Asher Tallow
August 11, 2005 12:20 PM
SASUH: a solemn salute by Asher Tallow
She held another note in her hands. The paper was crinkled, held scratch marks, and was in fact the sixth draft of the original. Asher found she didn't care how it looked anymore. She was too busy trying to convince herself that it was logic that made her write it, and not something as juvenile as emotions.She stalked up to the common room's notice board. The Quidditch sign-up was still tacked on, as was her original note to Earl Valentine. She read over her note, lips quirking slightly at the memory of that first class's paper fight. Despite being attacked, it had been fun. Her and Laura versus Earl Valentine and that Robbie guy. She wondered briefly who that other boy had been, the one with the blue eyes who had joined in so enthusiastically.
The fight had been fun, she realized again. SASUH had been, too, at first. Now, though. . .she realized as well, it felt different. It wasn't just a matter of making some stuck up girls look silly, but Asher felt as if some much larger sphere of meaning had been taken on. When she thought about SASUH, she thought seriously. No more gleeful picturing of destroyed clothing or hexed faces- just, seriousness. It was like being a grown-up.
She took out the tack holding her old note and shoved her new one over it. Her hand-writing, looking slighly stressed, stared back at her eyes, and Asher strangely enough felt nothing looking at it. She didn't want anything to do with SASUH anymore. She didn't want to deal with the snobs in her house. She wanted to play, to have fun, to throw stupid balls of paper around in class and form baseball games out in the gardens.
The other stuff was over-rated. Adults cared about things like names and status, and Asher was still a kid. She would wait plenty before she had to start acting otherwise.
I hereby move for the
She stuck the tack through both pieces of parchment forcefully and then threw herself down into one of the common room's chairs. She didn't care if someone found her there or not. In fact, she'd almost welcome it- but only if it were Laura or Earl Valentine. Anyone else, and she wasn't sure whether it'd be a bad or good thing all together. Good for her, bad for them most likely.\n\n
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Asher Tallow
SASUH: a solemn salute
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Earl Valentine
August 11, 2005 4:32 PM
*Bugle sounds* Rest in peace, dear SASUH by Earl Valentine
Earl trotted down the steps from his room, sketch pad in one hand and a pencil in the other. His robes had been discarded on his bed and his brown hair was gelled in its usual choppy spikes.He jumped the last few steps and stopped. Sitting in a chair looking particularly moody, was Asher Tallow. He carefully walked over, set his drawing things down on the coffee table and sat on the couch nearest her. He knew he should say something. She really did look depressed and he had no idea how to fix it. When Eavan was sad, Earl just held her and let her cry, but he figured Asher wouldn't be up for that, and frankly, neither was he. She was, after all, still a girl. Finally, after a few moments, he spoke the first thing he could think of.
"What's up? You look horrible." He regreted the words as soon as they left his mouth. Telling a girl she looked horible was NOT a good thing to do, especially if she was depressed. He looked down and waited for the yelling to start. All he had wanted to do was help.\n\n
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Earl Valentine
*Bugle sounds* Rest in peace, dear SASUH
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Asher Tallow
August 11, 2005 9:40 PM
*cues rain* Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here to lay. . . by Asher Tallow
"Hey Earl Valentine," Asher answered lazily, her hand barely lifting to give a brief wave. Her ears registered his comment with threadbare interest. "You have such a way with words."She stared somewhat impassively at the table where a sketchpad and pencil lay, not really recognizing them for what they were. Her fingers fiddled with the hem of her sweater, unraveling the threads. She stretched out her demin clad legs, bending her feet forward and back, trying to feel more like herself. Trying to feel energetic.
She pointed to her new note. "I've decided to end SASUH," she said in a flat voice. "It's not fun anymore. It got too serious somewhere down the line, and it's not worth it." She straightened up her chair, her long hair spreading over her shoulders. "I mean, the school year's practically half over, and I've spent most of my time getting angry and in fights. They're not even fun fights! Like your paper one. . ."
Her voice trailed off, and she felt strangely uncomfortable. Not that she was about to show any remorse for having obviously taken the instigation of the paper fight a bit far. She certainly wasn't about to say she was sorry for having gone off the handle. An apology? Yeah right.
She purposely left out any mention of her falling out with Gwen during the tour. That was one subject she had no plans of bringing up.
\n\n
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Asher Tallow
*cues rain* Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here to lay. . .
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Earl Valentine
August 11, 2005 10:47 PM
It always rains on funerals doesn't? by Earl Valentine
Earl sighed. Asher wasn't mad at him for accidentally insulting her. He glanced at the bulletin board when Asher pointed it out. He could make out the crumpled piece of parchment tacked over her original note reading just what Asher had voiced."Oh, yeah...I guess with the whole Gwen thing--" He stopped and grimaced, realizing he probably shouldn't have said that. What would make her forget that? A joke! Jokes work...hopefully. "Maybe if we had just thrown paper at them..." He trailed off, staring absently at the little gold reflections in Asher's hair from the sunlight as he thought.
"So..." he started lamely trying to reach a new subject. "What are you doing over the break?" He knew he was reaching very far to make Asher forget SASUH and any stupid things he'd said in the last five minutes. He was extremely uncomfortable, but he'd rather be in this situation with Asher than with any other girl, except Eavan, of course.
He sat and played with a loose string on the couch while he waited for her to answer. He wouldn't be mad at her if she just called him insensitive and left. He wasn't good with these things...with girls.\n\n
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Earl Valentine
It always rains on funerals doesn't?
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Asher Tallow
August 12, 2005 12:31 AM
I've had ashes before during a funeral. by Asher Tallow
Asher scowled in reflex. "Gwen Carey can stuff it for all I care," she declared stiffly, not at all sounding like her normally confident self. "I don't even think about it anymore, really."For all her bluff, her words failed to convince even herself. Agitated, she gave up the hem of her sweater to bite savagely at a too long finger nail. She really didn't want to think about it. And yet, some part of her did. She wasn't about to tell Earl Valentine about her feelings on it, though. Hardly.
And in her opinion, he didn't look as if he was exactly comfortable with the idea of her sharing it anyway. She started in on another fingernail. "Christmas stuff, probably- mess around in the snow, bother the neighbors, get stuck going to one of those stupid open houses again."
Her teeth dragged on her mention of the open house. It was a yearly thing in Waxonberry that the few families with witches or wizards in them hosted a round robin dinner affair. Thankfully, the round robin part of it came from the trading of the hosting from house to house each year. It was bad enough having to trudge through the snow, singing carols (or in her case, muttering under her breath inventive lyrics of her own creation), and pretending to get along with the snot nosed brats she used to go to school with.
"So pretty much, nothing special. You have anything planned in particular?" she asked, twisting slightly in her slouch to better face her friend.\n\n
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Asher Tallow
I've had ashes before during a funeral.
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Earl Valentine
August 12, 2005 2:34 PM
Suits your name... by Earl Valentine
Earl looked in shock at Asher's next words. It didn't sound like the Asher Tallow he knew. It was hurting and dejected. He couldn't even imagine how horrible she must feel, but if Asher could ignore that topic of conversation, then so could Earl.Earl leaned in as Asher went on for her plans for Christmas. She certainly did keep one on their toes in a conversation. He played up her answer.
"Snow...I've never seen snow before...up close, that is. My Christmas is just my family going over to my aunt's house because it's bigger than ours and spending the day at the beach. Then we come inside, have dinner and go to sleep. It's not that special, really. I'd give anything to see snow, however."
He excluded the details about how tense the dinner is since Earl's mother died, and how they are forced to go to bed at 9:00 so the adults can get drunk and talk about grown-up things. There is also the part where Uncle Nick dresses up in a Santa costume, drunk as heck, and scares the living daylights out Earl's younger cousins. Then they all wake up the next morning (the adults with massive hangovers and Uncle Nick sporting bruises) and open presents in which no one get s what they really want and everyone goes home depressed. Your average family Christmas.
He really didn't like the holidays and could empathize with how Asher was feeling about it. At least she got to bother the neighbors. If he tried that, they'd have him arrested. Earl continued staring at the reflected lights in Asher's hair. They were getting fewer and fewer and little blue glints were showing up. It must be getting darker.
"I think you got the better end of it. Just because it looks more Christmas-y. You know, with the snow and all."\n\n
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Earl Valentine
Suits your name...
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Asher Tallow
August 17, 2005 12:48 AM
That was unintentional, I promise. by Asher Tallow
"Never seen snow?" she echoed, somewhat carelessly. She made a lazy gesture with her hand. "Well, I'll make a note to ship down a ton of it to you next time a blizzard blows through."She wrinkled her nose. Snow was nice, when looking at it from inside a heated house, with dry socks on, and hot cocoa to sip from. Snow wasn't so nice when it trapped you indoors, or snuck into your boots, freezing your toes and the wind chaffing your cheeks. Her father spent all his energies on protecting his green house from the bitter storms that crashed through from October to April; somehow, every year, the house itself managed to escape his notice. If it weren't for the built in heating charms, Asher was certain she and her brothers would freeze to death one year.
"Trust me," she assured him. "Snow is over-rated."
Earl Valentine's mention of his family made Asher remember her own- not her immediate family, of course, but her father's older brother, Uncle Edmond who she had seen only a handful of times before. The visits were always spontaneous ones on her uncle's part and involved the tall man drinking entirely too much alcohol and then entertaining them all with stories from when he and her father were kids. She knew less than nothing about her mother's family. For all she knew, they were all dead.
A little depressing really, once she started to think about it. She was done with being depressed though.
"You read my note yet, Earl Valentine?" she asked, deciding to be direct for once. She still tried to keep her voice uninterested, though.\n\n
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Asher Tallow
That was unintentional, I promise.
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Earl Valentine
August 20, 2005 9:55 PM
Don't make promises you can't keep by Earl Valentine
Earl only half-listened to Asher. This was an incredibly depressing conversation. He laughed half-heartedly at her comment on sending him snow, but stopped imeditely when she mentioned her note. Without saying a word, Earl stood up and walked over to the notice board where Asher had posted it. He read intently for a few seconds, sighed and sat back down near Asher."I guess that about sums it up," he stated lamely. "It would have been fun to get those snotty brats, but you're right; it got too serious." He thought back when they were first planning this esacade out, thinking how fun it would be to embarass those pure-bloods. Now it seemed stupid. It was bound to get Gwen in trouble. He'd heard of her family from his aunts and while he really never feared any purebloods rivalries, his famioly had always taken to heart the rumors and revelations of the Careys. He stayed in silent thought for a long time before finally speaking in a rough whisper.
"I guess I'd better get packing. You know, with leaving and stuff."
It was tyhe only thing he could think of, but it got him out of there. He stood up and stayed still as a statue for a few seconds before coming to a conclusion. He walked over to Asher, gave her a quick hug and practically ran back up to his room leaving his drawing materials on the table in the common room.\n\n
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Earl Valentine
Don't make promises you can't keep
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