open || a relaxing morning

[Isabelle Ine Iolani]

The morning after the Welcoming Ceremony, a refreshed, enthusiastic Isabelle Ine Iolani jumped out of bed, ecstatic to see such a bright sky greeting her outside. Skipping her morning shower, she threw on her school robes and tucked her wand in her pocket. As she skipped down the stairs of the girls' dormitories to the Hufflepuff Common Room, she tied her hair into a ponytail - a quick fix for unwashed hair.

She waved hello to students sitting in the common room chatting, but moved past them to make her way outside. Hopping out of the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room, Isabelle made her way down the hallway of the West Corridor and towards the Courtyard on the First Floor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As she practically skipped to the courtyard, her dark brown ponytail bounced behind her, and the bottoms of her robes trailed just steps behind her as well.

Once Isabelle stepped outside, her curious eyes darted everywhere, smiling at everything her eyes landed on. She took a few steps before taking of her shoes as she walked on the Courtyard grass. It felt so nice being amongst the soft, green grass that was actually the perfect length: the grass wasn't cut too short and prickly, but grown to a length comfortable enough to lay in while still not being a host to irritating weeds. Isabelle found an empty spot on a hill in the Courtyard, and nested herself in a bed of soft grass under a shade tree.

She closed her eyes, feeling the gentle British breeze tickle her face and fingers. A subtle chill took over her body as she breathed with the wind and the Earth, simply happy to be at Hogwarts. Oh, had she missed Hogwarts.

[Austin Callahan]

Time seemed to pass so slowly at Hogwarts during the opening few weeks of the school term. In some ways, this could only be seen as a good thing, yet in others, certain aspects of student life inside the walls of the castle dragged by. Mornings were usually one of the parts of the castle lifestyle that Austin was not all too happy to participate in, for it meant being forcibly removed, against his will, from his bedsheets at an unhappy hour. Yet, when he was given the opportunity to decide what to do with his days, he wasn't as irritable by the thought of awakening at such a time. It was a weird mix of habits that he held, but there was something different about being up at an early voluntarily to when someone else had commanded it.

Having arisen reasonably early, or at a time that he was rarely seen gracing the world with his presence, he'd dressed, although not in the school uniform, but adorning his own preference for clothing instead. Once satisfied, he chose to give the breakfast table a miss, walking past the Great Hall, without even the vaguest curiosity behind which individuals had woken at this unfriendly house, brushing a hand through his messy hair, as he continued towards the grounds.

The appearance of a younger girl caught his undivided attention, on noticing her choice of location. Pointedly, he reached across slightly, to tap her upon the shoulder, as though wishing to tell her of something of great significance and not merely complain at her seated position. "What do you think you're doing, sitting there, girly?" he demanded of her suddenly, not taking any time to consider whether or not he was familiar with this person causing him such personal offense. "Since you seem to be blind as well as impertinent, I'd like to bring your attention to the parchment that you decided to sit on, which happens to be mine. Are you always this careless, or were you merely dropped on your head as a baby?"

[Isabelle Ine Iolani]

Carefully taking note of each breath inwards and outwards, Isabelle felt at peace. She was so much in her own world that she did not even hear someone approach. But apparently, someone did. Once she felt a tap on her shoulder, her eyelids immediately revealed her dark brown eyes. She adjusted herself, pushing herself up to the point where she could lean on her elbows. As she did, her eyebrows raised at the manner in which the elder Slytherin approached her. She wasn't sure whether or not she should scoff or laugh, so she did neither, and rather kept her eyebrows raised maintaining a blank look on her face.

Although it was brought to her attention that her body was apparently placed on a parchment, the fourth year decided not to move. "I just don't understand why you were careless enough to leave your parchment in the Courtyard unattended." Her reaction was very passive-aggressive, and tone as sarcastically kind as she could manage. Although the American did not think her attitude sounded as eloquent as her British peers, she figured her irritation would get across - not that this one would care either way.

If she hadn't recognized this boy from Quidditch, she assured herself she would have easily been able to place him in his house of Slytherin. "Since you seem to be as heedless as a government with civil liberties, I'd like to bring to your attention that younger students aren't larger house elves that just do as you say." Nevertheless, Isabelle pushed herself to a position sitting upwards, snatching the parchment from under her. She brought the piece of parchment closer to her face, pushing her body backwards with her feet as she pushed her face closer trying to read its text. "What is this that's so important, anyway? Couldn't you just let this piece of parchment go? It's just paper..."

[Austin Callahan]

His eyes made no secret of the fact that he was most displeased with her clumsy positioning, not even bothering to check for a space before opting to collapse onto the grass wherever she stood. Since expressions, in these situations spoke volumes, he did not raise his voice again for several minutes. His gaze shifted to her lower body and the parchment that he claimed to be his, without a temptation to speak once more to a girl who showed little promise.

"Well, given your sorting into the house that you're so proudly showing to the rest of the school, I'd say it's obvious why you find it hard to understand things." He paused only momentarily, "I see now why the Sorting Hat didn't place you in Ravenclaw. Common sense seems to elude you entirely." His comments, whilst far from welcoming and reaching out in a civil manner to the girl responsible for his heightened mood, were not innately spiteful. He wished to retrieve his piece of parchment, without the addition of a long, pointless argument with the same girl. He had no reason to dislike her, in fact, he didn't care much in either direction, she was merely a fourth year Hufflepuff student to him. In the same way, he imagined the view of herself was very similar.

"If you'd inherited any small bubble of care, you'd have noticed that I was sat merely seconds away from that bundle of papers." Merlin, was she really this dull? If she didn't do something to entertain him soon, he'd resort to his own measures. "I turned away from that sheet for only a short period of time before you invaded it. How considerate." Odd, also. For someone of her house to not implement the initiative to check, in advance, to careless actions. Reaching abruptly over her body, he made no effort to disguise that he desired this parchment back. His arm still extended, he attempted to grasp the sheet that she seemed determined to read. "It's not that interesting, Hufflepuff. Take it from me."

[Isabelle Ine Iolani]

OOC: Sorry it's taken me so long to respond!

Isabelle didn't care to hold back a few giggles that escaped as she heard the boy's house remark. Wasn't he in Slytherin? She let him finish speaking before she spoke again. "The Sorting Hat must not have sorted you into Ravenclaw for those very same reasons." As much as she would have wanted to (in retrospect) maintained her composure, she only returned the same snarkiness that she received from the Slytherin boy steps away from her.

She shifted her position, sitting with her knees to her chest and her feet planted on the ground. The parchment still laid in her hands."Well, I apologize, dear sir, that my very own world does not revolve around yours," although her tone sounded genuine, she hoped the sarcasm would translate into the dear Slytherin's ears. "I suppose not everyone is aware of your presence, what a shame." Isabelle shrugged, glancing at the parchment but agreeing with the boy that yes, it was not that interesting; she wondered, then, why he was so keen to have it back.

She tossed the parchment over to where his feet sat, not caring to watch it as it slowly fell down, the gentle breeze holding the paper up momentarily, resisting gravity. Bored with his attitude, she said nothing more, and laid back down. As much as she wanted to move to a different area, the stubborn fourteen-year-old didn't want to give him any sense of "victory" for having scared her away from the area public to all students and staff.

[Austin Callahan]

"Hence the difference between you and I." The response came quickly, as though he'd already anticipated a similar response from the intruder. He let the silence fall between them, turning his back to examine the rest of the papers that he'd been sitting next to, reaching to place them into his bag. "I never claimed to be highly intelligent and I never would pretend to be. Your attitude implies that you think of yourself as someone with intellect and yet you didn't think to look at the ground before proceeding to sit down." Arrogant and conceited were definitely words you could use to describe the boy, but in this instance, he was being almost modest in his depiction.

His eyes followed her body, as she took some steps to ensure that she wasn't in danger of sitting o the same scrap of parchment once again, but more so that she couldn't be accused by himself anymore. Yet, this desired writing material still lay firmly in the girl's hands, as though she couldn't stop herself from enticing his irritation. Irritation was a little strong, perhaps, seeing as he showed little more than a fleeting expression of frustration during the exchange of conversation. One might even suspect that most of this episode was just to create a fuss over nothing. He was good at that, after all.

Exceedingly sarcastic for a member of the Hufflepuff House, almost too much so. She might have been a better fit in Gryffindor, if it wasn't for the tenacity that she appeared to be lacking thus far. An eyebrow arched at her words, he seemed expressionless once more. "Why would I care that your world doesn't revolve around myself? I manage to make my own world sufficient for my purposes. To want to control everything would make me rather power-hungry, don't you think?" A gross misinterpretation of his personality, by anyone's standards. "Being a Slytherin makes me no more likely to insist that everyone pay attention to me than your favourite Hufflepuff." Regardless of his portrayed characteristics, it was the parchment itself that he had demanded she pay attention to, not him.