Scattering Ashes in the Wind [Blair]

[Deleted]

October 2025
@blair

Maria didn't want to be here. She hated this. This.... foundation. That vile "Elias Greyback Memorial Relief Fund". Her blood boiled every time the name come up. The foundation had started as some idiotic Greyback kid club, Elias' half siblings in charge. But it'd grown. They'd been hounding her for a year, trying to get her to publicly back them. Trying to weasel their way into the affairs of her family. Her aunt had called her the other day and begged her to met with one of their organizers, since she couldn't come to England at the moment. Maria had reluctantly agreed...


Maria sat outside a small coffee shop in Diagon Alley, bristling in subdued anger, as a man sat across from her. HE was well dressed in his dark suit, spreading paperwork across the table and telling her all about the great things the foundation was doing in Elias' name. "Good for you," she forced herself to say through gritted teeth. She'd promised her aunt she'd be civil, but god damn she could feel her hands heating, keeping the mug of coffee in her hands warm. 

Finally the man, got to his point, clearing his throat and clasping in hands on the table. "Ms. Povoa-" "Da Silva Povoa," she corrected. "Ahem, yes. Well, it's come to our attention of your choice of employment and the... way it would affect Elias' legacy." Oh, Maria was boiling with rage. "What's that supposed to mean?" she spoke slowly, threatening, practically daring him to elaborate. He seemed a little taken back, but it didn't deter him. "Well, if the public found out that Elias' own cousin was a prostitute-"

Maria saw red.

She slammed her hands on the table, her coffee mug shattered as fire spilled from her fingertips and ignited the whole table. The man fell backwards, barely avoiding a lick of flame. Maria was standing, not caring about all the burning table or the blood dripping from her hands from the shattered mug. Maria didn't say anything, just glared daggers at him. How she wished she could set him on fire, but the table seemed to have gotten her point across. She took her hands off the table, thankfully her hands were no longer on fire, though still bleeding, and turned to leave. Screw him, and screw the Elias Greyback Memorial Relief Fund. Where was that stupid baby Greyback so she could give her a face full of fire for starting this nonsense?

[Deleted]

October 2025

Blair had finished work for the day and was relieved that it was early enough that she could still grab a cup of coffee without having to worry about whether or not the little place down the alleyway was still open at that time. It wasn't that far from the tattoo parlor, which made it convenient, and they made a decent cup of coffee.

As she was nearing the coffee shop, though, she could see what was obviously an altercation. A table going up in flames outside the place wasn't something that happened on a regular basis, and not with wandless magic. From the angle at which she was approaching, Blair couldn't see who either of the two people were, but the man was knocked to the ground. And the young woman who had reacted so harshly? Blair froze when she realized that it was Maria, now with bloodied hands.

Immediately, her focus went to Maria, who had turned away from the scene. Blair didn't know what the man had done to warrant his being knocked to the ground, but he looked like he would be okay… But Maria? "Maria!" Blair tried to draw her attention away from whatever had just happened. It hurt Blair to see Maria injured, and she wanted to make the bleeding stop for her.

"Hey. Come here," Blair spoke with a small smile, and she motioned for Maria to come closer to her. Getting her away from the coffee shop was more important than a stupid coffee order.

@maria

[Deleted]

October 2025
@blair

Maria froze mid step. Someone had said her name. It obviously wasn't the man, but who? She looked around, and there was... Blair? The girl was a few days ago. Now that was a nice memory, if only Maria wasn't so angry. It might have been able to distract her from her rage. Maria didn't respond, wasn't really in the mood to "play nice". No, she wants to burn something. But Blair spoke again, motioning and asking her to come over. Maria pursed her lips tightly, her fists clenched as she thought. Should she?

She finally took a step, towards Blair, when the man managed to compose himself, on his feet. "Please, Maria. What would Elias say if he saw you now?" Maria stopped walking. If looks could kill... She knew this would hurt, throwing fire when her hands were already cut. Her hands might be fireproof but that was only skin deep. The cuts would hurt. A lot. But, he'd said Elias' name again. And to hell with the consequences.

Maria turned. A burst of flames appearing in her hand and she hurled it, barely missing the man because he jumped out of the way. "Don't say his name," She growled, before turning back to Blair and started walking towards her again. The hand that she'd thrown the fire from was practically sizzling. Maria clenched her fist tight, cradling the hand in her other. "Don't ask," she hissed as she reached Blair. She didn't want to have to explain that shit show while angry. She didn't trust herself to not start setting more fires....

[Deleted]

October 2025

The man who had been knocked to the ground had gotten to his feet. "Please, Maria," he begged of her. "What would Elias say if he saw you now?" The only Elias that came to Blair's mind was Elias Greyback, the young man who had been the Durmstrang Champion in the Triwizard Tournament the year before any of them had come to Hogwarts. He was dead, though; she knew that much.

Instead of a verbal response came another ball of fire from Maria's palms, which were already bleeding. The man dodged it, luckily, and Maria warned him not to say Elias's name. Blair looked on, more concerned for Maria's safety than anything. The fireball was only secondary.

Maria told her not to ask, and so Blair remained obedient, though she saw that Maria was nursing her one hand. Gently, she brought her arm up to Maria's shoulders to guide her away from what had happened, hoping that they could round a corner and get out of sight of whoever that man had been at the coffee shop.

"I'll hex him if he gets near you," Blair whispered back to her, completely serious. "Come on."

@maria

[Deleted]

October 2025
@blair

Maria's hands hurt, but her right hand, the one that she'd thrown the fire from, was (figuratively) on fire. That's what happened when you decided to introduce flames to open wounds. Didn't mix well. But, Maria refused to admit that pain, not yet. Not in front of him. She almost didn't even feel Blair's arm on her shoulders, slightly redirection Maria to keep walking in the direction her Blair's choosing. Maria didn't care. Anywhere was better than here. Away from that bullshit foundation. Away from those painful memories that were better left buried in the past. Maria didn't respond to Blair's words, but she followed none-the-less.

Only when she was sure they had walked far enough to be out of sight from the man did she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Then, she let out a string of profanities in both Swedish and Portuguese, as if one language wasn't enough. She glanced down at her throbbing right hand and flexed her fingers. Well... at least the fire had stopped some of the bleeding. But accidental cauterizing hurt like hell. "You wouldn't happen to have any water on you?" Water would help... sure, magic would too, but she wasn't the best at healing magic to begin with. She was more destruction, not much creation.

[Deleted]

October 2025

Once they had reached a safe distance away from the man, Maria exhaled and said some words that must have been expletives in Swedish and Portuguese. Blair moved her arm away from Maria's shoulder and watched as she examined her right hand. It didn't look fantastic.

"You wouldn't happen to have any water on you?" Maria asked her, and Blair got out her wand immediately.

"Here. I can conjure some," she offered. A Water-Making Spell for the amount that Maria probably needed wouldn't be too challenging, and she hovered her wand carefully over Maria's hands. "Tell me when to stop, okay?" As rough as they had been with one another before, all that Blair wanted to be with Maria in that moment was gentle. "I might have some gauze in my bag, from work," she added, though she wasn't certain.

@maria

[Deleted]

October 2025
@blair

Well, Blair didn't have any water, but a water conjuring spell would work just fine. Maria nodded at the offer. She flexed her fingers a few more times, the moment stinging. As Blair positions her want over Maria's hands, Maria stopped moving them. "Do it." Oh boy, this was going to hurt, but it needed to happen. When the water hit her hands Maria held back a wince, though she couldn't stop the expletive that followed. "Shit!" She didn't tell Blair to stop though, gritting her teeth as the water made both hands sting, her right in particular practically burning. "It's fine... I'll get it healed at work." There were a few talented "healers" at the club. Lots of practice from the patrons. Would save Maria time from visiting St. Mungos. Though... She didn't have work tonight, now that she thought about it. "Stop." Her right hand was practically trembling, it hurt that bad. But like hell she'd admit it. She clenched her fist again, but tried to drop it to her side, as if out of sight, out of mind.

"So.... Working today?" Change the subject. Find something to distract herself form the pain and from the anger. Force the attention off Elias and onto Blair.

[Deleted]

October 2025

The water must have hurt more than Maria anticipated that it would, because she winced and cursed at the flow of water. Blair stopped the spell abruptly when she was told to, and she frowned because Maria was still in pain. She had assured her that it was fine and that she would get it healed at work, but Blair hated knowing that Maria would be walking around in agony otherwise.

"So… Working today?"

"Earlier, yeah," Blair replied to her, though it sounded like Maria had yet to go to work. "When do you start work?" she checked, assuming that Maria would probably have to be leaving shortly, since was putting off getting her hands healed until then. "I can stay with you until you do." Probably nothing rough for the moment, though. "And make up for waking you up the other day?"

@maria

[Deleted]

October 2025
@blair

Maria, hands throbbing, almost put them in her pockets. The only thing that stopped her was the idea of them still bleeding some and ruining her clothes. Her outfit was not cheap, and blood stains were a pain to get out. Maria just shrugged when Blair asked one she worked. Technically, 24(ish) hours. But she could always stop by, at least for the healing. "Not for awhile," she answered vaguely.

Maria was rather surprised by how helpful Blair was being a the moment, and why she wasn't asking tons of questions. Maria had told Blair very little about herself when they met a few days ago, though to be honest neither of them had been in a "get to know you" sort of mood. "Could use some better company than that prick," she muttered, her own way of accepting Blair's company for now. She needed to be around someone that, currently, didn't make her angry.

[Deleted]

October 2025

Maria replied that she didn't have to work for a while. However long that was, it wasn't Blair's concern, as long as she got to spend more time with her until that point. She also said that she could use some better company than "that prick", and Blair could only hope that she was better company than someone at whom Maria had been wielding fire.

"Why don't we get out of here," Blair suggested gently, "and maybe go back to your place or something?" It wasn't for the most obvious reason that Blair had mentioned it, but she thought that Maria might be more comfortable being in her own apartment. That way, too, she wouldn't need to stress out over making sure that she had anything that she needed for work. "I'll hold your upper arm if we Apparate," she added, since holding either of her hands wasn't an option. "Just tell me what you wanna do."

@maria

[Deleted]

October 2025
@blair

Blair was speaking, gently, softly. Maria didn't like it. Maria didn't like gentle. Because gentle meant caring, and Maria didn't want to care about others. The more you cared about others, the more chances they got to hurt you. But, in this current situation, those few people Maria did care about were... unavailable. When life gave you lemons.... Sleep with a stranger?

"Just grab my arm. We'll make a stop along the way." She held out her arm to Blair. "Guess I can't run around with cut hands all day."

[Deleted]

October 2025

"Just grab my arm. We'll make a stop along the way," Maria explained, which was slightly surprising, given her injuries. "Guess I can't run around with cut hands all day."

"No," Blair agreed, "probably not." It wouldn't be comfortable, and she'd spent enough time trying to get someone's attention after she'd been attacked. She couldn't imagine injuries on the palms of her hands like that. Fortunately, she wasn't the injured one, and she took hold of Maria's arm firmly enough that she wouldn't lose contact with her but not enough to possibly cause her pain. "I've got you," she confirmed.

@maria

[Deleted]

October 2025
@blair

Maria waited as Blair decided. Finally, she grabbed Maria's arm, adding that "she had her". "Well, it's a good thing I love bruises," Maria teased, though Blair's grip wasn't near tight enough to actually bruise.

They'd already side along apparated once before, though the first time they'd been heavily intoxicated. This time it was much easier. Though instead of apparating away from the night club, they apparated to it, just outside the main door. "Come on, it's not open yet." She pushed the door open. The club definitely looked different during the day, with all the lights on. A few employees milled around, preparing for opening in a few hours. One of the workers stopped what they were doing "Maria, you're not on tonight, are you? We just took down your rig." He was referring to the flammable set they used when the bosses wanted to heat things up. Maria shrugged and kept walking. "Better things to do, Gail back stage?" The man nodded, and Maria waved him off and headed back stage.

A line of doors, and she reached one of the dressing rooms. Ignoring the obvious pain, she grabbed the door handle, turned it, and pushed the door open. She stopped before entering and glanced at Blair. "Wait here." Then, she entered, closing the door behind her. There was silence for a moment, then someone was yelling. Something about "Ruining the merchandise" and "You're lucky it wasn't your face.". Obviously, whoever it was in there was mad that Maria had injured her hands. Though, the yelling eventually stopped, and a few minutes later, Maria was stepping out the door, rolling her eyes.

[Deleted]

October 2025

Maria quipped that it was a good thing that she loved bruises before they Disapparated and reappeared at Club Indigo, of all places. It was an interesting choice, especially when Maria mentioned that the club wasn't actually open yet for the night. Still, Blair followed her in, somewhat surprised to hear that the employees there weren't bothered by Maria's presence and were speaking as though she worked there. She was more than just a regular, then, as she had claimed.

Blair remained silent as Maria asked after a Gail, and—not knowing what else to do—followed her backstage. In another surprise, Maria managed to open the door that she needed for herself, telling her to wait there. That wasn't a problem, though it did get awkward when Blair could hear yelling from the other side of the door. Hopefully, she thought, there wasn't going to be any more fire.

Just when Blair was about to check to make sure that everything was okay, Maria returned, rolling her eyes.

"You good?" Blair asked, looking from Maria's face and then shifting her gaze down to her hands.

@maria

[Deleted]

October 2025
@blair

Maria raised her hands to Blair, showing off the freshly healed skin. Convincing Gail to heal the injuries was child's play. Considering she was a dancer, she couldn't exactly use the pole with injured hands. "Just the way you remember them," she teased. "Now come on, let's get out of here before they think I want overtime." She held out her hand to Blair to take.

"I'm feeling lunch. Fancy a bite? I found a great empanadas place." How she knew about it, she wouldn't say. But lets just say that when people found out she spent some of her life in Brazil they just had to tell her about all the "latin food" places they knew, like it built repor or something. It didn't really impress her, but it did help her find places that reminded her of home pretty easily.