Which Neighbour? The Hot One

[Carlisle Hooker]

The Countess was quite amazed by the young man's romance. He was handsome, yes. More than handsome, like no man she had had the pleasure of meeting. He was young, only nineteen. His hair was black as midnight and his eyes even darker. His skin was flawless, a trait the Countess found most intriguing. His brother was his opposite. Not handsome, more than that. Blond, pretty eyes. He was near perfect. And his blood would would be truly fine. Like a normal woman's champagne. But she had his brother first. Then her blond boy. But the chase would be enjoyable...

The words were surprisingly easy to write. His quill scratched across the parchment as the Countess plotted her next murder. She was one of his favourite characters so far. But his murderer in his first book was still his favourite. He didn't want to admit that her next kill, the blond, was based on Mr Skeeter. He had spoken to him a few times, which were always brief and polite. He couldn't remember if he was married. Carlisle could barely remember any facts about him. He had wanted to get to know him. But he had found his confidence falling. Such a shame.

He had always worked with the curtains open. He liked looking out on the people, wondering who they were, what they were doing. He would use them as his character's inspirations. One old lady with her grandaughters became a Duchess who missed her husband and cut herself off from the world. A handsome young man became a cold and distant man who had lost all and had everything to gain. He loved playing these games. He assumed Elspeth did something similar. She must have got her romantic heroes from somewhere, because he doubted he was the muse for a great lord who saw a beautiful lady and had to love her.

He needed some fresh air. It was early morning and the air would be nice. He was already dressed, even at that hour in the morning. His suit was nice even though his hair wasn't in it's usual look, he didn't think anyone would bother at this hour. He made his way down stairs and opened his door to the fresh morning air. However, there was someone else outside, surprising for that hour in the morning. Carlisle looked over at whoever it was. "Good morning!"

@Barnabas Skeeter

  

[Barnabas Skeeter]

Barnabas could not believe that the healers had yet to figure out how to remove his tail. He had begun to suspect that Miss O'Neill was not trying as hard as she ought for her own amusement. It was unprofessional and frankly immature. He would need to try other avenues. Centaurs had a bit of healing magic. Perhaps he would try there. Today was not the day to do so however, as he needed to get to work. Aside from his boss, he had not told anyone of it. He had come up with some story about injuring himself during a call in order to explain his odd way of walking. Hopefully the tail would be gone sooner rather than later, as he could only keep that story up for so long.

He wished he could just apparate to the Ministry, but with his new appendage throwing him off balance, he was afraid to even attempt it. Splinching was serious business and not something he wanted to explain to his coworkers.

He winced as one of his neighbors called out to him. Hooker, he thought his name was. What was he doing up so early? Wasn't he a writer? Didn't they stay up late to odd hours and then sleep all day? It was unnatural. He ought to have a solid occupation, like Barnabas. Not some nancy-pancy book writing. It was a wonder the man was married.

He spun about awkwardly to keep his backside out of view and replied with a grumpy, "Morning, Mr. Hooker." His tail was hidden beneath his robes, but it had a mind of its own and he had yet to figure out how to get it to keep still other than to tie it down to one of his legs.