RP: I do not 'Do' humility well, so here...sorry

[pb_pansy]

Characters: Rabastan Lestrange, Pansy Parkinson, Rodolphus Lestrange
Location: Tony's Lestrange Flat
Date: January 16, 2000
Status/Warning: Private/swearing
Summary: Pansy knew she'd acted the spoiled child and was trying to apologize...sort of
Completion: complete

Comments

[pb_pansy]

She looked from one brother to the other, speculating what had occurred behind closed doors. They were both...too cool, too altered from where they had been when they had stormed out of the room. Her stomach was now doing huge flip-flops and she knew she was going to be ill.

"Tea, Mr. Lestrange? Or are you sticking with your brandy?" and she moved to put her feet on the floor, her face still remaining very smooth and not revealing the turmoil that she felt internally, "I take it that I am allowed to excuse myself for a moment?" and she moved to stand and stretch slightly, feeling cramped in the chair. She paused, her hand on her wand as she watched the bird with Rodolphus, and she moved to head to the guest bathroom, to check her face and probably be ill.

She barely made it as her emotions had poured out of her, once her back was to them, and she had the thin barrier at best between them. She rushed to the toilet and was ill, losing her tea, and the part of the treat she'd nibbled. She stepped back, glad that she'd made little noise in her efforts and she leaned against the wall. Being here, and standing up to the two men out in the living room was one of the bravest things she'd done, she thought, and one of the most fool hearty. She should not have come. They weren't going to kill her; of that, she felt more assured because she thought if they were, she'd be dead by now. And they weren't taking her memories, and of that, she was equally glad. She did wonder what they had said, and what they had planned.

She clung to the hope that Rabastan, as he had demonstrated earlier in their associations, would shield her or even protect her, in the worst case scenario. Even his slightly rough handling of her had been minor. She looked at her reflection, and checked under the sink for a new toothbrush and paste, and cleaned her teeth and her mouth. Satisfied, and feeling better that she was going to be okay from this experience, she opened the door to rejoin the Lestranges.

[pb_rabastan]

The moment the bathroom door closed behind her, Rabastan's face hardened. Rodolphus was leaving him to apologise and that just grated on his nerves. What the hell was she doing, anyway? She couldn't Apparate from anywhere inside the flat and there were no windows in the bathroom to help her escape. The sheer number of floors between them and the ground should have been enough to deter her from that anyway. Unless she was that desperate to get away from them.

"Miss Parkinson brought these too, sir," Till grasped the cognac, cigars and chocolate, holding them up as high as she possibly could so he wouldn't have to reach. A glance at the other presents and the house elf hammered home the fact that, with the exception of Midian, all the females in his life knew him too damn well. He relieved Till of her burden with a nod of almost-gratitude and set them down on the coffee table.

Well, he was a man of simple tastes. And Pansy's attempt at finding her way back into his good books might have actually worked had Rod not been here. The words 'poor' and 'wench' drifted across his thoughts, impossibly strung together until he heard the door open again and he automatically rose to his feet because that's what gentlemen did when ladies entered the room.

"Are you alright?" The question hardly sounded sympathetic, but then nothing about Rabastan did until the subject struck far too close to home. Which it never did. At least he'd asked -- and he was a little curious.

[pb_rodolphus]

Rodolphus as a rule did not react well to sudden movement. Much like a feral animal, what Pansy said didn't so much register as how she said it--thankfully he was good enough at reading body language to know that she had been only momentarily ill. One so adept at torture had to know when someone was going to break, and for 'Miss Parkinson' it hadn't taken much.
She
He didn't stand but offered a taught smile when she returned to the living room. Curious to watch his brother--if he so much attempted kindness towards the silly twit at this point Bellatrix would be frothing and he didn't need that again--Rod hung back, poured a cup of tea instead of brandy.

He cast Rabastan a single look that expressed his entire thought on letting his older brother apologize. He wasn't the reason the girl was involved in the first place and couldn't be held accountable. She probably thought he was mad enough at this point anyway where much could be wordlessly forgiven as it was.

[pb_pansy]

Pansy nodded, "Better, yes, thank you for asking," and she automatically went back to the seat she'd been directed to take, without being sure where else she could sit. If it had been just her and Rabastan she would have preferred to sit on the couch, close to him, to confirm that he was not too cross with her by a touch or by his proximity. As it was, he was not so very far from her, but it seemed miles.

She poured herself more tea, and took yet another roll, feeling better. She tried not to look at Rodolphus too much, with his bird on his shoulder. She wasn't sure what she should say, and sat quietly for a few long minutes, politely sipping her drink. After an exaggerated silence, she moved her cup to the table, "I think I should go now. Obviously, I have picked a more awkward time to visit. I can come back a different time, perhaps, one when I am not interrupting important conversations," and she moved to rise, "Of course, enjoy the baked goods. My house-elf can fetch the container another time."

[pb_rabastan]

This was infinitely easier as long as he ignored Rodolphus but kept an eye on the owl, he realised.

"Come now, there's a whole pot of tea left," Rabastan said as he stood, rolling up his sleeves to reveal tattoos he had rendered lifeless." Unless you would rather have something stronger," he gestured to the bottle of cognac with a raised eyebrow that signalled he would be watching how much she drank this time. "And, I'm afraid, unless Rodolphus is in need of a sugar fix, the chocolates are lost on us. I don't have a sweet tooth." When it comes to food.

"In the very least, give us--" Me. "--a chance to explain that fiasco."

And so help him, if Rod burst in now with something absurd he would curse his brother into next year. He had never drawn his wand on his brother in anger and he wasn't going to start over a woman.

[pb_rodolphus]

This, Rodolphus smirked to himself, was comic theater at it's finest. The fact that she'd lost her nerve so quickly was a bad sign for potentially living in close quarters but if necessary he'd sleep on Nessy's bridge with Midian. He felt better being closer to the helm anyway.

Catching the aura for perturbation radiating from Rabastan, Rod helped himself to the cognac as an attempt at good will, not missing the look his brother had given her. That was the funny thing about screwing with someone's head--particularly a woman's--they fell for the 'good guy' 'bad guy' routine as if it were expected of them. The only difference from the brother's end was that this would not end in torture.

The thought made him a little sad, truth be told.

[pb_pansy]

She stopped, and her eyes narrowed slightly, "First you both are adamant that I leave, and now you want me to stay?" and she looked into his face, glancing at his brother only to acknowledge him for fear of pissing him off again and sending him into some kind of rage. She couldn't read Rabastan's expression; he always seemed to wear this slighlty indifferent look that actually put her at ease. It was easier to be around someone who seemed fairly relaxed and unemotionally involved in most situations, and now seemed no difference.

But she stayed standing, "You don't have to explain yourself to me, Rabastan. You haven't so far since I have known you. I don't need any justifications or explanations from you, about anything," and she frowned slightly, "I told you from the first that you had my help, no questions asked. That hasn't changed," and at this she did look at Rodolphus, "Even with the arrival of family," and she turned back to him, "This is my fault for barging in here, you said as much, and making assumptions and being presumptuous. Just let me go, so that you two can continue as if I were never here."

The idea did disappoint her slightly, but the other brother clearly did not want her there, and she was aware enough to know the her presence was causing tension. She had thought at first that Rodolphus would differ to his older one; that had NOT happened in the least. Her time sitting alone, waiting for them to come out of their private conversation had proved to her that she had stumbled into something not so savory As long as they realized she would not reveal their presence here, she thought they would let her leave; surly Rabastan realized that in revealing him, she jeopardized herself, by setting him up here in her old manager's suite.

[pb_rabastan]

"I don't recall asking you to leave," Rabastan stated. If he had, it had been conveniently removed from his memory. "I only insisted you listen to me. And you needn't stay if you truly don't want to, but I locked the door when you first came in and I don't remember which spell I used." That, at least, was true.

"True, and I don't make a habit of explaining myself even when asked," he admitted, moving to pour her another cup of tea and effectively putting himself between her and the door. "However, some explanations serve well as future references. For instance, angering one Lestrange tends to anger--" All three. "--both. And fighting amongst ourselves only makes our tempers worse." It wasn't strictly true; he could remember plenty of times one of them had lost their cool and the other had remained unaffected, but she didn't need to know that. The information had been offered of his own free will; a confession, of sorts. Albeit a false one. Still, it had to mean something, to her, at least.

Carefully placing the tea on the coffee table in front of her, he straightened and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Parkinson, please take a seat. Any seat; there is more to the lounge than just that chair."

[pb_rodolphus]

"It's an unfortunate side effect of siblings," Rodolphus drawled, careful about when to chime in and how. "You strike me as someone not...blessed...with such experiences." Like it or not, until they were safe on the water again, it would do well for Rod to attempt to regain some ability to socialize. The brothers had never quite kept to themselves but Rodolphus at least had been a rather insular creature, keeping to a select group of people he cared for and trusted.

He supposed there was some irony to pretending to form new connections before watching the world burn.

Rodolphus drank his cognac and stroked Midian's feather's absently. It would take a lot to train the bird into not threatening Parkinson for sport, but she had been far, far more feral in the past. Adjustments could be made.

[pb_pansy]

Pansy stood, and was surprised as he offered her tea. She should have been suspicious, but it fit in with some of the gallantry he'd offered her in the past. Her resolve to leave was slipping, and it was his hand on her shoulder that sort of unhinged her drive to go.

She melted slightly inside, and if they had been alone....well never mind NONE of this would have occurred the way it had if they'd been alone. If they had been alone, she would have put her hand over his. She'd probably have pressed her face to his hand to show her affection for him, but this was not something she was going to do in front of his brother. It had already been difficult enough, the accusation that she was his illegitimate daughter. That had to smart a bit.

She didn't even much pay attention that the door was locked, she didn't want to move, and walk away from his hand touching her. She turned to Rodolphus now, and gave a small nod, "You are right. I do not have any siblings," and she stopped, not wanting to say too much to the volatile man. She turned back to Rabastan, "I'll stay. I'll listen, and do as you ask, I promise Rabastan. Please, you should call me Pansy," and she turned to look at Rodolpus, "As should you, Mr. Lestrange."

[pb_rabastan]

"Some would say being an only child is a blessing," Rabastan remarked with a faint smirk, the comment being directed entirely at his brother. That said, only having one child was indeed unfortunate if that child was a daughter, and some families seemed to stockpile offspring even once they had their son. The heir and the spare, as their parents had said far too many times before.

And she had yielded so easily. That would have been disappointing if he hadn't been aware how her temper could push her back the other way again and he needed to keep her this compliant. "Pansy," he squeezed her shoulder slightly deliberately holding eye contact when she turned back, "Sit down. Cigarette?"

He turned to Rodolphus long enough to arch an eyebrow, "Are you going to hog the cognac?"