Do you wanna build a sandcastle? (Tag: Robyn and Samara) on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Lyla Holland

July 01, 2023 3:27 AM

Do you wanna build a sandcastle? (Tag: Robyn and Samara) by Lyla Holland

MARS room after class today. Bring your swimsuit!

Lyla had fluttered the note over to Robyn during breakfast. Her friend hadn't been herself since Xavier's accident, and Lyla hoped that there was something she could do to help, even if it was just getting Robyn's mind off of stuff for a while.

Lyla's friend group kept growing- first she'd sat with Robyn at orientation, then Samara had turned out to be her roommate, and then there was Gwendolyn, who Lyla was glad to be in classes with again. To think when she'd first stepped off the wagon, she'd been terrified she'd spend the next seven years basically alone!

I should've been a Tepp, she thought idly as she waited for Robyn and Samara to turn up. She'd asked Samara to come the night before, thinking that if there were three of them chatting and giggling, it wouldn't seem too therapy-y. Lyla wanted Robyn to just feel normal for a bit. Plus, Samara and Robyn had gotten along pretty well at the Quidditch showcase last year, what with the fish party and all.

She'd set up in the water room of MARS, opting for a small beach with a juice bar. Three big towels laid on the white sand just out of range of the water. There were also supplies for sandcastle-making, because Lyla had a real hankering to make a sandcastle. Lyla was serving herself a glass of pineapple juice when one of her friends came in.

"Oh, hi!" she said brightly, "Come on in! Can I get you a drink?"

64 Lyla Holland Do you wanna build a sandcastle? (Tag: Robyn and Samara) 1559 1 5

Robyn Lundstrom

July 05, 2023 10:32 AM

I don't know by Robyn Lundstrom

The little note from Lyla at breakfast had made Robyn feel something close to normal and excited. Going swimming wasn’t going to fix anything but then nothing Robyn could do would. That had been the message over the summer too; keep doing normal things, try to smile, don’t let this ruin your life too. Sometimes, when Robyn thought about that too much, or was in a sour mood, the powerlessness of it all grated on her. But with Lyla, it was harder to be annoyed than when it was with her own parents, and the way the note had fluttered over by magic reminded Robyn of the wonder of this place.

Lunch was a low point in the day. Mealtimes were the most obvious point at which she crossed paths with Xavier and, more to the point, Oz. She had sympathy-sat with her brother today, because he was—once again—all one his own.

The sting of it was wearing off after trying to keep her focus on her classes for the afternoon, but she wasn’t sure how mad she was at Oz was ever going to fully go away.

She made her way to the MARS room, looking forward to having a good vent to Lyla about it all, and then maybe she could pretend to be normal and happy for a while. She vaguely wondered when she was allowed to stop pretending that and actually have some feelings about what had happened.

As she opened the door to the MARS room, it didn’t seem like today would be that day. There were three towels laid on the beach, which probably meant Samara was joining them. Even though Lyla hadn’t said that… Apparently, Robyn should just take that as a default. Apparently, she wasn’t allowed to need or want time with Lyla without Samara around… Not that Robyn didn’t like her. She was… fine. In some ways, it should have been a good thing—she needed more friends, and Lyla came with an extra one. But Samara wasn’t someone Robyn was okay with showing her grumpiness and her sadness in front of.

Which meant another afternoon of shoving her feelings down and pretending everything was normal because… what? Because it made it better for her or for other people?

Are you sure we can start without your bestie?.
No, it’s not like it’ll make a difference.

She swallowed down the snappish response as Lyla offered her a drink. Everything sucked, but it would suck more if she pushed her best friend away. She’d sat with what that looked like at lunchtime. So, that meant playing nice.

“Yeah, thanks,” she said, flopping down on the middle towel, so that at least Lyla and Samara couldn’t pair up and leave her out.

13 Robyn Lundstrom I don't know 1558 0 5

Lyla Holland

July 11, 2023 1:18 AM

Whatever you say by Lyla Holland

It was Robyn who arrived first, which was what Lyla was hoping for. Nothing against Samara, as she was up for girl talk and giggles, but Lyla wanted to get a few words with Robyn alone. It was tough to find time for that outside of classes, and Lyla felt a bit guilty for spending more time with Samara than Robyn- even though most of that time was in the evenings when they were getting ready for bed, chatting about their day.

Lyla watched Robyn flop down out of the corner of her eye. There was no doubt about it, something was bothering her friend. She tried to work out the best juice combination. Orange juice was a spirit-lifter, and Lyla added some grapefruit, lime and apple, until she reached an approximation of SunnyD. A hopefully familiar flavor for her muggleborn friend.

"I'm really glad you came," Lyla said, delivering the cup of juice to Robyn. She'd stuck a little umbrella in it for an exotic flair, "And I'm sorry we haven't been able to spend much time together. Intermediate classes are kicking my butt. I miss you."

Lyla sat on the towel next to her friend, letting her toes wiggle in the sand. Whatever had happened over her summer vacation, it was peanuts compared to Xavier's stuff. Lyla had tried to keep her nose out as best she could, figuring if Robyn wanted her to know about it, she'd tell her, but it was impossible to block out every whisper.

She stared out at the pseudo-horizon, trying to think of the perfect words to say, something to put Robyn at ease. Anything that would help lift her friend. Just be honest. she told herself.

"I can sit with you and Xavier at lunch."

It wasn't perfect, or particularly helpful, but that's what came out of her mouth.

"I guess what I mean," Lyla amended, "Is that I want to make more time for our friendship. You were my first-ever friend here. I wanted to give you some space after the whole...thing...happened, and you seemed like you wanted space, but I don't think having space is making you happy. And I just want to help you be happy."

She had no idea where she was going with this, but she just kept going.

"And I know that you don't really know Samara as well as I do, but she's really nice and sweet and I hope you guys can be friends, but if not, that's okay and I can be friends with you guys separately. I did invite her today. I hope that's okay, I kind of just hoped we could have fun and get your mind off of stuff."

Lyla blinked away the sudden misting in her eyes. She hadn't realized until now, but the more she spoke, the more she realized how worried she was about Robyn. She faked a cough to clear her throat and took a sip of her juice. Samara would be here any minute and Lyla didn't want to kick off their beach day by bawling into the sea.

64 Lyla Holland Whatever you say 1559 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

July 13, 2023 9:48 AM

But 'I don't know' isn't a real answer by Robyn Lundstrom

"Thanks," Robyn said, as Lyla handed her a cup of juice.

Then Lyla got all talky, in a way that suggested Robyn wasn't doing as good a job at pretending she was having a nice beach day out as she had hoped.

She could have pity company when she was with Xavier. She didn't want it.

She had seemed like she wanted to be left alone. She hadn't.

First friend. Not best.

Lyla wanted her to be friends with Samara. So did she...

So why was she so wound up about Lyla inviting her?

She didn't want to talk about it, now that Lyla did. And as soon as Lyla didn't, she would want to.

"I just want things to be normal," she sighed. "Which I can't have. I don't mean pretending everything's fine - everyone keeps deciding for me that that's what I should do. But then, if I don't play along, it brings everyone else down and..." She pinched the little white tip of her drink umbrella, stabbing at the liquid in the cup. Which, given the effectiveness of stabbing a liquid, was probably a metaphor for life or something. "I just want something that's for me. That doesn't revolve around Xavier and...." And wasn't that what Lyla was trying to do with a beach day out? No wonder Lyla couldn't work out what Robyn wanted - Robyn couldn't tell her either. And they were supposed to be her own feelings and she was in the fuzzy feelingsy house, so if she couldn't work it out, what hope did Lyla have?

All of which did nothing to make her feel better, because it meant she was the problem - the buzzkill who everyone would be able to have a perfectly nice beach day without.
She'd wanted one-on-one time with Lyla and now she had it, she was ruining it.

She plucked the parasol out, sucking any lingering juice off the stick and sliding it behind her ear so she could drink without poking her eye out. She took a sip of juice, finding one normal thing she could say.

"This is really good."

13 Robyn Lundstrom But 'I don't know' isn't a real answer 1558 0 5

Lyla Holland

July 25, 2023 2:42 PM

'Real answers' are for Aladrens by Lyla Holland

As confused and helpless as Lyla felt, Robyn sounded even more so. She wanted things to be normal, which is what Lyla had been trying to achieve in the first place, before all her thoughts just spilled out. But Robyn also shouldn't have to pretend that everything was fine when it decidedly wasn't.

With this thought, Lyla actually felt a flash of anger towards Xavier, for putting Robyn through the wringer. No matter whether it was an accident, as the official school statement communicated, or on purpose, as the whispers from the upperclassmen suggested, the ripple effects affected his little sister, and he should have thought of that before he did what he did.

Lyla chewed her bottom lip as she tried to figure out what it was that Robyn needed from her. She wanted to be supportive, but Robyn's mixed signals were clouding what she was meant to do from here.

At least she liked the juice.

"Thanks," Lyla acknowledged, following Robyn's lead in putting her own tiny parasol behind her ear. She gave a lopsided smile that fell into a frown.

"I don't think you should have to pretend that you're okay if you're not. It should be okay to not be okay. I mean," Lyla sighed heavily, "Speaking for myself, I don't want to you fake being fine, just to make me comfortable or whatever. I'd be a pretty crappy friend if I wanted that. So I don't want you to feel like you have to lie to me to make me happy or whatever. I'm just happy to be your friend and hang out on the beach, or scream at the world, or eat ice cream or whatever you want to do."

64 Lyla Holland 'Real answers' are for Aladrens 1559 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

July 28, 2023 2:51 AM

Oh phew by Robyn Lundstrom

“Thanks,” said Robyn in a small voice as Lyla heaped on the reassurance. Why did being told nice things make her feel like such an awful person? “You’re not a crappy friend,” she assured Lyla. Lyla hadn’t said that exactly, she’d said ‘if’ but Robyn didn’t want to leave her in any doubt. The sight of Lyla mirroring her behaviour with the paper parasol made her feel better than it should have. It was silly, and what did it change? But it made her feel a tiny bit like they really were in this together.

“I don’t know,” she sighed, when Lyla offered her choices ranging from normality to screaming. She felt like doing all of them and none of them all the time, and it was exhausting. “That’s part of the problem… I’m so mixed up, I don’t even know what I want half the time right now. And I don’t want to be a crappy friend either. When you’re just trying to be nice, and then I spoil it by being moody or crying, which might be fine if I could tell you what you’re supposed to do instead, but I just can’t because I don’t know either.

“I want to spend time with you, but then I feel like everytime I get to, I’m either hiding my feelings or ruining it, and I don’t want to do either of those things.”

13 Robyn Lundstrom Oh phew 1558 0 5

Samara Crosby

August 04, 2023 4:52 PM

Sorry I'm late by Samara Crosby

Samara was running late to meet Lyla and Robyn in MARS. She had been working on a paper for Charms which was dreary. The Crotalus decidedly did not like doing research much. It was so….irritating. Plus, she had a tendency to put things off until the last minute, especially if it was something that she did not enjoy. She usually wanted to delay the torture…which unfortunately, led to having all the torture at once, instead of spreading it out over multiple days. Some day, maybe Samara would learn and she intended to usually, but then she’d try and just couldn’t do it. Also, she often got preoccupied with other things and wasn’t thinking about practical things like due dates for papers she dreaded doing.

At the same time though, maybe it wasn’t…just that this paper was due. Truth be told, the third year was a little nervous about hanging out with Lyla and Robyn. Obviously, her roommate was her best friend, but she worried about spending time with the Teppenpaw. Like, of course,part of it was what happened with Xavier and Samara just not knowing the “right” thing to do or say in situations like that. She was glad he was okay though.

However, that was only part of the issue. The truth was that she was not entirely sure if Robyn liked her. She very much wanted to be friends with the other third year but felt like…maybe the Teppenpaw did not really want her around. Like she wanted Lyla all to herself and to have Samara be left out in the cold. Or at least to find someone else to hang out with, of which there weren’t a lot of options.

It would have been one thing if it was like, this afternoon, where the Crotalus didn’t have to be around someone else and could have personal time. (Or do her paper, but if she looked at that much longer, her head might explode.) And at the Bonfire, there had to be at least three people in a tent and Robyn had really not had a choice but to have someone else in the tent with her and Lyla.

However, there were other school events where it would totally suck to not have anyone to hang out with. Like the Ball. If nobody asked her-and it was likely that nobody would-the next best thing would be to hang out with her friends.

Except, Samara was not sure that she had friends plural. Like, she had Lyla and then…Gwendolyn was more Lyla’s friend than hers, even though she was Samara’s distant cousin, and again, the Crotalus wasn’t even sure if Robyn liked her very much.

And that was worrisome. The third year wanted so much to be liked. She had grown up with people who hated everyone and everything, but they liked her . In fact, she didn’t think Martin liked anyone else much, even his fiancee did not seem to be someone he more than tolerated. At least, Samara didn’t think he was madly in love with Katerina or anything, and even her parents seemed to love each other, though she didn’t seem to think her parents or brother felt positive things all that passionately. Or didn’t express that.

However, they liked her . And this had led Samara to believe that she was fairly likable. It did not occur to her that they loved her because she was their daughter and sister, because Mother downright hated a lot of people that she was related to. So, if Mother and Father, who hated just about everyone and Martin who seemed generally indifferent to most people, loved Samara, why didn’t Robyn at least like her? Surely, it couldn’t be because of the Bertie Bott’s Beans!

Still, Lyla was the one to set this up and she had invited the other Crotalus. She wanted Samara there. She liked her. And of course Samara certainly didn’t want to disappoint her. She dumped her school stuff in her room, and grabbed her beach going stuff instead, then headed down to MARS.

She entered and greeted the other two girls.”Hey! Sorry I’m late! It was that stupid Charms paper.” Samara set her stuff down on the available towel by Robyn. Oh, this was going to be just great. The Teppenpaw would probably talk to Lyla and leave her out. On the other hand, maybe this meant Robyn did like her and wanted to sit next to her too? She could only hope.

11 Samara Crosby Sorry I'm late 1563 0 5