Background
Nick smiled as he watched Pearls move around the office. She was wearing an apron, gloves and had a mask on, with a feather duster in one hand and a vacuum cleaner trailing behind her. She had come down for the weekend to see Nick and, upon the request of Maya, clean the office.
'Junk', as Pearls had called it, was covering nearly every surface. Nick tried to reason with her, saying that it would just become messy again after she left but she was resolute. He sighed and looked over to the various packs of playing cards that were on top of the piano. Ultimately, a lot of the mess was Trucy's fault. She would leave all kinds items that she was practicing magic on around the place and never bothered to pick them up.
Pearls reached Nick's bookshelves that were filled to the brim with his old casefiles. She started to dust over them but soon stopped. She placed down the vacuum cleaner and duster, pulled out a file and started to flip through it.
"I remember this," she said. "The case where we first met."
"I'd be surprised if you forgot," Nick replied. He leant forward and poured himself a glass of wine from the bottle that was nearby. He emptied the bottle and placed it with the three others that were sitting on the table.
Pearls glanced over to the Nick at that moment and frowned. "I'm trying to clean the place. The least you could do is to place rubbish in the bin."
Nick smiled and drink a sip of his wine.
Pearls sighed and closed the file. She placed it back onto the self and picked up the duster once more. She dusted the shelves slowly, reading the case numbers of each file, smiling occasionally. She eventually got to the end but stopped when she knocked a small gold pin onto the floor.
"Oh, sorry," she said, bending over to pick it up. She paused when she actually saw the pin and a sad look overcame her face.
"You can throw that out if you want."
Pearls looked at Nick for a moment before turning around and placing it on the shelf again. She then proceeded to start cleaning once more, a frown on her face.
Nick pulled his hand-knit beanie down over his eyes. Maya's words echoed in his head, telling him that he was being ridiculous but he ignored them. He loved both Pearls and Maya, but they didn't know how he felt. Being disbarred… He couldn't just move on like they kept telling him. The only thing that probably stopped himself from becoming a full-fledged alcoholic was Trucy.
Nick looked over to Pearls, who was now vacuuming the floor. "Thanks for doing this, Pearls."
"Oh, it's no problem," she said, smiling briefly at him.
Nick took another sip of his wine, his eyes drifting over to the bookshelf with his old case files. It hurt to think about the past sometimes but if he went back, he knew he wouldn't change a thing.
Slytherin - Fanatic 911: So this scene was about background. We had to show a character's room in their house or office and show small details that would reveal the person's past. I think I successfully did this here.
Before anyone says anything about Nick's lawyer badge, I know very well that it was taken off him when he was disbarred but bear in mind, this was written for an audience who doesn't know anything about AA and wouldn't care. So please forgive me there.
Anywho, once again, let me know what you think it and I'll see in the next piece!