Happy Birthday to Me Closed

Interacting with @Falentra Black
Astra speaking: #136323
Thoughts: Italics
Others Bold

Good God, what a day. What a past couple of days, to be honest. A past couple weeks. Might as well make that a month.

Growing up in a magic family was her one advantage in this place, this school. She couldn't imagine the culture shock all the Muggleborns were feeling if she herself was so lost.

Outside, the refreshing fall air was something her mind could focus on. It had taken a full month for the reality of everything to come crashing down on her head. She felt physically dizzy with all of it.

She had no book, just the recently delivered Hermes by her side. The light colored cat was currently leaping ahead, his ears and tail pricked up and alert. He had only just arrived today, this morning. Renelle hadn't even met the little bugger yet.

Hermes jumped onto one of the archways, yowling at Astra in a playful manner. "Sh, you bothersome thing," she whispered, barely stopping a laugh. So surreal to actually have him here with her. "No one wants to hear that." Hermes seemed to ignore her as he leapt into her shoulder, situating himself with his tail curled around her neck. Astra smiled, sitting down underneath the archway and gazed out over the clusters of students busting to and fro.

She was startled to look beside her and see a fellow Slytherin, this one looking quite older, almost an adult. Hermes also noticed the girl, and Astra felt his muscles bunch. "Hermes, no-" she started, reaching up, but the Mau was already airborne. Astra grabbed him by his middle, slipping off her perch and landing on the ground with her cat held close and struggling against her. "What the heck?" she scolded. To the girl, she said, "I'm sorry about him. He didn't scare you, did he? Nothing damaged?"

There was an air around Jack as he swaggered across the halls and walkways. If it wasn't the force of his bravado that forced his underclassmen out of his way, it was most undoubtedly his hairpin trigger and penchant for violence. The most minor perceived slight would turn the svelt and charming boy into a bull who has only just caught the sight of a red flag. A lackadaisical crooked grin played on his lips as his index and middle fingers pulled on the sloppy knot that kept his yellow and black tie around his neck. Dragging the fancy noose that stood wrapped around his neck free was nearly a euphoric experience for the lad before letting the fabric hang listlessly around his shoulders. Jack's hair was tousled, making it seem that he had just rolled out of bed, but it was much too styled to be a genuine look. Thankfully, Jack could ditch his cumbersome robe once he freed himself from the hell known as educational courses. Warren quickly destroyed the crisp lines of his button-up shirt as he untucked it and roughly pushed up the sleeves to rest fashionably just above his elbows. However goofy his smile may be, and no matter how playfully his eyes shone, something cold and harsh lay behind his dark eyes. Anyone with any ounce of empathy could tell that something about him wasn't entirely authentic. Something small was cutting through into his thin facade of boyish charm.

The day's classes had been so irritatingly long, and the professor's voices all became so monotonous and drab after the first few minutes of the lectures. It was a breath of fresh air to move freely around the castle with little care. The boy's legs ached for movement, and his fingers begged for something to fiddle with. A pleasant chill ran down his spine as he pushed his way out of the warm interior of the corridors and out into the mid-October air. The Irishman never minded the cold. It energized him, and the dull aching in his legs quickly faded. No matter how cold it was outside, Jack had consistently failed to find the courtyard bereft of students. Idle gossip and chatter filled the atmosphere of passing students as Jack lightly flicked his nostril with a thumb in vain hopes that it would keep his nose from turning into a strawberry. Some folks could pull off the look of having pink little noses, but the Hufflepuff always found himself looking closer to Rudolph more than anything else. And bless those sorry saps that couldn't go out in a chill without having a wad of snot running down their face.

Jack's eyes followed one of those poor souls as they hurried past before something else caught his attention. A decently loud thud and immediate scolding? Had somebody just tried playing catch with a cat? Lazily turning towards the noise, Jack found two girls. One, obviously his junior, was currently hurriedly attempting to wrangle a cat, and the other, who seemed closer to his age, whose expression was much more difficult to discern. Striding his way across the courtyard, the boy had little knowledge or care about social graces. Jack was much more partial to the 'dive in and figure it out later' type of guy. Quickly enough, the boy jumped up into the partition directly to the right of Falentra, hand grasping the pillar that held up the gothically styled window. "Cats, huh?" Jack's shit-eating grin grew as he continued to talk. His Irish accent had always blended well with his lilting voice, so when he spoke it was almost as if he was singing, "Nasty things when they want to be, wouldn't ya agree?" The Animagus' eyes flicked back and forth between the two Slytherins. Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "The vandal could've ruined your nice lil' book-" As he joked, Warren let himself lean further down, using the pillar as a brace, and over dramatically took a look at the book's cover that Falentra held in her grasp. "Fancy."

Having a lovely interaction with @Astra Norrick & @Falentra Black

Interacting with @Astra Norrick, @Jack Warren

Falentra had clocked on almost straight away at the presence of the younger female joining not too far from her. Why exactly had she chosen to sit so close, she didn't know. But why was she mumbling away to herself? There was enough curiosity for Falentra's gaze to shift up from her book and off to her side where they met with a... cat perched up towards the younger girl's shoulder like it was some parrot. What a weird animal. What a weird girl. It made sense why they chose each other, or so that's what Falentra thought.
Rather than making any sort of effort to tell the girl to shoo and find somewhere else to take herself, she instead inhaled deeply and returned her gaze back down to her book.

Not even a minute would pass before the elder Slytherin's eyes darted back toward the direction of the young one. What the hell was she playing at? Could she not control her pet? Now that she looked at it, this feline seemed to be quite the mischievous one. Was it planning on attacking her? Falentra couldn't help but finally show some expression, and it wasn't particularly a good one.
A raised brow and a tut in disgust left her mouth. The sound of her book slapping shut would break the long paused silence after the girl's little speech. Falentra felt insulted. Insulted that this stranger thought she would be scared by a cat.

Slotting away the chocolate neatly into her bag and her book on top of it, she took her time in responding to the girl. Both her legs now hung over the cobblestoned surface and her hands rested down by her side, as though she was about to push herself up and off. With lips parted, she was about to respond to the girl, but it seemed someone would beat her to it.

The sound of a male voice cut her off. Luckily for him, his response was something along the lines of which she would have said herself. Cats were a damn nuisance, as cute as they were. But it wasn't enough for the Slytherin to agree with the boy. She remained silent, taking in everything that was happening. It was all so sudden, and with two strangers invading her bubble made it feel as though this was some sort of prank against her.

She did have to give it to the Hufflepuff though. As cocky as he was acting, his word choices were very similar to her own here. It was enough to get the smallest of smirks out of her. '' Yes, I suppose you are right.'' She added finally, her voice quiet and bland. Her gaze shifted down to the girl momentarily. She was irritated inside, yet somehow she remained expressionless but those eyes did hold a killer cold stare. '' Why don't you learn how to control that animal? Put a leash on it before it gets itself.. damaged.'' This wasn't necessarily a threat. She was just toying with her. Using her own words against her.

Falentra's hands quickly pushed against the surface, forcing herself up onto her feet so she was now level with the boy, surprisingly. Her eyes were set on him now. She held it there, probably for an uncomfortable amount of time, but she wanted a good look at him, with that same cold stare still in place. She had seen the boy before but wasn't sure if he was a fifth-year or sixth, not that it mattered to her.

He complimented her book, but wasn't entirely sure if it was genuine or not so decided to ignore him and slip the said book into her bag. Folding her arms over her chest, her eyes would narrow as she had finished with her judgment on the boy. ''Anything else?'' She asked the Hufflepuff, whilst swiftly dusting off any crumbs of chocolate from her top, purposely aiming it towards the girl's direction. Her gaze didn't move down to see the girl's reaction, despite her grasping on to how the average person would react. Only a casual wave motioned in her direction '' If you weren't on the floor in the first place, you wouldn't have been hit by it.''

Interacting with @Falentra Black and @Jack Warren
Astra speaking: #136323
Thoughts: Italics
Others Bold

Hermes had finally settled down, with both of Astra's arms wrapped tightly around him. I should've known he would do something like this. She wondered if leaving the cat with Elliot and Jesse was really the best decision, but she hadn't had much say.

On older boy, looking about the same age as the girl, shared his opinion on cats. Astra shrugged. "So far I agree. Though, only just got this one today," she responded. "I'll have to train him, that's certain." The girl sent a stern look down to the cat who was seemingly begging to be let free. Fat chance.

As the older girl responded to Astra, with a cold gleam in her eye, the redhead found herself rolling her eyes on the inside. Oh, so she thinks she's clever. It seemed the girl could keep a poker face, probably better than Astra seeing as she was older, but luckily the first year was able to hide her sarcastic response and disrespectful attitude. "Well at least he didn't dirty up your precious book," she responded snarkily, against her better judgement. Truly, she was glad she was able to catch Hermes and avoid catastrophe, but couldn't the girl be a little more appreciative?

She started to get to her feet, focusing on keeping Hermes close while the other two talked. She was up on one knee when suddenly a shower of... crumbs? came raining down on her. Astra's expression morphed from one of neutrality into one of confusion and disgust. What was that for? The girl made some comment on how if Astra hadn't been on the ground then she wouldn't have gotten hit. No crap, Sherlock. "Forgive me for putting myself in this predicament so you didn't get climbed on by a cat today," Astra snapped, her voice positively dripping with every ounce of sarcasm she had in her. "Unless you wanted him to climb on you? 'Cause I'm sure that could be arranged."She stood fully, not releasing her grip on the now wriggling cat.

Some folks would say that birds of a feather flock together, and it was evident that Jack may have found a kindred spirit. Being beset on all sides by kids who were so sickly sweet and 'pure of heart' made the Hufflepuff want to spit up bile. However, as Jack was on a cruel streak, he'd be lying if he didn't find it a bit of a rush to help wreck some poor sod's day. Warren lazily hung from the post as he listened to the older girl speak. It was a pleasant surprise to hear the girl set down what most would assume to be a threat, and he let himself chuckle. Nobody would ever want to see a poor little beast get damaged. "If we are being honest here, cats are really only good for one thing..." The animagus paused for a moment as if Jack expected a Dora the Explorer-esc call and response before finishing, "Target practice." The once goofy smile Jack bore began to mutate into a wicked grin as he looked down his nose at the young Slytherin and her feline bullseye. Here's to hoping Astra would react poorly because Jack found his fingers itching for a good chance to try out his new animagus form in a fight.

Hooking his wrist against the top bit of the arch, Jack would let himself hang as he lazily watched Falentra stand. The boy loved being the center of attention, so the dark-haired girl turning her cold stare on him was exactly what he wanted. "Gettin' a good look?" His equally steely gaze matched the girl's look before winking. He only kept his look long enough to see if his flirty gesture would cause any response, but in the end, he would back down first by breaking eye contact.

"Nah, I was just curious about what you were readin'. Looks fancy." A nonchalant shrug followed his response to Falentra's 'anything else?' comment. Jack raised a single eyebrow at the girl's obvious power play of swiping the crumbs at Astra, but he was surprised at the vitriol the younger girl shot back with. "If I didn't know any better, that sounded like a threat, kiddo. 'Hope you have the metal to back up those words."

Having a wonderful time interacting with @Falentra Black & @Astra Norrick