[ A bright smile lights up her face at that as she takes her gifts. ]
Did mama tell you strawberries are my favorite?
[ Bree's asking genuinely, because if not then it feels like some sort of twist of fate. Putting the basket down for now, she holds the scarf in her hands and lets her fingers move over the crest on the scarf. ]
A stag?
[ Then she reads the words in French which is about as fluent as her mother's. ]
Je suit prest. 'I am ready.' Jamie, thank you. These are perfect gifts, really.
Ye know a bit of French. [ He smiles proudly. ] And yer mother hadna mentioned yer love for strawberries. Ye truly are a Fraser.
[ But he catches himself the moment he says that, clearing his throat. ]
And a Randall. [ Jamie looks down for a moment, then back up at Brianna. ] I know you and yer father were close, Brianna. I ask yer pardon if I upset ye, but...might I ask what he would do on the day of yer birth? I very much like to know about yer life.
[ He hopes he doesn't offend her, but it's his way of trying to keep Frank - her real father - in the picture still. For Brianna's sake alone. She must miss him especially today, and perhaps remembering happy times would be of comfort. It could make things worse, though, as well. ]
[ His correction and his question both catch her off guard, and she looks at him for a second in a way that's so long Claire; a look that can't mean anything but are you serious?. But she sits back down on the floor, gesturing for him to join her as she idly looks through her records while she speaks. ]
Well. When I was older, mama always worked. Honestly, after I was ten or eleven I...didn't see her much. Sometimes on Saturday or Sunday. She worked so much. Always saving people.
[ Bree smiles, just a little. ]
Daddy used to take me out for breakfast first. Though it was more like eating cake for breakfast. Then we'd go to a museum; Boston has a ton of them. He let me pick, wherever I wanted to go. As I got older he gave me money, to go buy whatever I wanted, but then he'd always surprise me with a present. He did it every year but somehow, every time, I didn't see it coming.
[ Her smile now is a little watery, but she laughs as she remembers. ]
The last birthday he was alive for, he took me to New York to a concert. It's like a...a musical performance but it's done on a huge stage in front of thousands of people.
[ Pulling a record free at last, she puts it on the turntable and drops the needle. Soon, The Who plays, though not loudly, soft enough that they can still talk over it. ]
As an 18-year-old, it wasn't cool to go to concerts with your father, but I didn't care. I don't think I would have wanted to be there with anyone but him. It was an incredible day. He made that birthday so special. And he died two months later.
[ She'll always be grateful for that last birthday with him. ]
[ He does join her on the floor, resting his elbows near his knees, his hands folded together so his chin can rest there. And then he just listens to Brianna again. He loves listening to her, about anything, truly.
The current subject is a painful one for many reasons, but it makes his daughter happy and there's nothing that matters to him more than that.
He's truly stunned, though, by the sounds suddenly emanating from her strange machine, staring at it curiously, then back at Brianna. ]
I couldna have asked for a better man to love ye and take care of you and yer mother. I'm sorry ye lost him, Brianna. Truly, I am.
[ For a moment, he squeezes her wrist, then lets go, nodding at the machine. ]
[ She's so glad he asks because this is easier to talk about at least. Laughing, she pulls the needle back. ]
Well, you sounded like mom just then. Only she used to tell me to turn my 'noise' down or off. That was a band from London. Here, something like this may be more...familiar.
[ She appreciates a wide variety of music, so, she puts on a record of classical music, Mozart, and lets it play. ]
The machine is called a turntable and the music on the round discs is called an album.
More machines. There's a place called a recording studio where the music is written only it's 'written' electronically, onto this, and then it's copied and people sell them for money.
[ She has no idea if she's explaining this exactly right but who else is going to explain records to him, really? According to someone she's met, these aren't even the popular way to listen to music anymore. ]
[ His smile widens as he listens with her. It's the most unusual music he's ever heard, but he enjoys it. He enjoys it even more knowing that his daughter does. ]
Yer fondness is well placed, Brianna. I enjoy her voice myself.
[ He smiles softly, just so grateful to have this time with her, to be able to talk to her. ]
I wish to tell you, Brianna, that you dinna to stop yerself from referring to Frank as yer father. I've noticed you call him 'Frank' and I can wager why ye do that, but I wouldna call my mother 'Ellen' nor my father 'Brian.' He raised you and loved you. I'm in his debt.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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I think...well, I thought, once I knew about you, that it must have hurt her, so much to look at me and only see you.
[ 'Her' being Claire, of course. ]
Now, I think maybe having me was enough to keep her going.
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[ He'd believed that about his child without ever having met her, with only knowing that she existed.
He holds up the gifts he brought now, handing her the basket with the strawberries and a scarf. ]
I know it's no' much, but it's a bit of yer family. That's our family crest on the scarf. And strawberries are the Fraser family emblem.
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Did mama tell you strawberries are my favorite?
[ Bree's asking genuinely, because if not then it feels like some sort of twist of fate. Putting the basket down for now, she holds the scarf in her hands and lets her fingers move over the crest on the scarf. ]
A stag?
[ Then she reads the words in French which is about as fluent as her mother's. ]
Je suit prest. 'I am ready.' Jamie, thank you. These are perfect gifts, really.
no subject
[ But he catches himself the moment he says that, clearing his throat. ]
And a Randall. [ Jamie looks down for a moment, then back up at Brianna. ] I know you and yer father were close, Brianna. I ask yer pardon if I upset ye, but...might I ask what he would do on the day of yer birth? I very much like to know about yer life.
[ He hopes he doesn't offend her, but it's his way of trying to keep Frank - her real father - in the picture still. For Brianna's sake alone. She must miss him especially today, and perhaps remembering happy times would be of comfort. It could make things worse, though, as well. ]
no subject
Well. When I was older, mama always worked. Honestly, after I was ten or eleven I...didn't see her much. Sometimes on Saturday or Sunday. She worked so much. Always saving people.
[ Bree smiles, just a little. ]
Daddy used to take me out for breakfast first. Though it was more like eating cake for breakfast. Then we'd go to a museum; Boston has a ton of them. He let me pick, wherever I wanted to go. As I got older he gave me money, to go buy whatever I wanted, but then he'd always surprise me with a present. He did it every year but somehow, every time, I didn't see it coming.
[ Her smile now is a little watery, but she laughs as she remembers. ]
The last birthday he was alive for, he took me to New York to a concert. It's like a...a musical performance but it's done on a huge stage in front of thousands of people.
[ Pulling a record free at last, she puts it on the turntable and drops the needle. Soon, The Who plays, though not loudly, soft enough that they can still talk over it. ]
As an 18-year-old, it wasn't cool to go to concerts with your father, but I didn't care. I don't think I would have wanted to be there with anyone but him. It was an incredible day. He made that birthday so special. And he died two months later.
[ She'll always be grateful for that last birthday with him. ]
no subject
The current subject is a painful one for many reasons, but it makes his daughter happy and there's nothing that matters to him more than that.
He's truly stunned, though, by the sounds suddenly emanating from her strange machine, staring at it curiously, then back at Brianna. ]
I couldna have asked for a better man to love ye and take care of you and yer mother. I'm sorry ye lost him, Brianna. Truly, I am.
[ For a moment, he squeezes her wrist, then lets go, nodding at the machine. ]
What is this...music?
no subject
Well, you sounded like mom just then. Only she used to tell me to turn my 'noise' down or off. That was a band from London. Here, something like this may be more...familiar.
[ She appreciates a wide variety of music, so, she puts on a record of classical music, Mozart, and lets it play. ]
The machine is called a turntable and the music on the round discs is called an album.
no subject
And how is it that the sound gets inside of these...discs?
no subject
[ She has no idea if she's explaining this exactly right but who else is going to explain records to him, really? According to someone she's met, these aren't even the popular way to listen to music anymore. ]
no subject
This disc sounds verra different from the last. Does that mean then that ye could hear any kind of music ye like?
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Because of the magic here, we could listen to anything every made, from any world, I think.
[ Once again, she stops the record player and rifles through her music until she pulls one out. ]
There's a man named Elvis and...mom would never admit out loud to really liking his music. But she loved this song.
[ Can't Help (Falling in Love) begins to play, the sweet crooning voice of Elvis and lines about loving being a sin but doing it anyway. ]
no subject
He has a...verra good voice. The words are beautiful.
[ It makes him smile but feel sad for Claire all at the same time. But when that song ends, he looks at Brianna. ]
Do ye have a favorite, Brianna?
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[ She pulls out Aretha Franklin, Chain of Fools and shows him the cover with Aretha's face on it, and then the song begins to play. ]
She's one of my favorites. Her voice is amazing.
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Yer fondness is well placed, Brianna. I enjoy her voice myself.
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[ She smiles and then looks at him, her features softening even more than they already are. ]
Thank you, Jamie. For the birthday gift but also letting me figure this out in my own way. I didn't want to make it worse, by mentioning him.
[ Even now she can't say 'daddy' because it feels disrespectful even as she knows it will be fine. ]
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[ He smiles softly, just so grateful to have this time with her, to be able to talk to her. ]
I wish to tell you, Brianna, that you dinna to stop yerself from referring to Frank as yer father. I've noticed you call him 'Frank' and I can wager why ye do that, but I wouldna call my mother 'Ellen' nor my father 'Brian.' He raised you and loved you. I'm in his debt.
no subject
[ Claire'd mentioned that, albeit in fondness. ]
But, agreed. I won't censor myself, I promise.
[ She pauses, and then, for the first time, she initiates the hug she gives. ]
You really did make this birthday a good one, Jamie.
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I'm glad fer it. Fer this day. And fer you.
[ Mo luaidh. Mo chridhe. I love ye. ]