α м (mattias) wrote in valesco,
@ 2012-11-28 20:31:00

Entry tags:

adrian mattias, arista sykes, galvin gudgeon, group, howell williams, magnolia mattias, michal conway lynch, noah boot, nora peakes, octavius pepper, odette boot, rose knightley, saoirse mullet, seth wadcock, thomas mccormack

RECEPTION POST! FOR SATURDAY! EVERYONE!

It had been a long journey, but he and Maggie had finally, finally arrived here, where they could share their relationship with world. Celebrate it! With their family and friends (the most dramatic of which Adrian had made sure would be on their best behavior tonight through some light verbal assaulting), whom Adrian was more than willing to extend his happiness to. And it was, it was such a deep joy that he couldn't--- even though they had been married for months, tonight made it feel... official, like there could no longer be any question that they were Adrian and Maggie Mattias, with their two beautiful children and their beautiful life---

Adrian cut off his own thoughts, thinking that they would only lead to a less put together version of himself. Instead, he simply let his thoughts roll to how this was an excellent way to kick off what would unquestionably be the most hectic two months of his (and Maggie's) life. But in a good way, it made him content to think that... they would need to sit down and figure out their schedules to ensure seeing each other, staying together as a close family because in the end, if that wasn't important, then what really was? Working through and with the sport they individually loved, spending the holidays together... he had no doubt he and Maggie would work it out effortlessly.

And, just in case, it was a good thing they had spectacular sex to smooth any rough patches over.

His lips pressed into something of a grin, and letting his cheekiness take over him, Adrian reached over in his seat to graze his hand slowly up Maggie's leg. Dinner had just ended, and it was getting late enough that the lights that had been set up for hours were finally starting to create nothing short of a stunning atmosphere. Their guests could enjoy it, but he had all the beauty he needed right here.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" It was a serious question completely lost in his proud smile and light-mannered tone. Adrian leaned over to lightly kiss the side of Maggie's neck.

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melindicate
2012-12-01 03:53 am UTC (link)

Nora eyed him carefully over the rim of her glass. She swallowed her drink, eyebrows high, "You tried her pancakes, hm?"

She laughed a little too much at her own joke and stretched out her legs to prop them up on the chair across the table from her. They'd been seated with Charlie and his girlfriend, but after some muttering and grumbles about how tight his tie was, Charlie had whisked away his fairy of a girl. Nora didn't mind their absence, it was actually helping her good mood, and she swirled the rest of her drink, making a whirlpool inside the glass.

Octavius' drunken excursion and marriage however was a topic that even Nora and Charlie could agree on. It wasn't funny or hilarious within the first few weeks after it all had gone down (for either of them, really, Nora had been rather silently miffed), but she believed and apparently so did Octavius, that enough time had passed to joke (lightly!) about the topic.

Though, really. Brunhild? Could she have been more German?

"I think you're going to have to start running women by me and Nona," Nora said with a quick nod, taking another drink. She pointed her glass at Octavius, looking quite impressed with this idea, "We'll make sure 'makes good pancakes' is on the list of requirements."

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dinglealltheway
2012-12-01 07:00 am UTC (link)

Octavius choked on the next sip of his drink and spent the next few seconds viciously pounding at his chest while his companion giggled in a manner that entirely too pleased with herself. "I don't—It wasn't—" he spluttered, but really, any response to that statement was designed to get him into trouble, and a lot of it. Pursing his lips in mock annoyance, he threw his balled up napkin at her, and said, "That is enough out of you."

But when he stopped to consider what Nora had proposed, even in jest, he had to admit, "That's not a half bad idea." He'd definitely picked some winners in his time. How he'd managed to find Rose by himself was a mystery, yet made him deserving of a medal. Particularly when there were people in his life like Crazy Elsie, of course, who would top all the lists forevermore, but even the girls in Hogwarts had had a certain… flair to them. "Although," Octavius ran his finger around the rim of his glass in deliberation, "I don't know how much vetting Nona would do. She's already told me I have to marry you." She had been about thirteen at the time, but he was fairly certain the only reason she hadn't pushed the subject was because she was of the opinion that Nora could do and did deserve loads better than her annoying older brother.

"I dunno about your pancakes, though," he said, looking at her slyly from the corner of his eyes as he raised his hands in a flippant gesture.

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melindicate
2012-12-01 08:37 pm UTC (link)

It was Nora's turn to choke, but she hadn't taken a drink. She was choking and coughing on air, on her own breath because---what had he just? Did---had Nona actually said that? When had she said that? Nora could see the youngest Pepper in her very fact-of-the-matter tone stating this conclusion of hers to Octavius, but that---it---she----Nora's hands wrapped around the base of the flute, ducking her chin nearly to her chest as she attempted to maintain her even-keeled mood from just moments before.

She couldn't, of course. Not by a long-shot. Her feelings for Octavius were well rooted in her heart, though after so much time Nora had become quite good at pushing them aside for the betterment of their friendship. Even in school, she knew she'd rather watch him date crazy Ravenclaw girls than risk losing him as a friend. Did that make her cowardly or weak? Nora thought it was quite the opposite; she hadn't let herself live in a desperate, longing haze all these years. She'd dated, she'd had her adventures, and she was currently seeing a bloke who drove her mad in the best of ways.

But Nora knew that her heart would always skip a beat for Octavius Pepper.

Finally looking up at him, a great smirk on her face as she knew he was amused with how the tables had turned, Nora decided to try and remain in control of this conversation.

"My pancakes are brilliant," she said, face flushed. Nora felt her chest constrict in worry, as she'd never so openly flirted with him. "Shame you never got the chance to try."

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dinglealltheway
2012-12-02 02:05 am UTC (link)

His response at the time had been shoving a hand in his sister's face (an action which he acknowledged he was forced to regret about fifteen seconds later), because she was nut, of course. Nora and he date? She was like his best friend. Well, best other friend. They were each other's refuge for the whirlwind that were the Spinnet twins. When she wasn't off gallivanting, they went on their own adventures that punctuated the admittedly monotonous rhythm of his work week. Friends like that didn't get married. She probably saw him as some irritating brother who liked to poke incessantly at her.

Octavius was excellent at being a brother.

And neither of them had exactly sit around, pining for the other, had they? Though he wished he hadn't been in some of them now, he'd been in a relationship or consumed with work (or, unfortunately, both) since leaving school. As for Nora, well, she'd…well, for one, she'd dated the groom of the night. He'd heard mention of a bloke here or there, and she'd been out of the country forever. Even now, she was seeing (he steeled himself to avoid the inevitable eye-rolling or uttering of ugh) this curse-breaker fellow. If they were supposed to have dated, let alone be each other's life partner, wouldn't they have made time for that about now?

Of course, Nona's motivation was also probably that Nora and she would actually be related then. Tertia and she would have a third partner in the ever-waging war against the rest of the Pepper clan and they'd stop having to try and include Pri's wife, as she was a bit of a stick in the mud. (But a more brilliant pair he'd never seen in his life.)

Happy to be in a mood to banner once again, his grin was wicked as he shifted his torso in his chair to fully face her. "Well, I don't recall ever being issued an invitation."

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melindicate
2012-12-02 03:26 am UTC (link)

There had been one Christmas during Hogwarts where Octavius had stayed at the school over break, having protested his family because of some row Nora couldn't recall. She had stayed because Professor Kettleburn's hippogriff had laid an egg and she wanted to be there when it hatched. The Spinnets had gone skiing with the family, and Gryffindor Tower was quiet and empty, leaving a lot of time to simply talk and fill up the hours with nonsense. There had been a night in the common room where Nora had nearly been shaking with the urge to lurch over and kiss him, mostly to get him to stop ranting about his brother but for other reasons too obviously, but she'd caught herself as the light from the fireplace flickered over them.

Delilah was her best friend through thick and thin, but they would also both admit that they didn't understand each other very well. Nora needed adventure and Delilah brought that out in her, but when she thought about who she confided in, with secrets and fears and other sorts of messes, it was Octavius. That night in the common room stood vividly out to Nora, because she'd realized how much he really meant to her, that it had scared her enough to not push if she wasn't absolutely sure he'd reciprocate her feelings.

Or maybe she was just a coward. Everyone knew that Nora related to animals better than humans, so maybe she had wasted all this time thinking she was doing the right thing. But---not wasted! No, she was happy with how her life had gone so far, she was happy with her current situation, but that familiar thud, it was almost a pain really, when she thought about Octavius in this way reminded her that she'd never really let go.

Thinking that she'd rather not be a coward anymore, even if she knew it wasn't going to change things, Nora looked up and caught his eye, smiling at his teasing grin. Her expression had softened from deeply embarrassed to subdued remorse and she shrugged.

"I was too shy to say anything," Nora said, gaze dropping back down to her drink for a moment before looking back up with a dejected twist of her lips, "and then I kept missing my chances."

She came back to stay in England for an extended amount of time, and Octavius was back with Rose. He breaks up with Rose and she started seeing Nicodemo. It always seemed to go that way, and Nora took a long drink from her flute; she'd used up most of her Gryffindor courage with that short proclamation and needed some liquid form of bravery to help her through the rest of the night.

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dinglealltheway
2012-12-02 06:49 am UTC (link)

He was chuckling to himself, wondering what her undoubtedly and almost surprisingly sassing response would be, that he was sure he hadn't heard her properly.

Blinking, he replayed what she'd just said, and was instantly confused; where had the joke been? His sense of humour was usually quite sharp, but he didn't get the punch line for this. Unless… she hadn't been—that is to say, there was actually no—

Octavius's smile faltered, and he sat up a little straighter. "Are you—?" Nora wasn't saying what he thought she was saying, was she? Because she never liked him like that. They were friends. That's all it was. Because she'd never said, or done, anything that would make him think that it was more. Because he'd just thought to himself, hadn't he, about the blokes she'd dated in school, how there had been no pining, so how silly it was of his sister to have thought they should get married. Because he'd so easily dismissed the notion of Nora liking him. Did his sister know something he hadn't?

"I… I didn't know," he said finally, his eyes falling onto the placemat in front of him as he blinked again. No, he should say more, he couldn't just leave it there. He should make a joke. Should he make a joke? Nora's words hadn't really even sunk into his brain, so he had no sense of what was appropriate to do now. What to say. Honestly, he was just in shock. "I honestly never imagined you would have."

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melindicate
2012-12-02 03:47 pm UTC (link)

"Why wouldn't I?" she blurted, more surprised that he seemed to think her liking him was impossible than him not knowing. Maybe she'd done a better job at hiding her blushing cheeks and stumbling feet than she'd thought. Nora shook her head, pulling her feet down from the chair they were resting on and leaning onto the table, "You're funny, you're smart, you're handsome, you get obsessed over strange things like muggle records and goats, your socks never match, you can keep both Spinnet twins in their places, I---"

Nora pursed her lips. She shouldn't be saying these things to him, but it felt strange to want to be dishonest with Octavius. She'd kept this secret from him for years, but it had never come up in a conversation! Surely if it had been brought up she would not have been able to stop herself from spilling her guts out to him, because that's what you did when you trusted a person so fully like she did Octavius. Didn't make telling him these things any easier, especially when she knew that nothing could come of it.

The guilt of telling a bloke how much she'd fancied him when she currently had a boyfriend who was very out of sight began to sink in. How could she be going on like this? Nico and her were new, but that didn't mean she didn't want it see where it could go...it wasn't fair of her to be thinking like this.

"I never stood a chance, really," she said, meaning falling for him or being with him, Nora wasn't sure.

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dinglealltheway
2012-12-02 11:19 pm UTC (link)

What was she talking about? "Of course you did," he said, an almost angry-looking crease in his brow as he struggled against his confusion and shock in trying to make sense of the bombshell Nora had just dropped in his lap. "I don't—I don't understand why you would think you wouldn't—"

Nora was wonderful. There was a reason she had been one of his best friends for so long. He, Octavius Pepper, had kept up a friendship with someone that had extended out of the continent, and he was the bloke who couldn't even remember to write his own sister on Christmas. Didn't that count for anything? Couldn't she see how special she was to him?

He'd begun to talk himself down from the panic her words had initially set off in him, thinking it had been some kid's crush when they'd first become friends, but when she told him why, it sounded… so much more serious than that. To hear her speak about him like that—it honestly flipped his life a little upside down because she was such a constant for him. A platonic constant. And now she was creating some alternative universe for him, where he and Nora had—what? Dated? Good Merlin, actually married?

And the thing of it all was that it wasn't mad. The idea almost made sense, even. He'd liked her, he'd always liked her, because she was a little bit different, just like him. She was lovely, she was pretty, she was funny in an unexpected way, but he'd never thought of her as anything other than friend, because… Something stopped him. It was like trying to recall a vague memory, but he'd had the sense from when they were very young, just starting to be friends, really, that she wouldn't like a boy like him. And it had simply stuck, because he'd never been proven wrong. Until now.

Octavius wasn't in the right mind to be hearing this. He and Rose's destructive break up had only just come to an end, and Nora—Nora was dating someone, for crying out loud. Trying to relive every moment of their shared history to try and pinpoint where these feelings of hers had occurred, if he'd missed anything in their interactions that said so, wouldn't do either of them any good.

He shook his head slightly, trying to relax, smiling a little self-effacingly at his ineptitude. "School crushes never really count," he told her.

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melindicate
2012-12-03 03:13 am UTC (link)

She felt hot all over. Of course she stood a chance? Nora blinked, trying to maintain an expression of interest and not allow the running wild thoughts in her head play out on her face. She hadn't---that wasn't really what she'd meant, thought she'd always felt like he would never---Sorcha Fawcett had been so much more interesting than she was. He'd been stuck on Maggie Brand for ages, who was even prettier now than she'd been in school. Rose Knightley was serene and blonde and beautiful. She'd ignore Crazy Elsie, but---even Brunhild made good pancakes! Nora couldn't...accept that she'd be liked on her own accord, that she didn't need to make some grand gesture to initiate a relationship.

It made her sad to think that she'd missed out on something so huge. Nora felt her heart swell up, and her hands clasped tightly together on her lap to keep herself from bouncing out of her seat. They were like an anchor, keeping her rooted to the chair to stop her from doing something stupid and wrong. She was ready to say that if the pieces fell together, someday, they needed to be sure to give it a shot. But then...Nora let out a confused sound at his comment. She wasn't understanding him. Did he mean that he thought it was silly that she'd fancied him? That it had just been within the confines of Hogwarts and her teenage dreams were the cause of it? Nora pressed her lips together.

"Yeah, I suppose not."

She blinked furiously, looking down at her dinner plate that had just magically appeared in front of her. It looked delicious, but she didn't have anything of an appetite. Instead she stood, patting down her hair and forcing a smile at him even though she knew she couldn't hide her disappointment.

"I've just---I need---excuse me," she said, having a slight falter in her step before starting towards some of the more secluded areas of the reception to wipe away the tears brimming from her eyes.

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dinglealltheway
2012-12-03 05:41 am UTC (link)

He sat there, in a stunned silence, for a moment or two. Octavius wasn't really being able to process what had just happened very well, and he thought, just for a little while, he might have handled it all right. Perhaps he was reading a lot more into what Nora said than she'd intended him to. He could do a thing like that at times.

But then she'd gotten up rather abruptly from their table and was stalking off without much more than a muttered word or two, and he wasn't sure what to do. Was that because of him? Had they moved subjects? He'd tried to ease any awkwardness she might have been feeling in telling him about this old, school-aged crush on him by giving her an out, if she wanted it, because he truthfully didn't know what to say.

For a moment, he'd almost let her go, but then he stood up so abruptly, his chair nearly tipped back. She'd seemed upset, and she was his friend, and he'd be an awful one if he didn't make sure she was all right. Whether or not it involved him, or someone else, or one of her hedgehogs, of all things, was irrelevant. Friends saw to it that their friends were okay.

"Hey," he called, jogging to catch up to her. "Nora, hey!"

When he'd almost overtaken her in stride, he reached out to put a hand on her arm, "What's wrong?"

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melindicate
2012-12-04 12:30 am UTC (link)

"It does count!" she said, whirling toward him. The lights between the trees created a strange striped pattern across their forms, half hidden in the darkness like she'd wished her feelings had stayed. Nora wasn't angry, she wasn't bitter, she wasn't frustrated, but to have, yes, pined for a person for so long and to hear that it could be dismissed because of when it had occurred felt like a punch to the gut. "It still counts because for a good minute there I was trying to figure out what the hell I would do if you leaned over and kissed me!"

Nora hadn't realized she'd puffed up, pushing her toes into the ground and clenching her fists. Now that he was aware of her feelings for him, she didn't want them watered down to some school girl crush that didn't mean a thing. Her lips twisted as she dropped back down to the ground, almost feeling put off enough to cross her arms and pout about it all.

"And I've been a coward, and the timing's all wrong, but you're Octavius!" she rambled, her hands going out in wild gesticulations. Why couldn't a dragon burst through the trees and start a ruckus? That she knew how to handle! "You're one of my best friends and I don't want to lose that, but I also don't want you to think that I didn't really care about you, because I did and I do and----I sound like a raving lunatic," Nora said, stopping herself in a sudden halt as if she'd been splashed in the face with water. She flushed and stared wide-eyed at a nearby tree. Nora blinked. "I feel better, but I'm stark raving mad."

He drove girls mad and he really had no idea about any of it.

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dinglealltheway
2012-12-05 02:49 am UTC (link)

He'd made a grievous misstep in his effort to give her an out and perhaps relieve any awkwardness her confession might have caused. In fact, Octavius seemed to have achieved the direct opposite of his desired result, and it was causing his head to swim. He couldn't keep up with what was happening, he couldn't keep up with Nora at all. If it—her feelings—still counted, did that mean that she continued to have those feelings for him even now? Or didn't she? She wanted to impress upon him the severity, or rather, the depth of the way she felt about him, but… to what purpose, if they were in the past now?

The best thing he could do right now was simply stop trying to process what this meant and how it made him feel, and how it was going to affect them, because it would, and all the other things Nora's big, jaw-dropping reveal was causing to jumble up inside his head. He just had to concentrate on her. On fixing this, whatever this was, in whatever way he could, because he couldn't process the wild scramble of his emotions in the last five minutes and say what Nora needed him to say. Which he couldn't figure out, anyway.

Since he couldn't keep up with her, that made him nervous, because he clearly couldn't trust himself to speak properly. And rather than do or say the wrong thing and upset her again. "Okay," he said, taking a breath and holding a palm out somewhat cautiously, "I don't—I don't know what to do. Please tell me."

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melindicate
2012-12-05 04:01 am UTC (link)

Nora took in a deep breath through her nose, concentrating on her lungs and getting her heart rate down. She’d gotten really good at relaxing herself, since she was prone to getting stuck in situations where panicking could literally cost her her life. This wasn’t nearly as serious as dragons and chimaeras, and though Nora had fervently proclaimed that her feelings for Octavius were no school-girl crush, her embarrassment at it being somewhat-public knowledge was definitely that of a Hogwarts student. She closed her eyes for a moment before pushing forward and resting her hands on Octavius’ chest.

“I got worked up over a secret I’ve had for a long time,” she said, not noticing that she was punctuating her words with pats on the breast of his jacket. “I didn’t want to lie to you when it managed to come up and...I’m glad I did. I needed to”

Her hands dropped and Nora looked up at Octavius was a small, honest smile. She’d already made a fool of herself, there wasn’t much else she could do to ruin the rest of her image. There wasn’t much else to do period. She could begin to hyperventilate for finally letting Octavius know how she felt, or she could be an adult and deal with sticky things like emotions and being truthful. Funnily enough, Nora had found herself quite at ease with letting her instincts run wild when she was with Nico, and the thought of him caused her to step back.

“I don’t want us to be weird, I...guess what I want to say is that if the time’s ever right, to give me a shot. Us, a shot.”

Nora felt her heart swell at the idea, hoping that her now calmed down demeanor helped Octavius to not freak out like she was planning on him doing. She wasn’t asking for his hand in marriage, she wasn’t saying that he should snog her up against this tree and more, she----it felt good to know that she’d finally thrown her hat in the ring. Maybe she’d grown enough to feel confident about herself in ways and places she hadn’t felt before.

A familiar tune began to play out through the garden, and Nora’s eyes brightened. She tugged on the hem of Octavius’ jacket, her head tilting back toward the dance floor as a rather obvious hint to move back. Maybe they could just pretend this hadn’t happened, at least for the night. She’d appreciate it in the morning.

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dinglealltheway
2012-12-06 10:16 pm UTC (link)

Octavius solved problems. The basis of his success in his career was that one singular trait, and he excelled at it. But in order to fix a problem, there had to be one, and he had no idea if this situation constituted as one or not. It did seem, however, as if Nora's nerves had gone as quickly as they had come,yet Octavius was possibly more confused by the resolution that had occurred. Not once had she mentioned her boyfriend, but by the same token asked if their timing was ever right, to give her a shot. When his thoughts stopped cutting in and out like a bad Muggle frequency, he believed he'd have some strong feelings on her proposition.

Instead, he dazedly muttered, "Yeah," and stepped to the side, gesturing for her to go ahead of him. His hand automatically lifted as he followed her, to place at the small of her back. Just before his fingers grazed her, however, he thought the better of it and dropped his hand back. Octavius did not want things to be strange between them either, but there was no doubt in his mind he would be second-guessing all the mindless little actions that evidently took place between he and Nora. That would certainly take some time.

He did not say much as they rejoined the rest of the party, his comments being entirely noncommittal and rather preoccupied, because that's what he was. Women. His head was too, too full of women, and he thought he deserved a medal for by-passing the bar entirely in an effort to drown them out.

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