nora m. peakes (melindicate) wrote in valesco,
@ 2013-01-18 22:12:00

Entry tags:

Octavius!
Traveling with a rude, over sized ferret and a treasure hunting niffler was not the easiest of tasks. Nora hadn't the foresight to see the hassles that might occur as she'd transported larger, much sharper fanged creatures before. No, no, the scratches on her arms from Kenneth's early morning temper tantrum and the various holes chewed into her pockets because she'd forgotten about the good luck coins her mother often placed in her clothing when she set off on an expedition, had not even remotely been thought of. Nope, she'd just been excited for the weekend trip, having not a single assignment to take up her time.

It seemed like all of her friends were in Istanbul for the cup. Octavius had been there since the beginning, Delilah made her way over last week and was now planning to stay, Adrian's team was advancing to the next round, and Nico was gallivanting around with his partner-in-crime, Larkin. Nora really didn't have much of a care for quidditch, but she had actually never been to Turkey and found being lonely as a good excuse to make the trip. Plus! Lorenzo had been whimpering the last week in ways that could only be interpreted as missing his owner. She'd sent an express owl ahead of time to Nico to arrange where they could meet, in case something exciting popped up before hand (which it tended to, a lot), and the bustling, energetic Istanbul City Port was chosen for a dinner that would include this and that from the various street vendors and one of a kind restaurants.

Dinner, though, was supposed to have been over a half hour ago. Nora leaned forward on the railing overlooking the water, rubbing her hands together because the night was turning rather brisk. Letting out a breath, she decided she'd give it another fifteen minutes. Who knew how fast time flew here, yeah?

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dinglealltheway
2013-01-20 09:40 pm UTC (link)

As he hurriedly ended the drink with a Turkish station manager, which had turned into dinner that long overran its slot in his schedule, Octavius had the notion that he wanted to take a life-long vacation from Quidditch. The Tattler's talkshow hour was pushing for extended programming during the Cup, which he absolutely refused, though they were intent on making his life miserable for it. The shoot-out between Ireland and England, aside from costing him his own body-weight in sweat and very nearly some friendships, required extensive coverage, and elicited a small avalanche in fan response that presently flooded their temporary offices. Though a truce had been struck between him and Mira (not in the least because of his expensive and shiny Christmas present to her), his assistant was not the sunniest of personalities on any given day, and the Italian team, well. Everyone at the WWN was glad they were going home.

Not to mention on top of that, he had to keep daily tabs on his sister, send his brother Tim repeated instructions on goat care, and some reporter started sending him howlers about suspicious events occurring at the Wizarding Wireless Network's New Year's Eve party, about which he didn't know a blessed thing. Would he have liked an explanation as to why he had suddenly ended up horizontal on a floor of questionable hygiene, kissing the life out of Katherine Dagworth-Peakes?

Well, actually, now that he thought about, no. No, he really would rather the vagaries of that night not be probed into, so he sent back a volley of his own howlers with NO COMMENT, and perhaps some with a variety of expletives following it.

So the longer he thought on it, actually, the more he was interested in taking a life-long vacation, period.

As Octavius strode, a sight caught his eye. That sight, of Nora, wasn't a strange one—he'd crossed paths with a volley of people from back home, all here for at least a match or two to cheer on their respective countries—though he did do a double-take at her furry companions. The jarvey, and was that—the sight of one too many mummified nests and a few of their inhabitants had his gag reflex automatically triggering, but a second look assured Octavius this was a niffler alive and well, despite the covering on its eyes. He was surprised Nora hadn't sent him word she would be coming, however, or at least told Delilah, who would have undoubtedly mentioned it to him.

"A bit further forward, and you'll be getting a much closer look at that Aegean than you had in mind," he called.

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melindicate
2013-01-21 01:03 am UTC (link)

"Oh, it's you."

Nora stuck out her foot to kick Kenneth for being rude to Octavius, but he deftly jumped out of the way, flouncing down the curb to go exploring. She was in the right mind to send him into the Aegean sea, as the two, even though they had 'made up' in the sense, were still rather prickly with each other. Nora had to constantly remind herself that the jarvey really didn't have the mental capacity she often claimed him to have, and that she had to act like the adult. Like the human adult.

At least Lorenzo knew how to behave, especially with his adorable blindfold. She would have left the two behind at her hotel room, but Kenneth had torn up his cage so badly that she was sure he'd escape and destroy the room; that was not a bill she wanted to cover. So she was glad to let him wander, knowing that if he got spooked he would come rushing back and properly behave himself. Nora turned to Octavius, putting her hands up as she backed away from the water.

"No, no, I'm rather fine here, thanks," she said, half jokingly as the one thing Nora did not throw herself into was a large body of water, especially when she could not see the bottom. Dragon dens, sure! Deep water? No thank you. She was surprised to see him, even though she'd planned on contacting all the people who were in Istanbul and would be rather put off if she didn't make note of her arrival. What was wrong with wanting a night alone with your handsome curse-breaker?

"How are you?" Nora asked happily, though she did notice he looked a bit tired. She supposed it couldn't be easy, handling news and other wireless coverage of a sporting event that involved more than a dozen countries. Nora gritted her teeth in an exaggerated look of concern, "Is it past your bedtime?"

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dinglealltheway
2013-01-22 11:54 pm UTC (link)

"Hmm?" Oh, yes," he let out absently, slipping his hands in his pockets, "funny, very funny." But even though they joked, his eyes still flicked over his watch's face. "Oh, you know, only by three hours, or so. I do get quite cranky when they make me stay up past 6."

Actually, he could have drooled right on the spot thinking of what it would mean to go to bed at six in the evening instead of six in the morning. He tried not to groan at the thought. He didn't suffer from the lag in time so much as he suffered from the entire absence of enough time. "However, my pillow and I won't be talking until a few more hours at least." The effort to not groan was valiant. "But if I end the day with ensuring Mira hasn't nastily killed a Quidditch player with her bare hands, it will at least be a productive one."

He let a rare opportunity in ragging Nora about her decided unease with water pass, merely walking up to her and watching the ripples of the blue-black Aegean sea below them from the distance she had deemed safe. He slid one hand out to scrub over his face in an attempt to be marginally chipper, trying to ignore the fact that his nose had gone numb in the cold. "When did you get in?"

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melindicate
2013-01-23 10:15 pm UTC (link)

Nora pulled back her sleeve to check her watch, smirking at the time, "About an hour ago. Just dropped off my suitcase---I was going to leave the critters, but with Kenneth's mean streak these days I thought better of it."

She was sorely regretting not leaving the two critters with Max Fancourt, but she had agreed to take care of Lorenzo. Nora might get antsy about staying in one place for too long (and England had started feeling far too comfortable for her sanity), but she kept her promises. She was only staying for a few days, it was nothing when it came to a whole month of being away. It was almost criminal, to be teased with the idea of exploring a new country where nearly half the people she spent time with were, and having to be stuck home critter-sitting. Nope, she'd made it this far, and she was proud she'd managed this long.

"I'm supposed to be meeting my wild man of a boyfriend," she said with a sigh, pulling her wool hat tighter down on her head. It was bloody cold and she was starving (Kenneth had eaten all her treats, he really was a nightmare lately), but Nora was the last person to put blame on anyone that wasn't Charlie Spinnet, "but I'm starting to fear I may have mixed up times. Or places. Or, hell, even countries, who knows."

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dinglealltheway
2013-01-24 04:14 am UTC (link)

Octavius looked over his shoulder to where Kenneth had escaped, and gave a small shrug when he turned back. He knew stubborn animals as well as anybody, and could sympathise strongly when it came to their temperaments. He also tried not to feel terribly guilty when he imagined how his brother was faring. Everybody and everything liked his terribly affable brother, however, so Octavius felt very confident (marginally confident) that Gebhard's stand-offish front was in fact just a front.

"Curse-breakers are of a rather flighty nature," he said matter-of-factly. He was also in a grand position to know that, having two of them for siblings. His gaze dropped to the creature still by her feet, and recognition dawned.

"And this, it appears, is Miss Larkin Whitby's." He bent to do something, perhaps pet the blindfolded niffler, but thought the better of it before his knee even crooked, and so straightened. Mummified nifflers did wonders to kill the cuteness factor. "I had lunch with her a few weeks back—well, probably a week and a half, or s—well, I'm not actually sure, but—your, er… wild man of a boyfriend," as she'd so concisely put it, "was nowhere to be seen."

No, he'd yet to have the pleasure of meeting the tool, but he'd managed to keep his eyerolls and snark to a minimum. "I can wholeheartedly assure you it's him and not you that has it wrong."

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melindicate
2013-01-25 02:20 am UTC (link)

Nora's lips pressed together in a tight smile, attempting to hide her disappointment. She may call him a wild man (and she believed he liked it) it was peculiar to have Nico miss something like this. Even with the short amount of time they had actually been in the same country (which was alarmingly short when she thought about it, so Nora didn't like to), picnics and things like firework watching on large, grassy knolls, were often done on time.

Or at least by the correct position of the sun in the sky.

She dug her hands in her pockets, thinking about her gnawed on gloves back in the hotel room. This had been quite a successful venture so far, yeah? It was easier to wait around and not feel like a fool when she'd been by herself, but now that Octavius was here, it felt like she shouldn't continue hanging out here. She shouldn't care, and would probably manage to stay at least an hour more simply out of guilt brought on herself by even thinking of leaving, but---

"How important are those dunderhead quidditch players?" Nora mused, tilting her head as if contemplating the question thoroughly. There had to be other people working for the WWN other than Octavius and Mira, even though it didn't feel like it most days. And really, what more news could be reported when only a few teams were left in the pool? She rocked back on the balls of her feet, finding herself getting the itch. If Nico could get lost in whatever adventure he was up to, then so could she. When she heard reports about a cave collapsing and causing an avalanche in the morning, then she'd begin to panic.

"I'm only saying because...last time I found myself losing out on a good night, I took us hippogriff racing." Her chin lifted, a mischievous smirk curling her lips. Nora shrugged, blinking innocently, as if riding those majestic creatures was simply nothing at all! "I think it's your turn to save the night. Tag."

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dinglealltheway
2013-01-27 10:00 pm UTC (link)

Though the night in question had been thrilling, he refrained from asking in what lifetime ever had she deemed any night in which Charlie Spinnet would be appearing even bordering "good" enough to be lost. Instead, he mused, supposing he could ignore his mountain of owls to respond to, the last-minute meetings about programming switches and announcers for the matches, a quick briefing on the international news circuit, and sleep in the name of a grand time. The only problem being he had not had the time for, nor could he foresee having the time to be out and exploring the city for such an opportunity. Octavius had been in the city for over a fortnight, and meals were about the only time he had a chance to even see Istanbul, really.

"Yes, with both my infinite resources of time and winged or otherwise interesting creatures, I easily see that happening," he told her, eyebrows raised slightly and voice amused. Not too tired to smirk back at her, Octavius said, "If you were hoping for a repeat of flying beasties, I'm afraid the best I can provide is a bad-tempered camel with a penchant for excessive spitting."

Still, he took the proposal seriously now, even if only as an intellectual exercise, and thought hard. Drumming his fingers lightly along his lips, he tried to remember sights, myths, anything he'd heard in passing about the city that he hadn't had the opportunity to see for himself (which was nothing, so there should have been a lot).

"We could always steal into the Basilica Cistern," he proposed as mostly an intellectual exercise, " and splash around in ancient, muddy waters. I'll even refrain from pushing you into the ones with the fishes, if you're very, very good." He paused and considered before brightly adding, "I think they're carp."

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