Who: Morrigan Montgomery and Tad Abbott When: Wednesday May 21 Where: Outside the castle What: A little conversation between twins Rating/Warnings: None Status: {Closed, Complete}
A medium wall? Perfect spot for practice! Morrigan hopped gracefully onto it and walked back and forth a few times, getting used to loose stones and such. She was being watched from the side by a small white cat that seemed to follow her everywhere. After her pacing and feeling out the wall, she smiled to herself. This wall was perfect. Nothing loose, nothing to make her fall. She turned and raised her arms up, performing a cartwheel followed by a back handspring. She landed, again very gracefully, and raised her hands again as though she were hearing applause. A quick spin and she performed a series of handsprings across her “balance beam” before dismounting. She did love things like this, and she really enjoyed being out in the cool weather, especially when she had activity to keep her somewhat warm.
This time she did get applause, as Tad happened to come by in time to see her dismount. It was a rather impressive display of grace and skill. He didn’t want to interrupt your practice, but it was hard to just walk by that kind of athleticism. For his part, he’d come outside to find a little peace and quiet to study. There were too many other voices in the castle and he just wanted to read for while without interruptions.
Morrigan startled when she heard the applause, though a quick pivot showed that it was Tad watching her. “Hello, then.” Her eyes flicked up to meet his and she smiled brilliantly. “All by yourself? Come, sit with me.” She seated herself on her wall and patted by her side, grinning when her cat jumped into her lap and she stroked it as she waited for him to join her.
Tad couldn’t help but smile back at her. He loped over to sit beside her, reaching over to offer his hand for inspection by the small white cat. He wouldn’t pet her until she gave the okay. He knew better. “It happens sometimes.” He didn’t bother to say he was never completely separated from his sister, so even if they weren’t together they were still together. “You’re all by yourself too, shouldn’t you have a spotter for stunts like that?” Tad could be practical.
She watched the cat interact with him, smiling as it butted its head against the offered hand. At his question she pointed toward the lake. “Koala’s over there…. He wanted to swim but I don’t want to today, it is too cool out.” A shrug and she tipped her head back to look at the sky for a moment. “It’s nice out but not nice enough to go into the lake.”
Tad followed her gesture to take in her twin with his by the shore. Tad agreed with Morrigan that it was too cool to swim, but their counterparts often had their own minds on such things. And whether they got cold or not didn’t change Morrigan’s dangerous acts. “He’s not close enough to catch you if you slip.” Tad pointed out as he turned back to the Gryffindor. Really, bravery didn’t have to mean reckless. “And Fiona isn’t likely to catch you either.” He smiled as he scratched under a delicate white chin.
Morrigan laughed softly and shook her head. “I have not fallen since I was 8. I’m just that good.” This was said in a matter of fact tone, as though there could be no question as to her skill. It was true. She cultivated perfection in everything she did, so she worked hard to be the best and that meant no falling and no failure. Not ever. It had to be that way and she knew it, or she could not make sure her brother was able to succeed as well.
Tad smiled at her confidence. She was such the opposite of her twin, striving for perfection all the time. “So maybe you should have a spotter to be amazed at how easy you make it look.” She really did, considering she’d just done an acrobatic routine on a low stone wall. He was impressed with the talent required, really.
“Maybe. Seems that I’ve gained one for now at least, though I think I’m done for a while.” Morrigan shrugged one shoulder and rubbed one finger behind her cat’s ears, scratching lightly, knowing the animal’s favorite spots to be petted. “How are things, then? Going well over in Ravenclaw Tower, or do the Gryffindors need to come and set some people to right?” This said with a laugh, she was brave, but not foolish, and she would not bother another house unless someone was truly threatened.
“If you want company.” Tad didn’t think she sounded like she was unhappy to have some company, even if she did stop tumbling when he came over. “Did you come out to keep an eye on your brother?” He asked conversationally, assuming he was going to stay. For his part, he was aware of his sister at the waterfront playing for (with?) the mermaids, but particularly if Alastor was there, he didn’t feel as though she needed him to be right there with her.
“I don’t let him out of my sight a lot, even if he doesn’t know.” Morrigan shrugged a bit and looked down at her cat. Tad would remember why this was the case, she was sure she owled him about it when it happened. After all, he knew what it was like to be connected in a very tangible and direct way to a sibling, a twin, and so the conversation made her feel better even if it didn’t bring back her brother right away.
Tad nodded, understanding why Morrigan felt that way. He sometimes did that with Tara, though he tried not to hold her too close. Unlike Alastor, she was capable, and he could often tell when she was finding things overwhelming. When she was outside, in nature? She was in her element, so he didn’t have to worry nearly so much about any possible issues with his twin. Tad suspected when Alastor was in his element? Was when you really had to keep your eye on him. “He should be safe playing with Star.” He reassured with gentle honesty.
Morrigan smiled slightly and nodded. “Yes, I guess he can’t really run away from here…” It was a pretty safe assumption that he would not be leaving her behind again. She was pretty sure that her brother did not know how much it had hurt her when he left, though she hoped he had missed her enough to not run off again. “Tara would not, I don’t think?”
“Run away? No, but I wouldn’t put it past her to go into the Forbidden Forest because she was talking with some animal.” Unlike Alastor, Tara wouldn’t run away, and instead she was far more likely to get herself into a situation where she was out of her depth. He occasionally worried about the Merfolk, who could often be quite mischievous and his sister wasn’t very good with social cues. That was perhaps one reason he stayed with Morrigan now, but keeping track of her wasn’t his primary motivation.
“Alastor is looking after her. He would not allow her to become injured.” Her brother did get along with Tara, after all, and she knew that at least purposely she would not allow harm to come to someone he got along with. She glanced over at the other pair and shook her head a tiny bit as she noted they had gone into the water. It was too cool still for that in her mind, though she guessed not everyone felt the same way when it came to weather.
“And Star is looking after him.” Tad agreed. He did trust Alastor not to lead her into trouble. Plus his twin responded very well to logic, so she wasn’t going to do anything ‘stupid’ unless he had a very logical reason, but he got the feeling Alastor was more likely to respond emotionally or impulsively to things. “Might want to make sure to have a warm drink ready when the eventually come out.”
“I believe so. At least their outer clothes will stay dry?” She pointed at the small piles of clothes and laughed. She was used to this from Alastor, after all. “I just hope he kept his shorts on. Sometimes he doesn’t…” This said with an eye roll. It was Alastor though… It was to be expected.
Tad arched a brow when Morr pointed out the piles of clothes. “The water is probably cold enough it would be in his best interest to keep them on.” Although Tara wasn’t the sort who would be very impressed with size, and she had seen penises before too, so that wasn’t likely to give her much pause either. “Suppose that is easier than drying charms.” Not having wet clothes would make it easier to swim too, if that was what they were planning on doing.
Morrigan nodded and laughed. “Do you think they realize that if someone happened upon them, it looks rather odd? I suppose they don’t think of things like that though, for the most part. Wouldn’t that be fun at some point? To just not care what people think, even if it’s just for a day?” Morrigan, of course, would never know that feeling with her brother around, but she could daydream about it sometimes, she guessed. That was an escape for at least a little while.
“I think you’re right.” It wasn’t something that would occur to them, although Tara might remember later that people reacted oddly to it and want to dissect why. It wasn’t likely to change her future behavior though, something he often admired in her. “I think sometimes it can be confusing, not understanding why the things you do make others react the way they do. I don’t envy that so much. I think though your brother might understand and still not care which is more enviable I think.”
"Generally yes. He just likes doing what he wants to. I wish sometimes I had that..." The not caring would be nice, especially since the majority of the reason behind her caring was tied to what Alastor did. If she did not behave like her parents wanted, it would bring more attention on the fact that he could not seem to do so, and so she did her best to be a good daughter and sister in order to make things easier on him.
Unlike Morrigan, Tad never felt like he needed to make up for his twin. In part, it was due to the fact that he didn’t feel like he had to hide what Tara was from their parents. Their parents knew Tara was different, and he didn’t feel the need to try to ‘cover’ for her to appear more normal, although no doubt Jason wished he would. “What would you do, if you could do what you wanted?” Tad asked, curious about what she felt she had to repress.
Morrigan shrugged and laughed softly. "Not always agree with them. Say no sometimes, maybe make a few mistakes of my own?" She shrugged again and tipped her head back to look up at the sky. "Maybe I'd tell them I want to be a seeker when I'm done here, not just daydream about it?" Because while Alastor wanted to have a band, part of her wanted to play Quidditch more when they were done school. At least she might make the team next year...
“What’s stopping you?” The things she wanted to do seemed eminently reasonable to Tad, although he didn’t really know her parents. It might be colored by the fact that for his own part, while he understood his parents’ point of view, he had been disagreeing with them for as long as he could remember. “Those don’t seem unreasonable.”
“I’m supposed to go into the Ministry, or do something they would consider productive. Get married, be boring, all that.” Morrigan shrugged and looked over at the lake, smiling softly. “As long as he’s safe and happy though I should be fine…”
“You can go into the ministry after a couple years playing…” Tad offered. Most professional players career in the league only lasted a few years anyway. “It could make you more interesting to the Ministry to have that competitive experience.” Tad liked for people to be able to do what they wanted in their lives and be happy.
“Rephrase. I’m supposed to actually want to follow in my mum and da’s footsteps. I just think it sounds relentlessly boring, you know?” She shrugged one shoulder and rolled her eyes. “It’s what I’ll end up doing, probably. It will set me up in London and I can keep an eye on Alastor better that way. And the little ones will love it too, I imagine, the chance to come to the city to visit me.”
Tad couldn’t entirely picture the girl he’d just watched doing acrobatics settling into a staid ministry position. It made much more sense that she’d do something athletic. But he understood the desire to be in a place that would benefit her twin. He supposed that he was lucky, since he was thinking about a career as an Unspeakable, or something else in the Ministry that would allow him to continue his work in Occulmancy and Legermancy, neither of which were commonly practiced. He was fascinated by Penseives too, and other ways of sharing information from the mind of one wizard to another. “I can see your brother living in London for sure.” Was all he offered. It wasn’t his place to tell Morrigan she should try to play Quidditch as a career.