i cross my heart and i hope to die

Tree climbing was fun.

Before, Valentina would have shook her head and wondered what on earth was so appealing about it. She understood now.

The little girl reached up, placing her arms around the trunk, as if she was hugging it. Then she leapt into the air, and her feet rested in either side.

Valentina moved her arms up, legs following closely. She grabbed onto a branch and swung herself up, so she was sitting on it. Val wasn't afraid of heights. In fact, she felt too far down, and continued to climb upward.

The tree trunk went two different ways the further up she got. In the middle, she stood with one foot, the other stretching backwards and her hands clutching tightly to the tree. Valentina laughed.

Tree climbing was fun.

The fresh air was soothing, rejuvinating even. She felt as if she was breathing in new life ever step she took. Perhaps that was a slight embelishment, a dramatic simile made by an over active imagination.

But it was a nice thought.

Life, Faye Hansoff had come to find, was always a nice thought.

As she continuned to trample, she heard a sound from above her. With a frown, she peered up, into the tree.

"Hello?" she frowned, tilting her head, "Oh, do be careful up there. Falling wouldn't be nice at all."

Valentina looked down absently. "Oh, hello!" She smiled cheerfully. "I won't fall, promise."

She climbed down eleganly, holding tightly on to the tree. When she reached the bottom, Val jumped down onto the ground. She smiled pleasantly and walked over.

"It's a nice place here, right?" Valentina said, looking absentmindedly toward the tree.

It was with some relief that Faye watched the girl put her feet back on solid ground. There were just some concerns with heights that the girl could not get quite past. She wouldn't say that she was afraid of heights exactly.

It was more she wasn't fond of the idea of falling.

"It is," Faye agreed without even really looking. After saying so she felt obligated to look around, check if her comment really was true. She found what she saw pleasing. "It really is."

"I'm Faye."

Valentina gave the older girl an approving smile and a nod. "Yep." She looked around again, just to make sure that the forest hadn't magically disappeared around them.

"Hi, Faye!" Val said brightly. "I'm Valentina."

"Its very nice to meet you Valentina," she gave the girl a genuine smile, which warmed even more as she followed her thoughts, "That's a very pretty name. Valentina, almost reminds me of Valentines, love... its a nice name."

She ran a hand through her hair as her grin turned bashful. Her ranting had gone in a direction that might have seemed presumptuous; she had not meant it too. Now she felt like she might have dug herself into a hole.

"You go to Durmstrang then?" She frowned trying to recall if she'd seen the girl before, but there were so many students in the school that she couldn't be sure. She looked younger than her, none the less.

"It's nice to meet you, too!" Valentina grinned. "I know. It's pretty nice, I guess. Valentines. Yes." She laughed gently.

She frowned. The girl was familiar, so Val thought that she might have seen her at school. "Yep, I do."

(ooc: I cannot even- ugh, this is crappy, sorry.)