Order only - Private message to Evelyn

[alt_sinistra]

The tea's very thoughtful.

(All the conversations we've had about grammar, I wrote that, and now I can't stop sorting how I'd translate that sentence into one of the other languages as if the tea were the one doing the thinking.)

I'm glad it's clear out, tonight. Considering.

Did you decide on the book, or the arithmancy, or something else?

Comments

[alt_evelyn]

Book. I was reading Kevin and his bunkmates some bedtime stories, so I got in a reading sort of mood.

I'm glad you found it. I figured you'd be out tonight.

[alt_sinistra]

Books are excellent choices in all sorts of moods, really.

I'm thinking about the stories in the stars, more than the stars tonight. Or at least that's what I keep coming back to.

Not that most of them end well

There's something comforting about looking up, and seeing things not change very fast, though.

[alt_evelyn]

It is beautiful, isn't it? Like the most magnificent watch ever made.

And knowing what's going to happen next helps too. No matter what we do down here.

[alt_sinistra]

That's a very nice description, yes.

It's not that there aren't other things. Comets. Novae and supernovae. Meteor showers. But mostly things keep going as they were.

Of all the idiotic things to miss, now i miss the Hogwarts orreys. (And in truth, I'd always thought them necessary but fussy, speaking of clockwork mechanisms.)

[alt_evelyn]

I found myself missing the breakfast rolls the other day.

The hard ones. That take forever to chew.

I don't think reason factors in at all when it comes to that sort of thing. And it's easier to

[alt_sinistra]

Reason and I have not reliably been on particularly good terms, the past thirty six weeks eight months or so.

We feel what we feel, I guess, whether it's logical or not. Whether that's missing orreys or hard breakfast rolls or all sorts of other things.

I kept trying to tell myself all afternoon that it's not like today's that different from other days. But if I'm not going to manage reason - or being useful - I might as well let myself wallow in stars a bit.

Tomorrow, though. Do you have time for a couple of hours? Something dense and chewy, and distracting. (I promise, not as tedious at those sets of questions I've been throwing at you. I've got one more I want you to do, but not tomorrow.)

[alt_evelyn]

Yes. Please. That sounds lovely.

And the questions haven't been terrible. I've rather enjoyed solving some of them, actually. And if it'll help me with getting through my OWL material, I can certainly see the value in it.

[alt_sinistra]

I did say I had plans for you demonstrating you know the OWL material backwards and forwards.

Next clear night, I want to run you through a set of charts, under exam conditions, too.

I'm still looking at some of the locational offsets on the first wards. There's something nagging at me, and I just can't sort out what, and maybe you'll spot a pattern I'm not.

[alt_evelyn]

That sounds like a plan, then. On both fronts.

[alt_sinistra]

Excellent. You're a great help, truly, and getting to be more and more of one as we go.

I am going back to the stars, I think. Enjoy your book?

[alt_evelyn]

Shall.

And thank you, ever so much, Professor.

It's a good thing, to feel useful.