A Strange Invitation PV Avery Chen

Whenever he needed a bit of air, his feet always took him to the courtyard. Something about the place was just so refreshing -- the light breeze in your face, the cool autumn air. After all, it was where he and Flash worked out in the mornings while training for quidditch tryouts -- those were good but also painful times. Ultimately, the adrenaline and endorphin rushes made up for it, as did the knowledge that he was working towards the goal of becoming a more physically fit quidditch player.

He strolled through the courtyard, the bubbling water fountain greeted him, and he stopped. Somehow, seeing the water fountain again like this always reminded him of that horrid, fateful day when Schneider smashed his violin against its ledge. The wood splintering and flying, the strings splayed. He caught his breath and almost turned back. Instead, he vehemently decided that he wasn't going to let this faze him.

Something caught his attention. Was that a girl sitting in a freshly-dug hole in the courtyard? His interest was now piqued, and he strolled over to find Vale Ashwood leave something in the hole before coming out and burying it, muttering something about a Ms. Bickerton who was scum of the earth. Her somber mood was quite different from the heinous laughter that he often pictured her with in his imagination after that day of group study.

"What's up, Vale?" he asked, observing the dirt patch. "What are you burying and why the long face? The courtyard can be a sad, sad place, isn't it?" he asked, thinking of his late violin. He looked to the side of the hole and saw two plastic eyes staring up at him. His dark brown eyes blinked back at them. His fixed Violin 2.0 was newer and shinier, but it somehow just wasn't the same, y'know?

@Vale Ashwood

The young girl nearly jumped in surprise when she heard a voice, snapping her head immediately to see who was so willing to have a conversation with her of all people. To her curiousity and excitement, it was Avery, recalling him in their first study session together. "Oh Avery! How sinister, how horrific, and how...uh..hold on." Vale moved to grab some sort of blunt object; a decently sized stick it seems.

She took a deep breath and jumped right back into the hole with the stick to immediately start wailing away at whatever she threw down into the hole. She made small cursing sounds and began kicking away angrily at the doll. When it was...over, whatever she was doing, Vale took a deep breath and moved back out of the hole with the stick. "Apologies. Gotta beat the things dead now." She sighed and wiped her face as best as she could, and remember her cut introduction

"Where was I? Ah, how murderous it is to see you again! Gotta..." Vale patted her robes down immediately. She knew she was gonna get it if she was found disleveled again by a professor or perfect. "Gotta beat down these dolls of mine. They've been up to criminal intents again. First Madam Dollface and her terrorism, and now Ms. Bickerton committing tax evasion. This time the execution had eye plucking included. If Ashes starts acting out, I'm out of dolls till' the holidays." Vale stopped herself to finally look back to Avery. "Sad, you say? This place? Wouldn't know much about that. I just beat the crap out of Ms. Bickerton. No more hard feelings there now."

Vale Ashwood was quite a curious girl. She looked up in surprise and greeted him whole-heartedly. "Oh Avery! How sinister, how horrific, and how...uh..hold on." Avery didn't really know if he understood what she was saying all the time, but what did it matter. He just went along with the flow of emotions coming from her voice, and that's how he resolved to communicate her. Surely, she didn't mean it was actually horrific in a bad way to see him?

As she interrupted herself, the girl reached over to grab a stick, then began wailing, cursing, and attacking a doll that had been tossed into the hole. It seemed like an Ashwood ritual of some sort? Maybe they did this each month after the full moon, or something. He watched in fascination. Only when the doll was thoroughly 'dead', did the girl climb back out, satisfied.

So one doll was a terrorist and the other was committing tax evasion? Avery wasn't sure if those dolls were actually formerly live terrorists and tax evaders, but it sounded pretty bad to him that anyone could commit those atrocities. "That's terrible," he empathized with Vale. "When your friends turn out to be mean people, it always makes you feel down in the dumps at first, doesn't it?" he asked, thinking precisely of Hildegard Schneider, who he still had some hard feelings for, even though Vale was now over Ms. Bickerton after beating the crap out of her. Maybe Hildegard needed an eye-plucking burial to make him feel better? He shook the thought out of his mind.

"You know, Hildegard broke my violin right here at the fountain. The crazy witch smashed it like it was a guitar," he continued, sullenly speaking whatever was on his mind right now. An idea immediately came to him and he lit up for a second. "I think I still have --" he reached into his bag and took out a trash bag of clinking nuts and bolts. "She was mad at me because I accidentally dropped and broke this device of hers. I tried to fix it with Reparo but it backfired and it's permanently damaged now, so there's no use giving it back to her." The small boy looked to the hole. "Hey, Vale, do you mind if I borrow your hole and bury this too?" Hopefully Vale wouldn't mind sharing her already-dug hole which seemed quite handy at dissipating and burying bad emotions.

@Vale Ashwood

Vale blinked, curiously looking over the trashbag after Avery's sympathetic explanation of his own grief. Now she had a proper understanding of what the loud fuzz about among the first years Slytherins and some other houses. "...Pain comes in all sorts of sizes, my mum used to tell me at home."

Vale nodded to herself and turned back to her hole, sitting down next to it to look down straight to the broken doll that laid to rest inside. Her face held no expression, thinking about her home and the family that resides inside it. "And it happens differently to each people. Some like to give it back when someone causes them pain. An eye...for an eye, I think? Sounds fun, if you ask me." Vale turned quiet, extruding a behavior not so much very Ashwood in nature.

"You can bury that along with Ms. Bickterton if you want. She's dead, so she wouldn't mind." Vale turned her head back to start at the boy. "How did it happen? The accident." She picked away at her hands of any leftover dirt, digging away into her nails to clean them from the soil she dug up. "Did you trip and fell on it? Got scared and threw it to the ground? Missed your target and hit it inside with a spell? Most importantly-!" Vale took in a long, deep breath. Exhaling it out immediately when her frantic questions have died down a touch. "Did it hurt? Like, really really bad?"

"...Pain comes in all sorts of sizes, my mum used to tell me at home," Vale said contemplatively, for once not really exhibiting any signs of frenzy. Avery nodded solemnly in response to her almost-reassuring words. And some liked to give it back when someone causes them pain? It seemed pretty true, judging by how unreserved he was when it came to casting at Hildegard during King of the Hill. To be honest, it had felt quite good letting it all out when casting. Vale seemed to understand that it was 'fun', and he laughed at the brazen way she admitted it. "Vale, you always do you and never care what others think, do you?" he observed with a grin. Now, was it that Vale was bold and unafraid of judgement in being herself, or did she really not know that she was a bit different compared to others, or a bit of both?

The girl graciously allowed him to bury his bag of broken stuff along with Ms. Bickerton, and he happily unloaded the contents of the trash bag into the hole as he answered Vale's questions. "You're partly right, actually!" he began, thinking about how scared he was when he dropped the device to the ground. "My dormmate Hanako Tone, this third-year, has a big slimy tapeworm for a pet, you see. It came to attack me and fell into my lap. Then the slimy thing wanted to eat me! So of course I freaked out and dropped Hildegard's device on the floor, before yeeting the tapeworm off my lap. Afterwards, when that was over, I tried to use Reparo on the device, but it made some sort of explosion that blew up the device into bits and almost set me on fire. Luckily, the botched spell didn't hurt me too much, just burned my nose a bit, as if I got a sunburn, but it definitely surprised me." He probably shouldn't have tried to Reparo that thing on his own, now that he thought about it. Repairing a keychain in class was nothing like repairing something as complicated as a wizarding musical device.

"Well, I think I know what's next!" he proclaimed, grabbing the stick that Vale used and jumped into the hole. He raised the stick and wailed like she did, all the while kicking and cursing those darn nuts and bolts as he did, putting on quite the scene that was almost similar to what Vale had performed earlier. "Let me know if I'm doing it right!" he hollered back, in the middle of stomping, before resuming his angry cursing. Somehow, this method of an outlet seemed oddly freeing.

@Vale Ashwood

Vale paused when she heard laughter come out of the young boy. Laughter was not something she was used to hearing (specifically not from her family), and the sound was just so different that Vale couldn't help but take a expression of confusion. It slowly morphed to that of a puffed up fish's when the boy soon spoke of her lack of care on judgement. "Well, an Ashwood who cares about stuff like that isn't an Ashwood to begin with!" She was glad her skin made any blush of embarassment hidden.

Vale's embarassment was forgotten when she heard the sound of the trash bag's content being thrown into hole in front of her, and Avery's voice speaking up on his accident."Hanako...Tone?" She didn't recall ever hearing that name before, but she decided to keep the name in mind.

"Hm, for someone with a tapeworm for a pet, they sound quite cruel. Surely they offered to fix or replace the device for the trouble?" Vale made a smile when Avery suddenly started wacking away at his trashed item in the hole. She made a large, trademark laugh at his behavior, finding it absurd in comparison to her own meant to actually beat the soul out of a doll. "You're so funny, Avery. You don't need to beat an object that has no soul in it. You're just wacking away and making it more broken. But it's good practice!" She found the boy odd, which is ironic given who she was exactly. "When you meet Ashes one day, you'll know the difference between an object with a soul, and one without."

By the looks on the faces of passing students, they obviously found it strange to see a young girl digging a hole in the courtyard and beating up a doll that committed tax evasion, but Vale Ashwood did so nonetheless. Then, were only pure-blooded wix strange like this, with their ritualistic behaviors? No, it couldn't be; pure-blooded @Liana Kerr would die on the spot if anyone saw her digging a hole and getting muck all over her robes. The small boy was now very confused as to what determined 'normal' wix behavior.

"Well, an Ashwood who cares about stuff like that isn't an Ashwood to begin with!" Vale made it known. Hmm, he could live with that. It was quite admirable, really, if Ashwoods really didn't care so much about judgement, strange as they were even possibly to other wix. However, the lines were still blurred in Avery's mind; which things were strange Ashwood traits, and which things were simply strange wix traits?

"Yes, Hanako Tone, but I think he goes by 'Hana'?" Avery responded. "I'd stay out of the way of his tapeworm, if I were you," he warned, quite sure that nobody liked slimy, slippery pets. "And no, he didn't even want to fix it for me! Just ditched me there on my own!" Now that he thought about it, maybe Hanako wasn't as friendly as he came off to be, with his flashy smiles and sing-song voice. Maybe it was all a ruse, and he had fallen for the boy's fake-nicety.

He huffed and puffed as he whacked and kicked away at Hildegard's broken device. That darn crazy witch who tried to break his violin! That darn Hanako with his slimy worm! With each pounding and curse, he felt a bit better, feeling the agitation that had been bottled up slowly release. Perhaps he can finally put this Schneider chapter behind him.

If his parents could seem him know, they would be absolutely flabbergasted. What son of theirs would jump into a hole to beat something with a stick, cursing as he did? He was quite sure they would withdraw him from Hogwarts right away if they saw him performing this strange ritual.

What? He didn't need to beat an object that had no soul in it? So he was doing the ritual wrong? He stopped, panting. "Oops, sorry about that, but whew, that was quite a workout," he admitted, wiping some sweat off his brow with a sleeve. "Even though I did it wrong, I can see why you do it at all. I feel like a new person now! Those hard feelings have mostly disappeared. If you ever need help burying something that needs a pounding, just let me know." He took a deep breath at this point to calm his rapidly beating heart. He could definitely do this again when he needed it. "Hopefully, Ashes won't need a burial anytime soon, though?" he asked, remembering that Vale had brought that doll to King of the Hill or something once before.

He climbed out of the hole and sat on the ground to take a breather, thinking briefly about dolls. Wasn't the Fall Ball Committee preparing to set up a Matchmaking Booth with a bunch of dolls and other things in the tent? And speaking of the Fall Ball... "Hey, Vale, are you going to the Fall Ball with anyone? If not, I was wondering if you'd like to go with me?" he asked, hoping that she'd agree, since Vale did seem like someone he would hang out with. He really should learn a little more about her care-not Ashwood attitude, which was so different from the attitude his own parents tried to instill in him in order to seem presentable and controlled. If not, however, Avery would have no hard feelings, since he was quite an easygoing boy.

Now Vale was beginning to get more intrigued on the giant tapeworm. She most certainly did not know she could own a tapeworm for a pet in the school. She'll ask her parents maybe in the next letter to them for one this Christmas. But that Hanako Tone person sounds like a nuisance, and not in a good way. "What a shame. Someone like that would've been a wonderful member of my family, but..." Vale clapped her hands to Avery's beatdown of his trashed object inside the hole.

"If you ever have trouble with someone so evil again, just let me okay? I need to remind people that the Ashwoods are the true menace of society."

Vale tilted her head as she observed Avery's new sense of freedom. Do other kids not get cursed toys so often? "Oh, I most certainly will! Ashes been behaving, so maybe not for another while. Unless you have more junk to trash, that is." As Avery pulled out of the hole and asked her to the ball, Vale paused in her movement. The Fall Ball? Ah yes, she was supposed to look presentable for that. Something fancy, and she planned to be on her own for that. But having someone personally ask her, to the ball? "To the Fall Ball? Sure!" Vale hurried to look around, and immediately spotted her doll's plucked eyes laying next to the hole. She picked them up and moved to hand them to Avery. "Ms. Bickerton was supposed to come with me, but I'll accept you instead then! These should be enough to match me...that's what they're supposed to do at balls, right? Match?"

Someone like Hanako would've been a wonderful addition to the Ashwood family? Avery wondered what that meant. Was it his love of slimy animals? His dismissiveness of broken things? Ah, so Vale meant that Ashwoods were the true menace of society, and no one was meant to beat them in that regard. He didn't think that being a menace was something normal people would be proud of, but hey, if one was having loads of fun being a menace, like digging big obvious holes that no one would actually fall into, that was perfectly fine, right? Avery liked a bit of harmless chaos himself, sometimes, but he would never admit it to his parents' face.

"Umm, okay, deal!" he responded. "I'll let you know if someone evil crosses my path again. Especially those who are worse menaces of society," he nodded. Hopefully, he could count on Vale to thoroughly 'take care of them', or something. How nice of her to offer! Though, somehow, he couldn't help wondering if he'd feel a little sorry for what she might do to them afterwards.

He beamed as Vale agreed to go to the Fall Ball with him. "Perfect!" he said happily, glad to have a companion to the ball and a possible to new friend. He looked at the plastic doll eyes that she handed him. They stared up at him from his open palm. Was he supposed to use them somehow to match her? "What are you planning to wear?" he asked, wondering how they would match in this way. "Is it something doll-themed? Eye-themed?" he asked, hoping he'd be emotionally ready for whatever outfit Vale cooked up.

@Vale Ashwood