Closed A Bit Homesick PV Renelle Dalton In Progress

Renelle was on a mission.

Perhaps her life was getting overly dull, maybe she just had too much free time- whatever the case, the moment the Ravenclaw opened her eyes that morning, she’d decided to set a new task for herself that day. It was simple, really: she was going to be nice to people.

Not that Renelle normally wasn’t, of course, or at least in her opinion. True, she definitely wasn’t the most helpful or bubbly student out there, but it wasn’t like she was particularly mean either. For some reason, whenever her classmates had to talk to her, whether it be for homework or to borrow something, they always seemed to have the impression that she might randomly hex them. It could not be further from the truth, but she supposed that was the reputation you got for being cold and quiet.

That was why Renelle was going to change that today. At the moment, she was on her way to the Hogwarts grounds, where there would no doubt be lots of students milling around, especially in such nice weather. As she continued down through the castle, she made a mental note of what she would do: One, go up to the first person she saw. Two say hi. She hadn’t exactly worked out the third step yet, but figured that bridge would be crossed when she came to it.

After what felt like an eternity, Renelle was finally met with the cool breeze of the autumn air outside. Taking in a deep breath, she sighed. Fall was, without a doubt, her favourite season by far.

But how to choose her victim? Or 'new friend', as some might say. She took a few further steps out into the grounds, turning in a circle, pondering which way to go. Ugh, whatever. Picking a random direction, the first year started down the path chosen, looking left and right. There didn’t seem to be a lot of people here, and nothing caught her eye, apart from those weirdly blonde-looking leaves….

She stopped short. Those weren’t leaves. They were a person. Normally, Renelle would’ve just left and minded her own business, not sparing another thought to whoever was sitting there- however, this was the new, nicer Renelle. And that Renelle had made an oath to talk to the first person she saw.

Shoulders sagging, the dark-haired girl trudged toward Blondie. However, when she got close enough to see the person’s face, her heart sank even more. Oh, god. That wasn’t just some random student. That was none other than Rory Hara, the Gryffindor with animal drawings and a horrible sense of direction.

It was too late to turn back, at any rate, which meant she had no other choice than to talk to him. Approaching the boy, she realized that he seemed to be staring off into space, a blank expression on his face. Writing utensils, open notebook, lost demeanour .… Could Rory be writing a letter to his family?

Well, she would find out soon enough. “Hey Rory.”

Interacting with @Rory Hara

September 19th, 2023
Grounds

It was rather lucky that Rory was drawn back to reality by someone's voice. His mind had already wandered, by then, far from the topic of letter writing. How did he start thinking about what he wanted his next birthday cake to be? Especially since it was months and months away. But who was it? His head pivoted, looking for the source of the greeting. This person knew his name, which automatically slimmed down the options a lot.

His eyes widened, the blank expression morphing into a smile. It was literally the best possible outcome to the situation! Renelle was here! If the boy had a tail, it would be wagging. He almost stood up to go greet her, before realizing that he would knock over his writing supplies. It was impressively careful.

"Hi Ren!" He projected back, waving her over as if she wasn't already walking in his direction. He finally got the chance to use the nickname that he had given Renelle. Rory had a penchant for giving people cutesy nicknames, not that Ren was particularly creative. Oh, but he should probably ask permission. It would be horrible to annoy Renelle on accident. "Um, do you like that? I was thinking I could call you Ren, and you could call me Roe? Like, our names but shorter?" He sounded clearly pleased by the idea.

He looked down at the notebook on his lap, picking it up to show the Ravenclaw girl. "I was just working on a letter to my parents." Really, it was an empty page with "Dear Alfie and Lewis" at the top, not much of a letter. But really, it was much more difficult to communicate with his parents without the internet. Phone calls would be simple, and he could occupy himself with something else to not get distracted. But writing a letter? You had to sit, concentrate, decide what information was worth sharing.

His expression went from bright to more thoughtful. "I really miss them. We did everything together. I didn't realize it until I came here." Rory tried to explain. "Like, we went out for ice cream every Friday. And it wasn't really a big deal... but then the first Friday at Hogwarts..." His voice tapered off at the end, as if it was too much to continue. He was certainly overemotional, considering how little time had passed since he saw them. And the fact that they regularly communicated.

"How about you? Do you write to your parents a lot?" He shifted the conversation, but was genuinely curious about Renelle's family. Rory knew practically knew nothing about her family, and was determined to change that."What's the most different about being at Hogwarts? Compared to your normal life." He tried to phrase the question well, but it was a bit odd.

The juxtaposition between Rory's attitude before and after they became friends was immense. It was jarring how the quiet, reserved boy could become so animated, eager.

Private to @Renelle Dalton

As Renelle sat down next to him, she mused about how remarkably how hard it was to not want to be nice to Rory. It was no secret that she herself was not the most socially friendly person out there- far from it, in fact. But there was something about this overly enthusiastic and somewhat naïve boy that made even the most cynical to ease up. He was, simply put, a very likeable person.

In most aspects, anyway. Renelle had observed that for every friendly, outgoing, person, if you interacted with them long enough, it was inevitable that they would take it upon themselves to come up with some sort of nickname for you. The most common for her had so far been Ren, El, and Elle, so it wasn’t surprising when Rory chose the first.

Normally, the Ravenclaw was not one for nicknames- not even her best friend Astra was allowed, and they’d known each other since they were five. Rory was clearly extremely pleased with himself for coming up with the idea though, and she didn’t want to stomp on his excited demeanour. And she wasn’t entirely sure if he would’ve start sniffing or crying.

Besides, the 'shortened version' of his own name was so amusing, Renelle doubted she could’ve gotten mad even if she’d wanted to. Roe? Really? Trying hard keep a straight face, she shrugged. “Sure, Roe.” Haha. That was funny.

Truth be told, when Rory- sorry, Roe - showed his book to her, Renelle initially expected more animal drawings, like the ones doodled up during that one class they’d had together. She was surprised to find that on the page were not little duck and geese, but instead four words at the top, ‘Dear Alfie and Lewis’.

Apparently, Rory told her, it was a letter. For his parents, whom he missed. Secretly, Renelle thought ‘Alfie’ sounded kind of like a turtle name, though she certainly wasn’t going to be telling Roe here that. Besides, a thought suddenly popped into her head. Aren’t those both guy names? She supposed that Rory’s parents could just be gay…. That would be a first, for her anyway. For some reason, it seemed like every guy here at Hogwarts was gay, but parents?… That was new.

Reasoning that it wasn’t any of her business, at any rate, and she had no intention of making it so, Renelle turned back to listening to Rory. Sadly, all she heard before he stopped talking, seemingly looking for her to answer, was “… Compared to your normal life.” How was she even supposed to go from there?

She blinked, unprepared. “My normal life? Uhhh…. ” Racking her brain to try and figure out what Rory could possibly have asked, she made a mental note never to tune out during a conversation again. Maybe he was asking about how she felt about being here at Hogwarts, as opposed to her normal life. Yes, that made sense.

“It’s good? I guess.” Okay, Renelle definitely wasn’t winning any trophies in the conversation department, was she? “I mean,” she quickly added, “It’s nice, not really too overwhelming or anything.” After a pause, “What about you?”

Interacting with @Rory Hara

September 19th, 2023
Grounds

Renelle had sat down beside the boy. The air was alive, flighty like the birds carrying about amongst the trees. It carried snippets of Rory's voice, loud, a bit breathy when he rambled on for too long, as if his words were trying to escape the confines of his mind. Not that he thought too much before he spoke, as he had been reminded on occasion by his parents.

The nicknames seemed to spark delight in Renelle, surely due to her enthusiasm to embrace a symbol of their friendship. She agreed, already setting to call him Roe. Her face was often blank, as if she had already seen everything interesting Hogwarts had to offer, limiting the boy's ability to interpret her responses. Yet a smile seemed to be fighting its way on to her face. Was she holding back her joy?

"You know," he fiddled with his fingers, as if unsure if the comment was alright to make, "You don't have to hide what you're feeling. At least with me, I won't judge you. We're friends." He looked away, suddenly mesmerized by a yellow-orange leaf that fell on his head. He tucked it neatly to the side.

He had spoken for a while, explaining his writing before inquiring about Renelle's personal life. She was looking at his barren letter, before blinked suddenly, as if snapping out of a trance. It was a scenario that was familiar to Rory, whose mind wandered rather frequently. Was he boring?

She had skipped completely over the first question he had asked and went to the second. The answer was entirely vague, describing her experience as good, nice, not overwhelming. But it seemed to be in good intention, as she asked about his time at Hogwarts.

"Oh, it's been alright." Alright was about as close to 'bad' as Rory's normal vocabulary would allow him. The experience really wasn't entirely bad, there were certain glimpses of pleasantness. But the time away from home was really doing a number on the boy. Whether it be the fact that his most faithful companion was his cat, or that the first Gryffindor boy he had met had become like an enemy, his social circle has quite limited. He adjusted his collar, "It's actually not that different from normal school. Other than the magic, of course."

He circled back to the topic of family, while trying to not make it obvious he had already asked her the question. "Do you write to your parents a lot? Or, siblings? Or maybe your neighbors?" The last question may have seemed strange, but the thought hadn't even crossed Rory's mind. He wrote to his neighbors on occasion, almost the way that other children wrote to their friends. Oh, and attached specific requests for them to hug their pets since he couldn't.

Private to @Renelle Dalton