river_meimei | (no subject)

(no subject)

The Tams' house at New Mayfair is slightly less tidy than usual -- necessarily, with a reluctant invalid occupying the sitting room full-time. But the cleaners still know their job, and appearances must be kept up. Which is why the upstairs hallway, like all the rooms except the one Gabriel is more or less living out of, is still ruthlessly and tastefully tidy.

There are, of course, doors in this house that even the cleaners and security force don't know about.

Magic will do that kind of thing.

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"Not allowed to be a moron," River informs her father pointedly, and slips into the room.

She eschews the sofa, and never looks at the hospital bed with its discreet just-in-case oxygen apparatus; where she settles is on the ottoman at her father's feet, her legs tidily folded beneath her.

"I do try not to be," Gabriel says to River-- a little dryly.

His gaze meets Galadan's, however, and he settles back into the chair with an exasperated sigh.

Galadan's expression gives away nothing.

He does not even indulge in a slightly self-satisfied tilt to his lips.

He does, however, settle on the sofa, attention split neatly between River, Gabriel, and the room at large.

"Your effort has certainly been well-noted."

River's face says -- affectionately -- what she thinks of Gabriel's consistent success on that score.

(But she's smiling. Just a little.)

"I'm sure it has."

Even more dryly than before, but there's no bite to it.

"Is there anything in particular that brings the two of you here today, or dare I presume that this is a casual visit?"

This time Galadan does smile, if only faintly.

"Rest assured I am capable of casual action, Gabriel."

Maybe.

"I came," River assures him earnestly, as if this were a very weighty matter indeed, "to say hi."

(Galadan gets a brief oh, please look.)

"Well, in that case..." Gabriel drawls, "hi."

"I hope you'll both stay to dinner. I know Regan would love to see you."

"Hi?"

Galadan's eyebrows go up.

"I see I shall have to practice my diction."

If he's to fit in, of course.

"I will be pleased to accept your invitation, should River choose to stay, as well."

He turns his gaze toward the girl for a brief moment, waiting.

"You have to behave," River informs her father, with her old teasing mock-sternness.

He heaves a put-upon sigh, rolls his eyes, and addresses Galadan.

"This is what I've come to in my old age, to be instructed on proper behavior by my own daughter."

To River, Gabriel adds,

"Trust me, băobèi, I can be the very model of restraint when I choose."

Suŏyŏu de dōu shìdàng, after all.

"Well--"

Galadan pauses, faint smile growing broad.

He gives River another sly, sideways glance.

"Should the instruction prove pertinent--"

"Wear it," River finishes brightly.

...And then looks confused.

She's not the only one. Gabriel looks back and forth between them.

"... shénme?"

Galadan, too, is frowning slightly.

"There is a metaphor about shoes, is there not?"

"Several," River adds helpfully, if still somewhat uncertainly.

"Perhaps one of you will see fit to enlighten me," he puts in.

"Perhaps," Galadan replies equably.

One corner of his mouth twitches, just barely.

"But might that count as instruction, I wonder?"

Don't look to River to enlighten anyone.

Galadan has psychic shields as good as ever, which means she doesn't have her usual cheatsheet for his side of the conversation, and she lost track of the idioms a while back.

So she's just going to watch them both with amiable bemusement -- and assorted objects around the room, of course -- until she deems it time to reenter the conversation.

Very, very dryly, Gabriel points out,

"But you, as it happens, are not my daughter."

"A fact I suspect we are both immensely glad of."

He pauses fractionally, lips twitching.

"For a vast multitude of reasons."

River's facial expression is very eloquent.

And it says: You are a WEIRDO.

"Indeed," Gabriel concludes, with remarkable composure.

(Even if there are crinkles around his eyes from suppressed laughter.)

"In any case -- the original question was regarding dinner, I believe?"

"So it was."

Galadan turns to look at River.

His own expression is perfectly composed.

"River? Had you an opinion on the subject?"

And if his shields happen to be ever-so-slightly lowered, and if the loudest thought in his mind is something along the lines of 'dinner with your parents?'--

Sometimes coincidence is kind.

"Yes."

...That appears to be all the answer River deems necessary.

(Underneath: she's a little uncertain -- for awkwardness, for Simon back on the ship without her -- but only a little; she's willing, and mostly cheerful.)