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stitchcraft (stitchcraft) wrote in tinworth,
@ 2009-10-27 11:01:00

Entry tags:

character: morgan corner, character: padma patil, character: sarah fawcett, date: october 2003, place: private residence, place: tinworth

Characters: Sarah Fawcett, Morgan Corner, Padma Patil
Locale: Quin Cottage
Date: October 27, 2003
Open? Only to these three!
Warnings? Literature lovin' and baked goods aplenty!

Sarah moved around Quin Cottage's cozy kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the veritable feast she'd prepared for this evening's Book and Bake. She deftly drizzled a light sugar icing on a still-warm spice cake, while moving the kettle onto the burner with her other hand. Perhaps she'd gone overboard, but she'd been rather excited when Morgan said that she'd invited another "kindred spirit" to come and join them. Their book group was fairly small. Sometimes, Nate's sister Felicity would drop by, and Penny Clearwater and Audrey Weatherby would come from time to time as well, but often it would be just Morgan and Sarah. Which was wonderful fun, but it would be nice to add a new true book lover to their group, and Morgan had said that Padma seemed to be as book-infatuated as they were. She actually remembered Padma a bit from school, as she'd been a couple of years behind Sarah in Ravenclaw, but they'd never really connected at Hogwarts.

Finishing with the spice cake, she turned and piled a batch of lemon drop cookies on an oversized plate. She picked up the cake and the cookies and moved through to the front room, putting both plates down on the coffee table near the soft couch and worn-in armchairs they'd gotten as hand-me-downs from Nate's parents a couple of years ago. She moved back to the kitchen to check on the tea, and pick up a plate of fudge she'd made from her mother's recipe and a basket full of iced sugar cookies. Though I was testing those out for Halloween, so, really I didn't make that much stuff just for tonight, she tried convincing herself.

She deposited the other items on the coffee table as well, and moved to light the fairy lights that wreathed the mantel and front windows. Originally put up one Christmas, they'd just stayed and now served as alternative lighting for the room. Sarah was just plopping down a stack of her recent reads, the copy of The Winter's Tale she'd bought from Miles on top, when she heard a knock at the door. Bounding over she threw it open wide.

"Hello! Come on in!"

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tothewildforest
2009-10-27 07:17 pm UTC (link)

Padma idled on the doorstep but a moment before an unfamiliar, but openly friendly, face greeted her. She seemed immediately the sort of person that one would embrace upon meeting, but as Padma was laden not only with a satchel of books and Tilly's finest raspberry tarts, she settled for a shy smile.

"Hello. You must be Sarah?"

It had been so many years since she had suffered the unique embarrassment of making friends! Even among generous or kindred spirits, as it had been her first year in Ravenclaw, they were little agonies that could not be denied.

With Zelma, there had been no time to practice with anyone new that she met.

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morgancorner
2009-10-28 01:08 am UTC (link)

Hefting her old school bag over her shoulder, Morgan groaned a little at the weight as she moved swiftly down the street. It had been a few years since she'd lugged this bag around filled with books.

It had been one of those days that dragged on but just as she'd been ready to close the shop for the day, Mr. Edmunds had stopped in to pick up a few sweet cakes for his wife. Mr Edmunds was a lovely old gentleman but the man could talk until your ears fell off. So needless to say, she was now running late.

Hurrying up the short walk to Quin Cottage, she spotted Sarah inviting Padma inside. She grinned. At least she wasn't late.

"Padma, I'm glad you found it." She said with sincere warmth in her voice and then turned to smile at their hostess. "Hey Sarah."

As the trio made their way inside, Morgan handed a chilled bottle of sweet elven wine to Sarah. "Just a little something I knicked from Mum's wine cooler." She turned to explain to Padma with a wide smile. "It's safer for all of us if I don't try to bake."

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stitchcraft
2009-10-28 04:07 am UTC (link)

The door swung open to reveal a striking, and slightly hesitant-looking, Indian witch on the top step. She was carrying a plate of tarts that looked so good Sarah immediately knew she wanted the recipe.

"Hullo...yes! Indeed I am! And you must be Padma...here, you look like you have your hands full, let me take those for you. Welcome to Quin Cottage! It's a bit knockabout, but we like it." She smiled as Padma entered and she saw Morgan trotting up the walk.

"Let me guess, Morgan. Edmunds again?" Sarah teased her friend. "Ooh, elven wine, yum...thank you!"

She set the plate of tarts and bottle of wine on the coffee table with the rest of the treats, and went into the kitchen to fetch the corkscrew, glasses, and take the just-whistling kettle off the boil. Glancing over her shoulder, she called "make yourselves at home! I'll be back in just a second."

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tothewildforest
2009-10-28 05:17 pm UTC (link)

It was warm inside the cottage, and a particular sort of cozy Padma had yet to strike within Robinswood. She liked it immediately.

Sarah seemed involved in her greetings and dispensing of comforts, and so Padma let her finish, smiling softly in what she hoped was an encouraging fashion. Her nod to Morgan was a warm one as she sat down in a chair beside the coffee table, her satchel of books wedged between her body and the cushioned side.

"Who is Edmunds?"

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morgancorner
2009-10-31 02:46 am UTC (link)

Morgan couldn't suppress a chuckle as Sarah asked about Mr Edmunds. This wasn't the first time she'd been late due to the elderly man. She plucked a tart off the plate on the coffee table. Tucking a foot underneath her, she settled onto one end of the comfortable couch.

"Mr. Edmunds is a lovely but very talkative old gentleman. He is a notorious chatterbox. He and his wife are truly the perfect couple. She is almost completely deaf." She told Padma with a grin.

Taking a big bite of the tart, she sighed before calling to the kitchen. "Sarah, I don't know why Zozma hasn't hired you to bake for the tea shop. These are amazing." She took another bite before continuing, "If you were a man, I'd marry you just for your baking." She laughed.

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stitchcraft
2009-11-01 12:15 am UTC (link)

Sarah bustled back into the front room, carrying a tray laden with glasses, plates, napkins, a corkscrew, teacups and a teapot in one of her homemade cozies. There. That's just about everything except the kitchen sink...

"It's simple. She hasn't hired me because she thinks I'm out to steal all her recipes and start a rival tea shop once I've learned all her secrets. In case you hadn't noticed, Morgan, she's a bit off, your boss." Sarah nudged a few of the other plates aside to make room on the coffee table for the tray, then plopped down into a low-slung armchair near the fireplace. It was a slightly nippy night, so she started a small fire in the hearth with a flick of her wand.

She noticed the tart in Morgan's hand. "I'm afraid I can't take credit for those, much though I'd like to. We have Padma to thank...and they do look delicious." Sarah laughed at Morgan's final comment. "Oh see now, I knew you only loved me for one thing," she teased. Sighing, she batted her eyelashes and said, "as for me, I'm waiting for a guy who has an impeccable taste in literature and who can fix my broom when it goes wonky."

The turn of the conversation reminded her of one of her favorite quotes. "How does that bit from Much Ado go? 'Good Lord for alliance! Thus goes everyone to the world but I, and I am sunburnt; I may sit in a corner and cry heigh-ho! for a husband.'"

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	tothewildforest 2009-11-01 11:37 pm UTC (link)
	Padma smiled, forgetting entirely not to take credit herself for the tarts, which were Tilly's work every bit. "Better still that cupid should be 'a knavish lad/thus to make poor females mad,' I think. There are no such men." Though she blushed, thinking of Theodore, who so rarely displeased her. Yet she did not have a broomstick. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

stitchcraft
2009-11-02 12:47 am UTC (link)

Smiling at Padma's quick-wittedness, Sarah poured herself a cup of tea and plucked a tart from the plate as well. This was shaping up to be a good evening indeed!

"Ah well, you know, I suppose he doesn't have to be perfect really...for 'things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity.' I always wondered if that was Shakespeare's way of talking about having beer vision." She relaxed back into her chair, balancing the tart on the wide arm and pulling the top couple of books from her stack into her lap.

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morgancorner
2009-11-14 07:54 am UTC (link)

"Beer vision? Oddly enough, that sounds about right." Morgan chuckled as she popped the last of her tart into her mouth and savoured the sweet flavour and delicate crust.

"Padma, I am putting in a request for you to bring these again sometime." She said with a warm grin. "Between these and Sarah's spice cake I'm bound to be the size of this sofa in no time."

She reached down to the bag she had set on the floor. Withdrawing several books, she set them on the table.

"I brought a few books that I really enjoyed, I thought either of you may like something new to read. Although I have to warn you its an eclectic collection. Everything from Stephen King to Jane Austen. Feel free to take any that appeal to you." She said with a sheepish grin, "My dad's been complaining that I have far too many books lying about." She really needed to get a place of her own, but working part time at Zozma's would definitely not pay the rent.

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tothewildforest
2009-11-16 04:02 am UTC (link)

Padma grinned, remembering how very little had actually been accomplished in sorting out the Robinswood library, and the few stacks that remained there as well as alongside her bed, carried up and forgotten.

"I have told Theodore I must part with some if we are to have room to breathe, but he won't hear it," she said softly, recovering from her satchel the books she had brought. Not being sure what Morgan or Sarah's tastes were, the collection was eclectic, at best, and she placed the half dozen texts on the table next to the quickly diminishing plate of tarts.

"Tilly will be only too pleased to make half over as many for next time."

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stitchcraft
2009-11-17 03:05 am UTC (link)

"Ooh, I could never resist Austen," Sarah said, leaning forward and picking a well-loved copy of Mansfield Park from Morgan's pile. "I've actually never read this one...always meant to."

She offered up her own selection with a grin, plopping a mixture of Georgette Heyer mysteries and Shakespearean plays onto the table, along with a battered copy of Whitman's Leaves of Grass. "This is a bit of an odd mix, I know...but I've been all over the literary map lately." At the last moment, she plucked back the copy of The Winter's Tale she'd bought from Miles, not quite ready to loan or give it away yet.

"Ah, well, you see...the secret is living with a couple of boys who never care to poke about in the attic. You wouldn't believe how many books I've got stashed away up there."

She reached for the fudge and the elven wine. This was going to be a good night.

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morgancorner
2009-11-17 04:15 am UTC (link)

"Tilly? You'll have to let her know that her tarts were a big hit." Morgan grinned as she plucked a piece of spice cake and let her eyes wander over the books which were now spreading out throughout the cozy room. Her eyes lit up as she spotted a particular title.

"Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere." Morgan quoted as she reached for a copy of A Midsummer's Night Dream with a smile. "This has always been my favourite Shakespeare. I think I've read it a hundred times."

Picking up two of the wine glasses off the table she held them out for Sarah and looked to Padma, "Wine?"

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tothewildforest
2009-11-17 09:35 pm UTC (link)

With a polite shake of her head, Padma declined the wine. Her tolerance for alcohol was embarrassingly low, and she preferred tea, as it happened.

She decided instead to peruse the little collection, for some of the Muggle literature was particularly new to her. She had read a fair few of what she knew they deemed their classics, but had in recent years read very little that was not wizarding, or German, or poetry.

"I must say I have been completely at a loss for female company in recent years," Padma admitted, remembering fondly the Ravenclaw girl's dormitory.

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stitchcraft
2009-11-17 11:05 pm UTC (link)

Sarah poured for herself and Morgan and settled in with her wine, taking a sip and letting the sweet tingle slide down her throat. She toyed with the pages of the Austen and looked at Padma enquiringly. "Oh?" Her thoughts turned to the emotionally difficult and often lonely years spent at home with her parents immediately after the war. "I sort of know what you mean...I think."

She opened to a random page, and skimmed the lines quickly, her mind elsewhere. ...I will stake my last like a woman of spirit. No cold prudence for me. I am not born to sit still and do nothing...

She looked back up at her guests. "What brought you to Tinworth, Padma?"

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tothewildforest
2009-11-18 12:40 am UTC (link)

Here were two who had not been at school with Padma, and presumably took no issue with Theodore. It was a liberating feeling, given her recent confrontations.

"The woman for whom I was working and boarding with decided to retire for the third time, and so I was left without home and occupation."

She paused, fingering the embossed cover of Austen's Northanger Abbey. Austen was not her favorite, but she had not read it, and unread novels were difficult to resist, especially in such encouraging company.

"I had visited Robinswood as often as I had my parents' home, and his company seemed finer if I was to choose somewhere to live in England," she finished, a bit of wicked color in her cheeks.

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stitchcraft
2009-11-18 02:42 am UTC (link)

"He?" Sarah questioned, skipping over the bit about the employer and moving straight to the juicy bits. Well, with my pathetic love life, I've got to live vicariously through someone... "Would that be this mysterious Theodore you mentioned?"

She took another long sip of her wine. Suddenly, a memory floated in of taking an early morning walk with her camera, and as she passed Robinswood in the post-dawn mist seeing an all-too-familiar figure in a dark coat slipping out of the back door. It had been clear he'd lived there as he'd reached down to pet a scruffy looking cat and then headed back inside, holding the door open for the feline.

"Wait...Robinswood. I know that place...it's down the coast, that way?" Sarah gestured vaguely to the wall behind the sofa. "I thought that was Miles Bletchley's house."

She took a chance that Padma had a bit of mischief in her. But just to be sure, she winked as she spoke.

"Just how many blokes dwell there with thee?"

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	tothewildforest 2009-11-18 03:33 am UTC (link)
	Padma's cheeks blazed. It was an unusual arrangement, certainly, and she bit her lip before continuing. "Only Miles and Theodore. But I confess I cannot - and would not - claim them both." Her response diffused her blush, and her eyes sparked with a little borrowed mischief. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

morgancorner
2009-11-20 04:19 am UTC (link)

"No wonder there are no decent available men in Tinworth." Morgan sighed, a hint of teasing lit her eyes. "You two have both taken double your share." She giggled softly. Though she couldn't help but think, once again, of her desire to get out of her childhood bedroom.

Morgan took a sip of her wine as she fanned through the pages of the book in front of her. Usually their Book and Bake nights were just her and Sarah talking about books and gossipping about townfolk. It was a wonderful change to have Padma in the fold.

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stitchcraft
2009-11-20 04:53 am UTC (link)

"Oh, pffft," Sarah waved her hand dismissively. "John and Nate are hardly taken at least not by me..."

She bit her lip pensively. Though I wish that... She took a deep gulp from her wineglass, firmly putting a halt to that train of thought. If she couldn't manage to bring it up with the bloke in question, she probably shouldn't whinge about it anymore. Morgan had already endured far more than an earful of Sarah's romantic whining, and she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of Padma...best wait till they knew each other better before letting yet another person in on the pathetic quality of her love life.

She frowned down at the book in her lap for a moment...she hadn't read it, but knew the story, and right now, Fanny Price was hitting a little too close to home. "But I suppose there must be more decent men around here...who knows, perhaps I'll bump into one on Halloween. Are either of you going to the party at the Oyster Catcher?"

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