RP: Lazy and thoughtful
Who: Rita and anyone
Where: Garden
When: Sept 18, mid-morning
What: Rita writes, and thinks, and wants something to do.
Rating: TBA
Status: Incomplete
( After the previous two weeks of hard physical work and hard mental work, it felt strange to have nothing specific to do again )
Where: Garden
When: Sept 18, mid-morning
What: Rita writes, and thinks, and wants something to do.
Rating: TBA
Status: Incomplete
( After the previous two weeks of hard physical work and hard mental work, it felt strange to have nothing specific to do again )
Rita watched the girl grow suspicious and couldn't help but laugh. "I suppose I could, couldn't I? Pureblood Brats And How They Cope With Humility. But no, that wasn't what I was getting at."
She considered, looking around the garden. "I suppose the more appropriate question would have been do you live at home. With your parents and an army of house elves and the like. But you've answered that anyway. Different, but people around nonetheless. This is... stranger for me, but interesting all the same. Usually the only breakfast company I have is a copy of the Prophet and my owl, although the minute I step outside I'm in the thick of it. This is like... a reversal. Completely isolated, but everyone's inside."
She shook her head with a small smile. "It will be strange to go back to the other, I think. Not bad, but... odd. Bloody ridiculous to miss this sort of place, but I think I will."
Then smirked. "Though I can't say I envy you having to go back and live with your parents again after them getting to watch your every move for the last two months."
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She shrugged. "I do live with my parents, though I doubt they would even care about what I do now, since they are probably using the time more... lucratively." She grumbled as she thought about how her parents were using the time to arrange meetings for her with several prospective alliances.
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Lucratively? Rita wasn't quite sure what Pansy meant by that. That they'd... what? Be having a little party of their own while she was gone? But... why on earth would they not want to do that with her present? And if it was any other sort of 'party' she was referring to, Rita would be quite surprised. Pureblood marriages, after all, were notoriously bland and passionless.... ah.
Lucrative. Now she understood. Those other pureblood legacies - loveless marriages and miscarried pregnancies.
"Who's first in line, then?" she asked. "Your third cousin, or your second? Or are they planning on marrying you off to Malfoy? I suppose he's not the prize he once was anymore, is he? After the war, and all."
Her tone was light, but not particularly mocking. She'd been lucky to come from a family that didn't believe in any of that - although they hadn't been particularly pleased by Stella'c choice of partner.
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She sighed and looked Skeeter directly in the eyes. "But I do have the option of turning down the prospective alliances as opposed to others, the less fortunate ones."
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Rita chuckled. It amused her the way Pansy referred to 'certain circles' and such like Rita knew nothing about them and would never be admitted to their elite. Certainly she wasn't often invited to group social gatherings - unless the hosts of said gatherings wanted publicity, of course - but alone, in cafés or the privacy of their homes, many found Rita's company quite entertaining, and told her the most fascinating stories in return for her own.
Still, she wouldn't say that, because saying it was the quickest way to stop it happening at all.
"That is better than most, then," Rita agreed, "but I wouldn't expect it would extend to you deciding you wanted a career rather than a family, or to never get married. Still, I suppose that's life." She smiled. "Do be sure to have several passionate affairs with all kinds of people before they pack you off though, won't you?"
Not that she couldn't once she was married - of course many did - but Rita suspected that such things were always more fun when they didn't have to be conducted completely behind closed doors.
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Narrowing her eyes, Pansy spoke calmly. "If I wanted a career I would get one. But I do enjoy my life of leisure, Miss Skeeter. As for marriage, it will be when I want as well. My parents may try to arrange it, but I will not let myself be pressured into anything." She arched an eyebrow. "Would you?"
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Rita considered, cocking her head to one side. "Now? No way in hell. But when I was a few years out of Hogwarts? Perhaps. I let my parents send me off to France when my sister married a muggle during the war. Not as drastic as marriage, obviously - it allowed me to get out of the Witch Weekly office and into a real journalism cadetship, and I had quite a fabulous affair with a Frenchwoman while I was there - but I didn't want to go in the first place. Didn't like what they were doing to Stella, but I let it happen anyway."
Rita wasn't sure if she could have done anything about it, even if she had tried - but she occasionally wished that she had. In the scheme of things, one pureblood witch running of with a muggle was unlikely to have brought Voldemort's attention to their family, and she didn't know if what her parents had done had been worth the long term damage.
And this was why she couldn't write. Because there people in this place, people to talk to, to have long, meandering conversations with, and having one with yourself when there were others to talk to was just pointless.
"These journals are a complete waste of time," she said, an abrupt change of subject. "I don't know how they expect us to keep them up. For the first time in my life, I've absolutely no desire to write anything down."
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"And I haven't spared a thought for the journal since the first week, I don't really care for them." Pansy shrugged. "Never did fancy writing down anything, which could possibly be used against me at some point."
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Rita chuckled. "Smart girl. And perhaps that's it. I'm not used to writing about myself, and there's little point writing about anyone else, because everyone can see them anyway. My presence here as a reporter is rather superfluous."
Stretching out her legs and laying the quill over her knees, she leaned back, letting her palms press against the grass and tipping her head back a little. "Rather liberating, though. I fear my reputation as a ruthless bitch might be suffering, though."
A smirk. "Not that the Veritaserum wasn't fun at the time. Potter was especially amusing. Did you get any of that, or did you eat from the plate I intended for Neville?"
She paused after saying that, unsure whether Pansy knew about it. Ah, well, Weasley and Vane did, so what did it matter, even if they hadn't told her?
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"But what do you mean with 'the plate intended for Longbottom'?" She asked, pausing a second. "Why would he not be given Veritaserum like the rest of us?"
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Pansy sounded surprised, like she'd not even heard about the Veritaserum dinner - but that was impossible. They'd all known, and quite probably they'd all nominated her that week for it. Rita had certainly perceived hostility from everyone in the house, or at least she thought she had.
Rita sighed. If Pansy had been told about what Rita had revealed when Big brother punished her, she was doing a very good impression of someone with no idea. It was possible she knew and just hadn't connected the dots between sex and dinner, yet, but Rita didn't think she was stupid.
She gave a humourless laugh. "It would seem Romilda and Ginny actually listened to me, then. More fool me, giving things away." She lifted one hand and toyed with the end of the quill in her lap, then lifted it and made a gesture in the to indicate a spot across the garden. "There's a tree over that way, a passion fruit tree. I presume you've heard of the fruit, especially if you're likely to be part of an arranged marriage in the future. I know what it is, of course, but I had no idea what it looked like until a few weeks ago. Neville and I had a little treasure hunt for bugs during games week. I beat him, and I dared him to eat a piece of the fruit. He did. It affected him, and I was there, and well, why not? He was rather embarrassed later, so I attempted not to give him any truth potion."
She regarded Pansy steadily. Was actually rather interested to see how she'd react to finding out, given Romilda and Ginny's disgusted surprise.
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When Skeeter continued, Pansy's eyes narrowed. Now that little tidbit about Longbottom was news to her. That would have been the reason why he had acted strange some time ago... and always when Skeeter was near.
"Did you now?" She asked slowly, feeling slightly protective of Longbottom once again. It was an odd feeling which came and went with irregular intervals. Just like she felt protective of her pets at the manor.
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Pansy's expression was difficult to read - and of course, because fellow Slytherins didn't wear their emotions on their sleeves like Romilda and Ginny did.
Rita studied her, waiting for something, some kind of statement to follow the question, but nothing did.
Silence. Dragging out the moment. A time-worn journalist's trick. Rita smiled.
Hell, maybe she'd bite just to see what happened.
"What of it? I certainly didn't spare him the Veritaserum for my own sake. and you can believe that, because I said the same to Ginny and Romilda while I was under the potion myself. I couldn't care less who knows, really - it's not as though the entire wizarding world didn't see, anyway - but it was a little more complicated than that, of course, so I didn't want to make him have to discuss it."
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Skeeter knew how to twist words to suit her purposes, like a proper Slytherin and a proper reporter, of course. But there was more hidden under her carefully phrased sentences, Pansy knew it. Something had taken place between the two, something more than the affects of the passion fruit tree, the range of which could reach over a lot of possible situations. And Longbottom did have the habit of getting embarrassed over the littlest of things.
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"Something like that," Rita replied, stretching into a triangle of sun that was creeping across the yard. "I didn't know what the fruit was before he ate it. He didn't realise quite what the effects would be. I'm nothing if not a hedonist, and he's decidedly less so. So I'm sure you can imagine."
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"I have no problem imagining it." She nodded curtly. Deciding it was high time to change the subject before the images began to fester, Pansy smirked. "So what else have you been planning to make Montague wear this week... please say it has lace."
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