Picnic party time! [Stanley, Bonablle, Wally] on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Valentine Duell

February 07, 2021 8:51 AM

Picnic party time! [Stanley, Bonablle, Wally] by Valentine Duell

Stanley had come up with a wonderful idea! While it was true that Valentine had been having some doubts about this whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing with Stanley, this time he'd come up with great plan. She'd just been commenting that Bonabelle had been a bit down lately and he'd thought to have a picnic with her and Wally as well! It would be great! She began making plans almost immediately.

With the weather behaving the way it had been lately, she decided the MARS room would be the safest bet. Val got the water room to put them on the edge of a lake with a nice babbling brook feeding into it not far off. The room's door was set into what looked like a small cabin near the lake shore. The grass covering the ground was soft and perfect for a picnic. Aside from that, there was an evergreen forest all around the lake and a rickety-looking but sturdy seeming dock that led out into the water. There was even a little changing area if they wanted to go swimming as well. It was perfect.

Next thing to figure out was the food. She worked her way through the proper channels, and had arranged for a nice picnic basket filled with sandwiches and other picnic type foods. Then all that was left was to let Bonabelle know about the party. Stanley said he'd let Wally know. It was about this point when she suddenly remembered that Bonabelle didn't really like big group gatherings. She felt terrible, she'd talked with Mr. Row about this when they were planning her birthday party, how could she have forgotten? Now what was she to do? Inviting her up under false pretenses was out of the question, not only was it wrong but Bonabelle would hate her forever.

In the end, Valentine did the only thing she could do. She told Bonabelle about the plans and some of her feelings of uncertainty about Stanley. She told her that Wally would probably be there and it was just going to be a fun relaxing picnic thing with maybe some swimming. She'd really like Bonabelle to come for support and to maybe have some relaxing fun as well. She really thought Bonabelle could use some relaxing fun times. In the end Bonabelle agreed to come along. Val also still needed to find a way to thank Bonabelle for saving her life as well.

Valentine wanted to make sure she was the first one to arrive at the MARS room to ensure everything was ready, Bonabelle came along with her and that made her happy. The lake was set as she entered the room and turned to her friend. "What do you think? Just a nice quiet picnic spot for some fun and relaxation. How about we set up over there?" She indicated hefting the picnic basket towards the grass between the 'cabin' and the lake.

OOC: Bonabelle bits approved by her author.

2 Valentine Duell Picnic party time! [Stanley, Bonablle, Wally] 1490 1 5

Bonabelle Row

February 07, 2021 12:17 PM

For the love of Valentine. by Bonabelle Row

Bonabelle wasn't exactly sure what sort of support she could be to her friend, but she was determined to try. If Valentine wanted to hang out with Stanley and wanted Bonabelle to be there, Bonabelle wasn't about to say no. She didn't know Wally hardly at all but in a school this small it was hard to not know him literally at all so at least they wouldn't be strangers, and it sounded like Wally was mostly coming to hang out with Stanley, just like Bonabelle herself was going to hang out with Valentine. Just friends hanging out with their friends (or brother) who were on a date. Bonabelle wasn't sure if that was a normal thing that people did when they were dating but she wasn't about to judge, and especially not if it meant she got to see Valentine more than she would if she said no and stayed behind.

She dressed up because she always took the opportunity to dress up when she could get out form under her robes, so she wore a soft blue summer dress with a matching hair bow in the bottom of her braided hair. Valentine said they would be picnicking in the water room, so Bonabelle figured having her hair back would be the best choice, and she'd packed her swimming costume for the occasion. She wasn't entirely sure how comfortable she was changing into it in front of other people, but if it made Valentine happy . . . well, there was a theme to her resilience today. This was especially the case after Val explained some of her hesitations with regards to her relationship and Bonabelle understood that her friend wasn't just asking to hang out, but was asking for help. She was pretty sure that's what she was asking for at least. If Valentine needed her there to be more comfortable - or to help pull her out of the room if Stanley was weird and Val was stuck trying to be too nice about it - then Bonabelle would oblige. She'd never say no to that.

Bonabelle followed Val - and Val's lead - to the MARS room and smiled at the scene that appeared. "This is beautiful," she said, sincerely admiring the landscape as Val scouted out a spot for their picnic. Whatever she'd thought before about swimming with people she wasn't close to went out of her mind as she took in where exactly it was they'd be swimming if they went that route. When Val had picked a spot and gestured, Bonabelle nodded with another reassuring smile. "It's perfect," she said, relaxing into their normal tone of time spent together. "And thank you for inviting me," she added, not sure if she'd said that already.

22 Bonabelle Row For the love of Valentine. 1488 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

February 07, 2021 12:40 PM

Hey, me too! by Stanley O'Malley

“Suit up, Wallace, we’re going on a date.”

That was what Stanley had told his brother to prepare him for their picnic double-date with Valentine and Bonabelle. Technically, this had been Stanley’s idea. He didn’t really mean to organize a double-date - when had he ever organized anything, realistically? - but when his girlfriend mentioned that her friend seemed sad lately, and he had this handy brother laying around, well, what was he supposed to do? Besides, girls liked double dates.

Valentine did all the actual getting things together part, so really, now all he had to do was show up. It was a nice occasion, so he wore a halfway decent sweater and his nicest jeans, the maximum amount of fanciness he was willing to partake in without Mom holding a wand to his head. He also wore his swimsuit under his jeans, which was a little bunchy and not the most comfortable set up, but since they were meeting in the MARS water room, he figured swimming wasn’t off the table post-digestion.

Stanley arrived separately and found the girls just about set up between a nice little lake and a cabin. He had never seen the MARS room generate a whole building, and he was immediately curious about what he could find inside if they went exploring. But no exploring right now. Now was girlfriend time.

“Hi, gorgeous,” he grinned upon arrival, planting a casual kiss on Valentine’s cheek, both because she was his girlfriend and he liked her, and to show her friend that he did. “Wally should be along soon. I forgot what he said he needed to do on the way here. Hi Bonabelle,” he added, directing his attention to the other girl standing in front of him. “How goes it?”

12 Stanley O'Malley Hey, me too! 1491 0 5

Wally O'Malley

February 07, 2021 12:43 PM

.....(me too) by Wally O'Malley

Wally stared into the mirror, adjusting the knot of his blue striped tie. No matter how he moved it, it felt too tight, but that was probably just his throat constricting from the nerves he felt for this stupid double date. Stanley had told him to “suit up”, but he definitely wasn’t wearing a jacket to a picnic, so hopefully the tie and white button-up would suffice. It made him look more like Dad than he ever had, and maybe even a little bit like Serapes, which was weird because he wasn’t related to his pseudo-grandpa by blood, but in any case, he liked it. Now if only his hair would stop sticking up in every direction, he might have felt he looked halfway decent.

Honestly, he was starting to get pretty tired of being roped into Stanley’s crazy schemes. This was definitely took the cake: not only was he being forced to go on a picnic date, but he barely knew Bonabelle and had probably never spoken to her outside of class in his life, and he had to also watch Stanley be on a date with Valentine, the girl Wally actually liked. So yeah, it was pretty much shaping up to be a day of torture.

He stopped by the Gardens on the way to collect a bouquet of flowers. He didn’t really know if Bonabelle had any kind of floral opinions, but Tommy said that girls liked getting flowers, and apparently, Tommy was the expert on dating. Somehow, despite being the youngest of the group, Tommy seemed to know everything and keep everybody in line. Wally had nothing further to go on about what type of flowers he should get, but he pictured Bonabelle in his mind, and he thought she would probably look good in blue, so he gathered up a bunch of blueish ones and went with that.

He was last to arrive and shuffled nervously over to the group. He felt both immediately overdressed and at least somewhat validated by his flower selection, since they actually matched Bonabelle’s dress pretty closely, and yes, she did look nice. Wally thought Valentine looked even better, though, but he tried not to think about that too much. “Hi,” he said to the group. “It’s so nice to see you up and about, Valentine,” he added to her specifically, but then he refocused. “Oh, uh, Bonabelle, these are for you.” He jutted out his arm awkwardly to present the flowers to her, looking down to avoid eye contact. From anyone. Stop staring at him, Stanley.

12 Wally O'Malley .....(me too) 1492 0 5

Valentine Duell

February 07, 2021 1:11 PM

Me t... wait, that's not right. by Valentine Duell

Valentine smile wide at her friend's approval of the room. She was so glad that Bonabelle had agreed to come along. "You are welcome," she responded to the girl's thanks, "And thank-you for coming. I'm really glad you are here." They headed out into the grass and began setting up for the picnic and it wasn't long before the cabin door opened again and Stanley entered the room.. by exiting the building. MARS was odd.

She smiled and stood to greet him. She blushed when he called her 'gorgeous' and the he did that cheek kiss thing again. Which was fine. It felt.. odd? She didn't really know how to describe it, but it seemed to make him happy so that was fine. She kept her smile as he completely disregarded his brother's activities. She knew that wasn't uncommon for him, and he had way more experience with siblings than she did, but still... "Hi," she replied before he turned his attention to Bonabelle.

When Wally arrived, she nearly gasped. He was wearing a tie? And carrying flowers? What had Stanley told him? She shot a questioning look at her boyfriend. She was wearing a fairly simple outfit of a long pink skirt and a nice white, long-sleeved shirt. The only ornamentation she'd worn was the necklace Papa had gotten her for Christmas. Bonabelle had dressed up nicer, had she known there was something else going on? Was there something else going on? Stanley was... well, Stanley was wearing Stanley clothing.

She smiled at Wally as he commented on her well being. "Thank-you Wally. It's nice to be up and about again." Then he offered the flowers to Bonabelle, something Stanley hadn't done for her. Which was fine. Flowers were nice and all but they were just flowers. She still wasn't sure what was going on and Wally was staring at the ground, so she gave Bonabelle a very confused look.

2 Valentine Duell Me t... wait, that's not right. 1490 0 5

Bonabelle Row

February 07, 2021 1:47 PM

Boys are weird. by Bonabelle Row

Bonabelle was well aware of the fact that boys were weird already but it proved especially true when Stanley arrived wearing a sweater - had he expected that Valentine would pick somewhere cold for a possible swimming adventure? was he just always cold? - and then kissed Val's face. Why did people have to go around doing that kind of thing right in front of other people? They didn't want to see that stuff. Or maybe they did . . . did everyone enjoy seeing other people kiss each other and this was just another example of why she was the weird one? She hoped not, and tried not to be too obvious about averting her eyes as affection was exchanged.

"Hi," she said to Stanley, trying not to sound like she hated this idea all over again. "It goes," she added with a shrug and a once over of Valentine, her face creasing with worry as she made it clear what exactly had her anxious of late. Before she could return the question, Wally arrived.

Bonabelle's eyes grew round and her eyebrows came up in surprise before she could quite help herself, although she regained composure quickly again. Boys were really odd. Was there no social dress code for hanging out with people? Bonabelle didn't know Wally well enough to know if he just dressed like this all the time but she was pretty sure he didn't because how many people their age dressed like that all the time? And he had flowers? Why was he carrying flow-- oh. Oh.

His first comment was to Valentine and was of exactly the sort that Bonabelle could get behind because seeing Val up and about was always nice but especially after she'd been injured so recently, but then he was talking to her (probably? He wasn't looking at her so it was a little hard to be totally sure) and giving her flowers.

"Thank you," she said, taking them automatically because that's what you did with gifts. They were really very lovely and she brought them up to her face to smell; they smelled lovely too. Still, she was full of questions, and when she glanced at her friend to ask them without asking them, she saw that Val also looked confused. She was pretty sure that boys gave girls flowers when they liked them, but Stanley hadn't given Val any flowers. Was this just etiquette? But etiquette of what? Bonabelle had been under the impression they were just hanging out and Bonabelle and Wally were basically along for the ride.

A phrase floated into her mind then, something her uncle had asked her about. He'd pulled a face when she said what she was going to be doing today, and it was one of those annoying faces he pulled when he was thinking something he thought everyone else was already thinking except which Bonabelle was never thinking. He'd used the phrase 'double date' and Bonabelle had quickly struck it from her mind, dismissing it with an eyeroll then and the passage of time afterwards. Now she wondered if he'd been right, which was extra annoying.

How did one go about finding out if they were on a date without being rude?

She took one of the flowers out of the bouquet and tucked it behind Val's ear with a small smile. "These are perfect for the picnic," she decided, stepping back to gesture at the set up so as to avoid having to stand there any longer in this moment.

22 Bonabelle Row Boys are weird. 1488 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

February 08, 2021 5:43 PM

We resent that! by Stanley O'Malley

Oh god. A tie? Flowers?! What kind of freaking dork was Wally? And also, flowers? Stanley hadn’t thought to bring Valentine any flowers, which made him totally look bad now. Grrr.

Bonabelle shared one of her flowers with Valentine, placing it behind the Teppenpaw’s ear, which was sweet and would hopefully satisfy any jealousy Val might have felt. And it made her look extra cute, too, so hopefully it was a win-win.

Unfortunately, Valentine being extra cute was, in fact, not a win for Wally, but he did his best to keep his gaze from lingering too long on their fair-haired classmate. “It does look like a really nice picnic,” Wally agreed, far more comfortable discussing their arrangements than any of their personal affairs or affinities. Again a spark of resentment for his brother shot through his brain like a lightning bolt, but he dampened it with rubbery thoughts. Sometimes Stanley was good. Sometimes he was nice and fun and good and-

“Yeah, super nice!” Stanley confirmed bombastically. “Great job, Valentine!” he grinned at his girlfriend, seating himself on the picnic blanket and tucking his legs up beneath him in a criss-cross arrangement. He patted the spot next to him, motioning a request for her to join him at his side. “What do we have to eat?” Stanley asked eagerly.

12 Stanley O'Malley We resent that! 1491 0 5

Valentine Duell

February 08, 2021 6:37 PM

Everyone is wierd in their own special way, it's nice. by Valentine Duell

Valentine was getting the impression that Bonabelle was not all that impressed with Stanley. This wasn't really unexpected, she wasn't really quite sure what sort of person would impress Bonabelle. Probably someone quiet that liked books, Val mused wondering again why Bonabelle seemed to want to hang out with her. Not that she was complaining, Bonabelle was a great friend and Val wasn't about to let her go as long as she wanted to be around.

Waitaminute... had Stanley...? Some pieces were beginning to form together in Val's brain and she gave her boyfriend another glance, this time with a look of curiosity. This had been his idea after he'd heard that Bonabelle was a little down... had he known that Wally liked Bonabelle and masterminded this whole situation as an opportunity to bring them together?! Maybe she hadn't been giving Stanley enough credit, that had been a slick move on his part... before her train of thought got much farther along, Bonabelle was poking a flower into her hair with a smile. "Yes," she agreed still a bit uncertain of what was going on, but wanting to do her part whatever that might be. "They are lovely," she added smiling encouragingly at Wally.

She moved along with Bonabelle, giving her an encouraging smile as well, and then followed Stanley. She folded her legs under her taking the place next to him. Leaving space for Wally and Bonabelle on the other side of the blanket. She really wasn't sure how that would all work out, Wally was a quiet type and she thought he liked books so that might be perfect for Bonabelle. Although with everything Bonabelle had been feeling and talking about lately, she wasn't sure how she'd react. The flowers didn't seem to have gone over to bad though. Maybe they'd just need some time together, she'd have to keep an eye on things though. If things went wrong, they might go awfully wrong.

"Thanks!" she replied to Stanley smiling. It was nice to hear appreciation for things that you've done. Opening up the picnic basket, Val started to pull the food from it's depths. "I'm actually not all that sure what the Elves packed in here though," she bobbled her head a bit, "I just asked for some sandwiches and picnic type food." There were a few varieties of sandwiches along with the requested 'other types of picnic food'. Finally she also pulled out a magically cooled container of lemonade.

"Bon appetite everyone!" she cheered when she finished getting everything out. Now they just needed something to talk about while they dined. Something that might help people get to know each other better... hmm... aha! "Next year we're going to be intermediates! Has anyone figured out what electives you want to take?" She knew at least one that she was signing up for.

2 Valentine Duell Everyone is wierd in their own special way, it's nice. 1490 0 5

Bonabelle Row

February 08, 2021 7:36 PM

The fact that you think so is all that matters. by Bonabelle Row

Bonabelle followed the group back to the picnic blanket, choosing the 'seat' opposite Valentine since apparently the seat next to her was going to be taken. That made sense, but she didn't like it anyway. She laid the bouquet of remaining flowers in the middle of the blanket where they could be admired equally by all.

When Valentine revealed some of the food within the basket, Bonabelle took a small sandwich and a few grapes. She'd never been one to be shy about eating because there was value in having enough food and that was the real important thing. Also, she was not on a date, which meant she didn't need to worry about how she looked. Even if she was on a date, she wouldn't want it to continue if the person was going to be rude about how she looked whilst eating. Food was food and boys were stupid and everything was a mess. It was simple.

At least Valentine picked a topic that Bonabelle could get into, although she wasn't sure how much her answer would excite anyone. "I am sort of planning on all of them I think," she said, munching another grape. Truth be told, she had very little interest in taking Divinations, but figured it would be the good thing to do as a friend. "Not Muggle Studies I guess, but all the rest."

22 Bonabelle Row The fact that you think so is all that matters. 1488 0 5

Wally O'Malley

February 13, 2021 6:51 PM

Works for us, I guess by Wally O'Malley

OOC: Mentions of Theo approved by his author. BIC:

Wally was last to seat himself on the blanket, agonizing mentally over where he was supposed to go. Obviously, Valentine would be beside Stanley, so then Bonabelle sat opposite her, leaving the spot next to her and opposite Stanley for him. Not that he really wanted to stare into Stanley’s stupid dumb face, but hey, what was he going to do? So he sat.

And then, oh, thank goodness, they were talking about school. Classwork was a nice, safe topic. “I was thinking about the same,” he commented, letting himself actually look in Bonabelle’s direction this time. “Divinations and Astronomy.” He didn’t feel especially interested in Muggle Studies - maybe he’d pick it up later if the new workload didn’t feel like too much, but their mom already let them play with more Muggle stuff than some other well-off purebloods, so he figured he was already ahead of the general crowd on that one.

“Well, obviously Divinations,” Stanley said, grinning at Valentine. He genuinely could not have cared less about that class, but it was his girlfriend’s aunt teaching it, so he was pretty much required to take it, and required to look like he cared. “Theo says Astronomy’s pretty cool.” Well, sort of, in Theo language - what he actually said was that sometimes it happened while it was cold out, so you got to put fuzzy layers on in order to go, but that was pretty much a high praise statement for him.

“But, like, that’s so much schoolwork. I can’t wait until we can drop classes. No offense to Professor Xavier, but I definitely do not care about plants. And I’d drop Potions if it wouldn’t break our mom’s heart.” Just saying it out loud felt sacrilegious, although he had a feeling that Wally secretly agreed. Whatever familial knack and interest in it had skipped them both completely and gone down to Tommy.

12 Wally O'Malley Works for us, I guess 1492 0 5

Valentine Duell

February 13, 2021 7:41 PM

Everyone seems so agreeable. It's nice. by Valentine Duell

Valentine picked out a sandwich for herself and a few bits of fruit and practically beamed. Everything was going wonderfully. The grass was soft under the picnic blanket, the air was perfect and the lake looked magnificent. Then there were the people around her, a few of her good friends, they were talking and eating and having a great time! They should do this more often. She took a bite of her sandwich and it was delicious as well. She would need to thank the elves as well, they did a great job.

"I'm definitely taking divinations," she voiced. It may have been unnecessary as she may have mentioned it once or twice to people over the course of the year. That said however, she looked a little sheepish, "That might be the only extra class I take though." She'd debated taking Muggle Studies, just because it would probably be an easy class for her. Mama and Papa were both magically inclined, but she had no lack of muggle world experiences due to extended family and Papa's work. The actual problem came down to time. "I'm already pretty busy," she gave both Stanley and Bonabelle a look. It was already tricky to find time to spend with them outside of class or class work stuff. "If I took any more classes, I'd have to drop some other things." Just like Bonabelle (and apparently Wally) were going to take almost all of the classes, she had taken almost all of the clubs and it pained her to think of dropping any of them. That was nearly the only time she got to see people that weren't in her classes.

Stanley's statement about dropping classes sent her into an unexpected bit of emotional turmoil. That sounded like a great idea. She loved Professor Skies, but not taking transfigurations anymore sounded like a wonderful idea at the moment. She chewed on her sandwich a few moments while she processed the idea. "I may need to drop transfigurations," she replied slowly, then gave Bonabelle a meaningful look, "But you and Professor Skies have worked so hard to get me this far, I don't want to think it was all for nothing." If she was having this much trouble abandoning her most difficult class, she figured she was probably going to keep the rest of them just because the professors were all so nice and she didn't want to let them down.

She was pleased though that everyone seemed interested in Aunt Giselle's class. That was going to be fun next year! Glancing around the group, she wondered what interesting might happen next year. She gave Stanley an inquisitive glance, looking for a hint of what she was pretty sure what was happening here. Then she quickly glanced at Wally and then over to Bonabelle with a raised eyebrow before returning to him with a look that clearly asked the question, 'Does your brother really like Bonabelle? Should I talk with her and see what her feelings on the subject are?' Val was pretty sure she knew what Bonabelle's feelings were after all of their discussions, but you never knew.

2 Valentine Duell Everyone seems so agreeable. It's nice. 1490 0 5

Bonabelle Row

February 14, 2021 8:45 PM

It is a thing we are capable of being when necessary at least. by Bonabelle Row

Bonabelle let herself actually look at Wally when he looked at her, although she still wasn't precisely sure what she thought of him. He was nice, well-dressed, and apparently planning to be in all the same classes as her next year, which was kind of cool just because she felt like a lot of the people she knew were trying to get by on taking as few classes as possible. He wasn't bad to look at, which felt weird to think when his twin brother was across the blanket but Bonabelle wasn't even sure that Stanley was nice to think about, let alone look at, so she tried not to do that. She wasn't sure if liking someone was supposed to be this objective or clinical, but it seemed rude not to at least give him the benefit of the doubt and if that meant being objective and clinical then so be it. He was the one who made this whole thing weird like that.

Which wasn't at all to say that she liked him because she was still pretty sure everyone was gross, but she thought that he wasn't as terrible as some of the boys she'd met at least. Or some of the girls for that matter. She smiled, a habit with people she needed to be polite to even if she wasn't sure yet whether she wanted to be polite to them. At least Wally wasn't someone she wanted to be nasty too yet either. She didn't offer more than a smile though because what was she supposed to say? Cool. Classes, amiright? No, that was stupid. Besides, Stanley was doing his part to fill up any meaningful pause for introspection anyway.

Bonabelle really really wanted to be grumpy with Stanley for taking Divinations so obviously just because have Valentine - and also almost wanted to warn him that he shouldn't put so many eggs in that basket because he wasn't worth Valentine's time and it would be such a dreadful time to be stuck in class together - but that seemed out of place. Also, she was taking Divinations for the same stupid reason. At least she wasn't so eager to drop classes as Stanley was. It wasn't a great look, even if Val also wanted to drop classes. She wanted to drop classes because she had her own challenges and wanted to prioritize her efforts - totally valid - he wanted to drop classes because he was a stupid head and Bonabelle wanted to tell him that to his face. Instead, she smiled a little more tightly and looked quickly to Val when she spoke.

Her smile turned its warmest and sincerest, as it always did for Valentine, when the Teppenpaw expressed concerns about the efforts put into her Transfiguration study thus far. She wished she could reach out and put a comforting hand on her friend, a gesture she'd learned carried a lot of weight. But stupid head Stanley was in the way.

"It's not for nothing," she promised. "You've already gotten so much better, and that means it's more than you had before." She almost added that it was okay to drop classes when you had real challenges like that, but she didn't want to reveal too much if Valentine hadn't yet been up front about her academic performance and she didn't want Stanley to start thinking that he was what she meant. Bonabelle had, truth be told, been thinking of dropping COMC when the time came, but she was suddenly thinking she'd just take every class and get perfect grades and then mail them all to Stanley with a bouquet of paper flowers cut out of Valentine's pictures. Her abilities in the arts of pettiness were almost unlimited.

"Your mum likes potions then?" she asked, directing the question at Wally although Stanley was the one who mentioned it.

22 Bonabelle Row It is a thing we are capable of being when necessary at least. 1488 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

February 15, 2021 6:05 PM

Agreed! by Stanley O'Malley

Oh no, Valentine sounded worried about classes. Specifically about Transfigurations. That was bad. Stanley wanted to fix that. Fortunately Bonabelle said something that sounded really reassuring, so he opted not to comment and instead just offer an also-reassuring smile. Although Valentine was definitely giving him a weird look. It was one of those looks girls gave you when you were supposed to know something they weren’t going to tell you. So that was pretty unhelpful. Maybe she also wanted him to verbally reassure her?

“Um, yeah,” Wally said, breaking Stanley’s concentration. Wally was responding to something Bonabelle had said, about their mom liking Potions. He was doing a little better at maintaining eye contact with his date, which was a good skill to have. Stanley was so proud. “She used to teach here, actually. When we were little. We got to come to, like, some of the concerts and balls and stuff sometimes.”

“Mom is also rubbish at Transfigurations,” Stanley interjected, building off the topic and looking back to Valentine, “and she’s still plenty good at lots of other stuff.” He smiled with cautious optimism. Had he done it? Was that what she wanted to hear? God, he hoped so. Girls were so complicated.

12 Stanley O'Malley Agreed! 1491 0 5

Valentine Duell

February 17, 2021 5:45 PM

Necessity is the mother of... something? by Valentine Duell

Valentine smiled a bit embarrassed at Bonabelle's compliment. She had been getting better and it was all thanks to Bonabelle, Professor Skies, Alexander and everyone else who had lent her a hand. It felt good to make progress and get better, but she wasn't sure if there was a limit to what she could handle. Things didn't seem to be getting easier as the went. Still as long as people weren't going to give up on her, she couldn't give up on herself.

Thankfully Bonabelle changed the subject a bit. Mama was pretty good at potions as well. "She did?" Val asked Wally, "When was that? I wonder if Mama and Papa had her for a teacher." She tried to do some math in her head, which worked a lot better once she thought about the people involved instead of just the numbers. "Hmm.. we're the same age, so probably not unless she was teaching here for a few years before you were born."

Then a look of absolute horror struck her face as Stanley commented about his mother's Transfigurations skills. Somewhere in the back of her mind registered the fact that her boyfriend had just called her own skills rubbish, but that was a far secondary impression to the fact that he'd just said his own mother was rubbish at something. That was not how you talked about your parents, least of all your mother! That was a terrible thing to say!

Still, they were having a nice picnic and she didn't want to ruin everyone's nice time. Valentine forced her expression back into something that wasn't quite it's normal cheerful one. She could feel it now, almost definitively, this wasn't going to work... but that was no reason to ruin Wally's chance with Bonabelle. He seemed really nice.

With a slightly forced voice she did her best to continue the pleasant conversation they were having. "So... Is everyone ready for the concert? I signed up for acting last term, Ness and I are working on a script, and... umm.." her mind wandered, unfocused, what was going on here? "I'm helping the art club with props and scenery.." her voice finally drifted off as if giving up.

2 Valentine Duell Necessity is the mother of... something? 1490 0 5

Bonabelle Row

February 18, 2021 2:44 PM

Stanley, probably. Couldn't just pick one at that point. by Bonabelle Row

Bonabelle had a hard time imagining anyone but their current potions professor teaching the class and she was pretty sure that she would have hated it if Stanley's mother was the professor. Perhaps Stanley's mother was okay . . . after all, Grandma was okay and Bonabelle's own father was much less so. But it was hard to say and since the twins were the only metric she had for judging their mother, she was pretty sure the woman was not someone she wanted to meet anytime soon. Before she could really decide how to avoid saying as much, Stanley went and trashed his own mum, getting a look from Valentine that almost made Bonabelle feel sorry for him. If he hadn't been so utterly daft, she maybe would have. As it was, 'almost' would be the closest to sympathy he'd get from her but it was enough to keep her from smiling a little happily at his failure. Valentine changed the subject then and Bonabelle, who was actually paying attention to Valentine, unlike some people, went along with it.

"You're going to be amazing," she told her friend with a smile that maybe verged on sympathetic. Much as she was glad things were not going well with Stanley, she wasn't glad that it made Valentine sad. Pain was pain and she knew very well how much a thing that wasn't bad could still feel very bad. "I helped with some of the costuming but that's about all," she said, knowing full well that her talents were best kept off stage. She tried to ignore the fact that Val seemed to be collapsing in on herself because she doubted the girl wanted any attention drawn to that fact just then, so she turned to Wally instead. "How about you?" she asked, keeping a pleasant expression and making sure she didn't look anywhere else, since there was nowhere else that she either wanted to look at or wanted her to look at it.

22 Bonabelle Row Stanley, probably. Couldn't just pick one at that point. 1488 0 5