Who: Bellatrix and Rodolphus What: A bit of fun before hell week Where: Lestrange Manor, their chambers When: Late Sunday night
Status: Completed log Rating: PG-13 for innuendo, FTB and Bellatrix and stuffed animals in the same room together
Rodolphus had an unfortunate tendency to take his books to bed with him, and tonight was no better. When he finally wandered up to the bedroom (and he wasn't sure when they'd decided that they should sleep in the same room again -- or if it ever had been), he had a glass of wine in one hand and a book in the other... and stuffed owl tucked under one arm. Without the slightest hint that anything was unusual with this scenario, he shuffled beneath the covers, slumped back, and glanced over at Bella's busywork before muttering, in utter deadpan: "I'd prefer if you took my mother off your list of people you intend to kill, darling."
Bellatrix raised an eyebrow at Rodolphus's comment, continuing to work on her list without offering a response. Or crossing Thubana Lestrange off her list. But there was a matter that she had been intending to discuss with her husband, or in this case in his role as her mentor, as irritating as that thought was. She set her journal and quill down on her lap and turned to look at Rodolphus, her gaze quickly moving to the stuffed owl under his arm. "What is that?" she demanded, her voice equal parts confusion and disdain as she stared at the stuffed animal as if her husband had just brought a flobberworm to bed.
That might have been less baffling, actually.
"A book," came his calm reply, and he opened it, idly, stuffed owl still tucked under his elbow. With a turn of his chin, he stretched to see whom she had marked for the kill.
"Yes, I am capable of identifying a book," she replied impatiently as she reached over to deprive him of his reading material. "I meant the ball of fuzz you have under your arm. What is it and why is it now in our bed?"
Bereft of independent entertainment, Rodolphus decided to use Bellatrix to his advantage. Curling one arm around her shoulders (and trapping one of her thighs between his), he wobbled the owl at her with the other. "It's a toy, Bellatrix. I realise you might not be familiar with them as you seem to have been raised on knives and poison."
Bellatrix instinctively recoiled away from the toy as Rodolphus waved it in her face, not particularly caring that it was something of an overdramatic reaction to a stuffed animal. She still did not understand why he would have brought such a thing to bed but clearly he did not intend to be particularly forthcoming with answers. Not that it meant she was going to stop asking. "Yes, but... why?" she asked again, growing exasperated. "Are you enjoying some form of regression to your childhood? And would you stop waving that thing in my face?"
"Why not?" He said idly, before squeezing her tight into his chest. With this opportunity so perfectly formed, two fingers flicked forward, snatched the hit-list out of her hands, and then threw it to the floor so he could antagonise her more wholly. The plush owl wobbled back and forth, punctuating his deadpan eyebrow raises. "Wine?"
Really, with her tendency to act upon her own whims, she should not have been surprised when others did likewise, but there was just something about the sight of Rodolphus Lestrange waving a stuffed animal in her face that was just so... well, absurd really. And seeing as her list of people to kill was clearly going to remain unfinished for the night, she might as well play his odd little game. On her terms. Snatching the owl out of Rodolphus's hand, she wrapped one hand around its head and the other on its feet as she stretched it out, threatening to pull the toy in two as she looked up at Rodolphus and smiled. "By all means, I would love a glass," she replied sweetly.
"Oh ho, taking your aggressions out on inanimate objects, why am I thoroughly unsurprised?" Plucking the owl back and setting it well out of her reach, he swapped possessions with her: wine into her hands, owl back into his, and continued to plague her with it by bouncing it on her thighs. Despite Bellatrix's penchant for chaos, she had a very difficult time coping with her environment changing... and it was that very fact that he so chipperly exploited. His library was in working order. He had an excellent bottle of wine. Life was good.
Bellatrix lunged for the owl as Rodolphus took it from her grasp but her range of movement was limited and then the glass of wine was thrust into her hands and she was left with nothing to do but glare at the stuffed animal as she sipped at her wine. "You are insufferable," she complained, although there might have been the faintest hint of a smirk at the edge of her lips. She would have denied it. "Would you rather I take my aggressions out upon you?" she asked as she slowly moved her hand back towards the owl, hoping to escape his notice before he had the chance to take it out of her reach again.
"It wouldn't be the first time," he replied lowly, tightening his grip on the ridiculous toy and pulling her deeper into his arms. As it happened, he wasn't an idiot, and noticed her less than subtle attempts to retrieve the owl. Without hesitation he reached over and bopped her across the head with it. "Behave," he said sharply, though he knew it was a lost cause.
"No?" she replied, not certain why he would expect any other response from her and had he just hit her on the head with a stuffed toy? If it had not been so undignified and baffling, she might have actually laughed but instead she reached her arm out to snatch the owl away again, narrowly missing. "Stop that!" Right, this clearly was not working. With a glance towards the owl, then to her husband, then to the wine in her hand, she drained the rest of the glass and tossed it aside before giving her husband a good shove to try and push him onto his back.
Rodolphus opened his mouth to object (That was a rather finely crafted wineglass that she was chucking about, and they did not repair well, even magically), but she didn't seem to be interested (there was a shocker). He didn't bother to fight, but though he found himself staring up at a particularly aggressive Bellatrix, he gave no sign of bother about it except to hold his significantly longer arm out at his side, owl in hand and out of her reach. He gave it a wiggle.
With her palms pressed flat against his chest to keep him down (as laughable as that may have been as if he wanted up, he was clearly more than able to overpower her) she straddled him, glaring down at him before the movement of the owl in the corner of her eye caught her attention. It really was not about the toy itself any more so much as the fact that he had something that she wanted to destroy. It had become a challenge and she hated losing. "You are awfully obsessed with your toy," she sneered as she looked over at where he was holding the owl and contemplated the distance, trying to decide if she could lunge for it without falling on the floor. Not likely...
He watched her with amusement etched into every line. "Maybe I'm obsessed with you," came Rodolphus's reply. He could hardly be called whimsical, but his mood was not as severe as usual -- probably because annoying Bellatrix was ranked rather highly on his list of interesting diversions. "And your overreactions to everything. Including an harmless child's toy." He shook it near her and then pulled it back again like someone teasing a cat.
"I do not overreact," she replied indignantly, thereby proving his point. "Simply because I do not have the stoicism of a rock... I do not understand why you will not just give it to me." And then she decided it was worth taking her chances after all and she tried to reach for his outstretched arm. No, it was definitely too far she realised as she leaned too far and tumbled onto the floor, letting out an annoyed and undignified "oof" sound as she hit the ground. Perhaps that had not been the best of plans.
He deigned to chuckle and tossed the owl on the opposite side of the bed before leaning down, each hand encircling a narrow wrists, and tugging her back onto the bed -- and onto him. There, he didn't release her arms but sharpened his hold, rendering her, for all intents and purposes, trapped. "It's more fun this way," he confessed.
Bellatrix had been about to pick herself up off the floor when she was dragged onto the bed and she glared at Rodolphus, struggling against his grip to no avail. It was not that she did not enjoy the odd games that they played with each other, or that she did not delight in antagonising him in her own right, she just liked the ones in which she had the upper hand. It likely did not help matters that she had been in a rather permanent state of frustration and annoyance for the last few days anyway. But she did actually know enough to realise when she had lost - at least for the moment - and as she stilled in her futile attempts to free her wrists from his grasp, she gave him a challenging look. "Well? What amusements shall I provide for you next?"