| Details for She's Just a Girl! |
| Summary: | Cyprien learns just how much of a character Madeline really is. |
| Date: | 27 January 1939 |
| Location: | Owl Tower |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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It is late in the afternoon and Cyprien has found himself sitting in front of one of the panes of a large glass window. His blue eyes stare down at the snowy grounds below and a soft hmm escapes his lips. There was something relaxing about the height of the room, the random noises of the owls, and the scents of excrement from those same owls. It reminded him of the stables he used to work at back home. Lifting a hand, he places his fingertips against the glass of the window and smiles to himself. "I could get used to this."
Madeline /loved/ the owls. She loves running up to the owl tower between classes, and just staring at them. Sometimes if she was very lucky, one was awake and willing to come down to her. She dashes up the steps, eyes turned upwards, not noticing at first that there was someone else in the room as she searching for that one particular owl with the funny toe that came down for her sometimes…
Cyprien feels a vibration of footsteps as his hand is against the window. These were fast footsteps too, almost felt like the owner of the footsteps was running. Breathing in deeply, a spark of excitement enters the expression of the first year boy and he turns his head around to take a looksie at who disturbed his peace. He had to squint a little bit because it was slightly darker than the outside he was staring at, but he knew a figure when he saw one. It was /that/ girl again! "Oi! You might knock something over running like that, miss." He called out, not caring how much of a hypocrite he was for saying that.
Madeline blinks at her housemate as she's addressed, her gaze going down from studying the owl, and looking to the boy instead. "Oh! Cyprien! Hello!" she greets him brightly. "I didn't know you were here. And what could I possibly run into in the owl tower? There's never anything here but owls!" ….and sometimes iced floors.
Cyprien slowly picks himself up from the ground, dusting off owl droppings and dirt from the seat of his pants. Not like he cared about the state of his clothes, but if his mother caught wind of him dirtying expensive uniforms, she would find ways to punish him from even miles away. Shuddering, he shook off the thoughts of his mother and focused on the matter at hand. He studied her for a moment and grinned brightly, shaking his head. "Ah, well you got me there. I barely follow my own advice either. What'cha doing up here anyways? This isn't a clean place for a girl like you."
Madeline lets out a laugh. "Clean for girls? Well, it's not clean for boys, either! Who cares?" She stares up at the owls again, then points at one, when she finally finds the owl she's looking for. "See that one there, with the twisted toe? He's a really nice owl. He comes down and lets me pet him, sometimes. The owls are just so near, aren't they?"
Cyprien flushed a bit at the playful retort Madeline had given him. His arms crossed over his small chest and he tried not to show that he was shaken. Besides the fact he was not used to girls, he didn't like them shattering his thoughts of them being clean and proper beings like his mother. Not sassy ones like Madeline. "If you say so. I just think boys are much more suited for dirt. Our skin can handle it." Waving his small hand around as if dismissing her first answer, he quickly moves the topic along by responding to her second answer, "Aye, you're right about that, miss. They're quite friendly. Have you held one before?"
Variel says, "Probably. If it can be held, climbed, ogled or dropped into a cauldron on accident, Evans has beat you there. Hullo Maddie." Variel steps into the tower, hands in robe pockets."
Madeline and Cyprien are both standing a short distance away from each other. It's afternoon. Mouthy as ever, Madeline puts her hands on her hips, eyeing Cyprien dubiously. "And what 'bout your skin makes it better for dirty than mine? I help my da' at the farm, you know. Muck out the horses' stalls and everything. Looking after the pig's my job, too. And I help plant the seeds at planting time."
She lets her gaze go back up towards the owls. "I've held Avi - that's my uncle's owl. He's quite nice. But that's the only one," she sighs. "I've pet some of these other ones, when they've come down. But I don't want to pick one up without knowing who's owl it is 'n if they'd mind at all."
Cyprien lets out a low whistle and chuckles, seemingly impressed. If he hadn't known better he would have thought he was hanging out with the boys back at home. Except she was a girl and he just could not get over that fact. He rubs a thumb against the side of his cheek and wonders if he should seriously reply to her words, but decides to anyways. Besides she was fun and he liked fun things. "Aww, miss, I am just playing with you. If you are what you say you are then I guess that makes it final." He added a cheeky smile and continued on, "Well that's nice of you, I guess owls can sometimes be picky and might bite if they don't like the people that's touching them. How often do you come here?" His blue eyes then look up at the older boy that entered the tower and the smug grin wiped off his face. He didn't know there would be more company.
"Of course I am what I say. If I didn't help 'round the farm, my da'd box my ears," Madeline points out before adding, "You know Weasley, right Cyprien? Weasley the Warmhearted!" Yup. She's sticking with that. She beams up at Variel brightly.
"I come often enough, I guess. A couple times a week, maybe?"
Cyprien eyes the much bigger and older boy apprehensively. He was not sure what to make of him yet, but he looked like a nice enough person. Cyprien lifts his hand and waved at Variel, saying, "Nice to meet ya. I think I have heard his name a few times before since he is in our house, but I don't think I have actually met him." He nods with a small smile and then directs his attention back to Madeline, "Oh do you? Have you ever tried to climb up to where the owls are? You said you liked to climb last time I met you?" He states this with a quirk of his eyebrow, making sure the girl is keeping her story straight.
"Climb, in here?" Madeline asks, looking dubious. "The stones are slick with owl droppings and ice, and don't you think they'd peck at you if you climbed up to their holes and startled them?" she asks in a dubious tone. "Their peeks are /scary/."
Sticking his hands into the pockets of his robe, the boy gives a stare up at the arches and frowns for a moment as he surveys the owls' home. She was right, the stones were quite slippery and the owls probably did not wish to be bothered. He gives off an exasperated sigh and admits defeat to her words with a muffled tone, "Fine, fine, I guess you can't really climb here." Cyprien then tilts his head downwards to give Madeline another look. "What else do you do for fun around these parts, I hardly got to talk to you when we were in the commons. My sleepiness took over. Did you ever finish whatever you were making that night?"
Madeline shrugs her shoulders, and shakes her head. "Still working on it," she says simply. "In /these/ parts, I just visit the owls. Sometimes I go skip stones by the lake, though, or have snowball fights with Adam," one of the first year Hufflepuff boys - and a Muggle-born like she is. "Or we climb trees together. Plus, we just joined a new book club together, so that should be fun!"
"And this Adam lets you have snowball fights with him?" Cyprien looks completely taken aback by this thought and studies the girl once more. She didn't look all that intimidating with her small stature and her obvious girl gender. Why would other boys let her play with them. He quietly steps forward and circles the girl as if he was giving her a complete overview. He then halts in his tracks and laughs melodiously. "And he joined a book club too with you? You must be very convincing, miss. I haven't heard of a boy that joins a book club. Not from where I live." Cyprien narrows his eyebrows in thought, seemingly interested, "What is the book club about?"
"Why /wouldn't/ he?" Madeline asks, sounding mistified. She giggles suddenly. "Has he told you 'bout the two times I dumped a whole /heap/ of snow on him at once? /Or/ there was the time I got his wand off him, and ran in circles 'round the tree where he'd holed up!" She giggles at the memory.
As he starts to circle around her, Madeline turns once following him, her brows furrowed in confusion. What an odd boy. "Well. It's about… books. We pick a book - Muggle, or wizard, or whatever, and we get to read it and talk about it. I'm gonna recommend 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I think! It's a great book. You should come!"
Cyprien can't help but laugh as he hears the girl's giggling move throughout the room. She definitely baffled him with her weird energy and total disregard to how he envisioned girls to be. His shoulders shrugged and he figured that there was no changing her so he might as well play along. "Ha! That must've been a sight to see! Why'd he hole up in a tree anyways? Was he scared of something?" Cyprien lifted both of his eyebrows at her explanation of the club and bit the bottom of his lip. He looked definitely wary at the aspect of being surrounded with probably all girls. He was already tortured enough during classes that he /had/ to go to. "Well I guess it can be something I can try one of these days. I don't read that often, miss. Specially not for fun. So I am probably not too good at it. When do you guys have it?" He managed a smile, trying to seem energetic as he usually is.
"Because I was throwing snowballs at him!" Madeline explains. "He went up the tree for cover! Then he dropped his wand, and I grabbed it. It was great!" She beams brightly.
As for the book club, though, her expression turns more thoughtful. "You know, we haven't had a meeting yet, actually, so I don't know. It's still a really knew idea! Adorabella just thought it up."
The blonde haired boy throws his head back and laughs loudly at the explanation the girl was giving him. He leans forward and places his hands on his knees while shaking his head, messing up his hair even more. "Well serves him right then, he shouldn't have been off his guard. Y'know what, you should teach me some of your moves one of these days. You seem fairly courageous for a girl, but I guess that's why you're a Gryffindor, eh?" He nodded in agreement with his statement. "Mmmkay, I'll take your word for it. Are you in any other clubs or just this book one you keep talking about?"
"Well, I'm in the Mud Club," Madeline says. "And I'm in Domestics. I mean, it's not much fun, but the way they explained it - well. I get to learn how to wash the dishes with magic and stuff, so for the rest of my life, I won't have to wash dishes anymore. So that's worth it, I think. But I'm afraid my snowball fight techniques are /top secret/. Couldn't have you using them against me in battle!" There's teasing in her eyes as she says it. "'course, if we got in a snowball fight and you figured them out, well… That's different."
Cyprien considered the clubs the girl was in. While something about mud sounded like fun, the domestics club was definitely not up his alley. He could imagine himself being pummeled if the boys back home heard about him doing domestic things. He straightens up some and blows a piece of his blond hair out of his face, chuckling inwardly at her top secret techniques. "I must admit, you're definitely a smart one. You're right! Revealing secrets isn't good at all, but maybe… just maybe I'll take you up on that snowball fight offer. Just promise you won't cry? I don't want to have a girl crying on me. Promised my mum I'd be nice." The Gryffindor gives her a playful wink and walks past her to the exit of the door, pausing to say, "You'll keep me informed when that book club opens, ok? I want to check it out. I should be going now though. It was interesting talking to you." Grinning like a madman, he walks out of the tower as his humming follows him out.
"As long as you don't do dirty tricks like putting rocks or ice chunks in the snowballs, there's no need for crying," Madeline responds with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Sure! I'll let you know! Later, Cyprien!" she calls after him. Now. … how to coax down the owl with the twisted toe?