Andromeda "Infinite Patience" Capella Tonks (dromedatonks) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2008-04-02 17:08:00 |
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Current mood: | gloomy |
Entry tags: | ! [1979-04] april, andromeda tonks (née black), regulus black |
Who: Andromeda and Regulus (Dora npc'ed!)
When: Monday late morning
Where: Muggle London
What: Andromeda and Regulus run into each other as Andie is busy with getting errands done. They have an awkward conversation and Andie gets emotional and Dora tells Regulus off! Fun times...
Rating: PG-13 for emotional scenes.
Status: Completed!
Dora had her own little purse in her hand, as the two of them made their way from the cafe to their stop at the local grocery shop. Andie took her eyes off of Dora for one minute to look for the shopping list in her purse when she heard Dora's excited voice. "MUMMY! MUMMY!! That is Uncle Reg!! UNCLE REG!!!" She said, pulling her mothers hand and jumping up and down. Andromeda's heart fluttered and her stomach felt like it was in knots as she looked over and did indeed see him walking towards them, well coming in her direction. Andromeda did not know if she should go up to him or go into the nearby shop until he passed. Andromeda had not seen her cousin in years and she was at a loss for what to say or do.
The next thing she knew Dora had started running towards Regulus and now Andromeda had no choice but to go after her. "Nymphadora Tonks! Get back here right now!!!" She said in a stern yet anxious manner, her heart now racing wildly in her chest.
Regulus froze in his spot when he heard his named shouted with the voice of a child he did not recognize. He had been enjoying a mind-clearing walk -- his mind had much to clear, these days -- but when his eyes subsequently found Andromeda's, he found that he could not longer move his arms or legs, that his voice was caught in his throat...though he could find no coherent words to say, even if it had been working properly. It was as if he had been cemented in place with clenched fists and subtly alarmed eyes, unable to retreat from the situation that Surely Wasn't Happening. They were in public...granted, it was in the midst of Muggles and strangers that they walked, both fortunately AND regrettably so, but he could not help but to look around and make sure no one had noticed the call to him.
Andromeda had finally reached her daughter but not before Dora had started clinging to Regulus's leg. Andromeda leaned down and tried her best to get her off his leg. "Nymphadora, I told you to come back. Let your Uncle Regulus go." She told her daughter sternly, looking up to her Cousin in a 'I am sorry for her' sort of way. Dora's face turned red in embarrassment and she dropped her arms and murmured a "I am sorry mummy" to Andromeda before hiding behind her mothers legs. Andromeda stood up, biting her lip nervously and anxiously. She didn't know what to say to him. It was easier over the journals since she was not looking at Regulus. This was much more stressful for her and she seemed to have lost her voice for a minute or two.
Finally she cleared her voice and spoke, "R..Regulus. I am sorry for Dora over her. She was just overexcited." she said, apologizing, her voice quiet and meek. Her heart was beating ever her wildly now and her body seemed to be shaking with nerves.
Regulus was stone-still as the little girl was pulled from his leg. Maybe he could...run. And pretend like he didn't see them. Or maybe not pretend like he didn't see them so much as just...run.
He should walk away. He should walk away. He should walk away.
But how in Merlin's name did the child even recognize who he was? He assumed it was Andromeda's daughter, all things considered, though he had never seen her before...Any and all contact had been severed for years -- only the briefest of (unfriendly) journal contact had marred the record.
Not that it mattered how she knew.
Nothing to do with blood traitors mattered.
"I beg your pardon, but do I know you?" he asked tensely, his chin lifted slightly. As always, his feelings were locked tightly behind a wall, shoved into a tiny compartment in his mind as the family venom was unleashed. He bucked heads with Sirius more often than he spoke to Andromeda, but despite her efforts to be kind, it was as if the kindness made it all the easier to release the anger, made him feel as though he had to be harsh to make sure no one got any ideas about his feelings on blood traitors. Fighting with Sirius at least gave him the safe illusion of the fighting aspect to overshadowing the speaking aspect...but Andromeda? That wasn't the case, and he could leave no more room for doubt.
Despite the years of estrangement, Andromeda collected as many pictures of her family members as she could, ones from the papers, ones that she asked Barty for or that he had laying around, any way she knew how really. Andromeda had a photo album of family pictures she had hidden away and when she got really started to miss them or when the estrangement got to much, she would pull it out and look it over, running her fingers over her family's faces. Tears always coming to her eyes, especially when she either got to her father's picture or Regulus's picture. She had always been much closer to her father so it was no surprise that she really missed him and Regulus because she saw him as young and innocent and someone she deeply cared about. Despite their huge age difference she had been close to him when she was younger so not talking to him hit her quite hard.
Andromeda had dreamed of seeing Regulus again, but in her mind it would be under better conditions. One where they made up, there was hugging involved, murmurs of 'I miss you' being exchanged, kind words..but not this. She was not ready for this at all.
Hearing Regulus address her like that hurt and she felt a pang at her heart. Andie told herself NOT to tear up and to be strong. She pulled herself together before she spoke. "Regulus, it..it is me..Andromeda. You have never met my daughter Nymphadora here but she has seen pictures of you."she told him, trying to act like she was close to crying or having a breakdown of some sort. She always did when family were involved as that was her one major weakness.
"I didn't expect to see you here." She added quite lamely as she shuffled her feet to give her something to do with her body. Dora could sense her mothers nerves, her hair going from blue to green, her two least favourite colours. Despite Dora sensing her mothers mood, she knew not to bother her right now and just stayed silent, her eyes glued to Regulus's face.
Regulus's hand gripped at the hem of his robe sleeves, twisting firmly into the fabric -- a comfort, a compulsive habit of sorts to deal with uncomfortable situations. He saw the hints of the potential tears, and he shut himself down as best he could. Blood traitor, blood traitor, blood traitor. They liked to try to lure well-behaved family members into falling with them -- they liked to bring chaos to the family and wanted him to suffer too, clearly, or why would they continue to torment him with contact when he could never truly have contact? Why did they speak to him when they had no intention of trying to make things better again? To fix what they had broken -- destroyed in their selfishness? That's what it was, wasn't it? Selfishness and corruption, blindness from the filth they surrounded themselves with, and now they could not have both. They could not have both, and he could never have both because the slightest overture was a dangerous chance he could not take...
Diverting his eyes, he look to the side and down at the sidewalk, careful to keep the child out of his line of vision. "We're...we're no longer familiar, I'm afraid." There was no one around to take note of his behavior, so the cruelty was not so necessary to tap into -- yet he could not allow himself to acknowledge her familiarly, even in the safety of Muggle London's anonymous nature. It brought an unpleasant twinge, and he was not fond of unpleasant twinges. It was important to keep his composure, even when no one was looking, because he never knew when people were looking.
Andromeda noticed how he was twisting at his robe sleeves and the expression on his face, his uncomfortable, closed off face. When he diverted his eyes she let a few tears fall because if she didn't she would surely start to cry from holding it all in. Crying in front of Regulus was NOT something she wanted to do and she would not let him see her like that.
But she very very close to that point when Regulus spoke again. What he said really hurt her and she bit her lip...hard trying to hold back her emotions. "Reg...please. " she stammered out in a desperate, highly emotional way. She wanted to run away or hide but her feet would not let her. Her body was now shaking more than it was before as Dora looked up and her mother and then over to Regulus. "You are making mummy upset!! Say you are sorry! Why are you making her cry!" She asked him, the little six year old coming out from behind her mothers legs, her finger pointing up at Regulus, her hair turning very bright red in anger.
At the child's presumption that she could go around bossing people, he turned once again to look at the little girl with furrowed eyebrows. He had been hoping to ignore her, but as always, that little spark roped him into conversation, and the hurt that this child was the result of the beginning of the end of his family's solid safety triggered a response. "You do not know what you are talking about, I'm afraid. She -- your mother turned her back on me back before I would have dreamed of such a thing, and I will not apologize," he retorted in a clipped tone. His dignity would not allow for him to engage in a full argument with a little girl, but it felt an important justification -- an explanation built to verbally lash out at years of sadness-turned-frustration, of hurt-turned-greater hurt. There was a part of him buried deep, unacknowledged and unadmitted that missed his cousin just as terribly as missed (or, of course, Didn't Miss) his brother, but the safety in righteous verbal lashings was too tempting to resist. The Solemn child became the Angry child because it just wasn't fair, because being sad allowed vulnerability, and he knew it was too hard to resist when he let himself vulnerable -- and he could not afford to lose the rest of his family. He could not lose his mother and his father and Cissa and Bella and his aunt and uncle and Rodolphus and Lucius and the rest of his family, and his friends and his future and --
The thoughts were abruptly cut short, and his gaze moved away once more, this time across the street to where a family of Muggles were entering some sort of Muggle ice cream shop. He should have just gone to Diagon Alley...
Dora might have been only six but she was a headstrong little girl and had no problem speaking her little mind when she wanted to. It was all just a sign of what was to come in her future. Dora had her eyes narrowed and was now standing in front of Regulus, her finger still pointed up at him. Her hair was still bright red as she was furious at the boy for making her mother so upset. "You SHOULD apologize your meanie!! You are making mummy cry and be upset Mummy told me you were nice. You are definitely not nice!! I don't like you. She DID NOT do that!!" Dora said angrily, stopping her feet, her one hand not pointing up at Regulus was on her hip.
Andromeda was just standing there in shock of what her daughter was saying. Andie could not take anymore and took Regulus spotting the muggles as a chance to make an escape. "I..I..I have some things to get done. I have to go." Andromeda stammered, staring to cry now, tears streaming down her face. Dora saw her mom cry and hit Reg as hard as she could on his legs since that was all she could reach. She then took her mother's hand and walked past Regulus, sticking her tongue out at him.
Hopping back a step and wincing when she kicked his leg; a near furious flicker in his eyes replaced the former disdain. "You have no idea what you are talking about. You wouldn't know because you're the reason, you and your Muggle father," he snapped bitingly, calmly, coldly. He should have just walked away, because now he was going to be thinking about it all day...and it might have been a bit harsh to say to a child, but she was the spawn of a traitor and filth, and his parents would be horrified if they knew he had deigned to speak to her at all. And she had kicked him, the little -- Merlin, he clearly needed to find a better place to 'clear his head,' because it was the most counterproductive trip ever.
Turning away -- there was no need to spend more time in this situation -- he went back in the direction he had been coming from: straight back to his house, back to his parents, back to his security.