dirty hands | katherine

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

PEOPLE COULD SAY WHAT THEY WANTED ABOUT Hogwarts. But, it had a damn good greenhouse. Eli preferred animals above all else, but he'd always had a soft spot for plants. Herbology was one of the only classes he didn't totally suck at, so he tried his best. And, for the most part, it paid off. There was something calming about the entire place. And, if he occasionally slipped in to the greenhouse after hours to steal some plant food for his moving cactus, well... nobody need know.

However, Eli had always possessed about as much subtlety as he did smarts. And so, when he tried creeping out of the greenhouse with pockets full of sachets and fingers tipped in dirty soil, he wasn't as surprised to see another as he thought he would be. Sun down hadn't totally arrived, but the place was touched in fading orange light. Eli froze in place, his Adam's apple bobbing as he squinted past a watery ray of sunlight to see who had caught him. "K-Katherine?" He asked, aghast. Of all the people... 

@katie

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

After another classic Katherine Tantrum, she decided to take a quick walk around the grounds before curfew began. Her tantrums generally weren't done in public, but she had definitely let it loose on Jake this time, not really caring who had seen. Her jealousy in the fact that he and Lance were in the same house, even in the same dorm room had been annoying her since day one, but now it was even worse because she couldn't really keep her situation with Lance a secret from her brother for long, and she hated her brother knowing her secrets.

So, she tried to distract him as much as possible and, of course, made sure he couldn't get in her mind by keeping on guard with Occlumency at all times when around him. It got exhausting, though, so it wasn't a surprise that she got frustrated when he was nearby.

But at least now, she had the fresh air and no one to bother her - oh lord. She rolled her eyes when she heard her name, seeing Elijah Fleming leaving the greenhouses looking ridiculous. Well, maybe this was a good thing. Nothing like a good session of tearing someone down to make her feel better, right?

"Don't you look dirty. Shouldn't you be back by the kitchens with your new friends?" Ugh. Even Eli was in Lance's house. 

Elijah Theron Fleming

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

KATHERINE AND HER USUAL BAND OF MERRY MEN had never quite taken to Eli's odd sense of self. Eli couldn't remember a time any of them had looked at him with anything but disinterest or disgust. It made no difference when Katherine looked at him like that. Nothing changed, Eli had realised that when he'd bumped in to Bianca over the summer. 

Stuffing his dirty hands deep in to his pockets, he felt his shoulders come up around his ears. 'Plan your escape', his brain demanded, but he wasn't any good at those, either. The fact that he was smudged in soil wouldn't help things, either, so when Katherine inevitably commented on it, it barely touched Eli.

"What...?" He began, bushy eyebrows pulling together in confusion. "With the elves?" The kitchen's at Hogwarts were full of them, is that what she meant? "First of all, I'm like, at least 3 feet taller than the average House Elf." He retorted, completely missing the point she was making without any idea he was doing so. He didn't dispute about being friendly with them, either. 

@katie

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

As his eyebrows furrowed together Katherine couldn't help but think about how incredibly dull Elijah was. It wasn't a surprise to her that he didn't understand her reference to his new house. He probably hadn't picked up any of the nuances and cultural differences between Ilvermorny and Hogwarts yet. Too busy being... well, dull.

"Not the elves, no. Though with those ears they might let the height difference slide," she commented casually. "No, I meant with the Badgers. The house of yellow, the house that you're in now," she explained. It was a little difficult to insult the Hufflepuff house, considering... but Jake and Eli were there, too, which meant that it must attract weak people,

"Instead, you're out here... what, digging for treasure?"

Elijah Theron Fleming

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

INSTINCTIVELY, ELI REACHED FOR THE TIPS OF his ears. Like he expected them to be hideously pointed. They weren't. Just the same old round one. His face collapsed in to a scowl and he opened his mouth only to close it again. At Ilvermorny, the things people like Katherine thought, they mattered. And while there was no denying her lingering popularity, Eli wasn't sure they mattered any more. So, why was he letting her rile him?

"I don't know what you're trying to do, Katherine," Eli said, his nose wrinkling in distaste. "But it's not working." Rubbing his dirty hands on his thighs, Eli considered storming off, but that seemed too dramatic. He wasn't afraid of her, or whatever she had to say. He recited this in his head a few times.

Tilting his head, Eli rolled his eyes. "Sure... let's say I was." He quipped, crossing his arms over his chest. "Is- was that supposed to be insulting?" He shrugged, lifting his brows in an unimpressed look. "Because it's not." 

@katie

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Katherine internally grinned as he reached out for the tips of his ears. There was something incredibly satisfactory about knowing that your insults were getting at their intended target. She didn't openly grin on the outside though, she didn't want him to see how much it pleased her. People tended to be braver and fight back if they saw you relishing in their pain. If they thought you were just casual about it then they were much more likely to think that this was just a normal thing and not a special circumstance. That they deserved the insults rather than them being unique to one instance. She wasn't a bully mindlessly. If anything she was meticulously thoughtful of the way she made those she didn't like feel inferior.

He did show a little bit of bravery, though, saying that whatever she was trying to do wasn't working. The thing was, it clearly was working, which is why he made it a point to try and say that it wasn't. If it wasn't working he wouldn't have had to say anything at all, he would have just not reacted. "If I was trying to do anything specific it would have been done by now," she commented back, a look of boredom on her face.

At the mention of buried treasure, he made a little tough guy gesture and asked if that was supposed to be insulting. She shrugged, "I was just hoping you had a good reason for looking so filthy. Did you find anything of value?"

Elijah Theron Fleming

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

ELI WASN'T ENTIRELY SURE WHAT WAS HAPPENING but he didn't like it one bit. Kat had that awful way about her. Throwing Eli off the scent as much as she was to the wolves. And she grinned the entire time. He thought if the Devil was real, they was a pretty, grinning teenage girl.

"So what do you want then?" Eli snapped, gesturing with both hands before letting them slap back against this sides. She was confusing him, but he wasn't sure if perhaps that was the entire plan all along. "I'm coming out of the greenhouse..." Eli drawled, thumbing behind him, like it was obvious. "I don't know if you know, but there's a lot of dirt in there." He said bravely, shaking his head. "And, well it depends what you mean by value." Eli replied, thinking that they probably had very different definitions of the word.. 

@katie

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Eli snapped at her, asking what she wanted, and she smirked at his frustration. "Nothing, really," she answered. There wasn't anything specific she wanted from him, aside from watching him get annoyed with her. Even if he played it tough she still was having an affect on him, and that was all that mattered. He explained he was leaving the greenhouse, talking about how there was a lot of dirt in there and she nodded, eyes widening for a moment, "wow, bloody good of you to figure out that," she commented, using the British slang for the hell of it. He said that it depended what she meant by 'value' in terms of what he had found, and she sighed, stepping aside a little so he could walk by her if he wanted to.

"Whatever you think is of value is what I mean. I'm interested in your take," she admitted. Surely they had differing opinions of what was valuable, which meant that she could surely insult whatever he mentioned.

Elijah Theron Fleming

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

FASTER THAN ELI COULD FATHOM KATHERINE turned his own barb back on him. Her dull, sarcastic voice piercing through him and pulling his lips down at the corners. His cheeks creasing for all the wrong reasons. He heaved a weary sigh and shook his head, letting it roll back for a second as he considered his own reply. Maybe silence was better. "Thanks for noticing..." He muttered blandly, rolling his eyes as he side-stepped, ready to leave.

"I... doubt that." Eli retorted, shaking his head slightly. When was Katherine ever interested in what he had to say. It was a trap and he knew it, so why was he even considering being honest? It was beyond him, but he didn't lie when he reached in to his pocket and retrieved a small phial. "It's plan superfood, okay?" He said, shaking it at her before tucking it back in to his pocket. "I have a cactus to feed."

@katie

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

He was trying to get by again and this time she let him. His reply was weak, and his sigh made it clear that he was just exasperated with her. This was fine by her, any negative emotion was good enough to entertain her. Then he said that he doubted that she really cared about what he thought was important, but she just waiting for him to respond. He pulled out a phial and she leaned forward to narrow her eyes at it. "Interesting," she said, as he replaced it. "I suppose you and cacti have something in come on, which would make you good friends," she began casually. "Very few creatures want either around," that wasn't necessarily clever or witty, but sometimes just being flat out mean did the trick. She wasn't in his way anymore, though, so it was also possible he'd just make a break for it any second.

Elijah Theron Fleming

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

THE SICKLY SWEET WAY KATHERINE INSULTED ELI almost made him walk away in an instant. Because again, it was like being blindly back-handed. He hand't expected it, but he should have. Just like always. But, something pinned Eli's feet to the ground and he twisted his head in a rapid, astonished shake, scoffing from the very back of his throat.

"What is wrong with you?" He asked suddenly, his nose itching with irritation as he crossed his arms and looked at Katherine, as if inspecting her for an answer of his own. "Better yet, what did I do that makes you... so bitter?" He spat 'bitter' the way she spat insults, fast and without a second thought. She had so often singled Eli out that he couldn't even count any more. He'd thought the move would make her forget her obvious dislike for him. "You don't even know me."

@katie

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

He spun his head to look at her quickly, scoffing, and she held still as if she didn't notice any change in his behavior. He asked what was wrong with her and her eyebrow raised. She was impressed with his ability to call her out like that. That only made it more fun to break him, though, because he wasn't that easy to stomp over. But before she could answer THAT questions, he asked what he did that made her so 'bitter'. He added that she didn't even know him, and she nodded, taking a step forward.

"You're right, I don't. But I know people like you," she started. "Sweet little Pukwudgies turned Hufflepuff. No variety at all. Just another simpleton," like her brother, though her brother was a Wampus but that didn't change the fact that he was pathetic, too. "I just think maybe, just maybe, every once in a while it's good for you to learn that not everyone is as friendly and pathetic as you are. No, some people are out to get you, and some people are too good for you," like Ashley. She remembered that time back at school when Eli had tried to talk to Ash and Ashley shut him down in front of all her friends. She trusted Ashley's judgement, and if Ash thought he wasn't worth it then why would Katherine?

She took another step toward him, "and, I get bored," she shrugged, "it's simple."

Elijah Theron Fleming

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

ELI FOUGHT THE INSTINCTIVE URGE TO STEP back when she stepped towards him. His spine straightening, jaw tightening as she seemed to eye him like a snake would a mouse. Maybe he'd made a mistake confronting her, but it had felt so good to do so after putting up with it for so long.

"You're not teaching me anything." He disagreed once she had finished, a wrinkle between his brows. "I know everyone isn't nice, I'm not an idiot." Although this was not always true, he still felt the desire to correct her because he'd learned that lesson a long time ago. He didn't need a refresher course every time she got 'bored'. Ashley had been different but Eli knew that wasn't the case for everyone.

"It doesn't change my mind about people, you know." He looked at her heavily, his eyes a little hooded as if he were looking down on her. "It just makes my mind up about you." She was close enough now that he lowered his voice, though he still wished to walk away. "You call me simple, but I'm not the one recycling old lines every time they get 'bored'." Eli shrugged with a thin, humourless smile. "Seems to me like you're the predictable one."

And then he took the initiative to back away, lifting a dirt smudged hand to wave at her before gaining enough confidence to turn his back and finally walk away from her. 

@katie

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

He said that she wasn't teaching him anything, that he knew everyone wasn't nice. At his comment about 'not being an idiot' she raised an eyebrow, but she let him go on. He said she didn't change him mind about people, that it just made up his mind about her. If there was one thing bullies didn't like, it was people standing up to them. Not only did it make picking on them less fun, but it also made picking on them detrimental to themselves, and she didn't need that. His voice was lowered, his eyes hooded, his tone severe. He said he wasn't the one 'recycling old lines' every time they got bored. 

Then he said she was the predictable one. In all honesty, it wasn't he worst insult. Math was predictable, so she didn't necessarily mind sharing that trait. He took a step back, waving a dirty hand at her, and she just stood there, staring him down until he turned his back.

And she let him go. That was... interesting.

Elijah Theron Fleming

(the end!)