June 1st - June 19th
It's almost summer! The last few weeks of school have come, and students will need to study hard for their final exams! Don't let up yet, or your grades won't be what you want them to. Of course, the weather is almost perfect and pristine, in attempts to lure students away from their studies.
Lazy Day Afternoon [6/4/09 ; ISO: Puck]
It had been nearly three months since Valentino had first arrived at Hogwarts and he had to admit, he was getting used to the new school. The students weren't as snobby as he had anticipated and it hadn't been all that difficult for him to fit in. Once people got over his "strange" accent, they treated him like any other person. Well, the first month had consisted of eyes following him like he was from another planet, but nowadays people had gotten used to him and went back to their usual business. But of course, despite the fact Val had gotten used to the school, he hadn't quite gotten used to the weather. He was used to it being warm in the spring, yet in the UK the weather seemed to be constantly cooler and cloudy. At times it would even rain, and it was all just strange to Val.
But fortunately, the weather had been changing lately and the skies seemed to be clearing up a bit. The weather was slightly warmer, which allowed for more outdoor activities, which Valentino appreciated. While he wasn't quite the outdoorsman, he did enjoy being able to walk outside without having to grab a jacket. Val wasn’t quite big on jackets and preferred to be able to simply wear a t-shirt and jeans. It was simply too bad that he wasn’t able to wear that attire all the time, for Hogwarts required a uniform, but even with the uniform, Val preferred just wearing the shirt and the pants. He didn’t like the robes and would have much rather left them in his dormitory. But a lot of the time, he wasn’t able to, unless he wished to freeze to death in the hallways. Valentino thought the whole weather situation ridiculous, but he supposed that any of the students who lived in the UK would have gone to Georgia and asked why the weather was the way it was. It always depended on the location.
The day was quite nice though, and while many students were indoors studying for their exams, Val had gotten fed up with studying—not that he studied much to begin with. While Val was naturally smart, he was simply not interested in academics aside from Care of Magical Creatures and was fine doing mediocre in all other sections. Of course, he had to do well if he had any hope of becoming a dragon keeper, but Val also had the intention of enjoying his last few weeks at Hogwarts before the summer. After all, he wasn’t quite certain he’d be coming back. There was really no reason for him not to attend Hogwarts for his last year of school, but it seemed like he was switching schools so often that he wouldn’t have been surprised if he was shipped off to Cambodia to go to school. And so if he was indeed being shipped to Cambodia, Valentino wanted to make sure he would be able to have some fun before he was sent there, thus the reason he found himself at the lake’s edge instead of in his dormitory studying.
With a devilish smile on his face, Val walked along the water’s edge, hands folded casually behind his head. He walked along the shore before deciding to take his shoes off so he could walk in the water. He rolled up his jeans and allowed the cold water to lap at his bare feet as he continued to trek across the grounds. Every once in a while, Val would glance around as though he were looking for something before continuing on. It was somewhat unclear what exactly he was looking for, but he soon stopped, a mischievous smirk on his face. Dropping his shoes, he walked over to the edge of the large rock he was standing on and looked down. Sure enough, there was a small drop into the deep water below. It was a prime location for one to dive or leap precariously into the water, which seemed to be what Val had been looking for.
Backing up from the edge, Val took off his shirt and jeans to reveal a bare chest and a pair of black and gray swimming trunks. He put his clothing in a pile before facing the edge of the rock again. After a pause, Val broke into a run and leapt off the edge with a whoop. He flew through the air and soon hit the water, at which point he became completely submerged. But after a moment, he resurfaced and as he gasped for air, he shouted, “JESUS!” and sputtered around for a moment as he attempted to get used to the coldness of the water. He hadn’t quite expected the water to be so cold, but he supposed he should have anticipated it. After all, this was the UK and well, their lakes probably weren’t as warm as they were in the Southern United States. But he soon grew accustomed to the water and managed to get his limbs moving again as he swam through the water, clearly enjoying himself. Now if only he’d found someone to come down and join him…
The winter appeared as though it was finally over. For Val, the weather felt colder than it should have been for spring, but for a person who had been living in the UK all of her life, the weather couldn't have been more perfect. After a brief rainy season in early spring, the weather changed and began to shift further into a more summer feeling. It certainly wasn't as hot or sweltering as a place like Georgia, but it was certainly warm in comparison to what natives like Puck were used to. More often than not, the classrooms and library felt uncommonly warm and stuffy, and Puck found herself tugging uncomfortably at her tie and robes, wishing desperately she could just walk around in shorts and a tank top. On weekends, she usually did, much to the shock and surprise of students like Val who weren't accustomed to the cooler weather. But for Puck, the temperature was almost unbearable. Had she visited a place like Georgia, she surely would have died from the heat.
In the past few weeks Puck had often entertained the idea of traveling to Georgia, but only because of her new friendship with Val. The transfer student intrigued her in many ways. Once she had become accustomed to his bizarre accent and mannerisms, she found that she liked him a good deal more than she had liked anyone in quite a long time. This confused Puck. She wasn't really sure what she wanted, but she found herself flirting with him at every chance she got. Some small part of her brain told her not to. It told her to back off and stop flirting -- that she didn't want anymore relationships or drama. That flirting was the worst possible thing she could have done -- especially in front of Ashton. But for some reason she couldn't stop. She couldn't remember how to NOT flirt with Val for some reason. Every time she told herself to stop, or tried to stop, the plan to do so would backfire horribly and the situation would end up getting worse. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending upon how it was looked upon, Val seemed to enjoy flirting with Puck too.
This only made Puck more uncertain. What was she supposed to do in this situation? She wanted to be friends with Val, because he was an interesting fellow who certainly knew how to have a good time... But part of her wanted something more. Her past experiences with males had been all but good, so she felt herself spinning into uncertainty. She wanted more, but with her past history with Ashton and Damien -- Puck knew that relationships were doomed to fail. Relationships seemed pointless. Everywhere she turned, there was a failed relationship. Tucker and Cory, her and Ashton, Lianne and Tucker, Lynn and everyone... Temper and Lucian... Puck's memory glossed over the relationships that HAD actually worked out, like Jereff and Alex, but even in the good relationships she could only see the bad. Like the period of time where Lucian could be seen moping around the castle without Armand by his side. Or Jereff being too reserved to act like a man and steal a kiss from Alex. Relationships were pointless and terrifying for Puck, especially when she looked at her parents and their troubles. Her younger brother Thorri had been born late last month. Puck had missed the birth, naturally, and hadn't heard a word from her parents since aside from her younger brother's birth date, weight, length, and health. Puck felt extremely left out of the situation, and in all reality, she had been. Her involvement in the situation had been naming the baby, and other than that, she had been completely isolated. Her father and mother had been in countless fights because of her mother's fluctuating moods... Occasionally Puck had received an owl from her father saying that he had been kicked out of the house and to send owl posts to the flat he was staying in with friends.
All of the evidence seemed to point to the fact that relationships weren't worth the trouble. They broke up friends and divided families. So why did half of Puck want one with Val so badly? She was tired of floating in this no-man's land. Where they weren't really friends but they weren't exactly dating. But more than anything she was afraid of pushing the two of them into the 'couple' zone, because of her history with dating and crushes. Puck couldn't even explain the way she felt to others, because it didn't make the slightest bit of sense to her either. All she knew was that she both wanted, and didn't want, a relationship with Val. At the moment, Puck wasn't allowing herself to think about the pseudo-relationship she had with Val, or the shameless flirting between the two. She knew that if she thought about it, she would only become more confused. So she tried not to read into anything he said, and tried to keep away from saying things that could be taken seriously. She drifted through a state of wishy washy shallowness that was almost painful for her to be in.
As she walked across the Hogwarts grounds, Puck was trying to keep her mind on the summer and off of studying and boys. Unfortunately, thoughts of the summer included thoughts of her baby brother, whom she still hadn't met. She felt disgruntled by the fact that her baby brother had no idea who she was... Her parents had made their new little family unit without her, and Puck was almost dreading going home for her summer. Puck sighed heavily and stuck her hands deep into the pockets of her shorts. It was warm weather, so Puck had dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a sleeveless shirt. She was wandering around the grounds barefoot, with her shoelaces wrapped around her wrist so that her shoes were thumping against her thigh. The ground was cold and slightly muddy, but it was refreshing against the bottoms of Puck's feet. The wind was uncharacteristically silent and still, making the heat from the sun a little more intense. Puck gnawed on her bottom lip in thought as she continued her aimless zigzags across the grounds, until she neared the lake. She squinted into the sun a bit, using her hand to shade her eyes before she glanced down at the lake in time to see a figure jump off of the rock into the lake.
The corners of Puck's lips cracked into a smile as she saw the figure disappear. She walked calmly towards the lake, using all her willpower not to break into a mad dash for the edge of the water. When she grew a bit closer to the water Puck could hear the sounds of someone splashing about in the lake, trying to get used to the cold water. There was no doubt in Puck's mind that the lake was chilly, especially because of all the rain. The snow that had graced the tops of the mountains around Hogwarts had only just finished melting a week or two ago, so the lake had naturally been the reservoir in which the melted ice ended up in. As if that weren't enough, the levels of the water had increased over the past few weeks because of the freezing cold rain of spring.
The closer the got to the lake, the more Puck realized that the person swimming around in the cool water was probably Val. She sped up a little as this thought entered her head, but part of her wanted to turn around on her heel and walk in the opposite direction. Why should I turn around? Puck wondered, All on account of a boy? Stupid.. Puck approached the large rock she usually sat on when she and Tucker hung out at the lake together and climbed up on top. She smirked when she saw Val's shirt, pants, and shoes strewn about. What in the world was he swimming in? Puck had no idea that he had on a pair of swim trunks, but even still, the fact that he had discarded his clothes was extremely amusing to her. "Is it a bit chilly in there for you, Georgia boy?" Puck asked tauntingly, crouching down on the edge of the rock and dropping her shoes beside her.
"I have half a mind to just scoop up your clothes and hold them hostage to see what you do." She teased, trying not to pay attention to the fact that she had shifted into 'flirt-mode'.
Re: Lazy Day Afternoon [6/4/09 ; ISO: Puck]
While Val had made various friends and several acquaintances during his short time at Hogwartst, his most valued and interesting friendship was with Robin Goodfellow, more commonly know as Puck. From the start, the Southern boy had liked the girl and the more time he spent with her, the more he grew to like her. And from the start, Val could see their relationship becoming more than just a friendship. In fact, he’d hadn’t really hidden his intentions and really had no reason to be shy about the fact he was attracted to Puck. His attraction and interest in her couldn’t have been more blatantly visible without him actually verbally announcing it to the world. Valentino was never one to be secretive about whom he desired and when he felt like he had a chance, he went for it. And with Puck, he really felt like he had a chance. Or at least he thought he did. But it was always weird with Puck. When Val though they were making some progress, she’d retreat and it was like he’d pulled a “Go back two spaces” card from a board game.
But for the most part, Valentino had shaken the disappointments off. He was never one to get tied down by those kinds of things and besides, he assumed Puck was either just playing games with him or just wasn’t quite sure yet. But the boy was fairly confident she’d come around, for what other reason would there be for her blatant flirting? If she wasn’t interested she wouldn’t be leading him on as she was, especially since she really didn’t seem like the type who would make him go around in circles just because she felt like it. The two of them were friends, after all—very good friends. Valentino valued the friendship and knew it was real, but at the same time he wanted more. Unlike Puck, he wasn’t at all split between two ideas; he knew he wanted him and Puck to be more than just friends and now it was just a matter of making the right moves and waiting for Puck to return the movements. Of course, Val wasn’t sure how much longer he could wait and recently, he’d been contemplating just going ahead and making a move with hopes that Puck would allow him to do so.
At the moment though, Val was just enjoying his time in the water. He’d have to worry about exams when he got back to the castle, but for now he didn’t want to think about anything complicated. He just wanted to think about how damn cold the water was but how happy he was that he was actually able to jump into the water without turning into an icicle. After all, the small ponds around Val’s ranch weren’t nearly this cold. Most of the time he’d take one of the horses down to the pond and splash around for a while to cool off. He would never run the risk of freezing his butt off during those swims though. And he probably didn’t run the risk of being attacked by any creature either, though Val wasn’t really thinking about what exactly lurked in the lake at Hogwarts. There were no doubt some sort of magical creatures who made the lake their home, but hopefully they would just stay away from him. Being attacked by something without anyone to help him and with his wand still in the pocket of his jeans that were on the rock above him wasn’t exactly the best thing.
And just as Val was, once again, thinking about how much better it would have been if he’d asked someone to join him, he heard a voice. It was a rather pleasant voice—one that Val really didn’t mind hearing. "Is it a bit chilly in there for you, Georgia boy?"
Val gave Puck a roguish smirk as treaded water. “Ah’m surpr-ahsed there ain’t any ice cubes in ‘ere,” he replied, brushing some of his wet locks out of his eyes. He watched as Puck crouched down on the rock and felt the sudden urge to send a wave of water in her direction. But he refrained, knowing that he would most likely be punished severely for his actions and the last thing he wanted was to be punished by Puck. Of course, there was always the option of swimming over there and pulling her in, but he supposed that would warrant an even harsher punishment. Was he willing to take that chance?
"I have half a mind to just scoop up your clothes and hold them hostage to see what you do."
“Ah’d hunt you down, that’s what Ah’d do,” Val said, cocking an eyebrow. He knew that flirtatious tone of voice very well by now. “Even if Ah wasn’t wearing nothing under here, Ah ain’t lettin’ you run off with mah best jeans.” He grinned. “So wah don’ you jes’ hop on in ‘ere instead? It’ll save me the trouble’a havin’ ta go over there an’ pull you in mah’self.”
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