She lay there just holding his hand,and gazing out across the water,but strangely aware of her surroundings.Ryder seemed quiet and a glance to the side showed he was taking a somewhat deep breath.Sarah was just about to ask if he was ok as he looked a little pale,when he spoke.He was asking her to be his girlfriend? Oh wow,ok. "Welllll," she squeaked,suddenly spinning herself round so she was once again sitting up,facing Ryder.Regaining the use of her voice after several swallows,she grinned at him. "I'd love to,yes."
Leaning forward she looked into his eyes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.Secretly she was hoping he would ask her at some point.

Ryder let out the breath that he wasn't even aware that he was holding. He moved a little bit close to her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They just sat like that for a few minutes before he said, "would you like to go somewhere else?"

Sarah inwardly giggled.Ryder looked so relieved that she had said yes,she almost wished she'd said no just to see the look on his face.But she wasn't that cruel...
Sitting with her head on his shoulder felt lovely,and comforting.She nodded at his question,turning her head to answer. "I'd like that,yeah.Feeling kinda hungry actually,don't know about you.Shall we go and get some food?"

Thomas walked up the cliff slowly with his bag. Along the way the Ravenclaw looked what plants were growing between the cracks of the cliff, but he only saw ivy and fungus. As Thomas got to the top of the cliff he had the feeling that summer was coming soon. When he got to the top of the cliff he sat on the edge with his feet moving over the cliff. He took out a book which he nearly finished and began reading it.

Plymouth laughed. "That's the way, Daphne H. That's the way. My little back compass." He gave her a headbutt from the side and exited the little garden. Once out, he turned towards the lake and moseyed that way. He pondered what she'd said as they walked...

"Never is REALLY long time, Daphadil. Like, for-ev-er. I hope you aren't filling my head with fluff." Plymouth's head was already filled with fluff. Slowly, Plymouth lowered Daphne down to the rocky ground. THEY were going to fill the lake with rocks and not Plymouth's head with fluff.

Off Plymouth's back, she jumped a little on the balls of her feet to get the feeling back on her legs. Morgan's statement forced her to take him seriously and she blinked at him curiously, shielding her eyes with one hand from the sun. "I don't know about forever," she said squinting. "But I do know that, as you are now, I don't think I'll be tired of you for a very long time. And that's not fluff."

Bringing her hand down she glanced down at the ground below them and kicked a pebble. "Probably as long as it takes me to count all these pebbles. MERLIN! There's so many!" What were they doing here anyways?

"Well, let's start counting so I know how long I have. I don't do well with short time limits, so .. count slow, okay? Hehe," Plymouth stooped down and started sifting through rocks. He found the perfect one, round on the edges and real skinny.


Plymouth stood up and held his hand out for Daphne to put her own hand in his, "Here. Let me show you how to hold it." Because... Plymouth was sure that if she'd never had a piggy back ride, she'd never skipped a rock either.

Instead of answering, she smiled and kept the thought about her low proficiency in math to herself. It'll probably take her half an eternity to count them all up and even then her calculations were bound to be incredibly off. Daphne's eyes followed Plymouth's actions and instinctively she imitated him.

Except, she wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for; A pebble, just like Morgan but there were so many and some looked just like others. When he called to her, she stood up, slightly flustered that she had no idea what they were doing. Following his instructions, she placed her hand in his. "Not to ruin the fun," she added timidly. "But...I think...I know how to hold a pebble."

Wasn't that just basic skills? Grappling? Using your God-given Opposable thumbs?

Plymouth's little crooked grin spread across his face. "Of course you can." Plymouth closed Daphne's fingers around the flat stone, positing it with her thumb and forefinger. Then, he moved to stand behind her. "But... can you make a rock skip? Across that lake?"


Hundred galleons on 'no'. Hehe.


That's why Daphne had a Plymouth. "Here...," Plymouth reached for her wrist again and pulled it towards him and to her side. "You pull your arm back like this, then you follow that same arc - and THROW it across the lake." Plymouth let her wrist go once it was in place, but remained hovering at her back. "Try?"

Daphne had listened and watched the way Plymouth's fingers wrapped around her own with raised brows. Wait--wait.

Just one second, Morgan.

"You want me to throw this rock," she spoke with big eyes and glanced down at her hand. "And make it skip across the lake?"

....

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Mmmmm?" Plymouth's head tilted to the side as he pondered her question. He stared down at her little confused face, deciding whether or not she was serious. Funny thing about Daphne Hopton: She was serious about everything.


"Do it for.... my amusement?" Plymouth reached for her wrist again and put her fingers in the right place on the stone. "You can do it."

"Well, in that case," replied the blond girl with a complacent attitude. Tightening her grip on the rock, she brought her wrist and arm back but and began to swing her arm forward before she stopped. "Alright, so I just throw the pebble? Flick it? That's it?"

Really, was that it?

"Okay, I'll just throw it!" Swinging her arm, she released the pebble a bit too early, and it soared high before it sank into the water with a dull plop.





That was horrible.

"WOOOO!!!" Plymouth jumped up in the air and punched the sky. "That's a good start, Daphadil! You see how far it went?" He happy!clapped for her. "WOO!"


The cartwheel that followed after was inevitable.


No, the rock had exactly skipped, but it was still good to Plymouth. "Let's try again," he said as he dusted his hand off post-ridiculous-cartwheel. "Try to find a ... smooth, flat rock, K?" Plymouth grinned and bent down to search the pebbles.

Daphne stared seriously at Plymouth and his over the top reaction to her sinking stone. Blinking, golden lashes fluttering dangerously, she huffed. "There's nothing to celebrate about," she remarked sourly with a downturn of the corner of her lips.

Obediently, she set about looking for another stone, kicking aside the little pebbles that were annoying to the eye with their spiky and sinking bodies! UGH! She'd skip the ridiculous stone if it was the last thing she did! Finding one slick rock, she stood up and breathed out, blowing at her ever intrusive blond hair. Stupid cliff and it's breeze messing up her hair-do. At least the flower ornament was still in place.

She struggled briefly, with both hands, as she got the rock the way Plymouth thought her too between her thumb and index finger before she drew her arm and wrist back and flicked.

It skipped once and sunk. UGH! UGH UGH UGH!

She kicked more pebbles.

"What do you MEAN there's nothing to celebrate? Crazy girl, that was great!" And to Plymouth, it TRULY was. He had a few stones in his hand when Plymouth returned to Daphne's side. His big ocean-colored eyes were SPARKLY with delight.


"Watch me." Plymouth reared back and skipped a rock CLEAR to the middle of the lake. "Woo! That's a good one. Here... here's another one for you."

Daphne was watching. There was no need to instruct her into doing so. There was a way of flicking your wrist that she was having trouble mastering. Wrinkling her nose she took the stone that Morgan offered her and took a deep breath. "It's a good thing this isn't considered some kind of life skill," she voiced with furrowed brows. "Or I'd be known as an inferior being."

If that muggle Darwin' had any say in it--she'd probably wouldn't survive in the wild. Flicking her wrist, she sent the stone skidding over the water but it was nowhere near as successful as Plymouth's multiple skips. "That went well."

Sort of.

"There is NOTHING," Plymouth skipped another rock, "inferior," and another, "about YOU, Daphne Hopton." And that was the absolute truth. With his last rock, Plymouth put all he had into it and sent it sailing far across the lake.

Naturally, he looked over his shoulder to make sure Daphne was watching.


He fell back to watch her concentrate on her own skipping... and .. SHE DID IT! "OH MERLIN'S LOST TOE!" Plymouth pointed across the lake like it was the MOST spectacular thing he'd EVER SEEN in the history of seeing things. He ran up behind Daphne and gave her a HUGE SQUISHY hug and... almost kissed her cheek. He'd... almost... done it.


Oops. Plymouth pulled his lips inside his mouth and just gave Daphne a big squeeze. "Hehe. I'm finding your stone-skipping skills to be MOST impressive Daphadil."

He was doing it again. And again. And again.

That inherent ability of his to compliment her until her chest swelled with indescribably emotion and made her feel slightly light-headed. It didn't help that Plymouth Morgan had found it prudent to celebrate her small stone skipping success by wrapping his large arms around her.

Tightly.

And loom his big blue-green eyes near her face, close enough for her to want to hold her breath. Nodding silently, she allowed the color on her cheeks to spread; not that she had much say in it besides accepting it. "You're not going to be asking for autographs now, are you?"

Heh. Heh. Timidly, she turned her face slightly to nuzzle his cheek.

"Would you give me one if I asked?" Plymouth asked, not exactly clarifying there. His eyes closed to her little nuzzles. Plymouth Glen Morgan LIKED to be nuzzled. He could feel the heat radiating off her cheeks and he liked that TOO. Plymouth SQUEEZED Daphne once then rocked her back and forth in his arms. Mmmm. It was one of those good moments that Plymouth would relive a thousand times over later in his room.

"Only if you ask," retorted Daphne honestly, her cheek still against Plymouth's as she peered over the lake. Making note that Morgan definitely seemed to like hugs a lot, she cleared her throat. There, he had had his hug, it was time he let go--at least a little; enough for her to breathe. "And If--I don't pass out first."

Plymouth reluctantly loosened his squeezy-hug. He dropped one arm and moved to stand beside Miss Hopton. "One day I will ask. Or, I hope I ask. I don't want to mess up like last time." Plymouth toed a few rocks and was just... happy. He was happy.

Reaching up with one hand, she touched the flower accessory just to make sure it was there--and left her fingers there even as she looked up, squinting at Plymouth. What was he on about, now? He was doing it again. That talking a lot about--things that Daphne neither cared nor knew about.

Sigh. Just like Morgan.

"It's just an autograph. What's so difficult to mess up about it?" conversed Daphne casually, glancing down at her dress and pulling up the misplaced shoulder straps caused by Plymouth's extremely tight hug. "Unless you scribble the wrong letter but you just have to scratch it out and start again."

Right. Scribble it out and write it again. What was so difficult?

"Ah. Autographs. Right." Plymouth grinned and gave Daphne his usual 'you're amusing' look. "Whatever you say, Daphadil." Plymouth let her go and bent down to sweep up another rock.


Skip.. skip... skip... skip... skip..


He reached up and loosened his bowtie. Skipping rocks was not a bow tie sort of occasion, so off it went. Plymouth tossed it over at Daphne.

Her pale brows arched in surprise at Plymouth's sudden change of demeanor and she gawked at him briefly wondering what she had said or done now. Fumbling with Plymouth's tie she glanced down at it, a nasty feeling at the pit of her stomach.

"I completely missed the point, didn't I?" she asked in a whisper, twisting her mouth uncomfortable with this brooding sense of...what? a revelation?

"Didn't I?"

Whatever the point had been.

Plymouth's eyebrow raised and disappeared into his rowdy hair.He studied her face, then turned back around. "No," he...sort of.. fibbed, sort of, "I'd LIKE an autograph. I'll hang it in my room at home. My walls need... new stuff anyway." And that was TRUTH. All his Celandine Toussaint The Former Girlfriend inspired artwork... had been shoved under his bed. Where it would stay for as long as Copernicus was... in his room.

ANYWAY, Plymouth shook his head at Daphne. "Come on. Try again. Bet you can make a rock skip three times this time." Maybe he SHOULD mention Copernicus again so she'd laugh and be all happy? Plymouth was EXCEEDINGLY happy. He'd got... nuzzles. From Daphne Hopton. She should be happy and laughing and maybe cartwheeling, too.