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Tweak says, "COOTIES!!!"

EDGECOMBE, marietta c. (edgecombed) wrote in pandorarpg,
@ 2011-12-04 22:00:00

Entry tags:

!status: complete, ^date: november 06 2003, character: marietta edgecombe, character: zacharias smith

Characters: Marietta Edgecombe & Zacharias Smith
Setting: Marietta's flat, 6 November 2003, 8:23am
Rating: General Public
Summary: Marietta's plan goes awry but she still finds a way to rattle Zacharias' chains in the end.

It had been quite a while since Marietta had schemed in such a manner and to be honest, she was rather enjoying the rush of adrenaline she was gaining from it. After all the nightmares, she had been left feeling rather drained and this high of exhilaration was something she had needed. She had to admit she was getting a bit antsy at this point though. Zacharias had gone the entire night without responding and she had, at the very least, expected him to storm her flat, if not write her an owl saying that he thought she was bluffing.

She had already made certain that Adelle was returned to Peebles in the state from which she had left it, loathe as Marietta was to do so. Alright, she had never had any intention of actually hurting the young woman, but she had wanted to detain her return in the case that Zacharias went there first to check if she was not safe. But her plan hinged on him actually going in the middle of the night while Adelle was not home, which apparently he had not done at all, for whatever reason that was. Why in Merlin's name had he not done so? Did he truly not care for the girl as much as he seemed to? No, Marietta was quite certain of this fact, so something else was detaining him, but what? The owl would have found him, of this she was certain, or it would have returned to her with her letter as non-deliverable. So he either did not read the letter or he did not believe her. Would he really take the chance, with all that had been happening recently? He knew Marietta fairly well and she thought she'd made it very clear that she was not mucking about, but maybe she had not been as convincing as she thought. If her words had not persuaded him she thought the material from his sister's jumper would be enough to push him over the edge, a nice touch if she did say so herself. Adelle had caught her jumper on a sales rack and torn it during their trip that day and it was far too convenient of an opportunity to pass up.

And yet here she was with nothing to show for all her planning and effort. Maybe Zacharias truly was more cunning than she. She knew he was not a fool—she wouldn't spend the time she did with him if that were true—but she was banking on his current instability being her ticket to winning this game so maybe he was holding more cards up his sleeve than she previously thought. She couldn't help pacing back and forth in her flat, wondering if she should take more action or just wait and give him a bit more time to respond. It was agonizing to think that she might lose—owing Zacharias any sort of favour of his choosing was not something she would ever consider agreeing to—but if this did not work, she was basically out of options. There was nothing else that would mean enough to him that she could think of that might work. The last time Marietta had lost at something was when she'd had "SNEAK" plastered across her face and even then she hadn't technically lost at all; it was really just a setback for her, so this situation was definitely not ideal.

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overlooked
2011-12-08 10:50 pm UTC (link)

It had been the owl from his mother, persistent little bugger that always bit him, that finally woke up him. The world blurry and sore around the edges. The words in that owl along with the other he'd missed from the night before had sent him leaping into action totally ruining the zen like ache pulsing through his body.

Zacharias had always known that Marietta was a bit twisted, it was a part of what drew him to her in the first place. And while he didn't think that she would actually hurt his sister, the fact that she was playing at it like it was some sort of game couldn't just be left alone. That and apparently he would need to collect Adelle from her captor so they could get home and be proper Smith children.

Although right now he was anything but despite the shower and clean pair of clothes. Zacharias didn't know how he was going to play this one, right now the anger from him was more about ruining his morning and if anything he was just annoyed with Marietta. So, it certainly wasn't as dramatic as it could have been with just a few loud knocks on her front door. He would give her 10 seconds to answer before he was letting himself in.

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edgecombed
2011-12-08 11:12 pm UTC (link)

Marietta was startled out of her pacing by the knocking at the door. Would it be Zacharias—well who else could it be at this hour? She took a few deep breaths before walking toward the door and attempted to calm the nerves that had risen in her. She had no idea how he was going to react to her so she had to be as stoney as she possibly could and keep her cool for as long as possible.

She opened the door to face him, as blankly as possible. "Well good morning, Zacharias. How was your evening?" she asked most pleasantly and quite obviously fake.

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overlooked
2011-12-08 11:31 pm UTC (link)

"Sister," he said matching her false pleasantly for single word sentences. "Please." Right now he didn't want to have deal with this shit. The day was going to be tough enough with the rest of the family descending like hawks for the next twenty-four hours. He needed his sister if he was going to make it through.

There was also that little fact that his mother would never let him hear the end of it if he actually lost Adelle. Not that wasn't perfectly capable of handling her own. That in of itself was the largest reason why he wasn't actually worried. Adelle might have needed protection when she was a first year, but not so much now.

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edgecombed
2011-12-08 11:48 pm UTC (link)

Marietta raised an eyebrow at him. He was acting quite oddly for Zacharias which made her wonder just exactly what mood he was in. She leaned against her door frame and replied, "I'm sorry, love, Adelle isn't here. Have you misplaced her? She was supposed to stay at yours, was she not?" She thought she'd play a bit on the innocent side, seeing what exactly he was up to. Maybe he'd accidentally let out what he was up to last night. She was rather interested in what was so important that he'd leave his sister stranded.

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overlooked
2011-12-09 12:04 am UTC (link)

Zacharias sighed, clearly being put on upon. This not was his life. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?" He muttered to himself as he pulled the letter out of his pocket. "Because I know this is your handwriting and you did say yesterday that you wanted to take Adelle shopping, so let's just stop the cute little game because it's over and guess what, you didn't win this time."

Honestly, he was working on holding onto that numb feeling. Another set of bruises on his body, giving him that dull ache it was good. It should have even been good enough to get him through the day if it wasn't for this unfortunate detour. Which also meant that he didn't get to upset his mother by showing up in last night's clothes.

"Hell, I'm not even sure you really put much thought into this, which is almost insulting, but then again you gingers are all one-play chasers."

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edgecombed
2011-12-09 12:32 am UTC (link)

Bingo. That's more of what she wanted to hear. Now she could really begin her work. Marietta stood up straight, pulling herself to her full height and though it wasn't much and though it wasn't nearly as tall as he was, she was not intimidated by him in the least. She may still have been slightly queasy from the nightmares that evening, but she had always known how to work through her troubles and she'd be damned if she let him show her up.

"Oh so now you're ready to play are you? Well it's a bit late for that, I think. Your sister isn't here, Zacharias. I moved her this morning after you failed to contact me for, oh, seven hours because you apparently found something to be more important than her safety."

Marietta moved aside so he could see inside her fairly good sized flat. "You're welcome to check if you think I'm lying, but I'm certainly not. She's being kept—er, safe—with some friends of my father's. You know the ones I mean, he met them during the war and wished so desperately to become one of them. I'm certain they are treating her with the utmost hospitality, of course."

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overlooked
2011-12-11 06:53 pm UTC (link)

Zacharias didn't need to look around with one little comment he could make every assumption he needed to figure this out. "Way to show your hand so soon." He nearly applauded her for it, but that might be a bit too much. Instead he just smirked shaking his head. "You have absolutely nothing because my sister is a Smith and a Burke and what are you?"

His father might have been a lot of horrible things, but he had always been a very good politician - one that did just as well for himself when the Ministry was overturned than any other time. His mother could be thanked for a large part of that as well, but he never felt any inclination to do so before so he wasn't going to start now. Certainly not over something so petty.

"Because I can tell you what I am. Bored and bothered that you're wasting my time." And totally ruining his zen for the morning, but he wasn't going to give her that piece of information. Marietta could think whatever she wanted about what he was up to last night.

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edgecombed
2011-12-11 08:17 pm UTC (link)

"My hand?" Marietta laughed scornfully. "Dear, you haven't seen the state of your sister yet, have you? I think my hand is exactly where it needs to be." She turned around and looked into her flat as if remembering something and then looked back at him. "Would you like the rest of Adelle's jumper? I don't think she'll be needing it anymore."

She ignored his comments completely and walked into another room and picked up the jumper which was now in complete ruins. It had been slashed and ripped to pieces and there was blood splatters all over it, though it's not as if Zacharias would know whose blood it was. Marietta had worked very hard on this while Adelle had slept, already having told the young woman that she should throw the jumper out since it was ruined anyhow. She returned to the front room where he was with the jumper in her hands.

"Here you are," she said and handed him the tattered piece of material that matched that which she'd sent him earlier with the owl. "I told them not to get carried away but you know how they get. You had them waiting a rather long time too so truly not my fault. I told you I didn't want this."

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overlooked
2011-12-11 09:33 pm UTC (link)

Zacharias took the jumper, turning it over in his hands for a moment while he weighed his decision. Outwardly remained calm and uninterested. It was an easy mask to wear. He had spent years perfecting an air of disinterest. He had a choice now. Zacharias could chose to engage and further this absurdity along or he could let it go.

She hadn't denied that this was a game and he hadn't forgotten the challenge he had placed between them. It really all came down a matter of how much did she want to win this challenge? Zacharias honestly didn't think she would hurt his sister, especially not for a challenge. And if she did she certainly wouldn't have gone about it in such a way where she would so easily take the fall. Although he couldn't deny that she was twisted enough to want to make it look like she might.

"You know what?" He asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "I think I'm just going to head back to the estate. And if Adelle isn't there, I'll explain to my mother that you took her shopping yesterday and I haven't seen or heard from you either of you this morning." He threw the jumper back to her, right at her face.

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edgecombed
2011-12-11 10:39 pm UTC (link)

Marietta closed her eyes as the jumper hit her face, but she did nothing and let it fall to the floor. Slowly she opened them again, keeping her face calm as her brain kicked into overdrive. She was going to lose this. Or at least, she was going to lose this round, though to be honest this was the only thing that meant anything to bloke, so what else would she have left as leverage? She would have to actually hurt Adelle to get somewhere which wasn't something she was yet willing to do, not when she owed Zacharias for watching over Ginger when the Battle of Hogwarts had raged and she had not been there to watch her herself. Shite. This might have turned out easier if she had asked for Adelle's help in the matter, though she didn't want to scar the girl's image of her brother for whatever reason. Possibly the same reason that Ginger didn't find her quite as twisted as she really was either.

She huffed and crossed her arms. "You great prat." She felt a wave of nausea wash over her and swayed a bit on her feet. She wasn't sure if it was from the late night, the nightmares, the lack of sleep, or the fact that she was giving up her game. Probably a culmination of the lot of them. She really, really did not need to retch with him being there because it was the last thing she needed was for him to see her in that state but there was nothing she could do for it. She ran for loo then, barely making it to the toilet before she began throwing up anything she'd eaten the night before and groaned. This was not how this situation was supposed to go at all.

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overlooked
2011-12-11 10:50 pm UTC (link)

It was a risk to call her bluff, but one that had paid off. He was right and she had nothing. Zacharias still didn't know where his sister was, but his best guess would be she was en route back to Peebles when mother sent the owl. Whatever the case, there might be words later to figure out exactly what sort of game Marietta was playing at.

There might have even been words for Marietta had she not run off to the loo. Hearing, rather than see it happen, the next words just sort of fell out of his mouth. "Shite, you're not pregnant are you?"

She hadn't looked well yesterday and now getting sick in the morning? Plus didn't hormones make women do all sorts of crazy stuff, which might actually explain her little gambit. And after last night, Zacharias Smith definitely had sex on the brain.

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edgecombed
2011-12-11 11:22 pm UTC (link)

Marietta knew she wasn't pregnant. She knew what was making her ill every morning, but knowing how she'd just lost her bet, she felt the need to make him worry needlessly anyhow. It would at least make her loss feel the slightest bit better, especially knowing that the last time that they had shagged would give her the opportunity to say so anyhow.

When she had cleaned herself up and wiped the sweat from her face, it blotted some of the make-up from her face, letting a bit of the scars show through that she hated so much. She scowled at her own reflection but ignored it. It's not as if everyone didn't know anyway, but the reminder made her angrier every time. She walked out of the loo with her head held high and looked him straight in the face after his question, replying, "Congratulations, dad. Oh I do so hope he turns out just like you," she scoffed.

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overlooked
2011-12-11 11:33 pm UTC (link)

Apparently all it took to ruin his morning was one simple word directed at him. Dad. His mind couldn't even try to sort out if she was telling the truth or not. The "bollocks" that slipped from his lips was reflexive. While Zacharias Smith had a decent amount of sex, the past week withstanding, he always stayed up to date on his contraceptives because he was not keen on becoming a father anytime soon.

Except sometimes there were accidents and the potion didn't always work.

"You're just..." Zacharias shook his head. "I'm not doing this." He turned back to the door. And unless she tried to stop him, he was just going to head back to Peebles. There was already enough for him to deal with and then she went and said that.

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

She wasn't going to stop him from leaving, because she knew it would give her away too much if she did, but that didn't mean she couldn't throw a comment after him as he left her flat.

"We'll see you tonight, love," not explaining who the 'we' she was referring to was. She could have meant her and her family, though she was really trying to prod him about the fake baby again. She may not have won the bet, but seeing his reaction to this so-called pregnancy was about as wonderful as winning could have been in her mind. Maybe she should have thought of this one before. Messing with Zacharias Smith's mind was far too much fun.

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