The Sweetest Treat PV Adlai Rod Completed

[quote]Virgil sobs quietly, smile a bit more honest, shiny teary eyes trapped in Adlai's own, as the storm inside of his heart and mind calms down just a little, but enough for him to feel a little better, clinging to the girl's words. He still doesn't fully absorb them, since low self-esteem isn't something that can be taken care of over a minute, but he nods, trying to at least follow that train of thought for now.

Growing up with an overprotective mother that did everything for him, not giving him the chance to explore failure or victory like everyone else, being deprived of such important steps, Blair's parenting eventually lead to Virgil not knowing how to deal with normal things, and, as such, he considers himself to be useless and pathetic, a mess that never did anything right.

"T-Thanks," squeaks the boy, breathing still shaky. Virgi looks down at his ice cream and puts it back on his mouth, trying to make himself feel better with the sweet treat. He points to the corridors ahead of them with his chin, suggesting they keep on walking and ignore the breakdown that had just happened. When his tongue begins to freeze, he takes a bite out of his ice cream ("You bite your ice cream? Yo, Virge, what the hell?! I thought I could trust you!", Trent yelled once when he saw him do that). "Soooo..." He prolongs the word, not sounding as muffled and weak as before. "What is something you'd like to get as a present? N-Not that I'm suggesting anything..."

“What is something you'd like to get as a present? N-Not that I'm suggesting anything..." Virgil asks Adlai which sends her train of thought onto a high speed track. What would I like?- she asks herself.
Adlai had never really been asked what she’d wanted before. She’s very used to just doing what she’s told and being grateful for whatever she was given.

There was one thing Adlai had wanted, something she found absolutely hilarious and didn’t understand why.
“A Furby.” Was all she said as she smiled. They were fuzzy, big eyed robotic dolls that spoke to themselves even if you hadn’t touched them. They were creepy to some people. But Adlai didn’t mind them.

In fact not long before leaving for Hogwarts, Adlai had see a picture of a long furby in the internet and just knew she had to make one to annoy her sisters and scare her father out of his wits. And if she stuffed it she could wear it as a scarf for school. The idea of it gave her a since of uniqueness which she liked very much.

Normally people would say her hijab was unique being that many young Muslim girls didn’t wear it in the present years, but her head scarf wasn’t anything unique in her opinion since she saw her mother and sisters and grandmother and extended female family members on her mother’s side wear them everyday, everywhere.

[quote]The boy, eating his ice cream, paying attention to his friend right there, next to him, frowns once he hears that strange word. A Furby must be another one of those muggles inventions he's never heard of before, hopefully, a toy, nothing too weird. And Virgil can only assume it's something remotely funny, considering Adlai's smile after mentioning it.

He has no idea where he'd be able to find a Furby, as he doesn't live close to muggle stores nor would he know where to even begin to look for that thing. Virgil supposes he could ask Trent about it; the one that always seemed to know everything about muggle culture, once he goes back to England, and they meet at his cousin's place to spend the winter break with his family.

"Right," Virgil says with a smile, it's weak and the spark doesn't go to his eyes, but at least he tries to pretend he knows what a Furby is. He takes another bite of his ice cream, eying Adlai and the headscarf she wears, remembering he'd forgotten what that's called. On his way to the Diagon Alley, Virgil had seen some women using similar scarfs, but he never understood why. The Slytherin can only assume it's a cultural thing, but asks anyway, "If you don't mind me asking, why do you wear that?"

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you wear that?" Virgil asks her, Adlai assuming he meant her hijab. “Um...well it’s a religious belief that woman are to maintain modesty and privacy in the presence of unrelated men. A great majority of the people who share my faith believe that the hijab is a way to do that.” Adlai explained recalling the lesson her mother had given her when she was seven as to why she needed to wear the hijab. “I also wear it because it’s important to my family, especially on my moms side.”

Adlai also wore it because she wanted to. She had admired her mother’s skill to pin the fabric together and keep her lengthy at bay inside it. Her hair was a secret that not many got to know. It was precious and sacred like the Quran. It needed to be protected, and her father called her and sisters hijabs their halos as if they were angles.

“I’ve seen women who wear different kinds. Kinds that cover their mouth or entire face. My mum says it because they are very loyal to Allah and want to make him proud. But I don’t think I want to wear one of those kinds. How do they eat or see?” Adlai thought of what else she could tell Virgil about her headscarf, what else might help him understand her more.

“When I’m with just my intermediate family I don’t have to wear it, or when I’m only with women or children who are around a toddlers age I don’t have to wear it either. So I don’t wear it when I’m my dorm, I don’t sleep in it, I don’t shower in it and when I get married my husband can see my hair! So you can’t see my hair unless we get married!” She exclaimed laughing a bit at the end. She always thought that last rule was so silly.

[quote]"Ah," That's all he lets out, nodding and taking another bite at his frozen treat, a bit embarrassed by the marriage comment, though he knows it's just a silly joke, cheeks burning, blushing hard but not the same way he used to, as Virgil had gotten quite used to the girl's presence. Letting out an awkward laugh, he adds, bumping his shoulder against the girl's, "Then, will you marry me?"

He laughs again, a little more confidently this time around. There's no curiosity or need of wanting to see the Hufflepuff's hair, he's just fooling around. Honestly, he's surprised about the important meaning behind that headscarf, and now that he knows, he admires Adlai and the other women that used that headscarf due to their religious belief. He's not that passionate about anything of such importance; as he can't really put music and religion in the same stand. With that in mind, Virgil takes his time to analyze how it seemed to suit Addie's face, the fabric hanging a bit over her shoulders, as the soft lemon tone matches her skin.

"You look nice with it, though," He comments a bit bluntly later before he can even think of stopping himself. Looking to the side, he's surprised no blush comes to his cheeks after his words, as he feels safe and comfortable, knowing Adlai wouldn't think he's weird or anything. After all, she's a good friend.

Adlai snorted at Virgils comment about marriage. “Umm you know I’ll have to think about that.” She joked before returning a bump to the shoulder. She enjoyed her times with Virgil even if he had been crying just a few moments ago.

A broad smile crawls across Adlai’s face after Virgil’s complement. “Thank you.” She says before turning her own attention to her ice cream. There was a small puddle of melted strawberry at the bottom of the bowl, thus Adlai lifted the bowl up to her face and drank it- a small habit she picked up from her father- “What would you like for a gift?” She asked him.

Adlai not to long ago had started a little project of knitting together stuffed rabbits in her free time to give to her friends before leaving during the winter break. She’d prefer to give these gifts to them in person, possibly on the train back to platform 9 3/4.
She’d made Virgils second and the first pair was rabbits where now safely hidden away in her trunk under her bed collecting the opaque smell of her belongings.

She planned on sending Virgil a Christmas card over the break if her parents would let her. Possibly with a picture of her family inside it to give Virgil an idea of the world Adlai had steamed from. He may like her muggle picture, with it not moving and all like the wizards do.

[quote]"Oh, I don't know," Virgil answers the girl's question rather quickly, as he's no idea of what he could ask. Most of what he receives is books or clothing and in some cases straight-up money (uncle Jay says he never knows what to give him). His mother made sure he got everything he wanted, so his mind is blank for a second.

Then something in his brain just clicks and he remembers it. Right now, all he wants is some Quidditch player cards selling at the Diagon Alley, at that store dedicated entirely for the sport, in order to finish his collection. Virgil is a big fan of Quidditch, but he doesn't like keeping things rolling around, but, ever since he and Trent started that competition to see who could end the collection first, the boy's been all over the place asking for player cards as gifts in every occasion.

But he isn't going to tell Adlai that, as most of the cards he doesn't have are very expensive, being part of the golden edition, focused solely on the most popular Quidditch players of all time, so instead he just shrugs, "I really have no clue. What do you think a good gift for me would be?"

Adlai pondered on Virgils question for a moment. What would he like?- she asked herself shifting through everything she knew muggle boys around his age would be into. “A nerf-gun?” She suggested though she was sure Virgil had no idea what it was. Thus she explained.

“They come in an array of size and it shoots foam bullets.”
Adlai had seen plenty of boys in her neighborhood play with nerf guns before, a few even got in trouble for bringing them to school. They must have really liked them, besides Adlai didn't know much about boys her age since her grandfathers had always warned her and her sisters to stay away from them. However, since she was now far from their sight she could learn one way or another.

Adlai then remembered that Virgil didn't really like sports, so he might not like nerf guns. She was really stumped, either way his gift was already made and Adlai didn't plan on changing it since she worked so hard on it. She always thought, and was taught by her elders, that it didn't matter what the gift was as long as it came from the heart and that's exactly what Adlai did.

[quote]Virgil can't actually see himself playing around with anything other than a water gun, but he supposes he could have some with the so-called nerf-gun, if Trent got interested enough (which is likely to happen) to convince his mother to buy one for him, as well, which would result in both Sarah and Annabelle getting armed, too. There's no way he's getting anything like that, however. The isn't expecting Adlai to give him anything for Christmas, though part of him really wants to give her something.

Not only is she his first friend, but she's been nothing but nice all this time they've known each other. She even tried to console him a few seconds ago when hot tears were running down his face. Therefore she deserved to get something. And if he didn't manage to find that Kurby thing, Virgil would try his best to make something on his own. Maybe he'd take advantage of his artistic skills and make her a sketch, or a poem, or a short song, or... He shakes his head before he gets overwhelmed with ideas.

I can think about that later, he tells himself, preventing the nervousness that would come from those ideas, as his insecurities would start to attack his mind, making him second-guesses his options, telling him Adlai would hate it no matter what it is. As he keeps walking, eating his ice cream, not caring about anything else in the world, his dark eyes settle to watch the sky that changes slowly to a more orange tone, with shy tones of yellow and purple mixed in that infinity above his head. There seem to be no clouds, hidden behind the colorful tones.

"It's getting late," Virgil points out, more to himself than to the girl by his side.

Adlai frowned at the sky as Virgil informed her of the time. She didn’t want this to end but sadly it had to as the new dawn had to emerge some how, some way.

“It is.” She said feeling it in her bones. As an unconscious and unwilling wave of somnolent washed over her. Back home when she was a toddler and when it was time to retire to bed she’d run up and down the halls from her father as if she’d be able to escape the fleeting pull of sleep. She would always be caught in the end though, her father finding her fast asleep under a table or in the lower cupboards of the kitchen were the pots and pans resided.

“I guess I should get going then.” Adlai sighed as she finished off the last of her strawberry ice cream. “I’d like to do something like this again, if you’d like.” She said with a smile. She liked hanging out with Virgil, they got along just fine and Adlai hadn’t seen her friend Leah much since the masquerade ball.

Ideas of what she and Virgil could do flooded her mind, perhaps their friend Isaac could come along to so they may be able to finally use the nickname they came up for him.