16 Nov 2019, 20:10
By the water
@Sakura Ito
It was a fine day, with the air clear and fresh, the clouds like grey cat fluff and the outdoors even more captivating than ever. Nicky was trying to gaze into the window at every free moment she had so her neck almost started hurting by the end of the classes. It's not that she was not paying attention - she was and what she heard was fascinating. She had always been a few seconds ahead of everything so thinking of taking a walk and a thousand other things didn't disrupt her studying. Finally, in a few hours, she could run down the stairs, getting lost four or five times on the way outside and took a huge breath of this autumn air she had been dreaming of all day. But it would be absolutely impossible to just stand there when the weather was so quiet and amazing. For some reason, she felt a special kind of unity with nature when her never-resting personality collided with the peaceful scenery. She felt like she lived to the fullest in these hours, like every cell of her body was endlessly absorbing every detail, like her mind was free. So now she jumped up and down in excitement a few times and sprinted into nowhere, spreading her arms widely like a bird's wings. She had no idea where she was going but exploring would be so much fun! In a couple minutes she noticed water glimmering in the distance. Nicky loved water.
"FREEDOM HELLOOOOOO!", - she shouted when nearing the lake and heard a faint echo responding to her happy yell. This day couldn't get any more perfect... Or no, it could! By the lake she noticed a girl. Nicky remembered her being sorted into Ravenclaw - that meant that they were both first years! And they could bond and be best friends forever!
With an overjoyed leap, Nicky momentarily approached the girl and chirped excitedly:
"Hello! I am Nicky and what is your name? We are in the same year and you are from Ravenclaw, right? I'm from Gryffindor and it's such a great house, but obviously all of them are great, and Hogwarts is so amazing, and this place is super-duper-fantastic, I just love the scenery here, do you like nature too?
She paused to breathe for a while looking at the girl expectantly with a huge friendly smile on her face, trying not to jump from happiness every second.
It was a fine day, with the air clear and fresh, the clouds like grey cat fluff and the outdoors even more captivating than ever. Nicky was trying to gaze into the window at every free moment she had so her neck almost started hurting by the end of the classes. It's not that she was not paying attention - she was and what she heard was fascinating. She had always been a few seconds ahead of everything so thinking of taking a walk and a thousand other things didn't disrupt her studying. Finally, in a few hours, she could run down the stairs, getting lost four or five times on the way outside and took a huge breath of this autumn air she had been dreaming of all day. But it would be absolutely impossible to just stand there when the weather was so quiet and amazing. For some reason, she felt a special kind of unity with nature when her never-resting personality collided with the peaceful scenery. She felt like she lived to the fullest in these hours, like every cell of her body was endlessly absorbing every detail, like her mind was free. So now she jumped up and down in excitement a few times and sprinted into nowhere, spreading her arms widely like a bird's wings. She had no idea where she was going but exploring would be so much fun! In a couple minutes she noticed water glimmering in the distance. Nicky loved water.
"FREEDOM HELLOOOOOO!", - she shouted when nearing the lake and heard a faint echo responding to her happy yell. This day couldn't get any more perfect... Or no, it could! By the lake she noticed a girl. Nicky remembered her being sorted into Ravenclaw - that meant that they were both first years! And they could bond and be best friends forever!
With an overjoyed leap, Nicky momentarily approached the girl and chirped excitedly:
"Hello! I am Nicky and what is your name? We are in the same year and you are from Ravenclaw, right? I'm from Gryffindor and it's such a great house, but obviously all of them are great, and Hogwarts is so amazing, and this place is super-duper-fantastic, I just love the scenery here, do you like nature too?
She paused to breathe for a while looking at the girl expectantly with a huge friendly smile on her face, trying not to jump from happiness every second.
Nicky
17 Nov 2019, 05:04
By the water
The people were just too much.
Sakura thought everything would be fine in this new environment, but it wasn't. She still was not used to the crowds of people she constantly had to file through in order to get to class, or the immense amount of students in the Great Hall during meal time. Sakura barely knew anyone here. After all she had only just moved to Europe four years ago and had no idea of any of the wizarding families in the area. Her whole childhood she expected to attend school in Japan, but once they moved everything changed.
Sakura didn't have many friends even before she started to attend Hogwarts. Most of her life she stayed close to her parents following them around or just staying home by herself. At first many people wanted to be her friend, however Sakura often distanced herself from them. This caused people to develop rumors and stigma around her being the mean weird kid in her old muggle school in Japan. After that no one wanted to be her friend.
Coming to Hogwarts at first seemed like a fresh start. New people to talk to and become friends with. There was only one problem. Sakura was terrified to do it. She was terrified of people paying attention to her or judging her. Her lack of social skills and awkwardness usually drove everyone away. She did not want to make everyone hate her so she instead stayed to herself.
The lake was one of the places not many people came to. It was indeed Sakura's safe spot where she could spend her time alone without worrying about the other students. It was a school rule she couldn't actually enter the lake but she enjoyed sitting next to it and staring off into the distance. The sky was slightly overcast with fluffy clouds sitting lightly up in the sky. Sakura could feel the warm sun rays on her skin as she relaxed. That was until she heard a echo sound as if someone were yelling at her from a half a mile away.
Sakura decided to ignore it and pretend as if she had heard nothing. This did not seem like the time to draw attention to herself. She brushed it off and went back to staring out onto the water. The water was so still it seemed like glass. Her reflection stared back at her when she peered over into it.She wanted to touch it. Her hand reached out to touch and distill the water, but it never made it there. From behind her there was a small rustle of young feet moving against the grass.
"Hello! I am Nicky and what is your name? We are in the same year and you are from Ravenclaw, right? I'm from Gryffindor and it's such a great house, but obviously all of them are great, and Hogwarts is so amazing, and this place is super-duper-fantastic, I just love the scenery here, do you like nature too?" came a voice from behind her. Sakura, startled, turned to see a small figure standing over her with a bright smile on her face. Sakura didn't know how to react for the first few seconds as the girl caught her breath. She was clearly talking to Sakura and not to anyone else as there was no one else here.
What do I say? I need to say something. Sakura thought to herself before quietly speaking. "Um, my name is Sakura. And yeah.. I guess, I'm a first year too. Um... I do enjoy nature. The lake is kinda like a safe spot I guess."
Oh my god that was awful. Sakura thought. Why can't I just be confident and speak normally for once. She breathed out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in. You got this. Just ask her a question and it will all be fine.
"So, um.. what brings you down to the lake?" Sakura asked Nicky before things got awkward. Sakura looked down at the lake not wanting to make eye contact and make herself feel more out of place.
Sakura thought everything would be fine in this new environment, but it wasn't. She still was not used to the crowds of people she constantly had to file through in order to get to class, or the immense amount of students in the Great Hall during meal time. Sakura barely knew anyone here. After all she had only just moved to Europe four years ago and had no idea of any of the wizarding families in the area. Her whole childhood she expected to attend school in Japan, but once they moved everything changed.
Sakura didn't have many friends even before she started to attend Hogwarts. Most of her life she stayed close to her parents following them around or just staying home by herself. At first many people wanted to be her friend, however Sakura often distanced herself from them. This caused people to develop rumors and stigma around her being the mean weird kid in her old muggle school in Japan. After that no one wanted to be her friend.
Coming to Hogwarts at first seemed like a fresh start. New people to talk to and become friends with. There was only one problem. Sakura was terrified to do it. She was terrified of people paying attention to her or judging her. Her lack of social skills and awkwardness usually drove everyone away. She did not want to make everyone hate her so she instead stayed to herself.
The lake was one of the places not many people came to. It was indeed Sakura's safe spot where she could spend her time alone without worrying about the other students. It was a school rule she couldn't actually enter the lake but she enjoyed sitting next to it and staring off into the distance. The sky was slightly overcast with fluffy clouds sitting lightly up in the sky. Sakura could feel the warm sun rays on her skin as she relaxed. That was until she heard a echo sound as if someone were yelling at her from a half a mile away.
Sakura decided to ignore it and pretend as if she had heard nothing. This did not seem like the time to draw attention to herself. She brushed it off and went back to staring out onto the water. The water was so still it seemed like glass. Her reflection stared back at her when she peered over into it.She wanted to touch it. Her hand reached out to touch and distill the water, but it never made it there. From behind her there was a small rustle of young feet moving against the grass.
"Hello! I am Nicky and what is your name? We are in the same year and you are from Ravenclaw, right? I'm from Gryffindor and it's such a great house, but obviously all of them are great, and Hogwarts is so amazing, and this place is super-duper-fantastic, I just love the scenery here, do you like nature too?" came a voice from behind her. Sakura, startled, turned to see a small figure standing over her with a bright smile on her face. Sakura didn't know how to react for the first few seconds as the girl caught her breath. She was clearly talking to Sakura and not to anyone else as there was no one else here.
What do I say? I need to say something. Sakura thought to herself before quietly speaking. "Um, my name is Sakura. And yeah.. I guess, I'm a first year too. Um... I do enjoy nature. The lake is kinda like a safe spot I guess."
Oh my god that was awful. Sakura thought. Why can't I just be confident and speak normally for once. She breathed out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in. You got this. Just ask her a question and it will all be fine.
"So, um.. what brings you down to the lake?" Sakura asked Nicky before things got awkward. Sakura looked down at the lake not wanting to make eye contact and make herself feel more out of place.
~Ms. Sakura Ito~
"The cherry blossoms are your name, they are your beauty. Don't let anyone take that away."
17 Nov 2019, 18:36
By the water
@Sakura Ito
She could barely contain her joy when she heard the girl begin answering her questions quietly.
A NEW FRIEND, A NEW FRIEND, - her heart sang.
It was incredible. Hogwarts was so wonderful, the day was so fantastic and she was going to have one more friend, - truly an AMAZING one. Nicky liked her - she was in the same year and friendly and loved nature too, did it also give her freedom or was it something else that made her like it? Oh, a safe spot. That made sense. Nothing was as secure as nature - well, when there weren't wolves around. But wolves are also secure if they are not hungry, if you feed them... Franklin once told her that the wolves lived in packs, that means they were friendly because if they weren't friendly they wouldn't want to always be together and they would always be alone but they didn't live alone, they gathered together and went running in the wild together and were happy, Nicky always imagined herself running forward and forward with everyone she loved and the rest of the world, laughing, letting the wind play with her curls.
Her mind was racing back and forth, thinking about everything at the same time.
"So, um.. what brings you down to the lake?"
Sakura was being even more friendly than before, she was asking a question! That was definitely the start of a blooming friendship. Nicky took a big excited breath and started rattling a response at the speed of light.
"I have no idea what brings me down to the lake! I was just exploring and exploring is so fun because you never know where you'll end up, do you like exploring too? My mother says that exploration is a key to inner freedom, she is so smart and a translator! Oh, that's not the point, I wanted to say that I was exploring and found the lake and found you so I think it's fate, it surely looks like fate, right? But that doesn't matter, fate or not we can be friends!"
Finally, she couldn't hold it in any longer and jumped with excitement.
"Would you like to be my friend and play tag together? Making friends is such a wonderful occasion for a celebratory game of tag!"
She never stopped smiling and her speech became even more hectic but she couldn't help it, everything was simply perfect and she felt herself bubbling with joy.
She could barely contain her joy when she heard the girl begin answering her questions quietly.
A NEW FRIEND, A NEW FRIEND, - her heart sang.
It was incredible. Hogwarts was so wonderful, the day was so fantastic and she was going to have one more friend, - truly an AMAZING one. Nicky liked her - she was in the same year and friendly and loved nature too, did it also give her freedom or was it something else that made her like it? Oh, a safe spot. That made sense. Nothing was as secure as nature - well, when there weren't wolves around. But wolves are also secure if they are not hungry, if you feed them... Franklin once told her that the wolves lived in packs, that means they were friendly because if they weren't friendly they wouldn't want to always be together and they would always be alone but they didn't live alone, they gathered together and went running in the wild together and were happy, Nicky always imagined herself running forward and forward with everyone she loved and the rest of the world, laughing, letting the wind play with her curls.
Her mind was racing back and forth, thinking about everything at the same time.
"So, um.. what brings you down to the lake?"
Sakura was being even more friendly than before, she was asking a question! That was definitely the start of a blooming friendship. Nicky took a big excited breath and started rattling a response at the speed of light.
"I have no idea what brings me down to the lake! I was just exploring and exploring is so fun because you never know where you'll end up, do you like exploring too? My mother says that exploration is a key to inner freedom, she is so smart and a translator! Oh, that's not the point, I wanted to say that I was exploring and found the lake and found you so I think it's fate, it surely looks like fate, right? But that doesn't matter, fate or not we can be friends!"
Finally, she couldn't hold it in any longer and jumped with excitement.
"Would you like to be my friend and play tag together? Making friends is such a wonderful occasion for a celebratory game of tag!"
She never stopped smiling and her speech became even more hectic but she couldn't help it, everything was simply perfect and she felt herself bubbling with joy.
Nicky
18 Nov 2019, 23:05
By the water
Before Sakura could even pull herself together, the young witch started to babble again. "I have no idea what brings me down to the lake!" Nicky started. Sakura couldn't tell if she was overjoyed from being down at the lake or an unspecified circumstance. Sakura gave a small smile as the other adolescent carried on.
"I was just exploring and exploring is so fun because you never know where you'll end up, do you like exploring too? My mother says that exploration is a key to inner freedom, she is so smart and a translator! Oh, that's not the point, I wanted to say that I was exploring and found the lake and found you so I think it's fate, it surely looks like fate, right? But that doesn't matter, fate or not we can be friends!"
There was hardly a chance for Sakura to even give a small hand gesture or nod between the rapid prattle, Nicky was asserting. To some, this could seem annoying and childlike, but to Sakura it seemed rather refreshing. She figured it was kind of adorable how she seemed to ramble. Sakura could never bring herself to say more than a few things at a time. Having that much confidence and extroverted personality was surely something to pride yourself in.
While trying to run through her brain as to what was just said to her, Sakura got hit again with more chatter. "Would you like to be my friend and play tag together? Making friends is such a wonderful occasion for a celebratory game of tag!" Nicky proceeded with, a bright beam from one side of her face to another.
Tag? Sakura thought as she looked up at the girls pretty brown hair waving from the breeze on the lake. And friend? Sakura couldn't let this opportunity slip up. This was her chance to finally make a real friend. No matter how nonathletic nor skilled she was in the game of tag, she felt obliged. The chance she was being given in this very moment felt like a gift from the gods.
"Um sure," Sakura muttered softly. She allowed a small smile to finally open up as she looked back at Nicky. "I'm not great at tag. I haven't played much of it in the past," Sakura announced. A small breeze flew through the air almost like a signal that everything was going to be alright.
Sakura finally stood from the position she had been sitting in for the past hour or so. Her mother had always told her that conversation was best standing as you could see the entirety of a person and their emotions when they were standing. Sakura looked down at her small shoes standing in the bright green grass. This was it. If what the girl had said was true, Sakura Ito had finally made a friend.
@Elsa Veronica Bennett
"I was just exploring and exploring is so fun because you never know where you'll end up, do you like exploring too? My mother says that exploration is a key to inner freedom, she is so smart and a translator! Oh, that's not the point, I wanted to say that I was exploring and found the lake and found you so I think it's fate, it surely looks like fate, right? But that doesn't matter, fate or not we can be friends!"
There was hardly a chance for Sakura to even give a small hand gesture or nod between the rapid prattle, Nicky was asserting. To some, this could seem annoying and childlike, but to Sakura it seemed rather refreshing. She figured it was kind of adorable how she seemed to ramble. Sakura could never bring herself to say more than a few things at a time. Having that much confidence and extroverted personality was surely something to pride yourself in.
While trying to run through her brain as to what was just said to her, Sakura got hit again with more chatter. "Would you like to be my friend and play tag together? Making friends is such a wonderful occasion for a celebratory game of tag!" Nicky proceeded with, a bright beam from one side of her face to another.
Tag? Sakura thought as she looked up at the girls pretty brown hair waving from the breeze on the lake. And friend? Sakura couldn't let this opportunity slip up. This was her chance to finally make a real friend. No matter how nonathletic nor skilled she was in the game of tag, she felt obliged. The chance she was being given in this very moment felt like a gift from the gods.
"Um sure," Sakura muttered softly. She allowed a small smile to finally open up as she looked back at Nicky. "I'm not great at tag. I haven't played much of it in the past," Sakura announced. A small breeze flew through the air almost like a signal that everything was going to be alright.
Sakura finally stood from the position she had been sitting in for the past hour or so. Her mother had always told her that conversation was best standing as you could see the entirety of a person and their emotions when they were standing. Sakura looked down at her small shoes standing in the bright green grass. This was it. If what the girl had said was true, Sakura Ito had finally made a friend.
@Elsa Veronica Bennett
~Ms. Sakura Ito~
"The cherry blossoms are your name, they are your beauty. Don't let anyone take that away."
25 Nov 2019, 18:17
By the water
@Sakura Ito
For a moment Nicky felt like she was about to explode with emotions. People were always so slow to respond when she was already thinking about a thousand more things about things that didn't fit into the conversation and at the same tme she could barely contain her joy so she jumped once more.
Finally she heard a soft "Um, sure" and her heart skipped a bit.
IT'S A YES IT'S A YES IT'S A YES IT'S A YES YES YES
"I'm not great at tag. I haven't played much of it in the past," - Sakura added, getting off the ground. At first Nicky couldn't believe her ears. There were still people in the world who hadn't played much of the MOST AMAZING GAME EVER. It was an unexpected obstacle but unexpected things were always so much more fun than the expected ones.
"Amazing, then I can teach you the great tag trick! It doesn't matter how much you play, everyone is excellent at tag, you just have to channel your inner tagger into your legs! It's just like flying only you don't even need a broom and you already know how to use your legs so you are a natural!"
Nicky was doing a small bouncy victory dance around her new friend and smiling all the while. She had no idea how every single second of her life was always better than the previous one. And she absolutely wasn't going to waste any more of those precious seconds.
"You catch first!"
With one last jump she launched herself into a wild gallop all around the place, not running too far away but also not getting too close to Sakura. The lake and its shores were bathing in the rays of evening sun and it was burning happily just like the little girl's heart, singing silent songs of joy.
For a moment Nicky felt like she was about to explode with emotions. People were always so slow to respond when she was already thinking about a thousand more things about things that didn't fit into the conversation and at the same tme she could barely contain her joy so she jumped once more.
Finally she heard a soft "Um, sure" and her heart skipped a bit.
IT'S A YES IT'S A YES IT'S A YES IT'S A YES YES YES
"I'm not great at tag. I haven't played much of it in the past," - Sakura added, getting off the ground. At first Nicky couldn't believe her ears. There were still people in the world who hadn't played much of the MOST AMAZING GAME EVER. It was an unexpected obstacle but unexpected things were always so much more fun than the expected ones.
"Amazing, then I can teach you the great tag trick! It doesn't matter how much you play, everyone is excellent at tag, you just have to channel your inner tagger into your legs! It's just like flying only you don't even need a broom and you already know how to use your legs so you are a natural!"
Nicky was doing a small bouncy victory dance around her new friend and smiling all the while. She had no idea how every single second of her life was always better than the previous one. And she absolutely wasn't going to waste any more of those precious seconds.
"You catch first!"
With one last jump she launched herself into a wild gallop all around the place, not running too far away but also not getting too close to Sakura. The lake and its shores were bathing in the rays of evening sun and it was burning happily just like the little girl's heart, singing silent songs of joy.
Nicky