Closed Racing towards chaos PV Eonaria Kabukimono

What were you supposed to do when a girl was crying? Comfort her, maybe? Apologize for calling her a troll? Very possibly. He hadn't remembered ever encountering a crying girl as a pre-teen or teenager before (Vale was more likely to make other people cry, or at least back away in terror), and he certainly had never met a girl that he half-purposely made cry that did not involve something he couldn't help doing, like hitting them in quidditch.

She admitted she was crying, and didn't seem to stop. The tears spilled out of her eyes, and she swiped at them again with a sleeve. There was no handle to push down on this faucet spout, no on/off button to this water dispenser.

He tapped a finger to his chin, fretting about what to do and looking at Amputated Physician's tears with some concern. A part of him felt guilty that he had pushed her to such limits with his unfiltered mouth and unfiltered emotions. It would've gone a lot more 'smoothly' if they had just spouted insults at each other and stomped in different directions on their merry way. Cathartic, almost. Like getting an oil change -- clearing the gunk out of your system so that you could function properly once again. Like feeling absolutely spent and sore after quidditch practice but knowing you still came out of it alive, having done something that day, even if it hurt you or others.

No, people would never have characterized him as 'insensitive' in his first year at Hogwarts. Heck, he was voted 'Boy of the Year', 'Most Sociable' and 'Most Innocent' in the Slytherin superlatives. Had he really strayed that far from who he used to be? Maybe that bright and smiling boy really had become cold and metallic, somewhere along the way...

"I-" he began to apologize with a concerned frown, but couldn't quite muster the words to actually form in his mouth, unhindered, with his ego set aside. Instead, he did not interrupt the girl in her scolding.

"I find it hard to believe that you have managed to make many friends in your years at Hogwarts with such an attitude." This last sentence hit him like a sharp-edged Cybertruck. It was spoken with so much sharp perception and determination as the girl glanced up from her tears, that he wondered if he had underestimated her.

Indeed, he had made the most friends in his first year, and only a couple as he aged. By now, most of those friends had left Hogwarts, leaving him wondering if he had many friends he could actually rely on, at all. Maybe that was the curse of being in Slytherin. What had his younger innocence, trust, and empathy earned him? He was just characterized as weak -- a target whose violin could be smashed against the Courtyard fountain by a girl he thought was his friend, tricked by a dormmate into thinking he had a magical illness, tripped by an upperclassman in the Great Hall, dungbombed by the same upperclassman in his own room.

Indignance swelled within his chest once more. And to think that he had even considered apologizing to the girl to get on reasonably good terms with her again! "Yeah, so what if I am insensitive, cold, and metallic? At least I'm not the one crying my eyes out like a baby. Are you sure you're even a real Gryffindor with those tears?" he spoke with a huff as he eyed her robes, somehow determined to finish this as bloodily as he'd started it. He'd already had his share of strife as an underclassman. Now it was his turn to dish out the lessons in that self-perpetuating cycle. "This is nothing to cry over. You're gonna have to be a lot tougher if you even want to survive Hogwarts. Because it'll only get a lot worse. Think of this as a piece of advice and a favor," he stared at her challengingly, as if daring more of those tears to come.

IC Time: 1:26pm, January 11th, 2025

XXXFor a moment, Avery almost looked like he was ready to apologize- until the final jab came out of her mouth, causing his expression to harden again. Uh oh. He retaliated easily, most likely speaking straight from his prefrontal cortex to his mouth and bypassing the frontal lobe entirely. For some reason, the only thing Eonaria could think of was that his first sentence grasped at straws, the second was immature, and the third was entirely true and also mean just like the rest of him.

XXX"Oh, no, I definitely wanted to be in Gryffindor." She nodded sagely. "I love crying! What do you think?! I could've been sorted into Ravenclaw and remained peacefully with reliable books but no!" The last word was drawn out dramatically and with anger. "I just had to go into the house of bravery. I'm jumping for joy!" Eonaria glowered at him.

XXX"I almost wanted to be in Slytherin to be with my brother, but now I'm glad I didn't! I'm just ecstatic that I don't have to be in the same house as you!" She blew out a breath, letting out some of the steam that had building up for a few months. Avery continued on with his 'advice,' causing Eonaria to snort slightly.

XXX"I'm so sorry for being unable to control my emotional breakdowns." Okay, that made it seem a little too severe. She was fairly sure she was just a very sensitive person in general and should learn how to manually stop the signals coming from her limbic system or whatever the heck that thing was called. It's not technically possible, but... eh...

.・-: ✧☾♩♪♩♬　. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.　♬♩♪♩☽✧ :-・.

The feeling that you actually belonged to another house, and that the Sorting Hat might've been wrong... He knew it was something that at least a few first-years experienced each year. And there was nothing more jarring than being placed in a house where you felt you didn't belong. For Avery, who didn't have a baseline knowledge of the houses to judge where he belonged as a first-year, didn't think too much about it. He only felt the Slytherin Dungeons were too dark, cold, and creepy. Many of his dormmates didn't want friends, as if friends were illnesses. It didn't feel like a home to him -- what he later imagined Gryffindor tower to be, with its warm colors and similarly passionate people.

The ferocity with which she had said her words over the past minute made him realize they had been coming from the heart, like an outburst of emotions that had been simmering with the lid closed for too long. It was almost something he could identify with.

"Maybe it really is better that you didn't come to Slytherin," he said. He didn't mean this in a way that he was glad she was staying away from him -- No, he simply wondered if she would fit in, or even enjoy her time in his house, knowing what it was like. "Honestly, the dungeons are so dark and gloomy, and we literally don't get any sunlight. Sometimes, the place is kind of depressing, really," he rolled his eyes with a dramatic sigh, somehow finding himself airing out some of his own thoughts, as well. "There are so many snakes," he said with a grimace. His worst fear. "And lots of spiders, though some of them are nice," he said, thinking of Vale's pet, Familia. "When the toilets get flooded by someone backing it up, it's so damp down there. And dungbombs never air out." He shuddered with some bad memories. The repercussions of living in a dorm with no windows.

Okay, so her fiery side was really starting to show. "Hearing yourself talk right now, it sounds like you really do belong in Gryffindor, if I'm leaning into stereotypes," he said, more of an interesting fact to point out rather than an observation meant to be an insult. "Surely, being a Gryffindor isn't so bad?" He had wondered what it'd be like if he had been placed in either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff during his first year, but perhaps the grass was always greener on the other side.

IC Time: 1:27pm, January 11th, 2025

XXXAs Avery continued to speak, Eonaria was beginning to have the feeling that they were both just blurting out the first thing that came to mind. Perhaps she shouldn't take everything so personally after all...

XXXEonaria wiped away the last of her tears, feeling her head begin to clear up. His descriptions of the dungeons didn't match those of her brother, but then again, when did he ever talk about the dungeons? "I imagine the Hufflepuffs don't get much sunlight either, being in the basement, but is it actually that depressing? You could, I dunno, hang out in the courtyard." She shrugged.

XXX"You don't have to spend all your time in your common room. Don't you play Quidditch or something? I've seen you in, like, one of the very few matches I attended. That sounds like enough sun for you." We're not plants! Sun is good and all, but I grew up just fine without living in a tower with sunshine all the time.

XXXThe mention of critters in the dungeons was more surprising, though. Eonaria raised her eyebrows, momentarily distracted. "Wait- snakes, cool, expected. Pleasant snakes, I hope. But spiders? Especially friendly spiders? What, do you have a resident tarantula who catches bugs in the corner of the lavatory or something?" The thought was actually quite funny, though not so much if she was the one to have to see a spider chilling in the corner every time she went to the restroom.

XXX"Huh. Maybe you can sue someone for improper hygiene and ventilation of the dungeons," Eonaria suggested with a grimace. It did not sound fun down there.

XXXApparently Avery thought she did seem like a stereotypical Gryffindor, which was news to her. "...maybe when I'm angry," she agreed reluctantly. "But still!" She crossed her arms. Eonaria couldn't think of anything to finish that sentence, so she just left it at that, hoping it would go unnoticed. "I guess being a Gryffindor isn't bad, but I don't like it, so I'm still going to complain about it, because I can."

XXXWow, what a statement. Out of context, something like that would have made her in her rational mind cringe and hide away in the lavatory. "I'd be happy to swap houses with you, though," Eonaria offered. "That way you can be here and I'll be over there." 'Here,' of course, did not refer to the Small Hall.

.・-: ✧☾♩♪♩♬　. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.　♬♩♪♩☽✧ :-・.