Sparkles, Splashes, and Stones [PV Rosie Parker] - Great Lake

26 Nov 2018, 07:01

Private to @Rosie Parker

A girl with brown hair in two plaits, pretty blue eyes, and skin on the pale side was alone by the Great Lake. Her name was Ruby, and she stood there – straight-backed, like always. She gave off an air of sharp intelligence, quiet confidence, and something strong, like ambition, passion, power, or all three. She was mildly aware of this aura she had – what she radiated – but it was natural for her, and she made no attempts to cease it. There was nothing about it that she wouldn't mind others knowing, anyway, so therefore, there was no reason to make an effort to change something that had followed her for years.

Ruby was currently staring at the surface of the water as if she could see into its depths. Tell me your secrets, the girl would have thought, had she not been in Slytherin. But she was, and her common room had glass looking into the lake, so she saw glimpses of much of what went on in there. However, there was still lots to learn about it, and she would make sure that she found out all about it at some point, whether in the near future or at the end of her seven years here.

She was barefoot, and her shoes and socks lay nearby, beside a rock that was bigger than the pebbles that littered the edge of the lake. It was after classes had ended for the day, and the afternoon was quite pretty. The sun shone brightly, warming all the students who were outside, and making sparkles seem to appear on the lake's surface. The surface of the water was glimmering and gleaming, shining and sparkling, all because of the sun. It was quite a beautiful effect. Ruby gazed out at the lake as a whole, appreciating how breathtakingly beautiful it could seem, and how lucky they were to have it at the school.

Ruby picked up a flat stone, one that was perfect for skimming, and lifted it up, tossing it idly from hand to hand. She waded a little way into the lake, letting the water seem to absorb her feet and swirl around the bottom of her legs. It was a feeling that Ruby found to be surprisingly comforting, and it brought her some peace as she tossed the stone. One… two… three… four… Four. That was pretty good for her first skim of the day. Ruby smiled each time the stone hit the water, with it making little splashes before it finally made a thunk sound as it plunged into the water, making a bigger splash than any of the other times. Ruby shifted her foot around a bit and watched the water swirl as it adjusted to the movement. Experimentally, she brought her foot up and gently placed it back in the water, still with enough force to make a little splash.

Ruby slipped her hands into her pockets and looked back out at the lake. The whole situation was rather peaceful, but Ruby decided that she wouldn't mind talking to someone and maybe making a new friend. She glanced around, searching for potential friend material in these students.

Last edited by Tatiana Crane on 14 Aug 2019, 20:50, edited 1 time in total.

Rosie Parker

Second-String Quidditch Player, I

546 240

27 Nov 2018, 17:39

A potential friend was by chance, already nearby.

Young Rosie Parker was strolling down the grass, this time, in her shoes. She moved her hair out of her eyes and behind her ears, letting out a quiet sigh. She was tired. For no reason, really. Not much had happened that day, she was just tired. It had been a long day. Maybe it was because she was dreading and procrastinating the massive amount of homework she still had to do when she eventually brought herself back to the Hufflepuff commons. She rubbed the barely noticeable bags from under her eyes and stretched her arms over her head.

The Great Lake was Rosie's third favorite place. It was behind her 2nd favorite, the Hufflepuff commons, and the Ballroom. All of these places, however, had one thing in common: it gave Rosie a chance to think. About her day, her life, her friends, herself, her cat. She wondered how Mr. Fluffers was. Good cat. As much as Rosie despised silence, sometimes, she forced herself to enjoy it. There was no other way she'd think about something deeply otherwise. She stuck her hands into her robe pockets, watching a cloud of her breath fade into the sky as she exhaled. It was getting colder.

Her silence was interrupted, however, when she heard a splash in the distance. Rosie turned her head to the noise, and found a girl skipping stones. It was a skill she had never learned, skipping stones. Her step-father tried his best to teach her. But 1) Rosie had small hands that seemed to be prone to dropping things easily, and 2) she was already clumsy as it was, and could barely get the rock to skip once. But nonetheless, she found it cool that people could do it, she hoped one day she'd learn. After all, she couldn't have small hands forever, right?

She approached the girl and stood near her, taking a moment to study her body language. It was a habit she had grown into, after learning not everyone was nice. But she seemed harmless enough, so she perked up. "Hello!" Rosie waved, hoping she got her attention. "You're really good at that, you know, skipping rocks and all that..." She trailed off awkwardly, and managed a grimace at herself before turning to the girl again, sticking out with her hand. Rosie was able to change back to a genuine smile, after all, she adored meeting people. "Sorry, my name's Rosie. It's nice to meet you."

STAMINA 13 // EVASION 13 // STRENGTH 6 // WISDOM 6 // ARCANE POWER 9 // ACCURACY 8

Ruby Cazares

Explorer, II

1 578 427

9 Dec 2018, 06:04

Ruby had already turned around slightly when she heard someone approaching. She studied the girl carefully and her brain instantly provided her with a list of analyses, most of which she chose to ignore for the moment but remember for later.

One of the most important things was that the girl was a Hufflepuff. Ruby's eyes had immediately darted to the crest on the girl's robes when she saw her. When the girl spoke, Ruby smiled, instantly deciding to appear as nice. It wasn't that Ruby wasn't nice, but many people couldn't deal with her personality straight away, and she understood the importance of first impressions when attempting to make new friends. Besides, what even was Ruby's personality? She didn't know for sure and neither did anyone else, as it had so many different parts to it and she could be so different depending on the situation. Nevertheless, Ruby was confident because of the pieces she did understand about herself, and that was one of the first things that others noticed.

“Hi there,” was the beginning of Ruby's response as she skimmed another stone, “and thanks, three of my cousins showed me how to do it a couple of years ago. I'm going to assume that you don't know how, because of the way you said that, but please do correct me if I'm wrong,” Ruby said, idly watching the stone hop across the water and then turning back to look at Rosie. She shook the Hufflepuff's hand with a smile when it was offered to her. “I'm Ruby. Nice to meet you too, Rosie.”

Rosie Parker

Second-String Quidditch Player, I

546 240

16 Jan 2019, 13:16

[quote]She seemed nice enough, at least.

It was always a coin flip when it came to Rosie approaching new people; it ended in two ways. One, the person was luckily very kind, and it ended in friendship. Or, it went the complete other way and she got a look.At that point, Rosie just left the conversation as soon as she found the opportunity, to save the awkwardness.

Thankfully, when Rosie approached the mystery girl, she smiled. Which was always a good sign. She got a glimpse of the girl's robes. Green. Slytherin. This would be exciting. Most Slytherins tended to avoid the Hufflepuffs, for whatever reason. Except for Elijah, he was sweet, it was a very nice change from usual. Rosie brushed the thoughts away as soon as they came, no good would come to her thinking about Elijah during another conversation. She could find and talk to him later if she absolutely wanted to.

For now, she was focusing on this girl. Who was she, exactly? Judging from how Rosie didn't recognize her whatsoever, she guessed she was a first year. Rosie could recognize most of the people in her year as familiar faces, at the very least. First year, Slytherin. That was all she could guess so far. She was almost proud of herself. Look at you, Rosie! Being analytical and all that. You're basically a genius. Ravenclaw wish they had you. Of course, Rosie would miss her house too much. She fit Hufflepuff through and through. But that was besides the point.

The girl had accepted her hand, and with that, Rosie beamed. She shook her hand with a slight tighter grip, but it wasn't very tight, since Rosie wasn't very strong, or had big hands. But it was a good handshake, promise. After the handshake, she finally offered her input on what she said, brushing some curly hair over her shoulder. "No, you're completely right." Rosie let out a genuine laugh, happiness shining through and through. "I have no idea how to skip rocks, I didn't really live near a big water place my dad wanted to go to." Rosie picked up a random stone. "I watched someone in my year do it last year, though... I just never picked up on it."

She attempted to skip the rock, but it went straight in the water. Rosie pursed her lips and sighed. "... Yeah, I don't know how." She picked up another random rock, and she looked to Ruby. "Well, Ruby, you think you could teach me?"

STAMINA 13 // EVASION 13 // STRENGTH 6 // WISDOM 6 // ARCANE POWER 9 // ACCURACY 8

Ruby Cazares

Explorer, II

1 578 427

15 Mar 2019, 19:49

It was interesting that Rosie had approached her, rather than the other way around. Normally, Ruby searched for the person that she took a liking to most in the area she was in and went to talk to them. However, it seemed that this time, the person had chosen her. That in itself intrigued her. It showed that the Hufflepuff was at least willing to talk to her, maybe even make friends. Or, perhaps, it was just the standard Hufflepuff kindness and Ruby wasn't particularly special – maybe she was just the nearest person. Whatever it was, Ruby was grateful for the opportunity. She still didn't have many good friends, and a Hufflepuff might make a nice one.

As their interaction continued, even if they weren't very far into it, Ruby found herself liking Rosie more and more. In this harsh world in the modern day, genuinely friendly and kind people were hard to find, but Ruby seemed to have got lucky and come across one of them. Another thing that made her happier was that Rosie had looked at her robes, seen that she was a Slytherin, and just continued, without so much as a sign of discomfort, and seemed to be unaffected by it. Many people still had the old biases against Slytherins, and unfavorable stereotypes for the house of snakes were certainly still a big thing. People from other houses often tried to stay away from Slytherins, and some started fights or were afraid of them purely because of their house and the colors they wore. It was unfair, really, wasn't it?

It was like a breath of fresh air to have the girl just accept her for who she was and not immediately hate her because some people in the past that happened to have been in the house had turned bad. Ruby's smile now was completely genuine, and she had to admit that she did want to be friends with the girl that had approached her and been so nice immediately.

When Rosie laughed and spoke, it sounded like beautiful little bells ringing. The girl seemed to be so happy and genuine, and that was a bit infectious, making Ruby's smile wider. “I can definitely try to teach you – challenge accepted!” All business now, Ruby watched the way Rosie had tried to skip the rock and the type of rock she had used. It almost made her flinch, but how was Rosie supposed to know the correct way to do this? Ruby had agreed to teach the Hufflepuff, so she'd be patient and do just that.

“Alright, first of all, you'll be needing a flat, mostly round rock, not any random one,” she said, her tone light and kind. She paused for a moment to briefly scan some of the stones available to them and selected one that looked about as perfect as it got for starting to skip rocks. She picked it up and held it out to Rosie. “Try this one. Take a minute to examine how it looks as well, so you can find ones similar to it later.”

Ruby allowed enough time for Rosie to take the rock and give it a first look, then she started speaking again. “I don't expect you to get it immediately, so you'll probably have to try multiple times. For the actual action, you're going to want to flick your wrist in a certain way and release it at just the right time.” Ruby demonstrated the motion, curling her wrist towards her slightly and then flicking it out. “This takes a bit of practice to perfect. Make sure to keep your wrist fairly light, loose, and unrestricting, yet still moving precisely – the way you might do when you're using your wand to cast a charm. Now that all of that's been covered, I think you're prepared enough to give it a go.” She smiled, then waved her hand to signify that Rosie should go ahead. “Whenever you're ready…”

Back Reply

Sparkles, Splashes, and Stones PV Rosie Parker