when minds wander | cordie

[cordelia regan smith]

Elijah Theron Fleming

10.XX.2024

She knew he was going to try and protest when it came down to actually cutting her hair. It was an odd request, especially because she usually had a solution for things like this. Simple household and quick fix charms were sort of her thing, and for once in her life, the Hufflepuff was at a loss for the best spell to do the job. With the way her hair was always getting tangled and matted, she realized she probably should have known of one years ago. Of course she was going to know within hours of her new haircut, courtesy of Eli. After he was done getting everything as close to even, she was going straight to the library and seeing if there were books on grooming or haircutting. If this had been a muggle school, she probably would have called her mum up first. She always had an answer to questions like that. Cordelia figured if there wasn’t an answer anywhere in Hogwarts, her mum was the next best thing once she got home for break. It was only going to be the two of them this year, after all. Sporting a botched haircut until then wouldn’t be all that bad considering her hair was a mess to begin with. And that was assuming Eli screwed up. She had a little faith in him getting it done correctly.

As he attempted to push the scissors back towards her, Cordelia held her hand out, stopping them midway and shaking her head again. He had to do it because he had the best shot at doing it correctly. It seemed to work, and pretty soon she felt him running the strands around the knot through his fingers, probably trying to find the best place to begin the cut. This was much higher up than she had ever had cut before, and it made her heart pound nervously at what the end result could look like.

Holding her breath as the hair was pulled into a gentle tautness, the metallic snip was more of a shock than she thought it would be. The weight of the badge was gone from her head as it clattered on the ground behind her, the held breath escaping from her. That was the first step to the whole mess. “Th-Thank you…n-now for the rest I guess…” In a way, that was almost a scarier thought. Pretty soon here her head was going to be a lot lighter than just a stuck pin.

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

THE FACT THAT ELI HAD MANAGED TO CUT HER hair at all was something. He froze when she opened her mouth and, quite plainly, declared 'now the rest'. Eli's arms went limp, his mouth parting as he stared at her for a beat of uncharacteristic silence. "Wh-" He hiccoughed, slamming the scissors on to the table beside her and barking a very nervous laugh. "I don't think so." He told her, shaking his head wildly before he bent down to retrieve the snake of hair he'd cut off.

"I'm not qualified to do a full hair cut, Cordie." He told her, scrunching his nose and peering at the wobbling lock of uneven hair. It wasn't that odd, the badge had only snagged in part of it. "Plus, it'll grow back." He tried to shrug it off, the lock of hair still gripping in his palm. He ran his thumb over the cool metal of the badge anxiously. "You can't even tell!" Which was, if anything, his first lie. He could very much tell where he'd cut her hair, because he'd done it and he couldn't stop staring at it.

"Please don't make me do that." He begged of her, clasping his hands, the tuft of buttery blonde hair peeking out from between his fingers. "I'll really mess it up." He screwed his mouth to one side, unclasping his hands and offering her the hair with the badge. She could keep it, he reckoned. After all the trouble he'd put them through. "I'll make it up to you." And by that, he meant not by cutting her hair and he rushed to clarify. "Anything you want..." And then he quirked his brows and added. "Apart from that." He motioned to her head, pushing the scissors further away from him. 

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[cordelia regan smith]

Elijah Theron Fleming

10.XX.2024

From the sound of the scissors and Eli’s accompanying guttural noise had Cordelia whipping around in her chair to face him, eyes widened as her first thought was that he had accidentally cut off parts of her hair that weren’t planned. Her hand shot up to where the strands had been sliced off, but she didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. Eli’s signature nervous laugh didn’t have her fully convinced that there still wasn’t something wrong, despite it apparently being because he didn’t want to even out the rest of her hair. She wasn’t qualified to cut hair either, and it was going to be a lot harder for her to do it on her own, charms or not. To add to that, there weren’t any other people she could turn to for help on it – Lily would laugh and then accidentally butcher it in an instant – and that was basically the extent to her friends that would be readily available to help. She couldn’t wait for the next trip to Hogsmeade to see if they had a hair stylist or whatever there either.

“Y-You can’t?” she responded, running her hands through where the strand had been snipped off from again. Brushing her fingertips against the freshly cut pieces certainly made it feel like you could tell if you were looking at it. Sure, her hair wasn’t known for being the most controllable, orderly mass ever, but even in its frizzy matted glory it was fairly obvious if there was a chunk missing. Putting it in a bun or ponytail wasn’t really her thing either, but if she had to in order to avoid the absent splotch from sticking out, she would.

Eli held out the badge to her, hair included, continuing to explain that he didn’t want to finish the cut. The offer to ‘make it up to her’ didn’t really do much for her because she wasn’t big on holding favors over people’s heads. If Lily had been in her place, she would probably torture Eli with some impossible task. The Hufflepuff couldn’t do that though. She wasn’t Lily. “C-Can you hand m-me the scissors?” she asked as she started to rifle around her pockets for her wand. “I think I can ch-charm them to c-cut the rest…” It was only a theory, but if she could get the blades to cut at the same time as she moved the scissors, it had a chance of working.

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

SETTING THE BADGE AND THE HAIR DOWN ON the table in front of them, Eli should have felt relieved. Cordie had never made him feel like he had to do it. In fact, she'd never made him feel that way ever. Eli was used to being bossed around. His excitable and sometimes lazy nature made him fairly easy to manipulate. But, Cordie was very matter-of-fact. She held her hand out for the scissors, her expression as unreadable as ever.

"Really?" Eli asked, unconvinced as he held the scissors out, but didn't let go. Even if she tried to tug them free, he couldn't bring himself to relinquish his hold on them. "Is that even possible?" Cordie had always impressed Eli with her maddening skills in charms. She'd fixed his camera once with what could only be described as 'a flick of the wrist'. He'd marvelled at her, but cutting her hair blindly? Even Eli knew that seemed a little far-fetched. Eventually, when Eli couldn't shake away the overwhelming tug of guilt, he pulled the scissors back towards himself.

"I'll do it." He grumbled, his face scrunched in a frown as he threaded his fingers in the handle of the scissors. "I don't want you to lose an ear or something." He sniffed, shifting slightly to stand behind her. "I'm not a hairdresser or anything." He reminded her, cautiously reaching out to scoop a handful of her unruly hair. But, he had to admit, there was something a little thrilling about the whole ordeal. Probably because it was truly insane, his hands sweating with anticipation. He couldn't shut his eyes for this part. One hand gathering her hair together, the other bracing the blades open. "What- what now?" He stuttered, his eyes laser-focused on a freckle at the back of her exposed neck.

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[cordelia regan smith]

▲

Eli’s surprise at the fact that she could potentially charm the scissors to cut her hair caught Cordelia slightly off guard. While it would be more complicated of a charm because of the actions it would be completing, levitating a pair of scissors was simple enough, and getting them to open and close was far from being a difficult task. The trick here was making sure she kept the trim even across. At this point she was fine with anything that remotely looked close to a straight edge. Her mass of tangled hair was already a mess to behold and she doubted that anyone would take the time to comment on a few uneven strands of hair on the back of her head. And even if they did, she was bound to ignore the comment completely. This was a better outcome than carrying around a piece of metal in her head for the remainder of the semester.

“Y-Yeah…it sh-shouldn’t be difficult,” Cordelia responded as she produced her wand from her pocket and waited for Eli to hand over the scissors. She already had a mental checklist of what spells needed to be applied first, and how she was going to direct the scissors as they went through her hair. Eli would probably still have to help out by holding the hair up, since she wouldn’t be able to do all of that at the same time. It was going to be a lengthy process, but completing it would be another notch in her belt with charms. Most people would use that as a bragging right, but the Hufflepuff just wanted to see the extent that she could push her magic. Levitating a half-dozen pens in the air at once was starting to get boring anyways.

Before the scissors were handed over to her though, Eli decided to change his mind, stating that he would do it. Something about not wanting her to lose an ear. Cordelia didn’t think that would be an outcome though, since she tended to have a steady hand with charms like this. And her ears weren’t even close to the part that was being trimmed. “Oh…ok,” she muttered, returning her wand to her pocket as she readjusted to the position she had been in earlier. She was fine with anything at this point, as long as there was some semblance of an even trim.

Eli collected her hair up again, this time all that remained to be cut, and then paused. She could almost feel the cold metal of the scissors now that the nape of her neck was exposed. He asked what to do now, and Cordelia mumbled, “Cut?”

Elijah Theron Fleming ● 444 ● Prime Mover by Ghost

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

THE SNICK OF THE SCISSORS CLOSING OVER Cordie's buttery blonde hair made Eli flinch. But, the moment she'd given him the go-ahead, Eli didn't give himself any room to back out. He wasn't a coward, he reminded himself. He'd messed him, and now he had to fix it. Eli wasn't good at a lot of things, but most of the time, he was good at cleaning up.

Cordie's tangled hair detached from the lock immediately, the badge feeling infinitely heavier once it was fully in his hand. The hair on Cordie's head fluttered back to settle at the base of her neck and Eli realised he was holding his breath. He let it out in a heady gust that became caught in Cordie's hair and he squeezed his eyes shut, his hand forming a fist around the piece of hair Eli had just removed from her head. "I can't... I can't believe I just did that." He muttered, his face incredibly red. He opened his eyes wide and looked at Cordie, turning his face to catch her eye, his hand clutching her hair slapping on the table. "Are you okay?" He asked, as if he'd cut off her head. "I'm an idiot."

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[cordelia regan smith]

▲

The slice from the scissors’ blades was accompanied by the release of her hair. She had never had this much chopped off at the same time, so for the first time ever she could actually notice the difference from it being removed. The back of her head almost felt naked, her closest comparison being that of standing in the Astronomy tower during an early fall day, still dressed for the warm summer air, and getting blasted with a gust of autumn air. The kind that created goosebumps on contact and forced you to retreat back down into the castle. The same sort of reaction was happening at the base of her neck, where the collar of her shirt ended. As Eli completed the last cut and let her hair go, it was almost scratchy feeling at that spot. Her hair had never been known for being the most elegantly groomed, but the ends never felt like this. That was probably the difference between using scissors meant for art and those used by hairdressers.

From the way Eli was reacting, he was glad that the whole ordeal was finally done with. That’s why she had given him the option of doing it herself. “I-I’m fine…” she responded as she reached back to feel at the strands that had just been cut. She was going to have to find a spell to even them out later, because they were far from being anywhere close to that. That was still better than having a pin stuck on her head though, so she could manage with a crude trim for a day or two while she researched. Overall, it wasn’t bad – far from perfect, but not a hack job, which it certainly had the potential to have become. “Y-Y-You ever think of g-getting into hair styling?” Cordelia joked, the inflection coming out of her mouth sounding even weird to herself. It was so hard to say something that way without completely butchering a word or two. “Y-You did a g-good job. Thank you, Eli…”

Elijah Theron Fleming ● 340 ● Kodama by Alcest

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

FEELING HOT AND COLD ALL OVER ELI COULDN'T tear his eyes from the chunk of hair he'd cut from Cordie's head. It was very obvious, not something that could easily be hidden by an artful sweep of hair, or a ponytail or something. He felt a bit frenzied as he pushed lock of hair towards her, the badge scraping against the table top noisily, but he couldn't let it go. It was a reminder of what he'd just done. But she'd told him to, he tried to tell himself, and yet he still felt awful about it.

Bursting in to a frantic, shaky laugh, Eli shook his head at Cordie's cool composure. She looked totally unaffected, but she hadn't seen the back of her head yet. "You're mad!" He laughed, his red face flaming as he let go of the hair and stood up straight, some taut tension releasing in his chest. "Totally... mental." The word was utterly British and it sounded odd in his American twang, but it fit the bill. She was joking about it, and he was feeling terrible.

"You haven't even seen it yet," He muttered, pulling the seat out beside her and slumping in to it. "Honestly, I'm really bad luck." He said this with a loose shrug, the badge glinting among golden tendrils as he nodded his head. "Don't you care that there's a huge... chunk of your hair missing?" It was almost as if Eli wanted her to be mad at him. At least that would make sense. 

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[cordelia regan smith]

▲

Cordelia didn’t think that it was completely crazy to have someone untrained trimming her hair. She had already contemplated doing it herself, which, knowing herself, would have turned out infinitely worse than whatever Eli was going to pull off with the scissors. Charming the scissors and the strands of her hair to stay where they needed to be without ever having done it before was like asking for an accident to happen. At that point, she would have been better off going to Lily and asking the Gryffindor to have at it. Then there would be a proper excuse for the hack job that would come from it. She trusted Eli to get it done because he seemed to be the type to make sure he did things just good enough to pass, which was much better than anyone else she knew.

“B-But it feels f-fine…” she responded to his extremely valid point that he was trying to make. Her fingertips ran over the strands closest to her ear, and the felt okay-ish. Definitely rougher than they normally were after a trim, but she could make do with that. It wasn’t like anyone else was going to notice it at all, and Eli hadn’t completely botched the entire operation. Eli asked if she cared about having less hair now, and she shrugged, unsure of what her actual answer was going to be. That sort of thing had never really bothered her before, and the only time her hair was a real nuisance was when it got tangled and knotted. This would hopefully alleviate those occurrences. “As long as it’s s-sort of even, its f-fine,” she finally confirmed. And if it wasn’t, she could just put it up or something until Christmas break. Then it would really be out of her way.

Throughout all of this, she had completely forgotten that her whole reason for being in the club room was develop her film, her first canister still sitting in the wash area and the second one prepped and left in the dark room. Brushing at her shoulders to get rid of any remaining strands of loose hair, she gave Eli a small nod and returned to the wash unit, pulling the canister out and shaking it a few times. “If y-you grab the other one, I-I can show you how it works?” she said over her shoulder as she popped the canister in her hands open, happy to see that everything had taken correctly. There was still a ways to go before they would become prints, but they would do for now.

[Cord End]

Elijah Theron Fleming ● 432 ● Baby by Ira Wolf

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Elijah Theron Fleming]

only dust settles.

THE COMPLETE LACK OF CARE OR CONCERN IN Cordie's voice should have worried Eli. She was much more reckless than he'd ever imagined. But, it didn't. Instead, he found it incredibly funny and a little thrilling. He threw his head back and barked a laugh, shaking his head but halting the fight in him. He wouldn't argue with her about it anymore, at the very least she didn't seem to hold a grudge against him. He felt an immense relief about that, if a little confusion. "Okay, Cordie... you win." He held up his hands in complete surrender. But, there was respect in his eyes. And maybe a little fear.

Whenever Eli's sister's had done something like this, their mom used to say it was an 'emotional breakdown'. Whenever they dyed their hair, or even tried their hand at bangs, it had been something to patch a wound. Eli had always thought that was weird, but he hadn't argued with her either. She had always been right, a pinnacle of adult wisdom. And then she had disappeared. A breakdown of her own, perhaps. Watching feathery strands fall from Cordie's shoulders, Eli followed her around like a little lost bird, fascinated and humoured by her calm demeanour. He thought she'd make a great night light, and then he shook off that thought because it sounded kind of crazy. "Gotcha!" He sang, canister in hand.

[ELI END]

cordelia regan smith

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!