A budding friendship? pv closed

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Outfit: school uniform Date: ?

Interacting: @Paige Grant Mentioning: @

She had thought long and hard (or, as long and hard as you could think strolling the length of the Courtyard) about her opinion on Herbology, and had finally come to the conclusion that she did not, in fact, possess one. It was by all means a neutral class: one that merited a passing grade, but just barely. One that required little effort from her; the bare minimum, essentially. Average by all means. Fine, but not great ─ boring, but not terrible.

Rhea had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs today. All things considered, the badgers were easy to be around. They were typically calm and friendly, though they did try to help you all the time, which was irritating. She did try to keep a positive mindset about them, though, because they deserved that much for their consistent friendliness.

She entered the greenhouse quietly, observing the faces of her fellow first years. Unfortunately, no useful information was gained from this activity, especially since she had trouble focusing on one person at a time, and her gaze kept shifting from one face to the next. Most of them had grouped together and were chattering softly to their friends. Laughter from some boy pierced the air for a moment before silence took over as the professor began to speak. She positioned herself next to a curly-haired Hufflepuff girl and did her utmost to follow the lesson.

Then people were partnering up, and Rhea's eyes met those of the Hufflepuff next to her. She returned her wry smile with a "We can work together, if you'd like." Hopefully that was what she was indicating. Rhea was generally good at reading people, but less so concerning direct interactions.

Well, what information could she gain about this girl? Kind eyes, but slight dark circles beneath them, indicating exhaustion. Perhaps she struggled with her homework, but more likely, sleepless nights up reading. Not another reader! There were simply too many at Hogwarts, and it was really very annoying.

"Do you like to read?" she asked, trying to keep the resentment out of her voice as she tied her hair in a low ponytail. "Oh, and I'm Miller, by the way. Rhea Miller. Stupid name, I know."

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Not long after, the girl gave back a smile to Paige. She has a pretty smile.. Wait, what? I did NOT just think that. The girl she was next to had brown hair, and Paige couldn't tell if she was tidy or not. Her shirt was tucked in, but it was wrinkled. Her stockings were folded many times. Paige couldn't tell. This girl was confusing. When the girl replied, Paige at first just blinked. This girl actually got what Paige meant? This is where you speak, Paige. She cleared her throat. She nodded. "That would be great."

Paige blew a strand of curly hair from her face. Rather surprised that the girl had made a VERY wrong assumption. "HA! no, me? Reading? No, no, no. These bags under my eyes are from the countless hours I tried to read, but all I got was one page read and a splitting headache." Paige burst out, without thinking. Did she sound rude? Honestly, this girl seemed tough. She ould take it, hopefully, she knew Paige didn't mean to sound rude.
"DO you like to read?" She asked.

"Oh! No, that's not stupid at all! I think it's cool. I like the sound of that... actually. My name is Paige Grant. That right there is a VERY boring name." She said.

Paige spoke again. "So... okay. So I kinda maybe forgot to listen to the instructions..." Paige said raising her eyebrows with a goofy embarrassed look. "I get distracted easily. That was my bad. " She gave an apologetic smile to the girl.

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Outfit: school uniform Date: ?

Interacting: @Paige Grant Mentioning: @

Oh. Rhea could not have been more wrong. Someone who felt the same way about reading as she did? That was sort of a miracle. "No," she said emphatically in response to the girl's query. "That's exactly how it is for me. And people assume I'm an idiot because of it, but most times I'm more intelligent than they are." For some reason, this Hufflepuff seemed mildly uncomfortable to be in her presence, like she was intimidated or something. The fact that Rhea was having that effect, plus this infuriating thing that the two had in common, was enough to make a small smile appear on her face for a moment, before she quickly returned to her typical stoic glare. Couldn't allow herself to indulge in the ludicrous fantasies of contentment for too long.

Paige Grant. Not boring, but pretty average. At least it wasn't Rhea. Truly, what kind of parent would deliberately name their child that? It provided so many options for crude nicknames. Well, one in particular, but bullies were creative enough to expand that range.

Anyway.

"It's a fine name," she said, fully meeting Grant's eyes, trying to stare her down. They couldn't have an enjoyable conversation unless the Hufflepuff was frightened of her. The words irrational power complex came to mind, and she pushed them away.

Forgot to listen? That was a lie. One didn't forget to listen in class, because listening was the most vital thing that one was supposed to do during a lecture. It was the only thing, in fact: as a student, you literally had no other job. So, unless, Grant utterly lacked common sense (which Rhea did not suspect), she had not forgotten to listen ─ she just hadn't. Listened, that was. She had drifted into a daydream, or perhaps deliberately thought about something else to distract herself from the numbing boringness of the lesson. Rhea wouldn't know. She hadn't payed attention either.

I get distracted easily. There it was.

"I do too. Or, no ─ I have excellent control of my mind and thoughts. If I am distracted, it's because I want to be. Which I did, throughout the lesson, because I can't remember a second of it." Oh no, maybe that was too harsh. The Gryffindor tried to soften it with a smile, this time forced. "Well, if neither of us remember, we could always improvise." She surveyed the greenhouse thoughtfully. "What have we got to work with?"

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Paige raised her eyebrows. Oh? Rhea was the same? It wasn't often Paige found someone who had the same problem... in fact, she can't remember the last time she met anyone who did. Paige chuckled and nodded. "Yeah. It gets really aggravating, actually. " Paige looked just in time to see a smile flash across her comrade's face before it disappeared.

There it was again.

That flitter flutter feeling. Paige was very confused, but she pushed it away until later. Rhea was back to frowning again, and it certainly DID make Paige feel intimidated. Since when has anyone done that to her? NEVER! She once looked up at a very tall jerk at her muggle school and punched him in the gut. He threatened her, of course, yet even then she wasn't intimidated! So why NOW?

Paige smiled when Rhea said it wasn't a bad name. But again, her stomach did a tumble when Rhea looked her right in the eye. Paige squirmed, but then frowned to herself. no. I'm not going to get stared down by this girl, not if I can help it. She looked Rhea right back in the eye without flinching.

Rhea was already responding. "I never really want to be distracted. It just happens. I like to people watch, so sometimes I get caught up in that. Like, not like that- I mean like reading their face- That sounded weird. Okay. I'll shut up now." She sighed.

What do they have to work with? Paige looked around. "Maybe we can watch what the other students are doing and figure it out."

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Outfit: school uniform Date: ?

Interacting: @Paige Grant Mentioning: @

Grant did not break eye contact. On the contrary, she stared directly back, with as much intensity and fervor as Rhea did. That was deserving of respect. Either that or Rhea just wasn't all that intimidating, which ─ despite years of experiencing proving it was possible ─ was just an option she refused to consider. "Hmm," she muttered, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ears.

People-watching. Rhea could relate to that. She did it often to observe peoples' mannerisms, to collect intel on what her peers were like, but it didn't often work because of how different everyone was. It was supposed to get easier at Hogwarts, since everyone was literally categorized by their personalities and wore their crests on their uniforms, but for some reason it hadn't. Rhea was incredibly observant, and aware of it. She picked up on little details in peoples' appearances, in the way they presented themselves, that told her about what they had been up to and even some of their character traits. But when it came to actively socializing with them... well, that one one of her weak spots, to say the least. Luckily this time it seemed to be going alright.

"I do that too," she assured the girl, who appeared slightly embarrassed about her comment. Rhea hadn't any idea why, but that was what you were supposed to do, right? Make people feel comfortable by relating to them? And she didn't even have to lie, which was a good thing.

"Maybe we can watch what the other students are doing and figure it out."

"That's a clever idea." Compliments. That made people happy. Rhea knew it from experience. Glancing around the greenhouse again, she took in the ventures of the other students, and though the activity varied, most people were pulling some long green things from the soil on the other side of the room. A few were in the middle, splitting them open with their fingers and extracting the seeds from inside.

"I suppose we ought to start," Rhea suggested, nodding toward the plants.

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Paige was extremly confused. This girl was different, but in a good way. She was the only person actually capable of making Paige uncomfortable. And usually Paige can easily get out of situations like this! But this girl was different. And that flitter flutter feeling she got, too. What did that mean? Paige didn't want to think about this.

Paige nodded and smiled when Rhea said she, in fact, did that too. Paige was actually expecting Rhea to say that was weird or something. She wouldn't hold any of those things above this girl, she seemed capable of saying anything. But who cares, as long as Paige and Rhea kept talking, maybe they could be friends. This is what Paige was thinking. But who knows.

Suddenly surprised with the compliment Paige smiled slightly. She joined Rhea in looking around to see people pulling plants from a pot and pulling seeds out. The students seemed to be making progress while Paige and Rhea haven't even started yet. Nodding to Rhea's statement, she looked at some untouched potted plants before them. "I suppose we should, and we better try and keep up at this rate." Paige handed one pot to Rhea and pulled one in front of her.

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Outfit: school uniform Date: ?

Interacting: @Paige Grant Mentioning: @

All things considered, Rhea thought this whole ordeal was going well. She had rather been dreading it on her walk to the greenhouse, and wasn't sure what to expect in a partner, but Grant was... well, the Hufflepuff's personality had been so blatant initially (loads of smiles and a generally friendly air, though clearly nervous in Rhea's presence), but then she stared Rhea right back down instead of shrinking away. Rhea did not know what to make of that. This meant that Grant was interesting, and interesting people made for enjoyable expanses of time.

"Yeah..." Rhea murmured distractedly, studying the other students, and then Paige Grant again. She offered a tight-lipped smile and slipped on a pair of gloves, then handed one to her partner. They might as well get started.

The Gryffindor dug her hands into the soil, only half-paying attention. When in doubt, resort to the House traits, right? Hufflepuffs were fair and loyal, something something, unafraid of toil. Unafraid was good, but staring contests were not exactly "toil". Maybe the point was that they wouldn't give up, on anything, regardless of the situation.

So. Paige Grant. Friendly, nervous, tough. But... no! Those traits clashed! This investigation (of sorts) was getting her nowhere. In frustration, Rhea ripped her unidentifiable plant thing from the pot, and in doing so accidentally spattered Grant's sleeve with dirt. "Oh, my apologies," she said, absentmindedly brushing off her companion's shoulder. Well, this did nothing to prove Rhea's flawless control over her mind and actions.

Maybe Grant's tough side only showed when she was under pressure, like Rhea's recklessness. Maybe the girl was usually calm and collected, except in situations that threatened her safety or dignity. If so, the two of them had that in common, mostly.

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Paige was sitting there, watching Rhea pull on her gloves and grab a pot. Paige then Pulled on her gloves over her hands and Pulled a pot towards herself and dug her fingers into the dirt. She wanted to be careful with this plant, it still was a living thing after all. She slowly pulled the plant out.

Paige gave a quick glance to Rhea and saw her working with her same old face. Well, now in silence, Paige can figure out what was happening. When Rhea smiled, which wasn't often, Paige wanted to smile. She got a flitter flutter feeling. When Rhea talked, Paige was worried she would say something stupid back at Rhea. She wanted Rhea to like her. But right now all she could think was that she was making a fool out of herself.

Paige jumped slightly when dirt splashed onto her sleeve and of course couldn't help but smile towards Rhea. She chuckled. "No worries, you can't go to Herbology not expecting to get dirty, anyway." Paige finally got the plant out and a small bit of dirt flew out at Paige. "Just can't be avoided." She smiled at Rhea.

And then she felt her face burning so she quickly turned away. She had no idea what was happening.

"Okay... next step." She took her plant and gulped. She sighed and began to cut it open for the seeds. "As stupid as it seems, it makes me sad to cut open this plant." She pulled some seeds out. "They are living things, after all."

Sorry for the late reply, our streak was lost!

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Outfit: school uniform Date: ?

Interacting: @Paige Grant Mentioning: @

Grant seemed so baffled at her own nervous behavior. Maybe even she knew this made no sense with the rest of her personality. She spoke awkwardly and blushed often, quickly averting her gaze whenever Rhea made eye contact. Why?

"It's true. Impossible, I'd say." The Gryffindor raised her eyebrows and pushed her fingertips deeper into the dirt, compacting it near the bottom. Okay, next step. She nodded, and placed the bean on the flat surface in front of her, pressing it down slightly to flatten it and make it easier for cutting. The knife went in seamlessly, creating a shallow split down the middle. Rhea stuck her fingers inside and meticulously pulled it apart, careful not to damage the beans inside.

It makes me sad to cut open this plant.

Rhea cringed. What a ridiculous thing to say. Plants couldn't feel pain. She didn't respond, nor change her expression, instead extracting a few beans and setting them out in a neat row in front of her. Yes, they were living things, but that doesn't mean that they were to be empathized with. She could understand the argument in terms of veganism ─ oh, the poor sad animals that you are consuming ─ but a) there was no shortage of plants in the world. Most of the vital ones weren't in danger of extinction, as far as she knew, and b) THEY COULDN'T FEEL PAIN! Annoyance crept up in the back of her mind and she regarded Grant for a split second, almost feeling disgusted with her. There was the Hufflepuff.

"I suppose." There. That was a reasonable response, and it didn't give away any of her true opinions on the statement. She offered another slight smirk, with one side of her mouth quirking up, then returned to her resting glare. Then, unable to handle it any longer:

"So, what are you like, Grant?"

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