welcome to chimera!

[Victoria Summers]

It happened walking back from Care of Magical Creatures - the last class of the day. Walking innocently across the lawn, tired and with several new holes in her robes, it struck. Whether it had been errant aim intended for someone else or actually intended for her it would be difficult to determine because Vicky spent the next hour wandering around in a confunded state and then ended up just sitting on the grass, a little perplexed, but beginning to gather her wits again. She was sure for part of her confusion, she'd heard giggling somewhere to the right, left, south, west of her but she'd been dizzy and things had been melting together much like they had that time she'd inhaled vapors from her firework gone wrong.

It was probably bad how often she damaged her brain in chemical and physical and magical ways, but Vicky couldn't be bothered to be concerned about that at the moment because she was only beginning to remember where she was in relation to space, time and everything.

If this could be traced back to Cactus, she'd force him to pay dearly. She might retaliate even if she couldn't prove it just to be safe. After another few inhales, she felt capable of standing and looked about to orient herself. It helped that there was a sudden, very recognizable, froth of dark curly hair spotted a few yards away. Picking up a slight jog to catch up and came to Lizzy's side, knocking into her gently and purposefully to alert the other girl to her presence. "Ever been confunded?"

[Elizabeth Shacklebolt]

Feeling that the grounds were just too lovely right now to retreat inside straight away she had lingered on them after Herbology, rather than follow the rest of her classmates back to the castle. In a somewhat rare moment of calm she had found a patch of grass to sprawl across where her vision was unobstructed and taken to watching the clouds blowing overhead, apparently unconcerned by the chilled breeze, making out stories to fit their shapes. Without any disruption this went on for far longer than she realised, and when Lizzie did finally prop herself up with her elbows it was to see that the grounds were far emptier than when she had lay down. Standing, and brushing the grass from her uniform, as the brisk air sent a shiver up her spine she figured it was probably about time to head in.

Off in her own little world, the slight jostle that resulted from the Hufflepuff’s knock shocked her. Taking a moment to blink, and bring her mind away from the shapes the clouds danced in, she found herself chuckling at the question. “Well, no – but not for lack of trying on Franklin’s behalf,” she answered, referring to her thirteen-year-old brother who would have very much liked to wrap his head around the confundus charm. Not for the first time she was glad that, at least for now, she had enough height and years on him to boss him around. “Who’s been confounding you?” she asked with a slight giggle, finding the idea at least a little amusing.

[Victoria Summers]

"That's the point of confunding - I haven't a clue,' she still felt a little woozy but had mostly collected her thoughts and she righted herself so she wasn't so blatantly invading her friend's personal space. She liked Lizzie - Lizzie was more similar to her than most girls she'd encountered. Vicky rarely got along well with girls, and it was nice to have a sort of reprieve from the constant friendship with crude little boys.

"Your husband's a good dancer, by the way." She said this matter-of-factly, but she was grinning widely. When the opportunity arose or when she forced it to, she enjoyed teasing either Lizzie or Zonko about their friendship. In all honesty, Vicky didn't actually think anything would come from it but truth was rarely the foundation for her mockery.

[Elizabeth Shacklebolt]

Instinctually she glanced around the grounds, not really expecting to catch Vicky’s confunder at all but not realising the fruitlessness of doing so until she had. “What are the chances of it being Cactus?” she asked, genuinely curious – it would hardly be a stretch of the imagination. Having never had any issues with personal space, far too used to her brothers invading it to be bothered, she only noticed the younger Hufflepuff righting herself because it was fairly amusing to see the other girl slightly out of sorts. Chuckling first at that, and then at Vicky’s matter-of-fact joke, she blew out a loose curl as it blew into her mouth and tucked it behind her ear.

“He is, is he? I wouldn’t know – there’s no room for dancing or romance in our marriage anymore,” she said, sounding pained. Amused by her own joke, and not at all fussed by whether or not it was funny in the least, she added another chuckle. Comfortable in Vicky’s company, and quite used to the jokes, she found more enjoyment in playing along with them than anything else.

[Victoria Summers]

"Well whoever it was giggled like a little girl - so yes, probably Cactus." She sighed and pulled her hand through her hair, tucking it behind her ear. It was easy to have hair envy, even for someone like Vicky who wasn't particularly girlish, next to Elizabeth.

"A real shame that, I thought you kids would really make it." It was kind of amusing that they were both so...entwined with one of the so-called pranksters. She was friendly with most all of them, but it was Cactus she was most often focused on, even if it was in an entirely negative fashion. "Going to get anything in the divorce?"

[Elizabeth Shacklebolt]

“Say no more - you might as well have caught him red handed,” still smiling, Lizzie wrapped and unwrapped her fingers around the strap of her book bag as they spoke, incapable of keeping them from fidgeting for any real length of time. “Is there going to be retribution, then?” she questioned, glancing sidelong at the other girl and adding in a very teasing tone, with a gentle nudge of her elbow, “- after you’ve shaken it off, I mean.”

“Oh, you know - the country home, the yacht... everything I can take him for and more, really,” chuckling at her own joke, she didn't stop to think about the nature of their respective friendships with the pranksters. Similiarly, she had never stopped to think about the fact that most of her friends were younger than he, or about the sorts of people she was drawn to at all. Had she done so, she might have found it all quite curious and definitely worth a laugh.

[Victoria Summers]

"Oh yes, there will be,' she replied with a note of cheery vengeance. In all reality, as mad as Cactus could make her, she wasn't as hateful of him as she played. It was more fun, exciting to keep the continuous pranking going than anything else. Even if on occasion his pranks managed to actually infuriate her. "I've been worse off than this,' she replied, nearly bragging. It was perhaps a weird thing to be proud of, but Vicky collected her various injuries and drunken states like someone else might collect cards.

"You'd best get the yacht, if we can't sail to the Caribbean this summer I don't think our friendship will last,' the accent she put on was fake posh and she waved a hand in an attempt to mimic some frosty socialite. Of course, all she had to base it on were the calculated dance-y movements of some of the more upscale Slytherin girls and movies, so it came off as parody at best. "I'll be your lawyer, threaten him with cooties if he doesn't comply to our demands."