Stray Thoughts PV Lydia Cooper finished

- Interacting with @Zykeal Lane -

Finally free from her classes, Lydia had decided to walk back to her dorm and change out of her school uniform; with the weekend basically there, and the weather still kind of nice, the red headed girl would find any excuse to stay out in the open, and not confined inside the thick stone walls of the castle. After checking up on her cat, that had decided to stay on her bed rather than following her outside, the Hufflepuff girl took her homework and walked out of the room.

Wearing a pair of skinny jeans, a jumper and her favourite sneakers, Lydia hoped the chilly September wind would not have been too cold; the day before had rained quite a lot, so as she stepped outside of the castle she wondered where exactly she could have gone to study. The lake was probably a bad idea, since she would have come back with her shoes full of mud; the same could be said for anywhere else there could have been grass, so in the end the only alternative was to stay in the courtyard. She didn't usually spend a lot of time there, probably because - especially during the sunny days- the place would get crowded quite quickly; that day however, the place was actually quite empty, with only a couple of students sitting around.

Lydia made her way towards one of the arched opening and sat down on the windowsill, where she placed her books; she had brought a couple of subject to study, just in case she did not had the right concentration to tackle one or the other. With her back rested against the thick column, the part-veela girl took her History of Magic book and started reading, her eyes scanning quickly the words as she underlined the most important ones. She spent some time like that, completely immersed in her studying, until the sudden wind made her slightly shiver; her eyes looked up from the book and scanned her surroundings, as her mind started drifting everywhere.

Even though it was only the beginning of the year, the amount of homework was already quite intense; normally, Lydia would not complain about something like that, after all the year before she had managed to study for everything and still have plenty of free time. However, this year things felt different, she was different. Learning about her past, about her family and herself, had brought out a different side of the redheaded girl, a side that she still struggled to understand; she tried to blame it on her curiosity, but if she was being honest with herself, that had little to do with all that was happening inside of her.

A sigh left her lips as she shook her head; she needed to concentrate on the homework, and only after she would have been able to worry about- well, Lydia wasn't even too sure about what. Resuming her reading, Lydia tried to find that perfect mental state for her to study in, but all in vain; the moment was gone, and it would have stayed that way for the rest of the day. Huffing, she closed her book and, after placing it over the others, she brought her legs up to her chest and hugged them, resting her chin above her knees as she let her eyes wander around once again. She eyed the entrance to the castle, almost as if she expected someone to walk out of there and towards her; was it Aaron she was subconsciously waiting for? Or Rafael? Or anybody else? Lydia had no idea.

Everything was way too quiet, way too still; the silence was almost deafening for her, until she heard a rather interesting...she didn't exactly know what it was, perhaps a poem, or a song, or some passage from a book. It didn't matter what it was though, because it still sounded kind of catchy, the alliteration giving rhythm to the whole. Lydia looked around to see where that was coming from, and her eyes landed on a boy, laying down not too far from her. He looked familiar, which meant she might have seen him around the castle already, but aside from that, she had no idea of who he was. Abandoning her books on the windowsill, Lydia made her way towards the boy.

"That sounded really nice! The alliteration almost made it sound like a poem," she said once she was close enough, her arms crossed in front of her, as a small smile plastered itself over her lips. "Did you write that?"

Abilities in effect: alluring and lovely creature (I'm not too sure if I need to state that they are in effect, since they are not something that Lydia can turn on and off, but I still wanted to mention it)

Rarely did the boy get startled, but, in this case, it seemed that he was so wrapped up within his thoughts that Zykeal hadn't even noticed a lone figure approach. It wasn't until the soft voice came to his ear from the girl who had been lingering there, apparently long enough to overhear his little wordplay, that he noticed he wasn't alone. The boy went rigid, golden irises darting upwards to see the one who stood there with her arms crossed, now questioning if he had written the words that he had previously spoke. The wand he was twirling while being so unobservant of his surrounding had come to be gripped within his palm as he had gone rigid, giving the illusion that it was pointed towards the girls standing form at the time.

Every fiber of his being was holding his hand back from casually flicking a spell in the girl's direction, composure was necessary, he had to save face. The best course of action, as his hues glanced over the girl's form from an upside-down appraisal from his lying position, was to continue with his habitual wand twirling within his hand; he resumed the action. As he scanned the girl, curious of her intentions, he noticed that she had a certain allure to her and she indeed seemed to be another beautiful creature that plagued the school. This thought would spill over in his words, as he spoke up to the girl, "Another beautiful girl coming to complicate my life?" he smirked, deciding to take the playful route in conversation, "Sorry, but the positions currently occupied," he offered, not ignoring her query, but, choosing to move past it as he didn't want to dwell on his spoken thoughts.

Though he found himself uncomfortable with the less tactical position that he found himself currently in, the boy did his best to radiate an air of nonchalant and openly casualness to the girl's presence. With all the grace he could, the second-year Gryffindor used his free hand to push himself up so that he could be propped up with the one hand that settled to rest behind him, supporting himself. Peering once more to the girl in front of him, he thought he noticed her as another second year, vaguely remembering her appearance from within the halls of the castle. Once again, he appraised her, tilting his head to the side in a curious manner and always staring directly into the cross-armed girls' eyes. Still, the wand twirled within his hand.

Time passed slowly within the few seconds after he asked his question, it was rhetorical, of course, but, he wondered if it would strike a nerve towards the girl; he had a way of prodding people with the way he talked. After a moment though, he gave a little nod of his head and grimaced, "Ah shite," he huffed, "maybe that was a bit rude," the boy concluded, offering a slight shrug of his shoulders and peeking out a little from the downtrodden expression that he now adorned. It seemed that if the girls' allure had disarmed him slightly, he noticed, and once again tilted his head to the side for appraisal once more.

Youthful as he was, experience with this type of radiance from the Hogwarts student body seemed to keep him aware, slightly on edge, keen not to become trapped within the appeal of such basic attractions that are limited to the eyes. Instead, he offered another question, "Do you often spy upon people?" and he smirked, "A stealthy snake I presume?" as he would think that no other houses students would be so sneaky as the girl had been. It could have just been a misconception with the experience he has had with those students, but, it was spot on so far and he tended to trust his intuition. This girl was probably no different, he assumed, but one could be surprised every now and then and this could be the day for that.

- Interacting with @Zykeal Lane -

When Lydia had decided to go and talk to the boy, she had not imagined the possibility of her scaring him. So when the boy went rigid and seemed to point his wand towards her, Lydia's body almost reacted without taking her brain into consideration: her right hand flew over her own wand, ready to take it out if necessary, the memories of her encounter with the werewolf boy down by the lake still fresh in her memory.

The moment that the boy started playing with his wand again, Lydia let herself relax, moving her hand away from her wand as she kept her eyes fixed over the boy's face. He seemed to be observing her, and she tried her best not to let herself get too embarrassed; that completely failed when he called her beautiful, and Lydia looked away from his face as she felt her cheeks become red. Even now that she knew why she was beautiful - even though she didn't completely believe that- she still blushed whenever someone would point that out.

The boy kept staring at her even after he changed position, and Lydia awkwardly shifted from one foot to the other. She tried her best to sustain his gaze again, but after a while she had to look away, her green eyes focusing on the twirling wand in the boy's hand. The movement appeared fluid, effortless; it reminded Lydia of how sometimes drummers did the same thing with their drumsticks, so she wondered if maybe the guy was a drummer as well. Deciding to ignore the fact that he had not answered her question, Lydia looked back at him and almost asked him that, when he spoke again and the Hufflepuff girl found herself shaking her head. "It wasn't that rude, I did disrupt your peace after all,"

Shrugging her shoulder, she offered him an apologetic smile, before she spoke again, the need to satiate her curiosity too strong for her to resist. "Are you a drummer?" she asked as she motioned with her chin towards his twirling wand. After that, she listened to his question and Lydia could not help the slightly shocked expression that appeared on her face. Whenever she would meet someone new at Hogwarts while she was not wearing her school robes, everyone always guessed her house right; apparently she embodied Hufflepuff so well that it had became quite obvious where she belonged to.

But that was during her first year, and she had changed a lot since then, whether she knew that yet or not.

So when the boy suggested that she was from Slytherin, a little part of her was tempted to play along and pretend she was; however, she decided against it, since she had no idea which house the boy belonged to: what if he was a Slytherin, and this was all just a trick to see what she would answer?

"I wasn't spying on you. I was simply sitting there and I happened to hear you talk," she corrected him as she slightly rolled her eyes, a smile still on her lips as a sign that she wasn't really annoyed. "Also, I'm more of a cat rather than a snake," she paused as she scanned the boy once more. His clothes did not give away his house, so Lydia had no way of knowing where he was from; she also noticed that he looked quite nice, but she mentally shook her head- now was not the time for such silly thoughts.

The way he behaved reminded her a little bit of a certain boy, but she decided not to try guessing his house. "What about you? Are you one of those smart birds, or are you a reckless lion?" Lydia asked, her smiled turning in a small smirk. This was a little bit weird for her, not introducing herself while meeting someone new, but if she was being honest with herself, she was kind of liking it. She was also really curious to see if the boy would have guessed her house.

@Lydia Cooper

Taking note of her speed to reach her own wand as he had directed his own towards her, he assumed that she equipped herself well with spellcasting and valued it higher than those other morons that tended to flash their brooms around like they owned the sky. The girl gained a little of Zyks' respect with her reaction. This didn't bother him, too many times did he cast spells at people and they stood about having no idea what to do with themselves. Having come from a muggle background, he expected more, more from these purebloods that talked their nonsense of being from a magical family. How often they disappointed him.

The Gryffindor liked to blatantly throw people off-guard though and knew his statement on her physical appearance would do so, although she approached him, she did seem quite shy after she had done so. Another note was taken in, she was brave. This was unlike the Snakes he normally dealt with, their personalities matched their house symbols quite well, he thought. Constant analysis of the mannerisms that she displayed registered through his thoughts as he watched her every move at the moment, seeing what of his words would hit specific buttons. It was still the game he played when he switched gears and made a slightly rude remark, then played off it off like he said something in poor taste.

When she didn't come back with a harsh retort of her own and continued to make a positive remark, he re-adjusted his thinking of her, still wanting to play the game. This was how things went with the young 2nd-year, playing games, as any other 12-year-old would do. Zyks games though tended to be a little more in the way of manipulation for information. It was calculated in a way that he tried not to offend while still trying to learn as much possible about the people who presented themselves before him. While his mind spun around with the thoughts of analysis, she asked him another question, one he was actually amused by and didn't mind answering.

"Nah', not a drummer, just a tick'," he said, offering up information he didn't normally present to people.

The tick was something that kept his mind busy, the constant concentration of the rhythmic flow that was required to maintain the motion. It was almost like a brain exercise for him, the ability to do multiple things at once; it came in handy.

She continued, confirming that she had just overheard him and wasn't spying. This made his observation clear of her then and figured that she was just a friendly Badger that was passing by. Zykeal believed her now, as she rolled her eyes, he often felt like people told the truth when accompanied by a sign of annoyance such as she displayed. The boy smiled again, looking up to her with those golden irises that seemed to never leave her own eyes.

"A cat?" he huffed, nearly laughing, "or a kitten?" he joked as he tilted his head to the side for a moment.

Another question came, another truthful answer would be given, "A Lion, of course," he confirmed.

Feeling like this wasn't the worst conversation he had ever taken up on a whim, he looked down to her feet and nodded, "Wanna chill?" he lightened up his tense answers, trying to ease his own mindstate so that it'd be easier to relax, "Never met a badger I liked, wanna be the first?" he questioned, knowing full well that he just assumed her house in earnest now and figured that he was right all along. Zykeal decided to let his wand stop rotating and let the hilt slap into the palm of his hand, shifting it down, he let it settle upon his lap and tried to make the situation more comfortable.

"This lion has already eaten today."

- Interacting with @Zykeal Lane -

The boy's answer was not what Lydia had expected; the way his hand moved with the wand, his ability to twirl it around- she was so sure she was a drummer; but again, a tick made sense as well. She nodded along, not wanting to ask him why he had developed that tick. After all, people with ticks usually had some reasons why they had them, didn't they?

While she didn't have an answer for that, one thing about the boy in front of her was clear to Lydia: his eyes kept looking at her, almost as if he was studying her. She had noticed that, felt his eyes on her as she talked, and for once that didn't feel too bad; it was different from the other times, he was looking at her, and Lydia felt the need, a couple of times, to look away, but she didn't.

Instead she held his gaze, a slight blush on her cheeks. A laugh left her lips when he spoke again, "Well, clearly a kitten; I'm way too tiny to be a full grown cat," she joked, even though the joke probably sounded funnier in her head than it actually was. Sometimes she would do that, say something that wasn't funny at all, while for her it was the most hilarious thing in the world; that was something she definitely needed to work on, but not now- there were more important things to focus on.

The moment the boy answered her last question, admitting that he was a Gryffindor, Lydia found herself nodding; now that she thought about it, it actually made a lot of sense for him to be a lion, rather than a Ravenclaw- not that Lydia had a lot of experience with Ravenclaws, she knew only a couple of them, while on the other hand she knew way more Gryffindors.

His next question took her slightly by surprise, her eyebrows raised in a questioning face, before her expression turned into an amused one, a smile tugging on her lips as she nodded. "Are we too friendly for your liking? Or maybe too noisy?" she asked as she kneeled down, sitting then next to the boy. "I don't think eating badgers would be good for you; we often have rabies, you know?" Lydia joked as she looked at the boy, before her eyes moved up to look at the sky. The temperature was slightly chilly, but still enjoyable, with the wind that blew through the courtyard every once in a while; it almost reminded Lydia of the always blowing salty breeze back at home.

A sigh left her lips before she could stop it as she looked back down, realising only in that moment that the boy had stopped moving his wand; almost without thinking, Lydia reached for her own, taking it out from the pocket of her hoodie, and holding it into her palm, the blackthorn wood standing out against her pale skin. She stared at her hand and then tried to move her wand the same way that the Gryffindor student had done before, but didn't quite manage to do that, her fingers clearly not trained to do those movements.

Rolling her eyes, Lydia looked up at the boy. "Do you think you could teach me how to do that?" she asked him, "It looked quite cool when you were doing it," she admitted, and then gave him a small smile, hoping not to sound too awkward. "I'm Lydia, by the way,"

@Lydia Cooper

Indeed there was a reason that for some reason his hand had to be moving at all times, touching something nearly at every moment, a sensory issue that lay undiagnosed. The thought that something might be wrong with him would never have crossed his mind though, it just was who he was and it made sense to him. With her words extending out then in response to his playful tease of her status of a kitten and confirming it, he smiled, "Mmhmm," he muttered softly. It was quite funny, the girl didn't seem to be consciously aware that she might have been flirting with him. The rose upon her cheeks might have suggested otherwise though.

Of course, Zykeals interpretation of the 'joke' could have been wrong, but, he thought maybe she couldn't help it and it was something of a subconscious matter. This didn't affect him much though, he'd been through the wringer with the ladies and the complications of relationships wasn't something that he felt keen on delving into any time soon. Confirming himself as a Gryffindor, she didn't look surprised with him and he felt a little pride in being able to recognize as such; how Gryffindor of him.

"All of the above," he answered her question on why he hadn't met a good badger. A raise of his eyebrows was given to her next sentence though, thinking she was kind of funny for a moment there and letting the smile spread across his features even more, "Can you even get rabies from eating a rabid animal?" he asked, actually curious of the answer and if she knew it. Regardless if she answered or not, he shrugged and figured he'd play the game that she seemed to be playing herself, "Though, it'd be a waste to eat something as beautiful as you," he offered a slight wink in humor.

Catching his eye was her movements towards her own wand, he watched, carefully. Always was this second-year cautious around others, he had too few friends and way too many enemies; this was mentally taxing at times. As he watched though, curiously, she started to try and mimic his own actions that he so commonly took. When she looked towards him then, as he sat there with his wand settled upon his lap, he quizzically tilted his head to the side and watched her until she spoke up.

Zykeal nodded in response to her question and decided to use his hands to lift his frame and scoot a little closer towards the girl, positioning himself in front of her. Looking down at her hands, he'd lift his own to meet hers, though it took a lot of mental strength to take his hands off his own wand at that moment. Careful not to touch her wand, as he found that to be slightly inappropriate, he'd start to move her fingers in a simple up and down fashion, "You have to think of it as music," he gently said, "each note, or finger, has to be in sync with the one previous and the next," he affirmed, allowing his hands to gently use his own fingers to motion hers in the appropriate way.

As he tried his best to help instruct in her a way that might make sense to her, even though it probably didn't, he'd look up slightly to make eye contact with the girl once more as she offered him her name, "You have a nice name," he said, eyes shifting back down towards where her fingers and wand were, "and I am Zykeal," he responded after just a moment, almost forgetting his manners while he tried to get her fingers in rhythm.

- Interacting with @Zykeal Lane -

"All of the above," His answer didn't come too much as a surprise; being a Hufflepuff, Lydia had already heard some people saying that they didn't enjoy their company that much, and now that she thought about it, those were usually either Gryffindor or Slytherin students. She had to admit that sometimes she understood what they meant, some people in Hufflepuff knew how to be annoying every once in a while; she of course understood as well why Hufflepuff students were so friendly towards everyone. It was almost a second nature for them, to be friendly and kind.

When the boy smiled after she told her joke about the rabies, Lydia found herself smiling back at him, as she felt some nervous anxiety go away, since he had apparently found her words amusing. "Well, I'm not too sure. At my muggle school they told us that you could, potentially. I don't think it would be worth trying though," she said and shrugged, her eyes moving back to look at the Gryffindor boy once he spoke again. Hearing his words, Lydia couldn't help the small, almost embarrassed smile that settled on her lips, as her hand reached up to tuck some hair behind her ear; that was the second time that he had called her beautiful, and if the first time she didn't think too much about it, this time -also because of the wink he added as well- Lydia wondered if this boy was actually flirting with her. She didn't have that much experience, she was only twelve -well, almost thirteen- after all, and the only time that she had intentionally flirted was during Summer camp to try and distract one of the Durmstrang boys during the Capture the Base game.

As she tried to imitate the wand movements that he had done before, Lydia could feel the boy's eyes on her; it would have made her blush if it wouldn't have been for the immense amount of concentration she was putting in mimicking the wand movements. She silently watched him getting closer and moving to sit in front of her, only to reach for her hands; meeting him halfway, she carefully listened to his words, as she tried to move her fingers in the way he showed her. "Like when you're playing the piano," she said, even if it sounded almost like a question. Lydia tried to do that, moving her fingers one after the other, trying to make the movements flow and be coordinated as if she was playing on the piano, or the harp, as she followed the motions that the boy was doing.

"Thank you," she said looking up at him; she softly smiled, and for a brief second her eyes met the boy's golden ones. She quickly looked back down, concentrating instead on getting the movements right. When Zykeal told her his name, she thought she had never heard somebody else called that way; it was a nice name, one that she would definitely remember. "Your name's nice as well,"

Trying to move her fingers as fluently as she could, after a while Lydia tried to give them a steady rhythm, counting in her head; she tried to think about it as if it was following the notes of a song, and- at least in her opinion- she thought she had understood how to do the movements. "After this, what's the next step?" she asked and gave him a small smile once again.

@Lydia Cooper | Exiting Thread (Sorry this took so long Lydia )

There was a slight tension in the air between the two, what was it? He hadn't a clue. Unlike others he had encountered, she seemed very unaware that she might have been flirting at all. This was taken into strict regard, she seemed to know not what she was doing. With this in mind, he decided to play along with the ability she was portraying of the unknowingly adapt verbalizer. The mention of a public school brought back the memories of his own days in muggle society, though he didn't pay much attention towards the academics of it all, he did miss that side of his friend group from time to time. Even as she offered a retort towards his tease, he didn't feel it required a response and went about with the instructional part of their meeting.

The analogy towards the piano and music made sense to him and he found it endearing that she made the connection with his words, "Indeed, the piano," he responded softly, the slight smile rekindling upon his features once more as she seemed to be working well with his guidance at the moment. When he offered the compliment to her name, it shocked him, he was never this kind to the badgers normally and although it caught him off-guard to be this way, he'd find a way to mask the physical reaction. When Lydia looked up to meet his own gaze, he could tell that she was also frazzled from their current interaction, a confusing mixture of emotions that swelled between the two. There was something wrong with this, had she cast a spell? While their eye contact was brief, it caused questions within his mind that told him to be on guard.

With this hesitation in mind, he'd sink back into himself emotionally and become slightly colder with their interactions furthermore. Letting his eyes venture down towards her progress upon the movements of the wand through her fingers, he'd offer a slight shift in her fingers, raising one while lowering the next to let the wand twist over the knuckles slowly. "After?" he contemplated for a moment, honestly, this had become so natural to him that he never felt like instructing it would be so difficult, "I suppose you just have to repeat the movements," he nodded after a moment, "and when the wand reaches the end of your hand," and he let his own hand shift so that he could touch her pinky finger with his own pointer, "here," he offered, then let his hand guide her wand back over her hand to where her thumb was located, "You catch it with your thumb," he continued, "and repeat the cycle of motions." he finished, thinking that this was the best way he could instruct her.

Although he felt that this might be something she might try once in a while, it was almost a natural tic for him. It was harder for him to explain his thought process towards the girl with the repetition of the movement. Regardless, the boy did his best and figured that if the girl was musically inclined, she might be able to catch onto the repetitive motion required to maintain the rotation. Letting his hands fall from her now, he'd scoot himself back slightly and look over towards the girl once more as she did her best to replicate his tic, "Well, I think I must be off now," he nodded once. The thought of lingering around the girl any longer made him doubt what sanity he had left, not knowing if his 'flirting' was natural was he'd become accustomed to or that the girl had some sort of odd effect upon him.

Zykeal would wait just a moment for a response, if the girl had any, towards his wanting to avoid any more conversation with her. Hopefully, she wouldn't take offense to his abrupt exit from their interaction, but, he needed to guard himself before he'd find himself in another situation that'd no doubt cause another heart to be broken. This was, after all, his curse upon the ones he'd dated so far and this girl seemed nice enough that he didn't want to ruin another one. Those golden hues of his once more would make eye contact with her own, maintaining it for a moment longer, before he turned to gather his possessions. When he managed to collect his belongings, he'd stand up and let himself stretch out, his arms sprawling out to the sides so that he could bend his back as well.

"It was a pleasure, Lydia," he finalized, and then he was off.