Arms flailing, Lisa rushed into the Laundry room. She panted briefly and tried to catch her breath because she had been running around the entire ground floor looking for Pascal. Where could he have gone?! She could have JUST sworn he was chilling on her shoulder near the kitchen and then POOF! He was gone.

Lisa was freaking out.

“PASCAL?!?” she yelled as her eyes sparkled with tears threatening to fall and her bottom lip wobbled. “Where are youuuuuu? Come out come out....”

She didn’t do tears well.

She headed towards some piles of laundry and began sorting through piles of laundry.

Alfred had been pointlessly wandering around the castle before he arrived at the laundry room. He was trying to get to know the place better. It would certainly help not getting lost all the time. He wondered whether there was some sort of map of the castle that someone had. It would certainly help. He had gotten lost around seven times in the last week, though thankfully it never made him late to any lessons. He had asked paintings for directions, which in his head, sounded very odd. One thing that didn't help were the moving stairs. They were an irritating nuisance. On one occasion, Alfred had been calmly and slowly walking to Charms class and was climbing up a flight of stairs when the staircase suddenly moved. He had to go all the way around, very nearly making him late.

Alfred entered the room and stopped when he spotted Lisa quickly shifting through a pile of laundry. Strange. Today wasn't Ravenclaw's laundry day. Then he noticed that she was crying. Oh no, what was wrong? What happened? Shifting laundry was an unusual thing to do when you were crying. He normally ate ice cream or just went for a walk if he ever cried. "Lisa?" He rushed to her side. "What's wrong?"

He wasn’t underneath that pile. She darted to the next, not caring how red her kneecaps would be from leaning on them or bruised if she banged then. All she needed to do was find Pascal, her chameleon familiar. He was just a baby. She blinked back tears that threatened to spill over and covered her face momentarily before heading back to flinging clothes left, right, and center over her back. She saw a bright yellow scarf and stuffed it into her pocket for.... purposes later.

Off went the pants, socks, ties, and shirts. She didn’t know if anyone was behind her. Lisa was singularly focused on finding Pascal. What if he was scared? How would she explain this?

A voice brought her back to her senses and she quickly whipped her head around to find Alfred there. Oh kim- She turned away, wiping her puffy eyes, as she didn’t want to be a crybaby. Clearing her throat, she turned towards him and pouted. “Hey Alfred... I’m o... okay. Could be better.” SNIFFLE. Lies! She was distressed. She blinked her eyes very quickly, feeling her voice become wobbly. She took a deep breath. She would NOT CRY!!!!!

Misty eyed... very misty eyed.

“I think I’ve lost my chameleon... Pascal. He was with me before in the kitchens... He must have run off ... I didn’t even notice him.” She felt her lip wobble and she bit down on it before looking down at the piles of laundry strewn around her. She ofdered him a sad small smile. “Guess..I’m a terrible lizard parent.” Lisa covered her face with her hands and took a deep breath. “And I don’t know where he went. I just feel so useless and I hate it.”

Quote:

Originally Posted by Watson

He wasn’t underneath that pile. She darted to the next, not caring how red her kneecaps would be from leaning on them or bruised if she banged then. All she needed to do was find Pascal, her chameleon familiar. He was just a baby. She blinked back tears that threatened to spill over and covered her face momentarily before heading back to flinging clothes left, right, and center over her back. She saw a bright yellow scarf and stuffed it into her pocket for.... purposes later.

Off went the pants, socks, ties, and shirts. She didn’t know if anyone was behind her. Lisa was singularly focused on finding Pascal. What if he was scared? How would she explain this?

A voice brought her back to her senses and she quickly whipped her head around to find Alfred there. Oh kim- She turned away, wiping her puffy eyes, as she didn’t want to be a crybaby. Clearing her throat, she turned towards him and pouted. “Hey Alfred... I’m o... okay. Could be better.” SNIFFLE. Lies! She was distressed. She blinked her eyes very quickly, feeling her voice become wobbly. She took a deep breath. She would NOT CRY!!!!!

Misty eyed... very misty eyed.

“I think I’ve lost my chameleon... Pascal. He was with me before in the kitchens... He must have run off ... I didn’t even notice him.” She felt her lip wobble and she bit down on it before looking down at the piles of laundry strewn around her. She ofdered him a sad small smile. “Guess..I’m a terrible lizard parent.” Lisa covered her face with her hands and took a deep breath. “And I don’t know where he went. I just feel so useless and I hate it.”

Alfred didn't believe her lies. "You're clearly not okay." He pulled out a packet of tissues and gave it to her. He carried tissues on him all the time. Come on, it was impossible to know when you were accidentally going to spill a drink on yourself or not so accidentally spilt something on your homework. "Allez, tell me what happened." If it was a bully, Alfred was prepared to fight them. He despised bullies, especially when they picked on his friends.

"You're crying over a... chameleon?" Be nice, Alfred, remember empathy. He had to see this from her viewpoint. Despite that, Alfred still looked slightly taken aback. He would have thought it was something more serious. Not that this wasn't serious, he just assumed it was a very major issue and not this minor-to-mild issue. Plus, he would never be rude to anybody who hadn't done him any wrong at all. He scoffed when she supposed that she was a terrible chameleon parent. "Don't say that. You're not." He began sorting through the pile of laundry that Lisa had been rummaging through. "Come on, we'll look for him together."

Dang. He was good. Sharper than other people she had met thus far. She sighed and took the packet of tissues that he offered her. A slight redness crept onto her cheeks at the kind gesture from a friend. “Thanks Alfie.” She took the tissue and wiped her eyes before turning away to discreetly blow her nose. She always found it gross to listen to other people blow their noses hardly. It was a bizarre tick of hers. She took one more tissue to wipe her eyes, tossed both in the trash, before washing her hands with soap. She breathed in and out slowly, calming herself.

“Yeah...”

Saying that she was crying over a chameleon probably sounded a little silly and dramatic now in perspective but.. it was a big deal. Not like a bully big deal but still a BIG DEAL. This was the first pet that she had bought with her own money from lemonade and brownie stand sales over the summer. Her eldest brother had been with her the time she had bought it but it was Max who helped her find it. And she would be grateful to her Ravenclaw friend for his help. “I am... Probably silly but he’s the first creature that I’ve ever bought. We have a family dog, Bennet, and my brother as a cat. But.... this one is my own pet...” Losing Pascal meant she was irresponsible and not as mature as she thought she was.

MATURE? As if...pfft

She got to the ground again and Alfie told her that she wasn’t a bad chameleon parent. Lisa blinked her wide brown eyes ones she referred to as mud-dud mudkip as he began searching with her. He was being so nice. So so nice! What did she ever do to deserve a friend like him?!?

“Thanks Alfie. You’re the best.” In that moment, she realized that she still had his packet of tissues and she gave out a little ‘Oh’ before handing it towards him. “Your tissue packet...” With that, she got back down and began sorting through piles. Nope... he wasn’t over here....

“Do you have pets?”

Alfred calmly waited for her to finish blowing her nose and wiping her eyes. He too found it gross when someone blew their nose loudly, so he was thankful that Lisa had done it discreetly. "No problem. I carry tissues on me all the time." He waited for her to calm herself before listening to her explanation."It's not silly. To be honest, I would probably cry too." That wasn't entirely true, but he definitely would at least panic and likely start hyperventilating. He hyperventilated most times he panicked anyway.

Alfred went back to thoroughly looking through the laundry to find this chameleon. He checked everywhere, including the pockets. He looked up when Lisa handed him the tissue packet, but he turned it down. "You can keep it." He had another in his pocket anyway. "Yeah, me and my uncle have a tabby cat called Pepper. He didn't let me bring it to school though." His uncle was very attached to it, and thought Alfred would lose it in the castle somehow. Alfred lost a lot of things, so it was probably justified.

“It’s smart.” The tissue carrying thing. Practical too if you had allergies.

She was taken aback by Alfie’s comment around that he probably would cry too. Wait. Really? She hadn’t taken him for the type to cry- honestly she expected Daniel to be the next one to cry. If she had to choose an order of most likely to cry to least likely to cry out of the first years... it would be: V > Remy > Daniel > Her > Ollie > Jasper > Serena > Max > Alfie. Scarlett was still a wild card so she was not ranked. And she wasn’t entirely sure how Hufflepuff Alfie would fare either. So jury was still out on both of them. She mulled over what to say next as she tossed socks behind her. Finally, she spoke once more. “I never pegged you as someone who’d cry... I cry more out of frustration than anything. I should be better than this... Y’know?”

She flushed again at his kindness. “Thanks,” she said as she slipped said tissue into her pockets. Oh? He had a CAT. Well co-owned it with his uncle? That was exciting! A smile appeared on her lips when he mentioned the name. “I like the name... Did you name it after the spice or the Marvel character?” she asked eagerly. “Or something else?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she had seen something move so she got to her feet and leaped towards the next pile. Darn.... nothing. She sighed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Watson

“It’s smart.” The tissue carrying thing. Practical too if you had allergies.

She was taken aback by Alfie’s comment around that he probably would cry too. Wait. Really? She hadn’t taken him for the type to cry- honestly she expected Daniel to be the next one to cry. If she had to choose an order of most likely to cry to least likely to cry out of the first years... it would be: V > Remy > Daniel > Her > Ollie > Jasper > Serena > Max > Alfie. Scarlett was still a wild card so she was not ranked. And she wasn’t entirely sure how Hufflepuff Alfie would fare either. So jury was still out on both of them. She mulled over what to say next as she tossed socks behind her. Finally, she spoke once more. “I never pegged you as someone who’d cry... I cry more out of frustration than anything. I should be better than this... Y’know?”

She flushed again at his kindness. “Thanks,” she said as she slipped said tissue into her pockets. Oh? He had a CAT. Well co-owned it with his uncle? That was exciting! A smile appeared on her lips when he mentioned the name. “I like the name... Did you name it after the spice or the Marvel character?” she asked eagerly. “Or something else?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she had seen something move so she got to her feet and leaped towards the next pile. Darn.... nothing. She sighed.

Alfred didn't have allergies but he still carried tissues everywhere. His pockets were probably qualified to be a full first aid kit. He always made sure he had bandages and tissues, and sometimes carried ointment as well. All because he was clumsy in the name of emergency precautions. He had other stuff in there too. There were, most likely, a few knuts and sickles buried somewhere in there with the possibility of being accompanied by a number of galleons. A small quill and possibly a tiny bottle of ink may have also been in there. He was very thankful that his clothes had big pockets.

Despite what he might seem like, Alfred did cry sometimes. Once, he cried because his parents didn't let him go to a friend's house at midnight. And that was only a year ago. He looked back at the moment with severe embarrassment and internally cringed. "I do cry sometimes." But he rarely cried in front of people. The only people who had ever seen him cry (excluding when he was a baby) were his parents, his uncle Luca and his cousin Timothée, which, in total, made only five people.

"He's named after the spice because he's..." In hindsight, the reasoning was obvious. "Well, because he's grey." At this point, Alfred was subconsciously patting down the clothes quite hard and quick to find the chameleon, but when he realised he instantly slowed down and softened the pats. He didn't want him to get hurt, after all.

She paused her panic searching once more when Alfred mentioned that he did cry sometimes. She thought it was very brave and honest of him to admit that. She didn't ever want to admit that she'd been crying. Heck, she even tried to lie to him about it and was sorely caught out. "Yeah? That's brave to admit..." she said softly. She glanced down at her the pile of shirts in front of her momentarily before starting to sort through things again.

Lisa, for once in her life, wasn't entirely sure what to say to him admitting that he cried. She decided that she'd be a good friend and listen. He was a good friend for being here.

And Pepper was a grey coloured cat? Well gee that made a lot of sense now. "I like the name! It's perfect," she admitted, restraining the teasing, almost sarcastic comment that she had on the tip of her tongue. She'd save that for later. "I thought it could have been named after Pepper Potts but that makes perfect sense. I like it." A practical well suited name indeed.

She stood up, dusting her legs off, before going onto her tippy toes to see if Pascal was on top of the laundry shelves. Lisa turned her gaze to Alfie and paused. Just how tall was he? He was certainly taller than her - it wasn't to be taller than her especially with her being a toppling height of four foot two but she was growing - ever hopeful that she'd catch up with Mamie!. "How tall are you? Do you think you could see him above the top of the shelves?" Or could he lift her up? Piggyback maybe? Maybe then she could see if Pascal was hiding up there.

That was all Alfred was going to reveal on the topic of him crying. He smiled when Lisa called him brave to admit it. He wouldn't think of himself as specifically 'brave'; he was more courageous than brave. They meant sort of the same thing, but brave meant you were ready to face pain and danger, while courageous meant not being deterred by pain and danger. He was 99.99% sure he would never willingly face danger; he would run far away from it. However, if he was utterly determined to do something, nor pain neither danger would deter him.

Alfred was thankful when she changed the subject. "My uncle named him." The funny thing was that Pepper was bought as a gift for Alfred, but the cat had seemingly become closer to his uncle and was thus named by him. "That's a Marvel character, isn't it?" He didn't know much about Marvel; he had only watched a select few of the films and only knew the names of some characters. Personally, superhero movies weren't really his thing.

He paused his searching and stood up to join Lisa. "I'm four foot ten." He couldn't see above the shelves with his feet flat on the ground, so he stood on his tippy toes... but that didn't help much either. He could see above the shelves, but just barely. "No, not really. I can see above, but only a little bit."

Lisa nodded at Alfie’s question. “Yeppers Peppers,” she smiled. “She’s an AWESOME character. She’s from the Iron Man comics. I think Iron Man’s my favourite character but Pepper Potts keeps Tony in line. It reminds me of my parents at times.” They weren’t nearly as wealthy as Mr Tony Stark and her Dad was much more like Scott Lang, Ant-Man. “My Dad’s like Ant Man though....” She wondered if Alfred knew much of Marvel. “Do you like Marvel films?”

WOW! Alfred was MUCH taller than she like at least eight inches taller.

“Hmm... I wouldn’t be surprised if Pascal was up there. He likes to play hide and seek,” she said with a sigh as she placed a hand on her hip. “He’s an expert at hide and seek. Do you think it’s stable to climb up and see if he’s there on this?” she asked his opinion as she pointed to a table near the shelves.

Alfred shrugged at Lisa's question. "They're alright, but they're not really my thing." The last time he remembered seeing one of the movies was two years ago. He couldn't recall the name, but he did remember that it had something to do with neurosurgeons and Nepal. Quite a strange combination, he thought.

Alfred walked over to the table she pointed at. "Looks stable enough to me." He shook the table lightly. It seemed surprisingly strong. "Seems so too." He looked back at Lisa. "Should I get on it or do you want to?" There was probably no sane reason anyone would really want to stand up on a table when there were other people to do it, but he was just checking.

She supposed not having the exact same interests were okay! She pouted slightly and momentarily but decided that despite this lack of common interest that she still liked Alfie a lot. He was nice and fun and super smart. Did she mention like super smart to the level that SHE WAS? Or that she considered herself at. “[b[All good. Do you like movies?[/b]” Maybe he liked different ones that she could learn about!

Lisa froze. It was a good question because they both didn’t need to stand on it. Ummmmm..... She could. “Who has better balance? You or me? Maybe one stands and the other one spots?” Just in case something happened and someone FELL!? It was always good to have a back up plan. “I can head up there....” She did hate heights but this height didn’t seem so so so bad, yeah?

The laundry was perhaps not the best place to take a snooze. But after his screech in the Treehouse, he was scared to try to nap anywhere else. Evan's hope was the sound of washboards and the swish, swish of water would keep anyone else from hearing him in case he once again embarrassed himself. He was really hoping to just... not this go around, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

He found himself a corner in the room, grabbing some of what appeared to be cleaned pillows and towels and making himself a comfortable spot to rest in the corner. He figured he was risking being potentially yelled at for grabbing clean linens, but he was currently ready to risk it. Curling up into a ball, he took another potion and laid his hed down. Again, trying to count himself into sleep.

One. Two. Three...

It took even less time for him to fall asleep this go around. But once again, he was alone. But this time in what seemed to be a ... metal room? It was shaped like a cylinder, and as he spun around he could see little holes all around the walls. The whole scene was vaguely familiar.

And then it began to fill with water. And he realized he was actually in a muggle washing machine, much like the one at home. He panicked a little bit, as the water kept filling and filling, and Evan wasn't sure if there would be any space at the top when it had filled all the way. But when he did manage to slip underwater, he found he was able to breath and everything felt very much like he'd eaten a sprig of gillyweed.

Suddenly none of it was that scary. And he managed to just... enjoy the dream, swimming around, laughing when the 'whirlpool' feature of the machine sent him around and around and around.

After what had probably been about 15-20 minutes of dream frolicking, he woke up. Feeling actually rather rested. Ev pulled out his dream journal, jotting down all of the details while he wondered if his setting to sleep had really been the only influence for this dream.

He decided to jot down his environment before sleep for that part as well. Just because.