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Exactly like that.
( genya would be delighted, if she were here — to have alia as a doll to dress up, whipping out a flurry of colors to examine alia's palette, an artist examining the best way to approach its canvas. genya isn't here, so alia gets ... not the next best thing, or even the third best thing: alina, whose knowledge on fashion is limited to practicality, grisha uniforms, and wearing whatever genya has thrown on her bed.
may the saints bless her for the amount of trust she's placing in her hands, alina thinks, only a smidge self-conscious. )
And you promise you'll wear it?
I've seen what passes for clothing, for you. They look as protective as a bedsheet.
In fact, I'm fairly sure I did see you wear a bedsheet as a dress, once.
( genya would be delighted, if she were here — to have alia as a doll to dress up, whipping out a flurry of colors to examine alia's palette, an artist examining the best way to approach its canvas. genya isn't here, so alia gets ... not the next best thing, or even the third best thing: alina, whose knowledge on fashion is limited to practicality, grisha uniforms, and wearing whatever genya has thrown on her bed.
may the saints bless her for the amount of trust she's placing in her hands, alina thinks, only a smidge self-conscious. )
And you promise you'll wear it?
I've seen what passes for clothing, for you. They look as protective as a bedsheet.
In fact, I'm fairly sure I did see you wear a bedsheet as a dress, once.
I thought it suited me. :)
I like the initials P. S., like at the end of a letter.
No. Possibly even better than that.
Honestly it's more of a present for you than for me.
( featuring a couple photos all from different angles, of a some very artfully crafted foods that are all, suspiciously, alina's favorite. )
Want to have a date with me? I can give you one of your presents if you like, so I don't feel like the worst husband in the world.
I like the initials P. S., like at the end of a letter.
No. Possibly even better than that.
Honestly it's more of a present for you than for me.
( featuring a couple photos all from different angles, of a some very artfully crafted foods that are all, suspiciously, alina's favorite. )
Want to have a date with me? I can give you one of your presents if you like, so I don't feel like the worst husband in the world.
Anything suits you.
Though mine match with Alia's, so I might've gotten the better deal.
( good mood officially thrown in the trash, the moment she squints at the handheld screen — which is precisely where she would dump sanji and his gifts, if the waste of it didn't make alina's stomach cramp with regret and guilt and (perpetual) hunger. )
Why would you be the worst husband in the world??? Is this your way of breaking terrible news?
You shattered one of my tea cups again, didn't you.
Though mine match with Alia's, so I might've gotten the better deal.
( good mood officially thrown in the trash, the moment she squints at the handheld screen — which is precisely where she would dump sanji and his gifts, if the waste of it didn't make alina's stomach cramp with regret and guilt and (perpetual) hunger. )
Why would you be the worst husband in the world??? Is this your way of breaking terrible news?
You shattered one of my tea cups again, didn't you.
Starkov meaning "starry" is much better than Atreides, meaning son of Atreus, meaning "fearless." I win.
No! No, I didn't. I've been careful. I know it upsets Kettlewing.
I felt a little bad, that I didn't throw you a party celebrating you and our marriage. It was so of the moment, I didn't even think.
I'd like to celebrate it now, though.
( help sanji gave him a complex )
No! No, I didn't. I've been careful. I know it upsets Kettlewing.
I felt a little bad, that I didn't throw you a party celebrating you and our marriage. It was so of the moment, I didn't even think.
I'd like to celebrate it now, though.
( help sanji gave him a complex )
You can't declare you win. I'm a saint. I outrank you.
( still, childishness aside: )
Oh. It's okay. I've never liked parties, anyway.
I'd rather spend our time with just you. 😊
I'm sorry your gift was wasted on me. It should've been made with you in mind.
( still, childishness aside: )
Oh. It's okay. I've never liked parties, anyway.
I'd rather spend our time with just you. 😊
I'm sorry your gift was wasted on me. It should've been made with you in mind.
[What a strange, lovely, sad thought -- that Alina is from a place so unlike Alia's home that snow is a nuisance, a comfort, a frustration and a familiarity all at once. Alia thinks she'll never get tired of it, of the shock of cold against her palms and the luxurious waste of so much water, melted and slipping between her fingers. She wonders (not for the first time, nor for the last) what she would've been like had she grown in Ravka instead of Arrakis. Would she fit easily into the snow and the fur-lined coats and the bones and the shadow?
Maybe. Maybe.]
I promise! I will wear it all, all at once if that is the custom.
I did no such thing. I wore it as a cloak with nothing underneath. Dresses have sleeves.
What did you get Paul? For the holiday?
Maybe. Maybe.]
I promise! I will wear it all, all at once if that is the custom.
I did no such thing. I wore it as a cloak with nothing underneath. Dresses have sleeves.
What did you get Paul? For the holiday?
Your tits are going to fall off from the cold.
( and alina will not be there to warm them, she decided, like a lying liar. the question makes that good humor fluster — feeling, against all logic, like a child stuck with her hand in the cookie jar. which hardly makes sense, when she's the one who overstuffed the cookie jar in the first place, but —
her cheery holiday excitement has been ... perky, to say the least. it's only in hindsight, stuck with a bulging stock room in the back of her shop, that alina has the sense to be embarrassed over just how overzealous she'd gotten. )
Well, it's
It's customary to celebrate the season for twelve days.
So I've gotten him something for each day.
( and alina will not be there to warm them, she decided, like a lying liar. the question makes that good humor fluster — feeling, against all logic, like a child stuck with her hand in the cookie jar. which hardly makes sense, when she's the one who overstuffed the cookie jar in the first place, but —
her cheery holiday excitement has been ... perky, to say the least. it's only in hindsight, stuck with a bulging stock room in the back of her shop, that alina has the sense to be embarrassed over just how overzealous she'd gotten. )
Well, it's
It's customary to celebrate the season for twelve days.
So I've gotten him something for each day.
I am quite full of faith.
Even better. ( paul might be awkward and weird when it comes to romance, but even he knows saying "even you might struggle finishing off this feast" would absolutely come off the wrong way ) Leftovers for us.
Yes. Dress please. 🙏
Even better. ( paul might be awkward and weird when it comes to romance, but even he knows saying "even you might struggle finishing off this feast" would absolutely come off the wrong way ) Leftovers for us.
Yes. Dress please. 🙏
A feast fit for an Emperor and Empress, I'd say.
I suppose even traitors still have something they're good at.
( which physically pains her : ) to have to admit, but her stomach is more honest than her head or her heart. )
I'll wear one down to my ankles. Stuffy and properly buttoned.
Since you didn't specify.
I suppose even traitors still have something they're good at.
( which physically pains her : ) to have to admit, but her stomach is more honest than her head or her heart. )
I'll wear one down to my ankles. Stuffy and properly buttoned.
Since you didn't specify.
Jesters are meant to be funny.
( but the bigger dilemma, looming in front of her: what does a woman wear to celebrate an abrupt marriage? genya would surely have the answer at a snap of her fingertips, tugging chiffon and lace and silk from alina's closet like a fairy godmother, come to beautify her for a prince. as it stands, alina is only an ugly duckling, and has no other help than her own to make herself into a swan.
too long. too short. not special enough. too fancy. not the right shade — too colorful, too dour. eventually, after a handful of stressful minutes, she sends back a picture. short, white. not too plain, not too overly decorated. )
👍👎?
( but the bigger dilemma, looming in front of her: what does a woman wear to celebrate an abrupt marriage? genya would surely have the answer at a snap of her fingertips, tugging chiffon and lace and silk from alina's closet like a fairy godmother, come to beautify her for a prince. as it stands, alina is only an ugly duckling, and has no other help than her own to make herself into a swan.
too long. too short. not special enough. too fancy. not the right shade — too colorful, too dour. eventually, after a handful of stressful minutes, she sends back a picture. short, white. not too plain, not too overly decorated. )
👍👎?
[Paul and Alina's gifts come together, in jewelry boxes set on their pillows. There are cards for each, as well as odd bits and pieces tossed into the boxes -- pine cones, feathers, rocks dug out of the frozen earth and thawed, bits of string and ribbon. All things Alia treasures, all things she adores.
But the gift itself: matching star-shaped pendants, to remind her moon, her sun of who she is to them, of how she glitters and shines around them both. The stone at the center, though, is no gemstone found on earth -- or anywhere else. The metal itself is the same material, formed exhaustively into each point, hard as diamonds, gleaming in the lamplight.
Paul will know what the necklace is made of as soon as he touches it. Alina may need to be told, or she may recognize the gleam, know it to be formed from the one thing Alia had of Arrakis: her crysknife, her tooth of Shai-Hulud, taken and shattered and reformed into a sign of her love, her devotion, her rejection of everything she had been before.
Alina's brother's letter reads:]
Alina Atreides, Empress of the Known Universe, sister-mine, my just-Alina, my beloved always,
My memories began eons ago. I took my first breath on Arrakis. I have been a queen and a goddess and a saint, a she-demon and a weapon and a curse. I have been abomination and miracle.
But my life began when I met you.
I choose you, today, always. I choose us.
- Just-Alia
But the gift itself: matching star-shaped pendants, to remind her moon, her sun of who she is to them, of how she glitters and shines around them both. The stone at the center, though, is no gemstone found on earth -- or anywhere else. The metal itself is the same material, formed exhaustively into each point, hard as diamonds, gleaming in the lamplight.
Paul will know what the necklace is made of as soon as he touches it. Alina may need to be told, or she may recognize the gleam, know it to be formed from the one thing Alia had of Arrakis: her crysknife, her tooth of Shai-Hulud, taken and shattered and reformed into a sign of her love, her devotion, her rejection of everything she had been before.
Alina's brother's letter reads:]
Alina Atreides, Empress of the Known Universe, sister-mine, my just-Alina, my beloved always,
My memories began eons ago. I took my first breath on Arrakis. I have been a queen and a goddess and a saint, a she-demon and a weapon and a curse. I have been abomination and miracle.
But my life began when I met you.
I choose you, today, always. I choose us.
- Just-Alia
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