First Date [tag: Alice]

[Deleted]

The Slug Club party.

Carcer wasn’t really sure what to expect. He didn’t know much about the Slug Club, except that it seemed to be an exclusive club that you only got in through invitation, which you only got if you proved to be talented in one way or another. The premise was…unsettling. Frankly, it sounded like a playing favorites club, or an “elite” club, and that was uncool. Under normal circumstances, Carcer would have refused membership outright. But being in the Slug Club was a big deal outside of Hogwarts as well, and if there was one thing Carcer Hagrid was determined to do, it was show the world his value. He wanted to leave no doubt that he was the genuine article, so that nobody would dare speak down to him for being half-giant. So, grudgingly enough, he had accepted his membership within the club. And while he was in the club, he might as well make an effort to show up for the party that was being thrown.

Not least because he’d gotten a date.

Currently, Carcer was standing in the Hufflepuff common room. Normally, he’d be sitting in the corner, but he didn’t want to mess up his dress robes. It had not been cheap, ordering a nice set of robes tailored for his thirteen-foot frame, and Carcer was loathe to get them dirty without good reason. The robes were a deep green in color, like the leaves of a magnolia tree—darker than Slytherin green. The robes themselves were nothing fancy, really—tailored to fit his frame better than the billowing robes that he wore most of the time, with a color added to them. Normally, there was a distinct lack of detail to his frame beyond simply being large, but in these robes, it was made clear that his chest and arms were quite muscular and sturdy. He had no gloves, but he was wearing a pair of nice black boots that were better-kept than his usual, muddy brown pair. He had polished them just before putting them on, so they still shined in the candlelight.

Carcer stood by the stairs to the second level, willing himself not to fidget, at his hands to still themselves for once. He wasn’t nervous. Not. At. All.

(OoC: Just a couple quick pre-party posts to get us set up <3)

@alice

[Deleted]

Alice had never been invited to be in the Slug Club. Before this year, she had never really heard much about it other than it quite possibly just being a club made up of Professor Aguillard's favorite students. Students that regularly kissed his broom so that they could hopefully get a spot in this "prestigious" club. But Alice had only ever taken what was required of her to take of Astronomy and she certainly didn't get along with Professor Aguillard much. She began to wonder, as she brushed through her blonde, wavy hair one last time if she was getting an invitation because she was academically worthy or because she was her father's daughter. Alice loved being a Longbottom, and she was proud to wear the family name and be named after two of her own grandmothers but she was a little uneasy when she thought of being entered to the Slug Club specifically for being a Longbottom. Alice was never a fan of having things just handed to her. Although sometimes it just happened that way. There wasn't a witch or wizard who had not heard of the Longbottoms and some often went out of their way to make a good impression. However those were the people Alice simply couldn't stand.

As Alice finished up brushing through her hair (which she had done about four different times at this point and by now was just doing it out of nervousness and to kill time,) many thoughts rushed right out of her head and only one seemed to come to mind. Carcer Hagrid. He had asked Alice to the dance and she had not said no. She, Alice Longbottom, did not say no to a date. Alice had never been on a date before or had a date to anything. Truthfully, she had always kind of been holding out and hoping that one day James would ask her out to something. But as Alice sat at the edge of her bed thinking about the two, James seemed to slowly blur out of her mind and Carcer became... much clearer. Alice took a deep breath, her nerves at an all time high. She was about to go out on a date for the first time. Her first date.

After a few more minutes of taking some deep breaths and time to mentally prepare herself, Alice got up. She slowly walked over to the mirror that the seventh year badger girls shared. She looked herself up and down one last time, sighing to herself. Alice rarely got dressed up for anything in front of her classmates. The only time Alice really dressed up for anything was family events or parties outside of school. The fact that she had had to send word to her mother for a dress that she would be wearing in front of her fellow students was embarrassing to the girl. She tilted her head to the side as she examined herself. Her hair was down. She had not done much to it at all, so the blonde hairs were falling into their natural waves. As for her face, she had stayed away from makeup. Alice wasn't particularly a fan of the stuff. Her attire was maroon. It was like a lacey type of material that fell to her knees and the sleeves came down to her elbows. Alice was far too embarrassed to show off more skin than that. On her feet were simple black flats. She would never be caught dead or alive in heels.

It was time. She was meeting Carcer at the bottom of the staircase to the second level and she had a feeling he was already there. She had stalled long enough and taken far more time to get ready than she should have. She bit her lip, slowly exiting the dormitory and walking through the Hufflepuff common room. She did her best to walk through unnoticed. Finally she was making her way to meet Carcer and she could feel her heart pounding in her ears. She didn't know why she was so nervous. She had hung out with Carcer enough times by now to know that he had never made her feel nervous before... What was she nervous now for?

There he was. Just in front of her, near the bottom of the stairs. Exactly where he said he would be. Alice felt briefly embarrassed that she had taken so long to meet him. She looked down at her feet and took a deep breath. She willed herself to move forward and she found that as she got closer to him, she felt slightly more confident. She looked up at him finally as she neared him, a small smile appearing on her face. As always, she gave him her little awkward wave in greeting. Alice gave him a once over before she stopped in front of him, taking in what he was wearing and his overall appearance. The color green suited him, she realized. She then took quick notice of how much stronger he looked in this outfit than he did in any other. His chest was broad and his arms looked much more muscular. She had never noticed that before but now that she had she looked away, embarrassed that she had been looking so closely at him.

At last Alice stopped just about two feet away from her fellow Hufflepuff. She returned to face him and smiled up at him, as she always had to do. After a moment of standing there awkwardly and unsure of what to say, she finally was able to speak. "Hi," she said simply, and embarrassment swept over her again as she cursed herself for only being able to mumble out "hi."

@carcerronaldhagrid
Alice's dress

[Deleted]

Carcer had never been on a date before. He wasn’t popular, at least not as a dating prospect among the witches in the castle. And it wasn’t hard to see why. He didn’t really think he looked all that bad, but there were proportions to consider. A lot of…well, everyone except his brother, really, were child-sized next to him. And it was hard to be spontaneously romantic when you were lucky to reach your partner’s thigh. Truthfully, that was part of the reason Carcer had never really asked anyone out: not only was there rarely any interest, but he knew there were a lot of things people took for granted on dates that he simply could not do. He couldn’t offer his arm, he couldn’t go to a lot of restaurants, he couldn’t go anywhere that Muggles went…the list went on. But this time? With Alice? Carcer didn’t care. He was going to make a go of it anyway. And he was going to hope that she didn’t mind his not being able to do any of that. He felt like she wouldn’t mind so much. Maybe that was why he liked being around her so much—she acted like she was as big as he was, and she never seemed to mind the difference in size. She loved his Abraxans to death, and he was pretty sure Diana would abandon him in a heartbeat to go with Alice if the opportunity presented itself.

Several people had already passed him on the way to the party, many of them looking at him in surprise or interest. He supposed he deserved that. Carcer was well-known for not really dressing up for anything. People would see him either in his black school robes, or else the thick shirts and pants he wore while working with animals, the coarse kind of clothing that could take hard work and last for years. His mother had always made sure he had a decent set of dress robes, but the current set was the best he’d ever owned, since he would be able to wear it to graduation. She had it specially tailored to fit him, to make ‘ees looks shine like a diamond. Carcer was indifferent to them overall, but since tonight was…tonight was…special…wow. He’d just caught sight of Alice, and realized immediately that he wasn’t the only one who didn’t dress up much. She was radiant tonight, even if she was looking down in embarrassment about it. She had only changed her clothes, but the dress was unlike anything he’d ever seen her in, and it suited her as much as her normal clothes did. He liked that she hadn’t done anything in terms of makeup—she didn’t need it to look incredible, clearly.

She finally looked up at him, giving him her usual wave, though her cheeks were pinker than usual. Carcer managed to raise his own hand in response. His brain was somewhere between quicksand and a sinkhole right now, for how fast it was moving. “Hi.” Right. Words. Yes. He could do words. He knew he could. He had done them before, hadn’t he? He had! He had used them to get himself into this situation in the first place and where were they now?! After a moment of chewing on his tongue, Carcer finally remembered how it worked. “Hi. You—you look—amazing. Really. I—” Aaaand there they went again. Carcer closed his eyes for a moment and deliberately inhaled and exhaled a couple of times, forcing himself to calm down. Nerves didn’t go away, they had to be controlled, worked around. He knew that. And when he spoke again, it was a bit more even and calm. “I’m…glad you decided to come out tonight. So. Um…shall we, then…?” he asked, raising a hand toward the direction of the party.

If he wouldn’t look completely silly bending sideways (and if he wasn't afraid she'd flinch away, which would suck in many ways), he’d have leaned down to take her hand with his other one.

But he wanted to.

@alice
(OoC: Feel free to wrap this thread up with the next post and I’ll get a party post up too so we can start interacting with the others <3)

[Deleted]

If Alice had never hung out with Carcer before, then this would be a lot harder than it already was. So far she just had to get over her nerves. But... she thought, for a moment, would she be as nervous if she were in her regular attire? Probably not. She was just more self-conscious than usual because she was in clothes that she did not normally wear and it was a little nerve wracking. However, as usual, Carcer made her feel more at ease when he spoke. Well, kind of. His complimenting her made her feel better but it also made her cheeks turn a light shade of red. Alice was always shy when it came to compliments, so the fact that she was a little embarrassed by his telling her she looked nice was no surprise. Alice just so happened to look down at her feet and shifted them around when Carcer had to take a moment himself.

Alice inhaled once herself to get herself together, to will her cheeks to return to their natural shade. She looked back at Carcer, a small smile appearing on her face at his words. "You didn't think I was going to stand you up, did you?" She said, jokingly. Surprisingly, the thought of not showing up had not even crossed Alice's mind once. She actually wanted to come and spend the evening with Carcer, for every other time she had they had had a great time together. Now, would she be a little more at ease if she wasn't wearing this dress? Of course. But this was a party, and Alice supposed spicing it up was a good thing.

The blonde looked over the half-giant at the dress robes he was wearing tonight as well. "You look really nice tonight, yourself," she said. She had felt confident going into the statement but came out of it a little red again. Carcer looked different tonight as well. She had never seen him dressed up before and Alice thought that his robes suited him, made him look quite handsome. But Alice didn't know how to word that without turning as red as a tomato.

When Carcer raised a hand toward the party, Alice exhaled and glanced at the door to the party and then Carcer's hand. She was nervous walking into a room full of her peers. But as she looked back up at Carcer, she nodded. She thought, maybe it would be easier with him there at her side.

@carcerronaldhagrid
Alice's dress


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