Blooming Rose

[Lucia Orbon]

Lucia had no idea where to search next for her next recipient. It was times like this that she hated that she wasn't more social enough to know who everyone was or where they might like to hang out. But since she had peeked at the note ahead of time she figured the recipient might be the type to prefer spending their time outdoors in the courtyard. At any case she might be able to catch them coming in or out of the castle entrance which seemed like a safe bet so she wouldn't have to search the entire castle. Now she simply had to ask passersby, "Excuse me, do you know who Charlie Madison is, or where I might be able to find them?"
​

 

[Charlie Madison]

It had taken Charlie a long time to calm down after the horrible encounter with Mervyn, but she had managed it, and now it was time to find Phoebe, and accept her invitation to the dance, as nervous as the thought of having an actual date made her. Charlie wasn't really sure where Phoebe hung out, so she was just searching the school, looking for any sign of the other girl. As she made her way through the courtyard though, her heart sunk as she heard another rose deliverer asking after her. Oh no. Usually Charlie would have ignored the girl entirely and continued her search for Phoebe, but after Mervyn's underhandedness, she wasn't willing to risk her privacy being invaded again. Too tense to bother with politeness, Phoebe grabbed the older girl by the elbow and pulled her away from the person she was talking to, so nobody else would be able to hear her. "Did you read my message?" Charlie snapped under her breath, glaring at the rose deliverer, hoping to impress upon the girl just how bad a mistake that would be to make.

 

[Lucia Orbon]

As Lucia walked around the courtyard patiently looking for her receipient, she felt a sudden yank of her arm and Lucia yelped in surprise. "Ouch! Hey!" she protested in alarm, pulling away once the girl let go of her. Lucia shrank away from the angry girl, still not sure what was going on until it dawned on her that this must be Charlie. The question caught her off guard and she almost stuttered out a quick 'no' but being manhandled took priority. "First of all, don't ever put your hands on me again," she said sharply, still rubbing her arm where it was grabbed and taking a step away from the girl for good measure. "And secondly, no I did not read your message," Lucy lied with a huff. It wasn't even that good anyway she didn't understand why the girl was getting so worked up. How could someone so rude be getting roses such as the one Lucia had to give her, and multiple roses at that, it seemed. Lucia pulled out a yellow rose from her bunch and was about to hand it over when she suddenly pulled it back as a thought came to mind. "How do I even know you're Charlie? For all I know you could be trying to read other people's roses and intercepting them."
​

 

[Charlie Madison]

Charlie didn't pay any attention to the girl's sounds of discomfort, her mind entirely on the betrayal from earlier. She ignored the girl's complaints entirely, crossing her arms angrily as she waited for the response to her question. Charlie relaxed only slightly when the girl confirmed she hadn't read the message, still feeling on edge and unsettled. "Good." She snapped, reaching a hand out. "Give it to me." Charlie was starting to reach for the rose when the girl withdrew it, and Charlie looked up at her in disebelief. How could this nightmare day possibly get any worse? "What?!" Charlie snapped, struggling to suppress the anger boiling up in her again. "That's ridiculous, how do you know ANY of the people you gave roses to are who they said they are? This entire holiday is stupid, just give me my dumb rose and go away!" Charlie reached out and grabbed for the rose, trying to get it away from the girl.

 

[Lucia Orbon]

Lucia held the rose away from the girl even as she tried to snatch it from her, even though she knew she probably should be careful around the girl since she seemed to have a short fuse. "You never told me you were Charlie, you just started manhandling me, accusing me of stuff, and now you're making demands!" Lucia pointed out, trying to defend her point. "No one is usually this pushy or rude when getting a rose! Which leads me to think you haven't received any before and you're just bitter, trying to steal other people's roses," Lucy claimed haughtily. She was talking so big for someone who had never received a rose before, whereas this girl clearly had at least one that Lucy was withholding. It wasn't often that Lucia's mean side came out, she preferred to be more calculating and less childish, but this Gryffindor had gotten on her bad side upon first impression. "Especially not a rose this nice," she said with a huff, belatedly realizing that she had just exposed that she had in fact read the rose and lied to the girl earlier.
​

Out of Character:

Just so you know who sent it

Spoiler: Note

Charlie you're the best and I hope you're having an awesome day! Thanks for letting me ride your skateboard now and then.

Frankie

 

[Charlie Madison]

Charlie stared at the girl incredulously, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Are you kidding?!" She snapped. "I'm Charlie Madison, give me my bloody message!" She made another grab for the rose, blood boiling with anger. "Why would I want someone else's rose? Don't act like you go out of your way to check who all the other people you deliver to are, just give me the rose and piss off!" The girl's last remark turned the fury in Charlie's stomach to seething hot rage as it sunk in. "You did read it! I oughtta smash your bloody nose in!" Charlie stepped closer, getting right up in the girl's face threateningly, and made another attempt to wrest the message away from her.

Out of Character:

Thanks Wouldn't be the first time Charlie's managed to just straight up not get one of her roses by her own actions poor girl has a rubbish Valentines track record

 

[Lucia Orbon]

Lucia pulled the rose out of reach as the girl made to grab it again. She rolled her eyes as she said, "You'd be trying to steal a rose because you're jealous!" She raised her chin and added, "And you thought maybe taking advantage of a deliverer not knowing who the recipient was would make it easy for you to steal it! You clearly heard me asking around for 'Charlie' and now you're claiming to be them! For all we know Charlie is a boy!" Lucia claimed, getting heated as she made up more ridiculous claims. But the assumption that Charlie was a boy wasn't too big of a stretch, as she remembered the note mentioned skateboarding, and was from someone named 'Frankie', probably another boy as well. Maybe her wild lies weren't so far fetched after all.

Lucia looked down at the rose again just to see if perhaps there was something else she could use in the note or the small list of deliveries she had available to try and pin it against the girl. But then the girl crowded her space, threatening to hurt her and Lucy half-shrieked in fear, taking a quick step back. She looked down at the yellow rose in her hand and exclaimed, "You made me squash it!" holding out a crumbled looking rose, and a slightly bend card attached to it. "Here, take this stupid rose you psycho! No one will want it now," Lucy said, throwing it at the girl and taking a step back from her again in fear.
​

Out of Character:

Disclaimer: Pls excuse Lucia's gender normative stereotypes

 

[Charlie Madison]

Charlie grunted in frustration as the girl yanked the rose out of her reach again, pushing down the furious instinct to just tackle her for it. The girl's claims actually made Charlie laugh in disbelief. "Don't be ridiculous! I don't want to read anyone else's roses, I'm not a creep, I just want my own stupid message!" It wasn't the first time someone had expected Charlie to be a boy based on her name, nor was it the first time that she had thought that that her life would be so much simpler if she was. "I'm CHARLIE, girls can be called Charlie too!" She snapped, doing her best to avoid mentioning the stupid girly name Charlie was short for.

There was something satisfying in seeing her success in intimidating the older girl, some mild revenge at least for the violation of her privacy. She didn't look down when the girl did at first, only following her gaze when she commented about the rose being broken. Charlie didn't care about Valentines day, she really didn't, but there was still something saddening about seeing a gift for her destroyed before she could even get her hands on it, and it sent pangs of painful memories flashing through her mind. She caught the rose when the girl threw it at her, looking down briefly at its broken form. Charlie held onto the card but dropped the rose, glaring right in the girl's eyes as she stomped on it. At least it wouldn't be a total waste if she could use it to make her point. "Come near me again, you're dead!" She snapped, giving the girl a last glare before pocketing the note as she turned to leave, still seething with rage. Hopefully there wouldn't be any more nasty surprises on this horrible holiday.