I was so handsome women cried.

[joryelecott]

Week Name: A Quiet Lull
Date/Time: Saturday, November 4th, 2006 / 12:19 PM
Location: Hogsmeade - Three Broomsticks
Characters: Jory Elecott, Benjamin Blair
Status: Public
Summary: Negotiations and arguments about nothing at all.
Completion: Incomplete

Comments

[joryelecott]

((Holy eljay hiccup, Batman.))

Jory frowned. He did not agree with that, and he was going to be sixteen soon anyway, so what was the issue there? If Benjamin was truly trying to make a point--and it was Benjamin, so he probably wasn't, actually--Jory could follow along. There was a difference between blindly fancying a pretty seventh year and thinking that one of your mate's mums, Benjamin's for example, was fanciable.

He would have pointed this out, but it would have meant saying a phrase that was somewhat like, 'Your mum's right fanciable, Benjamin,' and that would probably only make Benjamin act on his threat to rip his ears off.

Luckily, this was somewhat forgotten as Benjamin set about poking him, and although Jory sometimes thought he might be ticklish when girls touched him, this was probably an anxiety thing because the only thing he felt upon being poked by Benjamin was a poked feeling.

He cocked his head to the side. "Isn't this the sort of conversation kids have during sleepovers?" he asked Benjamin witheringly, making no indications that he would answer such a thing.

[bigbadbenji]

[I thought it was just me.]

Benji leaned in close. Maybe they should not speak so loudly about this. Maybe it was embarrassing for some blokes and that was fine, Benji was considerate. Specially when it came to his favouritest of blokes.

"Why?" he stage-whispered, thunking his forehead against Elecott's. THUNK. "Do you want to have a sleep-over? Thunk-thunk?" He thunked two more times and then moved away. "Dunno how Beau would feel about that. But if that's what you want, we can. I'll turn him into a holiday ham and stick him in the freezer, mmm-mmm."

If Jory was wanting to discuss this during a sleepover, it must have been very serious. VERY serious indeed!

[joryelecott]

"No, that's not what I--stop it." Jory patiently waited for Benjamin to knock it off with the thunking business. Once that was finished, he moved his head away and ran a hand through his unruly hair, as though Benjmain had 'messed it up' with his conking their heads together.

Slowly (ignoring the babble about the holiday ham, since it did not make sense), he explained, "I just mean that we aren't girls having a sleepover, there's no reason to gossip over who I fancy, Benjamin."

He took a disinterested sip of his drink. "So the whole thing is irrelevant, let's move on."

[bigbadbenji]

Benji sucked in more of his milk. He looked more sober suddenly, like Elecott had let the wind out of him. And he had. His eyes became cold as they swept along the pub visitors.

"Don't you think gossip is instructive, Elecott?" he asked softly.

Looked at Elecott out of the side of his eyes. His smile was sly. "Well don't you? What's The Daily Prophet besides gossip? Hearsay. If it's published it's ok, if it's all in your head-"

and most things are Elecott

"-then it's crazy? Hm." He poked Elecott hard on the side of the head and took another healthy slurp of milk. "People dead or missing, he said she said, the girl you fancy.... all gossip. What. Is. The. Difference."

[joryelecott]

To the casual observer, it probably very much seemed that Jory wasn't listening to a word Benjamin was saying. He studied the Prophet quietly and without expression, methodically filling in the circles of letters with his quill. Only when Benjamin poked him in the head did he flinch, lift one hand to pat the side of his head and make sure his skull hadn't caved in.

Yes, he got it. It was crazy Benjamin Blair speak and he seemed to understand it all the same. And Jory had no problem admitting (in his head) that he had unexpectedly become a slave to gossip in its less banal forms, tracing centuries of history and storing it in his head as a list of he-said-she-said, he-died-she-died. Maybe there was a gossiping quality to history as well.

Finally he looked up, set his quill aside, released an agonisingly long exhale. He shrugged, which was the closest thing to an 'I see your point' that he was capable of. "But honestly," he said, picking up the thought where Benjamin left off. "I really don't fancy anyone."

He picked his quill up again.

[bigbadbenji]

"And don't think I don't know that the nature of our relationship is based on gossip."

Benji grinned. It was not an attractive grin. "I get that, J.H.E. I'm an idiot but I'm not daft."

He figured Elecott would know the difference. Folding his arms behind his head, Benji tipped the chair onto its back legs. The chair back hit the wall with a loud thud, his arms cushioned his head from near concussion.

"But anyway," he went on loftily. "I haven't got any gossip for you today, Elecott. If that's you wanted."

[joryelecott]

It hurt Jory's neck a bit to keep his head turned just to be able to look at Benjamin while he spoke. He contemplated briefly tipping his chair back to join Benjamin against the wall, and possibly might have if he hadn't gotten an image in his mind of onlookers seeing him as the sane one and he didn't want to destroy the image.

Quietly as possible, he slid his chair backward until it hit the wall too. None of this tipping back business. He crossed his arms over his chest, frowning in thought.

After a moment, he asked, "Then why'd you want to meet here today?"