Breaking the News. {Theresa} on Labyrinth Gardens

Cepheus Princeton

July 01, 2014 3:44 PM

Breaking the News. {Theresa} by Cepheus Princeton

This conversation was not one Cepheus was looking forward to having. He had never ended a relationship with a witch before, particularly with one he still fancied, which he did. Fancy her, that is. And it wasn't exactly a situation he had chosen to put himself in; betrothals were none of his business, and whatever his grandfather ordered him Cepheus was forced to do. Theresa had to understand that. He and Theresa had only hoped at the beginning of their relationship for some sort of freedom to be public with their feelings for each other, and that came with Megan returning to England for whatever reason and Scorpius deciding to sever the engagement. Only now Ceph had been slipped back into another betrothal and this one he found he didn't mind nearly as much.

There was no easy way to break the news and Ceph had been brooding on this subject for days. He'd tried to distance himself from Theresa at the beginning of this term, but it was difficult to keep this piece of vital information to himself. She would find out soon enough, and it would be much better heard from his mouth than from anyone else's. Cepheus had stopped her after class just yesterday to ask her to meet him in the gardens today.

Now it was Friday afternoon, classes were finished and Ceph still had no idea of what he was going to say to her. I'm sorry? It's not you? Blame my grandfather and this pure-blood system? All true, but not enough to mitigate the inevitable pain. Half of him was afraid of her reaction and the retribution that would follow. As long as she didn't threaten his humanity and manhood, he wanted to keep a cordial relationship with her, at least.

Cepheus did feel sorry for her; he knew of her woes as the middle child, surrounded by brothers who were allowed to exercise freedom that she could not. And he still fancied her, he did. Just not enough to cause an uproar in his family. There was a little part of him that wondered whether or not he ought to have pushed harder for his family to align themselves with the Careys. If her position had been switched with Megan's, would he have disliked her as equally? It was ludicrous, imagining that, and Ceph had enough on his brain already. He stopped his pacing, took a breath and sat down on the bench inside the labyrinth. It was a spot they had met many times before and he was confident Theresa would find him with ease.

He ran a hand through his fair hair and sighed. When he heard footsteps, Ceph combed his hair with his fingers to pat down whatever stray hairs had been mussed in his anxiety. He stood and smiled when he saw his girlfriend. “Afternoon,” he said simply, approaching to kiss her in greeting.

40 Cepheus Princeton Breaking the News. {Theresa} 216 Cepheus Princeton 1 5

Theresa Carey

July 04, 2014 12:01 PM

I wish you wouldn't by Theresa Carey

Theresa had, of course, noticed that Cepheus had been distant, but she had attributed it to the strange, unbalanced feeling school had had for her since they came back and found themselves once again under normal routines. She’d assumed Alicia was having trouble adjusting to her sudden drop in status and was leaning on her friends – a group Theresa still didn’t, even after three years, feel like she was really part of. Alicia was kind enough to her, but Theresa strongly suspected that if she ever did anything like object to any aspect of the other girl’s relationship with Cepheus, she’d find herself out of the orbit of Thaddeus and Alicia’s clique – including Cepheus – before she knew what hit her, unless she could somehow convince Thaddeus that it was untoward for his girl to be so close to another guy, and having that long of a personal conversation with him was not a thing Theresa wanted to do. From what Alex had told her about what had gone on behind the scenes that first day, Alicia had reacted first, in public, but Thaddeus was the one who had really gotten things under control, and Alicia deferred to him. Something about them both made Theresa a little nervous, but Thaddeus even more than Alicia.

Whatever went on inside that group that Theresa didn’t know about, anyway, she had felt a little injured to be ignored so, and had worn the necklace Jorge sent her a few times in the hopes of provoking some jealousy, but she hadn’t complained. She was, after all, completely sure that Cepheus was not running around on her with Alicia by now – that, as unlikely as it was, the two of them didn’t even seem to really register each other as attractive people, any more than she did so with her better-looking cousins – so when he asked for a date, she agreed with a smile and a quick kiss, assuming that things were going to go back to normal, once he got a bit of apologetic groveling out of the way.

She had a good idea of where Cepheus wanted to meet in the Gardens, one of the spots she thought of as theirs, and smiled when she found him there, resisting the urge to fiddle with her bracelet. She had left the necklace in her room, not wanting to answer questions about it now that he was no longer making her a little jealous, but had one of her nicer everyday dresses and had done her hair extra-prettily for the occasion.

“Hi,” she said, kissing him back. “Finally remember that I didn’t disappear when the clouds did?” she asked, but made it light, teasing; she didn’t want to fight, just to let him know that she had noticed that he was not paying her as much attention as she felt was, as his girlfriend, her due.

0 Theresa Carey I wish you wouldn't 219 Theresa Carey 0 5

Cepheus

July 07, 2014 4:10 AM

If only there was an easier way. by Cepheus

Theresa’s little quip made Cepheus feel guilty for reasons different than perhaps she was aiming for. And she was so pretty it made his stomach twist in discomfort. He had a weakness for pretty witches and tears. That was what he expected, anyway, for Theresa to cry and threaten him with her cousins or brothers or with her own wand. This was the reason why he had avoided her for a good part of the term, the dread of breaking the news to her and seeing her cry as well as the threats that would inevitable come out of her pretty mouth.

“I thought you’d be sharp enough to catch that,” he replied, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry. Care to sit?” He gestured to the bench and cleared his throat, wanting to equivocate for as long as possible. “I’m happy to say we survived the terrible ordeal of last term. Have you been readjusting well? Did you read the article in The Wizarding Times about the incident? I can’t believe an experimental charms facility was allowed to be built so close to an academic institution.” Cepheus sighed. “I hope the news doesn’t make it as far as home; I’m afraid my aunt might persuade my father to enrol his sons in an English school instead. She’s much more paranoid than my parents are.” He felt sorry for his cousins at times, particularly Charlotte who never seemed to have an easy time during her visits to the estate with her mother.

After he'd given Theresa some time to reply to his questions, he continued on, wanting to chat with her normally while he still had the chance. “Nervous for your RATS at all? I’ve had to cram quite a lot into one term. I’m beginning to regret not studying more last term.” Neither he nor Theresa had been trusted with the title of Prefect, he being passed up for a witch more capable and she for an over-achieving muggle-born. In both cases, however, it had made their responsibilities much less with the lack of structure the term before. It had given them a little more time together.

Of course, all this thinking was just distracting him from the reason for bringing her out here.

As much as he tried not to think about it, however, the more it weighed heavily on his mind. Cepheus was adequate at hiding his true emotions as most pure-blood wizards were, but even at eighteen he tended to let some emotions slip through. He stood and blinked at the bright afternoon sky. “Oh, I forgot to give you this.” Cepheus reached for his book bag and after a bit of shuffling pulled out a little black box. “For Valentine’s Day. I know it’s incredibly late, but I wasn’t able to get my hands on it till just last week.” Inside were a pair of chandelier earrings that Cepheus’s mum had picked out. The conversation that had accompanied had not been entirely pleasant.

“You know you’re going to have to end this relationship as soon as possible,” she had written him in response to his request. “I’ll do this for you without telling your father, but you must let her know immediately. It would be unfair to her otherwise.” That was when he had decided to hand her the gift to possibly lighten the blow before telling her the truth. Only the telling bit was becoming increasingly difficult.

“Do you like them?” he asked, standing in front of her and feeling nervous. He put his hands into his pockets to keep himself from fiddling or brushing his fingers through his hair.

0 Cepheus If only there was an easier way. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Theresa

July 12, 2014 8:11 PM

You're doing all right so far... by Theresa

Theresa was not very impressed by Cepheus’ apology, even if it did include a compliment on something she didn’t get complimented on very often, but decided to let it go. “It’s weird, but I think I’ll live,” she said of readjusting. She thought it helped that she had kept her head down as far as her family would let her, which hadn’t been hard, since Jay and Alex had quickly decided that what was best for the Careys was to maintain a collectively low profile. She had assisted her brother and cousin with classes when they bullied her into it and otherwise went through her own life almost the way she would have if the teachers hadn’t disappeared, and while Alex and Jay and Anthony had all sat at the special table for their services at the returning feast, she had stayed on the floor with the other Pecaris.

“Mine weren’t that happy about sending any of us back,” she said. “My parents, or my aunt and uncle.” Her holiday had been an unending procession of chaos, just reminding her of all the reasons she was going to let her siblings come visit her instead of the other way around when she grew up and got married and got away from it all. “But Grandfather insisted it would make the family look bad if they seemed all that worried about us.”

Which wasn’t something she was really supposed to admit, but it wasn’t like she was admitting it to some random person. Arnold had probably been much more indiscreet with Fae – in conversation, anyway. Otherwise, from what Theresa had gathered, he’d taken proper behavior far beyond where it should have stopped, at least after their arrangement was official, but, well, Arnold wasn’t exactly usually held up as a perfect example of normality anyway. He also liked getting hit by Bludgers, which was why she sometimes wondered if Fae now missed the days when he got flustered over hand-holding….

“One of my cousins spent all of midterm trying to teach me the material,” Theresa complained, happy to be distracted by talk of RATS. Arthur had muttered a lot about how if Arnold and Fae didn’t drive him to drinking, Theresa and Henry would, but she thought he’d enjoyed getting to play schoolmaster, despite Theresa losing her temper with him sometimes and Henry being a difficult student after months of barely interacting with other people at all and Peter usually hanging around underfoot, wanting at first to do everything Henry did and then to make “Harry” – it was a pity Henry sometimes, if not as much as he used to, threw things at people who teased him, because she would have never let him live down letting Peter get away with that one if he hadn’t – stop doing whatever it was and pay attention to him instead. “I really have to pass now, because he might kill me if I don’t.” Just a joke; Arthur would take it personally if she failed, but he wouldn’t really kill her over it, they really were fond of each other in their own way. He might poison her slightly just to make a point if she failed Potions, but nothing worse than that, and she didn't really expect to fail Potions anyway.

Cepheus still seemed…off, somehow, but she hoped if she chattered enough about stupid things, that would go away and he would think she hadn’t really been that mad, or at least that she’d gotten over it. Such altruistic concerns, though, left her mind entirely when she opened the jewelry box and saw the earrings.

“They’re beautiful,” she enthused, bouncing up on her toes to kiss him again before taking the earrings out of their box, fumbling with the folded parts which held the display front in it, and put them on. “I wish you’d told me I had a present that just hadn’t gotten here yet, but….Do they look pretty on me?” she asked, turning her head so he could admire them.

Arthur would, she supposed, make an unkind remark the next time she saw him, the way he had over the necklace – she had told him it was from Cepheus, too, but he had still said something which had made her try to slap him, though she’d just stomped off after he caught her hand and laughed at her. Since she was pretty sure no one had ever been at all attracted to Arthur or ever would be, though, she wasn't going to let it bother her. He could think whatever he wanted as he grew old and bitter all alone, once even Arnold got tired of him, while she didn't.

0 Theresa You're doing all right so far... 0 Theresa 0 5

Cepheus

July 14, 2014 12:40 AM

Here goes. by Cepheus

It was difficult to listen to Theresa's chatter as there were much more pressing issues on the tip of Cepheus's tongue. However, he kept himself in check, nodded at the appropriate times and made sure he had the appropriate facial expressions when her tone called for it.

The gift of earrings went rather well and Cepheus smiled. "They look lovely, really; the style suits you perfectly." It was true; Theresa was a lovely witch; she would make any set of earrings look beautiful even if they were made of plain metal or copper, Merlin forbid. With the gift, however, came the difficult part. He had to tell her now before the Midsummer bonfire, before final exams, before it was too late and they parted with false hopes. Coming out with the truth would be the best course of action and perhaps would garner the least amount of hatred from her. At least, so he hoped.

"Theresa, there's something I have to tell you," he said, his hand rising to rub the back of his neck anxiously. "It's about, well...blast it, I'm just going to come out and say it. My grandfather, he — I'm betrothed again." Cepheus looked grim as he looked down at the ground. "He's certain this time, and she and I are to be married in six years. A long time, I know, but it ties me down all the same. I only just found out this past holiday, and I've spent most of the term trying to think of a gentle way to break the news to you. He was most adamant about ending things with...well, with you, and I swear this isn't what I want.” His head lifted to meet her eyes again. “If it were my choice it wouldn't be like this, and I talked to him about us, but he's stubborn; I've told you before how difficult it is to get through to him."

Whether or not she believed his every word, he hoped the little exaggerations would soften her heart towards him. It really wasn’t his fault that this came about. “I’m sorry, Theresa, really I am.” He went to take her hands. “If I could change this situation I would, honestly, but anything I say about this to Grandfather falls on deaf ears.” It was no secret how much Cepheus had resisted his path during his younger adolescent years, but now that he was eighteen he saw it as his inevitable path if he were to continue the respectable Princeton line. If that meant politically aligning himself with powerful European families by marrying a beautiful, pure-blood Italian witch, then by no means was he going to threaten to disgrace himself by refusing to acquiesce to his grandfather’s wishes.

Cepheus was silent now, waiting for her to speak, his light eyes imploring. He wanted her to say something, anything that would assure him she didn't hate him. "I want us to stay close friends, Theresa, but I...I confess I'm afraid, but I want to hear your thoughts."

0 Cepheus Here goes. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Theresa

July 14, 2014 7:34 PM

Re: Here goes. by Theresa

Theresa beamed when Cepheus confirmed that the earrings looked pretty on her. “You knowing what looks pretty on me is part of why I like you,” she said lightly, half-teasing and half giving credit where credit was due, all mixed in with a little nostalgia. They had gone to school together for two years without ever really overlapping, only to meet at…some party, she didn’t even remember whose it had been, only that she had been wearing a pink dress and that they had spent a lot of time complimenting each other that night, during a holiday in third year. After that, she’d decided she wanted him, and then she had gotten him, and now everything was lovely….

Her smile faded only slightly in puzzlement when he said he had to tell her something while looking anxious, and puzzlement was almost immediately submerged in a mix of anxiety and maybe hope. Was he about to say that his family wanted to make their relationship permanently - finally? Maybe it wasn’t all their fault, she had had hopes of being engaged by Christmas last summer, but no one had been able to help the clouds happening, so maybe now….

”Blast it” cut through her thoughts, calling her back to what he was actually saying. And then: ”My grandfather, he — I'm betrothed again.”

For a long moment, Theresa just stared at him, not comprehending. Then she felt a sharp pain in her right hand and looked down to find she was gripping the jewelry box so tightly that her knuckles were white and the hinge was leaving a mark on the soft part of the heel of her hand.

There was a roaring in her ears as she stared straight ahead, now, not looking at him, but she caught phrases – not wanting it to be this way, stubborn, tied down, ending things….

This could not be happening, she thought. This could not be happening to her. He belonged to her! This wasn't happening, this wasn't happening, this wasn't happening….

Finally, Cepheus seemed to finish what he had to say about his stupid grandfather and was silent, but Theresa still couldn’t say anything. When he asked her to, she opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again.

“Close friends,” she repeated flatly. “Like you and Alicia, I guess you mean?” She stood up and took two steps before throwing the empty box still in her hands as hard as she could to her feet with a strangled yell, just trying to vent some of the frustration and rage which bubbled up when she said the other girl's name before she exploded from the combination of them. Then she paced, gripping her head in her hands.

“At least it’s not her," she managed after another moment, with a bitter laugh, nearly a sob. "I would have killed her, the - ,” she began but cut herself off before she said something she would really regret and then scrubbed her hands over her eyes. “Who is it, then?” she asked, but in a lower voice, trying to be calmer, as an idea occurred to her. “What’s her name?”

Arthur was somewhere in southern Africa right now, but he would be in Egypt by the time she got home and was supposed to jump over to Europe once he was done in Egypt. He’d go to England eventually and annoy Preston and Sara Stratford to death if she didn’t find something else for him to do. If he would just, to save Theresa’s reputation, find the girl and beat her and her father up until they realized they should not take things that belonged to Careys, or at least have an affair with the girl so she couldn’t marry anyone….Aunt Lorraine had forbidden Arthur from playing Beater because she thought he liked it too much, it wouldn’t bother him to do it, and it would bother him even less to have Theresa in his debt for the rest of her life. She really did think she was his favorite cousin. Surely he would do this one thing for her and fix...all of this....

0 Theresa Re: Here goes. 0 Theresa 0 5

Cepheus

July 16, 2014 7:27 AM

Attempting to pick up the pieces. by Cepheus

By Theresa’s facial expression after he dropped the bomb, she was not taking the news well at all. But really, what had he expected? They had been dating for so long, she was his first girlfriend, and he didn’t doubt she had been clinging onto certain expectations. Certain expectations that were clearly not playing out in her favour. There was silence after he had spoken, but her actions spoke volumes. He had never seen her in such rage before, and Ceph didn’t know what to say. Should he console her? He had done his best, but clearly nothing could console her at this moment. Merlin, if she started crying, he’d—

Even if Theresa was dear to his heart, any word against Alicia made him stiffen, ready to defend his best mate. The concept of loyalty to anyone but his family had been foreign until he had started school. Now he had friends, close friends, and Cepheus would sacrifice loads to protect them even if someone like Alicia was receiving everything she had ever wanted. She was the Head Girl, was going to earn a respectable university education and had snatched the wizard she had been pining after for Merlin knows how long. It was a luxury Ceph would have liked if he had been as in love with Theresa as Alicia evidently was with Thad.

But money, power and a European pedigree was worth more than love in his circle, a fact that Cepheus had resigned himself to just this past holiday.

There was something stirring in Theresa’s brain, he knew it. She had calmed down much too soon, and her two infuriating cousins came to mind. Theresa wouldn’t go hunt Lucrezia down, would she? “My grandfather wants me to keep a secret until it’s officially announced,” lied Ceph smoothly. “All I can tell you is that she lives in Italy. I’m sorry, Theresa.” He took a step forward, wanting to do something to alleviate the pain she was feeling. He hadn’t realised how difficult it would be to see his girlfriend so upset. Again, it was his family keeping them apart, his grandfather pushing his agenda, and Cepheus was forced to oblige. At least, that’s what he continued to tell himself, and he was beginning to believe it. It was always easier making another person the enemy.

Cepheus took another step forward, wanting to reach out and touch her. His sorrow was evident on his face as was his desperation to keep her in some capacity. The thought of severing all contact with her was almost unthinkable. Though Cepheus’s romantic attraction to her had faded, his loyalty and platonic affection for her had never wavered. “I don’t want to lose you. Please, tell me we can at least stay friends."

0 Cepheus Attempting to pick up the pieces. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Theresa

July 16, 2014 11:20 PM

Not giving up yet.... by Theresa

Theresa could feel tears well up in her eyes when Cepheus used his grandfather’s wishes as an excuse to not tell her what she wanted to know, but she blinked hard and refused to cry, clenching her hands so her nails dug into her palms to beat the unseemly emotion down.

He got back to the idea of being friends - as if she didn’t know what that probably meant. It wasn’t as if the whole school hadn’t thought he and Thad had some kind of arrangement about who got Alicia on what days of the week in the fall. If not earlier than that; the yearbook had seemed to think Alicia went from one to the other every other year, which she guessed was as close as something families might see could come to expressing the general opinion. She had put up with knowing people thought that, with knowing people thought she would tolerate that –

She took a deep breath. “If you think we can be friends, you can tell me her name,” she said flatly. “It’s not like you’ve ever cared that much about what your grandfather wanted before. Besides, what am I going to do with it if she’s in Italy?” She had mentioned that her cousin was on a tour, but it had all been about how he was in South America, or complaining about not being in South America, or going back to South America after his and Arnold’s birthday. South America was nowhere near Italy. Africa was closer, but she was sure Arthur wasn’t going to go drop everything and go to Rome early to find out whose fingers he needed to curse off. She’d have to wait for him to reach the correct spot on his itenerary, but it would be worth it in the end.

She bit her lip and stepped closer again, enough to touch his shoulders. She had gotten a little better at this, she thought. Hoped. Because the alternative was threatening to curse it out of him, and that would kind of ruin things, she thought. “Come on,” she pleaded, letting the tears well up this time. “Please. I’m going to find out anyway. Just let me hear it from you. Please?”

0 Theresa Not giving up yet.... 0 Theresa 0 5

Cepheus

July 17, 2014 7:04 PM

Trying to say goodbye. by Cepheus

It was true what Theresa said. He had complained about his grandfather’s wishes and he had resisted for most of the time Theresa had known him, mostly for her sake. But deep down Ceph did care what his grandfather thought, and now that he was older it seemed proper to follow what his grandfather told him. After all, Grandfather did want the best for the Princetons and Cepheus could see that much clearer now. After his father had explained to him the reasons behind his betrothal, it was made clear that this would be a very advantageous match. He had no reason to complain about it and no real reason to fight against it. He was not a fourteen-year-old boy anymore and it was about time he acted like an adult.

Why would Theresa want her name? He didn’t think he’d want to put a name and face to her betrothed if their roles were reversed. The only reason he’d want such information would be to hunt the bloke down and give him a good hex or two. In some ways, Cepheus thought he and Theresa thought alike. Any slighted pure-blood would take similar action, he was certain, and he didn’t want a traumatised or disfigured fiancée. He’d already told his mates about Lucrezia and had asked them to keep it a secret in case the news reached Theresa before he told her. But now he wasn’t sure if telling her Lucrezia’s name would be the brightest idea.

There was, however, still a soft spot for witches in Cepheus’s resolve. Theresa was the one to approach him, putting her hands on his shoulders, as tall as he was, and pleading. Merlin, witches could still look so lovely in their helpless and somewhat manipulative state.

Cepheus had known Theresa for quite a long time and he knew her well enough to see her actions for what they were. It still, however, didn’t make it any easier to refuse her, and if she really did begin crying, well, that would make things even more difficult for him. “I shouldn’t,” he said, unable to look away. It was so difficult to say no, to keep things a complete secret, and she would eventually find out, that much was true. He touched her hair, fighting with himself. “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to tell you she’s a part of the Renaldi family.” There were loads of them, he was certain, but if Theresa was familiar with the Italian pure-bloods it would narrow the witches down considerably. If she did discover Lucrezia’s identity on her own, Cepheus could still claim that he hadn’t told her anything, not that his grandfather had told him to keep it a secret.

What Ceph really wanted to tell Theresa was not to do anything stupid, but he didn’t think she’d take that well on top of all that he’d already told her. Instead, he embraced her so he wouldn’t have to look at her in case she did start to cry. He couldn’t think of anything particularly beneficial to say to make this situation any better, so he just held her, hoping this would be the end of this romantic relationship and the beginning of a platonic one, that he would once again be free and single until he was officially married to his betrothed. He kissed her temple. “Thank you for everything, Theresa, really. You've been nothing less than wonderful to me."

0 Cepheus Trying to say goodbye. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Theresa

July 19, 2014 8:55 PM

Possibly to more than just me... by Theresa

For a second, Theresa thought he wasn’t going to give her anything voluntarily and that she was going to have to progress to threatening his friends and family to get the name out of him. She’d do it, if she had to, but she would rather not, both because it would mean trouble now and because it might mean trouble later. Then, though, he cracked, enough anyway, and when she heard the surname, she froze in place, barely noticing as he hugged her, staring over his shoulder with her eyes still wide but now shocked, as though he had just stabbed her.

Renaldi.

“I have,” she agreed with his latest attempt at manipulation after a moment, pulling away. Whether it was true or not might be debatable, but she didn't care. She had been loyal, so whatever faults as a girlfriend she might have had, she was sure she had not deserved what she thought was happening. "Which is why I know this wouldn’t…be the same little tramp you were flirting with last term, would it?”

Right at the end, her tone rose along with her voice, the words becoming sharp-edged and only barely retaining the sound of a question. “That pig of a Crotalus girl I had to spend a whole evening hearing the likes of tJorge Garcia say you were going to cheat on me with?” Jorge had not actually said this, nor had it been much of his point, but his calling Lucrezia to her attention was what had burned the sight of Cepheus admiring Lucrezia into her brain, so she remembered it and had watched the girl a lot since, just to make sure she wasn’t thinking too much of putting her hands on what didn’t belong to her. “I know it isn’t her, Cepheus. Look at me and tell me that it’s not her.”

0 Theresa Possibly to more than just me... 0 Theresa 0 5

Cepheus

July 21, 2014 8:31 PM

Sounds ominous. by Cepheus

Cepheus, unlike his youngest brother, was not particularly skilled in knowing exactly what to say in situations like these. Leo would have said something different. He would have avoided telling Theresa the family name altogether, somehow twisting it instead to manipulate her in a way only Leo knew how. By now, any slighted girlfriend would have been a sobbing mess at Leo’s feet, but as for Cepheus, he had an irate soon to be ex-girlfriend on his hands.

The beginning of the year was a pleasant memory, before the fiasco had happened leaving them stranded for so long. During that time, he had only been cordial to Lucrezia in the common room when he saw her. Maybe a tad flirty, but completely harmless. After discovering she was his new betrothed, he had been obligated to spend more time with her, either studying in the common room or coincidentally sitting next to her at the Crotalus table when he wasn’t sitting with his other house-mates. Perfectly friendly and nothing else, though he had been too riddled with anxiety and guilt then to really consider having any feelings for her as of yet.

Theresa’s comment made him scowl. “What the hell does Jorge Garcia know? I was merely being friendly to a house-mate I’ve never spoken to before, and the thought of cheating on you has never even crossed my mind. I respect you more than that,” he replied, his voice sharp at being accused of such a thing. Though he hadn’t known Garcia well, Ceph was glad Jorge was gone after what Theresa had just told him. What an idiot, putting ideas into her head like that.

“Why are you getting so heated about it? It's not like I have a choice in whom I'm betrothed to! Regardless of whether she is the sister or cousin of my betrothed, I don’t want to hear of anything bad happening to her," he said firmly, his features sharp and his expression serious. "She is a Renaldi and part of the family the Princetons are going to align themselves with. If anything happens to any of the Renaldi family members because of me, it’ll come directly on my head and I’ve already got enough on my plate as it is. I’m moving back to England with my insufferable family, learning how to run two hospitals, studying for RATS that are in just a couple weeks and dealing with a bloody betrothal. No amount of complaining or hexes is going to change our situation.” In his frustration with how this conversation was going, Ceph’s conflicting loyalty to his family, his friends and to Theresa, and the pressure he was feeling to make everything right in just a few weeks made his voice rise.

Cepheus was usually the calm, somewhat demure gentleman when it came to dealing with witches. He rarely raised his voice at them and tried not to curse around the proper sort like his girlfriend. With Alicia, he had learnt to disregard all of those formalities, but not with Theresa. The hard, raised voice that had come out of his mouth just a moment ago was not necessarily anger directed towards her, but towards the situation. They had known each other for years, and this would have been the closest he’d ever come to yelling in Theresa’s presence though he wasn’t angry with her.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. As a lad, he had been very good at riling himself up just by talking. Now that he was older, he couldn’t exactly throw tantrums, but he did feel the ebbs of a headache coming on. Lucrezia was currently a thorn in his side, causing so much unnecessary drama. But at the same time, she was the perfect excuse to get away from it all.

“Look,” he sighed, “I’m sorry about how things are coming about, but it’s out of my control. Betrothals have been carried out in my family for centuries and my grandfather won’t take something as petty as feelings into consideration.” The last bit of his sentence was heavy with sarcasm, but it was true. If it hadn’t been for Megan’s timely exit from Sonora and the political inquiries that her family was tied up in, Cepheus would have been on track to marry her instead. Then what would they have done? Continued their clandestine relationship? Cepheus’s grandfather knew very well what it meant to choose one’s duty over one’s heart. Scorpius had dated a witch of his choice in spite of his betrothal until only a few weeks before his wedding date. Scorpius’s ex-girlfriend must have really loved him if she had been willing to continue their relationship for that long, and Grandfather must not have had much respect for either witch by not breaking it off with his ex sooner.

“At the very least,” continued Cepheus, “I want us to end on a high note. I want to remember this relationship fondly as I hope you do. We’ll make my betrothed jealous with how great we were. You know she’ll never be on par with you no matter how hard she tries.” Maybe he was putting his foot in his mouth again, but stroking Theresa’s ego seemed right. The idea that she was his first love – which, in some sense, she was – who would always have a stake on his heart that his betrothed would not had enough truth in it to be believable. He hoped it would touch that revengeful, blood-thirsty side of Theresa that Ceph knew so well in himself.

0 Cepheus Sounds ominous. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Theresa

July 25, 2014 12:14 AM

That was the idea by Theresa

Theresa needed Jay or Alex here. They were the ones who knew how to plan, how to say things, how to put it together. They both thought she was just stupid, though, and she knew they wouldn’t help her, which left her…with nothing.

Even as she watched it, though, she still couldn’t believe it was happening. Somehow, Cepheus getting angry and yelling at her just made it all seem less real, like one of those very vivid dreams she had sometimes where one of her relatives explained in great detail how stupid something she had done was, dreams so vivid that she only realized they hadn’t happened later, after she thought about it and realized that she hadn’t really done whatever it was Jay or Arthur or Mother or Grandmother had so disapproved of in real life. This was just a bad dream, and in a few hours, she would think about it and realize how stupid it was, that it wasn’t real….

"Maybe not," she snapped when he said that hexes and complaining weren't going to help anything. "But at least they'd make me think you gave a damn, that you cared at all - "

She sat down again, gripping the edge of the bench. The edges of her vision kept flickering, going darker and then going normal again, and she wondered if she was going to faint. She had never done that before, but if she was ever going to, now seemed like the moment for it – the final bit of drama just to make things that much worse.

A few tears finally made their way down her face when he started talking about how much greater they had been than he was going to be with whoever this girl, whether it was Lucrezia or some relative of hers, was. She wiped them away angrily. She did not want to cry, she wanted to hurt people, she wanted to hit him and rip Lucrezia’s face off, and all the other Renaldi girls, too, just for the principle of the thing in addition to making sure she got the right one in there somewhere....

"We were great," she said thickly, her throat feeling like it was closing up. “I want her to know it, too. I want you to tell her, I want whoever it is to know she’s not as good as me, I want her to be as miserable as I am right now….” She tried to slow down, to take a breath. "But I guess you won't give me that, either," she said, more resigned than bitter, when she got a grip. "You say you want to be friends, but you won't even tell me your - your wife's name. How exactly are you expecting to have coffee - or scones and tea, or whatever it is your people do - if I don't even know her name?" She chuckled tiredly. "Either that word has a very specific definition or you never plan to speak to me again."

0 Theresa That was the idea 0 Theresa 0 5

Cepheus

July 29, 2014 5:38 PM

Point taken. by Cepheus

Whilst just a moment before the tension had been escalating, Theresa suddenly seemed to deflate and Cepheus could only stand there. He didn't see the point in her sending hexes or furious curses to his betrothed if it would get them both into trouble, particularly him. He cared about Theresa, just not necessarily in the same way as before. That didn't mean he hadn't ever cared about her. What they'd had was great, really, and Ceph believed that. It wasn't a relationship he'd be inclined to forget. Just this part of it, perhaps, but the years preceding this moment had been lovely. Their relationship had meant a great deal to him, but it was clear he wasn't going to be able to communicate that to her. At least not now.

She was crying and Cepheus didn't know what to do. He had never been the cause of a witch's tears before. He knew how to comfort his mates back home and had been an emotional support here to Alicia on occasion, but never the cause of their anguish. Theresa was crying because of him, because of this situation, and it hurt him to see how upset she was. Nothing could have prepared him for this, and Ceph only stood there stupidly, his lips pressed together as she spoke. It wasn't his place to comfort her as he was naturally inclined; his touch would perhaps only cause more unrest and anger than anything else.

“I will,” said Ceph, slipping his hands in his pockets, looking at her for only a second. He couldn’t look at her and talk to her normally when she looked like that. “Would you really go and have tea and scones with my betrothed?” he added in disbelief. “Because if our roles were switched, I’d want to do something much less friendly to your betrothed. Once my grandfather officially announces our betrothal, then you can have all the tea and coffee you want with her.” There was no way Theresa could be serious about that. It was simply against her character from what he knew about her, against the reaction of any scorned witch or wizard. Not that Theresa was being scorned in that way. “If you don’t want to speak to me after this, then that’s your prerogative,” he said, trying to keep his voice even. “But I want us to keep in touch after graduation. I have no reason to sever a friendship with you. If you hold this entire betrothal against me, then I suppose I can’t do anything about that, can I?”

What else was there that he could say? Their relationship was already going to hell by the way things were going and Ceph had said all he could except Lucrezia’s name. “I’m sorry,” said Cepheus. “I’m sorry we have to end things this way, and I’m sorry for making you cry. What else can I say? I’m not sorry for having dated you or for the time we had together. You mean a lot to me, Theresa, and you’ll still mean a lot to me.” Cepheus felt awful seeing her like this, and he ran his hand across his eyes, trying to keep himself together. He wanted to leave and destroy something, maybe throw giant rocks into the water in the MARS room, but he couldn’t leave her like this. He’d force himself to stay here even if he had to bear the guilt of making her cry.

0 Cepheus Point taken. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Theresa

August 01, 2014 1:20 AM

I'm not really a subtle kind of person by Theresa

Still feeling too tired to really react emotionally anymore, Theresa tried to figure out if Cepheus was just stupid or if he was deliberately not getting the point. The only kind of coffee she wanted to have with this other girl was the kind laced with arsenic, but the point was that if he was really that reluctant for her to know who he was married to, the only kind of relationship they could possibly have was the kind that took place in the sort of inn that didn’t expect patrons to give their real names. And Theresa didn’t know if she could stand doing that again. The morality of it didn’t bother her, but she had hated being something hidden, something to be ashamed of. She would lose it if she tried to do that again.

Despite that, Cepheus was the only person she’d ever believed thought well of her, who at least pretended she had more to offer than a pretty face, but it was more than even wanting him for herself still, too. There were too many girls. She’d staked nearly everything on this relationship and now it was slipping away from her. She was not likely to get someone else, or at least not anyone worth having. Hurting this other girl, either tricking her into a scandal or pushing her off a cliff or forcing her family to call it off somehow or whatever, was her best chance of having both a good personal and financial life. She needed that name to fix her situation, but it hurt that he wouldn’t tell her because she was just going to find out anyway, so was it really that much to ask that he put her ahead of his grandfather in one tiny thing in all of this….

It was so mixed up. How had it gotten so mixed up? She couldn’t just feel or think anything, it was all mixed up….

“You don’t know how much I wish I could believe that,” Theresa said when Cepheus claimed he still did care about her. “I know - whichever one it is isn’t your fault, but – you – you could give me something, you could at least not act like I’m crazy because I’m upset that you asked me out here like everything was going back to normal and then just threw this at me, that you’re leaving me and you have to ask why I’m angry….You don’t want me to hurt her. If it were me, I’d be insulted if you didn’t ask me if you could kill him. Why are you being so reasonable?" She looked at him plaintively. "Would it have been that hard to lie to me about that?" she asked. "So I could have something to think about when I get home and I have to listen to everyone in my family - Merlin, you think you have problems? You don't know anything about it. At least you can get someone else, I...."

She didn't know if it was true. It was possible Arthur just called her names and things because she annoyed him and he knew that was a sore spot he could hit in retaliation. She didn't care if it was true or not, though, at least not right now. If she couldn't have what she wanted, she wanted him to be as miserable as she was, and if she couldn't get him to do that, she wanted him to at least feel guilty. If that didn't work, she didn't know where to go next.

"But I guess it's not your problem anymore, right?" she said. "You can go back to ignoring me like last week's garbage now, if you want. I wouldn't want anyone to report back to your grandpa."

0 Theresa I'm not really a subtle kind of person 0 Theresa 0 5