phillipa flint (pippips) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-04-06 18:08:00 |
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Entry tags: | !bingo, !thread, character: lucas flint, character: phillipa flint |
who: lucas & phillipa flint
where: rota vicentina, portugal
when: 6 april, morning
what: pippa went hunting for a lucas
status: complete
warnings: flints being flints, proceed with caution
bingo: an animagus
Okay, maybe Lucas felt a little badly about just getting up and leaving for a spur of the moment holiday, but there had been something inside of him that kept telling him to get up and go. TO flee and leave whatever was bothering behind him. It had worked when he was a child, moody and petulant when he had no one to pat him on the head about his latest ‘discovery’ or to answer his seemingly endless supply of questions. Run off to explore the wilds of the family’s property. Eventually he’d sort himself out and returned like nothing was bothering him. Portugal might not have been his family’s back garden, but he was sick of Ireland, sick of Wales. The Scottish Highlands would be cold as fuck still so he went south. At first he thought it would be a few days, nothing to raise any concern. He’d even stalked the journals a bit to see if anyone had reached out to him, silently daring that someone notice his disappearance. When none had come, he’d made the announcement himself, with a variety of reactions. Most notable being his sister’s. Lucas tried not to take it too personally, but he could still feel bits of annoyance and anger seeping through the calm that being alone in the wilderness had provided him. Since the beach he was currently camping out on wasn’t really big enough for running, he opted for the surf instead. Diving into the sea, Lucas tried to leave all his worries and issues back on land. He’d return to them when he was good and ready. Phillipa had trouble sorting out what her feelings were when it came to her brother running off without so much as a word. Hurt, anger, irritation, panic - so many more, a variety of them all going on at once and seeming to amplify the worst of them. It didn't help that he'd been so infuriating in his responses to her. She was more a person of action than one to sit idly by and wait for one to come to her, so she did the only rational thing she could think of to do. She went to Portugal. The least Lucas had done was say where he was, provide a picture for her to use in an attempt to narrow down an area in which to look, and between that and having magic on her side, it really hadn't taken too long at all. In any other situation, she may have marveled at how beautiful the area was, the beach a place she might want to visit herself. But not then, definitely. She found his little campsite, confirming she was in the right place, then spotted him out in the water. He had to come back sometime, and she could certainly wait until he did. Swimming was much better than running, Lucas decided. He didn’t know if it was because of the sun or the warm temperatures that made it so much more pleasant than running, but maybe he should think about dining a place to swim once he got back to Wales. Because he would have to go back at some point, but not right now. He broke the surface and let the sun warm his face for a moment before he began to paddle back to the shore. Lucas has taken the morning’s solitude to get a swim in, but others would begin to crawl out of the woodwork as the day progressed. He didn't want to be caught with his shorts down, or the complete lack of shorts in his case. Lucas grabbed the towel he’d left on a nearby rock, now pleasantly warm from the sun, and wrapped it around his waist, shaking the sea water from his hair. He didn't even notice his sister until it was too late. There was no way he could t pretend to not notice her. Even he knew that he wasn't that good a liar. His wand was in his tent so he wasn't exactly able to apparate away. So he did the first thing that came to mind: he transformed into a dog and hightailed it the opposite direction. If he could find a good hiding space he could out wait her. Phillipa watched him swim in, her arms folded. Her nose scrunched at the lack of any clothes on him and she kept her gaze steady on watching his face instead. That was a safe place to look, plus it made it easy to tell he'd completely not noticed her standing there. Until the moment he did, and she saw it happen. Part of her had been expecting as much, which was why she'd worn those hideous shoes. She almost started to sprint after him, but being a witch was much better than getting in a foot chase with a dog. Wand in hand, she moved out to where she could see his little dog form running away clearly. Thankfully there were no other people around. "Accio Lucas!" He came back toward her just as fast as he'd gone, and she grabbed him the second she could, one hand at the scruff of his neck to keep him there. "Why hello." Once upon a time Lucas might have found flying through the air via accio rather exciting. Now, however, it just made him feel vaguely sick. He wiggled and squirmed, trying to get out of her grasp, but she held on firm. There was nothing for him to do but just hang there. At least if she was holding on the the scruff of his neck it didn’t hurt like her pinching his ear. He could wait her out, he was sure of it. Well, mostly sure. Looking at his sister, Lucas let out a small whine and tried to look as dejected as possible. The guilt trip probably wouldn’t work, but he’d be a fool if he didn’t at least try. There had been many reactions Phillipa had been braced for. She didn't think Lucas would try to bite her to get her to let him go, but she hadn't thought he would flounce off out of the country with no word or warning either, so she didn't discount the possibility. He could have licked her, which she hated, or broken out those puppy eyes - which he did. The least of the three, really. "Nice try," she said, shaking her head and pursing her lips for a moment as she studied him. "Are you going to make me do this the hard way?" Lucas could be sullen and stubborn, but never purposefully mean towards those he cared about. It would be out of character for him to consider actually biting Pippa. Well he might consider it, but the thought would be rejected quite quickly. As soon as his sister spoke Lucas’ demeanor changed. His ears perked up and he got a rather challenging look in his eyes. He wasn’t just going to roll over and bear his belly because she decided to hunt him down. He’d gotten away for a reason, though he might not fully be able to articulate them yet, and he wasn’t going to give up his secrets so easily. Phillipa drew in a breath and exhaled slowly, her jaw set as she watched her brother for a moment. Maybe it should have felt weird that she could read him just as easily as a dog as she could when he was a normal human, but it didn't. It's just how it was. While they both had the same genetic stubbornness, she had the upper hand at the moment - in that she had hands. Not letting go of his scruff, she brought her other hand up and pinched his ear between her index finger and thumb, her gaze staying steadily on him. "Lucas..." Okay. Bad idea. Very bad idea. His dog ears were even more sensitive than his human ones and her fingers hurt. Yipping in pain, Lucas wiggled furiously before finally transforming back into a human. Unfortunately, he forgot that when he first transformed he only had on a towel and thanks to the awkard angle of his body said towel was now on the ground. “Ow. Ow. Ow. Okay. Merlin’s balls, let go.” Lucas could have pushed his sister away if he wanted to, but that wasn’t in his character. “Just let me get my towel at least. Or better yet some clothes.” The day that stopped being effective was a day Phillipa definitely didn't look forward to, but she also didn't see it happening anytime in the near future. She let go of him when he said to, more than happy to give him a chance to get some clothes on because she didn't particularly enjoy seeing her brother naked. "Good, get something on," she said, taking a step back but keeping an eye on him - above the waist - in case he decided to scamper off again. Shooting his sister a dirty look, Lucas ducked into his tent to root out some clothes. The few moments alone gave him a chance to center himself and figure out where his head was at. Pulling a shirt on over his head, Lucas kept it pointedly casual as he strolled out. “Welcome to Portugal,” he said, nodding down to her trainers. “Nice shoes.” He wasn’t sure what Pippa wanted him to say. He wasn’t sorry he ran off. He needed some time to think and he didn’t quite understand why she had such an issue with it while the others just seemed to understand. Phillipa folded her arms across her stomach while she waited for him to come back out of the tent. And then when he did, she kind of wanted to smack him, but she didn't. She looked down to her shoes then over to him again, rolling her eyes. "Thanks," she said dryly, shifting her hands to rest on her hips. "Nice tent." She glanced out at the ocean for a long moment, not quite sure where to begin. "I know you're not a kid. I know you can take care of yourself. But that doesn't mean I don't worry about you, Lucas." Her gaze shifted back to him and she shook her head. "What if something had happened to you while you were here? How would we have known, or even known where to start to look for you?" Guilt began to creep up his spine and he refused to acknowledge it. He was not in the wrong here. “I wasn’t completely out of communication. I had my journal with me. I just didn’t feel like using it. In fact, up until I wrote the message you had no idea I was gone. So what does it matter that I’m in Portugal or Wales? People would have been able to get ahold of me.” Perhaps the wrong people, but Lucas wasn’t going to dwell on that. They wouldn’t have known until he said something. He didn’t have to say anything. He could have returned without any of his siblings ever knowing that he’d left in the first place. Perhaps he should have done that and avoided this whole mess. Yeah, he would do that next time. All of this messy emotion was too much. “But nothing has happened to me. You can rest assured I’m all safe and sound.” "No, I didn't, I thought you were working like normal," Phillipa said, shaking her head. She felt guilty too, but she knew she'd needed to stay away from everyone for a while. The difference was that she'd been home, and she'd told them that's where she would be. "I wasn't really talking to or seeing anyone, so I wasn't looking at my journal. But I would have if you'd written, or owled." Something had to have happened, and was almost sure of it, because why else would he have run off? It felt like her heart was aching, not knowing what was going on in his life. "Lucas, what happened?” He shrugged, part out of pure stubbornness and part because he didn't know how to put what he was feeling into words. Except that he knew it hurt when she had not wanted to see him. In some twisted way it hurt when he found out that Marcus was serious about Ginny Weasley, but that wasn't any of Pippa’s doing. It felt, to him that his siblings were off living their lives expecting him to be safe, tucked away. It didn't make sense, not even to him, but that's how he felt. “You didn't trust me,” he said finally. “You didn't trust me to not judge you. I don't need to know all your secrets, I don't want to, but you didn't trust me.” As he said it, Lucas could feel a million apologies start to bubble up his throat. Of course his sister trusted him. Right? It felt like she’d been slapped, hard. Ever since she’d asked him why he’d gone, back on the journals, Phillipa had started to guess it was her fault. And of course it was. She hadn’t wanted to see anyone - the general public because she didn’t want their judgement, but that wasn’t the same reason she’d shut herself away from everyone else, her brothers, her friends. Them she hadn’t been able to face because she didn’t know what to say, how they might look at her differently, which wasn’t the same as judging just looking at someone through different eyes when one knows something new about them. Tears pricked at her eyes and she swallowed hard, trying to fight them off as she looked up at him. “That,” she said quietly, pausing a moment to keep her voice steady, “is not true.” “Isn’t it?” He countered. “Don’t you think I would be happy for you? Or protective because you were embarrassed? I didn’t care. I don’t care, but I didn't get the chance to show you because you shut me out.” Lucas went to say something, but thought better of it. Instead he simply sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I told you I would be fine and this,” he gestured at the tent and the scenery behind him, “this is me figuring out fine.” Was he doing the exact same thing he was accusing his sister of doing? Of course, but just as Pippa saw so much good in him, there was just as much bad. It might not have been his character to hurt someone he loved physically, when pushed he would find the weakest point and batter it with Flint stubbornness until something broke. “No, it’s not,” Phillipa shot back just as soon as the words left his mouth. The rest of what he said, there was truth in it, but not all of it. Of course he would have been protective, and she was glad he didn’t care, but that wasn’t what was at the root of it. “What was there to be happy about for me? The papers took what was supposed to be an incredibly private conversation and printed about it for the world to read. I shut everyone out, Lucas. Not because I didn’t trust them, but because I couldn’t face them. Me, not you.” She drew in a shaky breath as tears slipped from her eyes, and she brought up a hand to quickly wipe them away. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. That’s bullshit.” Lucas’ jaw tightened and he shoved his hands into his jeans’ pockets. He did not like seeing his sister cry, but he was not ready to back down either. “Fine. It’s bullshit. Is there anything else, then?” He wanted to turn on his heel and storm right into the tent, but he didn’t know what would happen if he did exactly that. Probably get hexed for his troubles. So much for his quiet retreat. Any peace and stillness he’d found for himself had dissipated, causing him to hunch his shoulders and draw into himself. He wanted Pippa to go away so he could be left alone with his thoughts. Maybe he would draw a bit. Or reply to Prim. Neither of which required much of him. Phillipa had fought with Marcus before, that wasn't unusual - though usually it was more sniping and snarking without much underlying bite. Not with Lucas, though. She'd never felt such a distance between her and her younger brother, but it was a distance she didn't know how to close, and based on what he'd said, it was all her doing. At his dismissive words, she wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, but he wasn't Marcus. That just made them hurt even more. She hadn't expected her visit to go well, but she hadn't anticipated just how poorly it would go. Her throat felt tight as more tears trailed down her cheeks, and she brushed them away with unsteady fingertips. "No. I guess there's not." Lucas pointed looked anywhere other than his sister’s face. Tears would make him break down and that was the complete opposite of what he wanted. “I'd offer you tea, but I don't have any. So…” He trailed off, not sure of what he was supposed to do now other than stand there awkwardly as his sister cried. “I'll be home sooner or later. And you now know where I am. No reason to worry.” Kicking a pebble, Lucas watched it skid across the ground. “I'm enjoying the sun, air, and solitude. I'm perfectly okay.” Phillipa huffed out a breath at the mention of tea, what would have been a scoff if she wasn't trying her hardest not to full out cry. Even if he'd had tea she had no idea why he would be offering it to her, not right then. No reason to worry? She had plenty, but fine. "Great, good for you," she managed, chewing at the inside of her lip. "Try to let me know when you get back, if it happens to cross your mind." With that, she apparated back home, away from the beach and her brother who wouldn't even look at her anymore. Swearing colorfully, Lucas didn’t move for several moments before finally turning back around to head into his tent. He might not have any tea, but there was beer. And right now it felt like a really good time to get one. |