29 May 2022, 12:07
Record time!
Waiting for @Callida Styles to apear.
Nia was not a Seer, but she saw it happen in her mind before it actually did: she was going to fall.
In retrospect, she understood that running down the moving staircase while carrying a pile of books that obstructed her vision was not the smartest decision she’d ever made, but it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. To be completely honest, she had kind of forgotten about the whole moving staircase thing.
So, although she was shocked when the stairs shook and changed directions, she couldn’t say she was surprised. It was just the type of thing that would happen to her.
She fought to maintain balance, trying to compensate her weight from side to side to keep from tipping over, but when the books started falling from her hands, she knew it was over. She lost her footing and made quite the impressive descent down the stairs, rolling around and hitting every single one of her long limbs against walls and railings and steps. The world spun before her eyes at a dizzying speed, and Nia closed her eyes and accepted that all she could do in that situation was wait for it to be over.
One thing was for sure, though. She had reached the Small Hall in record time.
She opened her eyes carefully when she realised she had finally stopped falling, and took a look around. Her books were scattered across the stone floors of the Small Hall, some of them still waiting for her on the stairs.
Nia checked her limbs and found they were all, in fact, still there, before trying to get up from her embarrassing fall. She only hoped nobody had seen it.
However, when she tried to stand on her feet, a strong, sharp pain travelled all the way from her right ankle to the rest of her body, making her whine and sit down.
She was in the middle of trying to curse the stairs with only her glare, when she heard another student’s voice.
| "𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐫-𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬." |
STA:5 | EVA:7 | STR:2 | WIS:6 | AP:7. | ACC:8 | |
29 May 2022, 14:57
Record time!
Callida walked carefully down the staircase heading toward the Small Hall of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, her bag, filled with books from her lessons, slung carelessly over her shoulder. Normally, she wasn't this slow- she had no patience at all, and just hated it when someone took so much time doing something- but as heedless as she was, Callida was not stupid.
Of course, her mother droning on and on about every detail of Hogwarts life to her ever since Callida could understand human language- from the precise color and shape of the Great Hall doors to the tiniest mouse holes at the corner of classrooms- might have helped, but Callida remembered that the staircases of Hogwarts moved.
Therefore, it would be incredibly foolish to rush down, unless your initial goal was to slam face-first into the lovely stones floors- in that case, well done! Mission accomplished!
However, some other students were sadly not as informed as Callida on the whole moving staircases thing. Well, either that, or they wanted to make such a memorable entrance into the Small Hall.
Now, the entire time Callida was not noticed if there was anyone in front of her. She was mainly focused on watching her step. But then, it turned out there was someone in front of her. She probably wouldn't have noticed, but the student in particular kind of made it impossible not to.
It started with something small. As Callida headed down the stairs carefully, a sound caught her attention. It was like- books falling, perhaps? Callida was vaguely concerned by that, but she didn't care enough to look up. Not her business. However, that wasn't where it ended. Barely a few seconds had passed when a louder noise came. It was... A person?
Quickly, Callida tore her gaze away from the stairs, and raised her head to see what on earth was going on. What she saw caught her attention all right.
A person- that was all she could be sure of, because of all the rolling and bumping- was making her way down the staircase, in record time no less. How? Well, the person was kind of rolling down the stairs, bumping into basically everything along the way.
Callida registered all this in a fraction of a second, because the next fraction, she was realizing that the staircase was moving. That's right, moving, which explained the scene in front of her. Poor student with no annoying mum to remind her of stuff.
Her next decision took her another quarter of a second to make. Without even thinking, Callida sprinted down the staircase, throwing her common sense behind her, and at the last possible second, jumped down the staircase, onto solid ground and the Small Hall, her destination. She ducked inside as quickly as she could.
Thank god for good balance, she thought.
Her heart still beating and marveling at her own luck, Callida looked around, and suddenly realized that the unlucky student from earlier was, well, not as lucky as Callida. The student in particular was sitting on the ground some distance away from her, her back to Callida, with all her books scattered around her. Yes, it was a girl. The girl was extremely lanky, maybe a second year, for she was a few inches taller than Callida. Her dark hair was wavy and cut short, almost like a boy. Callida, with some difficulty, resisted the urge to make face. Seriously?
The student then seemingly started to try to stand up, which Callida highly doubted was a good idea. Sure enough, barely had she risen did she whine in pain and sit down. She then proceeded to turn toward the stairs, not moving. Callida assumed she was trying to cure herself by death-to-staircase.
Now, Callida was not doctor, but she was pretty sure that wouldn't work.
To tell the truth, Callida did not want to help. Like, at all. It was this student's fault she came to such a grisly situation, therefore it was her who ought to feel the full effects of her foolishness. And who known? Maybe after a while, someone who actually cared could help her. Nobody would ever know Callida had been here.
Nevertheless, Callida just couldn't resist saying something to this girl. After all, it wasn't every day you got to see someone roll down the stairs. Callida thought that kind of stuff only happened on tv!
'You honestly shouldn't have run down the stairs, you know.' Callida walked a few steps ahead, so that she was in front of the girl. She sighed, and rolled her eyes disapprovingly. 'And now you're in trouble.'
Way to make a good first impression, Callida.Interacting with @Nia Greenwood
30 May 2022, 00:08
Record time!
Nia’s deathly glare left the stairs to fix itself on whoever had made that comment. The critical voice seemed to belong to a girl that was standing in front of her without any visible intentions of helping her get up. She was around Nia’s own age and a Gryffindor, if she had to guess by her uniform, and she seemed to be very done with the situation at hand."You honestly shouldn't have run down the stairs, you know. And now you're in trouble."
As if she'd been the one to fall off the stairs! The girl had rolled her big blue eyes in a judgy gesture that made Nia’s blood boil. There was just no need to be rude, was there? Who did this girl think she was? Had she never heard of the concept of manners?
"Well, yes, I realise that now, thank you very much”, she said in a cutting voice, narrowing her eyes until they were merely slits full of disapproval. “Where were your infinitely observant pearls of wisdom two minutes ago?" Nia asked, rolling her own eyes with a voice that was drenched in sarcasm. Of all the people in Hogwarts that could have seen her fall!
She attempted to get up again as gracefully as possible, this time using the stairs railing as a crutch to take some weight off her injured leg. She slowly managed to stand upright, lifting her right foot to stand only on her left, but she couldn’t really do much appart from that.
No matter how she looked at it, there was just absolutely no way in hell she was gonna be able to walk all the way up the stairs to the third floor, and then go through the corridors that lead to the Hospital Wing on her own. Not when her leg was like this, anyway.
She did not want to ask for help from this girl, though. Her whole body language seemed to scream “I think I’m better than you”, and Nia was not having it. She looked around the Small Hall desperately, trying to find someone else she could ask for help, but the room was completely empty except for the portraits.
She actually did consider asking one of the portraits for help, for a second, but in her experience, portraits weren’t usually very cooperative. And most importantly, they didn’t have legs to help carry her.
She only saw one way out of this one.
She’d have to ask the girl.
She heaved an exasperated sigh to make crystal clear to everyone present that she did not want to be doing this, and swallowed her pride before asking:
“Well? A little help, please? I hurt my ankle, I need to get to the infirmary."
| "𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐫-𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬." |
STA:5 | EVA:7 | STR:2 | WIS:6 | AP:7. | ACC:8 | |
30 May 2022, 06:38
Record time!
The girl stopped trying to kill the staircase with her glare, and she instead fixed her eyes on Callida. "Well, yes, I realize that now, thank you very much”, she said in a cutting voice, narrowing her eyes until they were slits. “Where were your infinitely observant pearls of wisdom two minutes ago?" Nia asked, rolling her own eyes with a voice that was drenched in sarcasm.
Callida smirked. ' That is a good question.' She pretended to be deep in thought, staring at the ceiling and furrowing her brow slightly. 'And I think the answer is...' Callida turned her eyes once again on the girl. 'It was busy making sure their owner didn't roll an impressive roll down the stairs, and at the same time also making sure that their owner would get to see an impressive landing. The pearls of wisdoms' owner was a bit bored just now, you know. And,' she added as an afterthought,' you're welcome.'
The girl then proceeded to try and stand up, and surprisingly succeeded, holding onto the stairs for support. She appeared to think hard about something. Callida tried hard not to smile. There was no way this girl would be able to get out of this situation without her help, and Callida was pretty sure she knew it.
Sure enough, a few moments later, the girl heaved an exasperated sigh. “Well? A little help, please? I hurt my ankle, I need to get to the infirmary."
'Are you sure you ought to be using that tone when asking people for help?' Callida said cheerfully. 'I mean, I don't need to help you. And, sadly, I think I'm your only chance right now, so you might want to watch how you talk to me. I could just leave, you know. I'm very busy.'Interacting with @Nia Greenwood
30 May 2022, 08:23
Record time!
Nia pointedly ignored the comment on where her pearls of wisdom had gone, even though the condescending "you're welcome" had her clenching her teeth to try and contain her temper.
She'd never been great at counting to ten before exploding, but she was doing her best right now not to cause even more of a scene. Even if the girl wasn't making it any easy for her.
However, when the girl – who was still standing there and watching the show like she'd never seen anything more interesting in her life – acted like Nia somehow owed her politeness when all she'd ever done since the beginning of the conversation was be incredibly rude, Nia couldn't help but raise her voice.
"Well, leave then, sweet cheeks! You don't need to help me, but what I don't need is to have to stand your snarky comments top of everything else right now! I'm already having a bad enough day without your contributions", she exclaimed, frustrated by the girl's air of superiority and lack of compassion. She knew that, in reality, if the girl left her there alone she'd be in trouble, but she couldn't care less right now. She'd manage, somehow. Who knows, maybe the stairs would eventually move again and carry her to the third floor without her having to walk.
"I mean, is the bad attitude and lack of empathy a Gryffindor trait, or do you bring that from home? Is this how people raise their kids in the Wizarding World?" she went on, ranting more to herself to let off steam than to actually lecture the girl. Her nanay1 would have hit her with a chancla ages ago if Nia had dared to act this way towards an injured person, did magical kids have no mothers?
"What are you still doing here anyway? You're getting on my nerves." She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. The situation was giving her a headache. "There's easier ways to get my attention, you know."
Reducio
1nanay: mum in tagalog
| "𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐫-𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬." |
STA:5 | EVA:7 | STR:2 | WIS:6 | AP:7. | ACC:8 | |
30 May 2022, 08:43
Record time!
Callida stared at the girl, and blinked. Then, suddenly, she started to laugh- hard. She doubled over, giggling and wheezing, trying hard to catch her breath.
Why was she laughing? Well, Callida was not entirely sure, actually. For some reason, the present situation just seemed rather funny to her. It might have been the furious expression on the girl’s face, or the fact that she used the phrase ‘sweet cheeks’ as an insult. What the heck did that mean anyway? Sounded a bit like something Callida’s grandmother would say. If you wanted to insult somebody, couldn’t you at least use a better word?
She decided not to voice that thought out loud, even though it was so hard.
‘O-ok.’ She chortled, doing her best to speak through her heaving and laughing. ‘Well, then I guess you can stay here and wait for someone else to come along! Or for the staircase to pick you up and send you to the staircase, whichever option happens first!’
She smiled sweetly at the girl, then turned her back on her and her books. Callida started to walk toward the Great Hall, making sure she didn’t look over once or hesitate.
Then, as an afterthought, ‘Good luck!’Interacting with @Nia Greenwood
Last edited by Callida Styles on 30 May 2022, 10:14, edited 1 time in total.
30 May 2022, 09:41
Record time!
"Good luck!"
Nia seethed from her place in the stairs, watching in anger as the terrible girl walked away as if she owned the castle. How could people like that even exist?! She had encountered bullies before, of course, but this complete and utter lack of compassion was new to her! Yes, she hadn't been the nicest she could have been either, but the girl had totally started it! Nia wasn't just going to stand there and take it like a helpless kitten!
"I don't need luck!" Nia called out after the her, although it was a lie. She firmly believed that the universe had a way of getting back to you when you did wrong, and that girl's whole existence was wrong, if you asked her, so she hoped karma would come back for her.
Now, she wasn't one to wish misfortune on others, because unlike other people, she had been raised right. But she couldn't say she'd cry if she somehow, say, broke a nail or two right before a formal event.
She took one more look around the Small Hall in hopes of seeing another student that, with any luck, would have an actually functioning moral compass, but it was still empty. She sighed and resigned to her only option.
Nia eyed the portraits in search of a kind-looking face that would hopefully agree to help her. Some of the painted wizards were asleep by the fire, unbothered by the situation at hand, and some of them were eyeing her with emotions varying from sympathy to annoyance.
She looked at one of the portraits of an old man with kind eyes and a white beard that was sitting in a frame near her, and put on her best puppy eyes.
"Hello, kind sir, so sorry to bother you", said Nia with the soft voice she'd use on her teachers when she wanted to go home earlier, trying to up her chances of the man in the portrait taking pity on her and helping. "Would you mind terribly to go seek Nurse Brumby and tell him I injured myself in the Small Hall? I can't seem to walk on my own."
| "𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐫-𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬." |
STA:5 | EVA:7 | STR:2 | WIS:6 | AP:7. | ACC:8 | |
2 Jun 2022, 02:22
Record time!
As she walked away, Callida heard the girl ask one of the portraits for help. She really wanted to go back to her and tell her that those stupid old portraits were not going to spend even a second of their time helping some random Hogwarts student, but decided against it. She suspected that she’d already annoyed the girl enough.
Of course, Callida wasn’t really going to leave the girl there on her own. What kind of a person would she be if she actually did that? Callida May be infuriating and annoying, but she wasn’t that evil. She just liked to squeeze in a little mocking and have some fun before actually doing the helping part. Hogwarts life was a bit boring, after all, and she couldn’t pass up any chance of making it slightly less boring.
But Callida had had enough fun this time. It had been a lovely encounter, and now was the time to move on to the less lovely part: the helping.
Sighing, a small smile still on her lips, she turned back around, and stopped at the girl’s side. She held out a hand. ‘Just kidding. I’m not really gonna just leave you here. C’mon.’
‘Just to make it clear, though,’ Callida added. ‘I’m not gonna lend a handin picking up those books. Those are your problem. I’m just helping the person!’Interacting @Nia Greenwood
3 Jun 2022, 18:19
Record time!
| DATE: xx/xx/xx | TIME: xx:xx | PLACE: Small Hall |
✧
‘Just kidding. I’m not really gonna just leave you here. C’mon.’
Nia heard the voice of the terrible girl come back to her, still full of mirth but now with a less mean edge to its ring. She was offering to help now? After that fight? Nia directed her a look full of suspicion. She didn't trust this girl suddenly being nice. Okay, yes, she had said she wouldn’t help her with the books, but Nia still couldn’t help but stare at her in disbelief as she held out a hand to her.
“As if!”, Nia thought. It was probably just some strategy to drop her on the way and make her fall again, anyway!
But the small on her lips, although amused, did seem genuine, Nia thought.
She was still pondering in her mind whether she should trust the girl or not, when her impulsive mouth spoke before she could even finish thinking.
“Well, I don’t know if I want your help now!”, she blurted out, and as soon as she noticed what she had said, she grabbed the girl’s outstretched hand in a fast, panicked movement, trying to cling on to her before she could react and retract her offer.
Pride was all well and good, but one had to know when giving up would bring greater benefits, and this was definitely one of those cases, so she swallowed her pride and accepted the help.
Well, she swallowed almost all of her pride.
“This doesn’t mean I like you, by the way. I’m just... gracefully accepting the help you offered to bring. You’re still quite an annoying little thing, you know that?”, she added, unable to hold it back even as she draped her arm around the girl’s shoulder for support. “Little thing” was probably an inaccurate description of the girl, as she was only a couple of inches shorter than Nia, and so still pretty tall for her age. But Nia had inherited her father’s giraffe genes, so to her, most kids her age were sort of short.
“Anyway, who gives a damn about those books! It’s their fault I fell”, she scoffed, regarding her scattered books, even though it absolutely was not their fault she had fallen. She was not gonna blame herself. “They can pick themselves up if they want, isn’t this a magic school anyway?”
She was sure there had to be some sort of spell for that. Too bad she hadn’t learnt it yet.
✧
ACTIONS: Nia reluctantly accepts help from Callida.
INTERACTING WITH: @Callida Styles
MENTIONING: x
| "𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐫-𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬." |
STA:5 | EVA:7 | STR:2 | WIS:6 | AP:7. | ACC:8 | |
3 Jul 2022, 08:49
Record time!
The girl shot Callida a suspicious look(not that she could blame her). She seemed to be pondering to trust her or not. Callida rolled her eyes. This was just a waste of time. It wasn’t like there was anyone else around, so unless the girl suddenly sprouted wings, her options were pretty limited.
‘Well, I don’t know if I want your help now!’
Callida barely had time to open her mouth for a snarky retort- ‘Well, then good luck with flying to the hospital wing!’- when the girl shot out her hand and grabbed onto Callida so fast, she almost fell.
Callida steadied herself. The girl continued, ‘This doesn’t mean I like you, by the way. I’m just... gracefully accepting the help you offered to bring. You’re still quite an annoying little thing, you know that?’
As she spoke, the girl draped an arm around Callida’s shoulders. Callida rolled her eyes again, a smile making its way onto her lips again. Then, quick as a flash, she stepped aside, so that the girl would most likely fall. She doubted she could get hurt any worse, anyway.
‘Well, ‘she crossed her arms, ‘it just so happens that this ‘annoying little thing’ has decided that she really doesn’t want to help a lanky little giraffe anymore. ‘
To tell the truth, Callida was getting kind of tired of this, and was ready to help the girl to the Hospital Wind. But, she was not going to tolerate being called an ‘annoying little thing’.Interacting with@Nia Greenwood