Elly Eriksson
September 15, 2006 8:50 AM
Swinging with Echo by Elly Eriksson
Upon Echo’s acceptance of her suggestion to accompany her, Elly headed off in the direction of her swing, Echo following behind her. Knowing herself as she did, Elly had taken great care to memorise the path to her swing, very well aware that if she didn’t concentrate she would remain lost in the maze until someone came to her rescue, and that could be a very long time.The swing had been built from a large amount of rope and a thick, wide plank of wood, both supplied by Simon the Groundskeeper. Somewhere in the East of the maze was a small, sandy clearing playing home to a large, old Ironwood tree, which leant over quite a way, offering an almost horizontal bow across the clearing. It was this branch that held Elly’s swing.
Leading the way through the maze, Elly felt she should say something, but she wanted to calm down before she spoke. Negative emotions weren’t really part of Elly’s persona. Yet even as she approached the clearing where her swing was waiting for her, Elly could feel her frustration ebbing away. Just before her destination, Elly remembered something. She slowed her pace and turned her head to face Echo.
“Hey,” she said, pleased to hear that her voice sounded normal, with no negative overtones or enforced cheerfulness, “I meant to give this to you.” She rummaged in her pocket and pulled out one of the two handmade wand pouches within – the brown suede one she’d made for Echo. She smoothed it out between her fingers, enjoying the soft feel of the fabric, before handing it to Echo. “I made it for you over the holidays. It’s to keep your wand in.” She smiled, and when she looked up, she stopped walking. They had reached their destination.
“Well, there it is,” Elly said, indicating the swing with a wave of her arm. It certainly wasn’t much to look at; the rope was thick and dusty, the seat – easily long enough for the two students to sit next to each other – was already starting to look slightly weather worn around the edge. Still, all Elly saw was a way to escape her problems, and it suited that purpose perfectly. “What do you think?”
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Elly Eriksson
Swinging with Echo
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Elly Eriksson
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Meredith Lail
September 18, 2006 5:53 PM
I always miss the fun. How unfair. by Meredith Lail
It was the first day after break meaning people who had left from the holidays were supposed to come back that day. Meredith was bouncing her worn sneakers spastically on the marble floor of Cascade Hall. Her short ponytail bobbed around as her head turned frequently towards the door. Meredith was eating an early lunch. Sleeping late caused her to miss breakfast, but she was perfectly happy to sleep late on her last day before school started up again. She couldn’t wait to see how Elly liked the chocolate frogs she sent her. She also wanted to show Elly the presents she got for Christmas. A good deal of her time was spent practicing her gymnastics with her doll.When she was done eating and Elly still hadn’t showed Meredith frowned a little. Where could she be? Meredith walked out of the hall and towards the Labyrinth Gardens to get back to her common room. Maybe her friend was still in there unpacking or something. As she reached the entrance to the gardens she thought she heard a vague shout, but then again a lot of different noises came from those gardens. She gave the password to the suit of armor and went in to Pecari common room. No Elly in the common room or in the dormitory.
Next stop was to check the gardens. That could take forever seeing how huge it was, not to mention it was magical, but she would always jump at the chance to see more of it. Meredith began her search through the gardens calling for Elly. She got turned around somewhere when one of the leafy walls closed off the route she planned to take. It blocked off a route where she could’ve sworn she heard people talking. Hopefully that wasn’t where Elly was. As she wandered along a path she hadn’t taken before, even through her extensive search of the gardens over the break, she continued to call out to her friend. Her search led her to a sandy clearing where she saw not only Elly, but Echo too. For half a moment she wondered if the garden actually led her too her friends. She’d have to test her theory another time.
“Hey!” she called with a wave and ran over to her friends by a bent tree with a rope hanging down from it. “Hi there Echo. Welcome back Elly. You had a good holiday?” She turned to eye the rope with the long plank of wood attached to it. That must’ve been the swing Elly talked about. It looked pretty simple, but if the idea was the same than it worked for her. She grinned at her tall friend. “Cool swing.”\n\n
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Meredith Lail
I always miss the fun. How unfair.
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Meredith Lail
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Echo Elms
September 24, 2006 6:42 PM
And now we are three by Echo Elms
Echo took the brown suade wand case and held it lightly. It was soft and handmade. His wand would fit in it just perfectly, he thought, and pulled out the stick of elm to find out. It did.Elly had thought of him over break.
"Thanks," he said, and slipped it into his school robes. He kinda wished he'd gotten her something, but then if he did he'd have been too embarrassed to give it to her anyway so it was just as well.
The swing was nice, too, and he said so. That wasn't a gift, though, it was an observation. The swing was nice. It looked sturdy and barely sank even with both of them on it (and it was long enough he only had to keep his elbows out of the way to avoid physical contact). Elly was being pretty quiet -- quiet for Elly -- and he relaxed. She wasn't going to make him talk about stuff.
He was just inspecting the rope with both his hands (making keeping his elbows in look sort of natural) and looking up to where it tied and wondering what kind of knot she used, when he heard footsteps. For an awkward second he thought he was going to jump off the swing and deny that he and Elly had been alone for five whole minutes and declare that it hadn't meant anything at all, they were not, repeat NOT going out -- when he saw it was just Meredith. Meredith was safe.
Actually, truth be told, anyone would who be at Sonora apart from those awful portrait people should be safe. And the potrait people didn't have footsteps.
"Hey Meredith," he said quickly. He squished over, practically on top of the rope to make room for her. Then he thought better of it -- three could not possibly fit and not touch -- and hopped off for her to sit down. "It's crazy cool," he agreed, "Want a go?"\n\n
21
Echo Elms
And now we are three
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Echo Elms
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Elly
September 27, 2006 5:29 AM
The way it should be :D by Elly
Elly was pleased that Echo liked his present, but even more pleased that he liked her swing. She showed her pleasure in her usual way – grinning like a maniac. Elly was enjoying the calm, inwardly praising Echo for not asking questions about Caedence or the fight they had jut escaped. The calm was broken, however, with the arrival of Meredith.“Hey!” she called, and ran over. Elly wondered how in the world she’d managed to find them in the labyrinth. Elly had missed Meredith over the break; it was very strange to sleep in her bedroom on her own rather than chat with Meredith until their roommates told them to be quiet every night.
“Meredith!” Elly exclaimed at her friend’s arrival. Suddenly feeling the urge to jump up and hug her, that’s what Elly did. She went to Meredith and threw her arms around her, madly proclaiming, “The chocolate frogs were great, you’re a genius!” She then let Meredith go, and, still grinning wildly, offered her the final handmade gift – the dark green velvet wand pouch. “Here,” she said, “I made this for you, it’s to keep your wand in.”
Elly was suddenly elated. She was back at Sonora with her best friends, Meredith and Echo, and everything was as it was supposed to be. She felt just for a moment as if life had stopped, and it was perfect. She shocked herself with these intense feelings, but finally knew for sure that Sonora was where she belonged.
“It’s crazy cool,” Echo said, shaking Elly from her thoughts. She realized he was talking about her swing and felt herself glow with pride at the compliment. “Want a go?” he asked Meredith, having vacated the swing himself. Elly grinned. She grabbed Meredith’s hand and dragged her down onto the seat beside her.
“Yes, Meredith,” she said loudly, “we’ll swing and Echo can push us!” Elly smiled at both of them and, still holding Meredith’s hand with her left hand, held onto the rope with her right hand.
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Elly
The way it should be :D
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Elly
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Echo Elms
September 28, 2006 4:15 PM
Naturally. by Echo Elms
As Elly and Meredith ended their uncontrolled hugging and came toward him, Echo carefully placed the swing in between him and them -- just in case Elly or Meredith got carried away and thought he looked like he needed a hug too. As long as he was there, he steadied it and stepped back so they could climb on.Now here was a problem: there were two girls on the swing and they wanted to be pushed. They were his best friends and he wanted to push them. But they were girls and you can't touch girls -- moms didn't count -- and the ropes were kind of far spread because it was a two person swing. He looked around for something he could hold on to, rubbing absently at his ankle with his opposite foot.
Well, it wasn't really that they were girls, necessarily, he amended, remembering having a similar problem with Brett when he was home and multiple times with Saul in Potions. Maybe it was more that they weren't family? He wasn't sure.
After what seemed like ages of staring at the swing and the girls, Echo figured it out. He turned his hands palm up. His fingers would go under the swing, and then then he would use his thumbs or lower palms to push against the depth of the plank. He's have to be careful he didn't headbutt anyone by looking at his hands to much, but he could do it. He ran through the motion in his mind a few times just to make sure.
"Ready? Hold on!" He pushed.\n\n
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Echo Elms
Naturally.
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Echo Elms
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Meredith
October 06, 2006 7:04 PM
I'd say we all agree then. by Meredith
OOC: Yeah, this took me waaay to long to get to and that's totally my bad. Sorry for the hold up. Let the swinging commence!BIC: Meredith laughed at Elly’s excitement as she was smothered in a hug. She had missed that excitement over the break. It just goes to show how quickly people can grow on each other. She was glad that Elly liked the chocolate frogs, but she didn’t know if she’d call it genius. Not that she would decline the compliment. Or maybe she meant the wrapping paper. Now that could be considered genius. What isn't genius, or hysterical, about dancing prairie elves? When Elly let go of her she handed her a dark green pouch. Meredith looked at it and grinned.
“Thanks Elly! It’s really great.”
Echo told her the swing was ‘crazy cool’ and asked if she wanted to go. Meredith didn’t have a chance to answer for herself. Elly took her hand and pulled her onto the swing next to her. Echo gave them a push and Meredith held on to the rope beside her. It was such a simple thing, but she could sit there for hours being pushed or using her legs to move the swing herself. Every now and then at home she would sit with her friends in the park (when they weren’t on the quidditch pitch, which was what they spent a good deal of time doing) and talk on the swings or race each other to see who could swing the highest or jump off and land the farthest. Now there was an idea.
“Hey Elly, you think your swing can hold up to a little contest? Let’s see how high this’ll go and then we can see who can jump the farthest from the swing. Echo can race me—I mean, the winner after.” She grinned Elly’s way and laughed. Then she looked at both of them. “You two up for it?” \n\n
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Meredith
I'd say we all agree then.
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Meredith
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Echo Elms
October 07, 2006 10:26 PM
I'm ready! by Echo Elms
Echo grinned. A swinging competition sounded right up his ally -- or tree, actually. Without waiting for any other urging he started trying to get the swing going higher, as high as it would go. It was a pretty safe assumption that Elly would take the bait.Out and back and push, and out and back and push. He had a good rhythm going, but he could only get it so high on his own -- especially since he wasn't about to push their backs like his dad used to do for him. He stepped back to give the girls room to lean and pump.
"Pump now! That's as high as I can get you. When you jump," he advised loud enough for them to hear, "you got to do it together!" He ran to the front, off to the side so he could determine the winner when (not if) they got up the nerve to actually go through with it.\n\n
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Echo Elms
I'm ready!
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Echo Elms
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Elly
October 08, 2006 5:05 PM
Not sure I am *gulps* by Elly
Elly shrieked as Echo started to push the swing higher. She grasped Meredith’s hand and the rope equally tightly, and shut her eyes as she felt her stomach get left behind. The wind was rushing through her hair and Elly laughed loudly. She loved this. She opened her eyes as Echo told them that this was as high as he could get them. They were quite high, but even as the ground soared away from her, Elly swung her legs out and started to use her gangly limbs to propel them further into the air.“You’re crazy!” she yelled. It was directed equally at Echo and Meredith. If they jumped off the swing from this height they were going to break something, most likely themselves. Yet, she was grinning from ear to ear, and certainly wasn’t going to back down from the challenge. Elly could see Echo watching them, and she grinned at him. When her legs were tired from working, Elly turned to Meredith. “We really gonna jump this?” she asked, a hint of daring in her voice. After all, the sandy ground was probably quite soft, and Elly had fallen out of trees before – she was quite bouncy.
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Elly
Not sure I am *gulps*
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Elly
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Meredith
October 09, 2006 4:24 PM
Sure you are. Don't be a wimp. *grin* by Meredith
Meredith was glad to see Echo getting excited. It was a big change from when they first met at the opening feast and to be perfectly honest, it was a good change. Obviously he agreed with her idea because he pushed Meredith and Elly harder making them go higher. Meredith didn’t want to pump her legs yet in case she ended up kicking him. She winced a little as Elly squeezed her hand tighter. She wasn’t worried that her friend was scared because she was still laughing that hysterical laugh of hers. When Echo got them as high as he could and moved out of the way, Meredith started pumping the swing with her legs. She didn’t think it would go too much higher anyway.“Sure thing!” Meredith yelled back down to Echo when he told them to jump together. “Keep a close eye on where we land in case we roll!”
Elly asked her if they were really going to do this. She grinned as Elly dared her with her own challenge. Meredith didn’t think twice about jumping, but did remember a time or two when the jumping was a little less fun. She had sprained her wrist twice and bruised a few things though the very first time she missed the jump, accidental magic kicked in causing her to bounce and roll a few feet away without injury, just nausea.
“Of course. Don’t tell me you’re scared Elly Eriksson.” Meredith accused jokingly. “Come on. We’ll jump on three, but you’ve got to let go of my hand.” Meredith started the count as the swing went back. “One, two,” the swing went up quickly and was just at the highest point it could go before coming back down, “three!” she yelled. She parted hands with Elly and felt like she was flying without her broom. Being in the air was the greatest feeling in the world. Always had been, always would be.
As she descended towards the sand she felt her stomach rise near her throat, but she still had a determined grin. She stuck her landing in a way that her gymnastics teacher would groan and shake her head.
‘I’ve been teaching you since you were four and that’s the best you can do?’ Meredith could hear Ms. Laura scolding her. She was a nice lady, but she could sound so much like her mother sometimes it was scary. Meredith’s feet were firmly planted a long ways away from the swing, but she was leaned too far forward and used her hands to stop herself from falling on her face. She crouched and pushed herself up, but lost her balance again and fell backwards laughing. Her heels were still right where her feet landed. She laid on her back, closing her eyes to ease the light headedness that was slowly but surely fading. A lazy grin was still on her face.
“So how’d we do?” She asked aloud. She was pretty confident that she beat Elly.\n\n
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Meredith
Sure you are. Don't be a wimp. *grin*
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Meredith
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Echo Elms
October 09, 2006 5:21 PM
Holy flying females, Batman! by Echo Elms
The girls swung higher and higher until Echo started to worry they might kill themselves jumping off. He backed up a step as Meredith and Elly dared each other to do it -- to give them a little more room. And they were off.Meredith let loose first, just a hair before Elly. She had good forward momentum. Her robes billowed as Elly hit the top of arc and her and the swing parted company. Elly was up and up, getting amazing height as Meredith continued to plunge forward. Echo ran after them, keeping his view strictly on the horizontal plane.
Meredith touched down first, feet planted beneath her but with too much momentum to hold it. Echo winced at the pressure that much have put on her ankles and she kept moving, hands out to catch herself. He picked out a spot at her ankle and planted his right foot even with hers even as he made a chopping motion with one hand. "Here!"
And Elly was still coming down.\n\n
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Echo Elms
Holy flying females, Batman!
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Echo Elms
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Elly
October 09, 2006 5:31 PM
Do you want to try it? by Elly
“Of course. Don’t tell me you’re scared Elly Eriksson. Come on. We’ll jump on three, but you’ve got to let go of my hand.” Meredith said.“Okay”, Elly replied. This was a competition, after all, and Elly was not one to forfeit a competition, let alone back out of a dare. She thought about her chances of being able to out-jump Meredith. Elly’s legs were much longer, so perhaps if she stretched her legs out and remembered to fall forward she could win. On the other hand, Meredith did gymnastics, so was used to jumping off stuff.
Meredith counted to three. Elly let go of her hand, and jumped. The ground came up to meet her a lot faster than Elly would have predicted. She thought she had managed to jump pretty far, but before she could really make judgements, Elly had landed rather ungracefully, stumbled forward a couple of steps, then fallen face first into the sand. Groaning, she rolled over and lay spread-eagle on her back. Her feet hurt a bit from not bending her knees enough when landing, but other than that she seemed pretty unscathed.
“Ugh!” she said, to nobody in particular.
”So how’d we do?” she heard Meredith ask Echo. Elly thought Meredith had probably jumped further, though Elly had probably sprawled further. She couldn’t be bothered to sit up and check so she lay staring up at the sky, awaiting Echo’s verdict.
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Elly
Do you want to try it?
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Elly
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Echo Elms
October 10, 2006 4:37 PM
And the winnner is...!ou by Echo Elms
Elly hit the ground in a crash that quickly became a roll and sputtered out in a sandy patch Echo hadn't noticed before. The results were (thankfully) pretty clear."Well, Elly got crazy weirdo height, but you got the mad distance," Echo explained to Meredith, "You won by this much." He scraped a mark in the ground wear Meredith hit and a mark where Elly hit. They were about a foot apart.
He walked over to Elly's sprawled out body. She looked okay, but he figured it'd be polite to ask, "You okay?" so he did. It would also be polite to offer her a hand up. Instead, he clasped his hands behind his back, and hoped Elly wouldn't feel neglected and Meredith would come over and hold out a hand for her.
The swing was calling him, too, but he wasn't sure he could handle it. The girls had kept from falling off by holding onto each other when the swing got high. And what if whoever was pushing touched him? While most of his other oddities and awkwardnesses had been normalizing over the past few months -- look how comfortable he was getting to be around Elly and Meredith -- the weirdness of touching had been getting worse.
No, the double swinging was not going to work. Not without looking like a freak and maybe getting one or more of their trio hurt in the process. Not a good idea.
He looked again at Elly and Meredith. At a guess, at least one of them probably already suspected he had a major physical contact phobia. They'd probably let him get out of this graceful-like. Unless, of course, it was much more obvious to him than it was to everyone else.
"While you guys were up there," he tried, "it looked like if one of you had jumped and the other didn't the swing woulda been all over the place, and then there's less to hold on to if you start to slip. I don't want to drag someone to the nurse so from now on we'd better stick to singles for the higher swinging," of course, though, he didn't want to spoil their fun, "I mean, if you guys want to, go ahead, but I'm out and I'm not carrying anyone. And no guarantees on my wingardum leviosa either."
He hopped on one of the shoe marks he made before, "This is Meredith. We can try to beat her in singles."\n\n
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Echo Elms
And the winnner is...!ou
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Echo Elms
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Elly
October 12, 2006 3:33 AM
*does fake loser smile and handshake* by Elly
When Echo told Meredith she had won, Elly clapped and cheered a little, without bothering to move from her position still sprawled on her back on the ground. Echo’s face soon appeared hovering on the edges of her vision as she stared skywards.”You okay?” he asked. Elly turned to him and grinned.
“I’m just fine,” she said, smiling some more. She finally gathered the motivation to haul herself back to her feet, and brushed off her dusty robes.
Echo started saying something about it not being good to do high swinging in pairs, and then that he wasn’t going to swing in pairs anyway. Elly was a little disappointed, she had wanted to try to beat Echo, having failed to beat Meredith, but if he didn’t want to swing in pairs she wasn’t going to make him. Instead, she stood with her hands on her hips, and looked between the swing, Echo, and the ground on the floor marking Meredith’s landing.
“Okay,” Elly said, “It’s your turn anyway, Echo. Do you want one of us to push, or are you okay to get yourself going?” Elly took this opportunity to flick a very quick glance to Meredith. Elly knew Echo wasn’t a touchy-feely sort of person, unlike herself, and he was a boy. Granted, Echo was certainly a lot more rational than most boys, but sometimes they had weird ideas, like it wasn’t okay to be pushed on a swing by a girl. Having briefly met Meredith’s gaze, Elly turned back to Echo, awaiting his reply.
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Elly
*does fake loser smile and handshake*
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Elly
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Echo Elms
October 12, 2006 7:30 PM
*jumps off swing* by Echo Elms
Elly was amazing. Totally, one hundred percent taken in stride. No knocking him about it or anything, just, "Okay." She even gave him a no-pushing option.Which meant she probably knew. At least someone did. How do you tell someone something like that anyway? How long ago did she figure it out? Did Meredith know too?
He sized up the swing, grinned at Elly and Meredith, and charged toward it without answering Elly's question. He hit the swing at a sprint and leapt into it, twisting around to sit right. He'd gotten it down fairly well with standard playground swings, but this one was far from standard and the motion turned out far from graceful.
His arc had a bit of a twist to it but it wasn't bad, and in just a handful of full body pumps he got it going a respectable height. Another three and he was high enough to make the jump.
"On three!" he told himself, outloud. "One," and back, "two," and back, and three! He released from the swing a little early, hoping to get more distance and less height. Behing him the wooden plank flapped around on its ropes.
Feet stretched out before him and arms above his head, he was an eagle swooping down on Meredith's line. He stretched toward it.
His feet touched the ground and the next two seconds were a jumble at the end of which knees, hands, back, elbows, and chin had all met the ground at one point or another. He didn't quite catch that part. The next thing he knew, he was standing, brushing himself off and admiring a nice new tear in his jeans.
He straightened up, grinning, and found Elly and Meredith, "How'd I do?"\n\n
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Echo Elms
*jumps off swing*
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Echo Elms
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Elly
October 21, 2006 7:26 AM
*repeats fake smile & handshake* by Elly
As Echo moved to take his turn on the swing, Elly scurried to stand where Echo had stood before, so she could judge his landing.Echo jumped, the swing thrashing wildly after his departure. As he hit the ground, Elly dug her heel into the ground across from where Echo’s feet first touched. He landed haphazardly, but was soon standing again, brushing himself off.
Elly looked at the three marks in the ground. Echo’s was almost exactly midway between her and Meredith’s. “You came second!” Elly said, grinning. She cheered and clapped a little too, for good measure. “Apparently Meredith’s gymnastics paid off, and having long legs has nothing to do with it.” She laughed.
Looking around at her friends, Elly realised that all three of them were covered in dirt, and certainly didn’t look as neat as when they’d first entered the labyrinth. “Perhaps we should get a bit cleaner before dinner?” she suggested.
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Elly
*repeats fake smile & handshake*
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Elly
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Elly
October 21, 2006 7:28 AM
*repeats fake smile & handshake* by Elly
As Echo moved to take his turn on the swing, Elly scurried to stand where Echo had stood before, so she could judge his landing.Echo jumped, the swing thrashing wildly after his departure. As he hit the ground, Elly dug her heel into the ground across from where Echo’s feet first touched. He landed haphazardly, but was soon standing again, brushing himself off. How'd I do? he asked.
Elly looked at the three marks in the ground. Echo’s was almost exactly midway between her and Meredith’s. “You came second!” Elly said, grinning. She cheered and clapped a little too, for good measure. “Apparently Meredith’s gymnastics paid off, and having long legs has nothing to do with it.” She laughed.
Looking around at her friends, Elly realised that all three of them were covered in dirt, and certainly didn’t look as neat as when they’d first entered the labyrinth. “Perhaps we should get a bit cleaner before dinner?” she suggested.\n\n
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Elly
*repeats fake smile & handshake*
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Elly
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Echo Elms
October 22, 2006 10:53 AM
*hides hands in pockets* by Echo Elms
Beat by a girl. But it was Meredith, so that was alright, and Elly would have been okay too cause she was so tall. They were all really close anyway. He ran a hand through the big curly (his hair), patting out some dirt and pulling out a couple leaves.Weirdness. For a second there, looking at his fistful of leaves, and stained knees, he thought he was back home circa seven months ago -- ready to fight with mom over whether or not clean hair and clothes were ever really necessary. He flexed his toes, fixed firmly in a pair of something in between a dress shoe and a sneaker. Were had he left his tevas? Under the bed? He'd sort of forgotten about them.
I'm changing, he admitted, touching the new hole in his still almost new pale green cargos, This isn't normal anymore.
“Perhaps," Elly said, "we should get a bit cleaner before dinner?”
"Yeah," he agreed uneasily, noticing at least a couple climbable trees, "I guess we should."\n\n
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Echo Elms
*hides hands in pockets*
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Echo Elms
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Meredith
October 23, 2006 5:10 PM
*does victory dance, notices other two and grins* by Meredith
"Well, Elly got crazy weirdo height, but you got the mad distance," Echo explained to Meredith, "You won by this much."Meredith opened one eye and followed where Echo made the mark to show how far apart Meredith won by. She grinned and raised her arms in victory and sat up to see Elly sprawled on the ground. Echo didn’t look like he was about to help her up. Meredith raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and helped herself up as well, brushing off her back. Echo explained why he wouldn’t jump with her. Something about the swing being too wobbly. She couldn’t exactly force him to swing with her, but she had been looking forward to seeing who would jump farther. She supposed singles would work if he was too scared to go up against her. Well, that couldn’t be it since he didn’t disagree to jump all together. He didn’t want to sit next to her maybe? Meredith recalled the opening feast again and held in a laugh. Maybe he hadn’t changed that much, but there was a difference.
Echo ran to the swing and started his turn. Meredith walked over to Elly and watched Echo from there. When he jumped, Meredith followed his distance with her eyes and saw he was dangerously close to beating her. She didn’t realize she started holding her breath. As soon as he landed Meredith saw he didn’t beat her (but he was pretty darn close) and jumped, pumping her fist in the air with a cheer. She did clap with Elly as he stood. She could admit it was a close race. Meredith shrugged when Elly said her gymnastics paid off.
“Maybe, but don’t let that be an excuse. Having long legs is helpful too. You may still beat me yet.” She nudged Elly lightly in the side. “That goes for you too, Echo, but I won’t make it easy for either you.”
Elly suggested they get cleaned up before dinner. Meredith looked at her clothes, pulling at them a bit. She was dusty and her back was probably even worse. Her short, almost stumpy ponytail had the remnants of sand she missed. But Meredith didn’t want to go to dinner. She felt like she just ate lunch. Echo agreed though and swinging alone was rather boring so Meredith shrugged again.
“Alright.” She agreed, brushing herself off pointlessly again and started walking with her friends. “I have to show you what I got for Christmas anyway and they’re back in our room. The twins sent me this cap that—well you’ll see, but daddy sent me this really cool doll he enchanted. It looks a lot like one of those muggle Darbie dolls or whatever they’re called. It does gymnastics too. It’s so funny watching a little doll do handsprings and stuff, but it’s really good at it.” Meredith complimented the doll in all honesty.\n\n
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Meredith
*does victory dance, notices other two and grins*
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Meredith
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5