Makeover and Manicures Errand Open Finished

When the girl began to express some slight hostility at his comment regarding her not thinking she'd met Rafael, Jack's own eyes widened and he unconciously shrank back a bit, restraining the urge to put up his palms in a show of surrender when he wasn't technically being attacked. If anything, the Ravenclaw probably just felt she had to defend herself...though the Slytherin couldn't help but think it was a bit vicious for a defense.

"O-okay, relax, I was mostly just joking," he answered meekly with a sheepish smile when he thought she was done. Despite his usual goals when it came to most people, with this girl, he certainly didn't want to make an enemy out of her if he could help it. The redhead made a mental note to be more careful about the way he critisized the young lady, even playfully, in the future. She may have had a sense of humor, but even she must have had her limits.

"Yeah...'bland' isn't exactly a word I'd use to describe him myself, but maybe he was distracted or having an off-day at the time. Who knows." He gave a brief shrug. "Maybe he only shows his charming side to the people he wants to wreck the most."

Her question about if she should just assume that every person that carries the same name is the same person caused him to shake his head emphatically. "No, no, that's not what I meant. Sorry, I didn't mean to make it seem like that." After all, he himself knew of a boy who went around by the name of 'Jack' (even if his true name was 'Jackson') and the Welsh kid knew he certainly didn't want to be confused with him. The only time it had been convenient was when Erin had thought any mention of the name 'Jack' directed at him had been meant for the only Jack she knew, Jack Warren.

Fortunately for him, the aquamarine-eyed girl seemed to recompose herself fairly quickly; another trait he was not familiar with seeing in most people he met. He blinked when she switched her attention to the topic of the 'Halo Effect', her curiosity seeming to trump most if not all other emotions then. It caused his smile to broaden, thinking that he, too, probably would have been easily pacified from a heated discussion with the chance to learn something new and interesting. And she was, after all, a Ravenclaw, wasn't she?

"In muggle psychology, the 'Halo Effect' is basically used to describe the phenomenon of attributing good traits to people who look attractive. Like if someone stole a bike, you're more likely to accuse a less attractive person of being a thief than a more attractive person because your brain subconsciously attributes the qualities of a better person to someone who looks better. So you end up thinking, 'that person looks like too good a person to be a thief'." He sighed. "It's how a lot of good-looking people - like Rafa - get away with a lot of crooked things."

As much as Jack enjoyed talking, here was someone who not only enjoyed listening, but could follow along with the conversation and even contribute. It had been a while before he'd met anyone who had the capability and will to do both and he was pleasantly surprised. He nodded when she commented that maybe it was better she didn't know Rafa and left that at that. But then he opened his mouth again at her next comment.

"I prefer people tell me directly, too," he agreed. "I think the trouble is that people have such a hard time being honest and direct because they're so set on avoiding conflict and confrontation that they'd rather sweep it under the metaphorical rug and pretend reasons for discontent don't exist. At least until it gets to be so much that they can't any more," he added with another exhausted sigh. Why did the majority of people have to be so...well, dense? At least this girl didn't seem to be, though. It was rather refreshing on many levels.

When the eagle brought up that night again and the boy with the Burn-healing Paste, Jack nodded emphatically. "Yes! That was Ruka Tân, the second year." He flinched at her use of a particularly disliked term of his. "Er...but we're not...friends, exactly." How to explain? They were far more than aquaintances, but he couldn't exactly call Ruka a subject of his experiment without her probably taking it the wrong way. "It's...complicated. But we get along for the most part." Then his voice became more solemn. "And yes...that was Victor. Victor Moore...a third year."

For all the good that had done him. What good was knowing advanced magic when it just ended up having advanced consequences you couldn't forsee or prevent from going drastically, horribly wrong? Victor had always been a noble and brave lad to Jack, but those were qualities that also caused the first year to consider him to be rather foolish. They were things that made him seem like he would have fit more in Gryffindor or even in Hufflepuff due to the absurdly strong loyalty he had to his friends. So why, then, was he in Slytherin of all houses? Even his sneaky buddy Vlad wasn't in Slytherin!

Well, whatever. It wasn't like it could be helped now. He focused back on the Ravenclaw girl and her words.

"You did more than you know," he assured her seriously, countering her claim that she hadn't done much. "And yes...I'm sure. His suspicious buddy, Vladimir Athanatos, was intent on keeping him alive, I'm pretty sure. Him and their mutual friend, Marion. I think I heard they got sent to St. Mungo's for the extensive healing they needed." And perhaps...just maybe St. Mungo's could work on a cure for that wretched black blood curse, too.

The girl with the bronze locks suddenly appeared to shiver and Jack bit his lip to keep from reaching out to her to try to warm her up. She likely wouldn't have appreciated his instinctive reaction. And anyway, the more rational part of him knew she probably wasn't shaking from cold. His eyes widened slightly at her admittance that she had gone to Professor Karr, but the fact that she already knew what he thought of what Karr had done and had still confessed to having been the one who had brought her only caused Jack to admire her all the more. Even if he'd had reason to blame her for Karr's actions, which he didn't, her honesty would have surely floored him all the same.

"It wasn't your fault," he assured her instantly, his orange-nailed hand lifting to reach for hers, hovering for a moment, then withdrawing as he questioned what on earth his body had meant to do by that gesture. Surely there were better, less intimate ways to put one's hand on another's for comfort. He cleared his throat as if doing so would also clear any signs of his discomfort at his own actions.
"I'm grateful you were willing and able to bring anyone at all, especially an adult. You're right; they have more options to move him than we did. You weren't the one who made the regretable choice from her array of options. And you couldn't have known she would have made it, either."

His mouth twisted. "Anyway...I guess it's best he was gotten out of there as soon as possible regardless. He could have been trampled to death by panicking students or stung by the mosps or something. So really, you helped him in more ways than one. And that means I owe you more than one favor."

Meeting her clear gaze, he tried to resume a neutral expression. "I owe you because I owe Victor and you saved him. He...he's..." Jack struggled for a bit, as if fighting to get the words out.
""...He's become very dear to me and I was almost out of my mind with grief, rage, and fear when I saw him on fire. Even after the fire was put out, none of those things went away." He shook his head. "I hate...I really hate...to allow myself to get emotionally impared, which is why I try to avoid making friends when I can. But he - " The Welsh boy faultered before his sentence died on his lips. "...He somehow ended up making me care about him anyway. Clearly," he added with a viciously bitter smile, looking away again.

"So anyway...I owe you one favor for bringing a professor to take care of him and another for watching him on the way back to the castle." He had to swallow hard before continuing once more, his head bowed as he stared down at his lap. "Don't say that isn't much. It was more than most others were willing to do for him. And you didn't even know him like I did." The only other person Jack thought of as Victor's joint savior had been Ruka, but Jack still wondered if Ruka would have even given Victor a second thought had Jack not made such a fuss about wanting to save him and practically begged Ruka to do so. Despite how much he cared about Ruka and was grateful for his help, Jack doubted it.

Gripping his fists from allowing his emotions to take over him again completely and compel him to do something stupid (like maybe trying to hug the girl), Jack cleared his throat again and tried to go back to listening attentively as he had before. He tried to smile when she mentioned herself being a 'steller representation of Ravenclaw', only half having to force himself to, but was surprised to hear the girl hadn't been very happy to be sorted into her house to begin with. When she suggested he might try to open his mind to others who saw the world differently than he did, he nodded, certain she was right. Seeing things from different perspectives was one ability that made Tricksters so powerful and set them apart from Heroes and Villains, after all.

"I do respect your thoughts," he confirmed. "And I'd like to think I can be open-minded for the most part, so long as someone has a good enough argument to convince me of something. I'm always willing to be persuaded or negotiated with. The trouble is when people act as though they know everything. So when they're not willing to entertain the idea that someone else might be more right than they are, why should I do the same for them?" He waved his hand in a dismissive action. "Brains are one thing. Open-mindedness is another. I have trouble respecting intelligence that refuses to acknowledge others'."

At the notion that fire-dancing was a little stupid, Jack snorted loudly in obvious amusement. "Well, he is still a Gryffindor. Just because he's smarter than most doesn't mean he's a genius. At least not in the way you or I might think so, like in terms of self-preservation or avoiding danger." He looked off into the distance for a second, his eyes unseeing. "But he certainly knows how to handle fire like no one else I've seen." Jack was grinning when he looked back at the girl.
"Better he show you than me, I'm sure."

It shocked him when he realized that what the girl had been about to do in order to try to comfort him was very similar to what he'd had in mind to try to comfort her. Regardless of how embarrassed he'd been at instinctively wanting to put his hand on hers, at least it was slightly less humiliating to know he wasn't the only one whose body had that kind of reaction. He smiled at her hesitant hand when she pulled it away, but was too shy to look back up just then. "Thanks," he said instead when she did her best to reassure him. "If a Ravenclaw as smart as you thinks so, then I feel better about our chances."

Jack beamed at his peer when she said that not only had she not yet found him to be insufferable, but she had been called impossible more than once which meant they were a good match. It warmed him so much that he almost didn't realize it was because of more than just her compliment. He was fairly certain his face was on fire due to the other implication of being a 'good match' which she surely didn't mean. Nevertheless, his cheeks flushed to even think of it. He tried to change the his train of thought's track immediately.

Nodding when the Ravenclaw mentioned that she would be sticking to the adjective 'sagacious', he smiled back at what seemed to be a non-sarcastic remark that she was glad he approved her choices. Jack kept wondering if maybe it was sarcastic after all and he was just misunderstanding, but as the idea kept causing his cheeks to flush even more, he eventually decided it didn't matter and that that wasn't a very safe topic to allow his mind to dwell on, either.

However, it was too late. The girl had not only noticed, she inquired about it and even leaned toward him, causing Jack to blush even deeper. He glanced away, unable to meet those aquamarine gems of eyes nor to draw away; his lips pursed in a tight, uncomfortable line. "No...no, it's okay. My face will be fine. Thanks, though."

The smile that dazzled him even in the corner of his peripheral vision threatened to blind him. He still couldn't look at her when he responded to her question about compliments. "I don't know...I guess I tend to think of people using compliments insincerely for ulterior motives. To butter people up and use in excess as flattery," Jack explained. "And I don't really put much stock in people's outward appearances; or at least, I try not to so I can avoid things like the halo effect. But, um..."

His hazel orbs meekly flickered to her once more when she praised them in return. "...Thanks." The Slytherin tried to jumpstart his brain into thinking properly again. "...Um...my dad has amber eyes and my mom has brown. But I guess hazel eyes are recessive in her family." He shrugged, trying to let her know it wasn't a big deal.

As he went through the make-up, gathering up the things he thought he would need, Jack felt those intense blue eyes on him again and fumbled a bit more than he would have liked to. Not wanting to seem rude or like he was ignoring her - because, in truth, he was actually hyper-aware of her presence - the Welsh boy nodded in acknowledgement at her words regarding how much wizards could learn from muggles if they wanted to but that they didn't. He definitely agreed, too; enough to actually gather up the courage to chime in once more.

"Their being content with the way they've been doing things for centuries is probably why so many of their ways, especially the pureblooded families', are so old-fashioned. Hardship seems to be a good motivator for muggles to grow, change, and evolve, especially since necessity is said to be the mother of invention."

He turned to her then, hazel eyes glittering as he grinned. "However...I often find that being underestimated can be quite advantageous to people. If everyone thinks you're the best of the best, they're all likely to go after your head in the hopes of beating you. But if you're underestimated, not only can you live more safely and freely without fear of much scrutiny, but you can be confident in having certain advantages, such as the element of surprise, on your side in the case it ever does come down to a confrontation. It's like having a wild card up your sleeve."

His grin turned wry. "Take it from a muggle-born boy sorted into the pureblood-loving house of Slytherin. It's a boon to be underestimated. So, in the end, I don't really mind the sort who dismiss muggles and muggle-borns because it's their ignorance that allows me to do as I please right under their noses without them ever being the wiser." He raised his brows. "Those like you on the other hand - the ones who recognize how muggles have their own kinds of cleverness - are much too sharp for that. That's why it's people like you I have to watch out for. But, lucky for me, your sort are few and far between."

As if realizing what he'd just said and how it could have been misconstrued yet again, his features were struck with a jolt of shock and then his countenance was soaked with his new-found embarrassment. The crimson-faced Jack hurried to turn back to his selected make-up supplies to gather them up in his arms.

"Uh...wow, sorry, I didn't realize how late it was getting," the kid apologized, glancing around at the other tables and leaving students briefly. "Um...tell you what. I'm going to take these things to Professor Jensen and ask if I can borrow them so I can practice on you another time. If...you still want to, of course," he quickly added, but then thought better of waiting for an answer. "She's my Head of House, so I can return them to her any time. I'm pretty sure she'll be okay with it, but I'd better her ask her just in case. Um...so...I guess I'll see you around."

With as weak and shy a smile as he'd probably ever given so far during his time at Hogwarts, Jack tried to wave his farewell only to realize he needed both arms to carry what he'd borrowed and almost dropped something in attempting to do so. "...Just...let me know when you might have time or want to do the make-up thing later and we can do it then! Alright?" Burning with his humiliation, the Slytherin turned and nearly tripped as he fled toward Professor Jensen, speaking half-heartedly to the girl behind him without turning around.

"Nice...talking to you! Bye!"

@Dealla Prince

Dee paused, then blushed a light pink high on her cheeks when the boy almost seemed to back away from her response, and lowered her eyes, just for a second. Maybe that had been a little too fierce a reaction for what his words had warranted, but throwing her own words back at her with an expression that seemed to imply she was naive to have said them in the first place had just run right over her rational brain and set fire to her temper. She pressed her lips together, considering for a moment whether she should apologize, not wanting to interrupt their pleasant time together with a fight about something so silly, but thankfully, he seemed a lot more forgiving for harsh words than she tended to be.

The conciliatory words that followed managed to draw an easy smile back on her face, relieved that the conversation was moving on, the light flush vanishing as fast as it had come. She nodded along thoughtfully to his explanations about the Halo Effect. Although she wasn't usually one to group people by appearance, didn't pay much attention to those things yet, very childlike in that regard, she could still see how that sort of thing might occur. And since it was a subconscious thing - who knew, maybe it happened to her, too? It was something akin to not expecting the prettiest red apple without any bruises to be rotten inside, she supposed, a thought spoken out loud, not meant to be replied to. She shrugged, then smiled at his thoughts on why people were dishonest. "I've always found it easier to just tell the truth," she said, looking down at her nails for a moment before meeting his eyes again. "People don't always take it well, though." Which was maybe because she could be blunt to the point of rudeness, but hey, at least she was honest, right?

His reassurances about her role that night earned him another smile, although weaker, more unsure, softer maybe than her other ones. She wanted to feel she'd done good that night, that the terrible memories of her trip to the castle, the the time she'd spent retching in the shower afterward, the dreams about following a smouldering, silent body through the dark with no destination in sight, had served some sort of purpose, almost desperately. But she didn't quite believe it.

Silent through his explanations of owing and favours and caring, she only watched him speak and struggle with his words, her eyes steady. It was odd to hear those words, that he tried to not care, avoided it where he could, and yet, uncharacteristically, she didn't feel inclined to ask more questions. Maybe it was because of the topic which she didn't really want to delve into further, her mood subdued, curiosity dampened for the moment. She already knew she'd have nightmares again this night. "I didn't do it for you," was the only thing she said, finally. Not even for Victor. Who had she done it for, really? Herself, maybe? That didn't make sense, either. What had the purpose been? "Doesn't feel like you should owe me anything when I didn't even know you existed."

There didn't seem to be much use in insisting on defending her house. It wasn't that she disagreed with him, after all, although Dee too tended to be guilty of having stubbornness and temper outweigh her reason, even if the Ravenclaw herself likely didn't see it that way. Her housemates could do their own job of living up to Ravenclaw's name as long as he was open to seeing it, which he'd just stated he was. If they didn't... well, it wasn't really her problem, was it? Briefly, she wondered who might be able to change his mind. Aida was someone who had grown very dear to her, and at the thought, her eyebrows rose involuntarily. That... might be an interesting encounter. She wasn't sure how well those two would get along, although they both seemed to deeply value honesty.

But then, her house would have to try very hard to leave a worse impression than Gryffindor did, which made Dee all the more curious about the boy's fire-dancing spell-teaching reasonably smart second year Gryffindor not-friend. Quite an image painted in her mind for someone she hadn't met yet, but an intriguing one. Hopefully he wouldn't disappoint. "Maybe I'll have to look him up," she replied, laughter dancing in her eyes. "And get him to show me."

The boy appeared off-balance following her comments and inquiry about his health. There was still a trace of worry in Dee's eyes when she leaned back again, nodding at his reassurance that he was fine. Maybe he was just always slightly... pinkish? "Well, my compliments are always honest," she assured, then paused, rethinking the statement. "Or, well, if they're not, I try to make it pretty clear. Some people just ask for it, you know?"

The conversation turned more animated again with the change of subject to the advantages Muggles versus wizardkind - apparently they both shared similar views on the topic. Had he grown up around Muggles as well, then?

Dee had never been one to enjoy being underestimated, although she supposed she could see the strategic value in it. She thrived on being challenged, going all out on competitions and beating her rivals not because of tricks or because they'd gone easy on her, no, just by being smarter, better. She liked the spotlight, blossomed under scrutiny, always had. Although... there was little that was more satisfying than beating someone who'd looked down on you, so that aspect, at least, was something she could relate to.

Grinning at the notion that she was someone that had to be watched out for, like she was a danger of sorts, a force to be reckoned with, she had already opened her mouth to reply, but then paused, frowning in confusion, when the boy suddenly seemed in an incredible hurry to get away. Late... was it? She cast a glance around and noticed that, indeed, most of the tables around them were empty, and Professor Jensen had started gathering up what was left of the supplies. Dee hadn't noticed people leaving, too caught up in the conversation.

But still... it didn't seem like an adequate explanation for how the Slytherin was basically running from the scene, barely giving Dee the time to get out an, "Um, yeah, bye!" before he was gone, arms full of makeup supplies and smile weak, and Dee was left sitting there, stunned into silence. An odd, uncomfortable feeling spread in her stomach. She hadn't said anything wrong, had she? Maybe he just had other plans now, that would explain the hurry. Or the sun had gotten to him after all, despite his reassurance that he was fine.

Nodding to herself, Dee placed the bottles of nail polish back into the box, and made her way off the Courtyard to go terrorize people with her fabulous new nail polish. It was only later that she realised she'd never gotten his name - or offered her own.

Thread left.

@Jack Burnett