The Exciting Start Open Finished

"Your mum is an amazing cook, then," Elodie told Crystal politely, but she wasn't lying for the sake of making friends. It really was one of the best bread she had ever eaten, and Elodie felt that Crystal was extremely lucky to have such a lucky mother. A strain of jealously threaded itself through her mind, but she squished the thought quickly.

The train was leaving the station, chugging slowly away. The scenery changed, slowly sliding into green fields, dotted with small houses and miniscule farm animals. Elodie turned away from the window, and instead listened attentively at the new boy, Wyatt, as he introduced himself. He was quite skinny, although not as short as Crystal. His dark hair was tousled and messy, and were the same shade as his eyes. He wore circular, black earrings, and had bags under his eyes, which Elodie wondered at. Why did a boy, and a young one at that, have bags under his eyes? It was a curious thing. Apart from that, Elodie also noted that his dark hair contrasted starkly with his pale skin, making it appear fairer than it actually was.

"Hey Mars and Wyatt," Elodie said shyly when the other student had introduced herself. She wondered if she should say something else, but her courage and shyness failed her, and she lapsed into silence. Instead, Elodie fiddled with the sleeve of her top, and smiled at her friendly timidly.

@Crystal Jagger, @Mars T'ien and @Wyatt Starkey

Interacting with @Wyatt Starkey, @Elodie Nyangui, and @Crystal Jagger

Mars looked at their three companions with a little bit of a smirk. Wyatt, as he had introduced himself, was staring out the window, seemingly lost in the scenery that blurred past. After saying a quiet hello, Elodie had begun fiddling with the sleeve of her shirt, eyes downcast. Crystal was still engrossed in the drawing she was frantically scribbling away at, looking up at the three of them every now and again, mumbling to herself. Evidently, none of them were cut out to be Gryffindors.

The air was still and awkward, thick enough to be cut with a butter knife. Mars liked silence, but they didn't like this kind of silence. It left questions to be had and pressured a sense of obligation into every party there. Honestly, if Mars had to be the one to interrupt, something was wrong.

Smiling to themself, Mars mentioned to Wyatt,

"The ginger is Crystal and the brunette is Elodie, in case you didn't catch it before." Leveling a stare at each of the other witches and wizard, they continued on.

"If we're done with introductions, can we just make something clear? I'm absolutely, completely fine with just sitting here in silence like a bunch of recluses, but if that's what's going to happen, we kinda all have to agree. Otherwise, it's gonna be hella awkward to just sit here, waiting for someone to say something." After a beat, they finished. "Speak now, or forever hold your peace." As a show that they were fine either way, Mars put a hand on a bud of their headphones, waiting for someone to make a decision.

"Speak now, or forever hold your peace." Elodie watched silently as Mars held one bud of an earphone in her hand, looking around expectantly at the the three other passengers. There was a pause of silence as Elodie processed what was happening. She normally refrained from disliking people, especially when they were kids, like herself (something she had done in the past and strongly regretted) but an annoyance towards Mars slowly developed, and this time Elodie did not push it away. In Elodie's eyes, Mars was acting rude and impatient. The four of them were having a fine time before Mars interrupted, and just because it was a little quiet doesn't mean it was going to we awkward.

"Why'd you say that?" Elodie said, frowning slightly. Mars held the appearance of someone much more mature than herself, with her eyeliner and dyed, dark-red hair, but Elodie didn't allow that to silence her. As a younger child, it had been a different story, with kids constantly pushing her around. Not in a mean way, just using her shyness and avoidance of conflict to their advantage, as most young kids would do. But Elodie was older now, as she wasn't going to let Mars say something so rude. Since when was Mars ruler of the carriage. "A bit of silence never hurt anyone. And who made you creator of the rules? You don't make decisions 'bout that sorta stuff."

@Crystal Jagger, @Mars T'ien and @Wyatt Starkey

@Elodie Nyangui @Mars T'ien and @Crystal Jagger

Interacting with @Elodie Nyangui , @Mars T'ien , and @Wyatt Starkey

Interacting with @Wyatt Starkey, @Elodie Nyangui, and @Crystal Jagger

The carriage beat with stretched silence for a few moments, Mars still holding their earbud aloft. Then, Elodie broke it sharply.

"Why'd you say that? A bit of silence never hurt anyone. And who made you creator of the rules? You don't make decisions 'bout that sorta stuff." She frowned in Mars, eyes shifting from their face to their hand and back again.

Mars looked at her incredulously. That wasn't the point of their statement. Maybe they'd been a bit cold, but it was in their nature. Also, in their opinion, silence could grow to a point where it sucked the life out of anyone. They narrowed their eyes, ready to retort when Wyatt raised his voice.

"Mars has a point…" he said, "If… if we’re just going to be silent the whole ride, we should make it known. Get it out of the way first… you know?" he gulped after that, eyes darting first to Mars than to Elodie as if he expected to be rebuked. In all honesty, Mars was surprised. They were used to defending themselves, sure, but having someone else speak up for them, that was new. They already felt a growing sense of affection for the boy.

Before Elodie could respond, Crystal looked up from her sketchbook.

"I've got to agree with Wyatt here, I'd rather everyone agree to be silent and it be less awkward, or for all of us to talk. I'm fine with either one by the way, I can talk and draw at the same time," she said. Okay, that was weird. One was strange, two was weird. Mars was glad, of course, that they agreed with them, but they start to feel a creeping sense of guilt. They hadn't meant to gang up on Elodie.

Crystal shut her sketchbook, tucking it carefully in her lap. Then, she looked up at the other three First Years sitting in the compartment.

"How about this," she paused, then resumed with a fully-fledged thought. "Let's all take a vote, hold one finger up for silence and two up for talking. That way no one person is making the decision for everyone else." Mars smiled internally. A peacemaker. She'd probably turn out to be a Hufflepuff, if not a Gryffindor for the way she seemed to be holding her energy tightly by the reins.

Dropping the earbud, Mars sat back in the seat. Casually, they held up two fingers. Maybe their cabinmates would be surprised, but these wizards seemed interesting. There was nothing wrong with wanting to dig a little deeper into someone else's skin. In the metaphorical sense.

Letting the guilt tug the words out of them, they also tossed an apology to Elodie.

"It was less of a rule, more of a choice," they spoke, "Didn't mean to offend you if you were. For the sake of not making enemies on the train ride to school, accept my apology?"

A wave of guilt engulfed Elodie as she watched the events unfold. Wyatt and Crystal had agreed with Mars, perhaps for the sake of not wanting to start a conflict on their first day of Hogwarts. She couldn't blame them, but hadn't entirely forgiven Mars, and was still slightly annoyed. The other two weren't as annoyed by it, but Elodie couldn't seem to clear her anger away.

“Sorry," Elodie said, her apology directed at Mars. "I guess I did speak a bit too quickly... and I don't wanna be making enemies before we've even got to Hogwarts either. You don't needa apologise or anything - I think 'twas more my fault than yours." The speech and apology were fake, and Elodie still held anger towards Mars, but Mars had been right. It wouldn't do to make enemies on the first day of school.

Mars held out two fingers, which took Elodie by surprise. By the way Mars had held her earphones, Elodie would have guessed that she was leaning to towards a silent ride. Elodie then turned away from the cabin and instead looked at her feet, thinking. What would she like? Silence, or chatter? It was a difficult question, and Elodie couldn't seem to answer it. On one hand, Elodie loved a good conversation, and it would do only good to make new friends. On the other hand, silence was much easier, and even though Elodie liked conversations, she rarely talked in them, preferring to sit back and listen.

So instead of making a decision, Elodie kept quiet and didn't hold her hand up. She'd wait a bit, think a bit more. And maybe she'd come to a conclusion later.

@Crystal Jagger, @Mars T'ien and @Wyatt Starkey

Interacting with @Elodie Nyangui, @Mars T'ien, and @Wyatt Starkey

Interacting with @Mars T'ien @Elodie Nyangui and @Crystal Jagger

Interacting with @Wyatt Starkey, @Elodie Nyangui, and @Crystal Jagger

Well, at least Elodie had apologized, although something about her furrowed brow made Mars feel a little uneasy. Still, they never bothered with aggression until it grew enough guts to come at them face to face. The brown-haired girl didn't raise any fingers though, just staring down at her lap in quiet contemplation.

Slowly though, both Crystal and Wyatt raised two fingers. Crystal, Mars had expected, Wyatt, they had not. The boy seemed to air on the side of silence. Sometimes, it seemed like he slipped in and out of reality, like he was getting lost in his own thoughts. He had already turned away, staring out the window.

Nodding at Crystal, both to show that they understood that the girl might have to zone out now and again, and to give permission to be included in this drawing of hers, Mars dropped the fingers back down to their lap. They had had every intention of going into Hogwarts friendless as always and simply baring through the year, waiting for the moment they could return to their brothers in the Castillion manor. But making friends didn't seem like an awful idea. It might help with a smoother transition in the long run anyway.

Elodie still hadn't answered. Mars was tempted to simply move past her—after all, even if she voted for silence, she would be overridden—but the earlier blowup gave them second thoughts. Turning to the girl, they asked,

"You cool with that?"