Hufflepuff Study Stress pv Isadora Everridge Finished

"That's really sad, actually."

Tesla's reaction to her admission makes Dora feel even more self-conscious than before. Dora understands Tesla probably didn't mean to hurt her feelings, she seems too nice for that. But even Tesla can't hide her reaction to how strange Dora is, and looks at her with something like pity. Dora hates that look.

Tesla seems to understand that she said something insensitive, winces and tries to amend her statement. Dora just nods along politely, accepting the apology and hoping to quickly move on from this mistake of a conversation. "It's fine." She says, and moves to resume her studies.

"I think I have an idea!" Tesla interjects, pushing her chair back clumsily and standing up. Dora raises an eyebrow as Tesla looks around conspicuously. "What-?"

"Okay!" She says energetically, "I want you to just say the word and do the movement, no concentration on what you want to see, and I'll dance for it!" Dora's jaw drops. Her first instinct is to quietly protest, tell Tesla that it's fine and she can sit down. But Tesla is waiting for her to agree, looking at her with an excited grin. If Dora says no, she might offend Tesla somehow. This may seem unorthodox, but refusing the help that she asked for would be downright cold. And the longer she keeps Tesla standing there the more embarrassed the other girl looks.

Dora sighs slightly, then hesitantly lifts her quill. "Alright..." Tesla brightens and gives a nod of confirmation, waiting for Dora to "enchant" her.

Dora waves the quill at Tesla and pronounces the spell as she practiced it. "Tarantallegra."

She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't this. As soon as Dora had pretended to spell Tesla, the blonde girl got a cheeky grin on her face and raised her arms. She begins to dance, singing an odd little ditty under her breath as she first moves her fingers like a mouth opening and closing. Then she flaps her arms like wings, and does this little twisty wiggle before clapping four times. The first clap is unexpectedly loud, earning some weird looks from people around. Dora watches with wide eyes as Tesla completely ignores them, continuing to dance like a bird for all to see. After repeating the moves several times, Tesla does a big ending pose. "Tada~!"

"Shhh!!" A disgruntled student gives Tesla a nasty look, to which she chuckles sheepishly and sits back down.

Dora's lost for words to say. Instead, a small smile creeps onto her face and she lets out a quiet, breathy laugh. "That was ridiculous." She says. "Thank you."

The smiles remains on Dora's face for a brief few seconds before she clears her throat and regains her composure. Even then, one might spot the trace of a smile in the way her eyes shine a little brighter. The way Tesla puppets her hand like a chicken threatens to tug the smile back on her face. "If you ever need help learning any more we'd be happy to help. Maybe some other time though, I think I've made them mad enough."

Dora nods, cringing slightly at the disturbance they'd caused. "Yes, that's probably for the best." Though there were no more eyes glancing their way, Dora still felt guilty for interrupting her peers. And even more guilty for enjoying it!

Tesla adjusts her red bandana, and Dora absentmindedly notes that she's worn one on her wrist whenever Dora's seen her. Perhaps it's a country fashion. It would be hypocritical to judge what others wear, what with Dora's own wardrobe largely controlled by her grandmother. Every so often, someone will comment on how old-fashioned she dresses, and it always bothers Dora. So, even if she's a little curious, she doesn't intend to comment on what Tesla wears in case she feels the same way.

"This was a lot of fun! We should study together more often. Maybe I can even convince you to learn the age-old chicken dance with me in the dorm sometime!" Dora shakes her head. "No, no, I don't think I would be any good at that. I'm an awful dancer." She admits, not feeling as self-conscious as before, "But... if you should ever want a study partner, I'd be happy to oblige."

Conscious of how much noise they'd made in the library thus far, Dora nods and returns to her work quietly. She closes the Charms book and finds another subject to study, and Tesla settles down with her own work.

She can't figure out how it happened, but somehow, she may have made a friend. She knows if she thinks about it too much, she'll just work herself into a worry over her family's expectations and her own inadequacies, and then she won't be able to focus on her studies. Instead, she indulges in the nice feeling she has from being near Tesla, letting it calm her as she continues to read for some time.

Reducio

I think this is a good place to end it, just leaving them and their thoughts as they get back to studying. You can mark the thread Finished if you like. It was fun to rp!