Another Vice ** (OPEN)

[Deleted]

open !
<3

Music was one of her favorite pastimes. She played the ukulele, and she had for quite a few years now. The first time Olivia had seen one was at a school play when she was a child, probably 8 years old. As soon as she had shown interest in it her parents had gone out and bought her one and it was probably one of their best spent items yet to date. Olivia tried to play it on a daily basis, but with everything going on currently from school to figuring out her career to her social life, it was cutting down quickly.

Walking into the store, she heard the ding above her and waved to the man behind the counter. The smell of the store made her smile. Ink, writing paper, new wood. All great things that she enjoyed. Olivia quickly walked over to the section for things for a ukulele. She bit her lip, thinking. She did need new music sheets, but she also might get some new picks and a cleaner for her ukulele. Olivia tilted her head to the side, her curls falling over her shoulder, contemplating how much she wanted to buy.

[Deleted]

@jill15

Growing up in South Carolina had presented Lance with quite a few different quirks that had always managed to baffle the students at Hogwarts. First, it was always the accent. Despite him and Georgie living in England for five years now, that was the one thing he had refused to let go of. The second was the blues. Music snobs understood him when he mentioned that, but the average UK teen had no idea what he was talking about. It was an old genre regardless, but he distinctly remembered the popularity of it in the US.

There was of course one place that he managed to find in his new home that had records of blues artists, and that was Dominic Maestro's in Hogsmeade. Record players unfortunately required electricity to play, so he couldn't have one in his dorm room, but the owner of the store was absolutely content with Lance showing up on the weekends and popping a record on for a few hours at a time. He'd get there early too, before any other students would, so their constant chatter and the bell of the door opening and closing wouldn't pull him away from the relaxing progressions of the guitars and soulful swing that the singers had in their lyrics.

Today was no different, and Lance was sitting in the corner of the store that housed the muggle records. They were surprisingly untouched most of the time, so he had free reign of them for as long as he wanted. It was also the quietest part of the shop, thus insuring his peace and quiet from any annoyances that the uneducated magical rabble that had no interest in his tastes might pose.

Exceptionally quiet this weekend, Lance only heard the store door open a few times, one final time before he was leaving for the day. Stepping around the corner and waving goodbye to the shopkeeper, he nearly bumped into a tiny girl staring up at the area dedicated to ukuleles. "Excuse me miss." He said quickly as he skirted around her, unsure if she had even noticed he was there. He was pretty sure he had seen her there before buying stuff, but couldn't recall if they had ever talked before. Following what he assumed was her eye line, he noticed the ukuleles hanging on the wall. Was she hoping to get one down to look at? She was rather short after all. Stopping and turning back, Lance decided to see what was going on. "I could get that down for you if you want." he said, pointing at the instrument hanging there.

[ooc: :3 it'd be funny if she thought he was making fun of her accent]

[Deleted]

Georgie hadn't meant to follow Lance. Not really. (She had totally meant to follow him.) There were some things that she wanted to talk about, and no matter how much she waited for him in the Hufflepuff common room, it seemed like he only ever managed to come in when she was in the process of going out. So when she had seen Lance walking down the street in Hogsmeade and had realized that she had nothing left to shop for that day, Georgie had followed him. It wasn't weird or anything, because he was her brother, and sisters were allowed to follow their brothers places, especially if there was something important that they needed to talk about. When she got into the shop, though, Georgie thought she had lost Lance - it wasn't like he was difficult to find, with the shock of blonde hair (and also the fact that Georgie was pretty sure she always knew where Lance was, in the back of her head), but he had wedged himself into a corner with some records. He looked so happy, and Georgie didn't want to end that. She lurked in the next aisle over for a while, pretending like she had some interest in a woodwind instrument that looked like a cross between a flute and a horn. Georgie didn't need an instrument, since she primarily sang, but it actually was kind of interesting, and she almost missed it when Lance began to leave the store. Her brother almost ran into some girl, and then began talking to her. Well, if he could talk to someone else, then he certainly had the time to talk to her, didn't he? That made sense. Georgie marched over to the pair of them, trying her best not to look like a child about to throw a tantrum, and glared at Lance. "So how come you notice her and you didn't notice me?" Of course, Georgie knew the answer to that (Lance hadn't almost run into her), but she felt like her brother had been avoiding her lately, and now she wanted answers.

@jill15
lancelot ray linley

[Deleted]

lancelot ray linley , @georgiana
<3

A voice brought her out of her thoughts, and she rose an eyebrow at the boy who spoke. His accent was...a bit similar to hers, but it was different at the same time. Was he making fun of her? Or was he also Southern? Olivia hadn't heard of any other Americans at Hogwarts, but maybe she was mistaken. Either way, she did want her suspicions either accepted or denied, and she hoped he'd do just that for her otherwise she wouldn't be happy. Olivia tilted her head at him. "Are you making me fun of my accent?" Liv's tone wasn't angry or upset, but genuinely curious. However he kept speaking, and she still couldn't decide on whether he was having a laugh at her or not. Olivia looked back up at the ukulele and shrugged. "I think I'm alright, thanks, just looking."

And just once she finished speaking, a blonde girl appeared from around the corner. By the way the girl walked, and her tone of voice, Olivia assumed this was a past girlfriend of this boy's; that or a current girlfriend, she wasn't sure. The glare that the girl gave him caused Olivia to turn her body around slightly, looking back at the aisle of items. She didn't speak again, not wanting to get into this argument. However, the girl had gave Olivia her answer to her prior question, he was definitely not making fun of her. She was a bit embarrassed, but kept her mouth shut.

[Deleted]

@jill15 & @georgiana

It took a few seconds for everything to make sense. Had she just asked him if he was making fun of her accent? The one that felt more familiar to him than anything else did at Hogwarts (except Georgie and his parents, of course). It wasn’t like it was rare for foreign students to be at Hogwarts, there had been more leniency over the last few decades to allow transfers to occur between them. Something about sharing cultures and techniques to create a more unified magical community. At least that was the methodology that had been explained to him and Georgie when they were moved from their home in the States all the way to England. Why had he never heard that there was another American student other than him and his sister? He felt like that would have been the first thing the administration would have told them when they arrived. The only other explanation was that she was a new transfer student, and they simply forgot that both Lance and Georgie were from America. That seemed to happen quite a bit since they lived at the orphanage now. “I’m not the joking type.” Lance smiled at the girl as she said she was just looking. It wasn’t his business anyways, so he wasn’t exactly sure why he had offered her help in the first place.

Before he could ask her about where she was from in America though, an extremely familiar voice came from behind him. He turned slowly to see Georgie coming over towards them. Since when had she been in the store? And why in the blazes was she mad at him for not noticing her? He was pretty sure she knew about his excursions here on Hogsmeade trips, so if she was in the store looking at something, she could have just walked over and joined him. That made sense right? “How could I notice you if I didn’t know you were here?” He paused for a moment, thinking about how she’d react to that. It probably wasn’t going to be pretty. “That doesn’t matter though Georgie. This girl is American too!” He was rather enthusiastic about it all, it having been a long time since he remembered encountering another magical American outside of their family.

[Deleted]

Georgie had to resist the urge to hex Lance when he asked about how he was supposed to notice her if he didn’t know she was there. “You noticed her well enough without knowing she was there.” Georgie pointed out. “And if you ever bothered to send me an owl about Hogsmeade weekends, you would know that I was planning on looking for some music for choir practice.” It was a bold-faced lie, but Georgie fancied herself an excellent liar, especially since all of the pieces of her lie added up. She was in choir, and this was the perfect place to get music. She had been in the wrong aisle, but it wasn’t like Lance knew any of the aisles other than the one with the records.

“Yeah, and so are three hundred million other people.” Georgie said when her brother said that the stranger they were talking to was American. She was unimpressed with his brother and his deflecting. She honestly couldn’t care less about other Americans. She could barely handle the relationships with the three Americans she already knew in Britain – that was, her family members. The fact that Lance refused to talk to her about anything meaningful was just another indication of that. “Unless her parents have risen from the dead, I’m not impressed.” And if they had, then the American magical law enforcement system needed to be a lot better about protecting their officers from threats.

@jill15
lancelot ray linley

[Deleted]

lancelot ray linley , @georgiana
<3

He made it clear to her that he wasn't making fun of her, and apparently he wasn't the joking type. Hm, well, she'd have to keep that in mind if she were to ever crack a joke around him or try to play a prank. He obviously wasn't the one to find any of it funny, and Olivia wasn't sure if anyone really found pranks funny. She just assumed that some people dealt with them much better than others do. All the same, she smiled back at him, not sure why he had come over to her in the first place. The ukulele, yes, but she could've asked any one at the store to help her. So why had he chosen to ask her? It clouded her mind as she silently listened to the two of them continue to converse.

This girl definitely had an attitude, one that Olivia did not want to deal with, and she slightly felt bad for the boy. If this was his ex girlfriend, or even a current one, Olivia felt terrible for him. She seemed quite controlling, and definitely not someone Olivia would enjoy being around. Who cared if he had noticed her or not, and why should he have to explain to her why he was talking to Olivia? These thoughts ran through her head, but she stayed focused on the items in front of her, her eyebrows raised the entire time. Also, why was it such a shock she was American? Yes, they were currently in England, but there had to be more American's than just the three of them.

[Deleted]

@jill15 & @georgiana

Georgie was starting to frustrate him a little bit. This conversation they were having, if something so one-sided could even be called a conversation in the first place, was getting to be a little ridiculous. Lance had learned how to deal with her outbursts over the years, they seemed to come and go and he understand why they happened, but this time was a little different. She was acting like he belonged to her. If she had really wanted to tag along with him, all she had to do was talk to him about it. That whole talking thing seemed to have slowed down since their parents decided to come back to life over the summer. “I noticed her because I almost walked into her. And I’m always in the record section, haven’t really missed a day in years, you know that.” He tried as hard as possible to keep his cool, since he knew he wasn’t in the wrong. Why did she even care that he was talking to the girl anyways? Lance rubbed his temple, trying to figure things out. He had backed off a little lately when talking to her. When it came to talking to their parents, he was still having trouble deciding what to do. Maybe that was one of the causes of this whole thing.

“Honestly, I thought you wanted to spend time with Max, especially after…” He trailed off, not wanting to say it in front of the girl. He had been concerned about all of that, since those two were seemingly inseparable until recently. And then Max tried to…well, some things were best left unsaid still. Lance did hope things were starting to be patched up between the two of them. They needed each other, more than either of them realized.

Standing still, he continued to listen Georgie go on about how she wasn’t impressed with the fact that the other girl was American. He wasn’t impressed with her attitude right now, not that he would ever say that to her face. Letting her fizzle out always seemed to work though. “Maybe mom and dad-” he corrected himself, “Barb and Art, have ‘risen from the dead’ for you, but as long as I’m concerned, it’s still just the two of us.” Lance swallowed. He hadn’t meant to say that, not here, not in front of someone they didn’t even know, and definitely not in that manner. He was meant to keep his cool and stay positive for both of them, yet that wasn’t happening right now. “Georgie, I’m sorry…I just-I just need some time on my own to try and understand all that.” He turned to face the girl, who he seemed to have forgotten about for a few seconds. This was starting to get embarrassing, bringing up family matters in front of a complete stranger. “Sorry you had to see this. Normally we get along fine.” He stated apologetically. He really hoped Georgie wouldn’t go off on him for apologizing. If he had it his way, she’d be saying the same thing to the girl, especially after the way she was acting.

[Deleted]

Georgie didn't need Lance to say anything more; she knew when she wasn't wanted. Lance could just be added to the list of people who didn't give a damn about her, it seemed. Georgie blinked once at her brother. She could argue with him, or she could allow him to believe that nothing he said bothered her. He already knew that he bothered her, so Georgie didn't see why she would give her brother an easy time of it, but at the same time...She was tired. Her best friend had tried to kill herself, her brother seemed to think of her as nothing more than a nuisance, and her parents were still worlds away from being her real parents. Georgie lifted her hand to the girl in a goodbye, huffed a soft sigh, and then turned around. Let Lance have his bitterness and his stupid American girl.

@jill15
lancelot ray linley
(this sucks but whatever, she's gone)

[Deleted]

lancelot ray linley
<3

Olivia kept her mouth shut. This was not the type of argument she wanted to put herself in the middle of. It wasn't that she couldn't argue, but Olivia had no idea who this girl was, no idea what she had in relation to this boy and how they knew each other...but she heard the boy say mom and dad, and as she sneakily got a better look at the two of them, she could see the resemblance much more now. So, they were siblings. Maybe this should make more sense for her now, but in all honesty the girl seemed like a jealous girlfriend.

Her eyes were resting on that same ukulele as the two of them spoke to one another. Liv took a deep breath, glancing out the corner of her eye at the blonde girl. She didn't speak another word, but left. That was even more shocking to Olivia, but she didn't mention it, just held her hand up to the boy. "No need to apologize, siblings fight, I know this. I've got three." Olivia's home life was a bit confusing to explain, but she didn't mind it.

[Deleted]

@jill15

Georgie didn’t respond at all to anything he said. The snappy attitude he had conducted that one-sided fight with was gone now, but it was too late. He was sure the apology he made near the end of it was falling on deaf ears. Lance wasn’t stupid, he knew he had hurt his sister. There had never been issues like this before; him getting annoyed by her presence, or trying to escape off to somewhere where she couldn’t find him. That was all new and it was because he felt like he needed time to himself to think everything over. He couldn’t understand why Georgie didn’t understand that. Maybe they were both mistaking each other’s actions for something more than they actually were. He wasn’t sure at this point though, and before he could say anything else, she was out of the store. It left an awful taste in his mouth, knowing that he was the cause of all of that.

There wasn’t too much he could do then and there. One option was to chase Georgie down and try to work things out. Lance had a feeling that wasn’t going to be too effective right now. The other choice was to continue talking to the girl that had probably suffered through the sibling’s argument. Not the prettiest thing to encounter. Turning back to face her once again, she spoke before he could. Siblings fight? Not him and Georgie, at least not over things like this. What had been a rather petty squabble evolved into something much larger. It was going to take time to fix this one, and clear heads were needed for it. “I guess so.” Lance shuffled his feet a little bit, unsure what to do next.

((Wrap this up soon maybe? D: ))

[Deleted]

lancelot ray linley
<3

The boy didn't seem very amused at the situation, he seemed very uncomfortable. She wasn't sure how to go about all of this as she really did not know who he was, nor did she know what to say. What they were fighting about exactly was beyond her, and Olivia wasn't one to delve into other's pasts and present problems. There was a level of respect she had for strangers or new people, and immediately pushing herself into their lives was not what she did.

Taking a deep breath she turned to him more and smiled, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, it'll be all better soon. She can't stay mad at you forever, you're her brother. She loves you." Letting her hand rest down at her side once more, she took a quick glance at the items on the shelf and grabbed some extra strings for her ukulele. "But I've got to go, lots of coursework to do. Maybe I'll see you 'round?" Olivia waved and walked up to the counter, paying for the strings and walking out of the music store quickly, hoping she didn't seem too rotten by just leaving him there.

---OLIVIA OUT---

[Deleted]

@jill15

Lance looked up as the girl placed her hand on his shoulder. It was kind of strange being comforted like this by a complete stranger. At the same time though, it made him feel better. He seemed to lack the ability to make simple calculations like she was, on his own. Maybe it was because things had always worked out with him and Georgie. The usurping of their relationship by the return of their parents had definitely done a number on both of them. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to allow that. They didn’t understand that they were driving a wedge between him and his sister. “You’re right.” He watched as she dropped her arm. “Thanks.”

He watched as the girl reached up and grabbed ukulele strings. So she did play after all. It was a fun little instrument, seemingly matching the personality he thought he could see inside the girl. But he wasn’t going to find that out today, since she was already making her way towards the register and waving goodbye. “Maybe!” Lance waved back. He stood idly in the store for a few seconds, trying to think of what to do next. If he was quick, he could make it back to the common room right around the same time Georgie did, assuming she went straight back there. Then they could talk over everything that had happened. Making a mental list so that he would remember what to bring up, Lance pushed open the door to the music store and headed back to the castle.

[DONE]