Wait / and pretend (don't let go) / Hold on and hope that we'll find our way back in the end
Nicknames: None currently
Magic status:Β Mundus
Nationality:Β British
Ethnicity: White british
Accent:Β Southern English/Kentish (e.g Orlando Bloom, Gemma Arterton)
Height:Β 6β²4β³
Build:Β Athletic
Complexion:Β Fair
Eye color:Β Blue
Hair color/length/style:Β Dark brown, this kind of style
Tattoos/piercings/daily jewelry:Β Still wears his family crest signet ring on his little finger, wears a silver chain gifted to him by Magdalena
What would you find if you Googled them?Β Ties to the Order but no mention of him directly, more just his surname
What natives would know about them:Β Moved to Swynlake in 2023, teaches the year 6 class at Swynlake primary school, part of various clubs around town
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"Is that how you like it?" Audrey smirked, "Having someone else in the driver seat?" Her fingers moved from his belt loops to graze against the front of his pants, lightly running along the outline of his cock through them.
"Or would you like to drive for the rest of the night?" She teased, cupping him more fully and rubbing him through his pants as she leaned up to press a kiss to the underside of his jaw.
She wanted to know what had his engine going. He could be a backpack on her bike but a dominant force in the bedroom, he could just be a gentle giant sort, or he could be the type who wanted to be bossed around a little, ridden and told he was a good boy at the end of the night.
A lot of people assumed that Florian would want to take the lead. He was relatively tall and broad and a picture of masculinity, and he was well aware of that. And he was certain that there were times when he did want to take the lead. He could certainly be flexibile, depending on the partner.
But Florian thought they had already very much picked their roles for the afternoon. The breath left him in a jugged huff when Audrey pressed her hand more fully against him, cock already half hard from her ministrations. A little breathlessly, he replied, "I'm something a people pleaser. I'll ride wherever you want me to."
Which should be answer enough, he thought. Florian leaned down, pulling her into a hungry, messy kiss.
Every time Marian braced for the explosion it didn't come. Which only made her feel foolish. This was Florian. Florian who loved working with children, who had managed to separate from the Order so he was out of the whirlwind of its fall, who was sweet and kind to everyone he met just as a matter of course. It was Florian.
Trust was simply so difficult these days. Even when there was no good reason. Chris had been her guilty secret for so long, she was struggling with the fact he didn't have to be.
"A well intentioned fairy that I was friends with. When she met Chris for the first time, she could sense his magic and she told us. She thought she was being helpful. It was a few months ago."
Of course, that very moment was what had put Marian under suspicion for her assault later on. The police had finally identified the real culprit which meant she'd been cleared. But the weeks of suspicion had left scars on a friendship not strong enough to survive it and they hadn't spoken since.
"I think the reveal was hard enough. But once they figured out that I already knew, well. Chris has forgiven me. Robbie hasn't. This feels like one more way I'm ruining his life."
Florian wasn't sure what surprised him more: the entire situation, or that Marian had known already and not told anyone.
How long had she known for? The entire time? It felt almost like a betrayal, though Florian wasn't sure why. It wasn't exactly any of his business. They were family, yes, but there was enough of a degree of separation between them that meant they could have their own secrets. He was sure there were things that had happened in the Hightower household that he had never told Marian about.
It didn't matter now anyway. They were away from that life, the one that would force them to care. All that really mattered now was how Chris and Robbie handled it. Florian tried to put himself in their shoes. How would he feel if he found out that his parents weren't who he thought they were? If he found out that his brother was something he had been brought up to hate?
Florian had questioned everything he knew once before, when he had met Magdalena and they had sat up all through the night, talking about her way of life and his, and how the two really weren't so different. She had made him see how wrong he'd been, how different things could be if only he saw things from another perspective.
Florian took a breath in, and let it go. He shook his head, looking at Marian as he said, "You're doing your best for them, same as you always have. It's -- tricky. But Robbie'll get over it."
Maximus took a deep breath as he and Florian crossed into the shade of Enchantra and out of the heat of the day. It wasn't accurate to call these rides 'regular' as that implied Maximus's schedule was stable enough to plan for something like that. But they had started to meet up when they could, and he found himself enjoying the opportunity to step away from his normal responsibilities for a little while.
It never lasted long, but it was getting a little easier to take that step back for an hour or so.
He was about to respond when the sound of something off hit his ears and he realized how quiet the forest had gotten. Out of instinct, he slowed his horse and looked around. "Did you hear that?"
Florian ducked under a low branch as Lucy plodded forwards; she had a penchant for walking in the shade, regardless of whether or not that meant Florian was half in the bushes. Luckily, the forest was decently shaded anyway, protecting himself, Maximus and the horses from the worst of the sun.
Lucy came to an abrupt halt at the sound that ricocheted off the trees, her ears twitching as she tried to identify the source of it. Florian had stopped too, spine straight, brow furrowed, turned towards where he thought the sound had come from.
He glanced at Maximus, and gave a nod. "To the north, I think." Florian said. With a gentle press of his heels against Lucy's soft abdomen, he urged her forward. "Let's go take a look."
After prom, Judy had been floating on the clouds mostly. Despite her cousin having made part of it a bit of a work related nightmare, the rest of it was lovely. And she couldn't wait to see Florian again. They'd agreed to meet for coffee like they often did now, and Judy had arrived on time. She'd looked around and there was no sign of Florian.
At first she thought she might wait, but after a few minutes she had gone ahead and ordered a coffee for the time being and found a table to sit at and wait. If he still didn't turn up she figured she'd text or call.
Just as she was pulling out her phone to do that, Florian turned up, sliding into the seat across from her. "There you are! I... well not too long, but I was starting to wonder if everything was alright. Is it? Alright that is?"
Everything was more than alright, as it happenedβ but of course, Florian couldnβt say so.
βYes!β He answered, perhaps a little too quickly. βYes,β He said again. βEverythingβs fine. End of the school year, always leaves me a bit scatterbrained.β He chuckled.
In fact, the opposite was true. The end of the year, especially once everything was ready for the children to move on to secondary school, was usually a time when Florian could focus on getting ready for the year ahead. After all, there were no real lessons, no set curriculum for the children to follow; he found himself with more free time, usually.
But the long nights were beginning to take their toll. He was spending every hour of darkness at the Inn, and rarely was he sleeping. Things would be easier when the school closed for the holidays and he didnβt have to come in at 7 every morning after being at the Inn until 4, but for now, he would survive.
βHow are you?β Florian asked, wanting to direct the question elsewhere. βHow has work been?β
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Marian could feel how still she was. The waiting. The watching. Her entire life, it had been vital to watch the men around her for the smallest clue to their emotions so she knew how to react. But she couldn't tell what Florian thought. Not yet.
"No. He's very much our father's son."
Which was the problem. Her father had been larger than life. A charming Prince of the Order, generous with his rounds and his praise, the first in every fight, always with a story to tell and quick to silence any disrespect. He'd been a lion stalking through his domain, and Robbie was the young cub who wanted so much to be all of that. Even if he shouldn't.
"When Chris was born, my stepmother's affair was impossible to deny. She and Robbie's fairy godfather fled. I hid Chris. And we were told to tell everyone that they had both died - so that's what we did. That was why I stayed home to look after Robbie."
Why she'd never gotten married. She'd only gotten engaged after her father's disappearance. After her uncle wanted connections more than he wanted a nursemaid for the future Prince.
"When the Order fell, I brought Chris out of hiding. I just...wasn't ready to tell them the truth. Until the truth got told without me and we've been dealing with the fall out ever since."
Florian nodded slowly, dipping his head momentarily because-- well, he wouldn't have assumed it was her stepmother who had the affair.
Florian was sure that it wasn't all Order men, but still... he had heard several rumours about several different families. Mistresses, flings, torrid affairs. All of it had happened at some point or anything, despite the way everyone had tried to deny it all. He couldn't even be sure that his own father hadn't been amongst the men looking away from their wives; he might've gone to that chapel and prayed every Sunday with the rest of them, but that didn't mean that he practised what he preached.
Florian looked back up at Marian again. He knew exactly what his father, what his brothers would say. Excellent! They'd smile. Then he's no relation of ours at all! Chris would be cast out quicker than any of them could blink. Where he would go, where he would be sent, Florian didn't know. But he knew what his father would think of a stepmother's illicit affair.
All of those thoughts rushed to his mind as an instant, and he fought them all down. His brow furrowed again, but this time he did allow himself to ask, "Someone exposed him? Who? And-- when?"
The summer days were hot and long in Swynlake and it didnβt help that his only choices to cool down were to be cramped in his apartment or be crammed with everyone else by the local lake.
Needless to say, Antonio was not enjoying himself in times like these
But, there was some hope beside lay around in his apartment. It was to get something cold⦠something, refreshing.
Then it hit him, maybe he could have some Ice Cream.
Yeahβ¦ Ice Creamβ¦
So, to the Ice Cream Parlour he went.
As Antonio entered the Ice Cream Parlour a faint smile grew on his face. However, it quickly disappeared once he realized how many flavors of Ice Cream there were.
Karnage gave a puzzled look as turned to whoever was next to him in line, β Heyβ¦β he raised his voice β I didnβt realize there were so many ice creamsβ¦β he asked. β can you help, The Great Antonio, thatβs meβ¦ by the wayβ¦β
Florian was maybe at the ice cream parlour more than a grown man should be, but he did have an excuse - Lucy loved the cones. And he had been on his way across town to the stables when he had realised that it was a very warm day, and that the ice cream parlour wasn't too much of a detour away, and he could pick up a plain cone for Lucy at the same time.
It seemed many people had the same idea as he did, however; not so much about getting a plain waffle cone for their horse, but about getting an ice cream in the heat. The queue shuffled forward, and Florian looked up from his phone realising the man in front was talking to him.
"Oh, sure - I mean, they'll probably let you sample a couple, if that helps. Or if you don't want any fuss, you can always just go for vanilla."
Florian was supposed to be meeting judy for coffee. Not supposed to be - he was meeting Judy for coffee. He was just running late, that was all. He was vey much on his way.
He had spent all of thursday and friday night at the Hauntley, meaning that he was running on very little sleep; he had missed his alarm that morning, highly unusual for him, and was now paying the price. Main Street was busy with tourists enjoying the good weather, meaning that Florian had to dodge a fair few to make it over to Hatter's.
When he arrived he found Judy already at a table, and with a sheepish smile, Florian slipped into the seat opposite. "Sorry I'm late. Have I kept you waiting long?"
Summary: Florian receives an invitation to reunite with someone special
Warnings: none!
Dated the evening of Thursday 2nd July
It had been a long time since Florian had needed to sleep lightly. Months and years of going to bed at night not worried for his safety or the safety of his family had, perhaps, made him complacent. Because he realised, as he looked at the note sitting on his kitchen table, that someone had been in his house last night. He had been sound asleep upstairs, none the wiser. But, then again, he doubted he would've heard his midnight house guest even if he had been awake.
Damian had written Florian's name in looping cursive, the effective which was sort of ruined by the blue ballpoint pen it had been written in. When he turned the letter over, he realised it was not in an envelope but folded in on itself, the letter becoming an envelope of its own, as had been the fashion when Damian was in youth, most likely. Carefully, not wanting to tear the paper, he unfurled each corner until he could see the message within.
She's coming tonight. Meet us at the Inn after sundown.
- D
Florian didn't need to ask who she was. He folded the letter carefully back up as it had been before, slipped it into his pocket, and headed out to work.
He was not especially productive, but it did not especially matter. The children had sat their exams already, and were now wittling down the days until primary school ended and summer could begin. Florian could've warned them to enjoy it - that secondary school would not be like this. There would be no crafts, no extended outdoor play, no dvd in the afternoon of a movie Florian had now seen ten times over. Some days, he did warn them.
But today his mind was elsewhere - it was at the Hauntley, after sundown, looking for the table where Damian would be sitting with company around him. He tried to pull it back to the present moment, but it kept wandering away, across town and up the gravel path, past the front desk and the bar to a table in the corner. There would be nothing quiet about the company, Florian was sure of that, but they would tuck themselves away anyhow, to give the illusion of privacy. All he had to do was wait for the sun to sink lower and lower, until finally, his body could follow the path his mind had already walked.
Summer nights were long. Florian knew that - hadn't they been discussing the planets and Earth's orbit just a few weeks ago in class? - but tonight they seemed even longer. The sun seemed static, standing in the sky as if it wasn't sure where it was meant to be going. A watched pot never boils, Florian thought. Perhaps a watched sun never set, either.
There were still traces of light, streaks of yellow and gold in anotherwise dark sky as Florian made his way to the Hauntley. He couldn't help himself; he had grown impatient. It was either leave just before sunset or wear a hole in his living room carpet from pacing backwards and forwards, so in the end he had left, and attempted to take a slow walk across town.
There had been nothing slow about it, however. He had walked like a man possessed, if being pulled towards the Inn by some great force, a magnet pulled towards its opposite pole. He nodded to the staff at the desk, smiled at those behind the bar, and then paused.
He heard them before he saw them, his head turning in the direction of boisterous voices. Damian's laugh was loud and bright, bordering, perhaps, on obnoxious. There were a few others there, faces he might recognise but probably wouldn't, who laughed along as well. Underneath it all, though, was a voice as smooth and sweet as honey, the sound sending a shiver up the length of Florian's spine. As if compelled, he walked forward through the crowds, until he was stood at the edge of the table.
Magdalena looked up at him, her smile broadening. "Florian, darling, there you are! It's been so long! Come, sit," She gestured to the empty seat beside her, kept bare as if she had been saving it just for him. Obediently, breathlessly, Florian sat. Magdalena curled a cool hand over his forearm, drawing him in closer. "We have so much to catch up on."
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Florian chuckled and said he'd take it as a compliment, and she could feel one of the brutal knots in her stomach slowly untangling. Of course, it only made it more obvious how tight and nauseating the rest of them were, but she would take the win of one.
She'd gotten very good at clinging to the smallest of wins.
It was hard to imagine Florian and his brothers fighting like this, although she supposed that was only because she saw what they were like in front of other people. The dramatic handsome princes, the Hightower pride, the next generation of heroes, the golden warriors.
Until Florian disappeared. Until the world changed. Until it was just the two of them sitting here.
She needed to change with it.
"They'd been fighting a little bit. It got worse when they found out that Chris is actually half fairy."
She waited for his reaction as the sentence dropped between them.
Florian had been about to nod in understanding. That was what boys did, from his experience. Especially as they got older. They fought more, argued more; his own father had once likened it to the hounds he kept in the kennels at the back of the abbey, who would usually live in relative peace, only barking and snapping at each other every now and again. To establish dominance, his father had said. To decide who stood where, in the hierarchy of things.
But then Marian continued, and Florian stilled, wondering if he had heard correctly.
A half fairy. There were worse things to be, Florian supposed, but... how? Chris was older than the fall of the Order, which meant that his father - Marian's father...
Florian looked down the hall, as if it might answer his questions, before quickly looking back to Marian. The silence stretched onwards, longer than he should've allowed it to, but the confused draw of his brows should have been enough to expain why.
"He is?" Florian asked. He paused, because he supposed Marian wouldn't have said it if she hadn't meant it. It wasn't a particularly funny joke. "But Robbie, he's not...?"
God, she was failing. What other word was there for this? She'd practically raised Robbie, and now everything she did seemed to be the wrong thing. Everything kept fracturing, both boys were hurting, and nothing she did seemed to bridge that gap.
She knew from experience Chris wouldn't eat anything else now. In an hour, he'd get hungry again and come out for a snack, but his appetite was the first thing to disappear when there was a fight.
Frankly, her own wasn't much better. She was just better at faking it.
Chris looked up and gave Florian a small smile at the offer. "That sounds nice. It'd be good to check anyway. Just to be sure."
As he glanced towards Marian, she swallowed a sigh. "Yes, go ahead to your room. It's all right. I'll let you know before Florian is leaving." With that, Chris nodded, slipped out of his chair and ghosted down the hall.
There was only a beat of silence before she said, "I'm sorry. I'm not sure if its a compliment or not that a fight like that happened in front of you. Usually having company around is enough to keep away the worst of it." She wanted to smile but she couldn't manage it.
Florian gave him a small ,muted smile as Chris got up and left the room. It seemed so quiet in the house now, without the boys there. The ticking of the clock on the wall seemed louder, as did the hum of the fridge from the kitchen. Florian noticed that the dog was nowhere to be seen, probably off with Chris; it did seem like he had a favourite.
Florian had been party to dinners like this many times before. It was only natural, he thought, when you had siblings with which to argue. It was inevitable. How many times had he and Felicity sat at a quiet dinner table after Fabian and Frederick had stormed off to their separate rooms? Or how many times had all four of them, and their mother besides, sat in stunned silence after their father had yelled at them for one thing or another?
Florian wasn't even remotely perturbed by it. he shook his head when Marian apologised, and said, "I'll take it as a compliment. I suppose it's nice that they feel comfortable enough." He chuckled.
He knew there was a lot that he didn't see, a lot that probably went on under this roof that he didn't know about. Petty squabbles and arguments that happened, compiling on one another, until something like tonight happened and it all bubbled over. Florian had seen only the tip of the iceberg; he was sure there was much more going on beneath the surface.
"Have they reached that age where they're fighting all the time?" He asked. "I remember when Frederick and Fabian got to that point. It's a wonder we didn't have WWE knocking at the door."
"My shifts vary," Wolf said, automatically cagey about the very idea of talking about it and revealing some sort of structural weakness in the Inn's security. Late, was the truth, usually something where the days bled slowly into each other with him catching stolen hours of sleep in the early hours of the morning, and then taking the occasional nap when the daylight had come and the Inn had less to fear.
"There's always something to be dealing with," he added with a shrug.
But he managed to catch up, his suspicious subconscious reminded itself. Where did Florian catch up, he wondered? It could not be at school when he was minding the little ones. So where did he manage to get the sleep that he ought to need when he was spending nights staying up late talking to Vampires?
The questions prickled at him still, lingering doubts in his head that could not be wiped away by that charming smile.
"Still, there are lots of quiet times as well," Wolf said gruffly as he moved them both down the driveway and towards the gates. "I expect you will need lots of coffee to cope, if the children are loud."
Florian chuckled, inclining his head in agreement. "They're loud at the best of times," he said. "But we're getting towards the end of the school year now. They're all very excitable."
Florian absolutely would need lots of coffee to cope. He could already taste the bitter, slightly burnt coffee supplied in the staff room, which he would have to endure, because he never could seem to remember to bring in his own stuff from home. If he was lucky, he'd remember to stop off on his way to work and buy a bottle of milk, but more than likely he would drink it black and sweet whilst he tried to corrall the children into doing something productive.
He had sort of gotten into the habit of running off little sleep, however. It had begun long before he had met Magdalena. The Order had wanted all of them to be able to function on as little sleep as possible, to allow a strike at any time of day or night. Of course, after he had met Magdalena, Florian had become practically nocturnal. He was in a strange sort of in-between place, now.
The gates were not too far away now. Florian turned to Wolf, smiling wryly as he said, "Well, I hope the rest of your shift isn't too draining. I'm sure we'll be bumping into each other again, eh? It's becoming quite a habit, meeting like this."
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Audrey wasn't one to judge where someone lived. Some of the nicest people lived in the shittiest places. And some of the worst, in the nicest. Audrey smirked slightly, giving him a once over as she brushed past him, slipping much closer than necessary, "A gentleman, huh."
She looked around the space a little bit, biding her time before he joined her inside the apartment. "So, Florian..." She said his name as it rolled off her tongue, leisurely moving towards him until she was basically met with muscled chest before glancing up at him.
Her fingers slipped into his belt loops, tugging him in a bit, "Did you enjoy your ride?" Her lips curved into a smirk, "Having something powerful between your thighs?" Her fingers slipped along the tops of his jean clad thighs as she had on the bike. "You were an excellent backpack."
Florian had been wrapped around Audreyβs back, arms around her waist for at least the last half an hour, and yet it still felt intimate to have her grazing past him as she stepped inside the flat. He inclined his head, smiling at the gentleman comment, before he stepped inside behind her, at shut the door with a gentle click.
When he turned, Audrey had closed the distance between them again. When Florian dipped his chin to meet her gaze, he noticed the particular hunger in her eyes, and the wicked curve to the smirk on her lips. When she pulled him closer by his belt loops, Florian felt the same swooping feeling in his stomach that he had felt when they'd been on the bike, speeding along the empty roads. He smiled, raising one hand to brush Audrey's hair back from her shoulders, letting his hand linger on the curve of her neck, feeling her pulse beneath his fingertips.
"It's not like it was a hard job." He pointed out, smile still playing on his lips. "All I had to do was hold on tight. You did the rest."
"You would think. I'd say you should report back, but if you do crack it I'm sure you and all the other teachers will be sworn to secrecy." After all, most good conspiracies involve a little secrecy, and he could see the teachers taking advantage. They worked hard enough as it was.
Besides, he was the last person to judge people finding magic that made their jobs a little easier to take care of other people.
Maximus felt the small shift as Florian looked over at him and he shrugged. "I take off a day here or there, but I rarely take off more than that. I'm not very good at relaxing. Even on my days off I usually do some work. But you probably understand that better than most as a teacher. Like you said, rooms don't decorate themselves and the prep has to happen sometime."
Florian smiled faintly, directing his gaze momentarily back at the trail ahead of them. It wasn't exactly necessary; by now, Lucy knew each path through the forest well enough for Florian not to have to direct her. Still, he knew better than to grow complacent in Enchantra. There was always something lurking behind the trees, of that he was quite certain.
His smile, however, had come from Maximus's admission. That he wasn't the best at relaxing - Florian might've bet his hard-earned money on that. Perhaps it was a stereotype of sheriffs everywhere, or perhaps it was just the way Maximus held himself, but Florian would've easily assumed that he wasn't the type to be able to take a two-week vacation somewhere sunny twice a year.
"In a way," Florian agreed, glancing back at Maximus. "But I think my job is not quite as intense as being sheriff. Although it does feel like there's similarities, sometimes." Florian chuckled. "I don't know if you've ever tried to manage a group of thirty 10 year olds, but if you ever need some help with riot control, I might have some transferable skills."
