closed Drinking the Sea pv

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Phelan Emile was so done with this day. It was just one thing after another. He didn’t have very high expectations for starting school, and it didn’t look like he was going to be disappointed.

He recalled this morning when he said goodbye to his sisters and his father, right before he left for school. His two and six year old sisters, Aine and Elodie, bawling, and clinging to his shirt. Nicolette, the second oldest of the Emile children at nine, looking like she was about to cry herself. His father and eight year old sister Cecile looking slightly embarrassed. Phelan himself was somewhere between his family’s reactions. He remembered hugging them one by one. Even, though begrudgingly so, his father, and peeling the girls off him. Seeing that Elodie was still sniffing, he picked her up. “Hey, you’re getting heavy,” he said, which made her laugh. “Take care of Mumford for me,” he told her, referring to his cat. She nodded seriously, as if it were the most important job in the world. He was going to miss that cat. Almost as much as his sisters.

On the carriage ride there, he had managed to get motion sick. He’d been on the verge of vomiting the whole trip, and wasn’t even feeling good enough to snack on his stash of licorice wands, or dinner once he’d arrived at school.

When the boy stepped foot in his new dorm, his nausea and dizziness was finally beginning to fade. As he pushed open the door, the only thought in his mind was his plan to crash as soon as he figured out which bed was his. He figured the location of his things would be a good indication- and there they were, just by a bed next to a window. Only when he sat down on his bed, did he find himself face to face with his new roommate. He tried to hide his surprise, though the facade was probably ruined when he jumped and cursed a bit loudly in Irish. Phelan might not have been the most socially apt, but he knew that starting off on a bad foot with a roommate was stupid. He found himself scrambling for words, but didn’t come up with anything. He decided to leave it to the boy.

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Roleplaying as iNPC Maurice Andrieux

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As seconds passed into minutes, Maurice found himself dozing off a bit, his head heavy with exhaustion from the day's stress. For a moment, as the world grew blurry and his eyelashes began to flutter shut, he considered getting himself to bed and greeting his roommate in the morning. However, after contemplating this for a few moments, his train of thought was quickly interrupted by the click of the door opening and a new pair of footsteps sounding throughout the room.

He peered over from his bed to find an unfamiliar boy wandering into the room, seemingly oblivious to Maurice's presence. He had short brown hair cropped neatly around his angular face, and bright blue eyes that pierced through the dull light of dusk. Maurice continued to sit, confusion melting into his expression as the boy continued on without any recognition of him.

Before Maurice could chalk it up to impoliteness, though, the boy finally flopped down in front of him and let out a word that Maurice couldn't understand, but was sure he knew the meaning of. For a moment, the two boys stared at each other, before Maurice broke this silence with a short laugh.

"Nice to meet you too," He smiled warily, holding out a hand for the other boy to shake.

@Matilde O’Fionnagan

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The boy held out his hand for Phelan to shake, friendly enough, it seemed. Phelan took it, attempting to put out some warmness of his own. “Um, I’m Phelan, Phelan Emile.” He said, trying his best to remind himself to keep eye contact. He had a bad habit of looking at the floor when he spoke to people.

The boy felt thoroughly embarrassed by his entrance. He was pretty sure his new roommate hadn’t understood him, but curse words were said to be universal, weren’t they? A bit red in the face, he figured it was best to clear things up a bit. “Um, sorry. I didn’t see you, I was just surprised is all.” He scratched the back of his neck, a little awkwardly. Just then, the boy’s stomach grumbled, loudly. He frowned, regretting the decision to skip dinner. Then he remembered the uneaten candy still in his pocket. He took one out the package, biting off a piece. He savored the sweetness of the candy as it dissolved in his mouth. As he chewed, he considered the boy again. He supposed it would be a little rude not to offer him some. “Would you like a liquorish wand?”

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Roleplaying as iNPC Maurice Andrieux

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Maurice's smile faded into something a little more comfortable as they shook hands, the other boy putting on a show of warmth. Though poorly-socialized, Maurice was pretty good at knowing how to adapt to others energy levels. His shoulders were relaxed as he lowered his hands to his sides, resting them on the soft mattress below and tilting his head so that it could lay slightly to the side, blonde hair flopping down with it.

"It's all good. I'm a little out of sorts as well." He gave a brief yawn, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "I'm Maurice." His lack of decorum was the product of his family's laid-back atmosphere, one he had never needed to grow out of as he rarely ever left home. Now, though, he was certainly having a hard time figuring out how to carry himself without giving off the impression of not caring.

The sound of the other boy's stomach growled, much to Maurice's surprise. After the fancy dinner from only a few hours earlier, he swore he would never eat again. Either Phelan had extremely peculiar eating habits, or he had chosen to skip dinner for whatever reason. When he plucked out a package of familiar looking candy, Maurice sat up a bit, examining it curiously.

"Liquorish wands?" He questioned, pursing his lips skeptically, "It's not like one of those weird wizard candy's that like leaps around or makes smoke come out of your ears, right?"

@Matilde O’Fionnagan

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Without even really realizing he was doing it, Phelan reacted to Maurice’s calmness, relaxing himself. For all his social shortcomings, it could be said that the boy was very easily able to adapt depending on who he was around. This may have been because of Phelan’s home atmosphere growing up. His mother had been a very easy going witch, born into a middle class Irish muggle family. His father on the other hand had always been a very typical French pureblood when it came to decorum. Really the boy’s social issues often came down to his lack of willingness to try. But who knew- maybe with Maurice it would be different.

Phelan studied Maurice’s quizzical expression when he had brought out the candy. That plus the way he said ‘wizard’ - like he wasn’t yet sure if he was one. He must be a muggle born, Phelan realized.

“No, these are pretty normal for wizard candies,” Phelan assured him, smiling dryly. The boy was just about as familiar with the muggle world as the wizarding one, so he could just about imagine what Maurice might think about the more outlandish wizarding sweets.

Phelan sat down on his bed. Not sure what to do with his hands, he dragged his trunk up beside him, and began to unpack. The boy didn’t feel like getting too comfortable in this new place just yet. Even so, on the small table beside his new bed, he placed a moving picture of his sisters, all four of them, smiling up at him, and another of him and his mother.

Phelan turned back to Maurice, deciding he did have the energy to continue this conversation after all.

“Are you from a muggle family, then?”

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Roleplaying as iNPC Maurice Andrieux

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Maurice found himself easily connecting with the other boy, likely due to years of meeting new people within his small neighborhood back home. With new kids constantly moving in and out and friendly old couples settling down all over, Maurice was used to treating strangers like lifelong friends.

"Well, good. I'm okay with the floating carriages and sparkly spells, but the second some magical candy turns my bones to mush I'm calling it quits," Maurice replied, taking one of the wands between his fingers and biting off the tip. Much to his relief, it tasted just like muggle liquorish.

Tucking his foot under his knee, he watched with interest as Phelan placed a moving picture of four girls onto his nightstand. When Maurice had left home, he had made sure to leave anything that would remind him too greatly of his sisters tucked deep into his closet, so that he wouldn't have to think about everything he was leaving behind by choosing to pursue a life of wizardry. Now, though, he was beginning to regret the decision, having made it at the peak of his distress regarding the revelation of magic's existence.

Before he could get too lost in his thoughts, Phelan snapped him back to reality with a question. Though a simple one, it took Maurice a moment to flip through the long list of new wizarding words he had been trying his best to memorize.

"Er- yes. I think." He gently pushed back a pesky strand of hair. "And you are...?"

@Matilde O’Fionnagan