Off into the sunset ((Lita))

[gaenor]

Gaenor observed the girl calmly as she rose to her feet as if a viper had bit her. He might not bother to pick his words. He wouldn’t in the future either most likely. But it was obvious that Lita was sensitive about her independence so he had chosen words to touch that topic. Just so that he could get any emotion out of her besides hurt. And Gaenor was glad to see that the girl had enough pride to push her on her feet again. “Perhaps,” Gaenor murmured, not denying the truth that he had wanted to get a small rise out of the girl, but not openly admitting it either. Anger was better than hurt.

Gaenor watched as the girl came over and sat next to him, being carefully not to touch Gaenor none the less. Not furious, but not that trusting. Which was good for her Gaenor supposed. “We have spoken about a number of thing, cub,” Gaenor said neutrally, not agreeing nor arguing with Lita’s point once again. Why? He wasn’t even sure of that, he just acted on what felt right at the moment. “I never said you need your brother to care for you. But it might be comforting to have him near-by,” Gaenor responded mildly, not caring even if Lita had told her brother that she had cried. It wasn’t as if it couldn’t be seen anyway from her eyes that had turned a bit red. What could Adrian do to him anyway? Especially on a strange area for him.

“Friend. A person you know well and regard with affection and trust, an ally: associate who provides assistance. Friendship is a type of interpersonal relationship that is found among humans and among animals with rich intelligence, such as the higher mammals and some birds. Individuals in a friendship relationship will seek out each other's company and exhibit mutually helping behavior,” Gaenor stated slowly using the dictionary explanations about friend and friendship as he smirked lightly not turning to look at Lita, “I’m not much of a prince and I’m not exactly a friend that anyone can handle either. If random words from me that wouldn’t even make my friends or good acquaintances wouldn’t bat an eye-lash reverted you to crying. Perhaps you are wrong to pick me as a friend then.”


((The post is good. It's rather my reply that doens't quite shape up enough. *waves fork threateningly* And get rid of the tights.))

[lita]

Lita rolled her eyes at Gaenors answer. Perhaps. Evading questions with a noncommittal answer. Was that a skill that was taught in the Slytherin house or just a male thing? It could easily be either, Lita reflected dismally. Adrian often did it, Gaenor had displayed the skill several times and she was aware of her Grandfathers talent in that area. All males, all Slytherins. All insanely irritating at times. Then again, all males were irritating at times. That part had nothing to do with the Slytherin house. Ah well. Lita sighed silently. It didn't really matter. At least the anger had pushed her hurt to a small recess in the back of her mind. But that could also have something to do with her pride. Lita wasn't entirely comfortable with Gaenor, or most other people, seeing her cry. Her brother, her cousins, her mother and Viento - yes, they had seen her cry and she trusted all of them to keep it quiet. Especially Viento, which was why she had taken to crying in his stable if she had to cry.

"All of which have ripped emotions from me," Lita muttered bitterly, no longer caring if Gaenor heard her. He had seen her cry already. What was the point in searching for strength that she had already used, just to keep him from seeing one more emotion? Surprisingly, 'cub' still didn't annoy her, even though she was irritated and faintly bitter toward him. Neither of which were new emotions for her to experience. "Comforting to have him nearby?" Lita repeated dryly. "Of course. I really want my older brother to experience my weakness once again and have him hovering over me when I get to Hogwarts. It's a matter of pride. Nothing more, nothing less. But seen in a different light, by a different person, it could seem a lot more or a lot less." Lita shrugged, distracted by thoughts of keeping her pride intact. Her reddened and slightly feverish eyes would instantly alert Adrian that something was wrong with his sister. The brightened eyes could be explained as a love for horses, Lita decided quickly. The redness around her eyes however...that would be harder. The wind blowing grit into her eyes? Yes. An easy explanation that would at least partially convince her brother. Convince him enough to let her alone about it anyway.

"You know the dictionary's definition on friendship. How impressive." Lita remarked sarcastically. His words merely made her shrug, secretly glad that she had taken the time to guard her emotions again. "Very well. Maybe I was wrong. I'm a child; I'm allowed to be wrong. I don't particularly care. Perhaps I did make a mistake in counting you amongst the few friends I have. Mistakes can be repaired and forgotten. If you're so convinced that I made a mistake then feel free to leave. I'm confident in Carycyns ability to remember to way back to the stables. Just take care to avoid my brother when you return because, as I said before, I'm not very keen on the idea of him hovering over me. If you do see him then simply tell him that we returned, I felt unwell and went home. He'll be satisfied with that." Lita replied coolly, trying desperately to keep any emotions from spilling into her words and succeeding considerably well. What she was convinced was her last action to Gaenor was to turn her back on him and start whistling a tune carelessly.

[gaenor]

“Is crying always a weakness? Perhaps it’s just a display of passion? A way to show your passion to the world,” Gaenor countered smoothly arching his eye-brow, “Must admit that I still have plenty of moments in my life when I wish I could high-tail it back home and curl up in my old keepers lap and have her make everything better once again while giving my apple-pie and home-made vanilla ice-cream. Needing someone isn’t always a weakness and keep those words safe because as a Slytherin it almost pains me to admit it so I won’t say it out loud again that I need my friends by my side.” Actually Gaenor hadn’t wanted to say even that much. But if it made the girl feel better, then he could swallow his pride for a few seconds. But Lita better appreciate it because Gaenor wasn’t going to do it any more.

“I don’t have that many friends,” Gaenor placed his hand over his heart pretending to be wounded, “Can you blame me for trying to live myself through reading dictionaries?” Gaenor listened to Lita more attentively than she perhaps guessed, her words striking more chords than he would care to admit. “And sometimes mistakes don’t really exist, but are rather misunderstandings that grew out of hand. It’s your choice, whether you can handle being my friend or not so the mistake – if you choose to make it – will also be yours.” Gaenor reached out his hand wrapping it comfortably around the younger girl’s waist and pulling her flat on her back on the forest floor while Gaenor tickled her mercilessly with a light smirk on his face.

[lita]

Lita watched Gaenor curiously, a small gentle smile touching her lips at his reply. Something like instinct told her that it couldn't have been easy for him to open up to her, a girl who was practically a stranger to him, like he just had. Gaenor hurt her, yes, but he also tried his hardest to repair the damage and make her feel better. Would there ever be a better reason for looking past the unintentional abuse of her trust and faith in him? Thoughtless words occurred. There was nothing to do about it. Well, if she had an extreme wish to lose the small friendship that Lita sensed between them, then she could attempt to change his nature. That would never happen though. She wouldn't try and he wouldn't change, even if she did try. Besides, he was amusing, even when she was angry at him.

Lita swallowed a laugh that unwilling bubbled up into her throat. She wouldn't laugh, not while she was still annoyed at him. Not angry, not any longer, but still annoyed and faintly bitter. But the temptation was almost too great. Gaenors wounded act was pulled off to perfection but the thought of him spending hours with a dictionary in his hands brought an unwilling smile to her face and washed away still more of the angered hurt. Lita shifted around slightly, not enough to fully face him but enough to watch him closely. He actually seemed to mean what he was saying. Her silent debate was instantly abandoned as her back hit the floor and Lita had only a second to wonder what had happened before collapsing into uncontrollable laughter and resisted her natural instinct to kick him away. "Mercy," Lita pleaded breathlessly, holding back giggles long enough to force out that one word.

[gaenor]

Words were betraying. They twisted into something you might not have even meant in the first place, they caused misunderstandings. But they also could fix things. Gaenor grinned down at Lita as she laughed with all of her soul. A ticklish girl apparently. But it wouldn’t be fair to continue tickling the girl after she pleaded for mercy so Gaenor merely sat down on her legs, pinning her wrist together on her left side as he thought peering at the girl thoughtfully. “Mercy from tickling you received. But I still have a revenge to fish out for you,” Gaenor mused thoughtfully, “Just have to figure out what it is. I think there should be a small creek near by. Soaking you while I think wouldn’t be bad now, would it?”

It took a bit of maneuvering but in the end Gaenor simple over-powered Lita as he gathered the small girl in his arms and marched the 50 meters to the creek before tangling her over the creek. “Any last words?” Gaenor asked from Lita as he took one more step forward sincerely planning on letting the girl fall when things got a bit out of hand. Maybe the stone was slick or maybe Gaenor placed his foot wrong but he lost his balance. Automatically trying to twist himself in the air to make sure Lita wouldn’t have to tolerate any of the landings impact Gaenor dropped them both in the creek. Rising to the surface of the water Gaenor sent Lita an indignant look and opened his mouth. Only to close it again a moment. Raising a finger towards Lita Gaenor fished out a bit of some plant from his mouth and coughed for a moment before trying to look as royal as possible with wet clothes dripping on you and with his hair plastered on his head.: “I’m blaming this mishap on you, cub.”

[lita]

Lita grinned in relief when the tickling stopped but simply couldn't resist a curious quirk of her eyebrow when Gaenor sat on her legs. A gentle pull of her arms confirmed that they were securely pinned and the eyebrow arched higher. At least the tickling had stopped, Lita comforted herself silently. But that didn't stop her wondering exactly what he had planned for her now. "Revenge? A creek? Soaking?" Lita's eyes widened in mock-fear before a different idea passed through her mind. Her chin lifted defiantly and a demanding light flashed in her eyes. "Lord Gaenor, I simply must protest. This is no way to treat a lady..." Her demanding approach was quickly ruined by the twitching of her lips and so Lita abandoned it as quickly as she had started it.

Her right hand automatically grabbed onto him tightly, not entirely trusting him to not drop her, accidentally or purposely. But she trusted him enough to not cause true harm to her and so Lita only put up a token struggle before resigning herself to her fate. It wasn't exactly a new experience for her since Dan had decided that dropping her into the river was a good idea - and that river was a lot deeper than this creek, Lita decided thankfully, repressing a shudder at the memory. Cold water closing up above her head and oxygen slowly stealing away from her. Not the best memory but certainly not the worst. "Last words? Actually, yes." Her hands grabbed his arms tightly, making her intent clear. "If I'm going down then you're coming with me." Despite her words, Lita had to swallow a shriek of surprise when both of them actually did fall into the creek. Her eyes were closed firmly until she felt herself rise to the surface, when she opened them and took a breath gratefully. Lita laughed at his indignant look, a laugh which only increased when Gaenor pulled the plant from his mouth. She smiled innocently and tilted her head curiously, ignoring the wet strands of hair that stuck to her cheek. "What did I have to do with you throwing both of us into the creek?"