Josh could tell that this conversation was making her a bit meloncholy, so even though it was unusual for him, he decided to go for the "cheering up/lightening up the conversation" approach. He had tried it a few times before, but it was not really his style. He tended to be more sarcastic and broody. It was more fun... However, he decided to shake things up, just to surprise Aviva, if nothing else. The expression on her face last time was priceless.

"Hey, some people find honesty refreshing, you know. And the only reason I can lie is too much practice... which is not exactly a quality you want in a friend. As for rambling on and on... well, as I am sure you have noticed, I tend to be more the "brood in silence" type, and it does not exactly win you a bunch of best buds when they have to figure out which type of grunt means what."

She smiled cheerily, relaxing a bit as he spoke. A mood like this was an uncommon occurance for a girl like Av, and most people weren't quite sure how to act when the perpetually happy girl let the smile slip off of her face. Josh, however, knew human nature better than he let on--and he wasn't so easily fazed as everybody else. It was refreshing, in a way.

The last part of his statement elicited yet another laugh--he was funnier than his few friends had led her to believe. "A fair point. Nobody likes a debbie downer." She smirked a bit. Well, except Aviva...but she liked everybody.

Josh could see that Aviva was relaxing a bit, which surprised him. She always seemed so tense, like she had to live up to everyone's expectations. He had watched the way she interacted with others a lot because of Quidditch, and to him it always seemed that once people established her as a "happy person", she felt compelled to fill the role within an inch of her life. He could tell that others did not know how to handle her when she was not brimming with joy. And actually, when she said earlier that she was not good at lying, he did not believe her. While she was not good at lying in the conventional sense of the word, he could tell when she was putting on a happy face just to make others more comfortable. Things like that did not escape his notice.

However, that Debbie Downer comment was just too good to pass up. Josh laughed. "Are you sure about that? I mean, Debbie Downers can be pretty darn awesome. Nothing brightens your day quite like a good dose of pessimism!"

"Oh, sure." She said, a smile playing on her lips...and genuine, this time. "After all, light doesn't exist without the dark. When you're a hopeless pessimist, you're always either proven right or pleasantly surprised."

Hopeless optimism, however, seemed to have the opposite effect. It was often the cheeriest who ended up committing suicide in motel rooms--but Aviva would never be that girl. Most of the time, she really was a cheerful as she seemed, but sometimes it felt like she was just putting up a front. That was why Josh's persona was so disconcerting to her...he was one of the most genuine people she'd talked to in quite some time.

Josh grinned. He completely agreed with that. "Yup. It is a proven fact, you know. When they asked citizens of Denmark, the country with the highest overall happiness rating in the world, why they were so happy, they all said it was because they had extremely low expectations, so when something good happened, they were substantially happier. Isn't it ironic? It just goes to show, optimism is overrated... We should all emulate Denmark and be horrible pessimists, and the world would be a happier place."

Josh had given this rant before to his sisters, so he found himself slipping into a less controlled, more relaxed state. He was by nature very careful and cautious, but from his conversation with Aviva, and what he had seen of her, he did not have any reason to distrust her. However, he was still careful not to give away too much while still being honest and open. He noticed that people tended to be more comfortable when you went with that... though he did not know why he wanted to make Aviva comfortable... Though he did not realize it at first, it finally dawned on him that he liked Aviva. What others considered incessent ramblings, he considered refreshing insights--people who babbled on and on tended to be more open, and to think without speaking. He liked it better that way, because when people used filters, they lost a lot of their personal voice. At least, that was the way he saw it.

"Is it really so? I never knew so much about the good people of Denmark." she mused, a grin on her face. "The irony there is delightful, yet the logic is flawless." That was probably why the rest of her family was so incredibly happy...the women, at least. The Attwell double standard was very apparent in their children's temperaments: the girls expected lots from the world with little work, they tended to be bitter and unambitious. The boys, on the other hand, were put under immense pressure, constantly taught that they had to do everything for themselves--and, amazingly, they were a lot happier.

Both Aviva and Josh were more at ease now: the conversation came easily and devoid of awkward pauses. He seemed to be holding back, however, without really distrusting her. She brushed it off and continued talking, avoiding those slightly schizoid internal rants that were always getting her into trouble.

Josh smirked. "Of course it is! Otherwise I would not have brought it up, though I am in the mood for a good debate. I have not had one in a while."

Josh let that sink in, and he realized that he had not had a debate with anyone other than his sisters in a while. Then again, he did not really talk to anyone else. This was a rare occurence.

Josh decided to change the topic rather abruptly. It seemed that this was a perfect place to get into the "getting to know you" stage, since Aviva was obviously sticking around. He had not had a conversation this long with many people outside his family in a long time, so obviously she must be worth talking to.

"So, I know this is really random... but I have to ask. What music do you listen to?"

Though Aviva probably did not know, music was one of the biggest parts of Josh's life, and he had to ask her--he had figured out a long time ago that the music a person listens to tells a lot about them, and he was interested to know what appealed to Aviva.

Debates were few and far between in Aviva's world...after all, she generally tried to please everyone all the time...but she thoroughly enjoyed them, particularly when she had a vaguely intelligent opponent. Apparently, so did Josh. She tucked this bit of info away in her mind for the time being, though she wasn't quite sure why she was gathering information about him.

Ah, music. It was the one part of muggle culture that Aviva actually enjoyed...and the one part of wizarding culture she could hardly stand. "Well, truth be told, I don't listen to a whole lot of music while I'm at school. Wizard radio never interested me much, and none of the muggle gadgets work around here. It really sucks, because I actually like music a lot. At home, though...well, I guess you'd say I've got a pretty unique taste. This past summer I listened to a lot of Muse, but my favorites vary day to day." She realized that the answer was long, rambling, and probably tedious...but hey, he'd asked.

Josh was pleasantly surprised. He grew up not even knowing the wizarding world existed, so he was more attached to muggle music than any other wizard he knew. Wizarding music was okay, but to him, The Weird Sisters could never compare to Shine Down, Slip Knot, Breaking Benjamin, and the muggle bands he grew up on. He knew how Aviva felt--when he was away from the muggle world and in Hogwarts, he felt like a huge part of him was ripped away. Music was a huge part of his life, and when all he had to listen to were strange and unfamiliar bands that were "all the rage" at Hogwarts... it made his life miserable.

"No way! I love muggle music, and Muse is awesome. My favorite song by them has to be Starlight from the Black Holes and Revelations album. I was raised on muggle music, so to me it is the only way to go. Wizard music never appealed to me much either... I tend to have a bit of a strange taste in music as well, though I guess it would not be as strange to muggles--classic rock and hard rock in general, alternative, a bit of grunge and punk. I have a few indie bands that I really like as well, though."

Josh knew he was babbling, but since they were on the topic of music, he could not resist. Music was one of the few things that he was not afraid to show his true feelings on, because it was such a huge part of him, and he was proud of his unique tastes.

Aviva couldn't really pinpoint the first time she'd heard a song she liked, but in her house, those occasions had been few and far between. She liked to think that her bloodlines hadn't affected her much as a person, but she really knew a lot less about the muggle world than she would have liked. Hogwarts didn't help, either, the way that muggle studies classes were disdained and any sort of technology went haywire on campus.

Music, however, was probably Av's most prominent link to the non-wizarding part of the world. At home there was always something playing in her room...sometimes even in her head, like her life had its own soundtrack. "Muggle music was always a little difficult for me to get my hands on, but I really do prefer it. Starlight's a great song. I mostly stick to alternative and indie, but I'll really give anything a chance."

Josh was definitely glad that Aviva approached him, because it was rare to find anyone at Hogwarts who knew any muggle music at all. Usually, they would list random wizarding songs, none of which Josh had ever heard of before. Since his only link to the wizarding world outside of Hogwarts was his mom, he occasionally got a wizard band CD to listen to, but in general, he stuck to the radio There was so much about the muggle world that he liked, but the music was his favorite part. He was pleased to find that Aviva listened to alternative, because that was really his domain.

"I have always been surrounded by muggle music, since my dad is a muggle. We have a radio, and I have a lot of CDs, so I know about 10 times as much about muggle music than I know about wizard music. That is sad that you cannot get access to it as easily, though. I can probably burn you some CDs, though you will not be able to listen to them here at school."

Josh knew that she would understand what CDs are, because wizards had CDs and CD players as well. He saw some of the kids from Hogwarts get CDs for their birthday, so he figured that Aviva should understand. It reminded him, however, just how different he was. He had always felt like an outsider, but these feelings increased dramatically around the wizards and witches at Hogwarts. None of them really understood him. He drew from too many muggle sources, and he was not much of a people person anyway.

"Oh, really? That'd be amazing. I'm sure you've got a lot of stuff I've never heard before." Growing up in the muggle world, she had to imagine, would be somewhat amazing. Aviva had always dreamed of what life would be like without magic...after all, she generally took it for granted. It was just something that had always been a part of her life...but she was quite impressed with muggles, all things considered. "I grew up in the wizarding world, as I'm sure you've guessed."

Josh was not surprised. He could tell just from the previous part of the conversation that she was from the wizarding world. He was good at telling the difference by now, because of the way that they acted. For some odd reason, being an outsider allowed him to view things from an objective point of view, analyzing without really getting too involved. Either way, he knew that Aviva grew up in the wizarding world, and if he had to hazard a guess, he would say that her family was middle class, if not richer. She had that kind of personality--she was bubbly, in general a happy person, but somewhat guarded.

"Yeah, I kinda figured. By now, I am good at being able to tell things like that. It is something you learn from living on the fringes. I grew up in the muggle world, since my dad was a muggle. I did not even know there was a speck of magic in my family until I was nine years old. My mom kept it from us, and the only reason she had to tell us when she did was that my sister was 11, so she was going to get her Hogwarts letter soon."

Josh stopped. He told enough information to make it seem like a personal insight, without going too far. He did not want to share too much at one time--Josh was not a sharing kind of person. He liked to keep to himself, and that was that. Part of his paranoia was that he did not like to give people information that they could use against him. While he knew that it was unliklely that Aviva would, he would rather be safe than sorry.

She couldn't help but notice once more that he was an impeccable observer, missing not a wink of information that could be drawn from her words or actions. "Wow. It sounds silly, I know, but I can't imagine growing up without magic. For me it's just something that has always been there." One of the few things, really. From house to house, relative to relative, nanny to nanny...magic was the one thing they all had in common. She took comfort in it, in a way. Not that she'd ever admit to that.

Josh shrugged. "A lot of the Hogwarts students have it like that. However, with me, my mom did not want to scare my dad off, and so she tried to keep it on the down low. Really, for me, having magic is weird, and I found it hard to believe it existed in the first place. It did not make sense--there was no logic supporting it, and all muggles are taught that it is just pretend, so at first I thought my mom was kidding. I mean, for you, magic is the norm--you grew up with it all around you. But with me, surrounded by muggles..."

Josh paused for a second, trying to decide how to continue on. He did not know how much he wanted to give away. She obviously knew that he came from a rough background, but he did not know just how much she knew. After thinking about it for a second, he decided not to go too far. He barely knew her, after all.

"Well, let's just say I lead a very different life," he ended, rather lamely. He was hoping she would not press--he did not want to lie to her, but he did not want to tell her anything more than that.