Natural Habitat PV Santario Finished

Interacting @Winnie Harper

Outfit Reducio

Summer vacation would be shorter this year, and because of that, Santario had talked her French grandparents into allowing her to stay with her Irish Grandparents for July. It was, of course, under the condition that they handle all the school shopping that Santario would need for the next year and make sure that she was on the train for Summer Camp come August first. Considering they had not had this much time with Santario in over a year, the answer was an easy yes.

The first couple of days had been spent just talking about everything that had been going on at school for the past two years. Granted, Santario took some liberties on what information she told them. Leaving out the wrong things and bending things to be in a better light, showing them all the great pictures she had taken over the years. They asked about her friends, and she regaled them with stories about Alan, Quinn, Thomas, Jake, Dale, and Kaegen. As they were embarrassingly pointing out that all of her friends were boys and starting to ask if any of them had her fancy, she quickly changed the subject to duelling.

Santario was at peace here where she did not have to keep up the pureblood airs. She did not have to pretend to be someone she was not. No pretending that she gave a single damn about being the heir to the de Clairmont legacy. She could just be a young lady here and relax and breathe. The energy that her grandparents gave off and how the house looked reminded her most of where she grew up and helped her feel connected to her parents. Santario had been worried that it would have hurt too much, she wondered how long she could stand it before asking to go back to France, but San had been pleasantly surprised to learn that this was precisely what she needed.

Come the morning of the fifth, Santario got herself ready to go into Dublin. They wanted to get shopping for her school things out of the way, and her grandparents knew of a bookshop that also sold wizarding books. If they could find some Santario needed before taking a trip into Diagon Ally, then all the better. Her name was called from below as she slipped her foot into her red converse. “Just tying my shoes!” She called as the bow was pulled tight in the high top, always leaving the top hole open. She hurried down the stairs and out the door to the train station.

Santario pushed open the door as the little bell above it jingled, announcing their arrival. Santario took a deep breath as her eyes scanned the tables and shelves. “I’m going to see if they have anything Papa wrote. I’ll meet you near the back.” Her father had been an Author of muggle thriller/fantasy books, often helping to perpetuate the beliefs muggles had of supernatural creatures. Well, at least how they looked. The only difference is that his books usually painted werewolves, vampires, and Veela as the good guys. Santario found herself in the appropriate section and started searching for her last name. “Cillian Martin, Cillian Martin… Cillian Martin” She mumbled to herself before finally finding a selection of his books. Including the one that was published the November before his passing. She had not read it yet, and her grandparents in France did not give her access to most of her parent’s belongings.

Satisfied with her findings, she walked into the employee bathroom with her grandparents after checking that the coast was clear. Her grandmother gave a wave of her wand, and Santario marveled as the rest of the shop appeared. The older woman with her leaned over and spoke quietly in her ear, and Santario nodded. “Thank you, Gran; I’ll just be looking over at herbology and potions books to see what they have.” With that, her grandparents went on their way. She approached a shelf and started looking at the books, gently touching their spines with the tips of her fingers before a voice caught her attention.

She turned to look at the redhead curiously… Ah, yes, pterodactyl girl, if she was not mistaken. A fact which was quickly cleared up as the girl before her continued about seeing her at the ball. “Yes, I am. Santario Martin.” She shifted the two books of her father's to her left arm and held out her right hand to Winnie. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She had not been in Ireland long enough for her French accent to wear down nor her overly formal way of talking to people when she wasn’t at Hogwarts. “And thank you, it was honestly my first time caking on so much makeup. Please tell your grandparents that their bookstore is quite lovely. My grandparents own a bakery in Wicklow. We just came up here to look for some books and do some other shopping.”

They really did not have many more plans besides this bookstore. Her grandfather had said they would wing the rest of the day, but if this interaction went poorly, she at least had an excuse to leave. Santario was still trying to work on not judging her peers, but from what she saw of Winnie at the ball, it was a little hard to help in this case.

───I f she known that the older girl had seen her failed attempts at tackling Mathias Pride. She likely would not have had the confidence to speak to her. That night still brought Winnie shame. She had not conducted herself in a way that her mother would be proud of. "Santario Martin~..." The redhead repeated, her words carrying a soft tune to them as if the girl’s name itself was a well-known melody. There was no doubt the girl herself could inspire such prose. She had an air about her. She seemed to carry herself with such grace that Winnie flushed in the mere glow of her presence. But perhaps that was simply Winnie romanticizing their interaction.

Winnie still had that lingering effect in her heart as she spoke. "I’m certain you would have been just as breathtaking without makeup." She stated with conviction. Surely Santario knew this herself? Her sapphire eyes alone were enough the melt a heart of stone. "A bakery?" Winnie inquired, her head tilting with her curiosity. "Any chance you’re hiding some freshly baked bread somewhere?" She asked with a smile smile. She loved baked goods as much as the next person. She was already missing the delicious food that Hogwarts provided to its students.

She was just doing some shopping in Dublin? Winnie had only just greeted the girl. She didn’t want her to leave yet! This was a great opportunity to get to know her schoolmate, after all. "Please make yourself at home here!" Winnie suddenly announced, reaching forward to lightly touch the girl’s arm in her sudden desperation. Her cheeks flushed when she realized she had stepped into Santario’s personal space. "R-Reading over the summer is important, after all. It does the mind well..." She stuttered, releasing the poor girl's arm.

Her eyes flickered down to the book that was under the Slytherin’s arm. "Cillian Martin? Are you a fan of supernatural stories?" She asked, her curiosity suddenly overshadowing her embarrassment. Winnie knew a lot of authors, muggle or wizard, it didn’t matter. She had practically spent her entire childhood reading, after all. She was interested in supernatural creatures, so the name was one she recognized. The possible connection between the author and her classmate dawned on her a bit too late. "Oh... Wait, you share a last name... Is there any relation there or is that just a coincidence?"

Interacting @Winnie Harper

Outfit Reducio

A soft, slightly humoring smile graced her lips at the compliment. “Well, thank you very much. Unfortunately, I do not possess any freshly baked goods on me, but if you ever find yourself in Wicklow, you should find Baker’s Basket.” While it was a quaint little bakery, it did not stop people from lining up around the block at six in the morning waiting for them to open. Initially, all the recipes had been made by hand, but as her grandparents had gotten older, they relied on magic to keep the goods flowing. It was not even for the money, but for the community, as most of the money that they made was donated back to local charities.

As Winnie’s hand moved toward her, she physically tensed, and her jaw clenched. An impartial mask fell over her features. It would be the one that most people had seen from her at school. Usually, her reaction would have been to move away, but they were in a semi-public area, and she was not about to make a spectacle. “I agree it is good to keep the mind sharp, but I must ask that you please refrain from touching me like that. I am not fond of it.” Her voice slightly curter as it spoke a partial truth as she was perfectly fine with it when someone she was very close to did it, but a practical stranger made her want to flee.

The young girl had caught sight of the books in her arm; of course, she did. She was under presumable guardianship of people who owned a bookshop. “You could say that.” She debated for a moment deciding if she wanted to explain why the books actually mattered to her, but before she could choose, it would seem that Winnie had pieced it together. Santario’s free arm wrapped over her torso, her hand grabbing onto the arm holding the books closing her body language off. “He was my father. This was the last book he ever released.” Unlike other authors, there were no hidden manuscripts that had never been released or unfinished projects. Her father had been extremely good at finishing every task he had started.

“After I moved to France, most of his belongings went into storage to be sorted, so I figured it was easier just to buy it.” She decided to head off the next question she assumed the girl would have asked next. Even if the money did matter to her, she would get the royalties from it anyway. This was usually when Santario would fall into an awkward silence. Her sapphire eyes shifted from the girl to the books she had been looking at, grabbing a herbology book featuring some of the more toxic plants in their world and adding it to the stack in her arms.

───Winnie couldn’t help but smile at that invitation. Santario was already inviting her to visit the bakery! Were the pair starting a friendship already? She certainly hoped so. "Baker’s Basket is a very cute name. I’ll definitely remember that! My grandpa has a sweet tooth, so I’m certain he’d travel to Wicklow just for a decent pastry." The redhead couldn’t help but chuckle as visions of her beloved grandfather shoving delicacies into his mouth came to mind. Her grandmother would fondly scold him, asking if he had even bothered to chew. "Perhaps I’ll see you there?" The idea of it seemed to excite Winnie, her blue eyes hopeful as she gazed up at the Slytherin.

She had never been great at picking up on social cues or body language, but even Winnie recognized she had just made her classmate feel rather uncomfortable. Perhaps it was because she herself also felt bad about her sudden reaction to the possibility of the older girl leaving her side. Santario’s blunt request was extremely helpful to her. She had only just started to learn that not everyone enjoyed physical touch the way that she seemed to. Not that she would cuddle strangers, but she was definitely known to be a bit too handsy. It might have been the years she spent only in her mother’s presence, where a fond touch was welcomed. "O-Oh... I’m very sorry. I got a bit excited. Thank you for telling me, I would never want to make you feel uncomfortable." Winnie bowed her head, staring down at her feet. It was meant as a polite gesture to show how apologetic she was, but she might have appeared a bit more like a guilty dog.

As she listened to Santario’s explanation, her face fell. She knew of the author, but was not aware he had passed away, and more than that; he was this girl’s father. "Oh, I see... I’m sorry to hear that..." She did not want to offer the girl her pity, but empathy. She too had just lost her father, and though it was under entirely different circumstances since he had willingly left, she felt a small connection to the girl. "He wrote wonderfully. His stories always left me feeling thoughtful." She told the Slytherin, offering her a small smile. A few had definitely kept her up at night, but she didn’t mind feeling scared. Part of her enjoyed the rush of it. "If you are looking for any more of his books, please let me know. I’ll give them to you free of charge." Her grandparents had told her she could have any book from the shop for free, so surely they wouldn’t mind, right? Even if they did, Winnie would pay for them. She could tell her classmate was starting to feel awkward, so she quickly scrambled to change the subject. And for once her nerves didn’t make her blurt out random nonsense. "Um... Do you enjoy writing as well?"

Interacting @Winnie Harper

Outfit Reducio

Santario gave a slight shrug to the inquiry. “It is pretty possible. I will be there for most of the month when I am not shopping. I will still need to get all of my next year’s schoolbooks at some point. They are closed on Sundays, so keep that in mind. It is usually the day they do all of their shopping for the week.” Realistically, she only planned on being in Dublin a couple of more times than one trip to Diagonally; otherwise, the rest of it would be spent working in the bakery, taking photographs of the countryside, and lying on the roof watching the stars.

A soft smile would be given at Winnie’s reaction when she was told not to touch, trying to appear less harsh than she might have been just moments before. “I appreciate your understanding. In your defense, I barely let those that are closest to me touch me, let alone anyone else.” Even then, when she did touch her closest friends, it was usually out of necessity to calm them down or help them walk if they were injured, and even then, sometimes she thought that was too much. The idea that even her closest friend could be that much closer was too much. What happened when he inevitably wised up and left her, or worse, died? A knot formed in her stomach just thinking about it, and instead, she forced herself to focus on the younger girl.

“Yeah, he passed December of twenty-nineteen. I do not think it circled the muggle realms all that much he was just an author in their eyes, but it hit the pureblood circuit pretty quick.” After all, an influential pureblood husband and wife getting murdered in their own home on Christmas eve was not something to ignore. Especially when the daughter was left behind untouched. Information Winnie could find if she went searching for it in their world. Old copies of the daily prophet probably were not hard to acquire. “I really appreciate that notion, ironically… I would get the royalties if I paid for it anyway. I do own the others; they are just… packed away.” Another shrug; she did not really know what else to say about it if she were honest.

“Not particularly, I mean, I can string words together just as eloquently as he can, or so I have been told. It just is not my passion like it was his.” Was that was still weird to say… “I am more into potions, poisons, and healing like my mom was.” Though her research into poisons was a tad more nefarious than her mothers ever was, but it still helped to know. “What about you? Any interests?” Yes, shift the focus off of herself, something that made her far more comfortable.

───Nodding her head, Winnie was still lost within her own daydreams. Ones of her crafting bracelets for the girl and letters telling each other of their favourite novels. What kind did San like to read? Was it always horror? Winnie could get behind that, she liked books of all kinds. What was she saying? Not Sunday, of course! "I'll keep that in mind. I sometimes help my grandparents around the store, but otherwise, I pretty much have no plans. Oh! Except for meeting my friend, Jack. Maybe you know him? His last name is Warren, he lives down the street from here!" They looked as if they would be in the same age range, so perhaps they had classes together? She hoped so, it would mean one more connection to Santario and also that the three of them could spend time together this summer.

The shared information did put the Ravenclaw at ease, she had been certain she had messed up their 'blossoming' friendship already. "Of course, that is your preference. Touch is natural for me so I tend to default to it. I'm more than happy to learn your boundaries, though." She tried to offer the girl a small smile to show there were no hard feelings. In truth, she was thankful to know. If only others were as comfortable telling her their limits.

Winnie nodded her head at that explanation, but part of her heart ached for the Slytherin. It was only less than two years ago? How horrible. "I cannot imagine..." Her eyes fell downcast once more. Feeling a bit breathless at the thought, she desperately gulped back air. "My grandparents are purebloods, but... Otherwise, I don't have connections to the wizarding world, so I didn't hear..." She would definitely look it up at a later date and be horrified with the information. "Ah, well again... Even if you would just like to borrow... Let me know."

"Oh, I see. That's still such an admirable skill to have. I wish writing come to me that easy. I do enjoy composing poetry, though... I have quite the collection of poems if um... You're ever interested in hearing them?" She wondered what sort of fiction the Slytherin would compose. Something horrifying like her father seemed to have a knack for, or perhaps non-fiction? At the news of Santario enjoying healing magic, her eyes lit up, "Wait, really? Healing magic? I've recently taken an interest in that too! What books have you read on it? Maybe we could share suggestions?"

Interacting @Winnie Harper

Outfit Reducio

Eyebrows raised slightly, it as a small world. “I do know of Jack. Hufflepuff Prefect. Last year, we were on the same team for chess combat, which is a more complicated riff on duelling. We will be doing it again this year at summer camp. Sometimes I see him in joint classes and when we run around the quidditch training pitch.” It was not like they ran together but more recently, they reconnected there, and she assumed she would see him again when the new year started. Santario would return the small smile that Winnie gave her as she explained that she understood her boundaries. “I appreciate that.” Her boundaries were pretty simple, do not touch her unless it is necessary.

“I would not be upset that you did not know.” In fact, she would rather stop talking about it in the middle of a bookstore with someone she had just met, but San was trying her best not to be as harsh as she usually was with people, personal growth, and all. Then Winnie did something. She changed the subject, perfect! “I do not claim to know a lot about the structure of poetry, but I do know when words sound pretty. I would love to hear them.”

Santario shifted the books in her arms as Winnie asked about healing. “Is there somewhere we can sit?” She was sure her grandparents would not mind staying longer than they usually would have if they saw her talking to someone. Chances were they would buy something themselves and find a place to sit and read while they waited. If Winnie led them somewhere, she would follow as she spoke. “I would recommend in muggle books the Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine. It is broad, so you will learn a bit about a lot, but do not expect it to help you really identify or harvest anything. Still worth a look, though. I recommend any book that teaches muggle first aid as well. You never know when you will be without your wand, and something is better than nothing.”

Though no amount of reading would ever trump the hands-on experience, Santario had when her parents were still alive. “Any kind of supervised practice, though, is truly the best.” That would be when she found herself wondering if any new internships would open up with the nurse or if he would consider taking on people younger than his usual interns.

It would, however, appear that Santario was mistaken about being able to stay as her name was called. She looked away from Winnie toward her grandparents and gave them a small nod before looking back at the girl. "Looks like it is time to head out. It was... It was nice to meet you." A soft smile afforded to not many people accompanied the farewell as she walked off to pay for her books and be on her way.

───Atthe mention of ‘chess combat’, Winnie tilted her head. She had not heard of it before, but luckily it seemed that San was ready for that and explained to her it that had something to do with dueling. "Oh! That sounds neat." She had tried to play chess before with her maternal grandfather, but she had never been very good at it. Now that she thought about it, she supposed she likely would not be a good duelist either. "Jackie was on a dueling team? Oh wow, I knew he was a prefect, but I didn’t know he was that good at magic! Dueling must be difficult. Maybe I could come watch this summer?" Of course the students were most likely more than welcome to watch the matches, but it seemed the redhead was specifically seeking the Slytherin’s permission. She found San so mystifying; a cool and calm older student that she could admire. It would be an understatement to say that Winnie needed a stable friend in her life.

"Well, I’m actually still learning about poetry myself. I’m no expert, but I like to think the most important thing about poetry is that it comes from the heart." Hand written with care, each thought expressed precisely to show the recipient how important they were. To show them what sort of thoughts crossed the complex labyrinth of one’s mind when their name weaved its way through and emerged victorious. To Winnie, San seemed like the type of girl who could inspire prose from the greats themselves. Was she aware of the affect she had on the world around her? Regardless, Winnie looked forward to getting to know her better. Perhaps one day, she would write a special poem for the Slytherin.

"We have some arm chairs over near the windows. I enjoy curling up there and reading a good book!" She was excited to learn more about the girl, to listen to her talk about medicine and her future career as a healer, but unfortunately it seemed the fate’s had other plans for the two girls. Their conversation was enough to leave the other intrigued, but it was one they would have to return to another day. Upon hearing that Santario needed to leave, Winnie visibly deflated a bit. "Oh, okay..." However, her comment on it being nice to meet the Ravenclaw did help perk her up a bit more. "It was really nice to meet you too! I hope we have the opportunity to continue our conversation about healing at a later date." Winnie would make sure the book she promised to pay for was off of the Slytherin’s tab, and would cheerfully wish her a farewell. It was unfortunate their pleasant interaction was doomed to be forgotten within a month’s time, but surely their paths would cross again in the future.

End of Thread.