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Post by Rita Hall on Mar 26, 2009 20:35:29 GMT -5
Rita flounced up to the tower, bundled up in her winter coat and scarf. Strangely enough, winter was Rita’s favorite season- a fact that didn’t seem to make sense to most people who knew her. She’d remembered the looks of surprise on the faces of her family and friends, who’d all assumed that she’d be someone who’d love the warm, sunny days of summer, jumping into the lake and wearing long, flowy sundresses. It wasn’t that she didn’t like summer, though- she loved all the seasons for their own positive aspects, but winter just seemed to have this sort of…magical glowy feeling to her. She didn’t know how to explain it, and she’d never tried to tell anyone about it knowing she’d probably be laughed at, but just the combination of the beauty of falling snow, the crisp sound of crunching through the white blanket of snow, the cool air blowing against her face, and being able to come in to the warmth of Hogwarts after hours outside, defrosting with a cup of tea or hot chocolate, was what made winter so enjoyable to Rita.
Once she reached the top of the landing, Rita stopped to look out over the castle grounds. Hogwarts truly was a beautiful place, from the large, glorious lake which was currently frozen over, its surface sparkling in the sun, to the lawns which even now had a few students walking across them in small groups. Even the Whomping Willow, despite the damage nearly every Hogwarts student knew it could cause, had some sort of strange and different beauty- at least in Rita’s eyes. Then again, one of her friends had laughed in her face last term in Defense Against the Dark Arts when she’d said that “grindylows actually weren’t all that bad looking.” Get up close to one, her friend had said, see how beautiful they are then. It didn’t bother Rita, though- she knew people thought she was a bit strange sometimes, but she saw beauty in all things, even if they didn’t exactly fit in with the “normal” human standard of things that were aesthetically pleasing.
A sudden gust of wind blew against Rita, startling her out of her thoughts and pushing her a few inches closer to the edge. Shrieking in surprise, Rita struggled to regain her composure, moving further back from the edge in case a similar incident was to happen again. She wasn’t afraid of heights, but falling off the tower landing wasn’t something she wanted to add to her list of things she’s done in her lifetime- especially since there was always the chance that could be the last thing she did in her lifetime. She shuddered slightly at the thought, then brushed it off. No point in worrying, she told herself. Nothing happened to me, and I’ll be perfectly fine as long as I don’t stand too close to the edge. That last thought triggered a mental image of a chubby baby penguin singing a song in a Muggle movie she’d seen a year or two ago. Penguins- now they were creatures that pretty much anyone could agree with her on the fact that they were adorable. If only there were penguins at Hogwarts, Rita thought longingly, imagining how wonderful that would be.
(For Moki, just because she said I'd never come back and post. I had to prove her wrong. Oh, and if anyone else wants to join in that's cool too; just let Moki get the first reply, haha.)
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Post by Moki Kagawa on Mar 26, 2009 22:47:43 GMT -5
OOC: OH MY GAWD YOU ARE BACK MY LOVER!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH <3 <3 <3 YOU WON EPIC COOL POINTS NOW I HAVE TO GIMP YOU A PICTURE OF DEXTER AND YOU BEING SEXY TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~ LINES OF HAPPY FUN YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahem......... moving on to posting......
IC: Moki was... rather ashamedly avoiding everybody. She really didn't know what to say to anyone after what had transpired in the trophy room the other day, and Maeve seemed to have more important things on her mind. So, she was skulking in unpopulated areas, mostly practicing random charms - nothing big, considering she had absolutely no desire to be expelled - and reading. It seemed she couldn't get her hands on enough news these days. She was subscribed to four different newspapers at once now, and was reading them diligently for any sort of tip off as to what on earth was going on in the Ministry or even the Muggle world. She hadn't found much, but she was steadily noticing that if you were paying attention, some stories didn't seem to fit with others, and every once in awhile something just sounded off. Maybe it was poor editing, but she was looking out for it nonetheless. Things were happening, whether anybody wanted to report on it or not.
Climbing the stairs to the north tower, Moki heard a scream come from above her. What the...? Pulling out her wand, she moved quickly but soundlessly up the stairs, hoping she wasn't walking into the midst of another duel. She figured if she was caught fighting another student again there was a high chance of her immediate expulsion from Hogwarts. Well, fighting so soon, anyway. Maybe in a couple months or something. Hehe.
The staircase twisted, and Moki caught a glimpse of bright blonde hair. Wait... blonde? The only blonde she knew was... "RITA!" she shrieked, immediately pouncing on the girl with a giant glomp. "Where have you been? I MISSED YOU!!!!!" She realized that she was probably either strangling or suffocating the girl at the same moment she noticed they were dangerously close to the edge of the tower, and immediately let go of Rita. Looking bashfully at her feet, she managed to cough out, "Uh, sorry about that." Embarrassment fading in a matter of seconds, she brightened. "But seriously! I haven't seen you in ages!"
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Post by Rita Hall on Mar 26, 2009 23:50:33 GMT -5
Penguins are cuter...no, bunnies! But penguins are adorable and soft and fuzzy...but so are bunnies...fuck, this isn't going anywhere, Rita thought to herself. She'd been spending the last few minutes having a mental debate in her head as to whether penguins or bunnies were the cuter animal, but she couldn't bring herself to come to a decision. I guess they're both equally cute, she eventually concluded. A minute later, she realized how ridiculous her situation looked- a girl standing at the top of the tower on a cold January day, pondering whether bunnies or penguins were cuter. Well, at least I was alone- if someone else had been here, I might have subjected them to my thoughts- and who knows what that would've ended up like. Rita knew that many people, even friends of hers, were sometimes put off by her out of nowhere, all over the place, and (in their opinion) often pointless ramblings. When she was by herself, she had no problem keeping her thoughts in her head- but when there were others around, she couldn't help but chatter on endlessly to them. Not that she didn't listen when people talked to her; Rita could, in fact, be a very good listener. It was just in her nature to be talkative.
"RITA!" The sound of her name being called, immediately followed by someone jumping on her to hug her, made Rita's heart skip about five beats and caused her to let out yet another involuntary shriek. "AHHH!" she cried out, struggling to twist around to see who the person was- all she could tell at this point was that it was a girl's voice. Oh, fuck, she thought to herself, realizing that the two of them had moved back down towards the edge of the tower's landing. Apparantly the other girl had come to the same conclusion, finally letting go of Rita. Turning around, she finally saw who it was- her friend Moki.
"Hey!" Rita said cheerfully to her friend. "Oh, don't worry about it," she said, when Moki apologized for causing them to get near to the edge. "Neither of us fell over, right? I mean, of course neither of us fell over, I didn't mean 'right' as if I was asking you, since it's pretty obvious that we're both still here- oh, forget it, you probably knew what I mean from the start," she said, realizing she'd most likely sounded as if her brain had fallen over the tower's edge. "I know, I haven't seen you for so long! I haven't been out much...it's been so cold! I do love winter, but the temperatures have just been so unbearable lately that I've mostly spent time in my room watching Muggle movies, some of them are just SO entertaining...how have you been, though?"
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Post by Moki Kagawa on Mar 27, 2009 0:19:27 GMT -5
Moki grinned as Rita went off on a tangent. It was like she was incapable of inner thought sometimes, and it was usually brilliant. Rita was the person who said things everybody else kept to themselves, and listening to the way her mind jumped around like crazy was one of the best forms of entertainment Moki could imagine. "Aaah, how have I been... well, let's see. Got a letter from my dad the other day, that was good," not really, "have been getting some good practice in on my spellwork," like body-binding a sixth year, "and getting some exercise around the castle" by walking around avoiding everybody like the plague. Yeah, that was a dead on explanation. "Okay, so you wanna know the whole story, I'll tell you later. Anyway, what're you doing up here? It's a little cold, ne?" She wrapped her arms around herself.
"Oooh, Muggle movies! I LOVE. We should have a movie night! It would be a beautiful thing of loveliness... and yes, I did just say that." Gosh, Rita was rubbing off on her already. "I like sappy romance movies... isn't that pathetic? I don't know why. It's not really like me. But comedies are great, too, I love them. And action. Okay, you know what? I'm going to shut up now before I complete the list of movie genres and make it clear that I am incapable of choosing one thing over another."
OOC: Okay, you have NO idea how hard it was for me not to type things in Japanese for you... like chotto, I could have used that, you know... aaah I have a sickness Tegan, sorry XDDDD nihongo ga daisuki da yo~~~ Demo Tegan-chan mo daisuki da yo. Watashi ni kaku kara, ima no hou ga mae yori daisuki da yo. I KNOW you don't know that, so I will be nice and not make you want to hit me with a large fish. The long sentence says because you write to me, I love you more than before. Which is not really true. I do not love you more than before, I am just happier than before. Loving you more than before would imply that you must do things to appease me to be loved. Which is false (usou deshou!). BLACK BEAR. LMAOOOOOO. So why didn't I write that? I don't know. Baka dakara, kakanakatta. (Because I'm an idiot.)
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Post by Rita Hall on Mar 27, 2009 0:49:57 GMT -5
Rita listened intently as her friend went on about the various things she'd done lately. "Oh, a letter, that sounds wonderful! I just love receiving mail...it's so nice to know that someone out there is thinking of you and has enough to say to you that they're willing to write to you." She raised her eyebrows slightly when Moki said that she'd tell her the "whole story" later; she knew her friend often enjoyed causing mischief (with no harmful intentions, of course, just with the goal of entertaining herself) and she wondered what sorts of things the Slytherin girl had gotten involved in. "Oh, you'll definitely have to tell me later," she chimed in. Although many of Moki's adventures were types that Rita wouldn't get involved in herself, she did enjoy hearing about them.
"Anyway, what're you doing up here? It's a little cold, ne?" "Yeah, it is a bit cold. Not too cold, though. It's cold as in still cold enough to need to wear enough layers to resemble a living marshmallow- which reminds me of this Muggle movie I saw once in which a mother bundled up this young boy to the extent that he wasn't even able to put his arms down. I felt a little sorry for the boy, but couldn't help hysterically laughing at the same time- is that mean? I don't think so, I mean it's not like anything happened to the boy, although he did fall over, but his brother helped him up and he was fine...oh, there I go again, sorry," Rita apologized, thinking that her mouth really needed an "off" switch sometimes. "But, yeah, I just came up here because I wanted to get outside for a bit...I wasn't really doing much of anything, except at one point I was having a mental debate as to whether penguins or bunnies are the cuter animal, but couldn't pick, so I finally just decided they're both equally cute and settled that right there." Shit, why did I start going on about that? So much for keeping my thoughts in my head.
"Oh my god, you like Muggle movies too?" Rita practically yelled with excitement. She'd never known any other wizard or witch who'd really enjoyed them before; the majority of her friends had either been too perplexed by Muggle technology to even bother to try to pay attention to the plot, or they just had no interest. "Oh, I know what you mean, I love all types of movies, too! Comedies are always fantastic, and some romance ones are just so wonderful that I can't even express them in words! I love action and adventure, also...the only type I'm really not fond of at all are horror movies. I get terribly scared when I watch them and wind up with this awful paranoia that whatever's in the movie will come after me, and before I know it I'm jumping at the slightest movement or noise. And don't worry about having trouble choosing...just look at me, I couldn't even decide whether I thought penguins or bunnies were cuter!" She laughed, partly due to the excitement of talking to her friend and partially due to her own ridiculousness.
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Post by Moki Kagawa on Mar 28, 2009 21:39:11 GMT -5
"Ha, well, receiving letters from my dad is never short on excitement, that's for sure," Moki half-heartedly laughed. She grinned at Rita's explanation of the movie. "I've never seen that one," she admitted. "Sounds pretty great, though... actually, it sounds like my mom. My mom's a Muggle, y'know, so, it's not that weird that I like Muggle movies, I guess. But anyway, when I was a little kid she used to be crazy over me! I'm an only child, so all my parents' attention was always on me. But especially my mom, just because she doesn't have a traditional job like my dad - she was a ghost hunter, actually. And generally people don't do that in the daytime so when I was small she was always doing crazy stuff with me... like dressing me like the Michelin man. Yeah." She spaced out for a minute, reminiscing at the rather scarring memory. Snapping back to the present, she heard Rita say, "...I was having a mental debate as to whether penguins or bunnies are the cuter animal, but couldn't pick, so I finally just decided they're both equally cute and settled that right there." "Oh, bunnies versus penguins................... well, I think I'm going to say bunnies just because my friend Kristy likes to spell bunny B-U-N-N-E-H and I think it's hilarious especially when you say it all happy and cracked out like BUNNEH!!!!!!!!!!!!" she yelled the last word. "Penguin doesn't work that well at all."
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Post by Rita Hall on Mar 28, 2009 22:16:03 GMT -5
"Oh, I'm a half-blood, too!" Rita said, "Except that with me it's my dad who's the Muggle." Moki went on to describe how her mother was a ghost hunter. "Really? That's so awesome! Did she ever find any actual ghosts? Does she know there's a few at Hogwarts? Not that she'd be allowed to hunt here, but uh, maybe she could...interview them, or something? ...Okay, maybe not," she trailed off. I wonder what the Michelin man is? she thought to herself, puzzled by the unfamiliar term. I probably shouldn't ask, though...I need to stop going off on such ridiculous tangents. It was almost like some sort of disorder- once she opened her mouth and started talking, she couldn't stop herself from going on, and on, and on...just like the pink bunny mascot for the Muggle battery company she'd seen a few times on TV.
"Oh, bunnies versus penguins..." Rita nearly gasped when she heard her friend mention bunnies, thinking for a fraction of a second that somehow she'd been able to hear her thoughts, when she remembered that she'd mentioned her mental debate about which animal was cuter. Relieved, Rita breathed a quiet sigh and listened as Moki began to explain why she thought bunnies were the cuter animal. "Oh my god!" Rita exclaimed, bursting into laughter when the other girl yelled out BUNNEH!!!! "That's so funny! How did your friend ever think of that, that's genius!" Rita attempted to yell out the word in a similar manner, but started laughing yet again. "That's brilliant! And you're totally right, penguin isn't quite the same." Although, penguins still are quite fluffy, and adorable...oh, shut up, brain! Pushing the thought out of her head, Rita focused her attention back to her friend. "So, what did you come up here for?"
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Post by Moki Kagawa on Mar 28, 2009 22:46:08 GMT -5
"Oh, well, let me rephrase. She was a ghost hunter. I mean, I guess in some sense of the word she still is, but that was basically what she did before she met my dad and knew that this world existed. But when I was growing up she just basically did it for fun. Once she found out about the wizarding world, she realized her way of finding ghosts was pretty ridiculous, when the truth is that most of them don't bother hanging around graveyards and old houses. But she couldn't give it up, she was just too into it even if it was useless. So she did it as a hobby and occasionally found the odd reclusive ghost." Moki shut her mouth, realizing that she was totally going on, even if Rita had asked.
Moki pondered Rita's question. "I don't know how she came up with it. She's... different, that's for sure. Yeah, penguin is lame. It's like PENGUINNNNN! It's like a lion or something. Whatever. Oh, I came up here because I am pretty much trying to avoid everybody right now. Aaah, okay. You know how I mentioned earlier I was practicing-" she made quotation marks in the air with her fingers "-spells? Well, actually... it was more like a Slytherin versus Ravenclaw duel. And I fought Katarina Devanport. And we lost 50 points each by Decessum and McKlennon, got detention, and quite a few illegal spells went down. So I'm kind of trying to save my own ass by not running into Kat, who I suspect is probably pretty surprised and pissed that I happened to win - quite by accident, I might add - but the truth is, I've been studying, too. I need to learn some of those spells, if for no other reason than self-defense. But I don't think that'll be the only thing I need them for. Let's just say it's better all around the more you know these days." She sighed. Gosh, it was a friggin' speech. She might not have rambled like Rita, but she didn't shut up either.
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Post by Rita Hall on Mar 29, 2009 19:55:41 GMT -5
"Ohhh," Rita said, as Moki explained that her mother's ghost-hunting had gone from being a proffesion to more of a hobby once she had learned about the wizarding world. "Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, it's hard to imagine what ghosts are like before actually having seen one, and without knowing there's a whole world of magic out there around you." Rita had always considered herself lucky that she'd had one magical parent- she couldn't even imagine how shocking and overwhelming it must be for Muggle-borns to learn that they're a witch and wizard, and then have to adjust to things that pure- and half-bloods had known about nearly all their lives. Then again, she supposed for some of them, it may have been incredibly exciting to discover their magic, to learn about all the different qualities and things that had existed that they'd never had a clue about before they received their Hogwarts letter.
"Oh my god," Rita gasped, her eyes opening wide, "you were in a duel? Wow...what was it like? Was it terrifying? Was it exciting? I'd think it'd be a little of both- more terrifying than exciting, but that could also be because I have this fear that every time I do a spell it'll come bouncing back at me- it's ridiculous, I know, but..." she lowered her voice slightly here, "I do speak from experience." She felt her face flush slightly as mental images of her not-so-brilliant moments with spellwork passed through her mind. "You got detention? What sort of illegal spells were there?" she questioned. The only real illegal spells Rita knew about were the Unforgivable Curses- but would Hogwarts students actually attempt to use them? Even if they tried, would they even have the skill or power to do it? The idea made Rita shiver a little, but she tried not to worry- for all she knew, Moki could be referring to something completely different, and she'd never angered any of her fellow students enough to make them turn their wand on her, anyway.
"Oh, you won! ...Congratulations?" Rita said, unsure if she should be saying that considering the situation. Why not? her brain told her. Between having detention and having to avoid the girl who she dueled with, it'll probably be nice for her to receive some support amidst all the chaos. She was grateful that her mind had agreed with her for once, instead of causing her to feel that she should put a Silencing Charm on herself to prevent her from verbalizing everything that popped into her head. "What do you mean by that last comment...that that won't be the only thing you'd need them for?" That got Rita's full attention- was there something going on at Hogwarts, or in the entire magical world, that she wasn't aware of? Maybe I should spend less time watching Muggle movies and more time reading the Daily Prophet..or at least paying attention to things that go on at school, she thought.
(OOC: Okay, here is your little note that I am finally getting around to leaving. Sorry I forgot to leave one yesterday but my memory failed, as you know. I hope your astronomy studying went well/is going well...at least you'll knock out your two tests early on in the week and have some time to relax, and won't be stressing RIGHT before break. Just don't get too overwhelmed...Jack Bauer, Dexter, David Palmer and I are all here for you. XD Mr. Chang's also here, of course. He misses you and wishes you were a more active presence in his life.)
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