Flight Of The Broom-Bees PV

November 25th 2024
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
Snuggems and Scars with @Ava Winchect and @Colin McCoire
OOC Notes: If Colin's ency is anything to go by, he has a lot of scars

Haah... That was a good snuggle! Emily released her Slytherin buddies from her cuddly grip. It did everyone the world of good to be held every now and then. Ava looked like she enjoyed it, if her glistening eyes meant anything. Despite the blood, Emily gave a beaming grin to both of them. She watched as Colin mirrored Ava's earlier gesture and warmed her back with his own shirt. While Ava huffed out of embarrassment, Emily continued to watch them in amusement. Something about the two of them together made them perfect for each other.

"Such a gentleman...!" She complimented, smiling at Colin.

Colin's kindness persisted when his focus went back to Emily's battered face. Ava had suggested going to the nurse but the second the idea left her mouth, Colin was protesting like she had said something heinous.

"Honestly, Winchect, a Pureblood like you should know better! We're wizards and we have wands for a reason! And anyway! I am a healer intern after all!"

"Ava's a Pureblood...?" The statement probably would've sounded more appropriate if Emily just kept that to herself but the surprise of it forced the words out into the open. Nothing callous either. It was just... Emily found it hard to picture Ava as being of that kind of background, not when she acted like she was as free as a bird a lot of the time. Well, you learn something new everyday.

Another surprise was that Colin was a healer. As in, a healer intern like Simon? Emily didn't know if that was impressive or something to worry about. On a general basis, Colin seemed like the kind of guy to send people to the Hospital Wing in the first place...! Even Ava didn't seem confident about the whole idea of Colin fixing Emily up either.

"It's not broken I don't think..." Emily lightly poked her nose. It was sore, but it didn't feel like it was too worse for wear as Colin made it out to be. That wasn't going to stop him when he took up his wand and pointed it towards Emily's mangled sniffer.
Emily braced herself as she shut her eyes whilst Colin commanded an epiksey at her nose.

This would be the part where Emily's nose is vaporised from existence... But no! Instead, after a few tingles and throbs, she felt the sting in her nose die down and the blood cleared up like it all never happened! Emily lightly jabbed her nose and there it was, all in one piece and good as new!

"Whoa...!" Emily twitched and prodded at her nose, marvelling at Colin's work. "That's remarkable...!"

Emily could feel the pride radiating off Colin without even looking at him.

"Right! Ye're all cute again, just like before!"

Well that came out of nowhere! Emily immediately switched all focus from her good-as-new sniffer to Colin, looking at him with a flattered sparkle in her eyes. Her fingers went to her cheeks and it confirmed the fuzzy feeling she was experiencing; they were hot to the touch and they no doubt must've been beet red. Emily drew her gaze down to the ground and smiled shyly.

"No one's ever called me cute before..."

Emily felt brave enough to look back at Colin after a few beats of silence, only to catch the attention of something else. With the light hitting the skin on his exposed torso, Emily could see a whole canvas of marks across his body, the sight of which startled her.

"My word, Colin... I never realised you had so many scars!" Emily sprung to her knees as she examined Colin's body, a soft finger politely tracing up and down every distinctive marking on his skin. Some of them were small, others were large. Some looked old and partially faded, others looked deep. Her eyes raked over his flanks, chest and shoulders. Every little patch of skin was occupied by one scar or another.

Emily frowned as she looked at them. "This one here looks like you split your side open... That one there looks like a bite mark...! Did you get mauled by a bear or something, Colin? A lot of these look really nasty...!"

There was no way he contracted them just by horsing around. Some of them looked so bad that it wouldn't shock Emily if they still hurt to this day. If she could, she would kiss them away, like how "Auntie" would whenever she would cut her knee or bruise her arm when she was little.

"Don't tell me you got all these from broom racing, did you...??"

_{Word Count: 820}

Stats: Stamina: 7|Evasion: 6|Strength: 6|Wisdom: 8|Arcane Power: 7|Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

“When is racing not tough,” Ava ssaid. “But that’s why it’s a team sport. We have each other’s backs.”

Colin regarded his team mate with astonishment. He couldn't recall her ever saying anything like that before. As he thought about it, it was totally true! Even when she first got on the team, Colin made a decision then. The two of them weren't exactly on good terms, but Colin had made the decision to never let anyone attack Ava without serious reprisals. It didn't matter what had happened before. He wouldn't leave her defenseless or ignore her if she were in trouble on the course.

Of course, Ava did have to start mumbling about something to do with Colin's shirt. Colin rolled his eyes. "Honestly. Girls just have no idea how hard it really is! Shirts are just so inconvenient, Ava. I mean, look: they get dirty, right? They get torn. They get burnt to a crisp. They get muddy. They get flobberworm mucus fused into them. The buttons ---" Colin sighed in exasperation. "Don't even get me started with the complexities of buttons! You have to scourgify them at least three times before they start looking less grass stained! And then you have to write home asking for more shirts, right? And then Ma sends a howler back saying how she'll never send me another shirt if I can't take care of the ones I have!"

Yes. Emmi did look all cute again, just like before her nose got all bent of shape. Magic! Colin loved magic! He wished all people could do real magic, not just muggle magic! Emily began prodding her own nose, seeming quite satisfied with Colin's healing job. Colin smiled. He really was quite proud of himself that he was able to do this without some major disaster occurring. It really felt good when he and his wand worked together!

"No one's ever called me cute before..."

"The way I see it, Ava, it's like this. Every time my shirt is off, it's safe! It can't get all that dirty; it can't get smeared with pigeon poo; it can't get wet or torn by thorns when out exploring! And it's not like I've got that many! Also!"

"My word, Colin... I never realised you had so many scars!"

"Also! There's the whole issue of --- what?" Colin's attention reverted to Emily. She was staring at him. He blinked. What had she said? Colin had gotten so focused on the problem of maintaining his dwindling stocks of white shirts that he didn't even realise Emily was on about something.

The girl had leaned forward onto her knees, and began poking Colin's scars! "YEEP!" Colin squeaked. Emily paid him no attention. She seemed focused on examining every scar on his body. Colin panicked! His toes curled instinctively! He tried not to squirm!

"This one here looks like you split your side open..."

Colin squeaked as her fingers traced one of his oldest scars. Old Three Fangs gave him that one! When he still had all four fangs! Colin tried to hide the reaction of his body steering away from her gently prodding. "Urk!"

"That one there looks like a bite mark...!"

Colin whimpered. Emily found one of the bite marks.

"Did you get mauled by a bear or something, Colin?"

Colin knew Emily was all into wild creatures, both magical and mundane, so he wasn't surprised when she asked if he'd tangled with a bear. He squeaked again as she traced the scars on his shoulder and flank. He couldn't hold it any longer!

"A lot of these look really nasty...! Don't tell me you got all these from broom racing, did you...??"

Colin could feel the red of a deep blush rising, spreading across his chest and face. There was no way to resist any further! Emily traced the lightning strike scar he'd gotten in the duel last year, and pushed Colin over the edge! There was just no way to hide his greatest secret from either Emily or Ava any longer! Colin wasn't sure which was worse --- that Emily now knew or that Ava knew! Either could prove to be dangerous!

Colin shrieked with laughter as he collapsed under Emily's curious fingers! He tried to squirm away! He tried curling into a ball, but there was no escape! Colin was trapped! "NNNNNNNGGGGGGG!!!" Colin couldn't even manage to answer the girl's questions! Colin, Hogwarts's Most Ticklish Boy, found himself ready to spill a dozen different kinds of tea if only the torture would stop! He'd admit to anything! Say anything! There was no need for veritaserum or even legilimency here!

Even Clair hadn't known how ticklish Colin was! Only Sophia! And she was merciless! And now Emily had also discovered Colin's greatest secret! Colin squeaked again! Tears rolled down across his cheeks. "NOO NO BEARS!! STOP! I'M GONNA DIE LAUGHING! AVA HELP!"

@Emily Shephard | @Ava Winchect

୨⎯ Flight of the Broom-Bees ⎯୧
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"Ava's a Pureblood...?" Emily asked, probably rightfully so. Ava had never acted like it.

"No," she muttered, her tone making it clear that this was a discussion for another time. A very, very, long discussion.

The conversation continued, her own part astonishing Colin just as much as her. Neither could seem to believe that such wise words had stumbled their way out of her mouth.

"If you kept your shirt clean, you wouldn’t have to deal with that," she quipped. Ava smirked as she noticed Emily poking at his scars, moments before Colin did.

His reaction came in a high pitched squeak as he began to squirm, a smile slowly spreading over Ava’s face as she realized what was happening. The badger had just uncovered his biggest weakness…tickling!

The day at the lake had only revealed some of his scars, and now studying them closer she understood what Em was saying. He did have a lot of scars, and most of them didn’t seem to be from play gone too far.

She pulled away from her thoughts to realize that not only was Colin laughing, he was crying. Tears of laughter rolled over his face as he squirmed in the grass, yelling for her to help him.

"You deserve this! For not washing, well, anything correctly!" she announced as she dove toward him, fingers poised to tickle him until he gave them a good enough reason to stop.

It had been a long time since she had felt so…young? A long time since she wasn’t worried thinking about what others were thinking of her. A long time since she felt free.

@Emily Shephard, @Colin McCoire

November 25th 2024
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
Tickle Time! with @Ava Winchect and @Colin McCoire

While Emily was doing her tour around Colin's skinny figure and his questionable scars, she heard some odd squeaks and whimpers with every trace of her little fingers. At first she thought it was something up in the trees above them, maybe a startled bird, but then one quick look at Colin's trembling lips and laugh-induced tears swiftly let Emily know that he was making those sounds! And quite peculiar sounds they were too. Everyone was capable of making a noise when they did something; like how Emily used to make an adorable strained noise when she tried reaching for something on a high shelf back when she was small, or how nowadays she'd make a huffy groan when she would be graced with another tedious round of Transfiguration homework. It was part of being human. One way or another, people had their own personalised sound effects board in their brain that would go off according to each and every scenario.

Emily thought she had Colin all figured out in terms of sounds. Ordinarily, by experience, she would recognise his merry yells when he came tumbling into vision, with the sounds of his bare feet - yes, bare - pounding and thumping along the ground as he dragged half the forest behind him, with sounds of little bits of tree and leaf falling off and hitting the ground with every stride.

It wasn't until Emily's finger grazed Colin's left rib that she realised what was happening. He was ticklish. Extremely ticklish.

"O-Oh!"

Emily withdrew her wandering hands immediately as if she left a burn on his skin by accident, not that it would account for much compared to some of the serious looking marks that occupied his figure had it been an actual burn. However, that only gave way for Ava to take over and completely attack Colin with her own devilishly tickling fingers, making the boy scream and laugh louder and harder. They were like five year olds but as she sat there watching the two of them, Emily found something about their friendship endearing.

They were like her and Scout... Only cranked up to eleven. And with spectacular hair.

Emily went back in to join in the fun, going for Colin's locks and taking him out with tickles to his underarms and neck. The waves of laughter from both him and Ava soon passed onto her and it wasn't long before she was giggling like a happy toddler. If there was any point during her time spent with these two that oozed sibling energy, this was Exhibit A. And Emily was loving it.

After what felt like hours of the three of them poking and tickling each other, they all finally settled down. Emily somehow managed to find herself sprawled across Colin's front, her feet nearly touching Ava's side, the last of her giggles being filtered out through short, quieter bursts. Shenanigans like this, while they were absolutely sublime when they were spent with Scout, were equally as precious with Colin and Ava. Emily couldn't think of a time before Hogwarts where she's laughed this hard, or participated in something as bonkers as this, or just have this much fun in general! It really did feeling like spending time with family.

Emily grinned unapologetically. "Haah... That was fun!"

That giggle fit tired her out but boy did it give her the taste of what life could've been like if she had siblings to muck around with. There was something bittersweet about finding that solace with Ava and Colin. They were two individuals completely different from Emily in nearly all sense of the word yet they embraced her like she was one of the pack. The time spent with them, Scout, her Hufflebuddies and her beloved "Auntie" combined put her parents' efforts to shame.

Her cheeks glowed as she basked in the bliss of the moment.

"I love you guys."

_{Word Count: 671}

Stats: Stamina: 7|Evasion: 6|Strength: 6|Wisdom: 8|Arcane Power: 7|Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace