Re-Bonding Time ( Walker / Viona )

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He sat on his bed, reviewing what he had. Articles in favor, articles against; all neatly stapled and highlighted and ready. Walker breathed in and out, looking at them and debating on what order to put them in. Sure, his sister took things in an optimistic way and he appreciated that, but he didn't have the same feeling about the world. Magic couldn't solve everything, especially when it came to muggles and pollution. The destruction of the planet's ecosystems was on a monumental scale and one simply could not be everywhere at once. Saving one wouldn't stop the others from being ruined nor all the creatures who depended on it for survival.

Viona had in his opinion an unrealistic look on the world but she was also young. He knew in time she would start to see more and more about what he spoke about. Unfortunately that also meant she would be getting it from sources he couldn't control nor information he could not verify and she would react to it as it was presented. He knew that breaking the subject more gently then he had was necessary for her future as well as his; he just regretted even having to bring this up once. Besides, he was the one who had made the mistake, he'd rather her take it out on him then on others because he would know she didn't hate him for it for life.

Hopefully.

As it was, he felt scared to even start this part, to talk to her about this particular issue, but time was passing and he didn't want it to pass any farther. Having only just gotten used to her being around, being without her was grating on the nerves, everyday. Yet he had needed to avoid her for awhile to get his head straight and he had had a ton on his plate in the last week. Big time heavy duty girl-freaking-out stuff on his mind. Even now he wasn't sure what had really happened or why, just that his first ever kiss had caused someone a mental breakdown from his perspective and whether it was his fault or not (he totally assumed responsibility) he felt a pang over it and much guilt.

Moving downstairs with the papers, Walker chose to sit on the girl's side of the room (not that it was segregated, just near the stairs) so it would be hard to miss him or the other way around. He had his nerve up now and wanted to do this, he needed to do this. Blowing out his breath again he counted to ten, slowly. He could do this, really he could, his father was expecting him to now that he had revealed his plan. And maybe, just maybe, if he could untangle this sibling issue he might have the guts to tackle the girl again. Maybe. Their last encounter had not been so positive with tears on her side and anger on his mixed with confusion.

Merlin why was everything in his life being so crazy right now? Things had just become so joyful at being adopted, having a family, adjusting to the joy a sister and mother and father brought to him...

@viona

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It had been a tough few days for Viona. She didn't like to be mad at someone, especially her own brother. she thought the world of Walker and he had been such a special part of her life. But the hard fact was that she did not like how he viewed people in general. Viona knew there was bad in the world and that there were bad people. But that never stopped her from seeing the best in people. She believed that anyone was capable of changing for the better if dealt with patiently and shown the way.

Still, it was time to end this silliness between her and her brother and talk it out. Little knowing that he also happened to be waiting for her when she came downstairs, she headed to the Common Room to talk to him. When she spotted him, she gave a small smile and slowly walked over. Without really thinking about it, she gave him a hug. Perhaps she had missed giving those.

"Hello Walker," she said softly, almost shyly. "Would you like to talk?"

@shava444

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In the middle of his thinking (as if that didn't convince him Murphy had been onto something) Viona came around the corner from the staircase and, upon seeing him, came straight over to him. Clearly she also wanted to talk and automatically gave him a hug which he returned with more enthusiasm. A rueful smile before he nodded saying "I do, Viona, I don't like this stuff being between us like this. I don't know that you really want to hear all I want to say though so if you aren't ready yet we can wait. "

He swallowed. Somehow this didn't sound like the sibling arguments he had heard about over the years from others in school and in the orphanage both; weren't they supposed to be loud and scary? "And I think it fair to warn you, I was so uptight about how this might go I wrote dad and asked if he could help me go and get some stuff to show you. And then went so far as to pay out of my own pocket for them after I found them because I want-- No, I need you to understand where I'm coming from."

Leaning forward he gave her a strong look, one full of care and concern because it had been such a horrible week. He was coming to the conclusion he needed her more then he had thought on some level. "It's not comfortable stuff, but if anyone in the world is to understand me, I want you to be in the lead of them, you know? How you feel matters a lot to me. More then maybe I realized."

@viona

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Viona shook her head, knowing it was proper to allow Walker to get what he had to out, and for her not to storm out like she did by the lake.

"No, we should talk about it now," she said. "There's not point in waiting."

Her eyes widened a bit when she found out he had hung out with their dad. She wished she could have gone with them, though knew it was on business and at the time, she was still a bit mad at her brother.

"I bet it was nice to see dad again," she said. "But I'm going to listen to you, Walker, and everything you need to say and I won't walk away mad. I promise."

Viona already had an idea that Walker was going to show her humanity and its worst, and probably things that were going to scare her and make her think twice about her own beliefs. So she was already sort of prepared.

"Go ahead and show me what you need to, Walker," she said. "But afterward, I want you to listen to me too, okay?"

@shava444

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She seemed ready to listen and he felt grateful to have found her in the right mood. She did seem surprised about father and he nodded back to her. "It was. He understood that I needed to do this for you and he gave me advice. I, uh, sort of needed to have his approval before I did this." And when she spoke about him listening after he also nodded. "I will. Trust me, Viona, I'm not doing this lightly. I needed to think through this before I spoke to you, to make sure you understand that while we're siblings we do have different lives. I don't want to ruin your beliefs or anything, but I do want to prepare you for what is happening out there too."

And that was the roughest part of this; he was doing what he knew was right to protect and warn her for the future and yes, she might have to rethink some things, but it would be wrong of him not to at the same time. And he hoped also by showing her this about humans that if they ever needed to use their agreed upon locations for meeting up, she would believe him when he tried to get her away from bad people. Another deep breath and then he let it out, flashing her a wary smile which showed he was gearing himself up for this as well, that it was not easy. "What you overheard the other day at the Lake was not about anyone at school nor anyone you know, it was about another group that I heard about in the orphanage. A lot."

He held out the articles about the organizations doing things for profit to her, holding the other half with him. Oil company, a massive muggle retailer, and a company destroying the orangutan's forest for the basic stuff crackers were made out of and peanut butter. "This is the bad part, I have the good part here with me still so know that there is a better side then this. But these are the sort of people I was talking about, a thankfully small part of humanity who are doing things for their own profit. They don't see like you do how wonderful animals can be and how amazing a forest is. They tear it apart to make cheap products people love like peanut butter and crackers, all they care about it seems is profit."

His face grew angry, not a normal thing of course. "It's people like this I was talking about and unfortunately they have so much money no one can stop them easily. The problem is since most people don't care where their food comes from or don't care to learn, horrible things happen and are very hard to stop. You love animals and would never accept something like this, but the truth is nothing comes with a warning label that's easy to find. Unless you go looking for the disasters, you have no idea what you are agreeing to when you buy something, or have a snack." Scooting closer he pulled her into a hug to be there for her as she skimmed them as he hoped she would; the details were probably something she wouldn't want to read. But it was the truth of the matter, the black and white pictures hard enough to look at.

"Part of the good thing is that there are very few of wizarding kind working with these groups, they are mostly muggles. But in the muggle news you read about these people a lot in the papers making huge profits and greed gets them bad. They can't seem to stop themselves either. However, here's the good news." He held out the other handful and had picked on purpose more of these. Environmentalist groups, companies, and scientific studies plus activists and the pictures of them caring for forests, replanting, caring for animals. "There are people fighting it, trying to fix the damage. It may seem too little when compared to the first group, but there are lots of good people too! And when I graduate I think I will see about maybe working with one of them if I can." His face grew hard for a second then relaxed. These article were upbeat even as they spoke about the terrible things that had happened and were ongoing.

"I need you to understand though when I say bad things, I am talking about a small number of bad people and all the folks who do not pay attention, who let them get away with it by ignorance. Only with knowledge do people realize what is happening. So learning about these bad things is the only way to fight back against them." Walker hugged her again, tightly. "Humans can be stupid sometimes is what I mean, mostly in large groups. Individuals can be very smart. I am never speaking about you nor the majority of people you will ever meet. I'm talking about people who have turned very dark. They do exists even if you think you can change them, they exist with some very horrible power. Please don't ever think I am talking about you and your friends. I'm not that kind of person, I speak about bad people because I care."

@viona

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Viona listened to Walker with full attention and read over all the articles he gave her. She definitely saw things that hurt her to see. And much of Walker told her hurt her as well. But the thing was... she knew there were bad people in the world. She knew people did bad things... to nature, to animals, to other peoples. She felt Walker misunderstood why she got so upset, and now that she had seen all this, she needed to explain to him why she did. Accepting his hug, she turned to him.

"Walker, I know that you must think that because I'm so nice and I look at people and things in a positive way that I don't know what's going on or that I ignore such things," she said. "But you must understand it's not like that at all. I mean, I am fifteen. I've witnessed and experiences a lot of things in me life. I've seen people at their worst, and I've seen how they've treated others. I've seen pure hatefulness and I've seen disregard for plant and animal life. Everything you're showing me here, I've seen or heard about." Viona then sighed and gave him a half smile.

"Walker, there's a lot of nastiness in the world, and it's probably never going away no matter how hard we try to fight it," she said. "All we can do is what I do... and that's look at the good in the world. While there's someone trying to destroy a forest, there's another trying to save it. While there is one person mistreating animals, there's another one rescuing them. While there's one person ready to spit in your face, there's another ready to kiss it." Viona then leaned in and kissed Walker on the cheek. "That's how I see the world, Walker. I focus on both the good and bad people do... but I focus MORE on the good. Do you understand me?"

@shava444

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The only part of what she said he couldn't see was that at fifteen she had seen 'the worst people could do.' Even he doubted he had seen the worst in the years where he had been stuck, but he wasn't going to try and argue a point about the nastiness people did to each other. Talk about a depressing conversation! "Then explain your reaction in light of this, Viona, because you reacted in such a way to make me think you were not understanding or comprehending what I said. You seemed to think from what you said that I would consider you or any of your friends part of that which is part of what stunned me, that you could imagine me that cruel."

And it had been surprising. She had accused him in her exit, clearly angry he could think that way but if she knew the truth then she hadn't been truthful to herself or him that day. Which meant the past week was far more complex between them then before and somehow he found that the most worrisome. "I understand what you are saying, but that just makes your reaction to what I said more bewildering to me. Because if you knew of this why is it only a week later we're getting together to talk?"

@viona

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(Note: By saying she shad seen the worst people could do, I meant she had read about it in the Prophet and other places. Plus she had seen people being hateful at Hogwarts of course.)

Viona blushed a little. She had her reasoning for getting mad and running off from Walker, as well as not talking to him for a while. But now that she thought about it, she had acted very silly. The two should have talked a lot sooner. Walker had gone through a lot to work things out with her, and she could have saved him a lot of trouble if she would have acted a little more grown up.

"Walker, I was so upset because, at the time, to me it sounded like you, my own brother, saw the worst in people," she said. "I... just really shocked me and I didn't know how to take it. Next time, I'll think before I react like that, Walker. That way you won't have to go through all that trouble like you did." She then smiled at him. "But the fact that you did shows me how much you love me." She then embraced him. "I don't ever want to fight with you again. Not once more.... unless it's a tickle fight!" She then began tickling him.

@shava444

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Now they were getting somewhere! She blushed and confessed the way she had taken it. He frowned and then nodded. "Let me request something too, sis. When you hear me say something that you think sounds wrong, ask me what I mean first. Because I was talking about people, just a smaller group then you took it to mean." He wasn't sure what to tell her about the issues itself that had happened since then, but he knew what he did want to be sure she understood. "Viona, that wasn't trouble."

Okay maybe it had been an effort, but not trouble. "You are my sister, my family. Don't you think I would go to a lot of trouble for you? This? Except for using up some muggle money I couldn't well spend elsewhere, it was nothing. Not worth mentioning." And he would never tell her how much it had cost him from his small hoard; he didn't have money and the spending of it was a huge deal to him, but she didn't need to ever heard that.

Ever.

"Look, Viona," he started to say he wanted to ask her opinion of somethings, but she then surprised him with a tickle attack and for a second he looked at her in disbelief and then his face brightened; the bad stuff could wait! "You think you can take me that easily? I don't think so!" And began tickling her back, aiming for the backs of her knees and sides while she tried to get him differently...

@viona

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Still blushing, Viona nodded as Walker made the request. She felt really silly now.

"Alright," she said softly. "I promise."

Viona smiled at what Walker was willing to go through for her. She would do the same for him. It seemed this little episode showed them how special they were to one another.

"I love you, Walker," she said, hugging him yet again. "No one could ask for a better brother."

Viona squealed happily as Walker tickled her back, and continued to giggle. Now it was as if they had never argued to begin with, and for Viona that was the way it should always be.

(Can't think of anything to add here TBH)

@shava444

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Nodding at her promise and seeing by her blush she took it to heart, Walker finally had a relieved smile. This seemed like a great amount of progress to him since last week, nearly like Everest in a day considering all he had been through recently! "Then that is all I can hope for, Viona, and thank you very much." Since day one she had been throwing herself full-hearted into their sibling relationship and he had felt the love even before he knew he was really being adopted, learning it wasn't a trick or a tease. And for that he already considered her very special!

As she smiled so did he. "I love you too, dear Viona, you have made the sun for me even on rainy days with the way you have accepted me into your family and I can not express enough how much that means to me! You need never worry about me, I'll always be around for you. I want you safe and happy always." Walker hugged her back tightly and with enthusiasm, making sure she felt his relief that they were past this time. When the tickle fest wound down some, however, he felt it was time to ask some more particular questions...

"So now that that is all good, I have a question for you about one of your year mates." Hopefully she wouldn't pick up on his interest in that way, but if she did he'd deal with it. "Her name is Madalyn and she acts a bit...well, strange sometimes. Do you know anything about her? What is she like normally?"

@viona

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Viona smiled at her brother's kind words. It was so good to be on the up and up with him again. Viona was admittedly a bit miserable those past few days.

"And you're the cherry at the top of me ice cream sundae!" she said. "The cherry's always me favorite part of the sundae. And you mean the world to me, Walker."

After the tickling ended, Viona listened as Walker asked about Madalyn Weasley. However, she then sighed and shrugged as she wouldn't be of much help.

"Well," she said. "I don't her very well, but she seems nice whenever I'm around her. I am good mates with her cousins Roxy and Freddie though. Maybe I can ask Roxy about her for you if you'd like." She then frowned a bit. "Sorry I'm not of much help there." She then formed a big smile. "Why? Do you fancy Madalyn or something?" It would be weird to have her brother dating someone from her year, but then again there was only a one year age difference there.

(I know that's an awkward question, but obviously Viona doesn't know the truth either, )

@shava444

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Cherry on a sundae? Walker laughed, cheered by the silly comment and hugged her to show his appreciation. Her answer to his question however didn't help very much. "Ah okay, was just curious if you knew her. It's not that important I guess." Actually it was huge, but he didn't even understand his own feelings yet much less what was going on between them. "Could you? I was sort of curious about her without wanting to seem rudely poking my nose in."

He shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "I--" Merlin even the simplest of questions wasn't easy to answer! "I thought I was but now I'm not sure. It's...weird and I'm afraid if I tell you too much it will change the way you look at her." He thought for a minute looking at the wall before he turned back to her. "No to the dating, maybe to the other. I don't really know yet. Is that okay?"

Somehow he suspected she was curious partly to tease him a little which was okay, but he didn't want her asking Madalyn too many questions either! "I thought we hit it off rather well, but some stuff happened which I can't really explain yet so it's really awkward right now. Hence why I was curious what the general thought about her was, see if that related. I'll be sure you are the first to know if anything happens though, okay?"

Not realizing how awkward that conversation was going to be in the slightest.

@viona

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Viona smiled and nodded about asking Roxy.

"Of course I would," she said. "Anything for my big brother."

Viona was a tad confused at what Walker was getting out. Did he fancy Madalyn... or was he just curious about her for some reason? Either way, Viona didn't know what she could do for him outside of what she already offered regarding Roxy. She felt bad about it because she could tell something about the whole situation really bothered him. Finding nothing else to do, she cuddled up against him, hoping it would be of some comfort.

"I hope you find out whatever it is you need to find out," she said. "And you know if anything bothers you to come right to me and I'll make it better with hugs and kisses."

Viona then smiled and nodded when Walker said she would be the first to know anything should something happened.

"Alright," she said, still a bit confused by it all. "But for now, let's go get something to eat! I'm famished!"

(Thinking Viona is done here.)

@shava444

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He felt relief she would ask and trusted her to ask innocently as he hadn't said anything to make her think otherwise. "Awesome,sis, thanks! I owe you." Heck, maybe he'd get up early Saturday just for her. He thought about that for a few seconds before he mentally shook his head. She'd have to ask him direct before he would be willing to release his sleep time! "I wish I could tell you more, but I'm still a bit confused myself, sorry." He slipped an arm around her as she cuddled up to him feeling some relief as well from the recently familiar. Viona's energy had a feel to it which h was recognizing as very comfortable and optimistic even when he didn't feel that way.

Just thinking of what could go wrong between him and Madalyn, he hugged his sister tighter, kissing the top of her head and feeling some of the tension bleed out of him as he did so. She might not know what she did for him, but she would recognize he appreciated her anyway.

Walker laughed softly at her words and released her from the hug slowly. "I appreciate it, sis, I really do. What all are your plans for the da-- Say! I never asked you, how is your friendship with that Slytherin going you were telling me about? Anything new?" What he had heard about that one w=didn't sound encouraging, but didn't sound bad either; he was still an odd character for Walker to imagine his sister hanging out with sometimes. When she accepted he would tell her first and then moved onto food talk he laughed out loud and stood to give her a hand up.

"I'd say you must have inherited my stomach then! Come on and let's go get some, we can dive into a bowl easy enough!" Bending down he offered his back with a wink. "Piggy back?"

@viona