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Counting Down
Author: Adina Blackwood
Date: 09-21-12 12:28
Thankfully the term was nearly over, and I could spend the rest of the summer lounging and probably playing games with Arthur at Blossom's when I wasn't going to Greece to spend three weeks with my Dad – at least I'd have the first half of the summer here in Britain, I wasn't going to Greece until the beginning of August.
It was Tuesday, and if I was a year ahead of where I currently was, I would nearly be done with my OWLs, but I wouldn't be taking those until next year. I had three classes today, one of which was relocated due to the barn being used for the practical portion of the Care of Magical Creatures OWL/NEWT. I was ready for the term to be over entirely, but still had my own finals to take and ultimately I was looking forward to the End of Term Feast and seeing just how the kitchen staff was going to outdo itself this year.
Quickly I braided my hair and stuck it up off my neck with a Slytherin hair pin set that I'd been given for my birthday by Arthur as part of the birthday surprise he, Kida and Whitney had planned for me. I'd also gotten a new charm for my bracelet that Arthur had given us on our first anniversary, and ultimately we'd spent some quality couple time in the Common Commons and shared a custom made cupcake that he'd ordered specially from Briar's.
"Do you have your study guide for History of Magic done yet?" I asked Arthur as we left the Great Hall after lunch and headed to the grounds to sit and relax before we had to head into the Castle for Charms at two, and then Care of Magical Creatures at three thirty, before our day was completely over with.
"Of course I do, I'm surprised you don't. It is easy," Arthur said as he slipped an arm around my waist as we headed out to the grounds and settled on a blanket to enjoy the late spring/early summer sunshine before we were shuttered up in classes again for the rest of the evening. Though, we intended on doing our homework outside after dinner since we would still have quite a bit of time to lounge outside before curfew.
"You'll help me then right?" I said with a laugh before kissing him gently, and turning my attention to my Charms notes. "When we come back outside after Care of Magical Creatures."
"Of course I will, only if you help me with the one for Transfiguration," he said with a smile.
"You've got a deal. For now, let's focus on Charms and Care of Magical Creatures so we are ready for class." That said and done, we turned our attention to the work for Charms, making sure that the assignments were complete before moving to Care of Magical Creatures. At about one forty five we packed things up and headed back into the castle, dropping the blanket off in Arthur's dorm room before heading to Charms.
A Night Off
Author: Melinda
Date: 09-21-12 12:29
"Camden Angelica Vanderbilt get your behind in this house right now," I said, standing at my backdoor and looking out into the backyard where my daughter was currently playing with our golden retriever Penelope.
Within three seconds of hearing her full name she was standing in front of me pulling her curly hair back into a thick pony tail. "Mom? What's wrong?"
"You are in serious trouble young lady. For one, your homework is not done, your room is not clean and I expressly told you that you were not allowed outside until after all of that was done. Also, what is this owl that I received from your teacher that your marks are slipping in math?"
Camden at least had the decency to look ashamed. "I've gotten most of my homework done, and my room won't take me too long to clean. Besides, you normally aren't home at night and Raury only helps me with my writing and my history, not with my math. By the time you get home I'm already in bed and there is no time to ask for help in the morning. So, if I don't understand it, I don't do it."
I had just gotten home from my day job and was sitting at the kitchen table looking at my daughter. "Alright, I've got tonight off and we are going to work on some of the extra assignments your teacher sent with the owl to help bring your grade up before the end of term. First, you are going to clean your room and we are going to have dinner. I will not have you failing Camden Angelica. You will do well in your schooling, it is important understand?"
"Yes mom," she says as she heads upstairs to clean her room. I hear the sounds of her magical player going and the sounds of Cleaver floating down the stairs mixed with her own voice as she sings along to her favorite song. Xavier was definitely one of the hottest musicians out there.
Twenty minutes later she was back downstairs and helping me with dinner. Tonight was going to be curry chicken with rice and naan. "Alright, while we eat, I think we'll start working on some math okay? Also, how did your history report go?"
"It went awesome mom! She loved the diorama that I created and that's fine. The sooner we get it done the better."
We both settled at the table with our dinner and she had some pumpkin juice and I had a glass of wine. Raury was working tonight, so he wouldn't be coming over – which literally meant that Cam and I would be spending the evening just the two of us – which was something that hadn't happened in a while.
After dinner we finished the rest of the math work and I even made some flash cards that would help her work on the things she was behind on when I couldn't be home. Then we settled down on the couch and listened to the WWN for a little while before I sent Cam up to take her shower and get ready for bed.
Knowing What I Need for Me or Growing Up Too Soon
Author: Araxie Loren
Date: 09-21-12 12:32
It had been months since I'd gone to see my father last and learned the truth of what had happened the night my mother had been murdered. I'd wrestled with a lot of things over those few months including attempting to figure out if I was ready to forgive him for what had happened, ready to forgive him for his role in the death of my mother and the stealing of my actual family from me.
I'd spent most of my time in my studio, working on portraits, landscapes and various other projects that I'd had shown in a gallery a couple of weeks ago and most of them had actually sold which had shocked me, but I'd relished the extra money. I'd gotten most of my school supplies as well as plenty of art supplies to survive the months at Hogwarts that I'd be away from my studio.
Today had been the last day that I'd met with my tutor and I'd passed all my examinations with her and she was pleased with my progress so I was officially on summer vacation and anxiously awaited September 1st when I would board the Hogwarts Express for the first time and ride the shiny red engine to my first term at Hogwarts. Tomorrow, however, would be one of the roughest days for me, because I would be going to see my father.
My Uncle had agreed to take me since my Aunt would be at work, and he had the day off. He initially had his doubts considering that they both knew what I'd been wrestling with over the past few months, and ultimately had reached my own personal decision on how to deal with my father. I'd been rehearsing it over and over again in my head and would not allow him to try and change my mind about anything. This is what I needed for me, this is what I would need to do to ensure that I could live my life as normally as possible.
There was a knock on the studio door and I opened it, covered in crimson and silver paint. "What's up?"
"Dinner's ready. Clean up, we made your favorite and I think your Aunt grabbed a chocolate cake from The Flour Shoppe earlier when she'd been shopping in Diagon Alley."
"Great. Give me a minute, I'm seriously about five minutes away from finishing this last commission piece," I said with a smile. Yes, I was still reeling over the fact that people wanted to buy my art work, it was completely new territory for me, but I would gladly sell things as they were requested for me.
I finished the piece and cleaned up, before heading into the house for dinner. "You still taking me to Azkaban tomorrow Uncle Matt?"
"Sure am hon, though are you really sure you want to do this?"
"Yeah. If I back down now, I won't do it at all and I have to make a decision one way or the other and being stagnant isn't something that I want to do with this."
"You know, for an eleven year old you've grown up quite a bit, and we are both proud of you Araxie. You are stronger than either of us would have ever believed you were after learning the truth," Charline said with a light smile.
"Thanks Aunt Charline, and I honestly don't know how I'm doing this well with the truth, but it was something I needed to know and this is something that I need to do before I go off to Hogwarts," I said, legs curling underneath me on the kitchen chair as I ate my lasagna.
"Good luck tomorrow sweetie, and I'm sorry I couldn't go with you. You and Matt are going to meet me at Delia's for lunch tomorrow after. When is Mister Thorton supposed to be coming by to collect the commission piece?"
"He is supposed to be here this weekend. I'll owl him in the morning before we leave to let him know that it is finished if he wants to come either Thursday or Friday, instead of Saturday to get it," I said finishing off the last bite of my lasagna and salad and leaning back in my chair.
"Alright, after that we can celebrate the sale of the piece," my aunt said with a grin. "How does that sound?"
"It sounds absolutely fantastic! Alright, I'm going to shower and head over to Nichole's for a couple of hours."
"Alright, remember you are to be home by nine-thirty."
"Got it!" I said as I raced upstairs and within fifteen minutes I was over at Nichole's house to talk to her about what I was planning tomorrow.
Dinner with Desi (St. James Place, Muggle London)
Author: Orion Howell
Date: 09-21-12 13:06
Orion had sent Desi an address and a time. The address was in Muggle London, Green's Restaurant and Oyster Bar in the West End offered the intimate atmosphere he wanted without being overtly romantic. After all, this was still a working dinner.
He was there early, situated in a corner booth with an excellent view of anyone coming into the establishment, his back against a solid wall so none could sneak up on him. The restaurant was quite traditional and he liked that it was good British food, something he often missed while undercover overseas.
He also appreciated that Desi was on time, he was hopeful that they could get the work part of the evening out of the way fairly easily and actually have a nice time. He stood as she approached the table, holding out his hand politely. "Ms. Diamond. I apologize that I couldn't stay for a proper introduction at our first meeting," he said with a slightly charming smile.
"Please, call me Desi. You said you had some questions, Orion?"
"Yes. My bosses, who are not the type I like to cross, have been pressing me about why we weren't notified about the suspect ahead of time, given the current investigations. I've told them that it was likely a delay in identification from Ms. Morgan, since I've dealt with her a bit in my brief tenure at St. Emrys, but they insisted I speak to you directly and find out for certain."
Desi nodded. She knew a bit about difficult bosses. "You actually nailed the reason. I asked Ember to point him out to me, but she failed to make any proper identification until that day in the classroom. All I had to go on was a somewhat vague physical description and a first name."
"Completely understandable. You could hardly haul in every person who resembled the description and was named Alex at the University, it is a fairly common name," Orion said with a nod. "Are you hungry? I hear the food is excellent here."
They placed their orders, Orion requesting a bottle of wine with their meal. Once the waiter was gone, he smiled at Desi. "So, do we have any more pressing business? Or are we free to enjoy the evening?" he asked, certain she had to have some questions for him as well. After all, he had rather blatantly inserted himself into her investigation.
Patrolling the Corridors
Author: Nathaniel Ross
Date: 09-21-12 14:25
Nate was patrolling the almost deserted school corridors. It was almost time for the curfew of the lower years and he wanted to make sure no one was still wondering around the castle at this hour. Tomorrow he would have his written Arithmancy & Divination N.E.W.T and his mind was revising all the theory he had learned over the last two years and that he had memorized specially for tomorrow. He was recalling the meaning of each Tarot card when he heard some giggling around the corner.
He moved in silence and he found three girls by the window. One was holding some sort of book and all their heads were down as they read it. Nate thought it was probably a copy of the most recent edition of Teen Witch filled with photographs of attractive famous wizards and tips about conquering boys and look more attractive. He was about to interrupt them when one said:
"Look, it says it needs blood! Who wants to give it a try?"
"I don't know if I want to try that…besides we should go to our common room, it's getting late…someone might show up."
"Don't be such a coward!"
"I want to find out what's in the book," the third girl said. " I don't mind spilling some blood. Does anyone have a knife?"
"Too bad we don't have our potions' kits nearby. Hum.. I wonder if there's a spell that could help us."
"A spell? Do you think they would teach us how to cut ourselves?"
Nate decided this was enough. He approached the three girls. Two of them belonged to the Gryffindor house and the other one as a Hufflepuff. The one that was holding a book was a Gryffindor and she had her face filled of freckles. She hided the book behind her back and quickly said she and her friends were leaving to their dorms right away. The other two confirmed, shaking their heads positively.
"You better do so right now, or I will remove points to your house. But first I want that book."
"What book?" the other Gryffindor asked, innocently.
Nate looked at her in a very intimidating way. He was very tall compared to the girls and he made sure they realized he wasn't playing around. With a sigh the girl with freckles handed him the book. Nate picked it up and he almost trembled: it was Phyllida's book, the one he had lost long ago.
"Where did you find this?"
"It was at the library," the Hufflepuff girl replied. "The books aren't all organized yet since the accident with the shelves and we randomly picked this one. We thought it looked mysterious."
Nate flipped the empty pages. Thank Merlin he arrived on time or the girls might get into bigger troubles than being caught out of bed. This book was not ordinary, that was for use. And he could feel the dark magic breathing through its pages.
"What are you going to do to that book?" the girl with freckles asked.
"I am going to confiscate it. I bet this came from the restrictive area and you are not allowed to read it. Tomorrow first thing in the morning I will return it to the library," he lied. He was going to deliver it to Phyllida, of course. "Now go on to your common rooms," the two Gryffindors turned to the left while Nate decided to escort the Hufflepuff girl into their own common room.
"What's your name?" he asked her, on the way to the basement.
"Winifred. Winifred Hicks."
Nate spoke to Winifred about not wanting to see her hanging around the castle corridors so close to curfew and she promised she wouldn't do so ever again. He doubted that would be the case, specially having that feisty freckled Gryffindor as a friend, but he pretended he believed her. Once she was safely inside the Hufflepuff common room, Nate went back to his round, his hands still holding the book tightly. This time he wasn't going to take his eyes of it just in case it wouldn't disappear again until he returned it to Phyllida first thing in the morning.
Tofty Sounds Sort Of Like Toffee
Author: Georgia Copperpot
Date: 09-21-12 18:17
"My eyes are going to fall out of my head."
Catherine, lounging on her bed with a magazine, looks up at Edith's words. "Good thing I know an excellent sticking charm."
Edith starts to grin but on second thought frowns. "Not jesting from those with no NEWTs still to take."
Catherine laughs. "Don't blame me for being done."
Catherine finished her NEWTs yesterday with Potions. Isabella has Astronomy and Muggle Studies. Edith has Arithmancy & Divination, Astronomy, and Muggle Studies. I have Arithmancy & Divination and Muggle Studies. I am not tres vair sad not to have Astronomy though Professor Quigley is a nice person.
Edith, Izzy, and I had Care of Magical Creatures this afternoon. I examiner was Professor Tofty. That name reminds me of toffee so half the time I kept thinking about being able to eat yummier than the yummiest yummy toffee after the NEWT ended. Thought of toffee led me to thinking of caramel. Thinking of having those thoughts leads me to reach for a chocolate covered caramel and a slightly chewy dark brown sugar toffee. And now I want some sticky toffee pudding. Is it too late for a prefect who is also Head Girl to make a swing through the Common Commons checking for stray students, and sticky toffee pudding?
When not thinking of sweets with Professor Tofty I was answering questions and demonstrating my knowledge of Care of Magical Creatures. One task was to pick out an Augery feather from amongst other feathers, all similar in appearance. Tofty had an assortment of items on a small side table. I selected a bottle of ink that had a dropper and used that to find the Augery feather. The Augery feather was the one that repelled the ink droplets.
There was finding a Horklump among a bunch of pinkish mushrooms, locating a Bowtruckle and identifying food it will eat, and identifying a Jobberknoll from pictures then telling Professor Tofty everything I knew about the small speckled blue bird. Those and other things took probably fifteen to twenty minutes. When dismissed I returned to the castle looking for the sweets I'd been thinking about. And started going over Arithmancy & Divination for the written exam tomorrow. Supper and more studying followed with time taken to do prefect rounds, complete with a pocket of toffees and caramels.
As I pop another caramel sweet in my mouth, this one a mix of salted peanuts, caramel, and chocolate, I hope that my sex god boyfriend Sage Porter does not mind dating a chubette as that is what I will have become by the time I finish writing the Muggle Studies exam and taking the practical on Friday.
Listening to Edith moan again about her tired eyes, I vair nicely toss her a couple of sweets then pop yet another in my mouth.
Sixth Year DADA Review
Author: Kissy Isuki
Date: 09-22-12 13:06
At 9 am on the dot Kissy begins class. "No time to waste. We've still a great deal to review today and Friday."
The sixth years quickly come to order, wanting to make sure they get through the study guide as much as Kissy does. "I believe we left off on number 27, is that correct?"
There are murmurs of agreement so with a nod Kissy glances at the twenty-seventh item on the study guide. "What are at least five methods of defense for home or business? Angus, start us off., then lets just go down the row from there."
"Secrecy sensors."
Basil Wynbourne is next. "Foe glass."
"Sneakscope," says Daniel Gelson.
Thalia Brown states, "Caterwauling Charm."
Next is Marjani Batuti. "Locks charmed against Alohamora and that require a specialized key to open."
"Very good. Who is able to name others? Yes, Etta."
When they have exhausted that list Kissy has them move on to question 28, as defense and defensive magic has been the over arcing them for much of this school year, it too deals with defense. Asking for examples of the best defensive spell to use against each of the listed spells, charms, hexes, and curses in a duel situation. The students know that simply stating Protego for each and every item listed won't suffice. The standard shield charm is certainly helpful but she expects them to be able to show her a range of knowledge.
The class makes good progress with the study guide and by the end of class, Kissy has no doubt they will finish on Friday with plenty of time for some dueling practice. Before dismissing them she reminds, "A few of you, you know who you are, have not scheduled your practical with me. If you do not, you will be expected to take time from writing your final examination next Wednesday. I only need ten to fifteen minutes of your time so be sure to see me about that because some of you do not need that much time eaten up with the practical in the hour you have for writing your final. You may go. Have an excellent rest of your day."
Most of the students file out but two lag behind. She tells them, "Let me grab the schedule." Once she has it in hand she turns first to Christopher Tweed. He debates between two different times before picking one that has him taking his practical Saturday morning after breakfast. The other student selects a time for late Friday afternoon.
Once alone, Kissy straightens the classroom then goes to the staff lounge for a coffee refill and to see what munchies are on hand. After selecting a few she heads to her office where she reviews that final exam she's already made out for the sixth years. There are three version of it. All the questions are the same but each version's questions are in a different order from the others. Kissy wants to go through and ensure that she's not made a mistake anywhere, be the mistake a typo, a poorly worded question, or even accidentally repeated a question twice on one version and thereby omitting another question.
Once she's done with that, Kissy will turn to wedding planning. Her mother has been an absolute pest, not seeming to understand that this time of year here at Hogwarts is busy and stressful. She has not cancelled the wedding, simply put a hold on making any major strides in the planning of it. Nyoko, however, is convinced that Kissy has called the whole thing off and is biding her time until school ends to break the news to the family. It's enough to drive a person insane.
To mollify her mother somewhat, Kissy plans on getting a little progress on the wedding planning before the weekend so she can show Nyoko, "Look, Mum, see, I AM working on it. The wedding has NOT been cancelled." But first is going over these exams. Right now they take precedence.
Writing The Astronomy OWL (Alastor, Jill, & Hunter)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 09-22-12 17:59
As tired as they are Alastor Jenkins, Jill Prewitt, and Hunter Rabnott are very happy to be writing the Theory of Astronomy OWL this nice Wednesday morning. For each of them, this exam is the next to the last they have. All they have left after this one ends at noon is the practical portion of the same subject, Astronomy.
When writing this portion of Astronomy ends at 12, Alastor plans to eat lunch then go take a nap before doing a final review for tonight's exam, which starts at 10 pm and ends at midnight. At the moment, he's writing an essay question explaining the classification of stars. After writing O, B, and A class stars all appear blue in color. The differences between the three include temperature, mass, luminosity, and radius he pauses to recall the specifics of each to write them down and then give examples. For the O class he gives the example of Zeta Puppis, mainly because he likes the name and finds it easy to remember. For B and A he writes, respectively, Bellatrix, again because that one is very easy to remember for obvious reasons, and Sirius, Professor Black's first name. Those three classes done he moves on to doing the same for F, G, K, and M in that order.
As Alastor is working on that question Jill is working on a different essay question, this one involving the formation of nebulae. She begins with supernovas, explaining how a nebula, which is a interstellar cloud of dust, helium, hydrogen and other ionized gases, might be the remnant of the explosion of certain short lived, massive stars. She also writes planetary nebulae and nebulae created by gas collapsing in what is called interstellar medium or ISM. Examples she gives of each are the Crab Nebula for one formed by a supernova, the Cat's Eye Nebula as a planetary nebula, and for the third, she gives the Rosette Nebula.
Hunter is finishing up the same question as Jill at roughly the same time she is done with it though his three examples are Crab Nebula, Owl Nebula, and the Pelican Nebula, respectively. The following question asks for a sketch of the constellations Orion , Urses Minor, Sagittarius with identification of stars within those constellations. Those are fairly easy to draw out, or so Hunter thinks, so he's fairly quickly moving on to the next question. This one also deals with constellations but those from Chinese astronomy. The question takes Hunter longer as, for some reason, the Chinese astronomy lessons didn't stick with him as well even though coming into the OWLs he made a point of focusing on things he had the most trouble with in class. When finally done with that question, Hunter takes a brief break from writing to stretch his hand and to look once more at how many questions remain.
Good Bye Father
Author: Araxie Loren
Date: 09-23-12 10:22
Last night I'd spent time talking to Nichole, and ultimately to my aunt and uncle again making certain that this was exactly what I wanted to do. I did want this. I needed this and if I was going to be going to Hogwarts in the fall, I didn't want to have the added worry of having to schedule visits to see him, a man that I could barely tolerate, on my holiday breaks from school. We'd talked well into the hours of the night and finished off the chocolate cake that had been brought home from The Flour Shoppe earlier today – and of course it was very, very good, and exactly what we needed.
Right now, I was sitting in the chair, fiddling with the corner of the book in my lap. It was a gift for him, the only thing that I would leave him with, the only thing I thought he deserved right now. It was a piece of my childhood, it was filled with the memories of things that I had done, places I had been and ultimately the pieces of the puzzle that I'd put together to uncover the truth of what had ultimately happened that cold autumn evening when I'd been little more than a toddler.
"Alright Araxie, go ahead in. Just let me know when you are ready to come out sweetheart," The guard said with a light smile, knowing that this probably was going to be my last visit to the prison for a little while.
"Thanks Nathan," I said, heading in and sat across from where the man who I should be glad to call my father would sit. But, there was no joy, there was no happiness in me to see this man, not any longer. Maybe when I was younger, and didn't quite understand what was going on, but not now.
Within moments, I was facing this man, who was just as guilty as the courts had found him so long ago for the murder of my mother. I had the book on the table in front of me, my satchel on the floor at my feet and was attempting to gather my thoughts to begin speaking. I needed to do this, I had to do this for me or I wouldn't be able to live my life without dwelling on the fact that my father was in Azkaban for murdering my mother. I wanted to be able to grow-up, and if he was so willing to throw away his life with me and my mother, then he was not worthy of a place in my life.
"Hi hon…"
He started, but I raised a hand to stop him. "Please don't. I'm not actually here for pleasantries today. This isn't a social visit. You are not going to like the things I have to say, but they need to be said."
Daniel Loren blinked and simply stared at his daughter across the table. "Alright, say what you came to say Araxie."
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a few minutes, attempting to get my thoughts together and ultimately find the words that I want to say to the man across from me. After several moments, I opened my eyes and started, treated it much like pulling off a band-aid, it needed to be done quickly and it hurt less.
"I will not be coming back to see you. This is the last visit that I will be making here to Azkaban for a very long time. I can't keep worrying about you here, I won't grow up with that worry, that heartache simply because you made a choice and your choice was against our family. Yes, I know the truth and yes I know what it did to our family, but it was still your choice. You did this, and I am not going to live with this nightmare any longer. I am eleven years old, and have had to grow up more than I wanted to because of you. I have no mother and I have no father, but Aunt Charline and Uncle Matt have been more than family to me, they have provided me with some of the things that I have been denied, but not even they can stand in for the mother and father that I lost because of you."
I pushed the book toward him and stood up. "This is what I leave you with, a book of my art. Pieces that I've sold, as well as memories that I had from my childhood, and the pieces that brought me to the truth of what had happened that night, and they will let you know of the child that you turned your back on all those years go. Good bye."
Before he could speak again, I turned and headed out of the room, and the guards escorted him back to his cell while I returned to the waiting room where my uncle sat. "Ready to go kiddo?"
I nodded and we headed out of the prison, he reclaimed his wand and once clear of the island prison we apparated to the deli on Diagon Alley to meet up with my aunt for lunch. After lunch I'd probably spend several hours locked in my studio de-stressing from the final visit with Daniel Loren, the man I no longer considered my father.
Impossible
Author: Travis
Date: 09-23-12 16:35
Mortica Munch sweeps into the office where Travis is sitting at the desk having a slightly late lunch. "Your sister is being impossible. YOU speak with her. Perhaps she will listen to you."
"Lisi isn't being reasonable?"
"She wants mauve and black as her wedding colors. Mauve and black!"
"Those two colors go well together. Why is her wanting them for the wedding a bad thing?"
Morticia rolls her eyes and gives a very inelegant, unladylike snort of disdain. "Mauve and black as a combination is years out of date."
"So maybe Lisi will reintroduce the combo."
"Don't be silly. It's unbecoming."
"I'm serious. Fashion, including color combinations go out of style for a few year then comes back in."
Morticia dismissively waves one hand. "You are purposely being as impossible as Lisianthus so that you do not have to deal with her stubbornness. It's bad enough that I have to be tolerant of this marriage when I do not approve but to have Lisianthus ignore my advice," she waves her hand again, this one an accompaniment to her injured air."
"Solomon is a perfectly nice man and he's besotted with Lisi. You should be happy for her."
"He's not one of us."
"By us, you mean he's not go mountains of galleons to gleefully roll around on."
"You are bordering on vulgar, but yes, if you want to it quite like that. Solomon doesn't work because it amuses him. He works because he must."
"How do you think the Grimstone fortune came out? Dad's? Rupert's? Roddrick's? At some point in the various family histories, people worked for a living."
Mortica does not stick her hands in her ears while loudly singing, "LA LA LA LA," but she does what amounts to the equivalent for her. She acts as if Travis had not just made a valid point. Pulling fabric swatches from her handbag she waves them under Travis's nose. "These colors are much better suited to the wedding date Lisianthus has chosen and will compliment both of your colorings as well as giving me something that will work well with my own outfit."
"That's what this is really about," Travis says, taking the fabric swatches from her mother. "Lisi isn't caving to your demands."
"She's not listening to reason."
"As I said, she's not caving to your demands."
"I have guided others with their wedding planning decisions, resulting in fabulous weddings and receptions that people speak of for years. Is it too much to ask that my own daughter listen to my sage advice? Heed my guidance?"
"When they contradict her wishes, yes. It's Lisi's wedding, Mum. You need to listen to her for a change."
"I HAVE been listening. It is not my fault that everything she wants is simply all wrong."
"Mum, if you don't stop pushing your vision for this wedding on Lisi, you're going to find yourself cut out of all planning. I suggest you pay more attention to what she wants, swallow whatever pride you think you are going to lose, and let Lisi have the wedding of HER dreams."
Morticia scowl and snatches the fabric swatches from Travis. "I should have known you also would not see reason. You are even more impossible than Lisianthus is. Perhaps Indigo will, though as he is a heterosexual male, I have doubt of his usefulness when it comes to color knowledge and fashion."
With that, Morticia takes her leave and just as she did not say hello when she came in, she exits without saying goodbye, leaving Travis to finally finish her lunch.