Studying (And Other Shenanigans) Private

Charlotte ran ian into the library, slightly out of breath, nearly running into her seat as compared to sitting in it. She gave a weak smile, and looked into Catriona's direction, her eyes apologetic.
"Sorry I'm late, turns out the girls in our house don't like jokin' around very much, scared of fire, they are," She rolled her eyes but continued, "Too much of boys trouble to be messin' around in the dormitories," She mocked their voices in a dumb high pitched voice, leaning back into her chair and pulling her books out. "Nearly got me arse beat... not that they would've won or anythin'" She muttered, flicking her hair out of her face.
What had happened was, Charlotte was messing around in the dormitories, playing with the last pack of matches she had left, and reading. She wasn't setting anything on fire (although she thought it would be funny, she'd rather not risk getting kicked out.) she was just lighting them and blowing them out. She did it frequently, mostly to relieve anxiety. But then a few of the girls walked in, watching her light the match, and freaked out over it, most likely thinking she was going to set the book she was reading on fire. So, they blew out the match and pushed her off the bed, landing with a thud. Looking up at them, she was fuming, she stood up and demanded an answer for 'why the fook they did that' to which they looked at her like she was stupid. As she didn't know how to resolve situations very much, she asked again... and well, the situation escalated. So now she was here.

Charlotte then noticed the both of them, seizing her movements and raising her eyebrow.
"What're the two of ye up to," She smirked slightly, leaning in a bit towards them. She had the feeling that they were up to no good. She seemed like she was a charm for trouble, but it was all welcome in her eyes.

@Gem Stuart
@Charlotte Marie Mahr

Catriona nodded. "Yes, I'm glad I have classes with you too. I'm not sure what I'd do if I didn't have a friend in my classes." She was surprised to hear that Gem did the same thing as she had when he was a child. Perhaps she'd found a kindred spirit. Her father was always talking about those. Catriona had trouble believing her mother and father were "kindred spirits," but what did she know.


Gem nudged her startling her out of her thoughts, and Catriona turned, watching the troublemakers.
 They were grabbing books off the shelves and stuffing them haphazardly in the wrong places. Something about it made Catriona's skin itch. She was sure their hands weren't even clean.

"Aye, don't yell at em' yet, do you have a rubber band wiv ya? Unless you want to do it, but how god is yer aim?"

Catriona grinned wickedly. "You're lucky I have long hair," she said, taking out her hair tie with a flourish. She'd been too lazy to grab an actual hair tie that morning, opting instead to use a rubber band. The pain of taking it out, however, was well worth the satisfaction of watching the troublemakers get what was coming to them. She turned and dropped it into Gem's hand.

"Sorry I'm late, turns out the girls in our house don't like jokin' around very much, scared of fire, they are. Too much of boys trouble to be messin' around in the dormitories. Nearly got me arse beat... not that they would've won or anythin'"


Catriona smiled at Charlotte. "Good to see you too, Charlotte. Glad your arse wasn't beat. We're..." Catriona paused. "...studying."

Gem was quick to hush Charlotte when she spoke up-- he'd ask about her tousle with the girls in the dormitory when he was done. He nodded his head to Catriona in a silent thanks, and with very careful precision, made a slingshot with his index finger. He closed up one eye so he'd get a better shot, and with a snap, he hit one of the kids on the back of the head. When it seemed to have been enough to get their attention, Gem glanced at Charlotte and Catriona, then back over at them with a big, round smirk on his cheeks.

"Oi mate, why don't yeh put those books back where ye found em' before the librarian finds out, aye?" He didn't know he was capable of having a mouth on him, not that that was considered witty at all, but it brought him great pleasure to see them dumbfounded. It didn't last very long, since they sneered and shook his words off with ease.

"Oh, bugger off, man." And there they went, right back to misplacing the books so it'd be greatly difficult for any student to find them. Really? What was the actual point of that other than to be a dickhead? Gem frowned pointedly, looking back over at his two companions.
"Well, we can either sic Charlotte on them or keep shootin' rubber bands until it hurts so mooch they've either got to come here and beat us and get in trouble or... stop." He sniffed, reaching into his bag to pull out one of those balls made of rubber bands. "Cos I'm quite loaded for plan b." He wasn't sure why he didn't just take a rubber band from his bag in the first place, but that was another question for another day. Right now, they were about to cause another world war.

Catriona watched the troublemakers warily as Gem shot her rubber band at them. It connected with a snap, hitting one of the kids on the back of their head. She found herself grinning at Gem, despite her original misgivings about pissing off the troublemakers.

"Oi mate, why don't yeh put those books back where ye found em' before the librarian finds out, aye?"

Catriona almost laughed at the shock on the idiots' faces. It was like seeing all of those dimwits who'd ever thought to tease her before being put in their place. And it felt good.

"Oh, bugger off, man."

She frowned. She could understand the rationale behind many things, including pranks (though she thought them a waste of time), sneaking out, and other shenanigans, but causing trouble just to inconvenience others was something she couldn't stand for. "Plan B it is then."

Not saying another word, Catriona grabbed one of the rubber bands from ball and aimed it at one of them. She bit her lip in concentration, stretching the band farther and farther. And then she let go.

The rubber band whizzed through the air, hitting one of the bigger idiots (a burly looking boy) on the nape of his neck. He turned, anger visible in his eyes. "Who threw the bloody rubber band?" He held it up between his thumb and forefinger like an especially disgusting bug. "Which one of you bastards threw this?"

Well, her mother did want her to stand up for herself, and she sure wasn't going to throw Charlotte or Gem under the bus... She wasn't stupid, she knew someone had to take the blame. Catriona sure as hell wasn't going to let that person be Gem or Charlotte (though she was sure they could handle themselves). If she could choose, it would be her. After all, it had been her to shoot the rubber band. At least she could insult them on her way down. "Oh sorry, was I disturbing you?" she started, her voice nauseatingly sweet like an overripe banana. "You seemed rather intent on your mission to destroy the Dewey Decimal System." This was a really, really, really stupid decision. "Also, we didn't throw the band. Maybe if you had an ounce of intelligence in that peanut you call a brain you would know that." It was official. Catriona was going to die and it would be her own fault.

Gem was, well, shocked. Not super shocked, but shocked enough for his eyes to widen and for him to have to double-take to make sure that Catriona was the person that was saying that. Fucking brilliant, he thought, putting his elbows up on the table, his cheeks in his palms.

"Right, so you've got mouth on you, then?" The seemingly elder one barked, clutching the rubber band in his fists. His face grossed Gem out, the way his eyebrows folded up and his nose bulged under the light. If he was looking for a fight, then he'd get one. Gem glanced at Catriona, Charlotte, and then over at him. He'd made his way over to the table, the smaller one looking like a deer in headlights over this situation-- Gem couldn't blame him, he was quite scared himself.

"Don't touch her, you fuckinh-... you fuckin' pig." Gem's voice came out particularly weak, having lost his breath towards the end of his sentence. He was so gonna get it, it was easier to forgive giving a boy a Glasgow kiss than a girl. Well, if it was so that Catriona wouldn't get the wind knocked out of her, he'd keep going. "Get the hell outta here, yeh fuckin' cock-knocker."

He didn't exactly remember how he managed to get pulled out of his seat and held in a headlock, but that's exactly what was happening right now. He tried to pry the guy's vice grip off his throat, but that was proven difficult, seeing as he couldn't.

"Why don't yew apologize, huh? Apologize!"
"No-"
"Right then, why don't you admit you're gay?"
"Fine, I'm gay. I'm very gay-"
"And admit that your friend over here is a slut?"
"No."

Gem knew good and well that he was referring to Catriona, but there was no way he was going there.

"Admit it, gay boy!"
"No!"

Eventually, he was let go. By the mercy of God, he imagined, but the gorilla was still there, huffing at him disgustingly.

"I'll leave yeh alone... only if you admit she's a slut."

There was a tense silence that followed. He could either spare his own life and not get his body broken, or he could defend the honor of his best friend. He opted for the second one.

"Why don't you go fuck yourself? You fuckin'... big gay."

Again, there was another area of time where he was completely knocked out, and left there, leaning back on his seat, slumped forwards on the floor. The two boys had already skipped off to wherever, leaving the three first years alone.

"I was seriously overbalanced. It was just luck. I’m going to get him so bad for that. I’m going to bring him so much pain." He stopped, reaching over to touch the blood running down his nose. He held it out to show the two girls, blinking up at them like he'd just been punched in the face-- which was exactly what happened. "Blood."

"Right, so you've got mouth on you, then?"

Catriona couldn't breathe. Fear was clogging up her throat, thick and heavy like molasses. But beneath that, she could feel anger. Anger simmering like something waiting to explode. She wanted to move, but somehow she was paralyzed. She'd dealt with this before, she could do something, she needed to do something--

The bastard punched him.

Catriona thought she'd known what anger was, but she was wrong. This was something dangerous. Something cold, slithering, dark. It was a writing mass of hatred, an amalgam of every bit of fury she'd ever felt, pressed into a cold hard ball of ice. She was going to burn them.

But first, she needed to fix this. If there was one thing she was good at, it was fixing wounds.

It was a blow to the nose, so Gem's eyes would probably start swelling soon. Fluid collection. His nose didn't look broken, which was good, but she would have to check that before knowing for certain. She didn't think it was serious, as long as he didn't have a concussion. Some ice would do him good, though.

Catriona bent forward to better examine Gem. His nose was bleeding alright, but it wasn't crooked or swollen. "Your nose doesn't look broken. It's just bleeding. I'm going to need you to lean forward. If you feel blood in your throat or mouth, spit it out." She rummaged in her pocket, pulling out a handkerchief. Thank god for being Rich and Proper. "Blow into this. It'll get the blood clots out. I'll ask you some questions after. Just to make sure you don't have a concussion. Then we'll get you to the Hospital Wing."

She shook her head. "I'm... I'm sorry. And, thank you." She paused before leaning in to hug him, careful not to jostle any of his wounds.

Gem was already tasting blood in his mouth, pinching his nose with a painful squeeze to prevent it from running down his jaw. He swallowed, staring at Catriona, completely dumbfounded. He took the handkerchief, blowing into it weakly as to not make any noise. He smiled at her awkwardly, wiping the blood from under his nose.

"My face feels broken," he groaned, pulling his knees up to his chest. "I haven't got a concussion, but his fists... joost like a gorilla's, I swear." He swallowed again, cringing when he tasted the warm, salty blood move down his tongue and slide down his throat. If there was a feeling worse than this, he'd love to know what it was. He'd never gotten punched in the face before, except for those times that Charlotte went ham on him, but that was different. This was testosterone-filled, fat, thick fists being pummeled into his face. He sat up a bit, only to be pushed down again with a hug. He returned it a bit awkwardly, his fingers pressing into her cardigan, locking his fists around the cloth.

"It wasn't you, it wos joost luck, like I said. I'd rather it happen ta me than to you, you know." He smiled, much smaller since it kind of hurt to, but that didn't keep him from feeling fondly towards the hug. It was his idea anyways, she had nothing to be sorry for.

@Catriona Staverly
@Gem Stuart

Charlotte wanted to stand up and and beat the shit out of the guy holding his cousin. She was about to go rabid... But she knew they weren't going to maim him. Most people have mercy on... well... puny kids like Gem. Honestly, she was nearly vibrating and foaming at the mouth. It took more than her own self control to not kill those boys. She was gripping at the corner of the table, her nails almost digging into it. There was fury running through her whole body, but for some reason she was paralyzed

Charlotte stared at the situation at hand. She had no idea why he thought it would be a good idea to get in a fight with guys like these. Not even she would do that. She honestly wanted to laugh, but she wouldn't embarrass her cousin like that. She squatted down to his level and patted his head. "I'm sure you could have, bud," Charlotte noticed a pattern with Gem; Gem says something, person who gets told off gets mad, person beats up Gem, Gem says he could've won if he weren't off guard, the cycle continues.

While watching Catriona fix Gem up, she started to actually process what happened. "...Big gay?" She started giggling, placing a hand over her mouth. She didn't understand why Gem had thought it was a good idea to even talk. Stifling her laughter, she looked down at him, feeling really bad for him. She of all people would know how much that hurt. Charlotte looked the exchange and smiled sadly, her eyebrows furrowing together.
"I am so sorry. I can beat 'em up for ye. Like, majorly... they'll be dead." She looked between the two of them.

Catriona smiled sadly at Gem. "I'm still sorry it happened." She straightened. "I can help with that. We can break the bones based on most to least painful. Clavicle first, those are pretty easy. Or we could set fire to their stuff." She sighed, flopping down onto one of their discarded chairs. She picked up one of her spare quills, tapping it against the table restlessly. "So much for study group. But don't worry. As soon as I learn Incendio..." Catriona snapped her fingers. "They'll be gone, quick as a wink."

She wasn't joking either. Between her and Charlotte, she could probably pick them off, one by one, until they were all begging for mercy. Her quill split with a snap. She hadn't even realized she was gripping it.

All of this just reminded her of those idiots back home. She squeezed her eyes shut and banished that thought from her head.

She needed to do something, to leave the library before the anger suffocated her. "Ok! I think we should go outside. I need fresh air for one, and it would probably do us some good. We can drop Gem off at the Hospital Wing on the way back." The words fell awkward and weird coming out of her mouth, but she said them anyway.

"Fire sounds like more fun if I'm being honest with ye... but the former is really what they deserve... We can very well do both... We've got the resources. " Charlotte smiled, clapping her hands together, thinking of the spare matches that would probably fall out of her bag and old clothes. She wanted to torment them, doing it with an aloof grin on her face, she could only imagine the joy it would bring her.
Charlotte was pretty stuck in her head, jumping when she heard the quill snap, nodding when she spoke, standing up quickly to offer a hand to Gem.
"Do ye really think he needs ta go to the Hospital Wing?" She somewhat circled him, her lip tugging to the left side of her mouth. "I don't want to risk it, get up." She lifted him up, concern flashing in her eyes for a brief second. She never felt the need to be gentle with him up until this moment. Was he going to be okay? She knew he would, but what if they messed something in his head majorly? No one had ever hit him that hard.

Regardless of whether or not Gem wanted to, she hoisted him up on his feet and started making her way to the door because, quite frankly, she didn't want to be in the Library anymore either. She also knew she needed to blow off some steam before she did something sporadic and harmful.