Elly Eriksson
January 01, 2007 4:40 PM
Second year Girls' Dorm [Tag: Mere] by Elly Eriksson
OOC: I've assumed quite a lot in this post, so if you have any scruples do say so and we'll adjust things so we're both happy.After lessons, Elly had yelled at Mere to meet her in their dorm, and had promptly hurried out of the lesson as fast as her ridiculously long legs would carry her. Elly hated trying to push her way through the crowds, so usually made point of leaving classes as early and fast as possible, and she guessed that her friends had gotten used to this by now.
Elly appreciated all her friends at Sonora, and this year they had been so wondefully supportive; even Caedence had checked to see if she'd been okay in Comec, and Meredith had been positively outraged when Elly had told her about Cissy and Paul Tarwater. Echo had been spending a lot of time with Brett, which was great, but Elly was starting to miss his company somewhat. Luckily, as she shared a room with Caedence and Meredith, she got to speak to them everyday, anyway.
It was in their shared bedroom that Elly now sat on her bed, waiting for Mere to join her. Other than a general catch-up on the day's events, Elly had a particular reason for meeting with her friend that afternoon. The Sonoran weather had proved beautifully warm the first month of term, and Elly was starting to regret her refusal to her mother to get her hair cut. Luckily, Elly was quite sure that little would irritate her mother more than if she got her hair cut by one of her school friends. This was the reason for the pair of scissors resting on the bedside table. Elly just hoped that Meredith would agree to help her out. She looked up and grinned as the door opened.
\n\n
0
Elly Eriksson
Second year Girls' Dorm [Tag: Mere]
92
Elly Eriksson
1
5
Meredith Lail
January 02, 2007 10:33 PM
All the practicing on barbies finally pays off. by Meredith Lail
OOC: It’s only one thing really. About Mere being outraged, with Cissy it’s fine, evil little devil child, *grin* but she’d be more shocked and slightly disbelieving over Paul than outraged since he seemed friendly to her. I’d have to assume that Elly told her after Charms for the order of events to make sense. I talked to Paul OOC about this a little. Other than that, I think we’re good.BIC: Meredith nodded and gave Elly a thumbs-up to confirm she heard her friend’s call. They usually met there anyway so she wasn’t sure why Elly needed to tell her to meet her. Elly had taken to leaving class as soon as, if not a millisecond before the class actually ended. Meredith, on the other hand, was in no rush at all to get back to the common room and took her time walking with some friends and talking about whatever came up, probably making a point somewhere about Professor McKindy’s hat which she still and for a long while would find amusing.
A point she wasn’t sure she wanted to revisit was the bit Elly told her a little earlier about Paul and his sister, Cissy, that first year in their house. While having never met Cissy, her first impression was pretty bad considering what she said about Elly, but being in Meredith’s nature, she’d save full judgment for when she met this girl face-to-face. It was Paul that had Meredith kind of flustered. How could he be so rude to Elly and be so friendly to her?
Alright, friendly may not be the word of choice, but he was definitely nice. It just didn’t connect in her head that Paul would act that way, but she wasn’t going to say Elly was lying. She knew for an absolute fact that Elly wouldn’t make something like that up. It was mind boggling to decide on to the point that it almost hurt to think about. One thing most people who really knew Meredith knew about the girl that she didn’t know herself was that she was naïve to a fault.
Meredith spoke the password and entered the common room, heading straight up the staircase. She passed the first year girls’ door with a small frown, wondering if Cissy was in there at the moment. Meredith wasn’t one to start confrontations, but she was pretty sure that that first year owed her friend an apology. That would have to come another time. Meredith pushed open her door and was met with Elly’s grinning face, which cheered her up right away. It was very contagious that way.
“Hey Elly.” She greeted her friend in a singsong voice on her way to her bed.
Meredith tossed her bag onto her bed and fell backwards beside it so she was lying horizontally with the bed. Her hair hung over one side and her feet dangled over the other. She stared at her mouse running on his wheel as she worked her sneakers off with her feet. She saw how clean his cage was and guessed the prairie elves must’ve helped out. She wouldn’t have minded a little elf helper at her house, but there was no way her mother would stand for something like that and besides, they had Luci’s help. Meredith sat up and looked at her friend, finally remembering she had something she wanted to tell her.
“I kept forgetting to tell you, but I found something upstairs I wanted to show you and Echo. A portrait I think you guys might find mighty interesting. Oh wait,” she stopped remembering something else, “did you need to tell me something?” she asked, more curious about why she was asked to meet there than anxious to tell her friends what she found. Curiosity got the better of her every time. She had all the time in the world to tell them anyway and she really thought they’d like it.\n\n
0
Meredith Lail
All the practicing on barbies finally pays off.
0
Meredith Lail
0
5
Elly
January 03, 2007 1:04 PM
That's the spirit! by Elly
OOC: Okay, then, shocked and slightly disbelieving it is. I assumed that Elly had waited ’til after charms to tell Mere, too, so that makes sense :)BIC:
“Hey Elly,” Meredith said as she came in. Elly watched, amused, as Meredith started relaxing after the hard day of lessons. She lay on her bed and kicked off her shoes – Elly had already rid herself of robes and shoes when she came up, so was sitting in faded blue jeans and a white t-shirt with a picture of Mickey Mouse on the front. It was starting to look a bit small on her now, but Elly’s Dad had bought it for her when they’d gone to Disneyland in Paris when she was nine (it had fit her as a nightdress then), and she was still rather fond of it.
Elly had just opened her mouth to voice her haircut suggestion, when Meredith suddenly sat up and started talking. Elly shut her mouth again and listened instead, while her friend told her about a portrait she’d found.
“Oh wait, did you need to tell me something?” Meredith interrupted herself.
“Not tell you something,” Elly said, grinning, “but ask you something.” She reached over, picked up the large pair of scissors, and held them out to Meredith. “Would you cut my hair for me? It’s been all crazy for too long. I think it could do to be just a bit longer than yours.” Elly looked at Meredith, and thought she was about to say no, so she added, “it doesn’t have to be neat, and you can tell me about the portrait you found while you cut it.” Elly smiled encouragingly, hoping Mere wouldn’t think she was a complete lunatic (even more so than she did already, anyway).
\n\n
0
Elly
That's the spirit!
0
Elly
0
5
Meredith
January 03, 2007 6:35 PM
I've got spirit to spare. by Meredith
Ask her something? Alright. Meredith’s eyes followed Elly’s hand as they picked up a pair of scissors from her side table and held them out to her. She looked back up at Elly with an amused and questioning glance.“Would you cut my hair for me?” Elly asked and further explained.
Whatever question she had been expecting, that wasn't it. It made sense after hearing it though. Elly had quite a lot of hair. Sure Meredith could cut her hair if she wanted. She cut her own hair since her mother was completely opposed to the idea. Meredith opened her mouth in the middle of Elly's explanation to speak, but Elly plowed on, seeming determined to get Meredith to do her this favor. When she finished, Meredith just stared at her for a moment, before slowly smiling.
“Okay.” She stated plainly and laughed just a little as she spoke. She slipped off her school robe covering her jeans and blue tee. She took the scissors from Elly. “Sure I’ll cut your hair for you. I cut my hair all the time. You don’t think it stays short all year just because? Mama would never take me to get my hair cut ‘cos she wants it to grow out all long and nice like hers.” She said sarcastically, pretending to stroke her hair as if she cared. “Since she wouldn’t take me, I cut it myself. Not bad, huh?” She grinned, pulling up some strands of her short hair. It was no future career for her, but it didn’t look like she had to fight the scissors either.
Meredith’s hair was very similar to her mother’s except Faye’s hair had a slight wave and was extremely beautiful, as she would have it no other way. Meredith’s hair was nothing special to her. It was straight, light blonde and fell to her chin fairly plainly. She did inherit some of her mother's genes though. If she ever did decide to do something nice with it, it could look beautiful like Faye’s. It drove her mother up a wall to see Meredith so careless about her look, but she couldn’t force her daughter to be something she wasn’t and believe her, she had tried. She came close with gymnastics, but that was the closest to feminine she could get.
“So you’re sure you want me to cut your hair? There’s a teeny tiny chance you could end up bald.” Meredith asked with just the slightest smile, holding up the scissors. She was only joking really, just practicing keeping a straight face like the twins could. Elly had nothing at all to worry about. \n\n
0
Meredith
I've got spirit to spare.
0
Meredith
0
5
Elly
January 04, 2007 3:45 PM
Me too. And hair, for that matter. by Elly
“Okay,” Meredith said.Elly grinned. Then Meredith said she cut her own hair anyway, and Elly felt a bit ashamed for not having noticed. “But you always tie your hair back so I don’t really notice when you’ve had it cut,” Elly said, trying to clear herself. Still, at least that made her feel a lot more confident about allowing Mere near her head with a pair of scissors. Elly was the clumsier of the two of them by far, so she had already trusted Mere a lot more than she trusted herself. Of course, Meredith’s hair was short, blonde and straight and a lot more refined than the tangled orange mop Elly liked to carry around on her head.
“There’s a teeny chance you could end up bald,” Meredith said, smirking a little. Elly laughed outright.
“Yeah, well I’ll take that chance. If you really screw it up –which I know you won’t – I’ll just wear a hat until it grows back,” she said, still laughing a little. “Now come on, I want to go down to dinner feeling light-headed,” she said, grinning like a fool at her own joke. She shuffled towards Mere so she was sitting at the edge of the bed, then turned around, so her hair hung down her back. “This okay?” Elly asked. “I want it just on my shoulders, I think.”
\n\n
0
Elly
Me too. And hair, for that matter.
0
Elly
0
5
Meredith
January 07, 2007 3:09 PM
Let's change that hair bit, shall we? by Meredith
Meredith thought about Elly’s reasoning for half a moment. It was true. She wore her hair tied back a lot, but if anyone could understand, it would be Elly. She had longer and more hair than Mere so wouldn’t she find it annoying when it got in her face? It was usually up when she was playing Quidditch or when it was hot, two things that were fairly common both back home and at Sonora.“Yeah, I suppose your right.” She ruffled her hair a bit, and saw the hair tie on her side table that she had left there earlier that day by accident.
Elly laughed at Mere’s fake warning, which made her stop trying to keep a straight face. It just didn’t work for her. It always worked so well for her brothers. She thought if she did mess up, she could give Elly the cap she got for Christmas last year. That would be amusing when she saw the results. Either openly messed up orange hair or mostly covered up green hair. But she wouldn’t mess up. Not on purpose anyway. Elly moved so Meredith could see how long her hair was and told her where she wanted it cut to, but not before telling a corny joke which Meredith couldn’t help but laugh at. Mere tapped the scissors in her palm with her left hand as she thought. She suddenly paused.
“Wait just a second.” She said quickly and ran to the bathroom. She grabbed two long towels and hurried back. She moved her friend accordingly so she could kneel on the bed behind her comfortably and draped one towel over Elly’s shoulders and front. “That should keep you pretty clean.” She put the second towel behind her to keep the bed clean too. “Okay, all ready.” Mere announced, moving her friend’s hair around to see what she was working with and thinking how to approach it. “You’ll be feeling ‘light-headed’ in no time.”
“So let me tell you about the portrait.” Meredith started again and began clipping away at Elly’s wild hair. Some pieces fell on the bottom towel and others onto Elly’s lap. “I was walking down a hall on the third floor, running my hand along the wall when I suddenly started tipping over towards the wall like my hand had slipped, but it couldn’t have slipped that much if it was leaning on the wall. So I got my balance back and looked at the wall and just above me was a portrait with a big red armchair in a room with a big door in the back, and a lady was walking in through the door. I didn’t think much on it because when I felt the wall again it was solid, and then the lady was sitting and asking me why I was hitting the wall, but I think that the wall was solid because that door was closed. It wasn’t solid when the lady, her name’s Georgette I think, opened the door and walked in. I think we’ve got our first secret passage.” Mere finished excitedly, but her blue eyes stayed trained on Elly’s hair.\n\n
0
Meredith
Let's change that hair bit, shall we?
0
Meredith
0
5
Elly
January 10, 2007 8:59 AM
Yes. Then go exploring? by Elly
“Wait just a second,” Meredith said. Elly did as she was told and sat patiently until Mere shortly returned with a couple of towels.“Good thinking,” Elly said. Then she allowed herself to be shifted on the bed so Meredith could get a good position for chopping off her curls. Elly held her breath at the first snip, and for a split second she thought she would change her mind. However, the feeling passed immediately, and Elly began to relax as she listened to Meredith talk about the interesting portrait she had found, punctuated constantly by snipping sounds. Elly could feel the shoots of excitement stirring within her as her friend described how she had effectively stumbled upon a secret passage.
“Third floor you say? Yes, I think it is Georgette,” Elly agreed. “So where do you think the passage goes?” She asked thoughtfully. “You say Georgette went into the room in the picture. Do you think that means we could get into the portraits? That would be weird.” Yet even as she said that, Elly was imagining wandering through the many portraits in the school, perhaps spying on the other houses or shouting at the first years. “That would be really weird,” she repeated her sentiments.
Since their first day at Sonora, Elly, Meredith and Echo had planned on exploring the school, exposing its many secrets, which, they had unanimously agreed, were bound to exist. However, with getting used to finding their way around, making friends, catching up on homework, building swings and everything else, they hadn’t really done much exploring. In fact, Elly wasn’t sure she even knew where some of the classrooms were; the ones used for elective classes the older students took. “We really should get on with our exploring,” Elly mused out loud.
\n\n
0
Elly
Yes. Then go exploring?
0
Elly
0
5
Meredith
January 14, 2007 2:37 PM
Sounds like a plan. by Meredith
Meredith nodded as Elly explained what she thought about Georgette’s portrait. Go into the other portraits. She agreed that it would be weird, but totally awesome as well. Mere really didn’t have any definite idea where the wall under the portrait might lead and her curiosity made her imagination run wild. How many rooms could someone get to if they could go inside the portraits? And if it didn’t lead to whatever 2-D world the portraits inhabited, where could it lead? Where couldn’t it lead? She couldn’t wait to figure it out and she was already lightly touching on what other secrets were lying around Sonora waiting to be found by her, Elly and Echo.“That would be weird.” Mere said at the same time as Elly repeated herself and smiled in amusement. “If we could go inside the portraits…wow. There are pictures up all over the school. We could see everywhere. We’d have to see if there was another exit somewhere, maybe through another portrait.” Mere looked at Elly’s hair for a moment making sure it was even. It didn’t have to be ruler even, but she wasn’t doing a half bad job. She was sure Elly would like it.
“Or maybe her portrait is a short cut to somewhere else in the school that you can’t get to normally.” She interrupted her thoughts as another set of thoughts bombarded her head. “If looks are anything to go by it’s got to lead somewhere pretty cool, as big and fancy as Georgette’s portrait is. Maybe a party room…for the ghosts or something…” She wondered with a laugh.
”We really should get on with our exploring.” Elly said.
“You’re right. We really should. I can’t wait.” Meredith said excitedly. “And I’m almost halfway done with you. Then we can go find Echo and catch him up.” Mere put her knuckle just a little to the right and above Elly’s left shoulder blade. She pushed lightly. “That’s where I am now.” She told Elly before continuing.
It seemed to be going by faster, but now Meredith had someone to talk to. Even cutting her own hair, which was easier to cut than Elly’s curls, seemed longer because she usually just sat and watched Pence run on his wheel or roll in his ball around the dorm room when she did it. Maybe she’d ask Elly to keep her company next time.\n\n
0
Meredith
Sounds like a plan.
0
Meredith
0
5
Elly
January 14, 2007 5:08 PM
Okay then. You ready? by Elly
Elly listened enraptured as Meredith shared her ideas and possible theories about where the doors in and beneath Georgette’s portrait could lead. “Maybe a party room…for the ghosts or something…” Mere said, and Elly joined in with her laughter.“It would be wicked to have a place to go where no-one else could, that nobody knew about,” Elly said fervently. Last term, Elly had gone to her swing when she wanted to get away from people, or when she only wanted to be with specific people, like Meredith and Echo. She hadn’t gone back to her swing since she’d met Sierra Tarwater there, though. Elly wasn’t sure why, but she knew that the Tarwaters didn’t like her; Paul had said so. She wished she could find out what she’d done to upset them, though. It was probably some misunderstanding or something, because Elly would never intentionally hurt anyone.
Meredith distracted Elly by poking her in the back, saying, “That’s where I am now.”
Elly chewed her lip as she imagined herself with that length hair. “Just a bit more, I think,” Elly said, thinking that if they ever did this again it would be a good idea to do it in front of a mirror.
“Yes, let’s find Echo afterwards,” Elly said, trying very hard not to bounce on the bed in her excitement, lest she cause either Meredith or herself to sustain an injury. During the holidays, Elly had been so looking forward to rejoining her best friends so that they could do the sort of exploring Mere was suggesting. In Elly’s opinion, it was about time they got to it! This portrait definitely sounded worth looking into.
\n\n
0
Elly
Okay then. You ready?
0
Elly
0
5
Meredith
January 15, 2007 12:16 PM
I'm ready, but your hair isn't. by Meredith
“It would be wicked to have a place to go where no-one else could, that nobody knew about,”“Definitely. We should find a way to make your swing secret. Like, hide the spot where it is so only we could get to it. That could be our own little hang out spot in case the secret door isn’t what we expect. I’m sure it will be though.” Meredith grinned, her excitement perking up again. “I don’t have a clue what spell could do that though. Maybe one of the older students knows.”
Of course, students had probably already discovered Elly’s swing whether they knew how it got there or not. But if the three of them could hide it, then it would really be their spot. They wouldn’t have to worry about encounters with students like Sierra Tarwater. She was still there in the back of Mere’s mind like a fly buzzing too close to her ear and wouldn’t let her be. It was very irksome to her that someone could be so blatantly cruel to someone who didn’t deserve it in the least. She still only half believed that Paul would be that way. She pushed the thought away again, not enjoying the feeling she got as she wondered about it.
“Sure thing.” Meredith answered when Elly said she wanted it cut just a bit more. Not thinking of using a mirror earlier so Elly could see, Mere needed to be her mirror and let her know as she went along how far she was and what the length of her hair was. Mere looked at it again. Just below her shoulders was what she asked for and it looked about right.
“Alright. We’ll find Echo and tell him about the portrait at dinner. Hey, do you think his friend will want to come with? Brett?” Mere asked as a side thought. She didn’t mind if one more person joined them, especially not Brett. He seemed like a cool kid. She’d leave it up to Elly and Echo to decide though. \n\n
0
Meredith
I'm ready, but your hair isn't.
0
Meredith
0
5
Elly
January 15, 2007 4:41 PM
Minor detail. *pause* How about now? by Elly
“We should find a way to make your swing secret,” Meredith suggested.Elly thought about that for a moment before replying. The swing was hers, no matter how the matter was argued – Elly had built it almost by herself, and she used it more often than any other student that she knew of – but it wasn’t something that Elly felt she needed to keep to herself. Swinging was a joy that Elly was most obliged to spread, and she certainly wouldn’t worry if other people used it. It had lost some of its appeal anyway, since Sierra knew its location. Elly didn’t blame her swing for that, it wasn’t the swing’s fault that the Tarwaters were… anyway, she just felt that the swing should remain accessible to any student who wanted to use it. She didn’t want to dampen Meredith’s excitement at the moment, though, so Elly said, “We could ask Saul,” assuming that Mere would make the connection between Saul and his nifty advantage of being related to the groundskeeper (that made the swing possible in the first place).
The girls had pretty much decided on finding Echo once Elly’s hair was done. Relying on Meredith not only to cut her hair, but to make it composedly neat, Elly asked, “How does it look?” Elly had never really been into her physical appearance, and she kept telling herself that this still held true. However, over the summer, her friend’s older brother had told Elly one of her t-shirts was ‘cool’, and Elly had worn it rather more than any other ever since, though she would never admit to anyone. She also felt that her hair needed to be neat, and it certainly wasn’t going to be that way all long and messy. She had convinced herself that she wanted a hair cut to annoy her mother and to keep cool in the warmer weather, but she was starting to wonder if maybe she was subconsciously trying to make an effort to look nice. It was an alien concept, one familiar to her mother, but not to Elly, so she was trying her best to ignore it.
Meredith distracted Elly from her own world once again when she suggested that maybe Echo’s friend Brett from Sundance could join them on their adventure. Elly hesitated a little before beginning awkwardly, “Well, it’s not that I don’t like Brett, ’cause I do,” she said, “but it’s just that Caedence asked if she could join us, remember, in first year? I’d feel really bad if we took Brett but left Caedence behind, and having five people is just too many.” She chewed her lip for a short while, then added, “And I’m not sure Caedence should come. I feel really bad excluding her, but she doesn’t seem to get along too well with Echo.” Elly felt awful saying out loud that she didn’t want Caedence to come, too, but what else was there to be done? Elly couldn’t ask all her friends; for a start there wouldn’t be room, and also it wouldn’t be fair on Meredith and Echo. Besides, Caedence had been in quite a lot of trouble recently, and Elly really didn’t want to encourage Caedence to break any more school rules. “Plus I don’t want her to get into trouble,” Elly said, and then felt bad for not considering that Mere and Echo might get into trouble, and how it would affect them. “Not that I don’t… Oh, you know what I mean,” she finished feebly, with a pathetic, defeated sort of wave of her hand, hoping Mere would understand.
\n\n
0
Elly
Minor detail. *pause* How about now?
0
Elly
0
5
Meredith
January 15, 2007 7:57 PM
One more post should do it. by Meredith
“Saul? He’s only a year older than we are.” Meredith responded a little surprised and thought why Elly would mention him. And then she remembered he had something to do with the groundskeeper. They were family if she remembered right. “Oh.” She answered herself. If they could get the groundskeeper’s help for that, that would be perfect. She wasn’t sure how she knew Saul and Simon, she believed his name was, were related. Elly might’ve mentioned it at one point or she might’ve just overheard it. She couldn’t swear on either.“It looks good. I’m nearly finished.” Mere said when Elly asked about her hair. “You know,” she started again, hesitating for just a moment. She wasn’t used to suggesting anything aesthetic. “If you wanted, mama has pretty much every hair care thing ever invented. I could ask her to send some over for you. You know, if you wanted.”
Meredith wasn’t quite ready to start messing around with her looks. She had no one to impress and that was the only reason she ever saw people dress themselves up. To impress someone. Mama was always dressed to impress and daddy and Ryan dressed up when they had to impress people at the office. Max and Anthony never really dressed up because they never did anything they ought to and Mere couldn’t care less. But maybe Elly did and maybe Mere should…no. Not yet. She couldn’t be a good Quidditch player if she was busy with her appearance and that was most important to her. Or was she just kidding herself to keep up the little feud with her mother? Changing that would be like caving to her and Mere wasn’t ready for that. The joke warnings from the twins popped into her head.
‘One day you’re going to be dying to look like mama.’ The twins told her. ‘You’ll see, Mouse. You’re going to be the next little debutant of Nashville.’ She had quickly told them to shut up and that she’d never be like that. Why was she suddenly so worried? It was all this hair business. It would be out of her mind as soon as they were done.
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Mere gave a small laugh at Elly’s fumbled words. “I wouldn’t be too worried about getting into trouble. We’re not really doing anything wrong. Just getting to know our school a little better, right?” She grinned. “I’m just thinking what Echo will say. He might really want Brett to come. I don’t know. I guess we’ll see when we get downstairs.” Meredith looked at her progress on Elly’s hair and saw she was on the final stretch. She’d be done in no time.
Mere got a chilling thought that she was enjoying this hair thing a little too much. No. She was just enjoying talking with Elly and there was nothing wrong with enjoying a talk with your best friend.
‘Good lord, what is wrong with me?’ She moaned in her mind. She had an idea what it was. It was called being a pre-teen and she could already tell she would hate the real thing.\n\n
0
Meredith
One more post should do it.
0
Meredith
0
5
Elly
January 16, 2007 3:00 PM
Alrighty then. by Elly
At Meredith’s suggestion that perhaps Elly could borrow some hair products from Mere’s mother, Elly had to resist from physically shuddering. "No, thanks, I'd never use them, anyway," she replied.Elly was having enough of a hard time trying to convince herself that she wasn’t fussed about her looks. Did she need to convince Mere, too? No, that was silly. If her best friends thought she was concerned about her looks, that probably meant that she was, to some extent anyway. Although Elly still felt she wasn’t into physical appearance all that much. She was aware of it, of course; it hadn’t slipped her notice that she always looked a mess. She’d never particularly thought of one person being any more attractive than another, though. Now, however, she was thinking about it. If she did borrow stuff from Mere, would it make her more attractive? Could hair products do that? Josiah had called Elly pretty, but apparently he’d also been flirting with Caedence, so Elly wasn’t sure whether he really thought she was pretty, or if he was just a flirtatious boy. If she had to say so (which she didn’t), Elly guessed she would probably describe herself as pretty. She wasn’t stunning by any means, but she didn’t think she was ugly. Elly thought Mere was pretty, and it certainly wasn’t painful to look at Gil Idoya, but she didn’t really notice things like that unless she was specifically thinking about them, like now.
Elly was confused, and she had a feeling that she had probably squirmed a little trying to figure out her own opinions on things like appearance. Ultimately, Elly decided she didn’t care how she looked, as long as she felt comfortable. There, that felt better. Still, Elly would be glad when this hair cutting was over. Perhaps it was the girly-ness of the situation that made Elly think all these weird girly thoughts? She didn’t do girly stuff with Meredith very often; it was starting to get a bit unsettling. Elly would be happy when it was all finished, and they could go find Echo and roam around the school a bit. That was another reason Elly wasn’t sure she wanted Brett to come – right now she felt like she needed a bit of normality, and while nobody in their right mind would call Echo normal, at least he was familiar. She probably wouldn’t mind too much if Brett did come, though, if Echo really wanted him to. She’d just have to make sure they didn’t run into Caedence.
“Yeah,” Elly said in reply to Meredith, though she wasn’t entirely convinced that ‘yeah’ was the right thing to say, as she hadn’t been listening particularly attentively.
“Okay, so are we going to go to dinner first, or explore first and eat afterwards?” Elly asked, trying to take herself back into the conversation.
OOC: Do you think we should we start a new thread finding Echo or carry on this one? And where should we post to be in the corridors? There's the hall, or we could ask teachers on the OOC board if we could use their classroom and post we're just outside it. What do you think?
\n\n
0
Elly
Alrighty then.
0
Elly
0
5
Meredith
January 19, 2007 7:37 PM
Now I'm ready when you are. by Meredith
Meredith quietly let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding when Elly turned down the hair stuffs. “That’s okay. I wouldn’t either.” Meredith’s laugh was smaller than usual, but a laugh nonetheless.For one, it meant things weren’t changing just yet. Elly still seemed to be Elly (just with shorter hair) and Mere could still be Mere, comfortable, casual look and all. Secondly, her mother would’ve started acting like Meredith actually cared, which she didn’t, and would never let it go. It was a relief and she could put it aside in her mind. For the time being anyway. But she’d deal with it when it needed to be dealt with, which thankfully wasn’t then.
Getting the feeling of discomfort from Elly, Mere let the matter drop, feeling it would just be a silent agreement between the two girls to get her hair done quickly, but so she still liked it, and then they could go find Echo and drop the conversation from their thoughts. Not that she would ever say no to cutting Elly’s hair again if she needed it, strange thoughts or not. Mere looked at her progress. Just a few more cuts should do the trick.
“Okay, so are we going to go to dinner first, or explore first and eat afterwards?”
“Hmm…well unless any of us are absolutely starving, we could explore a bit first and then get some food. Yeah, and then everyone will be in Cascade Hall while we’re looking around so we won’t have too many snoops to worry about. They’ll all be eating. It wouldn’t be much of a secret if everyone in school knew about it, now would it?” Meredith said as she made the final snips with the scissors to Elly’s hair. The last curls fell onto the towel behind her.
Mere leaned back and sat on her ankles looking at Elly’s hair from behind. It was on her shoulders like she wanted. There were no disgustingly uneven bits anywhere. Mere smiled at a job well done.
“Alright, Miss Eriksson, you’re all done here.” Meredith slid off the bed and went around to see Elly from the front. She put a finger to her lips in mock thought as a real hairstylist might do. A snooty one anyway. “Eet eez magnificent,” she said suddenly in a bad French accent. “But of course eet eez. Eet vas done by ze great Meredith H. Lail, world-renowned hair stylist. Go now! Look at your beautiful self.”
Meredith hid her giggling face behind one hand as if she was too good to look at her customer and used her free hand to point at the mirror on the wall they had neglected to use. Well, the bed was more comfortable than a chair pulled over to the mirror anyhow. She went back to the bed and put the scissors back on the side table. She took the towel with Elly’s cut off hair and held it carefully, bringing it to the garbage and dumping it out in there. She turned back to look at Elly’s reaction to her new short haircut.
OOC: We can carry on this thread and tag Echo in. If it seems like it's too far down for him to notice, a note on the OOC boards wouldn't hurt. For the exploring, we can make a post in Cascade Hall and mark it as the hallway. It’s worked in the past. It ought to work now.\n\n
0
Meredith
Now I'm ready when you are.
0
Meredith
0
5
Elly
January 20, 2007 12:36 PM
*grins* Now we just need Echo... by Elly
Mere suggested they should explore while everyone was in the Cascade Hall. Elly agreed it was a good plan. “Good idea,” she said enthusiastically. “I’m not that hungry, I ate a load at lunch. You know, one day we should find out where the kitchens are, in case we’re ever in need of food out of hours,” she added as an afterthought.The snipping seemed to have stopped. There was quite a lot of orange curls scattered on the towels Mere had put down, and Elly’s head did feel a bit lighter now it wasn’t weighed down with waist-length locks. She held her breath, waiting for Meredith to give the signal for Elly to move.
“All right, Miss Eriksson, you’re all done here,” Meredith said. Elly giggled at her friend’s odd impersonations and ridiculous accent. “Go now! Look at your beautiful self!” Mere instructed.
Grinning like a fool, Elly alighted from the bed and stumbled over to the mirror while Mere began clearing away. Elly’s big brown eyes looked right back at her new hairstyle. It was quite cute, actually. Her curls sort of bounced on her shoulders instead of hanging rather limply down her back. “Oh, I love it!” Elly said, turning and flinging her arms around Mere’s neck and hugging her tight. She released her friend and bent right over so her head was upside down, and shook it from side to side, fluffing her hair out a bit. She flicked it back up, took a moment to steady herself, and looked back at her reflection again. “It’s great, thanks. You’re my executive hair cutter from now on.”
Tearing herself away from the mirror, Elly put her hands on her hips and looked at Mere. “So,” she said. “Off to find Echo. C’mon!” Excitement buzzing so manically inside her it was a wonder she didn’t twitch, Elly took Meredith’s wrist and dragged her down the corridor and stairs to the common room. “I hope he hasn’t set off for dinner already,” Elly said as they went.
\n\n
0
Elly
*grins* Now we just need Echo...
0
Elly
0
5
Echo Elms
January 25, 2007 11:15 PM
*lies in wait* Is that my cue? by Echo Elms
Echo Elms was in the common room doing the thing he normally did just before dinner: homework. Usually he holed himself up in his dorm to get through it, but last night he'd fallen asleep and had to stumble, bleary eyed, down to Cascade Hall after everyone else was already done and gone. He didn't want to have another night like that and figured at least if he passed out in the common room someone would come by and wake him up.Even if there wasn't tons of homework, there was always re-reading, organizing, and studying to do. And, even failing that, there was always transfigurations. Today was a transfigurations day and Echo was sitting crosslegged on the common room arm chair with his textbook laying open on his lap and last year's diagram-heavy notes spread out on the table before him -- he'd pulled it up flush with the chair for easy access, but he wasn't looking anywhere near it.
His head leaning on the back of the chair, Echo was staring up at the ceiling behind him. There was a large blue spot up there that moved with his eyes. He squeezed them shut and blinked purposefully. Nope, that text-shaped blob was definitely still there. It must be dinner time, he concluded. Any minute now someone would come in and announce their intention to go to Cascade Hall. Echo stifled a yawn and closed his eyes for a minute... or twenty.
[ooc: Come wake me up!]\n\n
21
Echo Elms
*lies in wait* Is that my cue?
93
Echo Elms
0
5
Meredith
January 29, 2007 9:57 PM
That it is. Care to join us? by Meredith
Mere watched Elly go to the mirror and smiled at her reaction. She stretched her slightly sore wrist. The same motion was tiring after a while, like writing long letters. Which reminded her, she needed to write to her dad about keeping Dot. She’d get to that later though. There was exploring to do that evening.Before her brain could even register what happened, Mere was pulled into a hug by Elly. She stumbled a bit under the force of the taller girl, but found her balance again. She grinned when she was declared Elly’s executive hair cutter. She was happy to be of service. She’d show Elly tricks to cutting her own hair one day.
“Glad you like it.” Meredith answered her now shorthaired friend.
Once again, it took Mere a moment to register that Elly had moved. She took Meredith’s wrist and pulled her out of the room, down the hall and into the common room. When the girls were down the steps, Mere stopped and looked around. She also hoped Echo hadn’t already gone to Cascade Hall to eat. Luck seemed to be on their side. She saw Echo sitting on a chair and from the looks of things, he had dozed off doing homework before dinner.
“Over there, Elly.” She pointed toward the chair Echo was occupying. “Looks like he’s asleep. We ought to do him a kindness and wake him up.” A mischievous smile played on her lips as she stepped over to him quietly, though he wasn’t likely to hear her over the usual hum of the common room.
Mere looked at Echo’s face for a moment to make sure he was really asleep. She took one of the many papers sprawled on the table and put it in between the pages of the open textbook on Echo’s lap. She carefully picked up the book and closed it. She paused for a moment and then grinned and dropped the book heavily onto the table with a resounding slam that was sure to wake anyone sleeping in the room and maybe even someone lightly dosing upstairs.
“Evenin’ sleepyhead!” She called merrily and laughed. “Up and at ‘em! We’ve got important things to do before dinner. Oh, and check out Elly. Notice anything different?”\n\n
0
Meredith
That it is. Care to join us?
0
Meredith
0
5
Echo Elms
February 01, 2007 1:17 PM
Only if I can get my foot out of my mouth. by Echo Elms
Snap!Echo sat up with a wide-eyed gasp. Meredith and Elly were standing in front of him -- on the verge of giggling? -- and he could only guess, by the way he wasn't quite sure where he was or what was going on, that he must have fallen asleep. Or, more to the point, that he was now awake.
A transfiguration book -- his own -- on the table having fallen out of Meredith's hand must have been the source of the (not quite remembered) loud noise that woke him up. Oh, yes, there had been a loud noise and he did see the book moving still when he'd opened his eyes -- his brain was catching up now -- and he sort of remembered dozing off. Lucky him that Elly and Meredith had discovered him before any tormenters came along. He rubbed his face, no lipstick or marker moustaches he hoped -- it was a good hope, too, or Elly and Meredith would have said something or noticed it or something. Somehow these dangers hadn't occurred to him before he fell asleep.
But it was all good; he'd gotten away with it this time.
“Evenin’ sleepyhead!” Meredith was saying, now that he was looking alert. He rolled his shoulders, grinning as she continued, “Up and at ‘em! We’ve got important things to do before dinner. Oh, and check out Elly. Notice anything different?”
Echo's eyes drifted to the lovely Elly Erikson-- who looked a lot different but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. A little uncharacteristicly self-consciousness maybe? Maybe her clothes... no they were all recognizable... it was right on the tip of his tounge. What was it?
"Your hair is down?" he asked tilting his head. It looked good. Like really good. "No... it's, um. It's-- you-- is it shorter? No. Yes?" Now that he said it, it was becoming obvious. Yeah. She cut it. Go me, way to be observant. He looked uneasily at Meredith to see if she was different too, but he couldn't find anything so he turned his attention back to the redheaded haircut. "It wasn't like that earlier today was it, and I just didn't see it? I mean, like, it looks like all natural and stuff -- not that, I mean--like, it looked good before too... and it still does." Open mouth, insert foot, "Where did you say we're going?"
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
21
Echo Elms
Only if I can get my foot out of my mouth.
93
Echo Elms
0
5
Elly
February 02, 2007 9:04 AM
Don't worry, we can carry you. by Elly
When they reached the common room, Elly and Meredith both looked round the room for any sign of Echo. “Over there, Elly,” Mere said. Elly looked and saw Echo sitting very peacefully in one of the armchairs. “Looks like he’s asleep. We ought to do him a kindness and wake him up.” Mere grinned wickedly, and Elly couldn’t help but grin right back at her.They crept over to Echo. When Meredith began rearranging the papers, Elly wondered what she was going to do, but all became clear when Meredith dropped the book down onto the table with a huge bang. Elly raised her eyebrows and winced as the book slammed onto the table. She joined in Meredith’s laughter as Echo jolted awake, and then had to bite her lip to stop herself from giggling as he came round.
“Oh, and check out Elly. Notice anything different?” Meredith said.
Elly smiled as Echo turned his attention to her. She wasn’t sure if it was because he had been asleep or because he was a boy and they were just slower at this sort of thing, but Elly couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that Echo didn’t straightaway know what had changed. Her disappointment was very soon followed by amusement, though, and she nodded her head encouragingly when he suggested her hair was shorter. Eventually she laughed out loud. “Gee, Echo, Meredith cut off about eight inches of my hair, you’d think it would be noticeable.” She grinned and punched him playfully in the shoulder to let him know she was joking.
“Come on,” she said, “Merry’s found this secret door or something beneath a portrait and we’re going to go investigate it,” Elly said, her excitement evident in the sparkle of her eyes. “We’re going now while most people are at dinner, so I hope you’re not hungry.”
ooc: Okay guys, feel free to move on out when you're ready :)
\n\n
0
Elly
Don't worry, we can carry you.
0
Elly
0
5
Echo Elms
February 02, 2007 4:35 PM
I'd really rather you didn't. by Echo Elms
Echo's grin continued to be a little weak as Elly explained about her hair being not just shorter but eight inches shorter. That was like--he didn't even have 8 inches of hair. If he pulled out one of his big ole curls to full length it might be like maybe four and a half inches... or even five just before Christmas break. But never eight. Eight inches was shorter like whoa.Echo was already wincing at his major foible and Elly's play punch didn't help -- he didn't see it coming and it was over before he could react. Brett had informed him at some point that play punches meant someone was teasing you -- a fact which Echo had never really noticed himself since he was usually to busy trying to dodge to worry about what it meant. It was a good thing Brett was around to tell him these things, though, because Elly teasing him was a good thing, or, at least, he was pretty sure it was so he smiled a little at that. Thankfully, the conversation switched then from Echo being stupid at girl stuff to secret passages and food -- much more familiar ground.
"Hunger can wait," Echo assured them, even though he was kinda hungry and his favorite detective, Nate the Great, would never try to go exploring without indulging first in a generous helping of pancakes, "Let me just stash this stuff upstairs."
He gathered up his notebooks and texts into a sloppy pile, and ran them up to his dorm, stopping just long enough to deposit the books on floor next to his bed and double check his robe pocket for his wand before turning to race back down.
"Ready!" he informed the girls when he returned, "Let's go."\n\n
21
Echo Elms
I'd really rather you didn't.
93
Echo Elms
0
5
Meredith
February 03, 2007 11:10 PM
'cos of that touching thing? by Meredith
Meredith was glad to get the response she did out of Echo when he snapped awake. More amusement came from him trying to guess what was different about Elly. Surely he couldn’t use being a boy as an excuse for not getting it straightaway though it seemed to be a thing that boys were clueless when it came to noticing certain things about looks unless it was about whether a girl was pretty or not. Her brothers were, or should’ve been rather, well into that stage of their lives, something Mere was happy to tease them about. Ryan was, but the twins had other things on their minds. But Echo had just seen Elly a little while before with her long hair and now it was much shorter. She blamed it on Echo still being half asleep when she asked him.Mere followed the dialogue back and forth until it seemed to end quickly at the mention of the secret passage. She was happy to hear that Echo was willing to put off dinner for a little while like she and Elly were. He went upstairs to put his books away and Meredith suddenly had a thought and looked at her feet. Her toes wiggled at her beneath her socks.
“Uh, Elly. I don’t know about you, but I’m not much for walking around the school in my socks.” She lifted her leg and wiggled her toes again with a laugh. Then again, that might just be interesting. She stored the thought for later. “I’ll go get them. Be right back.” She took the stairs two at a time and grabbed the girls’ shoes from their room. She did a speedy double take of the room in case there was anything else either girl forgot. Mere felt her pocket. Her wand was there. Pence was taking a nap and, oh! She snatched up the hair tie on the side table and put her hair in a quick ponytail before going back downstairs and tossing Elly her footwear just as Echo came back down.
“Ready! Let’s go.” Echo announced as Meredith fit her sneakers over her heels.
“Let’s. Come on. It’s under Georgette’s portrait on the third floor. You know the one, Echo?” Mere led her friends from the common room and to the school, explaining her story again to Echo who hadn’t been there when she told Elly. She couldn’t keep the small bounce from her step. She was too excited. Imagine how many more passages they could stumble upon.
OOC: Echo, the explanation about the portrait is in my post “Let's change that hair bit, shall we?” so you can get the story there if you haven’t already. Either of you can feel free to make the next post in the hallway. If not, I’ll get it up as soon as I can. And I’ll get to the DADA post ASAP. Promise.\n\n
0
Meredith
'cos of that touching thing?
0
Meredith
0
5