The new year had been a very busy one so far, for all the four weeks it had been here. Penelope herself had spent a good deal of it working long hours for knuts at the forge (where she'd earned herself two very interesting burns), learning more about water-dwelling creatures, gobbling uprisings, and the nine most common ways to misbrew a potion than she ever knew could exist, and engaging in the eternal, unending process of proper home decoration (at least, when you were two young girls of a most sophisticated and dynamic palette).

It had been no different for Charles Spinnet, what with his demon captain and the generally rigorous life of a professional athlete on a winning team who also happened to be voted into the All-Stars Quidditch match. Despite the dreamy whirlwind of New Year's Eve, they had seen very little of each other as their scheduled failed to coordinate. Just a few notes by owl, mixed with a handful of rather stolen visits which were a curious combination of strange and familiar. If she was being very honest with herself, Penelope admitted that she was maintaining her distance from him at least partly on purpose.

Even if he wasn't involved with someone else, they had still been apart for three months. They didn't know each other particularly well before that time—how could they be even close to the same people now? No, she didn't actually know Charles Spinnet, and found herself shyly paralyzed at the idea of revealing all the glorious faults and shortcomings of her real self.

Luckily, today was neither the time nor place for such unpleasantness.

Perhaps they didn't know all that much about one another, but she did know his broom make of preference, which side of the hoops he favoured, exactly how he carried himself when tense, and the number of times he had to nervously pace before an intelligible thought could be pried from him. Today, especially, that was all she needed.

For today was an important game—though the words were a gross understatement. Having ultimately secured first place in the Phoenix league by just a margin of 20 points, this was the game that would determine to what advantage the Kestrels entered the play-offs, and the state of morale the team would be in. Frankly, she wasn't worried about the former so much as the latter, as she watched Charles get up and find some excuse to pace the length of his sitting room for just about the tenth time. His tension had been nearly palpable since she'd dropped by to wish him luck that morning.

Curled up on the sofa, with her chin resting in her hand, her eyes tracked his non-progress. "I could take your mind off it," she offered in a politely salacious manner that was only half joking. "If you'd let me." This had also been a small point of contention between the two of them, if largely unspoken. But only a small one, of course.

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?

WHO: Charlie Spinnet and his new therapist person, Therese :D
WHAT: His first session actually gets maybe something accomplished?
WHERE: Her offices!
WHEN: Today! After practice

( He really did not like this healer. She was making him think. )

Perhaps Delilah was over reacting to this whole Tattler thing, but she really couldn't help it. She cared about her brother, and first there was the whole Germany thing now this. It seemed like a whole lot more than him just going out and having a good time. And no one else seemed to notice.

She threw another smoking pan into the sink full of water. Why did she even own pots and pans. Nearly everything she attempted to cook ended up in flames or black. Unless it was suppose to be black, then it turned some other color. Delilah didn't even know why she was bothering, she wasn't even sure Charlie was going to show up. She turned her back on the sink full of dishes and sulk off to the living room, sinking onto her couch, arms crossed.

Despite how mad she was at the moment, she did hope Charlie showed up. She was suppose to leave for a couple of weeks for a dueling tour that would take her across the Unites States. Which was great publicity right before the lull of the holiday season. But the whole trip would be less fun if she left not speaking to her brother.

He gritted his teeth, pushing the final lift of the barbells out of him. Charlie let out a loud sound of aggression as he managed to set the bars back onto their holders and he dropped his arms down, letting them hang lifeless off the side of the bench. Staring up at the ceiling, he wondered how the fuck it was that Drake Parkin did this sort of work out every day. He had asked his trainer to put him on a similar schedule as the Magpie Keeper, and Charlie had been leaving the workouts feeling dizzy and unable to lift his arms over his head. But, if you wanted to beat the best, you had to work like the best, right?

After a few moments of lying still to catch his breath, Charlie shimmied off the bench and sat up right, snatching his towel off the floor. Merlin's beard, this was going to take some getting used to. At least, though, he'd managed to get in a decent enough workout to satisfy Axe's regiments, and as he left the training room he wondered where all his teammates were, anyway. The Kestrels liked to scatter, and with a stadium like the one in Kenmare, it was easy to be off doing completely different and random things while the other players were off on their own.

Charlie started down the empty hallway, wiping his face with his towel and wondering if he'd ever be able to feel his shoulders again.


ooc: Kestrels!! I figure it doesn't have to be like, they all meet up in one spot, threads could tangent off of this one, etc. etc. ;)

Delilah was in a fantastic mood, which was rare, being as she lost her last duel and she was usually in a mood until after she talked to Charlie and stewed for a few days. But well, Scott he was sweet, and going out for ice cream cheered her up really fast. And she was pretty sure that she found an awesome place for them go rock climbing, which would be date number two. Hee. She had a guy to go on dates with.

But just because she had already been cheered up, didn't mean she was going to abandon the tradition of making Charlie go out to lunch with her after she lost a duel. Sometimes it took a few days due to their schedules but she always found a way to make it work.“Charrrlieee” she called chipperly, as she knocked on his door. “Time for lunch! I’m buyinggg”

She learned the hard way a long time ago that she should never ever just walk into her brother’s place even if the door was unlocked. “Charlie!” she said knocking again. “I know you can’t be sleeping its almost one!"

Delilah waited a few more minutes before knocking again. "I lost my duel and I'm in a good mood and you owe me at least an hour and a half of your time because I haven't seen you in over a week. So open the door!"

While the rest of his team was still riding high on the win against the United, Charlie had found it difficult to be satisfied. They had hit him hard, and he'd let up more goals than he had in weeks and it felt like the rush of being captain and performing well had deflated completely. It didn't help that his hand still ached when the weather turned, but Axe had done his best to fix him up before the match (along with a lot of scolding in French). While getting mended Charlie had not been able to hold back all that had transpired with Fawcett in the corridor, which meant revealing that he'd been seeing Penelope, which meant that he was probably going to be put on the strictest schedules known to man to keep his mind focused on the game.

It also meant that he earned a few smacks to the back of his head, but that wasn't out of the ordinary from Le Capitaine.

He'd managed to escape his tyrant of a captain and his personal trainer today, however, because of some contract negotiations and other boring parchment work that needed to get done. Instead of going to the pitch for his workouts, Charlie found himself drawn to the park where he and Penelope had spent so much time. He felt like such a bleedin' sap for it, but it really was the best outdoor area to run, and he must've lapped it four times before he decided to call it quits. Some part of him thought that maybe coming back there would have her magically appear, but Penelope was avoiding him, of course she wouldn't go to a place they had hung out before. It was stupid of him, really.

Across the street from the exit of the park he took was a muggle bookstore, and Charlie remembered how his niece had been going on about how he had no bedtime stories for when she slept over. She was just as demanding as his sister, honestly, and it was just better to comply with Alicia's demands than not, so he started towards the store front.

WHO: Charlie Spinnet and Drystan Fawcett!
WHAT: Uh oh!
WHERE: Before the Kestrel/United match tonight!

( Like hell was Charlie going to follow Drystan down some empty hallway where no one could hear him scream. )

Axe had called a meeting, though was he really allowed to call a meeting if he was suspended until after the next match? Charlie of course did not question this, because when you questioned Axebanger, you usually got hit rather hard with the blunt end of a broom. Believe Charlie, it had happened on more than one occasion. It had taken him a few times to learn his lesson, but he had, and was now currently standing against his locker, waiting for Axe to arrive.

He eyed his teammates carefully. They'd lost the match, yeah, but the fight had sparked something on the straws of their brooms, so to speak. Axe had a reputation, yeah, but if you wanted to succeed in this game, you had to support your leader. No one was going to randomly attack Axe and not hear about it from the other Kestrels, Charlie was sure.

"Ten galleons says Zoey captains next match," Charlie said only somewhat jokingly. He could definitely see Axe naming the youngest as captain to teach them all a lesson. She'd probably do a good job at it, though, Charlie reckoned.

The locker room doors slammed open, and he winced; Le Capitaine had arrived.

WHO: Delilah Spinnet and Charlie Spinnet :D
WHAT: LOL Charlie's bailing his sister out of JAIL
WHERE: JAIL
WHEN: TODAY, AT THE JAIL

( I didn’t even hit the twit )

CHARLIE!

I may or may not have been arrested and I need you to come bail me out. Merlin I hope you are not at practice---

Your favorite twin,
Delilah.

P.S. Please hurry it smells in here.

He let out a long breath from his nose, staring up at the night sky with little interest. Charlie had started out with a lot of interest, as it seemed that the perfectly clear sky should not be wasted by being indoors, but the staring and gazing had caused his thoughts to wander and drift away from his current position on the earth. He probably shouldn't have let his mind lose itself in his thoughts, as he had a rather lovely girl lying in the grass beside him, resting just as quietly as him.

Charlie really had no idea what he was doing there with Penelope Fawcett. He'd asked her for coffee the other night, and their strange but interesting conversation from the coat closet seemed to carry over into an amusing bit of chit chat. Charlie wasn't going to bring up the fact that she'd snogged him quite thoroughly, as it was more than easy to tell that the girl was not one of his usual birds. She was beautiful, of course (that was a given, Charlie's ego only allowed so much--), but he had no desire to snog her right now. Well, no--he wouldn't oppose it, but Charlie was finding himself enjoying himself just lying there in silence.

His life was constantly moving in a whirl of action and chatter, it was just nice to be near someone who he didn't feel like he needed to impress.

"I failed Astronomy one semester," he said, moving his hands to create a pillow under his head, his eyes still locked on the sky.

Of course the party had a slight theme of blue and yellow. It wasn't blatantly obvious, but as Bess shifted the United blue napkins to the perfect angle, she couldn't help but beam at how proud she was of the entire gathering. People were happy to see each other, mingling and looking relaxed; the party was exclusive to the players and their guests, so there were no cameramen or journalist---the only pictures being taken were by the players themselves, who seemed to be having a good time goofing off before work began again. Bess had really never thought about being one of those wives, that hosted parties and entertained guests, but---she had to admit that it was quite fun.

The garden looked beautiful. Bess wasn't quite sure how Drystan had so easily managed to get the space, but she wasn't going to complain. Her husband had tricks up his sleeve that she'd probably never fully figure out. Plus, she'd gotten her sister-in-law out of her flat and now Penelope was somewhere around here...hopefully talking to a handsome bloke (but just talking! Only talking!).

Bess couldn't be more pleased with herself. She let out a breath and shook her head at a few players who were on their fourth glass of champagne.