(Untitled)
Week Name/Date/Time: 'Settling Down'/Friday, November 25th, 2005/8:19pm
Location: Grounds
Open to: JORY!
Currently Involving: Saffron and Jory
It was rather early, but Saffron had been going to bed earlier and earlier and today eight in the morning didn't seem unreasonable. Plus, if they wanted to get a proper place to play about in, they had to get ( Read more... )
Location: Grounds
Open to: JORY!
Currently Involving: Saffron and Jory
It was rather early, but Saffron had been going to bed earlier and earlier and today eight in the morning didn't seem unreasonable. Plus, if they wanted to get a proper place to play about in, they had to get ( Read more... )
He was sleeping standing up because he was sleepy and it was 8:00 in the bloody morning and he was not in his warm pleasantly soft bed like he ought to be at 8:00 on a Friday morning. No, no, he was lugging about a shovel in the freezing snow. At 8:00. In the morning.
Or trying to, at any rate, but the whole tired thing was forcing him to stop every so often and stand about sleepily. Sleepy and cold, wonderful combination.
Oh, how brilliant, and now he had lost Saffron. Blinking blearily, Jory followed the sound of her voice and trudged slowly across the snow. Somewhere along the way he managed to drop the shovel and spent a few minutes going back and looking for it, but once that was done, he was well on his way and approached Saffron and her mighty mound of snow.
He glanced at it and then back at her. She certainly seemed pleased with herself. Well, perhaps this mound of snow was what a snow fort was. Frankly, he had thought it would be a bit more work than that, but a mound of snow it was and that seemed all there was to it.
"Er, you've done it," he said through a yawn. "Congratulations. Don't need me then, I reckon, good night." He jerked his thumb back in the direction of the castle where there was a tower by the name of Ravenclaw and a sixth year boys' dorm and a bed that was all his.
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He seemed a little surprised, and when he mentioned she didn't need him, Saffron gave a good laugh. "You really think I'd drag you out here for this," she asked, gesturing toward the mound. Shaking her head, she laughed a bit more before catching the material of his coat beteween her fingers to keep him from leaving. "This requires digging," she said slowly to make sure he heard her correctly.
"I'm going to go and dig a bit on the other side, so we know how deep to make it. You're going to start digging right here." Leaning forward, Saffron traced a sort of door way on the front, as if showing him where to not stray past. Nodding at him, she started smoothing the top of the mound (the top of which nearly reached her waist) as she made her way to the back of it.
"Well, go on. Get your panties out of a bunch and start diggin'," she said to Jory, who was still bleary eyed and sleepy. When she started throwing snow at him, he would wake up.
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"Fine, fine," he agreed to her instructions, stifling another yawn as he adjusted his hat and fumbled a bit with his shovel. "Right then, we'll just -- panties?" He pitched forward, mid-dig, and nearly slipped in the snow. He managed to save himself from a numb face by using the shovel as leverage, but that didn't stop him from shooting Saffron a dirty look anyway -- or a Jory version of a dirty look, which really looked a great deal like his regular expression.
Back to digging. "Honestly," he muttered under his breath. He was a very easygoing bloke. Really, he was. REALLY. HE WAS.
"Saffron," he called, stopping his digging so that he could tuck his hair underneath his hat and keep it from bothering him. "Remind me what the point to all this fort stuff is."
He'd said 'stuff' instead of 'nonsense' which indicated what an incredibly easygoing bloke he was.
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Excavating a small area, Saffron was lucky enough to look up just as Jory nearly slipped in the snow. If that wasn't enough, he attempted to glare at her, which indeed was very much like his regular expression, but to her it became suddenly hilarious. Flopping back on her bottom to give a good laugh, she shook her head as he muttered to himself. They needed to hang out more - he was simply a hoot.
Getting back up onto her feet, she smoothed out the top a bit more, listening carefully as Jory spoke. For a moment, Saffron remained silent. No one had ever asked her that, and she had never bothered to ask anyone, so really she didn't know the answer. Normally, people were just excited about playing in the snow. Then she realized this was Jory and even when he did get excited about his one passion, it didn't even compare to half of the enthusiasm she had about...well, everything.
It also seemed as if the tried and true 'Fun' excuse wouldn't work here. Walking slowly back around to where he stood, Saffron began digging, but much slow than normal. "Well," she started, "for the satisfaction finishing it."
Then she added, because the panties comment had gone over so well, "I expect you could bring your girlfriend out here for a bit of snogging. She's pretty good at yelling you know." And crying, she winced as she thought, still feeling horrible about just abandoning Avis.
"How about," she said finally, "I'll scoop the snow out, and you pile it on top to make it bigger, okay?" She turned to give him a hopeful smile, though her eyes were narrowed as if to say 'Just do it!'.
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"Well," he tried again, "that sounds all right to me, but if you never start it to begin with, you don't need the satisfaction in completing it, do you?" His monotone voice, good for expressing exactly zero emotions, was intended to come off as mildly curious, not complaining. He wasn't complaining; if anything, he was waking up and feeling better.
The girlfriend comment made him laugh at first, either because he was still waking up and not processing things quickly (did he EVER?) or because he assumed she was poking fun at the fact that he would likely never have a real girlfriend. Or snog anyone. But then it seemed like Saffron was alluding to a specific person, so he was mildly curious. Maybe she knew he fancied Audrey and was taking the mickey out of him for it. Well, no. Clearly, Audrey was not someone who yelled, anyone could see that.
"What girlfriend?" he asked, leaning on his shovel. "Me? Who?"
As he'd apparently been inadvertently piling the snow already, he nodded and went to do that straight away, though not until after he'd muttered, "Aye-aye, Captain," and smirked at her. Pfff, narrow her eyes at him -- tsk.
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Fearing that he was not seeing the point in all of this, she answered quickly, "No." She paused and looked at him, shaking her head. "Because you would know the snow was just waiting for you and you failed to complete the task - after all - starting is half the battle." What was she preaching? Really, Saffron just wanted him to stay. "Plus it's fun, you nutter. To feel like an Eskimo."
Every so often, she looked at him, and when he laughed she turned to make sure that it was still Jory standing there. When she confirmed that it actually was, she gave a good laugh herself, especially when he stopped and asked her 'What girlfriend'. "No," she said swiftly, "I'm talking to that other bloke out here with me. Of course you!" Shaking her head, Saffron thought fondly of the meeting the night before.
"You know, that Gryffindor lass of yours. She gave me sweets, we made up," she said plainly, though ever since they had had the row Saffron wanted to tell Jory about it. It seemed he ought to know when two girls (one of which, she realized happily, was now properly taken) were fighting over him. Though, now that she wasn't quite as jealous or possesive over him, Saffron would've been so amused to hear that Jory actually fancied a girl. Though, looking at Audrey, it could be seen why he would pick her.
"Such a dedicated worker," she said under her breath sarcastically, though she was completely appreciative of his effort.
They worked together for a while, Saffron never running out of things to talk about, and Jory never failing successfully pile snow on to the mound. That could be admired in a man - even when they're sleepy, they worked, even if it was reluctantly. When she finally stopped just chatting randomly, she looked at Jory in earnest. "It's deep enough that I actually have to climb in now. When I pull the snow out, you have to take care of it, okay?"
With that, Saffron got on her knees and crawled into the entrance, flipping onto her back and continuing to dig, though this was more difficult because snow fell onto her face as she dug, and it was just unfortunate. Gah. Garier usually did that part.
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(If the Elecott brand of logic was at all possible to follow.)
"Still," he went on, taking another break from shoveling. He was, after all, not exactly a strong boy. He liked... reading. "I mean, couldn't we just use magic?" he asked hopefully. Magic was quick. And, well, didn't require the use of any muscles he didn't possess.
"Gryffindor," he repeated a few moments later when he'd paused for another break. "Um?" He had a Gryffindor lass? And she was giving Saffron sweets? Now, was she his lass or was she courting Saffron on the sly? (A thought that would have normally made him chuckle if he hadn't been confused.) He tried to think of the Gryffindors he knew. Jackie? Lexi? Uh, well, clearly not, she was seeing Julian.
And then, of course, he thought of Avis and his conversation with her yesterday and of course, then, he blushed, but he hoped it wouldn't look like blushing and that it would look like he was flushed from the cold or something. "Um," he mumbled awkwardly, getting back to work. "Do you mean Avis? Because she isn't... you know, she isn't my girlfriend."
Er, wonderful. He sounded like a git just saying the word girlfriend. Obviously, he would never have one.
And then Saffron went mad and started talking about climbing in and he became confused all over again. "You're climbing in?" he asked, alarmed, and watched as she crawled inside.
Building a snow fort was odd.
"Um, all right," he muttered under his breath, shoveling the snow that she pulled out away. "Just thought you ought to know this is one of the strangest things I've ever done, but all right."
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If she had been able to see his logic, Saffron would've been positively smitten - though not in the way she had so recently gotten over. Jory was so sweet, and she supposed that's how he won so many hearts. If there was one certain thing, it was that she had had picked the right fellow to dig a fort with. A constant source of amusement he was.
"That would defeat the purpose," she said simply, still digging away. She turned to give him a sort of 'Well come on then, sort of look and went back to work. She understood that athletics was not something that Jory frequently participated in, but tossing a ball about didn't exactly make her a body builder. If she had any strength at all, it was from wrestling, a happening that had become less and less frequent.
Was he still tired, or was he pretending to be dull? Or had she not been obvious enough? If he didn't get it soon, Saffron decided she would just tell him it was Avis and give him the rundown about what had happened between them. Giving him a moment more to think about it, she knelt down, looking inside. Not bad Saffron, she thought to herself, standing back up and looking at Jory with an expectant face.
He started working again and she did notice that his cheeks got a bit redder. Luckily for him, a rather cold wind rushed by at the exact moment, and she figured his naturally fair skin was indeed just flushed from the cold. After all, she expected hers was as well, what with being the whitest of the Caucasians for her heritage.
Giving a great laugh at his response, Saffron shook her head. "I know she isn't your girlfriend, you tub o' oats. I'm just fooling with you." She shoved him playfully with a gloved hand and shook her head. "I need to make sure you know I'm kidding from now on," she joked again, grinning so he would know this time.
Waving a dismissive hand at him, she climbed in, not really deterred at all. What did wizard children do for fun in the winter? Didn't they play in the snow and build things? That was all muggle children ever did - especially Saffron. She was practically an expert at snow sculpting.
Having heard him, she scoffed. "Have a list going, have you?" she called to him, but it was muffled by the impending snow. For a moment she was frightened. What if it all collapsed? What if Jory couldn't dig her out? Pushing this aside, she scooped more and more snow out, hollowing out an area before starting on another.
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Jory puckered his lips into what looked suspiciously like a pout. "Well, if you knew she wasn't my girlfriend, then why..." He paused.
"Tub of oats?"
Occasionally, just when he thought Saffron had exhausted her supply of Strange Things to Say, she came up with another one. Interesting.
"Anyway," he went on, deciding to ignore the girlfriend thing for now, "from now on, I'll just assume everything you say is a joke, how's that?" He'd done a decent job of not stumbling over when she'd shoved him, which was a good sign. It was nice not starting his morning as a sissy.
He watched silently as she climbed in, quite interested with the phenomenon. There was a Saffron who was not in a hole made of snow, and then, rather suddenly, there was a Saffron who was in a hole made of snow. It was so mind-boggling that he had to tilt his head, not only to keep an eye on her as she climbed in, but because his thoughts were so boggled that they had become heavy and were tipping his head over. Well. Not really. But the thought amused him.
"No," he deadpanned, leaning on his shovel for a moment. "But I might start one after this. You and your snow fort get to be at the top, isn't that nice?" It was really too bad that she was inside the fort, she was missing a (possibly) successful attempt at a smirk. Pity. He went back to shoveling.
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Obviously his ears were still plugged because he seemed confused by her girlfriend comment. Honestly Jory.
She laughed once when he repeated her phrases of nonsense, only then hearing how odd it was. Either way, she liked the way it rolled off her tongue, she suspected that some other people were going to be getting called that.
"Not everything," she corrected a little stiffly, but with the same humorous tone she had been using all morning. "If I told you me mum died, it wouldn't be a joke." Saffron snorted, shaking her head. "Actually, that is the sort of thing I'd joke about." Laughing a little more with a big smile, she went back to work, knowing that they had better get the lead out before the sun rose too high in the sky. It seemed that was the only way she could talk about her mother - while she was laughing.
Jory was really just as odd as Saffron, he just never happened to say what he was thinking out loud. Good thing too, she would've teased the bloody mickey out him. And then teased him some more.
Saffron groaned as snow fell into her eyes and it was piling up in her lap because Jory wasn't getting rid of it fast enough. "Oh, I feel soooo honored." She laughed, trying to push the snow off her, as it was getting cold. "What're you doing out there, repainting your fingers nails? Honestly Jory!"
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