Jocasta's Bedroom

Jocasta sat, cross-legged on her bed, reading a collection of Edgar Allen Poe's poetry and short stories. Her shoulder length blonde hair was constantly irritating her, and thus every few moments she would toss her head back to get it to move. She had wanted to cut it short... but her mother and father would doubtless not approve and nothing they didn't sanction happened for them to see.

But so much happened unseen...
A dark collection of angsty works put together by a either intoxicated or high genius; perfect for the mood she was in at the moment.

Celebrating her sister...no strike that... her half-sister's birthday. Why was it suppose to be a day of celebration? Hadn't her mother been raped by a madman and then delivered his brat by herself in some rank dungeon? It made no sense that they would celebrate the dismal event... made no logical sense that they were so happy about it.

But soon the decorations would be up... the wonderful cake set on the table... presents would be assembled and they would laugh and shower Kiara with affection. She would too... to avoid hurting her parents. But someday...Jocasta smiled...someday, Kiara's birthday would be remembered for what it truly was: a nightmare...

((August 31, 2016))

Abraxas decided that the most obvious place for Jocasta to be would be her bedroom. If she was not in open view of various rooms that were 'family traffic zones' then logic stated that she most likely may be in her room. With that reasoning in mind, the wizard knocked on the door and called, "Passero?" - a term which he'd often used in speaking with Jocasta.

Jocasta sighed as she heard her father call for her. Sooner or later she had figured some family member would come knocking on her door.
"Yes, Papa?" she called, pulling out her writing box and quickly setting it up. Within moments it looked as though she had been writing rather than brooding...

Opening the door, she beamed at him. "Sorry... I was inspired." she lied.

"Ah," Abraxas nodded, noting that from where he stood he could see his daughter's writing kit was in fact out and about. Not that he suspected her of lying. The Auror was just used to acquiring evidence of some sort to back up what he was told. "Oh, not at all... when inspiration strikes, it strikes: can't be helped. Best to get it all down when it arrives, rather than wait." A thought about how fickle his own memory tended to be sometimes came to mind, but Abraxas deliberately 'forgot' about it.

"I apologize from distracting you from writing, Passero, but your mother was worried about you. ...Did you still want to wrap gifts for the party?" the wizard explained and inquired gently. True, it was a chore assigned to Jo... but Abraxas couldn't see the point in making her do it if she didn't want to for two reasons. Firstly, doing something one didn't want to do simply made the task dull and not very fun - a complete contrast to the occasion! Secondly, if she was busy writing, he didn't dare pull her away from that.

Who knows... she could be working on a manuscript for the next bestseller!

Jocasta smiled, despite the inner pang of disgust she felt within. She had lied to her father and was about to do so again...
"Oh of course, Papa!" she gushed, kissing him on the cheek. "I just lost track of time." Mentally kicking herself, she gathered up her only recently laid out writing articles and tucked them all away.
"I'll be down in a moment... just need to." Jocasta stopped and rolled her eyes. "I'm a dunce aren't I?" she commented. Accioing her wand, she summoned the packages and paper from the table and smiled as they floated through the door.
"Be done in a flash, Papa."

Abraxas smiled at what he thought was a cheerful response, and gave Jocasta a quick kiss on the cheek as well. However, a small part of him felt bad as she packed up her writing supplies. He hadn't meant for her to deviate from her muse and wrap gifts this instant...

Soft chuckles escaped him at the aloud musings of his daughter. "Not at all, Jocasta - not at all! Don't even think on that - you're much smarter than you think, I'm sure! Merlin knows I wasn't even half as smart at your age!" Abraxas attempted to reassure her, stepping aside as the supplies and gifts floated into the bedroom.

"No need to hurry, Passero. The day is still young yet," he chuckled. "Oh, speaking of: do you by chance remember when Kiara or Sevastyan said they would be over today? Your mother and I thought it was at around 1300, but..." the wizard asked, trailing off. He didn't want to bring his faulty memory any further into the conversation than what was necessary.

Jocasta chuckled, as she sat on her bed, charming the paper to wrap over the presents. "You are just saying that, Papa." she smiled. "You are and were much more intelligent than I." And she liked to hurry, mainly due to the guilt she felt at lying to her father.

"Hmm... that sounds right." she shrugged, setting a ribboned bow on the second parcel. "Does Mother need any help with the cake?"