walls come crumbling down , [[ marlon ]]

[ROXY FAYE FINNIGAN]

roxy frowned and looked at the owl with a frown - which looked balefully back, the letter still clutched in its beak as it surveyed her with an unblinking stare. "oh nu uh, no. you can turn around and fly that damn letter right back to her. i don't want to read it." roxy shook her head, gritting her teeth slightly in anger. it wasn't often that rox got angry - she was a passifist, but when it came to her mother .. well she couldn't seem to control her anger when her mother went and did things like this!

the owl hooted, the sound muffled by the envelope and roxy frowned and shook her head. "no." she said. she couldn't believe she was arguing with a bird but .. she was. after what her mother had done this time she didn't want to read this letter to accompany her actions. this was the third letter she'd ignored from her parents since her mothers actions had earned her a place on the reserve quidditch team. sure, roxy was still technically part of the team and she was thankful for that - what she wasn't thankful for was her mother's intervention in her life - her mother's attempt at sabotaging her favourite part of being a witch. quidditch. she'd damn well messed with roxy's life.

this wasn't the first time either. her mother had stepped into her life one too many times. roxy frowned and tore the letter from the creatures beak. it hooted in annoyance and nipped at her fingers. "ouch!" roxy exclaimed and frowned, looking at the envelope. she definetly did not want to open it. grabbing a quill from her bag, she crossed out the adress on the envelope and re-wrote another, handing it to the owl with reluctantly took it. "take it back. go on." she frowned and flicked her fingers at it and the owl spread it's wings and soared out the window, returning the letter. good.

roxy swallowed and moved toward one of the windows, looking out at the bird as it soared away. she hated this; despised this. she felt betrayed by her own mother, dissapointed, angry, upset. and she knew that if she didn't stop her mother - she'd end up controlling her entire life. she was seventeen for crying out loud. roxy bit her bottom lip hard and wiped at the tears that just kept coming...

( ooc , hope this is cools )

[MARLON COOPER DELANEY]

The owlery was a perfectly fine place for a person to be... if said person had someone that they wanted to mail letters to. However, being just a step above a street rat from Wales, Marlon had no such person. In his opinion, his mother was a idiot, as was his father who was allowed himself to be caught up in a bank job in the first place on top of being thrown in prison for a large majority of his life. Unlike many others, Marlon enjoyed the company of animals, sometimes more than human company. Humans could be so... messy and complicated, far more so than necessary. Not to mention these animals never judged him when a vision came to him. Most people did not spend a copious amount of time up here due to the smell of owl droppings and the company of grumpy owls, but mostly due to the owl droppings. But Marlon withstood the smell since he was used to far worse things back at home.

Marlon had been ascending the stairs towards the top of the tower when he first heard Roxy's exchange with the owl. 'Of course, everybody blames the owl,' he groused, upset that the girl seemed to blame the innocent owl for an unwanted message, 'Don't blame the messenger. Blame the flipping message.' He had reached the top of the stairs just in time for a nice light breeze of owl droppings to waft his way. By the looks of it, Roxy had just shooed away the feathered messenger rather abruptly.

Although Marlon was often a solitary soul, he knew many of the people in the school due to the fact that he watched everybody no matter where he was. As creepy as that sounds, it does give him some deep insight into certain individuals and people in general. As a result, Marlon recognized the girl as Roxy Finnigan. Perhaps, it was the way that the light hit her, but Marlon got an immediate feeling of deja vu, which was not something he experienced often as his Sight liked to show him past events. Blinking, he realized that slouch of her shoulders and the tears glistening in the fading light combined with her lonely silhouette created a picture made familiar by his vague visions. Due to the vagueness of these visions, Marlon never got a clear look at the person's face, but he now realized was her; although he never knew what was wrong exactly, only that she was upset each and every time. It was like a pretty painting, albeit a sad one.

Hastily, Marlon pulled out a handkerchief that he used for just these situations. It was a plain old thing, but clean. He offered it to the crying girl, giving her a small, but sympathetic smile. It was a smile that promised to lend an ear or at least to give her a shoulder to cry on.

(( 'Tis perfectly fine =) as long as you're ok with my random time of day embellishment >.> ))

[ROXY FAYE FINNIGAN]

roxy was so enveloped by her thoughts, wiping away at the tears streaming steadily down her cold cheeks. she didn't care if her make up was running or not, and she tried to wipe away the silver trails the glistening tears left behind. so enveloped in her irritation for her mother, for the anger of her damn interfering ... that she didn't hear the footsteps of the opening of the door.

so when the sight of a handkerchief dangled infront of her, roxy jumped a mile. she couldn't help it! even ommitting a small squeak of surprise, she jerked back and turned to face the other person, blinking. "oh." she said quietly, swallowing past the lump in her throat and hastily wiping at her cheeks. she didn't like being caught crying - not that she was ever really caught crying but you know .. she didn't like being caught looking all vulnerable. being a passifist she hardly ever argued and already slytherins liked to try and corner her a little.

"t-thanks.." she greatfully took the offered handkerchief when she realised the volley of tears was larger than she'd realised. using it to wipe away the trails and her eyes, quickly romoving as much evidence of the tears that she could - other than the red eyes - she looked at the dampened handkerchief. "oh uhm.." she bit her lip and took out her wand, quickly using that well known spell to clean it before handing it back. "thanks again.." already she was calmer, and she sniffed once and looked at him, trying for a small smile. "i'm roxy.." she said.

( ooc , lols it's fine xD )

[MARLON COOPER DELANEY]

When he handed her a handkerchief, Marlon certainly had not expected such a dramatic reaction as this girl had exhibited. It was one thing for her to jump up in surprise, but the small, albeit cute little squeak was wholly unnecessary in his opinion. Or perhaps he was simply trying to cover up his own unnecessary reaction. In response to her startled reaction, Marlon also jumped. As a reflex, he took a step backwards to escape the minuscule chance of being hit by Finnigan. Unfortunately, his efforts were for naught as his step backward led him to step on some relatively fresh owl droppings thus causing him to slip cleanly and squarely onto his bum with a small oomph. Needless to say, his fall hurt quite a bit for the short span of time it took for to happen. Marlon blinked blankly on his position on the floor almost scared to check the condition of his clothing and the bottom of his shoes. With only a brief pause, he grabbed his obviously torn and broken shoelaces to turn his shoe so that he could see the bottom of it. Predictably, he cringed away from the mess smeared all over the bottom of his shoes.

In some ways, perhaps it was a good thing that Marlon had slipped and fallen right then. His fall had prevented him from witnessing more of the Gryffindor's current vulnerable state. Glancing from his dirtied shoe back up to Marlon looked up in time to see Finnigan clean his handkerchief, which he thought was rather thoughtful of her.

“Er.. I'm Marlon,” he replied, seeming distracted and disinclined to move from his position on the floor. After all, his moving could only cause him to get more owl droppings all over him. And since he had only so many articles of clothing, he would rather not completely ruin them with owl droppings of all things. But at the same time... he did want to move eventually and he was looking for the best way to extricate himself from his current position without becoming further soiled.

“Everything alright?” he asked in a bit of an offhanded manner as he continued to glance around him, but there was a hint of concern in his voice. His intentions were to test out the waters a bit. From his experience, not everybody wanted to talk about their problems to a random stranger.

[ROXY FAYE FINNIGAN]

roxy glanced at marlon as he jumped too, biting her lip as he stepped back and she noticed something that would possibly render him in the smooth motion upon the floor. she opened her mouth to heed a caution but it was too late, and he slipped backward onto the floor. roxy winced for him at the thud, figuring it must have hurt and she turned toward him. "are you okay?" she asked in genuine concern, fogetting her worries for now in replacement of the worry for the other student.

she was like that, see, far too friendly and always looking out for others... she didn't find this the least bit funny, and actually she felt sympathy for him - it must have hurt both physically and emotionally to fall..in uh . that. “Er.. I'm Marlon,” she made to offer him a hand up, wondering if he'd accept or not and she smiled slightly as he offered her his name. she hadn't seen or heard of him before really but from the look of his robes they did come from different houses. “Everything alright?”

roxy bit her lip and sighed, nodding slightly. "yeah i'm okay..just had a few issues with my mum," she chewed her lip and shook her head slightly as if to try and shake it off, glancing at him she waved with her wand slightly, aiming to draw attention to it. "if you stand i can help clean off the uh .. stuff." she offered, trying to kind of draw attention away from why she'd been crying..she wasn't very good at sharing her troubles, only at helping others.

( ooc , lols it's fine xD )

[MARLON COOPER DELANEY]

Aside from being a bit winded and more or less covered in owl poop, Marlon was perfectly fine, although the little drama queen secretly thought otherwise. “Oh, perfectly fine,” he replied, his tone belying his response with a hint of sarcasm and the tiniest bit of a bite. 'I've only essentially rolled about in poop. Everything is fine and dandy...' his inner voice was more or less disgruntled with his current position.

Having been raised in an environment that didn't exactly nurture and pedal kindness onto others, especially possibly at one's own expense, Marlon was not used to acts of kindness. However, it is true that a large part of his experience with 'friendship' so to speak did not present the best example of friendship. Marlon blinked in confusion at Roxy's offered hand before slowly raising his eyes up to Roxy's face, still blinking, his obvious disbelief showing on his face. His shock was enough that he didn't take the offered hand, contemplating the idea as a possibly bad one.

The sides of his lips curled into a slight smile. “Mum issues, I can sympathize.” Although Marlon doubted that Roxy hated her mum half as much as he hated his, he felt that this was the best way to help her talk about whatever it was that was bothering her. It was obviously no small thing by the very fact that she was crying. Although Marlon knew comparatively little about her, she seemed like the type of person who hated to cry, in public or private. As intended, Marlon's eyes were drawn toward the elegant wave of her wand as directed by her hand. From his experience, random acts of magic calls for a need to be wary.

With her new offer, Marlon raised his eyebrows once more in skepticism. “That would be marvelous, but we're assuming that there's such a spell that could clean off this mess....” Although he may be easy to manipulate, he wasn't quite so oblivious as to not realize that Roxy was trying to change the subject.

“So what'd she do?” he asked, curiosity colouring his voice. “My mum won't stop nagging at me to get a bloody job everytime I come home for summer break,” he offered, hoping for a reciprocal response.

[ROXY FAYE FINNIGAN]

“Oh, perfectly fine,” she bit her lip, pushing aside her own troubles for the moment in favour of helping him. she could see the increasing disbelief and slight suspicion in his face, and she wondered why. she was only offering him a hand up...surely that wasn't unheard of was it? she gazed back at him lightly, looking at him gently and keeping her hand offered out to him. "i swear i don't bite...and i have no ulterior motives." she said lightly with a small shrug.

“Mum issues, I can sympathize.” she looked at him and bit her lip. she was sure a lot of people probably had issues with their parents, she wasn't naive or selfish to think that she was the only one. she didn't quite know what to say to his little revelation so she left it at the nod for now, looking at him lightly as she waited for him to speak of her offer to clean him off. it wouldn't be too difficult, and he didnt' have to take it...she was just being nice - it was in roxy's nature. it was probably how she made prefect too, seeing as she wasn't particulary very responsible at times, she did always look out for other people, and she'd always put others before herself. like now for instance, she'd rather be helping him than talking about or thinking or her little issue.

“That would be marvelous, but we're assuming that there's such a spell that could clean off this mess....” roxy nodded in assurance. "there is .. scourgify works pretty well.. trust me." she said, eyes perfectly honest as she looked at him, and then before she could protest, she waved her wand in a certain motion at him, muttering the spell and causing the droppings mess to dissapear completely. "see..?" she said gently, smiling softly. “So what'd she do?” roxy bit her lower lip, not really intent on answering the question partculary but sighing and saying, "she got involved in my decision to play quidditch.." she said simply, and then looked at him as he spoke again.

“My mum won't stop nagging at me to get a bloody job everytime I come home for summer break,” roxy chewed her lip and shot him a sympathetic look. "that sucks... i hate it when parents push you into things like that.. you'll get a job in your own time, why can't they see that?" she rolled her eyes and sighed, running a hand through her hair and shaking her head. parents...sometimes they just really weren't worth the hassle.

( ooc , lols it's fine xD )

[MARLON COOPER DELANEY]

Despite her words, Marlon couldn't help suspicion from welling up. Ever since he was young, the only consistent lesson that was reinforced in his childhood was to never trust anybody. To trust was dangerous. Nobody was to be trusted. In fact because she had tried to convince him that she had no ulterior motives was enough to raise at least a few red flags for him. Funnily enough, the exact thing that was cause for alarm on his part was exactly what he was doing to get her to talk about her own problems, albeit in a more subtle way than Roxy.

Due to his suspicions, Marlon had still yet to take up on Roxy's generously offered hand, especially considering the mess that he was in. However, he had one too many experiences in taking the offered hand, only to fall back down on his rump through the fault of the offerer. Granted, many if not all of these experiences were at his old Muggle school where he was bullied heavily for his financial situations and his geeky personality.

In spite of Roxy's reassurances, Marlon was skeptical. Scourgify was good, but surely it wasn't that good. However he was soon disproved of his theory as soon as Roxy waved her wand and spoke the incantation to the spell, and as intended, the mess of owl droppings disappeared. The young Slytherin looked rather amazed at the fact and stared in awe at the lack of a mess and back up to Roxy. “So it does....” he murmured under his breath. Perhaps it was just that he really sucked cleaning charms.

Seeing her starting to open up to him, Marlon didn't want to miss the chance to jump on it. “Oh?” he asked, feigning disinterest in the matter. While his voice may have inferred one thing, his eyes told a different story. They were lit with interest as he turned his gaze over to the Gryffindor. He took this moment finally take Roxy's offered hand up. While listening to her sympathize with him, Marlon brushed himself off of any excessive mess; however, it seemed that Roxy had done a good and thorough job in her cleaning charm.

“Well, I'm sure they have their reasons,” he said skeptically. Despite the skepticism in his voice, Marlon knew the reason why his mum bothered him so much about getting a job as soon as summer break starts. In some part of him, Marlon knew how imperative that income be brought into the Delaney household as soon and as fast as possible. However, the delirious contentment of finished exams often wanted precedence over such serious matters. “Just as I'm sure your mum has her reasons for meddling in your affairs.” Marlon looked over at Roxy with some understanding in his eyes.

[ROXY FAYE FINNIGAN]

“So it does....” she smiled lightly as she watched the mess dissapear, glad that she'd managed to do it correctly, hopefully earning some trust from him. she was quite well known for having inherited her fathers ability to blow things up - in potions, a cauldron plus roxy often ended in something exploding..minor or not. she was embarrased by it, for often she was merely trying her best, but she was happy to laugh it off and joke about her 'clumsiness'. she'd never hurt anyone so that was fine, despite the occasional singed ends of her own hair, which she could usually fix alright without worry.

“Oh?” roxy sighed and nodded, putting her wand away now that she'd done the spell and going to offer him her hand again without really thinking about it. "i was trying out for the team, but she'd owled ahead and gone on about how she didn't want me playing quidditch...so i got put as a reserve." roxy sighed and shook her head. she didn't mind her position really - it was a position in the team at least - but what irritated her was her mothers actions. she was seventeen for crikes sakes, she could make her own damn decisions! if she wanted to play quidditch, then she was damn well going to play quidditch.

finally marlon took her hand and she carefully made to help hoist him back onto his feet before letting go of him, flashing him a small smile. “Well, I'm sure they have their reasons,” roxy gave a light shrug and bit her lip, not so sure herself. well okay granted they often had their opinions on the matter, but the way her mum hadn't even told her herself...and roxy had had to find out wasn't exactly very nice. “Just as I'm sure your mum has her reasons for meddling in your affairs.” she glanced at him, not sure really what to say in response. she just wished her mum hadn't done it really...it had been sneaky and entirely unfair. "i suppose...." she allowed finally, glancing away from him to look out the window, still mulling a few things over.

( ooc , i am sooooo sorry! i completely forgot to reply -dies- sorry it's so sucky too /: )

[MARLON COOPER DELANEY]

Based on his own past personal experience, Marlon has grown to be more or less paranoid of just about everything. He trusted very little things and even less people. His trust was something that was more or less difficult to obtain. Due to his less than sunny perspective on others, Marlon thought her smile at his bewilderment to be more indicative of mocking his own lack of magical abilities. This in turn dug into his own set of insecurities and fears of being discovered as a Muggleborn. No good could ever come out of a Muggleborn in Slytherin. Never. Regardless of the fact that there are a number of open-minded individuals in the house, there were still a large number of purist Slytherins. These purists would rip him apart, just like the bullies back in grade school did to him. Worse even.

If he were entirely honest with him, Marlon was a bit surprised that such an open-ended expression like a simple 'oh' could elicit such a response from Roxy to a virtually complete stranger. To him, this could only mean one thing: she just needed to find someone to talk about this to. Despite his rather crotchety exterior, Marlon was a big old softie when it came down to things such as this, not that he wanted anybody to know about it. To everybody, he was a big, mean Slytherin... okay, not big, but at least mean. He wanted to fit in...

"i was trying out for the team, but she'd owled ahead and gone on about how she didn't want me playing quidditch...so i got put as a reserve." Marlon made a sympathetic sound at her plight. “It sounds like she's just worried about you. And maybe she has some problems letting go,” he commented in a hopefully supportive manner. Marlon could only wish that he had a mum who cared half as much as Roxy's mum seemed to. To be fair, his mum had her own set of problems, but he was hardly ever charitable to his mum.

As she helped him up, Marlon grunted, surprised by her strength. Of course, he wasn't exactly heavy. Having spent the first few years of his life more or less malnourished, Marlon weighed comparatively little to his peers. Although she progressed over to the window, Marlon had not moved from his spot as if he were scared of falling in the muck once more so soon after the girl had just cleaned him up. “Just look at it from her point of view,” he ventured as he stood comically stock still in his spot.

[/justify]


(( I'm SO SO SO SO SO sorry >_< Life killed me for a bit back there. Hopefully I'll start replying faster from now on... And I liked this post xD It inspired my muse to post as Marlon again and reminded me how crazy this guy is. ))