trickling water drops <Open>

[Connor Manning]

It had been a while since Connor had been angry at anyone... sure there was some tension at times between himself and other people, but he took him a while to recall the last occasion in which someone had hurt him bad enough for him to be upset about it for a while. Usually he just let comments roll off of him, not taking them too seriously. He cocked his head to the side, thinking about the question for another few seconds. " Kind of. I found out some family stuff that I didn't know... it was a bit of a shock, and the deception wasn't really all that great, but... I got over it. Why carry the bad stuff around ya know? "

Sure, he had forgiven, but he didn't really forget. It was much harder, in his opinion, to just forget about things. Forgiveness, though, was easy to give.

' Then why even exist at all? ' He didn't really know, but he supposed he would find out eventually. Maybe through living life, or even in his own eventual death - either way he would know what it was all for. " I'm sortof hoping that the point of existing is to be happy. To be a good person... and see what happens next. " Heaven or hell, he wasn't sure if either existed, but he figured that it would be better to believe and be proven wrong than to not believe and find out that something else did exist, only to be excluded from it. He looked up at Vanessa, concern lightly etched into his features. " Oh... okay. " He wasn't really sure what to say, so he fell silent until her next question.

He looked up to the sky, remembering something his dad had told him once. " I think... maybe when someone's at their lowest then they figure it out. When you have nothing left to believe in, it's what you turn to... If that makes any sense. " He didn't feel like it did, but he was trying.

[Vanessa Sanderson]

Vanessa spaced a little while Connor spoke, but still took in every word he said. She didn't like to be angry for long either, thinking that it messed up her insides somehow with how much pain it gave her. It was like indigestion, or worse... heartburn. "I think keeping grudges, or being mad at too long feels a lot like heartburn. It's no good," she said softly shaking her head and looking down at the ground that had just a dusting of snow beginning to cover it. Her foot played in it a bit before her head looked up and her solemn face she had turned into a bright smile for the slytherin head boy. "Has any good stuff happened for you recently?" she asked him nonchalant like.

Vanessa nodded, she liked his way of looking at what life was for. "I think I'm a good person.." she hoped she was as she trailed off trying to find any bad person traits within her. She didn't think she had many, but then she did seem to accidentally ignore people sometimes. She hoped though, that whatever happened for her in the end of life, was just the beginning of a new one. "I'd love to be a Phoenix... they die, only to be born in a blaze of glory. I like birds..." Vanessa giggled, hearing a familiar tweeting coming from behind Connor. Why no one ever saw or heard that canary was beyond her... it was always around. Someone eventually would have to see it other than her... maybe someday.

Vanessa nodded her head at his last comment. His father sounded very philosophical, and even though it made absolutely no sense to Vanessa, she liked the way it sounded any ways. "Your father sounds very intelligent," she said nodding her head still.

[Connor Manning]

Connor was sort of surprised that this conversation had lasted this long considering it had started with him cursing under his breath because he fell into the fountain. Not his brightest or most intelligent moment ever, but he survived and that was all that mattered really. Plus he didn't mind talking to Vanessa, she seemed like a decent girl to be friends with.

He chuckled as she mentioned feeling anger being like hearburn, and gave a small nod of his head. " Yeah, I think you might be right. S'never good to keep too long I think. " He tried not to get too worked up over the little things that happened, so when he did get angry, it was always over something rather big, causing his emotions to be fierce and a bit explosive. " Good things... well... I'm here, surrounded by friends. That's good. I'm... er, loved... and... I dunno, people seem to like me for some reason, " He smiled jokingly because he knew people liked him, just wasn't always sure why. He looked off as he listened to the girl talk, her words putting the imagery of a phoenix flying through the air, flaming yellow, red, and orange wings soaring majestically. It was easy to see why she'd want to be a phoenix of all things. " Maybe in another life? " He suggested with a smile as he glanced back to the Hufflepuff lass.

Connor nodded his head, " If nothing else, he is that. " A light laugh echoed from the seventeen year old.

[Vanessa Sanderson]

Vanessa smiled brightly at the Slytherin and sighed contently. "Well, you're easily likable and tolerable and you like to help and talk to people when you don't know them very well," Vanessa took all she said from her own experience with the boy and nodded her head. "I couldn't see any reason why anyone wouldn't like you." Vanessa stood and spun a little in the lightly covered ground and laughed at herself.

"I'm not sure if I'd like the snow though if I were a bird made from fire," a small twittering came from behind her, but Vanessa didn't look anywhere else but at Connor. She knew that it was her bird that she could only see, for what reason it was there then however, she didn't know. "I mean, because it's cold and such. So, in another lifetime I'd have to be a Phoenix in a warm climate..." she trailed off trying to remember her studies in Davenports class about the birds. "Do you remember where they originally are from?" she asked. "I'm sure it was said in class, but I just cannot remember."

Vanessa walked over to Connor and smiled at how he spoke about his father. Jolly like, and full of gratitude. Gesturing for Connor to stand with one of her hands she looked at the snow and then smile again at the boy. "Do you think there's enough to scratch up for a tiny snowman?" she giggled. "We can put him on the fountain... I'm sure not more than a few inches tall, but it'd be funny nonetheless..." she trailed off, not really thinking he'd go for it. But Vanessa was getting restless, there had to be something else they could do.