End up here

[Elliot Roscoe]

Rarely did Elliot have Saturdays free but it was during this time of year that free time became less sporadic and more of a staple in his usually busy schedule. He had long referred the time between January and April to be his 'slow time of year' and for the same amount of time he had utilized the empty spaces in his schedule to work on other projects, however he was sad to realize this year was dramatically different to most. The endless amount of interest the twenty year old showed to surfing and the subsequent energy he possessed that kept pushing him from the shore and into the sea had wavered too much for him to comprehend. Day after day he was clocking more hours of sleep than he ever had before trying to avoid the looming air of exhaustion clouding his mind. A month into his many attempts to feel like his normal, upbeat self in the wake of the new year he had officially given up on his own and decided to turn to a small group of friends, if his student's family he had known for the better part of four years could be considered friends.

Three in the afternoon on a Saturday seemed a perfect time to visit though as he strolled towards the familiar house the time seemed less and less perfect by the second. What music or laughter from the backyard that was usually audible at the front door was non-existent, and unusual, because not once did he ever remember hearing nothing but still silence from the house before. It all hinted to the fact the Renners were not home and Elliot had wasted twenty minutes walking over for nothing but a deserted house and a disenchanted twenty minute walk back to his apartment building. But Instead of dwelling on the thought no one was home he shrugged, remaining hopeful someone was in the house, and putting the absence of sound to the fact Archie had returned to the boarding school. Ah yes, the boarding school that Archie mysteriously got into that his family vaguely mentioned though never spoke in detail about. Elliot often wondered what on earth this 'boarding school' was about because Archie had never been academically inclined nor well-behaved or able to keep focused on anything more than a few minutes (at least that was what Elliot had noticed while giving the younger boy surf lessons the past few years). "Don't get distracted." Elliot whispered to himself when he realized his extreme tiredness was once again causing his mind to wander instead of focusing on the present which was what he needed to do if any of his 'friends' were home. He stepped from the front pathway to the door and rang the doorbell, waiting a minute before knocking instead and with hope it would cause someone to open the door. Elliot pulled his cellphone from his pocket and checked the time before deciding to cut his losses and stroll home. Though as he turned and began to step away the sound of the door opening hit his ears and he turned back to see Amity standing in the doorway. "Great! I was starting to think you guys had moved away on me." He greeted her with a chuckle followed by an awkward silence before speaking again because although he was friends with the whole family, Amity had always been more distanced in his eyes. "I was bored and wanted so see what everyone was up to, is it alright if I come in?" Elliot had always spent a lot of time with the family on weekends after Archie's surfing lessons, and healthily assumed a visit out of the blue would be plausible and far from a problem with a family of such welcoming people.

blahhhh.​

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[Amity Renner]

It had been a busy few months, Amity had been doing a good many things since she'd left Hogwarts. it was just good fun to have the world be free for her to explore. Though she'd focused on finding her parents. She loved her family, and cared deeply for each one of them, but there was just something that she wanted from her biological family. To find out who they were and why she'd been given. She had been searching many avenues, while doing some occasional part time work. That had just meant that the search had been moving slowly. She couldn't do it around her family. Her family was her everything and she didn't want to do anything that would make it seem like she didn't love or care about them. So she kept it to the hours where it was just her at home. Which with both parents working, Archie at school and her elder sister living her life was actually still fairly often. Obviously since it did get pretty dull at time, Amity got distracted or lost in a book. So all in all, it just meant that a year into searching and she didn't have all that much to show for it. But, really she was just waiting for her big break. For that one bit and then she could chase down the lead that she needed. Her family would understand she knew that, but she wanted to make sure she had something before she went down a path that lead to a dead end. More than that she didn't want thme to know, just in case her biological prents turned out to be really terrible people. She didn't want to live with that. However, on a sun Saturday, Amity had found herself home alone for the entire weekend and keen to get moving on it, had spread all that she knew across the kitchen table all the bit and pieces to just be able to find something she hadn't noticed before. She had imagined that she'd be uninterrupted, but that was soon to not be true.

The doorbell ringing startled the former ravenclaw out of her thoughts. Amity didn't know who it could be really. She hadn't invited anyone round, and as far as she knew no one knew she was even in. But, rather than leave the door unanswered her curiousity got the better of her and she went over. Opening up the door, noticed that the person had sort of begun walking away. The boy turned and she rolled her eyes at him and his words. Of course it was Elliot. She'd never been overly close to him, he was more Archie's friend. She liked him, but they were not overly good friends. Despite being closest in age, they were the ones who'd spent the least amount of time together. When he asked to come in she stood back from the door, as affirmation that he could come in. Her scattered work was the last thing on her mind. "Archie isn't here" she said, not sure if he'd really want to spend time with her. if he was bored maybe he would want to, but he was more friends with Archie so surely he would want to leave after he found out the younger one wasn't here. "Can I get you something, a soft drink, beer?" she asked, closing the door behind her as he entered the house. "And you know that we wouldn't move away without telling you Elliot. Archie wouldn't be happy." Amity was being pretty honest about it. She didn't know Elliot all that well, but they wouldn't move away without telling him. Her parents liked him. Archie liked him. Even she would say that moving away without telling him would just be a little bit wrong.
​

Yeah, I swear next time I won't take this long.

 

[Elliot Roscoe]

Elliot had always spent time with Amity when everyone else was around, so the thought of being alone with her was unusual but if it meant lightening his otherwise dull mood for a few minutes he was more than happy to deal with the surrealness of it all. In his eyes Amity had always been nice despite her distance and their lack of any interaction in the slightest and he was sure that now they were away from their usual cushioning of Amity's family his opinion of her wouldn't change. He strolled past her and into the house as she stood to one side before he answered her question, "Today doesn't seem like a beer day so I'll just get a glass of water." He continued walking into the house where he arrived at the kitchen and helped himself to a glass of cold water which he sipped at as he began making conversation in an attempt to ward off the awkward silences they were bound to fall into. No matter how sweet Amity had always been, every interaction they had was short lived and keeping any conversation between them for longer than a few minutes seemed like a stretch on Elliot's part. But he was willing to attempt to change this habit regardless of what the past dictated. "So, how are you filling your time now that everyone's gone?" He asked as he continued to sip from his glass of water, letting it cool him down now that he was finally free from the sun he had been caught in for the better part of half an hour. "Are you like, extremely bored? I would be. I'm bored now that I don't have much to do since school has started again."

He began rambling out of nowhere and ignorantly continued because he had yet to realize the extent of it. "This is my 'lull' time of the year where I have a lot less people to teach and a lot less hours at the surf shop, so I have way too much spare time that I don't know how to fill, you know?" When he finished he sipped from his glass again and glanced around the room to notice the dining table that was usually clean had now been covered in what looked like a million different papers. In that moments' notice his curiosity got the better of him and he found himself walking towards the table and sifting through one of the papers with his glass in hand before remembering to ask Amity about all of it first. "What's this stuff? Are you really into current events? Or is it some super-secret mission you don't want your parents to know about?" He called the last one out judging by the fact the dining table had never been this messy with Amity's family around. In many ways he was being intrusive and rude however the idea of a secret mission Amity kept from her family had momentarily stifled the lingering cloud of boredom over his head and replaced it with curiosity which is something he wasn't eager to change. He picked up another one of the papers and attempted to read it but his attempt failed when he realized it was written in another language. "It looks intricate, whatever it is." He said as his brow furrowed and he stared at the paper with a puzzled expression.

this is terrible and late, i'm so sorry!​

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[Amity Renner]

The young woman watched as her brother's friend entered the family home, her eyes following him slightly. She had forgotten about all of her different papers left around on the table of the dinning area where she had been working up until his arrival. It was more focused on Elliot in front of her. Upon hearing that he wanted some water, Amity headed into the kitchen and got him a glass of fresh water, "Here," she said as she passed the bottle to them. Amity got herself a glass of juice just as he asked how she was filling her time, the girl didn't really have much to say on the matter, other than doing odd jobs and not really holding anything down the girl hadn't been doing much at all. She had mostly just been making small increments of improvement when it came to finding her birth family, and even that right now was just reaching an unfortunate wall, "Oh, just this and that," she replied not giving much away as the other person in the room then just continued speaking, she didn't hang around with Elliot much, they weren't often in the same place at the same time to hang out. Regardless of that she listened along as he began to ramble, Amity knew that he taught surfing and considering the time of year it wasn't too much of a surprise that the man had little work. She wondered how on earth he managed to really make a living off what he did. Amity was not all about money or prospering but she was definitely wondering if he really made a lot to live off of. It was then that she wondered if food might be a good idea, "Can I get you anything to eat Elliot?" she asked him, glancing back towards the kitchen as she spoke.

It was as she did this that she noticed that Elliot was moving towards her mass of paper. All of the paper which was spread out on the table. She couldn't help but cringe slightly as he did so, Amity had definitely not intended for Elliot to be the guy who found out about her search. The former Ravenclaw did not believe that he would tell anyone, but in the back of her mind she was just very paranoid about people finding out. She hadn't told her parents and had really intended to keep it that way. She put her drink down and walked over to him just as he asked if it was for some form of super-secret mission. Amity bite her lip slightly, unsure about what to do, whether to tell him, or to just brush it under the rug, "Please don't tell my parents," unable to stop the ever so slight pleading tone which encircled her words. Amity took a deep breath, just wondering if to just lie, if to get annoyed about it. In the end she just really wanted to tell him, she'd been going round in circles for days, perhaps this would be a good time to bring someone else in and perhaps bring fresh eyes, "I'mtryingtofindmybiologicalparents," Amity said quickly all in one breath, before stopping taking another deep breath, "I'm adopted, I'm trying to find my birth parents," She told him, letting a small silence take over the room. She hadn't told anyone about it, Amity had believed she probably would never actually tell anyone about it. She had hit so many dead ends she had never thought she'd be able to find them, "I hit a wall, I can't get any further, all I know is that I was brought over from China when I was adopted by my parents here. Anything other than that just doesn't appear to exist," The girl sighed and just sat down, glancing back at the paper on the table. This was just awful.
​

 

[Elliot Roscoe]

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Elliot stood frozen in place, his face still stuck in a puzzled expression that was no longer directed at the mess of foreign papers and instead had been turned towards Amity and her confession. He could have put two and two together and realized Amity was on a secret mission to find who her real parents were by observing her reactions before she opened her mouth but he was of course never able to read between the lines, too caught up in his own head to notice anything that wasn't hanging over his eyes. When a silence passed, the twenty year old finally managed to accumulate words he hoped would lighten the situation because being caught in a silence with Amity that had not been caused by a lack of conversation topics is definitely not what he showed up for. He had visited today to laugh and joke around with a family he may as well have considered to be his own, which certainly did not involve uncovering secrets and letting silences caused by shock instead of awkwardness fill the air. "You're... adopted?" He asked, a sarcastic tone holding his words. "I never would have guessed. Holy crap. I need to sit down." With a laugh, he gently nudged Amity with his elbow in an attempt to comfort her before he returned the piece of paper he had been holding back onto the pile scattered over the wooden table. "Just kidding. I promise I won't tell anyone."

This moment had a loose feeling of Déjà vu because in a way Elliot had stumbled in on this before. He remembered overhearing Amity's family talking about Anah finding her birth parents one morning after Archie's surf class a few years ago, and although this situation was much more secretive it had a similar vibe that piqued Elliot's curiosity more and urged him to help Amity on her quest regardless if she wanted help or not. "You could always try hiring a private detective. I've seen people do that in movies and it seems to work out." All he knew about adoption was what he had seen on television so his knowledge on the subject was very shallow, one-sided and for the most part useless however he continued blabbering in the hope he would eventually say something useful. "I don't know how these things work, but the only other idea I have is asking your parents about the orphanage they adopted you from. Assuming they got you through an orphanage and not through a private agreement." He shrugged. "You obviously want to keep this a secret, but if all you're hitting is dead ends it sounds like you have no option but to come clean." Elliot had definitely intruded on something Amity wanted to keep private but he was at a loss of what to do or how he was supposed to react. In every way he was a fish out of water, or rather a surfer caught on shore and he had no idea what he was supposed to do besides state what he considered the obvious, and probably overstay his welcome in the process. ​

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[Amity Renner]

At his sarcasm Amity just rolled her eyes at him, she knew that he was just kidding, but it didn't stop her from rolling her eyes at him. She didn't really mind his reaction, but she should've guessed it would start in this way. She was more concerned about her parents finding out, and while Amity was pretty certain that Elliot would never tell anyone, there was no way of her being certain of this fact. So, while she was glad for the little infuse of comedy the woman was more interested in knowing whether or not she had to come clean to her parents before the time was right. Amity had no interest in telling her parents just yet, it was just pointless, she had nothing and she didn't want them to think that she didn't love them. That she didn't want them to be her family, she didn't want to create a rift between her and her family that was completely unnecessary. She loved her family more than she'd love her biological family, but they might not understand that, and she was just interested in doing this alone. She wanted to just be able find them, and if they turned out to be alright, she'd come clean about it, if not they didn't need to know anything about it. Amity realised it wasn't exactly the best attitude and she wasn't being honest with her family, but she knew that in the short run this little bit of lying would be better than accidentally causing a scene.

Amity looked at Elliot when he suggested a private detective, Amity had thought about it. She had thought it might help her find them, but it would be expensive and she wasn't willing to ask her parents to shell out money just so that she could find her biological parents. As he continued Amity got the impression that he was mostly suggesting that she talk to her parents about it all. Amity knew logically that this was a good choice, or a good thing to do. It wouldn't be a bad thing. She knew that coming clean to them would change nothing about their relationship, rationally she knew it would be fine, but Amity didn't want to do that. She sighed slightly, "I'm not ready to come clean," it wasn't a complaint about Elliot's suggestion just more a statement for herself, as if she'd thought about telling them, "I know I probably should, but I don't want to, not yet," Amity shrugged at him, "I know it would make it easier and they'd be really understanding about it, but I don't want to," she essentially was repeating herself, but it wasn't really something she was too concerned with. Amity looked at the sheets of paper and after a little searching appeared to find the one she was looking for, "This name," she held out a letter which appeared to be a letter of confirmation of some kind with a name signed at the bottom, "She, this person, I think she handled the transfer, there is no mention of which orphanage I was from, but she might know slightly more, I just don't know where she is," Amity explained essentially stating her brick wall, she knew she would probably have to go to find this woman, and that was her back up plan if this wall continued, "I feel like I should go find her, but I have no idea where to even begin looking,"
​

 

[Elliot Roscoe]

Elliot really was at a loss for words because unlike Amity he had not been adopted. His entire life had been spent being raised by his biological family, so he couldn't begin to relate to his companion's situation or understand her weariness to come clean to her family about searching for her biological parents. The twenty year old frowned slightly at Amity's words however chose to let her speak while he emptied the remainder of water from his glass, instead of interrupting her with his ideas that were more useless than anything. Honestly, if Elliot knew what to say or how to help Amity out of her rut, he would help her without hesitation but he was stuck because he of course had no idea what to say and in turn had no idea how to rectify the situation if he did say anything wrong.

He knew that offering help would be to no avail so he stayed silent with his arms crossed over his chest and his empty glass in one hand until Amity pointed at a name signed at the bottom of what appeared to be a letter. Or what Elliot assumed was a letter because the different language made it difficult for him to distinguish one piece of paper from another. He raised his eyebrows as a light bulb lit up in his head. Though he had suggested a private detective a few moments ago, he knew the process would be financially draining if they decided to asked one for help with no leads to go on. A specific lead in the form of a name would cost a great deal less and could help Amity move along the path of finding her biological parents without saying a word to her adopted parents until she felt she was ready. "Then why don't we ask a private detective about that person!" He moved his arms from his torso and placed his empty glass on a clear spot on the dining table before he took the piece of paper Amity had been holding out. "We just need to find out where we can find a private detective, so we can take this piece of paper to them!" Elliot held the piece of paper in one hand as he glanced behind each shoulder. "Where do you keep your phone book? I'm sure we can find the number of a detective in there." The twenty year old stepped away from the table and looked around the room a second time. "Don't worry about money in this case, I'm willing to pay anything to help out a friend." He smiled widely as he turned back to Amity, realizing looking around the living room for a phone book seemed to be a lost cause. Too polite to go searching for a phone book on his own, he assumed Amity's family had one hidden in a drawer somewhere so he waited for Amity to show him where to look.​

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[Amity Renner]

Amity wasn't really sure that Elliot was understanding her, she didn't want to use a private detective, bring someone like that in was strange and she didn't want the person to then leave something or accidentally tell someone they weren't supposed to, Amity knew that she was really just being paranoid. She knew it was silly, the back of her mind was telling her she was being stupid, that it wouldn't be bad, that they would listen to her instructions but it was more like Amity just wanted to do this herself, she wanted to find them and ask them why. There was no doubt that she didn't wanted to hear it from the mouth of someone else, she needed to hear it from them. From either her mother or father, someone who really know what had happened, because she wasn't ready to face that kind of rejection from someone other and in a way she hoped that in seeing her that they might at least be apologetic and give her a good enough reason. She knew that she loved her adoptive parents, but it didn't stop her feeling sad, frustrated and curious about her parents and who they had been. She shook her head at Elliot, "I don't want a private detective," she said almost angrily, feeling just her frustrations over this push into how she spoke to Elliot, which she did feel immediately sorry about. She sighed slightly, and smiled apologetically at him, "I appreciate it Elliot, I really do, but," She stopped and took a seat.

There was no way of her to put it into words how she was feeling about all of it. She didn't know how else to tell him that she didn't want someone else to do it, she wanted to do this herself. She wanted to find them herself, "I need to find them myself," she muttered to herself, glancing back to the work she had out, "I need to do this myself," she said loud enough this for him to hear this time she got to her feet, "I don't know why Elliot, I want to find them myself. I don't want someone else to do it for me, I need to find them, see them," Amity told him, before turning back to her stuff and beginning packing up the stuff, she had knew that she had to find this woman, she knew where her parents had gotten her from in Australia, surely one conversation with them would end up with her getting an address to speak to this woman or a name of a company, so that would be a place to start, her parents had always said they didn't know much but she could be more persuasive and really just use her magic if she needed to, "I'll travel to China, it's not like I have anything else to do," She said, still mostly talking to herself rather than him.
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Could've been better admittedly, figured with this we can really get the ball rolling.