When Life Leaves You High and Dry (Xan, Open)

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There was a dance party going on tonight in the Room of Requirement. Hugo didn't know if Xan knew about it, but the whole school had been invited, including their guests from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Still, Hugo wasn't going and there was one reason for that. Xan. She was still sick, too sick to be able to go and he had absolutely no intention of going without her. There was no way he would leave her to be all by herself in the Hospital Wing while everyone else partied. Besides, if she wasn't at the party he wouldn't be able to enjoy it after all. So he might as well spend his time with her.

"Hey," he said with a soft smile as he walked into the Hospital Wing. "How was your day?" Hugo moved so he was sitting in the chair next to her bed. He didn't need to ask, this was where he always sat. He turned his attention to the beautiful girl in front of him with an easy smile. This was worth missing the party, no question about it.

@xanthippe
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade
@isaac
(ooc: just in case you want to visit Xan before going to the dance party/instead of going)

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Xan knew about the party. Everyone in the school seemed to know about the party. To say that she wanted to go was an understatement – Xan had practically exploded at the idea of having a chance to get out of bed, go dancing, and have a little fun. But, as usual, her fever had decided to spike, and Xan didn’t need the nurses to tell her that it would be a bad idea to try to leave the hospital wing. Especially since the party was in the Room of Requirement. The room’s very existence required tons of magic, if Xan’s understanding of it was correct, which meant it would just add more fuel to the fire. Xan had tried her best not to convey how disappointed she was in the whole situation, but she had failed. Of course she had. Optimism wore thin after a while. “Hey.” Xan greeted when Hugo entered the hospital wing. She wasn’t surprised to see him in the slightest, but a bit of her felt guilty that he was going to spend his time cooped up in the hospital wing with her when there was certain to be a lot of fun happening in the Room of Requirement. “It was okay.” She said. “I guess I’m still bummed about the party.” Maybe by the time the Yule Ball came around, she would be better, and she could join in on the festivities. Then again, maybe not. “How about yours?” She asked quietly.

@hugo

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He could see the guilt on her face, the evidence that she felt bad that he was missing the party. She knew that the party didn’t mean a thing to him, that he didn’t care about it at all if she wasn’t there, but the guilt was still there. Hidden from the sight of most people, but Hugo wasn’t most people. He knew her better than almost everyone else, so it made sense that he would be able to read her. She confessed that she was upset she couldn’t go to the party and Hugo nodded, not surprised in the least. “I’m sorry,” he told her, though he knew it would do little to help her. Hopefully spending time together would help. He shrugged when she asked about his day, “Boring. Really, nothing much to report. I spent most of it wishing I could be here with you.” That wouldn’t surprise her. After all, she felt the same for him, didn’t she? It just made sense. “So … I brought something with me to hopefully cheer you up a bit,” Hugo started, waiting to see how she reacted to that before he actually brought it out.

@xanthippe

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Xan smiled at Hugo’s apology; even if none of this was his fault, it was nice to know that he felt bad for her disappointment. Sometimes people got thrown off by how hard Xan was trying to be happy, and that could make things even more difficult. Hu said that he didn’t have much to report, and Xan shrugged – some days were like that, where nothing of interest happened. “Well, rest assured that I also spent most of my day wishing you could be here, too.” She said with a smile. Xan appreciated her alone time, but she also appreciated her time with Hugo, and when being by herself got to be boring, her mind automatically sprang to Hugo.

“Oh?” Xan asked when Hugo said he brought something to cheer her up. The last time he had surprised her, they had gone to a nearby room for her to paint him. While Xan wouldn’t be opposed to repeating that experience, she wasn’t sure she was up for the journey. “I’m curious now.” Xan said, though that much was probably already clear. If she was feeling better, Xan probably would have been able to figure out what the mystery was, but in her current state, it was foggy.

@hugo

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Hugo laughed, happy that she was in a good enough mood to make jokes. He was worried that she'd be too upset about missing the party to be able to really enjoy time with him. And even though he would stay no matter what mood she was in, it was always more fun to be with a happy Xan as opposed to a sad one. "It looks like we both got our wish," he answered back quickly.

Xan was obviously curious, even before she told him that's how she felt and Hugo loved it. His smile became mischievous as he tried to think of how he should introduce his gift to her. He could tease her and then give it to her, or he could just surprise her. He decided to go with the latter. He lifted his bag off his shoulder and placed it on her bed. "So ... I wasn't sure if the color really mattered, so I brought a few choices. I have wait paper, more than enough for all your cranes, but I also have colored paper. Which one do you want?" Hugo watched her face carefully for a moment before continuing, "I also have this book teaching you how to make things out of paper. Cranes is on page 22." He opened the book to the corresponding page and placed it in front of her. "What do you think Xan?"

@xanthippe

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Xan smiled when Hugo said that they had both gotten their wish. That was the truth, and they hadn’t even had to fold a thousand paper cranes to make it come true. At that connection, something finally sparked inside of Xan’s head. He must have brought the materials for the cranes! Her suspicion was confirmed only a few moments after that, when Hugo showed her his bag full of paper. The fact that she had been able to piece it together, albeit a bit more slowly than usual, made Xan feel infinitely better. Well enough, in fact, that she was ready to take on the paper cranes right that moment. “Colored is always better!” Xan chirped. The hospital wing was still too white for her liking; she had hung the painting she had done during art club up by her bed, but having colorful cranes everywhere would almost certainly make the place homier.

Xan accepted the book with the instructions, beaming at Hugo. “I think this is much better than any silly party.” She told him. “Should I start now?” She asked Hugo curiously. If he had something else he wanted to do, she would do that gladly, but if they were just going to talk, she might as well get a start on the thousand cranes she needed to make.

@hugo

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Hugo smiled, pulling out all the colored paper and handing it over to Xan so she could take care of her stack of more than a thousand pages. "Then colored you shall have," he responded with a smile. He brought all sorts of shades of colors, from bright ones to pastel to original colors, knowing that Xan would probably love all the different shades. She liked color, as was typically expected for an artist. 

"Well good because you've got a lot of folding to do," Hugo teased as he reached forward and took the book back from her. "Why not?" he responded when she asked if she should start now. He opened the book to the title page, searching for the page with instructions on how to make a crane. "Here is how you make a crane," he said once he got to the right page, handing it back over to her quickly. He grabbed a white sheet out of his bag so he could learn how to make one too. After all, he had his own plans with the extra pages that he got just in case she wanted white. "You mind if I learn with you?" Hu was certain she wouldn't, but this was one way of explaining what he was doing as well as asking if she was alright with it.

@xanthippe

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It was strange, how small the stack of a thousand pages of paper looked. Sure, it was a large stack, but when Xan thought about how much space a thousand cranes was going to take up, it seemed strange that they could all come from the stack that was now balanced precariously on her bedside table. She took the top piece of paper, which was Gryffindor red, and smoothed it across her lap, looking down at the book, which Hugo had opened to the appropriate page. “Of course I don’t mind if you do it with me, silly!” Xan said with a smile after she had finished scanning the instructions once. “I don’t think it looks too hard…” Of course, everything always looked easier written down than it was in real life. Xan read the instructions over one more time, wanting to make sure she had an idea of what to do before she started folding. Her first crane didn’t have to be perfect, but she didn’t want it to be a total failure, either.

The first two steps were fairly simple, just folding opposite corners together so that the paper had two diagonal creases. Xan did that quickly, pressing her thumb along each of the creases so that they were sharp and crisp. Then she folded the paper in half so there was a horizontal and vertical crease which were, again, easy. “This is deceptively simple.” She told Hugo. It was going to get harder eventually, but while they were still on the easy steps, there was no harm in a little light-hearted banter.

@hugo

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Hugo laughed when she said it didn't look hard. Of course it didn't. Not with her positive attitude finally back. He sat back for a minute and just watched her as she studied the instructions. Honestly, he hadn't looked at them so he wasn't sure what exactly he was getting himself in for, but it was worth it to see her so happy. Anything that lifted her spirits while she was stuck here in the hospital wing was a good thing in his book, even if it took a ridiculous amount of time. Still, if he wanted to go through his plan, he'd have to learn also, so he might as well pay attention.

As Xan started folding her first paper, Hugo followed suit, copying exactly what she did even though his hands weren't used to working this way. Huh, this might be harder than he expected it to be. Hopefully they'd be able to get it right one of the first few times, but he was just going to do what she did, so if she got it wrong, so would he. Mostly because he'd rather watch Xan instead of read the instructions himself. "For now," he teased with a smile. "But I'm just doing what you do, so make sure you don't skip a step because I won't catch it if you do," Hugo continued with an easy smile. 

@xanthippe

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Hugo was right in saying that it was only deceptively simple for the first part. The next instruction involved a fairly complex diagram, and it took Xan a moment or two to figure it out. Eventually she did figure it out, though, and she maneuvered the paper into an accordion-like fold, biting her lip as she did so. “I hope you caught that step.” Xan told Hugo. “Because I’m not sure I’d be able to do it again.” At least not without spending more time staring at the instructions, and Xan would prefer not to have to do that. When she looked over at Hugo, she saw that he was having a little bit of difficulty with the paper. “It’s not as easy when you don’t have tiny hands, huh?” Xan was short, and the rest of her body was in proportion to her height, so her hands were smaller than Hugo’s by a good bit. It made precise work like art and origami easy, though it was hard to carry larger objects. Hugo, while able to carry things with his hands, probably wasn’t used to using them to make precise folds or anything of the sort. That was alright, though, because no one had to be good at anything, and Hugo was good at just being Hugo, clumsy hands at all. “Do you need any help?” Xan giggled. She would love to get more practice, especially if that practice meant helping her boyfriend.

@hugo

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Hugo was caught up with Xan, so when she took a break to look at the instructions more closely, he figured that whatever came next was not going to be easy. He watched carefully when she folded the paper a new way, so it looked kind of like an accordion. He saw what she did, he just wasn’t sure if he could manage it. Narrowing his eyes as he focused entirely on the piece of paper in front of him, he tried to copy what she did and grinned when he did it right! “Caught it,” he told her with a wink. Hugo knew he shouldn’t be so proud of himself for completing that tricky part, but he did it. He shrugged when she made a comment about tiny hands, “I think my fingers are so big they don’t like all the tiny folds,” he admitted, “But that doesn’t mean I can’t do it!” He was still super proud of himself. He rose an eyebrow when she asked for help, “Not right now … but I’ll probably need some when it gets more intense,” he admitted, though his pride didn’t want him to. Still, it was Xan. He didn’t need to hide anything from her, least of all this.

@xanthippe

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Xan grinned at Hugo when he said that he had caught what she had just done. They continued to joke about his fingers, about how they were too big to like all of the tiny folds, and Xan just shook her head. “I’m sure your fingers will learn, if you want them too.” After all, not everyone who ever did origami had to have small hands, right? It was a skill that could be learned, like playing Quidditch. Xan was certain that Hugo could do whatever he set his mind to, but she didn’t say as much, not wanting to return to their previous conversation about whether or not Hugo would take the same challenge as Xan.

“You know I’ll help you if you need it, Hu.” Xan said, continuing on to the next fold, which was again, fairly simple. “I doubt that you’ll need it, though.” She encouraged with a smile. Hugo underestimated himself, at least in Xan’s opinion. “How do you think I ought to do the different colors?” She asked, creasing the paper carefully. “I mean, should I finish all the red paper before moving onto the orange paper, or should I do one of each color and then start at the beginning again?” It wasn’t a legitimate worry, but it was something to discuss while they worked with their hands.

@hugo

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"I'm sure they will," Hugo responded, distracted as he ran his finger over the edge of his folds, trying to make them more firm. If the paper did happen to slip out of his hands, he didn't want to lose all his hard work. He didn't even realize that he'd given away the fact that he was planning on learning how to do this, and on getting good at it. If he had noticed, he would have hoped that Xan didn't. As it was, he was too focused on the paper in front of him to realize what he was saying.

The next fold was easier and Hugo smiled as he copied it. "I know," he told Xan, smiling at her once he'd completed it. "I'll ask you if I need help, but I'm going to try to get it on my own." Then she said that she doubted he would really need her help and he nodded. "Exactly. It's just paper. I can figure this out, as long as I have you to decipher the drawings on that instruction sheet," he added with a sly smile. "Change colors every time," Hugo suggested at her next question. "It'll make it look happier in here, and you can have more variety." It would make the hospital wing more friendly to have a lot of colors there. If she started by completing one color before starting another, Hugo thought it would be more boring. At least, more plain. All the colors at once would bring a splash of color to this place, which it desperately needed. 

@xanthippe

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Xan watched with a small smile as Hugo made the creases in his paper sharper. He was so intent on the task, and it was adorable. She wasn’t sure why she was focusing so hard if this was going to be the only crane that he made, but Xan couldn’t complain, since she would probably be the exact same way if she was learning something new but relatively useless.

“Independence is a good thing.” Xan teased. She wasn’t as independent as she hoped to be anymore, but she was beginning to accept the arrangement, even if she didn’t exactly like it. Besides, having people like Hugo made it a little easier to bear, since they helped her have some illusion of being in contact with the world as a whole. “The drawings are a little hard.” Xan said with a laugh. The only reason she was able to figure them out at all was because she was a hugely visual learner who thrived on pictures. Anyone else would probably be lost. “That was what I was leaning towards.” Xan agreed when Hugo said that he thought she ought to change colors every time. “I just hope I don’t accidentally mess up on one color more than another.” Xan said with a laugh. At least this way all of the red cranes weren’t going to look awful.

@hugo

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Hugo rolled his eyes when Xan teased him about his independence. "Yeah yeah," he said in a noncommittal voice. He was still focused on the paper. At least, more focused on the paper than he wanted to be. If the two weren't so close, he'd be worried about her thinking he was incompetent, but this was Xan. Nothing to worry about here. He finally finished the step as Xan said the drawing were hard. He nodded his head sharply, "Which is why you're the one deciphering what they mean," he said, smiling a little at the end. Xan said she was nervous she would mess up on one color more than the others and Hugo laughed. Like, really laughed. Of course that would be what Xan was concerned about. "If that happens, all you have to do is let me know what color you need more of," he told her once he stopped laughing. 

@xanthippe