remus lupin is finally at peace. (moonstricken) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2008-05-24 02:01:00 |
|
|||
Remus was only starting to get a little worried that Marlene was later than she said she would be. He'd stopped trying to read the several comments on the hitwizard's journal entry a long time ago, there was far too much to keep up with and frankly, he didn't really want to read about that stuff, anyway. However, she was almost twenty minutes late now, and while Remus knew she was a perfectly capable witch there were still far too many things to worry about these days that could go wrong. But this was only twenty minutes, and she knew where she was going -- there was nothing to be worried about (really, he needed to stop worrying so much). He tried to find a sitting position on the sofa that didn't make him hurt somewhere, but failing that, settled for at least a semi-comfortable spot and tried to ignore his aching ribs. When was the last time he took something for the pain? He couldn't really remember, but he was sure it was too soon for anymore right now. Besides, it wasn't that bad, but it was enough to be slightly irritating. He was looking forward to having new company -- not that he didn't appreciate the company of James, Sirius, Peter, and Mr and Mrs Potter, of course, but they're the only people he has seen over the past few nights. He was only sorry he wasn't feeling up to actually going out anywhere at the moment, so Remus hoped he wouldn't be too boring. Which only brought him back to thinking about all the things Sirius had said to him over the journals -- was he really that repressed? He didn't think he was, but with the way Sirius acts, Remus wasn't so sure. Of course, he knew that Sirius was more outgoing than your average teenage male, but still. Remus wasn't even angry about the ordeal anymore, feeling a little embarrassed at how he reacted and thinking, maybe, he had overreacted. Ugh. There was no point in thinking about it now. Remus just wanted to pretend like none of the conversations over the past few hours actually happened at all, and so he had every intention of ignoring his journal for the rest of the night. If something bad were to happen, there was always the dog tags to tell him. It hadn't even occurred to Marlene that she'd allowed herself to get distracted by the ordeal in Pepper's journal for as long as she had. At the moment, she was mostly trying to rid herself of that slightly disgusted-with-herself feeling that was looming for trying to be nice-ish to Regulus. She had been trying -- Oh had she been trying -- for the past week to behave, to watch what she said to the wrong sorts of people and not to do things to throw herself into the death eater's radar even more so than she already was. Having a run-in with Bellatrix Lestrange did that to a person. Escaping said run-in unscathed was practically a new lease on life. And even though she'd still needed to be talked down by James from having cross-out battles to the death with Snape over the journals (seriously, she wasn't allowed to even ink things out at them anymore? LAME.), she thought she'd been doing a decent job of holding her tongue. This week. However, that was neither here nor there. She'd told Remus that she'd be stopping by over twenty minutes ago, and while there were millions of explainable reasons as to why she might've been held up, a lot could happen in twenty minutes. Finally arriving at James's parents' house (which did feel kind of odd, showing up at the Potters' and not looking for James), Marlene said hello to Mrs. Potter for a few minutes once she was inside, suffering through the usual formalities ("Hello Mrs. James's mum!" "Yes, I'm doing well as can be." "Hahah, yes, I promise I'm eating well -- no, no, you don't have to make me anything, I swear."), Mrs. Potter pointed her off in the direction of the room that Remus was in. "Hi hello I'm sorry I'm late you're not too tired, are you?" Marlene asked him, dumping her bag next to the sofa and plopping down on the other side, trying to leave Remus plenty of room in case he was in more pain that he'd been letting on when she'd talked to him through the journals. He looked rather peaky. Remus smiled when he heard Marlene speaking to Mrs Potter, and he would have stood up to go rescue her from the assault of questions but, well -- it was amusing to listen to, and he was already comfortable. "Hey," he greeted when she finally escaped, after she spoke to him in a rush. Well, now he could relax, knowing she made it here alright. "No, I'm not tired -- I slept for most of the day, so I'm actually quite awake right now. I'm glad you could make it, though," he said, shifting on the sofa so he could face her to speak to her better. Although he actually had slept for most of the day, there were still circles under his eyes, a bruise on on arm and a small bandage on the other, but otherwise he seemed in relatively good health all things considered (the worst bruises were on his sides, anyway -- antlers hurt like hell). He had to suppress a chuckle at that thought, though, remembering just why exactly James was stuck with a bald spot on his head. "I haven't really been paying too much attention to the journals over the past few days. How have you been?" he asked, attempting small talk even though he knew that would probably get boring fast. As far as the last few days had gone, Marlene really didn't have that much to tell. Trying to behave yourself was boring. "I've been okay, actually. Not all that much has happened," she admitted, trying to think back on anything that would be important enough to bring up. She'd gone flat-shopping with Dorcas the day before (and they'd actually found one that was really cute and Marlene was hoping they'd settle on that one), but Dorie had been rather insistent that they not tell anyone besides Ted, Andie, and Agnes that they were even looking for a new place. She understood the reasoning enough, most definitely, but it was still rather irksome (maybe even vexing?) that she couldn't bring up probably the most exciting thing that'd happened over the last week. "You see what happens while you're all passed out? The world stops and waits for you; you didn't really miss much. OH! Wait, I lied," Marlene added on to that, the light-bulb that went off in her head practically visible in her expression. "You're not the newest person at S&J's anymore! They hired another herb girl: Her name's Jilla. She doesn't talk much. Hopefully that changes soon." Not, of course, that she had much time to get a word in edgewise, considering the rest of the apothecary's workers. They were a talkative bunch, that lot. If they kept talking, it seemed to make the smell not as noticeable. Well, that was good news, at least. Remus hoped there hadn't been anymore violent outbursts or death threats, and if the only really exciting thing that's happened since he's been sleeping was that there was a new person working at Slug & Jiggers, it must have been a fairly uneventful few days. "Yeah? Well, I'm sure she'll open up soon enough. I wasn't very talkative at first either, but everyone's friendly enough it was easy to fit in. Besides, everyone there talks so much it's hard not to get involved in conversation," Remus grinned. "Good to know I haven't missed too much, anyway. I'll probably head back into work on Monday, so if she's working that day I'll meet her then." It was always tough to be the new person, so he would try and make her feel welcome, even though he suspected everyone else was doing so as well already. "Oh -- do you want to play cards or something?" he offered, trying to think of something they could do while they talked. There wasn't too much to do in the house, but cards he at least knew Marlene liked to play -- at least while they were on patrol together. "Funny that you ask that..." Marlene snickered, reaching over the side of the couch to dig through her oversized purse, and resurfaced in a few seconds with a deck of playing cards. "I came prepared." She'd figured that Remus probably wouldn't be up for any sort of carnival craziness or peacock thievery that night (not, of course, that Marlene had any intentions for a revival of the latter experience. That would be stupid of her, and she was trying so hard to stick with this "not doing dumb things" thing.), and figured that playing cards would be a safe bet. Removing the cards from the package, setting aside the joker and the card with the instructions on it (because really, why did they even bother throwing that thing in there? No one ever used it!), she shuffled the cards back and forth between her hands, trying to think of what game they hadn't played in a while. Not that they'd done much in the way of card games while on rounds recently, given their bouts with criminality, followed with Remus's week off the clock. "Oh hey, wait, are you going to be comfortable there?" Marlene asked suddenly, ending the card shuffling with a start and sliding off the sofa onto the carpet to give Remus more room. "Lie down if you need to, okay? Ha, or," she laughed as she caught a glance of her journal while tossing the card's box back into her bag, "we can go play cards in one of the rooms; that'd probably get Sirius off your back for at least a week." Ah, good -- Remus was glad she'd brought cards, as it didn't occur to him until just then that he didn't know if there were any cards in the house. He hadn't planned ahead and brought his own from his and Sirius' flat. "Any game in mind you'd like to play?" he asked, watching as she shuffled the cards. He'd never been that great at card games, but with how much he's played them lately Remus thought he was getting a lot better. At least against Marlene, anyway. "Oh, yes, that would probably be more comfortable," Remus agreed, grateful for the suggestion but not quite catching on right away as to why, exactly, that would get Sirius to leave him alone. "Why would playing cards in... oh." Suddenly realising what she meant, Remus was torn between amusement, and embarrassment that he didn't get the joke immediately. He grinned and laughed anyway though, because it was a funny idea. Of course, he might just start asking inappropriate questions instead, but Remus would just handle it the same way as usual -- trying to ignore it until Sirius went too far. "That would probably be for the best, anyway -- I can't imagine sitting on the floor is all that comfortable, and I could do with laying down. Sirius can think what he wants," he shrugged, standing up (okay, that hurt just a little) to lead the way to the room he's been sleeping in. He didn't have many of his things there, but the bed was big enough for both of them to be comfortable, at least. Marlene followed along after Remus, really hoping that he wasn't going to fall over or anything in the midst of relocation within the house. She doubted it would happen, but he did look a bit worse for the wear, and having never really been around after the full moon before (at least, never after seeing what the inside of the Shrieking Shack looked like and knowing what Remus went through every month), it was hard to conclude exactly how bad off he was. Especially given how much the entirety of the previous month had sucked. Hopefully if she started getting annoying by babying him, Remus would punch her or something, because Marlene knew that it would've gotten on her nerves. Closing the door to the bedroom behind them -- only after taking a quick peek around outside to see if Sirius was standing around, (he was!) and flashing him a quick thumbs up and amused grin. (Sirius's expression was absolutely priceless as he returned the thumbs up before she moved back into the bedroom.) -- Marlene dove onto one side of the bed and onto her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows while waiting for Remus to get himself situated and hopefully comfortable. "I didn't have anything in particular in mind. Nothing with Jokers, though, I left them back in the other room, oops," Marlene admitted. Not that there weren't, erm, a variety of reasons that she might've quickly gone dashing back out to grab her bag that wouldn't've killed the illusion for Sirius, but she decided it was better this way. Remus didn't actually mind being babied that much, so long as it wasn't over the top and constant, relentless questions asking if he was okay, did he need anything, and was he sure he was okay? He understood some people worried and would want to know, but his answer wasn't about to change after the fifteenth time of being asked the same question by the same person. He had only caught a glimpse of Marlene giving a thumbs up to someone, who he could only assume was Sirius, and he managed not to laugh until the door was shut (because really, that might have ruined the impression they were trying to give off just a little). "We can just play something simple, then, like Go Fish," he suggested, sitting down on the bed first -- not quite as enthusiastically as Marlene had jumped onto it -- before laying down on his stomach himself. "How does that sound?" "Sounds like a plan!" Marlene replied with a nod, already beginning to shuffle the cards again (and making quite a mess of things, as her attempted "impressive" riffle shuffling ended in several of the cards spilling out of her hands and onto the quilt). Slyly scooping those back up into the rest of the pile as if nothing at all had happened, (and of course nothing had happened; what were you talking about? Dropping cards. Don't be silly.), she returned to regular weave shuffling before dealing the cards out between Remus and herself -- one for Remus, one for herself, Remus, herself, Remus, herself -- until they each had seven cards. Setting the "go fish" pile in the space between the two of them on the bed, Marlene rolled over a little onto her side before picking up her cards, creating a bit of a show over making sure that Remus couldn't peek at her hand. "You can go first since I dealt," she said, arranging the cards in her hand so that the numbers ran in order. He attempted to pretend not to notice when she spilled some of the cards, but the smile on Remus' face gave him away that he thought it was funny -- he declined to make any comments out loud, though, as he wouldn't have put it past Marlene to throw the cards at him and make him shuffle instead. Instead, he just waited until all the cards were dealt before picking up his hand, although he didn't reorganise his cards. Raising an eyebrow at Marlene as she shifted onto her side so he couldn't peek at her cards, Remus moved onto his side as well. "Right -- have any sevens, then?" he asked, eyeing the three in his own hand. It was a slim chance to get a full book on the first go, but it would be a good way to start. Unfortunately for him, he didn't, and reached to draw a card from the pile when she told him go to 'go fish.' No luck with the new card, either. Marlene glanced over her cards with the greatest of intensity, attempting to choose a card that would be best to ask about. Not the two. No one ever asked about the 2 card unless they had no other choice. She did have a pair of both sixes and Kings (which, of course, were displayed next to each other in her hand; there was no point of mixing up the pairs lest she accidentally call out the wrong number on accident when going "fishing"), and finally settled on, "Do you've any sixes?" Sadly, there would be no sixes in Marlene's future, and she dejectedly went swiping for the top card in the Go Fish pile. Oh, well wasn't that interesting. A seven! After Remus inquired about another card that wasn't in Marlene's hand, she let the poker face she'd forced herself into holding melt away into a satisfied look of triumph. "Go fish!" She could barely contain herself through Remus picking up his card before bursting, "GOT ANY SEVENS?! Oh yes you DO, don't you Remus?" Marlene asked, palm already extended expectantly, waiting for the sevens she knew that Remus had from earlier. And hot damn, he'd had three of them. Marlene had always liked this game. Damn! Remus had avoided asking for sevens again, due to the slim odds that she would draw one from the deck, but it seemed luck was against him this time around. With a playful scowl, he reluctantly handed the three cards over to complete Marlene's set. "I was just going easy on you, clearly you're better at this than I thought. Don't think it'll be so easy from now on, though," he said, his voice a tone of mock-seriousness. As she had successfully taken a card from Remus' hand, Marlene was able to ask for another card, but this time he had none to give and it was his turn again. "Do you have any... Kings?" Remus asked, pausing before saying the name of the card for dramatic effect. He looked smug when she had to hand cards over to him and said, "well, who's getting the cards now?" He asked for a Queen next, and when she passed over a card he asked for a Jack, just going down the cards in his hand in order. On a run of luck, when he did ask for a card she didn't have, he managed to draw the card he was looking for from the deck (not just once, but twice!) thus allowing him another turn, although he hadn't managed to complete any card sets. "Oh dear, look at that. I seem to have acquired nearly half your cards!" he said, unable to resist teasing her. "Have any twos?" So what if he'd stolen her Kings? He didn't have a full set yet. She'd get them back. But then Marlene watched in mock horror (well, somewhat mock: it was upsetting watching nearly half her hand disappear this early in the game!) as her pair of Queens were spirited away by Remus as well. "You are cheating!" Marlene cried, her tone mixed between laughter and being extraordinarily disturbed. Remus's arguments of "you were the one who shuffled!" were matched with a defeatist "That means NOTHING." And then not only was her temporary relief utterly decimated after Remus had to Go Fish upon asking for Marlene's non-existent Jacks (he'd gotten one while drawing a card), it happened twice! This was gearing up to being the shortest game of Go Fish ever to exist. "Yeah yeah, whatever, I'll acquire your face," Marlene muttered, giving up the single two that she had sitting at the edge of her spread of cards. Finally, finally, Remus requested a card that she didn't have, and luckily (for her) didn't swipe it out of the pile either. "HAHA! Your luck ends here, Lupin! Got any threes?!" He didn't. Dammit. Go Fish was a stupid game. "You were saying about my luck?" Remus grinned as she had to draw a card. "I can't help it if I'm just naturally good at Go Fish. I don't need luck!" As it turned out, though, he would be eating those words -- his luck really had ended there, as he had so many near complete sets of cards that Marlene was able to get them from him when he didn't ask her for the right ones. The game was turning around quickly as the number of Marlene's complete books of cards was rising faster than his own, and it was his turn to tease her about being the cheater. When Marlene got her fifth set of cards while he only had two, Remus mock-pouted. "Hey, aren't you supposed to go easy on me? I'm injured." He wasn't nearly as competitive as Marlene, but it was fun to get in the spirit of playful banter, anyway. The Go Fish pile was getting low, and there didn't seem to be much hope of him catching up! Marlene happily rearranged the cards in her hand, making sure that each one that she either drew from the pile or stole fair and square from Remus was in its proper spot. Oh, did she have four Threes now? She supposed she did! After gleefully setting that set down onto the bed along with her other collected sets, Marlene tapped her chin thoughtfully as she contemplated her next strategic move. She had three sixes, a five, and a nine. And unless Remus had drawn one in his last turn, it'd be rather silly for her to ask if he had any sixes. Again. For the third turn in a row. But if he had drawn a six, he would be well aware that she had those cards in her hand, and Marlene was not willing to lose out on that set. "Oh right, you're injured, of COURSE. Gosh, I should probably just throw the game then, shouldn't I?" she giggled, finally deciding the hell with it. He knew better than to try and steal away her precious sixes. "Got any fives?" "You should, clearly. It would make me feel better, honestly! Winning card games is a better cure than chocolate cake -- didn't you know?" Remus looked at the cards in his hands, and luckily (for him) did not have any fives. "Sorry, Go Fish -- and see? I'm already feeling better. Do you have any... nines?" he asked, giving her a triumphant grin when he was able to complete another set of cards, placing his nines down on the bed. He was catching up now, but he still didn't think he was going to win with the way things were going. "Now I don't even feel the bruises anymore. It's a miracle. My prowess in Go Fish has healing powers. Do you have any Jacks?" He only needed one more, so if she didn't have it, then it was in the quickly diminishing card pile somewhere. Of course, she didn't have any Jacks, but he did draw a five from the card pile when she told him to go fish -- now all he had to do was hope he could hold onto it until his next turn. "Well, let's see if I make you cake anymore then!" Oh, she probably would -- Marlene liked to cook -- but see if she did it because she thought he'd enjoy it! Hmph! Even if it wasn't due to the fact that Remus had gotten a few more lucky card hands in the past couple of rounds, Marlene was glad that he did seem to be feeling better, though, which ultimately had been the goal in all this. Even if it meant that she was sucking it up big time at Go Fish, which in any other circumstance would have been embarrassing. "Yay for no more bruisiness, but nope, no Jacks. Go fish!" she replied, looking over her cards. The three sixes were still sitting in her hand, and she knew each time she DIDN'T ask Remus if he had any, the moment that they would be stolen away from her drew closer. Perhaps it was time to inquire again. "Do you have any sixes?" she asked. After being assured "the answer is still no!", Marlene went fishing. And, low and behold!, there it was! Her beautiful, glorious, long lost fourth Six card! "HAHAHA YES!" she squealed happily, kissing the card, then adding it and the other sixes to the completed set pile. After taking a few more of Remus's cards (and completing two more sets, putting Marlene well into the lead), it was his turn again (not that there were many cards left at all for him to choose from, and only one left in the fishing pile). She did have that blasted Jack of his now, if he tried nabbing it again. "You would withhold cake? Oh, that's just cruel, Marlene. Now I really can't let you win." Remus adopted a look of exaggerated seriousness, concentrating on the cards in his hand to decide which one to ask for next. With only one card left in the go fish pile, there was a very high chance she drew the card he needed, but he took his time deciding, glancing up from his cards at Marlene to give her a contemplative look. This was, after all, now a serious game. "Do you have any Jacks now?" he asked, and making a show of looking pleased when he had guessed correctly, completing his set of Jacks. The rest of the cards went quickly -- when Marlene didn't have the card Remus asked for, it was, of course, found in the Go Fish pile, completing yet another set, which left only one more to ask from Marlene, finishing off the cards all together. Still, in the end, Marlene had certainly won by a landslide. "Well, I'm glad we didn't bet anything on the game this time," he said, after he finished counting how many sets he'd completed, stacking the cards back up together. "Oh really?" Marlene asked offhandedly with a smirk, stacking her own cards up and passing them to Remus to add to his stack. "I was just beginning to think that we should have bet something, but you know. Too late for that now! Next time," she added, knowing there would be plenty of next times given that their Rounds were going to go back to being much less adventurous, what with the promise of less petty thievery and vandalism. Of course, next time she might lose, and that would make betting much less fun for her. Probably. Rolling over onto her back and leaning up against the pillows on her side, Marlene looked over at Remus, that competitive grin still on her face. "Ahh. Good game!" she laughed, resting her hands behind her head. "Hopefully losing wasn't too painful for poor little pre-injured you. I tried to throw the game, really I did, but there's just only so much a girl can do!" "I'll bet, but you're right, it is too late now. We'll see about next time -- don't think I won't be practising on my own time, though," Remus warned, taking the cards from Marlene to add to his pile, and then rolling onto his back so he could place them on the nightstand beside the bed. It was easier for him to look at her while he was laying on his side, though, so he moved back into that position after putting the cards down. "It was fun," he agreed, "and I think I'll live. My pride is wounded, though... that might take a while to recover from. A man's pride is a fragile thing, I may need to get some more bed rest now before I can be back on my feet again. How can I face anyone now, knowing I was so severely defeated in Go Fish?" he sighed dramatically, as if he had a terrible, heavy burden on his shoulders, although the expression he was aiming for was ruined with the smile on his face. "How convenient that you're already on a bed, then! Best place for a person to get bedrest, I should think," Marlene noted, that entertained edge creeping into her voice that her mum always had when she got all Healer at people, recommending treatment that should have been obvious. "You poor delicate thing, I had no idea you were so fragile. Clearly you can never face anyone again. They'd all laugh at you. And you know how it goes: first the pride, then the ego... looks like you're stuck here with me," she added her own overdramatic sigh. That likely would have been a fate worse than death to quite a few people -- given half a minute and a scrap sheet of paper, Marlene likely could have produced a list of two dozen names for whom that would apply -- although hopefully that wouldn't be the case for Remus. Or else that would probably make things pretty awkward. "Your 'oppressed and dejected' face is very cute though, so there're some ego-boosting points for you," she smiled while rolling back onto her side, curling her legs up and letting her socked feet rest hanging over the side of the bed. Remus had the right idea; this was definitely more comfortable. "I don't know, being stuck with you doesn't sound too terrible," Remus said, hoping that didn't sound too corny. It probably did. He nearly wanted to make a joke about how it would be impossible for him to suffer in silence with Marlene around, as silence ceased to exist around her, but Remus resisted -- he didn't want to be a jerk, and really, he liked talking to her so it didn't actually bother him. This didn't change the fact that she does talk a lot, though, Remus considered it just part of her charm. Oh, he should probably be complimenting her outloud, shouldn't he? Although now he was over-thinking what to say, and it would come out awkwardly and he'd just feel silly after. Oh Merlin, why did he have to be so bad at this? "And especially not terrible if you're going to be complimenting me. Thank you -- I won't let it go to my head too much, don't worry. I do feel a little less wounded, though I rather think your face is much cuter than mine." Remus bent his arm under his head to lean on his elbow, resting his head on his hand so it was elevated above the pillow. Something compelled him to reach out with his other hand to touch Marlene's hair, tucking it behind her ear. "If not cuter, then definitely, um, prettier," he said, trying not to stumble over his words too much. It was getting to be extremely amusing that, once upon a time, Marlene had referred to Remus as "the quiet one." The boy was almost giving her a run for her money when it came to rambling. Of course, this stemmed from Remus not knowing what to say (and so was saying pretty much everything), whereas Marlene basically said everything and anything, whether it was something she should say or not. Playing the listener was turning out to actually be quite interesting, though, shockingly enough. Especially when she was having her own issues at the moment when it came to speaking, which was always strange for her. "Well, I'd disagree with you, but I don't think guys really like being called pretty," Marlene noted quietly, trying to will away the annoying shade of pink her cheeks were probably turning at the compliments and at Remus brushing her hair out of her face. Uncurling her legs to lay straight on the bed, not breaking eye contact, Marlene slowly shifted her feet over to Remus's side of the bed, moving to gently link their feet together. And, as per usual, everything seemed to be going very well... until Marlene opened her mouth. "So I'll be that, and you can have dibs on... uh. Rugged handsome manliness or... yes." Good lord, Remus's awkwardness was contagious or something. Resisting the urge to smack herself in the face for that one, Marlene turned her face into the pillow for a few seconds to stifle her embarrassed giggling. "Oh wow," Marlene groaned at herself, finally surfacing from her short bout of attempted self-suffocation to look back up at Remus, still holding back laughter over what an absolute ninny she sounded like. If he wanted to shove her off the bed or something, she would've completely understood. Everything had been going well. Sure, he thought he sounded like a fool, but at least it got Marlene to blush like that, which was worth it to him. But then he couldn't help himself -- it started with a snort, and then he burst out laughing, quickly covering his mouth with his hand in attempt to stifle the noise as much as he could. "S-sorry," he managed between snickers, trying to stop laughing. "Sorry, I just -- I guess I always figured I was the only one who had trouble thinking of things to say, and, well." Whoops -- he hoped he didn't embarrass her by just bursting out laughing like that. Really smooth move there, Lupin. Why did she agree to go out with him again? "I mean, thank you. For thinking I'm handsome. And, um, rugged and manly." Oh, no; he was going to start laughing again. Yes, he should just stop talking now before he said something else stupid. Oh, that was nice, Remus. Way to take joy in Marlene's utter embarrassment. By this point, though, the whole complete (and over-exaggerated) humiliation thing didn't matter much, as Marlene was laughing just as hard as Remus was herself. "You're... y- welcome!" Marlene barely managed to sputter out between laughs. Oh goodness, she really hoped that no one was listening at the door: this would be difficult to explain later. Merlin, her stomach was starting to ache even. Okay. Okay, breathing was something that she should be doing, right right right. Not nearly toppling off the side of the bed, which began to happen as Marlene flailed for pillows and bedsheets and Remus's arm to pull herself back up, trying not to rely too much on using Remus as a pull-up bar. He didn't need to re-injure himself or anything on Marlene's account for being a ridiculous klutz. "ANYWAY!" she proclaimed, her voice still a mix of adrenalin and giggles, "Yes. I mean no, you're not the only one. My problem usually isn't not being able to think of things to say, it's trying to make that filter work that keeps the stupid shite from flying out of my mouth that's the issue, I think. And hey, watch it!" she added, still snickering, "there are tons of guys who I'm sure would LOVE having their rugged manliness pointed out to them. You should be ecstatic." Seeing Marlene nearly topple right off the edge of the bed was enough to get Remus to control his laughter, at least long enough to reach out and catch her arm, helping to pull her back up on the bed enough so that she wouldn't fall off. He went so far as to put an arm around her waist so she wouldn't accidentally fall off completely this time, or at least that's what he told himself, and not just because he wanted to put an arm around her. Maybe staying on the sofa would have been better. "Careful there -- you alright?" Remus laughed, once he was sure she was settled again. "And I am ecstatic, honestly. Most people don't even realise how manly I am. Why, for breakfast, I even drink liquid steak -- it's a little known fact. If that's not manly, then I don't know what is." Of course, once he finished the joke, he hoped that Marlene realised that he had been joking, given his taste for raw meat. Nevermind that steak for breakfast would be lovely, but the idea of liquid steak sounded a little gross; perhaps more than a little. It wasn't as if he could exactly say, oh, and that was a joke, by the way, without ruining his attempt at a joke, or make it seem like he was being defencive. He should have gone with rocks. Marlene assured Remus that she was all right with a nod of her head, situating herself back on the bed, rolling in closer to him. "Definitely alright. Better than I would've been had I fallen, that's for sure; you totally saved my life," she thanked him with a smile, keeping her sardonic thought of again to herself. And now with Remus's arm around her waist, she wouldn't have to worry about that happening again, which was nice. Goodness they were very close, weren't they? That was rather nice too. She figured that Remus was joking about the liquid breakfast steak anyway, even without the clarification that he was making a joke. And even if he wasn't, well... it's not like Marlene didn't have her own quirky food habits, right? (So what if she didn't like her food to touch on the plate, there was nothing wrong with that!) "Mmm. Steak shakes. Sounds... delicious," she concluded, figuring that was as good an adjective as any for something she would never ever be trying. "But I think I'll stick with waffles. Guess that means more for you, then…" Marlene trailed off, looking over at Remus thoughtfully, not focused on anything she was saying in the slightest. Eh, sod it all. Hesitating slightly, she wrapped an arm around him now, combing her fingers through Remus's short hair for a few moments before moving in, pressing her lips to his. Oh. Well. Remus hadn't exactly expected this -- not that he was complaining, mind, but he had just told a particularly awful joke, the last thing he might have expected was to get kissed. A roll of the eyes, maybe. A smack on the arm. This was nice though, and Remus made a mental note to remind himself in the future that bad jokes, it seemed, produced favourable results. The fingers in his hair felt nice, too, actually -- it was soothing, and a little bit distracting, although not really in a bad way. It was, however, distracting enough that it took him a moment to realise that he ought to be kissing her back, else Marlene might start to think he didn't want to snog her which would have been the exact opposite reaction he wanted. And what did waffles have to do with steak shakes, anyway? Remus might have teased her about that, but decided that responding to her was much more important right now, and so that is exactly what he did. His hand splayed in the middle of her back, holding her close, Remus kissed her back and only hoped that his minimal experience wasn't that obvious. Okay good, Remus didn't shove her off the bed or anything in disgusted retaliation, which Marlene took as a good sign. That probably would've killed whatever sort of strange mood that had been set by discussions of rugged manliness and liquid steak (however that had happened in the first place). Marlene did notice that Remus didn't exactly join in right away, which made her wonder for a brief second if she was doing something wrong -- after all, it'd sort of been a while since she'd done anything like this, especially soberly -- but after a brief interlude in which Remus was probably thinking too hard he joined in, which definitely helped in boosting Marlene's enjoyment of things (or, at least, decreased her worry that maybe this had been the wrong thing to do). Any inexperience on Remus's part went unnoticed and discarded as his hand moved to her back, Marlene curling herself closer to him as the kiss was reciprocated. After some time she pulled away, not wanting to break off from the kiss but the moment moving her to do so, smiling softly as she rested her forehead to his. Apparently too much time had passed since she'd last said anything. It was Marlene; that must've been it. "You're much better at this than Go Fish," she said in a hushed voice, smirking gently. Remus was glad she spoke up first; he never knew what he was supposed to do after kissing someone, but he was sure that having a silly grin on his face like the one he had on right now wasn't it. "I'd hope so. Otherwise I'd have something else to add to my 'things I need to practise' list," he said, wincing when he realised that could be taken the wrong way. "Not that I wouldn't want... um." Oh, to hell with chivalry -- no wonder talking to girls always seemed to feel so awkward, with him trying to be so overly polite all the time. Marlene didn't mind that much, right? He decided to try this whole talking thing again. "Not that I wouldn't want to get in practise with you -- for Go Fish or kissing." Still, Remus thought right now was nice and relaxing, even if they weren't kissing at the moment; he was enjoying just being close to Marlene, and was sure if James or Sirius ever found out that he didn't take this chance to cop a feel he would get harassed about it, but Remus didn't care. He was comfortable (and, possibly, a little tired). Marlene certainly did not mind much of anything right now, whether it be Remus's constant attempts to over-think politeness and chivalry or his unintentional mentions of things that most other girls would've taken offence to. It was amusing being the one listening to someone else ramble for once. Maybe he'd caught some of Marlene's inability to shut up earlier when she'd seemed to absorb some of his awkwardness, blundering on about ruggedness. "Shhhhh we have lots of time for practise, promise," she assured him with another quick kiss before pulling back, resting still on the pillow, biting her lower lip in attempts to fight back that same ridiculous smile that Remus'd been having trouble with. Her efforts were in vain; the stupid grin was winning. "Lots of other card games, too. Poker... black jack... I've heard wonderful things about Crazy 8s." It was almost ironic, just how safe she felt right then, laying that close to someone who only three nights ago had been, through no fault of his own, transformed into one of the most dangerous things that the wizarding world (and well, the entire world, technically) had to offer. Marlene would've been perfectly content with staying right where she was for the next three weeks if she could have. Remus did look tired, though -- he'd looked tired when she'd gotten there -- and it didn't seem fair of her to be hovering and distracting if he needed to rest. "You look sleepy," Marlene noted calmly, brushing some of the hair that'd fallen into his eyes back, no hints of accusation or orderings to go to sleep in her voice. Just a statement that was probably very very true, all things considered. At Marlene's shushing, Remus hoped he hadn't sounded over-eager about snogging her, because that hadn't been his intention at all -- he just meant to make a joke. Of course, not that he wouldn't mind -- oh, great, now he was arguing with himself, but at least he wasn't saying anything out loud this time. Just let it go, Lupin. "I don't think I've ever heard of Crazy 8s before," Remus confessed. "You'll need to teach me that one, I think. I'm curious about the name though -- it's not anything like 52 Pick-Up, is it? I still need to teach that one to Sirius, assuming he hasn't heard of it before," he said, smiling. It's been a while since he played a prank against his friend, and Remus felt it was due time for another one soon -- well, except for the way he and Marlene were tricking him right now. "I guess I do feel a little tired," Remus admitted, and despite that he'd slept all day, it was true. He wished the full moon nights didn't suck up his energy worse than a sponge in water, it always left him feeling disoriented and out of sorts with the world. It was frustrating, feeling awake one moment and then exhausted the next; in fact, this game of cards was the most activity he'd had over the past couple of days after that night. On top of it all, he didn't really want Marlene to leave yet, as it felt like she'd only just arrived to see him. Remus was enjoying her company, and thought that if she left now he might feel just a bit lonely in the bedroom by himself. "You don't have to leave, though. I mean, I wouldn't mind if you stayed the night, if you'd like to -- plus, it would be funny to see Sirius' reaction in the morning when he notices you're still around," Remus grinned at the thought, even though the real reason he hoped Marlene would stay didn't have anything to do with Sirius at all. "It's fun. Lots faster than Go Fish, but not quite as quick as 52 Pick-Up," Marlene explained with a small laugh. "I want to be there when you teach Sirius that one, though. That should be a laugh." Although knowing Sirius, he'd probably find a way to turn 52 Pick-Up into something pervy he could pull out at parties to trick unsuspecting girls into bending over. There was more that she could have explained to him about the card games: how Crazy 8s also was sometimes called Black Jack (not to be confused with Blackjack, which was slightly difficult to explain verbally), or how there were different variations of the game that actually used the stupid Jokers, or about how... well, how violent the game could get when played with a large group of extremely competitive people. There would be time for that later some other day. They had rounds five nights a week, after all, and what else were they supposed to do besides play cards on quiet nights? Besides, you know. Steal peacocks. After a quick glance at the bedroom door, Marlene turned back to look up at Remus, nodding her acceptance of the invitation. Honestly, there was nothing more enjoyable than getting to do something that she'd already wanted to, only to be able to blame the "real" reason behind it on Sirius-pranking. "If that's all right with you, I'd quite like to, yes," she added, curling back up where she was already laying. She hoped he hadn't meant that in a "okay then, there's a sleeping bag in the closet you can use" sort of way, because Marlene was quite comfy where she was, thank you very much. And he smelled good. That was also a plus. Hopefully Dorcas wouldn't wait up. |