White Boyz

Aito frowned, staring downwards at his spiral-bound notebook as he leaned against one hand, a Muggle pen tapping against the page with the other. A stick of green tea pocky hung out of his mouth as it usually did when he was studying and having difficulties, or rather, as in this case, when he was nervous. Why on earth Vaus had decided to pair him with the strange Danara girl, Aito would probably never know, and yet, here they were, being forced to work together on this silly project. Honestly, why on earth had they been assigned such a thing, when it was something they could easily have worked on on their own? Probably something about wanting to influence camaraderie between the houses and all that jazz.

To make matters worse, Aito didn’t know a single thing about the Danara girl except that she had come from somewhere rather remote in Australia, though, those were only rumors. The Australia thing he believed, her accent told of that much, but the whole ‘tribe’ thing people spoke about, he wasn’t sure of. Then again, he had never been inclined to do any research on the subject, so for all he knew, it could have been. Geez, why couldn’t he have gotten partnered with someone else? A member of his own house, or… just anyone other than Danara. It wasn’t that he disliked the girl though, far from it…

Alkawari Danara intimidated the hell out of Aito.

However, she was also still just a girl. Having been raised completely by his mother and aunt, Aito had been raised to hold women with a certain respect. He enjoyed looking at the pictures of girls in his manga, but real girls… Real ones were made to be admired and treated with a sense of dignity. And if they ended up being bitches, well… That was a different case altogether. Then again, Aito had never had a problem with girls, as he didn’t spend much time around them. He usually just spent his days hanging around with his best mate, Max, or reading his books, fantasizing about all of the adorable characters within them. Now that, was much more productive and amusing than Arithmancy.

It was a good, solid, fifteen minutes of silence before Aito decided to finally try and get over his nerves, and break the silence. Chewing away the last bit of his pocky, he finally glanced up at Danara, smiling gently as he always did. ”So… How ‘bout them Chudley Cannons?” Quidditch was a safe topic, right? Although, now he thought of it, he probably should have said something about the project instead. Or something he understood better… Anything but Quidditch.

Aito knew it. Quidditch had been a bad suggestion of a topic, not only did Danara not follow it, but she seemed slightly… offended that he’d even put forth such a blatant attempt at a conversation. He doubted it instantly, reaching a hand behind his head and awkwardly ruffling at his hair. He smiled, deciding it was better to try and make light of the situation. After all, his mother had always taught him, that if you were kind, then people tended to eventually come around to liking you better. Or, they’d hate you more when you reacted to their bullying with nothing but a smile. Not that Danara was bullying him, but he did feel a bit… out of place. She was a very different girl, that much could be said. “Strangely enough, neither do I.”

Looking back down at his notebook, Aito tapped his pen for a couple more seconds before Danara spoke again. He looked up at her, and then glanced down at the silver packet sitting beside his left wrist. ”Oh! It’s pocky… It’s a kind of Japanese sweet. Sort of like… a biscuit.” He explained, digging into the packet and holding one of the sticks up. It was thin and mostly coated with a pale green that resembled melted chocolate. ”This one’s matcha… er… Green tea. Would you like one? I’ve also got milk and strawberry….” Aito leaned over, digging into his bag and sorting through his snack pocket. He was never to be found without something, though it was usually pocky and always a thermos of tea. Green. With honey. “And chocolate with almonds.” Now this was something he was good at, sharing.

"Milk it is then." Aito smiled, digging through his bag pocket and tugging out another silver packet. This one was half open, but curled shut so as not to let the biscuits go stale. He leaned forward a little, gently setting it down in front of Alkawari, more than pleased to be able to share it. His aunt sent him a care package about once a month, so his pocky only usually lasted a couple weeks between him and Max, but that didn't bother him much. He would rather have others enjoy it too, as opposed to hoarding it all for himself. He hoped Danara liked it... He wasn't sure what the customs in Australia were for sharing snacks, though he supposed they couldn't be too different from here... Then again, there was no knowing for sure. The last thing he wanted to do was offend her... Not when she already made him impossibly nervous to begin with, though that was starting to ebb a bit, as she opened her mouth and asked about his mother.

Ah. His favorite topic.

Aito laughed, removing the pocky from his mouth and nodding. He didn't even ask how she had known he was Muggleborn, it was always pretty obvious. "Yeah, at first. Then she was just grateful to have an explanation for everything. Longbottom came with my letter, so... Well, you know how he is. Nice and not too intimidating, which probably helped in the long run. She didn't want me to come though." Aito sighed, his eyes glazing over slightly as he thought about his beloved mother... And her delicious home cooking. Delicious onigiri, curry, red bean paste... Oooh.

It took Aito a couple of seconds to come out of his daze, but when he did, his cheeks turned red and he looked down at his notebook. "We should focus... What's Australia like?" He looked up again, curious now. So much for focusing...

”Endless…” Aito repeated, thinking about it in his head and trying to compare it to something he could understand. Having grown up surrounded by buildings and then, mountains at school, there had never been much endlessness in his life, though he supposed… “Like moors, but less wet.” He stated, thinking out loud more than anything. Having never been to Australia, he couldn’t even begin to try to understand the heat, or dryness, or even the dangerous creatures. Danara was quite different from most of the other girls who went to the school. Not just because she was quite foreign, but the way she held herself was… stronger. Was that right? Aito wasn’t sure, but it felt like the right word to use in this particular case, as he eyed the girl, careful not to look too long so as not to imply that he was ogling her or something. His own curiosity was starting to get the better of him though, wondering exactly what it was like growing up in Australia, surrounded by so much dry, endlessness. However, Alkawari’s remark brought him back down to earth.

”Right. Project.” Aito heaved a sigh, clicking his pen and lifting it. He scribbled down the Gryffindor’s last name with ease, and then frowned, peeking up at her from beneath a fringe of dark brown hair. ”I’m sorry, but how’s your first name spelled?” For the project, he had to do hers and she would have to do his… Vaus was a jokester though, if he thought this was even remotely a good idea for a project. Aito smiled slightly, as he always did when he saw someone eating one of the snacks he’d given them. He lifted his own almost forgotten stick of pocky and popped it back into his mouth, sucking off the cream before slowly biting away at the biscuit underneath. It was better that way, the green tea flavor lingering in his mouth like some kind of delicious being dancing on his tongue.