Seventh Year Girls' Dorm: Thinking of something. on Pecari Commons

Alison Sinclair

August 29, 2011 11:22 AM

Seventh Year Girls' Dorm: Thinking of something. by Alison Sinclair

Alison lay upside down on her bed, her feet resting on her pillow and her head uncomfortably near the hard expanse of the footboard. She held a book on inter-species Transfiguration, which she’d always been kind of lousy at, up above her face until her arms began to hurt and she let it drop to the mattress beside her before she sat up, angling her elbows around her knees for a second until that hurt, too, and she shifted into a cross-legged position, facing the other bed in the room. There had been a third when she first came here, another transfer, but she’d left after that one year.

“So,” she asked it, “which should I obsess about right now, RATS or balls?” She considered a number of terrible jokes that synthesized the two concerns if they said ‘rats’ meant little animals, but opted against using any of them, even though she was actually speaking to empty space and not Dana. When Dana came back, Alison would start talking to her about this, so it was best to rehearse as though it was the real thing. “Though I’m kinda sick of RATS, honestly.” Which left balls.

If not for the prefect thing, it all would have been gravy. She would have been obsessed with her RATS, and the end-of-the-year event would have been a time when she put on a dress for once and, most likely, sat around with Dana eating sweets and perhaps making comments about who’d come with whom and other people’s dancing skills. It wasn’t like there were a huge number of guys in the upper years, after all, most of them had claims on them, and she didn’t think either of them was really the type to pick up second years. But the prefect thing was there, so her options were dancing around in a circle like she’d been sampling substances of a dubious nature before the party, showing up with another girl, or….

She tilted her head a little. Huh. Amazing how things could just occur to the brain sometimes. She hadn’t considered that because it had fallen under the category of ‘already claimed,’ but now that she thought about, there was all that business with the other people….

When she heard the door opening, Alison turned toward it, using her hands to move instead of getting up, and asked, “Do you want Daniel Nash?”

16 Alison Sinclair Seventh Year Girls' Dorm: Thinking of something. 140 Alison Sinclair 1 5

Dana Smythe

August 31, 2011 3:56 PM

Being bewildered by something by Dana Smythe

It seemed ironic to the seventh year that she spent so much of her time studying, despite the widely accepted fact that it didn't really matter how well she did on her examinations. She was taking four subjects, and only two of them were considered properly academic by the circles in which Dana and her family moved. She was smart enough to be considered intelligent, she supposed, even though she wasn't as clever as Amelia or Cynthia (though as her cousins demonstrtaed aptly, there could be a great deal more to a person than mere intelligence). She thought she was pretty enough, too - perhaps not as obviously attractive as Ivy or Amelia, but she had a better figure than either of them, in her personal opinion: Amelia was too rounded, and Ivy not sufficiently so. Dana was also convinced that she was genuinely a nice person, admittedly prone to the occasionaly miniature rebellion, but certainly nothing that would cause a scandal. Providing Lucas didn't do anything inexplicably stupid in the next couple of years, dana fully expected herself to be happily betrothed to someone worthy of the rest of her life. In short: RATS could go twist themselves into a small hole.

Giving up on studying for at least the fifth time that week, Dana took a couple of extra books back from the library and headed instead for her dormitory. She had in mind a shower, and an offload with Alison, not necessarily in that order, and potentially with some sugary foods involved at some point if appropriate. The pecari didn't think she was alone in her need to unwind more frequently than usual in this last period of her education, and that, at least, was comforting. She thought the festivities planned for the end of the year ought to brought forward several months, simply to accommodate the fraying nerves of the seventh year students. then again, she supposed it would be pleasant to have something to look forward to following the examinations. She thought she was looking forward to the ball, though admittedly she hadn't given it a great deal of thought, occupied as she was by -

"Do you want Daniel Nash?" An entirely unexpected and baffling in its lack of context question greeted Dana as she pushed open the door.

"I beg your pardon?" Dana asked, not knowing quite what to think of the words as she shrugged off her shoulder bag and dropped it at the end of her bed.

0 Dana Smythe Being bewildered by something 142 Dana Smythe 0 5

Alison

September 06, 2011 1:45 PM

That's understandable. by Alison

Alison realized just how weird what she had just said would sound to someone not following her thought process as soon as she said it, but it was a little late for that already. Maybe, just maybe, talking to herself was a bad idea after all. For a second, it had made total sense to her to just carry on the conversation from where it had been in her head.

Oh, well.

“That’s my line,” she said to Dana’s begging her pardon. “Sorry about that. I’m talking about dancy stuff. I have to dance with someone for the first set. It looks like my options are you and him, so it seemed like a good idea to see if you and him are already an item of convenience. Or other kind of item.” She didn’t see Dana hooking up with Daniel any more than she saw herself hooking up with Daniel out of actual interest in Daniel – he was a little too…pretty, somehow – but anything could happen. If Charlie Abbott and James Anthony could happen….Yeah, Daniel and Dana could totally be having a forbidden secret affair under the noses of everyone.

Of course, it was more likely she had just spent too much of the holidays watching The Young and the Restless, but she wasn’t worried about it until she stopped realizing that her loony theories weren’t really valid. And then, by definition, she wouldn’t be worried about it, either, so it was all good.

“It’s think about this or think about RATS,” she explained, “and my main other distraction is chocolate, which I have to take breaks from.” She smiled, turning her head so her hair fell over her shoulder. “Everything in moderation, you know,” she said mock-virtuously. Really, taking everything in pieces, RATS and other concerns and chocolate, just seemed like the only way to get by with things without going crazy. And even then, Alison found herself avoiding routines. Classes and meals were about the only things she did in anything like a regular order; she’d dome some homework assignments early just because she was sick of a closer assignment’s subject. Whatever worked, she said, and so far it had kept working. Just a few months more….

16 Alison That's understandable. 140 Alison 0 5

Dana

September 07, 2011 7:02 AM

I'm glad you think so by Dana

Dana settled herself crossed-legged on her own bed, mirroring Alison as her friend explained - if that was the appropriate word - what she'd meant. Alison was apparently thinking about the ball, too, though with more reason, seeing as she had to have a partner to be able to dance with one. Why on earth she thought Dana could be interested in any way in Daniel Nash was anyone's guess.

"Really not," Dana replied, accompanied by a quizzical look. She sincerely hoped she hadn't been giving off any accidental and horribly inappropriate vibes in that direction, but doubted that was the reality. She didn't really spend a lot of time with many others in her yeargroup aside from Alison. She liked Pippa, and Quentin was just about tolerable, and the times Dana had spoken to Adelita had always been pleasant, but they didn't really fall into the same cliques. She had occasionally worked with Daniel nash in class over the past few years, but that's where their interactions stopped. "You go ahead and ask him," Dana suggested.

"It’s think about this or think about RATS," Alison commented, and Dana nodded her head in understanding. Everyone in seventh year was either experiencing meltdown, or coming dangerously close to that state.

"I just gave up on studying again," she nodded her head towards the bag she'd dumped moment ago. "Was thinking it was time for chocolate myself, but I guess a little ball discussion wouldn't hurt." She began unbuckling her shoes to get more comfrotable on her bed. "I mean, I'm going to have to get an outfit from somewhere, even if I do go on my own," and that secnario was about the only one that had crossed her mind. She didn't really have any male friends, let alone romantic interests at Sonora, and that really was just fine by her. She'd watch while Alison and the other prefects opened the ball, and then would probably eat, chat, and maybe dance with her roomate... unless, of course, Alison had other plans. Dana didn't know; they'd hardly covered the topic in detail.

0 Dana I'm glad you think so 0 Dana 0 5

Alison

September 16, 2011 11:47 AM

More like know so. by Alison

“Okay,” Alison said with a nod when Dana disclaimed any interest in Daniel. “Didn’t think so, but you never know about people, do you?” Heck, if Greta Ballard ever found out who the only two people Alison had ever kissed were, she’d try to retroactively Imperius her or something – or at least do her level best to wipe the memories of everyone who’d ever known she knew of anyone called Alison Sinclair, anyway. Maybe the first one, Greta could have forgiven, but the second had been a Muggle guy the summer after her fifth year. Her old teacher had gotten around her, sort of – Alison was pretty sure she’d reasoned out some explanation where her mother’s mother was really a Squib from a very proper family or something like that – but Greta didn’t much care for Muggles in general.

“He’s not my type, either, but I’ve gotta get someone,” she added pragmatically. “It’s one dance.” Which was a definite upside of being a Muggleborn. No one expected her to be picking her date based on the assumption that she might very well marry him.

She listened as Dana admitted she, too, had given up on studying for the moment. “Are you planning to go with the whole theme thing?” she asked about Dana’s prospective outfit. “I tried to get Mom to go along with it, I mean with, I don’t know, wimples and stuff, but she wouldn’t bite. She equates being a prefect with, like, being on the student council or something, only actually important, so she was worried about me looking like an idiot.”

Which could happen, but she didn’t mind as much as her mom did. She wasn’t good at being all dignified and proper and ladylike and stuff. Even when she tried, she usually just plain forgot after a while. One more thing that made it hard to figure out what she was supposed to do in life….The Wizarding World was kind of a formal place, or at least the parts of it she knew best usually were.

16 Alison More like know so. 140 Alison 0 5

Dana

September 27, 2011 8:01 AM

Is that so? by Dana

Dana took a moment to ponder Alison's off-handed remark about never really knowing about people. She knew it was true - you could never really know a person, even if you thought you knew them really well, they still had the tendency to surprise you from time to time. Dana barely knew herself, let alone anyone else, and of the world at large she was best acquainted with her roomate and her family - each in their own way apt at surprising her from time to time. She certainly knew very little at all about the romantic lives of her classmates, particularly those who moved in different social circles to her own, which included just about everyone in the sixth and seventh years. She was glad that she wasn't in a position to have to navigate these unfamiliar waters to attain a date to the ball - she would go, but she had every intention of going on her own.

"Yes, you've got to dance," Dana agreed, and was yet again thankful she hadn't been made prefect. Really, she didn't have it in her, and no Smythe had ever been granted a prefect or headship position anyway - it wasn't something their family would place any value in. All Dana had to do was make friends with the right people (she couldn't help Alison, as they were rooming together by chance; it was lucky this exception was in place because honestly Dana liked her best out of anyone else in the school, anyway, and wouldn't be able to confess that in any other circumstance), behave herself, and eventually get married and produce healthy heirs. She was quite pleased that having to lead a dance in front of the whole school didn't feature on her to-do list.

"Are you planning to go with the whole theme thing?" Alison asked before going on to explain that her mother hadn't been keen on the notion of period costume.

"Oh, well I was going to, yes," Dana admitted. She liked dressing up - it was one of those childhood activities she'd never outgrown. "It would be more fun if we did it together," she commented. Then, "I could get yours made too, if you like. Your mom would never have to know." Dana didn't make a habit of flashing round the family money - it was vulgar - but on occasions such as this where it would just be easy and fun to just draw on her extensive resources, she didn't see the harm.

0 Dana Is that so? 0 Dana 0 5

Alison

October 10, 2011 4:37 PM

It seems so (WotW). by Alison

“That’s when I’m going to look like an idiot,” Alison said, at least half in resignation, when Dana confirmed that she did have to dance. “No matter what I’m wearing.”

On some level, it kind of amused her that of the two lead couples, one, if her evil plans for Nash worked out, was going to be entirely composed of Muggleborns. It would have been funnier if he’d been less weird and she’d actually done most of her growing up in the Muggle world, but it was still a good joke, she thought, on a certain kind of affluent wizard, a kind which often sent his offspring to this fine educational institution of Sonora. She didn’t say anything like that aloud, though, because, well, Dana’s family was sort of like that from what she’d gathered, and she didn’t want to offend her roommate. It was pretty rare for Alison to feel more than a sort of mild amiability toward her parents, but that didn’t mean she wanted to hear anyone talking disparagingly about Muggles. Clothes seemed like a much better thing to discuss.

Her eyebrows lifted slightly on her forehead when Dana offered to provide her with a dress-up dress. That she had not expected. Yeah, they were roommates, she’d even venture so far on some days as to call them friends, but even getting the stuff from the store adjusted to fit off the rack cost something. The prices of custom tailoring were not a field she had ever studied in any depth, or even thought about too much, but she figured there was a reason beyond wanting to look special that only the upper classes usually did that.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said. “I’m totally paying you back if you do.” On an installment plan, probably, but yeah. She was still working out what, if any, angle Dana was thinking on, but while she doubted she’d think much about it if the positions were reversed, well, she had heard her father crack jokes about how rich men got to be rich by never actually spending any money. Maybe Dana would offer, but then see that kind of thing as taking advantage. Or maybe not. Why did people have to be all complex and unreadable and stuff? Couldn’t magic have really worked out how mind-reading worked by now, if Muggle superstitions were mostly derived from it?

16 Alison It seems so (WotW). 140 Alison 0 5

Dana

October 12, 2011 10:57 AM

So then. by Dana

Oops. Maybe she should have kept her mouth shut after all. Alison seemed to be giving her one of those funny looks that most often occrued when Dana started talking about something apparently foreign to the other seventh year, like betrothals. "I know I don't have to," Dana shrugged, trying to make as light of the situation as possible, "but I'd feel like an idiot if I just went dressed up by myself." She may very well look like one, too, but if two people were doing the same thing, then it changed matters entirely. If Alison dressed up too, Dana knew it would be fun.

"And it's not my money," she added, wordlessly summoning two chocolate bars from her stash in her dresser, and seding one of them Alison's direction, "so there's nothing to pay back." It would be the family money; the money her father had earned for them. He was a politican, who in his early days had added his name to a petition trying to force through some decree or other that restricted rights of Muggleborns like Alison. Thankfully, her father had long since neglected that line, these days immersing himself quite profitably in foreign export legislation (often taking a sizeable cut of the profits himself, via various legal loopholes he had helped to create). It was probably best Alison knew nothing of any of this, and it would be equally likely to make her reject Dana's offer as encourage her to accept it.

Money was a strange concept; it didn't matter at all to people who had it, but mattered more than anything to people who didn't. Like the opposite of blood purity in most cases, she supposed. She's already learned that she was in the minority; Dana didn't care at all about people's ancestors, which is all this blood purity nonsense was about. If a person had magic, then they had magic, no matter where it came from. Of course she would have to marry a pureblood, because that's just how her family worked, but it didn't matter either way to her.

Opening her chocolate bar, she inhaled the sweet scent of her treat before she took a bite. "Just say yes. It'll be fun," she instructed.

0 Dana So then. 0 Dana 0 5

Alison

October 14, 2011 4:53 PM

Then chocolate, it seems. by Alison

On one level, Alison guessed she could see how someone could consider it kind of hypocritical to catch the chocolate bar without comment in the middle of this conversation, but chocolate was different from a dress. She had chocolate, too; next time, it might well be her stash they went into. She could get her hands on money, if she needed it, and had most of the allowances her parents had fallen into paying her along with her brothers – really brother now, with Michael out of college and in his own apartment, but it seemed like he spent more time around the house than he did there anyway – when she was home in a lockbox under her bed, but calling up a tailor for, essentially, a Halloween costume would be kind of big thing. She’d been thinking of something from Party City’s post-Halloween sales racks.

Not so in the wizarding world. Some of the robes the real rich folks in Greta’s magazines wore looked not entirely unlike medieval original numbers, minus the headdresses; those had apparently gone out of style at some point, with even the traditional big pointy hat being more something that older witches and wizards stuck to than a general thing. General attire was a little more Jane Austen than Geoffrey Chaucer, she thought, based on her only vague knowledge of both high fashion and British Muggle authors and time periods, but some of the fancy get-ups could get quite elaborate.

She couldn’t help but laugh, though, when Dana made the argument that it wasn’t actually her money, then offered instruction. “If you put it that way,” she said, then added, “if you use this to guilt-trip me for more than five years, I will hex you. Just so you know.”

Her tone was light, not least because of the slightly sad-seeming possibility that they might not have a clue what was going on with the other in five years, much less bringing up anecdotes from five years before then. She never would have thought it when she’d first come, but now, Alison found herself guessing she was going to miss Sonora a little after all, or at least some things about it, anyway. She had gotten used to and fond of the place without really noticing, and now that she did notice, she was close to being gone. More evidence that the cosmos had a rotten sense of humor, then, or else evidence that she was just kind of an occasionally sentimental idiot.

16 Alison Then chocolate, it seems. 140 Alison 0 5