19 Jun 2024, 20:26
Old Habits Die Hard
They/ShePax had been hard at work over the summer. They think they'd finally figured out some semblance of balance to where sport wasn't full consuming their every waking moment, and were actually able to find some enjoyment in exercise. This early morning, at the start of a new school year, they were going into it with a brand new positive mindset.
Starting at the castle, they had decided to complete lap of the grounds. No time pressure, not a race, just a simple run across the grounds. No expectations from anyone. Just a run.
It felt weird to be running without purpose after doing so for the last two years, but it was relaxing in a way. They could feel the tension leaving as they settled into a rhythm, not as fast as if they were trying to complete this full speed, but also a little faster than their jogging pace. As they ran, they actually took in the early morning views. It truly was a sight to behold, the Scottish Highlands. They'd seen the view before, but never with this perspective. It was nice, they almost wished they had had this realisation about life sooner.
They were so caught up in living in the moment that the second they heard a noise, they paused, looking around. It was a bit early for anyone else to be out here, but it wasn't implausible.
"Hello?" they called out. Honestly, they weren't particularly sure if they wanted to get a response.Reducio
Last edited by Pax Zhang on 8 Aug 2024, 17:56, edited 1 time in total.
22 Jun 2024, 16:47
Old Habits Die Hard
The first week at Hogwarts, Jesus had it been a whirlwind, with lots of classes, people, and information. The following Saturday was the first day that he felt was truly his. After being homeschooled his whole childhood, he knew magical theory, but having the severe structure of having to go to class was very different to the study he had spent hours in at home.
It had been early in the morning, as early as he could feasibly bring himself to leave the Hufflepuff common room after one of the most exhausting weeks of his life thus far. Speaking of Hufflepuff, his Mum would be so pissed when she found out he wasn't a slytherin, he had hoped to god Uly hadn't owled Mum yet to tell her, that would be news he would rather share himself and hope to god she didn't kill him. He could already imagine her getting dad to sic the dragons he currently had in his care on him. Of course they would never actually do such a thing, but it was something he could imagine well enough.
When he had been in Diagon Alley, he had purchased a leather-bound notebook, a good number of pages in it, and Atti had a plan, every time he went wildlife-watching, or if any classes contained animals of any kind, he was going to log them in this book, if he wasn't sure what it was, he could try his best to doodle the animal and look it up when he was next in the library. He wanted to make some use of his spare time in Hogwarts, and this was it for him.
So there he was, sat cross-legged in the grass just slightly within the tree line, silently looking up at a tree, in it sat a beautiful Magpie, the blue gloss on its wings shining brilliantly in the early light, every so often it would make a little call that sounded like "kak", he couldn't tell from this distance and without comparison whether it was male or female, typically they were slightly different in size. He leaned over his notebook to make the first entry, the pages rustling, to hear a voice.
"Hello?"
His head flicked back up again, not towards the voice, but the magpie, who shot off into the forest as soon as there was a noise. He let out a sigh before looking around for the voice, peeking around the tree he had been looking at to see somebody in a higher year. "Hello, I didn't expect to see anybody else up this early."
He quickly scribbled simply the word 'Magpie', checking the time on his mechanical watch and putting that next to the word and closing the book, pulling the elasticated band around it to keep it closed. "How do you do? I'm Atticus." He said as he pushed his hand into the grass to stand, wiping the dirt onto his jeans.
18 Aug 2024, 02:38
Old Habits Die Hard
They/She
Apologies for the wait!Pax had been carefully peering into the undergrowth, apprehensive for a response, or even a lack thereof, when a young boy's face appeared from behind it, staring back up at them, very much catching them off guard, so much so that they jumped back, with their first words as "Holy shi-"
Thankfully, they recovered fast enough to not instantly cuss out the poor child who had been sat there, probably completely blameless in this scenario. Blinking quickly a couple of times, they barely registered what he had spoken as he stood, and as he waited for a response to his questions, Pax had to rapidly search their brain for some semblance of coherency in order to find an answer.
"God, um, I'm really sorry if I startled you, I didn't realise someone else was actually there, I kinda thought it was all just a figment of my imagination," they laughed awkwardly. "And, uh, aside from any initial shock, I'm actually not too bad, thanks for asking. You said your name was Atticus, right? How about you, how are you doing? And, well, excuse my bluntness, but what are you doing up so early on a Saturday morning? I can't exactly imagine kids are clamouring to be out of the castle at this sort of time."Reducio