Elly was swinging. She had escaped out to the labyrinth gardens as soon as she could to check that her swing has survived the summer. She’d astonished herself by remembering the way through the maze quite accurately, only making one wrong turn along the way. As she entered the clearing where the large ironwood tree stood, Elly felt a grin spread over her freckled face. Her swing was still there, exactly as she had left it, and almost exactly as she had built it last winter, though perhaps a little weathered.
Elly took a few moments to run her hand over the large plank of worn wood that made the seat, and enjoy the rough feel of the rope on her fingertips. Elly sat on her swing and scuffed her feet in the sandy patch beneath it, quite content to be swinging on her own, with her mind roaming free. The Sonoran sun was warm on her back, and Elly felt quite peaceful as she pushed herself gently back and forth.
The serenity was soon broken by the scuffle of footsteps nearby. Elly wouldn’t have minded being interrupted; she couldn’t last very long without company, anyway. She couldn’t tell whether the footsteps were headed her way or not, so she raised her head and looked around to see if anyone had joined her. \n\n
Cissy frowned, walking around this maze angrily trying to find the Quidditch Pitch. She had a feeling her brother was there, and Cissy wanted to make a fool of him. But this stupid Maze Park, or whatever this place was called, had lost her. Cissy growled, sliding her hands roughly through her medium length black hair. Cissy straightened out her oversized skirt (they belonged to her mother when she was fifteen), fixing the safety pin on the skirt. Why her mother never put a shrinking spell on this, Cissy didn't know. But Cissy didn't want to walk around like this for too long, so she'd have to torture Paul to make him fix it.
After all, if was his fault he came out a male instead of female, forcing her to wear his button down shirts. Stupid boyish looking shirt and oversized skirt. Stupid old worn out shoes and holey socks. Stupid poor family. When Cissy got older she would make sure everything came out her way, no matter who got stepped on. And then she would have fitting clothes for a young lady such as herself. But now, she had to find Paul, to practice the spells she was going to use later on in life. The spells to be used on those who would try to get in her way of success.
But instead of finding an exit to the Pitch, Cissy found a girl swinging. Her icy blue eyes narrowed in anger. This wasn't Paul, this was just some stupid girl swinging on some stupid swing. Cissy, once again, growled under her breath. She would never find her way out of here. Unless.... this girl could help. Dear god, Cissy hoped she wasn't annoying. Sighing, Cissy put on her sweetest face and looked to the girl. "Hello, I'm lost. My name's Sierra Tarwater, first year Pecari. I need to find my big brother Paul, and I think he's on the Quidditch Pitch. Could you please help me?" Cissy wanted to spit right now, she hated sweet talk. But she knew she needed it for her act.\n\n
Elly looked up to see one of the new Pecari first years. She smiled automatically, even though – but she might have imagined it – she thought the younger girl might have been glaring at her. Well if she thought she could scare Elly Eriksson, she had another thing coming.
The girl then smiled sweetly at Elly and proclaimed herself lost. Elly stopped swinging and stood up, standing a good couple of heads taller than Sierra, as the girl had introduced herself.
“I’m Elly,” the redhead replied. “Second year Pecari,” Elly stood with her hands on her hips and looked down at Sierra. She wasn’t sure how to take the new kid – one minute Elly had been sure she was glaring, the next she was so sweet she’d rot your teeth. Still, Elly had always been the friendly sort, so she gave Sierra the benefit of the doubt and smiled. “Yeah, I'll help you. Don’t worry, I’ll show you to the pitch.”
Elly turned and with a jerk of her head indicated that Sierra should follow. She let her long thin arms dangle loosely by her side as she walked. “So,” Elly said to Sierra, “your brother would be Paul Tarwater then. Aladren, right?” Although she’d never spoken directly to Paul, Elly had been in lessons with him all last year, so she knew to whom Sierra was referring. \n\n
The second Little Miss Red (Elly, but who really cared what her name was) opened her mouth and looked down at her, Sierra instantly disliked her. It was as if this girl was trying to be the nice one, the saint. As if, Cissy knew no one was that nice. This girl seemed like the one to make herself come off as nice, when really when you looked at her you realized she was really just... concieted of some sort.
Cissy saw the way the girl held herself. The way she looked at Cissy as if trying to decide what to expect. A prat or a willing little gullible child. This girl was going to be surprised at what Cissy actually was, if she got on her bad side. Maybe the look on Paul's face when they met with him would give her a clue not to mess with Sierra Tarwater.
And in the jerk of the head, Cissy grew a little angrier at the girl. She hated being treated like she was no big deal. As tiny as the movement was, it made Cissy believe the girl didn't think she should waste her time with Cissy. When really she should stop acting as tall as she was and get to realizing she only a year older than Cissy. Maybe not even, she was only ten and a half months younger than Paul, barely missing the cut-off date to come here earlier. Even if Paul always said it was a year.
"Yes," Cissy said, pulling her puke-worthy sweet act back on. "Paul is my older brother. He told me he was on the Quidditch team, which is why I think he's at the Pitch." She could think of a good word she could call Red that rhymed with Pitch, but she held back. That would break the act in two. Especially with the malice she intended to but behind it. "Anyway, how's Pecari like? My brother said it's an awful place for stuck-ups." She tried not to break down in laughter. It was true, Paul said this, but she wondered if Red saw this in herself. \n\n
Sierra asked about Pecari, in that sickly sweet voice. Apparently, her brother Paul had said that Pecari house was ‘an awful place for stuck-ups’. Elly laughed out loud. “I wonder what happened to your brother to make him think that,” she said, grinning. Elly thought about everyone she had met in Pecari last year. Some of them were definitely harder work than others, like Caedence or Morgaine, who seemed to be a bit unfriendly, but certainly not stuck-up. Not that she set much store by rumours, but Elly had heard that Crotalus was the house for people who were stuck-up. She decided not to voice these thoughts, though, giving Sierra the chance to make up her own mind.
“Pecari aren’t a bad lot,” Elly said, truthfully. “We don’t tend to be the quietest, or follow rules very accurately, but we don’t seem to cause to many problems.” Elly thought about the duel last year, which had only involved Pecari students, and decided to add, “Well we’re no worse than any other house, anyway.”
In all honestly, Elly liked being in Pecari, but she couldn’t see how you could classify everyone in the house as being the same. Take Echo and Tallow, for example. Or Meredith and Caedence - as different as, well, different people.
“We won the points competition last year, and we’ve got a good Quidditch team,” Elly said, more for conversation that trying to stand up for her house. Sierra was a Pecari whether she liked it or not. “Do you play Quidditch?” \n\n
Are you some kind of hippie or something...
by Cissy
Cissy raised an eyebrow when Red mentioned why Paul would think that. Now, normally Cissy believed Paul to be a fool, unaware of what he was saying. But now, Cissy was taking Paul's side. 'Oh we're not a bad lot...' what she was basically telling Cissy, 'Oh, we're the greatest, but I'm the best.' Now Cissy knew not everyone in Pecari wasn't as stuck-up as Red, and her brother was probably just sore that he lost against them in Quidditch. But Red was making her mad. She was obviously the one in Pecari that brought the whole house down.
"We won the points competition last year, and we’ve got a good Quidditch team..."
Hm... now she was making Pecari look like a bunch of bragging arrogant pricks. Cissy raised an eyebrow. Once again, she had no problem with being in Pecari. She obviously belonged there if she got into the house. And people who were like her were better allies than enemies. But Red, ugh, this girl made Cissy sick. Sicker than when she had to use the sweet, innocent voice. This was the girl that Cissy would have to test her spells on. Or at least put something nasty in her bed. But instead of saying it was probably Red that was the bad egg of Pecari, Cissy went on making the house look bad. It probably wasn't, like said before, but this was fun, seeing how Red reacted.
"Well, he said it was because they were such bad sports when they lost the Quidditch game. That they acted like the nice house didn't deserve to win or something... I don't know. Paul just said everyone in the house deserves to go to the bad place for being so annoying..." she tried not to grin wondering what Red would say about that. "I don't think Paul likes me much..."\n\n
0CissyAre you some kind of hippie or something...0Cissy05
Going by what his sister was saying, Paul Tarwater didn’t have a very high opinion of Pecaris. Elly didn’t really mind – most of her friends were in Pecari so she was probably biased in her thinking that they were nice people, but on the other hand she was hardly likely to make friends with people who weren’t nice to her.
Elly thought back to the Quidditch championship game last year. She didn’t think that the Pecari supporters had been bad sports, but then she hadn’t really been paying that much attention – she’d run off to see if Caedence was okay after her bludger beating.
“I don’t think Paul likes me much,” Sierra said, after a bit more Pecari-bashing.
Elly couldn’t help but smile a bit at this. “Well, I don’t know your brother very well,” she said, “but maybe he’s just been saying bad stuff about Pecari because that’s the house you’re in.” She grinned at Sierra. “Either way, you shouldn’t let other people make your mind up for you.” Elly shrugged, knowing that Sierra would probably get used to her house once she settled into things.
They were nearing the end of the labyrinth now, and Elly was secretly thankful she wouldn’t have to spend much more alone time with this particular firstie. She would definitely make a point of being nice to Paul next time she saw him, though. \n\n
“Either way, you shouldn’t let other people make your mind up for you.”
This statement made it very hard for Cissy to stop herself from wincing. Oh dear Merlin, how cliche'd was that goodie good nonsense? Cissy doubted she had ever heard that saying from someone it didn't sound corny from. But Red's seemingly high opinion of herself and the house Cissy was in just made it cornier. Which made it worse than ever. Hah, Red certainly was getting a surprise in her bed one night, that statement concluded it. But Cissy won the struggle to keep a straight face during this, and after a second she was able to speak with her "normal" sweetness (her pukey kind).
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Or he's just sore Aladren lost against Pecari because of some Mudblood..." Cissy's eyes kept her eyes from widening. Whoops. "My brother said that. He's so prejudiced," Cissy fixed the mistake quickly. But not too quickly so it looked out of place. "I've grown up with a prejudiced family, but Paul is the worst." Not true, Cissy hated Mudbloods more than her brother ever could. She was surprised Paul actually didn't go off and have a Muggle life, the stupid boy. An anger slid through Cissy as she realized how close she had gotten to blowing her innocent act.
Cissy wanted to get away from stupid little stuck-up Red, and fast. This wannabe-goodie-good was making Cissy sick. Did she really think she was so sweet and nice and selfless? Honestly, Cissy knew she pulled off a better act than this girl. Look, she fooled her parents into thinking her and Paul were mearly having normal sibling fights. And thanks to her threats, Paul never told them what she really did. Cissy was able to fool everyone... Red though. Red seemed to try and act all sweet and kind, when really all Cissy saw was someone who found themself superior because they believed they were the kindest, most saint-like.
And the quicker Cissy was able to find and torture Paul, the quicker she'd be able to think of plans on what to do to Red. "Are we almost there?" she asked. \n\n
Elly and Sierra had exited the labyrinth, and were now headed towards the Quidditch pitch. Elly was thankful – she was finding it hard to know what to say to Miss Tarwater. The girl seemed to be sweet and polite enough, but there was definitely something very unfriendly about what she’d been saying. Who turns up to a new school and starts abusing all their housemates? Elly didn’t really think that was the way to go about it, but she wasn’t about to tell anyone what to do. But then Sierra said something that made Elly stop short.
Mudblood.
Elly stopped walking and looked at Sierra who, obviously noticing her slip-up, tried to backtrack and blame the foul word on her brother. Being Muggleborn, Elly took particular offence at the term, but she’d never heard anyone use it as casually as Sierra just had. Elly only knew of the term through conversation, and in a whole year at Sonora had never heard it used as an insult. The other students, if that had opinions about blood, generally kept these opinions to themselves. Yet here Sierra was, spouting off as if it was everyday language.
“I wouldn’t use that word, if I were you,” Elly said levelly. Her smile had faded, but she tried to keep her expression neutral. She knew there were a lot of students in Pecari with Muggle parents, and Sierra would have serious trouble settling in if she kept using language like that.
“Well, there’s the pitch,” Elly said, indicating the posts now visible. She had intended on walking a bit further with the first year, but no longer had the inclination. “If, uh…” Elly started, but stopped again. She had been about to invite Sierra to ask whenever she needed help of any sort, but bit the invitation back, deciding that she would rather spend time with people she could trust. “I hope you find your brother,” she said instead, and without waiting for a response, turned and headed back to the common room. \n\n
*is trying to keep act up without laughing*
by Cissy
OOC: Okay, I feel I need to clear a few things up. First off, Sierra isn't really being "sugary sweet," she's using the normal amount of sweetmess. She only says that its puke-worthy because she hates any and all things nice. Second Cissy fixed the mistake quickly. But not too quickly so it looked out of place. "I've grown up with a prejudiced family, but Paul is the worst." I wrote that she came from a prejudiced family. I also wrote she fixed the slip-up without looking suspicious. Now, Cissy has fooled many people, it seems odd that she can't do that with Elly, who even though she is Muggle-born should realize some people were taught to say it casually. Also, the only way Elly would know that Cissy did mean saying it was if she was a mind-reader, which I don't think she is. I can play along with this, I just wanted to let you know.
BIC: Cissy was extremely happy on coming out of the end of the Labyrinth. Every second with Red, Cissy felt she was losing precious brain cells to the girl's voice and cliche'd speech. If only Red realized how stuck-up she sounded when she said things. If only she realized how it seemed like she believed she was the greatest and nicest, when really she was just as bad as anyone. Probably worse because of her high opinion of herself. Cissy also hoped that Miss Red realized now that she met and annoyed Cissy, something was going to find its way into her bed to ruin her. See how sweet and perfect Red is then, Cissy kept from grinning. As Cissy tried to keep walking, she noticed that Red had stopped when Cissy mentioned the word Mudblood.
Cissy didn't realize why Red was so insulted, the stupid cow. Obviously she should realize that some people grew up with that kind of teaching. And Cissy knew what she said wasn't suspicious in the least, which meant Red was just fragile. Easily broken once you found her pressure point. Good to know, it gave Cissy more reasons to dislike her, and a weakness she could work on.
"I told you, I've grown up with that word in every day speech. I can't help to say it sometimes," Cissy muttered, adding the perfect amount of guilt to her speech. "Its my worst fear to end up like my brother and family," Hah, true, she didn't want to become simpering welcome mats like them. "I'm afraid I already am," no, she wasn't, and she never would, "it's my worst fear. Everyone's afraid of something..." Cissy added for the wiser effect. "Are you afraid of anything?" Curiosity effect. Perfect.
Cissy looked to the Quidditch posts, now she could go find Paul. Give him all the Hell she felt from walking with Red. Then give Red her own hell when Cissy returned to the common rooms. "Thank you..." dang, Cissy forgot the girls name. "Well... thanks, I'll go find him. He should be close. You sure you don't want to come with me?" Please say no, Cissy couldn't take another second of Red! \n\n
0Cissy*is trying to keep act up without laughing*0Cissy05