Who: Santiago Cervantes and Jolene Flint
What: Marriage discussions
When: A...few weeks ago? We're slow :]
Lately, he felt like he was back at home, where if you did not have the luck to run into a wizard, muggleborns would never find out that they could perform magic. Santiago wondered how different his life would have ended up, his life and that of his two sisters, if he had not stumbled upon the wizarding community near his home in Portugal. Would he be happier, not having to deal with all the strife that they were put through, all the money they spent to ship their kids to Scotland to attend Hogwarts, because the Portuguese and Spanish schools refused to acknowledge their existence as wizards? He would have gone to university, like his father always wanted, he would be living at home with all his family and friends, he wouldn't have to deal with his basic human rights being stripped away slowly, but surely.
But, then, he would never have met Jolene.
Letting out a breath, Santiago knocked on the door to her flat, bundled up in a warm jacket and scarf, because the weather seemed to be skipping autumn and heading straight into winter. There had already been a lot of shouting and crying about the Marriage Act (his sister was in hysterics for maybe an hour, and then spent another two hours on the phone with Andrea in Portugal), and Santiago
felt like he had something of a solution, but he didn't know how his fiancee would take to the idea. He'd been around enough women in his life to know how they thought, so he was wary.
The door opened, and he grinned; he couldn't help it when he saw Jolene, "Hello--are you busy?"
Jolene was positively beside herself these past few days. Things had been all been going so well; she'd finally found herself a beautiful, perfect man who loved her, he'd proposed, and the plans for their magical wedding had been underway... and then, like lightening, the Ministry just ended it all! Blam! Like they were positively intent on ruining her life!
She was curled on the couch with Ares, sulking when he knocked on the door. She had only just ended the conversation she'd been having with her mother minutes ago, and it had done nothing to cheer up her already soured disposition. Not to say that Jolene didn't get along with her mother... usually, the two were extremely close. But the woman was determined to see her (formerly ugly) daughter wed to a successful, handsome man, and so had become a nuisance, constantly bothering her with questions and trying to convince her that she and Santiago simply
had to take those tests.
Groaning as she rolled herself to her feet, she absently gave her dog's head a gentle pat as she trudged from the living room to the front door, opening it cautiously. She had honestly not been expecting anyone, least of all him, and so she was dressed in a teeshirt and sweatpants, the latter of which obviously belonged to her brother judging by the way they had to be triple knotted just to stay around her tiny waist. Another hint was the word UNITED that was emblazoned hugely down one leg.
Blinking hugely, she hesitated but a moment before shaking her head and rushing at him, throwing her arms around him with a small hiccup of despair. Busy? Oh, of course not. All of her hard planning had gone to crap, so there was really nothing left for her to do, was there? The thought of it, coupled with the sight of that charming smile and him just being all gorgeous, caused her to suddenly burst into noisy, embarrassing tears. "We're never getting m-married!"
His expression faltered immediately and Santiago wrapped her up in his arms immediately. His chin dropped to her shoulder with a frown, and he let Jolene wail for a bit before one last squeeze. He pulled back and smiled solemnly, "It is cold, we should go in."
Shutting the door behind her, Santiago slowly pulled off his jacket and scarf as he tried to put his thoughts together. If he knew Jolene, if he knew how she felt about him, about
them, then this should not be a problem, but a woman's wedding day was supposedly something they had been thinking about all their life, and he basically wanted to cut it down to the basic concept. Draping his belongings onto a nearby coat hanger, his hands clasped as if he was getting ready to lecture his interns. Not that he wanted to lecture her, but putting his idea out with points and valid arguments (if there was going to be an argument) would make his life easier.
"I was thinking---" Hell. This taking it serious business was not working at all, and Santiago dropped down beside her on the couch. "I know how---it---we could get married by the end of the month," he blurted. Suddenly going pale, Santiago looked down at his hands before his head shot back up to explain.
"But--we'd have to do it the muggle way. Everything, and---the reception place wouldn't be as great, pero I think that--if we wait any longer, the Ministry might make it so we cannot even do it
this way, and--and I do not know if I could live with that and---"
He let out a breath; Santiago was not used to babbling, but this had him terribly nervous. She would want her big party, right? They could work hard to get it, but with all the new rulings he had no idea if they would be able to make it to December. "I will wait, though, if you want to wait."
Various sniffling noises sounded from her as she allowed herself to be ushered inside, parting from him and sterring herself back towards the couch as he settled himself in. Plopping down face-first into the cushions, she could only let out a muffled grunt of protest as Ares, excited to see Santiago, bounded from her perch and successfully trampled Jolene in the process. She only lifted herself into a seated position when he began to talk again, swiping at her eyes and fixing him with a watery, pitiful gaze. "By the end of the month!?"
This revelation seemed to cheer her considerably... but as he went on, it was obvious by the fall of her face that this was not at all what she had had in mind. But it was logical... with the way things were going in the Wizarding world, they couldn't rule out the possibility that their marriage might be outlawed altogether before long. And that was most certainly not something that she was willing to give up. But still... she knew close to nothing about the Muggle World. And her parents... oh Merlin. She sighed, her featured pulled into a childish expression that clearly said, 'this stinks'.
"Of
course I don't want to wait," she groaned, slumping against his shoulder. "But... the muggle way? I don't even know what that
is. And my parents would be so upset, Santi, I just... I don't know what to do." Drawing back just enough so that she could look him in the eye again, she ran the back of her knuckles across her lashes to clear the tears that still dewed there. "I just want to get married," she began, but her pitch was beginning to rise in a tell-tale sign of her increasing hysteria, "and the Ministry is ruining
everything!"
Sinking her teeth firmly into her bottom lip, she averted her gaze, visibly struggling to compose herself. This took quite a bit of time, but finally she managed to glance at him again, brows drawn together and her bottom lip protruding in a pout. "Is this... really what you want to do?"
Santiago pressed his hands to his eyes. All he wanted to do was getting married, too. He wanted to get married, he wanted to get a house, he wanted to plan their future, but with all of the ministry's new rulings and regulations, it was going to take so much effort and--even at the end of it, maybe they would
not be given the right. A part of him whispered to just find a small chapel to elope in and that was
that, but he had been raised to believe that marriage was a holy commitment that should be seen in the eyes of God and your family, he couldn't go through with a quick no-strings attach marriage even if Jolene was fine with it.
"I do not think it is that different, the ceremonies," he mumbled, hands still on his face. Santiago tried to recall the wizarding marriages he had been to, "Just---the magic is left out, really---"
He dropped his hands and twisted to Jolene. She seemed so nervous, but willing to do what he thought was best. He could not let her agree to something she had no idea about, he had to show her that it was okay, that it was fine and a way to get married that would please everyone.
"'Dearly beloved," he began softly, hands drifting to hers, "we are gathered here today to join together to holy matrimony, Jolene-Lucille Flint and Santiago Nicolao Cervantes." He grinned, lifting their hands up between their bodies. Just hearing the words was getting his heart pounding, he could not
imagine what it would be like to hear them in a church in front of all their friends and family. Hopefully they would make her feel the same way, and she would understand why he believed they could be happy with this kind of ceremony.
"I, Santiago, take you Jolene, to be my wife," getting nervous sitting here on the couch, ay dios- He grinned, eyebrows going high to somewhat lighten his words, but it wasn't happening, "to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part----"
He shrugged, looking down at their hands, "It would be like that, I think."
