The Edge of the Universe open

@Gabriele Ricci-Armani

Speech -- Thoughts

Pam had returned to her habit of showing up in the Astronomy Tower at night. They would be returning home soon, and she had a feeling she would miss the Astronomy Tower terribly in their three-ish months of holiday. The sky background home was not so clear. The stars were very rarely visible.

Maybe I'll ask him for a mini camera or something similar before coming next term, she pondered. He'd like to see pictures of the sky and Hogwarts generally. Maybe even of my friends. Pam had never thought of herself as someone who liked pictures. But since she had discovered wizarding photography, thanks to a fifth year Hufflepuff Simon Kincaid, she had been really interested in it. I should really ask him if he'd be willing to teach me sometime... Maybe next term?

As she reached the top, she stopped in her tracks. Looks like others got here before me. She hesitated, temporarily considering running away and seeking a place where she could be alone, but then decided against it. After all, she had essentially come to look at the stars, not specifically to be alone, and the two others, a boy and a girl, seemed to be sitting in silence.

Perhaps this could work.

She shut the door behind her softly, "Hello, mind if I join you?" The question was more courtesy than actual consideration, Pam realised vaguely. She wasn't going to be leaving if one of them said she wasn't welcome.

Probably.

She moved towards the boy's other side, eyes narrowing as she spotted the cigarette in his hand. Okay, we're keeping distance. She set herself against the wall, as away from the boy she could get without it appearing obvious. I hope the smoke doesn't affect me too much.

Date. 1/6/25 Tag. @Pamela Graham @Carina Kaede
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Gabriele quickly dried his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie when he heard someone speak behind him. A girl by the sounds of it, but he didn't look at her until he was sure he didn't look like a crying little bitch. Neither had he expected anyone else to be here at this hour, and he definitely didn't want them to see him all teary eyed and pathetic. He glanced at her, some elegant looking Slytherin girl he didn't recognize. Though from what he'd gathered, the majority from Slytherin looked kind of snobby. Like they were a little bit better than everyone else. Contrary to her appearance, she didn't sound snobby. Not that snobby, rich people with huge egos would be anything new to someone like Gabi, who was surrounded by that lifestyle.

"Yeah, it's fine. I don't own the place," he said with a shrug, taking another pull of his cigarette and stared out into nothingness. Couldn't tell her to piss off even if he wanted to. Would be kind of low to tell a girl to piss off though. Gabi didn't have any reservations about being an annoying cunt to anyone, but it was usually towards people who deserved it. At least she didn't say anything as she took a seat further away from him. Neither did Gabi try to start up a conversation.

Only a few minutes passed until more footsteps could be heard and another girl appeared. This time it was someone he actually knew. Not personally, but from seeing her around the common room. She too wanted to spend the evening staring at stars. It was already a crowd, so what difference would it make if she joined? Honestly, he didn't care, just shrugging in her direction. Do what you want. Without an answer, she headed in his direction before she changed her mind and took another turn. Maybe the smoke turned her off, he noted with an amused smirk. Gabi didn't really care.

"Damn, is everyone depressed tonight?" Why was everyone gathering here?

@Gabriele Ricci-Armani @Pamela Graham

Speech -- Thoughts

Pam eyed the boy across from her, feeling apprehensive about his tone of voice, even as his words made her grin. He was a Hufflepuff, from the look of his uniform, but Pam couldn't remember ever seeing him in the Common Room or in classes. Then again, that wasn't surprising. She probably wouldn't have recalled it even if she had shortly met him somewhere. She was as bad at remembering faces as she was at remembering names. I do hope that's not the case though. Forgetting faces of people you've held a conversation with is rather rude.

The other person, the girl, seemed to be a Slytherin. The glint in her eyes, seemed kinder, less detached, compared to the boy who had given her a general feeling of absolutely not wanting the company, or generally not wanting to be there at all. Nothing to be done now anyway. Pam could tell for certain that she had never seen her before. Probably.

She wondered if she should get herself involved in the conversation. Her eyes wondered upwards, towards the canopy of stars glittering like diamonds, tracing out the constellations whose names she knew, and the ones she was yet to learn. "I think it's peaceful." She offered softly. "And it's quiet. Rather refreshing after a long, loud day don't you think?"

Pam's eyes drifted towards the two, studying them, or whatever she could see of them in the dark, lingering on the tiny fire which was the only other source of light in the room. Her father had warned her against what kind of stuff she got attached to. He had specifically warned her to steer clear of cigarettes and anything related to smoke due to her asthmatic tendencies. The very sight of the smoke curling off the ember made her shiver, a familiar suffocative feeling starting to creep in. She turned away from it, leaning back against the wall and waiting for someone to break the silence again. It would be alright as long as the smoke wasn't reaching her and she wasn't looking at it.

Date. 1/6/25 Tag. @Pamela Graham @Carina Kaede
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Gabriele hadn't expected a response, really. Except an eye roll and snarky remark at most. At the Slytherins' response, Gabi looked down at the ‘cancer stick’ between his fingers, humorously noting that if the air was indeed better up here, it was until he decided to show up and taint the air. He was currently ruining it with the smoke. Self-aware, sure. But did he care to stop? Nope.

Something about her struck him as a dreamer, or maybe just someone confused to what they really thought. Probably because of the way she changed her mind, exploring other possibilities mid-sentence. Almost like she was romanticizing every word. That was just his observation, which he didn’t care to find out if it was accurate or not. Judging people based on superficial shit was at least one trait he got from his dads, when everything else felt foreign. It was at least different from Gabrieles straight-forward approach.

“Wow… that's deep,” he retorted with dull irony, turning back to stare at the stars like he knew any of the constellations and bodies. He didn't give two fucks either about pretending to be fine anywhere. What was the point in faking it? If he was hating his life because his dads refused to buy him the latest gaming gear, he was doing it everywhere. And everyone would know about his first world problems because misery loves company.

The girl spoke again. Gabi glanced over at her, meeting her eyes in the dark. His stomach churned a bit, finding the whole situation oddly intimate. Gabriele wasn’t depressed, as much as he made it seem like he hated everything. His life was too privileged, too loving to be anything less than happy. Anyone would have loved to be a part of his family, he knew. A half-smirk dragged across his lips. “I thought it was obvious,” lifting his hand and twirling the cigarette between his fingers to get the point across, before he rolled his eyes and brought it to his lips again. Even if he had most things he ever wanted, something was not quite right.

Breaking the somewhat somber mood, the hufflepuff girl added that she liked the peacefulness. Gabriele shrugged. “I suppose it was.” Until he had to share the whole tower with the whole school. In all actuality, he didn’t really mind the company. Realizing he still didn’t know the names of these people, he looked back, more open this time. "So, what's your names? Since we're all sitting here like some group of anonymous alcoholics, we might aswell introduce ourselves."

@Gabriele Ricci-Armani @Pamela Graham

Speech -- Thoughts

Pam raised her eyebrows as the boy broke the silence again, this time steering them towards the topic of introductions. The girl went first, offering her name as well as her year and house with a quiet simplicity. Carina Kaede. Pam wondered if she spelt it with a 'c' or a 'k'. Her inititals would be KK if she spells it with k. That's cool.

Her next words made Pam pause, tearing her gaze away from the stars to look at the girl in mild confusion, what on earth is an AA meeting. She didn't put the question into words though, she'd look it up later on.

"Pamela Graham." She offered softly, "First year Hufflepuff."

'You can tell a lot about people based on where they end up when they're not trying to be seen,'

The words caught Pam's thoughts and Pam smiled, nodding her approval, "That's very true. People often show their real selves when they think no-one is looking " She shitted against the wall, resisting the desire to lie down on the floor like she normally did whenever she came up here. She wasn't sure how her newest acquaintances would take it.

She tilted her head at the boy, and flashed him a smile, "What's your name then? You're the one who asked the question, but we don't know your name."

Sorry for the wait!

Date. 1/6/2025 | Dialogue. #1E361C | Tag. @Pamela Graham @Carina Kaede
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Carina and Pamela. That was the two girls names. Neither was unusual enough to be especially memorable, yet none of them came with any stereotypes. You know those names that just came with a package deal personality? Everyone knew what a Karen was like. Speaking of... Carina was kind of close enough, but this Slytherin girl was too dreamy - too far-away in her own mind - to want to talk to your manager. Maybe Carina was a new-age Karen, with her own tarot card deck and believed in crystals? Yeah, that was more believable.

Gabi searched his memory for anyone he'd met with either of those two names, just to have something to compare to. There was only one Pamela that came to mind. "Pamela, as in Pamela Anderson?" Gabriele jokingly asked through another blow of smoke, knowing that the reference was definitely too dated, probably too muggle, to land properly. It would probably sound stupid too, since she'd already told them her last name: Graham.

He didn't expect the girls to get the reference, either way. Perhaps that was for the better, honestly. Most kids his age weren’t like Gabi, liking crude jokes and making people uncomfortable by being inappropriate — and most of the time, that was probably why people didn’t like him. If it wasn't obvious already: he didn't give a fuck.

Not that Gabi was old enough to have experienced the hype of the actress at the time, but Baywatch was kind of iconic. The only reason he knew about it was because he had older brothers, and cousins that were basically muggles - you kind of had to know about it. As funny as it was (to him) that that was the first thing that came to mind, it was an impossible comparison since they were twelve. That was large shoes (and bra) to fill. Still, it was funny, even if the crowd was tough. Hell, if they did know, he'd be impressed for real.

The girls turned to him when he was the only one who hadn't bothered to introduce himself. Suppose it's his turn... He sighed, straightening up slightly after sitting in an uncomfortable position for too long. "Gabriele. Hufflepuff. First year." Just getting the bare minimum out of the way. And at the topic of 'seeing people for who they really were when people weren't looking', he added with an incredulous eye-roll: "New place, same disaster." He didn't need to sneak away to the astronomy tower to be who he was. And he was fine with that.

"Who are you pretending to be when you're not here, then?" It sounded like they were speaking from experience.