Cecily in the City [PV] [Closed] - City of London

19 Aug 2018, 04:42

Cecily disembarked the train, uncomfortable and slightly scared. This was her first time in a city, and though she was excited beyond belief, she knew that she couldn't possibly be prepared for what lay ahead, both in terms of sights spectacular and the tremendous amount of people she was bound to meet and see and talk to and observe. Even the journey here drove that thought home: the whole process, including multiple transfers, had taken almost a day, and Cecily, traveling alone, had not had the best time. Over the many hours, she had switched from bus to bus to train to train to train and then some, had uncomfortably sat next to stranger after stranger on each train-- she was in no way particularly social, and even these silent interactions caused stress. She had also gotten lost multiple times-- apparently she was no good at reading maps, and had to woman up an ask for directions often-- almost missed her train due to attempts at six-second sightseeing in brand new and exciting and terrifying places, and suffered from a lack of sleep. Accustomed to the calm, quiet countryside even after her year at Hogwarts, the constant rattling of the train kept her awake-- not that she would have been comfortable sleeping anyway, surrounded by strangers as she was; not that she could sleep anyway, always having to be counting stops until her transfers.

The platform was utterly crowded. The doors if Cecily's train hissed open, and the sea of bodies was joined by a stream of more people. Among then slipped the small blonde, undoubtedly unnoticed by the majority, completely invisible to many, who certainly had things to do and places to be and people to meet. She clutched her bag close to her as she was jostled by the crowds, getting ping-ponged in every direction. It was impossible to stand still when in the thick of the masses, but the girl stubbornly planted her feet and took in the grandeur of King's Cross Station. The small little Irish bus station where she had first embarked on this journey had nothing on the size and majesty of this placd, though little she knew of the soaring buttresses and massive, ornate architecture in her future. And the people-- so many people crammed in one space! How could they even fit? This was but one small section of London-- just a needle in the haystack of the city. And if there were so, so many people in this needle, what would the haystack look like? Suddenly, the small small-town girl felt very, very small indeed. Cecily wasn't sure she had ever seen this many people in her life, nevermind in one place, even including school! How did Amadea live for twelve years in this unceasing, constant noise? It was already driving Cecily insane. And, perhaps the most important question: how was Cecily possibly going to locate Amadea, a small girl, in this ridiculously-sized deluge of larger-than-small human beings?

The girl pushed through the crowds, scanning the crowds as she tried to find a sort of home base to maybe sit down for a moment, take in this assault on all of her senses and calm down, take a breath of air that was not straight out of a stranger's mouth, and look for her friend. However, Cecily was spared the surely near-impossible search for a free seat or space she could fit as, quite suddenly, a familiar wild mess of red hair poked over the heads in the crowd, followed by a small hand waving in her direction; soon features came together to form a recognizable face that Cecily saw for the first time in the reflection of spilt ink in an abandoned classroom, and soon after in the rippling reflection of the Great Lake on the Hogwarts grounds. Cecily was spared having to search for Amadea, because Amadea had found her! Cecily couldn't hold back a grin as she saw her best friend jumping up and down and yelling to her-- well, the sound of her voice was instantly and completely swept away by the constant noise of the city that was already starting to hurt Cecily's head, but the blonde could make out the shape of her name on Amadea's lips. Cecily made a quick turn towards her, being pushed in all directions once again by the flow of people, and began the short hike that felt like a mile towards the redhead. Ducking and weaving between people and bags and arms, Cecily stopped every few seconds to peek above the crowd to make sure she was still headed in the right direction. Every time, Amadea was always standing there, tracking her friend through the crowd and acting as a beacon for the girl that was already hopelessly lost in a big city.

Cecily finally squeezed through the last gap of people before appearing at her friend's side. "Amadea!" she yelled over the roar of trains and voices, smiling wide, face hurting from the extended grin even as her accent stuck out in the London demographic like a sore thumb. Cecily stood slightly awkwardly smiling at her friend, not being the hugging type, but nonetheless overwhelmed and overjoyed at seeing her friend again and eager for the next leg of their friendship to begin. "How've you been? How was camp? It's so great to see you again!" Enthusiasm colored her voice during her exuberant entrance into Amadea's world, effectively masking the worm of (albeit excited) nervousness. Cecily was scared of the crowds; suddenly dead tired from sorely missed sleep; and out of breath from excitement, the trek across the platform and lack of personal space on public transportation for the last day or so equally; however, she put on a happy face and still managed to break out a personality worthy of spending time with for her best friend, speaking more words at once than she had in total in the past 21 hours. "What's first on the agenda? Your house?" Cecily looked expectantly at the redhead, eager to get going and seeing and hearing.

and until we meet again.

23 Aug 2018, 18:55

Amadea knew she must look absolutely ridiculous waving her hands wildly above her head, but she would stop at nothing to make sure that her friend noticed her. The city was huge and even Amadea felt overwhelmed by the number of people in it sometimes. She couldn't imagine how Cecily felt. Of course, Amadea was unsure if the person she was screaming at was actually Cecily, but hoped it was, for it would make her look like even more of an idiot if it was not her friend. For the sake of any dignity Amadea had, she sincerely hoped that it was Cecily. When she heard a familiar voice crying out her name, Amadea was reassured and stopped waving her arms and jumping up and down.

As Cecily wheeled her bags over to the bench where Amadea was now standing, Amadea took a good look at her friend. It had been a solid two months since she had last seen Cecily, but from what Amadea could tell, she looked pretty much the same. Amadea could tell that Cecily was tired and overwhelmed, probably from the long journey from Ireland, or wherever nomads came from. Amadea stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do. She knew Cecily wasn't one for embraces, and if she was being honest with herself, neither was she. Instead, Amadea reached down to take one of Cecily's bags for her. It seemed like a host-like thing to do.

"I've missed you!" Amadea said with a sigh, realizing how true her words were as she looked at her friend. "I'm so glad you're here though! I can't wait to show you everything!" She scanned the sidewalk, looking for any signs of her father. "I've only just arrived as well," Amadea explained. "After summer camp I went to my mother's house in Camberley, but I had to come back to the city for our trip! My father should be arriving soon," she added, wondering how long it would take for him to arrive.

"Summer camp was a lot of fun!" Amadea finally said, remembering that she should be answering questions. "I got to hang out with a lot of people, and it was nice because I don't think I was ready to leave Hogwarts." She let out a laugh after this, though she wasn't sure that she was entirely joking. "How has your summer been so far?" Amadea asked, steering the conversation back toward Cecily.

Before her friend could answer, Amadea spotted her father through the crowd walking toward them. How he had found the two girls in the middle of all of these people was a mystery to Amadea, but she was glad he found them nonetheless. Even though she had mixed feelings about seeing her father again, she had to admit that she missed him and when he embraced her, Amadea hugged him back. After she pulled away, she cleared her throat and pointed toward Cecily.

"Dad, this is Cecily Quinn," Amadea said. "Cecily, this is my father, Raziel Campbell." Her father nodded at Cecily with a smile, sticking out his hand for a shake. So far, so good. As the trio began walking, Amadea's father began making conversation. "It's been fairly quiet in London," he said, "though of course, is London ever actually quiet?" He let out a puff of laughter at his terrible joke before continuing on. "So, girls, how did you two meet?" Amadea turned to Cecily, trying to communicate her eyes do-you-want-to-answer-the-question-or-should-I?-I-don't-want-to-steal-all-of-the-talking-from-you-but-if-you-don't-want-to-talk-I-can. Amadea was never good at the whole talking without actually talking, so she doubted Cecily understood whatever look she had just given the poor girl.

Reducio

Feel free to godmod Amadea's dad in your next post if you need to.

A.C.

happy, free, confused, and lonely in the best way

S.F.

7 Sep 2018, 01:46

Cecily thought back to her drab vacation, a typical Quinn summer now seeming boring and dull compared to her friends' adventures in the Hogwarts summer camp, or even to a few months exploring the massive city that now stood beneath her feet. Cecily would have loved to stay for camp at the school of magic, but a part of her also just wanted to go home and see her family, to escape the hectic life that she had become accustomed to in the past nine months. She loved being around her new friends, of course, but she needed the peace and quite of the countryside to prepare for what she now knew was going to be an exhausting (though nonetheless fascinating and exciting) trip.

"That sounds like you had fun!" Cecily replied, upbeat. "My summer hasn't been nearly as interesting. Most of my time was spent reading and running around outside with my sister, per usual. Needless to say, I've been waiting for this trip all summer!"

Suddenly, a man materialised out of the crowds. Cecily stood to the side, her typical awkward self, as her friend hugged the man whom Cecily assumed was Amadea's father. The blonde's suspicious were soon confirmed when Amadea made the necessary introductions, introducing her father as Raziel. Cecily did her best to smile as they shook hands. "Pleasure to meet you--" she cleared her throat, nervous per the usual-- "Mr. Campbell," she finished, looking at a spot just to the left of the man's face.

As they began the walk towards Amadea's home in the city, Mr. Campbell continued to make conversation. The two girls shared a look as he asked how the two met, and Cecily cleared her throat again as she spoke-- quietly at first, but growing louder. "We met, erm, in a classroom in Hogwarts. Amadea spilt her ink and I helped her clean it up." Cecily was glad to have something to look at as she spoke-- namely, her feet and...

The buildings. The people. The sun, the vehicles, so many people. They all seemed in such a hurry, eager to escape this beautiful day into the tallest buildings that Cecily had ever seen, besides school. Did they all have places to be? How could there possibly be this many people in one place? How could there be this much life packed into this space? Cecily was astonished and amazed at the same time. She wasn't particularly a people-person, but it was still captivating to see the structure of a city, to get a glimpse into the life of a torrent of people just on one block. Cecily wasn't sure what to expect when she first boarded the train en route to the city, but now knew the true enchantment of the city. Sure, it was crowded, hot, smelly, and confusing, but there was so much to look at. The small Irish girl nearly tripped more than once while looking up, and would've gotten completely lost in the streets if Amadea hadn't grabbed her hand as her dad let the girls around a corner.

and until we meet again.

10 Sep 2018, 18:21

Thankfully, Cecily must have understood the weird facial expression Amadea had given her, and began to explain how the two of them had met. It was kind of a funny story, now that Amadea thought about it. As she thought about it more, she realized how many of her friends she had met in the oddest situations.

As they headed down the street, fighting against the crowd, Amadea tried to look at the city from an outsider's perspective. It was quite difficult, and Amadea was sure she could never see it the way Cecily was seeing it now, but she was trying. The hustle and bustle of people was normal, but it overwhelmed Amadea even on a normal day. She couldn't imagine how overwhelmed Cecily must feel, coming from somewhere where there was absolutely no people to this crowded metropolis filled with people all hustling to get where they needed to be going, just like them.

"My dad's apartment is kind of in the heart of the city," Amadea explained to Cecily as they walked. "That means that we're not too far from any of the main attractions." She wondered what kinds of things Cecily wanted to see. In all of the time Amadea had spent with her Ravenclaw friend, she had never really gotten to know Cecily on a deep personal level. Sure, they had many of the same interests and Amadea felt as though she could connect easily with Cecily, but she didn't feel as though they often talked on a more personal level like Amadea did with a lot of her other friends. She was not deterred, however, as she was determined to forge a closer friendship with Cecily during this vacation.

"I wrote a list of things that I wanted to show you," Amadea said, turning a corner and grabbing Cecily's arm, pulling her along so she wouldn't wander in the wrong direction. "I put a lot of main tourist attractions on it, but I also added a few things that I love about London. If you have anything that you really want to see or do, just let me know." Amadea wanted Cecily to be completely sure that this was her vacation and she had the most powerful decision. If she didn't want to go somewhere, they wouldn't and vice versa.

They reached Bayswater Road, where the apartment was located. Amadea led Cecily into the apartment, waving her arms around with a flourish. "Welcome to the apartment!" Amadea exclaimed. It was by no means very impressive. The apartment had a kitchen, a small sitting room and two bedrooms. Amadea hoped Cecily didn't mind the size of the apartment, which must be very small considering she came from a giant farm in Ireland.

Amadea led Cecily into her old room that she had shared with her sister. When she walked into the room, Amadea was met with a huge dose of memories. So many things had happened within this room and Amadea sometimes missed the days back when things were simple and she didn't have to worry about anything. Things were much different now, but the room still reflected Amadea's youth. Posters from her favorite musicals were plastered on the walls and there were many Post-it notes stuck to the walls with her and Kat's dreams for the future. Amadea made a mental note to take them down and store them away.

"So this is our room," Amadea said. "You can put your things over there on that bed," she said, pointing to her sister's old bed. "Do you want to unpack now? I can help you, if you want. Oh, and after, we can get started with sightseeing and such, if you're not feeling too tired. Or we can do whatever you want." Amadea sat back on her own bed, forcing herself to stop talking. She had never hosted any guests before, not like this, and she wanted to make sure it went perfectly for Cecily.

A.C.

happy, free, confused, and lonely in the best way

S.F.

23 Sep 2018, 19:50

Cecily stumbled along behind her friend as Amadea dragged her through the city babbling about attractions and lists, clearly fantastically excited that she would finally be able to show Cecily her home. Cecily tried to pay attention to the redhead's words, but her attention was continuously swept away by the people and buildings and cars, not to mention the fact that she felt totally deafened by the ceaseless noise. The assault on the senses was daunting and made her want to crawl into a ball, yet at the same time dance in the middle of the street. And even then, she couldn't help but marvel at how many people could live in such a small space. Well, she figured, that just went to show the lengths to which humans could adapt.

"I, uh...what?" Cecily finally managed, still stumbling along by Amadea's force with her face towards the tops of the buildings, trying to see everything at once.There was so much to take in, and Cecily had no intentions of missing any of it.

Her impromptu sightseeing, however, was cut short as Amadea dragged her into an apartment building, grandly gesturing towards where Cecily would be living for the next few days. It was smaller than anything the girl had stayed in before, but not by much. If Amadea was expecting Cecily's home to be some grandiose mansion in the middle of an Irish field in comparison to this apartment, then she was going to be sorely disappointed. In truth, it was not much more than cottage. However, it was still bigger than this small three-or-four-room apartment.

Following Amadea into what must be her room, Cecily felt as if she was intruding in on a deeply private space when she took a tentative step across the threshold. She was surprised to see two beds and decorations split like two different personalities. Amadea must have had a sister that she had never mentioned. The walls were plastered with posters for familiar musicals and brightly-colored sticky notes covered with writings from two different hands. It looked like the sisters had spent years in this room together, and, judging by the look on Amadea's face, it held a plethora of memories.

Cecily gently placed her bags on the bed Amadea had gestured to, still feeling out of place in this room that clearly belonged to someone that was not the Irish girl currently standing in it. She glanced again around the room that she would be spending nights in for the next four days as Amadea spoke up again.

"Uh, yeah, I'll unpack," Cecily responded, though she knew she would feel awkward unpacking her bags in a place that she could not call her own-- something about placing her own possessions in some else's personal space, even if they weren't there, felt wrong to the girl; nevertheless, she did it anyway. "Um, do you mind if we just stay here for a bit?I don't think I've slept a wink in the past twenty-four hours." Now that the excitement of her arrival had dimmed a smidge and she was standing in front of an extremely comfortable-looking bed next to someone she was not instinctively afraid of, the weariness and nerves of the past day had finally caught up to her. All thoughts of the girl who had previously slept in this bed for years on end before Cecily slipped out of the Ravenclaw's mind. She collapsed on the bed, still in her clothes, dead-tired. A part of her hoped that she wasn't making Amadea terribly uncomfortable by falling asleep as soon as she arrived, but she was positive that she could not keep her eyes open a second longer.

and until we meet again.

9 Oct 2018, 15:18

Amadea watched as Cecily took in all of the information that was being pushed at her. It appeared as though the girl was a bit overwhelmed, and Amadea didn't blame her. If Amadea was in the city for the first time, she would be overwhelmed as well. After all, it was very crowded and loud and everything moved at such a fast pace that Cecily wasn't used to.

So naturally, Amadea wasn't surprised when Cecily opted to take a nap. Amadea turned off the lights and closed the door behind her, leaving Cecily to rest in peace. Meanwhile, Amadea went and checked on the rest of the apartment. Her father was in the sitting room, watching some show on the television and Amadea smiled at him as she walked in.

"Hi, honey," her father said as she entered. Amadea gave her father a small smile as she walked in, unsure of how to react. After all, Amadea was supposed to be on her mother's side in this drama. The only reason she had braved coming back to the city and the apartment was because of her plans with Cecily. Amadea had made sure that they only had small amounts of time where they had to interact with her father. Unfortunately, this was not part of the scheduled time.

"Hi," Amadea said, hoping that her tone didn't sound too monotone, but at the same time, hoping that her father understood that she didn't really want to talk to him. And of course, her father said the one thing that she didn't want him to.

"Dea, we should talk," he said, grabbing the remote of the television and turning it off. Amadea backed away, eyes widening as her father patted the couch cushions next to her. Amadea had heard the main gist of what had happened between her parents that had caused all of this tension but had never really been told the whole story. Amadea was sure her father was going to try to explain his actions and make up for what he had done, which he obviously could not. Frankly, Amadea didn't want to hear his excuses. She was on her mother's side.

"I don't think now is a good time," Amadea said, keeping her voice low to make sure she didn't awake the sleeping Cecily. "I have to check on things and Cecily is here." Amadea turned and walked back into the bedroom before her father could say anything else. Closing the door behind her silently, Amadea walked over and sat at the desk in the corner of the room. She knew she couldn't keep pushing all of her family members away. But she also knew that she didn't think she could handle knowing everything that had happened when she was away. She wondered why all of this drama was happening right now. She needed to focus on making this a wonderful trip for Cecily, she decided.

Amadea took out a blank sheet of paper and a pencil to begin jotting down her ideas about things that the two girls should do while they were in London. Amadea hoped that Cecily would have some ideas as well; she didn't want to be the one that took control of the whole trip. She just hoped Cecily would think it was worth it to come all this way.

A.C.

happy, free, confused, and lonely in the best way

S.F.

1 Dec 2018, 03:13

4 hours later (13:00)

Cecily woke up sprawled on top of an unfamiliar bed, a never-ceasing stream of noise in her ears. She was extremely confused for a good ten seconds before she pried open her eyes and remembered. As soon as she saw Amadea's shock of red hair, the memories came rushing back. She was in London. The awe and thrill hit her again-- it was still difficult to believe she was finally in a city after all this time. The idea of being in a massive, new, chaotic place for almost a week would normally scare the blonde, but now that she was here, she never wanted to leave. And she was with her best friend! There was no way this could go wrong-- it was inevitably, inescapably going to be the best week ever.

Surprising herself by actually sitting up (for she was by no means a morning person), she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Apparently, the electric energy of the city was unavoidably and welcomely contagious, and it sparked a devious flame of adventure in a country girl such as Cecily. She couldn't wait to explore this crazy, huge, beautiful metropolis with Amadea. Even though the redhead had probably already seen almost all of the city, Cecily got a feeling that she might start to see it in a different way with Cecily there.

Still in the rumpled clothes she had been wearing over the past twenty-four hours the girl stood and moved to the window, just taking in the city. She could see hundreds of people moving along the streets, on their way to wherever in their own busy lives. All of these people lived in this one place-- Cecily could barely wrap her mind around the hugeness of this place.

Abandoning the view, she shyly moved to sit next to Amadea on the other bed, embarrassed that she had left the girl in the awkward situation of watching her sleep.

"What are we gonna do today? Do you have any plans?" Even Cecily herself couldn't believe she had this much energy this soon after waking up, but she wasn't going to fight it. She knew that once they got to Ireland, they would be spending a very large portion of their time doing very little, so now was the time to go all-out on this trip. She was in a city-- and not just any city, but London! Cecily wanted to just take hold of the week and never let it go. But if that wasn't possible, then the next best thing would be making the most of it.

"You know more about London than I do. Where to first?" Cecily smiled wide as she looked at Amadea in uncontained anticipation.

and until we meet again.

18 Jan 2019, 19:45

𝓝ow that Cecily was awake again, Amadea was ready for the adventures to begin. She had been daydreaming about this moment in time for the past week, if not longer. She couldn't wait to begin showing Cecily around the amazing city of London. The only thing she would have trouble with was picking what to do first!

Cecily looked excited for the adventures as well, which made Amadea feel a bit more reassured about everything. "What do you want to do?" Amadea asked her friend. While it was true that Amadea knew the city of London like the back of her hand, she wanted Cecily to be leading this adventure. After all, Amadea had lived in the city for almost her entire life and this was Cecily's first time. She wanted the girl to do what she wanted to do instead of Amadea showing Cecily things she didn't want to see.

Unfortunately, Cecily seemed to not care and left the decision up to Amadea. Thinking about things that wouldn't be too busy at 1 PM in the afternoon, Amadea wracked her brain trying to think of . a place to go first.

"We obviously have to hit all of the big landmarks and tourist sights," Amadea said. "Big Ben, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, stuff like that," she ticked off the places on her fingers as she talked. "We are going out for dinner tonight," Amadea added. "Ummm. I was thinking we could go to the London Eye at sunset or sometime around then so we can ride it while the sun is setting and get a gorgoues view." Amadea hoped she wasn't being too elaborate with her plans, but she had been thinking about the details for a while now and she had it all planned out in her mind. She just hoped that everything would go as perfectly as it was in her mind.

"For now do you just want to go exploring?" Amadea asked. "We're honestly right in the heart of the city right now. We can check out local shops and if you want we can go to Hyde Park. It's literally less than a mile from here."

A.C.

happy, free, confused, and lonely in the best way

S.F.

7 Feb 2019, 17:33

"Sounds like fun!" Cecily was half-listening and half still glued to the window in awe, but fully up for anything Amadea could throw at her. London was impossibly large and impossibly busy and impossible to see all of in one week, but they'd have plenty of time to rest in Ireland, so now was the time to go all out and do as much as possible. It made Cecily a little guilty that she would probably enjoy this much more than Amadea would enjoy the boring little Quinn farm, but she wasn't going to dwell on her thoughts and forget to enjoy the experience.

A word caught Cecily's attention. Exploring. It was a word the Irish girl was very familiar with. It brought back memories of her and her brothers racing across the fields of the family farm in the twilight, cutting across neighboring farms, rushing home before dark, painted in grass stains and mud splatters-- a sign of a full day. Their little world had seemed so big only two years ago. Now, Cecily knew there was so much more she hadn't seen, but wanted to. She wanted to see all of it. What better place to start than the fantastic city of London-- right where they were?

"After you!" Cecily eagerly followed Amadea out of the apartment and on to the busy London street. The country girl could hardly keep her eyes on Amadea; there was just so much to look at, so much to see! As the two made their way towards the center of the city, Cecily's anticipation only heightened. "Where are we going first? I've never done this tourist thing before, but I'm excited!" She was acutely aware of every uncharacteristic exclamation point tacked on to the enthusiastic words spilling from her lips, but as she thought of all the spots Amadea had mentioned-- the ornate, incredible Buckingham Palace, a gorgeous sunset from the top of the London Eye, the massive Big Ben, all mythical places she had only read about in books-- she regretted none of them. Their size was unfathomable to the girl before she encountered the gargantuan castle that was Hogwarts, but now she was going to see them in person! She could barely contain herself as she followed her red-head friend down the sidewalk, en route to their first adventure.