CL Train of Thought PV Antonio, Alexander, Near

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Interacting with @Siodhachan Rosewood

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Saying goodbye to his family took up more time than the boy had originally thought. Leaving the boy burying his face into a plain grey scarf his mother hurriedly threw onto him. Trying to hide the red flushed cheeks of his behind the fabric. Of course his mother just had to kiss him in front of everyone, and of course his brother didn’t make it any less embarrassing. Instead opting to ruffle the boy's hair and announce his presence as if he was some sort of celebrity. They hadn’t even gotten to Hogwarts yet and his brother was already set on embarrassing Antonio. What a jerk! If he was going to embarrass him, then he should at least go and put on a mean act as well. But no, his brother just had to go and make everyone in the family smile, including his chosen victim to humiliate. But that was Sam for you, annoying, super tall and charismatic. Antonio wanted to go and tackle him but how could he? It was Sam. Antonio found it annoyingly frustrating and remembered joking telling his brother to shove it with a playful glare before heading on board. At least they had agreed to go separate ways on the train, just so Antonio could make his own friends. And not get humiliated by Samuel for once. Poking his nose out of the scarf a small grin made its way onto the boy's face. This was going to be his brand new start, maybe later on the years he could get a magical pet! His parents never let him get one, but if he got the money to buy it himself well they couldn’t do much. And if they still disproved he’d just have to tell them to piss off, because there was no way he would give up a magical pet if he got one. Maybe a Pygmy Puff would do? Fluffy little things would make Antonio want to combust on the spot. Would probably make for a good cuddle buddy too, now that the boy thought about it. Sliding open a nearby compartment door he wasn’t ready for the immediate greeting. The smile on the others' faces seemed more predatory than friendly. Shifting on the weight of his feet uncomfortably for a minute or two. “Oh ummm. HI?” He said unsure of himself. Mentally cringing as soon as it left his mouth. How could he mess something as simple as saying hi up? Wait a minute, meat? Is this guy really proposing eating meat over candy? “Well candy is sweet and sugary and tastes really good, meat is nice yeah but I don’t see why they give that to us. Besides, a little bit of chocolate isn’t going to rot anyones teeth out.” Antonio shrugged as he extended his arm out. Displaying the trunk he was lugging around with him. “Can I sit in here? My arms are getting tired from carrying this thing around. Packed a book too many.” Meekly laughing as he tried to make the atmosphere less awkward. Didn’t you usually say your name when you greeted someone? “By the way, I'm Antonio. You are?”

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Interacting with @Siodhachan Rosewood and @Antonio Clavell

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Heartbeat. Increasing heartbeat. A deep wave of excitement was slowly conquering young Alexander's heart. Goodbye house, goodbye Manchester. Goodbye to Muggle friends. And of course, goodbye to street football. There will be no magicless sport until the next summer. Do not get him wrong - he was not upset. He was going to Hogwarts after all. His mother's and grandmother's school, a dreamy castle, a fairy-tale-like wizarding school. But he was very much used to his mother's company, his granny's wise jokes. Now, Alexander was travelling into a mysterious world. Will he be successful? Will he be loved by his friends? And more importantly, which house was destined for him? Being a bookworm, he might be a perfect Ravenclaw. But he could also be a lovely Hufflepuff, considering his calming presence and deep contentment. While wandering through such thoughts, he suddenly realised that it was time to say farewell. His mother firmly hugged her one and only son. His granny, with joyful but slightly teary eyes, kissed Alexander on both cheeks. Compassionately murmured, "Take care, my sunny boy. Study hard, but never forget what our life is really about - love." These words, like most of his grandmother's words, brought warmth to his heart. Upon hearing her terms of endearment, his eyes sparkled with delight, and he kissed the old woman's plump, wrinkled cheeks sincerely. That was the end. Now it was time to sail to Hogwarts! Better be a good sailor, Alexander. As soon as he crossed the stone wall and reached the famous platform, two emotions mingled in Alexander's soul. The homesickness he felt for the city he had just left, and a sense of familiarity with this new world he found in front of him. Leaving his home and finding his home coincided at the same time - wasn't that itself a spell? A wandless one, maybe an ancient one. He slowly made his way to the express with his suitcase. He was looking for an empty seat. Dozens of students of different ages were walking around him. Frankly, Alexander was and has always been, a little shy. It was a daunting task for him to take the first step. As a natural consequence of his characteristic coyness, he wandered around the train for a while. However, he quickly realised that it was no longer possible to find an empty compartment. Therefore, he simply had two options. He could expect someone to be kind enough to notice Alexander and invite him into his compartment. Although Alexander was a child who could stray from realism from time to time, he knew that that option didn't make much sense. The second option, though, was pretty clear: to ask someone whether the other seats are empty or not. He began to wander between the compartments to determine to whom this question could be directed. A short time later, he noticed the silhouettes of two boys behind the half-open door of a compartment. He overheard what they were talking about. They were talking about food. A little bit disappointing subject it was, to be completely honest. The accent of the boy who spoke first, however, was somewhat similar to that of some of Alexander's Muggle friends in Manchester. That's why he had a strange idea. Maybe he was from Manchester too? The other boy's voice was also pleasing to Alexander as it sounded comforting to his ears. "This place," thought Alexander eventually, "could be a good choice." He entered the compartment with a half-smile on his face. It could be understood from his every look that he was slightly hesitant to speak. After pushing back a piece of hair that had fallen over his right eye, however, he found enough courage to speak and asked: "Hello! I am sorry if I interrupted you." He pointed to the empty seat there, "Could I?" When there was no objection from either boy, he sat down. So he relaxed a bit, and he regained his usual level of confidence. He introduced himself quite succinctly: "Alexander Harland. And you?"

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Date: Sept 1/22
Location: Hogwarts Express
Character(s): Shay

Was that so? This boy really went around living his life believing that candy didn't rot your teeth out? Shay should probably insist on the point but his father said arguing was annoying, so he swallowed it down despite the fact that he wanted to say even a little bit could hurt. Ma said, and she knew everything. "If ye say so," he answered peaceably instead, settling back against his seat and nodding his assent for the boy to join him. "Too many books?" he asked in astonishment, nose wrinkling. That was... but no. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it all. Right.

"That's fine, I don't have a problem with nerds or weirdos." There, that was perfect. He was being friendly and all, not causing issues. At the offered name, he tilted his head and resisted the urge to snap his fingers. He'd known he was missing something about his greeting. You needed to introduce yourself all proper-like so you could call each other by name. He briefly considered giving his real name since the lad across from him probably knew good pronunciation if he did a lot of reading, but dismissed the thought out-of-hand a moment later. It wasn't the easiest to remember, and everyone who saw it written ended up botching it. "Antonio, eh? I'm Shay. Is your name - "

He was cut off when the second boy entered, and he regarded the newcomer with the same attempt at a grin he'd given Antonio, way too large and far toothier than it had any right to be. "Ye can call me Shay," he said after Alexander settled in and introduced himself. "And moss below, man, look at the mane on ye! Betcha it keeps ye warm during the winter, covers those ears up nice." The majority of people he'd met (which weren't many, mostly those from high society at parties his father forced him to go to) had haircuts that all looked the same as each other. The outfits too, each one mirroring the fashion of the others. Looked like a bunch of fecking suburb houses all pretending to be people if you asked him, so seeing someone breaking the old shorthair convention was a breath of fresh air.

Their final companion opened the door then, and Shay was saved having to remember how to start a social interaction yet again when the boy introduced himself. This time Shay's brows shot nearly to his hairline as he looked this 'Near' up and down with a low whistle. "Another one who looks completely different!" He laughed, his earlier consternation fading into amusement for the moment. "Ye one of them albinos, is that it? I saw a rabbit like that once, we ended up eating it and it didn't taste much different than normal ones. But, oh, I promise I won't eat ye, I'd imagine humans are pretty gross. Unless we were all starving, might not be much of a choice then... Hopefully that doesn't happen. We could draw lots if the train crashed? ...Right, right - seat's not taken and I'm Shay."

There were now four young Hogwarts students in the train compartment. As Alex had no other acquaintances at his future school, he, almost instinctively and without a second thought, placed considerable value on this group. "This must mean something," he thought naïvely and quite deterministically - after all, within numerous possibilities, the specific scenario in which these three particular boys had come together prevailed over others. It was hard to claim that they were very much alike, though. Alex had not yet quite figured out what kind of person Antonio was, as he had missed a great portion of the conversation between him and Shay. Near, on the other hand, had something that Alex was familiar with - hesitation. But in that particular case, Near's shyness seemed much stronger and stranger than Alex's. He had a special interest in people like Near, so he envisioned him as an over-confident seventh-year student in the future and wondered whether this was possible or not. Was the man's character a sort of imprisonment that no one can ever escape, or was it likely to alter its boundaries by evolving and changing over time? Alex, however, was just a child raised under the guardianship of two angel-like women, and these burning questions were destined to remain and linger for a longer time.

Shay, as far as Alexander was concerned, had already proven to be someone peculiar. He was the one who dominated the compartment, as apparently, he was the most talkative person amongst them. Upon hearing Shay's comment on his hair, Alex could not help but think that was something similar to what people call a dad joke. For Alex, the accurate term for such jokes had always been an 'uncle joke', interchangeable with the phrase 'old neighbour joke'. After all, Alex had not ever heard a joke from his father. There were several obstacles to such a thing happening, and the foremost of them was that Alexander's father had died when his one and only son was still a baby. Having stated that, it became perfectly clear there was no need to list other barriers, purely for practical reasons.

For some reason or another, however, Alexander found himself smiling at Shay's comment on his long hair. Albeit far from being hilarious, the tone the boy used made the joke more amusing to his liking. Outspokenness, a trait Alexander was certainly not gifted with, could become quite a charming talent, if not confused with mere rudeness. Moreover, this talent, combined with a pristine Irish accent, could have had an unexpectedly successful outcome.

With these thoughts in mind, Alexander realised that the white-haired boy had opened Scamander's famous book and began to read it. "Have a good read," he muttered with a warm smile, "it is a very good book indeed." He didn't intend to bother him any further, and this time he turned to Shay. "You're pretty straightforward, huh?" he said, "I bet you'll sort into Gryffindor." After staring out the window for a few seconds, "And I bet I will not." he added with a titter. "Don't forget me when we get to the castle though. I'll need to hear a little Irish accent every now and then not to feel homesick. I got used to it in Manchester."

@Siodhachan Rosewood, @Antonio Clavell, @Near Rein