|
Post by savethestars on Nov 23, 2008 2:49:33 GMT 1
{OOC: I'd be happy if at least one person from Dei's house or year decided to reply. She's really shy and needs to make friends.}
Leaning against one of the hard stone walls that encompassed the Astronomy tower, Dei felt the coolness of the rock shock her skin. It was October, still warm enough to be wearing lighter clothing, and she'd taken advantage of that fact earlier in the morning. Looking through her wardrobe, she'd chosen a light pink t-shirt and beige capri pants, accompanied by black open toe sandals, and a silver charm bracelet her mother had given her when she was nine. Inside her left pocket was her father's old pocket watch, which rarely ever left her side. Her long auburn hair was draped over her shoulders, with parts of it escaping now and then.
Deirdre pulled out a red, leather-bound book from her magenta over-the-shoulder bag. It was her own copy of Fantasic Beasts and Where to Find Them, purchased over three years ago at Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley. She traced her finger over the worn label that bore her name, feeling the indentations her quill had made. Her writing style had improved since then. Dei enjoyed lazy weekends like these. Nothing to do except wander around the castle, think, and read. And Dei was definitely one for thinking.
Before she removed her bookmark from page twenty-six, which began a lengthy introduction to the characteristics of centaurs, she gazed out the window of the tower, trying to make something out. It looked like some type of bird or bat. "Is that you, Maeve?"
Deirdre should have known. The female barn owl often liked to fly around the castle grounds to get some fresh air. She watched Maeve soar through the open air, and noticed the owl was drawing closer. "If you've been out long enough, you should get back to the dormitory." The owl stared at her owner quizically, and landed upon the windowsill. "Oh. I take it you just got out?" Maeve bowed her head slightly. "I understand. Just enjoy yourself and be careful, all right? Try to avoid those Slytherins if you can. We don't want another rock-pelting incident like last year." Without a further glance at the human, the owl launched herself from her perch and quickly disappeared out of sight.
She's probably going to circle the Quidditch field, see if anyone's out there practicing. I hope she doesn't get hit by a Bludger or something. Dei shook her head as if to shoo away an unwanted thought, and tried to get back to reading her book. I wonder if I'm the only one who likes to come up here on weekends. Surely there must be someone else in this school who likes peace and quiet. I just hope I don't run into anyone. Oh no. What if someone tries to talk to me? Dei rolled her eyes at her own thought. They won't. The last time someone tried to talk to me, it was first year. And what a relief it was when they walked away.
|
|
|
Post by lily on Nov 24, 2008 19:11:31 GMT 1
Apparently the Owlery was either no longer a sacred place for her to chill out, or everyone had figured out it was her hiding place and seemed determined to ruin it for her. The last few times Lily had been to the tower, all during periods she knew were usually quiet, there had been someone else there and a few of them had even tried to talk to her! Fancy that. It was only ever common courtesy (“Hi, how are you? My name's...”), never any real interest in getting to know her, so it just seemed like a complete waste of time. Oh, sure, sometimes there was someone who looked genuinely interesting but for the most part, those were the ones that ignored her. Typical, really.
As such, she'd decided she wanted to check out the Astronomy tower. She'd never gone up there on a weekend before and it would probably be nice to get the view of the landscape from a different angle. At least, that was going to be her reason, if anyone asked at all. That she'd likely spend half the day up there, skipping lunch and possibly even dinner, depending on her mood, was beside the point. Her bangles jingled as she practically jogged up the stairs, her camera bouncing at her side. Sometimes she wondered if that might not damage it, but it seemed to be doing alright so far. The exercise of going up any of the towers was always good, in her opinion, which was why she always ran up them – made it go a bit faster but also made her expel more energy. It was kind of cool for the only noise, at that height, to be your breathing, your pounding heartbeat and the sound of the wind.
Reaching the top of the stairs, she stopped for a moment and smiled. Yep, no noise whatsoever. Had Lily been but a few moments quicker, she would have heard a voice from the room beyond and then she'd have gone straight back down the stairs. As it was, she brushed her hair out of her eyes and pushed the door to the top of the tower open, ignoring the loud creaking. She didn't notice anyone else in the room for a moment, so seeing another girl sitting across the room, reading. Embarrassed, Lily could feel her face heating up and turning that annoying shade of red that was always so obvious.
Crap.
”Uh, hi?” she said, standing up straight and realising she recognised the girl, although she couldn't remember her name. They had classes together, though they weren't in the same house. Lily felt under dressed near the tidy girl in her old, slightly tatty hoodie and worn in jeans. It wasn't that she didn't have nicer clothes, these were just... more comfortable? She started fiddling with her camera bag strap. ”I can... go, if you want me to?”
|
|
|
Post by savethestars on Nov 25, 2008 0:43:01 GMT 1
Dei looked up from her book, rather surprised. This is... weird. She'd just been thinking about that one time in first year when a then fifth year student tried to socialize with her, assuming she was like the majority of the school: bubbly, outgoing, and talkative. She remembered how the girl had complimented her on her hair (it was a bit shorter back then, and slightly curled), and how she was unable to respond with anything other than a stutter.
She only felt confident in front of people she'd known for a while. Dei could only think of two: her father and her beloved owl. Three years ago, she would have counted her mother and her brother in that list, but that was before "The Incident." Dei honestly didn't know why she called it that, other than the fact that she didn't want to say it for what it was or describe it in detail. And frankly, giving it a generalized nickname did make it seem not as bad as it was in reality.
Dei acknowledged the girl with a slight nod of her head. She placed Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them on an indented ledge, bookmark and all. She remembered her from their classes together. She didn't know much about her, other than her being a Hufflepuff and, if she recalled correctly, she was a Potter. Dei didn't even know her first name. "Um... I... I can..." Oh no. Here it came again. Stuttering. "I mean, if you... if you already had plans to, uh, come up here, I can just leave instead?"
|
|
|
Post by lily on Nov 25, 2008 1:00:46 GMT 1
Lily shook her head frantically, red locks flying everywhere as she did so, her eyes wide in embarrassment. No, no, she hadn't meant that! The last thing she wanted was to shift someone else out of the tower if they'd been there first, it was Lily who had been intruding. All very good things to say, but apparently the girl's mouth was stuck and she couldn't get any of it out. Instead she sort of stood there for a moment, blinking stupidly with her mouth hanging ever so slightly open. Lily disliked talking to people rather than being unable to talk to them – a concious choice to avoid instead of generally wanting to interact – so it was ironic that the one time she wanted to say something, she was stuck*.
Lily calmed down after a moment and ended up smiling, holding back a small laugh. She felt a bit sheepish and brushed her wayward hair back behind her ears once more. She knew she should have gotten a hairband that morning but no, she'd wanted to wear it loose. It was going to bug her all day, at this rate. ”It's a big tower, it's not like we can't both stay here,” she offered as a compromise, using one hand to gesture to the vast room. She then did chuckle slightly. ”Is it safe to say you feel as awkward as me right now?”
Perhaps this was all Lily really needed to open up, though – someone who seemed as quiet as she did. It was something to think about, but maybe at a later date. Instead, she followed up her original question, seeing as she'd finally managed to get her jaws working again. ”Really, though, if you want to be alone then I'll turn around. I know what it's like to need a bit of peace and quiet.”
[OOC: *Like the writer of this post. Woo a paragraph of fuck all!]
|
|
|
Post by savethestars on Nov 25, 2008 1:40:45 GMT 1
Dei stared at her incredulously. "You... you do? I-I-I mean, of course, everyone, um, knows what needing their space is like, I mean, yes, I was here first, but uh..." She sighed, pursing and then releasing her lips. Every time. Every time without fail. I know how to communicate, but I can't. She stood a little straighter, pushing against the stone wall to help herself upright. "Sorry. Can I, um, just... start over?"
And this little slip wasn't just a one-time thing where she could say "Oh, excuse that error in my speech pattern, I didn't get enough sleep last night. Working on my DADA essay, you see." No. It wasn't like that. It even happened around her father, occasionally. But almost never around Maeve. Rarely ever around Maeve.
"You're, er, a fourth year... right?" Dei crossed her fingers, hoping she hadn't made a mistake. She was pretty sure she hadn't, because she'd seen this girl in her classes before. "I'm Deirdre. Barclay. Deirdre Barclay. But... my dad calls me Dei." What the hell was that?! What was I thinking? 'My dad calls me Dei'. I'm a total idiot... outside the classroom. "What's yours? Uh, name, I mean. Your name. Which I don't know." Grrr, stop making it worse! You've already screwed up, no surprise there.
|
|
|
Post by daphne on Dec 2, 2008 1:35:11 GMT 1
Arielle had just finished her weekend homework and was glad to finally be free. She was running full speed up to the astronomy tower hoping to sit on the windowsill and read. She had finally gotten a new book from her dad and was inclined to read it where she would be able to look out at the others in school who still had homework. She waved casually to the pictures she passed by. She probably shouldn't have been running so fast because she fell several times on the cold, stone floor. She had had worse, so she just popped up and launched back up. She made sure she wore some jeans so that she could lie upside down outside. He tie-dye shirt was tied in a knot securely to her waist.
She finally reached the astronomy tower and heard voices inside. She pressed her ear up to the door to see if she would be intruding by entering. She was just at when one of the girls asked the others name when the door opened. She flew threw the doorway and rolled about half way into the room so that she was staring at the ceiling. "Wow, I probably should have checked to see if the door was closed." She jumped up and around so that she was facing the two girls. She promptly stuck out her hand "Hi I'm Arielle, you can call me Lele, though. And you are?"
|
|
|
Post by savethestars on Dec 2, 2008 2:36:24 GMT 1
Deirdre closed her eyes instantly, as if she thought she could just wish herself out of the situation. Oooh, lovely. As if one person wasn't enough. Now there are two of them! She opened her eyes. And, predictably, both girls were still there. Dei wished it was a school day, and she wished Maeve were here. Although, she thought, rationally, if it were a school day, my fellow pupils wouldn't be able to shut their yaps about that ridiculous Hallowe'en Ball. She didn't want to hear everyone blurting out, "Oh, who are you going with?" or "Oooh, who's your date?" to each other. Of course, they weren't asking her. She was used to that. But she couldn't help wanting it, wanting to be noticed. Don't most people?
Another usual dampener on her average school day were Quidditch tryouts. Dei was horrible at sports. Everyone figured that out the first day of flying class, back in first year. She hadn't even been able to coax the broom off the ground, much less mount it. Luckily, no one in Ravenclaw held it against her because they knew how wonderful a student she was. Point being, they just didn't talk to her.
Even though Dei didn't want to introduce herself a second time, she knew she had to. This Lele person was obviously the eager type, from the way she was dressed all the way down to her seemingly cheerful demeanor.
There was that word again. Seemingly. When she'd first arrived at the Astronomy tower, it was seemingly quiet. Boy, had she thought wrong.
Raising her eyebrows in a discomforted gesture, Dei looked from one girl to the other. Her stomach started to turn. "Hi, um, I mean, hello. My, uh... my name is... well, she already knows my name, but it's Deirdre." Wow. That was actually better than the first time.
|
|
|
Post by daphne on Dec 2, 2008 3:08:53 GMT 1
Arielles smile got a little bit smaller as she said this. Arielle felt a strange vibe coming from this girl. For some reason it felt as if Arelle was not wanted. SHe was never wanted but this girl seemed to hate that she was there. She pulled back her hand. She realized that this girl must be very shy. She felt a pit in her stomach as she was extremely embarrassed. She must have been intruding on something very important. She didn't like intruding. If she were with one of her friends, she wouldn't want to be intruded upon. She started to bite her lip. This was the first time she had felt out of place. She always was out of place but never really cared; until now.
Kiko, Arielles cat, scampered into the room. She sat at Arielles feet and gave a loud meow. She picked up her up and held her close knowing that Kk would always love her. Kiko was her only friend currently. Arielle started to back away very slowly."Would you like me to leave?" She was so scared that she would make a move to be considered rude. She held her cat closer. "Eep!" She said as she flew backwards tripping over a table knocking down a book. Kiko went flying threw the air landing on her foot. "Ow!" Her brow creased as she failed to get up. She thrashed and flailed and struggled against the table.
|
|
|
Post by savethestars on Dec 2, 2008 3:48:02 GMT 1
She cringed as she spotted Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them toppling to the floor, but immediately rebounded in a frantic attempt to save the book. "Aiyee!" Dei screamed as she dove for the book, her hands shooting out in front of her, palms open for the catch. Don't close your eyes. "Oof!" she exclaimed as she landed belly-first on the jagged, stony ground. In her hands was the textbook, safe from harm, aside from a few folded pages.
Dei realized she'd just made an even bigger fool of herself. Both girls had been watching, she was sure of it. That Gryffindor, Arielle, would probably blab to all her friends, whoever they were, about "stupid Deirdre Barclay." Seriously. Stop making assumptions, Dei. She remained upon the floor of the tower, refusing to get up. She didn't want to be laughed at again. Instead, she did something even worse. Yes. She tried to explain. Bad idea. "I-I... um, as you can plainly see, I... had to prevent the book from becoming, er... irreparably damaged." Just spit it out, even if it is a lie. "It's a school copy. I, uh... I didn't want to receive detention for wrecking it." Dei conveniently covered the label that bore her name with her right thumb. She had to say something to convince them she wasn't a total lunatic. Aside from that, she really didn't want people to know how big her obsession with books was. Apparently, she didn't remember that the whole school knew of her love for reading. Maybe at the core, it wasn't her being a book fiend. Maybe, for the first time in her life, she felt like she hadn't completely blown it with these people. Yet.
|
|
|
Post by daphne on Dec 2, 2008 4:32:38 GMT 1
Arielles eyes widened. She made one final and successful attempt to get up. "Ohmygosh-omygosh-omygosh!" She said the words strung into one. "Are you all right? I am so sorry. Is your book okay? Ooh!" She said on the verge of crying. She understood why she wanted to save the book. "If you need a new one, I'll pay for it! Are you all right?" She repeated. She was so embarrassed. Too embarrassed to feel any pain from the blood streaming down her arm. She didn't even notice. She would have died if she had ruined her book or caused harm to her. She had a strange thing with empathy. It just now attacked her. She kept running all the possible ways to make it up to Deirdre.
She finally decided it would be best if she calmed down. "I am so sorry! I am such a klutz. Are you sure you and your book are all right?" She hurried to make sure Kiko was okay. She had clung to the back of the chair. She examined the girl to make sure she wasn't bleeding and there were no missing pages from her book. She loved books to, and Arielle knew how she would feel if somebody wrecked one of them. She kept thinking, this girl will now hate her forever. She will never want to be my friend. She clenched her nails into her palms to make sure she didn't say anything more.
Arielle had already messed up to many relationships with female friends. She tried very hard not to embarrass herself very hard, but it was too late now. She always embarrassed herself all the time, but this was the first she had with two girls watching. They were both redheads. No wonder, she always got nervous when with redheads.
|
|