The Fool PV closed

In truth, the young Ravenclaw had been slurping his tea down at a prodigious rate as Rosie and Sylvie conversed, sitting in relative silence as they talked about busyness and the like. However, though Thomas had once been rather socially and emotionally inept, for better or for worse his immense paranoia fostered an ability to analyze body language. It wasn't something that came naturally, but over countless hours spent agonizing over missed, nonverbal cues in conversation. Now, he was fairly literate in the way of reading people, though it was hardly due to empathy and instead due to his almost clinical way of watching people.

"Yeah, no problem! I'm just happy we could all hang out. Everyone's so busy nowadays. I know we're in the same classes and all, but it's one of those things where I've been so focused on school lately that outside of downtime, I rarely get to see people anymore. Besides my housemates. Kinda. It must be really nice having Elias and Callie in your house! I always seem to miss them after class. Talulah and I don't really talk anymore, anyway. Unfortunately."

As a result, however, Thomas would never understand why someone felt the way they did, only that they were feeling a certain way, unless they outright explained it. Still, he could sense that perhaps his good friend didn't want to discuss the fact that she had no particularly close friends in her house, not that the young Ravenclaw was able to discern why that may be. Rather than comment on it, as a result, he instead opted to offer a rather lukewarm statement of agreement. "Me neither, and I'm related to her. Who knows what Talulah busies herself with these days..." Dispensing with his cousin's childhood nickname was a clear indication of how cold their relationship had grown to be. Not that it necessarily bothered him, Thomas was happy that he had fewer people to periodically check on out of obligation of being a good friend or whatever.

"Done sipping??"

"Yeah, actually." Thomas needed the caffeine. His bloodshot eyes and pronounced, dark circles framing them were a clear indication of such. "So, soothsayer Sylvie, impart upon us your wisdom, or whatever," he asked, delivery flat and devoid of emotion that rather plainly conveyed his sarcasm. The boy set down his cup and pushed it Sylvie's way for good measure.

@Sylvie O'Neill @Rosie Parker

• Interacting with @Thomas Baines & @Rosie Parker •

"Should I like... Do anything? Or like... Just sit here."

"Sit there! While I take a peek into the unknown." Sylvie wiggled her fingers with a goofy grin on her face as she reached for Thomas' first, pushing aside her own for now. "Okay." She swirled his cup around a few times.... And then turned it face down onto the accompanying saucer, the bit of liquid that had been left for her to work with spilling out onto the dish.
"This is so exciting!!! I've never done this before." She said as she hurriedly flipped it right side up once more and peered into the porcelain cup. The girl seemed to stare into it long and hard. The hell did this mean... Her nose scrunched for a moment as she looked up at Thomas. "I see clouds, I think? I don't remember exactly what that means, but it was something like... Serious troubles?" She tipped the cup towards him so he could view the leaves plastered at the bottom... Before looking closer herself. "Oh! No, wait! There's a bunch of dots around them. You're gonna get rich." That is not what that meant... Exactly at least. Sylvie didn't really know what she was talking about anyway, but nobody needed to know that!

She passed the cup over to him before taking up Rosie's and repeating the process. "Ooooh, this is going to be good, I can FEEL it." She lifted the cup to reveal... "Ah- How odd." She mused, tilting her head. "I've never seen these symbols before... I see a shark. Which could mean there's a threat of death looming. And... A piece of candy...?" She passed the cup back over the Rosie with a deep frown on her face. She didn't want her friend to die!! "Death and... Candy. Wait... No," She suddenly had an epiphany, slamming her hands down on the little table in front of her. "DEATH... BY CANDY? ROSIE, YOU'RE GOING TO GET DIABETES..." Her eyes were wide. Was it from fear or was she just crazy...

"I see clouds, I think? I don't remember exactly what that means, but it was something like... Serious troubles?"

"Serious troubles?" That was hardly a good thing. Thomas raised a single eyebrow, silently hoping that Sylvie would alter her reading in some way. The Ravenclaw knew he was of the troublesome sort, it was hard to deny given his... Well, general existence... But still! Hearing that there were serious troubles in his future already had the young boy going a bit insane. Thomas was perilously paranoid, and though he was minutely skeptical of tea reading as an exact science, confirmation bias was a dangerous thing.

"Oh! No, wait! There's a bunch of dots around them. You're gonna get rich."

"Rich?" Troubles and getting rich... "Maybe I'll start a Ponzi scheme, get ludicrously wealthy, and then get arrested, that could be the trouble..." he contemplated. Admittedly, Thomas did not know what a Ponzi scheme actually was, he had heard the term on television once upon a time, but he knew that rich people did it to get richer and that it was illegal. Really, what else did he need to know? The Ravenclaw scratched his chin as he considered the possibilities of his future. "Or, maybe one of those pyramid schemes suburban white women love, like Rodan + Fields or Cutco. I could totally capitalize on a bunch of idiotic, naive purebloods who have never heard of multi-level marketing before..." Perhaps Thomas' future profession was scam artist!

On the topic of scamming people, Thomas listened intently to Sylvie's reading of a certain Rosie Parker's tea leaves. Death looming... Sweets... Just as the Gryffindor came to the conclusion, Tom came to the exact same one.

"DEATH... BY CANDY? ROSIE, YOU'RE GOING TO GET DIABETES..."

"... Wait, let me see those leaves," Thomas took a peak into the teacup, frowning as he tried to observe the shapes that Sylvie had called out. It looked vaguely like a shark... Yes, definitely, that was the only logical conclusion one could come to. "Yep, that checks out. I'm sorry, Rosie..." Thomas frowned. "Maybe watch the butterbeer and chocolate frogs from here on out, what if it's early onset."

@Sylvie O'Neill@Rosie Parker

• Interacting with @Thomas Baines & @Rosie Parker •

As her Hufflepuff pal's sugary fate was foretold within the porcelain cup in her hands, sweat beaded on her brow. She didn't want Rosie to DIE. Wholeheartedly believing in the leaves she read (even if she did so incorrectly...), she pushed the cup away from her, thoroughly freaked by the horrible destiny laid out for Rosie Parker. So freaked, she hardly heard how the girl responded to the reading herself! "I will NOT let you die from diabetes. I REFUSE." But how?

Sylvie got up, pacing and thinking. "Aha! I'll put you on a dietary plan!" ... Ok. Sylvie was not by any means a dietitian, nor was she well versed in the area of nutritional practice herself... That wasn't going to stop her by any means, as she'd already fed into the false reading and set her mind to the valorous act of "saving" Rosie Parker through vegetables and Stevia sugar packets from the muggle world. "Don't worry, Rosie! I won't let you suffer this alone! Or at all." There was a certain forcefulness to her voice, and intensity in her eyes; as if this were the most important thing to her in the entire world. "And Thomas can help, too! Won't you?" She looked at him, eyebrows turning inwards and up in a plead. She couldn't do this alone! She wasn't smart enough!

"I will NOT let you die from diabetes. I REFUSE."

The young boy didn't know too much about nutrition, being the stereotypical thirteen year old oblivious to anything of the sort. As far as Tom was concerned, as long as Rosie didn't eat sweets every meal she was surely fit to not have to watch her blood sugar. Plus, well... It wasn't that he didn't care about the older student, more that he figured she could handle herself. Perhaps the excess glucose could be stored in that massive forehead of hers, that could offset the health concerns.

"Aha! I'll put you on a dietary plan! Don't worry, Rosie! I won't let you suffer this alone! Or at all."

As Sylvie professed her desires to help, inwardly Thomas couldn't help but groan. Sometimes his friend was a little dense, and even if he believed her to be among one of the smartest people at Hogwarts he was occasionally reminded that intellect was not so easily measured. "I mean, um, this is kind of one of those things that you have to let people handle thems-"

"And Thomas can help, too! Won't you?"

A small frown was clear on his face, an expression of reluctance. He really didn't want to get involved in Rosie's business, Thomas had far too much on his plate anyhow, but he could hardly say no to his best friend.

"Er, I guess... We'd probably have to start with some research, I don't really know anything about this stuff. I know messing with people's eating can be pretty wacky, so we have to make sure we do it safely!" Thomas gained momentum with every word, eventually managing to sound confident with the final statement. He looked between Rosie and Sylvie, before belatedly adding, "If you want us to." Though he had no doubts that Sylvie would insist upon it anyways. Really, he just didn't want to have to bother with that nonsense.

@Rosie Parker@Sylvie O'Niell

• Interacting with @Thomas Baines & @Rosie Parker •

Everything Rosie said went in one ear and out the other, unfortunately for the older Hufflepuff. Fixating heavily on the incredibly accurate and deadly prophecy that she'd foretold. But then she just kept talking... And talking... About things that only muddled in her brain and jumbled away into nothingness. WHO CARES ABOUT DIGESTION? WAS IT EVEN RELEVANT? Yes it was, but Sylvie was NOT going focus on that right now. Had Rosie's voice always been so grating? How hadn't she noticed? The lights in here seemed way too bright.

Her shoulders lifted up to her ears. A small bit of dialogue that probably only lasted a minute felt like 5 to her. She slammed her hand on the table, standing up abruptly as she snapped. "SHUT UP!" She shouted... A little too loudly, mind you. For a moment, she stared at the Hufflepuff with narrowed eyes, before they softened and she reached out a slender finger and put it over Rosie's mouth, lips curling into a smile. "Shhhhh. SHhHHHhhhhh... WORRY NOT, DEAREST PARKER. We're going to make you a meal plan because I can't have you keeling over anytime soon on my watch! Haha!" She sat back down, taking her finger away. "It will be alright. I promise to save you! You have my scout's honor!" She was never a scout.

All of what Rosie said seemed reasonable to Thomas. At the end of the day, she was older than himself and Sylvie, and the Hufflepuff was the ultimate authority of her health. It was better that way anyhow, the last thing he and Sylvie needed to be worried about was some random older kid's eating patterns. They had enough on their plate, what with Tom's growing paranoia and Sylvie's apparent descent into insanity-

"SHUT UP!"

The sudden raise in volume put the Ravenclaw on high alert, hand reflexively dropping to his wand. Thomas' gaze, typically one fairly listless and without focus was sharpened, glaring at Sylvie as if she was some sort of bomb about to go off. The young boy had never done particularly well with loud noises, particularly sudden or unexpected ones, so needless to say the gesture from his friend unnerved him and set off his anxiety.

"Shhhhh. SHhHHHhhhhh... WORRY NOT, DEAREST PARKER. We're going to make you a meal plan because I can't have you keeling over anytime soon on my watch! Haha!"

Alarmed by Sylvie's fervor, Thomas was stunned into silence for a few moments. He was truly bewildered by his friend's behavior, though as the volume came down his posture relaxed ever so slightly. The initial fear response was guiltily shoved away, he still harbored some degree of fear of his capacity for harm after the incident with Callie just a few months ago. He would have to remain calm, even if his friend was acting delusional. It took quite the departure from reality to register as insane by the metric of Thomas Baines...

"It will be alright. I promise to save you! You have my scout's honor!"

"We will help, Rosie, don't worry," Thomas firmly interjected, hoping to perhaps dampen Sylvie's enthusiasm with some light deflection. "I'm sure together we can work out a strategy... It's not like the Great Hall food is all that good anyways, if I'm honest." He thought about something that had been plaguing him, but he opted instead to keep it to himself. The young man did not want to stoke the fires within Sylvie's mind, she could find out about his theories later when she was... More normal.

@Sylvie O'Neill @Rosie Parker