Stephen Baxter
September 15, 2007 3:27 AM
Me and <s>My Girl</s> (Tag Mia) by Stephen Baxter
It was hard to believe, Stephen thought as he slumped through the doors to the common room, that Professors would want to talk so much on what was pretty much their last day before classes started. He knew there were plenty of other things that he would have preferred to be doing, but that didn't appear to phase them at all. Headmaster Bulla had been surprisingly - and slightly unwelcomely - sympathetic. It bothered Stephen a little, except that he realised that he needed that sympathy right now. Without it he'd either have been shown the door at the end of the previous year or be having a lot more trouble with getting into classes right now.The pattern had continued to some extent throughout the day, and he'd been earnest and promised that he would do his best to make up for the year before, study hard and take his classes seriously. And he had promised that he would think more on what he wanted to do with himself when his time at Sonora was over. To be perfectly frank, the whole day had been long and tiring and he was almost looking forward to being back in Pecari and relaxing for a bit.
Of course, that wasn't an option either.
Stephen looked around the room, one hand up and messing a bit with his hair unconsciously until he realised what he was doing and tried to smooth it instead. Where was- Ah. There she was. He moved around a couple of people loitering in the vicinity and dropped into a seat near Mia.
"Hi, Mia." He tried a half smile, one end of his mouth quirking up and creating a dimple in his cheek. "Feeling any better today?"
It looked like whatever her holiday had entailed had really agreed with her. He thought his had done him some good too, for all it hadn't been anything particularly special.
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Stephen Baxter
Me and <s>My Girl</s> (Tag Mia)
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Mia Kerova
September 15, 2007 5:21 PM
Oh great. Now that song is stuck in my head. by Mia Kerova
It was hard to focus on what she wanted to focus on when Mia had something heavier weighing on her mind. She may have been ready, but it didn’t mean she had to like it. She was so distracted at one point she almost forgot why she went to the Hospital Wing when asked by the nurse. That was the only time it was that obvious she had something on her mind. So rather than getting a big chunk of her scrapbook done like she had hoped, she only ended up looking through the pictures over and over. She managed to separate a few photos she didn’t want to use, but that was the extent of the work she got done. She doubted how much time she would have after classes started up.That was something else on her mind. RATS level classes. It was supposed to prepare you for what you wanted to do in the future. What if you really didn’t know what you wanted to do? Mia didn’t. She had decided to take almost all of her classes again at RATS level to keep her options open until she knew what she wanted to do. That would probably stress her out more than she realized at the moment. But that was for another time.
It was getting to be later in the evening so Mia made her way back to the common room where she promised she would be. She sat at one of the tables, going through the pictures yet again. Moving pictures became dull a lot slower than stills. As she passed one particular picture of her, Patricia, and Lucy, Mia rubbed her arm over the band of paw prints. Wearing capped sleeves and shorts with flip-flops, both tattoos had been visible for the first time at Sonora.
"Hi, Mia." She looked up from the pictures in her hands and saw Stephen taking the seat next to her. She smiled in greeting. Well at least she didn’t have to refocus her thoughts anymore. "Feeling any better today?"
“Yeah. Much. I took your advice and went to the Hospital Wing so my throat is better. Fun talks with the professors?” She asked half jokingly while putting the pictures in her bag. “Oh, I didn’t get a chance to ask how your summer was. You left so fast to find Ash and Panda Bear.” Light conversation. As she said before, or thought anyway, Mia didn’t want anything blowing up into a big deal and she figured the best way to avoid that would be to stay on good terms.
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Mia Kerova
Oh great. Now that song is stuck in my head.
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Mia Kerova
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Stephen
September 15, 2007 9:06 PM
Mwahahaha by Stephen
"Endlessly fun," Stephen replied the quirk still there. "I was half afraid they demand I leave Pecari then and there and sign up for Aladren! And yeah, sorry about that. I just figured that you and Tals were talking and I didn't want to interrupt too much, you know?"He shifted, stretching slightly before moving forward on the seat so he could see what Mia was up to. Pictures, it looked like.
"These your friends?" he asked, pointing to the picture with Mia and the two other girls in it. "Looks like you really did have an interesting summer of it. Mine was ok. Hung out with my friends at home and sort of got Geoff into it all too, because he's living with us now. Look," he turned serious, he wasn't sure how to put it, but he didn't want to just dance around the subject. "I did some thinking too, like I said in the letter. Mia... I like you a lot. I've always liked you a lot. But... I think we should break up. I still want to be friends though." But what if she didn't? This was awkward. "If you still want to," he amended. "I feel really bad about last year and..." he trailed off, not too sure what else to say.
Not too sure what else she'd be willing to let him say.
OOC: Subject was just in response to yours. I didn't quite realise that he was going to get to this so fast and now I'm not sure what to change the subject to... argh. Oh, yeah... I know, shouldn't be writing the response in the box, but its just so easy and convenient when my browser isn't mucking about.
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Stephen
Mwahahaha
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Stephen
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Mia
September 16, 2007 11:43 AM
*sticks out tongue* And an ironic song at that. by Mia
Mia nodded when Stephen mentioned the picture. After he told her about his summer and Geoff living with him, he seemed to want to skip over any small talk and get straight to the point. His sudden serious turn only threw her off for a minute, but she kept her eyes on him the entire time. She was getting very good at that. Even as he spoke the one line that meant everything. It felt like he just wanted to get it over with and see how she would take it. That was fine. She had her confirmation. The idea was no longer an unspoken possibility. It was a mutually felt reality.Mia looked at him for a moment without speaking. He really did look serious and she felt bad that a smile wanted to form on her face. Just because it was so...Stephen. Not much padding to the statement. Just get it out. Just do it. Or maybe it was the relief to finally get this out and not just think about it. Or both. And then Mia did form a small smile and looked at her hands on the tabletop.
“Wow. You are smooth, Stephen.” She kidded, but kept it low key. As nearly comical as it was to happen so fast, it wasn’t appropriate to start laughing or something. She had some couth about her. Plus, she was a little sad because honestly she still liked him some in that way. “I guess we did have some of the same thoughts this summer.” She looked back at him. “Don’t even worry about last year. None of it was your fault and I sure don’t blame you. And I’d never say I didn’t want to be friends with you anymore. In fact,” her eyes drifted to the other people in the room, “I didn’t want to make this a huge deal or anything. Then people start stupid rumors and it just turns into a mess. So if you’re cool with it, then I’m cool with it and we can move on without a big scene.” She pushed her hair behind her ear, that old nervous habit she never quite got past.
Mia was sure this went against what any normal girl in this situation would do. Another girl would be screaming and bawling her eyes out. Right? Mia might’ve done something similar before, but now? Well she certainly wasn’t going to run out in a crying fit. Let other people have their drama. Mia didn’t want any part of it. She just hoped Stephen wouldn’t think she was being heartless for taking it so easily, but it wasn’t like it was a surprise to her. And she was sure it wasn’t just the summer that had relaxed her. She doubted a girl like her could go completely unchanged after dating Stephen Baxter for almost two years.
OOC: Lucky you with your browser not mucking about. ; p You put the fate of your posts in your own hands. Just watch for those thunderstorms and power outages. My computer doesn’t even need those to crash. *glares at CPU*
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Mia
*sticks out tongue* And an ironic song at that.
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Mia
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Stephen
September 18, 2007 9:03 AM
But not like <i>Isn't it ironic</i>... by Stephen
OOC: ...which is only ironic because it isn't. BIC:"Right," Stephen said, still watching Mia carefully. She certainly seemed to be okay with this - more so because she'd said she'd been having similar thoughts during the summer - but he waited still, for a little longer, to be sure. She did seem all right with everything, and he knew her well enough that he was pretty sure the smile was genuine. "So we're cool then." He smiled back, relieved.
This was so much better than his last breakup. With Kimmy - Kimberly - it had been been tears and accusations and more tears. And she'd been the one doing it all, including the decision to break up. With Ty, she'd been pulled out of school and that was it. This was almost ridiculously grown up, except that he knew from television that adults tended to have even more insanely crazy break ups than his first had been. It occurred to him that there might still be a hitch, Mia had a point about people and rumours and all that, but he figured that it didn't matter that much. He could laugh off the stupid stuff, it it happened, and he and Mia knew the truth. That mattered a lot more than the silly stuff people could come up with.
"So we're back to being friends again," he said, more to say something than because it needed to be said. He sat back in his seat for a moment and then energetically moved back to the front to have a better look at Mia's photos. "So how about you tell me a little more about your summer? Or a running commentary on the photos. Either will do. Who are these people?" He pointed to a group in one of the photos; they looked to be having a great time at some kind of bonfire night on the beach.
OOC: Gmailed this one, just to be on the safe side ;)
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Stephen
But not like <i>Isn't it ironic</i>...
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Stephen
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Mia
September 29, 2007 4:11 PM
I hope the new song I'm thinking of doesn't get stuck too. by Mia
Well that went well, Mia thought, still with the strange feeling of being happy and sad. Even knowing what she wanted to say, she hadn’t expected it to work so smoothly. Since when did things work out like that in real life? And yet the impact of being ‘over’ hit her quite suddenly. For all of her planning up to that point, she hadn’t taken the time to think about the afterwards. So where did they go from there? While Stephen sat back in his seat, still seeming to mull over the fact that they were friends, just friends, Mia pulled her pictures back out in front of her. Maybe now she would be able to properly sort through them. Or maybe not.When Stephen asked about the pictures and who was in them, she looked at the one she was on. Patricia, Mia, and Lucy were being piggy backed by Brayan, Dino and Rafael respectively while Christopher and Mario sat in front of them. The bonfire. Of course she would be on that one while talking to Stephen. But it didn’t matter anymore though, right? Because they were no longer an item. Right. Suddenly Mia didn’t feel like talking even just as friends for the time being.
“You know what?” She kept her voice conversational. “I’ll give you the whole play-by-play when I finish the scrapbook. I’ve got a few things to do myself for classes before curfew. I spent the whole day trying to sort these pictures, I completely forgot.” Not a total lie. There was still an hour or so before curfew forced her back in the common room and then she would go up to the sixth year girls’ dorm. She could go to the library for now. Surely there were spell books she missed that she could look over for interesting spells. She just…wasn’t in the mood to talk just then. And her prefect badge was bound to let her get away with a little more time after curfew. “I’ll see you later.”
No big deal. Mia was just worried it might become one if she stayed. It was really strange and unexpected, but she couldn’t be in there anymore. They could still be friends, but they could start clean tomorrow. Despite wandering most of the day on her own, she needed a little more ‘on her own’ time. She put the pictures back in her bag and stood with a casual smile to show no hard feelings, making her way to the exit.
OOC: Well this took longer than I wanted. So much for my posting streak. And when I finally got a moment, I kind of hoped I could get it up in time for your birthday, (and technically I did on my side) but I missed it by a few hours over there. Timezones. What can you do? Happy belated!
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Mia
I hope the new song I'm thinking of doesn't get stuck too.
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Mia
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