Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore)

Subject: Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore) Fri May 28, 2021 12:21 pm

"What do you mean nothing happened?" Kate asked reproachfully.

"Nothing happened..." Elenore replied, the soft lines of confusion touching her features as she looked between her group of friends in early January. The Christmas holidays had been forgotten in light of the new school year, but nobody had yet finished talking about her performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra just before Christmas.

"So, you're saying that you just went back to his place, and what, fell asleep?" Madison chimed in.

Elenore's cheeks flushed a soft pink. "Non, we kissed..."

"And then?"

"And then we fell asleep." Elenore finished, earning a remarkably unladylike collection of sighs from the others.

"I don't know why you haven't slept with him yet. If I'd had the chance!" Madison replied, swooning a little in that moment, before catching herself because Elenore still had the look on her features. "You know I don't mean sleep? Sex, Elenore, why haven't you had sex with him?"

The French witch's cheeks had flushed crimson at such a thought, her eyes leaving her friends' gazes because she couldn't answer such... such an untoward matter. When the witch wasn't looking, Kate and Madison shared a look.

"Are... you still a virgin?" Kate asked as gently as anyone could ask someone such a question when being so bold. Elenore's mortification at the situation only grew, and her lack of answer was all the other two needed. "Kevin hasn't... tried?"

Elenore slowly shook her head, not really sure what that entailed, really, but as far as she knew, he hadn't tried.

"Well, we'll have to change that! If I can't have him, then my BFF can!" Madison finalised, and from there... Elenore couldn't even begin to recount the conversation that had entailed. Her cheeks had remained aflame throughout the conversation, and her lack of knowledge of the subject had been a source of amusement for the others.

By the time they had taken all the details they needed, Madison and Kate had formulated a plan together that Elenore still didn't understand how it would work, but they had insisted that it would. There was no way Kevin could refuse her, and the witch had simply accepted that statement, not having any way of knowing whether it was true or not.

***

The weeks had passed by, leaving January behind and bringing in the bitter frosts of February. Elenore had believed her friends had forgotten all about the conversation, but she was soon corrected in the first week when she was pulled away for a shopping trip after class one evening. The garishly lit shopping malls of New York were hard on the eyes, but both Madison and Kate had known exactly where they needed to go.

Sequestering the French witch in to a shop she would never have entered on her own, the pair had made a beeline to exactly what they wanted, only consulting Elenore for her choice of colour and size before they busied themselves with the task at hand.

"I wish I could pull these off like you two!" Kate had bemoaned at one point, and Elenore's question of why she couldn't had not eased the other woman's confidence in that moment. It had taken a long time... a very long time, to find something that 'would work' and what Elenore felt she would possibly be comfortable in... but eventually... it had worked out.

"Now what?" Elenore had asked once they had made their purchases, leading to both Kate and Madison erupting in to giggles as they continued on with the plan they had concocted back in their dorm rooms for the last few weeks.

***

The witch's hands shook ever so slightly as she straightened the material across her thigh once more, eyes not able to move up towards the hole in the wall as she waited for Kevin patiently. He didn't know what was going to unfold that evening, Elenore hadn't been able to speak to him about the conversation she'd had with Kate and Madison. Not that she'd wanted to, the mortifying reality of what happened to her tummy when they were kissing was not something Elenore had ever wanted to discuss with anyone ever again.

But apparently, that meant she was ready.

And that was why this plan had been set in to motion...

Gaining access to Kevin's humble abode hadn't been difficult, she'd been invited to come and go as she pleased by the man. Elenore had never used the invitation without the man by her side, though. It had felt almost too personal going through Kevin's things to find the camera she'd bought him for Christmas the previous year, but she'd found it and set it next to her on the small bed that was now covered in the rose petals Madison had thrown in to her basket.

"It will set the mood."

Elenore could only hope it would as she fussed with the hem of her dress once more, her eyes daring to look up to the hole in the wall for the man she was waiting for. He couldn't be too much longer, could he? She asked herself, the pit of her stomach rolling nervously as she looked back to hem of her dress again.

It would only be as the man shuffled in through the hole in the wall that Elenore would look up again.

Cheeks flushed pink, the witch would let him take her in before she spoke.

"Surprise!" Elenore would say, not quite so confidently as Madison and Kate had instructed her to be, but still with more confidence than she thought she would muster.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Kevin."

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Subject: Re: Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore) Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:32 pm

Ever since Elenore's birthday in December, even he had to admit something had definitely changed between them.

It hand't happened overnight. Not even the night of her birthday when, for the first time, she had chosen to spend the night at his little apartment. The witch had sleepily mentioned how it felt more like home to her than anywhere else, prompting him to automatically respond with her being welcome to visit anytime she liked. What else could he have said? It had become clear to the redhead a long time ago that he was unable to deny her anything she wanted, and this was a small ask indeed.

Afterwords, naive as he pretended to be sometimes, even he could understand their relationship reaching a new front. Had he ever intended for this to happen? No. Had it happened regardless of his good intentions? The painful twist in his gut confirmed that without a doubt.

He had never intended to fall in love with Elenore Clement.

He had only ever wanted to keep her safe, make her happy, cherish her every day, give her anything her heart desired.

He had not intended to lead her on and leave her heartbroken, which is where this was now heading. The Harrington male knew enough about young girls to know he had to end it quickly, perhaps even cruelly. As January rolled through and Tuesday become immersed in her classes and her friends - a huge difference from the young brunette of just two years ago who went nowhere and talked to no one - he mulled ways of doing it in his head. Should he simply disappear one day, not leaving even a note or text? Should he leave a note telling her he had better things to do? Should he grab some girl and snog her face off in front of Elenore, thereby imitating the dumping process from her side? Would a bruised ego be better than a broken heart?

But every plan he could come up with melted from his mind the moment he laid eyes on the quiet witch, his heart filled with gladness at seeing her safe and happy. How could he take that away from her?

Even if it was all doomed to hell.

As Valentine's Day neared, the man reserved a table at one of their usual restaurants, hoping no impropriety would occur if they stayed in public. He would take her out for a respectable meal, and then drop her back at her apartment, the man lied to himself as he booked the flowers and the wrappings for the vintage records he had found. Yes, he would stick around until graduation and then... And then he would disappear like the melting snow in April.

However, when he told her two days before that he had plans for Valentines' day, the witch had merely cryptically stated that so had she. The odd pink on her cheek at the admission Kevin had attributed to the cold. It hadn't bothered him as much as the fact that she wouldn't reveal her plans though. The thought of discretely following her like he used to rose its ugly head, only to be quashed almost immediately. No, she was not that girl anymore and he was ashamed of ever having been that man.

When no information came from Tuesday even on Valentines' Day, the wizard decided to head over to the Met. It had been a while since he'd studied the masters art in close detail. Perhaps a remnants from his old life would wake him up to the realities of his new one.

The exhibitions however, remained silent, asking him more questions rather than answering any of his. At nine of clock struck, he finally left the museum, walking sluggishly back to his hole in the wall to fall into a fitful rest, wondering what Elenore was up to that night. Arriving at his doorstep didn't improve Kevin's mood any, finding Maurice asleep right across the entrance. Trying to prod the man into rolling over, he had to resist the urge to kick. Finally, gong against all his better instincts, he withdrew his wand and levitated the homeless slobbering mess, dropping him only semi gently to the side.

A soft oath left his lips as he bent down to enter, one that was immediately replaced by a second one when he noticed a very familiar figure on his bed.

Wearing soemthing very unlike herself.

"Elenore- Wha-?"

"Surprise!"

Even as she spoke, her small frame shook, though Kevin couldn't tell if it was from the cold or the nerves. Averting his eyes, the man quickly shut the entrance, more than aware of what the cold wind was doing to her semi exposed skin.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Kevin."

The man tried not to stare, or to at least keep his eyes to her face as the significance of the scene dawned. Not approaching the bed, the man slouched down until he was seated on the cold floor, only three feet away from her.

So this was her plan.

"H-hi," he managed from a safe distance, unsure how to tell her how misunderstood she was in that moment. Clutching on the small details, he pointed to the camera by her side. "Did you, uh, want to do a photo shoot?"

Instead of replying, the Clement heiress merely lowered her head, hiding her own brown eyes from view. He could only just make out the flaming pink of her cheeks as she remained where she was, still visibly trembling.

Deciding to throw caution to the wind, the redhead began speaking gently. "You know Tuesday, it...doesn't have to be like this.I.. don't know what anyone's told you but..." But what? Even as he spoke, soft and slow so as not to frighten her, his body was screaming something else entirely. His arms arched to draw her close and protect her from the cold, his throat almost seared with desire, needing to taste her soft lips again.

But he couldn't.

"It's only natural to be curios... about these things. But curiosity can be sated in other ways," he managed, trying not to imagine the other ways of which he spoke. "You don't have to feel pressured into doing... anything really." Getting slowly to his feet, the man reached to remove his jacket, passing ti to her from where he stood, not daring to walk closer in case he sent the wrong signal.

"Here, you must be cold."

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Subject: Re: Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore) Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:32 pm

As she wished him a happy Valentine's Day, Elenore tried her very best to be confident in her mannerisms. Even trying to keep eye contact with the man before her -- though really it was only glances to meet his eyes to try to see what he felt. How Kevin would react to her... like this.

"H-hi,"

The greeting was soft, stuttered and unlike Kevin usually was. He was always so sure of himself, and the world, and everything in it, it was odd to find him falling over himself like that. Or, perhaps, she was reading in to even the one single word too deeply. Sometimes they forget how to talk, Maddison had said, though. So maybe... maybe this was Kevin not knowing how to put his thoughts in to words?

It was a small ounce of hope in that moment as her body continued to tremble with the excitement of the situation, the unknown that was to come.

"Did you, uh, want to do a photo shoot?"

The witch had wanted to answer, but her features had gone a deep pink at that question, her eyes dipping away from the man as she played with the hem of the night dress. She could feel his eyes upon her though in that moment as her gaze took in her bare knees. A small nod -- one that would be missed if the man wasn't watching her closely in that moment.

"You know Tuesday, it...doesn't have to be like this. I.. don't know what anyone's told you but..."

The witch looked back up to the man in that moment, confusion touching her features as he spoke. Why had he taken a seat on the floor... a distance from her? Rather than coming to her? Just be prepared, when he sees you looking this beautiful, he may not be able to control himself! Kate had praised her eyes taking in Elenore's reflection at the shop with a mixture of excitement and slight jealousy at her friend's ability to pull off an outfit she could never, in her own words, consider.

Kevin continued on the same route. Insisting that there were other ways to deal with this...

But he didn't move towards her.

And though his words were soft and gentle, there wasn't anything pointing to all of the things Maddison and Kate had insisted there would be. Kevin just seemed to... not want her in that moment. The uncertainty began to creep in to her in that moment, of whether she had done the right thing, or whether she'd completely misread all the signals the man had given her. But, surely Maddison and Kate couldn't be wrong about this too? They had both been with men in their lives, they both talked as if they knew everything that could possibly be required in this situation.

Kevin moved in that moment, and Elenore's eyes watched him with hope filled in them more than she would ever dare to admit to. The redhead pulled free from his coat that had been protecting him from the cold outside, and her mind jumped gleefully towards the things the other girl's had mentioned.

Except Kevin was not doing what they said he would.

Instead, he offered her the coat.

"Here, you must be cold."

The hope drained from her system in that moment. The man's gently disguised request for her to cover up came like a icy cold chill through her chest. The waver would have been clear on the French witch's features, too, as she looked back to Kevin to try to find something to cling on to in that moment as the small amount of confidence she had mustered evaporated.

"N-no..." Elenore started, finding her tongue feeling almost too big for her mouth as she paused to collect herself and try again. "I'm not cold, just a little bit nervous." That much was probably not needed to be said, but it had escaped the young witch's lips before she could try to stop it. Pushing herself up from the bed carefully, the witch moved closer to the man, stealing herself a moment as she tried to find his hand, to interlock her fingers with his. Perhaps he was just nervous, like she was? Kevin was a gentleman, perhaps he was just working with his usual caring nature, and didn't want to put pressure on her.

"It's okay," she reassured, although she couldn't believe the words herself as her mind quickly moved from slightly unsure to screaming at herself to concede the man she loved did not feel the same way. "This is what I want, I had help, but this is what I want. Don't... you like it?" Elenore asked, the fragility of her voice showing that she really needed to hear words to the contrary in that moment.

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Subject: Re: Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore) Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:32 pm

As he tried to hand her his jacket, the man saw her slender frame freeze, and her utterly shattered gaze. It looked like she was about to cry.

Still, the Lady that she was, she took his jacket and placed it beside ehr on the bed, not meeting his gaze until she sheen of unshed tears was gone. Gathering up all her courage, she stood up and walked over to him, looking for all the world like a little girl who had no idea she had just walked into the wolf's den.

"This is what I want, I had help, but this is what I want. Don't... you like it?"

It was hard to focus with her so near, her fingers laced through his, only the thin, sheer material of whatever blasted thing she was wearing between them. But he had to be the adult here, he had to be the responsible one.

Mostly because it was all his fault in the first place.

"Elenore... no..." he managed, taking a deep breath before stepping away from her, only to bump into the wall behind him. Damn this closed space!

"You don't know what you want," he muttered as the hurt look flashed across her face again, making him take that step right back to her. "Oh no, kiddo, no, no, that's not what I meant," he amended when it looked like she was about to cry for real. Putting his arms around her, the man guided her gently back to the bed, lowering her down on it first before taking a seat beside her. Picking up his jacket, he draped it around the young brunette carefully. Thankfully, this time she did not resist.

"Elenore you are... You are the most wonderful person in the world, anyone would be ridiculously lucky... But I'm not that person, I can't... i don't deserve you, I never have." The redhead looked away dejectedly. All his planning for a quiet exit, a graceful bow out, and here they were, with Tuesday trembling as she stood on the precipice of a broken heart.

"I wish I could tell you... Would you believe me if I said I don't do it only because I'm terrified of losing you?"

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Subject: Re: Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore) Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:33 pm

"Elenore... no..."

Another rejection came, and the witch bit back hard on the lump building in her throat as the man stepped back from her. Putting space between them when she had tried to show him it was okay. Why was he acting like this when before now he had been nothing but... encouraging when they had been together.

"You don't know what you want,"

The words made her feel like a child in that moment. As if she were back at the Palace before she had come to America. Her Maman telling her she didn't know what she wanted, that she should stay in Europe for her studies. But this time it came from the source that she hadn't expected it to, and the withheld tears that she had kept back only moments before threatened her eyes anew. She wanted to argue back, but the decision between speaking or not allowing tears to fall won out in favour of the latter.

Kevin's arms were around her in the next moment, though, as her vision swam with unshed tears, and before she could know what was happening, she was perched on the edge of the man's bed again. His touch left her body as soon as it had come though, and the witch didn't move as he draped the jacket he'd offered her early over her shoulders. Covering her up as he'd wished before and veiling her in another wave of rejection.

"Elenore you are... You are the most wonderful person in the world, anyone would be ridiculously lucky... But I'm not that person, I can't... I don't deserve you, I never have."

"S-says who?" Elenore replied to his statement. Who had told him that he did not deserve her? They were wrong, whoever it was was completely and utterly wrong. The tears hadn't yet fallen, but it would only be a matter of time as the witch took another rejection from the man beside him under the guise of being tactful. "If I'm here, doing this... doesn't that mean I think you do deserve me? Isn't that what matters, that I think it?"

"I wish I could tell you... Would you believe me if I said I don't do it only because I'm terrified of losing you?"

The first tear fell down the witch's cheek, diving from her chin and splashing lightly in to the jacket he'd put around her shoulder's in that moment. She'd tried in vain to stop them, but she held back the next one. "What could you possible tell me that would make you lose me?" The witch asked, almost defiantly because what Kevin was saying did not make any sense to her in that moment.

His words suggested he wanted this, but everything he'd done had contradicted that entirely.

"There's nothing you could possibly tell me that would change the way I feel..."

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Subject: Re: Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore) Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:33 pm

Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore) F75fd63720273eb111abf8f7d05e6475

"S-says who?"

The man had no way to respond to that, especially when he could see the effort it was costing the young woman to say this out loud. Elenore had always been painfully shy, underlined by how reclusive she had been. It was probably considered a virtue where she was from but she had changed.

She had grown up.

She know asked questions and challenged opinions, even if in the politest way possible. She now had a mind of her own and he was a little proud at knowing he had perhaps had a hand in that.

But on the other hand, she was now asking for the impossible, and as much as it pained him to deny her, he would have to.

And then she started crying for real.

The redhead felt more than saw her tears falling, sliding down her smooth skin into the dark recesses of his jacket. Unable to help himself, he reached for her again, cuddling her close to him as she regained her composure. This was never what he had wanted, this was the exact opposite of how things were supposed to go.

"Elenore.. You don't know the whole truth." And through no fault of hers of curse. She had been deceived because he had deceived her. This was all on him.

"There's nothing you could possibly tell me that would change the way I feel..."

Kevin shook his head sadly at her statement. 'I really wish you hadn't said that." But he didn't, what he really wished was that she didn't mean it. She was young, she would get over him soon. She would go on to live a wonderful, happy life.

Just not with him.

Taking a deep breathe, he began.

"My name.. Isn't Kevin Harrington, it's Kenneth, Kenneth Harrington," he admitted as he pulled away from her, giving her space in case she needed to flinch away from the truth.

From him.

"Most people call me Kit. I live in California, and I'm nearly sixty years old."

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Subject: Re: Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore) Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:33 pm

The witch couldn't think what the man beside her meant when he said she didn't know the truth. What could she possibly not know? They'd been friends for almost three years now. She knew everything she needed to about him. Yes, there were still many things that she could find out about the man sat beside her, like more about his family, or his home life. But she hadn't exactly been forthcoming with the details of her own family life, so why would something like that matter now.

As he pulled her close, Elenore allowed herself to be comforted in that moment, taking it to be a good sign as she tried to control her reaction to his rejections.

"I really wish you hadn't said that."

"But it's true..." Elenore replied gently, still trying to convince him that there was nothing that he could possibly say that would change her feelings. He probably wouldn't listen, but she would at least try to make him listen.

"My name.. Isn't Kevin Harrington, it's Kenneth, Kenneth Harrington,"

As Kevin... no Kenneth moved from her side, the witch only looked to him with confusion touching her features. Was that all he was worried about? That he used a different name to his real one? How many times had she used his last name instead of her own on her work since her birthday because it made her work get a following that wasn't affixed to her own name. "If that's all it is, then it doesn't matter. I understand the need to get away from your real name from time to t-"

But Kevin- Kenneth wasn't done.

"Most people call me Kit."

It would be clear to the man that she was not seeing how a nickname would make a difference. Yes, it wasn't what she was used to calling him, but with time she could perhaps-

"I live in California."

Well... that wasn't exactly new information. He had a property in California. They'd stayed there last summer. She had believed him to have come from England, but California was fine.

"and I'm nearly sixty years old."

The witch's lips twitched in to an amused smile, as if picking up on the fact this had been a whole joke, and that Kevin was teasing her in that moment. "You're funny!" The witch replied, trying to get on board with joke the man was surely playing in that moment.

Kevin's feature's remained as serious as they had been when he'd started explaining the situation though. "I wish it was funny, but I'm being quite serious."

The smile slid from the witch's features in that moment, her eyes holding the man's as they remained unflinching in that moment. "But you..." Elenore tried to say something to counter the last piece of information. Her hands moving without conscious thought to pull the jacket around her body as the situation rapidly sobered. "You're... my age." The witch tried, taking in his physical appearance which denied the statement Kevin had made.

But even as she said it, her mind provided the ways in which a person with magical abilities could conceal their actual looks. Metamorphmagi, Polyjuice Potions, Merlin knew there were even beauty products that were made by famous potioneers that guaranteed to keep age at bay.

"Why would you... why..." The witch tried to string a question together that would make the situation make sense. But each question died before it came in to fruition as the witch simply looked back at the man with a gaze that questioned everything she knew about him, and why he would want to lie to her about something so significant.

The only one that stuck was the one that had the witch's chest aching as she managed to get through it so softly he could pretend she hadn't uttered it.

"Was any of it real?"

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Subject: Re: Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore) Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:34 pm

How he wished he could laugh it off like she was, though even in her attempts to be frivolous, he could see the uncertainty. Despite being so quiet and reclusive, Elenore had always been an open book. And he had gotten very good at reading her over the years.

"I'm a man of artistic pursuit," he admitted, opening up to her as he had never imagined he would. She hadn't flinched but at least she hadn't moved closer again. There was hope.

"I've spent much of my life working as a photographer, though I sometimes dabble in art and poetry. I was born in 1971 in the Untied Kingdom... And ran off to America in the eighties because it was the art scene to be at. I've... never looked back." This was the safest version of his life's stories, the safest and the truest of why he had left his home and the Harrington estate.

"A few years ago I found my inspiration drying up. I've had such blocks before but never this extensively... And I thought perhaps being with a younger crowd, in a place where creativity and self expression were fostered, i would..." He trailed off, not wanting to add the the absolutely necessary lie that he had to tell her. This would be enough to repulse her, an old man crawling with near teenagers to get his faded muse back. She would revile him enough without needing to know he was there on her own mother's wishes.

Kit closed his eyes against the vision of that night when he had been summoned, hating himself for appearing because he couldn't imagine a time when he wouldn't be at Vanessa Sheridan's beck and call. And after all she had done to him, after all he had done to ehr, all the secrets, lies and lives torn asunder, she had asked for him only one thing.

"Keep my daughter safe, protect her from harm, ensure her happiness."

He had never been able to refuse her anything, not when he wanted to, and certainly not when he didn't. So of course he had sworn his life to Lady Clement's service, forging an Unbreakable Wow to always watch out for the child he didn't even know, the child who had blossomed into a beautiful young lady and awakened the dormant man inside him.

"I never intended to get as... entangled in your affairs as I did. I tried to stay way from you, in our first year." He paused, shaking his head as if to say "'and see how that turned out'. The witch remained still, listening, she hadn't run yet, she hadn't even moved.

"I don't know when I started falling in love with you. I don't remember when, or why. It was a thousand little things I never expected. But suddenly...you were my while world," the man sighed, hanging his head defeated as he finally admitted the truth. "The more we started... seeing each other, the more I realized how wrong it was. I would tell myself I was strong enough to put a stop to it when it mattered, when you found someone else. The goalpost kept changing so to speak. First it was when you were familiar with the city enough to travel on your own, then it was when you had enough friends so you won't miss me, then it was getting your toe hold into professional music composition. Milestone after milestone, I kept inventing reasons for you to need me when in truth... You don't need me at all Elenore."

It was the saddest part of the admission, realizing that she had outgrown him. She was a confident, intelligent and talented young woman who did not need him anymore.

"There's also something else you need to know," he added, sure that this would be the final nail in the coffin of any relationship they had. If she didn't despise him for the liar and pretender he was already, this would do it.

"When your brother visited, he brought a young lady with him. That young lady... is Azalea Harrington, my daughter." The man didn't dare look up to see her reaction at the revelation, because there was more to come.

"And the mother of Mimosa Harrington."

He should have stopped there, he should have let her leave, but instead he spoke once more, this time raising his head and daring to look a her face.

"I have never judged you for the family you came from. To me, you have only ever been just Elenore. If I may, I ask you extend me the same courtesy."

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Subject: Re: Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore) Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:34 pm

As the explanation began, Elenore simply went quiet, listening closely to each word the man had to say, and never attempting to interrupt. It came as no surprise that Keven, no, Kit, was a man of the arts. This room... Elenore's eyes flickered momentarily to the pictures of herself that still remained on the walls, was a testament to his work with a camera that far exceeded anything else Elenore had ever seen.

The mention of his birth year made the witch's eyes travel back to him, though, scrutinising the young face before her as if trying to find truth in that sentence. Whatever the man before her had done to look so young, it worked whole-heartedly in covering the truth. It made it almost too much to believe, but as Kevin continued on without a sign of amusement on the features of his, she knew that it wasn't a lie.

It was the next part of his speech that drew the witch back in though. The knowledge that the man beside her had also run away from home at a young age was why he had understood her so well, Elenore reasoned. They were the same, trying to get away from a life that had never worked for them. Had her head not been so busy trying to process everything else Kevin was telling her, the witch would likely have asked what had driven him from his home.

Kevin continued on, though, explaining that he had found his muse drying up, and needing inspiration. That had been what had brought him to this university. Wanting to spend time with young artists to kick start that back in to being. On some level, Elenore understood. Muse had never completely left her, but she had had blocks in her time, mostly when she had been cooped up in the Palace. But, his explanation didn't make full sense. Why had he hidden himself, rather than just being himself? That was weird, wasn't it? If the witch could have decided on a yes without hesitation, she may have left the conversation then, not wanting to hear anymore from the man who had lied to her for three years, but she couldn't say outright that she believed it to be wrong.

The witch was, as she had been from the moment Kevin admitted to being Kit, confused.

"I never intended to get as... entangled in your affairs as I did. I tried to stay way from you, in our first year."

It was not what the man had said that made Elenore soften in that moment. It was the way he had looked after that statement that did. The softness that touched his features as he gave the look that said here we are. The French witch still hadn't moved, nor had she spoken, but for a small sliver of time, her shoulders, her eyes, they had softened from the stress of the situation.

"I don't know when I started falling in love with you. I don't remember when, or why. It was a thousand little things I never expected. But suddenly...you were my while world,"

Elenore had not been ready for that.

Elenore didn't think she would ever have been ready for that.

Before the man's truths had been placed upon the table, she would have easily been able to say the same. She loved Kevin Harrington, she had known that without hesitation earlier that evening as she'd gotten ready for the photoshoot she was going to give him. But the man sat beside her now was not Kevin Harrington, he was Kit Harrington. A man she didn't really know, but a man who was confessing that he loved her, that she was his whole world. It made her heart thump louder in her chest, anxious to say or do something in return to those words, and yet... unable to say anything at all.

Elenore hadn't heard everything Kevin had said after that, too caught up in the feeling of being loved, and then trying to answer an impossible question. The words span around in that moment, trying to make her dizzy-

"There's also something else you need to know,"

The sentence pulled Elenore back to that moment.

The warning might have been clear, but the next sentence made Elenore uneasy. The admittance that Kit had a daughter, a daughter older than herself, made Elenore freeze in that moment. Especially a daughter so close to his brother that he saw fit to bring her to the meal with her. The age difference hit home, then, the first time Kit had said he was close to sixty years of age, the witch hadn't put that in to context, but a daughter in her late twenties...

He was somewhere around her own father's age.

I don't know when I started falling in love with you.

Her mind held on to the words he'd said before much too tightly.

"And the mother of Mimosa Harrington."

Elenore's eyes flashed up to Kit's then, trying to find the truth in that statement. Didn't Mimosa not have parents? Hadn't that been why her own parents had taken her on as ward at the Palace? That didn't make sense. If Kit and Azalea knew that the child was hers, why wasn't she looking after Mimosa? Why was Mimosa at the Palace? Why had her parents been trying to replace her with a child who had a fami-

"I have never judged you for the family you came from. To me, you have only ever been just Elenore. If I may, I ask you extend me the same courtesy."

It was almost as if he knew her too well.

Actually... he did know her all too well.

The witch's eyes turned apologetic, as if she'd been caught out doing exactly what he'd suggested. But still no words came from the young witch as she tried to digest the information he'd given her. As she tried to work out how this all made her feel. What it was she was going to do now she knew the truth.

But suddenly...you were my whole world.

And he'd become hers.

Her only real friend.

Her confidant.

The only person who made her believe in herself when nobody else in the world could have managed the same feat.

But he'd lied to her, about a very significant part of his life.

For three years.

"I..." The witch started, finding her mouth a little drier than expected so she paused for a moment before trying again. "I need time to think, Kev- Kit." She finally managed. He'd given her so much to think about, and right now, she felt far too vulnerable. Far too open to safely process everything he had told her in such a short space of time.

The small bag of clothes she'd bought for the morning seemed too far away in that moment, though, and the witch dared not to move in case she exposed more of herself than she already had to the man beside her. She eyed it momentarily, indecision working through her.

He was still Kevin.

But he wasn't the man she had come her for, not entirely.

"Do you mind if I... change privately? And then, can you take me home?" The Clement witch asked, though whether really or imagined, her tone had shifted away from the usually soft one she used with the man, closer to the tone she would use for a member of the household staff as she gave instructions. It hadn't been an intentional move on the witch's part, but the defences had been drawn up around her in the moments that passed since the truth had been laid out for her.

Even as her head kept replaying the same part of Kevin's speech again and again.

I don't know when I started falling in love with you. I don't remember when, or why. It was a thousand little things I never expected. But suddenly...you were my while world.

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Subject: Re: Il me dit des mots d'amour (Kelenore) Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:35 pm

She silently silently, barely moving from where she sat on the bed. Probably shock, he would reason afterwords as he replayed the conversation for the hundredth time in his head. Shock, revulsion, betrayal, she was well within her rights to feel all of these things.

And he more than deserved her ire for what he'd done.

But when Elenore finally did speak, it wasn't to admonish him, to cry or to hurl accusations. She merely asked for privacy to change. the words didn't register at first. But as he realized what she meant, he rose from the bed, making sure to keep his distance. He was a stranger now, of course she needed privacy.

And that small request hurt more than anything else she could have said to him.

"Of course," he mumbled, heading towards the entrance to the hole in the wall. Never before had the tiny place felt to small to him, until now. It was certainly too small for the truths that had been divulged in it tonight.

"I'll be waiting outside whenever you're ready."

And with that, the redhead slipped outside, leaving her alone in the small space she had only just started to think of as home.

The photographer wasn't sure how long he waited outside in the cold, without his jacket that was still inside, covering the French witch's narrow frame. At one point, Maurice woke up and grumbled about the cold, looking pointedly at the wizard.

"It's okay buddy, you can have my place, I don't have a reason to stick around any more," the older man admitted glumly as he waited.

"Oh yeah, where you going?"

"Does it matter?"

Maurice pretended to give the matter a few seconds of thought, then shook his head. "Guess not."

A moment later, Tuesday emerged, fully dressed and ready to leave. Maurice's toothless smile flashed her way upon seeing the young women.

"Heyyy Tuesday, I didn't know you where here. And don't worry, you can come visit me allllll the time when I live here."

Elenore didn't reply, she simply fell into step beside him as they both silently agreed to walk instead of apperate on this bitter cold evening. They were silent for the most part, until she finally spoke as they were rounding the corner to her apartment building.

"You're leaving?"

The man didn't reply verbally, merely nodding his head to show an affirmative.

"Your degree is almost-"

"Elenore," he finally met her gaze as the twinkling lights of her street lightened their path. "I only had one reason to stay, and it was not my education."

For a moment, it looked like she would respond, but finally she simply took a step ahead, indicating she wished to get home. Once again, the redhead nodded, falling into step beside her. When they finally reached her gate, he turned to her awkwardly.

"Au revoir Elenore, te connaître a été mon plus grand plaisir."

Without hearing her answer, he turned and disappeared on the spot, for once not caring for the wanton use of magic in a brightly lit area.

There was nothing anyone could take from him that he hadn't slot already.

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