"Pshh not at all! I love hide and seek or tag. Whichever you guys prefer." Kace smiled and was bouncing on the balls of his feet. He had so much energy and he had no idea why.

Louis’s jaw dropped with mock offense when Lux suggested perhaps he and Kace were ‘too old’ to play hide and seek or tag. “You can never be too old for the classics,” he said, shaking his head. He chuckled when Kace began to bounce around with excitement; Merlin, he felt ready to play a game, but he obviously wasn’t as ready as Kace!

Neither Lux or Kace seemed to be decided on one of the games, though. “What if we start with hide and seek?” Lou threw his two cents in.

Well, that was a relief. Lux was really happy that both boys were willing to play. In fact, Kace seemed rather eager, and she could not help bouncing on her feet along with him. It was infectious, and she was also eager to play a game with these two wonderful boys. "Okay, hide and seek it is. Who wants to be the first seeker?"

Gosh, this was going to be so much fun. She was already forgetting about what had been on her mind for the moment at least.

"Wonderful?" Charlie asked with a grin, turning her head slightly to look at her friend. "And why might that be?" You know, wonderful was a big word. It wasn't just good or okay, and it wasn't the same as amazing. It was a special word. Or maybe she should stop reading into people's words like a book. "I'm... well, I'm pretty great." You know, now that she had things and people to look forward to. Even if the looming exams were horrible.

Catty, Caterina, Cat the Cupcake. Yes. Charlie was all up for discussing with her, and she nodded her head a little. "That... sound's like a good plan." Not perfect, because Charlie was reminded that she would be left behind all on her own when Cat and Elodie left. Well, not ALL on her own, but STILL. The point was made. The fact that she wasn't in the same year as her friends was rubbish.

"That gives us plenty of planning time."

Kace contemplated and decided he would be the first one. "Ermm i will volunteer first." Yup. He loved the fact of finding people. I mean hufflepuff's were particularly good finders. "You and Louis can go hide and how long do you want me to count for?" he asked.

He needed to be sure of that. He didn't want to sound like a cheater.

Oh, there was pryyyying. Elodie smiled and raised an eyebrow. "I'll tell if you tell." Because Charlie was rarely 'pretty great', and if she was..she liked to put it down and pretend she wasn't. Because she was silly and put everyone else first and it was adorable. But Els wanted to KNOW things. Because 'pretty great' Charlie was a good Charlie to have around, especially when she was grinning again. "And you have to tell all." Which meant all of the details and none of the boring bits. Like homework. Els didn't want to hear about homework unless it was relevant to 'pretty great'.

So talking to Catty and planning next year was a good plan, and it was how they were going to do it. "That way I get a whole year to vet people we invite of people I loathe." And she could make her mind up on whether being nice to Delilah was going to pay off. A whole year, Delilahloo. A whole year to pick up your Elodie points.

Besides, she'd need something to distract her from not getting boyfriend hugs.

There was eyebrow raising. Charlie smiled back sheepishly before leaning against her friend again. "I... Tristan and I made plans for the summer." Yes. That was pretty much the summary of her 'pretty great'. Great wasn't a word she used often, as Elodie very well knew, and right now the blonde was even leaning towards her friends claim. Wonderful. Hehe. Such a nice word.

Now it was Elodies turn, right? To tell all. Because Charlie certainly had. Hehe.

............Vet people? "Who on earth are you talking about?" Because, by Charlies probably slightly warped logic, Elodie like Cat and Charlie, and therefore should trust their judgement when it came to friends and invitees. So it was obvious, if vetting was necessary, that there was someone that Elodie didn't approve of. Who, Charlie didn't know, but she wanted to. Because they were besties and stuff and she was nosy.

And mainly the latter.

TRISTY D! Elodie squealed and threw her arms around Charlie, bouncing a little in her seat. "Wedding bells? Or are you guys still on that awkward hand holding, blushing when either one talks, gooey twirling fairy phase" Because NEITHER WERE TELLING HER ANYTHING. Neither of her two three best friends had opened their mouths in relation to whatever was happening between them both, and given she was the one who had put them together in the first place... she wanted to know. She wanted to have the gossip, because she wanted to know if they were still on sandwich phase. Or whether they'd upgraded to three course meals.

"Everything...is good. I feel happy about everything and me and Coul aren't having bad days...and...after I left you on Valentines, I got changed and met him and he'd cooked me a meal and decorated and....Charlie, I'm happy..." And then there was the other things going on, but that more private business, and Elodie wasn't sure Charlie would even want to hear it. But if she wanted to hear about the conversation about ten years in the future, and maybe weddings and childrenckens...then she could. But it would only be the fact it was mentioned that maybe that would happen, but...they still had to get through the next year. And then there had been nuzzles, and she had cried and made him promise to tell her if he stopped loving her.

Bad conversations. Ew.

"Just people. People annoy me." Was that something she hadn't learnt yet?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cedric

Schuyler was so excited to hang out with Aidan! It had been way, way too long. As she tread (a little more hastily than normal) through the snow that coated the school grounds, her eyes scanned across the lake until they landed upon the treehouse. And there was the Ravenclaw himself, propped against the tree trunk with his hands casually tucked into his coat pockets. She paused for a moment and smiled inwardly. That would have been a very nice snapshot of him. If only she had Mo's habit of carrying a camera around wherever she went.

Before starting up again, she leaned down and scooped up some snow. It was good packing snow, and she compressed it between her mittened hands until it morphed into a passable snowball. Did he get a hello? Yes indeed. But it came in the form of a snowball being launched at his chest.

The snow was nice, it felt good on his nose when it made its way past the leaves of the tree. It was also amusing watching those around him start mini snowmen and angels and snowball fights. He was actually laughing at one first year girl who slipped and face planted and seemed awfully upset about it when he felt a soft blow to his chest.

Of course, it didn't hurt, but it did take him by surprise. Aidan turned his attention to who it was, causing his face to light up. Schuyler.

"Oi!" he called at her, feigning defeat. The next second, however, he crouched and charged at her, aiming to tackle her at the waist.

Awesome. Lux bounced on her feet some more as Kace said that he would search first. "Okay, maybe we can do it where we have 60 seconds to hide." A minute seemed fair enough, right? She waited to see if Kace and Louis agreed to this. She couldn't wait to find somewhere to hide from him.

Woot woooooot.

Schuyler was impressed with herself. She had a decent arm there. Maybe that single year of playing second string chaser at Salem had made itself useful for the purpose of chucking snowballs. Was Aidan not going to fight back? Naaaw, she WANTED him to fight back!

She leaned over to get some more snow, but just as her hand scooped up a bit of white fluff, she heard thumps. Like, the thumps and crunch of footsteps on snow. Pretty fast pace, too....

One-person stampede! In the form of a fifth year Ravenclaw. Charging at her.

The Gryffindor shot back up and a giddy shriek escaped her throat as she tried to run away in time. Only by the time she attempted to dodge him, it was too late. Aidan had managed a successful tackle right at his target, which meant Schuyler was flat on her back a moment later. Flat on her back and laughing. "Hey!" She managed through giggles.

Gosh, if muggle American football had caught on for wizards, Aidan would definitely have some potential there. She moved her hands to either side of her and scooped up handfuls of snow to plop on top of his head. There. A snowcap. heh.

Delilah made her way to the Tree House, one of her favourite spots to visit. She'd brought her Ancient Runes textbook along 'cause she still needed to finish her homework.. but she kind of couldn't see that happening, to be honest. The weather was rather nice and she'd rather spend her time relaxing than break her head over Runes. Seriously, though. That subject was just ridiculously hard.

Slinging her bag over a shoulder, she carefully climbed up the ladder and immediately walked over to a balcony. She took a deep breath before she decided to lean against the railing, admiring the view. So beautiful.

Kace nodded and he understood. He would need more time to find the perfect hiding spot. "Yup i mean if i were you i would need more time to find the perfect hiding spot." He waited for Louis to respond to let him know he was ready then he would start counting. "Oh wait what are the boundaries?" he asked them both.

There was arm-throwing around-ing and bouncing and Charlie actually grinned and accepted it because she was happy and Elodie was, too, and actually, it was all because of her friend that things were going so well with Tristan. At the older girls words, however, the grinning stopped. "Woah. Woah woah woah." Now there was head shaking, and eye widening. "Definitely not wedding bells. Unless..." Had Tristan said anything like that to Els?

"Hand holding's not awkward anymore."

Well it wasn't, that wasn't a lie. Not for her, anyway, but Tristan was still afraid that she was making him blush and... boys were confusing. SIGHHH.

There was grinning again, and now it was Charlies' turn to bounce. "I'm so... I'm really happy for you, Els." Because she was amazing and Coul was hot and she deserved to have a prince. And maybe that was her being a romantic but STILL. She meant it. "Did he get you anything?" Because presents were always good, especially special romantic ones. SWOOOON.

THAT WASN'T HELPFUL. "Of course people annoy you -" She wouldn't be human if they didn't, and definitely wouldn't be Elodie, but that wasn't the information she wanted. Charlie wanted the who's and why's, and words with people who'd really upset her. "- but who do you know you definitely want to vet?"

After spending all morning talking to Snaps underneath their tree about the letter tucked in his back pocket, Ascanius was no longer in the same zen state of mind that he had been in earlier. On the contrary he was a little on edge, which was his cause for wandering to the Tree House. S'a good destresser, yeah? The tree house.

Climbing up the ladder, he loitered over to the balcony and barely flinched when he saw a familiar figure. He didn't actually care that someone was there. Sure, he would have liked to relax without putting on a show, but wooing some girl was a distraction. One he needed. And he knew from previous interactions that Delilah was a blusher.

"Hey gorgeous."

"For you, there'll be no more crying, For you, the sun will be shining..." Delilah hummed softly to herself. See, this was nice. As much as she loved hanging out in the really noisy and crowded common room, she liked to relax by herself. And the fact that there was almost no one else in the tree house just made her feel even better...

Hey, gorgeous.

Right. Alone time ruined.. and she immediately stopped singing, too. Blushing just a bit, she turned to look at Ascanius, a small embarrassed smile playing near the corners of her lips. He was looking pretty as always. "I have a name, you know."

No? No wedding bells? Darn. Elodie continued to grin anyway, and nudged Charlie. "Unless...? Are you going to ask him? Should I polish up my wedding shoes?" Did Charlie also need a pep talk because she was only 16? And sure, T was older. BUT STILL. Maybe Elodie shouldn't have actually spoken about weddings. Huh. "Is the kissing awkward?" They kissed. Elodie knew that. She'd been around at Christmas before Tristan had pleaded with her to leave them alone just for a minute. She knew what alone time kissing was, Tristan Darcy. They totally kissed properly. Snogging. "Do I need to talk to him? Should I talk to you? Do you guys need pep talks? I'm good at those. He doesn't tell me anything because I'm your friend."

Which was useless because technically she should be the best person to tell things to. Except she'd kissed Tristan's cheek long before Charlie had.

But with conversation back to her and her boyfriend, Elodie went back to grinning and not thinking about Tristan and Charlie kissing. Because her boyfriend was perfect. And he'd made everything so special recently that she wasn't sure she'd ever let him go anywhere. "Candles, and he cooked a three course meal of my favourite foods..and he dressed up. And danced with me." And repeatedly told her she looked pretty, and that he loved her, and he also played footsie. He was a good boyfriend.

Vet. It was a choice word.. Elodie had called Delilah a dog a few times. Dogs needed vets. "I'm still working on liking Delilah. That could take me a long time. So maybe her.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cedric

Woot woooooot.

Schuyler was impressed with herself. She had a decent arm there. Maybe that single year of playing second string chaser at Salem had made itself useful for the purpose of chucking snowballs. Was Aidan not going to fight back? Naaaw, she WANTED him to fight back!

She leaned over to get some more snow, but just as her hand scooped up a bit of white fluff, she heard thumps. Like, the thumps and crunch of footsteps on snow. Pretty fast pace, too....

One-person stampede! In the form of a fifth year Ravenclaw. Charging at her.

The Gryffindor shot back up and a giddy shriek escaped her throat as she tried to run away in time. Only by the time she attempted to dodge him, it was too late. Aidan had managed a successful tackle right at his target, which meant Schuyler was flat on her back a moment later. Flat on her back and laughing. "Hey!" She managed through giggles.

Gosh, if muggle American football had caught on for wizards, Aidan would definitely have some potential there. She moved her hands to either side of her and scooped up handfuls of snow to plop on top of his head. There. A snowcap. heh.

Target hit.

Aidan grinned to himself, laughing at Schuyler's weak protest, but mostly at her giggles. He only laughed harder at her attempt at retaliation with the snowcap, despite the fact that she was messing his hair and the snow was really cold on his head.

He quickly grabbed her wrists and pinned her arms to the ground by her head. No more of that. "Hey," he said, "Do I look like Mo?" Y'know, with the white/gray hair and all. Heh.

If he had been prepared, he would have worn a hat. But apparently Schuyler hadn't been prepared either because she was hat-less, too. BUT, she wasn't the one with cold snow avalanching down her temples, was she?

No, she was the one getting pinned to the blanket of cold snow beneath her. Her eyebrows elevated slightly in surprise at Aidan's move, and with this, a hairline smirk emerged on her lips. It would have been a lie to say that she hadn't felt something right then, but she kept that nicety to herself. "Mo?" Old person Mo, obviously. "Hmmm.." She tilted her head thoughtfully and narrowed her eyes up at him in a scrutinizing sort of fashion. "I think you look liiiike..." The intimation of a smirk that had been there now grew to a grin, and suddenly she slipped her wrists from his grip and relocated her hands to tickle his armpits. "A butthead!"

And with that fine piece of vocabulary, she laughed and pushed him back to tickle him more.

Lovely day, isn't it? Which is why Lottie wasn't exactly inside the tree house, she was actually outside, sitting, just watching the grounds and perhaps someone fall from the tree house?

Nope? No one? That was slightly disappointing. It wasn't like the could get hurt anyway, because Kirby probably put some charms on the ground. Did he? Well, let's hope he did. Lottie would only help Alec in the case of a fall. And Tobias, of course. And the people close to her, that is.

She sighed. A bit bored, even if the day was lovely to look at. Holding a closed book she was not reading, obviously.

"I know you do," he acknowledged with a shrug and came up beside her and leaned his arms against the rails. This was high up, yeah? AND IT BOTHERED ASCANIUS, what with his fear and everything. But at least he knew now that if he didn't look down everything would be okay. Their last Quidditch game had proved that. So he was ignoring looking down, as well as other things.

Finally turning to look at her, he smiled, "How've you been?" And that was a sincere question. He hadn't seen her since that little wink thrown his way at their concert. SMIIIIIIRK. Which he was still awful smug about.

"So, why 'gorgeous'? Don't call me that if you don't mean it, Ascanius." Delilah said, looking slightly amused. A very attractive boy calling her gorgeous was nothing to complain about but somehow, she found it a little weird. She watched him as he joined her at the railing before her eyes turned to gaze at the grounds.

How had she been? Hmm. She considered the question for a few moments before giving a small shrug of the shoulders. "Alright, I think? Just a little stressed, I suppose." VERY stressed, in fact. About lots of things..

"How about you? Doing good?" Delilah asked, her grey-blue eyes turning to look at the boy again.

When Bliss reached the tree house, there didn't appear to be anyone else around. This pleased her as she was planning to stay there for a while. One, her guitar skills needed brushing up on. Two, she needed a quiet place to sing. Three, she just wanted to be alone for a while.

The library and other places inside just weren't cutting it anymore.

Climbing up the ladder, guitar in tow, Bliss considered how long it would be until someone came here, or heard her ... or something. She hoped for at least a brief spell of privacy. Once at the top she perched on the edge of the tree house, her legs dangling over the side, looking out over the Grounds. Lovely. Swinging her guitar round to rest in her lap, she hesitantly plucked out a tune.

Marigold had decided to go out alone and just see whoever she saw and all that. She took her journal, thinking that she would write a page or two in it once she got to a nice place.

Which was now. The moment she saw the tree house, she actually jumped up and down with joy. A house! In a tree! One of the best inventions EVER. She quickly started climbing to the door. About halfway up, she heard the beginnings of music. A guitar. Now climbing more slowly, she reached the top and peered in. A girl was playing guitar. She stayed there, not wanting to disturb the song.

After Bliss got comfortable with the guitar part of the song, she allowed her voice to join in too. Harmonising, twisting and fitting the tune in all the right ways. For a brief moment she stuttered ... was that a noise? Was there someone else up here? ... After a quick glance over in the noise's general direction, she disregarded it and carried on singing. Probably the wind.

Well you only need the light when it's burning low,
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow,
Only know you love her when you let her go,

Pause. Now she was sure that there was someone there. Should she call out to the person? They couldn't be that evil or something ... could they? "Hello?" She shut up quickly when no one replied straight away, but the feeling didn't go away, so she decided to persist. "I can hear you." Yeah, you hear me? "Who's there?" Answer. Or things could get .. serious.