Pompous, Pureblood, and a side of Parties PV Dylan Astor

Interacting with: @Graci Laren Mentioning: N/A Date: Summer

Word Count: 269

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Dylan was annoyed. Of all the times for his mother to drag him into something, it had to be this. His least favorite thing in the world besides being stuck in America for most of the year. Pureblood balls. Dylan stared wistfully towards the horizon. He was home again, so of course his mother would bring him into this just to keep up appearances. He was almost jealous that Avery got to sit out of this ball, but he also wasn't. She wasn't taking anything easy lately, and he could only wonder what would happen while he was away and attempting to enjoy himself. "Come on, Dylan. You have to look more lively than that. This is an important ball. Try to at least be a little social." His mother chided to him as they walked inside. Dylan just gave her a sigh as a reply before he straightened his posture and put on a face meant for a nearly thirteen year old pureblood. Even though that's the least of things that he wanted to do he knew he had to do it. Maybe he could escape the ball later, but for now he would just have to survive. Dylan stood near the food table as he watched the ball unfold. His mother had gone off to mingle with other women, so she had left him there. Alone and unwilling to interact with older pureblood men that would just question him about how America had been. He just hoped someone at least close to his age was here. Maybe then he would be finally able to escape this torture.

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Graci quickly grew bored, not yet acclimated to how long she had to stay doing idle chatter with almost senile old people. And middle aged parents who thought they were all that. They weren't.

If there are so many people there ought to be some kind my age.

She skirted through the room slowly, trying to dodge any old friends of her uncles's. Graci's was supposed to meet the rest of her great uncles either tonight or the rest of the week. If they're all like Strat I'm doomed. But apparently Philokrates was on better terms with her Pappoús so she was more excited to meet him. Or Nikandros, he seemed like the fun one. Sheesh, my great grandparents must have had so much fun naming them. Like, who gives their kids names like Nikandros, Philokrates, Stratianos, and Aeson? They probably just gave up on the last one. Alexander. How unoriginal.

She scanned over the crowd once again, reasoning out the kids that looked like they were the on brand pureblood. Not the ones just pretending. Aha! Is that a non-pompous pureblood? Nah, I must be starting to get blind.

But there he was. A boy about her age from the looks of it. Definitely faking a face of privilege.

"You come to these things often?" Graci knew it wasn't the best thing she could've done, but she desperately needed to talk to someone her own age. And who was she to not go up to someone randomly? Wasn't she a social butterfly now?

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OOC notes: Let me know if there are any grammar mistakes:)

coded by Eugenia Karageorgiadi & Banner By Andronica Evans

Interacting with: @Graci Laren Mentioning: N/A Date: Summer

Word Count: 262

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Dylan nearly jumped at the voice. When he glanced over, he saw a girl around his age standing there. She was pretty with brown hair and eyes. He blinked for a second in surprise before saying, "If I had the choice, no. My mother actually dragged me here. What about you?" Dylan gave a quick glance in his mother's direction as the sound of laughter filled the air. Whatever they had just said must have been funny to them, but it left no impression on Dylan. Wow. He really wished Avery was here. She was such a bright light in the dark. She would somehow make this boring party a whole lot better. Since Avery wasn't here, he had this girl who he recognized, but couldn't put a name to her. "I'm Dylan. What's your name?" He asked her. Better to be polite and get to know her than be miserable and alone the rest of the night. Dylan glanced around again. Yep. It was just as he had guessed. This girl and he were the only two kids their age here. There were other kids, but they were either much younger or much older. Maybe they wouldn't notice if he just 'disappeared' into thin air and was nowhere to be found? Now was as good a chance as any to leave. Though, he had to get to know the girl first. Maybe she felt the same way, and they could get to know each other better somewhere where old pureblood families didn't stare at them with annoyed looks on their faces.

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Graci appreciated that he didn't just tell her to go away. And that he wasn't snotty like the majority of the people here.

"My great uncle is the host, I've never actually been to one of these, this is my first time." It was all true and Graci really wouldn't have minded him telling her all the ways to upset the stuffy purebloods.

"It's nice to meet you, Dylan, I'm Graci. Attended Hogwarts this past year, you didn't happen to go there, did you?" He had a different accent than she usually heard around here, but not quite American. More like a mix of the Welsh accent she kept hearing here and the American she heard when Lindin first came to London. Her own Greek-er accent had come back a little since visiting her grandparents the previous week.

She was pretty sure he hadn't attended Hogwarts, but then again, she didn't know a lot of the other first years, there were far too many to remember every face let alone name.

This summer was turning out rather puzzling. Aside from the incident at the beginning of the summer, the idea was introduced to her that she would be spending a week with her uncles and only three weeks in Greece. More time in London, but not nearly enough in Greece. Though, she was getting more and more detached from her roots as well as London, nothing quite satisfying her anymore except Hogwarts.

It made her heart hurt, but at least she would be spending most of her time at school anyhow. Then maybe get a job in something more wizard -ish and get more immersed in the wizarding community, detaching herself from the muggle world. Minus her friends of course. If they were still her friends after that.

Whoa, Graci, don't get ahead of yourself. You still have years before that.

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OOC notes:Don't worry about responding right away

coded by Eugenia Karageorgiadi & Banner By Andronica Evans

Interacting with: @Graci Laren Mentioning: N/A Date: Summer

Word Count: 208

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"No. I went to Ilervmony this year even though I wish I could have gone to Hogwarts. Though, my cousin you might know. She attended Hogwarts. Her name's Avery Gray." He responded. He nearly let out a sigh as another laugh drifted over to him across the room. This ball was even more boring than the others that he used to attend. Though, meeting this new girl that he now knew was Graci was nice. That's when an idea popped into his head. "Hey, I know this is crazy and if you don't want to do this it's fine, but do you want to get out of here where we can actually talk and not have to act like superior blood? It's really annoying to just stand and chat in here when all the 'esteemed' pureblood lines stare us down." Dylan knew the second the words came out of his mouth that he probably shouldn't have said that out loud. He had no idea if she actually wanted to stay or not or if she was actually enjoying the party. He wanted to say something like 'never mind', but he didn't. The damage was already done and he would accept the consequences if she did want to stay.

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Graci now knew that he had gone to Ilvermorny, and also vaguely remembered meeting his cousin, Avery.

"Oh, I think I know Avery, I'm pretty sure we had detention together once."

After talking to him for longer she knew two things. First he was very good at acting. Playing the part of a blood purity enthusiast. And second, that he wasn't a blood purist in the slightest.

And then when he asked if she wanted to get out of the ball? Could this dude read her mind? Well, knowing the wizarding community, he probably could.

"Are you kidding me? I have been itching to leave since 'Marsha' started to flirt with my great uncle via the courier pigeon that is me."

Graci was relieved. Oh, so very relieved. The chatter was giving her a headache and there were too many colors for her brain to process, furthering the aforementioned headache.

"They actually have a pretty sick garden. I may have only been here for a day, but I didn't want to have any more conversations with Slimy Strat than necessary. Instead, I saw the rose gardens and the plethora of fountains he owns."

Both of her statements were true. She didn't need Strat talking her ear off about 'blood lineages' and 'legacies'. She also had a lot of time to explore before she had to be at this stupid party.

"Follow me!" Graci went out one of the many doors and into the night, greatful to get away, not even realizing how overstimulating it had been.

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OOC notes: Let me know if there are any grammar mistakes:)

coded by Eugenia Karageorgiadi & Banner By Andronica Evans

Interacting with: @Graci Laren Mentioning: N/A Date: Summer

Word Count: 210

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Dylan raised his eyebrows at the mention of detention. He had expected Avery to be the last person to get detention. Something must have happened to her. He made a mental note to ask her what had happened later. A smile lit Dylan's face at the mention of a garden. He loved being outdoors, and being in a garden was a bonus. Especially here in Wales where the fresh air always reminded him that this was his true home. Even if it meant he had to go to pureblood parties. "Let's go, then!" Dylan said with a smile as he followed the girl out some doors and into the fresh night air where he would finally be free and not have to act like someone he wasn't. Relief and a weight he didn't know he had quickly lifted off of him and left him feeling better than he had in awhile. Dylan glanced around the grounds as he followed the girl to the garden. The night was clear with the moon shining brightly and bathing everything in silver light. It was the perfect night to be outside. As they were walking, his mind wandered to Avery. He wondered if she was enjoying the clear sky above or had something happened?

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Graci felt immensely glad that he went with her. Going to the gardens would've been nice, but just... lonelier.

Whenever Graci was in a garden, this garden, specifically, she felt like a little fairy, or sprite.And despite her usual clumsiness she was rather nible and liked flitting through the bushes and on some of the hedge maze.

"It's actually pretty wacky here. They have at least three fountains and random wishing wells. And then there's the hedge maze. I don't know... how or why they have one, or what they use it for."

It was rather odd. She wondered if they held trials to see who the Laren heir would be, but that would be absurd... right?

"Do you always spend your summers in Wales? I usually do mine in Greece but... not this year, unfortunately."

She had been trying to not think about Greece since coming here. Even with all the reminders. All the Laren boys had grown up in Greece but built an empire for themselves. I wonder if I'll get to meet their heirs. Maybe they'll be different. or maybe, just maybe, they all are actually nicer than they let on?

If they're anything like uncle Strat, though, I don't want to meet them.

Graci shuddered at the thought. But honestly, if the uncles had heirs, those heirs could have children her age.

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OOC notes:

coded by Eugenia Karageorgiadi & Banner By Andronica Evans

Interacting with: @Graci Laren Mentioning: N/A Date: Summer

Word Count: 219

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Dylan smiled as he listened to her talk about the garden. It seemed to him like a fun place that would be perfect for adventurous evenings. He couldn't wait to see it in full. Even though it was dark, he was sure that it would still be beautiful, mysterious, and as Graci said, wacky. Dylan tensed a little before he quickly relaxed when she asked if he spent his summers in Wales. He didn't know what to say, so he decided to just tell her the truth. "Well, if I had it my way, yes, but unfortunately I don't have it my way. This is actually the first time I've been here since I was forced to move away from here and go to America when I was about eight. There. He'd admitted it. The hardest part about moving was that he couldn't be home anymore. His mom had plucked him from his home and placed him somewhere different and expected him to thrive right away. She was wrong. "What's Greece like? I've never been there, but I've always heard stories about it." He asked her in order to try and not steer the conversation to be completely about him. He didn't want to explain his whole life story and give her no chance to share her own story.

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