2 Sep 2019, 23:10
and then there were five
and that's why i love youBeing back still felt surreal. After close to nine months away from Hogwarts, Rhea felt almost like a first year. It was as if she had stepped into a parallel universe, one where she felt like a little 11 year old once again, but when in reality she was almost fourteen. It was crazy how time had passed. Perhaps it was because she'd spent the second half of the school year in hiding, away from wizarding society. It was what her mother deemed best, after the fiasco of the infamous Christmas party where her father had basically destroyed the Bishop name. The Bishops were now considered a disgrace to the pureblood world, the patron a cheating bastard and the matron weak and cowardly. Rhea somehow managed to escape the labelling, but she kept her guard up. Who knew what kind of behavior uptight purebloods would face her with?
The library was, quite frankly, not the first place Rhea would've thought she'd end up, but here she was. Besides, if anyone were to approach her about her whereabouts for the past 9 months, she could simply tell them to suck it and they couldn't yell at her - it would be impolite to disrupt the quiet. And it was a good meeting place as any. For what? For the making of new friends, of course. Well, not new friends, per se. Everyone that she had owled was an acquaintance, or at least Rhea knew well enough to know they wouldn't mention the Christmas party. Hell, maybe they didn't even know.
A few days ago, Rhea had owled three other third years: Alexx Severin, Frost Cira, and Ami Procoppio. Everyone know each other, or of each other, so she hoped they could skip through the awkwardness. The prime reason for the meeting was because she wanted to solidify their friendships; every time she had interacted with any of them, it had not been god awful. So the letter had been sent. Now, she waited patiently for their arrival.
The idea to create this meeting had come from the many books Rhea had read during her period of seclusion - it was something called AA. Of course, none of them were alcoholics, but Rhea decided to 'lead' the meeting the way they did. Just for shits and giggles, no other reason. She needed a reason to laugh, or at least some way to enjoy her life. And hell, maybe the four of them would emerge the best of friends after this meeting. Apart from her cousin, Eris (but did that even really count?) Rhea didn't have any best friends. She'd never had any, and the books she'd read had incited a desire for them. So the worst scenario was that no one would show up, and then Rhea could just move on with her life. But best case scenario? Rhea could emerge with friends for a lifetime.
The letter she had sent was nothing short of intimidating. The only reason Rhea had a hope of the three of them showing up was because she had added a hint of who she was - otherwise, she wouldn't have expected anyone to show up. But she figured being mysterious and all that would just add to the fun, make this boring old meeting some sort of adventure.
Until anyone arrived, Rhea sat at a table in the back. A notebook was spread out in front of her, with the words 'welcome to AA but instead of alcoholics it's just friends' written in near cursive on top. She was doodling random things in the corners, looking up every now and then to see if anyone was approaching. When someone did, in fact, approach, Rhea stood up and beamed.
"Welcome," she greeted enthusiastically, then gestured to a seat. "Please, take a seat. Thank you for coming."
the trouble is, if you don't risk anything -- you risk more.
♕ℛ ♕
STAMINA: 4; EVASION: 10; STRENGTH: 8; WISDOM: 6; ARCANE POWER: 5; ACCURACY: 12
3 Sep 2019, 04:14
and then there were five
Alexx was beginning to question what third year even was. First she was meeting with people like Max Avery, stalking him, prepared to slander him in the paper (or something like that), and now she was at an... Alcoholics Anonymous meeting? But, she wasn't an alcoholic, so what even was this? She genuinely had no idea as to what was happening. It had been a weird spiral ever since meeting with Eris on the Hogwarts Express.
Turtles all the way down.
That is what that meant, wasn't it?
Alexx was the very first to enter. This meeting was... Well, a time killer, if anything. Rhea greeted her politely, and Alexx nodded. "We meet again." She pointed out, cocking her head to the side as she took a seat.
A shiver ran up her spine. For a moment, the room appeared so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. It was damn near frightening to the 13-year-old. It felt like she didn't belong here... Like her body and mind had been separated in the sea of students, and then here she was, facing Rhea Bishop in some sort of therapy session. What, was she here to complain about her pureblood troubles? Talk about how terrible life was treating her these days? How cruel the world was? She hoped not. She didn't want to sound like some senile old lady who was suffering from PTSD or something.
But the distant look in her eyes screamed that. It told people that she had seen some shit, and now she was ready to make the world pay. Injustice after injustice was thrown at Alexx; so much that it almost made her want to vomit. She was dizzy after all that life had thrown at her, and unequipped to face the new school year in such a state. No, she was too busy trying to solve her other problems. A "P" in Herbology was not the thing that she needed to be fearing right now. There were much more important things at stake.
It was at this point that Alexx began to wonder what must have happened in order for her to get here. How did this happen? What wrong path did Alexx go down that led her to this? There were multiple questions lingering in her mind, asking herself if she had been making the right decisions. And these people... Well, other than Ami and Rhea, did she know them? Were they her friends> What time of meeting was this?
Was this a repeat of the Dark Witch Society?
It couldn't be, Ami wasn't a pureblood.
While Alexx was certainly strengthening her pureblood relationships, as seen with Max, Eris, and Rhea, she didn't really need to go that far. That was why she left. But here she was, joining some sort of other organization. What, was this one planning to overthrow the Prefect team? God, she hoped so. There were so many people on that team that would be easy to mess with... As long as they left the Slytherin's alone, anyway. Those were still her babies. Small, pure little snake babies that Alexx trained and put a bad influence on.
So that left her here, doing whatever this was. "Who all is supposed to show up?" She asked, tapping her foot nervously. Please don't say Reid, please don't say Reid.
You see, ever since her birthday, the two have been extraordinarily close. But Alexx, being the dumb little girl that she was, didn't know how to handle close friendships. So, she was going to keep her distance. She needed time to figure things out. And what with the situation with Uncle Jean and him asking her to move to an entirely different country, Alexx was not about to drop that into the lap of someone like Reid Kovacs. He could be secretly sensitive for all she knew!
So, she did not want to see him. Especially not here.
Turning to Rhea, she shot her a smile. "I am glad that my parents divorced, but it sucks that I don't have any excuse to come and visit you. We shall make the time, yes? After all, we are supposed to be some dynamic, pureblood duo, or whatever our parents wanted. So we can always start early unless we are dead set on not appealing to them. Which, if that is the case, I should warn you that I have complete control over the press here at Hogwarts, so I would make a terrible enemy if you have any secrets that you don't want the school to know." It was a joke, of course. Alexx wouldn't dare abuse her powers and get uprooted from her only position of authority left. That was a suicide mission, to slander a student (she thought, for some reason not classifying Max Avery as a student).
Her foot continued to tap on the floor, its rhythm steady, keeping a perfect beat. It was a habit; she couldn't, for the life of her, get off tempo. That would itch at her for hours.
This tapping, however, was also a sign of nerves. Alexx was nerves. Anxious for what was to come. Anxious about who would show up. The same knot from the day that she made candles was in the pit of her stomach again, twisting and turning. What had changed that made her into this mess? Who allowed this?
Alexx was different from the girl that Rhea had initially met. She hoped, for Rhea's sake, that this new angsty mess was not a disappointment. As well as for her own sake, lest Rhea reiterates Alexx's informal behavior to her parents.
chill babe. we're all bad in someone's story.