Closed RP: Stephen and Sarah - The Surprise

[nopower-overme.livejournal.com]

((This starts Friday morning. Good clean fun with appliances abounds!))


With minimal fuss, Sarah and Stephen had left the school by Floo to seek out a waiting cab in a nearby 'Muggle' village. Their destination, as far as Sarah knew, was Macduff Aquarium in Aberdeenshire, but this whole day just existing was already so incredible to her. They were leaving the castle - and with it she hoped the stress that had plagued them recently - and venturing out into the non-magic world which she had not been in since her arrival. To be fair, she had not gone beyond the castle and grounds except once to Hogsmeade with Stephen, so she was quite excited.

Settled against Stephen's side in the backseat of the cab, she was content to point out things that caught her attention on the drive - and even explain things that might have been interesting to a man from the 19th century - or simply just sit in companionable silence. The familiarity of being in a car after two months was refreshing because it was something distinctly non-magical and not connected to what they had left behind, and it was all that much better for having Stephen, who was already her new 'familiar', right next to her. They both needed this, in her opinion, so she had been ridiculously pleased when Stephen had mentioned the plans. Without knowing it (or so she assumed, as she had never mentioned her birthday), he had given her an early birthday present in this day trip out with him. There was no more she could ask for, and yet...

"Stephen, I think the cabbie's taken us to the wrong place," she said once she had gotten close to his ear to whisper without being overheard. Outside the window of the now stopped cab was a cottage, very lovely but not the aquarium she had been expecting to see. Too preoccupied with the view or with Stephen, she had not even noticed telling road signs that might have led to confusion much sooner.


((R-ish for quite a lot of smut in various places. xD))

Comments

[nopower-overme.livejournal.com]

Sarah had taken it all in, from the sight of the ocean in the places they had walked to the sound of his voice as he talked to the simple pleasure of walking hand-in-hand with him. She was interested in everything he had to say, often asking questions. She felt content and at peace after the afternoon spent out, and the return to the cottage was even more pleasurable because of it. Hair now windblown, she held it out as she unlocked the door, catching the distinctive smell of the ocean in its strands that normally were scented like her shampoo and perfume. Her legs still felt sticky from the roll of the tide and she needed a shower. She opened her mouth to say as much as she walked into the sitting room and then stopped.

"We don't have any clothes," she said, turning around to look at him. They had not brought any type of suitcases as, obviously, that would have spoiled the surprise for her, and she had not even looked in the bedrooms when they were exploring. As far as she was aware, all her clothes were still very much in her room at Hogwarts. "All of my clothes were still in my room this morning... maybe there's a washing machine until they get here," she mused to herself and then looked at him. "Or did our clothes come while we were gone?" He had to have thought of clothes, because otherwise... no, she was not going to think along that line of thoughts.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

In fact it would not have been at all unlike Stephen to have overlooked this. However, he had not overlooked it. For himself, it was easy enough to have things sent ahead, but he could not very well abscond with Sarah's belongings without her noticing and realising something was up. So he had simply asked Aloysius II to figure out from what clothes she kept in Stephen's rooms what sort of thing she would want to wear, and have suitable equivalents ordered and sent to the cottage. Stephen had some notion of readymade clothing now, owning some himself, and knew that the elf could check the labels for the necessary information. Aloysius II was, on the whole, a much more reliable and helpful elf than his predecessor.

"We do have them, and also we have a washing machine, whatever in God's name that might be, so if you do not like what Aloysius sent, we could essay to use the machine on what you wear now, I suppose?" he said, tentative. He hoped the washing machine would not be as appalling as the television.

[nopower-overme.livejournal.com]

"I like all my clothes, so I can't imagine I wouldn't like what he sent along," Sarah said and then smiled at him. "And a washing machine just washes the clothes inside it, like the dishwasher does with the dishes." Kissing his cheek, she went off to look in the bedrooms, pleased when she found multiple suitcases in the room with the largest bed. Opening once, she set it aside when she recognized his clothing and opened another, finding her clothing. At least, what looked to be hers from the first sight of button-front shirts, skirts, jean shorts and the like, but which she soon realized weren't her clothing from styles she knew she did not own.

"Stephen, I think Aloysius sent some else's clothing, these look like things I'd wear, but they aren't mine," she called, and then puzzled further at the fact some still had garment tags on them. In fact, they all felt rather new to the touch. Digging further in the neatly packed clothing, she pulled out a shirt, this one hard to miss (http://www.hawaiian-shirt.net/hawaiian_shirt_tattoo_you_alhma.htm), and discovered (http://www.hawaiian-shirt.net/hawaiian_shirt_coconut_dreams_lori.htm) several (http://www.hawaiian-shirt.net/hawaiian_shirt_neon_orchid_pf.htm) more (http://www.hawaiian-shirt.net/hawaiian_shirt_great_american_pastime_alhma.htm) as she dug further. At the sight of them, she began to giggle. "And these really aren't my shirts," she said, shaking her head. At least this now explained who was likely responsible for the cow-printed pajamas if the house-elf thought these were hers. What it did not explain was why these were not her clothes. One of the shirt in hand that was definitely not hers, she went back out to Stephen.

"I think Aloysius is a very nice house-elf, so it was probably a mistake, but he didn't send my clothes," she said as she walked up to him. "He did send yours though."

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that is no mistake. He could not have sent anything of yours without your missing it, and I did not wish you to worry over things disappearing," Stephen explained. He caught sight of the shirt and all he said about it was "Well, that looks serviceable enough; I hope it fits."

Stephen had no fashion sense at all.

[nopower-overme.livejournal.com]

Sarah stared at him for a moment, processing, and then promptly latched on to him in another hug, this time wordlessly. It was overwhelming, to think of the expense he had put forth for this weekend away and how nonchalant he seemed about all of it. Just one night here would have been more of a birthday gift than she could ever have imagined, but this... was incredible. She finally released him, looking down at the shirt with a bemused look. Serviceable, yes, and it would fit. It still did not change the fact it was so outrageous... and he did not even seem to see that! Still, it was from him, and that countered quite a bit of the need to break into laughter.

"I completely love you," she said, her tone both loving and slightly amused, but her look wholly grateful. "I'm going to find something to wear and take a shower, okay?"

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

"All right," said Stephen. Before he could say anything about how nice it was to have fresh water to wash off ocean salt, or how welcome such a luxury would have been in his sea-going past (http://estebanmd.livejournal.com/49707.html), Sarah had already gone off with her awful perfectly serviceable shirt.

Which left him to his own devices.

He eyed the television with some suspicion, as though it might turn on of its own accord and start showing him more disturbingly realistic images. (It was a good thing Stephen had never gotten acquainted with Sadako (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/51582.html).) There was a conglomeration of gadgets that seemed to be attached to it somehow, among them a curious oblong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCR) with a slot in it about the right size for a book. Nearby that was a shelf with several things in boxes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotape) which to Stephen resembled books; and there were also actual books, most of them very dull-looking.

That Stephen should deduce the oblong gadget probably was meant to project things onto the television to which it was attached could be taken as extraordinary, a testament that Stephen was an extremely intelligent man after all.

That he should decide that those images could be stored in books ... well, the slot in the oblong gadget was roughly of a size and shape to admit a book; there was a certain logic to it.

The sound the gadget made when he introduced a book into said slot was not very encouraging, though.

[nopower-overme.livejournal.com]

Returning to the bedroom, Sarah went through the clothing that had been packed, finding more fashion horrors amidst the normalcy of garments she would wear. Thankfully, although plain, there was normal undergarments so she would not have to decide between horrible or a lack of clothing. Gathering up something comfortable, but not nightwear, she went to the bathroom and emerged a time later, now clean. In her hand she held a towel, attempting to wring the water from her long, thick hair as she walked back out barefoot into the sitting room.

"Did you find something to keep entertained with?" she asked and then stopped, staring for a moment before she came close, towel now forgotten in her hand. "Umm, Stephen, what exactly are you... doing?" The sight she had every right to question, as he currently seemed to either be sticking in or pulling out a book from the VCR. Apparently, he had found something to entertain himself with.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

"That, my dear, is an excellent question. Ha!" Triumphant, he wrenched the book free of the VCR.

A crunching sound accompanied the motion.

[nopower-overme.livejournal.com]

Sarah smothered a groan at the sound of the now clearly broken VCR. Hopefully, it could be fixed?

"Could you please explain to me why you put a book in the VCR?" she asked sweetly, looking around for a possible explanation. It was still no less adorable, but a bit worrisome. Suddenly, she was glad she had warned against fingers jammed in power outlets.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

"VCR, is that what it is? It has a slot for inserting books, so I put one in. Nothing happened."

[nopower-overme.livejournal.com]

"Hmm, that's because these," Sarah said, reaching over to grab one of the VHS tapes, "are actually made to go in there. They are videotapes and that is a videocassette recorder, which can play the tapes and can record things from the TV. This one happens to be a movie - like a play, but with more elaborate sets and effects so you can watch them at home. I'd show you... but that crunching sound?" She winced. "Probably means it's a bit broken."

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen looked at the machine, then at the book in his hand. "Are they very hard to find, these video recorder machines?"

[nopower-overme.livejournal.com]

"In 1989, no," Sarah said, looking at the machine skeptically, "they were very common, I assume we could find another in an electronics store provided they aren't outdated technology in this time." She was almost certain he had tried to watch a book - which did impress her greatly that he had determined what a VCR was supposed to do, even if the execution was flawed - but she still was not at all certain why he had wished to do it after his earlier reaction to the TV.

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

"Ah, in that case I imagine I can simply have the agent take care of it." He looked at the book. "I suppose I will not ever see the history of golf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf#History) come to life on the television, then."