Playing with Abla.

[Zilnafa]

Zilnafa threw the small acorn and Abla chased after it. Her dark green fur blended with the grass. Zilnafa had discovered Abla's love of chasing things and bringing them back. In fact, she seemed more like a dog to Zilnafa then an actual cat-like thing.

The warmth of the sun was beating down on her back but the cold bite of the wind and the shimmer of the snow glinted in her eyes. Zilnafa had never felt the cold in Africa and to her this ice and snow was gorgeous.

She'd contacted Jory and asked him, that she spent a lot of time with Abla out here. She wanted him to meet Abla. Abla didn't like men, except the shopkeeper, Micheal, but Zilnafa felt Abla might like Jory.

[Jory Addison]

Jory had almost refused to go see Zilly, but eventually he had sent back a short owl that said only that he would be there. He brought his marbles and a bag of small, rich chocolate chips in his deep coat pockets as he headed down to the lake to try to find her. He didn't feel good, he didn't feel happy, but he figured he should probably at least try to talk to her.

The last couple of days had been filled with running Lyric's, Markise's, and Quinn's words over and over in his head. With all of the repetition, he still hadn't been able to figure anything else out. For his own sanity, he needed to get out of the dorm and socialize, even if he ended up just unloading on Zilly. He didn't want to do that, though it felt inevitable when he came up to her. "Hey," he said, trying and failing to put on a happy face for her.

[Zilnafa]

Zilnafa felt the sadness in Jory's walk and voice. It was hard for her to see him like that. They might not have met greatly and she may have came off a complete and total nutcase but she counted Jory as her only friend here except for Abla, who was returning with the acorn.

"Whats wrong?" She asked, praying her voice was filled with sympathy but she wasn't sure if it was. It was hard to tell with her.

[Jory Addison]

Jory shook his hand as he sat down by Zilly. "Ask me again in a few minutes," he said, reaching into his pocket to pull out his chocolate. He didn't want to go right into a long dialogue about how his life sucked right then. "What's that?" he asked, eyes caught by the strange little green creature...was it a cat? that was coming back with an acorn, obviously proud of its accomplishment.

[Zilnafa]

Zilnafa giggled softly as Abla flumped into the snow when it got past her face, then she stopped, feeling it was wrong to laugh when Jory was so upset.

She scooped up Alba. "This is Alba. I don't know what type of animal she is. Micheal never said."

Alba wriggled out of Zilnafa's grasp and making the rough growl that was a purr. She wound herself around Jory and pushed her head into his face.

"She likes you." Zilnafa smiled softly. "I knew she would."

[Jory Addison]

"She's pretty," Jory said as he returned the nuzzle the little animal gave him. Maybe he should get a pet, something that would actually like him and stay with him for more than a couple of months. No, it'd probably just run off and find someone else to look after it. "Did you bring her with you?" Had Zilly always had the pet, or was it a recent addition?

[Zilnafa]

"No. I bought her last Hogsmeade trip. I Floo'd to Diagon Alley. It wasn't allowed." She shrugged. "I don't follow rules I don't understand."

Abla purred as Jory nuzzled her and lept to his shoulder bumping her head against his chin. She croaked a meow for a greeting.

Zilnafa was still worried though. Jory wasn't good, that much she could tell but she didn't want to preassure him into anything. It wouldn't be good for either of them.

"Jory." She said slowly, almost nervously. "If something bac happened, you could tell me."

[Jory Addison]

"You know, you can take the Knight Bus to Diagon Alley if you have the money," Jory said before Zilly continued on. "I don't think....that they....care much..." he continued once she had spoken, his voice trailing off as he looked down and started picking through his bag of chocolate chips. "It's a long story, you probably don't want to hear it."

[Zilnafa]

Zilnafa really wanted to know what was wrong with Jory. She really did. He was her only friend here and something was wrong and she was wondering if maybe she should hurt someone because she would if he asked. But she didn't want to make him tell anything he didn't want to. She wouldn't force him into anything.

"Jory." She tried to think of something non-offensive and scarcastic to say. "I want to here the story. It's Saturday. I have time. But you don't have to tell me. I'm not going to pressure you into it. We'll drop the subject if you really want to."

Abla sniffed Jory's ear then licked it.

[Jory Addison]

Jory sighed and picked around in his bag for a few long seconds, refusing to look up at Zilly as he tried to figure out where to start. "I don't...there's like...this guy, I met him back at my old school and then we came here because the headmistress said bad things about him and us." They hadn't even been doing anything. "A lot of stuff happened and everything's been messing up lately..." It probably didn't make sense with all of the things he had left out.

[Zilnafa]

Zilnafa tried to peice together. There'd been a guy. Yes. Jory had known him before they both came to school. The headmistress had something that had made the two come to Hogwarts. Something had happened.

"Jory." She really hated herself for pushing this. "You have to talk about it. It's not going to help instantly but later it will. Crying is the same as talking but talking will make a larger and better outcome."

She'd forgotten who'd told her that. Her only memory of it was a soft litling female voice whispering it in her ear after she'd been crying in the orphange. It wasn't the Mother and it wasn't one of the other orphans; none of thier voices matched.

Abla curled around Jory's neck leaving her back paws on one shoulder and putting her front one on the other. She licked his earlobe and roughly purred.

[Jory Addison]

"I've already cried," Jory mumbled. He had cried that day after talking to Quinn, huddled in his bed as he tried and failed to figure out anything more. The feel of the warm, tiny body against his neck helped, but just barely. "It was always hard to get him to talk or let me touch him or anything," Jory said, looking up finally at Zilly, even if it was only for a moment before they fell back to his hands. "But we kissed...and he was my first...I really liked him," he finished, looking up again.

[Zilnafa]

Zilnafa frowned. She wasn't sure if she liked this Quinn kid. Jory was perfectly nice, certainly kind, and understandingly forgving. Heck. If Zilnafa was a guy, and she got lucky enough to be Jory's first, she would stick to him like the giant squid.

She wasn't of course. A guy or Jory's first but that didn't mean she couldn't be a good friend.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Alba was purring and rubbing and licking Jory, doing all the things that usually made Zilnafa feel better. Zilnafa hoped that it was helping but it didn't seem like much.

[Jory Addison]

"Lyric like...told me he had to be drunk to touch me or talk to me," Jory said, shaking his head, though he nuzzled softly against Alba. "I tried to get him to tell me why, but he got mad that I couldn't understand and I got mad that he couldn't explain it...we didn't talk until like last week." And that hadn't turned out great, as far as he knew Lyric had gone immediately after and found Quinn.

[Zilnafa]

At this point, Zilnafa was way out of her league. She'd absolutely no odea how to handle these situations. She'd never needed to in the past and there wasn't that many learning oppurtunites. In fact, if she was back in Africa, she'd jsut hit the person and be done. It was socially acceptable there. But not here.

"I want to help you." She touched his arm platonically. "How can I do that?"