With a soft sigh, Nora plopped down on the couch. She rubbed her head like she had a headache, but she actually didn't. She was just still a little overwhelmed about everything. It was getting easier, and literally everyone had been super nice, so that was helping a lot. She really missed her mom, dad, brother, and sisters, though. Other than a sleepover here and there, she'd never stayed away from home this long. It felt weird that she couldn't just call them or text them whenever she wanted.

She also wondered what her friends at her old muggle school were doing these days. They still saw Charlie, Beatrix, and Adelaide at school, so what did they think had happened to her? Knowing her luck, Charlie probably told them she got abducted by aliens or something just as silly. If they found out she was at school to perfect her use of real magic, they'd probably never talk to her again. The thought alone made her feel sad and isolated all at the same time. It also had her thinking that maybe she should at least try to get closer to her new schoolmates. One day, they may be the only people that truly understand her anymore. Would she ever be able to mingle in the muggle world again?

Atlas was...well...he was trying to figure himself out. The plans he had been carefully crafting all of fifth year and the first half of sixth year had gone completely out the window last term and in a stubborn fit of petty he had refused to reevaluate them or revisit. And now, here he was. Seventh year and without his other half and agitated with himself at how debilitating he found himself to be. Embarrassing, truth be told, but he was able to at least mask that behind monocle while he focused on the palm sized metallic piece in his hand.

A new companion. One that absolutely was not a replacement for any possible void he might be feeling, so no one need project any of their insecurities on to him. Okay? Okay.

A couple of tools pinched between his lips, sticking out the side like oversized metal toothpicks, the Gryffindor hunched over a tiny tiny screw with a tiny tiny screwdriver as he secured another piece in place while situated in a corner of the common room. He preferred working on the floor rather than a desk at the moment and he was finding it more and more difficult to focus in his dormroom these days. So...this was fine. Whatever.

"...dammit," he sneered, the screw he had been working on dislodging itself and flung across the common room and would have rolled out of his line of sight were it not for the reflection of the sunlight dripping through the window provided. "Hey...uh...can you bring me that tiny screw that is just there, about 4 o'clock to you left foot?" he asked of the little lioness. He had a lot of pieces on his lap and in his mouth...which meant that his words came out a tiny bit strained but still audible.

He had plenty of practice speaking like this. A professional, if you will.

Joel was very much excited about learning about magic and all, and he had been fascinated about pretty much everything so far.

Pretty much.

Minus the history.

He just couldn't believe that there was a subject such as history of magic! There was nothing magical about history! Having attended a muggle primary school ("You got to learn about muggles too, after all!"), he was the only student in his school's history to have failed a history class. It didn't matter in the end, as he started Hogwarts now, but... here it was, again! It was just some words and wars and treaties more words - essentially nothing that he cared about. But there it was, and it was mandatory.

Blegh.

If anyone had been watching him, they could easily think that he was in physical pain. And in a way he was. He had been staring at the empty parchment for some time now that was supposed to be his homework due... tomorrow. And he just didn't want to do it. In his muggle primary school, he generally didn't turn in any of the history homework, and nothing happened.

Nothing happened... nothing happened...

"What happens if we don't do our homework?" he asked, looking around. If someone could enlighten him, thank you very much. Just weighing his options, see.

Nora had been so lost in thought that for a moment, it seemed like she was the only person in the common room. She hadn't been, but she had been so unaware of her surroundings that she didn't know much of anything around her. That couldn't be good in the magical world. Or the muggle world, for that matter. Anyway, had it not been for the tiny clinking sound made by something that had landed near her foot, she'd had daydreamed for who knew how much longer.

Four o'clock to her foot? She scrunched her eyebrows together in mild confusion until her gaze landed on the object Atlas was referring to. "Oh, uh, sure," she said, only slightly taken aback that moments earlier her mind had been in a completely different world. She scooped up the little screw and delivered it back to its owner. She couldn't help but be intrigued by...whatever this was. She let her gaze linger on it a little longer before finally asking, "What are you working on? If you don't mind me asking."

Having been preoccupied with Atlas and his experiments, Nora was somewhat oblivious to the other first year not far from them. She did a halfway spin until she was turned toward him. "Umm, I'd ask him," she said, gesturing toward Atlas. If you can get his attention, that is. "I'm new to this. All of it." Every last bit---the whole magical world. Joel brought up a really good point, though. If nothing happened when you didn't do your homework, why were they all doing the homework anyway?

Tongue sticking out to the side as he focused, Atlas did what he could to secure the other bits so nothing else would go popping off and with any luck that tiny screw she was retrieving would be the last piece to complete the wings...then it would be on to the fine detailing of the leg articulations...

"Hmmm?" he mumbled on instinct, barely hearing her due to his intense focus. The seventh year drew his attention away from his tinkering only once he was certain the wing would not pop off and looked up from the floor at Nora. He surely looked comical in the moment considering his monocle made one eye look at least four times the size thanks to its magnification, but he remedied that soon enough but pushing it up over his forehead until it was resting atop his head. Using it with both eyes open and not at something tiny tended to give him this weird feeling of vertigo. "Oh...they'll be a beetle once I find a couple more pieces and sort out a couple of design elements."

And he likely would not need to dismember anything else for said parts. He just had not gone through his box of spare bits and bobs he had acquired from over the summer.

Atlas probably was not the best person to seek out as a mentor and yet it seemed as though he was being unceremoniously thrust into the role. Sure. Whatever. "You'll at the very least get a detention, depending on the professor...or hooked up with another student, usually older, who will basically auror you so you get it done." Not that he was speaking from any experience - looking at you, Sadie Kareless. "Detention will really depend on the professor, so choose your battles carefully." Again, not that he was speaking from experience. "And then there is the remedial work that you may get assigned." And then...he really couldn't help himself. "Worst case they could send you to Azkaban...you know, wizarding prison...for failure to be a functioning and contributing member of society."

Joel, unlike the two people who kindly answered him, had been fully aware of his surroundings. Anything was much more interesting than this stupid homework, and he was done tracing all the patterns in the fireplace already. The only reason he hadn't been staring at what the older boy was doing was because he had manners. Otherwise, it did look quite interesting (and not counting in the homework).

So, when Nora did point towards the older boy's direction, blue eyes finally landed on him freely. His face didn't let out any emotion - he was clearly weighing every option. The Azkaban part was just outrageous, and he knew much better than that. They only put true criminals there, like... well, he didn't know any true criminal, because he had never needed to, but it didn't matter. He knew for a fact that he wasn't going to Azkaban.

"How is History of Magic professor like?" he asked directly. He didn't see the need to beat around the bush. Was it a battle to go into?

Out of curiosity alone, Nora watched and waited patiently as she Atlas secured the wing onto his creation. She usually wasn't one to get this much into somebody else's business, but the magical world was opening itself up to her little by little each day. She really never knew what she'd see next. Not that Atlas' creation was necessarily magical, but nobody in the muggle world (that she'd known of) had ever made something quite like this. "A beetle? Nice. What are you going to do with it?" she replied. Maybe it was just for decoration, but who knew in this world.

As Atlas directed his attention to Joel, Nora listened with a somewhat bewildered look on her face. She was sure that most of what he was saying wasn't actually true, but it didn't sound good either. Wow. Homework was really serious around here, wasn't it? She shrugged in response to his next question. "Professor Frazier's alright. I'm not a big fan of history," she commented. "Although, I guess I should be seeing as I have no real idea of my own history." Apparently, somebody in her family had been a witch or wizard.

His mouth opened to answer almost immediately, the motivation for his mechanical creatures being one of the easiest to have come to him, but instead his mouth hung open as though he had suddenly decided he needed to breathe through his mouth. Admitting he was making them for companionship was one thing, but admitting this to underclassmen...especially first years was just not the sort of image he wanted to project. She might pity him and that was a gross thought. So he went another route that was still true but...kind of an afterthought and something that came about as more of a perk than motivation. "They can perform menial task for me," he replied with as much of a nonchalant air as he could muster. "This one will fly once I'm done with it and be able to carry small loads. More sanitary than sending an owl swoopishing and wooshing through the castle corridors." And more secure than sending anything in someone else's hands.

Gaze shifting to the other little lion, he simply shrugged his shoulders at the question. "I don't take History of Magic anymore so...no opinion." That had been a subject he had dropped the first chance he had gotten...which had been in his attitude long before his OWL exams and would explain how he earned that T mark. His brow quirked at Nora's elaboration because, well, cryptic much?

Joel completely missed the bewilderment on Nora's face as his gaze was on the bigger boy. And it was a good thing he did, because he didn't want to say anything to dispute the older boy right now, who seemed to be his only source of information. Besides, what he was making sounded pretty cool, and Joel would maybe ask him to teach some of that stuff.

After he figured out his homework.

Professor Frazier is alright... Well, sure, but what about the detentions?? Because her being a decent human being, and her keeping it professional and issuing harsh detentions to discourage people were two irrelevant, and definitely not mutually exclusive things. And the older boy wasn't even taking the class! Joel sighed somewhat dramatically, looked at his completely empty parchment once more, and announced that "Well, I am not doing it. Let's see how it goes." There, decided.

Now that he got rid of his responsibility, he looked much happier and decided to walk over to the older boy to watch him more closely. He didn't ask any questions, he was just standing close by to watch, unless the boy said something..?

Sensing Atlas showing a greater need for concentration, Nora backed away a little and moved to more neutral ground (aka, a nearby couch). The first year blinked in mild surprise as Atlas revealed his purpose behind the creation. "Wow," she said under her breath. "So do you already have more creations that can do other jobs? Or is this one the first?" Because having this little creature actually fly and deliver items would be something she'd have to see to believe. Although, most of what was going on in her life nowadays were things that took her by complete surprise anyway.

So Joel wasn't doing his homework after all, huh? "Can't say I blame you," she remarked. Homework was one thing she absolutely had to force herself to do, and more often than not, she'd considered throwing in the towel just as Joel had done. She hadn't been brave enough to actually try that in her new school just yet, though. "Let me know how that works out for you." While the two Gryffindor boys seemed engrossed in the creation, Nora looked around the room. Did her first year dormmates not hang out in the common room or something?

Honestly, Atlas couldn't blame the one first year with regards to homework and not wanting to do it. Most of it was nonsensical busywork as far as this seventh year was concerned - especially when it was subjects and topics that had little or nothing to do with his own interests and aspirations. Just a method of making sure that could follow instructions and perform - and Atlas wasn't some performing creature nor the sort to ask how high when told to jump. Detentions weren't THAT bad anyway - nothing like the ones his dad had described to him during his tenure at Astronomy professor.

So, as far as that young lion was concerned, Atlas nodded him a little nod of the head. This kid...might be useful to help with one final glitter extravaganza as well.

Anyway, back to talking about himself now.

"Yeah...six thus far...two more, including Khepri here, planned," he explained to Nora. "They're all different insects except for Charlotte who is an arachnid." Atlas flicked his monocle back down, his focus returning to one of the remaining leg sockets for a little more tinkering...which required a couple of taps to his monocle with his wand for further magnification. "Khepri here will be my second with the ability to fly...but Thimble's design makes it so she can only perform flight over a very short distance." She was quite bottom heavy with her lightbulb, after all. He didn't mind the other boy essentially looming - Atlas' handiwork did warrant an audience. Still, he couldn't help offering up some additional advice. "I wouldn't worry too much about detention. Most professors are too soft to make it anything more than mind numbing anyway," he explained while finishing his tweaks on this leg and lifting his monocle again.