Closed A New Denizen

[Aramis Faroe]

Aramis had blissfully enjoyed having the extra space in his dorm for years. The spare bed was perfect for laying out laundry he didn't want to fold or books he hadn't put away. Today though, he'd been unnerved to find that for the first time he'd ever seen, it was prepped and cleaned up, his backpack mysteriously moved to rest at the foot of his own bed instead of where he'd left it flung onto the spare bed earlier.

Warily, Aramis climbed onto his bed, watching the bed with curious trepidation, uncertain what this string of events indicated, and prepared for trouble none the less as he cracked open his Charms book to read.

 

[Nathaniel Lucas Prout]

Just be calm, it'll be fine.

Lucas kept repeating this over and over in his head, desperately trying to hide his discomfort as he slid past the other students to his new room. Being an only and home-schooled child didn't exactly prepare him for the dorm lifestyle, or what Beaux had to offer in general. But, his mom always told him to keep his chin up, so that's what he's going to do.

Well, try to do.

Luckily, most of his things were already put away neatly in the drawers of his new room, but the chest of personal belongings and his violin case clacked together as he pushed open the door. It closed quietly behind him as he set down the rest of his stuff in front of the bed with a thud. Lucas almost didn't notice his now new roommate, seemingly absorbed in a textbook. Okay, game time, don't mess this up from the start.

Uh...hello! Nice to....meet you. I'm Lucas.

 

[Aramis Faroe]

Aramis glanced up with someone entered the room, groaning when the luggage he was carrying confirmed his worst fears. Someone else was finally taking the spare bed. Aramis knew he couldn't have stayed that lucky for so long, but a guy could dream. He looked curious at the instrument case the guy had with him, finally closing his book when he made a very stilted introduction.

"Oh, hey, I'm Aramis. Bet it's rough transferring mid-year," He said mildly, glancing over at all Lucas' things now in the room and sending one last sad farewell to his extra space. "Uh, Parlez-vous français?" He asked on a hunch. "Or um.. English?" He tried. Aramis' English wasn't great, but he supposed if his new roomie spoke it maybe he'd finally pick it up more.

 

[Nathaniel Lucas Prout]

Well, he felt a little more confident now that the most basic of introductions had been made. Lucas wasn't sure where to go from here, but luckily Aramis can speak English. He hadn't even considered being roomed with someone that he couldn't communicate with.

"Ah, yeah. No time like the present, I guess.". He took a moment to set the violin case on the bed to inspect it; the last thing Lucas needed was for something to be broken. Letting out a slight laugh, he shook his head - Lucas' French was far from the best, but there's no better place to pick it up than Beauxbatons.

"Non, not really. Mostly just the basics. English is my strong suit, or...my only suit right now.". Picking up the stringed instrument, Lucas sighed in relief as he looked it over, no nicks or broken strings from the trip means less things to worry about. "I've was home schooled before this. Didn't think I'd need to learn it, honestly," He shrugged, plopping himself onto the bed to further inspect the violin and its parts.

"Should I ask what happened to your previous roommate?" Lucas posed the question, maybe a bit too nonchalantly. Hopefully there wasn't some dark, awful reason for him to be taking this new space.

 

[Aramis Faroe]

Aramis nodded when Lucas mentioned he was homeschooled, which explained a lot, though he had to snort that it was his excuse for not speaking French either. "Bet your neighbors are big fans." His mum always complained about tourists who could speak much French, though Aramis could tell Lucas was at least trying. "My English is not great, but it is okay," He added reassuringly, switching back to English to be polite. Maybe that was why his luck had run out on the spare bed, he was sure there were other kids in their year who spoke English fine, but they probably all didn't have space in their dorms.

"Oh there was um. No one, before you," Aramis said, shrugging. "I was lucky," He added, dropping back against his pillows and squinting at the violin Lucas was playing with. "Do you play?" It seemed a stupid question, but then again, Lucas lived in France and didn't speak French so you never knew.

 

[Nathaniel Lucas Prout]

Lucas couldn't help but let out a chuckle. His neighbors, rightfully so, were not the biggest fans of his household and their predominantly English-speaking ways. His dad had always served as a translator and peace keeper, something Lucas was definitely missing right now. He cracked a small smile at Aramis' English; guess they both have something to work on now.

"It's pretty good, actually. My French is laughable, so I'm sorry about that in advance."

He pulled out the bow, inspecting the strings and nodding along to Aramis' explanation of the situation. "Super lucky," he said, holding the bow up to the light as if that made a difference. "Sorry about taking the space from you. To be fair, it wasn't by choice."

Does he play? Oh yes. Is he embarrassed about actually playing right now? Also yes.

"Yeah! Yeah, uh. I've been playing since I was five." Lucas fiddled with the strings, forcing them back into tune. "I could play you something. If you want. NO pressure, though."

 

[Aramis Faroe]

"I like laughing," Aramis said back simply, keeping his face straight though he was fairly amused. If he was going to have to give up his spare bed, at least he could have some fun with it. He just shrugged when Lucas apologized, tilting his head side to side in acknowledgement. "Was going to happen at some point, I guess,"

It was a relief that Lucas said he'd been playing the violin since he was five, at least that meant he was less likely to suck. Aramis didn't know any silencing charms yet and he wasn't ready to commit to four years of earplugs. "Okay, better question. Are you good at playing?" Aramis said with a short laugh. "Uh, what type? What type of music?" He tried, trying to find the English word for what he wanted, snapping his fingers in the air as he tried to think of it. "Like, classic?"

 

[Nathaniel Lucas Prout]

Lucas would be the first to break face, as a small smile crept in. It felt like he and Aramis were on the same wavelength, at least comedy wise. He matched Aramis' shrug at his reply; sure it would happen eventually, but Lucas couldn't help feeling weird that he was the one to do it.

Everything was finally in tune! He played a few chords to get things going, and let out a laugh at the question. "I'd hope so, it's only been most of my life spent with this thing."

"Oh! Classical?" He felt like snapping was going to be a big part of their friendship. "Yeah, sometimes. Mostly it's old muggle music, from my dad. I think it's pretty cool though."
Since Aramis showed the slightest bit of interest, Lucas took it upon himself to just start playing. At a reasonable noise level, anyway. He hoped silently that this would make him seem cool and impressive and not...something lame.

 

[Aramis Faroe]

[sorry for the long wait I died a lil]
Aramis was relieved that Lucas at least seemed to believe he was good at playing. He usually liked to just roll with the punches when it came to things at school, but if he had to deal with a bunch of noise every day for the rest of his school life he might have to file a complaint.

"Ah, yes," Aramis said, pointing and nodding, grateful Lucas got the gist of his question. He sat up a sit straighter when Lucas mentioned he mostly played older muggle music. Aramis wasn't overly familiar with a lot of 'magical' music, he had a radio about here somewhere but the signals were hard to pick up at school and the tuning always seemed to change, which was annoying. "My parents are muggles, maybe you play something I know?" He asked, crossing his legs and setting his book aside when Lucas started playing. Aramis didn't recognize it, but Lucas didn't sound bad either, so he gave Lucas an appreciative clap as he finished playing. "It's nice, better than expected."