Speech -- Thoughts

She stood on the familiar platform, gripping her baggage tightly so it didn't get lost in the crowd. School was finally closing for a term break and Pam had mixed feelings— sadness and joy, all combined into one. On one hand, she was sad to leave the place she had grown to adore, her friends, she wouldn't see them for a while. On the other hand, she had missed home so terribly bad, and had spent countless nights longing for the touch of something familiar. At least that desire was finally coming true.

Pam didn't hesitate, stepping into the train and starting to weave through crowds in search of a compartment which was empty, or less crowded. She had learnt from her last time on the train, the earlier one got on it, the likelier they were to find a place to sit. Pam did not wish to return home squeezed among people she did not know.

Her efforts were not in vain, for finally an empty compartment came into her sight, and Pam slipped in immediately, reveling in the breathing space it immediately gave her. She placed her luggage in its place before Lumi drew her attention with a hoot.

Pam turned to see the snowy owl eyeing her with something akin to a sulk and Pam smiled as she lowered herself in front of her cage. Lumi has given an indignant squawk when Pam had attempted to herd her into the cage and had then proceed to totally ignore her presence. "Do you decide to need me only when you're hungry?" Pam asked jokingly, fishing out some owl treats from her pocket and holding it out in her hand, "Hold on for just a while, we'll be home soon."

Tori was carrying her suitcase and her pet rat Vick under her arm. She had finally reached the end of her second year at Hogwarts. She had had many different experiences. New friends, different emotions, and choosing classes for the following year.

It was reminiscent of the crowded Platform 9 3/4 platform for boarding the train. By making her way through the crowds, Tori managed to board the train. At this point, she was sure that some students in the crowd had stepped on her foot.

When she entered the train, she tried to ignore the crowd on the train as she looked for an empty seat. When she found an empty seat, she quickly went in.

When Tori walked in she saw someone else there. When she realized it was Pam, Tori felt her heart race, her face turn red and her hair turn a darker shade of red.

"H-Hello Pam, can I sit down? I couldn't find another empty seat. Of course, if you're waiting for someone, I understand."

She spoke quickly and excitedly, only saying what was on her mind and not thinking. She waited for Pam's answer. At that moment, Vick's tired voice came from the cage.

@Pamela Graham @Brookline Quinn @Joseph Sims

ℬrookline glanced over at her kitten as she exited the castle she had called home over the past year, and the year before that. She spun around to take a look at Hogwarts one last time (well last time til September). Then dropping her trunk to the ground, she set the crate down as well, to pick up Tigeress. The tabby meowed pitifully, as if she had no problem with staying at Hogwarts.

“Please?” The young Quinn pleaded, her voice tired and slow, her palms stretched out towards her kitten. She dug inside her Enchanted Satchel, and revealed a treat. “You can have this if you get in the cage. I know I wouldn’t like it either. But you have to.”

Just like she had to travel back home.

Of course she’d like to see Lizy, and heaps of siblings back home. But... Every single time Brookline came back home something horrible happened.

Christmas. Her Dad full on left her and he entire family. She and Lizy had shut themselves in their rooms, afterwards. Her Mum was emotionally bruised, and shut herself in her room too, after Brookline had left.

Easter. Her Dad came back and left again. She almost burnt down the house. Her mum was stuck in her room again.

What was happening to Brookline? Did the universe thought it was okay to just catapult, and hurl and chuck all these horrible, horrible things at her - and that wasn’t even the worst part - and laugh at her? Sometimes all this pain felt like a sliver tipped knife was plunged straight into her heart, and like a poisoned, toxic arrow was driven into her spine.

Wrapping her hands around Tigeress’s middle, Brookline pushed her kitten in the crate. Tigeress received a warm ear rub and that kitten treat, and Brookline hopped back into the balls of her black boots.

Let’s go, She whispered, in her mind, bittersweet and with a heavy sigh, she was ready to go. To leave the only place she ever called home.

At the train station, Brookline hugged her kitten’s cage close to her chest, with her satchel hung on her shoulder, and her other hand gripped her heavy trunk. It felt strange, in fact to be here again. She’d been here twice last year, and this’ll her second time this year. Of course she was here, (well not on this side of the United Kingdom), once or twice when she was quite younger to drop her much older sister, Lizy, off to Hogwarts. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.

Boarding a train now, Brookline first went to the restroom and changed. If you knew her, than you would know that she utterly hates wearing robes for long periods of time. She went to the first stall, and dropped all her belongings to the ground. Slipping out of the robe, she pulled on a light crimson red, lacy top, and for her bottoms, they were a light blue Jean shorts. Grabbing her satchel, she pulled one of her Brandys Brights Barrettes out, just to fix her hair a bit. No wonder her hair was always a pain to uncomb and untangle. So unbrushed.

Exiting the restroom, with her baggage in hand, Brookline searched for what she wanted a probably empty compartment. She opened one, saw a large group of boys, her eyes widened and she quickly fled, slamming the door hard behind her. No way was she ever gonna sit in a compartment bursting all the seams with the opposite gender.

She remembered that she had shared a compartment with @Sage Willows at the beginning of the school year. Oh how long ago that was. She remembered. She remembered how emotional she was and how she was about to cry and everything. Brookline could barely get words to come out of her mouth, but Sage had stayed with her every second of the way. She was talking with her, and everything. It was way more than her father will ever do with her.

And Brookline was more than thankful for dear Sage.

Of course she wanted to cry now. Tears pricked at her eyes, and the possessions she held in her hands now felt heavy. Of course her emotions had get ahead her and of course her memory was brought back to the moment where she wanted to cry.

Curse her emotions. Curse the universe! Curse her father. Curse everything!

She wanted to stomp and stop and have a gosh-darned tantrum. But of course she knew she couldn’t do that. She was thirteen years old, a teenager.

Heart flashing wildly in her chest, Brookline opened another door to a different compartment, and her dark blue eyes was met with the familiar faces of Pamela and Victoria. Pamela was a first year she had invited to her birthday party and Victoria was one of her roommates in first year and a fellow Welsh girl. She took a breath of fresh relief, her cheeks although now numb with the presence of wanting to cry. She knew she would cry eventually.

The Ravenclaw girl looked at Tori more closely and noticed her hair was a darker tinge of red. Did she dye her hair? That would make sense since I hadn’t seen her for a while. She would shrug and realized that the pain of tears burning at her eyes brought her back to reality.

Please don’t cry. Please don’t cry.

Brookline gave the two girls a small half smile, and “Hey Pam and Tori!” She mustered to utter. It was amazing how she hadn’t cried yet. She took a step forward, then heisated.

“Mind if I join?”

ooc:

Speech -- Thoughts

Lumi nipped at her finger and Pam yelped, drawing her hand back. It didn't actually hurt, because she had learnt by now that Lumi would never hurt her on purpose, but the snowy owl was still throwing her some very dirty looks and so Pam decided to use it to her advantage and with a mock-injured expression, said dramatically, "How dare you! I'm your best friend! You hurt me so-" The sound of the door sliding open behind her cut through her monologue, and Pam hoped whoever it was hadn't heard her trying to guilt-trip her pet. That would be... embarrassing.

Still cradling her hand, Pam glanced up; a familiar girl stood at the doorway. "Hi Lena," she greeted with a smile, stepping away from Lumi's cage and over to Victoria, "You can sit here, it's empty anyway."

Very soon, the company of two had turned into three, as a familiar brunette also showed up to join them. "Brooke!" Pam greeted, expression softening as she met the girl's blue eyes. There was something about the girl which made Pam want to protect her, which totally had nothing to do with the fact that she seemed to look sad every time Pam saw her. It worried her, if she was to be honest. Pam hadn't interacted with her much, but the latter had seemed to be five seconds away from tears every time she had.

She waved her hand vaguely around the couch, "Sure, make yourself comfortable."

She smiled and sat by the window. Since her refusal to talk to Pam hadn't worked, Tori let things take their course. She placed her suitcase and bag upstairs and lifted her mouse cage onto her lap. Meanwhile, she tried to turn her hair back to its normal red color, but it didn't work.

Tori was relieved to hear someone else arrive without needing to speak. Her eyes lit up when she looked at the door. It was Rook, her friend from the same year and country as her. Her hair was a dusty pink. Tori quickly put the cage down on the couch she had been sitting in before and reached out to hug Rook.

"Rook, how are you? It's been a while since we've talked. How are you?"

She sat back down. Meanwhile, Vick, who was in the cage, made a noise. Victoria knew Pam had an owl, so she didn't want to take her mouse out just in case.

"Just be patient. I'll take you out when I get off the train."

She looked at the other two girls and smiled. She hoped Pam hadn't heard what she'd just said. She spoke up, trying to change the subject.

"What are you girls up to these days? Are you going to summer camp?"

ℬrookline's heart thumped as she stood outside of the entrance of the compartment, and her clouded, ocean-coloured eyes glazed over. Her mind was swirling with outrageous thoughts, and it was painful. The whispers only grew louder with each minute she stood there, waiting there for her friends' answers.

It could have been minutes, or it could have been seconds. It could have been hours. The Welsh thought she had been standing in silence for hours, and those voices only grew louder. She had to strain to listen to Pamela and Victoria.

She nodded at Pamela, and thanked her for letting her sit. "Thank you, Pam."

She was about to take a seat when Victora had set her pet's crate down, and had ambled over to her to give her a small hug, and asked how she was. What to tell Tori? She certainly can't tell Victora and Pamela that she was awful, and didn't want to go home or didn't want to face a father-less home. She most certainly tell her friends that she has cruel voices floating around her mind. They'd think she was crazy!

Then, the Ravenclaw's eyes traveled up to her fellow Ravenclaw's hair. Woah. She - she had pink hair, now!? Brookline returned the hug, but had a confused look on her face. "I... I'm good. Better than ever. Amazing." Rambling on, nervously, Brookline forced her smile, and added, "How are you, Tori? You too, Pam. How was your exams?"

Then Brookline realized she had to ask Tori about her hair. Wasn't there a person who change their face shape or change the colour of her hair? What was it called? Meta-something? She couldn't remember. She remembered she had read about those humans who could change their body parts, to a different color or shape, but she just couldn't remember. So she just asked, "Your hair... Are you changing it, yourself? There's a race, I forget it's name. Wait! You're a metamorph, right?"

With that all over with, she mimicked Victoria's action, and sat down as well, setting down her heavy trunk and Tigeress's crate. She heard Victoria mutter something to her pet. All she hoped was that Tori didn't own a rat or mouse, as Tigeress would surely pin-point out the rodent's mousey scent and go stir-crazy. She just stuck her fingers inside the cage, and stroked her little kitten's ears, and crossed her fingers that Tori didn't own a cute little rodent. She would hate for her Tigeress to go insane and devoure the little rodent, causing trama.

Then, unexpectedly, and suddenly Brookline froze, Victoria had changed the subject, and asked the girls what they were doing these days and if they were going to camp. The Ravenclaw's heart rattled against its cage, like a dog might scratch rapidly at it's crates metal bars. This was worst than the usual 'how are you', and Brookline strained a labored breath, telling herself to breath, everything was okay, everything was fine.

The Welsh girl panicked mentally, while her mouth took care of everything. "Not much. I guess I'm not ready... to go home. But, yes I'll be at summer camp."

A faint, blurry image of a golden cage appeared under her eyelids. It felt like she was inside, and her eyes burned with tears, as she banged on the bars.

She wanted out of this freaking prison.

ooc:

Speech -- Thoughts

She had to admit, Brookline was not a very good liar.

If you asked Pam, stuttering over your words was a sign of bad liar. Also looking like you were going to collapse, either physically or emotionally or both, at any minute, did not count as being fine.

And that was exactly how the older girl looked. She looked exhausted, like she was thinking too much all the time, and her eyes looked dead.

Not to mention that smile which looked clearly forced.

Or was Pam overthinking this? Maybe the girl was just in a bad mood. Sure, her inner voice snarked, She just so happens to be in a 'bad' mood everytime you meet. Just a coincidence. Not suspicious at all. Pam swallowed, watching the girl as Victoria gave her a hug, curling her fists in her lap. No matter how much Pam could tell the girl wasn't fine, she couldn't do anything about it unless Brookline said anything. The two weren't close enough that Pam could help her without being invited.

Doesn't look like she's inclined to share anything though.

So Pam sat back in her seat, even as she longed to reach out and say something, anything, that might help— "Would you like some brownies Brookline?"

Her brain started chiding her almost immediately, Great work Pam. Sure, offering her food is an absolutely brilliant idea. What if she doesn't like sugar?

Looking up she noted the fact that she had cut into their conversation, probably a little rudely. She flashed the two an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I was just..." awkward and wanting to help but didn't know how. Her words hung in the air, waiting for Brookline's answer. I'll make better offers next time I swear.