Please, she said

[Cecily Rambolt]

Hamneda turned out to be a cheeky tentacula. Cecily decided to give him a small bit of plant food and visit him later. She had changed from her customary jeans and flowy top to a more simple and demure dress. She had chosen the outfit with care, unaware how alike the process was as to preparing for war. In a way, she mused, she was. What she was about to ask was sheer lunacy. Yet some powerful force pushed her in that direction. She must speak with the patriarch.

Her black high heels clicked lightly along the flagstones. As she approached Kalif's office, she battled nerves and flung her hand out to knock twice on his off door.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif was grading a few papers when he heard a knock upon the door. With a wave of his hand, the door opened to reveal Cecily. Kalif motioned with his gloved hand to come in, rather than saying anything verbally.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Cecily's fingers were lightly linked together in front of her as she approached Kalif. She nearly winced at the loud clack her heels made, although she was sure it was just her nerves amplifying the noise. "Good even' Kalif." Once she stood in front of his desk, she didn't bother to mince words. "I'd like to request a meeting with your father."

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif continued to grade his papers without looking at the Headmistress. He nodded at her and waited for her to continue as the sound of his quill meeting paper continued. Her request made him pause and almost snap the quill. His black eyes gazed up and stared into her green eyes. He knew perfectly well that only a Zhefarovich could apparate into the manor. He inquired coolly, "And why would you want to go see my father?" As the new appointed Head in the family, he did have a right to know as to the occasion.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Cecily drew a breath and returned his cool stare with one of her own. She held up her ringed hand, the ring plainly visible. "As I'm about to become a part of your family, Kalif, and take your family's mark, I need answers. Your father can give them to me."

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif gave her an odd stare when he saw the ring. Prodan proposed... The idiot. Kalif stood up and he murmured, "Seeing that I am not busy at all, I guess I can take you there." He made sure the bottle was open, and he approached the Headmistress. He glared down at her and he said, "We must leave school grounds. The Manor is protected from anyone flooing in, and the only way in is a Zhefarovich descendant to apparate in. Follow..." The closest way off the school grounds, he assumed, was going to Brightstone Village and apparating from there. Kalif led the way.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Cecily tilted her head back to keep her eyes on his. Added height from the shoes did nothing to touch upon the difference between her and the tall blond man before her. "Thank you," she murmured, turning to follow him. For a few moments she followed as best she could behind him, but his pace, not to mention his much longer legs, outdistanced them quickly.

Huffing an indignant breath she shook her head and stopped. "Kalif!" She suppressed a smile, although gentle humour was upon her face.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif paused and he turned to glance behind him. "Could you hurry up? I do need to get back, you know." By now, he had reached the entrance of Brightstone, and with a touch of her shoulder and they would be off to Bulgaria, if she would ever hurry up. He folded his arms across his chest and he waited.

 

[Cecily Rambolt]

Cecily began to walk again with a mental roll of her eyes. Really the man was too much sometimes. He was so damned stiff! If only he could be happy, perhaps find somebody, like she had found Prodan. For some reason, her thought turned to Nicolette for a moment before she dashed that, as surely as the Bulgarian in front of her had dashed her friends dreams.

"I see that your brother received more than his fair share of manners, Kalif," she replied demurely, green eyes lit with an unholy humour as she serenely approached him. It clashed with the Sunday school teacher persona she had donned with the bright yellow dress, cascading curly hair and light makeup. Once she reached his side she couldn't help a bit of humour at his expense. Holding her hands up a bit in front of her, palms outward, she cheekily said, "Now now, hands above the equator."

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

"I'm not a pleasant person. I know this and do not deny it." A statement filled with truth. He rolled his eyes and put his gloved hand upon Cecily's shoulder. Kalif had already seen much more of Cecily than he ever wanted to in his life. Kalif smirked slightly and he warned, "Don't expect this to be a pleasant trip in." He gripped her shoulder somewhat tightly, but not with enough force to leave a mark or a bruise. He apparated them to the Zhefarovich Manor.