The Witching Hour — 01 meeting PV CLOSED

At two p.m. sharp, Virgil Lee enters the Study Room, shaking from his head to toes, holding himself tight, as he steps in, nervous eyes scanning the place. There aren't many students around, which makes him feel a little bit better, but when he finally sees the back of Roman Kingston's head, his anxiety screams at him to run back to the Slytherin common room and never return, while his heart pangs inside his chest and, for a second, the boy forgets how to breathe.

He's there for the first meeting of The Witching Hour, the band he'd joined. The thought of being accepted still feels like a dream to him. Virgil remembers when he got the owl first thing in the morning, and read the words Roman had written. He still had to tell both his family and friends about the news, since he'd been too excited to even begin to process it. His audition wasn't entirely bad, but it wasn't perfect either. And still, he passed.

Gathering the last bit of courage in him, Virgil walks in that direction, sucking in some breath in order to make his lungs go back to their proper functions. His brain still tells him that this whole thing has to be a prank and that he should spare himself of the heartbreak if it turned out to be true. After all, he doesn't know Roman Kingston (he's seen him around the common room and lessons, but never properly spoken to him), so there's always the possibility of him being a massive bully, trying to make fun of him for whatever reason.

Once he's close enough, the boy taps Kingston's shoulder.

"H-Hi!" chirps Virgil, nervously, looking down at the floor, finding his black boots so interesting, as his cheeks burns and he once again forgets how to breathe. "I-I'm Virgil... We're b-bandmates...?"

Interacting with @Halston Wright and @Roman Kingston

[quote][quote]As his mind begins to go places, thinking of sold-out shows and people screaming his name, the shouts of ‘Roman! Roman! Roman!’ filling the stage, the boy finds himself daydreaming, someone taps his shoulder, breaking his train of thought, making Roman turn to stare at them, trying to keep his face from forming a scowl, still remembering to play nice.

The sigh of Virgil Lee makes him get to his feet, quickly. Lee looks a lot smaller up-close, it’s the first thing Roman notices about the other Slytherin awkwardly standing there, waiting for him to say something. The boy has a babyface, which makes him look like an eight-year-old. He’s as pale as Roman – or even more –, with dark hair and dark eyes glued to the floor.

“Hi,” says Roman, politely, giving a quick look around, waiting for the other first-year to show up. He gives Virgil another scan, realizing that the boy’s more than ten centimeters shorter than him. Roman holds back a snicker, “Glad ya could make it.” He points to the table, suggesting they both sit, as it’s more comfortable. Roman doesn't know what to say, but he can tell that Virgil isn't the type to start a conversation, so, again, he plays nice and compliments the other, “Really like yar audition, ya know. My korean isn’t perfect but I understood most of what ya sang.”

And it’s true. Virgil’s singing voice and passion on stage really made that performance something else. It doesn’t mean Roman feels comfortable telling him that. He doesn’t like complimenting people (or being remotely nice to them, as a matter of fact) and only does it when he absolutely has to. But he has to make the other feel happy and included, because, from now on, they’re bandmates. They have to get along.

“So,” Roman coughs, running his fingers through his hair. One thing he learned from a very young age: always end your sentences with questions, so the other person will be interested enough to answer. It doesn't always work; his father loves to ignore him, but, for most of the time, it does. “What kind of song ya listen to? The Witching Hour is a punk-rock band, so I suppose ya like that sound. Right?”

[quote]Coping the other's movement, Virgil sits down, in front of the boy, that is acting politely, unlike what his anxiety had told him. Roman compliments him on his performance, which makes him laugh, embarrassed, while his cheeks burn and he looks down at the table. Again, Virgil isn't used to being complimented, especially by strangers. The Witching Hour leader also knows a bit of Korean which makes him impressed, but he doesn't say anything about it, too self-conscious that Roman is only trying to be nice.

"Thanks..." It's all he can say, weakly, looking down as his hands, playing with his fingers, wondering when the other member will come. Virgil doesn't know who it is, but, at the letter Roman send him, he said 'you're now The Witching Hour's third official member' so he can only assume someone else is coming. He catches the leader's other question and nods, excitedly, "I-It's my favorite genre, though I mostly write ballads... Are you going to write the songs?"

Virgil looks away, hoping that the other would let him join in the songwriting. He doesn't need to work in all of their songs, but he'd appreciate if he got his chance to help here and there. He adds, a little more confidently, "If you want, I can write as well. I'm not that great, but it's nice, I suppose..."

@Roman Kingston & @Virgil Lee

Halston walked back and forth at the end of the hallway, squeezing her hands together: she had not made the singer role. She had realized that before and had taken it calmly but now the thought of meeting the person who'd denied her the role made her queasy; what if the scary looking Slytherin thought her singing had been terrible? What if they made fun of her? 

She could just leave now but Halston was just steps away from the Study Room, where their first meeting would commence. If she left she would've carried her keyboard all the way over for nothing, and she would be left in her room sulking away the day, really, Halston could not figure out how she became a Gryffindor. She was the last person to do something brave, and all because of her obnoxious anxiety.

Sucking in her shaky breath, Halston flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and hurried over to the Study Room. She skids to a stop in front of the doorway, which is thankfully closed, and stares at her reflection in the window. She meant to check whether she were put together enough, seeing that she wore a pair of ripped blue jeans, a crimson hoodie, and brown winter boots, but instead she noticed the silence beyond the door. Halston listened close enough to hear soft murmurs. A blush crawled up her cheeks.

Glancing at her watch, she sees that it's 2:07 pm. Halston squeaks and grabs the door. In the process she stumbled a little and ended up tripping forward, making the door bang open. She froze in place, biting her lip and she stared down at the floor. Her eyes inches up, gazing at the two Slytherin boys who had actually made it on time, she figured.

“Sorry, sorry...,” she whispered, walking over to the boys. She plastered a smile on her face to match the growing excitement in her stomach, even though her worry was threatening to envelope that.

Halston stopped a few feet away from them in hesitation, then placed her case on the table. She fiddled with it for a moment, glancing up every now and then to see if they were watching her, before standing up straight.

“Um,” she began, louder than she liked. “I'm Halston Shanley Wright—Gryffindor and first year.”

Why did I just blurt that out? They probably don't care. Halston studied them, noting that they were both Asian. She wasn't sure what part of Asia but she supposed one of the Eastern countries. She herself was born and raised in England, which they probably could figure by her British accent.

She cleared her throat and avoid their eyes. “Sorry for my performance,” she said, her face reddening at the memory. “Thanks for accepting me into your band.” Her hazel eyes flickered up to the leader. Her lip trembled, shaking just like the hand gripping the chair she stood in front of.

[quote][quote]Roman nods to the boy’s words, analyzing how awkward he looks. Virgil fidgets and looks down for more of the time, playing with his hands, almost as if he’s scared of him, which Roman can’t really understand, as he gave him no reason for such a reaction. The Slytherin ignores it, deciding it’s for the best before he starts wondering if he’s doing something wrong, something he hates a lot, thank you very much.

“So, ya do write,” says Roman instead of asking if he’s putting a lot of pressure on Virgil’s shoulders or something like that. Not that he cares, really, he just wants to get along with his bandmates. They don’t necessarily need to become best-friends (hell, he doesn’t even want that!), but close enough like co-workers. “Show me some of ya lyrics, sometime, it’d be nice,”

He wants to add ‘if you’re comfortable’, just to be more polite, but he finds himself unable to force the words to come out. It’s a sign he’s reaching the maximum level of kindness for today (… For the week, honestly). Roman runs his hand through his dark hair carefully watching Virgil. The boy doesn’t look like a superstar, but he’s not going to say that.

Roman’s about to say something else when someone gets close, a quiet voice mumbling apologies. The boy turns to stare and finds the girl that ran after her audition, that he'd to work hard in order to find out her name. Halston Wright introduces herself, voice louder than before, then, looking down, cheeks red, she apologizes for her performance and thanks to him for accepting her in his band.

He squints his eyes at her, hoping that she'd get along with Lee so they can be more comfortable around him. Something about him makes people uncomfortable, and though sometimes Roman loves to use that to his advantage, this time it's only making things worse. So, he points to the chair next to Virgil, silently telling Halston to sit down, and says, voice calm and collected, trying his best to be the nicest he can, “Welcome. That's Virgil,” Roman points to the awkward boy. “He's gonna be our main vocalist and song-writer, and well I'm Roman, leader, guitarist, songwriter, composer and moooore,”

[quote]Roman's suggestion of his showing his lyrics makes his leg begin to shake under the table, as he only nods, but doesn't say anything else on the matter. Song-writing is his biggest passion, the thing he holds the closest to his heart, away from others. They're a band, now... His brain tells him and Virgil can't argue with that. He knows that they're doing this together and that they should get along and open up for each other, but still, it's quite a jump.

Baby steps, then, is the boy's only thought to that, in order to calm himself down. As he's deep in thought, a new person appears. A girl, that introduces herself as Halston Wright, making Virgil quickly look at her, unsure of what to say and do now. He frowns and looks back to Roman. The Slytherin handles things perfectly, looking calm and collected.

After Roman introduces both of them, Virgil takes his time to analyze his new bandmate, curious, feeling a bit more pressure now that he's around two people that he doesn't know that well. Halston Wright is a fidgety girl with rosy cheeks and a soft voice. She doesn't look like a threat at all, but something makes Virgil worried.

It isn't a surprise that he doesn't do well around new people, especially girls, so he looks down, already feeling his cheeks burn, letting out, weakly, "H-Hi... Pleased to meet you."

@Roman Kingston @Halston Wright @Virgil Lee

It was easy to say that Rafa was tired. He’d stayed up late – again – studying his Transfigurations book. And it wasn’t like the teachers were taking any mercy on his poor, exhausted soul. Everyone seemed to be cracking the whip right around this time of year. The mere idea of studying made him sick to his stomach. So, today, he decided he wasn’t going to open another book.

Instead, after escaping to his dormitory to change his clothes, he quickly took himself to the Rehearsal Room.

He was feeling the same nervous feeling from before, during his audition – the idea of singing in front of people still bothered him greatly. But, maybe not as much, seeing as the room didn’t fall on top of him after his audition. And, hey, he’d gotten in the band. If that didn’t count for something, he didn’t know why he would be here, stressing himself out. He was supposed to be a Gryffindor. This kind of behavior just wasn’t acceptable. Stage fright was just another challenge, right? So, that meant he was going to have to man up and overcome it.

So, here he was, standing outside the rehearsal room. His hands were sweating just slightly, but that was the only show of nervousness – his face was stoic and tough, his stance strong. He was wearing a hoodie today, with a big 'FC Barcelona' symbol on the front. He was absolutely positive a good half of the people here wouldn’t know what it was, but he didn’t really care. He liked the colors. His hair, also, was messy today, because he didn’t really feel like fixing it. Besides, he didn’t want these people to think he was a stuck-up. They could see him at his simplest state, and if they didn’t like it, he didn’t care. He was just that way.

He pushed his messy hair back, glaring at the door as if it were is worst enemy. That’s enough of that, now, Rafs. Just go in the ruddy room. Jesus, you’d think the prime minister were in there, or something. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open, wasting no time in slipping in. He walked in rather fast, which may have startled someone, but that wasn’t what was on Rafa’s mind. He quickly took in his surroundings, and quickly identified three people in the room. The first thing he saw was that Kingston guy. Before he could think too much of this, though, because he saw two more people sitting around. He recognized them both from around the school, but couldn’t really put names to their faces.

He heard himself talking before he could stop himself. “Hey, mates,” he said. “I’m Rafael D’Spacito – Gryffindor First Year. Call me Rafa, or ‘Bird, or whatever the hell you got in mind.” He didn’t exactly say this in a rude way – just very straightforward. He wasn’t going to mess around with people, or say something he didn’t mean. It just wasn’t him. Though, he noted he might have looked rather hostile. To relieve any thick air, he cracked a bit of a smile, finding somewhere to sit. “Nice to meet you all.”

It occurred to him then how different his accent might sound – he was a native Argentine, born and raised in that country. His accent, therefore, was very Hispanic, almost American-sounding. It had an awkward air to it, though, because he had picked up some of the mannerisms of the British – like their slang. He bit his lip self-consciously, passively rubbing the back of his neck. He didn’t really feel like explaining, or anything, and hoped no one would say anything.

So, instead of talking about that, he said, “Sorry I’m late. Hope I didn’t miss anything important.”

Saoirse yawned, she wasn't necessarily tired however just not really ready to put up with anything else today. The only thing that kept her running was the promise of her joining a band, all during class she counted down the hours until she was released from her studies and meet some new people.

The redhead had been nervous all day, excited to meet new people but at the same time scared to meet new people. She was also terrified of getting detention for being out of uniform underneath her robe and tie, her bright red 'Camp Cooper' T and dark blue, jean shorts weren't hard to notice but she managed to make it work.

Outside of the door, she felt the energy just course through her veins it was refreshing. She grasped the door handle, cold to the touch with her warming hand causing a slight almost steaming sensation when they touched. It was strange, but it wasn't painful so the girl didn't mind that much, she opened the creaking door and slipped inside the darkened room.

Saoirse could see three people, their faces were hard to see in the dark but it was easy to assume that they were the other people at the audition. She took a deep breath, shaking, and approached the table.

"Hello cairde, my name is Saoirse but you could call me Blazin' Dwight or..." she paused, nobody else needed to know that nickname. "Nevermind, I'm the drummer and I should note that, that audition was the first time I have played with a regular drum and not a Bodhran." She put on her charismatic smile and did a small wave.

@Virgil Lee + @Rafael D'Spacito + @Sairse Dwight + @Halston Wright

The sudden presence of both Bird and Saoirse makes Roman snap his eyes in their direction, with a frown. He forces himself to relax and open a small, barely noticeable smile, gesturing towards the empty chairs around the table, inviting them to sit with them. Those two have presences completely different from the other two sitting with him, which he’s grateful for. Roman doesn’t think he could handle those two embarrassingly shy losers.

He analyzes the newcomers with judgemental eyes and a raised eyebrow. Bird, that he’ll gladly call Rafael now, ignoring that stupid nickname, looks as confident as ever, like a grand lion, which Roman can appreciate. Saoirse, too, with that simple but charismatic smile to her. He likes her nickname as well, but he doesn’t say anything, he just acknowledges it with a nod. Blazin’ Dwight sounds perfect for a rockstar, like Roman Kingston… He digs it. Roman crosses his arms, visibly relaxing on the chair.

“Welcome, mates,” he says, in that almost soft tone he’s starting to get used to, but shouldn’t. For now, let’s play nice, he repeats once again. Roman runs his fingers through his dark hair, messier than usual today. He points his neck towards the two shy students in front of him, “Virgil and Halston. Our main vocalist and bassist, respectively.” Looking around, acting cool and collected, trying to give off a badass attitude or something along those lines, Roman continues, “Ya didn’t lose much, to be honest. Sit around. So, we have a lot to discuss. Well, any of ya have questions and stuff?”