It was going to rain.
The two or so weeks of glorious sunny weather was coming to a close. Above, the sky was overcast, grey clouds heavily laden with overdue rain, the undersides tinged with a particularly livid shade of deep purple. It was London, she didn't really know what else she expected. It was decidedly cooler that morning. Long gone was the sticky, humid and oppressing heat of the English capital and it was replaced with a cool breeze that was picking up fast. A foretelling of thunder? Aces.
With her head bowed against the breeze that was really know more of a wind, a tall blonde woman picked up her pace. She didn't know London too well. All she really knew was Aeric's bar, St. Mungo's and Dante's apartment. Had he sold it yet? He always spoke of wanting to go back to Naples one day. It'd have better weather and that was a given.
Ruari was here on business. She was in London to meet up with a supplier. Gerald Harrington was a bubbly and enthusiastic older man who loved to create new and interesting textiles. His latest invention was one that was totally biodegradable and cruelty free; no animal was put under any stress and the Earth wasn't either. It was perfect. Her little adventure had taken her to Shoreditch and the place was crazy. Bright and loud and vibrant, artists crowding the small markets and the place was teeming with antiques and boutique stores.
She'd decided to order some fabric from Gerald. Her store had been a lot less busy and with Christmas coming up (less than four months, eep!) party season was fast approaching. Women were all the same. They wanted something new and modern, something no one else had and that was how Ruari made her money. Shoreditch was ages away from where she was now headed. She just…walked.
She'd been doing that a lot lately. Walking. Getting lost. She often walked early hours in the morning and it wasn't really the best or safest idea she'd ever had but it worked. Somewhat.
She cut a colourful figure as she took a left down an old cobbled street, her body on auto pilot as her legs lead the way and her brain took a back seat. Her long fingers grabbed the edges of her coral coloured
blazer and wrapped it tighter around her slender body, the wind kicking up the ends of her tousled long blonde messy curls that were only kept in place by a bright red bowler hat that she'd picked up for next to nothing at a second hand store. A few more minutes of walking as she strode through the centre of a large park and she suddenly stopped.
This was the path she took when she visited her fiancée in St. Mungo's. The park lay dead set in the middle between his place and the hospital and she hadn't even realised she was walking this way. What was the point anyway? She swallowed. Quickly, she sat down on a nearby bench. It was close to mid day and she'd brought along lunch that consisted of a chicken and avocado sandwich and a cup of coffee in a cardboard cup. Neither of which had been touched.
Heaving a sigh, she slumped in her seat, long legs in front of her and back pressed against the cold and uncomfortable bench back as her pale greys watched the darkening clouds. In a twisted way, it was hilarious. The sky was a metaphor for her entire life. Now that she was here, she supposed she could always visit Hal.
The mere name made her frown. They were sort of friends now. They'd seen each other a lot but lately, Ruari had been conscious to keep her distance. It was far too easy to slip back to her sixteen year old self. Hal Trickett had that mysterious quality. He sucked her in, he kept her there, he made her laugh, he made her comfortable, he made her happy. And he was dangerous. She'd been thinking about him a lot lately. Reminiscing, really. The bottom line was that they weren't the same people any more. She didn't know if that was a blessing or a curse.
She'd taken the break up particularly badly but he hadn't. Less than twelve hours after breaking her heart, he shagged her cousin in the Charms classroom. Classy. The first cut was the deepest. That's what they said. Unlike some girls, Ruari hadn't kept many reminders of their relationship. The only things she still had with her were one of his old tee shirts, a Chudley Cannons one. By now, it was folded and buried somewhere. The only other thing she had was an old photograph. She'd looked at it just yesterday. They were by the lake and it was summer, they were sitting beneath a tree, all smiles. She was pulling a funny face and she was wearing the same glasses now that she was wearing in that photo.
Subconsciously, she pushed them further up the bridge of her nose. The photo was old, bent and squashed and folded and not particularly well looked after but she still had it. It was one thing she couldn't bear to give him back. Suddenly, a quacking caught her attention. Two ducks waddled out from a nearby pond and came towards her, clearly interested in what was in her small brown paper bag.
Without thinking, she pulled it towards her and quickly began to break off small bits of bread and tossing it out to them. "I'm sorry," she told the ducks as she deconstructed her sandwich, tossing some chicken. "Are you guys vegetarian?" She asked just as one of them hastily gobbled up the chicken breast. "Guess not," she mumbled as she continued to throw more of her sandwich away. What was her life coming to if she was having a full blown conversation with a duck?
