(Lake) Trying to find herself

[briar]

Briar grinned widely at Nikole, "Sure thing!" she said as she pulled out her wand once more and conjured yet another pair of ice skates. She picked them up and held them out for her. "If you're having any problems, lemme know. I'll help you out, ok?" she said with a friendly smile.

She looked at Ashton and laughed, "And don't be in a hurry to do that, it took me years to even do a half way decent double axle," she told both Nikole and Bradyn.

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn grinned. “Good. Who says Ravenclaws don’t know how to have fun,” He frowned, then looked at Ashton and rolled his eyes. For this example, show-off skater boy didn’t really count. (Haha, just kidding, Ash) Bradyn watched Ashton and laughed at Bry’s comments. “I’m positive that’s the least of your concerns. I’d rather focus on staying standing and you know, not broken on the ice. Or sinking to the bottom of the lake with the mer-people.” Bray braced himself a bit before he stepped onto the ice. Well, it wasn’t as difficult as he expected it to be and with a couple movements he had skated over to where Ash was. It was a lot like the training he’d done for flying only on the ground. [ short ]

[briar]

Briar laughed at Bradyn and skated straight for him, picking up speed as she got closer. She almost ran him over until she turned to the left at the last second, and starting skating in circles around him. "You know, the last time I went skating was over a 3 years ago. My mom had me in those stupid cempetitions and I got sick of winning so in the finals, I screwed up on purpose. My mom got so mad," she said laughing, "I think that was the only time she actually focused on me for once. I think skatings my only talent," she said, remembering how good it felt to get attention.

"That's probably the one thing that I'm better at than Ari or Ce," Bry came to a sudden stop in front of Bradyn, "Did you know that Ari is actually jealous of my skating abilities? I honestly think its the only reason we don't get along. The worst part is, when I quit, she completely hated me. It was like she was jealous that I could skate so I pretty much quit, then she gets mad at me for quitting, that girl confuses me. I think I'm actually gonna have to talk to her sooner or later," she said, realizing how stupid it was to fight over nothing.

Briar sighed and grabbed Bradyn's hand. She started to skate backwards, slowly pulling Bray along. "How you holding up?" she asked him.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash chuckled at Bry's comment. It took me years to learn how to do that!" he admitted. With a smile, Ash glided back over to the group. "I've been skating since I was three though, so I've had alot of practice!"

[arabella]

<sub>Arabella had felt bad about ditching Briar last night. It wasn't that she didn't know where to meet her, I mean, she did get the owl, it was just that she was too busy, or least that's how she would've explained it. Ari looked outside her class window and saw the sun shinning brightly, knowing that Bry couldn't resist a nice day like this, she decided to leave class and try finding her. She raised her hand and when her professor called on her, she simply said she needed to use the restroom.

After the professor granted her permission to leave, Ari ran down the stairwell and out the large entrance doors. She walked the grounds for a while but couldn't find her sister. She thought about looking at the lake because she knew Briar used to love skating, but remembered their big argument over it a few months back. Figuring she wouldn't have gone there, she decided to search the grounds more.

Where her second lap around the grounds had failed, she decided that she might as well look on the lake. She pulled her fleece jacket tighter around her and trudged through the snow towards the lake. When she reached the shore, she noticed a small group of students skating. At first she didn't recognize her sister, but when Briar laughed, Ari had to smile. She never remembered Bry ever having so much fun as she was at that moment. She squinted in attempts to get a closer look at the Ravenclaw boy she was pulling on the ice, but they were too far for her to focus on. She figured that Briar had found a guy she liked already, or just someone she was helping out, she wasn't sure yet.

With a deep breath, she walked across the ice. She knew she wasn't good at skating and never wanted to try it. She walked to Bry and smiled, "Halli, can we talk?" she asked."</sub>

[briar]

Briar heard a far too familiar voice to her left and turned her head. It was Arabella, and for some reason, Briar wasn't mad, but rather releived. "Ari, you haven't called me Halli since we were young, please don't start again. I was rather enjoying the fact that you were calling me Bry," she said laughing.

Bry skated over by her sister, "What can I do for you?" she asked. "You know, you could at least try to skate one of these days. It won't kill you. I'll even help you," she said with a smile.

Briar didn't care about the fact that they were fighting only days ago, but she was ecstatic that her sister was talking to her again. "Oh, I almost forgot. This is Bradyn, Ashton and Nikole." she said, motioning to each as she said their names.

[Nikole Talley]

Nikole sat on the edge of the lake, nervously putting on the ice skates. Another girl showed up. An older Ravenclaw who Nikole had seen around the common room. Nikole gave a slight nod of acknowledgement to the girl and continued to lace up her first ice skate.

Switching to the other foot, Nikole bit her lip nervously. She finished lacing it up and then set her feet down on the frozen lake. She pushed herself gently off the ground and stood perfectly still on the ice her eyes wide. Taking a deep breath, Nikole made a slight forward movement.

Immediately her feet slipped out from under her and she fell hard on the ice. Nikole sat on the ice for a moment, completely aware of the cold and the pain. "Owwww!" she whined, not wanting to stand back up.

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn saw the other girl walk up and seemed to remember her being Bry's sister. They looked alike enough to be sisters, anyway. Bray couldn't help but smirk at how the blonde sister came up all serious and then Bry just continued talking as if she didn't really notice.

Bray skated back towards the edge and tried not to laugh a bit when Nikole fell, since he knew he'd probably be falling down soon enough. Instead he skated back over by her and held out his hand to help her back up. "When you fail, try and try again." He said encouragingly while he still listened to what the sisters were talking about.

[arabella]

<sup>Ari acknowledge the three with a slight nod before returning her attention back to Bry. "I'm sorry, I guess old habits never die," she said with a nervous laugh. "Look, I'm just gonna get straight to the point. I'm sorry I stood you up at the owlry. I just didn't want it to turn into a big argument or something. I guess I was being childish. I should really just learn to let things happen," she said with a slight smile.

Arabella shot a glance at Nikole when she fell, a look of shock on her face. "Are you ok?" she asked as she took a step in her direction only to see Bradyn was already there to help her. With a sigh she looked back at Briar, "I didn't mean to interrupt your fun Bry."</sup>

[briar]

Bry looked at her sister and burst out in a laugh, "Ari! Siblings fight... it's not like we're perfect! It'd be abnormal if we didn't get into a tussle every once in a while," she said nudging her sister. Bry watched Bradyn help out Nikole and smiled, "He's sweet, isn't he?" she asked her sister with a grin.

Briar sighed, "Ari, you're always welcome to ruin my fun... as long as you don't bring a professor... or prefect. I'd have to hex you if you did that," she said jokingly.

[Nikole Talley]

Nikole could feel herself blush as Bradyn came over to help her up. She could deal with failure without being embarrassed if no one tried to help her, but as soon as someone did it became embarrassing for her. She heard Briar's sister ask if she was okay. She sighed slightly shaking her head.

Nikole took Bradyn's hand and pulled herself up. "I'm fine," she said, looking over toward the sisters for a moment. Turning her attention back to Bradyn, she said, "Thanks, I never give up." She looked down at the blades on her feet and then back up at Bradyn with an unsure look on her face. She stood completely still, somewhat afraid that the slightest movement would cause to end up in even more pain.

[briar]

Bry grabbed her sister's hand and pulled her over towards Bradyn and Nikole. She laid a hand on Bray's arm to get his attention. "This is Ari," she said to both of them. She looked at Bray and gave a small smile.

Briar turned her attention to Nikole, "Um... may I give a suggestion?" she said skating over to her, "Skating is like riding a broom. You gotta find your center balance if you'd rather not fall," she said with a smile, "Straighten your back as if you were just mounting your broom," she said trying to show Nikole with an example.

[Bradyn Reed]

"Don't be embarassed," He said, assuring the girl that he would not get through this ice skating experiment without falling a few times. Bray smiled when Nikole said that she doesn't give up, that was definitely something to be proud of in his opinion since giving up was usually the easier option.

"Hey Ari." He said to Bry's sister. Bray had seen her in the common room hanging out with Ashton and other's of course but if Bray was in the common room he was usually cramming in his homework that he 'forgot' to do or sleeping extra early. He was mean without sleep and it was just a common courtesy; of course, he also liked to sneak out into the corridors late at night too.

Skating back over Bry he let out a little yelp as pain surged through his knee. He must have moved his leg wrongly and well, down he went. His training in quidditch told him to catch himself, though he still landed on his arse with his arms catching him a little late. "Ah, well." Was all he said before he laughed; Bray knew he was going to fall, afterall.

[briar]

Bry hurried over to Bray with a laugh, "You ok?" she tried getting out between outbursts. Bry must've been laughing too hard because all of a sudden, she found herself on her behind next to Bray. With a fake pout, she crossed her arms and stared at her skates. Bry couldn't remember the last time she had fallen for no reason at all, heck, Bry couldn't remember the last time she had ever fallen to be exact.

With a loud sigh, she tried pushing herself up off the ice but found that each attempt had failed, "grrr," she said with a laugh. She looked over at Nikole and laughed, "You're not the one who should be embarrassed," she told her, "I've got years on you and I still managed to fall!"