Today was the day! The first time she ever got to go out on her grandpa’s boat basically unsupervised, and Sable Ileana was going to make it the best day ever. Of course the Gryffindor had plans, mutable ones but plans nonetheless, and Mum had made a picnic basket of food for them all too. It was going to be an amazing day, no matter what happened.

The blonde had double checked everything down to the last detail, just in case. Pirates were prepared for everything, after all, and after her pirate captain’s hat was on, she had headed over to her cousin’s flat and then on to the marina where the Ruby was moored. Yes, she remembered Grandpa’s rules, but that was why Sterling was there. He could make sure they got back on time and all that, while she did her captaining. Plus, it was entirely possible she’d made him carry the food and supplies. Captains didn’t do the hard labor, after all.

“Come on!”, she called out, already onboard and awaiting the arrivals of everyone. He ought to be strong enough to carry everything.

Had he pretended he hadn’t heard Siabear calling out to him? Perhaps, but Sterling worked on his own time. They couldn’t cast off until everyone she had invited had boarded anyhow, unless she was suddenly going to expect him to be a sidealong Apparition ferryman. He hoped not, however much he imagined Juliette would have been amused by the possibility. He adored his wife and all, but the sheer Gryffindor of it all was exhausting.

He was there to make sure they all returned in one piece. That was it. Otherwise he’d planned on just keeping to himself and letting the younger kids have at it. Sable Ileana knew how to pilot the boat, whether or not Grandfather trusted her not to “borrow” it whenever she wanted. He was just there as a reminder she couldn’t.

Since Sable Ileana had told her about receiving permission to take out the boat, Ve had been looking forward to this moment all summer. Outside of jaunts around the lake when they got permission for one of the boats, she hadn't actually really been ON the water before. Which was a shame considering they were a pirate crew and all.

But today that was going to be rectified, and the girl was bouncing with energy at that fact.

Hair pulled up into a high ponytail with some wisps of hair pulled down around her face, she all but ran to the end of the dock once Papa had apparated them there. Though she had to remind herself it probably wasn't safe to do so considering she'd been reminded a billion times docks were slippery, so she forced herself into more of an excited walk. She'd considered dressing the part of pirate for the day, but lately she'd been so focused on her looks she'd gone for an attempt at cute instead with a two piece bathing suit in purple - Maria's suggestion - and a pair of jean shorts over the bottoms. She'd also slipped on a button up white shirt she'd found in Vas's room. Which also was part of her haste so he couldn't get annoyed with her for snagging his clothes.

Reaching the Ruby, she grinned up at Sable Ileana and gave an excited wave before grabbing one of the things near Sterling, a smile his direction as well. "Hiya, First mate Sterling! This all going onboard?" She had to go that way anyways, so might as well make herself useful. "Oh captain my captain!" Her eyes turned back to bestie as she called out playful, moving closer again now that she had some of the supplies laden in her arms.

It was rather obvious how badly Sable Ileana wanted him to be part of her boat party, considering the boatload of owls he'd received the week before. To some, it may have been an overkill, but Mackenzie knew how important this was to her. He may not totally get her obsession with anything pirate related, but he was not the type to rain on one's parade. Sable Ileana's a good friend. The first to talk to him, in fact.

While this was not an event that Mackenzie would think much about, his brother Noah thought otherwise. It was kind of a big deal to him that his little brother got a party invite, which was rare, and that he must put a bit of effort into what he was going to wear. Noah had gone out of his busy summer schedule to help him pick out an outfit, which was kind of in vain because there really wasn't anything special with his clothes. He was dressed in a plain white polo shirt, a pair of light blue chinos, navy boat shoes, and a pair of sunnies. Mackenzie thought it was lowkey, which was good for him, but Noah thought he was totally rocking the chill vibe look.

The Slytherin arrived by means of side-apparating with Noah, immediately docking an incoming noogie from his older brother, pushing him away. He said his goodbyes and turned to the general direction of the dock. Mackenzie could make out a few people already and kept a relaxed pace until he reached the small group. He stood a good few meters away from them, seeing that they were busy loading the boat. He'd taken the opportunity to look at the scenery before him, giving Sable Ileana and Vera a wave from where he stood.

The invite had made its way to him by way of Vera clearly. It came by as something along the lines of 'Sia got the boat and we're goooooooing!!!!' Or something like that. He really going remember because there was screeching and him covering his ears and telling her to 'Shut up already'. Then a lot of him being told Logan was going which was pretty much the main way in how they were getting him to agree to be in such a small enclosed space with his sisters loud mouth for so many hours.

Which brought them to now. Arriving on the dock with their papa, he stood back for a second letting Vera run off like she normally did. He held back, cooler in hand that contained a cooler filled with a variety of chocolates and others treats their papa made. The cooler charmed to keep it all from melting in the summer heat.

With a few muttered words to his papa, Vasco made his way down the dock, running a free hand dark brown hair. And yes, he had his noise cancelling headphones around his neck. Much better ones than he used to wear too. Like his sister he had also went with jean shorts, luckily for her he didn't mind her grabbing the shirt she had.. he had several of those. One he happened to be wearing now over a sleeveless white one.

The arrival of the Thanatos kids having come not long after their arrival hardly surprised Sterling. At the very least, he had expected Vera to be just as enthusiastic as his cousin, and the girl’s greeting to him was returned with an eyebrow raise. “Of course.” He wasn’t going to address the title he’d been given. He figured Sable Ileana would do that for him.

And he was planning on continuing to wait util everyone arrived. Hopefully there would be some indication as to when that was.

Okay, so the invitations had been sort of random. Some people had gotten a lot (Enzo), some just the one, and others she’d just figured word of mouth worked. See, Vasco, who she’d seen arrive along with Vera and their dad. Of course she’d figured Bestie would let her twin know. It was a given, and besides, what would a boat trip be without the crew.

And she was going to have to let Vera know about titles once she got onboard. Sterling wasn’t first mate. Honestly, she hadn’t figured out the position her cousin and Juli had in the crew yet. Or anyone other than Vera, actually. Vera was first mate. But anyway…

A giggle sounded as the other girl had called out to her, Sable Ileana leaning over the side of the boat to wave her aboard, the oversized button-down she wore over her blue swimsuit and cutoffs (it was swiped from Sterling’s closet before they’d Apparated to the marina) slipping off her shoulder, and then noticing that it wasn’t just the twins who had joined the small crowd on the dock.

“Enzo!”, she called out, nearly toppling overboard as she’d leaned further to wave back at him. Oops. At least she righted herself sooner rather than later. There didn’t need to be a rescue of the captain any time soon. Probably. Anything was possible when it came to the Gryffindor, after all. But in any case, she didn’t see why everyone was staying on the dock with her cousin. Sterling, she understood. He could wait for everyone. But the others…

“You’re welcome to come onboard, y’know.” The trip wasn’t going anywhere when everyone was staying on the dock.

Judging by the way Sable Ileana's received his greeting, Enzo could tell that she was excited. What he'd totally missed out on was the fact that she was that happy to see him, and just maybe her delight in seeing him was unbeknownst to her as well. Or it was also possible that she knew Enzo would rather hang out on their own rather than the whole crew thing, and this was a pleasant surprise that he turned up to the party regardless of the setup. Nonetheless, Enzo was present in all of his cool-as-cucumber Slytheriness.

He'd walked the rest of the docking platform, and moved past the only adult in the area, giving Vera a lazy finger salute and a blank look at what Enzo would assume was Vera's brother. They haven't been introduced, formally, but he'd seen him around Hogwarts as one of the non-reactive gang members of the school, just like him. Anyhow, introductions can be done later on, but for now, Enzo boarded the Ruby, gave it a good look and approached the captain. "Considering the number of letters and invites I got, it would be an offence to you if I didn't board," he said, offering her a small smile and pushing his sunnies up the bridge of his nose. "Or worse, you do end up going overboard trying to get me on this boat, which I think will never sit well with you, Captain." yes, he saw that Sable Ileana.

Was Logan's arrival later than one would expect? Absolutely. Was it his fault that it had taken him so long to get ready that his mum, instead of his dad, had to apparate him to the dock? Most definitely, though such a thing would not be something he'd admit to. Sure, he had spent a lot of time looking at himself in the mirror, trying on different sailing attire and accessories at the absolute last minute. He had his reasons though. What mattered in the end though was that he was pleased with his choices, even if it did mean the probability of him having to run aboard was high.

With a loud crack, the fourteen-year-old blond arrived, wearing sunglasses and a pair of on-theme swimming trunks. He gave his mum a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before she disapparated, leaving him there hoping no one had seen that. Not that he was going to bring any attention to that as he was already swaggering, the best he could in flip-flops at least, toward the group.

"Are there gonna be any mermaids on this sailing adventure?" he loudly asked, his tone indicating that he was joking. "Been brushing up on my Mermish" -- which he knew not a single word of -- "in the event we come across any, and I made sure to look extra handsome today."

She was struggling to get a better grip on the item she'd picked up from the dock to board the boat with, not because it was just heavy but just awkward for small arms, but finally righted it. Just in time to look up and see Sia's wave (which was returned) and also catch her nearly falling of the boat. An event that earned a small gasp from the rising fourth year, as she turned then too to see what had caught her excitement and had to fight hard to not raise an eyebrow when spotting Mackenzie. Well... that was interesting, wasn't it? Or perhaps she was just drawing conclusions. Instead, she focused on returning his wave then and finger salute as he moved pass to get on the boat. "Ahoy, Mackenzie! Bring any of your adorable reptile friends today?" She was mainly kidding, but there was a hint of genuine curiosity. Could one really blame her for asking when she was sooo excited to get to meet Ruby (the snake, not the boat) and see Morpheus again?

Attention turned back towards her brother again as well as he continued down the dock. She would have told him to grab some of the items on the dock too, except it occurred to her at that moment she'd left him with the cooler Papa had prepared. It also then occurred to her looking at him, that with her having stolen his shirt they were essentially matching currently. She blinked a bit looking at him, before then looking down at herself. "I probably shouldn't raid your closet should I?" If only just for this reason. "Are you going to board now or wait for Logan?"

Which speaking of... Hearing the loud crack from behind, she turned to see if it was Papa leaving only to be greeted with the sight of Hady saying goodbye to her son (who she was trying very hard not to stare at considering the unfortunate fact he looked good). Vera sent Hady a wave before quickly turning back towards the boat and hoisting up what she had in her arms again. "I'm going to get on board. See you on deck!" She had zero idea if any of this lingo she was using was actually right but... she was trying. Clearly she needed to study as much as Sia did. As she was clamoring on though, she did hear Logan's question and started the day strong with an eye roll, which while he could not see she was imaging he would just intrinsically know her response as she called back over her shoulder. "Spending too much time in the Prefect's bathroom again, Loogie?" With her brother there too, it was suddenly much harder to continue the civility of their belated birthday adventure. Something she would probably definitely not consider later.

Once onboard, she ditched the equipment in her arms as soon as she could and skipped her way over towards Sia, skirting carefully around Mackenzie as she did so, in order to give her friend a quick squeeze. "I know it's only been days but I've missed you!" It would be nice getting back to Hogwarts and sharing their dorm again. And maybe it was time to start convincing Sia now that if they went to uni they should dorm together there too. "I am SO excited we're getting to do this!" And while she knew she was the OG first mate, she'd graced Sterling with the title verbally as a thank you for doing this for them. That... and because out of all of them she assumed he would be the one actually operating the boat. "Is everyone else excited too!?"

Vasco was one that saw most things. It's what he was good at. Observing things and saying nothing. So that blank look he got from the other guy that was standing around, yeah he saw it. Along with Sable nearly toppling over the side of the boat in what appeared to be her excitement over the guy (Mackenzie). Curious, very curious.

Had no trouble with handling the cooler on his own. Nor did he care that him and Vera kinda matched, it wasn't like he was going to be keeping the button down shirt on for very long anyhow. And he had swim shorts on underneath his jean shorts too so she could rest easy buuuuuuuuuut sometimes he still liked to tease her anyhow. "Probably not. Or at the very least check and see what I'm wearing first." Vasco flashed her a cheeky grin because she had swiped the shirt from his closet BEFORE he had gotten dressed. Therefore his own clothing selection was clearing done on purpose. You're welcome sister.

"I'mma wai-" He was about to say wait for Logan when there was a loud crack and the other boy arrived with his mum. Well alright then. At least his best mate had good timing and wasn't about to keep him waiting. Was it him or did the twin stare at his friend a moment or two longer than was necessary? Yeah, he had caught that too. Maybe it was just him. It better be just him. No curious looks would be given to Vera right now but he might just be watching her a little closer today. Maybe.

"Took you long enough to get here," He grinned, walking over and nudging Logan with his shoulder. If he had any clue how long his mate had taken to get ready he would have teased him endlessly for it. Now what was all this about mermaids?

Short girl problems. Had anyone really wanted to know, it had been more just excitement that Enzo had even bothered to come, rather than anything else. She knew he wasn’t the type to like this kind of stuff, and she wasn’t going to force it on them like she did the others. Even if she didn’t think any of the other three thought she was forcing them to do anything. As far as she was concerned, it was just that. Excitement it wasn’t just going to be the usual suspects, plus her cousin. Not anything else.

She’d noticed the tiny expressions that had flickered on the twins’ faces. And she knew at least Vera was going to ask, but hopefully not anytime soon. Not when she wasn’t entirely sure her conviction would stand.

Either way, people were actually following her direction and coming on board. “If I went overboard, would you try and save me?”, she asked, unbothered by Enzo’s teasing. Captain mode. Plus, it occurred to her she didn’t actually know if everyone she’d invited could swim. Mostly, Enzo himself. She figured the twins could, and Logan looked ready to swim as it was.

“Pretty sure the one in the prefect’s bathroom is the only one you could get”, she called out to the blonde boy. In Mermish, because she actually did pay attention in some lessons, Logan Paton, and yes, she’d heard him too. Knowing Mermish was useful for a pirate, as far as she was concerned. Plus, it was kind of fun to screech when nobody expected it, even if it hurt her throat more often than not.

Plus, they didn’t have to stay onshore with Sterling. Her cousin would understand if they didn’t. She’d returned Vera’s squeeze when Bestie had joined her and Enzo, though. “I missed you too!” It was definitely weird not having constant sleepovers, like the dorm felt most of the time. “Oh! I invited Dot to come too, but I don’t know if she’s coming yet.” Obviously she was excited. The near accident ought to have told everyone that. Not whatever they thought it was.

Also, she’d invited Kai. Another one she wasn’t absolutely positive on, but it had been worth a try. The more the merrier, even if she knew actually sailing the boat would probably keep her from a lot of the fun. It was different fun.

“There might be two more coming”, she called out, mostly to Sterling so he’d maybe have some idea of how long before everyone had to be on board or they’d be left behind.

Nausea had been the word of the day for one Dot Ainsley. Well, Dramamine really. That had been the first thing that Dot had taken before ever side-along aparating to the ship with her dad. Her stomach churned as she arrived and let go of her dad’s side in time to vomit on his shoes. Well, that not planned, not at all. ”sorry,” she apologized to whomever was near her as she collected her things from her dad and cleaned her face.

This was less than a stellar start to the day. Did she look green, maybe. Maybe she needed to get that motion-sickness potion that mum had been talking about done or more of that acupressure done? Something more permanent. Like one of those piercings, she had heard about, mum would likely approve those.

Looking about she couldn’t help but grin softly as she spotted her friends and her roommates there. Giving her dad a pat on the shoulder she just sighed, “I’ll be fine dad,” she smiled as she took the potion from him and downed it as she walked over towards Vasco and tapped his shoulder. “Hey Candy man” she grinned, and gave him a friendly flick on the shoulder before giving Logan a wave. Enzo got a slight wave as she heard Sable say her name.

”please, i’m right here. I just had to get my meds, you don’t want me vomiting on you guys – its not a pretty sight – remember when i vomited in flying class?” she frowned and shook her head that had been very unpretty.

Amelia Kaikoura Johanson was nervous. A little nervous. She did not know if she’d know anyone else here, that was always nerve wracking, or course she had assumed that maybe Enzo would be there and well, Sable had invited her. That was always good. Sabe had always been nice to her and played pirate with her at Saint Woboldo so she had always been cool. Nervous – she wasn’t nervous at all.

Lies. That was all lies. She clutched her mother’s side and squealed as she side-alonged to the boat. Okay, so she may have yelled something along the lines of oh for the love of potatoes but who was really paying attention to that? no one she hoped. Maybe no one would have heard or paying attention to the nervous new girl? Fingers crossed. NO! What if people heard? WHAT IF EVERYONE HEARD?

When she finally landed her eyes were scrunched closed. Merlin. MERLIN “just drop me in the ocean” she whispered at her mom the soft laughter she could feel was unbearable, please? PLEASE why wasn’t she listening to her. The panic was real. The hair ruffling was the worst dad always did that, this wasn’t cute, this was anything but cute she had spent time on her hair she couldn’t just control every strand of her hair and make it look cute and effortless. She huffed and opened her eyes to give her mum a glare only to see that her mom was slightly blue from laughing too much.

“MOM, breathe” she hissed at her and looked around at everyone and waved “Hi Sable, h-hey Enzo, Dot” she smiled happily, and looked around at everyone. [b]”if ... if I haven’t met you yet i’m Kai,” her mum nudged her and she groaned, “Amelia. I’m Amelia,” she huffed at her mom, and shook her head at her before walking over to Sable, and smiling, “I love your boat is so pretty her eyes twinkling as she looked around at the boat.