Uncared For

[Victoria Chase]

While visitations to the Brightstone Village were over, Victoria spent the last couple of days within the thick walls of Hogwarts. She was tired of her small adventures in that village, where all she did was discover small alleys that led to other interesting shops in the far end. A change of activity suited her best, so she decided to respond to the letter her dear father had sent her about a week ago. Vee was not accustomed to write to the senior Chase, claiming that he was a busy man to even spend time on his one and only daughter. It was obvious her father adored the eldest child of their family the most and being the second child in line did not help elevate her standing in her father's eyes. Nevertheless, Arthur Chase had written a letter that actually expressed his curiosity on how she was doing with her prefect duties, her progression with her OWLs, her social life and for some bizarre reason; boys. Vee had stiffened when she read that part of the letter, when her dad awkwardly inquired on how many dates she's been to for the year. The fifteen year old decided to put the letter on hold, until three minutes later when she fully finished writing the damn letter while seated on the stone floor of the North Tower.

The contents of the letter were brief and straight to the point. Unlike the letters she'd send to her mom, this letter did not express anything else but formality. Using the extra expensive ink she bought for herself, Vee had put into words the state of her life in school. Everything was getting hectic by the day but that did not stop Vee to socialize still with Dominique, her best friend since she was a toddler. Also subtly written in the letter was her zero interest in anyone as of the moment (unlike last year, where she was head-over-heels with a Slytherin) because Vee was an easily bored person. That was pretty much it and before she knew it she was standing at the bottom of the staircase that led to the Owlery and she whistled the special tune that was only known to Vela; the office owl of her own father.

The well known, cranky and extremely impatient owl circled down from the ceiling, passing over Vee's head (making Vee duck) and landed before her on the stone banister. Vela tilted her head to the side and snorted, knowing that she was asking for a treat. "No you greedy thing, I don't have any." All she had with her was some parchment, a quill and a sealed bottle of special ink. But the owl hooted, bobbing its head up and down and its big eyes were searching something behind Vee's back. Victoria's forehead wrinkled as she secured the letter tightly onto the owl's leg and stepped back. "Off you go, Vela." She said, expecting the owl to fly into the setting sun. However its next action surprised her. Vee thought the owl would attack her, but it flew right over her shoulder and passed Vee. "W-WHAT?!" Vee stuttered and turned around to see why the hell did Vela fly over her. What she saw made her jump in surprise, since the owl was now perched on a person's shoulder who managed to quietly ascend the North Tower without Vee hearing the footsteps. She clutched her chest and saw that the person had food to offer and Victoria inhaled her surprise. "I swear that owl is crazy to ask for food from random strangers." The other person did have food with them and Vela was probably hungry... Vee didn't particularly care anyway.
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Out of Character:

anybody and everybody is welcome! ♥

 

[Ashlei Kim]

Ashlei Kim was having the best days of her life at Hogwarts. She loved being away from home. She liked her classes, and she loved Ravenclaw. She had bought Jeffy some treats when she went to Brightstone. Jeffy was a picky owl, but she did not mind. She wanted to introduce him to some new treats! She had gotten a letter about a week ago from her older brother. Anwar was the person, after her father, that worried about her the most. She had not had time to respond to his letter because she had been busy trying to catch up in classes. She loved her classes, but she was not doing very well. This made her worry. She did not want her mother to think that the school was too much for her. Hogwarts made her feel good. So what if she was experiencing a little set back? She was going to find her footing soon.

Ashlei had carried Jeffy around with her all day. The snowy owl stayed stiffly on her shoulders as she walked up to the North Tower. She was rereading the letter Anwar sent in one hand, and she had a fistful of treats in her other hand. Jeffy was not curious to what she had in her other hand. The bird would look intensely at the letter and then look around. Sometimes, Ashlei felt like her dear friend could read! That would be spectacular, and she prayed that it was not impossible. Jeffy was a chubby little thing, and she liked that. She was chubby too, and she was sure that Jeffy understood her insecurities. Her brother's letter was typical. She could feel all of the anxiety he had while writing the letter. Like mother, he thought that homeschooling would have been a much better option for her, and he promised to keep her bad grades a secret if she searched for help from an older student. The letter made her smile. He really cared about her, and she was always touched.

Finally, Ashlei had made it to the North Tower. She struggled to fold up the letter with one hand and stuffed it in her pocket. Jeffy had flown off her shoulder to only be replaced by another bird. The owl must have smelt to treats in her hand. She held her fist out and opened her hand. The owl began to inhale the treats. She giggled. How cute could this owl get? She looked over to an older girl. She did not look very happy. Ashlei gave her a soft smile. "I'm sorry. You're owl is really cute!" she smiled at the older girl. Ashlei hoped that she did not mind.

 

[Victoria Chase]

When Vee's eyes adjusted to the sight before her, she was able to see Vela perched on the shoulder of a small and young girl who responded sweetly at the bird's actions. Victoria blinked, making sure that this was not happening to her. Alas, the situation was no doubt reality and the prefect wanted to grab the owl and let it fly to her father's hands. The letter was still tied to her small, scrawny foot and Vee put her tongue behind her closed teeth to convey her annoyance at the owl and not the young girl. Vela was eating the treats from the girl's hand, as if she hadn't eaten any insects or rats for the past few days in her hunts. Victoria was almost sure she wanted to smack the owl right now, but since owls were intelligent, Vee thought it was best to simply avoid its droppings like a Chaser dodging stupid Bludgers.

Victoria snorted with no poise, but as soon as she realized it, she straightened her back and composed herself. It was not appropriate to show an innocent stranger her aggravation with the owl of her father. "Her name's Vela. Obviously, she's taken a keen liking on you." And not on me, apparently. She approached the little first year, noticing that her face was short of familiarity. The prefect wished that she would be done with the wrecked owl before sundown completely left the vast sky, although she had this crept up feeling that it would take time to somehow persuade Vela to leave the castle and deliver the letter now. Victoria stopped a few meters away from the younger student and cocked her head questioningly to the left. "Now what the hell did you just bring up that has a really strong scent? Are those treats the fancy ones? I don't think Vela would be perched on your shoulder right now if you brought some kind of old and nasty items." Orbs of dark green searched the fist that held those treats that the owl somehow was able to swallow continuously and it narrowed slightly. Vee was not exactly sure what shop it came from because it was partially blocked from her view for proper inspection.
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[Ashlei Kim]

Ashlei could feel a bit of tension and anger. She must have been in the middle of sending the owl off. Anyone would get angry about being interrupted like that. Ashlei understood the older girl's anger at that, but she did not understand why she was being so hostile. The Ravenclaw took a small step back when the older student began to approach her. The owl was still eating from her hand without a care in the world. Vela. Ashlei chuckled at the name. It was cute and original. The only thing original about her name was its spelling. She rolled her eyes at the girl's question. "When one is hungry, the satisfaction of their hunger itself is more important than what they satisfy their hunger with." she said. The bird was obviously hungry, so whether the treats were expensive or not, it was not going to matter. She did not want to start a fight with the older student, but she was not going to let her push her around. Ashlei knew better than to let something like that happen. She closed her fist and the bird flew over the other student. Vela seemed to be in a much better mood. Her own owl, Jeffy perched himself on her shoulder. She offered a treat to her owl, but he did not take it. Ashlei sighed. What a picky little thing! She returned her attention to the other student. "My owl's name is Jeffy. I am Ashlei." she introduced herself. She hoped that the girl would either walk away or change her tune and be nice. She was not going to put herself in an undesirable situation. Replying to her brother could wait.

 

[Victoria Chase]

Vela was an ungrateful little sh*t and Vee knew that for the record. She narrowed her green eyes as it was faced to the owl of her own father. Victoria was near the younger student who introduced herself as Ashlei. Vee nodded, not really picking up what her name was anyway. Victoria only wanted to get a hold of Vela back and made sure that the owl did not tear up her letter to her own father in the process. That owl was sneaky and self serving, so Victoria had to make sure she did this right.

"Lovely owl you have," Vee said falsely and yet she flashed a small smile. She took a step closer to Ashlei and reached for Vela. The owl flew of from the younger student and instead swooped down low to get one more treat and held it on with its beak. With that flurry of action, Vee stepped backwards in alarm and watched as Vela ascended in the air with the 'flapflap' of its wings. "Great. Now she's showing off," Vee grumbled and folded her arms. The owl hooted with a tone that was not exactly pleasant and it ate the last piece of treat it held to its mouth. Vee watched, her lips pursed, not sparing any glance towards Ashlei anymore. Owls were intelligent animals, so perhaps this display was only an act to further stretch the annoyance Victoria was feeling. The brunette sighed irritably and snapped hard enough for Vela to hear with her supersonic ears. It was a signal for the trained animal to get down here. Vee had to fix and adjust the letter's bond to its foot. Alas, the owl remained hovering about five feet above her and Victoria looked at Ashlei in exasperation, maybe hoping that the much kinder girl could entice the stubborn owl to get back nearer to the ground.
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[Victoria Chase]

Out of Character:

ugh. didn't mean to double post. sorry for that.