Saturday seemed as good a day as any to go outside and just, do things. No, that sounded stupid. Lexi grabbed her coat, and decided not to make up an excuse as she tromped out of her dorm room. Nobody really paid her any mind anymore because they knew you couldn't keep Lexi of all people cooped up for long periods of time. She was a Werewolf, obviously, and she couldn't stay inside when every fiber of her being wanted to be outside where she could feel the open space around her. Inside the castle she felt trapped, but outside she felt like she belonged somewhere.

She made it outside in record timing, or at least she figured she did. She had certainly run down the stairs fast enough without falling. (And that was a feat in itself, as she had had many tumbles down the stairs. Luckily they just ended in bruises and scrapes, but still, they were tumbles none the less.)

There were few people out in the courtyard, and fewer still roaming the grounds. Her head ducked low, Lexi made her way through the courtyard and out into the grassier, open areas of the Castle. Well, there was less grass and a bit more of the frozen precipitation that she didn't really love all too much, but still, she was outside. She grinned wildly and ran across the first few meters of the field to avoid an ongoing snowball fight between a few older years. She almost got hit by a snowball, and was so busy avoiding getting hit that she didn't notice the girl walking towards her until she ran head on into her. Probably hard enough to drop them both into the thin layer of snow.

Eva took a deep breath and smile up at the sky.  It was a good day to be outside.  "What do you think, Liza?" She murmured to the eagle owl perched on her forearm.  Liza wooted and ruffled her feathers causing Eva to chuckle.  "Don't be like that, your job's done now."  Eva pocketed the letter from her brother that Liza had just delivered and turned to go.  Her footsteps crunched in the hard crust of snow on the ground.  She carried Liza with her, intending to go back to her room and write a reply right away while Liza slept in her cage with a few well earned treats. 

"I'm going to get you something special today, how does that sound?"  She continued to murmur to her bird, detailing some of the lovely things the bird would get to do before heading out again.  Generally she talked to Liza as though they were having a full conversation only she could hear.  Distracted as she was, she didn't see the little girl running towards her. 

"Oi! Watch it!" she exclaimed upon impact.  She stumbled backwards and lost her balance, weighted down as one arm was.  She fell into the snow with a young girl sprawled in her lap.  Liza fluttered in panic and flew off a few feet.  She stood in the snow with a disgruntled expression, her wings spread as if to say, how dare you.  Eva groaned in slight pain and then regained the presence of mind to ask, "Are you alright there?"

Lexi rolled off of whoever she'd run into, and felt a twist in her gut, guilt. She felt bad for not paying attention and for running into an older year! "I'm sorry," she groaned, pushing herself off the ground just enough to look up at the older girl and her ticked-off owl. "I'm fine, are you okay? That was all my fault."

Smooth kid, run around outside and cause a collision in under two minutes. That must have been a new record for her. The owl attracted her attention, as it spread its wings in a disgruntled manner. It reminded her of Jethro and the way her own owl would sass her constantly whenever she did something stupid. It was endearing to know other owls were just as sassy and easily annoyed. "Hey," she said to the owl, "You look perfectly fine, stop overreacting." Lexi probably would have said the same thing to her own owl if he'd acted that way.

"I'm Lexi, by the way." She said as she stood up and held a hand out to help up the other girl. "Do you go to this school?" She hadn't seen the other girl around before, and she sort of looked like a foreigner. But to the first year, everyone looked the same. Different. Everyone was different, and that made them the same. The thought of it confused her often, but sometimes it worked. "

Eva took the proffered hand politely but stood up without putting too much leverage on it.  She was just a little girl, after all.  Her first thought, as it usually was, was for her owl.  She pushed a hand into the snow under his feet and hoisted him up and out of the snow.  "She's right, you know," Eva told the bird.  "No harm done.  Just a bit of snow is all."  She brushed flakes of snow off of Liza's feathers and turned back to the little girl.

"Hello Lexi, my name's Eva."  She held out her hand for a shake.  "I go to this school now."  Eva grinned and winked as she crunched through the snow away from the snowball fight that had caused this mess in the first place.  "Technically, I'm a Beauxbatons student.  But I'll be finishing my schooling here during the Tournament."

She gave the little girl a mock appraisal.  "I assume you're a Hogwarts student then. How about it?  Are you a lion, a snake, an eagle, or a badger?"

Lexi smiled, Eva talked to her owl as well. She wished she had Jethro with her, but he was taking a nap up in the owl post, so she hadn't wanted to bug him for a walk outside. "It's nice to meet you Eva," Lexi said as she shook the other girl's hand, keeping up with her as they walked away from the snowball fight.

"That's nice," she commented with a half-smile. She thought all Beauxbatons students were supposed to be stuck-up, snotty brats. Or at least that's what some of the kids in her year were saying. But then again, they also said that all the Salem kids were infectious with Dragon Pox. Goes to show you how truthful they really were.

"Lion," she remarked quickly, and with pride. "I'm the fiercest lion there is!" She said childishly before grinning, but her grin drooped, "Well, not totally fierce. Most people are just scared of what the other me does. I mean, everyone knows in Hogwarts, but I'm cursed with Lycanthropy and all..." She said tentatively, waiting to gauge Eva's reaction. "I just thought I should tell you, you know, because maybe you won't want to talk with a weird kid like me." She babbled, and hope to find approval in Eva's eyes.

Eva grinned at the small well of the girl's chest as she puffed up with pride.  A lion, indeed.  She was brave as well, admitting to a stranger that she was a werewolf.  For a second, Eva's heart melted at the thought of what some of the world's more prejudiced population would do to such a brave and open soul. 

"I'd heard rumors," Eva said softly, somewhat apologetically.  "I was going to ask but I didn't want to be rude."  She placed a tentative hand on the smaller girl's shoulder and offered her another grin.  "I've been known to turn a little crazy once a month too, but they're a potions for both of us so I figure it's not too bad."  She hoped she put the younger girl at ease by this.  She shouldn't be made to feel like she was weird because of her unusual and intimate relationship with animals.  Eva berated herself for that mentally.  Not to draw too fine a parallel or anything.   

"I'll make you a deal,  you take your potions and I'll take mine and we should continue to get along just fine.  What do you say?"  She offered her hand again, this time to make a deal rather than in greeting.  "And you can always tell me if I ask an uncomfortable question on accident, I have a tendency to do that but I'll respect your privacy if you say something."

Eva’s smile was reassuring, and it wasn’t that the hand on her shoulder was uncomfortable, she just wasn’t used to the contact from someone else. With anyone else she would have shrugged the hand off, maybe snapped at them for doing that. But there was something different about Eva that let Lexi relax from her normally wound-up state.

“Well, the rumors are true. And I really don’t mind people asking anymore, happens all the time.” She said with a shrug. She laughed softly when Eva said she went crazy sometimes too, it was an unusual thing to say but it was good to hear none the less. Judging from what she’d seen in the past few minutes, the older student didn’t seem half bad. She talked to her owl, she was kind and open, and she just had a generally pleasant aura to her.

“Deal,” Lexi responded as she shook Eva’s hand firmly. “Don’t worry; I’m known to glare at people when I’m uncomfortable. You’ll know if you overstep a boundary.” Not that there were many anymore. Sure, Lexi’s guard was up 24/7,  but she felt like answering people questions about her ‘condition’ didn’t really betray the way she hid her more-vulnerable part of her soul from the world.

“What’s your owl’s name by the way?” She asked curiously, noting that the owl was still giving her a look, same as before.

"This is Liza," Eva replied, shifting the bird a bit to accommodate muscles in her arm growing sore.  "She's a real lady, prissy and uptight.  She hates having a single feather out of place.  She won't talk to me for days if she gets out out in a strong wind.  But she always delivers the letter.  Professional like that.  You can pet her if you want, she enjoys being appreciated."  Eva held the bird a little lower so that Lexi could pet the soft feathers if she chose.

"I confess, I'm a little curious how you relate to being a little curious..."  Eva bit her lip then smiled gently.  "How do you relate to owls?  Are they scared of you?  Can they tell that you're different?"

Lexi reached a hand out gently to Liza and ran a finger across the bird's feathers on her head. The owl pulled away before realizing that Lexi was safe, and he ducked a bit lower as Lexi pet the feathers and she seemed to enjoy it. "I think all owls are a bit prissy, like cats you know? They think they own the world." She tilted her head, "Obey me human!" She chuckled, talking to the owl.

"How do I relate?" She asked after withdrawing her hand. "Well, I think they can tell. My owl certainly could tell. His name is Jethro, or Jet for short. He had a minor meltdown when I returned home after the attack. I think they just have instincts that warn them when danger's about. Or when it's just me."

"I think she's got you wrapped around her little finger, or... talon in her case." She said, noticing the way the owl held herself on Eva's arm. "Just saying."

Eva winked at Lexi with a grin.  "Don't you worry about that, I know all of Liza's tricks by now.  She likes to thinks she's got me wrapped but-"  Eva held her hand up to her mouth as though keeping the owl from hearing the next part, "she's actually a bit of a sap."

With a hoist of her arm, Eva sent Liza off.  Her large wings opened and caused a bit of a downdraft on the two of them as she winged her way upwards, heading towards the tower. 

"Well, regardless, you seem to do well with animals.  Liza didn't mind you at least but like I said, her majesty likes it when people appreciate her so you were practically a shoe-in.  Well, I dunno, I probably shouldn't bother you too much about... well, you know.  Should I let you get back to... whatever it was you were doing?"