hh_mirror | Open RP Hallway to the Ravenclaw Common Room

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.

Mr. Universe looked up at Camilla and answered, "I suppose you're right there. Though I'm not sure that human beings can't be reprogrammed; I know someone who was reprogrammed; not in a good way... they did some work on her brain; it was horrible." He looked down at the floor, "There's something so awful about it, there's no reason to do something like that."

"Being social is tough...very tough. But people not being worth your time... it's really true. When you're around people who matter, who are interesting, who accept you as you are, and are really worth the time you spend with them, that makes it worth it." He looked up and smiled back brightly. "Interactions like this makes being social worth it."

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."

Mr. Universe looked at Camilla, wondering a bit what she was thinking. So much of her seemed unknowable, she was so passionate, but often looked so cold, even as her smiles were so bright. He continued to smile at her, almost mesmerised by her beauty.

"I'm glad that you think so."

"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."

Mr. Universe lowered his voice slightly in turn, taking a cue from Camilla. He answered, "it's strange how much faith people place in most kinds of compatibility; especially trust. Trust is important, but real understanding; that's one of the strongest bonds people can share. Especially because true understanding between people is such a rare thing to find; well, not exactly rare to find, but hard to realize. Most people can't be honest enough to truly understand each other... But being among equals who really have an understanding of each other; I wish I knew people like that."

"Mmm. I agree, again, absolutely. But I do know people like that. Would you like to be introduced?"

Mr. Universe smiled even wider. "That would be great. I'd love to meet more people here, especially some who understand people on our level."

"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.

"I'm always open to learning about new things, talking with new people, and being around those with different interests than myself." He stifled a laugh and added, "well, maybe I could teach you all a thing or two about technology. Either way, it will be interesting merging two such different types of people."

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."

Mr. Universe laughed and said, "well, once I learn something about how to get any kind of technology working here, I'll be sure to help you out. But from what I understand magical environments tend to do strange things to most electronics, unless you do some work on them. But I would be interested in taking a look at modern technology of this time. It'll be like an interesting history lesson for me." He added, "It's not a problem, I enjoy working with technology, it won't bother me to take a look at them, in fact I'll probably find it fun." He has no idea how much of a dork he sounds like here of course.

"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.

Mr. Universe had a look on his face like you'd just told him Christmas now comes once a month. "That's great, I was worried I'd have to spend weeks just getting a laptop to function through trial and error."

"I'm sure it will be wonderful, I can't wait to meet your friends."

"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.

"Well, I am planning to get one for myself which I probably will work on myself; I'm going to be working with it a lot anyway, so it'll be a good idea to figure out one kind of electronic before I work on something truly complicated." He added, "I have one, but I haven't had a chance to do anything with it." He pulled the wand out of his jacket pocket. "I would like to learn some magic, but I just haven't had much time yet."

"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.

Mr. Universe nodded and asked, "How would I go about learning to cast wards? I have a feeling that they will definitely come in handy at some point." He noticed her nervousness, and wondered what she would have to worry about here. She seemed so confident, like nothing could touch her; it was impossible to think that she would have anything to fear even slightly.

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?"

Mr. Universe said, "Hey, works for me." He then looked down at the wand and said, "Um... It's a 9 1/4 inch cedar with a unicorn hair core."

"Cedar was used by the ancients in embalming (http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2003/10/22/mummies031022.html). And the unicorn hair may suit you because you've died (http://www.hp-lexicon.org/magic/wands.html#unicorn_hair)," Camilla noted neutrally. She did not volunteer any information about her own wand, a slender thing she extracted from her bookbag. "There are many wards used around here, and most of them I think are dreadfully wasteful. Stupid expenditures of energy -- people warding things to turn into a butterfly and fly away if the message falls into the wrong hands, or to give an unintended reader warts, or something. I don't hold with that. The oldest wards are the best. I use most a very simple and strong one." With her free hand, she reached for a cocktail napkin. "Assume this is the letter I've written, and I want to send it to ... oh, let's say I want to send it to my friend Francis. I haven't even got to write his name on it. All I have to do is to concentrate on him, in my mind -- I know him rather well, this comes very easily -- and point the wand at it, and say: Dissimulo. It means 'I conceal,' in Latin. That is, it's the first-person present active indicative of the verb dissimulare. Most wizarding Latin is terribly, terribly degenerate, which only suggests to me that this ward must be very old indeed if the Latin in it is proper. The magic isn't in the language itself but in the intent, focused by the wand; the speaking of the word releases that intent."

Mr. Universe watched her intently, "interesting..." he said under his breath as she explained his wand's traits. He listened very carefully as she explained the spell, not saying anything. When she reached the end of her explanation, he said, "so the key is to focus your intent, and use the word and wand to focus it. He took a cocktail napkin as well, and pulled a pen out of his pocket. He scribbled something down on it, focused on his friend Wash, and imitated Camilla's wand procedure as he said, "Dissimulo," at which point nothing happened.

He looked down at the paper, then looked up, and asked, "what did I do wrong?"

((Reposted like a dozen times because I fail at life))

(( Hehe, 's ok. ))

"You might not have done anything wrong at all," Camilla said. "Nothing will happen unless someone who isn't meant to read the message intercepts it. With this particular ward, the message will simply appear blank until the proper person receives and reads it. After that, of course, the warding's invalidated and anyone can read it."

Mr. Universe stifled a laugh at his own expense. "Well, that would make sense," he said obviously questioning his own intelligence slightly. "Then I have one question; can you read it?" he asked her, holding up the napkin.

((If you want me to have failed at the spell, make up what it says, I'm not feeling imaginative enough to make something up at the moment.))

(( Really it's up to you whether your character succeeds or fails at the attempt. Warding shouldn't be too terribly hard, I don't think, since everyone uses it, and Henry who isn't very good at magic can cast satisfactory wards; but of course this was Mr. Universe's very first try, so maybe it makes sense for it not to have worked. How magically talented do you think he will be? ))

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