fandomtownies | Tuesday: Plant Parenthood

Liliana hadn't intended to stop by the little woods witch's shop today, but if the next month was going to see her home invaded by construction, there was no way her current stash of healing herbs was going to survive.

"Darling," she declared as she sailed into the shop, a handsome black cat in her arms, "I need your strongest headache remedies and I need them immediately."

"Of course," Nell said. "I have some tinctures that should help with that as well as some teas. Are you sick or is there another reason for the headache?"

Different causes might call for different herbs, obviously.

"I am throwing a Halloween ball at the end of the month, but the ballroom in my manor is in absolute shambles. So I have contractors in to renovate it, but it's all quite loud."

Especially what with the acoustics of a ballroom.

Nell winced. "I can only imagine. I also sell some of my own reusable rice compresses. You can heat them up in the microwave and put a drop or two of one of my essential oils on it and then put it on your forehead or the back of your neck. Or if cool helps you more, you can put them in the freezer."

She smiled at Liliana. "So whatever made you decide to hold a Halloween ball?"

Tony Stark dared her?

Look, in many ways, Liliana Vess was difficult, temperamental, and complicated woman. And in others, she was very, very simple.

"I don't quite remember how it came up exactly," she declared airily. And untruthfully. "I think Tony and I were discussing how few parties there were or something like that. And I realized that was an excellent reason to refurbish my ballroom and volunteered to host the next."

That was...sorta how it had gone. If you squinted.

"Oh," Nell said with a smile. "That last party? I was there as well. It's the first big party I have ever been to. I'm not very used to being with lots of people in a small space."

"I don't know if I'd call their ballroom small, darling," Liliana noted. "Though, hmm...you are making an excellent suggestion... though that will require landscaping on top of everything else..."

She trailed off, fingers drumming on the counter, mind working furiously.

Dammit, Nell. This was going to lead to even more noise.

"Oh me," Nell said blushing. "I meant altogether in an enclosed space like that, not that it was necessarily small. Though compared to my woods, most spaces are very small."

She looked at Liliana curiously. "Landscaping?"

"Well, my ballroom have these lovely doors that lead out to my grounds."

The woods, actually. They led out to the woods, which Liliana didn't actually own, but was apparently laying claim to, much like the house. (Not that she was claiming all the woods, mind. That was ridiculous. But the bit around her manor? That seemed reasonable. On a scale of Liliana Vess, anyway.)

"But my grounds are just as much in shambles as the rest of the estate. However, I'm thinking now that it would be nice to have somewhere peaceful to escape to." The corner of her mouth kicked up. "Or private, if you're looking for that instead. Some gardens, perhaps a maze...not a labyrinth, but a proper maze..."

Dammit, Tony. This was all your fault. Ignore how Liliana had just claimed it had been her idea before. Back to being your fault.

Best not claim the woods, Liliana. Half of them had Soulwood soil sprinkled around, so while Nell hadn't actually claimed them - that would require someone's death - she could tell what was happening on them if she focused.

"I'm a pretty fair hand at gardening," Nell offered. "Not sure I could make you a maze, but a peaceful garden I could manage."

Liliana Vess would claim what she wished, thank you.

Though she was much more interested in claiming swamps over forests, if someone sprinkled spy soil around ~~what she had decided was~~ her property, that someone couldn't complain about whatever it was she saw when she focused.

Liliana had a chronic shame shortage, just saying.

"Mmmm, perhaps," Liliana said, still clearly thinking this over. "Balls require more ornamental gardens, but an herb garden would be nice. And flowers." She looked wistful. "I miss my gardens on Lorwyn."

"Well, I'm happy to help," Nell said.

And it wasn't spy powder. Exactly. Or at least, that's not what Nell intended it to be for. It was just a way of making this place more like home and giving her a connection to Soulwood. She could 'spy' in any wood or green place, should she care to commune with the earth there.

And if she did see something she shouldn't, maybe it would encourage her to ask Liliana about a few things. Or, you know, traumatize her forever. Who knew?

In the meantime, Nell had been making a hot cup of her headache remedy tea for Liliana and she brought it over now. "Try this," she suggested.

Well, she would definitely see that, of all the adjectives that Liliana could use, 'unpleasant' was nowhere on the list.

"Oh, you're a wonderment darling, thank you," she said, setting Josu down to reach for the tea. A particularly eagle-eyed individual might notice a hint of a bruise - perhaps teethmarks? - on her shoulder as her gown shifted with the motion, but Liliana certainly didn't seem fussed about it. "What's in this? I should learn about the herbs of this plane while I'm here, I suppose."

Nell did notice the bruise and... were those a bite mark? ... and became instantly concerned. Back home that would have meant the woman had been subjected to the punishment house and, well, she didn't see Liliana letting anyone hurt her like that and she didn't seem cowed like the women after their mistreatment, but it wasn't something she could just let pass. She nodded toward it. "You okay? Somebody hurting you? 'Cause there's plenty of us here to make them stop if you need us."

Sorry, Liliana, the herbs in the tea would need to wait.

"Somebody hurting--" Liliana's hand flew up to her shoulder, trying to figure out what had suddenly had Nell going from a kitten to an alley cat. "Darling, anybody laying a hand on me that I don't want comes away with broken fingers if I'm feeling kindly, but I don't--" Her fingers prodded the small bruise and it all suddenly became clear. "Ah, no. This is quite the opposite of what you're thinking of. But I commend your instincts."

She tugged her sleeve back up to cover the mark, making several of her own notes about what Nell's reaction said about the little woods witch herself and the place she came from. "I asked for that lovebite." Wait. Additional context necessary, considering how even that phrase could be taken. "As in, I used my words and asked to be bitten. It's a sensation I greatly enjoy, at least within that particular circumstance. But your concern is appreciated, darling."

And noted.

Nell settled a bit at Liliana's reassurance. "I didn't think you would, but I didn't want to leave it to chance. Women need to watch out for each other."

She took a moment to consider - both what Liliana had said and whether she dated to ask. But finally...

"... love bite?"

"Absolutely we do," Liliana said staunchly. You'd think that a Multiverse as vast and distant from Earth would be free of sexism, especially with so many non-human races, but you would be vastly incorrect.

She sipped her tea, watching Nell wrestle with her question, and was unsurprised when she asked it, considering the immediate assumption that the little woods witch had leapt to. "Have you ever been nipped by your kittens, either because you were playing or even just out of affection? Picture that, but between lovers."

"Well... yes," Nell said, "But then I always tell them not to. You don't bite."

Lovers...

She hesitated again then got up and pulled out some of her special honeyed rum for the squirrels, which they were happy to take as a bribe.

"Do you... do you like the whole... sex thing?" she asked carefully.

"I assure you, darling, I do bite." Just ask Ignis.

Liliana perked up when Nell pulled out the bottle, because you know what made tea even better? Alcohol. Especially something like honeyed rum. But her eyebrows went to her hairline when she set it down for the squirrels to run off with, but then the question was asked and things started to fall into place.

"Oh yes," she said easily, settling back into her seat. "I enjoy sex quite a bit. Does that bother you?"

Because that was gonna be a you-problem, darling, if the answer turned out to be yes.

Nell had more rum if Liliana wanted.

"It doesn't bother me that you do," Nell said carefully. "It just confuses me." She knew men enjoyed it. But the idea that women - at least human women - did... just didn't fit with her experiences.

Well, she certainly wouldn't say no to a bit of rum...

Liliana put together what little she knew of Nell and her history and the men who really ought to be mindlessly carrying out her bidding and nodded to herself. "I take it that you do not," she said softly. "Or...have not?" She was a little uncertain of the correct tense to use.

"I'm a widder woman," Nell said. "I most definitely have."

She was quiet a moment. "It isn't something I'd care to repeat. Not that my husband was cruel the way some of the churchmen are. I did my wifely duties, but the best I could say about it was that it was unpleasant."

"Have not enjoyed it," she clarified, after taking a moment to parse 'widder' as widow.

"So, just so that I'm perfectly clear, the only sex you've had was when you were a literal child, married to a man whose only redeeming virtue was that he didn't demand his 'duties' before you were even blooded, and it was seen as a requirement of the relationship, to be had at his desire, with no thought to yours?" She tsked and shook her head. "Of course it was unpleasant, darling. That's like saying you don't like clothing because you've had to wear burlap and nettles your whole life. And--actually, no it isn't. That's a false analogy."

She sighed and shook her head. "Of course you haven't enjoyed the intercourse you've had. Darling, have you ever had sex where it was actually consensual?" And, since it seemed like it might be necessary, she added, "Agreeing because it's your 'duty' is not the same as yes."

Nell opened her mouth to say of course she'd consented, then closed it again. "No... But because I was here I didn't... start my wifely duties until I was nineteen."

John had believed she was fifteen though.

This was an incredibly difficult conversation, but since the opportunity was here, and she had reasons for wondering, she was trying to stick with it. And no offense to either Lana or Liliana, but to be honest, she'd rather have Liliana think less of her than Lana.

And for that reason, John was also on the list of people who be sentenced for hard, post-mortem labor. Liliana was just gonna be out here hoping that Nell was a 'widder woman' because one night she'd fed John a big, healthy salad of hemlock and oleander.

"Darling," she said, leaning in and reaching for the little wood witch's hands, "I have been having sex for almost two hundred years now, and every single time, it has been because I wanted it. I started rolling in the hay young, but it was my choice, both in partner and activity. And even with all that, I didn't always enjoy sex. It's a skill like any other that requires a lot of practice and learning and understanding to get to a point where you can consistently enjoy it. You've had none of that - if anything, it feels like you were fed a big heaping bowl of shame instead, which just makes it all even harder. Because controlling your desires is just one more way they could control you."

She wondered if Ignis knew where this 'Knoxville' was. Or Gladio. One of them would probably take her for a visit if she asked nicely...

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NFB from here [CW potential talk about sex/child brides]

Re: NFB from here [CW potential talk about sex/child brides]

Re: NFB from here [CW potential talk about sex/child brides]

Re: NFB from here [CW potential talk about sex/child brides]

Re: NFB from here [CW potential talk about sex/child brides]

Re: NFB from here [CW potential talk about sex/child brides]

Re: NFB from here [CW potential talk about sex/child brides]

Re: NFB from here [CW potential talk about sex/child brides]