Clear Skies and an Open Mind

[Maya Castillo]

Maya gasped, suddenly awake as she hit the cold stone floor. "Ouch..." she moaned her voice muffled by her blankets that she was tangled in like a spiderweb. Roughly she kicked them off and lay there unmoving, breathing hard, eyes closed, cheeks flushed, and a frown on her face. One hand came up to brush her sweat soaked bangs from her face before she rolled over, eyes still tightly shut, to press her hot cheek to the blissfully cold floor. She stayed like that for at least five minutes listening to the soft breathing of the other girls, still sound asleep in their beds.

Finally pulled herself up, nearly tripping over her twisted blankets, and glared at her cat, Tabitha, curled up on her pillow. She was still breathing hard, and she was still sweating, her nightshirt sticking to her slender frame. This was an unusual morning for Maya. First because she was rarely in a foul mood like she was right then, and second because Maya was hardly ever hot. Mostly, she was cold, and could be found shivering even on warm days. However, at the moment Maya was both hot and cranky.

Not bothering to pick her blanket off of the floor, Maya stomped to the bottom of her bed and wrenched her trunk open and grabbing the first cloths she saw. While quickly dressing, Maya realized that they were a pair of black sport shorts and a too big red t-shirt with a bucking bronco on it that she had stolen from her brother. The shirt was much too large for her, almost covering her shorts, and draped over her like a sheet, giving her an almost shapeless figure. Not bothering with shoes, Maya snatched up her wand and took a few seconds to retrieve a towel before leaving the quiet dormitory behind.

With wand and towel in hand, Maya made quick time to the castle grounds, meeting no one on the way. The air was cool on Maya's hot face as she quickened her pace. With the lake in sight, Maya broke into a sprint, her strong slender legs propelling her forward with practiced ease. When she reached her favorite cluster of rocks that led out to the overhang suspended above the water, Maya dropped her wand and towel, not caring where they landed. She let out a joyful whoop as she launched herself into the morning air, tucking her legs to her chest in an easy somersault before diving under the dark surface with hardly a ripple. If not for her wand and towel abandoned on the rocks, no one would even know she was there.

After about ten minutes of floating, and spinning in the cool water Maya pulled herself out. The sun had appeared over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, and it was surprisingly warm. Maya sprawled herself on the warm rocks, ignoring her towel a few feet away, and closed her eyes her unpleasant dream almost forgotten.

((Open to all but at least one other girl please!))

[mcnutt]

{Hope you don't mind}

Carrying Corey with him, Dustan made for the great lake, figuring the laurus would enjoy a bit of sunlight and fresh air which rolled off the lovely lapping waters the lake provided. He was getting pretty big, thankfully Dustan had been able to curb a huge amount of growing with a bit of wandwork and a few drops of a potion he'd asked Professor Tapia about during a free period once. The woman was quite happy to provide insight to those he inquired about, and man could she talk. On and on and on she went when he'd only had a couple of questions. Of course, he'd been polite, but she had taken up all of his time and he'd had to rush off to class.

As the Prefect approached the lake, he noticed someone laying in a spot he rather preferred himself, and figured she wouldn't mind at least sharing it. If she had a problem with Corey, then she could take it up elsewhere, it wasn't Corey's fault he wasn't a student, they didn't allow plants to attend the school.

Setting the plant down, Dustan's eyes strayed over the sprawled body, and then to, what he assumed, was to be the accompanying towel. Taking a few steps over, he pulled the cloth to himself and made his way over to the young lady, hoping not to disturb much, but not wanting the towel to disappear into the depths of the lake either. Once things were lost in there, they hardly saw daylight again and for all he knew it was a special towel.

Clearing his throat, hoping to avoid having to speak as he didn't want to face humiliation. After all, stuttering to girls was enough, when they were wearing less than usual clothing (as what she was wearing looked like a shirt, and it was mighty clingy), it looked worse on him...

[Maya Castillo]

((not at all))

Maya's mind had been drifting like it always started to whenever she was still and quiet for more than five minutes. The rocks were so warm underneath her bare skin and even through her wet shirt that the sensation almost reminded her of home. Oh home...how she missed it. Maya hadn't been pleasantly warm in such a long time that her mind was almost blank with bliss and she was finding it hard to concentrate on anything. So when someone cleared their voice above her, Maya hardly even noticed.

She lay there motionless, breathing evenly and face relaxed that one would almost assume she was asleep, and to be quite frank she nearly was. She lay there unmoving for so long she started to wonder if the person had left. Maybe they thought she was just ignoring them and decided to leave. Maya hated being ignored because she thought it was annoying and rude, and Maya hated rude people almost as much as she hated hypocrites and at the moment she was being both.

Slowly, Maya opened her eyes and raised a hand to shield them from the sun so that she could see her new companions face. She thought she recognized him as a Prefect in her own year, but from Slytherin if she wasn't mistaken. Absently Maya wondered if she was in trouble for something. With an inward sigh Maya pushed herself into a sitting position then cocked an eyebrow at the boy, her mahogany eyes, gleaming red in the morning sunlight, flicked between his face and her towel that was in his hand.

With a practiced flick of her head, Maya managed to get her bangs out of her eyes which sent droplets of water flying into the air from her dripping hair. Then Maya frowned slightly, a puzzled look appearing on her dark face. So if he has my towel..." Maya pondered, where is my wand? Her eyes quickly flicked over the surrounding rock and quickly found the familiar piece of wood a few feet away. She decided to leave it where she had dropped it and turned her gaze once more on the boy.

"Good morning," she said and gave him what she hoped was a friendly smile, "is that for me?" she asked and extended a hand upward to retrieve her towel. He seemed somewhat uncomfortable, and vaguely Maya wondered why. Maya shifted on the rocks, and her shirt twisted around her with her, sticking to her every subtle curve. Suddenly a blush appeared on her golden cheeks as she thought about how she must look to the newcomer. It probably looked like she wasn't wearing any pants either, and the fact that her once overly baggy t-shirt now clung to her wet body didn't help.

[mcnutt]

For a moment, he wasn't sure where to look; he didn't want to seem that he was staring, that he was bored, that he was interested, in fact, he just wanted to hand her the towel, assuming it was hers. There'd been more than one occasion where he'd seen the Giant Squid reach out enough to pull in belongings which belonged to rather careless owners. The wand had passed under his radar, but the towel, well, he was there with it, just waiting. And after a moment, he wasn't sure she'd heard him, in fact a moment later he was wondering if she was even alive, but he could see her move with every breath she took. Therefore, it led him to believe she was alive, or he hoped...

Finally, bright eyes opened, and he found himself staring, noticing the distinct colour. Actually, they were very beautiful, a shade he couldn't recall seeing before. It wasn't until flecks of water smacked him that he came out of the slight trance he had been under, and his face started to glow, realizing how he likely had looked. Her eyes though, they were gorgeous, like a well-finished antique table in perfect condition. Gulping, Dustan quickly dropped his gaze, only to find himself now staring at what he thought were rather bare legs. Why was this happening? Coughing, he quickly cast his glance up toward the sky, wondering just how odd she thought he was being. It wasn't like he hadn't seen a girl after swimming before, but normally it was from a further distance and he wasn't standing over them with a towel.

"M--mo--mor--morning," the Slytherin Prefect was finally able to sputter. At least it was a nice day, even if the sun was imprinting itself now on his eyeballs. "Mmhmm," he hummed, in a rather high pitch, becoming more and more nervous by the second. This wasn't right, he was supposed to be a leader of his house, the man of his own home, and yet here he was like a yuppie sputtering, staring, and likely looking like a creep, not to mention sounding rude even to himself. All he'd wanted to do was hand the towel over and get back to his conversation with Corey about something he'd come across in the library called a Nonsingular Matrix. All he knew was it had something to do with mathematics, and he was interested.

As she made a movement, he glanced down, hoping she'd reveal shorts, or just disappear, only to find his face brightening at the sight his dull green eyes took in. Only, this time he had a hard time looking away, even more entranced with the color of her eyes which were very well complimented by the glow of her cheeks.

[Maya Castillo]

After a few beats of awkward silence, Maya felt a crease form between her eyes as her puzzled frown returned. Uh oh... she thought catching her bottom lip between her teeth as she normally did when nervous, he seems...flustered. She watched with slight worry as his moss green eyes flicked all over in some sort of panic, and he seemed determined not to meet her gaze again. At least she had caught on to the fact that she looked rather undecent to say the least. But to be fair, Maya justified herself in her own mind, I didn't think anyone else would actually be up this early on a weekend.

When the boy seemed to have his attention firmly fixed on the sky Maya quickly started fumbling with her shirt. She yanked the wet fabric up, prehaps a little too much and tied it in a knot at the base of her back. Was it too high or too tight now? Oh well at least he could see she was actually wearing shorts, all be rather short shorts but there was nothing she could do about it now. Her head cocked ever so slightly to the side when he spoke, noticing his stutter with slight interest but didn't think too much of it. He did seem horribly nervous.

When she reached up for her towel she caught his gaze again and she gave him a small apoligetic smile as she tugged her towel gently from his grip. Maya attempted to gracefully get to her feet, however her legs had gotten just a little bit sore from laying down so long and she stumbled right into her Slytherin counterpart. "Sorry, sorry!" she gasped and hurridly took a few steps back clutching her towel to her chest like a long lost treasure. "Umm," she said trying to catch her breath, "you're Dustin right? I'm Maya." Slowly she offered a small slightly shanking hand as she looked up to meet his gaze.

[mcnutt]

Why was it so hard to tear his eyes from her gaze? While she had gorgeous eyes, and he wasn't afraid to admit it, he thought he had a better control on himself than that. There was just something so amazingly beautiful about the shade, the way it blended and yet stood out amongst her face. It wasn't something he got to see everyday, and he wondered why he hadn't ever noticed it before then. Of course, he usually kept to his own friends and plants, very rarely stepped outside his safe circle where he wasn't uncomfortable.

The fact her shirt was now rearranged didn't even register, or the fact that it was just as revealing as before, he was so hypnotized by her eyes that nothing else mattered. Well, it didn't until he felt the material in his hand being tugged loose. Again, his face glowed under embarrassment of staring, but who could truly help it? And while she stood, his eyes were forced to focus elsewhere, knowing he couldn't very well stare into those eyes all day, especially while she was likely trying to make her escape from the lunatic Prefect of Slytherin. Really, what a creep he was being, just staring at her eyes and not being able to talk. And when he had the chance to say something, he stumbled, as always around girls, but that just upped his creep factor and he knew it.

But, all thoughts vanished quickly when a wet body pressed against him and his eyes bulged in surprise. Once more, he felt his throat closing on breath, unable to breathe properly in such close contact of a lovely young woman. However, this was far different from Abigail's lovely touch, this was a lovely young woman who was sopping wet that just plunged into him, and who was probably thinking of just pushing him into the lake to get away from him. Wonderful.

Her hurried apologies were heard, barely as his thoughts were elsewhere, but he nodded absentmindedly.
"Y--yes, Dustan... McNutt. Dustan McNutt," he didn't stumble on his name. YES! Watching the petite hand being held before him, he didn't know what to do with it. What an idiot, fumbling, he quickly accepted the outstretched hand, gave it a long shake...and forgot to let go as he was lost on her eyes again.

[Maya Castillo]

The intensity of Dustan's stare was starting to unnerve Maya, and she became aware of the increasing warmth that was filling her cheeks. Her rather pointy ivories came down on her full lower lip as she tried to slow her hummingbird heart beat which was hammering away in her chest. Maya liked going unnoticed and unseen, and what she really did not enjoy was being the center of attention. Although Dustan was the only other human present, his unfaltering gaze gave Maya the same feeling.

Maya knew that her soft forign accent sometimes startled people, but would her accent make someone stare so? Her skin only darkened to it's rich bronze color in the summer, and it was only October so at the moment her golden brown skin simply looked like the result of spending many days in the sun. So what on earth could Dustan be staring at? Maya began to wonder if she had some sort of seaweed (or lakeweed) left over on her face from her short swim.

After a short awkward pause Dustan finally took her hand, and Maya had to supress a chuckle when she watched her tiny hand dissapear in his gentle grip. "Well...thanks for my towel...?" she said uncertainly and her thanks came out sounding like a question. Oh goodness he was staring again, and Maya didn't want to be rude by yanking he hand away but he seemed a little distracted. Her eyes franticly flicked around, unsure of what to do. Then her gaze fell on the odd plant on the ground, not far behind Dustan.

"Wow," Maya said sounding almost releived,"that's some plant. What kind is it? Is it yours?" She moved around Dustan to get a closer look, but his hand was still attached so she decided to pull him around with her.

[mcnutt]

Watching her eyes move, he noticed how the sun caught them when she looked in a certain direction, and then how the shadows played along them when she looked elsewhere. The color was absolutely amazing, and though he was embarrassed by his own staring, he couldn't help but to continue. At least, until she spoke and his eyes dropped to focus on the ground, his mind reprimanding his actions, though there really weren't any to speak of. he had only been focusing on something beautiful, like a flower that was rare.

"Ye--yeah," he answered, not really paying attention to his extended body part, still holding to hers. But, he was brought around, spoke to, and turned around. The slight force which made him turn was surprising, considering it was the girl who made him move. When the Slytherin realized his hand was attached to hers, he gulped hard, unsure if he could release her hand without making it look, or feel, awkward. After all, she had pulled him around.

"He--he's a lau--laurus, a ty--type of tree," Dustan answered quickly, all to glad to have something else to focus on other than her eyes. "It--It's n--not in bloo--bloom, tho--though."

[Maya Castillo]

Maya was relieved when Dustan responded to her gentle tug because she didn't want to have to yank him around, have him get thrown off balance then fall backward into the lake. That would have been too much for Maya to handle at the moment. He still seemed a little dazed when he finally spoke, and again Maya had to wonder what exactly he had been looking at. All the time his gaze had been boring into her own, it hadn't flet like he was actually looking at her, but rather at some inanimate object.

After a few moments, Maya felt his grip loosen as he seemed to realize that their two hands were still intertwined. Quickly Maya extracted her small hand from his before the situation could get any more awkward. When she let it drop to her side, her palm brushed against her still damp leg and she vaguely realized how warm it was.

Turning her back to Dustan, Maya crouched to get a better look at the little tree. Her head tilted slightly to the side, and her eyes were bright with curiosity as she examined the plant. "He?" she asked after a moment the confusion in her voice evident. "How can you tell?" She would have looked up at Dustan when she asked the question, but she was slightly worried that he would still be staring. Part of her wanted to ask what had intreugied him so, but that was slightly too forward for Maya's style.

[mcnutt]

"Uh..." was all Dustan could muster. How did he know it was a he and not a she? Well, he didn't, not really, it was just what he'd named the plant, after the person, that determined the gender he tended to follow with his plants. And being who they were all named for, well, they were all males.
"I--I mean... mean, well, he bein--being the sa--same as it... it. Inter--interchange--changeable, li--like tha--that."

So, his explanation could work, but he really wished it didn't sound like he was trying to cover something up. Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply, trying to make Maya turn into a guy. he could easily talk with guys, so why couldn't he do the same with girls? Stumbling over words, tripping himself up, finding it looking like he was covering something. Oh, how it bothered his poor soul.

Hopefully the explanation would work though.

[Maya Castillo]

"Oh..." she said feeling rather stupid. For all she knew plants didn't even have genders, Maya had never been good at Herbology. Plants just didn't seem to like her. I wonder what he looks like in bloom, she wondered to herself as she reched out a tentitive finger to gently brush one of the leaves. She quickly pulled her hand back before she could cause any damage. If people who were really good with plants were supposed to have a 'green thumb, then Maya had a black one. She couldn't even keep a small potted cactus alive back home...in the desert...where cacti thrived.

Maya leaned back until she was in a comfortable sitting position on the warm rocks, and crossed her legs. She wasn't ready to go inside just yet, and she was still curious about Dustan. "I get it," she said this time looking up at her year mate her eyes slightly shilded from the sun behind her auburn bangs, "I named my saddle back home...Xavier." She dropped her gaze, and nervioulsy tucked some hair behind her ear. Her 'x' had come out as a soft 'h' sound so that it almost sounded as if she were whispering.

She could feel the skin over her cheek bones and her ears turn slightly pink. After all she had just told almost a perfect stranger that she had named her saddle, which in her opinion was slightly more odd than naming a plant. She shifted on the rocks and pulled her knees up to her chest so that she could rest her chin on them. She stared wordlessly at the plant, trying to keep the homesickness at bay.

[mcnutt]

"Sa--saddle?" he asked with interest, turning to peer at the girl, hopefully not staring this time. "You rrrr-ride horse--horseback?" While he never had, it was something he thought would be interesting to try. Of course, his horseback was on a winged horse, growing up in the magical world where winged horses were a dream come true for children. Then again, the closest he'd ever come to flying on an animal was using floo powder, which was always an adventure. When his mother and he traveled to France, they traveled by other means.

Watching as she seemed to curl into herself, Dustan wondered if he'd done something wrong, hoping he hadn't. Wouldn't it be awful if he'd bothered her without in the slightest meaning to? Looking around them for a moment, the Slytherin Prefect finally took up a seat, and tried his best not to stare, which he was finding to be a difficult feat.

"Ummm...we we--were, uh, well, I--I was, ra--rather, fin--finding sha--shapes in clou--clouds." Giving an easy smile, he hoped she'd crack one too, or at least look at him oddly. It would mean she was still there, right?

[Maya Castillo]

A grin flashed across Maya's lips, her ivory teeth shining against her golden complexion. Hey gaze softened to a whistful fondness as she throught about Ezra back home, and she half closed her eyes so that they were shilded behind thick, dark lashes. "Every chance I get," she said, and while her voice was soft, even she could hear the longing in her tone. "My aunt," she continued, her attention fixed on the plant before her as its leaves fluttered in the gentle breeze, "she has some horses that I get to ride over the holidays but I miss my own horse back in Mexico."

Maya lapsed into silence and swallowed hard, as she fought the urge to cry. The ache she flet for her warm deasert, her family, and her horses was bone deep and she was finding it difficult to push it from her mind at the moment. She started absently fingering her silver horse shoe neckace that one of her brothers had given her for her 12th birthday, she hardly ever took it off. Maya sensed Dustan take a seat not far from her, and she could even sense his eyes on her, but she didn't look up.

When Dustan spoke next Maya tilted her head to give him a puzzled look, and when she met his gaze she found he was smiling at her. It was a charming smile that made her her lips twitch in response. After a moment of fighting with her confused emotions, Maya laughed and shook her head. It was nice that Dustan could make her laugh, not in the same way that Beau made her laugh, but it was still nice. Maya held his gaze long than she had before, searching his moss green eyes for something, although she was not sure what. Whatever she had been looking for, Maya found it and her smile widened.

She tilted her face upward and narrowed her eyes in response to the glaring sun as she searched the sky. She raised an arm and pointed, a slender hand indicating an oddly shaped clump of clouds. "There," she said, "it's a house elf. See the pointy ears?"