Evening of June 22nd, 1888 - Percy Adlard's Home, Bartonburg

And all those things I didn't say
Wrecking balls inside my brain
I will scream them loud tonight
Can you hear my voice this time?
-Rachel Platten

Felicity knew that the calm of the house wouldn't last long. She certainly hadn't expected it, not with two young children being cooped up in a house that hadn't seen children in years. At least, not for any extended amount of time. But Cat had gone on a tirade about allowing the children more free reign in the house and Lissy had put her foot down. The fog was bad enough and so was their father's health. The two combined was only making matters worse. He'd done well the first few days, enjoying having his grandchildren around but he quickly grew tired. Tired of everything, really. And the man, whom Lissy had been close to since the day of her birth, was even lashing out at her and she was simply not having it. So when the aging man refused to come to dinner for the second night in a row, an argument had broken out over the dinner table between the two sisters. It hadn't been pretty.

After Cat had stomped out of the dining room with her children in tow, Lissy had gone straight to her father's study and snatched a full bottle of firewhiskey. Damned her sister and damned the fog. She'd sat on the floor, legs crossed under her, for a few moments and helping herself to the bottle. And though her small drinks hardly made a dent in the liquor, it was enough to calm her a bit. Then, for whatever reason, she was prompted to go to Percy's house. Maybe he was home. And if he wasn't, well, she could at least check on Quin.

It didn't take her long to get there once again, despite getting quite the looking from her father's housekeeper when she was seen leaving the house. She'd hear about it in the morning, surely, but she didn't care in that moment. And before she knew it, she was walking into Percy's kitchens once again but instead of a basket of baked goods she had a bottle of firewhiskey.

"Helloooo," she all but sang out into the empty kitchen, wondering if everyone had gone off to bed already or if they were just elsewhere in the house.

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BEE-utiful Set!

This was probably an unhealthy habit he should stop now. Probably. Quin had never been one for firewhiskey all that much before- but then he'd lost his shop entirely. His livelihood, his baby. What was he supposed to do now?

Nothing, the answer was nothing,

Not at least until magic was back, then it might not be so bad.

In the meantime he was going to be a lazy drunk; that was not true, he'd tried to be on his best behavior all day with the housekeeper, but Anna had retired for the day and he was lounging on a sofa in the sitting room with a half-empty bottle of whiskey that had been full when he bought it...

The resounding greeting from the back door had him sitting up in surprise, nearly sloshing whiskey down his front. "In here!" He hollered back, a little more loudly than he would have normally. He tried to make himself presentable, but with messy hair and rumpled clothes there wasn't much he could do.

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Felicity nodded. Why, she didn't know. She was alone in the kitchen after all but for whatever reason it made sense. She took another drink of her own firewhiskey before wandering off into the sitting room. The sight before her, however, was not what she had expected.

Quin was a bloody fucking mess.

"You look just about as grand as I feel," she said with a raised brow, taking note of his own bottle of firewhiskey. She couldn't help but to laugh lightly as she raised her own bottle into the air and nodded to him. "Great minds," she added as she moved around to sit in her own chair. "At least you've got a good, wait, that's not right," she said with a blush, "You have a reason to drink opposed to me." That was better.

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BEE-utiful Set!

If Quin weren't already half a bottle in, he would have taken hers and walked her straight home. Too bad he'd been drinking since Anna had gone to her quarters and that was well... enough time to be thoroughly drunk. "Ach, great minds." He agreed, raising his bottle in cheers. "Won't you join me then?" He laughed as she'd already taken a seat without the invitation.

"It's a reason alright," He paused, eyeing her as carefully has his drunk brain would let him focus. "What're you drinking over?" Quin was honestly curious. What did a young, pretty, engaged lass like Felicity have to be drinking over? Well there was Percy in the hospital, he supposed that was a real reason... but he'd be fine, so it didn't quite add up.

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Felicity was glad he hadn't told her to go home or been mad at her stupid comment of a good reason. Losing one's livelihood at the hands of a rogue troll wasn't a good thing in the slightest. And as embarrassing as it was, she was clearly on track to making a fool of herself in front of the man she'd been smitten with for years.

"A bitch of a sister," she said bluntly before her cheeks covered with embarrassment and she clapped a hand over her mouth in shock. She started giggling before long though and ended up taking another drink of her own bottle of firewhiskey once she'd stopped. "Cat thinks she should be in charge in father's home even though she hasn't been there in years and she has no idea what he needs. Bratty children wreaking havoc aren't helping him any and he won't even leave his rooms again even though I'd just managed to get him to coming back out again." She prattled on, her sentences perhaps getting longer as she went. She sighed when she was done and took another drink.

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BEE-utiful Set!

Quin pulled a face as he pulled a long sip from his own bottle. He couldn't really sympathize with her predicament, so he simply shrugged as he leaned back into the sofa to get comfortable again. There were warning bells going off in his head; he should have told her to go home, taken the bottle and walked her back himself, but here he was letting her rant and rave about her home situation without paying the warning signs any mind. His judgement was too clouded by whiskey at this point.

Still her statements made him a little more somber than one would have expected. "I'm sorry it's been difficult to manage everybody under one roof." Quin said quietly a moment or so after she was done. He'd been on his own since graduation pretty much. Never had a house full or even family nearby. "I haven't seen my sister in a long while now." He didn't often get to go home, though tried at the holidays, it didn't always work out. He and Emery were still at odds a little bit and he didn't know how to fix it. Muggleborn wizard with a muggle sister who wanted nothing more than to be a witch herself. It just hadn't worked out that way and once his business had taken off, he didn't often have the free time to get over to his parents' home. And sometimes even when he did, she wasn't the most receptive to him. Never failed, the grass was always greener on the other side.

Without the shop to keep him busy Quin had too much time to percolate over those kinds of things. If he could get out of Hogsmeade he probably would have gone home, but as it stood he was stuck here, in his bet mate's house, drinking himself into a stupor most evenings. It wasn't the best plan of action, but at the moment it was all he had.

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Well if that didn't put a depressing damper on things, Felicity didn't know what would. Well, she supposed he could talk about the demise of his shop but that would be just cruel. She watched him carefully, unsure of what really to say. Clearly complaining about her family wasn't the way to go even if her whiskey addled mine was still infuriated by it all. She didn't want him to feel bad with his own concerns though. He had enough to worry about.

"I'm sorry," she said softly before pulling the bottle to her lips to take a long drink of it. It had long ago quit burning and was just a pleasant feeling.

"For everything," she added, "You don't deserve it. Any of it." And she truly believed it. How could such a kind and sweet, not to forget handsome, man like him be dealt such a bad hand? It was just.. cruel. The very thought made her frown. She'd do anything to make him happy and see him smile.

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BEE-utiful Set!

Quin waved off her sentiments halfheartedly. He deeply appreciated all the Adlard family was doing for him, but he hated to worry them or put them out any more than he already had at this point. Percy had offered up his home and his poor housekeeper to watch over Quin and everybody had just kind of rallied around him, and here he was drinking a bottle to get through it.

Sorry excuses.

"Don't be, shit happens." He hadn't meant to swear, but the booze had diminished his filter. Trolls happened, random magical fog happened, there wasn't too much they could do about it. "Needed a redecorate anyway. Can you believe I had some woman come in and question the orange... was it really that bad?" He asked as he took one last long pull from the whiskey bottle before setting it aside. Some rational part of him had realized he should stop, but the current buzz would win the moment and until he was sober enough to take hers and get her home safely.

Plus he really wanted to know if other people just hadn't said something about his color choices.

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Felicity giggled slightly at the brash terms he used. She'd heard bad language before, of course, but for whatever reason it was funny in that instance. Probably because of the firewhiskey since she'd used some bad language not long before that. Oh well, it was what it was. Shit happened, just like he'd said.

She couldn't help the small smirk that crossed her features at the mention of the orange his shop. "Well it wasn't awful," she started to answer honestly, swirling the bottle of firewhiskey she had in her hands, "But I'm sure there could have been a better option. It may have been a titch bright." But that could have been a good thing for a sweets shop, something to draw attention to it surely.

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BEE-utiful Set!

"Damn." Quin scowled. "Why didn't anyone say anything?" Honestly the shop was on the smaller side, area-wise, so he'd thought a nice bright color would open it up. Maybe he was color blind? That thought had never crossed his mind, but the orange had always been soon cheery!

Slumping in his seat, Quin stretched out his long legs before him. "Guess the troll did me a favor then. You can pick the next color." Apparently anybody would do better than he could! Maybe this time it would be bright pink then everybody would ask for the orange back.

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Felicity watched him as she took a long drink of her own bottle. Her eyes skimmed over him as he stretched out, a flush coming to her cheeks all over again. She nearly choked on her drink when he'd told her she could pick the next color. No, it was almost like an order for her to do so.

She looked at him wide eyed, cheeks flushed, and shook her head. "No, no," she was quick to say, "That's certainly a job for you. It's your shop after all. Your livelihood."

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BEE-utiful Set!

Pulling a childish face, Quin crossed his arms over his chest, having abandoned his bottle to the floor next to him. "Clearly I don't do a very good job." Maybe he should leave that to his manager or the girls in the shop. "I bet it needs a lady's touch." He had plenty of them around him anyway, surely one of them could help him out. Felicity must have better taste than he did.

His filter slightly altered due the booze, Quin thought about another swig, but decided against it. "I'm lacking that in my life apparently, did you know that?" He was only slightly sarcastic about that. According to Mrs. Devine anyway. Ophelia seemed to think he had hope but Quin was starting to think he was a lost cause in that respect- and many others apparently. Blowing out a huff, Quin let his head fall back against the top of the sofa as he looked at the ceiling for a moment to ponder just what the hell he was going to do with himself.

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Felicity didn't know how to respond to any of that. A lady's touch was one thing but one needed to have a lady in the picture. She supposed someone that worked at the shop could do it for him though. Because the idea of Quin having a lady already was a bit disheartening and frustrating to Felicity. Not that she could ever be his lady. It didn't matter how fully smitten she was with him, he'd never see her in such a light. Besides, she was engaged. Or was she? Her fiance had apparently disappeared.

"Do you want a lady in your life?" she asked a bit bluntly, eyes focused on him as he rested his head back after a big huff. "Any lady would lucky to be called yours," she ended up adding, only adding to the blush of her face and resulted in her bringing the bottle back to her lips. If she was drinking she couldn't talk. And then she couldn't say anything else so bluntly.

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BEE-utiful Set!

"I don't know?" Quin answered honestly as he continued to stare at the ceiling. Thinking about it too much made his head hurt. Fuck that. He swept forward and picked up the bottle again. If he was going to have a headache it was certainly going to be from the whiskey, not ruminating over his trashed life.

He eyed Felicity quietly. She was engaged, she would know better than he would right? Quin was woefully ignorant to his own flaws in life apparently. He had no idea what he wanted out of life aside from a successful business which had practically been his wife for ten years or so. "I've always been busy with the store. I suppose I'm at an age where I should be looking?" Was thirty-one really when that started happening?

Taking a long swig of the whiskey Quin realized he no longer felt the burn, that was both a blessing and a curse. He waved off her second statement haphazardly, almost sloshing his bottle all over himself. "I don't know about that. I think I work too much. I clearly have bad taste in colors and I don't know how to even talk to ladies outside of offering them sweets." He was rambling now, letting the booze do the talking for him.  

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Continuing to watch him with wide eyes, Felicity slowly nursed what remained in her bottle of firewhiskey. There was still a good quarter of a bottle left but it only added to the looseness of her lips. The idea of drinking preventing her from talking was clearly backfiring but she was no longer of a state of mind to really realize that.

"Yes, you're certainly of an age," she answered a bit simply but added a shrug with it, "But if there hasn't been a lady to catch your eye you shouldn't really rush into it just to have a wife. That would only lead to misery." Much like she had felt she was on the verge of for the past two years. She didn't love her fiance. Not in the slightest. Not like she loved Quin.

"You're talking to me," she added after another drink, "And all you need is a lady that's willing to work along side of you. I would."

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BEE-utiful Set!

Well Felicity was right about that. There really was no rush, he supposed. It wasn't like he'd have time in the foreseeable future either. Once this fog was lifted he'd be spending even more time than usual to get the shop up and running and back to its former glory. It really was the wife he deserved.

"Yeah, but..." He wanted to say she was like a sister to him, but wasn't so sure that would come out the way he wanted it to. "You're easy to talk to." Especially half a bottle of whiskey in. He grinned slightly, raising his bottle in toast. "Also you remember me as awkward teenager, I'm pretty sure that negates any form of present awkwardness or obliviousness, the latter in which I'm told I exude in spades." That was his downfall he'd been told, that he didn't pay much attention.  

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