April Fools' Pool Party Open Closed

Trying not to utterly lose her mind, Lark frantically searched her bag and turned in a circle trying to see if her journal had fallen out not too far off. All of her grandfather's notes... letters from her father.. drawings.. Lark swallowed the massive lump in her throat. Her.. personal writing. Her life essentially was hidden away inside that book! Sitting down on the ground she turned her bag over and dumped everything to the ground in front of her. The only way to be sure she wasn't overlooking it was to just clear out her bag completely.. maybe it was stuck inside one of the inner pockets. In her worried state and distance from the pool area, Lark did not make out what one of the blonde girls had called out to her. Carefully reaching into the bottom of the bag, Lark's fingers ran along the larger inside pocket.

"H..hey." Lark gave a nod towards Dale as she saw him making his way over to her. "No..no go ahead-" Trying to not be too short with her friend, Lark gave a nervous smile and continued to search in her bag only to come up empty. Where had that gone? She tried to think back to the Common Room. Perhaps it was still there? She might have left it under her pillow in a rush to class this morning. Taking a long breath she sat back against the tree and flopped her bag over one leg in defeat. No.. no need to worry.. none at all. It was fine. Fine. Everything was fine and she obviously left it back in the dorm room. Resting her head back against the tree trunk she looked towards Dale. They hadn't really spoken since break.. not that much anyway. She had just chalked it up to being busy with end of term work but also wasn't sure how to approach him after things were left at the Tea party. Needing to take her mind off of her misplaced journal and what dire consequences that would have... Lark gave the messy haired boy a smile. Somehow the longer he stood by her the calmer she felt. Almost like an warm blanket covering her and melting away the panic from earlier. "So.. what do ya make of all this." Grinning as she tilted her head towards the commotion of the pool party, Lark gave a small laugh. "Pool party in April? Is this a Muggle thing as well?"

"You're going in! That's final!" George declared, grunting as he hefted @Jake Morris upward and tried his best to shove the younger Hufflepuff into the water. He was so much heavier than he looked. He imagined this would be more like flinging a stuffed animal into the water, but with Jake kicking and squirming, it was far more difficult. The older boy let out a grunt of pain as one of those flailing legs caught him in the shin. "Hey, stop kicking!"

The boy became lighter suddenly, and that is when George looked up to see @Jack Warren giving him an assist with pulling the youngest Hufflepuff boy into the pool. Teamwork! It was nice to finally get a little cooperation from his two dorm mates, even if he could only ever get it from one of them at a time. The littlest Hufflepuff grabbed onto his arm just when he was about to go into the water, keeping himself just barely out of it.

"Let go, Jake, or I swear-" he said, huffing as he tried to pry those shockingly strong fingers off of his arm. It didn't seem to be working, and Jack was still pulling on Jake's other arm as Jake pulled on George. Using all of that force to his advantage, George dropped the bag he was carrying and pushed forward suddenly, trying to catch Jake off guard and throw him off balance. George stumbled up toward the pool as Jake went in, but unfortunately, the momentum of the chain of Hufflepuffs kept going, threatening to pull him in.

In a panicked flurry, George shot his now-free hand out at the nearest object - in this case, @Alan Vanes - and grabbed on tight. He pulled as hard as he could to try and pull himself away from the water, only to find that whatever he had found to pull was coming his way, instead. He only caught a glimpse before he went over too.

"Alan?!" he cried. Splash.

The school uniform was much, much heavier when it was soaking wet.

Calming Presence
@Jake Morris, @George Henry & @Jack Warren

Alan curiously listened to George's story of how he saved Breana, the girl that had left into the pool, and was in awe. He could relate to Breana, probably. Alan was really bad at flying, terrified even, but he had someone who tried to teach him the basics at least. But it had been a while and Alan's fear was rising anew. If George was so good at it, he could probably help him, right? Before he could compliment him on this or mention anything however, the other boy already continued with the next topic, talking about the candies. "W-Worms?", he wondered, raising his eyebrows suspicion. He wanted to believe this was a joke, but he actually wondered if the other kid ate a worm before and he would not put it past him. Alan was also pleased to hear that the other kid would be coming to his birthday and wondered if it would be important to tell Willow. Probably not, he could just tell her tomorrow at the actual birthday!

Amused Alan watched as George began to lift Jake into the air to get him into the water and grinned lightly as the short Hufflepuff began to struggle in the twelve year old's grasp. He was standing right there with them, carefully avoiding the kicking legs as he couldn't help but start laughing as one after the other was dragged into the pool by a tall kid. Alan could not remember speaking to him before but could not fight the laughter that escaped him. But the laughter made him unaware and he reacted too late when he was suddenly grasped by someone, which made him choke on his laughter in shock as he stumbled right after George who called out to him in panic. "Wh-Wha- George?!", he gasped, before the surface of the water swallowed him. He quickly closed his mouth before more water could get into his burning lungs as he struggled below the surface, trying to find footing.

As soon as his feet touched the bottom of the transfigured baking tin and his hand grasped George's arm, he pushed himself upward until he resurfaced, coughing out water as soon as he did, looking at George in shock. His rapid heart beat calming down again, now that he could stand and actually had some sense of control. He could stand, everything was fine! "S-Sorry", he muttered as he let go of George with a nervous smile. It was not like he was scared of water or anything, he had been in shallow waters before. But he could not really swim, since he never really left his house as a kid, sheltered from nature. So swimming was never really a requirement or skill he needed. So not being able to stand for a bit had scared him a bit, but now that he stood tall, he was fine and he looked down at his soaked clothes, before staring at George who was also in the water fully clothed. "Why w-would you drag me in?", he would ask with an amused snort, water dripping from his face as his hair clung to his forehead. "W-Well at least y-you are in the w-water now!", he pointed out, glancing at Jake with a crooked smile, before glancing at the one boy that he actually did not know yet. He was taller than Alan, but only by a bit. Then again Alan knew that that meant nothing about whether he was older or younger, but he offered him a shy smile.

Interaction with : @Jake Morris @George Henry @Alan Vanes

Most of the time, when people are talking, Jack doesn't take to listening very well. He wasn't listening at all when he saw George start to pick up Jake. Nor was Jack paying attention to what was said when Mister Warren decided to swim over and help George pull their small best friend inside the pool. Jack didn't know what Jake was hesitant, nor why he didn't want to go in the water. All he knew is that George was trying to throw in Jake, and Jack wanted to help with that endeavor.

There wasn't a bone in Jack's body that wanted to hurt Jake, so he pulled just enough force to get him in, but not hurt him.

For the oddest reason, Jake felt much more substantial than he remembered? How odd. He could hear the little badger's screams, of course, that what he expected. There was a splash that was way bigger than a small kid like Jake could make. Letting go of his mate, Jack turned whipped around to see all of his friends, including a random Gryffindor, had decided to follow the littlest huff in!

"What in the world are you knuckleheads doin'!? You're wearing your clothes and everything!?"

Interacting with @Astrea Soleil Neptune @Jack Warren @Jake Morris @George Henry @Alan Vanes
Mentioning @Jack Burnett @Ruka Tân

Willow let Ruka take over the comforting that was happening, figuring he would know much better than she did about how to comfort him. She sat back and watched, ready to jump in if they needed more help, but Jack started ranting about how Ruka needed to make real friends and how he wasn't one of them. It confused her because she saw them as really good friends.

To further the confusion, all of a sudden Jack announced this was all some April Fool's prank but something felt off about it. It all felt too real. Maybe he was a really good actor, but she didn't think so. Her mouth dropped open when he announced her as in charge, which was not at all something she was looking forward to. What if someone drowned? What if someone got hurt? She was extremely ill equipped to deal with any of the consequences but before she could protest him and Ruka had walked off.

Standing up and dusting herself off she looked around to see if anyone new had arrived, quickly she spotted Jack pulling in Jake, Alan, and George somehow into the pool. Like some messy chain of monkeys. As she returned to get back in the pool she stopped by Astrea, the urge to lay a hand on her shoulder was there but she also didn't want to get her wet if she didn't want to be. "I'm going to get back in, but I would love if you joined in if you're feeling up to it." A shy smile made it's way back on her face before she clumsily clambered back into the pool.

Once she reached the gaggle of boys that were starting to get wrapped around her own heart, especially Jake and Alan, she realized a couple of them weren't even wearing swimming suits. Quickly she went over to Jake and pulled him into a hug before doing them same to Alan. "I'm glad you guys are here, Hi George." She wasn't sure she was quite on hugging level with George so she refrained for now. Before turning to Jack, who she had seen pull them all in. "What are you doing pulling two people that don't even have swimsuits on string bean?" She playfully nudged his arm, knowing it wasn't completely his fault but she liked to have good fun teasing him about it any way.

Willow continued her bouncing to keep just above the water surface, before deciding to climb back up Jack's back again. It just had a better vantage point than she was able to get from her height, purely strategical. "If you dunk me again... I'll... uh... sneak into the boy's dorm and do something. It's a surprise." She smiled down at the other boys, suddenly she was the tallest one. She could get used to this height. "Do you guys have any games in mind to play in the pool?" As much as she did just love swimming, she felt like the boys around her would probably have some idea of fun games to play.

Interacting with: @Adohiro Moira

Serena blinked as Adohiro explained the game to her. He had lifted Elisa up onto his shoulder - how they had not just fallen over instantly was beyond her understanding. She was sure she could not lift anyone. "I see..." She said as he explained the game. It seemed fairly simple, though perhaps a bit risky with so many people around. They were bound to get hurt, especially if they were sitting in a tin can that could instantly shrink at any time. "No no, I don't want to play, I'm fine thank you!" She quickly added, not intending to actually join in on the game.

She was very happy staying away from the crowd and the pool, still convinced that this was an april fools' prank that was going to go horribly wrong at any moment. She just imagined the can shrinking back to its original size and everyone being thrown out of it... Which would most likely just result in them all being thrown into each other and getting hurt. Serena had more than enough broken bones and did not need to risk adding another. She had been to the hospital wing plenty of times - more so now that she actually played a pretty dangerous sport. But Quidditch was fun. This just seemed like a prank. "I think I'll pass..." She said, stepping back to keep her distance from the pool party.

Foreseeing danger, she decided it was probably best to just evacuate now. Things always had a habit of going on. "In fact, I better go study anyway, I'll see ya later," She added as an afterthought, waving her hand as she turned to leave - leaving as quickly as she arrived. It was probably unwise to stay in something that sounded like trouble, she knew better than that by now to be honest!

[THREAD LEFT]

Interacting with @Adohiro Moira

Elisa was now on Adohiro’s shoulders. As she laughed and looked everywhere, she noticed Serena looking at them. She was finally happy, amused, although the hours spent in the library were still better. It seemed she had forgotten what had happened previously. Then she looked at everybody, when she was on Adohiro’s shoulders she felt exposed, her eyes wandered, looking at everybody. She let her body move unconsciously, she listened to her surroundings. Although she finally had found someone to socialize with, she felt strangely lonely, uncomfortable, weird, exposed. Thoughts were now creeping in her head, she found those thoughts disturbing. She now felt lightheaded, her heart was poundings, and her eyes looked everywhere; she heard her heart beats as their velocity increased.

She told herself to calm down, now her only rival was her mind. These feelings grew bigger, reaching the most remote parts of her mind. Her eyes had been resting on Adohiro’s shoulders, but now they were approaching to her face, her cold hands touched her head. Eventually, she let go, she fell from Adohiro’s shoulders, and her back touched the warm water as she slowly went deeper into the pool, deeper into the warm water.

Her heart pounded as she looked beneath the surface, her eyes shut so did her thoughts. She wasn’t willing to move, she was perplex, the complex concept of existence, everything that stood upon her was indifferent. Right there, below the surface she saw how everything drastically changed, her frenetic movements suddenly stopped; not only the image of the world drastically changed when she was underwater, but her perspective as well. As she kept going deeper into the pool, she felt. She finally arose, then she saw everybody as they were trapped in their own thoughts, all seemed disturbingly indifferent and lonely. She looked back at Adohiro, her mouth didn’t seem to open, and her expression was blank. She then tried to say something, but she was confused. After numerous attempts, she was able to vocalize some words “I think I’m heading to my dorm. See you soon.” Elisa said, she wasn't looking at Adohiro anymore. She had a blank expression; however, you could see confusion in her eyes. Then, everything seemed to be unreal, she collected her thinks, and awkwardly move towards her dorm, all without noticing what she was doing. Her movements were barely controlled by her. Although she was conscious, she felt disconnected from reality. All she knew was that she was heading to her dorm.

Interacting with @Alan Vanes @George Henry @Willow Anderson @Dan Palmer @Jack Warren

Jack pulled, and the next thing Jake knew he was in the water. The boy braced himself for cold as he entered but the water was pleasantly warm. What he wasn't prepared for was the influx of water into his mouth and nose and eyes. He went under for a moment, then twisted his body and swam back to the surface. He stretched his legs out as far as he could - but found that he could only stand by going on his tippy-toes and even then his mouth couldn't clear the water. He could only talk by hopping. This took away a bit from the fierceness of his anger.

"Hey!" he yelled, before he went under and hopped. "What did ya---" under and up. "---do that for?!" he demanded. He spit out water from his mouth, and wiped his wet hair from his forehead, then rubbed at his eyes.

It was only then, when his eyes cleared, that he noticed the bizarre sight in front of him. George was in the pool, fully clothed and everything, and so was Alan. The two of them looked shocked and Jake looked just about as much. "You didn't take your clothes off..." he pointed out, confused at the two drenched boys. It was only then that he realized what had just happened and put a hand on his mouth. "W-Wait, did I do that...? I...I didn't mean to...!" he began, looking at them. "Sorry, sorry!" He searched their faces for a sign if they were ok or not, his brow furrowed with worry.

At least you're in the water now, Alan said with a smile that made Jake blush, and then he was pulled into a hug by Willow. He was too busy treading water to hug back but appreciated it all the same. She may have noticed his friendship bracelet was still on his wrist. He kicked his way over to the side and put his hands there for balance. Jake was comfortable in the pool - his parents had made sure that he could swim just about as early as possible, and he had taken many swimming lessons over the years. (You never knew when you might drown). Still, it took energy to tread, and the wall just made things easier since he couldn't stand as easily as Alan or Jack could.

Another boy swam up to them then - Dan - the boy who had once helped Jake at the masquerade, and who owned one of the greatest kitties in the world Loki, saying he didn't know Jake had liked pools. "I like pools," Jake said, "Most of the time."

He wasn't feeling quite so angry anymore, now that he had got hugged by Willow, smiled at by Alan, and had realized he'd caused the other boys to fall in as well. Maybe he hadn't ever really been angry at all - maybe he'd just been scared. He was surrounded by familiar faces though, and now that he was in, getting out didn't seem to make much sense. The things that had been making him nervous before weren't really on his mind anymore. He was actually still busy staring at George and Alan. "Does it feel weird?" he asked George, still staring at the odd sight of his bunkmate in his soaked school uniform, something that would have made his own parents throw a fit. It was as silly a sight as going to class in a bathing suit.

Willow wanted to play games, and Jake thought back to the kinds of things he would do when he went to the pool back in Wiltshire. Sometimes his parents would play with him and they'd swim around. His dad would give him rides a lot. They had brought pool toys sometimes, and Jake would swim to the bottom to try and get the sinkable ones, or float around on the water noodles, or play with toy ducks, frogs, and fish. He hadn't brought toys, and anything underwater would be hard now, since Jake hadn't brought goggles either. He thought Willow probably meant other things though. Back then, he would watch other boys and girls at the pool playing games on the far side of the pool. He had never joined them. He'd been afraid of being teased or dunked under water when he wasn't expecting it, or maybe getting splashed in the eye. And his mum and dad had been happy to keep him company (the other kids rough-housed too much anyway). What was it he had seen them playing?

"Um...there's that Marco Polo game," Jake pointed out softly. He didn't really want to play it or anything... it was just... the people around him had probably been the kids playing and not the kids watching. If they knew about him, maybe they would realize he wasn't worth playing with. He wasn't very fun, really...not when doing things like that...so he didn't want to admit he'd never played the types of games they might want to. (George probably would know, he thought. George seemed to know what he was really thinking a lot. But he thought George wouldn't say anything about it, unless he was really mad about getting pulled in the pool). "I don't know any really fun ones though..." he admitted, hoping that one of the others had ideas, and that they'd teach him how to play.

Interacting with @George Henry @Alan Vanes @Jake Morris and @Willow Anderson

She watched as George easily swooped up Jake, knowing full well what he's going to do. Breana covered her mouth as she stifled a laugh, watching the hilarious little scenery unfold before her. After a good few minutes she couldn't hold back anymore, and loudly cackled and snorted as Jake not only was yeeted thrown into the pool by George, but he also pulled him in along with the third year.

Not just George.

The third year too.

All in plain clothes as well.

She definitely was glad she chose to jump in on this chaotic fun.

"Ohohoho, you guys!!" She laughed, doing a bit of a little doggie paddle towards the group. "Ye lot know how to make an entrance, huh?" Breana chuckled, splashing a bit of water to the three of them playfully. Not a full wave of water, just enough to get the boys' attention. "Ya might wanna skim down to your smalls, though..." She said, lifting up a piece of Alan's robe. "'Less you wanna catch a cold after the party." Breana had a similar situation happen to her, but it was more on the case of her little 8-year-old self thinking that catching fishes in the nearby river would be a more cheaper way to buy groceries. Unfortunately for her, she didn't take into account on the high tides that would come up in that afternoon. At least it gave her parents the urgency to teach her how to swim.

Breana waved a hello to Willow, vaguely remembering her as the Quidditch girl in Hufflepuff. She had quite an experience interacting with her in a Flying lesson, though Breana's brain probably blocked it off when the wood of the broom conked her forehead. She beamed as Willow mentioned playing games in the pool. "Ooo, marco polo would be fun!" She nodded to Jake. "Or, or!! That chicken game? Where two of us battle while sitting on a partner's shoulders? It'd be a really wild ride but a fun one to try!" She said. She never played with any of those with kids in her neighborhood, but she has read a lot of children's books, mainly ones that say something along the lines of "How to Have the Best Summer Ever!" So having kids her age that she can bounce off to and play with such games really got her in the mood to talk to them as much as possible.

Interacting with @Willow Anderson, @Jack Warren, @Jake Morris,
@Alan Vanes, & @Breana Oliveire

George spit out a mouthful of water over the edge of the pool, not wanting to contaminate the swimming area. He took a moment to get his bearings and finally released Alan and Jake, picking at his clothes and pulling the wet fabric away from his skin as he squirmed uncomfortably in his outfit. He reached up to brush some soaking wet hair away from his forehead, trying to get the water to stop dripping into his eyes. He gave Alan a sheepish smile as the Gryffindor asked why he brought the other boy in with him. His head was still spinning from the shock of being dumped in the water - he couldn't think of an excuse fast enough. "...Sorry!"

He shook his head around, sending droplets of water off of his hair like a wet dog. His clothes squished and stuck to him uncomfortably, his whole uniform soaking wet. The first thing to go was his tie - that thing strangled him on a good day, but soaking wet, it felt like he was getting dragged down on a leash. Jack's comment provoked an uproar of laughter from the soaked Hufflepuff, who untied his tie and gripped one end of it so he could lash it like a whip against Jack's bare shoulder. He put on a mock offended tone, as if Jack should have known better than to do what he did. "Well somebody was pulling Jake in while I was trying to push him!"

As Willow came over to join them and hugged Alan and Jake, George threw his arms out in a gesture of outrage, clearly upset at the inequitable distribution of hugs. Unfortunately, the gesture threw a splash of water into the faces of both Jake and Alan. "Hurtful, Willow!" the boy complained. Seeing her face reminded him to mention his fond memory of her. "And to think, I cheered your name at the quidditch match. Good win, by the way! You're quite the killer keeper when you're riding right side up."

Willow climbed up aboard Jack, and George looked up at her, grinning as he slumped down until just his head stuck out of the water. She had the height advantage - besides, if he stayed low, he could dodge the wind and avoid freezing in his soggy clothes. "Don't worry, you won't have to sneak in!" He gestured to himself and Jake. "We can take care of it."

Jake, the reason he was in this mess, approached him to inquire about how he felt on the situation. George gave him a blank look. Did it feel weird? Yes. It did. "Well, it doesn't feel good," he admitted, pulling out the front of his shirt to let some fresh water circulate against his skin. That felt better than having wet fabric chafing on your belly. As Breana came up and made her suggestion, George was struck by an idea that distracted him from any hints of resentment he could've had toward his young dorm mate. "Jake! Jake, get up on my shoulders!"

He lowered himself down and tried to swim backward against Jake, doing his best to help the boy climb on whether he wanted to or not. He paused a second, looking forward at Breana. "Alan, Alan! Come lift Breana! She wants to play the chicken game with Jake!"