WHO: Astoria Greengrass and Terence Higgs WHEN: 2 May 2005 WHERE: Terence's flat WHAT: When a bomb goes off it's time for a hug. RATING: TBD
Astoria had been trying to stand on her own two feet. Pestering Terence was never something she wanted to do. It would only be cute so long before he started to see her as a pathetic woman and she couldn't allow that to happen. She had also been almost ashamed to run to him. She knew he didn't approve of Isaac she she kept the details of that from him. She felt like a fool because she had been used so easily. Her desire to start a family left her an easy target, willing to settle for her ultimate goals. Look how far that had gotten her. That was the easy stuff. It was the constant fear of being watched, of getting another doll that kept her tense and up at night. Now with the anniversary of her friend's death here it was all too draining. It marked the anniversary of the end of the previously worst year of her life. This one was trying to overtake it and doing a good job of it. It was the same sense of fear and constant threats.
She would never celebrate this day but a Weird Sister concert had her going out. She had been going in public a lot lately. She felt safer in the masses. She and David had loved the Weird Sisters. He was a fan of the drummer and her of Duke. It worked out well. They never had to worry about fawning over the same men. But he was dead. His corpse was probably bone now, all the flesh that allowed his beautiful expressions rotted off. She stood in the crowd of the concert with that thought lurking in the back of her head. She tried to enjoy the music as she danced but her heart wasn't in it. Then the world seemed to rattle. It took Astoria awhile to figure out when the screaming turned violent. Astoria jumped as something slithered across her foot and her heart dropped as she saw people point to the sky. Never for a moment did she think Death Eaters had returned. People were getting pushed, hurt, there was crying and she wasn't sure of anything going on around her. Purebloods were going to be framed and as the crowd scrambled and surged around her all she wanted to do was sit. She was tired. Tired of being scared, of fighting, of waiting things to fix themselves. There was no getting better, she saw that now.
She may be tall but she was tiny and the crowd pushed her around like a useless leaf. She nearly toppled over and she knew without a doubt that if she fell she would be crumpled. She pushed herself up, not caring who or what she pressed against to get righted. A small pocket of room opened near the stage as the crowd scrambled away from it and in a daze she found herself there. She hadn't planned on going to his apartment, hadn't thought doing anything. She felt too numb for that, like in an odd sort of stupor. They hadn't fought, not exactly, but Terence was keeping something personal from her and she didn't like it. If she couldn't trust him then there was no one on earth for her to. The truth was she was keeping secrets too but she was doing it for his protection. She was also afraid that this mystery woman would take him away from him. At least when she recommended Rose she had the comfort of knowing he would never love her more than her. There was no guarantee here. She moved through his flat like a ghost, not even sure if he was here or if he was even alone. He was sitting on the couch when she walked into the living room. She probably looked a mess, knocked around from the crowd and appearance all out of place. She hoped she didn't bruise, she hated bruises. "There was a dark mark at the concert. I can leave if you want."