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libby just wants some sleep ([info]libbysees) wrote in [info]endgamerpg,
@ 2012-04-28 16:29:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:!episode 01: darkness descends, character: catriona montgomery, character: libby montgomery, status: complete

Characters: Catriona and Libby Montgomery
Setting: 26 June, 18:34, Catriona's flat
Rating: Low
Summary: Sister time and Seer business

Libby's anger over Catriona's callous response to the drowning nightmare/not-nightmare, anger which she felt was fully justified, had still faded within a day or two. An extra day or two of sibling irritability had also passed, and now she regretted not going for Thai food over the weekend. Without her sister she had made no progress on interpreting the dream, if it was a dream, and she just didn't feel quite herself when the two of them were on the outs.

So here it was, Wednesday evening, and she was approaching Catriona's flat with take-away in her hand and trepidation in her heart. Not that she expected Catirona to be cross, exactly, but she did have further news about the very subject that had set them off last time. Hopefully it would not be a repeat performance. It was possible Catriona was still at the office, in which case Libby would just go there instead and rescue her from paperwork. She needed to be rescued sometimes, and they needed to talk.

Libby knocked and waited. When the door opened she held up her offering, smiled, and said, "Hey, sis. Hungry? I think we're due for a bit of Thai."

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[info]almostlegend
2012-04-28 10:55 pm UTC (link)
Catriona really wasn't good at fighting with people, least of all Libby. She couldn't go many days without speaking to her, but she'd always had the feeling that the same didn't go for her sister.

She'd always been the more confident after all. The one less afraid to actually live her life. It was say to say that she'd buried herself a little deeper than usual in her job since their fight, which was why she was so relieved to see Libby at her doorstep.

"Oh thank God," she said as the two of them stepped inside. "I haven't had a proper meal for days."

She took the bag and walked ahead of Libby into the kitchen. "It's nice to have you here too," she added. "I have plates and stuff here somewhere..."

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[info]libbysees
2012-04-28 11:12 pm UTC (link)
Libby smiled wider, relieved by Catriona's response. Even if she hadn't expected a frosty welcome, this was a good start, and a reassuring one. "Why am I not surprised? I wasn't even worried you'd already eaten," she said, amused. That was something they shared, the tendency to shun the finer points of cooking and eat whatever was easiest.

She surrendered the take-away bag and trailed her sister into the kitchen, where she let Catriona root around for plates and glasses while she started pulling out boxes and containers of food. "Thanks. I got a few new dishes," she said as she arranged everything. "This one's supposed to be hot, but who knows what that means."

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[info]almostlegend
2012-04-28 11:31 pm UTC (link)
"You know me too well."

Catriona pulled a few plates from the sink and washed them off quickly. She rather looked like she'd have a meticulous home, but ever since her divorce she'd gotten increasingly messy.

"Sounds great," she said. So far the conversation was a tiny bit stilted, but it tended to be, just after a fight. They were both too proud to apologise and skirted around one other instead, making sure the other one wasn't cross anymore.

It wasn't what one would call the easy way out, but it had always worked for the two of them.

She brought everything over to the table and parked herself in her favourite chair. "I'll start with this one," she said, pulling a random container towards her. "So. Um. How is... everything?"

Libby would know what she meant. She always did.

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[info]libbysees
2012-04-28 11:44 pm UTC (link)
It wasn't the most natural conversation, but Libby wasn't worried about it. She was perfectly happy to pretend it hadn't happened, or at least that they'd already moved on. Not like it was a life-changing fight anyway. Catriona would have been the best Seer to ever See, Libby is the worst, etcetera etcetera, repeat.

Libby deposited herself across from her sister and immediately dug in. She had already taken a bite when Catriona cut straight to the point, as usual. Libby was glad for the moment's pause to gather her thoughts while she chewed and swallowed.

"It happened again," she replied. She could be direct as well. "Last night. Well, this morning, you know. More drowning."

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[info]almostlegend
2012-04-28 11:53 pm UTC (link)
"Oh," Catriona said. "That's... not good."

To be perfectly honest she could've killed to be the one with visions. She'd dreamt about it her whole life. Sure, it had to be scary, but more than anything else it would have made her special. Someone people would remember as anything than the meticulous Auror who loved her job more than herself. It was hard enough not to snap at Libby when she started complaining, but this was less of that and more...

Well. Matter-of-factly.

"Same one? Exactly? Was there anything different about it?"

Catriona tried to remember whether or not she'd read about the same vision repeating, and so soon. Usually they were more rare than this, she was fairly sure of that.

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[info]libbysees
2012-04-29 12:15 am UTC (link)
Libby had another bite and thought back to the dream. Her dream journal helped with this sort of thing. The act of writing sealed the images and feelings in her memory, for a while at least, so she could recall it with some amount of certainty. Having the journal with her was better, of course. Too bad she'd left it at home.

"Not exactly the same, but close. Still drowning, still couldn't tell where I was, still couldn't find the surface. It felt deeper, though, or more intense, but--" Libby paused. Saying this out loud highlighted how crazy it sounded in her ears. "There was panic, like the first time, but sometimes I got a feeling of peacefulness? It doesn't make any sense."

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[info]almostlegend
2012-04-29 02:01 pm UTC (link)
It was always a bit strange to hear Libby talk about these things. She'd always been so very against them, calling them silly and stupid. She seemed serious enough now, though, not playing it off as nothing. It made Catriona feel bad about being so curt to her about this whole thing, almost jealous.

"Hang on," she said, putting her water down. "I need a couple of books."

It became more than a couple in the end. Four or five. A few on interpreting dreams, one of visions and one she'd tried to get Libby to read since the beginning of time.

"Basically," she said, drowning can mean a lot of things. That you can't cope, have too much to deal with or just can't keep up with life. Or it could mean surrendering. Especially if you add in the peaceful aspect. Maybe you're just surrendering the fact that you have these powers now. Stop struggling. Accepting. All that stuff."

Most people who knew Catriona wouldn't have thought that she and her crisp suits and pulled back hair had anything to do with Divination. That she believed in this stuff. Unless they remembered her from school.

"It sounds scary," she admitted reluctantly. But I do think it's time you accept it."

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[info]libbysees
2012-04-29 09:59 pm UTC (link)
Libby held back a sigh as Catriona went after some books. She tried to remind herself that this was part of why she had come, that she wanted to get to the bottom of this as well. This was Catriona's way, she knew that, but was it so much to ask for a few minutes of dinner and sister chat before the heavy stuff took over? Maybe it was.

While Catriona flipped pages and suggested meanings, Libby picked at her noodles and made non-committal noises. Something wasn't sitting right, she just couldn't figure out what it was.

"Surrender is a good idea," she said, a little slowly. "The peacefulness is probably important, and since I had the same thing so close together it probably does mean it is just for me. Maybe it is just a dream and my subconscious is yelling at me about something."

She had no response on the matter of accepting her ability. She did reach for one of the books, though, and searched the index. That was concession enough.

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[info]almostlegend
2012-04-29 10:54 pm UTC (link)
"Maybe," Catriona said, flicking through a book with one hand and eating with the other. No reason to let the food get cold. "I do think the peacefulness is important."

She kept reading, not quite convinced that it was 'just a dream'. It had to be more than that. Libby had done prophecies. It had to be more than that.

"I think your subconscious is yelling at you not to be so dense about it all." Her expression was deadpan, but she wasn't completely serious. Well, mostly not. "It knows things. And you will too, if you just listen to it."

She was pretty sure that she sounded like a professor, lecturing a student. Usually she dialed that back a bit around Libby, because she knew she didn't like it. This was important, though. Really important.

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[info]libbysees
2012-04-30 03:44 am UTC (link)
Catriona did sound a bit like a professor, one of the kinder ones trying to reach out to a student who wasn't living up to her full potential. Oh, did Libby have experience with that. She smirked at her sister, though, because she knew she was kidding -- or she was going to assume she was kidding, at least. Taking the high road and all that.

"It's hard to listen when your subconscious isn't communicating very well. Two nightmares about drowning? What is that? I wish I could just ask it questions. 'What are you on about?' for starters."

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I actually have no idea what she's looking for, so go crazy
[info]almostlegend
2012-04-30 12:26 pm UTC (link)
Catriona couldn't help but laugh. She may like Divination, but sometimes the lack of definite answers was frustrating. At least the ones in the books. It was really the only ones she'd encountered personally.

"That'd be nice, yes," she said. "Though for it to listen you might need to talk to it in its own language." You couldn't really make a prophecy happen with will only. It came to you whenever it felt like it. You could try to approach it though.

"Maybe you should try to do a reading," she said. "Or do a thing that's in this book..." She pulled a different book towards her, and started flipping through it. "I know it's in here somewhere."

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[info]libbysees
2012-04-30 07:26 pm UTC (link)
Even though Libby had not applied herself at Hogwarts, and even though she had an in-born ability in the most abstract of the magical arts, she was at heart a rational person. She believed in and put her faith in things she could see and touch and experience for herself. Thus the wishy-washy 'open to interpretation' aspect of Divination frustrated her to no end, and she couldn't help but think it was a big cosmic joke that she'd ended up being Seer with this attitude.

Readings presented an opportunity to at least try for some solid information, and yet Libby still felt reluctant. "That's a good idea," she said without much enthusiasm. "I'll just do cards, I guess. I have experience with them. Do you have any playing cards?"

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[info]almostlegend
2012-04-30 09:27 pm UTC (link)
"Yeah, sure. Somewhere."

Catriona wasn't exactly what you would call organised. Sure, at work she had everything in the right place and her desk was meticulous, but it kind of fell away the second she came home. Still, she had a book shelf dedicated to Divination (it had a blue cloth with stars covering it), a bunch of incense (that made her flat smell like someone much frillier lived in it) and a drawer with tarot things and stuff she'd never managed to work, to her own disappointment.

She found a deck of card in there, and brought it together with two tarot decks as well, hoping Libby would choose one of those two. "I like this one," she said, nudging the deck with the more detailed pictures on them. It was a bit worn from the times she'd tried and tried and tried, but not managed to get anything from it.

"I guess you can use that one if you want," she said about the proper playing cards. "But these two are much more..." Intense. No, she couldn't say that. Libby would find that way too funny. "You know."

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[info]libbysees
2012-05-01 02:33 am UTC (link)
Libby owned one set of tarot cards. She liked the illustrations. They were pristine; the only time she read tarot was at Catriona's insistence. Libby raised an eyebrow and smirked a bit, like she knew what her sister was thinking. She could hazard a guess that reading from playing cards wasn't divination-y enough for Catriona's tastes.

"I'll use these," said Libby archly, reaching pointedly over the deck Catriona had nudged to pick up the plain deck. "If it doesn't work out I'll try those."

Before she began Libby scarfed down a few mouthfuls of her dinner while she cleared a space. Then she began to shuffle. There were a lot of guidelines for this sort of thing, most of which ended with 'Follow your intuition' or similar. It was a mixed blessing; as much as it made Libby roll her eyes, she also appreciated not having to consult a book for every little thing. She shuffled until it felt right, she cut it twice, and she took a breath.

With the images from her dreams floating in her mind as a focus (ugh), Libby pulled three cards in a row and laid them down, one two three. The very first card was the seven of spades. "Brilliant," she muttered to herself. An omen, maybe a bad one depending on the rest of the spread. Next were two tens, the ten of clubs and the ten of spades. That was a little curious.

"Seven of spades and ten of spades in one spread is-- not great," she began. "Spades are conflict, and the ten of spades is like the worst. Misfortune, grief, you name it. Sevens are tricky; seven of spades usually means a warning, which makes sense with the ten of spades, but the ten of clubs doesn't fit. It's mostly about gifts or money, though it can also represent burdens or responsibility. I guess the seven could be that as well."

Libby toyed with the left over deck and looked up at her sister for input. No doubt she'd have some.

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[info]almostlegend
2012-05-01 10:49 am UTC (link)
It was no surprise that Libby would choose the boring deck. Getting her sister to do a reading was hard enough, though, so Catriona kept her mouth shut. She watched Libby shuffle and cut the deck, feeling a moment's jealousy. She didn't even try to look as if she liked it.

Her reading was good, though, annoyingly good. All that intuitive knowledge Catriona had never had herself. She knew some from books, but not nearly as much as she knew about proper tarot readings

"I've read something about several tens in a spread," she said. "I can't quite remember, but I think that the fact there's two of them... might mean more than just the symbolism of each card."

She studied the cards closely, wishing she had something more than book knowledge to add to it. She and her books. She had her shiny knowledge that meant nothing because she didn't have the Sight. And she had no idea what to add, really. Unless she visited her book shelf once more.

"I can find the book if you want?"

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[info]libbysees
2012-05-01 05:52 pm UTC (link)
It didn't occur to Libby to think about where her intuition came from, or perhaps more accurately, she'd made a point of nothing thinking about it for a very long time. Compartmentalising was her coping mechanism, at least where Seeing was concerned. So when she shook her head and said, "No, I remember," she didn't think how she knew, or how it might make Catriona feel. She kept her mind on the task at hand, the sooner to get it over with.

"Two tens indicates-- umm, forward motion," she continued. "That could be it, but this is still a lot of nothing." For a while Libby just looked at the cards, occasionally touching them with a light finger like she could get insight from how they felt. It didn't work that way, of course. They just felt like cards, no hum or special energy. She drummed her fingers on the remaining deck, then with swift, sure motions she pulled another three cards and laid them underneath the original three-- an extra spread for clarification.

"Holy Merlin's balls, two aces," she said. Catriona was probably right, then. "Aces are beginnings. Obviously, first card and all, but with the two tens I think that's the message. Like, this is the ace of spades, another bad card about conflict, death, things boiling up, but the ace of hearts is the one of the happiest cards. Happiness, good relationships, all that, so once again individually they don't really go, but together they could mean things are happening, or are going to happen, in all aspects of life. Someone's life."

Libby paused, her finger on the bottom left card, the three of hearts. "This.. usually advises caution, and maybe it means that here too. Maybe, with the seven warning above it, it means the dreams aren't just dreams. It might also mean-- groups? community? If two hearts is lovers, three hearts could be a family."

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[info]almostlegend
2012-05-01 10:16 pm UTC (link)
Just seeing Libby figuring it out made Catriona's stomach hurt a little. She wanted to be supportive, but this was something she always wanted. Always.

She pushed the feelings away.

"Beginnings plus misfortune plus warning plus forward motion plus death," she said. "So they warn about the beginning of misfortune and/or death. For a group of people."

She rubbed her temples, thinking about the things she had encountered at work. "There's been more petty crime than usual," she said slowly. "People are more irritable. I'm investigating this -" She swallowed hard. Silly. Silly to still find it upsetting, after all these years. "- this werewolf thing. There's more acitivity from them too. Or was. During the full moon. Two people bitten that I know about. One dead."

The other was Ernie. She wasn't sure she should tell Libby that. Or anyone, really. He didn't seem like he wanted anyone to know, which, naturally meant that the whole Ministry knew. Or so it seemed.

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[info]libbysees
2012-05-02 03:40 am UTC (link)
"Well, maybe, but it isn't all doom and gloom, and like you said the individual meanings may not be what matters." Libby glanced down at the spread again. It was kind of an odd one, though in her mind they were all kind of odd. Maybe she was being stubborn or obtuse, but she didn't want to start predicting major doom and gloom in all directions. (Trelawney flashbacks.) "Three spades is a lot, but there's also two hearts which are good, and a club which can go either way."

Werewolves. Libby went still, staring at Catriona. It was irrational, the spike of emotion which mingled fear and a reminder of loss, but there it was. "God, that's dreadful news," said Libby with a shiver. "I don't know how you can stand to handle these cases."

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[info]almostlegend
2012-05-02 12:05 pm UTC (link)
"It's not that straightforward, no," Catriona said. It usually wasn't, when it came to card reading or Divination as a whole. "I guess we'll have to wait and see."

She wasn't very good at that. Waiting and seeing. She wanted to do things. Maybe not in the way that Libby did, never being able to stay in one place, but focusing, making things happen, even if they weren't the most exciting ones. Even paperwork had a reason, in that sense.

"They asked me if I wanted to step down," she admitted. "But I don't. I'm going to sort this one out, and whoever did it won't hurt anyone else. I'll see to that."

Like nobody had done with David. Everyone knew who had killed him, but he'd gone free for years afterwards. Still would have, had it not been for the battle, and all that came with it.

"It's why I became an Auror. You know that."

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[info]libbysees
2012-05-03 03:07 am UTC (link)
It was the elephant in the room, David's death, and Libby didn't want to talk about it. She rarely did, now was no exception. She'd just done a reading, she hadn't been sleeping well, she was tired and trying not to show it, and bringing up their little brother was just about the opposite of what she wanted. She pressed her lips together for a moment, then sighed, then gave a slight nod.

"I know. I get why you do it. I don't really get how. But--" She checked her watch. "I ought to go. I'm going dancing with Daphne later." Too late she remembered her sister's lack of enthusiasm for that particular friend. Sort of friend. It was silly, though, and Libby wasn't one to hide things.

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[info]almostlegend
2012-05-03 11:01 am UTC (link)
Catriona frowned. She'd never quite understood why her sister was so... careless in the way she picked her friends. She certainly did not understand why she spent her time with Greengrass of all people. Sure, she did work at the Ministry and as far as Catriona could tell she did a good enough job, and she did have to deal with all sorts in her own profession, but in her free time? No way.

"Right," she said with a sigh. "If you must."

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[info]libbysees
2012-05-03 05:43 pm UTC (link)
Libby grinned as she stood up. Poor long-suffering Catriona, who took everything so seriously. "Don't be like that, sis. Daphne's not so bad, and dancing is fun. You could come along, you know. Might do you a bit of good." She in no way expected to get a positive reply, but sometimes people could surprise you.

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[info]almostlegend
2012-05-03 07:43 pm UTC (link)
Sometimes Libby made no sense at all. "I don't dance," Catriona said. "And definitely not with her."

Childish, perhaps, but even Catriona had her moments.

"Besides, I have work in the morning. Maybe another time."

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