Why do they look... Like that? PV TB Closed

"Don't... Don't try and find out," came Tommy's tired reply. While typically patient with Sylvie's horrendously adventurous antics, he didn't want to watch his friend get mirthlessly consumed by some sort of behemoth bastardization of the familiar cephalopods he'd learned of in his biology class. In fact, it was perhaps the last thing he wanted to see this evening. Of all of the possible, fathomable outcomes of tonight's outing, that one? That one was least desired.

"Besides, I bet the squid isn't even as big as you say it is. Creatures that big live in like... Oceanic trenches. Plus, I don't even think that'd be biologically possible, for a squid to live in a lake anyways. Like, unless the water's salt water or something? It'd be weird if there was a salt lake, though, I mean they're not that common. Unless you're in that weird state in the US. Utah? I don't really remember, I wasn't paying attention in geography–"

Abruptly, catching himself rambling, he cut himself off. This was fairly common for Tommy, to prattle on about basically nothing of substance. It was a habit he only really took up among his close friends, and something he was frequently embarrassed of. Thankfully, the cool wind obscured the reddening of his cheeks due to his mortification, instead it could easily be mistaken for the effects of a sharp breeze on uncovered skin.

The boy shivered momentarily, whether it was due to interpersonal discomfort (a cringe at his own incompetence, perhaps) or the cold itself was impossible to tell. After a moment's pause, he hesitantly added, "There's probably all sorts of life down there."

•••

While Thomas rambled on about biology and someplace in the U.S... Uhaul? She didn't quite hear was Thomas said as she made little clicking noises towards the lake, but she was half-listening to him nonetheless. Sylvie was stretched out on her rock, reaching to stick a hand in the water to try and entice the resident squid to show itself. Of course, after Tommy stopped rambling, she quickly retracted her hand from the surface.

"There's probably all sorts of life down there."

"Well, there are mermaids!" She said, slapping that same hand back on the rock in excitement. "I read it in that textbook we had to get when we were in Diagon Alley! The one with all of the magical creatures and stuff by that one guy named Newt." Her eyes practically had stars in them whenever she talked about animals of any and all types. She took after her father in that department, harboring the same love of and interest in animals. She was quite versed in her muggle animal knowledge, and it would only be a matter of time before she became well learned about the magical variety as well. "But in the book, Newt says that the ones you find here and other cold bodies of water are much different than the merpeople you find in tropical and warm waters."

She was quiet for a moment or two. "The ones here have a whole colony! We should totally like, try to find one." What was with this girl and wanting to find creatures that she really just should not? It was very clear Thomas would have his work cut out for him during their time at Hogwarts. There were probably plenty of creatures she'd want to go hunting for at some point or another.

Thomas grew visibly uneasy the more Sylvie seemed to rile herself up about these mermaids. The suggestion of looking for the colony wasn't exactly a surprise, given the direction the conversation had taken, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "Okay but like... What if they don't want t' talk to a couple of eleven year olds, though? If I was a merperson, minding my own business, existing in my colony, and some kid jumped into the lake with a snorkel to try and bother me? I'd probably be pretty pissed."

He paused, trying to find a different tact to take before Sylvie could respond, knowing that the fear of being non-courteous probably wasn't enough to dissuade her curiosity. While he briefly considered talking about the danger of being drowned by these sea creatures, pulled beneath the surface never to breathe air again, ultimately mortal peril probably would've excited the girl anyways. Between Tally and Sylvie, Tommy was starting to resent the Gryffindor bravery. It was wholly inconvenient, and he was lucky he was only dealing with one of them at the moment. As he considered, mind going at a mile a minute to try and come up with something to say before Sylvie could respond fully, it clicked.

A derisive, confident smirk broke out on the boy's face. "Reading a textbook? For fun? That's pretty geeky behavior, y'know. You wanna trade houses, nerd?" It was a poor attempt to mimic Tally's taunts, but he was hoping it'd at least be enough to distract Sylvie from her potentially impending doom. "Not even I was doing that on the train!" Probably because he was far too busy contemplating, pondering, and overthinking the upcoming ceremony. And his classwork. And magic as a whole? And the distance from home. And-

Tommy cut off that train of thought as soon as he noticed the rabbit hole he'd been going down. His expression likely faltered a bit, turning slightly sadder than what was acceptable to make the gag believable, before immediately perking back up. The last thing he needed to do was to get wrapped up in that mess again.

•••

Sylvie hopped to her feet to get a better view of the water, straining her eyes as she tried to find any signs of life. "Well, if you were a merperson, you wouldn't even be in a colony because you'd be too busy studying some nerdy merpeople alone under a rock or something. But what if they're nice though? I bet you if we just went up to the potions room and borrowed some gillyweed it'd be super easy to just go underwater and-"

"Reading a textbook? For fun? That's pretty geeky behavior, y'know. You wanna trade houses, nerd?"

NERD? She paused, turning to look at Thomas with an aggravated expression and a reddened face. She was not a nerd! She just... Well- She just enjoyed learning about things! Wait, that sounded nerdy. She just enjoyed reading books? No... Her face only scrunched up further and reddened even further as she thought of a solid rebuttal to his taunt, but ultimately failed to do so. "Well- I-... I'm not a nerd!" Was all that came out of her mouth in protest to him. "I had to read the textbook at some point, I was only trying to... Um- Prepare myself for class." Her arms crossed as she sat down, pouting as she tried to nurse her wounded pride.

"Preparing yourself for class is also nerd behavior. I would know, as a certified geek. I thought cool Gryffindors were supposed to not really care about class, saying frick you to the man and to chase their passions or whatever. At least, that's what I've been told." He gestured to his blue robes as he spoke, glad that he'd managed to distract Sylvie from taking a dive into the Great Lake. Even if there wasn't a threat of mermaid kidnapping, or squid mauling, there was still the danger of hypothermia. Tommy's expression did end up relenting just a bit; he didn't like making fun of his friends that much after all. In spite of his concerns and anxieties surrounding the life under the depths, he walked nearer to the edge next to where Sylvie had made herself comfortable, and took a seat. It was... Eerily calm. Relaxing, even, if not for the knowledge he already had about the creatures of the deep.

"Reminds me a bit of the Bristol Channel, aside from the lack of cliffs obviously. S' a bit of home, I guess." His tone had grown a bit more nostalgic, even melancholic as he considered the thought aloud. Looking out at the lake's vast expanse, Tommy could almost pretend that he was back in Caerleon. For a boy who hadn't been out of the house on his own for more than a few days at a time, he was starting to feel a bit out of his comfort zone. His expression was somewhere between wistful and contemplative; Tommy always looked older when he got into those sorts of moods. It wasn't a countenance befit an eleven year old anyhow.

•••

Sylvie's face burned red, though because of the grumpy expression on her face, whether it was from embarrassment or anger was up for debate. She kind of sunk into herself at Tommy's mockery. Though she knew he had only been poking fun at her, it never really was in her nature to take wounded pride in the best of ways. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a small sound of defeat and she furrowed her brow. Lame, Sylvie. Lame. Was she not a cool Gryffindor? Geez... What would her housemates think if she geek'd out like that around them? Probably nothing- but that didn't stop her from needlessly worrying about it.

When Thomas walked over she gave him a vaguely dirty look, typical of her, but she got over that rather quickly and pulled her knees up to her chest as she looked out over the lake. There had been a quiet that hung over the two before Tommy broke it with his reminiscing. It wasn’t unwelcome, however. Silence always made her uncomfortable, even during quiet study moments in class. Still, it took her a second or two to get over herself and her bitterness to respond. “Yeah, it kind of does. I wonder how they’re doing. Back home, I mean.”

Taking note of Sylvie's genuinely upset expression, Thomas was glad that he'd changed the conversation topic to something more agreeable. Almost experimentally, the boy dipped a toe in the lake as if to see if he'd get eaten alive. Noting the lack of mauling experience, he retracted his foot and resumed sititng criss cross apple sauce as he had been. He basked in the comfortable (or perhaps in Sylvie's case, mildly uncomfortable) silence before responding, "I think we can send letters back home, but I don't really know how that works. Something to do with owls, anyways. I want to check in as soon as I find out how it all comes together. Still, though, I'm sure they're doing alright. I feel like not enough time has passed for anything super catastrophic to set in."

Thomas considered his family back home. Was it even possible to owl a muggle? Even if it wasn't, he supposed he could owl his uncle as a reach around. There were certainly a means and an opportunity to contact his mom, but he couldn't help but hesitate. What could he say, really? The Hogwarts experience thus far had been fairly overwhelming in nearly every possible way, and trying to write it down in a way that accurately described the situation without mincing words would be challenging. Still, he missed home, and even some familiar handwriting probably would end up brightening the boy's day and raising his mood.

"Have you liked it so far? Like, I know we haven't been here for long, but is there anything you really like about it here?"

•••

The girl pondered whether owl mail was the wizarding version of snail mail. Or perhaps it was a Hogwarts exclusive? She doubted it, but whatever the case, she hoped whatever letter she'd eventually send back to her family would arrive as quickly as possible.

“Have I liked it?” Sylvie just sort of shrugged a bit, trying to as nonchalantly as possible. Saying she was having the time of her life at wizard school didn’t seem like a very “cool Gryffindor” thing to do, no matter how true it was. She had to tone it down… Just a notch. “Yeah, I mean, it’s pretty nice here.” Was what she settled on. “It’s crazy, don’tcha think? Learning magic and all that stuff? I’d much rather learn charms than take social studies. And transfiguration? That’s crazy stuff.”  Sylvie took a smooth rock, standing up and skipping it across the lake as she spoke. “I think one of my favorite parts about it is all the cool secrets and stuff that’s around the castle.”

The rock hopped about three times on the water before coming to a stop and sinking into the depths below. Maybe the squid would find it by some miracle. Who knows? “What about you? Are you happy with the house you got? I bet your nerd brain is in overdrive all the time here.”

"I never really understood how that rock skipping nonsense worked. I mean like, I know how it works, but like I suck at it," Thomas commented idly. After maybe a moment of buffering, as if he was only just then processing that Sylvie had asked him a proper question, he considered it.

"It's been... Interesting. I dunno, the whole mysticism of the Ravenclaw Tower only lasts for about two seconds. The riddles are only fun when you're not in a hurry or in a bad mood, otherwise they just kind of suck." He paused before amending his statement, realizing that being a Debbie-downer was probably not appreciated, "It's still cool, though. Some of the people I've talked to in my house are nice."

"Wizard homework is definitely not something I've totally gotten used to. I feel like there's just so much more to learn and explore than there was in regular school. Totally new skills and perspectives that I'd never ever dream up if I weren't here. It's cool. When I start getting the hang of more useful spells, I want to try out dueling."

He laid back down in the dirt, paying little attention to his robes that were almost certainly getting soiled. As he meditated on the question a bit further, what did he like about Hogwarts, he offered Sylvie another inquiry. "How about your sorting?" Rather than say what he thought on the matter (that it fit Sylvie quite well), he waited on her answer. Just in case she was inwardly disappointed for whatever reason.