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+----- Thread: Unraveling | Dragon (& Tilly) (/showthread.php?tid=1110)
Unraveling | Dragon (& Tilly) - Alice Ravenstone - 06-12-2026
2 December 1922
Early afternoon
Early afternoon
Alice felt lost. She’d spotted Maevie on the walk back to the castle, had called out to her even, just for the girl to turn the other way.
Her mind was jumbled. She couldn’t figure out where to start unraveling the mess her father had made. She longed to be the oblivious little girl again – too young to be married off, too innocent to know about her father’s wrong-doings, too… everything.
But that was gone.
That Alice was gone.
She opened the bag of candy and looked inside. Alice couldn’t remember which ones she’d gotten. Maybe a little of everything. But as she looked at her options, she realized that it didn’t matter. Chocolate and chews, starshards, lollies, lightning bolts… All candy. All supposed to heal the soul.
Alice pulled out a truffle and shoved it in her mouth. She’d always enjoyed candy but had never over-indulged like this before. She chewed and closed her eyes momentarily as she paused her walk. Warmth filled her up, and she could feel her emotions start to loosen, while growing stronger. Less of a ball, and more of a thread. Woven through every part of her.
She was sad. She was alone. She wanted to be near someone – anyone.
She opened her eyes and could see someone in the distance. Familiar. Alice stuck her hand in her bag of candy and pulled out another piece – this one a pink heart. She popped it in her mouth and chewed, then began making her way towards him.
RE: Unraveling | Dragon - Dragomir Zdravkova - 06-13-2026
The cool December air wrapped around him as he stepped through the castle doors, making his way across the grounds and towards the lake. The lack of snow sat strangely wrong with him, pulling at a hole in his chest. By this time of year, Russia would already be covered, inches thick. In Scotland everything was still barren and bleak. Unfamiliar and unwelcome.
Even the temperatures.
This wasn't true cold, real December, and he couldn't wait to feel it again. Christmas Break was close.
For now, he was wearing a dark knit sweater, wool shorts and his leather training shoes, more than enough in this comparably milder weather especially for the run he was planning. Nothing was worse than running with too many layers on and having to take them off midway.
Less was more in this instance in particular.
While everyone had set off to Hogsmeade, he had made use of the almost completely empty library, catching up on some studying and reading. The village nearby had every student in a crazy for some reason he couldn’t grasp. He hadn’t bothered to inquire about any of it though. This castle was much too crowded, it was nice to have some room to breathe once in a while.
And with all the quiet he had been done with his homework quicker than expected. With nothing else to do, he’d decided to use the rest of the afternoon for something he enjoyed.
A figure walking his way caught his attention though and he slowed. At last he recognized her.
“Hello Alice,” he said, bowing slightly in greeting. When he caught her expression though, his brow creased, dark eyes regarding her with concern. “Are you alright?" Something about her seemed off.
RE: Unraveling | Dragon - Alice Ravenstone - 06-13-2026
“Are you alright?”
Dragon had bowed, and then Alice could see him assessing her. She felt a bit exposed after everything her father had said; of course he didn’t know what happened, but the concern in his eyes did something to her that she hadn’t fully been prepared for.
Of all the people for her to run into, of all the moments in the day to run into him.
It had to be now.
His question hung in the air and she recalled how his question in the library had done the same. It’d been ridiculous then that she didn’t know what she enjoyed. But that seemed even more miniscule compared to all of the empty blanks staring her right in the face.
The candy was doing something to her; softening her. The sadness was still there but it had spread out thin instead of balling up in her chest, and she felt… permeable somehow. Like the usual distance between herself and everything else had gotten smaller.
Alice looked up at him, remembering how it felt to be more eye-to-eye with the tall boy, how his hand felt when he helped her up and down from the chair…
“I’ve had a terrible afternoon,” she said, which surprised her. Her eyes widened only briefly before relaxing. She looked down at the bag of candy in her hand, then held it out toward him automatically.
Always caring about other people. That’s what Alice Ravenstone did. In the near-void that was her life now, that was all she could grasp onto.
“Do you want some candy?” she offered. She popped a chocolate square in her mouth once the cloudberry chew was gone. She attempted to cover the sadness in her eyes with a slight smile, but had no idea if it would work or not.
RE: Unraveling | Dragon - Dragomir Zdravkova - 06-13-2026
There was a delay in her response and that was enough to know.
Something, clearly, wasn’t alright.
It immediately tugged on a thread. The one that weaved all the way to the soft part of himself, through every layer of hardened composure and pragmatic calm. Reserved for his siblings, typically.
But something in the way she spoke, the sadness in her eyes and the way she admitted to it without even a flicker of hesitance opened that part of him like a door that had never even been locked at all. That protective side that couldn’t bear to see another suffer, someone who shouldn’t, someone vulnerable and innocent. There was nothing he could do; he had never been able to stand it.
His eyes softened slightly when she held the bag of candy out.
Sweets weren’t exactly his thing, only rarely did he feel the need to indulge. Besides, eating before exercise wasn’t very productive either.
Maybe his plans had just changed though. He could hardly leave her standing here like this. He might not have been the person she’d wanted, but he was here and sometimes it didn’t take anything more than that to qualify.
Her attempt at a smile was the final nail in the coffin. Nodding faintly, Drago gave in. “Okay,” he said, and pulled a round truffle from the bag in her hand. Plopping it into his mouth he nodded sideways.
“Come sit.” The chocolate spread like warmth, seeping into his chest as he led the way to a bench nearby. The sensation was strange, but he dismissed it. Sitting, he crossed his arms and looked around at Alice.
“What happened?”, he asked mildly. “I will not tell anyone if you don’t want.”
RE: Unraveling | Dragon - Alice Ravenstone - 06-13-2026
Alice wasn’t sure if Dragon would eat any of the sweets, but to her it felt like the most important thing on earth. If he didn’t – if he said no – she’d likely crack and break down and lose any sliver of dignity she still held within her.
Thankfully, he softened in a way that she’d never seen before. In a way that Tilly had never even told her about before. He agreed and fished out a truffle before leading her to a bench.
She sat.
“What happened? I will not tell anyone if you don’t want.”
Silence. Alice contemplated her truth now. It was multi-faceted and it meant many different things. She wasn’t sure that he would even understand. The candy was doing something to the usual walls she had built up around herself, they were flimsy now at best. She didn’t know how to handle herself.
She reached into the bag, something smaller in was in her grasp. Another chew. She popped it in her mouth.
“My father requested a meeting,” she began, which was easiest. But the word ‘father’ felt like a horrible designation for the man who had ripped her apart. “Here. Today.”
Alice’s brown eyes looked out at the lake. She sighed.
“He told me that my mother – Margery – is not actually my mother.” She said it the way you said something you weren’t sure felt real yet. “That my – biological – mother brought me to them when I was seven months old.”
A moment of silence. It didn’t feel real.
“And then he told me he’s arranged a marriage contract for me.” She knew it was true, but the way he’d tossed that fact in as if to twist the blade already in her heart had been a new level of cold. “In the same conversation.”
Alice popped another chew into her mouth.
“Then he said he had somewhere better to be and just left. Just like that,” she said, snapping her fingers.
How was her voice steady? She had no idea.
RE: Unraveling | Dragon - Dragomir Zdravkova - 06-14-2026
For a moment they sat in silence, the warmth in his chest growing denser. Not uncomfortably, more like a slowly unfurling cloud of ease, reaching throughout his body and back into his brain. Somehow it made him feel even more committed to Alice’s wellbeing.
She ate another one of her sweets and then began to talk. Drago listened in silence, keeping his eyes on her profile.
He only briefly wondered on why she actually decided to tell him. Right away, no diversions, no vague implications. Straight to the point. He might have been the first familiar face on her way back to the castle, but the way she shared what had happened so easily still surprised him. Not for long though.
The intensity of his desire to help only seemed to increase the longer she talked, the faint taste of chocolate lingering on his tongue.
When she finished, Drago released a sigh through his nose. “Is not good,” he said, shaking his head slightly and looking ahead. “To tell you like that. He should not treat a daughter like this.” It was a strange confession. Like something that had sat in the dark all its life but suddenly slipped through the mist.
Confused, Drago reached into her bag again, pushing whatever he grasped into his mouth. Thoughtfully, he chewed.
After a beat he looked back around. “I am sorry you had a terrible afternoon”, he said slowly, unsure of what else to say. Comfort through words had never been his strength. He tried though, something told him it was important he did, something deeply insistent.
“He should not have done this,” he added, voice even but genuine. “Good father doesn’t need to.” And that statement slipped forth even more easily, something he would never dare speak out loud, something he had never even considered before. Not a proper thought until now, but suddenly perfectly formed. A momentary shock of electricity went through him at that. He stuffed the feeling away with yet another reach into Alice’s bag of candy.
RE: Unraveling | Dragon - Alice Ravenstone - 06-14-2026
Alice looked at him for a moment, her brown eyes taking in the softness of his face that she’d not seen before. He usually walked around with a stern look, but something was softening.
He reached into the candy bag again without seeming to notice he’d done it, but she noticed. She usually noticed everything about everybody and right now her senses seemed both sharper and softer than normal. Almost as if she couldn’t fully focus.
“You sound surprised,” she commented, which wasn’t an accusation. Just an observation. “That a good father shouldn’t need to, I mean.”
Alice looked back at the lake, chewing.
“I used to think he was one. A good father. I used to run to the door when he came home from business trips.” That was the saddest part, really. That she’d been so blinded her entire life to who her father truly was.
She reached into the bag again. Something chocolatey, she realized, when she popped it in her mouth. Warmth again. She let out a breath, unraveling a bit more.
“The worst part isn’t even what he said.” She frowned at the thought. “It’s that I believed him. About my mother. Immediately. Because it explained things I’d never let myself question.”
Her brown eyes.
But she didn’t say that part outloud. The thought made her stomach flip. She enjoyed the chocolate’s effect on her.
“He knew that I’d believe him. And he used it anyway.”
Alice sighed, shaking her head. She popped another candy into her mouth. A heart, she could tell by the shape.
“And he just tossed the contract into the conversation almost like a footnote. Like he knew it’d hurt me more.” She frowned.
Then, after a moment, she turned to look at him. Really look at him. Her eyes moved over the features of his face, almost as if she was memorizing it.
“Thank you,” she said after a second. “For not leaving.” Like how Maevie had left.
RE: Unraveling | Dragon - Dragomir Zdravkova - 06-14-2026
“You sound surprised. That a good father shouldn’t need to, I mean.”
Drago shrugged, keeping his eyes ahead. He had no idea where that thought had come from and what to connect it to. It just sat there, huddled and alone in a pool of darkness. All he knew was that it sounded right somehow.
“I used to think he was one. A good father. I used to run to the door when he came home from business trips.”
Her words settled around him like some kind of web; it was strange. His body felt heavy and light at once, everything deeply profound, moving through him on a slowly rising current. A good father. Did that even matter? Why did it suddenly seem so?
His father had always been this monumental figure, a leader and commander, strict, resolute, doing what was best for the family. Drago had never seen him as anything else, had never wished for more or different. Harsh rules, precise expectations, punishment. It was how the machine kept running efficiently and he had never questioned that. Doing it now felt almost blasphemous, an insult to his family.
Drago quickly shoved those thoughts down and away.
Still, the way Alice painted her own father’s way of handling their conversation sounded wrong. Maybe it was the subtle haze that had settled over his brain since they’d sat that made his heart soften like wax melting in the sun, or the almost resigned sadness in her voice, but there was a deep ache in his chest and it softened him even further. It was such a foreign feeling, he didn’t know how to hold it, how to tie it down. It just danced through him like feathers on a wind, going wherever the air shifted to next.
And still, he didn’t know what to say. He had nothing to offer, completely lost inside his head. All he had was the sensations in his body, a feeling of wrong and right with no way to convey it into something tangible.
So he remained silent and thoughtful. Absentmindedly, he plopped another one of her candies.
When Alice spoke again, his head turned, eyes meeting. A tiny flicker of a smile appeared. “Is nothing to thank for,” he said. “Is all I can do, I am not very good at talking.” It was different with his siblings.
“Is good arrangement at least?”, he asked, aiming for lightness, something like humour. “Someone with good name and nice face.” Like me, he almost added but then thought better off it.
The dumb grin emerged nonetheless.
RE: Unraveling | Dragon - Alice Ravenstone - 06-14-2026
Dragon’s small smile did something to her that she hadn’t expected.
“Is good arrangement at least? Someone with good name and nice face.”
The grin that followed was one she hadn’t seen before. It took her by surprise. It was so unguarded, so ridiculous, and lit up his face in a way that she didn’t know was possible. And the dimples…
Something within Alice’s brain broke. She didn’t know the name of the family she was contracted to join; she just knew her father thought it was a smart arrangement. As she looked at him, she popped another cloudchew in her mouth. Her eyes didn’t leave his.
“I… don’t know, he didn’t tell me his name,” she said with a slight smile. “I’d be lucky if his face was yours though.”
The words landed between them and she heard them before her brain even realized that confession had been spoken aloud.
Her eyes widened slightly when it hit her, but it was too late. He was still grinning at her with that stupid look on his face.
And really, she didn’t know why she did it. But she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, closing her eyes
Only for a moment.
But she didn’t pull back.
Her brain was reacting slowly to it, but the sensation of his lips on hers was enough to keep them there. She raised her hand and placed it on the side of his face as she breathed him in. The thousand reasons why this was a bad idea were struggling to break through the haze of the sugar she’d been eating.
She dropped the bag. Where it landed, Alice didn’t know and didn’t care. The kiss continued, neither of them in a state to break it off.
She’d never done this before. She hadn’t known it could feel like this – everything else around her faded into nothing and all she could focus on was his presence. It made her chest ache in a way she’d not experienced.
RE: Unraveling | Dragon (& Tilly) - Dragomir Zdravkova - 06-14-2026
“I… don’t know, he didn’t tell me his name. I’d be lucky if his face was yours though.”
His grin deepened by one smug fraction, completely loose and unrestrained. “And my name,” he added, brows lifting. “Is very good combination.” Wherever that cocky reply had just come from. Sure, he was proud of his family’s name, he’d never made a secret of that. His looks though?
Nothing he had put much thought to before now.
But right now — it meant everything. It was so deeply important to know that Alice liked his face that it rivalled the importance of the conversation that had preceded this. It found a way to an ego he typically didn’t have, stroking and stoking and wiping every other thing from his mind.
When her lips pressed against his there was only a split second of surprise, less than a heartbeat of something flickering to life before it died out again. Like striking a match that almost caught flame but then didn’t.
Grin fading, Drago kissed her back.
He had kissed before but nothing had even exploded inside his chest like this. An immediate detonation that spread warmth like swelling tingles, ever-expanding until they filled out his entire body, buzzing in elation. Faintly, at the outermost recesses of his mind, something pulsed but it was too weak.
It had no chance of breaking through.
This was all that existed and all that he could feel.
Her hand found the side of his face and his rose to cup the nape of her neck, pulling her in a little closer, breathing in her scent. Something about it felt off but it never reached below the surface. Lips moving over hers with slow ease, Drago felt himself fall deeper into a hole, losing all sense of reality, every inhibition and every regard for propriety. All he wanted was to stay here, it was all that mattered.
He was half a second from grabbing her waist with his free hand, unthinking.
RE: Unraveling | Dragon (& Tilly) - Matilda Nordstrom - 06-14-2026
Matilda had been looking for Alice.
The village had been chaos, everyone running around with bags of sweets and armfuls of Christmas presents. Looking all over the village, Alice was nowhere to be found, but a friend saw her leave early, which worried Matilda. Meeting with her father was never going to go well.
It wasn't difficult to find them. The grounds were the first place she thought about, and sure enough near the lake is where she found her. Her eyes found Alice. Then Drago.
Then the space between them was nonexistent. For a second, Matilda's brain simply stopped working. The winter air bit at her cheeks. Neither of them noticed she was there. Alice's hand was against his face. Drago's hand rested at the back of Alice's neck, holding her in place.
A sharp sound comes from deep within her at what she was witnessing.
Shock. Anger. Betrayal. The innate feeling of once again, not being wanted.
No.
No.
No no no no no.
Her stomach dropped so hard it felt like she'd been transported via portkey to places unknown. That would have been preferrable. Every conversation, every late night in the common room, every stupid smile, every moment she had spent convincing herself she could trust him. Gone. Just when she was starting to realize things between them could be good. Better than good even. Now this.
The hurt arrived first. The anger came in quickly after. "What the HELL are you doing?!" Her voice cracked with the onslaught of emotion. Blue eyes bounced between Alice and Drago, both a warm brown, disbelief written across her face. "Alice?" The single word sounded broken. Confused. Betrayed.
Then her attention snapped to Drago. The hurt vanished, replaced with fury. "You." The word was practically spat. For weeks she had worried she wasn't enough. That she wasn't proper enough. Pretty enough. Pureblood enough. That one day he’d realize he didn’t want this girl.. Now every one of those fears came crashing back at once. "I cannot believe you."
Her voice shook.
Matilda didn't wait to see the aftermath of her walking up on Alice and Drago kissing. She turned and walked away. No idea where her legs were taking her, her mind in a haze of emotions.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, Matilda retreated to the greenhouse to hide and process. The warmth and humidity hitting her, barely touching the cold seeping through her bones. Not from the weather, but the betrayal and pain running through her body. She shook with shock and adrenaline.
Unbeknownst to her, tears were streaming down her face.
When the door opened, letting in a blast of cold winter air, a full body shiver ran through her. Turning, her red rimmed blue eyes met the warm brown of Drago's. Shutting her eyes, she turned her body away from him. Her hands clung to the edge of the workbench, small slivers of wood poking into her skin. The pain felt good, giving her mind something else to focus on for just a second.
Still not looking at Drago, her voice came out steady and cold. Dead of all emotion. Done with it all.
"Are you proud of yourself? You got me to comply, the spirited pureblood not worthy of your family finally relented. Take her then. She's a Ravenstone, you get your high society pureblood. Your family gets their connections. And I will once again get tossed to the side."
Turning to face him, the tears glittering down her face, much to her dismay.
"My parents didn't want me, my grandparents sold me off for clout and connections, my boyfriend left me to go study in Japan, my cousin stabbed me in the back. At this point you're just following the trend. Thanks for showing me your true colors prior to the ring. I truly appreciate it."
Just to send the message home, just how angry she was, Matilda crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the man she was beginning to see a future with. ”Go Away.”
RE: Unraveling | Dragon (& Tilly) - Alice Ravenstone - 06-14-2026
It wasn’t until a familiar voice cut through the bubble they had created for themselves that it dawned on Alice what was happening. When it had happened, she had no idea. For months she had hated Dragon on Matilda’s behalf, for what he represented in both of their lives; the obligation that came with important names meant their lives were not their own to lead.
Someone else would always have a say.
She pulled away from Dragon, her lips immediately missing the sensation of his kiss. She could see Tilly, the anger that she’d only ever seen on the girl when directed at their grandmother. Her grandmother, as apparently Allegra was not Alice’s anymore.
(Good riddance, honestly.)
Matilda’s emotions were breaking through the fog of whatever it was she’d begun feeling and she was hit with a strong sense of betrayal and sadness.
On top of what her father had put there earlier.
On top of the loneliness that had taken hold when Maevie obviously walked the other way when Alice called out for her.
It was just… over. Everything.
Part of Alice wanted to try to fix it like she tried to fix everything, but she knew she was the last person on Earth Matilda would want to see at the moment. Not like she could blame her.
It seemed to be ages before Dragon stood up. They had untangled themselves and whatever it was that had caused the situation in the first place. She looked down at the bag of candy, spilt on the ground at her feet from when she dropped it mid-kiss.
Trash. Like everything.
Like her life.
She didn’t say anything to Dragon when he finally left and went towards the direction Tilly had left in. She hardly even looked up at him.
Alone. That’s how she was meant to be.
RE: Unraveling | Dragon (& Tilly) - Dragomir Zdravkova - 06-15-2026
"What the HELL are you doing?!"*
Drago’s head snapped around immediately, violently ripped from the depth of his empty brain, shocked into reality. Dazed though, not quite able to catch up at first but the feeling was unmistakable. Dread. Ice-cold as it sank through his body.
Matilda.
Realization dawned and then crashed, destroying the hazy warmth that had surrounded him like a bubble, wiping away the smugness and ease. The past minutes flashed behind his inner eye, utter shock rendering him speechless, immovable. What the fuck was happening?
His eyes darted from Matilda to Alice and back again, mouth half agape, mind still crawling to catch up. At last, the true understanding began to sink in.
He had kissed Alice. Who was not his betrothed at all.
And Matilda had seen, was standing right in front of them, a face of devastation and betrayal.
"You."
The single syllable was bursting with fury, cutting straight through his heart. Entirely different than what he’d ever felt before. “Matilda,” he tried, full of shock and disbelief.
"I cannot believe you."
She was gone before he managed to bring his thoughts in order. Feeling dizzy, he stood, watching her retreat in stunned silence. Between the confusion of how he’d landed here, the sharp pain the look on her face had caused, and the lingering but now tainted warmth in his body, Drago felt like he’d combust.
Nothing made sense, his heart was racing in panic.
After what felt like forever, he turned to look at Alice. “I am sorry,” he said, tone muted, lifeless. Shame finally seeped in, dragging the guilt along and together they settled like stones inside his guts. His eyes found the bag of candy, scattered over the ground and then the pieces finally fell into place.
His jaw tightened. Forcing himself to focus, Drago turned, making after Matilda.