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_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.”