Finished Stargazing PV Pamela Graham

Joseph raised his eyebrows by a fraction, a smile tugging at his face as he nodded slightly in acknowledgement. "Pam," he repeated, testing the name under his breath. "I like it, short and simple. Kinda memorable too," Joseph mused, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. Well, now they knew each other a little better. Was it just his imagination, or had the tension between them dissipated, even if only a little?

"And to answer you previous question, well, I think this is my first time up here apart than for classes?" he responded, brushing a strand of hair that had been obscuring his line of sight. He was going to be honest, adoring those nighttime twinkly things wasn't exactly a hobby of his.

Stretching his now stiff arms, Joseph yawned, careful not to drop his pet pebble resting beneath his curled-up fingers. His rock friend was now surprisingly obedient, lying patiently in his palm like a sleeping child. Strange, considering its unexpected twitching in his pocket only moments ago. Guess rocks were just unpredictable like that. Joseph glanced over to Pam, relieved to notice that she seemed slightly more composed and reflective than before. It really seemed that the unease between them had melted away, replaced by something more... welcome.

"So... what brings you here specifically? There are plenty of other wonderful places to be at when you can't sleep," Joseph wondered aloud, curiously peering at the blonde-haired girl. "surely you didn't expect me to be here; unless of course, you're secretly a talented Seer," Joseph chuckled, returning his gaze to the beautiful night sky. Of course, he already had a decent guess as to how she'd respond. To admire the stars, duh. Why else would anyone bother to climb so many flights of stairs just to get to a classroom?

@Pamela Graham

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Speech -- Thoughts

Pam smiled, although her mind was already running 3 kilometers per hour in the direction of what nickname she could give the boy. Pam liked giving her friends nicknames, it felt nice and personal. Although, she would normally not use it until she was decently comfortable with the person. All the same, it didn't stop her from coming up with nicknames. Jose? Josh? Hmm Joseph can have a number of short forms...what about Joey? She shrugged it off, that was a matter to worry about later.

She raised her eyebrows at the boy curiously. "Well, where do you normally go when you can't sleep?" She turned away from him, glancing back up towards the dark sky, a soft smile making it's way on her face as she replied, "Well, mostly because of the peacefulness. It's quiet and very big. And the sky is beautiful. Where I'm from, the sky has always been cloudy, along with the moon, if we're lucky, we can see two or three stars, Venus once in a while, but that's about it. So this kind of a view, of so many stars visible together and practically covering up the entire sky, that too almost always, is pretty new for me."

Pam had always been a big fan of the moon. The brightness, the supposed purity, she adored it. Ever since she had found out that her mother had loved the moon, she would sometimes just stare up at the large silvery orb in the sky. The first time she had come to the Astronomy tower at night had been for that; to see the moon, feel closer to the mother she had barely known in her life. She had never been majorly intrigued by the stars, but it was not until she had seen the jeweled sky that she had realized that she had not properly seen stars before that day.

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Interacting with: @Joseph Sims

Joseph pondered Pam's words, slowly lowering his head until he lay flat on his back, his eyes tracing the vast night sky. A new experience... was it a new experience for Joseph? He wasn't exactly a stranger to the stars and the moon, he had looked at them plenty of times. But now that he thought about it, had he ever truly looked at them?

Back in Arisaig, his evenings belonged to gazing at the magnificent sunset with his friends, seated by the shore as they enjoyed watching the last embers of daylight fade. But it ended there. After dusk, nightfall usually meant tired eyes, stifled yawns, and an unspoken agreement that it was time to leave. The stars had always been there waiting for his attention, but had he really bothered to pay them any.

"Never really thought much of the stars on my part, prior to coming to Hogwarts," Joseph admitted, his expression somewhat dreamy and reflective. "I find myself looking at them a little more nowadays though. Like when I stay up in the library until late, after everyone else's left - it's times like these that I start to subconsciously notice them more. But otherwise, I haven't really spent much time stargazing either."

Silently drawing imaginary lines linking the stars in his mind, Joseph relaxed his muscles, trying to recall some of the constellations he had learned of when he was younger. What were they called again? Scorpius? Awlion? Canny major? Whatever they were called - it didn't matter.  What's fascinating was the fact that nature was so marvellously complex - from little microorganisms to constellations and natural wonders... there was just so much more to nature than he could ever dare imagine.

Joseph always prided himself in being someone who appreciated nature, but was it really true? Maybe he had overlooked some aspects of nature that didn't seem as interesting, but were really just as amazing as anything else.

"And it's not too late to change that," he thought aloud, beaming.

@Pamela Graham

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Speech -- Thoughts

Pam nodded, feeling her eyes starting to droop a little now. Seemed like she was finally starting to feel tired. A memory floated to the surface of her head, where she had fallen asleep in the classroom and nearly gotten caught next morning. She did not ever want a repeat of that.

Well, she wasn't planning to leave soon. They were in the middle of coming out of the "okay awkward, run away" zone. She stifled a yawn as she asked Joseph, "Well, what do you normally like to do when you're alone?" She scanned the sky, trying to identify some of the constellations. Out of 88 of them, she only knew like....15? She really had a long way to go.

She had spent a lot of time studying a few of the constellations, even ending up forming favorites out of them; the Orion and Ursa Minor. The Orion because of the associated Roman mythology linked with it. She always had loved to read about different mythologies. And as for the Ursa Minor, well, she had once seen a drawing done with the stars forming the constellation and had found it pretty and cute. She was probably childish like that.

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Interacting with: @Joseph Sims

OOC: Sorry this is so late

Mindlessly tracing patterns on the surface of his bean bag, Joseph flashed the Hufflepuff girl a glance, struggling to come up with an answer to her question. The first thing that had to come his mind was chatting idly with his rock friend - just like he was doing before Pam had made a surprise entrance.

But was he really going to reveal that? Was he really going to reveal to Pam what a childish and odd he could be? Maybe it'd be better to pick a safer answer, something that wouldn't make Pam anymore uncomfortable with him than she probably already was.

"Reading, I suppose? I quite like reading, especially books with those plot twists that keep you hooked in, you know," Joseph answered, tapping his foot against the ground rhythmically. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't quite the truth either. Well, it would have to do for now.

He forced a grin and tried to steer the conversation away from himself. “Mmm... how’re you finding Hogwarts so far? Made any new friends?” Pam didn’t exactly strike him as particularly outgoing, but if someone somehow managed to have fewer friends than he did, that’d be a real social disaster.

@Pamela Graham

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Speech -- Thoughts

The amount of yawns attempting to escape Pam's mouth per second was increasing as time passed. I wouldn't mind going to sleep here. The weather is nice. What she would mind however, was falling asleep mid sentence, or worse, while listening to Joseph speak. Alright that's enough overthinking.

The topic shifting to books piqued Pam's interest at once, and she couldn't keep in the enthusiasm in her voice as she said, "Oh! Do you like to read? I like reading a lot too!" Thinking for a second she continued, "I mostly like to read fantasy and phychological thrillers. Those are my preferred genres." She flashed a boy a soft smile, "What are yours?"

She hoped that Joseph wouldn't get too put off by her excitement, since they had barely started to interact properly. She didn't want them to go back to square one when they had exited the awkward zone literally two seconds ago. And that's overthinking round two.

"Friends?" Pam repeated, her mind drawing a blank for a second before seeming to restart itself. She knew two girls who would kill her if that information reached their ears. "Right well, I have a few." She accepted. "There's Ira Thornfield and Ruth Fairchild. They're also Hufflepuffs and I'm the closest to those two. Other than that, there's a girl called Amelia Garnett in Slytherin and one in Gryffindor called Eonaria Kabukimono." She smiled at the thought of the two girls, remembering their recent trip to Hogsmeade which was well.... against the rules.

"What about you?" She asked him, "Who are you friends with?"

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Interacting with: @Joseph Sims
Mentioning: @Ira Thornfield @Ruth Fairchild @Amelia Garnett @Eonaria Kabukimono

Joseph's ears perked up at a familiar name, his mouth gaping blankly before quickly snapping shut to hide his surprise. Holy smokes. Pam remembered her full name? Joseph couldn't even remember her first name - he'd always known her as Eona for short - let alone her full name, whatchamacallit.

"You know Eona?" he blurted, bewilderment creeping into his voice. Well he certainly hadn't expected that. He briefly wondered what the two bonded over. Maybe discussing the Giant Squid's diet choices. Or comparing notes on irritating boys who like jumping into lakes. "Oh well, don't have a lot of friends myself, sadly." He admitted, averting his gaze from Pam. The only name that came to his mind was Avery - the girl he had met in Herbology a couple of months back - but aside from that... he didn't know who else he was close enough to really consider a friend.

"As for books... I really like dystopian fiction,"  Joseph commented, latching on to the topic with a more cheerful tone. "My favourite books are always the most impactful ones, those that leave me deep in thought for weeks,"

He suppressed a laugh, a memory surfacing from the depths of his mind. The details had blurred with time, but the feeling remained crystal clear - he couldn't have been older than nine, tossing and turning in bed, unable to shake the gripping plot of a book he had just finished. Some books had that kind of impression on him.

@Pamela Graham
Mentioning: @Eonaria Kabukimono @Avery Gray

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Speech -- Thoughts

Pam's eyes lit up as Joseph seemed to know the Gryffindor girl, and she laughed lightly at the fact that Joseph did not seem to remember her name fully."It took me a while too." She agreed, "I can remember her name, although I might not be able to spell it correctly." She grinned sheepishly, "We've mostly taken to call her Nari."

Pam nodded in understanding. It was equally hard for her to make friends too. "Well you must have one other friend other than Nari, right?" She asked curiously, before wondering if she was being nosy. She didn't want to make the boy uncomfortable so she said quickly, attempting to maintain an easy air, "Well, if not, then I'm your second friend right?" She dramatically flipped her hair over her shoulder, grinning in amusement, "That feels nice." She turned to look at Joseph, still grinning before a thought occurred to her, and she asked, "We are friends right?"

"Ooh, I like dystopian fiction too!" Pam said enthusiastic, nodding. Joseph seemed positively more cheerful as the conversation topic shifted. She could relate honestly. Much better to talk about books than failed attempts at being social right? "The impactful ones always have pretty good plot twists too." She remarked, "I remember reading one where I had to read it some three times before the brain work made any sense." She smiled at the memories. "Agatha Christie's books are always amazing." She muttered, more to herself than to Joseph. Those were the first detective mystery books she had started with.

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Interacting with: @Joseph Sims

Joseph giggled as he watched Pam flick her hair back, straightening up in his cushion. Friends? Is that what they were now? What about the unspoken tension from earlier? Had that fizzled out with merely a comment or two on books and mutual acquaintances?

Gazing at the Hufflepuff girl thoughtfully, Joseph sat in his silence, his eyebrows scrunched up as if trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle. Moments ago he'd have done anything for her to bolt out of the chamber, taking the awkwardness away with her. But now? Maybe this meeting wasn't a total disaster. Maybe he didn't have to dread her presence. Maybe he didn't mind it.

"I guess you could say so," he muttered, running a hand through his hair. It had never occurred to him that this detour to the Astronomy classroom would earn him a new name on his mental list of "people I don't hate talking to". But hey, life was full of plot twists. Like every interesting story book.

Joseph tilted his head as Pam spoke again, sharing animatedly about her experiences reading, bearing a gentle smile. One that seems more natural. Joseph noted, subconsciously returning the grin. Oh, the wonders of mutual interests.

“Agatha Christie?” he repeated, his smile quickly replaced by a blank stare. As a so-called “book-worm”, it was a rare thing for an author's name to stump him like this. Yet the name Pam had just muttered was as foreign to him as a quiet cup of tea to a niffler in a jewellery store. “Never heard of her. Is she famous? What kind of books does she write?” he asked in quick rapid-fire, curiosity bubbling up inside him. Hopefully Pam wouldn’t get overwhelmed by his sudden surge in excitement.

He stole a glance at the pet rock nestling in his palm. The sky above was darkening - well past his pebbly friend's usual bedtime. He offered an apologetic nod in her direction, as though she was glowering at him. Just a while longer, he thought, trying to reason with her telepathically. Not that it ever worked.

@Pamela Graham

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Speech -- Thoughts

Pam grinned as Joseph seemed to consider being friends, and she watched him in amusement as he muttered a quiet agreement. Pam was feeling much better, a lot of the earlier awkwardness had dissipated. She still stopped herself from teasing him about his hesitant answer, unsure of how it would be recieved.

"Agatha Christie." She told him, rather surprised that he hadn't heard of her. Her father had told him she was extremely famous. Maybe he was a pureblood? Growing up in a magical household would definitely explain the lack of knowledge about one of the more popular muggle authors. Or maybe he had heard of her characters but not her specifically, "She's a detective fiction writer. Have you heard of a character called Hercule Poirot? ...or Miss Marple?" She grinned sheepishly, "those are the only books of hers I've read so I don't know any other characters of hers."

Pam stifled a yawn that was threatening to escape her, again, really not wanting to leave yet. Alarm bells had started ringing in her brain though, telling her that she needed to get to bed or she wouldn't be able to wake up in time for class the next morning.

"I should get moving." She muttered to Joseph, grinning apologetically, "I think I'm gonna have a very tired morning tomorrow if I don't get to bed soon."

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Interacting with: @Joseph Sims