Getting Back to Nature [Susan]

[Dylan Cooper]

His stress level had started to creep up and Dylan's first logical response was to find some peace for a while. Taking up residence, temporarily, in the school gardens, he wandered across the lush grass and sought a place to sit. He finally chose a stone bench beneath a tree that seemed the first nearby to give evidence of the beginnings of Spring. Clearly, the rain he had witnessed during his Herbology lesson this morning had provided the garden with plenty of nourishment, and all of the nearby plantlife looked rather happy.

Dylan sighed contentedly and lay down on the bench, his bag dropping to the grass beneath. The blue, early afternoon sky above was interrupted here and there with branches, and a fair amount of leaves to boot. He reflected briefly that while he had caught up with Caitlin, that was, sadly, the entire list so far. Since getting back about a week ago, he had been so busy trying to catch up on his unusually large stack of homework that he had rather neglected to spend much time looking for his friends. Undoubtedly, he missed Susan the most. He had seen her in class a few times; his workload prevented him from focusing on anything but during those periods, however. He had also spotted her in the corridors now and again, but usually when he was late for something and didn't have time to talk.

He had dared, once, to venture into the library, despite his recent aversion to it. The text he had needed to complete his Transfiguration essay a few days ago could only be found under the stern eye of the librarian, and she had absolute forbade anyone from taking it anywhere but the large, dusty room. Although he had been slightly annoyed at having to check for D'rorah over his shoulder - which he somewhat happily solved by sitting out of view of the doors - he had nevertheless been interrupted. He hadn't taken it too well to begin with, but the girl who had so imposed herself upon him when he was trying to work had turned out to be rather a nice companion. Conveniently enough, she was a Ravenclaw sixth year. The last few days had been spent in the common room since had been with her, studying, and he had found that he actually rather liked her. She certainly wasn't lacking for looks, either. His mind wandered over their brief but happy relationship, and a small smile found its way onto his features.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan could remember feeling her heart drop with relief as the news of Dylan’s reappearance at Hogwarts began to spread. Several rumors had ensued, but the most believable one was the most reoccurring and the once Susan had chosen to accept as the truth until she could inquire otherwise. Apparently, the disturbance on the Quidditch pitch was all that was left of a minor bludger accident and Dylan was perfectly alright now. She paid no attention to the subtle vagueness of the story or the fact that it seemed an oddly familiar one at that. Hearing of his return and the truth that none of the reasons why included anything to do with the Mage, comforted Susan to the point of not hunting down Dylan immediately the first moment she had. She figured she’d give him time to catch up with D’rorah and whatever school word that had fallen by the wayside for the time he’d been hospitalized.

Other than the few classes and familiar pathways between classes the two earth bound lightfighters hadn’t seen each other much in the past week. At her first sight of him they’d exchanged pleasant glances and Susan had made sure to send him an excited wave as well as friendly smiles for each time after that.

The incoming spring weather in addition to Dylan’s confirmed safety did wonders on Susan’s mood. Her first spring as Shadow Warrior of Earth was incomparable to any other feeling. Her identity as Shadow Warrior wasn’t discovered until autumn when the world was on its way to becoming dormant for the winter. With the arrival of spring it seemed that everything was thriving and bursting with energy; energy that always seemed to rub off on Susan. The new season in addition to Dylan’s reappearance allowed Susan the ephemeral belief that everything was okay. For the past week she had been able to forget about Alessandro and the recent occurrences at the last meeting. This was a completely different variable that had changed everything positively as far as Susan could tell.

As she always did when she had nothing better to do, Susan had stepped outside on this very spring like afternoon. She wandered only briefly before choosing the gardens as her destination, subconsciously realizing that it would be a place Dylan would come to as well.

She hadn’t walked long before it became evident she had chosen the right place to visit. Beneath the tree not far off, Susan could see Dylan lying on the stone bench. Without thinking twice, Susan approached the resting boy. Seeing him before he saw her, she was able to catch sight of an absentminded smile of his that confused her slightly, but she disregarded it and moved closer. When Susan found herself to be standing next to him she smiled eagerly, containing her excitement in the fact that at last they both happened to be in the same place at the same time. “Long time, no see,” she spoke the cliché audibly to catch his attention, tugging gently on her light jacket in anticipation of their prolonged reunion.

[Dylan Cooper]

As he lay beneath the partial shade of the tree above, he soon felt a much more presentable shadow cast over him. The quick change from a calm, warming sun to a lack thereof caused his contented smile to fade slightly. Half expecting to have to deal with an angry or pathetic looking D'rorah Philosophy, he gave a small sigh. He really wasn't in the mood, unless of course she had come to give his ring back. And even then, she really could just leave it somewhere for him instead of actually putting him through the encounter they might have. Instead of all that, he found himself pleasantly surprised to hear Susan's voice.

Opening his eyes with a brilliant smile, he sat up, squinting briefly as the sun flashed into his line of vision. "Too long if you ask me," he said with a small laugh, happy to finally get a chance to talk to her again. "How on earth are you?" he questioned, rising to his feet just in front of his friend. Grasping her in a quick hug, he squeezed tight for a few moments before finally releasing her. "I'm sorry we haven't caught up earlier, I've just been crazy busy this past week. Professors seem to think that I can handle immense loads of work all at once from every single one of them." His tone was unquestionably joking, but that certainly didn't make it a lie.

His workload, thankfully, had come down slightly as he had steadily chippped away at it. One essay at a time. The few full assignments he had due were nearly all finished, too; he usually managed to get some aspect of each done every day. The working black hole in his galaxy for Astronomy was still causing him a few problems, but he would work around those soon enough. And instead of linger on such thoughts, his mind remained fully focused on the young woman before him. He hadn't been expecting to see her for some time yet, not until he was fully caught up, and the encounter was all the more joyous for it. His expression, he believed, fully reflected that fact as he waited to hear how she was doing. He hadn't really gotten many reports from Caitlin; only that of Alessandro, on which he didn't wish to think at this point in time.

[Susan Matthews]

Dylan’s brief sigh passed undetected by Susan as her attention skipped straight to his reaction to her voice. Her smile only widened at the sight of his and she found herself giggling at his small pun before being enveloped in a hug. “I’m fine,” she said quickly in response as she pulled out of the hug, meaning it, but more interested in how he was feeling than any of her own personal issues.

“It’s no big,” she told Dylan, forgetting her initial contempt of his decision to not seek her out sooner. It was understandable that he would be loaded down with work. The world wasn’t likely to stop for just one person and lessons had gone on with out him. Hearing of his immense amounts of homework, Susan pouted slightly in sympathy. “Oh, Dylan,” she offered, “I’ll study with you sometime if you need it,” knowing that they were taking similar classes and that studying with a friend was usually far better than alone, at least in her opinion.

[/color]“How are you, though?” [/color]she asked with concern, trying not to inspect him too obviously. “Is the story about the bludger incident true then?” She pulled on his arm gently to guide him to sit next to her on his bench, wanting to hear everything that he was willing to share. Sitting on the bench, she had to consciously stop her fingers from tapping against her leg. “Oh, I’m just so excited that you’re back,” she told him, half wanting to hug him again. “I think the only person happier than me might be D’rorah, but it’s a close call” she added with a small laugh at what she thought to be a joke.

[Dylan Cooper]

((Ooc: Sorry about the lack of reply love, our phone company's been having some trouble over the last week or so.))


Glad to hear that she was alright, especially after his last conversation with Caitlin, his smile lit up his eyes. As their hug broke off, he felt a small breeze drift past him, bringing with it the smell of nature, of the outdoors. Inhaling deeply, Dylan laughed slightly at her offer to help with his homework. "Yeah, I'd like that," he replied happily. He did have a lot of work, but he didn't want to entirely miss out on seeing his friends, and studying with company was hardly bad for him.

Gaining a charming little smile as she inquired about him, his eyes flicked to the tree over her shoulder for a moment. Switching back at her next question, he nodded slightly. "Yeah, I must be getting sloppy," he said jokingly. "I'm alright, apart from being driven out of my mind sitting in a hospital bed all day," he added lightly, a small smile remaining on his features. "Apart from a few headaches now and then, I'm back in my mischevous ways." With a small, sly wink, he let himself be guided back down onto the bench.

As she took a seat next to him he arranged himself so that each leg was hanging over a different side of the bench. Facing her straight on he could talk to her a whole lot easier. Laughing happily as she looked on the verge of having an extreme happiness meltdown, his expression slipped from his features slightly as she mentioned D'rorah. The only smile still remaining was more of a fixed one and his eyes faded away from Susan's, instead meeting the pale stone of the bench beneath.

"So what have you been up to?" he questioned in a lightly evasive tone. He didn't particularly wish to discuss the matter of the other Ravenclaw Prefect, and though he knew Susan would realise that quick enough, he just wished she would leave it be. "Anything interesting happen while I've been gone?"