To Become PV Alyss Gilmour & Lev Makarov

Date:	Sept 1st
Dialogue:	#011d57

Lev was so grateful! Thank god, Ari didn’t hate him. Surely he would eventually, but for now it seemed like once again he’d been overthinking. He was mad at himself for doing so, but he was mostly relieved at the turn of events.

Lev was also grateful for Alyss’ kindness. That hug she gave him, while in the moment it made him have the equivalent of a panic attack as he desperately tried to place his arms in a not weird way, but once that was over, he had felt much much better. Hugs always made him feel loved and protected. Even if it had been a short and awkward one by a girl much shorter than him.

After a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Lev turned back to the others, looking over Alyss’ shoulder at the list.

Music had never been a big part of Lev’s life. Sure, sometimes he listened to the radio in his parents’ car, but after that, he never got the urge to look up those songs himself. As he stared down at the list, the boy realized he didn’t recognize any of these titles. Of course he knew Justin Bieber, but he’d never been a big fan of him, and he’d heard of the song Riptide, but how it sounded was a mystery.

He didn’t know what to do! What if he picked a horrible song that everyone hated?? But thankfully for him, Alyss came to the rescue. With her gentle and reassuring voice, she started to whisper to him comments on the songs and he slowly felt the rhythm of his heart decrease.

The tall boy didn’t catch everything the other said, but he did hear the most important part: she liked DoubleTake. She liked DoubleTake!

“I’ll take DoubleTake!” Lev suddenly yelled out. When both Ari and Alyss turned to him, his face immediately reddened as he slouched even more, as if to hide his tall and gangly frame from view. “I-I’m sorry..” He squeaked. “I didn’t mean to yell..”.

@Ari Morozov,@Alyss Gilmour

Date	Sept 1st
Outfit	XXXXX
EN/FR/RU	#oeac77/#008080/#6495ed

As Lev and Alyss looked through the his music journal, he took a moment to observe their reactions. Regardless of the predictably of their responses, Ari had always believed such and similar information was helpful in order to truely understand another individual. Furthermore, if they weren't of pure blood—an idea of which he was almost certain, especially of Lev—the songs would allow for a reaction within the two, assuming they jnew at least one song in the book. Fortunately, it wasn't long until either of them had showed enthusiasm toward a few of songs.

While Alyss' reactions were many and generic, Lev had imbued a single action with a lot more life than he had ever previously dared to express. Suddenly, Ari was broken from his daydreaming, startled as he turned to the source of the shout; he was, at the very least, baffled. Quickly regaining his composture, it was very clear to him that the other boy had chosen Double Take by Dhruv. Despite the unexpected zeal, he could only find Lev's enthusiasm agreeable. Although he had only listened to the actual song a couple of times, one aspect was stood out prominently in his mind: the song held an exceptionally surreal rhythm and set of lyrics; as a result, Double Take had become among on favorite songs in the journal.

After a few seconds of staring, his mouth slightly agape, Ari had snapped out of his state of suprise and set his ukulele case onto the table, and retrieved the intrument from it.

"I'll start with the song that Alyss chose." He spoke, preoccupied with gathering the main rhythm of the song from the depth of his mind. After a few seconds of silence, he decided to speak again "After all, it is common knowledge that the best is saved for last. They're both good choices, though. I promise."

As he closed his eyes, he began to strum the rhythm of the song and sing. Upon recognition of the feeling of tranquility that his ocean had presented, he awoke. The strum of his ukulele quickly faded into the lapping of the ocean's soft waves against the sand and into the breeze that wisped through his hair.

@Alyss Gilmour, @Lev Makarov

Alyss startled at Lev and his loud exclaim. This caused her head to turn and face to react and morph into an expression of surprise. She didn’t think he would like Double Take so much. Of course, she liked it as well, but not to that extent.

She quickly sent a smile his way, and gave a small laugh at his enthusiasm. “You’re all good, I didn’t realize you liked that song so much!” She told him in reply to his apology, trying to lighten the mood. The lyrics of the song were relatable in a way that almost hurt, and she supposed that Lev felt that even more than she did.

She nodded along with Ari’s first remark, not having realized that they would get two songs. She supposed that made sense since there were two of them, but for some reason she thought she and Lev would have to compromise on a song and then Ari would play it. Now that she knew there were going to be two songs, Alyss just kind of nodded her head along when she heard that they would, in fact, get both.

While her mom would joke around at this moment and tell her she was acting like a “dumb blonde” Alyss didn’t want the two boys to think of her as “slow on the uptake” or anything of the sort, so she staying silent until Ari said his second string of words. She sent a begrudging smile his way, rolling her eyes at the implication that her song was worse.

Shrugging her shoulders and taking a deep breath, Alyss prepared herself for the song, settling into a more relaxed posture.

Date:	Sept 1st
Dialogue:	#011d57

The silence was deafening. After his shout, the two others had turned to him as if they were one, with expressions that were completely indescribable. It wasn’t so much what they might be thinking that bothered him, but simply having so many eyes on him. Two pairs of eyes weren’t much, but for Lev it was too many. People usually avoided looking at him directly, and over the years he’d gotten used to it. He even liked it sometimes.

But now everyone was staring at him like he’d made a horrible mistake and he hated it, he hated it so much. The tall boy backed away, his back hitting the wall, and his hand instinctively went to move his hair forward as if to hide his scars.

He was starting to panic, and he very well might have, but as quickly as the moment had started, it was done; Ari pulled out his ukulele and Alyss smiled that brilliant smile of hers and told him that everything ok. Yes, of course everything was ok.

Lev smiled back at her, mouthing a thank you as he tucked his hair behind his ears once again. He looked down at his hands, still shaking from the nerves. What was wrong with him? Looking back, he knew his reaction had been disproportionate, exaggerated. It was something deeply rooted within him that made him react irrationally in certain situations and he hated it.

Lev didn’t want to think about that anymore. He squeezed his hands into fists and instead focused on Ari, just in time to hear his last words. He’d said his song was the best! Lev couldn’t help, but beam and this time was genuine.

The tall boy then glanced at Alyss, his smile waning. Was she feeling bad because her song wasn’t the favourite one? Lev knew that if Ari’s comment had been directed to him he would have been really hurt. Even if he chose the song only because Alyss liked it. But the girl didn’t seem bothered; she merely smiled and rolled her eyes at the other boy. Lev felt immense admiration for her in that moment. He wished he could be so nonchalant!

Excited to hear Alyss’ song, he moved on his seat to face Ari, trying to make his voice seem less nervous and more encouraging. “I-I’m sure you’ll do great!”

Ari probably didn’t need any encouragements, but Lev made sure to give them just in case.

@Ari Morozov,@Alyss Gilmour

Date	Sept 1st
Outfit	XXXXX
EN/FR/RU	#oeac77/#008080/#6495ed

Despite the numerous years he had spent playing, the state of mind that his ukelele's music had offered hadn't changed since the day of its creation. Nevertheless, Ari had always valued the ocean's serene beauty and the tranquil feeling it provided. However, with the complete acknowledgement of his appreciation, he still felt that there was an aspect that the experience had lacked. For him, the fact that he could make a mistake hadn't crossed his mind once, instead the lack of company inside of his ocean was the factor that held the most significance. The boy, despite not being the most sociable person, didn't exactly want to be alone with his thoughts each time he played a song, especially when he became so immersed that he could neither hear his own playing nor his singing over the waves and breezes of the beach.

As he stared out towards the seemingly endless ocean, he began to wonder if any form of magic, regardless of his knowledge or lack thereof, could allow for the integration of another's mind into his ocean, even if for a moment. As far as he knew, the only way that he would be able to interact with others would be through breaking out of 'the zone', nothing of the sort he had ever thought of doing, let alone ever acting upon.

Before he knew it, his eyes were open, staring at the other side of his seat, and in the middle of a song, no less. The first thing he noticed was the fact the he wasn't as, for lack of a better term, emotionally engaged as he would have prefered to have been. Therefore, he quickly fixed the error, however his perfectionism only birthed a slight disappointment within his now mentally present mind; from that point on, he could only wonder if the other two now held the same unsatisfaction toward his music. For the remainder of the song, he wouldn't dare look at the other two, instead keeping his sight set on the end of the seat infront of him.

Soon enough, the song ended as quickly as it started and he finally exited his state of self-disappointment.

"That was probably really bad." He spoke, not bothering to whisper, because as far as he knew, neither of them understood Russian.

"Anyways, how was that?" He asked, specifically to Alyss, as it was the song she chose.

@Alyss Gilmour, @Lev Makarov

September 1st, 2024	Hogwarts Express
“English”	“Gaelic”

Alyss shot a smile at Lev, seeing his thank you. Her heart felt full; she was with people that seemed to be nice, and both of them seemed to like her! That was a very good thing, though both of them seemed to have their moments.

As Ari began to play, she sat back into her seat, trying to drown out the constant rumble of the train and the inconsistent chatter coming from the other compartments. Taking a deep breath, she let Ari’s wonderful playing take the forefront of her mind, focusing nearly all of her concentration on the strum of the guitar.

And of course because she knew this song and was now hearing it played for her, she started humming along. It was soft, soft enough that she hoped she didn’t distract Ari nor Lev from playing and enjoying the music.

She glanced up at Ari a few times, each time seeing him take on a different expression. The first? Completely enveloped in the playing of the music, utterly captured by the chords. However the second time he seemed a little bit off. She couldn’t quite place it, but Ari wasn’t nearly as relaxed as he had been a few moments before. The last time was as the song was ending, and he ended with almost.. a disappointed look on his face.

She didn’t understand why he would feel that way. After all, he was merely a first year, as old as she: eleven years old. And yet, he could play the ukulele with near perfection. In fact, Alyss had only noticed a couple mistakes towards the middle of the piece, so he would have no reason to have such an expression on his face. She brushed it off, assuming that she misjudged him as she had before, and that it was just her imagination.

It was then that Ari said something, quite loudly and very clearly, in an entirely foreign language. It had little to no resemblance to either Gaelic nor English, as those were the only two languages she spoke and understood.

Now, Alyss didn’t have much exposure to anyone who spoke anything other than either of these, so she scrunched her nose at him, annoyed that he knew something she didn’t. As if to imitate him, Alyss spoke “Ah, yes, speak in a language we don’t know.”

Alyss wasn’t hiding the fact that she was a little irked with him, but she shrugged it off and answered his second question about the song with her usual enthusiasm. “Oh, it was really good! I loved it, thank you.” She gave Ari a genuine smile, despite her current annoyance.

Date:	Sept 1st
Dialogue:	#011d57

Lev let his eyes flutter shut as the comforting strumming of the ukulele started to fill the compartment. He wasn't a music aficionado, but even he could tell that Ari had talent. No notes sounded out of place and his voice seemed to follow the music perfectly, as if the instrument had been constructed with it in mind. And then when Alyss started to hum along to the tune, it made for a truly magical moment.

Lev opened his eyes, the smile evident on his face. It was small and a little crooked, but it was obviously genuine, a testament to how much he was enjoying Ari's playing. "Music truly is a way to bring people together.." He thought to himself, happy to have the privilege to share this nice moment with Ari and Alyss. Lev didn't want to get over enthusiastic, but who knew? Maybe this moment might be the beginning of a very long friendship. Lev hoped so anyway.

That was why Lev was so surprised when Ari stopped playing and expressed his disappointment in himself. Alyss had then proceeded to speak in a language he didn't know with an annoyed expression on her face.The nice moment was done and suddenly everything seemed to go downhill. Lev had to fix this! Seeking to comfort Ari, Lev forced himself to smile at him. "What are you taling about?" He could speak Russian too, but he didn't want Alyss to feel left out of the conversation. "I personally thought you played really well! So please don't beat yourself up.." The boy raised his arm, almost as if to pat Ari's shoulder, but decided against it at the last second, letting it fall back to his side.

@Ari Morozov,@Alyss Gilmour

Date	Sept 1st
Outfit	XXXXX
EN/FR/RU	#oeac77/#008080/#6495ed

Ari offered an apology in response to Alyss's expression of annoyance and seemingly sarcastic tone, which was spoken in a language that was unknown to him. Behind the apology was a genuine intent, but yet, it seemed to hang in air with a certain staleness, almost as if she had already rejected it. For a few seconds, there was an uncomfortable silence, as if the thoughts formed by his overthinking were audible to the other two in the compartment. It was only when Lev inadvertantly broke the silence that his overthinking had ceased. However, what the other boy would proceed to say wouldn't make his situation any better.

He had responded, quickly proving a perfect understanding of what Ari had said, with an attempt to comfort him after the judgement of his own playing. However, it naturally meant little to Ari, as he had been living, learning, and resting in a household that demanded near perfection; he wasn't supposed to accept pity from others. Still, he wouldn’t dare take what Lev said for granted; he decided, with acknowledgment toward his sympathy, that he would play Double Take—the song that Lev had chosen—perfectly. Finally, topping off Ari's predicament, the moment Lev stopped talking, he had noticed he had been staring at the other rather intensely. With a quick burst of air through his mouth, he flipped his gaze down to his instrument, getting to ready to play a second time.

"Thanks." He nodded, verbally acknowledge his response, gently strumming the melody to the song in the process. Ari found himself fairly uncertain as to why he had not considered the possibility of Lev's proficiency in Russian. Given that his name specifically implied a Russian heritage, the realization seemed rather obvious in retrospect. Nevertheless, he would be lying if he claimed he wasn’t a little surprised, at the least.

Up until now, he had always performed his songs with a certain detachment, allowing himself to slip into a kind of subconscious flow that made the act of playing feel almost automatic. However, this time, he would choose to remain fully present and in the moment. He didn't just do this for the purpose of hearing himself, instead, he wanted to observe the reactions of the others. This focus was additionally intented to serve the purpose of the elimination of any mistakes he would make otherwise; he wanted to make sure he kept the promise he previously made himself. Listening to his own voice as he sang was a feeling he hadn’t quite gotten used to yet, and he knew it would take time. Still, he had to deal with it now, along with the fact that he was uncertain about where to look. Consequently, he shifted his gaze between the window and the faces of the other two throughout the song.

@Alyss Gilmour, @Lev Makarov

September 1st, 2024	Hogwarts Express
“English”	“Gaelic”

Alyss was slightly annoyed, though her emotions didn’t seem to be reliable right now. She was also a little puzzled, trying to figure out what the other two were saying and why. It was almost like she was trying to translate, trying to see if there were any underlying messages.

From what she could tell, there were zero. Nada. So why did Lev ask what Ari was talking about? On one hand, he could be asking about what Ari had said, but that was not normally how you would phrase a question about what someone said. Alyss puzzled through this, slightly confused. Everything she came up with just didn’t make sense!

As she puzzled through this, almost as if Ari was speaking through water, it almost sounded muffled. Alyss only half registered what he’d said, and just nodded in response, giving an ”Mhm.” after a moments pause.

Of course, Alyss didn’t realize that this may come off as rude or inconsiderate. She was merely in the middle of a thought and didn’t want to interrupt it. After another few moments, Alyss pulled herself out of the rabbit hole she’d gone down in her own mind.

Alyss just barely caught Ari’s word of gratitude to Lev as she began focusing on the compartment again. She still felt very much irked at Ari for speaking in a language that she- and she assumed Lev- couldn’t understand. The whole point of language is to communicate- so use the one we all understand!

Ari’s response to Lev was almost disheartening. It was clear he had taken very little if any to heart. This saddened Alyss, as the boy was being so hard on himself. Alyss could never play a musical instrument with such talent, much less sing at the same time! She truly applauded him for his skill.

However, she had grown up in a household where every time you try your hardest is a win. Where mistakes are celebrated, and it’s okay to fail. Did that maybe lead to her growing up with quite a bit handed to her? Possibly. But on the other hand, it allowed for her to move on past mistakes, something that she could tell Ari might not be doing.

She shot the boy an apologetic smile as he began to strum his ukulele, silently apologizing for her immediate reaction to something as simple as him speaking in a different language. For all she knew, it was a made up language. Alyss nodded to herself, content with that answer, and now finally ceasing her never quiet mind to listen to Ari’s magic once more.

Date:	Sept 1st
Dialogue:	#011d57

Lev couldn't help but let out a small breath of relief as Ari finally broke eye contact. The other boy's gaze was so intense with so many unknown emotions swirling beneath his dark eyes. Lev couldn't help but wonder: did he have something on his face (well except for the scars of course)? He almost felt uncomfortable looking at them too much, but at the same time, it would be really rude to look away first! Perhaps he'd done something wrong by trying to comfort the other? In Lev's mind, Ari had looked really annoyed and with his simple "thank you", it sent Lev's mind into a complete frenzy. Lev was slightly discouraged: not even the hint of a smile.

Of course Lev hadn't expected his words to make Ari magically feel better, but he had at least expected the other to lighten up a bit. None of that though. Maybe hewas embarrased that Lev had understood his words? That was the one thing that made sense from Lev's perspective. Next time, Lev vowed that he'd think a little more before acting. He didn't want Ari to hate him! He'd never be able to make everyone like him, but Lev wanted to at least try!

As Ari readied himself for the next song, Lev moved his worried gaze from him and instead looked at Alyss. "Your song was a good choice!" He said with a small smile. He actually had been pretty neutral about it, but Lev wanted Alyss to feel better too. God it was kind of exhausting keeping everyone happy like that, but if that was what was needed to make new friends, he'd do it.

@Ari Morozov,@Alyss Gilmour