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Post by Skylar Constantine on Jun 8, 2013 22:15:57 GMT -5
Skylar looked up at Michael. "I was in it for eight years," he said, "and most of the seventeen before I joined was trying to join. There's a hell of a lot I wish I hadn't done," he went on, looking purposefully back into his bag as he continued pulling things out. It took too long to finish the sentence, but there was no helping that. "I'd have to hate all but two years of myself that way," he said, "and I've hated myself enough in those two years not to hate my whole damn life."
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 8, 2013 22:32:07 GMT -5
Skylar's story was much more typical than Michael's was, at least up until actually leaving instead of pretending to leave the ranks. "What made you quit?" Michael asked. The ones who spend their whole life wanting to join typically didn't leave. "Did it have to do with Ember?" That much he could guess and had already been mostly said.
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Post by Skylar Constantine on Jun 8, 2013 22:35:19 GMT -5
"It was all Ember," Skylar said. "Ember and her mother, but she's dead now." There was a finality to the words that he needed. It was over and done with, and there was no bringing her back. "If it wasn't for Ember, I'd have killed myself." He'd have done it immediately after he'd done his father instead of going back to see if his girls were still in the room. He'd have done it there if he hadn't found his baby.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 8, 2013 22:40:41 GMT -5
"I'm sorry," Michael said. "There was once when I thought Dare was dead. If no one had stopped me, then I don't want to think about what I might have done." Even with being stopped, he'd done something that would have run the risk of ruining him had it not been for Eros. He really did owe Eros a lot.
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Post by Skylar Constantine on Jun 8, 2013 22:44:49 GMT -5
Skylar gave a brief, humorless laugh. He'd done better than thinking she was dead, he'd done it himself and regretted it the moment the words were out of his mouth. He shook his head and started hauling out crib parts and sending them to lean against the wall beside the hallway.
"Haven't used an Unforgivable since," he said, as though he was talking about drinking. "Imperius is tough. I had a lot of fun with that one."
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 8, 2013 22:58:07 GMT -5
"I used Crucio when I thought he was dead. I'd been out for years at that point, but it was easy." Michael hadn't enjoyed it then the way he used to. "I suppose when you learn to do it, and do it well, at barely sixteen, it doesn't go away." He moved to lean back against the arm of the couch, trusting Skylar would ask if he needed help.
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Post by Skylar Constantine on Jun 8, 2013 23:02:35 GMT -5
"You were damn good at that one," Skylar said. "I figured it was hype." He pulled out a couple shrunken, rolled-up mattresses and sent them to wait beside the crib parts, then a shrunken toy box he enlarged. He looked up. "Crap," he said. He looked over at Michael. "You know what? I don't have a wardrobe. In the U.S. it's closets everywhere." He hadn't been back long enough to really unpack clothes and hadn't thought about it.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 8, 2013 23:16:09 GMT -5
"I'm sure if you called for an elf they could find you one, there is extra furniture and things all over the castle," Michael said. He was fully aware of the hype surrounding his ability with a wand, it was the reason he'd been recruited so young and the main reason people had wanted to go out with him. He wasn't entirely sure if he should take that as a compliment.
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Post by Skylar Constantine on Jun 8, 2013 23:20:36 GMT -5
"I've done without house-elves for too long," Skylar said, shaking his head. He summoned a house-elf and gave it a short list of what he was missing, including a couple wardrobes and a bed frame. "Just bring what's not being used, don't go out and steal anything," he added, and sent it off again. He pulled out a couple cardboard boxes and set them beside the bag, then dug in up to the shoulder to see if he'd missed anything. He hadn't.
"If you're ready, it's all setting up Ember's room now," Skylar said. "I'll deal with what the elf brings when it brings it."
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 8, 2013 23:31:26 GMT -5
Michael nodded and pushed himself up. Hero, sensing they were about to move, stood and gave another long, lazy stretch before his tail started swishing slowly. "I don't know how Dare and I would have survived without Gilda after the twins were born," he said. "Sometimes she'll take care of them so we can go out on Friday nights, it keeps us sane." He went out less often than Dare, but it still happened.
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Post by Skylar Constantine on Jun 8, 2013 23:37:01 GMT -5
"Yeah, I've got to get out sometimes," Skylar agreed. "Haven't been out without her since we left the States. Hell, maybe I can get one of the older students to watch her a couple nights a week until I figure out the daycare thing." He grabbed an armful of crib parts and headed for the hall.
"Grab the small mattress and the toybox, will you?" he called. He took a look into all three doors and was suddenly glad that the previous tennent had left the toilet seat down. Ember was asleep on the bathroom floor, arms wrapped around her toy. "This one," he said, heading into the larger bedroom. "She's got more crap than I do."
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 8, 2013 23:41:06 GMT -5
"I could watch her every now and then, with Gilda and me it wouldn't even matter if Dare was home or not," Michael said as he pulled his wand to move some things. There was enough routine when it came to the twins and they were used enough to having his sister around that it shouldn't be a big deal. "I'm sure there are plenty of students who would be willing to give it a go the rest of the time, though."
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Post by Skylar Constantine on Jun 8, 2013 23:46:13 GMT -5
"A prefect," Skylar suggested. "One I can trust not to have a party while my girl cries. I had one of those," he said, throwing a glance over his shoulder. "Didn't even need my wand to clear the place. I was pretty pissed." He drew his wand now and started setting up the crib.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Jun 8, 2013 23:54:08 GMT -5
"Thankfully, since we have Gilda we've never really had to use a babysitter, though my mother takes care of them sometimes," Michael said. "Chase usually does a good job choosing prefects, you shouldn't have a problem." Even though prefects already had a number of duties, he doubted it would be difficult to find one or two willing to put in a little extra work.
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Post by Skylar Constantine on Jun 9, 2013 0:01:52 GMT -5
"You just call him Chase?" Skylar asked. When he was sure the crib wouldn't forget what it was doing, he started opening boxes. There were a lot of stuffed things, some board books and some real paper ones that he put on the top level of a bookshelf. The toybox was a lot of random things, but those didn't need arranging. She'd just pull them all out and he'd just put them back in. One of the boxes was just clothes and he set it aside.
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