sign of the times
Tag: @emily	outfit

He was still getting used to the fact that he was done with Hogwarts. He was never going to have to go back. It was about damn time, really. As much as he’d enjoyed himself at school, Caerus had to admit that he was looking to… never having to go back. Of course, he wasn’t done with school completely. He knew that. He’d made the choice to go to University of Bangor this autumn and that meant continuing his education there. But he was going to school for something that he enjoyed. He didn’t have to deal with being stuck in a boarding school, stuck in subjects that he didn’t think that he needed anymore. There would just be astronomy to focus on. Making a career for that wasn’t exactly going to be easy, but it wasn’t as if he needed the money anyhow. The Nott family fortune was more than enough to get by on. It didn’t mean that he could lounge around and not work a day in his life--his father would never allow that. But it did mean that he could make decisions based on what he wanted to do and not have to worry about being financially secure. His father didn’t disapprove of him going to school for astronomy. Caerus knew that he would have rather him have gone into a major that would lead him into a good position in the Ministry, like Ophion had done. His older brother had done everything right. He’d stuck to mind-numbingly boring subjects at Lufkin University and was now officially starting up in the Ministry in the dullest department there was--health and human services. He didn’t even honestly know just what Oph was going to do there, but he didn’t think he even wanted to. He’d probably fall asleep if his brother even attempted to explain it. No, Caerus couldn’t follow those footsteps, no matter how much his father would love it. He’d stick to astronomy and he’d stick to what his father definitely disapproved of, and that was Quidditch. Caerus had finally made his decision on that and even though it was something that Lester did not like it, he still wanted to give it a chance. And he had an offer. If the Bats wanted him to play for them, it was worth a try. Today, he didn’t have too much to deal with. He had no summer classes to deal with--U of B didn’t offer them, but he didn’t think that he would have started that early even if he could. He didn’t even have his NEWT scores back yet, so it honestly wasn’t even a possibility as far as he knew. He’d had a practice with the Bats earlier that day and now he was pretty ready to lay by the pool for the rest of his day. At least until Remy got home. She was likely still at her internship for a while longer, but when she got back he’d find out if she had any kind of plans for the night. She was usually one to drag him places when she didn’t want to go by herself, but he didn’t mind. She was one of his best friends, and… more than that on occasion. Her staying here during the winter holidays had been tradition for years and he had to admit that her being here for the summer holidays was even better. By the time he made it back from practice, his plans for the pool were foiled by the storm clouds that absolutely had not been present in Ballycastle. A boom of thunder welcomed him home as he headed into the living room and realized that swimming would definitely have to wait. But there were still chairs outside on the patio that were covered. He might as well watch the storm. He had always found them to be relaxing. So once he’d grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen, he headed out the back doors and onto the patio. It was then that he saw that there was someone already seated at one of the lounge chairs. “Em? Hey.” The girl was one of Rhea’s good friends, or frenemies, or… hell, he didn’t keep up when it came to Rhea. “I didn’t think Rhea was home until later.”

Here comes the rain again

Outfit

Emily liked the rain, she felt it was soothing and good for the soul. She remembered her grandparents' house and how the rain looked like a waterfall cascading down in their beautiful backyard oasis. She felt at home in the rain almost as if they were still with her. She had become bitter after their deaths, she had treated few people kindly and she had closed herself off in a lot of ways. Though she was still outgoing and confident in outward appearances she was broken and one of the few people who knew about her brokenness was Rhea. She and Rhea had been friends since their first year at Hogwarts and had experienced a lot together. While they sometimes disagreed on things like most teenage girls do, they always remained friends in the end. Today was no different, Emily had run into some other girls from school earlier that day and she immediately could not wait to tell Rhea all about it. 

Rhea and Emily had planned to meet up over the summer just as they did every summer and in those early summers their friendship blossomed but in the more recent ones, especially last summer those times became less and less frequent. After she left the ice cream parlor, Emily decided to go home and change as it was supposed to rain later on in the day and Emily always liked to be prepared. Once her new wardrobe was assembled she decided she would just take the plunge and drop in to see Rhea at home, she certainly didn't think that her good friend would mind very much and Rhea would be enthralled to hear about her escapades earlier that day. 

Emily took the long way to their house because she loved to walk in the rain and she was hoping for a thunderstorm...one that would help her feel close to those grandparents she so desperately missed. After a while, Emily finally reached the back steps of the Nott Estate, this was how she always came to Rhea's house, too good of friends to ever formally knock on the front door, she could imagine Rhea teasing her if she ever did that. Just as Emily reached the covered area in the backyard it began to pour down upon her. She could not help but to sit and take it all in, smelling the fresh rain and watch it trickle down to the ground ever faster. 

Just when Emily had finally felt a peaceful serenity wash over her, she heard a voice. It was Rhea's older brother, Caerus, he was tall, dark and handsome and pretty much every teenage girls' dream. However, Emily nor Caerus would never cross such a line, it was obvious he barely remembered Emily and she was his sister's friend, nothing more.  To Emily, he was immediately off limits as the older brother of such a close friend and she wasn't in the habit of chasing boys, she would much rather they chase her. Still, it was hard to deny that had things been different and she had been older their attraction would have been inevitable. She turned to him slowly, not wanting to miss those last drops of rain falling, she could tell he was puzzled as to her presence in his backyard and his words made her quickly realize Rhea's absence. "I'm sorry, I just love watching the rain," she said trying to explain herself, "I was hoping to find Rhea, do you know when she will be back?"

sign of the times

His plans for after graduation had been up in the air for some time. He hadn’t been sure just what he was interested enough in to actually pursue for the rest of his life. There was nothing really obvious for him. He had always loved astronomy and he had always loved Quidditch. But he wasn’t sure that either of those were good choices for him. He couldn’t just think about what he wanted to do either. That just wasn’t an option. Caerus had to consider what his father would say, what his family thought, and if it was a job suitable for a Nott. Of course, he didn’t care about that as much as he should. As the second son, Caerus didn’t have as much to worry about as Ophion did. And Merlin knew that his older brother had taken all of his responsibilities in stride. He hd his boring job and his boring life lined right up. He was honestly surprised that Oph hadn’t found some witch to marry already too. It wouldn’t surprise him if that was in the works. In the end, Caerus had decided to go with astronomy and Quidditch. Why not? He hadn’t been sure that was what he would want to do with the rest of his life but it was at least a start. His father couldn’t fault him for going to university. That was a good move--it was what Oph had done, and he had even one-upped his brother for once in their lives by getting into U of B. The Welsh university was more prestigious than Lufkin University, so at least he had that going for him. He had no idea if he was going to enjoy it until he got there. Only time would tell. But at least he had made some kind of decision. It had been way too tempting to do nothing after he graduated, and just travel and drink and do whatever he wanted. It was what his Uncle Malcolm had done. For the longest time, he had just traveled and surfed, and rock climbed and had no responsibilities or expectations. Caerus didn’t know how he’d been able to convince his parents to allow that, but he didn’t think that his own parents would be as easy to convince. But that was fine. In the end, he’d convinced himself to make a decision that didn’t involve lazing around and drinking all day. Besides, being a Quidditch player came with its own kind of excitement. It came with parties and all of that. He wasn’t sure what he’d think about the fame but he didn’t think that he’d mind it. People staring at him and knowing who he was when he walked down the street didn’t sound bad at all. In fact, it sounded pretty good to him. As long as he could get away from it all when he was home, as long as he could get some time alone, which he needed sometimes, then he’d be all right. He had thought that some time by the pool would do him some good, at least until Remy got home, but the sound of thunder ruined that plan. Sort of, anyway. He didn’t really mind storms; the other night had been proof of that with Remy coming into his room during the last storm. He hadn’t expected anyone outside, but he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised to see Emily. “She told me earlier, but I was only half paying attention.” He answered, with a shrug, as he dropped down into another one of the lounge chairs. “Sera’s house, maybe? Said she’d be back by dinner, I think.” When his sister started talking about her plans for the day, sometimes he just stopped listening, but he was at least pretty sure that she said she’d be back before dinner. Or maybe after dinner. One of the two.

one call away

Emily was not surprised to learn that Rhea was at Sera 's house, the three of them had all hung out on many occasions and in Emily's absence, the other two girls had become even closer barely recognizing how easily their trio had become a duo. It did not bother Emily that they were hanging out without her, in fact, she was happy that Rhea had someone else to be there when Emily could not be. Emily had also made other friends over the years and it would never impact her bond with Rhea for either of them to enjoy the company of other friends. 

However, those thoughts did little to comfort her at this moment when all she desperately wanted was to talk to her friend. She could not decide how to proceed and took several moments playing out scenarios in her head, should she stay and wait for Rhea to return? but what if Rhea did not want to see her today? should she have called first? It was too late for that now, now she had to decide in a matter of seconds whether or not to stay or make the long trek back home. She reconciled herself to ask if she could wait for a while in Rhea's room and she would see her reaction when the time came although how mad would her friend really be to see her?

Just as Emily had finally gotten the courage to ask if it would be alright for her to wait for Rhea, she looked over at Caerus' face and she could tell that the young man was almost internally struggling with his own questions, she was not sure how but she wanted to help him, to be there for him, even though she did not know him very well she would never want the older brother of her close friend to be dealing with something and have no one to talk to, especially when she was right there with two perfectly good ears to lend to him. 

She sat down on the chair next to his and tried to think of the correct way to ask him what was on his mind, she did not want to seem like she was prying but she did want to be helpful if she could. She looked at him with a sincere smile and asked "Is everything ok? You look like you have a lot on your mind, is it school?" She thought it could be the pressure of college coming up and the future, she knew all too well the pressures of pureblood life especially on sons as she had seen her brother go through as well. 

You can't bribe
the door on your
way to the sky

❧

He had to admit that he’d been looking forward to being done with Hogwarts for quite some time. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t enjoyed his time at the school because he’d had. He’d had some good times at the castle--killer victory parties, very memorable girlfriends, and plenty to keep him entertained when he wasn’t in classes or working on assignments. It had just gotten a little bit repetitive eventually. Caerus had been ready to move forward, to move on… to whatever was going to come next. It wasn’t as if he’d had some grand plan right off of the bat. He’d just sort of had to figure it out after graduation. N.E.W.T. scores weren’t technically due back until mid-July, but he’d still managed to get into U of B based on his O.W.L. scores and just his general performance, he supposed. He thought that they might have access to the scores sooner than he did, so maybe they already knew how he did on his N.E.W.T.s too. He didn’t know. Caerus was just glad that one part of his future was pretty well sorted.

Getting into University of Bangor was definitely a good thing. It was a better school than Lufkin University in plenty of ways. It was just a bit more selective, offered less majors, was smaller. It was everything that he was looking for in a school. As much as he had enjoyed Hogwarts, he wasn’t looking to go to university in a place where he’d be right back with the same exact people all over again. He knew that there would be plenty of Hogwarts students at U of B, but he also knew that they had a more prominent foreign population than Lufkin did. People out of the United Kingdom didn’t tend to decide on Lufkin University for school and travel a great distance for it, but he knew that University of Bangor did have students from other countries. Obviously, there were more local, but still. There would definitely be a chance of new people there, more so than he thought there would be at Lufkin.

He wasn’t sure how continuing his schooling was going to go. He knew that making a career out of astronomy was not exactly an easy thing to do. He supposed he wasn’t sure that he wanted to make a career out of it, but he’d always loved it. It had been his favorite subject at Hogwarts since his first year so really, to him it just made sense to get to learn more about it. It might not be something that he ever did anything with once he graduated, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t worth it. And it definitely made his father happy that he was going to university too. It placated him since he wasn’t as pleased with the choice to join a professional Quidditch team. It didn’t matter that it was pretty impressive to even get onto a team, that wasn’t a profession that his father thought was necessarily well suited for a Nott. He knew how important his family’s reputation was to his father, but he thought that it would be fine.

Caerus had no plans of doing something boring for the rest of his life just because of his family’s reputation. There were plenty of boring families, that went into the Ministry and then gossiped about other purebloods and judged them based on the tiniest bits of gossip on what they were doing with their lives. He thought that their lives must be very small and they must feel pretty damn unimportant to think that was a good use of their time. But whatever. To each their own, that was what he’d always said. He was trying to make sure that his life was interesting. That was far more important to him than some boring job in the Ministry. “Me? Nah, I’m all good. Don’t have to worry about school until September.” He shrugged. He didn’t think that he had a lot on his mind, but hell, what did he know? “I’m just not the best conversationalist after practice, I guess. How are you?” Caerus asked, with a grin.

@ emily

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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass it's about learning to dance in the rain

Emily had her mind on school, she had already been thinking about how different her 6th year would be, for one it was the first year where she could drop a few core classes and pick up some electives and that was an exciting prospect to her. She was interested in so many things but sadly they did not offer classes on journalism at Hogwarts. However, she had just gotten an internship with the Daily Prophet that would start in the fall and that was something that truly excited the girl. She was worried, however, about passing all of her classes while doing an internship at the same time. It seemed like a lot for her to take on, but she was ready and she knew she was ready. She had been wanting this for as long as she could remember and she was anxious to see if she actually loved the field of publication as much as she thought she did. She was a smart girl and her grades were not likely to drop anytime soon, she would not let that happen no matter how hard she had to work to make certain of it. 

Emily was a determined girl with a sharp sense of self, she was fiery, feisty and stubborn and she did not let many things stand in her way. However, she had a perfectionist streak inside of her that was constantly wondering if her grandparents would be proud of her current accomplishments or not. She so desperately wanted to please her grandparents, and her parents, she was a people pleaser at least when it came to her family, aside from them she did not care much what people thought of her. She often times came off as the "mean girl" as a result of this but she genuinely did have a caring and nurturing side, but it was not something she allowed many people to see. She felt it would be a sign of weakness and Emily did not like weakness or at least she did not like to exude weakness to strangers. 

She realized she had made a mistake in interpreting Caerus, and she came to the recognition that she may have been projecting her own fears about school and the future onto him. "I'm sorry, maybe its just my busy year coming up that I was nervous about and I thought you might be too, college is a big step, I know my brother is excited about Lufkin, but I can tell he is a bit nervous too" She sighed, not really knowing what to say to the young man, she really did not know much about him and the age difference between them made their interests somewhat different and noticeably so. He asked how she was and she kind of jerked back to life at the prospect of a conversation "I am well, just enjoying my summer so far, or trying to, but thus far it has been a rather boring one, how about you?"