Glad to be back? [Tag: Juniper] on Teppenpaw Commons

Finn Scott

July 13, 2016 11:48 AM

Glad to be back? [Tag: Juniper] by Finn Scott

The midterm break had been a nice change from Sonora. Relaxing and fun days spent outdoors (when the weather permitted) combined with a lack of regular work had been a relief for Finn, who wasn’t the most academically-minded of students. There was a reason he wasn’t in Aladren! However, the highlight of Finn’s holiday had definitely been the chance to see all of his family again. Whilst not being cripplingly homesick, he had missed them during his first term at Sonora. Finn was a very family-oriented boy, and was close to his parents but also grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins, all of whom lived nearby to Finn’s family home. He’d also enjoyed seeing the family horses again, and had indulged in numerous cuddles with their dog, a beagle named Ziggy who lived for attention and food. Finn had named her when he was much younger, and although he had no idea why Ziggy had been the chosen name, he supposed he could have done much worse.

It had been quite hard leaving all his family for a second time, but it was easier than when he’d started Sonora. Finn supposed this was as he now knew what Sonora was actually like, so there was no fear of the unknown to add to the mix of feelings. Once he was on the flying wagon, he started to realise that he was sort-of looking forward to going back. Focusing on that positive thought rather than the vague feelings of homesickness that had started already, Finn had decided to think about what the rest of the year had in store for him. And promptly started panicking about the ball.

A few deep breaths had sufficed to control the panic, and Finn was able to reassure himself that, logically speaking, no one would expect a first year to ask anyone in a romantic way. While he wasn’t averse to the idea of a girlfriend, the idea was still a little daunting, and he didn’t think he really knew anyone well enough yet for that. However, he didn’t want to go alone, and so he’d have to find someone who would be happy to go with him as a friend.

The returning feast had pushed thoughts of the ball from his head, but he continued pondering the question on his way back to the common room. The person he was closest to at Sonora, or at least had spoken to the most, was probably Juniper. Finn reckoned they got on well, and they’d hopefully have fun at the ball. And she was a Brockert, so his grandfather wouldn’t be disappointed at all. He resolved to talk to her about the ball at some point, to see if she was interested, although he was aware that for all he knew she could already have a date.

Speak – or rather think – of the devil: Juniper was in the common room when Finn entered! He walked over to her and sat down on one of the sofas. “Hey Juniper! How was your break?” he asked, smiling at her and finding that he was glad to see her again. “Was your horse pleased to see you? I’m guessing you did a lot of riding?”

9 Finn Scott Glad to be back? [Tag: Juniper] 347 Finn Scott 1 5

Juniper Brockert

July 24, 2016 8:49 PM

Hahah, no. by Juniper Brockert

Juniper's midterm had been far from perfect. While she'd been with her horse again, spending every possible moment if not riding her, brushing her and just being in Butterscotch's company as well of that of the other horses, she'd also been forced to attend dreadful parties that made her sick with fear. Not even just family ones, but ones with other members of society with kids around her age. Parties full of girls like her yearmates, most of whom seemed pretty snobby.

She was afraid of them. Being at school and exposed to people every day had made things worse, not better. All it did was confirm her fears. That people were nasty and mean. Being around them only made Juniper want to hide even more than she had before coming to Sonora. She was even more terrified of talking in front of them, that they'd laugh at her, then she was when her classmates back when they were an unknown quantity.

So, of course Juniper had not wanted to go back to Sonora. At least with parties-awful as they were-she got to go home when it was over, say good night to Butterscotch and the rest and go to bed in her own room. At school she was stuck, not that Georgia was all that bad, better than most of the other girls, but she was still another human being and so Juniper was uncomfortable around her. Even if she wasn't nearly as bad as the Ariannas.

The first year entered the common room and took a seat at the edge of one of the couches. She hoped her eyes weren't all red and puffy, she'd been crying pretty often since the moment she had left home. Actually, before that since Juniper had cried herself to sleep the night before she'd had to return. She was actually completely terrified that she'd had start all over again and people would see. Mother would not be pleased about her crying in public and of course, Juniper didn't want to be mocked by the Ariannas. Which was basically how she thought of the lot of them, even if only two were actually named Arianna.

She felt a presence sit next to her and took a deep breath to keep from runnning away in fear. Juniper reminded herself that there were no Ariannas here. This was Teppenpaw where kindness was a requirement. Still, that didn't mean it was easier to be around people. Fortunately she noticed that the person was Finn, who she was almost not afraid of.

The Teppenpaw even managed a nervous smile. " It was all right and I did. That part was wonderful." Juniper looked down at the ground. "I miss her terribly already. The rest of the horses too." She looked back up at him "What about you? How was yours?" Truth be told, she'd rather hear about Finn than speak about herself, since basically the only good parts were the horse parts-and she supposed she was happy to see Father again. Not that she didn't love Mother and vice-versa-after all, didn't all parents love their kids-but their relationship was more complicated.

That was the trouble with humans.

11 Juniper Brockert Hahah, no. 345 Juniper Brockert 0 5

Finn

July 27, 2016 5:59 PM

I have a suggestion by Finn

“I had a really great holiday,” replied Finn enthusiastically. “Even if it was a bit weird being at home again at first, after not having seen everyone for so long. Not a bad sort of weird, just…” he trailed off, feeling like he wasn’t doing a very good job of explaining the way he’d felt a little out of place, just at first as it hadn’t taken long to feel like he’d never been away. “I did quite a bit of riding too,” he added. The riding hadn’t been the absolute best part of his holiday as Juniper’s choice of adjectives seemed to suggest it had been hers, but he’d enjoyed being back in the saddle again, although he had felt a little sore the day after his first ride of the holidays. He obviously hadn’t used his riding muscles in a while!

Thinking back to his earlier train of thoughts, Finn decided to take the bull by the horns and ask Juniper to the ball now. It was just the two of them talking, with nobody else particularly nearby, and he probably wouldn’t get a better opportunity. Besides, he’d feel a lot happier once everything was sorted, whether for the better or worse, and once he no longer had the need to ask her hanging over him like some sort of oppressive and scary cloud of panic. Why did it have to be boys who did the asking?

“I-” Finn stopped, and started to rethink his decision. He hadn’t mentioned his plans to anyone, so no one would know if he backed out now. He could just go alone, or see if Jozua wanted to go with his roommate – although Jozua was spending quite a lot of time with Lily, so they might be going together. No, Finn was just going to have to man up and ask Juniper. After all, he did actually want to go with her, so if she said yes it would be worth it.

“I, um, was wondering if you want to go to the ball with me?” he asked. “If you’re going, that is. It might be fun?” Internally, he winced at how badly that had come out. Hopefully the delivery wouldn’t put Juniper off the idea. He’d noticed by now that she was more than a little shy, but hopefully not so much that she wouldn’t want to go to the ball with him. It would be a shame if she didn’t want to go – she’d miss out on what would hopefully be a great evening!

9 Finn I have a suggestion 347 Finn 0 5

Juniper

August 14, 2016 7:37 PM

I have a reply. by Juniper

Juniper genuinely smiled to hear about Finn's holiday. She really did like him and did hope they got to be friends even though she wasn't quite completely comfortable with him yet. So she was quite glad to hear he'd had a good time. Besides, she generally wanted people to be happy. Just because Juniper was scared of them didn't mean she wanted another living being to suffer in any way.

Not only that, but had Finn not had a good break, she didn't know how she'd react. Obviously, she'd feel bad for him and want him to feel better but wouldn't know at all how to go about comforting him. People often gave hugs, but Juniper didn't know how he would take that, if it would creep him out and then he'd think badly of her. She couldn't really afford to lose one of the few people that maybe she could feel safe with. Fortunately, it was a moot point. "Good."

Suddenly, FInn seemed a bit nervous. What had happened? Mentally, Juniper ran through her actions of the last few minutes, wondering if she'd done something wrong. Yet, she could not figure out what she possibly could have done. Usually she was the one nervous about others. Of course, it was not necessarily anything specific, Juniper just tended to be nervous about being around people in general. She would assume that was what it was for Finn too, except that he'd never seemed all that nervous around her. The first year quickly scanned the room, wondering if someone had appeared who was the source, which in turn made Juniper more anxious as well.

However, she spotted nobody and turned back to Finn just as he asked his question. "S-sure." Of course Juniper didn't really want to go to the ball at all but knew that Mother would be displeased if she didn't. If she was going to go, it was better to be with Finn then to stand around by herself, off in a corner where she couldn't be seen. Honestly Juniper didn't know how long she would even last in such a situation, since she wouldn't be quite as trapped as she was at balls she'd attended over Midterm given she could easily leave at any time and return to her room to hide out for the rest of the night. Still, she didn't want to hurt Finn's feelings and generally felt safer with him than most.

OOC-Sorry it took so long.

11 Juniper I have a reply. 345 Juniper 0 5

Finn

August 16, 2016 6:27 PM

I like that reply! by Finn

Finn grinned at Juniper as she agreed to go to the ball with him. She’d actually said yes! He felt light with relief at having managed to ask her, and at having received a positive answer. He’d almost convinced himself that she was going to say no, but now he was definitely glad he’d ignored that pessimistic voice. The ball was suddenly seeming like it was going be a lot more fun - provided, of course, that Juniper was as excited for it as Finn was.

Juniper hadn’t given much away. Her response was short and to the point, which was good for Finn’s nerves as he didn’t think he could have coped if she’d left him hanging for a little bit, but he wasn’t too sure if his question had been welcome or not. Although, if she didn’t want to go with him then she surely would have turned him down? He decided to go for the more optimistic approach, and assumed that her agreeing to attend the ball with him meant that she liked spending time with him. He definitely enjoyed spending time with her. She wasn’t too loud and crazy, which weren’t bad attributes but things he preferred in moderation, and also she seemed to share his interest in animals.

Finn didn’t know a great deal about girls and what it meant to them when a boy asked them to a ball. They were definitely a lot more complex than animals. Things were fairly clear-cut there as to what a female thought about a male. Of course, Finn had grown up close with his cousins, who were girls, but they were both younger than him and conversations about that sort of thing hadn’t ever come up. Maybe in a few years’ time Rihana, the eldest of the two, might be able to help him out with situations such as this, but for now she was just too young. But he wasn’t exactly that old himself. He and Juniper were only first years, so people probably wouldn’t think much about them going to the ball together. Gossip probably focussed on the older students, and none of his classmates were going out or anything as far as he knew, so he didn’t think that anyone would start making assumptions about him and Juniper. Still, he resolved to ask Jozua later if there was anything that was expected of him now that he was taking Juniper to the ball. He’d sort of assumed his roommate would be going with Lily, so even if he didn’t have the answers to Finn’s questions they could puzzle them out together.

“That’s great,” he said, realising he should probably reply to Juniper. “What do you think it will be like? Do you reckon it will be very serious?” Finn hadn’t been to a great many balls. In the Scott family, children only tended to go to the fun parties, waiting until they were older and more mature to go to the society balls. Finn didn’t really mind this, as the proper balls sounded quite boring and full of important people on their best behaviour. However, he thought the Sonora ball would probably be a mix between the two, as there was such an age range of people going.

OCC: Thanks to Joella for her help!

9 Finn I like that reply! 347 Finn 0 5