2 August 2009
11:45 am
Just as the Opening Ceremony is wrapping up...

"Ollie!"

Figaro had thought he'd seen her earlier, during all the speeches, but he hadn't been sure it was her.  And now that everyone was finally get up from their chairs and spreading out across the fields back towards town, Figaro caught another glimpse of her and could trot over to greet her.

"Haven't seen you since Spellpunk," he greeted her, coming up alongside her.  He was in his school uniform, which felt weird since it was full on summer.  But then, everyone was in some kind of uniform or another.  All the visiting students' were in their uniforms too.  Was just a weird day all around.  But he hadn't expected to see Olivia Foley of all people.

"And don't you dare say a word about it," he added quickly with a guilty-looking grin.  That night had been... rather insane.    Falling in step with her,  Figaro was slipping back into conversation with her easily, as if a day hadn't passed since last they spoke.  As if she hadn't missed her whole fifth year at Hogwarts.

"How's your summer been?  Glad I found you.  Came up alone today by Floo - now we can find some of these shiny new people and bother'm."

The voice caring her name was familiar to her, she spun around with a smile and looked to see if she could spot that familiar face. It was hard to miss as he came up along side her. “Hi Fig,” she said with a warm smile and tone. It was always pleasant to see a friendly familiar face. After a year away from Hogwarts, she felt this sense of longing to see all her friends. Just seeing her friend Fig in his school uniform was a stunning reminder that she hadn’t been in one herself in over a year. Though there was the potential for that to change. Ollie had her fingers crossed in hope.

“I know! Craziness.” She said and stopped short to give him a hug. “I really need to get out and see people more, don’t I.” Ollie chuckled. “As for what happened that night,” she paused with a cheeky grin as she let go. “My lips are sealed.” No need to embarrass the poor lad, or herself for that matter. Teenagers would always get up to no good at some point in their teenage years, or so her mother said.

“Summer has been interesting.” It had been filled with a guilt trip so far, and some fun with a couple friends. Ollie was still replaying her visit with Sasha over and over. “How has summer been for you is the question I should be asking, as I have been out of school all year.” Though she did have her own tutors and the like.

She glanced around and looked at all the different uniforms. “You know I didn’t know uniforms could be so colourful.” She chuckled, after all the Hogwarts ones were only tinted with colours of their respective houses.

"Aside Spellpunk, summer's been boring as hell," Fig said.  There was a lot more to say about the summer, but Figaro didn't really want to talk about it.  It was hard being home because it made the fact that his dad was in Azkaban impossible to ignore.  He spent most of the time running the shop with his mother who was completely stressed out.  Rather than dwell on that, he was looking forward to when life would feel normal again.

"It's kind of stupid, but I'm actually looking forward to school again.  Not homework, but seeing everyone again.  And this tournament's wicked.  Have you seen the Durmstrang uniform?"  he said with an impressed scoff.

"They look like Aurors or something!  They're going to kick our arses," he joked.  "We should find some Americans - least we can speak their language."

As they walked towards the promised free food and vendors down Hogsmeade's main street, Figaro kept a close eye out for the Salem kinds in their black and purple.

Parker was bored.  She hated long speeches and most social gatherings like these.  Yes, we all get it, there are new people about, get over yourselves.  Parker was itching to get out of the silly formality the occasion insisted upon.  Honestly, who are we all fooling?  Just start the mingling and maybe a few friendly competitions already. 

Fumbling with her uniform, she thought it was utterly pointless to be wearing such a thing in the beginning of August.  Though, she had to admit, seeing the other school's uniforms were a hoot all in itself.  Smirking wickedly at the sight of the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students, she wondered who in their right mind would design outfits like that.  Cultural diversity, she reminded herself, prompting her to roll her eyes and scan around for the plain outfits of Hogwarts students.  Well, I guess we English speaking folk aren't as flamboyant.

Turning on the spot to maybe pick out a few people to torment, she spotted a couple people heading her way.  One was a Hogwarts boy and the other was a girl who looked around her age, but wasn't in any school uniform.  "'Allo, Govna!" she called in her mock British accent, sauntering up to them with mischief written in her eyes.  She hadn't met any Hogwarts students yet and was curious to interact with them.

It was on days like today that Taryn was especially thankful to be on the basketball team. It wasn't like she had anything against the school uniforms - hell, they were good enough, for something she got stuck in five days a week during class - but it would have been a crime to get stuck in her scratchy, ill-fitting dress shirts on a day like today, when the sun was so bright and so high it'd have sooner cooked her than anything else. Luckily, Salem teams were nothing without their pride, so Taryn was free to wander about in her basketball uniform, which was much cooler in every sense of the word.

Once the speeches were finally over, she uncurled from her place on the ground (the chairs hadn't been big enough to be comfortable) and stretched, trotting off over the field in search of something to eat. There was a lot of color around, each of the schools showing off their pride with various uniforms. Of course, the Salem uniforms were best, and Taryn puffed out her chest a bit in pride.

"Allo, Govna!" came a voice from behind and, despite recognizing it as a vaguely British accent, Taryn recognized the voice of Louise Parker, one of the upper classmen. She turned back to see who Parker was shouting at and very nearly tripped over some little fidgety little blond kid lurking about around her waist.

"Whoops," Taryn said, stumbling a bit and turning around to get the kid back on his feet. "Sorry about that. Hey..." Her eyes lit up a bit, recognizing his black-and-yellow uniform. "You're a Hogwarts kid, ain'tcha? Awesome! Er...sorry 'bout knockin' into yeh like that. You're not hurt, are yeh?"

It seemed Fig and Ollie weren't the only ones trolling for a cultural palaver of sorts.  (Although I'll give you all twenty galleons if Figaro could even define 'palaver'...)  Figaro turned his head to see who'd shouted in cock-eyed cockney at them, and in doing that, he didn't see the Amazonian blonde.

They collided and it was Fig, oh he of little mass, who hit the cobbles.  He didn't fall ungracefully and even before he was totally settled in the dirt, the tall girl was helping him back up.   Figaro was clearly not at all flustered as soon as he saw the two Americans who'd come up on he and Olivia.  He was grinning and shaking his head.

"No no, fine.  Cheers."  Even in the few words spoken by the tall girl, her accent was obviously different. 

"I'm Figaro and this is Ollie," he said.  "Heading towards the food?"

Ollie had listened to what Fig was saying at summer feeling much along the same vein. She had that whole incident with Sasha but she would rather not think on that or bring it up. So she left the summer discussion at that. It seemed that Ollie and Fig were in the same boat. "Trust me I know the feeling of wanting to be back at school." She flashed a smile and a chuckle.

Ollie was keen to agree, "Americans it is." She chuckled but let her eyes dart around to see if she could find a Durmstrang uniform to get another look in. Though that was when she heard a voice directed towards them. She was about to chime in and say hello when out of the corner of her eye she noticed Fig disappearing from sight. She turned in time to see that Fig was on the ground, but really it all happened in a flash. Ollie was watching this girl pick help him back up and her eyes kept going passed where she had initially expected her head to be. Wow, this girl was huge. She had to be half giant. Ollie's face quickly turned into a smile, she thought that was really cool. Ollie always felt like as a werewolf she should be more that size, make her look as menacing as everyone thought her to be. But now as she got accustomed to the size it was kind of neat.

"Yes we are headed to get some food. Though I think they made a mistake in making it free." Olivia chuckled to herself. She rubbed her tiny belly, "I am starving." Fig would know exactly what she meant. She was known for wolfing her food down and had a particular love for bacon. "Want to join us?" She said taking in the large girls uniform and how it was different to the other one, interesting we should ask about that.

Parker smirked at the interaction before her.  It was funny to hear them talk in their funny little accents.  Figaro and Ollie.  Huh, he looks like a Figaro. she thought humorously and stepped forward greatly.  It was time to give them the old Parker meet-and-greet.

"Chicago born and raised.  Brought up by the Mafia, I was.  The name's Parker.  Louise Parker.  If you call me Lulu I'll punch your face in, you hear?" she said in her most formal greeting, mocking a curtsy and nodding at them.  "I'm incredibly bored.  Since we're the guests, why don't you entertain us, eh?" she offered flatly, already moving toward food.  She wasn't exactly hungry, but she was interested in seeing what her hosts had conjured up that would please their guests.

If they have fish and chips I'm going to overturn the vendors. she noted in disgust as she strutted along.

Tayrn grinned down at the two Hogwartsians - Figaro and Ollie, she reminded herself, committing the names to memory - before rubbing a thumb across her nose and stretching her face into a broad smirk. "An' I'm Taryn." With her drawl, she pronounced it TAY-rin. She offered Ollie a handshake as they started walking towards the food. "Pleasure to meet yeh. Ya'll be in town long?"

It was an awkward bit of conversation, but Taryn figured it was better than talking about the weather. She shortened her strides to keep up with the group and peered over the crowd for a glimpse of the food stands. "Looks like some good stuff ahead. Smells pretty good too." She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the thick, salty smell of sugar and fried things. "Mm, like the county fair. 'Cept without the rattler jerky."

The crowd was growing denser now as the path started to bottle-neck into the food. Scattered among the various plain robes of the adults were the flashes of Hogwarts colors, the violets of Salem, the pale blue of Bauxbatons and, of course, the dramatic splendor of Drumstrang in all their finery. Taryn was surprised that they weren't dying in all those layers and furs. She certainly would have been.

Figaro seemed to have the same thought on his mind as Taryn, and as they walked along talking, he peeled off his outer layers.  Off came the long black school robes, and the grey sweater.  Their orders had been to wear their full uniforms to the ceremony, and so he had - Fig was a good lad, wasn't he.  He loosed his black and gold tie, undid some buttons and rolled up his sleeves.

These two Salem girls were hilarious and he wasn't sure if they were putting he and Ollie on.  Taryn's accent was totally like a cowboy from the Wizarding Wireless, and Louise had kindly offered to punch them in the face.

It was an offer Figaro might have been keen to accept had he not already had a knuckle sandwich earlier this summer, so for now, he opted not to bait Louise aka Not Lulu into fisticuffs.

"Why are you wearing that?" Figaro asked about Taryn's uniform as they approached the tents and booths the vendors had set up.  He nodded towards a brightly colored tent and as an aside suggested, "Let's queue up for Three Broomsticks and get some butterbeer.

Ollie turned her focus to the girl with curly hair who introduced herself as Louise. She was sort of taken aback by the complete gruff nature of the girl. It wasn't every day that she was threatened about being punched in the face. She had to admit she was kind of amused by the turn of phrase, but also sort of skeptical about how to associate with her. A private thought crept in about whether or not she would be threatening to punch them if she knew she was a werewolf. A smile appeared on her lips due to the passing though but she focused her attention on the giant girl who introduced herself to Taryn. "Nice to meet you," she said holding out her hand for her to shake. It was sort of intense to watch her hand disappear but it was also really neat. "I popped into town today for the event. I don't actually attend Hogwarts well, I may in the fall it is up for debate." Ollie said with a cheerful smile.

She walked along with their little mismatched group of two Salem students, a Hufflepuff and an expelled werewolf. She was also sort of curious as to why Taryn was in a different uniform, when both Louise and Taryn came from the same academic institute. "Oh yes good idea Fig! We should definitely get some butterbeer, and I also want to get a large serving of chips. Oh and we should locate some bacon." Ollie was quite distracted by the idea of free food. "I wonder what food they will be offering."

"Why are you wearing that?"

Taryn's grin widened, showing off a full mouthful of white teeth as thick as a horse's. "Basketball," she said proudly, dusting off her jersey. "Ol' Ferreole gave us a choice for the ceremony. We could either dress up in the standard uniform like Parker here, or we could show a little team spirit. 'Side, I figured the chairs wouldn't be big enough, and I didn't wanna sit in the grass in my good slacks."

She gave a laugh that startled a knot of passing twelve-year-olds and fell into line with the others for this Three Broomsticks place. She craned her neck like a giraffe to count the length - there were still ten people to go to get Figaro through the door - and said, "Beer ain't really my drink. Figure they've got cokes? I'd kill for a Dr. Pepper." Even if they didn't have the Muggle coke, Taryn figured a 'Nilla Fizzy would do just as good.

She settled back into a normal stance and stretched out her shoulders, glancing between Figaro - who was discarding pieces of his Hogwarts uniform as he went, not that Taryn blamed him - and Parker, who didn't look that much more comfortable in her equally-sensible Salem garb.

"Come to think of it, Parker, how come you didn't wear your Quodpot robes? Too hot?"

"If I wore my team outfit and something happened to them I would never forgive myself," she said sarcastically, ahead of the group and not bothering to crane her head at her.  "Of course I chose this because it breathes easier.  If you hadn't looked lately it's August." she added stiffly while rolling her eyes.  Parker never really talked to Taryn and she didn't know how sensitive she'd be with Parker's abrasiveness.  Parker didn't care either way; she wasn't going to change who she was to be accepted by anyone.

Parker didn't have the patience to wait in line behind kids half the size of her, so she rounded the group and made her way through the line without a single glance or word to the kids.   It smelled something questionable in the place, but she didn't mind, and the workers in there were to preoccupied to notice Parker charging through the kids like a battering ram.  "I don't suppose they have Tantrum," she mumbled lowly, eyes scanning the menu above the bar as she entered the tavern.

Parker had only accessed her favorite energy drink, Tantrum, from one of her old elementary school peers in Chicago.  Incidentally, the trade happened in the back of his grandfather's arsenal, which she found utterly ridiculous.  Tantrum was 'outlawed' in most of the States due to its high caffeine content, and anywhere else had never even heard of Tantrum.  As was evident on the old menu of the Three Broomsticks.  What a silly name for a tavern.

"I'll have some Firewhiskey," she told the barkeep, pulling out her wizard money and slapping it on the counter.  As the barkeep took her money and obliged her order she idly wondered what the other members of her group did: if they followed her lead or decided to wait in line like goody-two-shoes.

Oh right, sport.  Figaro nodded with a slightly impressed when Taryn talked about basketball.  Basketball.  Magic-free. Labor-intensive.  And there was also a mention of Quodpot, that daft American broomsport that wished it was Quidditch.  The rules were bizarre. 

But before much could be done, before Figaro could inform Taryn that butterbeer wasn't beer or that the Three Broomsticks only served wizarding stuff...  (One of the oldest Wizarding pubs in Britain - it loved being authentic like that.) ...Louise Not Lulu jumped the queue.

Figaro, not one to be outdone by a rule-flouter, trotted after her.  "Hey-!"  He hoped Ollie and Taryn would follow as well.

Catching up to her inside, he arrived at the bar just in time to hear her order firewhiskey.  Figaro shook his head.

"No, no," he laughed and shook his head.  "I call bullshit!  It's not even noon, you're not going to have Firewhiskey."  Figaro angled so he could square off and look her full in the eyes.   Figaro himself was 16 and wouldn't be served.  And if he did, he'd catch some serious trouble from any one of the professors or parents about.

He narrowed his eyes at her, a smile playing at the corners of his skeptical expression.  "You're bluffing.  You're not going to drink that." 

Salem Institute couldn't be that much different that it hadn't told its students to be on their best behavior.  But then, surely, American students weren't that different than British ones - who wouldn't want to act out in a time like this.  Figaro just wasn't used to not being the wildcard in the room...

Ollie was listening as Taryn spoke about basketball, and a somewhat glazed expression appeared on Ollie's face. Coming from a strictly wizarding family from Britain she did not quite know what the heck basketball was. She just nodded her head as if she understood. It at least gave the girl the opportunity to wear cooler clothing, as Ollie was sure the regular attire was sweltering. Ollie was lucky to be in a pair of shorts and tank top, she was definitely not hot but she was covered in her strange scars. At least these had not come up in conversation yet, which seemed almost shocking with someone as gruff as Louise around.

She watched as Louise just charged ahead, and she wasn't surprised to see Fig follow along behind her. Either it was the fact she was the one to break the rules first, or it was a cute girl, Ollie had her money on the former. "Fig wait up!" She called out her Irish sounding particularly thick in that moment. She looked back and up towards Taryn. "I guess we aren't waiting." Ollie felt strangely responsible to stay with Fig, so he did not get into trouble but also because you did not just ditch a friend. "Interesting friend you got there."

Ollie arrived just in time to hear Fig mention Firewhiskey. A laugh escaped her lips. "Let her drink it." She waved her hand. "If she has never had it then it will be lesson learned, and if she has then obviously she enjoys punishment." Firewhiskey was known for its nasty burning bite, after all it was named firewhiskey for a reason. Ollie might actually enjoy watching Louise attempt it.