To Groom or Not to Groom PV Alan + Ileen Closed

Interacting with | @Percival Rainwood

Ileen roamed through the crowded room, prowling around the different groups of people who had gathered to pamper their pets, quite similar to a cat herself. It was the third errand since her first day at Hogwarts she actually had intended to participate in and had not just stumbled into, but she hadn't known that so many people would be here. If she had known, she might have reconsidered showing up. After all, she knew that big groups at this school were doomed – she couldn’t remember a single event with more than five people involved that hadn’t ended up in a chaos, so she tried to stick with her policy to avoid them in general.

Trying to relax, she briefly closed her eyes and took the situation in, the sound of the happy animals, the quiet voices of her peers – they all were warm and flatteringly addressed to the animals and Ileen's lips automatically curled into a smile. Interesting how most people became kinder when they were interacting with animals. She could relate to that since she would choose the company of most animals over humans which was also mainly the reason for her participation in this errand.
Animals responded to your behavior and behaved according to how you treated them, a fact the young Slytherin highly appreciated due to her childhood experiences. Plus, she missed her two former cats and horses who she’d had to leave behind when her family had moved to England, so this event was a chance for her to get in touch with some of the pets. Normally she stayed away from them without the permission of the owner to pet or touch them and she hadn’t met a lot of peers with pets so far.

Looking around she searched for the few she knew, but before she could find one of them, she saw someone else. Honestly, she was rather surprised when she spotted a well-known blonde shock of hair – what was he doing here? Only the presence of Erik could have surprised her more.
Ileen hesitated for a moment and watched Percival who was inspecting a pair of scissors that was used to shorten claws and internally discussed if she should approach him or not. They hadn’t spoken after the terrible event the whole Slytherin house had stumbled into at the summer camp – and that hadn’t ended that well. In general, their relationship was rather iffy and the young Slytherin still wasn’t sure what to think of that guy. Sometimes he was reasonable and then he barked at her best friend for no reason again and acted like a stubborn toddler.
But somehow, she also liked him, because it was always funny when he was there - whether it was at his expense or not is a matter of opinion. So, she strolled over to the table as well and tilted her head, her brown eyes sparkling with amusement. “Hey. Fancy seeing you here. What do you intend to do here? Pamper your guitar?” At least she had gotten the feeling that his instrument was the thing that came closest to a pet for him. “I guess that’s the wrong tool then.” Her tone gave away that the teasing was just a joke and nothing she was serious about.

WC | 551/1000

The fourth year had just finished giving his cat a bath, Tiger had actually enjoyed it as long as he had been within the water but now was shivering as he was wrapped into a soft towel and clutched to the Gryffindor's chest as he was looking for a spot to set the feline down to properly dry him off. He would have to hurry to make sure that Tiger would not leave this little bath tub encounter with a cold. Looking down at himself he actually found that he was right and should have worn something else. His white shirt was splattered with water and Tiger's orange-y fur was quite noticeable on it.

Finally after inspecting the room a little he would see two familiar faces at one of the tables but there was no pet around so the fourth year had hope that perhaps he could continue his care over there. As he stepped towards the two figures, he had his cat still clutched to his chest, giving the shivering feline some body warmth. "Hey, can I put down Tiger here for a bit? You can help too, if you want to!" he asked the two of them as he already set the Bengal down onto the table as he unwrapped the cocoon the cat had been in. Now with Tiger standing on the towel he would mewl, instantly catching the owner's attention who proceeded to pet him. "Percival, we haven't met in a bit! How have you been?" he asked the boy after giving a nod to Ileen who he had just hang out with in the morning. What a coincidence to see her here again but he knew that Ileen liked to participate in the school activities, as they had first met during the tea bag errand. Well technically they had met in passing in front of the flying professor's office but Alan could hardly count that, right? He gave a smile to both of them as he began to gently dry off Tiger; still waiting for the two of them to say something.

Percival looked up in surprise as an all too familiar voice spoke to him. Black eyes glanced upwards slowly from the tool to look at the all too familiar form of Ileen. The two had nothing short of a strange and confusing relationship. There were moments when Ileen did not seem that bad. Where he could almost say he kind of liked her. Though those moments always seemed overshadowed by the less than savory moments he had with her. His mind wandered back to when his favorite shirt had been temporarily ruined by a certain eagle and snake.

The boy frowned as he waited for Ileen to go ahead and speak already. He frowned slightly as he saw the expression in her eyes, and he wondered what had amused her so. Percival scoffed at the joke about his guitar. Though inwardly, he cringed at the thought of using any of the tools in front of him on his precious guitar. "I could ask you the same question. Why are you here Ileen?" he asked in a clipped tone. The boy could not ignore the strange feeling he got from using her first name. Percival had gotten comfortable using people's first names during his first year at Hogwarts. It had been nothing but a small rebellious act, but now the boy no longer felt the need to be so rebellious. Percival wondered if he could just start addressing people by their last names or would they find it weird. He didn't even know everyone's last names because some had only given their first name. The boy sighed as he realized he would have to do some investigative work if he wanted to go back to a more traditional route. Inwardly, he swore that he would never call Hana by his last name.

Percival brought his right hand down to place the clippers back in their rightful place. He glanced up quickly as Ileen continued to speak to him a teasing way. Her comment brought a small smile to his face once he tried to hide by turning away slightly. "Yes that's the wrong tool unless your goal is to destroy the guitar." he said chuffing as he spoke. His gaze turned towards the new addition to their group. A familiar brown-headed individual had placed an all too familiar cat on the table. Percival's eyes widened as he easily remembered the pair from their brief encounter at the lake. The boy had been nice enough and had even kept his curious cat at bay during their conversation. Something that Percival had appreciated immensely.

"It has been a while, hasn't it?" he agreed with a small nod. "I am doing alright. How about yourself? he asked as he turned his attention to the Bengal before them. Percival didn't really want to touch the feline the underlying fear and dislike was always present. Though he wasn't about to just stand there awkwardly. He was not so sure he wanted Ileen to know about his fear of cats. Knowing her, she would probably let a dozen cats into his dorm room as a 'prank'.

The boy picked up a small white hand towel that lay to the right of the table. He wasn't too sure how he was supposed to help dry off a cat. So the boy decided to try and wing it to the best of his abilities. He began to rub the towel into the chest of the wet feline using only his fingers to apply any pressure. Percival did his best to keep the motion gentle not wanting to awake the angry beast within the small furball. Percival glanced at Alan as if to silently ask if he was doing this correctly.

Interacting with: @Alan Vanes @Ileen Knight

Interacting with | @Percival Rainwood | @Alan Vanes

Ileen’s dark brown eyes met the even darker ones of Percival unimpressed. The young Slytherin still had a slight teasing smile on her lips, but her tone was friendly – she was in a particular good mood on that day and normally not the one to start a fight in the first place. No. She just was looking for a conversation and Percival was one of the people she kind of liked. Sometimes. One of the less idiotic people from her house and teasing him was fun – Ileen started to get why Dee was enjoying that so much.
Her long brown hair was still braided to a French braid and fell down onto her back, keeping it from falling into her eyes, but she automatically stroked one imaginary strand back and tilted her head as her smile deepened. “Well, I assumed that here, people would be nicer than normal since animals are good company and they bite if you are acting like an idiot.” She let her gaze glide slowly through the room and her facial expression became softer as she noticed all the caring students and happy animals. “Do you see that?” She made a discreet gesture that encompassed the entire situation. “All you see is care and warmth. I wonder why most people have so much trouble to show that to other human beings.”

She did not exclude herself from this comment – something the boy couldn’t know. However, she did not know why she shared her thoughts with the Slytherin anyway who were not necessarily her enemy but not her friend either. As if she was noticing that at that very moment, she slightly shook her head and turned back to the table when they were approached by someone she knew – and as it seemed also Percival.
“Alan!” She gifted the brown haired fourth year with a rare and very warm smile before looking back at Tiger, who had been placed on the table in front of Ileen and Percival. She liked the pair, cat and boy, ever since she had met them at the tea errand. It really was too bad that she had been chased away by that rude girl – she actually couldn’t recall her name – and their next encounter also had been rather short and a bit awkward due to the group and the situation. This morning had been the first time since they first had met that they could talk normally. And now the second time in a row! Okay, fair enough, this situation had high potential to become awkward after all.

“Sure, I would love to help.” Ileen adored cats – and she was eager to help to pamper them – that had been the reason she had come here in the first place. So, Alan had rescued her from the struggle to get from the observer into the doing position. Even though Percival was faster than her, a fact that annoyed her just a little, she waited until he was ready drying Tiger off with the towel. In the meantime, the young girl picked up another towel from the table and offered it to Alan, who’s shirt was also completely wet, probably from giving tiger a bath.
If he would take it, she would give him another smile and then turn back to the cat. “Can I pick him up? The poor guy is shivering.” If Alan would allow it and Percival would be finished with the towel, Ileen would gently pick up the cat and bed him in her arms to give him a little bodily warmth. She would scratch him with one hand under his chin and a peaceful and soft expression would appear on her face while she was completely focused on the cat in her arms.

WC | 551+625 = 1176/1000

The fourth year would let his gaze drift back and forth between his two companions with a little bit of unease. He was not all too sure where to put their banter but decided to shrug it off for now and observe. They certainly did not seem to hate each other or so he hoped. "Oh right, you play," he said with a short nod as he remembered their first interaction by the great lake where the other boy had let Alan attempt to play a little tune. The fourth year would smile slightly at that memory before giving Ileen a small smile as well. Alan would grow more comfortable as the other two seemed to relax a little as well and he could have sworn to see a small smile on the boys face as well which made the Gryffindor chuckle slightly. He watched Percival carefully as he handled the feline, ready to jump in whenever it was needed as he knew of the others discomfort from when they had last met. Luckily Tiger was a well behaved kitten, at least in regards to interactions with other people.

Ileen's word made his careful face melt into a smiling one and he nodded slightly in agreement. "That would certainly be nice, wouldn't it be?" he asked back with a glimmer in his eyes before he would slightly bend down to coo at Tiger as if he was still the little kitten he had been a year ago. Tiger would in response lean up and press his furred forehead against Alan's which made the fourth year grin like a madman. When he was nearly dry and Percival had loosened his grip a little, the cat would shake his body as if to get rid off any excess bath water. Alan would stand back up to give Tiger space as he turned to Ileen who was asking to hold Tiger and Alan would nod. "I'm sure he won't mind," he permitted with a nod. "If you want, you can also comb him after, since I get to do that daily anyway," he added and chuckled at the sight of his cat with its tousled up fur from the towel treatment.