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Post by Ash Blackwood on Aug 10, 2017 19:17:17 GMT -5
The placement of his ring meant nothing to Ash. People around her wore rings for all sorts of occasions, and wearing them to declare romantic loyalty really only happened when going out, something she never did. She made no comment, didn't stare, and didn't ask. She was more interested in the scarring. Still, she knew better than to touch, knew better now than to ask him anything personal.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Aug 12, 2017 11:48:30 GMT -5
Emilian was silent for the first few moments as he examined the damage and sought the best way to treat it. His bad hand moved fluidly most days, like today, and though he could have simply used his wand to fix the piece, he worked manually. A piece of this quality and age deserved proper care. "I don't have lovers because I have a bad history with them," he said at last. "They tend to leave me worse than they were when we met." For reasons like I easily lose control and terrify a scared girl.
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Post by Ash Blackwood on Aug 12, 2017 18:11:49 GMT -5
"Is that how... that happened?" Ash replied softly. She glanced down at his scarred hand. It seemed to work like a normal hand, was normally shaped, but the skin was imperfect. She looked away from the hand itself to what it was doing. She'd broken the necklace with her wand, but he wasn't fixing it with one. That was interesting.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Aug 12, 2017 18:35:26 GMT -5
Emilian paused in connecting a slender loop he could only see with the help of a glass for half a breath. "The scar's from a duel," he said. One of his oldest scars, and he'd given Chase his own fair share in exchange. "It was actually with the now-headmaster of Hogwarts." He flicked a glance toward the castle. "There were lovers involved with that one, but they weren't hurt." Although it had signified the end of his life at the school.
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Post by Ash Blackwood on Aug 12, 2017 21:20:54 GMT -5
How strange that someone who'd been so mean, so angry, could be so calm and gentle now. Ferox could be calm, but she always radiated confidence, strength, and bottled fury. Ash had believed that one was either in power or under it, never both, and never by turns.
"You were hurt," Ash said at last. He must have been very strong once. Of course, he was part of the elite.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Aug 12, 2017 21:31:22 GMT -5
Emilian made a final movement, making a whole from what had been two frayed ends. "I was a bastard," he said, as easily as if he was revealing his wand hand. After another careful look at the necklace, he handed it to her. "I don't want to be a bastard anymore, so I don't really take lovers." It felt like nearly everyone knew anyway, what harm was it to tell this girl who'd tried to fling herself into his bed?
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Post by Ash Blackwood on Aug 12, 2017 23:11:18 GMT -5
"Oh," Ash said, taking the necklace into her hands. "Could we be friends, then?" she asked. She looked up from beneath thick, black-as-sin lashes, then back down to the necklace. "I really do like you. You're very nice, except when you're not, and it shouldn't surprise you that I've heard things just recently." She stroked the setting around a finely cut sapphire.
"Our situations seem similar, and perhaps I could help?" She flicked a glance up again, then back down.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Aug 12, 2017 23:16:15 GMT -5
A light chuckle escaped Emilian's throat and he shook his head. "Honey, I'm sure our situations are far from similar," he said as he pulled the glove back securely over his hand. "What exactly do you know about my situation?" She seemed to know nothing about him other than that he'd once had a connection with the Blackwood-Hardts. He folded his hands on the counter as he waited to hear. You're very nice, except when you're not.
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Post by Ash Blackwood on Aug 12, 2017 23:49:18 GMT -5
"You were part of the elite, as the Blackwoods once were," Ash said knowledgeably. The Blackwood-Hardts were currently part of the elite, but only by virtue of combined fortunes and a few lucky connections no one was willing to cross. "You have been disowned, am I right?" She glanced up, but her gaze skittered away into the shop. These were things she definitely should not be saying, but he seemed amused, and that was encouraging.
"I am the third of five children, the third and last daughter, and I should be part of Society, like perhaps you should." She paused to gather her words, and to tuck the necklace away into the folds of her skirt. "My parents are in Azkaban. Our tainted pasts are different, of course, but they come to the same thing. We could belong. We could have a place, a comfortable place, where neither of us are outcast."
Ash looked at Emilian and tipped her head slightly to one side. "Alone, I have no real connection to the Blackwoods who have real status. You have a broken bond with..." She paused to search for the name. "Michael Hardt? My blood ties to Michael's lover make me valuable to few, but maybe to you." She looked down demurely, then up through her lashes again.
"Please do consider my words. I'd hate to have to break another necklace to see you again."
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Post by Emilian Sota on Aug 12, 2017 23:56:33 GMT -5
She'd left out the part where the Blackwood-Hardts had adopted his dead wife's bastard child, but he supposed the details of that particular incident were far less widespread. This girl didn't know why he had been disowned, nor could she imagine that his past could easily ruin her image further if it were dug out. "I shipped myself off to Germany to help Michael and try to get into a bit of Society there and couldn't even manage it. The pasts won't change, people will remember. Michael and Dare only got in because of money." So what would give them any chance? Unless he played on Dare's bleeding heart Gryffindor side.
No, Emilian probably shouldn't let his mind turn down that path.
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Post by Ash Blackwood on Aug 13, 2017 0:14:30 GMT -5
"Can you think of nothing that might make you more valuable to your parents?" Ash asked. "Disowning is about principle, there's no legality to it. My uncle was disowned for most of my life, and now his son owns my home. Wasn't Michael Hardt disowned, as well? The past doesn't change, but people make allowances when they see something worth their notice." Notice me.
Ash couldn't bring herself to make any of the vulgar motions that Lisette used to attract men, but she had practiced a certain doe-eyed expression in her mirror. "There's very little you need to do, and I'm not demanding. If you don't want a lover, I will accept that." How many others would say the same? None, as far as Ash was aware.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Aug 13, 2017 0:29:31 GMT -5
The part of him that wanted to list off his sins as some sort of penance to prove his evil tried to rise to the surface, but when Emilian felt his ring through his glove he pushed it away. The worst of it hadn't been dredged to the shore in so long it had likely grown barnacles, and it could stay that way for now. "My parents still have family in Russia, I'm sure they're more than happy to send everything back there, considering my past," he said.
"You're offering me something I don't even want!" He drew in a sharp breath after the brief not-outburst, then leaned forward with his elbows on the counter to rest his face in his hands. He didn't even know if it was true, it was like Brandis whispering in his ear all over again, and now that there was a sweet little Blackwood offering an in what he did know was that it wouldn't leave his head any time soon. "I don't even know your name."
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Post by Ash Blackwood on Aug 13, 2017 0:42:00 GMT -5
"Sarabeth Ashby Blackwood," Ash said, "but at this point in our acquaintance, you should be calling me Miss Blackwood. And I should be calling you Mr. Sota." She gave a brief dip of a curtsy, not without a touch of mocking. They were speaking of things far too deep and too personal for a first meeting, but as she was teasing around the idea of a future courtship between them—her earlier offer had only been an attempted entry to the same—she would pretend propriety. She hoped that they could move on to first names quickly.
"I'm sorry if I confused the motives behind your recent rise to notice," she went on. "Generally when someone sends whispers of success into Society, it's because they want Society to notice them, to accept them. At least a bit." She was only guessing that he'd had those whispers sent out himself, but who else would have done it? He didn't have friends in the Pureblood world anymore.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Aug 13, 2017 12:26:24 GMT -5
Emilian caught a glimpse of the curtsy, but only really looked up over his fingers at her when she finished speaking. He didn't like that reading of his life over the past couple of years. For a few moments he simply stared at her, then he dropped his hands. Living like he was wasn't healthy for him or those around him. Playing with power and wondering how close he could get without getting burned, and how close he wanted to get. It figured that as soon as he'd allowed himself to get content with his lot in life someone new would pop in and drag him backwards.
"If I had half a brain I'd have kicked you out of my shop the second you said you were a Blackwood, you know that?" he said. "But then you're all pretty and nice, well, except when you hit me." He sounded like a boy just starting puberty.
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Post by Ash Blackwood on Aug 13, 2017 13:40:35 GMT -5
Ash blushed. "I'm not sorry," she declared, though she did appear embarrassed by it. She'd never slapped a man before, unless one counted sibling scuffles, but she didn't. "If I had half a brain, I wouldn't have come here in the first place, but I'm stupid and sick of being the family joke, so I did it anyway."
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