Nathaniel Mordue
May 13, 2020 1:49 PM
On a Mission (Prefects' Lounge, tag Evelyn). by Nathaniel Mordue
The prefects' lounge was not, ironically, a place where Nathaniel got to spend that much time. Most of the time, after all, he was in class or at Quidditch practice or with Sylvia, and the rest, he was doing the bits of prefecting that involved actual work. Clever, really, of the staff, offering an incentive which wasn't really of that much use, but was such a status symbol that it was impossible to resist.As such, he expected the new prefects to seek the first opportunities to check it out, and that lurking would therefore give him a good chance to speak with Evelyn without strolling up to the Pecari table again and being awkward about it. Therefore, he lurked with enthusiasm, taking such chances as he found for a cup of tea and a read-over of some of his notes, until he spotted the correct combination of circumstances: Evelyn, in the prefects' lounge, without Ness McLeod. Upon spotting this, he quickly put down his tea and approached.
"Hello," he said. "And congratulations. Can you spare a moment?"
He considered how to begin. He knew all about awkward family situations, of course, but he had only once had to deal with being presented with a whole new person, and that had happened under decidedly different circumstances. There had been no intermediaries, no polite introductions, no time to absorb the shock - just going from horror to horror, all in the space of a few hours. He was hoping to prevent that for others, here, but who knew how it could all go, really....
"I'm guessing you remember our conversation last year," he said quietly. "About...your family. My friend who thought he might be related to..." He recalled her reaction to the sound of her father's name and couldn't imagine the reaction to the relationship would be much better. "You. Yes. Well. When we got back, he'd like to be introduced to you, if you're willing to meet him." He took a breath and added, "you see - it seems he's your half-brother."
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Nathaniel Mordue
On a Mission (Prefects' Lounge, tag Evelyn).
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Nathaniel Mordue
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Evelyn Stones
May 14, 2020 12:02 AM
Yes, the whole universe seems to be these days. by Evelyn Stones
CW: Blood/injury.Evelyn really liked the prefects' lounge because she pretty much liked everyone that could be in there and so it seemed like a good combination of quiet privacy and her favorite people. It wasn't really a place to just chill somehow, the library and Cascade Hall seemed better suited to that for folks who weren't in the same House as she was, but it was nice nonetheless. And snacks.
She was a big fan of apples and peanut butter, with just a little salt. It was a really great combination. She'd heard of people putting raisins or something on it to try and make it a little more playful, but that was unnecessary because this was delicious and no one could stop her, no matter how un-playful it seemed. But honestly, apple slices and peanut butter was pretty stinkin' playful - even CJ agreed with that one - and adding a little salt just "elevated" it, as they said on all those cooking shows she couldn't help watching when she was anywhere with television capabilities.
This time when she arrived, she found Nathaniel sitting by himself, reading notes and drinking tea. There were so many tea drinkers at this school! She smiled his direction but he wasn't looking and she set about making apples and peanut butter for herself, starting when he came up behind her.
"Oh, thank you," she said, smiling. That was nice of him, even if he did sound a bit like a broken record of a sidewalk preacher. Can you spare a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior? The answer was always no, but Evelyn was happy to talk to Nathaniel so she nodded for him to continue and went about chopping her apple. She had two of them because she was hungry as heck, and they made a great combination because one was green and one was red.
Nathaniel's voice dropped and Evelyn was immediately on edge. She was glad he wasn't standing terribly close, even if he towered over her regardless, and she reminded herself that this whole thing where she was on edge all the time anyway just really needed to stop. But they were going to be talking about the subject of her anxieties, so by all means, on-edge seemed an appropriate thing to be.
Her relative - Mathias Stones' relative - wanted to be introduced to her. Why would he-- oh! The knife slipped as Nathaniel finished his explanation and for a moment, Evelyn wasn't sure whether it was her apple or her vision that was red now. She was seething angry, but also it really was the apple. Oh, and her hand. That made sense. Her head throbbed as she thought over Nathaniel's words, not really noticing any of his efforts to help as she thought about what he was saying. What it all really meant.
Nathaniel said 'when we got back', which meant that this person was a student at Sonora. The fact that nothing had come of this so far meant he was probably younger than Evelyn. The combination meant he was older than CJ.
"Sorry," Evelyn murmured, staring at her wounded hand and remembering a time that suddenly seemed not so long ago, when she'd fallen out of a tree and seen the same colors on her arm. "I . . . uh. Yeah, we can meet." Why was she saying that? She didn't want to meet. "My dad cheated on my mom then," she added more to herself than anything. She closed her eyes and swore a lot in her head before opening them again. Her hand was really hurting now. "He has a little brother, too. He's three." She almost mentioned her own recently discovered half-sister, but realized that a half-sister of hers through her mother would not be related to a half-brother through her father. What the heck was up with this family, though?
She looked up at Nathaniel and wondered what his role was in all this. It was hard for her to believe that anyone was just nice enough to be trying to jump in to be helpful, although she suspected Heinrich would have done the same thing, or Ness. There was no need for confirmation that the first humans Evelyn had ever known were terrible examples of humanity, but it was nice anyway. But Nathaniel was a Mordue, and his brother was terrible by reputation, so he probably understood a bit more about family things. Also he seemed sad a lot. "Thanks for helping him. And me," she said quietly, not really feeling up to a full show of appreciation, even if she really was grateful. "I just found out I have a half-sister from my mom who abandoned me to my crappy father because my brother was too magic and I was too . . . whatever." She laughed without humor, not sure what else to do anymore. "Sorry. You probably don't want to know all this. I'm just really really tired." She put her non-injured hand against her forehead and forced a deep breath. "How are you doing as middle man?"
OOC - I tried to be vague because Nathaniel seems like the sort of person who would jump in and try to help with her hand, particularly if Evelyn wasn't taking steps to do so herself, but I didn't want to godmod/assume, so feel free to play that one out either way.
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Evelyn Stones
Yes, the whole universe seems to be these days.
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Nathaniel Mordue
May 14, 2020 1:04 PM
What kind are you on? by Nathaniel Mordue
It took a matter of seconds to realize that he had made a serious tactical error, in which his eyes widened with horror at the sight of her hand. "Miss Stones!" he said, alarmed, as she didn't seem to notice. "Your hand - ah - here - " he seized a napkin and used the tap to dampen it a bit. "Put that on it," he suggested, reaching to take her hand and apply the improvised remedy without thinking. He was trying to remember if he knew of anything more helpful he could definitely do without making things worse. He knew a drop of essence of dittany would no doubt do the trick, but he didn't have his potions kit to hand, and he only knew the very barest of bare bits of theory about healing charms...."Sorry," he muttered. "My fault - didn't - shouldn't have - "
He flinched when she concluded, out loud, that her father must have been disloyal to her mother, but tried his best to act as though he didn't hear everything else she was saying about her family. Her father was terrible and disloyal, her mother had abandoned her...familiar enough. The details were wrong, he didn't have a slew of half-siblings and nothing his parents had done had anything to do with their childrens' magical ability (how could a child be too magical? That didn't even make sense), but...it would never occur to him to just tell a stranger about it all, he thought, but then, he wasn't a Pecari.
"Not very well so far," he said in response to her peculiar question about how he was doing in his role in this drama. "I am sorry - I didn't think - should have, er, waited until you didn't have a knife in your hand," he said. Not least because stabbing him might have been a perfectly valid response, he thought, though he decided not to mention that. Best not to remind someone who was in shock that kitchen utensils could be deadly weapons. Or, in fact, prolong their conversation too long - it was only a matter of time before Ness or Heinrich came along and probably got altogether the wrong idea, one way or another. He got along well enough with Heinrich to not wish to cease getting along over misunderstandings about Heinrich's girlfriend and he had never been able to quite escape the sensation that Ness was exactly the sort of person who would accuse him of doing something intentionally wrong in a situation like this, and be glad of the chance to hex him for it. However, as a gentleman, he could not just stroll away after contributing to a situation without ensuring she was all right first. "Sorry - stupid of me. Do you, er, want to go to the hospital wing for that? It doesn't look bad, but they can patch it up faster than it'll heal on its own."
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Nathaniel Mordue
What kind are you on?
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Evelyn Stones
May 14, 2020 1:19 PM
Survival mostly. by Evelyn Stones
Evelyn blinked in surprise and looked down to find that she was holding a wet napkin, one which was quickly becoming more pink and red than white. "Thank you," she murmured to Nathaniel. For all his formality - 'Miss Stones', ha! Normally she would hate being called that but she was a bit preoccupied at the moment - he was not beyond acting when the moment called for it."Not stupid of you," she told him. "But I meant how are you doing emotionally?" She smiled a bit at the prefect - or her fellow prefect, she supposed. "I think you're doing just fine otherwise but this can't be an easy spot to be put in. Particularly with someone as prone to saying too much at the wrong time as I am." Evelyn blushed a little, hating to admit it, but it wasn't hard to see that Nathaniel was not the type to discuss so much of his family out loud as she was. She wouldn't have been, once, but at this point she was pretty used to the idea that her family business was hardly just her own business. There were pros and cons to that, and there were good reasons that was the case, but still. This sort of news meant she'd need to write a letter to Ms. Heidi soon, and have a bunch of other conversations she didn't want to have. She'd have to worry about one more person. She was already worrying about what she was going to do with CJ when she was old enough - although she was much less worried to know that Heinrich was invested in helping her, and that made everything better - and now she had another brother to worry about, albeit worry less about.
When he asked about going to the Hospital Wing, Evelyn remembered to look down at her own hand again. Some part of her just wanted to leave it, wrap it up in a bandage, and call it good. But she was pretty sure she knew enough about injuries at this point to think that this would require stitches in a muggle hospital, and she was sure a magic one, even in a school, could do better than that. Also, she was beginning to feel rather woozy.
"Yes, I think that would be good," she said airily, blinking to force herself to focus. It was really much harder to do than she thought it should be and she leaned heavily against the counter. Her apples were still there, sadly ruined by her clumsiness. Except she’s so clumsy, her father had said. She supposed he wasn't entirely wrong, although both instances were his fault in a way. With the shock of it wearing off, the pain was beginning to make her hand throb and she held it up, trying to keep the blood flow at bay. "Yes," she said again. "Hospital Wing."
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Evelyn Stones
Survival mostly.
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Evelyn Stones
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Nathaniel Mordue
May 14, 2020 2:34 PM
Sometimes, that's all you can really aim for. by Nathaniel Mordue
Nathaniel blinked as Evelyn clarified her question, more surprised than dismayed. Exactly two people tended to ask about his emotional well-being; their names were Sylvia and Dr. Greene. Of those two people, he was pretty sure only one of them actually cared about the answer, which was why he tried to at least tell half-truths to make it sound better than it sometimes was. The other was getting paid to ask the question, so it didn't matter that she had no personal investment in the answer. Why should Evelyn care, though? Or even go through the motions of acting as if she did?"It's all right," he said kindly when she accused herself of talking too much. He agreed she had, really, but since she was lucky enough to have done it at him, who had neither the inclination nor motive to gossip about it, he thought they could let that go. "It's easy to slip up a bit when you're surprised - I do understand," he added, trying to keep the bitterness in his voice to a minimum. "And I'm happy to be able to help where I can - to try to help people."
She was starting to look very unwell, he thought as he suggested the hospital wing, so he was not entirely surprised that she agreed that she should go. The way she agreed, though, indicated she might be someone who fainted at the sight of a little blood, and that she might be about to faint right now. He definitely did not want to be found alone in a room with an unconscious girl...that could not end well. Walking through the school with an arm around her also seemed either improper or suspicious, but damn it, he couldn't just have her passing out in the corridors, when it was his fault she'd hurt herself in the first place.... "Yes, hospital wing," he repeated. "Would you like me to walk you up there?"
OOC: You can jump to the Hospital Wing if you want, I can be Aisha for a bit.
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Nathaniel Mordue
Sometimes, that's all you can really aim for.
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