Selina Skies
October 01, 2021 10:11 AM
Tumbleweed Trip by Selina Skies
The posters announcing the first trip to Tumbleweed had gone up shortly after the beginning of term. Parent/guardian signatures for such trips were gathered at enrollment, though a notification informing of the trip had also been sent out. It was not the ideal time for dress shopping, given that many of the students were likely to shoot up like they’d put in growth potion before the ball, and Selina had been sure to stress that they would have more opportunities to buy outfits. However, it wasn’t a bad opportunity, and certainly if they saw something they liked, they could take a note of the store and owl them for an accurate size later in the year.Ill-fitted dresses and robes were the lesser developmental concern, compared to the fact that many students hadn’t outgrown their tendencies to be stupid or impulsive—a process which took a long time in most people, and which she suspect would be a perpetual state of affairs for some students. Whilst warnings had been issued that bad behaviour might result in suspension from future trips, she knew that teenage brains were spectacularly bad at reasoning the logical thing to do in the face of temptation. She would be keeping a closer eye on some than others.
Once they had travelled to town—by Floo for those who were used to it, and by a borrowed, self-driving car-ish type thing for those who were not—she gathered the students in front of the small tourist office.
“Alright, welcome to Tumbleweed! As we discussed at school, this is an old west ghost town. The main draw of coming here is to learn about life in a different era, from those who really lived it. As well as the town museum, you can visit any of the buildings, and chat with the resident ghosts. Today, there’s also a market in the town hall.” This was the main reason they’d chosen this weekend, as it added a potential source of ball outfits, snacks, and curios, over the usual ghost-themed souvenirs of the town. She'd also heard tell of there being a pet shop with, fortunately, live animals on the edge of the town.
“You will need to stick with a partner or group throughout the day. You are free to visit wherever you like in the town, but each area or attraction will have a designated staff member. Please check in with them on your way in or out of an area, so that we can keep track of you.” As she spoke, she passed out some town maps, which showed who the person responsible for each area was.
“Any questions? Everyone got a map and a partner? Alright, off you go, and have a good day.”
OOC: Welcome to Tumbleweed. This is a literal ghost town with an old west theme. Known places inlcude a saloon, which acts an all-ages-friendly refreshment spot, a museum, and town hall. The ghosts staff the towns and do historical re-enactment. You are free to invent buildings, ghosts or things that are occurring within the town, so long as they are reasonable and on-theme. It's primarily a tourist destination, so the ghosts are very used to people and are there to put on a show.
Any questions, ask in chatzy.
Subthreads: Happy happy fun times! by Xavier Lundstrom with Hansel Hexenmeister
Outside the shops [Alexi] by Iris Cobb with Alexei Vorontsov
Spirits and shops! by Verdillia Scurlock with Lydia Priory
Looking to have some fun! by Anya Delachene with Ellie Alperton
Bro time! (tag Henry) by Oz Spellman with Henry Spellman
Double trouble by Stanley O'Malley with Wally O'Malley, Bonabelle Row
Hanging out [Lavender] by Valentine Duell with Lavender Brockert
This is less lame than most stuff. [Billy] by Reighleigh Mae Thorn with Billy Cobb
Ghosts of the past (tag Professor Brooding-Hawthorne) by Dorian Montoir with Mary Brooding-Hawthorne
Ann & Ann Apparel by Annabelle Pierce with Mara Morales, Morgan Garrett
Alexander, all the twins are pairing off and we’re siblings in the same grade, too by Mab with Alexander Pierce-Beales
I did the thing. [Val] by Bonabelle Row with Valentine Duell
Let's find some puppets! And museums! (Rosalynn and Lorena) by Isla Brockert
Want to hang? (Jezebel) by Bridget Ferguson with Jezebel Reed-Fischer
Of badges and babies... by Esme Brockert
Get in, cool people, we're going shopping. by Jessica Hayles
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Selina Skies
Tumbleweed Trip
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Stanley O'Malley
October 03, 2021 12:05 PM
Double trouble by Stanley O'Malley
It took a long time, but things were finally okay again. Like, a really long time. Stanley was surprised how long Wally stayed mad at him. Almost as surprised as he had been when Wally literally punched him in the face. At first, Stanley didn’t understand why, so his only reaction was to be mad too. So for the first time in their lives, the twins didn’t really talk much or spend time together for a while. But then Stanley got over it - he tended to get over things pretty quickly - but Wally didn’t. And that just didn’t make any sense. He had to remember that Wally felt things very deeply, and while Stanley wasn’t sure why he felt the things he did, Wally was deeply affected by them. It was stuff like that where he was reminded how different they were. Sometimes Stanley just thought of Wally like another Stanley, because they were twins and they did almost everything together. But they were different.Then, eventually, he found out why Wally was so upset about the way Stanley had treated Valentine. Then Stanley felt bad. Really bad. Between that and how clearly pissed off Bonabelle had been after he and Val broke up, it made Stanley do some thinking about stuff. He tended not to like to do that kind of thinking, because it just made you sad, but this time, he had to do it. And he felt bad, but he deserved it.
But some time had passed now, and things seemed to be okay. Valentine and Bonabelle seemed to be… doing well, so he supposed things were fine, although he did wonder what Wally thought about that but didn’t dare ask him, afraid to bring something bad back up again. Today, it was just fun times with his favorite twin brother. “Got the map?” he asked with a very Stanley smile.
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Stanley O'Malley
Double trouble
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Wally O'Malley
October 03, 2021 12:05 PM
Trouble may be right by Wally O'Malley
It took a long time, but things were finally okay again. Wally didn’t like the way Stanley had treated Valentine - or the way Stanley had dated Valentine - but he couldn’t hold onto that grudge forever. Yes, he still had an enormous crush on Valentine, but Stanley was the only brother he was ever going to get, so he forgave him. It just took him a while. At least after he had finally explained why exactly he had been so upset, Stanley seemed to get it. There was a lot of emotional stuff that Stanley just didn’t seem to understand, but he was sharp enough to at least process what you told him. He just didn’t do well to pick it up on his own. And that was okay, because Wally knew that and was used to it. They might have the same parents and the same birthday, but the two boys were not the same by any stretch of the imagination.They agreed to hang out for the Tumbleweed trip, so that was something. It had been a pretty long time since they did anything just the two of them. Even now that they were hanging out again, they often had Tommy or Theo or some combination, or Gabriel, or they asked Henry and Oz to hang out sometimes as well. So they figured a brothers’ day was overdue.
They were just about set to go, when Stanley asked Wally if he had the map. The Crotalus blinked. “You said you were grabbing one. When Professor Skies passed them out, you told me not to grab one.” He hadn’t actually verbally said it, because the professor was talking, but Stanley had put an arm in front of Wally and taken one himself. “What did you do with the map?”
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Wally O'Malley
Trouble may be right
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Stanley O'Malley
October 03, 2021 12:11 PM
Nononono by Stanley O'Malley
At first, Wally only blinked, and Stanley blinked right back. He had forgotten all about that interaction his brother described, but in any case, his hands were now empty, completely devoid of map. “Ah. Right,” he admitted, glancing around at his feet in case he had dropped it and not realized. That wasn’t a great start to his day with his brother. Wally had told him when they talked that he needed Stanley to be less careless, and he wasn’t doing a great job at that so far.“Ummm…” he fumbled, trying to fill time. He could feel Wally getting annoyed at him. Or maybe he was just imagining it. He wasn’t great at picking up on nonverbal cues, but since he and Wally had their big talk, he was trying to be more aware and felt himself growing (comparatively) hyper vigilant. He really was trying, but sometimes Stanley was just…. Stanley. Forgetful and inconsiderate and dumb. Wally did say there was a difference between “careless” and “carefree” and that Stanley was both and one of them was admirable. But the Pecari wasn’t really sure if he understood the difference. He needed to get it figured out.
“W-well, it’s fine!” he chirped, forcing a grin back to his face as he ran his hand once through his smooth brown hair. “We’ll just wing it, huh?” That was carefree, right? “We totally got this. We don’t need a map. Come on!” And with that, he grabbed Wally by the arm and led the way to their adventure.
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Stanley O'Malley
Nononono
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Wally O'Malley
October 03, 2021 12:24 PM
You're alright... for now. by Wally O'Malley
Wally suppressed a sigh. This was very Stanley behavior, and he supposed he should have come to expect it by now, so really maybe the fault was partially on him for not just taking a map anyway. Wally had the clearer head, and usually, the times they got into trouble were when he did what Stanley said.He tried not to be visibly frustrated, knowing how hard Stanley was trying. Or should have been trying, anyway, since they had a big, honest conversation. They were growing up now, and there were things that they had to get worked out in their habits before they cemented into their adult personalities. Wally loved his brother dearly, but he really hoped he could figure out some common sense in the next couple years. Stanley wasn’t an idiot or anything, but he often stayed in his own little world and didn’t consider how his actions might affect others. A pretty typical young boy trait, in Wally’s opinion, that he had somehow skipped. Maybe Stanley just got all of it in the womb.
He was about to suggest they go back to Professor Skies and grab another copy, but Stanley was already gung-ho to go and grabbing his arm. Wally was physically led forward, and he supposed that meant their adventure was afoot. Hopefully they wouldn’t be able to get too lost, since there would be other students and Sonora staff around Tumbleweed as well. So he supposed it would be okay, although he did wish they had a map.
“Where do you want to go first?” Wally asked as they wandered. Mom was going to take them shopping for the Ball over midterm break, so they didn’t really need to look at dress robes or suits or anything like that, so most likely they would just be wandering around or getting food today. Probably both, many times.
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Wally O'Malley
You're alright... for now.
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Stanley O'Malley
October 03, 2021 12:31 PM
Phew! by Stanley O'Malley
Stanley grinned, happy to find that Wally was not (at least, as far as he could tell) getting mad at him yet. That was good. He needed to be good, and be a good brother. He hated not having Wally by his side - it was already lame enough that they had to be in separate Houses, so not having him to hang around with the rest of the time too was total crap. Stanley loved his brother. He wanted to do better.“Not sure,” the Pecari replied. He hadn’t thought that far ahead, as often was his way. “We could just wander around for a bit, then maybe get some lunch?” Stanley suggested, unbeknownst to him of Wally’s exact train of thought providing the same answer.
“Hey, this ball thing,” Stanley mentioned with an attempt at being casual. “Have you thought much about it? I mean, it’s probably gonna be pretty lame and whatever, but it is the only one we get to go to.” The midsummer events rotated every four years, which meant there had been a ball before they came and there would be one after they graduated. “As students, I mean,” he added. They had come to one or two before when they were little tiny people, back when Mom was on staff. Stanley didn’t remember too much about it other than a lot of bright colors and swishy dresses. But the balls were apparently pretty special, since Mom and Dad had gotten together officially at one of theirs.
“What do you want to do for that? I mean, are you thinking about asking anyone, or do you wanna go stag and loiter?”
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Stanley O'Malley
Phew!
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Wally O'Malley
October 03, 2021 12:37 PM
Yes, phew. by Wally O'Malley
Wally cringed internally at the question. Did he want to go to the Ball - their only Ball - with any particular girl? Well, yeah, duh. But Valentine was probably not on the market for a date, especially not a date with him. For one thing, he was the brother of the boy who dumped her. And two, she had, like, a girlfriend apparently now. From what Wally could tell, Valentine and Bonabelle were, like, dating now. And of course, Wally had no problem with girls liking girls - Mom had a cousin who was a boy who liked boys - but when that particular girl was dating a girl, it was sort of a problem for his own personal dating game. (Which, side note, he hated that phrase. Dating wasn’t a “game”, but he didn’t know a better way to think of it. His odds, maybe?)“I don’t know,” he mumbled, thinking he didn’t really need to say the obvious. “Tommy’s definitely gonna go with Rosalynn, so I had the thought that maybe we could take her roommates so we could all just hang out? But there’s only two of them, so that leaves either you, me, or Theo out, and also one of them is a Brockert.” Wally was a little better at it than Stanley, but he could never remember how closely related they were to whom. Dad’s biological mom (not Grandma Jamie) was a Brockert. “I’m not sure what Theo will want to do though - I haven’t talked to him about it yet.” Maybe the best case scenario was for Stanley to take Lorena, Theo to take Isla, and Wally go hide in bed until the whole darn thing was over so he didn’t have to see Valentine dancing with Bonabelle instead of him.
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Wally O'Malley
Yes, phew.
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Stanley O'Malley
October 03, 2021 12:45 PM
Still not super sure about this, though by Stanley O'Malley
Stanley thought for a moment, listening to Wally weigh their options. He talked about it so pragmatically that for a second, Stanley almost forgot all that stuff he was thinking earlier about how deeply and personally Wally felt everything. This was a discussion about love! Kinda. But it was about dates to a school dance! So that was sort of like love, at least when you were fourteen anyway.“Maybe Theo could take Lavender?” Stanley suggested. “And then we… hope it’s not weird to take Isla. Or we could ask Dad.” That would be a weird conversation to have. Hey Dad, am I distantly enough related to this girl to take her to the ball? But it wasn’t like they had actual romantic interests in her, Stanley and Wally were just trying to find the best way for their group to hang out without anybody being left out of a pair. Was that weird? It was maybe still weird.
They had been walking for a while now, making some sort of crooked or broken loop. Stanley thought they should have gotten back to the same spot they had left from by now, but that was not the case. “Uhhh, do you know where we are now?” he asked Wally nervously. Just then, his stomach gurgled loudly to announce its presence. “Maybe we should try to find a snack. I’d kill for a grilled cheese or something.”
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Stanley O'Malley
Still not super sure about this, though
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Wally O'Malley
October 03, 2021 12:50 PM
Now there may be trouble [TAG: Anyone!] by Wally O'Malley
Wally considered what Stanley said. His brother had a good idea, and it was nice to find a way to include Lavender, although she might want to hang out more with her friend Bonabelle than with them, and then that meant Bonabelle and Valentine might come join their group, and then things just got messy for a thousand and seven different reasons. Plus, it was in fact probably weird for one of them to take Isla. Distant or not, being knowingly related to your date was a bit of an off-putter for an evening.Stanley stopped walking somewhat abruptly, and Wally narrowly avoided his shoulder colliding with Stanley’s. They had at last wandered enough that Stanley, mapless, did not know where they were anymore. Well, that was quicker than expected. But to be fair, looking around, Wally wasn’t exactly sure either. He combed one nervous hand through his messy black hair and glanced around, although his gaze was stolen back to Stanley when his stomach rumbled so loud that Wally practically felt it. Or maybe that was the twin thing. Wait, was he hungry now too? Ugh.
Wally looked around for something that might point them in the direction of food, but he didn’t see any helpful signs. What he did see was a familiar face from Sonora. Wally’s own stomach now echoed Stanley's stomach’s sentiment. Well, he hated to be the one to approach someone, but he was getting pretty hungry, and he just wanted to find the food as soon as possible. “Come on,” he said to Stanley, heading in the person’s direction.
“Excuse me,” he said very politely. “Can you help us find the food area? We lost our map.”
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Wally O'Malley
Now there may be trouble [TAG: Anyone!]
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Bonabelle Row
October 03, 2021 8:28 PM
I'm looking for trouble. by Bonabelle Row
Bonabelle was left basically alone for today's trip, which she thought was really lame. Of all the times Val could have chosen to hang out with someone other than Bonabelle, she picked the weekend they were going on a trip and could have an ice cream parlor date? Of course, they were still planning to meet up later and Val had not-so-subtly suggested that Bonabelle might be able to use this time boy-hunting (she hadn't said it like that but Bonabelle thought it was an accurate metaphor) so she wasn't supposed to really be alone for long but still. She followed a group of students with no particular group as they headed into town, occasionally splitting off to join other friends they passed by or meeting up with someone else in the loner group. She was stretching herself up from the back of the group, looking around to see if there was anyone she might be able to split off with, when Wally approached her.She was surprised by the touch but the fact that he was hungry suddenly made a lot more sense. She wondered whether the fact that her normally spiraling hair was not tumbling around her shoulders today but instead pinned up into a bun, meant to protect it from the sudden shift to desert temperatures and humidities. It would also, she thought, give her a better sense of what sort of dresses looked good on her since she thought she'd probably wear her hair up for that. She still wasn't sure if she was actually going to wear a dress but thought she probably would and this was a good time to look, although she hoped Ema might go shopping with her properly over the break.
"I can show you," she told Wally, swallowing a mouthful of nerves and trying to keep a cool expression as she glanced back to the nearest professor to get the nod of approval indicating she could make her way off with the smaller group. She then turned back to the twins, pointed vaguely in the direction she had in mind (having been here before to meet her uncle the first time, she was familiar with some of the town's setup), and led the way. With her nerves well and truly swallowed, she set her mind into a more logical position and focused on the task she had been set: find a boy or boys. Valentine had had mixed thoughts on Stanley but he was one of the only boys Bonabelle actually spoke to so he seemed an easier choice than some. "So, are you both single?"
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Bonabelle Row
I'm looking for trouble.
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Stanley O'Malley
October 04, 2021 5:08 PM
I think we've all found it! by Stanley O'Malley
At first, Stanley was a little miffed at Wally because he was super lame, and Stanley was a manly man who did not ask for directions. He wasn’t sure why, but he’d seen it on enough Muggle TV shows when he’d had the chance, and the stereotype had ingrained itself in his young, impressionable brain. But then - “Wally, don’t!” he urged through his teeth - he realized who exactly his brother had, clearly without intention, approached.To be fair, Bonabelle had been facing the other way, and she had her hair up, which she didn’t really do very often. Actually, it looked kinda cute. But that was besides the point, because Stanley was maybe slightly afraid of her. He didn’t really think Bonabelle would ever do anything to him, but after being as mad as she had been when he and Valentine broke up, he was pretty sure that if anything did ever happen to him, she’d be the number one suspect. On his most paranoid days, he carried a note in his pocket that said Bonabelle did it, just in case he ever turned up floating in the MARS water room.
Surprisingly, she was pretty cool about showing them the way, and she started to turn to lead them. Then, she dropped a nuke.
Had Stanley already acquired a beverage and snack, one or both of them would have likely flown out his nose at that question. “Wha-!” he half-shrieked before he could compose himself. He could see Wally too had gone stiff, and looked even paler than usual. “I, uh, yeah, we are?” And then Idiot Stanley returned, and before he could help it, he asked, “Why?”
OOC: I can go again if you want, but I think it probably makes more sense to do one post per author back and forth, and I'll just trade off on who's the perspective character as it flows. If you want Wally to do something next, though, let me know in Chatzy.
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Stanley O'Malley
I think we've all found it!
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Bonabelle Row
October 05, 2021 2:10 PM
Perfect! by Bonabelle Row
Bonabelle raised her eyebrow at Stanley. Okay, so they weren't best friends, but it didn't seem like she'd asked a question that was so next level weird that he should freak out about it. Perhaps it was just his stupid tendency to want all the attention ever. He seemed to recover with a surprising degree of intelligence as he followed up with a better question and Bonabelle sighed to herself, relieved that she'd have a chance to explain herself."Valentine and I would like to date a boy, together or each. For the ball at least." She shrugged, not wanting to push it beyond that since she suspected they'd need a moment to think. "I'm supposed to be trying to find candidates." She wrinkled her nose then though, thinking that Val probably would have preferred she ask it differently. "She's the romantic one, obviously," she huffed.
Out of the corner of her eye, she considered Stanley. Wally had never been particularly interesting, although he wasn't all bad and certainly more pleasant than his brother, but Stanley drew her attention without her having any say in that happening. She stopped outside the first food place they got to and gestured at it.
"I haven't kissed a boy but I think I could if we needed to test that out before you agree to go with us, if you want to," she decided.
OOC: If you want Stanley or Wally to say anything between Bonabelle's comments, let me know and I can edit.
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Bonabelle Row
Perfect!
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Stanley O'Malley
October 05, 2021 7:31 PM
Perfect, huh? by Stanley O'Malley
There were plenty of opportunities to interject - and in fact, Stanley was usually the king of interruption - but this time, he remained silent. He was absolutely and completely dumbstruck. Date a boy? Together or each? Look, Stanley knew a couple people who were not straight, so he wasn’t too shocked that Valentine and Bonabelle were dating each other. But he had definitely never heard of dating a boy while dating a girl. That raised some questions. What was considered cheating? Did you get to have one boyfriend and one girlfriend and everything was square?Bonabelle spoke about boys (“candidates” she called them) and kissing so clinically that it almost didn’t sound fun anymore. Still, the Pecari had to admit, he did kinda like the idea of kissing her. He didn’t like it as much as he feared her, though.
Then he had another thought. If Bonabelle and Val both wanted to date boys - and it didn’t have to be one boy between them - then maybe this could work out. If Stanley dated Bonabelle, then the easiest and best solution to fill things out was that Wally would get to date Valentine!
A grin broke out onto his face. “Okay!” he said. Then he grabbed her, and in the next moment, unless she broke away, Bonabelle would find herself being dipped and kissed, perhaps a bit clumsily, by a boy who (among other things) did so to help his brother get to kiss a cute little blonde.
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Stanley O'Malley
Perfect, huh?
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Bonabelle Row
October 06, 2021 8:59 PM
Well, it was. by Bonabelle Row
Bonabelle was pretty sure that not everyone had gotten the same lessons on consent that she had from her uncle, although he'd certainly covered the topic in ways during the lessons he taught at Sonora, so she wasn't sure what was up with everyone. At least when val had kissed her, it had been a thing she'd known Bonabelle wanted to do before and there was an element of consent in that, even if it wasn't perfect. She'd gone and asked if the O'Malley twins needed to kiss for science but she hadn't expected such a response, particularly from Stanley and particularly without any sort of warm up or discussion. She certainly hadn't meant that experimentation should happen right here in front of ghosts and everyone.That all being said, she wasn't a particularly physically minded person and her defenses usually were limited to magical ones and intellectual ones. Since her mouth was occupied with Stanley's and she wasn't any good at non-verbal magic just yet, neither option was available to her and only a small squeak escaped through the kiss itself. It was the first time she'd ever kissed a boy, only the second person she'd ever kissed at all, and she was very sure she liked kissing Val more than Stanley. It wasn't all bad though; while she didn't quite manage to find it in herself to kiss him back, her arms did go naturally to his shoulders for fear of being dropped and she found that it wasn't the worst experience of her life either. It was hard to say whether she didn't like kissing boys, didn't like kissing Stanley, or just didn't like being kissed by people she hadn't been trying to get kisses from.
When they returned to a proper standing position, detached from each other's mouths, Bonabelle wasn't sure whether she was supposed to thank him or yell at him for kissing her without permission. Since she'd already established that he was perfectly stupid and that that wasn't the worst thing to be, she chose neither, settling on a bit of a glare but nothing too offensive.
"You'll do," she decided with a shrug. Her lips tasted like Stanley and she resisted the urge to run her tongue over them. "But let me know first next time," she added, giving in a bit more to a glower before turning to Wally. She found that, now that she'd established that consent was important for future, she actually sort of wanted to smile a bit. She tried to resist the urge, instead only glancing back at Stanley. He was stupid and terrible and not at all interesting, but she found that she did actually sort of want to see what he'd do if she kissed him like that. "If Valentine doesn't mind," she added to him before looking once more at Wally. "So do you want to go with her? Do you uh . . . need to kiss too?" she added, only barely managing not to grimace. She wasn't sure why but the idea of kissing Wally was much less pleasant. That didn't mean Stanley was special though.
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Bonabelle Row
Well, it was.
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Wally O'Malley
October 09, 2021 5:32 PM
My eyes!!! by Wally O'Malley
Everything just happened so fast. Wally felt like his brain had whiplash from trying to keep up. Where had it all gone wrong? Oh, right, he went up to someone to ask for help… but that someone was Bonabelle. He should have known not to ask her, but she looked so different from behind with her hair up like that. But then she was surprisingly helpful, and then she was talking about wanting boyfriends while she and Valentine both had each other as girlfriends too, and then Stanley was kissing her?! Oh, jeez!Watching them kiss was uncomfortable for a number of reasons. One, that was his brother, so, y’know, yuck. Second, he was pretty sure Bonabelle was going to murder him as soon as they stopped. And three, quietly, a little voice in the back of his mind had to wonder whether or not Stanley had ever kissed Valentine like that, even though that voice was also afraid of the answer. He did his best not to listen to it and just be horrified on the first two counts.
Admittedly, “You’ll do” was just about the funniest response Bonabelle could have possibly had, but then she turned and looked at Wally, and he felt every ounce of blood drain away from his face. It quickly came back, all rushing to his cheeks at her questions for him.
“Yes!” he said, a little too quickly, referring exclusively to the part about Valentine. “I mean, no!” he added equally quickly, for the… other part. “I-I mean… I’ll go with Valentine. But nobody has to-... I mean, it’s fine to not-.... Y-yeah, I’ll go with her,” Wally fumbled weakly. Nothing personal, but he had no particular interest in kissing Bonabelle, especially not when she probably still had Stanley essence all over her face. But Valentine hadn’t kissed Stanley in a long time if at all (Stanley said they did, not Wally wasn’t sure if he believed his brother or not). And her, he kinda wanted to kiss. But not like that. And only if she wanted to.
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Wally O'Malley
My eyes!!!
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Bonabelle Row
October 12, 2021 12:02 PM
My brain! by Bonabelle Row
Wally wasn't normally a squeaky sort of person but he seemed a bit squeaky now. It was almost laughable to think that there had been a time when Val thought that Wally liked Bonabelle. Perhaps she still thought that. Did that mean this was weird? Were they doing tradesies? That seemed weird, but not any weirder than finding boys for you and your girlfriend to go on a date with. Ugh. Bonabelle's eyebrows came together with mild confusion at Wally's equal parts eagerness and apparent disinterest, and she nodded, confirming that she understood. She didn't really understand the situation at all but she understood all the words and that was good enough for her. This wasn't a pair of people she was particularly interested in continuing to chat with."Great," she agreed. "Valentine is wearing pink," she told Wally, "and I'm probably wearing blue. I've been told you might be interested to know that," she said, hiding her grimace at the thought. She couldn't help glancing Stanley's way again though. Surely it was just because he was part of the conversation. She looked back at Wally. "I'll let her know that you'll go with her but aren't comfortable kissing," she said with a nod before turning and walking away, off to find either the group of misfits she'd started with or Val herself. Boys were weird.
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Bonabelle Row
My brain!
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Wally O'Malley
October 12, 2021 9:17 PM
My dignity! by Wally O'Malley
Wally immediately committed the girls’ colors to memory. Both of them, in fact, because he knew Stanley sure wouldn’t remember. Best case scenario, he recalled the colors themselves but flip flopped on who was wearing what. This was, Wally had learned, something that mattered to girls. When you were their date, you had to match their color schemes. In fact, as the ball approached, he might do a little more investigating to find out what shade of pink and blue (respectively) the girls planned to wear, because lord help them if they were in the wrong shade. The thought passed through Wally’s mind briefly that maybe he should lie to Stanley about what shade to wear and see if Bonabelle freaked out on him. The evening was sure to be a hot mess anyway, so maybe a little fun at his brother’s expense would redeem it. It was altogether not a very Wally-like thought, although it proved that he definitely did in fact have a little bit of his mother in him."I'll let her know that you'll go with her but aren't comfortable kissing.”
“NO, that’s not what I-” but Bonabelle had already turned and begun to walk away, and probably didn’t hear him at all. Wally hung his head. How was he ever supposed to get a girl to like him like this? Any girl, but especially Valentine?
The Crotalus felt Stanley’s hand rest itself on his shoulder, as if to comfort, and he heard his brother’s voice: “Dude? Yikes.”
Wally’s shoulder raised, knocking off Stanley’s hand, and his hand connected with the back of Stanley’s head with a solid whack. It was deserved, so there was no complaint or retaliation. “Come on,” Wally grumbled, still growing ever hungrier. “Let’s look for food this way.” And he started walking, not waiting for Stanley but allowing him to catch up. They would have to wing it now, because they were absolutely not asking anyone else for directions.
12
Wally O'Malley
My dignity!
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