Caught Outside of Class PV Evelynn Decipio Closed

Interacting with @Jack Burnett

The weekend had passed all too quickly and with no rest at all for her ever spinning mind. While the chess game she had played Saturday morning had been entertaining, it had been a might bit stressful despite her narrow victory. And the meeting that followed regarding the Potter case had left her in a state of perpetual contemplation for the remainder of the weekend. Far be it from being fatigued, however; the events had been invigorating. Unfortunately, they had definitely left a mark on her work and she had found herself putting off the homework that she should have been doing in favor of investigating clues.

Time had caught up to her now, though, and despite the end of the week being a far ways off, she had plenty of catching up to do. For one, the Forgetful Draught she had brewed the week prior hadn't quite been tested. The image of a shattered vial on the stone floor just outside the class with its perfect contents spilling out amidst the shards still left a bitter taste in her mouth. What was more, with the next game of the S.W.A.G. club soon starting, she wanted to ensure she had a healing salve on hand. Just in case. She had a feeling things were going to get a little bit…heated.

It was during her free time that Monday that she made a bee-line for the potions class. She couldn't be more appreciative of Professor Price for allowing her near unlimited access to the classroom for her studies. Not that she was anything special, or anything, she reflected humbly as her steps echoed along the corridor. It wasn't like she was the only one permitted to use it, but so seldom did she see other students that she had grown accustomed to thinking about it like her own private study. Like last week, she began to hum the tune of "Toss a Coin", mind already working on recalling the ingredients and steps necessary for the salve. She pushed the door in with the slightest of creeks, and--

Kshh-BANGSPLUSH!

She was greeted by the tumultuous and unmistakable sound of a tin cauldron hitting the floor and the subsequent splash as unidentified contents spilled onto the ground. Rapidly pushing the door fully open, she was met with confirmation of just such a scene with one added element. At the center of the disaster stood a young boy around her age, with green eyes, an exasperated expression and hair as auburn as her own.

"You alright?" She asked when her momentary surprise had waned enough to react.

Her gray eyes panned quickly over him, checking that he wasn't in the process of sprouting pustules or having his skin slough off. The only thing of concern that she identified, however, was the crest upon his robes. Slytherin. And not only Slytherin, but one that she remembered from classes as being something of a lazy student who somehow still managed to get decent results without even doing anything. The corner of her mouth twitched. For a moment, she entertained the idea of simply turning around and leaving back the way she had come without another word, but doing so would not only admit defeat, but also waste valuable brewing time.

"You should be more careful," she commented dryly, closing the door behind her as she moved to situate herself at her typical spot. "Could have ended up in the hospital wing, or worse, rendered the class unusable for study and brewing practice."

"What are you doing here, anyway?" she wondered, turning back to head for the cupboards after dropping her belongings on the table. But then she noted he still seemed to be standing there, hands running through his hair, as though uncertain what to do. With a sigh, she continued to the cupboard; rather than retrieve her cauldron and ingredients, however, she fetched for cleaning supplies.

"I think this is what you're looking for," she said on her return, not unkindly, and held out to him a handful of cloths, scrub brush, basin of water and detergent. In her own hand, she held a scrub brush and cloths, herself.

@Jack Burnett

Touchy, touchy. It seemed to Evelynn that she had touched on a nerve right from the get go. Admittedly, she had expected something a little more aloof in his response. Instead it had been rather defensive, in her opinion.

"Why would I knock? Or announce myself? Either of those would bother anyone who happened to be working. That'd've been rather prattish, don't you think?"

It was mostly a rhetorical question, the tone of her voice suggesting as much in the way that it expressed the notions as though they should have been obvious. Still, she wasn't quite prepared for the absolute silence that he seemed to be presenting her, as though willingly choosing to outright ignore her presence as she stood before him with the intent to help him. But just as she was starting to get all inwardly worked up and irritated about it, he looked up at her. Staring. One… two… three… Good lord… No.. What was it they said here again? Merlin's beard? Regardless…how long was he just going to just stare at her?

Evelynn's brows raised, the corners of her lips curling in the hint of an amused smile. She had been beginning to wonder if the Slytherin had, in fact, been a little touched in the head -- perhaps by the spill of the potion -- when he finally spoke what she could only assume was a remarkably difficult admission of thanks. What followed was even better, but she sucked her lips in over her teeth, pressing them tightly together to try to force away the gloating from her expression. Unfortunately, his following statement served to sever that control.

"I didn't ask what you were doing here," she snorted, temporarily ignoring his counter question. "I asked what you were doing here." Her gaze flickered to the mess of what that brewing attempt had become before glancing back up. "I didn't think there was a bone in your body that had any desire to actually do any potion work.."

"And yes," she added, stooping to actually start cleaning up the mess. It was probably better to do so sooner than later, she figured, lest they allow the unfinished potion the opportunity to do any damage. "I do actually come here for other reasons. It's quiet, usually, and I can study or read--" …or draw, or play games, or practice magic… "--without being bothered."

"What was this supposed to be, anyway?" she asked after a little while, brows raised as she stared forward at it. She had needed to shuffle back from the spill for a little while, and sat firmly on her bottom, one hand pressed firmly to the stone floor on either side of her hips. The fumes of the spill had been getting to her and she was feeling a little light-headed.

@Jack Burnett

Evelynn waved his concern -- concern? Was he actually showing concern? A Slytherin boy actually showing some modicum of worry for someone other than their own? A question for another time -- away with a dismissing gesture of her hand. "I'm fine," she replied, brows raised a little as she fixed a stare at the opposite end of the room.

A stir of air brought her to refocus on what was nearer at hand, and she realized that the snek boi was standing nearby, fanning her with a stack of parchment. Screwing up her face in exasperated irritation, she waved him away with both hands, reiterating in a fluster, "I said I'm fine!"

"Obviously we know your Dizziness Draught was working, though," she commented, almost begrudgingly, as she pushed herself gingerly to her feet again. "It's too bad, really…Professor Azhid said we'll be learning the cleaning charm soon, but it would have been helpful to learn that at the beginning of the year instead. But anyway…"

She let herself trail off, lips pursing as her gaze returned to the mess at hand. The Slytherin's suggesting to seek refuge in the fresh air resurfaced in her thoughts, and for a moment, she did give it a proper consideration. But looking what remained of the spill, she decided against it. The worst of it was already sopped up, and she was sure the fumes were dissipating enough that they wouldn't affect her too badly going forward.

"And no, I'm not a stalker," she huffed, suddenly reminded of his previous accusation. "I just..." She paused, wondering if what she was about to say, whether her defense, would really sound all that much better. But she had already started, so she couldn't very well stop her explanation now without sounding even stranger. "I pay attention to everyone," she reasoned.

But he had brought up a good point. They never had formally introduced themselves, not that they'd had any reason to prior to now. Seeing as they had been speaking for several minutes now, however, she supposed it was time to rectify that.

"I'm Evelynn," she said, holding a hand out in offer to shake. "Evelynn Decipio." And then with a flood of daring added, "Welcome to my den."

@Jack Burnett

Evelynn shot Jack a look of annoyance at his petulant reply, eyes squinting ever so briefly to coincide with a faintly wrinkled nose that suggested he just shut right up about her somewhat contradictory statements. Fortunately, he moved on quickly enough and it required no further comment on her part. Good, he got the message (or so she could only assume).

"Right???" Had come her singular reply shortly thereafter when he had shared his own opinion on the mixed up order of their lessons.

Honestly, she couldn't agree more. One would think that the professors would instruct their students to clean up after themselves in various ways; especially considering the number of students who had no prior practice or even legitimate knowledge of the magical world prior to receiving their letters. They were bound to make innumerable messes that required repairing and cleaning and goodness-knows-what else. The least the curriculum could do would be to arm the student body with a variety of practical spells and skills that would make the whole transitionary process cleaner so to speak. But what did she know? She was only a student, after all.

"Extra creepy mega stalker…" she muttered under her breath with renewed annoyance.

But as Jack had spoken that phrase, there was a glimmer of recognition in her eyes — a ripple of suspicion that perhaps the two shared a little more in common that she might have initially believed. "Mega" wasn't a word she had found to be commonly used in the vernacular of one of her average English peers, nevermind in those of her wizarding peers. It was something that was a little bit more mainstream in a certain digital medium. She eyes him curiously, chin inclining slightly as he took her hand in his for a shake.

"Nice to meet you, Burnett," she managed, taken slightly aback by the wary look he'd given her in return. Then she pursed her lips, brows knitting together. "Why do you owe me two favours?" She wondered, not really sure where that had come from, and how that correlated to his statement just now that he was going to be taking his exit. "And why are you leaving now. You came in here to brew a potion, and it got spoiled. So why not just stay to quickly brew another."

Interacting with @Jack Burnett

For someone who didn't seem to really enjoy the company of others, the boy surely talked a lot. He also, Evelynn noted, seemed to have something of a superiority complex. Or…perhaps it was actually simply a need to prove himself in light of an inferiority complex. Regardless, the lioness simply stood there, brow cocked to accompany the faint curl of amusement that pulled at one corner of her mouth while she listened to him ramble on. And on.

"Not going to waste your day brewing a potion when you could be doing something more fun, eh?" Evelynn mused, eyes lidding slightly as she scrutinized the somewhat contradictory boy before her. "I mean… Obviously, it's not like you've been in here up until this point doing just that, right? Or maybe brewing the potion was actually fun for you? At least until I turned up?" Her head tilted slightly, cogs turning in her mind as she tried to puzzle him out.

Eventually, she just shrugged, stating, "Whatever lifts your luggage, I suppose."

"But let's get a few things straight, why don't we," she continued, depositing her cleaning supplies back from where she had originally fetched them. "The only person you have to blame for your mess is yourself. The cause? It wasn't me. It was your own inability to keep focused and avoid distraction. Did I enter the room unexpectedly? Perhaps. But only for you. It's not like this room is off limits; you should have expected the possibility that someone might have walked in and taken that into consideration with your preparations. You should have accounted for it. Don't blame me for your own oversight.

"Second, why can't you brew a potion when I'm around? My den or not, you're going to be hard-pressed to pass first year if you can't manage a simple potion while in proximity of others." She laughed lightly, "Do you think you're going to be able to just…have a space all on your lonesome when the exam comes up? No, you'll have to sit down and brew like the rest of us. Or not, I suppose," she added with another shrug. "Maybe failure is an option for you. But in my opinion — and I don't really care if you asked for it or not — you'd be better off getting in that practice of brewing with others around. Might also benefit from some mindfulness exercises to help you concentrate.

"Third…" Her amusement was back in full swing. "Don't think I didn't catch that last little bit. You were about to say something along the lines of not going to rush through making something deserving of care and attention, weren't you? Well…" She paused, sliding into her typical spot at the benches and began unloading her own things. "I quite agree. But I never said anything about rushing it. I just said you could do it quickly. You've already gone through the process of prepping your ingredients and going through the steps once just now. That means you won't have to do as many steps the second time around, and you could even fix any mistakes you made while they're still fresh on your mind.

"So…" Her lips curled into a devilish grin as she set up her scales, mortar, and the other tools of her trade. "I'd like to cash in on one of those favours. I think I could use a little bit of company while I work." Pausing momentarily to figure out just how best to word it to test the limit of these favours, she continued. "The favour I would ask of you — since you seem to actually enjoy this subject more than you're letting on — would be to take the position as my potions study partner, which would mean working on and discussing homework, joining me to brew whenever I do, and comparing the results of our potions to see where we went wrong and can improve. Which…oh goodness, I guess I'm brewing now, aren't I?"

Lifting her elbows to plant lightly on the surface of her worktable, fingers interlaced, she rested her chin lightly upon the backs of her knuckles and peered up at him with a half-lidded gaze. "What do you say to that?"