::Open RP: House of Cards::

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

Still stinging from that tense... was it really an argument, or something else?... with Matt an Mello, Near had wandered down to the library with the intent of studying.

He gave up the seventeenth time he caught himself reading the table of contents of Wilson's Apotropaics.

But he had thought to put several decks of cards (tarot cards, at that!) into his pockets, and what better way to calm his mind than to build a house of cards?

He made his way to the Great Hall and found an empty corner away from any doors, and started stacking.

Comments

[woocha.livejournal.com]

Wishbone was in the Great Hall for no reason at all. Absolutely none. He certainly wasn't there to sneak into the kitchen and steal some food.

But it was no fun, really, the house elves let him get away with it.

So he managed to make off with some steak, which he ate down to the bone. She's about to start to gnaw on the bone, but he smelled a familiar scent.

He carefully picked up the bone and followed his nose to Near.

Ah! Sir Wishbone is on duty, sir! he exclaimed on seeing Near building card buildings. He jumped on the nearest bench and started lookout.

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

Cards didn't fail him. The careful motions of balancing helped clear away all the unwanted, distracting thoughts, helped bring at least a temporary peace.

Then he heard the muted click of dog toenails on the floor.

Ah, yes. Near smiled, remembering his talk with Wishbone at his sorting.

"The valiant Sir Wishbone, I see! Your able assistance is much appreciated. But I fear I have no beef jerky on me, although I could fetch some from a house elf. Unless you'd prefer bacon?"

[woocha.livejournal.com]

Bacon is good! But it's all right, I did just eat. Wishbone nudged the bone near his feet.

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

"I will procure you some bacon later, then. I would hate to make you overfull and sick." Carefully, he balanced the Two of Swords against the Fool. "I haven't seen you since my sorting. I trust you have been well?"

[woocha.livejournal.com]

I have! I've been sniffing around. I found a pair of keys! But this red headed person tried to take them from me. I made him trip in dirt before I let him have the keys, though.

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

"That sounds a bit impolite," Near said, without any trace of actual scolding in his tone. He was less than kindly disposed towards redheads at the moment. "What were they the keys to? Did you need in very badly?"

[woocha.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but they were very shiny. The redhead used it to go into this cabin. He was very mean and wouldn't let me in.

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

"Ahhh," Near said contemplatively. "Perhaps that is a trait of redheads. Was this cabin very far? I take it you were on the lookout for anything suspicious."

[woocha.livejournal.com]

Eh...actually, I was digging holes. Near the forest. Where the cabin is. A bit of silence. There's good mud to dig in over there.

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

"Is there indeed," he observed. "Good mud is a valuable commodity. I trust it was delightfully messy and slimy?"

[woocha.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! The house elves didn't like the mess I made coming back in, though. I washed in the bathroom, though!

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

"It is good that you washed." Knight of Wands balanced against the Chariot, the Eight of Swords laid atop them... "Mud drying can be itchy."

[otakukonata.livejournal.com]

"Huh. Cool!" Konata was reading about the Polyjuice potion. It had given her ideas about cosplaying and disguises and what not....now if she could find a victim test subject...

She heard voices over in one corner, and noticed white hair peeking out from there. She crept over there.

Hey, it's Near! But...hey, what's with the not-white shirt?

"That's out of character for you!" Konata yelled, making Wishbone turn and growl at her.

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

"What?" He looked up, baffled. "Out of character?"

He recognized her vaguely from his sorting. He'd given her the L finger puppet, hadn't he? And she'd wanted to take his picture.

Thankfully, he hadn't noticed that it had been her taking pictures at Mello's sorting.

"Ah... you're the one who was pleased about being of drinking age here."

[otakukonata.livejournal.com]

Good times. Really good times.

"Yeah I am. So where DID you get that shirt? And what are you doing?" she asked as she began petting Wishbone, who was enjoying it, but still kept on his guard so she didn't knock over cards.

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

"It, ah. It's Mello's shirt." He hoped he wasn't blushing, but feared that he was. "I've been wearing it lately. And I'm balancing cards. There's something almost zen about building a tower of cards. It occupies the hands and calms the mind."

[otakukonata.livejournal.com]

Konata was grinning like the cat who ate the canary. Mello, huh? "Oh, I get it." Hehehe.

"Needing to think, then?"

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

She 'got it'?

Oh, no. She must have been at Mello's sorting when... he was definitely blushing now.

"It's always good to think. I've been studying the magic around here, lately, and making plans for an experiment."

[otakukonata.livejournal.com]

Hehehehehe, she's just glad he isn't a mind reader.

"Oh, who wants to do EXTRA work at school here? If there's no homework, then just relax, have fun! Which reminds me, I still need to beat Matt."

What is she getting? And why are you turning red? Oh no! Are you sick? Wishbone chimed in, not knowing what that part of the conversation was about.

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

"You misunderstand. Drafting up an experiment is fun. We'll be looking for volunteer subjects eventually. Perhaps you'll be willing to sign up? I can promise it won't be difficult or dangerous." He tried not to sigh at the mention of Matt.

"No, I'm not sick," he told Wishbone.

[otakukonata.livejournal.com]

"Maybe for you braniac types." Konata lounged on the bench. "If it isn't difficut, thought, I guess I could give it a shot." She grinned. "Doing this experiment with Mello?"

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

"Mello's being very helpful, yes." When he isn't misusing charmed paper and sample questions to get Matt riled up. "He's skilled in some fields that I'm weak in, so we complement each other's talents well. And it should be fairly simple. I can't give you too many specific details without compromising the experiment, but the first step will be a simple personality test."

[otakukonata.livejournal.com]

There's so many things she could say about that.

"Personality test? Oh, that's easy. More like a survey."

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

"Yes, something like a comprehensive survey. It covers quite a bit of information; we're sort of completists, you see." He thought for a moment. "Perhaps you might be a preliminary subject, to help up fine-tune some questions." Far less likely to cause trouble than Matt, surely.

[otakukonata.livejournal.com]

Now that is just a challenge.

"Sure, why not, I've got time to kill before that class starts."

Can I help too? Wishbone asked.