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Post by Kia Brightstar on Mar 28, 2006 17:12:12 GMT
Kiana snuggled deeper into her bed, pulling the covers around her tightly and groaning resignedly when she couldn't get back to sleep. She bolted upright when her eyes drifted over to the clock. Nine o'clock! She relaxed slightly when she realised that it was Saturday but still felt annoyed. She never slept in late! Kia was a morning person and she wouldn't even dream of missing a chance to watch the sunrise. Her eyes clouded over dreamily, sunrise, the magical colours blending together and clearing to show the newly risen sun. Kia groaned again and kicked the covers away, shivering as the cold air hit her skin.
With a loud yawn, she walked over to the wardrobe, pulling out some clothes carelessly and throwing them on her bed. A frown creased her face as she looked into the mirror, she looked awful! Another yawn escaped and she shugged, deciding to just wash her face and comb her hair. Its not like she had plans for the day anyway. Kia pulled her clothes on, barely noticing that she put on a skirt despite the cold weather. She twisted her hair up into a bun and slung her bag over her shoulder, checking that she had her sketchbook and pencil first. Kia wandered down to the Great Hall, grabbing two muffins and tucking them into her bag for later.
A few minutes later, Kia had skipped out to the courtyard. Her bad mood apparently forgotten, she was singing to herself as she settled down in the sunshine. She pulled out one of the muffins and started to eat it before getting her sketchbook out and looking for something to draw. Finally settling on a group of people sitting a few benches away, her pencil began to skim across the page, creating easy lines and adding soft shades to the faces.
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Post by trippy on Mar 29, 2006 1:57:45 GMT
"Wat'cher drawin'?" Trip asked, ambling up to Kiana. She was in some of his classes, both of them being third year Gryffindors, but he never really had taken the time to talk to her or make friends. Now seemed like a perfect opportunity.
"I can't really draw people," he added, peering at her sketch pad. "Only Muggle machines." He reached into his pocket and fished out a crumpled piece of paper. Unfolding it, he offered it to her. "It's a hair dryer. Pretty fascinating, considering it doesn't use any magic."
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Post by Kia Brightstar on Mar 29, 2006 16:14:05 GMT
Kia frowned at her picture, carefully erasing one of the faces and starting again. She jumped and squeaked when someone started talking to her. She turned around and saw a boy who she dimly recognised as another Gryffindor third year. She squinted at him, trying to remember his name. Crash, Stumble... something like that. She shrugged and smiled at him warmly. "I'm Kia." She gestured to her sketchbook then to the people she had been drawing. "I was drawing them but I can't get one of the faces right."
"Ah, not everyone has the talent of drawing." She turned red, realising how arrogant she sounded and quickly amended her statement. "Not that I do, I had to practice for years to get even this good. Real artists," her eyes clouded over dreamily. "Oh, real artists have a true talent that cannot be learnt. Van Gogh and Monet had true talent, were true geniuses of the art world."
She peered at the picture of the hairdryer that he handed to her and hid a smile. If he thought that all purebloods were clueless about muggles and their inventions then she'd have bit of fun with it. Kia frowned, biting her lip in confusion. "A hairdryer? What's one of them? If it doesn't have magic then how does it work?" Her eyes glittered with laughter even as she pasted a confused look onto her face, enjoying the simple trick that she was playing on him.
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Post by trippy on Mar 30, 2006 0:23:35 GMT
"Oh, it's real simple. All it uses is a motor-driven fan and a heatin' coil. Ya see, Muggles figured out how to harness electricity and use it ta power things. They first use the electric current that comes from an outlet..." he trailed off, his face scrunched up in thought. How was he supposed to explain electrical outlets? He'd have to tell her everything he knew about electricity, which would take awhile.
"Are ya' sure you don't know what a hair dryer is?" he pleaded. Trip sat down on the bench next to her, holding the drawing in his hand.
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Post by Kia Brightstar on Mar 30, 2006 7:06:06 GMT
Kia giggled, debating whether to let the joke carry on or take pity on him and tell him. After all, electricity was a complicated thing to explain- especially to someone who apparently didn't have a clue about it. She took another look at the picture. "Ohh, the whirly heating thing. I always wondered what that was."
Her face twitched and she started laughing, unable to hold it back any longer. Kia took a deep breath and tried to calm down, knowing that she had proably scared the boy with her hysterical laughter that would have seemed to come from nowhere as he didn't know that she had tricked him. "S-sorry." She gasped, still smiling. Kia frowned in irritation, still unable to recall his name properly. "Who are you anyway? And why are you out here?"
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Post by trippy on Mar 31, 2006 1:28:17 GMT
Trip shrank back, a bit concerned about Kiana's random laughter. He brushed a hand over his hair, to make sure nothing was out of place. It would be terrible if she was laughing at him. I wish I had a mirror. He wiped his face on the sleeve of his robe, just to be sure.
"I'm Trip. I'm out here to talk with you," he said in an uneasy voice. "Are you alright? I mean, no offense of anythin', but people don't laugh out of the blue like that." He paused for a moment, and then added, "Usually."
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Post by Kia Brightstar on Mar 31, 2006 7:03:39 GMT
Kia widened her eyes mockingly. "They don't laugh for no reason? How silly of them. " She started laughing again, her blue eyes watching him intently for a reaction. Usually when she acted like this people would run away, the few people that stayed usually became good friends. She hummed thoughtfully, which category would he fit into - the running away and screaming or friends?
"Calm down Trip, I'm not going to eat you. I don't like that taste of humans. Far too fatty and stringy." Kia smiled at him, amusement colouring her voice at his unease. Truly she didn't eat people, indeed she was thinking of becoming a vegetarian...too bad she couldn't eat meat if she was one. "Yes, yes, its fine. Company is always good. Unless the company is an ant. Then its not good." She looked at the ground suspiciously, checking for any ants that had the gall to attempt to crawl on her.
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Post by trippy on Apr 1, 2006 1:54:18 GMT
"Fatty an' stringy? That's quite a contradiction there," he smiled, easing up. "I don't think anything can be fatty an' stringy at the same time, unless you're talkin' about my Aunt Jill's roast beef.
He made a face at the thought of it. "Disgustin' stuff, that roast beef. I doubt even an ant would like my Aunt Jill's recipe. What have ya got against ants, anyway?" He looked down at the ground, joining her in her search. "It's not like they can do any damage."
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Post by Kia Brightstar on Apr 1, 2006 10:32:56 GMT
Kia shrugged, seemingly uncaring, but mentally frowning at herself. What a mistake to make! "Life is about contradictions. Whats one more to add to the mix?" She grinned at him warmly, half-surprised that he hadn't run away. He had seemed rather frightened by her unusual behaviour, of course that behaviour was unusual for others, not for her. What was life for if not for acting as crazy as you wished and still making great friends? Kia peered at him. "So, are you fatty or stringy? I do feel rather hungry" She joked, taking the second muffin out of her bag and splitting it in half before handing one half to him.
"Ah, you don't like roast beef? I don't either really, it tastes awful." She paused in contemplation. "Hey, are you a vegetarian? What is it like? Are you ever tempted to eat meat?" She shot the questions at him quickly, eager to know what being a vegetarian was like. They were fascinating creatures, no one in her family was one and she had never met one. Wait...she frowned, he never actually said that he was a vegetarian, he only said he didn't like his aunts roast beef. Darn it.
Kia bounced up when he joined her on the floor, grabbing his hand and twirling him around and laughing before dropping back onto the floor. "There was an ant." She explained through her laughter. "A really really really big one." Kia scanned the floor suspiciously, checking for any more ants. Evil evil ants. Trying to take over the world probably. Well, she wouldn't let it happen. For she was Kia, the evil ant exterminator! Kia collapsed into giggles again. "Evil...ant...exterminator..." She choked out, tring to explain her mad laughter.
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Post by trippy on Apr 1, 2006 15:14:29 GMT
"I suppose I consider myself stringy. Even though I like to eat a lot, I never can gain pounds. I'll always be skinny as a bean," he lamented mockingly. He took muffin, and muttered a word of thanks before taking a bite.
"Er..." he mumbled, his mouth still chewing on the muffin. He swallowed it down with an audible gulp, and then smiled apologetically at Kiana. "Sorry. I'm not a vegetarian. I just don't like roast beef. But I do wonder what it is to be like. Must be difficult, especially here at Hogwarts."
Trip raised both his eyebrows in a bemused smile, but joined in Kiana's laughter anyway. Her laughter was contagious, it seemed. "Ant exterminator? You could make quite a fortune at Hogwarts. There are ants everywhere. I wonder if there's a spell to get rid of them. I know for sure there's a Muggle way to get rid of them... It works every time. Want to try it here?"
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Post by Kia Brightstar on Apr 2, 2006 10:03:05 GMT
Kia poked him in the side. "Skinny as a bean?" She paused in thought before continuing. "Beans are skinny? Oooh, are runner beans skinny? That would make sense. They run and so they are skinny." She nodded, proud of her detective skills, and leaned over to poke him again but this time adding a slight push, wondering if this skinny bean-like person would topple over.
Kia frowned and then shrugged, unable to be upset for long over something as simple as him not being a vegetarian. Now, if he'd put an ant or a spider on her, that would be a whole different story. Kia shuddered, creeped out by even the mental image of a spider. "I imagine that it would be difficult. Then again, it would be quite an achievement. Being tempted by all of the meat surrounding them, here at Hogwarts and at their house, but not giving into their temptation. I would try it...but I like meat too much. Except roast beef. Roast beef is horrible."
Trip started laughing and her eyebrow shot up in amused confusion. Apparently her laughter was contagious to this poor boy. That thought just made her laugh harder and soon she couldn't breathe because she was laughing so hard. Kia took a deep breath and tried to stop laghing. Good. It worked. Her gaze flicked to the still laughing Trip and her mouth quirked into a grin. No. Not good. She forced her eyes to settle on the ground, determined not to laugh."I would make a fortune." She agreed, still watching the floor - it was a pretty floor really except for the - "Ants!"
Kia sprung up from the floor and started brushing at her clothes furiously. They were all over her. She shot a desperate glance at Trip, pleading for help. "If you know a way to get rid of them then do it now!" Her voice broke in fear as she tried to get them off her. Kia had hated ants ever since her cousin had told her that they would eat her in her sleep. She hadn't slept for days afterwards and the fear of ants had slowly turned into a hatred of ants that was so strong she couldn't bear to have them anywhere near her.
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Post by trippy on Apr 3, 2006 3:33:59 GMT
Trip pursed his lips, and helped Kiana brush the ants off her. "Don't work yourself into a fit. Ants can't do you any harm." He stepped back, satisfied that there were no more ants on her. "Okay, I'll show you how you get rid of the little buggers."
He took another step back, and then stomped his feet on the gruond madly, cackling wildly. The stomps soon broke out into jumps, and the jumps soon broke into leaps. "It's a stomp-fest!" he yelled gleefully. He didn't care if he was making an idiot out of himself in public. This was fun, and he wasn't about to stop.
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Post by Kia Brightstar on Apr 3, 2006 16:06:09 GMT
Kia turned to scowl at him once all the ants were gone. "Work myself into a fit?" Her voice rose incredulously and she stepped towards him, recalling all of the imtimidation techniques that her Dad had taught her and putting them to use. Stand tall. Look cold. Look them in the eye. She smiled slightly, her Dad had taught her the techniques to ward off any bullies that might think it fun to intimidate her but here she was using them on Trip over ants. "Work myself into a fit? Did you see those nasty little crawling things crawling all over me and trying to eat me? I think I have a right to work myself into a fit!" She started to brush at her shoulders and arms, trying to convince herself that all of the ants had indeed gone.
Kiana giggled at him, finding it hilarious. That a boy, who had previously been worried by her laughter, was now jumping around and cackling like a maniac. Then again...what was life for if not for living? After a moments hesitation she joined in, trying to jump higher than him and showing off by doing a few backflips, proud of her neat and soundless landing. "I'm not sure if this will get rid of them." She said breathlessly, still jumping. "But it sure is fun!"
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Post by trippy on Apr 3, 2006 22:17:46 GMT
Trip laughed even harder at her backflips. "Showing off are we?" he teased with good-nature. "I bet I could do that!" He clenched his teeth in concentration, and took a few test leaps. He was careful not to land the wrong-way; in doing so, he might shatter his feet. Here goes, he thought.
He landed on his bottom with a loud wump. His face was contorted in a mixture of pain and laughter. "I guess I can't do that," he chuckled, wincing slightly as he got up. "At least it got rid of most of the ants."
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Post by Kia Brightstar on Apr 4, 2006 13:14:30 GMT
Kia grinned at him, flipping over once more and landing with her knee's bent in a crouch. "Of course, showing off is what we Gryff's do best, isn't it?" She remarked wryly, admitting to herself that she definitely showed off whenever she could. Another attribute she inherited from her Dad. Her mouth quirked into a sad smile, realising that she had nothing of her mother in her. No way to remember her. Kia shook her head sharply, shoving thoughts of her family away and focusing on Trip. Her head tilted in curious interest, not believing that Trip could do backflips. Gymnastics were a girls territory, boys generally had no interest in them.
Sure enough, his first few attempts failed drastically - though he did show slight promise - and she burst out laughing when he landed on his rear. Kia moved over to him, smirking down at him. "I hope you enjoyed it as I trust that you won't be stupid enough to try it again. Without proper training or talent, at the very least, you could break your ankle. That's painful." She warned seriously, moving back so he could get up. A giggle escaped, ruining the serious mood that she had been trying to maintain. "Sure, the ants are gone...for now." Her desire to show off and impress resurfaced, making her backflip back to the bench she was occupying before and land on it, with her arms slamming down to steady her. Kia grinned at him. "Well, what do you think?"
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