(1938-10-25) Sibling Spat
Details for Sibling Spat
Summary: Felicity and Phil argue over recent events and what Felicity considers her little sister's inconsiderate attitude to others.
Date: 25 October 1938
Location: 5 Thistle Grove, Chelsea
Related: Well That Went Well
Characters
FelicityPhil

The door to Phil's room is open and she is standing in front of her desk, on the floor beside it is small trunk that she is using her wand to set stacks of books into. From her windowsill comes the sound of her contraband magic altered muggle gramophone and the scratchy voice of a French blues singer. She sips from a cup of tea as she stands, visible in the doorway, watching her things pack themselves.

Felicity has her big sister voice in full guilt mode as she stands in the doorway of her sister's room. "You are spontaneous to the point of being selfish and rude. You owe me an apology young lady. I mean it." She even has her hands on her hips, a mermaid scale is glittering in her hair, unnoticed.

"You were rude to Thomas and embarrassed me in front of him," counters Phil. No apology appears to be forthcoming. Yet. She turns and looks at her sister, rolling her eyes as she sees the scale. "This house belongs to both of us, not just you." Phil walks over and reaching up plucks the scale from Felicity's hair and puts it into her hand.

Felicity scoffs, "You were rude to me! Springing some breakfast, inviting him over without even consulting me first. You know how I need to prepare myself for those sorts of things. But you don't care about me, no one but yourself. That's all you care about. So when you start acting like I live here too is when we'll both live here. But you just want everything your way, everyone else be damned. I'm ashamed of you Philomena, you're being extremely hurtful towards me. You didn't ask if I was going to be able to have breakfast. You didn't do anything but put me in a horrible situation because you're selfish and unthoughtful and inconsiderate." The hand with the scale clutched in her hand with one finger pointing is aimed at Phil.

"Actually, I checked your schedule. I even went to the hospital the day before to double check. Whatever it was you were doing wasn't part of your normal routine." Phil moves back over to her desk and peers into the trunk beside it, checking on the progress of her packing. "When are you going to stop trying to make me be you? I'm not scared of being in a relationship, or loving people. I'm not hiding away behind a career because I'm so terrified of living and maybe being hurt." She plants her hands on her hips as she stares her older and much taller sister down. "I wanted to tell you in person, not have it be in some letter from Mother." Because that's how everyone else in the family found out, a nice gushing letter sent from the family estate in Northamptonshire. "Thomas thinks you hate him."

Felicity gives her sister The Squint. "Don't you dare. You are on fragile ice with me as it is. This has nothing to do with how you live your life, it has everything to do with how hurtful your way of life has become to me. You didn't ask me to breakfast, I had plans. If you had shown some sort of consideration and not sprung a breakfast with a strange man to present as your future husband things would have gone much differently. But no, it had to be about you and your big surprise. I don't want you to be me. I want you to respect me. You knew that I don't do well with surprises. But you decided to just have it your way, poke a bit of fun, and make me look like some monster in front of your boyfriend… fiance. Your spontaneity and inconsiderate behavior is to blame for that breakfast going horribly wrong. So don't you dare try to press the blame off on me reacting exactly like you knew I would. If you acted with any sort of mind and consideration for anyone else we could of had a lovely sit down and everything would have been fine. I love you, but when your behavior becomes borederline cruel towards me, I can't take it."

Phil throws her hands up in frustration. "Alright fine. Tell me when. When would have been good?" Being around Felicity exhausts her so that she has to sit down on the edge of her bed. "You don't even leave the hospital on your days off. So what should I have done? Slipped a note under your office door? Or maybe pinned it to a dead mermaid." She mimes writing out a note, "Dearest Fel, I want you to come have dinner with me so I can tell you something important and you can meet someone." Phil looks up at her sister. "Or would you have still turned up and demanded he tell you if I was pregnant or not?"

Felicity tosses her hands up in the air again and the scale goes flying, who knows where. "Yes! You contact me. You don't go around to everyone but me, trying to put together some surprise breakfast to set me on my ear. I told you, I was shocked, and unprepared. The last thing I heard from you, Laurence was still your boyfriend…girlfriend…person. With 'I could love Thomas'. The next thing I know I'm being dunked with ice cold water of 'meet my future husband!' It's not even that which is the issue. I'm very happy that you are happy and want to get married Phil. Why can't you understand? If you want to be a good reporter you're going to have to learn how to listen and see the truth. Not what you imagine. Our problem that has you packing right now isn't that you're marrying some stranger that a week or so ago was just someone that you could be with. It's that you are acting like someone with my social graces. You know I would have re-arranged my plans if you came to me first and asked if I could have breakfast. You could have talked to me, let me know that things with Laurence were over and you and Thomas quickly fell in love. What you can't do is spring everything on me like you did. Without any sort of consideration. It is quite your fault that you are the one moving out and he's not the one moving in. I will not allow you to place that on my shoulders."

"Go away," says Phil, gritting her teeth at yet another lecture from her overbearing older sibling. "Just go. If you would rather punish me for some imagined slight instead of be supportive then go." She flicks her hand, pointing a single finger at the door. "You always assume the worst about me and never ever try to see things from my perspective." She pushes herself up off the bed and moves over to turn off the gramophone, filling the room briefly with silence. "And you know what? I wasn't actually packing to move out. I was putting away books I don't need right now, but since you clearly would rather I go, I will."

Felicity gawks at her sister, "Do you even hear yourself? This whole entire fight is because you won't see anything outside of your little world, and how you hurt the ones closest to you because you couldn't be bothered to treat them like they matter one little thought or consideration. Do you even care that you've hurt my feelings? That you trampled right over me like I was dirt instead of your sister?" Felicity lifts up a hand to wipe at her eye and cheek. She's not crying. "For being someone trying to bring light to fascist behaviors and railing against them. You've been acting like quite the dictator in this house. So yes, if you are going to continue to act the way you did, I want you to move out. Because I don't know if our relationship can keep up at this pace."

Phil isn't heartless, just struggling to see how what she did was so underhanded and devious when in her mind all she sees is the effort she went to. But the sight of her sister crying clenches around her heart and before she can think better of it or remind herself they are in the midst of another of their epic battles she is crossing the room and trying to hug Felicity. "I'm sorry, Fel," she whispers, pleading "Please don't cry. Please."

Felicity takes a sniffling little sobby breath when she wraps her arms around her baby sister and hugs her so tightly. "Promise me you'll try harder? I hate it when we fight. You just do things full speed, without thought to what barreling through does in the way of collateral damage. We're family, we're not supposed to throw each other to the wolves. I'm sorry I blurted out the pregnancy thing. I was in a horrible state and you know I get blurty when that happens."

A part of Phil will always wonder if the height difference subconsciously gives Felicity the impression that she is still a child, but for now she rests her head on her big sister's shoulder and hugs her tightly. "I promise. I didn't mean to hurt you Fel. I was just so happy and I wanted to share it with you." She leans her head back and reaches up to brush offer Felicity her handkerchief. "Thomas told me I was being silly to threaten moving out, he knows how much I love you. So I was just tidying things away to the cellar."

Felicity gives Phil one more little squeeze and takes the hankie and dabs her eyes. "I am so happy that you are happy. He is very good looking. I can see why you had sex so soon." She sage nods her head and then offers the hankie back. She's better now. "If after I get to know him better and things go well, and then you privately ask me if he can move in. I would be willing to consider it. But putting me on the spot in the spotlight is not a way to get your way. You were being silly, very very silly. He's a very intelligent man." She takes a deep breath and smiles a little to Phil. "Now that that is all over, let's plan for a nice dinner, or tea time? I'm very happy to make arrangements to meet him."

"Felicity!" Phil laughs and gives her sister's shoulder a playful shove. "He is very good looking." She grins and puts the handkerchief back into her skirt pocket. "You will like him, not because I am ordering it but because he's lovely and he really does love me. The real me, not some imagined version of me. He knows I am pushy and irresponsible and do things I shouldn't; like take risks and make rash decisions." She picks up her tea cup and finishes off her now cold tea. "You pick the day and I'll make dinner reservations. We can go somewhere neutral."

Felicity nods and even taps her chin, "Would it be gauche if I also invited someone with. I have heard that in these sort of situations double dating relieves the pressure off of the couple to try hard, sometimes too hard to not make the third person feel as if they were a spare part."

"Not unless it were Laurence," jokes Phil. She puts her cup down on the desk. "No, bring a date. I'd like to see you getting out more. Dates. Friends. Having time away from work." She flips the lid of her small trunk closed and sits down atop it. "Anyone I know?"

Felicity is sort of in her own mind at the moment. But she is aware enough of Phil's question to shake her head. "That would require for me to know who they are myself." Which she obviously doesn't. "I'll consider and get back to you with a more accurate time and date. We could go to that fancy tea shop on Verdic Alley. I would like to treat. In compensation for the ruined breakfast."

Phil grins broadly, "A secret admirer?" How intriguing. "Let me know when you want to have dinner, though I am not sure they do dinner in Cafe Tasseo. I've had cake there before." She walks over to kiss her sister on the cheek. "Thank you. And Mother really is excited you know. I think she will let up on you until the wedding is over at least." Her grin comes out then, the sly one. "And of course we've decided on a wedding next year. Think of all those months of blessed relief."

Felicity laughs and rolls her eyes, "No, like there's absolutely no one right now, besides Donald and he's more interested in mermaids than witches." She accepts the kiss and then returns one of her own. Some more laughter has her holding her chest like the muscles are already sore from such an uncommon act as laughing for a long period of time. "Oh, that would be very lovely. I believe the unspoken tradition in weddings is that I am to at least snog the best man?"

Her grin fades as Phil admits, "I don't know who that would be. Thomas' family are angry with him. He tried to help a friend and broke a few rules with the Ministry so they sacked him. He decided to do what he always dreamed of and open the shop but his parents didn't take it well." Phil wriggles her engagement ring, rubbing the underside of it with her thumb. "His brother Mikhale is at least on is side. The Carrows are a hard family from what I understand." Not like the loving parents they grew up with, loving but nagging.

Felicity frowns a little bit and starts to preen Phil's hair, tucking it into place here and there. "I am sorry for Thomas. But if he broke the rules…" She gives Phil a pre-emptive 'let me finish' look before she gets all defensive of her love. "Family should be there to support and love and try to help him out of a bad situation. But he sounds like he's found the silver lining in his departure from the Ministry. It's strange that the Carrow family isn't like ours more. With a name like Carrow. It harkens ones imagination to Caring for the Ows. Maybe I should marry Thomas' brother so I can be Healer Care-ow." She's trying to keep a straight face and not laugh, but it's bubbling there under the surface.

"Oh, I know. I don't think they were wrong in sacking him, even Thomas understands why it happened. I think he misses being a lawyer, but he loves what he is doing now. The challenge of making it work." Phil takes the social grooming with alpomb not even commenting, she is used to it by now. "Care-ow, jeeze Fel." She snorts a laugh. "Mikhale is pretty intense. I went to his office to meet him and there was this woman coming out, all flustered. It was like ten in the morning. We were talking for maybe half an hour and another woman came it." She waggles her brows. "Clients, he said."

Felicity is agape, "A gigolo!?" She blinks owlishly at her sister and then adds in her logic voice. "I suppose if I am to snog someone at your wedding, it is good that he has such…experience."

"Not a gigolo," laughs Phil. "Just a man who many women are attracted to. He was an auror and now is some kind of acquisitions expert. They don't look anything alike, it's amusing really. Thomas is cultured and well-mannered and while very sexy is also not a Casanova." She realises she is painting quite a picture of the Carrow brothers and stops. "You'll see what I mean when you meet Mikhale."

Felicity nods and smiles a little seeming to understand why she's wrapping up that topic of conversation. "I will be on my best behavior. I promise. If I can stomach Winnie, what's a Cassanova and a Fallen Bad Boy Lawyer added to the mix." She places a kiss on her sisters forehead and then steps back out of the threshold. "I'm going to take a bath, I smell like mermaid…" She really doesn't, but it's in her nose!

"He isn't a bad boy," laughs Phil. "Go swim in the bath you mermaid." She rolls her eyes and turns her attention back to her desk, looking to see if anything else needs tidying away.

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