& i'm afraid (oh don't let it find me)
banner made by Lily McCoire
The train rocked gently from side to side, almost in time with the dread coiling around Evgenia Starkova's chest. The eleven-year-old girl sat alone in her seat, traces of far-off chatter drifting into her ears; a suitcase lay at her feet and a backpack in her lap. One earbud could be seen nestled into her left ear, softly blaring calming Russian melodies. She wore black leggings and a long-sleeved black t-shirt despite the late-summer sun - an attempt to calm herself. These were the clothes most familiar to Evgenia as of late, a reminder of afternoons and evenings spent on the ice after school. Entire Saturdays and Sundays and school break days devoted to training. Now she was being forced to leave all of that, and it was her mother's fault entirely.
If it were up to Evgenia, she wouldn't be on this train. If it were up to Evgenia, she would be at school today and already thinking about what she was going to focus on at the rink that night. But she hadn't even had a say - her mother had spontaneously decided that she should attend some fantastical wizard school. After she had ranted so peevedly about the uselessness and gall of sending anyone such a prank letter! Whatever those weird visitors had said to Mama had undoubtedly turned her brain to mush.
And here Evgenia sat because of it, wasting time on some random train after having wasted time going to some odd, hallucinogenic alley to buy odd books and other assorted items she never needed in the first place. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There was no such thing as magic - though . . . how could she explain Platform 9¾? There was no logical explanation for that. She had been tugged through a wall. Did Papa even know Evgenia was going to a boarding school? She doubted it - Mama hated telling him anything, and Evgenia hadn't thought the prank letter important enough to write Papa and Susanna about before Mama had changed her mind abruptly. Then, she hadn't had time to get a letter for them off. I need to write them as soon as I get to this odd school. Though, she still had doubts about its existence.
What about the other random people she had seen? Some older than her; some probably her same age. Some of them seemed to have weird uniforms on. She'd seen red, blue, green, and yellow. She glanced around the train car, anxiety curling around her tighter. What would she say if somebody came up to her, or sat down near her? Did anyone else believe all of this?
At least she wasn't leaving the country.
mentions: @Lauren Wong
"Don't make a shadow of yourself, always shutting out the light." - Florence + the Machine, 'Third Eye'
Arcane power: 3 | Stamina: 8 | Evasion: 6 | Accuracy: 6 | Wisdom: 6 | Strength: 6
& i'm afraid (oh don't let it find me)
 Credits to @Minyu McCullen LAUREN WONG | Ravenclaw 𝖨'𝗅𝗅 𝖻𝖾 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗆𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗌 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝖺 𝗊𝗎𝖾𝖾𝗇, 𝖼𝗁𝖾𝖼𝗄𝗆𝖺𝗍𝖾 ─────────────────── coded by: Marigold Wesley ───────────────────
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xx. |   |
| Lauren Wong - Ravenclaw | |
Sta: 7 | Eva: 7 | Str: 6 | Wis: 4 | Arc: 5 | Acc: 6 |
Sta: 9 | Eva: 5 | Str: 5 | Wis: 7 | Arc: 4 | Acc: 5 |
& i'm afraid (oh don't let it find me)
banner made by Lily McCoire
Evgenia looked up at the sudden entrance and words of a girl in blue, blinking. "H-hi. I am Lauren Wong, a second-year Ravenclaw!" Evgenia took in the girl's brown hair and eyes as she continued on speaking, hand rising to fiddle with the tip of her braid a little bit. "Would you mind if I shared a compartment with you? I will not bother you! If you like, I can tell you all about Hogwarts if you do not mind! Oh yeah, what is your name?"
Evgenia took a moment to compile her reply. "I'm Evgenia Starkova," she said slowly. "I don't mind you sitting here." Well, where had her social skills gone? She had plenty of interaction skills from school - the problem was, she didn't use the same ones much at the rink. And that was far and away the place she spent the most time other than school. "I - sure. That's okay. If you tell me about the school, I mean." Ouch. She wasn't going to earn any brownie points with anyone. "I really don't know anything about . . . Hogwarts." Just the name itself was ridiculous. "I'm new. And I had never heard of it before." Not until the letter, anyway.
@Lauren Wong
"Don't make a shadow of yourself, always shutting out the light." - Florence + the Machine, 'Third Eye'
Arcane power: 3 | Stamina: 8 | Evasion: 6 | Accuracy: 6 | Wisdom: 6 | Strength: 6
& i'm afraid (oh don't let it find me)
Credits to @Minyu McCullen LAUREN WONG | Ravenclaw 𝖨'𝗅𝗅 𝖻𝖾 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗆𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗌 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝖺 𝗊𝗎𝖾𝖾𝗇, 𝖼𝗁𝖾𝖼𝗄𝗆𝖺𝗍𝖾 ─────────────────── coded by: Marigold Wesley ───────────────────
|
xx. | |
| Lauren Wong - Ravenclaw | |
Sta: 7 | Eva: 7 | Str: 6 | Wis: 4 | Arc: 5 | Acc: 6 |
Sta: 9 | Eva: 5 | Str: 5 | Wis: 7 | Arc: 4 | Acc: 5 |
& i'm afraid (oh don't let it find me)
banner made by Lily McCoire
Evgenia nodded to Lauren's questions, sliding over a bit to ensure that she had enough space to sit down. "Yes, the letter and the people who visited my house said something about that. My parents aren't, uh, wizards or witches." Lauren carried on, but Evgenia didn't mind that - it gave her more time to gather her thoughts and less need to be the main carrier of the conversation. At Lauren's mention of also being Muggle-born, she let her brows rise briefly and then fall, showing her continued attention to the conversation. "Hm. That's cool." So Lauren had also boarded this train at some point - last school year, she supposed - not knowing what she was in for. The thought made Evgenia feel a little bit less nervous. Maybe this really wasn't a prank or a mistake.
She listened to Lauren's explanation of the four houses, frowning a bit. "Well . . . I really don't know. I guess it could be . . . any of them?" She'd never given much thought to paying attention to her own traits like that. She was ambitious, yes, and she'd consider herself to be brave and quick-thinking. But how would she even be sorted into a house? Why were there these "houses", anyway? "I suppose I'll just find out when we get there." She glanced closer at Lauren, still fiddling with her braid tip. "Did you have a guess in your first year?"
@Lauren Wong
"Don't make a shadow of yourself, always shutting out the light." - Florence + the Machine, 'Third Eye'
Arcane power: 3 | Stamina: 8 | Evasion: 6 | Accuracy: 6 | Wisdom: 6 | Strength: 6