beyond the sky [marin]

"It's Marin," Wini said to her father William as she heard a knock at the door. She already had her bright yellow purse looped over her shoulder and was in the middle of grabbing a few biscuits out of the jar on the counter as she called out, "Door's open!" before she glanced at William with an indulgent smile. "I told him he could just come in," she said with a little roll of her eyes and her father gave her a little smile before sipping his tea.

Wini waited, staring at him pointedly, one hand on her hip, waiting for him to notice. It took a few moments but William glanced up at her, paused in question, and then Wini saw the light bulb go off. He was catching on quicker. "And where are you going?" William asked and then started again after Wini just raised her brows a little higher. "And when will you be back?"

She grinned and gave him a nod, leaning in to peck his cheek. "Just hanging out at Marin's, will be back before it gets dark. Bye!" she told him before she was out of the room and greeting her best friend with a big smile. "Want a biscuit?" she said, offering him one before stopping short. "It's raining?" she said, noticing it for the first time with a frown. She glanced down at her pretty sundress and her cute sandals, thinking she'd have to keep up on the charm work today or go change.

No, she looked too cute today. She'd just have to remember to renew her charms every so often. "So where to?" she asked as she glanced up at him. It was a Marin Day so he got to pick whatever he wanted to do or go or eat and Wini wasn't allowed to complain (which she mostly tried to stick to), but if he made her sit through a whole game of chess in silence again, all bets were off.

@Marin Clare

So, the world was ending. Or something.

Maybe that was dramatic, he thought, knuckles rapping lightly on Wini’s wooden door. His arm fell back to his side and he waited (im)patiently for her to answer. His wand was still held in his other hand; he was hoping for a quick entry and a quick exit.

Apocalypse was definitely a far too dramatic description of what was happening (he decided, in the nine seconds it took for the door to open in front of him) but it certainly felt big. He was having difficulty processing it, even after a good night’s sleep. He blinked as the door opened in front of him, abstract metaphors slipping from his mind. Marin stepped inside, but not too far in because he didn’t want to linger. He was dressed in dark brown corduroy trousers and a neatly-fitting black knitted jumper today. Winifred was not dressed for the weather, he noticed.

“Um,” Marin said, not really in the mood for biscuits. He wasn’t in the mood for talking about the weather, either; he’d barely noticed the rain, and had thrown up a charm to keep himself dry as he’d left the house without even noticing he’d done it. “It’s slightly less dreary in Bovisand,” he told his friend distantly. It was still raining at his house, but it was more misty there, rather than properly wet. Marin took a biscuit.

He wasn’t in the mood for talking at all, in some ways. As in, a part of him wanted to go back to bed and lie there until his brain could accept the sudden, massive-feeling life change. But he knew from experience that talking about things could be helpful, so. "Come on, lets go to mine," he said, hovering by the door. "But not my house," he added quickly, waving his wand, silently performing a charm to keep the pair of them dry. "Lets go for a walk along the coast."

"Bovisand?" Wini repeated, her eyes sparking at the thought of going there. She always loved the beach. She munched on her biscuit, holding it between her lips as she pulled her wand from her purse and charmed her cute sandals to be water repellant. The blonde glanced at Marin's shoes but saw they were already dry and then noticed the rain seemed not to touch her either, spying Marin's wand in his hand and giving him a grateful smile.

She wrapped her arm around his and nodded. "Sounds good to me," she agreed easily. Anything was better than a day of chess. She took a half step closer and then inhaled, the nerves that surrounded her when it came to apparition came back in a blink and she glanced up at him. "I swear I'm going to pass my test soon," she told him, knowing it was just another req to be a mediwitch that she had to master, but the thought of disappearing from existence even if it was just a millisecond and showing up in another place completely freaked her out. She was only good with side-along apparition mostly out of necessity and also she trusted Marin more than almost anyone else on the planet, even herself.

"Ready," she said before she felt the inside out squeeze that made her feel sick, her blonde hair whooshing around her before she cracked her eyes open and found herself on the coast, a gentle sea breeze tickling her cheek. Wini looked up at Marin and raised her brows. "Still have both of my eyebrows?" she asked out of habit. Splinching was a nasty thing.

“It’s fine,” Marin said flatly. He didn’t mind that he always had to take them somewhere if they were apparating. He was quite good at taking someone along with him, actually, and probably better because she still couldn't do it herself. He gave her arm a tiny squeeze with his own, then focused on the spell, and spinning, and his destination, and pulling her along with him… They left London behind in a snap, and Marin felt a little calmer out here in the middle of nowhere, where the air was salty and fresh.

They reappeared on a grassy hill overlooking the sea. The pair were a few metres back from a walking that stretched out in both directions; one led down to the pebbly beach below and the other went further inland. Marin gave his friend a nod before he’d even finished the obligatory look over, then glanced up at the sky. It was overcast, but not quite raining. Everything felt wet, though. Wetter than was usual being so close to the sea, and all. Marin started walking towards the path, expecting her to follow.

“So,” Marin said, trying to muster his inner Winifred and just say what was on his mind. Marin could be blunt, and he could be straightforward, but his default state was silent, so sharing much of anything was a bit of a task. He didn't look at her, keeping his eyes ahead instead. He was a bit more mechanical than usual when he spoke. "My mother... Has been seeing someone."

Wini glanced up at him, studying his expression as she heard a flatness to his tone. It didn't sound like it was fine, but it wasn't like her not being able to apparate was anything new. She relaxed the tiniest bit when he squeezed her arm back before he spun them away into nothing and then something.

She felt the tips of the tall grass against her ankles as the breeze from the sea brushed her blonde hair over her shoulder. Taking a deep inhale, she gave Marin a smile and then touched both brows out of habit. Eyebrows obviously weren't the worst thing to get splinched, but she would look pretty weird without one. He started walking and she hurried to keep up. Merlin, he walked fast. It was those long legs of his. Honestly, couldn't the universe have given her a couple of his inches, did he really need to be that tall and her this short. "Marin," she huffed a small complaint as she walked double time to catch up to him.

All of that effort went right out the window, however, when he dropped the little casual bomb about Holly. "What?" she asked, her eyes going wide. She took a nanosecond to process and then she was off on her Wini patented rapid fire question protocol. "When did she tell you? Who is it? Did you meet him? What's his name? Does Mina know?"

And then she touched his arm, "You okay with this?" She knew better than anyone that change wasn't something he was great with and this seemed huge.