Open Owl By Owlselves

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander had almost forgotten about the Valentine's dance. Without the usual routine of delivering roses all day, it had felt like an otherwise pretty regular day for him, until he'd realised that the Great Hall had been closed off for renovations that afternoon. Everyone had been talking about Valentines for at least the last week, and he'd of course been expecting it, yet he was still underprepared for it now that it had actually come. He spent less time getting ready than he supposed he normally would have as a result, dressed in a regular button-up shirt and some jeans, over re-using his Yule outfit. His nice suit was now more wrinkled than a hag, having been shoved away unceremoniously at the end of the previous semester, and he didn't know any spells that smoothed out clothes.

Absent a date, Lysander had once again defaulted to bringing Fuzzfeathers as his partner, adorning the owl with a small bowtie. He thought a tiny vest would have been fun, but he did not have a tiny vest in his collection of animal-oriented accessories, and he was sure FF wouldn't have approved of having to wear one, either. He held the bird aloft on his arm, and hung out away from the usual go-to spot around one of the snack tables. They looked congested, and quite frankly, he felt like he needed the space. It was odd, and he couldn't quite explain why he felt the way that he did, but everything had started to feel like a bit much lately.​

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Even after dancing with Casper at the ball, Ryan still didn't really understand the appeal of school dances. He couldn't discredit the people watching appeal though, even if his sister kept insisting it was creepy to just show up to watch other people. But Ryan liked trying to deduce things about people from what he saw at the dances, like how nervous someone was about their date, or whether someone was wearing brand new shoes from the way they walked. He had no idea what he could glean from what it meant that Lysander Summers had brought an owl with him to the ball.

Watching Lysander for a few moments, just in case he planned to send an important message or something, Ryan was overcome with curiosity, eventually unable to resist approaching Lysander. "You have an owl with you," He said, taking the chance to get a closer look at said owl now that he was closer, disappointed that it seemed to just be a normal owl, though Ryan supposed he wouldn't be able to tell if Lysander had brought an animagus as his date.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander was surprisingly happy with the company he had. Being surrounded by his friends was where he felt he usually thrived, over being totally alone, but his best non-human friend was doing a great job of filling that absence. Still, he was grateful to see Nicole’s little brother coming by for some extra company. He smiled at him, and gave Fuzzfeathers a scratch under his chin, an act the bird usually only appeared to tolerate when in public, but now he thought he’d come to accept it. ”Yep. You mean you didn’t bring yours?” He asked with a laugh, pretending to look around as if Ryan had hidden an owl somewhere on his person.​

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan had to double-take when Lysander commented about Ryan not bringing his own owl, thrown enough that he caught himself checking his own pockets for a moment before realizing Lysander was probably joking. "I don't have an owl," He said, half in his own defense, still feeling wrong-footed with how the conversation was going. "Why do you have an owl?" Ryan tried instead, squinting again at Lysander's owl as if to ask it to explain itself. Maybe it more people brought owls, school dances would be more interesting.

 

[Lysander Summers]

As Ryan actually checked his pockets for an owl, Lysander’s smile widened, straining to hold back his laughter. ”What do you mean? Why don’t you?” He asked, acting as incredulous as he could muster. ”Everyone else brought owls.” He said, sweeping his free hand towards the completely owl-less Great Hall, just to see if he could get Ryan to actually fall for it and turn around to look.​

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan cut his eyes sideway as Lysander's question before focusing back on him and his own skeptically. He may not be very well versed in dance traditions, he knew enough to know that owls weren't normal accessories. "I have a streeler," He answered slowly, still unsure despite his assessment on social norms. It would be pretty fun to bring his streeler to one of the dances, though after he'd nearly melted the student lounge, Ryan was pretty sure he wasn't allowed to let his out of its terrarium anymore.

Ryan had to check over his shoulder when Lysander insisted everyone else had brought owls. He'd been watching the crowd pretty closely and was a bit incensed at the idea that he would have missed any other owls. When he saw nothing but normal wizarding formal ware around the hall, he turned back to Lysander with a frown. "No they didn't," He said hotly. "Are you smuggling an animagus?" He tried, trying to get his line of questioning back on track. Lysander was confusing him and Ryan didn't like it.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander nodded to himself as Ryan mentioned having a streeler, vaguely recalling seeing him buy one while he was hanging out with Nicole at the menagerie. A streeler would have made a fun partner to the dance, and Lysander could imagine wearing some kind of colour-changing shirt to match. He had to chew on the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing as Ryan did actually turn around to check for other owls, though he still exhaled loudly through his nose. He figured the fun was over, until the boy brought up the idea that he was smuggling an animagus. Sander shot a look at Fuzzfeathers, almost wishing his friend was an animagus in disguise. It would have made communicating with him that much easier. "Shhh." Lysander hushed, pressing a finger to his lips and casting a conspiratory look around the room, pretending to check if anyone nearby was listening in. He put his free hand on Ryan's shoulder and turned away from the bulk of the room, leaning in to talk more quietly. "Don't be so loud. Do you want to get me in trouble? How did you figure it out?" He asked, fighting the urge to grin. It was just too perfect.​