Cupid's Cookies Errand

Speech -- Thoughts

Pam's luck had probably been working overtime for this moment. The boy's eyes held no warmth or welcome, but they didn't seem particularly hostile either. She could work with that for now. Pam was in one of her extroverted moods, so unless the other was gonna be specifically rude to her, Pam would speak with him.

She listened to his answer, curiosity only rising at his words. Mythological creatures. Pam was a pretty big fan of Mythological creatures herself, with all the books she'd read and her general obsession with Greek and Roman mythologies. "That's so cool! Do you have preferences when you draw? Favorite creatures?"[/color]

With that question out of the way, Pam finally focused on the first part of his answer, which she'd accidentally ignored earlier. Eagle-lion. "Eagle-lion?" She repeated in confusion, the words sounding familiar to something she knew, and yet she'd never heard people refer to it as an eagle-lion. "Do you mean a Griffin?"

In a way, Pam was surprised. Had she guessed right? People rarely ever spoken about griffins when they mentioned Mythological animals. They were mostly distracted by vampires and werewolves and occasionally she'd heard people speak of unicorns and dragons.

But never griffins. That majestic animal was very unappreciated.

Curiosity pricked at her and she asked softly, "Can I... Can I see?"

She had a feeling she had started pushing her luck.

==========

At her excited inquiry, he quirked a brow, glancing over at the girl and studying her briefly. He noted the curious gleam in her eye, and considered what response he'd give. "My favorite creature is Баук," he responded simply, slipping into his mother tongue as he spoke the creature's name, "I couldn't find anything about them in library, so I guess wizards either haven't discovered it or don't recognize it as an existing creature." He shrugged, idly smudging a line of charcoal with a tissue to blend it into the drawing as a shadow.

At her reply to his previous comment he looked up, nodding in confirmation. "Da, da. That one. It has too many spellings," He grumbled sourly. "Hard to learn words when they have multiple ways you could spell them."

In the brief lull of silence he continued drawing out each individual scale, focusing on ones that would've been on the side of the serpent, as those would be more visible due to being larger and stretched or compressed to accommodate its mesmerizing body. After eventually growing tired of the effort, he focused instead on the face, defining the snarl he gave it more and adding bubbles around its maw to simulate the water being disturbed by whatever sound the creature may make. Idly he wondered if the creature breathed air as well as having gills. Perhaps he could look it up later in the library.

At her next comment he glanced over, tilting his head slightly. Nodding simply he shifted to sketchbook over and flipped to the griffon. "There, griffon," he stated, tone continuing to lack much inflection. "They are pretty to look, at, but, frankly, their anatomy seems very inefficient," he commented flatly, seeming unimpressed. Then again, he seemed to look perpetually unimpressed with everything.

==========

Tags:@Hanako Tone @Jack Burnett @Pamela Graham

Text Hexcode:#a80049
Translations: Баук - the English pronunciation is Bauk. It is a title, so there is no further meaning.

Drawings Shown:

Reducio

The Griffon sketch is posted here

Encyclopedia Link: Here

STATS

Reducio

===
40/40
===

Stamina: 6

Evasion: 10

Strength: 5

Wisdom: 6

ArcPower: 3

Accuracy: 10

===

Abilities | Sixth Sense, The Martial Artist

===

^{14 FEBRUARY}

" My point is~" he said instead in a sing-songy tone. " We both have bad memories of going to valentines day events, so I'm still quite shocked you oh so heavily encouraged me to be out here. And for er.. what is it you said earlier? Cute people? What if the only one around is the one I'm looking at right now~?"

─────────────────────

And before his own heart did it's own gymnastics, he diverted his attention away, actually scanning the crowd now. His frantic gaze signaled as if finding a sort of diversion for himself was a life or death situation. Before Jack killed him, he has to move fast. Eventually, they landed on a familiar ashy blonde hair that he could pick out from a group of people despite the boy's disinterest in being surrounded by others. " Oh! Hey- you're right in the end - there is something I want to do.". Hanako tugged the side of Jack's clothes , keeping his eyes on the younger boy still - before letting go and moving towards Sergei. As if used to Jack trailing behind anyway. Certain that if Hanako looked behind, he wouldn't be that far away.

"Sergei~! Hi~!" He waved with his usual grin at the boy as he came over, " I didn't take you the type to join these sort of events. Valentines, you know? Such a drag~. Such an annoying little holiday that got everyone being delusional about - Oh hey who's this?"


Hanako was well aware of the girl talking to Sergei but he didn't have the faintest idea who she was. Not that it was likely he knew anyway. Even with Sergei it was Hanako that forced his charming self into Sergei's little isolated bubble.

" Sergei I thought you didn't have interest in friends so what's she - oh" A small gasp escaped him ." Oh - my bad, I should've noticed immediately with the valentines day hububa, apologies for my rudeness. How long have you two been dating?"

w/c:255

@Jack Burnett , @Sergei Voronin , @Pamela Graham

Word Count: 503
Ooc notes: Closed for further interactions

Interactions: @Zephyr Deakin
Date: Feb. 14th 2026

Leaning back in her chair, she watches him make his way to her. She could almost hear her father telling her to stop leaning in her chair. Scowling at the thought of him, she pushes her fathers voice out of her head. The hurt from her grandmother dying and her fathers affair still burns freshly inside of her. The fakeness that filled the air then and the denial that didn't come from her father.

He sits across from her and drops a cookie down. The shape of the cookie seemed to be teasing her. As if its laughing at her for the failure of her grandmothers in the ambulance to the hospital. Hurt flares through her, as she lashes out once more at him. His response was quiet, guilt flaring through her. Being stubborn she refuses to respond. Leaning back once more in her chair, she watches him explode the red frosting over his cookie. The corners of her tug up while she watches him make a mess out of the cookie. When he's finished, it took all of her self control to not burst out laughing. The cookie looked as if a one year old decorated it. If he started eating the frosting, well she might've said he's a toddler trapped in an eleven year old boy's body.

Watching him intensely, he pours sprinkles onto the cookie. A few sprinkles roll over toward she and he quickly brushes them off. Her face rearranges into a scowl when he passes the crap towards her and tells her to impress him.

"I think anything would be more impressive then that. At least you didn't start eating the frosting."

Scoffing, she picks up the black frosting and paints the entire cookie black. Picking up the red, she attempts to make little roses one the sides of the heart. The roses come out a little smeared looking but overall good. Smiling softly at the cookie, she looks up towards Zephyr. He is decorating another cookie. Tilting her head, she wondered how he could act so calm when to her the whole world is ending. It's mind blowing to her.

She just wishes someone understood how she feels right now. Like she wants to destroy the whole world and rage on. She couldn't talk to her mother about this. Especially when the woman is just acting as if nothing happened. But the screams at night proves her otherwise. Its as if it's a contest, whoever wins hits the hardest.

Sliding her finished cookie to the side, she starts decorating another one. Silence wraps around them and she breaks it without thinking.

"How would you feel if you found out that your father has been having an affair during your grandmother's funeral?" She spoke these words so quietly, that if one wasn't paying attention one would miss. And if one did hear it, they could possibly think that they made it up from the way she continues to decorate the second cookie as if she didn't say anything.

"Just because those Valentine's Day events ended up horrible doesn't mean this one will," Jack retorted. "Besides...I have my reasons."

When Hanako mentioned something about the only cute person around was the one he had been looking at right then, Jack flushed, but his lips pursed in a thin line. He knew better than to fall for his peer's teasing. Surely he just said that to fluster him. He couldn't let him know it had worked; and so well, at that.

Fortunately, Hanako had already turned away to look over the crowd as if searching for someone in particular. Before Jack could ask if there was someone in particular he was looking for, his dormmate spoke up again and claimed there was something he wanted to do after all.

The Japanese student tugged Jack along by his clothes toward a younger boy before he finally released him and approached said boy closer while calling out to him by what was presumably his name. The redhead raised a brow curiously. Since when had Hanako met this kid?

Jack debated turning into a fox so he could have an excuse not to socialize (at least not in the same way that humans did, with small talk and the like,) but eventually decided against it. He had too many questions to ask. Not to mention he still needed to find a way to accomplish his overall goal for the day.

Following a short distance behind Hanako, he stopped a little ways away from him and the other boy and crossed his arms over his chest, regarding them with interest. Hanako sure seemed to be making a big deal about how much he disliked the holiday...

And then Hanako had to go and say something stupid.

With a heavy groan, Jack went over to the trio and grabbed Hanako by the ear. "Quit teasing them, you jerk," he chastised his peer. "They might just be acquaintances."

Speaking of acquaintances...he supposed it would only have been polite to introduce himself. Releasing Hanako's ear, he said, "I'm Jack Burnett. Seems like you've met my dormmate, Hanako Tone, here, is that right? My condolences. I hope he hasn't been causing you too much trouble. He seems to have an unusual knack for it."

@Hanako Tone, @Sergei Voronin, & @Pamela Graham

==========

He paused as he heard a familiar voice cut through the the brief interaction with his still-unnamed peer. Glancing up as he heard the greeting come from the only student that bothered to continually inject themselves into his daily life. His gaze then almost immediately dismissed them as his silvery eyes locked onto the boy behind them. Despite the sudden shift in his attention, his face remained about as expressive as a mannequin's. He was almost tempted to ignore his acquaintance in favor of studying the stranger out of habit, but as their attention shifted to his... companion? Company? Conversational partner? He didn't quite know how the label the girl yet. Either way, he had to force himself to refocus on the conversation being dumped onto his lap. The only thing that shifted in his expression was his stare, steely eyes returning to the familiar features of the boy who decided to 'help' him.

He quirked a brow as the boy theatrically jumped to conclusions he knew weren't honest, "Dating? Me?" He glanced between the older boy and the stranger, "Are you certain you're not projecting, Tone?" The rebuttal was delivered empty of inflection. Like always, it was hard to tell if the boy was joking. He would've introduced the girl that decided his company was the best to seek out amidst the crowd around them, but, well, it was hard to introduce someone he didn't actually know.

The younger boy cocked his head as he watched the redhead grab Tone's ear, gaze shifting between them. Clearly, they had known each other for a while for the stranger to address the other with such familiarity. Naturally, that didn't really change anything for him. An unknown was still an unknown even if they seemed to act casual. He supposed, though, that it was normal to come to the defense of someone being 'teased'. Despite the redhead's words, the younger boy seemed entirely unbothered, having simply leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms idly over his chest.

As the unknown boy moved on to introducing themselves, he properly studied them. His silvery eyes were naturally piercing, much like blue eyes tended to be, but nothing really betrayed what he might be thinking. His gaze was more like that of a bird judging the distance between it and the branch it was about to land on, if anything. He couldn't quite get a read on the redhead though, not yet. So he simply continued acting the same way he did when around someone he didn't know.

"Sergei Voronin," he responded, tone clinical, and accent rather noticeable. "I've met him, yes. He's caused no trouble. He's like... stray cat, who wanders into house sometimes," the boy commented with a shrug. As he spoke he made a point of actually trying to put effort into remembering the older peer's name, for future reference. He then addressed Tone next given they had, technically, asked him a question before they swapped to their usual theatrics. "She is not friend, we just met..." he explained before shifting his focus back to her. "What is your name?" he asked, the question just as blunt as the rest of his responses to her had been.

==========

Tags: @Hanako Tone, @Pamela Graham, @Jack Burnett

Text Hexcode: a80049

Encyclopedia Link: Here

STATS

Reducio

===
40/40
===

Stamina: 6

Evasion: 10

Strength: 5

Wisdom: 6

ArcPower: 3

Accuracy: 10

===

Abilities | Sixth Sense | The Martial Artist

===

Speech -- Thoughts

Pam tried not to sulk as her questions about Griffins went unanswered. She had no interest in talking about Valentine's Day, and the interesting, rather uncommon topic that had come up was sidelined at the arrival of the two strangers. Would've been helpful if they'd come a few minutes later.

She watched the newcomers with mild curiosity, head tilting slightly. They seemed much older than her and her acquaintance, and Pam couldn't help but wonder how this boy, who seemed to interact with barely anyone, had managed to find these people.

Suspicious.

One of them started talking, words fast and tumbling over each other, and Pam decided that this one had simply inserted himself into art boy's life without being invited or welcomed.

What on earth is 'art boy'? I need names.

His last words registered a little late to Pam, which was probably for the best. It gave her just enough time to smother the bubble of laughter that had risen in her chest and successfully not laugh in her senior's face.

That would've been rude. Probably.

She grimaced as she eyed the boy across her, considering it for less than a minute. Yeah no. He's too serious. I'm afraid he'll be smacking me any second.

Pam straightened a little, schooling her expression into something resembling polite neutrality. She was pretty sure she didn't succeed.

Luckily, she was spared from responding to the older one—Hanako Tone, apparently—because his friend looked like he was already reconsidering every life choice that had led him here.

I wonder if Ruth ever feels that with me.

"Pamela Graham." She introduced herself finally, "Nice to um... meet you?"

Can we go back to the griffins now?

^{14 FEBRUARY}

@Sergei Voronin
What else was he supposed to say? Hello? Good to see you again? He was far too valuable in inserting a little pizazz in conversations - even if it was the expense of his own image. But this suited perfectly for him regardless. People could call him annoyingly cheeky - they could NEVER call him boring. Besides that, he was genuinely curious who this girl was. Importantly what made her talk to Sergei. Perhaps it would give Hanako insight to the type of people he should match up with Sergei. " Hey- I can pull anyone only if I wanted to - kay? " he exclaims confidently at the mention of Sergei pointing out projecting, effectively hiding the rise of anxiety at the realisation that Sergei knew more about Jack than the younger boy might've realised. Would it be a bad idea for these two to be in the same room? ... Nah.... " And hey- I'd be surprised too. This aren't really the top 5 events I would guess you'd ever be interested in."

@Jack Burnett
Unfortunately - being interesting had it's consequences. " Ow ow ow" he tensely mumbled, giving the other boy a sheepish forced grin, though still looking far from guilty as he rubbed the back of his neck. " Aww c'mon it was just a little joke~. Valentines day brings in a lot of couples don't they? It's only a natural assumption~" he ended his defense with a light laugh as the other let go of his ear. Though in a burst for retaliation, after Jack finished introducing themselves, Hanako leaned in closer to the other boy's ear, using his palm to cover his lips from the younger students view. " Do that again and I'll give you something to really yell at me for", he blew a short of puff of air in Jack's ear before leaning away, paying attention again to the others, free of guilt once more.

What actually made his smile turn sour was Sergei's mention of cats. " Urgh - no - no no please. Do not compare me to those devil-under-furry-skin.", he says in a hardened grimace. At Sergei's explanation that he had no idea who the girl was, Hanako made a sigh. Hadn't they been talking for a while? And he hadn't even gotten their name? Gosh - Sergei... you got a long way to go.

@Pamela Graham
The girl introduced herself as Pamela Graham. Which make him think of pomelos and graham crackers but that might just be his 5-year-old-sense of humour, enough to make him smile slightly.

" Hm? Just him? What about us, kid?" he joked, his thumb pointing between Jack and himself. " Not awed that you have 2 cool seniors in your presence? We're duellist, y'know? Just finished a totally show stopping duel a few hours ago"


w/c:more than 200

ooc note: gosh guys ty for your patience :> I'll be more quick with replies now that less busy irl

Blissfully oblivious to Hanako's thoughts about him and Sergei being in the same room as well as what Hanako had mentioned to Sergei about him, Jack listened to the exchange between his roommate and the younger boy with curiosity. They seemed to be vaguely more than acquaintances for Sergei to suggest that Hanako might have been projecting and Hanako to be surprised to see Sergei at the Valentine's Day cookie event. It sounded like they had a general idea of what they thought each other was like. "Where did you guys meet before?" he couldn't help inquiring quietly. "Was it more than once?"

The line of his mouth twisted as Jack gave Hanako a wry look at his reasoning, but all he replied was, "That's no reason to tease them for it." Fortunately, it didn't seem like either of the younger students were really bothered by the assumption or accusation or whatever it was.

Unfortunately for the Welsh teen, Hanako seemed determined to retaliate and did so in a manner Jack did not expect, much less prepare for. His lean in and whisper in his ear was unnerving enough, but his actual words were even worse. They summoned an even deeper flush that crept across Jack's nose and cheeks, spreading across his whole face. The puff of air tickled his ear so that Jack instinctively shoved Hanako away and rubbed his ear where it had felt the tickle of Hanako's breath, his face redder than ever.

However, the instant Sergei compared Hanako to a stray cat, Jack's amusement blossomed into a grin and he chuckled quietly at his dormmate. He knew Hanako hated cats, but he would have described the Japanese teenager to have the personality of a typical one as well. "Definitely like a stray cat," Jack agreed with Sergei.

"Nice to meet you, Graham. Same to you, Voronin," the redhead said. But when his peer had to make some smart aleck comment, Jack rolled his eyes and gave Hanako a jab in the side with his elbow. "Oh, come off it, Tone. There's nothing cool about us." Even if they were duelists and they had had a duel that very day, Jack had yet to win even one duel. He certainly didn't feel cool, especially after their horrid defeat at the hands of the Gryffindors.

@Hanako Tone, @Sergei Voronin, & @Pamela Graham

==========

"Oh? You can pull anyone can you?" He echoed quirking a brow, before gesturing to Burnett with his thumb, "even him?" His tone was as blunt as usual, gaze flicking between the two before honing in on Tone at their next words. "While I may not be social, I still occasionally go to events just to observe," he shrugged.

As the redhead asked the question his apathetic stare turned to them. "He decided to pester me during lunch one time. Then he decided it was entertaining enough to pester me occasionally after that," he answered plainly, idly leaning on one fist as he watched the two then interact. His brow then rose again as he saw Tone's companion flush after they whispered in their ear. Seemed a tad intimate for 'friends,' which was honestly enough for his suspicions to be confirmed. His attention returned to the older student he was more familiar with as he saw their visceral reaction to being compared to a cat. A hint of what almost seemed to be amusement crossed his expression. "I suppose those too similar to each other do repel. Like the matching poles on magnets." He quipped dryly.

At both Burnett and Graham's final words of introduction, he simply nodded. Before his attention returned to the newcomer as they mentioned not being cool in the slightest despite being duelists. "I haven't seen the appeal in waving sticks around at people yet," he mused, "I did hear my housemates yapping about beating Slytherin earlier today though. They were annoyingly loud, I couldn't concentrate on my schoolwork and had to move," he drawled, idly tapping one finger against his sketchbook. He then glanced over to the girl that had seemed so interested in his art, offering the sketchbook to her, "Do you want to look through this still? There are not many drawings yet though because I've had to focus on schoolwork..."

==========

Notes: @Jack Burnett, @Hanako Tone, @Pamela Graham

Tags:

Text Hexcode: a80049

Encyclopedia Link: Here

STATS

Reducio

===
40/40
===

Stamina: 6

Evasion: 10

Strength: 5

Wisdom: 6

ArcPower: 3

Accuracy: 10

===

Abilities | Sixth Sense | The Martial Artist

===