Sunrises + Friends = HAPPY!
Week Name/Date/Time: "Beware of Sender" / Friday, 22 September 2006 / 6:20 AM
Location: Grounds
Open to: Vaughan
Currently Involving: Deirdre
( Sunrises and Good Mates! YAAAAAY! :D )
Location: Grounds
Open to: Vaughan
Currently Involving: Deirdre
( Sunrises and Good Mates! YAAAAAY! :D )
He shook himself, and was thoroughly miserable when it didn't work. He had promised to meet Deirdre, and he had every intention of keeping said promise. He WANTED to meet Deirdre! It would be fun, he knew this. And yet, despite all the pep talking of the previous night and the prepartion to give himself as much time as possible this morning, he wasn't excited. It was just. too. early.
Next step: to the chair. Vaughan pulled on the hat, gloves, scarf, coat, socks, and shoes he'd set there the night before, opting to remain in his warm flannel pajama pants. Then he grabbed the stack of blankets that were his responsibility and then stood for a moment, staring. It took him a few seconds to even realize what he was doing, and then a few more to realize further that if he WAS forgetting something, he wasn't going to think of it NOW.
So, it was definitely officially decided: being awoken by an arctic blast of air as you left the castle before seven am? Not on Vaughan's top ten list. It did, however, serve as a reminder that Deirdre was out there somewhere WITHOUT blankets, waiting for him, if he knew her (this was why he had done his best to be a few minutes early). He started jogging, with only a small whimper, and felt a not small pang of guilt when she came into view, huddled up as small as she could possibly get on a blanket in the dark with a huge steaming basket no doubt full of warm food. Not slowing down till he was right behind her, Vaughan dropped all but the top blanket and wrapped that one around her shoulders tightly. Without saying anything, he grabbed the other two, wrapped one around his own body, sat down right next to her, and spread the third such that they could pull it up over their legs.
He didn't realize he hadn't technically greeted her yet (hey. It was early.), and muttered the lumos spell, then stuck his wand behind his own ear. He figured it was a trend he didn't know about.
"Mmmphhhhrft."
("Good morning.")
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She turned to the basket and set about pulling out some mugs and things, swiftly pouring him a cup of coffee from the thermos. "Here you go! I'm sure that'll help, yes?" she beamed at him, holding the steaming mug out to him and trying very hard not to bounce with excitement. She was just so happy he'd actually not slept through it!
She wouldn't really have blamed him if he had; she'd had plenty of experience with Vaughan in the morning, and if his behaviour in Transfigs was any indication, she had been quite afraid he would not be able to make it this morning. It meant quite a bit to her that he had managed it. She just hoped he'd not regret it later. In an effort to ensure that he'd enjoy himself, she was determined to fill him up with lots of coffee and sugar and whatever else the house elves had handed off to her earlier that morning.
When she'd finished attending to his coffee, she poured a mug for herself, then set it aside so she could pull out some of the food in the basket to offer him, "Hungry?" She waved a few warm strudels and some sausage in his direction.
She didn't mind the lack of coherent speech from him, as she was rather used to it. Truthfully, she found it rather endearing and comforting after all these years in early morning class. She assumed the sound he made was meant as a form of greeting and took it as such. It did not deter her and her cheerful, bright manner in the least.
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He took the mug from Deirdre gratefully, enjoying its warmth and the smell of fresh coffee. "Hmmm," he said to his friend, confirming that yes, it would help. As soon as he could actually drink it, of course. Vaughan watched closely to make sure that she was pouring herself some as well and then took a moment to crane his neck and look at the sky. The sunrise would not be happening above them, of course, but it didn't hurt to get a look in at the stars while they were still there. He got distracted trying to located a few of the constellations he and his siblings had made up.
Blinking, he looked at Deirdre again, and then carefully considered the pastry and sausage. He gave her a small smile. "Not just yet," he croaked, then cleared his throat, looking alarmed. Vaughan blew on the coffee and took a sip, then tried again. "Thanks. I will be soon. Just need a bit more time...." he gave Deirdre a pleading look. He felt sluggish and guilty, and forced himself to wake up some more. It was surprisingly comfortable, and he'd been lulled back into sleepiness, which clearly would not do!
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She nodded, giving him a soft, understanding smile, "All right. Just tell me when you want something, then," she stowed the food back in the basket to keep it warm. Then she picked up her own mug and wrapped her hands around it, pulling it close to her face. She closed her eyes and breathed in the strong scent of it, "Mmmmmm..." a smile spread on her face as she enjoyed the moment before the first sip.
She finally tipped the cup to her lips, drinking the warm liquid at last. She snuggled into the blankets, feeling rather cozy now. She just hoped Vaughan would wake up soon to enjoy it all with her. A smile slowly appeared on her lips as an idea slowly began to form in her mind. It was perhaps a little silly, but they were alone, and she thought it might wake him up a bit, at least.
Clutching the coffee cup close to her chest, she slowly leaned over and into him, nudging against him with most of her body weight. She tried her best not to giggle, but it was a lost cause, and so she gave up and giggled uncontrollably, her nose, as usual, wrinkling up as she did so.
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Alas, one or two steps of his progress toward full consciousness were lost after a few moments. His eyes closed, Vaughan was quite comfortable, snuggled in the blanket with the cold wind blowing around him, warmth in his hands, and Deirdre nearby. He didn't exactly nod off, but his breathing started to slow as he relaxed, and his eyes remained closed.
They didn't remain that way for long, however. Deirdre leaned into him slowly, so at first he didn't take much notice, noting it vaguely in the part of his brain that wasn't busy floating away. He startled badly at the sound of her laughter, snapped back to reality, and his eyes flew open. For a second he wasn't sure what to do in response, but then he just leaned back into her, giving her a Look. It was one Deirdre Delaney had seen from Vaughan Kendall many times through the years, and it plainly said, "Alright alright, I'm awake now sheesh."
"So," he said casually, as though they weren't involved in some sort of Battle of Nudging, which he really wasn't sure they were? "around what time can I expect the sun to actually RISE, eh?"
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She continued to lean against him, because they were obviously in the midst of a battle of who could lean longest or... something. She wasn't really sure, but it didn't matter, really, because it was an excuse to get closer, which meant warmer. It was also just plain fun to play along with him at just about anything. She pretended to put on a ponderous face, "Well... it shouldn't be too terribly long now. Like I said in the owl, the sun should rise sometime around 6:45." She beamed brightly, "Which is probably only thirty more minutes away," she paused, then added as an after thought, "Or probably less." She managed to blush only slightly at that one.
She tilted her head so it rested on his shoulder for a moment, grinning up at him happily, "If you think you can bear to stay awake that long, hmm?" She attempted to bat her eyelashes coyly, but it was difficult, because she was giggling again. Not to mention the fact that she was really rather terrible in general at things like batting her eyelashes. Other girls seemed to do that sort of thing well, but Deirdre never really caught on to how one went about it. Perhaps because she never really understood the whys for doing such things.
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He was still tired, though, and all this leaning, while extremely enjoyable for several reasons (like Deirdre giggles and body warmth), was tiring. He let out a small grunt and shifted slightly, so that she was leaning into him without pushing him over, but he was no longer pushing back. It almost caused him to slosh some coffee, as he had to brace himself with one hand on the ground, but all in all, it was worth it. "Oh, right, the bloody owl. The one which threatened my very life," he said teasingly, and took an innocent sip from his mug. He smiled into it at her answer of half an hour, not wanting to embarass Deirdre, but also wanting to laugh at her. It was smart, actually, to plan so much extra time when dealing with such a WIMP, but he still wanted to laugh.
Vaughan was not expecting by her head on his shoulder, and looked at her, surprised and happy as she grinned. The attempt at coyness was too much, however, and he looked at her suspiciously, and only narrowly avoided rolling his eyes or having an extremely unmasculine giggling fit. Despite claimed lack of experience at such things, Deirdre's eyelash batting was quite effective, and her friend was pleased. He adored teasing her, especially when she teased back, which she sometimes was too nice to do.
Deciding on a course of action, he gave a rather large and dramatic yawn, watching the girl from the corner of his eye to see if she was buying it. "I dunno, Deir," he mumbled, careful not to enunciate too clearly, "half an hour is an awfully long time, hummmm. Whass innit for me?" Sleepy blinking: like eyelash batting for boys?
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When he grunted and shifted, she was worried that he wanted her to move and so she hesitated, biting her lip. She wondered if she ought to move away a bit or not, but she was rather comfortable against him and it was decidedly warmer leaning against him than not. However, he'd not actually made her move away, so she decided to settle against him anyway. She wasn't sure he'd stay awake if she didn't, anyway. Or at least, that's what she told herself. She laughed at his comment about her owl, somehow knowing that he was joking. It seemed that perhaps she was learning to pick up on his teasing, at least some of the time.
The head on his shoulder trick had seemed to have the desired effect, and so she kept it there, still grinning at him. She could not, however, stop from giggling when he gave her a suspicious look. If there was one thing in the world that Deirdre did not feel bad about teasing him about, it was his penchant for being so sleepy in the mornings. She'd had to learn to quickly get over that one, lest he get in trouble in Transfigs for sleeping through it. She'd taken the job upon herself, and with it had naturally come the teasing. When all else failed, it was the one joke she knew she could rely on against him.
When he yawned, she gave him a sidelong, suspicious glance. At his question, she sat up and furrowed her brow, taking it perhaps more seriously than she ought to. But it hit on the very thing that was very important to her: that he would want to do this with her again, so he had to enjoy this time, first. "Well..." she paused, "If the food and the coffee and the very, very beautiful sunrise that you'll be seeing soon are not enough, I'm not sure what else I can possibly offer..." she frowned, suddenly feeling slightly defeated. She risked a quick glance at her friend, but was unable to meet his gaze, suddenly feeling quite a bit embarrassed and insecure. She felt her face start to go red and she closed her eyes, only barely avoiding actually wincing. Perhaps things were not going so well, after all.
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A slow grin started to make its way lazily across his face when she began listing the things that were in it for him, not noticing there was any trouble till she claimed defeat and frowned. He tilted his head and tried to catch her eye, but before he could smile she was looking down, and quite miserable. Doh. For a moment there was silence, as Vaughan tried to think of what on Earth he was suppose to do now. He'd been perfectly content a moment ago, and teasing was what had brought them here, but he'd learned with Deirdre that it was better to help her catch on than be blunt and point out she'd not gotten it.
"Your delightful company," he whispered to her loudly. "You forgot that one." He shifted his weight off his hand and arm and sat up straighter as well, scooting to turn his body toward his friend a little. Putting his cup of coffee down carefully, he lifted the basket and set it down such that it was partly in his lap and partly in hers. He made a point to sound awake and brisk. "Well, I'll give you the coffee; it's excellent. So far that's only one of three...." he paused and looked at her significantly "or four, really, so let's hope the breakfast is good, eh?"
He began rummaging around in the food, just to see what all the options were, making a point to move things around haphazardly. Vaughan wanted to see if she would try to make him stop being so disorganzied. Maybe.
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However, as he started to riffle through the food, she slowly realised that he was likely to make a mess of it. She frowned, "Oh, stop! Here," she reached in and tried to get him to quit moving it every which direction. "What would you like first, then?" She quickly forgot her embarrassment, as the need to serve and keep the basket in proper order filled her mind.
"It looks like we've strudel... some bagels, sausage, muffins... probably in every flavour possible... toast, scones... Well, everything, really. What sounds good?" she gave up listing everything, instead marveling at how the elves had managed to cram so much food into one basket. She shook her head and pulled out some large napkins, spreading them out in front of them and placing a few scones and miniature coffee cakes on them while she waited for him to decide.
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The grin turned triumphant when Deirdre stopped him from making a mess of things, and this time he didn't worry quite so much about her not noticing. For a few seconds he did his best to dodge her efforts, dropping whatever was closest and picking up something on the other side of the basket. He was reaching around her carefully, however, because he knew if he made too much disorganization she would probably miss the sunrise trying to put everything back to rights.
Eventually he gave up and simply watched her, still smiling. "A scone and sausage, please, but really Deirdre, I can get it!" Now that it came down to it, of course, he felt a little guilty for creating work. Quickly he grabbed a few more scones, assuming the ones she'd gotten were for her, and then added a piece of sausage. Satisfied with the mountain of food, he sipped his coffee and beamed at her, feeling much more awake. "Oh, wait. What do YOU want? Anything else?" Vaughan asked, leaning over the basket again, trying his best to look helpful.
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When he finally quit and settled back, she smiled, then set to work straightening everything back to its proper place in the basket. She reached for the items he finally requested, then frowned when he insisted on getting them for himself. She sighed, wishing for a moment that this was going better than it seemed. She wanted everything to be just perfect this morning!
When he asked what she wanted, quite clearly only just now remembering to think of such a question, she laughed, "I'm just fine, I think," she picked up one of the little coffee cakes and broke off a piece, savouring it with delight. She then took the basket and slid it off their laps so that it was situated in front of them, within easy reach, but also out of the way. She took one last look inside to be certain everything was still in its place, then with a satisfied nod, she settled back into the blankets and picked up her coffee for another sip.
"Awake yet, then, O Valiant One?" she smiled at him, and managed to blush only a tiny bit, only barely messing up her joke. She looked up at the sky, "It shouldn't be too much longer yet, I don't think." She shivered slightly, feeling the bite of a particularly fierce gust of wind. She huddled into the blankets, but frowned when she found it wasn't enough.
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He did know enough, however, to look properly shamefaced when Deirdre laughed at him and said she was fine. He decided, on the spur of the moment, not to let it go, but before he could begin showering her in food anyway she put coffee cake in her mouth. For a split second he pouted, but she was too cute enjoying it for that to last. Settling in to his scone, Vaughan nodded his approval of her picnic basket placement.
He grinned and turned pink at her question (though it was the use of the nickname that did it), and nodded carefully. "And how could I not be, Deirest." Now blushing furiously, he gratefully followed her lead to look up at the sky. The breeze, which had previously been freezing, felt comfortably cool on his warm skin. Deirdre however, was looking distinctly cold, which he figured out once he was willing to risk a glance at her.
Scooting a little bit closer, he set his coffee cup down and leaned back again, raising his eyebrows at her. He wanted to return to their previous position, but was a little afraid to ask.
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She glanced up when she felt him move closer, trying desperately to force away the blush and not grin quiet so widely. However, when he leaned back and raised his eyebrows, the blush slowly crept back as the unspoken offer finally dawned her. She hesitated for a few seconds, then threw caution to the wind and leaned against him once more, just as she had been previously.
She shifted and settled against him, leaning her head against his shoulder. He was nice and warm and she felt much less chilly already. She smiled softly to herself and closed her eyes as she grew still and enjoyed the moment.
After a bit, a thought came to her, and her eyes snapped open, though she didn't make any other movement. "Sure you're all right, then? Shall I hand you your sausage or anything?" she tilted her head to glance up at him with a questioning gaze. It would also be nice to see how he felt about this particular position. Deirdre had no complaints herself, but she wanted to be certain he was really all right with it.
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Vaughan made sure all the blankets were tucked in closely around her and felt decidedly happier. It was much warmer this way, really. Brilliant idea. Resisting the urge to close his eyes (as he didn't want to tempt sleep), Vaughan then occupied himself with squinting into the distance, trying to figure out if it was getting lighter yet or not.
"Hmmm?" he was actually a bit startled when Deirdre suddenly spoke, and he missed her first question. "What? No, Deir, I'm fine." A small note of concern crept into his voice. "You alright?" he asked, but he was grinning down at her; considering the time this was actually wonderful. Pleasant and warm and not too bouncy or anything.
Now that he was awake, however, Vaughan found himself wanting to talk. "So, what d'you think? Is it getting lighter over there?" He was curious as to whether Deirdre actually got up specifically to watch the sunrise, and thought she'd mentioned something about it, but he couldn't bring himself to ask yet. It was nicer to pretend she was doing something special for him.
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When he spoke again, she turned her head and looked in the direction he meant. She was silent for a moment as she studied the sky, "Hmm, I think so, yes. Shouldn't be much longer at all!" her smile widened as she anticipated the sunrise. She did hope the sun would give a good show this morning! This was an especially important time for it, so far as Deirdre was concerned.
She glanced up at him, "Are you ready, then?" she tried not to giggle or let her nose wrinkle too much as she grinned up at him, but it was a lost cause. She finally gave up and just giggled to her heart's content. She turned her head back to the sky, the first tips of light just touching the horizon. It would only be a moment before it all began. She barely resisted the urge to bounce, not wanting to distract or disturb him in this ever-so-important moment.
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