[Open] I hope I don't get eaten...

Post by **Hazel Middleton** » 13 Jul 2026, 20:33

Hazel had been absolutely dying to get out and explore the lakes and have a swim. She loved swimming, and was determined to do as much of it as she could before the weather literally froze her out. The information she had received about uniforms wasn't clear about swimwear, but she brought along her one piece that she used for her swimming classes last year, figuring it would be suitable.

She had gotten up early that Saturday morning to make her way down to the lakes. The early mark had three purposes; first, she was sure the first Saturday morning during the first week of term would be a pretty slow one for most students, Second, there was something about swimming in a lake as the rest of the world woke up around you that was just exhilarating. The water was the calmest early in the morning, before the day's winds had picked up, so it was the perfect time to float. Thirdly, she wasn't entirely confident she knew how to get down to the lakes, so wanted to give herself time to find her way without losing out on her early morning swim window.

Hazel double checked she had everything. Her swimmers were under her clothes. Her towel was hung over her shoulder. Her wand was tucked into her pocket. She was good to go.

Finding her way down to the Tarns was a little more straightforward than she had originally imagined - or she had just gotten lucky. She would try her best to remember the route she had taken, as she intended to do this often. Maybe one day she would discover a shortcut.

She raced to the nearest lakeside, and looked out on the glassy water. It looked awesome, and there appeared to be no-one around, as she had hoped. She only wanted to be alone because she wasn't certain about the rules about swimming in the lake. She was sure it was allowed, but there were three lakes. Maybe only one or two out of the three were 'swimming allowed' for various reasons. She had no idea. Thinking about it now, she probably should have asked a professor when she had a chance, but she was here now. She could at the very least just go knee deep.

Hazel undressed down to her swimmers, and set everything neatly on the shore - her clothes first, then her wand, then her towel. She then walked over to the water's edge, and dipped her toes to test the temperature. It was cold, to be sure, but it wasn't numbingly cold, which was good enough. She started taking a few steps in and paused when the water reached her knees.

Now that she was here, uncertainty and caution overwhelmed her. This was an unknown body of water. What was in there? Some lakes had currents - did this one? What if she got stuck in one? What if there was a giant creature in there that was in dire need of a chewy, crunchy Penwick student for breakfast? She stayed where she was, working up the courage to go in a little further.

5-6 am - 05 September, 2026
Tags: Open

Post by **Luke Campbell** » 14 Jul 2026, 09:10

Luke Campbell had built a reputation during his first year at Penwick. The way he saw he was quite possibly the only student who had any respect for the rules. Not once had he been in detention, not once had he delivered an assignment late, not once had he got a less than stellar grade. By all accounts he ought to feel very pleased with himself, and he was, but something wasn't right... some knot had formed inside of him that he could not name and had no means of untangling. He had tried to treat it the same way he treated his idiotic classmates: ignore it and hope it goes away, but that hadn't worked.

To any outsider the changes Luke had gone through in a year would have been imperceptible, but some of his walls had come down out of sheer necessity. Sometimes assignments had to be completed in pairs, which involved interacting with his classmates, dreadful though that was. And yet what else could have seeded the small changes within him? For one, he no longer carried his wand around in its original box like he used to, though he still refused to use his wand as carelessly as others, waving it about without supervision. It was a miracle the Hospital Wing wasn't overflowing daily, and yet...

Over the past year, some part of him had noticed that he was often alone. Alone in the library, alone in the common rooms, first in bed at his dorms (with the curtains drawn), and the first one up and at breakfast in the morning. The results spoke for themselves, he had good grades in all subjects except flying - a ridiculous and dangerous activity that seemed to titillate the sense of just about everyone else - but he couldn't rightly say he had made any friends. Astonishingly, he had yet to meet anyone in the castle who expressed genuine interest in his stamp collection.

With the reputation of being exceedingly cautious, one might have expected him to come to the tarns fully decked out: swimming goggles, swimming fins, a swimming cap, quite possibly protective knee-pads too. Yet they would be mistaken. Swimming was something he knew how to do an enjoyed, a way to clear his gigantic brain of the many pedantic thoughts that zipped through it, like how the groundskeep really ought to keep the stairs clear of leaves, because if it rained, they could get slippery and someone might fall and injure themselves.

Swimming too, had often been a lonely activity for him. He did not like the thought that anyone might see him in his swimwear and he had developed a habit of closing his eyes before jumping in the water, so he wouldn't have to be reminded of his own reflection. One more problem of having a large and developed brain was that there was plenty of room in it for self-conscious thoughts, like how weird his knees looked, how pale he was, and how he could count his ribs if he looked down.

Yet he went to the tarns anyway, albeit at unusual hours and times of year, to avoid being seen. Because once he was in the water, some kind of weight fell off him. Especially underwater, where all the world's noise was drowned out, where he could just float peacefully...

What he hadn't expected when he came up the winding, dirt road that snaked up the mountainside from the castle below, was for someone else to already be there. It was autumn and it was early! Who in their right mind would go swimming in these circumstances? Yet from where he stood, the evidence was plain. There was a neat stack of clothes on the shore, including a towel. While Luke could think of very many uses for a towel, there really was only one purpose for them near a large open body of water.

His eyes drifted from the clothes to the figure at the edge of the shore, testing the water with her toes. Maybe she would decide it was too cold? He hoped so as he watched from a safe distance. Oh, blast it! He thought as she waded in regardless. Any chance that she might turn around and leave was now thoroughly dashed.

Regrettably, reaching the second or third tarn required passing the first. Should he just give up and leave? Maybe he could ask her to leave, maybe he could even lie and invent a school rule. Despite her height, Luke was quite certain she was a first-year, because he knew all the dumbfounded faces of his classmates quite well, and she wasn't in that catalog. But what a terrible thing to consider! Not just to lie, but to make up a rule that did not exist. He could scarcely believe the thought had entered his mind at all. She'd probably believe me if I told her there are toe-biting toads in the water, he thought. And once again he was aghast that he would even consider such a thing. Imagine telling someone something that wasn't factually correct! Facts were holy and to invent facts for his own base purposes was nothing less than loathsome. He would not lower himself to the pre-historic levels that his disappointing classmates so often and so keenly sunk to.

Which meant, inevitably, that he only had two choices left. He could either move forward or move backward.

Oh crumbs, to hell with it! He was a 2nd year now and by the laws of hierarchy, that made him superior! She would have to make way for him, not the other way around!

Holding the straps of his schoolbag, Luke approached the shoreline and politely cleared his throat. "Excuse me. I could not help but notice that you are swimming." So far, so good. "Is it very cold today? Objectively speaking the temperature of the water here is always sub-optimal." If he would have worn glasses, he would have pushed them up his nose by now. "25 to 28 degrees is best, but only someone very foolish would expect a mountain lake to be that warm, especially at this time of year." Perhaps if he kept bestowing facts on her, she would go away? Most people tended to, and it wouldn't require any lying on his part. "I can assure you though that the water is quite safe." A truly monumental stamp of approval coming from the king of caution, but Hazel would have no way of knowing that. It wasn't going to help him get rid of her though.

Sighing, Luke crossed his arms over his chest and remained standing on the shore, still wearing his uniform, with a towel and some snacks packed in his schoolbag, which he hadn't taken off yet. Perhaps he should simply move on to the next tarn, leave the girl to her own business, but what if she slipped and injured herself? Besides, the first tarn was, in his opinion, the best one...

@Hazel Middleton