hef crabbe (hephestus) wrote in enemies_rpg, @ 2013-03-24 20:15:00 |
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'My Darling Dearest Enid' did not sound like something Hef would say. Neither did 'I am only a man buried in the fertilizer of love and you've caused me to bloom.' In fact, that one sounded even less like something he'd say than the first. But people did have a way of surprising a soul sometimes. Maybe there was more to Hef than met the eye. It wasn't something Olwen had ever considered, but she was now. The pieces seemed to fit, after all. He had specifically asked about secret admirers just the other day. And why wouldn't he fancy Enid? She was a pureblood, something Olwen was dimly aware of as being important to Hef. But most importantly, Enid was one of the swellest people she knew. Olwen would consider allowing it. She guessed. With her chin propped up by one of her fists and her other hand busily shoving food in her mouth via utensils, Olwen kept her eyes glued to Hef, occasionally glancing over in Enid's direction to see if he really did send her longing glances. She hadn't caught him doing it yet, but she was going to eventually. She was sure of it. Since it hadn't been Hef who had sent Enid the love letter, he had no idea whatsoever that he was meant to be sending the young witch pining glances. In fact, he seemed more intent on having a love affair with the plate of food before him, he had eyes only for it. He held his fork in his slender hand, picking contentedly at the potatoes and the small portion of vegetables remaining. The meat had been the first to go. As he neared the end of his plate, Hef became acutely aware that there was a head angled in his direction. He glanced up. Olwen Dearborn was staring at him. Hef glanced around, as if he seriously doubted it was him that Olwen meant to be staring at. Maybe she was drilling a hole right through him and staring at the 2nd year sitting at the table behind him. No, that couldn't be. Hef gave Olwen a puzzled expression, asking very clearly, 'What is it?' "I'm just admiring your beauty," was the automatic answer Olwen gave, until she remembered she was meant to be doing surveillance for her friend. Did Enid really fancy Hef? Was she going to have to stop teasing him if the two of them started dating? She straightened up in her seat, dropping both of her hands to the tabletop and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Just kidding. It looked like you had some food on your cheek. I was seeing things. You don't." Even though Olwen had reassured him that he did not, in fact, have food on his face, he still instinctively swiped at his cheek nonetheless with the back of his sleeve. Satisfied that there was no food, he glanced to Olwen once again, eyes wide and unsuspecting of everything Olwen and her friends were intending to find out about him. Really, they might have just asked, though it would have embarrassed him to answer truthfully. "All right," he said around a mouthful of food. Hef very rarely had any idea of what to say in response to the things Olwen said to him. It took him a moment before he added, "You were looking at me oddly." "Oh, that's just the way my face looks," she said, waving the frankly absurd suggestion that she was looking at him oddly. Olwen smiled brightly, but behind that bright smile the cogs in her brain were turning as fast as they could. She was thinking of seeing if she could find out something that would help them, though of course she wouldn't be asking him point blank if he'd sent the letter. Mostly because she was already convinced it was him, so why bother asking? "Say," she said, after a moment of thoughtfully chewing a bite of her breakfast, "You don't write poetry or anything, do you?" Hef dropped his fork and brought his hand up to scratch his jaw thoughtfully. "Erm," he said. He had never given much thought to poetry, though he had read it somewhat during school. Just silly little rhymes that kids learn, things like that. He had no idea why Olwen wanted to know, either. Hef shrugged. "No. I don't think I've ever written a poem before." He paused for a moment. "Why?" "I want someone to write me a poem and I thought I'd ask you since we're talking and all," she answered matter-of-factly, as if that was that. Olwen was starting to really doubt that Hef had written the letter. Unless someone else wrote it or he was just being modest. She turned and glanced in Enid's direction, her lips pursed in thought for a long moment. He hadn't even looked at Enid once since she'd started watching him. She couldn't think of another way to subtly bring up the note and she had a feeling Enid might be upset if she botched it. Still, now was her chance. She whipped around to face Hef, her hair nearly ending up in the little food that remained on her plate. "Do you fancy anyone?" she asked and watched him closely. Maybe he'd finally give Enid one of those longing glances the letter had mentioned. Hef had flinched when Olwen whipped around, as though her hair might fly out and slap him in the face. Hey, it could happen. Stranger things had. But asking him if he fancied someone--well. That was a subject matter that seemed to be popping up aplenty in the aftermath of Kissing Friday. Hephestus visibly balked, and his skin reddened from embarrassment over the question. "No!" said, a little louder than he had intended. Well, he hadn't looked at Enid, but that no had sounded much too insistent to actually be a no. Olwen gave him a knowing smile and just as knowingly shoveled the last of her food in her mouth. And when she finished off her pumpkin juice to wash it down, that was knowing as well. She was quiet for a moment, just to let all of the knowing really sink in. "Are you suuuuuuuuure," she asked. Seemingly recovered somewhat from his shock, but still feeling rather concerned about this current conversation, Hephestus looked at Olwen with a very wary expression.He was quite certain now that she was picking on him and had been from the start. It made him start to feel a bit rubbish about the whole thing, and such a shame that, since he had been feeling very all right all day. Couldn't he just have one day without being teased or tormented or taunted? It hardly seemed an unreasonable request. That is, providing he could muster up the courage to demand for one such a day. "Yes," he bleated. The wary expression gave Olwen pause and she returned it with one of her own. "Well," she said, a little worried she'd been discovered, "I have to wee." Not her best exit, but it would have to do. She swung her legs over the bench and stood up, looking down at him with her lips twisted in discomfort. "Thank you for your time." And with that she beelined for the door. That had not been smooth at all. Suzie was nervous about this, but she would do almost anything for her friends. Hef was walking in front of her, perhaps oblivious to the fact that the girls were onto him. Because it had to be him. Gosh, having said that people don't like to send secret admirer notes was almost asking for them to figure it out! Because he really liked her a lot and he wanted to go about it in an underhanded way! Suzie giggled a little under her breath, her nerves loosening a little as she thought about what an exciting thing this would be for Enid, to have a real secret admirer who they figured out. And then she could figure out if she liked him or not! It was the perfect plan. She jogged a little to catch up to him. "Hef!" she said. "Hey, Hef!" She waved him down and grinned at him as she got over to him. She'd planned on keeping it completely cool, but it seemed she wasn't that good at it. "I had a question for you!" "Hi, Suzie," Hef greeted her as she made her way over to him. He tried to smile at her, but it was a small one that didn't seem very enthusiastic. He was just a little tired. And nervous. Lots of girls had talked to him today and it put him on edge. He never knew what to say. "What did you want to ask?" "Hey, Hef," she repeated again. She couldn't tell that he looked nervous, she was too focused on her own feelings for that. She smiled nervously and bounced from one foot to the other. "I was wondering if I could look at your essay for Defense Against Dark Arts." It was one class she knew he was good at, and even though she didn't need the help, it was her best excuse to get a look at Hef's penmanship. "It would be really swell of you to let me see it!" "Really?" Hef had no idea that Suzie thought he was good at Defence and he didn't think what he had for the essay was any good; not that he had finished it just yet. No, Hef was slow to do his homework and took his time in doing it. It took him awhile to figure out what he wanted or needed to say and then required even more time to figure out how to say it. It meant he was rarely one to answer questions in class or anything like that, and homework was a tedious thing that took up a vast majority of his extracurricular time. It's why he was only in Gobstones club and even then only a half-hearted member. Nonetheless, Hef reached into his book bag and retrieved the slightly rumpled rough draft of the first foot of his essay. Smoothing it out upon his stomach, Hef gave it a one-over and then handed it over to Suzie. "If I could just have it back by Monday morning...?" "Sure!" she said, relieved that he'd give it to her. After all, she hadn't been sure that he would, or that he would give it up without asking a bunch of questions. She had had a hundred of them going through her mind when she had considered asking him to give it up. But his willingness to share with her had her relieved. Now they could finally figure out if his handwriting matched the note Enid got! Oh, gee! This was so exciting. Suzie sort of wished someone sent her a secret admirer note, but in the end she'd rather forgo the mystery and romanticism of the effort and have someone speak plainly to her. But this was Enid's love story, not her own. "I will treat it like it's my own baby chick," she said, thinking of the adorable chickens in the Win the War League coop. "Erm, haha," Hef said at Suzie's joke. Or at least he thought it was a joke. How could his essay be like a baby chick? And hadn't the Win the War League's chickens all been slaughtered not that long ago? Hef hoped no one planned on slaughtering his essay. Now that his hands were empty, having given away his rough draft essay, Hef didn't know what to say or do. So he waved at Suzie. "See you around?" "Yeah!" she said energetically. "I'll see you on Monday for sure. With your essay." That gave them plenty of time to dissect Enid's note. "Bye, Hef!" Enid hadn't meant to turn her friends into bloodhounds. In fact, as she sat on a stool in a tucked away aisle of the library (BEASTS—FAIRIES to FIRE SLUGS), sneaking glances at the love letter she had hidden inside her Herbology textbook, she found herself wondering if she should have asked Olwen and Suzie to investigate Hef after all instead of turning it into a joke. She read the letter over again. He'd used some strange turns of phrase, but maybe he'd been too distraught in love to express his heart with more eloquence! Perhaps English wasn't even his first language! Now that she thought about it, Hef's accent really was different from everyone else's. "'Your voice is the call of a glorious rooster,'" she whispered, trying to sound lovelorn. She'd bet that was beautiful in Italian. The sound of a book closing in the next aisle snapped her out of her reverie. She jumped to her feet, slamming her textbook shut, and began grabbing books off the shelf at random, her nervous hands letting several crash to the floor. "Oh, here it is!" she said, loud enough for her would-be eavesdropper to hear. "Fairy Fare, I knew it was on this shelf!" "What?" Hef started. Things clattered to the floor and books plopped upon each other, causing such a disturbance in the solemn sanctity of the library that Hef could not help but be and seem and behave as though he were thoroughly shocked as he was then. And what was it that Enid had whispered right before it happened--? Something about the caw of a rooster? Maybe it was the beginning of a new spell she was working on. Hef peered around the corner of the aisle and peered over at Enid Longbottom. "Erm, Hi," He said. Then he added, "Enid." NO. Enid whirled around, throwing her textbook onto the stool and sitting on it. "Hello, Hef!" she chirped, "—estus. Hephestus. How are you? What are you doing? Oh!" She jumped, as though something had just occurred to her. "Have you—Did you—I made some notes during the last Gobstones meeting that you should probably look over. I think you'll like them!" Oh, bother. Now she'd have to write up some gobstones notes, whatever those were. And Hef still hadn't left. She looked around for something else to say and spotted a piece of parchment sticking out of one of his books. Curiosity quelled her nerves. "I guess you'll want to get back to writing your letter now!" she said. Yes! Why not? She could investigate just as well as the others. "Oh," Hef said in reply, feeling very much as though Enid were looking for an excuse, any excuse, to be rid of him. His cheeks tinged pink out of embarrassment. He shouldn't have said hi, or addressed her at all. What if she was embarrassed about him talking to her, him being a half-blood? He worried at his lip, itching to bite at his nails instead. But his mother's voice, chiding him to take those fingers out of his mouth immediately, echoed in his head and Hef shoved his hands in his pocket in response. "Yeah," he said, finally. "I'll see you?" Enid steeled her shoulders before they could sag. She'd already prepared her next question, but the chance to shoehorn it in had slipped away. "Yes!" she said, forcing a smile onto her face, and, feeling as though she were watching someone else do it, she stood up and held out her hand to shake (oh, if he didn't take his hand out of his pocket she would just die—but he did), pulling away after enough time had passed to render the curiously formal gesture sincere. She stepped around him and fled to the library door at as slow a pace as she could bear, wondering if Hef would stop her and admit everything. But he didn't. Enid left the library with a sigh, the letter stuffed into her pocket. The dozen words they'd exchanged hadn't proven anything, but nothing about Hef screamed "secret" or "admirer". |