◎ c h a r l i e (spinnets) wrote in valesco,
@ 2012-10-06 18:57:00

Entry tags:

charles spinnet, derek dobbs, group, mirabelle jasper, nora peakes, octavius pepper, penelope fawcett

Open to Guests and Friends etc!!!!
Charlie really did love throwing parties, but it seemed like the common theme was that these events were for his really, really good friends. He knew he'd been sort of a prat to Octavius this past year or so, so he really wanted to give his friend a good time. Charlie also wanted to get Octavius' mind off of his recent breakup, which...officially had become> a breakup about a week or so after...they actually broke up. He wasn't exactly sure how everything had gone down, but he knew that this was a Rose-Free-Zone.

"Happy Octaviusfest!" he shouted along with the crowd, taking a swig from his rather large beer glass. The Oktoberfest theme was a hit, there were goats and sheep and geese and horses in pens so that Gebhard could have a blast as well, and there were good people here. No room to make a big mess of things, and it should be a good night.

And he was drinking this time around, so that would make this night even better, he suspected.

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Charlie!

perfectblack
2012-10-07 03:27 am UTC (link)

It was the season for parties, apparently. Penelope didn't know how many times she'd been dragged out of her comfortable hiding space in the last month alone, but she would have made an exception for Octavius regardless. True, she liked him very much as a person, but she also felt quite poorly that the first time or two they'd met, she had badgered him incessantly for details about her sister when they had been dating in school. Penelope didn't realise until some time later how awkward that must have been for him, being that her curiosity and nostalgia were so powerful, and she rather thought he'd taken to avoiding being alone with her ever since.

Though her cheeks reddened profusely at the memory, Penelope was relieved that she did not have to resort to liquor to ease her nerves, as the second they'd arrived, her thoughts had been reduced to ANIMALS! It also helped that this was both much tamer (was that a pun?) and less threatening and stressful than any social event she had been to in, oh, the last year or so. She liked a number of people here, although it was mostly that furry things really did wonders for her neuroses.

Perched atop one of the bales, she waved shyly at Charles when she caught his eye. Truthfully, she'd felt mortified about having gone to her brother's for dinner, and Penelope had even tried to insist it wasn't necessary for them to go, but he was surprisingly stubborn on the matter. It might not have been so bad, had the reception from her brother not been so noticeably frosty, being that everyone else seemed to be trying doubly as hard to make up for it, but she couldn't help feeling just a touch awkward around him now.

"I think the steins you found are quite a success," she told him when he drew a little closer.

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spinnets
2012-10-07 07:55 pm UTC (link)

Charlie grinned widely, dropping down beside her and lifting his glass up to view it in all it's goat-like glory. Merlin, if only Bess Fawcett had planned a barnyard shindig like this, that family dinner would've gone off without a hitch.

He'd appreciated the invitation and now that he'd barely survived the night, Charlie felt a bit disappointed in himself. Penny's sister-in-law was trying to break through this...this wall that had been created, with Charlie's help. He should've put more effort into breaking it down, but who could really manage to get a word out when Drystan Fawcett's eyes looked ready to shoot the killing curse straight at you?

"If you like these, wait until you see the cake," Charlie said with a laugh, putting the glass down by his feet. With his arm free, he put it around Penny's shoulders and pulled her into his side.

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perfectblack
2012-10-07 09:01 pm UTC (link)

She crinkled her nose and laughed as she rested her head against him. "Someone spilled the beans already. I should think it would be terribly uncomfortable to have Gebhard staring at you as you are about to bite off a chocolate goat's head." Penelope looked around, her gaze lingering meaningfully on the pens. "Such torturous acts aside, this is very nice, though. I'm beginning to think all parties should take place here."

Licking her lips, she realised she was beginning to ramble and stopped herself, but that did seem to be as good an opening as she was going to get for the rest of the night.

Hugging her knees a bit harder, Penelope stared very determinedly at a pink toenail and cleared her throat. "Speaking of which… Bess wrote a few days ago, she said to thank you for being such a sport last week." She paused, then added, "And sorry. That's from all of us, though."

As conversational gambits went, it was terribly unsophisticated, but it did do the trick.

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spinnets
2012-10-07 10:50 pm UTC (link)

His ears heated up, "Oh, it---you don't have to be sorry."

It had been humiliating and embarrassing and quite possibly the most awkward situation he'd ever been in, but he certainly didn't want Penny feeling bad about it, or Bess. He was sure that Drystan had not actually sent his apologies, but Charlie could...at least sort of understand the man's hatred. Hell, Charlie hated every bloke Delilah brought home, and some of them where healers and had good reputations. Charlie was just some quidditch punk who was most well known for partying with Axebanger and getting drunk. It---while those things were true, Charlie thought he'd always treated Penny well.

He was an idiot, but he knew how to care for someone he adored.

Charlie ducked his head toward her, letting out a breath through his nose.

"It's fine. I--it's the kind of thing that's gotta be done, you know?" Did he even know what he was talking about? He knew what he meant. There were important things at hand here, really. There was no reason to be living in the past when he was actually seeing a future developing. How one dinner had spurred all of these thoughts, he couldn't tell you, but it seemed like everything was falling into place and he had to do what was right to keep it going in that direction. Penelope loved her family, and he..."Because I---"

He pressed his lips together, losing his nerve.

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perfectblack
2012-10-07 11:44 pm UTC (link)

"—Always do the right thing," Penelope supplied, giving his hand a squeeze. Perhaps he felt too modest to say so himself, but it was inevitably true. She was certain many people who have scoffed at the idea of him going to a dinner party given by her family, including her brother, but when she'd been the one willing to renege, he'd insisted on their attending. He'd shared a million little tidbits with her, about antics his sister pulled that he'd (long-sufferingly, but still) tried to mend. Although she wasn't aware of the particulars, she understood he and Octavius had had their differences over the year, and yet he was responsible for this very fun evening. If it was not obvious Charles Spinnet was a very good person, it was an under-sight on the observer.

But because he did do that noble and loyal thing so often, and so well, Penelope thought she'd have to be the one to put an end in the attempts to scale what was for now an insurmountable obstacle, before irreparable damage by one party was done. "And I appreciate that, I do," she made certain to say, very clearly.

"But," she chewed her lip in a frightful habit of old, wondering how best to put into words what nothing but a few hollow-sounding utterances in the lonely dark some time ago could convey, "as I said to her, and will say to you, I think it's time to give up the ghost for this one thing. He's—everything else is fine as it is, isn't it?"

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spinnets
2012-10-08 02:52 am UTC (link)

His heart thudded heavily in his chest. She thought so highly of him, it was terrifying. Charlie never wanted to disappoint Penelope, did he always do the right thing? That was a lot to live up to, that was a lot to think about. The 'right thing' could be considered different things when looked at by other people, Drystan Fawcett most certainly did not think that Charlie did the right thing.

He tried, that was one thing. He always tried to do the right thing, what he believed in his gut to be the right thing. Charlie felt his face heat up at Penny's kind words, but his smile fell with her last comment.

Fine as it is?

"Penny..." he started, wondering how his emotions could have switched so quickly in the five minutes he was sitting beside her. It happened a lot when Charlie was in the company of Penelope Fawcett, but he had no bloody idea how or why it did. Well, he might have some sort of clue. He bit his tongue before finally blurting, "I love you!"

It hung in the air for a moment, but Charlie managed to catch some of his senses before they disappeared into the clear night sky, "I do and---I want things to change...for the better! That's--I want us to..." There was no way he was going to be able to say what he wanted without sounding like a fool. Charlie shook his head, covering his face with his hand, "I'm such a ponce, I'm sorry..."

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perfectblack
2012-10-08 04:09 am UTC (link)

"Oh." Her eyes abruptly filled with tears as she stared hard at the ground, and she swallowed around a lump. "That's a nice thing to hear. No one's said that to me before."

It was, it was the first time, Penelope thought faintly. The first time anyone had said those words to her because they wanted to, and not because they had to. She'd never imagined how it would feel to hear them, because she never imagined them being said in such a way to her. It felt much more overwhelming than she'd anticipated, in a difficult-to-breathe, about-to-sob, heart-pounding sort of way, although it was lovely. Overwhelmingly lovely.

Quickly dashing one stray tear away with her wrist, she said, "I love you, too," in a voice that she feared was much gummier than it ought to be, for making such declarations. Her heart felt a bit like it was in a vice, although she didn't know why that should be. It wasn't as if she hadn't thought such things to herself for a very long time. Penelope finally felt brave enough to look up at him, but not quite enough to tug his hand away. "Why are you sorry?"

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spinnets
2012-10-08 04:10 pm UTC (link)

He peeked at her through his fingers. Charlie had thought it would be easier to say, because he already knew that she loved him from her drunken murmuring at Axe's party, but it really didn't make it any easier. His heart was pounding out of his chest, he felt nauseous and---she loved him too. Charlie let out a breath and dropped his hand.

"Yeah?" he asked stupidly. She wouldn't have said it if she didn't. Charlie would be the first to admit that he'd never felt the need to tell a girl he was seeing that he loved her, and that to him it mean that he'd never actually been in love before. He felt like the biggest sap in the world as his face heated up in excitement at this fact.

"This is not how I wanted to say that for the first time," Charlie laughed, looking around at the bales of hay and party-goers. He smiled at Penny, letting out a breath. "Penny, I love you and...." Charlie ducked his eyes, "and I don't want to have to hide it from...anyone so--you're going to have to deal with my stupidity, that's what I'm sorry for," he ended with a laugh.

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perfectblack
2012-10-10 02:48 am UTC (link)

Oh, the second time wasn't much easier to hear than the first, she thought, as her heartbeat hiccuped and galloped and did its usual acrobatics where Charles was concerned. It would have been so nice, it was nice, but she seemed to be having a minor panic attack, albeit a pleasant one. Goodness only knew how many times the words had almost slipped out of her over the months, but it never felt as if it were the right time to be saying them. No, she'd felt content in the knowledge of her love, that their very rocky start had solidified into something lovely and meaningful. By no means were things perfect, but that was hardly a reasonable expectation, particularly with her being one-half of the relationship.

Although Penelope still thought that things might end disastrously with her brother, she felt warmer at the idea that it wasn't simply pride or obstinacy motivating her boyfriend's involvement, but also wanting to be with her. Not wanting to hide or play coy. Penelope was still an expert keeper of secrets, and she tended to default to playing her cards very close to the chest, but the idea that someone else would want to do just the opposite in a matter that concerned her was very moving.

"That's all right," she said quietly, hugging her ankles and resting her cheek on her knees as she looked at him with a little smile. "I can be quite stupid as well."

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