sunday funday (my beautiful fiance)

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River hated Sundays.

Why? Because as per his parents wishes, he was required to have lunch with Viovinnia every single Sunday. They would meet in the Great Hall, at the Slytherin table of course, where he would wait until she showed up. It was always scheduled for eleven am, but she would generally show up whenever she thought was best... or whatever.

He really tried, though. Every time. He wore a nice white shirt and slacks with his darkest black robes. He even glanced at his hair on the way out, though he didn't do anything about it. His leg was tapping under the chair and his hands were shaking. He balled his hands into fists as he waited, trying to decide what he wanted to eat.

@vi

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Sundays were a dull for Viovinnia Nott. By then she had always finished her class work and she always found herself just waiting for the week to begin again so she could keep herself busy. But the worst part about Sundays had to be the fact that she had to eat lunch with her fiancé. Viovinnia had been raised on very strict ideals; to learn how to physically fight without a wand and to uphold her family's pureblood lineage with another pureblood. Vi respected her parents a great deal and would never do anything to disrespect them but when they had arranged her marriage to a less than suitable partner (in Vi's opinion,) the whole idea of an arranged marriage kind of went out the window for the blonde and she had slowly been contemplating rebellion.

River Flint came from another well known pureblood family and they had been betrothed since they were young. Vi had always thought little of him but it wasn't until she began to attend Hogwarts that she realized just how weak he was, how unsuitable for her she was. Viovinnia was attracted to power and those who had a lot of it... River Flint? He didn't have too much of that, and that was a problem for Vi. He was easy to push around, to manipulate. That was something Vi liked to take advantage of. He was agreeable, however, and Vi liked that but knew it all boiled down to his weak backbone. He just wasn't a suitable partner for Viovinnia Nott.

But was Viovinnia going to tell her parents that? No. Because she respected their wishes and their want for her to build some kind of relationship with him or something by eating lunch with him once a week. Vi honestly loathed the idea but after the first few weeks, it got more tolerable as the two had developed a pattern: Vi would show up late more than half of the time, they would greet one another in the most amicable way they could, and then they would eat lunch - most of the time in silence. But there were some words every now and then, usually Viovinnia commenting coldly on his personality or something of the like. The only solace that Viovinnia found in these weekly meetings was that she got to suffer through it at the Slytherin table, so if all else failed she could strike up a conversation with someone else in front of River. Plus... his older brother always happened to be around and with River there, Vi always got to get a little closer to him. Now he looked like a suitable partner.

Vi entered the Great Hall and headed over to the Slytherin table. She wasn't surprised to see River already sitting down staring at the table, as usual. Vi wore a very solemn look on her face as she sat down and began to reach for some food. "Afternoon," she stated blankly without looking at him as she reached across the table to grab the beans that were planted close to River.

@river

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Tehre she was, gliding over to his table. He sat up a little straighter but he knew it wouldn’t help. She looked like she was going to a funeral. She sat down, reaching across to take the beans closest to him. ”Afternoon Liv. Erh, did you sleep well?” this was literally the worst. She was almost tolerable when at family events because she seemed to have a little bit of fun with other people around them, but this one on one time was the literal worse. He was sure his and her parents had a good reason for this, but he was having a really hard time figuring out what that was.

Why didn’t they give her to Leigh, anyway? Maybe they were worried they would be too similar or they weren’t worried about Raleigh leaving the family values like River obviously would. Either way, it was stupid and didn’t make any sense. Maybe it was a joke.

@vi

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Viovinnia continued to fill her plate with food, actually enjoying the silence between them and then River had to go and talk. The thing was, it was never just easy conversation for them. No, the conversation was always forced and almost painful to listen to. Sometimes Vi even cringed at his attempts at light-hearted conversation. This time, however, she just raised one eyebrow at him as she finished filling her plate. She hesitated before beginning to eat. After staring at him oddly for a moment, she looked down at her plate and began to eat.

"Yes," she said a little curtly. Vi hated forced conversations and asking people things she really didn't care about. Someone asked Vi how her day was? She would usually respond and not return the question. Vi didn't care how peoples' days were going. She only cared about her own. It was just the way she was raised, it was just how she was. But Viovinnia's parents really wanted this marriage to work for some reason and if it meant joining two well respected families, she could at least pretend to be mildly interested for the sake of purity. "You?" It was short and far from sweet.

@river

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"Fine. It's been fine," he responded. He knew that she didn't care, that wasn't news. He knew that she wasn't even a little bit interested in making this work. But, he was still going to try. For his parents sake. "Don't eat all that too fast," he muttered, trying to sound like he cared about her well being or something. Which he did! It was just hard to act as such when she was always being so... scary.

He wished he wasn't so afraid of her, but it was near impossible. He wasn't the only one, though. Many people saw Vi as someone not to be messing with. He was just one of the few who actually had to deal with her.

@vi

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When River told her not to eat too fast, Vi froze. Her cheeks were full of potatoes as she glared up at him, her face still facing down at her plate. Slowly, she raised her head and kept her eyes on him. She swallowed the food in her mouth and set her arms on the table, her elbows resting as she set her head in her hands. She watched him for a moment. Same, scared little River. It irked her beyond belief. She wished he would just have a little more gut in him. Like his brother.

A smirk slowly appeared on her face and her glare softened but her features practically screamed sarcastic. "Tell me, my beloved fiancé," she made sure to load her voice with sarcasm. "When in our relationship are you going to stand up for yourself?" Her smirk disappeared and her arms now lay flat on the table. "I am not going to spend the rest of my life married to a spineless jellyfish." She glared at him again, awaiting an answer. Vi was sure that if somehow, some way River had an about face personality change and became more strong and stood up for himself, that perhaps Vi would willingly go into the marriage but she was certain that was never going to happen.

@river

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River froze at Vi's words. Was she really doing this to him right now? He cleared his throat once he remembered how to move and looked down at his hands, blinking several times before finally looking back up at her. "I didn't think you wanted me to. You could crush me," he said this in a flat tone, as if it wasn't something he was proud of but he wasn't going to deny it either. "How am I supposed to know when you're in 'killer' mode and when you're not?' that one was said in a bit of a softer tone, for his fear was really started to take hold again. He wanted more than anything to move his eyes away from hers and dart for someone familiar. Anyone to make eye contact with to give him courage. But nope, he held his ground, even if his hands were shaking under the table.

@vi

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As River froze, Vi just stared at him unwavering. She really couldn't even pretend to go into an arranged marriage with someone who held no power whatsoever. And aside from his last name, River was pretty useless to her as far as power went. Vi let out a single chuckle at his words. To know he thought that entertained her, it's not like it wasn't true. "Well, you thought wrong," she said returning to a serious tone and demeanor over her face. "I can't have people looking down on me just because I was forced into marrying someone without a backbone. If we are to make this marriage work for our parents, then you will learn to stick up for yourself." It was all said as a command more than anything.

Vi rolled her eyes. "Well, if you had a backbone - it's likely I may never be in killer mode around you. But as it is now, you're an easy target and easy to prey upon. Hence 'killer.'" She smirked, using her hands for quotations. Vi wasn't sure why she had the sudden urge to help River have more of a backbone, but in the back of her mind came images of that blonde Gryffindor she had ran into in the dungeons. Her face hardened into a glare naturally as she tried to shake the images away.

@river

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As she continued, River found himself trying to sit up a little straighter and clutching his hands tightly together, trying to stop them from shaking. She was giving him... backbone lessons now? Was that what this was? Well, she had a good point. This marriage was more 'advantageous' for his family reputation than for hers. He nodded as she said that he was an easy target and that's where the killer mode came from. Her smirk and the little quotes she did with her fingers just made him even more nervous. He took in a deep breath.

"Okay. I can try," he said in a soft voice before shaking his head and trying again. "What-" suddenly her face turned into a glare and he took in a sharp breath before trying to speak again. "I'm not sure how to do that. But I will." Hopefully?

After another breath he raised an eyebrow at her, "are you okay? I mean, you suddenly look tense." Honesty, first step in getting a backbone?

@vi

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Viovinnia raised an eyebrow at River, looking him over as he seemed to change his posture a little bit. Her mouth formed a straight line and she just watched him for a moment. She rolled her eyes and her hands came up to rub her temples. This was going to be a real piece of work. She put her arms back on the table and folded them, forcing a slightly sarcastic smile. "That's the spirit," she said, her voice loaded with sarcasm. The most she could have ever hoped for was him trying. That was going to have to work.

When River asked if she was okay, Vi felt every muscle in her body actually tense up. Was her distraction that obvious? A slightly manic look came to her eyes as she looked at him. "Yes, I am fine," she said harshly. She pretended to be cracking her neck then, moving her head to the side. "I just... have a kink or something." She said, a great deal more nonchalantly now.

@river

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The sarcasm was obvious but he decided to take it as a compliment. Maybe she really meant it, that she was glad he had the 'spirit'. He just hoped he didn't have to start bullying people the way she did. That was not going to work out. He nodded, giving her a bit of a weak smile to return her saracastic one.

As he asked if she was okay her body tensed up even more, which caused him to tense up. His shoulders were starting to hurt. He blinked as she turned back to him, because he saw those killer eyes came back. He gulped, nodding again as she cracked her neck. He wasn't sure what to say next, so he just stuffed some more food into his mouth for the moment.

After he finished chewing, he tried to smile at her. "Well, this was nice. As always," it was his attempt at a joke. His own attempt at... sarcasm?

@vi

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Viovinnia's brow was furrowed in frustration, her eyes on River as he began to stuff his mouth with food and avoided her eye. Why was she letting that Gryffindor even cross her mind? It's not like she cared for him it all... Vi didn't have anyone for which she cared for on any sort of level that they would distract her thoughts with pictures of their blonde curls. So why was he? She was glad that River was smart enough to drop the subject.

The Ravenclaw smiled at her and Vi found herself actually flashing him a smirk in return, one that wasn't loaded with sarcasm. "There ya go, Flint. Have a sense of humor." It looked as if he was actually attempting to try, and Vi had to hand it to him - she didn't even think he could accomplish that but it was good to see. Vi finished up the rest of her own plate and downed some pumpking juice. "Next Sunday," she stated simply, dabbing her mouth with a napking before standing up. It was already on the schedule, whether either of them liked it or not - they would see each other next Sunday. And Vi didn't do goodbyes. It was the best he would probably ever get out of her.

@river
Le end?