They say you can never go home again. on At Home

Valentine Duell

July 19, 2020 4:45 PM

They say you can never go home again. by Valentine Duell

Valentine sat at her dining room table with her parents in silence. The steaming mug of hot chocolate in front of her was beginning to cool, almost forgotten if not for the warmth that leeched into her still chilly hands. Memories were playing through her mind as she was trying to make sense of them. She had another Aunt. Aunt Giselle was Papa's sister. She had been left behind in Greece when Val had only been four. It apparently had been, and still was a complicated situation.

She had very vague memories of that old home, and another older girl that she had played with there? Valentine had been thrilled when Mama and Papa had introduced her after they got home! Aunt Giselle was awesome! She told Val all sorts of tales from Greece and their escapades together there. Some of them she had to share when Mama and Papa weren't listening though. It was fun and great, but they were all worried about something. Something that was going on in the basement.

They wouldn't let her go down there. It smelled a bit like the potions classroom at school. Aunt Giselle and Papa spent the most time down there. Mama went down on occasion as well. One night she had tried to sneak down there, but Aunt Giselle had caught her somehow. Well, now she knew how. Aunt Giselle was a Seer, but she had only learned that today.

Other than the new Aunt and the basement secret, the break had gone relatively normal. Christmas with Pop and Aunt Paige was nice and traditionally muggle. She had a new wardrobe for the new term now, and an awesome hair clip from Bonabelle in Ireland! She hoped her own present for Bonabelle had made it. It had been a big blue hair bow, the kind that Bonabelle likes, decorated with books, cauldrons and potion vials.

The trip to Aladren to see the Trevears had been postponed due to something 'incredibly big and important' showing up on Aunt Jhonice's schedule. Aunt Giselle really didn't seem to mind. Instead they had finally let her down into the basement. It had been a bit of a crazy blur down there and really wanted to know what was going on before she went back to school tomorrow. So, she finally broke the silence. "What... what exactly was that?"

2 Valentine Duell They say you can never go home again. 1490 1 5

Marissa Duell

July 19, 2020 6:58 PM

I strongly disagree. by Marissa Duell

”To parelthón den boreí na diachoristeí apó to parón. Tha epistrépso an boró.”

Marissa’s Greek – such as it had ever been – was rusty after seven years of disuse, but she thought she grasped the gist of what her sister-in-law had said. Something about the past being connected to the present, followed by something about returning…if she could.

That was it. After all the months of work and occasional danger, not to mention months of trying to rebuild old bonds…that was all that Giselle had said, seemingly in some state of strong emotion, before she had abruptly left. No real explanation, either of what she was doing or what she had done or why any of it was that way. She was just…gone, again, and they were all adrift now.

Somehow, they had made their way back to the kitchen, and Marissa had made hot chocolate. Somehow, it had seemed like the thing to do. It occurred to her that it was possible she was turning into her grandmother. First she had automatically responded to the confusion of Giselle’s return by cooking for her, and now she had automatically responded to the confusion of Giselle’s departure by making hot chocolate. It was something to do with her hands, she supposed, while trying to figure out what to say – except that in the first instance, she had not quite gotten to the cooking before she had started talking, and in this case, she had long since finished the task but was still sitting in silence.

She didn’t know how long she would have sat there had Valentine not broken the silence at last with a reasonable question. Marissa automatically reached out to stroke her hair, though she thought Valentine might be calmer than she was, at least for now.

“It’s…complicated,” she said, as though that wasn’t obvious. “It’s…your aunt has been trying to find some answers,” she said. “About what happened…and what’s been happening…and she couldn't, because she can't see - with her eyes, that is - she needed help, and said it would only work with you. Just now...I think she said something about the past, and about coming back…my Greek’s not very good, it was never very good, but…” She took a deep breath. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” she asked. “You feel okay?”

She resisted the temptation to press the back of her hand to Valentine’s forehead. It wasn’t as if arcane rituals from the distant past would actually give the child a fever, probably, as a rule. Or at least, this one shouldn’t have. Marissa might have been nearly useless with a wand herself, but she understood the principles of potion-making well enough, and remembered enough from History of Magic and Ancient Runes in school – she had stacked the deck, in her day, with ‘academic’ subjects, making up for her magical weakness – that she was fairly confident that Giselle’s mirror was harmless on its own, and that the runes engraved around its border, the metal it was made of, and the potions it had been treated with should have acted as bindings against…anything that could have gone wrong. However, that still didn’t account for what Valentine might have seen, how it might have affected her, and opening oneself up to certain things, even indirectly….

Should she have allowed this at all? Giselle’s primary aim had never, after all, been her own. Lia Persefoni was, even if she was not what Andrew and Marissa had both begun to suspect she was, not her responsibility – but Giselle’s experiment had seemed like the best odds she had of finding out who had interrupted their communications for all those years, and whether or not that person was still a threat to their family. Valentine, however, had never been a quiet child, which made her current state slightly alarming to Marissa's already strained nerves, and there were so many unknowns here – not helped at all by Giselle’s sudden departure.

She would, of course, welcome her sister-in-law back again if Giselle did return – but right now, at least, she thought she might also have a few sharper words for her than she had last time if she did. Or if they had to go find her. The first thing Marissa had done when she had had a moment to herself, the day Giselle had come back, had been to find an empty notebook and start writing everything she could about what she remembered, and what had happened that day, and she had read it over every day since, determined not to risk losing her grip on things again. If it came to that – well, they had gone this far. The more one did, the easier it became to imagine taking on more extreme tasks, it seemed.

16 Marissa Duell I strongly disagree. 147 0 5

Andrew Duell

July 20, 2020 5:26 PM

I would recommend listening to your mother. by Andrew Duell

What had happened? the question was just stuck on a loop in Andrew's brain. The mirror had worked. It had been a nightmare to construct, but it had worked. Giselle had returned with the book, a little later than she had expected, but she had found it. The three of them had poured over the volume to see what it would require.

It was a very old text and reading it hurt his brain. Not because of any weird mystical enchantments or anything, just because it was so archaic. There were better ways to of doing these things nowadays! there was so much in that book that just wasn't necessary! It was like looking at some code from years ago written by someone who wasn't entirely sure how the programming language worked. It was maddening. Made more so by the fact that Giselle insisted upon doing it 'by the book'. She had done it that way once before and it had worked. Andrew could experiment with another one later if he wanted to.

Between waiting for some components and all of the holiday festivities, it had become a race to see if they were going to get it completed before Val had to go back to school. Fortunately Jhonice had insisted on rescheduling the New Year's gathering. Giselle was perfectly fine not interacting with Jhon at all. He knew Giselle still blamed them both for the loss of their parents, and he knew she wasn't entirely wrong either. However, she did put the majority of the blame on Jhonice's shoulders.

That had given them the chance to finish up and finally execute the plan. Everyone goes into the basement. Giselle does her magic stuff with her and Val. Then Val watches the mirror while Giselle whispers questions to her. Val was in some sort of a trance her answers were... well, the kind you'd expect from a strange archaic divinations ritual.

Then his train of thought was broken by Val's question. Fortunately for him, Marissa responded faster than he did. Complicated? That was an understatement. He nodded along with Marissa's explanation. "For whatever reason, those spells won't work on someone older than eleven. One of the charms involved references solar revolutions and... " he stopped talking, pretty sure that Marissa had quick shot him one of those 'that's not helping' kind of looks.

"The past cannot be separated from the present. I'll return if I can." Andrew repeated after Marissa had mentioned Giselle's parting words. He hadn't used the language in a while, but had learned it thoroughly from working there. He had also brushed up a bit for some of those texts they had been reading. Giselle really must have done well in her seer cryptospeak class, but at least the second part was clear enough. Although what she was doing was anyone's guess.

Marissa did not look like she was taking this very well. He couldn't really blame her either. She had been doing her utmost to try to mend the broken relationship between them, and had been making good progress. Giselle just vanishing like that must have felt like a betrayal. He... he wasn't sure. Whatever had happened, whatever Giselle had learned had clearly upset her. Had she seen what he and Marissa suspected? There had clearly been a moment where she had lost control and began spouting off.. gibberish in Greek. Had she then Seen something? As soon as she had recovered, she had said those parting words and disappeared.

Right now though, he had Marissa and Val to worry about. There wasn't anything he could do for Giselle anymore at this point. He reached across the table to take one of his wife's hands. Then he put on the best smile he could for Valentine, "It has been a crazy day," he directed towards his daughter, "I'm sure Giselle will be fine and back here before we know it. Do you remember anything of what you saw in the mirror? That may give us a clue as to what she's up to."

2 Andrew Duell I would recommend listening to your mother. 145 0 5

Valentine Duell

July 20, 2020 6:21 PM

Good, I like home. by Valentine Duell

Val smiled as Mama stroked her hair. That always felt good, it felt like home and comfort. Papa usually wound up tickling her when he tried it. That was good to, but wasn't right for right now, she was glad it was Mama doing it. She looked between her parents as they talked. They were at as much of a loss as she was.

Had Aunt Giselle really only come so that she could use me for that spell? The thought made her a little angry. She had thought they were becoming.. friends? A proper aunt and niece? Aunt Paige was nice, but she didn't spend much time with them. Aunt Jhonice always seemed to be on the move. Aunt Giselle had been different. She had spent time with her, they had talked... Val had told her all about Bonabelle, Lavender, Alexander, Philippe, and Quincy. Then she just.. left. Val could barely even remember her leaving. She felt, empty somehow now. She didn't like the feeling. She didn't like that it felt like anger was trying to fill the void either.

Mama and Papa seemed to want to convince her that she would come back, and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that right now. "I'm... I'm okay Mama." The cup still felt warm on her hands. She took a sip. She really, desperately wanted to ask why Aunt Giselle had to leave, but she knew her parents didn't have that answer any more than she did. "Do you really think she'll be back? I think I miss her already."

She shook her head at Papa's question. "Not really. It was like I was half-asleep. I..." the words caught in her throat as her eyes began to water, "I didn't even realize she was gone until you came and got me. Did I mess things up?"

2 Valentine Duell Good, I like home. 1490 0 5

Marissa Duell

July 20, 2020 9:47 PM

Good. I hope you always do. by Marissa Duell

Marissa loved Andrew’s enthusiasm for details, his curiosity about the workings of magic, his commitment to making things work better. These were admirable traits, not to mention endearing. Right now, however, she wasn’t sure they were really helpful, and she was glad when Andrew stopped speculating, at least out loud.

Internally…she imagined they were all going to be doing a lot of speculating for a while, together and inside their own heads. She didn’t think there was anything to do to prevent that. It was, however, a problem for that future time.

She smiled sadly and patted Val’s hand when she said she thought she missed Giselle already. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’re okay.” Which wasn’t really an answer to Valentine’s question. “I don’t know why she’d have taken the time to tell us she was planning to come back if she wasn’t,” she said, addressing the question, relieved to hear Andrew’s translation align with what she had thought Giselle was saying. There had been more things Giselle had said before that, things where Marissa had understood, or thought she understood, individual words, but they hadn’t seemed to make sense together somehow. “We’ll just have to wait….”

Wait and see. She didn’t even bother finishing the platitude. She didn’t think Valentine cared much for an excess of platitudes, and it didn’t seem necessary to finish it anyway. What else were they supposed to do, if not sit and wait, now? At least for a while, and if that changed – well, Valentine certainly wasn’t going to do anything but wait and see.

She shook her head firmly, though, urgently, when Val asked if she had messed something up. “No,” she said. “No, don’t even think that. If something did go wrong, it’s because one of us – me or Papa or Aunt Giselle – made a mistake, not you – but I don’t think we did. I don’t think anything went wrong.” Or at least, she devoutly hoped not, though at the moment she thought she also believed herself about that. “I think she might have found what she was looking for, and…felt it was urgent,” she finished, somewhat lamely.

Marissa tried to suppress a surge of irritation with Giselle. She was no Seer, of course, but the first thing any Muggle child past sixth grade could tell you about prophecies with even the vaguest connection to Delphi was ‘don’t react too quickly.’ Almost every myth that didn’t begin with Zeus wanting in someone’s chiton began with someone going to Delphi, hearing a prophecy, acting to try to prevent the prophecy from coming true, and then directly bringing about the undesired outcome through the effort to prevent it. Of course, this was real life, not a myth, but…it wouldn’t have hurt to have at least tried to talk it out first, to look at the options.

It wasn’t fair, though, to hold Giselle to that standard – she had to keep reminding herself of that. The poor child had been essentially on her own since she was thirteen years old. Giselle was not used to having people to talk it out with, to ask for help from – other, of course, than her teacher, who had struck Marissa as someone with all the warmth of a snake in Siberia on the occasions they’d met, back in Greece. Giselle was used to acting on her own; she had even come back to them on her own initiative, pursuing her own goals, against Madam Persefoni’s wishes. She had tried, the past few months, to encourage Giselle to trust them and fall back on them, but really, four months was a drop in the bucket beside seven years…

“I don’t want you to worry about that, though,” she said firmly to Valentine. “And try not to worry too much about Aunt Giselle – you know we’ll write to you the minute we know anything,” she assured, privately hoping that was all that was necessary, and that they didn’t instead end up visiting the school in person to tell Valentine her aunt, whom she’d seemed to take to very much, had turned up dead somewhere. Giselle had not been overly willing to discuss details of what her life had been recently, but Marissa had gotten the impression, here and there, that it was not necessarily good, whatever it was Lia Persefoni had dragged her into. “You just focus on your school, and your clubs, and Quidditch and things, and try not to think too much about all this – but if you start remembering what you saw, or what questions Aunt Giselle asked you, or having bad dreams, or feeling bad at all, you tell us, okay, baby? But hopefully, none of that will happen, and this will all make sense soon.”

Later, she suspected, she was going to crack slightly in private with Andrew – worrying about what had happened, what might happen, if they should have allowed any of this to happen. Right now, though, that wasn’t an option, because she wasn’t allowed to crack while Valentine needed her.

16 Marissa Duell Good. I hope you always do. 147 0 5

Valentine Duell

July 21, 2020 5:42 PM

So long as it's filled with family. by Valentine Duell

Valentine returned Mama's sad smile and yawned. "You miss her already as well? We were having fun, we were talking and getting to know each other again then she just... was gone. I hope she comes back again." The girl sighed, "It's not fair, you and Papa had more time with her..." wait a moment. Aunt Giselle had been here for a few months... while she had been at school. Mama and Papa's letters had been a bit 'off' she had sensed that, this had been why, that had been clear from the moment she had gotten back home for break. But a question now occurred to her that simply hadn't with all the excitement of everything else going on over break. "Why didn't you tell me sooner that Aunt Giselle had come back? Could we use the mirror again to find her?"

She nodded her head when Mama said that she didn't think anything had gone wrong. She wasn't sure about that. There were some vague, foggy memories of Aunt Giselle whispering things to her like she was angry? Worried? She had seemed upset at least and Val hadn't been able to tell her the right things, the things that would make her happy again. She couldn't remember what she had been telling her aunt, but there was just a feeling of... desperation? over the whole foggy patch of her memories. Right now though, she felt tired. She took another sip of the hot chocolate. It didn't help much. How late was it?

Mama got her attention again. "I'll try not to Mama." she promised and gave Mama the best 'angry face' she could as fatigue tried to claim her consciousness. "You had better this time." She nodded sleepily at Mama request to let her know if she remembered anything more. But her mind had drifted off again. There was school again soon, clubs, Quidditch, friends...

He head lay on her arms on the table as her breathing took on the slow steady rate of someone drifting off to dreamland.

2 Valentine Duell So long as it's filled with family. 1490 0 5

Marissa Duell

July 21, 2020 6:52 PM

We'll always be here for you. by Marissa Duell

Marissa was not normally one to condone asking more questions before the person you were conversing with had the chance to answer the first one, but in this one instance, she was grateful for Valentine’s impatience. It allowed her to avoid answering the first, more awkward question about why they had not told her about her aunt’s return sooner.

“I doubt it,” she said. “I don’t think it works without a Seer, at least, not very well.”

This could, of course, be complete nonsense, but it gave her a way out for now. Besides, she suspected she knew, broadly, where Giselle had gone, because where else would Giselle go? Greece was the only home Giselle had known since she was eleven. Greece was where Madam Persefoni was. She could, perhaps, have gone to her aunt and uncle, but that was unlikely, given the state of Giselle’s feelings about Jhonice - one reason, among several, why it had been Andrew and Marissa who had gone to Greece with Giselle in the first place…

“We’ll see,” she added vaguely, the parents’ easiest way out of any situation.

She chuckled weakly at Valentine’s attempt at angry face. “Yes, ma’am,” she said, stroking Val’s hair again.

There wasn’t, it turned out, much room between there and Val starting to fall asleep at the table. Andrew took her up to bed; Marissa was staring off toward the window, currently completely covered by the nighttime shades, when he returned.

What just happened, was the question that came to mind, but it was too broad, she thought, to be useful. That was the kind of question that led to a rare lapse in control over her temper, and the truth was, anger wasn’t really the appropriate emotion right now. She knew that, and also knew it wasn’t Andrew she wanted to explode at. She didn’t even know, really, how much it was Giselle she wanted to explode at. So she revised her question.

“I understood the last two sentences Giselle said,” she said. “Could you make any sense out of what she was saying before that?”

16 Marissa Duell We'll always be here for you. 147 0 5

Andrew Duell

July 23, 2020 7:21 PM

Unless we're at work, or out at the store, or... nevermind. by Andrew Duell

Andrew sipped at his hot chocolate and watched the interchange between his wife and daughter. For a brief time he had his sister back as well. He had only been one mother short of a complete set of immediate family female relations. There was no getting her back though, Giselle on the other hand, still might be saved. He wasn't going to let another family member just... die? Disappear? But where to start? Giselle was probably well on her way to Greece, or she could just be hiding in the shed out back for all he knew. Maybe he should check... just in case.

He smiled at Valentine as she struggled to stay awake. It had been a long few days for her. Heck, for all of them. Holidays on the own did that to you, mix in some long lost relations, a project with a very hard set deadline and a weird mystical ritual. He wondered why he wasn't asleep yet.

He almost corrected Marissa, it was a divination thing. Anyone could in theory use the mirror, if they had an eleven-year old handy. What results they may get... was debatable, but welcome to divinations in general. However, it did occur to him that Valentine was leaving for school again tomorrow, and she may be very reluctant to do so if she though she needed to stay to use the mirror again. His wife was very smart. Val needed to get back to school and some level of 'normal' again.

They sat and watched their sleeping child for a few moments before he pushed his chair back and stood. He picked Valentine up in his arms and her breathing barely changed in response to the move. She was out cold. He carried her to her room, laid her in bed, pulled off her shoes and tucked her in. She just rolled over and kept on sleeping. Watching her just for a moment, he wished he could fix it all, and make everything better. He sighed, pulled the door closed and made his way back to the dining room.

Marissa looked lost in thought, but he could tell she wasn't happy. She had been holding everything together this whole time for Giselle and for Valentine. She'd enabled him to focus on helping get the mirror working, and she'd done it all while still handling all of the holiday craziness.

Before responding to her question, he gave her a loving smile and wrapped her in a hug. "Have I ever told you that you are amazing and wonderful?" When he pulled back, he considered the question. "I didn't get much out of that. But it almost didn't sound as though it was coming from her. We can check the tape recorder I had set up, maybe that caught it better than we did."

He held her hands and gave them a squeeze. "The real question here, is what do we want to do about it? I would really prefer not to loose my sister again after we just got her back, but can we follow her? If we can, should we?" He glanced towards the basement door, "Maybe that tape has some answers."

2 Andrew Duell Unless we're at work, or out at the store, or... nevermind. 145 0 5

Marissa Duell

July 24, 2020 5:27 PM

But if we're those places, we can always just...leave, if Val needs us. by Marissa Duell

Marissa allowed herself to sink into her husband’s shoulder for a moment, and promptly regretted it as a sob immediately tried to rise in her throat.

“I’m okay,” she said. “I’m okay, really – it’s just – shock of all this, I suppose – everything’s been happening so quickly – got a little overwhelmed.” She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, willing herself to composure.

She nodded, a little disappointed but not surprised, when Andrew confirmed that Giselle had not made much sense on the first listen. More concerning was the further confirmation that Giselle had not…sounded herself, while she had been babbling.

“I thought that too – I was hoping I was just being dramatic. Still,” she added bracingly, trying to convince herself as much as him. “She sounded like herself again at the end. She’s okay. And Val…Vallie sounded like herself too. She’s okay. They’re both okay…now, anyway.”

As for the future – well, that was the troublesome bit.

“You’re right,” she agreed. “We can’t just let Giselle disappear again. We’re the ones who took her to Greece in the first place – we owe her help out of whatever she’s gotten herself into there. Plus I want to have a few words with her about scaring us all like this, just disappearing without a second word,” she added, a touch grimly. “But we have to think it through as best we can – not just run in without a plan, if we can help it.”

She rubbed her temples. “You understand the construction of the mirror better than I do,” she said. “Does it make sense to think we might be able to use it for catoptromancy without Valentine, since we can, well, see with our own eyes? Since that was why Giselle needed a medium? I know a lot of enchanted objects are pretty personalized, but all three of us worked on it, and you’re Giselle’s closest relative…I don’t really like the idea, but if we run out of better options, it might be something.” She rubbed her temples. “I’ve been thinking and thinking about it, trying to figure out what makes sense and what doesn’t…who or what we’re up against, I mean. For all we know, there’s some huge conspiracy and these people killed Mama just to lure us out of Greece.” Her voice began to rise, going thin with fear; she picked up her cup of cocoa and took another sip to steady her nerves. “Probably not, but – whoever’s behind all this, they’re smart, they probably have the Sight – and we have…us, since Giselle ran off….”

She trailed off. “I know I’m babbling,” she apologized. “I’m sorry. So – I want to get Giselle back, and I don’t want Val involved in this any further. And we’re going to have to be – very thorough, since the other side is probably inside a building that can mess with our heads, aside from whatever the people themselves are into. But I’m running ahead – we haven’t even listened to the tape yet. I’m sorry I’m being such a mess,” she apologized. “I guess I was more stressed by all this than I realized, and now….” She smiled weakly. "Boilover time I guess."

16 Marissa Duell But if we're those places, we can always just...leave, if Val needs us. 147 0 5

Andrew Duell

July 24, 2020 9:22 PM

Yes, absolutely. by Andrew Duell

Andrew rubbed his wife's back as he held her. "You are okay, but it is also okay if you aren't." He tried to put on his best supportive smile, "I'm not entirely sure if I am, but we'll get through this and figure it out. It's more than enough to overwhelm anyone, and you've been a rock through it all so far."

He pulled her chair out at the table and guided her back into it. Then sliding his mug, he took the seat next to her instead of across the table. "She was herself again," he confirmed, "or at least as best that we know her by now." His smile took on mischievous aspect at Valentine's old nickname. "Good thing she's asleep, last I remember she hates that nickname." His smile faltered, "But yeah, they are both okay. Val shouldn't have any lasting effects from the ritual, if she actually remembers anything I would be amazed."

The smile then dropped completely, "As for Giselle... I don't know. She was okay when she left, but what she might be doing now?" He looked into his chocolate, as if trying to find answers among the mini-marshmellows. He let out a mirthless chuckle. "With all this seer and divination talk, maybe we should have had tea instead. Where did she go? Why?"

"We did," he wholeheartedly agreed with Marissa, "We took her there, we got her involved in all of this... Dangit, how much of this stems the whole way back," He paused fighting to say the words, "back to the... incident?" he finally got out. "Mom, Dad, her sight... how much different would things have turned out?" He was gripping his mug tightly now, his voice was wavering on the point of breaking. "This is all my fault. Again."

Marissa was talking sensibly again, he couldn't do this to her. She had enough to worry about plenty without adding him to the load. So, he did his best to shove aside the guilt and pain and put the calm and collected face back on. "Plans are good. I like plans." He nodded along as she talked about the mirror and potentially using it without involving their eleven year old daughter. "To the best of my knowledge, any mirror can be used for gazing... nothing we did to that one has stopped it from being a mirror." he thought a few moments, recalling everything they had done to it, "I'm not sure if any of the enchantments would help us. They might, but they shouldn't hinder. The solar revolution limitations won't allow it to interface with us like it did with Valentine."

His eyes went a bit wide as she began to reveal her thoughts about conspiracies. "No." He stated flatly as it almost looked like she was about to panic. He would have grabbed and held her hand again if she hadn't taken a sip of her drink. "No," he repeated, "That... I can't see that." He could in fact see that happening, but that wasn't what Marissa needed to hear. "Whatever is going on, cannot be that...." he strained for the right word before settling for "grandiose." Now he just needed a good reason to give her to back it up. "If that were the case," he started, "Then there would be no way that Giselle could have gotten away to come here without something interfering." This was all assuming that Giselle coming here and doing what she did wasn't all part of the plan. To what end though? "Something that big would need a massive cause to drive it, and I just can't see it. What is the endgame for that?" He shook his head.

He put his arm around her shoulders as she started apologizing for babbling. "Babbling is fine after everything we've gone through lately. Our goals align nicely as well. Keep Val safe, save Giselle, live a normal life." With a motion he drained his mug. "As much as I'd like to listen to that tape right now, and start making plans, we need a break first. Tomorrow we need to get Val packed up and off to school, once she's safely there, we can begin doing what we need to do."

Standing up, he continued "As for tonight, I suggest we crash on the couch for a bit and watch some mindless TV. Afterwards we hit the sack and try to get a decent night's sleep, and be ready to hit the ground running tomorrow, with whatever it brings."

2 Andrew Duell Yes, absolutely. 145 0 5

Marissa Duell

July 25, 2020 2:15 PM

Good to be on the same page. by Marissa Duell

Marissa made the effort for a smile. “I couldn’t have done it without you,” she said when Andrew claimed she had been a rock through all this chaos which had flown into their lives in the past few months. “Guess we make a pretty good team. Who would have thought?”

There was no hint of humor in her face or voice, though, when he began to speculate in a way that could rapidly lead down into the dark. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Don’t do that. We’re not playing that game. Not with ourselves, and not with each other.” She reached out to touch his face to ensure eye contact was made. “We can’t. We didn’t do anything wrong, Andrew. What happened to your mom and dad – that was an accident. And as for us – we did everything we did trying to do what was best for our family. And we don’t know what would have happened in some other world – for all we know, something worse might have happened if we hadn’t taken Giselle to that school. She has a powerful gift, and none of us knew how to deal with it. Or a tree could have fallen on your house and killed all three of them the next day. We don’t know – we can’t. Even Giselle can’t, I don’t think. The only person – or people – who we get to blame is – whoever it is who’s been meddling with our family for the past seven years. And if we find them – I guess we’ll find out if being angry really can help you do magic you normally never could,” she said, fingering her wand unconsciously. “And if it doesn’t, you disarm ‘em and I’ll say my piece with a Louisville slugger.”

She was, privately, not entirely comfortable with having said that; she had surprised herself by saying it. It was alarming, realizing that she really would quite like to hit someone with a bat right now – but she’d be lying if she tried to take it back, at least now.

I cannot let them do this to me. I can’t let them get inside my head like this. I cannot let them win – whoever they are.

“You’re right, of course,” she said when Andrew observed there was no endgame which made her wilder thoughts make sense. “That’s what I mean. We should run everything past each other, make sure we’re not jumping at shadows. It’s too easy to do with…all this, when it’s all so improbable as it is.”

Something about the suggestion that they adjourn from the madness in order to watch mindless tv almost made her laugh, though she couldn’t see anything better to do. She doubted she would be able to pay attention to what she was watching, but she could tell she was too tired to think straight enough to do anything more productive with her time. Perhaps, instead of dwelling on her continued fear that there was some way this could affect Valentine (so far, she had the options limited to either right now, inside her daughter's head, or through some mysterious Others becoming of aware of Valentine through the ritual...somehow, though she was sure she could dream up more nightmares to dwell on), she could simply lapse into a mundane sort of trance and then actually get some sleep, or at least more restful stillness.

“Good plan,” she said. “I like that plan.” She stood and hugged him. “We’re okay,” she said. “We’ll figure it all out.”

16 Marissa Duell Good to be on the same page. 147 0 5

Andrew Duell

July 26, 2020 1:33 PM

Could I interest you in meeting up on the same paragraph? by Andrew Duell

"Well," Andrew responded to his wife's comment and somewhat forced smile, "I know I thought we'd make a pretty good team. That's why I kept bothering you all through school, until you gave in." He tried to give her a good, corny smile, "After all, you've got the 'pretty' part down pat, you've mastered the 'good' part as well, and I help make it a team. How could we lose?" This was something he loved to do, sending any sort of honest compliment Marissa's way that he could, with a bonus of wrapping it in just a touch of 'dad' humor.

He gazed deep into Marissa's eye's when she brought his face to look squarely into hers. What in the world had he ever done to deserve such a wonderful woman? He honestly couldn't think of anything. He just nodded dumbly, without breaking eye contact with her as she laid down the law on that front. Again. It had been a little while since the last time he had slipped down that hole, but here he was again, and it was hurting Marissa. At the very least, it was forcing her to deal with something else that she really didn't need at the moment. "I'm sorry," he almost whispered, "You're right."

Taking a long breath and releasing it helped clear some of those thoughts from his mind. Then the corner of his mouth turned up in a very slight smile. "Step one of our plan. Buy Slugger Marissa a nice, new, solid baseball bat." He was a little surprised by the comment, but also surprised by the fact he wasn't totally surprised. Marissa was one of the most caring a loving people he knew. She had been there for him all through the tragedy around 'the incident'. She had accepted moving to another country to help her young sister-in-law, she had stayed by her father when her mother had died, and all through that she had set an amazing example of what a good and loving person was for her daughter. But, he'd always heard that you do not get between a mama bear and her cub. "I approve." he continued, "But, hopefully you won't need to use it."

"Agreed, this is going to get strange." Jumping at shadows may only be the beginning, "This is why people get really uneasy around Seers, and don't like them. Frankly this is the whole reason the school had that stupid policy. People just don't like the idea of Seers being this 'all-knowing' force out there robbing them of their unknown future and agency. It makes us... jumpy. It makes us question our motivations. 'Is this what I should do, or what they want me to do?'" He sighed. "Seers and diviners have limitations like anything else. That may be one of the first things we look into once we start planning."

He returned her hug, "Yeah, we got this." He held onto her for an extra moment or so as the closeness of the action brought up another thought in his hetro-male brain. The holidays had been super-crazy and intimate moments with his wife had gone to the wayside. Maybe he could suggest another way to work out some frustration....? No. Not now, for a few reasons. One of which was up in her bed sleeping away at the moment. Tomorrow she'd be safely back at school and at least that concern would be off the list... and they'd finally have the house all to themselves again.

"Alright then," he said gesturing towards the TV with his wand as he led Marissa towards the couches in the living room. "What do we..." Before he could activate the television though a bell sounded through the house. The doorbell. He spun in an instant to look at the door, then at Marissa. The thought plainly on his face, 'Giselle?'

2 Andrew Duell Could I interest you in meeting up on the same paragraph? 145 0 5

Marissa Duell

July 27, 2020 12:16 PM

Should work, as long as we don't both have dialogue. by Marissa Duell

Marissa chuckled a little at the compliment. She didn’t feel particularly pretty at the moment, really. She was exhausted. There were almost certainly bags under her eyes, and the fine lines starting to form around them and across her forehead were surely standing out from fatigue, and having not washed or moisturized her face yet – but somehow, she still felt he was being sincere.

“Nice wordplay,” she said. “You’re good too. Handsome good? It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but….” She shrugged, assuming she could be forgiven a certain lack of cleverness at the moment under the circumstances.

She also felt she could be forgiven, to a point, for wanting to hit people with bats, but still nodded to the statement about hoping she wouldn’t need to do so. “You’re right. I shouldn’t even think like that,” she conceded, resting her head on her hand a moment. “Can’t let them get inside my head. It’s like what we learned in school,” she mused absently. “Dementors and things, all the Dark Arts. They’re parasitic. They’ll drag you down to their level if they can.” She nodded to herself, feeling a bit foolish for being a thirty-seven-year-old woman who was reciting schoolgirl lessons at the table. “We’ll have to remember that.”

She shook her head slightly, again to herself, at the talk of Seers. “It’s messy stuff,” she said. “I don’t know – maybe it’s because the only one I’ve ever known really was Giselle, and she was just a little girl…it always seemed so unfair. She couldn’t help what she saw, or however she experiences it…It’s just sad.”

For a moment, when the bell rang, Marissa thought the same thing Andrew seemed to, but then she realized that was irrational. Giselle had been with them for some time now. She wouldn’t ring the doorbell after all Marissa’s efforts to instill in her the idea that this was her home too if she wanted it. Who else would be coming here this late, though…?

She held her wand by her side, as casually as possible (as though she could do anything worth mentioning) as she walked to the door, opened it, a little awkwardly since she was using her left hand, a tiny crack – and felt her face contort with surprise at the sight which awaited her.

“Jhonice?” she said blankly, as though she had never seen the other woman at this particular door before in her life.

16 Marissa Duell Should work, as long as we don't both have dialogue. 147 0 5

Jhonice Trevear

July 27, 2020 5:25 PM

Sounds cozy! by Jhonice Trevear

Jhonice beamed a bright smile at Marissa as she opened the door, her own hand a mere moment from opening it herself. She seemed to be having a little trouble with the door though, no matter though. Jhonice helped her cousin get the door open, and waltzed into the house giving her a traditional welcoming hug. "Happy New Year!" She exclaimed, "Sorry I'm so late... but, oh my goodness Marissa, what a party you missed! Everything was just..." she fought to try and find an adequate word to describe it, but could the only one she could come up with fell far short of the situation, "glorious!" She was going to have to do better for her official write-up or the paper.

Andrew had a strange face as she wandered past him. That was nothing new though, "Where's little Val? Don't tell me I missed her? What time is it anyway? I'll just have to have a copy of the paper sent to her at school I guess." Jhonice rambled on as she headed for the kitchen and opened the fridge. "Do you guys have any pumpkin juice? I'm parched." She scanned the interior, found what she was looking for all without pausing her talking. "It was such a magnificent affair. Emerald Brockert looked simply divine, in her dress. Winston Pierce didn't look half bad either." She added with a knowing wink in Marissa's direction. "Lucky girl."

"Anyway," she continued while digging a glass out of the cupboard, "Everyone who is anyone was there. Percy even got an invite, which is good otherwise getting in would have probably been a lot more difficult." She briefly flashed a devilish grin as she poured the juice, "Unfortunately his wife was was a bit under the weather, so I convinced him to take me along. Mostly." She took a sip of the juice and grimaced a bit, this was that spiced kind. Well, it was still better than nothing. "It took a little convincing, a strand of his wife's hair and one of my emergency polyjuice potions and we were off to the gala!"

She snapped her fingers, "Which reminds me Marissa, I may need to swing by again in a few days so we can brew up some more. You've got a special touch when it comes to making those." She took another quick swig of the juice, with slightly less of a grimace this time. "But, back to the party! I filled up almost three notebooks talking to people there and just listening. Oh the things you can learn just from listening in." She waved her hands before anyone could protest like the usually did, "I know, I know. You don't care about idle gossip. It's not much good for printing either, verifying it and getting the whole story is the fun part!"

"I just wish I could have taken my camera along," she grinned, "A picture of the kids defiling the cake would have been precious. Mortimer Brockert sitting at the bar would have said volumes as well." She shrugged and smiled and winked again, "Fortunately I may have gotten in good with the official photographer. Maybe he got something good that he'll feel like sharing."

Suddenly her journalist instincts were screaming at her. Neither Andrew or Marissa had said much of anything since she'd arrived, not that they often did, but still... they still had those strange looks on their faces. Frankly, they looked like they needed to get some sleep. "What is it?" she asked them. Then with just the undertone of a joke, "Did somebody die?"

2 Jhonice Trevear Sounds cozy! 209 0 5

Marissa Duell

July 28, 2020 2:31 PM

Yes, that's the idea. by Marissa Duell

Normally, Marissa would have known Jhonice well enough to just get out of the way the moment she saw her, but her reactions were currently a little slow, and when Jhonice decided to ‘help’ her open the door, Marissa had to jump back quickly to avoid getting hit in the face with the door she had been holding less than half-open, then nearly tripped over an umbrella stand. She bit her lip just short of cursing before Jhon swept in for the traditional cousinly hug.

“Happy New Year,” she repeated dutifully, though wasn’t sure it mattered, as Jhonice was already talking about a…party?

Party. Oh. Right. The Pierce-Brockert wedding. Marissa knew that, but all the other things that had happened since the last time it had come up had driven it completely from her mind, to the degree it had ever occupied much space in her mind. She knew those names, had crossed paths with a few of them in her own school days, but now they might as well have lived in a different world. The comparative level of society Marissa had grown up in meant she probably could have put on a sparkly dress and some lipstick and made herself fit in at the event if she had wanted, needed, or been invited to – her family had never occupied a social role, even in their little city, comparable to that of the big pureblood families, but after a certain point, a soiree was a soiree – but she couldn’t fathom why she’d ever want to or be invited to, at least. Especially in this case, where the hopefully-not-entirely-unhappy couple in question had been born about the time Marissa started at university….

Questions were being asked – about Val – but Jhonice continued to rattle on and so Marissa made no effort to answer them, instead trying not to look too exasperated as this swung into the attractiveness of the teenaged socialites in question, or then alarmed at the smile which accompanied the mention of Percy’s wife – surely Jhon had not mildly poisoned someone just to attend a social event?

“Only so you don’t get poisoned going who knows where,” she murmured when Jhon paused to swallow juice. “I still don’t know how you get your hands on so much boomslang skin.” The most logical answer involved a bizarre and unhealthy relationship with someone in the illegal creatures trade, and surely that couldn’t be it. Surely not.

Jhonice resumed rambling, and Marissa felt strangely as though she was watching things from the outside, as if everything was a little too ludicrous to be real. Absent, detached thoughts floated through her head here and there (how had she explained why Percy’s wife was taking notes? What was important about someone called Mortimer sitting at the bar? Wait, that name sounded familiar – was Jhon implying that Val’s headmaster was an alcoholic? And where had children suddenly come from? Whose children?) but didn’t seem important, or stick for more than a few seconds at a time, until suddenly, she heard a joking question in Jhon’s tone, and was startled back into reality.

“Wh – no,” she said. “It’s just…been a very long day.”

Another absent thought registered for a few more seconds: need to apply for ‘understatement of the century’.

16 Marissa Duell Yes, that's the idea. 147 0 5