Don't Look Back In Anger (open)

[Phrixos Pratt]

Carlito, with a pocket fit to burst and full of Stink Pellets, had been hit with a tripping jinx in the hall outside of Pratt's room. When he fell, all but two of the pellets popped, filling the entire legacy with a noxious green gas. Stooges that did not evacuate quickly enough were sent to the new nurse with mild cases of Stinkitis. Curly had the worst case, of course, being at ground zero. At least the Stooges were putting the new nurse through their paces. Pratt was one of the lucky ones that managed to escape. Though the gas had mostly dissipated, the house still reeked. So he was sitting out on the lawn, doing Charms homework.

The assignment was to describe creative ways to use standard charms to solve given problems. Normally, Pratt would have no trouble with such an assignment. Not that day. All the windows of Upsilon Iota were open to give the house a good airing out. Somewhere in there, a student had left their wireless radio on and music was drifting out of their window. It was distracting Pratt, who kept drumming his pencil on his book, hum-singing along softly, and occasionally working his fingers like he was playing guitar.

"So I start a revolution from my bed.
'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head.
Step outside, summertime's in bloom.
Stand up beside the fireplace.
Take that look from off your face.
You ain't ever gonna burn my heart ooooow~out."

He'd gotten the Oasis album for Christmas and had been wearing it out the past month. Pratt couldn't resist singing along when one of his favorites came on. Homework forgotten, he sat there, singing into the eraser of his pencil passionately.

"And soooooo, Sally can wait, she knows it's too late as we're walkin' on by.
Her soooooooul slides away. 'But don't look back in anger', I heard you say."

[Serena Selwyn]

Serena came along about then,  having just left the library.  At seeing so many cold Stooges sitting on the icy lawn, she wondered what was going on.  Of course many had used magic to find a way to keep warm, but she was glad she was moving. She stopped in front of Pratt and grinned. "Hi. Kind of cold to do homework out here. Are you trying out for the musical? I am. Did coach tell you I made the team too? I didn't find out until recently. He forgot to tell me!" she laughed. "My parents don't want to send me an advance on my allowance. Could I borrow your broom until I figure out how to make the money for a decent broom?" she asked, rapid-fire, mostly without a breath.

[Phrixos Pratt]

Pratt was suddenly interrupted by Serena Selwyn and her game of 20 questions. His already pink-from-cold cheeks darkened with embarrassment, he hadn't even realized he had burst out in song. He set his work aside and stood up, brushing the seat of his pants off.

"Yeah, well, I'm a yankee. I'm used to it," Pratt winked at the little southern belle with the cute accent. "I am, indeed, trying out for the musical. Hoping to land the role of Danny. I heard! Congratulations, Serena. Coach is still kinda new here, he'll learn how to do things. I got Captain."

He beamed proudly, showing a lot of teeth and dimples. "Yeah, sure, no problem," Pratt nodded, stuck his hands in his pockets, and tossed his head to shift his bangs out of his eyes. "Use it as long as you need to. I can bring it to you in the dorms later, if you don't want to wait for the next practice. You've missed a couple, so it might be a good idea to get some practice in before then."

[Klaus Williams]

Klaus who had been eating in the coomon room when Curly sent everyone running had since been trying to figure out a way to make sure none of his things stunk. Even going to the extent of summoning his school books from inside rather than brave the stench himself to find something to help, now sat crosslegged on the lawn. At the sound of Serena's rapid fire questions, he looked up to see her chatting up Pratt.

Klaus stood and walked over to his roommate and Serena. "Hey!" Klaus said. "Am I interrupting anything?"

[Serena Selwyn]

"Oh thank you, Pratt! You'll make a great captain too." Serena couldn't help herself; she hugged him. Only as short as she was compared to how tall he was, she was basically hugging his diaphram. And like all things, she did it to an extreme, hugging him hard. "I can take the broom now, if you want. Or you can drop it by the dorms."

At the sound of Klaus's voice, she turned towards him and let Pratt go. "You're interrupting me showing Captain Pratt my thanks. How are you, Klaus? WHy are so many of you outside?"

[Phrixos Pratt]

"Thanks," Pratt chuckled and hugged back, surprised at the little girl's strength. "Ever consider wrestling?"

He was kind of relieved when she finally detached herself from his torso. "Long story short, stink pellets," he answered. "Any luck un-stenching your books, Klaus?"

[Klaus Williams]

"My applogies cap'n, I'm good Serena." Klaus said with a mock salute and pulling Serena into a quick hug, enjoying the soft melodic accent. Something about a southern accent always calmed him down, probably becasue it reminded him of his mother: who was always there for him, who he knew loved him.
"I am considering conjuring some flowers and pressing them into the pages." Klaus responded with a laugh and rolling his eyes at his roommate, thinking how ridiculous it sounded to himself, not to mention incredably gay. "You got any ideas?"

[Serena Selwyn]

Serena put her hands on her hips after his question, tilting her head to one side. "Conjured flowers don't last, do they? At least mine don't. Why would you want to do that with fake flowers? Just wait until they are in season and do it then." She glanced at Pratt. He had a very interesting roommate. "I suppose you could get some hothouse flowers." She shrugged. She was much more interested in animals than flowers.

[Phrixos Pratt]

Laughing, Pratt saluted Klaus right back. He was glad to see his friend being happy and fun again. The events before Christmas probably still weighed heavily on his heart, but less so now that some time had passed.

"Yeah, conjured flowers would just vanish after a while," Pratt nodded. "But he only needs them long enough to get rid of the rancid smell. I'm sure it'll be gone before we see any flowers blooming around here. Getting them from the greenhouses might work, if he's careful. It's not exactly stocked with roses and buttercups."

He puffed his cheeks out and pressed air through his lips. "Hmmm. You could start using one of those tree-shaped things muggles put in cars as a bookmark," he suggested.

[Klaus Williams]

"A deoderizer" Klaus responded immediately, growing up surrounded by muggles had its perks, sometimes. "That might work, except its really potent." giving Pratt a face. "Yeah, I dont think that I will be finding what I need in the greenhouse.... What about you Pratt? How goes your 'airing out'?"

[Serena Selwyn]

"OH, that's what you want them for." Serena felt a little foolish that she hadn't understood that. "You wear cologne, don't you Klaus? Or aftershave? Just use that. Or if you don't like the smell of that on your books, I have some green apple body spray that might work."

It had been a birthday present from her parents to celebrate her becoming a teen last November: body spray, shower gel, lotion--all green apple. Serena had been hoping for a broom, and she liked the sweet vanilla lotion she had picked out for herself better. It was still the one she used most of the time. But she hadn't really used the body spray as much. She supposed she should find out if CHuck liked the smell of apples. Then she grimaced awkwardly, wondering why it mattered what CHuck thought.

"Or you could make a deodorizing potion. You Stooges must have a need for them with all the tricks you pull."

[Phrixos Pratt]

"I have a feeling we'll be shareholders in deodorizing potion after this," Pratt laughed. "I wonder if Eric knows how to make it. I'm okay with potions, but I'd probably just end up making the smell worse."

He looked at Klaus and furrowed his brow in thought. "Yes, I guess they would be too strong," he agreed, not knowing one was supposed to pull the plastic off the deodorizer a little bit at a time to keep the scent from being too overpowering. "But a potent pine smell is better than a potent compost smell."

[Klaus Williams]

Klaus nervously sniffed his shirt. The faint residule smell of his cologne was faint, definitely trying to combat the present stench. Klaus considered Serena's offer. Green Apple was nice, it was fresh and not too overpowering. "It couldn't hurt," Klaus said, "At least till we can figure out something more permenent."

Klaus turned, and scanned the front lawn of UI. He couldn't see Eric anywhere, maybe he didnt even know that their house was a raging polluted stink pile.

[Serena Selwyn]

"Great!  Do you want me to run and get it, or do you know the summoning charm?  I haven't learned it yet. It's on my dresser in the dorms, if that helps." 

She looked up at the upside down dorm house.  "How did it happen, again?  Did someone trip on the ceiling?  I mean, that's the floor, right?  WHen you go downstairs, do you go to the roof? Or upstairs to the basement?  Are the pictures hung upside down?  You all have one crazy legacy house."

She chuckled.  "I like your accents, by the way.  Klaus's is New York.  But I can't place yours, Captain. Sort of southern and sort of North East . . .  Like . ..  DC maybe?" she asked, her own Carolinian accent strong.

[Phrixos Pratt]

Pratt laughed at all the rapid-fire questions. Iris could get like that at times, so he was quite used to it. He'd never seen Serena and Iris together, but he was sure no one could get a word in edge-wise around them if they ever were. "Someone tripped someone else, and the stink pellets in their pocket popped. I'm not going to spoil the mystery of the upside down house, hon," he chuckled. "If you really want to know, you'll have to pledge. We've got a shortage of cute girls in there."

He thumbed back toward the flipped house and winked at her. "Bawl-mer," Pratt grinned, dimples deep. "Or Bal-ti-more, to the rest of the world."