(1938-06-23) Breaking at the Stairs
Details for Breaking at the Stairs
Summary: Ripley confronts Gabrielle with his frustrations with her, in possible the worst way. And result is a broken couple. And heart.
Date: Sun Jun 23, 1938
Location: Moving Stairwell
Related:
Characters
GabrielleRipley

Hogwarts' stairwell is a grinding, twisting mass of controlled pandemonium. Stairs are visible above and below swinging past, students holding onto railings waiting for the arrival of their stairsteps, lifting up onto a moving stairway, dropping down onto the floor below. First-Years suffer the sting of their peers' laughter as they miss making their appointed position and are left stranded on the landing as the others continue on. A flood of activity surges in all directions, a cascading tide of humanity with students, teachers and even ghosts milling throughout the stairwell. There are waves of students from the floors above hurrying at various times to get down to the main floor, and the rushes of students hurrying upward toward their classes or research. Traffic jams are not uncommon, especially when the stairway is blocked by a hapless student caught in a stair with an appetite for sucking in the legs of the unwary. At times, confetti drifts lazily through sunbeams after someone sets off a firecracker or other magical gimmickry on a higher level, and occasional shrieks of students who've become victims of stink-bombs thrown over the railing rise above the general bedlam calling out the gross unfairness of their treatment.


Ripley’s leaning against one of the cases as it just moves about. His arms are folded over his chest as he is moved about.He seems to be waiting for something.

Gabrielle 's hair is up, but loose enough to fall out at any moment. She'll come down the stairs from the direction of the Ravenclaw room. She'll wait till the stairs connect and will step onto the same landing as Ripley. "Ripley?"

Ripley looks to Gabby and doesn't look in the happiest of moods. "Are you just going to let this stupid list thing consume you? It could be just for a party or something and the girl who got her hair cut was just a random thing. It's just stupid!"

Gabrielle looks taken aback, "A party? Merlin, are you serious? What the hell kind of party has a target list?" She'll pull her sketchbook to her chest, "It was a slicing spell!That's not random!People don't randomly throw spells around Ripley! What is wrong with you?" Gabby will glance around nervously,looking for other students, "Ripley, can we please not do this here?"

"It was a wizard prank." Ripley says to Gabby and rubs at his forehead, "Spells are used with wizards in case you didn't know!" He shakes his head and sighs deeply and pinches at his nose. "Why do you have to do this? Why is it all about you?"

Gabrielle hisses back, "Stop it!Stop acting like you're better than me!" Her voice rises back to normal, " Cutting off someone's hair isn't a prank. Why are you defending that?" She'll make a slightly strangled noise, "About me? I never said it was all about me! I can't believe you'd even…It's not…" Gabby stumbles over a few words, clearly getting upset. "It's mostly Ravenclaw on the list. Of course I care. You'd care to if there were any Slytherin!" She'll take a step forward and try to lay her hand on his forearm, "Ripley, please. Don't be like this? I need you…"

Ripley steps away from her but his hand doesn't move as fast as the rest of him. It stays and grasps her hand as he pulls her in close to him so he can speak rather low to her. The grin on his face is rather feral and grim as he does so. As his voice begins to rise out of the barely audible whisper, "… about you. It's always about you. Someone told me last night that you were just so absorbed in everything about you. When does it get to be about anyone else? Me? Any of your friends? When? It's just a stupid list of people who feel proud of who they are? The girl's hair had nothing to do with it. Just get over it all."

There's a flash of panic and then pain that crosses Gabby's face as Ripley grabs her hand and pulls her close. She'll actually start to try to pull away when he starts really going at her, but freezes when he tells her to get over it. A barrage of emotions crosses her face, her right hand occupied, she'll drop her sketchbook,snapping her left back and then across his face. There's a loud crack as she slaps him, "How dare you!" Let me go!" she'll pull her right arm away his grip, bringing it protectively to her chest. "How could you say that? You know!You know this is going to turn bad! I saw it!"

Ripley grimaces as that hand slaps across her face and his hand goes to the burn and he releases her, "We are finished." He says, staring at her and shaking his head. "I can't believe I ever loved you. It can't help but turn bad… You can't help but mess it up!" He looks down at her sketchbook and gives it a mighty kick with his foot.

Gabrielle takes a step away, tears already starting to form in her eyes. In a soft voice, "Please don't.." And then he's yelling and she'll flinch away, keeping her arm protectively against her. A strangled cry comes from her as he kicks her book, some pages flying out as it tumbles down the flight of stairs.

Ripley looks back at Gabby and then down at the pages. He opens his mouth to say something and then it suddenly slams shut again. He looks like he is about to reach down and grab it all up and hand it back to her before he just flips around and starts to trudge back to the Slytherin dorms. As he walks, he reaches out and punches at the nearby wall.

Gabrielle whimpers again as Ripley storms away, slowly sinking down to pick up the pages. A few younger students stop to help, a few other students purposefully kick the book further down the stairs. By the time she's able to salvage what she can, her tears have stopped, but the trails they've made on her cheeks are clear.

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