People?

[Morgan Row]

"People?" Row says aloud to herself as she lies on the floor in the middle of the entrance hall.
No one seemed to be about and she was bored.
"People?" She repeats louder.
No one.
She put her hands round either side of her mouth and yells, "Calling all people! That's right! This is a call to all people! I'M BORED! PEOPLE?"

[Chance Gracieux]

I turn the corner curiously after hearing someone yell, planning to go back to playing ping-pong in my favorite empty classroom once I figure out what's going on. There's a girl lying on the floor in the middle of the Entrance Hall, yelling at the ceiling.
"I, um, I think most of them are in class," I say, looking at her oddly.

[Morgan Row]

"Oh my sweet Jesus! People-...er...person!" She grins, lifting her head then waving at him, "Why would they go to class? That's stupid."

[Chance Gracieux]

I grin despite myself. "Er... I dunno... maybe to learn stuff." I shrug, then feel like I should say something else. "Er... ah..." I shake my head and wave at her instead.

[Morgan Row]

"Learning stuff is overrated. Gosh." She laughs, "Er...ah? Is that your name? Oh my God, I love you!" She grins, "I'm Morgan by the way. Call me Row."

[Chance Gracieux]

I laugh and look down at the ground. "No, actually I was going to ask your name... but it didn't quite work. I'm... Chance. Hufflepuff sixth year." I shrug. "Hi... Row."
Row... Morgan... damn, two names. Well, just remember one of them at least.

[Morgan Row]

She grins propping herself up on her elbows, "Chance? Like that better than er...ah. Suits you more." She chuckles, "I'm a Gryffindor fifth year. Hi...Chance," She smiles, not taking the piss out of him, just being her usual self.
She pats the hall floor next to her, "Come sit, say things, you're my new friend, feel special." She laughs.

[Chance Gracieux]

I raise my eyebrows. "Er... I'd rather not. Feel special, that is. I dunno." I shake my head. "But sure. I'll sit down. Why do so many people around here like to declare others their friends after talking for five seconds?" I ask, speaking very quickly on the last sentence and not sitting down.

[Morgan Row]

"You said you'd sit and you didn't, gosh." She laughs, mock sighing, "Look at it this way, isn't it better to have friends than enemies? These are dark times and yadda yadda yadda so the world needs a little lightening up."

[Chance Gracieux]

I raise my eyebrows. "Funny you should bring up dark times... I mean, doesn't that mean that people should be cautious instead of... declaring their undying love and devotion to someone they've only known for a week?" I sit down against the wall as I talk, resting my arms on my knees and lacing my fingers together.
Funny how arguing makes it easier to speak to people.

[Morgan Row]

"You raise a very good point, Mr Er...ah...Chance," Row taps her chin thoughtfully, sitting up and crossing her legs, "But look at it this way, it's like taking a risk, isn't it? You can go around being cautious and guarded and not trusting people and it's like being stuck in purgatory. Or you can take a chance and it's either going to go well, or it's going to go...not well, but hey, at least you'll know."
She pauses, "Plus, I'm an extremely immature and hyper-active 15 year old Gryffindor so I have to declare my undying love and friendship for everyone on the planet. Yeah, that helps too."

[Chance Gracieux]

I laugh. "Yeah, I know a few of those already. Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs." I shake my head slowly and eye her cautiously. "Look, I'm not saying you'd want to, because I find it weirder than anything, but please, please, do not hug, kiss, or ask to marry me, because if it happens again I swear I'm going to crawl under a rock and live of worms, which I really don't want to do."
I take a deep breath. "And secondly... what kind of argument is that? 'At least you'll know'? I mean, sure you might be tortured or murdered when the person you trust turns out to be a death eater or whatever, but... 'at least you know.'" I shake my head. "Sorry."

[Morgan Row]

She laughs, "Don't worry, I'm not that forward with my affections, and I already have a boyfriend and I am no whore!"
She smiles, "You'd be surprised how much you can trust Death Eaters. I mean, they're human too, it's not as if we're a different species. And wouldn't you rather take the risk, than just not trust at all?"

[Chance Gracieux]

"I'm not saying that I don't trust at all... just that people should be more cautious. And when I say 'death eaters' I mean it as a broad term to encompass all the no-longer-really-human people out there. I know there are some decent ones."
I pause to collect my thoughts and try to remember all the points she just made. "Er... thank you, by the way. I wasn't trying to call anyone a whore... they're just weird like that. And you seemed kind of... cut from the same cloth, so..." I shrug. "It's not that I don't trust anyone. Just that... I guess I just find it really odd how quickly people become friends, especially these days." I smile.

[Morgan Row]

"It is odd, but human nature is generally odd," She smiles, shrugging slightly, "And being friends with someone doesn't mean you have to trust them with your life or anything at first, or at all really."

[Chance Gracieux]

"I thought that was the whole point though... that that's what makes you friends, that you trust each other." I shrug. "Then again, wha'do I know?" I mutter. "Been here six years and people ask me if I'm new."

[Morgan Row]

"It helps. But you don't have to be that close to all your friends. I have 3, maybe 4 friends that I actually trust and that's it," She shrugs, "People ask you if you're new? That sucks. Do you not socialize much or something?"

[Chance Gracieux]

I laugh and shake my head. "No, I don't socialize at all unless I'm forced to. But that still doesn't mean that I should be invisible. I mean, just because I've never spoken to them doesn't mean I don't recognize a lot of the people around here."
I pause. "I think we have very different ideas about friends versus acquaintances."

[Morgan Row]

"I have lot's of different ideas and most of them don't make sense." She grins, "You have a point there, though. I guess people just suck most of the time."

[Chance Gracieux]

"That's encouraging," I mutter. "So... you're a gryffindor fifth year and your name is Morgan Row," I say, feeling ridiculously proud of myself for remembering all that. "Anything else I should know?"

[Morgan Row]

"Oh, I know," She nods, "Yep, Morgan Row, fifth year Gryffindor. I'm the second witch in my family and a metamorphmagi. Now say things about you so I don't feel stupid please."

[Chance Gracieux]

I laugh. "Yeah, I hate that. 'Let's interrogate the shy kid to show that we're his friends!' And they never volunteer information on themselves, and I haven't got the sense to ask for it."
I shake my head. "Um... Chance Gracieux, hufflepuff sixth year. I hate mentioning my last name because no one can ever pronounce it or spell it. Er... and I'm the first wizard in my family, 'cause my sister and mom are both muggles. But my younger sister's a witch." I shrug.

[Morgan Row]

"Well, I have. Now we both have information about each other! Yay!" She smiles.
"Oh, hang on, can I pronounce your surname? Gracieux? Like that?" She asks, then grins, "Hey, we're both muggle borns. Cool. Most of my friends are all pureblood and they have scary families that don't like me. My sister was a witch too, but she passed away, so now I'm the only witch in the family."

[Chance Gracieux]

"Oh... I'm sorry," I say about her sister. "And yeah... close enough on the name there." I grin. "It's French for 'graceful.' Always found that kind of amusing." Then I frown. "I don't think I've ever met anyone who hated me 'cause of my blood status."

[Morgan Row]

"I'm not. She killed herself, got what she wanted, she's happy, and that's cool," She smiles, although that wasn't how she felt at all, it was just what she told everyone else and herself whenever she thought about it
"Oh sweet, close enough is pretty good. Graceful...nice, are you clumsy?" She chuckles, then continues smiling, "You're lucky then. Hope it stays that way."

[Chance Gracieux]

I raise my eyebrows at her slightly when she says it's cool her sister died, then I shake my head.
"Either you didn't care about her at all, have completely mastered unselfishness, or you're lying," I say. "Just because she killed herself doesn't mean she's happy."
I wince badly then and wish I could take back the words. "More... socially clumsy, if you haven't noticed," I say weakly.
Are you mad? 'Not only is she dead but she's probably unhappy'? What the hell is wrong with you?

[Morgan Row]

She smiles weakly, "You're the only one that has ever questioned me when I say that. Good on you Mr Chance."
"Okay, here's the truth right? It hurts something awful, I'm angry at her because she left me and I would never do that to her, I'm angry at everyone else because no one stopped her, I'm angry at me because I couldn't stop her, I would trade anything in a heartbeat to have her back, and it's agony every day. There's the truth, see why I prefer the lie?"
She smiles slightly at him, "Well, I did kind of notice, but you're not that bad. Don't worry about it."

[Chance Gracieux]

I look down at the floor for a moment. "Why does everybody act as though tactlessness is some kind of virtue? And it's okay to be angry... you don't have to lie to yourself."

[Morgan Row]

"Because it is sometimes. If you weren't so tactless I wouldn't have said all that now, would I? Hmm...okay, maybe me saying all that was a bad thing. Forget my point, it didn't make sense." She smiles wryly, drawing her legs up to her chest, "It's not me I'm lying to. It's everyone else. They'll think I'm as fucked up as she was, and then I don't know what'll happen, but I don't want that."

[Chance Gracieux]

I stay silent for a moment to diminish the chance that I'll say something awful again. Then, "They'll think you're fucked up because you're angry? 'Cause you're sad? I thought it was fucked up that you were okay with it, so..." I shrug. "I mean... isn't it more likely that you'll... do something like that... if you go around lying all the time instead of telling people how you really feel?"
I think about my sister. "I mean... yeah, maybe they'll feel awkward and not know quite what to say to you... but they'd rather have that than... what you have now." I shrug again, not sure if I'm making sense or just spouting off lots of generalized mumbo-jumbo.