Double Dare You PV Asteria Kurokawa Closed

Asteria liked wandering. There was something about the endless possibility it presented, where you could loose yourself in a crowd or end up absolutely alone, that spoke to her. When you wandered, you could find untouched rooms, could watch the variations in how people lived, could spot the smallest perfect flowers. It was like stepping into a secret world, one that existed all around you, one that didn't have existing baggage. For her at least, it was a way to forget who she was and what bothered her. Hogwarts was the perfect place for this sort of wandering, all grandiose halls and sprawling grounds, filled with nooks and crannies that children had uncovered for centuries. To say that she loved it would be putting it plainly.

Right now however, was not one of those times where she found herself at peace with her surroundings. Instead, she was frantic, dashing through the crisp evening, her boots smacking against the leaves. The reason for her frenzy was simple: on one of her recent wanderings, she had misplaced her pocket notebook, a small ill-used book, filled with scraps of poetry and idle thoughts. If it were to be found, she would be well and truly mortified. Even at the slightest thought of it, her cheeks flushed, warm against the cool outside air. Even her thin black sweater, worn under a thick denim jacket, wasn't enough to ward off the slight chill that was only increasing as the night drew on.

The last place she had seen it was when she was wandering around by the lake earlier. She would simply have to scour the entire lake until she found it. Easy peasy, she thought, ignoring the tendrils of worry that clawed at her stomach.

As she drew closer to the lake, her pace slowed down and she turned her eyes to the ground, scanning for her book. It was why she all but bumped into the other girl. Only noticing in the nick of time, she pulled herself backwards, tripping over and falling flat onto her ass in the process. From her vantage point on the ground she called up to the girl. "Uh- sorry about that." Taking in the other girl more, she noticed that she was holding a notebook of some kind, whose details she couldn't make out in the dim light. "Hey! Is that my notebook?" she asked, the needle of worry in her stomach transforming into biting concern. 

@Katherine Cobwebbe

The Lake was rather beautiful in the evening, Kat thought. It was so dark, and so still. Much richer perhaps were the supposed inhabitants of the waters, that she had yet to actually meet though was certain of their existence. She had been told by her brother all about the Grindylows and Selkies, which apparently were not quite as friendly as the semi-domesticated, giant squid, who permitted students to tickle its tentacles in sunny weather. It was hard to imagine any creatures lurking beneath the surface, with how motionless the vast pool was. She was tempted to disturb it all with a rock.

A sudden thud to her left caused Kat to jump and blot the page she was working on with ink. "Argh!" she yelped, glaring at the perpetrator; a shorter girl with bobbed hair and darker skin was staring up at her from the ground where she was sat. "What was that for?!" Her response was a little useless, and most likely escaped her due to pre-determined frustrations. Her expression hardened even further when the girl accused her of using her own notebook.

"Of course not! This one's mine, hence why I'm writing in it!" she snapped haughtily, drawing the book into her chest in order to hide its contents from her new companion. She did feel slightly bad, of course. It was obvious this girl had misplaced something that meant a great deal to her. Kat wouldn't be too happy herself if someone was potentially pouring over her private scribbles... In fact, this situation was almost too convenient. The girl needed some help and Katherine needed a distraction. Their exchange would be simple. She slouched slightly, forcing her face to relax. "Um... Have you lost it? I can help you look, if you want."

Hopeful that she hadn't aggravated the other girl too much, she added "My name's Katherine. Cobwebbe. Is it pretty personal, this notebook?"

After the other girl - Katherine - corrected her assumption about the nature of the notebook, Asteria flushed bright red. It was the kind of embarrassment felt throughout the entirety of the body, an anxious buzzing thing that made her already panic-muddled thoughts increasingly restless. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized the book the other was all wrong: wrong shape, size, color. Her foolishness hit her like a brick and she slumped onto the ground even more.

When you're mad, there can be this tendency towards lashing out, towards wanting to snap at even the most gentlest of helping hands. It is the instinct of a suspicious cat, to crave comfort and yet ward it off, a furious blending of fight and flight. In this moment, Asteria felt that tension of the two bubbling in her stomach. It wasn't something she could quite explain: maybe it was the loss of the only place she knew to store her thoughts, maybe it was the embarrassment of making a fool of herself in front of this girl, maybe it was anger at herself for being so abrupt. Whatever it was, she felt it horrendously, as she sat on the ground, blinking up at Katherine. Which reminded her, she really ought to respond to the questions posed.

"Of course it's personal!" she snapped, slightly regretting it afterwards. Katherine had only wanted to help. "Sorry," she sighed, "it's just that I'm, well, worried over it? Y'know?" With one hand hand she gestured at the other girl's notebook, that was currently clutched tight to her chest. If she cared about her notebook that much, Asteria reasoned, she would have to understand. Right?

She pulled herself up off of the ground, brushing the dirt and grass off of her hands and pants. "But sure, if you want to help, go ahead. Also what kind of name is Cobwebbe?" Her tone had eased slightly, less snapping, more joking. It was the careless callousness of children, unintended questions with little lethal intent behind them. Extending one hand, she continued "I'm Asteria, by the way."

@Katherine Cobwebbe

Kat chewed her lip when the Hufflepuff confessed her worry. It was understandable: there was always the risk of things being found and read, mocked or maybe even vandalised. Perhaps this notepad was a diary of sorts; Kat kept a diary and was very precious over it. No one was allowed near that thing. It held too many secrets.

The other girl was obviously fairly frustrated, emotional, and Kat could only hope that she wasn't about to burst into tears because only God knew how she'd deal with that sort of thing, however, the girl quickly decided to pull herself together, standing and offering a hand. Kat stuffed her book into the pocket of her robes and heaved herself up from the ground with a firm pull from the girl, who dubbed herself Asteria. She did her best to disregard the previous comment. "It's cool, right? I mean, I like spiders." That was the truth, at least. It was her grandmother's name, and Kat always felt that it represented her wizarding background very nicely.

She cast her eyes fleetingly over the Great Lake. This was going to be a lot like finding a needle in a haystack. This notebook could really be anywhere, but a bonus was that there weren't a lot of students around, what with the cool chill of the evening. Without waiting for much affirmation about where the two were supposed to be heading heading, Kat began in the opposite direction that Asteria had emerged from. "Any idea where you last had it? Oh, and what colour is it?"

She couldn't help but feel curious about this notebook's contents. Maybe Asteria liked to write, just like her. Or maybe she was artistic and knew how to draw. Kat wasn't made for that sort of craft: her marks were scruffy and unpractised. Whilst many had made the assumption that her handwriting was excellent and refined, it was actually quite the contrary. She had a clumsy hand. Cautiously, Kat probed her next question. "What's in it? If you don't mind me asking." She glanced behind her, her lips curling into a hopeful smile.

"No, no, your name is sick. Like, out of the ordinary sure, but cool as all get out." She gestured her hands out to emphasize her point and glanced over at the other girl - Kat - as they stood, looking over  the slowly darkening grounds of Hogwarts. As the other girl took the lead, Asteria was taken aback slightly. Wasn't this my quest? she thought. Ugh, not a quest, just a thing I really, really have to do. Her dad had been right: video games would rot her brain if she kept thinking about tasks on her to do list in terms of side quests. Her mind turned to Kat again: really, why did she want to help? Asteria had insulted her to her face and run into her and yet here they were. But the other girl obviously wanted to help, and there really was a lot of ground to cover, so far be it from her to turn down a friendly hand.

Jogging slightly to keep up with the (much) taller girl, she chewed on her lip idly, trying to remember when exactly she had last seen it. Had it been by that one rock? She had lingered there for a while, trying to figure out how to really capture the scale of the lake in words. Needless, to say, she had failed. Flailing a single arm in the rock's direction, she mumbled out a few answers. "Over there I think? And it's uh- dark purple? There's a few stickers on it, and it's about yea big." Her hands made a shape about the size of a deck of tarot cards. 

In response to the questions about the exact contents of the journal, she laughed a bit. "I don't... tend to tell people." But hell (her brain rioted at the small burst of cursing, but her dad wasn't there. She could curse all she wanted), she had already showed one person at this school, what was another? Anyway, she was curious about the contents of the other girl's journal as well. It was only natural to wonder right? What kind of things might make another person hold a book so close. A thought came to her, a way to sate her own curiosity or maybe Kat's. "But uh- how- how about we play a game? Whoever finds my journal wins. Winner gets to peek at the other's journal, loser jumps in the lake. Come on, I dare you."

It was a stupid idea really, but the thought had alighted in her brain impulsively, and like all impulses that passed through her, she acted on it. Worse came to worse, she'd get wet, or show off her poetry. Hopefully, Kat would take the proposition well. It was hard to predict with other people, but she seemed fairly even, at least she had recovered from Asteria's natural bluntness startlingly well so far. Asteria beamed at her, trying to exude that there was a lack of ill-intent in her actions. 

@Katherine Cobwebbe

Conjuring a mental image of the described notebook, Kat surged ahead towards the rock that Asteria had highlighted, amused when the girl jogged to catch up with her. She was used to being the tallest in a crowd of people, and so the fastest walker. She exceeded average height for her age and didn't particularly mind that it made her stand out. When Asteria quickly shut down her previous question, and Kat decided not to probe her. She was in a weird mood, half nonchalant and half assertive, trying not to let her mind wander to much. She instead looked over the lake, walking next to her company in silence.

It was Asteria who spoke first. "But uh- how- how about we play a game? Whoever finds my journal wins. Winner gets to peek at the other's journal, loser jumps in the lake. Come on, I dare you."

It was only for a second that Kat flinched. Her stride remained mostly uninterrupted as she let the suggestion settle into her brain. It was stupid. What would even be the point of that? Admittedly, yes, she was quite curious, but she wasn't that riled up about reading this random Hufflepuff's journal... The lake would be freezing at this time of year, plus one of the prefects had definitely mentioned that swimming in it was against the rules. So far, her record was clean, and she didn't particularly want that fact to change.

She turned to look at Asteria, trying to send a message that she thought she was being a bit of an idiot, but the defiant look in the Hufflepuff's eyes made her disdain rapidly transform into competitiveness. Was she being serious? She had the advantage, of course, of being able to retrace her footsteps, which just meant she was that bit more certain that she'd be watching Kat jump into the lake in the near future.

If they were going to break one rule tonight, why not another? Kat whipped her wand out.

"Tarantellegra!" she cried in answer, aiming her wand at the other girls legs before taking off towards the rock. She couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed about her impulsivity, but the sight that she was met with upon turning around made it worth it. Gleefully, she stuck her tongue out at Asteria. "Good luck!"

Asteria's eyes widened as the spell hit her, her legs beginning to spasm underneath her, a vague approximation of dancing. Kat was already darting out, close to the rock where the notebook likely rested. Asteria cursed internally, regretting her lack of skill with charms (and spells as a whole, if she was being honest). But she also found herself howling with laughter at the whole thing. She had asked for it, and the other girl had been quick to accept and attempt to best her at her game. "Thanks!" She called back, voice weak with laughter and exhaustion as her legs continued to move against her will. "But I don't need luck! You will!"

There wasn't much she could do as her legs flailed. Kat had the advantage of height, and while Asteria could steer herself in the right direction, the spell slowed her down significantly. She would have to be the tortoise in this scenario, have to hope that slow progress and foreknowledge would win out in the end. It wasn't much to hang a hope upon, but it was something. She would just have to wait out the spell and hope it would fade fast enough for her to catch up.

She lowered herself to the ground, her legs still spasming uselessly in front of her, her hands fumbled in the lawn. The whole thing was a wonderful distraction. There had been a quiet ire in her chest, an ember that threatened to catch aflame, but the competition and laughter had doused it out, left it steaming, and in it's wake was a quiet sense of contentment. Even if she lost the competition, her notebook would be found. Maybe she would get in trouble, but that was something for future her to grapple with. For now, she could enjoy the night.

Eyeing Kat's progress, her fumbling hands alit upon a pine cone, freshly fallen from one of the neighboring trees. She hefted it slightly, tossing it idly in the air, feeling it's light weight in her palm. Holding her arm aloft, she tossed it towards Kat. It was light enough that it wouldn't do any lasting harm, but it still might hinder the other girl slightly while Asteria waited out the jinx.

@Katherine Cobwebbe