Wilson PV Tal Closed

Tal was cold that morning.

It was cold. Or maybe she was just dramatic. But either way, Tal had fuzzy socks and fur boots on to keep her little feet warm, her hands in mittens her mother knitted once, when she was still sort of sane. Before she'd lost her grip on reality. Of course the enthusiastic girl couldn't forget the scarf, though, that was a necessity.

Tal gently padded through the grounds, out on a walk. It was worth it to fight the cold and have your cheeks and nose grow red from the chill, to see your breath in the air. It was worth it because the ice on the tree branches shone beautifully in the sunlight of the morning, and the snow and lake glittered spectacularly. To Talia, it was the scene of a poem. And it was perfect muse for her. She quickly pulled out a scrap of parchment and a colourful quill, scribbling down some ideas.

She continued to walk, focusing on the nature around her and what she was abstractly noting on her paper. And then of course she walked into a tree. Because that's what happens when you don't watch where you're going. You run into something. This was an event all too familiar and routine for Tal, but she never seemed to learn to keep her eyes on where she was going. She shook the impact off, picking up her tuque from the ground and putting it back over her head, where it naturally fell over her brown eyes. she pushed it back up so it sat lopsided on her head, looking straight into the eyes of another person. Tal stuttered, unsure what to say.

As Landon spaced out for the second time, staring down at the lone flower growing in the thawing ground, the one flower that had survived the harsh, cold winter, he heard a thud. And, well, felt a thud, as the tree he was leaning on was bumped into head on. As the branches shook, raining the few leaves that had been left on the almost barren tree down onto his head. He shook his head, trying to get those leaves out of his messy brown hair. And that's when he saw the girl, who was currently struggling to put her hat on properly, it falling over her eyes.

He smiled weakly as she managed to make it stay on her head, though it was lopsided.

"Hi," he said quietly. "Are you okay?"

It had been a pretty hard collision, it seemed. But she didn't seem to be, you know, dying, or anything, so she had to be okay, right?

"I'm Landon," he added simply, looking straight into her big eyes before turning back to the lake. He felt like he was betraying his brother, if he was making friends near a lake that Wilson would have loved to see.

Tal might've been a little too busy wondering if she could turn an icicle into a popsicle...

Tal watched as the boy was slowly rained on by leaves, and then effortlessly shook them out of his hair. She didn't know what to say, the little girl quite flustered from the tree incident and the awkward encounter. She pushed her hair out of her face awkwardly, her mittened hands tugging nervously at her scarf.

"I'm okay, yeah, I think, I mean, I am. Yeah. I know I am," she blurted, then covered her mouth, now extremely uncomfortable. When she had regathered enough of her wit to actually talk like a normal person, she laughed nervously. "Sorry, what I meant was, I'm okay." She said, nodding slowly when she had finished speaking to make sure she was speaking English and not Gibberish, which had seemed to be her native language lately.

"I'm Tal, nice to meet you," she said shyly, her cheeks red from the cold and her embarrassing speech-fumbling she had just done. She anxiously held out her hand to shake, her fingers shaking slightly as she took of her mitten. After several seconds of the boy not accepting the shake, she sighed sadly and put her mitten back on. "Uh, it's cold..." she said, trying desperately to make small talk.

Landon raised an eyebrow, tossing his hair out of his face with a quick shake of his head, the brown bangs falling messily. Though she seemed to be saying she was alright, the girl didn't seem very confident in that statement. So was she alright or not? Landon was intrigued but confused.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked, a sly smirk making its way across his lips. She seemed a little awkward, maybe shy? Uncomfortable? "You don't seem sure, but if you say so... I guess I'll believe it." Lan shrugged.

Was it really worth trying to care, when the person you tried to care about wouldn't return the feeling, and end up just walking away, so you would never see them again? Like his brother did, just spontaneously dropped to the ground? Landon could still remember seeing Wilson's chest, the absence of any breathing and rising causing a feeling of disturbance and trauma that he still couldn't shake, the stillness of his body... too still.

Landon had to get away from the lake... it brought back too many memories, too many violently traumatizing and depressing images. So, he turned and started walking. Maybe he'd go back to the castle. Maybe to the library. His brother had hated libraries, so maybe the boy would be safer in there, where he wouldn't be quite as haunted by someone that was no longer there.

Now that the initial chaos inside Tal's mind had died down, she could finally think. And her thoughts were telling her that she was not doing too hot in this conversation. But there was still time to fix that! But before she could, he started to leave!

One thing was for certain. Talia could be crazy persistent when she wanted something. And at the moment, that thing that she wanted was to become friends with this boy, Landon! So she was unfazed by his walking away, Talia followed a few steps behind, hurrying to catch up, her little legs moving fast.

"Uhh, yeah!" Nodding her head, this time she was completely sure of the answer. "I was kinda stunned at first, but I'm better now. Y'know?" she said hopefully. All the girl wanted was to be validated by positive social interaction!

"Uh, I'm sorry if I'm bothering you... I just really would like some company, and I dunno, maybe you do too?" Tal asked shyly. She stopped walking, just stood by the glittering water and let the slight rain of leaves from the tree above fall onto her. Her behavior really did seem to scream, FRIENDS PLEASE!?

Talia really was hard to shake...

But was that really a bad thing? As much as Landon liked to deny it, what the boy needed and wanted deep down was someone to keep him sane, to help him out, to laugh with, just someone to be there for him. Heck, Landon needed someone to chase him around. But, did that mean Lan needed Talia? Maybe it did.

Something about the fact that there was a person in this world willing to follow Landon everywhere he went just to talk to him, someone who was practically begging for his attention and friendship, made Landon feel valid. He felt like he was worth something, even if it was only to a tiny little girl wearing an oversized jumper and fuzzy socks, who acted as though she'd had far too much sugar. And that little ounce of validation raised Landon's spirits.

So, he didn't snap back at Tal, he let her follow him. Listened to her talk, smiling a bit at how all over the place and energetic she was.

He smirked. "Stunned? Stunned by my impressive good looks?" he asked jokingly, smirking and running his hand through his hair. Something inside him, some sort of weight that he didn't even know was there, seemed to have been lifted. So what, it was temporary? The sorrow was gone for now, and for the moment, Landon felt alive... and truly happy. He hadn't felt that way for a while.

Could a person be good for someone's health?

He laughed, but still kept walking. At this point he didn't know where he was going, but he didn't care too much. But her last question caught him off-guard, just as her abrupt stopping did. So, Landon stopped too, turning to face the girl.

Landon really did need company. He knew that. But...

"Yeah. Yeah, I do. I need some company," he said genuinely, answering before his mind could make some excuse to pull him back into his depressing state. Some reckless decisions weren't bad decisions, right? This surely couldn't end up too bad, and even if it did, what did Landon really have to lose?

He smiled a soft smile, and brushed a few leaves off of Tal gently.

Had Talia's mental pleas for friendship really come true? This was better than the feeling she felt when strangers let her pet their puppies! Elated by this crazy awesome social triumph, practically bouncing with joy, or, well, literally bouncing with joy, she beamed a dimpled smile at her new friend!

Talia laughed, a sweet and genuine and amused laugh, as he ran his hands through his hair. "Of course. You look lovely," she agreed.

And when Landon agreed to being her pal, Talia's happiness tripled. Or maybe it quadrupled? The satisfaction and excitement of making a new friend bounded through her, and it took all of her might to not squeal out in pure delight! Though, when Landon would take the leaves off of her, Talia would put them on his head. It was an act of friendship, okay?

The girl walked along with Landon silently, a comforting quiet that felt so blissful and pure and Tal was content. Friends! The word made her heart happy, and she skipped alongside the boy, admiring the scenery and nature surrounding them. As she hopped around the grounds, a random fact about trees popped into her head. She'd learned it a while ago, though she wasn't sure where. Talia picked up on a lot of absurd things, really.

"Did you know that bigger trees share their nutrients with smaller trees nearby? Like a tree family! And then later, once the little trees grow up, they repay the big ones for all their help! It's so cute!"

Landon laughed slightly at Tal's reply to his teasing. She was definitely the sweetest and most sincere person he'd ever met. Then again, he mostly met stuck up rich kids before Hogwarts, so he didn't have an awful lot to compare her to. But he figured that even if he did know some kind souls, Tal was still probably the nicest of them all. It was a sort of feeling he had, and he was very sure of it. The girl was just so pure and tiny. Another feeling arose in him as well, a responsibility to protect her, to protect the soft and wholesome Talia Piper.

He figured he'd do that, too.

"I know, right?" he replied with an energetic wink as she complimented him. "Glad you think so, too."

Of course, Landon wasn't the most confident deep down inside, plagued with insecurities as a lot of kids did. So it did make him feel even happier to hear a sincere and positive thought about him, even if it was rooted in a joke.

Listening as Tal talked about a random and, he'd admit, cute fact about trees, he grinned, amused. "Do you think trees have feelings?" he asked her. She had such a young and curious feeling to her, and it did make Landon's own curious side come out a bit, too.