This felt kinda silly now that it was happening.

Scuffing his shoe against the sidewalk Elsian was hit with the fact that he was actually going through with this. It felt weird. He wasn’t used to putting his ideas out there like this, in fact, if it hadn’t been for one specific nosy Feather Brain, he likely wouldn’t have bothered in the first place. Wasn’t that a weird thing to think about.

He sighed, sucking in a heavy breath of muggy air. It was barely a few days into summer and already the weather had taken a turn for the worse; it was the type of heat that seemed to cling to you and made the air itself almost seem sticky and thick. It was fine though, or it would be, once he got to the diner that is. It was always nice and cool there, sometimes to the point of freezing even in the middle of a heat wave, and they always had amazing shakes.

He would kill for one of those shakes in this heat.

Traffic breezed by in a blur at the crosswalk; he’d just barely missed his chance to cross. Annoying, but not exactly surprising. He’d refused to run the rest of the way when people were crossing, not in this weather.

It was still annoying. It felt like ages before he could cross and at that point, he was regretting his confidence in walking the whole way from his aunt's place. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one making the trek on foot over being dropped off; did his eyes deceive him or was that a certain feather brain walking down the street? He paused, skirting around a few people to wait by for the other to catch up and yes, it was bird brain! Huh, it was bizarre to think how much had changed in, what, 3 days? They’d been barely civil and now? Now they were willingly hanging out with the brat, likely for a good chunk of summer with these games… They weren’t friends but…kinda were? More like, weirdly positive frenemies. It was weird.

All he knew was whether or not the others agreed to this competition; he was going to crush the Ravenclaw in these games.

“Hey Feathers.” He greeted, cheekily throwing an arm around her shoulders. In a move Nani would be proud of, he leaned a good chunk of his weight against Sam with as much obnoxious friendliness he could. “What’s up? Miss me?”

It wouldn’t last long; he gave it 5 seconds before the Raven shoved him off with a dirty look. From there the bickering would start, teasing and joking mixed with thinly veiled threats and challenges all the way past the park until they made it to the diners doors.

And oh, how amazing it was. The blast of freezing air was a godsend. This diner could do no wrong. It was even enough to put a small stop to their bickering, at least on Elsians end, as he took the place in. It wasn’t overly crowded, just a couple of adults who were probably on a late lunch break and a couple other teens filling up the tables.

“Hey , be with you in a minute. Sit anywhere you like!” An older girl said, blonde, pretty, and probably a few years older than them. Her name tag read Emily.

“C’mon,” he urged, leading the brat to a booth tucked away in a corner. Unlike the other booths, this was one of the few that were larger, with one large seat that wrapped around the table. It was bigger than the other tables, perfect for their group of 5. He’d barely slid into the booth with Feathers before the door was opening with a small group of people and 2 more familiar faces were peering around from the doorway. In one smooth motion he propped himself atop the edge of the table with his feet on the seat while the staff weren’t looking, getting the extra height needed to wave them over when the group obstructed his view. “Hey nerds, over here!”

Like the intellectual he was, the boy so kindly offered the inside of the booth to the 2, and by offering he meant forcing at least one of the 2 to slide in. It ended up being Henry, although Logan was welcome to try her hand at getting inside the booth too. He was the perfect buffer between him and Samantha, now he wouldn’t be within easy hitting distance when he teased her. Of course, this was Elsian they were talking about, so the move was done with all the lazy grace one could expect from the boy; said maneuver mainly consisting of Elsi throwing his leg to lounge along the top of the seating's back and making a ‘go ahead’ motion to climb under his propped-up legs or try their luck climbing under the table. Of course, they could also just go to Samantha open side of the booth but that was boring and only quitters took the easy way out.

Obviously, his side is way better. This was the peak of friendship.

Soon, amidst the shuffling and Elsians glee at watching Henry struggle to get in the booth, came the last of their rip off mystery gang. Willow, arriving like the magnificent turtle they were, adorable, slow, and the last to arrive which meant they were free game to tease.

“Took you long enough,” he teased, waving the other down from his glorious post atop the table, “you took so long-” He squawked, kicking back at Henry's feet in revenge when the boy decided to take fate into his own hands and grab the Gryffindors leg to shove it outta the way. “This is an attack on my rights,” he complained. “I’m delicate Henry!”

Sadly, this was enough to get one of the staff's attention turning towards their spot, so Elsi was left to slink back into his seat next to Henry with a sulky look to the other boy. Willow and Logan would be forced to risk Samantha's kindness in slipping past her or climbing under the table or perhaps over Elsians lap as the Gryffindor would not move. Granted he was very easily bullied into scooching over so one could also take his rightful spot on 1 of the seats entrances if they fancied bullying the lazy boy into moving.

From there would be a brief time for introductions for anyone who wasn't familiar with the others, although to call it an introduction was a bit much when it mainly consisted of Elsi fondly going, ‘this is the brat,’ while gesturing to Samantha with a fake look of pride. Oh no, if any real introductions were needed, they would need to step up and bully Elsians into shutting the hell up because Gremlin children didn't get to talk at the big kid table.

Between any introductions that happened, the waitress from before would appear, offering menus and later taking the kids orders. Elsian would helpfully ask for a kid's menu for Samantha. But if the girl was unthankful would take the crayons and kids menu provided for himself and promptly share his 4 crappy crayons with the people closest to him.

But his patience could only be appeased with crappy crayons so much before he felt the need to finally reveal his, and to a lesser extent, Feather brain's plan!

“Okay, so.” He leaned forward, elbow resting on the table as he clutched his hands together while looking around the group. “We’re all gathered here today because someone,” a long pointed stare was aimed at Samantha, “talked crap and now needs to be proven wrong!”

This would begin the simple and clear explanation of what Sam and Elsi had decided to lovingly dub the ‘Summer Games’. With Elsian explaining the basics of it, how it was a way to hang out and have fun while doing challenges for points and, depending on how you did, you could either earn or lose points. He allowed feathers to chirp in, like the good person he was, as they finally got to what the points were for. Added up during the last week of summer, the winner with the most points would be able to choose the final event they did before school started, no arguments, along with bragging rights and a shitty crown to signify their try hard status. But the last part of the prize was likely the best part of the whole deal; the winner would get a total of 4 favors, 1 from each of the losers that they would be able to cash in anywhere, anytime, and for anything. It was the ultimate I owe you.

As the explanation came to a stop their orders would be dropped off, Elsi all but ready to cry tears of joy upon seeing the vanilla shake and fries.

“But yeah, now we gotta do these summer challenges so we can possibly destroy any friendship I had with you all,” he looked at Samantha, “and to destroy your hope of winning with how wrong you are.”

“You guys in?” He took a sip of his shake, “or are you too scared to the whole owing the winner any favor they want.”

Headphones on, Speechless from Aladdin blasting in her ears, Samantha walked down the streets glad she could finally use her phone again to listen to music. Magic was great but the young girl had missed her muggle music a lot and was now loudly singing along to her song. About to belt out the next lyric, she stopped dead in her tracks as she could feel an arm being placed around her shoulder, not having heard Elsian's previous greeting due to her sound-cancelling headphones and the loud music. Burdened by the weight of the boy, Samantha turned to look at who had almost given her a heart attack. A wave of relief hit her when she saw wand thief's stupid face, she removed the headphone from her ears, so she was able to hear his annoying voice.

"Yeah, terribly. Didn't think I could survive any longer without you." Rolling her eyes, she shoved his arm off her shoulder, not up to any physical touch with the hot weather. Though she had said it in the driest, most sarcastic tone she could master it wasn't a complete lie. It wasn't something she would ever admit to him, but surprisingly she had enjoyed spending time with Elsian, even though most of it had been filled with their bickering, and she was looking forward to making him a big loser in the games by winning them all from him and the others so she could rub it in his face every time she saw him.

Just before Elsian kidnapped her to a booth, the young girl was able to thank the blond girl who had told them they could sit anywhere they would like and give her a little smile. "I don't want to sit next to you! You're sweaty," she whined before sitting down. Elsian's little stunt of placing his dirty feet on the seat may have gone unnoticed to staff but defiantly not to Samantha, who now gave him an indignant look. "Get down, you idiot!"

"Hi Henry," she greeted the boy, hoping his cat wasn't with him. While Elsian was forcing the newcomers to sit down, the brunette scanned the floor for Loki. "Hi Logan," she said with a little smile after she finished investigating the ground. Both of the newcomers could be described as acquaintances with Henry leaning towards friends as Samantha had crossed paths more often with him than with Logan, who she knew best from being a fellow prefect. Willow, the last to arrive, only received a smile from Samantha as a greeting because Elsian was being annoyingly loud.

When Elsian introduced her as 'the brat', she simply gave him a snide look and suppressed a dramatic eye roll, something she expected to be doing a lot that day. Samantha didn't appreciate the kid's menu at all and quickly shoved it in the idiot's direction, telling him it was for babies and he, an annoying little crybaby, will have lots of fun with it. After some time the baby finally decided to share why everybody was there, basically blaming her. It was clear he meant her with 'someone' but she used the opportunity he had created by being vague to the fullest. "That someone being Elsian himself," she stared back at him with an innocent smile, "I am very happy you did some self-reflection and realized you talk nonsense."

Already having eaten lunch before meeting with the others, she had only ordered an ice tea and was now glaring at the fries. They looked too good to resist and it didn't take long for one to become victim to Samantha's grabby hands. "I'm not scared, you should be though," she took a look at the others. "All of you should, when I win I will show no mercy," she said with a fake serious face before it broke open into a smile. "I'm in!"

Interacting: @Elsian Cox|@Logan Baird|@Samantha Salwis|@Willow Anderson|Loki
Mentioning: N/A

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@Elsian Cox, @Willow Anderson, @Henry Knight, @Samantha Salwis

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Logan had very little experience with muggle London, and the experience she had was always with someone who knew exactly where they were going...or at least the general direction. London was much larger than Perth and it honestly terrified the girl as she made her way through the crowds to attempt to get to the diner she would be meeting her friends at. She had left the house earlier that morning with the expectation from her father that she would be safe and not cause any trouble with muggles, like Logan was going to do anything to interact with people in the first place.

London scared Logan quite a lot, so many cars and so many people. Shuffling in her spot, she waited outside of what she hoped was the right place. Her arms crossed in front of her, she looked around waiting for at least one of her friends. She would have gone in to see if anyone was already there, but she was terrified she would have to interact with the other people in there. Sure, Logan had interacted with muggles quite often, from dance and horseback riding it was kind of hard to avoid interactions with them, but those were interactions in a place she actually understood and had something in common. She was just throwing herself into the fire by being here.

"Henry," she gasped out as she finally spotted her best friend. Spotting Loki, she held her hand out and pat him on the head quickly. "Sorry bud, I did not bring Sherlock with me this time," she informed the cat as she looked up to answer Henry. "They are doing rather well, I should have a show in a week or so," she muttered quietly as she made her way slowly into the diner with hesitance. Who knew interacting with people could be so terrifying. Looking up, the brunette spotted one of her other close friends, Elsian, as well as a fellow prefect, Samantha. At least she knew the people she would be interacting with.

"Hello," she greeted the pair softly as she looked at where she could sit. She decided for the time being that standing would be best, at least until the last of the ground got there. The Hufflepuff looked around the room before noticing a fellow Hufflepuff entering the diner and making their way to the group. Willow Anderson, one of Logan's dueling captains, who she took over for as prefect after the other had decided to leave for some reason, and one of the other Hufflepuffs that she looked up to the most. "Hello Willow," she greeted the final member of the group with a soft smile, waiting for her to take a seat before finding one herself.

Logan decided not to get any food, not really sure about if she actually want to eat or not as she listened to Elsi rant about everything he wanted to do. Honestly she blanked out for a bit and was not completely sure what he was even talking about, but she did hear something about if they were in to do something or if they were too scared. "I am in," she said softly as she looked over at Henry, then back to Elsian. The girl had no idea what she had just agreed to do, but she sure hoped she would not regret it later.

─────────────────────────────────────── outfit | trunk | other links banner credit: Scarlet Salvatore | code credit: lucia fox ───────────────────────────────────────

☁ Interacting ☁
@Elsian Cox, @Samantha Salwis, @Logan Baird, @Henry Knight
☁ Backdated ☁
July 7th

Ah summer, what a lovely time to be a muggle. Kind of. Willow was struggling with her identity and wasn't particularly sure how or what she was feeling. So when Elsi invited her to a fun adventure, she gladly accepted. She hadn't been home for that long but wanted to get stuff off of her mind. In getting dressed she had been experimenting with darker colors, more neutrals and less feminine patterns. While it felt foreign it also felt- good. But she was self conscious arriving out of her normal style. Willow's mom dropped her off at the diner, and she strolled in. The last one to arrive. She couldn't help but pout, this time it wasn't her fault. It was traffic!

Elsi quickly spotted her and waved her over, the badger happily jaunted over. Only to be insulted. "Oi! You're lucky I decided to grace you with my presence. Now scooch." With all of her might Willow would slide / body slam Elsi further into the booth, slipping her arm around his to give it a squeeze reminiscent of a hug. "Delicate my ass." She grinned at Henry, grateful for someone else joining in on harassing Elsi. "Hey everyone, sorry I took so long."

The next tragedy was being rejected by Loki. What had she done? Loki was fine with literally everyone else but her, she looked between the cat and Henry and pouted, but didn't say anything as she didn't want to cause any issues. She'd probably create a 15 step plan to win over the cat later. She looked over Elsi's menu for the most part, leaving hers sitting on the table. Her head on his shoulder as he spoke about the games and she scanned for a tasty lunch. Everyone else agreed to the events with affirmatives and she nodded along. "I'm in. I think I'm also going to get some chicken tenders. Which, obviously, is the more important decision right now."

☁ Outfit Reference ☁

Reducio

This was an outrage. Everyone was turning against him, he blamed Feathers, didn’t they know that was illegal? Elsian was a delicate flower. A gift onto this place of existence. How dare. What sick betrayal was this?

He wailed quietly at Willows abuse. Whining and going limp as the other shoved the poor delicate boy across the seat, squished up against Henry until the Slytherin scooted over. The Gryffindor went limp against the other boy, all but collapsing on the boy and relying on the push of Willow and the feeble way he clinged to Henry, letting the other boy drag him further into their round booth. “I’m a delicate flower,” he grumbled, but allowed himself to be dragged back into his spot of the booth to lean next to Willow, squeezing the arm back.

He snickered when she was rejected by Loki.



“Duh,” he huffed, half heartedly shoving at Henry's arm, “of course Loki can come. He’d murder us otherwise.” The kids' menu was dragged closer to him, a stare thrown at Featherbrain as if challenging her to try and take back the kids' menu she’d so cruelly throw off to the side as he popped the crayons open pointedly. He pointedly kept the red crayon for himself and offered the green one to Henry. The blue one would go to Logan and the Yellow to Willow. All the while Elsian would stare at the Ravenclaw with a look of dramatic disgust.

“No crayons for mean feather brains.” He sniffed, putting red to the shitty kids menu to fill in the tiny maze. He failed it. The world was against him.

The maze was offered to Logan and Henry to fix. A brilliant idea on his part.

“As if bird brain,” he challenged, red crayon pointed at her, “gonna be embarrassing whe- hey!” He dragged his fries closer to his side of the table when one fry became victim to Sam’s grubby paws. “You didn’t even want fries.” He complained, slapping at her little gremlin fingers, “Get your own!” It tapered off into a whine as another was lost. “Logan make her stop, she’s your table buddy.”

The rest of the orders arrived. The food that actually took more time to cook finally finished.

Dammit those chicken tenders looked really good.

“A trade.” He offered, holding up a single fry to Willow when she picked up a chicken tender. It was all a clever trap! He leaned forward to take a bite out of the chicken, leaning back happily as he chewed his ill-gotten prize. He promptly offered the single fry up again.

It was a very good-looking fry.

After she had pushed the kids' menu back to Elsian, he handed out the crayons to the others like they were something special. "Oh no, no crayons for me?" she said sarcastically. "So mean, I really wanted them so I could look like a little baby." While the idiotic boy was focused on his little crayons and kids' menu, Samantha's eyes were glued to his fries who would soon be stolen by her for a little taste test.

The fries were absolutely delicious and they tasted even better due to the fact that the wand thief got mad when she stole them from him. After he dragged the fries away from her, he tried to hit her poor fingers which she luckily moved away just in time. Happily, the brunette ate her fry as a big smile appeared on her face. "These taste amazing, I want to some more!" she said cheerfully as she eyed the fries.

The basket of fries was sadly out of reach of her gabby hands and she only had the opportunity to get a fry when Elsian offered one to Willow. When the boy offered the Hufflepuff the fry, Samantha took her shot and snatched the food out of Elsian's hand. "Thank you, you are the best!" she told him before she ate the fry.

This will be my last post in this thread unless one of you does something crazy like setting people on fire. I just needed to post this because Sam had to steal more food