Brooms Care 801 ( Jari / Kalyani )

[shava4444]

For those of you who do not know these two, here is Jari's application

Making his way upstairs, Fredrik had the old broom over one shoulder. it's red bristles tended to catch most people's attention but the thing that really got them was it was Jari, those who knew his cousin. Jari hated flying. Fredrik however adored flying, had spent more then half his life on the pole and risked his life at least a couple hundred times in the wild and rough lands of Finland. And here he was headed upstairs with a broom, something "his" friends used to try to coax the boy to do, go flying. But few did as he was about to do, even those who were that broom game nuts. Because for Fredrik, the thrill was in the risk, the chance you had to be put back together again after a really fantastic risky accident! Given a choice between flying across a field and the chance to go through a doxie-ridden swampland at night, Fredrik would pick the swamp every time.

On the seventh floor he found an unoccupied window and sat down, checking first that the latches were easily unsecured from the inside. Without opening the window yet, Fredrick sat there and opened a broom care kit which had several of the standard items replaced with customs. Like a higher grade wax, different material cloth, and a few jars of stains and "anti-friction" paste which the craftman had sold him after careful instruction. For more then most Quidditch players, Fredrik was broom-crazy. Not for him watching a sport when he could be out flying without restraint. Putting the broom in the sun to let the bristles warm up, he put his hands on the window sill and jumped up so he was sitting in the window itself. After a few minutes of looking over the landscape and seeing not much out flying today except in the far distance, he decided enough time had passed to begin.

Pulling out the paste first, he took a leather glove out of the case and slipped it on, putting some of the paste on the fingertips before beginning a long series of strokes down the length of the bristles, working it into the twigs careful not to bend or break any of them. While not a racing broom specifically, Fredrik had always preferred maneuverability to speed, specializing enough that most found what he could do on a broom movement wise to be mind-boggling. So far he had not done that at school for fear someone would try to get him into Quidditch, something he had no interest in personally. When the paste was well soaked up into the bristles, turning their faded red closer to a blood intensity, he set it back in the sun and turned to the next jar. Using the glove he twisted off the lid revealing a blueish waxy substance, partly liquid looking.

Tapping it with his wand, Fredrik looked over this side of the stick carefully, critically, as if he wasn't sure yet whether there were any patches or not. While nothing visibly would have caught an onlookers eyes, he settled on a particular spot and then with the broom still upright he began rubbing the stuff on the handle in lots of tiny circles, over and over, working it into the wood. A student passed by and he looked up and nodded, but otherwise ignored those passing by unless they spoke. The many who knew him would be surprised at the care of a broom, but they would learn soon enough he was not the same Jari they had known for years of school. Whistling an old Finnish nursery rhyme for calming sheep, Fredrik felt about as normal as he could get these days despite the fresh view on the world and young fingers so small...

In the distance however he heard something which caught his attention. A cackle of a certain Poltergeist. Annoyed, Jari quickly flipped his stuff closed, grabbed it and the broom and hopped down out of the space, looking both ways. There was a broom closet around the next corner, if he reached that before Peeves came into sight-- Fredrik jogged towards it and turned the corner to reach it.

[kaly]

Explanation for Kalyani's weirdness is here

Kalyani sighed as she trudged back in the direction of the dungeons. She'd made it all the way up to the seventh floor before realizing she'd left her wand stashed in the drawer of her bedside table. Her research would now have to wait at least another half hour while she retrieved it. It was her third trip to the tower that week, but since she had to keep up appearances it would also be her last. She'd been researching time turners ever since her re-induction into the school at age eleven, and she'd come up with using the tower as a hiding spot. A first year Slytherin researching advanced time-turner theory? That was bound to garner some attention, and attention was the last thing Kalyani wanted or needed right now.

Still, it bothered her to have to waste more time, and she internally scolded herself. Her instincts, honed by years of training, were slipping as the years passed without a solution to her rather unique problem. She had almost reached the stairs, and was about to begin her trek down when a grating cackle echoed off the stone walls. Bloody hell, here we go... Peeves had irritated her even during her first tenure at Hogwarts as a Ravenclaw. Known for his pranking and childish antics, Kaly had possessed little patience for the fun loving poltergeist. She searched for a quick hiding place, and spotted one several feet back down the hall. If she sprinted, she was fairly certain she'd make it. Without contemplating further, she did so. Peeves had begun chanting some rhyme about naughty first years, and Kaly wondered which unfortunate soul he'd cornered.

She reached the closet, but realized someone else had as well. Kaly barely registered his face, but she shot him a look that pleaded mercy as the sound of Peeves' laughter rang closer than before. Thankfully, he seemed inclined to share the area's only hiding spot, and, after opening the door quickly, he allowed her in first. A moment later he came barreling in behind her, and the door closed soundly behind them both. Sitting in the inky darkness of the closet with a relative stranger had Kalyani cursing herself again for forgetting her wand. She hoped he had one, counted on it in fact, but wasn't willing to bring up the subject in the already awkward atmosphere.

They both listened in silence, for which Kaly was grateful, as Peeves came within true ear shot. He seemed to be chorusing something along the lines of " a' painting we will go", and a sinking feeling settled in her stomach. The splash of something liquid followed, and she realized he must be repainting the hall. She turned, though she couldn't discern the exact location of the room's only other occupant, she could guess. "It looks like we're stranded for the moment..." and probably for several more after. She could have gotten them out of it of course, even without a wand, but to do so would have revealed far more of herself than she was willing to someone she barely knew. "Please tell me you have your wand."

[shava4444]

Fredrik was nearly at the door before he realized someone else was running for the same door. The pleading look was hardly needed as he wouldn't leave anyone to the miserable creature coming and chanting something so he let them enter quick and shut the door behind them fast, but not slammed. He didn't want to alert him! As the creature got closer he heard soft movement nearby and knew she had moved; he'd have to be careful in here it was so dark. Sliding one foot out in front of him until it touched something, he moved to that foot carefully and quietly as he heard the poltergeist start doing something with something liquidy. A shudder as he wondered how much a mess there would be afterwards for them to cross through.

He heard the whisper and turned to the door space, kneeling down to place his box and broom down quietly as he whispered back. "Sounds like he's got something nasty to work with so yeah, hope he doesn't hear us." Having placed his things down quietly he started to stand and heard her words again. Damn, she didn't have hers either? His first instinct was to mutter something in Finnish but he held back. "No. I was just down the hall from it and didn't think about it. Normally it wouldn't be an issue," he whispered and tried to judge where the slightly familiar voice was coming from.

"I think I'm going to sit down otherwise I'm going to hit something and make a noise. Have you got anywhere to sit over there?" Sliding his foot again he reached another obstacle and adjusted again; he had defined enough floor to sit on all right. As his eyes adjusted by the tiny light under the door jam he sat as quietly as he could on the floor and found with his reaching hands a low crate behind him. Sliding his butt back he put his back to it and frowned. If he hadn't been with another he could have gotten out of this rather well or at least made the situation more comfortable; he didn't dare now.

"You sound familiar. This is Jari, do we have a class together?" And she was female of course; he was sure she sounded about right for one of his classmates. Lovely! In a dark closet with a girl -- if they were found they would be teased for weeks about making out. Fredrik would have looked irritated but the light was too dim to see features, just bare shapes. And he could see her vaguely in the dark as she too moved a bit closer. He was relieved as being closer would make it easier to whisper even as it risked being caught near. Outside it sounded as if the pesky not-quite-a-ghost was moving along painting...the floor? Fredrik groaned softly as he realized it; this was only going to get worse!

[kaly]

Kalyani would have sighed if she weren’t trying so hard to be quiet. She would remember this next time she went to so much as leave a room without her wand. Never again, she promised herself, would she go more than ten yards without it. Now, she was in a closet, hiding from a ghost, sitting next to a total stranger in the dark. She’d caught a brief flash of his face before they’d been plunged into darkness. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t place it under duress. He was her age though, or rather, the age she appeared, so they must have had class together. Maybe that was it. She noted that he seemed to be judging the space around him, and marveled. He seemed awfully calm and collected for a teenage boy. Her experience with them this time around had proven no more in lightening than the first. The sound of splashing had her mind running through scenarios. He was most likely coating the hall in something, best case, it was paint; worst case…well, she didn’t want to think about worst case when it came to Peeves.

She nodded, feeling silly when she realized he couldn’t see her. She listened carefully to the sounds of him shifting in the darkness, trying to judge where he was. “Could he be painting?” she whispered, looking for confirmation, or really anything to break the stillness. She hated darkness, it reminded her of the moments she’d spent hurtling through it during the time turner incident. Surely he had his wand. Even as children, she remembered being taught never to go anywhere without it. It was a lesson she wished now she’d heeded more closely. When he admitted to not having his wand either, she resisted the urge to curse, loudly. “I understand”, though she sounded irritated, it wasn’t directed at him, more the situation. “I was actually on my way to go and get mine when…” She did sigh then, “well, when this happened.” Her tone belied how truly remorseful she was over this turn of events. It was a rookie mistake, no, a student caliber mistake even.

She appreciated his wisdom, was even somewhat thrown by it. Carefully, gently, she lowered her body until she was squatting, before she began extending one leg. When she felt something, she stopped, but deduced she had enough room to sit if she kept her knees up. “I think I can manage”, she murmured as she settled carefully into a somewhat uncomfortable sitting position with her arms wrapped around her knees. The floor was cold under the thin fabric of her school uniform skirt, and she shivered involuntarily. Schooling herself, she resolved to treat it like a training exercise and act accordingly. While she was somewhat grateful for his presence, a part of her also knew resentment. If he weren’t present, she could have found a way out using wandless magic, but such skills were too advanced for a sixth year, and she had to remind herself constantly she still looked like one. The sound of his movements made her frown, unable to see him, she was wary of his actions. “All right over there?” she masked her frustration for concern.

As though reading her thoughts, he offered his name, and she searched her memory. It didn’t take long. Jari Aalto was a Ravenclaw in her year, with whom she’d had several classes. He was intelligent, generally kept to himself, and was decidedly unlikely to proposition her anywhere, much less in a broom closet. Relieved, she relaxed slightly. “This is Kalyani, we’ve got Defense together this year I think.” She didn’t offer more than that, frustrated as she was. However, the need to get out of this enclosed space as quickly as possible loosened her tongue. “Any ideas on how we’re going to get out of here?” She wasn’t especially keen on waiting for Peeves to move on, that could take hours.

[shava4444]

When she asked he froze a moment to listen again, hearing the happy humming of the ghastly creature who caused much misery in the younger years of each new batch of students. "I sincerely hope that's paint and not glue. But it sounds like the floor he's working on, nasty thing." He felt an idiot for not bringing it, but there you go, what is done is done. She sounded as if she sat nearby him and he turned his head her way until she got quieter, but the poltergeist didn't notice them. Letting out a breath he did not realize he was holding, he leaned closer to her to catch her words. "Yes, quite settled now. I managed to put my things down near the door. Wouldn't want Peeves to get hold of them."

When she described herself, he nodded, realizing he did remember slightly; they had not spoken much before this. It wasn't that he had been avoiding her as much as he avoided being alone around most girls on purpose. This enforced situation was going to rapidly wear on his nerves. "You may not hear it, but I assure you, the cogs in my head are turning like mad. Fortunately I keep them greased." That was something his new father was always going on about, greased gears. Why the man liked making fun of himself that way he knew little, but it was the way of things he guessed. Some people just got like that apparently over time.

Not him. When you lived by yourself, you tried not to fall into habits which made you sound crazy. Then again, he had just repeated it. Fredrik frowned just thinking about it. "I think when he gets a bit farther on he has to turn the corner and then we could try and make a slip away, but it might be smarter to wait till he's a bit farther away, you know?" Peeves and paint, what a horrid combination. Probably he would have to leave his things behind for the time being. "Looks like we have at least ten minutes to wait then. So, you're a Slytherin, correct? How did you get all the way upstairs without the wand?"

Just being down the hall from his place made sense, but he had the feeling hers had more of a story. Besides which, if she was from where he guess based on her face as he remembered her, he was very curious to hear how her family ended up in Britain. He listened carefully to her voice, trying to detect if she had an accent or not and if that might give him a clue to work with...