Room 203

[kitchen_maid]

The Ordinary Princess is sitting on the windowsill, knees drawn up to her chin, staring out at the lake, and ignoring her tea. "Does it get easier? Being here?"

Comments

[kindred_spirit]

"Anne mentioned something about it meaning that you needed to realize something." Gil actually sounds oddly hopeful, about that.

"Good to know that I'm probably not dead," says Gil, although the absurdity of the statement makes him smile. "Is Amy? And, is it considered polite to ask?"

[the_seafarer]

"I've heard that, as well." Caspian looks a bit curious, at Gilbert's tone. "There are many here who do not truly understand who they are, or what they want, I think. You don't strike me as one of them."

And there's a question there, yes, that he is perhaps too polite to put into words.

"And I believe it is a necessity to ask, at times. Some of my friends have begun to include in their introductions, just to save time, in fact." He grins, wryly.

[kindred_spirit]

"Yes, I've met some people who rattled off a list of whens and wheres, but I find that makes all the information a little hard to catch."

He doesn't answer the question Caspian doesn't ask. Caspian will just have to ask, if he wants information on that matter. Which is okay, as it's not like Caspian is going to running off to tell Anne without the mun finding out.

[the_seafarer]

Caspian looks amused.

"Ah. You've met Lilly."

[kindred_spirit]

"And Logan."

He liked Lilly better. Lilly didn't flirt with Anne.

[the_seafarer]

"Logan?" Caspian frowns. He doesn't like Logan perhaps even more than Gilbert doesn't like Logan.

"I have yet to meet him, and have business with him when I do. But Lilly is a friend, and a kind girl, though she is a bit hard to take at times."

[kindred_spirit]

"I found her a little hard to understand, honestly, but I liked her."

A pause. "Is there something I should know about Logan? Aside from his willingness to insult a total stranger's clothes? I know he's introduced himself to Anne."

[the_seafarer]

Caspian's expression hardens slightly.

"He's the sort of man who'll take a trusting girl off to some other world without gaining permission or thinking about telling her friends where she is and when she'll be back. I'm afraid my opinion of him is not high."

He raises an eyebrow. "You may want to keep an eye on him around your lady, my friend."

[kindred_spirit]

Gil flushes, slightly. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind, but Anne's not . . . I . . . I don't have any claim on her."

[the_seafarer]

"No?"

Caspian almost looks amused, but thinks better of it and controls his expression, though his eyes still smile.

"Though she has one on you, perhaps."

[kindred_spirit]

Gil is in profound earnest when he answers. "If she ever decided she wanted one, yes."

[the_seafarer]

Caspian nods, thinking, perhaps, of a similiar situation that had taken far too long to resolve.

"And does she know this?"

[kindred_spirit]

"No."

A deep breath. "She and I did not get off to a good start. I teased her about her hair. She broke a writing slate over my head. Don't ever tell her that her hair is red," he advises.

"It took us four years to get that sorted, and I don't want to rush anything. I don't want to not speak to her for another four years. When the time is right, if it ever is, I'll say something."

[the_seafarer]

Caspian listens in silence, sympathetically.

"I hope that you do," he says, finally. "Four years of silence is a terrible thing, but it is better than a lifetime of it, I think. I spent my life wishing I'd told Lucy I loved her when I had the chance, and I finally got another one when I came here."

He gives Gilbert a level, considering look. "But I believe you know what you are about. You have my word, I'll not speak a word of this to Anne, or to Amy." His mouth quirks.

"And I'll be sure to never call her hair red."

[kindred_spirit]

A smile. "I don't think she's still breaking slates over people's heads, but better safe than sorry."

He looks At Caspian, serious again. "And thank you. I'm hardly . . . well, I'm not anything like a king or . . . I'm just Gilbert Blythe from Avonlea. But I hope you won't be offended if I think of you as a friend. We're going to have to trust each other, after all. Because of Anne and Amy."

[the_seafarer]

"She may well have something else on hand," Caspian says, smiling back.

"And I think we are well-met, indeed, Gilbert Blythe, of Avonlea. I am no longer king, you know, just Caspian, a stable-boy and sailor, and I'd be pleased and honored by your friendship."

[ooc: class, back soon.]

[kindred_spirit]

"Indeed." And there's probably a rather solemn handshake at this point. They are, after all, trusting each other with persons very dear to them.

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

"Oh, good, you've met."

Anne is standing down the hall, her arms full of books and smiling brightly.

"Hello, Caspian. How's Amy feeling?"

[the_seafarer]

"She's sleeping," Caspian replies, smiling back at her. It is very hard not to smile back at Anne Shirley.

"In fact, I think I'll go back in--I think she'd like me there when she wakes. I hope it's not too much of a bother, Anne, I don't mean to always be in and out of your room."

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

"Not at all," she says, lightly. "Gil and I can study someplace else, but thank you, Caspian."

He nods, with a bow and a smile to her and Gilbert, before opening the door quietly and stepping back inside.

[kindred_spirit]

"I rather like your friend's brother."

Gil looks at Anne. "Are we actually going to study this time? And can I take those for you?" he asks, of her armload of books.

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

"Of course you do, didn't I say he seemed a nice man?"

She shifts the books in her arms, defiantly not handing them over. "And of course we can study. Why, did you have something else in mind?"

[ooc: Say sorry, something came up.]

[kindred_spirit]

[ooc: Not a problem at all, on my end, too, really.

"We just never seem to actually get studying done. Library, Miss Shirley?"

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

"What a delightful idea, Mr. Blythe."

She smiles up at him with dancing eyes. "Do lead on."

[kindred_spirit]

He takes his one book, does not offer to carry her armload again, and off they go. To the library. TO actually study.

Unless, of course, they get distracted again by all those books.