Dust Bowl//Marlene & Gilderoy
whois-gilderoylockhart:
The past five or so days had been a blur to Gilderoy, each ending in a lonely night that seemed to drag on longer than the last had. It gave him too much time to think and just enough time to realize that thoughts could be equally as dangerous as people and their actions. Those who might have kept him company were no longer in any mood to do so, too worried about themselves and righting Aversio’s wrongs to even ask how he was doing. Perhaps Marlene was the wrong person to seek out for any sort of assurance or comfort - perhaps the man knew that already, but the desire to see her remained. “That’s a nice welcome. I can’t imagine why you don’t have more customers tonight,” He returned as a futile attempt to counteract her apparent displeasure in seeing him.
Her words struck something within him, and he looked around with suddenly dull eyes. No, the dingy pub certainly wasn’t his scene. The woman’s attitude wasn’t making him more comfortable in the unfamiliar environment, either. “There are better things I could be doing,” He agreed stiffly, wanting neither to grant her the satisfaction of returning her cheek nor give his indirect permission for her to continue it. “I wanted to see how you were doing. You haven’t come over in a while, and you weren’t at the funeral…” Her absence the previous day had worried him, yet as he stood before her he felt a new sense of frustration towards the woman. “Don’t they give you the day off for that sort of thing?” That was the problem with Aversio - everyone had loyalty to the cause, but no one had loyalty to ones who fought beside them. Even if those in the Order called themselves something different, they were fighting not the same side as Aversio.
Marlene was not, had never been and would never be one for subtlety. She lived with her emotions on her sleeve and that night, she was seething. Had been for a while, really. Seething and looking for a fight, part of her felt a twinge of regret that it happened to be Gilderoy who found her in such a circumstance. It would have been better if it had been Alecto or someone she had a legitimate reason to lash out at, but alas, the world had never been kind to her. “Probably because they’re all too busy licking their wounds at home to venture out into the scary world.” She snapped back, her anger directed more towards the hundreds of people she knew were cowering at home than the man in front of her. “I’m surprised you’re not one of them. Feeling bold as of late? I can’t imagine why.”
“Then do them. I wouldn’t want you to waste your time.” Then, however, her lips curled into a smile. For as narcissistic as she considered Gilderoy to be, her hunger for attention matched his love for himself. Perhaps exceeded it. The thought of someone wanting to see her rattled around in her head before settling. No, she didn’t want worry then. Worry was the same thing as pity and she was sick of seeing it on every other person who walked by. “As tragic as it may be to be without my presence for long, I’ve better things to do with my time as well. Like aiding these delightful customers in their quest to get smashed out of their minds.” She quipped, gesturing widely to the almost empty pub. However, those who were in certainly matched her description, muttering to themselves or passed out on the counter. “I’m sure they would have if I asked.” She had asked. She had gotten it off, but was too busy tripping out and wallowing in her own anger to acknowledge the funeral. The thought of her mates gathering together to sob over a corpse as well, that made her stomach turn. “I suppose that’s life though, yeah? People finally pretend to care after you’re dead. It’s painfully ironic. I’m sure Doe would have understood, keeping a consistent work schedule is important.”
