Valentine's Day - not for the single. ((open rp))

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

Valentine’s Day. A day for lovers and a day to remind the single people that they are still, well, single.
And if you’re a lonely, sickly wizard, it’s just going to make you crankier. The decorations and general squishy, lovey mood had only served to darken Raistlin’s mood. Setting fire to the pink paper hearts and cupids would have been satisfying, but it would have only created more work for the house elves, and he didn’t want to create more work for the creatures that he actually liked.

He tried to avoid the festivities by  reading in the library and hoping that when he left, all the nonsense would be over with. Because he certainly wasn't hiding or trying to avoid the entire holiday.

Comments

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

Well, Sunflora didn't even know what Valentine's day was. So Raistlin's in good company.

Once Sunflora gets all the crayons and paper on the table, that is.

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

"Are you feeling creative today? Or are you escaping the inanity of this holiday as well?" he inquired, catching a few wayward crayons for her.

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

"What's a holiday?" Sunflora asked, standing on the chair and starting to draw.

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

He shuffled around a few dusty tomes, "It's a certain day of the year that people use to celebrate events. A holiday in the fall would celebrate the harvest, for example."

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

Sunflora furrowed her nonexistent brow. "That seems a bit silly. What besides birthdays and new seasons are there to celebrate?"

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

"Love," he said in a sardonic tone. "They flaunt it before all, even if we do not wish to see such.. things."

Bitter? Nah!

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

"Love? Like friendship?" Love-romantic love, anyway-was a bit of a foreign concept to her.

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps. I have not had much experience with friendship," he admitted. "These holidays celebrate love and serve to remind those without it that they are without it."

[omg-sunflora.livejournal.com]

"That's not nice. They should help people that don't have love to find it!"

Oh, Sunflora, you and your naivete.

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

He suppressed a snort and reached for his tea. "Love can be very blinding. It makes people see and care for nothing more than each other."

"What is it you are drawing?" he asked, trying to divert his attention from the holiday and the idea of love.

[not-so-stellar.livejournal.com]

Valentine's Day in happier years had not been unwelcome to Narcissa. This year, without husband or son, she had little cause to celebrate.

She misinterpreted Raistlin's presence.

"Are you the librarian nowadays?" She posed her question in a proper library voice, hushed and courteous.

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

He looked up from the scrolls he had been reading, fully expecting the elegant woman to recoil from his appearance.

"No. Merely a student of these books and seeking a bit of peace from the frivolity of the day." His tone was bitter as he mentioned the holiday.

[not-so-stellar.livejournal.com]

"It seems less frivolous when family and loved ones are close. When one is alone, I'm afraid, the holiday spirit is not so readily conjured." She sighed. "I cannot find the librarian." She had hoped for some distraction. Books were a respectable form of entertainment.

Narcissa liked the sort of romance that masqueraded as a historical novel. Of course, she would not read Muggle books, and relied on florid stories of the witches of centuries past. This meant that her favorite reading nearly always ended with someone getting burnt at the stake.

"Those scrolls are unfamiliar to me," she remarked (feeling no compunction about intruding), "and I went to school here as a girl. I thought I knew the library rather well. May I ask what the scrolls happen to be?"

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

"It is a part of my studies while I am here. The magic in this world is different from what I studied as a child. I am attempting to trace a commonality between the magic of Hogwarts and the magic of Krynn."

Casting a quick cantrip, he summoned a large, dusty book from one of the stacks. "And I have not seen the librarian, perhaps he is distracted from his duties with this notion of love," he said, sneering the word. "It has no place in magic."

[not-so-stellar.livejournal.com]

Two paths Narcissa could have taken:

One would be supercilious disinterest. (Krynn? She'd never heard of it. What had Krynn to do with her family, her race? Nothing, plainly.)

The other would be cautious interest. (Krynn? A new world, a new kind of magic? An opportunity, perhaps, for Draco?)

Those who caricatured Slytherin and the old families would have expected one reaction from Narcissa, the same that her aunt Walburga might have given. Those who truly knew her would not have been surprised at her true response.

"Commonality between different systems of magic can be beneficial to understanding of both systems, once identified," she observed. "We have learned this with regard to the magics of the Orient, especially their magical creatures."

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

Ah. New magical systems. Raistlin set his quill down and focused his attention on Narcissa. "There are different magical systems in this world? The system is fascinating in it's simplicity. No components, little somatic, simply a wand and words."

With a flick of his wrist, he cleared a stack of books to allow her room to sit. "Please, I am Raistlin Majere."

[igorofmalaria.livejournal.com]

"Hello? Have you seen Michael, the librarian?" Igor was having to do some research and was already weighted down with books.

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

"No," Raistlin said, barely looking up from his books. "I have seen no one save the house elves. Perhaps he is wasting his time with the useless frivolity outside."

[igorofmalaria.livejournal.com]

"What frivolity?" Igor struggled with his hold on the books before he dumped them down on the table. "Do you mind?" he asked, gesturing to them.

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

Waving a long-fingered hand, the books he had been reading slid to the side, allowing room for Igor. "No. The frivolity of Valentine's Day," he said, sneering at the name of the holiday. "Useless."

[igorofmalaria.livejournal.com]

"Valentine's? It's a wizarding holiday, right? Is that what all the pink stuff is doing in the hallway? I haven't been keeping up"

He opened a book.

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

"If it is, it should be banned," he muttered into his tea. "Love has no place in magic."

[igorofmalaria.livejournal.com]

"Love? Someone told me those pink things were hearts. They look nothing like it."

he flipped a few pages.

"No place at all, really? I know I haven't found much place for it." This was followed by a sigh that ended up being a little deeper and more heartbreaking than he originally intended.

[raistlin-red.livejournal.com]

"That is the nature of it, blinding you to reality. Those pink creations look nothing like the real thing, they ignore the truth. Ignoring the truth is folly and will get you killed. Magic is pure and uncomplicated. Spell components, words and the result. Simple."

Enter the narrator!

A disembodied voice spoke from somewhere above them. "One day in Hogwarts, a young mage named Raistlin was in complete denial."

[igorofmalaria.livejournal.com]

"What?" Igor looked around, seeing no one.

"He met a friend named Igor who was just as deep in denial, although a bit more ignorant about holidays. Maybe they could be in denial together!"