unfortunate souls. (eustace)

Dahlia was already over her classes. they were cutting into the time she had to work on her potions and to try to perfect the formulas. Sure, she had a lot more people here at school that she could test her potions on but she was just lacking in the time department. She still had the evenings and weekends to work on her projects of course, but it was still much less time than she was used to having at her disposal.

She had time now, though, and had a piece of parchment and a quill out on the table in front of her, some long forgotten potions book open beside that. She was focused on reading the book, trying to get some ideas for how to tweak her potions when she heard someone else walk into the common room. She didn't even look up in hopes maybe they wouldn't bother her.

@Eustace Potter

Compared to Ilvermorny, Hogwarts seemed to have a lot more decorum. The students were just as annoying and the boys were just as scummy and chauvinistic, those poor straight women, but at least they weren't overdramatic because Kelly and Brad broke up or were constantly messaging away on crystals during classes. Eustace did learn, however, that the purebloods here were well-stuck into the 1950s and before unlike the ones back in America. You wouldn't be able to tell who most purebloods were in America unless they were Cartwrights or especially flashy about their blood status.

Eustace stepped into the common room after getting lost; directions through the school were anything but straightforward. On the other hand, she didn't have to enter a separate building just to go to sleep. That was a fair trade for the exchange program. Seeing another girl, Eustace stared at her and wondered if she wasn't presenting butch enough. Wasn't that the same girl she couldn't keep her eyes off of the one day?

"I didn't know you also liked potions!"

Maybe it was possible she could make at least one friend. Not all British were as insufferable as the ones that went to Ilvermorny earlier in the year.

@Dahlia Travers

Dahlia tapped the feathered end of her quill against her lower lip as she read a line of text written in the book she had open in front of her. Nothing she was reading was really new to her at all. She had already known all of this stuff from reading it numerous times before. It was frustrating when all of the books just kept repeating themselves and none of them ever gave her any ideas on how to fix her problems with her current projects. She was at least pretty sure that she had her beauty potion figured out for the most part but she was still trying to perfect the potion that would slowly freeze the heart of your enemies to stone without leaving a trace. It was a much more interesting potion to her but she knew that she would never bring in the type of revenue she needed with that, it wasn't like she could actually sell it out in the open. And while she knew she could sell such a thing for a huge price, how many vials would she actually be able to safely sell?

That was where her thought process was when she heard someone approach her, when the unfamiliar voice rang out in the previously quiet common room. She sighed. "I do not simply like potions." She said as she rolled her eyes. Then again, this was one of those exchange students, wasn't it? She wouldn't know that Dahlia was the person to go to if you needed any sort of potion in Hogwarts. "I'm busy." She informed the other girl, expecting that to be the end of it.

@Eustace Potter

Taking a seat near her, Eustace asked, "So you're actually into potions? So am I!"

Eustace kept staring at her taken aback at her looks and the evident amount of work that showed on her hands. Did she have experience..? Now she had to make her best impression. Unzipping her messenger bag, she pulled out one of her textbooks filled with notebook paper full of notes between the pages. See? She could be studious. They could study together.

"I'm Eustace."

Although her face looked as grouchy as ever, she cracked a small grin, making sure it was evident that her nails were extremely clean and properly clipped.

@Dahlia Travers

Dahlia looked at the other girl, she had some nerve to just sit there like she had been invited or something. Hadn't Dahlia more or less dismissed her? She had thought that she had been pretty clear that she wasn't looking to socialize, especially with some random Potter from America. A sigh left her lips when it became clear that this wasn't turning out the way she wanted it to. "Yes, I'm actually into potions." She said in a deadpan voice.

And it got even worse when the other girl started unloading her bag and putting things on the table by Dahlia's own. What had she done to deserve this? "Eustace? That is... Unusual." She said as she looked back down to her parchment where she had been scribbling some notes that she didn't want to forget. She didn't bother to introduce herself, hoping maybe the girl would get the hint and give up but it didn't seem like that would be the case.

@Eustace Potter

"My parents gave me the name of an elderly man," she responded with a roll of eyes. "While my sister was named Stephanie. I can't stand the fact that I'm related to her. My only consolence is that our DNA isn't exactly the same."

Eustace, clueless as can be when it came to girls that caught her interest, wanted to make it clear that she was nothing like the other Potter the other girl likely heard about since the start of the semester. Should she have made her signalling more blatant?

"What potion are you working on?"

At least she wasn't a fucking Mackenzie Riddle. That other British girl she encountered in the lounge wasn't one either; however, Eustace was certain that goth girl wasn't into other women.

@Dahlia Travers

Dahlia smirked at the girl's explanation of her own name, it was true enough. When you hear the name Eustace you expect an old man walking around with a cane or something, not a young girl. This girl must despise her parents, Dahlia knew she would if hers had given her such a name. Then the girl just went on and on. Dahlia found herself losing her train of thought and frowning. She tried to ignore her jabbering about Stephanie and DNA and whatever else she was blathering on about as she tried to remember just what she was writing.

She really missed being at home where she didn't have to put up with people approaching her. Then again, usually the only reason anyone approached her was to purchase one of her potions and those interactions were usually short and to the point then she could get on with her life. She felt like this girl was going to sit here forever. When asked what potion she was working on, she sighed. "It's a potion of my own design." She said, taking a moment to look up from her parchment, hoping that this girl who apparently liked potions as well wasn't here annoying her to try to get her hands on some of Dahlia's notes. It's what she might do if she weren't determined to come up with things on her own...

@Eustace Potter

"You design your own potions?"

Eustace sit there after asking that in silence as she felt her innards continually explode. Not only was this other girl attractive and not annoying, she was skillful with her hands in the realm of potions?!

She scrutinized the common room wondering if she was making her interest way too obvious. Was she being incidentally predatory all because there's a girl at Hogwarts she actually likes who might also be into other girls?! Pulling out one of her sheets of notes, Eustace stared down at it.

"How long have you been making your own potions?"

That was a normal, very not gay question.

@Dahlia Travers

A long-suffering sigh left Dahlia's slightly parted lips. This girl obviously didn't know how to take a hint. She had done everything aside from blatantly telling her to go away while shooting stinging hexes at her but still she remained. Still she asked questions. And Dahlia continued her short answers. "Yes." Because it wasn't like she was going to go about bragging about things. It could get in trouble in school for experimenting like she did but the risk was always worth the reward. She just knew to be discreet. Well, as discreet as she could be when people were often coming to her for one thing or another.

Dahlia looked over to the other girl, her look something akin to a grimace. She didn't have conversations with other people. Not unless they were Comarth, Melanthius, or Bellona at least. Or if they wanted to buy something from her and in that case it was strictly business. "For long enough." She couldn't actually remember when she had first begun experimenting with potions. It had been when she was very young but she couldn't pinpoint the exact timing of it. Not that it really mattered. She looked back down to her notes, maybe that would be the last of her questions since she couldn't even conceive of why the girl would keep trying to talk to her.

@Eustace Potter