| Details for Sisterly Concern |
| Summary: | Phil confides in Felicity, which leads to some stern advice from her older sister. |
| Date: | 17 October 1938 |
| Location: | 5 Thistle Grove, Chelsea, London |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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Felicity comes in through the door and when it's closed she leans against it and lifts up her feet to wearily remove her shoes. When her stocking covered feet go flat on the cool floor she lets out a sigh and then just closes her eyes and leans. Soaking in the sensation of being home, pumps dangling from two crooked fingers of her left hand. "Rosie…I could really use a big glass of wine…" Is murmured out with her eyes still closed.
From inside the front room comes the voice of her sister, not the elf, "Come and sit, Fel. I have the fire on." Phil is curled up on one corner of the sofa, book in hand. There is a half-finished tray of food on the low table next to her, indicating she likely has been there some time. And just in case Felicity didn't get the hint Phil calls out, "I want to talk to you about something."
Felicity squints her pale eyes, "Oh, you still live here? I was beginning to wonder." It's a barb, but a loving one. A barb from a big sister that is very concerned with her sister. The pumps are dropped on the floor and she moves over to sit down with her baby sister and even to snuggle up against her on the couch sneaking under the throw blanket. After reaching to steal some of the offerings on the plate she leans away enough to pat her lap. A usual indication for Phil to lay her head down in her big sister's lap so they can have their chats. Felicity's mannerisms are those of a person that expected this talk. "What do you want to talk about?" It doesn't mean she won't go through the proper channels of acting like this was unexpected.
Phil snorts a laugh, "Funny," she says with obvious sarcasm. Even so she is happy to cuddle up with Felicity and does in the end lay her head on her sister's lap. "I'm in trouble, Fel." Her hands come up to cover her face, somewhat muffling her voice. "I've gone stupid. Brain addled. I have two boyfriends who live right across the street from each other. Laurence doesn't know about Thomas and Thomas knows there is a Laurence but not hat it is Laurence."
Felicity pets and toys with Phil's hair in a soothing manner as she listens she crunches on a bit of green apple. "Alright, well let's approach this logically." It's what she's best at after all. "Do you want to ever be married and have children?" That is the first question. "Do you care what remaining with Laurence in the manner you are will bring quite a lot of grief and strife to your family?" Each question is presented with a sort of clinical manner. She will get to the big sister advice once she has all of the factors she requires. "Who is Thomas? Thankfully I deduce he's a wizard if he lives on Diagon Alley across from Laurence." Hallelujah he's not a muggle. Lately she just doesn't know with her baby sister. "Is love a factor? Not caring deeply. Love." There is a pause but then she nods and looks down to her sister for the answers, hand still lovingly stroking Phil's pretty dark tresses.
"I wouldn't mind marriage," admits Phil. "Children…I don't know. Sometimes I think it would be nice, but then when Rupert gets ratty I am very happy to take him home again and go out dancing or have a nice stiff drink." She stares up at the elaborate plaster cornices on the ceiling. "I do love Laurence. He is charming and sweet and dotes on me but…but he annoys me too in how he maneuvers things so he is in control. When I complain he says it is because he wants to protect me and he loves me, but I think it is also habit and having secrets." With a sigh Phil closes her eyes. "Thomas Carrow." She lets that sink in a bit before answering. "I could love Thomas. We have a great deal in common. They are just so different and I am confused, so very confused."
Felicity listens, genuinely she listens and weighs every word in her mind, processing the facts and then asks the next round of questions that have arisen. "What sort of secrets?" She's not masking that she doesn't trust Laurence to begin with, this is only cementing her distrust of the rake that swashbuckled and Romeo'd his way through dinner. "Thomas Carrow. Does he make you feel more like an equal?" A look down into her sister's eyes breaks up the processing she's doing. "I would babysit. Just to make sure you are married before the conception. Please? Did you see the potions I left on your bed side? If you are going to act the trollop, and I can't stop you, at least I can provide you the means to not completely disgrace our Parents."
Phil groans and turns her head so that her face is pressed into Felicity's stomach. "Laurence can't get me pregnant, Felicity. He…he's not a he at all." With a violence of emotion Phil pushes herself up and sits, slumped against her sister's side. "That's part of the problem. I keep saying to myself that it doesn't matter. That love transcends gender and all those things you read about in books but…but it does matter." She drags a hand through her hair and nods, "And yes, I took one."
Felicity's eyes go a bit wide at the secret that is revealed. "Oh! Yes, I thought there was something "off" about "him" and not just the personality. Though the overcompensating does now make more sense." She nods and sucks a grape into her mouth before she looks wide eyed at Phil. "You took one. But you wouldn't need one with Laurence. Philomena!" Yes she's quickly put it together that Phil has already had carnal relations with Thomas. "Gracious you are lucky I love you too much to send you to some boarding house across from King's Cross for the way you've been behaving. Play a tiny bit hard to get for goodness sakes! Men… and women I suppose… don't buy the milk when they can get it for free." Her face does a little scrunching expression and her lips move as she silently repeats the expression as if she's unsure about it.
Shifting to tuck her feet beneath her Phil says, "I have been in a few of those places. We stayed in one on our trip. Interesting women. I'm trying to figure out how to work it into a short story." She lets her head fall onto Felicity's shoulder. "I didn't know Laurence's secret, not until we came back from the trip. There were little things you know; things which didn't add up but he kept dismissing by saying it was my lack of experience or how he wanted to be a gentleman." A hand lifts up and begins to pluck the pins from Felicity's hair. "What should I do, Fel? I do love Laurence, very much, but I find myself not loving him that way so much now. I promised him I would never leave him."
Felicity leans forward and tilts her head just right to help her sister take her own hair down. A little smile on her face at the act. "He - She - whatever is a deceiver and debases you. You can do much better than that. I'm not saying that Thomas is the answer. Perhaps the man you're going to marry is still out there somewhere. A fine gentleman that will respect you. Actually respecting you and not wrapping you in lies to ply you into making such promises. So if you ask me, a promise to someone so duplicitous as her are as worthless as the lies spoken to trick you into making those promises. Laurence will never be a member of this family. We will never be able to trust her - him…oh bother." She waves a dismissive hand as she trips over what pronoun to use for Laurence now.
She is careful, setting each pin aside before removing the next until Felicity's long hair is free enough for Phil to comb her fingers through. "I say he because that is how I met him and how Laurence lives. Although, you're right about it being quite confusing." Frowning, Phil says, "Please don't tell anyone else Felicity, it isn't our secret to reveal. Laurence has had a difficult life. I read this book about people like him, people who are born in the wrong bodies and don't have the power to transform themselves."
Felicity sighs, "He can live his life however he wants. However what I take issue with is the corruptible force he's been with my baby sister. You've not been yourself lately. I miss you. I don't like fighting with you. But fight I will, I'm fighting for you, don't you see? Please don't be angry with me. He has every right to be who he wants to be. But I have every right to still not like him, most of all not like how he treats you. I think you know what you are going to do already. You just need to hear that you are supported. You don't need that sort of person in your life Phil. And you don't need to be sleeping with Thomas Carrow either. You are so close to getting noticed at the paper. Some of my colleagues were discussing your articles. Don't let yourself get distracted when you are so close. If you want to be a reputable reporter you need to make sure you are reputable. You see?"
"So prim and proper," lovingly teases Phil as she runs her fingers through Felicity's hair, the golden highlights glinting in the glow from the fireplace. "I am not walking around wearing a flashing sign above my head that bears the moniker Strumpet you know." She tugs lightly on a strand of her older sister's hair. "You know you like it when I date because it distracts Mother from nagging you to do so." A playful smirk lifts a corner of her mouth. "What were your colleagues saying? Am I all the rage of gossip down at the visitor's tearoom?"
Felicity tilts her head into the touch and her eyes start to droop. "Who you are with in the public's eye is a reflection on you. When you are seen with a "man" that's as careless with propriety as he is, it does make people wonder or just outright assume that you are enough alike in that manner. Yes well, mother will be mother. Deep down she knows that I will marry and have children when I am settled in my work." She's been saying 'When I'm a Healer and have my Second badge' as the time frame to get their mother to back off, but now… well she is a full Healer and has her new shiny red badge with the white claw. So now it's 'when I'm settled in' as her new even more ambiguous time frame for when she's going to settle down. "But you have always been you. So full of life, everyone expected that you would want to be starting a family with a good husband. Just have to tell yourself you are worth more than how you are being treated. Just look at Alfred. You and I both know he turned into a bit of a joke when he married Winnie. I don't want that to happen with you. Please be careful." She shakes her head only get get her hair fully down and loose before it's her turn to shift so she can lay her head down in Phil's lap. "Mostly it was discussion about the subject matter. But it got them talking, isn't that what matters?" The plural on that matters gets slurred a bit as a yawn suddenly overtakes her.
With a soft sigh Phil lets her head fall back against the back of the sofa, she closes her eyes and listens to Felicity, knowing her sister well enough to know this is a speech that was likely planned and rehearsed to some extent before it was delivered. "I am not in a rush to be married but nor am I in a rush to be a nun either." Her eyes open and she tilts her head down to watch her sister, fingers finding Felicity's hair again as this time the younger of the two becomes the comfort-giver. "Thomas isn't like Laurence. He is respectable. We talk about languages and literature." Silent for a few minutes Phil poses a question, "Do you think it would be odd if tried t set Laurence up with a friend? She seems a lot more his type than I am."
Felicity stroke-pets her sister's thigh as she listens. At the end there is a "Hmm?" To the question before she rolls her heads and forces her eyes open to look up at her. "I'm sure Laurence won't need the help. He seems rather confident in his abilities. Just don't be a part of his deception. If you are going to set the girls up, then you should tell the new girl the truth, or make Laurence swear he'll be up front this time. Honestly I don't think it would be kind of you to set up someone else for that sort of trouble. The oddity of you setting up your Ex pales in comparison to the sordid tale of leading your friend into a web of deception and lies."
"You're right," says Phil quietly, her mind trying to reconcile her recently discovered unhappiness in her relationship to the difficulties said relationship creates. With a sigh she wriggles out from underneath Felicity and offers her older sister a hand, "Come on, let's get you up to bed before you pass out here and get a crick in your neck."
Felicity softly, dryly laughs as she drags herself up to a stand. "I have a good remedy for cricked necks." She thinks she's a comedian when she gets punchy from lack of sleep. She tells a story of a case as they walk up the stairs. "I had to extract a leg from a mermaids mouth today…."
"Not a student's leg I hope," says Phil as she leads Felicity upstairs and into her room. Like the kind little sister she is, Phil, makes sure Felicity is dressed in comfortably pajamas and tucked into bed before leaving her there to sleep.