C'mon, It'll Be Fun!
꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱ ☾☼☽ +:｡.｡ ༺❀༻ ｡.｡:+☾☼☽ ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱
Mentions: @Persephone Grimsbane WC: 448 xxx Hex code: #0050b4 OOC note: Skylar strives on impulsive decision lol ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱ ☾☼☽ +:｡.｡ ༺❀༻ ｡.｡:+☾☼☽ ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱
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Skylar stands in an open area, hands on her hips and grinning with excitement. Right in front of her is Persephone, who looks less... ecstatic, about the whole thing. Skylar feels bad dragging the poor girl all the way out here, but she promises that she will make up to her.
"Alrighty, let us start our little impromptu training session!" Skylar claps her hands and smiles at the girl. "Come on now, you look like I just announced a death threat! Sorry for dragging you out here though, but it will be fun, I promise!"
With that, Skylar pulls out her wand. "Magic is not so scary. In fact, it can be quite fun! And just wait till you just see what I have in store for you..." She says leadingly, giving Persephone a knowing grin. Turning around with her back facing Persephone, Skylar glances at the setting sun. They have about an hour left, and Skylar was going to make it worth it.
"You know, it is a really nice weather today. The sun is also really pretty. But you know what else is pretty, too? When light reflects of clear surfaces. Like a morning dews on a leaf, the windows in the library... and BUBBLES!" Skylar exclaims. With great speed, Skylar turns and points her wand at Persephone. "Bullarum Immortalem!"
Instantly, impenetrable bubbles burst from Skylar's wand towards Persephone. Skylar laughs in delight as the bubbles float around them. The bubbles bounce around, reflecting the sun's setting glow. It is beautiful, really, the way the float up, up, and away.
Turning to face Persephone, Skylar gives a sheepish smile "Sorry for spooking you there with my sudden actions, but you see how magic is not all that bad? You expected the worse, yet all that came out were bubbles. In fact, they made quite a sight as well." Skylar says as she looks up.
"Sometimes, we expect the worst of things, and that is okay. But, we also have to see that not everything in life is doom and gloom. And sometimes, it is the unexpected things that make our day brighter." She shrugs as she turns towards Persephone.
"Again, I am sorry for pointing my wand at you like that. But you have to admit that was a good way to get my point across. Yes, there was probably a better way to do it, but this thing -" Skylar says as she taps her head. "- is not too great at thinking. If you cannot tell, everything I do is kind of impulsive." Okay, maybe they are very impulsive, Skylar thinks to herself. But Persephone probably knew that already.
"How about you try?"
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Last edited by Skylar Blue on 15 Apr 2026, 00:39, edited 1 time in total.
sta • 5 | eva • 6 | str • 4 wis • 7 | arc • 7 | acc • 6 |
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C'mon, It'll Be Fun!
The scenery of the library gave way at first to corridors, then the grounds. Skylar's persistent tugging had gotten them all the way out there and Poppy was no closer to thinking up an excuse that wouldn't give her more 'brilliant' ideas. It was a learning process, a curve she was still getting used to. She and her housemate didn't run in the same circles much. Sure, they saw each other in the common room and while going about the castle, but it clearly hadn't been enough to help Poppy understand how...intense and undeterred the other girl happened to be.
Do you ever feel like a misfit?
✪ Everything inside you is dark and twisted ✪
Word Count: 692
How could she have known that a simple throwaway lie could land her in an impromptu 'training session' that not a single bone in her body wanted to take part in?
Magic was something she had yet to reconcile, despite the time she'd spent in the castle. It was a deeply personal wound for the first year, one she was still healing from and learning to accept as a part of her rather than a separate entity to be suppressed. Magic held deeper meaning and came with anxieties that had managed to sink their hooks deep beneath her skin where they weren't so easily dislodged.
For her, it wasn't as simple as 'just do it'. It was everything her parents said; it was every scowl her mother had ever cast her way. It was the scorn of her older siblings and the growing indifference they exhibited toward her. It was belonging. Where did she belong? Where did she want to belong? Back home with them? It seemed a little too late for that. At the same time, the thought of belonging there, inside Hogwarts with everything she'd been taught to abhor, did strange and terrible things to her mind.
"Magic is not so scary. In fact, it can be quite fun! And just wait till you just see what I have in store for you..."
Poppy did what she could to conceal her scepticism, not wanting another existential lecture from the girl on things she still wasn't sure how she knew. She nodded along while Skylar talked about the weather and sunlight and surfaces. Better to appear compliant and wait for it to be ov--
"Bullarum Immortalem!"
"Eeek!"
Her body reacted before her mind could. Poppy leapt back several feet, her heart thundering inside her chest like it meant to break free. She didn't consider the colour of the light or even the incantation uttered. The moment Skylar's wand turned to her, her body chose 'flight' and did so expeditiously.
Even with her housemate laughing, it took Poppy a moment longer to realise the danger was...bubbles.
The first-year could only shake her head as Skylar launched into another moral tirade on acceptable thinking and conduct. It...that...she didn't see the point at all. In fact, all Skylar had done was set her on edge, now waiting for the next surprise attack and dreading it might not be as harmless as bubbles. Poppy had watched a few duelling matches and had seen, through walks around the castle, just how severe the spells cast could be. Even one as simple as the levitation charm Skylar had used earlier could end in disaster with the right intent.
Wasn't that what their DADA professor had tried to teach them?
Her lips parted to automatically agree as she was primed to do, but the words lodged themselves in the back of her throat, refusing to sanction the girl's methods of 'bringing her into the fold'. It left her gaping in silence for several seconds as her brain tried to find other, less complicit words.
"It...it was...a method," she ended up saying. A method, yes. She wouldn't comment on its efficacy in case Skylar should feel the need to redeem herself with further action. "But I don't think...I don't think everything is d–doom and gloom." Nor did she have the first clue where the girl could've gotten that idea.
While Poppy was still reconciling with the idea that Skylar thought she was only a little impulsive, she asked her to try. Try what? The charm?
She shook her head at once, barely giving it a moment's thought. "I couldn't – I wouldn't – it's...that's...I..." And there her words went, off to find themselves anywhere but there struggling with her.
Encyclopaedia ✿ Metamorphmagus ✿ If the sun shines, that's reason enough.
C'mon, It'll Be Fun!
꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱ ☾☼☽ +:｡.｡ ༺❀༻ ｡.｡:+☾☼☽ ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱
Mentions: @ Persephone Grimsbane WC: 364 xxx Hex code: #0050b4 OOC note: Skylar is gaining social awareness and character development, finally ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱ ☾☼☽ +:｡.｡ ༺❀༻ ｡.｡:+☾☼☽ ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Skylar raises her eyebrows again at Persephone's actions. Okay, so maybe the bubbles were a bit much. Not only that, there was no progress at all. Persephone is still stuttering and hesitant to even take out her wand. Skylar wracks her brain to find just what, exactly, is making her fellow Gryffindor so unwilling?
Skylar squints at Persephone, confusion swirling in her head. She clearly did not like the bubbles, so why did she not speak out? She is also extremely uncomfortable with magic, but why? Skylar then makes a decision. She needs to stop assuming and reaching to conclusions. She made all these assumptions about Persephone and decided some little training session would help, when it really does not. To find the cause of the problem, she needs to ask the source.
Crossing her arms, Skylar sighs. She stares at Persephone and finally asks the long awaited question that was there since the beginning.
"What are you so afraid of, Persephone? You clearly did not like the bubbles, so why do you not tell me? You are so timid and uncertain around magic, but why? I cannot help you if you do not tell me the cause. Yes, it may be out of my control and none of my business, but you are a Gryffindor, Persephone. And lions stay in a pack. I want to help you."
Skylar takes a deep breath before she continues. Her previous playful joy is gone as seriousness replaces it. This is clearly a grave matter for Persephone, and Skylar made a mistake by treating it like it can be easily fixed.
"Look, I'm sorry. This is clearly affecting you very much, and it is my fault for treating it like it is something simple. But you need to tell me when you are uncomfortable, too. I am socially oblivious, Persephone. I am not the most observant when it comes to human emotions, so I need that reminder. I won't yell at you, I won't bully you. I need to know your boundaries to make this a pleasant experience for both of us. I should have asked you earlier, and I'm sorry. Let me help you, Persephone, please."
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
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C'mon, It'll Be Fun!
Skylar squinted, and Poppy took a step back. The young girl could see the cogs turning behind her housemate's eyes, and so far, it never ended well for her. No. Merlin, no. Every time Skylar had an idea, things escalated to new heights. Frankly, she didn't know how much more of it her nervous system could take before her hair started going white from the roots, but she was also rather disinterested in finding out.
Do you ever feel like a misfit?
✪ Everything inside you is dark and twisted ✪
Word Count: 732
There was a shield charm. Poppy had heard about it and was told it was one she'd learn eventually. Until then, there was nothing she could do if the girl tried attacking her again – because that was what happened – and that alone filled her with the sort of apprehension that made her legs hum with nervous energy. Nevermind that it had been bubbles or that Poppy had enjoyed learning that particular spell. Thrown at her out of the blue, it may as well have been the killing curse.
She took another step back when Skylar sighed, now nearly convinced she needed to be anywhere else before more words could find their way from the girl's lips.
Words, coming from her, were just as unnerving as her impulsive actions. Skylar was uniquely odd in the things she said. It felt almost as if she were taking deep jabs at Poppy's insides, and the discomfort that brought left her recoiling in advance.
Sure enough, Skylar went off again, trying to pry the walls away to uncover the girl within. It was a deep intimacy that rattled Poppy. Her housemate wasn't joking when she later confessed to being socially oblivious. Nothing else could explain the depth of her directness. Her questions, while assumed to be well-intentioned, were the sort that made her insides squirm. What was she afraid of? Many things. Bubbles weren't among them. Why hadn't she said anything? She'd never been given a chance. Skylar bounced from point to point, trying to hit a bullseye on a target that hadn't been exposed to her to begin with.
Poppy didn't know that she needed help. There were many things she was working through, many that still plagued her in the quiet moments, but they'd never seemed something that required...sharing. They were hers and only safe when with her, not a girl who'd decided in one afternoon to turn her into a mandatory rehabilitation project.
"That's not...it's...you don't..."
But she wasn't done. Skylar kept going, on to another diatribe, this one about boundaries and discomfort. Poppy could feel the heat creeping along the back of her neck. To say she was uncomfortable would've been a gross understatement.
The other girl was right about one thing: she needed to say something, if only to prevent the girl from bringing up more of her insecurities and trying to push her way through them. For a girl who shied away from the spotlight as fiercely as Persephone did, nothing could be more horrifying.
"S–Skylar, wait. Stop," she pleaded, raising her hands in the hopes of getting the girl to slow down – stop, if she were lucky.
"I...I never said I needed help." Far be it from her to impose her deepest agonies onto others. It didn't sit right, and she didn't feel nearly so brave. "And I...well...I guess I don't understand why you've convinced yourself that – that I do or...or why you feel so strongly that you should."
Regardless of the reason, the outcome was the same. It made her nearly ill. "D–Don't get me wrong. It's...it's nice of you to...uh..." Was it right to say she cared? Was that what Skylar was doing with her many intrusive questions?
"Anyway, it's just...it's a lot – I'm sure you don't mean it to be, a–and I don't blame you for...for trying, but there's no need, really. I–I'm fine. We don't...we don't need to be coming out here throwing spells at each other. Actually... it's...it's a little dangerous when you think about it. We're...we're not meant to be casting at each other outside o–of classes or duels." She paused to look around, as if now considering all the implications of the past few minutes.
When she returned her gaze to Skylar, it was with a lowered voice.
"We could get in...in trouble." Which seemed like reason enough to put this uncomfortable situation behind them and forget it ever happened.
Poppy was certainly willing on that front.
Encyclopaedia ✿ Metamorphmagus ✿ If the sun shines, that's reason enough.
C'mon, It'll Be Fun!
꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱ ☾☼☽ +:｡.｡ ༺❀༻ ｡.｡:+☾☼☽ ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱
Mentions: @Persephone Grimsbane WC: 649 xxx Hex code: #0050b4 OOC note: Finally a character development arc. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to make Skylar a better person ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱ ☾☼☽ +:｡.｡ ༺❀༻ ｡.｡:+☾☼☽ ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Skylar tilts her head as she listens to Persephone. When the girl finishes, Skylar finally smiles. It probably seemed weird, if it were anyone else. Persephone quite literally told Skylar in the most polite way that her decisions sucked, yet Skylar had a smile on her face. Not the 'I have a great idea!' type of smile, because Skylar thinks she had enough of those for the day. But her smile was a smaller one. One that shows understanding and acceptance. Relief. And maybe even a little proud.
Skylar is not mad at Persephone at all. In fact, she is overjoyed that the girl stood up for herself. She is also relieved, in a way. Persephone's words helped Skylar understand that sometimes it is okay for things to run their course. She should not force things to go her way, even if it is for the 'benefit' of others. Because not everyone would view it as such. And though she was aware she had crossed the line, Skylar tried to make it up by bombarding Persephone with questions that were, if anything, worse. Persephone needed space and for her to listen, not her meddlesome plans to 'help.' She was no savior, and this was not her burden. For Merlin's sake, she just met Persephone today. They have not even reached the level of closeness required for her to attempt such a thing.
She sees her mistake now, loud and clear. Skylar had been trying to force a flower to bloom when the time was not right. She was like Apollo pursuing Daphne, unwilling to take a no. Sometimes, she just has to learn to... stop. And accepting things the way they are. Her stubbornness and officious actions only made Persephone feel worse, evident from the amount of times the metamorphmagus's hair turned white.
Nodding at Persephone, Skylar agrees. "You are right. This is not safe and most likely going to make things worse."
"And um, Persephone? I am sorry. I should not have forced you into any of this. And if anything, I want to say thank you. You made me realize that I am being a little... no, scratch that, very intrusive. And I apologize for the discomfort I caused you. I just..." Skylar was at a loss for words. How can she describe this feeling of realization and relief? That she knows she can fix what she is doing wrong, that she can become a better person, that she learned something?
"... I do not know how to describe it, exactly, but it is in a way... refreshing. It feels like my mind has been opened and I just realized so many things at once. It was a revelation for me, at least. And it is nice, in a way, that now I know I can become a better person by fixing my mistakes." She explains. Skylar is unsure whether she got her point across, but it is more of a feeling. It is not something that she can really put into words.
"You can ignore that confusing explanation if you want, but the main thing is that I am sorry, and thank you. And if it is alright with you... I would like to try to be friends with you. Properly this time. Not jumping the gun straight into a trauma bonding session. Just simple things."
Taking a breath, Skylar holds out her hand gently. She lets it float there, not intruding to overly demanding. But an offer. "Let us start with an introduction, shall we? I'm Skylar. Skylar Blue. I am a first-year Gryffindor, and there are clearly still a lot of things I need to learn. However, I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me later? In the Great Hall and all, at the Gryffindor table." She proposes, giving Persephone a gentle smile. Maybe, just maybe, they can start again.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
sta • 5 | eva • 6 | str • 4 wis • 7 | arc • 7 | acc • 6 |
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Prodigal Flying Learner| Y2 | Y3 Y4 | Y5 | Y6 | Y7 |
C'mon, It'll Be Fun!
Another smile.
Do you ever feel like a misfit?
✪ Everything inside you is dark and twisted ✪
Word Count: 697
Poppy felt her muscles tensing before she realised it was a different kind of smile. It wasn't like the others from earlier, the ones that warranted her anxiety and warned her things would only get worse. This one appeared to be more subdued by comparison and thus far less likely to land her in another heart-pounding situation she would barely survive. Slowly, the tension flowed out of her, allowing her to better assess the girl's new state.
Maybe this whole debacle could be put behind them after all. Poppy would be happy to never have a repeat of the afternoon if she could help it, and Skylar, for her part, seemed to be realising the same.
Even then, the young girl found herself taken aback when Skylar agreed with her on the matter – verbally. It was more than Poppy had dared hoped for when she forced herself to slow her housemate down. A nod, a pivot, maybe some pushback, but to hear she was right? It was its own relief.
Poppy was set to assure the other Gryffindor there was no need for apologies – after all, had she not told that initial lie about being poor at her spellwork, Skylar would never have gotten the idea to 'help' – but all too soon the pattern continued, and the girl was off on another rambling tangent. She could fill a whole conversation on her own, performing both sides. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, Poppy thought, but it did make it difficult for the already socially inept girl to get a word in edgewise.
She could only imagine how chaotic the girl's inner world must be.
"I...Well...I'm glad i—it made you feel better, then." Even if she didn't really understand how. Maybe it wasn't for her to understand. Skylar had talked herself right in and then out of an entire developmental arc in the span of time it had taken Poppy to pluck up the courage to make it stop. "I'm sure – no – I know you probably meant well and th—that you were only trying to help. How...how could I be mad about that?" It took a lot to get Persephone to a place where she could claim genuine anger, with several stages and failsafes planted well before it.
What Skylar had done, while terrifying and unsettling, didn't constitute the sort of disruption that would provoke such strong emotion in her.
"And...and I think I'd like that – us being friends, if...if you really won't be trying any of..." she waved her hands vaguely, "this again."
After nearly a year at Hogwarts, Poppy hadn't done much of a fine job making friends. There were a few she was friendly with and several she'd had conversations with intermittently. By now, there were even some she had her meals with on a semi-consistent basis. But friends of her own? She couldn't say she'd made very many of those yet. Less than a handful if she were being honest. Skylar fit the bill of a typical Gryffindor, opposite her in nearly every way. It left room for the friction and misunderstandings of that day, and displayed the sort of behaviour that typically had Poppy avoiding someone, but the girl said she was willing to be different, and that had to count for something, yeah?
The faintest smile crept its way onto her face at the offer of the hand. It grew wider at the almost theatrical but endearing gesture of starting over. In hindsight, Poppy realised it was needed. While they shared classes and a common room, that afternoon was their first real interaction, and it had...rattled her in many ways. Starting over replaced the first impression, which was pretty...nice.
"Poppy," she offered in response to Skylar's introduction. "A—Also a first year." It felt a little silly stating information they both already knew, but a little levity went a long way in the moment that had been stifling not long before.
Dinner? A deliberate invitation rather than tagging along?
"I...I'd love to," Poppy replied. "I don't...I don't usually have dinner plans...or breakfast or lunch ones – not that you were asking that, either. This ...this is just dinner, which is fine. Dinner."
Encyclopaedia ✿ Metamorphmagus ✿ If the sun shines, that's reason enough.