Are You Quite Alright? PV Nico Closed

Nico sat down on a bench. Singing all by herself, sketchbook on her lap, scarf covering her mouth. A thin pen with black ink, scratched across the paper. She gently bopped her head to the rhythm of the music, ringing in her ears. Her darkred hair gently waving in a passing breeze. It was obvious. Nico was in her zone.

Her iceblue eyes guided her hand, step by step, making a drawing appear. This time she went for a shark. A sandshark she once saw in one of the aquaria she visited with her parents. Back then, Nico would always run around all excited by the many different species and creatures that swam around in the gigantic windows. Sometimes she was loud, other times, she'd sit down and press her face against the glass in awe, completely quiet.

Nico her eyes smiled, the drawing started to move and swim around on the brown sketch paper. It had a mind of its own. She loved that. Carefully, she let her finger slide across the back of the fish, trying not to smudge it. This was one of the reasons that brought her to Hogwarts. Her father had noticed how she could quite literaly bring her art to life. So talented, he'd say. It made her feel warm and fuzzy. It had been awhile since she'd seen her dad. Maybe she should write him soon.

Suddenly, Nico heard something. It... wasn't part of the song she singing. Funk was more her genre. This sound was closer to the genre of heavy metal... And it seemed to become louder and louder. She sat up, looking to her right. A big raven holding some kind of paper flew into her face. 'W-Whoa! What!' Quickly, she used her arms as a shield. The sketchbook fell off the bench, together with Nico losing her balance, landing on her back. The raven screeched and flew down on her head, still holding the paper firmly. Oh. The screeching wasn't just the raven. There was someone else aswell.

Still abit dazed from the fall, Nico pushed herself up, sitting on her knees. Her hand rubbed across her forhead. 'Whoa....' She sighed and looked up at the source of the heavy metal sound. A Gryffindor girl. An angry Gryffindor girl.

That bloody raven. Anastasia was livid, and only becoming more so as she chased the bird around the grounds. She was going to wring that bloody bird's neck when she caught it. And oh, was she going to catch it. She didn't care if she made a fool of herself in front of other students, she was going to catch that damn bird. 

As she spat dirt from her mouth and continued chasing her feathered antagonist, Anastasia vaguely registered that there was a Slytherin girl sitting on a bench, right where she was sprinting to. However, it didn't fully click in her mind until she saw that bloody bird perch on the green robed girl's head. Oh. That was a problem. "Catch that DAMNED bird!" Anastasia yelled at the girl as rubbed her forehead, only damned wasn't the only adjective she applied to the bird. Without waiting much longer for the Slytherin to do anything, Anastasia resumed screaming things at the creature that would make a sailor's ears bleed. 

One thing Anastasia failed to notice in her cursing furious frenzy was a bench. In fact, she didn't even notice the bench until she went flying over it. Right on top of the Slytherin girl and that stupid bird. She managed to grab her essay before the bird flew away. That was better. Her mood began to improve before she remembered she was a complete and utter mess, sprawled on top of some poor Slytherin. Scrabbling off the other girl, she grinned sheepishly and said, "Oh - um, I don't normally do that, my bad." She wasn't sure exactly which part she meant, maybe the whole mess. 

The girl approached fast, like a high speeding car. Crashing right into the bench she just sat on, the Gryffin landed right on top of Nico. 'ACK-!' All the air in her lungs got pushed out, in less than a second. It hurt really bad and scared her...

As quickly as she fell on her, she got up and looked abit puzzled herself. As soon as she did, Nico gasped for air and coughed a few times. 'O-Ouch..' Nico looked up, watching the shadow of the black bird dissapear, together with it's screeching call. What a fuzz...

She sighed and looked at the girl who's dressed in red, who held onto a piece of paper as if her life depended on it. Apparantly, that was what the bird took. 'W-What.. was that?' Nico's gaze went up to the girls face, who was still processing what happened.

Nico rubbed her knees. Her striped stocking was partially ripped because of the wooden bench. She had to get alot of new clothing. Almost her entire outfit needed a serious redo. It made her realise what a clumsy person she really was. If mother had known how weatherd she looked right now, Nico would've certainly been grounded.

Anastasia was victorious against that horrid bird. She thrust a fist in the air, clutching the paper tightly in the other hand and nearly let out a loud whoop in celebration before stopping herself. That would hardly be proper. Then again, running and cursing at a bird was hardly an example of perfect manners. Speaking of, she remembered she had just tackled someone. She should probably try to remedy that right about now. She adjusted herself so that she was sitting beside the other girl instead of on top of her and began to dust herself off and adjust her uniform before speaking. 

"That was a raven," Anastasia said matter of factly as though she hadn't just tackled the poor girl to the ground. "And I'm quite sorry. Are you alright?" She loathed apologizing in general, but even she would admit that an apology was warranted in this case. Depending on how the girl replied, she could go back to her preferred course of action, which was for her snap at the other girl and storm of, or she could continue on her current plan. She supposed she would have to wait and see. "It tried to steal my homework, which I simply couldn't allow." 

Nico picked up her art supplies and shoved them in her leather bag. 'I..I'm fine.' Something about the tone in the girls voice didn't really please her. It sounded... rude. Not paying much mind to it, she got up, ripped stocking and all. After adjusting her scarf, infront of her mouth as usual, she looked up at the Griffyndor. 'Maybe... Running around without paying attention to your surrounds... isn't such a good idea.'

Nico glanced at the overall look of the girl. Her perfectly combed long hair that didn't seem to get tangled after the awkward struggle they just went through. 'But yes... Stealing homework.. Is a no go. Even if it's a bird...' She looked up in the sky where the vile creature once violently screeched. Now all that's left as evidence of its existence, is a single black raven feather on the ground. Nico turned around and kneeled down to pick it up. 'They're smart, gorgeous birds though.' She held it between her fingers, watching the blue reflection in the light. After being entranced by the object, she forgot that she was still conversating with this girl. She turned around quickly. 'S-Sorry.. I easily get distracted by things that spark my interest.'

Anastasia rolled her eyes slightly when the other girl said she should pay better attention to her surroundings. Obviously, nobody behaved like that normally. Had the girl not seen a shouting Gryffindor barreling towards her? Alright, so maybe Anastasia should have thought things through a bit more, but the Slytherin had frozen like a deer in the headlights. She was already in a bad mood because of the damn bird, but this girl's attitude wasn't much helping. Honestly, she wasn't even hurt or anything. Anastasia was further irritated by the girl's sudden complete distraction. Still, the girl did have a point and Anastasia ought to have looked where she was going. "I normally pay far better attention to my surroundings, especially when I'm not chasing a bird, " she said, as though chasing and attempting to tackle a bird was something anyone would do in her situation. It was, right?

"At this particular moment in time, I'm not exactly in a place to appreciate the homework thief's intellect or outward beauty," Anastasia said dryly. The girl wasn't rude or anything, which meant Anastasia oughtn't to be rude either. Pity, seeing as the Gryffindor wanted nothing more than to go and finish her recovered essay and was now stuck making small talk with someone she had just tackled to the ground.

Nico held onto the strap of her bag and tilted her head slightly, keeping an eye on the girl. The redhead supposed chasing a bird was quite unusual, for anyone. She looked up again at the sky, as if she was calculating something in her head. It's a miracle the bird didn't fly off, high in the sky, away from here. Not low to the ground. Was the paper that heavy? She slowely shook her head, getting rid of the rediculous thought.

'A-Ah. Sorry. I suppose we haven't introduced ourselves.' Still weary of the girls sassy attitude, Nico carefully offered her hand to shake. 'Shymane. N-Nico Shymane.' Nico didn't feel a particular need to be around this Gryffindor. She needed new stockings, she was rather fond of them. They were soft, comfy and light. Not to mention, her knee still kinda hurt. 'What's yours?' She stared at the girl, from behind her scarf. Her voice probably sounded abit muffled.

They both probably had stuff to attend. Heck, she probably needed to do this homework she just fetched from the claws of the feathery crow. Maybe even rewrite it since it looked kind of.. ripped and wrinkled. It shouldn't bother Nico, but it did. Who knows how much work she put into it.

Lucky that she got to retrieve it then.

"Anastasia Beckett," the brunette replied, shaking Nico's outstretched hand. Glancing down that the girl's knee, she noticed that her stocking was quite rumpled and she felt rather guilty. She knew that she would be positively livid if someone tackled her to the ground and mussed her stockings, so Anastasia suddenly felt a tad bit more amicable towards this redhead. She bit her lip as she contemplated her next words. She wasn't big on apologies, but it also felt wrong not to say anything. "And I truly am sorry for tackling you."

"What year are you, Nico?" Anastasia asked. She assumed, based on the Slytherin's height and overall demeanor, that she was a first year like Anastasia, but she wanted to clarify that. As she waited for a reply, she made a conscious promise to herself to be at least vaguely pleasant to the other girl. This girl wasn't that most loathsome person that Anastasia had encountered so far, and if she was a first year as Anastasia suspected, then they would be rather stuck in the same place for most of the next seven or so years. In any event, Anastasia had more than enough enemies and could do without a new one if she could help it.