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deemoyzaTitle: One She Would Understand (8,570 words)
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Blue Castle
Rating/Warnings: Teen and Up / Warning for canonical character deaths, including one of an infant.
Characters: Barney Snaith, Cissy Gay, Abel Gay, Valancy Stirling
Relationships: Barney Snaith & Cissy Gay
Summary: In all his thirty years before arriving at Mistawis, Barney had never known true friendship. But when he thought of Cissy's shy smile, her delicate way of dealing with both her father and her baby, and the air of loneliness that enveloped her when she discussed her exile from Deerwood society, he resolved to at least make an attempt. After all, she wasn't the only one who could use a friend.
Notes: Written for Yuletide 2023
Abel watched Cissy and Angus disappear into the house. When the door shut behind them, he sighed. "She's a sweet girl, my Cissy. Maybe too much so. I hope you won't think badly of her, considering her situation."
"Not at all," Barney replied. "She seems lovely. Your grandson, too. If I may ask—forgive me for being forward—what happened to the father?"
A scowl twisted Abel's features and he drew hard on his pipe. "Don't know. Went on with his life, I suppose, carefree and shameless. Cissy was away from home at the time, working. All she said was he was a boy from Toronto."
"Did he know about the baby?"
"Cissy said she told him."
"And he still didn't—"
Abel shook his head slowly.
Barney's expression darkened. "There's a man who deserves to be shot," he muttered.
"Couldn't agree more. Cissy knows that, I think. She never did tell me his name."
"Pity."
"You're damned right it is." Abel drew on his pipe and peered at Barney. "But don't you go getting any 'noble' ideas or anything. Cissy is determined to raise this boy on her own."
Barney sighed. While he hadn't been about to offer what Abel suspected, he still didn't feel right leaving Cissy and Angus—and Abel, for that matter—to face this burden on their own. "Understood," he said, his anger at the nameless, faceless coward still simmering in his veins, "but there has to be something I can do to help. Errands, labor…"
Abel grinned. "You're a good'un, and I appreciate it. But we're pretty well set for ourselves, believe it or not ."
"Even so, if you need anything—"
"Tell you what, there is something you can do for Cissy. Be a friend. She'd never admit it herself—too afraid of stepping on anyone's toes—but she could use someone to talk to. More than a husband or a hero, she needs a friend."
Abel said it so matter-of-factly, as if it were the simplest thing in the world: be a friend. But Barney, in all his thirty years, had never known true friendship. Oh, he'd had plenty of acquaintances, mostly casual and benign, save for the malicious contemporaries of his youth. Friendship, however, not only required a steadier bond, but also another degree of openness to which he was not accustomed. How, outside of pleasantries, was he supposed to speak to Cissy Gay, and of what? Surely a sweet girl such as she would not be interested in the details of his constant roving, or in the less savory details of some of the people he met along the way. And what could he expect of her? He did not want to dredge up unwanted memories, however unintentionally, and cause her more pain. What did friends talk about? What was the mystery of friendship?
Barney lay awake that night pondering his dilemma, watching the pine trees sway in the breeze through his bedroom window, until he realized it was no obligation of his. He didn't have to return to Abel's tomorrow; he never had to return at all, if he didn't feel like it. But then he thought of Cissy's shy smile, her delicate way of dealing with both her father and her baby, the air of loneliness that enveloped her when she discussed her exile from Deerwood society, and he resolved to at least make an attempt. Let Cissy decide whether she wanted him for a friend; she'd been denied enough choices already, it seemed.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Blue Castle
Rating/Warnings: Teen and Up / Warning for canonical character deaths, including one of an infant.
Characters: Barney Snaith, Cissy Gay, Abel Gay, Valancy Stirling
Relationships: Barney Snaith & Cissy Gay
Summary: In all his thirty years before arriving at Mistawis, Barney had never known true friendship. But when he thought of Cissy's shy smile, her delicate way of dealing with both her father and her baby, and the air of loneliness that enveloped her when she discussed her exile from Deerwood society, he resolved to at least make an attempt. After all, she wasn't the only one who could use a friend.
Notes: Written for Yuletide 2023
Abel watched Cissy and Angus disappear into the house. When the door shut behind them, he sighed. "She's a sweet girl, my Cissy. Maybe too much so. I hope you won't think badly of her, considering her situation."
"Not at all," Barney replied. "She seems lovely. Your grandson, too. If I may ask—forgive me for being forward—what happened to the father?"
A scowl twisted Abel's features and he drew hard on his pipe. "Don't know. Went on with his life, I suppose, carefree and shameless. Cissy was away from home at the time, working. All she said was he was a boy from Toronto."
"Did he know about the baby?"
"Cissy said she told him."
"And he still didn't—"
Abel shook his head slowly.
Barney's expression darkened. "There's a man who deserves to be shot," he muttered.
"Couldn't agree more. Cissy knows that, I think. She never did tell me his name."
"Pity."
"You're damned right it is." Abel drew on his pipe and peered at Barney. "But don't you go getting any 'noble' ideas or anything. Cissy is determined to raise this boy on her own."
Barney sighed. While he hadn't been about to offer what Abel suspected, he still didn't feel right leaving Cissy and Angus—and Abel, for that matter—to face this burden on their own. "Understood," he said, his anger at the nameless, faceless coward still simmering in his veins, "but there has to be something I can do to help. Errands, labor…"
Abel grinned. "You're a good'un, and I appreciate it. But we're pretty well set for ourselves, believe it or not ."
"Even so, if you need anything—"
"Tell you what, there is something you can do for Cissy. Be a friend. She'd never admit it herself—too afraid of stepping on anyone's toes—but she could use someone to talk to. More than a husband or a hero, she needs a friend."
Abel said it so matter-of-factly, as if it were the simplest thing in the world: be a friend. But Barney, in all his thirty years, had never known true friendship. Oh, he'd had plenty of acquaintances, mostly casual and benign, save for the malicious contemporaries of his youth. Friendship, however, not only required a steadier bond, but also another degree of openness to which he was not accustomed. How, outside of pleasantries, was he supposed to speak to Cissy Gay, and of what? Surely a sweet girl such as she would not be interested in the details of his constant roving, or in the less savory details of some of the people he met along the way. And what could he expect of her? He did not want to dredge up unwanted memories, however unintentionally, and cause her more pain. What did friends talk about? What was the mystery of friendship?
Barney lay awake that night pondering his dilemma, watching the pine trees sway in the breeze through his bedroom window, until he realized it was no obligation of his. He didn't have to return to Abel's tomorrow; he never had to return at all, if he didn't feel like it. But then he thought of Cissy's shy smile, her delicate way of dealing with both her father and her baby, the air of loneliness that enveloped her when she discussed her exile from Deerwood society, and he resolved to at least make an attempt. Let Cissy decide whether she wanted him for a friend; she'd been denied enough choices already, it seemed.
