ic contact.

[brainiest]

"Hello, Hermione Granger here. I must be busy, so please leave a message. Thank you very much!"

ic contact for hermione granger at drift fleet.
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Comments

[brainiest]

[ Hermione doesn't mean to make him feel bad, really, she doesn't, and she shifts, leaning up, earnest. ]

I think maybe... Maybe we were both a little out of line. Home and our worlds are... Important to both of us. I shouldn't have pushed so hard about things I don't completely understand.

[grandstanding]

It's not easy for me, to hear about what other versions of myself have done. I don't have the words to explain what that's like.

[And it crops up again and again, with all the different realities he's part of. This, he thinks belatedly, might have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Too many tales of his other selves, and only a few details of which made sense to him. Eventually, he'd pushed back, and Hermione had been in the crossfire.]

[brainiest]

No... I know. I've heard about myself, in other worlds. All I wanted to do was tell you that you and Charles were together, there, too.

[ Her head bows, and she breathes out. ]

It got out of hand.

[grandstanding]

It did. [That he can agree to.]

And... that doesn't wholly surprise me, though I have to wonder what work they did to manage it.

[brainiest]

[ Hermione breathes out a soft noise, shaking her head. ]

We all got to go home for a little while - we had the option. We could do or say things, leave messages. That's how a friend of mine from my world went home, and he told everyone where I was. Maybe Charles and Erik did the same thing.

[grandstanding]

[After a long pause, where he ratchets back his first unpleasant response, he sighs.]

Maybe that's the case. But I think for now, I'd rather not speculate on their decisions to remain there. It's not something I'm going to change my stance on.

[brainiest]

[ She nods her head. ]

Then we'll just agree not to talk about it.

[grandstanding]

I think that would be best.

[The rest of it he can manage. This one issue, he refuses to budge. And yet he's reluctant to drag Hermione down further, feeling he's already proven what a rotten idea it is to try and befriend him. He sighs.] I'd rather not argue like that again.

[brainiest]

I don't like arguing with you.

[ She shifts, a little awkward, peeking her eyes up at him even as she tries to smile. ]

It doesn't feel right.

[grandstanding]

[He huffs, close to laughing. The fact that she thinks that only serves to illustrate how cordial they've been so far.]

Others would say you've had an abnormally good experience with me, to say something like that.

[With a bit more seriousness:]

I don't agree with a lot of things. I try not to let that get the better of me, these days.

[brainiest]

[ Hermione just smiles, tilting her head up. ]

Maybe I want to keep it that way. You're my friend, that means I don't want to fight with you if I can help it.

[ Her smile doesn't relent, and she just nods her head. ]

If you agree with everyone you make friends with then you'll never grow up and learn anything. Having people that have different thoughts and opinions around you is often a good thing, not a bad one.

[grandstanding]

[He wouldn't go that far, at least out loud. There's little reason for him to clash with Hermione, though.]

I doubt I'll have that problem.

[brainiest]

No. Maybe not.

[ Hermione turns her head to look at him, pausing for a moment. ]

... Thank you for - talking to me first. It would have taken me much longer, I'm sure of that.

[grandstanding]

[He shrugs slightly, looking over the balcony.]

I could have done the same. Not so long ago, I would have.

[brainiest]

But not now.

[ Hermione steps up to stand beside him. ]

I'm very stubborn. You're definitely not getting rid of me now.

[grandstanding]

[He watches her for a moment with an unreadable expression, assessing her. What she says is true, he knows. She had made her determination clear the first week he met her. "I didn't want to make connections here, originally" he had said to Charles only days ago. That had fallen by the wayside within a month.

He's out of practice at going his own way. It doesn't bother him. He quirks his lips a bit.]

How ominous.

[brainiest]

I've heard that before. [ She perks her head up, offering a smile. ] You'd be surprised how many people I've been this stubborn with.

[grandstanding]

[He turns in place, bracing his hands against the balcony rail and raising an eyebrow at her in mock disbelief.]

I don't know - you've already told some rather stubborn-sounding tales. And I daresay you needed to be with Charles at times.

[brainiest]

[ All she can do is give him a little, innocent smile, trying not to look too sheepish. ]

Oh, you have no idea. But sometimes he had to be the same to me, too. I think that's why we worked well together - we knew when to push and when to back off.

[grandstanding]

It's a valuable lesson to learn. [Erik has learned it, over years and years of errors. That he's managed to reach a decent plateau with Charles, where they know how to read each other's moods without flaring up in frustration and hurt feelings - it would have seemed impossible, to himself as a younger man.]

But determination is an important quality to have.

[brainiest]

Just a bit. I don't think I'd have been able to do half the things I did in the Drabwurld if it hadn't been for a bit of determination.

[ She'd never have made it as a Marchioness, and she'd never have survived all the times she almost died, all the wars she fought in... ]

It was... I was lucky to have Charles around. I just hope he realised.

[grandstanding]

Don't worry. He's not one to take his friendships lightly. [Not anymore.]

He would have known.

[brainiest]

Oh, he was in my mind all the time. I don't think there's any doubt about that.

[ Then she shifts, fiddling with the mix of necklaces and charms and dog tags around her neck. From the muddle she draws out the gear Erik had given her, so long ago, and holds it up. ]

I don't take mine lightly either.

[grandstanding]

[He shakes his head slightly, though his expression is light.]

If you make any more friends, you might keel over from the weight of all those.

[brainiest]

It's fine. They're all important - dog tags from my dad, your gear, the wedding ri - I mean.

[ Well. ]

They're all special.