Life Is But A Dream... [Camila]

[camila calderón]

June 5, 2028

”So one of those?” Lance checked in relation to the sorbet she'd just tried.

"Yes, please," Camila responded with a nod at the girl responsible for scooping their desserts behind the counter. "The Summer Sorbet in a waffle cone."

For himself, Lance ordered some Quidditch-inspired chocolate peanut butter ice cream flavor, also in a waffle cone. He acknowledged that hers likely would be better in the summer heat; the ice cream he ordered was definitely going to be richer in its flavor. "Outside or inside?"

"Outside?" she suggested. There wasn't anyone around to bother them, and as much as she didn't really want to take the chance that someone might, she also didn't want the girl working at the ice cream parlor to have to stay there for any longer than she already had to be just because they were there inside the shop.

Camila didn't mind the heat outside. London didn't get that warm most of the time, and the occasional heat wave for Britons was usually not too bad by her standards. Most of the people she knew in London would probably melt if they were dropped into Castelobruxo, but Lance was at least from the Southern United States originally.

lancelot ray linley

[lancelot ray linley]

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Outside it was. Lance handed over the appropriate number of coins before collecting a fistful of thin napkins. The kind that spread around melted ice cream more than absorbed it. Despite being in a completely different country, the napkin situation somehow didn’t change. No-maj or magical, it was all the same. The first time he had gone to Fortescue’s, he absolutely thought they’d have charmed napkins or paper towels, or never-melt ice cream. But nope! It was all the same at the end of the day. Knowing the way he ate it too; he would be wearing the chocolate peanut butter on various parts of his body.

Holding the door open for Camila, he was with a rush of warm, muggy summer air. If it hadn’t been for the daggers being stared at them by Cara, then he’d probably suggest staying inside instead. It seemed to him that she was either a fan or wanted to go home, and by leaving the shop they could at least help with one of those. He’d never really understood her anyways.

”Glad we’ve got these now,” Lance stated as he stepped all the way out into the night again. There were plenty of open tables, and finding one right along the edge of light from Fortescue’s was where he wanted to be. It again reminded him of home, and the buzzing of mosquitos trying to get their own meal while he and Georgie sat happily eating ice cream, not knowing that in a few short years they’d be abandoned and forced to move over here. It still didn’t make sense to him.

But, this was the happiest he had been in a while. Things were happening that he had always dreamed of, and having stability for once in his life absolutely helped. ”If we ever get a chance,” he started to say as he took a seat and immediately licked his cone, ”You should see some of the ice cream stands I’ve got back home. Their cheap and there are no-maj everywhere, but I think that’s part of the charm.” Hopefully that wasn’t too presumptuous of him to say so soon into a new relationship.

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[camila calderón]

June 5, 2028

After grabbing some napkins that were far less absorbent than they really should have been and their ice cream, the two of them stepped outside. It was no colder than it had been when they had entered the ice cream parlor, but it really wasn't bad. As Lance mentioned, it was good that they had their frozen treats.

Though the tables outside the shop would have been occupied during the day, they had their pick of them at that time. They were able to grab a table where there was enough light emanating from Florean Fortescue's that they could still see each other without having to illuminate their wands and hold those while trying to eat their dessert.

Lance sat down, as did Camila across from him. He mentioned that, if they ever got the chance, she needed to see some of the ice cream stands in the United States. They were cheap, he said, and had No-Majes everywhere, but that was part of their charm.

"This is good, but the ice cream in Argentina is very good, too," Camila noted, licking some of her sorbet as strategically as she could to keep it from dripping down the side of her waffle cone and getting everywhere. That wasn't to say that she didn't enjoy her sorbet, though; she did. "I want to see more of the United States," she added. While she had toured there briefly, she hadn't had ice cream there. "Maybe we can compare sometime?" Even magically, there wouldn't be a good way to transport ice cream across such considerable distances, but it was a thought.

lancelot ray linley

[lancelot ray linley]

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Lance had never thought about how much easier it would be to go back to the US if he was dating Camila. Not that he wanted to mooch off of her, but if he happened to travel with her on tour, everything became so much easier for him. The only problem was that there was no one over there for him to see anymore. He certainly wasn’t going to walk up to Barbara’s door and knock just to say hello. Those days were long gone. He was happy she was alive and healthy and managed to put him and Georgie up in their apartment, but that was the extent of their dealings going forward. It killed him, especially knowing she was out there all this time when the two of them struggled for as long as they had.

”You’ve probably seen more than I have,” he admitted. Aside from a road trip or two that he barely remembered now; everything had been confined to South Carolina until it all went to hell. ”I’ve almost been here longer than I was there,” Lance added as he stopped a drip of ice cream from hitting his hand. For all of the magic put behind Fortescue’s flavors, how they hadn’t managed to create a never-melt ice cream was astonishing. Or maybe they had, and it defeated the whole purpose of getting the frozen treat in the first place. Being able to practically drink a melting cone was part of the experience.

”But we should definitely go. It’s been over ten years now since I’ve been,” he said. ”And to Argentina too.” Lance worried about that part though. If Camila’s superstar status was so huge here, what was it like in her own country? All he had to go off of were news articles and record sales, which were insane since she had an almost Taylor Swift-esque presence there in his opinion.

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[camila calderón]

June 5, 2028

Apart from her being flirtatious because Lance was her boyfriend and it was kind of fun, Camila was overdue for another trip home, never mind another tour of the Americas. Lance suggested that she had seen more of his country than she had, and she shook her head. She hadn't; she had only been to Los Angeles, but she wouldn't have minded seeing more of the United States.

"I've almost been here longer than I was there," Lance explained. Camila's eyes widened a little when she heard him say that. It would be a long time before she would be able to say the same about being in London, and she didn't know that she would even stay there long enough to reach that milestone. "But we should definitely go," Lance added. "It's been over ten years now since I've been." Would it feel strange for him to go back to the United States? Or would it feel like a fresh start, since it had been so long? "And to Argentina too."

"I have only visited Los Angeles," Camila told Lance, "but I want to see everything… eventually. New York and South Carolina, obviously. Florida, maybe?" There were so many choices. At some point, she would get around to that. She hadn't even seen all of the United Kingdom! "And we can visit Argentina, of course. Córdoba, where I'm from, and Buenos Aires. Two years ago, I went with Sienna to Iguazú, too, near Brazil. And my parents would love to meet you…"

lancelot ray linley

[lancelot ray linley]

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The only apprehension Lance had with leaving London was whether or not his sister would be fine on her own. They’d been attached to one another since the very start, and that didn’t make him worry any less. He knew it would be difficult at first, almost like he was leaving her behind. But how much different would it really be from the extra year she’d had at school after he graduated? That year of ‘freedom’ had let him grow up quite a bit. At some point, they were going to have to lead their own lives separate from one another.

Lance took a bite of his ice cream, feeling his teeth and upper gums start to numb from the cold. He never knew why he ate it the way he did, because it always resulted in a brain freeze. His face contorted as the pain passed, and he nodded his head at Camila’s options on where she wanted to go. New York sounded like so much fun to him. Really, all of it did. There was so much he had yet to see in the world, with everything that had been yanked away from him at such a young age. He’d had a little bit of travel right after graduation, but not enough to really satiate his want to see other places. Being semi-forced to only travel between the orphanage and Hogwarts for all those years really did a number on him.

”All of them,” Lance nodded his head as the brain freeze finally subsided. ”I’d love to meet them too.” He couldn’t say the same about Camila meeting Barbara though. While it would probably turn out fine, he wasn’t sure how he would act. His mother had already ruined enough in his life from her little stunt. The last thing he wanted to do was open his girlfriend up to that as well.

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[camila calderón]

June 5, 2028

"All of them," Lance replied after she had listed off some of the many places she wanted to go, ideally with him. Camila was happy to hear that he was up for that adventure, and none of it sounded too crazy to her. It would be a longer distance to cover via non-magical modes of transportation, but with magic? All of that was doable, maybe even on the same trip if they planned it out enough in advance.

"I’d love to meet them too," he added about her mentioning his meeting her parents.

"It would be nice," Camila told him, smiling. And it would mean taking the next step in their relationship, which sounded equally nice to her. She had sort of had the equivalent of that with him by meeting Georgiana, she thought, given their family situation; the difference was that she hadn't had to travel to another country for that.

Thinking for a moment, Camila paused. She didn't want to speak too soon and make Lance think that she was rushing things or not take his feelings into consideration. "Georgie could come," she mentioned, not wanting to leave her out if that was a concern for Lance. "Or I could invite my parents to come to London?" That was another possibility.

lancelot ray linley

[lancelot ray linley]

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The prospect of going back to the US on a trip, as opposed to moving back, was sort of exciting. He had never truly had the chance to explore his home country, outside of the road trips the family had made that were now closer to being vague dreams than something that had actually happened. There had always been a plan for he and Georgie to do a grand road trip once they had the time and money. He didn't see any issues arising out of all three of them doing it. If anything, his sister would be over the moon to tag along. Lance could already imagine the nonstop babble that would explode out of her over the fact that she was going on vacation with Camila. The funniest part of it all would be that his sister would act like he wasn't even there.

"She'd love that! As long as her work lets her off, I guess." Georgie had basically only just started too. She wasn't nearly as lucky as the two of them were. Having the ability to get up and leave on a moment's notice for anything was sort of freeing, especially after being locked down by the orphanage for all of those years. Lance absolutely welcomed that kind of liberty now.

Camila added that she could also invite her parents here, to London, and Lance thought it through. That would certainly be easier for him, instead of having to get used to both a new country's surroundings and meeting her parents all at the same time. But that also worked in reverse for them meeting him. No one ever told him that getting to this stage of a relationship would be easy, because it was honestly terrifying at times. "Whatever you think would be the best works for me," he answered. Sometimes he worried that being too relaxed wouldn't come across the right way. That didn't seem to be an issue with Camila. "But I'd still like to go to Argentina," Lance added as he took another bite of his ice cream.

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