[Fic] The Cherry Blossom Princess
Jun. 2nd, 2010 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kittydesadeTitle: The Cherry Blossom Princess
Fandom: White Collar
Characters: Diana (Lancing?)
Word Count: 1650 words
Rating: PG
Summary: Living in a highly Democratic government town has its perks. Diana and Kristy get married before the various and sundry legislative bodies can change their minds, taking advantage of the season.
A/N: Many thanks as usual to Kiki and Anna for the read-over.
“Why does everyone else have to get married in the spring, too?”
Anita only chuckled as she pulled tight the laces on Diana’s corset. The complaints had long since been registered, along with the protestations that she really couldn’t take that much time off work and what if it rained and ten different other worries that she forgot as soon as five more sprang up to take their place. At first Anita had tried to talk sense into the other woman, then she’d decided that the normally unflappable and poised Diana Lancing was going through the same pre-wedding jitters that everyone did.
“...I mean, it’s not as though it’s late spring, either. We were careful. We avoided the whole May thing...”
“Which had nothing to do with avoiding the second most common month for weddings and everything to do with policy,” Anita interrupted, slapping the other woman’s ribs with the flat of her fingers. “Stop talking. Better yet, stop breathing."
Diana made a face, then sighed, then realized she couldn’t really do that in a corset and came up hiccupping instead. Then she said a very un-bride-like word. She did wait until the corset had been tightened to speak again. “They can’t repeal it this quickly. Not after it passed.”
Anita just shook her head. After all the ups and downs of the last five years she wasn’t willing to put any kind of certainty on any law, not until it had been law for a few years and everyone had found something else to be outraged by. “Still, better safe than sorry,” she smoothed down the flaps of Diana’s dress over the corset lacings and hitched up the train. “Are you ready?”
All Soul’s Church was at the crossroads of well-to-do Mount Pleasant and the predominantly working-class Adams Morgan, not the most prestigious of districts but far from the slums as well; it was hard to be the slums when you were in the NorthWest quadrant. It was also a beautiful, historical church, had been renovated three times, and one of the few that were willing to host the union of a same-sex couple. Decked out for the festival in varying shades of pink cut with tasteful amounts of white, it made a beautiful backdrop for a slightly hasty wedding.
They’d chosen a small ceremony, to make it official and give their friends and relatives a chance to be there at the first, and talked about booking a bigger ceremony further down the line. The first time Diana started fussing over the details of the small wedding Kristy threatened to make that the official one. The truth was they both felt the wistful lack of elegant decorations, grand music, and someone’s family member sobbing in the second pew. If nothing else, a beautiful church demanded a beautiful wedding, white walls scrubbed clean and draped in flowers and bunting, hardwood floor creaking softly under their feet. Today their vows seemed to echo off the walls and the balcony, and there were only a few parishioners scattered through the wide, arching space.
“Maybe by the time we get it all put together, they’ll have figured out how to alter the wedding protocol,” Kristy had said, just the night before, as they’d huddled together in bed against the impending weight of what they were about to do.
Diana’s mouth sort of twitched. “There isn’t really that much stuff to rewrite, is there?”
“Well, there’s the processional. And the arrangement of bridesmaids and groomsmen...” Kristy raised her arms around Diana and started ticking things off on her fingers until Diana laughed and tugged the other woman’s hands back down.
“All right, all right. I yield to your superior planning experience.”
They’d spent the rest of the night on that, too, planning their future big wedding. Dashing down the steps and where they'd have their reception, in the parks or in one of the many banquet halls. The ceremony felt quicker as a result of all the elaborate planning and daydreaming. Briefly spoken and soon gone, and then there was a ring on her finger and Diana couldn’t help but feel a little bit cheated by the necessity of having to rush things through before a bunch of politicians changed their minds.
The celebration of that legal binding would be beautiful, at least. The city planners had taken care of that. As soon as they’d figured out a date they’d both agreed that they would take advantage of the Cherry Blossom Festival to give the very rushed ceremony a more festive atmosphere. They could have the legalities out of the way, then go and show off their pretty formalwear and carefully arranged hairdos in a shower of pale pink petals and a clamor of people enjoying themselves. Or at least, that was the plan.
“You should have seen the director when I told him I was taking today off to get married,” Diana chattered as they settled into their seats on the metro. The corset still forced her to sit straight-backed against the wall seat under the map, but she minded much less now that they’d suffered through their first round of family-taken wedding photos. It’d look good, later. By the look on her gi—wife’s face, it looked good now.
Her wife. What a strange, light, and wonderful thought.
Kristy was leaning against the side panel and holding her hand, and in that way it felt like an ordinary weekend day come one day early. A brace of normalcy against the heightened excitement. In another way, she could see the gleam of braided yellow and white gold on their hands where it hadn’t been until a short while ago that day. That was not yet a part of an ordinary day, and it gave her a quiet little thrill.
“Did he say anything?” Kristy said, sounding almost half-asleep. The Metro did that to her.
Diane shook her head. “There wasn’t really anything he could say. It’s legal and legally binding, and he’s not allowed to discriminate against ...” Gay couples. She didn’t finish it, but shrugged to imply everything she hadn’t said.
Kristy snorted. “Thank god for the government. We don’t care what you do as long as you’re equally screwed.”
“Or equally taken care of,” Anita pointed out. “Remember the health care bill.”
“It won’t pass.”
Diana leaned forward to head this off before it became a heated discussion. One thing she had learned from living in DC, as it had with the arts in New York, every conversation turned around to politics sooner or later. “Can we have a moratorium on political debate just for the next couple of hours? Please?”
“Of course, love.” And because she was the bride, or, well, one of, everyone fell silent.
And stayed silent till they got to the Metro stop for the street festival. “Well, now we just don’t have anything to talk about.” Everyone laughed.
The Cherry Blossom street festival portion of the event was still gearing up by the time they got there. Full swing wouldn’t happen till early evening, considering that it was music and food and all the trappings of DC nightlife, but they both wanted to get there before people they didn’t know were in danger of being drunk and disorderly, while they could still enjoy the festival. And while the merchants and vendors, food vendors and musicians were still setting up they were still rested and willing to make conversation. Kristy got herself lost in conversation.
Diana got herself lost in market stalls.
She was like a magpie, always looking. Reaching out and touching. Not that she wanted most of it but style and beauty had always fascinated her. And the market vendors who set up during the Cherry Blossom Festival always had the neatest things. Pink caps adorned at least a quarter of the heads that bobbed between the canopy covers, and she got lost in the background murmur of the crowd and the glitter of street market jewelry and cherry blossom fabric.
“Hey there, gorgeous.”
Kristy’s arm slid around her waist, preventing Diana from jumping quite out of her skin. Diana leaned over and smiled at her wife (wife!) and then turned to rest her chin on her shoulder. “Anything interesting happening in the world?”
“Nothing terribly important.” Kristy sounded pleased with herself though, which meant that it had been a conversation of some entertainment value if not of substance. “See anything you like?”
“Nothing I need.” Just shiny things that, while pretty, were easily do-without-able. “All I need is right here.”
Kristy made the little happy sighing noise that was kind of like laughing but without actually doing so. So it hadn’t sounded too hokey then, and her next few thoughts were lost in a breeze of pink petals and her wife’s hair tickling her nose. Somewhere in the embrace they started to dance, which was more like very slow waltzing in place to some song that was playing over half-working speakers. The lyrics were in Japanese. The only word Diana recognized was sakura, cherry blossom.
“Do you think they’re staring?” she asked after a second, amused. She was pretty sure the street wasn’t supposed to be a dance floor, anyway, but they were playing music and it was early in the evening.
Kristy shook her head. “I think they’re busy enjoying themselves.” Maybe a bit of admonishment, but also definitely a smile there.
“I’m enjoying myself,” Diana protested, laughing. “I’m...!”
Slipping in cherry blossoms petals, apparently, the tissue paper kind right now. Diana managed to salvage it from a slip-and-fall to a dip and twist, Kristy’s wide eyes greeting her as they swung her upright again.
“Dancing. I’m dancing. Totally dancing.”
Kristy laughed. “Would you care to dance with me, Mrs. Lancing-Taylor?”
“I would love to, Mrs. Taylor-Lancing.”
Fandom: White Collar
Characters: Diana (Lancing?)
Word Count: 1650 words
Rating: PG
Summary: Living in a highly Democratic government town has its perks. Diana and Kristy get married before the various and sundry legislative bodies can change their minds, taking advantage of the season.
A/N: Many thanks as usual to Kiki and Anna for the read-over.
“Why does everyone else have to get married in the spring, too?”
Anita only chuckled as she pulled tight the laces on Diana’s corset. The complaints had long since been registered, along with the protestations that she really couldn’t take that much time off work and what if it rained and ten different other worries that she forgot as soon as five more sprang up to take their place. At first Anita had tried to talk sense into the other woman, then she’d decided that the normally unflappable and poised Diana Lancing was going through the same pre-wedding jitters that everyone did.
“...I mean, it’s not as though it’s late spring, either. We were careful. We avoided the whole May thing...”
“Which had nothing to do with avoiding the second most common month for weddings and everything to do with policy,” Anita interrupted, slapping the other woman’s ribs with the flat of her fingers. “Stop talking. Better yet, stop breathing."
Diana made a face, then sighed, then realized she couldn’t really do that in a corset and came up hiccupping instead. Then she said a very un-bride-like word. She did wait until the corset had been tightened to speak again. “They can’t repeal it this quickly. Not after it passed.”
Anita just shook her head. After all the ups and downs of the last five years she wasn’t willing to put any kind of certainty on any law, not until it had been law for a few years and everyone had found something else to be outraged by. “Still, better safe than sorry,” she smoothed down the flaps of Diana’s dress over the corset lacings and hitched up the train. “Are you ready?”
All Soul’s Church was at the crossroads of well-to-do Mount Pleasant and the predominantly working-class Adams Morgan, not the most prestigious of districts but far from the slums as well; it was hard to be the slums when you were in the NorthWest quadrant. It was also a beautiful, historical church, had been renovated three times, and one of the few that were willing to host the union of a same-sex couple. Decked out for the festival in varying shades of pink cut with tasteful amounts of white, it made a beautiful backdrop for a slightly hasty wedding.
They’d chosen a small ceremony, to make it official and give their friends and relatives a chance to be there at the first, and talked about booking a bigger ceremony further down the line. The first time Diana started fussing over the details of the small wedding Kristy threatened to make that the official one. The truth was they both felt the wistful lack of elegant decorations, grand music, and someone’s family member sobbing in the second pew. If nothing else, a beautiful church demanded a beautiful wedding, white walls scrubbed clean and draped in flowers and bunting, hardwood floor creaking softly under their feet. Today their vows seemed to echo off the walls and the balcony, and there were only a few parishioners scattered through the wide, arching space.
“Maybe by the time we get it all put together, they’ll have figured out how to alter the wedding protocol,” Kristy had said, just the night before, as they’d huddled together in bed against the impending weight of what they were about to do.
Diana’s mouth sort of twitched. “There isn’t really that much stuff to rewrite, is there?”
“Well, there’s the processional. And the arrangement of bridesmaids and groomsmen...” Kristy raised her arms around Diana and started ticking things off on her fingers until Diana laughed and tugged the other woman’s hands back down.
“All right, all right. I yield to your superior planning experience.”
They’d spent the rest of the night on that, too, planning their future big wedding. Dashing down the steps and where they'd have their reception, in the parks or in one of the many banquet halls. The ceremony felt quicker as a result of all the elaborate planning and daydreaming. Briefly spoken and soon gone, and then there was a ring on her finger and Diana couldn’t help but feel a little bit cheated by the necessity of having to rush things through before a bunch of politicians changed their minds.
The celebration of that legal binding would be beautiful, at least. The city planners had taken care of that. As soon as they’d figured out a date they’d both agreed that they would take advantage of the Cherry Blossom Festival to give the very rushed ceremony a more festive atmosphere. They could have the legalities out of the way, then go and show off their pretty formalwear and carefully arranged hairdos in a shower of pale pink petals and a clamor of people enjoying themselves. Or at least, that was the plan.
“You should have seen the director when I told him I was taking today off to get married,” Diana chattered as they settled into their seats on the metro. The corset still forced her to sit straight-backed against the wall seat under the map, but she minded much less now that they’d suffered through their first round of family-taken wedding photos. It’d look good, later. By the look on her gi—wife’s face, it looked good now.
Her wife. What a strange, light, and wonderful thought.
Kristy was leaning against the side panel and holding her hand, and in that way it felt like an ordinary weekend day come one day early. A brace of normalcy against the heightened excitement. In another way, she could see the gleam of braided yellow and white gold on their hands where it hadn’t been until a short while ago that day. That was not yet a part of an ordinary day, and it gave her a quiet little thrill.
“Did he say anything?” Kristy said, sounding almost half-asleep. The Metro did that to her.
Diane shook her head. “There wasn’t really anything he could say. It’s legal and legally binding, and he’s not allowed to discriminate against ...” Gay couples. She didn’t finish it, but shrugged to imply everything she hadn’t said.
Kristy snorted. “Thank god for the government. We don’t care what you do as long as you’re equally screwed.”
“Or equally taken care of,” Anita pointed out. “Remember the health care bill.”
“It won’t pass.”
Diana leaned forward to head this off before it became a heated discussion. One thing she had learned from living in DC, as it had with the arts in New York, every conversation turned around to politics sooner or later. “Can we have a moratorium on political debate just for the next couple of hours? Please?”
“Of course, love.” And because she was the bride, or, well, one of, everyone fell silent.
And stayed silent till they got to the Metro stop for the street festival. “Well, now we just don’t have anything to talk about.” Everyone laughed.
The Cherry Blossom street festival portion of the event was still gearing up by the time they got there. Full swing wouldn’t happen till early evening, considering that it was music and food and all the trappings of DC nightlife, but they both wanted to get there before people they didn’t know were in danger of being drunk and disorderly, while they could still enjoy the festival. And while the merchants and vendors, food vendors and musicians were still setting up they were still rested and willing to make conversation. Kristy got herself lost in conversation.
Diana got herself lost in market stalls.
She was like a magpie, always looking. Reaching out and touching. Not that she wanted most of it but style and beauty had always fascinated her. And the market vendors who set up during the Cherry Blossom Festival always had the neatest things. Pink caps adorned at least a quarter of the heads that bobbed between the canopy covers, and she got lost in the background murmur of the crowd and the glitter of street market jewelry and cherry blossom fabric.
“Hey there, gorgeous.”
Kristy’s arm slid around her waist, preventing Diana from jumping quite out of her skin. Diana leaned over and smiled at her wife (wife!) and then turned to rest her chin on her shoulder. “Anything interesting happening in the world?”
“Nothing terribly important.” Kristy sounded pleased with herself though, which meant that it had been a conversation of some entertainment value if not of substance. “See anything you like?”
“Nothing I need.” Just shiny things that, while pretty, were easily do-without-able. “All I need is right here.”
Kristy made the little happy sighing noise that was kind of like laughing but without actually doing so. So it hadn’t sounded too hokey then, and her next few thoughts were lost in a breeze of pink petals and her wife’s hair tickling her nose. Somewhere in the embrace they started to dance, which was more like very slow waltzing in place to some song that was playing over half-working speakers. The lyrics were in Japanese. The only word Diana recognized was sakura, cherry blossom.
“Do you think they’re staring?” she asked after a second, amused. She was pretty sure the street wasn’t supposed to be a dance floor, anyway, but they were playing music and it was early in the evening.
Kristy shook her head. “I think they’re busy enjoying themselves.” Maybe a bit of admonishment, but also definitely a smile there.
“I’m enjoying myself,” Diana protested, laughing. “I’m...!”
Slipping in cherry blossoms petals, apparently, the tissue paper kind right now. Diana managed to salvage it from a slip-and-fall to a dip and twist, Kristy’s wide eyes greeting her as they swung her upright again.
“Dancing. I’m dancing. Totally dancing.”
Kristy laughed. “Would you care to dance with me, Mrs. Lancing-Taylor?”
“I would love to, Mrs. Taylor-Lancing.”