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Tweak says, "Pirates slow global warming."

Essery Elizabeth Oakby (oakbye) wrote in wished,
@ 2010-10-03 21:21:00

Entry tags:

!2003: 10, !complete, essery oakby, severus snape

Who: Essery and Snape
What: Chess & Kittens
Where: Snape's office
When: Tonight
Warning: TBA

Essery came back just a bit earlier than she thought she might, but it was still after curfew and, on seeing what she'd brought back, Sinistra had offered just to keep watch until the last few lights went out about Hufflepuff, too. Which left Essery with her hours free - and with one very new tenant in her rooms to contend with. Honestly, she hadn't been expecting to come back with one, her jokes last week aside. Still, how could she resist that smooshed up face and those blue eyes peering up at her from the box outside the M&S?

It did leave her with a problem, though. She'd wanted to spend the night in another hard fought chess game - Severus was quickly becoming someone who she looked forward to talking with, and after their last conversation... Well, she had been looking forward to playing. And she doubted he'd want the kitten running about his office. Still, she couldn't leave it in her rooms alone, and she couldn't stand him up. So she found herself at his office door in a pair of jeans and an old charity tee-shirt, knocking, with the kitten purring and trying to climb out of her arms.

As soon as he opened the door, she was already apologizing. "I know that you likely don't want him here, but I didn't want you to think that I wasn't interested in playing. I can't leave him alone in my rooms, though, so I was going to take a rain - " before she could finish excusing herself, the kitten had managed to jump out of her arms and past him, into his office, and she was cursing under her breath and nursing a new scratch to her forearm.

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in_the_grass
2010-10-13 11:12 pm UTC (link)

It was rare that he smiled unless someone else had good reason not to, but he was certainly doing so more often these days - and it was an odd feeling. This was nothing that he'd had anything but passing thoughts about for quite some time, and 'rusty' would have understated the case somewhat. "Mysterious and dangerous?" He arched an eyebrow at her, clearly amused (and probably flattered). "You've been listening to stories. You're probably the more curious quantity, among magical people." He shifted his attack to focus on the castle's new position.

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	oakbye 2010-10-13 11:36 pm UTC (link)
	"I haven't been listening to anything," She contended instead, watching him play with a soft shrug. "It's your demeanor. You've definitely mastered the mysterious and foreboding genre." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_the_grass
2010-10-13 11:44 pm UTC (link)

He couldn't deny that, really. He might have argued that he wasn't trying, but that probably wasn't strictly true, either. The fact that she probably thought he had gave him pause for a moment. "I don't think I have very much to be mysterious about. I suppose it's force of habit. Foreboding ... just comes with the job. I don't mind it terribly." He sat back, taking out his wand to summon up the last few pieces of broken pawn that had failed to escape the cat's clutches.

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oakbye
2010-10-13 11:47 pm UTC (link)

Essery moved again, this time advancing her knight a bit forcefully, and then looked around for the bottle of wine to summon it and refill her glass. And top his off while she was at it. "I wasn't criticizing. It works for you. I don't quite thing your attempting to tell jokes all the time and hug the staff when they were sad would have quite the same hold on people."

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in_the_grass
2010-10-13 11:54 pm UTC (link)

As strange as it was to find someone who actually sought out his company, it was even more jarring to hear someone approve - well, at least not disapprove - of his performance here at school. "I assume they would decide I'd been possessed," he agreed immediately. "Probably correctly. - I'm glad you don't find it overly offensive." He glanced sidelong at his wineglass. She was going to affect some kind of change, at any rate, if he drank that.

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	oakbye 2010-10-14 12:46 am UTC (link)
	"I find it ..." refreshing wasn't the right word, she knew, and as she searched for a word that was, she took a too long drink of her wine, laughing as she lowered the glass again. "I don't know. You're an enigma, I suppose, but I enjoy this more than most people probably think I ought to... which is generally my cue to start enjoying things more." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

in_the_grass
2010-10-14 01:04 am UTC (link)

"Other people are usually quite tiresome, yes." She was full of the kind of pleasant surprises that were shocking in the straightforward way she simply put them forward - not at all tiresome, in other words - and here was another one. He wasn't sure why he had always been under the impression that you didn't tell people you enjoyed their company, but he had been. He took a sip of his wine, although he had probably had enough. "I would prefer it if you ignored them."

Well. He wasn't quite as good as she was at being direct, but that didn't surprise him. Frustrated, maybe.

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oakbye
2010-10-16 01:41 am UTC (link)

Essery had always found it easier to tell people what she thought of them when she had the chance. It was harder with men she was interested in, but she was trying too hard to tell herself that she wasn't interested in him - her much older former professor and now her boss. It wasn't appropriate, or possible, and she still found herself thinking about things she could do for him, ways to drag that smile out of him.

"You'd prefer I ignore the cue, or the rumours?" She knew which he meant, though, the coy smile she had as she played said that much.

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in_the_grass
2010-10-16 01:51 am UTC (link)

"Read all you like into the rumors," he replied, half a smile hidden behind his wine glass as he watched her, his eyes moving only briefly to her hand and to the board. "I don't think they could possibly paint me any blacker than they already have." He was pretty certain she did know what he meant, and for him the problem was not that it was inappropriate - he had never given a damn about what was appropriate, at least not where he himself was concerned, else he might not have spent his entire career shamelessly playing favorites and bullying twelve year-olds. It was more that he was groping his way around territory that he had lost the lay of a long time ago.

He wasted no time in moving his next piece, slowly adjusting his play to the defensive move she had recently made. "As for cues, that's up to you. But I've never found common wisdom worthy of much attention."

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oakbye
2010-10-16 01:55 am UTC (link)

"You're only saying that so I'll keep coming up," she said it as if she knew, as if she was sure, though she wasn't entirely. He was a mystery, that hadn't been teasing, and he was harder to read than almost anyone she'd ever met. "So that you can keep thrashing me at Chess. We might have to pick up other games I'm better at. Gobstones, maybe. Happy families..." She laughed, moving again, walking the line between defense and offense.

When she was done she looked up at him evenly, like she was evaluating him, then smiled again and took another drink of wine. She was starting to feel warm, again, and wondered if the wine he'd summoned hadn't been a little stronger than her sweet red had been. "There are quiet a lot of rumours. Perhaps you ought to just clear them up all at once for me?"

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in_the_grass
2010-10-16 02:08 am UTC (link)

He wouldn't bother denying that; of course he was only saying it so that she would keep coming up. ... Well, not only. "Not Gobstones, thank you." He was wretched at it, and it reminded him of long, awful afternoons indulging his mother's one fond connection to the wizarding world. It might have been his least favorite game in existence. Aside from Quidditch, of course. "I don't know the other. Cards, perhaps."

He resisted the urge to do more than look back at her. He could have read more deeply than her face, he was sure, if he had wanted to, but that would have crossed too far from 'appropriate,' for him. He very rarely felt that way. "If you'd like," he said, almost lightly. He expected simply pulling up his sleeve would answer most of them, really, but he was strangely reluctant to go into ... that. Which was stupid; it was public record, and he had been sure for years that he had almost nothing more to hide. He drank his wine and set his glass aside. "It's a lot to cover. But I am not, in fact, a demon. That's important to begin, I think."

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oakbye
2010-10-16 02:12 am UTC (link)

She was surprised when he agreed, really, sure that without a few glasses of wine she would have remembered why it wasn't the best idea to ask people to lay out all of the worst bits of their reputations for you. But when he started, she couldn't very well stop him. Not when she wanted to know him. Not when she knew how rare it was that he spoke to anyone about anything, much less about anything real.

She finished her wine, sitting he glass next to his and completely forgetting it was her move on the board. "Oh, well then. I should leave. I only associate with demons, actually."

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in_the_grass
2010-10-16 02:21 am UTC (link)

Without a couple of glasses of wine, he probably wouldn't have agreed - at least not so readily. He was more inclined to talk to her than he was to anyone else, though, so perhaps it wouldn't have been altogether different. Anyhow, he had reached the point where he'd drunk enough that he didn't see any problem with drinking more. "How about vampires, dark wizards or murderers?" he asked, ticking them off on his fingers one by one. "I have a lot of very colorful backgrounds, depending upon who you ask. My personal favorite has always been 'vampire.'" A man dressed too consistently in black, and all of a sudden he was drinking blood ...

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	oakbye 2010-10-16 02:25 am UTC (link)
	"Maybe that's a good thing?" She thought about pouring herself another glass, but asking him to summon a new bottle was probably a bit much. "Lorcan d'Eath sells out every show he plays, you know. Vampires can be very chic." (Reply to this) (Parent)

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