New Friends From a Regrettable Decision Finished

[quote][font=times new roman]She eyed the others warily. They didn't seem to fully believe in what she'd said, which was bit irritating, but she kept her annoyance to herself. They couldn't know that she'd fully looked into the Giant Squid of the Black Lake. They seemed less interested in facts and more interested in actually seeing a tangible squid. Vince couldn't disagree, meeting this thing would be really amazing, but learning about them faired her better. In case of an emergency, did they know what to do?

Dan confirmed that he liked his House, despite all the negative things spread around about Slytherin. She respected that he at least had pride towards his House, though he seemed to be exaggerating a little on how 'great' it was. Vince felt her own swell of pride for Ravenclaw; she could share several reasons why her House was better, opinions and facts, but instead she kept quiet.

Mari mentioned that one of the old professors of the school, specifically the one dealing with magical creatures, had unleashed the squid into the lake. A frown rested on her face. She hadn't heard that anywhere at all, though it could be possible. The only people who could know were the people who were there to witness it. Besides the fact that there was no evidence, any pet owner knew that keeping pets in bowls was extremely unhealthy, especially squid. They needed room to exercise their limbs, and to overall explore. But again, the squid was not ordinary at all, for she'd heard that bread had been fed to squid by Harry Potter, which squid aren't capable of digesting. Vince wondered if it really was a squid after all.

She was about to add that she doubted that it was even alive anymore when River asked her about how she liked Ravenclaw. Wide eyed, Vince stared at her for a moment and looked away, face turning red. She stayed like that, walking in silence.

Sharing feelings is what she did with her best friend, and sometimes her father, but never anyone else. River was kind and helpful, but Vince didn't consider her a friend. That was a big step, and they'd only met about an hour ago.

Nevertheless, Vince had some strange urge to answer. “ It's okay. It...it's a House. ” She swallowed hard, avoiding the River's eyes. She didn't like the way people looked at her, especially when she didn't really want to talk.

Luckily she found something, or someone, to be distracted by; Dan was removing some of his clothing. She remembered hearing something about a dare, and looked to Mari. Hufflepuffs sometimes were more daring than Gryffindors at times. Vince watched, still wide-eyed, as the dare proceeded. In the pocket of her cloak she grasped her wand, waiting to see what happened.

When Palmer next spoke, Mari wondered briefly if he could read her thoughts. No one had asked him to elaborate further on his feelings on Slytherin; yet, he had still felt motivated to. Luckily, that darned accent still caused her to have to concentrate quite intensely, so she was certain no one would see her eyes narrow as suspicion crossed her face. He must be an evil, mind-reading genius, she deducted, ignoring everything he said after the "initiation" comment to focus solely on her own thoughts. He seemed nice, but she didn't trust him. After all, Mum always warned her: Slytherins were no good.

Ironic that worked. A boy, trying to show that Slytherin was full of quite nice people, managed to lead Mari back to her conclusion that Slytherins were rubbish. And that initiation comment didn't help. Continuing her suspicious look, she focused intensely on Dan, "Did you say initiation? Doesn't seem like something I'd want to partake in. What happened?"

Red seemed quite silent, ignoring Mari and Palmer's conversation to simply pose a question to Vince. She was certainly becoming just as mute as Vince was. Perhaps Ravenclaws were full of the quiet people, too bookish to understand how to open their mouths. Mari didn't think this was necessarily a bad thing, as she had very little prejudices regarding Ravenclaws, but felt it was an intriguing thought. She made a mental note in her head: Hypotheses - Houses: Slytherins are snakes, Ravenclaws are nearly mute. Gryffindors to be decided. Hufflepuffs...

She didn't know what to make of her house, quite honestly. Mari had heard various rumors of what it meant to be a Hufflepuff, and each of them seemed as vague and ill-defined as the next. In actuality, when one described Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, and Slytherins, they seemed quite obvious personality traits. Hufflepuffs, however? Loyalty didn't feel like a personality trait; loyalty just felt like something one could give to another person. Hufflepuffs all seemed quite nice, for the most part, but that was boring. The other word she had heard quite often was "finder" - Mari couldn't even begin to fathom what in the world that meant in terms of personality. Mari supposed if she could decipher herself better then maybe she could gather what it meant to be a Hufflepuff, but all she knew of herself was that she was a blumbering, awkward fool who occasionally helped out other people in need. Gee whiz. That'll get you far in life.

She sighed. Seven years, nearly six left. Mari was bound to figure it out at some point.

Turning to see Vince's response, Mari was shocked to see that all she had to comment was that "it is a house." Check two for her hypothesis that Ravenclaws were quite silent. Well, actually, Vince had mainly been the whole reason she had come up with the hypothesis in the first place; Red had just played along. Feeling kind of sorry for the girl, Mari interjected to ask, "And what do you think, R-" she froze. You still don't know her name! Mari scolded herself, but instead of trying to make a save, she merely just reddened and closed her mouth.

It was at that moment that she caught the glimpse of Dan removing his clothes. Mari giggled - he had actually taken the bait! - but she knew she couldn't let it continue. "Palmer," she hissed. "Stop it, you'll get yourself killed! Besides, we're not supposed to be swimming in the lake anyway. Against school rules, you know." She still didn't fully trust him after his weird continuation of continuing to hype Slytherin but had no desire to get him in trouble. Well. At least, she had no desire to let him get in trouble without realizing that he could get in trouble...

She tossed him a chocolate frog. I had full intents of sending you one, but apparently you can't do so until after first year, so I guess...IOU? Then, with a mysterious smile on her face, she added, "But I'll bet you another one if you still do it."

If he really was a distrustful snake, he'd try to convince her to do it too. Either way, she still wasn't going to fully trust him until he really proved himself - that was just her nature. But she couldn't help wanting to see just what he would try to do next.

River didn’t really know what to do with Vince’s answer, it was a house, she wasn’t wrong. Did she not have any other opinions on it, or was she simply not up for sharing them with the others? Oh well, River understood the feeling of not wanting to share too much with strangers, or at least nearly strangers. River wasn’t too good at sharing her feelings of things either, not even with her few friends, she mostly just kept to herself.
Out of the four of them, Mari and Dan were no question, the most talkative. I guess some people are just that way naturally, she thought. In some way, she kind of admired that skill. Of being able to talk to people with ease. No difficulties making a good first impression on others. River had never been too good at conversations, and especially not at making friends.
It seemed like Vince was about to say something more, but something else caught her attention instead. River turned around to see Dan, apparently getting ready to jump in the lake. He didn’t take Maris challenge seriously right? River thought to herself, eyebrows furrowed in direction of Dan.
She was about to say something, but before she had the chance to, Mari did instead.

"Palmer, Stop it, you'll get yourself killed! Besides, we're not supposed to be swimming in the lake anyway. Against school rules, you know."

Thank god this girl at least has some sort of common sense, River thought, and sighed slightly in relief. Swimming wasn’t allowed, that much had been clear from the get go.
And most likely, he wouldn’t have seen the squid, even if he did decide to break the rules and go into the water. Mari did at least give him the chocolate frog he apparently wanted badly enough to go swimming. Hopefully, that will stop him from doing anything stupid, River hoped.
But then, Mari said something that made River simply shake her head in disbelief.

"But I'll bet you another one if you still do it."

She‘s not serious right? It was like she was agging him on to breaking the rules for some stupid chocolate. Or did Mari want to get something else out of it?
River simply looked on in disbelief, he wouldn’t do it, right?
«Come on Dan, you shouldn’t do it», she calmly told Dan, It’s not allowed, and there are rules for a reason.», she sent Mari a look as she firmly said the last part.
River wouldn’t jump in if he still decided to do it. She had done what she could, and if he still decided to get in, none of it was on her. She wasn’t really one to go out of her own skin to rescue or help others. The tree incident was a one time thing.

Easiest Chocolate Frog he'd ever gotten.
Dan caught the frog and started to put his robes back on. Bluff called. Good thing he hadn't gotten to his shirt yet. As an Irish boy, his skin was around the same shade as the full moon, and was afraid of blinding the girls by being fully shirtless in direct sunlight.He isn't ACTUALLY pale as the moon, but he IS pale.
"Did you say initiation? Doesn't seem like something I'd want to partake in. What happened?"
Dan got quiet for a moment, before he decided to elaborate.
"..... Don't tell no one, but.... Alright... I was goin' to my dorm, ya know, like ya do,And a buncha second years grabbed me. They covered my mouth, pulled off my shoes and.... All'uvem used that Rictusempra thing all over me. I dunna how the hell they found out I was ticklish, but they bout drove me barkin'. Kept that shite up for like, 10 minutes, cut it off, an' said 'Welcome to Slytherin!' like it was a surprise party. An' not like 'Welcome to Slytherin' like some kinda evil gang or sumthin, it was like an actual initiation."

"But I'll bet you another one if you still do it."

Of course, this came right after he'd gotten his robes back on. He started to tug them off again, when one of the Ravenclaws spoke up.

Come on Dan, you shouldn’t do it. It’s not allowed, and there are rules for a reason.

Dan sighed. Two chocolate frogs for something as simple as swimming would have been great, but he decided against possibly hurting his House's chances for the House Cup.
Fine fine. No swimmin'.

[quote][font=times new roman]Vince was skeptical about the initiation story. Slytherin's were bullies but they had pride, why would they do that to even to a first year of their own House? Of course she wouldn't voice her suspicions, she liked to avoid conflict—unless it had to do something with someone she truly cared about. If it did turn out to be true—howeber unlikely that was—she wondered if he was really alright and if they did anything else that he wasn't telling them. He could be covering up the real story with something hasty like that.

Mari had egged him into swimming in the lake but now she was telling him not to. Vince looked at the water; before it had seemed calm but now the day was waning and the sky was darkening. There would be a storm tonight.

The lake water seemed to be a little rougher than usual but it was possibly just her. She didn't like swimming, not after she almost drowned trying to race someone a long time ago. She didn't exactly have a fear of swimming, or large bodies of water, she just preferred to avoid both so there'd be less of a chance of her making the same mistake, however unlikely that was.

That's when Vince began to feel the weight of the books she was carrying. It was only two textbooks and journal, but carrying them for so long as they walked was beginning to make her arms ache. She shuffled them around her arms, moving them to the other side so there'd be less pain, she grimaced and whispered, “ I might have to go... ”

Thinking they wouldn't notice anyways, Vince slipped away hopefully unnoticed, since she was in the back of the group—not being social had a lot of benefits.

She didn't really want to be apart of this daring game, although they all seemed to be understandably cautious of the results. Dan refused after River warned him, House points were even something Vince cared about as well. Chocolate frogs were pretty delicious though.

Turning around, Vince glanced at Mari and looked away. “ Perhaps...do you have anymore chocolate frogs...to give... ” A drop of water landed on top of her books.

Although Dan said some words that made quite enough sense, Mari heard the following, still unable to decipher his thick accent: "..... Don't tell no one, but.... Alright... I was goin' to my doom, ya know, like ya do,And a buncha second years grabbed me. They cornered my mouth, pooped in my shoes and.... Them used that Richter-sempra thing all over me. I dunna how the hall they found out I was ticklish, but they bout drove me boinkin'. Kept that shift up for like, then minutes, cut it off, an' said 'Welcome to Slytherin!' like it was a supper rice party. An' not like 'Welcome to Slytherin' like some kinda evil gong or sumthin, it was like an actual invitation."

...What? Mari wondered, clearly thinking concentratedly, as her mouth was slightly agape. They pooped in his shoes? Is the Richter-sempra spell something to do with earthquakes? How did they make the dungeon floors move like that? What's being driving boinkin' like? Why did they only have rice at the party?

She decided to start with the first question. "Palmer..." she asked slowly. "Why did they poop in your shoes?"

Certainly she had misheard. Mari sure hoped so. But with such a thick accent, her best guess was that what she had heard was correct. She sighed. Slytherins, like Mum said, were absolutely, positively weird.

She couldn't dwell on his ridiculous initiation story for much longer, however, as there was quite a bit of drama regarding the whole lake incident. Red seemed to be no fun, clearly, as she scolded Dan and gave Mari a look that reminded her of her parents giving her a lecture. Slightly irritated, the words stumbled out before Mari could stop herself from revealing what she had been internally calling Red this whole time: "Come on, Red, it's his own choice! Maybe he really likes chocolate, 's all I'm saying. He knows the rules, he can choose."

Palmer seemed to have made his decision, however, as much to Mari's consternation, he began putting the robes back on just as quickly has he had pulled them off. Mari sighed. It would have been fun to see someone take a risk. Having very few friends, she hadn't been able to witness much antics since arriving at school. Lucy and her friends seemed to always be somehow convincing others in their Muggle school to partake in dares and challenges. Without Lucy, however, Mari found life to be quite dull.

Then, much to her surprise and elation, weird, quiet Vince perked up. Mari hadn't even noticed that she had walked away; she had somewhat forgotten that Vince was there due to the irritation of Red's fun-killing persona. She eyed Vince up and down, bemused smile returning to her face as she pulled out another two frogs. "Two," she said brightly, answering Vince's question. "I'll toss in another since it seems to be beginning to rain. Don't need to go too far, just far enough that your feet don't touch. I doubt the squid will come out if it's storming."

She eyed the choppy water and, in a moment's hesitation, wondered, "You can swim, right?" She wasn't about to have a death on her hands; that would be foolish. Course, she had already saved one life today, so maybe Red or Dan would be able to step up if Vince found herself in some trouble. She felt a raindrop hit her head; Vince better be quick with this. She didn't particularly like rain but did want to see someone actually swim in the lake.

River looked at Dan as he spoke. She felt a little bad for him to be honest. The things those slytherins had done, were not kind, and probably not something they did to everyone joining slytherin. I wonder if that’s all, or if he’s simply not telling us about other incidents... She really hoped Dan wouldn’t let them get away with more things, but rather tell someone who could help.
Or maybe River simply misunderstood, and Dan didn’t have any issues with the other slytherins at all?

"Palmer... Why did they poop in your shoes?"

Really?, was that what Mari had believed Dan said? I mean, I don’t blame her for not understanding River thought, as his accent was quite difficult to catch at times, but still...
«Mari, he said Pulled off his shoes, not Pooped...», River explained, hoping to clear that up a little.

After River had told Dan to not get in the lake, Mari had answered with,

"Come on, Red, it's his own choice! Maybe he really likes chocolate, 's all I'm saying. He knows the rules, he can choose."

Well, actually, it didn’t seem much like he knew the rules as he... Wait..? Red? Why on earth would Mari call her red? She thought confused. Maybe River should mention her name wasn’t red... Oh right, my hair... makes sense, she thought, and let it rest after all.

Vince had asked Mari about the chocolate frogs, apparently sha liked them too. River didn’t disagree, chocolate had always been her favourite types of candy.
Mari couldn’t seriously think that Vince would go swimming for those chocolate frogs right? Or would she? River did not think Vince was the type of person who would, but perhaps first impressions were wrong?

It had started raining now, not too much, but still enough to feel them hitting River’s curly hair. Ugh, now all my things are going to get wet, she thought, crossing her arms over her chest.
She looked over at Vince, wondering whether she’d go into the water or not. At this point, River really didn’t want a say in this game, as it shpuldn’t have been neccesarry to repeat what she’d said earlier.

Okay, so he'd exaggerated a little bit. There was actually only 3 of them, and it lasted for 5 minutes. But that didn't matter.
He was indeed tempted to go into the lake. After all, growing up in a port town, he LOVED swimming. But, there actually WAS a rule about swimming in the lake. He had thought that he'd just get in trouble for endangering himself, but if there actually WAS a rule saying no swimming in the lake, it'd take more than chocolate to get him to do it.

But then, on top of everything else, it started raining. He didn't notice Mari's question, as he was focused on what to do. He personally did not mind the rain all that much, having practically grown up playing in it with his friends, but he knew how Ravenclaws were about their books, and wasn't sure how Mari felt about it.

"Hey, what do ya think about us goin' back inside, preferably before it starts REALLY comin' down?"
Without waiting for an answer, Dan started running back toward the school. At least, despite the tree, and despite the sudden rain, he'd managed to snag a chocolate frog, and perhaps just maybe 3 new friends.

River turned to look out over the lake. The previously still blank surface, had started becoming more and more disturbed now, because of the light rain hitting the water. It was creating ripples upon ripples on the great blue lake. River’s hair would always get so frizzy when the air went humid and the droplets hit her red hair, perhaps they should get inside?
She turned to the others, Mari, standing there seemingly still a little confused over Dan’s accent or something. Vince, who didn’t really say much. And Dan, perhaps still a little tempted by the chocolate frogs offered by Mari. As a reward for getting into the great lake. Luckily he hadn’t done it after all. I do wonder what goes on in these people’s minds though..? River had always been quite good at reading others. Strangers were often quite a bit more tricky than those she knew well, or people who were quite like herself.
She had always been seen as the quiet, shy kid in class. The thing is, others don’t realize how much the quiet kids actually pick up on.

River was getting restless now, she wanted to get out of the rain, and before she had time to ask the others if they should go inside, Dan beat her to it.
"Hey, what do ya think about us goin' back inside, preferably before it starts REALLY comin' down?", he said, and imediately begun heading for the grand doors. «I’m totally up for that idea», River said to Mari and Vince, before she too, begun running towards the dry inside of the castle. Carefully though, so she wouldn’t slip and fall, as she’d usually manage to do something like that...

Should perhaps, those who want to continue RPing, start a new thread inside, as a continuation of this one? Or do ya’ll feel like we’re completely done?

Mari flushed as Red recounted her mistake. "I could have sworn he said pooped..." she murmured softly, just loud enough for the group to hear. Whatever confidence she had had from before, from saving Dan from the tree and from her mischievous lake dare, was slowly dissipating into the cloudy sky. Certainly Red meant well, but she did seem to be a bit of a know-it-all. Weirdly, though, her need to correct Mari did not extend to the nickname the Hufflepuff had bestowed upon her. She seemed to accept it without complaints. Red it is, then, Mari concluded.

Vince hadn't seemed to take the bait, and Palmer seemed to be uncomfortable with the growing rain, so when he proposed to go back inside, Mari nodded. Red agreed with him, as well. Her stomach growled audibly. She had forgotten her watch, but perhaps the others knew: "Say, do you think it's time for dinner yet? I..." she paused, looking downward. Normally her meals were spent in solace as she gazed upon others having lively conversations and intense debates. The group seemed nice enough, even if she wasn't too certain about them. Perhaps... She blurted the next sentence before she could think further, "Iwouldn'tmindcompanyifyouwouldliketojoinme."

Red took off, and though Mari did not know whether that was an acceptance of her dinner proposition or not, she followed. The girl was fast, much faster than the small, short-legged girl who trailed behind her. She looked back and beckoned to the other two, hoping that they would also want to join her and possibly Red on this new adventure to tackle the beast that was the food of the Great Hall.

Was this what friends were like? Mari wondered as she focused on the rhythm of her feet hitting the muddening surface. She began drafting a letter to Lucy in her head, thinking of how to describe these new people: Vince, Red, Palmer...Lucy may not think they were "cool," perhaps, but Mari was thrilled. Friends were a first, a true first, and she could only hope that these people would grow with her and accompany her throughout her journey at Hogwarts.