Smoothie Converstations

[Serenity Morgan]

Serenity tied her hair up into a pony-tail, then looked in the mirror, trying to decide whether or not she wanted her hair up, or down today. She was meeting her brother Ben at the Mystic Malt Shop, or, well, she was supposed to be meeting him. He usually forgot about their meetings, because he was always with his girlfriend or something. Which, only irritated her, since she barely ever got to talk to her brothers. Serenity sighed and threw her hands up in the air, then groaned and rolled her eyes, sighing again and grabbing her coat from her closet. She walked out of her dorm room, and put on her black leather jacket as she walked off the Academy's campus. Serenity was wearing her light blue tank top with her white skinny jeans, with her tan and white Vans for shoes. A Serenity Morgan outfit for sure. She walked down the gravel road to town, and stuffed her hands in her back pockets, raising an eyebrow when her fingers crumpled up as the tips met the thin, lenghty outline of her ipod. Serenity shrugged, and plugged in her headphones to the little rectangular music player, then she put the little black headphones into her ears, and slid the ipod back into her pocket, putting her hands in the front pockets of her jacket. She continued on walking, letting her thoughts drift off to other places as she listened to her music. Suddenly, a memory flashed back into her mind, and she stopped walking, and held her temples as they started to hurt. No, not this memory... Not again....

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"Serenity dear, come downstairs and give me a hug and kiss goodbye!" Serenity jumped off her bed, taking one of her drawings and leaving the rest of her drawings spread out on her butterfly quilt, and bolting down the stairs so fast she almost slammed into the wall. "Mommy mommy don't go yet!" Her little 6 year old voice pleaded, as she leaped off the last step on the carpeted stairs and into her mother's arms. Elizabeth chuckled as her daughter handed her a picture of her and Serenity standing in the rain and holding hands. "This is beautiful, SereBear!" She said, smiling at her daughter that she was still holding in her arms. Ben and Daniel came running past her and her mother, holding their toy wands and playing capture the bad guy by the looks of it. Serenity frowned at her brothers. They were such pains sometimes. Elizabeth laughed at her daughter's expression, then set her down on the tan carpet floor of the living room, then got down to the 6 year old's level. "Baby, I want you to be a big girl while im away taking care of the muggles, alright?" She said, her features growing maternal and loving as she looked at her daughter with tender eyes and smile. Serenity nodded, and tried to keep a straight face. She really didn't like it when her mom went away, but if she wanted to stay safe she had to put up with it. Her mother smiled again, and kissed the top of Serenity's head, then stood up straight, picking up her bags by the front door, and blowing a kiss to her daughter as she walked out the front door. Serenity sighed and sat down on the floor, staring at the door, wishing her mom would come back now, instead of a week. She vowed from then on that she would never cry in front of anyone, because she had to be strong, and wait for her mother's return......

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Serenity gasped as the memory came to an end, and the pain in her temples slowly faded away until it felt like nothing but a migrain. She shook her head, and took in a deep breath, then continued walking onto the Malt Shop. When she got to the shop, however, Ben was nowhere to be seen. Wow. What a shocker. She thought, sighing and running a hand through her hair, then sitting down at one of the tables in the back of the shop, where she and Ben usualy sat. Serenity was going to hate this new girlfriend of his, she just knew it.

[Eudoxia Karras]

Eudoxia smiled as Petros went on rather animated about the most recent excursion with one of the few friends he managed to make, and keep while in Providence. This girl he had met seemed to be one of the few who could put up with and then dish back his snarky comments. He also seemed to hit it off rather well with his roommate, though something had caused the pair to recently avoid one another. This bothered her but she worried less about Petros after hearing about this Emma. They really were close, and she liked to shop just as much, if not more than he did, and that was a plus. Shopping with Petros was something similar to pulling out one’s teeth with a pair of pliers. Eudoxia had explained to Petros she would be headed to Paris in a few months. One of the clients she had known for a while now had invited her for a stay once he finished with his new house in the country, it was on vineyard property and he’d been rather excited about having a full house. Petros would have to come, he had never been to France.

He had started begging her to allow him to bring Emma. The half finished milkshake teetered on the edge of the table as he rushed around throwing his arms around her and begging for her to come. He didn’t have to put on such an elaborate display she would have said yes. With smile she nodded. “Yes, yes okay.” She shook her head and laughed. “I will need someone else to act a buffer, you are horribly annoying, if she can stand you for extended periods of time, then of course she can come.” And just like that Petros was off in a flash she heard the door of the shop tinkle and she stood up. Petros had darted back in and almost knocked her off her feet as he hugged her, placed a kiss on her cheek and mumbled what sounded like a thank you. Eudoxia laughed and watched as he once again left. He was easy to please. She grabbed the two drinks and tossed his in the trash can and made her way out. They would have to go on their shopping excursion later and that was a relief.

Laughing to herself she walked past a girl sitting in a booth. With a smile she stopped once she realized who it was. “Serenity?” With a softer smile “What are you doing here all alone?” She looked around, Malcolm wasn’t there. She had met the girl on a strange occasion Keith had been in the same hotel in the same area for the first time in years and Serenity had provided a distraction. Eudoxia had grown fond of the girl in that one meeting, maybe because she liked to think she saw a little bit of herself in her. Otherwise, she just seemed to like her spirit. “So you mind if I sit? I was just abandoned by my date.” She used the word date loosely and shrugged. “He was much more excited about Paris than his shake.” With a shrug she sat down on the opposite side sliding in.

[Serenity Morgan]

Serenity had been looking down at her ipod, shuffling though the songs, albums and everything on it, not being able to find her favorite song so she was frustrated. I thought I downloaded it onto here last night... She thought, twitching the sides of her mouth in contemplation.

“Serenity?” “What are you doing here all alone?”

Suddenly she was brought out of her thoughts as she heard a vaguely familar voice from the side of her. Serenity looked up at the person, smiling as she saw who it was. Eudoxia, I think her name was. Erm.. Yep it was Eudoxia. I need to think up a nickname or something for her, Eudoxia's too long. She babbled on in her thoughts for a moment, then shook herself out of it and smiled at Eudoxia again. "Um, well, I was meeting my brother here, but, I think he might've ditched me for his girlfriend. But whatever, brothers will be brothers." Serenity said, then laughed and brushed her hair out of her eyes.

“So you mind if I sit? I was just abandoned by my date.” “He was much more excited about Paris than his shake.”

Serenity shook her head, still smiling at Eudoxia. "Nopiedope I don't mind." She said, resisting a laugh as she spoke, watching Eudoxia with a smile as she slid into the booth. There you go again with your dorky words! She thought, looking around the Shop, just in case Ben decided to show up late or something. Serenity gave up hope on her brother, then shrugged and turned back to Eudoxia. “So, you were on a date huh? Was he cute?” She smirked lightly as she said this, then laughed a little. She loved meddling in people's love lives, especially when she could match two people up.

Serenity looked down at her ipod again, turning it off, then she took out the headphones and stuffed the thing in her pocket, then looked back up at Eudoxia with a smile. “My mom taught me to take my headphones out when im talking to someone. Good manners or something like that.” She said, shrugging a little then laughing. She hardly saw her mom anymore, since she had to be in hiding or something like that, which Serenity didn't understand at all. At least there's the holidays, and my birthday when I get to see her... Serenity thought, but then quickly brushed all her thoughts aside and smiled at Eudoxia.

“So, how have you been since the little thingy at the hotel with Kirth? Or, Keep, or, something like that. I dunno I can't remember his name.” She said, laughing once more then settling down and running a hand through her hair. She laughed too much sometimes, and that was probably why she didn't hang out with her friends all too much. Oh well.

Serenity looked over at a little girl and her dad, and suddenly went numb to everything around her. For a second the two looked like Serenity and her father, and she got scared by instinct. Not a soul knew how her dad really was, and thats how it was going to stay. She forced herself to snap back to what was going on around her, and quickly blinked her eyes until she could see clearly, her eyes having been misty. "Uhm, so, how long have you lived in Providence?" Serenity asked Eudoxia, trying her best to keep her mind as far away as possible from her father.

[Eudoxia Karras]

A light smirk across her face at her words, she was hopelessly adorable and Eudoxia’s fondness of the girl grew. Eudoxia’s smile widened at the mention of brothers, she knew better than anyone that they would do exactly as they pleased, Lot was the very definition of doing what one wanted to do without thinking of the consequences. Shaking her head she shrugged. “They do not get much better. My brother is twenty five and he still behaves as if he is twelve.” There was not much hope Lot would grow up much more, Petros held much more promise of being a functional adult someday, he at least understood life was not just about what he wanted. Petros knew too well, it was hard to watch him hurt over the death of his mother, but he seemed to be pulling out of the depression that had caused the three howlers she had received. At least he seemed better when she was with him, he didn’t ball his fists as often and he didn’t lose his temper as much.

“Cute, I think so, then again as his sister I suppose I am biased, yes?” She laughed, perhaps she had used the word date to liberally. “I suppose I was calling it a date because it had to be scheduled. He is a busy teenager.” Petros had a social calendar that could not be messed with, and se wouldn’t mess with it she was too pleased he was getting out and enjoying himself. Nodding as Serenity put the iPod away. “Mothers know best.” Eudoxia nodded again. At least Eudoxia thought her mother always knew best, most of the advice she had been given she kept close to her. With a light she shrug she thought about how to answer her question, it had been all sorts of emotions and various things that had gone on and though she knew serenity was Malcolm’s god daughter she did not know how much he had told her, if she truly knew about what he did. She pursed her lips for a moment. “You mean Keith.” She said his name with a small amount of disdain and wrinkled her forehead, the bump and bruise had disappeared but a small cut still remained form the confrontation they had in the hallway. At least he had come out worse for the wear in that situation.

“I have been busy, running errands for clients.” It was the safest answer, and it left things very open. Eudoxia would not lie to her but she couldn’t bring herself to tell the girl the entire truth, it wasn’t her place. Eudoxia watched the girl closely something was bothering her and it showed on her face. Eudoxia felt concern, she wanted to reach out and hug her tell her it would be okay. Shifting in the seat she sighed. The question came quickly and Eudoxia was thrown slightly off guard. “Oh I do not live here, I was sent by an associate of mine and your godfathers to seek him out and give him a message.” With a shrug, “I suppose I don’t know how long I’ll be here but I do like it here and I would like to stay, or at least come back.” She shrugged and then she felt the concern return. “Is everything okay? You seem distracted.” Eudoxia reached out and squeezed her hand attempting to see what she had seen in the little girl standing with her father.

[Serenity Morgan]

“I have been busy, running errands for clients.” “Oh I do not live here, I was sent by an associate of mine and your godfathers to seek him out and give him a message.”

Serenity tilted her head to the side slightly, a bit confused. She didn't know Eudoxia and Malcolm worked together... And what did they do for work, anyways? For some odd reason there were alot of unanswered questions, and she tried to push them all out of her head, but that only sparked her interest even more. She wanted to know a bunch of things. Serenity decided to ask Eudoxia, maybe she could tell her the answers to her questions. "What do you and Malcolm do? About a month ago he was asking me things about this guy named.. um... Vladimer, i think? Is he the guy you two work for?"

“I suppose I don’t know how long I’ll be here but I do like it here and I would like to stay, or at least come back.”

Serenity smiled. "I would love it if you did stay. I really like you, and I like talking to you." And it was the truth. She did like talking with Eudoxia, and she did enjoy her company very much. Almost as much as i do with mom...She thought, glad that she wasn't thinking about her father anymore, and wouldn't again for the rest of the conversation hopefully.... Or not.

“Is everything okay? You seem distracted.”

Serenity tried her best to muster up a smile, but failed miserably. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, slumping down in her seat and looking down at her feet. "Not really." She mumbled, just barely audibly. Serenity's eyes flashed back up to Eudoxia's, threatening tears. "C-Can you, keep a secret?" She really had no idea what she was doing, but this secret was eating her alive from the inside out. She had to tell someone, and Eudoxia seemed to be a safe enough person to trust it with. "M-My dad... He.. He hasn't exactly... been... well... let's just say he, he..." Serenity stuttered, then took in a shaky breath, glancing at her feet once more, then back up, to look around them to see if anyone was listening in, then back to Eudoxia. "My dad... beats me. I-I don't know why, b-but he does. He gets so angry with me, sometimes over nothing..." She trailed off, a single tear slip down her cheek. She couldn't say another word. She knew she would break down if she did.

Serenity took in a deep breath, but instead of a breath coming out she started sobbing. She put her head in her hands and dropped her head down to the table. So much for not crying in public... She had never told anyone about what her father did to her behind closed doors. Not even her brothers, who thought their dad was all peaches and creame, knew what really happened at the later hours in the Morgan household. Not even her own mother knew of the horrors that went on in the basement of her own home. No one. Not a single person. Except now, Eudoxia knew. And hopefully she wouldn't tell anyone else... otherwise Serenity's father would hear of it, and would become furious with his daughter. She didn't want that to happen...

Word Count: 609

[Eudoxia Karras]

Serenity’s question about what Malcolm and Eudoxia were into made her a teeny bit nervous. Looking around she was pleased to see that no one was paying attention and she lightly squeezed Serenity’s hand. “These questions are meant for a private location. You are a smart girl and I think you know the answer to that question.” Eudoxia gave her a warm smile “If you want to ask me question I would be happy to answer just not in a place so public, one must be careful, you never know who is listening.” There was a coy playfulness to the comment meant to throw those who may have been listening in. The last thing she wanted was for the small town to buzz with news of the man’s followers hiding among them. “We work for a very generous and intelligent man. A man I am sure in time will prove to the rest of the world just exactly what he is made of.” Jefe was slowly but surely becoming a rather important figure in her. There was an attraction to him, he was powerful and he understanding there was this generous side to him and she rather liked being in his presence, it was as if she knew he would do what he could to protect those in his family, he was the patriarch she had wanted as a girl and found now as a young woman.

She squeezed the girl’s hand again. “Even when I go Serenity Malcolm will know how to get in touch with me and I will do what I can to make myself available to you.” The fact this young girl wanted to talk to her, liked talking to her made Eudoxia feel a slight warmness in her chest. Kora had never really been a part of the family as a squib she tended to hang out on the fringe of the wizarding world and the two sisters while civil with each other had never really got close. Not that it was big deal, they were better off that way Kora was so different from the rest of them, she was the real black sheep of the family. When asked if she could keep a secret Eudoxia couldn’t hold back the smirk. “My business is based on secrets.” She was expecting something a teenage girl would say, that she was in love with someone or that she had stolen something. Nothing could have prepared her for what was actually said. “He what?” She sat back in the seat her head hitting the back with a small thud. Eudoxia blinked a few times just to make sure she had heard what she heard. It was admittedly not the best reaction and she felt terrible when Serenity slumped forward in the booth.

Moving quickly Eudoxia moved to the other side of the table sliding into the booth beside the girl her arm wrapped around her shoulders the other resting on the girl’s arm, in her best attempt to be comforting. This was something Eudoxia was not really use to; being the one to comfort someone, of those she hung around with very little emotion was ever displayed. Maternal instincts seemed to take over and Eudoxia made soft shushing coos in hopes of comforting her. Like her own mother had done many times she stroked the girl’s hair. It was hard to maintain the softness when every fiber of her very being was screaming to find this man and torture him until he begged to die. There was no excuse for a man to harm his child. There was no reason, nothing that was a remote possibility for the man to do what he was doing. It made Eudoxia wonder if this girl’s mother had been subject to the same thing and it made her angrier to think that as the mother, the woman who gave life to this little girl wasn’t protecting her. What about Malcolm? As her godfather he surely must have noticed something.

Moving her body so the girl was shielded as much as possible from the rest of the shop she spoke to her gently. “Who knows about this? Have you told your godfather?” If she had told Malcolm and he was sitting on his hands Eudoxia would have a few words to exchange with him in the form of fists. Looking at her she remained as soft as possible but she knew the anger in her eyes would betray the true nature of her feelings. “Your father… What is his name?” She kept a monotone quality to her voice so the emotion would not break through.

[Serenity Morgan]

“Even when I go Serenity Malcolm will know how to get in touch with me and I will do what I can to make myself available to you.”

"But, what if Malcolm's gone, too?" Serenity didn't want to seem like she was clinging to Eudoxia like a little kid who was clinging to their parent's leg when they were being left with an evil babysitter, but she really did want to be able to get ahold of Eudoxia if she ever needed her. In a way she was like a bigger sister, which she'd never had, or even a second mother-like-figure. Not that her real mother could ever be replaced, of course. Serenity loved her mother, and even though they didn't see each other as much as she would like to, the two were still very close.

“My business is based on secrets.” “He what?”

When Eudoxia moved over to her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, Serenity choked back her sobs, trying her best not to break down completely, and trying to appear as though nothing was wrong. But crying in the middle of a shop with lots of bouncy and perky moods wasn't exactly something that got looked over by people. Trying her best to look like she was laughing so hard she was crying, she tried to smile at Eudoxia to hopefully make her think she was fine. But she wasn't fine. At least on the inside. Serenity shook her head, trying not to look at Dox. "I d-dont know... m-maybe i d-deserve what he d-does... I k-keep rebelling and breaking rules... m-maybe..." She trailed off, not wanting to think about that anymore.

Not wanting to think about the fact that everytime she closed her eyes she saw flashbacks of everything that had happened in the Morgan household late at night when her brothers were asleep and her mom was away on business. Trying not to think about the fact that when she got home, her dad's spies (or so that was her theory of how he always knew everything) would have told him that she'd just spilled out her darkest and deepest of secrets, and would most likely have more bruises added to the list by the morning... not that anyone could ever tell that she had ever been hurt in her life, she always wore two coats of cover-up on every inch of bruised skin she had.

“Who knows about this? Have you told your godfather?”

Serenity shook her head, yet another tear slipping down her cheek as she looked back at Eudoxia. "I cant... I-I shouldn't have even told you..." She croaked, her voice breaking as she spoke. Her throat was beginning to dry up, and the more she cried the more it burned to talk. Her eyes were filled with fear and she knew it, but she hoped that Eudoxia wouldn't notice it.

“Your father… What is his name?”

Serenity hesitated for awhile, not knowing whether or not she could, or should tell Eudoxia her dad's name. I mean, I'm already screwed, so why not just tell her dad's name? She sighed shakily and gulped, then looked into Eudoxia's eyes with her own red rimmed eyes. "H-Henry. Henry M-Morgan." She managed to choke out before coughing, in an effort to hopefully make her throat stop burning. Wrong. Her throat continued to burn and she winced as it burned even more after the cough. Yep. Definitely screwed...

Word Count?!: 630

[Eudoxia Karras]

“He is your godfather, yes?” She hoped Malcolm was the sort of man who would never leave his loved one hanging, they had known each other for a month and spent many, many hours together but there was still much neither knew about each other. “If you need me you will be able to find me, no matter where I am or what I am doing.” It would be difficult to be made so available but if Malcolm didn’t even know what was going on then there was no way he would understand why she needed to get a hold of Eudoxia and why it would be so important. Eudoxia wanted to run over to the casino and tell Malcolm immediately, this information was burning inside of her she wanted to find this man and make him suffer for his sins. There was much she wanted to right now, all of them including beating the .last breath out of someone, mainly this ‘father.’ Slamming her fist on the table she immediately gave Serenity an apologetic look.

“Sorry, no, you do not deserve it. He uses those as an excuse, if you behaved he would find another reason.” She felt like a zombie speaking to her, suppressing her emotions and attempting to be caring when all she wanted to was rip this man limb from limb. Eudoxia curled her fingers around Serenity’s shoulder in a protective manner. There was no excuse for her father’s behavior and Eudoxia was furious that someone would treat a child in such a manner, and where was the mother? How could the mother miss something this huge? Doing her best to keep her mouth shut to make sure that she didn’t say what she was thinking about the mother here. The last thing she needed to do was tell serenity that she found her mother to be a repulsive human being not as bad as her father but she found herself resenting the fact Serenity had to live with both of them. It would take close to everything to keep this from Malcolm. This was because Eudoxia knew herself way to well, they would be sitting in the bar, sharing a drink talking about his strategy with her of course brilliant critique of it and the information would be sitting in her throat, constantly in the back of her mind. It would take everything the Spaniard had to keep the information to herself.

However she was the master of the lie these days, maybe it wouldn’t take too much? She had managed to keep Hameus and Julia out of conversation thus far so hopefully she would be able to keep this quiet as well. Pulling a handkerchief from her bag she moved so that she held Serenity’s face in her hands gently, she wiped the tears and spoke softly. “Do not worry amorcita.” Somehow she would fix this, of course she wasn’t sure exactly how she would fix the problem but she would. She would get a dossier of this man and she would handle it. Clearly the mother was incapable and Malcolm would be too rash. This was something that needed careful planning. Something that would require her to be sneaky and make sure that nothing could be traced back. Luckily she had cleaned up after Lot enough to know how to go about things. Looking at Serenity she did her best to suppress the emotions that would draw attention to the two of them sitting there and smiled. “Do not worry. “