and make peace with an empty town [zita]

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School was out, and Theodosia was all in all pleased with how the last school year had gone. The Purifiers hadn't done much outwardly, but there were hundreds of things stirring beneath the surface, Theo knew, and she trusted Elaine to know when it was the right time to unleash their fury. Theo was curious as to how the coming of Ilvermorny student would affect the Dark Lady's plans - there were sure to be some among the new students that sympathized with the Purifiers and their mission, but did it really matter? America purebloods weren't really purebloods, as far as Theo was concerned - except for her own mother, of course, because she could trace her heritage back to British purebloods in good standing. Her father wouldn't have married her mother otherwise, would he? Theo didn't bother thinking about that too long, instead mentally composing a letter that she could send to Elaine. Having to speak in ciphers was tricky, but Theodosia was always up for a challenge, and she really did want some direction as to how to treat the students who were coming over from Ilvermorny - as enemies or potential allies. That wasn't the only challenge Theodosia had given herself that summer, though. There were several Hufflepuffs that had caught her attention for a variety of reasons, and Theo was meandering around Hogsmeade in hopes of seeing one of them despite school being out for the summer.

@zita

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After walking around Hogsmeade for two hours now, Zita felt like her mission wouldn't be completed. She'd come to the small village in an attempt to find a gift for her sister Camila, something that would remind her of her time and Hogwarts because she had just graduated and was about to take her first steps into full adulthood. Zita would miss having her around the school and being able to run and talk to her about anything at the drop of a dime. It wasn't as if she wouldn't be able to talk to her now, she would just have to work around her school schedule and her sister's work schedule. And if not there was still the holidays, which would knock her school schedule out of the whole equation. Like now. School was out and she had the entire summer to spend with her sister and do whatever she wanted to. And right now, she really wanted to find a good gift. She exited her third store of the day out into the summer breeze, her brow furrowed because that one was a bust too and because the sun was beaming directly into her eyes, and looked around for her next target. It was a small village; there weren't bound to be many more choices she could go to. Maybe she could go to C'est La Vie to see if they would have a nice scarf or something similar? With a quick swipe of her hand to move her hair behind her ear, she began crossing the pathways to head to the small boutique when she caught a glimpse of dark curly hair from the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of dark, curly hair. Or maybe not? Theodosia wouldn't be out on Hogsmeade when school was out. Probably had better places to shop. Zita rolled her eyes at the thought and continued on her path to the small boutique.

Tag; @theodosia
SOTD; HERE

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Theodosia didn’t think she’d consider herself a stalker, really. She didn’t enjoy following people as much as she enjoyed catching up to them and toying with them verbally until she grew bored or they ran away crying. (She preferred the latter scenario, but that was besides the point.) Following someone unseen was the opposite of her modus operandi, because if someone didn’t know you were there, then you couldn’t torment them, and tormenting was just about the only thing that broke the monotony of Theodosia’s days as of late. Her parents were trying to get her interested in yet another hobby, as if her studies of archery and wandlore weren’t enough to occupy her busy days. Theo had also started doing some research on potions – though more specifically, she was looking at poisons. She wouldn’t tell her parents that, though. Even if they were sympathetic to Eline’s cause, she didn’t think that they would approve of their teenage daughter poisoning people. It was a shame that they had such narrow minds, Theo thought. In any case, Theodosia was bored… but there was exactly one person who would convince her to remain bored for a little longer, and that was Zita Hernandez. Theodosia had spotted her in the crowd, and was tailing the Hufflepuff from a fairly safe distance, wondering if Zita would even realize they were playing cat and mouse.

@zita

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C’est La Vie was just a few blocks over from where she crossed the street. Not that she actually minded but it was nice that she didn’t have to walk too far to get from shop to shop in the small village. The idea of getting something from the boutique was starting to grow on her. This was the only C’est La Vie that she knew of and because she wanted to get something for her sister that would remind her of her time at Hogwarts, she figured this would do since the shop was near to the school. Even now she could look over her shoulder and see the towers of the castle touching the clouds. School was still fresh in her mind so she didn’t miss the inside of the castle just yet. From the corner of her eye, once again, she caught a flash of dark curly hair and she furrowed her brow before actually looking in the direction, pausing in her stroll. She didn’t see anything but she stopped herself from trying to look. Would seeing Theodosia right now be a good thing? Did she want to see Theodosia right now? She sighed and forced herself to keep walking. After their last encounter, she didn’t know if seeing the Slytherin girl would be such a good idea. She didn’t want to think about it. Soon enough, her hands were pressing into the shop’s door and she was stepping into the french and fashionable atmosphere of it. The sun was still extremely bright out so rays of light were pouring into the many windows, lighting up every clothing rack lined up front and most of the store. The employee greeted Zita happily and offered their assistance, which she waved of politely, before she headed towards the back of the store where the scarves hats sat. That had a pretty big selection but she wasn’t surprised, C’est La Vie always had nice stuff. She looked up and her eye caught the shoe section. She was immediately pulled away from her task and distracted by it.

Tag; @theodosia
SOTD; HERE

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Theodosia hadn’t known where she was following Zita, but she guessed after they had walked a little longer that Zita intended to go to the boutique that was in Hogsmeade. Theo wasn’t all that impressed with the shop, preferring to do her shopping by owl order or in large stores that had a much larger selection. The fact that the Hogsmeade shop had such low prices wasn’t actually a good thing, in Theo’s opinion. For her, price and quality were highly correlated, so the boutique being so cheap meant that it was shoddy quality, at best. Theo waited until a minute or so after Zita had entered the boutique to follow the Hufflepuff in as well. Keeping Zita in her sightline while also avoiding being seen was more difficult within the confines of the store, so Theodosia decided to abandon the notion of being invisible. Better to announce herself than to let Zita think that she had gotten the upper hand by spotting Theodosia. The Slytherin approached the Hufflepuff, tapping her on the shoulder with a quick, precise motion, almost like a sting instead of a poke. “You walked right past a dress that would look fabulous on you.” Theo said without further greeting. Of course, Theo thought that most of the dresses in the place were hideous, but Zita had a habit of making hideous things look… not nice, but nicer. Because she was pretty. Theodosia tried not to linger on that thought for too long. This whole thing was easier when she focused on physical attraction and the way it was all a game, instead of thinking of words like pretty. Theo supposed that could be lumped under ‘physical attraction’, but that was one step too close to real feelings to allow Theodosia to feel comfortable.

@zita

[Deleted]

Her eyes were glued to the shoe section of the shop and they had some pretty nice pairs of shoes. There was a particular set of black pumps on the wall that reminded her too much of the ones she'd lost during an altercation that she didn't really want to think about. They'd been one of her favorite pairs of shoes! She shook her head and moved over to the next pair of shoes when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Part of her though to ignore it. She was in a boutique after all and it could have just been an accidental bump. Theodosia's voice rang out behind her and then she knew that it had been no accident. Zita inhaled slow and exhaled much quicker before turning around to meet the curly haired Slytherin. So she actually was out on Hogsmeade today. For some reason. She wouldn't call what she'd been spotting earlier confirmed sightings of the her but knowing that she was here now didn't surprise her as much as it should have. She always showed up at the most... interesting of times. "I'm sure whatever it was would look cuter on you," she commented before turning back around to look at the pair of boots she'd wanted to check out. It wasn't quite a slip of the tongue but it also wasn't the first thing she should have said. And now she was completely distracted from her shopping, much to curious about the movements of the girl who now stood behind her. "What are you doing here? Doubt you came to shop." In reality, she just really didn't know how to act now. So she faked being interested in the pair of shoes instead of looking at her. It probably wasn't the best idea in the long run but it was what she had for now. Not until she knew what Theodosia was doing.

Tag; @theodosia
SOTD; HERE

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Zita’s retort to Theodosia’s comment about the dress made the Slytherin take a long, long pause. She wasn’t sure whether Zita was trying to beat her at her own game, or do something to unnerve her, or something entirely different. After the silence had gotten to a point where it was definitely awkward thanks to Theodosia’s confusion, the Slytherin managed to muster an answer. “I’m not interested in looking cute.” It was true. Theodosia would rather be dangerous than cute, though apparently she wasn’t doing much good at that. The fact that she was a teenaged girl definitely did make it harder to look dangerous, since most people seemed to think the two were mutually exclusive. Especially because Theodosia wasn’t one to constantly wear black – she preferred jewel tones, especially greens and blues. It was easier to slip into the persona of a snake that way, cloaked in her own faux scales. Zita asked what she was doing there, and Theodosia shrugged. “I doubt you’ll believe me if I tell you the real reason.” Saying that she had come to Hogsmeade hoping to see Zita sounded absolutely desperate and extremely un-Theodosia, but sometimes the truth was stranger than fiction, and that was Theodosia’s truth.

@zita