boo-its-radley

[boo-its-radley]

allislongbottom‌:

Alice could indeed attest that for at least a week, Joshua had been on the Isle of Man. She wasn’t sure he’d been there the entire time he disappeared, but he was at least there for a week. With her.

Her mother had been shocked to say the least when Alice owled her to tell her she’d not be in the Cauldron that week. It wasn’t at all like her to not faithfully work pretty much seven days a week every week, but Hannah Abbott-Longbottom thought very little of it. Her daughter was a grown woman and could make her own choices. More warning would’ve been nice. But as long as Alice didn’t make this a habit she didn’t see the harm.

Alice felt herself let go of a breath she didn’t even know she was holding when she saw Joshua. He’d never broken a promise to her — not that he made a habit of making promises — but he always kept his word. He said he’d be here but there was a chance something could have come up and he’d owl her but she’d miss the owl because she’d already left to meet him here and—! Dozens of scenarios swam about her head. Until she saw him, and he saw her, and she had to imagine her feet had roots keeping her in the ground to keep from being publicly affectionate and doing something stupid like kissing him.

She wasn’t sure if that was okay with him, and you know, he was a private man. Alice could respect that.

“None this time, it was a bit short notice for that much, but when I move like this,” and she swayed her hips from side to side “the flowers move like they’re in the breeze. Think it’s pretty? Maybe I could’ve been a fashion designer in another life. Mum says I should go for it but I…don’t want to talk about what my mum says really. I’m sorry if I kept you waiting, I really did quick change as fast as possible.”

Joshua nodded slowly as he realized there were technically no living things on the dress, just a very good imitation of them. Transfiguration really was her specialty in a way that Joshua, despite years of practice, would never be able to match. He believed some wizards were inherently predisposed to acquire finesse with certain kinds of magic - charms, transfiguration, elemental, defensive, etc. And Alice’s predisposition was evident in every dress she made. 

“Why not?” He shrugged, though his knowledge of fashion extended only to the hemming and sewing basics he asked of seamstresses and tailors. It was something plenty of others took very seriously, even (and maybe especially) in Mayte. It was a form of expression. Maybe if he was a more expressive person he’d understand it more, but everyone had to have their shortcomings. “It’s pretty. Nice to be reminded of what flowers look like in the middle of winter.”

Again, he shrugged. He’d definitely been waiting for Alice to show up because he wanted to see her and have a break from the tedious conversations he found himself in, but it wasn’t with impatience. Well, maybe a bit of impatience, but not directed at her, just directed at any customers or other obstacles that might delay her. “Worth the wait.” He held a hand out with his palm up as he took a step toward the bar. “And now it’s time for you to be catered to for the first time tonight. What do you want first? Food? Champagne?”

New Year’s Eve, 11:55pm

[boo-its-radley]

alkimean‌:

Charlie was ready to go, with his two perfectly working hands, right for Lawrence Frisk, to make sure, under the pressure of his thumbs, that he wasn’t breathing anymore. Anything else could have been an illusion. He didn’t think faking his death was beneath him. Still, it took him half a battle to as much as spot him. It wasn’t too late and he warmed up to this point. Someone was shooting at him, but it didn’t matter. They could shoot at Charlie too if that meant he’d get to Lawrence. Hatred was growing stronger and stronger by the second waited. Although they were at different extremes, he was still making his way through people and smoke.

In front of Lawrence, a familiar person he wanted to bite the face off too, at that point. What was Scorpius Malfoy doing in Lawrence’s proximity? Perhaps Roxanne wasn’t too far off. ‘’Expulso,’’ he dismissed him cruelly, hoping the hex would make him vanish from Charlie’s way.

@boo-its-radley@scorped-by-the-gods @a-gentle-hand 

Joshua didn’t stop to ponder on why or how he’d suddenly arrived where he was. All he paused to do was withdraw his wand before seeking out Lawrence and steadfastly defending by his side. All attempts at appearing uninvolved were gone - he didn’t gave a fuck about the Isle of Man alibi when the Maytes were clearly outnumbered by...whoever was there. It didn’t matter who was allied with who, all that mattered was that none of them were allied with the Maytes. Even the man responsible for breaking out Joshua’s closest friend and leader would get a Killing Curse split through his chest if he stepped too close.

Joshua wasn’t tempted to use the Morning Star Curse so quickly off the bat. Mostly because it drained him immensely, but also because it was meant to be a last resort or a curse for efficiency. There was no need for anyone to die, just a chance they could, so he kept the thought of the curse at the back of his mind. 

It was evident from the beginning that Lawrence was intent on protecting someone else, too: Scorpius. Joshua wasn’t a fan of the brat, but he understood the kid’s importance and the liability if someone else got a hold of him. Lawrence could hold his own, so when he was distracted by a vaguely familiar young woman, Joshua’s attention turned not to providing backup but to protecting Scorpius. “Just stay behind me, son,” Joshua instructed, breathless from casting hexes and curses aloud but still dry as ever. It seemed he wasn’t the only one to take up the initiative of defending Scorpius when Lawrence was occupied, and it was no surprise that it was Aerwynna who ended up beside him.

For some minutes they were able to ward off any stray attacks easily, but it didn’t seem as if anyone was coming directly for them. A familiar-from-afar face seemed to have taken up Joshua’s previous post aiding Frisk. Just as a dark-haired man started to attempt to engage with Kai, Joshua took notice of another man he only ever saw as wild-eyed coming for Scorpius. “Protego! Stupefy!”

@scorped-by-the-gods​ @a-gentle-hand​ @alkimean​

battle v/vi

[boo-its-radley]

New Year’s Eve, 11:55pm

@allislongbottom​

Ayre sheading on the Isle of Man. He’d said some variation of that phrase so many times that night it felt unnatural to open his mouth and not have them come out now. He wasn’t over the top about it, but it seemed as if anyone he bothered to talk to was the kind of person who’d taken note of his disappearance - and when it began. He reasoned it away - when he left was a normal time for people to go away on trips, and when he heard there was no real place left for him to come back to, he decided to stay where he knew there was a comfortable bed and working stove. If anyone really pushed, he had a convenient card to play: Alice Longbottom came to visit him, she could attest to the fact it was certainly better there than in what remained of his old apartment.

The actual trip with Alice earlier in the month was a much needed break from the castle and fresh water. He was getting tired of reading in the same spaces, of feeling so confined despite how expansive the grounds were at Hogwarts. It was an actual vacation, refreshing and peaceful and thoughtful, and he was able to catch up on the outside world through Alice’s stories. It was embarrassing to consider there was a time when he blocked out her voice as a nuisance. 

When Joshua received the invitation, he told Alice about it and said he was planning on attending. He’d been offered a couch at an old friend’s house in Scotland. It didn’t sound as convincing as he’d hoped, but it was the most plausible option. A peaceful party was the best place to reintroduce himself back into society, he believed. Unsurprisingly, she was working. But she’d be there - just late. Joshua hated to admit it, but some of his agitation that night came not just from being around so many people, but also from waiting around. It was only fair that he wait considering she’d do the same. Considering she’d done the same for months.

It wasn’t until nearly midnight that he finally saw Alice come in. It was, of course, difficult to miss her. “And how many living creatures are on this dress?”

[boo-its-radley]

attitude-mayte-vary‌:

She was brought up short for a second, stunned that he had a quick response, having assumed that she was the only one with common sense as only an eighteen year old could. Then the questions started back up again. “Where were you staying on the Isle of Man? Why didn’t you tell anyone you were leaving? You had a job, right? Are you sure they didn’t report you missing?”

“Around the Ayre sheading, mostly in Bride.” He pressed his lips into a thin line and shook his head slightly. He felt he didn’t even have to say that there was no one he needed to tell he was leaving, even if there were at least a handful of people he actually did have an obligation to tell. “People quit without warning all the time. I’m sure it wasn’t a big deal.”

[boo-its-radley]

ellievslondon‌:

It was another party she hadn’t quite gotten an invitation to. Though she didn’t exactly have a mailbox, and everyone else had gotten an invitation, so she didn’t precisely consider it crashing the party. She was an uninvited guest, and no questions were asked about such entering the event.

She couldn’t have not gone, even though her bones ached at the idea, and peace, though ideal, wasn’t an option in her mind. Her dreaded curiosity hadn’t died with her unwavering bravery. The opportunity to take such an eclectic audience in had won. Though she felt more cautious than usual. She knew more about these folks than they knew about her.

“Did everyone and their dog show up? Were we expected to memorize a dance for a flash mob before we arrived? Does everyone really have my sick sense of curiosity? And am I over or under dressed? I really can’t tell now.”

Joshua couldn’t say he was exactly pleased with the amount of people there. Any room that seemed nearly filled to capacity was a room he didn’t want to be in. The only reason he was there was his complete lack of faith in this “vow of peace” everyone supposedly claimed to take. It seemed absurd and he wasn’t going to stay back at the castle only to find out something happened without him present. He had faith in (most of) the other Maytes, but he knew their numbers were smaller than some other groups out there. He refused to let them have one body less simply because he didn’t want to make small talk and eat tiny food.

“I doubt the person who put this thing together even asked that many questions.”

[boo-its-radley]

Joshua Radley’s attire for the New Year’s Eve Party

[boo-its-radley]

attitude-mayte-vary‌:

If she hadn’t been so surprised to see Joshua out of the castle, she would have resented him for butting in. As it was, her eyes were going wide and she was freezing while the witch she had spilled her tray of drinks who had initially been so offended backed off quickly, suddenly accepting of the accident once shamed by Joshua, and left. “What are you doing here?”she hissed urgently, grabbing Joshua’s arm with her free hand and pulling him toward the door to one of the adjoining rooms of the penthouse. “You are supposed to be playing dead! You can’t be in public!”

Joshua didn’t fight against her attempts to move him out of sight, but he followed along with lazy, floppy footsteps and his eyes rolled twice before she was done talking. “I was, at most, assumed dead,” he stated monotonously. “I doubt anyone filed a report that I was even missing. I left for a long trip to the Isle of Man. Stayed on the coast, got back in touch with my element. It’s tragic what I came back to.”

[boo-its-radley]

attitude-mayte-vary‌:

“I’m really sorry! I can do a great scourgio spell though that will get that stain right out and then I’ll be back with another tray”

“It’s a stain, they won’t die,” Joshua muttered, irritation evident even though it was encouraged by so much stimuli it was impossible to tell if he was agitated with Nerissa or the other party attendee more. He waved his hand, casting a cleaning charm on their clothes that he’d perfected long ago when he first lived on his own and realized he had to clean up after himself entirely. Incompetent fucking witches and warlocks, always making a scene over the smallest things that could be solved with the easiest of spells.

[boo-its-radley]

a-gentle-hand‌:

There was something nice, something peaceful about the greenhouses.

She’d gravitated toward them rather predictably, begun the process of reorganising as per her own tastes - and by theme and which plants really got on, rather than by stages of learning - and made them her own, and she had been proud of her progress, content with carving out the space for herself while continuing to revolve around her friends, there for them as and when they needed her to be.

Now, she was just…tired. And she found herself in Greenhouse Five - now the home of the deadliest of her plants, and those primarily used for poison - without thinking, trimming samples and harvesting seedpods mindlessly until she sat on a stool toward the back of the house, a death cap mushroom cradled in both her hands, running her thumb over the velvet-soft frills of the underside thoughtfully.

“Oh Charlie,” she murmured to herself, pondering the problem of her almost-brother-in-law and the noxious poison that was his influence on her niece/sister/daughter.

“Dear, impulsive Charlie. What are we to do with you?”

Joshua spent most of the day reading, all too little avail for what he was looking for, and found himself out for a walk on the castle grounds. For the most part, he usually stuck near the lake, pausing occasionally to practice elemental magic when it struck his fancy. While passing the greenhouses he noticed the silhouettes inside seemed to be different, and he decided to pass by each opening to peek inside. It looked as if someone had been doing some rearranging, and before he actually spotted her, he knew who it was.

It shouldn’t have surprised him that what occupied Lawrence’s thoughts also occupied Aerwynna’s. “Restrain him,” Joshua suggested, taking a few more steps into the greenhouse. He could recognize what a few of the plants in the greenhouse were and decided to place himself in a position in the middle of an aisle, safely away from any dangling tendrils. “We took Hogwarts. We can keep Charlie in his place.”

*Hogwarts, Greenhouse Five*

[boo-its-radley]

scorped-by-the-gods‌:

“What’s the point of freezing yourself in time, if you’re going to claim your years? I mean, presumably, cheating death, but why state the obvious?” He was there to talk to Lawrence, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t accomplish the same goal talking to Joshua. He could probably do it much faster, since he could be as blunt as he liked. “Just tell me who is dying or getting kidnapped on New Year’s.”

“I only claim it when it’s funny,” he stated seriously. His expression only shifted by the way his eyebrows lifted up upon hearing Scorpius’s demand. “Difficult to believe it’s nearly New Year’s already. Time flies.”

[boo-its-radley]

lawfrisk‌:

‘‘I don’t see any sense in punishing him. I do want him to stop, but aside from… this cruel act of taking Bellamy away knowing too well what it implied…’‘ Lawrence shrugged helplessly, feeling stuck. Charlie seemed to always get him in the middle of the problem, and the nonsense was that he wasn’t even that big of a force to be reckoned with. ‘‘Theoretically, he did nothing. He’s still harmless to me. Practically, I don’t like how impertinent he is becoming. I don’t feel it’s just.’’ The Mayte looked over to Joshua with a shadow of hope shining in his eyes. ‘’I always valued your mind over my own. What do you think?’’ Maybe that wasn’t a complete lie.

Joshua listened, neutral in appearance and in thought throughout aside from a slight twinge of disagreement deep down in his mind when Charlie was referred to as harmless. He felt that might just be his own personal misunderstanding of how Charlie made any decisions in his life, though. “I think you have a clearer view of who he is and who he could be than I ever will,” Joshua replied. It wasn’t in Joshua’s nature to be modest enough not to offer a suggestion he had ready when asked, though. “Containment could work.”

[boo-its-radley]

@alkimean​

Joshua was just getting the last of his things from his old place to move them over to the castle, operating late at night in the hopes of avoiding people. He was just about to open the back door to the Hog’s Head when he heard a noise. 

[boo-its-radley]

lawfrisk‌:

After hearing everything from Bellamy, after everyone in the castle properly listened and cared for Bellamy - Aerwynna brewed her a strengthening potion without him even asking - Lawrence silently separated himself from the small crowd around the new found girl, to think. ‘’What do we do with you, Charlie? What do we do with you?’’ he muttered, genuinely conflicted to the point where he didn’t even notice someone else passing by.

@maytelesslucille​ @boo-its-radley​

Joshua wasn’t involved very much in Bellamy’s reception beyond the initial greeting from all. Even then, he stood toward the back and slipped away as soon as he could. While others cared for her, Joshua retreated to the library to return to a Healing book he’d begun the night before and await owls to arrive with the latest editions of any local and national news items. After some time, he needed to stretch his legs and figured he’d go for a walk around the castle and see if everyone was fussing over Bellamy still. Lawrence was clearly deep in thought when Joshua passed, so he wasn’t going to talk until he heard the man’s mutterings. “What are you going to do with Charlie?” Joshua asked, serious and sharp. He didn’t mean it as a disrespectful question - he hoped if anything it might surprise the man into an honest question.

[boo-its-radley]

𝓐𝓾𝓽𝓾𝓶𝓷 𝓶𝓸𝓸𝓭. Boyd Holbrook by Craig McDean.

[boo-its-radley]

scorped-by-the-gods‌:

“Is that supposed to be some kind of callback to you impersonating my father? If so, it’s pretty flat. He never called me kiddo, ever in my life. I’m here talking to you, so that usually means my day is about to take a turn for the worse, statistically speaking, but not that bad. How are you since we’re pretending to be interested?”

“No, it’s a callback to me being significantly older than you,” he declared without amusement, though he found his own response rather hilarious. Joshua glanced out the nearest window at the sprawling greens of the castle. “Fine,” he replied, briefly and honestly. “How can I make your day worse today?”

[boo-its-radley]

attitude-mayte-vary‌:

So he didn’t answer how long ago his mother had been a teacher and put an age to her and by association himself, but Nerissa suddenly had a better question to ask. “Did you know my mother?”

He could’ve laughed. Could’ve, but didn’t. Should’ve, but it could’ve unraveled a spool Joshua never expected to touch again. How do you tell someone who was nearly an adult that they were a mistake he was all too willing to leave behind? He hadn’t ever expected her to show up, hadn’t expected he’d ever have to confront this. Circles were getting smaller in Mayte - part of the benefit of leaving was avoiding things like this. “Who didn’t know the Howells?” he countered instead of a direct answer again. Obnoxious as she was...he still didn’t want to end his conversations with her as hastily as he tended to end them with others. “I knew most people.”

Hogwarts Castle  //  Early October