Second floor common room- Tuesday afternoon

[imawizard]

Harry had had some dreams last night that had ended in a lot of time this morning idly staring into a certain broken piece of a mirror, and now he was going the good old fashioned distraction route.

He didn't have a ton of experience with TV, and there was a lot he'd missed since the 90s, so he flipped through the channels to find... well, anything.

He seemed to have ended up on Why We We're Scared of the 70s?


[Told you I'd use that site as a prompt. Open!]

Comments

[white_oleander]

Not even a PowerPoint of amusement parks could have shaken Astrid out of the funk she'd been in all day (what a shockee). She'd slept poorly the night before, having had a series of...well, she wouldn't call them nightmares, especially not when she was pretty used to those, but just....dreams, of disconnected images like swans on frosted glass, jewels draped over skin, whafts of l'air du temps perfume. Things she actively tried to forget, now coming at her in full force, demanding to be remembered with an odd pull thrumming underneath it...

Sitting in her room trying to catch these invasive thoughts on paper wasn't helping, so she went down to the common room, glad to hear the TV already one, and giving it a curious glance in passing on her way to the cupboard, looking for some crackers.

"Anything good?" she then asked Harry, having been successful in procuring a sleeve of saltines, and mostly asking for conversation's sake, since there rarely ever was.

[imawizard]

"No, but I seem to be watching it anyway," Harry said, sort of mystified at himself about it. "You can change it if you want."

[white_oleander]

Astrid shrugged a shoulder. "I'm sure it's fine," she said. "Probably not going to get much on a Tuesday afternoon anyway."

And, knowing her luck and the night she'd had, if she got her hands on the remote, every other channel would be playing an Audrey Hepburn movie or something. Or worse, she'd flip to one of those rare gems where Claire herself would flit across the screen as a desperate extra or a poorly rehearsed one-line shot...

She did take a seat, though tucking herself into a chair around her crackers.

[imawizard]

"Apparently the 1970s were terrifying?" Harry said, sounding pretty u sure.

And they were in the wizarding world but this show seemed a little...

[white_oleander]

Yeah, Astrid had only been watching for a few moments, and, already, the show had made that pretty...abundantly clear, although, her head tilted curiously, unnecessarily so?

"I wouldn't really know," she admitted. "I was only three when they ended."

A pause, swallowing a bite of cracker.

"Guess it's a good thing I got out when I did."

[imawizard]

"I just missed them," Harry said, glancing over at her. "When are you from?"

[white_oleander]

Astrid had to smile a little bit, at the when.

"It's nineteen-ninety....four?" Funny how she did have to think about it for a moment there; that's what time travel could do, she supposed. "Where I'm from."

She considered Harry for a moment, too, and the math. "You're probably from right around there, too, then?" she guessed.

[imawizard]

"1996," Harry said with a nod. "I think it might have been overall better then."

By like, soooooi much.

[white_oleander]

"That's promising for at least the two more years you've got on me, then," Astrid noted with a faint grin.

"So you're not a big fan of the twenty-first century so far?"

[imawizard]

"It's still sort of a shock," he admitted. "And I decided pretty quickly I don't need to be looking at the news."

Sure he was in the middle of a wizarding war but at least there wasn't a natural disaster every week.

"I don't know how you're supposed to get used to being this far ahead of yourself."

[white_oleander]

"It's kind of incredible," Astrid's smile went a little wan, "the things you can get used to, after a while. I've been here more than three years now..."

There was a slightly awkward pause.

"Save for half a year, when I went...home."

The word felt odd, really, as she said it, especially in light of the dreams she'd had last night.

[imawizard]

"I guess it's a good sign you came back?" Harry guessed.

[white_oleander]

"The circumstances weren't the greatest," Astrid admitted, back to the wryness, "but it could definitely be worse."

Kind of a toss-up, really, between getting beat up regularly for how you looked and being stuck in a hole for more than a week, but at least Astrid actually liked people here...

"So," she ventured, since she doubted Harry was deeply invested in the show to the point of being irritated by conversation instead, "we've got when covered. What about where you're from?"

She felt she had a decent guess, though.

[imawizard]

"England, but I went to school in Scotland," he answered. "Nowhere anyone's heard of."

For a reason!

[white_oleander]

"Yeah," Astrid noted, "I'm a little rusty on my Scottish schools. That sounds nice, though. Do you miss it?"

[imawizard]

"Yeah," Harry said immediately. "The people are fantastic. I love the school, too, but I miss my friends a lot."

But also no one cares about his scar here at least.

[sexy_giraffe]

"What on Earth are they wearing?" Tahani demanded, cutting immediately to the most terrifying aspect of the show.

[white_oleander]

"Are you asking so you can find it for yourself?" asked Astrid, because she kind of couldn't help herself.

And would that answer change if she said they were designer?

[sexy_giraffe]

"I'm allergic to polyblends," Tahani made up.

[white_oleander]

"That's a shame," said Astrid, with a shake of her head at the television. "If there's anyone who could make any of those things look even half-way decent, it'd be you."

Did Astrid pretty much subscribe to generally offering up the same basic surface level flattery toward Tahani that she gave to Alexis?

Yes. Absolutely.

[sexy_giraffe]

Tahani preened. "Well, thank you," she said, tossing her hair.

[white_oleander]

Like a charm.

It was so nice, dealing with narcissists who weren't also complete and utter sociopaths as well.

"You're welcome," Astrid said with a nod. "How've you been Tahani?"

[sexy_giraffe]

"Very well!" Tahani said. "Were you in a hole?"

Which she was still 80 percent sure was a rehab euphemism.

[white_oleander]

"I was in a hole," Astrid confirmed. "I did cave paintings so that future archaeologists will know we were there."

Did that help or harm the conviction that it was all euphemism?

[imawizard]

"Clothes," Harry answered, probably entirely earnest.

Maybe.

[sexy_giraffe]

"Are they really, though?" Tahani asked.

[imawizard]

"Yes," Harry said slowly. "Unless I'm misunderstanding what clothes are supposed to do."

[sexy_giraffe]

"Well, they are not supposed to sear the eye with their hideousness," Tahani said.

Never tell her about the Chudley Cannons, Harry.

[imawizard]

"Sounds like it was pretty popular at the time," Harry pointed out, wondering if his parents and Sirius and everyone has worn things like that.

[sexy_giraffe]

"That is no excuse for poor choices," said the girl wearing salt and pepper pumps.

[imawizard]

Yeah, Harry did notice those. And was looking at those.

[sexy_giraffe]

"These were an amazing choice," Tahani told him.

[imawizard]

"I suppose you're prepared if you're hungry later," Harry conceded.

[sexy_giraffe]

"Oh, these don't work," Tahani said airily. "That would be ridiculous."

[imawizard]

"Oh, of course, I was joking," said Harry, who had not at all been joking.

[sexy_giraffe]

"Of course you were," Tahani said, who hadn't been paying that much attention.