip. She knew better than to drink freely at such a party, knew better than to dive in without observing its effects. She felt herself to blame as much as Magnus Bane, and that frustrated her to no end.
The only thing she could do, however, short of making her apologies and putting a knife somewhere in the vicinity of Magnus Bane's testicles, which she could not do, was carry on. And so she did, stopping by the same coffee shop that had now become her favorite, ordering her usual latte and going to her work. She tried to sidestep another man in the moderately crowded cafe, murmuring a pardon as she did. But when she lifted her gaze to look at him, she stopped still.
"Oh, no."
All the same, it grated on her. Yes, the magic of the city did this to people, at times, but this had not been city magic. This had been the magic of one man, one man who decided his enjoyment ranked above others. She had escaped all the previous attempts by him and by Darrow magic to manipulate her personality and person. It felt no less unfair that she should be swept up in such a thing now.
Beneath all this, too, lurked the anger at herself for having drunk the wine in the first place. She had faltered; she had let her vigilance slip. She knew better than to drink freely at such a party, knew better than to dive in without observing its effects. She felt herself to blame as much as Magnus Bane, and that frustrated her to no end.
The only thing she could do, however, short of making her apologies and putting a knife somewhere in the vicinity of Magnus Bane's testicles, which she could not do, was carry on. And so she did, stopping by the same coffee shop that had now become her favorite, ordering her usual latte and going to her work. She tried to sidestep another man in the moderately crowded cafe, murmuring a pardon as she did. But when she lifted her gaze to look at him, she stopped still.
"Oh, no."