new beginnings;; fel

[carleigh addison stryder]

Carleigh Stryder had changed quite dramatically over the past two months. She had been going to weekly sessions at St. Mungo's to help her with her addictions and it seemed to be working out quite well. The girl had been sober for a little over a month now, which was the longest amount of time since she had her first taste of alcohol at age twelve. Aside from that, she hasn't had sex since she stopped drinking. Which was a complete shock to her and her fellow friends with benefits. She hadn't taken things much farther than just making out. There were limits on the touching and everything. Carleigh was starting to act like a girl with dignity. It was even weird to think of herself in that light. It was a whole new thing to the girl, something she never even thought would happen.

Carleigh had spent Friday night out on a date with a guy that she had met at The Three Broomsticks the other day when she was out to lunch with her new friends. It was a pleasant evening. The girl made it clear that he was not getting in her pants that night and he seemed to be fine with it. Of course, Carls felt a little bit bad about that, but still, she was starting over and she wasn't going to be a whore this time around. The boy treated her to dinner and brought her home before midnight. It was quite a nice evening that Carleigh enjoyed, so he got his goodnight kiss and told him that she would see him soon.

Now it was Saturday. The girl had let herself sleep in, but not too late because she had assignments that were due on Monday that she didn't want to have to worry about on Sunday night. Carleigh had her books and papers spread around herself on her bed. Loose curls of her blonde hair hung over her face, escaping from her messy bun on top of her head, while she sat indian style hunched over her assignment. Today she didn't have any plans to go anywhere, so she just stayed in her sweatpants and oversized shirt. Carleigh was also wearing her glasses, which had been sitting on her nightstand for years without being used. She honestly had no reason to use them if she didn't go to class or even read anything. As for her work, the girl was breezing through her maths. Numbers didn't confuse her at all, it was the words that made her feel stupid. She was dreading the paper she had to write later for her Lit class. With a sigh, Carleigh rested her chin in the palm of her hand and continued scribbling down the answers to the equations.

[felicity leanne stryder]

For once over the course of the last few months, Felicity felt almost stable. Things weren't blowing up in her face left and right and her relationships with the people around her were seemingly on the right path. It was a far cry from normal still, but it was getting there and she was feeling a lot less stressed because of it. Colton and her, though not entirely back on track, had come to a point where they had apologized. Yes, it had happened many times before, but she was hopeful that perhaps this time it would actually go through. Of course, there was the small problem that she wasn't entirely sure just how she felt about him anymore, but that was a small factor when considering the larger picture. Or, so she thought. At the very least, things with her younger sister had taken a huge turn for the better.

In a rather astounding turn of events, it seemed that Carleigh was finally starting to get her life on track and that, more than anything, was something that she could really be proud of. Even if things were still off with Colton, the fact that Carleigh was doing so well made that seem almost irrelevant. Unfortunately, however, she hadn't been able to spend too much time with the girl since things had started to change. Between practice and all the time that Colton wanted to spend with her, it seemed like she could hardly catch a breather. Fortunately, she had managed to end practice on an early high note that afternoon and Colton was away on a business trip, which meant that she had at least a little time to breathe before she had to jump back into the grind of working.

Returning to the house with a quick flash of apparition, Felicity unlocked the door to her flat and went on in. It was probably the first time that she didn't hear Carleigh's loud music blaring and the first time that she didn't have to hide any bruises as she walked through the door. A definite improvement over previous conditions, that was for sure. Tossing her gear to the side of the hallway, Felicity continued on down towards Carleigh's room. Admittedly, it was an odd sight to see her younger sister surrounded by books and diligently working away at something, but it was probably one of the proudest moments of her life. "Hey, lookin' good there kid," she called out, leaning up against the doorframe with a contented smile on her face. Even if she was going through problems, it was okay since Carleigh was doing well.

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[carleigh addison stryder]

Carleigh's mind wandered off, prancing around in the land of last night's date. She was pretty sure that was the first date where she didn't sleep with the guy at the end of the night.  It was actually quite nice; different than what she was used to for sure.  Things had went well. The guy seemed to like her for a little bit more than just her body. It seemed a bit unreal to the girl. Things had been the other way around for probably five years. What caused the change? She honestly wouldn't be able to tell you. It was literally like she woke up one morning and decided to just start over. Reality hit her all at once. Everything that her sister had told her clicked and started to make sense. Felicity had saved her from drinking herself into oblivion and for that she was thankful. After her parents had passed, it was nice to have a sister like Fel around to keep an eye on her. 

Her sister's voice snapped her out of her little day dream. Carleigh looked down at her paper to see the answers to the problems curling off the lines, her handwriting was practically illegible. No worries. She sighed and put that paper aside, pulling out a new one and copying it again with more precision. Carl looked up at Felicity, a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Yeah. It's getting a lot better." She brushed a few loose curls back behind her ear and moved some of her papers around to make some space on her bed for her sister to sit down. "How is everything?" she asked pleasantly, putting her pen down. Carleigh had yet to master the art of multitasking, working and talking at the same time. She was still getting used to the whole 'work' thing in the first place, but it wasn't so bad. Sure, trying to catch up on six years of doing absolutely nothing school wise was difficult, but if she kept up the pace she was working at now, she was told that she might actually graduate. 

[felicity leanne stryder]

Just the fact that Carleigh was sitting there doing homework spoke a lot to how much she had changed, but when Carleigh actually looked over and smiled at her was when it all sunk in for Felicity. To be honest, she had been a bit skeptical regarding whether or not Carleigh was actually different or if she was just saying it to appease her, but the friendly manner with which the younger girl was addressing her made all the difference. It had been awhile since they'd had a sincerely friendly interaction and Felicity had a genuine smile on her face as she went over to sit next to Carleigh on the bed. She felt slightly bad about interrupting the girl's studying, but it had been too long since they'd last sat down and had a decent conversation, so she couldn't feel all that bad about it. "That's really good, babe," she commented, nodding slightly as she took her seat.

Leaning back, Felicity stretched out on the bed with her head tilted slightly off the edge. "Things are okay, I guess. Work is going really well and the team is looking more solid than ever, so that's been...helpful," she nodded, leaving the answer at that. Though things between her and Colton had improved somewhat, she'd rather not get into a conversation about that right away. Things were confusing in that respect and she didn't really know what to do about it. Besides, she definitely wanted to avoid bringing any drama up while Carleigh was still in the early stages of her new self. The less stress that the younger girl had to endure, the better things would go. As always, Felicity cared more about the well being of her sister than her own troubles and would gladly put Carleigh first.

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[carleigh addison stryder]

“Yeah, I might actually be graduating and stuff if I keep this up,” Carleigh’s blue eyes lit up when she spoke. It was actually really exciting to the girl that someone was willing to give her another chance to prove herself. Not many people actually did that for her. Actually, no one really did. It was weird, but she was happy about it. Passing a test was actually more rewarding than she thought. It was actually pissing her off that she couldn’t pass her composition assessments. Carls couldn’t write a decent paragraph to save her life. Her brain just couldn’t process the words. It was as if the words just got up and moved themselves around until things didn’t make sense.

“That’s good to hear,” she said with a nod. “So, how’s Colton?” it was really the first thing that popped into the girl’s mind. That man had been a huge problem in her life ever since he got engaged to her sister. He was just always around causing some sort of friction for her. She just didn’t like him, no matter how much Felicity claimed to like him. Sure, he had money and he was quite good looking, but his personality just made the girl want to vomit on herself. She didn’t want her sister to have to deal with a prick like him. Fel didn’t deserve any more trouble. Carleigh knew that she had caused enough grief for the older Stryder and didn’t want her to have to go through any more.

[felicity leanne stryder]

Carleigh graduating would be something of a relief for Felicity. There had definitely been a time when it didn't look like a possibility and to know that it was now entirely likely brought a huge sense of accomplishment and pride for Felicity. Though she didn't feel like she'd had anything to do with the matter, it was just good to know. "That's really, really great Carleigh," Felicity said with a genuine smile. It had been just her and Carleigh for awhile and Carleigh's accomplishments meant a lot to Felicity. "Do you know what direction you might want to go in once you've graduated?" she asked, looking at Carleigh with a hopeful expression. Admittedly, she was a bit worried still for whatever future career the girl wanted to pursue, since last she had heard Carleigh had been rather convinced she wanted to be a stripper. Considering Felicity had been there and done that, she really didn't want Carleigh to take that path.

Of course, it would have been an impossibility to get through a conversation without some mention of Colton coming up. Felicity knew exactly how Carleigh felt about him and she was starting to wonder if perhaps Carleigh had a point about him. He could be a bit of a dangerous loose cannon at times, but Felicity had always thought it was worth it, that he was worth it. "Colton is, well, Colton. He's been working a lot lately, so I haven't seen him as much, but I think things are...less chaotic than before," she answered with a shrug. She had wanted to say that things were better, but had decided that wasn't quite the right word for it. It wasn't better, it was just less fighting, it seemed. "I don't know though, Carleigh. Things just aren't the same," she added, a frown settling on her features as she spoke. It wasn't easy to accept that things had changed between her and Colton, but they had.

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[carleigh addison stryder]

“Yeah, I know,” a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she adverted her eyes and looked down at the paper in her lap, “I’m still not too sure about that. I’ve been thinking about it though. Maybe I’ll go into management of some sort. I think I’d be decent at that because of my roll in the Squadron,” Carleigh shrugged. It was a possibility. She was pretty good at playing the leader at times. Her section of the Death Squadron was running without any issues. It wasn’t as organized as it should be, but there was never a major problem that arose.

“That’s good that he’s been busy at work. It gives you both some time to think, I guess,” of course when the girl said ‘think’ she was talking about ‘thinking about whether this was the right decision or not’ and ‘whether she thinks she should really go through with this or not’. “Aren’t the same…Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?” That could go either way and honestly, Carleigh was hoping that it wasn’t going so well. She wanted the best for her sister and Colton obviously wasn’t up to her standards.

[felicity leanne stryder]

As far as Felicity was concerned, any idea that Carleigh might have had about her future was better than nothing at all and especially was better than the plan to be a stripper. Management, in particular, sounded like a fairly decent idea, even. Carleigh had a way with people, even if she didn't always use it, and she was much better at being in charge than taking orders. "That could be really good for you, I think. Perhaps something with the Death Squadron, even," she shrugged. There were a lot of options out there and with her family ties, there was a good chance that Carleigh would be able to go wherever she wanted with her life. Perhaps her grades weren't quite on par for all of her school life, but that could be overlooked for other factors that she had going for. If she continued to keep her act up like it was, there was a good chance that Carleigh would do rather well for herself.

Time to think was probably exactly what Felicity needed, though she couldn't tell you what she was thinking at the moment in the least. She didn't know how she felt about Colton, about their relationship, anything. "A bad thing, Car. At least, I think so," she replied with a rather sorrowful shrug. It killed her to think that perhaps what she'd had with Colton for so long was finally coming to an end, but she wasn't sure they could really move past everything that had been going on between the two of them. "What is your honest opinion on it, Carleigh? I know you don't like him, but...do you really think it would be a good decision to just...give up on us?" she asked, looking up at Carleigh with a searching expression. It wasn't often that she asked Carleigh for her serious opinion on things, but everything seemed to be changing and going to Carleigh for some bit of advice didn't seem as silly as it used to anymore.

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[carleigh addison stryder]

"Yeah, staying in the squadron would be nice. I need to start figuring out who is going to fill in for me since I can't stay with the Pack for forever. That would be sort of degrading, being like, twenty or something and still leading a bunch of twelve year olds," Carleigh spoke, shuffling the papers around on her bed. "And I'm sorry, but I'm not taking orders from anyone and it's going to take a while to get to be the leader of the Squadron. And I will not be the coffee bitch while I wait. So yeah. I still need to do some more thinking about this."

When Felicity said that the change was bad, something hopeful kicked inside of Carleigh, but on the same end, she did feel bad. She didn't want her sister to feel like she was making the wrong decision, even though it would definitely be the right one. The girl just nodded, adverting her eyes down to the papers in her lap. Giving up was a harsh way to put it. "Well, yes, I actually hate him. I'm not even going to lie about that. But he's hot and he has money, so that's two out of three things," the girl paused to think for a moment, weighing the options, "I know this is going to sound weird coming from me, but I say you give him a month. Keep track of the positives and negatives and then make your decision based off of that." When Carleigh was sober, she was actually good at giving advice. Especially relationship advice since she was experienced in that field. Of course, her relationships were short, but that was only because she wanted them that way.

[felicity leanne stryder]

There was definitely no way Carleigh could run the Death Pack after she left, since that would just be a bit pathetic. As a Stryder, she was expected to do something with her life and sitting around organizing a bunch of children to do, well, quite honestly a whole lot of nothing, wasn't enough. "Odds are, you're going to have to take orders from someone at some point in your life. That's just how it goes, hun," Felicity pointed out with a shrug. She wasn't the best at taking orders herself, but she knew when it was necessary. As a part of the Death Squadron, Felicity wasn't high up in the chain of command, though that was entirely by choice, so she was okay taking orders. She was too busy with her career to put too much extra time into it, so it worked perfectly for her. She did things when they needed her to and that was that.

Carleigh's advice, rather to Felicity's surprise, was actually rather sensible. Of course, she'd given it more time than that already and things didn't seem to be any more clear than they had been at the start. "At this point, I don't think there's much of a difference between the pros and cons. A lot of the things I love about him are starting to become things that I can't even stand anymore," she admitted with a shrug. It was a complicated situation and though Felicity tended to have control over most everything in her life and knew exactly where she wanted to go in every situation, this wasn't one of them. She honestly couldn't tell you what she wanted to happen between her and Colton and she hated that.

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[carleigh addison stryder]

“Yeah, well I’m a Stryder. It’s my way or the high way. Plus, I’m pretty sure mum and dad never took orders from anyone unless they shoved it back into the person’s face,” Carleigh said. The mere mention of her parents made her lip quiver. She hadn’t really spoken about them since the accident. That was one thing that made the girl go soft. She bit her lower lip and looked down to rummage through her papers once more and give her something to focus on and keep herself from sheading tears. “Maybe I’ll go into business. I’ve always wanted to run a club or something,” she paused to think, “but that’s probably not the best thing for me. Too much temptation.” She shook her head slightly.

Carleigh shrugged. “It seems to me like you’ve already made up your mind. If he annoys the shit out of you then end it,” she stated plainly. Colton was dead weight to her, like a third boob or something, always getting in the way and messing things up. You just want to leave it out on the side of the freeway or something for some animal to eat for dinner. At least, that’s how the blonde saw her sister’s fiancé. Also, when was this wedding? Were they just going to stay engaged for forever? It honestly felt like forever to her.

[felicity leanne stryder]

Carleigh was, admittedly, pretty right about that. Their parents hadn't been the type of people that would take orders and as far as Felicity was concerned, that was likely a large part of why they had been found and killed. Of course, she wasn't going to bright that thought up to Carleigh. "Yeah, uh, business is a good place to go. You could always run something else. You have other interests besides alcohol, right?" Felicity asked, generally hoping that was the case. She knew that she had pretty limited interests, with most of them revolving around Quidditch, but she did other things sometimes too. Presumably, Carleigh had at least some sort of interests. "Maybe something with fashion, I don't know. There are plenty of options out there," Felicity said with a shrug. She was hopeful that Carleigh would find her way eventually and, if they were lucky, it would happen before she went ahead with her previous goal of becoming a stripper.

Felicity's face turned down into a frown at Carleigh's words. It wasn't that easy. Ending something that had been such a huge part of your life for so many years wasn't just something you could do just like that. "I guess I just keep hoping that somehow things will magically get better," she said with a wistful tone to her voice. She really had believed that Colton was it for her. All through school and the years after, he had been the rock in her life and for that to be pulled away from her, Felicity wasn't sure how she would deal with it. "Besides, his family is supposed to come into town soon to help with wedding plans and...yeah," she added, biting at her bottom lip. Perhaps she was just making excuses, but Felicity had always found some reason not to let Colton go.

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[carleigh addison stryder]

It bothered Carleigh that her sister thought alcohol was her only interest. It wasn’t true. She liked sex and, yeah, that was about it. But she had changed, cutting alcohol out of her daily life and not saying yes to any guy with a substantial dick who wanted to bang her. “Well, yeah, I guess. I like movies and uh, yeah. I need to work on this whole ‘other interests’ thing. It’s a work in progress.” She brushed a lock of her golden hair out of her face and let her blue eyes wander around the room. It was quite pathetic that she didn’t have many interests. For most of her life she was a one sided girl. The one side being a raging, bitchy, teenage alcoholic. It was just now that she was figuring out what it was like to be normal, or as close to normal as an ex-alcoholic could get. Carleigh paused to think for a minute when her sister mentioned fashion and nodded. “That could be a possibility. I’d like to think I am pretty good in that area. Maybe I can, like, model or something? After all, I do have the full set of Stryder genes that I could use to my advantage.” A little smile tugged on the corners of her mouth. It was definitely an option now that she thought about it.

“Can’t you brainwash him or something so that he’s less of a prick? That might work in your situation. If you get rid of the fact that he’s a total douchebag, he might be worth it,” of course Carleigh was joking. It was probably illegal and ‘once a douchebag, always a douchebag’, or at least, that’s how she saw it in her book. “Don’t let the fact that his family is coming here stop you from making your decision. You can back out anytime you want really.”

[felicity leanne stryder]

It didn't surprise Felicity that Carleigh didn't know what all she was interested, considering how she had been living her life for the last few years. There wasn't a whole lot of time left for her to make her decision, but she was confident that Carleigh would end up somewhere worthwhile. If she could change her life around as much as she had, than she could very well find a job that would suit her. "You could easily get a job as a model. I have a few contacts from photo shoots I did with Quidditch and all, so if you ever need that, I can help," Felicity nodded. Perhaps it wasn't the best job in the world, but it would be a respectable one, at least. If there was anything that she could do to help Carleigh along, than she was more than willing. As a professional Quidditch player, she had quite a large variety of contacts that she could get into touch with, all in different areas of business. It was a perk of the job, for sure.

Colton had always been worth it for Felicity, even though he wasn't exactly the nice guy of the year. Sure, he'd be a whole lot better if he was always the charming Colton that wanted something, but Felicity wouldn't have changed him for anything. He was who he was and changing him wouldn't have felt right to her. "I don't know, we'll see how things work out," she shrugged. Honestly, she sort of just wanted to forget about the problem for awhile and pretend like it wasn't an issue. Not something that was likely to happen, but she could hope. "I guess I just need some space, maybe meet some new people or something." Felicity didn't think that she even wanted to meet new people, but she supposed that perhaps it would help things. Than again, perhaps it would just make the situation all the more confusing and that was the last thing that she needed.

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[carleigh addison stryder]

Carleigh nodded, “Thanks, I’ll have to get back to you on that though, I need to at least pass my newts first. That’s the goal I have set for right now because if I pass my newts, then I graduate. If I graduate, then I can get a job that wouldn’t make mom and dad cringe wherever they are,” she paused for a moment, “I mean, I know I would make a damn good stripper, I just don’t think I want people to see me like that anymore, yanno? Because you, as a pro quidditch player, people look up to you, they envy you now, they want to be you. That is something that I’ve always wanted, but never new how to achieve. I suck at quidditch, like, I don’t even ever want to get on a broom again. You work for the Squadron. I’m still part of the Pack. It’s just…all up in the air right now,” the girl spoke freely. It was not all the time that you heard something deep escape this girl’s mind. Things like that she usually just kept to herself, put it in the back of her mind to forget about it eventually.

A little bit of a devilish smirk curled at the corners of the girl’s lips. A bit of the old Carleigh bubbled to the surface. “You need to go out clubbing. That’s where you’ll meet someone. Sure, a majority of the guys are horny scum buckets, but there are a handful of guys that are genuine men always walking around. Some of them are married, but there is no doubt in my mind that you can snatch them up without even trying. You just need to learn to read people the right way.” The girl actually knew what she was talking about when it came to reading people. It was just that when she used to go out, she used to read people for all the wrong reasons. She looked for the hot guy who would give her the time of her life in bed and skipped over the guys that were actually hoping to meet someone special, guys that wouldn’t get in her pants within the hour thinking that they were a waste of space. But that type of guy was always around. “I suggest Club Envy or maybe Aeres Lounge. Those people are up there in your league. Deathly Hallows and Nate’s place are filled with students. Come to think of it, Aeres has a bunch of students too, but I think you can weed them out from the rest.”