there's no reason to be shy [PIPPA]

[Francis Lehane]

"Aaaand, here it is!" Francis announced, in mock-excited tones, leading Pippa into the fifth year boys' dormitory and quickly kicking a pair of discarded boxers under his bed. Voice returning to a normal, rather flat tone, he shrugged, plunging his hands into his pockets and saying, nose wrinkled, "Yeah, it's not much. Sorry about the mess..." he nodded towards the unmade beds. "Savages," he added jokingly, knowing full well that the mess was probably seventy percent (if not more) his.

"But, yeah! This is where I live, basically..." Francis had smuggled Pippa into the Gryffindor Common Room and it had been a surprisingly easy feat. It was quite late and the Common Room had been mostly deserted except for the odd person in the corner playing Exploding Snap and nobody had really noticed him leading Pippa up to the boys' dormitories. Not a soul was in the dormitory, either, except for them. "'S pretty basic, I suppose...are the Slytherin ones like this? Or are they all green and dungeon-y and shit?" he looked highly amused by the thought of this. "Yeah. Green and dungeon-y, and you all probably plot world domination down there..."

--

[ooc: this okay, love? ]

[Pippa Tremlett]

Pippa followed Francis into his dorm, feeling slightly anxious. She looked around quickly and let out the breath she'd been holding; the room was empty except for the two of them. It had been nerve-wrecking sneaking into the Gryffindors' common room and now dorm room, but it was also exciting. Pippa had heard about other students sneaking into common rooms of other houses and now she could say the same thing.

She smiled at Francis. "It's spectacular!" Pippa replied in the same feigned voice. She walked around with her hands clasped behind her back and nodded, as if inspecting the place. She stopped and looked at Francis. "Mess is okay. But, man, I thought girls were messy; boys are just gross." She pulled a face.

Pippa laughed and than collapsed on Francis' bed, staring up at the ceiling. "They're green, yeah," she said, rolling her head to the side to look at him. "Dungeon-y, too, now that you mention it. Not bright like these.... Not fair!" Pippa poked her tongue out at him.


((OOC: Great, love!!))

[Francis Lehane]

"Don't be such a pansy. It's just a bit of...clothing all over the floor. And a bit of a smell," he added, heading over to his bedside table and snatching up the deodorant can that had been laying beside a half-eaten chocolate bar and a box of tissues. He sprayed the room ineffectually, directing his last spray at Pippa, grinning.

"Hey, whatever. Slytherins are supposed to be dark, aren't they? Well. There you go. Dark and dungeon-y and green. It suits, doesn't it?" he said simply, rolling his shoulders up in a shrug and flopping back onto the next bed, stifling a yawn. "What d'you want to do now that you're here, anyways? There isn't much up here, beside general awesomeness...we have chess, I think...a pack of cards...I could probably rustle up some chocolate...no firewhiskey, though. It's hard to get your hands on that stuff," he sounded very much put out by such a fact, forehead creasing into an almighty scowl.

[Pippa Tremlett]

"No, it's a bit of clothing and a lot of smell!" Pippa teased with a laugh. She rolled over on her stomach with a squeal as Francis sprayed her with the deodorizer. She laughed into his comforter and then peeked up at him, sitting up when it was safe.

Pippa made a face at him. She took off one of her shoes and threw it at him. "Shut up, tosser," she said, pretending to be offended, and pulled off her other shoe. She dropped it to the floor. "I am not dark - you know that! Ugh." Her face didn't stay 'angry' for too long, though. She got up from the bed and walked to the one Francis had collapsed on.

"Oh, no! You're not falling asleep on me," she said, grabbing one of his hands and tugging on his arm. "You dragged my sorry arse up here - I didn't think you'd take me seriously when I said I wanted to see your dorm." Pippa laughed, forgetting what the conversation had contained for that to pop up anyway. She smirked at Francis and when she opened her mouth, she started singing (which wasn't something she did for very many people.)

"Let me entertain you, let me make you smile," Pippa sang with a wide smile, trying to keep herself from laughing. "Let me do a few tricks, some old and then some new tricks. I'm very versatile--" She broke off. "Seriously, Francis, let's, um... you said you have cards? We could play some game or other for some chocolate!"

[Francis Lehane]

"All Slytherins are dark," Francis yelped as her shoe hit him squarely in the chest, scrambling to pick it up and chucking it right back at her. Unfortunately, due to his miserable aim, it missed Pippa and went sailing over her head and landed with a thump on the other side of the room. "You seem nice, yeah, but I know that there are sinister thoughts in that messed up mind of yours..."

Francis groaned as she tugged on his arm, but allowed himself to be tugged up easily enough. "I'm not going to fall asleep! Jesus! And well, you can bring me to the Slytherin Common Room as a favour next time. See how the other half lives, and all..." he trailed off as Pippa began to sing, listening to her with raised eyebrows and commenting briefly when she finished, "hey, you're good." Francis had never been good at compliments, but the best he could do was be direct.

"Cards, okay...you any good at card games?" Francis began rifling through his chest-of-drawers, picking out objects at random and flicking them back into the drawer if the weren't the pack of cards. "Oh, hey!" he produced a half-empty bottle of firewhiskey. "We have a little bit...and, here's the cards," he said triumphantly, bouncing back up to his feet, cards in one hand, bottle in the other.

[Pippa Tremlett]

Pippa looked at Francis in mock-surprise, her mouth making a perfect O. "I'm offended!" she said, though that wasn't even close to what she was feeling. She leaned to the side as the shoe missed her and went flying by, landing on the opposite side of the room. She looked back at Francis with one brow arched. "Good thing you're not on the Quidditch team... And I do not have sinister thoughts! Well, maybe sometimes, but who doesn't? You're not innocent."

Pippa stared down at Francis, not sure how to take his suggestion. She frowned slightly. "Francis, they would eat you for dinner," Pippa reminded him. She shrugged anyway. "But, I mean, if you want! Could be interesting." Her cheeks flooded with color. She knew that she sang well, but receiving compliments always caused her to feel embarrassed. "Thanks," she mumbled and then let go of Francis' hand.

"Um, well, it depends on the game card. What did you have in mind?" Pippa said. She really only knew how to play simple card games, but she didn't want to tell Francis that. Pippa sat down on his bed again and watched him as he picked out items, looking for the cards. She smiled as the bottle of firewhisky was produced. "Oooh, that stuff hates me. I can't hold it at all!" She blushed again.

[Francis Lehane]

"Wouldn't want to be on the bloody Quidditch Team," Francis muttered under his breath, directing a heavy scowl at the girl. "And there, you admitted it. Don't try and hide it, Tremlett, you're just as bad as the rest of them." He said the word 'them' with a dark significance. "And I'm a Gryffindor. Chivalry and bravery and nerve and all that other great stuff." Playing this up, Francis tensed his arm muscles for a moment, waggling his brows. "See how great we are? Again, you lot just have dungeons."

Francis snorted, although in truth he wasn't quite sure if it was wise to take a gander down towards the Slytherin Common Room. Although they weren't all quite so sinister as he was making them out to be, a fair few were quite nasty at the best of times and he was liable to say something stupid that'd offend someone within the first five minutes of his stay. He wasn't going to admit defeat to Pippa, however. "Pfft," he continued, making a lazy pish-posh gesture with his hand. "Nah. Slytherins may be evil," he directed a grin at her, "But you're forgetting the daring and the nerve and all that cool stuff!"

Francis held the pack of cards aloft before refocusing on Pippa, a mischevious grin in place. "Poker?" he suggested, already set on it. "I'm great at poker, no lie. It just comes naturally to me," he gave a would-be casual shrug, settling himself on the floor and motioning for Pippa to join him. "Ready to get your arse kicked, Tremlett?" The firewhiskey was placed just at arm's reach. "Lightweight," Francis sniggered.

[Pippa Tremlett]

Pippa grinned at Francis' scowl. She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "If I'm just as bad as the others, than why are you my friend, hmm?" she asked. It was usually pretty standard that a typical Slytherin and a typical Gryffindor didn't get on well. She laughed incredulously. "Ha! That's funny! And that--" she pointed to his tensed muscle-- "is nothing. At least dungeons make us cooler than you." She poked her tongue out at him again.

"Riiiiiight," Pippa said with one brow raised and a look on her face that said 'I don't believe you'. "I reckon we'll see what happens when I bring you down there, than. Tomorrow evening work for you?"

Poker. Pippa bit her bottom lip. She'd heard people talk about poker before and she'd been taught how to play, but that had been years ago... she wasn't sure if she could remember the rules and what was better than others. She sat down on the floor hastily; she didn't want to seem like a poor loser and she had been the one to suggest a card game. Francis was probably bluffing, anyway. "Shut up," she growled, shooting him a dark look. "So... what does the loser have to do? Since we haven't got galleons or anything to play with...."

[Francis Lehane]

"Oh, I've tried to get away from you, but you're just too bloody clingy...really, I'm just friends with you out of pity." To make it clear that he was joking - girls could be weirdly sensitive sometimes - he grinned at her, shuffling the pack of cards absent-mindedly. "This is nothing? Shut up, you! I'm a tank!" He pounced at her, tackling the girl - gently - and scuffing up her hair effectively, saying loudly as he tensed his arm muscles again, "Look - look! Nothing!" He repeated, scoffing audibly.

"Tomorrow evening is grand," Francis agreed, crawling away from her and back to his previous position, unscrewing the cap of the firewhiskey bottle and taking a sip - wincing a little - before offering it to Pippa.

"Hm? Oh...hadn't thought of it, actually," he admitted, pulling a face. "I don't know. Pay up? I haven't got any money, though. All I have are loads of socks...give me a second," he ordered as he set his mind to what the loser would have to do. He hadn't realised that it was going to be anything more than a friendly card game. Looking up at the ceiling and biting his lip, he gave a terrific snigger as something occured to him. "There's always strip poker," he joked, waggling his eyebrows at Pippa before jerking his head back up to look at the ceiling, as though all of the answers were scrawled up there.

[Pippa Tremlett]

Pippa nodded with a smile, playing along. "Clingy. Yup, that sounds about right!" she said. "You're so nice, though. I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." She watched the cards as he shuffled them and in the next instant, she found herself being tackled by Francis. She closed her eyes, making a face. "Leave my hair alone! Bloody arse!" Pippa's blue eyes fluttered open and she looked at his tensed muscle again. She leaned and bit his muscle lightly, though enough to make him feel it. "Tough," she admitted reluctantly as she pulled back.

"Perfect. Tomorrow night is Fight Club," she fibbed, speaking of the muggle movie she watched with Leon over the holidays. "We'll see how tough you really are." Pippa sat up and grabbed the firewhisky from Francis with a sigh. She took a quick sip, making a disgusted face. After drinking it the last night with Devyn, she truly never wanted to drink it again. Sticking out her tongue from the bad taste it left, she gave the bottle back to Francis. "I'm good for the rest of the night, seriously."

Pippa nodded in agreement. "I haven't got any money, either, and I don't know how my parents would react to a letter in which their perfect daughter asks them to pay her debt because she lost at poker," she said and than lapsed into silence as Francis thought. She started when he mentioned strip poker. He wasn't serious, was he? She hadn't a clue how to play poker and she knew she'd end up stark naked in front of Francis, in the Gryffindor boys' dorms. What a story that would make. She couldn't be a prude her entire, though. This week could be a week of firsts: her first taste of firewhisky with Devyn, her first time being drunk, her first hangover... and now her first game of strip poker!

"Well... I mean, it's an option," Pippa said slowly, looking up at the ceiling to see what Francis was looking at.

[Francis Lehane]

"Owww!" Francis howled in protest when Pippa bit him, flailing backwards, even though it hadn't even hurt that much. Actually, it hadn't hurt at all, but it was the fact that she had bit him in the first place that was causing him to fuss so much, crossing his legs and resuming his card-shuffling, eyeing Pippa reproachfully. "See? You are a Slytherin at heart! Diabolical. Going around biting people..." he huffed, trailing off.

"Okay. Cool. Slytherin Common Room, tomorrow night. Can't wait. Be there or be square. You know. All that sort of stuff..." he chortled smugly at Pippa's grimace, accepting the bottle and taking another quick sip (for luck). "Pussy," he accused her of being brightly, stashing the firewhiskey bottle on his lap where it wobbled precariously.

"Perfect daughter? I'll send them a picture of the bite marks..." he muttered under his breath, motioning to the non-existent bite marks on his upper arm as he concentrated on the cards, barely listening to Pippa by this point as he was set on the task of trying to keep the bottle balanced and remembering how exactly you played poker. He hoped Pippa wasn't secretly amazing at poker, because then he'd look like even more of a complete and utter plonker. "What's an option?" He asked absent-mindedly, stalling starting the game by continuing to shuffle and hopefully wow her with his mad shuffling skills. "Wait, what?" His head shot up, eyes narrowing and thoroughly expecting her to crack up laughing any minute. "What, strip poker? Option? You're taking the piss, aren't you?"

[Pippa Tremlett]

"I didn't even bite you all that hard!" Pippa protested loudly, shaking her head at him in mock-disgust. She rolled her eyes and kicked out her leg, shoving his leg with the tips of her toes. "Baby. So much being brave and mighty. How are you going to survive Fight Club tomorrow night?" Her question was a joke, but even Pippa wasn't sure if her first two comments should be taken seriously or not.

She raised her brows at him. "I'm the pussy?" she echoed. "What d'you call that act you played two seconds ago?" Pippa scooted closer to him and grabbed the bottle from his lap. She took a longer sip, squeezing her eyes shut tightly and than gave it back to Francis. That was all she was going to have; because the stuff was already beginning to mess with her head. But maybe that was a good thing if they were going to play strip poker; it wouldn't make her feel so embarrassed.

Pippa laughed before reaching out and grabbing his bitten arm. She kissed it and looked up at him. "Better now, love?" she asked in a mock-sultry voice. She waited for him to realize what she'd said, her cheeks already beginning to burn. When Francis finally responded, Pippa shook her head vigorously. "No, I mean, if you wanted to play it... I wouldn't exactly object," Pippa insisted. She wouldn't tell Francis that she'd never played poker before. She'd just blame it all on the alcohol. Yup, that was a good plan. Maybe she ought to drink more....

[Francis Lehane]

"You still bit me. Heartless bitch!" Francis joked, rolling up his sleeve as an expression of mock-agony crossed his face. When she kicked out her leg at his, he seized what he saw as a golden oppurtunity, grabbed her leg and tugged her forward. "I am so brave and mighty! You just wait, Tremlett, I'll have all you Slytherins shaking in your boots."

Francis, looking delighted as Pippa took a longer sip, let out a cheer, yelling, "Wahey!Tremlett, you're growing some balls at last." He decided to go for another sip of the stuff himself, already feeling the effects. It made him feel a little better, as well, to have the firewhiskey, a little confident, a little older, a little cooler. It didn't stop him from feeling the blood rush to his face when Pippa kissed his arm, rocking back in astonishment, looking almost pathetically confused as he flicked his gaze from Pippa to his arm and then to the firewhiskey, as though scrutinizing each in turn would make sense of what exactly was happening.

"Who are you and what have you done with Pippa Tremlett?" Francis said weakly, for once shocked to being almost-wordless. Strip poker? Did real people play strip poker, then? He thought that strip poker was reserved for those sexed-up teen shows he sometimes watched during the holidays when he was bored. "But..." he trailed off, wondering why he was looking for an excuse. Wouldn't anyone else accept in an instant? "...What if someone walks in?" he finished, rather lamely. "...And we're not wearing any clothes? That'd be sort of awkward...Not that I'm saying no!" he added hastily, just in case she got the wrong end of the stick. Because he didn't have to say no, did he? No concrete reason to refuse her, after all, he told himself.

[Pippa Tremlett]

"I am not -- ah!" Pippa screeched as Francis grabbed her leg and yanked it, pulling her forward. He was stronger than she'd thought. Damn him. She arched one brow at his words, disbelieving everything he had to say. "Being brave and mighty won't make us shake in our boots," she pointed out, laughing, knowing that the argument was redundant. Classic Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.

"I have bigger balls than you do!" Pippa announced proudly, grinning at Francis like a fool, her arms spread out to the side. She watched him flick his eyes from one thing to the other, wondering what he was planning in that mighty brave brain of his. She grinned again at his question. "That's for me to know and for you... to never find out." She deadpanned, wondering just how much she could freak him out, if at all. Pippa frowned a moment later, her shoulders slumping as if defeated. But she was really mulling over what Francis had to say.

"That would be awkward," she agreed slowly, glancing towards the door as if someone were actually standing there already. "But... we could play on your bed? And close the curtains... I mean, we don't have to play. We could play just poker..." She trailed off before narrowing her eyes. "I thought you said you were an excellent player?"

[Francis Lehane]

"We'll see about that!" Francis crowed, rocking back a little in delight at Pippa's shriek. "You Slytherins aren't quite so tough as you all make out. We all know that really -" he picked up the bottle and brandished it towards her pointedly, a look of mock-solemnity appearing on his face, "- really, you're all completely scared of us Gryffindors. And you think we're marvellous and sexy," he tacked on as he took another sip of the firewhiskey, already feeling the slight buzz.

"Impossible," Francis disagreed immediately, shaking his head as a look of feigned disgust passed across his features. "Completely impossible. We both know my balls are bigger. And more..." he frowned, searching for the right word before triumphantly finishing the sentence with, "Awe-inspiring! More awe-inspiring. And braver. Gryffindor balls, and all that," he motioned in a would-be casual manner with the firewhiskey bottle. "You're acting weird, Tremlett," Francis told her immediately, brows furrowing. "Well. Weirder."

Francis' eyes travelled over to his bed. It was still unmade from that morning, but it was big enough, and with the curtains closed...they'd have enough privacy and time to at least sort themselves out if someone barged in. And wasn't that what life was supposed to be about? Taking risks? And so Francis met her suggestion with a somewhat nervous grin, saying, "Alright. My bed. Curtains closed. Sounds like a plan. And if someone comes in...well, we'll sort that out later," Francis concluded dismissively, gathering up the cards and bottle. "So...to the bed?" he winced at his own display of sheer awkwardness.