Alistaire Talkalot

regulusxblack‌:

“Your loss,” he shrugged, making a slight face at Al’s comments, “You literally go to school at a place full of them. How the hell do they make you feel fancy? I mean, my own house is literally uses one.”

“This one is cooler than the one at your house,” Lucinda said easily as they were shown a more secluded table. “And don’t make that face – it’s his birthday too, you have to be nice.”

“I’m used to yours. It’s boring.” He smiles softly and shrugs. He doesn’t really want to focus on the fact it’s his birthday too. This is for Lucinda hands down. 

regulusxblack‌:

“Good,” he nodded, “Don’t pretend like you both don’t also feel relieved by that. It’s exhausting.”

“That’s what happens when you don’t try out for the quidditch team, mate. Get on our level.”

“Of course we do, it’s just fun teasing you about it.” 

Lucinda couldn’t help but laugh. “You know, he’s not wrong, Al. But, luckily for you it’s actually just around the corner.” Walking a few more steps, they turned to find what seemed to be a dead end. The only odd thing about the space was the sign hanging at the end of it. Tapping a few key stones, soon a gateway appeared, and the trio stepped through to a lovely restaurant.

“There is not enough money in the world to get me on one of those infernal death traps you call brooms. My feet will forever and always be firmly planted on the ground.” He nods sagely, meaning. He watches her tap in the code an smiles. “I love secret entrances. They make me feel so fancy.”

She nodded, stepping away after a moment to give him some space. “Good, I’m glad. Obviously should you ever need a pep talk or to just hear the truth… I’m always here. And,” she paused, making a face and unsure of whether she should say anything, “you know you can get upset about dad in front of me, right? You don’t have to hide it.”

“I-I’m not hiding it.” Not much anymore. In the early days he had been. Now the pain was more of a dull ache that a stabbing sense of utter loss. It was already fading back into something Al would be able to forget about later. “It’s easier now...that it’s been so long. I still miss him. Every day...but it doesn’t feel like I can’t breathe any longer...which is good, you know?”

regulusxblack‌:

“Please tell me it’s a wizarding establishment? I can’t last much longer among these people.”

“Yes, Reg, it’s a wizarding establishment,” she couldn’t help but laugh. “The perks of being in Rome is that there’s far more of our kind here than in the country.” Although she couldn’t deny that how much she loved the Tuscan countryside. Heading down the steps so that they could continue towards the restaurant, Lucinda wrapped an arm around his waist as they began to walk. “It must have been dreadful dealing with these muggles all day, I promise I’ll make it up to you later,” she joked, before turning her head to look at Alistaire. “But no, it’s nothing crazy. Traditional, delicious, amazing Italian. We should get a bottle of wine for the table too.” 

Alistaire rolls his eyes and smiles softly in spite of Regulus’s complaining. He’s not far behind with how fed up he is with the muggles either. They’re very....intrusive at some of the monuments they’ve been visiting. “Based off Regulus’s attitude we might want to get two.” He smirks. “Italian sounds amazing, how soon until we get there? I’m not sure how many miles I’ve got left in these shoes.”

Letting him pull away, Lucinda can’t help but reach up once more to swipe at the tear tracks on his cheeks. She can tell he’s embarrassed by it, and honestly, all she wants to do is smack her brother and tell him how ridiculous he’s being for it – after all, how many times has he seen her cry over their father? And this was, after all, a perfectly justifiable thing to cry over. “Don’t be a numpty,” her words were faux serious. “You already are, Al. He would’ve been proud of how you took care of me this year, and he was already proud of you before he died. There’s nothing you need to prove.” 

He lets her wipe, further embarrassed by it but not sure how to tell her that. Her words make another wave of tears come but he squashes them down with a fiery sort of fury. He won’t allow that anymore. But he smiles softly at her all the same. “Thanks Luce. I...I really needed to hear that, ya know?”

regulusxblack‌:

“Do we have to?” he asked with a sigh, although he let her pull him up the steps. He kissed her cheek as she held out the phone to take the picture. Afterwords, he turned to face Alistaire for a moment, definitely not bothering to hide his grimace when it came to him rather than Lucinda. “Like I said, I’m happy to do whatever it is that Luce wants to do.”

Lucinda snapped a few photos, quickly glancing at them before answering her brother. “I’ve sent a few but I’ve been told there’s far too much scenery and not enough of the three of us so we’re fixing that.” Not bothering to forward anything now, she hummed in response the question, not too keen on hitting up any of the restaurants listed on the pamphlets that had been passed out to them. “Actually I’ve been wanting to try this one restaurant not far from here. We might also be able to avoid most of the tourists that way.”

“Of course we have to.” Al says as he neatly falls into place beside Regulus, hands in his pockets. He hates taking pictures of himself and has to hide a grimace at needing to take more pictures of himself. “Lead the way then, fearless leader. As long as I’m not going to be forced to eat something really weird I’m down for avoiding these muggle tourists.”

“Please do,” she chuckled, the smile on her face massive. She was happy and incredibly relieved that he like the gift – because there had definitely been a moment where she’d questioned whether it had been an absolutely terrible idea. “Not only is it tradition… I think it’s fair,” she shrugged, referring to the fact that she always wore their mother’s wedding ring. “Seeing as I always have something of mum’s.”

He smiles softly at her and wipes furiously at his eyes until they are at least dry around the edges. He’ll probably end up crying more on his own, he’s got to be strong for Luce. The watch fits almost perfectly even though Al doesn’t feel the least bit like it fits him personally. “It’s perfect.” He swipes his thumbs across the face again. “I-I can only hope I do him proud by it now.”

regulusxblack‌:

Regulus bit back yet another grimace at the far too cheerful attitudes of his friends. While he was definitely happy to be there celebrating their birthday, he could have definitely passed on what seemed to be the never-ending list of things for the three of them to do. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure what was wrong with simply staying at the villa he’d rented for them. It was half the reason he’d picked such a place – there was plenty to do there at the house that didn’t involve leaving. “I mean…if that’s what you want to do, Luce.”

“We’ve already seen the Sistine Chapel,” Lucinda conceded, knowing that both of them were extending the day mostly for her benefit at this point. Alistaire looked tired but very much tried to hide it, while Regulus looked absolutely pained every time her brother read another tidbit about one of the beautiful monuments they came across. “So I think we can let this one go. Let’s take some pictures – especially since both Gran and your mother and Narcissa have already texted me asking for some,” she directed the latter part of her words at her fiance, already taking his hand and pulling him up a few steps. “And then maybe we can go get dinner? Why eat at the villa when we’re already out? We can walk a bit after, get dessert, call it a night,” she suggested. 

Al would be lying if he didn’t get some satisfaction out of Regulus’s discomfort at everything. He’d kept reading things when he say doing so made Regulus roll his eyes and Lucinda laugh.  “They haven’t gotten enough pictures yet? I thought you’d been sending them a deluge.” He smirks. “I’m sure one of these pamphlets has some good restaurant suggestions we can look at. Have to find something interesting to put on your blog, right? What do you say Reg?” He smiles over at him, trailing behind them up the steps.

She couldn’t help but smile as he finally put the watch on, and the sight of him genuinely made her breath catch. He truly looked like their father in that moment, and whether Alistaire liked to admit to himself or not, Lucinda saw much of the older man in him. Happily wrapping her arms around him in a hug, she couldn’t help but laugh at his words. “It’s okay. This is kind of a difficult one to follow – I couldn’t really blame you.”

“Kind of difficult? It’s going to be amazingly difficult.” He squeezes her tight one more time before pulling away. He’s not a physically affectionate kind of guy, even with someone he loves as much as he loves his sister. “I promise to take special care of it forever.”