Tracy, bored with her dorm, enters the common room and blanches at the sheer number of adults at the bar. She settles in a corner chair with a pad of paper and the special ink Peyton bought for, considering getting something slushy and good but deciding to do so only when the adults are so pie-eyed they won't notice her.
Unwilling to leave Stephen's side, or break contact, Sarah was content to peruse the room and see who was in it. When she spotted Tracy, who she had met at the girl's sorting, she smiled. "Hi Tracy!" she called cheerfully and then waved her over. "Do you want a soda or something?"
Stephen remembered Tracy from her Sorting. "Miss Beaker, a pleasure to see you again. How have you been settling in?" Sensing Sarah's disinclination to move -- though unaware of her reasons -- he got up to replenish drinks, taking Sarah's glass "You would like more of the same, and she would drink some form of soda, as you said?"
"Great, take a seat," Sarah said with a smile, gesturing to the stool next to her before she turned her attention to Stephen.
"Same for me please, and Tracy would like a soda that is actually drinkable, like Coke or Pepsi," she explained, pointing with an amused look to where that soda would be as she added, "not that awful soda wannabe."
Heeding Sarah's order to avoid 'that awful soda wannabe' (he had been penitent in the first place, he would never have repeated the mistake!), Stephen brought for Tracy a glass of Coke -- he found a bottle which said it was free of caffeine; mustn't keep the young ones up too late! -- and for Sarah another screwdriver, again light on the vodka. He grinned at Tracy's savvy assessment of Hogwarts. "Sure and they might," he agreed, "were it not for that pesky little no-kill rule."
'Cheers.' Tracy says happily, sipping it. 'Mmm. Normally we have squash. The thing about being in a Home is that they always pick yours to test out some stupid government idea, like the TV thing where you could only watch ten hours of it per week. Per Home, not kid, mind you.'
Another sip. Tracy wonders if she could fool the barman she's 18 and get a Bitter.
Cautiously, 'Well, it depends what's on. There are good shows and there are bad shows. I prefer the entertainment ones, because I prefer learning from books.'
Sarah listened to that answer and then gave Tracy a brief wink of approval, since her hands were not free for a discreet thumbs up. Though the girl could not know of Stephen's own aversion to the television, books were always a good answer. Especially when said books were not breaking VCRs.
Smiling, she reached out and tapped the corner of the drawing pad lightly. "Did the drawing help the lack of TV?" she asked curiously, and then looked at the pad. "And I'd still love to see more, like I said at your Sorting."
Sarah smiled back and then smiled wider at the proffered pad. "These are great! You really do have talent, Tracy, did you consider doing something for the new school newspaper? I'm sure more than one artist would be more than welcome."
"I'm sure Peyton appreciates that you would be concerned," Sarah said with a nod and took a drink from her glass, silent for a moment as she was thinking. When the idea came to her, she grinned.
"Say, I'm doing a food column - recipes and photos of the food - but I think I'd like a format to present the recipes themselves on graphically," she explained, setting down her glass to gesture a moment, "sort of like a recipe card, only illustrated. Would you be interested in maybe helping me with that?"
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'That'd be nice, thanks Sarah.' she says cautiously, scanning the faces of everyone else.
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"Same for me please, and Tracy would like a soda that is actually drinkable, like Coke or Pepsi," she explained, pointing with an amused look to where that soda would be as she added, "not that awful soda wannabe."
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Sudden smile. 'It's just dead big and there's apparently a chance some people would kill you soon as look at you if we weren't cooped up together.'
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Heeding Sarah's order to avoid 'that awful soda wannabe' (he had been penitent in the first place, he would never have repeated the mistake!), Stephen brought for Tracy a glass of Coke -- he found a bottle which said it was free of caffeine; mustn't keep the young ones up too late! -- and for Sarah another screwdriver, again light on the vodka. He grinned at Tracy's savvy assessment of Hogwarts. "Sure and they might," he agreed, "were it not for that pesky little no-kill rule."
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Another sip. Tracy wonders if she could fool the barman she's 18 and get a Bitter.
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"Miss Beaker, what are your opinions on the subject of television?"
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Right answer?
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Smiling, she reached out and tapped the corner of the drawing pad lightly. "Did the drawing help the lack of TV?" she asked curiously, and then looked at the pad. "And I'd still love to see more, like I said at your Sorting."
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She holds out the pad. 'I've been using the colour change ink, mostly.'
( ... )
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She blinks. Showing consideration is not usually her thing.
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"Say, I'm doing a food column - recipes and photos of the food - but I think I'd like a format to present the recipes themselves on graphically," she explained, setting down her glass to gesture a moment, "sort of like a recipe card, only illustrated. Would you be interested in maybe helping me with that?"
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