Corridors and Staircases (Open)

[Rylee Goldshanks]

"Wanna go somewhere less crowded? We might be able get more done."

Rylee smirked. So he wanted to spend even more time with her, eh? She rather liked that. In fact, this was turning out to be even easier than she'd expected. He hadn't run away, at least. Not this time. He was getting used to her, apparently.

"Sure," she said in response to his question, and then waggled her eyebrows suggestively, "Where do you wanna take me that's more private, huh?"

Rylee twirled out in front of him, walking backwards once more, "We can go to the Astronomy Tower, or the Owelry, or an Abandoned Classroom..." she ticked off each option aloud, and then stopped, waiting for him to decide. Once again, allowing him to pick gave him the illusion of being in control.

Inwardly beaming at her cleverness, Rylee wondered if she would have ended up a Slytherin herself if she hadn't been a straight-forward and honest Hufflepuff. She certainly knew how to manipulate people into giving her what she wanted.

[Alec Richardson]

"Sure. Where do you wanna take me that's more private, huh? We can go to the Astronomy Tower, or the Owelry, or an Abandoned Classroom..."

He watched her with a bemused expression on her face as she twirled around him. He caught a scent of her hair as it whipped by him and he fought the urge to close his eyes. What was she doing to him? Each option she listed lifted his spirits a bit, making his heart leap. He played it cool though, shrugging and looking away. He rubbed the back of his head again, glancing away from her. He wasn't going to show that he was weakened by her. "We could try for an abandoned classroom. There has to be plenty around here." He began walking, glancing back at her to see if she was following him. "Shall we look together?"

[Rylee Goldshanks]

"We could try for an abandoned classroom. There has to be plenty around here. Shall we look together?"

"Sure! Let's go!" she said, and then skipped down the hallway. She peeked into every window until she found the perfectly abandoned classroom. She flung open the door and then skipped over to one of the broken desks inside. She pulled out her wand.

"Reparo!" she called, and the desk fixed itself. Rylee then moved to pick up a chair that had fallen on its side and set it next to the desk, but rather than sit on the chair, she climbed on top of the desk. Alec could either sit on the chair, or fix his own desk. She didn't care which.

"So," she said after a minute, "Whatcha wanna talk about?"

[Addison Bell]

Addison had to practically jog to keep up with Daniel, they had just made it out of the Library and she was out of breath, the kid was tall, extremely tall. She noticed he slowed his pace so she could keep up and she smiled at him. She was starting to get the feeling that talking to him was standing was going to hurt her neck, but oh well, she could deal with a few hours of a sore neck.

"Yeah, i do like to look at stars, i never have with a telescope. But i'll sit up in my room for hours and just stare, space is just so interesting."

She smiled at him, well, if there was one thing they could chat about, science was clearly it, at least she actually did like stars, nightime fascinated her, and she was glad Daniel agreed to go up to the tower, she'd never been up there. She looked down the hallway, having no clue where they were going, good thing he was the faster walker, she snuck a glance at him, catching his eyes, the prettiest eyes she'd ever seen.

[Xing Yan]

((OOC: Ugh, sorry for the late reply. Heaps of stuff is happening and I couldn't think of a post.))

Xing smiled at Rose. Her red hair was so bright in the light that glowed from her wand. "I'd love to meet up with you some other time. Where would you like to meet up?" He probably looked as if he had a giant goofy grin on his face. He'd never been asked to meet up, except when he was getting beat up by some bullies, but Rose wasn't a bully. She was really nice, and Xing liked her. Though not in that sort of way. He hardly knew much about her.

Xing wasn't even sure if he would... Like anyone here. Maybe in later years, but why was he thinking of that now? He shook his head, trying to rid himself of those thoughts. "Maybe we could meet up in the library sometime?"

[Dastan Cross]

Dastan had changed out of his costume and, true to his word, had gone to do "Prefect-y" things. Like doing his rounds. The ball was coming to an end, so people should be headed back to their rooms. In fact, he would probably be yelling at a lot of kids trying to stay out.

Even despite doing his duty, Dastan hadn't been able to stop thinking about Astin kissing that girl. It was killing him. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see it again. What was so special about kissing anyways? Kissing was meaningless, wasn't it? So why was this getting to him so much?

He suddenly saw a couple of kids, first and second years by the looks of them, chatting it up in the corridor. Annoyance swept through him, and he stalked over, still thinking about Astin kissing that slag. Kissing was meaningless. It was stupid to put so much stock in it. He quickly stooped down and grabbed the face of the boy and kissed him fully on the mouth. See? Kissing was meaningless. He hadn't felt a thing.

"You shouldn't be out after dark," Dastan ground out and then swept past them to continue his rounds. Kissing was so pointless. He tried to comfort himself with that. But it didn't work. Nothing could erase the strange hurt he felt at having witnessed Astin kissing someone else.

[Freya Solheim]

Freya was walking around the castle with nothing better to do. She wasn't one to go to parties, so she had spent that time alone, thinking about home. She turned a corner to find a strange scene. There was a girl with red hair and an Asian-looking boy. They were having a conversation, but for some reason, only the girl was wearing a costume. Huh, that was strange.

Then this older boy came aroud the corner. She could tell that he was lost in thought. He stopped and just kissed the Asian kid. That poor kid looked horrified. Freya jogged over to the kiss stealer. He looked familiar, maybe he was in her house. After the kiss, he spoke to them.

"You shouldn't be out after dark."

"Hey, rasshøl. What the helvete do you think you're doing? He didn't ask for you to scare him to death. And, it's not even curfew yet, so what's with the attitude?"

Her thick Norwegian accent was nearly overpowering her words, and she substituted curse words that she didn't know in English with her own language. She had a horrible temper, but she didn't care at the moment. She hated anyone having to recieve a kiss that they didn't want.

[Dastan Cross]

((OOC: For the record, the Asian kid totally did ask me to do that. It was his muggle's idea. LMAO.))

"Hey, rasshøl. What the helvete do you think you're doing? He didn't ask for you to scare him to death. And, it's not even curfew yet, so what's with the attitude?"

Dastan growled low in his throat and faced the girl who had spoken to him. It was a transfer student, he noticed. "Mind your own business, And your language. There is no need for you to be cursing at me. I could cite you for it." Dastan said, and then carried on his way. He wasn't in the mood to fight with someone. Or rather, he was in too much of a mood to fight someone and he wasn't sure if he could control himself.

He surprised himself, really, with how much he tried to avoid confrontation lately. He had gotten soft. But he wasn't in his best condition; he was, in fact, still very much in pain from his latest exploits. All the more reason to be unwilling to fight. He would much rather finish his rounds and go to bed.

[Freya Solheim]

"Mind your own business, And your language. There is no need for you to be cursing at me. I could cite you for it."

This dude was seriously pissing her off. And how did he know how to speak Norwegian? He looked like he was from the Middle East or something. She knew she should just walk away, but her anger got the better of her.

"Du besvart aldri spørsmålet mitt. Hva er problemet? Og hvordan vet du at mitt språk? Oh, og du skal få meg i trøbbel for står opp for denne dårlig gutt som du prøver å molest? Det er ingen grunn for du skal være slik en esel til uskyldige mennesker. Du bedre beklager til ham før du får vondt."

She had taken a step forward and was now about a foot away from this kid. She just realized that she may not have been speaking English. She wasn't exactly sure. She was to angry to comprehend the exact language she was using. It took great resistance not to pull out her wand.

[Dastan Cross]

"Du besvart aldri spørsmålet mitt. Hva er problemet? Og hvordan vet du at mitt språk? Oh, og du skal få meg i trøbbel for står opp for denne dårlig gutt som du prøver å molest? Det er ingen grunn for du skal være slik en esel til uskyldige mennesker. Du bedre beklager til ham før du får vondt."

Dastan wasn't fluent in Norwegian. But he knew enough to know what she was saying, and it wasn't complimentary. And she was a little closer than he would have liked. He reached out and pushed her against a wall, pinning her there and pointing his wand just underneath her chin. "Do not test me tonight. I have had one of the worst nights and it would be so bloody easy to take it out on you. I don't want to do that." He pushed her once more and then deposited his wand back in his boot. "If you want to baby and comfort him then do so elsewhere and leave me alone. I am not apologizing."

With that he turned a corner and began heading off. If she followed, as she probably would, he could only hope that someone would manage to stop him before he did something regrettable. Plus, she was from Durmstrang if her language was of any indication. They taught Dark Arts there; it would possibly be an ugly fight, one that would be more than enough to get both of them expelled. If that happened, he didn't know what he would do.

[Astin Descartes]

Having already changed out of his stupid costume, Astin was doing his rounds. The incident with Dastan kept replaying in his mind, then rewinding, then playing all over again. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that Dastan deserved to know how he felt. He was actually seriously debating whether he should tell Das. He could do it, right? All he'd have to do was just walk up and tell Dastan that he was completely, irrevocably in love. It couldn't be that hard, right?

Astin rounded the corner. He couldn't believe his luck-- there Dastan was. And... he kissed someone else. Astin's heart stopped even as it swelled painfully; his breath caught in his throat. Dastan was kissing someone else. Astin had thought that Dastan couldn't handle a relationship of that nature-- that was why they weren't together, wasn't it? He'd thought that Dastan was afraid to ruin what they shared; he'd thought Das believed he was special.

He couldn't have been more wrong, could he have? Dastan had no problem kissing that kid, whoever the hell he was. Astin ducked back around the corner he'd come from. His chest heaved painfully; he couldn't believe how much this hurt.

He slammed his head back into the stone wall; a wave of pain flashed through him, pulsating around the knot that immediately began to form. Just. Fucking. Peachy. This wasn't fair. It wasn't. He wanted to get over Dastan, but even seeing him kiss someone else killed him. He couldn't do this. Whether he liked it or not, he loved Dastan.

Astin turned and stalked back around the corner. He had to put an end to something. His heart broke even more, shattering into a billion pieces; now Dastan had yet another person pinned to the wall. It was a girl this time, Astin noted. There was no way he could compare to that. This was complete shit.

Dastan pushed off the wall and headed the other way. Seething, Astin followed quickly.

"What the hell," Astin ground out, "Is your problem?" He just couldn't believe this.

[Dastan Cross]

"What the hell is your problem?"

Dastan's eyes scrunched shut. Could this day get any worse? He wanted to just disappear. Permanently. Dastan rounded on Astin and glared at him. "What do you think my problem is? Everyone keeps testing me today, either insulting me or making fun of me, or humiliating me, or just EXISTING when I don't want to deal with anybody. I've slammed one kid into a fucking table and slammed a girl against a wall for questioning me. I am clearly not in a good mood, so why do you want to test me, too? Why can't anyone just leave me alone!?"

The explosion wasn't intended. He hadn't wanted it to be this way. Astin didn't deserve this. But he felt fucking horrible. Guilt and jealousy and anger and incredulity and every other emotion was seething within him, eating him from the inside. He was hurting, inside and out, and he couldn't do a damn thing to help himself. He couldn't even take a moment to gather his wits, calm himself down, or revert into a shell. He just wanted to die.

"I'm sorry, okay?" he said, collapsing back onto a wall and running his hands through his hair. "I've had one of the most horrible days of my fucking life since I came to Hogwarts and I just need...I need an escape. I just want to sink into the fucking floor and forget everything for a little while."

And Merlin, was that true. He didn't want to be around. He didn't want anyone to see him while he broke slowly and surely under the realization that he was absolutely, irrevocably in love with the blonde idiot in front of him and yet could do nothing about it because he wanted to protect him from what that would lead to inevitably. He just wished it would go away; but that couldn't happen could it? Nothing was ever easy with him, after all.

[Freya Solheim]

"Do not test me tonight. I have had one of the worst nights and it would be so bloody easy to take it out on you. I don't want to do that."

She sucked in her breath as he shoved her against the wall. She knew she pushed him too far, she should have never gotten involved. But, he pulled away when this blonde boy showed up. Both of them walked further down the hall, yelling at eachother. Her curiosity got the better of her and she followed them.

"What do you think my problem is? Everyone keeps testing me today, either insulting me or making fun of me, or humiliating me, or just EXISTING when I don't want to deal with anybody. I've slammed one kid into a fucking table and slammed a girl against a wall for questioning me. I am clearly not in a good mood, so why do you want to test me, too? Why can't anyone just leave me alone!?" Then, he sank down against the wall in defeat. "I've had one of the most horrible days of my fucking life since I came to Hogwarts and I just need...I need an escape. I just want to sink into the fucking floor and forget everything for a little while."

She knew that she was risking her safety by doing this, but she had a bad habit of getting into other people's business. She walked over to them and squatted down in front of the brunette boy.

"Look, I'm sorry for losing my temper with you. I had no idea you were feeling this way or I would never have pushed you like that. Beklager, I'm sorry. If you want to release some anger on me, then go ahead. I don't mind."

Freya stood up and held out her arms outstretched to her sides.

[Astin Descartes]

Astin ignored this strange girl's interruption. He didn't care what business she had with Dastan. He just wanted to set things straight. He was jealous and offended, and he felt betrayed. If Das couldn't kiss him, fine, but Astin didn't want to see him kissing anyone else. Not when Dastan had given him crap excuses. If he didn't like Astin, he should have flat-out said so.

"How do you think I feel?" Astin replied eventually, his voice quiet and dejected. "I... you know how I feel about you," he all but whispered, "And then you... you lead me on all night only to reject me again. I thought I was special, then I see you with someone else. How could you even... I just..." Astin groaned and ran a hand back through his hair. Even he couldn't do this with some random onlooker. He felt something in him snap and he turned to face her.

"Look, do you think maybe we could have some alone time or something?" he said. From the way she and Dastan were acting, he was beginning to figure that maybe Dastan pinning her to the wall hadn't exactly been sexual. Even so, he wasn't happy about her presence. He wasn't going to get over this jealousy issue easily. Not to mention, she was pretty and an exotic and probably exciting transfer student; he was just Astin, the little lost puppy who'd followed Dastan around for the last five years.

And it just wasn't fair. But that was life, wasn't it? It never had been fair. People like Dastan with issues the size of the ocean ended up being the most beautiful people Astin had ever met and then he fell in love and life just sucked. He wanted to forget about Das and everything he felt, but he couldn't. He wished he could, but he couldn't. And that was even less fair.

[Dastan Cross]

"Look, I'm sorry for losing my temper with you. I had no idea you were feeling this way or I would never have pushed you like that. Beklager, I'm sorry. If you want to release some anger on me, then go ahead. I don't mind."

"How do you think I feel? I... you know how I feel about you. And then you...you lead me on all night only to reject me again. I thought I was special, then I see you with someone else. How could you even... I just..." Astin turned to face the Norwegian girl. "Look, do you think maybe we could have some alone time or something?"

"Yeah, shove off." Dastan pulled himself up and began walking down the hall, sure that Astin would follow him. They had a lot to talk about, but Dastan was adamant that this would not change his intentions. He wouldn't let Astin know how he was starting to feel about him. It didn't matter what he thought he felt now; it didn't change the fact that Astin couldn't be with someone like him, someone tainted like him. He deserved more. Dastan couldn't bring himself to take that away from Astin, no matter how he felt.

Maybe, with time, it would all pass. But Dastan doubted it. And now, he was going to have yet another uncomfortable conversation with Astin. As usual. Merlin, could he not get a break? Couldn't the Powers that Be see that he needed a fucking break? Clearly, they didn't. Well, whatever. He couldn't be blamed for his bad temper this time at least.