Wild Roses Prompt 028 "Children"

[taennyn]

Title: Faith
’Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Brighid (Ruadhan, Donnel & Aifiric)
Prompt: 028 "Children"
Word Count: 163
Rating: G
Notes: vaguely sparked by the memory of my brother accidentally giving my mother a black eye when he was very small.


The Bruise was finally fading, from a deep purple-black to a jaundiced green, the edges of boy-sized finger marks blurring away.

She hadn’t screamed, or cursed (though when she did curse it was a memorable occasion, soft clear precise language detailing exactly what she thought) when it happened. Just made a small pained hissing noise through her teeth, which was somehow worse than a scream might have been. It had taken her son a moment to realize that the pained noise was his fault, and so the Bruise was that much deeper.

She also hadn’t let either her husband or her older son lecture him about it—though there hadn’t been much she could do about the glares that came his way whenever they spotted the Bruise under the edge of her sleeve.

To her younger son, she’d said only that some people were more fragile than others, and to all three she’d said that next time, he would remember, and be more careful.

Comments

[youraugustine.livejournal.com]

Whenabouts does the enhanced strength kick in? It doesn't seem likely that it's there from too early, both because of the mentioned use-it-lose-it and because too early and a mortal mother would have broken ribs anf ruptured internal organs from kicking during the pregnancy, and be a MASS of bruises from nursing. So if it waits until later, when is later and wat generally sparks it?

The piece gives a definite sense of the perpetual threat she lives under, even if it's a very suspended one. None of the men or boys in her life have to DECIDE to hurt or damage her; a momentary lapse would be more than sufficient.

[taennyn]

I have the impression onset varies a bit; Nicolai and Ruadhan appear to have been early-onset (in Nicolai's case to the point where his mother brought him in to Aifiric and said I Can't Do This, when Nicolai was in the range of 5), while Isael's didn't really manifest as more than unusual stamina and endurance until he started getting mage training at 16/17. *hands!* Which is annoying from a worldbuilding perspective, like the time-to-adulthood variations, but allows for a lot of individual nuance.

Brighid gave lots of people heart attacks over the years. On both sides of the strength divide.