| Details for Checking Up On Lucian |
| Summary: | After his abysmal behaviour at the Halloween Feast Medusa and Morgana decide to check up on Lucian and make sure he is still up for their non-party-party. |
| Date: | 1 November 1938 |
| Location: | Serpentine Maze |
| Related: | Jealousy, Italians Smell Like Garlic, and The Non-Party-Party |
| Characters |
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Normally it is the sound of high heels which announce the arrival of Medusa Malfoy, today it is the soft whisper of silk and lace and the rather odd sound of rubber wellingtons on the flagstone floor of the maze. "Come on, we need to find Lucian and repair whatever damage that sodding feast did," Medusa tells Morgana. Holding her woolen robes over one arm and her dress in the other hand, Medusa leads the way through the maze, lit wand in hand. "If we find him we can make sure he still comes with us. My plan will work."
Well there is at least one pair of high heels following the sound of Medusa's wellingtons. Morgana got herself changed into that frock Douglas was always talking about. It's a long black lace dress, that she has to pick up to keep off of the floor, and she has a black lace like mask in her hand that she decided to not walk the halls in, since it might look bad. "He didn't look pleased. Do you really thing we can talk him into it or.. is he going to brood in his room all night."
Lucian is doing anything but brooding. In fact, he's been roaming all over the castle searching for…"Medusa!" His voice echoes down the corridor when he spots her and Morgana. He's just come from the Slytherin Common Room, and…he's smiling? "I've been looking all over for you."
"Here I am. We've come to check on you and make sure you're coming tonight." Medusa's dress is a strappless silver silk number with a gathered and rouched black tule overlayer and swathes of black lace trim at the flounces. Her wellies are typical dark green. She narrows her eyes as she looks at the Slytherin prefect, "Just why are you smiling?" Suspicious much Medusa? Yes, a lot thank you.
Morgana pauses when she see's Lucian smiling, raising her brow just a bit. She managed to get her hair up in some sort of fancy style, however there is one stubborn piece of hair that keeps falling in her face that she pushes out of the way. "Yes, why are you smiling? Are you plotting something Proudmore?"
Lucian's smile fades a bit and he shakes his head. "Are you serious? I can't skip the dance now. Didn't you see how hard Ria's trying to make me jealous? It's sad, really." Never mind how well it worked. "Dusa, your original plan was the best. Did Beatrice ever find a date?"
Medusa gives Morgana a Knowing look, one of those 'We Were Right' looks. With a sigh she returns her gaze to Lucian's face. "Yes, Beatrice has a date. She's going with one of the Selwyns." Letting go of her dress Medusa reaches over to rubs his arm gently, the way one would when soothing a child. "Luc, you should come with us. The way to make Ria jealous is not to be snogging Beatrice, but to make her wonder. To make her think she maybe can't predict what you will do and that you are a man of mystery. One she needs to learn more about. Not one she can control by wearing a dress and thumping a bible in time with Alphard's tree hanging wailing."
Morgana has her mental girl conversation with Medusa and nods her head. 'Yep, called it.' She takes a step back, letting Medusa work her magic. "Besides… Who am I going to hang out with once Medusa sneaks off to snog Macmillian?" She asks, trying to be helpful. "Besides, I don't think going with Beatrice would really make her jealous." She has her how much that girl enjoys a good snog.
"Macmillan is going to be locked up in some iron maiden somewhere, Morgana. I think you'll be just fine keeping Medusa around. Look, I know Ria," Lucian insists. "If I don't show, she'll write it off as me being petulant and brooding somewhere. Let's face facts, she'd be right. I can't let her think that she got to me."
Medusa crosses her arms, pushing her breasts up which for once is not something she is doing for effect. In fact she taps her welly clad foot in annoyance. "You are playing right into her hands Lucian. You with your desperate puppy dog need to bound around at her heels yapping at any boy who so much as looks her way. You practically punched Alphard in the face last night. I saw the look on your face." Her head tilts nodding to include Morgana, "We both did. So what is going to the dance going to fix? You will ignore your date, treat her like a dog's breakfast and move her around the dance floor so that you can make moony eyes at Ria and glare at Alphard in turn." Ratcheting up the sarcasm she continues. "Oh yes, that's so going to make Ria come running back to you."
Morgana goes to lean against the wall, but finding it a bit damp, she'll back away and rub her bare arm. "You'll have to be a very good actor in order to pull it off, and not look like your whole purpose isn't to be there to keep an eye on her. Judging by your performance last night, I'm not sure how well you'd pull it off." She'll shrug push that stray stand of hair out of her face. "Besides, where are you going to find a convincing date this late in the game?
Lucian smirks, shaking his head. "See, you've got it all wrong. Oh, and thanks so much for treating me like a bloody moron, by the way." He rolls his eyes in irritation. "I'm not going to go panting after her. I'm going to do what I do best with her. I'll charm her. I'll act like Alphard's not even there, and remind her why I'm the only fellow that's ever held her attention longer than half a second. If I have to go without a date, so be it. Forgive me for assuming you might be able to help."
Medusa gestures between her and Morgana, saying to Lucian, "Alright then, let's give it a go. You can practice on us. I'll be Alphard and Morgana will be Ria." Because she isn't sure Morgana can pull off that level of haughtiness. Glancing at Morgana she tells her, "Remember, be bitchy." Instructions delivered she takes Morgana in her arms in a dance position. "Action."
Before she really knows what is going on, Morgana is pulled into a dance position and given her instructions. "I really don't know if this is going to work Medusa." She says quietly, looking up at Lucian. "I think he's made up his mind." Shaking her head at Lucian, she'll turn her pale eyes up toward him. "We want to help, but it's not the sort of help you want. Maybe there is some way to compromise this situation?" She says, still standing in that dance position Medusa pulled me into.
"Oh, come off it." Lucian shakes his head at Medusa. "I can no more pretend you're Ria and Alphard than you could pull off being them. I'm not here to perform for you." Morgana gets a grateful half-smile for backing out before the pantomime can begin. "What kind of compromise? Unless you two want to be my dates, I'm can't see how to both go to the dance and spend the evening with you."
Medusa lowers her arms and steps back from Morgana. "I don't want to go. I know you both think it is stupid, but I can't in good conscience go when Douglas is being battered for sticking up for me. If you want to go then go. I'll be on my own." With a flick of her wrist she turns off her wand and leans down to pick up her over robe which had fallen to the floor, slipping the wand into a pocket.
"I understand that Medusa. I don't want to go either, for my own reasons." Morgana says as she pinches the bridge of her nose and thinks for just a quick moment. "Here is what we do. I will go with you Luican, I'm not an obvious choice, hell I am not even on Sykes' radar. So it's not going to look like a lackey being ordered around. It'll confused her. And then, you have a fantastic time with me, even if it is the worlds largest lie. You ignore her, which I am sure is going to drive her absolutely insane. And after we have made our presence known, and taken a turn or two on the dance floor, we disappear. Slipping off to go have the proper dance party and not abandoning Medusa all evening either." She pauses, looking to the both of them to gauge their reactions. "You may not be a lost puppy nipping at her heals, but she has control over you Lucian. You need to take that back. It's not a perfect plan but it's something." She says, looking between the two blond Slytherins.
Lucian shakes his head. "No. I don't want to leave Medusa completely alone, even if only for part of the night. But for Merlin's sake, would you two really want a bloke you fancied to ignore you rather than try to show you his affection? Why would anyone prefer that?"
"Thank you," says Medusa, and she means it. Their loyalty and friendship is helping her with her guilt. "If I didn't fancy him or if I didn't want him around me because he made life difficult for me, then yes I'd want him to ignore me. In fact I'd want him as far from me as possible." She reaches up to run a hand through her pale hair. "As much as you are in love with Ria and love her…I'm not so sure she is in love with you, even if she loves you. But what you did last night made you look like a fool. No girl wants a boy that is an arse or makes her look like one by proxy."
"I don't think you are understanding what I am trying to convey." Morgana says as she shakes her head. "Why did she go with Alphard in the first place? I doubt it's because of his shinning personality, as you said, she's trying to make you jealous. You've already shown her that it worked, you ignore her, because she doesn't want you to ignore her. Than maybe, she gets it though her head that those games won't work on you." Maybe. Crossing her arms and looking between the two of them she sighs. "You want to go to the dance, you don't' want to go to the dance, and yet you both don't want to not spend the time together. So I'm stuck between two stubborn Slyterins with no hard place to retreat to." She says, trying to point out subtly that they're driving her mad.
Lucian's temper begins to show in his scowl. "I was doing my bloody job last night. Ria and Alphard were trying to provoke the Mud Club. They're lucky I got to them before Viridian did. But believe me, you're wrong about Ria." His voice drops to barely a murmur, suddenly wary of the echoes of the labyrinth. "I know for a fact that she loves me. She's just…stuck, and she doesn't know how to handle it." He leans back against the dungeon wall, running a hand through his golden locks. "She knows how I feel, and I know how she feels. Yes, I want the games to stop. But how does trying to play her end them? She'll just come up with a new tactic. I need her to meet me head-on. It's the only time she and I can communicate clearly."
Medusa feels the letter in her dress poke her in the chest, with a frown she pulls out the bent envelope and shoves it into her robe pocket. "Look, go to the dance with Morgana. She needs to go for a while as Head Girl anyway. I'll be fine. Maybe I'll do what Gerald and Sunny are doing and go to Hogsmeade or something." Medusa pulls her over robes on over her dress and shoves her hands into her pockets. "If you want to be her equal Lucian then do what I said and join the Magijugend. Come on Tuesday as my guest to the Bonfire."
Morgana looks like she was going to say more, but stops herself, instead she just crosses her arms and shakes her head. "I'm sorry, but if I loved someone, and they loved me back, nothing would stand in the way. Not a name, not blood, not money." Frowning, she gives in and leans against the wall, regardless of it's dampness. "I don't want to leave you alone Medusa, and I don't want to go to this dance if you're just going to drop me the second Ria starts to speak to you." Looking over her shoulder, it seems as if she's thinking of slipping away, or running.
Lucian nods slowly to Medusa. "I've given the Magijugend serious consideration. I'm…trying to find some kind of focus. Beyond Ria, beyond school. I'll go with you to the bonfire. But I don't want you to be alone during the dance." He gives a frustrated sigh, which grows into a loud, angry growl that echoes through the twisting corridors. Dejected and deflated, he tosses his hands up. "So, say I don't go. I need some way to get through to her that I'm not off pouting somewhere. I can't leave it to chance that she'll just write me off for the night. I want to be on her mind. Maybe…I don't know. Maybe Morgana and I could go for just a few minutes, to make an appearance…say hello to a few people and grab something to drink. I'll ignore her — against my better judgement — and we leave in good spirits. Does this make any kind of sense to girl-brains?" Because his boy-brain is obviously floundering.
Medusa beams at both of them. "Thanks." She throws her arms around Morgana and hugs her and then does the same to Lucian, who is a bit more used to hugs from the Malfoy girl. "You two go do that and meet me at the lake. I'll get everything ready. Thaddeus has lent me this charmed umbrella that expands to hold everyone under it, sort of like a pop up tent. It's fabulous. And by the time you arrive I'll have it all ready." She looks rather pleased that they aren't going to abandon her.
"So, exactly what I just suggested then?" For a moment, Morgana looks like she's about to slap the boy up the side of the head, but she refrains herself. Instead she gets pulled into a hug which she awkwardly returns, and smooths over her dress as she is released. "I told you I wouldn't, I keep my word. I've stashed my violin in the broom closet, if you want to grab it." She says to Medusa, giving her a faint smile. "Shall we?" She says to Lucian, fixing her dress again, and pushing back that stray strand of hair.
Lucian pauses for a moment, arching an eyebrow at Morgana. "It's not-…alright, it's pretty much what you just suggested. I'm sorry. This whole situation's got my head spinning." He shrugs apologetically. "I'm going to get spruced up." He's still just wearing casual weekend clothes. "We should probably be late anyhow. We can't arrive before she does."
"I'll get your violin and the lemonade and everything else," says Medusa, who looks rather pleased to not have to spend the night on her own. She probably would have looked forlorn in her party frock in the Broomsticks anyway.
Morgana raises a brow as Lucian attempts to claim that the plan was not his. "Yes.. apparently it has." She says, uncrossing her arms adn shaking her head at the blond boy. "Make it look good, I'll be waiting out here." In the cold dank dungeon hallway. "Excellent, make sure the lemonade is ready to go, I'm going to be extremely thirsty after this. I'll see you see Medusa."
Lucian pushes off from the wall to head back to the Slytherin room. He pauses to give the girls a warm smile. "You two are great." Leaving it at that, he spins and hurries off to get changed.
Orders given Medusa says, "See you both in a bit then," and she too heads to the Slytherin common room, or rather her dorm to get what is needed.