Closed Cliche #1: Damsel In Distress PV SIMON

Now a good couple weeks into the new school year, Simon had things down to a rhythm again. He knew where to find his classes, when they were, when he could get the extra coursework done. He also knew when was the best times to go to the Library just to read and when was the best times to go to take in some extra research on whatever it was that currently sparked his interest within the magical world.

He knew when the Rehearsal Room was often open for piano playing and he knew when was the best time to practice his guitar in the Hufflepuff Common Room. Yes, everything was down to a pretty good rhythm and right now he was to use some of his free time to head to that piano in the Rehearsal Room.

As for SOUNDS he heard, those were pretty regular too. Laughing, chatting, a squeal here and there from students playfully picking on one another. But that... no, that just wasn't normal.

Add odd sound echoed down the corridors and this city boy from London didn't quite know exactly what it was due to the fact that he had never been on a farm before but also because the sound was muffled. If he had to guess, he would say it was some sort of ostrich or something. An emu? Then it had him wondering if it wasn't some sort of magical bird-like creature that he never knew before.

He had paused to listen, but when he then heard the cries of help from someone, he didn't hesitate to run down the corridor in the direction that the sound had been coming from. It wasn't long before he saw several white geese cornering a girl that he had seen many times in the Common Room, but hadn't met. She was holding something up in her arms and it didn't take him long before realizing the small purple hairs and realized it was her pet. He was perceptive, not so much because he was just good at details, but because even in low-lit situations like these, his dhampir nature took over.

"Hey! You there," he spoke to all the geese. He had never seen geese before this but pigeons occupied every square foot of Hyde Park in London. Weren't they basically the same? What did the pigeons like best? Food. Food and bothering people.

Once one goose glanced over to him, he brought out a small clear cellophane baggie from his school bag and began to shake it. Now, all that inside were about ten lemon drops but the geese didn't have to know this. Their brains had to be what - the size of a walnut? "Come over here," he tried to coax them.

"You want some?" His voice was gentle, and smooth. He wasn't going to show any aggression that might scare them (plus aggression wasn't really his thing). The first one that already was interested in Simon began to turn and slowly, webbed foot by webbed foot, began to make his way towards Simon. Hopefully the others would follow.

[ @Simon Kincaid ]

The textbook fairytale-ness of the situation was not lost on Lucia. Here she was, the beautiful damsel, pressed against the wall, scared out of her wits and yet still managing to look like a star which had fallen from the heavens, holding her cute pet above her head (thus proving her own selflessness and love of animals), just waiting for her prince to rescue her.

Lucia wished there was a mirror so she could see how she looked. She was sure her hair had come loose.

Footsteps! Someone, running, by the sound of it, running towards where Lucia was trapped. She could just imagine how it would play out. Her handsome rescuer would appear, magically frighten away all the geese, possibly offer to accompany her to the hospital wing in case any of the creatures had harmed-

A boy burst into view and Lucia tried not to look like she was examining him. He was about her height, incredibly pale, with dark hair, although not as dark as Lucia's own. Annoyingly, though... Lucia couldn't quite put her finger on it. He just didn't feel like a fairytale hero. He just didn't have the right vibe. This is disappointing.

One of the geese nipped at her hand and she squealed, jerked, realised that her arms had drifted down and she was still practically pinned to the wall. Geese weren't the most romantic of opponents, anyway, so maybe today just wasn't the day. Ah, well. It had been worth a try.

"Um." Lucia suddenly realised what the boy was trying to do, holding his hand out and shaking a plastic bag at the geese. "Are you trying to feed them?" Her arm really hurt by now, held above her head for so long.

"Distract, my lady, distract!" he said to her, shaking the bag once more.

He wasn't a fan of how the geese seemed to be teaming up on the Hufflepuff girl but he also knew from being in Hyde Park in London that if one goose was attacked, often times the whole flock would retaliate. Neither of them needed that.

Maybe if they thought what he had was something good then they'd follow. I mean, it wasn't something like bread but they didn't realize that. One goose towards the back seemed to get interested in the bag, as if it knew that food was inside. It began to work.

It was like dominoes. All it took was the first goose to get interested and then one by one, each began to crane it's goose neck over to see what the other one was distracted with. "Come on, this way," he said to the geese. He backed up more and more, until he was a good ways down the hall and had an entire entourage of geese with him. Simon took one of the lemon drops from his bag and lifted it up to his mouth, so they did know it was food. That sent one of them honking and he figured he was going to be angering them sooner or later.

Once he was at a crossways where two of the corridors met, he decided to make a sacrifice. Granted he might not get any more lemon drops until Christmas holiday but that was alright. He placed his hand into the bag and pulled out all the lemon drops into his one hand and gave them a strong toss down the corridor. One by one they hit the stone flooring and in a rush, the geese attacked, hurrying to figure out what the yellow drops were.

Simon went the opposite direction of the geese. He came to where the dark haired Hufflepuff was and quickly grabbed her hand. "Come on, back towards the Common Room!" he said. Hopefully she'd come with him.

Had he just called her my lady? Lucia wasn't sure how to respond to that. It was quite a nice nickname, she supposed, but at the same time - she'd already crossed him off the list of potential Prince Charmings. (This 'list' changed extremely often. It usually consisted of a very short amount of cute fourth-year - and occasionally third-year - boys, who then got mentally crossed off one by one as they got partners, or turned out not to like girls, or acted like they were determined to make everyone hate them.) River squeaked from beneath Lucia's fingertips and nudged her out of the way a little so she could peek over the top of where Lucia's palms formed a little wall around her. "Why are we distracting them again?" the Hufflepuff blurted as the boy shook the paper bag again. What was in there, goosenip? That certainly wouldn't have been out of place, because the moment one goose noticed the boy, most of the rest turned as well. Maybe they figured the paper bag was easier prey than the purple fur. Did geese hunt prey? That didn't sound entirely right, but Lucia didn't have time to be hung up on that sort of thing because the geese had, apparently, left her alone. Lucia watched in amazement as her saviour tossed the bag down the corridor, letting the geese slip and slide after it, pecking at the floor in eagerness to find the yellow dots which had flown out of the bag. With a sigh of relief from herself and a squeak of relief from her pet, Lucia slipped River into the pocket of her cardigan so she could hide. But there wasn't time to relax yet - the boy ran back down the corridor, grabbing her hand. "What were those things?!" Lucia gasped as she let the boy pull her along. She was not a runner.

"Not entirely sure. I mean, they LOOKED like geese but they certainly didn't ACT like any geese that I've come across in London." No, they were acting more like rabid dogs and Simon didn't know if they were magical creatures or not, he just knew they were creatures that he wished to stay far away from. They headed back to the first floor, closer to where the Hufflepuff Common Room and Dormitories were. By now, the geese had either devoured the lemon snack or passed it by, but their honking in the distance grew more faint as they must have found something else to do with their time then to antagonize two badgers.

"Sorry about scaring your little fluff there," he spoke of her pet, who he saw peer out a couple times. "I'm not the best with animals so I really didn't know how to handle the geese..." that was pretty apparent. "Is that really a pygmy puff, you've got? They're so amazing," he said, hoping that maybe she would show it to him, more than just a hint from looking out from her cloak. "And I'm Simon, by the way," he almost forgot to introduce himself. "Simon Kincaid. I think you share a dorm with one of my best friends. Alexa Mackenzie." She had mentioned Lucia a time or two.