You're not as Billy as Billy, right? [Iris] on Cascade Hall

Henry Spellman

December 04, 2021 8:07 AM

You're not as Billy as Billy, right? [Iris] by Henry Spellman

Right here, right now, in front of Oz and everybody, Henry was going to ask a girl to go to the ball with him. Oz was being kind of weird about wanting to just go with friends, which was fine and stuff if that's what he wanted to do but Henry got the feeling there was something he wasn't understanding. Also, why did Oz want to go with friends? Wasn't the whole point of this stupid thing to get some social clout, possibly get to kiss a girl, and get on with your academic life just a little cooler than you had been before? There weren't a lot of options to make that happen but at least Iris was not the worst of the ones they had on hand.

"Hi," Henry said, approaching Iris at her table. He had waited until a day when he'd seen her sitting alone but he couldn't help feeling some eyes on him as he took a seat beside her. He was well aware that they hadn't actually spoken more than a few times and that Iris probably knew him as her brother's friend's brother more than anything. Or maybe as her brother's roommate's brother. In any case, this was already weird and he hadn't even gotten his question out yet. "Do you have a date to the ball?" he asked, having practiced this question a lot of times and deciding that clarifying that she wasn't already going with someone was an important first step. "If not, would you go with me?" he continued quickly, letting her answer both questions at once.

He reached into his pocket and retrieved a chocolate frog. They were basically horrifying if you thought too much about it but Henry had discovered that magic was the one thing it was usually best not to think too much about. Not that that ever stopped him. Still, if he knew anything about girls, it was that they liked chocolate. And also being respected. So he offered her the chocolate frog by placing it on the table in front of her and giving her some space to decide.

22 Henry Spellman You're not as Billy as Billy, right? [Iris] 1513 1 5

Iris Cobb

December 04, 2021 9:05 PM

Being as different as I can is one of my life goals, are you like your brother? by Iris Cobb

Iris wasn't sure what to do. She sat at the Crotalus table and poked at the food in front of her listlessly. The ball was approaching, she didn't have an official date for it yet, which was okay... she'd like one, but she didn't really need one. It was just the proper way to go to a ball, that was all. However the thing that was bothering her more was the fact that she was pretty sure she'd done everything she could to get Alexei to ask Amethyst to the ball, but to the best of her knowledge nothing had happened yet. Alexei seemed friendly enough and she didn't think he would be against hanging out at the ball, but that wasn't the same as him asking Amethyst to go. She couldn't think of much more she could do though short of forcing him to do it at wandpoint and that just wouldn't be right. it probably wouldn't work either.

Her attention was drawn back to the present as a boy said 'Hi' and sat down next to her. That was odd, she thought. Boys usually didn't do that to often with her. This one in particular she couldn't remember ever doing it before. It was Henry, he was one of her housemates but she'd never really talked to him before. He always seemed like one of those quiet people that kept to themselves. Plus he was a year older so wasn't in any of her classes this year. Wait... he was Billy's roommate's brother, right? She thought that sounded right.

Iris' surprise at the situation only grew once he began to talk. She had to process his words for a few moments before they sank in fully. He... he was asking her to be his date to the ball? The first reaction that bounced through her head was 'Why?'. Then, of all things, he pulled a chocolate frog from his pocket and set it in front of her. She blinked dully at it as if trying to solve its meaning in the grand scheme of the universe. Was the offering of a frog part of this process that she didn't know about? Amethyst hadn't really mentioned it at all. Chocolate frogs were nice, she liked them. For all that she knew about Henry, which wasn't much, he was a nice enough boy.

Did she want to go to the ball with Henry? No one else had asked her yet, this may be her only chance. If she said 'no' or even dallied to long, she might miss the chance. Still, it might be an important decision, and leaping impetuously into things was Billy's job not hers.

Finally pulling herself from the train of thought she gave Henry a hopeful but uncertain smile. "I don't have a date yet." Answering that first question was easy enough. Now how to handle the next bit? Beating around the bush probably wouldn't help. "I'm inclined to say yes," hopefully that would encourage him to stick around, "but I'm a little curious why you picked me."

2 Iris Cobb Being as different as I can is one of my life goals, are you like your brother? 1526 0 5

Henry Spellman

December 17, 2021 1:57 AM

My life goal is to be a little more similar. We're too different sometimes. by Henry Spellman

"You're pretty," Henry answered, leaning into his honest streak for a moment before realizing that was a terrible idea. "Good at stuff. You're pretty good at stuff," he corrected. The last thing. He needed was Billy beating him up. "And I was pretty sure you weren't dating anyone. And . . . I dunno." He wanted to ask whether he really needed a better reason but wasn't sure if that was actually so unromantic as to be anti-romantic. He also wasn't about to point out that he had a serious lack of options and Oz certainly couldn't ask Iris.

"You don't like chocolate?" he asked with a grimace when she did nothing more than look at his peace offering. He thought of his mom. In school, they always did Valentine's Day stuff for her, like cards and stuff. He always remembered wishing he could have afforded to get his mom chocolate or flowers and one year, he saved up all his money from everything he could from her birthday until Valentine's Day so he could get her flowers and then they all died. He thought that was appropriate then and now he wondered if giving a girl chocolate that could literally leap away from her wasn't equally appropriate somehow.

Great.

"I'm curious why you're inclined to say yes," he said tentatively, not sure he wanted the answer. Of course, if her only reason was that he was pretty too, maybe that would be alright. He wasn't sure he really thought of himself as pretty but when his competition was Gus, Billy, a couple of quiet folks, or girls. . . . well, he thought he did alright with the face he and Oz shared. Oz' question about whether someone who was into one of them would automatically be into the other one did cross his mind though so he hoped Iris wasn't inclined to say yes just because he was the present twin.

22 Henry Spellman My life goal is to be a little more similar. We're too different sometimes. 1513 0 5

Iris Cobb

December 18, 2021 2:26 PM

Being yourself is a good thing. by Iris Cobb

Iris brightened up at Henry's first words. He thought she was pretty? Then her expression fell just a bit as he continued, and the confirmed that was what he had meant. She was pretty good at stuff? What did that mean? Classes? They'd been in classes together last year... they hadn't really interacted much at all this year. What stuff did he think she was pretty good at? Also she wasn't dating anyone. Well, she was twelve at the moment, she wasn't really looking for official 'dating'. At the moment she was just looking for a 'date' for the ball, because that is what you were supposed to do for a ball. She quirked a questioning eyebrow at him. "I'm not dating anyone," she confirmed. She really kinda wanted to ask him exactly what sort of stuff he thought she was pretty good at, but at the same time she didn't want to scare him off with a lot of questions about his motivations.

"I do." She responded to his question about the chocolate. "I..." she paused, not quite sure if admitting such a thing would be good or not, but decided honesty was the best policy, "I'm just not sure of how this all works. Is it part of the deal?" She paused a moment and decided it was a good time to answer his question. "I'm inclined to say yes because you asked nice enough, and I don't have a good reason to refuse. But I don't really have much more than that to use to make a decision." Iris let out a small sigh and looked at the frog in front of her. "It wouldn't be right if I took it and said 'no'." She looked back at Henry, "But unless you have a good reason for me to say no, I am still inclined to say yes."

Iris considered what she'd seen of Henry so far and as little as it had been, he seemed okay. Most of that was comparing him to his brother, which in her mind was nearly like comparing his behavior to Billy's, which meant he looked like quite the fine upstanding boy. "So, I'll say yes to be your date to the ball." Iris opened the frog's packaging and it jumped free in a flash, however her arm moved faster and in a swift motion she'd caught it mid-jump. "These things are slow compared to the real ones Billy usually finds for me." She casually commented as she broke off the frog's rear legs and offered them to Henry. "Want some?"

2 Iris Cobb Being yourself is a good thing. 1526 0 5

Henry Spellman

January 01, 2022 7:32 PM

Yourself happens to be very confusing. by Henry Spellman

Henry wasn't even sure where to go with Iris' responses to literally anything. He wasn't totally sure if she was now only going to the ball with him because she wanted chocolate, and then he was pretty sure she was trying to get him to convince her not to go with him (he was self-sabotaging but not that self-sabotaging), and then she was comparing his frog gifts to . . . her brother's? Was that part of the courtship culture of whatever swamp Billy had crawled out of? Iris was someone Henry could accept lived in a cabin in the woods on the side of a lake or something, but Billy was clearly a swamp monster.

"Uh . . . you can keep it either way," he finally managed, trying not to imagine how bad a day he'd have to have before rejection chocolate sounded like a good snack. "But I don't have any reason I think you shouldn't go with me. That's-- uh. Am I supposed to talk you out of it now?"

But she said yes, and she offered him chocolate back, and geez maybe Oz was right and being a loser was better than being with a girl because girls were very weird. Of course, girls went around being with boys most of the time and Henry thought that was insanity honestly. Boys were terrible. Lesbian girls really seemed to get what was up; he'd rather be with a girl than a boy too.

"Sure," he agreed. Because accepting the mutilated, severed limbs of bribe-chocolate in the shape of a frog that was hopping moments ago was super romantic. Seriously, how did wizards ever get anywhere?

22 Henry Spellman Yourself happens to be very confusing. 1513 0 5