much ado about charms pv: jack warren fin

Interaction w/ @Asteria Kurokawa

Jack couldn't help but feel annoyed at being put into a group with somebody he didn't really know. He could have been with his friends and they would have killed the project while also having a great time. It just didn't seem like he was going to have a good time with this girl. What was her name again? It started with an A....Angelica....No, that doesn't seem right. Never the less they had agreed to meet in the library to get the project started. The boy stepped into the large, book filled, library and saw his new 'partner' leaning precariously far back on one of the rather old looking chairs. He knew what was going to happen. He would be lying if he had never done that before.

Suddenly, just as he had expected, the chair finally toppled backward. A poorly veiled grin plastered across his face, and he continued toward the girl who was now sprawled out on the dusty floor. Imagine his luck in being able to see her crash out of her chair! An attempt at muffling his laughter was attempted, but clearly futile.

With books under his arm, Jack walked up to Asteria. Leaning over slightly, he looked down at her. His grin was unmistakable. "You having fun down there? I just saw you tumble backward like a bowling ball." The books under his arm were dropped onto the table, and Jack stuck out his hand to help her up. "I didn't think you were so clumsy."

Taking his hand, she pulled herself up, huffing as she did so. "I'm not clumsy," she said, a faint flush crossing her cheeks, "you just caught me at a- a bad time." The rumblings of bitterness at being caught on the wrong foot wormed their way through her, and it took most of her will to keep herself from snapping further. It was hard though. She knew the look of someone muffling laughter, and had recognized it on the boy's face even upside down, from when she lay on floor moments before. Remembering that moment that made the flush on her cheeks grow even more. 

Now upright, she brushed her robes off, a faint film of dust having accumulated on her in the aftermath of her collision with the floor. Already, this project had started off badly. Kneeling down, she moved to stand the knocked over chair upright, staring at Jack the entire time she did so, taking in the fact that he towered at least a good five inches over her. "Anyway, are you going to continue to stand there making comments about my personal character, or are you going to help with this project?" One hand waved idly towards the tower of books. "The sooner this is over with, the sooner I can go take a nap. Really, who assigns projects right on the last few nice days of autumn." The chair now upright, she swung herself onto it, legs swinging casually as she waited for Jack to respond.

She smiled at him, willing herself to act as if there were no hard feelings. There was a bitter streak in her, one which latched onto tiny grievances and escalated them, and it was up to her to defuse herself before an off-hand joke got the better of her. The only way out was through, and her internal peace had to be kept.

@Jack Warren

@Asteria Kurokawa

The redness that was growing across Asteria's face was hard to miss. It only made his grin harder to hide. He pursed his lips in an attempt to stop himself from digging a deeper hole than he already was in with his Charms project partner. Letting go of her hand, the tall Hufflepuff looked down at the girl. Her comment about Jack standing there just made him cock an eyebrow at her. The edges of his lips were starting to give way and the grin took hold. "I'm just standing here to make sure you don't fall again. I don't want you to get your robes even dustier." he motions to the bits of dust particles floating off of her freshly patted clothes. He felt rather proud of his second joke, "But you are right. It is kind of crappy that we are stuck in here instead of having a good time outside. We could totally ditch this project and grab some food instead?" He probably was able to guess the answer to that question. A soft squeaking sounded as he pulled out the chair adjacent to her, and dropped onto his bum.

He kept grinning but the urge to laugh had quickly faded away. He didn't have much else to say at the moment, but there were several verbal jabs running through his head. Finally, he couldn't hold back anymore. With an easy movement, Jack grabs hold of a book near the bottom of the stack by its spine and pulls it free from its tower-like confines. Hoping for a loud reaction, he just waited for the tower to topple. And so it did. A clatter of leather against the wood table, the books created a racket! "Oh look, the books are mimicking you." He joked. Now Jack's goal wasn't to start a fight, but rather lighten the mood. However, in hindsight, this was a terrible idea. Holding up the book with a grin, he smiled back at Asteria.

The clatter of the books surprised her, causing her whole body to jerk upwards in alarm. She nearly toppled over again, like the final domino in the chain set off my the books. In her shock, she nearly missed his joke. Nearly. Shooting him a glare, she mumbled a reply. "Very funny."

If she was being honest with herself, it was actually quite funny. The kind of thing she'd pull with a friend sure, but not someone she had only just met. There was a level of familiarness in it where, if the tables had been turned, she would be unwilling to attempt it. Still, some good had come of it she realized, glancing down at the book in Jack's hands. "Your joke was uh- useful, at least. It found us the book we'll probably need," she said, pointing at the book now. It seemed perfect for their project, or at least as close to perfect as a dusty old book could be. Asteria was not a fan of libraries. The sooner she could get out, the better. Libraries made her antsy - all silence and books that threatened to crumble away in her hands if she so much as looked at them the wrong way. They triggered her fight or But at least she had regained her calm, the minor ruckus of the book-valanche a faint memory now.

Her thoughts slowly churning in the dull calm of the space, she idly drummed her hands on the table, hoping that none of the earlier crashes, or this faint noise would attract the attention of the librarian. "So. We'd best get started then," she said, making a grab for the book that Jack held. It was all impulse really, her hands moving before her brain, but she couldn't quite help it.

@Jack Warren

@Asteria Kurokawa

By Asteria saying 'Very funny.' Jack had a distinct impression that she, in fact, did not find that 'very funny'. The obviously pointed look she gave him had helped him understand that fact rather well. It wasn't the first time he had been on the receiving end of a look like that, and the boy recognized it immediately.

She went on to say that he was at least somewhat useful. That was a nice thing to say...he guessed. Jack didn't really care about the amount of noise that he was making. Unfortunately, the boy had issues with following the rules. This library was annoyingly silent, and the sound of pages turning just wanted Jack to smash his head against the hardwood table that was sat directly in front of him. The line where that idea was a joke was starting to grow dangerously thin, and it would continue to shrink the longer he sat there. "Well. I totally meant to do that. See I knew we would need that book." He lied through his teeth.

Suddenly she grabbed for the book he had no intention of opening. His hand quickly recoiled, and he gave her an overexaggerated look of horror. "How dare you try to take this book away from me?!" He accused in the most overdramatic way possible and clung the book desperately against his chest. His voice was already much louder than the previous 'book-slide'. He thought that somebody would have to blind and deaf to not understand that he was joking. Most people with a lick of common sense would stop playing around after a glare, but Jack just wanted to double down on the playing around. The look of horror quickly faded away, and his normal aggravating grin returned in full force.

As Jack pulled the book away, Asteria finally cracked. Not to snap or snip though. In fact, her cracking veered the opposite direction emotionally. Feelings had been spinning inside, misplaced ire at the assignment and the boy, a vague directionless anger that caused her to be pricklier than normal, but which began to fade as she watched his display. The look on his face, the dramatic affect, the grin that sill lingered afterwards - all of it was familiar. It was shockingly reminiscent of home in some ways, of the interactions she was used with friends and laughter began to bubble up through her. It was a soft laugh at first, but one that began to brew into full on cackling, potentially a result of a lack of use here at Hogwarts so far. 

"Oh- but my lord," she said, choking through her giggles, "would you not deign to allow me-," again she paused to catch her breath a second time, words unable to slip past the laughter, "-a humble servant, to be privy to yonder book?" 

Her chair wobbled as she laughed again, her whole body shaking at this moment that had been the straw that broke the camel's back - or at least her earlier iciness. It was dumb. She knew it. The contrived ye olde english, the laughter our of nowhere, all of it. She didn't know why she was laughing not really. It was the kind of laughter that heaved though all of you, and part of her, the small voice at the back of her head that worried about 'coolness' and rules and nonsense like that worried about attracting attention. Something in the conversation had set her off, and who was she to deny the word of her body, at least in this moment. Being joyful was at least better that being spiteful.

@Jack Warren

@Asteria Kurokawa

Laughter is contagious. It is terribly contagious. The contagion is even more effective when it wasn't expected. Jack's charms partner had Stoney and somewhat cold disposition towards him had disappeared and made a complete one-eighty. As all common courtesy was forgotten and the giggles took over, Jack set the book down. The boy's hand covered his mouth with a hand as he too began to laugh loudly. The thing about laughter is that there isn't a volume control on it. His cheeks were already starting to hurt from grinning. That's when Asteria started with something that threw a wrench in his preconceived notions of the girl.

Where in the heck did that accent come from!? He doubled over in laughter and nearly banged his head against the table. There was only one direction he could go, and that was to be even more extra. Returning to his upright position he responded, managing to halt his laughter for a moment. "Squire!" Jack exclaimed in the haughtiest English accent he could muster, "I deem you worthy!" He raised the book way above his head as if he was presenting in a grand ceremony. "You may be granted the honor of taking a gander at this holiest of holy books. BUT BEWARE..." he paused for dramatic effect. Jack was nothing, if not a showman. "This book contains my deepest, darkest secrets." A look of seriousness crossed his face. It would have been convincing too... if it wasn't for his lips twitching to hold back a smile. With two outstretched hands, he brought the book back down. Presenting it to the girl across the table, Jack bowed his head. Volume be damned, Jack didn't care enough to lower his voice. However the minute he stopped speaking, the giggles returned.

Her body was still wracked with laughter, the quiet kind, where you can barely breathe and your body is shaking violently, but no noise comes out. There was a sense that a weight had lifted from her shoulders, that the barrier she tried to keep up in new scenarios had cracked, at least slightly. She was so used to feeling like she had to keep watch over herself and her emotions, because they seemed to certain in their readiness to bite. But now, all the impulse, the ire, seemed ready to drain away as the pair giggled.

Looking over at Jack, she received the book gratefully, mirroring his bow. "Sir, I thank you with my life for this exalted tone." Her tone wavered, the traces of  laughter lingering in her voice, even as she tried to keep it smooth and serious. Her hands wrapped around the book, placing it delicately on their shared table with a level of precision that veered on the dramatic. "As this tome contains thine dread personal secrets, I will of course defend it to the death. Unless of course-" and with this her voice shifted tone, moving from an affected accent to her normal manner of speaking, the ghost of a laugh still lingering in it, "it pertains to that most nefarious beast: our charms assignment." She beamed at him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she did so. Looking back on her actions, she had been unnecessarily unkind at first, caught in the fury and frustration of being caught on the wrong foot. A feeling pulled at her, her compulsion to do things simply because they felt right - she felt responsible for the earlier bitterness and had to own up to it, at least a smidgen.

Continuing to smile, she stuck out her hand to Jack, as if to shake his. "I'm- I'm sorry about earlier. You uh- caught me a bit off-guard, and then I got waspish. It wasn't fair to you at all. So. Sorry." There it was again, the concept of fairness, the thing  that was supposedly associated with her house. She wasn't sure if it was true, but she hoped that she could be at least slightly embody it now.

@Jack Warren

@Asteria Kurokawa

Jack tugged at his robe lapels and struck a rather regal pose. He pointed his nose to the sky and gave a rather haughty sniff. "I see. If we must look inside this book in order to defeat this vile creature, then it must be done." The mighty pose only lasted for a moment, before he gave up. Jack slouched a bit, his arms dropped from his robe, before crossed his arms and leaned forward onto the large table. Most of his giggles had escaped him, and he was slowly being able to regain his composure. However, his cheeks were already starting to twinge from him grinning for so long.

Normally, most interactions with people either went one of two ways. The first is that he would get along splendidly! The other would end up in a fight. He was rather used to the latter being the normal reaction to his divisive personality. People tended to see him as rude and improper, but that was his way of being nice. However, this wasn't really like his other experiences, and even after the rocky start, Jack could see himself being friends with this girl.

Jack looked up from the book of 'deep dark secrets' also known as a simple charms textbook, as she began to she was sorry. He just waved his hand flippantly, as if knocking the apology out of the air. "Don't worry about it." He brushes off the words. "I was probably coming in on the joking a bit too strong. I just wanted to lighten the mood. This library is always so..." Jack took a moment for a word to come to him. "dreadfully dull." the boy attempted to say that as nonchalant as possible. He wanted to seem cool. In the pursuit of 'coolness' Jack lazily leaned back against the chair. The front two legs of the chair raised off the floor, and the chair tettered dangerously far back. He went on to elaborate on some ways the library could be more fun."There should be music playing in here or something...Maybe like some classic rock. Oh, wait! Even better- What if we had some of that alt-rock, like from America. That would be so co-" At that moment, his attempt at coolness failed miserably. He basically copied Asteria's fatal mistake of leaning back in the chair too far. A loud 'thud' sounded as the young huffle met the floor.