Closed Break Out

[Gracen Worth]

As the school holidays continued, Gracen decided to make a few changes in his life he intended to implement for the coming semester. Midway through his second year he was realizing his standard antisocial habits and refusal to participate in things he did not think were worthy of his time was doing nothing other than hold him back. While being quiet and indifferent was thoroughly within his comfort zone, a place where he could guarantee he would never be hurt by someone else or by circumstances out of his control, it wasn't doing him any favors socially or academically which was where he wanted to thrive. So in the process of making changes to ensure his goals were met and he could become the person he ultimately wanted to be, Gracen headed to Obsidian harbour for some school shopping, thinking that buying new school supplies and books would motivate him to focus more on classes when the semester began. ​

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As he left flourish and blotts with some new books in his bag, he was feeling as if motivation might be impossible, the task of shopping for things he was not particularly interested in draining his energy more than he anticipated. Knowing he couldn't give up and return home now that he had purchased some of the things on his list, however, Gracen knew he needed to continue after a short break to gather his bearings. He walked to sit on an empty bench that was nearby, placing his bag of books next to him and retrieving his shopping list. He took a moment to read it over, making a mental note of what he had already purchased and what he was yet to find, using this information to plan which stores he should go to next so the rest of his shopping trip could be as quick and painless as possible.​

 

[Alice Holland]

School holidays had been a little different since Alice's mother had won the election, but Alice was starting to get used to it. It made her a little sad that her mother was so busy, but she made sure not to show that to her as she didn't want her to feel bad. She knew being minister was an important job, so she really didn't want to make her mother feel bad about it. She had a lot of fun with her sisters and dad whenever they had time for her, but she was growing a little bored. She missed her friends at school, and had written them all letters already. So when Rose said she had to go out to get some supplies for potions, Alice had happily tagged along. But she had let her sister go into the stinky apothecary alone, telling her that she would be hanging out around the book store. Alice didn't actually need any books, but it was fun to see what the store had on offer, sometimes the books were pretty interesting. She was also hoping to run into some of her friends or classmates, and figured they were likely to be at the bookstore.

As she headed over, she noticed someone sitting on a bench. It was a boy she recognized from her classes, but had never really talked to. He was exactly the sort of company she had been hoping for, and she happily made her way to the bench he was sitting on and sat down next to him. "Hi, you're in my year right?" She asked the boy with a bright smile. "I'm Alice. Are you shopping for school books?" She glanced at the bag curiously. "You're a Slytherin, right?" She added, as she was pretty sure she shared History of Magic with this boy which was a class she shared with the Slytherins. "Excited for the new semester?"

 

[Gracen Worth]

As Gracen continued to read his shopping list he kept the locations of each store he needed to attend in mind, making a plan of the most efficient way he could get what he needed and return home without feeling entirely bitter the day was a waste of his time. When he had a plan in mind he folded his list back up, placing it in the pocket of his shirt for safe keeping, though before he could stand up and be on his way someone appeared next to him on the bench, asking him questions about his year and house as if he wasn't trying to be an unrecognizable fly on the wall during his few years at Hogwarts. Gracen eyed the girl up and down suspiciously, only allowing his expression to soften slightly and answering the questions when he felt more comfortable she did not have an ulterior motive for approaching him. "I think we are in the same year. I'm in Slytherin." He confirmed, keeping his sentence to the point. "Depends on what your definition of 'excited' is." Gracen added, thinking he wasn't so much excited for the new semester as he was excited to get himself on track and work towards his goals. Realising this was the time to return the question back to the girl lest he would seem rude, Gracen promptly said. "Are.. you excited for the semester?" At a first glance and judging by the fact she had asked the question to him, he could probably gather she was excited to return to school. But he could never be sure without asking directly and he waited politely for her to answer. ​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice was eager to get to know this boy, as it was a chance to make a new friend. She smiled at him brightly, even as she tried to remember his name. "Awesome, two points for me as I got two things right about you." She said with a grin as he confirmed that he was indeed in her year and in Slytherin. "Your name is... Gracen? Right? I remember because it's a bit like Grace, which is my cousin's name." She paused, realizing he might take offense to being compared to a girl's name. "I think it's a cool name." She added to soften her words. She laughed slightyl as he said it depended on what her definition of excited was, raising her eyebrows a little. "I meant the common definition, which I think is something like... something you're happy about and look forward to. Or something like that." She said, tossing her hair over her shoulder with a small laugh. "But perhaps you know a different definition of excited? Do share?" She said, amused by him. "I can't really answer your question until I know what you mean with the word excited." She added jokingly, hoping he would have a sense of humor about it. He seemed pretty serious, but sometimes serious people were the funniest underneath.