| Details for Don't Touch My Girlfriend! |
| Summary: | Lucian comes across Ria and Ripley, and the usual overreactions and arguments ensue. |
| Date: | October 30, 1937 |
| Location: | Lake Shore, Hogwarts |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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Hogwarts Lake Shore, Hogwarts Grounds
This narrow crescent of grainy sand and smooth small beach stones spans east to west between the cliff face to the east and the large fortified stone campus perimeter wall to the west that runs north to south until it runs many yards into the water of the Black Lake itself and further off to the north. The only spot along the shore that isn't given completely to a topography of rocks and roots, the latter of which extend right out into the lake, it's a commonplace sight to see students hopping about on the rocks or skipping stones across the water.
Ripley gives a little bit of a shrug, "All is fair in love and warfare." He chuckles a bit more and nods to Ria, "Glad you are happy." He notes to her and then thinks for a moment, "I gotta run. Got a Quidditch meeting." He gives her a bit of a punch in her shoulder, maybe a little harder than he should. "There. Now I am still the asshole." He chuckles and pushes his hands into his cloak to head towards the castle.
"As am I, with you," Ria nods, but then grins when recalls his meeting. "Oh goodness. Meeting? So that you can all break hearts together as a team-oof! Ow!" The punch knocks her back a step and makes her wince. She grips her should with a pained smirk, "Merlin's beard, yes you are. Get out of here." She waves him off turning back to face the quiet lake.
Lucian is making his way down from the castle, most likely looking for Ria. You know, because he stalks her. He's up the hill when he sees them together: Ria and Ripley. Jealousy immediately fumes through his nostrils…then Ripley punches her shoulder like "one of the guys." What the hell? Confusion starts to take the place of the jealousy, and as he nears the approaching Ripley, he spreads his hands. "What the hell was that, Fox?"
Ripley is smiling as he walks towards the castle and he looks up to see Lucian, "What was what?" He looks back to Ria and then to Lucian, "Just a chat and a little punch. Just messing around." He's all smiles as he nods to Lucian, "See you later." Because nothing went on that he should feel guilty about or anything.
Gabrielle comes out from the Courtyard, almost walking backwards, like she's trying to make sure no one is following her. She has her sketchbook to her chest, and looks nervous.
Ria is still by the lake shore massaging out her shoulder and making circles with her arm. It did hurt sorta, but it was mostly out of surprise than it was anything serious. She'll be fine. But her ears catch an oh so familiar voice asking a question in a tone that makes her cringe. Oh boy. "It's fine Luc. Everything's fine," she calls to her boyfriend and waves to him from the bank. She then also recognizes another figure and she also says, "Is that Gabrielle?"
Lucian apparently doesn't agree with Ripley and Ria's assessment, and throws a punch right at the same shoulder on Ripley, but it's not quite a friendly blow. He's aiming to deliver a little pain. "Don't be a dick."
Ripley gives a little sidestep to that punch and looks to Lucian, "You and I made some peace last night, Lucian. If you want a fight, I will give it to you." He steps up and looks Lucian right in the eye. "If you want a fight, simply ask. Don't go throwing punches just because you see something wrong."
After a moment Gabby seems to relax, like she feels she's in the clear, till she turns around and sees the 3 Slytherin on the Lake shore. She stands there not exactly sure what to do, and then will start walking Groundskeeper area. It's the furthest away without going back to the castle. Maybe she can hide there for awhile.
Aaaannd there's the wind up, Ria grimaces and with her hand out she quickly runs forward to try and stop things. "Oh no…don't…," she murmurs herself, but Lucian's already swung. Even with Ripley's dodge, her feet don't stop though till she's reached the pair. "Lucian come now, he didn't mean anything by it. I swear," she reaches out to try and place a hand on his shoulder. "Trust me when I say, it's nothing worth losing your head over."
Lucian sneers and steps right up to meet Ripley's aggressive posture with his own. "You punched my girlfriend, you stupid arse. You're lucky I'm not leaving you bleeding in the dirt. Do you ever even think before you act? First that shite at Dueling Club, now this? Use your bloody brain for once, Fox." He spares a look to Ria, reaching to touch her shoulder gently. But his eyes return to Ripley, challenging and questioning at the same time. Their uneasy truce rests on the tip of a pin.
Ripley takes in a deep breath and still just smiles, "Ria is my friend. Friends talk. Friends mess around. That's all it was. She told you that was all it was." He shakes his head and grins more, "I think all the time. Maybe you should try it." He chuckles a bit and then just moves off towards the castle before he turns around and waves, "Bye Ria. Thanks for talking. I hope things work out well for you." He winks to her and then to Gabby, "Good to see you, Gabby!" And then he's off towards the castle.
Gabrielle actually flinches as Ripley calls her name, mostly likely from drawing attention to her.She'll glance up, knowing she can't get out of eye contact at least. She
Gabrielle actually flinches as Ripley calls her name, mostly likely from drawing attention to her.She'll glance up, knowing she can't get out of eye contact at least. She'll glance at Ria but her eyes fall on Lucian, who was just ranting about killing anyone who punched his girlfriend.
Ria simply palms her face when it only continues. From behind Lucian's back, she mouths to Ripley: 'Just go.' And hopefully she'll be able to sort this out. When the Fox twin has finally walked off, she turns back to her boyfriend, reaching around his shoulders in an assuring way. "There's nothing to worry over, we really were just talking. He didn't mean to hit me that hard, he was just being chummy," she smiles softly. Speaking of punching. "Oh it is Gabrielle. Good afternoon." Ria caught a glimpse of the girl and greets her politely.
Lucian scowls. "Chummy? He's not a chum, Ria. Hades, I actually even tried to make things better with him, and then he pulls this shite. Why do you always try to defend him? He just punched you. It hurt, I could tell." When his attention is drawn to Gabrielle…yeah, he's looking a bit like he could take the head off of anyone that hurt Ria right now. "Evans." Neither his tone nor his expression are particularly friendly.
Oh….well. Maybe Lucian and Kaiden are working together? Gabby pales some and will nod to the two Slytherins with a stiff smile and hopefully they'll let her pass.
"Lucian," Ria puts both her hands on either of his shoulder look him square in the eye and urge him, "Calm down. Please. He did not do it with the intention of hurting me, okay? It just came at me a little harder than he expected. I'm not hurt, I'm fine. And that's all that matters." She's stern with her words, but not threatening.
Lucian frowns. "What matters is that he's an arse that thinks he can get away with whatever he wants, and it seems that with you, he can. No matter what he does, you're right there to step up to his defense. He could rob you blind, and you'd tell me he didn't mean anything by it. He was just hungry, and needed the money. When did you start letting people walk all over you?" His eyes shift to Gabrielle for a moment. Yeah, that was probably a dig at her, too.
Gabrielle stiffens at Lucian's comments of money, her jaw tightening some. She's in so much hot water right now, is it worth it? She'll force herself to keep walking.
Uh oh. That last sentence certainly sets something off in Ria. Her green eyes take on the look of bloody murder, and she exhales sharply through her nostrils. "Let people walk all over me?!" She scoffs. "Fine then. I'll take this opportunity to stop doing that. I'm not going to stand here and let my loveable, but crazy boyfriend take things out of context, overreact and then insult me." She removes her hands off his shoulders and begins stomping on her way back into the castle, passing by the solitary Gabrielle who has been watching this whole time. "Either say something when someone greets you or you walk on. Or do you just like standing there shivering in your boots?" she snaps, but doesn't wait for an answer from the girl, only continues angrily stomping on. That tells you to call Ria Sykes spineless!
Lucian lets out a frustrated roar! Merlin, not again! He runs after her, "Ria! Stop running off!" He's getting pretty good at catching up with her. "I'm not insulting you! I'm just…dammit, nevermind. I'm sorry, alright?" He sighs, swallowing his pride for once. Ick, that tastes awful. "I was out of line."
Gabrielle eyes flash for a moment when Ria turns on her, but she'll manage to cast them down to not draw notice. Not the time nor place. And with the attention fully off of her, Gabby will make a beeline towards anywhere away from here.
Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. It's not too hard to catch up with Ria when she has such heavy feet during her rage moments. And when Lucian does make his apology, she stops in her tracks, scowls at him before saying, "Yes you absolutely should be sorry! Because I'm trying to clean up all. this. mess. About Ripley and the … thing!" Based on Ria's awkward angry hand gestures she means the unbreakable vow. "He knows everything, you know. About Leander's involvement and you being there. And he could have been vindictive and told a professor, but he didn't. Furthermore, he's not even cross with me. So I'm trying to put it all to bed. Forgive me if it seems like I'm trying to protect him. But I am with you now Lucian. I am with you. I am with you." She was going off on a strong rant up until those last few sentences where she slows down at the end and sighs. "Please, just try and understand that." Her hands on back on his shoulders again pleading to him just as she did before.
Lucian takes the lashing with decorum, pushing down the fuming rage threatening to boil up. It's not directed at her, so for now, it is stowed away with the rest of his anger. "I understand," he says softly, curling his arms around her waist. "He just makes me crazy. I just made peace with him. I'm trying to fix this, too. I was actually coming to tell you about it. So when I saw him lay a hand on you…I lost it. I know you can take care of yourself, but it's still my job to defend your honour. No way around that."
Ria can't help but snicker lightly at that, letting herself get pulled in and resting her face against his shoulder like she always loves doing. "My honor? He wasn't ravishing me," she jokes and groans while wrapping her arms around Lucian to give him a tight squeeze out of frustration. "I can see where you had your misunderstanding, but you need to trust me when I assure you all is well. We were just talking about you, you know? He said he was happy to see me happy with you. Ripley's found someone of his own now anyway." She looks up to cup one of his cheeks, thumb running across gently.
Lucian sighs contentedly into the touch, and hugs her tightly. Dammit, she's learning how to shut him up with girl-magic! "Well, good for him. I hope they have many fat babies together." He kisses the top of her head. "You called me your boyfriend in front of Gabrielle. I liked that." He grins, savouring what little victory he can squeeze out of this mess.
Ria rolls her eyes and grins, "Oh Merlin. Yes, I did. I called you my boyfriend. It was unintentional but are you happy now?" She rises to her tippy toes again and gives him a couple pecks on the cheek. His initial statement though brings out a hmmm from her. "Yes well…they can't really do that you see. He's with this Ravenclaw boy now. I don't know much about uhm … that stuff. But I do believe it doesn't work that way…" Her cheeks turn pink at 'that stuff,' but she moves along smiling. "So you see. You've nothing to worry about!" A pause as she looks off dreamily to the side, "Except for maybe that Auror Bates…."
Lucian snorts, glowering at her. "Now you're just trying to bait me. You're a real brat, you know that?" He smirks, tilting to give her a proper kiss. "But, yes, I'm happy that you're so comfortable with it that you can say it unintentionally now." He seeks her hand to walk her back up to the castle. "I want to walk into that Hallowe'en Dance and have everyone know that the most beautiful girl in the room is my girlfriend."
Ria snickers triumphantly, returning said proper kiss as if she expected nothing less than a proper kissing. "I know, but you let me get away with it so easily. I can't help myself." Now that she's strolling at an easier pace, she meets his hand half way, wiggling her fingers in between his as they head back. "So then I'll wear a big sign that says Lucian Proudmore's girlfriend. How's that sound?" she shrugs casually. "I think you'll like the dress though. I had Henrietta help me out with it and what she did was rather impressive. Better than anything I could have done…" And the couple walk back calmly and happily to the castle. Another storm braved, and cleaned up tidily. They seem to be getting better at this.