Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sound of sobbing came from a lump behind the heavy red curtains, punctuated only by the occasional bout of sniffling and quiet wailing.

Pepijn had been cheerful enough at the feast, having an absolute riot with teh good and smells and tastes. He had enthusiastically sampled everything he could, turning around every so often to make sure Zander had tasted this interesting thing or another. He hadn’t quite talked to anyone except to say ”Hello! I’m Pep Ter Avest! That’s my older brother Zander!” or to ask ”Could you pass me some of that…what is that dish?”

It was when prefects Charles and Candace stood up to take the first years to their dorms when Pep realized that Zander was getting taken to another dorm. He had been skeptical and confused and tried to make his way back to the Great Hall–surely there was a mistake! They couldn’t separate him from Zander! They had to have the same house at night! It was with much sobbing that Pep followed along. He had gotten his pajamas, brushed his teeth with quiet sniffles.

But long after Charles had checked on the younger boys, the sound of sniffing and quiet crying came from the bed. .

Pepijn could hear the sound of his roommates chatting, but he didn’t feel much like talking to anyone who wasn’t Zander. Was this his life now? He didn’t even have a squirrel to send to tell his brother to hurry up and go to sleep.. He was alone. He was going to be alone for 7 full years, trapped in a castle that was not home, with strangers–

"Coming in."

With only that warning, one of the other kids crawled in, asking about Hula Hoops. Pepijn blinked, watching the boy twirl the crispy ring before eating it. Slowly, he reached in and took two, then ate them off his fingers like how the boy Logan did. ”H-hello Logan. I’m Pepijn. Uhm. Thank you. It…does taste like cheese and onion.”

It took a while and a few more munchies before Pep realized Logan didn’t mean to talk about the Hula Hoop crisps. Brushing tears away, he spoke up quietly, sitting on the far side of the bed from the unfamiliar boy. ”The…the Hat. It put Zander and me in different houses. A-and that means that we don’t have the same dorm? Tower? Where is Hufflepuff? I mean, we have our own rooms at home. But we always said goodnight. You know, to let the other person know we were home. But now it’s like he’s in a whole different house. What if he isn’t home? What if I get lost in the forest?.A-and it’s even worse because I can’t just send him a squirrel. And he has Blizzard. So. I don’t know. Y-you know? Zander’s never not there. And not not even Mama and Papa are here. Or Ghilly. So.”

He reached for another chip. ”Are you and the other two friends? Everyone seems to know each other already. I know Zander. But he's in Hufflepuff now.”

Logan was a good listener, casually enjoying the Hula Hoops and occasionally chiming in. He was surprised when Logan said he’d never seen the others before. They had seemed like close friends already! ’Yep, Zander’s my older brother. We get asked if we’re twins a lot, so sometimes we’ll say we’re twins 10 months apart. But he’s my bestest older brother.”

Pep grinned for the first time when Logan asked if he had a squirrel. He bounced up, showing off the arms of his pajamas. ”Yep! I’m a flying squirrel! I got it when shopping for school supplies! It’s a little big, but I’ll grow into it.

“I have six!” he continued, always happy to talk about his squirrels. ”I’ve got six! Carnation, Cauliflower, Papaya, Pumpkin, Grape, and Kiwi van Eekhoorn. Although Carnation’s pretty old, she might be dead by the time I get home. Maybe Papaya too. He’s only 3 but has poisoned himself three times already. Cauliflower is old too, but she’s really smart. Do you have squirrels?”

”I know there are floating spells,” Pep remarked as he settled back down, hugging his acorn-shaped pillow to his chest. ”Maybe? If we can get it to work! But squirrels don’t really fly, they just glide.” he grinned a little though, at Logan’s re-enactment

“‘Is it a bird? No, it’s a plane! No, it’s Squirrel Lad, the Acorn Wonder!’”

"Squirrel Lad!” he giggled. Zander would get a kick out of that!. ”Well, Carnation, Cauliflower, and Papaya were my dad’s. He rescued them as babies and trained them to do tricks, and when they mated and had babies of their own, we started the van Eekhoorn line,” Pep said with a shrug. ”Grape and Kiwi are the first ones that are really mine. I couldn't bring them though. First year rules or something. But if I can prove I'm a responsible kid or something they'll let me bring one next year I think.”

Logan didn’t have squirrels and owls, but he did have sheep and a dog though. He explained how sheep didn’t listen to anything and Talula the dog had to block and bully them until they went where he wanted. Pep nodded sagely. Training squirrels required a lot of blocking and food. ”Sheep are so flooooofy though,” he sighed. They were like little clouds! ”Stubborn! Are they like stupid-stubborn? Or like no-stubborn? Oh! Do you have a horse too? I read that horses are HUGE and have giant wings that could probably help with the bullying.”

”Grape hides stuff if you leave it out,” Pepijn said, thinking fondly on his squirrels. ”He’s very food oriented and steals food, if that counts as a trick. Kiwi will go where I point though! And will stay if you tell her to. She likes shoulder rides. And cheerios. I was trying to get them to do a flips. Grape kind of just rolls around, and Kiwi just hops. ” he sighed. He was going to have to start training all over agai. Ghilly had promised to watch after the squirrels, but what if they forgot him by the time they went home for winter break?

Pep watched Logan think and come to the conclusion that his sheep were both stubborn. He remarked that he wished he could read their heads, and Pep agreed with a fervent nod at the idea of seeing a flying horse. ”40 sheep! That’s a big clan!”

Logan said he wished he could read minds and Pep agreed, remembering something he’d heard once—”There's magic like that! Lego…Legology? Legofication? Legovination? I think it’s legovination. I remember it sounded like divination. It would be cool to read sheep minds. I wonder if they look at the clouds and see themselves.” Logan continued, wondering about classes and what Hogwarts would be like. Pepijn wasn’t even sure what classes Hogwarts had. He hoped there was a food class. Maybe a squirrel-training class. ”We can ask Zander. He always knows.”

Pep stood up resolutely, Talking to Logan had helped some, but this was no substitute for Zander. He didn’t know where Hufflepuff was, but Pep was sure if he walked around, he’d find it eventually. Maybe he could ask a ghost. Nearly Headless Nick had seemed pretty friendly at dinner. He slipped his feet in his little boots and flipped his squirrel hood up.

”I’m going to go find Hufflepuff,” he announced by way of invitation, and headed out the door.