Never gunna give it, never gunna give it up [Pansy]

[Deleted]

Dusti knew she was going to be in trouble if her parents found out. If they realized that she hadn't come home last night. If, for some reason they'd looked into her room to find her bed still neatly made, undisturbed. Why would they though? They never looked. They never seemed to care. As long as she stayed out of their way, her parents usually acted as if she didn't exist.

It was still pretty early. Early enough that she was positive everyone would still be asleep. Or still in their bedrooms at least. Her mother most definitely wouldn't be up yet. She spent most nights drinking, which meant hangovers were a constant in the morning, so rousing her at a decent hour was an incredible feat. Her father.... Well, there was a chance he'd be awake, but why would he have cared to check on his children? Rusti.... Well, Rusti most definitely knew she hadn't come home. She'd know Dusti was going out to meet with Albus, but it hadn't exactly been a secret. Staying out all night would be unexpected though. River might notice, but they usually kept their distance at home, so it was likely he'd just assume she was being antisocial. And Raleigh? Well, he'd moved out. Didn't matter to her what he was doing right now, or what he might think about the situation. Considering he was part of her back up plan if she was caught though.... Maybe she should have at least warned him in case her parents wanted to validate her story.

Creeping in through the front door, Dusti's steps were completely silent. She held her shoes in one hand, so they wouldn't make any noise as she sneaked in. It was only a little last seven, the sun already rising and casting the quiet and large manor in a warm morning glow. She froze in the foyer, because she'd spotted something out of the corner of her eyes. Something that shouldn't be there. No, that couldn't be there. It had to be a hallucination of some sort. Because there was no way... "Mother."

@pansy
marcus (Marcus can come in when he feels like it. )

[Deleted]

It wasn't like Pansy Flint to keep tabs on her children's whereabouts. She probably would have, but she had enough of her own problems to deal with—never mind the fact that she really couldn't be bothered. Her children were old enough to know where they were supposed to be and when, and she expected them to be home in time for dinner.

Ever since Raleigh had blindsided her with the news that he was moving out of the family home, however, she had become increasingly paranoid that her remaining three children would follow suit. Because he was still underage, River didn't have much of a choice, but the twins—her only daughters—were seventeen now.

As was usual for Pansy, one drink had led to another before bed, though it hadn't been long before she had woken up in the early hours of the morning, feeling anxious and unable to sleep. In her nightgown, she had made her way back downstairs to get herself another drink.

There was bottle of Nebbiolo on the table before her—now empty—and a glass beside it. The red wine had been dribbled down the front of her nightgown. Reclined on the sofa, she was slow to realize why the door was opening and the sunlight was streaming in more than it would have otherwise. Was it morning already?

“Mother.”

Pansy couldn't recall having seen either of her daughters leave the house, though it wasn't rare for her to suffer a blackout from her drinking. Whichever one of the twins it was, she was carrying her shoes. Pansy thought that was rather strange; why was she carrying her shoes? Weren’t shoes meant for feet?

Her words came out slurred as she spoke. “Dus—Rus—Who—What are you doing?” she asked, angry and confused. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?” As she was gesticulating, she nearly knocked the wine glass from the table. “I already slept!” she added, not that she had been asked.

@dusti

[Deleted]

Dusti knew immediately that her mother had been drinking. All night probably considering the empty bottle on the table and the stain on her mother's nightgown. She was pretty sure the bottle had been full when she'd left the house the day before. Her gaze flickered to the bottle, then her mother as she tried, and failed to distinguish which of the twins was currently in front of her. It almost made her smirk, knowing that the woman, at least when drunk, couldn't tell the difference. IT was how Dusti had gotten away with taken Rusti's punishments most of their lives. "Walking in. I'd ask what you were doing but that's obvious.... She retorted sharply. Then there was the anger as she realized that this wasn't a decent hour, and that Dusti shouldn't be up.

Dusti opened her mouth, to snap back some sarcastic comment about her mother being up all night drinking, but Pansy beat her to it. "I doubt that." she opted to say instead. "You've had too much to drink, mother. Go sober up before father sees you." If her mother was sober, she'd be mortified at the state she was in.

@pansy

[Deleted]

She wasn’t even sure which of her daughters had come in the door. Dusti was usually the more defiant twin, but Rusti had her moments, too. If she and Marcus hadn’t given their daughters such similar names, maybe she wouldn’t have been so flustered. (The fact that Rusti’s given name was Rosaria was beside the point.)

Whichever twin it was, she didn’t sound pleased. “Walking in.” Pansy could tell that much, even drunk. “I'd ask what you were doing,” her daughter said, “but that's obvious…” Rarely was she completely sober, and, when she was, the withdrawal she felt made her just about as irritable as she was when drunk.

Her daughter expressed her doubts that she had actually slept, chastising her for having been drinking. “Go sober up before Father sees you,” she instructed, not that Pansy cared.

Getting up from the sofa, Pansy stumbled over to her daughter. “I’ll bloody do what I want!” she snapped, jabbing a bony finger in her face. “Sleeping outside? The dog that you are!” She scoffed, her words not fully coherent as she reached to slap her daughter across the face. Couldn’t her children act like normal, respectable people?

@dusti

[Deleted]

Dusti's parents were great at ruining her mood. She'd had... probably one of the most amazing nights of her life and she had to come home to this. She clenched her teeth tightly together, her hands curling into fists as her mother stumbled to her feet and miraculously managed to stay up right long enough to reach Dusti. As her mother pointed a finger at her, Dusti put up her own hand to swat it away. "You should want to take a shower, you reek." She snapped back, moving to take a step away from her mother, but not moving fast enough to avoid the slap.

Her cheek instantly stung, but Dusti refused to utter a sound of surprise or pain. She just slowly turned her head back to look at her mother, eyes narrowed. The slap was harder then she'd expected, but she wasn't entirely surprised. Her mother was stone drunk at the moment, and not in full control. Wasn't like you could hold back much when you could barely form coherent sentences. "At least I don't sleep with one." She hissed back, finally raising a hand to touch the spot her mother had slapped her. That was probably going to bruise. "I was at Raleigh's, mother. But sleeping outside would be a major improvement to this place."

@pansy

[Deleted]

By the time that Dusti had told her that she should want to take a shower, Pansy was already so enraged that she didn't care. She didn't care about the smell of wine on her breath; in fact, she had hardly noticed it. She was drunk and had more important things to see to. The slap hit Dusti across the cheek, which was just as Pansy had intended, and she listened as her daughter retorted that at least she didn't sleep with a dog.

It took a moment for the insult to register with Pansy, but, once it had, she was no less furious than she had been before. “You little—” she managed to slur, placing heavy emphasis on the other word for a female dog that followed not a moment later. If Marcus had heard what Dusti had said, he wouldn't have been pleased, either.

If the jab about her father hadn't been enough, Dusti began her explanation. Pansy was sure that it had been the slap that had coaxed it out of her, and she smiled with some degree of satisfaction, only to hear the one name that was enough to escalate the situation even further.

“Raleigh?!” Pansy fumbled out, staggering as she took a step back from Dusti. Raleigh had made it clear that he no longer wished to be a member of the Flint family, and Pansy wasn't about to treat him as one. He certainly hadn't treated her with the respect that she deserved during their outing to Madam Malkin's. It was a pity that her eldest child had turned out to be such a fool, and she didn't need her daughters to follow in his footsteps. “You think that's funny, do you?” she cackled, failing to realize that she was the only one laughing.

@dusti

[Deleted]

Dusti smirked at how long it took her mother to realize just what she'd said. "I think you're confused mother. That'd be you, if we're still talking about dogs." She didn't act on the intense hatred that comment had created though. And Dusti was mad. How dare her mother call her that? It didn't surprise her, not one bit, but that didn't mean she liked it. She was used to it. The verbal abuse. It practically didn't phase her. All it did was tick her off even more.

Her mother's reaction to hearing Raleigh's name took her by surprise momentarily. Pansy had seemed... shocked for a second. And then she was laughing. Like a lunatic. She knew immediately that mentioning Raleigh had been a bad choice. That something must have happened between him and their mother... Dusti scowled. "Not as funny as you acting like a lunatic." she taunted, forcing herself to smirk and take a step away from the woman. Just in case. "What? Didn't get your way with Raleigh so you had a hissy fit? You know mother, that's not a very attractive feature. It makes you look just as desperate as you really are."

@pansy

[Deleted]

Pansy ceased her laughter when Dusti spoke again. “What?” she asked her, wanting to know why she was making such a fuss. “You know, Mother, that's not a very attractive feature. It makes you look just as desperate as you really are.”

And Dusti was just as much of a horror as her older brother was. “I didn't sneak out of the house!” Pansy reminded her, lunging at her wrist for the smirk that had come upon her face. If it weren't for Dusti's having taken a step away from her, Pansy probably would have been able to grab her, though her reaction time was slowed by the alcohol.

“You! You and your… rotten brother!” Pansy spat at her. She and Marcus should have disowned them both, Pansy thought. Dusti was obviously proud of herself, and she would have to do something to change that. Quickly.

@dusti

[Deleted]

Dusti's lips had pursed into an angry thin line. She knew she had one upped her mother. That was something she'd gotten from her father. A cleverness that her siblings hadn't inherited. But unfortunately that wasn't the only thing she'd gotten. Out of all the children, Dusti took after Marcus the most. A fact that made Dusti sick to her stomach. She opened her mouth to correct her mother that she hadn't exactly been sneaking, with the woman grabbed her wrist. While Dusti had been good at taking the blows, she'd never been good at avoiding them, unfortunately. She'd always been too stubborn to back down and move when she sensed trouble. Heck, Dusti almost got her wrist away in time if it weren't for the fact that her blood was boiling. Once her mother's talons (hands, but Dusti was dramatic like that) had latched around her wrist, Dusti immediately tried to yank herself free. "Let go of me." She hissed. "If I was sneaking, mother, I wouldn't have used the front door." She snapped after, again trying to yank her wrist free.

And then the attempt to insult her and Raleigh. But it didn't really come out. At least drunk Pansy wasn't good with words. It was usually how Dusti turned things around so quickly. "What, don't like that some of us don't cower before your drunken a**?" She finally got her wrist free, yanking it away from her mother and taking another step away.

@pansy
marcus (soooooooo..... he might want to come in pretty soon. XD just saying.)

[Deleted]

Marcus hated being woken up. For one thing, he barely got any sleep to begin with; he was late to sleep and early to rise due to various familial and occupational pressures, and his sleep was precious to him. For another thing, it seemed that in the morning, his eyes were taking longer and longer to adjust to being awake. Actually, it wasn't his eyes, plural. Just his left one. When Marcus was woken up by a shout (brother!), his left eye, once again, failed to provide him with immediate feedback. His right eye, however, was working just fine, and it was telling him that it was early in the morning, early enough that it was still night out, and he had no business waking up. Marcus slid out of bed nonetheless, making his way down to the ground floor. The scene that greeted him was familiar despite the fact that it had never occurred before, at least not in his memory. "Pansy!" He barked, aware of the fact that his wife was probably drunk out of her mind. "What is going on?" 

@pansy
@dusti

[Deleted]

“Let go of me.” Pansy nearly laughed. Dusti wished that she would be so kind! It was comical, truly, that she would think that just telling her to let go would do the trick. “If I was sneaking, Mother, I wouldn't have used the front door.”

Even as intoxicated as she was, Pansy wasn't about to buy a word of it. She knew Dusti had come in from outside, and there was no reason why she should have been there.

“What,” Dusti retorted after her older brother had been mentioned, “don't like that some of us don't cower before your drunken a**?”

“Pansy!”

She froze, and, had Dusti not freed herself, the sound of her husband's voice roaring above their conversation would have been enough to cause her to immediately loosen her hand from around her daughter's wrist. Their confrontation had awoken Marcus.

“What is going on?”

Pansy pointed in Dusti's direction, wagging her finger wildly at her. “This… disgrace thinks she can just sneak in the house!” she told Marcus, as though she were a small child tattling on their daughter. She looked to Dusti, nearly screeching. Marcus was already awake; the rest of the house didn't matter. “Tell him! Tell him what you've done now, you little b***h!”

@dusti
marcus

[Deleted]

Any remnant of Dusti's cocky and smug smirk vanished the moment she heard her father's voice. The last thing she needed was to take on both parents at the same time. Alone, it was easy to disobey them, and rile them up. Together... Well, Dusti didn't like being out numbered. And then, how her mother immediately jabbed that boney finger in her direction as if tattling. Dusti's lips curled into a snarl. "I wasn't sneaking." She growled as her gaze went left and right to try and find an escape route. Unfortunately her father was too close to the stairs for her to go up. "God, you're such a drunken psychopath! Why don't you act your bloody age for once?!" She snapped. She knew that disrespecting her mother was never a good idea, but it was even worse when her father was around. He tolerated it far less then Pansy did.

Scowling, Dusti ran her fingers through her hair and glared at her parents. People she was supposed to love unconditionally. People that were supposed to care for her. She'd never felt any attachment though. Not for them. She'd only felt an intense hatred.

@pansy
marcus

[Deleted]

This entire thing was insufferable. Maybe if Marcus had been in a better mood and it hadn’t been so early in the morning, he would have been able to agree with whatever crap Pansy was spouting out of her mouth, and then punish Dusti and get them all back to where they belonged – in bed. As it was, though, Marcus was short-tempered, and the first person to make him blow his fuse was not the daughter that his wife was so irate with, but his wife herself. “Maybe if you had actually succeeded in teaching her manners, she wouldn’t have done such a thing!” He snapped at Pansy. It was her job to make sure his children grew up to be perfect little purebloods, and she had failed them all, each one more spectacularly than the last. He didn’t know why he had to put up with a family that was so obviously beneath him. When Dusti shouted at her mother, Marcus couldn’t help himself. He laughed. He laughed, because this was ridiculous, and Dusti was probably right about Pansy being a psychopath, or at the very least a sociopath, and he just wanted to sleep. “Let your brat go to bed, Pansy.” Marcus ordered his wife, the sharp sound of the letter b popping off his lips like a firecracker. “We can deal with this when your hangover’s gone.”

@pansy
@dusti

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Having awoken Marcus meant that Pansy's spat with Dusti could go one of two ways, depending upon which one of them would get his sympathy. Hoping that he would side with her—as was only right of him, she thought—Pansy waited for Marcus to come up with some sort of punishment for Dusti. She waited, but the punishment didn't come. Marcus shifted his anger towards her, telling her something about how she should have taught her manners.

When hadn't she tried to instill some decent values in her? Pansy wouldn't allow herself to be blamed for Dusti's misbehavior, especially when her twin sister wasn't following in her footsteps. Clearly, she needed some more discipline.

“Tell your father where the hell you were!” Pansy ordered shrilly, blatantly ignoring Marcus's request that she allow the “brat”—her brat—to go to bed. She crossed her arms over her chest. She knew that Marcus's word, in theory, should have been final, but she was far too worked up to acknowledge that.

@dusti
marcus

[Deleted]

Wait... was her father.... on her side? Okay, that was a little too much. More like, wasn't taking her mother's side. Immediately he was blaming Pansy for Dusti's behavior. She was understandably shocked, and for a stunned moment she even looked it. It passed quickly though, and that snarl returned. Because even though he'd been insulting her mother, it was still an insult to her. Dusti had manners! She just didn't believe in showing respect to people that she didn't trust. Her parents being number one and number two on that large list.

Dusti gritted her teeth at her father's next comment. Your brat. The irony of that comment.Even though she didn't look like either of her parents, she took after Marcus the most. But, personally? She'd rather not be related to either of them. She hated her parents, and she'd made her opinion quite clear year ago. Her father was giving her a way out, regardless of the insult, and she was determined to take it. The blonde started to walk towards the stairs, to slip past her father and head up to her room and hopefully be the last time she had to deal with her parents for the rest of the day. She stopped though when her mother continued her irate rant, her voice like chalk on a blackboard. She stopped walking and glared at her mother. "Why does it even matter?! Why do you even care?!" She snapped back harshly.

marcus
@pansy
(hahah, so awkward that this was before they found out about her illegitimacy.)