Summer Gladwin (sugarymagic) wrote in tiberiusswann, @ 2010-03-10 01:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | nick, summer |
Thursday | April 17th 2008
Who: Summer and Nick
When: Thursday, 4pm ish
Where: Halls
What: Nick* checks up on Sebastian
It was funny, in the interesting kind of way, to see Summer in class on Thursday. She'd waved and smiled, and he grinned in return with a nod and slight lift of one hand while removing those sunglasses with the other. He wore battered jeans and a fleabitten gray T-shirt, again with an obscurely amusing slogan across the chest. This time it was "Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?" His brother thought it was hilarious when he got it for him. His wings were, once again, on full display, which was why he sat towards the back of the class-
All through class he was contemplatively watching the board, scribbling notes in a haphazard fashion that might kill her organizational mind, but worked for him. He didn't waste his time afterwards though; notebooks slapped shut, he hopped to his feet and dragged the whole mess with him as he moved for the door. But there he waited, leaning a shoulder against the wall outside the room until Summer escaped the class. Then he grinned. "Hey."
Is this stalking? It could be considered stalking. Shut up, brain.
Summer had not been expecting that, so she jumped when he said 'hey' in her ear as she passed. "Hi!" she said, with a soft laugh, a smile on her face. "How are you? Sebastian is totally fine, by the way, so I feel like a huuuuuuge ass for making you come by at three in the morning.."
"And here I was about to ask about Troublemaker." Yes, with a capital T--the dog had a new name, although an affectionate one. His grin still easy, he straightened away from the wall. "Didn't mean to startle you, but I wanted to make sure he was doing okay. And, y'know. Reassure you that you aren't a huuuuuuuge ass." Echoing her, he chuckled.
It was then that he recalled that she asked him how he was. He gave a single-shoulder shrug, wings snapping once. "I'm good. Still getting settled in."
She jumped, at the wing snapping, then covered her eyes with one hand, smiling.
She skittered, and he blinked before chuckling softly. "Heh. Sorry." It was natural for him, the wing-beat; but he understood that it was probably bizarre, and after a moment he folded them carefully against his back.
"Not keeping you from class, am I? I was gonna go check out what they've got going in track but I decided I could skip it this week. Already got enough going on."
"No no, don't apologize," she said, uncovering her face. "I'm still getting used to the sprites' wings... sorry, don't be offended!" She laughed at herself, and then he asked her if he was keeping her. "Nope, this is actually my last class," she said, adjusting her messenger bag on her shoulder. The auburn haired witch was back to her normal self -- her hair was clean, an blowdried smooth, and she was wearing jeans and sneakers, not fluffy piglet slippers. Summer never really wore heavy makeup, but the mascara and lipgloss were a nice step up from eyeliner smears and puffy redness.
"So.. thank you again, I know I thanked you like a thousand times but seriously. That was really nice of you. Your brownies are in the making, I swears."
"Yeah? Where're you headed now?" He hadn't put his notes in his backpack yet, and still had them tucked under his arm. Meanwhile her apology just got a shake of his head. "No offense taken. I'm used to being at home where they're not a big deal. And no apologies."
She looks cute. Not that yesterday morning wasn't cute... this is the polished cute, though. He blinked at his own internal monologue. Dude. Stop talking to yourself. "They better be." It was stated with another grin and a wink. "Glad I was up and could help."
Summer was blissfully unaware of his internal monologue. "Uhmmm, now I am headed back to my room -- which no longer smells like dog puke, F.Y.I. -- to give him a loooong walk, feed him, and then I get to eat." She laughed, just so Nick knew she didn't consider it a burden. She loved her pup.
"Heh--to be honest? It was freakin' three in the morning. Your room could've smelled like barbecue sauce and I wouldn't have been wondering why. Not to mention that is not the worst thing I've ever smelled. And I promise not to give details." He made a face, chuckled softly, and then moved on.
"C'mon, I'll walk you to the student lounge or something." He was a mover, most of the time. A sleepy Nick was a different story, though. He might have offered to double-check on Sebastian, but didn't want to overstep any bounds. Walking her to the lounge... that didn't count. He was headed that way, too.
She laughed. Barbeque sauce? Funny. Summer was awful at hiding expressions on her face, so her surprise and shyness was immediately evident. "Uh, okay, sure." His accent was so funny. Then again, so was hers, probably.
The surprise got him to raise one eyebrow, but the grin was still there. "Unless you're creeped out by my stalking a classroom door. Which wasn't really on purpose, by the way."
She laughed, mostly at herself for being so obvious. She wasn't creeped out, just surprised! "No, no, it's nice that you asked about Sebastian. Thank you. I've had him since I was sixteen, so I get worried now that he's not a puppy anymore." She tucked her hair behind her ears, momentarily fingering the few brightly colored studs she wore in her lobes.
Reassured, he'd grin quietly. He'd then start the shuffle towards the door leading outside, matching her pace easily once they were both moving. "Terriers live long and crazy lives. I wouldn't stress it."
She did math in her head. "He's almost nine, so that's not too old for them, yeah. My little To-to." She grinned and shoved her hands into the pockets of her dark blue hoodie.
"What kind of dogs do you have?"
Sixteen plus almost-nine is--she doesn't look twenty-four. She wasn't the only one who could do math in their head. He had to do it all the time when he was working. The internal calculations didn't show in his expression; instead he laughed. "Toto caused havoc for his mom, too. That's why she was running away with him."
When she asked about his dogs, though, the laughter turned to a chuckle. "This won't be as funny if you don't know where I live, but we've got a Boxer named Libby and a Newfoundland named Ripley. And my sister, Mercedes? She texted me this morning--dad caved on the Labrador thing, so there'll be a puppy hanging out there soon."
"Oh, and you're Canadian, right?" He had said it in his introductory post on the journals. "Labrador, Newfoundland...haaaaaah." Summer was a smart cookie; she just wasn't obnoxiously obvious about it.
“Yep. And I'm from Labrador and Newfoundland." His phone was pulled from his pocket, and flipped open so she could see the giant dog on his background. "That's Ripley."
She let out a little squee, grinning. "Sooo FLUFFY."
He nodded, delighted in the positive response. It was always that way with dog owners. Phone pulled back, he let her watch where they were going as he pulled up another picture and showed it to her . "An' that's Libby."
"Awww!" she said, grinning. "I have two cats at home that I miss, but they like my mom better because they hate Sebastian, but I want a big fluffy dog one day, too." She grinned, her fingers wrapping around the phone in her hoodie pocket. Should she bother showing him?
"Got pictures?" There were three cats that he hadn't bothered showing--they were dorks and he loved them, but not as awesome as the dogs. "Big and fluffy comes with drool though, just to warn you." Meanwhile his phone was snapped shut and tucked away after she cooed.
"Yeeah," she said, pulling out her phone sheepishly. "This is Alley ..." she scrolled and clicked. "....And this... is.Kazam." It was dorky to name two cats Allakazam in separate, but she was a witch. It was cute. Right?
It was freaking adorable. "That is the best name combo. Ever." Leaning, he slid a hand over hers to steady the phone as he looked at the second picture, squinting just a bit. "Mismatched eyes?" He could've used the big name for it, but didn't. There was no reason to pull out the five-dollar vocabulary.
She let out a fluttery sort of 'heh heeeh hah' laugh before replying."Yeah, I think it's called heterochromia," she said, stupidly not realizing that Nick, vet tech, probably already knew that. "He's really chill. I've seen cats and dogs with flecks of color but Kazam is awesome because his entire one eye is an entirely different color than the other.."
She put her phone away and shrugged sheepishly. "I miss 'em, but Sebastian would be lost without me. They have each other and my mom."
"The flecks are pretty cool. We had a husky come in once that, I'm not kidding, had a blue eye but with an hourglass of brown inside it. Looked trippy if you stared at it long enough." He just nodded along with the heterochromia bit, and then sighed. For the first time, he wasn't grinning; he looked homesick. "I miss 'em too. My herd, I mean. Not yours." Tacking that on, the grin was abruptly back as he looked at her.
Leaning, he'd grab the door and hold it open for her once they'd cross the grounds. "After you."
Him holding the door wasn't lost on Summer; though she had to wonder if he did so because him going first meant he'd have to smack her in the face with his wings. "Thank you," she said, smiling yet again.
"I wanted to be a vet when I was really little. I used to try to bring home stray cats all the time. Mom hated it. I changed my mind, I think I'd be too sad all the time.... kudos to you!"
His holding the door was manners. His flicking a brief glance over the back of her form as she passed had everything to do with his being a guy, however. He didn't ogle though; he wasn't an asshole, just... looking. And liking.
"No problem. And yeah... it sounds cold but you get used to it. There's still some that get to me, though." Cheery, he fell into step beside her again.
"Yeah, I bet," she said, nodding seriously. They were in the student lounge already? Here the female and male dorms branched out. They were in the nucleus of dramatic interactions. "So you got a vet tech degree and everything? That's cool. What made you come here?" She assumed he had hid his wings, like Frankie did. If he had a degree it meant he wasn't eighteen, which.. he could have been, if she was guessing by his face.
"Two year course, plus about a year of work in a hospital. And..." Here his expression dimmed again, and he wished he had his sunglasses on. His reasons for coming here were slightly mixed; mostly his parents wishes, but a part his own. "I need to learn to use more of my element, the magic that goes with it. That sort of thing. My parents talked me into it." Relearn the flying. Don't forget the flying. His conscience was ignored... he could have stayed home and taken lessons with Ethan again if he really wanted to fly.
"That's awesome," she said, nodding. "Yeah, my mom found out about this place from my aunt. They sorta worked together, which is a miracle in and of itself
"Don't get along, huh?" He rather automatically switched back towards talking about her; looking over curiously as he shifted his notebooks from one arm to the other.
"Well, sorta... it used to be worse, now they sort of mutually tolerate each other. See, my aunt is my dad's sister, and my mom is.. .my mom." She screwed up her face, laughing at her stupidity. "Anyway, my dad sorta... left the picture when I was younger, so my mom wasn't really interested in playing nice with Aunt Karen, but... Karen was the only person who could help me when my powers showed up."
"Your mom couldn't help? Does she not have any magic ability then?" He was slowing down, expression thoughtfully curious. She was, of course, more than welcome to derail the conversation at any time. Maybe she doesn't know that? He hesitated, then smiled warmly. "Stop me at any time. I'm not trying to do a shakedown or anything."
"What?" She didn't know the term, but guessed, and grinned. "No no, it's cool. Uhm, no, mom's human, dad was the witch -- he left before he was even certain I had abilities though -- brother was human, just my aunt had the powers." She nodded wondering if he'd ask about the 'was.' No biggie; she could talk about it.
He caught it. Silence reined for a second, as he tried to decide if broaching the subject was even kosher or not. "... Was?"
Her expression was nothing but apologetic. "Yeah. My brother passed away, before I came to TJS." She hoped he wouldn't stammer his way into a hole; she hated making people uncomfortable so very much. "He had no powers. Liked mine, though. He helped me practice."
That was the thing about his job; he could have stammered, could have scrambled straight back and changed topics, but it was a fact that he couldn't change and treating it like the plague would not make her feel any better. Instead his expression slid to a calm, sympathetic warmth, and he nodded once. "I'm sorry." It wasn't as much as he wanted to say, but it was enough.
"Thank you," she said, at this point the exchange being automatic. Her smile was polite and grateful. "Anyway, I've regained a lot of my lost powers.. I was just telling Matt, the other new guy in our class together, that this place isn't so bad."
---
He nodded, and just like that the tension eased again.
"Given the responses I was getting on the message system, I was a little wary about walking out to classes on Monday." He laughed easily, shrugging as he looked around the student lounge. "Like I was going to be accosted."
---
Summer laughed, eyes going wide. "Accosted! Why!" His sarcasm was momentarily lost. "Because of what someone said? Who said what?"
---
"Hm... Let's see. There was Will, who said it sucked. But that I'd love it. And then some other guy said welcome to 'drama central.'" He used air quotes and everything. "And... as I recall.... you said it was drama central, too." He smirked at her as he said that. "It just seemed like I was either going to be almost murdered or dragged into an after-school special. Or some freaky mix of both."
---
Summer laughed again, shaking her head as she kept walking -- albeit slowly -- toward the girls' dorms. "Nooooo, it's not that bad. Well, whatever, you went to highschool right. It feels like that. I'm a little sad I have to relive high school, as high school was really awkward for me, but, whatever." She chuckled softly. "High school except you know..." she ran her fingers through her hair, instantly turning it blond. Well, to Nick's eyes, anyway. It was just a glamor spell.
"Magic powers. Ooh!"
---
"Yeah, I went. Kinda of a blank for the most part, though." He shrugged; the last couple years of high school hadn't been the best. Meanwhile he'd been examining the hallway, curious, but looked over in time to see her hair change colors and coughed abruptly; a hand raised to his mouth to smother it as he watched with wide eyes.
"Holy shit." There was an amused light in his eyes, but... wow. "Nice... that's... man, wish I could do that."
---
Summer shook her head, and in a split instant, it was back to her original auburn. There was no fade; it just was, then was not. "Thanks. Glamour spells are my specialty." She seemed proud because she was. She'd made great strides in improving. "I can do a few other things, but.." she shrugged, her ears pink now. She was proud, but she didn't want to brag. She paused near the entrance toward the girl's dorms, not sure if he was going to walk her all the way to her room..or not. That would be weird. Wouldn't it? WOULD IT?
"Did I mention I'm a witch? Because if not, I should, just to ... clear up confusion." She laughed at her own joke, dorkily.
---
And she was back to the red; amusement flickered as the shock faded, and he grinned. "Nice." When she paused by the entryway he paused as well, before leaning a shoulder against the frame much as he had when he'd first accosted her. "I'd be doing so much crazy stuff if I could do that. But nope... I make fog." He rolled his eyes, but it was a teasing sort of self-mockery that had nothing to do with her, or even his abilities. He was just playing.
"You didn't, but I kind of got it. Your aunt, and all." Never stated in so many words, but it didn't surprise him. "You must have fun with it." His gaze skimmed over her features briefly, just taking them in, before his wide, cheerful blue eyes were refocused on hers in an almost disconcerting manner. When she was talking, he paid attention.
---
Summer laughed harder. "I make fog... well, hey," her eyes widened, as she was being stupid, now, "You're probably like, totes popular at raves and parties! People can rent you for Halloween parties." She noticed how he stared; she had never met anyone that was as so intense but also innocuous seeming.
---
A blink followed, before he was snickering and ducked his head. "Man, I wish I'd thought of that on Tuesday. Can you imagine?" Visions of all the geeked out dancers moving about in a literal fog hit. "'Course I'd have been passed out afterward and not seen your message, so it's a good thing I didn't."
You do realize you're probably keeping her from her room, right? She's got stuff to do. Clearing his throat a little, he straightened and readjusted his hold on his notebooks. "Speaking of that... should probably let you go rescue Troublemaker from being cooped up all day, eh?"
---
Troublemaker? Oh! He'd given Sebastian a nickname! That was adorable. She smirked a little.
"Yeeeah, I should go. I'll see you Tuesday. Have a good weekend!" She started walking backwards, away from him, waving. Then, two steps in, she banged her rear into the edge of a sofa. She let out a surprised "ooh!" and turned around. After catching her balance and composing herself she laughed, giving him a short wave before turning away. Walking forward was a good idea. Yes.
---
"You too, Summer." He grinned, and had the good grace to smother a snicker as she bumped into the sofa. "Careful." Rather than wave he gave a brief up-nod, and then glanced down at his watch. There was still time to go catch what was going on with track--that'd occupy him for a while until it was time to go eat.
Humming, he paused to sling his backpack around to the front and slide his notebooks in before pushing it back behind his shoulder, unzipped, as he headed into the male wing of the dorms. His wings were twitching as he walked; he needed stuff to do.
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