Open A Child of Divorce?!

[Valeria Iglesias]

Divorce. That was the only word on Valeria's mind. Her parents were getting divorced. Appartently things had not been as fine as she had believed they were in her family - though Val had never taken much of an interest in her parent's relationship and now..now it was all gone. Her dad had left, stayed long enough to say goodbye to Val and offer for her to go with him before leaving. Valeria didn't want to go, her life was in New Zealand, she had friends, school, people around her. There was nothing for her where her dad was apart from her dad and he wanted her to go to school there near him. She didn't want that. She wanted to go with him to be with him but not more than she wanted to stay in New Zealand around her friends, around her school, her quidditch team.

Valeria had stormed out the house after a few days, taking some money from her mother and headed to the harbour. She walked the streets and eventually just sat down at the water's edge. She wanted to shop, get a new dress or something that would make her feel better, but she wasn't in the mood for it either. She wanted to be back at school, where she didn't have to think about her parents. But now, it was winter break and all she could think about, or be around was her newly single mother and constant letters from her father to go back to Portugal to be with him. ​

 

[Manaia Te Rangi]

For the last few years, Manaia had been eager to spend every moment of the holidays at home, catching up with his family. It had become more complicated as his family became two families, a change he was still adjusting to. But even with the mess and chaos of his family rearranging itself, Manaia had always taken every second of the holidays that he could to spend time with them. But now for the first time, he needed a break. After three years of school without his brother, readjusting to having Rāwhiti around all the time had been a bit of a struggle, and Manaia didn't know how he had handled his brother's energy levels full time before Hogwarts. Maybe it had been less overwhelming with so much other family around for Rāwhiti to spend time with. Maybe Manaia himself had changed.

Either way, as much as he had missed the rest of his family, Manaia desperately needed a break from his brother. So he had pocketed some cash he made busking and gotten Mum to drop him off in the Harbour for the afternoon, lying about a practice with the Badgers. The outing had been too spur-of-the-moment to make any plans, so he was just going to wander around and enjoy having some time to himself. He had headed to the water's edge first, reminiscing quietly about kayaking here with his dad and siblings when he had been younger. Everything had been so much easier then. He was pulled out of his thoughts at the sight of one of his classmates, smiling as he approached her. "Hey, Valeria." Manaia said cheerfully - though he had never spent much one on one time with the Ravenclaw, he knew her well enough from classes. "How's your holiday?"

 

[Valeria Iglesias]

Valeria wasn't alone for long, it was why in part she had wanted to just go back to school. She'd be able to always have someone to speak to her, someone to distract her from her thoughts and worries. She could always put it away in a box and focus on being able to flirt with someone. She glanced at the boy, Manaia. She knew this boy from school, though they hadn't talked one on one much. He was cute, and though she thought kissing a boy would be fun, she wasn't really in the mood for it. "Not going great really...," she replied honestly with half an attempt at a smile. "Yours?" She didn't give any explanation as to why her holiday wasn't going well. Offering nothing to him by way of information but she didn't want this boy who maybe wanted to flirt to end up in a sad and depressing conversation. ​

 

[Manaia Te Rangi]

Manaia was pleased that Valeria seemed comfortable talking to him, taking a seat next to her. "I'm sorry, that sucks." He said, leaning back and looking out over the water. He couldn't help a small laugh when she asked about his own holidays, giving a small shrug. "Kinda messy. My dad's new stepkids are muggles, so it's weird hanging out with them." Manaia hadn't talked much about his parents' divorce with anyone other than his roommates, but this was his life now, and it felt weird acting as though it was some kind of secret. He didn't feel quite comfortable enough calling them stepsiblings yet though. One step at a time.

 

[Valeria Iglesias]

Valeria gave a little shrug at his sympathy. She wasn't sure what she should or could do with it. It wasn't really the time nor place for it and she didn't feel that into it. She frowned at his break and had the thought there and then that her dad or mum could end up in a relationship with someone else who had kids. She could end up with step siblings. "Oh ew," she said outloud and then realised that Manaia probably thought she was talking about him. "That's not about you...or these muggle kids..," she was quick to say, for once in her life actually a little nervous about how to make up for what she'd just said. "It's just...my parents just got divorced...and you just reminded me they could remarry and I could end up with step-siblings or have half siblings...," Val was an only child and she certainly felt like an only child in that moment. She didn't want half siblings or step siblings but she wouldn't have much of a say in it. Though really Val wouldn't have wanted an actual full siblings but that wasn't important. "Sorry," ​

 

[Manaia Te Rangi]

Manaia tensed when Valeria said 'ew', surprised at the reaction. He didn't really know how he felt about his stepsiblings, but someone else putting them down was a bit much. He relaxed when she clarified, expression immediately softening when she explained her situation. "Oh, that sucks." He said softly, meeting her eyes. "I'm sorry. My parents divorced two years ago so like, I get it." He said gently. "I was so pissed at my dad." He added with a small snort. "He had this whole other family he didn't tell us about." He hesitated. "If you wanna like... talk or vent or whatever, I've been there, like, it's all good." He added, though he wasn't sure what he could say to make this easier.

 

[Valeria Iglesias]

Valeria had expected to maybe speak to someone eventually who got it, but it was nice that the first person she spoke to did. She gave a little shake of her head at his apology, but just listened to what he said about it. She usually didn't vent to people, not cute boys her own age, but she didn't know when she'd next see Ares and she didn't have anyone else to say. "It sucks," she said simply and laughed a little. "I think my parents have been having issues for a while...my dad's an artist, and his stuff hasn't really been selling but we moved here for my mum's job," she said, "So he's now moved back to Portugal, asking me to go with him," she didn't know if there was someone else in her dad's life, or someone else in her mother's life, they both didn't tell her much. "But my life is here...." she shrugged slightly, "And I think it upset him that I didn't want to go with him, thinks I picked my mum over him, but I just picked...like my friends, Hogwarts and stuff, my life," Val was surprised that as she spoke water pooled in her eyes. She had cried a few times, but this was different. Her voice shook, as she spoke, quietening with every other word. ​