James Anthony
May 04, 2011 11:03 AM
A creature of habit [WotW] by James Anthony
James Anthony seemed to embody the last vestige of sanity in the Anthony line; it was not a particular surprise, given his parentage, and yet it was one that disturbed him slightly. On the other hand, he knew that as the only male progeny of both his parents—not just of their most recent marriage—that such a result was somewhat inevitable. Once, James had held great hope for Lutece; although she had what appeared to be the mental capacity of the average American toddler at times, frequently distracted by things that either glittered or possessed a Y chromosome (although rarely both at once), she had also eventually achieved very high scores in Potions. Granted, that was through the tutelage of the boy she had been more-or-less consistently obsessed with since the moment she set foot inside Sonora, but it had still led to her obtaining an internship at a magical cosmetics company that James personally considered to be the next disruption to the status quo of such companies.From the occasional and scatterbrained owls that his eldest biological sibling sent him, James noted that this obsession seemed to be continuing into her adult life, manifesting as an extremely unwarranted in focus on the state of Oliver Abbott’s eyeware.
Although James personally had a vague interest in Charlotte Abbott, it wasn’t nearly as vested as Lutece’s interest in Oliver. Moreover, James understood that he had other priorities and a much higher likelihood of success than any of his siblings. At the age of 17, he was in the final stretch of preparing his college applications. Although they had not been released quite yet, he was fully aware that the Common Application changed little from year-to-year, and had already begun drafting his personal essays. He was also occupied by studying for his final examinations at Sonora, as well as preparing to retake the SATs. At his first sitting, in June of last year, he had scored a somewhat disappointing 2330 out of a possible 2400; unsurprisingly, given Sonora’s lack of focus on what James considered to be the primary skills of professionalism (mathematics and science), the 730 he had received on the mathematics portion of the exam was the reason his score was so unsatisfactory.
It was a combination of these reasons and a resentment of Daniel Nash that had brought James, clad in khakis and a dark blue polo, with his prefect pin stuck to the collar, to the library. Daniel Nash had, after all, robbed him of the chance to beat his sister’s legacy at the school. James had deserved the Head Boy position more than Daniel, and yet, Daniel had received it for not once year, but two. His roommate wasn’t even a proper Aladren.
Never one to act on his grudges, James had neglected to resort to the petty responses any of his siblings might have given to the insult, such as altering the contents of Daniel’s shampoo bottle or emptying a powder that would cause an unpleasant epidermal reaction on the other boy’s clothing. Instead, James had determined that he would outscore Daniel Nash on every exam they would take in the next two years. But to do that, he had to focus on--why was there someone sitting at his customary workspace?
Walking over to the table he usually worked at, the brown-haired boy adjusted his thin-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, peering with blue-green eyes at the person disrupting his afternoon plans. “Are you unaccustomed to using this library?” he asked, tone mildly condescending. Anyone who spent a fair amount of time at this library should have known that particular table was his own seat, and not to be used for any other purpose.
0
James Anthony
A creature of habit [WotW]
126
James Anthony
1
5
Daniel Nash II
May 09, 2011 11:06 PM
Something new by Daniel Nash II
He was trying to expand his Daniel Nash II, Aladren Student repetoire. He'd worn flip flops to dinner. He didn't wear his robes when not in class. On weekends, he had even dressed down enough to wear polo shirts and running shoes. He'd gotten as far as picking up t-shirts, jeans, and shorts, but he hadn't yet gathered the courage to put them on.Today, he was mixing up some of his other habits. Instead of sitting in the Potions sections where he normally parked his books while he studied or worked for Ms. Diaz as a Library Assistant, he instead chose another table. He'd initially picked a random one in the Care of Magical Creatures section, but one of the books near there had been growling at him, and Daniel decided the Library wasn't one of the places in the school he needed to demonstrate bravery and relocated.
When he saw James' place was empty he was tempted. He almost quelled the temptation to sit somewhere else, but then the idea occurred to him that if he studied at James' table, he might be able to channell his roommate at his next exam and do a little better than he normally did.
He hadn't anticipated that, less than half an hour later, James would actually show up. He'd thought that since James wasn't already there, he was skipping the library today. Daniel startled a little at James' voice and when he looked up, he didn't bother trying to hide the guilt. He also immediately stood up and started packing his things.
As an Aladren and a library denizen with a claim on a table of his own, he was well aware that he'd been in the wrong and trespassing. "Sorry," he apologized. "I'll move."
1
Daniel Nash II
Something new
130
Daniel Nash II
0
5