11 Dec 2023, 19:41
You Better Mend Your Ways
Out of contact too long from @AngelFyre McCubbin
Sunday, 31 December 2023.
His hands felt the solid knotted weathered wood that devised the door-frame of the small building as he made his exit, ensuring that everything he had just experienced was real. It HAD to be real, didn't it? He had been injured and someone had provided him shelter, care, and company. Simon thought of turning back, to take one more glimpse at the girl who had helped him, but he knew he needed to get back to where he belonged and that wasn't, well, wherever this was.
Simon knew the shoreline was behind him and while civilization as a whole tended to flock to the shorelines, he knew that what he saw of this one was desolate. That led him to walk in the opposite direction of the shoreline because once he reached the shore, there was nothing but a large body of water. If he walked opposite of it, he was met with more possibilities of finding his way. The grassy hills were met with trees and the amount of trees grew into a thick forest. Walking wasn't too difficult, although if he turned the wrong way or took too deep of a breath, there was pain - lots of pain.
He'd rest when that happened and at one point decided to take off the bandages that Clara had placed upon him and pack them away to dispose of later. After all, he was a member of the British Boy Scouts and Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the world Scouting movement, said, “Try and leave the world a little better than you found it.” That was a principle that Simon often strove for in his life.
Oddly enough, there was no reminder of that small little hut the further he walked nor of the girl that helped him. There was no other buildings and no other people, only trees and the occasional odd sight.
The first was an odd sort of inlet, a passageway, made by the roots of trees. It reminded him of something he'd envision in the Forbidden Forest, created by magic but this could, perhaps, have been done by nature. The boy who was London born and bred was the wrong one to ask, scout or not.
He continued on, through the dense, muddy woodland. Soon, he entered a realm that seemed almost as if it should not exist in this world - old trees covered in yellowed moss rose from the floor and there was the purest color of green. Little white flowers were vying to grow against indigo bluebells and a small stream cut through the land. Over that small stream was a bridge created from stone with a series of upthrust stones creating an arch at the top. It gave him the odd feeling that he had stumbled upon something that the wasn't supposed to see, that he had found something that meant to remain hidden. That was the second oddity.
Again he continued on, over the bridge and onward in what he hoped was a straight line. Something told him he was getting closer to SOMETHING or there wouldn't be these particular points of interest. The tree roots could perhaps have grown that way but the bridge didn't just appear - someone had to build it, although, it seemed like someone from very long ago. His last of these oddities, these perhaps omens, was a large stone that stood upright, as if some sort of makeshift sign or billboard that had etching upon it in some sort of Celtic or viking looking writing or design. It seemed to be a sort of ancient rune and Simon wished he had paid more attention in his course of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts. Maybe he would know what it said. Regardless, it too didn't just appear by happenstance and someone had created it.
After hours upon hours of walking, with the occasional rest breaks, he started to see a bit of a clearing from the thick trees and upon getting closer, could see the stone exterior of what looked to be The Castle of Babilstow - it held the same sort of old gothic architectural design anyway. He could see it despite dusk approaching.
Feeling ever so tired, and as dusk became dark, he continued on until he came to the heavy wooden door that he had entered upon on his few visits to the castle, the front entrance-way. It was always opened by a key, placed into the keyhole that unlatched a long crossbeam that secured it. Simon had no key. "Hello? HELLO?!" he called louder the second time. "Is anyone there? It's me, Simon!" He pounded against the door, knowing that there was a double-door system and it probably did little good. "Please! Is anyone there?!"
How often did vampires venture out? Did they take daily walks or go into the town or city frequently? Would he have to wait a day or several days to be found? He was supposed to be there days ago, perhaps no one was at home and there was a misfit ensemble of vampires out searching for him right now.
Simon left the door and turned to sit with his back against the door when he thought he heard a rustling and attempted to quickly stand back up, but the movement caused him a lot of pain making him pause just long enough that by the time he went to investigate the sound, whoever or whatever made the sound was gone.
It seemed hopeless.
He leaned against the side of the castle wall and got a drink from his bag and closed his eyes, unsure how long. He opened his eyes when he heard the click of a turning latch and stepped aside as the crossbeam lifted and the door began to open.
"My word, boy, we did not think you were coming," one of the vampires that lived with his father, Gideon, exclaimed as he went to usher the boy inside and stopped abruptly, giving him the once over. "You look absolutely dreadful!" Simon gave a small half smile, "Thanks, Giddy, you know how to make someone feel good about themselves. Where's my father?"
That was the most important thing. Simon loved talking with others normally and getting to know someone but something about the vampires left him feeling slightly unsettled, plus, this wasn't the time for small-talk.
"Come inside and I will fetch him. Did you....experience some sort of mishap? - A fight with a wild animal, perhaps?"
"Please just get him."
Gideon led him instead, latching the door to the castle's entrance and then proceeding them through the darkness of the two-door security that they had going on before entering the castle itself. It seemed like a good feature for all vampire homesteads, not just those that lived in castles. ...Unless they all lived in castles.
Simon was left waiting in the entrance lounge as Gideon headed down the corridor and out of sight. He didn't sit as he was over the pain that bending and moving kept giving him. Simon's hand traced over some metal roses, etched into the design of the framing of an elegant mirror that rested over the mantle in the room; most likely another dedication of remembrance to his mother. She had been so fond of roses and it seemed his father had been so fond of her.
Hearing footsteps down the corridor, he turned his attention to the archway of the lounge that lead into the corridors to see the unforgettable redheaded vampire that he had met on his last visit to the castle. She had a long velvety sort of cloak on and was headed into the night and seemed almost startled to see him.
She didn't speak immediately and instead watched him, surveyed him from where she was before slowly beginning to approach, her eyes still locked on him. "Oh, joyous of joys, what a... ...Christmas miracle this is. Samson has joined us."
"Simon," he corrected her quickly, but knowing it would do no good.
Something seemed off. She seemed more concentrated on him than before and that was saying something. "Happy Christmas, Lily. Might you know where my father is?" Again, not in the mood for small talk but curious of the reason for her demeanor.
She stepped closer, almost moving in slow motion this time and began to lean in, ready to whisper something when Adrian's voice could be heard. "Simon! We did not think you were coming!" he unknowingly repeated the words that Gideon had spoke minutes earlier.
As Lilith began distancing herself from him, Adrian approached and now stood in front of him, a smile on his face but an awkward sort of stance and Simon wondered if Adrian was debating whether he should hug his son or not. No. No hug. They weren't there. They might never be there. Probably not.
"I want to go back to London. I'd like to go back now. Can you make that happen?" It was a shame that vampires didn't have the floo network the way that the magical world had. From what he had seen from the vampires he had met thus far, as well as from what he had read, they possessed no sort of magic of their own despite some side effects of what they were. No actual magic.
"Did something happen?" Adrian's smile faded as he began to assess his son. Why did the vampires have to examine him so much?
"I'm fine. I just... I want to go back to London and I'd like to go back now." Now he was the one repeating. Still, being exceptionally vague in this circumstance seemed much better than describing to his father that he somehow got injured and a mysterious girl helped care for him in a peculiar and unfamiliar place for an unknown duration of time.
Something about Adrian's face seemed to show he was displeased by this - either his wanting to leave, his vagueness, or both.
"Can you help me?" Of course he could. Simon looked to Gideon and Lilith and then back to his father. "Will you help me?" he changed his course of wording.
Perhaps Adrian Hawthorne didn't want to have some sort of power play with his teenage son in front of the other two because he folded his cards quite quickly.
Adrian contacted his driver and they were soon on a five-hour car ride to London, making that strange transfer by horse drawn carriage first. Adrian attempted to ask Simon what happened, but he continued to be extremely vague and he knew it was causing some tension between them but honestly he just wanted to be back with those he loved most of all - back where he belonged.-------------------------------------------------------------------
It was after midnight when he unlocked the mint colored door to the townhome in South Kensington.
"I'VE GOT A WEAPON AND I WILL USE IT IF NECESSARY!" he heard the voice of his Aunt Maggie. Aunt Maggie and a weapon? Those two things didn't go together and amused him immediately. "Aunt Maggie, it's me....your brilliant and talented nephew who you love unconditionally....even when he gets home past midnight unexpectedly."
She immediately appeared in the hallway with a bright smile on her face and approached him with her weapon in hand - a five-hundred and then some page hardbound book that she must have been reading. Simon knew it would never be anything violent. His Aunt Maggie was the sweetest person he knew. At least, unless it came to the man he was standing next to - Adrian Hawthorne, his father.
She immediately brought Simon for a hug and squeezed him tightly, "Oh, I was so worried about you. I didn't know if you had gotten there safely and I...." she stopped as Simon groaned a little through the immense pain from the hug. "...Are you alright? Is he alright? What did you let happen to my Sweet Simon?" and she was giving a death glare to the vampire in the hallway.
"He is fine. The boy is fine. There was a slight mishap and he is feeling sore from it, but, he is fine. Yes?" Adrian looked to Simon as if needing some kind of verification or back-up on this.
"A mishap? What kind of mishap? We should get you checked out. Keep your jacket on."
Simon needed help. He knew that by now, if he still had this sort of pain days later, that he needed a healer from St. Mungo's to examine his injuries and not a doctor over at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. He would have to wait until his father left to communicate that to his aunt though because he wanted to conceal the fact that he was a wizard to his father. Still unsure as to why he felt that way, he felt it was very, very important.
"A minor misstep and clumsy fall, Aunt Maggie. Nothing more. It's cool, it's all cool," he smiled. She sighed. "Well let me take your bag and you get settled in. I'll fetch you a drink!" and she headed off into the kitchen. Simon looked to Adrian and Adrian looked to Simon, almost as if they were seeing if they were actually getting away with this.
"Thanks for bringing me home," Simon said and meant that sincerely. He watched as his father just watched him. "Our visit didn't go as planned but uhh....I'm sure it'll be better next time."
"Next time," his father repeated, seeming to slightly smile at that.
Simon saw him to the door and Adrian took his leave just as Aunt Maggie was coming back down the hall with a glass of water in hand.
Simon would give it a few minutes, enough time for his father to get in the car and the driver get out of sight before broaching important matters. After a sip of his water, he sighed, hating that he had mislead her before. "Aunt Maggie? There's some place you need to take me."
He explained to her that he didn't want to talk about anything magical around his father, due to the statue of secrecy and all. Aunt Maggie was a muggle, true, but she was also his legal guardian. His father was not. It took them minutes to gather up a few items and head off to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. After a quick registration process and a short wait, he was seen by a healer and admitted for at least one night's stay - for observation and the healing of some displaced rib fractures.-------------------------------------------------------------------
It was nice, being in a medical setting such as this, knowing that he would be healed as quickly and painlessly as possible, all while the staff new that he was a dhampir and he didn't have to worry about anything that was mis-said about the magical world. He was free to be himself there and was glad that Aunt Maggie was by his side. "Has my phone charged enough to turn on yet?" he asked, the inflection in his voice on the last word showing his impatience on the matter. "I told you, I called AngelFyre and I let her know you're alright, love. It's nearing 3am, the girl is most likely asleep." Oh, she didn't know his AngelFyre.
"So you were with vampires?" a nurse asked, checking the left side bandage that she had just put on and then moved her attention up to his neck, as if checking for something, examining it closely.
"No, I was to be visiting vampires but I don't really remember what happened......" he looked to Aunt Maggie, hating that he had sort of lied to her earlier but he had already explained things to her on the way over and was granted forgiveness. Still, he felt bad.
"Took a fall of some kind most likely. Were these vampires trying to attack you?" she asked, and she pressed her hand to his neck, guiding him to look to the side.
Simon sighed and looked at Aunt Maggie for some kind of help. She just shrugged. "What? It's not that I can chime in and say your father is responsible because you're here - in a hospital. Something happened. Although, I suppose I'm irresponsible in the sense that I would think a vampire could be responsible."
Oh, Simon was going to have some damage control to do if he ever wanted to go back to visit his father.
Be kind to one another. (*iNPC is Miles Thatcher)
14 Dec 2023, 11:31
You Better Mend Your Ways
The Sound of Silence @Simon Kincaid
New Year's Day, 2024
"Merlin's beard!" she squawked after seeing the voicemail notification from Aunt Maggie flashing on her phone. AngelFyre had faithfully taken her phone with her everywhere she had gone since getting home for Christmas break, but the one time... the one and only time... it had not been within easy reach had been just now as she had gone down to the kitchen to grab a glass of milk and a couple of sugar cookies. She normally was not a night grazer, but this was an abnormally hard Christmas and a little comfort food was not a pleasure she was going to deny herself right now.
She and her family were soldiering through their first Christmas without Grandma Ruth, but it was also to be her first Christmas without Simon. The latter's presence would have eased some of the sorrow to be shouldered by the former's absence, but a certain vampire had called dibs on Simon's time way back in August and... well... no competing with that. She did not even try. Would have only created tension between her and Simon and the vampire still would have won, so....
So.
AngelFyre instead did what she always did for him... for them, really... and she did her best suck-it-up-buttercup rendition and put all her effort into being his loving and supportive partner, not girlfriend, though these past few months, "all her effort" was not running as high or as freely as it had before Grandma Ruth's death. She long ago stopped thinking of herself as "only" Simon's girlfriend when it came to the subject of Adrian Hawthorne, largely because she knew he was up against something sinister coming down the pike, and she was really the only one he had told everything to. AngelFyre knew without a doubt that Aunt Maggie was unaware of her visions of Simon and the danger Adrian posed to him, because if she did know, that would have been the end of that. Hard to be too upset with Aunt Maggie for letting him now spend days ... days!... with his father's coven since AngelFyre herself was also complicit in the very scheme keeping herself worried, his Aunt clueless, and Simon intrigued.
She knew she needed to get over being salty about all of it, but that was so much easier said than done. She was sad, worried, lonely, and just missing him too much. Her real fear, if being completely honest with herself, was always that he would be too busy and engrossed in learning about his half-vampire self to think about her except in moments when nothing else more exciting or intriguing was happening. Did he manage to miss her even 1/10 the amount she missed him?
Who knew?
Did it matter?
Sigh.
Jealousy was such an unattractive look. So last year's fashion.
As she made her way over to her bed, her eyes fixed on the collage frame above her headboard. Hillary wasted no time in hopping up on the bed and got into her position, waiting expectantly for AngelFyre to climb in as well. Her tail was thumping more rapidly and loudly the longer AngelFyre stood by her bedside and continued to look at the photos of Simon. She took a sip of milk and looked down at her bedside table to set the glass down and that is when she saw the notification on her cell.
She placed the plate of sugar cookies on the bed and rushed to grab the phone. The message was from Aunt Maggie. She dialed her pass code and retrieved the message with her heart pounding faster than she ever believed it had. Simon. Something had to have happened to Simon. She gingerly sat down on the edge of her bed before Aunt Maggie's voice reached her ears, scared to death at what she was going to hear, but reflexively praying. AngelFyre held her breath and when she finally released it, a flood of relieved tears accompanied it.
She grabbed the phone tightly with one hand and reached out with her other for Hillary, immediately feeling the gentle giant's wiry fur as the gargantuan head pressed into her hand, tail thumping just barely. "He is okay, girl. He is okay," and AngelFyre smile-cried into Hillary's neck. For her part, Hillary allowed the embarrassing display of emotion, nuzzling AngelFyre's hair and making her soft snuffing sounds. When AngelFyre had gathered herself, rather quickly as it turns out, a giant paw reached out and landed on her thigh. The distinct sound of smacking lips could be heard, not far from AngelFyre's ears, and she could not help but let out a shaky, but happy laugh.
"Yes, you may have a cookie, but only one. I still get the other. And do not be thinking that sugar cookies are going to be a longstanding dietary bounty like ba- ..." and she started to say "bacon", but that would have set Hillary off towards the door thinking the porcine treat was awaiting her in the kitchen. Disappointing this gentle heart was not on the menu this early in the morning, so AngelFyre just spelled the rest of it out as Hillary cocked her head to the side, sure something was up, but not quite sure what. Like the polite girl she was brought up to be, she waited until AngelFyre offered her the cookie and took it between her lips before snarfing it down in record time. All attention was then paid to sniffing the general vicinity for any errant crumbs, and licking up those that were found.
AngelFyre had already determined what she was going to do. A visit to London had not been in the plans this holiday, but she would make the case to her parents right after she did the very most important thing. She looked down to now see a photo of Simon and herself smiling up at her from her home screen on the cell. In no time flat she heard the dial tone.
He, under normal circumstances, would be awake, but they may have given him something for his pain which would likely make him sleep. Still, if he were awake, she needed to hear him for herself. If he were asleep, Aunt Maggie could pick up and that would be almost as good.
She listened intently as it rang and suddenly stopped. She waited a nanosecond... maybe three... but no one spoke, or if they did, she could not hear them, but what she could hear was a weird series of clicks.
Uggggghhhhhhh.
Of course. No cell phones were going to work at St. Mungo's because of the magic! She wanted to cry again, but there was no time. She raced to her parents door and started knocking with quite some rapidity.
"Mom! Daddy! Simon's been hurt and is in the hospital. I know it is late, or early, actually, but I want... no, I need... to go to London. Please, may I? The first train leaves in 90 minutes or thereabouts. I am going to start packing now. Please let me do this. I will go mad otherwise," and she was silent in thought for a moment before adding, "and probably drag you with me in the process, so if we go, I would really be sparing you that heap o' hurt. You are welcome. " She smiled briefly and blew them lots of air kisses and told them she was doing so before leaving their door, cognizant that she was starting to hear them toss and turn into wakefulness.
As she ran back to her bedroom, she was a little annoyed that coming from a Muggle household, her home was not connected to the Floo network. Dang that Statute of Secrecy. That would have been the most expedient method for getting to her fellow, but the train would have to do. All that mattered right now is that he was okay and that she was on her way.
************
Six hours later, AngelFyre found herself sitting by Simon's bedside. He was sleeping soundly, and she was grateful for that. He had at least one broken rib, so she knew they had given him something for the pain otherwise he would have awakened at the first touch of her hand to his or her lips to his forehead.
She sat by him, her hand in his. He could sleep six minutes or six hours. It did not matter. She would be there when he awakened.
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ReducioSimon and AngelFyre's writer's long ago gave each other blanket permission to god mod one another.
The magic is real.
18 Dec 2023, 14:06
You Better Mend Your Ways
Keeping it short to help with our writers' block with @AngelFyre McCubbin
Simon's Aunt Maggie came to stand behind her and gently placed her hand on AngelFyre's shoulder so not to startle her, gently letting her know she was there. It had been relatively quiet since her arrival - Simon had been asleep the entire time due to being medicated and once they were caught up in hushed whispers, they just had soft instrumental music playing from a wizarding radio in the corner of the room. "Mark and I are going to head to the Fifth Floor and get something warm to drink. We'll bring you back something - unless, you'd rather me stay with you." She smiled to her softly, as if indicating that she truly didn't mind. Her offer was declined though and she left, promising hot chocolate upon her return. The healers had predicted that he would be out for at least a few more hours.
Ten minutes later, give or take one or two, Simon opened his brown eyes - just barely at first, and then blinked a few times over as he allowed his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting in the room. One of the perks of being in a magical hospital was having it on record that you were a dhampir, so the lighting was already lessened and the shading on the windows were pulled.
Instantly he knew he was somewhere different than the last time he woke - as the bed was softer, the room was warmer, and the hand he held was assuredly familiar.
"I'm back?" he whispered. For the past several days, every time he woke he was in an unfamiliar place, a world that was so unlike his own. Wait - had that even been real? If he continued to have doubts in the future, there was a flowered wreath halo in his bag to help jog his memory.
"I'm back and you're here," he said as he slowly began to rise but hesitated when he remembered the immense pain that he felt when moving his upper torso. There was no pain this time though and it was a wave of relief. "Oh, how I've missed you."
Simon thought of squeezing her hand three times, or bringing it to his lips to kiss the back of it, but instead he brought it to the side of his face and gently cradled her hand against the side of his face, missing her touch; missing the closeness between the two.
For what seemed like the longest time, he rested his focus on her. He had missed her terribly. Maybe it wasn't all that long, but sometimes they had a way of making eye contact and time just seemed to slow for them, as if the world was granting them some extra special moments within a lifetime. He then brought himself closer, surprised that the pain had subsided but he didn't question it; all he wanted was his lips to meet hers.
It was after the kiss that he realized he was, once again, in an unfamiliar place. "Where am I?"
Be kind to one another. (*iNPC is Miles Thatcher)
19 Dec 2023, 02:54
You Better Mend Your Ways
A New Glimpse of @Simon Kincaid
New Year's Day, 2024
As she sat there and watched him sleep, it struck her how rarely she got to witness such a thing. On the equally rare occasions when they did manage to spend a night together, the two insomniacs often found that they were both able to sleep. It struck them both as a little odd, but they chalked it up, essentially, to feeling safe and comfortable and being each other's off switch to the world.
AngelFyre loved that.
Still, Simon was always awake before her on each of those occasions. AngelFyre had asked him, somewhat apologetically, if that was due to her humming 5 minutes or so before she awoke, because, well, anyone familiar with her singing voice knew even her humming would likely wake the dead. He just laughed and squeezed her closer to him and told her her humming had only awakened him the first night they ever spent together, but otherwise no. She was not the reason he was always awake before her. He told her again, as he had on the Great Lake while skating, that when he did sleep, it was only for a very few hours. She remembered well he had told her that, but she just wanted to make sure.
So it was with a great deal of fascination that AngelFyre sat there patiently by his bedside, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand while watching him in such a state of absolute unawareness of everything going on around him. It was just odd to see Simon so.... still. The boy was never completely still. He was always drumming his fingers while thinking or tapping his quill while studying or bouncing a foot or knee when composing. And if his nose was not in a (note)book, it was a safe bet he was looking at the goings on around him, usually with some version of his glorious smile plastered on his face. She had teased him and bestowed upon him another nickname a long time ago when they first started studying together... Kincaid the Kinetic. But right now, everything was off and her boy was Simon the Stationary.
As AngelFyre watched him, she knew this version of Simon sleeping was not the norm, though it gave her a picture of him she had not had before. At least this was a closer proximity of the "real" thing as opposed to her imagined ones. As quiet and peaceful as he looked, there was a tiny voice inside that told her he was also vulnerable right now. The medication was keeping his pain at bay, true, but it was keeping everything Simon at bay as well. AngelFyre was grateful for his peace and healing, but as for the rest of it, well, watching over him was, she was certain, her highest purpose in this life. She never, ever, wanted him hurt, emotionally or physically, but there was no denying that everything in her told her that right beside him was right where she belonged at such times. It was true in that moment and it would be true in all of their moments. He could go out into the world and be the dove he was destined to be, but AngelFyre was destined to look inward and protect heart and home.
And Simon was her heart and home.
Sure, he had Aunt Maggie, but AngelFyre knew she, herself, was no schoolgirl Apprentice to the Master here. Youth brought about some legal constraints, but her connection with Simon was leaps and bounds above that. So there were the stirrings of a natural and fearful curiosity as to what exactly had happened to her fellow? Had what she had seen of his future with his father come to pass?
No. It could not possibly as Aunt Maggie had told her it was Adrian who had brought Simon home. That then begged the question as to why he was not tended to in Babilstow? Then she reminded herself the literal "undead" probably did not have need too often of hospitals. A surge of bile yet again threatened to rise as she thought of all the reasons Simon was so absolutely unsafe in this quest of his, but life, and the living of it, was not always about safety.
"How painful the journey must have been for you to come home, Simon," she whispered to herself and gently squeezed his hand three times. It was not but a few seconds after that that she felt the slightest pressure of his hand in hers and she shot a look first at their hands and then to his face. His eyes were moving beneath his lids, but he was opening them slowly.
His words brought tremendous relief, but also raised her spider hairs. "I'm back? I'm back and you're here." He started to raise up but AngelFyre beat him to it. His expression looked as if he anticipated pain but felt none, and she immediately seated herself beside him on the bed. As he cupped her hand to his face, she just smiled down at him while reaching over with her free hand to brush her hand through his hair. "Oh, how I've missed you."
"Oh, Simon. You know I have missed you more," and she smile-teased him as she leaned over him, letting her fingers play idly in his hair as she was just so happy to be looking upon his wakeful self. "Careful, love," she admonished as he raised himself to kiss her. She was going to tell him he had a few cracked ribs, but he was a fellow on a clear mission and it would not be mission accomplished until lips... his... met lips... hers. Who was she to stand in the way of the boy's mission critical success? A willing participant, that is who.
When their lips reluctantly parted, he wanted to know where he was. "Simon, you are at St. Mungo's, love. Do you not remember coming in last night with Aunt Maggie?" She was bothered that he did not seem to remember, but he had also been drugged. She was hoping that as the pain medication wore off his memory would become less fogged. AngelFyre stood up and gently supported his torso as he leaned back down.
Leaning over him and kissing his forehead, she hovered over him momentarily as her hair fell across his shoulder and neck. Then she sat down next to him once again, but on the mattress and not the chair. "Adrian brought you home last night, love. You were not due back for a few more days, so it was a surprise, and a bit of a fright to Aunt Maggie," and AngelFyre grinned at him.
Her grin evaporated as she continued. "Both you and Adrian were not very forthcoming about what happened to you. After he left, you asked Aunt Maggie to bring you here, saying you did not want Adrian to know of your magic." She kept a lock on his eyes for any sign of anything that would give her a read on just what the heck was going on here and what happened to her fellow. "You were checked in and treated for a couple of fractured ribs. Lucky you. You got a dose of of that ever so tasty Skele-gro. But also lucky you, they gave you something to sleep so you would miss the pain of bone regrowth, or most of it anyway." Again she reached over and brushed his hair back with her fingers, her eyes never leaving his. "Per Aunt Maggie, you drifted to sleep at about 3:30 a.m., and it is now 11:45 a.m."
She brought his hand up to hers and kissed first the back of it and then opened it up to kiss his palm again and again. She closed her eyes. It was the first time she had broken eye contact with him since their kiss some minutes earlier. "How are you feeling, love?" is what she asked aloud when she finally opened her eyes and met his h0ney-cinnamon gaze again, but 'What the bloody blazes happened?!?!?' is what her eyes silently begged to know from him.
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The magic is real.
22 Dec 2023, 16:06
You Better Mend Your Ways
Glad to have @AngelFyre McCubbin by his side
Christmas in London
Leaving to visit his father
Waking up in an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar person
The pain
The walking, all the walking, to find his father's place
Traveling back to London
Arriving at St Mungo's
A thousand thoughts and ideas swirled through his mind at once and sort of morphed together, but the more he began to wake, the more they began to separate and make more sense - at least, what sense he could make from it all. Reality was a bit of a foreign concept to him as of late.
What did come through quite clearly was that 1) he was delighted to see his girlfriend and 2) he felt absolutely no pain. Both were nice.
Simon could feel AngelFyre watching him closely, as if wanting to know anything and everything all at once. Sometimes he felt her being a seer was absolutely perfect for her because she was always searching out the world's truths all at once and maybe it helped offer her some insight that others didn't gain access too. Still, there were many discoveries and mysteries to uncover but that was what they would do through their lives together and through their faith.
"No, I remember now..." he answered her first question - the one where she expressed concern in wondering if he remembered what happened. "Aunt Maggie threatened to attack us with a book when she was unsure who her unexpected intruders were at such a late hour," and he smiled; the concept of his aunt attacking anyone was one that never would likely transpire. Although, she did harbor quite the dissatisfaction for his father.
"I'm feeling...." he paused to think as he turned, just slightly to the left and then slightly to the right; his torso moving in the process and there was not even the smallest bit of pain. "I'm feeling just fine. Maybe a little hazy from the deep sleep but otherwise I'm feeling well." That wasn't something he could have said for the past - ....how long had it been? Days? A week? Well, there was a duration of time in his recent past that he couldn't have said he was feeling well at all as he had been in immense pain. None of that was felt anymore though thanks to the magical healing world. Oh, how he loved it now more than ever.
"We didn't think we'd get to see each other this Christmas break, but I came through, huh?" he teased, that big smile on his face hat he so often had came clearly across his lips. He was only teasing though and trying to lighten the situation - never would he want to worry her and he felt he caused a lot of worry to both her and to his Aunt Maggie.
Be kind to one another. (*iNPC is Miles Thatcher)
31 Dec 2023, 14:07
You Better Mend Your Ways
Happy New Year @Simon Kincaid
New Year's Day, 2024
She blinked a couple of times, slowly, knowing he was trying to comfort her by making light of the situation, so she decided to go along with it, and put on her own smile and nodded in agreement. "That you did, love. That you did."
He would tell her, or not, about what had happened. She was not going to push. She would continue to keep everything all stuffed up inside because what other choice was there, really, that did not lead to tension? She was grateful Simon was home and he was safe. That was the most important thing. She could surely find a way to make peace with her inner chaos later. She was becoming an expert at it quite honestly. When out of his presence, she would face it then, in her AngelFyre fashion... which was to say... overthink it. Worry about it. Worry about him.
Planting her smile on while stroking his hand, she leaned down and pecked his lips once and started to pull away, making it about halfway back up before closing her eyes and bending back down with more urgency to really kiss him. The kiss felt so right and yet everything else just felt so wrong.
When the kiss came to its end, she tapped her forehead to his as he so very often did with her and then she lifted all the way back up. "Hey! Happy New Year, you. Can you believe it is 2024? Time. It went by so quickly, yeah," she marveled a little wistfully.
Liar. This past week has felt like eons and you know it.
Yet at the same time it was astonishing to her that the two had been a part of each other's lives just shy of two years now. How was that even possible?
"Have you even pondered a New Year's resolution? Those are not like birthday wishes you know," and she chortled a bit as she raised an eyebrow at him and raised her index finger, signalling an admonishment and effectively cutting him off at the pass before he could tell her that disclosing such things would render them null and void. "You can share them and still see their fruits ripen. I have it on the best authority," and she nodded most emphatically at him, her blues eyes twinkling.
"A leprechaun told me. Or wait. Maybe it was Father Time. No, no, no. I remember now. It was Baby New Year."
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The magic is real.
31 Dec 2023, 15:50
You Better Mend Your Ways
Revealing the hazy truth to @AngelFyre McCubbin
"Baby New Year, huh?" Simon said as he thought over that concept. "Do we get a new Baby New Year each year or does poor Baby New Year have to get a year younger and start over every year?" and when Simon realized he was merely talking about some concept or characterization more than an actual being he just smiled. Okay, so maybe there was still a bit of haze from it all - whether the experience as a whole, too much sleep, or some of the medicines.
"New Year's already," he started to shake his head, not believing it was already upon him. He really hadn't given too much thought to resolutions and while they could sometimes seem silly, that didn't mean they had to be. There was never anything wrong with some high hopes and planning.
"Oh good, you're awake! Let's have a look over at you, shall we?" the nurse shuffled in. AngelFyre eased back to the chair near the bed as the woman came to his side, first and foremost taking her hand against his forehead and tilted his head from one side and then to the other, examining it. "Still no bite marks it seems." Simon now remembered her well - she was quite overly concerned that he had been amongst vampires.
"He claims he wasn't attacked, but with ribs broken like that....." she paused and moved aside to now press against his upper torso, waiting to see if any of her pressure caused pain but it no longer did. "Whoever thought to put that concoction of ingredients on you certainly helped prevent infection." She moved the gown now so she could gain access to the side of his chest. She grabbed some oddly shaped scissors from the tray that she had brought in and began to cut off the old bandage swiftly. This nurse may have hated vampires with a passion but she also seemed to know her job like clockwork.
"Our potions department revealed it contained a variety of ingredients including achillea, aloe vera, turmeric, althaea officinalis, calendula officinalis, chamomile, Inula, pine, and honey. A rather odd sort of mixture and one they haven't seen before but quite effective. Are vampires trying to show up the wizarding medical community?"
She asked this as she began to place a fresh bandage over the area after examining it but she didn't wrap it around him, only took her wand and used a spell that even he knew - the bandaging spell.
"No, she wasn't a vampire," he said and realized now that he had made mention aloud a detail of what he happened; or rather; what he recalled happened. ...Which was it? That was something he wasn't too clear on. Obviously though there might be some validity to his recollections if he remembered Clara and her helping him, and now there seemed to be physical evidence of such in the "potion" that she had used. He remembered her grinding up and mixing various plants and herbs into a sticky sort of substance.
He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as the nurse began to gather the things onto the tray. If all that was real, then - what was it? What had happened? Who was Clara and where was she from and how did he get there?
"You're healing nicely. Later a healer will be by and check on you. I don't expect you'll be in here too much longer. I'll leave you to your company," she said and smiled over to AngelFyre before taking leave, taking her things with her.
Simon adjusted a little on the bed because of how the bandage felt, although it wasn't uncomfortable, he just needed to shift his position a little.
It was quiet. Simon already had gotten that 'what-the-heck-happened' sort of feel from AngelFyre before the nurse came in and he felt it stronger than ever after his statement.
"So uhh... I don't really know how to uhh, how to uhh, describe what happened," he said truthfully. "I was to visit my father but we didn't get in a visit. By the time I got to the castle, I was asking to go back to London. I was there less than an hour's time. Apparently...for days, I uhh, was elsewhere." He knew he already was starting to not make sense. He couldn't make it make sense because it still didn't make sense to him.
"I woke up in this little building of sorts, like, one of those really little tiny homes or something. It was about the size of a shed and it had a door and a window, a bed and a fireplace sort of stove. Not much else. It had a dirt floor and stone walls and a thatched roof. And there was a girl there who seemed around our age and she spoke in a language I don't know. She helped take care of me and made sure I got care. Her name was Clara and she was very protective and very caring and I don't think she wanted me to go when I went. I would have thought it was all a dream, or maybe that I was in some lesser developed country but when I left there I walked - I walked to my father's place so it couldn't have been too far - although it was quite a lot of walking."
Be kind to one another. (*iNPC is Miles Thatcher)
5 Jan 2024, 01:18
You Better Mend Your Ways
The Definition of Insanity, @Simon Kincaid
New Year's Day, 2024
Listening to her fellow ponder the idea of Baby New Year, AngelFyre felt the little curl of the smile upon her lips begin to spread. Simon had this innate ability to take frustrating moments... often moments when she was frustrated with him... and suck the oxygen right out of whatever had been frustrating her. It largely worked that way because yes, although the boy was loaded with a genuine, natural charm, she knew him well enough to know that it simply took him more time to get to wherever she wanted him to go when it came to opening up.
He had spent the majority of his life, before AngelFyre, "opening up" to his journal, and only occasionally to his friends or Aunt Maggie. He said the reason was because he had never wanted to burden anyone, and AngelFyre absolutely believed him there. That was just his sweet nature. But there was more to it, and maybe Simon had not been aware that it had even been happening. In releasing most of his pains, troubles, or frustrations to his journal, he had forgotten... or had never learned... how to do that with people, really. Her normally eloquent fellow would trip over his tongue or go radio silent generally in such moments when the tables were turned on him. It was kind of a revelation to the both of them that the boy who loves everyone and thirsts to know all about people was hindered from responding in kind.
But AngelFyre was not just "people". They both learned early on in their relationship, the hard way unfortunately, that even his rapid dhampir reflexes could not hold a candle to the Mach 10 speed with which she wanted him to be able to answer her at times. Patience had always been one of her very best virtues. It still was, honestly. Pushing and badgering him (yes, pun definitely intended) to answer her on her time schedule would have thrown water on their love affair at the get go. Simon would get where she needed him to be, eventually. He always had. And unless their lives were hanging in the balance on his ability to do so immediately, she was more than happy to give him the time and space he needed to get there. Wherever there happened to be. Her insight on this score had worked wonders for them. He had gotten so much better at it, and much quicker. Often she did not even have to ask him what she wanted to know because he had learned a thing or three thousand as well during their time together. Maybe Simon would leave this existence with his own PhD, only it would be in all things AngelFyre Afton (née McCubbin) Kincaid.
Then she really smiled.
"You, my handsome invalid, have just given me a great idea. What do you say I go ge- ...." and before she could finish her sentence, a nurse entered, noting with a good deal of satisfaction that Simon was awake. AngelFyre quickly squeezed his hand three times and moved back to the chair, giving the nurse the space she needed with her patient.
Because of the placement of the chair, AngelFyre could only see the back of the nurse. She could hear Simon well enough though. The nurse was a talkative sort. Very much so as it turned out. AngelFyre, of course, was being silent so that the nurse and Simon could speak about the things they needed to speak about, but her interest was piqued right out of the gate when the nurse immediately started looking for bite marks.
Bite marks?!?!? Chills ran down her spine. She was just sitting there but she swore the room began to spin a little bit as the nausea hit her.
The nurse moved to the side as she started some compressions on Simon's chest. AngelFyre now had a visual on her boy and could not help but wince a little bit, praying quickly the Skele-gro had done its job and he was not going to be hurt from the matter-of-fact nurse handling now taking place. But then... then came the coup de grâce. [1] She was learning for the first time that there was some injury beyond the broken ribs. Sure, she expected some swelling and some bruising, but not an open wound that had required care.
The room stopped spinning around her when she heard him speak. "No, she wasn't a vampire." She then heard the cracking of her neck as she rapidly looked directly at him.
She?
She?
Absent any hard facts prior to this point, AngelFyre had been operating under the working theory that Simon may have been concussed as well, possibly having suffered some amnesia or memory loss. Her one, overarching question since Aunt Maggie's call had been to wonder what happened? Now it was clear that was just part of the mystery. Maybe even the least interesting part. A new wrinkle had been revealed. Now she was also to wonder where the heck Simon had been if NOT with Adrian... and with whom?
She did not have to wonder long.
The nurse bandaged him up once again and informed him that a Healer would be in shortly. She then turned and smiled to AngelFyre who very quickly darted her eyes up to meet the woman's and nodded briefly, not smiling back, before fixing her gaze solidly back on Simon. Everything in her was raging and her mind was telling her to be quiet and to be still. Be quiet and be still. Good advice.
Please, God, help me take it.
Recognizing that her energy was more than a bit intense as Simon looked anywhere else in the room but at her, she sat back in the chair and looked down at the floor in silence. It took him a bit of time to settle himself and start speaking. He may have been looking at her. She had no way of knowing. She was counting floor tiles and doing everything in the world she could to calm down and to just listen.
When he did begin to speak, it was a tangled mess, but she got the gist of it. At least, as much as she felt he knew. One thing she knew was that she did not for an instant disbelieve him. Still, while there was a lot in the telling that should have made AngelFyre happy; none of it did. She continued to sit there and found she was getting more and more upset. Yes, she was blindly, stupidly upset with him, but that made her feel even worse because how was any of this his fault? He had been hurt. He had been cared for, and it was THAT part that made AngelFyre feel small and unworthy and unloving. She would repeat his words over and again in her mind for too long. Days? Weeks? Longer? Maybe.
"Her name was Clara... around our age...
...she was very protective and very caring...
I don't think she wanted me to go when I went. That one was the gut punch.
I did not want you to go when you went either, but.... Nice to know it registers when it is "Clara" that thinks it, she mind-screamed to herself.
AngelFyre continued to sit there, stupidly counting floor tiles, her anger burbling and occasionally threatening to pop to the surface before she would tamp it down. She wisely said absolutely not a word until she felt she could do so without crying.
God, was there a break coming at any point in her future where crying was not the main event? She was done. There were simply no more energy stores for the vampyric "daddy" Hawthorne and his nest and his indoctrination scheme for his very own crown prince. Funny how it never occurred to her to be more worried about the others Simon might come into contact with while there. And how naive not to think that any of them would be females his age.
And there it was! On full display in all of its wretched glory in her mind. Her jealousy. Patience was one of her great virtues. But her jealousy? Oh her jealousy was one of her greatest sins. She hated it, and she hated herself more than a little right in that moment. Worse was the fact that she knew if she had not spent the last 5 months absolutely broken-hearted and grieving and a shell of herself, none of this would be affecting her to the degree it was now, but she was depleted.
Uncharacteristically, she responded to nothing he had just told her. Truthfully, it was not even on her radar that she had not responded to any of it because she had mentally put it away... somewhere... for now... as a self-protection of sorts. She instead picked up the thread of the idea she had started in their earlier conversation, but had not finished because the nurse walked into the room. Getting up from her chair now, AngelFyre moved to the foot of his bed and stopped long enough to look at him and smile wanly.
"How would you like to go on a little ride?"
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[1]coup de grâce - deathblow
The magic is real.
5 Jan 2024, 14:20
You Better Mend Your Ways
Feeling slightly confused with @AngelFyre McCubbin
Simon neglected to tell his father about the whole Clara situation along with his injury for several reasons. He couldn't quite make sense of it, he wasn't sure on the details of all that happened, his vampire of a father seemed rather intolerant to a lot of things - including what would be his pain and suffering, and he just wanted to get back to London as quickly as possible; back in the loving care of those who he was certain had his best interest at heart.
Simon neglected to tell his Aunt Maggie about Clara. While he had come clean to her about being injured and the need to go to the wizarding hospital that luckily happened to be in their home city of London, he had left out the details that his mind kept telling him - details that seemed rather unbelievable and yet where steadfast and true each time he mulled it over. Still, he figured if he divulged such thoughts, Aunt Maggie would question whether he was thinking clearly.
And such was the reason he didn't reveal such information to the staff at St. Mungos. The most important piece of it all was that he was injured, that ribs were broken and he was wounded and they would fix the broken ribs and the wound - and they had. There was no reason to have them worry beyond his physical condition and begin to wonder about the status of his mental state.
But he wanted AngelFyre to know. They kept no secrets between one another and she needed to know so she could help him understand it. He rambled on, saying what he hoped was a coherent breakdown of what happened as she just sort of looked downward; hopefully trying to process it all. He waited, and when she finally got up from the chair and came back to his bedside, he was eager to hear her insight.
Only it didn't come.
Instead, it would seem she would disregard everything that had been communicated and it was brushed aside, as if ignored, while she asked his opinion on if he'd like to go for a ride.
A ride where? They were in St. Mungos. There wouldn't be a ride in a taxi or on a double decker bus. There'd be no Tube trip along the Underground, no bicycle ride, no broomstick ride. The ride itself didn't perplex him as much as her abandonment of his statement but if she was letting it go, he really had no choice but to do the same. He had reached and knew no other way to make his statement make sense so therefore he'd bury it.
Maybe it was all in his head anyway, somehow; even despite what the nurse had just said.
"Yea, that sounds great," he said, burying it down and setting his focus on just what she meant in referencing a ride. It set in that he was in a hospital, so obviously she probably meant the wheelchair that was in the corner of the room. Sometimes he lacked observational skills - he probably wouldn't make a good member of the Metropolitan Police Service, although he never had aspirations for such.
The nurse had said that the healer would be in 'shortly' but everyone knew that meant there would still be quite the wait. Magical hospitals were much like muggle hospitals in that sense and Simon didn't fault them - doctors and healers were quite busy and most likely had large workloads with lots of patients. At least with a magical hospital, there was quick healing. He didn't miss the pain he had felt with his injured ribs - not one bit. It was nice to be able to move again without pain and to be able to take in a deep breath without it.
Still, to be on the safe side, he got up slowly as he began to head over to that chair and as he sat down, he realized it was comfortable enough but nothing lavish. That's how St Mungos seemed to be and he didn't view it as a fault. Sometimes in the muggle world, they were trying to make things bigger and better for the mere sake of making things bigger and better. There wasn't an over-indulgence often in the wizarding world and they had magic to enhance some aspects of life, but still kept things old-wordly and traditional, the parts that made sense. Simon liked that simplicity factor when it came to the wizarding world.
He made his way across the room, and about to leave his hospital room for a short time and ready to leave his attempt at a conversation topic behind, Simon slowly eased himself into the chair.
Be kind to one another. (*iNPC is Miles Thatcher)
6 Jan 2024, 21:37
You Better Mend Your Ways
A Slower Than Normal Recovery @Simon Kincaid
New Year's Day, 2024
"Wait! No, Simon, love. I - ...." she paused momentarily as she watched her boyfriend get out of his hospital bed and ambulate over to the wheelchair and seat himself. As he made his way, AngelFyre noted that he seemed to do so pretty much as he normally would, just a little more slowly. There was little she saw in his movement to indicate any physical pain or discomfort and for that she was exceedingly grateful. His emotional pain was another story. She finished, too late, what she was in the midst of saying as he looked up at her with none of his usual playfulness or anticipation to know what his girl had in mind. "I would have been happy to wheel it over to you," she said barely above a whisper.
The tension between the two was thick and AngelFyre hated it. Simon did not seem angry, which she probably would have preferred. His anger she had always been able to deal with, mainly because on the rare occasions she had seen him angry, it had not been directed at her. Or more precisely, she had not been the cause of his anger. But this? This was far worse. This was Simon disappointed and confused, and there was little doubt in her mind that she was the cause of both.
All of sudden her idea of a fun little excursion just seemed stupid and pointless. She could tell he was going along just to go along, so not knowing what else to do, as everything she quickly thought to say or do would likely make things worse, she left the foot of his bed and moved over to where he sat. The wheelchair had been sitting out of the way, in a corner, and when AngelFyre reached him, there was no room for her to get behind him. She positioned herself directly in front of him and bent down, reaching towards the metal bars just below his hand rests so that she could pull him out of the corner. As her hands made contact with the cold metal rather than his cold hands, hot tears rimmed her waterline and she slowly looked up at him.
"I am doing my best, love. I really am. I am having a hard time with absolutely everything right now and do not know how to deal with anything you just told me. All I know is that you are okay and we are together and I need that to be enough for the both of us right now. Can it be? Can it be just that with a promise of more to come later?" She felt exhausted and like a live wire at the same time. Tired and dangerous.
"I love you so much and having to face your disappointment in me right me now is honestly more than I think I can handle." She felt wobbly. Fearing if she did not do it then she would not be able to at all, she gave a good tug and freed Simon and the chair from the corner... barely. It was surprisingly heavy and not an easy glide.
St. Mungos might have held a certain charm for her if she had been there for any other reason than Simon having been hurt, but in that moment, the antiquated wheelchair gave her a Crimean War/Florence Nightingale kind of vibe. Simon was not heavy. She was not weak. But the chair was made of wood more than it was made of metal, so it was not as light as what she was used to. At first she thought the brake might be on, but nope. No brake to put on. It crossed her mind to say a prayer that she hoped that was not a metaphor for the rest of their time together.
She could do this. There had to be a smile for them somewhere in this place, and she did have a destination in mind. She was determined to see her boy's disappointment evaporate, even if it meant she did nothing but pop wheelies with him in front of the nurse's station.
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The magic is real.