It's good to see you again. [Heinrich.] on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Evelyn Stones

May 20, 2020 11:31 AM

It's good to see you again. [Heinrich.] by Evelyn Stones

CW: I'ma assume there's going to be talk of child abuse and such throughout this thread.

The abilities of the MARS rooms seemed nearly endless, as the only real limits appeared to be the imagination. Evelyn and Ness had conjured up a hair salon based on the vague idea that water was involved, and now Evelyn found herself sitting on a rocky outcropping where Inigo Montoya and the masked dude had had a sword fight. This cliff was an important part of Princess Bride and seemed like a good place to meet Heinrich. It was much more comfortable being around him now that they'd spent a week in each other's company and, for the first time, Evelyn wasn't worried at all about whether or not she'd mess up their friendship by being the one on the receiving end of it. It was nice to have some sort of stability in her social life other than Ness' constancy. Her best friend was her sibling in a lot of ways - particularly now - and it was nice to have others to give them both some space to grow without the other.

Evelyn and Heinrich had made plans to meet here one afternoon after school during the first week of classes and the former's stomach was an angry rolling mess. Comfortable as she was with her friend, or whatever he was, she wasn't exactly comfortable with the news she had to tell him. The problem was more or less that she hadn't told him on their birthday. She'd gotten to visit and it had been perfect and for just a couple hours, she didn't have to think about photograph evidence, testimony, papers, meetings, and hoping beyond hope that everything turned out okay. For just a few hours, everything was okay. She was glad to have made that decision because it also meant that Heinrich's birthday sucked less than it would have if she'd told him everything.

The bigger problem was that she wasn't going to be able to keep much away from him at this point. Bringing up the news that she and her brother had been officially removed from the care of their parent necessitated the question of why that hadn't happened before, or else "why now." The answer to that was not a positive one and it had been one Evelyn had hoped not to have to tell Heinrich for fear of him blaming himself. At the same time, she knew that it wasn't any good to try to keep secrets about things that mattered from people who mattered. Then there was the concerns over whatever future legal battles lay ahead and the fact that a certain court case would almost definitely come up as part of her father's previous record, as well as her own. She'd been legally dismissed as a liar and he'd been legally accused of a heinous crime. Little as she wanted to tell Heinrich about any of that, she'd rather tell him than have him find out that way, and if he wanted to be involved - which his offer to help with CJ seemed to imply to some degree - then he needed to know who he was involved with.

For now, Evelyn took a seat on the Cliffs of Insanity, which seemed fitting, and awaited Heinrich's arrival. She almost laughed at the memory of napping on a different set of cliffs another lifetime ago. When Heinrich arrived, Evelyn looked up and couldn't help smiling for a moment. She pushed herself to her feet because it was awkward to be sitting while he was standing and because she had bounds of anxious energy she needed to get out somehow.

"It's great to see you," she beamed. It was an expression that faded fast. "Before you say anything, before we chat . . . Heinrich, I have to tell you some stuff about my family, and you aren't going to like it, but I have to tell you, okay?" She blinked, frustrated that her tears were threatening to come even before she'd started to say anything, but crying had been coming faster these days and she couldn't exactly blame herself for that.

She took a deep breath and began pacing, not wanting to look at Heinrich while she was explaining this. "CJ and I are going to be fostered by the McLeods until I graduate Sonora," she said first. Starting with the good news seemed rude, but it was context too. "After you left . . . when I got back to the McLeods I needed . . . medical attention. I'm okay," she added, chancing a glance up at him. "But it wasn't something that they could ignore and Ness' mom and dad got in touch with my social worker and they collected all the evidence and pictures they could" - a process which had sucked a lot - "and they're trying to charge my dad. I don't know how serious you were about helping with CJ, but there's some stuff that's going to come up if you're around this case and I don't want you to find out that way."

Another deep breath. This was an entirely different cliff because now she was on the precipice where her friend would either catch her or let her go. She didn't want to see Heinrich let her go, so she turned her gaze to the horizon. "When I was five, and then again when I was eleven, my dad had his boss come over because he wanted a promotion at work and he was trying to impress him. His boss was . . . not a good wolf. He came in my room at night and did . . . stuff. Made me do stuff. Like adult stuff with him." She didn't want to check Heinrich's face for understanding when it also would mean checking it for judgment, so she pressed on. "The second time, my mom caught him and it went to court. It was dismissed . . . But it's on my record and my dad's. So if you're involved, you're probably going to hear about that."

She was exhausted. She thought that it would be nice to just not have to think anymore about anything. After a moment to give Heinrich room to think, she looked up at him, her grey eyes full of stormclouds. " Do you understand what I mean?" She didn't want to be more specific, but euphemisms about a topic outside the everyday scope of activities was not usually a good way to help an English Language Learner figure out what was going on. "Do you still want to be my friend and stuff?" she asked quietly.

22 Evelyn Stones It's good to see you again. [Heinrich.] 1422 Evelyn Stones 1 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

May 21, 2020 10:37 AM

So we are not sword fighting? by Heinrich Hexenmeister

There were a lot of places in Sonora that Heinrich was fond of. The Library, obviously, was always a comfortable go-to for quiet time, finding information, or murdering evil. His room was his private sanctuary. Aladren Commons was more home than Utah was, though it was decidedly lacking in Hexenmeisters other than himself, so that didn't quite qualify for the title either. The Gardens were nice, offering fresh air, pleasant scenery, and a chance to stretch his legs. The Prefect Lounge was a less perfect sanctuary than his room, but it was a good place to go if he felt up for some company, but didn't want to answer questions from younger students. Especially now that more of his friends were on the prefect roster, he expected he'd probably head over that way more often.

But MARS would always hold a special spot for him. It was MARS where he really got to know Evelyn. So it seemed right that she asked him to meet him there shortly after term began.

He entered, and raised his eyebrows at the scene around him, straight out of the Princess Bride. "Are we sword fighting?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and the corners of his lips twitching a small smile at Evelyn.

They weren't. They were talking about her family. She was telling him . . . she'd been hurt. After he left. But they got CJ out already. That was the good part. That was the only good part.

She was telling him . . . all the things she'd only ever implied, sidestepped, or avoided talking about entirely. It was . . . terrible. Every bit as bad as the worst things he had imagined and then some. What kind of sick . . . his parents did bad things for their work, but it at least stayed at work (well, until the Aurors showed up; and he guessed there was the basement and the garden, too, but it didn't touch them; they weren't used). That was just . . . evil. Wrong on every single level. Five wasn't much older than CJ was now. Eleven was . . . oh, dear Honest Eckhart's feet, that was why she started school a year late.

Heinrich looked horrified and slightly green. His lunch felt uneasy and prone to return from his stomach. He didn't know which was worse. The boss who wanted to go into little girls' rooms or her father for letting him. Seigmund would have happily smited both of them. He kind of wished he had at least hexed Mr. Stones when he'd had the chance. His restraint apparently hadn't stopped Evelyn from getting hurt again anyway.

He nodded slowly as she asked if he understood. He did. All too well. He almost wished English was still a bit more of a barrier, but no. No, she was telling him, and he was honored to know she trusted him with this.

His expression changed to one of surprise when she asked if he still wanted to be friends. But then he remembered, he had wondered the exact same thing after he'd told her at the bonfire about what it was his parents had done. "You did not abandon me for the crimes of my parents. I would not abandon you for the crimes of yours. I hope he goes to to prison for a long time." Heinrich did not understand why he was not already in prison for a long time, why Evelyn or even CJ had been allowed anywhere near him. Mr. Stones gave bad wolves a bad name. Bad wolves ate other people's Grandmas. They huffed and puffed and blew down houses then ate the little piggies inside. They didn't give their daughters to their sick perverted bosses so they could get a stupid promotion. What was wrong with people?

"I support you and CJ with everything I have," he promised earnestly. This was not much yet, but he would work on that in the two years until he graduated. "I was going to ask if you wanted me to watch him while you did your seventh year but, I guess, I do not need to now?"

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister So we are not sword fighting? 1414 Heinrich Hexenmeister 0 5

Evelyn Stones

May 21, 2020 11:23 AM

That's next! by Evelyn Stones

It was so nice to see Heinrich joking and smiling and Evelyn hated how quickly she had to change that into something more sour. Or perhaps more . . Nauseous? She supposed she would have looked that way if one of her friends was telling her about all this happening to them, but it was hard to step away from her own little bubble of the world long enough to get that sort of perspective. People looking as angry and horrified as Heinrich and Kir was a helpful compass for knowing how she maybe ought to feel about it all.

The best part by far was that Heinrich wanted to be friends. Not just that, but he wanted to help and he wanted to support her. Being abandoned was a familiar feeling and being cared for, to Evelyn's pleasure, was becoming much more familiar than it had ever been before. She hadn't really thought about what she wanted for her father's sentencing. Really, he just wanted to know that she didn't have to go back and that he couldn't take CJ back. Going to prison for life would do the job, and Evelyn knew that Heinrich saying so was no small thing.

"You've been through a lot," she acknowledged with a thick voice. "Thank you for helping me get through mine, too. It means so much."

The urge to hug Heinrich reappeared as it had at the bonfire, but she was generally trying to be a bit more aware of consent and hugging and such and she refrained. She wondered a bit what he'd do if she asked him for a hug.

"You were?" she confirmed, surprise making her voice small. Her misty eyes had a different cause then and she smiled at Heinrich. Wheels turned quickly in her mind as she considered.

On one hand, it would be good for CJ not to be uprooted every year. At the same time, she liked to think that maybe . . . just maybe . . . she and Heinrich would be in each other's lives after graduation and staying with Heinrich would just mean he was staying with someone he'd be maybe staying with for more than just a year. She'd be seventeen then and could visit or stay if Heinrich wanted her to. She liked to think that would be the case at least as friends, but she wasn't sure what that would look like either. If she and Heinrich were raising her little brother together as friends, she doubted he'd have super great luck in the dating arena. She also doubted she'd want to be there to watch that happen.

Of course, if she was hoping to stay on at the McLeod foundation, a goal which may have to change a bit since she had a hard time imagining attending law school and caring for CJ, at least until he was old enough for Sonora, then he would probably be used to spending time with them anyway. But then, they were only taking them in to keep them safe and keep them together until Evelyn was old enough to take him in herself. She couldn't imagine Fionn and Marijke would have wanted a new toddler at home if they weren't doing it for Evelyn, which was very sweet. CJ would probably come to adore the McLeods this year, but she knew he also adored Heinrich, and a young man of upstanding moral character would be so good for him. But also Kir and Fionn and . . . ugh. Why was everything so hard? She knew what she wanted, but she didn't really know what anyone else wanted, and that made everything more difficult.

One of the weird things about everything she'd experienced was that it was all about losing control. She was pretty used to other people deciding things for her, for better and for worse. The recovery process included getting a whole lot of that control back, but she had no idea how to wield it. How was she supposed to make the best, most-informed decision for a brother she undeniably didn't know very well? Or for herself, for that matter? At what point did her going after what she wanted mean interfering with the desires of others? Or imposing on them? She had imposed on the McLeods for a long time; what was the best way to thank people and show appreciation for the sacrifices people made for her? How could she justify taking people up on offers she really wanted to take them up on, knowing full well it meant putting their life on hold to some degree?

Plus at this point, she was just taking way too long to think. The adventurer in her wanted to just decide and be done, but adventures were dangerous and people got hurt. At least, they often did. What were her chances of avoiding getting hurt or hurting people either way, though? It was impossible to know. Perhaps she should have taken Divination a bit more seriously.

"What makes you happiest?" she asked softly. Heinrich was so close and also seemed very far away. She sort of wanted to just step right up to him and say here I am! and see what he decided. At least then she'd know. She really couldn't make a decision without knowing. The first time they'd been in this MARS room together, she'd learned that Heinrich was soft and warm and strong and smelled safe, and none of that had changed. If anything, he was more those things than ever, and Evelyn was more aware of it than ever, too.

"I want CJ to have something stable so his life doesn't keep getting uprooted. He adores you. I guess maybe it depends on . . . whether you'd like to see me after graduation?" Stupid. Obviously he wasn't opposed to the idea of seeing her after graduation if he was willing to take her brother in to keep him safe for a year. "On whether CJ could still see you after I graduated."

She looked around, searching for . . . what? Like there was going to be a rock here somewhere that made life easier for her all of a sudden? A brush plant waving in the wind and giving helpful messages in semaphore? That being said, looking around did serve to help her think of a way to say what she needed to say without saying it, and she smiled to herself a little bit, wondering how well he remembered Princess Bride.

"I'd like to see you after all this. I . . . uh I like seeing you a lot," she told him, watching his eyes. She was still smiling, but she looked at him seriously nonetheless. "So . . . as you wish," she smirked.

22 Evelyn Stones That's next! 1422 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

May 25, 2020 6:25 PM

Oh good. Not swordfighting would be a waste of a great clifftop by Heinrich Hexenmeister

"I am glad to help," he promised truthfully. He would not recommend the experience of discovering one's parents were dark wizards to anybody, but the worst of that was over, probably. He hoped. It was done, they had a new normal, and Karl was a decent guardian and Heinrich was 85% sure he was not going to get hauled off to prison, too. (The 15% uncertainty came in part from Heinrich's own self-doubt in his ability to recognize bad wolves, though he felt a little better about that point now that he'd met Mr. Stones, and in part because Karl was a desert hermit and that sort was traditionally hiding things according to every piece of literature ever written that had desert hermits in it - though admittedly they were not always hiding bad things.)

Evelyn's bad wolf situation just kept on being terrible, though with this new fostering thing with the McLeods and the new charges against Mr. Stones in court, hopefully, that would finally begin to protect her from further bad wolf bites. Mr. Stones wasn't locked away permanently yet, though, so Heinrich wasn't going to count on that quite yet. It was, however, hopefully a turning point in both her life and CJ's. With luck, it wasn't going to be quite so traumatic for them, though.

Heinrich nodded. "I was," he confirmed his willingness to watch CJ the year after next. "I am," he added, in case that was still on the table. It still felt a long way away - his full set of Advanced classes still laid ahead of him - too long to be comfortable leaving CJ with Mr. Stones, but one year sooner than Evelyn could get custody of him, but now that it was the McLeods and not Mr. Stones with custody, it loomed somewhat less menacingly. He gave Evelyn the time she needed to think about this.

He blinked when the question that came out of that time of deep consideration was about his - Heinrich's - happiness. She continued, adding context, and he was quick to answer the obvious part - "Of course I want to see you after your graduation. And CJ, too."

And then, and then she added the final piece of context.

Heinrich had learned a lot of idioms and metaphorical phrases over the last couple of years. He learned them from his books, he learned some from context as he listened to his peers. Often the ones he picked up by listening to other English speakers converse were more guesswork and vague feelings of connection than pat definitions, but sometimes they were spelled out clearly for him, and he always appreciated it when that happened.

The movie The Princess Bride had a narrator who gave absolute text to one of those subtexts. It was right at the beginning, too, so you knew it was important. *That day,* the grandfather had read, *she was amazed to discover when he was saying As You Wish, what he meant was I Love You.* Non-literal meaning explanations did not come any more explicitly than that. As far as Heinrich was concerned, the Grandfather had just explained a common Americanism and he absorbed it as such.

So he knew he had the key to correctly translating those words when Evelyn said them, and his mouth fell open.

Well, he supposed, maybe Hilda and Karl had been onto something after all. Hilda had been counting them as basically dating since Heinrich admitted to telling Evelyn about their parents, and Karl . . . well, Karl had given Heinrich the Talk. And Karl might well be under the impression that Heinrich hadn't taken his advice during that Talk, though the stink-eyed looks had never reached the point of actual questions and Heinrich wasn't one to share Evelyn's family issues with people who weren't involved.. He had done nothing wrong and did not need to explain himself.

But now Evelyn had said . . . and his only example of how to respond was Buttercup and Buttercup never said anything after Westley said 'As you wish' except the time she'd thrown him down a cliff and Heinrich didn't think 'Oh my dear sweet Westley' was the right answer right now.

She'd asked a question. He should answer the question. And probably give some kind of positive or negative indication to her declaration so she knew where he stood.

He could maybe do both at the same time.

"I like seeing you a lot, too," he began carefully. "My uncle warned me not to make any new Hexenmeisters while I visited you," he said, flushing slightly, and hoping that this topic did not traumatize Evelyn further given what she'd just told him, but he thought explaining this was necessary to make his point. "I did not make one, but I hope I found one," he stopped, frowned a bit in mild confusion because he wasn't quite sure how many future Hexenmeister it was right to hope for at this point, and this was definitely not where or how he intended to propose, if that was even in their future. They weren't even formally dating yet.

He shook his head slightly and moved on, leaving the count at one for now. "I would like to be in your life, and CJ's, for as long as you both want me there. I do not know if we will be good parents, but I hope we will at least be better than those we were born to. You are very important to me. If you, if you want a," he paused, struggling not so much with English as with his own thoughts and feelings. He was prone to analyze things objectively without really considering his personal opinions and desires, but Evelyn deserved to know what those were, so first he needed to figure them out.

"Evelyn Stones, I don't know if you want a boyfriend, given," he waved his hand in a way he hoped encompassed everything she had recently told him, "the bad wolves you already encountered. But if you do . . . Hilda thinks we have been dating since the bonfire and I have wished she was correct."

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister Oh good. Not swordfighting would be a waste of a great clifftop 1414 0 5

Evelyn Stones

May 25, 2020 7:30 PM

We don't tend to waste our clifftops, do we? by Evelyn Stones

Heinrich's expression of utter shock sent mixed emotions through Evelyn's stomach. On one hand, he'd understood! Great job on the English acquisition front and also on the knowing-important-cultural-references front. At the same time . . . he'd understood. There wasn't really any going back from this and she had a brief mental image of sitting in hers and Ness' big squishy chair, bawling her eyes out, explaining why she couldn't go to DnD anymore.

When he began, he was careful, which generally meant bad things in Evelyn's experience. It was probably part of why she was as reckless as she was; anything worth doing was worth doing all the way and if you had the time to think, you were thinking too much. That being said, she'd spent enough time with Ness and with Heinrich himself to know that not everyone followed such an approach. She blinked with surprise, chuckling both at Heinrich's phrasing and Uncle Karl's warning advice. Outright laughing would've been very satisfying, both because of the fact that it was terribly funny and that it would've at least let her get something out. However, she refrained, only smirking a little despite a flush that matched his.

Then it was her turn to look shocked because the one benefit that speaking carefully had was that you could generally trust that they meant what they said. It wasn't like Heinrich to extend into hyperbole, and she especially doubted he'd do so in this case. Which meant . . . her flush brightened significantly, both with surprise and with whatever combination of flattered and unbelievably happy she was feeling. Heinrich wanted to be a parent with her. Even if that was all he wanted, just friendship and some good ole co-parenting, Evelyn would have been much happier than she could remember having been for a very long time.

But that wasn't all Heinrich wanted. And he was so stinkin' precious. She'd really have to tell him how much she hated when people used her last name in such capacities some time, but that wasn't even close to the important part of what he was saying. He was saying that he thought the same thing she'd thought and now she really wished she'd taken Kir's advice sooner. Or perhaps she didn't. This was perfect, and it was perfect to have had a week to spend with Heinrich over the summer just as friends. Or whatever.

As she processed what he'd said one extra time through to make sure she hadn't misunderstood anything or jumped to any conclusions, she broke into a grin, rocking up on her toes eagerly. "I have, too," she beamed. "I'd really like if you were my boyfriend." It was such a funny word and felt so odd in her mouth. But it also felt really really good when it was the word for Heinrich. She wondered a bit at his policy for physical contact in this case, as she was pretty sure he wouldn't touch her without her explicit consent to do so, especially now that he knew the whole story, but also now that we're dating, can I toooouch ya? seemed a bit creepy. She wanted to go through everything he'd said piece by piece and memorise it and also tell him she felt the same way - that he was important to her, that she wanted him in her life - but she was pretty sure he knew. Or at least, she was sure she'd have a while now to make sure he did. "If you'd like, we could go on a date on purpose some time," she grinned, thinking of the Ball and every other perfect little thing.

22 Evelyn Stones We don't tend to waste our clifftops, do we? 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5