Writing Home (OPEN)

little miss faye

back when she was just a first year, faye had promised to write to her parents every weekend to tell them about the magical world. her mother liked the letters because she always tried to apply science to magic - even if it never worked out the way she wanted it to - while her father loved them because he so desperately wished he was a wizard himself. in fact, faye still had all the letters her father had sent back to her, each of them full of questions and exclamations of amazement about her descriptions of various magic. she had them stashed away in her trunk at the foot of her bed, and whenever she got particularly lonely, she'd read over them and wish she was home.

of course, now that faye was in her sixth year, she didn't write to her parents as often. when something particularly interesting or magical happened, she was sure to relay it back to her father. just the other day, she'd finally spotted a mermaid from the black lake. the giant squid was a much more common sighting, seeing as how merpeople usually dwelled deeper in the lake. however, faye had been lucky enough to actually see one for herself!... although she was a bit disappointed to see that the merperson hadn't looked anything like the disney princess from the little mermaid. nonetheless, she found the need to write a quick letter to her father to tell him all about it.

that was why she was now paying a visit to hogwarts' owlery. faye's trusty brown owl, philomela, spent most of her time up here, being a rather social bird and thus preferring the company of the other owls. ironically enough, faye's pet was 100x more sociable than faye herself was. go figure. faye was used to coming up to the owlery when it was completely empty, so when she ascended to the top step, she called out to her owl in a soft, sing-song voice, "philomela, dad is going to love-!" before she could finish her sentence, though, the ravenclaw fully stepped into the owlery and saw that, this time around, she wasn't alone.

a flash of utter mortification caused the honey-blonde female to stiffen a bit, the airy smile she had had on her face to greet her beloved owl melting away. "oh, uh, hello." she stated awkwardly, her sterling grey gaze sizing up the boy. he was sitting on one of the stools, and she recognized him as being in the year younger than hers. as for his name, though, she had no idea. which wasn't surprising, given the fact that she barely knew her own housemates' names.

ignoring the fact that she had practically just sang to her pet bird, faye adopted that signature facade of hers - cool, composed, a bit emotionless. to some, it was probably best described as "resting bitch face". faye had a severe case of it. she approached philomela, parchment in hand, who hooted in a very chirpy sort of way as faye drew near. unable to resist the urge to smile at the small ball of feathers, faye petted the top of the owl's head gently. she had such a soft spot for philomela.

little miss faye

he was staring at her - probably judging her, no doubt. faye found that she was often terrible with first impressions, much to her chagrin. she tried her best to ignore the feeling of eyes on her, instead pulling out a little navy blue ribbon she brought with her to tie the letter to philomela's leg. by now, the letters didn't even need an address written on their envelopes because the brown owl had flown back and forth to cambridge hundreds of times before, back when faye would regularly write to her parents.

she tensed a bit when the male began to initiate a conversation with her. she'd hoped to just send off the letter and leave the owlery with what little of her pride she could muster. however, her bashfulness was replaced when it sounded as if he was mocking philomela's choice of name. the sixth year couldn't help but irk a bit at that, but that quickly passed once she realized he was only teasing. oh good. for a moment there, faye thought she was going to have to launch into an explanation on why philomela was a clever reference to one procne and philomela story, which was an ancient greek myth which actually wasn't very lighthearted at all... but it still featured birds in it!

at last, she turned to look over to him once again, her bright grey gaze meeting his briefly, "thanks...? i try to be at least a little original when naming things," original might not be the best word for it - perhaps unique or a-reference-no-one-will-understand-except-for-me would be a much better replacement. nonetheless, she was surprised when the boy mentioned he'd never named something before. he must never have had a pet, then, or an imaginary friend or close stuffed animal or whatever kids tended to give names to.

when the boy swept the blanket off the cage, exposing an adorable little ball of fluff within its contents, faye's heart practically melted right then and there. it really was such a cute little thing... as if jealous of having the attention turned away from her, philomela let out an exasperated chirrup and nipped lightly at faye's hand. this helped the girl snap back to attention, "oh, a name...?" faye wasn't very good at naming things - well, that is, she wasn't good at choosing names that other people would like as much as she would. she tended to choose names from her favorite books, which were usually muggles books, and so rarely anyone would understand the meaning behind the names.

so naturally, faye chose a name from another one of her favorite muggle short stories to give to the small, rounded creature, "algernon." it wasn't that cute of a name, now that she thought about it. however, she thought it sort of fit the puffskein in this odd sort of way. turning back to tie half of the ribbon onto her owl's leg, faye felt the need to explain herself, "it's the name of one of my favorite characters from oscar wilde's the importance of being earnest - algernon moncrieff."

as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them instantly. it was a muggle short story, so the chances of this boy knowing what she was referring to were very slim. all she probably managed to do was weird him out. "umm... or how about "honey"? he's sort of got that golden color to him..." why she was trying to save face in front of a person she'd never even met before was beyond her. and yet, here she was, doing it anyways.

little miss faye

faye stared at him, rather blankly and unamused as he mocked her ideas. did he want her ideas for names or not? "you never mentioned who the puffskein was for, so "honey" seemed like a cute name for a cute creature," she bit her sarcastic tongue and instead shrugged her shoulders a bit to show she wasn't overly bothered by his rejection of the name. she hadn't expected him to like either of her suggestions. they were a bit... irregular, after all. just like how philomela was. mainstream references really weren't her thing, it seemed.

at the sound of his "wait" faye turned back to look at him with curious-filled stormy grey eyes. he had risen from his seat, which forced the female look up at him with a single arched brow, raised in inquiry. she noted his sparkling blue eyes and the excited look on his face - briefly, she thought he could be cute, if she was into blonds. nonetheless, she watched as the boy went on to "discover" the perfect name for the little puffskein. she found it funny that he'd completely gotten moncrieff's name wrong, and faye glanced down at the fluffy little fellow in the cage as if saying "can you believe this guy right now? doesn't even know the name of algernon moncrieff. absolutely ridiculous, am i right?" 

she supposed "monty" was a cute enough name, but she still liked "algernon" more. it seemed more classy and stuffy, though, so perhaps it wouldn't fit the adorable animal properly. she was practically itching to correct him about moncrieff's name - and also educate him on the brilliance of oscar wilde's works while she was at it. nonetheless, she didn't miss the fact that the boy looked thoroughly excited and satisfied with his chosen name, and even faye didn't have the heart to try and tell him any differently. besides, she'd never see the puffskein in her life every again, so why did it matter to her what its name was in the end?

"brilliant. you've got a real knack for naming things," as faye turned back to face philomela once more, she couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit, a slight smirk on her pink lips. but she didn't think the boy was all that bad. clearly, he had a good relationship with his mom if he was willing to send her such a cute little present like monty. "speaking of names, i don't believe i've introduced myself yet. i'm faye oberlin." 

she fiddled with tying her envelope to philomela, who patiently had her leg stuck out in prime position. once the navy blue ribbon was secure, she gave the brown owl a quick, encouraging pat on the head, murmuring a "be safe, alright?" to her before the winged creature finally took off. she knew philomela would be fine - she'd made the journey hundreds of times before, after all - but it was like a habit of hers to wish the bird good luck. she'd been doing it ever since she was an eleven-year-old, and by now she'd feel badly if she didn't say it. not to mention philomela would probably be offended, too.