23 Mar 2022, 23:31
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September 1st
Bump. Bump. Bump.
Eleanor gritted her teeth and kept moving, bags smacking against the doors. She'd almost been late for the train. How the heck was she supposed to know how to get to Platform 9 3/4s like that? Wasn't like they gave you a proper guide or anything. She'd just stood around with Mum and Dad, looking like a bunch of lemons until someone had been kind enough to show the flummoxed family where to go.
Now, she'd been one of the last on the Hogwarts Express and she was finding it very hard to get a seat. The train bustled with students, laughing and joking, talking and jeering. Half of them seemed impossibly tall. The other half looked at her like she was some kind of dirt they'd trod in. There was only so much glaring you could do at once. And every time she tried to get into a compartment, it was the same thing.
"Sorry, we're full."
"Taken."
"Er... no first years."
Even at a magic school, children were still children. Feeling her cheeks turn redder and redder with each rejection, that jaw hardening and her face slipping into a scowl, Eleanor lugged her bags a little further until she found a singular, empty compartment. It was a little dusty, with the slight smell of old, but by that point Eleanor would've taken riding on top of the train.
Instead, she dropped her bags and collapsed onto the seat, sinking back into the cushion.
She huffed and breathed deep, staring up at the ceiling.
"That was harder than it should've been..." she muttered to herself.
Last edited by Eleanor Jones on 24 Mar 2022, 23:13, edited 1 time in total.
Even if you're little, you can do a lot.
24 Mar 2022, 00:16
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Straight to the back, Jacqueline thought, making a beeline towards the end of the train. She did not want to make friends with anyone at the moment, especially with anyone near the front of the train. Even thought her father had encouraged her to befriend others and she would’ve normally agreed, no one knew that she had went to sleep rather late and was still trying to rub the tiny bit of buildup that had formed in her eyes.
She had her hair in a high puff that bounced around as she maneuvered through the chaos of students, lugging her lavender backpack and small container full of mini sandwiches her aunt had made this morning. She yawned as she ducked a group of boys playing some sort of neck-slapping game, side-stepped two friends pouring over a manga, and barely missed two water bottles rolling down the pathway. Jacqueline pursed her lips, thankful for her quick-footedness.
It took a while before the voices ebbed into a soft shatter behind her, lost in the quietude of the back. That’s when she started to really eye these compartments. Most of these one’s held a group of friends or solitary individuals who clearly wanted to be left alone. She half-wished that she knew people. Actually, she did know of some cousins but all of them were older than her and she’d rather hang with others who were knew like her so they could experience the beginning of a school career together.
Jacqueline heard a thump and noticed a girl slumped into a previously empty compartment. Evidently she had just finished hauling her heavy baggage around with her apparent fatigue, redness and all.
“You choose the most archaic one to rest your bum, didn’t you? I swear this was the one with the overgrown spider egg nested underneath the seats…” Jacqueline feigned eyeing the girl’s shows uneasily, as if she expected for a spider to reach out from the darkness beneath the seat.
She had her hair in a high puff that bounced around as she maneuvered through the chaos of students, lugging her lavender backpack and small container full of mini sandwiches her aunt had made this morning. She yawned as she ducked a group of boys playing some sort of neck-slapping game, side-stepped two friends pouring over a manga, and barely missed two water bottles rolling down the pathway. Jacqueline pursed her lips, thankful for her quick-footedness.
It took a while before the voices ebbed into a soft shatter behind her, lost in the quietude of the back. That’s when she started to really eye these compartments. Most of these one’s held a group of friends or solitary individuals who clearly wanted to be left alone. She half-wished that she knew people. Actually, she did know of some cousins but all of them were older than her and she’d rather hang with others who were knew like her so they could experience the beginning of a school career together.
Jacqueline heard a thump and noticed a girl slumped into a previously empty compartment. Evidently she had just finished hauling her heavy baggage around with her apparent fatigue, redness and all.
“You choose the most archaic one to rest your bum, didn’t you? I swear this was the one with the overgrown spider egg nested underneath the seats…” Jacqueline feigned eyeing the girl’s shows uneasily, as if she expected for a spider to reach out from the darkness beneath the seat.
25 Mar 2022, 00:05
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@Jacqueline TilghmanEleanor was catching her breath, taking note of a mildly-interesting crack in the roof when she noticed someone else there. She shot her a look, eyebrow raised. That was until she mentioned that most awful of potential threats... the spiders.
"Wait, what?" she asked quietly, before leaping out of her seat. Eleanor span around looking at the seat, as if she suddenly expected to see eggs bursting from the old fabric, along with a torrent of spiders flooding the carriage. Her hands moved over her own backside and thighs, brushing away the spiders that were surely just now crawling up her legs...
And then Eleanor stopped and properly looked, seeing nothing but a slightly old seat with some fraying fabric. If she'd been red faced before, it was nothing compared to what was coming now.
Her cheeks glowed as bright as the sun, as she looked towards the newcomer and gave her a glare.
"That. Isn't. Funny," she declared, folding her arms and leaning back a little. First, nobody would let her sit anywhere, and now someone was making her think she was gonna have spiders all around her... y'know? The day wasn't going as she'd hoped it would.
Even if you're little, you can do a lot.
25 Mar 2022, 04:57
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The girl immediately flew out of her seat, making a wild show of checking herself for the spiders that surely entertained the joker. Jacqueline didn’t even try to hold back her cackle, amused by the whole thing. She actually wouldn’t have been surprised if some sort of creature had taken residence way back here but it was clearly realistic enough for this unsuspecting person.
“Is it you they coined the term ‘red as a tomato’ from?” Jacqueline chimed as she entered the compartment. The girl didn’t exactly invite her in, and mostly wouldn’t have it she had waited or asked, but she didn’t care either way. She wanted to rest her feet and the train was starting to move anyway so they all the while be compartment mates.
“It actually was a little bit funny. You were barely a blur, ha ha! Just laugh with me so it won’t be half as bad.” She half-hoped the girl wasn’t that bothered by the whole thing, Jacqueline didn’t want to end up with a rival her first hour into the school year. The girl looked friendly enough and she didn’t seem potentially annoying but actually could be potentially annoyed with the presence of Jacqueline herself.
“By the way, I’m Jacqueline. Is this your first year, too?” She offered a smile of truce, and friendliness.
“Is it you they coined the term ‘red as a tomato’ from?” Jacqueline chimed as she entered the compartment. The girl didn’t exactly invite her in, and mostly wouldn’t have it she had waited or asked, but she didn’t care either way. She wanted to rest her feet and the train was starting to move anyway so they all the while be compartment mates.
“It actually was a little bit funny. You were barely a blur, ha ha! Just laugh with me so it won’t be half as bad.” She half-hoped the girl wasn’t that bothered by the whole thing, Jacqueline didn’t want to end up with a rival her first hour into the school year. The girl looked friendly enough and she didn’t seem potentially annoying but actually could be potentially annoyed with the presence of Jacqueline herself.
“By the way, I’m Jacqueline. Is this your first year, too?” She offered a smile of truce, and friendliness.