Four, Five Seconds & Stress open Closed

Continued from this solo thread

Needless to say, today wasn't going so well for Felix. It seemed that he had underestimated the struggles an insignificant first year would undergo whilst fighting their way onto the Hogwarts express. He pushed his way past people, hauling his trunk along with him with his left hand. It wasn't long before he collided with a passing student, causing him to stumble before catching himself last minute. Oh, how horribly hard this was without a parent around. How he hated his father for abandoning him on the other side of the platform and leaving his son to drag his trunk alone to the carriages. Although he couldnt slip the blame solely onto his father. Perhaps Felix should have packed less books, or maybe fewer clothes, for he found himself regretting the unnecessary weight he had piled into his trunk last minute, in his perfectionist panic of forgetting anything.

Letting his trunk drop to the floor, he fumed silently before kicking the back of his trunk in a way to vent out his frustration. It was unfortunate enough that he had injured himself a few days before term was to start, a sprain on his right wrist meant his struggle was more apparent than it usually would have been. He cradled his bandaged right hand with caution, turning it over to check it hadn't swollen up again. Running hand through his hair, he bent down to retie his undone shoelaces. it was certainly not Felix to lack composure and be so untidy, after all didn't he pride himself on his perfection? Standing up straight, he glanced in the window of the train to admire his reflection. After confirming that he was still looking dashingly handsome, he composed himself and grasped the end of his trunk with his left hand, his right hand being no apparent use in its weak state. Just as sweat beads began to form on his forehead, he heard a voice speak up behind him. Bubbly sweet, honey-like tones floated their way towards him. He snapped his head up to find a girl standing there, a small, helpful smile apparent on her face. She looked like a fellow first year, though Felix might not have been sure.

“Need a hand?”

“No.” He snapped harshly, on reflex. “I certainly don't need your help.”

It was quite obvious that he did need help at this point and so he was being undoubtedly foolish by rejecting her kind request. His right hand was now throbbing painfully and it took everything not to wince in pain as he shifted it behind his back, covering the bandages hand from the girl's view.

“Get out of my way so that I can get on.”

Undoubtedly rude of him he must say. His outburst was most likely the offspring of his harboured frustration that had been bubbling near the surface all day. It would have been easier to let her help. After all, there was not much time left until the train left, and she was undoubtedly pretty. Maybe he should have made an effort to be nicer. Frowning, he made a move to sweep past her, whether or not she would persist to help him, or let him pass, he wouldn't know.

─────Though her view of him was compromised as he pulled at his trunk, it wasn’t hard to tell that the boy was her age. A year older at most. Her eyes surveyed the path leading to the platform’s archway entrance in search of a parent or other patron of sorts, but there was nobody in sight. The soil marking the ground was the only trace left by all those that had passed through for the day. Jackie’s brows corrugated further, puzzled as to why anyone would leave someone of his size to tote a hefty luggage around by himself.

Polished and poised though he may be, he was still inferior to the weight of his trunk that he -for whatever reason beyond Jackie- was attempting to pull with a single hand. She nearly made an uninvited move for it until a rough ‘no’ sounded, halting her mid-reach.

Her head jerked back the fraction of an inch at the curt dismissal. For someone that huffed and puffed loud enough to lure her out of the train, the boy certainly seemed adamant to stand on his own two feet. That he still managed to be unnervingly graceful in his slight didn’t help either.

‘‘No…?’’ She repeated, incredulously, outstretched fingers balling back into a fist. Jackie could’ve almost laughed at the awkwardness of it all, if she wasn’t recoiling internally at the offense, analysing the boy’s face for any indication that she somehow misunderstood his obvious opposition.

‘I certainly don't need your help.’

And he certainly wasted no time disproving her doubts. Her gaze dropped down to his arm to regard the sudden shift, which she misinterpreted as a prideful posture with nothing else to suggest otherwise, and so she folded her arms defiantly. ‘‘Oh, so you’re not sweating from exertion then,’’ she began with a falsity of enlightenment, her visage brightening in turn as she continued with lighthearted sarcasm. ‘‘Let me guess, you’re just glistening for a radiant effect, right?’’

Billows of smoke erupted from the train, and Jackie took the briefest moment to notice it, realizing how time was sparse. And yet, she had half a mind to take a front row seat on the steps, to watch the boy figure it out on his own.

‘‘You’re struggling just to drag it down a straight path, how do you expect to lift it up the steps?’’ She countered critically.

-Backdated-
Date: 1st September
Time: Morning

Hearing her words, Felix halted his advance onto the train, a few steps closer to the girl. In fact he was close enough to analyse the fact that her visage was alight with light sarcasm, and that, as rude as he had been, she still seemed curious enough to not turn her back and walk away.

‘Let me guess, you’re just glistening for a radiant effect, right?’’

He might have let himself grin at her witty remark, however due to his sour mood, his mouth only twitched slightly, his eyebrows furrowing as he stood upright and looked her up and down, crossing his arms. He was maybe a head taller than her, Felix had always been quite tall for his age. Still, the girls determination made him falter in the slightest and he gave an impatient huff of frustration, opening his mouth to answer her.

‘‘You’re struggling just to drag it down a straight path, how do you expect to lift it up the steps?’’ She countered critically.

A sharp glare in her direction. Struggling? Oh what a way to make him seem pathetic. He doubted she'd tossed her trunk into the carriage without a problem at all. Hadnt she had trouble with hers? Why wasnt she sweating, or frustrated or- ahhh he had forgotten that other children had such kindly parents. How ignorant of him.

He batted his eyelashes and leant towards her mockingly;

"Oh I do seem to shine quite radiantly dont I?" He mocked, sweeping his hair back before turning to look at her. He brought forward his left hand, still heavily bandaged so that the only thing visible was the tips of his fingers.

"You see this darling,-" he gestured to his right hand, leaning towards her with a smirk "This is the cause of my trouble."

He gave a wry smile before dropping his trunk before him and stepping back, gesturing for her to pick up the other side.

"Here we go then, two together should be quicker I suppose."

And without another word, he kicked the end of his trunk and raised a brow at her, wondering if she would follow up her request to help him at all.

─────Jacqueline swallowed to soothe the fit of chuckles threatening to spill out of her at his theatrics, however satirical.‘‘Quite indeed, almost as if you intended to blind the rest of us with your glorious glow.’’ A faint but taut smile tugged at her lips after she mirrored his tone. Yet, in spite of herself, Jackie discovered a small amount of comfort in the jabs, a surprising feat for someone that had spent an entire summer scowling and mutely moping about, when she wasn’t defying her grandparents.

It was almost an itch, the urge to toss a remark correlating his injury with his attitude, but Jacqueline released an exhale through her nose instead, and with it her reservations dissipated gradually.

It must have been inconvenient enough to have an injured hand hindering his capability to carry the trunk, and even more aggravating to not have a parent around to help. Her grandfather, awful as he may be otherwise, couldn’t be discredited of the decency he’d shown, by seeing to it that she’d get on the train without problems.

‘‘I can’t even imagine how you’ve brought it this far on your own, being impaired.’’ And although she wondered about it, Jackie decided not to probe about where his parents were and why on earth they expected him to manage alone, in his condition.

"Here we go then, two together should be quicker I suppose."

Hands on her hips, Jackie observed how expectantly the boy began gesturing for her to grab what he deemed her side of the trunk. She glared. At him, then at the trunk, and then back up at him and wrinkled her nose out of mild irritation at his erratic behavior. First it was ‘no’ and now it was ‘get to it then’, she ought to retreat to find a compartment in the train, and leave him to his own devices, Jackie thought.

But she did offer first, regardless of the outcome, therefore she had to follow through, didn’t she?

Crouching, Jackie grabbed her end of the trunk and lifted with surprising effort. Huffing, there was a glimmer of alarm in her eyes as she looked at the boy. ‘‘Are you sure the issue was just your hand?’’ She could’ve nearly sworn the trunk outweighed the two of them put together.

It was a blessing to have such an intuitive mind. To be able to get a good idea of people's feelings with as much as a swift glance came with such fortunes. Although, not everyone was born with such a talent. Felix had gained such an ability to practically read minds from testing situations around him. Aside from family issues, his sisters may have been a contributing factor to such an excellent insight. Felix had initially found it horribly confusing to decipher girls feelings. Being the only young boy in the house came with the struggle of dealing with women's emotions. Figuring out what simple straightforward words like ‘fine’ had really meant, resulted in his brain being trained to do such things.

Now regardless of how cold, rude, or off-handedly careless he looked from the exterior, Felix might, no, maybe care about other people's feelings. Just a little, but enough to still pick up alot from a simple expression or mannerism.

Felix could almost sense the curiosity radiating off the girl as her gaze swept across his hand. Was she wondering what had happened? Or where his parents were? Well that was just great. He hardly wanted people judging him on the first day. Best to stir the conversation as far away from parents as it gets.

‘‘I can’t even imagine how you’ve brought it this far on your own, being impaired.’’

He gave an awkward shift, and a bout of anger crossed his eyes as his fathers yells echoed in his ears. Shutting down such thoughts, he swiftly bent down to pick up the end of his trunk, his eyes still glittering with what seemed to be cold malice.

He temporarily forgot about the girl, who was standing there, having hauled her share of the trunk into her grasp. How long had he been glaring at practically nothing? The train was about to leave. He barely noticed her reproachful glare as she eyed his trunk, or the scrunch of her nose. It was the flash of alarm in her gaze that caught his attention.

‘‘Are you sure the issue was just your hand?’’

He gave a begrudged shrug, hauling his side of the trunk onto the train and shutting the train door. The unnaturally heavy weight of his trunk was most likely due to the extra ten or twelve books he had crammed into the top last minute. Or maybe it was his moving model of the galaxy that he hadn't been able to resist buying, or perhaps his set of gobstones…..

Letting his side of the trunk fall to the ground again, he gestured to the girl before him to drop hers. Now what. Did she expect him to come sit with her? There were hardly any compartments left, maybe their only option was to share. It was most likely she didn't, and he didn't want to either. A nice lovely compartment to himself was what he needed. Hadn't he had too much social interaction for the day? He hardly knew the girl and the last thing Felix wanted was to have to socially interact with the opposite gender. What a nightmare, she seemed quite assertive, he'd never be able to get along with her. Did he even want to make an effort to have lovely friends in hogwarts? He might do that later...for now though…

“Right, you can let go. I'm off.”

He didnt bother slipping in a word of thanks. 'Thank you's' were for friendly acquaintances only. Felix didn't even know the girls name. Since her request on the platform, hed become a little too obliging for his liking, most unlike him to be so talkative. He had been so nice to her a second ago, but now was the time to establish a distance, he didn't want to be on friendly terms with too many annoying people.

He gave a sharp glare in her direction before turning swiftly on his heel and dragging his trunk down the hall to find a compartment that wasn't packed with people, a subtle expression of haughtiness dancing lightly across his features.

A/N: Ahhh, I apologise for my stupid bbs rude behavior. I have no problem with Jacqueline's curious behavior at all! Do feel free to run after Felix and shout at him until he gives you a word of thanks. Hes has no sense of courtesy Of course, nothing against Jacqueline at all. It's just that Felix lacks sufficient, kindly social skills.

─────Throughout the time she’d spent with her grandparents thus far, not once had Jackie put her strength to the test since the incident. But in that moment, with what felt like an overfilled trunk in her grasp, she could tell she was slacking excessively. And a burst of sheer will swept in to compensate for what she lacked in physical strength. Her breath hitched as the young wixen hauled ass, ushered forward by the last whistle crescendoing warningly.

The force with which the other side of the trunk landed on the ground caused a mild reverberation in tune with the lurch of the train that began moving and Jackie staggered momentarily, supporting her side of the trunk with one hand, and using the now vacant one to catch herself against the edge of a corridor’s archway.

“Right, you can let go. I'm off.”

Her eyes drifted to the boy who, unsurprisingly, seemed unphased by the ordeal and Jackie couldn’t but ponder further on her enfeebled state. The aim in resting after exertion or accidents was to gather lost strength, and she had seen to it to rarely crawl out of her room at the manor during her stay. Yet there she was, swallowing down a breath of air to hold captive in her lungs, as she faced the impertinence of the boy with a poised mask, unwilling to display her fatigue.

He possessed an air of condescension that filled the train’s narrow entrance hall, so much that she might have squirmed with discomfort, if she wasn’t adamant to maintain her pretense of nonchalance.

The trunk slipped from her moist palm with a light thud and Jackie arched an expectant brow at him. He’d already set a boundary, and she was more than willing to oblige him in that matter; she might have spent another day with her grandparents if she had the tolerance for such ‘holier-than-thou’ sentiments.

Her judgment of him could be far off, though. Perhaps there were various factors that prompted his behavior, but with her oxygen level depleting and her patience thinning, Jacqueline couldn’t bother to give the benefit of doubt, moreso where it wasn’t due. Instead, she leveled a cool stare at the intense glare sent her way and waited for him to depart first. And rather than go on a quest for a compartment as well, Jackie exhaled heavily, pushed her own deserted trunk against a wall and sat down to sate her neglected lungs.

With the amount of kids she’d witnessed earlier, the chances of finding an empty, private compartment for much needed seclusion were slim to none, and she decided to evade the possibility of more hostile company.

First her scathingly pompous grandparents, now this kid. If all wixen turned out to be as haughty as they, reclusion certainly would equate to a life of bliss for the young witch.

Notes: Aww, no worries at all. Though Jackie doesn't share the sentiment, I find Felix quite entertaining actually! It's unlikely for her to demand the gratitude in this scenario though, but I wouldn't mind if Felix decides to make u-turn for whatever reason.

Edit; additionally, this is open to anyone else that might want to pass by/ join!