✱ — star of the sea ;

It was pretty much rattling, how unraveled Lily found herself at that touch. Marlene’s fingers on her wrist had her twisting some to peer over a freckled shoulder, her thick brows furrowed in a display of mock irritation. The smile that was waiting for her on Marlene’s face was telling: it was exactly the sort of smirk that was smug enough to turn Lily on & gentle enough to weaken her knees all at once. A strange combination that she was entirely unprepared for navigating– and one Marlene pulled with increasing frequency.

With the overdone sigh of defeat Lily liked to make so often, when she was relinquishing control on purpose, she collapsed backwards once more, stretching her body lengthwise next to Marlene, the sheet still clutched close to her body. It was perhaps uncharacteristic; a battle too easily won on her companion’s front– but this is how it seemed to go with them: a testing of the water; here a give, small, without much resistance; there a challenge, a more solid obstacle. Yet somehow, almost faithfully, they always seemed to manage anyways.

And now it was her turn to incite; to speak around the things they felt thick between them. Lily, so experienced in this area, so comfortable in the grays, took to the game easily and with the intent of someone who never plays without expecting to win.

“And you think you’re the one to help me relax?”

Satisfaction entered her bloodstream as she watched Lily fall back next to her, nervous and content all in one fell swoop. Getting her way was easy; she knew exactly what to say, exactly how to look, a game she’d been playing since she was born and it was almost impossible to say no to her based upon the genetic code of the youngest child desperate for attention.

But attention from Lily she craved in a different way, she craved the gentle lick of flames that started in the pit of her stomach. It was like the ocean in all of its power but was a steady, slow lap of waves kissing the shorelines. Marlene was used to frantic and needy and heated, she’d never felt something as delicate as this and had quickly grown acquired to the flavor.

That didn’t stop her, however, from wanting more. 

“‘Course I am,” she said, her lips still curled in a smirk despite her heart hammering so hard in her chest she felt as though any moment she would stop breathing. Her confidence came from a third party, seeing as how deep within herself, Marlene was terrified. “I’m nothing if not relaxing.”

A LITTLE PARTY NEVER KILLED NOBODY Event #1, February 1980

When surrounded by death, there was nothing wrong with being the life of the party – or so Sirius kept insisting, to himself, silently. The philosophy was drained through kegs and liquor bottles prior to being sent up in a puff of smoke that was quickly inhaled, a desperate sniff for an extra ounce of happiness. It had only taken one shot for the edge to begin dulling, and by drink four, Sirius could almost be tricked into believing they were all three years younger, light and young and free. Yet even a bowl and another two shots hadn’t been able to fully conjure the illusion, and while Sirius certainly felt like he was floating, it most certainly wasn’t on Cloud Nine. 

Discontent with his own intoxication, Sirius sought to bring about the decreased sobriety of everyone around him. He was walking through the crowds with a bottle in hand, and his eyes instantly landed on a perfect target. 

“Oi! You don’t look nearly drunk enough.” He approached with a flash of a smile that was warmer and sharper than a shot of whiskey, and he tipped the bottle towards his newest patron. “Luckily for you, I’ve taken on the task of being a traveling bar tonight. So, single or double? There’s only one right answer.” 

Parties shouldn’t have felt like home, but nothing much did these days. They at least brought about a small sense of comfort, giving her the excuse to properly fly off the handle and blame everything that would happen in its wake on everything she put in her system. No longer did she search for the blissful freedom that came in parties, like she had in school, she just searched for a sloppy excuse. 

She’d certainly found as much, already feeling a steady buzz and a thrumming itch to push herself even more. Marlene didn’t believe in limits by any means, constantly testing her own and those of the people surrounding her; especially in a scenario where she was wound tight like a coil looking for something to stimulate her, it was no surprise she had every intention of letting herself run unrestrained for the evening. It seemed fate had the same idea in mind, as she caught sight of Sirius approaching her. This should be interesting, she thought to herself, fingers twirling the joint that had long since gone out as she watched. Things usually were when she and Sirius were together, giving whole new light to the term ‘partners in crime.’

“You don’t say,” was her response, a wry smile curling the edges of her lips. “You never do let me down, Black, that’s for sure. Double, of course. Is there anything other?” One of her eyebrows arched quizzically, a silent challenge for him. Sirius and Marlene had always been kindred spirits in the most devilish of ways, her go-to in company whenever she felt the need to shake a few of her inhibitions loose through whatever substance they could get their hands on. Lately, it seemed, she’d been having those needs more and more frequently. “What’s the traveling bar serving? If it’s not enough to hammer me into the ground, it’s safe to say I’ll be thoroughly disappointed. I was counting on you.”  

Lily smiled a toothy grin into the mattress at Marlene’s quick shift towards approval– one meant entirely for herself. She had been trying, offhandedly, to provoke a reaction other than listless disinterest, and wasn’t shy about the measures she had taken to elicit the response she’d wanted. With some effort, she shifted from face-down to propped on her side, using her elbow to support herself upright, lazily tugging the sheet up to cover her breasts. 

“I thought it’d be proper to give you the opportunity to prove me wrong.” Lily feigned nonchalance, shrugging the shoulder she wasn’t supporting her weight on up towards her ear. “Of course, it seems that can’t be done.” 

The requisite Lily smile followed, this time on full display, pulling her face into an exaggerated childishness with her nose-wrinkle. Thereafter, the grin still lingering, she raked a hand carelessly through the untamable mass of her hair, appraising Marlene’s lazy slouch beside her. Their sudden closeness on the bed– Marlene’s strong face only an arm’s length from her own; Marlene’s full (albeit drab) garb strangely more provocative, somehow, than semi-nakedness– thrummed a soft but steady electricity through Lily’s doeish body. 

Moments like these were distinctly new to her. She could never recall feeling anything more than argumentative around Marlene when they attended Hogwarts– both of their personalities attention-favoring in their own ways; Marlene’s subtle pomp and opinionated reason evoking an ever-present need in Lily to be equally as outspoken in her presence. She’d always engaged a deep passion when speaking with Marlene, but never one that focused on anything other than herself: the next thing she would say, the intonation of her logic. But the world had been cracked open some, since leaving Hogwarts. Whatever had changed, as of recent, was hard for Lily to tack down, to put her thumb on, and therefore something she shied away from naming at all. And all the same, it was present: here, now, in the reach between them.

Lily worked to catch those dark eyes, although not too hard. Once she held them, she raised an eyebrow in suggestion; almost immediately thereafter, however, she pushed herself the rest of the way up into a seated position and scooched herself to the bottom edge of her mattress, the sheets still held up around her chest, her naked back a freckled canvas to Marlene’s vantage.

“I really do need to get dressed.” She insisted, entirely reluctant of the notion, staring ruefully at the explosion of wooly jumpers and faded jeans at her feet. “I told James we’d be over ‘round half six. And you really are no help.” 

It shouldn’t have been a struggle for Marlene to keep her eyes above the makeshift hem of the sheet that Lily had pulled around her, and yet, it was. She could be cheeky without concern without those doe eyes staring right back at her, but when it all stared her right in the face her throat seemed to go dry and close in on itself. Lily had always been a friend, often at arms length dependent on how much of her Marlene could swallow in that moment. And somehow, it had blossomed in every way imaginable Marlene had not been remotely prepared for.

“That’s the proper thought you had?” The words fell out of Marlene’s mouth before she had the opportunity to catch them; not as though she’d ever done much to build a dam of a filter inside the constant moving currents of her tongue anyways. “I always side with what I think is the right idea, Evans, I can’t be blamed for us having a similar train of thought. Guess one of us has rubbed off on the other.”

She couldn’t help but to watch closely, carefully as Lily turned away from her, the bare expanse of skin all Marlene was able keep her eyes trained upon. Remembering the exact moment she’d started to feel a weight in her stomach whenever she was in Lily’s company, especially at a close proximity like this was hard to pinpoint. There was a quiet, looming storm cloud on her horizons she was hellbent on delaying ever since she was back in her days at Hogwarts, her days more occupied in the art of socialization and flourishing a wand to refill her glasses than it was with a nose in a book like most. Running free was in her nature, acting on the trigger of an impulse than with logic and reason. She never wore her thoughts visibly on her face, she kept them only to the moments in the dark or when she was in a cloud of sorts. Lily had somehow worked her way into those moments, and it was a healthy dose of terror for a dauntless Marlene. This part of her world, a secluded corner she tried to keep the veil on and refrain from seeing the light was one she’d never imagined finding Lily in. The wires had gotten tangled, as they always did, the moment she had let Lily in a step closer than previously. 

“Half six?” Marlene repeated, rolling her eyes at the statement. “You can spare a moment away from your wardrobe crisis. We’ve got time.” Rolling over onto her side, she reached out and grabbed one of Lily’s wrists and gave it a slight tug. “Relax for a second.” A hybrid of a gentle grin and her classic smirk appeared back on her face, an addendum to her request. That was the danger Marlene always had no control over; she somehow knew exactly how to entice, despite being unsure of what was going to happen next.

“Marlene, who do you think you’re talking to? James F. Potter, Marauder extraordinaire! That’s who. The thing is, Edgar’s quite a scary bloke? All that scowling. And me, well, I’m nice and friendly, aren’t I? I’m lovable.”

“Also, there is a real chance that Edgar might – well, I don’t want to ruin this face, put it that way. Even you’d have to admit that would be tragedy for our generation. But if you’re talking big game, there’s no reason why we can’t make this… interesting. How lucky are you, McKinnon?”

"Well, Marauder extraordinaire, you sure are coming up short. Thought you all weren’t afraid of a little scowl every now and again. In fact, I think you’re probably one of the only people who’s admitted to being afraid of him. He isn’t all that bad.”

“D’you reckon if McKnickers came along Edgar would share his stash of firewhiskey? Because, really, he’s just being unfair at this point.”

"Sometimes I don’t even know who you are, muttering on about sharing. Never heard of the phrase ‘easier to ask for forgiveness than it is permission?’ I’d like to see Edgar stop me from swiping his stash.” 

The London sky was a weight on the city: low-pressing and dense. It made it hard for Lily to tell whether or not she wasn’t more claustrophobic outside than in. All week she had skulked around the flat, moping on Marlene and mumbling to Dorcas, and altogether adopting a general air of disgruntlement. She paced, she discarded her books; she replied defensively to every question and took long, stretching naps into the darkening afternoons in James’ jumpers (while, at the same time and acutely aware of the irony, avoiding the notion of visiting him). Whatever interim the Order appeared to be in– one of ❛ laying low, one of stagnation– didn’t suit her at all, and she itched for the return of stimulation and purpose. 

All things considered, a party was close enough. Lily was never one to settle– her jaw clenched at the idea of such reserved compromise– but, in the case of a Prewett party, it felt less like a last-resort and more like a timely distraction. Her recent, consuming insatiability, at the least, could be tabled in the company of her friends, and the tension she felt so stiff in herself when she thought of speaking with James– of the argument waiting to happen, waiting to be started, and by her, probably, too– would be relieved, if only slightly, by their presence as well. Still, Lily wasn’t exactly favorable at pulling herself out of ruts, and the yawning black of night that pressed close outside her window, chilling the windowpane and threatening to pour right in, had her feeling especially irritable. Now she stooped, naked save for her knickers, close to the floor of her room, digging through a pile of laundry she’d washed weeks before but never bothered to fold and put away. “Ugh,” she huffed, blowing some of that thick, red hair from her face and tossing colorful t-shirts into a growing pile of tried-on-and-quickly-discarded party outfit options. 

Half-naked as she was, she turned to Marlene, where she lay sprawled on her bed. Marlene, who was supposed to be giving Lily kind outfit critiques and helpful suggestions, but instead was lounging there in an entirely un-helpful fashion. 

“I give up.” She exclaimed, just exactly as dramatic as she felt right then. “Nothing works. I’m just going in this.” She flopped herself, for good measure, heavily down beside Marlene, burying her face in her soft, sweat-smelling sheets. “And you’re no help!” She chastised after a moment, her voice muffled by the mattress. 

Any small reprieve Marlene was granted away from the abyss her mind and thoughts formed, she clutched tightly to it and would run with it straight into the ground. Quiet had become commonplace to her utter disdain; Marlene loathed the still and peaceful. She needed something to keep her occupied, distracted, and she was beyond the point of itching. If it wasn’t widely, vastly, and utterly frowned upon by Moody, she would have sent herself on a self-assigned mission to provoke the Death Eaters into doing something by now. Idle was not a word that processed correctly through Marlene’s wiring. It chewed it up, spat it out, and demanded a better answer: incentive. Stimulant. Provocation.

She never thought there’d come a day where she’d felt closer to falling at the feet of the Prewetts and their parties, but here she found herself, a few inches off the ground. It was a reprieve, one she could fully stand behind, and her throat burned at the thought of shutting her mind off for awhile. Besides, Marlene and her alcohol were a duo that couldn’t stay separated from one another for much too long — they would find their way back sooner as opposed to later. Being held captive (the word ‘prisoner’ seemed a bit harsh, even if that’s the only thing she could equate her boredom to) by Lily and the endless mountain of outfits only proved to stand in between her and said bottle of alcohol even longer, unfortunately. It was impossible saying no to Lily though, so Marlene had taken right to the bed after the demand packaged loosely in the form of a request to help, a pillow loosely in between both her arms as she lounged back and watched the show. Her feedback had been requested, but it usually proved to be of no use. In the end, Lily would do what she wanted — Marlene, as far as wardrobe advice went, never strayed from her religion of jeans and the color black, which never did seem to be a popular answer.

“Finally, a suggestion I like,” she groaned as Lily landed next to her on the bed, a smirk curving sharply over the planes of her lips. “It’s the only outfit you haven’t shot down before you even got it half-on. Not to mention, it’s very becoming.” 

Her eyes rolled at Lily’s last comment, a slight scoff pushing through her throat. “Don’t tell me I’m of no help. You already know that I’m practically useless; you’re the one who asked despite knowing this.” 

clearliquors:

BOLD what applies to your muse.

PLACE IN SOCIETY

financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty.

medical: fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged.

class or caste: upper / middle / working / slave / unsure.

education: qualified / unqualified / studying.

criminal record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no.

FAMILY

married - happily / married - unhappily / engaged or betrothed / partnered / single / divorced / separated.

has a child or children / has no children / wants children.  

close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased.

orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent(s).

TRAITS + TENDENCIES

extroverted / introverted / in between.

disorganized / organized / in between.

close minded / open-minded  / in between.

calm / anxious / in between.

disagreeable / agreeable / in between.

cautious / reckless / in between.

patient / impatient / in between.

outspoken / reserved / in between.

leader / follower / in between.

empathetic / unemphatic / in between.

optimistic / pessimistic / in between.

traditional / modern / in between.

hard-working / lazy / in between.

cultured / un-cultured / in between 

loyal / disloyal / in between.

faithful / unfaithful / unknown.

BELIEFS:

monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic.

belief in ghosts or spirits: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care.

belief in an afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care.

belief in reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care.

belief in aliens: yes  / no / don’t know / don’t care.

religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious.

philosophical: yes / no.

OPINIONS

pro-choice / anti-abortion /  doesn’t know or on the fence.

pro-marriage / anti-marriage / doesn’t know or on the fence.

pro-death penalty / anti-death penalty  / doesn’t know or on the fence.

pro-drug legislation / anti-drug legislation / doesn’t know or on the fence.

left wing / right wing / middle / doesn’t know or on the fence.

SEXUALITY + ROMANTIC INCLINATION

heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual.

sex repulsed / sex neutral / sex favourable.

romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favourable.

sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious.

potential sexual partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all.

potential romantic partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all.

ABILITIES

combat skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none.

literacy skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

artistic skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

technical skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none.

HABITS

drinking alcohol: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess.

smoking: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess. 

other narcotics: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess.

medicinal drugs: never / sometimes  / frequently / to excess. 

indulgent food: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess. 

splurge spending: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess.