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Tweak says, "Hello Gottis"

CHAMBERS, samara b. (tracelines) wrote in pandorarpg,
@ 2012-01-22 21:24:00

Entry tags:

!status: complete, ^date: november 13 2003, character: elijah chambers, character: samara capper

Characters: Benjamin Capper Jr, Elijah Chambers & Samara Chambers
Setting: Chambers home, 13 November 2003, 6:14pm
Rating: PG for swearing
Summary: Samara finds out her mother is dead - on her birthday.

Samara had to admit that she had definitely had better birthdays than this. She knew it wasn't going to be a particularly good year, considering she was already using her party as a ploy to insert an unwanted memory into one of her friends, but the onslaught of the attack by rampaging living inferi certainly didn't perk up her spirits any. Luckily she had not been out with Jason when the attacks had occurred so they had been tucked away safely at home but Eli had been in the Ministry when it all started and that worried her overmuch, not to mention Benji had to be out in the thick of it for the past day and a half until it was all settled and over with.

So far Benji was doing alright, last she'd heard from him. He was tired, but otherwise okay which was what mattered most. Samara turned to her fireplace as it roared to life, seeing her brother step out of it moments later. He had agreed to watch Jason for the evening so that Eli could take Samara out for her birthday. Why he was coming by the house when they had plans to bring Jason to Benji's flat so that he could relax at home, she did not know. Maybe they had had some miscommunication.

"Uncle Benji!" Jason came running into the living room to greet his uncle who looked even more tired than last Samara had seen him.

"Hey Jase," Benji replied, in a slightly less enthusiastic tone than he normally would. Samara could understand this, though even with a hard day Benji usually was still bright and cheerful when it came to his nephew. He gave him a hug and said, "Can you go play in your room for a bit? I need to talk to your mum."

Jason sighed. "Yeah alright," he replied and headed out of the room.

Samara raised an eyebrow at her brother. "What do you need to talk about? You know we were going to bring Jase to your flat, yeah?"

"Yeah. Mara...come sit down," Benji said and he gave his sister a look.

Samara knew this look, but what she didn't understand was why she was getting it from him just then. She slowly moved into the living room and sat down precariously on the sofa and Benji sat down next to her. He kept looking at her and she just didn't understand. "Benji, what's going on?"

"They've cleared things up in Hogsmeade. The mess from the Kissed and they found a-a body. It's Mother, Mara - Mother's been killed." Benji took Samara's hands in his own and squeezed them.

Samara stared at him, the words not really sinking in. She heard them, she could comprehend them, but she couldn't put them together and take their true significance because that would mean - "You can't be serious," she finally said, pulling her hands from her brother's and standing up. Things had been bad enough already without this. "This is some sort of joke, right?" She knew better; her brother was an idiot sometimes but he wouldn't make a joke like that. It just seemed like the only reasonable explanation right then.

"Samara..."

While her voice had been calm up until this point, almost uncomfortably so, she was beginning to unravel. She felt like something was pressing down on her chest now. Benji kept looking at her and she didn't know how to make him stop, though she considered briefly throwing something at him. "You're lying," she said and then suddenly she was screaming at him, "You're lying!"

Benji stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Mara, calm down!"

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skittish
2012-01-24 03:43 am UTC (link)

Eli didn't really think that Jason had to leave, but he shrugged when he was looked at, somewhat interested to see just what his son might get in return. Personally, Eli would have held out for a lot more, but he was sure his son had some sort of plan in place. So, he let him down.

With his arms free now, Eli was able to cross his arms over his chest, staring down Benji and assessing the situation. From what he could tell Samara was upset and there had been far too much of that lately, so he didn't like it. That added to the fact that he didn't exactly get on with her brother, well, it wasn't winning the man any points.

"Is there is a reason why you came into my house and upset my wife, on her birthday?" He asked his words carefully selected and intentional. "Or even why this is something that Jase shouldn't witness first hand?" His son was smart, if Jase wanted to know, Eli didn't doubt for a moment he wouldn't have found a way to listen in without getting caught. Maybe it was his own brand of paranoia, but if Jason was anything like his father he would find a way.

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tracelines
2012-01-24 04:04 am UTC (link)

If he had had his way, Benji would have had this conversation without Eli there too, but he knew better than to ask him to leave. Even when she wasn't upset Samara wouldn't stand for him being even remotely rude to her husband, so the possibility was laughable at best. Not to mention he was on their terms, in their house, like Eli mentioned, which made it all the more uncomfortable for him. "It wasn't intentional. If I had had the option not to, believe me, I wouldn't have." Benji replied carefully, but his words were not without bite. This was, in his opinion, a Capper family matter, not a Chambers matter, no matter what his sister had married into.

"Oh, you wouldn't have?" Samara interjected, her voice rising again, pulling Benji's gaze back to his distraught sister. "If that were the truth then why the hell are you even here, Benjamin?"

Benji's mouth fell open. He threw his hands in the air. He truly could not believe his sister was acting like this. Was she truly in denial or was she just blocking it out entirely. "Are you fucking kidding me, Samara? You would rather that I hold off and save you one ignorant evening of your mother's death just so you can have dinner with your husband? No, you would have harped on me for not telling you the moment I knew! Don't think I don't know you well enough for that!"

Samara covered her face. "No! You don't know anything! You couldn't know that!" The words were sinking in now and she was trying to pretend that they weren't.

Benji sighed and sank onto the sofa again. "Mara-"

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skittish
2012-01-24 04:38 am UTC (link)

Eli had known long ago that his life was intertwined with Samara's and that meant taking all of her family with him. Her father had certainly put him into an interesting position during the war. He remained detached, still trying to figure out why Samara was so upset - but there it was. Your mother's death.

That would explain the emotional outburst, but not really how Benji was acting. Eli had never had the pleasure of living with siblings, so maybe he didn't get it. How siblings could do this. He also didn't have any parents to worry about their deaths. He had been through that all before. So, he dropped his arms and went to her, not sure he could offer her half of what she did him when they were here before, but he would give what he could.

"Cecelia is dead?" As much as he would have liked to assume it wasn't those soulless things, given their destruction path he supposed it wouldn't be an impossibility. Unless - "You do know that if that is true, you're going to have to tell her the how. You can't just say something like that and expect her to simply accept it." Really, he wanted to know. There had been a number of deaths lately connected specifically to those marks and while the soulless creatures could be a possibility, so was this.

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tracelines
2012-01-24 05:19 am UTC (link)

Benji opened his mouth, about to retort a bit sharply to Eli's words because really, he did not need this bloke's shite right now. He hadn't even been in the room when all this started so he didn't know what had or had not been said yet, but Samara spoke before he could.

She put her hand on her husband's chest as though she were going to push him away, but she didn't. She probably needed him near now - or anyone, for that matter, but having Benji near her was a dangerous prospect at that moment - because she was beginning to allow herself to believe, even though a small part of her still wanted to cover her ears when Eli said it near her. She clutched at the fabric of his clothing and despite her hysterics, there were still no tears on her face. "There's no need to explain how, because we already know." Samara looked at her brother and there was a coldness there he'd never seen before. "You said that you could protect the people, Benjamin. You couldn't even protect our mother."

Benji felt his stomach drop to the floor. Yes, he had said that the DMLE could offer protection to people with nightmares, but they didn't know how Cecelia had been killed. So far it looked like she was a casualty in the attacks, not anything to do with the nightmares and regardless, his sister blaming him for this was unthinkable to him. "Samara, I -" he was truly at a loss for words.

"Where was she?" Samara asked, ignoring him.

"In-in Hogsmeade. They've moved her body to St. Mungo's already. I've-I've already identified the body. You don't need-"

"Oh thank you very much, Benjamin. I think I'm perfectly competent in knowing what my own mother looks like. I was with her for four years before you ever came along." She kept her voice even and cold and despite the fact that she had never spoken to him in this way before, it was easier than she would have liked to admit.

"Mara...I did everything I could. I had no idea -"

"I can handle things from here, I think. It's time you left my home."

"But Jase-"

"Oh no," she laughed harshly and swayed a bit, leaning into Eli for support. "You think after letting our mother die that I would let you look after my son ever again? You are sorely mistaken."

Benji's voice was small when he said, "Samara, please. Don't do this-"

He was overcast by a much louder voice, however. "Mum! No!" Jason came running into the living room. "You can't do that!"

Samara's head whipped over to her son and she glared at him. "Jason Elijah, you go to your room-"

"Mum! You can't blame Uncle Benji-"

"Do not interrupt me when I am talking, young man! You shouldn't even be listening, now go to your room!"

"But Mum!"

Samara suddenly felt light headed and swayed to the left, the hand she had been clutching Eli's clothes with began to lose its grip as she fell, her vision going black.

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skittish
2012-01-25 01:48 am UTC (link)

But they didn't know. There was just a body and a body without reason or cause was of no use to him. Before he had any time make any sort of rational argument, Samara was yelling, Jason was running into the room and things were quickly spiraling out of control.

Luckily, Eli was able to catch Samara as she fell, the whole world stuttering to a stop for a moment. Containing his anger for a moment, especially in the face of his son and not wanting to scare Jason, Eli simply maneuvered them both so they were on the sofa. He did still manage a moment to glare at Benji as if this was all his fault.

"Hey Jase," he said before the child could ask the panicked questions Eli was sure that he had. "Can you go to the kitchen and get my a glass of juice for your mum?" Jason looked at him a long moment, weighing the options. "You can stay when you get back." It was better to have him here rather than out in the hallway listening in.

He waited until Jason left before he looked back over at Benji. "I'll ask it again, how did she die?" It probably was the most expected question for him to ask, but it was Eli and other than not being conscious, Samara seemed well enough.

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tracelines
2012-01-25 02:20 am UTC (link)

"Mara!" Benji moved for her when it she began to lose consciousness but of course Eli was already there so it wasn't like he was going to let him anywhere near. This was just bloody perfect. His mother was dead, his nephew was trying to defend him and his sister was fainting. Let's forget the fact that zombies had invaded the wizarding world yesterday! (Yeah okay, they weren't really zombies but Benji did watch a lot of telly.) What the hell was going on right now?

Benji sat down on a chair and eyed his sister uneasily. She did not look very good. Why had she fainted two seconds after yelling like that? He'd never seen her act like that. And great, this left him alone with Eli, someone he did not particularly care for. It wasn't that the man had ever really done anything to make Benji dislike him, he was just downright creepy. How his sweet, sensible sister could be attracted to him, Benji would never understand. "Do you really expect me to talk about this while my sister is lying there unconscious? This is ridiculous! She deserves to know too - and besides, we know what killed her, but we don't know how it happened."

Samara's eyes fluttered open and she looked up at Eli, confused. "Eli? W-what happened?" She tried to sit up but she felt a rush to her head and winced. She looked over and saw Benji and then everything seemed to wash over her at once. Her mother was dead. "Was she killed by the Kissed?" she asked him suddenly.

Benji looked at her solemnly. "We don't know for certain how it happened, all we know is that's where she was found. Her neck was broken."

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skittish
2012-01-26 09:17 pm UTC (link)

Eli glared at Benji because his question was stupid. He not only expected it, but considered it a waste of time to not be productive while Samara was 'resting,' but then again Eli's view of the world was not the same as everyone else's. While unconscious, she seemed fine and there were more pressing matters at hand.

Still, he was relieved when she came back to - not even that much time had passed, which was just proof that there was nothing to worry about. Still, he supported her as she tried to sit back up, not letting go as she remembered what was happening. Eli pressed as kiss to the side of her head, before looking back over at her brother.

"Her neck was broken? So, she was murdered?" Necks didn't simply break and even if they were broken in an accident that didn't lead to immediate death. "And probably not by those things I don't think they have the cognitive ability or fine motor skills to do it right."

Eli paused a moment, considering a few different possibilities and how to figure it out. "Do you happen to know if she was having the nightmares that Ministry is investigating?"

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tracelines
2012-01-27 12:53 am UTC (link)

Samara looked over at Eli, feeling worried. She had assumed that her mother was killed during the attacks. It was a logical assumption considering where she was found, but if this was true. "Do you really think she might have been having nightmares, Eli?"

Samara looked at her brother then. "Did she ever mention anything to you?"

Benji shook his head. "No, she didn't, but she's not really forthcoming with most things, is she? You didn't exactly tell me about it either," Benji added as an afterthought, not really considering how it might annoy his sister to be compared to their mother. Or at least it normally would, now that she was dead, maybe it wouldn't bother her as much.

Samara glared at him but she didn't say anything. She looked at Eli again. "We need to go see her body to be certain," she said quietly to him.

"Mum?" Jason asked as he walked back into the room with the glass of juice Eli asked him to get. "Are you alright?" He handed her the juice.

"I'm fine, love. I just got overwhelmed, I think. Thank you."

"Mum, you aren't going to blame Uncle Benji for this, are you?"

"Jase, it's alright. Your mum's just worried about your grandmother. We're not really mad at each other," Benji said, though he really didn't know that for certain.

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skittish
2012-01-27 02:16 am UTC (link)

Without hard evidence either way, Eli wasn't ready to rule out the possibility that she had been murdered for a memory. From what he saw of the things they didn't really kill as much as caused a bunch of chaos. From there it was easy for him to wonder that if the two weren't somehow connected. The magic behind the memory-nightmares was powerful and so was the magic it took to animate the kissed. It was a fair assumption to make, although he still couldn't see the end in sight.

And that was great, his esteemed brother-in-law knew that his wife was marked - perhaps even that he was marked too. The more people knew about this, the worse and more complicated it became. The less people knew the better because then he could get away with more.

"It might be too late," he said quietly in response to seeing the body. Depending on how reliable the newspaper and chatter was, the spots disappeared after a person was killed. Also, at this point the body likely be over 24 hours dead and probably not persevered well meaning that most of the evidence he might be able to gather would be invalidated. Still, he would pass up the opportunity to examine the body.

However, Jason had returned before he really had time to vocalize any of that. After he handed Samara the juice, Eli pulled Jason up onto the sofa half into his lap. "Your uncle had to deliver some bad news tonight," he said carefully glancing over at Samara to make sure he wasn't completely off about telling his son this directly. "She's upset because your grandmother is dead." He looked at Jason waiting for him to process it, not really sure how he would react.

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tracelines
2012-01-27 02:54 am UTC (link)

Samara shook her head at Eli. "It doesn't matter," she replied, still whispering. "There has to be something there."

While Samara wasn't still yelling at Benji and telling him to leave, no one really knew if that was because she had fainted or not. Not even she did, but that wasn't anything new. She hadn't ever really blamed her brother to begin with, she just needed something to do with herself and blaming him gave her a place to throw her confusion and anger just as she always had when it came to her mother. So she nodded in agreement to what Eli said because it was the truth, in the end.

Jason looked at his uncle and then at his father and finally his mother. "So you aren't cross with him?" he asked, seemingly ignoring the comment about his grandmother being dead.

Samara shook her head slowly. "No, I'm not," she said and looked over at her brother. Benji nodded, accepting her silent apology.

"Alright then," Jason replied and he no longer seemed interested in the adult conversation that was happening. Samara could understand though, because he had not had a lot of contact with Cecelia in the past so his reaction would not be terribly surprising.

Benji stood up. "I guess I should go. I just wanted to tell you what happened. Do you still want me to watch Jase?"

Samara looked at Eli. "Do you want him to? I don't mind either way, really."

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skittish
2012-01-27 03:29 am UTC (link)

It was tempting to say yes. There were new variables to consider now, new things to work on - especially if this news changed their original plans for tomorrow. It certainly took the excitement out of the intended plans for dinner tonight. Eli looked over at Samara trying to read her, wishing for a moment that he was trained in legilimency and not just occlumency.

Ultimately, he didn't think she had reason to lie to him despite what she might have said in rage later. "If you honestly don't mind, Benji, I think we could use a bit of time to ourselves."

Then he looked over to Jason, who didn't seem all of that upset about the news and probably would enjoy time with his uncle as he was promised. "What do you think, Jase?"

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tracelines
2012-01-27 03:45 am UTC (link)

"No, I don't mind at all. I can understand." Benji looked at Jason, pretty certain of what the boy's answer would be.

"Yes!" Jason jumped off his parents' laps and ran over to the fireplace. "Let's go, Uncle Benji. Can we play footy?"

"Sure, mate," Benji said, laughing a little. He walked over to Samara and hugged her and gave her a kiss on the top of the head. "I'll talk to you later, yeah?"

"Okay. Thank you, Benji. For everything." She kissed her brother on the cheek and watched him leave through the floo with Jason. Samara set the juice down and climbed into her husband's lap without any reservations. "I'm sorry," she said and buried her face into his neck. She still couldn't bring herself to cry and she wasn't sure if she was in shock or if she just wasn't going to.

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