Exchanging of gifts (tag Valerie) on Crotalus Commons

Brianna Japos

August 02, 2013 9:35 PM

Exchanging of gifts (tag Valerie) by Brianna Japos

Having spent the time at the feast with Josh and catching up to him, Brianna did not feel terribly guilty for abandoning her Crotalus friends. She thought that maybe Linus would have been somewhat upset with her for spending her time with Josh first instead of him, but he knew how good of friends with him she was and, therefore, couldn’t use it against her too much. Besides, she wanted to spend time alone with Linus, not in front of the entire student body.

it was getting late though and Brianna still had to give her roommate her gift. She wasn’t sure if she had been presumptuous to assume that they were best friends when she had bought the bracelets, but it was how she felt. Josh was her best friend, but in a different way. She could tell things to Valerie that she didn’t feel comfortable saying to Josh. She could cry in front of Valerie (something that she never ever did in front of another if she could help it) and not feel completely self-conscious or hating about it. She could talk to her about Linus without worry that she was slipping into unwanted territory as she would have with Josh. She still felt strange whenever he brought it up, and thus, tried to be vague about it.

Valerie was the friend that she had always needed. The one with whom she could be herself, talk about things girls talked about, stay up late and giggle over nothing, etc. The sort she had seen in her Condo building but never had for herself. She thought she had it with Attoria, but it turned out that Attoria lied to everyone about their friendship and talked about her behind her back. A friendship in secret wasn’t a friendship at all. Brianna just felt sorry for herself because she hadn’t figured it out sooner.

But over the last couple of terms, she and Valerie had grown close. Or, Brianna thought so anyway. And she wanted to give her thanks to her roommate for everything that she had helped her through. The charm bracelet was a start and she hoped that as their friendship grew, they could share the memories through new charms. Brianna might not be able to afford the best kinds, but she would do her best to find ones that didn’t look too cheap.

Brianna met up with Valerie in the dorm room and gave her a smile and a quick hug in greeting. As tired and sore as Brianna was (her back always acted up the worst after riding the wagon), she wanted to give Valerie her gift. Pulling it from the trunk, she handed it out for Valerie to take. “It’s not much, but I hope you like it.”

6 Brianna Japos Exchanging of gifts (tag Valerie) 203 Brianna Japos 1 5

Valerie Lennox

August 09, 2013 8:22 PM

Giving and recieving. by Valerie Lennox

Despite being kind of anxious about talking to all but four people in the entire school, one of which was her own sister, Valerie was sort of happy to be back at Sonora. Because she got to see those people again. The ones besides Melanie of course. The thing was most weren't in Crotalus other than Brianna now that Ryan graduated, and she didn't quite feel comfortable joining another table the way others did. Including Brianna, who had sat by Josh. It was okay though, she wanted her roommate to have other friends and be happy, it was just that she didn't have anyone else to sit by.

It wasn't as if she really felt like being at the feast anyway, so she had listened to the speech, glad that she didn't have to do booth but still unsure about what exactly she was going to do while at the fair. It was improper to hang out alone with Michael or Sully especially given she was betrothed and Brianna would surely want to be with Linus. Or Josh since he was graduating. Of course, if the other Crotalus wanted that, maybe it could be the four of them. Not that Valerie would blame Brianna for choosing to hang out with either, last year she had wanted to spend time with Ryan as he was leaving. She just didn't want to be there alone.

As for right now, though, she wanted to go back to her room. She didn't have much of an appetite and felt kind of run down. The Crotalus was hoping she was just tired from midterm and not getting sick. It had been so long since she'd been last ill,since the sinus infection last summer. (For her, a few months was a long time between illnesses.) She was just really tired and kind of achy hopefully from the ride. Valerie wasn't that afraid of getting thrown out of school for being sick anymore, since she'd had the flu last year and gotten to stay at school, even doing well on her CATS despite the Challenges.

She looked down at her empty plate and once the Headmistress finished talking, she pushed her plate away, and decided to go up to her room. Really, the trip had exhausted her and banged her around and she just wanted to put her nightgown on and curl up in her bed with a book. Valerie was sure Brianna would be up eventually for her to catch up with and hopefully she'd still be awake. She was extremely tired and was afraid she would drift off.

Which, she did a few times, but she awoke when she heard someone answer the room. She smiled when she realized it was Brianna and sat up as her friend gave her a hug, which she returned. She accepted the gift from her friend and produced one of her own for the other Crotalus.She was terrified Brianna would hate it though.

Valerie opened the present and began to cry. Brianna consideedr the other sixth year her best friend! "I-I'm sorry, I'm not crying because I don't like your gift but because I do!" Despite her exhaustion, she gave Brianna another hug. "I'm just so glad that you-well, consider me your best friend, I think of you as mine too." Truthfully, she'd always wanted that even before for them to be friend. Valerie didn't have much in common with the other girls in her class, and a few of them kind of scared her.

OOC-I'm pretty awful at picking gifts out for people if they don't spell out for me exactly what they want, so just pretend that Valerie got Brianna something beautiful and probably very expensive that she likes.

11 Valerie Lennox Giving and recieving. 204 Valerie Lennox 0 5

Brianna

August 15, 2013 11:24 PM

Smiles and Tears by Brianna

Brianna’s brow creased with concern when she noticed after the hug that Valerie was already in her sleep wear and looking a little worn out. Valerie’s health was always an issue for Brianna. Even before they were really friends, Valerie was always sick and Brianna had been afraid to be around her. This wasn’t because Brianna was afraid of catching anything that Valerie had, but rather, she was terrified of making Valerie’s illness worse. For the first handful of their school years, Brianna hadn’t spent much time with her roommate due to this.

But things had changed and now seeing any sign of sickness worried Brianna for different reasons. She didn’t want Valerie to miss out on anything and would seek out the Medic for assistance to ward off anything her roommate might be contracting before it went out of control.

She was momentarily distracted when the gifts were exchanged. Brianna opened hers and found a hand knitted scarf. Brianna always saw Valerie knitting things, so she knew that she had knitted the scarf herself. Pleased by this, Brianna smiled and looked up to say thank you, but instead found Valerie in tears. Brianna panicked at first believing that either Valerie was seriously ill or that she really hated her gift, but then relaxed a bit when Valerie explained the tears. She didn’t really understand. She had heard of people who cry when they are happy, but Brianna had never had that moment herself. When she had been overwhelmingly happy (those times she could probably count on one hand and where only recent memories), she had simply grinned like a dope and felt the urge to jump up and down.

“Oh.” Brianna said, taking in what Valerie admitted to. Brianna wasn’t sure when it was exactly that she began to feel the bond of friendship, but she knew that it had strengthened dramatically over the course of last year. “I’m glad that you feel that way too.” She said after a moment. She really didn’t know what else to say to that. She never would have thought being friends with her would have caused a reaction quite like that. She had always assumed people would be like Attoria and want their friendship to remain a secret. Obviously Valerie never minded being seen in public with her and the same could be said for Josh and Linus, but the thought was always there in Brianna’s mind.

“Do you like the bracelet?” She asked her. “I mean, I know you’re happy, but do you like it?” For someone like Valerie who had everything and could purchase the best, Brianna had a difficult time with choosing what present would be the best for her.

6 Brianna Smiles and Tears 0 Brianna 0 5

Valerie

August 23, 2013 7:10 PM

A little of both by Valerie

Valerie felt her face grow hot, which fortunately, she knew to be from embarrassment, not a fever at the moment. Not that she wanted to feel this way either, but being sick would be worse at this point. She wanted so desperately to keep feeling well and functional, at least so she could go to class and study and spend time with the few friends that she did have.

Still, she hadn't exactly meant to blurt out how she felt, it was just that she felt her tears needed explaining. She seemed to feel emotional a lot now, whereas most of her emotions before seemed to be about illness, the horrible physical pain. This Valerie knew to not be a side effect of her new potion but probably just a part of her personality. Before, she'd simply felt too sick to think much about other things a lot of the time. Now, she wasn't and it wasn't all good either. Obviously, she wouldn't rather be sick, but she hated feeling things, such as nervous, or uncomfortable being by herself in a big group situation. Valerie wasn't very comfortable being around someone she didn't know well and was terrified to approach anyone new. She didn't want to appear clingy, but she couldn't help it sometimes. For example, it was hard to enjoy the events that took place at the end of the year by herself.

Of course, Valerie probably did not need to worry about Brianna judging her for crying and expressing how she felt. Her friend-her best friend-had confided in her before, she'd seen the other cry too. Plus, from what she'd always understood, mostly through books and stuff, was that friends did that sort of thing, without judgement. And crying would just give her a headache anyway. Or rather, make the small one that Valerie had already worse.

Instead, she smiled at Brianna through the tears. "Of course I do!" She didn't care that it wasn't as fancy, the Crotalus had never really been conditioned to be that sort of person apparently. Which might also have been because she'd been too sick to care about such things in part. Her mother tried to influence Melanie that way, which hadn't really worked, but she'd never paid as much attention to Valerie. It wasn't as if Mother didn't care about her at all, she expressed concern when the sixth year was ill, insisted she stay in bed and all that, but they never did things together. Probably because Valerie could never do much and her mother wasn't one to sit by anyone's bedside. "Both like it and feel the same way I mean." She added.

Most of what she owned though probably was really expensive and fancy. Still, Brianna's sentimental gift meant more to her. She'd never gotten too many of those, if any, so this might actually have been one of her favorite presents. Maybe she should have gotten Brianna something nicer, but that was why she'd made her a scarf instead. It felt more meaningful to Valerie to make her something. Now, though, she wondered if maybe a handmade gift said the opposite to her friend, that she wasn't worth spending money on. She hoped not though. "Do you like yours?" She asked. "I mean, your gift, not your bracelet." Her face felt even warmer, as she flushed, embarrassed again by her own lack of social skills.

11 Valerie A little of both 204 Valerie 0 5

Brianna

September 01, 2013 10:55 PM

Hopefully that's good. by Brianna

Relief washed over Brianna when Valerie confirmed that she liked the gift. It was hard for Brianna to pick out gifts for the people she cared about. Valerie, Josh, and Linus all had some form of money or another. She wasn’t exactly sure how well off Linus was since he was not a Pureblood and so, information like that was not readily available and Brianna was never going to ask such a question either, but she knew that Valerie and Josh both came from extremely wealthy families. So wealthy that money did not matter to them. They could do as they wished any time that they wanted. Money was a scarcity for Brianna. Christmas was always a good time for her family because of bonuses and extra tips, but otherwise, they lived off of very little. She was sure her family lived pretty okay while she was at school because they were only feeding two people instead of three.

She knew it had probably been presumptuous to think that Valerie would have her as a best friend. There were so many others who would be better choices for that role than she was, but she had chosen to accept Brianna as her closest friend and that really did mean the most to her. It was difficult for Brianna to trust people, but she honestly felt like she could with Valerie. “I’m so glad!” Brianna said with a large smile. This was one of those moments where she felt the urge to jump up and down.

Brianna looked down at the scarf in her hands and nodded to Valerie. “Of course I do.” Brianna reassured her. “My mother can’t knit, so I don’t have anything handmade and you made it, which makes it even more special.” She wasn’t sure if she made any sense, but she hoped that she had conveyed to Valerie how much she loved the gift. She only received one gift a year from her parents (except this year was extra special), so getting anything from anyone else always meant so much to her.

6 Brianna Hopefully that's good. 0 Brianna 0 5