r α κ (flower) wrote in valesco,
@ 2012-01-08 21:10:00

Entry tags:

Rose wavered where she stood, unsure of how to proceed. There was the exit, right there, from this bubbling chaotic mess that was the cancelled wedding of Adrian and Maggie and she had been cleared to leave by the intimidating combined force that was Odette MacFarlan and Tony Chang, but--- she bit her lip, feeling incredibly guilty just thinking this--- Octavius was over there as well, and she didn't quite feel brave enough to even potentially approach him yet.

How horrid was that, she was horrid, a spineless little--- tart! She was a right tart for basically ignoring him, and she hadn't meant for it to be like that, but after not immediately responding to his owl, the black hole that was friday and saturday happened and-- she felt completely ashamed for her actions, and wished more than anything that---

"Knightley!"

Rose's eyes rounded wide at the sharp call of her name, and it felt like her heart had skipped too many beats to be good. How could one person possibly make that loud of an echo? Her gaze automatically targeted the betrayer, and she was met what could only be described as a playfully cruel smile plastered across Carys Llewellyns smug face. Rose watched in sheer horror as Carys gave the tiniest of waves before wrapping her arm around Drake Parkin (who also looked far too satisfied to be innocent) before walking out of the vicinity. She was going to kill Carys. That was the last time she ever told her teammate anything under the pretense of---

A sudden touch frightened her for a moment, and died only slightly when Rose realized who the hand belonged to. Wobbling in her heels, her leg rested against the pew for support. Merlin knew she needed it.

"Hi," she said faintly, feeling her throat promptly close up at the proximity of Octavius Pepper.

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dinglealltheway
2012-01-09 04:12 am UTC (link)

Second chances were shit.

This is what Octavius Pepper thought as he marched up the aisle and slumped into his seat, sending the usher away with one succinct and terribly uncharacteristic glare. Octavius was generally very easy-going; it was a point of pride for him, particularly with his infuriating but loving family and the large majority of dunderheads he worked with. Happy as he was for Maggie and this Adrian fellow, the last place he wanted to be right now was at a wedding of a former crush when the former girlfriend he'd kissed and slept with on New Year's Eve had up and left him (in her own home!) the morning after, ignored his attempts to contact her, and then fallen into a coma less than a week later. It somehow put a damper on things. So yes, second chances were shit, and kismet was a bunch of bollocks, and—was that Rose?

Octavius craned his head an unnatural degree, but the blonde head of hair slipped out of his sight too fast. Fine. That was just fine. He crossed his arms in a glower and stared holes into the runner by his feet.

Then, like his black mood had viciously spread, there were people saying the wedding wasn't happening! Looking around with such an expression of guilt, he felt immediately remorseful for his terrible attitude, and yes, all right, there may have been the tiniest bit of secret glee, but he felt even guiltier for that. Just as he was about to file out, he heard Rose's name being shouted from a way's away. Snapping his head around, he saw the witch in question and made a beeline straight for her, catching hold of her wrist as she hurried in the opposite direction.

"'Hi'? he echoed, disbelief evident in his tone and pretty much all across his face. "That's—that's all? That's it?"

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flower
2012-01-09 05:49 am UTC (link)

For a brief second she toyed with the idea to promptly start crying and make this situation less painful, but she was too abashed to let herself get out of this situation that easily. By the rather fearsome look on Octavius' face, it didn't seem like something that cheap would work on him anyway. So, instead, Rose swallowed and let her mouth move wordlessly as she tried to put the jumbled words in her head together firmly enough to speak them.

Maybe she could blame it on the coma! It had been a very traumatic experience, her nose and both her arms had been broken in addition to--- wow, it was amazing how seamlessly she allowed herself to fall back on being a resident rotten tart land.

"I---" Rose started, looking down at his hand wrapped around her wrist. He had done nothing wrong, she had actually rather enjoyed the night they spent together, and-- and-- it had been a mistake that she didn't respond to him, but the more she had thought about it, the more the thought of them together made her nervous because they had broken up last time because of her and now she was starting with a more hectic life than she could have ever dreamed and-- and--

"I'm sorry!" she sputtered, her wrist twitching in his grip. "I hadn't-- I didn't mean to ignore you. I just didn't know what to think and then I got into an accident in a match, which was not on purpose, and I understand why you're upset please don't be too upset. It was not purposeful. Please-- know that."

She had definitely said that all in one breath. But she didn't dare take a deep breath yet.

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dinglealltheway
2012-01-10 08:23 pm UTC (link)

The noise that Octavius emitted was somewhere between "no, it's all right, as I understand you were in a state of unconsciousness" and a disbelieving snort because there were the several days beforehand where, to the best of his knowledge, she in fact had been cognizant. He dropped her wrist and stepped slightly away, just to the side, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"You could have told me you didn't know what to think. I mean, this," he gestured frustratedly between the two of them, and after a quick look around, lowered his voice, "isn't something I'm that familiar with, either! We're both adults; if you had thought it was a mistake, I'd have accepted it!" Well, his ego would have been terribly bruised, and he'd probably have nursed secretive hurt feelings while maintaining an outwardly indifferent persona for quite sometime, but it still would have been handled!

He expelled a long breath, giving the impression of pinching the bridge of his nose without actually doing so. "I mean, are you—all right? I read about it… I don't actually know what happened, but it must've been bad." No need to mention he'd actually found himself at St. Mungo's and poorly passing himself off her brother in a fit of panicked confusion.

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flower
2012-01-11 04:25 am UTC (link)

Rose frowned, wrapping her hands around her bare shoulders as she listened to Octavius. She did not like this feeling that was currently forming, like she was being reprimanded by a school teacher for acting out in class. It was rather... unpleasant. And not to mention did not mix well with the other crushing emotions of guilt, anxiety, shame and deep humility nestling their way into every pore of her body. But, not wanting to add fuel to another confrontation, Rose held her tongue.

And she didn't want to talk about her stupid accident because it had rather been all her own fault (though Michal Conway Lynch probably could have done without the outward aggression of breaking her face), and therefore was embarrassed to think about, let alone speak to another person about. So, no, none of that. If he wanted to have this conversation right here, right now, then they were going to stick to it. No unnecessary distractions like her current health!

It frustrated her that all of this was growing into something more dramatic than it needed to be, which was also her fault, the exact opposite of what she had intended. Rose pushed her heel into the ground in a light stomping manner, a deeper urge now spurring within her. This was--- not for--- it didn't--- no. Dropping her arms, she tilted her head to her shoulder, rubbing the side of her head with it for a moment.

"I don't know what to think," she said promptly, dropping her shoulders for a straighter posture. And her body language might have come off as quiet calm, if her heel hadn't taken to steadily jiggling away. "I enjoyed New Year's with you, I enjoy being with you, I always have, you are--- a wonderful person, a better boyfriend than I deserved---" As she spoke, Rose reached to touch the cloth on his chest lightly with a small smile. Wanting more physical support for what she was going to say next, Rose rested her palm flat. "But I am concerned because of--- everything that has happened between now than then, worried the reason we broke up before will become an issue again--- and I don't want to hurt you."

After releasing some of the thoughts that had been swirling around in her head for almost a week, Rose's immediate next thought was how she was definitely going to burst into tears after this conversation concluded.

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dinglealltheway
2012-01-12 01:33 am UTC (link)

"So far, I'd say it isn't really your job that's impeding us," Octavius said, giving her hand an absent pat. He remembered as well as she did that yes, they'd had an enjoyable relationship—things had been easy, and where her schedule was more hectic with training and assimilating into professional Quidditch playing life, he found it easy enough to fill in the holes with his burgeoning status at the WWN station. So when it had come time to acknowledge a break up was inevitable, it was all right. But now, Octavius thought, he'd been more established, in a stationary position, longer than she had. His work life was settled, demanding in its own way, but manageable and usually predictable. All elements that allowed him to pursue other things, to be able to look for a relationship.

But he found it increasingly obvious Rose didn't, or couldn't, or wouldn't trust that it was the same for her. As much as he thought this was brief and bizarre encounter had been about second chances, maybe he was being wishful where the universe was being realistic. At its worse, this was some type of closure, and that was fine, wasn't it? Curse-shy as he'd been about romance since his last disastrous relationship, maybe this was reminding him to less literally revisit old relationships.

"I've always enjoyed your company, Rose," he said, turning towards her and uncrossing his arms to place a hand on her elbow. She was tall enough that he could look her straight in the eye. "That much hasn't changed. But these reservations you have… I think they're only problems if you want them to be. Which is fine," he hastened to add. "I can accept that New Year's Eve was just a pleasant revisit. I just needed to know that."

Out of words, he cupped the hand still on his chest and smiled only a little self-effacingly.

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flower
2012-01-12 06:09 am UTC (link)

Her mouth opened for a couple of moments to quickly snap back shut. She felt that her slightly very dangerous and hectic job was a valid topic to bring up when discussing the future of them. It wasn't--- look where they were! At the broken up wedding of two seasoned veterans, all things considered, when dealing with risks, physically and socially, of the profession. How was that not seriously something to be concerned about? Rose bit the inside of her cheek, feeling her face heat up.

This was not the appropriate way to go about resolving this.

She just needed a couple of moments to think.

Promptly deciding that was an excellent idea, Rose redirected her gaze down to the ground without warning. Staying perfectly still was important to calculate, review, and decide what to say to Octavius so that she could justifiably live, and deal with, whatever she decided after this moment. Some time passed, enough for Rose to finish her thoughts just as another loud voice called out her name.

Blinking rapidly, Rose looked up to meet a rather terrifying image of Odette MacFarlan glaring at them the front of the room. Glancing around proved that almost everyone else at this point had left, and Odette had taken to calling out people by name. Before the other woman had another chance to be intrusive, Rose grabbed Octavius' hand, lacing her fingers through his as she sped them along toward the exit.

Once out of incriminating sight, Rose stopped and turned to face him. With only one quick glance back for good measure, she refocused on him and took a deep breath. "I don't want New Year's to be just a pleasant revisit," she spoke softly, finding that it had been easier to listen to her heart when she had finally been able to calm down her mind. "And I don't--- I think--- we could try. Again--- try again. At this." Rose paused, then added, "If you want to."

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dinglealltheway
2012-01-13 11:04 pm UTC (link)

Octavius blinked rapidly, unsure his ears were still working properly—they might still be lagging several steps behind the rest of him, right? She wanted to try this again. What again? Them again? That was what she had meant? He took her words at face value while the rest of his mind scrambled over itself to go from the wedding hall to outside and the conversation that had taken place, because he'd been certain she was telling him now, and he must have missed something. She's gone from silence to that Magpies seeker chasing them out, to out here and—Did he want to try this again? He was quite certain the answer was yes, which was why Octavius had been acting so obsessive.

There was definitely potential for it to go bottom-up. It might even be an ugly break up this time, if it didn't work out. But one never knew until it was tried, wasn't that what everyone said? They'd had a bit of shaky start there, but Octavius still couldn't shake the feeling that this…this was—promising. That was a good word for it.

"Yeah," he nodded and even laughed a little, brushing the back of his hand against his cheek. "I'm quite certain I do."

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flower
2012-01-14 04:49 am UTC (link)

Really?

While Octavius had made it quite clear about how he felt, his response still took her by surprise. She just hadn't thought he would agree? To something so official. Especially with how she had been acting.... it didn't matter, now. What mattered now was this wonderful wizard standing before her that had just agreed to a second chance and she didn't know why she had been so difficult--- it was good. Even though it made her nervous! But it was a different kind of nervous, a good one that didn't make her light-headed or unconscious but almost excited. It was new... maybe that only happened because they had dated before and---

She needed to stop.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Rose let her face, and her body, warm up substantially at his touch. Her chin dipped a little, and a small smile appeared on her lips. "Okay," she sighed happily, feeling as if a large amount of weight had finally been lifted from her shoulders. No need to think about the potential issues that could be brought up later from this revival. They would just... deal with them. Later.

"You know," Rose started, replacing her hand back in his. "My brother told me the funniest story yesterday after they discharged me. Something about a fan trying to impostor him?" She pressed her lips together in an amused manner. Now it was funny. Leaning over, she kissed Octavius, pulling away only slightly in between kisses to finish her sentence. "He was very honored."

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