Sea. Sun. Set. [open Adrienne]

[Danielle Hale]

Danielle had been rushing around like mad, it was warm out although, slightly cooler seeing as it was the afternoon. Lessons were over for the day and it would be time for dinner soon. She just couldn't tear herself away from the cliffside, the view she was staring at was just as breathtaking as it was every year. Dani withdrew her knees in, peeking over the edge before sliding back a bit. She heard the waves crashing against the side, the sea air cool against her face. It was a little windy, brushing back her hair, she could stare out all day.

Leaning back on her arm, Danielle looked around. It was still quiet out, a few students milling around but a little surprising considering the weather. She would've thought there would be more people than this but perhaps they weren't so keen on the strong wind. She wondered whether any of her friends would spot her out here, Dani was thinking more of her friend Adrienne. Since becoming a prefect, Dani had wondered if that would affect her relationship some, she didn't expect her to ignore her and not give her any detentions but it wasn't exactly going to help their relationship.

Dani liked late nights, and wondering around the castle, sometimes skipping class was healthy especially when you didn't like the professor. Adrienne was an all around goody two shoes and even though she was a friend of Danielles, she didn't want to push her away. Sighing, Dani looked down at the patches of green grass between her, they had a whole year. There wasn't any point doing anything now when she hadn't seen what her friend would do anyway.

[Guest]

The wind was stronger today than on most days so Adrienne couldn't think of a better day to go to the cliffside. She loved to go there and just sit, not read, for one that was impossible, and not to sing. She just liked to go there to go there, to listen to the waves, and watch the birds. She liked to feel the wind sweep through her hair like an invisible brush. She liked how her face was always salty after she left. And it was often one of the few places on the grounds that she could be alone at, unless of course, everyone was in one of those moods to go there. As she drew near Adrienne was happy to see that there weren't a ton of people there but she was more happy to see that a certain friend of hers was there.

The wonderful and beautiful Danielle Hale as it were. She knew that her being a prefect could put some strain on their relationship but she hoped it wouldn't effect it too much, she still loved Dani's company and hoped she wouldn't have to get used to being without it. She walked up to Dani slowly, making sure not to trip and take a very nasty fall on the rocks. Her first year here she had been over excited and tripped, giving her nasty cuts up her entire left side, needless to say she hasn't ran here since. When she got within ear shot of Dani she smiled before she spoke, and hoped her voice would be heard over the waves. “Hey, you” she said continuing to walk up to her.

When she finally reached her she gave her dear friend the biggest hug in the world. “I've missed you so much” she added stepping away. To Adrienne her breaks away from Oasis always seemed more like a break from her safety. Here at Oasis she felt protected, she had already been brought to the harsh realization that you're home isn't always safe. At school she had never been subjected to danger, in fact normally the most danger she got was the cliffside. So she figured she would play with it by looking over the edge. “What a way to die huh?” She asked before turning back to Adrienne. She personally didn't care how she died, so long as she didn't have to think about it too long. She didn't want cancer, where she had to rot in a bed for six months before giving up and she didn't want to be hunted, always looking over her shoulder.

“So how was you're break?” she asked putting her thumbs in her jeans pockets so they could just sort of rest there. “I hope it went well” she added to her statement. It had been too long of a break for Adrienne's sake, she thought as she sighed. She hoped that Dani didn't think that now just because Adrienne had a badge that now she was a stickler for the rules, she still liked to have a good time and sometimes rules can constrict you of that. Adrienne was also a firm believer that with how the world is going now a days you might as well have fun while you can because soon enough you aren't going to be able to. Her father always told her: 'if you can't do it when you're a kid and you can't do it when you're an adult when can you do it?' Adrienne believed that in some cases you should live by that rule and just do it. If you listen to how someone wants society to run too much you'll forget how you want it to run and individuality is important.

“And don't leave out any of the details, I want to hear all about it” she insisted with a friendly smile. She knew that Dani's break must have been much more exciting than Adrienne's and she enjoyed to hear the stories of the young and the restless. She liked to hear about any daring things that Dani did. Of course sometimes Adrienne would act shocked and scold her but it was never a serious effort. Who would Dani be if she wasn't bold and confident? She would be another boring wall flower, that's what she would be. And who in the world want to be friends with a wall flower other than a wall flower?

[Danielle Hale]

Danielle heard someone behind, turning her head around she realised it was Adrienne and smiled. She had missed her friend over the holidays, and gladly accepted her hug still smiling. "I missed you too!" Dani looked back over the cliffs before turning back to her friend, "Yep. Pretty quick" She hadn't exactly been thinking of death at that point in time, if she jumped right now, she would land on the cliffs to a horrible death. It didn't bear thinking about. Considering the many ways anyone could die, curses, were at the bottom of her list. She'd much rather jump here than receive an unforgivable for example. At least he-who-must-not-be-named hadn't found the island, otherwise Michelle and Gabrielle would freak.


“So how was you're break? I hope it went well”

Dani shrugged, "It was ok" She was over the whole actor thing, "I just stayed at home pretty much, or hung around and met some of the people working with my mum" It wasn't exactly something she'd claim was the most enjoyable holiday but it beat doing absolutely nothing, which she probably would have been doing, that's not even counting all the owls to and from Alec. Dani laughed,
"It was fun meeting them, but they were so..." She tried to think of the phrase, "diva-ish. It was expected but still" Danielle wasn't too bothered. She hardly got to see her parents though, that was a shame but it wasn't as if she was going to moan about it. "I've had better" Dani looked at her friend. "How about you? Anything exciting?"

She wasn't expecting anything amazing, her friend was brilliant but she hardly set herself up for anything big and entertaining. Even Dani was disappointed at her holiday, she had even gotten the chance to go to Paris and had turned it down. What would her friend have gotten up to? "I missed Alec and Gabs and you and everyone I suppose" She smiled, the wind slowly dying down while the sun strengthened above them as it moved out from a cloud.

[Guest]

It had been about a month since the new school year had started, and everyone - students, professors, and house elves alike - had settled back into their normal routines at Oasis. For Taylor, that meant once again mingling with his friends in his own quiet, yet outgoing, manner, while simultaneously doing his best to ignore the surreptitious whispers and sideways glances that tended to follow in his wake. The resighting of Voldemort just before school had restarted had led to a surge in the rumours again, and although that had luckily mostly died down by now by no means had anyone forgotten his Parseltongue abilities. Of course, that was mostly due to the fact that he made no secret of it - with his entire family known for being Parselmouths, there really wasn't much of a point - and spoke to the snakes the school kept in the Care of Magical Creatures shed whenever he could. The sixth year had come a long way from the timid and confused twelve year old he had been four years ago. Still, the constant scrutiny could and did get tiresome after a while, and when that happened Taylor would seek a temporary reprieve at the cliffside. He had discovered - or rather, his serpent friends had told him - back in his first year that the walls built around the school weren't totally unclimbable, and that more importantly there was a particular spot where the cliffs extended beyond the outside perimeter of the wall. The area was wide enough, and safe enough, to even fall asleep in, and Taylor frequently used it as his refuge.

He had headed directly for it once classes had ended for the day, making sure no one was around to see him before standing at a particular spot at the wall, agilely pulling himself to the top of it and then dropping easily onto the ground on the other side. Sitting down comfortably, leaning his back against the solid stone wall, he simply allowed himself to relax, his mind drifting off as he stared absently out at the panoramic view before him. His lips curved upwards in an appreciative smile as he did so. It was windier than usual, and slightly chilly, but not so much that he couldn't enjoy the solitude. It was peaceful, and if anything, Taylor liked peaceful.

Unfortunately, that peace didn't last very long. Someone approached his area of the cliffs, and as he listened to their movements idly they appeared to settle themselves on the grass not too far from where he was. He tensed briefly at that; despite having the wall between them it was still entirely too possible that his presence be discovered. A light frown creased his forehead. Should he wait whoever it was out, or reveal himself? Before he could make the decision however, a vaguely familiar voice called out, startling him slightly before he quickly recovered. The voice spoke again, sounding closer this time and then a second, instantly recognizable voice responded. Taylor groaned inwardly as the two girls continued to talk, realising who they were with mute dismay. It wasn't that he didn't like Danielle Hale or Adrienne Taylor, no. They were friends. And that was the problem - if they had been strangers he could have just climbed back over the wall, apologize for the scare he would undoubtably cause, and then disappear before they could ask any questions. But with Danielle and Adrienne, he wouldn't be able to do that; and he couldn't just stay where he was and hope he'd remain undiscovered, either. The wall really wasn't much of a cover with them standing so close, and if he was found out it was most likely they wouldn't be too happy that he'd been listening to their conversation uninvited.

Exhaling softly in resignation, Taylor stood up, brushing himself off glumly before hauling himself back over the wall, calling out a warning as he did, "Heads up." He landed in a half-crouch, his feet thudding lightly on the ground. Mentally saying goodbye to his short-lived moment of peace, Taylor summoned a small smile and affected an air of nonchalance as he straightened to face the two girls. "Danielle, Adrienne," he said in greeting, nodding at the both of them. "How's it going?" Hopefully, if he was lucky, they wouldn't question him too much about his sudden appearance, or about where he'd come from. Hopefully.

[Guest]

The story about how her break went was not the story Adrienne had expected from Dani. She had expected Dani to go all out and tell her how she traveled all over the world and spared no expense to have a good time. Instead she was greeted with a story that was surprisingly normal for her very out going friend. Then again her friend was entitled to have a normal time like everyone else and it seemed that lately everyone was staying home more. No one really wanted to go out anymore, everyone wanted to spend time with their families, for fear they wouldn't see them ever again. It was strange how rough times really brought people together, Adrienne actually enjoyed it.

As her friend asked her if anything exciting had happened she almost laughed, Dani already knew that Adrienne's life was anything but exciting. Really it was just the kind of life Adrienne wanted, even though she enjoyed Dani's tales very much. “Oh you know me” Adrienne said moving back so she could lean on the wall and face Danielle. This also allowed her to get the sun, which had just decided to play peek a boo, out of her eyes. “I stayed home in Canada and hung out with my family. Really the only exciting thing that happened is that my aunt had a baby” she said with a slight pause. “And I know that isn't very exciting to most” she finished. She was just about to say that she had missed her too, and the whole school actually but she heard something that didn't sound like wind behind her.

Before she even knew it she heard 'heads up' and Taylor Dalton came bounding over the wall. She backed up a little from where he was so she could get a better look at him. “What in the world were you doing over there?" She asked without even thinking. It wasn't a rude question it was just honest. It was a pleasure to see him again, and that was apparent by the smile on her face but she was still a little perplexed as to what he was doing down there. It was no where near the safest place he could be, then again it probably was quiet and it wouldn't surprise Adrienne that the quiet boy liked his quiet time.

She waited until he asked Dani and herself how they were doing to speak again, afraid she may come on a little strong. She did care why he was there but really it wasn't any of her business so who was she to push? “I'm fine, and you?" She asked expecting that Dani would just voice her opinion when she wanted to, Dani was no where near the silent type. That may be why Adrienne liked to spend so much time with her, she liked someone she could talk with, not to. True sometimes she wanted someone to listen but she didn't want someone who just listened, that was like talking to an empty room. She very much preferred someone who interjected their opinion, she liked to get other views because on some things she had a very hard time seeing the whole picture.

Adrienne knew that she was opinionated and she knew that sometimes she should be more open but she just couldn't seem to change. Her mother had tried to tell her to keep her opinion to herself, after all now a days an opinion could get you killed. Adrienne knew this, so for her mother's sake she tried to keep a lid on it, needless to say, it wasn't working very well. It seemed like the more she tried to keep quiet the more her mind screamed at her to voice her opinion. It was so bad that she had already gotten in trouble for debating with a student, she hadn't even gotten to the hard evidence yet. She missed the days when she could say what she wanted and not get in trouble, but those days were long ago and it seemed that those days were only the days her father was around. Her father had always encouraged her to speak her mind and told her that: 'there were two kinds of bad people in the world: people who do bad things, and people who watch bad things happen and do nothing to stop them.' Adrienne didn't want to fall into either of those categorize. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't exactly fighting world hunger with her voice at the moment.

[Danielle Hale]

Dani smiled as her friend started talking about her holidays. Adrienne had been in Canada, with her family. That would've been nice, she didn't care if it had been awkward, her dad was busy with quidditch most of the time, practicing with the team. Dani would've loved to play quidditch with her dad but she was supposed to stay with her mother, more like so she didn't run off home. Her mum could be a little paranoid at times, for no reason at all. She loved her to bits, but not trusting her to get home safely by herself while in a foreign place, it was a little insulting. "That's cute!" Dani shook her head, "Do I look like most?!" She smiled, a little cousin, Adrienne was so lucky!

Before she could ask anymore about her little cousin, someone called out a 'heads' and had jumped over the side. Dani was a little startled by the sudden appearance, and gave a sharp nod. Taylor Dalton it would seem had been lurking there since Merlin knows when because of Merlin knows why! "Hi Taylor!", she inwardly laughed at Adrienne's question, it was certainly something she was thinking too. Dani was for a laugh, and hiding away but no where near any cliffs. She didn't want to kill herself.

It was dangerous down there, he could've broken his neck! "I'm ok, can't be too safe that close to the cliffs though" Dani shuddered, she couldn't imagine from falling from the top of the cliffs all the way to the bottom. At least, she couldn't imagine what it really would be like, but she didn't really want to. Taylor was a friend, to say the least. They had known each other since first year, and Dani didn't care at all for his parceltongue. It wasn't something she held against him, so what he could talk to snakes? It wasn't his fault, and Taylor had never flaunted it in the time Dani had known him, he was a good person. Even when she was talking all those years ago on the train with him, she had seen he was an ok-guy, just like, almost like the rest of them. A few malvolios with their heads screwed on upside-down but Taylor wasn't like that. It did make her wonder why he was in that house, ambitious and deceitful? Although, Taylor did keep his ability on the down low, he was a little mysterious.

That didn't mean he was a dumb idiot that didn't know that cliffs were dangerous. Dani waited for Taylor's response, Adrienne had hit the nail on the head perfectly, and she could hardly say anything to back her up. "How long would you have stayed there?!" She asked incredulously, it was a cliff, it wasn't like the beach. It was dangerous.

[Guest]

Apparently, hoping wouldn't be getting him anywhere this time around - not that he'd truly expected it would. He had barely caught his balance and hadn't even had a chance to say anything before Adrienne demanded to know what he'd been doing; and the instant they had answered his question perfunctorily Danielle wanted to know how long he would have continued to remain on the other side of the wall if he'd had the choice. Taylor swallowed a sigh, keeping the smile on his face out of practice and habit. Knowing the two of them, not answering could only lead to them pestering him even more about it; worse yet, they might even get it into their heads to look for themselves. The privacy of his little hideaway was what made it his haven, if either of the girls decided to go exploring just to satisfy their curiosity, he would have to find a different place to go. There really was no help for it, he'd have to give an answer whether or not he wanted to.

"There's a pretty good view out there," he replied casually, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder at the wall in a gesture of absent dismissal. Maybe they would simply take his word for it and let it rest without wanting to see for themselves. From Dani's shudder, chances of that were at least better than they had been about the girls not questioning him. "I'd have stayed there until I got bored, I suppose," he added vaguely, trying to make it seem as though it didn't matter to him either way. It wasn't a lie, per say. It was merely more of a stretching of the truth; he would have stayed there until it got boring, except having a little time to himself seldom was.

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his school robes, he glanced around at his two friends, his eyes meeting Adrienne's only briefly before hastily moving on to Danielle. It wasn't Adrienne's fault in any way, of course, but he was definitely feeling uncomfortable in her presence lately. He didn't like thinking about why, and most of the time succeeded in avoiding doing so, but that didn't mean being around her was easy. Taylor knew perfectly well that if he didn't try harder at hiding his discomfort, Adrienne would pick up on it sooner or later, but at the same time he just couldn't help it. Fortunately, he had Danielle here as a buffer of sorts - and since they all knew he was better acquainted with Dani, it probably wouldn't come across as too weird if he tended to talk to her slightly more.

He hoped. He was doing that a lot today, it seemed.

"So," he began lamely, casting around for something else to say so that he didn't appear too reticent. "You two were talking about your holidays, weren't you? I hope I'm not interrupting. Congratulations on getting a new cousin, by the way," he added to Adrienne, figuring there wasn't any point in pretending he hadn't heard their entire conversation. Maybe if he brought up the subject of their break again, they would forget all about his 'dangerous' hangout locations.

[Guest]

A smile spread across Adrienne's face as Dani exclaimed how cute it was of Adrienne to have a new cousin. She hadn't honestly expected Dani to think it was cute but she had a point, she wasn't most. In fact she was very far from most. Dani was outgoing but it seemed that Adrienne only saw her at her best of these moments, she was also dating a werewolf which said something good about her character. It should be illegal to discriminate against them because of their disease but unfortunately it wasn't and someone could go 'You can't have this job because you're a werewolf.' To Adrienne that was like saying 'you can't give blood because you're gay.' She never understood how the human race could be so unkind and unforgiving at times.

Just as Adrienne was about to speak the name of her new cousin Taylor jumped over the wall and a whole new scenario began. He acclaimed there was a good view, as if that answered their questions completely. “That still doesn't really answer why you were out there, couldn't you get the same view from here, without putting you're life in danger?” Now Adrienne wasn't really much for logic but she was one for common sense and she knew that the wall in no way hindered the view so much that you couldn't stay safely behind it and still feel just a free. And then he told Adrienne he would have stayed till he got bored. She wondered if he had gotten bored or he really just didn't feel like listening to Adrienne and Dani's conversation.

But Adrienne figured it would be impolite to assume the worst of Taylor so she smiled at him just as he looked away. This lead Adrienne to question herself. 'Do I have something in my teeth? She wondered doing that tongue sweep over the teething thing, without opening her mouth. For some reason she always felt like Taylor was sizing her up. He never talked to her much and seemed to look at her as little as possible, was she really that hard on the eyes? She was never really self conscious around any one but Taylor and she hated how he made her feel. She always felt like he had standards set for her that she couldn't possibly fill. She put a hand on the back of her neck and rubbed, a tell tale sign of insecurity but she really didn't care. After all she really didn't have any one to impress here, except maybe Taylor. So she dropped her had quickly and put her hand into her jeans. She was still wearing the top to her school uniform but she hated to wear the skirt if it was windy so she changed quickly before she came out.

Alas she let this go, she would never really be able to verbalize her feelings unless of course she ever caught Taylor alone, and that never happened. It seemed like Taylor was almost always with Cory, like he was afraid to be alone or something. Maybe he just liked someone to talk to so he could ignore the whispers in the corridors a bit easier. After all when you hang out with a werewolf its hard to know just who the little stalkers are talking about. Which brings up a point, have you ever realized that who ever makes fun of you seems to show up every where. You're just trying to stay out of the way and its like they've put a chip in you or something. But she was getting off track. Taylor congratulated Adrienne on her new cousin as well and Adrienne thought it was a perfect opportunity to bring up his name again. “Yeah we were, and I don't think you interrupted anything really important. And thanks, his name is Charlie.” she paused then thinking maybe she should ask Taylor what he did. Of course with how he acted around her he may ignore it but it was worth a shot right? “Did you do anything over you're break?” She asked squinting up to him. It really was a weird angle to look at him at but she was a good girl and sucked it up.

[Danielle Hale]

Dani rolled her eyes, she would much prefer to stay right where she was and look at it from here. She didn't know how Taylor could sit out there for so long, the only chance that she would go out there would probably only be for Alec and even then it could be pushing it. Dani nodded, of course, they were talking about their holidays until Taylor jumped in, literally. Before Dani could get a word in edge ways, it seemed Adrienne had decided to ask Taylor about his holidays. Glancing between the two she couldn't help smirking, it was a little awkward. Dani felt like she was in the middle of her two friends, it was scary! It was scarier than Gabrielle was when you said that actually you wanted to go off with Alec and not stalk some other random dude. Scary times.

She got a little annoyed at Adrienne, what was with all the questions? Was she his mother. That was disgusting! Taylor's eyes shifting to her and she couldn't help grinning at him, he was so stupid sometimes. Now Adrienne was babbling on about how dangerous it was, as if Taylor didn't know. Shifting her position, she drew her legs in, and folded her arms. "I didn't even get to speak to you in the holidays, I just completely forgot to owl everyone" Dani shrugged, "It would have been nice to catch up with everyone" She looked at Adrienne, smiling.

She was curious about Taylors holiday, what sort of things had he done? Did he enjoy himself? There was only so much you could do in the holidays without your friends. Dani had missed them all tons after a while, hanging out with them was a lot more fun even when you were surrounded by actors and actresses and their latest hang out. She hadn't even been in contact with Gabrielle, it had been lame to say the least.

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