◎ c h a r l i e (spinnets) wrote in valesco,
@ 2011-12-26 23:36:00

Entry tags:

anya kalinnikov, billie trimble, carys llewellyn, charles spinnet, delilah spinnet, group, joey jenkins, mirabelle jasper, octavius pepper, penelope fawcett, rose knightley, rupert brookstanton, seth wadcock, therese bonaccord, victoria cadwallader, zoey moran

NEW YEAR'S EVE POST
It felt good to be the host of the party, and not the one creating a scene and making an entrance. Though Charlie would never admit it, the therapy sessions with Healer Bonaccord had...well, he still wasn't happy with everything going on in his life, but it had given him an outlet other than the bar, and that was allowing him let out the pent up stress he'd been bottling in. It was hard to figure things out by yourself, and for someone whose ego was as fragile as his, Charlie was slowly realizing that he needed a complete stranger to release his anxieties.

Of course, he wouldn't feel like he'd completely found peace until he managed to get her in the sack, but that was just a personal goal of his.

At any rate, Charlie was finding that being the host was interesting. Everyone knew you were going to be there, so there wasn't a great surprise when they saw you, but after those greetings were done they were off to see who else had shown up. It looked like a good outcome, but Charlie felt a bit slighted as it was pretty deep into the night and a certain invitee had not appeared in the crowd. With a breath he pushed the door open to the balcony and stepped out into the cool December night.

He stuck his hands into his pockets, spotting some displays of fireworks over the tops of the surrounding buildings. Charlie grinned at the early celebrations and let his shoulder sag.

ooc: guests = quidditch related people + their guest?

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dinglealltheway
2011-12-30 02:34 am UTC (link)

Octavius didn't have much luck when it came to dates. For ringing in the previous new year, he'd had crazy Elsie still clinging to him like a burr. Though mid-way to the peak of frustration with her, Octavius couldn't deny it had been nice to have someone there. This year, he was faced with the prospect of going to Charlie's bash, with whom he was still not on fully good terms with, totally alone. Since, he presumed, "and guest" did not generally mean livestock—or, pardon, other mammalian companions. Also, Gebhard proved to be a bit resentful of Octavius's divided attentions, and he figured a jealous goat at a crowded New Year's gathering was likely inappropriate. But then again, it was Charlie Spinnet's party, and Octavius somehow found it easy to believe he wouldn't mind. But handsome a specimen though he was, Gebhard still wasn't cured of his predilection for cloth materials and Octavius fancied most guests wouldn't enjoy being part of the buffet. His other potential dates included Tertia or Nona, the first being a critic of all professional sports-affiliated activities (a brush with a broken heart by an unnamed player in their youth) and the second being somewhere in Nicaragua. So here he was, stag at a New Year's Eve party thrown by his sometimes-best friend, one of the only non-Quidditch players.

It wasn't quite so bad. A social creature by nature and already friendly with many faces, he found it easy enough to mingle around the room, but it still wasn't quite enjoyable. That was when he saw Rose Knightley looking about as comfortable as he felt (which wasn't very). It had been nicer than expected connecting with her again, even though they'd stayed friendly. He was just making his way over to her, a step away, when she turned and their heads collided spectacularly.

"Oof!" Octavius's hands shot out to her shoulders to both steady himself and a somewhat futile attempt to make sure she was all right as he snorted. "Is it the New Year yet? I believe I'm seeing fireworks."

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flower
2011-12-31 02:42 am UTC (link)

It was a good thing Octavius reached out to grab her; his support made her body waver less from the impact. Or was just that her spinning head was making it feel like her legs were weak? Rose continued to blink quickly for a few moments, not letting go of her tight hold on him yet.

It was a pleasant surprise to see him here (despite their rather violent coming together). Actually, the more Rose thought about it, his presence really shouldn't have been a surprise at all... she quickly pushed that thought aside, not needing to remind herself of how, in fact, she had muddled what had been one of her most normal relationships almost two years later. No need to think about that! Things were better now, they were talking again, it was rather nice actually. He was always so nice to her...

Rose gulped and allowed herself to laugh. The fact that it came came out in a strangled, nervous manner was something she couldn't even begin to deal with. Her grip on his chest loosened and she dropped her hand.

"Not quite yet," she mustered, a feeble smile appearing on her lips. "Are you alright? I didn't mean to--- I didn't know you were here!" Rose strained her voice in an attempt to overpower the noise around them. "I mean, I would have head-butted you much earlier if I had known."

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dinglealltheway
2012-01-02 09:57 pm UTC (link)

By nature, Octavius wasn't much of a drinker. He had a reasonable tolerance for a man of his stature, but he had no inclination toward insobriety, so he didn't exercise it much. And after the trip to Germany, where he'd not only been lost in a foreign country where he did not speak the language for roughly twenty-four hours, but also got married and adopted a goat, not to mention being hung over for days afterward, he rather thought never to pick up an alcoholic beverage again in his life.

Until tonight, of course. Individually, the potential for a scene with his best friend (though they were at a shaky truce), a crowd of people ranging from unknown to fairly close acquaintances (perhaps even friends), and facing the prospect of a new year alone had driven him to imbibe. A modest amount, he had thought, but a little bump from Rose shouldn't have had his head still spinning. Octavius hadn't even removed his hands from her shoulders yet, and when he'd finally taken his eyes off the top of her head, he got his first good look at her of the night, unobscured by the milling people or overly-close proximity. And he was struck. He even thought, abashedly, somewhere in the corner of his mind, that his jaw dropped. Was this inappropriate? It probably was. Still couldn't help himself, though. He just tried not to be lecherous while doing so. Maybe not very hard. Gracious, was the room still spinning a bit? Maybe he was he drunk?

"Blimey," Octavius breathed, his gaze slowly falling from her now-brown hair to the shining gold of her outfit, then the lean silhouette of her leg, "you look sensational."

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flower
2012-01-03 05:54 am UTC (link)

She opened her mouth to say something, but the thought was lost to her as quickly as it had came. Rose snapped her mouth shut, and felt her skin come alive with Octavius' obvious and sweeping gaze. Her hand instinctively went toward her hair, intending to comb a piece of it in a nervous manner, but she stopped herself. This was Octavius, she didn't need to feel anxious around him. He--- he had just meant it in a complementary manner. You could say things that to your ex without implying anything. Thomas told her she looked nice all the time. Well maybe he didn't use the word sensational but he still---

Why was she thinking about Thomas?

Swallowing did not help lessen the heat coming from her cheeks, but it did focus her thoughts. "Thank you," Rose spoke weakly, again a small smile playing on her lips. "You, as usual, look very handsome." See! It was not inappropriate at all. She would not deny Octavius' overall attractiveness, something that had originally struck her when they first met. It was--- while her head still felt light, Rose felt like that had been the right thing to say.

A electrifying jolt suddenly ran through her the moment some people around them began to count backwards. With a moment of lapse of control, she gave a quick glance around (were those fireworks?) before making a snap decision. She needed to leave now.

"Oh I should go---" Rose started, already beginning to turn on her heel with her words. She rose her hand toward him to give a small wave, too focused on her task to feel guilty for leaving so abruptly.

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dinglealltheway
2012-01-03 07:07 am UTC (link)

The countdown startled him, so struck by the bolt of attraction or fascination or infatuation, or whatever the hell else it was that Octavius had suddenly and inexplicably felt toward Rose. Of course, she was attractive, everyone knew that. They'd even dated, for Hera's sake, so this was nothing new to him. Flustered as he was by this development, though he really shouldn't be, Octavius didn't even register she was turning to leave until Rose had walked away. He didn't have a good explanation for it. He really didn't understand why he was doing it, but something told him he just shouldn't let Rose walk away like that.

"No, stay!" he blurted out, catching hold of her hand before she could make it more than a few steps away. Hoping this wave of impulse would carry him through, because he had not planned anything and did not want to risk look like more of a fool by standing and stammering at her, he bought himself a moment of time by moving closer. "Look, I don't—I'm not here with anyone, and…" he trailed off a bit bashfully with a shrug of one shoulder. It was un-time, wasn't it? The last bits of 1982 that no one would pay attention to, being too eager to usher in the start of a new calendar year. When was a better time to be impulsive and not understand why? Perhaps when the clock struck midnight to 1983, such foolhardiness would be erased. Or, well, it was worth a shot, anyway.

"Well, really, what better company is there than yours to ring in a new year?" he said with a hesitant grin.

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flower
2012-01-04 01:59 am UTC (link)

"I--" she started, and faltered once she felt his hand. Rose bit her lip, torn between her natural flightily behavior, and Octavius. But his words seemed to calm and entice her, if that was even possible, so her feet stopped. She also experienced a warm, pleasant feeling with their hands together, as she always had, so he really had her body in favor.

She opened her mouth to respond, but found she didn't know what to say to his last question. Rose fumbled, glancing down at joined hands as the collective room's counting seemed to get louder and louder until it stopped altogether. Only a couple of seconds passed before the people around them were kissing and cheering, doing whatever they pleased, as she and Octavius just stood there, staring at each other. Rose began to feel pressured by the crowd surrounding them, not to mention didn't know what he was expecting and--- alright!

Not daring to think (because thinking before acting always led to her downfall), she quickly pressed herself close to Octavius and gave into familiarity. And while she had thought placing her free hand on the side of his face would have steadied her, it really only resulted in a rather intense kiss. A bit more forward than it should have been, but there was no changing that now.

Hopefully he didn't take that the wrong way? Pulling away, her body couldn't have felt more awake. "Happy new year," she breathed heavily.

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dinglealltheway
2012-01-04 02:53 am UTC (link)

If he were being honest, yes, he'd probably liked to have kissed Rose at midnight. Octavius thought he'd have found a way to pose it to her in a subtle way, try to not make her feel awkward, or anything. It might have been an amicably mutual split up, but they were still former partners and there was that awkward business with Charlie and pretending to date him and whatnot, so of course it would be strange to ask. Probably stranger still to do it, but if it felt like the right thing to do, the hell with it, no?

That was about as far as he got in his deliberations before Rose planted one on him, effectively ending his detouring train of thought. Oh, good Merlin. Had someone flipped a Time-Turner? Was he actually unknowingly visiting two years ago? Just as his shock started to wear off and he was kissing her back in earnest, she broke away, leaving him next-to-sputtering.

His eyes were still closed. "I should say," Octavius said, blinking rapidly. A smile began to form, tentatively, and he raised a hand to rub nervously at the back of his neck. Was it even more inappropriate to ask to do that again? Did she regret it? Or did Rose want to do it again too? Did she—his breath did a funny gulping thing—what, want to get back together? Did he want to? What was going on!? The pleasant after-glow that one should always get from an exceptionally good snog was rapidly leaving him as a wave of panic and confusion descended. Overthinking was his strongest suit, though it was a talent he could happily do without. He tried surreptitiously to take deep breaths and shut his head off. It was a midnight kiss, so what? He'd had those before. He thought he had, anyway. Octavius could not actually remember. Maybe he'd done too good a job shutting his head off.

"Shame we never had one of these before," he added only the slightest bit hastily, pulling himself out his reverie. Did he just make an awkward reference to when they were together? No, that was all right—he could salvage it! "I feel like my 1983 is off to a quite good start already." Be better if I could snog you again, though.

Stop that!

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flower
2012-01-04 04:12 am UTC (link)

Shame they had never--- with Octavius' words, Rose felt her stomach twist with guilt. Had she had just potentially started what could be a quick or long ruin of her most normal relationship because--- because she didn't even know why! Because.... because she was stupid, and did things with thinking and without thinking that were stupid either way in the end. What was wrong with her? How did he---

Octavius! Rose snapped back into reality to take him in. Was that--- had he--- what was happening here? She felt like she was going to vomit. Rose's thoughts whirled to a new level of utter ridiculousness as she distinctly realized he was perfectly fine. Smitten even! There had been kissing back! What did that even mean? Her eyes went wide and her heart began to race. It felt like she was frozen-- paralyzed! She--- was--- paralyzed. In this spot. The thought that if she didn't move a muscle, he would forget she was present crossed her mind, but it hardly stuck. Octavius was neither blind nor an animal with lesser evolved eyes than humans.

Actually he had very nice eyes, very tranquil blue-grey that could be very soothing when--- what was she doing? And how was that-- why were they still holding hands?! Rose immediately let go of him, her mouth running as she felt her legs begin to shake.

"I'm sorry!" she sputtered, her feet practically itching as they began to fumble over each other. "I shouldn't have done that. I really shouldn't have-- I don't--- I didn't--- I don't know what to say. I feel---" What did she feel? Like that was a question that could be answered anytime soon. Biting her lip, Rose closed her eyes, unsure to continue and hoping Octavius would cut her off.

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dinglealltheway
2012-01-04 05:11 am UTC (link)

One minute, she was right there, the next she was dancing away. Literally disentangling and dancing away from him! Why did she suddenly seem so eager to get away? Was he, Octavius thought with muted horror, that bad of a kisser to her now? Wounded, he always believed she rather liked it when he did that thing to her—with his—well, never mind! Clearly things had changed in the last two years, that shouldn't have been a surprise! So perhaps kissing her hadn't been the best of ideas…

No, because Rose had kissed him, and if she was having second thoughts about it now, that was just too bloody bad, because she'd gotten under his skin good and proper! Octavius felt irritation replace his own panicked confusion, because they were adults. So maybe they'd had intimate knowledge of each other. So maybe that was a little awkward now, all things considered. So bloody—

"Oh, hell with it, I—" Stepping forward, he grasped her chin with his hand and kissed her soundly, until she stopped the fidgeting and his own heart slowed a little. Well, it didn't really slow, but it stopped feeling like it was going to pound out of his chest. Well, it might still feel like that a little, but now it was in a better way. Satisfied, he stepped back with a firm nod. "You should have done that," Octavius said. Good, he sounded firm. He even sounded stern. "It's not strange," he continued, and thought he did a most excellent impression of convincing. Whether it was for her or him or both, he couldn't have said. "It's not."

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flower
2012-01-04 09:58 pm UTC (link)

The effect that overtook her was almost instantaneous. Rose felt her legs strengthen, her heart begin to pound in a different way, and all her previous anxieties vanish as if they were erasable. How did Octavius have this effect on her? Especially now, after so long and everything that had happened, it did not make sense. He should not be interested, he should be-- be-- her thoughts hazed as they focused on more important things, like how she had forgotten how soft his lips were. And how nice his touch felt against her face.

She blinked slowly when he pulled away, her lashes low. That was a good snog. Still a bit dazed, it took a few moments for Rose to reconnect and take in what Octavius was saying. He was surprisingly firm. And assertive. That was new. She kind of liked it.

"Okay," Rose responded finally, her word coming out slow. Okay. Okay. Okay! Invigorated by his little speech, she nodded, feeling much better than she formerly had been. Rose opened her mouth again to speak, but felt if she spoke, she would muddle herself, and this situation, even further or again.

Well, that was a bit of a predicament. Luckily she knew how to fix it! In one fluid motion, Rose flung both her arms around Octavius' neck and pressed her lips back to his for a proper snog. Third time's a charm?

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dinglealltheway
2012-01-05 11:36 pm UTC (link)

Boy, this was turning out to be a much better idea than previously anticipated. Happy to return her ardour, he slid his arm around her back and pulled her closer. Realistically, Octavius knew that eventually they would need to stop the snogging, if only to breathe. And when that happened, he couldn't help but feel he would very much like to continue kissing Rose afterward. At this point, he felt fairly confident she might be receptive, but there was also the chance this was just some New Year's Eve magic that he'd been fortunate enough to have been struck with.

What was the worst that could happen, really? He kissed her lightly again and pulled back slightly, so he could see her face. "When you were leaving," he found he had to catch his breath a little, "—where—is there somewhere you need to be?" Octavius really hoped not. This whole encounter screamed of kismet to him, and he fancied himself a believer in the whole second-chance thing. And in the first few seconds of the new year? This had to be some sort of signal or push in an ordained direction.

"I mean, do you, er—" he dropped his gaze to his hand on her arm, "do you want to get out here? Just—talk. Perhaps snog a bit more. Maybe the teensiest bit of groping." Octavius cracked a smile, then shrugged. "I just don't really want to say good-bye yet."

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flower
2012-01-06 03:16 am UTC (link)

Rose bit the inside of her lip, finding it currently very difficult to think clearly. Leave? Together? She knew what that meant. Somewhere to be? Octavius didn't need to know what that had been about. She blinked slowly, her mind struggling to keep up at the pace that his was obviously going. She did know this was happening extremely quickly, and the unexpected manner of it all probably didn't help with her mental delay either.

She probably shouldn't. It would be wrong to lead him on with whatever-- this might not or might become when she didn't even know what this was herself. Right?

But she didn't want to disappoint him, either. Or herself. Rose would be lying if she said she wouldn't enjoy the 'teeny bit of groping' and 'bit more of snogging.' Would she be upset tomorrow if she didn't go with him? The truth of the matter was, she reflected as her thoughts began to quicken, that she was most likely going to wake up with paralyzing anxiety tomorrow morning either way, so the least she should do was enjoy the night before?

Wow, that was an incredibly progressive or a degradingly regressive decision on her part. Either way, Rose was sure Therese would be satisfied with this new progress.

So, pushing down her apprehension that had begun to bubble, Rose shifted slightly in his grasp to place a hand on the side of his face. "We can go," she spoke earnestly, and took a deep breath. "I don't want to say goodbye yet either." With her own words, Rose felt a quick jolt go down her spine and her skin begin to tingle from it. Good sign.

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