RP: The First Annual Spring Festival

[tt_alicia]

Date: 9. March
Characters: OPEN to everybody – please add your character’s tag when you join the thread.
Setting: The coast east of Settlement Two
Content: TBD
Status: Open: Public


More than certain that her broom and Quidditch equipment was safe where she had left it with Viktor and the rest of his team, Alicia had gone to make a bit of a round to see what was happening around the beach. It was a warm day, as usual, though still a little cooler than it had been just a month ago. A light breeze wafted in from the ocean, making the thin fabric of her skirt flutter as she took a moment to look at the children playing in the water. One of them, a little boy, caught her attention, when he dropped his shovel and started bouncing on his chubby legs in time with the music that was filling the air. The music came from behind her. Sam had gone to join the group of people who had already gathered, and it hadn’t taken long before they had found a common beat and were now doing what Alicia could best describe as a multi-cultural version of The Beach Boys’ greatest hits.

A bit further down the beach, she could see the makeshift Quidditch pitch that had been set up for this occasion, and right next to it, was the giant chess board.

Comments

[tt_remus]

Remus had no intention of flying in a Quidditch match, and quite frankly, no one wanted to see him fly in a Quidditch match. It didn't mean that he wasn't going to enjoy the day nonetheless. He had read on the flyer at the pub there was going to be a chess match. He wasn't afraid to make a fool of himself there.

Walking onto the beach, he went to get a water first. He felt like such an old man having to always make sure he was hydrated. He had faith that in this world, there would be a cure for lycanthropy one day.

After getting a bottle, Remus ambled down the way, talking here and there with people he knew and dodging over-excited kids. Could his son be among the little ones running around?

[tt_luna]

For a while Luna sat here and she sat there just watching the people and the festivities. She had always been one to hang on the fringes, socializing with only the people she knew but she didn't mind. Truth was she found the watching interesting as she had never been overly popular even as a kid.

"Hello Professor." Luna said dreamily as the familiar man walked by her. It was a face she hadn't seen in a while but she had talked to him a time or two on the datapad thing. "You should watch out where you are walking. Some of the kids are trying to slip firecrackers into people's shoes when they're not working. I wonder if the are ones of George's..." And with that her mind was wondering off again.

[tt_remus]

Remus was startled to hear himself be called Professor again, but turned to the person. "Hello Luna," he said. She hadn't changed much over the years, but had got taller. "I will keep watch for those kids. How are you?"

[tt_adrian]

Adrian recognized Professor Lupin walking down toward the beach and he jogged to say hello. "Lupin!" Adrian shouted, hoping the man would recognize him (after all, he'd said he remembered him as a student). He recognized the young blond woman standing with Lupin, but didn't know her name. "Hello," he said to her, "Adrian Pucey," he held out a hand and then turned to the Professor. "I don't mean to interrupt, but I wanted to see if those potions I left were of any help?"

[tt_remus]

Remus heard his name being shouted and quickly turned around, spotting a younger man heading towards him. "Mr. Pucey. First period. How are you? The potions were a big help; Ginny had to fix a rather nasty gash on my leg, but the sleeping draught, the more... potent one worked like a charm."

He gestured to Luna, "Luna Lovegood."

[tt_luna]

Ginny looked from one man to the other. She hadn't talked to him much but she knew his face and his name from school. More from when she was the quidditch announcer than anything. Maybe she should try to get a job doing that too on the side?

"Hello Adrian." Luna said happily with a smile. "Do you still play quidditch?"

[tt_lily]

Lily was another member of the "Can't Fly" club. Well, she could fly, just not play Quidditch at the same time. The day was turning out to be beautiful and she was looking forward to meeting more new people and catching up with old friends. She's only caught Remus once or twice in the month he'd been here.

Despite the slowly cooling temperature (would they actually experience any form of winter here?), she wore a mid-thigh length sundress and walked along looking at the different festivities.

[tt_cecilia]

Cecilia had been watching Jamie’s first chess match, beaming and cheering at him, as he – as a knight – had played an important part in taking down the other team’s king. She had only managed to catch his eyes and wave at him to let him know that she would go to get them something to drink, before he had been absorbed in the celebration again.

There had been a slight chill in the air when they had left this morning, but that had disappeared as the sun had warmed it away and now that she was headed back to the crowd she shrugged off her light blouse, finding her short khaki skirt and white tunic fitting the temperature. She had just picked up a bottle of juice for Jamie and a cup of tea for herself, when Jamie came barreling through the crowd, cutting off a vaguely familiar-looking redhead right next to them.

“Jamie!” she scolded him, but he seemed oblivious to the fact.

“Did you see, Celia?” he panted, his eyes sparkling. “We won!”

“I did see,” she chuckled at him, then nodded towards the redhead. “And I also saw how you just cut off that woman. I think you should probably go apologize. Now.” She added, to leave him no doubt that she wanted him to do it, whether or not he wanted to. And it worked.

Almost immediately an embarrassed look settled on his otherwise bright face, as he turned around and looked at the pretty woman. “I’m sorry, miss,” he apologized, and Cecilia was relatively certain that he meant it.

“My apologies too,” she added, for good measure, “he… gets a little excited at times.”

[tt_lily]

Lily smiled at the pair, "It's fine. I can understand his excitement, that was a pretty intense game. You did very well," she said to Jamie, before turning back to Cecelia. "I'm Lily. It's nice to meet you."

The woman looked familiar, but she didn't know from where exactly. Had they gone to school together? Was she someone she saw here? She had met so many people from her past and new folks that they started to blur together.

[tt_cecilia]

Cecilia chuckled at the way Jamie beamed at her praise. “Cecilia,” she introduced herself, and was about to let her know that it was nice to meet her as well, when Jamie cut in; “and I’m Jamie.” With a nod he looked back up at Cecilia, his impatience beginning to shine through. “It’s fine,” Cecilia assured him as she handed him his juice. “Go. Have fun and keep your datapad on. I’ll find you when it’s time to go home.”

“Thanks!” Jamie called over his shoulder and in a couple of quick moves he was gone again.

“I was just going to say that it was nice to meet you too, Lily,” she smiled at the younger witch. Lily. The name was familiar too, she thought, when it struck her; the name wasn’t just familiar, it was a name she knew very well and had heard often, though not since… since before the whole love potion thing. “Lily Potter?” she asked, seeking confirmation of what she already figured she had gotten right. “Sirius has talked quite a bit about you. I’m his…” what was she? “friend. I take care of his garden. Sometimes,” she managed lamely, sighing inwardly at the fact that she had managed to come off as a complete fool. As if it wasn’t bad enough for her to have lost her head completely while influenced by the potion, she still hadn’t managed to get it quite back now that things supposedly had cleared.

[tt_lily]

Lily nodded. "Evans, now. But one in the same." She blushed when she heard Sirius talked about her, "I think he may be still in awe that I'm here, if only just a little. I still find it surreal."

She mulled over the woman's name while talking. "Oh yes. He's mentioned you as well. It's good to finally meet in person. Is that your son who just left?"

[tt_cecilia]

”Lily Evans,” Cecilia said softly, acknowledging the other witch’s correction, though refraining from asking about what had spurred this change. “I think most of us are in awe that you’re here.” And then there was the fact that she herself had noticed how Sirius had started smiling more since Lily had shown up, but that wasn’t her information to share.

She could feel her cheeks heat up just thinking about the fact that Sirius had talked about her to someone he obviously cared about. It made her wonder how he had talked about her. Fortunately Lily provided the means to move away from that topic when she directed it to Jamie. “What? Jamie?” Cecilia asked trying to get back on track. “No, he’s my nephew. I mean, yes, he’s like my son, but he’s my nephew. It’s just the two of us.”

[tt_lily]

She nodded, but the realization that her sister would never had said that about Harry hurt a bit. "How old is he?"

Lily remained quiet before asking something out of the blue, but it was on her mind. "Sirius was ... different, before I came, wasn't he? He's not the same as before." Lily knew the years in Azkaban did a number on him, but she wanted an outsider's opinion of him.

[tt_cecilia]

“Who? Jamie?” Cecilia asked, knowing perfectly well that that was who they were talking about, though still surprised at Lily’s interest in him. “He’ll be… oh dear, he’ll be 13 in a couple of weeks.” 13! An inner voice shrieked at her. Then her little Jamie would be a teenager! That small realization made her take deep breath, because she perfectly remembered herself during her teenage years.

And the surprises kept coming. Cecilia could almost feel her jaw drop at Lily’s question, that hit her from out of nowhere. It had her swallowing down, because that one question made her see what she didn’t have here, and what she could really use at this point: someone to talk to who wasn’t making her heart pound and who wasn’t closely related to either of the men who were making her heart pound. She looked at Lily for a moment, wanting nothing more than to tell the woman how much her arrival had changed Sirius’ demeanor, how he was smiling more and how he generally seemed more… at ease. But no matter how much she wanted that, and no matter if Sirius was more than a friend she felt attracted to, he was above it all her friend, and she didn’t want to tell on him. “That isn’t really my information to share,” she said with an apologetic sigh. “But I don’t think I’ll be overstepping my boundaries if I say that since you came here, he’s spent more time in Settlement 1 than he did before.”

[tt_neville]

Neville was definitely not a Quidditch player (and had mostly pretended brooms didn't exist since the very first time he'd flown one), but he wasn't bad at chess. He'd played Ron a few times when Harry or one of the others got sick of losing, and sure, he also lost, but so did most people against Ron, and he knew the basics. So he'd signed up for the chess game, knowing that he might as well get out there and interact with people before he turned into one of the plants he seemed to be spending all his time with lately.

Of course, being Neville Longbottom, he'd come slightly late and all the good pieces had been taken, leaving him as one of the pawns. And, because his luck just got better and better, the opposing team took him out within the first four moves. The bishop that did it was a burly guy who was unnecessarily rough as he threw Neville off the board by the scruff of his neck. Neville laughed along with everyone else as he landed hard in the sand, but really, this was what he got for trying to be fucking normal for once.

He wandered off from the game slightly and looked out towards the sea. It was odd; he'd hardly ever seen the sea, back home, except for that memorable trip with his family where he'd been unceremoniously dumped in it and had to be fished out again by a Muggle fisherman. It was so very vast.