Blown Away (Tristan)

[Tristan Gulliver Clark]

"A little variety didn't hurt anyone," Tristan replied leaning against one of the large rocks in this Stone Circle.

He completely understood being cautious. It was practically his middle name. Well, actually that wasn't true. He wasn't that cautious most of the time, but that was because he was perfectly willing to admit he was using someone. It was probably because his father had beat honesty into him. Tristan still could lie, and lie well, but if it wasn't instrumental in manipulating the person he was manipulating, then he would be totally honest. Well, that wasn't actually completely true. He wasn't completely honest, just mostly honest. Each time he lied he almost expected pain, even if the last time he was with his father was years ago, before his father's death, but he didn't show it most of the time, unless it was a huge fat lie that no one could ever believe if they knew anything about him.

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

A little taken aback at the fact he didn't outright agree and say that she (and her people) were odd, she stared at him wide-eyed for a minute before smiling widely, her first fully-genuine smile of the day.

"You're okay, you know that?" she asked. "Most guys either think I'm weird and leave or force me to beat them up by this point in the conversation."

It was, admittedly, refreshing to be able to have an actual conversation with a member of the opposite gender without them drooling. It wasn't just unbecoming; it made her feel very awkward. She didn't like it.

[Tristan Gulliver Clark]

Tristan gave her a smile as she stared at him wide-eyed for a second. Really, most of the time he was never this open and actually having fun talking to someone.

"Well," Tristan replied, "Thank you. You're ok too. Usually I don't actually like anyone I actually talk to."

It was very rare to find someone that he actually liked quite a bit. Really, out of everyone in the whole school the only one he found to be actually enjoyable to be around was his friend, Jason, who was just slightly crazy, and said some of the deepest things.

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

"Eh? Really?" she asked, smiling a little before laughing. "I feel special, then! The same for you; I can't tell you how hard it is for me to make friends. I'm quater-Veela, so guys usually act like idiots and girls usually get jealous like idiots."

Well, there it was. The big "Oh, yeah, by the way, you probably find me attractive because" moment. Some of her family members, like Ally, embraced their Veela charms; others, like Angelina, just didn't seem to be aware that they possessed them. Talon, on the other hand, resented being a quarter-Veela for all that it was worth, which was very little, honestly.

[Tristan Gulliver Clark]

Tristan shook his head in understanding. That was it! That was why he was so attracted to her! Or... could it be something else? Really, right now it felt much different than it ever had been with that Fleur girl when she was champion, and while that Fleur girl was half-Veela, whatever he was thinking right now was stronger than that petty Veela charm Fleur always seemed to use.

"I'm not being an idiot, right?" Tristan asked, making sure that he wasn't acting strange or anything, "I don't think it really matters if you're part Veela, I would still think you're pretty cool anyways."

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

Talon tried really, really hard to not use the Veela charms she'd inherited from her grandmother. She put a concious effort into just being her. Lorelai "Talon" Cavaliere, whose family and close friends called Alissia or Lys. She'd met another person outside her family with a similar background to hers that was a total faccia di merda ((Italian slang: bastard)).

"No, you're not being an idiot at all!" she reassured him. "And thanks! I don't think you understand exactly how happy that makes me; you're probably the first real friend I've made in years."

[Tristan Gulliver Clark]

"I don't usually go around and make friends. Usually people are just idiots, but you seem a lot different than the others," Tristan replied with a huge smile still leaning against the rock face.

Tristan really didn't like people normally. Probably due to the fact that no one really ever cared about him, until he met Jason. And even before that, well, Tristan was a very mean person who didn't give a flying leap about anyone. Anyone who cared about him didn't really know him well enough to actually care about him as a person.

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

"Well, that's good. I make a concious effort to not be an idiot," she laughed. "I know what you mean, though. People can be...superficial and annoying."

To be nice! The general viewpoint that most people seemed to have on life anymore was "Stand still, shut up, look pretty." That just wasn't anything Talon could go by. She was a tomboy by nature and not suited to the looks endowed upon her by her Veela heritage. She'd been trying for years to no avail to meet someone that just didn't care (besides Shayne, who was so in love with Mariella that it made Tal sick sometimes). It was refreshing to meet somebody who looked her in the eye without getting freaked out and could look past the more Veela-ish aspects of her.

[Tristan Gulliver Clark]

"It seems like you're doing quite well," Tristan laughed back, "Exactly! Most people I meet just like me because I'm a Slytherin, part of this school group that's fighting against the Dark Lord, or the fact that I always seem to stay away from others. Not very many actually know me very well."

He didn't like the kind of people who thought of him as a broken boy who just needed someone to come and fix him before he could be a good social boy that everyone loves. No. That wasn't it. Heck, he wouldn't have spoken to this girl if he thought she was that kind of person. And there was something about her wielding a sword that was quite cool and made him curious about her.

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

"Their loss," she shrugged. "You're a cool guy. People really suck, sometimes, don't they?"

Most of the people that tried to befriend her thought that it was "cool that [she was] such a loner." The issue wasn't that she was a loner; the issue was that she didn't like stupid people. She'd spent too much time around her grandfather as a kid, clearly. Tristan was just fine as he was; there was nothing that needed to be "fixed." To her experience, most of the time, when people tried to "fix" other people, they wound up making them worse off than they were to start with, anyway.

[Tristan Gulliver Clark]

"Exactly," Tristan said with a smile, "People really do suck most of the time. There are a few exceptions, though."

Really he wasn't a loner, either. He just hated most people. And if people really knew him, behind the scenes he was usually with people, they were just people so he could gain support for whatever route he decided to take. Just because he was part of the DA didn't mean that he was really on their side. Someone just had convinced him to do it before, and he decided what the heck. When he would finally decide his side on all of this, he was either already working for them, or he could be a good spy for them.

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

"I hope I'm one of them," she commented teasingly.

She already had her side in all of this (not that she had a choice in that), but she would've been neutral if she hadn't. She had some close friends that were muggle-borns, and she would hate to see anything happen to them, but they were pretty much all out East. Beyond that, most of the DA were Gryffindors, and the only Gryffindors Talon liked were her relatives, all of whom had already graduated a few years before, including her older sister. She also just didn't really give a damn about England; maybe she would one day change her mind, but at the moment, she hated the British and just wanted to go home.

[Tristan Gulliver Clark]

"You are," Tristan assured her with a huge smile.

The thing with Tristan was that he wanted to pick the side that wouldn't betray him, win this war, and let him live however he wanted after this war was over. He also didn't want to sit around and do nothing. If he supported the winning side, then maybe he could boost himself up and become someone important in this world. He wasn't important now. Tristan was just another person down the street; he wanted to be known, and if that meant he was feared and known as a cold blood killer, he might resort to that. All Tristan wanted was to be accepted and not become someone who would just fade into the background and not matter after he died.

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

"Good! You are my new best friend for that," she giggled. "And now you'll never get rid of me!"

Did she seriously just giggle? Talon didn't giggle; she wasn't a five-year-old girl. She was damned near seventeen, a seasoned soldier and a tomboy through-and-through. Her giggling was, therefore, absolutely ridiculous. God, she wanted to punch herself in the face for that. She hoped that he didn't think less of her for it.

[Tristan Gulliver Clark]

While Tristan was slightly surprised to hear a giggle, of all things, come from Talon, he decided that things like that just happened sometimes. It didn't make him think any less of her, because a simple giggle every once and awhile wasn't bad or annoying. He actually found it ever so slightly cute, though slightly weird. He liked pretty much everything about her, and really a giggle meant that she was not completely tom-boy like, and she still had some girly features somewhere in her.

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Tristan replied.