Open High Above, Amongst The Trees

[Fiona Burke]

OPEN AFTER ANNA REPLIES AS MIRO

Fiona wasn't sure how to feel about being back at school. While she was glad to be away from the tensions back home(s), she didn't really make many friends in her first year at school and hoped that maybe that could be changed this year, but she wasn't too hopeful. Fiona had tried out for her house quidditch team a few days ago, though she hadn't made the team. While that had bummed her out a little, she knew she could try again next year to see what happens. It was a sunny day out, and Fiona knew she had to be out and about to enjoy the sun, The girl walked around the great lawn until she stumbled upon a tree that looked interesting to her, without thinking, she decided to climb the tree.

 

[Miro Morales-Albertson]

Miro tilted his head to each shoulder, stretching his neck from side to side as he emerged from the castle walls and to the great lawn for some fresh air. His classes had been suffocating to say the least, his head heavy and weighed down by boredom and the lesson's teachings flying in one ear and out the other, leaving him drained and practically itching to return outside. It was always in spring that the sun began to warm the air, but not enough that the remaining chill didn't bite back and cling to his skin, flushing his face as if he was still in the midst of winter. It was not summer yet, but the grass was greener and flowers were beginning to blossom again in a reminder it would be summer again, soon, but not soon enough. Still the air was fresh with the faint smell of flowers and it certainly beat being stuck in a stuffy old classroom, a fact Miro reminded himself with as he strolled along the edge of the lawn.

He hummed to himself, kicking idly at the grass in an effort to keep himself entertained. He was content to walk the entirety of the lawn but found himself pausing when he caught a glimpse of someone climbing a tree from the corner of his eye. Looking over one shoulder, Miro spotted a girl, Fiona, if he remembered right from their classes, climbing one of the trees nearby. He moved a hand to his brow to shield his eyes from the sun as he greeted her. "Hey!" He said with a wave to catch her attention, not really caring that they hadn't properly spoken before. In his mind any fellow Gryffindor could and would be his friend. He approached the tree Fiona was climbing with the same sense of confidence. "Is this a good climbing tree? Think it's strong enough for me to climb too?" Miro asked, not really waiting for an answer before he stepped closer to the tree trunk and attempted to step up on a nearby branch.​

 

[Fiona Burke]

Fiona was halfway through the tree she was climbing, looking down when she heard a voice down below her. She realised it was one of her classmates. If she remembers correctly it was Milo or Miro or something, she couldn't exactly remember, but she had felt bad she couldn't remember. "Hey!" Fiona replied back to the boy, happy to have a tree-climbing partner to join her. She knocked on the tree branch as well as gently shook one of the trees jokingly. "Yes sir! All clear for climbing" Fiona joked as she then saluted to him.

 

[Miro Morales-Albertson]

At Fiona's response, Miro didn't need any further prompting the tree was stable before he continued to step up in an attempt to climb it, perching himself with the foothold of a lower branch while reaching an arm to stabilize himself with another that was above him. He stretched, climbing until he was sitting comfortably on a branch adjacent to Fiona, kicking his feet at the empty air below his feet. "Do you climb trees at home, too?" He asked idly, staring out to the great lawn and enjoying the view from being higher up than usual. "I do, it's fun. I like to pretend I'm lost on an island building a tree house." Miro added without much prompting. He liked to attempt to build tree houses and forts with any stray branches and sticks he could find in the wild. It was always fun at first but ultimately failed due to his impatience and lack of understanding about structural integrity.​

 

[Fiona Burke]

Fiona happily watched as her classmate made his way up to the tree towards Fiona. She waved happily as he sat on the branch opposite to hers. Fiona nodded quickly. "Oh yeah! All the time! I love to climb trees" Fiona says happily, as she looks around her surroundings. She always climbed trees at home, more so at her dad's place than her mum's, as he had a lot of trees to climb up. "Woah! That sounds so cool! Why do you get stuck on the island? Is it caused by a shipwreck? Or a plane crash?" Fiona asked her classmate, thinking of imaginative reasons as to why he would be stuck.

 

[Miro Morales-Albertson]

Miro happily rocked back and forth slightly from contented energy, feeling the branch sway slightly as he did. He loved the sound of the spring breeze through the trees and the smell of the air on a warm day, and being in the midst of it while climbing a tree was no better place to be in Miro's opinion, especially after spending most of the day indoors and bored out of his mind. Brought back to the present by Fiona's question, Miro's brow furrowed slightly as he tried to think of an answer. All he really did was pretend he was lost and needed shelter, focused on the where, rather than the why or how he had ended up on an imaginary deserted island with nothing other than the clothes on his back. "Dunno, I just like to pretend I'm building forts for shelter." He then answered. "But maybe it was a shipwreck, what if we were both in a ship wreck and we're now stuck in a tree, and the suns about to go down?" Miro suggested a moment later, liking Fiona's suggestion of imagining the scenario they were in, and whether they needed to build a fort for it. Miro certainly wouldn't be against building a fort if Fiona wanted to.​

 

[Fiona Burke]

Fiona nodded. "That's totally cool too! Forts are great!" Fiona said with a smile. Fiona always built different types of forts. Whether it was an inside fort where she used basically everything in the house like using all of her mum's blankets and towels, or if it was an outdoor fort and she was using all the sticks and leaves she could find in her backyard to make a fort of some kind. Fiona smiled brightly at the idea of building a fort and going on some sort of adventure. "YES!" Fiona cheered happily. "Let's do it!"

 

[Miro Morales-Albertson]

Fiona soon responded to Miro's suggestion of fort building with an enthusiastic yes and this was all the prompting Miro needed to begin as he slightly reluctantly began to climb down from the tree. When his feet were once again on solid ground, he moved his hands to his hips and got into character for their imaginary game. "Well, we gotta find somewhere to sleep before the sun sets, we don't want any animals to eat us." He said, brow furrowing in concentration as he looked on the ground nearby for any fallen branches or sticks. He began to pick up a few smaller twigs, carrying them in his arms and making a pile for their pretend fire. "Gotta collect wood for the fire, too." He added. "Do you think we should make a fort on the ground or the tree?" Miro then asked in an effort to include Fiona in their game.​

 

[Briony Mettlestone]

Enjoying the sunny weather, Briony was more than happy to be outside of the castle as things got warmer, picking her way across the lawn and then under the canopy of some trees to look for any good branches. She played with them less now that she actually had her own, real wand, but it was still fun to pick through the leaf litter.

She'd been distracted with her own wandering when she heard some kids in the branches of a tree nearby, drawn closer when she parsed what she was saying. "Oh are you guys playing a game? Can I join?" She asked hopefully. So many kids at school seemed more interested in studying or reading which was fine but nothing like the games Briony liked to make up in her head. Miro and Fiona seemed to be doing something much more similar and Briony was keen to join.

 

[Fiona Burke]

Fiona plopped onto the grass as they got into action with what they were playing. She nodded along to what Miro was saying, before saluting to what he had said. "Aye, Aye, Captain," Fiona says, making her voice a bit deep to get into some sort of character, though she had no idea what character she was being. "Wood sounds good, I can try and find some wood for the fire" Fiona says with a nod in agreement, Before Fiona could give her input on where to put the fort, she noticed her classmate, Briony walk over. She didn't really know the girl but was happy to let the girl join them. "Hi, Briony! You can totally join us if you'd like! Right, Miro?" Fiona says happily to Briony before turning to Miro in agreement. Fiona was always happy to let more people join in on the fun.

 

[Miro Morales-Albertson]

Miro was on an imaginary mission as they tried to piece together their scenario of being stuck on an island, and he was determined to make a successful fort to shelter them, not only to have fun but also to show Fiona they should be friends. After dumping the small stack of sticks he had collected for the fire on the ground, Miro dusted some of the dirt from his hands and nodded when Fiona said she can gather the fire wood. "Sure, you can put the sticks here and I can find branches for the fort." He added, in full productive fort building mode as he looked further ahead into the tree line for any larger branches he could try and gather for their fort's backbone. He was interrupted before he could go searching for branches as a girl joined them, Miro turning his head to greet her with a smile. "Sure, you can play with us!" He responded enthusiastically, happy to have another person under their wing to help them build their fort. "I was just gonna find branches for our fort, you can help me while Fiona gets sticks for our fire." Miro added, before he walked to search for a branch and finding a larger log he tried to pull from a pile of old leaves. He wasn't strong enough to pull it away so they could use it for their fort so he called out to Briony for help. "Hey, can you help me move this?" He asked as he tried to pull the branch closer to where their fort would be.​

 

[Briony Mettlestone]

Briony dithered nearby as the two Gryffindors conferred, the branches of the tree overhead acting like a barrier until Miro agreed with Fiona and she relaxed. It seemed like maybe Miro was in charge but Briony wasn't sure if that was how things worked. Vanity liked being in charge when they'd played as kids but she never really played make believe games with her anymore.

"Sure, okay, thanks!" She said brightly, brain already sketching the imaginary boundaries of the island they were supposedly marooned on. "I bet the storm knocked all these branches down, hopefully we don't get any more wind like that, it was like a hurricane or, or a typhoon," she said, voice low as if she didn't want the clouds to hear as she moved to try and help Miro with the large branch, tugging kind of ineffectively at it the end with him before moving about into the leaf litter to help lift it out from the dirt. "Do you guys know anything about this island? I heard there's some horrible beasts on it," she added, heedless of the dirt getting on her knees as she wrestled to try and lift up the other end of the branch between her and Miro.