Seeking out Allie St. Martin on Cascade Hall

Saul Pierce

December 29, 2008 11:59 AM

Seeking out Allie St. Martin by Saul Pierce

Saul was back in his normal clothes. He'd gotten the distinct impression that he'd either scared or offended Allie in some way when he'd been dressed up and polling his classmates and he wanted to make amends. Afton had said he was a little intimidating just by dint of being popular, and while this fact had stunned and upset him, he had eventually come to accept that she might possibly be correct. It had also been clearly pointed out to him that he tended to ignore everyone who wasn't a Pecari or Pepper or Briony.

That was unacceptable behavior for a future Head Boy.

While it sometimes seemed to Saul that the school was made up primarily of 4th and 5th year Pecaris, it wasn't, and he would need to represent everyone, not just his friends and Housemates. Polling everyone would have been more than worth the effort even if he'd only learned of this one flagrant blind spot.

As he was already friends with Pepper and Briony and he thought he'd hit it off pretty well with Afton, too, he saw no reason why he shouldn't be able to get along with the last fifth year Teppenpaw.

Besides which, a few more friends in his own year might be good for him.

Of course, he still wasn't expanding beyond Teppenpaw, but at least he wasn't ignoring the ones who didn't have red hair anymore. He'd work up to Crotali and Aladrens. Small steps, first.

"Allie!" he called to the girl when he spotted the subject of his search and hurried over to her side. "Hey. I just wanted to say I was sorry if I came on kind of heavy handed last week," he told her, deciding an apology might be a good way to start off, especially if he had inadvertently offended her somehow.

He gave her his sheepish grin and shrugged a mildly embarrassed shoulder. "Too many years working for the Integration with Muggles Party. Nobody wants to talk to us when we try to run polls." It maybe wasn't the wisest thing - politically speaking - to admit affiliation with a party so far to the left that it was more often referenced as a butt of a joke than a serious political party, but he hadn't renounced his family yet, and - their tofu fixation aside - he wasn't likely to. Well, everyone was a little mortified by the things their family did, right? Besides, active involvement in the Integration With Muggles Party was hardly the worst thing the California Pierces were known for. Saul even supported that particular cause, if not, perhaps, to the extreme his family and the party did.

"But," he added, with a wider and more humor filled grin, "I swear, proximity does not induce an overpowering and immediate desire to marry a muggle. So I think you should be safe around me. Do you mind if I join you?"

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Allie St. Martin

December 29, 2008 10:03 PM

Being located by Saul Pierce by Allie St. Martin

Allie hurried from class to the Cascade Hall, resisting the urge to start searching her essay for comments as she went. She didn't know if there would be any - Professor Baer was, like all new professors before their first midterm, still a little unpredictable - but she hoped so; with the grade she had, there was probably at least one good one if there were any, and finding them was almost like getting a present the day before her birthday.

Somehow - incredibly - she'd made an E on her paper. She'd looked again at it before and after each class since she'd gotten it back, just to be sure it was real, and there was no doubt in her mind that she wasn't dreaming. She, Allie, had made an E in a RATS-level class. She could barely wait to write to her father, but excitement apparently made her hungry, and she was putting it off until after she ate.

She was halfway to her usual table when hearing someone say her name made her look up. Saul Pierce, much easier for her to recognize in his normal clothes, was approaching her for the second time in as many weeks and, as far as Allie could remember, her life.

Her shoulders tensed slightly. She did not want to have to endure another interrogation. Not today. Today was a great day. Even if the E had never happened, it would still have been the day Lila actually listened when Allie told her it would snow in Barbados before she wore a set of robes Lila thought were stylish and Allie thought looked like an ugly wedding dress gone mad. She relaxed again as the reasoning behind this second appearance became clear, though it also came as a shock.

Apparently, he had noticed how uncomfortable she was during the 'interview' about his chances of being Head Boy, and had felt bad enough about it to apologize. She had been aware that he was no Morgaine - Pecari was almost certainly the House with the biggest mix of personalities - but she'd still have laughed at the idea that Saul would apologize to her over it.

She decided, for the moment, to ignore his reference to the Integration with Muggles Party. Apart from the multitude of snide jokes her father's political friends made about them, it was weird to think of someone her age taking a real part in politics.

Allie smiled at the joke prefacing the request to join her, but realized at that point that he was trying to charm her. She also realized, at about the same time, that Saul was at least partially succeeding. "You may," she said, taking her own accustomed place at the table. She put her essay in her bag as neatly as she could while also trying to be at least somewhat surreptitious about it. "And I accept your apology for last week if you accept mine for being so dumb about it all."

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Saul Pierce

December 31, 2008 12:27 PM

Sitting down with Allie St. Martin by Saul Pierce

Saul grinned (well, he was already grinning, so he renewed the grin) when Allie laughed at his joke and did, in fact, invite him to join her. Success! She didn't hate him after all! That was a relief. Paul and Adam were one thing - and he didn't like them not liking him either - but Allie wasn't just a classmate. She was Teppenpaw, and therefore Briony's roommate, and probably Briony's friend. As Saul had every intention of officially asking Briony to be his girlfriend tomorrow, it would be sad and possibly awkward if one of her friends didn't like him.

And also, though less important in the grand scheme of things, it was good to know her poll classification really was a 'maybe' and not a closet 'no'.

As she gave a qualified acceptance to his apology (which suggested he had offended her, and he felt bad all over again), his smile dimmed, though he remained upbeat. "Hey, that's not fair," he complained, "How can I forgive you for something you didn't do? You weren't dumb at all. I get that people might not be comfortable discussing that stuff with me. Honest, really. Pollster persistence aside."

He grinned again with slight self-deprication, laughed a little, and shook his head. "I also get why people usually hire someone else to do that for them. Dude. That was kinda awkward sometimes, hearing what people really think about you. I think I'm cured of any desire to go into politics for real, but wow. Have you ever had someone point out to you that you're a self-involved House-centric snob and you just had no idea at all? Or someone asks you a question and you realize with sudden and embarrassing clarity that you know nothing at all about people that you've gone to school with for six years?"

Saul offered a lopsided grin and stuck out his hand toward her. "Hi, I'm Saul Pierce. You're Allie St. Martin, right? How are you doing today?"

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Allie St. Martin

January 05, 2009 4:48 PM

Talking with Saul Pierce by Allie St. Martin

Allie knew she actually had been dumb during earlier conversation - she hadn't known what her own opinions were, for goodness' sake - but she decided to let it go. If she'd had an opinion at that time, she probably would have been a little uncomfortable telling it to the person it was about. She didn't think badly of Saul or, with a possible and even then only occasional exception of Lila, anyone, but it just didn't seem right, somehow.

Especially when she didn't really think he had a chance of being Head Boy. He was popular and a prefect and all that, and she was no analyst, but she had noticed a pattern with Head Boys and Girls. They were all serious, studious sorts and usually came from Aladren, with a few Crotali added in for variety. Saul was, from what she'd seen, none of that.

He was, however, talkative. She almost wanted to ask him if the person who'd called him a self-interested House centric snob had been Lila or Morgaine, but decided she didn't want to know. Apologizing for them didn't seem to soothe as many feelings as she would have liked, and it encouraged them to act like fools again when given the chance after they heard she'd done it.

"I am," she confirmed, slightly overdoing graciousness. The details were different, of course, but he made her think of Little Julian, for whom almost everything was or could be a good-natured joke. "And I'm having a lovely day, thank you. How are you?"

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Saul Pierce

January 06, 2009 11:13 AM

Conversing with Allie St. Martin by Saul Pierce

Saul's already bright grin lit up another notch as Allie confirmed that she was, in fact, Allie St. Martin, and that she was having a lovely day. He reached for two slices of bread and started making himself a meat sandwich. He added one slice of tomato, and a leaf of lettuce, out of respect to his family's upbringing, but mostly it was filled with ham, turkey, bologna, salami, pepperoni, and every other kind of meat available on the table.

"I'm having a great day, too," he told her when she asked in return. "There's pepperoni for lunch," he held up a slice in demonstration and then put it with the rest of his sandwich. "Best food in the world. Roni didn't wake me up before my alarm. I have matching socks on today," he glanced down at his ankles to make sure he wasn't lying. Both socks were, in fact, the same shade of blue.

"Yeah. That's always a good omen. Flatt still hasn't assigned us an eighteen foot essay for this year, which I'm taking credit for. I got a P on that transfig essay." Despite it being a failing mark, Saul sounded just as upbeat and happy about this as he did the pepperoni and matching socks and the rest of his list of good things happening today. "And I got a question in DADA right, so that's a red letter day right there. And then, just a few seconds ago, I met this great girl." He gave Allie a wink and a grin, the light and casual flirting an unconscious habit that he wasn't even aware of.

"Life is good," he concluded with a nod. "This whole year looks like it's going to be the best one yet. The concert, the Head Boy campaign, tomorrow I'm going to ask Bri- well, let's not jinx that. The CATS are over, I don't need to take Potions anymore, I'm Quidditch Captain, Elly's a prefect and my assistant captain now, I'm getting out of Pecari and meeting people who I should have met five years ago, the sky's a little bluer, the grass a little greener, and it's just an awesome time all around."

"What about you? Excited about the new year? Gonna be in the concert? Any interest in being Head Girl?"\r\n\r\n

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