A Clear Night [Altsoba 1x1]

While Castor did agree with a lot of what Petra was saying, he still felt reluctant to dismiss every single bad sign. His grandmother had balanced astronomy and astrology very well, and though his mother had ardently rejected the idea that the stars could tell you any more about the future than how the universe would eventually end, the superstition had passed down to Castor; not enough to make him actively look for the signs and try to decode them, but enough that if he spotted them, he always took notice.

He was just gathering the words to voice this opinion - even with the fun anecdote about what his nan thought the sky said on the night he was born - when Cassie piped up. He immediately shrunk into himself, feeling too big for his skin, and stretched a smile across his face. "I see...I see what you mean," he said instead, his smile a little too tight on his teeth. Despite Petra's reassurances, Castor still wasn't totally comfortable around Cassie. He said that like he was comfortable around anyone! But his point stood. "It's quite interesting, though."
 
"Absolutely," Petra agreed, giving her friend a Look. "It's one of my favorite classes," she admitted, "despite having a lot of questions about it." She paused outside of their next classroom, adjusting the strap on her bag.

Cassie looked into the room and sighed. "I'm not feeling it today. Skip?" She glanced at Petra, who glanced over at Castor. Recalling how uncomfortable he had gotten when he remembered they were out past curfew, she shook her head at Cassie. The other girl shrugged. "Take notes for me, okay. Tell him I'm sick?"

Petra nodded vaguely, watching as Cassie took off down the hall, disappearing around a corner. Letting out a sigh, Petra smiled at Castor. "So, what's your favorite class?"
 
At the mention of rule breaking, Castor's shoulders visibly tensed. Sneaking out at night was one thing - he was usually only out for a few minutes, it was dark so you couldn't really see him that well, and it wasn't like he was just breaking rules for no good reason - but skipping class didn't make much sense, especially not when you didn't really have to pay a lot of attention. He glanced nervously between Petra, Cassie, and the open doorway, hoping desperately that Petra would decline.

He muffled a sigh of relief into a cough, his balled fist hiding his mouth. He tried to smile at Cassie as she left, but the sheer power of discomfort turned it into a grimace. He snorted at the question, shuffling into the class. "What do you think?" he asked quietly, grinning. "Astronomy. It's one of my electives." He walked to his usual seat up the back of the class, before hesitating and looking to Petra. He didn't have any clue where she preferred to sit, and nervously asked, "are you okay with sitting here?"
 
She rolled her eyes, but it was an 'I should have known' expression coupled with a smile, rather than a judgment sort of one. "Cool. I'm in cloaking and creative writing. Next semester I think I'll take History of Hunters and Vanishing objects, though." She followed him to the back of the classroom, not even hesitating to sit beside Castor once more. After he had taken the offered seat in the last class, she had since moved past her insecurities that maybe Castor didn't want to hang out with her. She was about to ask if he was saving the seat for anyone, though, in an effort not to be rude but he beat her to the punch. "Nah, the back is fine."

She dropped her bag onto the floor as she fell into the seat, then she carefully dug around for her class supplies, pulling out a different colored notebook and pen for this class. "Aside from Astronomy, what's your favorite required course. Or do you only like Astronomy?"

Hopefully, Castor would read her inquisition as Petra's attempt to get to know him a little better and not as anything else.
 
"Creative writing?" Castor repeated, eyebrows raising. "Is that any good? It always seemed like a bit of a waste." It took him a second to realise his insult. His face flushed, and he stuttered for a second in his attempt to form an apology. "S-sorry! I mean, it just, I think that, I think some people just take it...to, y'know, to fill a space, like, in their schedules." His voice tilted upwards at the end, as if he was asking a question. Grasping at straws to move on, he rambled, "History of Hunters has always looked good, so I might take it next year, but I'm also really interested in Healing, and Astronomy and History of Hunters is on the same day anyway, so maybe not."

Halfway through unpacking his things, he froze when asked what other things he liked. It wasn't really something that he thought about a lot, considering that he daydreamed through a lot of his classes. He thought for a second, chewing his bottom lip, then said, "Physics. And Magical Transportation, too. I mean, obviously I like Astronomy the best, but I guess out of all the normal classes, it would be them." He went back to unpacking his things, and eventually asked, "what about you, then?"
 
She didn't appear to take offense to his words. "I like it, but then again I enjoy writing and don't mind learning a way to better myself." She sighed, "I think I would have preferred taking a magic related class, though; I can take a creative writing course anywhere, including online during the summer. Until I graduate and, hopefully, get into Arcadia, the only place I'll be getting any magical education is here." She frowned. "Probably should have taken advantage of that." She shrugged. There wasn't much she could do about it now, so late in the year.

As her mother likes to say: what's done is done.

Astrology came as no surprise to Petra, but she was hoping to find that her new friend had interests outside of the one thing and she wasn't disappointed. "Magical transportation makes sense if you're also interested in physics." She wasn't any good at physics, but she knew that the two had some connection. "So are you a pretty big fan of Thomas Barlow, then?" Because Petra had an interest in history, so while she may not be intimately familiar with how magical transportation works, she does know where it started, where it improved, and how it grew. At his question, she paused, considering. "History and spells. I love practicing spells. I am excited for whatever we'll learn in our specialized classes next year."
 
As much as Castor couldn't relate, he nodded along with Petra. He still couldn't imagine what it would be like, not being able to learn more about magic at home. It felt like every day someone new taught him about a new spell, or told him about a new magical concept or theory. To have a total magic blackout over the summer was unimaginable.

His face flushed at the mention of historical figures, and he smiled awkwardly. "I'm...I'm not that much into...my history..." he knew it was bad, but he just couldn't bring himself to read up on the history of anything. He cared about the here and now, and he just couldn't wrap his head around how putting himself back hundreds of years could move him forwards now.

"Spells are good," he agreed with a nod, deciding to not mention history. "And they will be better next year, yeah." They'd be even better if Castor knew what he'd be studying, since his gift still wasn't sorted. "It's all pretty...general, just now. But still important. But general, still."
 
"Maybe I'll go visit someone during the summer," Petra mused, more to herself. There had to be someone she could visit, where she could do magic without the glares of her mother. Coming back to the conversation, she shrugged. "A lot of people feel that way about history," It didn't bother her any; to each their own.

The blonde started tapping her pen on the notebook. "History of Hunters does sound interesting," she reverted to the topic of other electives. "I've heard good things about the professor, at least." She clamped her mouth shut as the professor entered the room, but she took out a pen and drew a game of tic tac toe on a fresh page. She nudged the notebook toward Castor, arching a brow to see if he would play along.
 
Castor wanted to keep chatting, but there was something about the presence of the professor that totally shut him up. It had been a habit ever since he was in middle school, but he'd never really caught the moment where the simple appearance of a teacher to stop him in his tracks. He quickly opened his notepad to a new page, poised to take notes for a few minutes, then fall off the productivity horse and stare into his desk for the remainder of the period.

However, the notebook sliding into his peripheral vision put his plan off track. He glanced nervously from the paper, to the professor, to Petra, to his own empty notepad. Hands sweating—god, it was tic tac toe, not heroin—he drew a neat cross in the upper left hand corner.
 
She almost felt bad about leading him down the path of trouble, but tic tac toe was better than skipping class, and god she was bored. Petra saw his nervous glance and was about to withdraw the offer when Castor drew a neat 'x' in the top left corner. Smiling, Petra glanced at the professor and waited until she turned before countering with a wobbly looking 'o' in the bottom right corner before sliding the page back between them.

Castor would be fine, and it's not like she believed he was about to pay attention to the lecture, anyway.
 
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