(Untitled)

[sean_brightwell]

Week Name/Date/Time: 'Settling Down' / Tuesday, November 22nd / 7:03 PM
Location: Outside Great Hall
Open to: Emmy
Currently involving: Sean

Comments

[sean_brightwell]

"Ah, well, there's a story t' everything if ye think about it," Sean said with a grin; as far as he was concerned anyway, there was always a story to be told, whether someone was listening or not. "'Tis sorta funny, actually," he began and then realised that - HEY! He was the one asking the questions here! She could bat her eyelashes and look cute all she wanted! He was immune to that right now!

Except he completely wasn't, so he made sure to not look at her directly. He was a complete pushover when his own sisters pulled that thing, and it seemed he was even more of a pushover when it came to Nate's sister. "Well," he said gruffly, as though he had lots of resolve, "yoooou can answer th' questions I've got, an' then I'll answer th' ones yooou've got, aye?"

Never mind that her questions had to do with clown noses and his were a little more severe than that. He felt a little guilty when he saw her wince. She was probably getting sick of talking about it or maybe she was even sick of thinking about it, but well, so was he -- in the sense that he'd been worried sick and it would be nice to be able to assuage his concern.

Sighing in relief when she seemed all right talking about it, he nodded. "Well. For starters... I mean, Emmy. I jes' can't understand why you'd speak up for him! I mean--" His tone was pleading, rather than accusing, and he looked genuinely confused. He wasn't about to get upset with her over anything, but he did want to understand. "So, like yeah. Why?"

[emogen_ackart]

Emmy giggled, "True, but this one sounds especially interesting!" she beamed at him, hoping it would serve to distract him entirely.

But then he was looking away and sounding gruff, and she drooped a bit, resigning herself to whatever unpleasantness might come of it, "All right, I suppose I can do that. But I will get that story out of you yet!" she smiled at him a bit deviously.

She was rather sick of talking and thinking about the whole bloody mess, but she couldn't very well expect everyone to just forget about it. She could hope they would, but she knew better than to believe it. She knew all the questions and worry were all only because they cared about her and that no one was intentionally trying to make her feel miserable, but it didn't seem to help much to know it.

She smiled just slightly at his tone; at least he didn't sound angry with her for it. He was only trying to understand. She didn't feel quite so defensive as she had been lately. She bit her lip, "I... I don't have any completely solid answers for that, Sean. I... Just. Well, he was very kind to me and as far as I can tell, he did the best he could to help me. And... I can't bear the thought of someone going to... Azkaban or... because of me. I just... I can't deal with that," she sighed heavily, looking down at her feet, "Maybe I'm a coward. Maybe I'm stupid, but I couldn't live with that. I suppose I don't really have any good defense at all. I'm sorry."

She felt completely useless and incapable of these sorts of conversations anymore. So instead, she stood there staring sheepishly at her shoes and wondering how long it would be before Sean was upset with her for being too trusting and risking letting someone else get hurt because she'd been lucky and Armand had been kind to her, possibly because she was pretty and pureblood and for no other reason at all. Oh, she didn't want to think about it anymore! No matter what, it led her to thoughts she didn't want.

[sean_brightwell]

"But--" Sean protested immediately, and then managed to spare a glance over at Emmy. Oh no. For a brief moment, Sean felt like he might die. His face fell and his stomach twisted and he just felt awful.

Stopping shortly, he put his hand on Emmy's shoulder and turned her toward him. "No, no, look. Ye aren't a coward and ye certainly aren't stupid. If ye thought it were th' right thing t' do, then it were th' right thing t' do. Simple as that." He smiled at her, but his eyes were serious, making sure she got the message: he trusted her judgment, no matter what.

"An' don' be sorry, Emmy, honestly," he went on, shaking his head, the slightest bit exasperated. "It's jes' that... well, I was all worried... an', well, look." He wet his lips, looking serious. "I don' say this about a whole lot of people, but Preston Victore is... well, he's a right git, ain't he? An' I wouldn't be surprised if his father were exactly th' same, y'know?"

Dropping his hand back down by his side, Sean sighed. But that wasn't the point, was it? The point was that Emmy was back and she was all right for the most part, and more importantly -- he trusted her. "I jes' want ye t' be sure," he finished quietly.

[emogen_ackart]

As Sean turned her, Emmy complied willingly, looking up at him with a confused, sheepish expression. She felt horrible to make people worry about her, or make them feel... well, the way he must feel to be looking at her like that. She tried to smile, nodding at his words, though she didn't honestly buy all of it. She appreciated that he had faith in her; he had more of it than she had in herself, that much was certain. Sean's faith made her feel slightly less daft to have made the choice she did. She was grateful to him for that, at least.

Emmy didn't know very much about Preston Victore. She tended to ignore most things said about him; she just simply hadn't heard anything interesting and he'd never done anything to her specifically, so she let all the rumours and stories about him go by, paying them little mind. All she had to go on was Armand's behaviour to her, and that had been faultless. He'd seemed so sad and he'd been as generous as he could. She couldn't fault him for wanting to keep himself and his family safe, after all. What would anyone else have done in the same situation he'd been placed in?

She shrugged, "I don't know much about Preston, Sean. I don't really listen to the sort of things people always say, you know? And he's never done anything to me, particularly. Maybe he is a git. But I don't think that makes his father one, too. At least not what I saw of Ar--Mr. Victore," she blushed as she stumbled over the name. It seemed people didn't much like it when she used his given name. It did seem improper now, though she couldn't help what she called him in her mind.

She glanced up at him again and smiled, "Oh, Sean!" she couldn't seem to find anything more useful to say. 'Thank you' just didn't seem to quite cover it. So instead, she reached up as best she could and tried to hug him. She felt a little silly, seeing as he was a full foot taller than her, but it was the only way she could show quite how much she appreciated his response and his caring for her. She'd have to remember to owl Nate and tell him he needn't worry so much about her since Sean was still around to look after her.

Finally, she let go and grinned up at him, "Now. Any more questions or is it my turn? I do so want to hear about this clown nose incident!" She batted her lashes again, looking as cute and sweet as she could. Really, a clown nose? It was much too much for her to not be dying to hear more!

[sean_brightwell]

What Emmy perhaps didn't realise was how completely and utterly impossible it was for people who adored her the way Sean did to not worry about her. It was just how things went. And of course, if he had any idea how little the faith she had in herself was, he would've tried to make her feel better and probably done an awful job of it as it was difficult to explain just what made him trust her judgment.

And, especially in that moment, Emmy seemed like a better person that he could ever be, so maybe that was why he had so much faith in her. Scratching the back of his neck, Sean smiled sheepishly. "Er, well, I s'pose it is sorta wrong t' judge him jes' on his son's behaviour," he admitted. Of course, he'd assumed Preston had learned it all from his father, but, well... that wasn't really fair, was it?

Nothing in the world could've stopped him from returning her smile, and when she went to hug him, he tried to make things a bit easier by bending down a bit. After all, she was tiny. "All right," he said with a grin, patting her on the back. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

And this time, he was really not immune to the cute thing. As she pulled away, he bit his lip and shook his head. "All right, all right then. Jes' so happens I was hangin' about with Adelaide Adams," he said, and then paused because he was doing that thing where he was smiling and couldn't stop himself. Which was somewhat annoying. And a little worrying. "An', um... well, we tried t' do a clonin' spell on a clown nose? So we could have two? Only, didn't exactly work. An' the clown nose ended up replacin' me real nose and..." He flailed his arms about haphazardly. "MAYHEM ensued."

He, of course, did not need to explain why they were playing around with clown noses in the first place, as that was self-explanatory, wasn't it?

[emogen_ackart]

Emmy grinned up at Sean as their hug finished, quite glad to have a mate like him around, "I suppose not. Thanks, Sean. You're a grand mate. Don't know what I'd do without you," she beamed at him, then settled in to hear his story about the clown nose. She could hardly wait, honestly!

Oh, Addy, was it? Hmm... Emmy was starting to wonder things about those two. Not that she would mind if there was anything there, because Addy and Sean were two of her dearest friends and if they could be happy together? Well, all the better for Emmy! The smile on Sean's face at Addy's name definitely encouraged her to suspect things of them. Interesting, indeed! She grinned herself, excited to hear more.

She laughed as he waved his arms about and generally looked silly, "Oh Merlin, you two! Replaced your real nose!? Goodness! But... Sean? Why on earth would you want to have two of them? I mean... clown noses? How in the world did such an idea come to you in the first place, hmm?" she narrowed her eyes up at him in curiosity. Oh, there was more to this story yet told, certainly and she wanted all of it! She smiled at him, but it was a determined, 'don't try to leave things out to me!' sort of smile.

[sean_brightwell]

"Ah, well," Sean shrugged, tugging at Emmy's hair affectionately and grinning. "Dunno what I'd do without ye either, so let's jes' keep it unknown, aye?" He tipped his head sagely as though to declare 'Aren't I just full of wise words?'

Her question made him blink a little because, really, how did you explain the importance and usefulness of clown noses? Not to mention the general fun and merriment? Sean opened his mouth briefly to reply and then closed it. Huh. "Well," he said abruptly. "Clown noses. Y'know. I mean, y'know, she was wearin' one, Addy was, an'... well, I don' know why she was? But she's Addy, ye don' really ask questions, do ye? So, I'm certainly not about to let a girl go off an' wear a clown nose by herself, am I?"

He shook his head in the interim while he took a breath; clearly, a true gentleman would never allow a girl to wear a clown nose all by her lonesome. "So, we thought we'd clone 'em so we could have two and join the circus together, only we haven't done that. Yet."

[emogen_ackart]

Emmy beamed up at him, "I think that's best, to be sure!" she giggled as he tugged on her hair and looked adorably silly while trying to seem deep and ponderous. Yes, she would be very happy to keep such an unpleasant thing in the unknown category. Life without Sean Brightwell? Most certainly not!

Emmy tilted her head and quirked an eyebrow, "She was wearing one?" Oh Merlin, what on earth was Addy up to now? Emmy giggled, "I suppose you don't. Addy's too Addy for that," she winked, "Right good of you, too. Quite a gentleman, Sean!" she smiled at him. She wondered how she could help this along, yes. Certainly. She decided that she must get Addy and Sean together more often!

She frowned slightly, "Running off to the circus? I'm not so sure I like that! I think I'd miss you both quite a lot!" she pouted at him and tried to look as horribly sad at the idea as possible. Though it was rather hard, as she kept having to smother the giggles that threatened. Really, the whole idea was preposterous, but quite Sean and Addy sounding. She did adore them both so very much.