Robyn's Nest

[Nicci]

I thought I'd start up a thread for all my 'other' posts that aren't linked into the story yet. Some of them may not ever be but they were just fun to write. It's back up for you Tommy.

Post Info: This I'm going to tag as Summer 1, as there will be a series of posts that follow in the same day of events.

Life for that short carefree while felt blissfully perfect, relaxed on their backs in the shade of a majestic Horse Chestnut tree that fine August afternoon. Whilst the record breaking sunshine made the air stiflingly unbearable pushing temperatures over thirty five degrees Celsius for the majority of the day, the shadow was a welcomed retreat especially when complimented by one of Steph’s homemade frozen lemon ice lollies.

With her head resting on the inner joint of her best friend’s shoulder, Robyn’s wispy blonde hair cascaded over his arm as she gazed up into the rich, leafy green canopy overhead pretending to frame the unforgettable view with her thumbs and forefingers.
The dappled rays of broken light danced around the elongated broad leaves, whilst the odd protrusions of new emergent ovoid husks swayed softly along with the gentle breeze. Summers spent with Mark were always fruitfully full of activity and joy, but like the mighty Chestnut they too waited patiently for the arrival of the autumn faced with the ever pressing will of change.

Retracting her arms to quickly salvage the dripping ice lolly that she had clamped between her teeth, Robyn gasped as a sticky bead of liquid ran down her cheek and she giggled, bolting upright to wipe it away with the back of her bare forearm. Mark however hadn’t noticed, his eyes were closed and his finished lolly stick rested somewhere out of sight, she still couldn’t help but turn and smile at him though. Their lives wouldn’t change from this would they? Was the impending threat of growing up really so ultimately final?

Carefully leaning over Mark’s rhythmically respiring chest rising and falling as he peacefully rested, Robyn chuckled as she placed her sticky lolly stick on the end of his nose with a balanced precision. The backs of her shoulders and exposed calves haphazardly cross hatched with indented lines from the short grass lances caused little concern as she stared far too deeply into his opened dark brown eyes. There was no room in her life for anyone else; Mark knew all her secrets, her hopes, fears and even her dreams. Why would she ever want to share everything again with someone new?

Collapsing back onto the grass, Robyn’s cheerful laugh pierced the serenity as Mark shoved her playfully away and lightly complained using his rather masculine nickname for her. She would always be Robbie no matter the change; she didn’t know if she would she be able to find the strength to defend it and their bond of undoubted friendship when put to the test against it but for now that was a worry for tomorrow. Today they just had each other, the best of friends they could have ever hoped to find.

[Nicci]

Post Info: Summer 2. I loved writing this post, I wanted to build up a picture of the relationship that Robyn has with Mark's mother and little sister. I thought that whatever way the story went with the formal event, Robyn's dress in Mark's favourite colour would instantly be thought provoking.

The wooden three legged milk stool rocked precariously on its uneven standings as Robyn balanced on top of it with her arms out stretched like an aeroplane coming in for landing. The weather outside was still stiflingly close and being stuck indoors with only every window and door open meant she had to physically will herself not to perspire over Steph’s half finished creation.
As the measuring tape whipped through the air like a charmed snake coiling in repeating loops of inches and centimetres, Steph had full wand control over the crisp cutting tailoring shears that snipped along chalked outlines with pin point accuracy.

Aiming a breath of exhaled moist air upwards with her lip; Robyn found it a brief relief to remove the stray hair out of her eyes but even that was quickly vaporised by the summer’s afternoon weather. At least things were at last progressing, her old ruined formal dress from last year was sadly no longer whole but at least the ruby punch stains had been literally obliterated. The remains of the cream satin had been magically transformed into a lavish periwinkle blue, an unusual colour choice but it leaned in the direction of the blue spectrum of indigo and the co-ordinating freshly steamed taffeta section wrap around was finally hot off the dining room table and whizzing through the sewing machine with Mark’s mother firmly at the helm.

Feeling the weary gravitational pull on her forearms, Robyn gently sighed to herself. She had to remain emotionally strong and not ever appearing to come across as anything but overwhelmingly grateful. If it hadn’t been for Steph’s kindness and generosity she never would have even been able to attend the upcoming formal at the start of the new term. Her father had paid out a lot of money for her old dress that had been ruined by Alexis Pennington’s punch overturning incident and neither of them had the creative talent between them to create something so boldly new from scratch.

“I’ve made seven!” a cheerful young female voice piped up, proudly thrusting a delicately designed fabric flower in the air causing Robyn to smile.

Even Kelly, Mark’s younger sister had been roped in to help for a few hours as a welcomed reprieve away from her private school summer project work. Robyn adored Kelly, although she wasn’t quite old enough yet to attend Hogwarts with them yet she was always welcomed to be included in their revision sessions when she wanted to be, and over the years Robyn had been stashing away chocolate frog cards so Kelly would at least have a head start at being popular with her future eleven year old housemates.
Even though much younger than her brother, Robyn admired Kelly’s maturity for her age. She wouldn’t have the same problems that Robyn herself was still experiencing even into her sixth year. Kelly had a strong heart, a bright outlook and the most loving family anyone could ever hope to find.

Snapping back to reality and thankfully pleased to find that the vast majority of her unflattering undergarments were now completely covered up. Steph was bustling close by finalising the fastening of the gathered taffeta at Robyn’s navel height and wrapping the rest around her considerably flat right breast. Kelly had quickly managed to push her fabric flower total into double figures and was now stringing them together like an off purple daisy chain. These according to Steph were going to be finishing touch and the main focal point of the dress that would run in a diagonal strip from the hip, up across the newly made join in the middle and secure tightly on the left clavicle strap with a sparking centred larger flower that she had handmade herself personally the day before. In Robyn’s eyes the near finished dress was beautiful, the addition of some straps across the shoulders or even criss-crossed over her shoulder blades would be an appreciated addition to save any embarrassing slippage down her unshaped frame. Other than that it was perfect.

About to consider her current lack of someone to attend with Mark’s voice echoed loudly through the closed wooden door and broke her train of thought. Maybe during their afternoon out on the lake would they discuss the yet unmentioned possibility that for once in their lives they would have to seriously consider taking someone else who wasn’t just ‘a friend’ to the formal event?

[Nicci]

Post Info: Possibly set Christmas of year before the RP or one upcoming..who knows. What do you give the person who means such a lot that actually coveys how you feel? A wish jar... cute and thoughtful. I felt it was quite a Robyn thing to find.

The atmosphere on that late December afternoon was unusually mild for the time of year for anywhere else in Central London, except on the cobbled street ways and close knit back lanes of Diagon Alley. Christmas even for the magical community was a lavishly celebrated holiday and the flocks of people hurrying about their business lined every lamp lit corner and burst forth out of every neat shop front. Somehow even amongst the crowds of eager shoppers the magically created snowflakes had found their way to settle on the unnoticed corners of the pavements and on top of the woollen burgundy owl hat of the young woman who had her rosy cheeks almost pressed up to the glass of Obscurus Booksellers.

With the cool temperature and higher humidity Robyn’s moist breath condensed in front of her face in a cloud of mist as her eyes scanned over the brand new, neatly stack piles of one of her much loved school textbooks behind the glass. Newt Scamander’s ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ held a special place in her shared memories with Mark but buying him another copy just didn’t feel like the right present she was looking for. She didn’t just want to get him any old present; it had to be special, thoughtful, and something that really displayed just how much he meant to her.

Exhaling a disappointed sigh, she pulled the mitten covers over the end of her exposed fingertips and buried her chin deeply in the matching knitted scarf around her neck. Time was running out and she knew she’d have to move quickly around the next couple of windows if she wanted any time to make it down the other end of the high street and browse around any of the pop up stalls around the fountain before her hour alone was up.

Several shops seemed to pass in a blur as she dismissed their contents as she passed by. Eeylop’s Owl Emporium was a waste of time, as much as she would adore having a fluffy little bird to bring her post all of her very own Mark already had Scar his faithful, laid back moggy. Amanuensis Quills equally just as pointless, even when humoured to sell sharp writing instruments, their feathered tips were always exquisite and beautiful and would be perfect if she was considering purchasing a gift for The Minister of Magic or Albus Dumbledore but for Mark….

At the sight of Madame Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, Robyn groaned heavy with the feeling of impending defeat as she brushed the accumulated snow residue off her Paddington Bear lookalike duffle coat. No way would she even consider everyday school attire for a gift for anyone, Canary Yellow was never going to make it into fashion.

Thrusting up her sleeve, the tiny hands on her wrist watch had inched their way rather too quickly past the five and now only thirty five minutes remained before she would be reunited with the White family again for a round of Butterbeers in the Leaky Cauldron. She couldn’t go back empty handed; Kelly’s gift was being handmade and was nearly finished in her trunk, all the adult’s gifts she could get in ‘normal’ everyday muggle shops and Aria’s she had left at Hogwarts. Mark’s was always the difficult one.

Turning the slight left bend and leaning on the last shred of hope that if all else failed she’d have to silence the nagging obsessive need to find the right gift and buy something, anything in the pet menagerie or the broomstick supply shop Robyn stumbled up the steps to the second hand junk shop, sadly a familiar visiting location in her earlier school years.
As she pushed the wooden door open and the bell above the frame hit a high pitched twang announced her arrival, Robyn stepped over the threshold and thrust her gloved hands into her pockets as she closed the door with her elbow.

“Welcome dear, feel free to look around” the owner, a middle aged looking witch in a dark violet velvet cloak and hat gestured to Robyn from across the room as she broke away briefly from her conversation with another woman with a scrawny, young boy hovering quietly by her side.

Fully focused on her task at hand, Robyn paid no attention to the other customers or what they were buying. She wasn’t one to judge the affluence of others nor if the Galleons in their pocket that were once Pound Sterling announced their blood heritage to the world like a foghorn. Maybe this just wasn’t the right shop either, Mark didn’t need a broken pair of scales, a limp wand…. Or an empty jar?

“I knew that was just what you were looking for” The owner beamed proudly presenting in her outstretched palms a dumpy looking old potion jar with a clean natural cork stopper.

Not wanting to sound ungrateful, Robyn muttered a confused ‘Thank you’ before turning the jar over and over in her own hands and continuing.
‘But I didn’t ask you for anything?”

“You didn’t need you” came the owner’s soft reply “You had that dedicated look of frustration in your eye, you are desperate to search every shop for a gift for someone special and there it is!”

Wrinkling her eyebrows and pouting an unconvinced frown, Robyn pulled out the cork stopper and smelt the inside of the jar. Maybe it contained something invisible other than air? Was it just a glass jar? Maybe it was less weird to get Mark the classic Hufflepuff brooch that she had just spotted resting in the glass display case underneath the till.

“Here” the owner added, taking off her hat and exhaling a light hearted chuckle at Robyn’s bewilderment “Maybe this will help explain what it is”.
Disappearing behind the counter, the middle aged woman with cascading black curls now exposed down her back produced a stringed tag and a ready dipped quill.
Instinctively guided closer with curiosity, upside down Robyn made out two clear neatly written words in a beautiful flowing script ‘Wishing Jar’.

“Now the container is not just an ordinary jar, it has a purpose. If you go to Scribbulus Supplies they sell packets of thin parchment there in bright colours about two packets should be plenty. If you bring them back I’ll show you the true beauty of the jar”

Setting the empty jar back down on the counter, Robyn took a second glance at her watch. Quarter to the hour was looming, she had to decide now was it worth just leaving the quirky random idea and hurrying towards Gringott’s or would the paper actually save the jar from looking the worst gift ever?

Glancing up at the Junk shop owner’s smile of enthusiasm and optimism, Robyn rolled her shoulders and bolted back out into the cold and ran the short distance to the stationery shop. Now there was no choice she had to believe in the jar or face Mark empty handed.

Arriving back at the Junk Shop with the surprisingly long, thin bits of coloured paper Robyn placed them on the counter before the owner and pulled off her damp mittens desperate to see what magic was about to unfold.
But…. somehow nothing unfolded it actually did the opposite in the unknowingly creative hands of the owner. In a couple of seconds the thin strip of paper, was now a dainty, perfectly three dimensional, five sided blue star.

“Now what if you wrote something meaningful on a slip of that paper, something you believed in for/or about that other person with all your heart then everyday they pulled out a star and unfolded to read something wonderful. Something no money could ever buy”

Left feeling slightly emotional and guilty that she dismissed the jar as meaningless, Robyn fell silent as she stared at the little blue example star sitting lonely at the bottom of the glass pit and contemplated what on Earth she could fill at least 365 bits of paper with. Sure she cared about her friendship with Mark, but how could there be so many words to describe it?

As the owner carefully packaged the jar and the paper in a brown bag, she handed them over to Robyn who still hadn’t found her voice.

“I’ve included the folding instructions for you, the jar can be anything you want it to be though” she added caringly “you just add imagination”

“Thank you” Robyn answered with a smile of relief, finally finding what she truly wanted to say “You were right, it’s perfect. Nothing out there would ever really show him how much he really means to me, what’s special is in my heart: our friendship and that can’t ever be bought with money at Christmas time or any other. Thank you, so much”.

(This hasn't really had much proofing as it was a quick write and fling to Tom's inbox so if it goes into anywhere special I will amend and tidy)

[Nicci]

Post Info: I've given the last two stanzas a bit of a tweak.
In Robyn's eyes Mark teaches her how to live whether it be physically, mentally or emotionally. Her insecurities are her fears that she'll be 'abandoned' by someone else she cares very much about and her memories are vivid with detail in case they are all that she is left with.
The poem is clearly a one sided bias as all that is mentioned could be hyped up versions of reality and not how Mark actually is or was. I still think he's a virtue of goodness in the world though, a rare treasure. Even though he's relatively normal he shines..and from little we know about him he's still one of my favourite characters.


I was the girl in the little green dress,
which ran to her mother with hope to impress.
With hair swept in two and tied at the end,
I wanted to show her, I called you my friend.

You were the boy I held onto so tightly,
you smiled at my mother and spoke so politely.
We both were so young, but each of us saw
our shared magical traits we’d grow to adore.

I was the girl who quickly outgrew,
the desire for dresses and clothes she once knew.
I now needed to play, jump and scrape knees,
I could dash through the mud but couldn't climb trees.

You were the boy who taught me to swim,
so we could take the boat out and fight pirates to win.
From treasure hunts to dragons, mud monsters and more
we’d face them together as companions we swore.

I was that girl till one fateful day,
my home was divided and She walked away.
She refused to return as much as I cried;
a witch would mean trouble no matter how hard I tried.

You were that boy who sat by my side,
who patiently reassured me until my tears had dried.
“We’d be perfect for magic, for spells and for books,
no matter our families, our blood or our looks.”

I’m am that girl who was sorted with you,
We are badgers of kindness and yellow’s our hue,
I like picking herbs, magic creatures and charms,
I’m good with my healing and can fix broken arms.

But you...

You are more than that boy, you've grown up so much,
I still hold your secrets but you flinch at my touch.
The greatness you hold very few get to see,
But I know it’s there and it allows me to be...

Always that girl even now that I fear,
That I won’t be the person that you’ll hold most dear,
But for now you’re my best friend and no one comes close,
because Mark you’re the person that I care about most.