Breaking the ice (Sav)

[Deleted]

OOC: I dun have a lot of gifs to work with so forgive my gif xD I just like putting em above starters >.<

Shreya hadn't seen her brother in a while. They both had busy lives and when the family fell apart it had really fallen into pieces. Sometimes Shreya wondered if she was the only person that hoped the family would stick together in some form, although she was pretty certain their mother wanted it, with the exclusion of their father. Shreya wasn't actually certain if she wanted to keep her family together or simply avoid losing people she cared about. It had become a bit of a sore point to her over time and she didn't really appreciate that. She kept that in mind as she went over to the ice cream place where she'd asked her brother to meet up in order to catch up a little.

Things between the two of them were not exactly great, but Shreya figured it was because they both had their own things to work through. He had his job that was probably very demanding and she'd been increasingly difficult to reach since the start of the Hags Fever crisis. She had patients complaining over nothing because they sneezed flames once or twice, a few that barely complained even though they had every right to and the regular ones that asked attention as it was required. Between the various groups she was busy enough. She attempted to keep in contact, although it wasn't that simple. She sat down with her ice cream at one of the table and looked around for her brother. She hoped he'd be there somewhat soon. She'd chosen a corner seat, just in case his job gained him more attention than he wanted. She did try to consider others, even if they seemed to be freezing her out...

@sav

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Sav wasn’t a huge fan of spending time with his family but he was a huge fan of ice cream. So his sister asking him to meet her for ice cream was basically a no brainer. Ice cream was worth it. And his sister wasn’t too bad, Sav just wasn’t very into the idea of family any more. He had a lot he was working through regarding commitment and family and the whole concept of it. But living with Katherine was doing a lot for that. He had nothing against his sister, nor his mother, (though he did find her wanting to be involved in every aspect of his life to be quite annoying), so he didn’t mind seeing them occasionally. But he didn’t really plan on it being a regular thing.

He walked into the ice cream parlor and saw her already there, with ice cream in her hand, waiting for him, of course she was early. Or at least just on time. It wasn’t surprising in the slightest that Sav was late. He was never the most punctual unless it involved Quidditch. “hey, i’m gonna order real quick.” he waved at her and then walked over to the counter, getting his double scoop of chocolate frog and strawberry cream before going over to join, her pulling up the chair across from her at the corner table. “Sorry I’m late.” he wasn’t sorry. It was always how he had been. He knew she would probably have expected he would be. “How are you?” he asked. He did care about her, even if he didn’t reach out often. She was still someone he loved.

@shreya

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Things got complicated in their family and it was a regular thing that the bonds that had once held them together split and separated, but Shreya did try to keep up. She didn't quite agree with her brother on everything and tried to respect his desire for distance but he was still her brother and as such she wanted to keep him a part of her life. She was glad that he'd decided to humour her by hanging out, which was all she could ask of him to begin with. Everything they had thought family was had turned out to be a lie and such a thing had hit her hard, but she figured the same went for her brother.

Naturally Sav was late. She didn't mind. She knew her brother well enough that he wasn't punctual, except for things he was most passionate about, such as quidditch. She waved at him and patiently waited for him to get his own icecream and join her at the little table. "I'm fine, just a bit overworked with the entire epidemic. How's quidditch going?" She asked. She tried to keep up but she'd pretty much only been sleeping and working the last weeks so she had failed to keep up with the regular news, let alone the sports news. She smiled as she took another bite of her ice cream. It was nice to actually take a bit of time off again after the hours she'd been making lately.

@sav

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She said that she was fine but overworked and he nodded. He could imagine as much with the craziness going on in the world right now. He couldn’t say that it was something that was on his mind too much. It wasn’t deadly and he didn’t spend much time around any muggles anyway that he would risk being exposed to if he did catch the illness. And he was barely one to ever go to the school nurse when he was ill at all. He would rather let it pass than make a big deal about a little cold. But his sister had no business knowing any of that. “I can imagine it would be crazy there now. I hope you’re getting the hang of your training.” he said, politely. He wasn’t sure what else to say to a mediwizard in training. It probably wasn’t as if she was the only one tending to patients all alone all day.

However, he was already doing his job without training or an apprenticeship. And it was keeping him probably just as busy as she was. “It’s good. The season’s basically over since the championship is coming up.” he admitted. It was kind of a bummer that his team wasn’t playing, but it would be fun to go anyway. Maybe he could even talk Katherine into going. “Not really much to report on that front.” he took an awkward breath in and then took another bite of his icecream.

@shreya

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He was right enough when it came to things being absolutely crazy now but she didn't want to dwell on her own job too much. There was clearly some awkwardness between the two of them and she could guess why. The entire family situation had her rattled still and she wouldn't be surprised if it was part of why he had started acting a bit differently towards her and the rest of the family. She couldn't really blame him since she felt her own towering resentment towards her parents on a daily basis, even though she still loved both of them dearly. Not that she had any contact with their father recently. Things there would never be simple again. "Training is going well on that point. It helps to have more patients around to practise the basic healing on." She commented dryly. There was an advantage for her as a trainee in this horrible mess. It was harsh to mention it out loud but not any less true.

She took a bite of her icecream, allowing for a moment of silence as Sav mentioned his own career. She was glad to see he seemed to be doing so well. From what she gathered he wasn't playing in the final match, which she was a little sad about. It would have given her a perfect excuse to go, but right now it was more likely she'd pick up another shift at St. Mungo's to further her own training. There wasn't much point to her going otherwise. "Which teams are in the finals this year anyway? I haven't been keeping up all that well, except with your team a bit." She admitted a little sheepishly. Try though she might, it simply wasn't her kind of thing. She had enjoyed it enough in her school days but right now it seemed like there were better things to spend her time on. Especially with the opportunities she currently got at work.

@sav

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Sav nodded, he could imagine that having more patients around made it an easier environment for training new healers, but he also understood the double-edged sword aspect of that. Of course no one wanted people to be sick and this epidemic to continue to spread around their world, but while it did, it was a great experience for those fighting it to know what to do and how to better prepare if it ever happened again. “It’s nice you’re getting this experience.” he nodded along with her, he didn’t really know what else to say about it. He didn’t really know the right sorts of things to ask about her job and he didn’t really like asking questions if he didn’t have a reason why.

She asked what teams were in the championship this year, saying she hadn’t been keeping up with the teams this year except his a bit. Seeing as he had only been on his own team for a week now since they had both just graduated, there hadn’t been much to keep up on, but he had been recruited for the last few months and while he hadn’t gone out of his way to tell his mother or sister what team he had signed with, he was sure it got around. “Uh, it’s Yorkshire and the Wimbourne Wasps.” he told her, sitting up a little straighter in his chair. “Should be a good match, the wasps are playing really strategically this year.” he added. They were his favorite team, probably because they were the only team he’d never be able to join.

@shreya

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Shreya felt the lack of communication ease more than before. It wasn't that she experienced the silence as uncomfortable but there was a world of unspoken things that she didn't feel like she could voice, although she sometimes wanted to. They were no longer kids and the last years had affected them both different. Shreya had found herself a bit of a rebel in secrecy but Sav had chosen more distance to the problem. She understood that perfectly, although she wasn't quite sure where that left her in his life. She loved her brother, but she wasn't sure how to shape herself around him anymore. Everything that had once been easy had gotten very complicated very fast. She still had to find a way to navigate that. She nodded mutely as she took a few more bites of her ice cream. Perhaps silence didn't have to be bad.

Still she was glad quidditch was still a topic of discussion. It made things a little bit easier, even if it wasn't something she was overly interested in on the average day. She smiled as he sat up straighter, clearly up to talk about quidditch at least. She held back a chuckle as he gave his informed opinion. "Who will you be supporting? Or is that not a thing now that you're part of the competition itself?" She asked, half teasing. She was very proud of him for getting his job but she was woefully unaware of how things went about in the proffessional circuit. Back at school supporting a team from a different house was usually based on current grudges or which team needed to win in order to place first. The intricacies were misplaced with her as she was willing to do business with anybody from any house for her own entertainment but it hadn't fully escaped her. She wondered if such things continued after school or if the environment got more proffessional when every player was an actual adult.

@sav

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Sav knew that he was putting more on his sister than she deserved. It was far from her fault that their father was an ass and their mother tended to want to insert herself into everyone’s business. However, Sav had just found that it was so much easier to just distance himself from everyone rather than pick and choose who he kept in contact with. It wasn’t as if he was in contact with their half-siblings either. Though at one point he had kind of been. At least for a short time at the end of his 6th year. He had been closer with Shreya then too. This last year had really hit him harder than he expected it to.

But she was still making the effort. So he decided to throw her a bone. “Oh I’ll be rooting for the Wasps. Those ladies are incredibly talented. Some of the best players out there.” he looked forward to playing against them next season. It would surely be a good match. “Are you planning to attend the match?” he asked. “It’ll be a good time. Everyone will be there.” he added.

@shreya

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The conversation was finally starting to warm up a little, even if the topic didn't interest her too much. She liked the sport but far more casually than Sav. It made sense since he'd pursued a career as sportsman. If he hadn't actually been so good her interest probably would have been a lot less but she supported her brother. It was just a lot more complicated now. She smiled slightly at how positive he was about his competition. That sort of a thing always made her glad to see. She hated malice in sports.

He then asked if she intended to attend and she smiled a little pained. " I'm afraid I'm working that day. I signed up for an extra shift since many of my coworkers are more fanatic about quidditch than I am and I can use the training. With these sorts of events there's usually plenty of drunken people making bad decisions so it's supposed to be a bit more busy than usual. I'm planning to take a bit of a break after in order to rest after the mess with Hag's Fever but maybe we can go so a game together when the new season starts." She suggested it more because she wanted to restore the bond with her brother. He was pretty much the only relative she had that she didn't have highly complicated feelings about. She definitively dispised their father, but at times she judged her mother more harshly for hiding the truth for so long in order to keep up appearances. It angered Shreya, as it had made it feel like most of her life was nothing but a well fabricated lie.

@sav

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His sister admitted that she would be working on the day of the Quidditch championship and he nodded, that probably wasn’t something that she could control, and he knew that Quidditch wasn’t her thing anyway, but he knew that a lot of people who weren’t huge Quidditch fans still came out for the big matches just for the fun of being there and the culture surrounding the excitement. She suggested instead that maybe she could come to another game when the new season started. He nodded, though he wasn’t sure if she realized he really couldn’t go and watch games since he’d be playing every weekend and would be training almost everyday during the midst of the season. “I get a few tickets set aside for family and friends each game I play, I can set some aside for you at any match you want to attend.” he offered instead. He saw that she was trying, and he didn’t want to be rude. “Kat isn’t going to want to come to them all so I think I’ll have some to spare.” he added. His girlfriend was even less of a Quidditch fan than his sister was.

@shreya

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It seemed like peace was very much possible despite their differences. To Shreya that was a very comforting idea. She smiled slightly and nodded as her brother suggested keeping some tickets to the side for her. "That would be rather nice. It feels like quite a while since I last got to see you play. With how busy everything has been it's starting to feel like school was already many years ago." She said, almost surprised at how fast time seemed to be going of late. It wasn't very nice. She wasn't exactly the type to stop and smell the roses but even for her standards this was almost ridiculously fast. It wasn't all that easy to keep up with everything she wished to keep up with after school. She had so many more responsibilities and the entire wizarding mess with Hags fever didn't really help her in managing free time. Shreya found herself with a slight smile when he mentioned his girlfriend probably wouldn't come to every game he was playing. "Well if she doesn't mind it might be fun if she and I keep each other company while cheering you on. I'm sure it would be nice to me at least to have somebody near I can talk to about other things than quidditch. I don't think I quite understand all the tiny little rules that barely came up at school. Quidditch seems a lot more complicated since we graduated. I suppose it makes perfect sense now you play it at a professional level." It was in a way still odd to think they were both chasing careers, although the fact Sav had been able to join a quidditch team wasn't strange to her at all. She wasn't good with understanding the game, but her brother had always seemed to be very good at what he did.

@sav

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His sisters seemed to like the idea of coming to a match sometime and he didn’t mind offering. It wasn’t like he’d be really spending any time with her while she was there, he’d be on the pitch playing and his mind wouldn’t be wondering what his sister was doing or if she was enjoying herself. However, she said that it would be cool if Kat was there to keep her company and give her someone to talk to about something other than Quidditch. Kat sure wasn’t one to want to talk about Quidditch all the time, but he also wasn’t sure how much she would want to hang out with his sister during a match. Kat wasn’t one for small talk but he didn’t want to be rude and say that. Instead he said, “I’ll ask her.” he agreed. “If she can’t come, maybe Mom would want to.” he suggested instead. He was sure his mother would jump at the chance to come and make it a somewhat family affair.

@shreya

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It was nice that Sav was going to ask Kat if she wanted to join Rey for watching a match together but Shreya didn't manage to keep a straight face when he mentioned that perhaps their mother would want to join. Her face automatically pulled into a grimace of distaste. "I'd much rather go alone." She said with such a cold undertone in her voice that the ice cream almost seemed to freeze over. She tried to calm herself down a little before she opened her mouth back up again, although it was very clear she didn't really like that particular idea. "I haven't forgiven her." She said, sighing deeply as she shook her head. "After everything that happened I am still angry with her and dad. We deserved better than the lie we grew up to believe. I'm trying to work on it, mostly forgiving mother. I just haven't yet. It doesn't help that she triest too hard to be a part of our lives. I thought we were a family, but it stopped feeling so when everything fell apart." She didn't exactly need to explain that to her brother. They'd both coped very differently with the same thing. She put the ice cream in the cone holder on the table, freezing it with her wand so it wouldn't melt as she considered the topid for a moment. "I know they probably did what they thought was best or something, but I can't help but feel cheated." She looked over at Sav, a curious but gentle expression on her face. "Did you forgive them?"

@sav

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Sav nodded when Shreya explained how she felt about their parents and how she’d rather go to his matches alone than with their mother. Sav couldn’t help but feel a little surprised. He hadn’t really kept up with his sister of the past few years on a personal level, but he always had the feeling that she maintained a closer relationship with their parents than he did. Thinking that he was probably the good child in that sense was absolutely terrifying since his own relationship with their parents was lacking to say the least. “Not dad. I haven’t spoken to him since it all happened really.” he had barely even been polite to the man and refused to spend Holidays with him when he had the choice. “Mum I’m a little more lenient on. I know she still kept it from us, but I just keep thinking that there was a point when she didn’t know either and she had to go through the same betrayal we’re feeling…” of course he had never talked to his mother about it. But since their half-sisters were older than he and Shreya were, he figured she probably wouldn’t have had kids with the man if she knew about his past.

@shreya

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Shreya couldn't say she blamed her brother for any part of the lies that had held their childhood together all those years. Neither of them had known. He'd chosen to take his distance. Still his answers spoke a lot about his feelings. He clearly was still mad at their father and rightly so. In the entire mess he was more to blame than their mother by far. Shreya relaxed her body slightly as she realised she'd been holding a lot of tension at the mention of their parental unit. She nodded at the mention of leniency for their mother, although her own feelings were a lot more distorted on that point. She took a deep breath to steady herself and stared at the street as she sorted out her answer. How many of the people here were in dishonest relationships? How many played pretend for the sake of others. "I keep in touch, with both of them. I won't pretend that it's easy, especially with dad. He made all the wrong choices where his family was concerned but I guess he didn't quite want to give up on us. I guess I keep in contact more in case something happens. I wouldn't want to hear it from an unknown source if he got hurt or passed away but it's never been for his sake. I want what little control I have over the situation to remain in my own hands. He destroyed far too much and I don't want to risk him bursting in on my life at times I don't want it. Keeping him placated seems to work so far." She then sighed as she considered their mother.

"As for mother? It's complicated. I understand she was hurt as much as we were, probably more as I suspected she carried the secrets quite a bit longer than we realised. I'm mostly angry that she pretended to be a happy family when we were anything but that. It feels as if our entire childhood was spun together over lies and I can't help but feel a lot of resentment over it. I can't help myself but doubt everything I thought was true. I find it hard to trust anybody if I catch them in a lie even once, even if it is about a minor and insignificant thing. I realise it's had a huge effect on my life and I suspect it might have been heathier to admit it wasn't working when we were younger. They both knew that but choose to ignore it and let us live in the lie. I'm getting therapy for it but it'll be a while yet before I can interact with mom the way she wants us to." She sighed and smiled a wry little smile. "It certainly doesn't help that she's overbearing and trying far too hard to establish a connection with us. I know she has the best intentions but there's a lot of broken trust to repair before I can be around her without wondering if she's lying again. She pretends to be fine but it'd be worth a lot more if she was honest. I can see she's breaking so I can't ask too much but it doesn't help that she find it difficult to be honest." It wasn't easy to admit it all, least of all to her brother but she felt it was better to be upfront with him. If he knew where she stood he could at least make up his own mind about his view on her choices but if she also started keeping secrets from him there was no point at all in staying in touch with the family. In that case it was better to just give up on it all together and move far away while cutting contact. It wasn't what she wanted so she was honest in the damage that had been done.

@sav