Making a choice. on Labyrinth Gardens

Caelia Lucan

September 21, 2016 12:14 AM

Making a choice. by Caelia Lucan

Caelia was so distracted on the wagon ride from the Massachusetts to Arizona that she barely even noticed that another Pierce had joined the ranks of Sonora students and only nodded a brief hello to Aiden, Araceli, and Liac who she’d had classes with the previous two years but would now move on to Advanced lessons. They exchanged brief pleasantries as they usually did—even though the four of them were not particular friends, there was a certain level of amiability that arose from taking a long, tiring journey with the same group of people four times a year for four years. However, Aiden and Liac were wizards and Matthew had already made clear to her what he thought of her male friendships and Araceli was a rather quiet, shy witch. Caelia had no desire to make her feel uncomfortable by forcing conversation—besides, she’d heard all that had happened to Araceli’s best friend’s family and thought that the older witch might want some time to herself rather than have her life and friendship pried into.

Listening to Aiden and Liac talk, however, Caelia felt very frustrated. She didn’t understand why it was such a big deal that she stay away from the other wizards in her year and the surrounding years. Alistair had been her friend from almost the first day of Sonora and although she hadn’t talked to Jack much until the previous year, they’d always held some sort of mutual affection for each other because of their older siblings and now were, in Caelia’s opinion, quite good friends. She didn’t know how much either of them would want to talk to her now, though. After Matthew had expressed his frustration with her friendships, Caelia had been hesitant to write them in case she angered him further and so had slowly stopped with the letters. How she would face them at the Opening Feast or in class, she didn’t quite know.

She really liked Matthew, but having him in her life was making things really complicated. There were so many rules to their relationship—rules he had enforced and rules she had enforced. Since Caelia knew Grandmother Viviane wouldn’t approve of her friendship with the squib becoming anything more than friendly, Caelia had insisted that Matthew take another blonde witch out around town a couple nights and he had chosen Saide from the tea shop. A year older than Matt, Saide was nearly eighteen and absolutely gorgeous. She had the kind of hair that made every other witch envious and Caelia was convinced that the older witch would have won best looking in Caelia’s stead had she attended Sonora. Besides, there were rumors that Matthew and Saide had been caught doing more than kissing behind the apothecary, and although Matthew had assured her that these were just rumors, she still felt uneasy.

Perhaps it was her dodging him and her insistence that they never hold hands in public or act as though they were anything more than childhood friends in public that kept Matthew from showing up that morning to say goodbye like he’d promised to do the night before. She had stalled until the last possible minute, sure that he would show up under the lilac trees for one last goodbye any minute, but he had never came and so she had taken off the precious charm bracelet Emrys had given her for her thirteenth birthday, and clipped it to a branch so that Matthew would know that she had waited.

Caelia absent-mindedly reached down to play with the bracelet as had become a nervous habit when she was uneasy, but of course it wasn’t there and so she just felt all the more anxious as she stepped off the Northeastern wagon and spotted Alistair Johnson of the Arizona Johnsons getting off the Southwestern wagon. She had never understood why the students from Arizona had to take a wagon since the school was located in Arizona but had put it down under the list of things that she would never understand because she wasn’t, as Matthew said, a smart witch. She felt really torn, unsure if she should go talk to him or ignore him and make her way to her room where she would be safe with Kelsey, a witch and therefore someone that Matthew thought was okay for her to talk to.

She had just made up her mind to act as though she hadn’t seen him at all, when a student standing near him moved and she was able to get a clear look at his face. All previous thoughts were lost as her stomach flipped and her her heart rushed with feelings of concern and worry. “Ali, hi!” she called, walking towards him, putting her hand on his arm gently when she got to where he was to turn him fully to face her. She dropped his arm and her hand fluttered involuntarily towards her open mouth. “What happened to you?” she asked, her already gentle voice coming out even softer. Caelia’s forehead puckered and her eyes moved back and forth over his face as though it would tell her something.

OOC: Alistair’s bruise, although not explicitly mentioned in his wts was confirmed by the author in chatzy.

Note: Saide is pronounced [say-də]

10 Caelia Lucan Making a choice. 307 Caelia Lucan 1 5

Alistair Johnson

September 21, 2016 9:30 AM

Sounds like a no-brainer. by Alistair Johnson

Alistair had been accused of many things by many different people and some of them he could agree with. He had grown aware that specific people in his life had found him careless, or at least too self-serving, but he wasn’t sure how much that could still apply. He had tried not to care and maybe he had done a good job of it but ultimately it just didn’t seem to get him what he wanted and usually came back to bite him, metaphorically speaking. The trouble was, giving in to this caring business was not quite as rewarding as it sounded and he’d found it resulted in actual physical bruises which could be rather painful.

He hoped he would never even have to hear Darius Tavana’s name mentioned again but unfortunately that was so very unlikely. The only positive to come from their brief brawl was that the fairer sex paid him all the more attention. Over the summer he’d managed to get himself a girlfriend but that didn’t mean he could switch off his natural charm and completely forget about all the other beautiful females out there.

Kimberley Colqueran was a lovely blonde whose company he found great enjoyment in but dating her was probably more trouble than it was worth and somewhere in the back of Alistair’s mind he knew this, yet for the summer he had been content to ignore it. He wasn’t trying to cause conflicts but the fact that Kimmy had not been invited to a single one of Joella’s many birthday celebrations confirmed that he had stirred something just by being with her. The two girls were old friends who had grown up very close but he was insistent that their friendship had nothing to do with his desire for Kimmy whatsoever.

One glaring factor did not escape his notice when he spotted Joella from a distance upon disembarking from the wagon and his brain instantly matched his ex-girlfriend’s bright blonde shade to that of his current girlfriend’s in his mind. It was foolish, he knew, but just the colour of the Pecari’s long hair made him feel something and he wasn’t entirely sure what. He doubted it was hope and instead pondered with mild interest that it might be dread.

But before he could dwell on this any further, his thoughts were interrupted by yet another blonde, this one undoubtedly the prettiest of them all.

The mere touch of Caelia’s hand on his arm and the expression upon her innocent face when he turned to look at her both made one thing suddenly very obvious: the kiss goodbye that he and Kimmy had shared before departing to return to their separate schools was probably their last. He was back at Sonora now and that meant living in the land of unresolved feelings and this time he was determined to found out what it was that he really wanted.

“Caelia,” Alistair’s face broke into a smile, partly because he was glad to see Caelia again but also partly because her concern for his wellbeing was so clear. “Oh this? This is what you get for defending a young woman’s honour,” he gestured vaguely to the nasty bruising around his cheekbone and eye on one side of his face, keeping his tone light and jovial because he wasn’t about to delve right into the full details of how his handsome features had come to be tarnished in such a way.

“So I don’t advise trying,” he added, before leaning closer to his friend and lowering his voice a little. “But between you and me, you should’ve seen the other guy.” He shot her a brief wink before straightening up again.

In truth, he wasn’t all that proud of his injuries because he thought it made him look the “all brawn no brains” type (which he certainly was not, thank you very much) but he couldn’t retract his actions and he couldn’t quite bring himself to want to either. So he had to make the light of the situation and try and joke about it, which was never something Alistair had been very good at because he liked to take himself seriously and he certainly didn’t think that the reasoning behind the whole thing had been a laughing matter at all.

“I trust that your summer was rather more pleasant?” Alistair continued with his usual charming smile, reserved for girls like Caelia, although his own holiday certainly wasn’t unpleasant.

8 Alistair Johnson Sounds like a no-brainer. 306 Alistair Johnson 0 5

Caelia

September 26, 2016 3:45 PM

You'd be surprised. by Caelia

Alistair’s words caused a slight blush to rise in Caelia’s cheeks. Ali was such a proper young gentlewizard and he would surely find Matthew to be a dishonorable aspect of Caelia’s life. She hated to lie, but she didn’t think that she could tell Alistair or Jack about Matthew for fear of an argument, and she didn’t think she’d make it the rest of her schooling at Sonora avoiding two of her friends simply because Matthew didn’t like her speaking to wizards.

“Oh,” she said, still concerned although she was sure that Ali was trying to reassure her. “Does it hurt much?” It looked rather awful, and Caelia knew enough about wizards to know that they didn’t like to feel emasculated by admitting such things like pain to witches, but it was her duty as both a witch and Alistair’s friend to make sure he wasn’t in pain and, if he was, to help him. “My grandmother gave me some potions, I could get them for you if you like?”

Caelia’s grandmother was a quite accomplished witch. She was everything Caelia knew she ought to aspire to be—a strong caster, proficient in potions, ladylike, organized, and she’d had quite the loving, advantageous marriage. And although Caelia knew she was ladylike and organized and that her marks in school were actually quite good as she was able to cast well and her talent for potions was not horrendous, she knew that her limitations in understanding things sometimes fell short of what a lady ought to understand. She couldn’t pick up on nuances, and she always believed what someone told her. She had a hard time writing essays, and it took a few tries to understand theories when explained. But she was trying to be better and, Caelia supposed, that was all she could do.

“Yes, I do suppose it was,” she replied, blushing further as she recalled her long, private walks with Matthew. They had never done much more kiss despite Matthew sometimes pressing her against a wall and attempting to take things further on several occasions, but Caelia felt rather proud in herself for holding her own—a lady waited until marriage, Grandmother Viviane had always said, and Caelia was determined to be a proper lady. “It was dreadfully hot. Though, Emrys did come by for a visit so that was nice and we caught up with a childhood friend.”

She supposed that Emrys and Matt had done some catching up too, so it wasn’t technically a lie, although she knew that Matthew hadn’t told her brother of their relationship of his own accord. Caelia didn’t think she would mind Emrys knowing, after all her older brother was a rather sentimental sort of wizard and more open-minded than most, but Matthew hadn’t wanted Emrys to know about them yet and so Caelia had agreed—for Matthew’s sake, that they would keep it even from her closest confidante.

“I hope that your entire summer wasn’t ruined defending a lady’s honor,” she said, wanting to direct the conversation away from where she might slip up about her own, chaste tryst. “Although it is rather admirable, I’m sure there were several happier times?”

10 Caelia You'd be surprised. 307 Caelia 0 5

Alistair

October 02, 2016 1:43 PM

I'm sure I would so let's keep me in the dark, okay? by Alistair

“I’ve had worse,” Alistair smiled, not referring to fights because getting into those was not normal behaviour for him but instead thinking back to the immense pain he’d suffered after that bludger incident in his first year. His current bruises did give him some discomfort, especially since they were still quite fresh, but it was nothing he couldn’t cope with. “Thank you but don’t worry - I’ll just suck it up.”

He wasn’t going to pretend it didn’t hurt at all because where was the fun in that? Receiving sympathy from the likes of Caelia was probably the only perk of having his features temporarily flawed. Alistair wasn’t so sure if she’d show the same amount of concern if she were to find out the real story behind his new look but he didn’t think she would, because he certainly wasn’t going to tell it, so that wasn’t something he needed to worry about.

The blush that had arisen in her fair cheeks had not gone altogether unnoticed but Alistair thought nothing much of it because he was used to having such effects on girls. He would never dream of questioning or commenting on that kind of thing and politely ignored it, far more interested in being attentive to what Caelia had to say anyway.

The mention of her catching up with a “childhood friend” did make him feel oddly uneasy, however, and he swiftly proceeded to raise his hand to scratch the back of his neck in a smooth easy motion. No matter how natural it had appeared, the Crotalus knew that the subconscious movement had nothing to do with an itch and was actually something of an excuse for him to tear his gaze from Caelia in a casual way that hopefully wouldn’t make him appear uncomfortable. He knew it was ridiculous and he was merely being affected by his own experiences but that wasn’t always enough to stop one’s brain whirring.

“That must have been nice,” he remarked nonchalantly, but inside he couldn’t help thinking about how childhood friends were all good and well when you were children but when they got to this age things never seemed to be quite so simple or easy. “I take it you hadn’t seen her, him, for some time?”

“Ah, how is your brother?” Alistair could hardly claim to be a friend of Emrys Lucan’s but since they had been in the same group for the challenges a few years ago and he’d always respected him on the basis of being Caelia’s brother, he thought they were at least acquaintances who would certainly acknowledge one another if they happened to meet now. Admittedly he had also been impressed by the older boy simply for dating the prettiest girl in the entire school. “Is he still, uh, courting Miss Spencer?”

It wasn’t that Alistair was interested in such gossip or anything of the sort but it was polite to show an interest in other people. There were a lot of people that he took absolutely no interest in whatsoever so a lot of the time he ended up disregarding this rule of courtesy but when it came to Caelia, even if he was actually only concerned with her, it paid to acknowledge her loved ones because they were an important part of her life and thus she would probably be happy talking about them. Happy was always good - happy girls were pretty girls.

“Yes, definitely. Definitely...” the Crotalus nodded assuredly but trailed off a little upon repeating the word because just seeing Caelia again was prompting him to think a lot about many of his actions over the summer and how, if he wasn’t careful, he would end up doing the same thing as Darius. No, he would never be like Darius.

It was largely for this reason that he didn’t mention Kimmy, but he already knew enough about girls to know that talking about other girls in front of them was not the best move anyway.

“I spent a lot of time at home,” Alistair recovered quickly. “It was really hot here too. I did a lot of Quidditch coaching with quite a few kids - I mean, they aren’t the level I’d like to be coaching but they’re probably the best I will get until I’m properly qualified. I guess it keeps me in good practise for the Crotalus team.”

8 Alistair I'm sure I would so let's keep me in the dark, okay? 306 Alistair 0 5

Caelia

October 07, 2016 11:15 PM

I wouldn't have it any other way. by Caelia

Caelia didn’t quite remember the Quidditch injuries Alistair had suffered earlier in his career and so his words concerned her. Was her friend one of those wizards to get in fights a lot? From their interactions at Sonora she hadn’t thought him to be the sort despite his not getting along with the Reinhardts who were, in general, rather kind people even if Arne Reinhardt did get surly from time to time and liked to be sassy. She let it go because he seemed to want to be done with the conversation, but she knew she would be watching him closely from now on—if Alistair was getting himself into trouble she wanted to be there to help him get out of it.

“It was a nice visit,” she replied, thinking of when Emrys had insisted on lettering Grandmother Viviane let Matthew come in for tea. It wasn’t technically lying since she was referencing one particular visit that had lasted all of an hour and a half where Grandmother had been on her best behaviour by greeting Matthew politely and then retiring to her own parlour claiming headache and fatigue. And besides, how was Alistair to know of her loophole? “Emrys is well, they hadn’t seen each other for some time. He’s living in England now, near Charlotte’s home, you know?”

Emrys hadn’t told his family yet about his planned program in China and so all Caelia knew was that he was still working at the Whale and Pen and seeing Charlotte on a weekly if not daily basis. “I think they’re happy together, he always sounds happy when he writes home and the week he was home he couldn’t talk of anything else.”

She was glad to hear that Alistair also had a good break and smiled in response. “You do a lovely job with the team,” she complimented. “And not just the Crotali, also the Teppenpaws.” Caelia credited Ginger’s great ability to her Quidditch captain friend. “And even if the kids you worked with over the summer weren’t at a very high level it’s really good to get in experience now.” Caelia couldn’t help but think that volunteering one’s time to help younger, inexperienced children with things was a very noble pursuit and she was proud of Ali.

10 Caelia I wouldn't have it any other way. 307 Caelia 0 5