Perdauxter Preparatory College

HIGH COMPETITION IN THE HIGHLANDS .⋅˚₊‧ 🜲 ‧₊˚ ⋅

A starter for the awesome @prev0id !!

Usually Amos wouldn't come to sports festivals, but this one guaranteed extra credit in flying to anyone who came, so Amos just had to show up. He'd cursed at himself while walking to the festival, wishing that he could have been better at this so that he could go work instead of be here right now. He doesn't like going to either of his two jobs, but he does like money...

Amos hops on the broom, trying to take it leisurely this time. Slowly, he goes up an inch... then a foot... then two feet...

Just as he's about to reach three feet, the broom wavers, and then he's falling back down for the seventh time in a row. Amos ends up on his back, looking up at the sky, wondering what in the world was making him so bad at flying. What in the world is he doing wrong? He's always been decent at sports, but...

Celine takes a careful stride towards the boy on his back, and peers over him. "Ah.. Are you alright?" She questions, kicking up some dirt as a nervous habit.

"You seem to be... struggling a little. Do you wanna take a break, maybe?" She says, already digging in her backpack for the snacks she'd packed for the others. "I have protein bars, sea salt candy-"

I'm getting ahead of myself, she thinks. Celine takes a deep breath in, moving some disheveled black hair out of her face.

Amos chuckles at the bad joke, sitting up. He takes the broom he was on just a few moments ago in his hand, using it as a prop to stand up. He moves his hair away from his face and wipes away the sweat on his forehead in an attempt to look a bit more presentable.

She looks up at the sky as the disc whizzes through the air again, almost hitting a player in the face. "Looks like your school's putting up a good fight. Do you guys specialize in athletics, or is that a house-by-house thing?" C'mon, Cel, you got yourself into this, now make conversation!

"I'm guessing P.E. isn't your favorite, hah." An awkward laugh. "Put him down!" She scolds a PPC student for lifting another like a bench press.

Amos gestures to a small group on the other side of the field. There are a few familiar faces to Celine, such as Ruggie, Jack, and even Leona, but there are also a few other misfits that she doesn't know the name of. In the middle of them two, there seems to be a boy who kind of reminds Celine of Kalim, pumping up the team and helping them when they struggled. Celine can feel his happy-go-lucky aura from over here.

"That boy over there with the colorful clothes is my brother, Riley. He's way better at this than I am."

He winces, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I left that group because of how embarrassing this must look for me. Not like they noticed. Well—my brother did, of course, but after I protested he just wished me good luck."

Riley looks over, spotting the two looking at him. He gives them a big wave and a heart gesture before going back to his training.

Celine returns Riley's wave awkwardly, chuckling a little. "No worries, everyone's a bit embarrassing at first-!" Realizing how that could have sounded, she backtracks, coughing slightly.

"I mean- not that failure IS embarrassing- everyone starts somewhere. It may be hard to believe, but even my dorm's best athlete used to be a little kid who couldn't even throw."

Celine, you are digging yourself a hole. Shut up!

"But that's nothing for you to worry about. Helping me may mean that you betray your students, and I wouldn't very much like to be in the center of all that."

Amos smiles, placing a hand over his heart.

"My name is Amos Roothyde. You've most likely never heard of me before. It's nice to meet you, Celine."

When Celine tries to reassure Amos, he only laughs, waving her off.

She sits down on a nearby bench, digging in her backpack for something to eat. She takes a bite of some sea salt candy. "Offer still stands if you get hungry."

"You don't look like an idiot. You look perfectly fine. Plus, I'm sure you're good at other things..!" Another awkward laugh. God, Cel.

"They do, but me and Riley don't. We come from the shaftlands. Harveston, specifically."

Thinking about his hometown brings up memories of his parents. Amos spaces out for a moment or two, lost in thought before he comes back to his senses. He doesn't very much like talking about where he comes from, but he won't admit it out loud.

"I'm sorry," Amos says softly. "I lied to you. I am hungry. I just don't want to waste your food, but now I feel guilty about the lie. Sorry again."

Celine notices the thousand-yard stare in Amos' gaze, and decides not to pursue any further information.

"Oh, no, it's okay!" Celine waves her hands in a strange, somehow apologetic gesture, already digging for more food. "I don't mind at all. I'm used to carrying food around for friends. Strangers too." She laughs a bit at her own "joke".

"This is sea salt candy. Usually we have it in ice cream form back home, but I prefer it this way." She extends a hand full of small blue candies to Amos.

Sea salt. The flavor that the Cobalt Archipelago boasts in all of its cuisine. Delicious, but easy to get tired of. Celine had many fond memories of sharing it with friends. The flavor tended to bring people together, somehow.

"Is there an event you specialize in..? Broom racing is tough anyway."

Amos hesitantly takes the candy, his fingers brushing slightly against the palm of Celene's hand. He inspects them, looking up at Celine with a bit of an embarrassed flush on his face.

"I don't have candy usually. I don't have sea salt usually, but if it has salt in it, I think that I may need some water first. I'm parched."

The Roothyde twins only have one water bottle to share, and right now Riley is the one that has it. He doesn't want to reject the candy, but he also doesn't want to ask for water and bother her even more.

"Are you sure it's alright to give this to me anyway? Won't your dorm get mad at you for helping someone form the rivaling school?"

He holds the candies out in case Celine wants to take them back. He can already feel a few glances going his way from the other school.

"Of course it's alright. Keeping each other fed shouldn't be penalized anyway. And don't mind them, they know to expect this from me, haha. Big sister's instinct, you know?" Big sister's instinct, and Celine's terrible tendency to overpack.

"Magic. See, you are good at something!" She smiles. "Personally, I'm not the best at it. It's wonderful to meet others with such different strengths."

Amos' eyes widen at the suggestion of buying water, waving his hands and shaking his head frantically. Buying here? In this economy? It's probably six dollars for just one bottle, and that's six dollars that could go into paying rent! He doesn't have the money to pay off that debt!

"No, no, no. That's okay. Please, don't buy me water. I'll live. I'll just save the candy for later, it's alright."

He pockets the candy, sitting down next to Celine. The bench is kind of cramped, and Amos' shoulder grazes Celine's because of it. When he feels this, the takes a minute to sit on the very edge of the bench.

"Looks like NRC's winning by a good bit against NBC. Your school seems super skilled." Celine does her best to divert her attention from the proximity.

"I'll be in the relay race against RSA later. I'm pretty confident in my school, though. Not to brag or anything like that, hah."

The bragging, if it had been, would have technically been deserved. An island-wide acrobatics champion and the school's ace track runner on one team would be formidable indeed.

"If we beat RSA, we'll race against you guys next. That'll be fun."

He gestures to the broom in his hand.

"As you can tell."

Amos gets a little quieter then, his hand tightening around his knee. He's been failing a thousand times to fly even four feet. At this point, he'll never be able to get that extra credit. He'll have to retake flying classes for another year if this keeps happening to him. The horror.

He has no faith in himself to continue. Not like he's going to tell Celine that, though. She'd probably be happy. He's in the rivaling team, after all.

You're not everyone's caretaker, she reminds herself, but the words are already out. Not like she minded the work all that much.

She stands up and takes a moment to split up a fight between Roald and an NBC student. The Dynites housewarden apologizes profusely through laughs.

"Riley."

Riley is on the ground, taking a break and watching the clouds when he hears his brother's voice.

"Oh—yeah? What's up? Do you need some—"

"I'm not going to be participating."

"...Ah?"

"In the race," he clarifies, gritting his teeth. "I'm not going. Just wanted to let you know."

"But— didn't you need that extra credit?" Riley asks, sitting up. "What's up? Don't tell me you're giving up so soon, you still have—"

"The race is in two minutes, Riley. I can't do shit."

Amos clears his throat, setting his broom down next to Riley.

"Excuse my language. I'm a little frustrated. Just... do well, okay? For me. I'll be watching you."

"...Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"I... okay. We'll get first place!"

Amos gives his brother a small smile.

"That's what I like to hear."

He waves goodbye, leaving to go tell the referee the same thing he told Riley. He's really disappointed in himself right now, but there's nothing he can do. The tournament is too close to keep practicing. He doesn't even know how to go forward from that height yet.

If anything, Riley is going to go out with some friends after this, so it's probably best for him to go to work after the race. He pats himself down, checking for anything that he's forgotten on the field that he'll have to take with him. After a minute of reviewing, he realizes: He forgot a small pouch that was attached to his belt, right next to where Celine still is.

After she finishes getting the unruly students in order, she sits back down on the bench to re-tie her shoes. In the corner of her vision, she spots a small pouch. That belonged to Amos, right? She'd have to return it, and quickly, before the race could start.

Celine picked up the pouch by its strings and began to scan around the field.

"Ah... hello again. Celine, was it? The pouch that you have in your hands..."

He scratches his chin nervously.

"It's mine. Came to pick it up."

He pauses after a moment before adding:

"Are you going to be spectating the race? I'll be too. Decided to drop out at the end. Uh... if you want, we can sit together..? Unless you already have people that you're sitting with. Which you probably do."

"Drop out? After all the hard work you put in to get in the air..?" Yeah, dropping out seemed like a good idea from what she'd seen...

"Not this race, but the next. I don't- I don't like heights." She sheepishly rubs her elbow again. "Oh! We could definitely sit together. If you're okay with a couple of my dorm mates being near too."

She realizes that she's making it sound a particular way, and her face flushes red. What a dork.

"You don't have to lie to me, ma'am," he sighs, tugging his shirt back down. "I wasn't doing well at all."

He hears the part about her classmates sitting near her, his face getting red when hers does.

"Ack- it's okay! Not to worry. It was a simple invitation, it's not like I was..."

Does it really look like he was trying something? He really hopes that he doesn't look like some jerk who wants to shoot his shot with any girl he finds.

She takes a seat and begins to eat some of her stockpiled food. Come on, make conversation! Internally scolding herself, Celine begins to speak.

"Are you.. liking this school? I hear it's got a lot of accolades under its belt." Another bite. "You guys always seem to place super high in all the competitions we hear of. I think our headmaster just wants to get our name more out there, the islands weren't even open until a few years ago."

I've made "coffin" icons for lots of the students of my Twisted Wonderland RP blog @theguiding-keys! Please have a look ^^

Dynites Dorm: From left to right, Orion, Kieran, Rina, Roald, and Bruto

Feydrwain Dorm: From left to right, Celine, Tristan, and Finn

Talessa Dorm: From left to right, Alfarin, Oriole, Perseus, and Emmy

HIGH COMPETITION IN THE HIGHLANDS .⋅˚₊‧ 🜲 ‧₊˚ ⋅

A starter for the awesome @prev0id !!

Usually Amos wouldn't come to sports festivals, but this one guaranteed extra credit in flying to anyone who came, so Amos just had to show up. He'd cursed at himself while walking to the festival, wishing that he could have been better at this so that he could go work instead of be here right now. He doesn't like going to either of his two jobs, but he does like money...

Amos hops on the broom, trying to take it leisurely this time. Slowly, he goes up an inch... then a foot... then two feet...

Just as he's about to reach three feet, the broom wavers, and then he's falling back down for the seventh time in a row. Amos ends up on his back, looking up at the sky, wondering what in the world was making him so bad at flying. What in the world is he doing wrong? He's always been decent at sports, but...

Celine takes a careful stride towards the boy on his back, and peers over him. "Ah.. Are you alright?" She questions, kicking up some dirt as a nervous habit.

"You seem to be... struggling a little. Do you wanna take a break, maybe?" She says, already digging in her backpack for the snacks she'd packed for the others. "I have protein bars, sea salt candy-"

I'm getting ahead of myself, she thinks. Celine takes a deep breath in, moving some disheveled black hair out of her face.

Amos chuckles at the bad joke, sitting up. He takes the broom he was on just a few moments ago in his hand, using it as a prop to stand up. He moves his hair away from his face and wipes away the sweat on his forehead in an attempt to look a bit more presentable.

She looks up at the sky as the disc whizzes through the air again, almost hitting a player in the face. "Looks like your school's putting up a good fight. Do you guys specialize in athletics, or is that a house-by-house thing?" C'mon, Cel, you got yourself into this, now make conversation!

"I'm guessing P.E. isn't your favorite, hah." An awkward laugh. "Put him down!" She scolds a PPC student for lifting another like a bench press.

Amos gestures to a small group on the other side of the field. There are a few familiar faces to Celine, such as Ruggie, Jack, and even Leona, but there are also a few other misfits that she doesn't know the name of. In the middle of them two, there seems to be a boy who kind of reminds Celine of Kalim, pumping up the team and helping them when they struggled. Celine can feel his happy-go-lucky aura from over here.

"That boy over there with the colorful clothes is my brother, Riley. He's way better at this than I am."

He winces, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I left that group because of how embarrassing this must look for me. Not like they noticed. Well—my brother did, of course, but after I protested he just wished me good luck."

Riley looks over, spotting the two looking at him. He gives them a big wave and a heart gesture before going back to his training.

Celine returns Riley's wave awkwardly, chuckling a little. "No worries, everyone's a bit embarrassing at first-!" Realizing how that could have sounded, she backtracks, coughing slightly.

"I mean- not that failure IS embarrassing- everyone starts somewhere. It may be hard to believe, but even my dorm's best athlete used to be a little kid who couldn't even throw."

Celine, you are digging yourself a hole. Shut up!

"But that's nothing for you to worry about. Helping me may mean that you betray your students, and I wouldn't very much like to be in the center of all that."

Amos smiles, placing a hand over his heart.

"My name is Amos Roothyde. You've most likely never heard of me before. It's nice to meet you, Celine."

When Celine tries to reassure Amos, he only laughs, waving her off.

She sits down on a nearby bench, digging in her backpack for something to eat. She takes a bite of some sea salt candy. "Offer still stands if you get hungry."

"You don't look like an idiot. You look perfectly fine. Plus, I'm sure you're good at other things..!" Another awkward laugh. God, Cel.

"They do, but me and Riley don't. We come from the shaftlands. Harveston, specifically."

Thinking about his hometown brings up memories of his parents. Amos spaces out for a moment or two, lost in thought before he comes back to his senses. He doesn't very much like talking about where he comes from, but he won't admit it out loud.

"I'm sorry," Amos says softly. "I lied to you. I am hungry. I just don't want to waste your food, but now I feel guilty about the lie. Sorry again."

Celine notices the thousand-yard stare in Amos' gaze, and decides not to pursue any further information.

"Oh, no, it's okay!" Celine waves her hands in a strange, somehow apologetic gesture, already digging for more food. "I don't mind at all. I'm used to carrying food around for friends. Strangers too." She laughs a bit at her own "joke".

"This is sea salt candy. Usually we have it in ice cream form back home, but I prefer it this way." She extends a hand full of small blue candies to Amos.

Sea salt. The flavor that the Cobalt Archipelago boasts in all of its cuisine. Delicious, but easy to get tired of. Celine had many fond memories of sharing it with friends. The flavor tended to bring people together, somehow.

"Is there an event you specialize in..? Broom racing is tough anyway."

Amos hesitantly takes the candy, his fingers brushing slightly against the palm of Celene's hand. He inspects them, looking up at Celine with a bit of an embarrassed flush on his face.

"I don't have candy usually. I don't have sea salt usually, but if it has salt in it, I think that I may need some water first. I'm parched."

The Roothyde twins only have one water bottle to share, and right now Riley is the one that has it. He doesn't want to reject the candy, but he also doesn't want to ask for water and bother her even more.

"Are you sure it's alright to give this to me anyway? Won't your dorm get mad at you for helping someone form the rivaling school?"

He holds the candies out in case Celine wants to take them back. He can already feel a few glances going his way from the other school.

"Of course it's alright. Keeping each other fed shouldn't be penalized anyway. And don't mind them, they know to expect this from me, haha. Big sister's instinct, you know?" Big sister's instinct, and Celine's terrible tendency to overpack.

"Magic. See, you are good at something!" She smiles. "Personally, I'm not the best at it. It's wonderful to meet others with such different strengths."

Amos' eyes widen at the suggestion of buying water, waving his hands and shaking his head frantically. Buying here? In this economy? It's probably six dollars for just one bottle, and that's six dollars that could go into paying rent! He doesn't have the money to pay off that debt!

"No, no, no. That's okay. Please, don't buy me water. I'll live. I'll just save the candy for later, it's alright."

He pockets the candy, sitting down next to Celine. The bench is kind of cramped, and Amos' shoulder grazes Celine's because of it. When he feels this, the takes a minute to sit on the very edge of the bench.

"Looks like NRC's winning by a good bit against NBC. Your school seems super skilled." Celine does her best to divert her attention from the proximity.

"I'll be in the relay race against RSA later. I'm pretty confident in my school, though. Not to brag or anything like that, hah."

The bragging, if it had been, would have technically been deserved. An island-wide acrobatics champion and the school's ace track runner on one team would be formidable indeed.

"If we beat RSA, we'll race against you guys next. That'll be fun."

He gestures to the broom in his hand.

"As you can tell."

Amos gets a little quieter then, his hand tightening around his knee. He's been failing a thousand times to fly even four feet. At this point, he'll never be able to get that extra credit. He'll have to retake flying classes for another year if this keeps happening to him. The horror.

He has no faith in himself to continue. Not like he's going to tell Celine that, though. She'd probably be happy. He's in the rivaling team, after all.

You're not everyone's caretaker, she reminds herself, but the words are already out. Not like she minded the work all that much.

She stands up and takes a moment to split up a fight between Roald and an NBC student. The Dynites housewarden apologizes profusely through laughs.

"Riley."

Riley is on the ground, taking a break and watching the clouds when he hears his brother's voice.

"Oh—yeah? What's up? Do you need some—"

"I'm not going to be participating."

"...Ah?"

"In the race," he clarifies, gritting his teeth. "I'm not going. Just wanted to let you know."

"But— didn't you need that extra credit?" Riley asks, sitting up. "What's up? Don't tell me you're giving up so soon, you still have—"

"The race is in two minutes, Riley. I can't do shit."

Amos clears his throat, setting his broom down next to Riley.

"Excuse my language. I'm a little frustrated. Just... do well, okay? For me. I'll be watching you."

"...Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"I... okay. We'll get first place!"

Amos gives his brother a small smile.

"That's what I like to hear."

He waves goodbye, leaving to go tell the referee the same thing he told Riley. He's really disappointed in himself right now, but there's nothing he can do. The tournament is too close to keep practicing. He doesn't even know how to go forward from that height yet.

If anything, Riley is going to go out with some friends after this, so it's probably best for him to go to work after the race. He pats himself down, checking for anything that he's forgotten on the field that he'll have to take with him. After a minute of reviewing, he realizes: He forgot a small pouch that was attached to his belt, right next to where Celine still is.

After she finishes getting the unruly students in order, she sits back down on the bench to re-tie her shoes. In the corner of her vision, she spots a small pouch. That belonged to Amos, right? She'd have to return it, and quickly, before the race could start.

Celine picked up the pouch by its strings and began to scan around the field.

"Ah... hello again. Celine, was it? The pouch that you have in your hands..."

He scratches his chin nervously.

"It's mine. Came to pick it up."

He pauses after a moment before adding:

"Are you going to be spectating the race? I'll be too. Decided to drop out at the end. Uh... if you want, we can sit together..? Unless you already have people that you're sitting with. Which you probably do."

"Drop out? After all the hard work you put in to get in the air..?" Yeah, dropping out seemed like a good idea from what she'd seen...

"Not this race, but the next. I don't- I don't like heights." She sheepishly rubs her elbow again. "Oh! We could definitely sit together. If you're okay with a couple of my dorm mates being near too."

She realizes that she's making it sound a particular way, and her face flushes red. What a dork.

HIGH COMPETITION IN THE HIGHLANDS .⋅˚₊‧ 🜲 ‧₊˚ ⋅

A starter for the awesome @prev0id !!

Usually Amos wouldn't come to sports festivals, but this one guaranteed extra credit in flying to anyone who came, so Amos just had to show up. He'd cursed at himself while walking to the festival, wishing that he could have been better at this so that he could go work instead of be here right now. He doesn't like going to either of his two jobs, but he does like money...

Amos hops on the broom, trying to take it leisurely this time. Slowly, he goes up an inch... then a foot... then two feet...

Just as he's about to reach three feet, the broom wavers, and then he's falling back down for the seventh time in a row. Amos ends up on his back, looking up at the sky, wondering what in the world was making him so bad at flying. What in the world is he doing wrong? He's always been decent at sports, but...

Celine takes a careful stride towards the boy on his back, and peers over him. "Ah.. Are you alright?" She questions, kicking up some dirt as a nervous habit.

"You seem to be... struggling a little. Do you wanna take a break, maybe?" She says, already digging in her backpack for the snacks she'd packed for the others. "I have protein bars, sea salt candy-"

I'm getting ahead of myself, she thinks. Celine takes a deep breath in, moving some disheveled black hair out of her face.

Amos chuckles at the bad joke, sitting up. He takes the broom he was on just a few moments ago in his hand, using it as a prop to stand up. He moves his hair away from his face and wipes away the sweat on his forehead in an attempt to look a bit more presentable.

She looks up at the sky as the disc whizzes through the air again, almost hitting a player in the face. "Looks like your school's putting up a good fight. Do you guys specialize in athletics, or is that a house-by-house thing?" C'mon, Cel, you got yourself into this, now make conversation!

"I'm guessing P.E. isn't your favorite, hah." An awkward laugh. "Put him down!" She scolds a PPC student for lifting another like a bench press.

Amos gestures to a small group on the other side of the field. There are a few familiar faces to Celine, such as Ruggie, Jack, and even Leona, but there are also a few other misfits that she doesn't know the name of. In the middle of them two, there seems to be a boy who kind of reminds Celine of Kalim, pumping up the team and helping them when they struggled. Celine can feel his happy-go-lucky aura from over here.

"That boy over there with the colorful clothes is my brother, Riley. He's way better at this than I am."

He winces, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I left that group because of how embarrassing this must look for me. Not like they noticed. Well—my brother did, of course, but after I protested he just wished me good luck."

Riley looks over, spotting the two looking at him. He gives them a big wave and a heart gesture before going back to his training.

Celine returns Riley's wave awkwardly, chuckling a little. "No worries, everyone's a bit embarrassing at first-!" Realizing how that could have sounded, she backtracks, coughing slightly.

"I mean- not that failure IS embarrassing- everyone starts somewhere. It may be hard to believe, but even my dorm's best athlete used to be a little kid who couldn't even throw."

Celine, you are digging yourself a hole. Shut up!

"But that's nothing for you to worry about. Helping me may mean that you betray your students, and I wouldn't very much like to be in the center of all that."

Amos smiles, placing a hand over his heart.

"My name is Amos Roothyde. You've most likely never heard of me before. It's nice to meet you, Celine."

When Celine tries to reassure Amos, he only laughs, waving her off.

She sits down on a nearby bench, digging in her backpack for something to eat. She takes a bite of some sea salt candy. "Offer still stands if you get hungry."

"You don't look like an idiot. You look perfectly fine. Plus, I'm sure you're good at other things..!" Another awkward laugh. God, Cel.

"They do, but me and Riley don't. We come from the shaftlands. Harveston, specifically."

Thinking about his hometown brings up memories of his parents. Amos spaces out for a moment or two, lost in thought before he comes back to his senses. He doesn't very much like talking about where he comes from, but he won't admit it out loud.

"I'm sorry," Amos says softly. "I lied to you. I am hungry. I just don't want to waste your food, but now I feel guilty about the lie. Sorry again."

Celine notices the thousand-yard stare in Amos' gaze, and decides not to pursue any further information.

"Oh, no, it's okay!" Celine waves her hands in a strange, somehow apologetic gesture, already digging for more food. "I don't mind at all. I'm used to carrying food around for friends. Strangers too." She laughs a bit at her own "joke".

"This is sea salt candy. Usually we have it in ice cream form back home, but I prefer it this way." She extends a hand full of small blue candies to Amos.

Sea salt. The flavor that the Cobalt Archipelago boasts in all of its cuisine. Delicious, but easy to get tired of. Celine had many fond memories of sharing it with friends. The flavor tended to bring people together, somehow.

"Is there an event you specialize in..? Broom racing is tough anyway."

Amos hesitantly takes the candy, his fingers brushing slightly against the palm of Celene's hand. He inspects them, looking up at Celine with a bit of an embarrassed flush on his face.

"I don't have candy usually. I don't have sea salt usually, but if it has salt in it, I think that I may need some water first. I'm parched."

The Roothyde twins only have one water bottle to share, and right now Riley is the one that has it. He doesn't want to reject the candy, but he also doesn't want to ask for water and bother her even more.

"Are you sure it's alright to give this to me anyway? Won't your dorm get mad at you for helping someone form the rivaling school?"

He holds the candies out in case Celine wants to take them back. He can already feel a few glances going his way from the other school.

"Of course it's alright. Keeping each other fed shouldn't be penalized anyway. And don't mind them, they know to expect this from me, haha. Big sister's instinct, you know?" Big sister's instinct, and Celine's terrible tendency to overpack.

"Magic. See, you are good at something!" She smiles. "Personally, I'm not the best at it. It's wonderful to meet others with such different strengths."

Amos' eyes widen at the suggestion of buying water, waving his hands and shaking his head frantically. Buying here? In this economy? It's probably six dollars for just one bottle, and that's six dollars that could go into paying rent! He doesn't have the money to pay off that debt!

"No, no, no. That's okay. Please, don't buy me water. I'll live. I'll just save the candy for later, it's alright."

He pockets the candy, sitting down next to Celine. The bench is kind of cramped, and Amos' shoulder grazes Celine's because of it. When he feels this, the takes a minute to sit on the very edge of the bench.

"Looks like NRC's winning by a good bit against NBC. Your school seems super skilled." Celine does her best to divert her attention from the proximity.

"I'll be in the relay race against RSA later. I'm pretty confident in my school, though. Not to brag or anything like that, hah."

The bragging, if it had been, would have technically been deserved. An island-wide acrobatics champion and the school's ace track runner on one team would be formidable indeed.

"If we beat RSA, we'll race against you guys next. That'll be fun."

He gestures to the broom in his hand.

"As you can tell."

Amos gets a little quieter then, his hand tightening around his knee. He's been failing a thousand times to fly even four feet. At this point, he'll never be able to get that extra credit. He'll have to retake flying classes for another year if this keeps happening to him. The horror.

He has no faith in himself to continue. Not like he's going to tell Celine that, though. She'd probably be happy. He's in the rivaling team, after all.

You're not everyone's caretaker, she reminds herself, but the words are already out. Not like she minded the work all that much.

She stands up and takes a moment to split up a fight between Roald and an NBC student. The Dynites housewarden apologizes profusely through laughs.

"Riley."

Riley is on the ground, taking a break and watching the clouds when he hears his brother's voice.

"Oh—yeah? What's up? Do you need some—"

"I'm not going to be participating."

"...Ah?"

"In the race," he clarifies, gritting his teeth. "I'm not going. Just wanted to let you know."

"But— didn't you need that extra credit?" Riley asks, sitting up. "What's up? Don't tell me you're giving up so soon, you still have—"

"The race is in two minutes, Riley. I can't do shit."

Amos clears his throat, setting his broom down next to Riley.

"Excuse my language. I'm a little frustrated. Just... do well, okay? For me. I'll be watching you."

"...Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"I... okay. We'll get first place!"

Amos gives his brother a small smile.

"That's what I like to hear."

He waves goodbye, leaving to go tell the referee the same thing he told Riley. He's really disappointed in himself right now, but there's nothing he can do. The tournament is too close to keep practicing. He doesn't even know how to go forward from that height yet.

If anything, Riley is going to go out with some friends after this, so it's probably best for him to go to work after the race. He pats himself down, checking for anything that he's forgotten on the field that he'll have to take with him. After a minute of reviewing, he realizes: He forgot a small pouch that was attached to his belt, right next to where Celine still is.

After she finishes getting the unruly students in order, she sits back down on the bench to re-tie her shoes. In the corner of her vision, she spots a small pouch. That belonged to Amos, right? She'd have to return it, and quickly, before the race could start.

Celine picked up the pouch by its strings and began to scan around the field.

HIGH COMPETITION IN THE HIGHLANDS .⋅˚₊‧ 🜲 ‧₊˚ ⋅

A starter for the awesome @prev0id !!

Usually Amos wouldn't come to sports festivals, but this one guaranteed extra credit in flying to anyone who came, so Amos just had to show up. He'd cursed at himself while walking to the festival, wishing that he could have been better at this so that he could go work instead of be here right now. He doesn't like going to either of his two jobs, but he does like money...

Amos hops on the broom, trying to take it leisurely this time. Slowly, he goes up an inch... then a foot... then two feet...

Just as he's about to reach three feet, the broom wavers, and then he's falling back down for the seventh time in a row. Amos ends up on his back, looking up at the sky, wondering what in the world was making him so bad at flying. What in the world is he doing wrong? He's always been decent at sports, but...

Celine takes a careful stride towards the boy on his back, and peers over him. "Ah.. Are you alright?" She questions, kicking up some dirt as a nervous habit.

"You seem to be... struggling a little. Do you wanna take a break, maybe?" She says, already digging in her backpack for the snacks she'd packed for the others. "I have protein bars, sea salt candy-"

I'm getting ahead of myself, she thinks. Celine takes a deep breath in, moving some disheveled black hair out of her face.

Amos chuckles at the bad joke, sitting up. He takes the broom he was on just a few moments ago in his hand, using it as a prop to stand up. He moves his hair away from his face and wipes away the sweat on his forehead in an attempt to look a bit more presentable.

She looks up at the sky as the disc whizzes through the air again, almost hitting a player in the face. "Looks like your school's putting up a good fight. Do you guys specialize in athletics, or is that a house-by-house thing?" C'mon, Cel, you got yourself into this, now make conversation!

"I'm guessing P.E. isn't your favorite, hah." An awkward laugh. "Put him down!" She scolds a PPC student for lifting another like a bench press.

Amos gestures to a small group on the other side of the field. There are a few familiar faces to Celine, such as Ruggie, Jack, and even Leona, but there are also a few other misfits that she doesn't know the name of. In the middle of them two, there seems to be a boy who kind of reminds Celine of Kalim, pumping up the team and helping them when they struggled. Celine can feel his happy-go-lucky aura from over here.

"That boy over there with the colorful clothes is my brother, Riley. He's way better at this than I am."

He winces, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I left that group because of how embarrassing this must look for me. Not like they noticed. Well—my brother did, of course, but after I protested he just wished me good luck."

Riley looks over, spotting the two looking at him. He gives them a big wave and a heart gesture before going back to his training.

Celine returns Riley's wave awkwardly, chuckling a little. "No worries, everyone's a bit embarrassing at first-!" Realizing how that could have sounded, she backtracks, coughing slightly.

"I mean- not that failure IS embarrassing- everyone starts somewhere. It may be hard to believe, but even my dorm's best athlete used to be a little kid who couldn't even throw."

Celine, you are digging yourself a hole. Shut up!

"But that's nothing for you to worry about. Helping me may mean that you betray your students, and I wouldn't very much like to be in the center of all that."

Amos smiles, placing a hand over his heart.

"My name is Amos Roothyde. You've most likely never heard of me before. It's nice to meet you, Celine."

When Celine tries to reassure Amos, he only laughs, waving her off.

She sits down on a nearby bench, digging in her backpack for something to eat. She takes a bite of some sea salt candy. "Offer still stands if you get hungry."

"You don't look like an idiot. You look perfectly fine. Plus, I'm sure you're good at other things..!" Another awkward laugh. God, Cel.

"They do, but me and Riley don't. We come from the shaftlands. Harveston, specifically."

Thinking about his hometown brings up memories of his parents. Amos spaces out for a moment or two, lost in thought before he comes back to his senses. He doesn't very much like talking about where he comes from, but he won't admit it out loud.

"I'm sorry," Amos says softly. "I lied to you. I am hungry. I just don't want to waste your food, but now I feel guilty about the lie. Sorry again."

Celine notices the thousand-yard stare in Amos' gaze, and decides not to pursue any further information.

"Oh, no, it's okay!" Celine waves her hands in a strange, somehow apologetic gesture, already digging for more food. "I don't mind at all. I'm used to carrying food around for friends. Strangers too." She laughs a bit at her own "joke".

"This is sea salt candy. Usually we have it in ice cream form back home, but I prefer it this way." She extends a hand full of small blue candies to Amos.

Sea salt. The flavor that the Cobalt Archipelago boasts in all of its cuisine. Delicious, but easy to get tired of. Celine had many fond memories of sharing it with friends. The flavor tended to bring people together, somehow.

"Is there an event you specialize in..? Broom racing is tough anyway."

Amos hesitantly takes the candy, his fingers brushing slightly against the palm of Celene's hand. He inspects them, looking up at Celine with a bit of an embarrassed flush on his face.

"I don't have candy usually. I don't have sea salt usually, but if it has salt in it, I think that I may need some water first. I'm parched."

The Roothyde twins only have one water bottle to share, and right now Riley is the one that has it. He doesn't want to reject the candy, but he also doesn't want to ask for water and bother her even more.

"Are you sure it's alright to give this to me anyway? Won't your dorm get mad at you for helping someone form the rivaling school?"

He holds the candies out in case Celine wants to take them back. He can already feel a few glances going his way from the other school.

"Of course it's alright. Keeping each other fed shouldn't be penalized anyway. And don't mind them, they know to expect this from me, haha. Big sister's instinct, you know?" Big sister's instinct, and Celine's terrible tendency to overpack.

"Magic. See, you are good at something!" She smiles. "Personally, I'm not the best at it. It's wonderful to meet others with such different strengths."

Amos' eyes widen at the suggestion of buying water, waving his hands and shaking his head frantically. Buying here? In this economy? It's probably six dollars for just one bottle, and that's six dollars that could go into paying rent! He doesn't have the money to pay off that debt!

"No, no, no. That's okay. Please, don't buy me water. I'll live. I'll just save the candy for later, it's alright."

He pockets the candy, sitting down next to Celine. The bench is kind of cramped, and Amos' shoulder grazes Celine's because of it. When he feels this, the takes a minute to sit on the very edge of the bench.

"Looks like NRC's winning by a good bit against NBC. Your school seems super skilled." Celine does her best to divert her attention from the proximity.

"I'll be in the relay race against RSA later. I'm pretty confident in my school, though. Not to brag or anything like that, hah."

The bragging, if it had been, would have technically been deserved. An island-wide acrobatics champion and the school's ace track runner on one team would be formidable indeed.

"If we beat RSA, we'll race against you guys next. That'll be fun."

He gestures to the broom in his hand.

"As you can tell."

Amos gets a little quieter then, his hand tightening around his knee. He's been failing a thousand times to fly even four feet. At this point, he'll never be able to get that extra credit. He'll have to retake flying classes for another year if this keeps happening to him. The horror.

He has no faith in himself to continue. Not like he's going to tell Celine that, though. She'd probably be happy. He's in the rivaling team, after all.

You're not everyone's caretaker, she reminds herself, but the words are already out. Not like she minded the work all that much.

She stands up and takes a moment to split up a fight between Roald and an NBC student. The Dynites housewarden apologizes profusely through laughs.

HIGH COMPETITION IN THE HIGHLANDS .⋅˚₊‧ 🜲 ‧₊˚ ⋅

A starter for the awesome @prev0id !!

Usually Amos wouldn't come to sports festivals, but this one guaranteed extra credit in flying to anyone who came, so Amos just had to show up. He'd cursed at himself while walking to the festival, wishing that he could have been better at this so that he could go work instead of be here right now. He doesn't like going to either of his two jobs, but he does like money...

Amos hops on the broom, trying to take it leisurely this time. Slowly, he goes up an inch... then a foot... then two feet...

Just as he's about to reach three feet, the broom wavers, and then he's falling back down for the seventh time in a row. Amos ends up on his back, looking up at the sky, wondering what in the world was making him so bad at flying. What in the world is he doing wrong? He's always been decent at sports, but...

Celine takes a careful stride towards the boy on his back, and peers over him. "Ah.. Are you alright?" She questions, kicking up some dirt as a nervous habit.

"You seem to be... struggling a little. Do you wanna take a break, maybe?" She says, already digging in her backpack for the snacks she'd packed for the others. "I have protein bars, sea salt candy-"

I'm getting ahead of myself, she thinks. Celine takes a deep breath in, moving some disheveled black hair out of her face.

Amos chuckles at the bad joke, sitting up. He takes the broom he was on just a few moments ago in his hand, using it as a prop to stand up. He moves his hair away from his face and wipes away the sweat on his forehead in an attempt to look a bit more presentable.

She looks up at the sky as the disc whizzes through the air again, almost hitting a player in the face. "Looks like your school's putting up a good fight. Do you guys specialize in athletics, or is that a house-by-house thing?" C'mon, Cel, you got yourself into this, now make conversation!

"I'm guessing P.E. isn't your favorite, hah." An awkward laugh. "Put him down!" She scolds a PPC student for lifting another like a bench press.

Amos gestures to a small group on the other side of the field. There are a few familiar faces to Celine, such as Ruggie, Jack, and even Leona, but there are also a few other misfits that she doesn't know the name of. In the middle of them two, there seems to be a boy who kind of reminds Celine of Kalim, pumping up the team and helping them when they struggled. Celine can feel his happy-go-lucky aura from over here.

"That boy over there with the colorful clothes is my brother, Riley. He's way better at this than I am."

He winces, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I left that group because of how embarrassing this must look for me. Not like they noticed. Well—my brother did, of course, but after I protested he just wished me good luck."

Riley looks over, spotting the two looking at him. He gives them a big wave and a heart gesture before going back to his training.

Celine returns Riley's wave awkwardly, chuckling a little. "No worries, everyone's a bit embarrassing at first-!" Realizing how that could have sounded, she backtracks, coughing slightly.

"I mean- not that failure IS embarrassing- everyone starts somewhere. It may be hard to believe, but even my dorm's best athlete used to be a little kid who couldn't even throw."

Celine, you are digging yourself a hole. Shut up!

"But that's nothing for you to worry about. Helping me may mean that you betray your students, and I wouldn't very much like to be in the center of all that."

Amos smiles, placing a hand over his heart.

"My name is Amos Roothyde. You've most likely never heard of me before. It's nice to meet you, Celine."

When Celine tries to reassure Amos, he only laughs, waving her off.

She sits down on a nearby bench, digging in her backpack for something to eat. She takes a bite of some sea salt candy. "Offer still stands if you get hungry."

"You don't look like an idiot. You look perfectly fine. Plus, I'm sure you're good at other things..!" Another awkward laugh. God, Cel.

"They do, but me and Riley don't. We come from the shaftlands. Harveston, specifically."

Thinking about his hometown brings up memories of his parents. Amos spaces out for a moment or two, lost in thought before he comes back to his senses. He doesn't very much like talking about where he comes from, but he won't admit it out loud.

"I'm sorry," Amos says softly. "I lied to you. I am hungry. I just don't want to waste your food, but now I feel guilty about the lie. Sorry again."

Celine notices the thousand-yard stare in Amos' gaze, and decides not to pursue any further information.

"Oh, no, it's okay!" Celine waves her hands in a strange, somehow apologetic gesture, already digging for more food. "I don't mind at all. I'm used to carrying food around for friends. Strangers too." She laughs a bit at her own "joke".

"This is sea salt candy. Usually we have it in ice cream form back home, but I prefer it this way." She extends a hand full of small blue candies to Amos.

Sea salt. The flavor that the Cobalt Archipelago boasts in all of its cuisine. Delicious, but easy to get tired of. Celine had many fond memories of sharing it with friends. The flavor tended to bring people together, somehow.

"Is there an event you specialize in..? Broom racing is tough anyway."

Amos hesitantly takes the candy, his fingers brushing slightly against the palm of Celene's hand. He inspects them, looking up at Celine with a bit of an embarrassed flush on his face.

"I don't have candy usually. I don't have sea salt usually, but if it has salt in it, I think that I may need some water first. I'm parched."

The Roothyde twins only have one water bottle to share, and right now Riley is the one that has it. He doesn't want to reject the candy, but he also doesn't want to ask for water and bother her even more.

"Are you sure it's alright to give this to me anyway? Won't your dorm get mad at you for helping someone form the rivaling school?"

He holds the candies out in case Celine wants to take them back. He can already feel a few glances going his way from the other school.

"Of course it's alright. Keeping each other fed shouldn't be penalized anyway. And don't mind them, they know to expect this from me, haha. Big sister's instinct, you know?" Big sister's instinct, and Celine's terrible tendency to overpack.

"Magic. See, you are good at something!" She smiles. "Personally, I'm not the best at it. It's wonderful to meet others with such different strengths."

Amos' eyes widen at the suggestion of buying water, waving his hands and shaking his head frantically. Buying here? In this economy? It's probably six dollars for just one bottle, and that's six dollars that could go into paying rent! He doesn't have the money to pay off that debt!

"No, no, no. That's okay. Please, don't buy me water. I'll live. I'll just save the candy for later, it's alright."

He pockets the candy, sitting down next to Celine. The bench is kind of cramped, and Amos' shoulder grazes Celine's because of it. When he feels this, the takes a minute to sit on the very edge of the bench.

"Looks like NRC's winning by a good bit against NBC. Your school seems super skilled." Celine does her best to divert her attention from the proximity.

"I'll be in the relay race against RSA later. I'm pretty confident in my school, though. Not to brag or anything like that, hah."

The bragging, if it had been, would have technically been deserved. An island-wide acrobatics champion and the school's ace track runner on one team would be formidable indeed.

"If we beat RSA, we'll race against you guys next. That'll be fun."

HIGH COMPETITION IN THE HIGHLANDS .⋅˚₊‧ 🜲 ‧₊˚ ⋅

A starter for the awesome @prev0id !!

Usually Amos wouldn't come to sports festivals, but this one guaranteed extra credit in flying to anyone who came, so Amos just had to show up. He'd cursed at himself while walking to the festival, wishing that he could have been better at this so that he could go work instead of be here right now. He doesn't like going to either of his two jobs, but he does like money...

Amos hops on the broom, trying to take it leisurely this time. Slowly, he goes up an inch... then a foot... then two feet...

Just as he's about to reach three feet, the broom wavers, and then he's falling back down for the seventh time in a row. Amos ends up on his back, looking up at the sky, wondering what in the world was making him so bad at flying. What in the world is he doing wrong? He's always been decent at sports, but...

Celine takes a careful stride towards the boy on his back, and peers over him. "Ah.. Are you alright?" She questions, kicking up some dirt as a nervous habit.

"You seem to be... struggling a little. Do you wanna take a break, maybe?" She says, already digging in her backpack for the snacks she'd packed for the others. "I have protein bars, sea salt candy-"

I'm getting ahead of myself, she thinks. Celine takes a deep breath in, moving some disheveled black hair out of her face.

Amos chuckles at the bad joke, sitting up. He takes the broom he was on just a few moments ago in his hand, using it as a prop to stand up. He moves his hair away from his face and wipes away the sweat on his forehead in an attempt to look a bit more presentable.

She looks up at the sky as the disc whizzes through the air again, almost hitting a player in the face. "Looks like your school's putting up a good fight. Do you guys specialize in athletics, or is that a house-by-house thing?" C'mon, Cel, you got yourself into this, now make conversation!

"I'm guessing P.E. isn't your favorite, hah." An awkward laugh. "Put him down!" She scolds a PPC student for lifting another like a bench press.

Amos gestures to a small group on the other side of the field. There are a few familiar faces to Celine, such as Ruggie, Jack, and even Leona, but there are also a few other misfits that she doesn't know the name of. In the middle of them two, there seems to be a boy who kind of reminds Celine of Kalim, pumping up the team and helping them when they struggled. Celine can feel his happy-go-lucky aura from over here.

"That boy over there with the colorful clothes is my brother, Riley. He's way better at this than I am."

He winces, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I left that group because of how embarrassing this must look for me. Not like they noticed. Well—my brother did, of course, but after I protested he just wished me good luck."

Riley looks over, spotting the two looking at him. He gives them a big wave and a heart gesture before going back to his training.

Celine returns Riley's wave awkwardly, chuckling a little. "No worries, everyone's a bit embarrassing at first-!" Realizing how that could have sounded, she backtracks, coughing slightly.

"I mean- not that failure IS embarrassing- everyone starts somewhere. It may be hard to believe, but even my dorm's best athlete used to be a little kid who couldn't even throw."

Celine, you are digging yourself a hole. Shut up!

"But that's nothing for you to worry about. Helping me may mean that you betray your students, and I wouldn't very much like to be in the center of all that."

Amos smiles, placing a hand over his heart.

"My name is Amos Roothyde. You've most likely never heard of me before. It's nice to meet you, Celine."

When Celine tries to reassure Amos, he only laughs, waving her off.

She sits down on a nearby bench, digging in her backpack for something to eat. She takes a bite of some sea salt candy. "Offer still stands if you get hungry."

"You don't look like an idiot. You look perfectly fine. Plus, I'm sure you're good at other things..!" Another awkward laugh. God, Cel.

"They do, but me and Riley don't. We come from the shaftlands. Harveston, specifically."

Thinking about his hometown brings up memories of his parents. Amos spaces out for a moment or two, lost in thought before he comes back to his senses. He doesn't very much like talking about where he comes from, but he won't admit it out loud.

"I'm sorry," Amos says softly. "I lied to you. I am hungry. I just don't want to waste your food, but now I feel guilty about the lie. Sorry again."

Celine notices the thousand-yard stare in Amos' gaze, and decides not to pursue any further information.

"Oh, no, it's okay!" Celine waves her hands in a strange, somehow apologetic gesture, already digging for more food. "I don't mind at all. I'm used to carrying food around for friends. Strangers too." She laughs a bit at her own "joke".

"This is sea salt candy. Usually we have it in ice cream form back home, but I prefer it this way." She extends a hand full of small blue candies to Amos.

Sea salt. The flavor that the Cobalt Archipelago boasts in all of its cuisine. Delicious, but easy to get tired of. Celine had many fond memories of sharing it with friends. The flavor tended to bring people together, somehow.

"Is there an event you specialize in..? Broom racing is tough anyway."

Amos hesitantly takes the candy, his fingers brushing slightly against the palm of Celene's hand. He inspects them, looking up at Celine with a bit of an embarrassed flush on his face.

"I don't have candy usually. I don't have sea salt usually, but if it has salt in it, I think that I may need some water first. I'm parched."

The Roothyde twins only have one water bottle to share, and right now Riley is the one that has it. He doesn't want to reject the candy, but he also doesn't want to ask for water and bother her even more.

"Are you sure it's alright to give this to me anyway? Won't your dorm get mad at you for helping someone form the rivaling school?"

He holds the candies out in case Celine wants to take them back. He can already feel a few glances going his way from the other school.

"Of course it's alright. Keeping each other fed shouldn't be penalized anyway. And don't mind them, they know to expect this from me, haha. Big sister's instinct, you know?" Big sister's instinct, and Celine's terrible tendency to overpack.

"Magic. See, you are good at something!" She smiles. "Personally, I'm not the best at it. It's wonderful to meet others with such different strengths."

HIGH COMPETITION IN THE HIGHLANDS .⋅˚₊‧ 🜲 ‧₊˚ ⋅

A starter for the awesome @prev0id !!

Usually Amos wouldn't come to sports festivals, but this one guaranteed extra credit in flying to anyone who came, so Amos just had to show up. He'd cursed at himself while walking to the festival, wishing that he could have been better at this so that he could go work instead of be here right now. He doesn't like going to either of his two jobs, but he does like money...

Amos hops on the broom, trying to take it leisurely this time. Slowly, he goes up an inch... then a foot... then two feet...

Just as he's about to reach three feet, the broom wavers, and then he's falling back down for the seventh time in a row. Amos ends up on his back, looking up at the sky, wondering what in the world was making him so bad at flying. What in the world is he doing wrong? He's always been decent at sports, but...

Celine takes a careful stride towards the boy on his back, and peers over him. "Ah.. Are you alright?" She questions, kicking up some dirt as a nervous habit.

"You seem to be... struggling a little. Do you wanna take a break, maybe?" She says, already digging in her backpack for the snacks she'd packed for the others. "I have protein bars, sea salt candy-"

I'm getting ahead of myself, she thinks. Celine takes a deep breath in, moving some disheveled black hair out of her face.

Amos chuckles at the bad joke, sitting up. He takes the broom he was on just a few moments ago in his hand, using it as a prop to stand up. He moves his hair away from his face and wipes away the sweat on his forehead in an attempt to look a bit more presentable.

She looks up at the sky as the disc whizzes through the air again, almost hitting a player in the face. "Looks like your school's putting up a good fight. Do you guys specialize in athletics, or is that a house-by-house thing?" C'mon, Cel, you got yourself into this, now make conversation!

"I'm guessing P.E. isn't your favorite, hah." An awkward laugh. "Put him down!" She scolds a PPC student for lifting another like a bench press.

Amos gestures to a small group on the other side of the field. There are a few familiar faces to Celine, such as Ruggie, Jack, and even Leona, but there are also a few other misfits that she doesn't know the name of. In the middle of them two, there seems to be a boy who kind of reminds Celine of Kalim, pumping up the team and helping them when they struggled. Celine can feel his happy-go-lucky aura from over here.

"That boy over there with the colorful clothes is my brother, Riley. He's way better at this than I am."

He winces, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I left that group because of how embarrassing this must look for me. Not like they noticed. Well—my brother did, of course, but after I protested he just wished me good luck."

Riley looks over, spotting the two looking at him. He gives them a big wave and a heart gesture before going back to his training.

Celine returns Riley's wave awkwardly, chuckling a little. "No worries, everyone's a bit embarrassing at first-!" Realizing how that could have sounded, she backtracks, coughing slightly.

"I mean- not that failure IS embarrassing- everyone starts somewhere. It may be hard to believe, but even my dorm's best athlete used to be a little kid who couldn't even throw."

Celine, you are digging yourself a hole. Shut up!

"But that's nothing for you to worry about. Helping me may mean that you betray your students, and I wouldn't very much like to be in the center of all that."

Amos smiles, placing a hand over his heart.

"My name is Amos Roothyde. You've most likely never heard of me before. It's nice to meet you, Celine."

When Celine tries to reassure Amos, he only laughs, waving her off.

She sits down on a nearby bench, digging in her backpack for something to eat. She takes a bite of some sea salt candy. "Offer still stands if you get hungry."

"You don't look like an idiot. You look perfectly fine. Plus, I'm sure you're good at other things..!" Another awkward laugh. God, Cel.

"They do, but me and Riley don't. We come from the shaftlands. Harveston, specifically."

Thinking about his hometown brings up memories of his parents. Amos spaces out for a moment or two, lost in thought before he comes back to his senses. He doesn't very much like talking about where he comes from, but he won't admit it out loud.

"I'm sorry," Amos says softly. "I lied to you. I am hungry. I just don't want to waste your food, but now I feel guilty about the lie. Sorry again."

Celine notices the thousand-yard stare in Amos' gaze, and decides not to pursue any further information.

"Oh, no, it's okay!" Celine waves her hands in a strange, somehow apologetic gesture, already digging for more food. "I don't mind at all. I'm used to carrying food around for friends. Strangers too." She laughs a bit at her own "joke".

"This is sea salt candy. Usually we have it in ice cream form back home, but I prefer it this way." She extends a hand full of small blue candies to Amos.

Sea salt. The flavor that the Cobalt Archipelago boasts in all of its cuisine. Delicious, but easy to get tired of. Celine had many fond memories of sharing it with friends. The flavor tended to bring people together, somehow.

"Is there an event you specialize in..? Broom racing is tough anyway."

HIGH COMPETITION IN THE HIGHLANDS .⋅˚₊‧ 🜲 ‧₊˚ ⋅

A starter for the awesome @prev0id !!

Usually Amos wouldn't come to sports festivals, but this one guaranteed extra credit in flying to anyone who came, so Amos just had to show up. He'd cursed at himself while walking to the festival, wishing that he could have been better at this so that he could go work instead of be here right now. He doesn't like going to either of his two jobs, but he does like money...

Amos hops on the broom, trying to take it leisurely this time. Slowly, he goes up an inch... then a foot... then two feet...

Just as he's about to reach three feet, the broom wavers, and then he's falling back down for the seventh time in a row. Amos ends up on his back, looking up at the sky, wondering what in the world was making him so bad at flying. What in the world is he doing wrong? He's always been decent at sports, but...

Celine takes a careful stride towards the boy on his back, and peers over him. "Ah.. Are you alright?" She questions, kicking up some dirt as a nervous habit.

"You seem to be... struggling a little. Do you wanna take a break, maybe?" She says, already digging in her backpack for the snacks she'd packed for the others. "I have protein bars, sea salt candy-"

I'm getting ahead of myself, she thinks. Celine takes a deep breath in, moving some disheveled black hair out of her face.

Amos chuckles at the bad joke, sitting up. He takes the broom he was on just a few moments ago in his hand, using it as a prop to stand up. He moves his hair away from his face and wipes away the sweat on his forehead in an attempt to look a bit more presentable.

She looks up at the sky as the disc whizzes through the air again, almost hitting a player in the face. "Looks like your school's putting up a good fight. Do you guys specialize in athletics, or is that a house-by-house thing?" C'mon, Cel, you got yourself into this, now make conversation!

"I'm guessing P.E. isn't your favorite, hah." An awkward laugh. "Put him down!" She scolds a PPC student for lifting another like a bench press.

Amos gestures to a small group on the other side of the field. There are a few familiar faces to Celine, such as Ruggie, Jack, and even Leona, but there are also a few other misfits that she doesn't know the name of. In the middle of them two, there seems to be a boy who kind of reminds Celine of Kalim, pumping up the team and helping them when they struggled. Celine can feel his happy-go-lucky aura from over here.

"That boy over there with the colorful clothes is my brother, Riley. He's way better at this than I am."

He winces, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I left that group because of how embarrassing this must look for me. Not like they noticed. Well—my brother did, of course, but after I protested he just wished me good luck."

Riley looks over, spotting the two looking at him. He gives them a big wave and a heart gesture before going back to his training.

Celine returns Riley's wave awkwardly, chuckling a little. "No worries, everyone's a bit embarrassing at first-!" Realizing how that could have sounded, she backtracks, coughing slightly.

"I mean- not that failure IS embarrassing- everyone starts somewhere. It may be hard to believe, but even my dorm's best athlete used to be a little kid who couldn't even throw."

Celine, you are digging yourself a hole. Shut up!

"But that's nothing for you to worry about. Helping me may mean that you betray your students, and I wouldn't very much like to be in the center of all that."

Amos smiles, placing a hand over his heart.

"My name is Amos Roothyde. You've most likely never heard of me before. It's nice to meet you, Celine."

When Celine tries to reassure Amos, he only laughs, waving her off.

She sits down on a nearby bench, digging in her backpack for something to eat. She takes a bite of some sea salt candy. "Offer still stands if you get hungry."

"You don't look like an idiot. You look perfectly fine. Plus, I'm sure you're good at other things..!" Another awkward laugh. God, Cel.

HIGH COMPETITION IN THE HIGHLANDS .⋅˚₊‧ 🜲 ‧₊˚ ⋅

A starter for the awesome @prev0id !!

Usually Amos wouldn't come to sports festivals, but this one guaranteed extra credit in flying to anyone who came, so Amos just had to show up. He'd cursed at himself while walking to the festival, wishing that he could have been better at this so that he could go work instead of be here right now. He doesn't like going to either of his two jobs, but he does like money...

Amos hops on the broom, trying to take it leisurely this time. Slowly, he goes up an inch... then a foot... then two feet...

Just as he's about to reach three feet, the broom wavers, and then he's falling back down for the seventh time in a row. Amos ends up on his back, looking up at the sky, wondering what in the world was making him so bad at flying. What in the world is he doing wrong? He's always been decent at sports, but...

Celine takes a careful stride towards the boy on his back, and peers over him. "Ah.. Are you alright?" She questions, kicking up some dirt as a nervous habit.

"You seem to be... struggling a little. Do you wanna take a break, maybe?" She says, already digging in her backpack for the snacks she'd packed for the others. "I have protein bars, sea salt candy-"

I'm getting ahead of myself, she thinks. Celine takes a deep breath in, moving some disheveled black hair out of her face.

Amos chuckles at the bad joke, sitting up. He takes the broom he was on just a few moments ago in his hand, using it as a prop to stand up. He moves his hair away from his face and wipes away the sweat on his forehead in an attempt to look a bit more presentable.

She looks up at the sky as the disc whizzes through the air again, almost hitting a player in the face. "Looks like your school's putting up a good fight. Do you guys specialize in athletics, or is that a house-by-house thing?" C'mon, Cel, you got yourself into this, now make conversation!

"I'm guessing P.E. isn't your favorite, hah." An awkward laugh. "Put him down!" She scolds a PPC student for lifting another like a bench press.

Amos gestures to a small group on the other side of the field. There are a few familiar faces to Celine, such as Ruggie, Jack, and even Leona, but there are also a few other misfits that she doesn't know the name of. In the middle of them two, there seems to be a boy who kind of reminds Celine of Kalim, pumping up the team and helping them when they struggled. Celine can feel his happy-go-lucky aura from over here.

"That boy over there with the colorful clothes is my brother, Riley. He's way better at this than I am."

He winces, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I left that group because of how embarrassing this must look for me. Not like they noticed. Well—my brother did, of course, but after I protested he just wished me good luck."

Riley looks over, spotting the two looking at him. He gives them a big wave and a heart gesture before going back to his training.

Celine returns Riley's wave awkwardly, chuckling a little. "No worries, everyone's a bit embarrassing at first-!" Realizing how that could have sounded, she backtracks, coughing slightly.

"I mean- not that failure IS embarrassing- everyone starts somewhere. It may be hard to believe, but even my dorm's best athlete used to be a little kid who couldn't even throw."

Celine, you are digging yourself a hole. Shut up!

HIGH COMPETITION IN THE HIGHLANDS .⋅˚₊‧ 🜲 ‧₊˚ ⋅

A starter for the awesome @prev0id !!

Usually Amos wouldn't come to sports festivals, but this one guaranteed extra credit in flying to anyone who came, so Amos just had to show up. He'd cursed at himself while walking to the festival, wishing that he could have been better at this so that he could go work instead of be here right now. He doesn't like going to either of his two jobs, but he does like money...

Amos hops on the broom, trying to take it leisurely this time. Slowly, he goes up an inch... then a foot... then two feet...

Just as he's about to reach three feet, the broom wavers, and then he's falling back down for the seventh time in a row. Amos ends up on his back, looking up at the sky, wondering what in the world was making him so bad at flying. What in the world is he doing wrong? He's always been decent at sports, but...

Celine takes a careful stride towards the boy on his back, and peers over him. "Ah.. Are you alright?" She questions, kicking up some dirt as a nervous habit.

"You seem to be... struggling a little. Do you wanna take a break, maybe?" She says, already digging in her backpack for the snacks she'd packed for the others. "I have protein bars, sea salt candy-"

I'm getting ahead of myself, she thinks. Celine takes a deep breath in, moving some disheveled black hair out of her face.

Amos chuckles at the bad joke, sitting up. He takes the broom he was on just a few moments ago in his hand, using it as a prop to stand up. He moves his hair away from his face and wipes away the sweat on his forehead in an attempt to look a bit more presentable.

She looks up at the sky as the disc whizzes through the air again, almost hitting a player in the face. "Looks like your school's putting up a good fight. Do you guys specialize in athletics, or is that a house-by-house thing?" C'mon, Cel, you got yourself into this, now make conversation!

"I'm guessing P.E. isn't your favorite, hah." An awkward laugh. "Put him down!" She scolds a PPC student for lifting another like a bench press.

HIGH COMPETITION IN THE HIGHLANDS .⋅˚₊‧ 🜲 ‧₊˚ ⋅

A starter for the awesome @prev0id !!

Usually Amos wouldn't come to sports festivals, but this one guaranteed extra credit in flying to anyone who came, so Amos just had to show up. He'd cursed at himself while walking to the festival, wishing that he could have been better at this so that he could go work instead of be here right now. He doesn't like going to either of his two jobs, but he does like money...

Amos hops on the broom, trying to take it leisurely this time. Slowly, he goes up an inch... then a foot... then two feet...

Just as he's about to reach three feet, the broom wavers, and then he's falling back down for the seventh time in a row. Amos ends up on his back, looking up at the sky, wondering what in the world was making him so bad at flying. What in the world is he doing wrong? He's always been decent at sports, but...

Celine takes a careful stride towards the boy on his back, and peers over him. "Ah.. Are you alright?" She questions, kicking up some dirt as a nervous habit.

"You seem to be... struggling a little. Do you wanna take a break, maybe?" She says, already digging in her backpack for the snacks she'd packed for the others. "I have protein bars, sea salt candy-"

I'm getting ahead of myself, she thinks. Celine takes a deep breath in, moving some disheveled black hair out of her face.

. . .

. . .

I’m not ..that. I think.