Open One Good Thing

[Eric Holland]

Eric loved his mother, he really did. But right now, he was annoyed with her. Not only had she insisted on dragging him and his brother to New Zealand for a shopping trip, she had tried her best to make him like this place just because he would be going to school up at the castle soon. The whole time they had walked through it she had pointed out things to him that she thought were 'awesome', and she kept comparing it to Hogsmeade which had been near her own school. When he had asked why he couldn't go there instead, she had ignored him. Typical.

He hadn't really reacted to any of her attempts to get him enthusiastic about this place, and had seen her get a little frustrated. He should have given in then, but he was pretty stubborn. Unfortunately, his mother was even more stubborn than Eric. So after a few too many sighs and quiet complaints, she had taken him by the shoulders and told him that she was going to get some pumpkin juice with his brother at the three broomsticks, and Eric would get to explore by himself for a bit. She had then said that they weren't going to leave until Eric had found one thing in this place that he liked and shown it to her. Eric knew her well enough to know she would hold to that, and now here he was. He had already told his mother during their walk that all the shops here were dumb and boring, so he knew he couldn't suddenly insist to like one of them. He had wandered around for a bit, glowering at anyone that passed, and then found a park next to the main street. He figured it would count for this 'mission' his mum had given him, but the park was unbelievably boring. Eric had wandered over to the playground and sneered at the childish display. Then, out of boredom, he had started kicking at the swing. He tried to kick it harder as it swung back at him, wondering how high he could get it to go.

 

[Nova Valtoria]

It was interesting being in a new country. Nova hadn't been out of America before, but having spent about a year in New Zealand, she discovered she wanted to go back to America. It had been hard to be ripped away from her old home, a place she knew and was her own. Now, people talked funny and she ran into the same person so many times. It was weird. The only good thing about the country so far was that her mother only had to work one job; they had spent more nights stargazing in the one year in New Zealand than she had her whole time in America.
Today was a working day for her mother, so Nova was stuck hanging around Brightstone again. There wasn't a lot of secluded areas, but being January, Nova was happy to be outside anyway. With her favorite sunglasses on, Nova sat with her legs spread out on the bench, under a shady tree. She had her favorite book with her - about the stars. Her and her mother had only really been able to afford a couple of books, so she had read it a million times, but reading it again always jogged her memory, and reminded her about things she had forgotten. It was a peaceful day, until she heard a disturbance. Looking over, Nova saw a boy kicking at the swings. She rolled her eyes, looking back at her book. "I'm not sure that was what the swings are there for." Nova called out to him.

 

[Eric Holland]

A grin spread over Eric's face as he gave the swing a particularly savage kick, and it flew up really high. He wondered what would happen if it broke off, though there weren't any adults nearby to get him into trouble. Just some girl, and as she shouted at him Eric turned to her. "What are you, the swing police?" He called back to her before giving it another kick. "It's not what they're here for, but it's more fun this way." He added, shrugging. "More fun than a dumb book, anyway." He added, rolling his eyes. Who was she to judge what he was doing? "There's nothing else interesting around here, so I have to do something." He then turned away from her and jumped onto the swing, kicking off with one leg and letting it swing forward while he was standing on it.

 

[Nova Valtoria]

Nova scoffed at the boy's reply, calling her the swing police, laughing when he kicked it again. She closed her book and sat up properly as he continued to speak, saying it was more fun to kick the swing. Nova found herself scoffing again when he said kicking a swing was more fun than a book. There was nothing more fun than a book - apart from stargazing she thought. The blonde agreed with him though, when he said there was nothing else interesting. Standing up and bringing her book with her, she moved towards the boy, and placed the book down next to the spare swing, before standing on it and swinging gently on it. "Well, you've obviously got issues, but you're right about one thing. This place is lame." She shook her head as she looked around the place. "I'm Nova, by the way."

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric wasn't here to make friends, so he didn't really care if the girl was offended by him or not. He glanced at her sideways as she approached, and snorted when she copied his move. He spit on the ground as she told him he had issues, mostly to see if it would gross her out. "Everyone has issues, if you pretend you don't you're lying." He told her, then jumped off the swing. He turned around, giving her a slight grin. "I'm Eric. And if you think this place is so lame, Nova, do you have ideas of how to improve it?" He asked her, a challenge in his gaze. "We could improve it together." He was curious to see what the girl would say, and if perhaps they could think of something fun to do.

 

[Nova Valtoria]

Nova scowled when the boy spat. Well that was disgusting. She had to let out a laugh when he turned her issues comment back at her. "Is everyone in New Zealand as gross as you?" The blonde asked, her American accent thick.
Nova nodded her head as the boy introduced himself, staying on the swing when he jumped off. She met his gaze when he asked if she knew how to improve the place. Nova was not one to back down from a challenge and her mind immediately started racing about what they could do. She grinned when he said they could improve it together - she wasn't expecting that, especially not from this boy. "They could have like - a giant wizards chess game or something. Or tree climbing challenges - like races or whatever. What about you then?"

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric grinned at her comment, shrugging carelessly. "They wish." He said, amusing himself. "Are you American? You sound weird." He informed her, unwilling to be sensitive about her accent. Eric's eyebrows rose as the girl started listing ways to improve the playground. She definitely had a wild imagination, but surely she knew all of that wasn't something two kids could do. "Tree climbing challenges sound okay." He conceded. "But I was thinking of something a bit easier to do ourselves, and definitely more fun than chess." He smirked as he pulled a permanent marker out of his pocket and showed it to her, gauging her reaction. "Let's liven things up a bit." He said, gesturing to the playground equipment surrounding them. "Or are you scared to do something bad?"

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Trips to Brightstone always had the chance to be super lame, but Sydney generally found not coming and potentially missing something was lamer. She’d slunk away from her family, convincing their nanny letting her do her own thing was definitely the lesser of two evils than dealing with her if she had to follow her and her sister around all day.
Chewing a licorice wand, Sydney wandered over to the playground where she could see two other kids who looked like they might be her age.

Her interest was piqued when she heard one of them suggest they might be getting up to some mischief, though she had to scoff when the boy raised up a piddly little marker. “I hope you’re not planning to achieve anything big with that tiny little marker,” she said, walking over and gesturing derisively with her licorice wand.

 

[Nova Valtoria]

Why would people want to be as gross as him? Nova rolled her eyes, scoffing when he said she sounded weird. "I sound normal. You - Zealanders are the weird sounding ones." It was true, she struggled to understand them sometimes. When Eric said tree climbing sounded okay, Nova grinned. She could make it a challenge, and see which one of them was faster, but Eric had a different idea. She cocked her head when he pulled out a marker, grinning again, impressed. Just before she could hold out her hand to prove she wasn't afraid, another voice joined their mix. Nova eyed the wand the girl had, before glaring at her. "So what if we are? What are you going to do about it? That isn't a real wand." Nova said, folding her arms.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric scoffed as the girl said he sounded weird and called him a Zealander, it only showed how little she really knew. "I'm not even from New Zealand, I'm Australian." He said, rolling his eyes. "Good job." He added sarcastically. "And you still sound weirder." He added with a shrug. But at least the girl seemed to like his idea with the marker, and he was about to ask her for suggestions when someone else spoke up. Eric turned to the new arrival, raising both his eyebrows at her. "Nothing big." He said after a moment. "Just fun. What's your name?" He asked casually, twirling the marker in his hand.

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Sydney stood her full height when the other girl spoke up, clearly trying to discredit her over the licorice wand. Sydney’s height was a bit of a blessing and a curse at times, clothes so rarely fitting her, but it made her seem older and she wouldn’t lie about the pleasure she felt at being able to literally look down on some of the kids her age.
“Might not be a real wand-” she said, biting a piece off for emphasis, “-but I know some real magic and I know you’re going to have to do better than that marker if you want it to last longer than like, a day.” she said, thinking back to how quickly their housekeeper had always done away with any pen or ink related messes she’d tried to create. It was never worth the trouble. But it seemed her advice wasn’t wanted here. She turned to the boy, nodding “Well, at least you’re armed appropriately for your ambitions,” she said primly. “I’m Sydney.” She considered asking the others their names, but decided she didn't care today. Moving to perch on the jungle gym instead, she motioned to the kid with the marker expectantly.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric listened impatiently as the new girl blathered on about how whatever he drew would only be there for a day, at most. That was only the case if there was anyone around with a wand who cared enough to remove it. Either way, it would be fun, so who cared? He smiled slightly as she finally said her name, and then turned around to the nearest playground equipment. "Well, at least people will be warned for a day." He said coolly. He picked out a large area and scrawled in big, angry letters. "SYDNEY SUCKS." Then he turned to her with a smirk, capping the marker before glancing over at Nova. Weird accent or not, he definitely thought she was the cooler of the two girls, and wondered if she would be down to team up against the snotty newcomer.

 

[Nova Valtoria]

Nova rolled her eyes when Eric said he was Australian. "Same thing." She replied with a shrug of her shoulders. Apart from a few things, they basically were the same people. Nova definitely didn't sound weirder, she sounded normal, it was the people that lived at the bottom of the world that were weird.
Nova raised an eyebrow as the new girl spoke about how she knew magic. Nova highly doubted it. She didn't introduce herself back to the girl, immediately deciding she didn't like her and hoping she wasn't going to be going to the same stupid school that Nova was going to. The blonde watched what Eric did, before busting out in laughter. It was perfect! It was in that moment she decided that she did like Eric. Nova turned back to Sydney. "Well, go on then, if you know so much magic, why don't you get rid of this for us?"

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Sydney was incensed. Apparently this was how she was repaid for trying to warn someone else about their bad idea. She should have known that kids her age were just too immature to appreciate when someone was trying to elevate their ideas.
“Wow, so juvenile,” she huffed, crossing her arms, “If I had known you were both still such babies, I wouldn’t have bothered giving you advice,” she resisted the urge to stick out her tongue when the other girl goaded her as well. “I totally could if I wanted, but since this is clearly so important to you two, I’ll let you have your trivial little fun,” Sydney hoped throwing in some bigger words would convey just how unaffected and adult she was being about this whole thing, unlike them. First thing she was doing when she got her wand was coming back here and scrubbing that stupid graffiti right off the playground. Right after she learnt the spell for it.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric was grinning as Nova laughed, and was even willing to forgive her comment about Australian being the same thing as being from New Zealand. He laughed at Nova's words too, stepping closer to her. They were a team now, at least against this Sydney girl. "Yeah, come on, show us." He said, challenging her. Of course, she didn't. He crossed his arms and smirked at her as she called them babies, knowing that she couldn't come up with anything better. "Your advice was bad, anyway." He said, shrugging. "You should learn to keep it to yourself." He glanced at Nova, raising his eyebrows slightly, then glanced at her. "Please, if you could actually remove it you would. You're just lying." He shrugged. "Pretty sad, if you ask me. Right Nova?" He shook his head pityingly.

 

[Nova Valtoria]

Nova smirked when Eric joined in on challenging the newcomer. She put her hands on her hips, waiting expectantly and let out a scoff when she called them babies. Nova nodded her head when Eric continued to talk at Sydney, letting out a small laugh again when Eric called her sad. "Pretty pathetic. You're the one that's obviously the baby, you're too scared to have a bit of fun. If you wanted, we could marker a smile on your face, so you aren't such a party pooper anymore?" Nova asked, using as innocent a voice as she could muster.

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Sydney always knew great intelligence would mean she would have to face great adversary as well, but she had hoped it wouldn't have to start this young. She made sure to keep her head high in the face of these two hoodlums and their little threats, poised and unaffected as they tried to demean her. "Fine,"She said primly, "Since I'm clearly not appreciated here, I won't impose anymore on your silly games."
With a huff, Sydney hopped up, straightening out her shirt before stalking away. She made sure to keep her head held high, making a note to remember this feeling later for her journal. This would be a great moment for her eventual memoirs to truly highlight her unappreciated genius.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric was glad Nova went along with him, and gave her an appreciative smile. If she was going to Hogwarts too, maybe things wouldn't be too bad. As long as she could keep her mouth shut about her dumb ideas about New Zealand and Australia. "It would by my pleasure." He said about Nova's suggestion, taking a step closer to the newcomer. But she seemed to sense the danger, even if she clearly tried to not look intimidated. She left them, and Eric called out after her. "See you around, Sydney Sucks!" He called, as if that was her name. Then he laughed and turned to Nova. "You're alright." He said after a moment. Maybe he had found this one good thing his mum had wanted him to find. Though he was sure she wouldn't approve of what they had just done.