Carson sat down next to Daisy and mimicked her actions but on the opposite side of the boat and smiled. It was actually working. Slow But working. He smiled at her as they paddled across the lake. As he looked at her he finally realized soemthing that maybe should've been left burried in the depths of his mind. The two of them being friends...was a giant mistake. "So what do you wanna talk about?"

OOC: I'm on vaca with my family in OK. Sorry. I'll be back next monday to RP more.

Gold was glad that Eli was happy. Because she was happy, too. Sky + sea = an awesome combination and, even though the latter component was replaced by a lake right now, it still felt good to be here, exhilarating to watch the sail blaze in the wind.

"I think we're the most colourful vessel, out here," she grinned, as she watched the sail glow red, glow blue, glow red again, and then glow blue again. It was a pretty, little sight; and Gold, as she picked up a colourful cushion and, placing it in her lap, rested her elbows on it, had to say that she was pleased that her and Eli's hard work had paid off.

"We're a steamship?" She asked, chuckling as they sped through the water, little droplets of water bubbling at the edges of the EGGCUP. "We need banners proclaiming who we are!"

Unrolling a roll of fabric, Gold wrote the words "SS EGGCUP" on it in GIANT letters, and waved it around, for effect. This was such fun! Gold draped the banner, like a blanket, round her shoulders, and tied its ends in front of her neck in a loose knot, so that it now looked like she was wearing a cape, the back of which read the name of their Power-raft!

WOOT.

Over halfway there!

Daisy sighed. "I don't know if I really wanna talk." She felt squished. When they built the boat they weren't anticipating spending the day stuck to the wrist with one another. He felt warm against the cool-ish air from the moving boat. And she leaned into him trying to stay warm. He smelled good, it was the first time she'd ever noticed it. She swallowed and then pulled away. a mistake. Allowing him to pull her away and to talk to her that day at the lake was a mistake."Lets talk about our friendship." She said before she could even stop her mouth from working. "I mean...I want to make sure that things aren't going to get all nasty and messy the way they did for Heather and Jake."

OOC: That's okay.I'm leaving tomorrow on vacation. So I won't be able to reply again until saturday night. =]

Freeman had unfurled his sail and was helping it by paddling, doing his best to ignore the other vessels and their noisy inhabitants. He stopped long enough to glance sideways at one in particular. "What the heck is an 'egg-cup'?", he scoffed, pointing at the girl's flapping banner. Of course, she was a Gryffindor. Gryffindors always had the most ridiculous ideas. Who else felt the need to cape themselves during a History lesson?

He paddled a little harder to keep up.

Freeman noticed there was at least one other sensible person among them who had also chosen to sail alone. The boy also appeared to be talking to himself. "Standing is not such a great idea," Freeman pointed out, calling at the boy. For some reason he felt the need to assist a fellow loner.

" You ready for an adventure" Rex asked Dianna."Ok. our boat is ready to go" Rex said to Dianna. " I see our first victim, assistant captain/first mate" Rex called out to Dianna. " you see the solo girl in that saikboat there, first victim, right?" Rex asked Dianna.

Rex sailed his boat next to this girls. "We are pirates looking for a treasure at the othe side of the lake" Rex told her. " Yo, ho, ho and you will be our first victim" Rex called out. Rex pulled out his water gun and shot wter at the poor unsuspecting girl. "Sorry, yoiu just have to happen to be in our way"Rex said to her. " I am Rex Trigwell ,but today I am BlueBeard" Rex explained to her. "Dianna, would like to capture our first boat and prisoner?" Rex asked laughing. "One way to save yourself mam, join the pirates" Rex smiled at her.

Eli nodded- they were the prettiest vessel with the most awesome crew!

He grinned at her. "I love it!" he told her. Whether he meant the raft, the banner, or what he wasn't sure. Everything, maybe.

The raft took a bit up a bump- nothing too alarming, but...

"Was that a wave? Or... maybe the giant squid?" he asked Gold, a little alarmed. "I thought maybe I saw a tentacle a minute ago." What if the monster was going to try to take them down? NEVER! Not with Cap'n Laksh and her first mate Eli on deck!

Jacob looked around while rowing his left side, to see another boy who seemed to be talking to him... Standing? Not a great idea? What was he going on about? Jacob has sailed on these things long enough to be able to make it through a simple lake! It wasn't like there were any major waves. Jacob looked over at him again and called over. "Only if you don't know how!" it's true, he's seen a lot of people get sick on the sea during their first storm. Then again, he only got on land every few mothes, The land was steady, but he couldn't even pee straight. So Jacob kept sailing while standing, which actually made it easier and quicker, He was somewhat gaining on Becca.

Now that they were about three-fourths of the way to the other side of the lake and they were STILL out in front, Becca let herself glance around again. There were... quite a few ships gaining on them! "Miss Professor Lainey?" Becca looked down at the woman who was oh-so comfortably lounging in her chair. "Would you mind, uh, supplying more air to this sail so we can go faster? Or something?"

But then, upon closer inspection, Becca realized who they were. There was that Simon kid still going strong, and then there was Jacob who was gradually speeding up, but there was that one Slytherin boy... the Greenwood brother who had been so lovely to her! Except he didn't look so much like he was going to just let them win today. "Or, would you mind doing something about them?" They looked dangerous. And ship RSVP was SO CLOSE to winning! She concentrated all her energy on her hot air charm, trying to send as much windspeed into the sail as she could. Go faster, raft! Goooo!

Mina nodded as she waited for the count, her wand at the ready. With the count out, she swished and flicked her want as she cast wingardium leviosa.

Watching the raft start to levitate, she kept her wand steady. Merlin, was the raft heavy! Maybe they should have tried to assemble it closer to the water, but too late for that.

Watching carefully were she walked, she kept one eye on Destiny a top the raft as Patroclus called out to her. She did look a bit silly up there, but she was the captain and the captain was allowed to do what they wanted, right?

Daisy laughed as her and Carson passed Rex driving his ship and playing pirate. "See you on the other side Rex." She would've waved as she passed but her one wrist was boud to Carson's and he one hand was holding her wand.

" Yo, ho, ho, you two are next" Rex called out. " there is treasure over there and you are not going to get it" Rex told Daisy and the other boy in the sailboat. " Rex pointed his water gun at them, he missed this time. hopefully his first mate will hit them with water.

Taking Lainey's wish to heart, Keefer had done jumping jacks on every square inch of his raft. A little tired from all the exercise, Keefer was happy for Lainey's instructions to finally cast off. Along with the rest of the class, he settled in on his craft and pushed off, almost falling off in the process. Although, if I did happen to fall off, it would be fascinating to see some grindylows, merpeople, and whatever else lurks in these waters. He secretly wondered what Lainey would think if he purposely capsized. Then he remembered his pocket stash of Honeydukes sweets and thought better of it.
Gripping the oar, he began to stroke vigorously, first on the left, then on the right. Back and forth his paddle swung, the raft building momentum with each stroke. The other students took off, some pulling ahead fast and others lagging behind. Oh look, there's Professor Lainey. he thought absentmindedly. His gaze now shifted below the water, where he searched for creatures, whether magical or mundane he didn't care.

Jacob was now more than halfway to the other shore. He didn't really wan't to get off but he didn't want to be last. Jacob decided he'd just ask Lainey if he could stay for longer. Jacob had his sea legs and he was very steady standing up now, rowing his oars furriously. He really wanted to catch up to Lainey and Becca, and he was. He didn't need magic to catch up, he had skill, naturally inherited sea talent. There was no stopping him now, unless the giant squid decided to flip his ship. Which was highly unlikly, but he started tooking in the water anxiously in case any tentacle came out.

Still hugging the mast, Destiny closed her eyes when she heard Evelyn start the countdown. Hehe, any minute now she would be flying through the air, like those muggle airplane things. If she wasn't scared of falling off the raft, she would have spread her arms out and flapped them.

It would really look like she was flying then!

She suddenly wondered if, by her standing on the thing, was it THAT much heavier to levitate? If it was, well then too bad, since she wasn't about to jump off! She'd break her leg..and she'd need one of those peg legs. No way was she walking around with one of those!

"Am I in the water yet?" she called out to her crew.

She wouldn't let go of the mast, or open her eyes until she was set safely down in the water.

Gold raised an eyebrow. That Freeman kid. She had one word to sum him up: arrogant. Gold never got along with people who were too sure of themselves, in every, every thing. The kind of people who have that firm belief that what they do, and what they say, is always absolutely right. That kind of thinking, in Gold's opinion, kills teamwork, and the ability to learn from others, no matter what their position, younger people and older people, and weaker and stronger and all sorts of people.

"EGGCUP, not egg-cup," she said, referring to the pause between the 'egg' and the 'cup,' when the kid had said the word. He said it like egg-cup. Not eggcup. You know? "It stands for Eli and Gold's Ginormously Cool Ultimate Power-raft," she said, with a shrug. She had no idea why she had told the kid this; but, oh well. She gave Freeman a little smile, little but warm despite the sarcasm that had been in his voice when he had spoken of her and Eli's raft, before settling her green eyes back on Eli.

BUMP.

"EEP," Gold said, flailing. It had been nothing serious, but it had certainly imbalanced one of the cushions near the far edge of the raft. The cushion had, in fact, nearly fallen into the lake. Gold levitated it to herself, and set it down by her side. Then she turned back to Eli.

"Could have been the Giant Squid," she said, with a little nod. "You never know." Tucking a bang of bright, bright red hair behind an ear, she looked round the blue lake with wide, green eyes, as if expecting a big, pinkish tentacle to emerge from the water and wave at - or grab! - them, any second. As could be expected, nothing of that sort happened, and Gold shrugged the little incident off pretty quickly. It definitely looked like Mr. Squid had no plans to greet or eat them, today.

"Sooo. Eli." She sat up, and grinned at him, as she blew lots of air out of her wand, to make their ship sail faaaster. The speed and lake and sky and everything was awesome! They were nearly there, only a quarter of the way left, and Gold wasn't sure if that was such a good thing, because it meant the little journey would end, and the combination of sky and wind and water, come to an end for now. "Have you ever met the Giant Squid?"

Freeman's eyebrows raised in surprise. Oh, an acronym? How quaint. Terribly inaccurate grammatically, but quaint nonetheless. "My apologies for the mispronunciation," he said, shrugging.

He was slightly put out by that smile of hers. It was as if she knew something that he didn't. She was being. . . nice.

How bothersome.

Freeman notched up his paddling. He should stop thinking about it and just beat them.

Eli's eyes got HUUUUGE. He shook his head. "M-met? No. No way. I heard it eats kids, especially first years."

His attention was drawn to that other kid sailing alone on the raft. He was so snobby! Also, he started going faster than them. That would not DO.

"We need to go faster so we can beat him. Hey kid! We're GONNA BEAT YOU!" He called to Freeman.

Was it on? Yeah, it was. It was so on.

Gold grinned. Freeman was soooo formal, she wanted to hug the formality out of him, sometimes. Be awkward, kid, be awkward and informal and FUN! That's life, that is.

"Mispronunciations tend to make life fun," she chuckled. "Have a safe journey, alright?"

She waved to him. Maybe, one day, the boy would learn that life could be somuchsooooMUCH fun. He probably would. Lots of years, ahead of him. Even though, of course, life was never a bed of roses. Gold had seen enough of it, to know that. She bit her lip, shook the not-so-happy thoughts off, and decided she was going to enjoy every second of this journey, without thinking of anything that could dampen her mood, even a little.

How CUUTE.

"No, he doesn't," Gold chuckled. "He's pretty formal. His name is Bartholomew Henry, and he can speak English." Seriously! She wasn't joking. She knew it from cousins who had attended Hogwarts. The Giant Squid had talked to kids, in the year Hogwarts had been flooded. Mermaid skirmish, with that Mermaid Princess, or whoever she was.

Though, according to the official version of the story, the Mermaid had been the nice party.

"Eli, be nice," she said, giving him a gentle poke in the ribs. But she blewww hot air out of her wand, causing them to go faster. SPEED! Yep, this = the life. "I think I'm hungry."

Freeman was indignant. "NUH-UHHHH!," he shouted back, before catching himself. "I mean--NO YOU WON'T!" He started paddling yet faster, although his arms were tired and starting to tighten up. It was time to pull out the big guns.

Freeman stuck his wand into the water behind him, at the center of the stern. He gave the incantation for hot air. The water behind him began to bubble, then froth, and finally, the raft worked up momentum.

Instant motorboat.

"You'll beat me only when a very hot place gets all icy!," Freeman shouted, doing his best to give 'fighting words'.

Simon was still enjoying a nice row across to the other side. "Row, Row Row your boat gently down the lake, if you see the giant squid don't forget to scream." Simon laughed as he said the last part, He looked around to see if there was anyone that wanted a race, he couldn't see anyone he knew, so he didn't ask anyone if they wanted a race, he just kept at a gently pace, making sure his boat was still in one piece, which it was so that was good at least he wouldn't have to swim he hoped.

Daisy stuck her tounge out. "You missed me." She laughed. "Maybe you need to work on your aim a little better." She kept a relaxed smile upon her face and watched as the other side of the lake came closer. She stared at carson and sighed. Maybe he was thinking things over.

"Uh.. Sure, I guess!" she exclaimed as she approached the girl. Not really knowing what to do she asked; "Okay do I have to tie her down or something?" she couldn't help but laugh at what she had just said.

Cute, cute, cuuute. Whatever EliEliEliii and FreemantheMAN were up to, was CUUTE. Cute Ravenclaw first years, brightening up her day. It made the act of waving her banner round, and feeding awesome, hot air to the colour-changing, ever-flashing sail even more fun.

Sensing a commotion - of course the lake was FULL of commotion right now, but this was a different kind - Gold swept her surroundings with an intent, green gaze to see if anything was wrong. She noticed Rex, Dianna and Daisy and, sensing that whatever they were doing was in good fun and not disruptive in a bad way, turned her attention back to the SS EGGCUP and EliEliEliii and FreemantheMAN -- at whom she resisted the attempt to wriggle her fingers.

"Neaarlyy there," she told Eli, as she SS EGGCUP bumped a bit, God knows why, and then bumped a bit again. Eep. Less than a quarter of the way left, and the winds were picking up, and the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor flags were flapping furiously, and her bangs had come loose to whip her eyes, and everything was really, really awesome in this totally oh-so-blue and windy way.

Gold LOVED it!

"Grab on to something, First Mate, this is it!" She raised her wand, and offff they went, in a final burst of speed that splashed water everywhere, and made the other shore zoom closer to meet them, in huge browns and blues, and - and - and she was losing control.

OOPS.

"I think we're in for a bu -" Gold began, and then another little bump [it was only a little bump, but she had been SO excited] made her flail like a little kid, as the raft closed in on the shore -- and of course she, the oh-so-elegant person that she was, was thrown right off it, off her and Eli's vessel, and on to the shore opposite in a heap of flashy red [her hair, which had obviously come undone] and even flashier red [her swimsuit].

Gold scrambled to her feet at once, to see how the raft was, whether it had landed or was still out there, close to the shore and possibly closing in, and to figure out where EliEliEliiii was. Hopefully, he hadn't flailed like a completely hyper six year old, and caused himself to be thrown off the raft, and land on the shore in a messy heap of hair and swimwear, too.

Because she was totally going back on to that raft for another round, if he hadn't! Lots of the vessels were only halfway across, and they could SOOO sail again, to come into a new landing with the other vessels, or something. Gold, as she scrambled to her feet, was full of ideas!

But first, to see how [and where] Eli and the SS EGGCUP were.

Yus.

Carter added his spell to the raft and together they began lifting it. He quickly found out just how grateful he was that everyone was working together on this.

Hmm... maybe they should have cast featherlight on it. Or maybe not... then they'd be tossed around too much.

"Alright... carefully..." he said slowly turning to face the lake. Nobody would really need reminding on that though. Surely no one would be careless with Destiny riding the floating raft.

Lainey usually didn't bother hiding that she preferred Ravenclaws. It was almost expected of her really, and many still viewed as a leader in the House - though she'd been out of Head of House for years. However.

However.

This - this Freeman darling - was just too much. Wasn't he just darling? "Ahem. Freeman," Lainey called from her vessel, powered and built by Becca Parker. She waved her sandaled foot at the boy. "Are you sure that is a swimsuit? Swimsuits are required for class today. Yours looks awful binding and hot." Please note the horribly hidden hint of things to come in Lainey's tone. She was at least giving forewarning.



"HUH? ARE you still on the shore?" Lainey called back to the voice - who knew where it was coming from. "We're sailing without YOU!" How... horrid, to be left alone.




Lainey yawned in all their directions (yes, she had to yawn more than once to achieve this). "Fear not, my boat building Becca Parker. If they strike first, retaliation will be eminent. MUUAAAHHHAAAAHAAAA!"

Or you know, something like that.

Meanwhile, Lainey had some other business to attend to. One being a good suntan, but then there was the issue of pirates in their waters....



Lainey's ungroomed eyebrow shot up.

"REX. If you take any of my students' boats, I'll take YOUR boat and make you bait for the squid. Am I understood? Diana - I expect better of you! You're a girl! Use your brain and don't be taken off course by a boy with an eyepatch! Sail to the other side on your OWN BOAT."

Yeah. Lainey was going to be spitting mad if they STOLE a boat.


If only Lainey could read minds ...

"Looking good there, Keefer! You feeling good? You look like you have a thought or two."

Maybe a few more, or a few less. Hard to tell with boys, and harder still with Hufflepuffs.




...


Lainey threw a look to Becca Parker when Gold FLEW off her boat. She was about to open her mouth and ask if she was alright, but Gold apparently was going to be a trooper about it. When Gold got up, Lainey closed her mouth and sort of waited for Gold to ... either cry, or get back on her boat, or announce she needed the nurse. Something.

She seemed alright though.... "Umm.... Gold. Let's make port over there... if you want to walk, you can..." Awkwaaaardly, Lainey pointed to the cave that the first years would sail into when they arrived each year. She had Eli on her boat and he was a firstie - he'd know the way.



But before they reached this cave, Lainey couldn't NOT speak to her old companions. She abandoned her lawn chair without notice and got down on all fours at the back of the raft. Then, without preamble, she lowered her head into the water and started SHOUTING.

It was, of course, perfect Mermish. Or, at least perfect to Lainey.

She raised her now sopping wet head to the class. "It would be rude not to say hello while we are out here! Before we make port, please do feel obliged to greet our friends below. And don't forget Barty!!!"

Lainey's head went back under the water briefly, where she started shouting her greetings to the Merpeople below.


ooc: Mmm. hehe I am back. Thank you all for being sooo good and entertaining this weekend. Very fun read. =) We'll continue sailing for a teensy while longer, then move on. We may finish sailing tonight, tomorrow afternoon (24 hours) at the very latest. So, a few more posts if you wish.