#exploration 19

Location: Black Family Cottage Date: Summer, 1973

“Is she really wearing that?”  Narcissa commented as she shielded her eyes from the sun, squinting on the shores of the lake.  Vivienne Parkinson was sitting peacefully in a paddle boat, drifting along where the current would take her as she sketched away, ignoring everything else - and everyone - around her.  Narcissa scowled as she cast her gaze over to Sirius.  He’d never been her favorite but with Regulus still in swimming lessons, she supposed he would have to do.

“Sirius, ugh Si-ri-us,” she whined, dragging out each syllable of his name as she tried to get the twelve year old's attention. “You’re supposed to be paying attention!”  If it were Andromeda, she would have been laughing along with her, poking fun at the 1950′s esque coverall bathing suit the older girl was wearing.  Instead, Narcissa found herself with the only relative available.  Somehow, she began to come to the conclusion that afternoon tea with her mother would have been more enjoyable than this.

Instead, dealing with Sirius’ constant shifts in attention, constant juvenile comments was proving increasingly difficult and she was beginning to feel more like a babysitter than a cousin.  The five years that fell between them had never felt bigger, even as she wished to show Sirius what a proper Pureblood would do.  She knew already that a part of her wished that she could be wild like Sirius and Bellatrix, but that was not the role she was supposed to play.  She knew that all too well now.

“Ugh, fine.” She exclaimed finally, “choose not to pay attention.”  Narcissa stamped on the dock in consternation before an idea struck her.  Smiling wickedly, she knew just the way to make Sirius pay attention to her.  Making like she was walking away in defeat, she managed to walk just past him before she turned and gripped his shoulders.  From there, it was easy.  Still light and skinny, Sirius was easy to knock off balance - right into the lake.  The splash he made as he fell in was satisfying.  Maybe now he might learn to pay more attention to his surroundings.

Character Exploration #19 – Dialogue Fragments!

Below is an assortment of random fragments of dialogue that we've put together, ranging from simple to really out there. We invite you to pick one (or more!) to use in/inspire a para, drabble, drawing or graphic! Can you hear your character saying any of the following?