Open The Great Expansive Outdoors

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio had decided in the morning of his first day, as everyone else finished off breakfast to head outside. He'd grabbed a jacket, his woollen beanie hat and headed outside. It was in his mind and likely only his mind a nice day, there was a thick cloud above and it seemed to be drizzling a little, but it was nice. The air was fresh and cool, it felt nice to just be outside. Ajaccio had spent as much time indoors as outdoors over the years but there was just something about being outside that he preferred, something that he tended to seek out. He was a little jealous of his father whom he knew from checking the journal in the early hours of the day when that uncomfortable bed had prevent sleep that he was in Jordan. He was a little envious of the summer weather that his father would be getting over what he had now, but this wasn't bad. It would do nothing to help keep the near constant tan which Ajax had developed over the years of travelling, of being outside and being in hot places. They had just spent a few weeks hiking in Japan, where he had naturally due to being outdoors all day every day, it was darker than most in New Zealand who'd been in the depths of winter. He tucked a few unruly strands of his messy hair in the hat and put the skateboard down on the grass and just set off. The grounds were large, there was a whole forest they weren't supposed to enter that Ajax was still debating about, and a lake to swim in, but since the weather was still not great he'd have to settle for exploring the normal bits and thankfully there was more than enough of it. The grass wasn't great for his skateboard, but it appeared this might be the first rain in a little while, so it still pretty solid ground. ​

 

[Wendall Layton]

Wendall was pretty happy; he had a new set of friends to bond with, and a castle to explore that had lots and lots of things in it that he didn’t even know existed. He’d already written to Olive earlier about making Hufflepuff, and he wondered if his cousins thought it was a good house to be in too since he didn’t know much about it himself. He had been told that the forest was off limits and not somewhere any of the students were to go, but curiosity was already getting the better of him, and he wondered what type of dangerous animals must have been lurking in the trees for them not to be allowed in at all. On his way outside, he first had to cross the big grassy lawn. There were a few others out and about too but no one he’d spoken to yet. He considered whether he should have waited for one of his friends becoming coming out here too, but since it was lightly raining, he didn’t think they’d want to. Wendall was happy enough though with his large coat on, to head through the drizzle to see what he could find. He looked up as a boy was passing him a few feet away though, on a skateboard. He didn’t realise students would try and bring things like that to school, not that he’d ever tried. He stopped to stare at the boy who was rolling down on the grass and thought it looked like a relaxing way to get around. “Hey?” The Hufflepuff called out, taking up a light jog and trying to catch up to him, the ends of his scarf bouncing as he ran, “Where did you get that?” He asked, stoping in his tracks and panting, already somewhat out of breath.

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio heard someone call out and he slowed the skateboard down and looked to where the origin of the voice was. A boy, definitely about his age was jogging up to him. Ajax raised an eyebrow curiously but stopped riding the skateboard. He gave a warm smile at the boy who stopped in front of him and then looked to the skateboard in question, ”I got it in Los Angeles, like two years ago,” Ajaccio frowned a little as he replied in his usual non-placeable accent, why this boy was curious about where he’d gotten his skateboard from was a little odd. It was also not his first skateboard, he had broken a few others in the time between beginning to learn and now but he wasn’t sure that the boy was actually asking, ”It didn’t say anywhere I couldn’t bring it, so here it is,” Ajax added he knew he didn’t particularly sound Kiwi, though there were traces of the accent. Perhaps he cared more about why the board was at school and not at home. Perhaps this kid had avoided bringing his skateboard because he didn’t think he was supposed to or allowed to. ”Do you skate?” Ajaccio decided to ask, if he did and the boy hadn’t brought his board he’d happily share it with him, ”I’m Ajaccio by the way, but people just call me Ajax,” Ajax added extending a hand out to the boy. He would always try his best to make friends wherever he went and he’d been to so many places he didn’t struggle nearly as much as others to make friends. ​

 

[Wendall Layton]

Wendall was glad that the boy slowed down for him, he wasn't sure he could run along much longer. He listened as the student said he got it two years ago, which in the Hufflepuff's mind made him an expert. The only thing he'd done for more than two years was watched a lot of films, and he was obvious an expert in that field too. Wendall shook his head, he didn't skate, "No," he admitted, before tilting his head to the side in curiosity, "it does look like fun though." The idea of skating around the school seemed like an easy way to travel, and he was right, he hadn't seen anywhere that he couldn't bring it. Perhaps he should have brought his scooter. He smiled when Ajax introduced himself, "I'm Wendall.. but people just call me.. Wendy," the latter part of his reply in accepting gloom. Students here had twigged on quickly that his name could be shortened, and to that of a girls name was even worse, but it wasn't like there was anything he could do about it. "Can I try?" he said, quickly pointing back to Ajax's skateboard, wondering if maybe he had a secret talent for balance or something.

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio gave a little smile to the other boy, ”it’s really fun,” Perhaps Ajax was just biased but it was just one of his favourite ways to get easily around. He liked cycling and he was sure he could get behind flying. But, for now he was just happy to have his skateboard with him at the school. The boy, Wendall, introduced himself and said his nickname which didn’t seem to bring him much joy. Ajax frowned a little, shaking his head a bit, ”Do you like being called Wendy?” he couldn’t help but ask, if the boy didn’t like it, then why say it? Why introduce that nickname? Was it perhaps because Ajax had introduced his own nickname that Wendall felt the need to as well. At the question Ajax gave a little nod and then passed the skateboard across to him. ”If it’s your first time take it slow, I’ll spot you,” the boy said, he knew he could easily run alongside Wendall without too much of his own trouble. He could do that, and perhaps prevent Wendall from hurting himself too much if he fell, but he was happy to lend the skateboard to him. ”You will possibly fall, so just be ready for that,” he warned, not trying to scare Wendall off but make him aware of that possible outcome.​

 

[Wendall Layton]

Wendall has a permanent grin on his face as Ajax spoke, that was until he was asked if he liked being called Wendy. The Hufflepuff gave him a shrug, thinking about it for a moment, “It’s a girls name and that’s annoying,” his head tiled the other direction as he considered his feelings, “Everyone just calls me it whether I like it or not.” It didn’t matter if he liked it, it would save the trouble of going through another episode of somebody realising what it could be shortened to, and Wendall may as well just cut to the chase before anyone could tease him for it too. The only Wendy he knew was from Peter Pan, and she was nothing like him at all. He hoped one day it might become a name like Charlie or Alex that would work for both genders. “Alright,” he nodded eagerly, once again excited at the prospect of jumping on a skateboard. He didn’t know what spotting meant exactly but he assumed it meant something that would help him. “That’s okay. I fall all the time,” he admitted casually, swiping his scarf a little more around his neck so it didn’t get in his way, and carefully proceeded to slowly place one foot at a time on the skateboard. It moved a little under foot as he did so, and just trying to stay balanced before they moved, his arms were out in front of him to steady himself.

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio frowned a little more, he could imagine that perhaps this boy was placing too much on the gender of a name, but if people called him that and he didn’t want them to, he could understand why Wendall might get frustrated. ”Okay, what would you like to be called? If you could give yourself any nickname or just have people call you Wendall, what would you want?” he asked, Ajax would happy call Wendall if that was what he wanted, Ajaccio would happily call him any name he wanted. The boy gave him a smile as Wendall got on to the skateboard. He stood a little away giving Wendall the space he likely needed to balance himself on the skateboard. Ajaccio held out an arm to Wendall to help steady him, ”I could give you a light push if you want, or if you hold on to my arm I can drag you a bit,” Ajaccio told him with a warm expression, clearly keen to give him a bit of a hand so that he could actually get a go on it, learn how to use it a little, so that seemed like a good place to start. He’d suggest if he could for Wendall to sit on it like Nicole had in the park all those months ago. But it had been dry then, it wasn’t so dry now. So that probably would make it a little awkward to sit on. ​

 

[Wendall Layton]

Wendall looked up to meet the boys face when he asked what nickname he could have if he could pick anything. In truth he wasn't sure, it wasn't something he'd thought about. "It would have to be a cool name. Something like Star Lord." he considered, thinking back to some of his favourite films he'd watched with Lysander over the break. He liked so many things though that it was hard to pinpoint it down to just one. Any nickname meant it had no limit at all, so it could even sound like the name of a ghost or a villain or something. "Wendall can sometimes be too long, but Dall doesn't sound that great either," he stated, turning his attention back to the more important thing at hand. "Can you drag me please?" he asked, putting his arms out towards Ajax and trying to steady his legs to take the balance difference. He sniffed in the cold winter air, but was concentrating firmly on just not falling off. "You're not in Hufflepuff, are you?" he asked Ajax with a hint of disappointment in his voice. None of his friends were.

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio listened as the boy gave a name that he wanted to maybe be called, Star Lord, that was familiar to Ajax but he brushed that aside and instead just gave Wendall a happy smile, ”I can call you Star Lord,” it would be easy enough to do given that he had just met him, and if that was what nickname he wanted then yeah, he’d go with that. ”Most people end up tripping over my name, so Ajax is just better,” the ravenclaw said as an explanation to his own nickname to almost try to help him feel a little less bad about whatever nickname he had. Even though he would start calling him by a different nickname now. Instead however the boy seemed quite eager about the skateboard and Ajaccio just watched a little as the boy then just held his arms out for Ajax to take. ”Okay, you need to bend your knees a little and don’t get freaked out when it starts moving,” Ajaccio advised as he took a hold of his arms and began pulling the boy slowly along before shaking his head, ”Nope, ravenclaw! Are you a hufflepuff?” Ajax asked naturally thinking if he was asking about hufflepuff that he was that houses. ”Do you think I would’ve made a better hufflepuff?” the boy asked in a friendly and conversationalist tone, he was happy with his house but it still felt a little pointless to have been sorted. ​

 

[Wendall Layton]

Wendall looked up to Ajax with a smile when he said he was going to call him Star Lord; he hadn't expected him to take it seriously but it would have suited him quite well he thought. "I think Ajax sounds like a cool name," he chimed in. It was much better than being called after a girl too and he didn't know anyone else in the world called Ajax. Gripping his new friends arm, he did as followed and bent his legs a little so that he felt as though he was doing some kinda of ungraceful squat, and tried to keep his balance as they started to move more across the grass. It was an odd sensation and he could almost feel every single bump and stone under the wheels of the skateboard. "How do you do it without being dragged?" he asked confused, recalling how Ajax had seem to just push off and go down the hill at a pleasant speed without seemingly too much effort. Ravenclaw was the one house that Wendall didn't really know anything about, apart from the fact that his new friend Chase was in that house too. Then, he was asked a question which confused him a little bit because while he knew each how was supposed to have stereotypical traits, he wasn't sure there wasn't a overlap. There certainly was with both his cousins. "Well, you are very kind and generous, and friendly," he started, thinking about his words carefully, "But I don't know if it would be the best house for you." he had after all only known Ajax for a few minutes, and maybe he had traits that would suit other houses even more. "Is your common room nice?" He liked his own, but he did wish they got to see the other ones too.

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio smiled gratefully, ”I think so too,” he said in agreement, he had always really liked his nickname, it had always just been really good for him, and a lot easier to say than Ajaccio. It had always been easier for people in all of the places he’d been to pronounce Ajax over Ajaccio. He helped drag Star along with a little smile, keen to not make him feel too unsteady. At the question, ”Well, you push off with one foot, and use it to help you move, and then you ride with the momentum,” Ajax explained as if it was rather obvious. He’d not been at the point that Wendall was at in a long while. He’d learned and become more natural at it. It had become easier over the years. Easier in a way that he wasn’t quite sure how to help someone learn. ”Do you want to give that a little try, i’ll try to stop you from falling,” Ajaccio offered, he knew that to begin with, likely all he would do would be fall, but Ajaccio thought it might help him realise how to then use the skateboard better, or figure out how it actually worked. He watched his new friend think about the question before he answer, He smiled brightly at the words, ”That’s nice of you to say! I think hufflepuffs are also meant to be hard working, and I am definitely not that,” Ajaccio grinned excitedly at him. ”But I would’ve liked being a hufflepuff too,” he added with a warm tone. ”Ravenclaw common room is nice. It’s a little far from everything, but it’s nice. Is Hufflepuff's nice?” Ajax asked with a curious expression.​