Ragged Things PV November Morsus Closed

"I.... I would also like one of those blood pops," November mumbled, barely audible, looking quite a bit sheepish and guilty as he voiced his desires. Then, a bit louder this time. "I-... I would also very much like some licorice wands... And the pumpkin juice, too.... And-... And a cauldron cake... And-...." he could scarcely believe the words coming out of his mouth, and had to keep pausing, looking to Green, as if to ask him for reassurance that yes, this was in fact possible, he could in fact do this, it was not a trap waiting to snap shut around his neck.

"Oh, I don't know, it all looks so beautiful, and I'm sure it all tastes so very delicious," November sighed, looking over the cart again. "i suppose I could also use some chocolates.... Green, would you like to eat one of those big chocoballs with me?" He beamed, pointed it out. The thought that he could actually eat the whole thing himself, eat several of them himself without even scratching the surface on his funds, made his mind boggle. "I mean, I suppose you'd want your own," he said after a while of pondering this.

The old woman blinked. "Oh - I'm afraid there was only the one blood pop, dear. And we really weren't meant to be carrying any at all," she clarified. Paused. "And I should add that they're only blood flavored, if it makes any difference - they're typically for vampires, so it doesn't make much sense to stock them during the day."

"No worries, November," said Green, handing him his blood pop. "You can have mine. I was just going to try to dissolve it in somebody's soup, anyway." Or trade it to a vampire for something, but how many vampires were actually admitted to Hogwarts? Green had no idea. "And of course I'll split the chocoball with you - you take a hemisphere, I'll take a hemisphere. I was planning to share the beans with you, anyway," he grinned wickedly, analyzing November's expression. "I wonder if you've got much experience with Bertie Bott's All Flavor Beans... they can be exciting, as far as candy goes. And I like the occasional sausage flavored one," he rubbed his chin. "A bit sugary, sure, but the flavor's otherwise spot on. Even onion can be pleasant. It's just things like engine grease and toenail fungus you want to avoid. Safe, but unpleasant," he wrinkled his nose.

"You-... Really mean it?" November's eyes went wide again, shocked. "I-... I thought perhaps if there was only one, and we both wanted it, we could, share..." Of course, that thought summoned unbidden to his mind images of the two boys licking the same pop, which he vanished with a shake of his long dark hair. Alright, perhaps sharing wasn't the best idea, a little too close for someone he'd only just met.

"Are those anything like jelly beans?" November asked, cocking his head at the beans Green had just purchased. He'd seen jelly beans in shops once or twice before, and though he'd never been able to afford them himself, he always wondered what they could possibly be like. All those flavours, in one tiny candy bean... "Do they really come in that many flavours," he asked, incredulous, "I've never heard of a sweet that was that, adventurous, before..." He couldn't deny, the idea of sweets that tasted like, say, rare beef sounded delicious.

He looked down at his own coin, and back at the cart, and back again. "Goodness, I'm not sure what else to take," he said, voice quiet with awe, "I-... Can I save the rest for later? I don't know that I can eat all of that in one sitting without being sick..." He laughed, though it was a little nervously.

Green flushed bright pink at that, blinking at November in stunned silence for half a tick as he imagined what sharing a lollipop with this boy might look like; but then he cleared his throat, smiled, shook his head. "No, no, I insist you take the pop; I was just going to try to sell it to anyone raised by vampires in the school, anyway," he explained. "I'll admit, I am curious, but I can't imagine I'd like it as much as they would. And it'd be very difficult for anyone under Hogsmeade-trip age to get one during the school year, I suspect. Rarity plus desire equals value," Green contemplated, tucking the blood pop into November's front pocket. He grinned at him, winked.

"Yes, they're basically jelly beans," Green said, handing November a bag of them as he handed the woman his galleon. "And it does seem like an impossible number, doesn't it? I know it's some sort of magic, but I really can't say which. I would like to know," he mused, rubbing his chin. "I mean, surely that's got to be a fascinating bit of magic, random and infinite as it is. It does seem to get the good flavors quite a lot, luckily; I've always wondered if flavors of the 'old tire' variety are meant to be novel, or just some sort of flub," he squinched up his nose. "And yes, do save some! Like I said, who knows when we'll be able to go to a shop on our own again? I've got to admit, I'm not fond of that notion," he shuddered, crossing his arms. "Being trapped so far away from where everything is..."

"You mean you're just, giving it to me?" November's eyes went wide as Green tucked the lolly into his pocket. "You could really use it, and you're giving it to me?" He shook his head, grabbed it out of his pocket, and pushed it back into Green's hands. "Oh Green, I couldn't! I was just going to eat it, you can use it much better than I can..." He seemed downright horrified that Green would do such a thing. "You keep it, I'll just, get another when we get to go to town again..." An encouraging smile, but with just a trace of nerves.

"Oh, but, yes. Those beans simply must be magic, I've no idea how one would both invent and keep track of so very many flavours otherwise," he said with a chuckle, peering at them. "They must run out of colours, too. Do you think they run out of colours? I mean, some of them have spots on, and I even see one with stripes..." He chuckled. "I wonder what that one tastes like... Do you think maybe it's toothpaste?"

"Oh! yes, that's a wonderful idea, I should get some for later. I can put it in my trunk and then have some sweets for after dinner." He beamed. After dinner sweets had been the stuff of legend at St. Romuald's, a whispered tale the children told themselves, of that far-off Fiddler's Green that was being adopted. November thought the day when he'd have such luxuries of his own would never come, not ever in his life. And yet, here he was.

Green's eyes went wide at November's refusal, jaw jutting out. "Can't?" he demanded. "What do you mean, can't? What are you, hexed? Just unwrap it and stick it in your mouth!" he huffed, slapping November's hand with a soft, stingless swipe. "I am using it, you dummy, by giving it to you! Don't deny me that pleasure," he huffed, shaking his head, pressing November's lollipopped hand back up to his pocket.

The cart lady put their things in a bag and gently left it on the floor, staring at the two with some apprehension. "You know what, dears? The other half of it's on the house. I'll just... leave you to whatever this is," she gestured, cart wheels rapidly squeaking away. Green's eyes remained trained on November.

"You will eat it," he insisted, pressing the lollipop more gently into his pocket again. He blinked. "Oh, but the colors? Yes, that's another good question," Green said, quickly distracted. "I think they must. Had one which tasted like pepper, once, not too bad at all, and then the next of the same shade tasted like asphalt." Green hoped November wouldn't ask how he knew what asphalt tasted like; the memory was an unpleasant one. "Some people swear that there's a subtle difference in each one, some hint that an expert could detect, but who knows? The only way to find out is to try it," he gestured at the bean. "I imagine that one we could split, if you don't mind using a fingernail. It'll be toothpaste or barber pole, I expect..."

"N-no, really," November squeaked, immediately bowled over by the force of the smaller boy's insistence, "I-... I would much rather you have it... You had such a clever idea, Green, I want-... Want to see if it works-...." He shook his head rapidly, immediately shoving the lollipop back into Green's hands, desperate, nearly as insistent as Green was.

However, as he realized the poor cart lady was witnessing them reverse-fighting over a lolly like five year olds on opposite day, he went pale, then bright red. "I-... Uh-... I'm sorry-... We-... He-... I-....." he let his stammers trail off as he realized he actually had no idea what in the heck they were doing. Slowly, he began to make a noise like a deflating balloon, his frame shrinking in a similar matter.

"Oh, I-.... I suppose that leaves a bit of mystery to the beans then, doesn't it," he mumbled, yearning for a place to hide himself away forever, "if some of the flavours are the same colours as the other ones.... I guess.... It's sort of like a game then, isn't it? Could try and guess the flavour before you eat it..." His hands had wound themselves around each other, as if they were huddling together in fright.

Green narrowed his eyes as November began cowering again, looking him over as if he had leaned up against a painted fence and was trying to brush the stains off. "Come," he said, taking November's elbow gently in his hand, tugging him into a compartment. "Never mind the woman, she's just trying to avoid being held responsible if I shove this somewhere unpleasant," he said, tapping on the lolly and grinning at November nastily.

The instant they were alone in the compartment, the smile brightened, turning carefree as Green gently pushed November onto a seat, unfolded the little dining tray in front of him to put the bag down. He immediately plopped down in the seat opposite, legs swinging. "It does," he confirmed, leaning his elbows on the table, beaming. "And I love a mystery, don't you? And a good game," he grinned, eyebrows rising.

"Tell you what, why don't we make even more of a game of it? Are you a betting man, November?" he asked, taking out the bag of beans and laying some across the table. "How about this: we mix betting about flavors with a game of truth or dare. Each time we try a bean, we guess whether it'll be pleasant or unpleasant. If I guess correctly, it's your turn; if you do, it's mine. If it's a tie, we both go. We each get three passes, and none of the dares involve things that leave this room," he suggested, gesturing with his sharp, elegant fingers. "How does that sound?"

"I-... Ah-...." November mumbled helplessly as he allowed the much-tinier Green to puppet him around the train all willy-nilly. He could easily have overpowered the lad; in a contest of sheer strength he could probably snap Green like a twig over one knee. But somehow, that made him even more reticent to make a move against him, as if Green were made of glass, and even an ounce of resistance would shatter him.

So he let Green drag him into a compartment, settle him into the soft navy seats of the train. He sat perched on its edge however, still flighty and wracked with nerves.

"Oh, would you like to play a game with the beans?" He smiled then, cutting through his anxious demeanour like sunshine through rainclouds. "I think I'd like that quite a lot... Maybe we could even play for the lollipop!" he beamed further as he thought up the idea. "Whoever wins gets to keep it. It's more fair that way, don't you think?" His conscience was certainly eased by this, it would feel an awful lot less like he was robbing Green of a golden opportunity if he had to win it fair and square.

Green lit up like Christmas at that, eyes shining, leaning forward with anticipation. "I think you have yourself a deal, November," he grinned, taking candies from the bag. Licking his lips, he opened one of his chocolate skeletons, emptying it out onto a napkin he laid across the tray and carefully arranging the arms, legs, and ribs. "This little fellow will help us count, I think; each round you win nets you a bone. We'll count at the end."

Licking his lips, Green stood the beans up carefully in their little pouch on the table. With a wiggled f his fingers, he slipped two digits in and produced a bean of purplish color, then laid it out carefully between them. "Alright, we have our first contestant. Hard to imagine this one not being tasty - is it blueberry? Grape?" he shrugged, looking at it carefully. "Or are we about to learn what a black eye tastes like? Nnr, or lavender. Smells pretty, but the soaps it comes in aren't too terribly tasty," he wrinkled his nose, small body recoiling at the thought.

Green looked up at November. "I'm going to bet... pleasant," he decided. "What about you? Oh, and we'll need a knife or something to split the bean," he tisked in sudden realization, looking about.