Talking by the fire (Rich and Bri)

by **Richard Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:58 am

Richard knelt down in front of the fireplace, poking and proding the logs in the fledgling fire with the iron poker. He found that it was more relaxing to make and tend to the fire the muggle way than the magical way. Moving away from the fire, in case Briony decided she was going to floo home today, Richard sat back in an armchair. With a roll of his neck, he went back to his paperwork.

by **Briony Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:05 am

Briony had enough of work and decided that she was going to head home for the evening, she had not been sleeping enough recently, nor had she been eating properly and she wondered how much longer she could survive on pepper up potions alone.

Apparating outside of her home, Briony lowered the blood guards as she came in the replaced them as she walked towards the main body of the house with a small sigh.

And now began the happy charade of married life, she thought as she pushed open the door and shrugged off her coat as she kicked it shut after herself.

"I'm home." she called.

by **Richard Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:10 am

Richard looked up from his paperwork when he felt the blood wards drop to allow someone to enter. Since they were blood wards, that meant that it could only be Briony. Pushing his paperwork onto the table beside him, he got out of his seat and wandered into the front hall to greet his wife. She'd been getting more and more stressed recently to the point where her sleeping patterns and her eating habits were now way off. He smiled faintly when she walked in,

"Welcome home meine leibling." His smile dimmed a little bit, "You're looking rather stressed... let's sit down in front of the fire and relax for a bit yes?"

by **Briony Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:14 am

Brionys bad day had meant that she was in the mood to punch someone in the face for the littlest thing that they would say to her, and looking at her husband made her want to scream.

No she didn't want to sit down by the fire she wanted food and sleep now. But she just gritted her teeth and grimaced lightly, moving through to the living room where she sat down with a small sigh.

"Okay, I'm sat." she said quietly "How have you been lately, lots of paperwork I see?"

Briony nodded to the stack of paperwork with a groan, she had that safety assessment to do too.

by **Richard Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:19 am

Richard could see it in her face, Briony was in a bad mood. He wasn't very good at reading body language but it wasn't very hard to see when someone clearly wanted to hurt something or someone. Seeing her grit her teeth he knew that what was bothering her was large. He moved into the living room with her and sat down opposite her. From one of the tables beside him he offered her a plate of buttered, white, toast,

"Here, have some toast." he looked her in the eyes, smiling faintly, "You look hungry."

He glanced at the paperwork and he could have sworn that the pile was now bigger than when he'd first left the room. Ignoring it, he nodded a bit,

"Yes lots of paperwork but it's not really important at the moment." he turned to her, "What's up Briony? You know you can tell me whatever's wrong."

by **Briony Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:27 am

Briony eyed the toast up and she wanted to eat it, she really did want to try it but as soon as she smelt it Briony had to control the urge not to throw up all over the place. Taking a deep breath she pushed her husbands hand away with a strained smile.

"No thank you I'll get something later on, I'm not hungry right now."

When Richard said his paperwork wasn't important Briony knew that he was going to ask her what was wrong and she couldnt bring herself to start to talk, she didn't know where to begin.

"There is nothing terribly wrong, you know just all this extra work that I've been taking on, all the extra training and the safety measures." Brionys eyes moistened but she tried to blink it away.

by **Richard Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:37 am

He could see that she wanted to eat the toast, it was in her eyes, but at the same time she didn't want to eat it. As if she was afraid of being sick. Richard noted her strained smile and smiled faintly in return before putting it down on the table,

"Well as long as you eat at some point tonight that's alright." he smiled faintly, "Don't want you feeling ill because you've not eaten enough."

They both knew what they were going to be talking about and neither of them was particularly eager to start, it was bound to be sensative in some way after all. Richard moved from his own seat to kneel in front of Briony, cupping her cheek delicately with one hand while looking up into her eyes,

"Nothing terribly wrong?" He paused and shook his head lightly, "That's not true is it Briony? There's something wrong and you're trying to deal with it but it's getting to be too much... please tell me Briony..."

by **Briony Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:45 am

Briony wouldn't tell her husband that she in fact had no intention of eating at any time tonight, not after the reaction that she had just gotten from the food that wasn't even that rich. It was only toast for Christ sake.

Sighing slightly she nodded:

"I'll try to eat something later on Richard don't fuss so."

The simple action of just rubbing his hand against her cheek made Brionys eyes well up again and she blinked them away as fast as she could but it was harder this time.

"It's just the...the fighting and the war, I'm tired Richard..."

Briony sobbed and placed her head in her hands: "I'm tired and I can't do this any more!"

by **Richard Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:51 am

He could tell by the sigh, and the way she immediately seemed to agree with him, that she had no intention of eating that night at all. Richard smiled faintly anyway,

"Well alright then." He smirked lightly, "I'll stop my fussing."

The way her eyes welled up with tears told him that he'd hit it right on the mark. There was something bothering Briony and it had gotten past her defences enough to hurt her. When she spoke he nodded a little bit,

"The war is hard..." he agreed lightly, "Especially for you... with the additional stress at work as well... it must be like fighting a battle before fighting."

When she put her head in her hands and started to cry, Richard hugged her gently to him,

"It's alright Briony..." he assured her as he ran his fingers through her hair, "It is hard... you just have to vent sometimes..."

by **Briony Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:00 am

Briony hadn't told Richard about what had happened between her and Lolly and as a result it had been welling up inside of her all this stress and trying to find out the leader of the group that had been formed against them.

Letting her husband hold her close as she cried Briony felt ashamed of herself, she hardly ever cried and she still felt embarrassed about doing it even in front of her husband.

"I...it's just all too much Richard all too much I can't do it anymore I just want to give up." she sobbed

Briony took a deep shuddering breath and wiped her eyes a little even though she kept crying, the eyeliner beginning to smudge around her eyes and turn her tears black.

"There's another side we have to fight, the creatures Richard, the creatures are rising up against us, w-what am I supposed to do about that, they think I want this war, they think I'm a horrid cruel bitch like everyone else."

by **Richard Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:08 am

Richard held his wife close to him, trying to convey as much love and comfort as he could through his touch alone. He knew that his wife was a proud woman so for her to be crying so freely that her makeup smudged then there was even more to this than just the stress of wartime leadership. He gave her a reassuring squeeze,

"Let it out... let it all out..." he reassured her before smiling ever so faintly, "You're not alone Briony... I'm here. I'll so anything in my power to lessen your burden, your worries, just ask."

Taking a piece of the discarded paperwork, Richard used some transfiguration magic to turn the form, something about permission to do a lesson, into a soft tissue. He handed the tissue to Briony. When she spoke he stiffened slightly,

"The creatures are rising up against us?" His eyes widened slightly and he gave Briony another squeeze in the hug, "Even... even the werewolves?"

Shaking his head of his small fear of werewovles, Richard focused himself. He was here to comfort Briony, not get scared about something that was long since past,

"You're not like that and we both know it Briony." he smiled reassuringly at her, "What we need to do... is find the leader of this movement and sit down with them. Show them that you're the lovely person that you are."

by **Briony Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:20 am

Briony shook slightly and sniffled trying to stop herself from crying and beating herself mentally for daring to show that much emotion in front of anybody and Briony hated herself for what she was doing.

Liking the small squeeze that he gave her, Briony felt comforted a little and she stopped crying quite so heavily.

"I don't know what to ask, I don't know what to do at all, how can I fight creatures and the Germans?"

Casting her memories back to the time that she was fighting with Lolly, Briony recalled the anger that she had felt, the coldness and she knew that she was an angry and cold person.

"Yes they are rising up against us, there are werewolves in the ranks and I think there is one leading although I can't be sure about that."

Briony snorted: "If I see that leader I will punch his heart out for daring to get Lolly to talk about it to me instead of getting the balls to do it themselves."

by **Richard Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:38 am

Richard knew his wife well enough to know that although crying would be good for her in the long run, she was most likely probably hating herself for showing this much emotion, even to him. Feeling that the squeeze made her crying lessen, Richard held her tightly to him with a small smile,

"One step at a time Briony, one step at a time." he reassured her before his eyes hardened slightly, "The work related the the creatures... give that to me. I'll face the creatures and try to track their movements. Be your second in command kind of thing, just to lighten the load."

When Briony told him that there were definately werewolves in their ranks a vision of a snarling werewolf flashed in his mind. Instead of flinching like he would have done before, Richard merely nodded,

"Right... I can kill werewolves. Goblins are easy when out of their wards. Vampires might be a problem but nothing too hard." he muttered, mainly to himself, before chuckling dryly at Briony's words, "I'd recommend cutting his heart out with a spoon."

by **Briony Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:00 am

Briony enjoyed being close to Richard, hearing his heart beat next to her ear and his warmth mix with her own, made her calm and think of other things, she tried to stop crying and managed to for a moment before she thought of how these people saw her.

Normally she wouldn't give a toss, but now she did, she was weak and needed at least a few people to support her.

"I thought that you would be the best person for the job, you and Cobalt, with your senses you will be able to tell what's been going on."

Sighing again, Briony listened to Richard speaking and shook her head with a deep breath, if Lolly was involved there could be any number of creatures swanning about in this group.

"What about the centaurs Richard? What about any other numbers of creatures that could have joined up? It's all so uncertain, Lolly says they don't desire war but I don't believe them."

by **Richard Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:12 am

Richard didn't think there was any better feeling than holding Briony in his arms. It assured both of them of their love and the fact that she could rely on him. He nodded when she suggested that he and Cobalt lead the front against the creatures. Between the two of them they would be able catch them efficiently,

"A good idea my love." he agreed with a small smile, "Me and Cobalt will get them. We'll get them as fast as we can Briony."

He watched as Briony sighed. It seemed that this was going to be one hell of a long fight. He was prepared to do that so that Briony wouldn't have to,

"Centaurs... they're normally neutral... that could be an issue but Cobalt and I will figure more out when we track them down." He frowned a little bit, "Even if they don't... we must treat the threat as if its real."

by **Briony Romain** Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:48 pm

Briony was glad that even though she had kind of signed both of the men up to this job without asking them, at least one of them was going to be happy about it, and Cobalt would have no qualms as long as he got paid, which would put a serious dint in the school budget.

"I don't know if I want to 'get them' I more want to gather them so that we can all speak together, so that we can hopefully work out some sort of compromise."

Nodding her head, Briony thought who would be best to speak to about issues like this and she sighed, she knew he would have to be handled delicately.

"You should speak with Cain, he will help you, but don't rough him up or anything like that, and above all don't insult him, we need him on our side."

by **Richard Romain** Sun Mar 18, 2012 2:29 am

Richard was already going over some probable problems in his mind and he was frustrated to find that there were going to be quite a lot. He'd have to try and work with Cobalt without letting the man be 'blunt' about everything. He nodded in understanding,

"So you want to talk to some of their leaders right?" he frowned a little bit, "Maybe even the 'unified' leader, if there is one. We don't want a war on two fronts."

Richard frowned a little bit. He wasn't Cain's biggest fan if he was honest, the way the centaur had stood around expecting something after the battle of hogwarts had rubbed him the wrong way for some reason. He nodded slightly,

"I'll try." he told her quietly, "I'm probably not the best person to talk to Cain... but god knows I'm a better choice than Cobalt. I'll give it a shot but we might need someone he knows more as well."

by **Briony Romain** Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:50 pm

Briony sighed lightly, she didn't know what she wanted right now and she stood up from the sofa where she was sitting and went to sit by the fire, it kept her warm even though her hands were normally so cold and she wondered just what was going to happen to her in the future.

"I think that would be best, after all, we don't have enough man power to fight both creature and German forces, so we need to do something to stop this battle turning sour."

Just looking at Richard, the face that he pulled when talking about Cain said it all and Briony was a little annoyed that he couldn't just forget about what had happened at the battle of Hogwarts, it was part of centaur nature to act like that, and even though Cain was a lot more easy going than most of the centaurs he still had some of their traits, that's what many people forgot.

"You know what I'll just do it, I'll go there in the dark in the forest that I bloody hate and speak to him because you're obviously not going to do it properly are you?" she said exasperatedly.