[attr="class","backgmin"]

[attr="class","lyric1min"]wherever i go

[attr="class","lyricbgmin"]

[attr="class","lyric2min"]Some lie but they're looking for magic
Others are quietly going insane
I feel alive when I’m close to the madness

[attr="class","textbodmin"]Date - 31 August 2018
Location - Bulstrode Estate, Dorset, UK

Vie wasn't quite sure when and how things had reached this point, but she couldn't really find it in herself to care about the intricacies of the situation--which was rather unusual for her. She was not the sort to throw caution to the wind no matter what the situation, but Vie could tell that that was what was happening. Whether or not she would admit it, she had grown a sense of impulsivity in the last month. But even impulsivity didn't quite encompass it, because Vie wasn't being reckless. No, she had done reckless before, and this wasn't it. She didn't feel the same overwhelming panic; instead, it was an odd sense of joy. From every letter that came in by owl with the name Ivan Warrington on it to the moments they would see each other while in the Ministry, Vie had never stopped to just think. No, she had... simply followed her instinct. For one of the first times in her life, Genevieve Urquart did not overanalyze. Because it felt like a waste, really, since she was rather confident that the outcome of doing such a thing would be rather similar to what her instinct was saying whenever it came to being around Ivan.

Don't waste a moment.

And she hadn't. She had been perfectly caught up in their exchange of letters and intriguing conversations--but restrained enough for what was expected of her. And despite that, even Vie was subject to the butterflies in her stomach when she had received the invitation from Ivan to visit him at the Bulstrode Estate. Because that was an entirely different beast to conquer. She knew it wasn't that sort of invite, she knew it was because he wanted to share something with her, but Vie couldn't help but imagine every possible encounter that would manifest as soon as she stepped foot into the home of Lady Bulstrode and Lady Warrington. The scenarios ran through her mind, and caused a surprising mixture of nervousness and ease course through her. Nervousness because... honestly, Vie could hardly believe being stuck in an elevator with Ivan, of all people, a month ago now had led them both here. Ease because, at the end of the day, it felt like this was where Vie belonged. Like this was a moment that she was more than ready to handle--one that was inevitable, really.

But Vie had not expected Ivan. If she was going to be perfectly honest with herself, Vie had never been foolish enough to imagine she would get what her parents had. Pushed together against all odds, falling in love despite their differences, and both of them so conveniently being pureblood. It was like out of a fairytale, and their happiness was something that Vie had always idolized-- but she had never thought it possible for herself. No, Vie saw herself in a pureblood marriage, but not anything like what her parents had. A marriage of benefit. Of expectation. Because she was the last line for the Urquart name, so the least she could do was produce two sons--an heir to her husband's line, and a spare to take care of the Urquart properties. And that was all there was to it. There was no reason to expect that anything more would come out of whatever future relationship was in her line of sight. Certainly not happiness or comfort.

But she felt both of those things around Ivan, and it made Vie a little more optimistic and warm than her typical demeanour. They had a connection, of sorts, she thought. She hoped, which just sounded childish, she knew, but it was just one of the many things Vie had not been able to help in the last month.

She had apparated to the front gates, then walked the distance to the steps of the mansion. Vie took a small pause--the slightest deep breath--before raising a hand to ring the doorbell. She fought the urge to bite on her lip out of nervousness, and easily subdued her smile into something more demure as the door swung open to reveal a face that had become so incredibly familiar. Vie held her chin moderately high, steadily meeting Ivan's light blue eyes.

@ivan | 703 words | outfit (minus sunglasses)

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF GS + WW

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I Walk A Lonely Road

The Only One That I Have

Ever Known

Don't Know Where It Goes

But It's Only Me

And I Walk Alone

Astounding, isn't it, when a pun can dictate a real life situation. Things were on the up, just like the elevator they had been unfortunately entombed in for a  while in the Ministry a few weeks before, only their exchanges weren't on the precipice of breaking down in a lurching fashion. At least, not in Ivan's mind, which wasn't necessarily to say a lot. His socialising skills needed some work even yet as those he was accustomed to speaking to were either work colleagues or his family, and since Lady Urquart didn't fall into either of those categories - at least, no deeper than very loose generic terms - he was admittedly out of his depth. Writing to her after their encounter of shared irritation and anxiety of potentially being dropped a few hundred feet to their deaths had been a natural progression for him, a means to keep in touch. Like... friends. Even if the words they'd exchanged hadn't been entirely of the stoic platonic kind. They weren't not those things they just weren't them in such a contained term.

From letters it had progressed to Ivan keeping an eye out for her whenever he was going between departments or just on his breaks, in order to speak to her personally rather than relying on an owl to do the work for him. That way he could watch her face as they spoke instead of having to guess what she had been thinking when he read her letters and so he could see the smile that appeared when he successfully made a joke. It went without saying that he had a unique sense of humour that wasn't for everyone... but at least she seemed to appreciate it. That, or she was being insufferably polite and he hadn't caught on just yet which would be near traumatisingly humiliating if that turned out to be the case. For now he was doing his best not to over analyse everything. And by that, naturally, meaning that he was endlessly turning over everything said between them at the conclusion of each day for something to grasp onto. Sometimes without even realising he was doing it in the first place. Finding a witch of all things to be clouding his thoughts in an increasing rate wasn't something he was accustomed to. It wasn't something he had fully come to terms with. He was still learning not to be an automatron and more of a human being, at Jules' behest. Attraction just wasn't... it wasn't a prevalent thought.

Just prevalent enough to waylay his subconscious into inviting her over to the manor to see the marble garden round the back of the estate. Friends shared experiences together, spent time together, shared things. Two of those things had been achieved so he was striving for the third, if only to be able to say that he had tried the next time his brother brought it up in conversation. Things between them had become less rocky since the younger wizard had returned home and Ivan was doing his best to be more of a brother to him, especially after basically destroying his trust, by granting one of his single wishes. To be normal. As far as he was concerned, he was normal... but he would be the only one to think so apparently and he didn't want to kick up when the dust still hadn't fully settled on the Bulstrode/Warrington family circle. Since Jules would be at Lufkin today, Lorraine was working, and his mum's were likely at the Ministry, he had chosen to spend his day off by giving Genevieve a detailed tour of the 'garden'. It was a point of pride for him as well as a point of amusement for the family as a whole, though considering their tasted did not mirror that of many other pureblood families... well, he was throwing out a line into calm water to see whether she'd bite or walk away. This was a basic but blunt representation of who he was wrapped up in stunning marble. There really was no way for a miscommunication. Not when he would be right there to see her expression.... her eyes...

The door swung open in his hand mere moments after the bell rang for he had stood by the large bay window and watched her drawing up the path to the front steps, waiting patiently. Mostly patiently. As soon as the bell had sounded, he had made sure to get to the door before anyone else in the house - if there were anyone - could get there first. Ridiculous, really, how comfortable he had become in her presence when he still struggled to be around other people that he had known for longer. Yet here he was, smiling down at her as he swung the door open wider and holding her gaze raptly. "Hey, Vie..." he drawled warmly, gesturing with a graceful arm for her to step inside. His eyes took her in, from the roots of her hair to the soles of her shoes and then flicked away in a polite way, as if he hadn't just commit the details to memory in case he needed them for later. "Nice dress... it suits you."

TAG: @vie | WORDS: 872 | NOTES: <3

MEL @ ADOXOGRAPHY

[attr="class","backgmin"]

[attr="class","lyric1min"]wherever i go

[attr="class","lyricbgmin"]

[attr="class","lyric2min"]SOME LIE BUT THEY'RE LOOKING FOR MAGIC
OTHERS ARE QUIETLY GOING INSANE
I FEEL ALIVE WHEN I’M CLOSE TO THE MADNESS

[attr="class","textbodmin"]The Urquarts were solitary people. That had been one of the first lessons Vie had learned under her father's watchful eye. There was a reason they had lived on private islands in the Orkneys for centuries. Urquarts didn't trust easily, and they didn't let just anyone onto their islands. Especially not Holm of Huip, which had been the seat of the family for as long as people had been keeping records of the pureblood family. Not unless you sneak people on--which wasn't impossible, Vie supposed, but she almost felt that it would be worse if her father found out that someone had been snuck on without his permission, rather than him just outright saying no. The point was that there was no openness to an Urquart. People had to earn trust. There were close family friends, but Vie was fairly sure that a lot of that was thanks to her mother. The Flints, for example--her mother was, really, the only reason that Liam and Charles were allowed to Floo over to Holm of Huip whenever they wanted, without her father having some words about that. But a lot of things had been like that, as far as Vie could remember. There was something special about her parents.

Very special, actually. Vie knew their story like the back of their hands. They talked about it enough, anyways, and they were... perfect. Her mother had been one of the few people to see her father before he had become an Unspeakable. Before he had become the more secretive and reserved man he was today. And they had been brought together by chance. It was the sort of thing that one would find in a fairytale, topped off with the perfect fact that both of them happened to be purebloods. They both got to marry the person of their dreams, because life had just worked out that way. And Vie thought that was the sort of thing to happen once in a blue moon. She had always been rather certain that her future would not be that. How could it be? No, Vie had simply accepted the fact that, one day, she would marry. It would be someone she liked enough, someone pureblood, and she would have her two children, and that was that. Because she was the firstborn, and without any sons left in the Urquart name, that was her duty. Vie had simply... gotten over her fantasies. Happy endings didn't happen for people with responsibilities.

But then Ivan had happened, and that had made Vie do a one-eighty. Because from a simple stroke of bad luck, they had been pushed together. Something that couldn't be chalked up to anything else but sheer coincidence--and despite the fact that Vie had hated being stuck in an elevator, and that she had been very late to meeting with her father, she still looked back on that day with some fondness. Because from that day had stemmed a series of letters between her and Ivan. Moments of passing one another in the Ministry and slowing to a stop to make some conversation, just because she rather liked holding his gaze, because that was the sort of thing that helped her tune out the rest of the world, somehow. And maybe she had subtly planned some of those passing moments to happen--but she wasn't going to apologize for that. Because she wasn't blind. Ivan seemed to enjoy being around her just as much as she enjoyed being around him. Vie was good at reading people, and she knew herself. This level of comfort... she hadn't really felt this around anyone that wasn't family. Not like this.

Part of Vie wandered what her father's watch would say of her whereabouts today. She knew very well that, back during her Obliviator training, during her... times of poor decision-making, the watch had put her in Mortal Peril. Which had actually been eerily fitting, if she was being honest. But she wondered what it would say today, as she stepped foot inside the Bulstrode Estate and easily returned Ivan's smile. "Hey," she greeted, coming to a stop in front of him, her gaze still focused on him. Vie noticed his eyes taking her in, and she felt... she felt a little skip in her hear at that. The slightest hitch in her breath. A warm tingle in her cheeks. But she really couldn't tear herself away from his eyes. "Thank you, Ivan. I'm glad you think so," she replied, her smile widening a bit. Vie had been fairly confident in that choice. "How has your day been?" she asked.

@ ivan | 769 words | outfit

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF GS + WW

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