You couldn't help it (tag Nate) on Library

Sylvia Mordue

March 07, 2019 7:43 AM

You couldn't help it (tag Nate) by Sylvia Mordue

Sylvia checked her long dark hair, tucking a few strands back into place. It had not really come out during the day but it was important to always look her best. She had been pleased with how well the elaborate braid had turned out. She had learnt several new styles over the summer, as she would only deign to sport something as common and plain as ponytail once a week, at most.

She set off to meet Nate in the library, as they had arranged to study for Potions together. This was convenient, as it gave her a natural opportunity to bring up the unfortunate events of Monday’s lesson.

“Good evening,” she smiled - an actual genuine smile, because sitting down to study with Nate was something that made her genuinely happy. “The homework doesn’t look too terrible, does it?” she mused, getting out her parchment and quill (Nate would, of course, have brought his copy of the books, because it was the gentlemanly thing to do, to take the responsibility of carrying the more burdensome load - even with featherlight charms at their disposal, it was the symbolism of it that mattered).

“I suppose we can’t let how Monday’s lesson went taint our opinion of it. It was horribly rude how she just…. Imposed herself on you like that,” she added, in tones of sincere sympathy. Sylvia could not imagine anything more horrible than having to work with someone undesirable. Since the incident, she had decided that it was entirely Jasmine’s doing - of course - pushing in, imposing on people. Nate couldn’t have helped it if he had to take a seat next to her, but she certainly could have helped butting in on his personal space. Not that one could expect a girl like that to have good manners, but Nate was the - not the victim, because boys were not victims, they were too strong for that. But it was not Nate’s fault. That was the main thing.

13 Sylvia Mordue You couldn't help it (tag Nate) 1413 Sylvia Mordue 1 5

Nathaniel Mordue

March 07, 2019 5:18 PM

Technically untrue, but thank you by Nathaniel Mordue

Nathaniel had not said so, reckoning that it was best not to mention anything pertaining to the incident to his Crotalus family, but he was glad that Sylvia had suggested studying Potions together specifically. If he could replace unpleasant visions of pink cauldrons with the pleasanter image of his cousin, he thought he would have a better chance of doing well if Monday’s lesson came up on any of their exams.

Plus, it would be nice just to escape to company where he could be sure of a semblance of sanity. Sometimes he thought Sylvia was a little hard on their classmates - they could hardly help being who they were, just as they could not help who they were; if he could have helped being the son of a worthless degenerate, didn’t Sylvia think he would change that situation, in a moment? - but after the incident in his common room and the ongoing worry about being a perfect example for Jeremy, he was not feeling as charitably disposed toward the world as he sometimes did.

“No, it’s not too bad,” he agreed with his cousin about the homework. He sat down and bent down to open his school bag to retrieve the books for their study session.

He fumbled the book slightly, dropping it with a small thud to the surface of the table, when Sylvia brought up the incident on Monday. “Well, she was polite...I guess,” he said mildly, then a touch uncertainly, feeling first compelled to defend Jasmine’s character then uncertain about whether he was actually correct or not. “She did ask if I would help her with something non-specific before she started shoving ingredients at me,” he elaborated.

16 Nathaniel Mordue Technically untrue, but thank you 1412 Nathaniel Mordue 0 5

Sylvia

March 10, 2019 5:44 AM

I'm always here for you by Sylvia

“You don’t have to defend her to me,” she assured Nate. “I’m on your side. I always am,” she reminded him gently, laying her head on his shoulder for just a moment. She didn’t care how politely Jasmine had asked, or… well, anything beyond the fact that she was not suitable and should never have been talking to Nate in the first place.

She searched for more reassuring things to say. Obviously, Nate should have checked what the dreadful girl wanted before agreeing. Well, no, he should have just told her to go away. That was hard to do though, and not really the done thing. Perhaps he should just never have sat there. That would have been ideal. However, there wasn’t always a choice. Not sitting with her at all was preferable, and not agreeing to unknown requests from… well, anyone really, but especially unsuitable girls were key things for Nate to take away from this. She hoped he had learnt those for himself, as she did not particularly want to point them out to him. Firstly, she was a girl. She was not supposed to be the one who made the decisions, even though she was far better at them. One of her tutors had once told her that she was very smart - probably smart enough not to let on just how clever she was, and it was a mantra that she had held onto. She had better ideas than any of the boys, but she had to put them across subtly enough that they were able to think they were their own. It was a little easier with Nate, where she was allowed to be herself more, but on this occasion there was something else very valuable at stake - she didn’t want Nate to feel criticised. As far as Sylvia was concerned, the humiliation of having to work with that girl, and having her tacky cauldron within a five feet range meant that Nate had already had a truly terrible week. Sylvia’s job was to make that better, not worse. She considered again the angle that Jasmine was bossy and imposing… Did that make Nate look weak? Being pushed around by a girl and so easily henpecked? She didn’t want anyone to think that of him - or, worse still, if she put it about that Jasmine had rudely taken advantage of is kindness, it might put the idea into her or other people’s heads to do it again.

“School’s still complicated sometimes, isn’t it?” she added with a sigh. It was something they’d admitted to each other in private before. The juggling act of being your public self almost all the time… It was hard work. In some ways, work that Sylvia enjoyed. A little like when you had a rather challenging Transfiguration problem, it could be frustrating but it felt good when you cracked it. And anyway, there wasn’t a choice. Failure was not an option, so one may as well relish the challenge. Some days though, it would have been nice to have a break, especially when it seemed to be falling on Nate instead of her. He was so sensitive about that sort of thing, given Past Events, and she hated the idea of anyone saying anything bad about him.

“It’s an unfortunate side effect of being in a mixed environment that that sort of thing happens from time to time. Obviously you’re far too classy to make a scene about it,” she soothed, simultaneously showing Nate that she didn’t think badly of him and providing him the words he could use should anyone else dare point that out. Honestly, she hoped most people were too polite to mention it, and the most likely contender would really be Simon or Jeremy. Luckily, they weren’t in that class, and what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt Nate.

“I didn’t mean to abandon you,” she added. She and Nate sat together fairly frequently but coming back from the summer break it had been important to reconnect with others, and they didn’t want to look clannish. “I’ll save you a seat on Monday.”

13 Sylvia I'm always here for you 1413 Sylvia 0 5

Nathaniel

April 04, 2019 1:09 PM

We'll get each other through. by Nathaniel

"It is," agreed Nathaniel when Sylvia said that school was still complicated sometimes. "I think that must just be how life is or something," he half-joked, though he did not really see the humor in it.

He supposed he was more lucky than not to have taken more after his mother than his father - being a Muggleborn horse thief would be better than being like his father, in his opinion; at least Muggleborns did seem to care about their own families, and he imagined that most horse thieves did too. His father was unnatural, inhuman nearly - but he did wish sometimes that he had gotten just a touch of how it had always seemed to him that Dad had been around people. As far as he could remember (the memories, such as they were, were getting hazier, he'd found; he remembered some things in exquisite detail, but others, he was less sure of), his father had been at his ease in company, quick to get along with people - charming, that was the word. Nathaniel, on the other hand, always worried about saying or doing the wrong thing, and in any case would have rather just stayed with his family. When he thought about the future, he liked to imagine that he and Sylvia would have big families that spent a lot of time together, just as they did now, only without anyone ever leaving or hurting anyone or anything like that. He did not like to imagine the parts where they would have to marry and he would have to have a career and spend most of his time squabbling and competing with other men while Sylvia might live on the other side of the country. Those were facts of life, but they were so far off that he could ignore them, for now, if he concentrated.

"We'll make it through, though," he said with a smile. "Life's got another thing coming if it thinks it can trip us up."

His smile faded slightly, though, when Sylvia brought the subject back to Jasmine. "I'm always happy to work with you," he said first, "but you don't have to - babysit me, Sylvia. I can take care of myself, she just startled me today, that's all."

16 Nathaniel We'll get each other through. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5