Closed Growing Pains PV Emily Shepherd

EMMANUEL! with @Emmanuel Bourne
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
Mentioning: @Scout Fu-Hai, @Colin McCoire and @ Simon Kincaid

Another day, another stockpile of books that were waiting to be devoured by Hufflepuff's self proclaimed smartalek. She wasn't even long back from Beauxbatons and already Emily was looting the library for more excitable reads... Or anything new that had "Magical" and "Half-Human" in the name.

The sight of Emily carrying books that reached to her chin wasn't an uncommon one. Scout was well acquainted with the quirk (out of many) that made Emily stand out. In fact it was a telling sign that Emily was in an ecstatically good mood. A very good few reasons why! The mark on her finger had gone, the voices had rightfully jogged on, that nasty no-no juice that plagued Hufflepuff no longer swayed her so strongly and her sleep pattern was getting back on track! She had textbooks and guides stacked tightly in her arms as she gingerly traversed across the campus. Nothing like some leisurely reading to celebrate this new developmental hope! Hopefully this time a wild and untamed McCoire or two won't come tumbling into her.

A glorious encounter that day when Emily met Colin, but that wasn't to say she found getting clobbered by his lanky body and sending her books flying all over the corridor particularly pleasant. Quite painful, actually.

Good ol' Colin!

Emily, who had her eyes trained downwards to watch her step - or whatever she could still see past the books that took up her vision - looked up to see where she was at and sighed. Another few floors to go.

She was approaching the Hospital Wing. Perhaps aforementioned McCoire or maybe even Simon were on duty today? Bumping into them was always a treat. Metaphorically that is. Colin was a bit bony to go through actual bumping into for another time.

She poked her head round the door into the Wing. She couldn't see lovely Simon nor a mop of Colin hair anywhere. Dang.

But she did see a mop of someone's hair. Someone she hadn't seen in what felt like donkey's years. When their head turned ever so slightly, that was when Emily confirmed it. And she grinned.

"Emmanuel!"

Her dear Emmanuel! Her train buddy from first year! Her near-symmetrical other half! And dare she say the sweetest Ravenclaw fella she'd ever met! Emily shuffled eagerly across the Hospital Wing, the books still planted firmly in her grip as she made a steady beeline for him.

"Emmanuel! Emma-iii-y goodness...!"

Yes, it was Emmanuel, but not quite the same way Emily last remembered him. His hair was the same, his eyes were the same. But this time he came with an... Ahem. Accessory. He had a red bump on the tip of his nose. Emily blinked. Whoa! Puberty already? It doesn't pull any punches.

She saw the pout that lingered in his expression. Bless him. Emily couldn't help the one tiny giggle that escaped her. First world problems. Not that Emily was ever going to judge her beloved friend.

She was still overcome with the unbridled joy of seeing her buddy to even lightheartedly joke about what the hay a single blemish like that was doing on Emmanuel's nose. Though actually, now that Emily got a good look at it, it did seem quite redder than a typical pimple. She softened her look.

"Emmanuel, my friend. I'm sure a lot has happened since I last saw you. Things have certainly happened to me since then. But tell me, whatever is that on your nose?"

_{Word Count: 574}

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

Em felt his feet freeze, and his face grow hot as blood rushed to his cheeks. IN his haste, Em realized he hadn't been considering the odds that he would run into someone he knew, let alone Emily.

Em looked up from the floor, and into the bright face of his friend. It had been a long while since he saw her, and he was surprised to see how differently she was carrying herself. She looked older, more confident. The loss of being new to Hogwarts suited her wonderfully. She looked like she had stepped into herself as a witch, and as a Hufflepuff.

Em smiled, and went to wave at her enthusiastically. As he raised his hand into the air, and his smile grew; he felt it. A weird wiggle, and a sharp pinch on the end of his nose. Before his very eyes, the pimple on the end of his nose grew about ten times its size. A small burp crept it's way up his throat, leaving the taste of the prank tonic fresh in his mouth.

"Oh, oh dear..." he murmured under his breath, before clearing his throat, and covering his nose with his hand. "Ha, Emily, fancy running into you here... It's been awhile. You look well," he complimented, gesturing towards her. As his arm moved to indicate the subject of the compliment, Em felt that same wiggle, and pinching sensation. The bulbous boil on the end of his nose gave an unsettling shiver, before easily doubling in size again. The weight of the blemish trying to make Em's head tilt forward.

Em felt shame boil into his body from the bottom of his feet. He cleared his throat again, and began taking steps towards the Hospital Wing, which was, unfortunately, at the end of the hall.

"God, this is so embarrassing. I'm sorry, I think its just going to keep growing, I need the nurse," he apologized, taking another few steps toward the hospital.

EMMANUEL! with @Emmanuel Bourne
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
Mentioning: @Scout Fu-Hai, @Colin McCoire and @ Simon Kincaid

"Oh my..."

Emily's eyes crossed into the middle as she examined the curious occupant on Emmanuel's nose. Squinting hard enough she could see it pulse and swell ever so slightly. She blinked. Emmanuel wasn't kidding. It really was growing right before her eyes, not exactly something popular among the incoming age of zits. It was fascinating! Albeit, just a teeny weeny bit weird...

"It's nothing like I've ever seen before," she said. She could see why Emmanuel was looking a little worried about it. If she were in his shoes, she'd probably feel the same, assuming she hadn't tried to pop it already.

She put her books down and looked left and right again. "Looks like the nurse isn't here yet. But you could always get one of the interns to take a look at it if you're worried about it," she suggested, smiling. She instantly thought of Simon. He was a stellar healer, shown through the expertise he showed when he cared for both Emily and Sere after their duelling match. Colin was too! Which some might find quite shocking. Through no one's fault, Colin could easily be pictured as being the cause of accidents with his track record of throwing caution to the wind. But if he could fix up a bloody nose like he did with Emily when she bonked it once... Even if he was the cause of that too... Then a mere boil would be no match for Colin either!

Interns were great!

Emmanuel commented Emily on how "well" she looked. She laughed softly. She wanted to disagree with him but she couldn't really. She was certainly in better spirits compared to the last several weeks in particular. She would admit she didn't look anywhere near as tired, burnt out or haunted looking, though she knew she had a bit of healing to do before she was truly back in top form.

"You've hardly changed yourself, my friend. You look like you've been keeping well too," she said. That was one thing Emily could feel relief for. She had changed once but was reclaiming her "self", she felt the school had gone through changes she once feared she couldn't keep up with, her friends were undergoing changes that she was once worried she was either missing or enabling unknowingly, but she was glad Emmanuel hadn't changed. Not by what she could see at least.

Normality was coming back into her life in small bursts, but seeing Emmanuel was a comforting reminder of that, that waiting for all the good things yet to come made it worth overcoming the fears she had now realised never existed.

Blemish or not, seeing Emmanuel after a dance with the dark for so long was a breath of fresh air.

_{Word Count: 440}

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

@Emily Shepherd

Emmanuel was a mix of emotions. In addition to the growing pain, and weight of the now jynxed pimple, Em felt embarrassment, frustration, and an odd sense of calm knowing a friend was close by. Em took a few steps forward towards the hospital, the news of the nurse not being there caused a quick chill of anxiety to climb up his spine.

He had never been to the hospital wing before, so there was already a bit of nerves about being in a situation that seemed to require it. The truth is that keeping your nose in books didn’t often lend to injury. Indeed, the only activity he did that may incite that possibility was collecting slugs from the edge of the lake. Yet, he was rather good at that, not to mention rather careful.

His boil wiggled again, and a sharper pain stabbed into his nose. Em winced as his boil grew to the size of a foot ball. It had grown to be a rather disturbing color of red, with what looked like purple veins running the length of the boil. It looked taught, and ready to explode; a yellow circle on the tip of the monstrosity, about the size of a galleon, gave a grim display of what heinous amount of gnarly yellow puss may fill the inside.

Em let his bag fall off his shoulder, as his muscles quickly tensed from the pain. In his panic, and belief that eruption was eminent, Em quickly undid his robe clasp, and let the garment fall to the floor. He took one step forward, and felt the boil wiggle violently. Em dropped to his knees in pain, and closed his eyes. The metaphorical countdown began.

“Emi, you should get out of here, like, now!” Em warned, his eyes watering from the now stinging pain on the end of his nose.

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EMMANUEL! with @Emmanuel Bourne
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics

Emily wasn't normally the kind of person to be put off by a boil or pimple like the vast majority of other people would be. She only ever experienced a very small handful of pimples herself, all of which she eagerly popped and cleaned without fuss. Doing it on her own skin, it was admittedly satisfying.

With Emmanuel's nose accessory however, this might be the first time Emily was ever so slightly leaning away from a zit. Nothing to do with Emmanuel himself. He was struggling to keep a straight face when it was clearly bothering him, the poor boy. Emily couldn't help the tiny shiver that ran down the back of her neck when she saw it wiggle. It was an ugly colour, no doubt causing discomfort to her birdie buddy at the same time. Would popping it now actually be dangerous instead? Emily was thinking about the pain of having it explode into gunk. And then there would be the mess afterwards... Eughh!

"Maybe we should get that looked at sooner rather than later," she finally conceded. She didn't mean any insult or offence to Emmanuel... But it was getting a bit freaky-looking.

Then Emmanuel collapsed to the ground with a pained expression. Emily went into Mega Hufflebuddy Mode and went to get down to his level, only to get shut down. Emily gave him a perplexed look.

"Wh-ehh? What's wrong? Are you in pain? I mean-- You look like you are..." Now was starting to look like a good time for someone to lend their healer wisdom to whatever the heck was happening now.

"Emmanuel, we should really do something about that pimple...!" Even if it did mean just popping it and exploding it open right then and there.

Emily, feeling helpless in the situation, took two steps back and gritted her teeth. She didn't like where this was going. Whatever was going on certainly didn't look good but she couldn't just leave him there either.

_{Word Count: 329}

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

@Emily Shepherd

Emmanuel agreed whole heartedly, they definitely needed some sort of help. But, he could feel that time was not their friend; and the pustule would rupture of its own accord. If Em was able to sprint down the hallway, he might just make it.

However, the pain in his face grew, like waves of heat emanating from the tip of his nose. His eyes were watering, and his hands and arms were shanking. As he stayed down on both knees, pain washing over him, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stand up.

Betwixt the embarrassment and pain, Em felt a wave of gratitude wash over him as he saw the genuine concern in his friend’s face. At this point, he had resigned himself to death by embarrassment when this thing bursts. It was a comfort to have a friend nearby, though anxiety began to rise as he considered if she still would be his friend after this.

Before he could get his thoughts together to mutter a sentence, the boil gave one more disheartening shake. It grew again, now taking on the size, and density of a gorgeous summer watermelon. It was starting to be unbearable. The pain transformed from a sharp stab, to an ominous heat that churned Em’s stomach.

Em could barely whisper an apology to Emi before it happened.

In one disgusting, heinous jiggle; the blemish burst open. Internally, Em felt a wave of relief as the weight at the end of his nose alleviated. He kept his eyes clenched shut, so he wouldn’t see the aftermath. Though, Em wasn’t prepared for what actually happened.

Instead of an explosion of puss, blood, and what other viscera developed in the boil; there was an audible POP! and the high pitched sound of a balloon deflating. Confetti, and ribbons flew into the air from the end of his nose. All sorts of colors, and glitter, and metallic sheen. The remnants of a vivacious celebration fluttered from abnormally large pimple, covering the floor, the front of Em’s uniforms, and even getting on Emi who couldn’t have gotten far enough away, unless she had managed the impossible and dissapparated on Hogwarts grounds.

Em risked opening an eye, and was completely befuddled. Though his nose was still very red, and the tip of it looked like a wilted daffodil; there was no disgusting clean up. No embarrassing bodily emission. Just confetti, and the sign of a ridiculous prank.

Em sat back onto the ground, getting off his knees. He sniffled, and touched the end of his nose. It was lightly sore, but could easily be healed. He looked over at Emi, who had a new layer of ribbons and glitter covering her front.

“Merlin. That was bloody disgusting,” he muttered, pushing himself back to his feet. ”I’m never taking anything from an older boy ever again. What a prat!” He huffed, his cheeks turning rosy from embarrassment yet again.

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EMMANUEL! with @Emmanuel Bourne
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics

Emily swallowed hard when that thing on Emmanuel's nose grew bigger. It was like it had a mind of its own. In a way, it did as it continued to expand and jiggle to ridiculous proportions. Emily was subconsciously leaning back away from him as it threatened to dominate the rest of his nose. Given the size of it now, it was a miracle Emmanuel's face wasn't being weighed down by it. It was massive!

And then the worst case scenario happened--

POOF!

"Eep!"

Emily leapt backwards, squeaking frightfully when the pimple exploded between them. Alas, if only she had leapt just a teeny bit further. The pimple's insides exploded from its cocoon of yuck but not in the way neither of them expected. Instead of something inky, slimy and contagious, ribbons and confetti burst forth from within, spraying all over Emmanuel, all over the floor and even reaching as far as to graze Emily's forearm. A few spots of glitter found their way onto her front but otherwise, there was no real damage to anyone or anything in the room... Unless they were to count any embarrassment Emmanuel was feeling from the situation.

What was once repulsion was quickly replaced with confusion on the Huffie's face.

Emily blinked a few times. "That's... Not what I would expect from a boil that size..." To be honest, Emily was quite disappointed with the outcome after building up the terrifying anticipation inside her.

She heard Emmanuel grumble something and she frowned. So this was all the product of some elaborate prank. Dusting herself off, Emily stepped forward to brush down Emmanuel's shoulders and chest. His tomato-coloured face almost matched the red blotch on his nose, left behind after being ruptured by the confetti-filled pimple.

"No harm done, my friend," she smiled encouragingly. "On the bright side, the oversized baked bean on your nose is gone and you're your handsome self again!" She had to admit. Emmanuel did look much better without his colourful accessory trying to outgrow his own face.

_{Word Count: 300}

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

@Emily Shepherd

Relief enveloped Em's whole being as he realized that Emi wasn't utterly repulsed by him. Gratitude warmed his heart as she helped him brush off the majority of the glitter, and confetti that settled on the front of his uniform. He could feel his face flush when she called him handsome. He had missed her!

"You don't look too bad yourself, Hufflepuff," he jested, sticking his young out playfully as he rose to be on even level with Emily. "And your nose didn't even explode, I guess you're just a natural beauty."

Em smiled warmly at Emily. "Thanks for not running off and laughing, or in horror... You're a great friend." He leaned forward, and gave her a gentle hug. Although he wasn't normally one to express his gratitude with physical affection, it just felt right in the moment.

As he pulled away, lingering only briefly, Em rubbed his nose as it steadily returned to its natural shape on its own. Soon enough, he would look particularly normal; which in itself was a relief. Looking back at his dropped bag and cloak laying on the marble floor, covered in the majority of his pustule emissions; Em took out his wand, and pointed it at the mess in front of him. Moving his wand in an 'S' shape, Em uttered "Scourgify." Much of the glitter and ribbons vanished into thin air.

"I doubt I need the nurse now, so maybe we could take a walk? Catch up? I can help carry your books if you want." Em reached out, offering his free arm to take a few books.

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EMMANUEL! with @Emmanuel Bourne
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics

Emily was quick to lend a hand in tidying up the pimple-popper confetti that laid strewn over the ground, her wand twirling in her fingers as she cleaned up the mess until it all disappeared. Emily had come across a lot of bizarre things in her life; that time when two blokes walked past her in town, conversing in grunts yet they somehow made perfect sense to each other, another time when a woman from down the street sprinted up the path in the most god-awful jumpsuit that matched her even more god-awful tan, meeting Colin for the first time... But despite all that, this overtook the number one spot for the most "What the hay??" moment in her lifetime.

But! It was all over now and Emmanuel was back to his normal, refreshing "Emmanuel" self again and that's what mattered!

"At least that's all been taken care of now," Emily said, happily agreeing with him. "And it doesn't look like it shows any sign that it could grow back either! I think it's safe to say you're in the clear!"

Just as well too. Puberty and pimples would be inevitable for the pair of them but Emmanuel would suit the "natural pimple" look much better than the elephant no longer in the room.

Emily smiled sweetly as she handed him three books for him to carry for her. "If you wouldn't mind taking these for me, that would be great. They're fairly light so I think you can manage...!" She recovered the rest of her books, balancing them with ease in her hands now that she was a few books lighter thanks to Emmanuel's assistance.

"I concur that we have much to catch up on, my friend. Since the nice weather has been persisting this long, why don't we take ourselves and these books outside and discuss things there?"

She stood by the door to wait until Emmanuel was walking side by side with her. Perhaps not the most glamourous reunion for the pair of them but had it not been for the party-pimple-popper thingy, then Emily doubted she and Emmanuel would have crossed paths again.

So, in that case... Hooray for zits!

_{Word Count: 364}

Emily is ready to leave the thread if Emmanuel is!

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