Welcome to Gaia! ::

.¸¸.•´´¯`•Laili followed the first years closing the door behind them and doing one last head count doing an inner celebratory dance when she saw she didn't lose anyone. "And there you have it! This is our lovely extra comfortable common room! Boys dorms are to the left, girls are to the right and all your belongings should already be up there. Now while girls can go up into the boys' dorm, it's impossible for boys to go into the girls'. And if you try the stairs turn into a slide and your shame is known throughout the house. Kidding! Only about the last part about shame, the stairs really do turn into a slide though. So, rest up guys! Breakfast starts at eight and you should get there early because that's when our head passes out our class schedule. Don't stay up too late and remember you can come to me for just about anything and I promise not to betray confidences. Good night everyone!"

Augustin sat down in the Common Room since it was close to his bedroom and his collection of books. His plan for the evening was to study the lessons for the next week so that he could get a jump on his classwork. He laid out the Transfiguration textbook and the Potions one simultaneously to study both texts. Since both used a fair bit of math, he figured he could study them both at the same time. Setting out his notebooks and a self-inking quill, he started to document everything that the textbooks said. He would copy one page from one book, then flip to the other notebook to copy the other text. In his experience, copying his texts helped with the memorization. Around him, students came and went, but he didn't seem to notice them too much. After all, once he got started on something, he usually didn't stop. All this studiousness was supposed to impress his father, but he still seemed to be overshadowed by his brother and sister. Especially after she got Prefect. Angrily, he set his quill down and took a deep breath to calm his mind down. Why couldn't his father acknowledge that he had learned all the lessons the tutor had taught, and then some? Was it that difficult? He exhaled and promised himself after he copied the lessons that he would relax by reading some Shakespeare or Chaucer. He let out a deep exhale and picked up his quill, ready to resume note-taking.

His brief distraction from his studies had left him vulnerable to conversation and someone had managed to breach through that shell. He looked up from his books and blinked at the redheaded girl who had sat down to talk to him. She had gone before him during the Sorting, and if his memory served him right (and it usually did), her name was Saffron Adelgrief. She had asked him what he was reading and he glanced down at the books on the table. "Oh, I was just preparing notes for the upcoming week's classes in Transfiguration and Potions. After these two classes, I was considering moving on to History and Herbology. But I'm sure you didn't come here to discuss study habits. Proper introductions should be in order." He set his quill down beside his notebook and held his hand out. "I'm Augustin Duffy," he said, rather matter-of-factly. He supposed he could entertain a few moments of conversation, since he had already copied most of the notes for the week for these two classes anyway.

Augustin tilted his head slightly to the side when Saffron introduced herself as a secret agent extraordinaire. Did she really assume she was some kind of spy? Perhaps she was simply playing a game and that she was trying to enlist him into it. Either way, he thought it was a little odd. Why spend time doing that when you could be studying? A small part of him, somewhere buried deep in his subconscious, however, told him that was what children his age did. "It's a pleasure to meet you Saffron Adelgrief." He paused when she said if he had a mission to accomplish that she was his girl. He wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he didn't. Her question, however, intrigued him. "I think, perhaps, I'm most excited for Transfiguration. The integration of math into magic is surprisingly complex. Also, the elective Arithmancy, to understand the magic of math itself. How about you, Saffron Adelgrief? What are you excited to learn?" It was polite, in common conversation, to ask the same question of the person asking, after all. That was how normal conversations were conducted, at least according to his father.

Augustin listened intently to what Saffron said about which classes she was excited for. Truthfully, he wasn't exactly excited for the same classes. He could already tell that he wouldn't be the best at spellwork. The theory behind the spells, memorizing how to cast the spells, that was not a problem for him. But actually casting them, he knew, would not be his strong suit. She had also mentioned Care of Magical Creatures, and he had to admit that he was intrigued for that class as well. He loved magical creatures and any creatures in general, really. However, he wasn't too sure about dragons, and he highly doubted they'd be handling dragons anywhere near the school. Then, all of a sudden, she asked what his favorite color was. "I don't... I don't have one. I never thought about things like that. My father would say something like that is illogical and a waste of time." He paused, thinking about what his father would say about this conversation. It's taking up your study time, Augustin. Focus on your books and ignore her. His father didn't approve of idle conversation, even in his personal life. "Why? Do you have a favorite color?" he asked, curious as to why you would even have a favorite color.

Saffron approached the question logically and her answers seemed to make sense to him. He could understand why she liked yellow, because she related it to sunshine and sunshine to playing outside, which was something that Augustin never did. And she liked pink because it was pretty to look at. That, he could debate, but that wasn't the point of this conversation. Then she told him to pretend that thoughts such as favorite colors was a logical conversation piece and not a waste of time. He used her examples and tried to formulate one of his own. "This is an interesting experiment. Let me think for a moment." He furrowed his brows and tried to think more about what would be a favorite color of his. He preferred spending time with his mother more than his father because his mother actually showed him affection. And she was of French descent and the one who taught him about France. And Augustin liked France. And France's flag's colors were blue, red and white. And he did like the blue color, in fact, the shirt he was wearing currently was blue. Looking down at his shirt, he said, "I think, perhaps, blue, would be my favorite color." He nodded and a small smile crossed his lips. That was something his father would disapprove of, wasting his time in frivolous thoughts, but he actually rather enjoyed it.

After answering her question, Saffron seemed to think about another question. What was with the questioning, he wondered. Then she asked if he'd rather live in the ocean or on Mars. What kind of a question was that? She explained that she'd rather live in the ocean because she thought space was scary. He blinked at her when she looked at him for his answer. "There's no air to carry the sound waves, that's why you can't hear sounds. Also, no oxygen, so you couldn't live on Mars. But living in the ocean is equally unfathomable. The pressure at the bottom of the ocean would make it difficult, if not impossible, for creatures like us to survive." He paused for a moment, then realized that she would probably want a different answer. "I mean, maybe Mars, if it was possible for life to exist on the planet. It would be nice to see stars from a different angle."

She explained away his concerns with magic and technology, which he figured made sense. Then she asked him to come up with a question for her. He could hear his father's voice in the back of his mind telling him this was a frivolous conversation that was detracting from his students and that Saffron was just an annoying distraction. He answered that by saying she was not and that she was his friend. No, he would entertain this conversation because Saffron talked to him like he was a person and not some annoying person living in his house. "Give me a second, I need to come up with something that doesn't sound entirely ridiculous." He thought for a moment about what he could ask her. He wanted it to be along the lines of what she'd been asking. This was a strange experiment he was conducting, or perhaps, he was the experiment and Saffron the scientist. Something came to his mind in reference to their previous question and Augustin nodded. "Would you rather live in a world with no magic or no technology?" He was proud of his question because, he hoped, it would be a challenging one to answer.