| Details for Exceeding Expectations |
| Summary: | Morgana and Douglas talk about the dance and his recent antics with Pringle, |
| Date: | 1938-10-28 |
| Location: | Lake Shore |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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Douglas is down on the beach, close to the cliffs. He's sitting out of the way, shirt untucked as he pulls it up to view some of the marks across his chest and stomach. Of course, he can't help but poke them painfully, wrinkling his nose as he does.
Morgana quietly slips down to the shore, having one of those days where she has nothing else to study, and not wanting to be easily found by people she doesn't wish to see. Finding a nice rock to settle in on, she sets down a violin case at its base and settles in, debating on weather or not to play. However something cathes her eyes, and she furrows her brows. "I hear it hurts worse if you poke at it." She says dryly.
Douglas looks up, letting his shirt fall. "It doesn't hurt," he immediately denies, doing his best to look casual about the whole thing. "Let me guess, you've come out to have a go at me, too?"
"That depends. What is it I am suppose to have a go at you about?" Morgana says as she raises her brow. "I usually only have a go at people who slight me personally, or Ravenclaws who are breaking the rules."
Douglas half smiles at that, settling back against the cliffs. "You didn't hear, then? Well, then, we're all good. How are you doing, anyhow?" He nods to the violin case. "Practicing out here?"
"I'm sure I've heard something, but I believe you've probably had enough scolding and beating for whatever it is you may have done. What are my words going to do but annoy you?" Morgana says in a very matter of fact tone. Looking down to the case she shrugs. "I'm fine, nothing exciting going on in the Head Girls life. I usually bring it down here to practice, but mostly it stays in the case."
"Play something," Douglas encourages, rubbing at his ribs through the material of his jumper. "If you're really good, I'll even dance for you. Or with you. You're going to the dance, right?"
"Only by insistance from your girlfriend." Morgana says about her attendance to the dance. "And if I am terrible are you going to run away screaming and covering your ears?" She asks, leaning over and opening the case. For a long moment she hesitates, staring at the instrument as if it might bite her. Finally she shakes her head and takes it out, and takes a moment or two to tune it.
"Of course," Douglas agrees amiably. "You know me, famous for my running away screaming." He rolls over to lie on his front, propping his chin on his hands as she tunes up. "I am claiming a dance with you, though."
"Are you? Is this also at your girlfriend's insistence?" Morgana says with her brow raised. "I'm half expecting her to hand me a card with everyone she's arranged dances with." She finally plays a few notes, in way of a warm up before nodding to him. "Well I might as well see if you're going to step on my feet or not." And with that, she begins playing a lively tune.
Douglas snorts, foot tapping as she plays. "Oh come on, you think I just do whatever Malfoy tells me? If I'd known she was arranging dances, I wouldn't have asked you. Can't make it look like I'm under her thumb, y'know?" He grins faintly, nodding approval. "You're actually not as bad as I was expecting."
"No, but I think that if she had asked you a favor nicely you would consider it." Morgana replies, talking loud enough to be heard over the music. "And no, I would never accuse you of being under her thumb." There is a very slight smirk over her lips before she lets out a snort of a laugh. "As bad as you were expecting? And just what were you expecting MacMillian?"
Douglas flashes a grin as he pulls himself, wincing just a little, to his feet. "I was expecting you to be bloody awful," he admits freely, giving a short bow before tucking his hands behind his back and beginning to set to. It's not quite the same without a kilt on, but he's clearly had at least some practice.
"Bloody awful. That's a new one. Honestly, is that what they're saying about me these days?" Morgana says with a shake of her head. She might have shrugged, but that would interfere with her playing. She does watch him, shaking her head as he dances. "You're not half bad. Just don't step on my toes if you insist on dancing with me."
"I've never heard a bad word said about you," Douglas cheerfully admits as he goes through the steps, slowly turning in a circle on the spot. "Or about your violin playing. Medusa likes you, anyway, and she usually doesn't like anyone."
"Well that's a relief, I would have never recovered from a bout of bad rumors." Morgana says dryly as she continues to play, slighly amused that he is attempting to dance on sand. "Well, I find it easy to like people who haven't slighted me in one way or another, and I believe she feels the same way. And she does obviously like people, she likes you well enough."
"I'm different," Douglas insists as he claps along to the music, still dancing. "She wants me for my body. It's understandable."
Morgana shakes her head as she finishes up the song, setting the violin down in her lap for a moment before she responds. "Well then. I suppose if that's all it takes than I'll take my praise back then."
"Well, I'm pretty sure she doesn't want me for my Potions homework," Douglas jokes, holding out his hands to her. "Come on. Let's see you dance, then. You know the Gay Gordons? Everyone knows the Gay Gordons."
"Well no, that's what she wants me for." Morgana smirks, as she wipes off a few finger prints from the violin before putting it back on the case. When he offers the dance she'll raise about, and look around at their surroundings. "You'll see me dance on Halloween, I assure you I know how and if you are that insistent I won't step on your toes."
Douglas pfts. "Nobody's watching," he encourages, gesturing her up to him. "Come on. Live a little."
Morgana stands and dusts off her skirt, before she shakes her head. "Live a little? Is this really your thought of living? Dancing by a lake with no music?" She does sigh and shake her head. "You're not going to take no for answer are you?"
"Dancing by a lake with no music sounds like the very definition of living a little," Douglas insists, flicking a half grin as he beckons her once more to him, humming an energetic jig from the corner of his mouth in his best trumpet impersonation and beginning the dance steps once more with an invisible partner.
"Very well." Morgana says, shaking her head and watching him for a moment, mostly to just get the steps. She's familiar with the dance, but it has been a while. Finally, she joins in and shakes her head. "There. I'm living."
Douglas laughs, spinning her round before taking her in a ballroom hold for the polka part. "You're not having fun?" he queries, grinning at her. "This is living. Not sitting around, poring over dusty schoolbooks, or practicing some concoction or other for an exam you dread. Just taking the time to be you! Doing what you want! Dancing, playing music, whatever it is that makes your day. Spending time with the hottest Gryffindor in school, you're welcome by the way."
"No, it's existing. It's running through the motions, putting on a happy face and getting through each day so I can get up and deal with the next." Morgana replies as she is pulled into the ballroom hold. She does keep her distance from him, at least as far as she is able to for the dance. "Doing what I want to do, what I really and truely want to do isn't going to allow me to get though my day, so until we're out of here, that's what I will be doing." His Gryffindor comment causes her to shake her head. "How ever can I repay you for such an honor." She says in a flat deadpan tone.
"So what do you want to do?" Douglas asks, genuinely curious. "Why are you still here if you don't want to be. There's nothing stopping you walking right out of those gates any time you want, and not coming back. You've got your OWLs."
"Crawl my way into a bottle and drink my way out of it." Morgana responds flatly. "However I think that would affect my ability to perform in class." When he asks about her staying, she shrugs her shoulders. "Well the easy answer is that the Department of Mysteries doesn't accept anything less than NEWT level classes. The other is that I am not going to run away, just because I was dumped for someone inferior. No matter how much it bothers me."
Douglas glances around, lowering his voice. "Come and find me at the dance. I've got a few bottles coming in," he offers, then taps his nose. "Not a word, though, all right?" He releases her hand and backs off to lean against the cliff again. "Anyone who dumped you's a bloody idiot. You know you're better off without him, though, right? Men are all idiots, and I'm speaking as a man here. I should know."
"So, you're informing the Head Girl that you're going to be sneaking booze into the dance? Are you sure you don't want to rephrase that?" Morgana says as she takes takes a few steps back with the dance being over. "Oh yes, you all are. You dance between girls, leaving them in a pile of tears, than pick up the next one as if it were a new set of robes. None of you care what sort of mess you leave behind, just so long as you have someone to snog. Am I right? Or just bitter and jilted?"
Douglas runs his tongue over his teeth. "Well… no, you're probably right," he admits, thinking over his own list of girlfriends over the years, and their less than stellar perception of him afterwards. "It is a kind of dickish thing to do. But it's better to break it off when they get all clingy and start talking marriage and babies and all that. I mean, come on, we're seventeen, for crying out loud."
"Had I been guilty of that, I would agree with you, but you are right. I'm seventeen, the only thing I am thinking about is how much I need to save up from my potential future job to get my own place. While I cared what he did after school, I wasn't going to plan my life around him, and I am glad that I did not." Shaking her head, she'll go back to leaning on the rock. "This is the reason I've sworn off dealing with boys for the rest of the year. I'm just tired of the drama."
"You don't think it's worth it in the slightest?" Douglas queries, tucking his thumbs into his belt. "I mean, the snogging and all that. It's worth it. And you wouldn't feel like shit if it wasn't good to start with," he reasons. "What was his excuse, then?"
"I enjoy snogging as much as the next girl, and to say I don't miss it would be a lie. However I'm not just going to find some random boy and drag him into a closet just to get it out of my system." Morgana says with a shrug, though his last statement causes her to frown. "I don't know. I really don't know what his excuse is. He couldn't give me a reason, he just said he wanted time apart. So I gave him his space, and when I come back, his decision was obvious. He wanted Gabrielle instead. So if you want his excuse, maybe you should ask him, because he wouldn't tell it to me."
Douglas shrugs, reaching into his pocket for a cigarette, which he slides between his lips and lights up, puffing once or twice before offering it over. "Basically, he was a dick. And if that's his taste? Well, you got away lightly. Look, it sucks, and I can't fix it, but… come and chill with us some time. Dance. Swim. Run. See the baby owls. Yeah, so boys suck. Life doesn't!"
Morgana furrows and brows and shakes her head at the offering. "You wonder why you loose so many points." She says with an exasperated tone. Lucky for him, he isn't in Ravenclaw, and she isn't about to track down a Gryffindor Prefect for something so minor. SHe shrugs her shoulders however, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm trying. I'm out here arn't I? Not sitting some where with a nose in a book." She looks like she might say more but she stops herself.
"I don't wonder," Douglas admits, taking the cigarette back and puffing on it. "I just think points are a waste of time, and just their way of trying to keep us down. Keeping us docile and doing what they want. It's not a fair system, and it's not like the points mean anything at the end of the day anyway. When we're out in the real world next year, do you think people are going to ask us how many points our house had? It's irrelevant to real life."
"Well, what else would you do to keep this amount of teenagers, with wild hormones and untapped magical potential in line? It's a system that mostly polices itself. If you loose points, there's that lovely peer pressure in the way that takes care of most people. Present company excluded." Morgana says with a shrug. "You're right, no one is going to care once we're out of here, but it keeps some of this wild bunch in line."
"If I get pinged for anything again, I'm likely out on my ear," Douglas points out, blowing a smoke ring. "I was pretty tempted to just rabbit the other day, when Malfoy said she'd got detention with Pringle. That man's not right. I tried to convince her to just come with me and we'd leave. And that'd be that."
"I've never been fond of him myself." Morgana says, before she thinks it over. "She wouldn't want to disappoint her parents I'm sure. Not that I know them personally, but that's the impression that I am getting from her. So are you planning on staying out of trouble then?" She asks with a smirk.
Douglas half grins. "I know you won't believe me when I say it, but I do try to stay out of trouble. Pringle was a… well, special case. He was threatening to pretty much beat Malfoy half to death. I don't mind getting expelled if it's stopping some overgrown bully beating on girls."
"No, but I'll take your word for it." Morgana says with a shrug. "And I can't fault you for keeping Medusa out of that situation. Honestly I don't know why they allow him to do that, but I think with the current headmaster…" She'll frown again and shake her head. "Not that my opinion matters about that. So, is Medusa requiring a matching costume for you this year?"
"For the dance?" Douglas queries, then shakes his head. "She'll have to just match herself. I'm otherwise occupied for it, courtesy of Mister Pringle. Tonight was the only dance I'm getting in."
"Ah. Well then I apologize for giving you the worlds lamest dance." Morgana says with a shake of her head. "I'll keep her company for you, she said something about wanting to dance with me as well."
"She's all right," Douglas insists. "I know she can be a bit of a bitch sometimes… or, well, yeah, a lot of the time, but she's sound. Keep her topped up with booze and fags for me. I'll just be, y'know. Hanging around."
"I don't notice her bitchiness." Or maybe Morgana just agrees with it, or she's just on Medusa's good side. "And again, asking me to break school rules. Do I need to pate the letters HG on my forehead?" She says in a joking tone. "I'll keep her entertained, you deal with the rest."
Douglas offers his best smile. "I'm not asking you to break the rules exactly." No. No, really, he is. "I just want her to be all right. And if I get caught bringing them in, I'm done for, so I've got to ask her friends."
"Well one. Don't get caught." Morgana says with a shake of her head. "Two, maybe you should rethink where you are trying to sneak the beverages into. Not that I, as the Head Girl am condoning anything." She says, shaking her head. "Maybe you should save the booze for the weekend? It is a Hogsmeade weekend after all."
"It's the dance," Douglas pleads. "I mean, come on. It's traditional to get raging drunk on cheap cider and make out with somebody behind the boatshed." Douglas adds, "You don't have to make out with her, though. I'll save that for when I'm out."
"You're not that lucky." Morgana says to the comment about making out with Medusa. "Honestly, I"ll make my apperance, dance what I have to dance and than I'll be gone. I'll let you have the boatshed so you can go and make out with your girl."
"Don't suppose you want to just dress up as me, so I can go to the dance instead?" Douglas suggests hopefully, flashing her a grin. He exhales, drawing himself upright. "Time to get back, though. You staying for a bit, or..?" He offers his arm and a hand to take the violin case.
Noting the hour, Morgana gathers her things and will hand off her violin case, but does not take his arm. "No, I went through a lot of effort to have my Grandmother owl me something to wear and I don't think it'll fit you." She'll shake her head while they walk back to the castle. "Honestly, I am sure you won't miss it all that much."
"Ah well, look beautiful for me," Douglas decides, settling the violin over his shoulder as he heads back.
"I don't know," says Fiona as they stand on the steps. She is looking around for more slugs. Evil things, she doesn't put it past them to sneak up on her. "I mean about the holidays. My parents are still really angry about Aidan and I bet my mother will be all weepy because he won't be with us. They might not let me come visit you and Meg. Or Grace. Grace offered to send me cakes though, she makes great cakes."
Douglas pauses just before entering the courtyard proper, waving Morgana on ahead of him, despite having her violin case over his shoulder. He doesn't pause for long, just stands for a moment to shift his weight, then carries on in. "Anyway," he tells Morgana, with a huge grin, "I might look beautiful in your frock. You shouldn't judge."
Morgana shakes her head as she walks past him, rolling her eyes slightly. "I don't think you have enough to properly fill it out. It would just hang awkwardly off of your shoulders." She says lightly pausing while he adjusts his weight. "Besides, I have a feeling your girlfriend would have words with me for not showing up."
Seeing Morgana always makes Fiona feel a bit guilty by association, darn that Conall. She calls out a warning to the pair, "Look out for slugs!" Because they could slip on one and hurt themselves; her worst nightmare. "Stay strong Macmillan." The first year gives him a thumbs up.
Angelus can't say he isn't disappointed to hear that. He frowns, tilting his head a little, regarding the girl. "You have to come for a day," the boy insists, and then lets out a sigh. From underneath the hood pulled over his head, his blue eyes trail towards the two older students arriving. He leans in close to Fiona to whisper to her.
Douglas gives the little first year a thumbs up in return and a half grin. "They can't break me, Donnelly. And my plan's working perfectly!"
"Slugs?" Morgana questions, looking down at the ground as she walks. "Do I even want to know what those two are up to?" Morgana says in a quiet voice as she continues to walk.
"It's been raining. There are always slugs when it rains, but soon it will get cold and the blighters will freeze." Fiona sounds rather gleeful about this. She looks at Angelus, "I'll try, but I mean I'm eleven. It isn't like I get to floo wherever I want or apparate. And Mother will want a letter from your mother saying it is alright for me to go."
Douglas lifts the violin case, raising a brow at Morgana. "Where do you want it? And I've long since learned that if I don't ask any questions, I can't get into any trouble. Well. Less trouble."
A smirk flicks across Angelus' lips and he rolls his shoulders back. His eyes trail over to the two older years, not convinced, but then glances back onto Fiona. "Are you connected? To the network? We have two rooms that are." Angelus dips his head once, and then bobs his head twice more. "I can get her to do that," he says as a smile slips against his lips. "Come on, let's go talk to Flint."
Morgana holds out her hand for the violin case. "I'll carry it if it's too heavy for you." She says, shaking her head. "I should get it back up to the dorm before I start patrolling the halls for wayward students." She says with a shake of her head.
Seeking out the headmaster makes Fiona look almost as faint as the slug did. Her hand slips up into her hair, twirling and twidling it around her finger as she nods meekly, smiles wanly and says somewhat squeakily, "Sure, Gel."
"Thanks, Rashley," Douglas responds, giving Morgana a nod. "Look after yourself, eh?" And then he's heading off outside again.