Meeting a Friend open ic Closed

Becca smiled as Loren gestured for her to follow them to the shelves with books on magical creatures. She was so excited to be learning about new things. Things she had not even considered learning about before. She wondered what she would find about these creatures.

Becca followed Loren across the room and sat down across from her new friend (hopefully they considered me a friend too, she thought to herself). She took some of the books Loren handed to her and began reading.

Loren started to read from one of the books they had. The passage was about fairies. Becca thought it was interesting to hear that fairies were very vain creatures that were almost constantly grooming themselves. What did they groom with? Did they bathe or create brushes out of sticks? How did they stay so neat? Were they mean if you caught them messy? Becca didn’t know, but she would assume so if they were vain creatures.

“Ok maybe I don’t want to run into one of them,” Loren said, then they made a face. Becca nodded along. She could see why some people would find them unpleasant. And what if they found one that was having a bad day? She wondered if they would be friendly at all.

Loren turned a page. They began reading about Glumbumbles, which instantly intrigued Becca. What a neat creature! Becca wondered if there was a hive of Glumbumbles or if they joined up with regular bumblebees. Had muggles seen them and thought they were just regular bees? Or did they look different?

“That could be neat?” Loren said, and Becca very much agreed.

She was looking away from Loren as her mind processed all these questions. Then Loren began speaking again, this time much softer than before when they were reading. Becca struggled to pull her focus away from the questions and pay attention to Loren.

[color=#c6a12a#a4884c]“Also Becca? I just remembered that sometimes it is rude to ask people questions about their life, especially when its about something like who your family is or where you're from. Sorry if what I said was rude, I want you to know that I love that your family are muggles and I'm just so curious about it all. If you'd like, I'm also happy to tell you all about wizard families."[/color]

Becca looked away as her face heated in shame. Here was Loren apologizing for asking questions and talking about being rude. If anything, Becca was the rude one. She blurted out questions without thinking about rudeness. In fact, she blurted out questions about being raised by wizards earlier to Loren. Then she hesitated when Loren asked to ask her questions. Becca was being a giant hypocrite.

Becca noticed a new student enter the library who was clearly distressed. Becca frowned and turned away from them. They probably didn’t want anybody to approach them right now, Becca thought to herself. And besides, she needed to fix this issue with Loren.

“I didn’t find your questions rude at all, Loren. I just hesitated earlier because, well, um,” Becca lowered her voice and swallowed against the giant lump in her throat. “My mum left when I was a baby, and I don’t know why. It was just me and my dad. I was afraid you would ask me about her, and I don’t like talking about her.”

Becca looked away as her cheeks flamed once again. She cleared her throat again and turned back to Loren.

“But I really don’t mind talking about my dad. He was the best dad ever! He’s smart and funny, and he was always there when I needed to talk.”

After she said that, Becca looked back at the distressed student and sighed. Her dad was always there for anybody when they needed an ear. It was what made him so popular with his students. He would go talk to them and ask what was wrong. He wouldn’t even think about ignoring them.

“I always wanted to be like him when I was growing up, and I think I need to be like him now. He would go over and see if he could help that student,” Becca gestured to the distressed student. “I really want to keep looking at magical creatures, though. So maybe we can come back to this?”

Becca tried to send a reassuring smile to Loren before standing up to walk over to the other student. She approached them hesitantly and coughed quietly to announce herself.

“Hello. Are you alright?” she asked.

OOC

Reducio

interacting with @Loren Beck and @Magdaline Pritchett
Word Count: 756 (a lot more than I meant, oops)
Dialogue color: #dd5a5a

After entering the library, I hurried to the textbook shelf and hid behind it, not wanting the other students to see my tears. I listened to the other students' conversations; something about magical creatures and family history. My mind was still way too clouded with worry and sadness to pay more attention to the conversation than the mere subject matter of it. I took a look at the bookshelf, and one book caught my eye. The Hogwarts: A History book looked interesting, and my curiosity compelled me to grab it and open it to the first page. Almost immediately, I was drawn to the book. I had always loved reading about the history of things, and it was never just the surface-level basics, no. I would alwa ys look deeper than most, almost to the point that other people may have thought me crazy. Every time I finished a page I told myself that it would be the last page, but I couldn't help but keep reading; I was enthralled. Before I knew it, I had already read half the book. A moment after my realization, I heard a quiet cough behind me; it was @Becca Cross, who I had seen talking to Loren when I entered the library. She had a soft smile on her face, and she asked me,"Hello. Are you alright?" I noticed that I still had a few tears in my eyes and on my cheeks. I sniffled and wiped my eyes before replying "Oh uh... yes. It's just that... I was missing my friend. Her name is Kayla Realma and I haven't seen her for weeks..." I waited for the girl's response anxiously.