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Tweak says, "Be my friend but be naked!"

Jude (ophidianrequiem) wrote in unexpectedrpg,
@ 2008-06-24 22:13:00

Entry tags:

demelza robins, theodore nott

Who: Demelza Robins and Theodore Nott
What: An accidental encounter... whoops.
Where: St. Mungo's
When: Monday, June 10th
Rating: E!
Status: In progress

Work had always been hazardous; it was expected by anyone entering the profession that they were going to be hurt and probably on a fairly regular basis depending on what sort of projects were assigned. The Department of Mysteries was not a place to be toying around thoughtlessly under any circumstances. It only took one mistake to earn a trip to St. Mungo’s or worse. It was one tiny slip, in fact, that had landed Theodore in the reception area of the hospital with a very sour look on his face. It had taken quite a bit of convincing to get him to go seek help but once the full consequences of his actions set in there was no way he could avoid it.

Theodore had been almost uncharacteristically short with the frantically busy witch that approached him and attempted to show him any sign of attitude. However, the treatment of her, not even in retrospect, produced any feeling of guilt. Even if his better traits called for some sympathy for her, the young man was hopelessly distracted by the nearly insufferable feeling in his left forearm. Having sufficiently been badgered by the witch and likewise flustering her Theodore slouched down irritably in a rather precarious looking chair that by some miracle still managed to support human weight. After only a moment of sitting he unbuttoned the cuff of the left sleeve of the white dress shirt and pushed it up to the elbow, flipping his wrist over. Whatever idiotic thing he’d done had made a curiously vibrant violet spider web effect under his skin which produced a poor imitation of veins.

The trouble wasn’t so much in the color or the design of the malady but in the slicing, stinging sensation that accompanied it and it’s unpredictability in attack; it didn’t radiate from one central point. Exasperated Theodore set his head back against the wall, determined to ignore, or at least attempt to ignore the spreading of the purple network up his arm and down into his hand. The bright blue eyes fixated narrowly on the wall across from him as he bit down on his lower lip. It would be very convenient to blame the accident on whole marriage affair as he’d been considering it instead of watching what he’d been doing.

Tensing rather suddenly, Theodore’s breath stopped, he choked down any utterance that threatened to rise up. Attention dropped down to, what he assumed could only be a toxin, residing quite happily in his arm. Mindlessly, he wondered if this would be easier to live with than being married to a complete stranger – to anyone, in fact. At least, it seemed to keep him sufficiently distracted from jumping out of his seat every time the belligerent invader decided to shoot out a reminder of its presence.

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demels
2008-06-25 06:43 pm UTC (link)

Her hand fell towards her hip as she straightened her back, trying to regain her posture after realizing what was about to happen. She was about to meet the man that the Ministry had so kindly forced her to wed in no less than a week; this could also be translated into she was about to sink through the floor and die on the spot. Her lips still formed a thin line as she heaved her head from the letters that were written on the paper, instead her gaze roamed the buzzing and noise filled area in expectation. This was not how she had expected her day to be; this day was supposed to help her, keep her thoughts in line and not allow them to stray to the topic of marriage. And now there he was, the object of her distress himself.

Once her eyes landed on him, or she supposed it was him for her was hurrying himself to her, her blue hues were instantly drawn and focused on his arm. Object of distress or not, that didn’t look all that pleasant. If she could just fix it, he’d be out of St. Mungo’s in no time and she could continue with other, more important, things. Her eyes then landed onto his face, unable to keep herself from wondering what he was thinking.

“Of course not, sir,” her voice kept its normal tone, not once going an octave higher which she prided herself in. If it wasn’t for the fact this was a large hospital with people crowding every corner, she’d probably think he would have tried attacking her, with the voice he carried. She was still trying to read the emotion displaying on his face, coming to a conclusion that he probably didn’t think she had the right qualifications to even be in this hospital.

Merely because of that, she felt like making matters worse for him. He didn’t have the right to judge her; he didn’t even know her by the looks of it. This almost made her feel a bit better, almost. Well, if he expected a ditzy blonde, he was about to get it. Nothing would satisfy her more than knowing the man she had to wed was annoyed by her; it would amuse her greatly, even more so because she really wasn’t the dumb child he probably thought her to be. “What seems to be the problem?” she ignored the fact it was staring her right in the face, smiling pleasantly fake up at him.

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ophidianrequiem
2008-06-25 08:26 pm UTC (link)

Even on his worst day, Theodore had a great deal of patience; even for fools. It must have been the outstanding luck he’d been having lately that landed him with this woman. Opinions of her apparently confirmed there was no further need to show his skepticism. His expression relaxed, lost some of its contempt, and for some reason Theo appeared very satisfied with having been proven correct. The faded blue eyes studied her with a mock interest; patronizing before he even opened his mouth to answer her idiotic question. “Is it standard procedure to ask the obvious?” Eyebrows lifted at the seemingly sincere yet altogether too gentle question. Stupid questions bred stupid questions and he could play dumb too if that’s the way she wanted to go – while still managing to be insulting, of course.

“I couldn’t fathom asking you to go against procedure,” he fretted, seemingly torn, tone indicating some deep distress that he was completely incapable of actually producing, “especially if it would be of any aid to you at all.” Theo made a point of being condescendingly concerned for her and her stupidity. If she was really that incompetent she’d never know the difference between a fabricated regard and earnestness.
Yes, he was in pain but Theodore didn’t allow that fact to alter his character. He wasn’t about to get outright angry with a silly little Healer; it’d be wasted effort. To many times he’d seen people go off in that fashion and it never seemed to produce any real change.

The show of conflict didn’t dissipate. His lips pursed and he searched her eyes for signs of intelligence. Had he known the woman was the one he was intended to marry the charade would never have taken place. Actually, if he even considered her bring his wife, Theo probably would have avoided her at all costs. “But it seems that if I take the time to explain what’s wrong… well, I don’t know if I’m contagious or not and you’d be risking the lives of all of the people here by not taking immediate action.” There was some truth to that point. Theodore didn’t actually know if what he had could be transmitted or not, he didn’t know much about it at all. It could be quite dangerous but since he was already infected he didn’t rightly care about the rest of the population’s health, especially if they were going to be subjected to this sort of ‘help.’

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demels
2008-06-26 10:45 am UTC (link)

She was not at all sure what her motive for trying to irritate Theodore was, but Demelza felt that if he could ruin her morning, she could ruin his. Maybe she should send him home, tell him it wasn’t anything to be worried about, making him relish in the pain, pain, pain. But she was a Healer, she couldn’t do that, she was supposed to like patching up the wounded. So whether she wanted to or not, she had to help him. That didn’t mean she had to be pleasurable, though. Demelza was tempted to ask him, ’I don’t know sir, do you think it is standard procedure?’ but kept her tongue to herself; she didn’t want him to think her head was void of all things rational.

“Yes,” she answered him a while later, being deliberately slow and possibly bothersome. “But not to worry, we’ll just skip that for the time being,” Another barbie-like smile and then she was on her way, turning on her heels and striding into the hallway and basically telling him that he either had to follow her or find himself another Healer. It would probably brighten her mood if he did, he’d stop bothering her and she could go back to the patients that she liked tending to.

Now she was trying to find a cubicle or a vacant room for her to fix his arm in, not wanting to expose the other patients to it. While she knew it couldn’t be transmitted to them, not bothering to give this little piece of information to Theodore, it wasn’t exactly a nice sight to see and some of the patients were sick enough as it was. “Is this room available?” she questioned a Healer that was about to pass her, and received a nod in return. Ah, today must be her lucky day (please note the sarcasm) as it usually took her about ten minutes to find something due to the fact they didn’t have enough space. Demelza had complained about it often enough, but had yet to see any improvement being made. Turning the handle and opening the door, she motioned at Theodore to go through first.

“Oh, and Demelza!” the Healer that had so kindly told her that the room they were about to enter was without an occupant turned back around, an obvious wink falling from her eyes. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t!” and with a laugh she left a rather horrified Demelza in her wake. She didn’t know what was worse, the obvious suggestive comment she received or the fact everyone knew what the hell was going on in the private life she didn’t quite have. Theodore knowing who she was would probably top both.

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ophidianrequiem
2008-06-27 01:51 am UTC (link)

It was difficult to determine if this encounter bothered him or if Theodore was sincerely entertained by the fact he could ridicule her. With everything apparently falling apart lately and the bloody Ministry trying to rob him of any privacy and freedom there were very few qualms about trying to make someone else feel inferior. On the other hand, he had to restrain himself from looking down to the injury which was becoming quite persistent; demanding to be acknowledged in some way or another and thus the conflict set in. He could be uncharacteristically pleasant in hopes that she would gain some common sense or continue to not so subliminally attack her – luckily she stopped being so resilient.

The façade of innocent naivety remained fixed on Theo’s face, even as she answered which prompted him to nod blankly like it was a rather profound idea that she’d just proposed. Once her back was turned, he dropped the intense gaze of interest. Without being continually monitored he grimaced. Apparently, there were other things more pressing than maintaining the perfect little game and Theodore followed without even hesitating, really without considering the implications of the socially trained reaction.

Theo trailed after her, verbally unquestioning, and increasingly distracted by his own pressing troubles instead of trying to harass a woman that could potentially prolong the state of distress or shorten it. He only glanced to her once with a look that hardly betrayed any inner turmoil; it was actually almost smug as he stepped into the procured room. However, he was keenly aware of the name the other Healer had used and for the first time he faltered without an attempt to conceal it. Fate was not – could not possibly dream of being so cruel that he’d suddenly run into Demelza, a woman he’d been blissfully unaware of until recently…

Turning to face her, Theodore stood obviously accusing though what he was blaming her for wasn’t entirely clear even to him. It could have been a number of things she was guilty of: not revealing herself, having been working, or simply bothering to exist; as if her entire life had been created to destroy his. “Demelza,” he repeated quietly. There was the chance that she wasn’t the right woman but how many witches did he know running about with that name? Despite the slim chance this Demelza was some other, Theo immediately felt particularly ill; something he couldn’t contribute to his Ministry related accident. “You didn’t happen to mention your name,” he observed stiffly, barely managing to be scolding.

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demels
2008-06-27 06:08 am UTC (link)

How to murder a Healer, did that book exist? Because right now, she felt like doing such a thing. She had never been a violent woman or teen unless it was during Quidditch, but now the thoughts swirling in her head were anything but kind. She couldn’t help but emit a grimace when hearing her name, it sounded almost foreign to her ears by the way he said it. Yes, Demelza. Demelza Robins, that’s what her birth certificate would say. And there weren’t many with that kind of name, just because her mother was a tad odd and had wanted to name her daughter after her great-grandmother because she liked the name so much. But since yesterday Demelza had been wondering for how long she’d still be a Robins, and the answer that was given to her was one week.

Maybe she could come up with something that would allow her to keep her own last name, instead of taking on his. Nott, that didn’t and would never suit her in her own opinion. Her gaze rose from the white floor tiles and landed on his face once hearing him speak. “No, I didn’t,” she replied, and the tone that accompanied her voice was far from the child-like, feigned joyous one she had used on him before as she couldn’t bother to keep up pretence. Now that was standard procedure, the back of her mind chided to her, but the thought of introducing herself as Healer Demelza Robins, your fiancé hadn’t been all that appealing.

It still wasn’t, hence why she didn’t say more than her affirmation to his question. He should probably know by now and she wasn’t going to state the obvious. Instead, the wand that was safely pocketed was taken out, motioning at him to take a seat on the bed behind him. While the door was still open and there were people buzzing loud enough so it didn’t feel like they were actually alone in the room, this was still how it felt like for her and it made her uncomfortable. How was she supposed to marry this bloke without feeling like she wanted to flee the room every second of the day? “Could you raise your arm,” she fell silent, gnawing on her bottom lip before adding, “please?”

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ophidianrequiem
2008-06-27 08:41 pm UTC (link)

Their initial introduction of Healer and patient hadn’t made him interested in her. Actually, he didn’t even bother trying to memorize or recall much about Demelza – well, that was before she was titled with that name. Now, however, he seemed to inspect her from a greater distance. The character he had adopted with her as a Healer had acted intensely interested and seemed excessively aware of her but Theo, as himself, kept a good space between thought and expression; at least most of the time and to verify the trait he made no acknowledgement of her reply. Supposedly there was logic behind not identifying herself though it might have been more surprising that she didn’t pawn the chart off onto someone else.

Theodore didn’t pause or have to consider sitting down, he did it without making a fuss or any snide comments. A hesitation would have proved something to her that wasn’t true. This careful covering of action brought into question exactly how trusting was he now that she was his fiancé? Certainly, she wasn’t any more excited about the prospect of being married and she had already been proved false twice in a short span of time. The correct answer then: he didn’t trust her a bit but he also wasn’t threatened by her. The hope remained that they could go on living separate lives despite the absurd law and that could sustain him until they were forced into the same house; if that unfortunate time ever came.

Tilting his head as though he might argue with her over the simple request, his arm was lifted. There seemed to be a funny nervousness to her but if it was from being confronted with him so abruptly or even his person, Theodore had no intention of trying to put her at ease. “You should have had the sense to trade with someone,” he stated flatly.

The obnoxious little barbed pseudo-veins were continuing their conquest of his arm and their treacherous exploration had nearly reached his shoulder. The only reason Theo was aware of how far it’d gotten was the familiar pain had edged up with it; it was anything but discreet. “Considering you’ve lied several times already I’m going to hope you’re not lying about being a Healer.” It was more of a dark warning than an average statement.

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demels
2008-06-28 11:09 am UTC (link)

It was nice to see that he wouldn’t make a fuss and do as she wished, at least for now. It would probably be foolish to think that he would still pay heed to what she wanted when they were married, but she was going to make sure that her voice would still be heard. Demelza didn’t know what was supposed to happen, but if she had the choice, they wouldn’t even see each other. She would live in her own apartment, eat her own food and wait for the annulment papers the Ministry would provide as soon as they saw that this, pairing a man and a woman that didn’t even know each other and force them to wed, would not work out.

Her eyes rolled in their sockets at his words, telling herself not to answer him. Of course she had wanted to trade with someone, anyone, she had thought about doing it five times in the last minute, but she couldn’t do it. It wouldn’t have looked professional, and most of all, she didn’t want any more gossip going around. Now that was one thing she didn’t liked about the hospital; the constant rumors floating about.

“I haven’t lied to you,” maybe in actions as she wasn’t the dumb, ignorant child she claimed to be, but not in words. She didn’t tell him her name, but that wasn’t a lie, more so a precaution. Her teeth clenched, grinding against each other in mild irritation at his question. Yes, she was young, younger than most of the Healers, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t qualified. “Do you want to see my certificate? It might make you less of an ass,” she took his wrist without the usual care she held for others, murmuring to herself but still loud enough for him to hear, “But I doubt it.”

Her wand pointed into the direction of his forearm, and she wondered whether to warn him before hand before realizing that, maybe, yes, she should. Whether he was an ass like she said or not, he deserved proper treatment. “This might hurt,” that was warning enough right? She had seen a case almost identical to his and when the woman had undergone her treatment, she had said it had felt like an electric shock had gone through her core. It didn’t seem pleasant, but it was better than what he was feeling now, she supposed. “Remedius Antiveninus,” her wand flicked twice as she said the incantation, holding the tip towards his skin for three seconds before there could be seen some improvement. From experience she knew it would last an entire hour before it would heal entirely.

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ophidianrequiem
2008-06-28 05:43 pm UTC (link)

Theodore made the slightest sound of questioning at Demelza’s denial. Omission of vital fact was as good as a lie; he should know, over the years he’d become particularly adept at avoiding the truth when it didn’t need to be related. Still, he let the fact slide in appreciation that she wasn’t a fool which made him less inclined to want to choke her. On the verge of commenting he flinched at her touch, compelled to pull his wrist back. The contact seemed to do nothing but aggravate the problem as though it knew what was in store and was making the attempt to lash out. “No, proof of your being a Healer won’t cure our blight.” His voice was uncharacteristically tense and he was near to glaring at her hand as if it was its own offending entity.

The warning caused him to pull his attention up to her face. If he appreciated the alert, any trace of it was hidden behind skepticism and the determination to repress a cringe. Theo was under the impression life would only get worse if he was cursed – wrong. What felt like electricity made him all the more tense; if that was even possible. He wanted to jerk his arm back and say he’d deal with the consequences of the thing for the rest of his life. This was probably what all his misdeeds got him; karma had come to collect. But he didn’t try to take his wrist back from her because he was coherent enough and absurdly logical and knew he wouldn’t be doing much of anything with the strange thing lurking about in his body.

Instead of squirming around he sat as rigidly as possible, gritting his teeth, and shaking just the slightest bit. This was a fantastic first meeting and it assured Theodore that he would gladly avoid Demelza and her painful method of healing at any cost. Even if the lines were fading just a bit that still didn’t give him cause to forgive her for doing her job. It would have been tempting to call her a liar again for saying that it only ‘might’ hurt. It bloody did. She’d only deny the fact that she wasn’t being honest: typical. In no way was Theo going to admit that he was guilty of the same sort of vagueness; that might imply they had something in common – hardly a pleasant thing to consider at the moment. “Exactly how long will this take?” There wasn’t a trace of annoyance or impatience; it was a simple question as he was to distracted to actually alter it to sound spiteful.

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demels
2008-06-29 12:00 pm UTC (link)

If someone were to ask her how she felt about now, there was a ninety-nine percent chance she would aim her wand at them and out her frustrations; her frustration with the Ministry, with the arranged marriage and the man she was to wed. As for a verbal answer, she would answer that she would rather be thrown in a bottomless pit than stick around here. It wasn’t that terrible, he had yet to leap at her or gauge her eyes out as Ginny had said, but the mere disapproval he emitted made her want to stomp her feet and act like a toddler that just lost its favorite teddy bear. Demelza had never allowed someone to get under her skin like that, but there was something about Theodore Nott that made her want to tear out her blonde hair.

Blight smite, he was the one that was being overly rude. She thought her own behavior was still relatively nice for her being. Still, she wouldn’t let him ruin her day entirely; she could still make the best of it after he left. Quite the observer, she noticed him becoming stiff and felt a slight twinge of sympathy rush through her, wondering whether he felt what the woman had described but at the same time not wanting to ask. Nosy as she was, she didn’t think he’d appreciate it. As soon as she noticed there was some more improvement and the lines began to dissolve, his wrist was released and she pocketed her wand where it previous sat, back in her standard Healer robes.

“As long as it’ll need,” thank you, Healer Robins, for that vague, rather blunt answer. She tried again, somewhat nicer this time. “It’ll take an hour minimum,” and then he could leave the hospital; hell, he could leave now if he wished, but that wasn’t advised. “It would be better if you stayed here during the duration of it, but you’re able,” really really able, “to go home if you wished.”

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ophidianrequiem
2008-06-29 01:59 pm UTC (link)

There were several opinions formed on Demelza over the course of their brief interaction. The one most prominent was what seemed to be a trait that she apparently couldn’t repress. Beneath her attempts to be off-putting because of his attitude towards her and their awkward relationship, she was hopelessly a nice person. Theodore supposed that such a trait was useful when dealing with the temperamental patients that walked into the establishment but it hardly endeared her to him as it should have. It could have been because he was bitterer about this whole ordeal than he was admitting or pleasantness could have just been an irritating quality to display when they had no options. There just didn’t seem to be any way to get around it: he didn’t agree with her as a person whether it was just circumstance or he was sinking into a state of expected snobbery.

Reclaiming his wrist, his sleeve was pushed down with only the faintest indication that he wasn’t completely cured and it still caused discomfort. Theodore’s eyes narrowed at her initial response but not for the reasons one might assume. The reply wasn’t terribly troublesome and almost expected when a person was prone to bouts of cryptic answers and sarcasm. Truthfully, he was spending a great deal of effort on analyzing her and that was the reason for his reaction.

Theo gave a curt nod at the more precise answer, taking a moment to look down and button the shirt’s cuff. That spell certainly hadn’t been enjoyable, he actually felt a bit off from it; on the verge of ill. “Side effects?” The question seemed to spring up suddenly but he needed the information in order to make a decision. She had said he could go home, not to work and work was where he preferred to be to keep himself from rifling through the liquor supply and dwelling on the inevitable. The option of staying with her and the noise… that just didn’t seem like a favorable choice either so all logic pointed to going. …but where?

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demels
2008-06-30 07:39 am UTC (link)

From what she had seen and heard, it could be said that Theodore Nott was not the primitive, uncouth man she had thought him to be, or at least not as much; still, he was far from the man that she had envisioned herself marrying some day. He would be kind, loving and have the manners to thank her for her help. Honestly, he could have at least acknowledged the fact she had helped him out. Even though another Healer could have done the same exact thing, and according to protocol they should not expect anything in return from the patient, it would still be somewhat decent of him if he’d utter his gratitude. Yeah, she’d have better luck trying to get the Ministry to annul this whole marriage ordeal, it seemed.

Still, the white dress she had imagined herself to be wearing would be used for the wrong occasion. Yes, it was a wedding, but not to the man of her dreams. Her little girl’s dream of a perfect, white, fall wedding would be replaced with every little girl’s nightmare; an arranged marriage to someone you barely even knew, or before this day, didn’t even know at all. No, the Minister of Magic was not going to be liked in a very, very long while and Demelza would not go near the building unless this whole mess was fixed.

Just about to tell him that there were no side effects that she knew of, she remembered that—while it might not necessary be a side effect from the spell or the disease—someone with similar symptoms had been released and he’d come back fifteen minutes later saying he hadn’t made it out of St. Mungo’s before he’d thrown up on the robes of his wife, who had not exactly been pleased with the gesture. It made her smile, the memory of his wife throwing a tantrum; it had been her ten seconds of amusement before a Healer had ushered her out (she had still been an intern, how she missed those days). “There’s a chance you’ll be nauseous for a while,” the smile ebbed from her features, “It would be better if you stayed a little longer.”

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ophidianrequiem
2008-07-01 11:57 pm UTC (link)

Theodore glanced down at his covered wrist as though some answer to the dilemma would be written there before getting to his feet. He wasn’t entirely sure that it was the best idea he’d had and was more certain that the cause was pure stubbornness than common sense but he’d decided to go. There was a moment when he looked at Demelza as though reappraising her value now that he was certain she wasn’t completely incompetent. If his opinion of her had changed it wasn’t shown and his expression remained coolly unimpressed. Then again, one rarely enjoyed staring into the eyes of an uncertain future. After he’d come to no obvious conclusion: “I’d take my chances.”

“Unless you’re inclined to sort this arrangement out before the inevitable I doubt we’ll see each other again.” For most of the revelation he had been looking intently towards the door, his exit hindered by the Ministry’s meddling, though he did glance to her towards the end. “It makes no difference either way, really,” he added passively, almost ridiculously apathetic towards the situation. It hadn’t really crossed his mind that they may have something to discuss about their futures until he’d come into direct contact with her and suddenly she was more than a name of a slip of parchment. However, if she opted to avoid discussion or having anything to do with him, Theo would hardly be offended and perhaps even prefer such a choice considering it kept her at a distance.

Without waiting for a response he shifted around her towards the door, pausing to glance back. “You can think about it if you like and owl,” he shrugged, “or not.” Without waiting for the possibility of her throwing something at him or even giving her a moment to answer he disappeared out of the room. To move and change situations removed the possibility of deep thought and consideration. Theo didn’t want to dwell on her, marriage, or the Ministry’s oddities. Ill or not he would prefer to return to work and remain there until they forced him out.

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