Fancy a game? ((Ariel))

[cleo]

Cleo painted her nails into a glorious shade of royal blue blowing on the wet nail-polish to make it dry quicker. When the nail-polish was half-dry Cleo added with a small thin brush-tip added a thin bronze line that went diagonally over each of her nail. Cleo was proud t be a Ravenclaw after all. Sure, other houses had their perks as well, but why sigh after something you would never have anyway. Pacing around the room Cleo continued waving her fingers in the air and blowing on them from time to time to dry the paint quicker. Sure, it was a bit vain perhaps but Cleo took pride in the fact that her nails were always nicely shaped and covered with different colour nail-polishes. The one thing that mattered was the beauty within one… but it was a lot easier to get to know the inner beauty if the other person didn’t look like a twin to Frankenstein’s monster on the outside. Finally as the paint had dried Cleo let a brush glide through her vibrant hair and making sure her clothes were nice. A pair of bronze pants and a white button up shirt. And the regular pair of heels. Black boots this time.

Rushing out of the room without a backwards glance Cleo went on a crusade to find Kris. She was bored! And the weather didn’t seem to invite her outside today. So she went to seek a source of entertainment and to who else than the snappy Slyth would she rush towards? Actually finding Kris was a surprisingly easy task. Talking him into coming and playing poker with her was equally easy. So half an hour later Cleo could be found in the student lounge, sitting on the opposite side of the table from Kris and playing poker with a slight grin as they were already bickering casually. Really, they wouldn’t be them if they would just sit politely and converse about the weather. If you looked yet an other half an hour later Cleo would be already growling towards Kris as she seemed to be constantly loosing.
“You are blind! How on earth can you even see the cards to play properly!” Cleo exclaimed loudly throwing her hand on the table as her two pairs lost to the full house Kris had produced.
A small twitch of Kris’s lipcorners was the only thing signifying his smile that had became even more scarce since the death of Dana’s grandparents. The news was taking it’s toll on him and that worried Cleo a little. Kris laughed too little as it was and so this was most definitely not good for him.

“Why, I thought you would have caught on a long ago. The cards are marked and while dealing what would have stopped be from cheating?” Kris replied raising himself and stepping around the table-corner. Bowing his head lightly Kris dropped a kiss onto Cleo’s forehead as she almost automatically had tilted her head backwards a little so Kris could do it easily.
“I’ll get back to you for this you know!” Cleo called with a scowl after Kris’s back as he was walking towards the door of the lounge making Kris raise the hand that wasn’t holding his walking-cane in a mock-wave. “It wouldn’t be half as fun, if you didn’t try to retaliate, pharaoh,” he replied easily the door closing behind him a moment before a hex from Cleo’s wand hit the wood of the door as Cleo’s shouted: “Don’t call me a pharaoh! For a few moments Cleo stared furiously at the heavy door feeling her lip-corners starting to twitch and a moment later Cleo was laughing the time spent with Kris having cheered her up and saved her from moping around the castle in self-misery. Now she could at least busy herself with plotting up a revenge for Kris.

Shifting to sit more carefully once again Cleo gathered up the cards shuffling them now finding the markings on the cards herself as well making Cleo wonder how she could have missed them before. With practiced ease creating an arch of cads in the air Cleo played checking herself to make sure she still remembered all the tricks with cards that she had been able to do.

[ariel]

"Oreo, you rascal of a beast!" Ariel scooped the little black and white kitten up quite ungracefully and with a reproachful meow to follow. A few people looked at her in the halls, and someone whispered behind their hand to their neighbor, "animal cruelty." Please. Ariel rolled her eyes violently, maybe too much so since it gave her a headache. Was she supposed to coo over the kitten that had attempted to rip off the feathers of her feather quill and then attempt an escape through a crowd of people with the feathers in its mouth? I doubt it. She put the kitten in her arms and strolled past the crowd that had gathered after Ariel had given a scene. Why, who would allow their kitten to destroy their favorite quill? Not this girl, no.And then to get away with it... ha. A few people's eyes followed her to the corner, but she paid them no heed. Honestly, what could be more annoying then people staring when they thought you couldn't see them? Didn't they know people can feel too? Oreo naturally caught a few glances; he was always on the move and to girls who liked to make annoying baby noises, extremely cute. Ariel preferred treating Oreo like an equal, and he agreed. Although a little extra attention never hurt.

Ariel had her book bag with her again. Did she go anywhere without it? She was still hung up on Peter Pan, her favorite book ever. She always felt fear and hatred for Captain Hook, and she always loved looking at Wendy with admiration. Peter was always fascinating, and the crocodile with the ticking... Ariel shivered. She never liked menaces, something cruel and uninviting to others. Although she may be something of the like, bad guys in stories just didn't please her fancy. They were always there for one purpose, while in real life she found bad guys were very complicated. Perhaps not the Death Eaters, as the only thing on their mind was pleasing their not to pleasant Lord, but other then that, people actually had common sense, mean or not. Ariel's left hand fluttered down to the bag, feeling its contents. She always got nervous when she traveled places. Perhaps she had left a book behind? But no, she always remained responsible.

"Oreo!" She cried as the kitten made a drastic move; escape! He put his head under Ariel's arm and pushed off with his tiny feet, causing quite a scene. Again. Or maybe it was Ariel, running down the hall after him. She had done up her hair today in curls but now she wished she hadn't. The way they bounced around before her as she continued without success to chase down her little pest was just annoying. Grounding her teeth furiously, Ariel was just about to pounce and make an intense grab for the fur ball, when she saw the door open to the Student Lounge. Someone stepped out; Ariel was really not in the mood to make for pleasantries; and Oreo slipped in, causing Ariel to skid to a halt in front of the closed door before her. Breathing. She had to calm herself before she went in front of a group of people. By now, the chase had given her no time to breathe, thus causing sharp intakes to occur. After about five seconds, she was breathing normally, and had straightened out her hair as well.

The Student Lounge. Oh, why in all whys did the little animal have to go in there? It wasn't too crowded but it was just enough for Ariel to feel uncomfortable about the situation. She surveyed her surroundings with keen eyes, but still Oreo didn't appear anywhere close to where Ariel was. That meant she had to travel around, looking like a complete fool. What did she do to deserve this? Pushing back a frantic curl, Ariel gazed at the back of someone's head; a head full of red hair, just like Ariel. It wasn't too usual to see red-heads and in the Student Lounge eliminated quite a few possibilities. After all, didn't most Slyths believe the Student Lounge was a filthy hole? How would she know? She found the foul little beast sitting in front of the girl playing with cards, his little blue eyes wide with awe. Or so Ariel saw it as. She herself had to take a double glance at the girl - she could never play with cards like that. In fact, she never could grasp the concept. "Cleo!" Ariel found that when she finally stepped out in front of the two, she knew who the girl was. A fellow dorm mate, someone she respected as a fellow Raven. A good one too. Ariel looked down at Oreo with a hostility she hoped Cleo didn't notice - if 'animal cruelty' came up, she would have to wring someone's neck. She gave Cleo a strained smile, pushing back some more red hair. "My apologies for interrupting you. He is hard to handle sometimes, you know? Apparently he liked your tricks very much...." She walked over to the bratty little kitten, which was slowly coming out of his daze and was realizing how much trouble he was in. That's right, Ariel thought smugly as she put a hand on his back to make sure no escape routes would be considered this time. When he was safely in her arms, Ariel turned back to face Cleo.

[cleo]

Cleo’s curse bounded off the now closed door harmlessly and Cleo returned to her cards making sure the skills she had learned as a kid were still as good as ever. With the time she had spent being locked up in her room as a child whenever she caused some trouble yet again she had became very good. Good enough to cheat most people out of their money, though evidently Kris was still better. Oh well, cards were a fun way to pass time when Cleo wanted to be out of the face of her grandparents and didn’t care to climb out of her room and go tour London – both muggle and magical version of it. The scratching of claws attracted Cleo’s attention and she arched an eye-brow at the kitten who was sitting on the table before her. For a few moments they just measured each other with their eyes for a while as Cleo’s hands and fingers continued shuffling the cards.

“You aren’t Morrigan,” Cleo stated coolly only nodding as no hiss came form the kitten. While Morrigan liked Cleo, the kitten had quite a character to handle. Cleo tilted her head eyeing the kitten noticing it being somewhat familiar. Not feeling bothered at all by talking to a cat - a lot of cats were smarter than people gave them credit for – Cleo continued the one-sided conversation. “You don’t seem to be McGonagall in disguise either. Yet you are familiar. Mind introducing yourself?” Cleo asked form a cat who still didn’t say anything making Cleo shake her head, “Where are the manners of youngsters nowadays?”
Looking up at the stating of her name Cleo blinked and nodded at her dorm-mate. “Ariel.” She replied easily watching as she took hold of the cat sitting before Cleo with an almost malicious glint in her eyes, “Don’t worry, Oreo was a perfect gentleman, while keeping me company. Perhaps not overly vocal, but a perfect gentleman. No need to look so stern.”

Cleo waved her hand, folding the cards and starting to disturb them between her fingers quickly and easily while nodding towards the seat opposite her: “They aren’t tricks really. Just a lot of practice at shoveling cards. And I know how hard handling people could be. The bloody Slyth cheated!” Cleo complained scowling at the deck of cards. Raising her wand she murmured the appropriate spell and cut off the marked corners before smirking with satisfaction. “I will have to figure out some kind of a revenge for him. And I must remember to be careful before I challenge Kris to a poker-game with stakes. You in any rush off or would you fancy a game, Ariel?”


((Sorry, for the late reply, but the last few days have been a bit hard on me.))

[ariel]

((You know I don't mind late replies, and even if I did, your post sure made up for it. ))

Ariel laughed a little as Cleo mentioned he wasn't overly vocal. "No, I suppose not. He's nice to acquaintances, but believe me, when I'm alone with him he really likes to speak his mind." Ariel pointed out with a laugh still on her lips, although the sound was not going through the air anymore. Ariel never liked to laugh too much; usually it just made the person listening to you laugh wonder if you did this everyday or were just finding something about them funny. She had learned through experience that a smile was worth even more then a laugh, because you usually meant a smile. Although she had no comment to Cleo's voicing that she needn't be too stern - which was probably true anyway, but Oreo was a little rascal through it all! Look at him now, acting like a perfect gentlemen as she put it, and yet while in the halls he acted like anything but a domestic cat.

She sat down when Cleo motioned to her through a nod that it was okay. Sitting down uninvited was not pleasant, especially if the person took offense to it. Maybe Ariel just thought too much about things, or maybe she just had common sense, but she always thought of what the out come of things could possibly be. And after sitting down uninvited to a Slyth that was a no-namer, Ariel learned a valuable lesson indeed. She didn't let Slyths bother her, yet conversing with them was quite difficult when you had different opinions and views. Maybe this was why Ariel raised an eyebrow when Cleo mentioned a Slytherin that had cheated in a game. Or maybe it was something else. She wasn't sure, but it made her raise her eyebrow none-the-less.

"What Slytherin happened to give you that grace?" Ariel asked with a smile as she settled down in the chair opposite Cleo, letting Oreo curl up in her lap. She didn't know Cleo like she should after spending five years in the same dorm, but Ariel knew enough about her to realize her personality, respect her, and probably make a close guess on her reactions to different things. She was sure that Cleo would manage to make out Ariel's words, which had held no sarcasm even though her eyes thoroughly expressed it. Kris... hmm. A name came to Ariel's mind, but she pushed it back abruptly; if Cleo was playing poker games with Kris Graas then she must be on friendly sides with him and if Ariel asked if he was 'that blind kid,' she would surely not get a good response.

"A game?" Ariel pursed her lips, hating to be undecided. Mort never let her play poker, since it was a form of gambling, thus she didn't know how. And no one knew except for herself how much she hated to not know something. Poker was just one of those things that had slipped by unnoticed when she had been learning, she guessed. She looked down at Oreo for a little as he yawned and stretched out, baring his claws. How cute and yet deadly he could appear. Sharp claws were not something people were especially excited to see. The black and white kitten turned his blue eyes to her as if feeling her eyes on him, and then began to lick his paw royally. What a show off. Ariel didn't give him a glare, which was lucky since they were in company. "I... don't know how." She admitted reluctantly when the silence had gone on for too long. "I can learn quickly if you want to teach me?" Ariel said, leaving the ending with a question marks in her tan eyes.

[cleo]

Ariel seated herslef down comfortably letting Oreo curl up in her lep. Cleo observed the kitten with a keen eye. She liked animals. And if Ariel had actually done so much as raised a finger against Oreo she would have stepped in immidiately. Yet despite all her big words Ariel was good to her pet which was evident from the kitten’s behavior. Animals in general were great at evaluating characters. So Cleo often looked at how a person treated animals and how animals took to him or her before making up her own mind about that person. It was a lot easier and at many cases a lot more truthful becuase to an other person you could show what you wanted about yourself. Animals had a sense that helped them see through such charades.

Cleo snorted and shook her head: „Kris Graas. Slytherin 6th year and a bloody pain in my side. Who else can get so much under my skin.“ Cleo sneered and patted her wand almost fondly her mind flickering back to the rather memorable DADA class. „I still have to cook up some revenge for cheating on me. In poker I mean, not otherwise. And for Dana as well once I get myself in the mood.“ Yet despite the slight growl in her tone Cleo felt a small grin sneaking across her face. She and Kris were constantly at each others throats, yet at the same time... at the same time he was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Plus the additional bonus of Cleo having made a crash-course in jinxes and hexes and charms that was worth more than a year with Umbridge or Lupin.

Cleo nodded and trning the deck of cards the other way nodded. „I can give you a quick course. I know you learn quickly – don’t everyone from our house, however big generalization that is. I divide the cards – 5 for you and 5 for me. Looking at your cards you decide at what you want to play. Couples are good and the higher the better. 3 similar cards is even better and 4 cards – 4 queens for example – is the best. Then you can also get a house – that is one couple and 3 similar cards – and a line. That is if you have cards going one by one. For examle diamone 6, diamond 7, diamond 8, diamond 9 and diamond 10. It doens’t matter from which card the line starts. If you get a line with picture cards and ace then that’s the royal flush. Triple beats a couple, house beats two couples and a triple, line beats house and a higher line beats a lower line yadda-yadda-yadda, you get the main point how it goes,“ Cleo rattled out barely breathing between her words as she mixed the cards quickly before deviding the cards quickly. One to Ariel, one to herlsef until both had 5 cards.

„Check your cards and select what you want to keep what not. You can pull down none to all your cards and once you get the same number of random cards back from the deck. After we have both exchanged some cards we’ll open up the fold and show what we have. I’ll go first,“ Cleo dropped 2 cards on the table keeping a pair of tens and a king and grabbing two new cards. A queen and a nine of sapdes. Nothing of use. Didn’t matter really, this was just a try-game, „You’re turn.“
Stopping the speaking and moving with cards that had taken place in a pretty much fast-forward mode Cleo grinned at Ariel and nodded at Oreo: „He ran off to find new playmates? Or did something else bring you over here to the lounge?“

[ariel]

Ariel grinned at Cleo's response. "Sounds like any other Slytherin. Maybe a little craftier, if you want to give him that." Was her only comment. She was glad she hadn't made the remark on his disability; despite Cleo's sneer and frustration at his cheating, Ariel didn't know why a Raven would decide to play a game of poker with any other Slytherin except for a friend. Ariel stashed that away, a small smile appearing when Cleo mentioned cheating at poker, and nothing else. She hadn't been thinking of it that way, but apparently Cleo had, and had taken time out to point it out. Ariel shrugged; maybe she was very careful with her choice of words. Just like her, in fact.

Poker. It seemed a little more complex then Ariel had expected for a game that involved cards with pictures and numbers on them. As Cleo quickly explained, Ariel hung on to every word, stashing it away in her memory for later use. As well, she began to rub Oreo behind the ears, smiling when she heard his purr reach her ears. He always liked rubs best behind his ears. She licked her lips as she gave Cleo her undivided attention, and as it was, Ariel was the type of person who liked to get a few words in between what the explainer was saying. "Okay," or "I get it." Something like that. Being unable to speak with Cleo rambling on so fast was a little frustrating for Ariel, who was somewhat of a bossy girl, and never liked other people to do the explaining.

In the end she managed to survive. Picking up her cards gingerly, Ariel's dark eyes moved swiftly over them before she looked up to watch Cleo make her move. Or whatever you would call it in Poker. She put down two cards and then grabbed two more. This seemed easy enough. She paused only for a second or two when she thought of Mort and if he would approve, but before anything, she was pulling a 3 of Diamonds out from her fan of cards and the 2 of spades, deciding that since they were low numbers and probably no use, she would drop them. Putting them face down on the table, Ariel reached over to pull up two cards from the deck in the middle of the table. Adding them to her fan, she surveyed what she had. They were all different stuff. So far she had a King, a nine of diamonds and a four of spades. The cards she had picked up were of no use either. A three of spades, similar to the three of diamonds she had dropped, and a four of spades. Okay, so she had a pair. That couldn't be too bad.

Ariel shared Cleo's grin when she asked about Oreo. "He was the one who brought me here. First he stole my things, thinking it funny, second he made a fool of himself, and third he ran off, probably amused how I plundered after him." Ariel sighed. "It gets really tiresome, you know? Kind of similar to your cheating poker player, although Oreo is the type who thinks he can get away with anything." Ariel smiled and leaned back in the armchairs, being careful that Oreo was out of range of the cards she held precariously in her hand. "And the sad part is - he does."

((I'm sorry for the late reply. Been busy and Ariel stopped speaking to me for a little bit. But my muse if back and ready to go. ))

[cleo]

Cleo observed Ariel as she chose the cards to change. She dropped two cards. Cleo couldn’t help but wonder by what the other girl had done her choice as she tried to recall little details about Ariel she was bound to know as her dorm-mate for 5 years already. Everything, no matter how small and insignificant, could be used to read Areil during poker. As poker wasn’t as much a game of cards, but a game of people. You didn’t bet on your hand, you bet on other people as you tried to figure out how arrogantly they would bluff and how big risks they were going to take. Revealing her cards Cleo pushed the pair of 10s a bit higher: „Don’t have much. Just one pair. The card-exchanging vaires in games actually. There are games when you may exchange some cards once, times when you can do it twice and I have even seen games when you can do it thrice.“

Reaching over the table Cleo flipped the cards Ariel had chosen to discard around as she looked at the small numbers. Small so unless you have plenty of htem from the start, not much use. Cleo grinned with house pride shining through for once. Ariel had caught on quickly makin g the most logical decision immidiately without any comment about it from Cleo previously. „Wait, are we talking about my Slytherin or your cat right now? Because they both seem to have the skill to get away with most anything.“ Except for maybe their eye-sight Cleo added mentally thinking of Kris yet again. Even if Kris hated telling of how and why he lost his eye-sight almost equally as much as he hated being blind. It had been Dana who told cleo in the first place that Kris had blocked the curse from her and only after then at Cleo’s badgering had Kris admitted what he himself had thought at that moment when he pretty much had to value his whole life. Not that he had apparently taken any time to think.

Cleo smiled looking into space for a moment. Crafty? Yes, that word fit Kris. Yet Cleo didn’t feel like sharing him with Cleo, not even through words. There was just... something... in those quirky smiles he sometimes so randomly showed her and something about the sneers as he sarcastically picked at every detail that wasn’t completely perfect. It was just something private and personal and somehow Cleo wanted to just keep it all for only herself. Noticing that she was day-dreaming Cleo blinked and shook her head concntrating on the cards. Ariel had a pair of fours. Cleo grinned and shook her head easily: „Tens beat fours. I won this one. Here your turn to deal the cards.“ Cleo pushed the deck of cards closer to Ariel while glancing at Oreo and winking at the cat, „But looks like you got the crafty fellow. As a kitten think how hard it is to get his paws onto something that he would actually want. And then dragging it to some safe hiding-place so you wouldn’t take away his treasure... it must take quite some skill to accomplish all that. But how on earth can he make a fool out of himself? Though I must admit that you look better in your hats than he does, however big of a thing he seems to have for your barret, as I constantly see him rolling inside it.“