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Post by Caitlin Collins on Apr 6, 2008 4:12:29 GMT -5
As Caitlin wandered slowly down to Hogsmeade, she thought back to that day a couple of weeks ago when she had applied for this job. She’d thought it would be a way to pass the time and get her mind off the Shadow Wars, as well as bringing in a little money for herself. Really, it was a good thing they’d said she could start whenever she liked. Over the last week she had not been fit to do schoolwork – even missing lessons which was unheard of for her – let alone actual work. Yesterday she’d decided that she couldn’t really put it off any longer and had traipsed down to the small wizarding village to arrange when she would start working.
She had been shown what she’d need to do the day she’d been given the job, so now all she needed to do was wait for their customers. The hardest thing was probably going to be putting on a happy face to any customers.
Entering Gladrag’s she managed to smile dully at the other sales assistant who had just finished their shift, and went to behind the counter. It was a large shop, really, filled to the brim with brightly coloured garments which seemed to be purposely aggressive towards her miserable mood. Recently, she had just been feeling numb inside – just going through the motions to keep herself occupied, so she didn’t have to think about Mallan. Except she was thinking about him again even now! Every day she would just pull herself out of bed and - mostly - go about life as she had before, just without her customary smile and optimism. How the hell could she be optimistic after reading about what Mallan had done to himself?
Letting out a quiet sigh, Caitlin leaned her elbows on the counter and waited for a customer to arrive. She was there for the whole morning so surely someone would come at some point, however much she just wanted to be left alone.
A New Day
Caity made her way down to Hogsmeade in the light drizzle, hurrying as she did so. Typically she’d forgotten to pick up a coat on her way out and was currently soaked in the water falling from above. It was refreshing rather than annoying, and it was with a sigh that she performed the spell to dry herself off. She doubted the manager would be too impressed if she came in dripping water all over the clothes. Apparently her spellwork was improving, because the charm worked as it should, without any ill effects attached. Entering via the staff door – and nearly getting knocked over by one of her colleagues, who looked eager to escape – she made her way to behind the counter to start her shift, waiting to see if anyone would venture out shopping in this weather.
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Post by lydianowan on Sept 11, 2008 16:55:52 GMT -5
And here she was...again.
A sly smile appeared on Lydia's face as she made her way towards Gladrags. A usual expression to be found on Lydia's face, is was merely masked by her long blonde hair, being blown about her face by the minor wind. Although the idea of showing up at the store wet wasn't exactly ideal or courteous to the staff, it was inevitable now. Lydia, being very easily destracted by numerous things, was supposed to have come here days ago. Being athletically inclined, and often times spontaneously jumping into a task that required much demand on her body and clothing, it was only natural that her clothing would suffer because of it. She needed new robes, her clothing was getting over worked. And because of Lydia's wealthy background, she usually never had to make due with what she currently had. Her mother sent her money, and she was supposed to replace her older robes. It actually happened quite annually.
Her smile widened as she quickly stepped through the doorway, coming through and laughing a little to herself as she realized the light sensation of dripping rain was no longer upon her. She could have practiced Quidditch today, but she'd concluded that this was a better option to salvage the weather and get something done that she had already procastinated...Her eyes scanned the scene as she looked for one of the usual tailors; because of her frequent visits she was actually quite familiar with the staff...or so she thought. Her eyes finally landed upon someone at the counter. She instantly recognized the girl. Caitlin Collins! Her fellow sixth year, and a Hufflepuff. But that wasn't what Lydia really remembered her for...it was the fact that Caitlin had helped her when she'd embarrassed herself by attempted a daring Quidditch stunt that had truly injured her. It had been a little awkward for Lydia to hide her pain...but that was in the past, and Lydia needed to be friendly...
"Hello." She said cheerfully, a usual trait of the bold Gryffindor.
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Post by Caitlin Collins on Sept 14, 2008 7:04:10 GMT -5
With no one immediately coming through the entrance, Caity retrieved a textbook from her bag and began reading up on yet another lesson she had missed while away from Hogwarts. The wonderful thing about this job was that at this time of year, it was quiet. Most people were still broke from Christmas and the rush for Valentines outfits was over, which meant she had plenty of time to catch up on all the work she needed to. However, magical theory was not something she had ever found particularly interesting anyway, and soon she was wishing for something to distract her. There were plenty of stray thoughts that could distract her, but not many were exactly pleasant to focus on, so she continued reading and doing as she had learnt to this last month; ignoring the depression that sought to close in around her. It wasn’t healthy, but it was the easiest way she had found to get by. Just thinking about those stray thoughts made her mentally flinch away, and she turned back to the book.
Hearing the door open, she glanced up and over towards the entrance. The first thing she noticed was the water now dripping onto the floor from the figure who had come in. She kept a wince from showing up on her face – that would need to be cleaned up – and redirected her gaze at the figure. With surprise, she recognised her as Lydia Nowan; Paris’ twin, and the girl who had injured herself on the quidditch pitch last week.
“Hi Lydia,” she replied, giving a half-smile as was expected of her by the manager. He’d told her that if she had to be miserable the rest of the time, she could at least pretend to be cheerful while interacting with customers. Pushing the book to the side, she emerged from behind the counter and leaned on the front of it slightly, expression returned to the neutrality she normally carried about these days. “Looking for anything in particular?”
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Post by lydianowan on Sept 23, 2008 17:51:52 GMT -5
Lydia noticed the smile returned to her by the Hufflepuff was indeed less friendly and hardly as electrifying as her own. And for a moment...it saddened her, but that was less than a millisecond. Lydia was used to that sort of thing, her personality generally being overly friendly to seemingly kind strangers, and took no more note of it. Caitlin's small smile wasn't a snub, or, at least Lydia didn't think so...it was just a normal reaction. Lydia got it a lot from aqqantances...and it was especially typical of Hufflepuffs. She leaned a little on the counter, her hands in front of her as she spoke.
"Yes..." She admitted, openly embarrassed about her reason for her request but not enough to wound her pride. "Well..." She paused again to think about what she needed to say before lunging in with full, cheerful, force. " I need a new set of robes. Not that I need a new size, just new robes. My own are kind of...getting worn out, you know?" She turned her head to survey the surroundings behind her and then stare at the rest of the shop that was visible to her. She sighed into her next statement, "And maybe I'll browse a bit, too. You never know what you'll find."
As odd as it could sound, Lydia actually liked to shop and particularly enjoyed the expressions of fashion. It wasn't an obsession like some of the other girls, but she'd been raised in wealth and some exposure to the world of Wizarding fashion came along with it. Initially, when Lydia was a small girl, she'd hated skirts, dresses, and everything about that world. But as she'd gotten older, she'd gotten in better touch with her femininity and began to be more interested. Now, she particularly liked certain types of clothing, mostly from designers that Lydia found brilliant but were still quite unknown. This allowed the sixth year Gryffindor to display a fashion style quite all her own. Although, school uniforms were definitely an exception to her fondness of fashion; she didn't like the "restrictive" outfits and cared little about damage to them...until her recklessness brought her to this point. Now she simply wanted to get her quest for new robes out of the way, although her interest in looking into something else was definitely triggered.
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Post by Caitlin Collins on Sept 25, 2008 8:54:31 GMT -5
To be honest, Caitlin was surprised that she could tell between Lydia and Paris so easily. She’d never been fantastic at noticing little details, or any details at all, unless it was a subject matter she found particularly interesting. But with the twins, she supposed it was just the stark differences in their personalities that let her know immediately which one she was talking to. Lydia had entered the shop with a bright smile and friendly demeanour – Cait couldn’t imagine Paris doing the same.
As she leaned on the counter, Caity turned her body a little so she was facing the other girl more directly. The force of her cheerfulness was even somewhat intimidating in contrast to what she was usually feeling like most days, but she restored the half-smile onto her face in response to it. Pretend to be happy, pretend everything’s the same as it ever was, she reminded herself. If she could fool other people, maybe she could successfully fool herself, too.
“Just school robes? Or dress robes, or something else?” she asked. There were enough robes in this shop that if Lydia didn’t specify more she would end up searching all day to find what she wanted. It had taken her a while after starting work here to remember where everything was, and upon her return she’d found that half of it had been forgotten. Now, she was mostly sure of where everything was, but occasionally she might have to check.
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Post by lydianowan on Oct 4, 2008 14:27:59 GMT -5
Lydia responded with a small laugh and another large smile after Caitlin's question. "School robes, of course." She leaned against the counter, her head resting on the back of her palm. "Ahhh...I have to remember to clarify myself more...Bad habit." With a sigh, she spoke again, although not having much to express. "And....well...." The hesitant Gryffindor was trying to come to the decision of whether or not she should spend her (mother's) money on something else other than school robes. It seemed very appealing, but now that Caitlin had come out and said it matter-oh-factly, she somehow felt guilty. Lydia could go shopping at a muggle store or somewhere else later...
"On second thought, yeah, I think I'll just stick to Hogwarts robes." As soon as the words were spoken she was back to her former demeanor. She carried an aurora of happy confidence that couldn't be denied. It was as if everything seemed easy for the Sixth year Gryffindor, who carried a strong smile and relaxed complexion. Lydia simply had no idea that Caitlin was suffering internally, mistaking her half-smiles for just a typical reaction of an individual to her enthusiastic happiness. Even though she failed to recognize Caitlin's well hidden emotions, Lydia was no fool. Her overbearing confidence was sometimes intimidating and Lydia had grown used to it. Lydia wasn't oblivious to the fact that not only were some intimidated by her confidence, but also irritated by it, and many even envied it. But that didn't stop her from being herself, and this case was no different. But she simply had no idea that Caitlin's reaction had any intent different than many of her other interactions.
She then straightened up flatly, her arms extended on the counter still. Her fingers lightly tapping, she waited for a continuation of dialogue from the Hufflepuff. Lydia sometimes wondered how students from Hogwarts got such positions...how they managed to work in places such as these. She'd seen a few students she knew from school working in shops, and she often pondered how they were selected for such task. Lydia obviously had not been pressured by her mother to get a job; additional work besides her school studies could perhaps be lethal to the rebellious Gryffindor's grades, and her mother knew it too. The thought of taking a summer position also fell short, as Lydia was often busy during the summer season traveling for charities and personal enjoyment...in addition to Quidditch practice...And finally, she sincerely did not need more income to get by, she was very much financially secure as it was...
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Post by Caitlin Collins on Oct 6, 2008 13:02:56 GMT -5
Caitlin was slightly irked by the “of course” added onto Lydia’s reply, as if it was obvious it was for school robes. How was she supposed to know that? Was she a mind-reader? A psychic? Supposed to know everything without being told any of it? Robes were pretty standard wizarding wear, and this was a shop for wizarding wear. It wasn’t just aimed at Hogwarts students, there were loads of other types of robes besides those for Hogwarts. And now Lydia was being all indecisive, not knowing whether she wanted anything else or not. Shouldn’t she have decided that before coming into the shop? To bring the right amount of money?
Realising that her half-smile had slipped into a less than happy expression, Caity reversed it and halted that trail of thought. She really needed to stop getting irritated with the simplest things; her boss wouldn’t be happy at all if he heard that she was scowling at customers. Not to mention that it made her appear quite unfriendly at times. The fact that she never seemed to be in the mood for friendliness nowadays was beside the point. And Lydia had said afterwards she had a bad habit of not explaining clearly enough. There really was no reason for her to have become so annoyed from that.
Suddenly processing a pause in the sound of Lydia’svoice, Caity spoke up quickly to reply. “Well, school robes are over there, at the back,” she attempted to point over various racks of clothes before realising that method was not going to work. “Ah... C’mon, I’ll show you.” She took a step away from the counter, assuming Lydia would follow her but not actually checking to be sure, and made her way to the back of the shop, where two racks of black robes with varying degrees of quality were stood next to the curtained dressing room. Thinking she should probably make conversation, she continued speaking with a simple, “How’s your arm now?”
Unlike what the Gryffindor might think about getting a job to earn some extra money, this job was actually helping Caity with her schoolwork. With the weather like it was at the moment, business was slow and it meant she had plenty of time to catch up on schoolwork she had missed during that month. There certainly was a lot of it, but she was slowly getting there so that when she went into lessons, she wasn’t quite so lost as the first few classes after returning. Here, she didn’t have the distractions of noise made by other students, or reading a certain set of letters that would keep her mind so occupied that she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on homework for several hours afterwards. A tune began playing in her head without warning, some lines of a muggle song she’d kept hearing on the radio while at the house. It had been re-running in her ears numerous times recently, but this was the first time she’d been able to recall the words that went with the melody. I read it all, every word, and I still don’t understand a thing... It all boils down to the same old thing, just a yin and a yang... It all boils down to the same old pain...
She hadn’t realised the relation to her own life then, but now it had clicked she wondered if the appropriateness of the lyrics had been why it had been stuck in her head since returning. Repeatedly reading the notebook of letters from... him... and still not understanding why he’d done what he had. Yin and yang – the very origin of the shadow wars. And that “same old pain”? Well that just came up every time she allowed her mind to wander too much, just as it was now. The tightness in her throat and chest had come back and she swallowed once in an attempt to rid herself of it. Shaking her head a fraction to rid herself of those thoughts, or more particularly, thoughts of who they related to, she returned her attention to Lydia. Her expression had fallen again but she perked it back up to the fake smile. She didn’t want to be thinking of that right now, especially knowing what it generally did to her outer appearance and body language. With any luck Lydia wouldn’t have noticed the sudden plunge her facial expression had likely taken into depression, or just wouldn’t be paying attention to her now the robes were in plain sight. And it had only been for a couple of seconds anyway. Of course she wouldn’t have seen, Cait reassured herself.
((Lyrics by Travis – Pipe Dreams))
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Post by lydianowan on Oct 17, 2008 17:13:01 GMT -5
As Caitlin took the initiative to show Lydia where the school robes were, Lydia thought of responding with the sentence of, "Oh, no thanks, I know where they are." After all, she'd been here several times, but part of her felt that the Hufflepuff would be angry with her for having wasted her time by bothering her with conversation. She also usually needed help with getting her robes tailored. So, with a sharp nod, her eyes followed after Caitlin and her feet followed in pursuit. Taking long, confident, strides, she quickly fell behind the her fellow student. She wasn't particularly happy anymore, nor was she angry. She was just simply neutral in feeling. Prior to this moment, Caitlin had met her own friendliness with the very same neutrality. There was no full smile, nor was there too much of a scowl on Caitlin's behalf; just neutrality, in Lydia' opinion. But Lydia was a black and white person. She did not do neutrality well, nor it did last long with the bold Gryffindor. Her poor attempt at neutrality merely came off as if she were a confused child; such as now.
She was startled by Caitlin's question, not expecting a continuation of dialog. "Uh-fine." She replied, trying to bring herself out of her confused, childlike mood. There seemed to be a long silence; Lydia completely too enthralled in her own world to even notice Caitlin's sudden change of appearance. But what Caitlin probably didn't notice during her own shift of mood, was that Lydia was changing physical appearance as well. The confused child was quickly replaced; buried under the mud by a more dominant Lydia. Although characteristically friendly and light, Lydia was not one to like appearing vulnerable in any way. Lydia was a girl that could be absolutely ruthless on the Quidditch Pitch, and preferred to go to the extreme in everything. Lydia was a girl that back home was known as the party girl. And here at school, the Gryffindor Common Room was her own personal playground; she also often got in trouble for talking too much in class. But most importantly, when most girls would throw a snicker and an insult, she'd throw a punch.
By the time they'd reached the robes section, Lydia stopped firmly in confidence. Standing completely erect, demonstrating terrific posture, for a second, she portrayed a mirror image of her twin sister, Paris. Although blissfully unaware of it, this happened quite frequently, and although Lydia liked to think that she and her sister were completely opposites now, there still lingered some major similarities which in prior years had helped contribute to their teacher's lack of ability to tell them apart. With a little sigh, she smiled, and then shot a glance over at Caitlin. " You know, I never really got a chance to thank you for helping me on the pitch." Her fingers skimmed across the rack of Hogwarts robes, "Thank you." Her smile lingered, still friendly and warm. The injury had not been too alarming (although painful), but it probably would have been more severe if she had been left out alone on the Quidditch pitch for a long period of time.
((OOC: I'm sorry it took so long!))
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Post by Caitlin Collins on Oct 23, 2008 15:56:32 GMT -5
Having been in her job for quite a while now, with the exception of about a month while she’d been at her parents’ house, Cait had gotten into the habit of going into auto-pilot when customers came in, she was so used to it all. She would just spiel out the words she had been told to say, with a semblance of a smile and interested expression on her face. “Anything I can help you with?” “What type of robes would you like?” “Do you have everything you need?” “Have a good day.” She tried not to slip into this, but it was all too easy rather than actually forcing herself to think. And she was doing her job as a sales assistant... but would sometimes end up asking the questions anyway even if they’d already been answered.
Hearing the slightly hesitant reply to her simple question, Caity took it as a sign that Lydia didn’t particularly want to continue conversing and didn’t ask say any more, in reply or bringing up a different topic. When she turned to face the Gryffindor again as they reached the section for school robes, she almost thought Paris was there instead and she’d been fooled this entire time. To be honest, she’d been impressed with herself for being able to tell the two sisters apart. She guessed it was just their different ways of acting and conducting themselves, but this was the first time she had seen any of the other twin displayed in their counterpart. It was eerily familiar.
The sudden warm smile disarmed Cait slightly, unprepared as she was for such friendliness from someone who appeared so much like Paris. But now, it wasn’t Paris, it was back to Lydia. Strange how she could just flick from one to the other so quickly. She shrugged a little at the thanks, reproducing that fake smile once more in reply, but stayed quiet still.
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