All Shiny And New

[Sanctuari Ellison]

Sanctuari Ellison was in a panic as she made her way through the maze of boxes that were in her new home. She couldn't find the box that her old school robes were packed in, and if she didn't find that box she might go crazy. Flipping her mid-length curls over her shoulder, she stopped to think. Her mother had badgered her about everything, so there was no way she could have forgotten them, right? She would call her mother if her mother would pick up the phone. The old woman always ignored the phone, unless it was called a hundred times. "C'mon Ri, think. You moved your box of dishes into the kitchen..." She started to retrace her steps in hopes that she could locate the box. She'd already attempted to call the box with her wand, but she had o be careful when doing that, lest she get caught. Finally giving up on retracing her steps, she walked into the kitchen.

Peering out the window to her neighbors house, and the lovely garden they had, she noticed a brown box sitting on the decking. "Oh you have to be kidding me." She said, sighing slightly. It looked like Sanctuari might become friends with them sooner than she had planned. It wasn't that Sanctuari wanted to be anti-social, she just wasn't sure how to start conversations with strangers anymore. After all, she hadn't been out much since her Husband's passing. She'd talked to a few people, but it was all circumstantial honestly. If they didn't approach her first, she often found herself not even wanting a conversation. Sanctuari left her box-filled house regardless and made the short walk over to her neighbors house. The spring weather was much to nice for her jacket, which she left inside. After gathering some courage, Sanctuari knocked on the door. She had her speech planned out, and when the door opened she let the words fall from her mouth. "Hey, I'm sorry, I just moved in next door and I think you may have gotten one of my packages." She smiled up into the face of her neighbor, hoping he didn't find her rude.
​

 

[Zander Ellison]

Huge apologies this is going to be awful. Future posts will be better, so rusty.

Zander Valentine's life currently was nothing short of a mess. Sure, everything seemed perfectly in order appearances gave nothing to the contrary, but Zander was always on the verge of barely keeping it together, of just accidentally dropping the ball on it all. Now, all that remained of his family, his once large and close knit family was him, and his daughter, the rest were goodness knew where. His beautiful, light encompassing, and joy bringing daughter was all the man had left, and she wasn't even his biologically speaking. He had raised her, he was raising her, at seven years old the girl was everything that mattered in his slowly suffocating world, she was the only light in a room filled with enclosing darkness. Zander had taken her off his sister's hands, his sister who had decided to not just be reckless and stupid but also selfish and self-serving. Not once in this girl's life had she once visited, no longer did she even call for updates, not since Zander had tried to get his life together on the other side of the world. The man, the eldest of eight siblings was now alone, and he was feeling it deeply. The youngest two of his siblings whom he cared for both in magical school and increasingly distant. Drifting away from him, allowing the rift in their lives drive them further apart, a rift he'd worked so hard to try to prevent. He could only wish that he'd done a good enough job of raising them, that aside from their feelings towards him and their family that they were good people. Zander was alone that very day, it was a school day and after having taken his daughter to school, he'd returned to his large and empty home to spend the day counting the hours till he could go pick her up. The man could barely keep down a relationship, he could barely go on a few dates without venturing back into his small secluded hole of a life. Zander did work, he didn't always sit idly but he worked mostly from home, having gotten into the habit of doing so when he had started years before when his life had first entered this roller-coaster it couldn't get off. Even now, with his daughter in school everyday, he still worked from home. He used a lot of his time during the day to sleep, he took long naps and sat outside in their garden sometimes working, sometimes just staring off into the distance. His life was spiralling downwards, out of control and the man had no clue what to do. Zander didn't think he could ever stop it no matter what he'd tried it never worked. Eventually his mind reasoned that he would lose his daughter too, and then all purpose would be gone.

That morning, when the post arrived as it always did at exactly the same time, Zander was greeted with the sight of a box, a delivery of some sort. He knew it wasn't for him since the man knew what he'd ordered and currently that was nothing, but took it inside figuring that the owner would come get it most likely, or he would find out who it was for later it to him was no where near pressing. However, since he didn't know what was in it, he took it out to the back garden and placed it on the decking, an odd place he'd admit but Zander sometimes just didn't question his own logic. Completely forgetting about it as he then lay on the living room sofa and just stared blankly up at the ceiling. His mind buzzed and whirled, working and thinking, just plaguing his mind with thoughts he failed at pushing away. The man was so alone, the only thing he smiled about was his daughter, only she could bring a real smile to the surface. The happiness she felt was the happiness he felt, the only happiness he could feel was when she was happy, when he was around her. Eventually because of the thoughts whirling around in his head, his mind grew weary and the weariness allowed exhaustion to win and the man feel asleep within minutes of laying down. Zander feel asleep only to be awoken an undetermined amount of time later, he barely looked at his watch as he pulled himself to his feet and wandered to the door, puzzled at who could possibly be at the door. Bare feet padding on the wood flooring, the soft creaking match with the sound of his bare feet, he rubbed his eyes sleepily and ran a hand through his hair as he then opened the door, unable to stop the yawn which passed his lips. Rather than a formal greeting the person just started speaking, Zander just stared as his eyes focused to the shift of light and his ears adjusted to the noise, in essence Zander tried to wake himself up quicker so he could understand what was currently happening. Then rather than understand what had been said, the man just realised she must be the person whose box was currently sitting on his deck. This woman standing in front of him was new, Zander didn't really know his neighbours but he knew she was new having lived in the area almost three years he'd got to know some faces hers was not one, "It's out back, follow me," There was a lingering hint of englishness in his voice as he spoke, though the tiredness overpowered it with ease. He moved away from the door leading her towards the deck which was at the back of the house. His home, while neatly furnished and relatively tidy had all of the signs that he lived with a child, toys and kids books scattered in amongst the adult stuff. There were many pictures of Zander and his family at different points scattered throughout the rooms, some in frames, others hanging up, though largely the pictures were of his daughter, since she was all he had left.

The pictures of Zander himself were far more scarce, he enjoyed taking the pictures and not being in them, "Do you know why did they delivery it here to me rather than you?" he asked the woman leading her out to the back, "Do you need a hand with it?" during this entire time with his new neighbour Zander barely managed a smile, he had a look of exhaustion though he still attempted looked polite, he didn't give off the usual happy-go-lucky energetic vibe that would make him seem friendly and a good person to friends with.
​

 

[Sanctuari Ellison]

There was something off, Sanctuari thought, as the man opened the door and invited her around back. The petite woman did not feel threatened. Even if she did, now that she could see the man from the back, she knew she could take him. Her years of mountain climbing and cliff diving had prepared her for any danger she felt she might get into. Her parents would disagree, and perhaps that was why she carried Mace everywhere she went. The older couple even made her go through a gun safety course, though she refused to have guns in the house. Her father always told her that she needed to protect herself, but having magic when she lived in a magical community was her crutch. Sanctuari supposed now that she might need other protection, but the neighborhood seemed nice. If all of her neighbors gave off the same air as the man leading her around back did, she might have to move. Something about him wreaked of sadness, and while it wasn't necessarily a smell, it was still something that she picked up on. The brunette adjusted her jacket over her arm and smiled, hoping that he would show some sign of life. "Thank you so much." She attempted to sound earnest, but a hint of curiosity sat in her voice. She wondered why he was so sad - or at least why he seemed so sad.

The walk through the house told the story that there was a family in the house, but she was hard pressed to see any pictures of him. Of course she wasn't looking too hard, as she didn't want to seem rude. Upon reaching the back of her neighbors house, her eyes widened to take in the scenery. The pink orbs were dazzled by the way the flowers - annuals by the looks of it - grew in the yard. It was the flawless kind of growing that told her he might not care for them, but they grew. It was the kind of life that grew on it's own that was truly stunning. She turned her eyes back to the man, seeing his face for the first time. His scruff was a little unkempt, and it seemed like his hair was a bit messy as well. Ri was not one to judge though, as she often had her own kind of lazy days. Still with a smile on her face she shrugged at him. "Well, there is a big chance that my mother didn't do well writing the tag for this one." She glanced down at the box, struggling to pic it up. What else was in here? She thought this was only her robes, but it felt heavier. In that moment she remembered packing the things from her first wedding inside as well. "I might need to take you up on the offer for help." She responded with a tone of embarrassment in her voice. "Maybe I can pay you back with a drink or something?" She offered.

 

[Zander Ellison]

The man thought nothing of this woman in front of him, he barely acknowledged her to begin with or took any part of her in, his mind preoccupied with just trying to awake itself considering the nap that he'd just had, it was too busy being too loud for him to focus on this random person he didn't know. Since she did however need something which he had, the man wasn't about to not let her have it so he made his way through the living area with her following behind him. Zander was carefully glancing around to try to pick out any magical items that he'd left out and that he'd then be able to hide them without this woman realising it, but considering his former relationship with Peyton and the fact she'd been a muggle meant that the man had gotten fairly good at hiding things, or well hiding the magic from the people around him. He kept the moving magical pictures in areas people who just wondered into his home wouldn't be able to see, ensuring that he kept them secret and that no one but him and his daughter got to see what were his private photos. Although, in saying that, Zander didn't have people round often the odd neighbour, some of his daughter's friends from primary school, never much else. But most people ignored Zander and he ignored them, it explained why he had no friends any more. Never involving himself with the affairs of the neighbourhood or of any place really, he closed himself off, pretending to be content in his own little world he'd created for himself. The man rubbed his eyes and then his face tiredly, his hands moved sluggishly, he was forcing his mind to move to a mode that was slightly more alert and this was just because he knew he would have to have some form of mask on in front of this person, his new neighbour, Zander didn't particularly want to become close or really even friends. He didn't really acknowledge most of the problems currently within his life and he believed friends only made things worse, he just went through the motions of daily life very much alone. He dragged his feet when he was alone, he rarely went ten minutes without sigh when he wasn't around his daughter, he made tea but never drank it, he felt like a ghost at times in his own life, barely touching upon all the good that life was supposed to have offered him, the residue of luck and fortune stayed on his lips but he couldn't get a full drink, stuck in this downwards spiral he didn't acknowledge. He had just nodded at her words, barely taking them in and just doing what Zander was sure she had asked of him.

As the man led this woman out the through the back door of the house and to the back garden he just focused straight ahead, sighing slightly but loudly as he headed out to the deck and rubbed his eyes, the glaring sunlight made the tired and recently awoken man wince at the pain it brought his eyes as they adjusted to the dramatic change in light. Zander looked round at the woman briefly, meeting her eyes before motioning to the package which had been delivered to his door instead of hers. He looked up after he'd posed the question out of politeness, seeing her smile at him but being unable to return it in as natural a sense, as much as he tried to return it and make it look as lovely as hers, so instead he just forced as much of a smile as he could manage, nodding along as she spoke. The man then watched in silence as the woman attempted to pick up the box and then promptly failed. If this were a magical neighbourhood and she was magical there would be no problem, he would not have to offer to go round to help her with this box, which the man realised he'd need to do the instant that the girl had failed to pick it the package she'd been sent. When she said that she may have to take him up on the offer Zander just nodded moving away to go and get himself some shoes and socks, it wasn't like he could walk over to this woman's house without them. However as he'd been about to she offered to repay him in the form of a drink something Zander did want, he instead just once again made his best attempt at forcing a smile, "I need to go put socks and shoes on, I'll be back in a few minutes," he replied quietly just leaving this girl standing on his deck as he made his way back through the house and upstairs to his bedroom. He left the door open as he sat down on the bed, just letting out a long breath, rubbing his face again and running his hands through his hair in an exacerbated manner, he needed to focus. A few moments later, he put on some shoes and socks like he said he would, and switched from the house hoody he'd been wearing, a large black jumper to something a little more presentable and clean: a simple grey zipper jumper. He rejoined the woman when he was ready and then lifted the box carefully, "Right, I'll follow," he told her waiting for her to move so that they could get this over with, his tone seemed to be actively attempting to be friendly, and though it was obvious he did to an extent want to help, it definitely lacked real, honest friendliness, the tiredness hide it, and stopped Zander from being able to fully express anything. He shifted the box slightly in his hands and waited hoping to get this surprisingly heavy box out of his hands.
​

 

[Sanctuari Ellison]

Sanctuari had some after thought about the tattoo on her shoulder, her jacket still situated over her arm. She wondered if she should put it on - though it would be a shame to cover the open backed dress that she loved so much. Besides that, the tattoo was only a badger with the colors of her house surrounding them - it wasn't like it gave anything away. So the brunette decided to let her sun kissed skin show. It was such a pretty day out after all. It was not so hot, like back home in Honduras. A pang hit her stomach as she thought that. Sanctuari didn't think she would get homesick so fast, but perhaps it was really a pang of guilt for leaving her elderly parents behind. It wasn't as if the girl couldn't just apparate to them whenever she was in her home. She glanced at the man who now had the box in his arms. Her smile faded slightly, once again getting that uneasy feeling that something was wrong. She glanced back towards the house, which they needed to cross in order to get to her house. She took one last look at the overgrowth, crossing her hands in a way that held her jacket better in place on her arm. "Thank you." She said again, flashing a small smile at the man.

The petite brunette took another brief look around. "Your wife must feel pretty lucky to have you staying here with the kid." She commented, her voice having a hidden tone of pain in it. She always wondered if she could have ever had a family. The woman didn't see her connecting with anyone else the way that she did with Link, but that could be false. It was just hard to let the only love she'd ever had go. Sure she'd had her flings here and there - but it was never the same as the dark angel she had fallen for. Ri had to shake her head to keep from those thoughts getting to her. After all, she didn't need to be emotional in this situation. It would be one thing if she knew the fellow following with a box of some of her most precious items, but she wasn't even sure of his name. "Welcome to mi casa. You can set the box down right there." She gestured to him once they reached her house, the front door still open from her leaving. She knew she was only staying at her neighbor's house for a moment, so what was the point of her shutting or locking it?

Sanctuari turned and smiled at him. "I'm Sanctuari by the way. Sorry again about the package. What better way to get to know my neighbor right?" She asked, trying to make the best of the dreary air the man had brought with him. Why was he so damned sad. Maybe a drink would cheer him up. "I have some soda, lemonade, and while it's much to early to start drinking for me, I also have some Honduran beers." She said, heading into her very small kitchen. The house was obviously made for one. It had one floor, and a small quaint living room. "I'm sorry about the mess, I'm just getting around to unpacking."

 

[Zander Ellison]

With the box held safely in his hands, the man just followed his neighbour out of his house, closing the door behind him on his way out, using his foot to do so. His keys were in his pocket as was his wand, though the wand more carefully, so it wasn't like he would have any trouble being able to get back into his house. He had ignored her question, or statement about his wife, most because he didn't manage to really here it and because he didn't feel like discussing it with her, he didn't have a wife or girlfriend, he was alone in the house with his daughter and he wasn't interested in explaining why to someone he'd just met. This was not the time to be burdening a random stranger with the problems of his life, the difficult and never ending problems, he didn't really want to ruin her day. He just wanted to help her with this heavy box and just maybe help her with something else before then just going home and curling up for the hours remaining until he had to go pick up his daughter from school. This woman was probably really nice, but the man had no interest and his mind was too distracted and distant to ever focus on her, on what she was saying, what she was doing. His mind centred on the heavy box in his arms and the distance he was walking. Zander was counting the steps under his breath, so quietly she wouldn't pick it up, and while he didn't need to do that, in that moment he just did because he was uninterested in what she had to say, it was a way of distracting his mind. If she was even saying anything, since the man really wasn't paying attention to her and his mind had cast a silence. She hadn't been speaking as it turned out as what broke him from his thoughts was when she started speaking to him, breaking his mind out of his thoughts and straining to both pay attention and hear. He looked up suddenly at her when she'd begun speaking, paying more attention to her and realising they were already at her house and heading inside of it. He looked to where she had gestured for him to place the box and with no trouble at all did so, placing it down carefully where. Once the box was out of his hands he stretched slightly, massaging the muscles in his arms and wiping his hands on the jumper. Clearly preparing to just leave, since the task she had wanted was done, Zander didn't feel like sticking around.

When he'd been about to turn to leave the woman introduced herself as Sanctuari, if he'd been in a happier mood he would've laughed at her name, it wasn't that it was particularly funny, but he would've definitely found it funny, such an odd name to him. The man realised that it was now to him to introduce himself to her, Zander hesitated, he was hesitating for no reason other than he wasn't sure if introducing himself would let her think that they could hang out more often, the man had no interest in bringing someone else into his small world. He didn't want anything else in his life that he could lose, even if it was just a friend. The two youngest of his siblings mostly leaving had been hard for him, as hard as loosing his parents had been, hearing so rarely from them and not knowing if they were okay drove him mad with worry, loosing Peyton had felt equally horrible, she had been there for him and his daughter in the first few years of his daughter's life, become like a mother and then, it had all crumbled away, he'd watched her leave and the pain of it was still crushing him. He didn't want to get close to anyone anymore, he didn't to inflict the pain of further loss on to his daughter, she was young and he wanted to protect her from such things. She was just so young, so full of life and Zander didn't want any reason to bring sadness. Zander stayed silent so long and lost within the cage of his own mind that she had offered him a drink and he had not yet introduced himself, he looked at her, meeting her eyes slightly and forced a small polite smile, "Lemonade is fine, I have a daughter I can't be drinking in the middle of the day," he replied with a small shrug, shaking his mind to focus on this woman and what she was saying. It was surprisingly hard, since all he wanted to do was go home, and his mind was screaming for him to do so the unfamiliar surrounding doing nothing to help him. He shrugged at her, when she motioned to the mess, he didn't have anything to say on the matter, "It's fine," he replied with a small sigh, "We've all been there," he was referencing unpacking in a new home, his unpacking had taken weeks, mostly since when they'd moved to New Zealand some three years before he'd had a small four year old, an annoyed eleven year old and pissed off thirteen year old. His home had resembled a bomb site more than anything else with the amount of items just thrown around and the half empty boxes, at the time Zander had hated it, but he missed it now. He missed it all, "When did you move in?" Zander asked her, not recalling how long the house had been on sale for or how long ago it had been bought.
​

 

[Sanctuari Ellison]

Sanctuari took note of how quiet the man was, and how he seemed to not answer to her comment about his wife. She glanced down at her empty ring finger for a moment, still in the kitchen with the fridge open. She couldn't remember the last time she'd actually worn her ring on her finger. It was in a box somewhere - most likely in the one that was brought in by her neighbor. She closed her eyes for a second and took a breath. She wanted to clear her head. As of late she had been doing so well when thinking about her past lover - the man who she had thought she would spend her life with. She had coped the best she could, but now it seemed that moving to New Zealand was the final step. She wondered if she had rushed herself to move in alone, having lived with family all her life it seemed. Being from Honduras it was not strange to live with and take care of your parents, it was her culture. However, if she wanted to move on with her life, get a dog and be her own person, she knew she needed to move. New Zealand held good memories as well as bad ones, so what better place could she stay? Now grabbing two bottled lemonades and looking out the window, the brunette couldn't help but think that she had to make this a new start for herself. She could remember the old times, keep them in a box, and keep pictures on the counter - but she couldn't let it control her. And perhaps that was what this man was doing. He did not answer her about his wife, since he said he had a daughter as home, she knew he had been or was married. It bothered her not to think that he was married, but to think that he had been - to think he lost someone the way that she did, made her want to reach out to him. Not that she would, after all, she knew nothing about this man.

After what seemed like ages, but was really only two minutes, Sanctuari emerged from the kitchen with the cold drinks. "Here you go, and sorry, I didn't hear if you said your name." Sanctuari, after having a minute or so of thought, honestly couldn't remember if he'd given his name to her or not. Whatever the case she thought that it would be nice to know since they were in the same house currently. Moving into the small area, she moved a few things off the couch to offer him a seat. Her smile was doing it's best to be inviting, but she felt that the closed off look at her home with all the surrounding boxed defeated the purpose. "I started moving in on Saturday of last week." She commented with a small smile. "I really should have a lot more work done, but as I unpack i keep going through all the old memories, you know?" She asked, glancing to the side table which had a multitude of picture frames on top. The top most was an non-moving picture, one of her in her wedding dress. That day seemed so long ago, but Sanctuari didn't want to hid the memory from sight. When she had gone to therapy for coping with her loss, they told her it was best night to hide what happened away in the shadows, as that made the sadness grow deeper into her. So she never avoided the question. That took years to do though, now nine years from her loss things were a little different. "How old is your daughter?" She asked, turning back to face him with a smile. "I mean, the toys all over your house must mean she's still pretty young, si?" Instinctively a small bit of Spanish was thrown into her sentence. She was so used to only speaking that language, rather than English.

 

[Zander Ellison]

Zander glanced around the house instead of watching this woman get him the Lemonade, he had no real interest in staying too long but then again he had few excuses as to why he shouldn't. With nothing really waiting for him at home the only reason he would stay there was because he much preferred the solitude and he still felt pretty tired. The man couldn't help but yawn loudly as she seemed to be thinking something over, he wasn't paying too much attention to her but it was a fleeting glance. He knew that he wasn't being the friendliest person there and then, he was trying that much was clear, but his trying didn't really match up to anything substantial. The man just wanted to go back to his own house where he could just sit with a sad expression on his face without worrying that anyone would see it, or judge him for it. In his mind, he was coping, he was dealing with this in the best way that he could. There was nothing wrong with him in Zander's mind, he was just a little sad. The man took the drink when it was handed to him, and once again gave a strained and forced smile in thanks, opting to not say anything rather just smile and hope that was fine. However, this plan was mostly thwarted when she then hinted at his name again, he raised the drink to his lips and took a long drink of it. Unsure once again about saying it, but knowing in his heart that not saying it now would make it really obvious that he didn't want to say it, that he didn't want to be there and despite it all really, Zander didn't want to be unwelcoming. He hardly wanted to be the guy that scared her off from the neighbourhood because he couldn't just utter his name to someone new, "It's Zander" he told her quietly, not saying if he had said it before or not, keeping his eyes on the ground between them as he spoke, "Short for Alezander," he added glancing up at her briefly before following her into the room and taking a seat where she had motioned to.

Zander sat almost awkwardly on the seat, he glanced around himself, taking in the sights of this house, comparing it to his own in a way. Obviously at this point he was just drinking the drink he'd been offered and trying to just get out, but as he looked back at the woman, Sanctauri when she started talking about unpacking, Zander could sympathise with that. Unpacking had been hard not just because of the kids but also because of the memories they'd held. Since he'd left school, Zander had progressively lost about ten people, three of which to death, the rest to just leaving. Of course he rationally knew that people leaving him was different from death, having no contact with them, and being unable to see if they were alright felt like the same to him. For the first time, in what really was a long time, a small real smile graced the man's lips. He was looking at the drink in his hands but the smile was there, "Yeah, I understand that," He replied with a nod, by the time he'd finished the nod the smile was gone, and he'd glanced up to look at Sanctuari, he realised that she'd said she'd moved in almost a week before and giving the room a once over he realised this about the same level of completed that he remembered his being. Perhaps with a lot less toys, and a lot fewer tears he imagined, but he also didn't know this woman so there was no way of him seeing if that was true. When the questions then turned to his daughter, Zander paused, he had been about to take a sip of his drink when she'd asked and he just stopped. He sighed a little, almost completely inwardly, his glance moving to her. He knew that it would be harmless to tell her, he knew it. His mind knew it, yet it didn't want him to. It kept jumping and skipping to the worst possible scenario if they were ever to become friends. He knew his track record with people, and he didn't want to bring his perfect daughter into this, "She's seven," he told her glancing away at back to his drink, finishing taking the sip. He stole another glance around the house, "Do you have any kids?" he asked, his tone a little nervous about asking. He didn't want to, but he felt it was the only way to direct conversation away from him and things he had no interest in talking about.
​

This is not great, I'm sorry.

 

[Sanctuari Ellison]

Sanctuari's pink orbs shifted across the room, trying not to make it obvious that she was watching him, and his reactions. She only wanted to be sure that he wasn't uncomfortable, as her intentions would not be to do that. In fact she only wanted her neighbor to be comfortable with her, that way she could help him if needed, and perhaps he would do the favor back. It wasn't like Ri was looking for someone to help her in exchange for her helping then, it would just be nice if she at least made friends with one person in her neighborhood. After all, she wasn't known for being the most social person when she was in school - at that time she hadn't found much of a voice past the letter she exchanged with Link. She tapped her nails gently on her glass, the light blue a stark contrast from the yellow of the lemonade she held. After he introduced himself, she gave a faint smile. "That's a nice name." She complimented, her words holding nothing but honesty. She had met many Alexanders, but the nick name told her it was not spelled with an x. She believed that spelling was Russian, but she could easily be mistaken. She wasn't the most well-cultured young woman after all. Finally opening her drink she took a sip of the cold liquid. Sanctuari moved across from him, taking a seat in an arm chair that sat in an odd place. It would be moved from in front of the window when everything was unpacked and ready to be arranged.

She flashed another polite smile to the man across from her, orbs trained on his face. She had not missed the small smile that he revealed - the first genuine one she had seen from him. It was a comfort to know that he was capable of more than just frowning. Her smile continued it's placement on her face as he revealed a small bit about his daughter. It was apparent now to the brunette that this was a man of little words. She had met people that were this way before, and thus took no offense to it. She was like that when she first began her schooling in an uncomfortable new environment. At the question she asked she laughed a small amount, though there was a hint of sadness hidden in the ending sigh of her laughter. "No, not yet. Though I'm sure my parents wish I did. After all, they've had so many kid through fostering in and out." She looked at her drink before once more taking a sip. "Seven years old though, that's halfway to a teenager. I wish you and your wife luck with handling that. I know I was pretty rebellious at that age." She laughed, looking back on memories of her and her sister's shenanigans. And once the pair learned to apparate her poor parents couldn't do much to keep track of him. There was almost a feeling of guilt in her stomach as she thought of how worried her parents must have been with her and Alyce's constant disappearances.

 

[Zander Ellison]

Zander just nodded at her compliment of a nice name, he hadn't ever believed so, his name was an atrocious misspelling of a name he was supposed to have, which was why though he'd said it, the man hardly ever went by it. Alezander was the name his parents used to call him, the name occasionally the oldest of the siblings had called him. All were younger than him those siblings but the oldest of them had known Zander as Alezander more than most others. However, Zander was a name he liked, he was glad that he had been able to shorten his name to that. He knew it could be spelled with an 'X' but he was happier with 'Z', but upon the compliment the man said nothing more, instead he just sat in silence with his hands gripped around the glass barely taking in what she was saying to him. His mind was firmly elsewhere, he was in the room of course but he was just else where entirely in most other cases. He was thinking about his daughter, his parents, the whole Valentine part of his name, his mind was cursing to the high heavens over the compliment because he didn't see it, he couldn't see his name as anything other than the horrid curse, a terrible and horrid curse in which he had only been brought misfortune. he of course knew that it was probably him in general that was the curse and not the name, but he was happy to blame something else other than him. Though the man knew it was his fault. Zander glanced back up at her after he'd spoken, after that small and brief smile his frown returned. Rather it was not so much a frown but his expression was blank devoid of real emotion or anything. He raised the glass to his lips and sipped it quietly.

Talking about his little girl was easy for him to do, but he didn't get many opportunities to do so and he tended to avoid it if he could with people he had just met. He didn't want to say anything that would make anyone think they could get close to his daughter. Of course if this woman also had a child, then Zander would not be passed allowing the two to get to know one another, but it would purely be the children. Zander himself had no interest in ever letting himself get to know this woman very well. He didn't want anything to happen between them, even friendship which could just end with him having to deal with another broken heart, friendship and questions from his daughter about who that woman in the pictures is. He closed his eyes and rubbed them lightly, pushing back the rush of negative emotions which flooded his system as he thought of such things. He was glad when she began answering his question, she spoke more than him, though really that wasn't hard and instead of focusing on his mind and what he was thinking like he usually did the man looked up, meeting her gaze and looking almost encouragingly for her to continue speaking. The more he focused on that the more his mind settled and he was able to just not think about things. Not think about the horrible memories which just filled his mind with ease. He had tired eyes, and every forced smile had this same underlying tiredness, no matter how much sleep he got he could never shake this look. When this woman, Sanctuari brought up his wife again, the smile which graced Zander's lips was neither a genuine show of happiness or forced, his smile was a small brief show of the best memories gracing his mind quickly and a resounding sadness being what was left.

He knew he should tell this woman that he didn't have a wife, it would be much more difficult to explain further down the line of whatever this became, "I..eh.." he stopped, his gaze dropping back to his glass. He was no longer smiling at all, his expression vacant again, "I don't have a wife," he said quietly, his mind thinking of Peyton and how amazing it would be if they were married. How much easier his life would be, "It's just me and her," he left out the fact that his siblings did exist for no other reason than soon the elder of the two would leave, and he was sure it was only a matter of time before the other left as well, so Zander didn't want to infuse this situation with more of his sadness than he knew it already was, "She's a well behaved girl, I haven't had any issues with her. Barely cried as a baby," he knew he was giving more away than he wanted to but when it came to his daughter, his only happiness the man couldn't help himself. He glanced up at the woman in front of mine, he then noticed something about this woman, "You have pink eyes?" there was a curious and surprised tone as if not quiet believing it.
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[Sanctuari Ellison]

Sanctuari was once again unfazed by his act of ignoring a comment. Most people she knew didn't respond to compliments, and Ri was no different, she had been guilty of doing that before. Especially as a young, self-conscience teenager. She smiled at that thought, how naive she had been. She and her sister gallivanting around in their best outfits but never agreeing with anyone that they looked beautiful. Perhaps they had only done such for the compliments. The brunette girl did enjoy being called pretty, her skin still prickled at the words. She hadn't had that sort of attention in a year, since she'd gone out on dates with a friend she'd met cliff diving. Well, not so much met as nearly landed on top of. She wasn't sure why it was that he had been body boarding where he had - but she had fun with him when they'd gone out. To her that was all that mattered a year ago. She was still acting like a child. Her grief had consumed her. It wasn't until she truly looked in the mirror one morning that she realized just what she was doing to herself. At that point she moved out. She wouldn't share that with this man though He did not need her burdens.

Sanctuari looked down at her drink smiling slightly, though with his comment she let her orbs go wide, training on him. "I'm... I'm sorry." The woman feared the worst, but hoped that she was wrong. She grabbed the top picture of Link and herself off the counter and showed him. "It's hard, but it gets easier." She said, holding out the picture for him to take if he wanted. It was one of her few non-moving pictures. She wanted to let him know her wasn't alone in the matter. She wasn't sure what it was that made her feel alright with sharing her loss of a husband - though she wasn't clarifying how - with this man. Perhaps she was only sharing so that she didn't have to feel alone. After the sad topic, she didn't bother to elaborate, and instead took another seat and gave a smaller smile. "It sounds like you have a lovely child at home." She complimented him, before they quickly moved on to the next topic. hey eyes.

"Oh yeah." Her hand fled to her face, though it was a subconscious move more than anything. "Well, i was a test tube baby. That's where they grow me in a test tube for my first stages. Something chemical went wrong and changed them I think. I don't know much about it actually. My real mother would have known, and i suppose my adoptive mother would too." She laughed slightly, taking another sip from her lemonade. "I don't mind so much, it's something interesting to talk about. I even call myself the first designer baby." After the words left her mouth she realized they sounded a bit silly. her cheeks heated lightly, and she could only hope she gave her guest a laugh.

 

[Zander Ellison]

Upon her apology the man realised that this woman now believed that rather than him never having had a wife that she thought he'd lost her, that she had died and he was left alone raising their child. He didn't know whether to let her know that she was wrong, that he'd never had a wife, that his child was not technically even his child, in the sense that he was really just her uncle, not her father, they were related but not in the way he told people. How would he even tell her? What purpose would it serve, all his daughter needed to know was that he, Zander Valentine would always be there for her, like he'd been there for her up until this point in her life and would always be. Zander would never have corrected Sanctuari, he would've kept his mouth closed and ignored what she said had she not then held out a photo to Zander and then said the words it gets easier. He took the picture out of politeness and not because he wanted to as anger boiled within him. It gets better, it gets easier, those were such lies in Zander's head, he had long since stopped believing in them. Since the moment his life had been flipped at the tender age of seventeen things had never really got any better, they'd briefly improved on various occasions, then something would happen that would make things worse and he was just waiting for the next disaster, he didn't want to get close to this woman because he didn't want to make another friend he would eventually leave behind or lose, he was desperate to insulate himself from whatever could and would happen next and he couldn't do that if he was just allowing his neighbours into his life just because they had given him a glass of lemonade, even if it was really lovely lemonade. His anger resulted in the picture slipping out of Zander's grasp and falling to the floor. He had the decency to look sheepish upon this happening, the man placed the glass on lemonade down on the nearest surface he could reach and then picked up the picture frame. Turning it over in his hands as she spoke again, saying something about his child but Zander didn't respond, he didn't even acknowledge that he had heard what she'd said. Instead he just looked back at the picture and suddenly he wished he'd smashed it. Suddenly he wished it had broken into a thousand pieces because who was she to tell him that it gets easier. Who was she to tell him that she was sorry, she had no clue, who was she to be honest and open with him and expect him to be in return, who was she to tell him about her husband deny to pretend to know how he felt, half the time Zander didn't even know how he felt. Of course the moment Zander had been about to say anything, he'd looked up and noticed her eyes.

The curiosity of the man won out over anything else, his anger boiling over to him just bluntly asking such a question. He was still brimming with anger, he could feel it simmering, but he focused, focused on what was in front of him, focused on her. Zander focused on what she was saying, something about being adopted or made in a test tube, he thought that was pretty common now, and hadn't thought about who might be the first, or one of the first. But it was funny to him that she was talking about this so calmly, that she didn't seem to mind that she'd just been made in that way. Obviously he knew that she was probably just happy to have been born as any person would but wouldn't it bug her, was she over it now? Zander just sighed slightly, he didn't want to get angry at her, he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable or bad about just trying to provide solidarity in a situation that was pretty horrible and heartbreakingly depressing. He didn't want to know what had happened to the woman's previous husband, he didn't want to assume anything though she was essentially telling him, Zander just wanted to continue ignore the troubles of others as much as his own. He thought about her last sentence, calling herself the first designer baby, "Why would you call yourself that?" he asked in a tone of utter disbelief and in slight anger, not really imagining why she would say such a thing, even if it was meant as a harmless comment, "All babies are designer, there is no way for babies to not be designer, they are all uniquely made," Zander stopped himself from continuing knowing he was getting annoyed by something trivial and that she was likely pretty proud of, well he tried to stop himself. But, his mind was still going, and the words just stumbled out, "A designer baby is every baby, because even with test tube babies you can't pick and chose genetically what they'll have really, you can only eliminate certain hereditary diseases or conditions, maybe nowadays in 2038 they can pick other things, but when you were made, it would've been as much down to luck as it was for me, or my daughter or any person in my family," Zander stopped himself there, he grew pink in the cheeks, unaware that what he'd just said was the most he'd said to anyone in one go all year. He felt it needed to be said, but he felt like he'd been far more blunt than he needed to be. He felt like he'd been as mean as Ciel and Kyle had used to be to Kailey, gone were those days.

Zander sighed heavily, before getting to his feet, he ran a hand through his hair and then briefly held his head in his hands, "I should go," Zander said, he knew it was a bad idea for him to stay, he knew it was a bad idea for him to even bother with people, his misery he didn't want to inflict upon anyone else. He was a little pleased that perhaps she'd never want to speak to him again after this, but, he felt bad for some of it. However, even just acting like Ciel and Kyle brought sadness to his eyes, he missed them, he missed their annoying antics, he missed Kailey and her craziness. Zander just missed them all, and the memories they brought to his mind were close to bringing Zander to tears, he worked so hard to keep them at bay, this was why he never spent time with people unless he had to, "Thanks for the lemonade," Zander met her eyes when he said this, finally looking at her, holding out the now finished glass as he did so, his body clearly ready to leave once she'd taken it.
​

 

[Sanctuari Ellison]

When Sanctuari had started her day, the last of her worries was her neighbor becoming angry at her. Sure the woman had worried about her neighbor not liking her, but never being angry at her. She had no reason to believe he would be - unless he had been someone she had slept with during the grieving process. No, Ri would have remembered Zander, and his empty eyes. She would have remembered everyone, as she was not one who could forget memories. If the brunette was able to just wipe memories from her mind then she would have forgotten about her sister who hated her, her lover who died, and all the friends she never made while at Hogwarts. She would have forgotten failing grades ad broken hearts, and her childless home wouldn't seem so damn empty. No, Sanctuari was not that lucky. For every moment she unpacked and every time she woke up from a dream, she was forced to remember that she was alone. The girl hadn't felt alone in her heart since she had "accepted" the loss of her husband. Now, with the man in front of her, spewing words that hurt more than she was sure they were meant to, she felt that loneliness again. Maybe it was the way he acted when upset that reminded her Link and she would never fight nor make up again. Maybe it's the way that he said children were all designer that made her realize that she wasn't special, and no one seemed to think she was. Sanctuari was sure that at least part of that loneliness was because he reminded her of the precious gift of children in general, something she feared she'd never be blessed with. As she also feared she'd never be blessed with love.

Whatever it was in the man's words that triggered a pain shoved aside, she could feel it. It hit her in the chest and passed through her like the touch of a ghost. She clutched her own bottle of lemonade a little tighter, but for different reasons than the man before her did. She clutched it in hopes it would remove the stinging from the corner of her roseate eyes. Sanctuari held firm though, her joke was nothing to apologize about - at least she believed it wasn't. She wasn't going to say she was sorry, though she thought perhaps allowing those words to come out would make her feel better. She hadn't said she was sorry for quite some time to anyone but her past love. She reached out numbly for the class, the cool feeling nothing compared to the heat of her hand. Condensation built around it, the stark contrast obvious. "Have a nice day." She said, her tone more empty than upset. She couldn't let this man see her cry, or become furious or hurt. There was no reason for her to be.

As Zander left her apartment, Sanctuari locked the doors securely behind him. Around her house she began to draw curtains, the house becoming dark quickly. She felt like laying in bed the rest of the day, rather than packing. So with a sigh she went up the stairs of her new home, and with a lonely feeling in the pit of her gut, she laid in bed until falling asleep.

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FIN
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