Tea with /HER/, a completion for the Giraffe Call, Tir na Cali (@DaHob)

[aldersprig]

After Tea with HER (beginning) (LJ)
Tea with HER (continuation) (LJ)
Tea with HER (continuation 2) (LJ)
Tea with HER (continuation 3) (LJ)
Tea with HER (continuation 4) ()
Tea with HER (continuation 5) (LJ)




It took the Ice Queen a month to have time to see me; a time chosen, I was sure, to give me time to relax, to calm down, to grieve, and to get used to James' presence. When I finally made it into her parlor for tea, I brought him with me. Leashed. Cuffed. Exactly as she'd left him on my doorstep, including the terrified look.

I'm not a monster. The terrified look was faked; it turned out my new slave could act.

But that was something I knew, and he knew, and the Countess did not, which pleased both of us, almost as much as the look on her face - a split second of un-hidden surprise - pleased us.

"Does your gift not please you, Baroness Treanna?" she asked, cool, chill, and possibly a little irritated.

"He's raw, new, untrained." He fell to his knees next to me, his hair falling in his face. "He hardly knows how he's supposed to act. He can barely make a phone call without supervision."

"These things are true, yes. I thought perhaps..." She frowned, and I smiled.

"It will be more interesting to work with you, your Ladyship, if you are not pre-anticipating my every move and thought."

She blinked. "That is not something anyone has ever said to me before."

"I thought it might not be. And - with Michael in my hands, or me in his, it was easy to know what I would do, no? But this one..." I nearly purred. I was pleased with myself. "This one, you have not trained to train me. I'm very pleased with my gift, Countess. Thank you."

For the first time, she smiled a true smile, a genuine expression. "My pleasure, Treanna. I think you are right. Working with you will be interesting."

Comments

[lilfluff]

And so the two had an enjoyable career hatching Xanatos Gambit after Xanatos Gambit... :)

[aldersprig]

?

[lilfluff]

Xanatos Gambit - a plot that has plots within plots within plots. The, "Haha, by defeating me you have actually granted me victory!" style of plotting.

Something about the ending makes me feel like they could get into that.

(I'd link to the TV Tropes entry... but really, TV Tropes, it's harder to get away from that site than it is to get out of a bear trap...)

[inventrix]

A Xanatos Gambit is like a Batman, except instead of simply being ridiculously prepared, you have also engineered things so that even in the unlikely event your plan fails, you still wind up winning.

Xanatos is the main "villain" in Disney's Gargoyles cartoon and is one of the greatest characters and I love him forever.

[aldersprig]

Ah-ha, I knew I'd heard of that before! Thank you!

[inventrix]

This was a great story and I liked it a lot. :D Interesting indeed.

[aldersprig]

Thank you!

[clare_dragonfly]

Hee hee, I bet he can act! And yay for something they knew and the Countess didn't.

Aww, it's over? Well, I suppose if it has to end, this is a good place for it to end--with the foundation of a good relationship between Treanna and the Ice Queen.

[aldersprig]

I can always be bribed to write more. :-D