Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me.

[bookish_lioness]

Characters: bookish_lioness and open to anyone.
When: Early evening of November 5th
Where: Wandering about Adstring, with a quick detour at the Burrow 2.0. Feel free to encounter her almost anywhere.
Rating: PG, possibly worse if certain foul-mouthed characters tag in?
Summary: Ever noticed how, when you try to avoid people, you tend to bump into everyone you know (

Comments

[alwaysreturned]

Ron was just getting ready to leave for his patrol when he heard movement in her room. It wasn't hard not to, being just down the hall. And, really, neither he nor Harry were mad enough to go messing around in her room. He'd almost ignored it, knowing she'd been avoiding the lot of them-- but a small fragment of hope had him decide otherwise.

Shoving his wand in his pocket and tossing the winter coat on, Ron left his room. Standing awkwardly in front of her door a moment, he wondered if he could just knock and walk in after a moment like normal. Sucking in a breath, he decided to do the safer approach: he knocked and waited.

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione was just folding a clean shirt into her overnight bag when she heard the knock on her door, and she stiffened immediately. If she were the type to swear, a number of expletives would be going through her mind right now, but instead, she only stared ahead at her wall with an expression akin to that of a dear caught in headlights.

Maybe it was Harry. Or the wind. The wind was a good answer, too. Maybe she should just ignore it, carry on with her packing, and climb out the window when she was done (just to be on the safe side, of course).

Angry with herself, she swallowed back her stupid fears and moved to the door, though she still needed a moment before she could bring herself to open it. When she did, the sight of Ron made her nearly want to slam the door in a panic, but she clenched the doorknob harder, her other hand wrapped tightly around her fresh shirt.

"... hello, Ron."

[alwaysreturned]

For the first time since seeing her lately, he didn't tense up. This time he'd been looking for her, so why should he? But he took her in and stopped. The way she clenched the door and the shirt in hand wasn't a very good sign. Ron glanced away quick enough.

"Hey," he returned, "see you're leaving again." He wasn't thick enough to believe he'd caught her in the middle of changing. The idea of her once more not returning to the house made his stomach sick. Was she even staying in a place that was safe without a wand?

[bookish_lioness]

The way he said it made it sound as though he thought she was abandoning him, and she felt a little sick for a while. "I just came to get some clean clothes. I've been trying to be a bit more social, and it wouldn't do to make such an attempt with four-day-old clothes." It was a lie, of course, but she didn't want him thinking that she was sad and alone, no matter how much closer to the truth that was.

She paused for a moment before quietly asking, "How have you been? And Harry?"

[angle_on_it]

Sorry, Hermione, that desire to avoid people was exactly the type of thing Adstringendum naturally preyed upon. The snow earlier in the week had given away to sunshine and slightly warmer temperatures, but the chill was beginning to descend again as night approached.

Sokka had worked all morning at the forge, all afternoon in Suki's garden (preparing it for winter unbeknown to his ex-girlfriend,) and his evening was left for other exciting tasks. In this case? Laundry. He had some of his clothes stuffed into an old wooden bucket which he hugged in his arms until he saw Granger approaching and waved. The tribesman managed a half-smile, warm if not incomplete, and glanced around to make sure Ron wasn't about, ready to pounce. "Hermione, hey there. Where are you off to? Are you okay?"

[bookish_lioness]

Apparently, the only way to avoid people in this place was to just dig herself a hole and not come out until springtime. As Hermione had a problem with the slight case of death that was sure to be a result of that, she resigned herself to being at least marginally sociable when seeing a familiar face... especially when it was a face she didn't mind seeing.

"Sokka, hello," she murmured, just barely loud enough to be heard over their distance as they closed it. She offered him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes as she explained, "I was just... going for a walk, really. How are you?" She was quite proud of herself for avoiding his last question, but people these days seemed to hone in on that question when speaking to her.

[angle_on_it]

"I've had better days," he admitted, a humorless chuckle backing him up. "But it's looking a little brighter." Sokka had a hard time not asking Hermione to expand on her explanation, wondering not-so-idly how much she was holding back. No matter, she wasn't going to probe too deeply, so neither was he. That was the beauty of their friendship, wasn't it? They could say as much or as little as they wanted, and neither seemed too upset with omissions or additions.

Looking up at the sky, Sokka noted the few clouds and then looked back to the witch, scrunching his nose. He had to do the wash, he had to, but it wasn't exactly the most appealing prospect. For now, he could just... put it off. It couldn't hurt to wait another hour, could it? "Do you mind if I walk with you?"

[bookish_lioness]

Normally, Hermione was the type to pry, but as she didn't want to deal with him doing the same, she chose to hold her tongue. Besides, there was no use bringing up more painful topics when seeing Sokka was one of the few bright spots in her life these days.

Glancing up at the sky herself for a brief moment, Hermione returned her eyes to him and smiled a little. "Of course not. Did you have anything in particular that you were setting off to do? We could walk in that general direction."

[fanismighter]

Spending all her time inside just wasn't working for Suki. She needed more things to do, and Ron gave her that. The red-head offered the waarrior a place to go and keep herself busy, and Suki was taking advantage of that every change she got. And luckily, the girl was staying with Yoko, who was helping her out a lot as well. Right, despite being completely heart broken, Suki was in a good place. She was healing. Slowly, but healing.

Right now, she found herself walking back from the place Ron and her were working on back to her new house with Yoko. Suki wasn't coming home empty handed either, she was bringing back some things for the house. It was getting colder and their house wasn't ready. With Sokka, their house was, but Suki wasn't going back there anytime soon. But then, before Suki got very far, she saw someone she really didn't want to see. Suki wasn't one to hide, but she ducked her head, hoping the other girl didn't see her.

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione wasn't having much luck with distracting herself today, as it seemed that she had an unfortunate habit of stumbling across all the wrong people. Such was the case now, when Hermione looked up to round a corner and saw a certain someone approaching. She was tempted to quicken her step so she could turn the corner immediately and avoid her, but then she realized that turning at all would make it look as though she was purposely ignoring everything that might be the slightest bit painful. Just because she was didn't mean that she was going to advertise it.

Forcing the weakest smile imaginable to her face, Hermione kept closing the distance between them, letting out an awkward wave and greeting, "Hello, Suki." Her mouth moved again, meaning to ask her how she was, but she realized that that was likely a loaded question, and so she opted to keep her mouth shut for now, until she at least tested the waters.

[fanismighter]

Maybe it was time to not be immature about this. Suki did just talk to Sokka, and she knew that it was all the Animus' fault, but still, it hurt. It hurt to look at Hermione, because when she did all she could see was Hermione and Sokka together and it sickened her.

Her stomach felt like it was knot, like she was going to throw up, but she didn't. Instead she looked up at the other girl, almost expressionless. Before speaking, Suki's eyes drifted to the ground before forcing a smile on her face. It was an awful smile, not a single ounce of joy in it, but Suki was trying to be friendly.

"He-Hey." She replied weakly. "Where are you going?"

[bookish_lioness]

To be perfectly honest, Hermione was more than a little shocked that Suki bothered saying anything to her at all. She'd expected to be ignored, at best, and at worst... well, she didn't really want to think about the worst she could have expected.

"Nowhere in particular," she replied softly. "I just... went back to the house to get a few things and settled on going for a walk. Er... what about you?"

[bookish_lioness]

The whole conversation with Ron still seemed a bit surreal, and so Hermione left the room with her head feeling a bit clouded. She'd over-packed, but she didn't think to actually go back and put away the extra clothes, instead slinging the heavy bag over her shoulder. When she caught sight of Harry, she stopped and straightened a bit before rolling her eyes and glancing away.

"I suppose I'll never make a decent cat burglar, if the entire household manages to come across me."

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione actually managed a small smile in return as she adjusted the bag over her shoulder, shaking her head in response. "I'll be all right, thank you."

There was a bit of a pause that consisted of her shifting her weight from one foot to the other before quietly bringing up, "I'll be back soon."

[knew_anyway]

Part of research meant that he had to go outside every now and then and view the city for what it was, through his own two eyes- and lenses. Even so, he didn't like leaving much. So, when Nathaniel reluctantly left his home to go and survey the town a bit, scout out things, look for food and other necessities, it only made sense that he'd run into someone.

Almost directly right into someone.

"Oh- excuse me-"

Nat blinked from where he'd been staring curiously at an older building while he walked, stumbling back from his almost-collision with Hermione. Only then did he realize who it was.

"-oh. Hello."

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione had been lost in her own thoughts, worrying over her future relationship with Ron... and her future friendships with Suki and Sokka. She'd messed up royally this time, and the feeling was so completely and utterly foreign to her that she just didn't know what to do.

All of that pretty much amounted to why she didn't notice she was in anyone's path until she'd narrowly avoided colliding with her. She blinked in surprise, and as she'd never met him in person and more often than not spoke to him via texts, she didn't immediately know who he was.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-... I should have watched where I was going."

[knew_anyway]

"No- it's alright, I..."

He pauses, glances at her for a moment, before offering his hand to shake.

"You're Hermione Granger, aren't you? It's a pleasure."

[bookish_lioness]

She looked at him for a moment before coming to place the face, slipping her hand in his and giving it shake.

"John, isn't it? John Mandrake? I so rarely hear the sound of your voice that I'm afraid it took me a bit to recognize you. How nice to meet you."