Giant Squids are AWESOME (Karm/OPEN)

Riley tossed her feet into the lake, throwing out toast for the giant squid. Giant squids were awesome-no doubt about that. She herself nibbled delicately on a piece of toast-burnt into perfection. Her long blonde hair was in a messy ponytail, its curls flying freely behind her. The crystalline water reflected off her clear blue eyes, and she smiled as the giant squid grabbed for the toast. Her shoes were off-no need for socks, it was warm enough out-and she was urged to jump in. But Riley was a Ravenclaw, albiet her lack of common sense, and she knew that she'd be eaten or mutated or something.

Maybe.

So she just kept throwing toast out and watching the squid. Yes, giant squids are awesome.

Karma was running.

Not to or from something, at least, not something physical, and she was used to it. The ache in her muscles from running five solid hours was starting to get to her, but she was content to run until she collapsed. It beat the dummies in the room of requirement, that was for sure. Besides, running gave her time to think.

She slid to a stop, eyeing the ravenclaw before her. "Giant Squids aren't that fond of toast, you know." She said in greeting, her body almost praising the loss of movement.

Casey wandered towards the lake, contemplating swimming, when she saw a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw talking. "Hey," she said in greeting, smiling. "I'm Casey. How's the water? I'm thinking of going swimming!" She grinned even wider.

Riley looked up and awkwardly looked around when she saw not one, but two people. "This giant squid seems to be content," Riley shrugged, finishing off the last of her toast. "I'm Riley, Casey. And it's fine for swimming," she directed at the Gryffindor. "Nice and...refreshing, I suppose. Watch for the squid. He doesn't take kindly to visitors," Riley shuddered, remembering her own adventures with the giant squid. The squid liked her now, sure, but not after multiple attempts at eating her.

Karma wrinkled her nose. A Gryffindor. Gross.

"Karma." She said to the girl.

She looked into the lake, her head cocked to the side and looked out into the water. "I was under the impression that the Giant Squid enjoyed being fed Gryffindors. That's what I've been feeding it, of late. But I'm running out of them."

She nodded at Karma. Riley thought she looked familiar from Seven Minutes in Heaven, but decided not to bring it up.

Riley snorted. Her brother was a Gryffindor, and he was Hell. All obnoxious and shit. "I haven't heard that one, but I might have a few Gryffindors to spare," Riley said placidly, daydreaming of throwing Caleb to the squid.

Iva was jogging, of all things. Zoya had been whining and begging to go run for a while now and the Russian had finally caved to her wishes. The wolf had been trotting peacefully by her side, until she was Karma and decided to bolt. Iva sighed and jogged after the pup angry.

"Karma! Can you stop her-?" she stopped when she saw the Gryffendor. She sneered visibly, continuing in her think accent, "It is you. Why are you here? Are you not supposed to be studying?"

Riley sighed exasperatedly. There goes my peaceful day with my squid, she thought. "There's no reason she shouldn't be here, unless there is some reason I don't know of," Riley said, shrugging, twisting around to look at the other Slytherin. "Which there could be. I'm not very observant."

Karma blinked down at the wolf, watching it curiously. "Uh... stop?" She ordered, looking down at the little wolf. She grinned at Iva as the wolf neared her. "Little Wolf, hello. How are you?"

She looked back up at the girls, as out of nowhere, her familiar came out from behind her. She looked down at Nightmare curiously, noting the slight disapproval emanating from the black cat. Had she been following her?

The cat sat down in the sand and looked at Zoya, her eyes curious.

Karma finally turned to the Gryffindor, a small smile on her face. "Well, I see no reason for us to stop feeding the Giant Squid. What was your name again?"

Riley rolled her eyes slightly, and popped herself out of the water." She said her name was Casey, I think," Riley supplied. She looked at the wolf, and then back at the girl. "She's a very beautiful creature, err...I don't know your name," Riley grinned sheepishly, awkwardly.

Iva huffed at her daemon, a bit annoyed at it's short attention span. Zoya lept up on to Karma, sniffing her intently, then pushed away to study Riley. The dob licked the girl's hand before going back over to Iva with her gray tail wagging low. The Russian pouted, then gestured to Nightmare.

"Go on, Zoya. Go play," she commanded and, at her word, the grey canine bounded over to the panther. She bent down on to her back paws, ready to either leap on to the cat or run. Tentatively, Zoya crept forward and placed a paw on Nightmare before gnawing on the cat's ears.

Iva ignored the wolf. She was a puppy; moody and always active.

"I am Iva Popov," The girl declared, "Who are you?"

Riley smiled at the gray wolf as it licked her hand. The girl said her name was...Zoya. Well, either way, she was a pretty wolf. It made Riley wish she had brought Neffie out. But, if the cat chose to miss her, she would appear...and hopefully not get eaten. Riley whistled under her breath, hoping that maybe the damn kitten would appear.

"Riley. Riley Skander," Riley nodded at Iva, trying to put her hands in her pockets, then remembering her skirt didn't have pockets. So she just swung her arms down by her sides. "Yup. That's my name," Riley realized she was rambling, and she shifted her weight on her feet awkwardly, letting her eyes wander the grounds, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Karma laughed at the wolf, her eyes fond as she watched it go back toward Nightmare again.

Nightmare had turned panther while Karma had been looking the other way. She growled at Zoya, nipping the pup lightly on the nose before twitching her ears away from the bite. She sat with her spine taller than Karma'd ever seen it before, her eyes fond, but disapproving. Superior.

Motherly.

Karma grinned. "Ska." She said, nodding to the Ravenclaw.

"Casey." she greeted.

Casey grinned at all the people babbling over each other, asking her questions then not giving her time to answer. It was really quite amusing. As for the Slytherin she'd fought with...
"Hello again. What I'm doing here is the same as you I suppose- getting fresh air."
Casey nodded to the older Slytherin. "Hi Karma."
Casey shrugged out of her robe and kicked off her shoes, leaving the rest of her uniform on. Smiling, she added, "Lovely chat we've been having, what with you not giving me time to answer your questions, but I'm not afraid of the giant squid and I'm going swimming." She then slipped into the water fully clothed and paddled to about 7 or 8 feet from shore, doing a few underwater flips before flipping on her back and floating peacefully. She smiled to herself, loving the feel of the cool water.

Riley smiled at the nickname. "Ska," she agreed. "And I shall call you...Karm," Riley nodded. A small furry thing went headfirst into the river. "Dammit, cat," Riley muttered, going in and fishing out the small kitten, who was mewling with hate and discomfort.

Holding the wet, furious ball of wet fur, Riley turned to Casey. At least she hadn't succumbed to the older girls' taunting-a true Gryffindor, she supposed. They weren't all obnoxious and shit. Adele was pretty epic! "Watch for the squid," she repeated simply. "It may or may not mutate you, which undoubtly would be pretty freaking awesome. Still, your neck," Riley chuckled, and her laughs suddenly cut off into a hiss as the cat started to claw at her arms. "Dammit, cat!" Riley said, louder this time. She dropped Neffie on the ground, and Neffie, being a cat, landed on her feet, hissing-at the other animals, at Riley, perhaps at the other people. "Oh, shut up, Neffie. You're the one who jumped into the damn lake," Riley realized she was conversing with a cat, but this wasn't really anything new-she was, after all, Riley Skander.

((OOC: I knew that you would use Ska somehow, Karm ))

Casey laughed at Riley's advise from the water. "Thanks for the tip, I'll try my hardest not to get eaten and/ or mutilated. What's the cat's name?" she added, looking curiously at the kitten that seemed to have fallen into the water.
She dove down into the water, doing some more flips before coming back up to hear the answer.

Karma grinned, rolling her eyes at the Gryffindor. "I hope it eats her." She said sweetly. "It does have a fondness for Gryffindors, truly." She smirked at the girl's blatant immaturity, and was sure that any relative of her's would not be seen around her.

Therefore she was still, in her mind, the only remaining Black.

Nightmare put her nose in the air at the other cat, her poise disapproving, but that was her usual pose, so Karma wasn't surprised.

"Karm." She repeated, grinning. "Alrighty, Ska. Ivz." She winked at each of them.

The gryffindor might as well not even exist.




((OOC: You know it! ))

Casey popped her head up. "I heard that! Anyway, being serious makes life no fun." She cocked her head to the side, thinking. "I... I think you might know my sister, Alyssa? I'm pretty sure I can remember her mentioning you once or twice."
She shrugged as Karma ignored her and swam further down the bank. Whatever. Slytherins usually acted like that around Gryffindors. She was used to it by now, though she still didn't like it. She dove and touched the bottom before resurfacing and glancing around. The giant squid didn't seem to be anywhere around anymore...

Karma raised an eyebrow. "Alyssa?" She asked. "Oh, she's your sister, is she?" She smirked. "Huffle, ain't she?" She smirked. "You, most obviously, are not a Black, so how, exactly, does she figure that she is one?"

She looked at Iva, rolling her eyes. "Why are we even talking about her? I've had my fill of Black-Family Impostors. It comes with being the last of a Pureblood Family." She yawned.

"Anyway, me and Nightmare may have another party in the Slytherin Common Room. Ska, you're officially invited, Iva, I know you'll be there anyway." She smiled sweetly.

Casey heard Karma sneering about her sister and started to get angry, but took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "She's adopted," Casey managed to get out through gritted teeth. "And seeing as I don't care about being Pureblood, I'm perfectly happy not being a Black." She had to bite back the sentence 'See what I'd have for a relative!' but managed to hold it in, seeing as it would do no one any good.

Riley watched as Neffie ran away, then answered Casey's question. "Her name's Nefertiti, but I call her Neffie. It's easier," Riley shrugged. She looked at the panther, who she had heard referred to as Nightmare, and decided that Neffie wasn't stupid enough to go near her.

Riley watched Casey swim out. "Still your neck," she muttered, although she thought Casey had a point. Being serious sucked the fun out of you. However, in this battle, she was Switzerland. The Ravenclaw girl. Karm and Iva seemed nice enough, and more likely to kill her if she was stupid, so...decision made easy!

Riley grinned. "Thanks for the invite. I'll be there," Riley nodded. She hadn't really, embarassingly, ever actually been to a party before. Hell, it sounded like fun now, now that she was over the whole awkward part. And she was a Ravenclaw. That was the advantage to being one; none of the other houses had a vendetta against Ravenclaws. By default, Gryffindor hated Slytherin and vice versa. Huffles were kinda netural too, but most of that house was known fr being pusj-overish-still exceptions to every rule. But, as a Claw...no big deal, attending a Slytherin party. "Is that the panther's name? Nightmare?" Riley looked at the larger cat again, still eyeing her kitten. She hoped Neffie wasn't stupid enough to challenge her.

Iva sat on the shore, raising an eyebrow at the situation. Zoya was cuddling up with Nightmare, tugging and nipping the cat playfully.

She stood up again, brushing off sandy from her uniform before sneering at Casey. "I heard you were a pureblood, but I doubt it. I would not be surprised if mud was in your veins,"

Looking back at Karma, she gave a sweet smile. "I bet Alyssa is unclean too. Probably from a muggle family that did not want her." She gave a small shrug. "What can I say? No one wants filth like that,"

Karma grinned. "Well, I'm perfectly happy being a pureblood. We have the best parties, you know... or... you wouldn't know, would you?" She tsked. "The life of a regular mudblood is hard, I suppose."

She smiled. "Gosh. Adoption. What a nice system to be born into." She smiled sweetly. "I suppose... what's her nickname... Paddy? Well, I suppose being a mudblood during the war, she's lucky to have been adopted by us magicals, and purebloods, no less. But I suppose you aren't really a pureblood, are you? A Blood Traitor, most likely." She tsked.

"Yes, her name is Nightmare." She grinned and looked over at her familiar, her eyes fond.

Nightmare watched Zoya with something like maternal protectiveness, while at the same time she snapped at the wolf with a playful kind of companionship. At last, when the panther got tired of playing, she simply rose a paw and put one of her forelegs over the young wolf, pushing her down and making her lay. Nightmare placed her head on top of Zoya's, and started licking the wolf, cleaning her.

Riley stayed silent during this whole ordeal-she knew that she would side with Karm and Iva, if her opinion was neseccary. She quite valued her life. But she wouldn't say anything against Muggle-borns-her mom was a muggle-born, in fact. The slight on adoption made a small, angry feeling rise in Riley's stomach, but she brushed it off-she had friends that were adopted, after all. All the blood traitor talk was making her kind of uncomforatable, but she dealed.

"Nightmare's a lovely name," Riley complimented Karm and her panther. "She's so pretty..." Riley grinned a dimpled smile. She looked down at the panther, cleaning off the wolf Zoya, and decided that perhaps it wouldn't actually eat Neffie. Not being one to want to find out, Riley watched as her kitten disappeared into the building.

"CASEEEEEEEEEEEEEY" Was squeeled loudly as ALyssa ran at a blurring speed into the lake splashing her sister as she came in. Twisting around in the water letting it wash over her relaxing and calm, she then popped up to the surface.
"Hey! I was wondering where you went! I can't believe you actually left me alone. To STUDY! That is so not what sister's should do." Alyssa said laughing, then noticing the other she smiled, even though she had a shaky past with two of them.
"Hi! Karma, Iva, and I dont know your name?" She asked as a way of invitation.