| Details for Crying in the Common Room |
| Summary: | Gage is upset, Arian wants chocolate, and Elise is twelve. |
| Date: | 1938-10-23 |
| Location: | Ravenclaw Common Room |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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A few students are sitting in the commons, relaxing in the armchairs, reading, studying, or whatever they do. Over by the fire the boy is lying on his back on the floor, staring up at the enchanted ceiling. He's loosely holding onto a blank, torn piece of parchment, nearly forgotten now as his fingers barely grip it. Morning classes have ended and Gage had been /escorted/ to the commons.
Elise is nearby, but that's not unusual, since she's a Ravenclaw, too. She's been curled up in a chair reading, but for some reason she keeps glancing up at the boy staring at the cieling. Read, glance, read, glance, and so it goes for several minutes. Finally, she puts her book down on her lap and glances around. "Are you alright?" she whispers to him after making sure no one is very near.
The ceiling is the Great Hall was one of the things that really impressed the boy when he first came to Hogwarts, and he quite likes the idea that there's one mimicking that in his commons. Although he wouldn't mind having the buffet table that his brother gets in his, at least, if there are more than just sweets. -Was that to me?- he questions himself silently at the voice. He scowls, quite grumpy at the moment. -Can't I just be left alone?- he thinks. The fourth year rolls onto his side as he twists head to eye the young girl, frowning. For minute or so he just stares at her, and then he lets out a snort. "Why wudn't Oi be?" he intones in a brooding manner. Sitting up, he moves the paper to both hands and crumples it, snorting, and tossing it into the fire. A grey cat that is curled up comfortably on the cushion of an armchair meows softly, head barely lifting from her paws as her ears twitch, looking to the boy before she rests her head back on top of her paws.
Elise pushes the grey tabby off her lap, very gently, and he walks away with his tail in the air as if this was his plan all along. "Well," Elise says in answer to Gage's question. "It's just that you seem… very sad, I think. If there's anything I can help you with, please let me know."
Gage snorts again, fixing a hard stare on the fire. For several moments he doesn't say anything back, and it seems as though he's just going to ignore the girl. But as he watches the flames flickering in the fireplace, his knees are pulled up as he drops his head between them, resting his arms on top. Another snort escapes the boy. "What can yer do aboyt dis bloody school?" he mutters in his thick Irish accent.
Elise gives Gage a sympathetic look. "What happened?" she asks gently. "Was someone awful to you?" She reaches into the pocket of her robes and comes out with a foil-wrapped piece of chocolate, which she offers to the older boy. "Here," she says. "You can have it."
A disdainful laugh escapes Gage, his head lifting to eye the flames again. He doesn't answer the question, just shakes his head. His eyebrows knit together as he stares at the offered chocolate in her hand, and ends up swinging his gaze back onto the fireplace without reaching out. "Naw," he hisses as his face scrunches up briefly. After several seconds, he forces himself to mutter out, "T'anks." Gage silently stares at the fire again for a minute before he hangs his head once more. "They can stuff it," he growls out lowly. "Oi wudn't be in dis bloody place if Oi 'ad a choice. Wudn't av set foot 'ere…" He keeps his head down as he trails off, closing his eyes as he fights against tears. It seems that in his frustrations Gage has forgotten about being shy.
"Oh!" Elise says, looking quite dismayed. She gets up from her comfortable chair and steps over to Gage's, perches daintily on the arm of the chair, and lays her arm around his shoulders. "There, there," she says comfortingly. "Whoever they are certainly can't be worth getting this upset over," she tells him gently. "Why… did you know, I'm in the Mud Club and I get bullied nearly every day. Shoved, snubbed, tripped. They smack my books out of my hands, sometimes, or pour ink on my things." She has a rather resigned look on her face. "Whatever it is that happened to you, I'm sure I can understand," she coaxes.
Arian can smell chocolate when it's nearby, and he smells it as soon as Elise extends it. He's up from his seat at one of the tables and across the room faster than you can say 'Ravenclaw.' It's then that he spots Gage, laying on the floor and looking miserable, and Elise next to him. "Um, hey," Arian offers with a wave, looking around to see if he can spot the chocolate. "What's… what's going on?"
Gage winces when the arm touches his back, and his shoulders become tense. He doesn't push her away though, he doesn't really move at all, really. His jaw sets, and the list of things that have happened to her just ignites his anger even more. His hands ball up into fists. "Why do yer put up wi' it," he snaps as his head pops to shoot a glance at her. His accent is heavy. He knows why - because what /can be done/? "Yer nade dem taken care av?" Gage focuses his gaze on Arian, his eyebrows narrowing. He silent as he thinks for a moment, remembering back to a scene, before he queries, "What wus goin' on wi' Black?"
Elise looks up at Arian and blinks. "Oh, er… we're just talking," she says, which is true enough. She doesn't want to point out Gage's emotional state, it seems. Then she answers Gage. "Because that's not what a good Pirate does," she tells him. "We help people. Revenge was never a part of it. I have to believe that the bullies will stop. I have to believe that there are decent people out there that I can be friends with. Like the people in the Mud Club and the Pirates." She doesn't know what he and Arian are talking about Black for, so she keeps quiet for that part.
Arian looks back and forth between his classmates, still not sure what, exactly is going on. He finally sighs and gives up on getting any candy now. When Gage turns his eyes to him, Arian shrugs and tries to avoid too much detail. "It was nothing," he says. "Just being a bunch of twits, like people from their house always are."
Gage snaps his gaze back onto Elise, and then looks away as he snorts. "They 'ill stop al roi'," he mutters in response to the bullying. He doesn't comment as to /why/ they will stop though. His dark blue eyes shift back to her for a quick stare before again turning away. A long, silent stare is settled on Arian before he nods. "'E needs a good clobberin' in de face," he grumbles out. His eyes sweep back to the fire before he leans backward onto his hands as they rest behind him, glaring up at the enchanted ceiling. After several seconds he utters, "Nae all Slytherin." That's a strange comment coming from him; Gage usually doesn't get along with anyone from that House. He adds in, "Eibon's plannin' getting' into Durmstrang ter rescue Dippet."
"Not every Slytherin is awful," Elise protests to Arian. "There are some decent ones. Just like not every Ravenclaw is wonderful and there are some bad ones." She shrugs. Then she turns a very serious look to Gage. "If you're planning on revenge… please don't," she urges quietly. "If everyone really took an eye for an eye, the whole world would soon be blind. We have to rise above that kind of thing." She raises her eyebrows at Gage's last statement. "Which one?" she asks. Indeed, there are four at the school alone. "Noalan, Evelyn, Dryden, or Angelus?" She pauses. "Or one of their family?"
"And Megan!" Elise adds quickly, just remembering.
"Not all Slytherins, sure," says Arian with a shrug, "but we can't let a few good apples spoil the rotten bunch, ey?" He chuckles slightly at his own joke. Gage, however, DOES have his attention, though, with his comment about stopping them. "If you're planning something, more power to you, but I'm going to have to stay out of this one. I've got enough on my plate with what's happening with Ria…"
Gage squints up at the ceiling, listening to his thoughts for a bit. Then he snorts and turns his head, locking his dark blue eyes on Elise warily. "Nuttin'," he says lowly. "Don't yer be goin' ter yer prefect." Meaning Briar, since she's the Mud Club's originator. "'Tis all talk, is all," he grumbles. His eyes sweep over Arian before his gaze returns onto the ceiling, tilting back his head. "What?" he questions vaguely to Arian.
Elise rather sadly shakes her head. "Well, I tried," she says. "I only hope you'll think about what I said. The Mud Club and the Pirates will stand up for you, if you'd only let them." She gives Arian a vaguely disapproving frown for what he keeps saying about Slytherins. She stands. "I'm off. Oh… before I go, Gage… do you have a date to the dance? My cousin Luci really wants to go but as second years we need someone to ask us. She won't hang around you, honestly. Once you get her in you can leave her to hang out with your own friends or whomever."
Arian hums for a moment. He's not too concerned with their talk about the dance. After all, Arian has a date, for once, and he doesn't want to get involved in anyone else's business. For a moment, he contemplates telling them about his little prank, but he decides not to. Even if they ARE his housemates — and friends — it's best if as few people know about this as possible. "Don't worry about it," he says at last. "It's nothing, really."
Gage lifts his shoulders in a shrug, keeping his eyes drawn up to the ceiling. He's not forcing Arian to tell him anything; he understands the need for secrecy all too well. But at the mention of dates and the dance, Gage's hands suddenly slide over the floor and he ends up flopping swiftly to the floor. Ow. The boy sputters out as he rolls around, hastily pushing himself up to his feet altogether, standing up to his tall height. He's suddenly looking around, embarrassed, as his gaze darts around the common room, as if he were looking for someone. "Oi- Oi- Naw- Oi don't. Oi… " His embarrassment cuts off as he hisses out, and he growls, "Loike de professors 'ill let me go," he says doubtfully.
Elise blinks at Gage's reaction. Then she frowns. "Our curse isn't /contagious/," she says, possibly misinterpreting. "She just wants to have a nice time at the party - would it harm you to take her? We don't even know if we're going to be alive by the time we're fourth years," and here her voice breaks and she seems like she might start crying. "I didn't think it was that much to ask, really, it's not like we think you're going to marry her. Just — just forget it! I'll find someone else to ask her!" And now the tears really are coming, and she turns and runs into the girl's tower.
Alright, welp, that's enough for Arian! He felt awkward enough when he arrived on the scene, and now it's turned into a full blown display of crazy hormones. "That's um, well, I guess I'll just…" He's about to say 'let you two figure this out,' but before he can, Elise has already stomped off. "You know," he tells Gage instead, "I should really go finish my homework…"