Valentine Duell
December 05, 2020 7:30 PM
So... Hi? [Stanley] by Valentine Duell
To say that Valentine was nervous would be a fairly massive understatement. She had found one of the benches in the gardens that she thought was between the school building and wherever the Pecari students lived. She was sitting on that bench and waiting for.... she wasn't really sure what. She knew who, she was waiting for Stanley O'Malley, but what that meeting would lead to she wasn't sure and it frighted her a bit. She should have gone to talk to Aunt Giselle about it. Aunt Giselle could have told her everything she wanted to know... but Aunt Giselle would probably tell Mama, or worse... Papa.She'd talked to Lavender. That had been good. She hadn't really talked to anyone else about it though and that seemed strange to her. It just didn't feel like something that should get talked about a lot with lots of people. At least not yet. Maybe after she talked to Stanley, then it would be better to talk to people. What would Bonabelle say? Her fingers played with the folded paper in her gloved hands. They didn't seem to want to stay still. Her legs bounced of their own accord as well. Fine, if they were going to be that way. She stood up, brushed her skirt smooth and walked a few paces one direction, then the other.
Moving felt good. She didn't have anything to be nervous about. Right? Maybe she shouldn't yet... maybe she should talk to Aunt Giselle first. She could pinky-promise her into silence, right? She wouldn't break a pinky-promise would she? On the verge of running off, she spotted someone approaching and froze. Was it? It was. Stanley was coming! Running was no longer an option, could she hide? A quick glance around didn't really reveal any particularly good hiding places. No! she wasn't going to hide. She was going to do this.
Valentine tried to very quickly fix everything about herself and put on her best smile to greet the Pecari. She was sure her nervousness was glaring like a beacon. 'Hi!" She called out to the boy, "I... I have something for you, Stanley." She held out the note to him, trying to make her hand not tremble.
Inside the paper the box was checked for YES.
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Valentine Duell
So... Hi? [Stanley]
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Stanley O'Malley
December 06, 2020 4:56 PM
Hi!! by Stanley O'Malley
Stanley was on his way out of the Pecari Common Room. He had emerged out into the Labyrinth Gardens and hadn’t gotten too far when he noticed a girl by a bench. But not any girl. It was Valentine. Stanley was pretty chill about girls usually - at least, so far in his life - but he felt a little surge of nerves rocket through him. He was sure Lavender had to have delivered his note by now, but he hadn’t heard anything back yet. That was, until now.She looked even more nervous than he felt, though, which somehow brought him a little ease. His gaze followed her outstretched arm to see the paper she held, which he received with as much calmness as he could muster. Stanley smiled, offering a little head nod, as he took the paper from her. He knew what it was, what it had to be. He slowly unfolded it, and…
“YES!”
The Pecari was blissfully unaware of the fact that he had shouted that out loud, thinking it had remained an internal exclamation. Still, his actions mirrored his enthusiasm, as he tossed his arms around her and picked her up, spinning her around once before returning her to her feet. “That’s awesome,” Stanley grinned, his smile bright and eager. “So, girlfriend, do you want to hang out tonight? Can I walk you wherever you’re going next? Can I hold your hand?”
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Stanley O'Malley
Hi!!
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Valentine Duell
December 06, 2020 6:00 PM
Now what? by Valentine Duell
Valentine watched carefully as Stanley took the paper. He looked calm, as if absolutely nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Maybe it wasn't? Had any of the other girls gotten similar letters from him? No, despite his calm exterior, there was something in his smile, in his eyes, in the slowness of his opening the paper... and definitely something in the shout of exultation that echoed about the gardens. A lot of her nervousness dropped away at that shout, she smiled instead and suppressed a giggle. He'd been just as unsure about this as she had been.Had been? Was she not unsure anymore? Mostly, but yet... her train of thought was interrupted by his arms closing about her and finding herself being lifted from the ground and spun around. She released an uncontrolled squeal as she was whirled around and set back on the ground. He was grinning away and she found herself smiling as well as she took a step back to get her feet under herself properly again and remove the 'disoriented 1' condition on her.
A chill ran down her spine as he address her as 'girlfriend' was that what it meant? Yes, of course, that meant he was her 'boyfriend'. Ohmygosh, she had a boyfriend? Well, she was a teenager now, teenagers did things like that, right? So she decided to revel in the moment and deal with any other unease later, she was growing up and she was still being good.
"Okay, boyfriend," she replied the term coming out perhaps a bit awkward. "We could, what did you have in mind?" Wait... was she meeting up with Bonabelle for studying tonight? No, that was tomorrow. As for where she was going next... she wasn't quite sure. She hadn't been sure how long she was going to need to wait for Stanley to arrive, so she didn't really have any pressing agenda. She should go to the library to get some more studying done.. yay... but if Stanley wanted to come along, they couldn't very well talk there. There was much talking to be doing now! Where else could she be going? MARS maybe? That would work.
"I'm heading up to MARS, I have a project to work on for the art club." She gave
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Valentine Duell
Now what?
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Stanley O'Malley
December 13, 2020 5:57 AM
Not sure. I didn't think I'd get this far. by Stanley O'Malley
Stanley masked a nervous gulp. It had been all fun and games saying the g-f word, but when Valentine said the b-f word, it was suddenly incredibly more real, and also just kinda weird. He had a girlfriend! Yes! That was the goal. But now he was somebody’s boyfriend? Stanley had not considered this result. It was what he wanted, obviously, but it was so grown up, and it would require so much effort to maintain, probably. Time to stop goofing around with the boys. He had to be a man.Valentine was willing to hang out with him tonight, which was a good sentiment for your girlfriend to have. “Sure, sounds cool!” Stanley agreed. He wasn’t much of an artist, but if Valentine was, that was something good to know. He could buy her art supplies for Christmas or something. She offered her hand, and despite his generally casual composure, Stanley felt a dopey grin creep onto his face as he took it in his own. Totally embarrassing story time, but he definitely had never held a girl’s hand except for, like, Mom, but that was only in parking lots and Mom didn’t even really count as being a girl. She was a mom, which was different. And even this event had stopped a couple years ago.
As they started walking, Valentine asked about his sister. Okay, yeah, that was a good, basic, sort of getting to know you topic. “Yeah, Charlotte’s, like, six I think? Technically it’s just the three of us, but we always had, like, Tommy and Theo around. It kinda always just felt like having more brothers, although they’re sorta our uncles.” Tommy was actually literally his uncle, but that was objectively weird since he was older than Tommy. And Theo was, like, his god-uncle, which was only partially a thing? Okay, so maybe their family was a little more complicated than “basic” would have suggested. “Lavender too, obviously,” he added. And Lavender was, technically, his dad’s cousin, not his, but just saying cousin was easier than trying to figure out all that “BLANK cousin BLANK times removed” stuff.
“I can’t imagine not having a house full of kids,” Stanley commented. “What’s it like being an only child? Do you like it?” It probably meant more attention from your parents, but the Pecari wasn’t sure he really needed any more attention. Mom was weird and if she didn’t have other kids to distribute her pestering/attention to, she’d probably make him, like, wear matching outfits with her or something.
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Stanley O'Malley
Not sure. I didn't think I'd get this far.
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Valentine Duell
December 13, 2020 10:39 AM
Then I guess you'll have to think quick. by Valentine Duell
Valentine was unprepared for the shiver that ran up her arm and down her spine as Stanley's fingers wrapped around her hand. She was holding hands with her boyfriend! The whole situation felt weird and strange and wonderful and frightening. The dopey smile on Stanley's face quelled some of the butterflies that were still swirling about her stomach. His expression on top of everything else that was going on nearly brought out a nervous giggle from her, but she did her best to squash it. That probably wasn't appropriate at the moment. This might be the start of something big.Ohmygosh... could it? No...maybe? She listened to him talk about his family as they walked. He had siblings and brother-like uncles, and cousins. Could she, far in the future, be a part of all of that? That was something she'd always longed for. When he turned the tables on her, a brief sour feeling shot through her. "No." She replied simply and perhaps a little sharply at first to his question about liking being an only child. That wasn't nice, she should be nice to people and especially her boyfriend. Val took a breath and did her best to purge that big of sourness.
"I'm sorry." she continued apologetically, "It was just rather lonely growing up. For a few years, that I can't really remember, I had Aunt Giselle." That was a story she wasn't sure she really wanted to get into at the moment, but she'd been four so not remembering was hardly exceptional. "Other than that, I just had Mama and Papa. They were great, but had grown-up things to do. Aunt Paige is a muggle and didn't really spend a lot of time with us. Aunt Jhonice.." was Aunt Jhonice, but she suspected that wasn't a very good explanation. "was always traveling for her stories." She sighed, "And we Aunt Giselle just reunited with us. So.. no siblings, and no cousins for me either. I didn't like it at all," the dour expression on her face brightened a bit, "That was one of the reasons I was so excited to come here! There were going to be other people my own age to hang out with and get to know!"
"How about you?" Something in her wanted to change the subject, "What do you think about the school? Who's your favorite professor? What do you like to do when you're not in classes?" She was pretty sure she hadn't seen him in any of the clubs that she attended. Maybe he spent a lot of time in the library.
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Valentine Duell
Then I guess you'll have to think quick.
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Stanley O'Malley
December 13, 2020 1:24 PM
I can be smart or fast, but not both. by Stanley O'Malley
Aw, nuts. His question had clearly made Valentien sad. You weren’t supposed to make your girlfriend sad, especially not on day one, minute twelve of having a girlfriend. Strike one off Stanley’s good boyfriend card.He wanted to say he was sorry, because it was probably a stupid question - of course she didn’t like being alone! Who liked being alone? Even Wally appreciated Stanley’s company - and because it made her sad, but Valentine kept talking until she managed to switch the conversation to a new topic about classes, so he just used a sad “I’m sorry” facial expression to convey his remorse.
“It’s a good school,” he answered casually. “I think Defense Against the Dark Arts is my favorite class, so I guess that means Professor Brooding-Hawthorne’s my favorite professor. Y’know, the Defense one.” The right answer was probably Valentine’s aunt Giselle, but Stanley didn’t have Divinations as a second year and had literally never interacted with her except for the one Defense class she taught, so saying her would’ve just been a wussy, suck-up move.
The next question took a little more thought. What did he do outside of class? Not his homework, that was for sure. “Just hang out, mostly,” he answered sheepishly. “I like sports, so I go to that room in MARS a lot with the guys.” Especially now that Tommy was here, because Wally wasn’t especially big on sports, and somehow, it didn’t really seem like Theo’s thing either. Baseball gloves were very leathery, and the seams were too touchable. “You’re in clubs and stuff, aren’t you?” Depending on which ones, Stanley wasn’t above joining some stuff to hang out with her more.
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Stanley O'Malley
I can be smart or fast, but not both.
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Valentine Duell
December 14, 2020 5:14 PM
I will let you decide which you wish to be by Valentine Duell
Stanley looked really sad after she'd lost her temper and flown completely off the handle. Valentine grimaced a bit and tried to apologize with her facial expression as he began to talk about school. She involuntarily shuddered just a bit as Stanley informed her that his favorite class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. It wasn't a bad class... but it wasn't a very nice one either. She didn't like to think about all those bad things out there in the world. Each class she wondered if the subject matter was something that Aunt Giselle had to have dealt with when she was trapped and alone in Greece. As for his pick of teacher. Professor Brooding-Hawthorne was... a good teacher, but out of the two of them. She preferred Professor Brooding-Hawthorne. It was much easier to get away with hugs in potions class than DADA.He had made an interesting statement though, Did your favorite teacher always teach your favorite class? She had to ponder that a moment. Then she gave Stanley an encouraging smile. "Do you think they are always linked? I think my favorite class right now is potions, and as much as I like Professor Brooding-Hawthorne, I think I like Professor Xavier a little better." Still, Professor Xavier wasn't her favorite teacher. However she'd only had one class so far with her favorite, and sadly, that probably wasn't enough to count. "I know which will be my favorites next year though." She stated with clear determination.
She listened as he explained his out of class interests. "Sports?" She inquired a little confused, "Have you tried out for the Quidditch team?" She didn't recall seeing him there, but if he liked sports, that was the big one here. "I love it! It's great! You should try out!" She nodded along at his question about clubs. "I'm in one or two; Art, Gardening, Gaming, Dueling…" her voice drifted off as she realized she may have gone over 'one or two'. Was he going to think she was weird now? Was she 'doing too much?' What if Stanley didn't want to do any of it? Would she need to stop doing something to have time for a boyfriend?
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Valentine Duell
I will let you decide which you wish to be
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