la vie en rose • {shelby, tomie}

Tomie started laughing when Shelby fell straight to the ground and she poked her in the leg. “Good,” she said with a smirk.

She raised her eyebrows. “Okaaaayyy but do you like scary stuff?” Tomie asked dubiously. “Like, it’s really gross. And, like, proper scary,” she added, not really believing that Shelby would enjoy any of her favourite comics. “Not like those campfire stories.” She gave her friend a look, her lips scrunched to one side. “Plus, it’s not the character at all, it was just really scary, and I just liked the name... like the boy’s name, you know…” She shrugged.

Shin-hye. She looked at Shelby, trying to project Shin-hye, but it didn’t really sit right. Tomie supposed she was just used to her friend’s English name by now. Sort of a shame. “Weird,” she said, when Shelby mentioned the syllable thing, but she said it with the same mildly interested tone she might say oh, cool. “I have my mum and dad’s names – Willem, Wilhelmina, Rizka, Mayrizka.” She rolled her Rs without noticing, and  shrugged. “If Rizka wasn’t my mum’s name I would have gone by that, I think it’s cool.” She was half-lying, though. Tomie had been – rightfully – sorted into Gryffindor, but could she have come to the majority-white school she’d be forced to live at for the next six years with such an obviously foreign name? She didn't know about that.

Tomie started laughing when Shelby fell straight to the ground and she poked her in the leg. “Good,” she said with a smirk.

Shelby swatted at Tomie's hand as she poked her leg, missing widely. "Hm..." Shelby frowned. She had been pretty spooked by the campfire stories, after all. She rubbed her hand where Archie had held it earlier. "Well..... maybe," she said, doubt creeping in, "Maybe I can just try it out? Maybe I'll be less scared if I read it in the light, you know?" Shelby really wanted to attribute her fear earlier to the dark of the woods.

She paid attention to Tomie's explanation of her family's names. It was so different but also the same - Shelby's first name was for her dad's family, her middle name for her mum's, and Tomie's "real" name was the same way. "Rizka," she repeated, trying to roll the R the way Tomie did and failing. "It's a cool name. Maybe like, Riz?" She hesitated - she didn't know if it was okay to shorten the name. "I dunno, Riz seems like a cool nickname for a Quidditch player." Short, fast, zippy, like Tomie was.

“Maybe I’ll show you some of it out of context and we’ll go from there,” Tomie suggested, still pretty sure that the graphic novel would freak her friend out, even in the light of day. “There are other less creepy ones, I think…” She said, trailing off. “There are short ones, maybe we could start you off there,” she said. Baby’s first horror comic.

“Rizka,” she repeated, rolling the R and giving Shelby a look that was something between amusement and affection. “Indonesian one-oh-one, though we love aaaalll the nicknames,” She laughed lightly. It was true; her brother went by Matt because they lived in England, but she had an uncle called Matthias too and he went by “Iss”. Which didn’t make much sense to her, but oh well. “Riz... Riz..." She tried it out with and without the rolled R. "It does, doesn’t it,” she said, nodding slowly. “Merlin, if I don’t make Gryff quidditch next year I swear I’m dropping out,” she commented, her thoughts drifting in that direction momentarily.

She shook her head, reaching for the box of chocolates and tipping them out on the floor. "What's your fave?" she said, ready to give up whichever ones Shelby liked the best and split the rest so they had even numbers.

Shelby nodded. She was game to try anything once, but she certainly had a weaker stomach for horror than Tomie and Benny. "That sounds good to me." She rolled again, sitting up once again next to her friend.

"Rizka," Shelby echoed back, getting a little closer on the rolled R. "I'll practice. Not like I'll be calling your mum by her first name when I meet her." If. She should have said if. Hopefully Tomie wouldn't think that was too weird. It was good to know about nicknames, though - she felt more confident in her suggestion after that. Tomie seemed to like the sound of it too, trying it out a couple times before giving Shelby an affirmative nod. "Tomie 'Riz' Vos," Shelby tossed out, then frowned. "Maybe just - 'Riz Vos'? Or, a mononym, that would be cool."

She laughed again, all the tension from just a few minutes ago fully forgotten now. "You'll make it!" Shelby had no way to prove that, but it just felt like it had to be true. How could Tomie not make the team when she was working so hard?

Shelby pointed at the red wrapped once. "Raspberry, I think. The mints really good too." She smiled at Tomie. "Thanks for sharing."

One corner of her lips tugged again when Shelby tried again, and Tomie felt that same sense of affection-amusement. It wasn’t bad, but could be better. “I mean, probably “Tanta Rizka” or something,” Tomie said. That was what Benny called her mum, anyway. She glanced at Shelby. “Oh, like, auntie kinda,” she said, waving a hand.

“I better!” Tomie said, raising her eyebrows threateningly. The comment about dropping out was a joke, but also… was it… entirely... a joke…? Tomie had exactly one dream.

“Oh, food’s meant to be shared,” Tomie said matter-of-fact. Assuming, of course, that she got some. If she only had like, one food, then she wouldn’t be sharing. She glanced up at Shelby’s face though, catching her smile. Ugh, fine maybe she’d share a little, even if she only had one of something. “Mint is gross so that’s for you…” she trailed off, dividing the chocolates up. There were two raspberry ones and they were her favourites too, so she assigned them one each.

“I might go have a shower,” she said suddenly, feeling a bit bad for sitting so close to Shelby – bumping her shoulder and whatnot – not having showered yet. “But I’m not ready for bed,” she said, glancing up at Shelby, a questioning expression in her eyes despite her verbal statement.

"Not Mrs. Vos?" Shelby asked. "Or Ms. Rizka, maybe?" She called all her dad's friends Mr. or Miss or Mrs First Name, so that would make sense to her. Oh, so like eonni, that made sense. Not that she called very many people with Korean honorifics. Mum, her grandparents, some of mom's school friends but hey mostly spoke Japanese. She nodded her understanding. Plus, Tomie hadn't noticed her very big assumption.

Shelby noticed the even split of the remaining raspberry ones. "Mint's good!" She countered, but she wasn't going to turn down getting extra mint chocolates. Tomie didn't like mint and she did like raspberry. Good to know, better to remember. Shelby made a mental note to make a physical note of that later. She opened up two of the mints and popped on into each cheek, grinning at Tomie. It was silly, but she wanted to make Tomie laugh again.

"Oh, okay!" She said, muffled by the melting candy. She shrugged. "I'm not going anywhere - want to play a game after you shower?" She had brought two decks of cards and a couple of other things to camp, plus one of the Americans had taught her a party yelling game.

Tomie wrinkled her nose at the idea of someone calling her mum Mrs. Vos. It sounded weird. The second option was better. “Maybe you can come stay one night later this summer?” she suggested, still sorting the chocolates. “Mhmm,” was all she had to say about the mint. Tomie had favourite foods, obviously, but the list of foods she actively didn’t like was very short. Mint was for toothpaste, or cooking, in her opinion. Sweet foods should not be soured by the taste.

She raised her eyebrows as Shelby started opening multiple chocolates. She had to laugh at Shelby’s face, all warped by the food in her cheeks, and she reached out and poked both sides with the tips of her fingers. “I’m down!” Tomie said, still half-smiling at Shelby’s too-full mouth as she got to her feet. The Gryffindor witch leaned down and swiped her towel from the floor, leaving the snack mess on the floor for now as she left to go shower.

Tomie laughed and Shelby fought to keep from laughing too - if she did she might choke on the chocolates, now lodged firmly against her teeth after Tomie pressed them. It wasn't like she was holding that against the Gryffindor. She had done this to make her laugh. Tomie rolled away, off to shower. Shelby clambered back onto her bunk, a load lifted from her shoulders. She felt much better now. She wasn't really sure, now that she had calmed down, why she had been upset in the first place.

Ah, nuts, she would have to brush again.

She waited for Tomie to finish showering, giving up on the Metaphysics books and turning her attention to one on native plants to Vermont. This one she would have to return soon, but Shelby was interested in making some plant pressings while she was here. She hadn't gotten very far, just to Alnus alnobetula ssp. crispa when Tomie returned. "I'm just gonna brush my teeth - do you wanna play cards or something else?" It occurred to her, brush in mouth, that the other game she was thinking of might not work with just two people. Hm.

Tomie showered quickly, and was on her way back in no time. It was a bit annoying, she thought, that they weren’t allowed to do magic here. One of the things she’d made sure to learn about in her first year – she’d pestered an older Gryffindor girl to attain this valuable information – was dry her hair with magic. It was a bit late to have wet hair, but she’d washed it anyway because it had felt a bit grimy and gritty. Despite comments Hazel had made in the past, Tomie didn’t actually like feeling dirty.

When she got back she chucked her dirty clothes in a pile next to her bag and then went and plopped herself right down on Shelby’s bunk. “I think yours is comfier than mine,” she complained, bouncing a couple of times on the mattress before sliding her slippers off and moving in so she could lean against the wall. She only had to duck her head a teeeeny bit so she didn’t bump it on the “cieling” aka the other bed. “Sure, sounds good,” Tomie said with an easy smile. “You don’t have a watch or anything, do you?” she asked, wondering if there was a time they’d get in trouble for still having her light on.

Shelby frowned, toothpaste foaming through the gap of her mouth. She mumbled, spat out the paste, called out again - "I've got one in the drawer, I think?" Shelby wasn't one for watches, but Dad had got her one for her birthday that did multiple timezones, in case she wanted to talk through the Floo with someone from overseas. Like Mum's family or something. "You should call your cousin at Beauxbatons," he had said, but Shelby could hardly remember the boy at all. What would they talk about? "It's got to be - what, quarter past ten? At least?" She yelled from the bathroom, rinsing out her brush.

She had to duck her head to fit under the the bunk - it was slightly better than the top bunk, but still a squeeze. There was a deck of cards on the table. Shelby reached over, grabbed it, started shuffling them. They had different constellations on the backs - a birthday trinket from.... someone. Couldn't remember. Some distant Trickett. "Do you know how to play..." what did she and Ingvar play when it was just the two of them? "War?"

“Cool, cool,” Tomie replied, not checking the drawers at all. She wasn’t particularly interested in actually knowing what the time was. “Totally,” Tomie called back, getting comfy on Shelby’s bed. She stifled a yawn, tired from the day’s activities, picking at a bit of paint on the bedframe absentmindedly until Shelby returned.

“I think so!” Tomie answered with a bright smile, shifting so she could face Shelby, instead of leaning her back against the wall. She watched her friend deal the cards out, trying to remember the rules. Her dark eyes were drawn to the patterns on the back of the cards; starry ones, that shifted and changed as she stared at them. Of course they were starry, she thought.

“Is it… real?” she asked, flicking her eyes back up at her friend. She wanted to hesitate, and make sure Shelby knew she was being thoughtful. But she was also impatient and wanted to know. “I mean like, obviously you can tell a lot about someone based on when and where they were born –” She’d learned that from Shelby over the past year, “– but the other stuff, like the predictions and – what are they? Couple charts? Oh! Compatibility stuff. Do you ever like, run the numbers on your family?”

"Oh, great!" Shelby said. Now if only she could remember the rules herself. Ah well, it was sure to come back to her after playing - it always did. She gave the cards one more shuffle before dealing them out. The slow way, each one of them getting a card one at a time. Ingvar always complained about that, said that it was the same if they just split the deck, but this felt more right. Who cared if it didn't add any more randomness to the deck?

“Is it… real?”

"Is what real? Cards?" Shelby said, not realizing until she looked up what Tomie meant. The other girl's eyes seemed to catch the light from the window, reflecting the woods back at her. "Oh. Um," Shelby hesitated. "I mean, I think it's real, but I guess I could be wrong?" She sighed, looking at the constellations on the backs. "I think I just don't know enough yet. And maybe it like, works for some people more than others?" Shelby frowned. "I'm not really much of a Taurus, I don't think I'm stubborn or confident or anything, but the personality stuff really lines up for you and a bunch of other people."

Shelby laughed at the family question. "Ingvar won't listen so I stopped trying to do his, and Mum and Dad don't really take me seriously. It's not good for predicting specifics, Divination in general is, uh, general?" She rubbed the back of her neck, feeling suddenly very hot. "I dunno. I want it to be real. I want people to make sense, and it makes sense to me."
 

“Mine’s perfect, isn’t it?” Tomie agreed. She didn’t remember the details, but Shelby had read her whole star-whatever at some point and everything had been super spot-on. At the time, she’d wondered if it had only worked so well because she was pretty easy to read in general – it took people about two minutes to get a good idea for the kind of person she was – but some of the stuff Shelby had said seemed too specific for it to be all hand-wavey made-up stuff.

“That sucks that your parents don’t take you seriously,” Tomie said, straightening the pile of cards in front of her. She paused for a second. “Mine...” She wanted to say more, but something made her hesitate. It was easy to talk to Benny about the things she really hated about the ways her parents treated her, but he knew them. He got it.

Tomie didn’t want Shelby to have a bad impression of her parents, even if they were old-fashioned and conservative in ways that grated her sometimes. She couldn’t bring herself to talk about the thing she’d wanted to – the gender roles, the fact that her mother always put her in dresses. She couldn’t quite explain the way that she just let it all happen when she was at home, and was someone pretty different at school, so she went with something else instead. “They don’t think quidditch is, like, a serious thing.” Tomie rolled her eyes. She felt a bit more tense though.

"Well I like it," she said, of the whole astronomy thing. She'd never have the patience for it, and she was on the fence about how real she thought it all was, but she liked it. She flipped a nine and Shelby flipped a three. "Oh, that's me," she said, collecting the cards.

The corner of the Ravenclaw's mouth twitched upwards - she was still pretty proud of her reading for Tomie, it was the first chart she had done that long ago night and she had spent a lot of time thinking about it. "It is," she agreed, taking it as a compliment whether or not it was.

Tomie's hesitation wasn't really like her, though. Shelby wondered what she was leaving unsaid. It reminded her a lot of how Mum talked about her mum and dad. She always had to think about it so hard. When Tomie finally settled on an answer, Shelby was surprised. "Quidditch? Really? But," that didn't make any sense, "Quidditch is like, the biggest career you can have, if you sign with the right team you never have to work after you retire!" She had heard Dad grumbling about this before but didn't have any facts to back it up.

She was glad Tomie liked it, would have liked it better if she said she trusted it, but if Shelby was so wishy-washy about it herself how could she expect Tomie to be, like, more into it? She had twisted herself up in her thoughts and was taken by surprise when Tomie collected her card. "Hey," she pouted, even though that was just how the game was. "Flip!" An eight for her, a six for Tomie. "Mine, then."

She paused for a moment as a question sprung to mind. "Do you think, like, destiny is real? Or fate?"

Tomie scowled. “Yeah, but it’s sport,” she said, “Not stable and realistic enough, you know? What twelve year old doesn’t want to be a quidditch star?” She didn’t stop to let Shelby protest the point, “So, you know. It’s like, impossible to make it big. I think they don’t take the fame part seriously at all – oh that’s yours,” She nudged Shelby’s cards towards the other girl.

She’d touched on it, but there was so much more there that she wanted to say. Wasn’t the Indonesian national team made up entirely of men? If her parents really knew that she wanted it – like, wanted it – she couldn’t imagine their reactions. She felt bad thinking about it, and the badness was layered.

“Um.” Tomie paused, flicking her gaze upward, her hand resting lightly on her card stack, ready to flip. “I don’t know,” she said, frowning. “Sometimes I think yeah, things happen the way they’re meant to. My family is pretty… I don’t know if superstitious is the right word, but they have their beliefs.” Tomie flipped her card. Another loss. “Sometimes I don’t like it? Maybe because it makes me feel like I don’t feel like I have any power to impact things?” She gestured with her hand when she said impact to really emphasise it.