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 Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 1:47 pm
 Jai narrowed his eyes as he entered the drafty owlery at the top of the West tower. Why had he believed those ravenclaw boys who said he could find bugs here? Obviously he had been too gullible and trusting, as nothing stirred in the corners of the circular tower top. His whole mission was ruined! Now he'd have to walk all the way down the stairs and outside to find some crickets for his tarantulas. Talk about wasted time.
He frowned and kicked up a bit of the musty old straw up and cringed when a small skeleton flew through the air. What the heck was that from? He looked down at the hay with a frown marring his normally cheerful face. What other skeletons were hidden in the hay? He really didn't want to know.
He shuddered and glanced up when he heard several hooting owls above. He protectively covered his pocket and wished he hadn't brought Booker with him. If his tarantula got lose in here he had no doubt one of those winged monstrosity's would swoop down and eat him. He shuddered at the thought.
He was about to leave and go down to breakfast when he noticed a boy had fallen asleep inside of one of the glassless windows. His brow wrinkled in concern and he strode over to the bow and leaned down to tap him on the shoulder. "Hey, wake up, You don't want to fall out of the window! Or miss breakfast." He said in his soft Indian accented voice.
He was quite surprised to see that the other boy was strangely white, and wondered if he was an albino. He had never met an albino kid before. Of course he could be wrong, he had yet to see the other's eyes. The white afro the other kid sported looked like it would be fluffy to the touch, but Jai wasn't about to be caught touching it, especially without permission.
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Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 6:10 pm
Jeri had no idea how long he'd been asleep. He usually woke up extra early just to send his daily letter to his family, but this was something of a task for him. Not only did the boy stay awake most of his nights in order to do his schoolwork, but since he woke early, he never really got enough shut-eye. Occasionally, he forgot to sleep at all.
Furthermore, as the Hufflepuff common room was located in Hogwarts' basement, he had a long way to go and a lot of staircases to wait on before he managed to make it to the West tower. He often tripped and stumbled; it was a miracle he didn't fall asleep while walking. Still, his will, strengthened by being strong for his siblings over the years, kept him going.
By the time he had picked an owl and tied the letter to its leg, his eyelids drooped and he was frequently asleep before the owl even set out. Thus, it was not uncommon for the boy to spend the rest of his morning catching up on sleep in the owlry until the latter portion of breakfast time.
Today, though, he was woken earlier than usual. The sun wasn't as high as it usually was when he finished his nap, and someone seemed to be speaking to him. Wearily, the pale boy glanced over. "...?"
Rubbing the sleep from his heavy eyelids, he forced them open enough to identify the speaker. He didn't seem the least bit familiar, though his accent was interesting. Jeri tried to place it as he scooted himself off the open window sill. If he took any notice of the few white spots dotting his robes, he gave no indication of it other than a yawn.
Gray eyes now fully wide-awake and open, he regarded the other student for a full minute before opening his mouth to speak. "Thank you," he said first, surprised and grateful as he processed the words that woke him. "Did I...block your way?"
He glanced toward the birds roosting above them and then toward the window he'd been sleeping in, wondering if perhaps he had been woken in part because the other student had wanted to send a message. Perhaps he was just too polite to say so.
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Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 6:25 pm
Jai waited while the other boy woke up, and was a bit surprised and a bit disappointed to see the other had silver colored eyes. Oh well..perhaps one day he'd meet a real albino. The kid's eyes reminded him of the moon for some reason, shiny and shimmering.
He noticed the questionable look in the other's eyes and face and wondered what the other was thinking. Jai stepped back as the other rubbed his eyes to get the sleep out of them and noticed the white spots all over the other's robes.
"You might want to change your robe or clean it before going into class. I'm sure one of the professors will take off points for them being so dirty." He pointed out, mostly to be helpful.
Jai smiled shyly as the other thanked him and then blushed. "Well, no you weren't blocking me." he admitted adverting his eyes to the ground.
That's when he saw a small green praying mantis hiding in the straw near the other boy's feet. "Don't move." Jai said sharply and then bent down slowly and picked up the insect carefully. "I wonder how this little guy got in here. Let's get out of here before one of those winged monsters spots him." Jai said sending a furtive glance upwards at the fidgeting owls over head.
If Booker wasn't in one pocket, and his other pocket wasn't filled with other things he would have hidden the praying mantis into one of them.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:15 am
Blinking in confusion, Jeri glanced at his robes before rubbing the back of his slightly aching neck. "They do?" he inquired softly, appearing astonished that house points would be deducted for such a petty thing. After all, didn't students get their robes covered in all sorts of odd substances when in Potions class, Herbology, breakfast, and the like?
When he thought the other boy's reasing over, though, he realized sleeping in an owlry didn't really qualify as a reasonable excuse. Even if it had, any sort of embellishment to his plain robes - intentional or not - was likely to be reprimanded. His fellow student was probably right. The guy seemed to know more than he did, anyway.
Indian...that could have been the accent. Asian Indian. The other's medium skintone and dark hair only supported this theory, but of course it might have been rude to assume. Jeri colorblindness prevented him from noting Jai's lovely, caramel complexion. It just made things like more difficult to judge in general, but maybe that was for the best. What did appearance or race matter, anyway? He had no right to judge. Best not say anything about it, even if he was fascinated by the boy's likely exotic origins.
Snapping out of his reverie, he realized he had been spoken to once more. The other student's cheeks had darkened in a handsome blush and his bright gaze had shifted toward the ground. Jeri wondered if it had been something he'd said. He hoped he hadn't embarrassed the considerate boy.
Before he could think of what to say to ease the other, though, Jeri found himself being ordered not to move. He froze on the spot, though his eyes still wandered curiously toward where Jai had bent down, which just happened to be at his feet. Did he miss something? Again? Merlin's beard, he still must have been very drowsy to be so oblivious to everything around him. Luckily, the one who had woken him proved he was sharp enough for the both of them.
What had his new companion picked up? It was hard to see without moving. Jericho started to wonder if maybe the Indian boy hadn't wanted him to see. He stopped trying to get a glimpse of it immediately, focusing his view straight ahead. By that time, though, the other student had risen to his own feet and was speaking, presumably, about a 'little guy' he had picked up. Following his gaze, Jericho realized the 'winged monsters' were a reference to the owls, though he himself had never thought of them that way before. What an interesting new perspective.
"...May I...move, now?" he whispered, sensing the other boy didn't want to attract the birds' attention, likely for the sake of whatever he'd caught.
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Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:20 pm
Jai was rather surprised by the other kid's question. Hadn't he been paying attention during the morning news? Perhaps he hadn't heard them because he was always sleeping up here. Jai nodded his head, "Oh yes, they do it a lot."
He studied the other's robe a bit. It wasn't really that bad, a bit of hot water and soap would probably get it out and then he could let it dry before class. "I can help you clean them, there's really not all that much on them." He said trying to reassure the other seeing the other's face go a bit pale.
He could tell that this almost albino kid was studying him. It seemed that a lot of kids tended to do that, probably because of his accent and his appearance. There were a few other kids that were his nationality, but they didn't stand out as much as he did, or so he thought. It was probably because they had acclimated to the British way of speaking more than he had. This was thanks to his parents making him speak and learn their native tongue, and his being surrounded by those who spoke it more than English.
Jai was rather surprised when the other kid had froze and not moved a muscle since he had asked him to stay still. He probably hadn't even noticed the poor praying mantis that he had been about to step on. Jai shook his head at this. People should be much more observant than that.
Jai laughed. "Yes of course, sorry about that. I just didn't want you to step on the poor praying mantis. You can have a look at him once we go outside. Like I said, if those nasty monsters catch sight of him, they'll be on me in minutes. It's happened to me before with pigeons."
He shuddered reliving the experience. It hadn't been pretty in the end. His poor Sylvia had been pulled into pieces and eaten by the crazed flock of pigeons, and he had been covered in bird poop, feathers and blood. His mother had nearly gone out of her mind when she had seen the damage that the birds had done to his hands. It had taken a healing spell to fix up the bloody mess that the birds had made of his hands.
"Oh," Jai said suddenly remembering that he hadn't introduced himself. "I'm Jai Nejem," He switched the praying mantis over to his left hand and reached out with his right.
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:25 pm
"You would?" Jericho asked, surprised by the offer. He didn't want the Gryffindor to be late to breakfast and he had probably delayed him enough already. He shook his curly head of hair. "Thanks. I'm fine." Considering the most practical schedule for the morning, Jeri decided that he'd go to breakfast before washing and changing out his robes. At least he had a spare; playing 'parent' to both his younger siblings had at least taught him to be prepared. It also meant laundry wasn't a problem, either.
"Praying...what?" The soft-spoken Hufflepuff relaxed his stiff limbs as soon as Jai gave him permission. He stretched them a bit while he tried to process the other boy's accented words. The monsters, he assumed, were the owls...but would they really attack a kid just because he was keeping something from them? Even assuming the creature was on their list of prey, Jeri hadn't considered the idea that owls could misbehave so. He imagined those sharp talons that were so useful for delivering mails and packages would probably do just as well ripping into flesh, intentionally or not.
As the Hufflepuff visualized this, he started to get an idea of why Jai would call them monsters, even if many students and magical folk in general kept them as pets. Pigeons, though? At least owls were predators. "What did they do?" he asked timidly, instantly regretting it as he noticed Jai shudder. "Pigeons," he added quickly, hoping they weren't as bad a subject to inquire about. At least the dark-haired boy hadn't called them monsters.
Jeri stopped abruptly on his path toward the stairs as Jai turned to extend a hand. The pale boy offered a slight smile and nodded. "Jericho Gibbon," he replied. "Pleasure." Then he jerked a thumb back over his shoulder toward the owls, a few of which were growing restless from the activity and noise about them. "Breakfast. Shall we?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 8:21 pm
Jai grinned at the other boy. "Well of course. I don't offer to do something I wouldn't want to do." He really didn't get why people would promise to do things and then never get to doing them. It seemed hypocritical to him.
"Oh well okay, if you say so." He replied.
"It's a Praying Mantis. You've never seen one? I'll show you once we get out of here." He replied. He found it kind of silly that the kid had actually not moved until he had told him he could. At least he took directions well enough. Most kids would have just ignored him.
"Well it wasn't really pretty. I didn't even notice the flock of them until they were on me and pecking away at me. And poor Sylvie got pulled into pieces. She was a beautiful moth too." He lamented. "My hands got ripped up pretty badly." he added.
Jai rather hated pigeons even more passionately than owls. "Pigeons are nothing more than rats with wings." he muttered his brows knitting together angrily.
"Ah nice name. It's a pleasure. And yes, the longer we stay here the worse." Jai said slipping around Jericho and starting down the stairs. "I should take this little fellow up to my dorm room so he's safe. And then I'll come back and join you. Want to see him now?" Jai asked, turning halfway around to look at the other boy.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 5:16 pm
A 'Mantis'? Jericho didn't remember learning about those from Aunt Jackie. What kind of creature were they? Surely not of the magical variety, but then why would they bother to pray? Or was it so named because it preyed on other creatures? The Hufflepuff found himself irresistibly curious.
Sylvie - a moth. She'd been pulled to pieces? How horrible! No wonder Jai had shuddered. That was a terrible fate for any living creature, no matter how big or small; magical or not. If his hands had gotten as torn up as the moth he'd been trying to protect, however, Jeri certainly couldn't blame him for having failed to protect the insect. "Did what you could," he consoled the Gryffindor, though he was pretty sure the other boy could have done just fine without it. After all, Gryffindors were known for their bravery, weren't they?
Oh. Perhaps he had been wrong about Jai's opinion of the other bird species. 'Rats with wings' was a rather harsh title. Come to think of it, it seemed easier to dislike something or someone if you weren't afraid of it. Perhaps that was why he had referred to the owls differently - they were as frightening as they were bothersome to Jai and the creatures he tried to protect.
Following after the dark-haired boy, Jeri nodded once at the other's declared plan and then again at the question asked of him. Yes, he wanted to see the Praying Mantis now. Had Jai given it a name like he'd given Sylvie? Perhaps he wanted to make sure it was safe before he allowed himself to grow that attached to it. "Yes, please," he replied, his eagerness evident though his voice was soft.
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:58 pm
Jai felt somewhat comforted by the other's words. He had done everything he could to save the poor luna moth that had been ripped to shreds by the vicious pigeons. Or rather pigs with wings as he liked to call them.
"Thanks," He said with a shy smile. It was strange getting consolation from another boy. Most times other kids his age just thought he was an oddity and stared at him as though he was an alien when he spoke about his pets. It was nice to finally have people talk to him like a normal person.
Jai opened his fingers slowly, and held his hands up closer to Jericho's face. "Isn't he fascinating looking? His forelegs that he holds together like that are covered with spikes." Jai explained. "They stand really still and wait for their prey to get close to them before they attack. I've got books on them, would you like to borrow one? They're really fascinating creatures. He looks like a Henry to me, what do you think?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:50 am
Nodding in response to Jai's shy smile, Jericho didn't seem to think his actions were any different than what the Gryffindor was used to or had expected from him. "Welcome," he answered easily.
As the darker boy opened his fingers, Jeri's full attention focused on the small creature they protected. He almost wanted to reach out a finger of his own to touch it, but that structure looked as delicate as it was elegant. "Spikes...for attacking?" The pale Hufflepuff marveled in silent wonder. It was a second before Jai's later words registered.
His face lit up. "Yes, please," he told Jai regarding the offer to borrow a book, nodding as he did so. Jericho would have to take very good care of it. It would be nice to read after doing some homework later that evening. His nodding increased in enthusiasm as the other First Year suggested Henry as a name. That sounded perfect. "Henry," he repeated, as if just to try the name out.
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Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:01 pm
Jai smiled as Jericho bent closer to look at the praying mantis. It was nice finding other kids who shared his passion for insects, even if he had to teach them about the specimen. "Yes, they hold their forelegs together and stand really still waiting for their prey to come close enough and then SNAP! they grab them and eat them. It's fun watching them eat."
Jai smiled at the other's eagerness to borrow one of his books. He'd never met someone else as enthusiastic as this before! He closed his hands once more around the bug and started walking once more. "Great, shall we meet up after classes then? I should be able to grab one of my books during one of the breaks."
Jai was pleased when the other liked the name Henry for the Praying mantis. "Well..let's get going I'm starved." He added just as his stomach chose to rumble loudly begging to be filled.
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