Gary Harper
May 02, 2020 1:50 PM
Summer Correspondence [Tag Jasmine] by Gary Harper
'Dear Jasmine,How is your summer going?'
Gary scribbled out the start of the letter. Then he crumbled up the paper. Then he tossed it in the nearby metal trashcan with the others. Then he once again contemplated setting them on fire. Instead he sighed and leaned back in his desk chair. That was all wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. What was he doing? The ball had gone well, at least to the best of his knowledge, Jasmine had seemed happy enough. He hadn't stepped on her toes to many times during the dancing. He just wasn't sure where he stood with her now. Were they dating? Were they 'an item'?
He could still feel her soft lips against his as they said 'good-night' after he escorted her back to the Crotalus area. His head had whirled the entire way back to his room. Had it meant anything? Or was it just the proper way for a princess to end her evening? There hadn't been any contact after that again. There had been packing and planning and heading home. He'd watched for her, but their tasks must have kept them apart. Then he was home again. With Jeremy's stupid music blaring next door, not letting him focus.
He decided to just bang his head against his desk until he could make sense of this. That lasted until he realized he was keeping time to Jeremy's music. He sighed again and looked at the last sheet of paper he had on his desk. He had to know, but how to ask? 'Hey Jasmine, do you like me? Check yes or no.', seemed like a bad idea. Should it be filled with flowery princely prose? He had a hard enough time maintaining the persona for one night... that wasn't him. No, he couldn't permanently be her prince. Best that he just be Gary... and poor Gary didn't have a chance. Well, he still wanted to know.
Hi Jasmine,
We didn't get to see each other after the ball and I just wanted to let you know I had a great time. Do you have an exciting summer planned out? I don't, just some researching and figuring out my 'after Sonora' plans. Oh, and dealing with step-siblings. My birthday is coming up soon, then dealing with them should be easier. Are your horses doing okay? I'm sure they were glad to see you again. Hopefully everything goes well for you this summer and I can't wait to see you again.
Gary
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Gary Harper
Summer Correspondence [Tag Jasmine]
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Jasmine Delachene
May 03, 2020 6:06 PM
Writing Back by Jasmine Delachene
Jasmine came in from the barn, her pink flannel hanging loose and she went right for the ice water. "Ugh," she complained to the empty kitchen. "It is so hot out there today. And Georgette is just being a beast about getting brushed."Nobody was supposed to be there (Mom and Anya were both out with the horses still, and Dad had taken Philippe to the Los Angeles wizarding shoppes to pick out his own wand), so she shrieked and jumped about a mile when someone asked, "Who?"
Her startled reaction equally startled the owl who had been minding its own business sitting on the window sill, and he flapped about and squawked in alarm, until Jasmine realized her mistake and made soothing noises and found the owl treats. Once they were both calmed down, and the owls was happily munching on an excess of treats to make up for scaring him, Jasmine got the letter off his leg and smiled in pleased surprise to find her name written in Gary's handwriting. She patted the owl and gave it another treat. "Oh, you're Gary's owl! I'm so sorry, little feathered friend. I didn't mean to scare you. To be entirely honest, you scared me first."
She slit open the envelope with a pink letter opener, and pulled out the paper inside. She read over the short note and smiled. "Wait there just a moment," she told the owl. "I'll have a reply."
But first she cleaned up the puddle on the floor and restarted her effort to get a glass of water. She took a sip from her own glass and gave a small bowl to the owl in case he was thirsty.
Then after taking a second sip, she pulled out some pink stationary, and a purple pen from the writing desk in the hallway, and began to compose her response.
Hello, Gary,
I had an amazing time at the ball, too. I am so glad we were able to have such a wonderful evening together. My summer plans are the same as they usually are: help with the horses on our ranch, and a few short trips here and there to visit some of Mom's friends. We have season passes to DisneyLand, so we'll go there a few times, too.
Our horses are doing wonderfully, except Georgette got a bunch of burrs tangled in her mane and is not being very cooperative about letting me brushed them out. I am so happy to see them all again, though. I miss them horribly during the school year.
I look forward to seeing you again as well,
Jasmine
PS: Do you want to go to Disneyland for your birthday? I have a free guest pass for one day.
"Here," Jasmine invited the owl closer as she closed the letter into an envelope. "Take this back to Gary." She tied it to the owl's leg and carried the bird back over to the window where she hadn't seen it when she first came in. "Safe travels!" she called after it as it flew off. She stopped in front of the calendar and wrote Get Gary a birthday present on the square for tomorrow. She could floo over to Grandmere then, and walk from there to some shoppes. She was still working on getting her Apperation license, and going shopping would be so much easier once she could just pop over where ever she wanted to on her own. By July, she hoped, she should be able to.
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Jasmine Delachene
Writing Back
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Gary Harper
May 04, 2020 7:02 PM
Invitation accepted! by Gary Harper
Gary was sitting at his desk in his room, looking over architectural study programs when he heard IMAP land back on his windowsill. He grinned at the bird and fished his treats out of the desk drawer. "You're back! Great, how was the flying? Did she send a response?" He checked the owl's leg and found an envelope attached. "Awesome, I need to send you to her more often, you've got a higher charisma modifier then I do.""Dude. Are you talking to your bird again?" Jeremy's voice came from the doorway. "Does he talk back to you?" Gary rolled his eyes and wished for the umpteenth time this week that his step-brother had found a different way to spend his summer vacation from college. Jeremy continued in a mocking tone, "Hey Gary I just ate a whole mouse and pooped out it's bones and stuff, wanna collect it?"
There was only one thing to do, he slowly turned his his chair around to face Jeremy. "That would actually be nice." He replied softly, trying his best to weave some insidiousness into his voice, "Owl pellets are a very useful component for certain... things." He gave his best wicked smile and gave his stepbrother a look designed to unnerve. It must have worked, the boy took a step back.
"Wha.. what? Don't get all weird on me. Freak." He then turned and headed to his room next door. A moment later the horrible music was blasting again. Zone of Silence... Gary just wanted to be able to cast a zone of silence on his room... just a few more days. Turning back to the envelope he opened it up and knew it could only have come from Jasmine. The pink paper and purple ink made him smile, the graceful curve of her handwriting was exquisite.
He smiled as he read the letter. She had a wonderful time as well! Huzzah! She was enjoying her horses again, that was good. Poor Georgette, he'd trade places with that horse. She was looking forward to seeing him again! He started to throw his arms up in victory, but then the P.S. caught his eye and everything froze... off balance and he literally fell out of his chair. Ow.
"You okay champ?" Dad's voice now came from the doorway, "Something wron... hold on a sec." Dad disappeared from the doorway while Gary got himself back on his feet. "Jeremy! Turn that ruckus down. Some of us are trying to work." The music quieted a few notches and Dad was back. "So, this floor technique a new spell you need to master?"
"Dad...." Gary responded, "I got a letter back from Jasmine. She..." he looked at the letter again just to make sure he wasn't going crazy. "She wants to know if I want to go to Disneyland for my birthday. I'm assuming with her, but that technically isn't specified. They have season passes and get a free guest pass for a day."
"Well, why wouldn't she?" Dave tussled his son's hair. "You've obviously impressed this young lady. That's a heck of a road trip though. I know you've got your driver's license and all, but California..."
Gary pointed at himself and the letter, "Wizards Dad, remember. I'm not going to drive to California, I'm going to... hmm..." That was still a heck of a distance to fly on a broom, he wasn't going to be able to even start working on his Apperation license until after his birthday....
"You're going to teleport? That's a long distance and a high level spell there."
"It's called Apperating and no. I need a license for that just like I need one to drive. I gotta get working on that after I'm 17. I'll use the floo I guess, I'll have to see where the closest one is to her."
"Right, your magical chimney transporter network. Well, how about you get some more details from her and see what she is thinking. I'll go talk things over with June and see what she thinks. We have some things planned for your birthday as well, so don't forget about us because of your pretty girl." He paused, "Also, if this is going to be an overnight affair, we may need to have a talk about some flying animals and pollen collecting insects."
"DAD!" With that Dave left chuckling to go find June and Gary sat back down at his desk to write back.
Hi Jasmine,
Sorry to hear about Georgette. I'd say you could tell her that I said she needs to behave for you, but if I've learned anything from CoMC its that MCs don't listen to me. Maybe if you tell her that I said she should keep being uncooperative, she'd behave for you. Reverse psychology always works, right?
Anyway, I would love to go to Disneyland with you! Dad and June apparently have some things planned already, but that shouldn't be a problem. It may be better if it was slightly after my birthday anyway. How do you think it would work out the best? What is the closes floo connection to you?
Gary
He finished writing and tucked the letter into an envelope and found IMAP glaring back at him. "Right, sorry. You've had a long flight and just got back. Rest up and we'll get this one the way tomorrow?" The owl gave him another hard look, then moved to his perch and settled down. Gary sighed. Tomorrow it would go.
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Gary Harper
Invitation accepted!
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