Light the Fuse | Ryland

TAG: Ryland M. Finnigan | NOTES: YAY! <3

Emma found herself smiling, despite the fact that she would never have been caught dead pulling a stunt like this. She much preferred venturing out onto the grounds and documenting the different flora and fauna that Beauregard had to offer. But, Ryland had always been different then her. It was part of what she enjoyed about his company.

She reached down and snuffed out the embers that touched the edge of her robe and shook her head, “No harm, no foul, right?” Surely, if she decided on a career as a Magizoologist, she would experience far worse then a rouge firecracker. Emma watched as a bright red firework exploded above them, the crowd pointing and practically cooing as a few firework birds flew down from the main blast. They swooped around a few students before dissipating into the air.

“Course I’ll stay,” she said as she dropped her bag onto the ground and plopped herself down on top of the half-wall near where Ryland was launching the fireworks. “This is the best seat in the house. After all, you’re not going to launch fireworks at yourself, are you?” She leaned down and nudged him slightly before she pulled out her journal. Idle hands began sketching the way the next firework exploded into a shark and dipped down into the crowd. A few of the girls screamed, Emma simply laughed.

Sure enough, there was a crowd gathering in the Courtyard. Ry always had a knack for drawing a crowd with his hijinks. Sometimes she envied the way that he could assimilate into a crowd. People often had a difficult time understanding her. She closed the journal and found herself wondering what it would be like to be him. “Can I…light one off?” She asked, pulling out her wand from her cloak.

TAG: Ryland M. Finnigan | NOTES: YAY! <3

"Dragons would be cool. Maybe a phoenix next?" She had always dreamed of seeing them in real life. She dreamed that she would one day be a Magizoologist the way her mother had been...researching medical cures for Wizarding illness. But, she had a long way to go. And her mother's approval to seek.

Emma had half expected Ryland to say no. But she realized — upon seeing the grin that now practically dominated his face — this was exactly the sort of thing he loved. He wanted to share the excitement with someone else. She bit down on her lip…perhaps it wasn’t best to try and be like Ryland when they were both so different. But she certainly wouldn’t back down now. No, she would simply have to think of it as another one of her adventures.

There she was, standing face-to-face with one of the most deadly creatures in all of Wizard-kind: the firework. Em’s thoughts made her smile once again, but didn’t relinquish the anxious feeling building in her chest. She paused, feeling her heart pound beneath her rib cage. She could practically feel everyone’s eyes on her. There were days when she was the outsider — the one that no one could quite figure out. But Ryland had managed to break through her exterior and found warmth and kindness within. Though, it wasn’t easy to express with so many people around. Holding her breath, she held her wand to the fuse of the firework and squeezed one eye shut.

For a second, nothing happened. The tip of her wand was glowing with heat. In a moment, everything changed. The fuse caught and it started burning up quicker then Em had expected. She jumped back slightly and with a bang, the firework launched itself into the air. “Merlin,” she muttered, tucking another stray hair back into place. It was beautiful, an almost exact replica of the Vulpecula House sigil.

Of course, there were a few ‘whoops’ from her housemates and a couple of boos from the other houses. “Think one’s good for now.” She said, feeling her cheeks flush with pink. She pocketed her wand. Perhaps the hijinks were better left to Ryland, after all. “How long have you been working on that one? It was incredible!” She said as she resumed her position on the wall, now pulling her knees up to her chest as she looked up into the sky.

TAG: Ryland M. Finnigan | NOTES: Sorry for the wait :]

Emma had always admired Ryland’s resolve when it came to his pranks. She didn’t necessarily agree with all of them, but he was certainly dedicated to making sure they went off without a hitch. He also put a lot of thought into them, she mused. Most people would be satisfied with the status quo, but Ry made sure to go above and beyond. After all, spending nearly two weeks on a transfiguration spell to make sure the house sigils were nearly perfect showed an immense amount of focus…focus that not every prankster seemed to have. “Well consider me, and the rest of this lot impressed, Ry.” She said, giving him another smile as she opened up her notebook and her hands began idly sketching again. Sometimes, it was almost as if her hands already knew the motions and knew what to do. Em had nearly finished sketching the bridge of his nose when she realized that he was pointing at the incoming grouping of Prefects.

Here to ruin the fun, She thought as she watched Ry set off the rest of the fireworks. It wasn’t until the last one that her eyes seemed to light up with something akin to childlike wonder. The phoenix rose up above them, spreading its wings and soaring gracefully through the sky. Emma blinked and in that moment, it seemed to disappear. The darkness that followed was almost unsettling and she thought of reaching for Ryland’s hand for reassurance, but before she knew it, the Phoenix had risen again. Rebirth was fascinating…the ability to burn up completely but return as something new. She bit down on her lip, trying to hide her smile as the Prefects busted up the party.

She pulled out her wand and Ryland’s supplied neatly packaged themselves into the bag on the ground, which she picked up and handed to him as the school’s “law enforcement” finally reached them. “Nothing to see here, boys.” She said, cooly, her face now completely straight. They looked as if they were about to question what was in the bag when Emma started walking, pulling Ryland along with her. Somehow, they usually avoided detention. Ry was well-liked, in her opinion, which she ventured to guess played a part in his escapism. “They didn’t seem happy.” She said as they rounded a corner, now out of sight of the Prefects. Em dropped the bag at his feet and finally cracked a smile. “You’re lucky they didn’t bust you, you know that?” To some, she might have sounded chastising, but with him, it was all in jest.

She sat down on the grass, leaning up against the outside of the building. Her chest was humming with something that she could only guess was adrenaline — the strange feeling of venturing out of her comfort zone. A stray piece of hair had managed to fall from her ponytail, now settling between her eyes and she haphazardly blew air upwards, trying to move it out of her line of sight. “You owe me one.” The strawberry blonde muttered. “You going to that Masquerade on Halloween?”

TAG: Ryland M. Finnigan | NOTES: <3

There were times when she was thankful for the calm of her life. She was thankful that she was ordinary and rarely broke the rules. But it was moments like this, with adrenaline coursing through her veins, sitting next to her very best friend, that she was also thankful for everything that was opposite of her. She was thankful for rule-breaking and back-talking and skirting around detention with Ryland. He moved her hair and her face stung slightly where his fingers had brushed her forehead. She wasn’t used to physical contact. It rarely happened to her.

“Is it really rebellion? Or is it just self-preservation?” Emma asked as she pulled out her sketchbook from her bag. The image of the Phoenix was still imprinted in her mind — something she doubted she would forget any time soon — but she wanted to make sure that she captured all the details. Her hand moved across the page, making little tick marks to represent the fireworks as she sketched out the wing. She didn’t look up when he asked if she was going to the masquerade.

To be fair, she had barely thought about it. She wasn’t the type of girl that went out of her way to find a date. She also wasn’t the type of girl that would be caught dead dancing in front of people. She bit down on her lip as she drew the curve of the Phoenix’s head as she heard Ryland mention spiking the punch. “You wouldn’t dare! You barely skirted that run-in with the Prefects!” But, she was smiling. Of course he was going to do something reckless. Which would, in turn, make the whole party seem more exciting. She had to look up at him from her position on the ground, and when she did, she saw a near perfect halo of sunlight around him.

“You know, from this angle you look like a bloody saint,” she rolled her eyes and her hand slipped, causing the phoenix’s tail feathers to go slightly out of proportion. “But we all know that can’t be true.” She laughed and flipped the page of her journal, only to return to his previous question. Was she going to go? “I hadn’t really thought about it until now.” She answered honestly. “But I suppose I’ll go. Couldn’t hurt, right? Plus, if it’s awful I can always sneak off to the library. Bet it’d be dead that night.”