Home For the Holidays Open

@Rosalyn Willows

Why were so many people standing in the middle of the train corridors?? It was a hazard to everyone with claustrophobia! While Paris did not have claustrophobia, she was getting rather hot and bored of not being able to progress.

Disperse! Paris thought annoyedly, wishing she could project her thoughts to the masses. How did Xhosa already find a compartment? All the ones around here were full!

Paris pulled the small travel-sized terrarium out of her bag and checked on Rosetón. The poor tarantula was probably pretty shaken. "Rose," Paris asked him (pronouncing the nickname like rose-ayy). "Do you mind if I be a bit obnoxious? What I'm about to do will be dreadfully bothersome to all those around me, but I don't care about that as much as I care about annoying you."

Rosetón did not say anything. Spiders cannot talk. Rosetón wiggled his pedipalps a bit. Paris took that to mean 'yeah okay sure'.

Tucking Rosetón close, Paris ran. People gave her rude looks and surprised shouts as she passed by, bumping into several students as they did their best to press themselves close to the wall so as not to get run over.

Paris slowed as she entered a car near the end of the train. The corridors were less crowded here and the air was cool. The compartments were still occupied, however. Paris groaned. She would have to sit with someone. It wouldn't be that bad if it were one of the thestral carriages to and from Hogsmeade, but the train ride was hours and hours long!

She could only hope that whoever she ended up joining didn't mind a rather antisocial companion. Peeking in through the glass, Paris psyched herself up to join a girl who sat cosily in a crocheted blanket.

Paris took several deep breaths. It was all good, she would just look at Rosetón the whole time. She let the spider crawl onto her hand and stowed the terrarium back in her bag. "Come on Rose. We have to be brave."

Paris slid open the compartment door. "Mind if I join you?" Her voice was softer than she'd intended, but she managed to get it out as her eyes darted warily from the girl and back to Rosetón.

"Oh, hello! Of course not, feel free!" Rosalyn said, not really expecting to have someone join her. She wasn't upset about it, however, because the more people, the merrier!

"What's your name? I'm Rosalyn, by the way, but I usually go by Rosie. It's just less...formal, I guess." she said, wondering if the girl's name was going to be boring or cool. She hoped for the latter, because it was always more fun, but still, was fine with anything.

"Are you a first year too? Or older than that?" she asked, wanting to know if she was knew to this whole Hogwarts thing or not. Well, new maybe isn't the right word, since everyone had been through at least a full semester at this point. Rosalyn was no magic expert, but she was starting to get the hang of things.

She kept crocheting her beanie as she was asking the questions, hoping to have the whole thing done by the end of the train ride. It was going to be for her dog, who was a Golden Retriever, so it didn't have to be crazy huge. She could also crochet pretty fast, and a project like this was most definitely possible to complete in the length of the train ride.

"Sorry if I'm asking too many questions. If you want me to leave you alone, I can!" she said, hoping that she wasn't annoying the girl before they had even really met. That would be a bit sad.

@Rosalyn Willows

Paris kept her head down and her eyes on Rosetón as she entered and sat down gingerly across from the girl. Who knew if she had invited Paris because she was actually being nice, or if she had just said yes obligatorily?

Paris' eyebrows raised slightly, surprised at the girl--Rosie's--enthusiasm. "I'm Paris," she responded, her voice again a little soft. She continued to look at Rosetón, but upon realising that Rosie might find it rude, forced herself to look up at the girl.

"No, I'm a second year," Paris answered. (She felt Rosetón crawl up her arm and tried not to twitch from his tickling legs.) Rosie was quick to ask questions as soon as Paris answered them. Was this how it was to be for the entire ride?

Paris decided she would try to enjoy herself anyway. Well, maybe not enjoy, but at the very least force herself to be content with it. And not show Rosie that she found the questions kind of boring. It might have been better if Rosie were asking about less basic stuff like her opinion on crustaceans--observing and eating, the politics and ethics of de-extinction, or even talking about herself and all her deepest interests that she never tells anyone of because she believes people will laugh at her.

Paris never understood why people would ever do that. She had never in her life hid herself because of other people's opinions (okay she did somewhat when her family lived in Iceland, but not knowing the language was a big part of it)! People became so much more interesting when they talked about the things they loved most.

Almost zoning out in her own thoughts, Paris missed what Rosie had said and did not respond for a couple seconds while she thought back. Was Rosie asking too many questions? Yes, kind of. But Paris gave her another chance to be interesting. She shook her head that no, Rosie was not asking too many questions.

But before Rosie could ask anything else, Paris cut in with a question of her own. "What are you crocheting? Wait, no let me guess. A really long scarf just to see how long the yarn lasts? A pillowcase for a horse? Ooh, or an enrichment toy for a bored animal that you're gonna like, put treats inside and then the animal will try to get them out?"

Come on Rosie. I know those guesses were probably not right, but I'm giving you every chance to not be boring like just about everyone else at Hogwarts. Paris pleaded with the girl in her head as she waited for an answer. (Rosetón reached Paris' head and settled in her hair.)

"Nice to meet you, Paris! That's a cool name!" Rosalyn said, and if she was being honest, she was already growing a bit bored with the conversation. The normal stuff, like name and age, were good and all, but just not very interesting.

As Paris told Rosalyn that she was actually a second year, a spider crawled up her arm. An actual, real life spider, and not like the tiny ones she would always find in her basement at home. It was...it was...

So cool!!! Rosie loved spiders, but her parents were both arachnaphobic, which meant that they were so, so afraid of spiders. Because of that, she had never been able to see too many, especially not any as cool as this one!

"Oh. My. Goodness! I love your spider! Sorry, is that weird? Sorry, I'm rambling a bit, I just don't usually get to see many spiders, both my parents hate them, but I think they're so amazing! What's its name?" she asked, wanting to pet the spider but not knowing if that would be weird or not, so she kept that request to herself.

"And right, sorry, the question you asked! Unfortunately, not super cool, though the enrichment toy thing would be fun! It's just a beanie, sadly. But, I am going to give it to my dog! My best guess is that he's going to try and eat it, which is why I put an enchantment on the yarn! Some random spell I read about, I guess, but it makes it taste like fish." she said, excited to share.

"Well, I suppose I should explain. My dog absolutely hates fish. Like, with a burning passion. His name is Murphy, by the way, he's a Golden Retriever! But anyways, he hates fish, so if he tries to eat it and tastes the fish, well, he's either going to throw up or just stop eating it!" she said.

"I kinda hope he doesn't throw up, because I don't feel like cleaning up dog puke, but either thing would be cool!" she said, knowing that Paris might not feel the same way, but still.

@Rosalyn Willows

Paris felt her lips twitch upward. Rosalyn liked spiders! And while she wasn't crocheting something cool, she knows cool spells! She can make things taste like fish!

Also, it seemed one of the things Rosalyn was passionate about was her crocheting. She obviously put a lot of thought into it and made things with good intentions (and did she make the blanket she's using too??).

She scooted closer to the edge of her seat, pulling Rosetón off of her head and holding him out. "This is Rosetón. Rose for short. Would you like to hold him?"

Paris listened patiently to Rosie's excited rambling about the beanie she was making and Murphy the golden retriever's temperament, glad that she felt she could speak so freely. This was the kind of information Paris liked to hear. Not all that formal yet stupid what's-your-favourite-class-what's-your-house-where-do-you-live-what-are-you-doing-for-the-holidays-why-don't-you-do-homework kind of crap that everyone loved. That kind of stuff could be discussed later once the important stuff was taken care of! (namely, opinions on rockets, dragons, grass, ethics, etc)

Paris laughed a little at the mention of cleaning dog barf. "If you think that's bad, come to our stable sometime and try mucking all the horse poop. The smell's not bad once you get used to it, but the size of it can be quite impressive!"

Paris twirled a pink braid around her finger. "What colour do you think represents you? Is it the same as your favourite colour? Are you scared to wear your favourite colour? What's your least favourite colour? Are you often forced to wear it? Do you think other people would agree with you about what colour they think represents you? What's colour are you feeling today?"

Woah that was a lot of word vomit Paris, you gotta stop that. Also what? Where the heck did that topic change come from?? Like seriously, you just met the girl, stop scaring her with your brain!

Paris cringed internally. She got nervous again. Her hand formed a fist involuntarily. It twitched and then her fingers splayed out briefly before returning to normal. If Rosalyn chose this colour-related outburst as the thing that pushed Paris away, then fine, whatever, but it would be awkward considering how much of the ride was left.

Paris would just make sure to add Rosie to the growing list of people she deliberately avoided if she responded how Paris expected her to--a mildly disgusted face, scooting away imperceptibly, and an 'uh huh, great' kind of answer. Her lips tightened slightly while she awaited a response.

“Aww, I love that name! Maybe because I’m a bit biased…” Rosalyn said, looking at the spider, Rose, again.

“Okay, okay, okay. So, I need to explain this one, but hear me out. My favourite colour? Easy, pink! I don’t know why, it’s just soft, fun, peaceful. It’s cliche, classic girl, I know. But I like the idea of still being strong and capable, despite liking the color pink, and not needing to avoid anything feminine to make myself able to do tomboy-ish things.” she said, a bit passionate about the topic. Her whole life, people would find the fact that she liked the colour pink ‘too feminine’ or ‘soft’, but Rosalyn never listened. She still loved the colour.

“The colour that most represents me? That’s probably yellow. Sometimes bright enough to hurt your eyes, but also sometimes pastel and soft, welcoming. Like spring, where you can either have an allergy attack or just enjoy the pretty flowers.” she said, thinking that it fit pretty well.

“Okay, same questions for you! But also…what is your favorite strange thing to do? Like, not a traditional hobby, or taking a traditional hobby and making it cooler? Mine is probably the crochet with a purpose thing, I like making things functional and a bit funny!” she asked, curious to know more about Paris.

@Rosalyn Willows

Paris had to agree with Rosalyn. The similarities between her name and Rosetón's were pretty funny. "Would you like to hold him? His urticating hairs can irritate some people, but they don't bother most people."

She smiled as Rosalyn explained her reasoning for liking the colour pink. It was a great description, but Paris had always found it a bit annoying that people always thought that if you liked pink it made you weak or something. It was one of the reasons she had dyed some of her braids pink, for the sake of spiting anyone who found it girlish.

Paris found Rosalyn's voice to be almost bubbly; she seemed so animated and passionate when she spoke! She could absolutely see yellow as a perfect representation of the girl. She was bright and welcoming, but also seemed very loving and warm.

Wait, she was asking the questions back? Paris was not prepared to answer to her own queries. "Uhh I dunno if I have a favourite colour. Maybe dark red? I think one reason I dye my hair so many colours is so that I don't have to choose." She laughed a little self-consciously.

"As for a colour that represents me.... I think people tend to think I'm kind of a neon blue. Unusual enough to their minds so as to seem unnatural. And blue like a fire. At least, that's what one of my teachers growing up said about me--that I had more fire than anyone knew what to do with. Not really sure if she meant that as a good thing..."

Paris' voice trailed off as she considered Rosalyn's last question. "Does climbing trees count? Is that a traditional hobby or should I think of something else?"

This feels like too much talk about me. Let's try to turn this back to her. Paris thought, shifting a little uncomfortably from the uncommon amount of attention. "What has been your favourite thing you've crocheted?"

"Would I like to hold him? Uh, yeah! I'd love to!" Rosalyn said, taking him for a second. His hairs weren't bothering her, and she liked the feeling of his little legs crawling on her arm.

"Dark red is a good color! And I do love your hair, by the way!" she said, and it was true. All of the colors were really fun looking! Rosalyn really had to look into dying her hair, since she had seen so many people that did.

"I mean, no matter what that teacher thought or really meant, I'd take it as a compliment. I've always loved fire. It's just so...fascinating to me." she said. Paris might take that the wrong way and think that she was weird, but she didn't really care. She just liked the idea of fire.

"Climbing trees counts! That's a good one. I've climbed a few before, with my friend, but not too many." she said, remembering some of the times they would climb the tallest one they could find and sit up there for hours, just seeing the world from a new angle.

"Hmm, probably this blanket, actually." she said, gesturing to the one in her lap.

"I've been working on it all year, between classes and stuff, and I'm really proud of how it turned out!" she said, and it was true. It was a light pink with a sage-green border, the combination of two colors she loved.

@Rosalyn Willows

Paris smiled at her spider as she watched him skitter around Rosalyn's arm. He really was very sweet. She was glad to find someone who wasn't repulsed by the prospect of having a spider on them. It was very refreshing.

She shrunk back slightly at Rosalyn's compliments, unsure of how to take them. Was she being serious? "Um. Thanks," she finally whispered, her face reddening. She kept her gaze focused on Rosetón (who was sitting on her shoulder) instead of the girls face.

Paris heard the pride in Rosalyn's voice as she described her blanket. It really was very lovely and Paris was sure that if she had the same talents as her, she would be just pleased with the blanket as Rosie seemed to be.

She gave a small smile as she finished. "You're right, it does look really good," she said quietly before falling into silence. Why did she never know what to say? This was awkward.

She wanted Rosetón back so that she could have something to hold and distract her from the silence, but how to even ask for him back? She didn't want to seem rude! So Paris let the silence continue, not daring to break it. The longer she let it hold, the more anxious she became about its eventual end.

After a second, she turned to look out at the Scottish countryside whirring past them out the window. Her head pulled once to the side and she immediately grabbed a blue braid to twist around her finger before it could happen again, hoping Rosalyn wouldn't ask about it.