Starry night

[evelynoconnor]

The sky was a deep indigo; clear it blanketing the grounds of Hogwarts. The air was crisp as it swept across the pitch and ruffled Evelyn’s blonde hair, momentarily rustling her big black winter coat that she held snuggly wrapped around herself as she gazed up at the expansive sky. She was supposed to be inside, but Evelyn found it refreshing outside, and she wanted to get a look at the stars, if the clouds didn’t cover them before they came out that is.

Evelyn hummed to herself and tapped her foot on the bench she lay on not realising anyone else was in the stadium until she heard a noise. “Hello,” she greeted them brightly tilting her head to look up at them with a smile, “Wow, have you come to see the stars too?” she asked in her dreamy voice.

((ooc: Anyone?))

[Bradley O'Connor]

Scaling the steps of the stands, Bradley glanced back over the empty Quidditch Pitch- it looked so odd at night, without the usual crowds of people cheering or booing the team on the pitch. He for one couldn't wait until the school's Quidditch cup started up again, their first match was soon and flying was the one aspect of school Bradley didn't grumble about. Spotting the familiar blonde hair whipping around the girl thanks to the soft wind present, he stopped climbing the stands and walked across the bench towards her.

As he neared, she spoke, and he held his lit wand in front of him to see her properly. "No I haven't," Bradley replied quietly and then managed a half-smile down at his sister, "I've actually come to make sure you're alright, Evvy. But for fuck sake don't tell anyone I'm being all caring and crap," he added dryly before sitting himself down beside her, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the sky as she was doing. He wondered how long was appropriate to be quiet before he started grilling her on every aspect of her life, especially boys since he'd heard stuff about his little sister that he didn't like one bit.

((ooc: I hope Bradley is okay, I really wanted to write as him!))

[evelynoconnor]

((ooc: He’s perfect, a little bit of sister-brother bonding time is good for them I think!))

Evelyn sighed sitting up and shaking her head disparagingly, “That’s really to bad, you know? The stars are quite lovely tonight,” she told him leaning back on her hands mirroring her brother’s habit as she gazed up at the stars. They were a lot alike, even if they, or Bradley rather, didn’t like to admit it.

“Me? Why? Shouldn’t you be checking on Matthew, he’s the one with girl troubles? Worried about asking Alexis to the Halloween party I imagine,” she said in her usual dreamy voice, knowing instinctually about her brother. Evvy might seem a bit spacey at times, and off in her own little world most days, but no one ever really needed to tell Evelyn everything for her to know about people. She was very intuitive when it came to others, she had a knack for figuring out how people worked, what made them tick and all that.

“Aren’t you really here to talk to me… to somehow cleverly thread an inquiry as to how you might go about asking Adriana to the Halloween party into our little conversation? If she hasn’t been asked already that is,” she stated bluntly, gazing at her brother with her big innocent blue eyes. She was completely unaware however that her brother had heard stuff about her. She had become a faithful follower of Meghan, and began sleeping with a lot of guys.

[Bradley O'Connor]

((ooc: haha I agree, and so does Bradley, he just won't admit it. ))

"Is it really?" Bradley said in a disbelieving tone and then shook his head at his sister, "You always took more time to appreciate nature so you know... I'll leave that kind of stuff to you, Evvy since one star-gazer in the family is probably enough," he explained lightly. Then, looking disinterestedly up at the sky as he pondered how long he could go before blurting out 'Who have you been shagging? Tell me so I can kill him!' to his sister- that was his real motive for finding her out here like this. "Nope, Mattyboy can take care of himself," he told her confidently and then shrugged, "Besides I aint getting involved in Matt's sex life, it's horrific to contemplate. He'll ask Alexis out in his own little way and good for him, she's pretty," he conceded with another casual shrug of his shoulders for good measure.

Glancing sideways at her in confusion as she mentioned Adriana he snorted loudly in amusement, a knee-jerk reaction when he was trying to cover up the fact that fuck Adriana annoyed him so much but there was just something about her. "No, it's not like that with Adriana," he argued back simply and then frowned visibly, "Actually, Ev, I'm here to-" but then he faltered as her big eyes turned to him and he groaned in irritation. "Come on, Ev, that's not fair, you know I can't resist those big old blue eyes," he complained jokingly before sighing, resting back on his hands and turning his gaze to the sky once more, quieting completely, if only for a few seconds. "Actually, I'm here because I've heard... stuff lately. Stuff I'd rather not hear about a certain sister of mine... wanna guess who it was? I'll give you a clue, I didn't hear anything about Addie or Lucia," he mentioned with a slightly concerned look at her. "Evvy, are you alright, are you..." he started, with a look that clearly said yes he was referring to the many boys he'd heard bragging that they'd been with her, before blurting out, "I don't like it," he admitted quietly, "I'm worried," he mumbled, feeling very much a prat for automatically being worried sick about his sister. She may only be a year below him but as far as he was concerned she was his baby sister, and he didn't need to hear anyone talking about doing anything with her. He'd sort of accidentally already punched a guy in the mouth for saying such a thing on his way down there that night.

[evelynoconnor]

“Nature can tell you all sorts of things though,” she suggested in her dreamy tone, gazing over at her brother with a delightful smile. Evvy then giggled as Bradley protested that he wasn’t getting involved in Matt’s sex life, “You’re funny,” she teased nudging him in the arm, “Yeah, I like Alexis, she’s nice,” she commented.

Raising a teasingly questioning eyebrow at him she said, “Uh-hu, I’m sure it’s not,” she giggled again. “What?” she asked completely innocently, “It’s just my eyes, I can’t help it if they’re big,” she told him a look of confusion beginning to spread over her features. Noting his quiet she asked, “What is it?” completely bewildered by his silence, “Addie got burned?” she interjected but let Bradley finish.

“About me?” she asked, the realisation starting to sink in… oh no, he’d heard. Evvy knew her brother was prone to violence, and didn’t want him lashing out at any of the guys she’d been with, they were all relatively nice blokes. She decided keeping up the innocent act was best, “Me, I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?” she continued. The secret was out, she couldn’t hide it from her brother. Evvy turned her gaze into her lap, “Wow, umm…I just…um, wow… I like it,” she muttered. “I’m sorry if I worried you… but… I didn’t know how to tell you, and… I didn’t think you needed to know, it’s not exactly… well it’s rather private, you know?” she tried to explain.

[Bradley O'Connor]

"Mmm," Bradley agreed non-committally- he found that whenever Evelyn said profound things like that, it was easier to placate her with a 'mmm' of agreement, and a smile. "Am I?" he asked with a laugh, "I should hope so, my sense of humour is practically all I have to recommend me," he joked before nodding, "Yeah she's a nice girl and hey, she's made Matt think twice about whether or not he's gay... gives him something to ponder which is always nice for him, he does like to ruminate about stuff like that," he remarked casually.

"It's really not!," he protested, perhaps a little too strongly, "She's so frigging annoying, she always has to have her say, butt in with an opinion on everything... and... she's just really... annoying," he repeated with a groan as though just speaking of her irritated him. "Yes you can, you're doing that innocent act again," he pointed out, but smiled despite himself, even as he was being serious with her about what he'd heard.

"Yes, you Evvy," he confirmed and then looked at her closely, wondering whether she'd attempt the innocent act first or not. Lo and behold, she did, but Bradley merely sighed lightly and gave her a firm look that clearly said 'I don't believe you'. "Do you? Do you really though, Evelyn? Or is it just because... I don't know because you hang around with Vorpahl more now and stuff?" he enquired before shaking his head, "Look, I'm entitled to be an arsehole, I'm your brother, it's what we're supposed to do when we hear some dick going on about how he's 'bagged' you. It's just... look," he faltered and then collected his thoughts for a moment before continuing, "Look I'm not going to have 'the talk' with you because we both know I'd embrass us both but... I'm just saying... I don't want some dick to hurt you or go around shouting his mouth off about you like some of them are... and... you know that if something does happen, you can talk to me, right?" he asked- he felt awkward and so out of his comfort zone but, hell, hearing things about Evvy made him uncomfortable anyway so he might aswell bite his tongue and soldier on through the awkwardness.

[evelynoconnor]

“Nah, many of the girls in Meg’s group say your very easy on the eyes, I doubt in their opinion your humour isn’t all you have, except for Adriana of course. She sort of despises you, so the girls that do like you whisper it in hushed tones when she’s not around,” she informed him.

“It really is,” she protested back, “Exactly, you find her annoying, she finds you annoying, and voila chemistry was born!” she announced with a bright smile. “No I can’t, these are my eyes, someone called them bug eyes once,” she gave a small huff folding her arms for a moment before returning to look at Bradley with a cheery happy smile.

Relinquishing, she gave up on the innocent act, because apparently the only person it didn’t work on was her brother. “I do, I really do,” she insisted feeling very uncomfortable about the subject. She contented herself with twining her fingers together and folding her hands into her lap politely. “No! Meghan, no! She’s lovely really, very lovely she has nothing to do with it. I try not to eat cheese or fattening things in front of her though… they’re kinda weird about that, and they eat so daintily in miniscule bites,” she rambled, going off topic but not quite meaning to. “You’re not an arsehole,” she told him softly, gazing down into her lap shamefully, “Listen, I do it because I like sex,” she tried to explain, growing more and more uncomfortable by the moment, “It makes me feel… good… alive, and… well why do you have sex, then? I’m sure our reasons aren’t that different,” she suggested trying to sound logical.

Evelyn liked sex because it made her feel alive, it also made her feel loved, feel close to another person, feel like she belonged, like she wasn’t alone, lonely, or unwanted, like she was… As Evelyn thought about this she began to shake slightly, she was terribly uncomfortable revealing something so private to her brother and felt on the verge of tears, so she clasped her hands more tightly together, digging her nails into the back of her palms, and when that didn’t work she rose swiftly from her seat, “They’re lovely, no one’s hurt me, you don’t have to worry about me, I’m fine, and I know I can talk to you about anything but I think we’ve talked enough about this unless you want me to go from mildly pink to bright beetroot red keep going,” she exclaimed in a soft voice as she began walking aimlessly through the stands folding her arms around herself to keep out the cold, it was getting a bit chilly.

((ooc: Hope Evelyn getting super-uncomfortable was okay?))

[Bradley O'Connor]

Bradley looked at her with raised eyebrows, "Really? Meg's group you say, that's interesting... veeery interesting," he admitted with a joking smirk twitching at his lips then, assuming a thoughtful expression. "I know Adriana despises me, I'm glad of it and I make a point in despising her too sooo the feeling is entirely mutual," he concluded simply with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "There is no chemistry, sorry to disappoint you Evvy. Well... unless it's the kind of the chemistry where two atoms collide all the time and there's a huge bang one of those times and one of the atoms explodes," he remarked, "That's bound to happen one of these days, one of us has got to snap before the other. I'm betting she gets fed up quicker than I do... it's just too easy to argue with her, you know?" he spoke conversationally enough but the fact they were still talking about how he didn't like Adriana at all was more telling that what he was actually saying about her.

He looked pointedly at her then, as if to say 'wise choice in dropping the innocent act' and listened intently as she spoke, realising it would probably make her uncomfortable but needing to know whether or not said rumours were true. He looked skeptical when she said that she liked it, he just didn’t want to believe it. He’d always known that Evelyn wasn’t exactly… innocent… any more but… he’d always liked to kid himself that the guys who mouthed off about her had been exaggerating or embellishing what they’d actually done with her. He looked confusedly at her as she spoke of some of the things Meghan’s group did, “They don’t eat cheese? Fuck’s sake, Ev, eat all the cheese you want, don’t let Vorpahl stop you,” he argued with a roll of his eyes, he couldn’t stand girls like that who made everyone else feel bad if they so much as looked at a fatty food. As she said he wasn’t an arsehole he smiled, “Thanks, you’re biased though,” he pointed out simply before looking insistently at her, as though his gaze willing her to meet his eyes again would be effective.

Sighing slightly as he could sense the awkwardness he shook his head, “Look Ev, I’m just concerned alright? I know you’re perfectly able to look after yourself and do what you want… but… I am not going to compare our reasons for having sex because no one should have to endure that level of discomfort and I’m sure you don’t want to know about last weekend when I was with that brunette from the party, Kate, do you?” he asked, which pretty much demonstrated that perhaps she was right after all and some things should be left private, for the most part. But Bradley could sense there was something more to it and he softened his manner again and was about to reach out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder when she suddenly rose and started pacing about- a sure sign she was uncomfortable. “Evvy, I’m sorry for being a nosy git, alright?” he apologised, in his own kind of way, before sighing, “I have no wish to turn your into a beetroot, I like you the colour you are,” he spoke in a rare moment of raw sibling fondness before he looked jokingly disgusted with himself. “Eurgh, honestly, just don’t tell anyone I said something so cringe-inducing,” he chuckled dryly.

((ooc: Of course it was, hehe, I think anyone would be uncomfortable during that kind of chat with their brother of all things!))