Closed Falling from trees

[Vader Hume]

Vader was trying to spend as little time as possible in the areas of the school where he knew Ava would likely be. Where she might spot him. The bruise on his face had faded somewhat, it was still a visibly different colour from the rest of his face, but the swelling had all but gone and wasn’t as deep in the blacks or purples. He still didn’t want her to see it, not after she had so recently helped him. If she thought it was random people doing it it wouldn’t matter, if she knew it was Vegeta whom he shared a dorm with and could not get away from. He was working on it, he wouldn’t need to rely on Ava fighting for him, or worry about it too much, he would solve it. He needed to, he couldn’t handle if it got any worse. He was spending time in the grounds a lot, a huge expanse where the time of year meant he could do so. He was splitting his time between studying and accio. He was passing under a few trees, carrying his camera and the tripod with it. He had plans to go to the edge of the forest to take some pictures of the trees. Completely as unsuspecting of what might come falling down from the trees. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava had been out for a walk, enjoying the fresh air, when she saw something that sparked her interest. High up in a tree by the lake, there was a birds nest! She could hear the baby birds chirping, and it excited her to no end. She quickly climbed the tree, and after spending a bit of time with the babies, she started to climb back down, only to spot a squirrel's hole. She gasped in excitement and went to climb down a branch to look. Only, the branch she stepped on broke. The next thing she knew, she was toppling down the tree. She didn't hit the ground, though. She had just burst through the bottom branches when her foot caught in a forked branch. She just swung there a moment, swinging, hair full of leaves and shirt over her face. She tried to swing up but she was well and truly stuck.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader was startled when someone fell out of the tree, but stopped short. He took a few quick steps away from it with a startled gasp and then just looked at them. ”Helene?” he spoke with a surprise in his tone. She was just swinging upside down, had she been up the tree. He found himself being really happy to see her, almost just really relieved too. He missed her when they weren’t able to spend a lot of time together and he had been somewhat avoiding her since the incident with Vegeta. He looked at her and his mind cast to what Emily had said. That she was reckless. He had never thought so, but just perhaps she actually was a little. Vader didn’t linger too much on it, and instead just let out a little laugh, ”Are you alright?” she seemed to maybe be a little stuck. He didn’t know if he would be much use to her or if he would manage to help her at all, but he was of course more than willing to try. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava sighed, struggling to straighten her shirt. She paused, though, as she heard a voice nearby. She looked up- er, down, startled, and a bright grin quickly broke across her face. "Timmy!" She squealed, automatically holding her arms out for a hug. And then remembering that she was still stuck. She pouted, trying to reach back up to the branch so she could pull herself up. When that failed to work, she just kinda swung there, one hand holding up her shirt and the other pulling a leaf from her hair. "Hey, did you see a squirrel run by?" She asked idly, "I thought I saw a squirrel hole." She giggled.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader looked at her and went to give her a hug when he realised it would be a little difficult. He was also pretty pleased that with her like this, upside down, she wouldn’t be paying attention to the fading bruise on the side of his face. The teen shook his head, ”I didn’t see it, but, I wasn’t really looking for it,” Vader told her with a little smile, ”Do you want some help getting down?” he offered to her, Vader was always steadily growing taller, he would probably be able to help her a little, or be of some help to get her a little more unstuck so that she could get down from it. If she wanted to. He was assuming that she was stuck, and while he didn’t think she’d intentionally fallen, she perhaps wasn’t stuck. So there would be no reason for him to step in to help. He knew that she could handle herself just fine, but he was her friend, he would always help her. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava nodded as Timmy offered to help her down. "Only if you don't run off though. I know you've been avoiding me and I miss you," She pouted, chiding him a little. She could see his face, and it greatly displeased her to see why he was avoiding her. But if it upset him enough that he would avoid spending time with her, then she wouldn't mention it. She decided to tell him as much as she swung there. "I won't say anything about it unless I see it happening, deal? So you can stop trying to hide it. I miss you too much to argue. Okay?" She asked hopefully.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader ducked his head shyly when she mentioned that he had been avoiding her. Vader had never been that subtle with things, and he wasn’t surprised but he ducked shyly away from her. He nodded at her, ”Okay,” he didn’t bother to say anything else about it. He looked up at her and gave a little smile, he didn’t know why she was so patient with him. Why she stuck around when he was so uselessly, needed her too much. He wasn’t a good person. He felt himself sigh a little internally, but he forced a smile on to his tired expression, and put down his camera and then covered it with his jumper at the foot of the tree. The movement pushing the hair from his face, he felt less concerned about her seeing it, if she had and wouldn’t push. ”Okay, how stuck are you?” he asked, trying to look at how stuck she was. ”Do you want me to push you up?” he thought perhaps he could push her up slightly to climb slightly back up, or maybe he could just stand under and promise to catch her. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava gave him a bright smile. She turned her attention back to her foot, noticing the dull throbbing in her ankle. That couldn't be good. "Well, my foot is a bit stuck in this branch. Push me up a bit and I can swing down." She instructed, tying her hair back and starting to try to pull herself up.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader couldn’t help but once again think of her sisters words. Swinging down might not be that good if her ankle was stuck. But, he trusted Ava, and he knew Ava knew what she was doing. He moved and then began very slowly, helping push her back up. Vader didn’t do much sports and certainly it was hard when he was tired but his growing height meant it wasn’t too much of a struggle and he was able to push her up, push her up and would do so until she told him to stop. He wasn’t quick, knowing that she would need time to figure out how to grab things or how to help her move so that she could get down. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

It took a minute but with Vader's help she managed to get pulled back up onto the branch. She sat up and wiggled her foot free, not thinking of the slight throbbing that started in her ankle as soon as it was free. She sighed, giggling brightly before dropping out of the tree. She meant to thank Vader as soon as she hit the ground, but she couldn't. But pain shot up her leg as she hit the ground. She cried out in pain, stumbling forward and hitting the ground. She sucked in a breath, turning to look and see her ankle starting to swell. She let out a pained laugh. "Would you look at that? I think I sprained my ankle," She tried to stand, but stumbled again. Well, that didn't work. Oops.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader moved away once she had managed to get up on to the branch, he watched carefully as she then dropped to the ground and then when she went to stand, just cried out in pain and seemingly crumbled to the ground. Vader immediately rushed forward and over to her swearing loudly as he did so, stepping in front of her, hands out to help her. He looked at the swelling ankle and had to do a whole lot to stop himself freaking out too loudly, ”No, don’t put pressure on it,” he told her as she stumbled, speaking loudly and quickly, unable to stop the panic from slipping in. Vader was over to her in a second, putting his arm around her waist and helping hold her up. He couldn’t help but think about what her sister had said, he trusted Ava, but she had gotten herself hurt. ”I should take you up to the hospital wing,” he said to her, with barely contained panic in his voice. ”Let me help you sit down while I grab my stuff and then I’ll carry you up,” he spoke quickly, his breathing rushing in quickly, his hands were shaking lightly, but he could do this regardless. He needed to be able to do this. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava looked up, surprised to hear the panic in Vaders voice. She put an arm around his shoulder and laid the other one on his chest as he held her up. She tried to speak but he was rushing, telling her he'd take her to the hospital wing and he'd help her sit down. She giggled and kissed his cheek. "Take a deep breath first, then we will. It's just an ankle, if you can keep hold of me I can probably hobble my way back and you can hold you stuff in your other arm." She offered.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader took a few deep breaths when she told him too, but it didn’t particularly help. He didn’t want her to put any weight on it at all, what if it was broken and even the slightest step made it worse. The boy was responsible for this, he had tried to help her and caused this to happen. He felt his hands shake lightly even with her hand on his chest. He nodded quickly, ”Okay,” he spoke quickly and then knew she was right. He very slowly lowered her to the ground and rushed over to his own things. He put on his jumper and then the camera around his neck and placed the tripod on his shoulder. He went back over to Ava and with shaking hands helped her back to her feet, his arm firmly around her waist, ”If it gets too much, you tell me and I’ll just carry you,” Vader told her with a firm, but still lightly panicked tone. He just didn’t want it to become any worse. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava tried not to flinch as Vader slowly set her down. She let out a breathless laugh. "It's been a while since I got this falling out of a tree. Must have happened when my foot got stuck in the branch." She shook her head. "Papa will kill me if he finds out," She joked. "He told me to stop climbing trees the last time this happened." She giggled. "I couldn't resist though, there was a nest of baby birds! You should have seen it, they were so little and cute." She held out her arms as Vader came back to her. He helped her to her feet. She nodded, laying her head on his shoulder a moment. "You're so sweet to me Timmy." She sighed as they started to move. "I wish more people were like you." She was quiet a moment. "Will I ever stop thinking about him?" She asked Vader quietly. Even at moments like this Philip still crossed her mind. How nice it would be if he would be so sweet to her.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader made quick work of getting his things together, having noted that while she didn’t seem to be too outwardly in pain that it was still painful and likely uncomfortable. He found himself smiling slightly at her words, calmed by her calm, by her laughter, ”Maybe you should listen to him,” Vader return, his tone still panicked, but there was a genuine smile on his features for a moment as he said it. Vader helped her to her feet, keeping his arm firmly around her side and making sure that his grip wouldn’t loosen, all tiredness he might have been feeling replaced by the desire and need to ensure that his best friend was okay. Once he’d dealt with it and she was safe then he could let his own feelings come back. He was a little surprised when she put her head on his shoulder as they began moving, he felt wrong as she said the words, he wasn’t sweet, he wasn’t even a good friend. He ducked his head, not really looking towards her, just focusing much more on putting on foot in front of the other. ​

​

Vader also had to hope that there weren’t more people like him, how many terrible people would that be in the world? He just forced a smile and then it softened as she spoke of Philip. Philip who Vader had some reservations about, but he could see how much she liked him. The heart wanted what the heart wanted, it was too bad he spent so much time actively denying his own. ”Yeah, maybe,” he said, but he knew that likely wasn’t much help, ”I no longer think about Isabelle, and I had a fraction of what you and Philip had, maybe it just takes time? The heart wants what it wants,” it was the most he’d likely ever openly admitted to his relationship with Isabelle, he’d almost mentioned that she hadn’t made him feel like Ava had described but he hoped she might just get it a little from what he said and he definitely wasn’t ready to admit that sometimes with Goku he felt that hint of a flutter. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava shook her head, limping along next to Vader. "Oh, please, I can't listen to everything papa says." She turned and winked. "If I did, I'd have to ask you out. I swear the man doesn't seem to understand it just isn't like that." She rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just go out with that boy down the street, Avaria?" She did her best to sound like her dad, "You're with him all the time anyway, wouldn't it be nicer if he was your boyfriend?" She giggled, putting a hand on Vader's chest. "I don't think he listens to me." She shook her head.

She was surprised as he brought up Isabelle. He had never talked much about it before. "Maybe it didn't work with Isabelle..." She bit her lip. "But you have Pho now," She said slowly. "Maybe she'll make you happier." She almost stumbled a little bit, wincing. She clung to Vader a bit more to keep her balanced. "You really deserve to be happy," She whispered, placing her head on his shoulder and trying to breathe through the pain.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader blushed deeply when she quoted what her dad said about them, ”My parents say the same,” the gryffindor let himself laugh lightly. He loved Ava deeply, he loved her almost more than anything else, but it was purely platonic, she was his friend soulmate. Someone he loved so deeply, and was so pleased to have in his life, but not someone he could ever date. He stopped himself before his mind delved any deeper as to why not. He made sure his arm held strong as they walked slowly, aware than she was gripping on to him tightly. He shrugged a little, ”I do,” he didn’t sound particularly convinced of this fact. Pho liked him a lot, he could tell, but much like with Isabelle nothing he did seemed to get him to that same level. He just had to work harder perhaps at it. He looked at Ava as she continued, ”I am happy Ava,” he replied, though he didn’t sound all that convinced, he knew that he had a lot going on, and while he could be happy doing some accio work or being around Ava, he didn’t feel particularly happy most days "You make me happy,". He just made sure his grip on Ava was enough to continue supporting her, ”You deserve to be happy too,” Vader told her, hoping to get the attention off him and in his mind where he probably didn’t deserve to be all that happy with the amount of lying that he did, she did. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava sighed. "I wish we did sometimes," she admitted softly. "It would be easier if I could just like you that way. You're the most important person in my life, Vader." She shook her head. "Ah, dont mind me. I dont need romance." She giggled, brightening easily. "Besides, why mess with what we have? Our relationship is perfect the way it is." Well, almost perfect, but it wasnt the time to try and call him out. She hobbled along next to him.

She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder as he told her she made him happy. "I am happy, when I'm with you or Allie. It would be easier if I could just move into your room though," she teased lightly. She paused and looked up the stairs as they reached them, uncertain. "So, ah, how are we getting up there?"

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader would admit that it would be easier for him to be with Ava, even if he could never love her like that, he did love her. But he couldn’t do that, lying to her like that would’ve just been the worst thing for him to do. He was happy with the way things were between them currently. It was nice, he had never been so close to someone in his life, he had never had a friend like her in his life and he knew that if continued to lie to her he would ruin it, but he didn’t know what or how to say any of it. He didn’t know how to deal with any of it, so he just lied to her. THe thought of Ava being in his dorm room was both a nice thought and in part terrified him. She would find out about Vegeta. But of course it was impossible. He looked at the steps and then at her, ”I can carry you,” he said, trying to assure her with his tone that he could indeed carry her. He moved slightly to be able to pick her up if she wanted him to. ​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Ava looked uncertainly between Vader and the steps. "But what if you can't and you get hurt, too?" She asked, worry clear in her tone. "Just because I'm silly enough to fall out of a tree doesn't mean you need to drop us both down the stairs." She held onto his sleeve, blue eyes wide. "You know I hate seeing you hurt. And if it was my fault, I... I don't think I could ever forgive myself," She fretted softly, burying her face in his shoulder to calm herself down.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader looked at Ava, ”It’ll be okay,” Vader said to her when she seemed to get worked about him lifting her up. He was sure that it would be a bit of a struggle, but Vader would do it for her. He rubbed his hand up and down her arm, trying his best to calm her down. ”It’ll be fine Ava, if it’s too much I’ll stop,” he promised her, speaking with some honesty, most of the time he wouldn’t stop but with this he would. A”We can take it nice and slow,” he adjusted his stance to be able to lift her up.​

 

[Avaria Lockwood]

Godmod approved by Emzies.

Ava looked up at Vader from under her lashes, clinging to his shoulder a bit. "Promise you'll put me down if it's too much." She bit her lip, taking his things. "I'll carry these then." She took a deep breath, whimpering a little as Vader picked her up in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and buried her face in his neck. It was nice being close to him like this, she felt safe. She relaxed slowly, trying to ignore the intense longing that hit her. Why couldnt she just love Vader? She wanted to. She wished she did. But again, her mind strayed to a stupid slytherin. She sniffled and burrowed closer into Vader. "The universe is mean," she pouted softly to her best friend. "I wish... I wish for a lot of things." She didnt know if he would know what she meant. She hoped he did. And also that he didnt. She was still a little ashamed that she thought so much of someone who did nothing but hurt her.