Why We've Gathered Here Today (Christopher)

Guest

McKendra'd been sitting in the small nook of a kitchen in the hobbit hole that some may call a flat, when an owl came bursting through her window with a small cylinder of parchment. Having not expected post on this day, the young woman's heart jumped just a bit out of her chest (of course, she would never admit this to the sender of the owl, as shock meant fear and fear meant weakness.) Her brows furrowed in companionship with the downward motion exhibited by the curling of her lips as she stood herself up and walked up to the bird.

"What in Merlin's name could be so important as to disrupt my moments of silence and tranquility?" She questioned. McKendra knew that the owl had no ability to respond to her rhetorical question, but she hoped that it at least understood her annoyance.

And it did. The owl dropped the parchment in her hand and flew away rapidly. She could almost see the bird quaking as it fled from her flat. The Pureblood rolled her eyes. There was a certain time of day in which letters should be sent and during her morning cup of tea was not that time.

McKendra brought the letter back over to her cup of tea and she sat back down at the table, crossing one leg over the other as a lady does. Her eyes scanned the paper for any hint of sarcasm as she realised that this was a letter from her sister. No, this was not a letter. This was an invitation for reunion.

The woman became confused as she delved further into the note. Serafina had arranged for them to meet at a tea shop later in the week, on a day where they both had cleared schedules (McKendra would have been angered by her sister's stalking of her class schedule if she had not done exactly the same thing for exactly the opposite reason). She wanted to catch up, if not for the sake of catching up with family then for the sake of appearances, and McKendra found herself in no place to deny the request.

Yet, the invitation perplexed her greatly. She and Serafina did not speak outside of the occasional holiday and family gathering. They led their own lives apart from each other and McKendra had never tried to bridge the gap between them, as she'd never seen the gap as something that needed to be bridged.

McKendra was traditional. She was everything that a Pureblood woman should be and nothing that a Pureblood woman should not. She followed every rule to a t because that was how one held up their appearance in society. She did not stray from the path that her parents had laid out for her. McKendra Richardson was the perfect daughter, and yet there was nothing that she could do to be the favourite daughter.

Serafina often strayed from the Pureblood path, though she did not stray to a point in which she would be discharged from their legacy. She knew every in and out of the world she lived in and every moment was an opportunity to be her own person and fight for the rights that she wanted. She was proactive and defiant and yet she could do no wrong.

Somewhere, there was a part of McKendra that envied this trait in her sister. Though, she would never admit to this if questioned.

***

When the day came, McKendra found herself en route to the Rosa Lee Teabag. She didn't often frequent this establishment, as she often found that brewing tea herself produced a more desirable outcome. She enjoyed messing around with different elements and combinations of herbs and plant-life. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why she'd been so inclined to study herbology at university.

"How may I help you," A young girl, no older than fifteen or sixteen, smiled in her direction. She assumed that this girl was a student from Hogwarts who worked on the weekends for extra Hogsmeade allowance. McKendra looked down to the menu for a minute before parting her lips to speak.

"Rosemary chai," she told the girl. She nodded, her blonde ponytail flapping in the air as she retreated into the back. McKendra sat in wait, wondering if her dear sister had called this meeting out of sibling obligation or out of boredom.

'I guess we shall see,' she thought, folding her hands together atop the table.
'We shall see.'

Guest

The letter from Serafina sat atop his desk whilst he scowled at it. A reply, perhaps, from her in response to his question that was Lilliana Atkinson. Or, perhaps something else. Christopher had been enjoying himself as of late and he was not so stupid to think Serafina hadn't heard of the late night parties he'd attended. Likely she was going to scold him for his behaviour, remind him (as if he'd forgotten) of his duties as a Richardson, before insisting he knew better.

It was why he hadn't opened the envelope for a number of hours. Instead, he'd turned to his essays on various potion ingredients and gotten down to the work he'd been neglecting for some time. The carefree attitude that Christopher gave off to his peers was not one that accurately reflected his ambitions. However, you could never be deemed cool if your nose was in a book twenty four hours a day.

Like Lilliana's was...

But even the essay, as insightful as it might be, could not keep Christopher from wondering what his sister could want. Not half an hour later, he'd carefully undone the seal and opened the letter out. Reading the letter slowly, and carefully, Christopher found this letter to be worse than anticipated. A written lashing he could deal with, but a verbal one?

Of course, Serafina wouldn't be openly rude, but it would be subtly portrayed that she was not happy, he would easily follow her leads on words, and they would come to a point where she had the upper hand, if only momentarily.

Resigning himself to the fate -- after all, he couldn't exactly tell her no, she would not go away and therefore this would only end up prolonged -- Christopher wrote it in to the diary in his mind before returning to his essay more than a little disgruntled.

***

By the time the prearranged date had come round, albeit a couple of days, Christopher was completely on top of his work, he'd laid low for a couple of days, and not done anything Serafina could pull him up for, simply so that he had the upper hand in the conversation once more.

After pulling on a casual, day time suit, he'd made his way to the coffee shop that Serafina had outlined, and stepped inside. Almost immediately a waitress was before him, smiling much too happily at seeing him. "Mr Richardson, your sister is waiting for you." She told him, and Christopher motioned for him to follow, Christopher did exactly that, moving to the table and taking a seat before even looking at the other person already seated.

"Ser-" Christopher stopped, his eyes taking in the witch before him who was certainly not the one he'd expected. But still familiar. Jaw setting only slightly, Christopher amended himself. "McKendra." He greeted stiffly, because courtesy insisted upon it.

"Can I get you a drink, Mr Richardson?" The waitress asked, obviously eager to get away from the situation.

"Coffee. Black." He told the waitress, not looking away from McKendra in that moment. Hoping, by some luck she would morph in to Serafina and he could laugh this off. His mind was not set for a meeting with McKendra. Not in the slightest, and he was going to murder Serafina if this were real.

Guest

"Ms.Richardson," A member of the staff spoke in her direction. "Your brother has arrived." She showed no physical sign of perplexity, giving a nod of affirmation as though she'd been made aware of Christopher's attendance at this gathering. Inward, she was scowling. She quickly decided that this must be one of Serafina's tricks. Ah, how the eldest sister loved to play around with her siblings as though they were her own personal set of marionettes.

Surely, Serafina would be ever so slightly tardy, giving just enough time for tension to build up between McKendra and her younger brother. She'd then calmly approach the table and begin to moderate the conversation as if there would be no way for either party to make it through the afternoon without Serafina's supervision.

As much as she despised being toyed with, McKendra was reluctant to allow her sister's games bother her. She would be civil and polite towards Christopher, even if she was not to be met with the same courtesy.

It was not that McKendra did not like Christopher. He was her younger brother and as such, she had no right to despise him. They'd played and socialised as children, as they were closer in age than she and Serafina, but the young woman had never made too much of an effort to really know her brother. He was the Richardson heir. He'd been raised differently than McKendra had and that had somewhat turned them into strangers.

As a Richardson often did, both parties also held strong, stubborn opinions on most subjects. She and Christopher did not converse, they debated. And there was always someone around to make sure that it never escalated into something more than it was. She would never stoop to a lower point than words, but she could not say the same for her younger brother.

Once her brother made his way to the table, the only word that left his mouth was her name. And it did not begin as her name. He'd begun to greet her as Serafina, but the boy had soon realised that she was not the sister he could tolerate the company of. He quickly edited the greeting to suit the correct party, his face blunt and cordial. Ah, Christopher, ever the gentleman.

"Hello, brother," she responded, offering him a small smile because it was ladylike, not because she was glad to see him. A waitress stopped by the table to take Christopher's order and to hand McKendra the drink that she'd order whilst waiting for her companion, the wrong companion, to make way to the table.

"Black coffee," she repeated. "How boring, truly. Need you no joy in your life, brother? No sugar? No milk?" She stressed the word milk, verifying that she was not speaking of coffee but of Christopher's love life, or lack thereof.

Something else she had noticed was that her brother's eyes had not left contact with hers since he'd sat at the table.

"May I help you?" she asked. "Or do you simply wish to stare into my eyes"

She paused for a moment before adding, "Do you know where our sister may be? Or perhaps why she has arranged this little get together?"

Guest

"I have plenty of joy in my life. Milk and sugar are unnecessary if the coffee blend is apt." Christopher replied to his sister's disapproval of his choice of refreshments, but he would not alter from it. Health reasons, of course, also came in to play with milk and sugar, but with the level of exercise in which Christopher partook, it was hardly necessary to worry about the effects of these products.

But, Christopher had not missed the connotations of his sister's words, and a small hint of a smirk touched his lips. Only briefly, before it disappeared for good.

None of his sisters were aware of his sexuality, none of them were aware of how fruitful his sex life was. It was a luxury he was allowed as a male, but not one the girls were allowed. It would be improper for Christopher to bring such a topic in to conversation, and thus he didn't. Leaving Serafina and McKendra second guessing their own ideas on whether or not he was keeping himself for marriage.

It took a lot of self control for Christopher not to pull a face as McKendra calling him out for looking at her. It was the mild disbelief that Serafina would pull such a thing on them. "If I knew where she was, I can assure you I wouldn't be here." Christopher replied coolly to his older sister, not attempting to hide the fact he was not interest in talking to her. Still, he couldn't get up and leave now, being in public meant he would have to make this look amiable.

Well played, Serafina. Christopher thought to himself.

"You know as much as me." Christopher replied, sitting back with a small sigh. "Unless, there is something going on in your life that our darling sister believed you should tell me, as the future head of the family, so that I'm aware of your circumstances?" Christopher suggested, eyeing McKendra suspiciously for a moment before letting out a small, rueful laugh.

"There will be a reason, there is always a reason with Serafina."

Guest

McKendra nodded along with the defensive stance that Christopher had taken regarding how he'd wanted his coffee. It was a very basic explanation, though she hadn't expected her brother to go into much detail about something as basic as a beverage. He'd been raised as someone who jumped right into the point of a statement or conversation, not someone who delved deeply into ingredients and details. Still, McKendra decided to sink further. If not to pry into the life of her dear brother, then to waste what time they had before Serafina's intentions were made known.

"I suppose they do say that one's beverage can be the looking glass into their life," she said, just a bit of inquisition in her tone. The woman was almost certain that she had never heard such a thing said before. What mattered, however; was that it sounded vague but insightful enough to be taken as something that she had heard said before.
"Perhaps you need some excitement in your life, brother. The blandness of black coffee can only be satisfactory for so long, wouldn't you agree?"

McKendra and Christopher were not the kind of siblings who exchanged letters regarding their experiences and relationship statuses. She was currently seeing a perfectly nice Pureblood man by the name of Dunkan Aliksford; a herbology student only older than she by one year. She felt no need to give her brother this information regarding her life, as it was none of his business who she did and did not see. She could be trusted to not destroy the family's image with her romantic tendencies.

But Christopher's relationship status should be her business, McKendra had decided. Not because of their family's image, but because she was his older sister and it was her responsibility to have an opinion on his love life, was it not?

"Are you seeing anyone?" McKendra faded from coffee and into what she'd intended the conversation to be.

As Serafina became to topic of conversation, McKendra found it best to not roll her eyes. It was un-ladylike to seem irritated.

"Ah, but aren't you so grateful to catch up with one of your other sisters" she questioned without adding a questioning tone to the end of her statement.
"Or do you only jump when Sera says to?"

At the assumption that there may be something in her life that would be a negative effect on the family, McKendra's eyes went to stone. She spent her life carving every family guideline into her actions, making sure that she did not step a centimeter out of line. Or, that if she did somehow stray from the line, that they would never know.

How dare he assume any different of her.

"Perhaps it is you, brother, who has something to tell me," she retorted.
"Or are you simply too close to perfection?"

Christopher was an Icarus; his ego sometimes flew dangerously close to the sun.

'There is always a reason'

Was there always a reason? Or did their elder sister simply thrive from watching her siblings squirm?

» Christopher Richardson
» First Impressions Are(n't) Everything [Christopher]
» Appearances Can Be Deceiving [Christopher]
» The Follow Up (Christopher & Stephen)
» The Aftermath [Verena & Christopher]