Mad World Mods (madworldmods) wrote in madworldrp, @ 2007-09-30 18:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | landon aubrey, meghan mccormack |
RP Thread: Landon & Meghan (Complete!)
LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY landaubs)
Who: Landon and Meghan
When: Late Sunday afternoon
Where: Around the grounds
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Landon (dashing playboy that he is, oh ho ho!) has asked Meg to go for a walk with him around the grounds, to see if they have any real chemistry before he makes any girl related decisions. They encounter a kelpie, share some childhood memories, and settle on a status of sorts.
The faire had been fun. Landon had been preoccupied, and Shelby had been tagging along after them for most of it, but he and Daisy had had a good time. He thought. She didn't say much about it, and he didn't press, because he'd been keeping his eyes peeled for Meghan and Frank and had been shooting Meghan smiles and blushing. Daisy, he thought, hadn't noticed. He hoped she hadn't because he really didn't want to make her feel bad.
Before he made any decisions girl wise, however, he wanted to see if he and Meghan had any real chemistry. Journal banter and snogging themselves stupid on the quidditch pitch were all well any good, but could they talk? Could they be in one another's company now, without being awkward about what had happened?
Would they make a good couple, as Frank had suggested?
Landon buttoned up his coat as he headed out the castle doors. On the steps he pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket and perched one between his lips, lighting it with his wand. It was cool and crisp out, but not cold. Much nicer than the day before, when it had been drizzling on and off.
Take a draw from his fag, Landon glanced around.
An autumn walk was, Meg decided, just the ticket. It was a good afternoon to get out, and she'd been feeling a bit cooped up inside the castle, good company or no. And as much as she liked the autumn air, she hated to be cold - thus, the reason for the absurdly long scarf wrapped twice around her neck, the ends bobbing around her elbows as she jogged down the stairs. Her coat was also buttoned up tightly, the heather gray of it contrasting with her maroon scarf. Yes, Meg wore her Quidditch scarf everywhere she could. It was a point of pride for her when others saw the "HGQK" twined together beneath the Gryffindor lion.
"'Lo!" she called out, when she saw Landon. He'd beaten her here? Damn, she hoped she hadn't kept him waiting long. She managed to repress her frown when she saw him smoking - personally, she thought cigarettes smelled awful, but if they were all right for others, Meg didn't have any room to talk.
"How're ya? Yesterday was a good time, aye? Wish we could've had time to talk to each other."
"Guid eenin," Landon said with a smile, flicking the ash off of the end of his cigarette. "A'm fine, slainte. An ye? Yeh look real nice," he added, a little shyly, blushing. "Couldn't get a mo' away yesterday, or I would've come talk t'yeh an Frank."
They started walking, Landon allowing Meg to lead the way since she'd said that she and Ro had a path that they usually followed. Landon had a tendency of meandering around without much direction or care for where he ended up.
"Thanks," Meg said simply, looking away as she fingered one end of her scarf. "Ye should've! We had a nice jabber with Matty. Hell of a day," she said, setting out with long strides.
"We usually go roun' the edge o' the forest, an' come out behind the Herbology sheds. Sound all righ'? Don' have to go if you're scared of the fearsome beasties," Meg added with a wink, only half-joking. The other day they'd stumbled on some dog... thing, and Meghan had skidded to a halt before climbing over Roland in her attempt to get out of there in a hurry. No, she couldn't exactly fault anyone with a healthy respect for the forest.
"Think I'll be awrite," Landon replied, raising his eyebrows and smiling wryly. The only animal that really frightened him were dogs, and the scar that stretched across his stomach was a fairly good indication why. Landon's mind drifted lamely back toward the conversation they'd had in his journal where he'd been stunned enough to use the phrase 'my birthday suit'. He figured he probably had a few strikes against himself relationship wise. If that's what they were testing the waters for, anyway. "Sounds guid t'me," he agreed, taking another drag of his smoke.
"So yeh had a good time at the faire, then?" he asked.
"Aye," she said, nose catching a cool breeze that, thankfully, didn't smell like cigarettes. "Have to say that three legged race was amazin'. How about yourself? Dinna see you aroun' much." Well, she had, but in the company of Daisy Hookum. And when Meghan had seen him, he was always busy looking the other direction. It was a little awkward, and the almost hesitant pitch to her voice spoke of both a reluctance to broach the subject and a sudden shyness:
"So... is she your girl, then?" She blushed a little, biting her lip. She was sure Daisy was a nice girl, but from what Meg had seen, she wasn't all that impressed with her - a feeling she was pretty sure was mutual.
Landon finished his cigarette, tossing the butt onto the ground and snubbing it out with the toe of his shoe. "S'okay," Landon said. "Had fun. Bit distracted though, spose."
When she brought up Daisy, Landon's cheeks burned and he cleared his throat. "Well, no," he started explaining, not sure of the best way to go about things without it all sounding incredibly stupid. "It was a date thing, I guess. But, um. Dunno if we're the relationship sort. Think she's too young and we're, uh... a little too different? Doesn't feel right."
It felt weird to hear himself say it, when he'd been so sure how he'd felt about Daisy only a week before. Be he hadn't really known her, had he? And what did they really have in common? Age, despite what he'd initially told her, seemed to be making a really big difference.
"Oh, I see," Meg said blandly, nodding her head. Catching the blush in his cheeks, she hurried to explain herself before things got even more awkward. "I'm glad, I mean... er, well, in a selfish way I suppose." She touched his arm lightly, scuffing the toes of her shoes on the ground. "I just thought... well, if she and you were goin' steady before t'other day... but, you know, you wouldn't do that, and so..." Dear god, she was prattling on at an insane rate of speed, wasn't she? Abruptly, Meghan decided another 180 degree subject change was in order, and she found it in a brightly-coloured flash of movement in the forest directly ahead of them.
"Did you see that?" she asked, grabbing his hand and pulling him forward in a sudden rush to investigate.
Landon's shoulders tensed at the movement and Meg tugging him toward it. He'd been on the verge of a spectacular show of word vomit, he was sure. It seemed necessary that Meg know, without a doubt, that Landon was insanely interested in her (interest peaked ridiculously by her blush when asking if Daisy was his girlfriend).
They jogged quickly after it, and Landon head swam--he wished he hadn't had that cigarette. Or the other half of the pack he'd put away that day. In fact, hadn't Meghan hesitated when she'd seen him? Maybe she didn't like cigarettes? It was a bad habit he'd picked up from his da and uncles, on the boats especially, same as a stiff drink or two in the evening, and black coffee in the morning. Da had always said that real men didn't use sugar, or milk, that real men drank it straight because it'd put hair on their lungs.
Landon reasoned that he really had to stop listening to his father.
"Is tha... S'tha a horse?" Landon asked as they came to halt at the edge of a clearing.
"Ye ever seen a teal horse?" she whispered quietly, not wanting to disturb the creature who stood, its back to them, at the other end of the clearing. "S'not a horse," she breathed. "S'a kelpie. Got to be." The hand she had in his had gone cold, and Meghan's face was pale. She'd only seen it once, ten years ago, but you didn't really forget your da climbing up on a teal horse and going for a ride, especially if it was the last time you saw him.
"Gotta go, can't get too close t'it, nor look it in its fey eyes. Blasted, damned thing!" she swore bitterly, the sudden loud venom in her voice catching the aforementioned thing's attention. Its head swiveled around...
Before Landon was ready, the kelpie looked at him.
Landon blinked at it. "It's... it's beautiful..." he said, catching it's eye. He felt light. He felt free. He needed to go for a ride on that horse. The horse was practically telling him so.
"I think a'm goin' t'go fer a ride, Meg," he said, moving quickly toward the creature.
"No!" She tugged at his sleeve, trying to pull the stronger boy back to safety. "No, Landon - bad idea, trus'me, bad idea." Meg felt for her wand frantically, swearing vehemently when she realized she'd forgotten it. 'Wouldn't need it with Landon', hell!
"It is goin' to kill ye!" she shouted, trying to get him free of the kelpie's lure by sheer volume alone. "It is goin' to take ye to the lake and drown ye, Landon!" Meghan tugged at his sleeve again, moving in front of Landon to block his progress.
"Nah," Landon said, pulling against her. "I'm just goin' fer a ride. I'll be righ' back, aye? Jus' a ride on the horse..." He was getting closer and closer and the horse was beckoning him forward. Take a ride, take a ride, it was telling him. Talk a ride, take a ride.
Meg dropped her shoulder, pushing hard against him with all of her strength, and it still wasn't enough.
"Bloody - Landon!" This wasn't getting her anywhere, just getting Landon closer to a watery death. It was only by luck that she glanced down to see the handle of his wand, tears of frustration in her eyes. She grabbed it and held the tip to his throat, arm surprisingly steady. "I will hex you."
"So?" Landon asked, foggy brain coming into weird focus as he looked at her. "I's tha me wand? I. Jus' wanna ride the horse... but I don't even like horses..."
He shook his head and blinked at her. "I. Meg?"
The tense, hard line of her body didn't falter, muscles standing rigid for a long time after he seemed to come back to himself. Finally, after a prolonged staring contest, Meg lowered his wand and sighed, the tension draining out of her frame. She could use one of those fags of his - could use about five of them and a half-bottle of Scotch, but she had to get them out of the Forest first.
"Don' look behin' me," she said shakily, throat thick with repressed tears. "Jus' go, quick an' calm, an' we'll be safe, aye?" Slipping his wand back into his pocket, she waited for him to go first; Meg obviously still didn't trust him not to go haring back towards the kelpie.
Landon slowly registered the conversation they'd had before he'd so much as blanked out. Kelpies. A kelpie. He'd almost rode off to his death. "Shit, a'm sorry," he said, leading them out of the woods and resisting the urge to look over his shoulder.
Back on the grounds they stopped and caught their breath, and finally Landon turned, finally he looked at her. She'd saved his life.
The minute he caught her eye, Landon launched himself at her, and kissed her more passionately than he'd ever kissed a bird before.
Meghan was quite unprepared for such an onslaught, and stumbled back before catching her balance. When she recovered, though, she was kissing him back feverishly, pulling him tight against her as if she couldn't hold him close enough.
When they came up for air, she laid her head on his chest, shoulders shaking. It was both from laughter and from crying - his jacket front was slowly getting wet. "A kelpie," she said weakly. "A bloody kelpie. I can't fucking believe it. I think I need to have a sit-down, Landon."
"Okay, okay," Landon agreed, his brain whirring out of control. They moved a little farther away from the forest and collapsed on the grass. Landon started laughing weakly.
"Thank yeh, Meg... Jesus. Thank yeh so much," he said, eyes wide as the realization continued to hit him like punch after punch after punch to the face. "Yeh. Yeh saved me life."
She tried to smile and laugh, or make a joke or do anything to follow up the brave girl she'd been in the forest, the Gryffindor through and through. But the words collapsed in her throat, and the smile died halfway on her face.
She pulled her knees up tight to her chest, resting her chin on them and curling close around herself for warmth. "S'just... seen one before. Not in a book. My da' wen' fer a ride on one when I was seven." Meg tried to distance herself from the words, say them as impartially as possible, but some of the despair still caught itself up in them. "We were on Skye, near the sea, and he was racin' me back home for lunch. Got ahead o'me, and when I rounded the hill I saw him on top o' it in the surf." She went quiet, staring very fixedly at some blades of grass.
Landon's heart started racing. "A'm sorry," he said softly, shifting closer and wrapping his arm around her shouders, surprised at how easy it was to do so. Not awkward. Not strange. Comfortable.
"Saw me Uncle Moe drown," Landon admitted. He never talked about it. No one in his family did. "We was on the boat two summers ago, and a storm came up. He ended up rollin' over and we couldn't get t'him in time. S'not the same, I know."
"Still your family," Meg said simply, shifting closer to him. She rarely spent so much time in contact with another person, and it showed in the way her shoulders gradually relaxed, the ball she was in subtly becoming less pronounced.
"Ne'er liked the sea much after that," Meg admitted, attempting for a small bit of levity. "Don' think I'll go back into the woods anytime soon, either, aye?" She leaned her head against his body, breathing slowly getting regulated. "Did he love the sea, your uncle?"
"Aye, he did. Fisherman all through," Landon replied. "Never liked the woods much. Big grove of um on me granddaddy's place, and me and me cousins were playin' hide and seek'n I got attacked by a dog," he said, surprised at himself for being able to talk about it so easily with Meghan.
"Yeah?" Meg said, looking surprised. She shrugged her coat off one sleeve, tugging her jumper up to reveal a large, jagged scar. "Four years old, my brother was a little younger. An' one of the blokes on Mum's Quidditch team had an Alsatian, aye? An' Dad took us to watch Mum practice. An that dog was there, an it was growlin' at us. Kirley was scared, so I thought I'd show him it was a good dog an' all, so I hugged it."
She shook her head, laughing at herself. "Wasn' that good of a dog. Healers got it fixed nice an' quick, but my mum and da tol' them to leave a bit of a scar so I'd remember next time."
"Found me I was unconscious," Landon said, shuddering. He hesitated for a moment before lifting up his own jacket and jumper to show her a scar that wrapped around his entirely stomach around to his back, and that stretched from just under his bellybutton to just above the small crease of his stomach. "Kinda looks like a'm a third a diff'ernt colour, aye? Dun show it t'many people."
Swallowing slightly and replacing his shirt and jacket, Landon noted. "Guess we gotta lot'n common."
Meg couldn't help herself. When people showed her something awful, she had to touch it - to get her fingers in it, to discover what it was all about. It was part of the reason why she liked Care of Magical Creatures so much. Visual, hands-on lessons taught Meg a lot more than books. She raised up on her knees and moved closer to him, one hand balancing her on the turf. Gently, she put her hand on Landon's stomach, feeling for the scar tissue beneath his shirt and jacket.
"Must've hurt like hell," she said thoughtfully. "How much of it do you remember?" Then, upon realizing that he must have been terribly scared as a child, she drew back. "Sorry," Meg said. "Sometimes I just... don't think."
"S'okay," Landon said honestly, not minding her touching him there--in fact, finding it quite comforting. "Really, s'okay, I dun mind if yeh touch it. And I dun remember a whole lot. Mostly the stiches after."
They're quiet for a moment, and after only the briefest of hesitations, Landon said softly, "Yeh can 'not think' wer a'm concerned any time. An I like it when yeh... when yeh touch me."
Meg couldn't help it, she honestly couldn't. A wide smile broke out over her face, despite how much she tried to hide it, and she laughed, the tip of her tongue poking out between her teeth.
"Oh, you do?" Meghan asked, raising an eyebrow archly. And then she enveloped Landon in a massive, tackling sort of hug, launching her body at him and wrapping her arms around him. "You're brilliant," she whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek.
Landon reciprocated the hug warmly, burying his face in the crook of her neck, mostly in her scarf.
Playfully, he slipped a hand down onto her arse, laughing as he did so.
It was a little different, being slapped on the arse by your team mates after a successful game, and this. Still, playing gamely, Meg wrapped an arm around his side, bumping her shoulder against his and trying to get him pinned onto the ground securely with her legs. The physical exertion of trying to beat the huskier boy in a strength contest was just what Meghan needed to lift her spirits, and soon she was laughing with him.
"I'm not stoppin' till you cry 'Auntie'," she warned him mischievously.
Meghan was strong, and she was putting up a good fight, but Landon wasn't exactly trying hard to stop her doing what she was doing. But he was closer and closer to having a fairly typical male reaction to a girl straddling him with her legs, and he wasn't laughing so much as he was breathing heavier, and a blush was creeping from his cheeks to his ears.
"Awrite, awrite, you win!" Landon said, grinning. "Auntie!"
Meghan rolled off him obligingly as he gave up the game, landing beside him artlessly with one arm still flung about his chest. She had noticed, of course, exactly what was causing Landon's blush, and that had given her a bit of color of her own.
"When ye said ye liked it when I touched ye, I dinna know ye mean' it that much," she said meaningfully, trying to laugh it off. Still, she was snuggled that much closer to him, as if trying to ward off a chill that wasn't there, or simply just to stay closer to him.
Landon cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sorry," he said quietly, embarrassed. "Didn't mean for that ta. Well. You know. Couldn't help it. I like yeh a lot, aye? And you were shimmyin' around up there..." he trailed off clearing his throat again. "Right, shuttin' up now."
While his use of the word "shimmy" would have fueled her laughter for hours, Meg found it hard to so much as giggle at him in his embarrassed state.
Instead, she kissed him on the cheek, resting her head on the collar of his jacket. "I think ye're a sweet bloke, Landon, and I like ye too." She peeped at him from behind his collar, wondering if it was her turn to be embarrassed and blush. If it wasn't, she was going to take it anyway, as the tips of her ears were turning red.
"So, er. Established that we like each other..." Landon said nervously. "Know yeh said you'd like teh have another go at the snoggin' since I'm apparently s'talented"--he grinned mischieviously--"an' we dun have any significant others teh speak of, aye? I, uh. I was wonderin' if yeh'd like teh, um. Try out the datin' thing. Maybe."
He turned his head and nuzzled her hair affectionately, lightly, and lifted his hand up to put on the one of hers that was resting on his chest. "Say aye, bonnie lassie?" he added in a whisper.
"Aye," Meg said simply, catching his lips in a quick kiss, but pulling away before it could get too terribly interesting. "We should head in. Dinna wanna miss dinner, I'm famished. An' I wanna tell Frank abou' tha' kelpie, detention or no. Don' wan anyone jus blunderin' in to have a bit o'fun an gettin' hurt, aye?"