Closed When It Rains, It Pours

[Margo Fox]

Margo had found herself spending more time in the Monthly room than she ever had before. She was trying to distract herself and the more she threw herself into her clubs the better she started to feel. She hated the sense of dreed she felt whenever she thought about Isadora or her brother. She just felt so helpless and trapped. But the paper? The paper she could manage. The Wild Patch garden she could manage. The Heta meetings she could manage. All of those things were in her control and she wasn't about to let them go any time soon. But she was finally hungry and she packed up her things to leave. Margo hadn't decided on what to write yet so she took a few old issues with her incase that might give her some extra inspiration. Her arms were rather full as she turned the corner to head to the stairs. Of course she wasn't looking where she was going and before she knew it she walked right into someone and scattered the papers everywhere. For a moment she just stood there stunned. "S-sorry." she stuttered out as she just stared at the mess. She was already so tired and hungry this was the last thing she needed when she was already feeling so fragile.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius was bored, and had decided to head down to the courtyard, get some sunlight in. He was lost in thought, hands in his pockets, when someone bumped into him. He looked down, blinking, and smiled softly. He could recognize that look, the one of being on the edge. Gently, he reached down to catch her chin between his thumb and finger, wanting to tilt her face up to his. "Hey, Margo," He greeted softly. "Shh, it's alright. What's wrong?" He asked, reaching up with his other hand to try and tuck her hair back. "It's okay, you can talk to me," He promised gently, wanting to help her. She looked so soft, he couldn't help but feel protective.

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo was slowly coming back to herself but hearing her name snapped her back all at once. She blinked quickly and wiped at her eyes quickly and felt horribly embarrassed to find them wet. She sniffed and hoped he hadn't noticed. "Oh, hi Valerius." she said, her voice small. She shook her head when he asked what was wrong. "It's nothing." she said and bent down to start picking up the papers she had dropped. It didn't even feel like a lie. Nothing was wrong exactly. "Just one of those days." she said and forced a laugh. It was just a normal day. A normal day with her best friend on the other side of the world and her brother unaccounted for. Totally normal. "I hope I wasn't interrupting you. Were you heading down to dinner too?" she asked, trying to change the subject despite the fact that her chest was getting tight again.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius studied her, his brow slightly furrowed. "Margo," He murmured, his voice incredibly soft. As she straightened, he tried to reach out for her, wanting to cup her face gently in his hands. "Margo, hey, look at me." He murmured, taking a tiny step closer. "It's okay. I'm here. It's okay to not be okay," He promised her, his voice exceedingly soft and gentle. "What's going on?"

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo hadn't spent much time talking to Valerius before and the familiarity in which he treated her stopped her short, and the way he said her name made her stop breathing for a moment. She was still looking down, fiddling with her papers, too embarrassed to look at him when he reached out for her. She moved away just slightly but finally met his eyes. Margo felt extremely exposed and despite his comforting and reassuring words, she didn't feel better. Everyone told her that things would be ok and she had yet to see any evidence of that. But when he asked her again what was wrong she finally started to crack. She opened her mouth to say something but she wasn't even sure where to begin. Should she go all the way to the beginning? Talk about her parents? "I just have a lot going on." she said finally and was proud she managed to get a full sentence out. "My- my friend transferred and I miss her." she explained and hoped that would be enough for now. It felt like just scratching the surface but it did feel good to put words to some of the things whirling around in her chest.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius could tell he was getting through to her. He listened as she spoke, nodding. Isadora Novak, he'd known she transferred out. He had the feeling something else was going on, though, and he wasn't sure if she'd want to tell him everything. "Hey, it's alright to be sad," He told her softly, his hands hovering slightly. "Why don't we sit down? You can tell me everything, or you could tell me nothing. It's okay if you want to cry, I'll stay with you." He promised, giving her his most gentle smile.

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo sniffed and wanted to wave off his concern. She knew it was ok to be sad. But she had been sad for what felt like months now. Was it ever going to stop? That felt like the real question. She frowned slightly when he suggested they sit down. She was hungry. But she also needed a moment to calm down. The only thing worse than crying in front of Valerius would be looking like she had just been crying as she entered the great hall. Eventually she nodded and sat with him on one of the benches that aligned the corridor. Sitting down seemed to help, and she relaxed slightly and could focus on calming her breathing and getting herself back under control. "I know it's ok to be sad." she said in a small voice as she started to feel more like herself. "I just...have a lot to be sad about and it can feel like a lot sometimes." she admitted before shooting him a glance and shaking her head. "I doubt you're ever sad. Or at least, you aren't a mess about it." she said and laughed at herself. "You always seem so...put together."

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius smiled softly, moving with her to sit down. He let her talk, his hand hovering just above her lower back. He gave a soft smile at her words. "I was raised into, Margo. One of the unspoken requirements of a proper gentleman, especially one with the expectations I have." He told her simply. "I admire you, you know.' He spoke softly. "You have the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known. That's a wonderful thing." He tried to soothe her a bit, giving her a gentle smile.

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo took a few deep breaths and started feel more like herself by the second. She felt so embarrassed that Valerius had seen her like that and part of her wanted to just disappear into the floor never to be seen again. But he didn't seem to mind, which surprised her. She listened as he took a turn to open up about himself. She had to admit she didn't know much about him or his family. "So...you're a gentleman?" she asked with a playful smile. It sounded like something out of her books, something from a completely different time. But she had to admit she didn't know what that was like, to have family expectations. Her family was so small it was hard to imagine something being expected from her, besides being a nice person and growing up eventually. Margo felt her face flush when he complimented her. "I don't know about that." she said softly and let her hair fall into her face. "Maybe you don't know that many people. I mostly just feel like a cry baby all the time." Margo said with small laugh.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius smiled a little sheepishly, nodding. "A proper gentleman, yes." He told her easily. He didn't go into it, not wanting to take the attention away from her. He shook his head gently, reaching over to try and brush her hair back behind her ear. "Oh, I don't know, Margo." He smiled softly. "You might be a bit of a crybaby, but that's not a bad thing." He tried to sooth her. "It means you're compassionate, and caring, and that is a beautiful thing."

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo looked at him tentatively and bit her lip to keep herself from smiling or laughing when he said he was a gentleman. But the urge passed quickly when he seemed so sincere about it. She looked at his face a bit closer and thought he was definitely handsome enough to be a real gentleman. Margo took in a sharp breath when Valerius reached out and touched her hair. She hadn't been expecting it and the tenderness of it made her heart hammer in her chest. She let out a shaky laugh when he didn't exactly disagree with her comment about being a crybaby which broke some of the tension inside her. She listened to his words and shrugged, she didn't really have anything to say to that. Suddenly she felt herself stand and she took a deep breath. "Thank you for saying all that." she said softly as she made sure she had grabbed all her things. "But I really should be getting down to dinner." she added as she moved to head for the stairs. Maybe if she was a different person she could sit at listen to some boy shower her in compliments and accept it. And maybe all the things he was saying were true but it didn't change all the bad things that had happened to her. But even she had to admit it was nice to hear someone who wasn't related to her say something nice. She knew Cameron would rather get fed to the giant eel than pay her a compliment.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius chuckled as Margo stood. Perhaps he'd gone a bit overboard. He stood, following her to the stairs. "May I escort you down?" He asked, offering out his arm. "It wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me to let you walk alone," He added with a small smile. Besides, he just wanted to spend more time with Margo. She was a sweetheart, and he enjoyed her company.

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo shook her head when Valerius offered to walk her down to the great hall. She was feeling calmer now and she was pretty sure her face wasn't red from crying anymore, but she needed some time to breath. She was feeling overwhelmed but it wasn't from self pity anymore. "No it's alright. I'm sure I can find it." she joked. "I won't tell anyone you were slacking on your gentlemanly duties." she teased lightly. "It...it was nice talking though. I'll see you around." Margo said quickly before heading down the stairs.