Ragged Things PV November Morsus Closed

Oh, what a remarkable shade of pink. This boy would be fun. And it helped that he was so large. He seemed a bit of a shrinking thing, but even so, perhaps the prospective predators at their destination would think twice before approaching them, particularly if they stuck together...

"No need to apologize," the boy purred self-satisfiedly, clearly enjoying his effect on November. "I didn't tell you mine, either. It's Green," he ennunciated, extending a hand to shake. "Rainier Green, technically, but I do prefer just 'Green.'" he shrugged. "Favorite color. And I like for people to know what I represent," he added, chin tilting up.

"November Morsus," he hummed, tasting the words. "Oh, that's an unusual one. But pretty, yes. Morsus, is that a pureblood name? It sounds so very familiar," he tilted his head, looking November up and down as if it might be stamped on him somewhere, like a 'made in China' seal. "Impressive nevertheless. And it never hurts to tell people it is, even if it isn't," he added, gesturing. "Some types will give you advantages for things like that, you know. And every advantage counts." He grinned at him. "Now, if I fall backwards, you'll catch me, yes?"

Oh, what a remarkable shade of pink. This boy would be fun. And it helped that he was so large. He seemed a bit of a shrinking thing, but even so, perhaps the prospective predators at their destination would think twice before approaching them, particularly if they stuck together...

"No need to apologize," the boy purred self-satisfiedly, clearly enjoying his effect on November. "I didn't tell you mine, either. It's Green," he ennunciated, extending a hand to shake. "Rainier Green, technically, but I do prefer just 'Green.'" he shrugged. "Favorite color. And I like for people to know what I represent," he added, chin tilting up.

"November Morsus," he hummed, tasting the words. "Oh, that's an unusual one. But pretty, yes. Morsus, is that a pureblood name? It sounds so very familiar," he tilted his head, looking November up and down as if it might be stamped on him somewhere, like a 'made in China' seal. "Impressive nevertheless. And it never hurts to tell people it is, even if it isn't," he added, gesturing. "Some types will give you advantages for things like that, you know. And every advantage counts." He grinned at him. "Now, if I fall backwards, you'll catch me, yes?"

"Green...." November smiled at that, letting the name roll around on the tip of his tongue. He thought perhaps he rather liked the taste of it, the shape of it on his lips. "It is a very pretty color..." This prompted a tiny little fountain of awkward giggles. Goodness, why was he even acting like this? Why did he care if this boy thought he was being weird? Everyone thought he acted weird....

He went still, however, at the mention of his own name. "Oh, I-.... I don't actually, know..." His little shoulders drooped. "I mean, it could be...." He was just making this even more awkward in his futile attempts to disguise the fact that he hadn't the faintest clue who his real family was, in fact, considered himself to have none. "Do you really think I should just, say it is? What if people know better?" One hand drifted idly to his mouth, where he began to nibble delicately at his fingernails.

"Of course I'll catch you!" he insisted, shifting himself into position behind Green already, ready to snatch him up as soon as he ricocheted off the wall like November was so sure he would do. "Alright, ready-...."

As November giggled, Green grinned at him wide, eyes laughing with his laughter for a split moment; then he blushed, looked away a moment, looked back with wide open eyes as he tried to compose himself again. Though he didn't try too hard. "So what if people think they know better?" he huffed, tossing his bangs, head tall. "People are wrong all the time. Just tell them as much with the right kind of smile, and then it's their job to disprove you," he asserted. "And it never hurts to give your enemies more work. Give me those," he said gently, taking November's hand from his teeth, brushing his fingertips over his nails as if to smooth them. "No need to ruin a good manicure."

He handed November his hand back gently. "Ready? Good," he said, looking back at him, bracing himself. "I'm trusting you." So saying, he took a deep breath, braced himself on his bag, and kicked forward hard.

Letting out a soft cry, he slipped backwards on cement, gasping, hands flying for something to hold onto. The bag fell over beneath him, and he yelped in terror as he looked down at his lower self, seemingly bisected by the wall: everything below his knees was gone.

"Well, um, what if I'm lying?" November asked, his brow creasing as Green directed him to simply speak with utmost confidence that he knew every detail of his mystery family, "I mean, I could be, and someone else might know better than I. And then everyone will catch me out in the lie and-.... Oh-...." He froze like a baby fawn as Green reached up to pluck his hand from his lips, as casually as if he was plucking a ripe apple from a tree. "I-.... Um," he murmured softly as Green smoothed his fingers over November's, causing his pale hand to tremble.

"A-alright, let's just, oh-..." Green was already braced to kick open the wall. He gulped, tried to shake the strange, hazy thoughts that Green's hand in his had prompted unbidden in his mind, and crouched in behind him, waiting to catch him with bated breath.

And catch him he did, though not for the reasons he was expecting in the least. His soft dark eyes went wide as Green's lower half simply shot through the wall, just as they'd been told it was, and almost didn't snatch him up for the shock. He moved at the last second, however, and Green plummeted onto his lap and not the hard and unforgiving cement.

Green's eyes had went hard and serious at November as his doubts began to surface. "Never admit it when you've been caught in a lie," said Green. "Unless the incontrovertible evidence is in front of everyone. Otherwise, there's generally some doubt to work with. And apologizing rarely gets you any grace," he huffed. "So what point is there in it?"

Yet Green was looking comparatively graceless now, the breathing having huffed out of him, his eyes wide and staring at the ceiling. "Great googly moogly, what was that?" he squealed, terrified. Looking left and right with wide, fearful eyes, he snatched November up by the hand and rolled off of the other boy onto one knee, grabbing his bag with the other. "Quickly," he urged. "We've got to get through there..." So saying, he rolled backward into the wall, dragging his bag along with him, though it scraped along the ground with a terrible din.

Green puffed out onto the other side with a gasp, eyes rolling wide at the old fashioned platform, the bright red steam engine, the many students in their robes waiting on the platform. Waiting on the platform with their families.

He rolled back over to November's side quickly, leaving his bag. "Come on," he urged, breathless.

November pondered this strange notion as Green huffed and wheezed, that even if he was caught, that he just insist the others were wrong. Well. If Green were correct, that would help him quite a lot when it came to, things he'd rather keep hidden.

It was these thoughts, as well as the sensation of Green's warm, light body in his lap, that left him utterly dazed until Green snatched up his hand again, yanked him through the wall-that-was-not-there. He barely had time to snatch up his own massive trunk, which rolled and clattered along like an iron maiden behind him.

November's eyes went wide as he took in the entirely new platform behind the false wall, and once more, his slender body froze. There was so much to take in, from the magnificent steam locomotive chugging steadily towards them, to the bustle of robed figures on the platform, to the owls and beasts in cages upon their suitcases. And.... Yes, he noticed as well, all the families, all the hugs, all the loving, tearful goodbyes.

"Yes, right, don't want to be late then," November said, and you could hear him steeling himself in his voice, see it in the stiffening of his body as he grabbed his trunk, bore onward.

"Right," Green said in reply, gulping. His voice waved. His eyes locked on an older woman wrapping a boy his age in her warm embrace, and he felt his stomach flop with what he decided must be envy. He held November's hand, trying not to think.

"So you're just going to drop me off, and that's it?" Rainier objected. "Everyone else is going to be dropping their children off. I'll be the only one who's there all alone."

"And so...?" sighed Anthony's droning voice, the shiff, shiff of sliding bundled roots onto store shelves the only sound to punctuate the otherwise deathly silence in the shop. "Aren't you always going on about how you're not like other boys your age? Go on, then. Prove it," he mumbled, eyes trailing over his stock.

Rainier's lips tightened. "It's - it's dangerous. Someone could very well snatch me up," he pointed out.

"They won't," Anthony droned. Rainier hated that tone. The certainty of it.

"They could," he pointed out. "And even if they didn't, it would look wrong. I thought you said you wanted to keep up appearances."

Anthony stiffened as if slapped; slowly turning to Rainier, his eyes narrowed. "You are going to make that last bit of journey on your own," he said quietly. "And that is final."

And now here he sat.

Green's jaw hardened. He squeezed November's hand.

He wasn't alone. "Look at them all. Turns my stomach," he scoffed at the lot of them, snorting.

"It must be nice," November sighed, his narrow shoulders drooping slightly, his eyelids doing the same. "I wonder what that's like...." He had to assume Green didn't have any family either, but then, that made two of them, and two, in its own way, wasn't ever truly alone.

Green's attitude certainly wasn't any better than his own, and November just sighed, struggled to tug both the smaller boy and his towering luggage over to the edge of the platform. "At least we're not late," he sighed, not sure whether he was trying to comfort Green or himself. He could feel the warm gusts coming off the train as it chugged steadily closer to them, turned to face it as the wind tossed his dark hair.

After a moment's pause, he began again. "Do-... Do you think we'll make friends there?" He spoke of the concept as if it were something completely alien to him, that tone of excited curiosity. "Oh, I should so like to have friends..." Once again, he allowed himself the tiniest of smiles, his hand squirming a little bit in its grip around Green's. "I mean, friends are like a sort of family, right?"

"True," Green agreed to November's optimistic observation that they were, at least, on time. "I imagine that being in a crowd of people at a fortituous moment is better than being on our own in an unfortunate one. God, what even happens if you don't arrive in time? They probably throw you back a year, damning you to a career of mucking out hippogryff stalls or something," he huffed.

Looking back up at November, he reached up to pat him on the back. "Of course you'll make friends! Already made one, haven't you?" he asserted, head tall. "And friends are better than family, really. Family's just there, whoever happened to be around when your mother popped you out. Friends, you choose. No limitations," he said, dragging his bag along, eyeing each face. A boy with coppery red hair raced past with his sister, filing into the car ahead of them; down the platform, a doughier fellow seemed to be having a particularly long, sad, wet goodbye with what might have been his grandfather. Green's nose wrinkled. "And there's no required touching with friends. You either want to, or you don't. No 'go be a good boy and kiss your auntie,'" he huffed.