Closed Amorously Curious

AJ as usual was off in his own little world as he killed time between classes, gently humming the theme to the Banana splits and generally living in an existence unburdened by vast intelligence. He didn't even notice Evelynn in the corridor initially as he tried to remember what the dog in the band was even called, when it came to the Banana splits his knowledge was mostly relegated to the theme tune.

When she did speak it took him a second to even realise he was being spoken to. Nobody really called him MacAllister except for Professors and...of course...Evelynn herself, so when he momentarily jumped in fright thinking he'd gotten himself in trouble somehow he was soon relieved to see the familiar fiery locks of his ferocious friend.

Suspicion immediately grapsed him when she asked how he was on this morning. Evelynn didn't do small talk, for as long as he'd known her she only spoke when she had something important to say. The fact that she was trying to ease him into a conversation was a bizarre turn of events indeed, of course, this was not reflected in his face, his dopey smile and general demeanour still giving him the vibe of a human golden retriever. "Cannae compleen...thoo ah wudde leeked ahnuther oor en meh bed." "Can't complain, though I would've liked another hour in my bed." As if to drive the point home a well-timed yawn soon gripped him as his attention soon went to the nearest window, he nodded slowly as she commented on the weather. "Aye ah 'spose...finnae beh kald soon ah rucken." "Yeah I suppose...gonna be cold soon I reckon." He shrugs, not having any great insight to add to the weather conversation.

"Wha' Gala?" "What Gala?" He cocks his head to the side, one eyebrow raising as the cogs almost visibly turn in his head in response to her words. "Oh weet weet dunnae tull meh...thenk ah speed ah pos'er summae neer th' Gree Hull...s'leek ah bull yeh? Mee' go reed th' buffee er summen..." "Oh wait wait don't tell me...think I spied a poster or something near the Great Hall. It's like a ball yeah? Might go raid the buffet or something..." Even before his long absence it was rare for AJ to be invited to an event, and rarer still for him to remember one was happening long enough in advance to invite someone himself. When he did eventually make it to one he usually just wound up snacking and hanging around the edges of the popular crowd. Though that was a few years back at this point.

"Eskerten? Ah, yeh wannae tree an goo as a fer? Leek a dubble dee'? Ah dunnae knoo whoo ah ked even stull esk ah thes punt? Des yer dee 'ave frends needun an' eskert?" "Escorting? Ah, you wanna try and go as a four? Like a double date? I don't know who I could even still ask at this point? Does your date have friends needing an escort?" He certainly wouldn't mind having someone to go with, but he wasn't as prepped as perhaps Eve would've liked. Maybe that's why she was asking him, to offer him a bail out via she or her supposed date's connections. How nice of her!

He refocused on Evelynn's face, and for some reason she looked somewhat like she was trying to hold in a difficult fart whilst being subtle about it. So much so that he began to wonder if she'd eaten something that didn't quite agree with her delicate stomach.

Then came the question, the question that had apparently been causing her so much internal distress. He paused for a few moments, a lingering silence hung in the air between them both, one could practically hear a pin drop. His eyes looked her up and down, and after what felt like an eternity, he spoke...

"Soo et'd bee yoo, yer deet, an meh? Ahm happeh t'beh unveetud ef curse bu' y'shoor ah wunnae beh ah theerd wheel?" "So it'd be you, your date, and me? I'm happy to be invited of course but you sure I won't be a third wheel?"

Like I said, AJ was someone with a mind unburdened by vast intelligence...

⋖ 10/Oct/2024 @ late morning | ENGLISH [#715380] | FRENCH [#b654a9] ⋗
INTERACTIONS @Allister-Jameson MacAllister | MENTIONING n/a
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What had already promised to be the most difficult task she had endured thus far this school year became all the more confounding as the conversation began. While she had long ago managed to work out the nuances of MacAllister's accent with relative ease, knowing what he was saying really didn't help much when she couldn't quite figure out why he was saying it. The fact that he wasn't even sure what Gala she was talking about initially probably should have been tip enough that his cluelessness was only just beginning. But as he continued with suggestions that she was trying to solicit his attendance for some sort of double date, or that she was trying to convince him to ask someone else out, she was left momentarily dumb-founded.

"..What?" Lips slackened, mouth slightly ajar for a moment until sense had her close it again. She peered at the boy, gears turning behind her eyes to try to figure out where and how she had gone wrong, wondering in that moment if she had somehow been that unclear in her inquiry, or if boys and girls really did speak different languages. "No. There is no other date. How did you get that impression? I never mentioned another person." Words spilled from her lips in a sort of jumbled disjointed sort of way, like a verbal version of someone almost but not quite falling, limbs flailing with impressive athleticism, but still only looking rather foolish. "No...MacAllister... I am trying... I am trying to ask if you would like to be my... date... for the gala..." Although she was certainly reconsidering that offer in that moment, wondering if perhaps she would just be better suited giving up any desire to attend the event and just stay in her dorm with a good book and a bar of dark chocolate.

""Oh? Noo uther deet? Yur yooshully mech meer prupurred fer thengs leek thes. Yed rully bes' beh kwek oor thull beh noon luf'." "Oh? No other date? You're usually much more prepared for things like this. You'd really best be quick or there'll be none left." He chuckles softly, still figuring he was filling in blanks that didn't actually exist.

Soon enough however, the truth of the matter came forward. Evelynn composed herself, realised she was talking to one of Hogwart's most dense individuals and finally popped the question she had been hinting towards. And when she did there was a momentary yet eerily long silence hanging in the air between them. "Yer eskin' meh? Are yeh...y'shoor yer no' mecksen meh u' weth sumwen ulse?" "You're asking me?...you sure you're not mixing me up with someone else?" He asks, his face scrunched in genuine confusion before shifting to a look of abject shock. "Weet noo ah men...no' leek am t'goo oor ennethun, thas no' wh'aye...ah men' yoor leek the bonnie wun. Th'wull...no' tha' yer jus' bonnie ah jus' men..." "Wait no I mean...not like I'm too good or anything, that's not what I...I meant your like the pretty one. Th-well not just that you're pretty I just meant-..." He was beginning to get somewhat flustered, tripping over his own words as a small pink blush crept to his cheeks.

"Ah em...wh' ah...ef ah cud jes star' over..." "Ah um...wh-uh...uh if I could just start over..." He clears his throat. "Wh'wha ah m-men t'see wes, are yeh shoor yeh munt t'as' meh? No leek...dennoo, sumwen weth neecer heer ah' th' vurreh leese?" "Wh-what I m-meant to say was, are you sure you meant to ask me? Not like...dunno, someone with nicer hair at the very least?"

⋖ 10/Oct/2024 @ late morning | ENGLISH [#715380] | FRENCH [#b654a9] ⋗
INTERACTIONS @Allister-Jameson MacAllister | MENTIONING n/a
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Much to Evelynn's surprise and chagrin, somehow the conversation only seemed to degenerate the longer it went on. Already beyond the confines of her comfort zone in approaching MacAllister at all, she felt negged to the defensive as he continued--apparently quite unwittingly--to poke holes at her resolve. While a touch spur of the moment, she had entered into the interaction with confidence enough in what she was attempting to do. By the time he inquired whether she was certain, however, she may have been harbouring second thoughts.

She was left eyeing him with disbelief as he questioned whether she was mixing him up with someone else; embarrassed discomfort when he commented on her appearance and tried not to choke on his foot avoiding the interpretation that prettiness was all she was good for; and growing frustration as he circled back around to effectively question her sanity. By the end of it, coy evasiveness had washed away in the arrival of furrowed brows, a crooked frown, and nails biting into her palms. "Do you really think me so vain?"[/color] she began, tone suggesting that had she adopted her feline form in that moment, her tail would have been poofed and agitated. "It is a simple question, MacAllister."

The sting of rejection was already creeping insidiously through her. She might have expected mockery and sparring from Burnett or Gray--not that she would have wanted to attend with either of them--but not from MacAllister. Somehow, the suggestion that she would prefer to be escorted by someone with better hair than him made it all the worse. With the burls and body his hair flaunted, it felt like he was either trying to suggest she thought herself too good for anyone at all, or that he was deliberately down-playing one of his best physical features to fish for compliments. Either way, it grated.

"Had it been my desire to seek the company of an overinflated ego, I would have asked someone else. I had thought you might..." She cut herself off, having no desire to try to explain what she couldn't even quite explain to herself. So instead she cut to the chase, tone clipped with hot sensitivity, "If you have no interest in attending, or at least not attending with me, just say so." She took a small step back, mentally preparing herself for the ultimate declination. "Do you want to go with me or not?"

It would appear that his shock and surprise at being asked to attend with her was being viewed with a rather cynical edge by the dour Decipio. To the point where her annoyed expression as she asked him again actually gave him enough pause to recompose himself with something of a bone to pick with her. "Af kerse ah wannae goo weth yeh, yeh buyootufull eejit! Whee yeh gotta assoom th'wurse frem uvereh weer' th'spews frem meh mooth?""Of course I want to go with you. you beautiful idiot! Why do you have to assume the worst from every word that spews from my mouth?" He gasps slightly and clasps both hands over his mouth as if surprised by what he just said out loud.

The blush returned to his cheeks as he slowly lowered his hands again and took a slow but deliberate breath. "Wh-wha' ah men t'see wus...yus ah'd vurry mech love t'goo t'th Gulla weth yeh Ev..." "Wh-what I meant to say was...yes I'd very much love to go to the Gala with you Eve..." Plain and simple terms, just as she'd prefer it. Assuming he hadn't just utterly detonated all of his chances in one fell swoop with his prior statement.

If she did still wish to attend with him though, other issues began to rush to his mind. What should he wear? What flowers did she like? How much cologne was too much cologne? Would he have to try and speak fancily to not embarrass her?

This was going to be tougher than some of his classes...

⋖ 10/Oct/2024 @ late morning | ENGLISH [#715380] | FRENCH [#b654a9] ⋗
INTERACTIONS @Allister-Jameson MacAllister | MENTIONING n/a
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Lips parted as though to say something--probably an exasperated exclamation of finally or some such for the boy eventually getting around to actually answering the question--then closed when the context embellishing that paraphrased "yes" hit her. Evelynn had been called many things. 'Idiot' and other similar such terms had been prevalent among those. Beautiful idiot, however, was decidedly foreign, and she wasn't quite sure whether to be offended or flattered by the unbridled earnestness. She settled for a deruffling and a reluctant sort of reining in of self, acutely aware after the borderline heated exchange that she could have handled herself with a great deal more tact.

"..I was not trying to.." She averted her gaze, fighting off the shadow of shame mocking her from the corners of her thoughts, voice softening apologetically. "..It is not that I assume... It's just..." She trailed off again, biting the inside of her cheek to keep insecurities from spilling and worsening an already botched invititation.

"Anyway... I... right.." Now what? She had gotten the yes, and perhaps a bit more than she had bargained for. "Thank you," she offered, trying to extend some sort of olive branch to smooth over the tension, tension she had been responsible. Though only because he'd been so difficult! He could have just said 'aye, ah'd lahk tha' right from the start and spared them both the trouble. Lips crimped, a hand lifting to rub self-reassuringly at her arm. "Then I suppose I will see you then." And their next class and every class and meal in between, but she would try not to think about that, momentarily regretting having asked a Gryffindor instead of someone from another house.

"The theme is horror, by the way. The way the adverts describe the event brings to mind those old muggle noir films. If you need inspiration for what to wear, you could probably pull ideas from the early half of the twentieth century. Or," she offered a small shrug of her brow, "take a visit to the seamstress in Hogsmeade. She is very good at what she does."