So quiet...

[Lara Watt]

Lara couldn’t help but wonder what on earth was going on at this time of day that everyone seemed to be any place other than at the Emerindyl common area. It had just gone four in the afternoon and she had made a quick trip to her cabin to deposit all her school books and supplies that were weighting her down before deciding on a nice pleasant stroll around the lake before dinner time approached.

As per usual as it seemed to be in her latest wandering around the lake she stopped at the pier and looked down into the watery depths, sometimes seeing a flash of movement just beneath the surface, or the rustling of the breeze in the reeds that were sticking up about the waters surface. A smile planted itself firmly on her face as the soft cool breeze made the loose locks of her long blonde hair that framed her face float about and dance along the breeze, carelessly and almost as if to a song that only it could hear.

It seemed like she hadn’t seen many of her fellow housemates that day in classes or around in the halls, sure she had seen a few students wearing the green robes of the Emerindyl house proudly, but not of her friends or student of her age. If she was a paranoid person she might have possibly thought she had done something wrong or offended them and they were avoiding her, but she knew she hadn’t because Emerindyl students weren’t people to step around an issue, if she had someone would have told her by now. Indeed the reason she hadn’t seemed to have noticed anyone may have been because she had been wrapped up in a little world of her own, for some reason when she came back to Koalingo for her final year she had had more trouble than usual settling down. She had said her hello’s to her friends she had made over the years, she went about setting up her cabin how she liked it with her finishing touches of a book here, coffee mug there, and pictures adorning the walls. Lara had felt somewhat detached as she had done so, maybe it was knowing that at the end of the year when she put everything away and took everything off the walls it would be fore the last time. Everything seemed so final.

At this point Lara shook herself from her memories and thoughts, closing her eyes and listening to the symphony of life that surrounded her. It was at times like this when she was outside, just embracing nature she realised that this was life at its best. She was happy, healthy, had good friends, receiving a very fine education, and came from regal house of lineage. But it all paled to the simple fact that she was alive, breathing in and exhaling each breath like every other living creature. It was comforting when looking at the big picture to keep the details simple.

But Lara was lonely, not that she would admit it to anyone, or herself really. But sometimes she craved to be in the presence of someone who would listen to her thoughts and opinions and not feel obligated to agree but could agree to disagree, someone to just be around and not feel like she had to impress. Her friends were great and she absolutely loved them to bits but most of them just agreed with her to appease her, one day she had said the sky was green and they had responded with “if that’s how you see it”. Everyone knew the sky wasn’t green.

She just wanted to be understood, just like everyone else.

[Evangeline Gardan]

Evangeline walked softly towards her fellow Emerindyl, smiling and nodding at her to acknowledge her presence. She had been on her way to her cabin from the library and decided to stop by the pier to just relax for a bit and think about the goings-on at Koalingo when she happened upon a girl she knew was in her house but not had the chance to introduce herself to.

The girl seemed lost in thought and looked a tad bit depressed. Evangeline came to stand beside the girl and smiled again, "Mind if I join you?" She asked softly and waited patiently for a reply, not minding if the girl turned her away. Sometimes people just needed to be alone.

"I don't mean to intrude, but you look a little down... I know I don't know you, but people say I'm a good listener if you need someone to talk to." Evangeline stated, giving the girl a friendly smile to further reenforce what she said. She hoped that the girl wouldn't take offense to her being too forward and asking if she needed someone to talk to, but ever since talking with Alex, Evangeline realized that not everyone in this school would hate her right off the bat and maybe, just by the look on the other girl's face, she wasn't the only one feeling a little lonely.

((Sorry it's so short and crappy. ;D ))

[Lara Watt]

Lara looked up at the voice of the other girl. Sure she had seen her, but it was like she had been looking but not really seeing while her mind whirled with thousands of thoughts, memories and ideas, but not really settling on one for period of time longer than a second.

“Hey, I don’t mind if you join. This place if just as much mine as it is any other Emerindyls” Lara said, returning the other girl’s friendly smile. “You’re quite the welcome intrusion, if intrusion is even the right term. Sometimes I get so lost up in here I just zone out of my surroundings” Lara emphasised her point by tapping her forehead with one of her perfectly manicured fingers.

Remaining silent for a moment as she let her eyes scan over the lakes surface that occasionally rippled or emitted an oxygen bubble from one living creature that lurked beneath the ever so slightly murky surface. Lara loved swimming, the sensation of being underwater while your skin touched nothing by the silkiness of the water as her streamlined form glided through it before she broke the surface causing ripples.

“I’m not feeling down, just thinking about how this is my last year and I need to make it count in all the important ways.” Lara gave a half shrug with a sigh. “Just thinking of what lies beyond the castle walls after graduate. I know, I know it is a far while off in the horizon; I still have to get through this year after all. But still, its just there, you know? And I couldn’t help but wonder where everyone is, I pretty much don’t think I saw anyone today except some of the younger Emerindyl students. And hey, Being a good listener as always a handy skill to have in the repertoire for future experience”

Looking to her new companion she looked at the girl trying to wonder where she had seen the girl before, Lara realised that she obviously had to be new since she didn’t know the girl and hadn’t seen her in any of her previous six years here at Koalingo. Then the scene of this years sorting, the part before she completely zoned of to look over her nails, check out the guys and the changes they had incurred over the holiday and of course the ever so important kick off of the social welcoming of various nods and smiles to her fellow students.

“You’re the new Gardan student aren’t you? I’m sorry your first name has just slipped my mind. Guess your some relation of Kalika’s then?” Lara asked not thinking it of much importance, guessing the girl to be some sort of cousin or something of the other Gardan girl in her year level. “Sorry, I just realised that sounded completely narf of me. I didn’t even introduce myself, did I? Lara Watt, seventh year”

Lara pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes again as it fell from behind her ear, as she waited for the other girl to speak.

((Not crappy. I don't believe in crappy posts, only those with room for improvement.))

[Evangeline Gardan]

"Nice to meet you. My name's Evangeline. You can call me Evan, most people do and I prefer it... Evangeline sounds too formal and stuffy." She replied as she looked out on to the lake. In the distance, Evangeline heard other kids horsing around with each other and half envied those that have been at the school since 1st year. Normally it wasn't too hard for the girl to make friends but with a crazy stuck up half sister, it kind of puts a damper on people's first impressions of Evan.

"Yea, I'm the type of person that likes to get lost and caught up in my thoughts also. I could probably pass a whole day just sitting somewhere peaceful and daydreaming or something to that effect." Evan nodded to what the girl had said about herself.

At the mention of Kalika, Evan's smile faded and was replaced by a pensive stare. While she would have loved to deny that she had any relations whatsoever to the evil half of her blood, Evan was not the type to lie... even when it would have benefitted her to do so.

"Yea... she's my half-sister. She's great isn't she? Regular saint of the school." Evangeline said jokingly, with a hint of sarcasm. If Lara knew Kalika she would know that Kalika was one of the most vile girls at Koalingo so it goes without saying that anything said about Kalika in a positive light had to be some sort of joke.

"This is a pretty great school. I was so glad to have grabbed Emerindyl's Sword from it's stone. I don't know what I would have done if I had pulled out the Ruberagon sword. I think I may have tried to push it back like nothing had happened. Everyone in Emerindyl's pretty nice... well... actually I've only met Alex officially but everyone seems pretty nice."

[Lara Watt]

Lara tried to hide her shock at the announcement of this girl being sister to the infamous Kalika Gardan, she took this information with a slight shrug and a grin to the other Emerindyl girl. She had heard mutterings of a new Gardan family member attending the wizarding school even before she got to school this year but all she had been told by her mother and her mother’s gossipy friends was that it all very scandalous and shrouded in secret. Lara now thinking of what she had heard and looking at the girl whom stood beside her. She failed to see how it mattered either way.

“You know what they say Evan, you can choose your friends but not your family, or something like that” Lara said, re-running the sentence over in her head. “yeah, I think that’s right. Its not like you define yourself by your half sister is it?”

Lara made sure mentioned the half sister in reference to Kalika as she could hear in Evan’s voice how much obvious distain and animosity there was between the two girls. Being a only child often made Lara wonder if she had missed out on anything during her childhood, which was usually quashed when she looked back on her pre-Koalingo days. She had many friends, all pureblooded children like herself, the best of clothes, brooms, tutors, and all the other entertainment a young witch could ever desire. She had always been to busy enjoying think on how different it would have been with a sibling.

Then the thought of sibling rivalries made Lara quite happy to be an only child.

“I know what you mean about pulling out the Ruberagon sword. It shifted slightly in its stone, maybe budged half an inch but that was it. Think it recognised that I was a pureblood but I didn’t have the consistent outward values and ideas they display.” Lara said, smiling fondly when she thought of how she seemed to fit in Emerindyl quite perfectly for her attitude. “I always had this theory everyone has part of each houses characteristics in them, just which ones dominate really decided where you belong. Lame isn’t it?”

Lara did like to think, and it was something the girl managed to do quite well, but she also knew how easy it was to become immersed and lost in one’s own thoughts, she had awoken the other day and was wonder what had caused her to awaken when she first looked at her clock it was just going on five in the morning, and then on her second glance it was two in the afternoon. Yes, Lara indeed understood how one could get lost in their own head.

“I get how it could be daunting jumping straight into our ranks in your seventh year but we are quite nice and friendly…if we have had our morning coffee and enough sleep. Otherwise, well, I just hope you never have to find out” Lara said, in a dead serious tone of voice, a half asleep or caffeine depraved Emerindyl student was not someone you would want to run into in a dark alley, or any alley for that matter. “I’m sure once you get settled in you’ll notice how things go and it will become second nature. Just takes time. And Alex is a great guy, his cabin is next to mine, hopefully he set a good first impression for the rest of us.”

Not knowing what it was about this girl but Lara had a good feeling about this girl would be alright and was rightly suited to the house of Emerindyl, and as she looked across the lake again, her eyes watching the motions of a blurred green figure in the distance Lara felt a overwhelming calm sensation. With a nod to herself over her own inner monologue than to the other female.

“You know what, Evan? I think you shall fit in just fine here in Emerindyl and Koalingo alike”