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Tweak says, "I can fly!"

EDGECOMBE, marietta c. (edgecombed) wrote in pandorarpg,
@ 2011-11-29 21:41:00

Entry tags:

!status: complete, ^date: november 05 2003, character: marietta edgecombe, character: zacharias smith

Characters: Marietta Edgecombe & Zacharias Smith
Setting: Diagon Alley Cafe, 5 November 2003, 11:45am
Rating: PG for language
Summary: Two friends catching up turns into a challenge of twisted proportions.

Marietta could not say that she was not relieved that she had woken this morning without having the reoccurring nightmare she had experienced the previous few days. Normally she would wake in a cold sweat, screaming and crying aloud and then proceed to vomit into her toilet anything she may have had left in her stomach from the night before. There had been no relief from the redheaded woman and in some ways she wondered if this woman was supposed to be her or someone she was related to because she was so beautiful and powerful yet undeniably cruel. Yet she felt a slight bit of longing for this woman, now that she was not present in her dreams of the previous night.

Pushing the dreams from her mind, Marietta raised her head high and apparated from the Ministry to Diagon Alley to meet Zacharias. She had not yet spoken with him since all of the business with Harry Potter and his arrest had happened and she had been meaning to do so. Truly she should have done so sooner, but she'd been slightly preoccupied with the nightmares and worried about the spot that had appeared on her thigh, which the healers had said was nothing to worry about yet since it was not giving her any trouble. Marietta was not one to take any sort of blemish lightly after her experience in sixth year, but she couldn't exactly make them come up with anything useful and she certainly wasn't a healer.

So for now she would just have to preoccupy herself with seeing just how much more stupid Zacharias Smith could get. She had thought at this point in life that he could no longer surprise her, but being caught with Harry Potter's dead body had really raised the bar for him. He truly was becoming a Smith man through and through. For as much time as he spent with his sister, it was a wonder how the girl did not rub any sort of decorum off on the man. Marietta sat down at the cafe table and crossed her ankles properly, gazing at the menu as she waited for her lunch partner to show up.

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overlooked
2011-11-30 04:56 am UTC (link)

The invitation to lunch, presented to his mother as a lunch date with Marietta Edgecombe, had been enough to give him a morning of reprieve from the glares and planning. The Edgecombes might not quite has the blood purity, but they had the standing and really it was all about presentation of facts than actual truth when it came to that sort of thing. In short, Marietta Edgecombe was more along the lines of someone Zacharias should be spending time with according to mother dearest, especially now that inheritance became a much more pressing issues.

Loath as he was to leave his sister, even for a few hours, she let him go with the promise that he would owe her. Whatever the case was, he was just glad for the excuse to pop over to Diagon Alley and get the hell out of Peebles. Good as the whiskey was, the company was horrible.

"Well, you look like shit," he said sliding effortlessly into the seat across from here. It was as good a greeting as any between them and really he didn't have the patience to be polite.

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edgecombed
2011-11-30 05:21 am UTC (link)

Marietta lowered the menu to look at his face and gave him an incredulous look that, at this point, was probably reserved only for him. "Yes well, my father is still alive so there is that." She paused for a moment considering the negativity of the previous comment and added, "However you're more than welcome to him. He always did want a prat for a son. I'm sure you'd fill the role with stellar success." She could not finish the sentence without rolling her eyes. It was a common occurrence for them to speak to one another in this manner and by now she'd grown so accustomed to Zacharias' mouth that she was barely even phased by it. Though this most likely went both ways.

Marietta sighed and said in a more respectable tone, "I do want to extend my condolences though, Zacharias. I am terribly sorry for your loss, but in all honesty, your father was a bit of an arse." Well, not so respectable toward the end, but she was only capable of so much. "How is Adelle handling things?" she asked right away, not even bothering to ask how Zacharias was doing. That could wait because he was no gentleman anyhow.

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overlooked
2011-11-30 05:37 am UTC (link)

"How long have you been waiting to say that? I mean surely you could have done better." He said with a bit of a smirk. Zacharias's relationship with his father was tenuous at best. Fucked up might have been a far better way to put it, but the man was dead and he didn't have a clue what he should be feeling because it was just too varied. So, she could have her little barb at his father, it wasn't like he had thought the exact same thing many times before.

Zacharias picked up the menu, not really reading it, but more for something to do. "Adelle is ready to go back to school, but there's at least two more days to get through everything." It was a bit of a cluster fuck really. Between that many Smiths in one place all with opinions on what should be happening and of course the rather messy situation of his general existence. But the obituary had finally run in the Prophet this morning with services tomorrow night and a funeral the following morning.

Maybe by then his life could go back to normal to, even if there was the whole disaster with him and Potter.

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edgecombed
2011-11-30 06:09 am UTC (link)

"Because I have nothing better to do with my time than to sit around and think of ways to make jabs at you, Zacharias, really," she scoffed and shook her head.

She could only imagine how she would feel if her sister were going through something like this. She would want to shield her from the world if she could manage it, but life didn't exactly work that way and her sister was quite strong besides. "The poor dear. Maybe Ginger and I can get her out of the house for some shopping. You're completely useless and I'm sure she could use something new for graduation—maybe it'll take her mind off things."

She needn't tell him that the Edgecombe family would be attending the funeral; it was a given considering their ties. Marietta spoke now in a more blase tone than she had been previously when she mentioned Adelle, as if she was much more sympathetic when it came to his sister than his dead father. "And what about you, Zacharias? How are you doing since your father died?" The server chose that moment to walk up and ask for their lunch orders.

When they had ordered and the server had left she looked at him seriously. "You're not going to go murder Granger now to make yourself feel better, are you? Not that I'd stop you, of course—you'd have my full support in the matter."

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overlooked
2011-12-02 02:45 am UTC (link)

Zacharias nearly smirked at the thought of Marietta doing just that - sitting around finding ways to one up him. Amusing as it might be, it would take away the impressive factor of the whole ordeal because the one thing he had always liked about her was her wit. (Well, okay, her wit and her baps, but the latter was a given.)

"Why should I bother with shopping when I have girls around to dote on me and do it for me?" The idea of being dragged into store after store was not at all pleasant. Not only was it an audacious process, when done well he was under the impression that it required a significant amount of expandable funds and he certainly did not have that. Except he wasn't so sure about that either. Scrubbing his hand over his face and through his hair, he shook his head. "Although I'm sure she would appreciate it. Apparently I owe her one for this escape."

As much as he would like to ignore that question, he didn't think she would just let it go. How was he doing? People seemed to actually believe he would have killed Potter and now his father was dead. It was almost too much to take in in such a short period of time. "Honestly?" He said, not really asking, "I don't really know, but if I was going to murder anyone next, Granger is not even on the list."

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edgecombed
2011-12-02 03:19 am UTC (link)

Marietta offered him a small smirk. "Anyone who is stupid enough to dote on you has obviously lost her senses—or expecting an exchange rate in galleons." She picked up her drink and took a sip before replying, "If I had known she was as uncomfortable there as you I would have invited her as well. No matter, we're much better company than you anyhow."

Marietta shrugged. "I can't say I rightly blame you. If it were my own father, I don't know how I'd feel either." She never cared much for her own father either, mostly because he never cared for her. It was difficult to love someone who never wanted you to begin with. But that was past and Marietta wasn't going to prattle on about it, nor was she going to talk about it with Zacharias either.

Marietta leaned forward over the table when she spoke next, as though she were truly planning to murder people and didn't want anyone to overhear. "So, not Granger next? Who then? I have a very long list and I certainly wouldn't mind coordinating with you if you could knock off a few of them for me in the process. I've already given away who's at the top of my list, of course."

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overlooked
2011-12-02 04:01 am UTC (link)

As a general rule, Zacharias didn't talk about his father. He rarely had anything good to say and he learned at a young age that it was better to say nothing. One of the many joys of growing up in his household. So he was glad that Marietta dropped the topic about her own just as quickly as she brought it up.

Mostly he just wanted the whole thing to be over so he could go back to his life. Hell, he didn't even know if he wanted his access back to the vaults and all that damn responsibility that simple act implied.

"You'd have to make me an offer I simply I couldn't refuse for me to do your dirty work for you." He might not have been a particularly good man, but he did have some sense of morals. And really if he was going to kill someone, a thought he had spent far too much time on in the past couple of days, he would need a really good reason to do so, as well as a way not to get caught. At least not right away.

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edgecombed
2011-12-02 04:27 am UTC (link)

Marietta shrugged and sat back in her chair again. "I guess that depends on what you're in need of most, Zacharias. It's not like you're going to need money anymore. Your father's dead so by all rights your mother can't keep you from your family's money anymore. I'm quite surprised they haven't asked you if you killed Isaiah yet. You've got more motive for that than you've got to kill Potter." She raised her eyebrows at him but she didn't ask if he'd done anything. Regardless of what she thought of Zacharias' questionable morality in certain areas, she knew he wasn't a murderer, not even for his family's fortune. He wouldn't have lived through a year of destitution already just to kill his father now, right after he was accused of killing someone else. He may have some stupid tendencies, but he wasn't completely asinine.

She leaned in again and tilted her head a bit. "Alright, I'll bite. What is a good enough offer that you would kill for, Zacharias?" She had a strange glint in her eyes—she was genuinely enticed by this idea of murder and she wanted to talk about it, wanted to fantasize about it at the very least, even if she may never truly do it.

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overlooked
2011-12-02 04:40 am UTC (link)

"I don't know," he said, leaning over the table, opting to play her little game, "I'd say I have motive to kill Potter. After all he did get Cedric killed." His voice faltered at the mere name. It was fucking pathetic that's what it was. Zacharias swallowed trying to cover it, but of all the things in his life that one still hurt a little. Especially as it carried a possibility of what his life could have been.

But alas here he was, disliked man who the last person who touched him was Ginny Weasley as she was trying to break his face.

But he managed to recover from the little stumble. "Well, Marietta, you would have to make want...no need to do it and I don't know if you have the bollocks to wager that one." But then again few people did, although the thought of someone who could? That had some appeal.

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edgecombed
2011-12-02 05:05 am UTC (link)

"He did, didn't he?" she agreed. "Cedric was a fine bloke, even if he did have poor choice in female companionship." It was not a huge secret that Marietta got tired of listening to Cho whinge about her relationships, but what was worse, Cho did always find a way to end up with the fittest blokes in school somehow and Marietta got to listen to her talk about snogging them all day long when she'd really rather just snog them herself. "You don't honestly expect me to believe you waited eight years to exact your revenge on Potter for Cedric though, do you? If it takes you that long to get your affairs in order, Zacharias, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to count on you to do me any favours."

He had known her for quite a while and maybe he hadn't challenged her many times directly, but he had to have known by now that she wouldn't back down from one. So he had to be doing this on purpose, either to see how far she would take this or just to see what she would have to offer him. Her voice dropped even lower, a challenge clearly written in it as she said, "Zacharias, you know full well that I don't let any wager go unchecked, and I don't need bollocks to do that.

"Still, you haven't told me what you'd want. What does a rich, Pureblood man like Zacharias Smith need?" She arched an eyebrow slightly.

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overlooked
2011-12-02 05:27 am UTC (link)

"I'm not rich," he said with a casual shrug like it was no big thing, "Not yet at least." Truth was no decision had been made on that account. Although he could imagine that mother dearest and Grandpa Smith were having at it over the very thing right now. After all, who else would continue the line?

Merlin, they would probably send him to Bungs again and what a joy that would be.

Except he wasn't going to think about that right now. "And don't you know, that's all part of the game. You have to figure what I need, what can make me jump through hoops. Or even kill a man just because you asked nicely." Twisted as it was, he found himself enjoying this. And better yet, he could see that she was too. It was far better than people glaring at him, or telling him that he was an idiot or any other number of things he didn't want to deal with right now.

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edgecombed
2011-12-02 05:51 am UTC (link)

Marietta had never backed down from a challenge and she certainly wasn't going to back down from this. She had known Zacharias for a very long time now, so it couldn't be that difficult to figure out what it was that she could use to get him to do just about anything. She was trying to run the ideas through her mind already, but she needed to spend some time alone to really get her thoughts together. Either way, she found this entire game exciting, regardless of how it started, and she didn't care about how sick it may seem to others. "You've got yourself a wager, Smith. However you will have to answer questions for me when I ask them of you, besides the most obvious one I'm trying to figure out, of course. There are some things I just have no way of knowing.

"For instance," she said, sitting back in her chair once more and raising her voice a bit so it would carry to the tables next to them, "when's the last time you had a shag?"

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overlooked
2011-12-02 04:09 pm UTC (link)

"Why?" He asked unbuttoning his jacket and leaning back, making himself comfortable. Funny how he didn't mind talking about murder, but he wasn't going to answer the question about the last time he had sex. "Are you offering?"

It had been a very long nine days. He was a virile young man with needs. While he could take care of business himself, it was never quite the same or even good enough as having someone else. And lack of sex with two dead bodies - well, his stress levels were only rising.

"Although I have to say, controlling men through sex? That's so base." Surely, she could think of something better.

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