27 Jan 2021, 03:11
Journaling Concerns
1/26/2021
Free periods in Hogwarts did not frequently go to waste by students. Many would love to get a break from all the spells and magic that was being consistently put on their shoulders from teachers. It could get exhausting at times to the point the weekend always remained a gigantic relief. During lunch period, kids tended to rush towards the great hall. All they wanted to do was stuff their mouths, which Ross could hardly blame them for whatsoever.
It was difficult to not be starving after a long day of work; however, Ross had found a solution to this problem. A little known fun fact about the Hufflepuff dormitories was that the tiny train model that came running through every hour contained a box of candy. Considering how few people had chosen the dorms that he had chosen, he believed it could have been no harm to simply... stuff his pockets. And so that was what he had done, which caused him to discover two things throughout the day. The first thing was that students practically had a sixth sense for when someone had candy. He had to hand out several handfuls of it to people who kept passing by him. Second of all was that it gave him quite a rush to eat so much at once. A rush that made it increasingly difficult to focus with all of the loud noise in the great hall. Before he had even taken a seat to join his fellow students, his body practically wandered off on its own.
And that was how halfway through lunch, he ended up in possibly the quietest place in the school at that hour: The library. Nobody wanted to be there to study when they could be indulging themselves in the delicious array of foods Hogwarts had to offer. He assumed it would be empty. Without checking, he took his seat at a nice little table before gently putting his head and arms on the desk, peeking over his arms with his head.
He blinked a couple times, taking in the sights of the towering bookshelves surrounding him. The library always had a distinct smell to it that he enjoyed, even if he was not constantly found in the library himself. Every time he entered, he could not help but think he should come there more often. Still, he never seemed to live up to that thought.
As his gaze wandered the room, it suddenly stopped at a table. There was a girl there. A rather pale one at that, lost in her thoughts as she read a book. She looked around his year, but he remained intrigued. What kind of person would skip lunch just to read in the library? It seemed a bit ridiculous to him, but he supposed everyone had their reasons. Reasons he desperately wanted to find out.
He stared at the girl's copper hair for a moment as he began to get lost within thought. He could just ask her, but would she think he was peculiar?
He needed a plan. He needed to understand her.
He reached into his leather colored bag, that frequently got called a purse by other students, and took out a journal. Delicately, he took out a quill as well and got to work writing about every habit he saw. About her pale skin, how she read the book she was reading, the small glances of the facial features she had. Maybe he could... figure things out?
Hey, why are you here? no no, that could not work.
Shouldn't you be eating lunch? no, that was too straight forward.
He looked at her, concentrated as he wrote down his attempts of confrontations. Was she even the conversational type?
Interacting with @Dealla Prince
Last edited by Ross Stephens on 16 Jul 2021, 18:41, edited 2 times in total.
Stamina: 7 Evasion: 7 Strength: 5 Wisdom: 6 Arcane Power: 8 Accuracy: 7
28 Jan 2021, 13:23
Journaling Concerns
| - |  By SK | - |
The library was quiet at this time of the day, still as if suspended in time, almost. Specks of dust were dancing in the light falling in through the windows, but that was just about all the movement there was.
Dee was staring down at the page in front of her, failing to comprehend a single word on it. Not that she couldn't have done it if she were actually reading the book, but, well, she wasn't. Should be, considering there was an essay for Transfiguration due on this topic tomorrow, but wasn't. Or really, she should be at lunch, which she probably would be if she hadn't spent her free time yesterday in the duelling room, practising, and therefore wasn't short on time now, but again. Wasn't.
Grumbling to herself softly, Dee forced her eyes to start reading the page from the top. Honestly, there hadn't been a good reason for her to spend so much time at duelling practice yesterday. Duels were just over, had happened last weekend, and the next stage wasn't set to start until mid April. There was plenty of time. She had meant to use the past few days to catch up on sleep and schoolwork, both of which had suffered lately, and she really couldn't afford to lose more time before it started showing in her grades, which just wouldn't do. Sleep, yes, that part she had managed, but habits had pulled her in, drawn her steps to the fourth floor instead of the library yesterday, and now she was paying the price.
Rubbing her left temple with her thumb, she formed the words she was reading with her lips, finally putting pieces and connections together. Transfiguration was hard, one of the hardest subjects there was, really. She couldn't just rely on her memory like she did for History of Magic, or on the instincts that guided her while brewing potions. Transfiguration required some sort of deep understanding of the matter, and it currently did not want to cooperate with Dee's brain that kept being distracted by her stomach's demands for lunch. Hopefully Ileen would notice her absence and bring something with her.
The odd silence of the library was distracting her, too. Obviously it was meant to be quiet, a place for reading and studying, but there was still usually the muted sound that the presence of other people brought with it, disrupted by the occasional whisper or quiet conversation, the rustling of pages being turned. Despite her recent tendency to spend time by herself practising, Dee preferred being in the company of other people to being alone.
The soft footsteps of someone else entering the library, sitting down at a different table nearby, were therefore a welcome change in atmosphere, soft rustling of clothes as the newcomer settled into a chair. When she spared him a passing glance, the boy was taking a notebook out of his bag, maybe also here to study then. She didn't pay him much more attention - she did at least have to get through the rest of this chapter before the end of lunch - but hoped that maybe the break in the silence would improve her focus.
It didn't.
First, it was only a strange tingle at the back of her neck. She threw the boy another glance, he was scribbling into his notebook, although he didn't have any other school supplies out. Odd, but she didn't give it too much thought, trying to focus back on her reading. The tingling, however, developed into a steady itch, and when she looked over again, she saw him looking away, again writing something down into his book. A frown spread on her face, unease settling in her bones. She was no stranger to attention, enjoyed it usually. Drawing people in was as easy as breathing, she'd been described as magnetic, more than once. That hadn't changed when she'd gotten more prominent with this school year, her appointment as Ravenclaw Duelling Captain, organising school events and writing for the Headliner giving her a certain amount of recognition. No, it was a recent development that the feeling of eyes on her made her uncomfortable at times, one stemming from the amount of time she'd put into practising, time that she'd tried to keep secret. She wanted her success to look effortless.
So now this boy, in the library during lunch time, was watching her. And taking notes? Had he noticed her odd behaviour lately? Put together the pieces? She'd tried to keep her time away inconspicuous, had kept to the usual schedules beyond disappearing without explanation for stretches of time, but even that wasn't all that unusual for her, considering the amount of time she'd spent exploring obscure parts of the castle in her first year. So what was he going to do with that knowledge?
On her third glance over, she caught him watching, their eyes meeting, and Dee had enough. Abruptly, she slammed her book shut, the sound muffled between the shelves of the library, and pushed her chair back resolutely to stomp over to her audience, her eyes hard. "What do you want?" she demanded, leaning over the table to snatch his notebook from beneath his fingers. "Why are you watching me?" She turned it over to look at it in a quick motion even while she was talking, her eyes skimming the page, and... paused. What was this?
@Ross Stephens
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
30 Jan 2021, 00:09
Journaling Concerns
As their eyes met, Ross hastily dug his face back into his book. He heard a slam that made his shoulders tense up, scribbling down random notes aggressively in hopes to save his own life. If he was to go out, he would at least go out with random notes in his book and not gossip of another person. What could he write? A love note to his crush- no no, he never had one of those to begin with. A note to his family saying he was sorry? No, they would likely not receive it.
Despite the fact it was a library, his thoughts were loud. So loud that he did not even process as the girl demanded to be informed of what he could possibly be getting by taking notes on her every waking action. He began to jot down words, in hopes maybe one day a historian would decode his epic struggle. It was anything he could think of at this point. The sky is blue, The sun is yellow, The-.
The book was snatched from his hands. He yelped, grasping for it. The ink from his quill in hand had dragged off to the side of the page. That was another page of many ruined. Now no historian would ever know what he had been thinking. What would he have said next? The grass is green, roses are red? Perhaps a literature teacher could comprehend it one day instead. It was a shame that he would never know what they had thought of his work of art, as he was about to be slaughtered.
He paid no mind as the quill dripped ink onto the table, instead desperately staring at the girl. Many things rushed through his head. Concern- would she think he was creepy? Would she hurt his book? This was not the first time his journal nearly got harmed, but it still kept him tense. That familiar flame of frustration burnt within him that made him just want to set the table aflame, grab the book, and run; however, he knew well that was a terrible idea. As she skimmed the page, he felt his thoughts be broken apart by her words. He had to defend himself- that was right. He placed his quill on the table, fidgeting with it in the process.
"I..I.. I dunno people are at lunch and.. the library and... books are kinda funny, aren't they? Pretty weird all bookish and.. you're sitting here and.. it got all loud so i came here and then i started writing and... you're REALLY interesting" he rambled with far too much speed to keep up with at times.
His story was jumbled, how COULD he explain it when his precious journal was in her hands? What would he even do without it? And she was judging him- she had to be judging him. He was writing for a completely valid reason, of course. It just did not particularly shine through when all that was written were lines on what to say to her. Well, it did work. It worked, yes! He was a master detective. She was here now and talking to him! It all made sense! As thoughts rushed through like racers on a track, he took several deep breaths to keep up with his own rambling. It was a solid moment of it, and before he could even think of something far more interesting to say he found his mouth running itself off anyways.
"I dunno I just don't get why you're in the library during lunch, give it back!" he exclaimed within the quiet library, hastily covering up his mouth with both his hands as it dawned upon him what he had done.
Interacting with @Dealla Prince
Stamina: 7 Evasion: 7 Strength: 5 Wisdom: 6 Arcane Power: 8 Accuracy: 7
20 Feb 2021, 23:58
Journaling Concerns
| - | By SK | - |
The boy had shrunk back as she'd approached, folding into himself as if trying to minimise the target he offered for her fury. Not that she was furious, really, more stressed and frustrated and absolutely terrible at properly coping with this new feeling of self-consciousness at being watched. She hadn't had to deal with that before, utterly unapologetic at anything she'd done to draw attention to herself, enjoying it, honestly. But he could hardly know that, not with the way she was stomping over to his table, as if ready to bite his head off if he didn't draw it deep enough between his shoulders.
She made a face at him, utterly unimpressed with his cowering. If he was watching her, he might as well stand by it.
His notes, however, had her eyebrows rising in confusion. The sky is blue? The sun is yellow? Absurdly banal observations, those could not possibly be what he had been doing here. You couldn't even see the sun from where he was sitting, her mind provided rather unhelpfully.
Her eyes climbed higher on the page, to what he'd written before his absolutely fascinating insights about the colours of things that could be found in any child's drawings.
That... what. What? Parts were rather hard to read through the ink smeared across the paper, but they were... notes about her. Not what she'd expected, though, nothing of what her mind had conjured about people noticing her habits of skipping meals in favour of practising or catching up on schoolwork. No exposé of how her achievements were hard work rather than genius. He didn't even seem to know who she was, so he likely had no interest in duelling and would never notice the amount of time she spent at the duelling facilities.
No, the observations were about her appearance, her mannerisms, musings about why she was here, how to approach her. It was... kind of flattering, she supposed. In a rather creepy, stalker-ish way. Were there truly people this awkward? Dee couldn't comprehend the motivation, the reason he hadn't just come up to her and said Hi. Demanded answers to all the questions he apparently had, judging from the smudged scribbles. That was what she would have done, without a moment of hesitation or half a thought wasted on how the other person might feel about being ambushed like that.
Her eyebrows quirked up again, but this time in amusement, replacing at least part of the annoyance. "Interesting, am I?" she asked, lowering the journal, the beginning of a smile beginning to tug on her lips and mischief making its home in her eyes. "Me, sitting here, reading about Transfiguration, that is interesting to you? My, you must lead a boring life." Dee couldn't help it, couldn't resist the urge to poke fun at this nervous, awkward kid, stumbling over his words and struggling to form explanations as he was.
She danced back a step at his demand, journal in hand, and leafed back a page, although she wasn't actually looking at it, her aquamarine eyes focused on the strange boy. "Books are indeed bookish," she confirmed, ignoring his question about why she was here during lunch. Amusement was dancing in her eyes. The odds that she was going to get enough sleep tonight were getting worse by the second, sleep would have to be sacrificed in favour of Transfiguration, but this was just much more entertaining.
Crossing her arms, the journal still firmly in one hand, she tilted her head to one side, curious. "What will you give me for it?"
@Ross Stephens
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
21 Feb 2021, 07:47
Journaling Concerns
The way she looked at him sent shivers down his spine. Most times people informed him that his anxieties and beliefs were outlandish- that worst case scenario was not as frequent as one believed. This situation right here proved every single thing a person had said to him of that sorts was fundamentally incorrect. He swore there was a red glint in her eyes that any wolf would cower at the sight of. Except he was no wolf, he was a sheep. And as any sheep knew seeing a predator like that, he had to accept his death. At least he knew if he died he would write some cool letter with his blood saying who did it.
As she skimmed the page, he clenched up within himself. If he was a Gryffindor, at least he would have the courage to face his death. But no, he would much rather not see it coming. It would be far less embarrassing if the deer never saw the headlights, after all. Then again, it was not as if anyone would know. At the end of the day, it was not as if the car would open its mouth and confess to its crimes.
There was quiet for a long, insufferable moment; however, as soon as he heard her voice fill the silent room he fell entirely frozen. The words settled onto him slowly like a cold blanket of snow until it finally registered in his mind what she said. He slowly opened his eyes, only to see she seemed rather amused. Well, he had to admit she was pretty interesting to him despite the snide remark she made. It felt like a slap on the wrist in contrast to what he was expecting. He sat, dumbfounded for a moment until he could find the words he was looking for.
"Interesting? Yes ma'am! I mean, yes. Just yes!" He exclaimed, before realizing he was speaking far too loudly for a library. He froze up before lowering his voice. "I mean... not many people come to the library when there's perfectly good food on the table. So my life isn't really boring more o' just i'm a good detective." he decided to settle on that excuse as his expert reasoning.
Still, he could not help but feel his face turn red at the remark. In any other scenario he would have been able to laugh it off; however, he still felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins. It was difficult to get a good laugh in when one thought they were going to get their vocal cords ripped out moments prior.
His adrenaline was still fighting with him though, but this time he realized it was for a good cause. He wanted his journal back. The amount of times he had nearly been blackmailed with it was once; however, that was far too many. Fear settled into his gut once more as she backed off.
"Yeah yeah whatever just hand it over!" he yelled, ignoring his previous restrictions of keeping his voice down. He made a reach for it again, pressing himself against the table in the process.
He felt furious, anxious, and nauseous from the amount of candy he had eaten that day. All he wanted was to go home. He regretted the candy he had stuffed in his maw. It was not until she mentioned that he could possibly bribe her to get it back that it dawned upon him this might be a blessing. He reached into his pockets, digging in as far as he could and grabbed fistfuls of candy. He plopped them all on the table with blatant haste and little care for how they turned out.
"I got a whole bag o' Jelly slugs and a singular Sherbet Lemon- now hand it over." he demanded, sounding annoyed but also mildly hopeful that his morning mistake had possibly given him a chance in life.
Interacting with @Dealla Prince
Stamina: 7 Evasion: 7 Strength: 5 Wisdom: 6 Arcane Power: 8 Accuracy: 7
6 Apr 2021, 08:57
Journaling Concerns
| - | By SK | - |
The longer the interaction lasted, the more Dee's annoyance faded in favour of amusement. She'd almost forgotten how much she liked teasing people, lighthearted, with no ill intent. Her past month had been marked by frantic practice and nerves wound so tight they were ready to snap at the slightest push. The duels the weekend before had alleviated some of that, her win made it easier to breathe again. And this boy, yes, he was almost begging to be teased.
"Ma'am?" His words had been loud, cutting through the heavy silence of the library, and despite all efforts, Dee burst out laughing, a bright, happy sound. While she was still holding his journal, still looking down on him sitting there, cowering, there was no malice in her words or voice. Honestly, she had to admit she was a little intrigued. What an incredibly odd kid. Odd people tended to interest her.
"A detective?" She asked, her eyes shining with amusement. "And a good one, you say. Then tell me, what have you actually found out? Because this," she waved the book in her hand, "seems to contain only questions, no answers. Why am I spending my break in the library instead of at lunch with my friends, Mr Detective?"
Slightly interesting he might be, but he would still have a hard time earning any kind of respect from her with the way he'd shrunk down from her approach, jumped at her every word. Called her ma'am. At least he started showing some backbone now, demanding his journal back, although if anything, it made Dee feel less inclined to oblige rather than more. "No, I don't think so," she replied while taking another step back to get out of his reach, tilting her head to one side and waving the journal around some more, just to annoy him. Had he asked calmly, proven boring, she might have given it back, but this reaction just made her want to... play with him a little more, she supposed.
And then, he surprised her yet again. She wasn't quite sure what she'd expected him to offer in return for this book he seemed so desperate to get back. Money, perhaps. Secrets, since he claimed himself a detective. For him to do her homework, like she was some cliché movie bully. But it certainly hadn't been handfuls of candy, pulled from pockets in fistfuls and dumped on the table without any regard. She was quite sure food wasn't allowed in the library.
The corners of her mouth twitched of their own accord, eyebrows quirking up in amusement. Granted, candy wasn't the worst way to try and bribe her. It had been done before, with success. "Why in the world are you carrying that much candy around?" she asked, making no move to take it or give back the journal, but sounding very much on the verge of laughter. "Is this why you're skipping lunch?"
Then she turned a little more thoughtful, and after a moment of hesitation, snapped the book shut and stepped forward to place it on the table next to the candy. She picked up the Sherbet Lemon and sat down across from him, looking at him curiously. "So, Mr Detective, have you discovered any interesting secrets?"
@Ross Stephens
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
11 Apr 2021, 03:52
Journaling Concerns
The sudden, warm laughter that filled the room shocked Ross enough to look up to double check and see if the girl who had just been threatening him had made such a sweet noise. He squinted. Perhaps she was saying something else and some other student was laughing over her? But no, the laughter was so close. If Ross was not terrified for his life, he would have absolutely taken pride in making her laugh. In fact, he would have told her how nice it was to hear. Of course, he did not inform her that because he in fact valued his life more than a quick compliment. It was far more pleasant than the serious tone she had been challenging him with. Where had this part of her been? It caught him off guard enough for him to make a mildly more true to himself statement.
"I.. I mean you give off teacher energy and all that." he corrected himself, but it was not as hasty as before. It was honest in a way that Ross was uncomfortably anxious and honest constantly.
Just as he thought he was off the hook, she caught onto some of the words of his sentence. Not many people paid attention to what he had to say about himself being a detective and seemed to take it with a pinch of salt. This girl on the other hand seemed to disagree with this approach. She cornered him with only two of his words. She would make an amazing attorney. It put him back on his toes. People who could do that to him always fascinated him.
"I.. I mean the first step in all detective novels is to come up with questions. No answer without a question! I'd have an answer and all that, but I sorta got interrupted before I could figure it out." he got quiet and began to fidget with his ring as he spoke more. The last thing he wanted was the girl to get mad at him. He looked up to see her facial expression, and to his surprise it was more inquisitive than anything. He cleared his throat. "I mean I dunno you seem sorta... I mean.. you give off teacher energy and all that, so you're probably studyin' or somethin." he mumbled his best guess out.
Despite everything he was doing to get on her good side, when he asked for his journal back she had the guts to respond with no. He needed it back. Not only were his uncomfortable long night writings in there, but there were secrets of other people. There were beginnings of mysteries!
His only hope left was the bribe.
He had hoped it would be met with a simple "here is your journal back", but to his surprise it was met with the sound of... was that laughter? He was not a religious boy, but if he was he would be praying for his bribe to have some form of effect on the girl.
And then the accusation came.
She had managed to figure out why he did not come to lunch before he figured out her, and he had a ten minute head start! It was not something he had been particularly ashamed of, but it was frustrating to say the least that he- a great detective- was failing in a situation he should be great at.
"I mean, the hufflepuff common room has a bunch o' candy comin' in trains. Couldn't really stop myself from stuffin' a couple in my mouth..." he mumbled. "Take as much as you wanna, just give it back." he stated more assertively.
While she did take one, she did something far more important. She placed the journal on the table. He dared not move a muscle until she spoke. He expected a simple goodbye, but instead she pulled up a chair and asked a simple question.
He was conflicted. It was a detective's honor to keep the secrets; however... it was for a good cause. He moved his arms over to the journal slowly before snatching it back into his hands. He looked back up to her to make sure it was okay- though he would not have listened either way. This book was his. But then carefully, he opened the book.
"I dunno, just some stuff 'bout the headliner and all that." he began to flip the pages in his journal as he went back to the dates. It was all information he did not particularly want to give out, mainly for the sake of his dignity. "I mean, this boy named Leo had me a set a Christmas sweater on fire- rather ugly one at that. Erm.. Lumos makes for a fantastic fire lighting charm if you don't got the time. Owls are pretty scary if you're stuck in a room with 'em after Halloween. Nothin... nothin' that interesting." he remarked.
And partially he was right. It really wasn't that interesting, but to him it was fascinating. He loved getting the little information out of people. It made him feel accomplished in some form of way.
Interacting with @Dealla Prince
Stamina: 7 Evasion: 7 Strength: 5 Wisdom: 6 Arcane Power: 8 Accuracy: 7
13 Apr 2021, 22:28
Journaling Concerns
| _ | By SK | _ |
Teacher energy? Dee's eyebrows shot up, unsure whether to take this as an insult or a compliment. Maybe neither. This boy was doing a good job catching her off-guard, again and again. It didn't seem like he was doing it on purpose, however, the way Dee sometimes tried to throw people off, make them speechless, prove she was superior with nothing but her words. It wasn't that she lied (often), but she sometimes used her honesty as a weapon. He wasn't doing it on purpose, although with a similar effect - more like her friend Aida than herself, she supposed. He just lacked filter, which, admittedly, she sometimes did, too.
"I'll choose to see that as a good thing," she finally replied, the smile still tugging on her lips. That it meant she gave off a sense of authority and intelligence, rather than that she seemed uptight and boring.
Apparently this detective business was the way to finally get him to speak more than just a stammered sentence at a time, and she listened, head tilted slightly to one side, amusement clear on her face. His guess wasn't off, she'd indeed been here studying, but it was a rather obvious one. Studying was why people tended to visit the library, after all, independent of who or when. "That kind of suggests itself, doesn't it?" she asked, lowering her lashes slightly, her eyes intent. "It's going to take a little more to prove you're a detective." Tapping her nose thoughtfully with a finger, Dee paused for a moment, more to draw out suspense than because she really needed to think about it. "How about this, you get two questions to find out why I'm here, studying during break, and what. Or ask anything else, I guess, since apparently I'm so interesting." Turn it into a game, a challenge. It was something she'd respond to, but would he? "Obviously, you can't directly ask why I'm here or what I'm doing. But anything else."
The information about the Hufflepuff common room lit up her face with curiosity. She knew the Ravenclaw's space, obviously, and a fair amount about the Slytherin common room as well, from her father and friends. Although her mother had been in Hufflepuff, her information about the badger house was a lot more sparse. Alexandra was a lot less talkative, and frankly, Dee had always been more interested in Slytherin, the House she'd expected to end up in. And now, she seemed to draw Slytherin acquaintances more than any other House. "Hufflepuff does? That sounds neat. I wish we had something like that. Chocolate whenever I feel like it." She didn't specify who "we" was, but her House should be easy to observe, considering she was wearing school robes. She shook her head at his offer, sticking only to the sherbet lemon. No doubt if she started eating jelly slugs now, she'd feel sick when break ended.
Honestly, she hadn't expected much when she'd asked about the secrets he'd discovered, and much of it didn't sound like much, either, although the Christmas sweater thing might at least be an amusing story. That Lumos could set things on fire was something they'd been told in class - although trying that went hand in hand with the risk of destroying your wand - and yeah, she supposed owls could be scary. The only part that drew her interest was the first thing he'd said: She was part of the Headliner. Did this affect her?
It had her leaning forward slightly, eyes bright with curiosity. "What about the Headliner?"
@Ross Stephens
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
17 Apr 2021, 15:54
Journaling Concerns
"It is!" he hastily interrupted as soon as he saw where the sentence was going.
He could not risk getting on bad terms again, but he was suspecting he never got off them. He had to be on his toes in order to not lose his precious journal once more to the girl with 'teacher energy'. He just had to comply with everything she said until he could find a good escape route and put his thoughts together- yes, of course. He was a genius.
He expected strange demands from her or for her to get tired of him, but shockingly she asked him to play what was a game in Ross' mind. A detective game. Ross at first felt worry melt over him, but to Ross' own surprise he soon felt a mixture of hope and enthusiasm begin to seep in. His expression showed the simple emotion change with a small smile replacing his anxious frown. He adjusted his posture. This was going to be interesting.
"Th0se are some pretty good questions and all that, but I betcha I can think of one better." He confidently stated, bringing a strong juxtaposition to the worry he had been feeling all before.
He knew that if he asked why she was here she could simply screw him over by stating she was there to study. In fact, everything she said would only result in a minor answer. If he got the subject he could at least guess there was a test coming up, but he needed to narrow it down to something better. He rested his cheek on his palm, clearly deep in thought until he perked up- seeming to have a lightbulb moment.
"What's stressful in your life right now? Tests, Homework, Drama and all that." he inquired.
He felt it was ingenious. If this was an escape of sorts, then he could just prove it from that; however, if there was a test coming up or some difficult homework he could easily pinpoint it on a specific class. Of course, that was when his next question would come into play. Ross normally had no thoughts, head empty, but sometimes he had enough braincells and detective knowledge to at least form a decent plan.
So caught up in his own feeling of newfound confidence, he hardly noticed the girl remark about the Hufflepuff common room. He had heard it from multiple people- they all wished that their dorms were a bit more welcoming. Ross could not blame them, though he had only heard stories of what their common rooms were like. He would love to sneak into them at some point, but he knew the cons of doing so. If one failed with the Hufflepuff dormitory, he knew well they would get soaked with liquid. He had to watch quite a few people successfully do it before feeling confident enough to do it himself.
"I mean it's sorta not always great. My tummy always hurts after I eat a lot o' it!" Ross had no self control. "But I betcha ya got loads of great stuff... erm... What is your dorm like?" he inquired, hoping to grasp a bit more of knowledge of it while he could and praying she did not count this as his second question.
Clearly they were just exchanging questions at this point, because she proceeded to inquire him what he had written about the headliner. The answer was truly... nothing. Sure he had a bit jotted down, but it was because he could hardly understand the article. Ross was horrendous at literature, but that was not his fault. It was the fault of the books!
"Nothin' that important. Just... I sorta couldn't understand an article and all that." he settled on as his best explanation.
Interacting with @Dealla Prince
Stamina: 7 Evasion: 7 Strength: 5 Wisdom: 6 Arcane Power: 8 Accuracy: 7
21 Apr 2021, 16:49
Journaling Concerns
| _ | By SK | _ |
Dee snorted slightly when the boy almost fell all over himself to confirm that her teacher energy was a good thing. He was starting to remind her of a puppy - and Dee was not a dog person. Would he be acting differently if she didn't have the journal to wave into his face?
But she did notice the smile appearing on his face at her suggestion of a game, the change in his posture, and it turned her own expression into a slight grin, her eyes brightening up. Finally a reaction she could relate to, something she could work with. Finally a spark of something that indicated a spine. "Hit me," she replied to his declaration, her eyes glittering, anticipatory. Would he impress now?
One of her eyebrows quirked up slightly at his question, her eyes narrowing. "Homework," she replied without hesitation. Last week, it would have been duelling, but she'd won her duel just two days ago, so that pressure had receded into the background - but it had left her terribly behind on assignments in just about all classes. She would have told him that - but he hadn't asked for it. 'Homework' fully answered his question.
Humming slightly when he pointed out the the drawbacks of having candy readily at hand at all times, she nodded. Ravenclaw dorms were pretty - at least the ones for the first two years, she hadn't seen the others yet. "Alioth dorm is great," she agreed. The thought that this could count as his second question didn't even cross her mind - idle chatter about chocolate and dorms weren't part of the challenge she'd posed. "Our dorms are all star constellation themed, they're stunning. We have a reading corner in front of a window, armchairs and a hearth, books. Very cozy. But still, no candy train."
She rolled her eyes at his empty explanation about the Headliner. She'd hoped for a little more detail - or any detail at all, really. Or information. Or anything. "I thought you'd actually found something out," Dee said, disappointed. "I'm part of the Headliner, that might actually have been interesting. Which article was that, anyway?" She didn't ready every article on every issue, but she usually had a good grasp on what they published. At the least, she read the articles that got the attention of the student body. Not that she had all the information behind them.
@Ross Stephens
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."