Something new [Marissa] on Alumni

Jhonice Trevear

May 27, 2021 5:28 PM

Something new [Marissa] by Jhonice Trevear

Jhonice Trevear stared into the fireplace with unease. She didn't have many options at this point, and the ones she did have, she didn't care for very much. This situation, she had to admit, was partially her fault. With a sigh, she turned around to survey her small abode. It really wasn't much, she never spent much of her time here. Most of her time was spent traveling, getting stories, and writing her articles. As such her place consisted of a writing nook, a small kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. Her desk in the nook was covered in semi-organized piles of notes, and the kitchen was used for potion brewing more than food preparation. Things were going to change, and that frightened her.

She needed to talk to someone, someone who might understand her situation. Someone who might care. That severely limited the possibilities. There was Mom of course, but she wasn't sure that she wanted to talk to Mom about this, at least not yet. She would need to eventually, but… not yet. Only two other names of all the people she knew presented themselves as possibilities; Adeline was one of her oldest friends whom (it now occurred to her) was inconveniently away on vacation, and her cousin (and practically sister-in-law) Marissa.

Marissa would be better than Adeline anyway. Marissa was kind and understanding and practical. The downside was that Marissa knew how to get in touch with Mom and Dad. Well, that was inevitable anyway. Jhon turned back to the fireplace, took a bit of floo powder, hesitated only a moment and tossed it into the fire with a "Duell Residence!" Then she vanished in a flash of green flames.

Jhonice emerged on the other side into her cousin's house. Andrew should be at work, Val and Giselle should be at school. She really hoped Giselle was at school anyway. "Hello? Marissa?" She called out to the house. Ordinarily, she had always thought of Andrew and Marissa's home as an extension of her own small place. She could drop by whenever, unannounced and relax a bit. That had changed a bit after Giselle had moved back in with them. Somehow, she didn't quite feel as welcome anymore. It wasn't their fault she knew, it was just one of those things. "Marissa?" She called out again, "Are you home?"

2 Jhonice Trevear Something new [Marissa] 209 1 5

Marissa Duell

May 28, 2021 5:38 PM

Something blue? by Marissa Duell

There was really no reason to deep-clean the house, when it was reasonably tidy already and unlikely to get particularly untidy (well, outside of Andrew’s workshop) again until Val and Giselle came home for extended stays, but Marissa was doing it anyway. Moving all the furniture, rearranging some of it, dusting everything – it was soothing. It was solid, something she could touch and, perhaps more importantly, something where she was in complete control. Nothing to do with ominous prophecies or low-level paranoia or anything like that, stuff of the mind, stuff that had just swept her along before and might do so again….

She was levitating the chest of drawers in her bedroom into place when she heard her name and jumped – at the same moment her brain processed more than just noise and realized that it was just Jhonice.

“Coming, Jhon!” she called back. She glanced at herself in the mirror, and though doing anything about how frizzy her hair was didn’t seem reasonable, she did get most of the smudge of dust off her nose before she went to find her cousin.

“Hey,” she said when she found her. “What’s up?” she asked in a friendly tone, with a smile. Listening to Jhon presumably gossip for a while wasn’t something solid, but it was something that would serve as much to keep her solidly grounded, and which did not involve possibly accidentally being responsible for her husband breaking a toe because heavy objects ended up in places he didn’t expect them to be at three in the morning.

16 Marissa Duell Something blue? 147 0 5

Jhonice Trevear

May 28, 2021 6:19 PM

Depends on how you mean. by Jhonice Trevear

How Marissa did it, Jhonice would never understand. Here she was, doing the housewife thing in a nearly empty house and being all content and happy. Plus, Jhon noticed with a bit of jealously, that despite a bit of frizzy hair she still was quite a lovely looking woman. Jhonice knew she wasn't bad in the looks department herself, but there was a pile of work that went into it. Work that she suspected Marissa didn't do just doing housewifey things around the house. Oh well, that didn't matter right now. Much.

She gave her cousin a hug in greeting with her normal winning smile. "Lots my dear," she responded and released the other woman before turning to inspect the contents of the fridge. "Have you been keeping up with all the latest?" She pulled out the container of pumpkin juice and poured herself some while talking. " Her expression turned to one of mild exasperation, "I still haven't been able to convince Belinda Pierce to agree to an interview, can you believe that? Her story would be fantastic." She motioned as if planning out the headline, "Long confirmed bachelorette and exile now found true love and begins family of her own. Is this the beginning of a new branch for the Pierces?" Jhonice sighed. "I still can't believe I missed that concert last year at the school." That was when the thought struck her as to why she had actually come. A small smile formed at the corner of her mouth.

Jhon sipped the juice before continuing. "How are things going here?" She glanced around at the quiet house. "I actually swung by to ask you something... well, probably a few things." She hesitated again for just a moment before steeling herself for what she was pretty sure what coming next. "See, I'm pregnant."

2 Jhonice Trevear Depends on how you mean. 209 0 5

Marissa Duell

May 28, 2021 9:43 PM

And you want to borrow....? by Marissa Duell

“I keep an eye out for your articles,” said Marissa with a smile when asked if she was keeping up with the latest. This was not exactly what she had been asked, but it would do. The smile was further accompanied with a slight shake of her head as Jhonice started talking about Belinda Pierce not wanting to be interviewed about her love life. Everything Marissa knew about the Pierces, she’d learned from being a good cousin and reading Jhonice’s work, but that was enough to know she was glad not to be one of them.

“You said ‘exile,’ so that probably does make a difference,” she said mildly. “It seems like people in Society expect you to report on them, but if Belinda’s one of the disowned ones, she’s sort of less of a public-interest figure, more of a private one, right? I can’t imagine you’d have interviewed Andrew and me when we got married if you’d been on the job then,” she joked. “Nobody would want to read about us.” The very idea of people reading about her and Andrew in the odd way they read about wizarding socialites, almost as if they were characters in a story, was just plain bizarre. “Though I suppose it does also make a difference that, well, the other Pierces are still public people. And that girl having that outburst last year at the concert.” Marissa felt it was polite not to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, but that scene had been a bit…loud.

“Oh, the usual,” she said about how things were going in her household. “I’ve been cleaning all day, moving all the furniture and everything. It’s probably good you interrupted me, I can drink some water before I run myself down too far.” Matching action to words, she got herself a glass of water.

She did not drop it when Jhonice suddenly announced her news. This detail stuck out to her later, in her memory of events. She put it down on the kitchen table and sat down.

“Oh, honey,” she said, stunned. “You – “

Jhonice’s life was her career. As far as she knew, Jhon didn’t even have a boyfriend, and never really had. Marissa had not, of course, assumed that this meant Jhonice was celibate, as she had met far too many people as an adult to have made that assumption even if she'd been brought up by significantly more uptight parents than she'd had, but she’d also, if she’d been asked to guess, have assumed Jhonice never planned to marry or have children. Though, it was possible she only had half that in mind at the moment….

“Obviously I have fifteen hundred questions,” she said. “Most of the answers aren’t any of my business, though. You said you wanted to ask me something, though?" she asked, a little faintly.

OOC: Details about Jhonice's personal life established in contact with her author.

16 Marissa Duell And you want to borrow....? 147 0 5

Jhonice Trevear

May 29, 2021 4:39 AM

You ear? Your thoughts? by Jhonice Trevear

OOC: CW: Vague abortion references BIC:

Marissa would make a terrible reporter. Jhonice gave her cousin a wry smile as she gave her views on the Pierce situation. "But it is because she is an exile that the story would be so good," Jhon rebutted. "I strongly suspect that her exile was caused by her preferences in love, and that's just wrong." She sighed, "Belinda has suffered unjustly just for being true to herself. Still she has stood strong against those forces trying to suppress her and found love and happiness. Her story would be an excellent one to inspire others caught in similar hardships."

Jhonice gave Marissa the smile she always had handy when she needed a good, positive expression to cover up what she was actually feeling. "You two are cute and wonderful, but not quite in my normal wheelhouse for article material." The truth was that while their wedding hadn't been something to make news, her boss had made multiple 'requests' for an insider's view of the debacle that had gone around the news centers concerning events at Delphi. She had adamantly refused, she really didn't need to give Giselle more reason to hate her, and really didn't want to drag her cousins into that spotlight.

As Marissa took a seat, Jhonice slid into one as well. Yet another reason that Marissa would make a terrible reporter, she'd been expecting a torrent of questions and Marissa wasn't asking and was assuming they weren't her business. How did you really know what someone wanted to share or didn't unless you asked? She gave Marissa a bit of a patronizing smile. "You know me Marissa, I love questions. How about we trade some back and forth?"

There were so many she had to ask, fortunately she had a little training in this field. Start with the important ones. "What do you think I should do?" Unlike her normal interview form, the question came out loaded with emotion. "This will change everything…" her voice trailed off and she hesitated before continuing a bit more quietly. "Nobody else knows yet, and… and it is still early enough to stop it… but.." She trailed off again, nearly a whisper. It was easy to see that she didn't seem to like the idea, but the other option scared her just as much.

2 Jhonice Trevear You ear? Your thoughts? 209 0 5

Marissa Duell

May 31, 2021 10:28 AM

You're welcome to them, such as they are. by Marissa Duell

Marissa smiled at the description of the story Jhonice might have written. “Yes, that’s true,” she agreed. “I’m just thinking why she might not feel like she has any obligation to deal with reporters, at least about her own affairs.” Of course, there was always the advocacy issue, but from what Marissa had retained from almost twenty years of listening to Jhonice, Belinda already did plenty of that. “I agree it’s all very unjust of the fancy-party Pierces, though. I can’t understand those people – it would break my heart if Val killed somebody, but I’d still visit her in prison on Sundays. Not that I think Val’s capable of anything like that, but – you understand what I mean.” A thought occurred to her, in the aftermath of the unpleasant mental image of being the mother of a convicted murderer. “Have you thought about trying any of the others? What’s-her-name – Jessica? She left with her son, right? She might have some insight, and it could get some of the same message across, at least about why the relatives are in the wrong.”

Was it wrong, she wondered, to feel a tiny bit relieved by Jhonice’s assertion that she enjoyed questions? Much of this was none of her business unless and until Jhonice chose to tell her about it, it was true, but context was very useful for giving advice – she felt like she was attempting to walk on thin ice in steel boots without it.

“You enjoy asking questions,” Marissa pointed out. “Answering them is another thing…but trading, that’s a good idea.”

“Having Val,” she said, slowly, when the first question was lobbied, “was the best thing I’ve ever done – and the hardest. Even aside from…everything in Greece, and two years ago. Even if you don’t go live abroad with a toddler, you’re right that it changes everything about your life – though not going abroad does mean you have your family around, don’t forget that,” she added, before biting her lip and then, feeling very much that she was sticking her nose into what was none of her business, continued with, “and…you’ve never said anything about a boyfriend or anyone, but is anyone like that involved?” she asked awkwardly.

16 Marissa Duell You're welcome to them, such as they are. 147 0 5

Jhonice Trevear

May 31, 2021 6:57 PM

They are perhaps invaluble by Jhonice Trevear

Jhonice nodded along politely to Marissa's perfectly rational, but terribly inconvenient analysis. She was also forced then to stifle a chuckle. Valentine killing someone? The only image that she could formulate along those lines was one of her sweet little innocent niece standing horrified over the lifeless body of some poor soul that she had somehow hugged the life out of. However the thought of poor Val sitting behind bars afterwards did disturb her a bit. But, to be fair Val could get passionate and she had learned that passion can lead to some poor endings. "I don't think you have much to worry about on that front," Jhon reassured Marissa. "I have talked on and off with Derwent IV, Jessica's son." She took a sip of her juice, "Did you know he was teaching first grade now? Anyway, I had thought about talking to Jessica ages ago, perhaps I should try again." She made a mental note to bring it up in her next conversation with Derry.

Jhon gave her cousin a playfully contemptuous look, "It's only fair to answer questions if I expect people to answer mine. Plus," she paused and smiled sweetly, "sometimes other people's questions are more revealing than the answers they give to mine. Also, 'that's not something I want to discuss' is a perfectly valid response to a question." She gave Marissa a meaningful look.

Marissa dodged her question rather adeptly. Or rather, perhaps she did answer it in a more subtle way than she had been expecting, although that probably shouldn't have surprised her. Val was the best and hardest thing, but family was there to help with that hard stuff. However, as she understood it, Valentine was nearly an ideal child. She had the love and friendliness of a Teppenpaw mixed with the rule-following of a Crotalus. Half of the person forming inside Jhon was Pecari, and Pecari were... less inclined to be good, well-behaved children. Her own parents had managed to raise a Pecari though... so it was possible. But...

That brought up Marissia's first question, the one Jhon had been waiting for, the one that she'd known would be the first one asked. It was the first one she would have asked anyway had the situation been reversed. She smiled, perhaps a bit sadly, "I have no doubt that Valentine was worth it. I can't even imagine what my..." she paused a moment before resuming, "my child... oh Merlin that just sounds weird, what my child would be like." She stared at her juice glass as if it would help her come to grips with the situation. "I don't know that I'm qualified for this."

Jhonice gave her cousin a knowing look, "Well, there certainly was someone involved. I've only read of one case where people believe a woman wound up like this without somebody's help. I don't think I qualify for that sort of circumstance." She sighed, "As I've said, I haven't told anybody else about this yet. I'm still not sure what I'm doing yet." She looked with a pleading gaze at Marissa, "That was what I was hoping you could help me with."

OOC: Derwent stuff approved by his author

2 Jhonice Trevear They are perhaps invaluble 209 0 5

Marissa Duell

June 01, 2021 8:23 PM

At least they're things you can bounce ideas off of. by Marissa Duell

“I don’t think anyone really ever is,” Marissa said when Jhonice said she wasn’t sure if she was qualified for motherhood. “You can read all the books and fill eight or nine planners strategizing about what you might do in any given situation – “ admittedly, when she’d been pregnant with Val, there had been people who seemed to think Marissa’s preoccupation with future logistics had been a little much, but surely everyone did some of that stuff, didn’t they? – “but entirely too much is making it up as you go along, and screwing things up, and trying to make up for how you screwed up, or fix it if you can…Honestly, you might be more qualified than I was. You roll with the punches and the unexpected better than I do.”

She couldn’t help but laugh, try to suppress it though she would, when Jhon pointed out the relative rarity of being the Virgin Mary. “Yes, well. Somehow I doubt either of us would make an ideal second mother of God.” Not that either of them were bad people, but Jhon might go show the baby off to Herod, with her idolization of the upper classes, and Marissa was a control freak and, since Giselle had come back, had occasionally noticed that she probably really was not a very forgiving sort of person. “But while we’re staying on earth, there’s people who might stick around, and who might not….”

All Marissa’s nature was inclined to simply give Jhonice a hug and tell her here’s what we’re going to do and come up with a rough preliminary plan and work the details out later. It was very, very hard not to simply take over and start organizing the situation until it was no longer a problem – how often, after all, did someone actually ask her, essentially, to do that very thing? But just the same, she shook her head.

“I can’t answer that one for you,” she said, almost apologetically. “I can answer questions about what I did, or wish I’d done, or a lot of things – but not tell you what to do.” She hesitated, and then said, “do you think it would help if you just – talked? Or even wrote it all down? Just say or put down whatever, to get it out of your head? I can’t imagine you’re thinking very clearly right now, not as worried as you are.”

16 Marissa Duell At least they're things you can bounce ideas off of. 147 0 5

Jhonice Trevear

June 03, 2021 6:47 PM

Bouncing is good by Jhonice Trevear

Jhonice deflated a bit at Marissa's apologetic refusal to tell her what she should do. Ordinarily, she wasn't one for being told what to do or what not to do, but in this case... she sighed. Deep down, she already knew that she was going to go through with it, but having someone say one way or the other would have been nice to either have that bolstering sentiment or be able to take the rebel's path. From what she could glean from the way Marissa talked though, she thought Marissa was all for going through with it. So she'd take the hidden bolstering sentiment.

With that she gave her cousin an uneasy smile. "It might help, I think it has so far anyway. I'm going to go through with it... and I really hope you are right about me." The uneasy smile had shifted to a nervous one. She'd actually said it, she was going to do it. Marissa knew now. "The planners didn't help much then?" Jhon tried to joke, but it didn't come out well, "Because I've never been good with them."

"As for people who stick around, and those who might not..." Jhonice suspected this was her cousin attempting to discretely find out more about her 'situation'. "I'm hoping that you and Andrew will stick around. I don't know how I'm going to do this... I'll have to tell Mom and Dad at some point. I'm not sure how they will take it." She sighed, "They've been hinting at wanting grandchildren since I graduated, but... I think they wanted some other things to happen first."

2 Jhonice Trevear Bouncing is good 209 0 5

Marissa Duell

June 05, 2021 8:02 PM

Just not off the walls, there's too many dishes in here. by Marissa Duell

"Well, they were helpful for some things," said Marissa, feeling honor-bound to defend her planners. "They were useful for planning things about saving money, and planning purchases for nurseries and such. But babies do get sick when they feel like it - which is why saving money's important - and, well, sometimes you move to Greece unexpectedly, or you planned for your mother to be around to help you out more than she got to be..."

Those, however, were her own problems, and not problems Jhonice might encounter. Indeed, one of them, at least, was very, very unlikely. But imagining the worst-case scenario was a useful exercise, in Marissa's book.

Realistically, she thought that it was very unlikely, at this point, that Jhonice didn't understand what Marissa was hinting at asking, which meant that she didn't want to answer the question. Marissa decided it would be prudent to stop asking, at least for now. "Well, for your sake, of course, I suppose it would have been the best," she said matter-of-factly when Jhonice said that her parents had hoped for certain other major life events to precede grandchildren. "But we're all your family. Of course we're not going to turn you out just because something's less than ideal." Admittedly Jhon's family was pureblood, technically, but Andrew had married a Muggleborn who could barely light a candle, so....The Trevears might be horribly disappointed in Jhonice, and embarrassed, and so forth, but surely not to the point of outright rejecting her. "Everything's going to be okay," she said, partially giving in to the impulse to play mother and offering Jhonice a hug. "We'll all sort it out one way or another."

16 Marissa Duell Just not off the walls, there's too many dishes in here. 147 0 5

Jhonice Trevear

June 06, 2021 12:42 PM

Something may need to be done about that by Jhonice Trevear

Saving money. That point hit Jhonice's brain at an odd angle. Honestly, she'd never really been one to worry about money to much. She got paid for her work, and she spent it on things she needed or wanted, but she never really looked into all of the details. How much was she making versus what she was spending? How much did babies cost? She had vague thoughts of a nursery-type space when she had looked around her apartment before coming here... but that had more been about the space than the cost of it. At this point the bank wasn't complaining to her about not having money when she wanted to spend it, so she hadn't ever worried about it. Not that she really ever spent lots of money on things.

There was travel and dining expenses of course that came with her work, and sometimes work covered that. Now that she was thinking about it, probably her biggest expenses were some of her more... interesting potion ingredients that she had to buy. She grimaced, "I'm going to need to figure out a lot of stuff that I hadn't paid much attention to... aren't I?" She asked Marissa, "I may need help figuring out how to make a budget." She sighed and gave a bit of a desperate smile, "How much do babies cost?"

There was definitely some feelings behind her cousin's other extreme situations that Jhon had no idea how to do anything with. Greece had certainly 'been a thing', and hopefully it wasn't one that Jhonice would need to deal with... well, any more than she already was. As for Marissa's mother... well, she certainly hoped Mom didn't.. yeah.

Jhonice got the distinct feeling that Marissa might agree with Mom on 'the proper order of things' to be done in life. While she certainly didn't disagree either on that front... there were circumstances and things... and... well, it was what it was. Marissa softened then and Jhon was grateful. She took the offered hug, she thought she might need it. "Thanks," she replied getting just a bit choked up. "I hope so. Because the next thing I need to ask you is 'how do I go about telling Mom and Dad?' Because if I am going to go through with this, and I don't tell them soon, I may wish they had disowned me."

2 Jhonice Trevear Something may need to be done about that 209 0 5