— fire starters. ☽ dorcas / jericho
( previous posts in thread can be found here !! : ( x ) )
— @dmeadowes. ☽
the emphasis he seems to place on his words confuses her. his speech is weighted, almost, anchored by a warning that MIGHT HAVE BEEN easier to follow if he hadn’t pulled her in, if they weren’t currently holding one another, standing closer than they ever have. DANCING. “i’ve never been very KEEN on rules, j e r i c h o.” she reminds him in case he has forgotten, the words slipping off the tip of her tongue with the ease that only her ignorance on the matter seems to afford her. “r u n n i n g, either.” the flickering of the flame reflects in his eyes and dorcas thinks that this is PROBABLY what people talk about when they say they wouldn’t wish to be anywhere else. she wouldn’t, not with the way he is looking at her, not until she figures out the meaning of the feeling that has settled in the pit of her stomach.
his words are expected ( she had just challenged him, after all ) and yet somehow they still manage to take her by surprise. yes, dorcas meadowes HAS heard every line in the book — especially one as old as that. still, his tone changes everything, as if those damn words had never been spoken to anyone but her, as if they had never even lived before now, outside of here, with nothing but that sad, flaming tree and the SKY as witnesses. she is surprised, she is. so no, dorcas doesn’t speak, but she makes DAMNED sure those doe eyes never o n c e leave his — there’s a hint of defiance in them, she’s 5′2″ inches of pure stubborn focus, because if he’s going to make her eat her words ( and dammit, he has ), she won’t give him the satisfaction of SHOWING it.
her resolve threatens to break though, as she finds herself consumed by her focus — consumed by the look in his eyes and swallowed up by the sudden SILENCE that has befallen the pair. she is n o t supposed to feel this way around JERICHO. she thinks that perhaps she should have listened when he told her to run. ( isn’t it just like dorcas meadowes, though, to consider the consequences AFTER they happen? ) she thinks maybe there’s still a shot, if only she didn’t enjoy the feel of his hand on her HIP. “… well don’t i feel s p e c i a l. i AM curious, though — who’s next on your list? what line will you use? or did you have enough sense in you to save the BEST dance for last?” her tone is cool but her mind is muddled, she waits for an answer and hopes a JOKE will make the fog go away. oh, dorcas, your mother was right.
like dorcas, R U L E S ( and the people that enforced them ) had never much been jericho’s ally, either. -— they were bothersome and i n f u r i a t i n g things that made the gryffindor -— usually so STRONG, careless and proud ; feel suffocated, trapped & small. rules exposed to jericho just how really & truly POWERLESS & vulnerable he really was -— and as much as he liked to b r e a k rules ; he was also often compelled to RUN from them. for all of jericho’s pretences about never backing down from a fight, or defying authority till the very last -— there lay hidden a boy who had this BAD HABIT of running away from anything GOOD ; and anything BAD. he had run from new zealand, he had run from his grandmother -— he had run from every person who had ever treated him with kindness ; and yet, with dorcas, he found himself a cripple -— as if his heart NEEDED her so fiercely that it rendered his feet unable to run away. if dorcas would only LISTEN to him, and leave like he’d asked. they’d both be spared the pain.
consumed in their fireside waltz ; their dancing feet take them closer to the blazing tree that begins to burn with more INTENSITY than before -— & the silence dorcas has used to challenge jericho with, begins to e a t away at him. he’s taken this too far -— he’s said too much, this time -— and the words that dorcas finally offers provide him little ease nor comfort. dorcas meadowes thinks she isn’t s p e c i a l -— ‘ just another girl amongst the many that had bolstered jericho’s repertoire and infamy ’. of all people, jericho believed that dorcas was the one among them ALL who hadn’t fallen for this a c t -—the one who saw through it all. “ i DON’T have a fucking list, doe. ” he a l m o s t sounds as hurt, angered & confused as he FEELS ; -— but he stops a moment -— eyes alight, heart ablaze. he doesn’t want to fight, not right now ; not when he has something to prove.
“ ACCIO nimbus ‘75 ″ -— jericho unlinks their hands a moment, keeping his free hand upon dorcas’ waist as a small smile pushes its way to the surface ; right hand at the ready, receiving his broom with a steady vise -— careful not to let it fly straight into the burning tree as he summons it. if jericho couldn’t runaway from dorcas -— he’d take her with him. if dorcas didn’t believe she was special to jericho ; he’d prove her wrong. “ don’t think, doe. just FLY. run away for a night. come with me. ”
