A Lonely Evening... Or So It Seemed PV Closed

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@Autumn Ivy

Claudia stared at the crowd before her. She had been ready to make another turn, when she saw... that. The hallway before her was the complete opposite of the one that she had come from; instead of being empty and quiet, the noise was overwhelming and the crowd was even worse. How anyone could stand that was a mystery. As she was stalling, gaping at the obstacle before her, she saw a slim crack in the crowd. Claudia darted forward and tried to slide herself in, but the slim space she had seen before had already disappeared. Instead of easily slipping herself in, Claudia had unceremoniously rammed into two people.

“Erm... sorry!” she muttered and backed away. How was she going to get through now? After a few minutes of pondering, Claudia spun on her heels and turned the other way. There was no way that she wanted to get stuck in there, and she could probably find a different way to class.

However, Claudia soon stood at another hallway that was crowded. She had gone through it before, yet it had quickly filled itself in. More desperate students had discovered the other hallway and thought to use it. Claudia groaned and covered her ears. The noise was getting to her and she could barely hear the person next to her. Words, conversations, were a jumbled mess and not a single word was intelligible. She easily gave up again and spun around to see if there were any other means of escape.

There! she thought, surprised. She was looking straight at two doors: one marked for boys, the other marked for girls. Bathrooms tend to be quiet, and it’ll at least deaden the sound. Besides, it’s not like anyone will be in there. She pushed open the door, cringing at the loud creak it made, and gulped when she saw another body.

A Hufflepuff girl was sitting on the floor, reading a book that Claudia couldn’t see the cover on. As the girl turned the pages, Claudia could see flashes of annoyance at reading it. Her first thought of the girl’s appearance was that she looked sort of like a vampire. With her short, black hair, pale skin, and dark eyes, she was the very image one of a cliché one. But as the girl looked up, Claudia shook her head, thinking that that thought was silly.

And then she remembered that the girl could see her.

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@Claudia Gears

Autumn stared at the girl in front of her. She was a Ravenclaw, slightly short in height, with cold eyes, which were examining her with a great deal of curiousity, and hair reaching her shouolders. Immediately, Autumn withdrew into the shadows of the abandoned bathrooms.

Then, realising she had had forgotten to pick up her textbook with her, she groaned and walked out back into the light. Her voice was flat as she spoke.

"I cannot bother with this right now. Please go away, or vanish, or melt into the ground, whatever is your cup of tea. Or coffee, the entire saying is about preferences, and people who don't like tea must feel that their preference does not get full representation. That is sort of ironic."

She chuckled, and then realised that she must have had looked like a mess, with her hair in two messy space buns, and her bottom eyelids black, due to the several nights of sleep lost due exam stress, and general stress, and "what if I fail" stress, and more general stress, and mild insomnia.

She tried to save the conversation, by leaving herself.

"This is awkward. Since you clearly are not, I am leaving."

She pushed past the girl t the exit, only to remember the crowd outside.

"So, it turns out I cannot leave."

She turned back to the girl, and raised her hand for the girl to shake.

"My name is Talia Masque," she lied, since she did not know yet whether or not she could trust the stranger with her name, "What is yours?"

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@Autumn Ivy

Claudia watched as the girl reflectively shrank back into the shadow, disappearing out of view. She didn’t know if it was because the girl was shy or because she wasn’t in the mood to talk, but either way it seemed kind of against the stereotypical Hufflepuff. As if she had changed her mind, the girl grudgingly walked out into the light to retrieve the book she had been reading. “I cannot bother with this right now. Please go away, or vanish, or melt into the ground, whatever is your cup of tea. Or coffee, the entire saying is about preferences, and people who don’t like tea must feel that their preference does not get full representation. That is sort of ironic.” the girl said flatly, and then chuckled.

Claudia just stared blankly at the girl - at least of the outside. Within her, her brain was connecting the similarities between the Hufflepuff’s speech pattern and hers. They were rather similar, though the Hufflepuff’s was less of a stuttering mess. And the other girls’ was less awkward... more fluid. More confident.

“This is awkward. Since you clearly are not, I am leaving.” Claudia set her one-eyed gaze on the other girl, and tracked her movements. She pushed past Claudia to the door, and then stopped. If Claudia wasn’t rude enough, or a block of ice, she would’ve smirked. But instead, Claudia continued her expressionless face. “So, it turns out I cannot leave.” the vampire girl said, stating the obvious.

Huh... you don’t waste words do you? Everything is driven... to a point. Claudia noted, set on trying to imitate the other with her speech so that she would be less of a mess.

“My name is Talia Masque. What is yours?” the girl asked. Claudia narrowed her eye, semi-aware that the girl was lying... more like a suspicion, since she had lied many times in her life. But she wasn’t sure completely. After all... lying about your name could sometimes be necessary, but in some areas - like Hogwarts - Claudia thought it was just a silly precaution.

“Glaudia Gears,” she said, clearing her throat, “No- wait - Glaudia Gears. No! I-It’s not... ugh. Why can’t I make the sounds? Kuh, Kuh. Kuh-laudia. Glaudia Gears. Ugh! Kuh, Kuh, Kuh, KUH, KUH. KLAUDIA. CLAUDIA. Yup. Claudia Gears. Reminds m-me of a, uh, cloud. Claudia does. No, not the-the-the, uh, person. That’s me. The n-name. I don’t look like a cloud to you right? I mean... no white hair. Clouds are white. Though they can look grey at the bottom during a... a storm. Like my.. uh, eyes I guess? Oh...” Claudia’s voice considerably darkened at her mistake.

“Like my eye. Singular.” she said, touching her eyepatch for a split second. “So, uh, in case you didn’t understand. Claudia Gears. I guess. Wait - yup. Said it right th-this time.”

She shrugged, as if it was normal for your introductions to turn from two words to a whole paragraph. Which - at least for her - it was. The girl turned her attention to the mirror, staring at her reflection. Black hair that seemed to float just beyond her shoulders, a singular grey eye, its counterpart hidden by a thick eyepatch, dark clothing, no makeup, mismatched socks... all of it stared back at her. But her gaze only gravitated toward one spot.

Tearing her gaze away from the mirror, Claudia looked at the vampiric girl instead. Or whatever her name was. “Uh... well, er.” Claudia started, and then gave up. She was never good at starting conversations - even if the awkwardness level was high. Which she seemed to excel at - awkwardness, not conversations.

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