Can't stop the rain (open)

[Chase Firebrand]

Chase could see the change in Anna's eyes. He knew how he sounded, but didn't see the point in pretending to pretty words. "I'm not saying there shouldn't be anything but sex, and I'm not equating sex with dating. One doesn't have to have anything to do with the other." He stopped himself, regrouped, and chose his words more carefully.

"I like talking to people; I get along better with girls, even when there's nothing else involved, and I don't screw with girls' feelings. I don't go into things from a one-sided perspective. I don't look at every girl the same way. There's different levels of relationships, same as dating, and everything's got to be treated differently. Just...I've never seen a relationship work out, so it's not my goal."

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"What do you mean you've never seen a relationship work out? That's what they call marriage. Mind you not all married couples are true soul mates, but most are at least happy and love each other." Anna thought of her mom and dad, and her grandparents. All of them had been married since they were young and even if they fought occationally when they didn't think she could hear, they still cared about each other.

[Chase Firebrand]

Chase snorted at that. "Right," he said, his cynical side coming out full force. "My parents have been married for close to thirty years, and I can tell you the whole thing is a sham. They go out, do the pretty, support each other to the world, then come home, tear each other up, and they're off to separate wings of the house. That's just the way it is." That was the world as he'd seen it, the world as he knew it to be.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Seperate wings? Wow." Anna forgot any pretence at being polite. She couldn't even imagine living in a house with more than one wing, let alone her parents each have their own. It took a moment to get past the statement of the house and hear what Chase was really saying. When she did, she imediately felt bad for her initial reaction. " I'm sorry Chase, I didn't know. I've never grown up around families like that, is it common?" She'd never considered herself very sheltered, but now Anna felt even more secluded than usual from the rest of the wizarding world.

[Chase Firebrand]

Families like that. He could only assume, by her first reaction, that she meant the old families. "It is," he said. "Think of it this way; you want to keep the bloodlines pure, you've only got so many choices. So you make a good connection, put the right spin on it, and stick it out no matter how hellish it is, because face it, divorce not only looks bad on everyone, but when you've got two major houses, it'd be a full-scale war and someone wouldn't survive it."

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna's eyes widened at his description. "I guess I never really gave pureblood lifestyles much thought. My family's pretty much shunned as worse than muggles, so I've never interacted with any purebloods before Michael. I knew his family life wasn't good, but I didn't know it was a common theme in purebloods." She stopped, realizing that she had just been thinking of Michael as if he were still her boyfriend and part of her life. She glanced down at the floor, not wanting her eyes to reveal the sadness she felt.

[Chase Firebrand]

Chase watched Anna, his mind following hers easily. He let her have a moment to dwell, then took back the conversational reins. "The upper echelons are their own world," he said. "But that doesn't mean they're the only ones who live in sham marriages. Even Muggles do it." He knew what she had to have meant about being worse than Muggles, and he chose not to comment on it. The conversation was murky enough as it was without upping the stakes any further.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"I know that. I've seen plenty of movies to know tht not all relationships work. But its the ones that do, and the knowledge of how wonderful they can be, that makes a person want the same. Just knowing the posibilities of having such a beautiful thing as a loving relationship...well, it makes not trying to find one almost a sin." Anna hugged her arms around herself, vaguely aware of the fact that she probably sounded like a hopeless lovesick fool from one of her romance novels.

[Chase Firebrand]

"Yeah, well I haven't seen any of those wonderful relationships." His jaw tensed, and he looked away into the shop as he thought about his own failed attempt. He wanted to argue, wanted to tell her that relationships just ruined a good thing, but she wouldn't understand, not with whatever naive idealism made her think not looking for love was a sin.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"I'm sorry Chase." She said softly, realizing that her words would be hurtful to someone that hadn't had the same experiences with life. She looked him over with pity, wondering if he was so flippant with girls because he'd never known anything else. "Humans are creatures of habits, we tend to emulate what we know. I imagine it’d sound ridiculous to want a relationship if there were no good examples to strive towards. Likewise, its hard to turn away from them when you have seen how powerful they can be.”

[Chase Firebrand]

Chase looked back at Anna, sensing her pity and bristling against it. His eyes hardened, red-brown sparking with crimson. "I've been in a relationship, and it just ruins everything. There's no fun when you're always second-guessing yourself, always having to hide who you are and what you want for someone else because they care too much to let you make your own mistakes. I've seen it, I've lived it, and I'm stronger for it. There's nothing wrong with being a realist, kitten."

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna opened her mouth to protest, but at the last moment a laugh came out instead. She knew they were at a stalemate, and thought it hillarious that she was the one currently defending relationships. Afterall, so far in life she was 2 for 2, completely failing with both boyfriends she'd ever had. Why was it that she held such fairytale hopes for herself? She continued laughing; fearing that if she stopped now, she wouldn't be able to keep herself from crying.

[Chase Firebrand]

Chase's immediate reaction--further bristling--faded slightly at the tension he could feel behind Anna's laughter. He didn't know if it was something he'd said, or something else entirely, but either way, she'd flipped. His brows furrowed slightly in annoyance. "What's so funny?" he asked. He didn't actually expect it to be funny, but there was little else he could do.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna's laughter let up enough for her to speak, giving the only part of the reason she'd allow herself to. "This, us. We might as well be arguing over which came first, the chicken or the egg. It's about as senseless." She'd almost refered to them as sounding like an old married couple, but had caught her tongue just in time.

[Chase Firebrand]

Chase made a low sound of noncommittal agreement. In his opinion it was senseless, though not because they were both right so much as because Anna just didn't know better. He didn't say as much, though. He shifted slightly, moving his spine into a more comfortable position against the counter, shifting his arms a bit against the top so he didn't stiffen up. He only searched for something to talk about because he wasn't interested in getting kicked out yet, and she probably wouldn't go for him just watching her without saying anything. "Everyone knows the chicken came first anyway," he quipped.