potter; EVAN (potterlings) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-05-01 14:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, character: celia wood, character: evan potter |
who ? celia wood and evan potter
when ? mid-afternoon, 1st may
where ? a beach
what ? kite-flying!
status ? compelte
It had been almost a month since Evan’s birthday, and thus almost a month since Celia had given Evan a kite. With the election and his trip abroad, Evan hadn’t really had the time to go and fly the kite with Celia like he had told her they should. Next week exam prep was coming up, so Evan probably wouldn’t have time then either. But this weekend Evan was free! Thus it seemed like a good time to suggest to Celia that they finally go and see the kite in action. Evan had actually gone over to Celia’s rather than owling, asking her in person if she would be free on Sunday and after agreeing a time, Evan showed up in timely fashion so the two could apparate to a beach.
“I’ve made tea and sandwiches,” he informed her waving a picnic basket about once they had made it to the beach. It wasn’t warm but it was hardly cold, which made a difference from the last time they had done this. Evan had packed a few blankets and a couple of spare jumpers nonetheless, because it wouldn’t really be helpful to catch a cold, especially not with the amount of studying he had to do. “This is an excellent present,” Evan said beginning to unpack the package the kite had come in. “Have you been busy this month?” He asked curiously, only marginally struggling with the packaging.
--
Honestly, Celia had almost forgotten they’d said they should go kite flying together. Everything had been so busy, and even if she had remembered, she probably would have written it off as Evan deciding against it - not in a mean way, but in a him being too busy way. When the invitation came, she was glad, because she really did like spending time with him even if they hadn’t really done much of that since they’d gone to that movie that had made her worried to look in mirrors for a while.
She was appropriately bundled for the beach, though in layers since she didn’t know exactly how warm or cold it would be. Once they apparated there, she felt confident she’d be warm enough - especially if there was tea to be had. “Tea and sandwiches sounds great,” she replied with a smile, slipping her hands into her pockets as he started in on the kite. “I’m glad you like it!” She paused, nipping at the inside of her lip. “I’ve been pretty busy, yeah. Have you? With school and everything?”
-
“I do like it,” Evan assured her looking up briefly, before going back to his fight with the packaging of the kite. If putting the thing together once it was out of the package would be half as difficult as getting the packaging open, Evan felt they might be here for a while. When it finally gave, Evan did a little ‘aha’ and rather pleased with himself started to pull the kite out.
He gave a nod when Celia said she’d been pretty busy. “Oh, yes, you said, with the Quidditch stuff and whatnot,” Evan recalled, because he had read about it, had even commented, but that had mostly been to question whether Quidditch really was universally fun (it was not). “Yeah,” he replied with a small shrug. “It’s been okay this month, but exams start in a week, so I’m starting revision tomorrow,” he explained. That was the plan, fun and exciting things today and then lots of studying from tomorrow onwards. “I went to Georgia couple of weekends ago,” Evan told her, because that actually was something interesting to tell. “That was pretty cool,” he added. It had been.
--
Celia would have offered to help with that packaging, except right when she thought to, he got it open. She gave a bit more of a smile when he mentioned Quidditch, because she had been pretty busy with that, on top of work, and she would much rather talk about that than her actual work, though she knew Evan might not actually want to hear much about it because he didn’t seem as enamoured of it as her. Then again, outside of members of her family, she wasn’t sure many were.
“Oh, so it’s about to be stressful,” she said, scrunching her nose. Exams had always been her least favorite part of school. Her eyebrows raised when he mentioned Georgia. “You went to Georgia? What for? I’ve never been, so I don’t even know what there is to do there.”
-
If Evan had known that Celia could have started a conversation about Quidditch, he would have honestly been quite grateful that she hadn’t. Evan, obviously, knew how Quidditch was played. Had even played it himself in school, but that had been mostly so his uni application looked better than for any actual passion for the sport. He didn’t follow it nor did he have any real interest to follow it. Instead, Evan nodded at her comment that it was about to get stressful.
“Yeah, but I’ll be done by mid-May so that’s okay,” Evan replied with a small shrug as he started to tie the strings to the kite in the places the markings told him to. Exams were hardly Evan’s favourite bit, he much preferred the written coursework, or the production of sketches and blueprints, but alas, exams were still something he had to sit.
Evan gave a small hum in agreement when Celia clarified that he had gone to Georgia. “It was Andrew’s birthday present to me,” Evan explained. “There’s a cave city in Georgia which was amazing,” he told her with as much enthusiasm as he had told about it to everyone else who had been willing to listen. “And the magical quarters of Tbilisi are pretty impressive, as is the old Muggle quarters. Lots of interesting architecture,” which Evan had been more than willing to see and explore. He bit his lip briefly, looking up from the kite-production with a small smile. “I think maybe architecture is fun to me how Quidditch is fun to you,” he told her teasing but nonetheless honestly.
--
Now that was the part Celia liked about exams - when they were over and there was a break from all the studying. It wasn’t quite the same, but she could feel the impending end of what she was working on, too. Her apprenticeship would be over sooner rather than later, and then there was the question of what her life was going to become. She tried not to think about it too much, because she’d rather focus on doing her best at everything in the moment and then figuring the rest out when she needed to.
She listened attentively when Evan talked about his trip to Georgia, tilting her head as he looked up with that smile. A soft laugh fell from her lips in response, and she grinned. “It’s good it’s fun to you! Everyone should have something that’s fun to them, and if everyone had the same thing, who knows what the world would be like. If everyone liked Quidditch like me, who would figure out the buildings? Or if everyone liked architecture like you, who would make music?”
-
That was an interesting premise, Evan thought. “Presumably,” he drew out slowly tying another knot on the kite. “If everyone had the same thing they thought was fun, then we’d identify fun as a very different concept,” Evan said pondering. The only way ‘fun’ could be identified currently was reflectively based on personal desires and enjoyment, if those would be commonly shared between everyone then there would no longer be a varying scale of what could and could not be identified as fun.
“Besides,” Evan added with a small shake of his head. “I’m sure people could do both, architecture and music,” he said finishing the last knot on the tail of the kite. Evan wasn’t too sure what bit of a ship would be the tail, but he had followed the instructions so hopefully he hadn’t just accidentally build the sunk version of the Titanic. “And is fun really the same as passion? For I’d think creating music is a passion, whilst following Quidditch or enjoying architecture is a hobby,” Evan commented straightening up.
“Okay, I think, I’ve done this correctly,” he informed Celia. “Alternatively we’re going to drag a lump of fancy paper across a beach,” which was probably not going to happen but Evan didn’t feel comfortable making those kind of promises just yet.
--
Celia wasn’t surprised that Evan had a more logical way to think about it than she did, but again, different people thought in different ways just like different people had different passions or likes. Everything he said made sense, it simply wasn’t how she would think about it on her own. “True, people could do more than one thing.”
She looked down at the kite as he seemed to be done with it, giving a nod. “It looks right? I mean, I suppose we won’t know until it goes up… or doesn’t.” She offered him a reassuring smile. “And if it’s not right, we can take a look to figure it out and try again!” Pulling her hands out of her pockets, she tucked her hair behind her ears. “Ready?”
-
Celia certainly had a point, Evan wasn’t particularly sure why he hadn’t even considered that if the kite didn’t take off they could just fix it. It seemed like a rather silly detail to miss, but the good thing was that Celia was there, too, so between them they’d surely manage. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” Evan commented, straightening the rope so the kite could fly upwards once he let go of it. The beach wasn’t exactly heaving with people, but there were a few scattered here and there, which made Evan decide against applying magic to ensure the kite took off. There was enough breeze for it do so so freely, really.
Taking a few steps back, Evan finally let go, pulling on the string carefully so the kite would catch the wind. It was a bit clunky, he thought, so it needed to catch the wind just right for a lift off, but after a few attempts, the kite finally rose up. “That is pretty cool,” Evan decided out loud as he watched the kite emerge into the shape it was designed to be. Looking at Celia, Evan offered her a smile. “Thanks,” he said because it had been her present and it seemed much more worth it to say thank you now that it was flying above them than when it had just been in its packaging. “Do you want to fly it?” Evan asked holding out the hand he had the kite in.
--
Celia took a step back to be out of the way so he could try to get the kite into the air without having to worry about bumping into her or anything. She watched him as he worked to get the kite into the air, then her gaze moved up to the kite itself once it was. It looked even better in the sky than it had on the packaging, and it had already seemed pretty neat. That was the whole reason she’d gotten it, after all. It was a cool kite on its own, even without any kind of magic to make it even more so.
She beamed a little when he thanked her, because she’d thought it had been a good present but obviously he hadn’t had a chance to give it a try until then and so he hadn’t really been able to know for sure. “You’re welcome,” she replied, her gaze dropping down to him when he asked if she wanted to fly it. “Oh! Um, maybe a little? But it’s your kite, so I wouldn’t want to have all the fun.”
-
Evan shook his head slightly at Celia’s words that it was Evan’s kite so he was the one who was meant to fly it. Still, at least she hadn’t declined because of it. “I would’ve come on my own if I wanted to fly it by myself,” he told her honestly, looking up at the kite, before glancing back at Celia. Evan held his other hand out so he could pull Celia closer, before carefully handing the handle for the kite over to her.
“Do we need to put rocks in your pockets to make sure you don’t fly away?” Evan asked her teasing before he let go of the kite, once sure Celia was holding onto it. He by-passed the rocks, but only just. She really was very little, but then the kite wasn’t very heavy and the wind wasn’t very strong so she would probably be okay. Stepping to one side, Evan looked up at the kite. “It looks really great,” he informed her. “Maybe next time we should get two so we can each fly one,” Evan added more thoughtfully.
--
If Evan had wanted to keep flying it, that would have been perfectly fine. Celia did want to give it a go but it wasn't her kite, after all. She let him move her closer before taking the kite handle from him, making sure to get a good grip on it before looking up to where the kite was in the sky, huffing out a soft laugh at what he said.
"I'm not that little to need rocks in my pockets," she replied, her nose scrunching slightly. Okay, so maybe she'd gotten a bit littler with all the training and only eating specific foods, but she was confident the kite wasn't going to pull her away. "It does look quite nice. I'm glad - I thought it would but you can't always tell from a picture." She adjusted her grip a little when the wind picked up. "I'll have to be on the lookout for another kite I like, so we can do that."
-
Evan was rather dubious of Celia’s claim that she wasn’t going to fly away, but so far she was managing to stay with both feet on the ground, so they should be alright. “Maybe they have ones in animal shapes,” Evan said thoughtfully as he looked at the kite. “I think I’d like one that’s a cat or a lion,” he added. Evan was a big fan of animals, it’d definitely be pretty cool.
Taking a step back, Evan found the picnic basket they had to put to one side whilst he had been prepping the kite. Pouring out two mugs of tea, Evan walked back to hand one to Celia, reaching out to take the kite from her again with his free hand. “Do you think if they have ones shaped like ships, there would be ones shaped like cars, too? And airplanes! Or maybe buildings. But I guess a building wouldn’t fly all that well, it’s a bit boxy.”
--
"I think there are animal ones," Celia said, keeping her eyes up on the kite in case it were to dive one way or the other with the wind. The last thing she wanted to do was let it crash. "A lion one would look great. I'll have to look and see if I can find one."
She gladly took the tea, making sure not to let go of the kite handle until he had it, cupping both her hands around her mug. "They would have to have others, I would guess. I'm not sure about one looking like a building, but I've seen some boxy type kites so it's not impossible! Maybe getting a boxy one then painting it to look like a building..."
-
Evan was sure that there were magical ways a kite like that could be created, if not Muggle ones. He took a sip of his tea thoughtfully, looking at the kite as if it held all the answers and perhaps it did. “We could make one,” Evan suggested looking back at Celia. “Paper and paint and a bit of wood and string, right? It can’t need much more than that,” well, at least Evan was pretty sure there was nothing more to a kite.
“I can design it,” he added. “Might have to look up aerodynamics but how hard can that be, really, right? For a kite, I mean,” Evan specified since he was sure that aerodynamics got more difficult once it wasn’t just paper and lite angles involved. But for a kite? He could probably construct one. “How good are you at painting?”
--
Celia paused mid-sip of her tea when he looked over to her. Making one hadn't occurred to her, but then again she wasn't one with a mind for constructing things, or designing them. Her gaze flickered up to the kite as she considered it, and she tilted her head.
"I can't imagine it would take more materials than those - maybe fabric instead of paper, but otherwise..." She hummed softly in thought. "I'm sure you could design one. You design things much more difficult than kites already, it's just a little different. I'm alright at painting, as long as you don't want a masterpiece." She took a sip of her tea then smiled at him. "So what kind of kite do you want to make?"
-
“Ooh, fabric would be good,” Evan agreed. It would make the kite sturdier if they used fabric, but Evan would have to look into what paint would work best and not make the kite too heavy. Perhaps he could even it out by making the wing span bigger. “I’m sure between us we can manage to make it, if not a masterpiece, then at least acceptable,” Evan assured Celia before moving over to where the picnic basket was, so he could tie the kite to the handle. Somehow, Evan was less concerned about the picnic basket being so lite it might flow away.
Once the kite was secure, Evan found a blanket in the basket so they could sit under the kite. “Maybe a lion?” He offered conversationally, unpacking the tea and the sandwiches, there was even a pack of biscuits somewhere in there. “Oh, maybe a griffin?” That’d be pretty great, especially if Evan could make it quite big.
--
Celia beamed a little when her suggestion of fabric was taken so well, considering Evan was much better at thinking of the construction of things than her. She looked back up to the kite to study it a bit more as he secured it, taking a long sip of her tea and letting it warm her up from the slight chill of the breeze coming off the water.
"A lion would be cool," she agreed, carefully setting her mug down to help him spread out the blanket. She sat down on the edge of it to keep it in place as he unpacked the rest of the basket, her eyes widening at his second suggestion. "A griffin would be amazing! There's really no limit on what we could do once the basics are figured out. Then it's just modifying it to be whatever else we can dream up!"
-
“Yes, exactly!” Evan agreed with a nod, sitting down on the blanket and reaching for one of the sandwiches. He ate it whilst thoughtfully watching the kite above them. Celia was right, once they had the basic structure set, the kite really could take many shapes and forms. “Once I finish my exams, we’ll make a kite,” he said determinedly, washing the sandwich down with his tea before looking over at Celia.
“Is this our thing now, kites?” He asked almost curiously, but there was a tinge of teasing in his tone. “We might have to learn how to fight them, to make it more exciting,” Evan added. Building kites and fighting kites sounded really quite exciting to him and Evan felt that perhaps, if this was going to be their thing, they really should investigate the possibilities that kite-flying offered. Start with building them and work their way to breaking them.
--
Celia reached over to where her mug was to retrieve it, taking another drink of tea before getting one of the sandwiches to have as well. She gave a nod when he mentioned making one after his exams, because of course those were more important and time sensitive than kite making. Perhaps she would have more time on her hands in the future as well, narrowing her life down to one career rather than training for two at once.
"Maybe?" she replied, tilting her head as she considered it. They'd never really had a thing... unless going on a few dates counted as a thing, but even those had started with a kite. "I prefer kites being our thing than scary movies being our thing." While that had been a good time overall, it certainly hadn't been because of the movie itself. And it wasn't exactly something they could replicate again. "We could fight them, eventually. I think first we have to get the whole making them part down, but if we're making them the possibilities are endless. We could have the best fighting kites ever!"
-
At Celia’s comment how she rather it’d be kites than horror films that became their thing, Evan gave a genuine laugh, shooting a grin her way. “But all the eyeless children, Celia!” He said teasingly. “How could you possibly not want to watch more creepy children crawling out of mirrors,” Evan commented with a shake of his head. It really hadn’t been the best of films but it had been plenty scary enough, at least they had done a great job to miss large parts of it.
“Yes,” Evan agreed with a nod, taking a sip of his tea and eating another sandwich. He watched the kite they did have now as he ate. “Do you have colour preferences?” Evan asked thoughtfully before glancing at Celia. “Because I’m not making a Gryffindor kite,” he told her determinedly. A griffin in red and gold might be pushing it just a little bit.
--
"Evan!" Celia protested, but it was with a laugh. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to be able to look in a mirror after that?!" She scrunched her nose as she took a bite of her sandwich, shaking her head. "No more scary movies. Kites all the way."
Her gaze followed his up to the kite, considering it as she ate. "Well I didn't think you'd want a Gryffindor kite. I do think gold would be nice, but not red. Maybe with a good blue? Like a dark one. I'll have to look around to see what paint might be good and what they have." She paused and looked over to him. "I might have a request for the second kite, once we figure this all out."
-
Celia’s laugh was infectious and made Evan give a laugh of his own. “Better than constantly thinking you’re being followed by eyeles children, I suffered that for days,” Evan replied only slightly exaggerating. “But I suppose, since you ask so nicely, we’ll stick with the kites,” he added reaching to get the pack of biscuits and top up both is and Celia’s mugs of tea.
“Oh?” Evan asked eyebrow raised when Celia said she had a request for another kite. “I’m still not doing Gryffindor colours,” he told her waving the biscuit pack around, before pausing to offer her one. “But dark blue and gold does sounds nice,” Evan commented, since it really did. “So what’s your request? I’ll do my best to oblige.”
--
"Oh, I had that too! I was just a mess all around." Celia held her mug out to make it easier for him to fill again, giving him a grin when he said they could stick with kites. Those were much nicer than scary movies, and didn't require hiding inside costs at all.
"I wasn't going to ask for a Gryffindor one," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him before gladly taking a biscuit. She was glad the color scheme she'd suggested met his approval, because she really did think it would look nice. "I don't know, I was thinking about the different creatures that might make good kites, and I thought of dragons and maybe if it was possible to make one of those, making one for Charlie."
-
“Only nice and non-scary movies from now on, gotcha,” Evan nodded, dipping one of the biscuits into his tea, before stuffing it in his mouth, licking the crumbs off his fingers as he listened to Celia explain that she hadn’t planned to ask for a Gryffindor kite. If Evan was perfectly honest, he probably could have been persuaded to make one in red and gold, maybe, which in itself was a worrying thought and Evan completely blamed all the Gryffindors in his life.
A dragon, though, that sounded exciting! “If we figure out the basic structure for a kite, we should definitely make a dragon,” because that would be pretty impressive, especially if they did one like the Chinese dragons, with ribbons and things. “Charlie, that’s one of Ron’s brothers, right?” Evan asked. It could have been a different Charlie, Evan supposed, but he did know that Ron’s brother Charlie worked with dragons, so the chances were good that he was guessing right.
--
"Never a scary one again!" Celia proclaimed with a soft giggle before making quick work of the biscuit she'd been given. She hoped her dragon suggestion hadn't come too quickly following their decision to make kites in the first place, but she'd gotten excited about the idea. There were so many possibilities! And a dragon kite would be amazing, she was sure of it.
"Right, one of Ron's brothers," she agreed, though she'd never quite thought of Charlie in that context. "He works with dragons, and he's dating my brother, so I thought maybe it might be nice."
-
“Ron’s brother’s dating a man?” Evan asked somewhat surprised. The way Ron had gone on about how Evan should choose to date girls rather than boys, Evan had assumed that Ron didn’t really know anyone who dated people of their own sex. Apparently not. “But yes,” Evan agreed with a nod. “We can definitely make a dragon kite for your brother’s boyfriend,” he assured her, pausing briefly. “Once we learn how to make a kite,” Evan added, smirking into his mug as he took a sip of his tea.
Looking up at the ship floating above them, Evan frowned. “Do you think we should start with a kite shaped kite? Because I suspect that starting out with griffins and dragons they are going to look nothing like griffins and dragons,” chances were, at least.
--
"Yes, my brother," Celia said, her brow furrowing at how he'd responded. "Oliver." She wasn't sure if the clarification was necessary but she did have more than one so maybe it was. With her biscuit gone, she held her mug in both hands and took a slow sip of her tea.
"That's probably a good idea," she agreed. "Start with a normal kite, then go from there. Griffins and dragons can be what we're working toward, but I think we should be able to do it. I mean, I think you can, I should say, since you're the one who knows about the construction and such. I'm just here to paint."
-
“Yes, yes,” Evan nodded when Celia repeated that Charlie was dating her brother. Did that sort of make her and Ron into siblings-in-law? Was that how it worked? “I’m just surprised because Ron didn’t seem--” Evan cut himself off. It didn’t really matter, Evan was sure Celia didn’t care to hear about the way Ron had been weird about Evan dating a man. Maybe it was just Evan rather than Charlie, too. “Never mind,” he said with a little wave of his hand.
Concentrating on the conversation about the kite making seemed a lot more interesting. “Hey, now, painting’s a very important job,” he informed her. “Besides, maybe I’ll get you to tie some ribbons, too, kites obviously need ribbons,” or so Evan suspected at least.
--
Celia frowned, not quite sure where that sentence had been heading but wherever it was, she wasn't sure she liked it. Not with how they'd gotten there in the first place. "Well I don't know what Ron has to do with it but Charlie is dating Oliver," she said with a shrug, finishing her tea. "And they both seem quite happy about that."
She looked up to the ship before her gaze dropped down to Evan again. "I know painting is important! But in terms of what we're able to make, it's not as important as knowing how to build something well. And I will tie as many ribbons as you need. I don't think a kite is proper without a tail."
-
“Well, that’s good,” Evan nodded when Celia said that Charlie and Oliver seemed happy about dating. Evan didn’t know either Charlie or Oliver so as much as it was nice that people were happy, Evan also had nothing really else to say about it. He had just been surprised by Ron’s reaction and now felt even more confused about it but none of those were things that Celia could solve or explain to Evan.
Evan was sure that he could make a template for a kite. Once he figured out which bits went where and made them fly better, Evan thought he could easily mimic it. “I’ll figure out how,” he informed Celia. “And then I’ll teach you. That way, you can build the kites,” Evan explained, before offering her a small grin. “And then maybe I can be your painter rather than vice versa,” he teased.
--
Celia have a hum of agreement when he said it was good, because she thought so too. She wasn't sure why anyone wouldn't, honestly. Her eyes widened a little when Evan said she could build the kites, and she gave a quick shake of her head.
"Even if you showed me, I think the best I could do was help," she said, nipping at the inside of her lip. "You're the expert, so I'm sure it would be much better if you did the building! But if you really wanted to paint, I would let you help. It's quite fun, I understand why you would be jealous of me getting to do it."
-
“How about we try and see? You might surprise yourself with how good your kite building skills turn out to be,” Evan assured her as he reached for another sandwich. “But obviously, I am also very jealous of the painting,” he said after chewing the food, washing it down with the last of his tea. “Could do designs on a kite,” Evan pondered. “Albeit, mine would mostly just be blueprints,” he added. Evan was really quite good at blueprints.
Pouring some more tea into his mug, Evan gave Celia a smile. “This is nice, I’m glad we managed to do this after all,” he informed her honestly.
--
"I wouldn't want to mess it up," Celia admitted, giving a little shrug. Not that she thought Evan wouldn't do a good job teaching her, but she wasn't used to putting things together like he was. She would help, and try if he really wanted, but she worried about a kite turning out wrong and being disappointing. "Designs might be nice. I think that would look quite lovely. It would make the simple ones less simple, and the more complex ones that much more special."
She reached for the tea once he was done with it, refilling her mug and offering him a smile. "Me too, I'm glad. I've missed hanging out with you."
-
“You can’t mess up so bad we can’t fix it, I’m sure,” Evan shrugged. “Besides, trial and error and all that,” he added before taking a sip of his tea. Evan didn’t actually know whether Celia would mess up or not, but he didn’t think it was very important. He expected to mess up, too, it would hardly be as if the first kite he’d make would be perfect, so they could both mess up together, that seemed fair.
Evan nodded in agreement when Celia said she had missed hanging out with him. “I guess we’ve both just been busy?” He offered her as a way of an apology. Evan did have a nice time whenever he spent time with Celia, so he really should try to hand out with her more. “We’ll make sure to do something once my exams are over,” he said. “Kites or not,” Evan added. “But probably kites, since that’s now our thing,” he told her with a small grin.
--
It was nice to know mistakes could be fixed - easier with kites than with her normal work. Stakes were low with kites, plus they were fun. Celia gave a nod before taking another long drink of her tea, still smiling softly as she let her mug rest down on her leg.
"Yeah, we've both been busy," she agreed, because it was true. She'd been dealing with a lot on her plate, and Evan had his studies and Andrew. It wasn't like she expected him to put aside time with someone else to spend it with her, but it felt good to know they had something to bring them back together. She grinned, reaching over to clink their mugs together. "Kites are our thing."