Hyperion Montgomery (hyperioniam) wrote in vrrpg, @ 2017-06-22 21:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, char: apollo montgomery, char: hyperion montgomery, char: pandora montgomery, char: persephone montgomery, location: residence, time: 2009 06 |
RP: Persephone's Secret
Who: Persephone, Pandora, Hyperion, Phillip
When: June 22, 2009
Where: Persephone's flat
What: Time for Persephone to reveal her biggest secret
Warnings: Language
In preparation for revealing the biggest secret of her life, Persephone had fallen back on old letter-writing skills. Armed with a bottle of whiskey and a quill, she had written what she wanted to say to Hyperion and Pandora, then rewritten it and rewritten it and cried more than a little bit. She didn't think that she had been stressed even when she was taking her Healer's exams.
Poor Philip, he had the patience of a saint to put up with her and her text messages at all hours as she tried to work out how to tell her older siblings that they were going to outlive her by decades.
The thoughts in her head seemed to resist being organised and that was how she came to be hiding in her own kitchen while her siblings were gathered around a plethora of snacks that she had laid out in the hope of distracting them which she gathered her nerve. But any nerve she possessed had deserted her. Maybe she could just suggest a nice board game and try this again another night? Persephone could picture the so very disappointed look that Phillip would give her, though, and that mental image was enough for her screw up a tiny bit of courage to the sticking place and do this.
Before anyone could come looking for her, Persephone walked back into the living area. Hew jaw was slightly clenched and her hands were stuffed into the pockets of her dress.
"So I have something I have to tell youse," she started, fingers curled up tight into her palms. "But ye have to promise not to interrupt me because it's kinda difficult, ye ken?"
It was a good sort of strange, having all of them together in one place again, but Hyperion wasn't going to question it. Life was good, damn good right now, and that was what he wanted to focus on. That, and keeping it good, continuing to work on repairing his relationship with Pandora, finding a balance with Persephone again not that she was done working abroad. And Phillip, of course.
He'd been munching on the snacks and asking Panda the most ridiculous pregnancy-related questions he could think up, taking far too much joy when he earned a glare from her. He wouldn't be surprised if she goosed him in the ribs or something soon. But then Perse was there, drawing their attention to her, and he couldn't help the way his smile dropped off his face or the instant concern he felt. He remembered the texts he'd had with her last month that had set off bells in his head that something wasn't right, and he wondered if that was what this was about.
"Yeah, of course, Persy," he said right away, and he would try very hard not to interrupt her.
Phillip had been quiet when compared to his siblings as they waited for Persephone to return, and a part of him was grateful that he was the sort of person that wasn't all that chatty to begin with, if only because his acting skills were more or less nonexistent, and it was hardly his place to explain why they were here, or even the fact that they were here for somber reasons in the first place.
So he sat back and waited, patient as ever, his fingers teasing at an annoyingly loose thread at his hem. Hm. Maybe he'd have time to grab some scissors before she returned... she was taking eons, after all...
The thought seemed ironically coupled with her entrance, Phillip letting out a soft breath as he offered her a slow nod, one he hoped looked reassuring and warm rather than stoic, stiff, and intimidating.
"I'm going to hold you to that, you know," he finally said, throwing Hyperion a look following his statement of compliance.
Dora was, perhaps, a little suspicious. But then, she was probably the most paranoid of the four siblings, eclipsing even Hyperion if only because while he saw bad things, she'd truly lived them. Paranoia was etched into her bones.
But she'd pushed it away for now. Told herself to not be ridiculous. And she was enjoying herself, even if she couldn't have the glass of whiskey she was suddenly dying for while in the company of all her remaining siblings. Even if Phillip was making her twitch a little inside, wondering why he seemed a mite... shifty.
But Hyperion kept her distracted and she was considering what thing in reaching distance she could throw at him and not have Persy get mad at her when her sister finally came in the room again.
Her face grew immediately solemn and worried, the smile of a moment before gone just like that. Especially with how heavy her sister's accent suddenly was. "I ken," she said, her legs drawing up and a hand falling on her belly in unconscious preparation for bad news of some sort.
Persephone took a seat on the couch beside Phillip. How he had become even more of the dependable middle child than her she would never know, but right now she was grateful for his presence just as she had been grateful all those years ago at school when he had been half the size.
She folded her hands in her lap and stared at her knees. It was easier than meeting anyone's eyes.
"The year that Professor Snape was headmaster, the Carrows really wanted me to..." Persephone pushed up her glasses. "They already had Panda and they thought I'd be a good recruit. Another of the Lestrange line, ye ken?" Her brow furrowed, words starting to catch in her throat as she came to the part where she had to mention the people she hated most in the world. "The Carrows were persistent but it wasn't until I came of age that things got tougher and..." The words didn't want to come out.
Persephone finally looked up at Phillip, eyes shining. She sniffed, so very determined not to cry despite the way her chin was quivering.
"I kept saying no. And Alecto Carrow cursed me." Her voice pitched higher with emotion. "A blood malediction. It's irreversible."
As soon as Persephone mentioned the Carrows, Hyperion's hands curled into fists, though he otherwise went very still. Whatever had been bothering Perse, he hadn't thought it would be a pleasant thing, but this? This was so much worse. If the bastards weren't already locked up, he'd kill them, he thought, though he knew that probably wasn't true. He would want to kill them, but his morals wouldn't allow him to actually take a life except in self defense or defense of another, and this would be revenge, plain and simple.
When she finally told them what it was she'd been cursed with, he felt his eyes sting with moisture. "No," he said firmly, disbelieving. "You know that for sure? You've looked into every possible fix?" Not that he doubted her intelligence or determination to life, but he just couldn't accept that there was nothing that could be done. He rubbed a hand over his face, the stubble there scratching against his palm. There had to be something they could do.
Her words were hard to listen to, hard to digest, but he knew his experience hardly compared to what she was having to do here, and he let out a soft sigh. The way she looked at him broke his heart, and he pulled her in close, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head before softly nodding his head in answer to Hyperion. The last thing he wanted was for her to have to cope with this by herself.
"Yeah. She has, Hype."
Dora was quiet for a long moment, feeling her own heartbreak and ache. But her mind was also going. Hyperion hadn't said it, and none of the others would. She was the dark one in the family. Hyperion was an auror. Phillip was a barrister. Persy was a Healer.
She? She was the duelist. The fighter. The one with a Mark.
Her voice was smooth and calm when she spoke, and her head tilted towards Persy, a peculiar glint in her Lestrange eyes.
"I'm sure you've explored all the light options, love," she said gently. "But have ye looked at the dark? It's a blood curse. So logically speaking, blood magic is the answer. I heard plenty about it at one point. Our aunt and uncles were quite the fans." Calmly. Almost eerily so. "That or some as dark as the curse itself to counter it. I doubt you have access to the texts I have."
Persephone tugged a handkerchief from her pocket. It was large, white and embroidered with their father's initials in the corner; she'd taken it from the estate when she'd been living there. She wiped her eyes under her glasses, nudging them slightly askew.
They wanted to fix it, just like Phillip had said they would. She sighed and gave Phillip's knee a gentle pat.
"I've talked t' plenty of Healers, people who've spent decades studying this sort of curse. And they dinnae have any cures or anything to prolong my life." She sniffed. "That's why I'm not gonna have kids. I cannae risk passing it on."
Hyperion was quiet for a very long moment after Dora spoke, the wheels in his mind turning. Every fiber of his being was screaming that they couldn't let this curse take Persephone, that they had to do whatever they could to save her. And Dora was right. He doubted Perse would have consider crossing over into black or even gray magic to beat this curse.
"No, of course not," he agreed gruffly, meeting his baby sister's eyes. He understood now why she'd been so vehemently against the idea of having children of her own, but it still twisted him up inside to think it.
"But Panda's right. The healers wouldn't have considered the... older blood magic." It went against his training, his sense of morality to consider using dark magic, but this was Persephone's life they were talking about, and he'd move heaven and hell to save her if he could.
Well... he had predicted that this would happen. So he wasn't particularly surprised at their attempts to find a way out of this.
Looking between the other two, he sighed. "You trying to fix this is all well and good, but might I remind you that Persy's spent years trying to come to terms with this? If you start getting her hopes up only for it to fail? That will hurt. So if you're going to go digging... don't talk to Persy about it if she doesn't want you to."
He certainly wasn't about to tell her what she did or didn't want. But it was an important point to bring up, if nothing else.
Dora pursed her lips a bit in Phillip's direction. "I know she has, but ye all aren't exactly programmed to look into the grey zone, ye know," Dora said coolly. Not sharply like she wanted, though she was feeling a little prickly in part because this whole situation was upsetting and she honestly didn't want to cry in front of all her siblings.
Because that would just be humiliating at this point.
"It's Persy's choice, o' course it is, Apollo. Never said I'd be getting her hopes up, just asking questions. And if I find something, I find something." She pinched the bridge of her nose and tilted her head back, pushing back emotion though it looked more like she was pushing back a headache. Except if you knew her well. It was also a nice little preventative she'd discovered against stress nosebleeds with this pregnancy. And it was also a nice preventative for telling her youngest brother in no uncertain terms he still wasn't the boss of her.
She breathed in and out slowly, reining in her notorious mood swings. Persy didn't deserve that. The boys might at some point, but not Persy. "I'm sorry, Persy," she said, turning her gaze back to her sister. "I am so sorry I wasn't there to help you. But ye know my kids are yours, too."
Seeing Pandora pinch her nose like that made the more rational, Healer side of Persephone kick into action. She didn't want to make Panda feel ill with this news! Huffing out a breath, she sat up straight, but she kept the handkerchief clutched in her hand.
"You don't need to apologise," she said a little stiffly as she tried to keep the tremble out of her voice. "And Phillip's right - I dinnae tell ye this because I want you to fix it. I told you because I didn't want to keep it a secret from ye anymore." Persephone smiled a watery smile. "Look at us all in the same room. Could ye picture this happening even a year ago?"
There were a lot of things Hyperion wanted to snap at Phillip just then, but Dora beat him to it, and so he just sighed. He kept his focus on his baby sister, his concern for her running deep. He was starting to realize that Phillip had already known about the curse, and he had a lot of unpleasant thoughts about that, as well. But Perse was telling them now, and that was probably the more important thing to focus on.
There was something he had to say, and it required ignoring the way she pointed out that for the first time in years the four of them were in a room together, despite how amazing that felt for him, too. "I'd never want to give ye false hope, but ye've got to understand we'd never forgive ourselves if we didn't look into it," he told Perse, glancing at Dora to include her in it, as it seemed clear that she wasn't willing to just let it drop either.
"How..." Fuck, his cracked and felt hoarse with emotion. "How long do ye have?" He wasn't sure she would even know. Blood curses didn't always have a time frame for when they'd take a person, that was part of why some darker wizards used them. Having the knowledge that they could die at any moment was extra torture for their victims.
Their getting defensive had been unfortunately predictable, not that he was about to say that-- or learn from it, for that matter. His allegiance, right in this moment, was to Persephone first and foremost, and her well-being was at the top of his list of concerns. Which meant that if his siblings could do their hypothetical ruminations elsewhere and preferably in silence, far away from where Persephone would have to overhear them... that would be just stellar.
Not that telling them that would go over too well.
As Persephone tried to steer the topic back onto happier territory only for Hyperion to interject with the saddest question in the world, Phillip pursed his lips. "I'm glad we're all back together," he said slowly, turning to look at his sister with a small smile. "It's been about time, honestly."
She adored Phillip, was possibly closer to him than the others simply because they'd had a relationship, if clandestinely, these years. He'd gotten her out of Azkaban early. But she didn't like that tone in the least, no matter that he was shielding Persy, who didn't need shielding from her. And she didn't like that he'd kept this from her all this time.
If Persy had died before they'd reconciled, she'd never have forgiven him of it. Or herself.
"Ye can't expect us to not try to help, though, can ye?" Dora asked back with unexpected gentleness. "Ye're our sister. We love ye." And she held out her arms, inviting Persy to come over for a hug, because honestly heaving herself up off the couch was already becoming a thing and she wasn't about to admit that yet. She did, however, glance over at Hyperion and then away. If the other two refused to explore -- and even address the options she'd presented, darker though they were -- well, she'd have to have help somewhere. And she wouldn't present anything to Persy until she had a reasonable certainty.
"It is," Dora said, though quieter than she might have, feeling (wrongly, part of her knew) that they all blamed her for that fact. After all, she was the hold out and the outcast. They'd had plenty of time to be a room together.
Persephone smiled weakly as Pandora gestured for a hug. Her sister might joke that her heart was a lump of coal - or something to that effect - but Persephone suspected there was a twinkly diamond in there. Hard but very valuable.
She kissed Pandora's cheek as she hugged her. "I know. I anticipated that ye'd want to help. It just hurt my heart enough when it happened. I cannae go through that again. I might not be bungee jumping, but I'm determined to live life to the full. Pinning my dreams on a tiny sliver of hope is just... I can't live like that."
Well, at least Dora was acknowledging him. Hyperion knew the question he'd asked was an awful one, but it was important to his way of thinking. Even if Persephone didn't want to get her hopes up, he and Dora had to look into it, and in order to do that, they needed as much information as they could get.
He wasn't one to deny his emotions, and just then he knew he was too bloody close to tears. He wanted to argue that she wasn't living life to the fullest, that she'd been hiding for too long, that she could do so much more. He wanted to see her happy. Telling her those things wouldn't make her happy, though, and he sighed as he dropped his face against the palms of his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. Quite suddenly, he wanted to leave, and he knew where he wanted to go. They'd not dealt with anything serious like this yet, and..
"Fuck. ZJ doesn't know, does she?" he asked, his head raising to look at his youngest sister with a distraught expression. He wanted to go to his girlfriend, but he didn't want to lie to her. He didn't want to be the one to tell her, either.
As far as Phillip was concerned, they could research and experiment all they wanted just so long as they kept Persephone out of it as much as possible. He'd known about this for long enough that he felt just this side of protective in this particular setting, and he had to bite his tongue to keep his opinions to himself.
That... included the somewhat flabbergasted expression he'd wanted to throw Hyperion at his question. However reticent he might have been... he leaned back in his seat and kept quiet.
No, of course she didn't know. Why on earth would ZJ find out before the rest of them?
"Since we are all together again after such a long time," he finally said, his words chosen slowly and deliberately, "it would be a shame if this was all we ended up doing today... is there anything you'd like to do, Persy?" Something to take her mind off things, ideally?
"I promise I'm not asking ye to pin your hopes on nothing. Just let us dig around a bit, just in case. To ease our hearts, too." Because to do nothing was death for Dora. She had given up everything before for her family; she was still that person, just more banged up.
She did shoot a warming look over Persy at all the boys, though, just in case. Because she was normally the cause of trouble, so no one else was allowed to be today.
She kissed Persy's temple like the little sister she still was, and hmmmed thoughtfully. "Well, normally I'd suggest a drinking game with a fair measure o' whiskey," she said, a glint in her eye to make things more light-hearted. "But I'm afraid I can't imbibe. That doesn't mean I can't moderate one, however," she said, and now she was grinning for real.
ZJ didn't know, their mother didn't know; until today, only Phillip and a handful of Healers had known about Persephone's curse. If Phillip hadn't been in school, she might not have told him then either and he was smart enough to have worked that out a long time ago.
Persephone laughed at Pandora's suggestion. "At the very least, I could do with a wee dram right about now. Boys?"
Hyperion was starting to feel very, very small as his question went ignored, as Phillip seemed insistent on just pretending like they hadn't been told their sister was bloody dying. He couldn't just shut the emotions off and pretend like everything was fine, even if it would make Perse feel better in that moment. This had been kept a secret for over a decade; he was going to need more than five minutes to deal with it.
At least Panda was managing to get her thoughts out better than he was. He wouldn't, couldn't, just accept her fate. As Dora put it, they needed to look into it to ease their hearts, too. "I think I'll pass. I..." The emotions made his voice crack, and he rubbed his fingers against his eyelids as if trying to disperse the moisture there before it could fall. "I should get going. I know you've come to terms with it, Perse, but I can't ... I need some time." Especially if she was going to shut them out and not give them the information they would need to look into it.
For a brief moment it struck Phillip that out of the four of them... Hyperion was actually the most sheltered. Panda has been through hell herself, he'd been intimately acquainted with precisely what kind of hell as a result of helping her on court, and Persephone was cursed. Hyperion was, as ever, untouched. Strong, yes. Brash, yes-- all that useless Gryffindor bravado had to manifest itself somewhere, after all. Happy and carefree-- mostly, minus this afternoon. He'd even found a woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. In that sense, he'd always envied his older brother in some ways. Why couldn't he be so laissez-faire all the time? It certainly seemed far more pleasant than his reality.
But then, someone had to be the moral backbone of this family, right? Getting up from the couch with a sigh, he slowly nodded. "Here. I'll walk you to the door." That way Panda and Persy could have their conversation... and Phillip could try to help out Hyperion to the best of his ability. After all... he'd had to process all of this before, too. The least he could do was lend his advice to his brother.
For all that the bridges between her and her older brother weren't all fixed and up to snuff yet -- largely because, she suspected, they'd been close growing up and he had the job she always sdraemed of, had such a good outlook on life where she was a dark and paranoid creature, and a myriad of small other things they'd work out in time -- she felt his pain keenly. She felt it too. She was just much better than he'd ever be at hiding it.
She carried around a lot of it every day, after all. Pain was an old friend. This new pain would just be added. Would be cried over later, when Persy couldn't see.
But because she felt for him, she reached for one large hand and placed it on her stomach, right over where the little one -- girl, she thought -- was making her presence and temper over her mother's internalized anger very well known. She pressed it there and patted, thinking it might steady him for a moment as it did her at times, to think that they were not the end of the line anymore.
She would talk to him later. They would find out what they needed to know.
"Are you sure you won't stay for a small dram?" she asked quietly when Phillip offered to walk him out. She hoped he'd stay and help her home, but her heart wasn't set on it. She was perfectly capable after all, and Persy would let her use the floo.
"You don't have to go," Persy said, lips pressing into a small pout the way that they might have when she was seven or eight and she didn't want her big brother to leave. She sighed. "I don't want you to go," she clarified. "But I understand if you need to." Personally, she was going to have that drink, try not to cry, and make sure that Phillip was okay. Stoic as he was, she wanted to know what he was feeling. There were four very different temperaments in this room right now and, as was her nature, she wanted to appease them all as best she could.
"If you leave, I'm going to hug you," she warned. "Tightly."
There was a part of Hyperion that knew he was unique among his siblings, but he had seen and done things, both in the war and since, and some of those things stayed with him. The difference was he'd been highly successful in compartmentalizing those things. Hell, he'd been one of the group that had found Dora in the castle during the battle, that had -technically- arrested her, though fortunately he hadn't been a fully trained auror at the time and had been able to avoid being involved in the trial. But what he'd seen that day... he did best not thinking about it.
When Dora took his hand, and he looked over at her in surprise, his eyes widening a bit, that battle with the moisture in his eyes definitely feeling like a losing one now. For all the progress he and Dora had made since Easter, he hadn't felt brave enough to ask to touch her belly yet. It felt like a milestone of sorts, and he marveled for a moment at the feel of the baby squirming under her skin.
He was so caught up in that moment, a tear falling from the corner of one eye, that he hadn't realized right away that Phillip had stood and was offering to walk him out. But it was Persy's response that had his resolve crumbling. Although he still wanted to feel the bairns growing in Dora's belly, he withdrew his hand so he could stand and reach out for Perse. "As if I'd leave without one," he murmured to her, drawing her into a tight hug, brushing his lips against the top of her head in a gesture that felt so natural it hurt. How long had it been since he'd been able to be a proper big brother to any of his siblings? Too bloody long. "I'll stay for a dram," he agreed finally, if only to make her a little less sad in that moment.
The scene before him would have been enough to break most men, and Phillip felt himself hesitate for a moment. But-- this was important. He needed to have a heart-to-heart with his brother, or he would lose all of his initial momentum that he'd accrued.
He'd always been close to Persy, but where Panda had come later, Hyperion had always felt just a touch... separate from him. They were just so incredibly different as people. But Hype wasn't their mother, which meant that it was more than worthwhile to reach out across the aisle, and so he made his way to the edge of the room.
"Would it be too much to ask for a word, still?"
Dora kept her turmoil to herself, as was her wont. Perhaps it hadn't been so growing up; she'd always had someone t turn to then. Hyperion, Persy, Ewan. Even Phillip, when he'd gotten older. But Life had taught her the hard way that sometimes, in the end, all yo had to depend on was yourself, and never let them see you cry.
So Nora and Ewan were the ones who saw the tears, and then usually if she couldn't help it. Of course, hormones had wreaked havoc on that one rather a bit, but she was managing well enough so long as she kept a firm lid on the thoughts. When Hyperion stood, she simply put her hand over the spot she'd had his and patted gently, humming more in her chest than her throat in an almost tuneless manner, trying to soothe her baby who was upset because she was upset.
"Someone will have to drink mine for me, since I'm not allowed," she said, pushing herself up and going to Persy's kitchen so everyone could have their conversations. She could pour the liquor and wish she could be getting drunk enough to forget and to sleep. "I'll get it all ready. You relax, Persy."
Persephone relaxed into the spot that Pandora had just vacated. Gods above and below, she had been so nervous about telling Panda and Hyperion and now that it was out in the open... she didn't feel any better at all. Yes, she felt less like her heart was being constricted, but now the heartache was setting in. It made her feel all heavy, like she wanted to curl up like a little lead ball.
"You two talk," Persephone told her brothers quietly, drawing her legs up under her. "I'll be right here."
Hype looked over at Phillip, not bothering to hide the touch of surprise in his expression. Things had never really been terrible with his younger brother, but with the years between them, he'd just always been closer to the girls. And their night and day personalities didn't help bridge the gap, either. "Not too much at all," he answered, his voice still thick with emotion.
As Perse settled on the couch, he crossed the room to where Phillip was, wondering what else there could be. He was feeling emotionally raw, and he really hoped Phillip wasn't about to lecture him or some such rot.
Getting up, he nodded for Hype to follow him, stopping only once they were just outside the door of her flat.
"Look," he cleared his throat somewhat sheepishly, "back when Persy told me, it... affected me a good deal. I even went out and got drunk that night. I held it together just long enough that I could be supportive of her and then I got drunk for the first time in my life. I was devastated. And I've been looking into all sorts of new developments-- even on the muggle side of medicine-- that might help her. You'd be astonished as to the amount of academic journals I am subscribed to. But in front of her, I pretend that everything is fine, because I-- well, now we-- need to be her rock. She's the one that feels the guilt on her shoulders of the fact that she'll be abandoning the rest of her family because of this curse. I don't want her to have to deal with that responsibility or that guilt on top of the fact that she's dying, so I keep it to myself. I pretend it doesn't matter, because in the end, if this is the only time we'll get to have with her, then we should make that time a happy one. So..."
And here his gaze fell for a long moment, Phillip wringing his hands. "If you can do this for her--" because he already knew Dora wouldn't have an issue processing this, considering her past, "I promise you that as soon as we're out of here, we can go wherever you want, and we'll get completely sodding pissed together. And that is something you will probably never hear me say again barring extreme circumstances, so... you know. Exclusive, limited time offer."
Dora didn't like leaving Persy alone, but for just a moment, she needed to not be seen. She took a silent, deep breath, leaning down to press her forehead against the counter as she tightly shut her eyes. She'd be strong for all of them. That was her job. It always had been. More than even Hyperion, these days. Solid.
That didn't mean it wasn't an axe to her soul, knowing she'd outlive her baby sister.
Though that also didn't mean she wouldn't be searching the Dark Arts books she'd saved from her Lestrange uncles and Aunt Bellatrix. She didn't really want to admit to anyone that she had them, least of all the most morally straight Hyperion.
But she'd proven before that there was literally nothing she wouldn't do for her family, and her soul was already stained and blackened from it. So why not her again. Persy was the last one who should suffer from such a fate.
Her throat worked and she swallowed it all back down, running a soothing hand over her belly before wiping her eyes to make certain they were dry and nothing smudged and then carefully pouring the drinks -- four of them. Someone would double shot on her behalf. She was tempted to make Phillip do it, sicne it was obvious he'd kept it from her and she'd thought they didn't do that anymore.
She carried them in expertly in her hands and set them on the table before leaning down and hugging Persy again, lips pressing to the top of her head. "I love you, you know," she told her softly.
The whiskey was the sort that their father had used to drink. It was almost by principle that Persephone drank it, a way of being closer to a man who was now nothing but a question mark in their lives. Just the smell of it was comforting, but just as she thought that she could get through this with nothing more than a few sniffles Pandora's sweet gesture broke her.
Persephone started to cry, leaning in towards Pandora for support and holding onto her with her handkerchief still clutched in one hand. She didn't know how long she cried for, but it felt like too long and her stomach clenched with the thought that she was making a nuisance of herself. "I'm sorry, Panda. You don't need this. Everything's going so well for you right now and I'm just messing everything up."
As Hyperion followed Phillip just out of the flat, he felt his hackles rise a bit, certain that he was about to get a lecture. And then Phillip started talking, and it seemed his supposition was proving true, but he kept quiet, listening, and found himself surprised. Not only at the confirmation that Phillip has actually ever been drunk, but also that he wasn't actually really lecturing him. Well, there was a small bit of lecture in there, but even Hype could push through his own emotions to admit that Phillip wasn't wrong.
The anxiety in his brother's expression, in the way he wrung his hands, was mind-boggling to Hype, but then the offer came, and he was completely astonished. He felt the hot moisture in his eyes again, and he couldn't help reaching out to Phillip, slapping him on the back as he pulled him into a bit of a bear-hug. He wanted to make a crack about how Phillip does love him, but it didn't feel like the right moment for it. His emotions were still reeling, and this whole situation was too serious for it, but it was there, in the back of his mind.
"Aye, I can do it for her. And then, we'll go get pissed together." Gods, that was more than worth putting his emotions on the back burner, and he already couldn't wait to see what sort of drunk his tightly-wound, high-strung brother would be.
Merlin, this was stressful. He was looking at his brother-- and frequently glancing away, if he was being entirely honest with himself; goodness, it wasn't like he was like this in court! so what on earth made this so different?!-- hesitation etched onto his features, eyes clearly brimming with terrified anticipation at the prospect of being shut down...
And then, a split second later, he was being pulled into a tight hug, Phillip relaxing only after a long moment of realization sinking in. Ah! He wasn't being rejected! This was astonishing-- the thought of anyone wanting to go drinking a stick in the mud like him was sort of a foreign concept to him...
"Well-- great! That's phenomenal! All right, then we'll head out to... wherever you suggest after this." On drinking? He could definitely trust his brother.
Dora's arms tightened and she sat again, tugging her sister close, stroking her hair like she was a little girl again. They'd been very close once, for sisters. Not always getting along, but managing well enough most of the time.
"Ye don't ever need to apologize, Persy," she said with quiet vehemence. "Ye never messing anything up. I'm always here for ye. No matter what it is or what else is going on or what time it is." Just like she was there for Nora and the miscarriage. For anything. It didn't matter what else was going on, she was always there for her friends and her family, those people who mattered most to her.
"Besides, fair's fair, ye've seen me cry more than once lately. And ye've seen my medical records, it's best for me to know yours now too." All right, it was a little brush of her darker humor, but it was also said in a reassuring tone as she helped brush tears from her face. There was a reason she'd asked Alicia to be there the first time Persy opened her medical records, all inch or more thick of them.
Persephone blew her nose on the handkerchief, then stuffed it back into her pocket. She felt a little better for having cried, but not by much. "I will answer more questions," she promised, "but not right now. It's too much all at once." Exhaling, she hoped her voice didn't sound too wobbly. Persephone hoped that Pandora and Hyperion would understand why she'd had to tell them together; having this conversation twice was more than she could handle.
She stretched to pick up one of the glasses, cradling it in her hands. "Once I've calmed down, I'll be glad it's not a secret anymore."
The level of anxiety Phillip was exhibiting was baffling to Hyperion, but he wasn't going to dwell on it or rag on Phillip for it as he might have any other time. This situation wasn't right for it, and he would remember that. He only released Phillip from the hug once he felt his brother relax into it, slapping him on the back one more time for good measure.
"I've got the perfect place in mind," he promised, his smirk edging a bit toward mischievous, but it was more for show than anything else. It would be good, he thought, to have this experience with his brother, see if maybe, just maybe, there could be a sort of camaraderie there that they'd been lacking in their adult years.
"Should we go back in, yeah?" He could bottle his emotions for the time being, for Persy. He could channel his usual boisterous and enthusiastic personality even while his heart felt shattered, no matter how challenging it would be. And later, he would pick Phillip's brain for as many details as he could get, and then he would get together with Dora and get the wheels turning for whatever research into things they might be able to do.
His brother was right, of course-- under most circumstances, Phillip was anything but shy or anxious, but this was different. His social life was non-existent, and his relationship with his brother wasn't all that much better, really. Confidence at work he had in droves, but that was due to skill and experience, and in this particular arena, he had... well, neither.
"Good," he started, slowly nodding at his question about heading back inside. Surely, they'd have been missed by now, Phillip going ahead and reaching for the door handle to let his brother in.
"Later is perfectly fine, love," Dora reassured her, sticking close to her. Needing it in her own way, as well. Persy had been there for her, unreservedly, ever since they reconnected, and she wanted to be there for her too. She could wait a bit. Research could wait a bit.
It was just she very much wanted to help her sister out. She should be the one who died first, not any of the others. She was the one with the dark soul who had done unforgivable deeds. THat was her place, not Persy's.
"Usually much easier to let the secrets out, in the long run. They don't eat at you nearly so much," she said quietly as the brothers came back in. She spoke from a place of deep experience, though there were some things she would probably never talk about to another living person if she had her at about it.
Persephone finished her first drink a little too quickly, safe in the knowledge that Pandora wouldn't judge, and then picked up the spare. This one she could nurse, safe in the comfort of her family.
"I'll try not to keep any more secrets," she promised. "Even if the truth is painful."