valesco ; a harry potter rpg

WHO: Vivienne, Nicola, Holden, Kera, & Jake
WHAT: Still at the restaurant
WHEN: Less than an hour since the boys' disappearance

( He’d said he’d be back. )

WHO Bonaccords & Adian + Vivienne
WHAT brunch!
WHERE Rosmerta's, London

( Louis’ stomach dropped as their eyes met and a wicked grin slid across her face. The silence between them was heavy for a moment, and then, they both tore into a sprint toward Adian. )

WHO BROVERS + special guest
WHAT they got some stuff to say
WHERE Nicola + Louis' home

( 'Look at where we are. I’m not. It’s my fault, I— I ruin everything. I do, I— I’m not— please, just—' )

Nicola was the start, the middle, and the end of the most wonderful part of Louis’ story. He saw a beautiful future for the two of them, a vast landscape of wonder, excitement, and love. Shining like the jewels around her neck and the glimmer in her eyes.

Perhaps it was candlelight, but Louis would swear it was the natural aura and magic of his wife.

Just thinking the word brought a smile to his face, and his grin widened as their dancing feet stepped into a the perfect moment for a twirl. Their guests let out a sound of appreciation and Louis pulled Nicola back into his arms, most definitely an improper hold for a waltz.

“I am ridiculously happy,” he said. His eyes were bright with love and the bubbly drink they’d toasted with. “Deliriously so.”

Louis could honestly say, without much doubt (which in and of itself was a feat), that he hadn't felt this way in a long, long time.

When he'd left home a few months ago to seek the help he'd needed, desperately so, he'd had no idea of what the result may be. He was so lost in years worth of tangled thoughts and fears that he couldn't even imagine what he wanted to be, what he was allowed to be, what he wanted to be again. Would he ever be able to get back to where he was? Was that who he'd wanted? Where did he want to be and what would it take to achieve that? It didn't seem possible, figuring it all out.

That had been the problem, hadn't it? That he saw no light at the end of the tunnel.

As he stared across the room at Nicola, Louis slowly grinned. He knew now that light could have many sources, and she was the brightest of them all.

"Would you like to take a walk with me?" he asked from the doorway. Louis' hand rested on the door frame, already looking to push off on the hopefully memorable stroll.

"Why are you taking off your ring?"

Louis looked up from his dinner plate and toward Nicola, as if the thought had struck him out of nowhere instead of having been festering in his chest the past few weeks. With his brow furrowed, his expression was a mix of confusion and concern; perhaps a pinch of frustration was thrown in.

Wasn’t—? She hadn’t been taking it off before. He thought maybe the holidays and all the hustle and bustle it naturally caused was part of the reason, but they were past Christmas, they were past New Year’s. Louis had imagined, told himself, that Nicola of all people would know the etiquette of jewelry wearing, especially one of such importance, so he’d thought it stupid to ask at first, but now—festering was the word, and something about the dip into silence their dinner had taken on had burst the question out of him.

He felt an urge to retreat and apologize, something that had become routine in his life, but his confusion manifested into something stronger. It didn’t feel random, Nicola did not do random, and Louis felt like his nerves and patience had reached its end. Or perhaps the heavy ball of lead resting in his gut that had been shouting at him for weeks, was finally at its wits end. Even experts at avoidance couldn’t do it forever.

“Is...something the matter?”

♥ ♥ HELLO?! ♥ ♥

When Louis still hadn’t come home by dinner, Nicola began to fear the worst.

Of course she had heard about the chaos at Hogsmeade; it was practically old news by the time the owl dropped off the Evening Prophet detailing what the newspaper knew so far about the mysterious dark wizard wrecking elemental magic on the small village. She knew Louis was there, he had to be, and it--- it---

But why had he continued to still there? The thought tortured her into the night. He shouldn’t be there, he should have come home by now. They should have sent him home by now! He had been on-call since yesterday afternoon! They couldn’t possibly--- think--- it wasn’t safe! He must be exhausted, must be---! Not well, tired, not in a right---?!

At about midnight, after a few hours of pacing, randomly thrusting curtains open to look outside, and destroying her cuticles, something occurred to her that sent Nicola flying in tears to the fireplace to floo Mattie; Louis could not be at Hogsmeade. And if he wasn’t knee-high in that fray, then where was he? No one would be looking for him, everyone would be tied up in Scotland, and--! And--!

A few hours after that, now painfully early in the morning, Nicola finally got her answer. She nearly tore Jack Bagnold’s letter in half from sheer relief and further worry. Hogwarts? Hogwarts? He was at Hogwarts recovering?!

While she could read and perfectly understood the words Bagnold had written, at the same time, Nicola understood nothing and could not grasp anything aside from demanding to see Louis at once.

Where was he, where had they put him? She all but shoved Bagnold aside and out of her sight when they entered the school's hospital wing. Her eyes searched exclusively for one person, one familiar face, one head of hair that consumed her down to her core. When she saw him, finally, tears sprung from her eyes and she raced over to him.

“Louis!” Nicola cried out, throwing her purse to the ground. She reached first for his face, to hold it tight with both hands, before wrapping her arms around him.

The rain usually helped him sleep. Louis faced the window, eyes wide as his spiraling thoughts refused to let him drift off into much needed slumber. He had been working through his memories with the help of his sister's pensieve in an attempt to defog the many questions he'd had about himself and Adian since the night of their fight at Mina's wedding. Today, unfortunately, had been particularly draining. Telling? Frustrating. Louis couldn't describe the jumbled mess his brain was in, only knowing that it wasn't allowing him any peace.

Being near Nicola usually helped when he felt this way, but Louis found himself curled to the edge of the bed, literally and figuratively teetering on the notion of slipping off and out of the room. She'd notice if he left, he was sure. Did he want her to? No, he didn't want to bother her with his inability to handle his emotions. How ridiculous did that sound? He already knew that his mood the past few weeks had not been the best; he was trying to make all things right, but he felt himself drooping deeper and further away...

It was as difficult to comprehend as it was to explain. Infuriatingly so, and Louis shifted to sit and plant his feet to the floor. With his elbows jammed into his thighs and the palms of his hands pressed to his eyes he tried to even his anxious breaths and relax his bouncing thoughts.

If he could think, he'd recognize the early signs of a panic attack, but that seemed like too much to demand of himself.

❧ ❦ ☙

( table arrangements )

WHO: Louis Bonaccord and Nicola Scarpin
WHAT: He's had a nightmare
WHERE: Nicola's house
WHEN: RIGHT NOW

( I’ll remind you that nothing in your head can ever compare to the real thing. )

Louis fiddled with the easter bouquet in his hands, two nearly-identical baskets bobbing in the air behind him. His holiday had been quiet, not bad, but sullen. Augustus was home for the spring holiday, so his sister had planned an extravagant easter egg hunt in her yard which exhausted him and his nephew. Who planted eggs in places where a broomstick was required?

While Augie separated his winnings (it was important, the order in which candies were eaten), Louis and Therese sat on her porch and enjoyed adult drinks. It was easy enough for his sister to pick up on his mood (the fact that neither Adian nor Nicola were present helped), and soon he'd spilled nearly that which had been eating at him for two weeks. Sometimes he forgot that his sister talked to people as a career, that she got them to talk to her; sometimes he forgot that she was one of very few people who knew everything there was to know about him.

It's what brought him to Nicola's doorstep, tonight. Louis knew that if he...if he wanted...he had to...

The door opened and Louis lost any train of thought he had.

"Happy Easter," he said to Nicola, not presenting the flowers just yet, as he wasn't sure if they'd be received.

WHO: Adian and Nicola!
WHAT: PROGRESS??
WHERE: his and Louis' house!
WHEN: today!

( The person outside knocked a third time, at the sound of her voice, Adian jumped from his chair and shot downstairs. )

Happy, he was the happiest he'd ever been in his life, and boy, had he had some happy days. Beau wasn't sure if he was going to be able to focus on just one thing tonight as there were bright lights, great smelling food, music, fire!, family that he hadn't seen in ages, friends he had hadn't seen smile in what felt like forever and---it just---he was so happy! And grown up, he definitely felt grown up; when was the last time his brother had a whole conversation with him without grabbing him around the neck and rubbing his knuckles in his skull? Uh, never! But that had happened tonight, and Bibi hadn't whacked him (yet), and his mother cried, and his dad was doing that thing with his eyebrows that showed he approved without saying of things and--- "Aw, babe," Beau let out, stopping in his tracks at the sight of the reason for this wonderful gathering. "Don't move!" He whipped up his camera to capture the shot of his amazingly brilliant and brave and awesome and beautiful fiancée by a rather blazing campfire. Althea could make a fertilizer sack look like a Liddie Lynch gown, but the sight of her by the fire and looking just as happy as he was, well--he had to get that on film to keep the memory forever. Because Beau was the excitable bloke he was, the camera was one of those new fangled automatic ones, and the print slipped out immediately (he'd placed a bunch of these around the venue tonight, for guests to capture these sort of moments, too) and he bounced over to Althea to show her. "Okay, tell me that's not a great shot," he said with a bragging waggle of his eyebrows.

WHO: LOUIS AND NICOLA
WHAT: they are so gross get a room already
WHERE: diagon alley!
WHEN: today!

( But only some witches and wizards have the eye. Some absolutely fake it, so you have to be careful who you trust. )

It had been a very long day.

Louis was experiencing the strange sensation of returning home without having left. His mind continued to find itself confused, but understanding, of what had transpired over the past week. The very steady question of how he kept finding himself in the midst of dark magic and Unspeakables rang the loudest in his head and he mulled over the thought as he knocked on Nicola's front door.

His chest ached with the anticipation of seeing her, but Louis knew he couldn't explain why he seemed to miss her so. It had been the longest they'd been apart since they'd begun seeing each other and she had been the driving factor of bringing him back to the present. With everything else that had gone through his mind...thinking that he was being drawn back to Nicola helped ease the strain.

He almost knocked again, having gotten himself lost in thoughts. What a strange thing, having two separate memories of the past week behind him. Louis remembered vividly that he had told Nicola he would be over after his shift tonight, but it felt like a promise made in a dream, and...he knocked again.

presenters & winners!
Free-for-all! Think your character would've been nominated? Go for it! Open for everyone!

WHO: Louis Bonaccord & Nicola Scarpin
WHAT: WOW LMFAO
WHERE: Winogrand gardens!
WHEN: today!

( I foresee a stellar tour review in your future )

At the disturbance of Louis rustling beside her, Nicola rolled onto her side. With bleary eyes, she blinked through the darkness; while she possessed a sleepy hope that she would be able to see his face, she knew it unlikely. His room was dark from keeping his windows permanently shaded this last week. Or, at least, they had been whenever she was here.

It was strange to think how people acted differently in times of crisis. Nicola knew she was no different from it, why else would she be spending as many nights as she could in Louis' bed? She had been trying... once the girls were taken care of... to be present for him. But that came with complications, like the twins and all the people downstairs that wouldn't, understandably, take too warmly to her presence in the house. Louis didn't agree, and while she believed when he said that no one would say anything at a time like this, she didn't think... she didn't think it appropriate of her to test that hospitality.

Like with Louis' birthday party, Nicola felt she didn't exactly... deserve acceptance and comradery of Louis' friends. Not yet. She had done nothing for it, actually actively sought to burn it in the past. So to be respectful, she---

Nicola shook her head and stifled a yawn. Now was not the time to be thinking of such things. Louis' best friend was missing and he still had trouble sleeping through the night. In an effort to comfort him, her hand smoothed up his arm.

"What is it?" she murmured, pressing her lips to his bare shoulder. Her hand continued its gentle run until it nestled within the crook of his neck.