WHO: Orpheus & Juliana Travers
WHAT: Spousal abuse lmao
WHEN: Thursday night
WHERE: Their home
"And you could have just pretended to be amused instead of pulling that face when he asked how the grandchildren were coming along!"?Orpheus called after his wife as they stormed into the house after quite an eventful evening with his parents and sister at dinner. He slammed the door and threw his coat and hat at the quivering house elf by the door. She disappeared with a little pop to go warn everyone else they were at it again. "You couldn't just fucking play along Juliana, just pretend that we're as sickly in love as we are in their twisted fucking minds. And then my sister gets involved and," Orpheus grabbed her shoulder, "are you even listening to me?"
Oh yes, sickly in love, they were so
sickly in love----if this was what their society called love, then there was no mystery why Juliana had tried to stay away for so long. She wasn't sure how much longer she could handle all this 'love' in this house; whether she would kill herself or walk out, she wasn't certain, but she could hardly take it anymore.
She threw her shoulder out of her husband's hand and spun around to glare daggers at the man. "I'm not going to pretend around your fucking family when I couldn't give half a shit what they think or don't think of us!" she yelled, despite their close proximity. "I'm not going to try to impress for
anyone's sake when they're the ones that threw us into this bullshit union! They can hate me all the fuck they want, that's bloody fine with me, because it's never going to get close to how much I hate them!"
Orpheus face grew red and he thrust his finger in front of Juliana." Don't you ever talk about my family like that," he spat. "Even if they got us into this fucking mess, you agreed to marry me, Merlin only fucking knows why but you did. If you didn't want to you shouldn't have said I do," he taunted.
"Now they're just another member of your perfect family. Which if I may say so is the
epitome of happiness and bliss." Maybe his parents were a bit tapped and maybe he hated them at this moment more than life itself for letting all this happen, but they were still his family and that was low. Well maybe he was aiming low as well but so be it. This was war. And maybe he was a little drunk as well, which couldn't hurt.
Juliana scoffed at him and turned around on her heel to continue storming off down the hall--she was certain that if she didn't get her husband out of her sight instantly that she was going to smack him or spit in his face or something similar. It would have been satisfying in the least, but would just prolong their argument. If there was one thing Juliana would give up an argument for, it was to not have to see Orpheus' face for another second.
"I'll talk about your family however the fuck I want," she shouted back. The footsteps resonating behind her told her that this wasn't over quite yet, unfortunately. "And I don't see why you trick your parents into thinking we're giving them any fucking grandchildren---it's obviously not going to happen, because there's no way in hell I'm sleeping with
you."
Orpheus stalked after her down the hall, not ready to let this one end just yet. She always just walked away and couldn'?t handle a real fight. Sometimes this is how it had to go, to show her that he wasn't just going to roll over and play dead. "Good, because you're the last person I would want to sleep with anyway. And it?'s not a trick, all I said before we went was: Just smile and nod Jules, pretend that you agree, be the nice girl we both know you can be when you want to. And you just stood there and did it to me then and I thought you were going along with it," Orpheus poked her in the back, signaling he was still there. "But you never just go along with things. You can't ever just be reasonable?" He was losing stamina fast. Orpheus was sure she would give him more to work with however.
The two came to stop in the Library---had he not followed her, Juliana had intended upon slamming the door and holing herself up inside for a few hours to keep away from him, but The Boy always had to ruin her plans. Merlin's fucking beard, she hated him so much. Were it not for her determination to uphold her marriage despite it not having been her choice, to prove that she was better than that girl of her brother's, Juliana was quite certain that she would have been packed and out the door on their wedding night.
"Give me one good reason why I should put on an act for your family," she challenged. "With my own family at least there's an obligation, but for
your parents, for
your insufferable sister? They can eat shit, Boy." Juliana knew that continuing to tread on this ground was dangerous, but at that point she could have cared less. She circled around the back of one of the couches and put her hands on it, staring her husband down as slender fingers dug into the new upholestry; she might have been pretending that it was his neck just then. "Now get
out of this library and run off to bed. I'm tiring of your presence."
"Because I can muster the respect to put on one for
yours," Orpheus stormed into the room after her. "I have done nothing but kiss the ground your good for nothing brothers walk on. And to think you can't give a shit about my family. You know, I'm beginning to think I was wrong for telling my sister to speak kindly of you." He stood looking at Juliana as she continued to speak, a look of near incredulousness on his face as he felt the anger that had been dwindling beginning to surface again. She had said probably the last thing in the world he'd been expecting but it pushed all the right buttons. This was his house, this was his manor, this was his castle.
He took a step toward his wife who was luckily protected by the couch at this point. "Tiring of my presence?" he asked almost comically. "Who exactly do you think you're talking to?" His eyes were getting dark and steely; how dare she talk to him like that. "If you don't want to be here," Orpheus began coldly, "then you can pack your bags and fucking leave," he continued, his voice lowering and his tone dangerously settled. That was no way for a wife to talk to her husband by any stretch of the imagination. "But before you tell me to get out of my own library again," he reached out across the couch the separated them and cupped her chin in his hand. "I suggest you remember your place." Letting go of his wife's face, Orpheus tapped her gently on the cheek, really resisting the urge to call her a little girl or any other diminutive since the situation really didn't call for it although he immensely wanted to just knock her out.
"Don't you say a
word against my brothers," Juliana spat, despite how hypocritical it was of her. She didn't
care, not when he was insulting Amery and Grayson. "You could never be half the man that either of them is---scum like you
should be kissing the ground they walk on, and consider it a fucking honor."
When he stepped towards her, it took all of her will to not take a step back. She was determined to never let her husband know when she was intimidated by him, even though lately he'd been becoming more and more frightening, much more frequently. Juliana had wondered more than once if Orpheus wasn't losing it a little; with the way his eyes looked just then, she was nearly affirmed in her suspicions. She did not flinch as he grabbed her chin, but stiffened visibly until he let go again.
The second he released her, her confidence seemed to come flowing back. She did have a couch between them, after all. "Fuck off," she hissed at him. "This has been
my home from the second you said 'I do'."
"No," Orpheus intended to correct her, "you've
lived here since the second I said I do. You don't even like my home, and frankly, my dear, maybe you should look into staying somewhere else for a few days," he folded his arms across his chest and gestured to the doorway with the lower half of his left arm. He needed her out from under his feet so he could think. Everything in this house reaked of Juliana from the way her clothes were in his closets to the way her books were in his library.
"This isn't a marriage, this is a fucking sham."
Juliana let a laugh escape her lips and brought a hand up off the couch to wag a finger in Orpheus' face. "Oh no, my name is as much on this house as yours, whether I like the place or not," she told him. "You married me and made me co-owner of every last fucking thing you have,
including this house and this library. And let me tell you something, Boy; if you want to get me out of your sight,
you'll be the one staying somewhere else."
She was pissed off now, and even though it was all true and she was, in fact, not planning on going anywhere, Juliana was only saying it to get to him. She hated Orpheus so bloody much, it was nearly unbearable.
"If you think I'm going to stand here and listen to this, you're crazy," Orpheus took a step forward but there was the couch in his way so instead he grabbed the hand she had in front of his face and squeezed it in his fist. "Juliana just shut up and go upstairs. This conversation is over." He threw her hand down in disgust. This wasn't marriage. This was a waste of everything he'd every worked for. And to think, he could have been happily married with Laura and a son. Orpheus turned away from Juliana, nearly shaking.
"Get out of my sight," he spat. "Just get out. Go upstairs and do whatever it is that you do but get out," his voice rose a bit at the end as he tried not to yell but the features on his face were very tight as Orpheus tried to control himself. She just ruined everything and he couldn't
stand her. Her and her fucking family and her fucking attitude and for that matter the lack of fucking in general.
The wince that Juliana gave at feeling Orpheus' fingers crushing down on her hand was completely involuntary, and she mentally cursed at herself for showing even that small sign of weakness. Her furious eyes did not flit from his face for a split second until he threw her hand down again. She let it fall behind the couch and flexed her fingers, the release of the pressure a relief---she was not, however, relieved in herself. This was one fight she was not about to lose, and if she stopped now, walked over, she would lose it.
Coming out from behind the couch, Juliana came to stand just inches away from her husband, pushing herself up into his face. "When I said I wasn't going anywhere, I
meant I wasn't going anywhere," she hissed lowly. If she was frightened by his rage, she did not show it. "I'll do whatever the fuck I want, and someone like
you is not about to stop me."
Orpheus looked at his wife, his eyes now almost entirely devoid of the self restraint he had been trying to retain. "Juliana, I swear to fucking Merlin," Orpheus' breathing was shallow and he was clearly more angry than he'd let himself become in the past. "Get. Out."
He shoved Juliana roughly out of the way and walked over to the small liquor cabinet. Orpheus grabbed the first bottle his hands touched and pulled whatever was in there out. "Just bloody, fucking Shut-Up." He clumsily grabbed a high ball glass and poured, his thoughts spilling from his lips like liquid from the bottle. "You are never happy. You bitch about everything and you can't even bother to try," Orpheus downed the contents of the glass in one large gulp "You think I like this bullshit? Because I can't fucking stand it." He stood looking at Juliana, empty glass in one hand, bottle in the other. "I can't fucking take your shit anymore. You want out? Good, then get out. Because I can't fucking stand you, Jule."
Juliana smirked to herself as Orpheus pushed and passed her, and turned around to watch him go. Well, that had been more fruitful than she had expected. He was truly mad now, and Juliana imagined that just a little more pushing and she'd have him completely insane.
Putting her hands on the armrest of the couch, she leaned back as she watched her husband down his drink and continued to smirk as he addressed her, demanded her to be gone. Oh, this was too much; he was playing right into her hands. "Maybe I will go, then," she said. "I could go see Rabastan Lestrange for the night---you know, he's been so fortunate to have around, what when I can't stand my own husband. At least I always know I can get a decent man elsewhere."
Orpheus poured himself another drink. "Rabastan Lestrange is a pig and a fool," Orpheus spat. In fact Rebastan was certainly not a fool and probably not more of a pig than any other man Orpheus might have known but at that moment in time Orpheus wasn't quite sure at all of what he was saying. He was certainly enjoying the alcohol however. He finished off his second before he continued to speak. "Maybe you should have married him."
Juliana smirked even wider. "No, that's alright," she said. "Why would I marry him when I can simply fuck him behind your back?" She had been waiting a long time to say that, and it was evident from the look on her face. It was obvious, the joy that she felt at being able to tell her husband that she had been unfaithful, and with the intent of doing it to bother him.
The look on Orpheus' face fell to a completely blank slate as he stood looking at his wife in astonishment and rage. Lestrange? Fucking Rabastan Lestrange? His wife was fucking Rabastan Lestrange? Oh this was brilliant, really it was on her part, screwing every Death Eater from here to Edinburgh. Orpheus blinked a few times before taking a few strides back to where his wife smirked demonically at him.
It all made sense. She'd never intended to love him, to honor him, none of that bloody bull she's promised. Juliana had only married him to humiliate him, to make his life this living hell and he was through with it. He was done being civil to her. Orpheus stood in front of Juliana now, his hostility pulsing through the air and nearly shaking. He swiftly caught her across the cheek with the back of his left hand.
"That's what husbands do to unfaithful wives." He was really of half a mind to throw her over his shoulder and carry her up the stairs to have his own way with her. Orpheus would have loved to hit her again in fact and the only thing stopping him was the possibility that she would have a bruise for his grandfather's party. "You can fucking cry to Lestrange but I doubt he would
ever marry you," he smirked menicingly. "Nobody marries the
whore," Orpheus spat the final, heavily annunciated word then chuckled disturbingly. "Except for me I suppose. But that can change."
She had known that she was in trouble from the moment he had advanced towards her, but Juliana couldn't let that smirk fall. She could not let him see intimidation, despite his rage, which was thick enough in the room to be palpable. It wasn't like the boy would do anything to her anyway, not with the threat of her brothers breathing down his-------
Or so she had thought.
A stinging pain, and Juliana's hand flew up to her cheek as she brought her stare back to her husband, eyes darkened in fury mixed with shock. The sound of the contact between hand and cheek still seemed to resonate throughout the library, and were it not for his taunting, that would have been the only sound at all. She listened to him speak, listened to him laugh in a strange, frighteningly off manner, watched that evil smirk on his face, and Juliana wondered what in the hell she had just done.
Orpheus was crazy, he was fucking
insane. Pride aside and forgotten, she recoiled from him and didn't dare shoot off another barb---though oh, she
did have some things to say. She didn't want to find out what else he would do if she continued to push him.
"Have you run out of nasty things to say, dear wife?" It suddenly struck him how scared of him she probably was right now by the look on her face and the way her body had recoiled. She had driven him to it though, she had pushed him over the edge. She was afraid and he liked it. Orpheus stepped toward Juliana. "Am I scaring you?" he asked, his voice somewhat taunting. He could possibly enjoy this very much.
There was fear in her stance, but none in the eyes which glared back at her husband in hatred. Juliana hated him
so much, hated him and every person that had been involved in arranging this marriage. How was it fair that anyone should have to go through this? And to add insult to injury, it was all under a transparent veil of 'love.'
It was the biggest fucking joke she had ever heard.
"You're a fucking psycho," she spat at him. For now she'd have to bite back the worse things she wanted to say, she'd have to bite her tongue until she could find a way to get back at him without getting hurt herself. Right then was a bad time, with as far as she'd pushed him already and the alcohol he'd consumed. No, she would have to get back at him later.
Juliana wasn't sure if she could keep looking at Orpheus and keep her mouth shut, and so she moved to slip from in between him and the couch. She prayed that he'd just let her go, or else this situation promised to get much worse.
