Ness McLeod
April 06, 2021 5:44 PM
Seven Out of Seven by Ness McLeod
Ness took a seat. A very familiar seat. First year - something which seemed a lifetime ago - had started with orientation but the chair had soon followed. It had been the start of every year since, even once they had spent summers together. That had really been the point where it had become a tradition; it had no longer been necessary for the function of a summer catch up, but they had done it anyway. It had been part of every year, marking the passing of time by how much of their limbs overhung the edges.It was the chair, more than anything else, that made Ness want to get over the head student result. Or perhaps what the chair symbolised. The chair was continuity, and friendship, and all things bigger than a badge. Not that Ness was mad about Evelyn getting it, more about Katerina getting the other one, but it would still sting to see it shining on Evelyn's robes. Not enough to give up the chair though.
Ness waited, trying not to take up more than half, however difficult that was these days. Luckily, the two of them were close enough to tangle and overlap.
"Congratulations," Ness smiled when Evelyn appeared. And it was obvious that there were some mixed emotions behind that word, but the smile was definitely genuine. "Come sit," Ness instructed, wiggling slightly but not really freeing up much more room.
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Ness McLeod
Seven Out of Seven
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Evelyn Stones
April 14, 2021 10:33 AM
I'm not ready for goodbye. by Evelyn Stones
Evelyn basically always wore some sort of terrible jewelry. She supposed at some point she should change up her style, and perhaps she had some, but today she went all out. A clunky necklace or three decorated her neck, each as playful and colorful as the last, and she pulled them out over her robes today. Normally she tried not to cover herself up on much because she was pretty sure there was something about making it clear that she was a prefect and not hiding her badge, but today she sort of wanted to hide her badge.She made her way to the library with heavier steps than her usual bouncy self. The library, where Aladren Commons was hidden (even though Evelyn had too many Aladren friends to not know it was there somewhere), no longer was a place she could bump into Heinrich. She missed her boyfriend in a different way than she'd expected to. She'd been afraid it would be the way she missed her mom, but it wasn't really. It wasn't even the way she missed home, a concept which she had in bits and pieces but not quite a whole. It was closer to that since she missed Heinrich and wasn't sure what her life with him (hopefully????) would look like after her own graduation would look like, but it was different. Apparently, missing someone you cared a great deal about in a different way than you cared about anyone else was a whole unique feeling and it sucked. Writing letters back and forth helped, although she suspected that letters gave most Aladren alumni the chance to be every bit as careful with their words as they wished to be in spoken conversations and it felt like a threat of insincerity to Evelyn who rarely thought her own words out that carefully.
Still, the library hosted a certain big chair (that wasn't so big) and a very special Aladren. One who was still present and still loved and still needed to be reminded of that sometimes. Evelyn worried tremendously about Ness' feelings about Evelyn getting Head Student (a position Evelyn was pretty sure she was entirely unqualified for, although she was glad to have gotten it) and there was a lingering fear that their friendship was tenuous. Evelyn didn't blame Ness for that; it was an unfortunate side effect of very real pain coming up in very real arguments and knowing that it was moved through, not fixed. It hurt to know that they would both maybe always hurt in those ways.
Today, Ness was in the chair first, with a smile and a bittersweet but sincere congratulations to Evelyn. "Thank you," Evelyn said, hesitation in her own voice. She hoped the Aladren knew it was because of her own lack of self-esteem and not anything else.
She tangled herself into the chair with Ness, wrapping up in the limbs that had gotten longer when Evelyn's had not and snuggling up to her friend. "How come you grew up and I stayed weird and small?" Evelyn asked with a laugh as she curled in where she could, pulling her robes up to give her legs more freedom. "I could still probably pass for a third year."
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Evelyn Stones
I'm not ready for goodbye.
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Ness McLeod
May 02, 2021 5:23 PM
We don't have to have one by Ness McLeod
"You deserve it," Ness confirmed, regarding the head student badge. It was true, and Evelyn should get to hear that. It didn't mean Ness hadn't deserved one."Um, hey?" the Aladren protested, when Evelyn talked about staying weird and small. "That implies I outgrew my weirdness, and I will have no such aspersions cast, thank you very much.
"And nah. You look all wise and knowledgeable about the world and stuff. It shows in your..." Ness evaluated Evelyn, trying to find a place this alleged visible maturity could be lurking. "Lipstick choices?" Ness teased. "Though, personally I didn't think there was anything wrong with the orange. Fight the patriarchy through bizarre make up choices!" Ness regarded the strange colours as inherently Evelynesque and hoped she hadn't outgrown them all together; the world was much better with rainbows in it.
"Though if you're still third-year-sized, does that mean you only need to take up a third year's portion of this chair?" Ness suggested, leaning in to squish Evelyn slightly. Ness almost said 'We should get a chair like this when we graduate' but then they weren't going to be living together when they did. Evelyn was going to go off and go to college and live with a boy, and Ness couldn't even say it was gross cos Heinrich was a pretty great guy. Maybe it was time to outgrow the chair. Or maybe they could get one and plant it somewhere mutual.
"Hey, think we can persuade our family to get a chair like this when we graduate?" Ness hoped the implication that they would then both go home and tangle themselves into every September first was clear enough.
13
Ness McLeod
We don't have to have one
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Evelyn Stones
May 10, 2021 1:00 PM
You won't be done with me when you have the world? by Evelyn Stones
"You do too," Evelyn said softly, "and thank you." She snuggled her head down onto Ness' shoulder to give her friend a moment's privacy from scrutiny before the conversation continued. She grinned when that meant commenting on the degree to which they were still weird, even if Ness wasn't very small anymore. "Like anyone could stop you from being weird if you were determined to be," she said with an appreciative smile, clearly believing this to be a good thing.She made a face about being wise and knowledgable though, something between horror and sardonic disbelief. Still, it was a funny thought and she couldn't hold the expression long. "I really should go back to orange," she decided. "Too many people thinking I know stuff just won't do. And no, I've been taking up the whole chair as long as I could. Better for snuggling that way." To prove her point, she smushed right back at Ness, wrapping her arms around the Aladren.
Evelyn beamed, as she always did, when Ness casually included her in the definition of 'family'. It was something Evelyn herself knew she was allowed to do but rarely actually was brave enough to do. She never referred to Mr. and Mrs. McLeod as her parents and she called them by their first names. Ness' casual comment made Evelyn think that maybe this was something she should revisit, especially with graduation and her entrance into adulthood (functionally, not just by birthday) on the horizon. She was going to be going into the world and she wanted to be able to say something about where she came from. At this point, where she came from meant the McLeods. She'd love to change her name, actually, if she didn't already have hopes to do so another way. She was pretty sure that changing her name by marriage would disappoint Ness if not for the fact that her other option was to keep her dad's last name, so maybe it would be easiest not to try to change first to McLeod.
None of that was the point though, because Ness was asking about a chair, and Evelyn nodded firmly. Then a thought struck her and she gaped a bit. "Are they going to get rid of our room?" she asked. "Or could we put it in there?" The idea of not having a room anymore made her skin feel like it was being shed but it wasn't half so comfortable as she thought it was for snakes.
OOC: I couldn't remember whether they share a room normally or not. Feel free to reply either way and if they have two separate rooms normally, I can edit later. :)
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Evelyn Stones
You won't be done with me when you have the world?
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5