#Violetta I personally think there was zero chances

[arcxnumvitae]

Last one, but I'd also like to know what Aur thinks about his relationships with both Sivel and Violetta!

@soulsxng // mentioning @lunarxdaydream || Ask my muse questions about their relationships || Accepting

The wry smile alone seemed to speak lengths. Where to begin? Where to end?

"Neither my father nor my tutors ever prepared me much for interactions with other royalty, of which I am certain has shown clearly through my dealings with the Luminary and the Empress." A bit of self-deprecation shone through in his smile. "I am stumbling through the dark, and my only guiding light is my desire to protect my people.

"I had wished at the beginning to have a positive relationship with the both of them, and perhaps that was my naivety speaking. But now, I wonder if such a thing were ever possible, or if by virtue of our personalities and goals there would have always have been some sort of clash. ...It does little to wonder about 'what ifs' now regarding complicated matters." Matters that were made all the more complicated when his gentry were intimately involved in the mix.

Did he regret any of his actions? Looking into Sivel's past, his ire at Violetta? No, they were things he had thought necessary for Seelie, or for himself. His only regret would be the way in which he had dragged Iomhar into his schemes.

"Do I believe there is any salvaging whatever remains of these relations? Not particularly, and I have come to accept that. We do not have to be friends, but so long as things do not devolve to war or violence then I will be fine with it."

#soulsxng #lunarxdaydream #{Aur Answers #Violetta I personally think there was zero chances #just based off of her personality and Aur's #I think Violetta would have ended up looking down on him no matter what (feel free to correct me though Steph if I'm wrong) #as for Sivel...dang I've said already how there are some interesting similarities between them #man #if it weren't for Sivel's past and reputation #the main reasons why Aur couldn't trust him not to be a threat (Sahrin doing her work well)combining with a protectiveness #(oddly shown as it was) towards Iomhar potentially being at risk in that situation #...then maybe...in some other world #some other universe...

[rauliskafan]

A Little Lesson in Easter Eggs

Authors’ Note: Happy Easter and Happy Sunday!!! @vintagemichelle91 and I hope that you had a wonderful day! We are backtracking in our timeline just a tad to bring you a brief glimpse of the Barba Family getting into the holiday spirit! Enjoy!!!

“Mami? What we doing?”

Natalia smiled as she set down the carton of hard-boiled eggs, her watercolor pencils, and several sorts of glitter. Kissing Violetta’s plump, pink cheek, she dropped the food coloring into cups of warm water mixed with vinegar and handed her daughter a small spoon.

“We’re dyeing Easter eggs, sweet pea,” Natalia explained. “You can make them any color you like, and then we get to decorate them!”

Having always enjoyed the activity as a child and even more so with her students, Natalia rose early and began boiling the eggs before her baby’s breakfast was even underway. Now, after they had sat in the refrigerator and were more than safe to touch, she placed four eggs on Violetta’s dish, took four for her herself, and set the rest aside for her slumbering husband.

“Why we doing this?” Violetta asked.

“Because it’s tradition,” Natalia continued. “We’re going to make them as pretty as possible so we can give them to everyone as gifts.”

“Eggs for gifts?” Violetta asked, narrowing her eyes. “Why? Do you not have no more money?”

The question caused Natalia to cough a little around a single sip of her chocolate latte. Dabbing the corners of her mouth with the nearest napkin, she cleared her throat and slowly shook her head, still smiling.

“You don’t need to worry about such things,” Natalia said.

“But you better worry if you have to give away the eggs. There be nothing left for us to eat.”

At the same moment Violetta finished the thought that made the most sense to her mind, Rafael descended the steps, his green eyes growing wide as he rubbed a hand over the light beard coating his face.

“Nothing to eat?” he asked. “I know I overslept but---”

“There’s plenty of food, Atticus,” Natalia assured him, pointing to a plate of pancakes and sausage links that only needed a quick spin in the microwave before he doused them with maple syrup. “You didn’t sleep in that long.”

Glad to see him well-rested after an intense week’s worth of jury deliberations, she slightly stretched away from her seat, wrapping one arm around his neck to kiss his stubbled cheek as he focused on the table.

“And what’s all this?” he asked.

“That’s what I ask, Papi!” Violetta said. “Mami say we making gifts. But I think these going to be cheap presents.”

Looking to her husband for help, Natalia waved a hand over her wares and waited while Rafael yawned, casually tossing one egg into the air and skillfully catching it in the space of the same palm.

“I thought we were doing flowers and chocolates,” he said.

“See, Mami; now those real gifts.”

“We are doing that,” Natalia said, tenderly tapping her delicate nails against the tabletop. “But this is a nice touch. We can make each one special. Here; let me show you how.”

Dipping the first egg in bright pink water, she turned it with her spoon, letting the color soak and change the shade of the shell. Satisfied with the result, she set the egg aside and shifted her stare to her daughter.

“That it?” Violetta asked. “I not see how that so special.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Rafael commented, nibbling on a piece of pancake as he hovered between their chairs and arched an eyebrow.

“That’s only the first step,” Natalia said. “The even more fun part comes soon. But first let’s pick some more colors.”

Violetta reluctantly set one egg in another mug, watching it morph from white to green before placing it in a wire rack, following her mother’s lead.

“You want to get in on this?” Natalia asked Rafael.

“I don’t know. Looks like way too much fun before Happy Hour. Unless you have some Baileys for the coffee,” he teased.

“You don’t need alcohol to enjoy this,” Natalia insisted.

“I think we need something,” Violetta said. With a sigh, Natalia continued dyeing the eggs, turning one red, one yellow and the last one a baby blue. Violetta stuck with green for all but her last egg, and Natalia clapped when she opted for orange.

“Atticus?” Natalia asked once he had polished off his plate and was on his third cup of coffee sans spirits.

“Okay,” he started, making a show of rolling up his sleeves. “Let’s see what we can do here.”

His first two tries garnered him zero points for creativity, one egg green and the other one orange.

“Can you make a little bit of an effort?” Natalia quietly asked out of one side of her mouth.

“What happened to you wanting me to take a break from all my worries?” he quipped.

“An extra hour or two in bed,” Natalia said. “Which you had. I’m pretty sure you’ve recovered to the point where you can decorate an Easter egg.”

“I think so, too, Papi,” Violetta concurred. “This so easy that it boring.”

“What she said,” Rafael said as Natalia threaded her fingers through her hair and silently counted to ten before she fixed a fresh smile to her face.

“Just you wait,” she said, ready to show her darling daughter and handsome husband a thing or two.

“The trick is to make each egg an original for the person getting the gift,” she said, plucking the baby blue egg, the shell dry again, from the wire rack. “Now this one right here, it reminds me of Tio Sonny’s eyes.”

“Does it now?” Rafael queried with the slightest edge in his voice.

“We’ll get to the green eggs,” Natalia promised. “We certainly have more than enough of them.”

Rafael let the comment slide as a yellow watercolor pencil went to work.

“With a few swirls, we make spaghetti and then…”

Her voice trailed off as she set a few red sparkles meant to resemble meatballs near the twirling golden lines, and once she approved of the result, Natalia finally returned the egg to the carton.

“Voila!” she said. “A perfectly personalized present in no time flat.”

Waiting for Rafael and Violetta to approve her results and probably burst into applause, she was surprised to see them tilting their heads one way and then the other.

“So... it’s a plate of pasta,” Rafael observed. “For Carisi.”

“Exactly!” Natalia confirmed.

“And that sposed to be original, Mami?”

In the wake of Violetta’s question, Natalia bit down on her lip and felt her heart fall.

“I’m sure Tio Sonny is going to appreciate it,” Natalia said.

“No doubt. He’ll be able to make egg salad for lunch come Monday,” Rafael said with a wink, making Violetta giggle.

“See, Mami. You no need to go to all this trouble. Just add maybonnaise!”

Rafael joined in as she kept laughing, and Natalia slowly pushed away from the table, hanging her head as she moved towards the front door.

“Hermosa, come on,” Rafael said, reaching for her hand, his fingers just surrounding her wrist when she disentangled herself from his grasp and met his gaze.

“This is important to me,” she said. “Nana Alessia and I used to do this every Easter.”

Rafael exchanged a quick glance with his daughter, their faces morphing into matching masks of guilt when he parted his lips to speak.

But Natalia was quick to raise one hand in air.

“Forget it,” she said. “Just go ahead and make all the egg salad you want. I’m pretty sure there’s maybonnaise in the pantry.”

Snatching her sweater, Natalia took off into the cool spring morning, blinking back a few tears as she walked fast without looking back. Part of her felt foolish for making a mountain out of a few eggs with or without mayo, but she had so many memories of drawing her next-door neighbor’s favorite foods on a certain shell. Of fashioning others to look like kitty cat faces for the same woman’s two little boys. And finally stopping to smell the imaginary roses, painting petals of every type to bring to her own teachers from days gone by. Wanting to share that with Violetta had kept her up half the night, visions of rainbowed orbs meant for so much more than egg salad delighting her little girl along with the hope that her husband would take some pleasure in the project. All of them together and laughing and...

“What’s the matter with you?” Natalia mumbled under her breath after she had walked at least five blocks without realizing the distance, wiping her eyes with the cuff of her sleeve. So what if they didn’t appreciate the pasta picture or give her the chance to draw ballet slippers for Maggie or a puppy dog to remind Rollins and Jesse of Frannie Mae? What mattered was that she had a family that she loved, who loved her back in ways she had only dreamed of, Rafael and Violetta both resurrecting her from the lonelier parts of her former life and bringing out nothing but the brightest colors. This was silly, and with a deep breath, Natalia turned on her heel to head for home.

“Atticus? Sweet pea? I---”

Her tongue tied as soon as she entered the kitchen. There sat Rafael and Violetta with the balance of the dozen eggs.

“Mami, look!”

Standing slowly, Rafael drew Natalia nearer, softly kissing her cheek as he pointed to the table.

“I know they don’t actually look like gardenias,” Rafael started. “But---”

“But we still try to make your flowers, Mami!” Violetta exclaimed, leaping from her chair to pull on the hem of her mother’s skirt. “And we make this one look like a apple cause you a teacher and this one…”

Violetta’s expression turned quizzical as she peered intently at the pink egg, the bottom painted yellow with clumsy zigzag patterns.

“Uh… I guess Papi want this one to be like ice cream cone,” she said.

“It’s a cupcake with strawberry frosting,” Rafael corrected her.

“For real, Papi?” Violetta challenged. “It so not look like that.”

“Now you tell me,” he shot back. “I didn’t hear you say anything when---”

“I thought maybe you know what you doing, Papi.”

“Muñequita, I---”

“Will you two please stop.”

The sound of Natalia’s soft voice brought their squabbling to a halt as they looked to her with the same pair of expectant, emerald eyes.

“Hermosa, we’re sorry,” Rafael said.

“We only try to make them presents for you, Mami,” Violetta chimed in. “Cause we not so nice before.”

“And it was fun,” Rafael said. “Painting the eggs I mean.”

“Even if Papi not know what he doing.”

Avoiding their stares, Natalia carefully examined the eggs, tracing the white petals against the green and orange backgrounds. She pictured her family working hard at the task, sad that she hadn’t stayed close to share in it with them.

And yet…

“Thank you,” she whispered, facing them as her eyes filled with happy tears. Rafael’s cheeks turned a lighter shade of pink, his lips curling into a smile as he took her into his arms, and Violetta scooted forward to hug her mother’s legs.

“Glad you like your presents, hermosa,” Rafael said, kissing her hair.

“Yes. And I like you even more.”

Their lips just met as Violetta tried to jump, and Rafael lifted her up. Cuddled between them, the little girl basked in their kisses until her face turned serious.

“What is it, sweet pea?” Natalia asked. “Something wrong?”

“Not really. It just…”

“You can tell us,” Rafael gently urged.

“I know we no should break the presents. But… now I want egg salad for lunch.”

Locking eyes with her husband, Natalia stifled a laugh and kept Violetta close to her hip as she left Rafael’s embrace.

“I’ll start boiling some more eggs,” she said, kissing him once more.

“And I’ll make sure we have the maybonnaise.” 

#raul esparza #rafael barba #natalia barba #violetta barba #a hard lesson series #little lessons #law and order svu #svu fanfiction