Trippin' On Skies Sippin' Waterfalls

Ursula Ciccone

Well-Known Member
Messages
69
OOC First Name
Nichole
Sexual Orientation
Confused
Age
6/2032
Ursula Ciccone was not a rule breaker. Curfew was law where she was from, but after two months of talking to Vilhelmine about building a pillow fort, she found as a friend and as a curious child she couldn't resist the idea of building the coolest forth ever. It was a long process, and dangerous. She could have been caught by a prefect or professor. However after a while all of the cushions from the chairs and couches and all of her pillows, and all of her sheets and blankets were in the student lounge, and now she waited for Vil to arrive with the last of her things.

Ursula had already moved tabled to the side and taken the seat off the couches inside the lounge as well. Now she just needed to sit in her camouflage colored footie pajamas, and complain about how she was going to have to get up at five to get her bed completely remade. After all her sheets had been tucked so well she had to use all her weight to pull them off the bed. When a sound was made, ursula ducked quickly behind a seat, peeking to see who it was.
 
Vilhelmine looked both ways down the corridor before hurrying across it, her arms piled so high with bedsheets and pillows that she could hardly see over the top of them. This would be the last trip, she hoped, but the fear that she might run into a professor in the darkness was still threatening to give her a heart attack. Fortunately, the distance between the Hufflepuff common room and the student lounge was short, and unlike Ursula, she didn't have very far to travel with her belongings. Pushing open the door, she slipped inside, searching for Ursula in the dusty moonlight. For a minute she thought the Ravenclaw had balked, but then suddenly a pair of eyes appeared from behind a chair. "It's me," she said, dropping the sheets and pillows into the pile with the rest of them. "This is it."
 
Shh
 
Upon hearing the quiet danish accent of her friend, Ursula moved to be seen, still crouching a little as if she didn't quite believe it. Once she saw her friend in her pink pajamas she came around the corner, hands stuffed in the pockets that were located on her outfit. Ursula offered a crooked smile, she'd lost her last baby tooth recently, it was her front top tooth, next to her big tooth. Ursula was horribly embarrassed at the time of the loss, but now she was getting used to her odd smile. "Alright, miss architect, builder of the Taj ma-pillow-hall, where do we start?" She asked with a small glance at the many, many cushions and sheets they had.

 
The corners of Vilhelmine's lips twitched gradually upward, as if she were fighting to quell her happiness. It was a strange feeling, wanting to smile. She'd only ever felt it a handful of times before, and only when her dad had come to visit. The rest of her smiles, which were few and far between as it was, were mostly forced for the sake of politeness. That several real ones had already been coaxed out of her since having arrived at Hogwarts was a little concerning, to say the least.

"With chairs," she replied, pointing to the ones tucked beneath the table beside Ursula. "Get two, like this." One at a time the Hufflepuff dislodged two chairs and place them side by side in the gap between two tables. As she did so, she stole quick glances at Ursula, as if worried she might suddenly disappear. "OK?"
 
"Chairs?" She asked, watching Vil with a quiet and captivated curiosity. "Ma'am, yes, Ma'am." She said, giving a salute to her friend before grabbing the chairs and bringing both over to move side by side. The glances did not go unnoticed, and for a moment Ursula wondered if it was her missing tooth. Regardless of what it was the black haired girl did not loose her genuine warmth behind her eyes. While building the Ravenclaw decided to start some conversation. "Do you like your classes so far?" She asked, wondering if Vil had a preference already, since they had some differences in their schedules.
 
Vilhelmine gave her friend a quizzical look, wondering if she would ever drop the 'ma'am, yes ma'am's. Then again, it was kind of cute. Once the chairs were in place the Hufflepuff picked up two sheets, passing one to Ursula before unfolding her own. "Not really," she said bluntly, draping the sheet across the first two chairs and tucking it beneath its legs. Hopefully Ursula would follow her lead. "Do you?"
 
Ursula smiled at the blunt answer. "At least you're honest." She laughed, before spreading out the sheet the same way Vil was. "I like flying. It's getting me outside though. Not that i think you enjoy that portion much." She laughed, poking gentle fun at the shaved head girl. "I don't know, I was always a gym class person back in elementary school. What were your school days like before here?" She continued to speak, matching movements.
 
Vilhelmine quickly averted her gaze, discomfited by the subject of flying. Gym class. Elementary school. It was all so ordinary, wasn't it? Why couldn't Vilhelmine's life be ordinary, too? She picked up a blanket and crawled into the cave-like structure they'd built to lay it down. "I was educated at home," she said, stretching the corners into place. Then she reversed awkwardly out, struggling to get back to her feet. By the time she was upright, her face was pink. "Sort of." She hesitated, debating whether or not she could trust Ursula not to think she was a weirdo. In the end, she decided no. Not yet, anyway. Picking up two pillows, she offered them to the Ravenclaw. She didn't want to climb in and out of the fort any more times than totally necessary. "Did you miss your dad?" she asked after a while. "When he was gone."
 
Ursula listened and nodded. "That must of been interesting. When i was taken abroad my mom homeschooled me, but that was like only two or three years of my life." The girl spoke, taking the hint and grabbing the pillows from her, going within the little beginning of a fort. "Wow that's a... serious question." Ursula said, now within the fort, thinking for a moment. "I mean yeah... I did. Even when I went abroad with him he was gone a lot. But I also got to do a lot more things when he was gone. My mom wasn't so strict you know?" She asked, with a half smile, looking back toward where she'd crawled in from. "Mom let me wake up at seven instead of six some days even. Whats your family like?"
 
Vilhelmine stood where she was and handed Ursula more pillows to add to the fort as she talked about her education and family. She thought about what it must have been like for Ursula, knowing that even though her dad was away, he was going to come back again. Or maybe she hadn't had that certainty. Maybe Vilhelmine was more like Ursula than she'd thought.

One thing Vil couldn't imagine, however, was being woken up at six o'clock every morning. She was shamelessly attached to her duvet, and had enough trouble parting with it at eight, let alone two hours earlier. Suddenly the question of Vilhelmine's family was risen, and she looked away. "My dad is nice," she said, recalling the few occasions he'd come to take her to the park. He'd even bought her ice-cream, once. "He's a musician. My mum is... busy. I don't see her. Much. She is nice, too." She didn't tell Ursula about her foster parents, or Madison. Just for a little while, she wanted to pretend her parents loved her as much as she imagined they did. Picking up the last two blankets, one a dark turquoise and the other pale pink, Vilhelmine crouched down in front of the fort opening, getting clumsily to her knees. "Is it ready?"
 
Ursula worked as hard as she could. She wasn't exactly the most artful, and she moved the pillows around three or four times before she felt it was even worthy of her friend's gaze. Ursula was listening all the while to the Puff girl. After all, learning about people as how you became their friends was it not? The black haired girl nodded as Vil started to come in. "Yeah i think so, maybe we need some art on the wall but otherwise it's fairly uhm... sophisticated?" She spoke with a half smile. Ursula was trying to convince herself more than anything, but it wasn't working. It was no mansion like she was sure Vilhelmine could make. "It's hard having a busy parent, i know, but hey you become yourself faster that way. That's what i was always told." Ursa gave a finalized nod as she said this. "So, now that we're in here what do we do?" She inquired, not sure what to do.
 
Carefully Vilhelmine crawled into the fort, adjusting a pillow slightly so that she could rest her head on it. There was enough room in the structure to sit upright, but the Hufflepuff was more comfortable to lie on her back, which she did. "Mm," she said, as if agreeing with Ursula's statement. Really, she couldn't imagine how absent parents could help in any way whatsoever. She was eleven. She didn't want to become anybody yet. She wanted to be a kid for a while, without the responsibilities of independence or adulthood. She wanted somebody to tell her who she was, to mould her into the person she would some day be. Having to figure it all out by herself just wasn't fair.

At Ursula's next question, Vilhelmine slipped one of the candy bracelets off her wrist. She'd brought two, one for each of them, and handed one to Ursula. "I don't know," she admitted. It was the first time she'd shared a pillow fort before. "Normally I just think." There were few places so peaceful as being surrounded by blankets. Vilhelmine yawned. "Ursula," she said, after a moment. "Are you my friend?"
 
Vilhelmine didn't talk much, Ursula discovered that quickly and frankly she had started to get used to it. The student got herself clmfortable, laying on her side curled up slightly. Her bright blue eyes focused on her friend's brown eyes. Ursula sighed with contentment, her dark lashes tickling her cheeks as she closed her eyes for a second. When Vil posed a question, and offered her food, the kid smiled. "Oh heck yes. Thank you." She took the bracelet and munched for a moment. "Friends? You keep giving me this stuff and I'll do your homework." She joked. "Of course we are friends. Aren't we?" She inquired with her own curiosity.
 
Vilhelmine nodded, and smiled. Then she looked back up at the sheet-ceiling, her eyelids fluttering closed. It had been a long day. Every day was a long day at Hogwarts. Once or twice, when she'd been waiting for her dad to come and take her out for the afternoon, the hours leading up to his arrival had felt like weeks. Here at school, they felt like months, and the distorted perception never seemed to go away. She yawned again, and was half way through the thought that she probably shouldn't fall asleep so soon when she drifted softly away.
 
Ursula smiled at her friend, someone who officially could be called that. Ursula wasn't super personable, and perhaps people thought she was strange or bossy, but she and Vil got along. "Friends forever, Mine." She spoke, linking her pinky finger with her friend's, the nickname pronounced as "mean", ironic as Vil was nothing but nice to the Ravenclaw. Relaxed in their tent, the black haired girl too drifted off to sleep, happy with how their time had been spent, in their little bungalow.
 
The nightly patrols were always Monty's favourite; there was something soothing about wandering the moonlit corridors through the small hours of the morning, about the silence that shrouded the castle like a heavy velvet drape. The path that took him into the forbidden forest was not so much to his favour, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make for a quiet night to think and reflect. In any case, it surpassed lying awake in his quarters, too afraid to sleep.

His route presently took him down the fourth floor corridor, where he made a round of the library before heading across to the student lounge. Having never caught anybody in this room after curfew before, he almost withdrew from the doorway without registering the strange structure in the far corner, stopping himself only at the last second. He frowned, squinting a little into the darkness. Was that... a pillow fort? Quietly he advanced into the room, bending a little to see two small figures lying inside, fast asleep, their pinkie fingers intertwined. Well, that was... new. Illuminating the tip of his wand, he took another step forward. "Girls?"
 
Ursula had never been a heavy sleeper, so when a voice awoke her she sprung to her feet topping parts of the fort. Her arm was brought up to her head in a salute and the girl spoke in a fairly loud tone. "Private Ursula Ciccone, first year of the Ravenclaw house, sir, yes, sir!" She answered, obviously startled, hair a mess atop her head. She hated waking up when startled, especially since she now knew she'd been caught breaking rules, a blanket covering her head and arm that was giving the salute.
 
Vilhelmine, a heavy sleeper, was not woken by the professor's voice, but by Ursula dismantling the pillow fort as she stood up to salute him. Tiredly the Hufflepuff raised her head to see what was going on, throwing her friend a quizzical look before suddenly comprehending the situation and struggling to stand up. She ducked out of the fort, her cheeks red with embarrassment. "Sir, we were just sleeping," she mumbled, as if stating the obvious might somehow reduce the severity of the punishment.
 
Monty had never seen somebody wake up so dramatically before in his life. He took a step back, his eyes widening and then shortly narrowing again. With a wave of his wand he lifted the sheet from Ursula's head, revealing her equally startled face. "At ease," he said to the Ravenclaw, with a note of humour. Then, lowering his wand as not to blind the girls, he looked at Vilhelmine. "Yes, I'd noticed that. Only, the customary place to do so is usually in one's bed." He looked at both of them in turn. "Which leads me to ask - what are you doing out of them?"
 
Ursula put her hands behind her back and placed her legs shoulder width apart in te at ease position. She looked forward diligently to show respect to the professor. "Sir, we built a pillow fort so we could talk about school, Sir." She answered before Vil would have a chance. "Sir, if I may please, this was my intention not hers, sir." She spoke once more, keeping a steady voice and not daring to move from lookin ahead.
s
 
Vilhelmine tried hard to keep a steady, firm expression, but couldn't. For all she tried to appear indifferent to getting into trouble, her chest felt like it was being punched from the inside, her cheeks scorching hot. She was braced for a rebuke, so that when it didn't come, she was almost more startled than she would have been if it had. Then suddenly Ursula was claiming responsibility for everything, as if Vilhelmine hadn't suggested they build the pillow fort in the first place. It was noble, and for a moment she considered keeping quiet, but then her moral sensibilities won her over. "No, sir," she said, "it was mine. Ursula is just being kind." The Hufflepuff looked at her shoes, wondering how many house points she was going to lose for this stupid idea.
 
Monty was many times throughout the course of a day referred to as 'sir,' but the title didn't usually precede and follow every single sentence in speaking to him. At first he had assumed Ursula's dramatic display an exaggeration of obedience in order to avoid punishment, but now, by her posture, maintaining of the bearing, and knowledge in the aspect he was beginning to wonder if she truly came from a military background. Her excuse didn't much stand against the fact she and Vilhelmine could have conducted their discussions outside the hours of curfew; and when the two students approached dispute about who was to blame, Monty finally broke in. "Yes, I think we've established you were both at least partially responsible, given that you're both here." He looked about the room a moment, thinking how best to handle the situation. "Are these the sheets from your beds?" After ascertaining that they were, he told them to dismantle the fort separate their belongings into two piles. Then he levitated the sheets and pillows with his wand and escorted them out of the lounge and towards their dormitories, Hufflepuff first. "I'm afraid I'll have to notify your Heads of House of this incident; whether or not points are deducted is at their discretion. Is that understood?" There was a softness in his tone evincing ambivalence; but he sensed by his short observation of the first years that without repercussion their misbehaviour would merrily continue.

Godmod approved
 

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