A Mess (Ocean/Jory)

[Jory Addison]

"Well, I don't know if it's the best part," Jory said, shrugging. "That's just where I grew up. I haven't seen enough of the country to know what the best part is." He had seen very little of the country, considering he had grown up there, and he didn't feel like he had any right to judge what was best about it with such limited information.

[Ocean Abbott]

Ocean shook his head with a grin. "Home is always the best. What do you like about the forest?" God please don't say spiders. Leaves. Twigs. Those he could handle. His parents had a greenhouse. He got conserving energy. Forests were important. Ocean just hadn't directly dealt with it.

[Jory Addison]

"I like animals, like squirrels and stuff. Me and my friends would go and see what we could find. It was always fun, my mum always got aggravated 'cause I'd bring things home," Jory said, smiling at the various memories. He had always loved having those animals around, and he missed them while he was at school.

[Ocean Abbott]

"What are squirrels?" Ocean kept a straight face for all of a minute. "Just kidding. I mean I know what they are. I just don't see them very often. I think there are more of them stuffed at the museum. Than in the area where I live." His smile creased his face. It felt like they had been talking forever. As though more time had passed than had. Ocean wished Jory didn't have to go to class.

[Jory Addison]

Jory wished he didn't have to go to class either, but just when he parted his lips to speak again, he heard a distant bell, signally the end of an hour, meaning he had only a few minutes to get back to class. He all but groaned. "We have to meet up again sometime," he said, reaching down to pick up his bookbag and settle it on his shoulders. "If I could skip class again I would."

[Ocean Abbott]

"Don't worry about it." Ocean let an easy grin roll onto his face. His quill found it's way behind his ear. "Skipping my first week here would be a bad idea." Not that he was ruling out later. Just depended on the class. His boredom. What else there was to do. "I agree on meeting up. Maybe I'll catch you at lunch or something. Let you know about clubbing this weekend."

[Jory Addison]

Jory smiled again, "That sounds good. But I'm normally not in the great hall, I eat in this classroom off a hallway a little ways down. It's quiet and no one goes down there." So he could hide and recharge to face the rest of the day and whatever other insults were thrown at him before he could hide away behind his curtains.

[Ocean Abbott]

Ocean rubbed the back of his head. He did not feel like eating in a hidden room. "Well. Maybe you could meet me for lunch. In the Great Hall. I think I'll take a few days. Before I start shacking up in hidden rooms." He grinned for Jory at that. Letting him know it was a tease. He would also not be shacking up with anyone.

[Jory Addison]

Even with the obvious tease Jory's eyes dropped and he felt the need to explain himself. "Sorry, just feels safer in that room." He had made it his own as much as he could with his average transfiguration abilities. At least he was away from all the other guys when he was locked up in there. He didn't know how people could be so outgoing.

[Ocean Abbott]

"Listen. I know you're older than me. But. You can either be safe and never content. Or content. And maybe not safe. Bruises, nasty words. They go away. With a good spell. Or a hug. Never being able to be happy because something might happen. Means nothing ever will. Good things too. So come on. Give it a shot. Come to lunch with me. And if someone calls us names. I'll give you a hug afterwards. Hold your hand. Wipe away tears. That's what friends are for. But give the rest of us good things a chance."

[Jory Addison]

Jory looked up at Ocean and managed another smile. "I'll meet you," he said. "But I have to be alone sometimes, even when I feel safe in other places. I have to have quiet sometimes." It was probably because of where he grew up, but even when he was at home and able to be completely safe and fine with his friends and family, he still had to lock himself in his room a couple times a week to recharge so he could be around everyone again.

[Ocean Abbott]

Ocean grinned and stuck his hands in his back pockets. "It's so quiet here." He shook his head. "It's fine. I don't get it. But I'll try. I'm from the city. I had trouble sleeping last night it was so quiet." He chuckled. "I actually heard grasshoppers or crickets. Whatever they are." Darn irritable things. He hadn't slept a wink.

[Jory Addison]

"I can't imagine not hearing those," Jory said. "Well, except for winter. And it's always bright in the city, isn't it?" As far as he knew, from what he had heard, it seemed like the lights stayed on all the time, like it would never actually get dark. "And you can't see the stars when there are lights on at night." Even in Hogsmeade it could be hard to see them.

[Ocean Abbott]

"Wait. You can see the stars out here?" He hadn't looked. Why would he? You couldn't see the stars where he lived. He only knew of them abstractly. From theory in astronomy. He supposed he had seen them. Just through an observatory. A place specially made for those things. It seemed weird that there weren't blankets of light. Light equaled safety.

[Jory Addison]

"Yeah," Jory said. "I love stars, and there are a ton of them out here, but it's even clearer back home. Maybe I'll show you the ones here sometime." He knew all the constellations and when they showed up each year, knew what they all meant and even where to look to see the faint ghosts of things other than stars.