She's been staring down the demons ((Open))

[hermione7lunaroc]

Lily rested her elbows on the sink and looked in the mirror. Brushing back a few strands of golden curls, she peered at herself. She didn't like what she saw, especially not in her eyes. She saw turmoil and hurt, some things that she wished she could hide. Why did she have to be so see-through so sheer? She continued to stare at them, willing it to go away.

((LAST ONE! I've accomplished my goal!))

[Gail Lawrence]

It had been raining all day, and Herbology classes had spent almost two hours in the Forest, reviewing for the OWL exams. Gail had attempted a charm to keep herself dry, but her charms were often less than effective, and she returned to the castle sopping wet. After changing into dry clothes, the last thing to be dealt with was her precious long hair. The towels were in the bathroom, and Gail headed downt the stairway a bit to fetch one.

She entered the bathroom, expecting it to be empty. She never even looked toward the sinks. Towelling her hair dry, Gail finally caught sight of Lily, staring at her reflection over a sink.

At first, Gail could not tell what she was looking at so intently. However, it soon struck her. The look on Lily's face was oddly familiar. It was that of near-despair. It was a look that Gail saw increasingly on her own face, as the conflict with her family elevated.

Although tending to solitude, Gail could not ignore a kindred spirit in such a blase manner. She let the towel fall around her shoulders and strode across the room to Lily's side.

"Lily, are you alright?"

((OOC: I haven't been around much recently, but I've been meaning to respond to you for a few days now. I finally got around to it! Yay.))

[hermione7lunaroc]

((A POST! YAY! Lol))

Lily forced herself to look away from the mirror, forced herself to break eye contact with someone who seemed so unlike her, but yet, Lily knew, was her one own self. She looked over at Gail. "I'm fine," she said. She looked around for her brush, which is what she had originally come in here to do. She wanted it up and out of her face. She had gotten only slightly distracted from her goal.

[Gail Lawrence]

Having given a few rather recently, Gail knew a brush-off when she heard one. However, she was uncertain how to pursue the topic further. Whenever she gave that response, others were content to let her be. Feeling such a kinship with Lily’s apparent emotions, Gail was not willing to leave the topic alone.

Lily was brushing her hair rather intently. The silence seemed oppressive. Finally, Gail decided to make her move. Knowing that a direct approach would fail, she took an innocuous tack.

Returning the towel to her long hair, she said, “You know, I always wanted curly hair as a little girl. I thought it would be different and cool.”

Gail was very careful to not look Lily directly in the eye and kept her voice even, as though she was merely thinking aloud. Hopefully, the prompt would be enough to get Lily talking.

[hermione7lunaroc]

Lily gave a small smile. "That's rather funny." She said. "I've always wanted straight hair. I've heard somewhere that all the straight haired girls want curls and vice versa. And that all the brunettes want to be blonde and vice versa. But I think if I changed my hair color that it would be black. I've always wanted black curls if they couldn't be straight."

[Gail Lawrence]

Gail was glad that Lily chose to respond. Maybe she could get something out of this conversation. She thought Lily made an interesting comment. “I never really wanted to change my hair color. But I rather like my hair now. I wouldn’t change it anymore. My hair’s been long like this for so long that I really can’t imagine it any other way.

“But if I changed it, it would definitely be red. I don’t think I could picture myself as a blonde.” Gail flashed a rare smile. “Does your family have curly hair too, or are you kind of alone in that respect?”

[hermione7lunaroc]

"I'm alone in that respect," Lily said. "My mum had the straightest hair and never a hair out of place either. I get my color from her though I think. Though my dad had red hair, so maybe that's how I end up with the strawberry blonde?" She said as more of a question, though not expecting an answer.

[Gail Lawrence]

“Perhaps,” Gail replied. “My aunt has the curliest hair I’ve ever seen—even more than yours. All of her family has it. But she’s not related to me. She’s my uncle’s wife.”

She paused for a moment. “My father claims I’ve got the family hair color. It’s a perfect match for his, so I suppose I believe him. I don’t know much about my father’s family, though, if any of them have curly hair or not. He doesn’t get on well with them…”

She trailed off, and her gaze unfocused a bit as she lost herself in thought.

[hermione7lunaroc]

Lily shrugged. "If someone back in my family line there is curly hair I know not who it was. Both of my parents were only children and my grandparents died before I was old enough to remember them." She shrugged. "It doesn't really matter much to me anywho."

[Gail Lawrence]

Ah ha! An opening had arrived.

Gail felt her hair and noticed that it was dry enough. A towel wouldn’t do any more work. Pulling it from her shoulders, she balled it up and tossed it into an open hamper. It banked off the wall and went in. She smiled before turning back to Lily.

“Why doesn’t it matter? The story of family is the story of how you got here. You might not always agree with them…” A pause. “You aren’t all identical, but you learn things from them. They’re your first teachers.

“So why doesn’t family matter?”

She felt like she had deceived Lily a bit, being on such terms with her own father. But her interest in family history was nearly boundless, so she pushed the feeling aside.

[hermione7lunaroc]

Lily shrugged. "Because in the end," she explained patiently to Gail, as though this is something that every common person should know. "Family is just your family. People that random genetics give you. Nothing more, nothing less. It's all in the genes, it's not like we can control it. And sometimes, they can't love you because of those genes." She set the brush down on the edge of the sink, staring blankly into the mirror thinking.