Catherine Raines
December 16, 2005 9:48 PM
Not exactly a merry return. by Catherine Raines
Apart from the run-in with her grandmother, Catherine thought her holiday had gone well. Most of it had been taken up in the round of Christmas parties her parents thought it prudent to attend, and she had been secretly more than pleased when there were so many of those that there hadn't been sufficient time for the annual visit to Lila's family in Louisiana. She had little fondness for her aunts and uncles, and Grandpère Robinond was frankly among the most boring men she had ever met with his endless stories of his youth. She avoided them as much as they could.On the other hand, leaving Illinois again had meant a return to classes, to sharing living space with the lesser orders, to passing that zombie whenever she wanted to reach said living space, to the constant strain of clique scheming and homework. Sonora had but one redeeming factor, in her mind: It was hundreds of miles away from Amelia Forwynt Raines and her constant disapproval.
Things had gotten steadily worse after the party. Lila had gone to her husband to complain of his mother's behavior, and the grapevine said they had fallen out spectacularly. It would account for why Amelia had been even nastier than usual towards her granddaughter and daughter-in-law for the remainder of the break. Catherine wasn't sure which of the two harpies she should be angrier with, Amelia for snubbing her and adding to her father's problems, or Lila for refusing to make everyone's life easier by ignoring and forgetting things that were disruptive to the family's exterior calm and for adding to her father's problems. Catherine didn't think he had looked well at all while she was at home, and she didn't want to be even an indirect source of more worry for him.
She should have been in the common room socializing, but something kept her where she was, sitting on her bed with her cloak still on. Things were...different...now than they had been before Christmas, but she had no idea how much different. She had never been one to jump into the lead and set the standards, because the people who did that were the people who took the fall if something went wrong, and this was one thing she couldn't afford to mess up in. Her father had ensured that the fact that no Raines could afford to make mistakes was drummed into her head from infancy upward.
She was caught up in that line of thought when the opening dorm door brought her back to the present. She carefully arranged her features into a tiny perturbed frown and began fussing with the folds of her skirt as if she had not another care in the world. No mistakes. She had absolutely no way of knowing if it was friend or foe who was walking through that door. \n\n
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Catherine Raines
Not exactly a merry return.
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Nicoletta Dupree
December 18, 2005 11:36 AM
No, but it could be... by Nicoletta Dupree
Nicoletta walked into the room. She had wanted to grab the new, very soft, light blue scarf that she had gotten for Christmas, as she was a bit chilly. As soon as she walked in, she quickly noticed Catherine sitting on her bed. Catherine was one of her only friends at Sonora, which had advantages and disadvantages. Catherine was someone that her parents would approve of. Actually, they did approve of, which was good. It meant that Catherine would be allowed to their house, but on the other hand, it also meant she was a bit lonely. The life of a pureblood was always the loneliest.Putting on a bright smile, she exclaimed, walking towards the other girl, "Catherine, it's so great to see you! I told my parents all about you. They said that you must simply come to visit."\n\n
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Nicoletta Dupree
No, but it could be...
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Nicoletta Dupree
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Catherine
December 21, 2005 10:06 PM
How so? by Catherine
Catherine dropped the feigned preoccupation with her skirt as soon as she realized who the intruder was, standing and fixing a return smile on her own face. Thank Merlin the first person she ran into was Nicoletta instead of Tallow or Carey. Keaton she could simply ignore, but the other two probably held a grudge and a half over the...incident. Besides, it was always better to see a friend before meeting the enemy, and nothing about Nicoletta's greeting indicated that the other girl held her father's unfortunate choice of allies against her."Wonderful to see you, too," she said. The next part caused a mix of momentary relief and strain. The relief came from the information that at least two members of adult society considered her worthy to associate with in spite of Amelia's big mouth. The strain came from the embarrassing mix of having no idea what either of her parents thought of her friends - neither of them were exactly the communicative type even when the aftereffects of freak storms and politically awkward situations weren't added to the equation - and having no idea whether she should return the invitation. Etiquette demanded that she do so, and she was sure her parents wouldn't object, but there was always Amelia to consider. The woman didn't actually live with them, but she had decided she had every right in the world to walk in at any hour of the day or night years before Catherine was born.
Etiquette came before hypothetical situations. "My parents said the same thing," she said, laughing. "We'll have to work something out." She reached up to push back her hair, and realized she was still wearing her cloak when the back of her hand brushed the material. Acting as if it were what she had meant to do all along, Catherine removed the cloak and tossed it on her bed. "How was your holiday?" \n\n
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Catherine
How so?
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Nicoletta
December 24, 2005 10:50 AM
For a friend... by Nicoletta
Nicoletta's face lit up at the thought of talking about her holiday. It had simply been marvelous."Seeing my parents' was wonderful. The only horrible thing was Chris," her nose wrinkled in disgust. "He appears to be developing a fondess for muggles, particularly for one in particular. Otherwise, I got a ton of presents. Speaking of presents...Stay there, I'll be right back."
She dashed off towards her trunk. Not bothering to take the items sitting on the trunk off, she lifted the heavy, loaded down lid with one hand while she used the other to rummage. 'Now where is it?' she thought.
After a few minutes, she finally found it and dashed back to Catherine.
"Here, I got this for you," handing her a package wrapped in gold toned paper with a multi-colored ribbon and then another one wrapped in a silver paper with a green ribbon, "and this one is from my parents."\n\n
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Nicoletta
For a friend...
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Catherine
January 07, 2006 10:59 PM
Lovely by Catherine
OOC: Sorry I've been so long about replying, RL's been hectic. BIC:Catherine winced in sympathy when Nicoletta mentioned her brother turning into a Muggle-lover. She knew how that was, having lived with her mother and Nick her entire life. They had been less...reserved in their affections when she was smaller and still too young to understand what it all meant.
It was sickening, seeing one of her own kind take so to one of the lesser orders...but that was beside the point.
She was surprised by Nicoletta's sudden rush from the room, but compliantly stayed where she was. A few minutes later, she was surprised again to be handed two brightly wrapped packages. Her parents are getting me gifts? Whatever Nicoletta had said about her, it must have made a good impression on them. She was sure her father would be pleased. So few things made him happy these days. She looked up at her friend with a genuine smile on her face. "Thank you," she said. "I'll have to write a thanks to your parents as well." Lying her presents aside, she stood and went to where her own trunk was already standing at the end of her bed. "For you," she said, passing over a package neatly wrapped in red with a gold bow on it. Sitting back down on the bed, she began tugging on the ribbon of her first present. Unwrapping them was almost more fun than seeing what was inside. \n\n
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Catherine
Lovely
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