Melody Jordan is chasing down a daydream. (melodious) wrote in thesocieties, @ 2010-11-07 02:36:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | ! log, 2023: 11/november, ch: melody jordan, ch: prentiss parkinson |
log: Prentiss and Melody
Who: Prentiss and Melody
When: Saturday, November 6
Where: Library, British Muggleborn Association Charity Ball
What: Two Ravenclaws sneak into a library, accost a dictionary, and then flee from the scene of the crime.
Status: Completed log!
Prentiss didn't need additional stress in his life, and yet here he was, skulking in the library. It wasn't his idea of proper social etiquette, certainly, to leave the crowded safety of the ball for some clandestine snooping, particularly on the basis of some semi-anonymous written instructions. However, during trying times (which these were) even the most punctilious of men (which Prentiss was) could find their standards of behavior starting to fray. He rechecked the note he received. Upon initially reading it, he had hexed the words private to his own eyes, as there was no reason to not be overly careful. The note was likely from Whitney Warrington, whom he had seen earlier in the evening on the arm of her father. Her father, Prentiss noted, was not a member of the little circle within the Circle, and could, despite how old and frail he looked, probably make Prentiss's life infinitely more stressful with minimal effort. Prentiss did not blame Whitney for being secretive, even if there was possibly something urgent occurring. The note had not changed since he first read it only minutes ago: the familiar owl symbol was sketched on it, and the words "Soon as you can get away: Downstairs Library, Dictionary" were written on it. Dictionary. He needed to find the dictionary. He glanced over the room's shelves, overwhelm sinking in. His family wasn't the sort who had an entire library in their home, and Prentiss had half-hoped there'd be some sort of sign, like at the Hogwarts library, signifying reference materials. He was about to go through shelves one by one, in an orderly and methodical fashion, when he noticed the large, oversized tome sitting open on a desk in the middle of the room. A magnifying glass was lying beside it. A ha! He leaped upon the book, and yes, indeed, it was a dictionary. His tense shoulders relaxed in relief, and quickly, he started turning pages. Prentiss didn't know what he was looking for, but he was determined to find it. Honestly, cryptic notes with owl symbols on them were so last month, and Melody's initial reaction was to roll her eyes, crumple the thing into a ball and drop it in the nearest mostly empty champagne flute. The plan after that was to forget all about it and dance the night away. Buuuut she really was kind of curious and the current music selection was a little dull, so it only took a few seconds before she reconsidered and decided intrigue could only make this night better. Then, remembering how well tossing secret society stuff out last time had gone for everyone, she fished the note out with two of her fingers, only barely managing to not create a scene when they then got stuck in the glass. "Classy," she mumbled, wiping them dry on a tablecloth and then dropping it into her handbag. This entire scene had played out in her head much more sexy and spy-like. But seriously, if Mister (because it certainly wasn't a Miss) Cryptic wanted her to take him seriously, he really should have had his note self destruct after she read it, and if he was in the library she was so going to give him some pointers. Like what the hell was that last message--your names we know but we keep close? "All right, so it's you--" she said upon entering the library, ready to meet Mister Cryptic. She stopped short when she saw who stood there, standing over a large book. Was that the dictionary? Probably. Great. What was he doing here? "Mister P, in the library--" She moved closer, picked up the magnifying glass and peered at him through it. "--with the magnifying glass." At the sound of someone's voice, Prentiss straightened up, and when he saw who had interrupted him, he tried to rein in any sign of his confusion and then dismay. Terrific. This was certainly an interruption. And now Whitney would come in and be unable to pass on further information that was apparently so urgent that it necessitated sneaky society intrigue in the middle of a very public occasion. Turning away from the dictionary, he smiled tightly and feigned casualness. "Hello, Melody. How are you this evening?" "Hello, Prentiss," she said, she leaned in closer with the magnifying glass and examined his clothing. "I'm having an enchanting evening, and I have a lovely date, in case you're curious. How are you?" "I'm very well, thank you," he said stiffly, his back now pressed to the edge of the desk. He thought better of grabbing the magnifying glass from her, but he also should have reconsidered his words. He searched for a way to prod her back out of the library. "As I was unable to be your date, you're under no obligation to help me with the symbols on my flown. It's nice to see you, and I'm pleased you are having a good night, and perhaps we can catch up later in the evening." "I'm not here to help you with your flown." She waved the magnifying glass when she spoke as if she were dismissing such a notion. "Later, P. I've got a clandestine meeting here." She leaned over to see if it was a dictionary there on the desk and to her delight it was. "Where you're standing actually, so if you wouldn't mind, please shoo." Prentiss refused to budge and in fact fought the urge to throw himself at the dictionary. "Excuse me? I was here first." He couldn't exactly argue that his clandestine activities were more important than her clandestine activities, though certainly that had to be the case. He turned again to face the desk and started flipping pages again. "I need to use the dictionary right now. You can arrange your...encounters...to occur elsewhere, if you don't mind." "Would if I could, but I can't," Melody said, putting a hand on her hip. "But I don't know who my secret admirer is. Just sends me cryptograms like this." She dropped the magnifying glass into her purse and pulled out the crumpled note. She unfolded it for him to see. "The last one was way worse. Might have to beat him with this thing--wait, where'd my sherlock holmes go? Whatever. Knock some sense into him. Or maybe burn him with it. You can do that, right?" He shook his head slightly, attempting to clear out the dazed fog that descended when he saw Melody's note. Her note was the same as his was. That was wrong. That didn't make sense. This was bad. He ignored her threats to the mysterious sender and found his voice. "Where did you say you got this from?" She shrugged and shoved it back into her purse. "Can't say. Probably shouldn't have shown you, so as you can see, you're in my spot. I need to put a stop to these messages, or at least get him to rethink the mascot. I'm allergic, you know." Prentiss frowned and turned more pages as he tried to comprehend this. Why would someone from the owl contingent be contacting Melody? Maybe Whitney had made a mistake. It had to be a mistake. Except Melody had said that the last message was worse, which meant there were more she'd received. It didn't make sense, because she wasn't a Wick. Perhaps her father was, he was influential wasn't he, and Prentiss had never noticed his name in the society records, and now he was being blackmailed, perhaps, by the owl contingent, and perhaps they were using Melody as a pawn. Again, Prentiss shook his head. That amount of paranoia was unmerited, even for him. And now he should probably say something before Melody took advantage of his deep thinking and shoved him out of the library. "That you are," he said, trying to keep his voice light. "Are you certain you wish to be meeting this so-called secret admirer alone and in some unfamiliar place? I hardly think that's a wise decision." Melody smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you offering to stay with me? Wait, are you jealous?" He measured the situation gravely. Melody might be a WADA student and therefore probably at least a slightly better actor than he was, but her lack of answers about the situation seemed quite genuine. He wouldn't get any information out of her; he was going to have to ask Whitney what this was about and hope she could be honest with him. "You didn't even consider the possibility I'm the person you're supposed to be meeting," he said levelly, continuing his paging through the alphabetized English language. Why the dictionary? There was nothing remarkable about this book. There were too many puzzles on Prentiss's plate at the moment, and he didn't appreciate it. "You just came in here and told me to leave." This was all true, and Prentiss had been standing at the dictionary. He couldn't have been the one to send the notes though, could he? He wasn't in her society! "It was YOU?" she said, her voice much louder than she intended, especially for a library, even a private one. "It can't be you. You wouldn't know about me, about anything. This is a mistake." Glancing over at what he was doing, she added, "stop. Why are you doing that? What's important about the dictionary? Tell me everything. Tell me right now, starting with what that last note meant." "I don't know!" He didn't realize how loud his voice was until it came out, and he quickly lowered it and chalked up his breach of decorum to his frustration, particularly his frustration at his inability to follow her thoughts. "I didn't send you that note, Melody." He cast a glance to the library's doorway. It wouldn't hurt to disclose one piece of personal information to Melody, because what if she was truly in danger, from either the owl contingent or the Circle at large? He had loyalties to the Circle, but he also had loyalties to friends. Of whom Melody could be counted among, begrudgingly. He dropped his voice even lower. "I did, however, receive an identical note, and if the dictionary is important to whatever this madness is, I'm going to continue going through it." She considered everything he said, opened her mouth to demand proof and then reconsidered. He seemed genuine. "Page by page? Give it to me, at least hold it upside down and shake it to see if anything falls out," she said, holding out her hands. He shoved the dictionary at her, a little more roughly than he intended. "I was attempting to be careful and methodical. What if a page is a portkey, or something horrendous like that? I am, quite frankly, uncertain the extent to which I--we--can trust the anonymous sender." "That's the problem with you. So careful and methodical," she said, and then she looped an arm through his. "Just in case I get portkeyed anywhere. I'm taking you with me. Now, to this--" Picking up the large dictionary, she turned it over and shook, hoping something--anything--would fall out and prove she was right and Prentiss was...Prentiss. He shot her a look of horror, partly at the prospect of getting unexpectedly portkeyed somewhere with her but also partly because he didn't even have any food on him, which would make survival dire no matter where they ended up, but he was distracted by something tumbling out of the dictionary. Not wasting a moment, he pulled his arm from her and seized the object, not sparing a thought for whether it itself was a portkey. It was an envelope, and unassuming, and he glanced again at the door and then back to Melody before opening it and reading the note inside: Sunday 14th: need to be seen by staff all day or otherwise tracked. don't discuss in room: BUGGED. Now that she no longer needed the dictionary, she cast it aside, letting it fall with a thud on the desk. She peered over at the note and her eyes widened in disbelief. Bugged "Hey you!" she said to whoever was listening. "My name is Corinne Sloper." Then, grabbing a hold of Prentiss's arm, she said, "let's go discuss." "We've already used each other's names," he mumbled to her, but he agreed, they needed to get out of there. Pulling Melody along with him, Prentiss hastened for the door. |