Mad World Mods (madworldmods) wrote in madworldrp, @ 2007-11-02 17:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | elaine campbell, shannon ryskamp |
Elaine Campbell and Shannon Ryskamp
11-02-2007 Elaine Campbell and Shannon Ryskamp
Who: Elaine and Shannon
Where: Outdoors, by the lake
When: Friday, 2 November, about half an hour after lunch.
What: Elaine is reading an Astronomy journal, and someone joins her... (exciting, I know!)
Rating: TBD, likely not high
Status: Thread, Incomplete (or if you want to jump in but would rather log, IM me -- ignoring the away message if there's one up)
The wind was made the relatively warm air that much cooler, ushering in clouds that raced across the sky and at times dimmed the sun and made Elaine shrink into the cloak that she had draped over her to simultaneously keep what warmth she had in and capture the suns rays. She found herself anticipating the moments when the sun would be out, and thinking that it didn't warm her shoulders for long enough before disappearing behind more clouds.
But al of these thoughts were secondary; she was rapt with attention, reading the Magical Astronomical Society's quarterly journal. In it was a reminder for hopefuls to have their applications, essays, and recommendations in to the Society by the end of November. Elaine had submitted hers two years early, upon Professor Sinistra's suggestion. With any luck it would be returned with a letter detailing where she needed to improve her work, and encouraging her to submit again. In this way did Sinistra push her best students and make sure that they made the contacts necessary for their careers.
Elaine anticipated, but did not expect her marks on it to be high. But if Sinistra was right and Elaine played her cards well, a summer trip to the Magical Observatory and a consultation with some of the brightest astronomers of the time wouldn't be an unrealistic possibility. But for now, she escaped the castle for a time, and enjoyed the outdoors before the weather grew too bad to do so.
Shan was glad that today was Friday. She didn't have any classes on this day, and occasionally would have some sort of club meeting to attend. Now that the ball had come and gone, Shan was really starting to feel halfway normal again. Halfway back to the Shan she had been before Michael had started avoiding her. Somehow, she knew that this was bothering her friends. Shan hated the way she was, and wanted to be her old self again. Hopefully it would be easier to get there again.
Today, Shan didn't know what she really wanted to do. Before lunch, she spent half of her time in the girls dormitory and the other half in the library working on her homework. Okay, so she was partially avoiding whomever was avoiding her. Now that she was finished with her lunch, Shan decided that perhaps, it would be best to spend some time outside. It seemed to be a pretty day, despite the chill in the wind. As Shan walked towards the lake, she saw a familiar figure nearby. That was the direction Shan headed. If she was going to spend any time outside with another person, it was going to be a friend and that friend happened to be Elaine.
"Hi, Elaine!" Shan called when she got closer to her.
It took Elaine a moment to realise that someone had called her name, and then another moment for the annoyance to disappear, and that only because it was Shan. At least it wasn't Danger, and that small admission to herself only made her feel a bit weird. She enjoyed Danger's company, but after the argument within the journals and then the dance at the ball that had been entirely too nice, she wasn't sure she wanted to face him. At least, not until she figured out what was going on in her own head.
Closing the bound journal, she grinned up at her friend. "Hullo, Shan. Emerging from your cave to study the natives? The squid, sadly, is on the other side of the lake and wasn't doing anything particularly impressive before he went." Putting the book aside, she patted the ground beside her. "Had a good Friday so far?"
"Oh yes. That is exactly why I have emerged," Shan said with a small smile. "It is such a pity that the squid is on the other side of the lake. I was hoping I wouldn't have to walk so far to see it." It was nice to smile about something not related to boys or school. "For once, I've gotten more homework done in the morning. Took me completely by surprise." Shan picked up a rock and tossed it in the lake. "So, I suppose my Friday has been pretty good."
She took this time to sit down. "How is your Friday?" Shan didn't know what was going on between Danger and Elaine, though she couldn't tell if there was anything wrong between them.
"He'll come back. There's not much over there, and we're far prettier." Elaine clasped her cloak together, enjoying the warmth, and tilted her head as Shan sat down. "My Friday is as uneventful as a Friday at Hogwarts can be. The Grey Lady and I had a chat after Ancient Runes today. Apparently Moaning Myrtle is being annoying again and the Lady needed someone to vent to. Then the Bloody Baron showed up and it got very chilly in that corridor. So I left."
She shrugged. She'd had stranger encounters with any number of other ghosts within the school. Elaine fell silent for a moment, considering her next question. "Are you ever going to tell me what's bothering you so much? I know it's something to do with Michael. But I'd prefer to not have to guess."
"Of course, we are far prettier," Shan said. "That is a lot of ghosts to be seeing at one time. At least the Grey Lady found someone to vent to. I avoid Moaning Myrtle at all costs, no matter how bad I have to use the toilets." Shan shivered. She hated being near the Bloody Baron and was glad that she hadn't run into him this year yet, not that it was ever a problem to do so. The other House ghosts were a lot friendly.
Shan looked down. "I suppose there is no avoiding in telling you," she sighed. "Honestly, Michael has to be avoiding me. He doesn't talk to me. He doesn't even look at me. Maybe it had something to do with me announcing to the school that I was madly in love with him. But the Faire was soon after and we went together and had fun... I don't understand it." Shan paused, "I don't know what to do. If he really liked me, he wouldn't do this, would he? He told me that he liked me before the school year started. Now its November and nothing."
"I talked to him once, the Bloody Baron. He wasn't very talkative and sort of grunted mostly." Elaine shrugged, then focused her attention on Shan. She didn't fully understand the insistence on declaring one's undying devotin for another person whilst so young. But it had ever been that way, with Elaine keeping the identities of those she fancied secret, sometimes even from herself.
"Sounds to me like you're expecting him to be a knight in shining armour," Elaine said quietly. "But, you know. He's not. He's Michael. And honestly? I think you're being unfair to yourself by pinning everything on him." And even though she wouldn't say it out loud, Elaine thought that Shan might have scared Michael away, a bit.
Shan thought a minute about what Elaine had said. Had she really thought of him as a knight in shining armour? Somewhat, she could see it. The blokes she had snogged in the past, she hadn't really thought anything beyond snogging. She had told herself that she liked Michael. Maybe she was expecting too much. And Shan had told him that she hadn't meant to share with the school how she felt. She had been under the effects of the Vertiserum.
"I suppose I have," Shan told Elaine. "I don't mean to... it just happened." Maybe I should just give up on boys for now. All it seems to do is cause trouble, she thought to herself. "I know he's not, but I like him anyway. Danger thinks I scared him. Do you think I might have scared him?"
"Well, I wasn't saying that you're a horrible person, love," Elaine said, smiling slightly. "Scared him? Honestly? A bit, yeah."
"But I feel like a horrible person, Lainey." Shan said. "Something I said or did caused him to avoid me. I am a horrible person!"