James? Juri? Quentin? [Third Year Boys Dorm] on Aladren Commons

Daniel Nash II

March 17, 2010 12:11 AM

James? Juri? Quentin? [Third Year Boys Dorm] by Daniel Nash II

Daniel lay in his bed just after lights out. He knew his roommates couldn't be asleep yet. Normally, he wouldn't start a conversation with them when they were supposed to be sleeping, but he'd been trying to find a moment for a few days now when all of them were around and it just hadn't really materialized.

Besides, maybe this was a conversation better suited to the dark anyway, where the exact importance of any comment made would be shrouded by an inability to read faces and body language.

"Hey, guys," he spoke quietly, looking up towards the ceiling. "Did you or are you going to ask anyone in particular to the dance? I'm not sure what I'm doing yet and I don't want to step on anyone's toes." With the ratio of girls to guys at Sonora, it didn't make any sense to fight over the same one with the people he had to live with everyday.

James, in particular, he thought he'd seen eying and being eyed in return by Charlie, and as weird as things were between himself and Charlie, Daniel wasn't sure she wasn't better off with a new suitor. If she did agree to go to the ball with James, that would definitely clarify things once and for all that they weren't actually dating anymore. If they ever had been, which he wasn't sure they had. It was all very confusing. Especially since he wasn't exactly sure that he even liked Charlie like that.

1 Daniel Nash II James? Juri? Quentin? [Third Year Boys Dorm] 130 Daniel Nash II 1 5

Quentin

March 17, 2010 2:02 PM

Thinking by Quentin

Although it was lights out, Quentin wasn't even close to being asleep yet. To him, lights out meant simply that the lights had to go off-though that was really what they should call it, lights out would suggest take the lights out of the room and putting them somewhere else. It suggested nothing about actually going to sleep.

This was when Quentin did his thinking. Okay, to be accurate, as he often strived to be, he thought all day long, but after lights off, he could think without any distraction.

Except for tonight, apparently. Quentin was slightly surprised to hear Daniel speak. He never started conversations after lights off. He was even more surprised to hear that Daniel wasn't sure about what he was going to do yet because he was worried about stepping on people's toes. Quentin had always thought Daniel was a pretty confident guy but he was apparently was having doubts about asking a girl because he couldn't dance and was afraid he'd step on her toes.

It was also weird that Daniel didn't know what he was doing yet. It was perfectly clear to Quentin that what Daniel was doing was lying in bed, asking them about their plans for the dance.

"Well, I haven't asked anyone specific yet." Quentin hadn't even thought about it much. Oh, he'd thought about the ball, mostly that calling it a ball or a dance was weird. It seemed odd to call it the same thing one would call a spherical object used for sports. Calling it a dance was inaccurate as well, because there would be several songs played and thus, several dances. What it was, was a party.

But who he could ask. The first person Quentin thought of was Marissa. He wasn't interested in her romantically, but she was nice and intelligent and he liked her very much as a friend. Taylor or Euna might also make acceptable party dates as they were both pretty intelligent and seemed fairly nice but he didn't know either that well. "I might ask Marissa Stephenson." Quentin stated. He went on to add, "Daniel, if you're really worried about stepping on someone's toes, the school is having dance lessons you could attend."

11 Quentin Thinking 129 Quentin 0 5

Daniel

March 17, 2010 5:01 PM

Taking my punishment gracefully. by Daniel

Thinking too much on Charlie and James and too little on his audience, Daniel had only realized he'd phrased his concerns badly when the words floated into a room containing Quentin Melcher but by then it was too late. Correcting it at that point would have only made things worse. He could only hope the figurative language was overlooked.

It was a vain hope, though for a moment it looked like it at least wouldn't get mentioned as Quentin spoke of Marissa Stephenson. Daniel was not familiar with the girl beyond knowing that she played seeker on the Crotalus team. Still, he took a mental note that she was off-limits for the time being.

And then it came. He held back a sigh but didn't bother holding in the eye-roll. Nobody could see it in the darkened room. "Thanks, I'll definitely look into those lessons," he agreed, and wondered briefly why he was bothering to hide his sarcasm and couch the words in a grateful tone. It wasn't as though he'd seen any evidence that Quentin could recognize mockery. On the other hand, James and Juri could and it would be rude.

Daniel liked to think he wasn't a rude sort of person.

But explaining that he was a perfectly competent dancer already and what he'd actually meant was something else entirely would be far too much effort and distract the conversation away from his original point.

1 Daniel Taking my punishment gracefully. 130 Daniel 0 5

James Anthony

March 21, 2010 9:21 AM

And mine? by James Anthony

James Anthony had been astonishingly close to missing curfew that day. He had become intrigued by a set of theoretical transfiguration books predominantly focusing on the theoretical skills necessary to become an Animagus. The process of becoming an Animagus was particularly fascinating to the fourteen-year-old. One of the texts had set into a deep and thorough analysis of the practical and theoretical knowledge of ‘wizard space’; James had become so intrigued by the commentary that he had neglected the time and had been forced to shed his dignity and practically scamper into the Aladren Commons. In his personal opinion, if Lutece Anthony could become a Prefect, there was no sound reason why he could not do the same. James merely had to avoid trouble, which meant, obviously, adhering to such mundane things as curfew.

Of course, there was an intrinsic problem that came with falling asleep after such a grand venture. As the brown-haired Aladren turned on his side, glasses resting securely on his night-table, his mind continued to race along the lines that Fukes&Simmons had lead him unto. The concept of wizard-space certainly explained quite a bit, but did not explain more. It seemed as though it was the wizarding equivalent of quantum theory. Was there, consequently, a wizarding equivalent of Chaos Theory? Or perhaps--

The thoughts circulating around James’s consciousness were quite rudely interrupted by the voice of one of his roommates. James permitted himself a small sigh of exasperation. Although Daniel was patently more cogent than Quentin as a general rule in any conversation, James indeed found himself lamenting the lack of academic spirit in his roommate. Although Quentin’s mind was much too in the realm of Logic and not enough in the realm of Reason (James had been occupying himself with epistemology texts, of late) he was still quite intelligent. Daniel, on the other hand, was much too preoccupied with insignificant matters.

“I have asked Charlotte Abbott for permission to escort her, and she has acquiesced,” James inputted, as soon as Daniel was through his retort to Quentin. Charlie was very pretty, although not very intelligent, and James anticipated a lovely time with her at this Ball.

0 James Anthony And mine? 126 James Anthony 0 5

Juri Dahlgren

March 21, 2010 12:04 PM

Thinking of doling out some. by Juri Dahlgren

Conversations with his roommates were not normally things Juri participated in. Not because he asocial, but more because he didn’t really feel any connection to them. Daniel was the popular one. James was the smart one. Quentin was…well, Quentin. That one didn’t really need any explanation. And he was? Juri didn’t really know except that he seemed to fade into the background. He hadn’t always, but hat was the difference between going to school with people you’ve known forever and those that you’ve known for all of three years. Sometimes, he wondered if he shouldn’t have just foregone having magic.

Of course, if he had, then he wouldn’t have met Lita. Though, he reasoned that his life would probably be better off if he hadn’t. Then, maybe he wouldn’t feel like this. His insides got all mushy every time he thought of her and he felt strangely protective. He didn’t understand it at all and he didn’t like it. He just wished it would all go away. The last time he had heard of insides going all soft was when he had overheard one of his mother’s conversations about her new boyfriend. Supposedly, it was love. Gag. He was NOT in love with Adelita. He had made up his mind long ago to stay away from all that romantic garbage since it only led to divorce and evil stepparents.

Yet, if he thought Lita was so awful, why did his hand curl automatically when his mind jumped to the conclusion that Daniel would end up taking her since James had just informed them that he was taking Charlotte? He breathed in deeply. His hand relaxed slightly. He was an idiot. An absolute idiot when he realized that maybe Danny wasn’t planning on asking Lita, that he could have said right now how he felt about her, that she was off limits. Did he? No, of course not. Instead, he said, “Yeah, I already asked Pippa. She said yes.”

His wrist twisted once more. Having said that gave Daniel an opening to ask Adelita. He wanted to give a growl of warning like some feral animal. He bit his tongue. Juri knew it wasn’t his place to be so angry about it. He was the one that hadn’t asked her first and what’s more, he already had a date. But he mentally swore that if Daniel did go with Lita, he had better keep his hands and lips to himself. Otherwise, Juri would take great pleasure in letting his fist fly where it may. Though, he had to find out for sure if there was going to be a problem. “Who are you thinking of asking, Daniel?” His voice slightly more tense than usual as he spit out the question.

0 Juri Dahlgren Thinking of doling out some. 127 Juri Dahlgren 0 5

Daniel

March 22, 2010 10:44 AM

Why does everyone want to punish me? by Daniel

Daniel tried not to give an audible reaction to James' statement that he was going to be bringing Charlotte. Honestly, Daniel didn't know how to react. He felt equal measures of disappointment and relief. Disappointment because it meant Charlie had clearly gotten tired of waiting for him to make another move and Daniel had kind of half expected that she'd be his date for this thing. Relief because that meant he didn't have to take Charlotte. He was free to pick whoever else was left or just not go with anybody if that's what he wanted.

Whoever else was left, Juri soon informed them, did not include Pippa, which was fine with Daniel since he hadn't really considered asking her either. Pippa was a nice enough girl, Daniel supposed, but he didn't really know her that well.

“Who are you thinking of asking, Daniel?” Juri continued, which Daniel supposed was a fair enough question. Quentin hadn't asked Marissa yet, so not having asked anyone wasn't really an excuse to avoid answering it.

"I don't know. I'd consider Adelita, but she's Charlie's best friend and since I used to date Charlie, that would be bad form." And regardless of whatever else he might feel in regards to Charlotte Abbott, having a clearly defined status to their relationship was a very very good thing. He could handle being dumped (if, in fact, it was possible to be dumped when one wasn't sure if one had ever been dating in the first place). The ambiguous uncertainty until this point had been far far worse. "I may just go without a date." Dating was clearly overrated.

Besides which, that would neatly avoid the entire issue of why his and Charlie's relationship had never really taken off in the first place. He was still no closer to a conclusion about whether or not he even liked girls. Flirting and hanging out was fine, even dancing would be enjoyable, but that was all just harmless fun. The idea kissing Charlie, or any other girl in the school, didn't fill him with anything so much as terror.

Not that he was going to say as much to three other thirteen or fourteen year old guys. He liked to think he was known as the suave one. "It'll give me a chance to dance with more girls if I'm not tied to just one, anyway." He had no illusions that anyone might think he was butch - he ate mostly salads, gave himself a manicure twice a month (healthy cuticles needed to be properly maintained), and had as many hair and skin products as Holly did - but he'd somehow gotten himself a reputation as being popular with the girls; he was willing to run with that.

1 Daniel Why does everyone want to punish me? 130 Daniel 0 5