Inside Your Heaven | Odette

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Angie couldn't believe how quickly Olive was growing out of her clothes. Angie's mother had warned her a while back that it would be better to buy a lot of Olive's clothes second hand because she would grow out of them so quickly. Angie wasn't the most wealthy witch. She was after all, just a Barista, full time, yes, but she didn't exactly make top dollar serving coffee to students in Hogsmead. And while she loved her job, she had considered quitting several times for one that paid higher, but she wasn't sure if she was willing to sacrifice her sanity for money.

While Angie had been buying a lot of Olive's cloths from the second hand robe shop down the alley, Olive needed a good pair of shoes, and shoes weren't something that Angie liked to buy second hand, plus, she felt like her daughter needed something that would last. Angie had just received her paycheck and was glad to spend a little chunk of it at madam Malkin's. It had been a while since they had a shopping spree. The two girls walked into the shop, hand in hand, and Angie lead her daughter over to the children and baby section where they both began browsing. Olive especially began to dream about the frilly dresses lining the walls. 

@odette

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TW: brief child loss mention

Odette thought after losing her mother that she would have been able to process grief and the difficulties that came with it. She had been wrong, of course, after she lost Jacob and their baby, but she was slowly learning how to cope in a healthy way. The return of Royal into her life was really helping. Talking about their losses together had been extremely helpful to the former Ravenclaw, and every day she found herself growing strong enough again to do the everyday tasks she needed to do. It still hurt every now and then, but it was getting better nonetheless.

Odette had walked into Madam Malkin's to get a few robes taken in. She had had some altered to fit a pregnant body but needed to get them taken in now. Odette was just finishing up, waiting for the lady to fold and bag up her robes when she saw a blonde woman with a young girl browsing the childrens' section. Odette knew it was rude to stare, but she simply couldn't help it. Considering the reason she had come in today, she wondered briefly if that would be her over there right now instead of getting clothes taken back in. Odette knew she should look away, she probably looked creepy, but she simply couldn't bring herself to.

@angie
sorry it's so late!! <3

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Angie was never worried about letting Olive roam a shop without direct supervision. Olive was a very responsible child and knew not to touch anything without first asking either the shop keeper or her mother if it was alright to do so. So, while the grown up blonde was browsing for shoes for her daughter, the mini blonde was browsing the shop. She had got out of the children's section and was just walking the aisle and looking at all the cloths for grown ups in the other sections of the store. It wasn't too big of a shop that Angie could stand on her tip toes and locate the blonde, frizzy haired child zig zagging through the rows if she needed to. And Olive liked to hum anyway, so Angie could hear that she was still at least in the store. 

Olive, who wasn't really paying attention to anything in particular other than the cloths on the mannequin displayed above the rest of the racks, wandered aimlessly, walking towards the check out counter with her head looked straight up at the hanging bits. With her mouth open in awe, she didn't stop or change course until she had walked straight into a woman standing at the register, bumping into her thigh and then falling back onto her butt on the floor with an "oomph!" Angie heard the commotion and rushed over. Olive didn't seem to be hurt, and showed no signs of injury, rather she just looked up at the woman trying to figure out what had happened. "I'm so sorry, she gets lost in her own head sometimes." Angie said to the woman, helping her daughter up. "She didn't hurt you at all, did she?" she asked. 

@odette

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After a moment of watching both the woman and the child, Odette turned back to the counter to wait for her things. She became momentarily lost in her thoughts, thinking of both the baby and Jacob and how life wasn't fair. Then she felt something, or rather someone, bump into her leg. Odette knew before she looked that it was a small person, and upon looking down she saw the little blonde girl looking up at her. Odette wanted to say something, help the little girl up but all she could do was stand there with her mouth open.

The little girl's mom then came rushing up. Up close, they looked exactly alike, Odette realized. The former Ravenclaw blinked and then looked at the woman as she spoke, helping her daughter up. "No, no," Odette shook her head and after finally composing her, she smiled. "Not at all. Is she okay?" She asked looking now at the young girl with a kind smile.

@angie

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The woman insisted that Olive hadn’t hurt her and Angie gave a happy sigh. Thank goodness. While Olive was a very tiny person, enough pressure in the right places could cause bruising or even pain. The woman then asked if Olive was okay and Angie responded, “Oh yeah, she’s just fine. Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time she’s found herself on the ground without realizing how she got there.” Olive wasn’t exactly clumsy, she just often got caught up in her own thoughts and didn’t notice what she was walking into until after it had already happened. “Olive, tell the lady that you’re sorry.” she told the young girl, who, people always said looked just like her. Except for her eyes. Whenever Angie looked at Olive’s eyes, she saw Aerick. The same sparkling blue that she had originally fallen for so long ago. It seemed like ages, it had been years. She had been foolish, they both had been. She told people that Olive got her eyes from her father, who died just before Olive was born. “Sowry.” Olive looked up to the lady again.

@odette

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Odette let out a light laugh and felt relief when the woman told her that her daughter was just fine. She looked between the woman and her daughter as the mother instructed her to apologize to Odette. The former Ravenclaw couldn't help but smile, and she bit her lip to hold it back. The two looked so alike, it was almost as if the woman was talking to a shorter, younger version of herself. It was quite a sweet sight to behold, Odette thought. The brunette stood still as the little girl looked up and her and apologized in her little voice. Odette felt a pang in her chest, as well as her heart melting. It was a weird feeling. "It's okay," Odette said as she knelt down to get on the young girl's level. "My name's Odette. What's yours?"

@angie

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The woman got down to talk to Olive at her level and Angie smiled. She wasn't really ever one to be concerned about strangers talking to her daughter, which maybe she should have been. She was sure that her own mother would lecture her for it. But Angie thought that it was important for Olive to learn how to socialize with adults and children and just people that she didn't know. Olive made friends very easily, but, as independent as she was when they were out and about, Olive knew to never wonder too far away from her mother or to ever leave a shop, and Angie made sure to teach her daughter to scream if anyone tried to touch her or made her feel uncomfortable. There were enough good people around that it someone questionable came near a 4 year old girl, someone would say or do something if they were closer than Angie was. So far, there had been no accidents. Diagon Alley was a fairly safe place. "My name is Olive." Olive introduced herself. "Odette is a pretty name, it sounds just like a princess." Olive decided, but to her at her current age, any feminine name sounded like a princess name. She was obsessed with Princesses and fairies, but just last month it has been Hippogriffs that she was obsessed with. "I'm Angie." Angie said, not wanting to interrupt their conversation, as Olive was capable of having conversations without her mother around, but just so there was no awkward feeling of both of them knowing Odette's name, but her only knowing Olive's name. 

@odette

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The smile that spread across Odette's face couldn't be faked even if she tried. The young blonde girl was surely far more outgoing than Odette had been at that age and it was adorable and admirable. "Why, thank you," she said rather enthusiastically. "I quite like your name, too, Olive. And both of our name's start with the letter 'O!'" She added excitedly. Before Jake and... well, the baby, Odette never would have thought she would interact well with children. But now after losing the baby... Odette had a stronger appreciation and love for children. Odette straightened up then and outstretched her hand to the older blonde. "Hello, Angie. It's nice to meet you." She smiled at the woman, though somewhere deep inside of her there was a slight pang of jealousy for this woman who got to enjoy motherhood while Odette... was left grieving.

@angie

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While Angie obviously couldn’t know what the woman was thinking, she couldn’t identify more. She never thought that she’d have a kid, she got along with her siblings when they were kids, but she had been a kid at the time too. She was a hyper, crazy teenager and young adult, until she had met the American bar tender at the club who changed her world without meaning to. But, knowing now what she did, she never would have done anything differently. “Yeah! And so do Owl’s right? I want one but mummy won’t get me one.” Olive said, throwing a little sass at her mother. Though she didn’t know how to read yet, she did know her letters because Angie would sing the song over and over again with her while they were doing chores around the house. Angie had also began to trick the girl by giving her learning activity books instead of coloring books from time to time. “You have no need for one, love. And it’s nice to meet you also - sorry, we’re keeping you...” Angie noticed, the woman probably had somewhere to be.

@odette

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It was something else to watch the little girl and her mother interact. Odette had never really spent time around children before. In fact, before Jacob and the baby, she had never thought she would have children so she had never really felt the need to hang about any. But now... she felt the weird feeling to be around them more. Funny how life worked that way. Odette giggled and looked between the mother and then back at the little girl named Olive. "Do you like owls, then?" She asked the girl with a chipper voice.

When Angie spoke then to Odette, the Ravenclaw alum looked at the mother and shook her head. "Oh, you're not at all," she said with a wave of her hand. "I've actually nowhere to be. This was my last stop for the day." She smiled back down at Olive and then a wild, spontaneous idea came to mind and she suddenly felt like her old self. It was such a nice feeling that nothing could stop the brunette from speaking up, "how would you two like to join me for some tea?"

@angie

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Odette asked Olive if she liked Owls and Angie smirked. The woman had no idea that she had just opened a never ending topic in their household. Olive was in love with every single animal that existed. She was such an excitable little girl who loved creatures and had so many toy versions of her favorite ones, particular hippogriffs at the moment. Olive had a picture book with all sorts of magical creatures, and the pictures all moved of course. The 3 year old could spend hours looking at that book. “I like all animals.” Olive told the woman. “Do you like animals?” she asked in response. The woman insisted again that the two weren’t bothering her and that this was her last stop for the day. She then asked if the two would like to have tea with her. Angie had to admitted, she wasn’t expecting to be asked to tea by a stranger today, however, who was she to turn down a potential new friend? Angie couldn’t say she had a lot of friends. Especially not friends that wanted to spend time with Olive. Most of her friends from school were in very different places in their lives. “You know, I think we’d love to, wouldn’t we love?” Angie asked her child, who seemed just as into the idea. "We were just finishing up our errands for the day also." Angie told her. She had just popped into the shop to look for a new pair of shoes for Olive, but that could surely wait for another day. 

@odette

Thread dead as of February 19th 2018