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Post by Markise Sterling on Oct 16, 2008 10:46:01 GMT -5
Markise let his bubble pop and sucked the gum back into his mouth again. "If it's bad enough, it gets you out of Herbology," he said. Some of his friends back in New York had assured him of that when he'd gone home for winter break. "Like I said, just once. If you don't try things, experience life once in a while, then you're not really living, are you?" Markise arched an eyebrow ever slightly, daring Ariel to argue the point.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Oct 16, 2008 10:57:30 GMT -5
"You're starting to sound like your sister," Ariel said back at Markise, the whole optimism point coming back to his mind. He tilted his head slightly, enough to let his hair fall over one eye so at least it wasn't completely obvious where his eyes were looking as they hovered on Markise's lips, right? He crossed his arms low over his chest and pulled his eyes back up to those blue ones that were so different from any he had ever seen before.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Oct 16, 2008 12:29:34 GMT -5
Markise's nose wrinkled with displeasure at the comparison. "Wanting to live a little does not make me like Brindle," he said. "I just don't want to only exist. Where's the fun in that?" Markise's lips quirked. "I want to suck the marrow out of life," he said, quoting a rather ridiculous Muggle movie he'd seen somewhere. That's not the only thing I'd like to suck, he added silently, deciding it was useless to try to stop himself from thinking things. Maybe it'd make it easier to quit saying them.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Oct 16, 2008 12:41:45 GMT -5
Ariel couldn't help it, his mind took that and ran with it. His eyes hovered again on Markise's lips as a single annoyed part of his mind wondered how much longer the ride was going to be, it had been much too long already. He tried to focus his mind on the rest of what Markise had said. His life had never been full of excitement, and the one time he had tried to add to it it had ended horribly, with a school full of girls giggling at him behind his back. "I'm happy slipping under the radar," he said, more as something to say than something with any actual meaning behind it, though he did hope to be able to stay under the radar at Hogwarts.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Oct 16, 2008 12:59:05 GMT -5
Markise sucked another burst bubble between his lips before replying, his voice lowering a bit with the words. "You can slip under the radar and still have fun," he said conspiratorially. "Aren't you the one who told me to just screw it and get a tattoo?" He had, actually, and not too long ago. Markise reached up for his hair again, idly twirling a piece at the side of his head as he waited for Ariel's response.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Oct 16, 2008 13:09:34 GMT -5
Ariel had the distinct feeling that there was something going on just beneath the surface of the conversation. How had he gotten pulled in to this conversation anyway? He thought back, trying to retrace the thread of conversation, but was distracted. At least it's not another bubble... he thought somewhat bitterly as he watched Markise's hand move with his hair. And why had he lowered his voice like that? Ariel realized he had gone some long seconds without speaking, and it made his eyes narrow slightly. "I said that because you want to do it, who cares what your parents have to say about it?"
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Post by Markise Sterling on Oct 16, 2008 14:13:43 GMT -5
"Why should it be different with anything else?" Markise asked, soft, blue-tipped lavender twisting around his pale finger, then falling free in a wisp. "You do what you want, say to hell with the world, and if they don't like it, that's their issue, right?" Markise's eyes didn't leave Ariel's as he spoke. He didn't know if he stood a snowball's chance of convincing Ariel, but it was worth trying. There was a reason Markise had come out in the first place, and though he regretted having let it out at school, he was infinitely glad that he'd told his family and friends.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Oct 16, 2008 14:21:30 GMT -5
Ariel's eyes narrowed a bit more. He would be a liar if he told himself that Markise didn't know, or didn't think he knew. Instead of answering, Ariel shook his head, all he could think about was that day that seemed so long ago, had it really been only three years? That day that his brother had come into his room. He turned his eyes to look out of the window, to the safety of the hills and the grass, the landscape that was directly the opposite of what he was used to.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Oct 16, 2008 14:28:02 GMT -5
Markise watched Ariel now. It was obvious he'd hit on something, and he knew what it was. Ariel knew too, but he wasn't ready to admit it, probably not even to himself. Markise blew another bubble, sucking it back in rather than let the pop break the silence. He didn't want to push too hard, didn't want to turn Ariel away by trying to force something, even if it was the importance of being true to yourself.
Some time passed before Markise spoke again. "Do you know much about Hogwarts?" he asked, letting go of the previous conversation entirely. "I know like, the stuff that gets into the history class, but that's about it." I'm not forgetting, just letting it go.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Oct 16, 2008 14:33:46 GMT -5
Ariel shook his head, more than a little aggravated that his thoughts had been interrupted. "No one's went to Hogwarts in my family for generations," he said, keeping his eyes on the window. "And no one talks about it down there." He knew it was a castle, and that it had four houses, and that was about it. He didn't know, didn't care to know, anything else about it. He would find out soon enough, anyway.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Oct 16, 2008 14:49:15 GMT -5
Markise's lips pressed into a line at that. He could recognize a blowoff when he heard one. Still, he'd gotten to Ariel before, and it was a long ride, so it was worth a try. Markise continued the light motion of his fingers in his hair, switching back and forth between twirling and sifting through the silken locks. He really had found the perfect conditioner. "Well, it's got to be better than my last school," he said under his breath, then blew another bubble. When it had popped and he'd pulled it back into his mouth, he spoke again, loud enough for Ariel. "Isn't there anything you're looking forward to?" he asked.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Oct 16, 2008 14:55:40 GMT -5
Ariel sighed loudly and shot a look towards Markise, he wanted to brood, not to talk. But he figured he might as well try to be civil, at least Markise had left the last topic of conversation alone. "The lake," he said, "But it's going to be too cold to get in it soon, anyway." He shrugged, he had heard somewhere that there was a lake, something he couldn't remember ever seeing. He wondered how it compared to the ocean, and looked back out at the hills as he thought on that.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Oct 16, 2008 15:07:40 GMT -5
Markise nodded, his mind making the connection between Ariel and the lake. He breathed a light sigh of relief at not having been blown off again, and rolled his gum around in his mouth for a moment. "I hear the lake's huge," Markise said. Or maybe he'd read it, he didn't remember. He was looking forward to seeing Dare again, but he wasn't about to say that to Ariel. Markise went silent at that, working his gum back into a shape he could blow a bubble with. Thank God Brindle wasn't here.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Oct 16, 2008 15:16:25 GMT -5
There really wasn't much reason to want to be in the school other than a new group of people, it was soon going to be wet and cold, two things Ariel certainly wasn't used to being save on his own terms. "Why on earth did you decide to come so far away?" he asked, realizing as he said it that the question would probably just be turned back on him. Well, he had a half decent answer, that job in London that his brother had paid well.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Oct 16, 2008 15:23:35 GMT -5
Markise's bubble popped loudly with his sudden surprised exhalation. He pulled the gum into his mouth again, then pushed it aside, trying to think of how to answer that without making things painfully awkward. "They have a better scholarship program than the school in the New England area, and SWIM..." Markise's eyes dropped, the tops of his lashes shining near gold from where he'd missed his mascara this morning. "I was getting a lot of... bad reactions from people," he said. "Stuff got out, and I needed to get away." He knew it was probably obvious what he was talking about, but there was really no better way to say it without bending the truth.
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