2 May 2022, 12:53
Hey, It's Been Awhile
5.2.22
It was a Monday evening and a new week's worth of classes had been set forth - new assignments, new examinations scheduled. For many, it was the worst day of the week, one where they had to adjust all over again after a weekend of freedom from the academic struggle but for Simon it was a new start.
New starts were always a positive. They were a new chance and there was something else that needed to be given a new chance and that was his friendship with Della Barfield. The two used to investigate things like Herman in the Great Lake together and ever since the Valentine's Day Tea Party on February 14th, they've been placed into a category that would be more fitted as strangers than friends. That didn't feel right.
Besides, while it wasn't his best day by any means, the part where Della was so upset at him was all from a misunderstanding. He hoped he could clear that up with her. Still, that night was full of many wrongdoings on his behalf and that's what had stalled up in coming to her before this. He was ashamed of himself and how that entire evening went.
Simon glanced over his shoulder from the Hufflepuff Table to the Gryffindor one. He didn't want to interrupt any conversations she might have been having with her fellow housemates nor did he want to make her upset but he couldn't let this be drawn out any longer. Simon stood up and made his way over to her table. "Del...can we talk?" he glanced over toward the outer perimeter wall of the large room, indicated that maybe she could follow him over there for a bit of privacy.
Be kind to one another. (*iNPC is Miles Thatcher)
22 Jul 2022, 06:19
Hey, It's Been Awhile
On Mondays, Della liked to enjoy her dinner with a cozy mystery book. Now that school was coming close to an end, she had finally got the hang of her schoolwork, racing practice, and navigating interactions with her fellow peers. A few months ago, she started sending a list of titles to her mom every few weeks, and a couple of days later, an owl would arrive with a stack of London library books. She imagined the Muggle tomes never expected to travel so far in such an unexpected manner. So here she was enjoying a particularly tense chapter where the protagonist needed to get a key so that she could save her neighbor from the monster that was—@Simon Kincaid
"Del...can we talk?" A familiar voice cut through the scene. It was Simon. She could feel him standing behind her. Her body was probably obscuring the book from his view. Her face turned beet red. She hoped that was obscured from his view as well. It had been some time since the incident.
Della thought she had already passed through all the stages of grief over their friendship, but him actually speaking to her made her realize that was wrong. Shame and anger came flooding in. Shame eventually won. His last words at the table that night had been, "I didn't write anyone a letter." They were seared into her brain because Della feared that they were true words, and she had made a terrible mistake tearing into Simon that night.
One part of her thought she should turn him down. Maybe he was in the wrong; maybe she was. But it might all be too complicated to work out. Della had never experienced a fight with a friend, and she didn't know the protocol for this type of thing. In this moment, she desperately wished she had wrote her cousin about the situation to get her advice. Marnie was always better with people.
But another part of her was curious. What did he want to say? After weeks of silence? It couldn't be to gloat or berate her, right? There was a tiny glimmer of hope—maybe they could get their friendship back.
So Della turned to the Hufflepuff boy, managed a half smile, and said, "Okay." She quickly grabbed her belongings and followed him to the edge of the room.
sta 8 - eva 16 - str 5 - wis 11 - arc 5 - accuracy 13 |||| Parselmouth - Evasive Maneuvers - Beast Master
also Ruckus Weems | Quentin Gagné
29 Aug 2022, 12:43
Hey, It's Been Awhile
Apologies with @Della Barfield
During their study sessions, he had the realization that Della Barfield could make a good Ravenclaw if not placed in the Gryffindor houe and here he had found her in a book. That didn't surprise him much and he hated to interrupt her reading because it was as rude as intruding on a conversation - but time was ticking. Soon, school would be ending and he didn't know if Della was attending Summer Camp that year or not but he knew he wasn't so chances of them crossing paths in the months during Summer break were very slim, either way.
She didn't seem to be annoyed by it though and closed her book and Simon wasn't quite certain but maybe perhaps presented him with a small smile. That was a good sign, right? He gave back as she gathered up her things and they headed to the edge of the Great Hall, a few heads turning as they had. Obviously, despite it having been months prior, others still remembered the Valentine's Day Tea Party hosted by the staff quite well. Who could forget that night?
And it was regarding that night that brought him there before her. Simon glanced around, wondering if they should take this out to the corridor but they were far enough away from any prying ears. "Okay, so I've thought about this a countless number of times and have gone through it over and over in my head but right now the words don't seem to be there....." he began a little hesitantly.
But the floor was his. He was the one who had requested they talk. He was the one who needed to find the words. "It's about the Tea Party on Valentine's Day...... there was, a whole lot, of confusion. I hoped maybe I could explain and maybe we could try and make mends. I know it's a lot to ask, that embarrassment and anger happened that night but it stems from misunderstanding, I promise."
Hopefully she would continue to hear him out and not walk away. "I did the cupcakes on that errand. I did the ones with the white frosting and the fruit on top and decorated them in a way my Aunt Maggie sometimes does ones at her bakery. I've helped with those so I knew how to make them perfection. I didn't write a Valentine. Not a single one. Not to Haley, not to AngelFyre, not to you, not to anyone. My feelings during that time were stretched but not as stretched as it came to be there. I don't know who wrote those letters. I don't know who delivered them. I don't know why. What I assure you is that I had nothing to do with it in the least."
"I wouldn't hurt you like that, Della. I wouldn't jeopardize our friendship and I never make light of matters of the heart. It's bad enough on that Valentine's Day I was torn as much as I was between the two I sat between and that alone was complicated enough. I'm not out to try and get the whole school's affections."
"You were right that night in the fact that I should have been ashamed of myself, with sitting next to Haley and knowing that AngelFyre held affections towards me - and having some towards her in return. It wasn't to play the both of them but rather I didn't know how to handle that situation. I didn't want to hurt Haley before Valentine's Day and I was trying to be a good person....as good as one can be when in such a predicament."
He sighed and glanced down, bringing his hand through his hair as he did so as a habit of his when nervous. "Anyway, I didn't mean to hurt Haley that night or AngelFyre or you or anyone." He looked back up to her and found her eyes so he could make direct contact. "I'm sorry and I hope it doesn't cost us our friendship. I don't want that. I'd like to continue our study sessions into next year and beyond." And they both already knew their study sessions would be more about spending time with a friend than the actual studying and learning.
Be kind to one another. (*iNPC is Miles Thatcher)
9 Oct 2022, 09:57
Hey, It's Been Awhile
English | Parseltongue
Listening to @Simon Kincaid
mentioning: @Hui Ming
Simon led her to an isolated corner of the great hall. At first, he didn't know how to begin, and it made for an awkward huddle. Of course, Della's face grew warm. But she waited patiently, hoping he could find what he wanted to say.
When Simon started his story, it seemed he had prepared this speech, or at least had practiced it a few times. Della analyzed his expressions for any signs of lying, conniving, or trickery. Practicing one's apology didn't mean it didn't come from the heart, but the version of Simon she saw when she opened her valentine was an unknown person to her, and she still was struggling to blend him back into the boy that she often laughed with at the lake.
Yet, Simon did seem sincere. He described the cupcakes he made in great detail—which Della had to admit sounded like the types of Valentine's cupcakes the Hufflepuff would endeavor to create. He explained that he didn't write any letters to anyone. And he had no idea how anyone received one from him. That was a harder pill to swallow. If not him, then who? Who had made their night such a living hell? Was it a mistake? Foul play? The simpler answer would be that Simon did write the letters, but as he continued his apology, Della found the simpler answer harder and harder to believe.
He ended by admitting that Della had been somewhat right at the tea party. It wasn't right to foster feelings between two people and not be honest with them.
After he finished, Della knew it was her turn to speak. If Simon's story was true, then how had he wronged her? He hadn't really. It had been months since the event in question, and Della's temper had cooled in that time. Simon's story also gave her a parallel to explain another's behavior. She had written a rash Valentine to Hui Ming—sure, it was anonymous, but at the same time, she expected it to be obvious—and he hadn't said a thing about it to her. If Simon's letters were corrupted, did something happen to hers, too? It was an interesting mystery to say the list, and she made up her mind that one day, she would need to bring it up to Ming—however awkward that conversation would be.
But now, her focus was on her friendship with Simon, the Hufflepuff standing before her, awaiting her answer. Looking back at him, she resolved to give their friendship a second chance. She took a deep breath and let the words come out in a rush, hoping that she wouldn't lose her nerve to say them halfway through.
"Okay, I believe you. I think there was something fishy going on with the Valentine's that night. And I don't think it was your fault. However, have you worked things out with Haley and AngelFyre? I don't want to pry, and I'm not looking for any dramatic details, but I think it's important to me to be friends with someone whose honest in his other relationships, romantic or not."
sta 8 - eva 16 - str 5 - wis 11 - arc 5 - accuracy 13 |||| Parselmouth - Evasive Maneuvers - Beast Master
also Ruckus Weems | Quentin Gagné
18 Dec 2022, 15:09
Hey, It's Been Awhile
Apologies to @Della Barfield
"I tried. I tried to continue to be Haley's friend. I'd try to talk to her or wave at her in the corridors but she snapped at me and said to stay away from her and she didn't want to talk to me, or see me, or even think of me," and his voice fell a little at the end. That hurt. He understood....but it hurt very much. Maybe he had done things wrong and could have played them out better but Haley truly was one of the most important people in his life who was now - well - no longer in his life. "I even shamefully went so far as gave her detention for physically assaulting a fellow student," and he lifted his hand to point to his own chest, indicating he meant him with the whole breaking his nose thing by punching him in the face the night he broke up with her. "I thought maybe in spending a day together in Hogsmeade we could get at least some friendship back. Some sort of something to hold onto but no. It's not there for her anymore and she truly does want nothing to do with me." Maybe he never meant that much to her in the first place. Simon had wondered.
"So I guess by giving her the distance and the peace and the avoidance that I'm doing what she wants and I suppose that's progress in her eyes. I never really got a chance to even explain myself fully but I did try to let her know that it just sort of crept in, that I didn't mean for it to be the way it was. I guess there was just this void in our relationship that was growing bigger and bigger and bigger and in all the parts we were lacking, AngelFyre was there. It happened so fluidly that I didn't even take notice. I never meant to do that to either of them."
"And I'm sorry if I got upset with you for pointing any of it out. I shouldn't have. I didn't see any form of reason that night with things so amiss. I'd really hate our friendship to dissolve over that one tea party. Will you take me back? I don't want to lose any more that are important to me... but I'd understand. I could grant you distance too, if you wish." But it wouldn't be what he wished.
Be kind to one another. (*iNPC is Miles Thatcher)