Close your eyes and jump

[Pia Morales]

Spending time with Orwell in the wild patch always brightened Pia's mood, and she was glad it hadn't failed that evening when she was unable to get that day's terrifying herbology lesson out of her mind. Learning about dangerous magical plants was one thing, but being made to interact with them alone when even the most experienced wizards wouldn't, all while the professor expected the class to have injuries afterwards was completely different. Pia never liked to think that the school system wanted students to be hurt or traumatized. Yet students being injured, scared, and forced to mend their own wounds seemed to be the entire point of that lesson. It didn't make sense to Pia. She figured the least the professor could have done was pair the students up so they wouldn't have been forced to encounter the plant alone. But the professor had instead told them to face the plant by themselves all while knowing better, and it worried her. She was glad she spoke up to the professor during the lesson and that she managed to be respectful despite her fear, but she was still bothered by the entire ordeal and the fact she was made to heal many of the cuts on her body and mend the rips in her uniform by herself, without any support from the professor and the school besides the nurse at the hospital wing who had healed the wounds she was unable to.

The only person Pia felt she could approach with her worries was Orwell. He had a firm belief on fighting the system and standing up for what was right. On top of all of that he was her friend, and treated her problems with respect and care as any friend should. He had spent the evening with her, talking to her about the lesson and assuring her the system was the problem, that everything would be fine, and she believed it. After that they talked about their looming exams and the subjects they needed to study for. Pia's favorite subject had always been potions so they had decided to brew a potion as practice on a whim, and this eventually lead them to the outskirts of the forbidden forest, arm in arm, laughing and then telling the other to be quiet so they wouldn't be caught while searching for the right ingredients. As they entered the forest Pia stumbled, then caught her balance on a nearby tree trunk. "Orwell, don't stand there." She laughed and pointed to the ground where she stood. She wasn't about to admit it, but this was the most fun she'd had in a while, and the perfect distraction to help her feel better after what had been a stressful day.

A professor has been organized to interrupt this thread after the plot develops ​

 

[Orwell Brocken]

After having been to see his head of house about the herbology class, to calm himself down further Orwell had gone to the head of house about it, and he knew it wasn't perhaps entirely the right move so close to the end of his school career, but he had just felt like venting about it to a professor and that man was supposed to look after the ravenclaws so that was the right person to go to with his problem. But following that Orwell had gone back to the wild patch club and spent most of the afternoon hours laying about the flowers with Pia, just relaxing, and snacking on the food that he had at the wild patch. Enjoying this relaxing contrast to what had been an odd and somewhat stressful day. Orwell had so much to do but he was leaving it all to the side and just enjoy this afternoon and evening with her, in occasional fits of giggles and smiling easily at the other. But eventually their discussion had devolved with them talking about a potion, they had of course talked about the lesson they'd both just had, but it was over at this point and he'd vented his frustration to both a professor and to her, because he understood where she was coming from. He understood it.

However their conversation had devolved to a potion they both wanted to try and for which they needed to go into the forest, Orwell understood that he shouldn't go in but he was going to go in anyway, because the arguments against were so riducolous now considering that in class they had had to face a dangerous plant. The boy looked to Pia as he linked arms with her as they walked towards the edge of the forest, there was so much to explore of the forest that he would never get the chance to, but they were on a mission. He stumbled slightly and burst into a fit of giggles until he heard what she was saying and he moved slightly, stumbling over a log as he did so, laughing heartily. He couldn't stop himself from it, the stress of what this year was, was just coming out in this manner, in this laughter even when nothing was funny, "I don't see what's there," he told her looking at it, "Come on, we need to keep going, we mustn't delay," he said, finishing in a loud and pompous voice that was very unlike Orwell, but he pointed in a direction assuming that would be the right way to go. He just felt so happy, it was such an odd happiness, one of pure relief, and de stressing after a long day.
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[Pia Morales]

"Orwell!" Pia squeaked as she watched her friend stumble over a log. It was exactly the opposite of what she advised him to do, and she watched him further in amusement as he recovered then spoke in a manner that was pompous and so unlike him. Pia laughed and stepped forward from the tree she was leaning against, slowly but surely making her way closer to Orwell in the darkness. "You clearly can't see anything. You're stumbling with every step!" She new she was equally as clumsy in that moment and knew that anyone would be if they chose to walk through an untended forest after dark, without any kind of light source. Continuing to fall over anything and everything was by far not the best course of action for the mission that brought them to the forest that night in the first place. Pia quickly realized this, and chose to fix the problem by pulling her wand from her pocket and casting lumos. She stepped forward further, chuckling as she linked her arm with Orwell's again and lead them both in the direction he had pointed.

The mere sound of Orwell's hearty laughter was enough to repeatedly bring Pia back into fits of giggles while they continued walking further into the forest. The path was relatively easy to walk along with guidance and the ability to take in their surroundings properly with the light emitting from Pia's wand. Their mission suddenly seemed much easier, and Pia felt confident while looking around the part of the forest they were in, that they would find the right ingredients for their potion in no time. Though this ease in their search didn't last much longer when the pair were stopped in their tracks by a fallen tree crossing their path. Its trunk was too big for either of them to climb over without a little help. Pia looked to Orwell and smiled. "Can you help me over this?" She asked, looking from Orwell and to the log as she waited for a response. A small hurdle such as a log was nothing in the grand scheme of things. Spending time with one of her good friends on that night had been exactly what Pia needed after a stressful day and she wasn't about to let anything ruin that. ​

 

[Orwell Brocken]

Orwell shook his head at her, he could see just fine, but the truth was he couldn't really see anything around him, it was too dark for that and Orwell wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing. Though in his mind he knew it was dangerous it wasn't like Orwell cared too much. Rather he was just happy to be walking around the forest with Pia, laughing and talking about life in general, "I'm walking as gracefully as a deer Pia," he told her before laughing slightly, but he could admit that the darkness wasn't perhaps the best idea that was until Pia's wand lit up in a spell, that she must've cast, "Excellent idea! We are wizards and witches after all," Orwell admitted between little fits of laughter. It was easy to get lost in the excitement with her, easy to just love the way things were between them. The simplicity of this wonderful night, a wonderful night that had followed a stressful and awful day. Orwell was happier out here with her in this moment than he would be once again stuck with books in front of him.

As he walked with the light of her wand guiding them over the obstacles with greater ease, he looped arms with her, and this meant it was slightly easier to see and walk over the less that flat ground beneath their feet. They were searching for what they needed, and Orwell was so determined to find it, but the adventure with Pia was just about as much fun, he loved the way her laughter sounded. It was like when he heard Archie laugh, it just filled him with joy. Though with Archie it filled him with a little more love. He nodded at her, looking between the tree log on the forest floor and her, "Of course," He walked over and gave her a hand to help her over before climbing over the log himself, "If you need help over a log I'm your guy," he told her, pointing towards himself with a laughter written so clearly across his face, "Let's keep going, can't have the Head Girl getting caught after hours," Orwell still didn't think the forest should be forbidden but this close to the end of the year and their school, he didn't want Pia to lose all she had.
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[Pia Morales]

Pia accepted Orwell's hand as he offered it to her, using the leverage to climb over the log. She dusted her clothing after returning her feet to the ground, then smiled as she turned to watch Orwell climb over the log himself. "You are the guy. You can be log boy!" Pia laughed, half joking and half being serious. Orwell was such a kind friend, and his knowledge of nature and his cheerful company made him the exact person Pia would want to explore the forbidden forest with on that night. This, and the laughter she was sharing with him meant she had completely forgotten the stress of facing a snargaluff that day, and of her exams being around the corner. She was instead having genuine fun for the first time in weeks and it was not only welcomed but refreshing. "If what's written in the bathrooms is true, previous head girls have been caught doing things much worse than being in a forest after dark." Pia joked, winking as she placed her hands on her hips. She then nodded in accomplishment towards Orwell for overcoming the obstacle before linking her arm in his a third time and continuing to lead him on their journey with the light of her wand.

The night was brisk and the wind caused a shiver to run down Pia's spine as she shuffled her shoulders. The woolen cardigan covering her arms was thick but wasn't completely shielding her from the cold. Fortunately she was able to lean closer to Orwell for warmth as they walked, hoping he wouldn't mind or notice the closeness. Eventually Pia realized how embarrassing it would be if he mentioned it, and then unliked her arm from Orwell's when she stopped near the roots of a tree. She knelt down to expect the mushrooms growing from the dirt, and frowned when she noticed they weren't the ones their potion needed. "Those aren't the ones." Pia said as she stood back up and continued to walk forward, assuming Orwell would follow behind her. ​

 

[Orwell Brocken]

Orwell laughed lightly with her, Orwell was sure that he could be the log guy, he could be that guy. The teen was just enjoying the way this felt, the ease with which he could laugh with her, the fact that this evening contrasted so much from the rest of the day, he felt happy to spend the time with Pia, to share with her this evening, and to be searching for what they needed to. It was a little bit silly, honestly Orwell knew they could find this in the morning when it was lighter and they'd actually gotten some sleep, but it seemed like now was as good a time as any to be doing it. Orwell wondered what was written in the bathrooms of the head people's room, Orwell was a little curious but he didn't really want to know, in case anything was written about him, or Archie. The ravenclaw was grinning to himself, "I hope they call me the King of Flowers in that writing," the boy joked with her. It was easy to joke about it because orwell didn't think it would be too bad about being called the king of flowers, since he called himself that.

The boy looked towards the plants that he had pointed at, it wasn't the right thing clearly, he nodded with Pia and then followed behind her, eventually catching up and linking arms with her once more, he was smiling easily at her, little fits of giggles escaped his lips as the walked, following the light from Pia's wand. The teen was enjoying this time with her, it was enjoyable, certainly very enjoyable, he hadn't laughed this much in so long, though he laughed a lot with Archie this was a little different. Eventually as they walked he reached a log, it seemed a little familiar but Orwell pushed that down, he held out his hand to Pia and smiled, "I guess I can be your log boy once more," offering once more to help her over with a light laugh.
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