Jessica Hayles
February 23, 2021 7:09 PM
So, you've met my mom (Hilda) by Jessica Hayles
Jessica did not panic when she saw a picture of her mother in the catalogue of memories, but she did, for just a moment, go very still. For part of that moment, the stillness even extended to her mind, but only for a small part. After that, though she remained outwardly as motionless as before, her mind started to move again, very, very quickly.There was nothing terribly distinctive about her mother's appearance in the picture. Jessica had noticed that she looked younger than she was now (her mother's Botox was very well-done and natural-looking, so she looked younger than she really was, but she had still visibly aged since that memory had taken place) and was dressed as if she had been planning to go out, maybe to a nice dinner, perhaps the theater. Whatever the occasion had been, though, it seemed very unlikely that it had been a situation where she would have said anything that could cause Jessica any problems, because how often did her mother randomly talk about their family situation before going out - or, for that matter, at all?
Coming to that conclusion had prevented Jessica from panicking. There was most likely nothing to panic about. She needed, however, to be sure, which was where she found a hint of a silver lining to the situation. This lining was that one of the people who had seen her mother was Hilda.
There were levels on which, of course, it could be very bad for Hilda to have seen Jessica's mother. If by some bizarre chance her mother had been randomly talking about their family situation, and Hilda had understood it, then Jessica's whole life might explode again, and too much so to be rebuilt. Too many people knew already; she couldn't keep things under a broad wrap twice if any more people found out. It was nothing short of a miracle that it hadn't seemed to go further; she couldn't get that lucky again. That situation wasn't impossible; Hilda and Johana Leonie's English had both improved a lot over the years, and Jessica would have bet money that they both also understood more than it might sometimes seem, and why shouldn't they have as violent a reaction to finding out her secrets as Felipe had had? But since nobody had stormed up to her and started shouting recently, she had to conclude that either it hadn't happened or that Hilda hadn't understood it. But she had to know for sure.
She decided to try to be casual about it, and so waited until she legitimately did just happen to come across Hilda in the gardens. Jessica smiled. "Hey," she said. "How's it going?" She focused for a second on not winding pieces of her hair around her fingers from a little nerves, wishing she had had sense enough to put it up or back instead of leaving it loose today. "I've been meaning to tell you," she said. "You know that, um, memory you saw? I'm pretty sure that was my mom."
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Jessica Hayles
So, you've met my mom (Hilda)
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Hilda Hexenmeister
February 24, 2021 7:21 AM
You have good mutter by Hilda Hexenmeister
Hilda liked the gardens. They were very different from both the forests in Germany and the badlands of Utah, but they were almost better than both of those. The forests had been a bit dark and oppressive, if she remembered correctly (she was starting to doubt some details of her memory from back then) and the badlands were full of snakes. The Gardens were relatively bright and colorful compared to both, and the air seemed lighter and more pleasant.Hilda enjoyed taking walks out there as a break from her studies. She was doing so now - a much needed breather after a session of CATS prep - when she realized she was no longer alone. She recognized Jessica as soon as she figured out which adjoining path the footsteps were coming from and spotted the other student coming into her line of vision.
“Hallo,” she said pleasantly with a genuine smile of greeting. With Jessica, she did not feel the need to use English for such a simple phrase - actually for that particular phrase she didn’t feel it was necessary for anyone, but with Jessica she felt more comfortable with sharing her native tongue.
After a pause that was a little longer than would have been normal for a more fluent English speaker, Hilda nodded to show she had followed Jessica’s words and understood them, but she needed another few moments to come up with the words for an answer, as that would definitely be beyond Jessica’s fledgling German skills.
“Your mother seem good,” Hilda told her. “She tell how put on . . .” Not having the word she needed, Hilda mimed applying makeup in the manner in which Jessica’s mother had taught her. “If I ever wear some, it be helpful. I only have Uncle. He know nothing about. . .” She mimed the gesture again. “I do not remember word.”
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Hilda Hexenmeister
You have good mutter
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Jessica Hayles
February 24, 2021 3:18 PM
I like to think so. by Jessica Hayles
Her mother seemed good. That was probably a good sign. Mom had told Hilda about….“Lipstick,” she supplied, guessing from the gestures that that was what Hilda was talking about. “Es ist eine Kosmetik,” she added. “I don’t remember the word for that specific cosmetic, but….”
One of the good things about robes was the pocket capacity; Jessica could drop a clutch into a pocket and then just carry on without worrying about it. She extracted such an item from one of her pockets now, snapped it open, and pulled out her current slim matte silver tube of lip gloss. “Was it something like this?” she checked, holding it up for Hilda to see. Her mother usually preferred actual, fairly saturated lipsticks, but the application and the objects themselves were similar enough for it to work.
She felt sad for Hilda when she was reminded of one of the more mundane problems the other girl faced because she had somehow lost her mother. Having, for all intents and purposes, two mothers – among others; Mrs. Martinez, their housekeeper, seemed to regard herself as the proper ruler of the roost as often as not – could be annoying sometimes, but they were also always there in general, and had offered ample direct and indirect instruction in how to be a girl. Her family was…irregular, and sometimes complicated, but she wasn’t sure how she would ever stop crying if one day they were just gone and she had to go live with Uncle Jason.
“I’m glad that she – I?” It was hard to decide who to credit under the rather unusual circumstances. “That she was doing something helpful in my memory, then,” she compromised. “I can let you meet her when we have the Concert, if you want. And get you some lipsticks, if you’d like to try them.” She wouldn’t put anything too bold on Hilda, but a soft pink on the lips and maaaybe the cheeks, some ivory shimmer about the eyes and a coat of brown mascara to bring them out, a dot of eyebrow pencil…
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Jessica Hayles
I like to think so.
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