{ originalfic100 } she ; stirred

[thelightest_feet]

Title: stirred
Table: general
Prompt: she

Effie is cooking the vegetables – slowly roasting them, little carrots and green beans, in the largest of their two pans. She watches her. The movements of her hands that are oh so careful even in their efficiency. Stir, stir, stir. Shake, shake, shake. Her heart is soon aflutter from the rhythm. Lively with recognition. It’s their melody, the very same one! A blue flower, a red one, a yellow. With Effie’s pale fingers plucking away at the salad, single-handedly. The smell of lemon grass fresh and rich, hanging in the air between them like a veil. Like a scarf, until it’s swallowed up by the exhaust hood.

“I want to dance!” she exclaims.

“You always want to dance,” Effie replies. Smiling. Gives the pan another good shake, the veggies sizzling. A bean bursting from the heat. It’s all dancing already, beginning without her. Wait! Wait, she’ll come too. She’ll dance with them.

It feels like she could fly, so light is her body. Butterfly-like, like her feet will dance their steps mid-air, rather than on the ground. On the floor of the kitchen where she is surely all but vibrating from the excitement of it. Effie looks at her for a long moment, before taking the pan off the heat. Then, she moves in front of her. Blocking her, preventing her from taking flight! Holding her back, holding her – holding her, softly. In her arms. In a shift from one moment to the next.

A firm embrace that brings peace to her fluttering mind and shaking limbs. An embrace that traps her, before she gets the chance to escape from herself. Such is Effie’s hold on her, always. Capturing.