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[Alexander Nightray]

The weather didn't look too good. The skies were dark, though he supposed it could also be attributed to the fact that it was nearing twilight, and the wind was howling. Young kids were expected to be in their houses already, maybe eating dinner, or perhaps just hanging out with their families. At this time of the day, and at this kind of whether, kids were not supposed to go outside, at least, without any guardian that is. But young Alexander Nightray, carrying bags full of things he bought as per the 'request' of his cousins, stood all alone in the middle of the streets of england. What was worse was, he wasn't just alone, he was in an extremely unfamiliar place. The eleven year old raised his right hand to look at the time, it was getting quite late. His twin must be worried about him, or at least, he believed that she would worry, if she learned that he was missing that is. How long had he been walking around in circles anyway? He already lost track of the time since he first realized that he lost sight of his father. When was the last time he saw him again? He was quite sure that he was looking for a gift for his sister and his father was talking to someone, but as he turned around, the older man was nowhere to be found. Maybe he should have just stayed where he was and wait for his father to come back, if he did, then he wouldn't be standing there all alone without any means to contact anyone he knew.

The eleven year old sighed and checked the time again. He was getting quite hungry and the little galleons that he had with him would be of no help at all. If what he had seen so far was any indication, he was quite sure that he was in a muggle area. Wizarding communities do not have those loud things with wheels. What were they called again? Cars, was it? He shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking about these things when he should be thinking about how he should get home instead. He started to walk again. He was getting quite tired. And he was hungry he could almost hear his stomach complaining. He had to get home, which meant that he had to get out of his shell and start asking for directions too. He tried to ask around, but they were either too busy to pay him any attention, or they wouldn't take him seriously, they couldn't understand him, they even gave him a few coins. Though there were some who had told him to go to a police station, whatever that was, he didn't know. He was on the verge of giving up when he saw a young girl, probably his age if not younger, standing alone a few meters away from where he was. Adults wouldn't take him seriously, perhaps she would. He took a deep breath and approached her, and as he stood right beside her, he poked her in the shoulder in an attempt to get her attention. That was how he gets his twin’s attention anyway, maybe it would work. "Par-", poor kid wasn't even able to finish his statement as as soon as he opened his mouth, his voice was drowned by a speeding car and he soon found himself drenched, probably because of the small puddle of water by the side of the street. Great, these muggle transportation things weren't just loud, they don't just contribute highly to the pollution, they also seemed to be made to shower people with water. He raised the bag containing some of the books that he bought then he checked his clothes. Great. The rain hasn't even started and he was already wet.​

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[Dina Nightray]

The time had come once again for Dina Stanley to try and get away from her hopeless father. He wasn't hopeless as a father, but he was hopeless when it came to raising a daughter. It was no wonder Dina had no idea how to be a girl. She used to be a girl, like six years ago, but she no longer wore dresses or did her hair in lovely little styles. The only reason she even had long hair was because her father refused to let her cut it. To be honest though, Dina did love her long hair. Her mother had loved it, so she wanted to keep it always. It hadn't been cut since she could remember, but it grew so slowly, she could go an entire year without her hair looking any longer. It grew maybe an inch a year. She was convinced of that entirely. Dina's brothers were absolutely no help either. They treated her like one of the boys and it wasn't ever going to change. They all played rough games and she was not bad at holding her own, though they were bigger then she was. Cassiel and Micah were the worst, they were well in their teens and they often introduced her to their girlfriends as their youngest brother Dino. She didn't look like a boy though and so often their girlfriends really would have no idea what was going on. Which was certainly fair enough she thought. Served them right for trying to make her even more of a tomboy then she was. Normally Dina didn't mind being 'just one of the boys', but their came a time when she just wanted to be where people didn't know her or her story and that often meant she had to put as much distance between them and herself as was physically possible.

The only problem was, however, that now Dina was in the middle of London and she actually had no way of getting back. Normally she would walk, as she had no money, but their was a storm brewing, judging from the dark clouds in the sky, and it was as if the universe was trying to tell her something, because for all of her calmness and ability to handle anything, the one thing that really caused legitimate fear for the young girl, was a thunder storm. The night her mother had died, Dina had been caught out in a thunder storm because everyone head forgotten about her as her mother slowly died in her bed. For nearly six hours Dina had to endure the torrential downpour of rain whilst she was clinging to a tree. It had been one of the most horrific experiences of her life and it had very nearly caused her death, however he was much recovered physically, but the ordeal left her fretful of any storm, especially one of thunder and lightning. Dina sighed and ran her hand though her hair, untangling some of the small notts with her fingers. She was cold. She had left the comfort of her home much earlier in the day, it had been warmer. Now however the temperature had dropped and she had no idea how long she was going to be out here for. Surprisingly, none of the adults had asked her if she was okay, one time in New Zealand she had gotten lost and everyone had asked if she was okay. Luckily her father had found her and she had gotten home safely, but this time it was different. The addition of someone poking her caused Dina to turn her head slightly and frown at the sight of a boy, about her age. She had no idea why he was poking her, but it was annoying. She brushed him off as he started to speak, only for the both of them to be covered in dirty water from the side of the road.

Dina looked down at her now completely and thoroughly soaked clothing and sighed, rolling her eyes. "The universe is most certainly against me today." She looked after the car and flipped the driver a new one, only remembering after the fact that she was supposed to be a sweet little girl and not a b!tchy tomboy. Oops. Dina rounded on the boy and dragged him out of the path of any oncoming traffic. They were both filthy now and despite Dina not minding the odd bit of mud, she hated dirty water, being wet and the storm that was brewing. Looking hesitantly up at the sky, Dina bit her lip as she looked back at the boy. "Uh, are you okay?" He didn't look like he had gotten wet from a car before, so she figured she was more knowledgeable on this subject then he was. Of course she could have been wrong too.
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[Alexander Nightray]

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Alexander looked down at his now thoroughly soaked clothing. The coat that he was wearing felt even heavier than before. But that was the least of his concerns. What will he do with his books? The ink will get messy and it wasn't like he could bring out his wand to dry them quickly. He sighed yet again. Maybe he should head back to the bookstore and buy another set of books, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to hear the end of it from his cousins. The problem, however, is that he was still lost. What's worse, he wasn't just lost, he was hungry, broke, and wet. And the weather wasn't showing any sign of getting better. In fact, the sky looked even more ominous than it did earlier. It would rain soon, and he knew that it wasn't going to be a normal downpour either. This one would last long, perhaps hours, and at that, his lips pulled down a little into a barely noticeable scowl. Will his father ever find him? Or actually, will he take the time to look for him? Did he even notice that his son had gone missing? Alexia would notice at least. Or so he hoped, but the young kid wasn't really that optimistic. He, however, needed some place to stay in and food to fill his already complaining stomach.

He hadn't fully heard what his companion had said as his attention was still on his clothing and his books, but he did managed to raise his head just in time to see her doing some sort of hand movements that were unfamiliar to him. "Ah," he started to say but was cut short when he felt himself being dragged somewhere. He staggered after the girl, trying to keep up with her pace while at the same time, trying to understand the gestures that the girl made earlier. He almost lost his balance when they finally stopped. His mind was still preoccupied with his own inner musings as the girl began to speak again. "What?," he asked softly, confusion etched in his usually blank face. This girl confused him. Muggles confused him. Was she one too? His father would surely be angry should he hear about him associating himself with these filthy beings, but he wasn't around anyway, and currently, this girl was the only one who actually paid him attention, and she confused him, and if there was one thing that could actually get the young Nightray's attention for long, It's when he was trying to figure something out. And this girl was a puzzle that he was currently determined to solve. He raised his free hand in front of him, looked at it, waved it a little, then looked at the girl again. "This," he started, before he copied what the other did at the car earlier and waved his hand in front of him again, as if directing the girl's attention to his hand, "Is this a code?," Some people were already looking at him, some with disgust, and some just shook their heads at him, he didn't care though and paid them no attention. He was pretty good at blocking things out if he wanted to. And besides, what he cared about now was to learn the things that he felt he needed to learn.​

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[Dina Nightray]

The universe was most certainly an interesting force. It seemed to Dina, that no one could deal with the force of nature or with the universe in particular and that scared her to the core. Dina was used to being able to control what happened around her, the way her life progressed, she liked to think it was all up to her and the realisation that it really wasn't, that all her life she was really running after an unreachable goal made Dina feel inadequate and small. Still, she continued to try and maintain some semblance of control, no matter how useless it was. It made her feel better about everything. It made her feel that maybe she would succeed, even if she wouldn't. Looking around her, Dina had to wonder what she must look like right now. Surely she was not aesthetically pleasing to the majority, she wasn't even pleasing to herself, so she couldn't exactly expect others to be pleased with her filthy appearance. It wasn't fun, it was not fun at all and Dina really wished to be able to just get out of her dirty wet clothes and have a really long bubble bath, or something. Well, in order to be able to do that, she would have to try and get herself home at some point. She couldn't stay out here all day. She had to get home, they both did. After all, this was a muggle area. If something happened she wouldn't be able to get out of it. She was only eleven, she didn't have control over her magic yet. When the thunder and lightning finally rolled in. As she knew it would, she would not be responsible for what happened whilst she was scared and bristling with untapped potential. It was the one part she hated, because she didn't yet have a wand of her own. She just had to be born in September!

The boy seemed confused by something. As she had spoken to him, he'd frowned, an indicator that he didn't understand something. Did he not speak English? That would certainly explain a lot. To be honest, maybe she should try to find a police officer for him, they'd be able to do a lot more then she would be able to do for him. They were trained in these things after all. However, once he repeated back to her, the gesture she had used earlier, Dina finally understood his confusion and quickly grabbed his hands in hers and stopped him from continuing with it. For some reason, he had no idea what the gesture implied and Dina didn't feel right about reaching him either. Ignoring the looks, glares and head shakes of some of the adults, Dina looked back up at the sky trying to judge how much time she had before looking back at the boy. She still had his hands in hers, but she kept them there until she was sure he wouldn't make the gesture again."Sort of a code, yeah." She told him, "but it's a rude gesture, not something civilised people tend to do." Regardless of what people might have generally thought, Dina didn't think of herself as all that civilised or sophisticated, because of that, her manners had suffered, or rather, they were basically nonexistent. If her parents had been into arranged marriages, they would have had one hell of a time looking for a husband for her. She was neither mother, not wife, material. She was sure it would be a tragedy if she was all that worried about it, but seeing as she wasn't, it didn't matter. "I'm Dina by the way, what's your name?"
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[Alexander Nightray]

Being a Nightray was a gift as well as a bane. In fact, it was more like the latter. Sure, belonging in an affluent family was great. He was showered with everything he needed. Toys? He could get them in an instant. Food? Just say it and it would appear in front of him in seconds. Books? He need not ask anymore and it would be given to him. Every material thing was just within his reach. He need not worry too much about his future, for even without working, he would be provided for. It was the head of the family's job. Though to be under the head's 'protection' he had to swear loyalty and to prove himself. Which was why he was't after the position. It was too much work. He wasn't really looking forward to spending the rest of his life minding other people's business. He preferred to be just a mere member of the family. Something he was yet to achieve. He was blood relative yes. Merlin, he was a direct descendant, but his father thought that he didn't have what it took to proclaim himself as a Nightray. Not that he had any problem with it. He never did complain about anything anyway. And sometimes, he even thought that it was much better not to be one. The Nightrays imposed too many rules on their children. Sure, he was given everything he needed. Almost everything. Except attention. And freedom. Things which he usually didn't mind not having. But not being able to do the things that normal kids should be doing, like playing and interacting with other kids their age, had its disadvantages. Alexander had little to no experience in dealing with other kids. He had been surrounded with books and adults all his life that he knew not how to act in the 'normal' way that people outside their manor would expect him to act. What’s normal for him might not be normal for others. And what was normal to others, was completely new to him that it catches him off guard most of the time.

Alexander was extremely neutral about things. While most would view things as black or white, he viewed them as grey. He rarely had anything that he wanted. More so, he rarely had anything that he disliked. But if there was one thing that could get him rattled and make him drop his blank countenance, it was when he was left in the dark about things. He didn’t like not knowing. This was why he was a good observer and a good imitator. He learned by seeing and copying. Which was what he did when he saw the unfamiliar gesture that his companion had made.

The young boy was too absorbed by his thoughts to notice the looks that were being thrown at their direction. He felt a chill. The wind was blowing harder by the second, and his soaked clothing was not really helping too. But that was far from his mind. He was too focused on trying to unravel the 'mystery' at hand. If he had been paying attention to how people looked at him, then he might have gotten a clue that what he was doing was rude and not generally acceptable. But he wasn't. That was why he almost jumped in surprise when his companion grabbed his hand for the second time that day. Alexander had no problem with physical contact, but he already been touched by strangers in that day more than he would have wanted. He wasn't jumpy, he rarely reacts to anything. But this girl had been able to make him react twice already. And it hadn't been that long since he had 'met' her. Even his own twin sister wouldn't be able to make his drop his blank expression this easily. He didn't know what to make of it. She was an enigma and he wasn't sure if he wanted to be involved with her any further. He would have pulled his hand away, but the girl began talking again he had already forgotten that she had his hand in hers. "If it is rude, then why are you doing it?," his locked his eyes with hers. He was a firm believer that if one was engaged in a conversation with another, eye contact was necessary. The comment that implied that she viewed herself as not being civilized was ignored without a second thought. "How do you call it?" Even though he had been told that it was rude, his thirst for knowledge had pushed him to ask more about it.

"Alexander," was his short answer upon the girl's mention of her own name. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Dina." His strict upbringing was evident in the way that he offered his free hand for a handshake. A handshake was normal, right? People do it all the time when introducing themselves to others, do they not? Well usually, those that he had met before would state their family name, a way to boast about their status without stating it directly. He opened his mouth to say something else but he was distracted by a distant rumble of thunder. It sounded so faint that he thought he had imagined it. But gradually, the rumbling grew louder and louder. He looked up at the sky. It looked dark and ominous. No star was in sight. The whole sky was engulfed by black clouds. And as if to mock him further, huge bolts of lightning cut through the sky followed by the cracking sound of thunder. He stayed rooted on his spot. He had never seen lightning this 'close'. It was... beautiful. Lightning struck again and the sky looked like it had been split into two. He could hear someone scream as the lamppost light died before flickering back to life again. The wind blew harshly against his small frame. The roof to the nearby establishment rattled shakily. Some flashes of lightning came dangerous close to the establishments. The next second, the storm was upon them, rain pour heavily to drench everything in sight. The storm raged, the wind howled, thunder cracked, and lightning flashed. The noise was too loud he could barely hear himself think. He gave his companion a short glance, before he returned his attention to the sky. He was drenched, and he was already shivering due to the cold, but he remained standing there. The fury of nature was an incredible sight.​

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[Dina Nightray]

The storm grew slowly more sinister as Dina watched the world turning dark around her. Sometimes she had to wonder if maybe she had done some horrible nasty deed to someone in a previous life, because she just had to be being punished for something. She didn't know what, but obviously something. Still, she supposed that it could be worse, after all, he life wasn't all that bad, she had a loving family at least, that was always a good thing. She had a decent memory and could remember her mother and she had favourite activities that she was allowed to pursue, not that they required any great feats of strength or anything. She liked to think it was important though. They were her interests after all. Dina returned her wayward attention to the boy whose hands she was still holding and though about what he had asked. There weren't really any valid reasons for her use of hand gestures except that they got her point across quite well and she didn't have to yell and scream about it. Still, the why of her using them was not exactly something she thought about. Most often it was a force of habit, an unconscious gesture, the only suitable option. She was a child, there was little else she could do after all. Her brothers all did it, none of them had manners, how could she be expected too. She thought for a second and pouted as she realised that she had only one answer. "I did it because I am a Caveman. That's why." She told him, sighing and closing her eyes. It wasn't strictly true for a couple of reasons, the most obvious being that she was a girl and not a man and that they lived in London and not in caves at the dawn of man, but her point was still valid as far as she was concerned. "I'm not telling you what it's called. You'll probably go and look it up or something!" He looked the type. Like her a little bit, though she'd never admit it. He looked kind of bookish and nerdy, all the things she didn't want to be associated with. Still, it wasn't a bad look on him, she was sure.

Dina shook the boy's hand as he offered it and smiled slightly at his name. She'd only known one other Aleksander in her time and that was her Great Uncle. He'd been her favourite person in the whole world. She'd called him Sasha. It was a form of endearment in Russia to add Sha to the end of names and Aleksha sounded weird, so she had cut it down a bit. It wasn't a bad thing either. Dina smiled at the boy, whom she had secretly decided to refer to as Sasha in her head. It wasn't like she was ever going to see him again anyway. "Anyway, I think it would be best if we just-" Her sentence was interrupted by the sound of thunder over head. She had been so distracted by the thoughts of her Uncle that she had not even noticed the change of intensity in the atmosphere. The sudden claps of thunder sent her reeling and almost simultaneously the street lights lost their power, plunging the street into near blackness. Though it was not terribly late at night, the overcast clouds and the lack of filtered light from cars, made it almost impossible to see even three feet around in any direction. Scared out of her mind and not able to think clearly, Dina grabbed at the first thing she could find and yanked it toward her as she pressed her back against the brick of one of the buildings. She buried her face into the sleeve of whoever she had just physically attacked and tried to pretend that she couldn't hear anything, couldn't feel the rain pouring from the sky to drench her already wet clothes. She tried to pretend that the roaring thunder above her was the sound of bowling. She tried to pretend that the flashes of light she could still see through her eyes squeezed shut, were the flashes of a camera, but it wasn't working. With each sound of thunder, Dina just hugged the person tighter. The only thing she knew for certain was that she wanted to be anywhere but here. The thunder brought back more then just fear. It brought back her feeling of betrayal, her worry, her regret, her anger, her hatred, her anxiety, her fever. Everything that had ever happened to her, she could associate with a thunder storm, and people still wondered why they affected her so badly.
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[Alexander Nightray]

Alexander stared at the girl in front of him. She was starting to confuse her even more, and that wasn't fun at all. The air was starting to get chilly and even his coat, which was yet to dry, could not protect him from the wind. The books that he bought were probably going to be unreadable by the time he arrive at their house, and Merlin, was he not going to hear the end of it from his family. Not that he could buy replacements. He doubted that the little galleons that he had with him would be enough. However, that wasn't really the most of his concern right now. More than the books nor the obvious complaints of his stomach, beyond getting lost and feeling uncomfortable, he had this puzzling girl to think about. "That was wrong," he told her after considering her answer to his question. His eyes, the color of the ocean on a stormy day, green with tinges of blue and grey, searches her own, before he opened his mouth to say what was bothering him with that answer. "You're not a man," he started, turning his attention to her hair, a color he was familiar with. "A cavewoman will be more appropriate," he added softly, completely brushing off the fact that it was probably more appropriate for him to assure her that no, she was not a troglodyte because for starters, there was no cave near them and she did not look like one. He did not even notice that he had implicitly agreed with her claim although he did not really mean it. His lips pulled down a bit at her refusal to tell him what the gesture was called. Though usually indifferent, he did not like not knowing. He was not going to push her though. He would not do that. He just had to do his research at home once he got the time to do so.

The young Nightray was unable to hear the girl's statement as it was buried by the loud sound of thunder, and in a matter of less than a minute, the street was covered in darkness. Not total darkness though, as every once in a while, a flash of lightning would cut through the sky like blades. Books, companion, and his own condition forgotten, he looked up, letting himself be drenched by the ceaseless, unwavering and unrelenting downpour of rain. It was his first time, really. He had seen kids play under the rain before, wondered why they would enjoy such a tiring activity without thinking about the consequences of their actions. Were they not scared of getting sick? Now though, he understood, even just for a bit. He was not having fun, and Merlin, he was certainly not running around, but despite the loud roar of thunder, it was quite calming. It was only when he felt his arm being grabbed that he was pulled back to his senses. Surprise registered on his usually blank face as he turned his attention towards the girl. Was she... scared? This was how Alexia acts every time she wanted to hide from something. He learned not to question her though and to just let her do what she wanted. He was not sure what scared his companion, but he decided not to ask as he let her pull him away from their previous position. They had their backs pressed against the brick of the building, and the roof overhead protected them a little from the rain. He looked at the girl whose face was buried into his sleeves then turn his attention back to the raging storm and at the street that was now deserted except for the few people who were trying to find shelter too. From afar, he had seen a child crying and saw what he assumed to be her mother bend down to cover her ears with something which calmed the young kid down. He turned his attention back to Dina and that was when he realized what must have set her off. Was she scared of the storm? He had nothing to use to cover her ears with though and he doubted that his hands would do. He looked at his hands, to the bag that contained his now absolutely unreadable books and back to the girl. He put the bag down the ground before he slowly tore his hand away from the girl. He then removed his coat and wordlessly placed it on top of her head. It was quite soaked, but it was certainly thick enough to at lessen the loudness of thunder and thick enough to shield her from the wind. That leave him with nothing but his shirt to protect him against the weather though. But that was fine. He could deal with it. He picked up his bag again before he heard his stomach complaining again. "I'm hungry," he said to no one in particular, checking his pockets to see whether he just failed to notice some muggle currency.​

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[Dina Nightray]

Thunder, lighting, it was all very serious, it was all very scary and it was all very real. Despite what she would have people think, Dina could not handle thunder, lighting or even any storms in general. Her father still didn't seem to understand why she was so scared of them, yet to Dina it was all so painfully obvious. She had gone through hell and back during that storm, what was she supposed to do, she was five years old, waiting under a tree for a ride that never came. As the noise and the light continued to shoe her to her core, Dina buried her head even further into the arm the protected her as best she could make it. She still didn't know whose arm this was, nor did she care at this point, she just wanted everything to stop. She didn't even care anymore that five minutes ago, the boy she had just met, that Sasha, had insulted her, well sort of. She had insulted herself and he had merely corrected her. Though it irked her to no end, she supposed the blame did not lie with him, but with herself. Still, he could have stopped at the disagreement instead of continuing. The rain seemed to grow heavier as Dina kept her face buried and try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to stop thinking of what was happening around her. Her senses heightened when she was anxious or scared. She had read somewhere that it was the anticipation of a fight or a danger that did this. Her adrenaline was pumping through her body, ready to enact her fight or flight response. Which this was, she had no idea, but she knew it was painful and she didn't like it. She wanted it to be over, but what was she to do? All she could do was stand here and wait.

It wasn't long until she felt the tears start. Now, in addition to borrowing this poor person's shirt, she was going to cry all over it and who knew what else. This was just getting ridiculous now. However, she couldn't seem to stop herself and that was entirely more frustrating than the storm carrying on outside of her relative safety net/sleeve. Another clap of thunder and Dina jumped, shaking like a leaf as her body began to feel the affects of the rain. She was getting cold now and soon the shivering would start. It would be worse once this was all over, but she knew it had to be done. She couldn't get home in this state. Maybe she shouldn't have left in the first place. By this point, she wasn't even shocked when the sleeve she was sobbing into was torn from her grasp and her face fell into the wall, scraping her cheek some. She'd had worse, though she was a little taken aback. She held her cheek with her left hand and turned slightly to see that it had been Sasha's sleeve she had stolen. Well, poop. The only thing more awkward than that would have been if it was a complete stranger, though it explained why she had been able to cry into it for much longer than she had initially anticipated. She watched silently, tears still in her eyes and more continuing as he slowly pulled off his jacket and draped it over her head. Dina blinked. What had he done that for? She turned her head and leaned against the wall, marvelling at the darkness and instananeous hush that fell over her. It wasn't pitch black, but it was dark enough that she could ignore the lighting and the thickness of the jacket disallowed the normally penetrative noise of the thunder. It was dead silent, but at least she could hear her heart now. Thundering away as it was. Only trouble was, now that she had the jacket, he would be standing there, likely shivering from the cold. Dina was going to have to thank him somehow. Not knowing what else to do, Dina snaked her right hand out from where she was clutching the jacket and grasped Sasha's hand. She was not moving from this spot without him.
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