https://the-mr-universe.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] the-mr-universe.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] hh_mirror2007-06-12 08:50 pm

Open RP Hallway to the Ravenclaw Common Room

Mr. Universe walked out of the Sorting Room and into a hallway... a rather large hallway.  "Wow... I have no idea where I am going."  He looked around, quite lost and started walking to the right, hoping to run into someone who knew where things were.

He took notice of the decor, very fitting for a medieval-style castle.  Wide halls, suits of armor, moving paintings...  wait... what... moving paintings.  He stopped in front of a wall of paintings, trying to figure out what was making them move.

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-20 09:08 pm (UTC)(link)
"Earlier --? But you're not terribly old, are you?" Camilla's brows lowered in perplexity. "He was twenty-one. Well past what you'd call the formative years. The more entrenched a modus vivendi, the harder it is to break free from that mode, and this makes freedom all the more attractive. Isn't that a bit what you're talking about when you say you're outside your comfort zone? Wouldn't you rather the entire world be your comfort zone? To know you can do anything, anything you want without hesitation." Her lips curled in an odd little smile. It was not mocking, clearly, but it would be hard to tell what emotion did prompt it. One of those enigmatic smiles of hers. "Surely you're not in an uncomfortable situation now, are you? Having a drink with a friend, with me -- is that uncomfortable?"

When she spoke of fate and civilisation, it was as though Julian spoke through her. She'd put on his mantle more fully than even she imagined. "Artifice need not be useful to be beautiful. I don't really see a stigma inherent in artifice. That's what I meant, really; that I see no stigma inherent in the fact something may be artificial. To exist outside the tyranny of Nature, to transcend it -- it's a beautiful dream, in its own way. Mortal flesh cannot defy the inexorable rhythms of organic life, though we can if we so choose delay them. But what do you find puzzling about fate? A program, what you've programmed your robot to want or to do, is another name for fate. You can say that she is programmed to love, or you can say that she is fated to it. Fate allows as little choice; fate cannot be denied; fate is to mortal flesh as a program is to the inorganic flesh of your robot. That is not to say we do not carry the responsibility of navigating the choppy seas upon which Fate has cast us -- I don't mean to say that at all. Far from it." Camilla gave that one-shouldered shrug again, a mannerism the Macaulay twins shared. "I can't say I see a distinction between first love in general and the love that may occur at later points chronologically. What I see as interesting in your particular instance is that Lenore was never without you. She was always already yours. She did not live out some span of years in which she could formulate independent tastes, then meet you and find that you suited her. She came into existence and there you were."

(( modus vivendi: way of life/living. ))

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
Camilla glossed over the compliment. Of course she was attractive; everyone thought so; it was an aesthetic judgement as close to objective as any matter of aesthetics could be. As for gender, it was really beside the point. She'd been the only woman in a social group of men for ages. She'd socialised more with women at Hogwarts than at any other time in her life. "If you do feel uncomfortable, I can go," she offered.

She toyed with her glass as he expounded on robots, programming, control. "The idea of fate displeases you because you don't want to believe yourself subject to programming. But isn't that what drives us all? If nothing else, we possess human instincts, whether or not we permit ourselves to express them -- whether or not, conversely, we have built such walls of self-control around ourselves that we can be permitted that expression. But, then, you don't like the idea that anything could control you in the way you control your robots. Do you enjoy the feeling of controlling them?"

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
Camilla crossed her legs, settling in. No telltale sound of nylon swish -- it was summer; she didn't wear stockings in summer. "Hmmm. You wouldn't say you've seen humans malfunction? I think I've seen it. When they become erratic, unhinged -- then they're most truly dangerous. Like rabid animals. At least robots can be reprogrammed." She ran a slender finger around the rim of her glass, which seemed to have lost its appeal as a drink, and had become simply something to occupy her hands.

"Social interaction is a tricky thing. The trick is not to find persons who won't judge you, but to find persons whose judgement matters at all. So many people simply aren't worth one's time." She smiled, then, that golden smile of hers.

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
The notion of reprogramming Bunny appealed rather strongly to Camilla, actually. If there were a way to be certain it would work, not just make him worse than he'd already gotten ... Such were the thoughts well-hidden behind those candid clear gray eyes, that coolly serene face; and her smile didn't falter or flag for a second. Bright without warmth, radiant, the smile that sent her friends into rhapsodies or into quarrels: the smile that embodied the promise of that life they shared. (Beauty is terror, Julian had said. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it ... and if beauty is terror, then what is desire? We think we have many desires, but in fact we have only one. What is it?)

"You're absolutely right," she said. "Absolutely."

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
"I've always thought so," said Camilla, her voice low, as though sharing a particularly delicate confidence. "It doesn't do to really say it to people, of course, but those who understand ... well, that's different, isn't it? That's more important than trust, as we were saying earlier. It's a prerequisite to real friendship, this understanding. And, naturally, a prerequisite to real love. To be among equals -- there's nothing, nothing like it."

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
"Mmm. I agree, again, absolutely. But I do know people like that. Would you like to be introduced?"

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
"Unless they'd bore you. We're all of us classicists. We don't know a thing about computers," Camilla said, as though apologising for their backwardness.

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
Camilla thought of Henry and the little Greek-alphabet typewriter he'd bought in Mykonos, and couldn't help but laugh a little. "It's quite beyond us, I'm sure. But I was thinking of buying some computers. Computery things. I'd be thrilled if you'd have a look at them, when I do. I don't mean that I want you to maintain them; it must be awful, to have people expect things like that of you, and anyhow they'll be primitive by your standards. But I imagine they would be interesting for you to see."

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, that -- the magical alterations. Those aren't a problem. There are resources outside Hogwarts, certainly, if you know the right people, if you have the right currency. Which we do." Camilla waved away the entire problem. "What I have will be working when it gets here. If it isn't, I'll send it back until it does, but I don't think that'll be a problem."

If he sounded like a dork, Camilla wouldn't be the one to point it out. But, of course, one of her favorite people in the world was prone to projects like translating English poetry into Latin for fun. "And you can meet Henry." This she made sound like the most appealing wondrous thing in the world; as though she were saying, and we'll fly to the moon.

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, you can still do that, for fun, if you like. What do they call it? Reverse engineering? Only you haven't got to, if you don't want to." Another of those small sweet laughs. "There's so much here to truly learn, it might be a waste of time to reinvent what's already been invented. Have you got a wand yet, Jeff?" He'd told her at his Sorting that she could call him Jeff, and she certainly wasn't going to call him Mr. Universe, a name that struck her as a drastic and unfortunate misnomer.

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"You'll want to learn how to cast wards, at the very least. They're indispensable for keeping letters private, and for having conversations you'd rather people not overhear. It's not the safest place in the world, Hogwarts, you know." A nervous glance about the bar punctuated the remark.

[identity profile] c-macaulay.livejournal.com 2007-06-21 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Camilla was silent for a moment, and then said, slowly: "Well, I could teach you, I suppose." She'd taught Henry, after all. "What's your wand made out of?"

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