Studying Fiction PV Ruby Cazares Closed

A girl of average height with brown hair in a plait down her back, pretty blue eyes, and a skin tone that was a variation of white sat near Elena. She had an air about her of confidence, intelligence, and something else. Passion? Power? Ambition? Whatever it was, it blazed like a fire, which could be shown in her eyes. Maybe it was her posture that played a part in creating this air. Not many kids these days sat and stood up straight, and carried themselves with grace and confidence. Perhaps this girl was a Gryffindor, or a Ravenclaw, or a Slytherin. It was hard to tell from one look at her.

A couple of things were sure about her in the present moment: her name was Ruby, and she was reading a book she had selected at random the day before. It wasn't bad. Any new knowledge was beneficial, the way she looked at it.

She finished before long and shut the book only to notice that the girl near her was singing softly with her head tilted back. She didn't waste time staring at her, and instead absorbed every detail she could gather from the girl's appearance, storing it away in a part of her brain. Information like that could be useful, and helped to deduce some things about who she was looking at. They were close enough that Ruby could say, "Nice singing," and be heard, which she did. She meant it pretty sincerely and waited for a response from the blue-haired girl.

Ruby hadn't known what to say, so she brought up one of the most obvious things about what Elena was doing. An easy enough strategy to start a conversation, but she would have to work on that. Conversation starters, Ruby added to her mental list. Ruby didn't really know anyone here, and so she was pouncing on the chance to meet a new person. Maybe this person was shy and would leave without responding, but Ruby seriously doubted that for several reasons. Maybe the girl was from her house and could be a possible friend. That was an option that Ruby was much more interested, but she would have to wait to find that out, since neither of them were wearing their robes.

A voice startled her out of her singing, Elena hadn't even realised anyone was there, she rubbed her eyes and looked at the other girl, she had brown hair and and excellent posture. Elena had the feeling she'd just been scanned and catalogued, a smile quirked at her lips.

"Thanks kid, nice of you to say. I'm Elena." She decided to scan the other girl herself, although Elena usually liked to find out about people the old fashioned way, actually talking to them, the brunette had a look of intelligence and cunning in her eyes, so she was dangerous, and given her posture and air of grace, Elena guessed pureblood. There was confidence there too, but Elena could tell that the confidence was almost certainly going to get the girl in deeper trouble than she would want.

"So, I'm guessing since you just sized me up, that you either see me as a potential friend or a potential enemy. Which means you're either a street kid like me, or pureblood. Given the fact you have the posture of an army soldier and what I can only guess is a practiced seated position, I'm going to go with pureblood. Did I get any of that right?" Elena's eyes sparkled, it's been a while since she got to try and freak anyone out like that.

Ruby couldn't suppress the smile that started to form on her lips from what Elena had said. Another Slytherin then? Possibly a Ravenclaw. After Elena's analysis, she had to be from one of the two houses Ruby had thought of.

"I'm Ruby," she replied simply when she was given Elena's name. Elena. A pretty name, and it seemed to suit this girl well. When presented with Elena's guess, she wasn't surprised in the least, or anywhere near freaked out. It was nice to come across someone intelligent enough to make an analysis of their own. Maybe this place could become a home to her after all.

"Yes, I did just size you up, yes that is how I see you, and yes, I am a pureblood," Ruby began. What a boring response. So many "yes"s. Two parts of Elena's statement had struck her. One, Elena mentioned that she was a street kid, which was interesting for any number of reasons.

The second thing that struck her was the comment about her posture. She had been told she exuded a certain air, and although some people had tried to explain it to her before, it didn't make any difference, and she didn't particularly care if it impacted others. It didn't show her emotions or what she was thinking, and there wasn't anything about it that she minded other people knowing, so therefore, she didn't change it. But it was Elena's description of it that had drawn her attention. "Posture of an army soldier" had been mentioned to Ruby before, although that wasn't how she would describe it if she could see herself constantly. "A practiced seating position" had been mistakenly inferred, however. She had never practiced it in her life, nor had she been forced to sit or stand like that, but since she barely noticed it and it was a habit, she made no effort whatsoever to change it. Why should she? The way she carried herself was natural. She felt comfortable in doing it, and the "air" was an added bonus. When you've been doing something the same since early childhood, even if you don't notice or were never prompted to do it, it sticks with you for a long time, especially if you never stopped it. Ruby decided to address that mistake now.

"Although my posture can be described as close to 'that of an army soldier', it is less rigid and comes to me with ease. It has not been practiced, so you're incorrect there, and it hasn't been prompted either. It is more of a… routine. Merely a habit."

Elena smirked, "Nice to meet you Ruby. It was a reference to the amount of practice involved, not the actual pose. Although I'm surprised you're not curled up too, it's a hell of a lot comfier, that's for sure. I'm surprised that anyone can sit that properly without practice and training though. Me? I'm all angles, I've been likened to a cat, I even curl up in dining chairs if you believe it."

Well this meeting was certainly interesting, Elena decided to see how much more of Ruby's history she could guess, she started with her house, obviously Slytherin, the girl was a snek through and through, but what about her family? She seemed relatively happy and well adjusted, as if she had no need for her ability to read people. Which meant her family was more likely to be Gryffindor like Ana's.

"I'm guessing we're both Slytherins, but since you're not the level of dark, crazy, or edgy I've seen in Slytherin pureblood families you're probably not from a Slytherin family, if I had to guess I'd say Gryffindor. Feel free to try guessing my past back at me, I always like to see exactly how much a clever kid like you can figure out." Elena realised that she kept calling the girl 'kid' like they weren't the same age. Elena assumed it was her inner mentor coming out, next thing you know she'd be teaching Ruby how to play cards and music.

"Nice to meet you too," Ruby responded, and for the first time in a while, actually meant it. She decided that she liked Elena, and it seemed so rare to find someone so… Slytherin. She hadn't really interacted with any of her housemates so far, but she was looking forward to doing exactly that if they were all at least somewhat similar to this. It just felt so right to be with someone at least somewhat like-minded. However, that didn't mean she could let her guard down yet… She continued, "I do curl up occasionally, I'm not always like this, but today I didn't feel like doing anything else."

Ruby couldn't help but wonder what her parents would say about all of this… she had to push that thought out of her mind before she got too worked up about it. It wasn't important what they thought she should be. As the year started to progress a little more, bit by bit, Ruby found herself disliking her parents for everything more and more. Some parts of her told her to let it slide. They have to work to get money… she told herself. Without money, she wouldn't be able to be where she was today. But parts of her wanted to scream at her parents for what they believed in and cared about, and the lack of attention they gave their daughter. Although her parents were a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw, they didn't seem to behave how Ruby was told that they used to. She was struggling more and more to find positive things about them, but now wasn't the time to be dwelling on it.

"You're definitely correct in the assumption that we're both Slytherins." Ruby now had confirmation of Elena's house. She decided not to comment on the "dark, crazy, edgy" bit. How did Elena know that Ruby wasn't wearing a mask and faking it, hm? She made a non-commital noise before continuing to respond, "My mum's a Gryffindor, and so are other members of my family."

Ruby also picked up on the fact that Elena kept calling her "kid", but, again, chose not to comment on it. "Since you made the comment about being a street kid, I'd assume your parents are poor or have passed, or you never knew them in the first place. From your posture/stature, the look in your eyes, and how you act, I'd say you don't trust easily at all, and because of that, something significant or very hard has happened to you. I'd assume that would be living on the streets. Because of your accent, the distrust, and the whole street girl thing, you're definitely from a city in England. It sounds like London. The glint in your eyes and what you seem to be definitely shows intelligence, a lack of trust, and hidden and/or useful talents. Coming back to the mention of your parents, the way you don't react to any wizarding blood- or birth-related categorization shows that you either don't know or you're good at learning not to care or acting. For the first option, that would make a decent amount of sense based on other things listed here. For the second option, that just shows more suffering and hardship, and likely a lack of love, implying that your parents either neglect you or died a long time ago."

Elena was surprised the girl had figured this much out, as far as bonding experiences went, this was the weirdest one she'd ever had. She loved every second of it, it had been far too long since she had last had a good battle of wits, the ranting arguments didn't count, and Ruby was giving her a run for her money.

"Clever girl, very good instincts, I would like to be your friend if you want, you're certainly interesting. No parents was the right answer but also deep betrayal by the people I trust, you can't get them all I guess, especially when its that obscure." Elena grinned, she liked this girl a lot, she was definitely interesting.

"This is fun, let's go deeper." Elena leaned back in her chair, "You seem like the type to bury your emotions, especially anger. It probably bubbles up and I'd guess when that happens people better run right? You're a lot stronger than you look, especially emotionally. You kick ass and take names with the best of them when it comes down to it. I'd say you've got an adventurous spirit, especially seeing as you decided to talk to the blue-haired badass herself, usually people are either scared or disdainful."

Yes, Ruby definitely liked her. "Well, thanks. I'd be happy to be friends with you too, and it's nice to find someone… intelligent enough… to have a conversation like this with."

Although Ruby didn't choose her words very carefully, she debated whether to comment on the dead parents and being betrayed, but decided against it, for the moment. She figured Elena didn't want her to start saying "oh, I'm so sorry" and all of that, but she also wanted Elena to know that she cared. She decided to comfort Elena if she would need it, and if not, she would bring it up later.

"I acknowledge my emotions most of the time but prefer not to let them get in the way most of the time. I wouldn't say anger's my most important emotion, but yes, people should get out of the way when I do get angry. The rest of it is correct, but I don't really consider talking to you as being particularly adventurous. Why are people scared or disdainful of you?"

Ruby was legitimately a little confused. She was very far from being scared of Elena, but still made sure never to underestimate anyone, and she was no exception. She could see why certain people might be, but didn't see how most people could.

There's something among humans that Elena had always called the "Mentor Response", when you see someone that you like, or that fits a certain subconscious list of requirements, you start trying to take care of them for no apparent reason. Elena realised that something about Ruby had really provoked her mentor response, even more so than actual younger kids. The blue haired girl wondered if anyone had that response to her, she quickly realised that nobody had, she then resolved to spend more time around Professor Jensen, Elena liked her.

"Well, the reason most people don't like me is because I used to sell information on people, nobody really likes their secrets getting spilled." Elena shrugged, "I made a couple of enemies that way, I'm sure I'll be fine though."

"I'd guess from your lack of knowledge about that that you don't care about gossip, good, it'll suck your soul out. Although if you ever need to know where someone is or what's on the exam papers just give me a call." She winked at Ruby, "Well I'm out of scanning, anything in particular you want to talk about? Books, quidditch, I can recommend some clubs around the school too if you want. I actually ended up in quite a few."

Even though Ruby had just met Elena, she felt like something had just clicked, and she was starting to get quite fond of her. She didn't know that Elena was feeling like she should take care of her, but with the amount of times she had called Ruby "kid", she assumed that something like that was going on. Ruby honestly was feeling somewhat the same way, but she felt like Elena had already adopted the role of "older one". Maybe they could protect each other and form a nice friendship. She liked the idea of that and hoped it could become reality.

Ruby smiled. "I could see why they wouldn't like that. How did you gain the information? How did people know you were telling the truth about people, or were you trying to create disunity? And no, basic gossip doesn't interest me at all. It's handy to have information on people, but that can be gained through other means. Plain gossip about others seems rather pointless." When Elena spoke of coming to her for information and winked, Ruby's smile widened even more. "I'll be sure to come to you in the event that I need to."

"There's not much I specifically want to talk about, but if I'm honest, I'm enjoying talking to you. Are there any particular books you'd recommend?"