Early Birds PV Willow Finished

Interacting with @Sylvain Indarys

On her God and Goddess she was usually never this late. Willow was someone that was notoriously punctual, but it was a morning where everything was going wrong. Ever since the fire she slept poorly, but with the addition of the ball? Her sleep schedule and ability to stay awake had gotten even worse. Nightmares plagued her sleep, even curled up next to her best friend and stuffed animals. Deep bags had settled under her eyes marring an otherwise porcelain face. Her hair was hastily thrown up into a ponytail, bits and pieces sticking out. The dark green overalls she wore the first time she met Sylvain still dirtied from the Greenhouse was thrown on over a light grey t-shirt. Scuffed up gardening shoes completed the disheveled look.

In the front chest pocket of her overalls was a bracelet that was knotted with light and dark greens. She had a matching one on her wrist already, joining the four that she usually wore already. In her arms were two basic travel mugs, blue and yellow for obvious house reasons. In the mugs was a freshly brewed citron green tea. Light and refreshing with mild amounts of caffeine to help them slowly wake up with the day. Luckily, it was a quick steep or else that would've made her even more late than she already was. She just had to hope that Sylvain liked green tea in the first place. With a quick stuff of her pale purple gardening gloves from home into her pockets she bolted out of her Huffle dorm. One would think there was another fire with how quick she was moving.

As someone who spent her days running around a forest near her house she was quick and nimble, while also keeping the tea safe. It also helped that being on the Quidditch team had her frequently exercising so she had a bit more stamina than the average kid. That didn't mean running all the way to where Sylvain had told her to go wasn't about to wear her out. In the distance, she finally spotted the boy. Who was looking for her. Her heart broke just a little bit, hoping that he hadn't been there for very long.

Her full sprint only stopped right as she arrived next to him. She spoke quickly in between gasps for breath. "I... am... so... sorry!" She shoved the blue mug towards him. "Brought... tea... green... lemon..." She collapsed to sit on the ground next to him, seeing that he had already started digging for worms. She felt so bad for being late, she took a few moments to fully catch her breath and take a couple sips of her warm tea. "I'm so sorry for being late Sylvain. I promise I'm usually on time... just a rough morning. Nothing to worry about though!"

Quickly her hand fished in her pocket for the bracelet and presented it to him. "I made this for you! I know it's Slytherin colors but.. I thought since we met in the greenhouse it would be a nice color scheme. The knots also remind me of knots in trees so... Yeah." With a shy smile she looked up at him, moving her wrist to show that she also had one. "And we can match too!" Her breath was still catching up with her with how much that she blurted out, and her limbs were on fire from how much she just ran without stretching. So she finally stopped talking and gave Sylvain space to talk.

Friendship Bracelet Ref ||

Reducio

Hexcode= #507091

There she was! She looked quite confident as her legs swiftly carried her toward him. Sylvain felt his heart soar when she broke the lonely emptiness of the castle ground’s morning silhouette. He lifted a hand as he saw her, and gave a gentle wave in recognition. She was dressed similarly to the day he’d met her, but the color from her shirt had been replaced by something that matched the springtime Scotland fog. Despite the steadiness of her bouncing, she looked bushed. Sylvain decided he would do most of the work while she took a chance to rest and wake up. It was only fair he showed her how this time and she did the digging next time.

As she got within speaking distance, Willow gasped out an apology and mention she’d brought something to drink, Green tea with Lemon? He wondered if that was the reason she’d been a bit on time. He thought everyone showed up to everything early. The thoughtfulness of the tea was more than enough to make up for any offense that could possibly have come from the minute or so he’d spent worried about her flaking. He felt ashamed that he thought she might not have shown up. He took the cup and sipped quietly, gently shutting his eyes and smiling a bit in appreciation. Sweet and rejuvenating, this was good tea.

When the sleepy hufflepuff pushed a bracelet his way he did his best to suppress his surprise. ”Oh,” He said as his dirty gloved hand scratched at the back of his rat’s nest hair. “I made you one too!” He reached into his satchel and retrieved an embroidered band of black and yellow. It was hufflepuff colors and shoddy craftsmanship, but he handed it over just as proud of the offering. “Thanks for coming out here to dig worms with me.” He pointed at a rock and motioned for Willow to sit down. “Catch your breath while I show you how it’s done.”

Sylvain dug into the earth with a mighty “OOF!” as his trowel split the soft ground and he dug a divot out of the school’s mud. Several insects mucked about, but Sylvain was only interested in the nightcrawlers for now. He reached in to pluck a few of them before they shied away and wormed back into the earth. With some luck he managed to snag another one. He turned around with it wriggling between his gloved pointer and thumb His excitedly toothy grin peaked its way out for the first time in several days. “I used to catch loads of these guys back home. Mom told me all kinds’ useful stuff you can do with them. They aerate the soil, so they’re even useful to gardeners.”

Handing the Hufflepuff a worm of her own, Sylvain sat down next to her on the rock. His arms had begun to burn from digging around, and his knees were muddied and scraped from having crawled around. “I think that does it for worms. What about words? You wanna talk about home again, or maybe school this time? What’ve you been up to?” He took another sip of the vitamin-c infused tea. The lemon was a welcomingly complex sour to such a simple and sweet revitalization.

@Willow Anderson

Interacting with @Sylvain Indarys

It seemed like Sylvain enjoyed the tea, which deilghted her. It was always a risk making tea for someone without actually knowing what they liked. For professors she generally brought a basic black tea, but Sylvain gave her the energy of a green tea. She took a moment to enjoy the delightful brew with him, breathing in the citrus scent before taking a long sip to turn the burning in her limbs to a comforting warmth. Generally, she was a morning person but lately with the lack of sleep she had been getting it was a tad bit harder to be as lively as she usually was.

After she presented her own gift to him, Sylvain gave her a bracelet of her own. While she had made a Hufflepuff one for herself on the first night of arrival, a friendship bracelet from a friend always meant more. She quickly removed her current bracelet and tucked it away in her pocket and deftly tied the new one on. All of the bracelets she now had on her left wrist were proudly from friends, or shared with friends and it filled her heart with more joy than she thought was possible. It was a sign of a change for her, of developing genuine friendships that she had never had the pleasure of developing before. After tying it on she showed Sylvain, as if it was even more magical now that it was on her wrist. "Sylvain, I love it." She quickly pulled him into a hug before moving to the rock as instructed.

She watched diligently to his method of procuring worms so she could recreate it next time. Usually she just shoved her dirty hands deep into the earth, pulling clumps out until her fingers found purchase around the slithering body of a worm. She took the worm gently in her hand, watching it squirm and wiggle having been pulled out of its home. Her eyes moved back up to the Ravenclaw boy as he talked about the purposes of them. "I'll probably rehome this guy into the willow tree in my dorm. My dorm literally has plants all around us, and a giant willow tree in the middle of the room. Isn't that just lovely? I also think it's ironic that my name is Willow and I live with a willow tree." A small sweet giggle emerged. Her dorm was one of her favorite places to be, even after the fire. Surrounded by nature just calmed her in a way that couldn't be replicated.

Gently, she deposited the worm for safe keeping into her front pocket. Pockets were so incredibly useful. For storing bracelets and worms. Her now free hands wiped the residual dirt from the worm off on her pants and wrapped around her mug. "What have I been up to? Uh... spent a bit of time in the hospital wing after the ball. Now I'm just trying to get through the rest of the year." After a deep sigh and a long sip from her drink, she continued. "Something seems off. I mean, with the Hufflepuff common room fire, and now a ball being attacked by giant weird bugs. Something doesn't seem right for a school we're supposed to be safe at."

She hummed in thought, "Although, maybe I'm just being paranoid. I mean, maybe this is normal for wizard schools? I have no... comparison really except for muggle schools." She released her right hand from the mug and set it behind her to lean back on. "What about you? Where is the story of Sylvain headed right now?" She tried to bring some light back into the conversation that she dimmed, a habit she was beginning to have that she didn't quite enjoy.

Hexcode= #507091

Willow's kind and gentle giggling was more than enough to put Sylvain's concern at ease. If there was any doubt that his friend was having a good time, the daydreaming adept couldn't find it. Syl had heard that the Hufflepuff dormitories housed many plants and various species of flora but he wasn't welcome there. Still, if ever he had the chance to sneak a peak at the Badger den he would. Sylvain also heard about the fire that happened there as well, but plants and Huffles always seemed to grow back stronger after a bit of fire.

"Mostly studying for finals," the muddy-kneed scholar replied back matter of factly. "I haven't had much time to myself other than that." It was true, for a boy who'd struggled all year to make friends, his sudden and exciting friendships were beginning to take off. "But I'm also not so sure I'd have done anything more useful with my time. I've been enjoying myself to the best of my abilities." A sort of confident happiness spread across the stony face of Sylvain's rocky expression. "and you're right, things are definitely off around school. I'm not sure what's going on, but I hope the professors figure it out soon."

"I don't think it's paranoid to be worried for your health or safety Willow." Sylvain said in a monotone voice. "In fact, I'd be pretty worried if you were trying to figure out what was happening, and weren't half as cautious as you are now." Truly, he didn't have enough information to form his opinion on fact. Mostly, he just trusted her to take care of herself. Nodding in agreement Sylvain wrinkled his nose at the thought of muggle school. "Eh, I didn't really care much for school in the muggle world." A shrug and sideways eye roll was all he could offer her.

When she asked about his plans for the summer, a small bead of worry formed a tangled knot in his stomach. With both of his mothers almost guaranteed to be too busy to visit him over the summer, Sylvain had done his best to avoid any thoughts of being alone. This avoidance, as usual, had only made the boy's feelings worsen. Now, the aloof nature of his feelings spurred him towards panic. Outwardly, Sylvain managed to stay calm. The weepy lad had just realized he wasn't going to have anywhere to be this summer. Fortunately, there was still enough time for him to make plans.

"I've not planned much for this summer," he said coolly as if he'd practiced the line mentally just seconds before saying it aloud. "That is, I had planned on attending the summer camp, and then after that who knows what I'll get myself into?" He put his dirty gloved hands into the air in a shrugging motion. "I'm excited to see how things turn out during the quidditch finals, and I'm really looking forward to camping out. What about you Willow? Summer?"

Interacting with @Sylvain Indarys

While she was more of a morning person, everything in school piling up left her with a general exhaustion that seemed to be persistent and like it wouldn't be going away soon. Her eyes stayed facing forward, gazing into the misty morning forest. The forest always seemed to call to her growing up, but the Forbidden Forest was foreboding and screamed at her to stay out of its reach. Which, she did. She had heard whispers of a Ravenclaw attack in the forest, but didn't dare ask further questions from the students themselves. She knew that she hated talking about the fire after it happened, and she wanted to pass that same courtesy onto her favorite Eagles.

The story of Sylvain was one that she loved to get more details on. He was an easy friend to be made, conversations rocking back and forth easily and pleasantly. Even though this was only their second meeting she felt a desire to continually get to know him. He had a calm, decisive personality that seemed to draw the wild flower child to the ground next to him. "I don't know if I would say that there's necessarily more useful things than studying. But make sure to take care of yourself too. I know my brain can get all foggy and fuzzy when I study for too long. Although, maybe you Ravenclaws have more of a tolerance for length study sessions." She said it playfully. The house of blue and bronze certainly had a studious reputation that could not be matched by any house.

As the conversation shifted towards one of the recent events, Willow moved to sit next to Sylvain if she wasn't already and laid her tired head on his shoulder if he allowed her to make that contact. If there was a sign of protest she'd move to sit back up. She sought the comfort of a friend in a trying time even though there was no immediate danger currently, she was starting to feel like you could never know when there would be danger. "I don't think its even necessarily my health or safety that I'm worried about. I jumped into a hole in the floor after Jack Warren, just... without thinking. I saw someone in danger and I leaped. At the Blossom Ball all I could think about was making sure Flash was ok, and I was willing to do anything to get him out of there. Even if it meant I didn't leave." She didn't clarify further, she knew Sylvain would probably understand. "I'm always worried about whether or not my friends are going to be okay, especially since I can't protect them when we're separated by houses. I mean, it's not like those are exactly safe either." She lightly shuddered at the thought.

Muggle school definitely wasn't her favorite but she was starting to wonder if she'd take the safety and comfortability of that routine opposed to this one. "I mean, compared to this... this is definitely better in some ways. But I kind of miss knowing what was going to happen for the most part." Sure, there were bullies. But at least they were consistent compared to the sporadic danger of the wizarding world.

Her head lifted from his shoulder as they began to discuss the excitement of summer. "I mean, I kind of have to go to summer camp for the Quidditch finals, not that I wouldn't want to go! I'm excited about getting a little bit more time with all my friends, although I am definitely nervous for the match." She paused considering the fact that she had a few people she had plans with, but not knowing what was really finalized. "I wanted to spend my summer visiting or having people visit. I know Flash might come meet my family, Jake Morris and Mildred Wilson might be having a Disney slumber party with me at some point. You should visit too! We could hang out in the garden globe, and we could show you all of our plants. I'm sure they're not as impressive as your entire greenhouses, but they're still lovely. I think my mom and dad would love you too. But I'd love to see you even after summer. I would hate to not be able to see you all summer." With the seemingly simple request of having him visit, a small flustered blush took over her pale cheeks. Making friends was new to her, despite people's preconceptions about the sunny badger. She was always nervous that these requests would come with a laugh of surprise, or a scoff of rejection. Even though she knew Sylvain wasn't that kind of person.

Connections seemed to come quick and natural with a few people at this school. Flash, Mildred, and now Sylvain were just a few of them that she had come to greatly cherish. She couldn't bear the fact that they mostly lived far apart because of the nature of the boarding school, and she was serious about the fact that she couldn't wait to see them again.

Hexcode= #507091

"But make sure to take care of yourself too." This wouldn't be the last time that Willow would have to tell Sylvain to take better care of himself. The whimsical nature of his interests drove him to forget himself entirely too often. Often enough he compromised to get better at it, and sometimes succeeded. Today was a shining example of doing that well. Digging for worms was therapy.

"Although, maybe you Ravenclaws have more of a tolerance for length study sessions." She said it playfully. If only she knew that they had planned out exactly how to shatter the House Cup record in June, she might have taken his advice to study more seriously. Oh well, he had tried. Sylvain chuckled casting her suspicion aside instead, "We do not all like long study sessions, as in some of us are swift learners." It was true, the speed with which Ravenclaw students could mount an effort to accomplish a lofty goal was something the studious mage was proud of.

"At the Blossom Ball all I could think about was making sure Flash was ok, and I was willing to do anything to get him out of there." He struck her next words from his memory. Syl never wanted to think of a world without Willow again, and his concern for Flash deepened. The misty eyed scholar's face practically plead for her to squeeze him, so it was a relief when she came over and lay her head on his shoulder.

"I mean, compared to this... this is definitely better in some ways. But I kind of miss knowing what was going to happen for the most part." Willow had obviously grown up happy, and it pleased Sylvain to know such. The wizard had spent the first ten years of his own life curious as to where he had come from, and now that he was in Hogwarts nothing interested him more than actually finding out, but there was also something dark and uncertain there. Some things were meant to be chosen for yourself, this was one of them and Sylvain was sure of it. "I understand what you mean." He said wrapping a muddy arm around her, accidentally smudging the back of her shirt. "Muggle school was fun when we were doing projects, or at recess. I just always felt like I should be doing something more."

As her bouncy head lifted from his shoulder, Sylvain let go so he didn't trip her. He smiled patiently while she explained her summer plans, memorizing the names in case they became important later. "You should visit too!" He wanted to cry when she invited him, but he held back a solitary tear. Of course Willow would be the first of his friends to invite him over. He'd been worried over nothing this whole month. "Sure," he said with a broad grin. "I'd love to come visit, what's your address then?" He ruddily grabbed his journal from his satchel along with a ballpoint pen he'd stowed away as she explained how she didn't want to go the whole summer without seeing him.

"I'll visit as often as you'll let me! An entire fire brigade won't be able to tear us apart."

Relaxing as Syl spotted Willow's blushing cheeks, he sensed that she was just as weird about stuff like this as he was and it was reassuring that they would go on to become best friends knowing she didn't judge him for taking interest in her life. After all, that was the most effective way of finding people with similar interests. According to several manuals on friendship within the Hogwarts Library.

"I'd rather not go to my place though if that's okay, I'm not sure you'll be able to get there. Inverie Scotland was not the kind of place someone visits for an afternoon of hanging out, most people hike twenty-seven miles across the mountain, two swollen rivers, and a bog. The only other way is by sea." Sylvain looked to Willow to see if she believed him. He was telling the truth, but the boy really had just washed up to the most remote area in Scotland.

@Willow Anderson

Interacting with @Sylvain Indarys

Willow shrugged at his comment about studying, "Mm, I suppose that's true. Which one are you then? Swift learner or long study session person? Or both I guess. You can be a swift learner and just spend a lot of time in the library. I like the library but not necessarily for studying all the time. It's a great place to make friends." She paused and shuddered, thinking about the time she tried to make a friend and ended up getting cursed with slugs. "If you ever see a tall mean looking Slytherin in the library, don't say hi or he'll make you throw up slugs. And if he makes you throw up slugs let me know and I'll um, I don't know exactly. But I'll do something!" She knew up against a third year she didn't have much battle potential, especially with the spells that he knew compared to her.

The way he talked about school, how he felt like he should be doing something more. She had never felt that. In her mind she had always been exactly where she needed to be which was wherever her family was, building a life together. Granted, they lived in a small town and she had always wanted to move to London, especially with how close they were to the city. But her parents and grandma had always been too attached to their little cottage of love. His arm around her provided some much needed comfort and warmth against the brisk morning and she leaned into the side embrace. "Do you think this is it then? The something more? Or are you still waiting?" Her bright eyes looked up at him, curious. Now more than ever Willow felt like she was waiting for something to tell her what she was meant to do in this world.

Her hands quickly but gently took his journal and pen, clicking it a couple times. "Gods, I miss just normal pens sometimes." She scrawled out her address for him adding a little heart, star, and flower at the end. Just in case he needed to remember who wrote it for him by those three little icons. "Luckily, I don't think there will be a fire brigade keeping us apart. And uh... let's just say I don't bring people over that often so my parents will happy to have you anytime you want to come over, for as long as you want." Her grin was bright, though her cheeks showed evidence of a little blush due to her revelation about not having people over that often, especially for someone who seemed to not struggle in the social department.

Her eyes widened slightly when he told her how much traveling it took to get to where he was. "That's a lot, and I hope you know I would fully travel whatever distance it took to get to you. But we can absolutely just hang out at my place. I still have gardens and dirt for us to play with." She giggled, it seemed like maybe she had finally found someone that loved dirt just as much as she did.

Hexcode= #507091

"I'm definitely not a quick study, as much as I'd like to be. I can read pretty quickly, but sometimes I have to go back and re-read." Patience was a virtue the scholar had been born nearly lacking in entirety. "Though you are right, there are some things I learn quickly. Flying is not one of them." There was a quick flash of morose frustration that hung like a cloud over the first year's failed attempts to fly which seemed to rain on his mood, but the feelings evaporated as quickly as they precipitated. Chuckling as she mentioned the library and slugs, Sylvain simply nodded in agreement as he made a promise to keep his eye out for lanky slug-vomit inducing Slytherins. "I swear I will tell you."

"Hogwarts is a good start, there's a lot of answers here." Sylvain said matter-of-factly as though he knew Hogwarts would answer the questions he had. "Truth is that I'm still well..." he looked at the patch of mud in front of him ironically. "I'm still digging for the answers to all the questions I have." He scrunched his face up at the ominous ambiguity with which his cryptic line of answering had left them. "But I won't stop here, I need to figure more out than just what it is I want to do. I need to figure out who I want to be." Big talk for a twelve year old, but if the past three months had taught him anything, it was that he needed to let himself out more. Become more present and talk a bit bigger.

Raising a hand to cover his mouth, but stopping as a clod of dirt plodded into his lap, Sylvain smiled again at Willow as she wrote her address in his journal taking the entire page for a heart, star and flower. As she clicked the pen and handed it back to him, the lad studiously admired her handiwork with a blushing, "Thank you." Heart swollen with joy and elation for the possibility of a friend visiting him over the summer, Sylvain nearly found the courage to ask Willow something he should've asked her long ago. He wanted to ask the bouncy Huffle to help him face his fear of flying, only he felt ashamed asking for pity.

"It doesn't have to be soon but uh..." his voice trailed as embarrassment began to wrack his socially awkward speech. "I'm having a really hard time learning to fly. I know you're on the Quidditch team and stuff, and I'm really excited to see how your match goes at summer camp, but, do you think that you could uh..." In the moment of weakness, temptation to save face caused Sylvain to lose his nerve. To ask her by the time he found the words would be impossible.

"Would you show me how to fly."

Instead he bottled them up and hid the weakness away, content with keeping it his own problem for now, reminding himself he and Willow had plenty of time left together. "You know what, never mind, we're both really busy. I can ask when we both have more time. I am curious though, how do you feel the match will go?"

@Willow Anderson

Interacting with @Sylvain Indarys

Willow turned to look at him as he spoke of the answers that might lie within the dark walls of Hogwarts. "Flying is weird. I like planes, planes are cool. I just feel unstable on a broom sometimes." A memory of clinging to her friend as they tried to try a new Quidditch move flashed in her mind. She felt so terrified in that one moment. There were many moments when Quidditch terrified her really. It was a really brutal sport that she had somehow gotten herself involved in.

"Well... do you have the proper tools to dig for the answers? Like... a quill and parchment to write down the answers when you find them. An ever full inkwell for your discoveries?" She paused, searching for something else in him that might reveal the subject of his search, but largely came up empty. It had to be something more than what could be found in a book or else the studious eagle would've found it already, wouldn't he? "Maybe... a friend by your side when it may get frustrating or scary?" Her eyes held a softness that came with the eggshells that she felt herself walking on. She didn't want to push him too much, especially if he was on this journey with someone else that he hadn't mentioned. "I have no clue who I want to be. But I think that's ok for now. I think I'll make it wherever I need to be, whether I know it or not." She pulled her knees up to her chest to watch the worm squirm in and out of the dirt and nodded in confirmation of her future self discovery, more to herself than to Sylvain.

After writing down her address, Willow pulled the worm Sylvain had given her out from her pocket and slid off the rock she was sitting on. She gave the small thing a large leaf that was nearby and a mound of dirt to crawl through without losing the small thing while they continued chatting. A denim pocket was no place for a cute worm. She listened diligently still, and it wasn't quite lost on her that Sylvain seemed to ditch what he was going to ask completely. But, she had learned not to push for fear of angering someone so she let it go for now. "Uh... I don't know. Exactly. Um, it's kind of scary? I mean, Durmstrang is super secretive about like everything. So it's hard to know what we're getting ourselves into. My last game went really well, but that was also my first game so I don't know. Practice is always so different from the actual games and I'm mostly scared of falling."

With a sudden realization, she turned to Sylvain, a desperation in her eyes. "If I fall off my broom, will you visit me in whatever hospital situation happens at summer camp? I don't want to be alone there." The Hospital Wing after the Blossom Ball was incredibly isolating and lonely. While she had been healed by Profession Lian, the time of being by herself tossing and turning within the thin beds was awful. The young badger had to work up courage to even go find Flash and ask if she could sleep with him. He obliged and even told her a story, but she didn't want to spend a moment alone like that again.