Chatterbox Waltz [Mannix]

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Clodagh hadn't really had an... opportunity to talk to Mannix the last time they'd accidentally met up. He'd witnessed her transform into a mouse and kept her company the entire night. Come morning she'd explained as much sad she could about what had happened and made him promise not to tell any of the others. Be since then... well they'd both been pretty busy. So, much to Clodagh's own surprise she found herself sending her brother an owl if he wanted to get coffee with her. How she'd gotten to that point she really couldn't remember but she was sure it was an extreme lapse in judgement or possible magical possession. She wasn't sure which. It was to late to back out now though.

When the decided date arrived Clodagh made her way to the cafe they'd decided on. It was quiet and out of the way. Far from prying eyes and ears. Thinking wondering how she'd gotten herself in this mess Clodagh ordered a hot cup of coffee and pastry. She'd just taken a seat, blowing softly into the steaming liquid when the bell above the door chimed, announcing another customer's presence.

@jill4

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@clodagh
<3

To say that his little sister's life was much less entertaining than his was an understatement. Mannix had no idea his sister was an animagus! And a mouse at that! But what he was more surprised about was that it was involuntary, and that it happened each night without her consent or approval. She just...became a mouse. And it made much more sense to him afterwads as to why she was in such a huffy puff on getting home as quick as possible, but Mannix was glad he had been there. Glad she had finally told him her secret.

She wanted to see him. They had sent a few owls and set a date, and Mannix was on his way there now. Clo had nothing to hide from him, it wasn't a terrible thing, but he did feel bad for her. She didn't deserve to not be herself every night. He couldn't imagine what it felt like to not be human, not be able to curl up into his bed at night. But thankfully, Mannix being the Magizoologist he was, loved Clodagh in her mouse form. Mannix practically skipped into the cafe, laughing at the bell that rang as he swung open the door. He saw Clodagh a few seats away and he waved, calling out to her, "Hello, Clo!"

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Mannix was a force to be reckoned with. Like a tsunami. Of flamboyance and exaggeration. (At least one of those must run in the family because she tended to over exaggerate sometimes too.) the only think Clodagh could do was hope she could survive the storm with most of her sanity in tact. Oh, Clodagh loved her brother but he could be... exhausting at times. So when he came bounding in, laughing and waving, Clodagh barely managed not to cringe from the attention it drew to her. Being as shy as she was her brother's inability to be subtle often made her uncomfortable. But at least he wasn't shouting her name. That was always a plus. The only one of her brothers that she was slightly less self conscious with was Cullen, but that had to be from being closer in age.

She'd thought to soon about his not shouting her name. It wasn't a shout but it was definitely above average volume and her brother's excited greeting caught more than one person's attention. Again, it took all her self control not to flinch. "Hi, Mannix." she answered. She would have preferred a quieter greeting but he'd already ruled out that option and it'd be rude not to answer. Still, she couldn't help that slight tint of pink on her cheeks.

@jill4

[Deleted]

@clodagh
<3

Maybe that was a downfall to Mannix's personality. But he didn't find it as much as a downfall as his family might. Especially Clodagh. He had always known she was very internal when it came to a lot of things. For Mannix, he never thought about what others thought about him. He knew he was eccentric and different, and others' opinions of him was not more important than his happiness; he wished Clodagh felt the same way.

So when he ended up in front of her and saw her pink tinged cheeks, he shook his head, chuckling to himself. Mannix sat down and placed his head in his hands, staring at his sister. "You know, Clo, you haven't got to be so shy all the time. I understand you might be embarrassed by me, but who cares? You've got a brother that loves you." He grinned brightly at her. A woman came over to take his order and he waved excitedly. "Hello Miss, I will take a hot coffee and ... a cinnamon roll please."

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Clodagh immediately looked down at her hand on the table. She was wringing them together lightly. "I'm not shy, and I'm not embarrassed by you..." She protested, trying desperately that her lie would be believable. It wasn't very convincing, because she knew she was an extremely shy person, and when she did speak half of the time it made no sense to anyone that didn't know her. And... okay, yes she was easily embarrassed and flustered. So her brother's flamboyance riled up this particular personality defect... Upon the appearance of a waitress Clostopped wringing her hands together and picked up her cup of coffee again, taking the smallest of sips. "You haven't.... You haven't told the others.... have you.. About.... you...." She muttered just after her lips left the cup with extreme hesitation. About what he'd seen, obviously. And by others she meant their family. She was so extremely self conscious about the transformations that she hadn't even intended for Mannix to find out. But she hadn't been able to shake him that day.

@jill4

[Deleted]

@clodagh
<3

His sister's response and reaction made him look at her with an expression that said 'yeah right', but he didn't say anything to her. He knew she was embarrassed, most people were. Though Mannix was happy with who he was. And when Clodagh got to that point of being happy with who she is, then maybe she'd be less embarrassed by him and even less concerned with what others thought about her and her family. What mattered was they were loved and loved one another. Clo drank her coffee and Mannix began making his own coffee, breathing deeply at the scent of the cinnamon roll in front of him. Clodagh asked if he had told anyone and Mannix smiled. "Clodagh you must not know me! I keep my word, and I did not tell anyone."

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Did he really have to give her that look? Where he knew Clodagh was lying. But at least he wasn't calling her out on it. You could only argue the point of being shy for so long. Especially when one of them was shy, and wouldn't be able to argue the point for long. Clodagh would give up the argument quickly. As it was, they had bigger priorities to today's get together. "I don't doubt you, Mannix.... I just.... I know how excited you can get." Excited was practically Mannix's middle name. And in his excitement it was likely that Mannix might have accidentally let something slip. "I.... don't want our family to know. Especially our parents." She'd always been extremely accident and trouble prone growing up so knowing that her unfortunate trait had gotten her in serious trouble finally wouldn't help their already constant worrying for their strange daughter.

@jill4

[Deleted]

@clodagh
<3

"Of course! Ther'es nothing wrong with excitement, Clo! It makes everything better and it's such a wonderful feeling." He took a sip of his drink and sat back slightly, crossing his leg over his knee. "You should really try it sometime." As much as Mannix loved his little sister, he wished she didn't take life so seriously. Yes parts of it needed to be mature,
but she wasn't carefree at all, and Mannix wanted her to know how freeing that felt. She mentioned their family, and how she didn't want them to know and Mannix slapped his knee a couple times in a patting motion, then looked back up at her greenish grey eyes. "I already told you I wouldn't say anything, but what is the worst that could happen, Clodagh?"

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Clodagh let out a deep breath, almost a sigh. She could be excited! Sometimes. When she wasn't constantly panicking or getting flustered. "I know how to be excited..." She softly voiced, though there was still that part of her that almost made it sound like she was lying. The part of her that panicked at the slightest change or unwanted attention. "I'm just not overly excitable around others..." She admitted after a moment. That sounded more on point. When no one was around? Well, Clodagh was an insatiably curious and creative person. She entered a completely different world when she was alone.

Her cheeks flushed hot pink at his reaction to her not wanting their family to know. And when he met her gaze so unflinchingly? There was a moment where she squirmed. Clodagh didn't often meet people's gaze, at least not so intensely. Clodagh's eyes were quite different then every single member of her family's, with little to no resemblance. But that was because she had central heterochromia. Her eyes weren't different from each other, but they were very distinctly different. With a light greenish-blue outer ring with pockets of deeper shades, a vibrant inner brown ring, and flecks of black... If anything Clodagh's eyes were the only remarkable thing about her. "I don't want our parents to worry." She muttered.

@jill4
(if you want to see how awesome her playby's eyes are: here)

[Deleted]

@clodagh
<3

His eyes rolled immediately. Clodagh always tried to please others, whether it be by being someone she wasn’t or trying to lie. But Mannix saw through it. He didn’t really think she didn’t know how to be excited, but more that she had trouble showing it. She almost always looked fearful of something, but he supposed with what she had told him before, she had every right to be afraid. He just wished she felt more comfortable in her own skin.

”Well they probably would worry. And they’d question who did this to you, and where they are, if you did anything to them. But you know they’d try to help you, worry or not.” Mannix looked at her pointedly, a small smile appearing on his face. ”YOU need to not worry so much. How are you?”

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Coodagh squirmed in her seat, her fingers twitching just a little. The last thing she needed was her parents trying to hunt down the witch doctor! She had enough problems in her life, she didn't need her parents getting cursed or harmed on top of that! "It's better that they don't know..." Maybe they'd find a way to break the curse someday. But until then she wanted as few people to know as possible. While she didn't believe she had enemies she also knew she wasn't always liked. Someone people would... enjoy her forced transformations into such a harmless creature far to much. You shouldn't willingly admit to being at the bottom of the food chain.

His almost demand that she not worry so much made the woman's eyes widen just a touch, surprised by the force in his voice. Instinctively she smiled a little in response. "I worry for the both of us." she worries too much, he not enough. "I'm... good. Not to different then usual. You?" Except for maybe Aerick. Just the thought of his name almost made her blush but she managed to control the urge. Mannix did not need to know about that!

@jill4

[Deleted]

@clodagh
<3

Mannix tilted his head side to side, biting his lip. He was obnoxious, loud and crazy, but Mannix also knew when to keep his mouth shut. Granted, she was correct. It was probably better that their siblings and parents were unaware at the moment of Clodagh's...condition. Like they had discussed prior, there was no way Mannix would put it past his parents to find the person or persons that did this to his little sister. It was something traumatizing, as well as something that would affect her for the rest of her life.

This hyper Irishman was not one to raise his voice or be stern. So for him to say something like that to Clodagh was definitely shocking in the least and seeing her eyes widen was expected. But then she went on to answer his question and Mannix nodded. "Well I'm glad you're doing good still! I met with Ophelia, she said you guys were roommates now? I had no idea! How is it living with a pregnant woman? Is she staying there when the baby is born?" Mannix began to laugh, picturing awkward Clodagh around an infant.

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To be honest Clodagh didn't actually know if her condition could be reversed. What if it was permanent? No way of ever breaking the curse? To spend the rest of her life, hiding half of herself. To never be able to enjoy a night out? Granted, she didn't have any sort of night life so that wasn't a concern at the moment. But what if she ever wanted one? What if- and this was an absolutely preposterous thought that would never happen- Aerick ever asked her out on an official date? At night. What would she tell him? Again that thought was so astronomically slim it just wasn't possible. Thankfully at least for now Mannix seemed to understand the importance of not telling the rest of their family.

Clodagh had completely forgotten that Mannix and Ophelia knew each other up until he mentioned her roommates name. That surprised look of hers returned. "oh! Yes, we are. She.... she asked if I wanted to move in after-" she stopped herself immediately. After helping heal her injuries. Should she tell Mannix about that? They hadn't actually discussed the... dangers of her condition after all. She swallowed hard and looked away. "She asked me after helping me at St Mungos." Instead of going into th gory details of being attacked and partially mauled by a cat she left it at that. If he wanted details... she'd tell him. But only if he asked. "We haven't really talked about... after the baby is born yet. I don't really know what the plan is." she answered honestly. It would be an interesting discussion when it did come up.

@jill4

[Deleted]

@clodagh
<3

Here we go with secrets, again. How many did this girl hold? Mannix was currently questioning himself as a brother and if he had done enough to protect her; or even enough to see her on a regular basis. He felt like Clo didn't trust him as much as he trusted her, and he never wanted their relationship to differ in that way. Mannix had always considered himself fairly close to all of his siblings, and knowing that she had more things she hadn't told him was just worrisome in itself.

Mannix narrowed his eyes at her, but more in concern than anything else. Clodagh looked scared, and his heart broke at her words. St Mungo's? So Clodagh had been in the hospital, and no one knew...but for what? He could only assume it was for her issue at night time that she had. Mannix tilted his head, placing his hand gently on top of hers. "Clo, what happened? Why didn't you tell me?" Mannix started to feel the guilt set in. If he couldn't take care of his baby sister, who would?Surely not Ophelia, she had a real baby to take care of soon! "That's okay, you can just be Auntie Clo." He smiled gently, hoping to take some of the pressure off.