Getting to the end. [Ness.] on Library

Evelyn Stones

December 13, 2018 2:35 AM

Getting to the end. [Ness.] by Evelyn Stones

The days left in Evelyn's first year at Sonora could be counted on one hand, and she thought this was terrible news. She'd been keeping in greater correspondence with her parents than she'd expected, apparently as a result of a successful intervention. If nothing else, her father seemed willing to write now and was pleased to hear she'd been enjoying Sonora, regardless of whether she was succeeding academically or magically. Still, the thought of spending the summer at home was bittersweet. The Oregon coast was well-loved and well-missed, but the Stones family home, perched above the sea, was much less so.

When she'd asked Ness to meet her in the library, she had been surprised at the nerves in her belly. They spent time together fairly often, but it was sometimes limited to classwork. Being in different houses kept them apart during parts of the day that were often relegated to laying in bed in her pajamas, and Evelyn's involvement with the Garden Club, the newspaper, and Quidditch had kept her busy. This was all on top of her efforts to further befriend Tatiana and Katerina, Cleo, Parker, and anyone else she might convince to think she was a pretty okay person, not to mention devotion to Malikhi's healing process. It was a busy spring and time had flown by.

Ness was simple and complicated. There was something familiar and warm about the Aladren's smiling face, largely due to the holidays they'd spent together and the ongoing concern about Evelyn's home life since then, but there was more than that. Ness' tendency to lean on honesty and openness made it easy to know where they stood and how things were going. If Ness needed space, Evelyn was sure she'd know. If Evelyn needed a hug, she could go to Ness. Ness was warm and kind and had a nice face and a big brain and a gold heart.

Her considerations were interrupted by the arrival of the subject of them and she smiled an excited greeting at her friend.

"Hi," she said lamely and perfectly and comfortably and awkwardly. There was little else she needed to say, but she wanted to, and that was encouraging. She hoped Ness felt the same with her. She patted the open seat beside her on the plushy library armchair and offered a purple lipped grin. "How is a raven like a writing desk?" she added, enjoying throwing such random questions at Ness to watch the wheels turn behind those eyes. She waited a moment to allow some thought before suggesting her own answer: "They both start with rrrrr."

22 Evelyn Stones Getting to the end. [Ness.] 1422 Evelyn Stones 1 5

Ness

December 21, 2018 3:21 AM

Hopefully not! by Ness

Ness was happy-anxious when Evelyn requested library time. Spending time with Evelyn was always good, and it was especially good when the Aladren got to feel specifically chosen as a companion, rather than them just happening to come together the way they did at meals or in class. And they would be meeting in the library, which was kind of their place, and any time spent in the library had to be marked down as positive. Ness just knew that Evelyn had to have a lot on her mind right now, and it was hard to know where all that was going, and what kind of support she might be in need of. Hence the anxious. Theoretically, things were better at Casa Stones, and those in charge of such things had deemed it safe enough for Evelyn to return. Ness pictured the social work system as being a lot like the McLeod Foundation - they were the good guys, out doing right and helping the world - and the first year had an inherent trust that such systems worked, having largely been exposed to the better side of them. But it was one thing to trust them in theory and another thing when there was an Evelyn - your very own Evelyn, who was so special - and it was her safety at stake. It felt a little bit hard to know for sure that the system they had in place was going to work when they clearly had not been able to test run it with the rather key component of Evelyn herself in place. Still, there wasn't much that Ness could do - Marijke had written to both first years assuring them they would be keeping in touch over the summer, and providing Evelyn with one of the tokens that would Floo her to the McLeod refuge centre, just in case. With those safety nets in place, things had started to feel a little better.

Ness found Evelyn sitting in their seat and snuggled in happily. The riddle that came out of Evelyn's mouth was a surprise - Ness was familiar with the riddle itself, and had always found its lack of a proper, definite answer deeply frustrating. Ness had often tried to come up with solutions but did not find them particularly satisfying; none of them seemed good enough, and there was no way of ever knowing whether one had answered correctly, however much effort one put in. There was not time to do much more than make quizzical eyebrows before Evelyn provided her answer.

"I never thought of that," Ness admitted, gaping in wonder at her. "That's a really clever answer - it seems simple but it's hidden by the spellings so it's not something people would think of straight away. The best I ever came up with is 'if they're down to one leg, something's gone wrong.' I think yours is better though. Maybe it's even the right answer, not that we will ever know, thank you very much, C.S. Lewis," Ness grumbled. "Wait... that's the wrong one, isn't it? I always mix those two up."

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Evelyn Stones

December 29, 2018 3:03 AM

Never ever ending then. by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn smirked and then she smiled. Ness was Aladren through and through, and had the biggest brain to go with the biggest heart.

"You're too smart for me," Evelyn said with a cheeky smile. "That's why we're good together. You keep me thinking and I... Well I hope I keep you surprised if nothing else."

Ness snuggling was one of Evelyn's favorite pasttimes. She enjoyed Malikhi time too, but it was so much more complicated. Ness was soft and warm and sweet and Malikhi was soft and warm and dangerous. There was something too much like herself in the sadness of his eyes, and something too much like her father in his angry tone. She suspected she just had an inherent distrust for man people at this point, and tried not to hold it against him. It made it all the more confusing though when he was so warm and made her feel warm.

She pushed the thoughts aside. This was Ness' time and it wouldn't due to have her mind elsewhere. Ness was warm and made Evelyn feel warm too, but most importantly, Ness was present. Evelyn smiled at her friend.

"What am I going to do without you all summer?" she queried, putting on a playful tone. She didn't try to hide the worry in her expression though. "You won't forget about me right?" There was some small amount of desperation in her voice that made her want to scream something along the lines of 'don't be so pathetic'. Pushing so hard to be sure of her friendships was just as likely to push her friends away altogether and the thought that she would likely be her own undoing someday made her sick. "I won't forget," she added more softly, forcing a breath of Ness scented air into her lungs and trying to relax. It wasn't so hard to do, to her surprise, and she settled into the comfort of the friendly cushy chair in the library with Ness McLeod for company: how much luckier could she be?

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Ness

December 29, 2018 2:18 PM

Can do by Ness

"You make me think too," Ness assured Evelyn, echoing the compliment because it was not only true but, as far as the Aladren was concerned, some of the highest praise one could offer. "After all, I hadn't thought of the one you said," the first year reiterated. Evelyn always seemed so insecure about her own intelligence, about whether she had enough to offer into their freiendship, even though she was really smart.

"You won't be without me," Ness assured Evelyn, snuggling in nice and close. Evelyn's tone was playful but she looked serious, and Ness knew too much of what had gone on in Evelyn's life to think that this statement could be made lightly. "We'll be in touch all the time. We can write. I'm pretty sure my mom wants to Floo call you on a regular basis. I mean, we don't want to intrude on your family time, but she wants to make sure you're ok. And you can visit us, if you want. If you need a break or even if you just want to hang out for a bit. So no, I won't be forgetting you because I won't be leaving you alone for long enough for that to be a possibility," Ness finished in a lighthearted tone, though meaning absolutely every word of it.

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