I'll Be Good (For All of the Times I Never Could)

How were these people even finding him? Ever since the Prophet announced Theo was on house arrest, he started receiving visits and letters from people he didn't even know. Reporters were mostly the ones showing up on his doorstep - not many, but enough to get under his skin (Theo was trying to make himself not look like an insane murderer, and that was hard when people wouldn't stop ringing your bloody doorbell). The rest came in letters; he got a few more of those, a couple of them Howlers, the others with language vicious enough to near qualify as Howlers. Some weird letters, too - people happy with what he'd done. Those were the first ones Theo tossed in the fireplace - where he soon discovered he got great joy from burning all the bloody letters people were sending him. Theo was perhaps going a bit stir crazy already.

Theo was in the middle of such a burning craze when another knock sounded at his door. The house was, thankfully, empty except for him right at this very moment - the only reason he wasn't shut up in his room to begin with. Everyone else was at work, living their lives, enjoying their freedoms...not that he was bitter. Theo left the stack of letters on the mantel above the fireplace and went to the door when it sounded like the knocking wasn't going to stop. He'd already had one reporter peeking in his windows, and that set his blood boiling for a reason he didn't quite bother to understand.

The face on the other side of the door was familiar to him, though it took a moment for him to place (a moment that stopped the otherwise not-to-pleasant greeting on the tip of his tongue). He'd seen her in his very house before, one of Meg's friends. What was her name again? Didn't matter, she was looking for Meg anyway. Great, was he the bloody butler now? Theo shook his head. "She's been out all day." Thank Merlin. Theo waited for the girl to go - but no. She had questions. Didn't everybody now? Everybody wanted to know, everybody wanted to bestow their needless opinions and advice upon Theo. Even if they weren't reporters they sure sounded like them, and unless they had some solid advice on how to get out of house arrest with no magic, Theo just didn't have the energy for it.

You know, unless said adviser was also a murderer, or near-murderer. The girl - Dani, he thought it was - said she believed him, and that was admittedly very nice to hear from someone who didn't write incredibly creepy letters; he nodded his thanks. She also went on to detail how she too (almost) killed someone and dealt with the aftermath of that. Theo honestly didn't know what to do with this information, and he just stared blankly as she talked. In his weary state, worn out already and very much jaded, he allowed himself to feel the inkling of suspicion at the base of his brain. What would she really want to ally herself with him for? He wasn't exactly the person anyone wanted to sit down and have a chat with right now. She was probably just being nice to him to get information out of him, gain his trust. Meg knew her from work, but that didn't mean she wasn't some freelance reporter or some such. Or maybe she was just poking at his vulnerabilities so it would hit extra hard when she finally decided to tell him what for; she could be a friend of the Longbottoms or the Fischers, how was he to know? Theo had a dying thirst for sympathy but was too jaded already to drink a drop of it.

"That's great." Theo crossed his arms over his chest. "So you almost killed someone, but didn't. And I don't suppose you went to jail for it, did you, else you wouldn't be here. Never been on house arrest? Because it sucks. A lot." He was frustrated and combative, the first nice soul to speak to him since he was forced away from Mali drawing out in him a childlike defensiveness and vulnerability. "It was my fault, and I'll just have to live with it, won't I? What else is there to talk about? Meg should be home soon, you're welcome to wait. Not like I can make you leave." Theo pulled away from the door, leaving it open, and returned to his fire and his stack of letters and the inanity of it all.

Meg was lucky it was a nice day out, because she couldn't stand to be in her house for a minute longer. She couldn't even stand to be near it, in her gardens, the poor thing. Theo's presence was an oppressive, dark storm cloud that she had no idea what to do with. After the incident with Luna, she felt bad for him. She did. She believed him too, she was pretty sure. But Theo had always been this way - when he got into these moods, he was inconsolable. The best thing she could give him was space. It was just too bad that he was confined to their shared living space, because she really would like to be at home without feeling like she had to walk on eggshells.

Alas, there was sunshine elsewhere, so Meg took advantage of her day off from work and spent it as far away from her house as possible - in the sunshine. She went to the park, and then a nice little garden and museum, then an adorable outdoor market where she was able to purchase both some vegetables and a new pair of earrings shaped like birds. All in all, she was feeling pretty at ease toward the end of her day - and tired. Worn out, she knew she would have to go home eventually. Her last stop before popping home was a little diner, where she picked up a couple of burgers. If she couldn't bribe a smile out of her brother with food, there truly was no hope.

Arms laden with purchases, Meg popped back into existence at the start of the lane that led to her house - just a few more minutes of sunshine couldn't hurt. She sauntered down the path, admiring her gardens and making promises to the flowers that she would be around tomorrow to visit, and eventually reached her home - where she found Dani sitting against the wall with her head in her hands. Meg frowned, hurrying the last few steps to her front door to deposit her packages on the welcome mat before sliding down next to the girl. "Hi, sweetie. What's the matter?"

Meg’s appearance took Dani by surprise. How did the other woman always manage to sneak up on her? She looked up, shaking her head in answer to Meg’s question. Bad idea. She winced a little as the pain in her head spiked. “Nothing,” Dani insisted, rubbing at her aching temple. “It’s just a headache. I’m fine. Well, I’ll be fine in a few days.” Hopefully Meg would understand what that meant. The pain would disappear with the full moon. Until then, there was little Dani could do but soldier on. She stretched her legs out in front of her in an effort to look a little less like a pitiful ball, although if Meg was looking, she was probably notice Dani’s slightly pale face and the hints of dark circles under her eyes. And while Dani could definitely use a good long chat with Meg about what the hell she was supposed to do about the new werewolf legislation, she wasn’t here to be looked after. Best to distract Meg and move on.

“But that’s not why I’m here. I just wanted to check in. See how you’re doing with… you know. Everything. It’s probably a lot to deal with.” What exactly was she supposed to call it? Theo had been forced to kill someone and now he was under house arrest while the world tried to decide if he was guilty. It wasn’t like there were condolence cards for that. Dani pointed her thumb over her shoulder at the closed front door. “Theo seems like he’s taking it hard. Which makes total sense.” Suddenly realizing it might look like Meg’s brother had banished Dani from the house, she added, “He said I could wait inside, but I told him I’d wait out here. I didn’t want to bother him.” It was a perfectly Dani response, not wanting to bug someone else. Hopefully it wouldn’t make Meg suspicious. And technically it was true. Theo had told Dani (rather coldly) that she could come in, and Dani had insisted (quite loudly) on staying outside. She was just choosing to gloss over some of the details. Meg didn’t need another thing to be upset about, especially not one that put her between her friend and her brother. And Theo… As rude as he had been, part of Dani still felt bad for him now that she had calmed down. Especially since she had yelled. He was just hurt and scared, and he was lashing out because it was too much to handle. Dani understood that all too well. Giving Meg another reason to be upset with him wouldn’t help anything.

Even with everything going on in her own life, Meg still found room to be concerned for Dani. The young werewolf shook her head (slowly) as she rubbed her temple. “I already took something. There’s only so much medicine can do.” She pulled her hand away from her aching head and forced a smile, the expression made slightly more genuine by her fondness for her friend. “I’ll be okay, Meg. Honestly.” Well, she would today. The morning after the full moon she was pretty much guaranteed to be a bruised and crying mess. But for now the pain was at a level she could handle.

Especially if she had something else to focus on. Like helping Meg for a change. Dani leaned her head carefully back against the wall of the house, turning it ever so slightly so she had a good view of her friend. “Mostly okay is still partly not okay. And I know there’s nothing I can do to fix that. But I can listen if you want to talk about it.” Just in case Meg had reservations about discussing her own problems with someone she assumed had it worse (a dilemma Dani was all too familiar with), she added with a hint of a quiet smile, “That’s what friends do.” And they were definitely friends now. After the way Meg had handled the werewolf bombshell, there was no way they couldn’t be. Meg had done so much for Dani already. More than she would ever know. And if Dani could repay a little of that debt now, she was more than happy to.

It seemed Meg definitely wanted the company. Good. Dani climbed to her feet as well, albeit slower to avoid aggravating her aching head, and dusted off her own pants. She was actually a little hungry. Dani was the kind of person who could get so sucked into her art that she forgot to eat, so lunch had skipped her mind at some point. But there was the matter of Theo. He might not want to her in his house after she had just yelled at him. And what if he said something to tip Meg off to what had happened before her arrival? Dani wasn’t really sure how Meg would feel about apparently being lied to again, even if it was over something small. Maybe Theo wouldn’t bring it up though. Or maybe he had heard enough of this conversation through the door to not contradict Dani’s version. And in the event they could get past that little snag, eating hamburgers with Meg sounded better than sitting in the park drawing. Dani hesitated briefly, turning all this over in her head, before finally nodding. “A little. You sure you don’t mind?”