Lila St. Martin
November 30, 2006 10:41 PM
Writing Home by Lila St. Martin
She still wore the unfortunate knee-length, plaid-or-plain, little-girl skirts and white blouses under her green school robes for class, but Lila had convinced her mother that it was crippling her social life after class, which had lead to her being allowed to bring some of her own robes with her this year. Pink was the dominant color, since most reds made her look washed out and she wanted to show something like House loyalty. She was in her favorite set of that color as, tired of the solitude of her dorm, walked out into the common room with nods and smiles for a few people she recognized and took a table.It had only been a few days since the start of term, and there were already a million things at least that her mother and the family needed to know about. The number of girls signed up for the Quidditch team - one of them Gwenhwyfar, though Lila didn't see how much more one could expect from her in her circumstances - was absolutely disgraceful. Allie was doing well - suspiciously well - on her own this year, and Lila had created an entire imaginary flourishing social life caused by her new weekend wardrobe to dazzle her mother with.
Lila didn't really like writing letters - it made her head hurt after a while, and she was never pleased with the end result - but it was her main chance to gossip and necessary. Even once she finished this one, she still had to write a note to Alban as a sign of the "good fellowship" her father had decided to insist that his children show from the summer on. Spreading out a sheet of parchment that smelled faintly of lilies on her table, she sat her silver ink pot up and began to write, careful to shape all the letters the way she liked them.
Dearest Mother,
My warmest greetings to you and all the family. I hope this letter finds you well. Alexandra and I have arrived safely at Sonora again and have settled into our third-year routines. Though neither of us has spoken to Miss Wright or the Misses Carey, they all appear to be in good health and little humor - as usual.
Several things of interest have already occurred. I've heard from a reliable source that Miss Wright is continuing her disgraceful practice of captaining Aladren's Quidditch team and is recruiting as I write. Miss Jennifer Zucchero, of Crotalus, does the same, and has already drawn in several persons, most of them girls. The elder Miss Carey, a Miss Mathers who is the new fifth-year Crotalus prefect, a Miss Collins, a Miss Anthony, and a Miss Layne have all signed for various positions. I don't know how the other Houses stand in relation, but if Crotalus can sink to such, then I have little hope for the others.
A shadow fell across her table. Masking her annoyance at the interruption as quickly as she could, Lila looked up at the interloper. "Can I help you with something?"\n\n
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Writing Home
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Geoffrey Spindler
December 02, 2006 7:54 PM
Well, this is awkward by Geoffrey Spindler
The scratchy sound of writing was the first thing to greet Geoffrey when he made his way down from the room he shared with Adam and into the house commons. It was a reminder that he himself had some writing to get done, both the homework he had already managed to accumulate over the past couple of days, and, unfortunately, letters to the family.He stood uncertainly at the foot of the stairs for a moment, holding his books, a broom magazine to go through after and his stationary supplies before abruptly deciding that as the writer was in his own grade, there was some point to sharing a table. He started to walk over, and the angle of his approach meant that the letter was, at least, partially visible before he managed to reach the table itself. Geoffrey wasn't entirely sure what possessed him to do so, but he found himself glancing down at it and reading a few words without really seeing them.
And then he froze.
It was just for a moment, because he could have sworn he'd seen something in that letter. He took a step closer to read it better. '...continuing her disgraceful practice of captaining...' Another step, and his shadow fell over the table, bringing the girl's attention to him. Geoffrey, embarrassed at having been caught reading the private letter she was writing struggled with his thoughts as he tried to come up with a reply.
It was just like the stuff his mother had been on about the last couple of years. Well, not quite, but close enough to be quite frightening. This was just the kind of girl he'd never wanted to meet, and here she was... and he'd never realised before now!
Maybe this meant that WAIL had a presence here too. His thoughts flickered to the Captain, before he pushed them away to focus on the situation at hand. He'd never been good at confrontation. Better to nod or slide around the situation, to pretend it wasn't there.
"No thanks," he said, honestly not wanting her help with anything. "I was just planning on getting some of the homework done. Do you mind if I share your table, Miss St. Martin?" At least the correct forms of communication meant that he didn't have to think about how to address her.
He considered just putting his books down, but settled for just moving around stand next to a chair on the other side while waiting for her to give him an answer. Best not to rock the boat too hard, especially if his suspicions were correct and this girl was as like his mother as the part of her letter which he'd seen suggested.
OOC: Lila is the eldest, right?\n\n
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Geoffrey Spindler
Well, this is awkward
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Lila St. Martin
December 04, 2006 8:34 PM
Just a little bit. by Lila St. Martin
Recognition dawned a moment before Lila smiled and began thinking furiously about how to repair the damage. She didn't think she'd been too nasty, but she'd never had a high opinion of the nerve possessed by the two Crotalus third-year boys; his definition of what counted as really unpleasant might be different from hers. She wished she could work up the nerve, just for an hour, to do something violent to Little Julian, Lydia, and Morgaine; if they hadn't spent the entire summer deliberately annoying her, she never would have gotten used to snapping noses that annoyed her off again.He knew her name - her surname, at least, and surely he wasn't mistaking her for Allie - but that was no surprise. They didn't know each other well, but they were yearmates and Housemates. She nodded agreement to his request for a seat. "Not at all," she said, gesturing to the chair he was standing by. "I'm just writing to my mother." Sarah would be angry for sure if a week went by without an update on the situation at Sonora, whether it was accurate or not.
There was a short pause while Lila debated the wisdom of saying what she was thinking. "I am sorry if I seemed a little sharp a minute ago, Mr. Spindler," she said, smiling as sweetly as she could manage. "I'm afraid you surprised me." Annoyance wasn't that dissimilar to surprise. At least she was now enough taller than most first years she had seen to be justified in being annoyed at thinking someone might mistake her for one.
She finished what she had been writing about Allie quickly, something she was sure her mother would notice, and added this latest development immediately afterward. Real proof that she was doing well was so much more satisfying than made-up proof, even if she did have to stretch the ‘real’ bit a little further than it would normally go. It wasn’t like her mother was spying on her to catch her out in a lie or half-truth. She was the good child, which meant she was the spy, not the spied-upon.
OOC: Nope. Allie’s eldest.\n\n
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Just a little bit.
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