(1938-02-17) Almost Human Interaction
Details for Almost Human Interation
Summary: Gabby and William have a nice, normal conversation….although the end just reminds Gabby of her impending doom.
Date: Feb 17, 1938
Location: Ravenclaw Common Room
Related:
Characters
Gabrielle

William is alone in the common room this morning. His increasingly-taller-these-days form, lean and gangly, is hunched over a table, upon which is a ratty leather satchel. Also on said table is a large spool of brown thread, which acts as a resivoir for what the young man is doing: sewing. By hand. He seems quite intent on it, hair hanging down to frame his angular face, as he mutters something not-quite-decipherable which could — perhaps — be a song, though if it is, it's rather all over the place.

Gabrielle comes slowly down the stairs from the girls dorm. She's had a rough year, the whole house can tell that. What's argued is if she's brought it upon herself, or she just has bad luck. Either way, this past month, gabby's been even more withdrawn from her housemates. She's dressed for the day in her hand me down clothes, and has several books, including her ever present sketchbook, clutched to her chest. She'll blink once as she sees William alone and continue to make her way into the room. She'll softly say, "Good morning, William."

"Miss… -Evans-…" William holds up a hand high in the air, needle pointed to the sky as if it were some tiny version of Excalibur. His voice has begun to bottom out a bit, and no longer sounds like that of an awkward teen. "Finally, another soul to keep me company while I work to.." arm comes down, needle is stabbed into leather, "… try my darndest to keep the soul of this beast intact." He stops, then, pulls the needle back up and then grasps it in between his teeth to lift a finger as if to allay a question that might have been asked of him already, "And magic just won't do the trick with old Franklin here." Free hand pats the satchel. "How are you, by the way? Haven't seen you around much as of late."

Gabrielle 's eyebrows go up a bit at William's over dramatic sewing style, but she'll shake her head lightly, "You'll get no argument from me. Everyone here uses magic for every little thing. If something ever happened and they were dropped in the muggle world, they wouldn't survive." Which is an odd statement for Gabby to be making, as she's pureblooded. She'll give the room a look around, almost like she's making sure they're the only ones there. She'll sit in an arm chair near William, away from the fire, and facing the entry door. "I'm alright. Just been busy studying for OWLs." Her last statement doesn't ring particularly true…but maybe? 5th years are always so stressed around this time…

Does William discern the shading of the truth? Perhaps. He pauses for a moment there, eyes shift up to consider the younger Ravenclaw thoughtfully, and his motions have ceased. Indeed, for a few breaths there, he could be a lanky statue, sitting almost gargoyle-like on chair and table. But then, his blank face finds a rather genuine smile which snaps onto it like it were a sticker slapped onto a piece of stone, and his sewing motions continue in full throttle once more. "Is that it? Well, OWLs are a bit of a fright, aren't they?" head down once more, he notes, "Well, I grew up doing everything manually. Magic's the way to go in most things, but Franklin and I have been through a lot together. It's more about respect. So… what are you going to be studying today?

Gabrielle looks back to William as he starts talking again, and will throw him a nervous smile, "I"m not looking forward to them." She'll nod, not completely understanding about the bag, but she understands about respecting tools. "Besides classes?I've got some research to do in the Library. And then trying to catch up on some Defense against the Dark Arts. And then tonight I have some tutoring…"

"Tutoring, eh?" Pause, sew. Consider his work, and then head is down once more, sewing continues, "Is this tutoring causing you some manner of consternation, perhaps?" He lifts his head to re-aim that smile at Gabrielle, fingers working even as he isn't looking at what he is doing, "Come on now, my friend; something besides OWLs has you bothered, and I don't like to see my friends bothered."

Gabrielle nods, "Lucian has been helping me with Transfig. He's a surprisingly good teacher." She'll glance to the girls tower, almost like she heard something , but will the turn back to William. She'll give him a rather long look, and then a small smile, "Just boy troubles. It'll work it self out." Yeah…there's totally something else she's not saying. Her right hand twitches a bit and she'll actually start tugging on her right sleeve nervously.

Brow is arched, and then William pulls the needle to his teeth again, biting just under it to snap it from the thread, which he begins to tie off, "Boy troubles, eh?" His smile hasn't come close to vacating his face; indeed, it appears to be quite genuine, "You know… I'm a fairly perceptive fellow — not to toot my own horn and all — and I can see something's eating at you. It doesn't hurt to talk if you can trust the person you're talking to. Only thing you can't trust me with are sweets."

Gabrielle will give him another smile, this one not quite as nervous. She's still looking around the room like she thinks someone is going to jump out at her, but turns back to William, "It's just a big ball of messed up feelings. Like I said, it'll work it self out. I can't do anything about it, so I just need to let it be." She'll give a small laugh, it doesn't quite reach her eyes though, "Maybe you should have been a HufflePuff then. They always have sweets laying around. I'm pretty sure their prefects bribe them with candy."

"I've often wondered about that myself… the Hufflepull bit, that is," says William, who is tying the thread off with long, slim fingers before he finally hefts the satchel as if testing it for weight, "I'm far from the smartest bloke in this house. But at any rate… feelings. Feelings." He sets the satchel down on the floor beside the chair, and thens lides backwards into said chair, legs resting on the table as he steeples fingers and considers Gabrielle, "Feelings can be a puzzle, can't they? Especially when you're not supposed to be having the feelings that you're having. When society looks down on that sort of thing, right?"

Gabrielle raises an eyebrow, not sure where he's going with this, so she'll jump back to the first part of the conversation, "Didn't the Sorting Hat ask you? I argued for what felt like forever on which house I should be in." She'll shrug her shoulders some, "I'm not the smartest either, trust me. I can't understand how some of us can read 3 books at once while walking to class…it just seems…"she'll actually look around again, "A bit neurotic, if you ask me."

"Neurotic," Oh, he was probing, to be sure. Trying to find out what the /unsaid/ bit is, though he's not pushing. If the girl ultimately doesn't want to confide, he's far from a brute about it, "… you should have been in here last night. Neurotic display from multiple people. It was glorious. I think it sort of was like resonance…. the neuroses from multiple people amplifying one another. I did get myself some sweet rolls for free, though. Free is always great."

Gabrielle snorts lightly, "I can imagine. We get more then 3 of us together, and it does seems to feed off each other. Like a competition for who's studying harder." she'll smirk lightly, "Free is always good. I prefer chocolate myself, but won't turn away a good sweet roll." she'll relax a bit, still glancing to the entry door, but her nervousness seems to be subsiding some. She'll even flip open the book on the top of her lap. She doesn't look at it though and tells him, "Camouflage."

William laughs at that bit. Again, a genuine thing, as he was tickled by that remark. He settles into his own chair, pulls the satchel into his lap, and pulls out — of all things — a book on magical history, "I hear tell that you, some bloke, and a hospital wing had a bit of time together over the weekend. Everything ok? You aren't dying on us now, are you?"

Gabrielle smiles softly at the book he pulls out. She wishes she could go back to that kinda studying.She'll glance down to her DADA book and then freezes when he asks. she'll take deep breathe , and not looking up replies, "I'm not trying to." She'll try to sound cheeky, but fails. She'll frown slightly and her left hand goes to her right palm , pressing her thumb into it, nervously.

He hefts the book up, "Not even NEWTing in this, but I figure that I have a lot of magical history to catch up on. Parents are muggles and all… great folks, though." A pause, and the book finds his lap, perhaps as camouflage as well, because he isn't reading right now, but rather still considering his housemate, "What happened to your hand, Gabrielle?" His tone is a touch more serious than the slightly whimsical face he normally presents to the casual inspector.

Gabrielle nods, "Sometimes, a break into other subjects helps." She'll give him a soft smile for his parents, that sounds nice. She'll glance down to where she's fussing with her hand and looks to her palm, "Oh…I fell…Two Hogsmeades ago. Cut it on a rock." She'll shrug, "There was blood everywhere, had to go get it checked out. It hurt to even hold a wand." Seems legit, although she's maybe holding details back.

Well then… that bit at least seems legit, and so William nods, tapping fingertips against his abdomen as he sits there with elbows resting lazily on the arms of his chair, "I remember trying quidditch once, and that was the only time I ended up in the hospital wing." A wry smile, "Not my strong suit."

Gabrielle smirks again, "Yeah…I can't even get the names of the balls right…I'd die on a broom." She'll shake her head, "Although I should probably get Ripley to teach me to fly better…couldn't hurt." Her hand goes up an absently plays with a small silver charm on a necklace, which is only odd as Gabby never wears jewelry. Like, in the 5 years William's known her, never.

Ah, William -is- a perceptive fellow, almost preternatually so. Perhaps he's putting the wrong things together, but mention of a certain someone, and the sudden, absent fiddling with something so notably uncommon on her serve as clues, one would suspect. "Nice necklace. Since when did you give in to the girlish impulse to wear jewelry? Now I suppose I'm gonna have to start doing something counter to my personal trends just to fit in." He gives a wink at that, "And I'm okay on a broom when there aren't bludgers trying to take my head off. Hopefully, I'll stop growing soon so I can stop having to re-learn how to fly, though, every time I pick one of those bloody things up. Broom, that is. Not necklace."

Gabrielle , blushing,will drop the necklace. As it it hits her shirt, there's a small flash of green from one of the two stones set in what appears to be a silver fox head….which is , of course, Ripley's last name. "Uh..Ripley gave it to me for Valentines day." She'll give him a small glare over the tease. Now that's more how Gabby normally reacts, verses the blushing.She'll nod to the growth spurt, "Yeah, I grew two inches last year…it was awful. nothing fits right now." Indeed, gabby did get taller..and more…womanly. Her clothes never seem to fit her quite right anymore, as they're not meant for someone with a figure. But clothes are expensive, and Gabby's not known to have extra coinage. She'll roll her eyes a bit at his silliness about the necklace, "Well, maybe you would fly better if you had a necklace." She'll smirk then, knowing that's just silly sounding too.

William snaps his fingers, and grins, "I should be abloody detective. Don't worry, though, your secret's safe with me. To be honest, I've not once ben part of any romance drama — certainly not on my end — and I'm not going to rake anyone over the coals for it though. At any rate, lucky bloke. You're nice. Sometimes, I really -do- think I should've been sorted into Hufflepuff. I'd say Gryffindor, but they're a bunch of hooligans. And Slytherin, well…" a pale, polite smile, "I think I'm a bit soft to be one of those blokes."

Gabrielle blinks, what is he going on about? "Uh…it's not a secret…I mean, I haven't made a big deal, but…" she'll give William an are you ok look, "Thanks? I think you're one of the first in our house to think I'm nice. Everyone tends to run the other directon. Although that could just be because I'm not headed towards the library.We just started dating." she'll tilt her head ,eyes going a little soft. "Well, yeah, Griffindor are all hooligans…but they're some good ones in there too." She'll shake her head, having heard the Slyherin bashing before, "Every house has good and bad…I wish we didn't even have houses.It just makes everything worse."

"Oh, well, it was a secret to me until just now. And I used my impressive powers of deduction to arrive at what appears to be a brilliantly accurate conclusion." William buffs his knuckles on the front of his robe.

Gabrielle glances at the door again and then back to William, "Well, wasn't meant to be….and I have a feeling Rip's going to do something embarrassing to show everyone. " She doesn't sound pleased with that idea. She'll smile again at him, with the knuckle polishing, "So, if you're Sherlock, who's your Watson?" Her aunts have some of those muggle books. Fascinating stuff.

"Now, now, I wasn't bashing them, mind. Just noting that I'm a bit soft is all. if anything…" a grin, "I'm bashing myself, which is a hobby of mine. I'm very good at it. I do counteract it by praising myself as well; balance in all things, yada yada." A pause, and then something occurs to him, "Oh! I forgot to mention — and now that we're talking about /me/.." he gives faux emphasis to that, "…I'll mention it. Dad sent me money for a new wand. No more second-hhand wand for old William." It's fairly well known that his family is rather poor, though he doesn't have even the slightest complex about it, "And my Watson…" lower lip juts out, pondering, "I really don't… know. Well, YOU seem to be rather grounded. I tell you what: If there's a case to be solved, I might well call on you for help." Is he serious? He bloody well might be.

Gabrielle laughs softly at William's rambling. And then she'll give him a warm smile, the most genuine he's seen since she's walked downt eh stairs, "That's great William. You should talk to Ophelia." there's something else in her face that's hard to read when she asks her next question, "Are you planning on going to Hawthorne's? He's a very nice man." Gabby stares at him, did he seriously just call her grounded? Why could no one else have heard that?!?!"Uh…ok?…As long as the cases don't take away from too much studying. Don't want to blow my cover as a low to moderately intelligent Ravenclaw." apparently William isn't the only one who practices a bit of self bashing.

"You know, I do believe I will be, yeah," says William, "Dad took up a third job just so I could get a proper wand — the man is the best — and I want to get something worthy of that. I'll still keep my old one around as a spare, I suppose. Or maybe I… I can sell it to the second-hand shop. I haven't had money for sweets in ages."

Gabrielle 's right hand twitches, unconsciously, as William talks. "That's really sweet of your dad." she'll smile, " Having a spare wand never hurts anything. You never know when an accident may happen….but, coins for sweets is nice too." she'll shrug a bit, not really able to help with that. she'll then sigh and lean back into the chair, "I'd give just about anything right now for a good cup of hot coco." She'll rub her temple with her fingers for a moment.

"Too bad we can't just summon up food and all. I could probably brew up a potion that would /taste/ like hot chocolate, but that would sort of be perverse wouldn't it?" His best subject, by far, is potions, and odds are that whatever William does after graduating, it'll have something to do with them." A moment, and then he laughs, all of the sudden, at something that seems to have just occured to him.

Gabrielle , who's not bad at potions herself, wrinkles her nose, "that would be awful…do you know how much counter ingredients you'd need to put in? ugh!" She'll raise an eyebrow at his laughter, "What?"

"Two Raveclaw students… 'Ravenites?'… sitting here with books on our laps, and nary a book cover has been cracked open," William grins at the younger student, "I wonder if they keep track of these types of records. If they don't somebody should, because I bet this is some kind of record, with the provision that A) No snogging, B) No fighting, C) Very little quidditch talk have been involved. It's like… oh, I don't know, actual human interaction."

Gabrielle makes a face at "Ravenites", clearly not what she'd have called them. She'll then laugh, "We may be docked points for not studying." she'll nod, "Well, if we have to, I could punch you…just to keep up appearances that ravenclaws aren't actually human." It's meant as a funny statement, but William has probably heard rumors of Gabby getting into fist a cuffs with people before….All Slytherins, actually. Ripley was one!somethign about his ankle?

William, for his part, hasn't been anywhere near fisticuffs. He's a bloke who has always seemed to be quite content getting along with everyone, and just not dealing with the people who get it in their head not to like him, "I bet I'd look rough-and-tumble with a black eye. I might have to take you up on that, if there's ever a bird who I want to impress. Not bloody likely, that, though," he surmises, taking the non-opened book and putting it into his dilapidated satchel. "Lunch soon. I bet we can score some of that hot chocolate there. If nothing else, I'll claim a medical need for the stuff."

Gabrielle chuckles, closing her own book. "Let me know. I have a mean left hook." She' start to stand as well, nodding about lunch, "I've tried…I can't find any medical reason, besides headache…and they always give me tea then." She makes a bit of sad face to that. "I need to run and drop something off. I'll see you in the Great Hall?" She'll give him a smile and turn to leave. When she gets to the door, that nervousness is back, and she'll check the hallway before leaving.

"Oh, absolutely," William replies, "As the prophecies of William have always read: Where there is food… there will you find me. Stay out of trouble, Gabrielle."

As she's turning, William makes the joke about prophesies and she'll fumble with her books slightly, almost dropping them. When he looks up at her, she's gone sheet white and will just respond hurriedly before rushing out the door, "Uh…yeah. I always try to."

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