Twerk Yer Way Down the Aisle

[NPC]

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. This was not right! Pippy was happy of course that Mistress Amalia welcomed her back into her life but it was not right that Master Ozier had yet to ask her to marry him. Of course she'd never tell her Mistress of her worries - such an independent young woman she was! But there he was. Doing who knew what that surely she could have done herself and the Mistress was away all by herself. Mistress Bastet, too, was gone for the day - and good for that! She was so cruel to Mistress Amalia but Pippy knew better than to say a thing about it.

Pippy hadn't meant to say anything. She was a good elf, she really was! But Mistress Amalia had said that she should not fear speaking her mind and this was for Mistress Amalia's sake, after all! She'd left her life for Master Ozier and surely she'd want to make their relationship official in the way that witches and wizards did. So Pippy walked up to him with her hands nervously twiddling before her, taking a moment to pull on his pant leg to get his attention - she rather thought he still wasn't used to her sometimes! - and speaking up in a squeaking voice. "Master Ozier?" Her voice was small as though she still wasn't sure she wanted to say the words. But she had to! She had to do this to ensure Mistress Amalia's continued happiness!

  

[Ozier Qeb]

At that moment in time, he was examining his broomstick having been a little rough with it during practice and some of the twigs looked a little damaged. While he was quite adept at fixing up his broom when it suffered minor trauma, he doubted he could possibly build himself a reliable broom (let alone one good enough for professional quidditch) from scratch which meant should his current one break, he'd have to buy a new one and he didn't really want to spend that much money on something if it could be avoided. He was just pondering where his broomstick servicing kit was when a gentle tug on his clothing alerted him to the presence of Pippy.

Ozier found Amalia's little house elf rather quirky and endearingly so. He had very little exposure to house elves in general, seeing as he didn't come the most illustrious of backgrounds, but if they were all like Pippy then he had to say they were curious, funny creatures and he couldn't imagine how anyone could treat them as harshly as he had heard some did. How could one begrudge such a vulnerable and willingly subservient being? They asked for no pay and they were always trying to be helpful. At least that was Pippy, maybe there were less pleasant house elves about. "Hello," he greeted the small creature, a smile forming on his face.

  

[NPC]

He smiled much as he always did and Pippy immediately began to rethink addressing the issue. She was an elf, after all, and he was the one her Mistress loved! It was not her business but as good an elf as she was, she was also Mistress Amalia's caretaker. It was all for her, after all, and Pippy would certainly not mess it up! She owed it to her Mistress! Her Mistress who freed her only to take her in when Pippy expressed her sincerest affection for serving her. Her Mistress who was the kindest, loveliest of all witches. With those thoughts, Pippy gathered as much confidence as her small body could muster and she looked at him.

"Pippy was wondering..." She started much more meekly than she had wanted, "What Pippy means is...why has Master Ozier not yet taken Mistress Amalia as his wife?" She managed through a few hesitations, not at all wanting to step out of her place but Mistress Amalia said she was family! And as family she owed it to her Mistress to make sure she would always be looked after and being unwed and living with a man was certainly doing her no favors! If she loved him so much then surely she wanted to marry him. Pippy let this thought comfort her as she looked up for any hint of a reaction.

  

[Ozier Qeb]

Of all the questions he could possibly have expected from the little elf, it was not the one he got. He had certainly thought of proposing to her, he had thought of it when he came back from Egypt and he had thought about it numerous times since but he had refrained from actually asking her. She hadn't ever actually expressed a desire to be married and while he was sure that they were both in it for the long haul, marriage was very final and official. Technically it wasn't really any different from what they were doing at present - social implications aside - but it was the whole mentality of it.

Leaning his broomstick against the wall, Ozier crouched down to Pippy's height so he could converse with her better. "I would much like to, I not certain Amalia want marriage at this time." He sighed to himself and then wondered if something had prompted the house elf to say such a thing. "Why you ask? Did Amalia say she want to marry?" It simply could be that Pippy had wondered it all by herself, he supposed she'd probably spent her whole life so far watching humans around her conform to social expectations and probably wondered why they didn't.

  

[NPC]

Pippy was quite certain she'd never get used to being treated more like an equal than any of the Meliflua had ever treated her. She became even more flustered when Ozier got down to her level but his words soon pushed that to the sideline. So he did wish to marry her Mistress! Oh that was good news and Pippy did so love good news. Though it was embarrassing that she'd have to tell him that Mistress Amalia hadn't said a thing about it. But she knew her Mistress. It would be better for her if they were to marry!

"Oh no, Master!" She squeaked, standing on her tip toes as if her next words would be very important. And they would be! "But Mistress left her family for Master! Pippy knows that Mistress would love to marry Master Ozier even if Mistress would not say it in so many words!" She spoke ardently because it was of the utmost importance. Her reputation got worse the longer she lived without marrying him, after all! "Master Ozier knows that Mistress gave up so much! Mistress would never admit it but Pippy knows that others judge her harshly..." She looked down. How could anyone judge her Mistress? She was the most wonderful woman in the world!

  

[Ozier Qeb]

While he did trust that Pippy knew Amalia very well, after all, the house elf had known her longer than he had but he wasn't completely rid of his doubts. He knew people thought less of them for not being married, he knew very well that the honorable thing to do would be to marry her but what if she said no? "What if she not want to? I never ask person to marry me before, I not know how to tell if she is wanting to or not. Marriage is forever. Forever is long time." Suppose he did ask, would it really be so bad if she said no? What if she said not yet? He had no problem waiting but he wanted to surprise her knowing it was what she wanted.

"What if she say not now, in year or two years?" It wouldn't be a refusal but it would kinda feel like one, not to mention it would take the surprise away when he asked again, it wouldn't be the same. What if it wasn't what she wanted and she felt obligated to say yes? He didn't want to make her feel like she had to.

  

[NPC]

Pippy could have sputtered in disbelief at what had to be excuses (but it was far too undignified for an elf of her training so she refrained). "Mistress Amalia is a proper lady!" She spoke vehemently as if that were the answer he was looking for. "Pippy watched Mistress Amalia grow up. Pippy helped raise the Mistress." And she had! There was no way her Mistress wanted her reputation to be in turmoil forevermore! What if they were to have children?! "Trust Pippy, Master! Mistress goes to bed with Master every night. Mistress wishes marriage, surely!"

She was quite adamant all of a sudden, her worry for Amalia outweighing any nervousness. In a hushed sort of voice, she spoke again (looking quite worried). "What if the Mistress has a child? Does the Master want his children to be raised as bastards?" It was such an ugly word - her Mistresses children would be perfect! - but people were so strange.

  

[Ozier Qeb]

Was he actually being semi-lectured about marrying Amalia from a house elf? He supposed it was comforting to know that aside from him, she still had someone who would look out for her and make sure she was okay but he was being advised into marriage from a house elf. Then the small creature mentioned children and bastards and Ozier nearly lost his balance. He supposed there was a good point to that, so far there had been no sign of children which was a relief for now but if that were to suddenly change then he wasn't sure he wanted them to have to marry out of necessity rather than because they wanted to. Not that they wouldn't want to in that situation but there was an added pressure to it that could easily be avoided. Maybe he should just ask her, what was there to lose? It wasn't like they even had to get married on the spot, if she didn't want to marry him right then, then that was the whole point of an engagement.

He then wondered for a moment if she wasn't suggesting marriage because Amalia had professed a desire to be married but come to the conclusion that she might be expecting. That was alarming. "Are you suggest that because might be...?" He searched for the right sort of words or phrase for 'with child' but failed to come up with much beside a vague gesture at his own stomach. He'd had no reason so far to pick up words pertaining to offspring in English so far. He doubted she would be and not have said anything but maybe it was very recent and she'd only told Pippy, hence the entire discussion.

  

[NPC]

Her already large eyes nearly bulged out of her head at the implication that her Mistress might be with child. "Oh, no, Master! Pippy does not mean to say that Mistress is expecting! But every time Mistress..." She trailed off, fiddling her hands and whispering as if it was too embarrassing to speak loudly: "shares her bed with Master she runs the risk of becoming so! And it further puts Mistress in the realm of harlotry!" She felt so terrible for saying such things about her Mistress.

"Master Ozier must propose to Mistress! Mistress must not mother bastards! Mistress is a lady worthy of respect and marriage from the one she loves." She nodded her head as if to reiterate that fact.

  

[Ozier Qeb]

After his initial feelings of relief, he grew rather perturbed by the dramatic conclusions the elf was coming to. Not that there wasn't a great deal of truth in it but in contrast to the more laid back attitude he had, it seemed quite frantic. "I will ask her to marry soon, not because fear of children, because I want to and lover her." It came out a little garbled but he meant it and he wanted Pippy to know that if he asked her to marry him in the very near future it wasn't because he felt duty-bound, it was because he wanted to make her his wife.