Watching the watcher (tag Claudia)

Timothy sipped at his pumpkin juice absently. There was a Gryffindor boy displaying a number of confidence and happiness behaviours. He was loud and jovial, using expansive gestures, practically bouncing when he walked. Timothy suspected he had done well on a test or something. At the Hufflepuff table, a girl was hunched over her food, hand in her hair, not looking up... Nervous about something.
Timothy spent quite a bit of his time this way, even when he was supposed to be doing other things. Ever since his great aunt he only saw once a year gave him a body language book for Christmas when he was 9, he had been reading people. It was practically automatic for him, connecting a gesture to an emotion.

Claudia was picking at her food not really hungry. She decided to look around at her surroundings. She noticed multiple people talking and eating, some reading the Daily Prophet, their mail or books but one boy caught her eye. He seemed to be watching people. She wondered what he was doing watching people. It facinated her. She tried to watch him more closely to see if she could figure out what he was doing. Her curious side getting the best of her.

(It's hard for me sometimes to do this. But i'm getting better.)

((You're doing fine.))

Timothy looked around some more, spotting other behaviours. One Slytherin boy was trying to intimidate another, hands far apart and planted on the table, leaning into the other boy's personal space, but the other boy maintained perfect posture and held his gaze. It was a rather common sight in one form or another, especially in his house. A Gryffindor girl moved some food around her plate, not eating. Could she be nervous? Timothy watched for other behaviours but she looked up and caught his eye. He froze for a moment, unused to this happening. He smiled at her and turned his gaze elsewhere. The two Slytherin boys. They were now both standing, leaning towards each other, foreheads almost touching. Neither was going to give in soon. Timothy cleared his throat and they glanced at him, sitting down. He'd rather not be in the middle of a fight.

She watched him intently. What was with him observing people. She noticed him freeze slightly when their eyes met and he shifted his gaze towards the two Slytherin boys who looked like they would fight but sat back down soon after. She set her fork down and started peeling at a roll that was on her plate. She would figure out what was up with that boy.

Timothy glanced back toward the Gryffindor girl, his gaze skimming the table. He didn't want to seem like he was looking at her if she was still looking at him, but she was preoccupied with a dinner roll. Was she eating because she caught him looking at her? Was she not hungry for anything on the table? He shifted his gaze toward the Ravenclaw table, unseeing. He wouldn't normally be so interested in a girl not eating her meal, but normally people didn't catch him watching. He snapped out of his thoughts and found himself staring at a vegetarian. Well, he suspected she was vegetarian. She didn't have any meat on her plate, just salad and fruit and bread and mashed potatoes... Was it possible to be allergic to meat? He didn't think so...

Claudia set her roll back down on her plate half eaten. She glanced up and saw him looking over at the Ravenclaw table at a girl with anything but meat on her plate. She wondered if he did this often. He seemed used to watching people. She wondered if he had ever been watched. She decided to look at him until he noticed. Not any harm in that. She resumed picking at her roll.

((If you want to have Claudia recognize Timothy at some point, I figure this is after Charms class... He won't really remember her, though.))
Timothy glanced around, looking through the people reading. Quite a few reading the Prophet had wrinkled brows. Not good news, then. He vaguely wondered what had happened. Maybe he could find a discarded copy after some people left. Those reading letters from home had much more diverse reactions, though they were harder to parse when he could only see people's eyes and up. Raised eyebrows, surprise. Eyebrows pushed together, annoyance? Confusion? Crinkled eyes with outside edge of eyebrows lowered, genuine happiness.
He glanced back at the Gryffindor girl, finding her watching him. What was her deal? Was she bored, was that why she wasn't eating very much? Did she want to get his attention? He smiled at her again, adding a small wave of his hand.

Claudia finally put a name with a face. She had a hard time remembering them together but after she saw someone the name comes along not to far after. She finally got enough courage to ask what his deal was. She looked around at everyone quickly and stood up. She set her napkin down on the table and made her way over to where the boy sat. It didn't matter to her what anyone thought of the matter. She sat across from him and placed her hands together on the table.

"Is there a reason you seem to be watching people? If so i would like to know why?" She didn't want to sound rude but being straight-forward is the only way to get answers it always seemed.

Timothy's eyebrows raised as the Gryffindor girl looked around and came over to sit across from him. A Gryffindor at the Slytherin table certainly caused a few titters. Why was he watching people? Because he did it so often he barely had to think about it. Because he liked being able to read people, know things about them.  
"Eh, bored." He smiled and shrugged at the girl. "It's kind of interesting to see how people show their originality, even with uniforms and robes. Some people are wearing vests, some aren't. Some have their robes shut, some open. Some leave their house ties loose, some tighten them up. Plus there's hairstyles and jewelry and everything." He shrugged again. He kept his posture loose, nonchalant, bored. She had her hands clasped in front of her on the table. It evoked a thought of pleading, and was certainly a gesture of lower social standing. Was it because she wanted information, or just because he was Head Boy? No way to know.

((I think this might be the longest thread on the site where two people don't interact :) ))

It seems that I forgot to continue it do you wish to still do it?

((Yeah, sure!))

Claudia didn't know what to say about what Timothy was doing all she could say way "Interesting." She didn't know whether she should be impressed that he noticed this sort of thing or to be weirded out by it.

"I guess i never took the time to notice that kind of thing." She smiled a genuine smile trying not to come across as unkind.

(once i get the flow of rp with this it will get better and longer i promise haha)

((It's cool, totally understand.))

Timothy quickly closed his airways, preventing a derisive snort from escaping. The corner of his lip quirked up for a millisecond, he had to get better at controlling his microexpressions, especially around girls. Of course she didn't notice any of that, at least not consciously. Very few people expended the energy to focus on what others were saying nonverbally.
"I think you might subconsciously." Timothy made idle chatter. "Girls are more likely to notice other girls' fashion choices. Ever gotten annoyed at someone's bracelets clattering together during class? Made assumptions on someone's personality based on the state of their uniform? All humans do it, not a lot realize it and think about it." The words fell out of his mouth, he was barely paying attention to what he was saying. He was watching her reactions, her hands, the emotions flitting across her face.

Claudia took in what he said and couldn't help but be awestruck by the things he was saying. She never really thought on a level like that and it interested her.

"Well it seems you know quite a lot about the subject. Where'd you learn it from, or is it just natural?"
She really wanted to know more about the topic of which he seemed to know so much about.
Her posture relaxed more, feeling more at ease with her surrounding.

"There are plenty of books, physical and electronic, on human psychology. Though they're all muggle books, I haven't found any wizarding psychology books." Not that he particularly looked, he wasn't really interested in psychology, but he disliked people knowing he could read their body language. It prevented him from reading them properly. She seemed more at ease, shoulders down, genuine smile with eye crinkles...