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Post by Astrid Lorelei Black on Aug 22, 2009 19:38:22 GMT -5
Astrid looked up at the dark clouds gathering in the sky, silently hoping that storm would just stick to rain. Astrid loved rain. It was when the wind starting shaking the trees and making howling noises that she was freaked out, but the rain she could deal with.
She skipped through the puddles in the stone courtyard, humming to herself. The courtyard was rarely used by her family, and the only flowers that grew there were vines and ivy, taking over the stone fence and small weeds growing up between the cobblestones. Astrid found that in this light, the statues were frightening, though on a sunny day they weren't very comforting. Angry looking wizards (who Sirius supposed were distant, great-great-somethings) stood against the weather, their stone faces cracked and falling into disrepair. Sirius didn't care enough about them to mend them, but he wasn't all that interested in removing them, either. Instead, they served as nice little bird rests.
Astrid hopped into the biggest puddle that was growing into a small pond by the farthest side of the fence, and laughed as the water splashed as high as her shoulders. The rain began pelting down harder, and she knew that her time playing outside was almost up. Sure enough, as soon as that thought was concluded, a large peal of thunder rang out, followed by the wind picking up. Astrid shuddered and hurried into the house, shutting the door behind her and calling out, "Hello?" The only answer was the wind making a few branches of the nearest tree knock against the window, and Astrid let out an involuntary whimper. She hated wind. "Is anyone here?"
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Post by jaredblack on Aug 23, 2009 16:37:30 GMT -5
Growing bored of throwing a tennis ball against his bedroom wall over and over - one stolen from Cocoa, who had long since resigned to the fact that her master seemed to need to play with the toy more - Jared finally missed catching it once and rolled his eyes as it landed in the nearby trashbin. "I was done with that anyway." He remarked aloud, though there was no one but his dog around to hear him. His parents were out on their own business, and his brother Jason was probably holed up in the other third floor bedroom - studying, no doubt. That left only Astrid, and Jared hadn't heard much of anything out of her all day.
Getting up to go look for said younger sister, he paused when he heard the front door open and close - along with the sound of the wind starting to pick up outside. Now knowing he would have to find Astrid to keep her from freaking out too badly, he sighed and headed out into the hall before going down the two subsequent staircases that took him to the first floor. Once downstairs, that was when he saw her in the entrance hall. "Well, you made this easy."
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Post by Astrid Lorelei Black on Aug 23, 2009 17:21:48 GMT -5
Astrid looked up at her brother when he approached, taking a moment to figure out just which brother it was. Jared, she was pretty sure. "I didn't realize I was supposed to make it difficult." She shook her head, her hair dripping onto the rug. It was clear she was only putting up a brave front, because she shuddered again as the wind howled. Astrid always tried to make herself seem older, but it wasn't so convincing.
"Where is everybody?" She kicked off her shoes and left them in the middle of the floor. While she might be a neat freak about her clothes, that neatness didn't transfer to anything else in her life. She moved closer to her brother, the look on her pale face not that hard to read. It was one of sheer thankfulness that he wasn't teasing her about her little phobia.
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Post by jaredblack on Aug 23, 2009 18:53:22 GMT -5
"Mum and dad went out, probably to Diagon Alley, and Jason's upstairs." Proving which twin he was by giving that name, Jared shook his head and picked up her shoes, knowing their mother would be less than pleased to come home and find them just lying in the middle of the floor. "Were you out in the courtyard?" The way she was dripping wet told him she'd been outside, but he wanted to know where. They knew only a couple of those living in the neighboring houses, and he had to wonder if she'd snuck out. If she had on Jason's watch, he'd take care of it later.
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Post by Astrid Lorelei Black on Aug 23, 2009 19:01:02 GMT -5
Astrid nodded, though she vaguely wondered what her parents could be doing in Diagon Alley again. Maybe her father really was buying her brothers that new racing broom he had been joking with them about for the past month or so. She shrugged as Jared took her shoes- if he wanted to clean them up, more power to him. She wasn't all that interested.
"Yeah. The puddles were a decent size for jumping in." She leaned against the wall, her gaze going vacant as she stared at the rain that pelted against the window. "What do we do now?" She asked, clearly bored. Astrid was too restless today to read, and with the storm blowing the way it was, she obviously couldn't go outside. That left amusement in the giant, creaking house.
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Post by jaredblack on Aug 23, 2009 19:08:50 GMT -5
"You and puddles." Absently wondering how her compulsion about keeping clean prevented her from doing most outdoor activities except playing in puddled rainwater, Jared took her shoes and put them away. This entailed stowing them in the umbrella stand made out of a troll's leg, and though it was a gruesome part of the house's decor, it was also the best place to hide something that needed to dry out.
"Before we decide what to do, I think one of us needs to dry off and put on dry clothes first." His tone was pointed, and as it fell to him to watch and entertain Astrid while their parents were away again, he was going to make sure she didn't do anything that might make her sick. That included running around in wet clothes.
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Post by Astrid Lorelei Black on Aug 23, 2009 19:21:49 GMT -5
Astrid raised a brow at his comment and her head turned to watch him hide her shoes. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing having older brothers. In fact, it was nice to know that they had a little bit of a use. "Puddles are a lot more fun than Quidditch." She stated with a derisive snort.
She looked down at her wet clothes and shook her head. She'd dry out eventually, and besides- going upstairs to change meant that she'd be alone. No, she'd just stay in her wet clothes. They had to dry eventually. "Mum left Jason in charge, not you." Astrid said just as pointedly, though she gave him a sunny smile.
To show she wasn't entirely bent on being a brat to him (Astrid was usually pretty entertaining when she wasn't bored, it was when she was bored that she could be irritating,) she nudged him gently with her hip as she walked past him, grinning mischeviously. "Come on, let's do something."
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Post by jaredblack on Aug 23, 2009 19:28:39 GMT -5
"Quidditch entails a lot more than sticking one's nose away in a book, ever think about that?" Never one to let Astrid get any leeway, Jared rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. It was going to be a normal day in the Black household, and he was starting to wonder why he'd even bothered leaving his quiet room. "Which is exactly what Jason is doing at this very moment. And since he's 'busy', it would fall to me to be in charge." Again realizing he was being blunt, he shoved his hands into his pockets and merely watched her walk past, giving no reaction to her prodding.
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Post by Astrid Lorelei Black on Aug 23, 2009 19:42:33 GMT -5
"But it doesn't require brains, does it? It doesn't take much to throw a ball. Being able to read, on the other hand... though I do suppose you wouldn't know, being illiterate and all." She made a face at her brother, but she could feel her cheeks faintly heat up at his mocking. Astrid both hated and yet looked up to her brothers, and it bothered her when they mocked her, though she tried to hide it. While she could lie with the best of the Blacks, she wasn't so good at hiding her emotions.
"Who says you get to be in charge after Jason? I'm smarter." She gave her brother a dirty look, leaning against the doorframe and hunching in on herself slightly. She would rather die than admit it to him, but she was actually a little cold now that she was inside. Pride was yet another of her weaknesses.
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Post by jaredblack on Aug 23, 2009 19:48:40 GMT -5
"Oh, illiterate. That one hurt." Faking a look of pain, Jared walked towards the staircase, now tempted not to say anything at all. It was just one of the family dynamics in play now that had them at each other's throats - and it had always been that way. "Fine, you want to be in charge? Go ahead, I won't stop you. I also won't be the one responsible if mum and dad come back and find you sneezing." He snorted, wondering why he was mimicking their mother's idea that getting wet led to getting sick. If that was the case, he would have long since died - and he was a little too alive to give weight to that argument.
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Post by Astrid Lorelei Black on Aug 23, 2009 19:55:14 GMT -5
"Being wet doesn't lead to colds, Jared. Technically, it just lowers your body temperature, making your immune system become less efficient. That's why it's called a cold." Astrid blinked when he started back towards the stairs, and she followed, pausing at the base.
"Wait, where are you going?" She asked nervously, her previous assurance gone again. She put her hand on the railing and stared up at her brother, silently pleading for him not to go. At least, not without her coming with him.
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Post by jaredblack on Aug 24, 2009 0:02:40 GMT -5
"See, that's why you're smarter than I am." Not even making a face at his sister's display of knowledge, Jared turned once up on the second stair, lifting an eyebrow at the obvious nervousness to her voice. She was scared and trying to hide it - and he knew it. "I'm going upstairs, before the portrait of the old bat wakes up." Referring to the permanently-charmed portrait of Walburga Black at the far end of the main hall, one that tended to wake at the slightest provocation to start shrieking.
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Post by Astrid Lorelei Black on Aug 24, 2009 10:44:11 GMT -5
Astrid nodded, remembering the last time that irritating picture of her grandmother had woke up- rather than allowing Sirius to shut it up, James had taunted Walburga... it was both extremely funny, and yet her shrieks were so loud that Astrid's ears had been ringing for hours afterwards.
She scampered up the stairs, stopping only two steps behind Jared and pausing again. As her hair was slowly drying, it was turning from a raven colored black to a dull, coal-like sheen. For a Black, Astrid hadn't really yet inherited the knock-out Black looks. She wasn't someone that cause anyone to look twice at, but most people figured that she would come into her own when she was older. Astrid couldn't wait for that time, personally- she was tired of the looks people gave her when she said she was a Black, that sort of "Oh really?" look.
Astrid took another step up tentatively, now just behind Jared. She had seemed to decide to allow a sort of comraderie between herself and her brother- at least until the storm was over- and when she spoke, there wasn't any sign of her usual preteen cheekiness. "Think it will end soon?"
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Post by jaredblack on Aug 25, 2009 1:29:30 GMT -5
"No telling." Jared replied to the question rather blithely, back to his calm self. Knowing that Astrid was going to follow no matter what he chose to do, he started upstairs to the second landing. "It could end in the next ten minutes or so, or it could last for hours. We'll just have to see."
Upon reaching the landing, he paused for a moment to look down the staircase at her, then smiled in his typical manner and started up the next staircase to the next landing. Little games of all types colored the siblings' relationship, and in spite of the fact they could seem to hate each other at times, there was also a strong undercurrent of loyalty and the adage 'blood runs thicker than water' applied.
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Post by Astrid Lorelei Black on Aug 27, 2009 3:23:45 GMT -5
Astrid nodded, scampering up the stairs after him. She stayed always just out of arms' reach- old habit- as she followed him. She hoped the storm would go away soon, or that her parents came back. They were always good at distractions, that was for sure. It was hard to think about the weather when her father was inventing some crazy new game that involved smashing old family heirlooms.
When they passed her room, she gestured for Jared to wait, going in and closing the door as she grabbed the first pair of dry clothes she found and yanked them on, not even caring what she looked like. She returned outside, her hair messier than usual.
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