unstoppable.
● ● ● ●

there's a moment in your bones when the fire takes over, blood is running heart is pumping

Callahan was not yet sure how he felt about starting his first year at Lufkin. It was just under a month away now, and part of him was nervous. He felt ready, academically speaking. The summer of working at the Ministry had definitely done a good job of preparing him for his degree, and he felt ready… but the nervousness was still there. Maybe it was all a natural part of starting something new. Cal was truly a bit scared to be going to school and working at the Ministry at the same time. It seemed like a lot, on paper, and he had a feeling that it would be a lot. But Cal also wasn’t the type to back down from a challenge. Or to admit that he was wrong. So it was really just a matter of pulling it together and mentally preparing himself for the struggle that was sure to come. At the end of the day, as hard as it might all end up being, Cal had a feeling he would be just fine.

That was kind of the Graves guarantee, really. Throw anything their way, they’ll bounce back from it somehow. No obstacle was too great. Maybe it was all just sheer stubbornness, but Cal liked to think there was more to it than that. They all worked hard - Cal, Lyla, Mum, Dad - so it really shouldn’t have been surprising that they were all doing so well for themselves. He might have only been eighteen, but Cal liked to think he had come a long way in those short years. Between Quidditch, being Prefect, and now his Lufkin acceptance, he felt like hard work always, mostly, paid off. And when it didn’t, there were always other ways to get what he wanted. Never mind the fact that LJ had beaten him for the Head Boy title - you can’t fight with family, after all.

Perhaps the one thing Cal had yet to do was move out - and, frankly, he would take his time with that one. Living at home was still rather convenient, especially now that he was going to Lufkin. And it wasn’t like either of his parents were in a rush to kick him out - in fact, he rather thought his mum liked having him around - so he would take the golden opportunity to save up some money until he could comfortably find his own place. And a nice one, at that. Besides, being home meant that he got to see his little brother all the time, and that he could make the best of his summer with Lyla before she left for Hogwarts again. They hadn’t been apart for a whole school year ever since Callahan had started his first year, so it was all feeling a bit unreal… for now. He was sure it would hit him like a ton of bricks as soon as he was standing on the platform at King’s Cross, waving goodbye.

The morning in Graves Hall had been quiet, so far, anyways. He knew everyone was home - unless one or both of his parents had left early to handle some things at work - and just supposed they were all sleeping in. It was a Saturday, after all, and Cal would have probably been doing much the same, had it not been for the university-related panic that had been slowly setting in. Cal took a sip of his coffee as he flipped a page of that morning’s Prophet and skimmed the headlines. Honestly, the rubbish wasn’t getting any better. They really ought to get rid of Skeeter at this point.

Beckett Archibald Graves
618 words
outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

We can be heroes
everywhere we go
We can have all
that we ever want

❧

It was hard to believe that this summer was going by so quickly. Before long, the league season would be coming to an end, the World Cup would be over, and his work would slow down for a little while. It wasn’t as if they had nothing to do throughout the autumn and winter months. There was just less to do than there was during the summer. They still kept plenty busy, but the summer months were definitely more eventful. Tomorrow, league matches would continue. The Tornados had a bye-week, so he had no match to go to. And on Monday… well, Monday was a big day.

England was playing Australia in the semi-finals, and they would be finding out which one of the two teams would be heading up against Spain for the World Cup.

If they could just beat Australia, then they would be in the finale of the World Cup for the first time since 1994. Beckett definitely considered that to be exciting news. He thought that they had good chances, though Australia had absolutely trounced Madagascar the month before. They were a good team--they had to be, obviously. They had made it this far too. But Beckett still thought that their chances were pretty good. Then, depending on the scoring, they would have work to do.

There would be plenty to do regardless, but if they had to prepare for a home match, it was going to be a long week. There would be plenty of sleepless nights to prepare for something like that. If their score didn’t end up higher than Spain’s had been against Chad, then the team would be heading to Madrid for the match, and it would be mostly up to the Spanish government to get everything set up. They would still lend additional support as needed and do what they needed to do to make sure that everything was ready on their end, but an away match would definitely put less work on them.

Honestly, though, he was hoping for a home match. He could use the distraction and would like the challenge of making sure that the stadium was ready for a World Cup final match. There was just no way of knowing what was going to happen until the match on Monday. There was a chance that Australia would win, and they would be out of the World Cup altogether. Even if that happened, he would be proud of a World Cup well executed (on the Ministry’s part) and matches well played by the players. They’d had a good run, whether they won on Monday or not. He was looking forward to seeing what happened.

When it was over, he knew that there were realities that he would have to face. They were going to have a new baby here in December. That was something that was approaching quicker than he could have imagined. And, their oldest son was starting university. He had already started his job in the Ministry, but he had decided to go to Lufkin too. It was a good choice, in Beckett’s book, but having one child that was officially an adult was a strange feeling. When added in with the expecting a newborn thing, he didn’t even know what to think.

Further proof, in his mind, that he was too old for another child, but that was just beside the point. “Anything interesting?” Beckett asked, as he headed into the room and saw Cal with the Prophet. More than likely, there was nothing too interesting in the paper or he likely would have heard about it already. Pulling a mug out of the cabinet, he poured himself some coffee before glancing at Cal again. “Want some breakfast?” He thought that he could throw something together. He wasn’t as good of a cook as Liv, but breakfast food was pretty easy to pull off.

@ son | Outfit

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

[newclass=.cred]text-align:center;font-size:6pt;color:rgb(132, 132, 132);letter-spacing:1px;font-family:verdana;margin-top:5px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cred a]color:rgb(132, 132, 132);font-size:6pt;letter-spacing:1px;font-family:verdana;[/newclass]

[attr="class","backgmin"]

[attr="class","lyric1min"]unstoppable

[attr="class","lyricbgmin"]

[attr="class","lyric2min"]There's a moment
In your bones
When the fire takes over

[attr="class","textbodmin"]Callahan had yet to fully accept the fact that summer was nearing its end. It seemed so unusual, the idea of not returning to Hogwarts after all of these years. The school had turned into a second home, really, and part of him had yet to embrace the fact that it would never be quite like that for him again. It was a little strange, finally moving past that era of his life. Cal would be starting at Lufkin, but it just wasn't quite the same thing, he thought. Sure, it was still school, but now it was more focused and he would be coming home every day and... there would be no Lyla. That was the worst part of it, in Cal's opinion. He remembered how sad his first year away from home had been, not having Lyla around. They were two peas in a pod, and even being in separate houses couldn't keep her apart. But for the first time in six years, they would be away from each other for a whole school year, and it made this new chapter of Cal's life a little bittersweet.

Part of him felt like that was the reason he had yet to even consider moving out of Graves Hall. Being apart from family was not something Cal had really ever done, and with Lyla at Hogwarts without him for another year, at least staying in their childhood home gave him some semblance of closeness. Maybe once Lyla finished Hogwarts, maybe once he gained his bearings at Lufkin, he would consider it. But for now, this really was the best option, and Cal couldn't exactly complain. He knew he had the luck of the draw when it came to family. As much as things had gotten complicated in the last few years, amidst all of the mania in the Ministry, they had always been there for each other. That was just the way things worked for the Graves family.

Cal was already dreading the idea of going to Platform 9 3/4 only to stick around and wave goodbye as the train rolled out of the station, but at least there was still a couple of weeks until that had to happen. For now, he would enjoy what little there was left of his summer. He would enjoy his work routine and the time he could spend with Lyla. Hell, even the time he could spend with his parents and Anderson. Cal had a suspicious feeling that Lufkin would be taking up a whole lot of his time, especially in first year. "Tornadoes have a bye-week, so not really. Although someone's trying to make the case for a Lancashire win tomorrow so that's pretty entertaining," Cal answered his father with a light smirk, then folded up the newspaper and gently pushed it aside. "Sure, I could do with some breakfast," he replied, just then realizing that he had stopped in the process of doing that once he had coffee in hand.

@ dad | 500 words

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF GS + WW

[googlefont=Dancing Script]
[newclass=.backgmin]width:410px;background:url('http://www.designbolts.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Black-wood-photoshop-pattern-for-website-background.jpg');border-top:10px solid #8525c5;border-bottom:10px solid #8525c5;[/newclass]
[newclass=.lyric1min]color:#8525c5;text:2px 0px #8525c5,0px 2px #8525c5,0px -2px #8525c5,-2px 0px #8525c5;font:30px Dancing Script;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom:-20px; text-align: left;text-transform:lowercase;margin-left:23px;padding-top:10px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.lyric2min]font:9px Verdana;line-height:9px;text-align:justify;color:#e6e6e6;text-transform:uppercase;float:left;margin-top:-8px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.lyricbgmin]padding:20px;background:#262626;margin-left:20px;border-bottom:2px #8525c5 solid;[/newclass]
[newclass=.textbodmin]width:300px;font:10px Verdana;text-align:justify;padding:20px;background:#262626;color:#e6e6e6;line-height:14px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cred]text-align:center;font-size:6pt;color:rgb(132, 132, 132);letter-spacing:1px;font-family:verdana;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cred a]color:rgb(132, 132, 132);[/newclass]

[nospaces]

[attr="class","cbg"]

[attr="class","cbgtop"]

[attr="class","cimg"]

[attr="class","clbox"]

[attr="class","ctopline"]WE CAN BE HEROES

[attr="class","cscriptde"]everywhere we go

[attr="class","cline"]

[attr="class","clyrics"]WE CAN HAVE ALL[break]
THAT WE EVER WANT

[break][break]

[attr="class","cbody"]Summer had always been the best time of year, in his opinion. That had plenty to do with the fact that Quidditch was in season and there were league matches to watch every week. He had enjoyed that before they had bought the Tornados but, of course, matches had gotten much more interesting once they’d made that purchase. It gave them even more of a reason to go to the matches every week and he certainly liked having that excuse.
[break][break]
Of course, it had made Liv even more passionate about the team. When they lost, or weren’t performing up to her standards, then Marcus and the rest of the team heard about it. If they lost the league or got knocked out of the finals, then he normally heard about it by her being in such a mood that he got china thrown at his face. Luckily, he was pretty good at dodging flying dishware by this point in their relationship.
[break][break]
Usually, though, the Tornados performed well. They were always one of the top performing teams in the league—them, the Magpies, Puddlemere United. They were the teams that came to mind that always did well. There were others that were half decent, even good, and with all of the trades made and changes to rosters and coaching staff, there were always teams that ended up rising through the standings that nobody ever saw coming. Apart from the Cannons, obviously, and other teams that usually performed pretty badly no matter what. The Cannons were so consistently bad it was nearly laughable, and he knew that Lancashire hadn’t been above Division D in Merlin knew how long.
[break][break]
Maybe one of these days, they would all really be surprised by a complete rise in the standings by a Division E team but nothing like that had happened so far this season. If someone was going to come out the underdog, it likely would have happened by now. If he were to name any team the underdog of the season, he’d say it was probably the Bats. But they were still a Division D team—yes, they were performing above and beyond what other teams were in the same division, but it still wasn’t a rise from the bottom to the top. He’d really only consider it to be a true rise if it were the Cannons or Lancashire or something.
[break][break]
Regardless, Quidditch season was always his favorite time of the year. Not only did it mean that he was extremely busy at work, which was always a good thing, but it just meant that they had something to look forward to every week. The Tornados were playing well, as always. Point wise, he’d say they were doing about the same as they had last year, which seemed to be a consistent problem. They were good at winning, but they weren’t good at getting a score high enough to keep them at the top of the rankings. That was fine, though. As long as they were winning, that didn’t bother him. He did know, however, that it bothered both Liv and Marcus. “How do they figure that?” He asked, with a chuckle. Lancashire’s season usually considered of all losses with a couple of predictable wins sprinkled in when they played worse teams.
[break][break]
Nodding, Beck took a sip of his coffee before speaking again. “Pancakes? Eggs?” He thought that he could pull off either of those pretty well. He might be able to make waffles, if he was feeling particularly ambitious.
[break][break]

[attr="class","cnotes"]587 ● @ son ● outfit

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF WW + ADOX 2.0

[googlefont=Dancing Script]
[newclass=.cbg]width:400px;background:#262626;padding:30px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cbgtop]width:400px;height:120px;text-align:left;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cimg]float:left;width:100px;height:100px;padding:10px;border:1px #aaa solid;[/newclass]
[newclass=.clbox]float:right;height:100px;margin:15px 5px auto auto;text-align:justify;width:257px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.ctopline]font-size:9px;letter-spacing:2px;text-transform:uppercase;font-family:verdana;color:#aaa;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cscriptde]font-size:23px;margin-top:-3px;font-family:Dancing Script;color:#125235;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cscriptde span]color:#ccc;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cline]height:1px;background-color:#888;margin:3px auto;[/newclass]
[newclass=.clyrics]font-size:8px;letter-spacing:1px;text-transform:uppercase;text-align:justify;font-family:verdana;color:#999;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cbody]font-family:verdana;color:#999;font-size:10px;text-align:justify;line-height:14px;letter-spacing:0.5px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cnotes]font-size:9px;letter-spacing:1px;text-align:center;opacity:0.8;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cred]text-align:center;font-size:6pt;color:rgb(132, 132, 132);letter-spacing:1px;font-family:verdana;[/newclass]
[newclass=.cred a]color:rgb(132, 132, 132);font-size:6pt;letter-spacing:1px;font-family:verdana;[/newclass]