Overheard Secrets PV Emi and Aston Locked

September 19th 2024
Girl Talk with @Scout Fu-Hai - @Aston Beckett
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics

Emily packed up her books and wand after a more-or-less successful DADA lesson. She still had a long way to go if she were to develop a backbone. She was slowly becoming braver but a fighter was something she was slowly coming to believe she'll never be. She glanced over at Scout, secretly envying her outwardly strong tenacity.

On that note, Emily also saw the withdrawnness in her best friend's demeanour. It was becoming a recurring theme as of late; since the start of the school year Scout had grown increasingly quiet and out of touch with everything around her. Despite Emily's attempts to bring her out of her shell - something she thought she'd never have to do, because it was Scout of all people - it appeared she still couldn't shake what was mentally ailing her. Emily was running out of ideas on what to do. It was getting worrisome for Emily when she realised she was getting used to Scout being quiet. Until finally...

"So like, Em..."

"Hm?" She put everything down to focus on her.

"I told you about that Uagadou boy, right? Well... like..."

Scout's trailing off let Emily think about who she meant. Zyair! She did remember Scout talking about him once or twice. He sounded like a nice boy - only slightly more softer than Casey, though from their recent letters together it seemed that Casey was getting accustomed to his softer side, if a little rough in some spots.

"Zyair? Sure! What about him?" She kept the conversation in high spirits, hoping this would lead into a sweet and light-hearted chat, which would starkly contrast Scout's inward gloominess.

She waited patiently for Scout to continue. Scout's voice suddenly softened to a low whisper, one where the sound of her voice just about reached Emily's ears.

"I sent him an owl the other day. I like... like I feel like he knows something's going and I know he wants to help but also like... I don't know. I want to tell him I'm- you know, a dhampir- but I just can't."

Emily felt like the life inside the room stopped for a full second for her to process what in the name of Thra Scout had just said. Her tone matched hers as they conversed in hushed whispers.

"Wait... You want to tell him you're a dhampir...? Are you sure? I mean... You've always been a little cagey about telling people about your... Heritage." To this day, Emily felt honoured for Scout to admit that side of her on the day they first met. She'll never know what possessed her that day to let loose her secret on their first encounter, but what intrigued Emily more was what brought about Scout's sudden enthusiasm to declare that side of her to Zyair. She did remember Scout theorizing that Zyair had a hidden gut that told him she was a dhampir from the get-go - Emily could only assume that theory had a sway that held Scout unbeknownst to Zyair.

Emily tapped the desk lightly in thought. "Well... I can't really tell him for you. It's your privacy at the end of the day, Scoutie... If you trust him well enough to keep it, I'd reckon you'd tell him. If not, then you wouldn't. At least... I always thought that when you told me about your vampirism, and we barely knew each other back when that happened." She chuckled a little at the notion.

"But Scout, I have to ask... What has you so pent up and flustered about it? Do you want to tell him to unironically prove something right for him? Or is it because you want to tell him?" She took a breath. "You shouldn't expose yourself so recklessly... If it were me, I'd do it if I was confident and proud of it. So... Are you?"

_{Word Count: 688}

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arc Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

Aston stood up from his seat after a defence against the dark arts class, this class was fine it just kept reminding him of Prat. Prat's duel to be more specific, his horrible defeat against that third year was still fresh in his mind which is why Aston paid a bit more attention than usual today in class. I need to improve my spell work, DADA is a rather weak subject of mine. He looked around while continuing to be deep in his thoughts when he found Emily. After taking the train to Hogwarts together and going to her and Ophelia's birthday party a while back he feels much more like a friend of Emily's. It seems like a girl was already talking to her, her best friend that Aston met at the aforementioned birthday party. Not wanting to interrupt too much Aston did wait a bit before approaching, but he soon decided it'd be better to go up to her and stand there.

Aston quickly found that decision to be a bad one as he got closer and heard more of the girl's conversations, he didn't hear much due to their quiet volume and the loudness of the classroom but he could tell it was something private. Oh God this really wasn't the right time, why did I do this, they won't get mad right? After some internal debate Aston finally talked to the girls, hoping he didn't interrupt too much. "Expose"? What kind of exposing can a second year have? I supposed Hogwarts does have many secrets.

"Hey Emily and Scout! Sounds like you guys were having some kind of people trouble, are you doing okay? I'm happy to help if there's anything I can do. Sorry if i'm intruding on something." Aston wasn't great with people but he certainly did improve a lot in the last year, the rather new experience is exciting and nice, he hoped he could be of help.

Word Count 325/200

september 19th, 2024		thursday, after class
wc: 300		dhampir | sensitive to sunlight
interacting with: @Emily Shephard & @Aston Beckett		mentioning: zyair

Emily brought up a really good point, why did Scout want to tell her secret to Zyair so badly? Was it because she had managed to convince herself he already knew, or was it because keeping the secret locked away was starting to hurt her psyche? When she had poured her heart out to him in her letter, it was hard to deny that she felt the tiniest bit better afterwards, so maybe she thought if she told him her other secret (the one that was causing herself to hiss venom-filled words at herself), she'd feel better about that too.

"I don't know, to be honest." When she had found the confidence to tell Emily, it wasn't exactly because she was scared of the consequences of the Hufflepuff knowing it was more so... "I told you about it, Em, cause I thought you'd run into the forest if I didn't." And honestly, it only worked for a bit, because Scout knew good and well that Emily had still gone in the forest after they had chatted. Oh well, Emily was still alive so all was good and well.

"Oh my god, how much did you hear?!"

Her reaction was reminiscent of that boy from last year, Colin, the one Emily knew. Scout had chastised him for having such a reactive face, but she did the exact same thing when confronted with the same problems. "Um... yeah, I guess we're having people problems?"

How does she even begin to explain the difficulties she's having? There's no way she'd tell someone like... oh god, what was his name? Arlon or something...? Adrian? "Um like... Emily- you tell him the kind of problems we're having!" She immediately put her friend in the limelight. Scout was way too terrified of revealing her vampirism, and she knew Emily was much more articulated than she was. Win-win, right?

September 19th 2024
Totally Definitely Being Nonchalant with @Scout Fu-Hai and @Aston Beckett
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics

There was an undeniable whirlwind of conflict evident in Scout's face when Emily posed her last question. Either Scout hadn't thought that far ahead yet or there was something about Zyair that she knew, but Emily didn't, that was the crux of the whole issue. Well of course Emily wouldn't know; Scout and Zyair were much closer in that regard, having met on multiple occasions between themselves while Emily was busy playing Beast Tamer with Casey and his temper in her own time. Yet with how much Scout seemed to be intrigued by Zyair - for a lack of a better word - Emily was surprised she hadn't told him sooner.

"I told you about it, Em, cause I thought you'd run into the forest if I didn't."

Oh. So that was really the backdrop to why Emily knew in the first place. Surely Scout could've just blabbed to a teacher to stop Emily from entering the Forest, or even seized her by the arms or threatened her... Or something. Scout had no idea just how often Emily had snuck into that abyss since they met. It would be painful to admit that her effort to stop her that day was meaningless. Still... If not for then, they'd never have met.

"Heh... Well, I'd be daft to turn down the opportunity to talk with someone as cool as a dhampir that was standing right in front of me that day, wouldn't I?" Emily smiled, seeing light in the situation. Whether it was a trust thing or not, becoming Scout's buddy was the best drop of destiny Emily ever anticipated.

Then another voice piped up from behind them.

"Hey Emily and Scout!"

Emily jumped a little at Aston's unexpected presence, but welcomed it all the same. Despite the flustered expression that brushed across her face, her warm greeting was as genuine as any other. "Oh! Aston! We didn't even see you there... But you're not intruding at all! We're just having typical troubles as all." She laughed off the jumpiness in her body after nearly getting spooked by how Aston just manifested out of nowhere, just as they were talking about something as sensitive as Scout's genetics.

"Oh my god, how much did you hear?!"

Well... That was one way to be discreet. Emily had glanced at Scout in that moment. It would've been a harmless conversation, perhaps even a chance to play it off as a misunderstanding, if Scout hadn't acted like it was some government-level information. Not that she was trying to, Emily understood that. Scout was clearly in a topsy-turvy frame of mind that could only be funnelled through a chaotic way of thinking. In other words, Scout was just as jumpy about this whole thing as Emily was and this was a blatant example of that.

"Um like... Emily- you tell him the kind of problems we're having!"

"Wh-ehh??"

Emily could get that Scout was a bit all over the place in her emotions - perhaps a little insecure and vulnerable inside in the moment - but what the ding dang was Emily supposed to do?? They were talking about vampirism minutes ago. Aston was thinking the girls were either shifty or barmy. A string of vowel sounds stuttered out of Emily's mouth anxiously before she blurted out the best - or conversely the worst - response to a question.

"We're talking about boys."

_{Word Count: 612}

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arc Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

Scout's reaction to Aston's appearance wasn't too surprising to Aston, after it did seem like something private. Maybe a crush of some kind? I did hear a boy's name in there, and it's a reasonable thing to be worried about. "Don't worry I didn't hear much, just that there was something about a boy, well I think Zyair is a boy's name, it sounds like it. And that there was something you want to tell him, is it like a.. wait never mind." It's probably a crush right? Best not to just ask straight up. Aston have decided that his idea is probably correct, it made out to be the most common thing for teenage girls to talk about, all the high school movies were like that. Scout's insistence on Emily telling him reinforced the idea more, with her final confirmation Aston nodded with a look of understanding.

"Ah okay, that makes sense, to be honest that was my guess but I didn't want to be rude. Do you want my opinion? I am a boy and both of you are girls, maybe the different viewpoints will help? I've never personally done anything romance related but I've watched movies with that stuff." Aston said with a smile, Emily and Scout did seem oddly stressed and even freaked out but Aston blamed it on his sudden appearance, how bad can it be right?

Word Count 232/200

september 19th, 2024		thursday, after class
wc: 350		dhampir | sensitive to sunlight
interacting with: @Emily Shephard & @Aston Beckett		mentioning: zyair

"We are?"

Talk about a lack of being discreet! Scout's eyebrows furrow as Emily says they're talking about boys. Ew, no way would they talk so openly about something like boys! Ooh, but this conversation did lead into maybe getting Emily to admit her crush! There had to be at least one person in Hogwarts the squishiest Hufflebuddy in the world liked! "Um, yeah, we are!" Zyair was a boy- so like, it wasn't technically a lie!

"Uh... I mean I guess I could use your advice..."

Okay, there was no way she was going to be able to explain her situation to Aston, limited by both her own will to tell her life story to him, and the fact that class was already over and they'd have to leave the room soon, so she took a second to think about a watered-down version of summer. She'd definitely have to mention about how she met a genius boy who knew everything over camp, and how she was convinced he knew her secret- no, no secrets!

"Okay so like... how do I explain it...?" she trailed off for a moment. "So, over the summer I met this... guy! and he's really cool, super smart and stuff. And I was totally convinced he like... um, like he knew that I was a witch, and he's a muggle!" Where was she even going with this? "So, over the summer, he told me that if I ever wanted to tell him my 'secret'- that being that I'm a witch- I could send him a letter anytime. And now I'm thinking about whether or not I should... tell him I'm a witch?"

Didn't that violate some sort of wizarding law? Ugh, whatever! Zyair wasn't even a muggle, but she couldn't say he was just human because then Aston would question if she wasn't just human, and that'd be even worse! Jeez, whatever, at least the storyline of him being a muggle made a little bit of sense.

"And before you ask, I don't have a crush on him. He's just like... really smart, and I appreciate that, I guess?"

September 19th 2024
Totally Definitely Being Nonchalant with @Scout Fu-Hai and @Aston Beckett
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics

The back and forth confusion and raised eyebrows across the three of them was astonishing when Emily blurted out what she just said. At this point who was digging the grave further; was it Scout or was it Emily? It didn't really matter now... The girls were deep enough in it to equally enjoy the experience. Emily was ready to slink in her seat at her own awkwardness. She didn't have a single nerve in her system that indicated any interest in boys at all! Yet her ability to cover up things were debatable - she could keep an entire string of hidden expeditions to the forest a secret but can't create a simple story to hide Scout's integrity as a dhampir? Some things never change. Then again... They were talking about Zyair, so Emily wasn't wrong per se... And Aston didn't seem to be in any mode to debate or debunk their story otherwise. Not yet anyway.

"We are?"

Emily went to "stretch" her arms up and around her chair, yawning as her finger sneaked behind Scout's back and poked her. "Um, yeah we are!". Emily let out an exhale she didn't realise she was holding. Good. It seemed Scout clicked together.

Now that Scout has run with her "Technically-But-Not-Quite-Accurate Answer," Emily might be able to piggy-back off of that. The more people that tell the same story can make a story more believable. That's what the saying goes, right? Well, whatever... As Scout rambled about her and Zyair, Emily couldn't hide the genuine intrigue of what she was saying, feeling she was learning a little bit more and more about why she seemed fascinated by this boy. Until Scout started talking about muggles. Oooh boy...

Scoutie, what are you doing...?

Emily always fell behind on why muggles were kept in the dark about the Wizarding World - her being Muggle-born herself and "Auntie" and her folks knowing about her enrolment at Hogwarts and all - Though the thing that stuck out the most was the fact that Scout claimed she didn't like him. At least, not like, like him. From the way Scout would soften her facial features and speak so earnestly and honourably about him, Emily was borderline convinced there was a little spark between them. Then again, she knew nothing about romance so what the heck did she know? Simple misunderstandings.

"You don't have a crush on him?"

Was it wrong to say that Emily felt a bit disappointed at that revelation? Probably.

_{Word Count: 462}

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arc Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

Aston nodded along to Scout's explanation of her situation, it seemed a bit odd, maybe she was just a muggleborn wizard living in a muggle neighbourhood? Anyway Aston choose to not doubt it and try to give proper advice. Emily's surprise at Scout's claim that it is not a crush, but again, probably best to not ask about that. "You probably should tell him I think, if he really is smart as you say he would know not to run around and do dumb stuff with that information. " Aston knows wizards take their secrecy very seriously, it's why his father hid his magical heritage for so long. Even though he now knows why he did it it still felt like a betrayal, he trusted his father with everything and the fact that he didn't trust him, and his mother, with something as big as being a wizard was heartbreaking.

"Something similar happened to me before, i was on the other side though. I'm apparently what wizards call a half blood, only my dad is a wizard and he didn't tell me till we moved to London when i was nine." Aston thought about whether he really should talk about it, but if Scout is being this open already he felt like he should do so too. "It was really... upsetting for me to know he didn't trust me with that stuff. It didn't affect our relationship too much cause we're family, if it was just a friend i probably would've felt even more betrayed. It took a few weeks and some long conversations to get it back, for me to feel comfortable again." Aston took a deep breath when he got to this point, he hoped it wasn't too much sharing. "So uh, yeah, I think if you want to be close, long time friends with him, it's best to tell him. Don't rush it is a big thing, but it's best to be honest right? You can't really build a nice relationship on distrust."

Word Count 335/200

september 19th, 2024		thursday, after class
wc: 400		dhampir | sensitive to sunlight
interacting with: @Emily Shephard & @Aston Beckett		mentioning: zyair

Oh god, Aston brought up a really good point. If Zyair really was as smart as Scout thought he was, then he'd never tell her secret to anyone. But what if he wasn't actually who she perceived him to be and he did? That could ruin her life, and it really hadn't even started yet! Or what if he accidentally let it slip to a friend and that friend told another friend, and so on so forth. That wouldn't even be because he's smart, but because of an accident!

If only Aston knew the actual truth behind her 'muggle' friend. Maybe he'd have some more good points to share. But that was a boundary Scout wasn't willing to cross yet, clearly.

"That's true, I guess." She shrugged. "What if like... what if he accidentally tells everyone? And I don't want a bunch of muggles knowing I'm a witch. I barely even want to be a witch as is." Maybe she was teetering a little too closely to the edge of where her analogy for herself ended and the truth began, but it wouldn't make sense to lie about her feelings. Nobody wanted to be a half-human, half-monster who drank blood when they got hungry!

"Also, what do you mean 'you don't?', come on, I'd never fall for someone like him." She stuck her tongue out at Emily, huffing a bit. "It'd be more likely that you have a crush on Casey than me having a crush on Zyair."

Scout could never actually like Zyair, could she? Monsters like her weren't exactly known for their ability to love. Not to mention, Zy was just a normal person- a human, even if he was also a wizard. He'd never understand or see Scout for who (or what) she truly is. It'd be nice to dream about a life where he would accept her, but... that was not a possible future, so it was useless to dawdle on it like she was.

Wait, why was she? Scout didn't actually want to have feelings for him, did she? She was way too young to be thinking about living a happy life with someone! Even more so someone like Zyair! He was so... so not like Scout, he was normal and soft and kind, and she was not normal and not soft, and not kind. She had told herself once before, 'you cannot be kind'.

And Zyair deserved someone who could be.