Driving myself Crazy [Dusti]

[Deleted]

October 2025
aurelia edith flint

Dusti had anger problems. It was a fact of life. She was ether ice cold, or angry hot without much middle ground. Today, she was practically molten. Elliot. Elliot was back. Her ex boyfriend. Dusti had thought that she'd been "getting over" the break up. It'd been months, for god's sake! But seeing him had just reopened all of those old wounds. All that pent up emotion that she'd shoved down into the endless abyss, locked away to never see the light of day. She was so angry at him, for leaving like he did. Angry at him for get getting himself blown up. Angry at herself for caring that he got blown up. UGH. 

So, after that unwanted reunion this morning, Dusti went to the one place she knew she wouldn't get particularly violent. Her sister's shop. Aurelia, or Rusti, had opened in in Horizon Alley with part of the Flint inheritance (a wise investment. Dusti's portion was still tucked away at Gringott's, untouched.). Dusti, while violent on occasion, would never hurt her sister. So thus, it was the safest place to go when she felt like stabbing more people.

It was Dusti's lunch break and she left the hospital in silence, still fuming, and apparated to the shopping district. She appeared only a few steps from the shop, and entered, the bell announcing her presence. The front was empty. Dammit. "Rusti? You here?" She tried to sound "calm", but it was blasted hard. You could practically hear the anger boiling beneath the surface, trying to spill out.

[aurelia edith flint]

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October was such a peaceful month. The shop didn’t feel cramped with customers anymore (like it had in August with the weeks running up to the start of school), and she finally felt like she could sit back and breathe a little bit. There were things to do, like getting in plants suited for the winter months, as well as for the upcoming holidays. While she didn’t necessarily care for Halloween all that much, she had placed an order for pumpkins, and the plan was to station them out in front of the shop. She could appreciate a good jack-o-lantern, something Hogwarts had instilled in her. That was virtually the only thing aside from her knowledge on plants, because growing up and taking flower arranging classes when her parents felt nice didn’t really do much for her. It certainly helped, because she would have been lost otherwise. That and their money.

And then after Halloween was Christmas, and that had its own set of rules and stock that she needed to decide on. Currently, that was what she was trying to do. A few test wreathes had been put together in the back of her shop, and she was trying to decide if customers wanted ones without anything on them, or to have bows and other garnishments. The last thing she wanted to do was not make enough of one or the other. The shop hadn’t even been open for a year yet and she felt like she needed to make an impact as soon as possible. The shopping districts were cutthroat at times, and all that money didn’t need to go to waste.

Her concentration was broke when she heard the front door open, and her name immediately called. Dusti’s voice cut through the quiet calmness, and she already knew her sister was ticked about something. She could never hide it very well. “In the back!” she yelled in return, refusing to move away from her work bench. There were things to be done, and they needed to be finalized by the end of the month. People would want their wreathes as soon as the pumpkins went in the trash and the fake cobwebs were pulled down.

@dusti ● 368 ● Hymn of Light by Coeur de Pirate

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

October 2025
aurelia edith flint

Dusti heard her sister call back, announcing she was in the back, and let out a slow breath. Well, at least her sister was here, that was a plus. While Dusti didn't work in her sister's shop she was familiar enough with it, having dropped by quite a number of times since it's opening. It was still a little strange to think that her sister owned a shop. But, at least it was a decent one. Dusti enjoyed herbology and gardening, both hobbies the sisters had shared. They'd just taken it different directions. While Dusti used Herbology at times at work, it was mostly still a hobby to her. Rusti had made it her career.

So, quickly, Dusti headed to the back of the shop. There was Rusti, pouring over some winter wreathes. Dusti eyed them as she entered. She'd never been a big Christmas fan. Or really any holidays. Holidays were time for family, but the Flints hadn't really had a great family growing up. "Why do people waste money on stuff like this?" She asked bluntly, though, realizing a moment later who she'd said it to... "No offense." She just really hated the world right now, and being angry made her extra bitchy. Dusti would actually buy one of the wreathes to support her sister's business when the time came.

[aurelia edith flint]

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It was honestly a tad ridiculous that they were calling each other back and forth in the shop; and while the workshop portion was behind a partition all the way in the rear of the building, all one had to do was talk at normal room level and you could easily converse. But this was Dusti, and Dusti was abrasive and could be loud at times. The tone of her voice had tipped Rusti off that something was amiss, and it certainly wasn’t going to be a happy conversation that was for sure. She already knew that she was going to be lending an ear to hear about whatever patient had ticked off her sister today.

Standing up from her workbench, she tried to ignore her sister’s comment about the wreaths. She understood why it didn’t really make a lot of sense, she really did, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a market for the things come holiday season. “Honestly? I don’t know. But every shop in Diagon and Horizon always has one on their door, and people like them. So I figured why not jump on the band wagon. I probably won’t sell any normal flowers or plants in the winter so it’s better than nothing.” And that was her whole reasoning.

Still, she didn’t like the way Dusti was taking out whatever she was upset about, on her. Flicking her wand at the extra chair wedged into the corner of the workshop so her sister could sit down, Rusti sent a second wave at the front door, turning the sign to ‘Closed’ and locking the door. As far as she was concerned, this was now her lunch break. “Let me guess, a dozen cases of spattergroit came in today and they have you running tests on all of them?” she guessed, taking a seat once again.

@dusti ● 308 ● Life Eternal by Ghost

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

October 2025
aurelia edith flint

Dusti knew being snarky and mean wasn't productive, but she was just so goddamn pissed off. She wanted to scream and blow something up, or hit Elliot in his stupid face. We wanted to unleash all this rage in a violent and aggressive outburst. Only, that wasn't really any safe ways to unleash all that rage at the moment. So, best to just vent and try to calm down. To release at least some of this frustration to someone that, might not understand but would at least listen.

Dusti didn't respond to her sister's explanation. She could think of a few winter plants that her sister could sell, but she was right, she probably wouldn't sell as much when flowers were out of season. Though, it also meant she could jack up the prices, because there'd be less competition during the months. Then, Rusti had magicked a chair over and sat down, trying to guess what had riled Dusti up so badly. "God I wish." She'd do it in a heartbeat if it meant forgetting what had actually happened. She plopped down into the empty chair and leaned forward, her elbows on her knees as she ran a hand through her hair. She glared at the ground, taking a slow and shaky breath before finally whispering.

"Elliot's back."

She didn't explain how she knew that, just that he was back. The details didn't matter. Her ex boyfriend, that had chosen his career over her, was back. Dusti had been an absolute wreck after he left. Inconsolably angry for an entire month, and biting off your head at the mere mention of the Porter boy's name. And now, months later when she felt like she'd finally started to get used to life without her exboyfriend he was back.

[aurelia edith flint]

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In her defense, there really was no way to tell what Dusti was upset about until her sister outright said it. Somebody could look at her the wrong way in the street and she’d probably find a way to get angry about it. Being that way wasn’t her fault though, and Rusti understood it better than anyone else. She had moments where she was inexplicably struck with the need to throw a plant pot at the wall because she remembered an awful memory about her parents or a customer managed to hit all the wrong nerves. Sometimes there were entire days like that. She also liked to think that she had better control over it, having dedicated literally all of her energy into the shop. It was hard to be angry when exhausted all the time.

So unfortunately it wasn’t a sudden outbreak of spattergroit. That almost seemed too easy, and Dusti even made it seem that way with how she responded. From the way she was leaning on her arms, it was clear this was beyond some random person getting under her skin. And then she finally said it.

“Oh.”

That was all Rusti could manage to put into words. She immediately had an awful head rush, knowing full well what this meant. Dusti had just gotten back to a more normal-ish state. She didn’t think it was fair to call anything normal anymore, because normal would have meant being screamed at by their parents and having bottles thrown at their heads indiscriminately.

She almost mimicked her twin, running her own hand through her hair, but leaning back in her chair instead. How was she supposed to console her? Hugging wasn’t really either of their things, and finding the right words for something like this was…difficult. She opened her mouth a few times to try and say something, or anything for that matter, but still couldn’t find the right thing to put into words. “I can…I can tell him to stay away if you want. I know you probably don’t want to do it in person because, you know…” Because she would probably kill him. Rusti would be fine if her sister limited it to breaking his legs or clocking him in the face, but she was more than positive it would go beyond that. Those had been a couple of terrifying months, and it was for the best if neither of them saw each other.

@dusti ● 407 ● Just Close Your Eyes by brillion & Lucid Green

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

October 2025
aurelia edith flint

Dusti didn't know what to do. How to deal with her ex boyfriend's sudden reappearance into her life. Though.. Not really her life. He was just a patient. He'd be gone again when he was discharged, probably. Back to his heroic crusade, traveling the world, hunting criminals. He'd be gone before she knew it. Which only pissed her off more. Because he'd come back in, digging out all her burying feelings, and then disappear, leaving her to deal with it all over again.

"Yeah, good luck with that. He's in the f*cking hospital," she answered. It'd be mighty hard to tell a patient to leave a hospital employee alone. Thankfully, Dusti wasn't a "normal" employee. She was usually in the lab, and only came out to draw blood samples. Most patients, you didn't need to do that more than once. But hey, at least she'd gotten to stab him. Not the way she wanted, but stabbed him none the less.

[aurelia edith flint]

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She could feel the blood drain from her face as her twin said that Elliot was in the hospital. That had to mean Dusti had already gotten to him and beaten him beyond repair right? Her sister wasn’t going to go easy on the guy, especially if he gave half-assed answers that she didn’t want to hear. The best thing he could have done to not end up in the hospital would have been to not say anything, or even confront her in the first place. “…you aren’t going to be in trouble for that, are you?” she asked, quieter than she had already been during her previous offer. It made even more sense with Dusti showing up in the middle of the day. If she had just committed a crime, of course the first place she would go was here.

If Dusti ended up really injuring the guy, did that mean the next step was a trial and then whatever magical jail had replaced Azkaban? Rusti hated her thoughts from going there, but it was impossible to stop it from happening. “I mean, I can’t blame you for it…but putting him in Mungo’s? That may have been too far…” And here she was, thinking about how it would have been fine for her sister to punch him in the face only moments earlier. There was a difference between blissfully hypothesizing over what they could do to him, and actually acting on it. Rusti wasn’t nearly bold enough to ever do that without a good enough reason. Personally, she didn’t think her sister’s break-up (while horrid to deal with and be in the middle of), warranted her injuring him enough to kill, maim, or send to the hospital. That didn’t make her any better than their parents were.

@dusti ● 298 ● Slow Show by Coeur De Pirate

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

October 2025
aurelia edith flint

Rusti came to the conclusion that Dusti was involved in his hospitalization rather quickly. Not that surprising. Dusti, as much as she hated to admit it, got violent when angry enough. She could control it most the time but if you hit just the right nerve... Well, she had gotten in a few fights during their schooling years. She'd been a lot better lately though. Being out in the "adult world" had helped her find some outlets for her violent tendencies, but that didn't mean she didn't have them. Plus, Elliot was just the right nerve to get that sort of outburst from her. Dusti let out a breath, shaking her head. THough, Rusti was pretty worried, asking about if she'd get in trouble, and even going on to mention not blaming her and that getting him put in the hospital was too far.

Dusti sat up, rubbing her tired eyes. "I didn't fucking put him in there. He got himself blown up on some stupid Interpol mission." Though she wished she could take the credit, she really was innocent this time. "All I did was have shitty bedside manners." Which was why she worked in the lab. You didn't need to be a people person there. She did include drawing the blood in an intentionally painful way as "shitty bedside manners", which, technically she'd done her job. Poorly, but she'd done it.

[aurelia edith flint]

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The wave of relief that rolled over her as her twin indicated that she wasn’t the cause of the hospital visit was immense. The last thing Rusti wanted was for either of them to be thrown into the same category as their parents. Neither of them were crazy, horrid people, or hell-bent on revenge. At least not in the same sense that their parents were. Revenge suited Dusti the best, though not to the point that would be expected. And if she did ever get there, Rusti knew how to feign her ignorance. They had been basically programmed to do that since birth. Hide this, don’t talk about that. Being able to retreat back into their shells to protect themselves was pretty easy. But taking a swing out at Elliot on the way was still a Dusti thing to do, and she couldn’t be completely blamed for it. He deserved it.

“Well that’s fine, I guess,” she reasoned, though being blown up and not getting killed was insanely lucky. “And they made you treat him too? I don’t blame you at that point…” Rusti let out a long sigh and leaned back into her chair, letting it take her back further than it normally went.

She disliked the hospital immensely, only stopping buy if the potioneers there needed something from one of her magical plants, or if it was to see Dusti. Trying to imagine herself being forced to take care of an ex like that, especially after he got himself blown up. It was no wonder her sister was flustered like this. “He’s going to come snooping around here looking for you once he gets out,” she said abruptly. “I just know it. What do you want me to do if he does?” She had no problem kicking him out of the shop or giving Dusti a heads up if she was bound to run into Elliot on her way over. Physical violence was probably her extent though, and it wasn’t like he would blow up at her if she didn’t know where her twin was. Right?

@dusti ● 348 ● Dead End Alley by Bill Elm & Woody Jackson

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

October 2025
aurelia edith flint

Dusti leaned back in the chair, her head turned towards the ceiling as she rubbed her eyes harder. The whole pandemic has been a nightmare at the hospital. While it wasn't inherently "dangerous", Hag's Fever had made a shit show at the hospital. and Dusti's nerves in general felt frayed and taxed. So this whole Elliot nonsense couldn't have come at a worse possible moment. Why did he have to be treated at St. Mungos? There were other magical hospitals in other countries! Ship him off there! Far from her! Where she didn't have to think about that stupid, smug, handsome face. Or that cocky, arrogant, heart skipping smile.. GOD DAMMIT. She let out an extremely frustrated groan. "It's all the stupid nurses fault! There the ones that made me do it, because they can't get their shit together, so I have to come in and clean up their bloody mess." Okay, bit harsh. The staff had been spread thin, and literally no one else had been available. Should couldn't technically blame the nurses for the incident, but she sure as well would try! She needed someone to blame!

Though the idea of him "snooping around" at her sister's flower shop made Dusti pause. She stopped her insistent rubbing of her eyes and lowered her hands to her side, letting them dangle over the sides of the chair. "Tell him to fuck off, that's what I want you to do," she answered immediately, without any hesitation. She wasn't one to hold back, so she felt there was no problem with being as hostile as possible.

[aurelia edith flint]

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She wasn’t sure what her sister was more irritated about: her coworkers slacking off or Elliot being back. Definitely as an immediate issue, the latter, but she could also see the former being more of a creeping, already existing problem. And that was the exact reason why Rusti decided to start her own business. Outside of the brief summer courses she had attended after graduation and then this previous one as well, she had little in terms of colleagues, the only ones she could name being the same group that typically went to herbologist conferences or stopped by to see what she had in terms of magical plant products. The equal exchange of knowledge that she had with most of them was nice – they were all fairly well respected in their field, and while she intended to maintain her shop forever, it was nice to have a fall back option if she ever decided to get into research instead.

All she did was nod her head to show that she understood her sister’s frustration, even though she really didn’t. It didn’t take much to set Dusti off, but she was sure that the addition of Elliot only made the whole thing that much worse. When it came to her twin’s ex though, that was a fairly easy request to follow through with. Hell, she had no problem putting a picture with his face up on her front window stating that he was banned from entering. That was maybe taking things a bit too far, but if Dusti asked she would absolutely oblige to it. “That’s it?” she asked, sort of surprised by the simplicity of it. “Because I can get a Devil’s Snare and stick it in the back closet, and then tell him you’re in there or something.” Obviously she wouldn’t let him get too hurt, but it was a better fuck you than simply telling him off.

@dusti ● 319 ● Your Numbers Up by Ice Nine Kills

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0