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Post by Jahan Samara on Mar 29, 2009 20:29:16 GMT -5
The rain was coming down hard, and Jay was one of the few people outside. It was Sunday, and Jay was relaxing and, as usual, thinking. He had a tree that sat close to the lake where he would come to sit. He would usually watch the lake and enjoy the the calm, smoothness of the surface, but today he looked upon a more turbulent picture, as the rain came down upon the water, stirring up the surface. It worked as an analogy to his recent strides in making friends, turning his placid uneventful life into something more interesting. And he liked it. The tree, an oak, provided nice cover from the rain beneath its leafy branches, so Jay stayed mostly dry. He liked dry.
(Emma)
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Post by Emma Wickham on Mar 29, 2009 20:49:30 GMT -5
Emma liked to play in the rain. The puddles made for terrific entertainment. It was a fun past time that she could easily spend the day away doing. However, in the winter time playing in the rain was not the best way to occupy one's time. It was cold and wet. Those two combinations were not something that she liked. The wet didn't bother her, the cold didn't bother her. Both at the same time were not a likeable combination. She found herself stuck inside for most of the day trying to find different things to do. Homework was a bust and an almost laughable topic to try and attempt. She had been avoiding that all weekend, what would a few more hours hurt? There seemed to be nothing to do in the castle at all.
Daring to be brave, she snatched her raincoat and rainboots from her trunk in the Gryffindor dormitory. Pulling everything on, she tucked her hair into a ball cap and grabbed an umbrella on the way out of the common room. A stroll in the rain seemed more appealing than stairing at the wallpaper of the common room for another hour or two. Making her way across the great lawns of Hogwarts, she found it easy to manuver around and not get drenched. The rain wasn't pounding, but it was steady so that she could easily predict which way it was coming from.
Spotting a dry area, Emma jogged over to a nice place under a rather large oak that had a boy laying underneath it. The young girl smiled kindly and pointed to a seat beside him as she inquired, "Is that spot taken?"
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Post by Jahan Samara on Mar 29, 2009 23:59:22 GMT -5
Jay was surprised that the girl was out in this rain, and even more so that she had come to his tree. Most of the people outside today were busy, hurriedly rushing from one of the buildings to another. But she was different. She wasn't going anywhere, she was just out. She appeared to be about his age, and her body language was friendly enough. Jay saw a chance at friendship, and he wasn't about to pass it up.
'Is that spot taken?' yes, she was definitely being friendly. Jay briefly thought about how to respond, before answering,
"Not at the moment. Whether it stays that way is up to you."
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Post by Emma Wickham on Mar 30, 2009 10:58:39 GMT -5
At his reply, Emma walked closer towards the tree trunk and stood her umbrella up against it. It balanced well enough to give a bit more coverage to catch some of the raindrops that the tree let through. Satisfied, she plopped down on the expanse just beside the boy. He had seemed surprised to find someone asking to sit with him under the tree. Of course, she looked weird because she wasn’t rushing to get inside out of the rain.
There had been a few people going in as she was coming out of the castle. They had been running for shelter while she had been about to embrace the rain. However, he was out under a tree in this weather so he couldn’t think her to be too much of a weirdo. Well he might if she just sat there like she was and didn’t say anything.
“Thanks for the shelter.” Emma said gratefully. Turning so that she was facing him she introduced her self, “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. I’m Emma.”
The young girl put out her hand as she told him her name, sure that she had never seen him around the castle.
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Post by Jahan Samara on Mar 30, 2009 19:16:32 GMT -5
"Not exactly mine," Jay chuckled that she was thanking him for the shelter. He had been sitting there, sure, but he didn't by any means own the tree, no matter how much it sometimes felt like that. Sometimes it felt like he owned a lot of things. It was a lot easier to start believing that the world is yours for you alone to observe and enjoy when you didn't interact with it. Making friends is a great way to bring yourself back down to Earth on that one, and Jay was beginning to realize this.
He looked her over, trying to remember if he had seen hep before. It was hard to say, she was so covered up. Between the raincoat, the boots, and the ball cap, she could have been a lot of people. It occurred to him that he probably looked pretty unusual, lounging out in the middle of a rainstorm with just a Beatles t-shirt and jeans. He really didn't mind, though. It was just water, and water dried. He didn't see any reason to make himself uncomfortable and less like himself just to repel some rain.
He shook Emma's hand, relieved not to have to worry about another situation like Connor. He didn't want another person he didn't know to know his name. He didn't want to look any more unaware of his surroundings than he already was. But he didn't have to worry about that with Emma, since she dodn't seem to know who he was either.
"Jay," were his marvelous words introduction. "What are you up to out here?"
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Post by Emma Wickham on Mar 30, 2009 20:36:10 GMT -5
"The castle was more dreary than the weather," Emma remarked with a slight shrug.
Only the castle's silohuette was visible through the veil of rain that cascaded on to the grounds. It looked like it was farther off in the distance than it actually was. Or maybe she hadn't noticed how far she had actually walked before coming up on the tree. Getting comfortable, she took off her hat and shook out her long brown tresses. Made wavy from the humidity, her hair fell around her shoulders and was mostly dry thanks to being tucked underneath the hat.
Looking back up she smiled kindly wondering the same question of what exactly Jay was doing out under a tree all by his lonesome. It would have been less curious if he had a book or something with him to occupy his time, however he just seemed to be enjoying laying around. Not that she could blame him for that, it was what she had been doing most of the day.
Emma looked back up to her company. He seemed very laid back and friendly to boot. "The rain isn't bad. It's just a minor setback." The young girl commented. "You seem to be having loads of fun out here," Emma's tone was playfully sarcastic.
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Post by Jahan Samara on Mar 30, 2009 20:54:07 GMT -5
Jay watched as Emma shook out her hair, and he thought that she looked a little bit familiar now. Who knew, though? It could have just been his mind playing tricks on him. It did that a lot. Either way, now he had a complete face to put to the name. That was good. He really didn't want to run into her again some day and not recognize her. That would be bad. But there was no worry of it now.
He smiled a bit at her sarcastic comment. He could do sarcastic. He was the king of sarcasm. That, and lounging around and being excluded in general. Really wasn't much of a title, huh? But at least he knew what he was good at, for the most part.
"I'm just enjoying my environment." Then he added, throwing that playful sarcasm back, "But I'm sure that doesn't come close to the kind of fun you've been having."
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Post by Emma Wickham on Mar 30, 2009 21:20:48 GMT -5
"Oh the joys..." Emma threw him a look of false excitement. Laughing, she shook her head and sighed. Sometimes there are just days when there is absolutely nothing to do. this was one of those days it seemed. Not only for her, but for everyone. The kids in the common room had either been reading, doing homework, or napping in the comfy chairs. She had attempted to read but had found that drawing shapes in the window panes was more entertaining.
That was why she was here. Holding her attention wasn't a particularly hard task, but had to involve her being active or doing something. She had ran out of window panes.
Emma started again, "I ran out of things to do to avoid homework. I don't know that many people here still, so walking alone in the rain was a nice little adventure to take for the afternoon."
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Post by Jahan Samara on Mar 30, 2009 21:41:37 GMT -5
Jay chuckled again. He knew exactly where she was coming from. He hated homework. He learned to do the things he was supposed to, why did he have to waste his free time, too? And in the end he got a good enough grade in the class, anyway. It wasn't like he was going to become an Auror or something. How did whether or not he did his homework have any consequence in the real world. If he made friends that were there for him, wasn't that more important than finishing an essay on the history of goblins?
"How long have you been here, then?"
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Post by Emma Wickham on Mar 30, 2009 21:55:31 GMT -5
"I believe it will be a month next week." Emma replied trying to think of the exact date she had arrived at Hogwarts.
It had been an uneventful time that had seemed longer than it actually was. She had attended an extremely dull Halloween party that lasted no longer than a few moments after it had began. The best of events had definitely come with discovering the basketball hoop and a partner to play ball with. She was hoping for more interesting times to come in the future.
Emma shrugged, "It's definitely different but I can say that the place has grown on me. Now that I have mastered the mannerisms of the staircases. They say that the rest is all downhill from there."
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Post by Jahan Samara on Mar 30, 2009 22:10:31 GMT -5
"I know what you mean. Back home, we didn't even have stairs. The magical ones are a little... unsettling to say the least. I prefer out here, anyway."
Jay gestured toward the lake as he said this. He definitely spent a lot of time outside, under his tree, lounging. As much trouble as he had socially at Hogwarts, he loved the place. It was pure, well, magic. He often wondered what it would have been like had he not gotten that first owl so long ago. He thought that he would have been fine, but things were so different now. It was like he had been put into someone else's life.
"Okay, let me guess, here. You're not Hufflepuff, I know that. You don't like homework, so you're probably not Ravenclaw. That leaves Gryffindor and Slytherin. I'm going to guess Gryffindor?"
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Post by Emma Wickham on Apr 1, 2009 21:39:09 GMT -5
Emma would have completely agreed with him about two weeks ago. At one point she could remember wanting to curse a staircase to the bottom of the ocean when it moved just as she was going to step on to it. Totally on purpose. It knew somehow that she would be late if it moved before she was able to reach it. Although, she still thought the staircases to have a mind of their own she liked the idea behind the entire castle buzzing with life.
With everything having so much animation there was often many things to entertain students as they hustled back and forth between classes. This was an especially nice thing when she had no one to walk with to class. Lack of conversation made for extremely long and boring trips.
"Now that was an effective process of elimination." Emma laughed as he correctly guessed what house she was in.
The girl hadn't found out much about the boy in the total five minutes she had been sitting under the tree. So far she had met students from all of the houses except for Slytherin. There were rumors that they were the ones to watch out for, but since she hadn't encountered them she had nothing to go on. Besides, who judged people on what house a hat placed them in?
Emma admitted honestly, "Well I know that you're not in Gryffindor. But I've got to tell you. Deciphering something further than that is beyond me still. So feel free to tell me."
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Post by Jahan Samara on Apr 2, 2009 20:19:21 GMT -5
"Alright, I'll feel free." Jay smiled, not completely sure why he was dodging the question. "So, Emma, I know you're in Gryffindor, but the rest of you is still a mystery. Who are you?"
He felt really comfortable, in more than one way. He felt comfortable under his tree, in the school in general, and he felt comfortable talking to Emma. It seemed like she brought out a side of him that was buried and suppressed. They definitely had something in common. He wanted to learn more about her, because that was who he was. He was always interested in learning new things about people. Either way, it would keep her talking. And as long as she was talking, she was less likely to leave. And sitting here talking to her was preferable to sitting alone
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Post by Emma Wickham on Apr 12, 2009 17:28:13 GMT -5
He hadn't told her what house he was in. Of course, Emma had noticed the complete avoidance of the subject. She wondered why he had withheld the information. She hadn't exactly asked him what house he was in, so he wasn't technically being rude but it was still weird that he hadn't told her in return. However, not knowing what house he was in didn't eat away at her because she found the whole seperation of the students to be a bit ridiculous anyways.
As he changed topics she listened to him question exactly who she was. Emma was not really sure how she was supposed to answer that question. She knew what she liked to do, what interested her, her favorite topics in school, and what not but did that apply to who she was? It made up a part of it, she was sure of that. She was thirteen, there hadn't been much time to worry yet about who she was. She found the question a bit silly.
"Well, I guess you will just have to see." Emma replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "If you hang around me long enough I'm sure you'll figure things out for yourself fairly quickly. However, it won't be half as entertaining if I just tell you flat out."
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Post by Jahan Samara on Apr 12, 2009 20:36:37 GMT -5
"Good point."
It was a good point. It was always more interesting to be shown rather than told. But Jay couldn't help but feel that she was dancing around the question much in the way he had. He had to admit, it was fair in a karmic sense, but he still didn't like not getting his answer. He would learn sooner or later, though. He always did.
And so the game begins, he thought. He liked games. A game was a challenge, a way to think in a new way, and if he could combine a game with making friends, he'd be more than happy to. He wasn't even sure why the game began, or even if the entire game was in his head, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.
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