Closed castles in a golden age

[Corey Edogawa]

Corey had been putting this off. Well. No. That was completely inaccurate. The wedding planners had been putting this off. Corey would like to say that he'd finally put his foot down and told his mother that they already had enough guests for the wedding. In reality, he'd merely told his mother that if they didn't send out the wedding invitations soon, there wouldn't be any guests. Roxas would have probably preferred that really, but Corey would have felt a little bad for all the effort his Kaa-chan had put in when she was pregnant with the twins. That and he was pretty sure his parents, his aunt, and Roxas' family would hunt them both to the ends of the world if they'd decided to elope. So, yes. The big - huge, really - wedding was, in fact, the lesser evil. And so, here he was visiting New Zealand once again. This time, to deliver wedding invitations. He'd already delivered one to Kalif and had just arrived at Mary Lou's farm to deliver her invitation personally. He'd just announced his presence before the door was opened with a bang accompanied by a yell of "MONTANA SAGE! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT OPENING THE DOOR!" from inside the house and an "UNCLE COREY!" from down below. Well, Corey couldn't disappoint now, could he? "Look at you!" he exclaimed as he picked the little girl up easily, lifting her high up in the air, "When did you get so big?!" he said before kissing her cheek and tickling her with his nose making her giggle. "Well since you're opening doors without Mama I suppose I should kidnap you away now," he yells into the house for Mary Lou to hear.​

 

[Mary Lou Layton]

"MONTANA SAGE! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT OPENING THE DOOR!" she had trained her children better than this, at least she thought she had, but no doubt Montana was trying to give her a heart attack because she consistently kept opening that front door to everyone no matter who it was. Whether it be Uncle Monty, Daddy, Mary Lou herself or the mail man, she really wished she would stop it. The house was warded of course, thanks to Monty and some people he knew, but that didn't mean something couldn't still happen at some point and even if she was training still with him, that didn't mean she was entirely comfortable with leaving her children just answering front doors. Though she was relieved when she heard the name, Uncle Corey - surprised though that he was here. "Go on, take her with you, she'll open your doors too, and maybe you can come take her sister as well," she said, exasperated as she held little Marvin on her hip, the only one who seemed inclined to even listen to mummy. She moved over to Corey and pressed a kiss lightly on his cheek before ushering him through the hallway and into the living room where she deposited Marvin on the ground in the play pen with his sister Madeira. "Do you want some tea? Sorry I'm a bit of a mess, I didn't expect visitors and Wendell's just stepped out to see Monty."​

 

[Corey Edogawa]

Corey carried Montana on his hip with ease as he strode into the house, closing the door as soon as he entered. By hand because he was awful at Charms and he would never take chances in Mary Lou's house with a little darling on his arm. She was talking his ear off and grabbing his shirt and he was nodding and humming and reacting at all the appropriate times. Merlin, it seemed like yesterday when his siblings were at this age. And now Lew-chan would be headed to Hogwarts next school year. He laughed as Mary Lou told him to keep Montana. "Careful or I'll really grab the girls on my way out," he said with a laugh as he offered her his cheek. "How are you doing love?" he asked Mary Lou as he followed after her, Montana kissing his cheek and him tickling the little girl's side with a finger. It was rare for the pair of them to see each other, Mary Lou busy with motherhood while Corey was busy being a Quidditch player. Still Corey made it a point to make time to visit her and the kids, just a little rarer than his usual sparring meetings with Kalif. In fact, he thinks he's been over enough times that she really shouldn't be fussing anymore. "Love, I think Kalif and I have been here enough times to not be considered guests anymore. This little one's attention is good enough for me," he said quite amused. "Besides, I'm here to give you a little envelope," he said as he pulled out the wedding invitation specifically for Mary Lou.​

 

[Mary Lou Layton]

Mary Lou laughed, shaking her head at Corey. They'd know each other for years by now, that didn't mean she was going to start treating him like part of the furniture. "Sorry Corey, until you live here, you're still considered a guest and I simply could not abide to treat you with anything less than the utmost hospitality, call it my Southern curse, if you will," she said, leaning down to give Montana a swift kiss on the cheek as she told Corey all about the plant she'd been helping Mary Lou with that morning. With them both allergic to Alihotsy, Mary Lou was sure to keep her occupied when she was working with it, but these days it wasn't so bad as they both knew they couldn't ingest it, and she always had an allergy potion around should something happen, courtesy of Monty of course. After the incident in her first year, things had been pretty intense. She figured he never wanted to go through that again. One thing that had come out of it, she heard that they put ingredients lists out now, for the potions, which she liked. It made her feel better about sending Montana soon. She wouldn't have felt like she could do so safely if not for that. "Is this... is this what I think it is Corey? Have you finally set a date?" She asked, dusting off her hands and taking the invitation eagerly. She skimmed through it and grinned. "Oh I'm so happy for you, honey this is great. Wendell will be so pleased," she said, grinning at him and pulling him in for an awkward hug as she tried to hug him around Montana.​