Songbird vs Rattlesnake
STATS. sta 8; eva 7; str 4; wis 7; arc 6; acc 8x───────────────────────────────────
's grace; Evasive Maneuvers; ability three; ability four; ability five; ability six; ability seven
────────────────────x❝I was good. I was really good.❞x────────────────────
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date; 11/09/26 ──────xABILITIES.A week. A week in Hogwarts and I already wanted to go back home. Now I remembered why I had such a bad sleeping schedule last year. In one week at the castle, I had already booked myself for a couple of unofficial duels, helped at the hospital wing, at the astronomy tower, and loaded myself with an insane amount of work.
And now I needed a nap. Or three free days. A month. A year. A life. Maybe this is what I was meant to be, after all. A robot.
My bag, resting by my feet, moved a bit, and a few seconds later, I felt some claws climbing by my leg. Neko had been clingy lately. Maybe because he was growing up. Or hungry. Or missed his mom. Whatever it was, I needed to take that chance of being next to him. Soon, he'd be a teenager and only the Saints know how on earth I'd deal with him as a teenager.
A moment later, the black furball was in my lap, looking like a burnt loaf of bread. Huh. And I wasn't even warm. Maybe the bag was cold. I caressed him with a hand, distracted, as the other one flipped through the pages of my book.
"The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection." If I wanted to be a duellist someday, I'd need it. And considering the information I knew now about my mom and her... social life, well... Yeah, I'd need this. A lot, actually.
One thing I loved about this place was that it was lonely. This specific table, at least, was always lonely on friday nights. A true gold mine, in my opinion. It served perfectly as a great hiding spot, it was next to a window, and it had a lot of helpful resources for homework. And almost everyone was at dinner.
Dinner that, right now, I was skipping. Not because I wasn't hungry, I was, but I could go for some food later. There was a half-eaten sandwich in my bag, anyways... considering Neko didn't eat it in the last five hours. Which was the most probable thing, now that I gave it a thought. But no, if I wanted the information to stay clean in my head, I needed to gather it all now. Three more books were next to the one in front of me, all waiting to be opened. If the Saints helped me, I'd end up this summary before curfew. I hate it when I have to take the books out of the library.
Neko started purring under my fingers. Thank the Saints. It meant that, if there were no interruptions, he'd fall asleep soon and let me study in peace for, at least, a couple of hours. Damn, I knew I had to be here earlier. But between today's classes, sending a letter home and changing the uniform for something a bit more comfortable, this was the only bit of time I had. And once again, only the Saints knew if I'd have time tomorrow to finish this... well, if something, I'd have to take the books to the common room and finish there.
And I was so, so distracted by my own thoughts I didn't hear the footsteps. Or I heard them, but I didn't notice them. A soft rain was starting to show in the window next to me. Oh, great. A rainy night. Perfect. I kept focused on my studying, not noticing who was around me. After all, half of the castle was having dinner right now. Maybe this was just an older student coming for a book or something. No one had to bat an eye to the random Ravenclaw girl on the table.
's grace; Evasive Maneuvers; ability three; ability four; ability five; ability six; ability seven[coded by lauren vanes]
"I was good. I was really good"
| PC: Mikaela Hendricks | Shop: The Hendricks Archives | iNPC: Coming soon |
Songbird vs Rattlesnake
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Reducio
interacting with @Mikaela Hendricks
Reducio
OOC note: i took the freedom of referencing the thread name hope you don’t mind; also sorry if i messed up the tenses at the start, this is too much had had had for my brain
Nicandro speech hex code: #003d03
Word count: 816
Date: 11th September, 2026
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One thing had been clear the second the young Slytherin had figured out that something was obviously wrong with his clothes. Whatever that girl from the platform had done with them, it screamed at him to get back at her. And oh, he would.
The week had been absolute hell. At first, when the itching on his hands had started, he had had to wash them for as long as it had needed to stop. He had thought them dirty after pulling out the clothes at the very top of his trunk that had fallen out because obviously, he wasn’t going to wear them until they were clean again.
Then, the undamaged clothes further down had resulted in that same horrible sensation all across his skin. For a while, he had assumed his mind was playing tricks on him. It wouldn’t have been new that thinking of the clean items sharing the same space as the contaminated ones made them infected as well. But not even that could’ve explained the slight redness of the skin, so the conclusion had been that something wasn’t right at all. He had then inspected his luggage with great caution, his face inches away from the fabric. At some point, he had even reached for his glasses, only to discard them again because there were no mites to be found.
In the end, he had almost emptied all of his belongings when suddenly, on one of his black trousers, he had noticed a strange, fine powder. And there had been only one way it could’ve entered his trunk: while it had been open and that damn girl had helped him get his clothes back in, she must’ve put it there, and now that was causing the itching irritation. If he remembered correctly, she had spent an awfully suspicious amount of time hovering over it.
Of course Nicandro was mad. Mostly at himself for not noticing sooner, something had felt off after all. But he was also unable to fathom the audacity of that little, dark haired, nerve-grating beast. Reality would hit her soon enough. His revenge would be so bitter. For this, he intended to actually put in an effort and teach her a lesson. Do not mess with a Henderson, or regret it dearly. The second she’d think she’s safe enough, he’d strike like a snake hunting an innocent, unassuming songbird sitting on the ground from a hidden bush.
Days had passed since he had come up with his plan. The gift was wrapped neatly and resided in his bag that now, unfortunately, he had to carry with him wherever he went. He had decided on a ball of yarn, cause who was he to spend more shillings than necessary on a mannerless girl, and they were easy enough to get by and to disguise as a somewhat thoughtful present. Maybe she enjoyed knitting? If not, she still had that misbehaved cat. It didn’t really matter anyway. It’s the thought that counts, and would hopefully throw her off guard enough for him to slip the revenge into her bag unnoticed.
It would be a lie to say he hadn’t been looking for her everywhere. Luck hadn’t been on his side. She had either managed to evade him or secretly possessed an invisibility cloak. A couple of times, he had seen the Ravenclaw (assuming he knows the house by uniform) slip through the full corridors, but whenever he had tried to catch up, she had already disappeared.
Not today, though. When he observed her disappear into the library at dinner time, he followed at a safe distance. The perfect time had come. If she wanted to study, that was her loss. Two revenges at the same time. Even better. Not only was he going to play that game with her, but he could also steal her time, peace and focus. Served her right. Just then, stuck in his head and too focused to notice, he tripped over a pile of books on the floor. Wasn’t the library supposed to be neat? Well, by the time he looked up again, the girl was gone. Mikaela Hendricks, that had been her name. Burned into his mind like a venomous pest. After rounding multiple bookshelves, he finally spotted her sitting at a table, clearly studying, that black demon in her lap. So the cat had survived the train ride after all.
With a deep breath, he slipped his mask on, practicing his speech in his head one last time and approached, surprised by her lack of response to his footsteps. He stopped just short of the table, entering her personal space, and waited for her to notice him. When nothing happened, he eventually got impatient and cleared his throat. “Mikaela. Hi.” One of his hands slipped into his bag, brushing against the tiny annoy-o-tron to locate it before moving on to the gift. “I think I need to talk with you.”