exsilium | three. (video.)

three. (video.)

( At least this time Ellie isn't in some random, ramshackle building, but enjoying the warmth of the kitchen and a giant cup of coffee. At least she looks marginally better rested than she has on previous occasions. )

So, with that whole swap thing, I've been thinking. ( A pause, and there's a note of self mockery in her voice: ) Because I don't think enough when weird stuff isn't happening. Or less-weird stuff, at any rate. ( Has she really digressed already and wandered off with her thoughts? She shakes her head at herself. )

I was thinking about anger. Or any emotion, I guess, when they get that intense that you feel like all your insides are writhing about like snakes, but anger's the one that stuck out for me. We're all in this war, and some of us have been in wars before and some haven't, and everyone handles it in these different ways.

( She trails off; articulating this isn't going so smoothly as she'd expected, but sometimes you just have to throw things at the wall and see what sticks. Homer used to throw pasta at the wall, a lot, and a bloody lot of that stuck. The memory makes her smile a little. )

I mean, just before I got here, Kev-- uh, this guy in our group, he wasn't doing so well with everything. ( See, Fi, she at least tried not to name and shame. Belatedly. ) Everyone tried different things to get him going, and it was this weird insight-- I guess it just said a bit about the kind of people we are, depending what tactic we used. ( Fi: sympathy. Lee: abuse. Homer: encouragement. )
I was all logic and common sense. ( A beat, before she continues, speaking a little more slowly as she grapples with her pride and tries to think it out. ) Sometimes I don't think that really shows the full picture, but.

( She could say that it definitely doesn't, not when you got anger that just bubbles up and blows being reasonable right out of the water. She could, but does not. )

Anyway, I was talking to this guy here, before, about anger. How you can use it, and that, make it work for you, and I just... I didn't know if that really worked for anyone. If anger's a weapon, or if you got an on/off switch for it, or what? 'Cause there's this quote in uh, this Shakespeare play - “wrath makes him deaf,” I think the Queen in Henry VI. ( She squints, trying to remember. ) And then there's another bit, about not coming between “the dragon and his rage,” in King Lear. I think Lear was already going crazy, though, by then, though. ( Quietly: ) It's been a while since I studied them. Trying to read that stuff and figure out all the language is hard, without those special high school study editions.

( Where was she even going with this? )

So I guess I just wondered what you lot thought about it. Anger and controlling anger and using it and whether it screws you up, or what.

( A beat, and she smiles crookedly. ) Or we could talk about dragons. We don't have any back home, but some of you have to have dragons, right?

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I can see how that'd be useful. [Cedric gives her a small smile, then laughs.]

Not as much as you'd think! The students loved to have fun---being around ghosts and magical creatures and creepy enchanted rooms will do that. In my position I had to be one of the snobbiest of the snobs, but when I was off-duty I enjoyed myself as much as anyone else.

It sounds exciting. Enough that I wish I was magical, anyway.

( She wrinkles her nose, shaking her head. ) I'm more like-- I dunno. The most ordinary of the ordinary. ( Sure, she'd been in a war, but look at some of the people here in Exsilium. It was bizarre. )

So, hmm. Okay, what are the other cliches about old schools? What was the principle like? Are there other wizard schools, for your quidd- ( wait, she can remember ) quidditch games, and stuff? Sometimes we'd have other schools visit us or we'd go to them for sports games.

[Cedric sighs and nods.]

Sometimes I wish I was a muggle. Maybe then I'd start to understand the inner workings of these tablets and most of your weapons. I'm amazed by how many ways there are to work around not having magic. It's really not great---my other body had magic, but I couldn't even use it.

[He snorts derisively.]

Yes, there are other schools, but they're too far away to come play games with us most of the time. Instead, the games are played between the four Houses of the school. People are assigned in their first year based on what the Sorting Hat thinks about us as people.

Don't worry about it. I'm a muggle and all I could tell you is that there's electricity and power and big networks of information, but that's about it. I guess maybe we're more self-sufficient, or we'd like to think we are, but getting used to living without electricity when we were living in Hell, that was hard. We get around it, but we just create other things we're dependent on.

( Ooh, now this is interesting. Excuse her as she breaks a biscuit in half, and brushes the crumbs off her lap, and then... forgets about the biscuit, because she's paying more attention to what he's saying than the food. )

Wow. Wait-- a hat? There's a magical hat?
( She grins. That's ridiculous. ) So what does it judge you on? Because if athleticism is one of the things, there's gonna be one House with a big advantage over all the others. Hey, what House are you in?

[Such words of wisdom. He smiles and nods before launching into the Sorting story.]

It's more based on personality and goals than anything else. There are four, based on what the four founders of the school valued in their students. Gryffindors are courageous---sometimes crossing the line from 'brave' to 'rash'. Ravenclaws value knowledge and thinking above all: my girlfriend tells me they have to solve a logic puzzle to get into their dormitories every day. Slytherin's all about ambition and cunning---many of the evil wizards come from there, but evil's not a trait and they're not all bad. And I'm from Hufflepuff, the house of loyalty and perseverance. Most people think we're the leftovers and only in Hufflepuff because we're not good enough for the other houses, but it's the most welcoming place I've ever known.

( She grins. ) I like the names. And, hey. Loyalty and perseverance are both bloody important. It's not good being brave if you don't have it in you to get your head down and get through stuff. If you're rash or, brave but just give up when it looks too difficult or doesn't work the first time, then what's the point?

( Too harsh? Maybe too harsh. But that thing about Hufflepuff pisses her off, especially because Cedric is a mate. ) Though "Hufflepuff" does make you sound like a giant teddy bear. It's a good thing.

[Cedric laughs appreciatively.]

We also live near the kitchens, so we're the house of good food as well. I started working at my cooking over the summers after we had such great food during the school years.

And we are cuddly, I won't deny that. But the claws come out if our friends are attacked.

See, you guys really had it all worked out.

( Perfect. )

Huh. I wonder what Houses some of the people around here would wind up in. Or people back home. There's a few I can think of who'd fit in a couple.

( She raises an eyebrow, but it's coupled with a smile. ) I remember.

( Rita. )

Sometimes you really can't tell. The Hat makes its best guess, but sometimes there's a coward in Gryffindor or a real nasty one in Hufflepuff. People change.

[He twiddles his thumbs thoughtfully, then smiles at her.] Yeah. It'll be tough to shake me from you.

So... Okay, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and..Slytherin? ( She grabs four biscuits, one for each House. ) And you all play quidditch at Hogwarts.

( hmm. She is thoughtfully considering those biscuits. ) See, even without magic that sounds more interesting than my school. ( Her grin is cheerier than she feels. )

What House do you reckon I'd be in?

[Cedric considers her question carefully, looking her over. He rubs at his chin as he thinks.]

My instinct says Gryffindor. I know I was a little harsh on them, but they're really the House that Hufflepuff gets on best with. Gryffindors know a thing or two about standing strong. You'd do well with the lions.

Gryffindor?

( That's good. Gryffindor the brave - like Robyn said. Ellie was the bravest out of them all. Something about hearing it from someone new was validating. Even if that was childish. Ellie was starting to think a lot of her behaviour was childish, but at lest she was still brave. )

Lions, huh? Does everyone get an animal? What about Hufflepuff? With your claws?

Yes. Ravenclaws are eagles, Slytherins are snakes, and us Hufflepuffs are badgers. Don't laugh---badgers can be nasty when we're under attack.

Ravenclaw are eagles? That's a bit of false advertising, don't you reckon?

( She grins, pretty delighted, and tossing another biscuit his way. )

Badgers are great. I remember there was this show when I was a kid, with this badger that loved mashed potatoes. Seems like he would've fit in with your lot, for sure. Although if anyone sends a dachshund after you, then you might be in a bit of strife.

( Stop being weird, Ellie. ) It sounds amazing. I hope we get a mission to run in your world, someday. That seems like it'd be a blast.

Yeah, I fought about it with my girlfriend once.

[He laughs softly.]

Does that happen? Do we go back to other peoples' worlds?

I bet that went down well. How long were you in the doghouse for?

( Oh, Ricco, you silly young man. )

Dunno. I don't see why not, if we're hopping around through time and the United Earth is mucking about with our home worlds, too. There could be something that needs to be done, there. That sort of thing might be a bit beyond the Initiative's control, though, since apparently they can't use their own machines properly.

No, she was surprisingly fine about it. She's smart and open-minded.

[Cedric slides his wand into his sleeve.]

Could be. But if we do ever end up in the world of magic, I can lend a hand.

Yeah? ( A beat, and she nudges Cedric gently. ) Tell me about her.

( Despite the phrasing, she delivers like a question. She'd just rather think it was a statement. )

Cho...god, I loved her.

[Cedric curls back against the couch, a distant smile on his face.]

We met on the Quidditch field. We're both Seekers and competitive people, so we had a few playful matches in between the real ones. She had all these clever tricks up her sleeve for evading me in the air.

Then we met in the library: like I said, she's really smart and curious. We talked about the school history, our assignments...anything, and we always had a laugh about how ridiculous our world can be sometimes. Some wizards don't have a clue about fashion, they wear frilly undergarments with mismatched dresses and it's disastrous if you see it in London.

Anyway...Cho and I aren't as forward in love as we are on the field. We didn't kiss until a few months in, but that was okay! It was more about laughing and joking, though sometimes we held hands.

( There's something nice, if painful, listening to Cedric. It was just a reminder of what happened to him, in some ways, and it raises a prickle of guilt for asking him. Sometimes, though, talking was better, it made you think, remember. It was a window into what other people saw and felt and experienced, who they knew. Talking about them, telling other people their stories, it kept them alive.

She a little, gentle, as she listens. )

She sounds like fun. ( How much can you get from a person in a chat like this? It's obvious how Cedric feels about her, but trying to put words on that can cheapen it. ) Maybe she'll wind up here some day, too. You could-- get to know each other again.

( She won't say reconnect or go back to before, because that was a lie. Things didn't work that way: you had to keep growing, keep adapting, and there could never be any going back. )

I'd like to meet her, if I ever get the chance. ( But there's another flicker of a smile, teasing: ) You really didn't kiss until a few months in? You're such an English cliche, Ricco.

I don't know that I'm a cliché. Back at school we were sort of the odd ducks out. There was an epidemic of snogging among the sixth years.

And I definitely hope you'll see her!

( Congratulations, Cedric; he just managed to get an unexpected burst of laughter out of Ellie. )
Oh, God. Sorry. That just reminded me of the bike sheds at my school. You never went near the bike sheds if you wanted to protect your reputation.

( But she's still laughing a little bit. ) Maybe one day, heh?

[His expression shifts, suddenly cheeky.]

Did you ever visit the bike sheds?

Never. I was far too concerned with my reputation.

( A beat. ) Though, you might hear some interesting stories if you spoke to anyone who was in the school play with me a couple of years ago. ( Oops. Was that an overshare? Sorry, Ricco.

Except how she isn't, and is totally teasing him. ) The important thing, though, is that I never went to the bike sheds. That was just a whole new level of debauchery. Mucking about with Steve during rehearsals was nothing compared to that.

...I can only imagine how it must've been.

[Cedric looks quite embarrassed. He's glad there was nowhere in Hogwarts quite that bad.]

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