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Post by Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou on Dec 29, 2010 10:07:18 GMT -5
'Just raise a fist, knock and wait for an answer' she kept telling herself that this was silly, that he had probably completely forgotten about her. Would he recognize her? Storm was about to turn and leave, but she could hear someone inside. There was slight movement inside and she froze.
Storm stood up straight, running a hand through her hair, which didn't do much. As per usual, her dark raven hair was impeccable, flowing down to her mid-back. Her casual navy blue dress clung perfectly to her figure. She wasn't dressed to impress, but somehow she managed to come off looking nice.
Storm was mentally asking herself why she was here. Yes, she had come to look over the stores in Hogsmeade, seeing that there was nothing worth buying yet; she was supposed to leave immediately, but instead found herself standing just outside of his door. Storm had heard about his 'promotion', but now she had no idea what brought her here. Still, she stood, stiff as ever, waiting for him to either invite her in, or open the door himself.
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Post by Chase Firebrand on Jan 17, 2011 14:39:50 GMT -5
Chase typically let whoever was at the door sit there for a minute, not out of laziness or because of the piles of work he legitimately had to go through, but because in the end it made his life easier. He would recognize Carolynn's swift rap of annoyance or Dru's assured knock, would recognize that of Hells, if she were to visit, and that was the short list of regular visitors.
The others were students, there with some problem or another, and waiting eased their attitudes. Determination to stand up to him faded, as did excess energy and any good arguments they'd spent their walk to his office mentally composing. He far preferred to open the door to a properly wary student, one who had forgotten what he'd intended to say in the first place.
And so it took a moment for him to raise his wand and give it an absent flick. He didn't look up at first, but set his wand down close and picked up a dark-striped quill to sign his name to the parchment he'd just been reading. It was only after this that he lifted his head, and the rush of conflicting thoughts and feelings set his eyes roaring flame and smoke. Reflexively, he stood.
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Post by Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou on Jan 17, 2011 15:06:09 GMT -5
Storm waited, at first she heard nothing and was about to assume he wasn't in, but then she could faintly hear the sound of papers being shifted around and went rigid again. Smoothing her outfit, she waited for the door to swing open. Her eyes went to his and for a moment, she forgot that they were no longer students. All she could remember were the positives with Chase.
Watching him stand, she had almost forgotten how tall he was and it took everything in her not to just cross the room and wrap her arms around his waist. Stepping in just slightly, she waned to say something, anything. Something that would make the conflicting thoughts that she could see in his eyes just go away. But she couldn't, because nothing she said would make up for the mistakes she made and it all started with that one night she pulled away. "Chase...." she didn't mean to say his name, but her thoughts were not properly sealed in her brain and so she couldn't stop herself from whispering the name that had been on her mind for the past few years.
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Post by Chase Firebrand on Jan 17, 2011 15:27:42 GMT -5
Chase pulled a deep breath, bracing himself for whatever would happen. "Come in," he said, and moved to round the heavy desk between them. There was no pretending he wasn't affected by her, not with as expressive as he knew his eyes were, but he wouldn't acknowledge it unless he was forced to. There were too many questions, and she had to know them all. Why had she come here? Why had she gone? And should it even matter to him that she had?
He acted the proper host, closing the door behind her, subtly turning the lock for privacy, and waited for her to state her purpose. As far as he was concerned this was a business visit of some sort, and he would not assume otherwise.
Just the nearness of her was temptation, but if he paused a bit closer than he should have been or let himself breathe in the soft scent of her, it was only for him to know. "Have a seat?" he offered, all politeness. There was too much between them to be anything else.
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Post by Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou on Jan 17, 2011 16:05:12 GMT -5
Storm did as she was told, she went to the chair just across from his behind the desk, using her hair as a veil, shutting her eyes, she slowly sat down smoothing out her dress as she did so. Storm didn't know what to say. She could always bullsh*t about looking for a teaching position or something along those lines, but in reality she was here just for him. Looking down, she waited for him to say something, anything just something to end the silence. Tucking her veil of hair behind her ears, she summoned enough courage to look up at him, he looked just as handsome as before, if not, the added maturity in his aura just made him that much more attractive. "How have you been?"
As soon as it was out of her lips, she wanted to slap herself, of all the things she could have said she asked about how he was!? Mentally scolding herself, she straightened herself, praying his response would be something along the lines of.... pleasantry maybe?
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Post by Chase Firebrand on Jan 17, 2011 16:14:47 GMT -5
Chase's eyes hardened, and it took him a moment to move once he'd seated her. "Don't you read the Prophet?" he asked, his voice as urbane as ever, despite the coldness he felt. He wanted to return to his seat behind the desk, his position of power and authority, but fought the urge. Whatever reasoning or chance had brought her, he wouldn't find out that way. He took the chair beside hers, both angled so that they could see one another easily enough, and leaned back, hands laid along the arms with the air of a lion at rest.
"Why are you here, really?" he asked. He refused to make this easy for her after all she'd put him through. If she was here to test the waters, she was out of luck. If she was here to apologize, he wouldn't lead her to the words.
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Post by Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou on Jan 17, 2011 16:21:17 GMT -5
Prepared to watch him sit behind his desk, she stiffened at him sitting beside her. She angeled her body even more so that she was almost directly pointed in his direction. Looking down at her hands, resting on her lap, she laced them tightly, fighting urges she hadn't felt in a very long time.
Storm had given up on the prophet a very long time ago, everything she knew, she knew by overhearing. "Not really no." Storm avoided anything and everything that would remind her of home, which included leaving the country for extended amounts of time, but even she had to come back.... but why was she here? "I came to.... see you.... again." she kept pausing, looking down at her lap, but by her last word she had looked back up, this time focusing on his eyes, his eyes always had some sort of story to tell.
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Post by Chase Firebrand on Jan 17, 2011 16:31:19 GMT -5
Any surprise Chase felt was kept deeply buried, though his eyes sparked with her admission. What was he to do with that? She'd come to see him? He didn't believe for a moment that she'd come back to Hogwarts for the sole purpose of reuniting with him, having heard nothing about his life for the past years. She was a liar, she had proven that to him, and he reminded himself of the fact as he bit down the question that burned his tongue; So you haven't seen Emilian?
"Really?" he asked, as though she'd told him nothing more interesting than that it was snowing outside. One arm bent at the elbow, and he extended his fingers to lightly rest his head against as he looked at her. "Then I suppose I should tell you I'm engaged," he said. "And seeing Dru as well. According to the Daily Prophet."
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Post by Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou on Jan 17, 2011 16:42:26 GMT -5
Storm had of course made a stop, but she didn't have to come up to the castle and see him. She could have stayed in Hogsmead finished whatever business she had then left home, but instead she decided to come up to the castle... just to see him again.
It seemed as though some thing never changed, in this case some people. Watching Chase, she did well to mask her emotions, but what was she expecting? Him to be single and waiting for her so he could take her back in and live happily ever after. Storm doubted that, it was the least of her expectations. In fact, she was surprised he didn't ask her to leave yet. "Well then congratulations, for both." She was surprised he wasn't caught by his fiancé, did this woman not know Chase and his habits? "I assume things have been working your favor recently." he had the power, the women and the money he was living the life. Perhaps her coming here was completely unnecessary, but she wanted to see him so bad, and the only way to do that was to make a personal visit.
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Post by Chase Firebrand on Jan 17, 2011 17:07:45 GMT -5
Chase gave a snort of derision and turned his gaze off into the room. "She's beautiful," he said. "Exquisite, the perfect Pureblood china doll who plays all the games flawlessly. The moment we're married it will be just like home." The words were spoken without emotion, with a touch of cold bitterness that he couldn't hide. Just like home. Perfect to all the world, but hell behind closed doors. Yes, she would make him look good, would compliment him in every way when there were eyes to watch or ears to listen, but he'd spend all his personal time trying to escape from her the moment an heir was assured.
And Dru. He would never say as much, but he was with her because he trusted her more than anyone else. She wasn't with him for the name or the power. It was for the sex, but that worked out well enough. She put up with him. No matter how much she disliked the fact that he was with someone else, she accepted her place and enjoyed it. Yes, there was an attachment there, but it was comfortable now, not the burning it used to be. Not that it mattered. She was his Mistress, not his wife.
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Post by Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou on Jan 17, 2011 17:26:50 GMT -5
Storm raised a brow, sounded like the perfect pureblood family. It rose to the expectations the pureblood circle respected, and she knew Chase... hell, Storm had talked to Chase about these things and even if it wasn't directly addressed, Chase wasn't one to want to go along with such a life. "I see you haven't changed one bit." it was all she could say to him, was there pity in her eye's?
Crossing her legs, she leaned slightly forward, eyes relaxed a bit. "I guess, even when someone tries to cut you a break, you'll just always be a masochist Chase." she had gone, made things easier, and now once again he was juggling two girls. Did he like doing his to himself? Well, she wasn't here to help him, was she complicating things by coming back? Maybe, but she was here for her own selfish reasons, to see him. And while it would be best to just get up and leave, she couldn't...
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Post by Chase Firebrand on Jan 17, 2011 17:48:26 GMT -5
Chase's eyes darkened dangerously as he looked back at Lucretia. "I'm doing my duty," he said, more than a touch of anger in his voice. "I'm not the same, I grew up. I accepted my place."Mostly. "More than you can say, isn't it? Still running from your mother?"
He pushed to his feet, needing to move, to take some distance. He didn't know what the hell she was talking about. Aside from his last rebellion taking this job at the school, he was doing everything just the way he should. Yes, it was painful, but it was far better than giving it up and being cut off. He'd always known he would settle down in the end, and he'd been taking what he could get while he was young enough to get away with it.
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Post by Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou on Jan 17, 2011 18:05:37 GMT -5
Storm shook her head, yes she was more isolated from human contact now, but other than that she had been successful. She was earning her own living, yes at first she was thought of as a weak point, being a women, but her business was doing better than some of the men in her generation. "I don't need to run away from her anymore, she has attempted to contact me for ages. For all I know or care, she could be rotting away in Azkaban as we speak." well, she doubted her mom was stupid enough to get herself in there, but it was a pleasant idea.
Storm tried to see the Chase she knew, but had he really turned into a shell of every other pureblood man out there? Storm wouldn't believe that, she was sure the same guy she had spent countless days and nights with was still there, but he had changed so much...
It took a moment for her gather her thoughts, one thing she wasn't going to do was just let everything on her mind loose, that would make her vulnerable to him, and those days were over. Storm had decided long ago that what she had done was for the best, for both of them. "I find it hard to believe that you've accepted your place because you want to."
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Post by Chase Firebrand on Jan 17, 2011 19:27:45 GMT -5
Chase shot Storm a brief, but withering glance, then turned away, walking further into the room. His gaze traced the things that were his, in this place that was his as surely as if he had built it. Hells was powerful, yes, but she was busy, and she left things in his power. Was this what he had wanted?
The simple answer was no. He'd given up. He'd been well and truly broken, and Anna had picked him up enough to fight again, and to decide he was done chasing empty things. He'd wanted something that had meant something, and though he'd never thought it would be acting as Headmaster to a school he'd attended for some short years, he was satisfied. Mostly.
Nearly two years ago he'd given up on his pointless searching and gone home, told his father that he was ready to settle down, and left the choice of wife in his parents' hands. It didn't matter, none of it. He could search and rebel all he wanted and it was all going the same place.
"I was always going to, Storm," Chase said, his voice softer than it had been before. "Why do you think I was here? I never crossed the line with my father, only toed it, pushed it to the point of breaking, I knew it would happen, and when I didn't have anything left, when it was give in or kill myself, I went home."
He looked back at her now, a slight sneer marring his face. "Would you rather be standing at my grave?" he asked. "You could taunt me all you wanted then, and I'd never say a word." That was what Storm was good at, though he'd never known how good until the end. Her little mind games had sent him running back to Dru for some stability and that had been the beginning of the end of everything. Who was she to criticize him for anything?
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Post by Lucretia 'Storm' Seyrrou on Jan 17, 2011 20:00:57 GMT -5
Storm watched him walk around, she bowed her head her her mind going through thoughts at such a fast pace she could barely keep up with them. Storm wanted to walk up behind him and just hold him, just like before, but this was the present and such an action would only complicate things. "I don't... understand." being with him was not her way of taunting him, is that what he thought? Did he doubt it all?
With a sigh, she looked up, her eyes softened and there was a slight confused look to them. Storm pictured how she would be like if she were standing at his grave. Probably in shock, remember the good times she shared with him. The forest, the pitch even the Hospital Wing. "I've never taunted you Chase, you were never another toy to play with," She took a deep breath and stood up, walking over to stand an arms length away from him. "I thought what I did helped." she crossed her arms it becoming like a security blanket. She didn't want to go back to a mess of emotions, she was stable now and to an extent... happy. Still, there was always that 'what if' thought in her mind.
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