Surprise Visit (Larissa)

Nick apparated into Godric's Hollow and checked to make sure the bouquet of wildflowers he was holding had survived the trip. Everything seemed to be in order. Well, maybe a few of the flowers blended into a strange new version of something, but Nick couldn't completely tell the difference. He wasn't a botanist, and didn't really know flowers all that well. But it was the thought that mattered. Right?

It had been a few days since he visited his sister. Or had it been longer? Time sometimes got away from Nick when he was busy with work or otherwise preoccupied. Either way, the visit was sure to be a surprise. Nick just hoped he had caught Lara on a day off as he walked up to the door and knocked.

Lara happy got up to answer the door, she was remarkably bored for the day and wanted something to do or someone to talk to. Sometime she didn't know why she got such a big house right off the bat, her parents thought it looked good. But really it depressed her a little.. she lived in this big house all by herself. She had first bought it when she was involved and thought to be getting married soon, but since it didn't work out well.. she would have to wait.

Lara opened the front door and grinned seeing her older brother in the doorway. " Esil! why didn't you tell me you were coming?" she asked as she would have gotten lunch or something ready. She eyes widened at she caught sight of the flowers "Are you on your way to a Date?" She inquired not wanting to assume they were for her.. now that would be embarrassing. Nick might just do something like that to. Regardless though she stood off to the side to allow him entrance.

When Lara grinned, so did Nick. Said grin only got bigger at her greeting. "The whole point of a surprise visit is that it's a surprise, esila," he laughed. He walked in when she stepped aside and gave her a one-armed hug.

"A date?" he asked, brown eyebrows floating upward towards his hairline. Nicholas hadn't been on a proper date in a while. However, he had to admit that flowers somewhat implied such a thing. Nick chuckled, "Nah... Vanu'anym viel." He held the flowers out for her to take. "I couldn't remember which ones you liked best..." he added, slightly sheepish.

Translation:

Larissa chuckled she was happy to see him as she has been bored out of her mind. " Well I am glad you  came Nick, I was lonely to be honest" she said returning the hug with both arms. Lara always liked hugs. As a little girl when her father would try and leave for work she would hug him and not let go until someone pulled her off.

Larissa beamed when he handed her the flowers "Siada Nick they are beautiful, Any flowers are good ya know? not all that picky about the species" she said with chuckle as she went to the kitchen to put them in water.  

She smiled as she recalled a memory of her mother being upset when their father forgot what her favorite flower was, they all laughed and made fun about it when it happened. "Not likeAnan... All flowers are pretty.. but if she ever asks.. I like roses" she said though there was a certain meaning behind her words other then flowers, if only it was as simple as that..

"They are lovely" she said before smelling them and putting them on the counter for display even though there was no one else to display it to..

Translation:

Eyebrows furrowed in slight worry. "Lonely?" he repeated, unable to keep the concern from his voice. Had he not visited in that long? Nicholas made a mental note to stop in and check up on his baby sister more often... even though he had a feeling that may not be quite what was meant.

"Ystanwe," he beamed. Nicholas followed her into the kitchen. "I know... And that's the beauty of it," the wizard chortled. "Anan always said I couldn't tell the difference between a daisy and a marigold..." Occasionally, when some muddled mess of flower knowledge did indeed come to the surface, Nicholas would deliberately bring his mother the wrong flower out of play. But that was a long time ago, now...

Just like his father, Nick couldn't remember what his mother's favorite flower was. Even when he was living at home, and they weren't irate with him, he could never remember. Nicholas chuckled and nodded, "Roses are about the only flower I remember. Everything else is just a flower."

"Glad you like them," Nick grinned. He smiled as she placed them on the counter. "I probably should've brought us a lunch, too... didn't think about that. ... How has work been treating you?"

Larissa smiled sheepishly at his concern. "Well maybe more bored.. just big-ish house and it is only me most of the time.." she said trying to explain as it was nothing to worry about really. Though it did leave her feeling sad sometimes..

She chuckled at his Roses comment "Well they are quite famous for some reason, and they smell as nice as they look. But then so do the other flowers, dunno why Mum gets upset thought at counts" she said still a bit amused. She missed the old days before Nice was disowned by their parents, back when they were a whole family and not a cracked and broken one.. over blood.

"Oh don't worry about Lunch Esil I will take care of it" she said with a grin going to the fridge to get out ingredients for Tomato and grilled cheese sandwiches.

She turned her head with he asked her about work "Ah it alright, got some good days and bad days.. had a girl try to kill herself come in a few days ago. She was no more then 12 years old... can you imagine? Wanting to end your life that young?" she asked still kinda disturbed by the case.

"However in  the same day I met another 12 year old who wants to be a healer in honour of her brother that died. She is even a volunteer there.. very nice girl" she said hoping to remain in contact with both girls to see how they are doing.  

"What about you? Up to anything lately?" she asked both out of curiosity and concern, her older brother was usually stirring up some type of trouble. Granted it was usually the noble kind, but still trouble nonetheless.

”Ceni...” he murmured, glancing at their surroundings. It was a big house... While Nicholas may not have been overly fond of the person Lara had been involved at the time, it was a shame that the relationship hadn’t lasted. The wizard still made a mental note to come up with ways to try and help Lara feel like the house is a bit more populated. Unfortunately, any letter he’d send to his parents would go unread... Perhaps Isaac could be the go-between for Nick and his parents, when things weren’t too busy.

Nick smiled as Lara retrieved ingredients for sandwiches. ”I can help, if you want,” he offered, stepping fully into the kitchen. He was no chef, but the wizard did live on his own and without the assistance of even as single house-elf. That had been quite a rude awakening in his first week of living on his own. With a bit of practice he had learned to cook without burning everything to ash...

He listened intently as Lara talked about her work. Brows furrowed together, and then upward, at the news of a suicidal twelve-year old. “I can’t imagine... Merlin,” Nick sighed and shook his head. The truth was that he had a few vague guesses of what had led this girl to considering such a fate... and it was those causes that made Nicholas so insistent on his “wayward notions,” as his parents called them. The worry cleared from his forehead, and a smile returned, when she told of another young girl. ”Sounds like you have a little apprentice on your hands,” Nick chortled.

The wizard shrugged when the question returned to him. ”Just the usual,” he smiled. Nicholas didn’t want to worry her as his line of work wasn’t very safe... not to mention he tended to stir things up when he felt someone was being treated unfairly, and had sufficient means to do something about it.

Larissa smiled when he offered to help, it wasn't hard to do, but so long as he was offering.. She handed him the slices of bread. " Alright, just butter these please?" she said innocently. "You are too nice to me sometimes Esil." she chuckled holding her face in her hands on the counter as she had already buttered the other two.

Lara nodded soberly still at the thought of poor Jocelyn, " I am not that kind of doctor, I wasn't sure what to do with her everytime she had a fit and tried to hurt herself" she mentioned with a sigh it was one of those cases that was difficult to go through. The she smiled a little at his comment on Azaria "She is a sweet girl... I want to help her in anyway I can. I am not sure what it is about her but I feel like I should help her out"

She quirked an eyebrow at his answer, "Ah uh.. and up to trouble in the to no doubt" she said shaking her head. "Come on, got to be something good you can tell me? you are here in one piece so you obviously weren't badly injured" she said with a chuckle amused as she always worried about her brother showing up with an arm missing for something for her to fix.

Nicholas smiled at the innocent request and picked up the butter knife, readying the implement with a tab of butter. He shook his head while spreading the stuff around on the bread. ”I am no doctor either... I would say do what your heart tells you to do,” he replied, at something of a loss for how to advise his baby sister. Nick knew what he would do in such a situation. Whether it was the right choice, he had no idea.

He set aside one slice of buttered bread, and reached for the other as talk turned to Azaria. ”I know that feeling all too well,” Nick chortled. The desire to help followed by his conscience not allowing him to sleep if he didn’t at least try to help was what drove Nicholas to want to join the Order of the Phoenix.

The wizard smiled sheepishly as his sister saw through his vague remark. ”Here we go. What next?” he asked, setting the second slice of buttered bread down. Nick looked to be momentarily lost in thought. He gripped one arm with the other – an unconscious posture denoting discomfort or pain in the gripped portion of arm, for those who knew him well. ”I may have gotten into a brawl or two in the past week... and encountered an odd creature in my tiny excuse for a garden, just yesterday...” he offered, with a soft chuckle. ”Nothing to worry about...”

Larissa nodded "It is all I can do I suppose" she said with a sigh and a small smile as she turned her stove on to cook their lunch. "I just gotta cook them now it all.." she said about to grill the the butter pieces of bread when she caught the expression of discomfort on her brothers face.

She put her hands on her hip when he told her it was nothing to worry about, she never trusted her brothers judgment in that regard, particularly when when a 'Odd creature" was involved. She waved her wand and did the quick and easy approach for cooking lunch, with magic so she could have a look at her brothers arm.

"Let me be the judge of that brother, you always say it is nothing to worry about.." she said shaking her head. "May I have a look Esil? What kinda creature was it? Did it bite, claw?.." she asked entering Healer mode a bit.

Nicholas did his best to avoid his sister’s gaze as she put her hands on her hips. He made a slight face at the speedy approach to cooking, not feeling that the discomfort was quite enough to warrant immediate action. The smallest of smiles crossed his face at her pointing out that he always had a default answer to injury. “That’s because it isn’t anything to worry about,” he answered cheekily, daring a glance at her.

The wizard winced at the memory of how he’d come across the thing. ”Bite,” Nick sighed, hiking up his sleeve to reveal a loose bandage on his forearm some few inches away from his wrist. The bandage was lightly stained from the inside out with old blood. ”I washed it, and put salve on it, after...” Brown eyebrows furrowed as he tried to remember what the creature looked like. Nick shook his head, ”Nothing I’ve ever seen. Cross between a cat and a snake, it looked like.”