Bed of Roses and Lost Souls Closed

@Hjørdis Jensen

It had been a quiet day for a change.

It was almost ridiculous how there would be days at Hogwarts full of non stop adrenaline, followed by weeks of absolutely nothing happening aside from classes and homework and the occasional argument over who got to sit by the fire place in the Common Room.

While most people seemed to enjoy the peace and quiet, Ruka had to admit he much preferred being in the middle of the action, no matter how traumatising it might be. At least it gave him an excuse to keep his mind off his own issues, like the fact that he had still not fully gotten rid of his counting tick and that he was once again not sleeping well at night. If it continued like that, he was going to have to ask for some kind of sleeping aid from the nurses, and asking for that kind of help would really just make him feel like he was failing at the most basic things in life.

Sadly, this relatively sunny Tuesday afternoon did not seem to involve any form of entertainment, so Ruka was forced to come up with his own plan of distraction. With a book in hand, dressed in his school uniform, he had made his way to the courtyard. It wasn‘t exactly his favourite place ever since Rafa had almost drowned him in the fountain, but it was as nice a spot as any to just sit and read for a while.

Finding a quiet spot in the shadow, Ruka had made himself comfortable, flicking through his book for a while until he got bored of trying to focus. Putting the book to the side, he instead took a moment to simply stare absentmindedly into the distance. His head was spinning a little from a head ache that had been tormenting him since lunch, so he wasn‘t sure why he had thought standing up was a good idea, but at least it gave him a chance to stretch his arms and legs for a moment, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck with a little sigh.

It was then that he heard approaching footsteps, and the sound made him tense. The last time he had found himself in this location, with that sound in his ears, it had been followed by a vast amount of violence, but this time...

This time there had been no need for him to reflexively reach for the wand in his pocket or square his shoulders ready for attack. This time all he found when he looked up was a bouquet of red roses, held out to him like someone was handing him a vaguely bad smelling sock.

The words that accompanied the gesture were supposed to be nice and gentle, but they came out cooly, giving the impression of someone who had been forced to give a birthday present to a nerve-wreckingly annoying classmate.

Confusion written across his face, Ruka let his gaze follow the arm holding out the flowers to the face of the person offering them. It was almost more surprising than the flowers themselves; instead of an awkward student put up to a prank, the person in front of him was a teacher he didn‘t think he‘d ever had any personal interaction with. Head of Slytherin, he believed, but what did he know - the boy who rarely ever found interest in people.

„What am I supposed to do with those?“ he asked bluntly, wrinkling his nose as if there was a bad scent coming from the roses. There wasn‘t; in fact they smelled absolutely lovely, and despite his reluctance he reached out to take them off the Professor‘s hand.
It was no way to talk to a teacher, he realised a bit belatedly as he stared at the woman in front of him with wide, confused eyes. Joneson, he thought her name might have been. Jameson? Jensen!

Yes, he was quite sure, the more he thought of it; Head of House Slytherin, Professor Jensen, right there, in front of him, offering him flowers like she would rather be doing anything else in the world. Ruka‘s eyebrows immediately knitted together in a suspicious frown. „Is this some kind of prank?“ he blurted out, head tilting to the side as he returned his gaze to the flowers in his hand, holding them away from his body like they were going to squirt squid ink into his face should he get too close.

Rationally, he assumed that a teacher wasn‘t going to go around playing pranks on random students, but this was Hogwarts and Ruka had learned by now to be prepared for anything. „Or did I just look so depressed that it seemed like a bunch of badly conjured roses would cheer me up?“ He pulled a vaguely disgusted face as he examined the bouquet with a critical eye, noting the way that there was half a stem missing from one of the roses, while the thorns of some of the others had come out purple rather than green or brown. „Or was I just closer than the next garbage bin?“

Although she normally didn't walk the castle by herself, Clay felt like she deserved a break. She had just finished her homework, which consisted more or less of naps, and wanted to go do something fun. Most of her friends were in other Houses, especially Hufflepuff, so she was hoping to find them but Clay didn't exactly carry a cellphone to call them from. Not that she could, the things didn't even work around here. She would have to get used to writing letters if she wanted decent communication around here.

She thought about her life here so far. The lessons had grown stale after a few months. The subjects were interesting but how they were taught weren't so, especially in Transfiguration and Potions. Things just got too redundant after a while. The people here, though, were actually quite fun, with their hilarious pranks and infinite amounts of treats and toys. They never ceased to make life interesting...but the castle wasn't without it's dangerous. So far more than enough strange and dangerous things had gone on and it was only her first year. But the young Gryffindor was proud to say that she had survived everything, mostly by minding her business when things got too suspicious. She couldn't say that for others, though.

Clay had meant to stick to the halls but she somehow found herself nearing the Courtyard. She could tell by the sudden breeze, which lifted her dark curls into the air. But she didn't mind at all; the fresh air would surely do her worn brain some justice.

Soon she was strolling inside. Her eyes fell immediately upon the woman. Oh, Professor Jensen, she thought, sourly. She didn't really have anything against the woman, it was just that Flying was not her best suit, and it was annoying, especially when she wanted to be on the Quidditch team. Maybe it wasn't her forte but Clay wasn't going to back down from something as cool as flying on broomsticks just because she fell off every other minute.

Clay meant to merely walk past the professor but she couldn't help but notice her give flowers to a student. The boy looked just as surprised as the Gryffindor, which made her wonder what this was all about. It really wasn't any of her business at all but she couldn't help but be curious.

She wasn't too far away to hear the boy's words. He seemed to think it was some kind of prank and then a sign of sentiment. Clay had noticed that he seemed down in the dumps. She kind of didn't care but it wouldn't hurt to be nice. Besides, she recognized him as a Gryffindor and she had strong pride in her House.

She walked over in a calmly manner that didn't betray how weird she felt just going up to them in a sort of private moment, if she could assume that. Clay flattened down the front of her maroon red sweater and put a smile on her face.

"Afternoon, professor," she said. She noticed how the boy seemed a little disgusted by the flowers, which she thought was a bit rude. Clay tried to make a joke of it. "Mind if I change those into Devil's Snare for you? It'll suit your taste, I'd think." She didn't know how to do that, actually, but it really didn't matter.

“Lurking” in the shadows was not something Maria often did, but on a sunny Tuesday afternoon where the sun had decided it needed not only to be seen but felt, she was thankful that she found a shady alcove in the courtyard to read in. There were several of them all over the place, but this one allowed a vantage point to see most of the things happening. In a school where bad things were almost a fortnightly occurrence, being observant was helpful skill to have. It also afforded her a snippet of what occurred in other people’s lives. She wasn’t a nosy person by nature, but she liked noticing the little details in things. Observing also meant she was able to catch several moments between people- a brawl, the illegal sale of pyrotechnics in an abandoned bathroom, and in this case, a Professor gifting a bouquet of flowers to a student.

A few moments ago, when she was actually reading, the red flowers of the bouquet caught her eye when the Head of House of Slytherin walked into the courtyard with them in hand. The expression on her face read as annoyance and a bit of confusion. The older witch took a few moments to look around before approaching the boy[Ruka]. Maria had yet to meet Professor Jensen, and quite frankly, she was a little intimidated. The older woman always wore a stern expression and the way she held the bouquet out to the boy made it obvious that she couldn’t be rid of the arrangement fast enough. The boy in question had arrived before the Professor did, his own book in hand, with a troubled and tired expression, the bags under his eyes suggesting the same. She never saw him in classes, but they looked close in age. Currently, he was surprised that she of all people was gifting him this. It was a normal reaction, as the Professor wasn’t exactly known for randomly handing out gifts to students.

Another girl [Clay] came into the courtyard, approached the the Professor and greeted her. She then asked if she could turn the flowers into Devil’s Snare for her. Said girl looked to be about the young Huffle’s age. Did she have a death wish or did she simply not know exactly who she was talking to? And offerings to turn them into Devil’s Snare because “it suited her taste”? Bad move, kid.

Maria let out a loud scoff at the thought.

Realizing she had likely given herself away, she scrambled to focused her attention back to her reading and pretending like she wasn’t there, hoping the shadows would be merciful enough to swallow her and save her from embarrassment. Hopefully, none of them heard her.

@Hjørdis Jensen @Ruka Tân @Clay McGlinchy

There were many times in life that Hjørdis questioned being nice. It was often something that she viewed as a sign of weakness, a tiresome activity and one that would just be regretted. Today was definitely one of those moments. She had tried to do something nice. It was not her fault that she was not as kind as Alaric or as loved as Caradoc. The point was, she was trying. But unfortunately, it was an action that went in vain. Well... she should ought to just leave this whole kindness and niceness thing up to the other professors. It was far too exhausting.

The boy seemed honestly disgusted or offended at such a thing.

"Do I honestly look like the type to prank a student?" Hjørdis asked, with a quirked eyebrow. She had been working in the school for almost two years and not once had any student seen her do anything even remotely close to a prank. Honestly, if she was going to prank someone - which, let's be honest, she did do - it would only be a professor. More specifically one professor that irritated her enough for her to do it back to him but not enough to actually kill him. "And if you were closer than the garbage bin, wouldn't it be easier for me to just throw it into your face and walk off?" She asked, wondering why that would not be the option. After all, most people dumped their rubbish into the bin and left without waiting to see if the bin 'took' it. Most people just threw it from the distance, to be fair. She sighed softly, trying another attempt at being nicer, "Why don't you give it to a student you like?" She offered, deciding to help the child out with any crushes he may have.

Sheesh, why did she try and be nice? Maybe she ought to redo the transfiguration so they were actually kind of beautiful. She considered it. But the boy was so rude. And then... another appeared. Her eyes eyed the small girl [CLAY] that appeared near them with a quirked eyebrow.

Devil's Snare... Really? Well, this ought to be interesting. She heard a scoff, her eyes flickering to the source [MARIA]. Oh they were gathering a little audience now. Hjørdis had spent far too long in silence to not notice every little noise that happened near her. She eyed the child offering to turn the bouquet to devil's snare, certain that that was not something they had been taught on the curriculum.

There were very few moments in her days where Hjørdis was actually teaching. She was a 'Professor' by title but not one that taught. Well, she taught flying for the past few weeks but that was just a temporary measure until someone else could be hired. She silently hoped the replacement would be soon, she hated teaching flying. It one of the worst subjects, in her opinion and there was a limit to how many times she wanted to catch children from falling broomsticks. The Head of Slytherin simply quirked an eyebrow, "Well, this should be interesting. Let's see what you can do," She offered the bouquet to the girl, since the boy had rejected it anyway.

Interacting with @Hjørdis Jensen and @Clay McGlinchy
Mentioning @Maria Dee

Ruka's initial expectation had been to get immediate detention for talking to a Professor as rudely as he was. He had already seen himself on the floor of the abandoned bathrooms, scrubbing away at the grime that had been collecting there over the past years - centuries maybe - but it seemed he was safe for now. As long as he was going to watch his tone from here on out, he assumed, but Professor Jensen was in no way shy to come back at him with her own less than friendly retorts, and it peeked Ruka's interest enough to let a small smile cross his features.

Irritated people were the most interesting to interact with; they tended to show character traits they wouldn't normally display, and Ruka loved few things more than trying to dig into someone else's psyche.

"Do pranksters have to look a certain way?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in response to the Professor's own questioning expression. "I would have thought that not looking like a prankster would make you an even better prankster since nobody would expect it when an innocent bouquet of flowers suddenly turned out to be a self destructing paint bomb or something." He sighed, shaking his head a little as he mustered the flowers some more before turning his gaze back at the Professor.

It wasn't a prank, he concluded. The Slytherin Head of House had barely even bothered to deny his accusation, showing off that she didn't even see it worth defending herself over it. Unless she was a very good actor, Ruka had no reason to keep suspecting her of playing pranks on by standing students.

Her next words took him by surprise so much that he actually let out a low, amused chuckle, eyes sparkling excitedly. The last thing he had expected to come from this day was a verbal battle with their temporary Flying teacher but, while Ruka was usually quite picky with the people he bothered talking to, he was happy to take confrontations as they came today. "With all due respect, Professor," he said, lifting a hand to ruffle up his already messy hair. It was getting too long by now, strands falling in front of his green eyes so annoyingly that he had to blow them away again. He wondered idly if Jack's parents were willing to pay him a visit to the hair dresser. "If you had thrown them in my face I would at least not have needed to see how much it pained you to offer them to me." His face pulled into an expression of vague disappointment, as if he was feeling offended somehow by the Professor's obvious lack of genuine care for him.

Not that he had wanted any; Pity was his biggest enemy, and he was enjoying this slight hostility in their interaction far more than he would have had the Professor actually been sweet about it. Ruka generally considered sweetness from practical strangers to be fake, a ruse. It was a weapon used by people like Flash to lure others into a difficult to escape trap; Honey to attract insects with its sweet smell just to slowly kill them once they got stuck in the sticky glue-like substance, unable to ever escape again.

Ruka had assumed the conversation thus far was enough to make Professor Jensen give up on trying to do anything nice for him, but she was clearly trying to pull herself together, maybe jump over her own shadow by showing some random kindness to a stranger. It made him wonder why exactly she seemed to be trying so hard to be someone she obviously wasn't.

"I'm twelve," he pointed out, screwing up his face with apprehension to her suggestion. He was supposed to give them to someone he liked? What was that even supposed to mean? Was it just something about the position of Flying Teacher that made these Professor desperate to match make a bunch of pre-teens?
Of course there seemed to be a lot of students, even in the year below him, that were jumping from one crush to the next with every passing week and, sure, he had kissed Flash less than a month ago, but that had had absolutely nothing to do with romance.

He ridiculously imagined himself presenting Flash with a bouquet of roses. The result would have probably been getting a bunch of thorns pressed into his face.

"I barely even like myself." He shrugged the admission away, rolling his eyes at himself as he said the words as if they were nothing but a bad joke.

Before he could add anything else, he could hear another pair of footsteps approaching, eyes slowly wandering from Professor Jensen to the girl who had joined them. Foregoing any greeting for Ruka himself, she merely regarded their teacher politely before turning her attention to the flowers.

Her words were clearly a joke; There was no way she actually knew how to turn some flowers into a Devil's Snare. It was probably supposed to lighten the mood, poke some fun at Ruka's own disregard for the Professor's gift, but the teacher actually handed the bouquet over to the other girl with the challenge of showing off her transfiguration skills.

Ruka could hear a scoff from somewhere and he turned his head in the direction, spotting another girl in close enough proximity to listen in on their exchange. She seemed to be reading, but that didn't exactly mean she wasn't eavesdropping at the same time.

With a slightly amused smile on his lips, Ruka turned his attention back to the first girl and Professor Jensen, crossing his arms across his chest and giving the girl a faux encouraging nod. "Yeah, I'd love a Devil's Snare," he said with some well-acted excitement before returning to a deadpan expression. "Except we're outside and it's probably sunny enough to make it shrivel and die in an instant." He shook his head again, reaching out to take the flowers back for himself. They had been his gift first, and even if his appreciation had been next to non-existent, he still wasn't going to let this girl destroy his already messy looking bouquet even more. "They already look dead enough like this," he added, sighing slightly as if feeling sorry for the flowers' sorry state.

Clutching the bouquet to his chest in an exaggerated gesture, he refocused his attention on the Professor with raised eyebrows. "I must say, I can't believe you would have just let someone mess with my flowers like that, Professor," he said in mock accusation. "Who knows what she might have done to them; For all you know she could have set them on fire!"

It was a little bit weird to experience a professor and a student speaking this way with one another. The boy didn't seem to want to be disrespectful, but he still held his ground, biting back with as much force given. Clay admired this but probably wouldn't act this way herself; if her grandmother found out that she had talked back to an adult she wouldn't hear the end of it, especially now that the woman knew about the Howlers.

Clay had meant to only joke around but she was taken aback by the professor's words—she had in no way meant to imply that she could actually cast a spell that advanced. Actually, she didn't even know if one could really do that anyway, and it didn't help that someone nearby had 'tittered' about it, either. But she chose to ignore them. The biggest though point was, why would she really do that anyway? She had no ill will towards anyone present, especially the professor, and the boy was a Gryffindor like her—she definitely wasn't going to put her own housemate in danger.

"Uh, I was just kidding, professor...," she muttered, clearly confused. Her eyes darted to the boy, wondering if he, along with that other person, thought she was that pompous and proud. She could hardly hold her wand!

She stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. She glanced from the bouquet now in her hands up to the professor. She meant to say something but the boy took the flowers before she did anything dumb, like actually try to cast a spell. Like him, she wasn't going to back down that easily to a challenge, even if the challenger was a professor. But Clay hardly knew any spells.

"Yeah, I'd love a Devil's Snare," said the boy, feigning excitement. "Except we're outside and it's probably sunny enough to make it shrivel and die in an instant."

Clay chuckled. This boy was pretty cool. She was surprised she hadn't met him before.

Well, he was cool until he said that she could've set his dumb flowers on fire. "You're only lucky that they're not crisps now," she sneered, playfully. "But they remind me of you, all sad and limpy. Why were you over here sulking anyhow? Boredom's that bad, aye?"

“So much for being subtle.” Maria thought as Professor Jensen’s eyes briefly shifted to her direction. It was brief, but it was there. She had to fight back the urge to react, trying to salvage whatever cover she had left. Professor Jensen always had piercing eyes as if they were judging your soul with one look. Paired with her icy hair, she could probably make even the most hardened criminals flinch. But the young badger held her ground, not wanting to miss out on what was happening. It was an interesting interaction, especially when the Professor told the boy he should give the flowers to someone he liked. Most people were under the impression that the Slytherin Head of House was against most shows of affection. Huh, who would have thought.

The boy had also heard her as well, turning his head in her direction. “Nope, nothing to see here, just me reading, perfectly normal.” She sang in her head. Oddly enough he took the bouquet that was now looking a little worse for wear after commenting about making them into Devil’s Snare. It was then Mraia realized that she meant to addressthe boy when shed joked she wanted to change the flowers, as she immediately tried to explain to Professor Jensen that it was a joke. From the boy’s earlier statement she also realized she had meant him from the get go. “Definitely makes more sense, Professor Jensen isn’t someone you’d want to joke around with.” She thought as she observed the stern look on the temporary flying teacher’s face.

The boy accepted the flowers instead, claiming him as his. He also jokingly chastised the woman for giving them to someone else who might set his precious bouquet on fire.

Maria couldn’t help but cringe at the mention of fire. She was sure she visibly looked uncomfortable. Was that a silent jab at the young badger? She definitely wasn’t sure but he had seen her. Maybe he knew she was a Hufflepuff?

The next piece of conversation she got was the girl asking the boy about his sad state. “Poor boy can’t seem to catch a break.” The young Huffle sympathized internally, absentmindedly letting her gaze fall on the boy. From the moment he stepped into the courtyard she knew the boy wasn’t bored he was just upset. She couldn’t blame him though, there was a lot to be upset about around here.

"A self destructing paint bomb? Really?" Hjørdis asked, still with a quirked eyebrow. Did the boy really think that that was the best prank she could do? He seemed to think that she would be willing to trick a random child into holding flowers that was actually a paint bomb, as though she had nothing better to do in life. Besides, with everything that was going on, why would she create something that reminded them of danger, "If that's the best I could do, I would not be qualified to teach," She replied thinking that that was child's play. She could prank on a far larger scale. A quarter of the school was under her direct supervision, she spent every day during the recent holidays assisting in the kitchens and preparing the students' meals, she baked for Slytherin on a regular basis. Pranks relating to food had a far better spread than one set of flowers and a random boy.

The boy claimed that she looked pained when she was giving him the flowers. Welp. Hjørdis had actually tried to sound comforting. She used the most comforting tone she could muster up in the moment. It was clearly not enough. Pained... Had she ever looked that way whilst here? Oh yes, likely when she had to listen to Griffith go on and on. That certainly pained her, he was a rather insufferable man. "This conversation pains me far more than me offering you flowers," She replied, pretty done with the whole thing to be honest. But there was something about his words that prevented her from leaving. He seemed genuinely sad.

She had no idea why but it was not exactly pleasant. Anyone with a heart would reach out to someone who looked sad. Whilst she pretended not to have a heart - and did not admit otherwise - she was still affected. Hjørdis blinked as he said he was twelve, as though that was a reason not to crush on someone. That seemed odd. Every time she walked anywhere, she saw children flirting, holding hands, going on dates. Honestly... it was sickening. She was pretty sure that first years went on more dates than she did now. Work was far too hectic to worry about needless things like dating. And yet, despite their lives on the line, the children seemed far more focused on finding a boyfriend or girlfriend than actually studying to prevent dying. It was ridiculously stupid in her opinion. "Thank Merlin, you're far too young for that." She muttered in response, rather relieved he did not reply that he was torn between too many options and had no idea who to give the flowers to.

But did he not have friends? Could he not give them to a friend he cared for and loved in a platonic way? She was tempted to tell him that he might be the only one who isn't crushing on everyone but... pointing out that might make him feel excluded or unloved. Which made his next words sad whilst making perfect sense. Hjørdis could not relate - she thought she was pretty awesome. But she was about to open her mouth and speak when the other girl appeared.

The girl explained that she was joking. Good. Hjørdis did not want another student to actually think they were capable of doing something dangerous and trying it. She passed the test - that she likely did not even know she was being given.

Hjørdis offered the girl the flowers, mostly out of curiosity but found it being grabbed out of her hand. Well... that was unexpected. It was not the girl who took them but rather the boy that had looked horrified they had ever existed. "Your flowers?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow, a small smirk playing on her lips at the sudden change, "But I thought they were just a bunch of badly conjured roses that were not worthy of you?"

Oh. It appeared that she had just started something. Well... Oof. The boy did look vaguely sad but his fellow Gryffindor wasted no time in making it a point. Hjørdis was fully expecting this to escalate into a fight. The idea of having to break it apart and run detentions was just exhausting though. This was why she should have stayed in her dungeons. It was far quieter, far more peaceful there. Well, when it was not being overrun by shadows that wanted to murder her and every single one of her children. Maybe she could just... slip out. They would not notice right? They likely would. Nonetheless, she did not move. For now. From what she could tell - from this very brief encounter - both were fully capable of standing up for themselves.

Interacting with @Hjørdis Jensen and @Clay McGlinchy
Mentioning @Maria Dee

Ruka's eyebrows raised in surprise at the Professor's reaction to his words. He would have expected her to vehemently deny that she would ever do anything like this, least of all to a student, but instead she seemed almost offended that he would think so little of her pranking skills. It made him tilt his head to the side in interest, green eyes focusing on the Professor's face for a long moment as if trying to figure out what kind of person she was; Taking pride in her abilities she seemed pretty confident in who she was, and yet she had stepped out of her way to give a bunch of flowers to a down-looking student despite how uncomfortable a situation it seemed to have been to her.

Offering comfort to students didn't seem like something she had a lot of practice in, which meant it was most likely something she didn't usually attempt to do, so why try and reach out now? Why to a random kid out in the Courtyard? Especially when Ruka was fully aware of at least a couple of students in her own House that were in need of some serious adult attention.
Instead of questioning Professor Jensen's lack of attention when it came to the doings of her own House, however, Ruka folded his hands behind his back for a short moment. "I meant no disrespect," he said honestly, offering the woman in front of him an apologetic smile. "I'm sure your pranking skills are far superior than I could possibly imagine. In fact I'd love to hear more about them sometime." He nodded along with his own words as if to underline that he did have a genuine interest in what the Professor thought was a prank to match her skills more than just some colour bomb flowers.

Now, Ruka was not much of a prankster himself, far too detached from people to put effort into disturbing their day without actually having a reason for it, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy gathering ideas for what-if situations. He doubted the Professor would actually give him any pointers, considering it could be seen as giving a student ideas for rule breaking, but there was no harm in asking.

Her words about how this conversation was more painful than giving him flowers made him pull a mock offended face and he dramatically lifted a hand to his chest, a loud sigh escaping his lips. "Are you saying I'm not a good conversationalist?" he asked, pouting slightly. "That was the only thing I've ever prided myself in." He hung his head as if in shame for a moment, a flicker of genuine sadness crossing his feature as he looked up again. He hadn't really had the opportunity for engaging conversation in a while; This was the most interested he'd found himself in another person in a few days.

For a second, when Ruka pointed out his age to the Professor, he thought the short moment of silence passing between them that she was confused about his argument because she didn't think it was too young for romance, but her words made him bubble out a relieved laugh. "Yeah," he agreed immediately, nodding eagerly. "I'll wait a couple more years before handing out flowers to people." He lifted a hand to rub the nape of his neck a little sheepishly.
The thought of hanging them to a friend didn't even cross his mind; especially since he didn't really have anybody who he would call a friend in the first place. Nobody who would have wanted that title anyway.

Before he could delve into the subject, however, the girl with the suggestion of turning his flowers into Devil's Snare interrupted them, and Ruka had to admit he was almost grateful. He probably wasn't supposed to cry about how lonely he was usually feeling out in the Courtyard in front of a Professor anyway.

His eyes drifted from the girl back to the Professor as he clutched the flowers to his chest like they were one of his most precious belongings. "I never said they weren't worthy of me," he pointed out, a grin curling his lips as he raised his eyebrows as if daring her to argue that. "I only questioned your reasons for giving them to me of all people. But you did, so they're mine now." He shrugged lightly, grin turning into an innocent smile. Sure, they may have been badly conjured which made him think that they weren't actually made by Professor Jensen herself, but that was no reason for him not to claim the flowers now that they had been given to him, and he was definitely not going to let this girl do even more damage to them.

He turned his attention back to the girl, head tilted to the side as he stared at her blankly while she called him sad and limpy and questioned whether boredom was the reason for that. She was right, mostly; boredom had got him down, but he thought it quite rude of her to just assume that rather than considering that there may have been a more damaging reason for his sulking by himself.
He took one quick look at the girl who was most likely just pretending to be reading while eavesdropping on their conversation as if to see if she was still listening, then turned his attention back to the girl, flowers still clutched to his chest.

"My dad died," he said tonelessly, blinking once before averting his eyes. While true, it wasn't exactly what he was sulking about at the moment, but he assumed it was a sure fire way to make her feel bad for her dig at his mood. "What's your excuse for going around judging people for sulking, then?" He rolled his eyes slightly, taking a step back as if to get himself and his flowers out of range of whatever spell the girl may have been able to cast upon them. "Boredom's that bad, aye?"