Touch the Sky [FELIX]

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina had dabbled in the Feast of Samhain last autumn, now she was eager to camp overnight in Belleneu for Walpurgis Night. She had secured a prime location, right near the food trucks, and had set her tent up and unpacked the few belongings she had brought with her before taking a quick nap. Now that it was dusk, Irina’s belly rumbled and she drew back the flap of her tent to see a massively different landscape than the one she had left behind mere hours ago. She could smell the massive bonfires, the smoke curling rapidly in the sky as she breathed in the rest of the smells. So many different types of food and - perhaps this was wishful thinking - mulled wine?

Determined now to see for herself what offerings the night had in store, Irina set off down the created path where the food stalls lined. She found, to her delight, that she was correct; a mulled wine stand stood next to a grilled cheese food stall. Had there been a more perfect combination? Irina could not remember. After consideration, she chose a mozzarella and pesto grilled cheese to go along with her mulled wine. Quite happy with her choices, Irina found a bar height table close to one of the roaring bonfires. She set herself up there, ensuring that if someone else cared to join her they’d have plenty of space. Munching happily, she was content to lean against the table as she watched the fire burn.

Open!

[felix valentin fortescue]

April 30, 2027

Felix thought that it was nice for a change to attend an event where he wasn't working as one of the food vendors, and that was the case with that year's Walpurgis Night festivities. Unlike some of the other attendees who were planning to camp outside for the occasion, though, he had gotten himself a room at the inn in Bellenau and had made his way over to where the festivities were being held once he had dropped off his belongings and locked them safely in his room.

Fortunately, the food situation for the evening looked promising, so much so that he had difficulty choosing what he wanted to buy to eat as his dinner. Deciding that an American-style grilled cheese sandwich sounded like a satisfying option, he got in the queue, ordered himself a sandwich, paid for it, and received it.

Looking around, though, Felix realized that maybe he should have come up with a better strategy. There weren't many seats available unless he wanted to sit on the ground, as he had resigned himself that he would likely have to do. Just then, however, he saw that there was an available seat at a table beside Irina Krum, though he didn't want to presume that she was there alone and not saving that spot for someone else.

"Hey, Irina." As Felix greeted her, he could feel the heat coming off of the bonfire. "Are you waiting for someone?" he asked, motioning towards the free space.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina looked around when she heard her name being called and saw Felix, who had been at school with her. Different house and a year behind, she wouldn’t have called them “besties” but she always enjoyed Felix’s company. Particularly after graduation visiting Florean Fortescues ice cream parlor every summer afternoon after she left Gringotts. “Hey Felix,” she greeted with a smile. “Actually, no. A few mates were interested, but they didn’t follow through so I decided to seize the day and come on my own.” She chuckled lightly.

“To be honest I’m rather glad to see you - there was an younger…em, tipsy gentleman who had been eyeing this seat and to be honest I’d rather not give him any false hope.” She eyed a group of kids who couldn’t be older than 16 whispering to each other and looking over at her. “Isn’t it funny as soon as you graduate school and start working, how young school aged people look? I kept forgetting my sisters were just one and two years behind me at school.” Irina asked him.

felix valentin fortescue

[felix valentin fortescue]

April 30, 2027

Irina replied to say that she wasn't there with anyone. Some of her friends had been interested at first, she added, but they hadn't come in the end. Felix hadn't asked anyone to come with him, but he empathized with having to go somewhere alone after other people had decided to back out at the last minute. It wasn't fun, to put it lightly, but Irina fortunately didn't appear to have taken it to heart. Felix felt uncomfortable for Irina's sake, though, when she explained that she almost had had to deal with someone who might have put her in an even more uncomfortable position. Being at such a crowded event alone and without someone to jump in if things went wrong was honestly sort of scary.

The only potential threat that seemed to be in their vicinity at that moment, though, was a group of teenagers who looked as though they very well could have been studying at NEWT level still. Teenagers could be brutal, not that Felix had been in his twenties for very long. They were only looking over at them—at Irina more than at him, it seemed—and looked like they were gossiping amongst themselves.

Amazingly, Irina continued to take it all in stride, making a remark about how young people who were still in school looked after leaving it for the world outside of it. "I kept forgetting my sisters were just one and two years behind me at school," she added.

Felix didn't have younger siblings like she did, but he understood what she meant. It had been strange to leave school for work at his family's ice cream parlor, even though he had had some level of work experience there all his life. Especially since so many students who would have been at Hogwarts were being educated at home until the school could be rebuilt, it made it really strange to see younger people just going around and living their lives rather than being restricted to the castle and possibly Hogsmeade. Kids weren't necessarily being miscreants simply because they had more freedom of movement.

"Well, I haven't got any alcohol," Felix noted, "so that shouldn't be a problem." As he spoke, he raised up his sandwich slightly so that Irina could see it before setting it down on the table in front of the open seat. He didn't really want to rile up the teenagers who were already talking about Irina or the both of them, though, so he held off on mentioning that the teens did look very young to him, too.

Irina Rose Krum

[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina smiled. “I hope you don’t mind. I have a glass of mulled wine,” she said, gesturing to her steaming cup in front of her. Mulled wine was something to be enjoyed, not drunk for the sake of the after-effects of alcohol. The warm, tangy spices that mixed together so perfectly, with the hint of cinnamon from the stick protruding from the side of her cup, it was heavenly.

With Felix’s arrival, the other teenagers looking Irina’s way seemed to eventually lose interest to her relief. “Why do they seem to think that because I’m alone, I'm desperate for company,” she muttered, then grinned at him. “Not that I am begrudging your company at all. I don’t actually prefer to be alone, but if my choices are solo or with them,” she inclined her head at the group. “I would choose solo.” She took another sip of her mulled wine and laughed. “So what about you? What brought you here?” she asked. He hadn’t mentioned if he was waiting for someone to show up, and Irina wouldn’t want to intrude if that was the case. She supposed she could just start walking around the area and not stop until it was over. But that seemed to not be the best use of her time. She could always go home, she supposed, but she didn’t want to miss out if she didn’t have to. It was frustrating that she was considering going home to avoid stupid teenagers, but she would have to make that choice when it came to it.

felix valentin fortescue

[felix valentin fortescue]

April 30, 2027

Felix wasn't bothered by Irina's comments about preferring to be there solo as opposed to being in the company of the younger folks who were giving her such a hard time. If he were in her position, he felt, he would have responded similarly. Being transgender wasn't a walk in the park whatsoever, but he had been clearly not cisgender and heterosexual for long enough that he didn't really have to deal with cishet men being creepily forward with him in the same way. He didn't usually find himself in spaces where other men—or anyone else, for that matter, being pansexual—might have been more forward with him, either… not that he would have known what to do with himself if that were the case.

In short, Felix got the point that Irina was trying to make, which was that people could be gross sometimes. He was far from being some beefy part-giant who could intimidate anyone he came across, but he hoped that his presence would be enough to deter anybody who wanted to try anything with Irina without her consent.

"So what about you? What brought you here?"

"Er, well… I decided I'd treat this as a holiday," Felix answered Irina, giving a little shrug. He questioned if he could call it a "holiday", compared to some more far-flung destinations, but it was a holiday for him, relatively speaking. "I'm staying at the inn instead of camping, but I haven't really got plans or anything." There were the activities planned for Walpurgis Night, of course, but he didn't have anything set in stone. "You?"

Irina Rose Krum