I was tagged by @akindofmagictoo and given the words assist,avid,airy, and adorn. Thank you!
FromOpen Seas:
ASSIST
“I can’t undo my stays,” she said, wincing as she pressed a hand to her side. “Could you please assistme?”
“Of course, dear.” Thana unlaced her with deft fingers and placed the stays with her other layers.
AVIDEAGER
Tess rolled her eyes. “Is this your way of buttering me up before asking to come with me when I call on him?”
“Was I too obvious?”
“May I come, too?” Flora asked eagerly.
“You didn’t even know who he was two minutes ago,” Lina shot back.
“You’re the one who made him sound interesting,” she pointed out.
“If I bring anyone with me, I’ll bring both of you,” Tess cut in before the bickering could escalate. If they were together, they would at least be able to balance each other out a bit. They would also be able to distract each other while Tess spoke with Caspian.
AIRY
“I wasn’t trying to find trouble.”
“And yet once again you stumbled into it,” Petra teased. She bounded to her feet and offered a hand to Tess, easily pulling her upright despite her small stature. “Come on, it’s almost sunrise. Nothing’s better than the first sunrise out at sea.”
Tess didn’t argue and allowed Petra to lead the way to the steep staircase in the middle of the room and up to the gun deck, where there were more crew members sleeping or lounging, then up the ladder to the main deck. The water was calm, the air crisp, and there were only a handful of crew around operating the sails.
ADORNDECORATE
Lina had kept with the Polperro style and had only darkened her eyelashes, but did look very nice in her yellow dress. Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders, the front bits kept out of her face by a decorated clip at the back of her head, and she was only wearing a gold cuff on her left wrist.
Flora had ended up halfway between Tess and Lina’s looks. Her green dress had a natural waistline that was accentuated by a ribbon, her light brown hair was in a simple updo, and she’d gone with a minimal amount of makeup that included darkening her lashes and eyelids and adding a touch of red to her lips.
“Is everyone ready?” Aunt Eugenia asked, bustling about the room. “Are you sure you don’t want more colour on your face, Lina? You look so washed out next to Tess.”
“She looks her age, you mean?” Flora countered.
Oops, none of the male characters appear in these snippets. The first one is very short as I recently shared it!
