Blackmailed, never. That sort of thing was simply not Shelly's style. At least, not when there are better methods at her disposal, and absolutely never in any serious way between true friends. However, it would be a falsehood to say she had never manipulated him. It's simply that, like right now, she'd used her powers for good. (For instance, when one unexpectedly has a... house guest in need of healing, and one of the first coherent questions out of that guest's mouth had been a request for news of a young Miss Sinclair, one cannot help but conclude, after some reflection, that having an adorable, young Miss Rainsworth on hand can be a very useful thing for prying open a closed and broken heart.)
Aside from that, the thing about Shelly Rainsworth is that, in modern parlance, she is a ride or die bitch, in all the best ways. A friend she's only just now getting to meet is exactly what Kevin is. She knows him too well and has loved him too much for him to be anything else, and that is simply that. Oh, it's true that--in the wee small hours, and quiet, private moments--she will feel a stab of longing for her beloved, old Break. That's as unavoidable as missing her daughter, or her mother. He's best friend and family and we shan't say what else, all rolled into one, and she is away from him.
However, even if he's become a whole other person in his own right, Kevin's new-yet-familiar presence can't be anything but a welcome and unexpected comfort. He clearly hasn't been left all alone, here, and now she is not. (She hadn't been worried about this , mind you. A Rainsworth is never worried--openly. But something in her eases, just having him here, sitting across from her.)
She looks up at him with a warmly-teasing sparkle in her eyes, a tiny, conspirational smile tugging at her lips.
"Well..." she says, softly. "I already know the very beginning, or something close enough to it. So, tell me what changed things." Her smile brightens, becomes girlish, and it's as if she's sitting in her own personal sunbeam. Reaching across the table, she takes his left hand in hers, again, brushing a thumb delicately across the tiny rosebud adorning his finger. "And tell me all about this!"
Obviously she's not merely speaking about the ring so much as what it represents, but she would be enchanted by it, even if it were not adorning the finger of a dear friend! Roses have always been her favorite flowers, and the prospect of there being some magic here that allows them to be worn in such a way, and never fade, is a delightful sort of miracle!
(Given that he seems to have discovered a great many parts of "Xerxes Break" without ever really becoming him, she almost wonders if he'd stumbled upon someone at least a little bit like herself. The rose makes her suspect as much, and in an odd way it warms the cockles of her heart. How romantic, to think that the fates sometimes bring together the sort of people who will bring out the best in one another--even if not always the exact same people.)
no subject
as
planned.
Blackmailed, never. That sort of thing was simply not Shelly's style. At least, not when there are better methods at her disposal, and absolutely never in any serious way between true friends. However, it would be a falsehood to say she had never manipulated him. It's simply that, like right now, she'd used her powers for good. (For instance, when one unexpectedly has a... house guest in need of healing, and one of the first coherent questions out of that guest's mouth had been a request for news of a young Miss Sinclair, one cannot help but conclude, after some reflection, that having an adorable, young Miss Rainsworth on hand can be a very useful thing for prying open a closed and broken heart.)
Aside from that, the thing about Shelly Rainsworth is that, in modern parlance, she is a ride or die bitch, in all the best ways. A friend she's only just now getting to meet is exactly what Kevin is. She knows him too well and has loved him too much for him to be anything else, and that is simply that. Oh, it's true that--in the wee small hours, and quiet, private moments--she will feel a stab of longing for her beloved, old Break. That's as unavoidable as missing her daughter, or her mother. He's best friend and family and we shan't say what else, all rolled into one, and she is away from him.
However, even if he's become a whole other person in his own right, Kevin's new-yet-familiar presence can't be anything but a welcome and unexpected comfort. He clearly hasn't been left all alone, here, and now she is not. (She hadn't been worried about this , mind you. A Rainsworth is never worried--openly. But something in her eases, just having him here, sitting across from her.)
She looks up at him with a warmly-teasing sparkle in her eyes, a tiny, conspirational smile tugging at her lips.
"Well..." she says, softly. "I already know the very beginning, or something close enough to it. So, tell me what changed things." Her smile brightens, becomes girlish, and it's as if she's sitting in her own personal sunbeam. Reaching across the table, she takes his left hand in hers, again, brushing a thumb delicately across the tiny rosebud adorning his finger. "And tell me all about this!"
Obviously she's not merely speaking about the ring so much as what it represents, but she would be enchanted by it, even if it were not adorning the finger of a dear friend! Roses have always been her favorite flowers, and the prospect of there being some magic here that allows them to be worn in such a way, and never fade, is a delightful sort of miracle!
(Given that he seems to have discovered a great many parts of "Xerxes Break" without ever really becoming him, she almost wonders if he'd stumbled upon someone at least a little bit like herself. The rose makes her suspect as much, and in an odd way it warms the cockles of her heart. How romantic, to think that the fates sometimes bring together the sort of people who will bring out the best in one another--even if not always the exact same people.)