gdijay

[gdijay]

Jacen hadn't actually known how close to the entrance of the maze she was - hadn't noticed it at all, come to think of it. It was only when she was joined by Flenny Q did she realise she'd sort of been loitering at the start for a while now. It wasn't done intentionally, and now she felt slightly miffed about not getting very far while having been inside for a decent amount of time.

"My hero! I got stuck and now I know where I am!" She crowed, running up to Flenn even as he jogged to her side. Distance closed, she threw herself at him in a fierce hug, only to pull back with a puzzled expression. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, I really am, but now that you're with me I think you're stuck too, which would effectively render you not my hero. You can keep that first hug, though, but I'm afraid that was the end of the hero worship."

She was grinning though, and rubbing at her face where Flenn's sweets-infested face had squished against her. "Why are you wearing sugar? You look like Rian got sick all over you," she giggled, poking at one of the tentacles that wriggled when the fifth year even slightly moved his head.

"I agree that we should stick together. I'm bored, let's go do something. I hear that there's a haunted ship on the lake, but I dunno how real that whisper is. I was also told there was a baby dragon wandering around the centre of the maze, and if so, let's go grab it and set it loose in the castle. But then I also heard there's a dementor wandering around and I'm not sure whether that was a joke, someone telling me that Damien is around, or if I was being poked fun at." She waved off her own comment, restless, and made her way over to one of the hedge walls. "Dare me to climb it?" she grinned, kicking a foot into the foliage to test the stability.

We Are The Thieves!

Flenn & Jay

@gdijay

The biggest difference between Hallowe’en and Carnival was the theme. Carnival was all about the colours, the celebration; Hallowe’en on the other hand was about scaring the spooky, scary creatures of this world away. This world or the next plane of existence, whichever worked – Flenn wasn’t picky, as long as he got to dress up and stuff his face. The food had been great, and a bunch of small animations were going on around the castle. The single biggest attraction, though, he was still to see with his own two eyes.

He had heard about it from whispers in the corridors first. The teachers and staff had obviously been working on something for a while then, and the students had been rightfully excited. None of them had seen the intricate maze coming, though. It felt like a right adventure to Flenn who felt more elated the more he heard about it: it was quite obvious he’d face many difficulties if he entered the labyrinth, and who knew how long it’d take him to find the exit. The perspective of getting lost, on Hallowe’en night, with a bunch of creatures and trials for an undetermined length of time sent his heart beating like a drum, electricity buzzing through him. Would he risk his neck in this damn place? Hell yeah!

It was with great determination and a smile on his face that Flenn set out to enter the maze. Not that his smile could be seen much behind the fake beard he had put together: his costume was a colorful version of Davy Jones, whose beard he had recreated by sticking murtlap tentacles-shaped sweets all over his face. It felt sticky and smelled way too much of sugar – he loved it. The bright side of it was, if he ever got lost in the labyrinth for long, he’d have snacks with him. He could have brought more had he decided to use the same expert technique for his hands, but transfiguration had seemed a better option, and it made him work on his spells.

The rest of the costume he had thrown together was quite fitting as far as the individual items went, down to the pirate hat and heavy boots, long cloak and huge belt. Only the colours were all wrong, in that they existed. Surely Davy Jones wouldn’t have been so feared had he adopted Flenn’s scheme of bright yellow, purple, and turquoise – to only name a few. The leopard pattern of the vest, fake crocodile of the belt and extra glitter on the (only actually black pair he owned) pants didn’t help make him any more intimidating, but hey – if they were supposed to scare ghosts away, showing them a dead octopus with legs probably wouldn’t do much. A lot of people had probably died in the lake, Davy Jones was nothing they hadn’t seen before.

Unlike the quite surprising sight of one Jacen Wood all cloaked in some flimsy, dark whatever, looking quite ghastly and à propos in Flenn’s opinion. Breaking character completely, he waved at the other student, who was only a few feet farther, and called out. “Hey, woo-hoo, Jace-amazing! Are you going in the maze?” As he spoke he jogged to his friend, elated he may not be going in alone after all. Not that he would have minded, but the more the merrier – especially if said more was Jay fricking Wood. “If you’re going, we should tag along together, yeah? We’ll have a bunch of fun and my beard is made of candy!” Sugar, a strong selling point. Always.

[gdijay]

luxevangelinebanks:

Lux stared at the sky above her in shock, watching white blurs float down around her face. It was only after a few seconds of watching these blurs did she realise that everything was blurred not because she’d hit her head but because in crashing into whoever she hit, she’d dislodged her glasses. Again. 

Goddamn she needed to start wearing contacts. 

Suddenly afraid that the maze would swallow them whole and never spit them out again Lux started to look around quickly, using her still lit wand to find the black frames on the ground before she repositioned them on her face. After a split second of thought she tapped her wand against the frames, lighting them up in a bright light for half a second before it stopped and the person looked at who was in front of her. 

“Jace?” She recognised him, her, them (?) from not only her classes but her time on the Quidditch pitch, she tried to make sure she knew who her competition was when it came to getting scouted. 

Sitting up Lux brushed dirt and feathers off of the front of herself, looking at the person in front of her as shuteye continued to speak. “Dammit. I’m completely lost as well. All I wanted to do was find the fucking equipment shed.” The smaller girl swore as she stood up, holding her wand tightly. “Pardon my language, though you’ve probably heard me call you worse on the field. No offences.” Lux sighed as she held her hand out to Jace, looking around at the maze. 

Jay nodded at the acknowledgement of her name rather than doing so verbally, see she was still spitting out tiny fluffs of feathers from her mucked up spell. The small tufts were a spackled grey, and she really really didn't want to think about them having been on an actual bird before. When she was relatively sure she wouldn't rudely spit anything out at the other girl, she finally spoke.

"Lux, hey," and while the tone was friendly enough, she was still distracted not only by the lack of other students, but also by how still and dark the area was that they were in.

"I doubt the probability of you finding the equipment shed, honestly. And Margot's my sister, so if she had a hand in this there's no doubt it'll be a trap, too," she warned, not at all fazed by the idea of the Quidditch coordinator's antics. Jacen had to get it from somewhere, after all. "You're good, love," she assured Lux, knowing full well that her own mouth was far from pure when in the manic of mid-field hostility. Purely in spirit of good sport, of course.

Finally having straightened herself out, her costume pluming out around her as it should, she turned to give Lux her full attention for the first time since crashing into her. "Wanna go scare Benji?" It was the first name that popped into her head, and merlin she was bored now. It sounded like a grand idea.

Pumpkins Scream In The Dead Of Night

[gdijay]

luxevangelinebanks:

Lux & Open

Why. Why. Why?

It was a single word that Lux asked herself again and again as she wandered throughout this maze that used to be the outside of the castle. All she had wanted to do was head to the equipment shed to look for her second pair of glasses that had fallen out of her bag. But no, instead the entire grounds had been turned into a maze.

Thank you.

Lux frowned as she walked quickly through the maze, pressing herself against the walls whenever she saw something out of the corner of her eye, her wand clutched tightly in her hand, casting a Lumos spell out into the darkness to try and help her see. 

Why?

Turning a corner Lux had prepared herself to be faced with some sort of monster, not another person as she quite literally crashed into them, knocking herself onto her ass. 

“Oh my God are you okay? Do you know a way out of here?”

A maze! It was beautiful, possibly the most loveliest thing she’d ever seen in her sixteen years of life. (Okay, so maybe she was exaggerating quite a lot, because her boyfriend, w o w.) And although she knew she probably should’ve gone back inside the school to search for someone to go along with her, Jacen absolutely supported the buddy system, she couldn’t help herself when she just barged head-on into this strange extravaganza! Not that anyone was calling it that…

She was nearly giddy, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Jay wouldn’t take long to scope out the enterance, she would just pop right in, have a look around, and then have a one-up on whomever she came back in with. At least that was how it was supposed to go. Once her feet left the steps of the school, Jace couldn’t tell East from left or backwards.

Aaaand that was how Jay found herself stuck in the middle of a dark maze with nothing but her wand for defense. To be fair, she wasn’t half bad at defending herself, but still. It was dark and Halloween and maybe she would’ve preferred to see where she was going. She could use a lumos spell, sure, but then would she be able to throw out a bat bogey hex as quickly if her wand wasn’t already in use?

Probably. But that wasn’t a definite yes.

The funniest bit about this whole thing? She was just walking aimlessly while debating the merits of being able to see clearly, that clearly she wasn’t watching where she was going when she walked right into Lux. The resulting collision had Jay yelling out in alarm and spectacularly mucking up an avis spell. Spectacularly as in, instead of conjuring up the flock of birds intended, it sounded like she’d sneezed at the wrong moment and ended up gagging out a handful of feathers. She spat the mess out and wiped at her face with her sleeve, all the while trying not to ask Lux if she was okay with her mouth full.

“No,” she answered finally, throat raw and scratchy. “I don’t know the way out. I don’t even think I’ve gone very far, I just wanted to have a quick look around before I went to fetch someone to come in with me.” Looks like that plan was out of the question now.

Pumpkins Scream In The Dead Of Night

[gdijay]

Jacen managed to put a cap on her excitement on the talk of Malakai's bright and promising career if only because the subject wasn't as into it as she was. She knew that she could be a handful from time to time, but the times when she felt actively ignored were few and far between. She hadn't really expected that from Malakai, especially considering their mutuals, but she did intrude rather rudely on his class time.

"I do have his career to look forward to," she agreed, but that also brought about a cloud of anxiety at the mere mention. Damien, and she knew she sounded like a broken record by now, did not do things by halves. He was either going to become incredibly successful or become a Disney villain. Rian was going to be a traveler, she couldn't see hir doing anything else, and her? Jacen wasn't really sure what she was going to do after Hogwarts, but she'd be damned if she was going to end up a trophy wife. A working trophy wife maybe, and she found herself smirking to herself at the thought.

Jacen bent her head forward, tongue poking out at the side of her mouth as she worked on how she wanted the signature of her married name to look. She frowned after the first few tries and pulled a face. They were dropping Rookwood, she wouldn't force Damien to keep the name he so adamantly despised. It was at that point that she was glad she didn't have a glass of water, and even more so that she hadn't tried taking a drink out of said glass of water because it would be all over the back of the head of the kid sitting in front of her.

Malakai's words, specifically how he'd phrased them, made her snort into her arm to keep from disturbing the class. 'We will surely have the chemical reaction to have the place hot enough to fall fast, burn bright, and leave little evidence behind.' Those words did not have an innocent undertone, and while the hairs at the nape of her neck would rise at the idea of anything actually happening between them, she chirped at Malakai in the quietest laughter-ridden words she could manage. "Oh my god, you guys are fucking! Science brothers and your chemicals, please, stop trying to steal the heart given to me." And in between wheezes, one could barely make out the ending follow-up. "Griff was right."

one step, two step, no step, damn step

Malakai exhibited the blank stare at Jacen as he rambled on about this nonsense and the other.  His mind just did not compute half of what he was going on about. Interviews and fame and stalking. It was all over the place and completely illogical. But, he often felt like he was having a completely different conversation whenever he talked to either of the Wood twins so this did not come as a surprise. Just as he did with Griff when he would go on one of his rants, he found it best to let them get it out of their systems and only ask questions if absolutely necessary.

“So sorry to disappoint, but at least you will have Richards’ bright and exciting future to look forward to. Then I’m sure you and Rian will be off doing great and wonderful things, you won’t have time to think about anything else.” He whispered over to him, adding a short wink to let him know, that yes, he got the point and it was a joke. By now Jay had to know he was much too lost in his own mind to compute much silliness. Probably why Griffin referred to him as a limp noodle more times than he’d like to admit.

“Sounds quite lovely.” Malakai said with a relieved smile. “I am sure we could find many comrades to join the cause and with Richards and I, well we will surely have the chemical reaction to have the place hot enough to fall fast, burn bright, and leave little evidence behind.” So he may have thought about it once or twice. There were a lot of things he thought about that he didn’t tend to say out loud, but Jacen offered it up first and he was only adding to the conversation. “I mean, that is, if you don’t mind spending the rest of your days in prison.” Kai added just so he wouldn’t think he’s serious.

[gdijay]

"That's fair," Jay agreed, often times finding himself fighting off being stir-crazy, even if he was busy doing his detention duties for the night. "D'you ever feel cooped up here at school? I hate when it happens right in the middle of class." Sneaking a peek at his partner-in-crime for the moment, he furrowed his brows in contemplation. "What do you do to get rid of it, or help the time pass by until you can?" Jacen loved to run it off, but it wasn't like the school excused students for an hour to have a quick run to blow off steam.

"You don't have a preference for what people call you?" He didn't know why that bothered him so much, considering Jacen was called four or five different things by different people on the daily. It was almost imperceptive, but Jay's step picked up infinitesimally the closer they got to the end of the tunnel. It sped things up, yes, but it also had him nearly power-walking when the end of the tunnel started to light up. "Or what if it was just a really mole-like student? Animagus, or! Meta-genes," he grinned, wiggling his fingers in front of him and watching as they turned into human-scaled mole hands for long enough for him to waggle his fingers in front of his face before reverting back to normal. "I mean, that would hit all the nails on the head. Giant mole, liking butterbeer, and getting a proper education. Let's name him Moe, so there's only one letter off from Mole. I'll keep him in my thoughts when I use this tunnel from now on," he solemnly swore.

“Hmm, nah, I’ll pass. I don’t like being cooped up.” That, and he could kiss certain privileges goodbye if he stepped out of line a little too often. He knew how to keep a low profile, luckily. This aptitude did wonders as he crept quietly after Jacen, following the directions he was given while committing them to memory. One did not simply forget the route to a secret tunnel, after all. The relieved laughter Jay let spill from his lips spoke volumes, about the boredom his class had been and his happiness at being out. He reminded Nik of a little puppy, or a fox kit: bubbly, carefree, and overly excitable. “You call me whatever you prefer. An enviable gentleman by any other name, and all that.” Winking amiably, he inspected the tunnel as they walked, breathing in the scent intrinsic to old underground passageways. “Does this look like the work of a giant mole to you? A mole the size of a horse and it dug this thing because, like all moles, it liked butterbeer and getting a proper education?”

[gdijay]

"Good, good, please do. I quite like the idea of a pastry party. Let's invite Rian, yeah? Ze'll make it orange and everyone would be happy." And though Jacen was fairly convinced her words came out completely literate, the slur was still there and Finley would be forgiven for thinking Jay was a little crazy. "They did, they told her a thing and I'm going to get them later, those rat bastards." Her eyes flew open, and while the words were laced with anger, her expression was tinged over with worry and apprehension. Damien and Margot were both forces to be messed with, especially when it came to Jay's well-being. It was the sort of thing she never really expected them to be at odds about, but there you have it. The promised reminder of coffee and pastries, however, drew a small smile to her lips. "Don't tell anyone I said this, but you're actually my favourite person right now," because Finn was sunshine and rainbows and happiness to the weirdly sad dreams she'd been watching in her mind's eye. "Lupin is the best, but I'm not in his class this year. I heard you got teacher's aid, congratulations!" If anyone deserved that position, it was Finley Fairchild. She was the epitome of a real life Disney princess, and the animals all seemed to adore her by default. Seeing her face, however, made Jay giggle and pull her hands back to herself. "Sorry," because she hadn't meant to gross Finn out, but she did as she was told and 'put her pinkies back on'. "Picture? Did you get my best side?" she asked, eagerly leaning over to see what masterpiece Finley managed to come up with while she attempted to be still. Even in sleep, Jay was hardly immobile.

“I’m gonna hold you to that,” she replied, eyes focusing as she shaded in the shadow on Jay’s jugular. She raised her brows, looking back at the other girl. “They said something to Margot?” While she knew very little of Damien, despite being in the same house, Finley knew the Woods and was aware of the fact the eldest of the three was not a fan of Jay’s relationship with her fellow ‘claw. Frowning, she turned back to her sketch. “Well that’s a shame. Those two really shouldn’t poke their noses into affairs that don’t include them. Regardless, we shall get pastries and coffee when you are fully awake.” She nodded, even if Jay couldn’t see. She frowned, “But Professor Lupin is the best! You wouldn’t want to disrespect him and sleep through his class, would you? Though he is awfully lenient, he probably wouldn’t bat an eye at you sleeping whether on the table or in the corner.” At the mention of her daydream, Finn was ready to comment when Jay lifted up her hands and used those metamorphmagus genes to alter them into the form of grindylow hands. Her nose wrinkled and she squirmed a little in her seat. She wasn’t a fan of grindylows, though she wanted to study magical creatures when she was older. Setting her book aside, she swatted at the three fingers being waggled at her. “You’re ruining my picture, you!” she laughed, “Put your pinkies back on - those look so weird when the rest of you is human looking.”   

[gdijay]

"I didn't meant to embarrass you," Jay quickly told Tae with a quick wave of his hand, as it doing so would dispel any bad vibes between them. "I just meant that I get it. Books are interesting, too." He couldn't help feeling bad for making him blush, and so after saying his peace, he dropped the subject. Best to move on before making either of them more awkward.

"No, probably not, but I don't appreciate falling asleep on my work and having words across my face either," Jacen countered, only to grin widely at the implication of which room may or may not be housing said coffee-making goodness. Tae was a blessing in disguise, and Jay wasn't about to waste precious information when it was practically gift-wrapped by a regular to the library. "Would you like me to bring some back for you too? I mean, if I did manage to find what I'm looking for, that is." And really, even the thought of doing something he wasn't supposed to gave Jacen a thrill. He could barely contain his grin.

"Easier, yes, but more fun?" Jace countered, quirking a brow at the Ravenclaw. Was he really second-guessing his tendency in leaning towards fun opposed to practicality? What nerve. He turned to glance around the bookshelf, checking to see if there was anyone around who could identify him later on the off-chance he left some trace behind and people started asking questions. He at least was still paying attention to Tae, so the question was answered with relative ease on his part. "Arithmancy," and then he turned a sheepish grin at the guy. "I'm behind because I'm a lazy shit. Or rather, I get distracted very easily and then I'm not interested in finishing." Sucky truth that it was, it was still the truth. "I at least caught up on one week," he offered, the end of that statement going up an octave towards the end so that it sounded more like a question above all else.

It started with an opps || open

Chuckling lightly at the face sent his way about going to the kitchens, he couldn’t help but smile. Of course there was no friend but Tae wasn’t about bursting people’s bubbles - most days. The quick topic change to his book had a light flush on his cheeks before he brushed the embarrassment out quickly. So he was a bit of a reader. If stereotypes were anything to go by he was a raven after all. Matter of fact ravens followed him in many portions of his life. Probably for an entirely different reason. Not that he was going to share.  At least he didn’t have one as a pet. He didn’t imagine Noir would like it too much. 

Shaking himself from his inner monologue he moved his attention to the doors in question. Raising a brow at the mention of getting into the office he frowned lightly in thought. It wasn’t as if giving any advice would be traced back to him. Well, he didn’t think Jacen was the tattling type. “I can’t imagine he would appreciate someone going into his office,” he began gently moving his eyes back to his companion. “I am here often but I can’t say if it is the left one or not,” so what if he was potentially aiding in mischief. Tae didn’t often participate so he didn’t think karma would mark him so horribly if he helped just once. A person didn’t need to be a Gryffindor to see the fun in it. Also he had to admit, it sounded like some horrible pick up line from a muggle movie he had seen. Or really many of the ones he had seen.

“But I mean wouldn’t it be easier to just get whatever you need done then go hunting something down,” he added quickly with a shrug before as he contemplated how much time it would take to get the cup and so on compared to the potential time it would take to simply finish whatever task he had going on. “What are you working on anyway. I mean if you need help focusing,” he finally questioned as he pushed a strand of hair behind his ear. 

[gdijay]

Jacen responded to the waving from the student a couple of steps down from her with a beaming grin. She moved from her seat down into the one next to Fallon, intent on letting her own disgruntlement known as well. "What makes Karis think she's more entitled to the pitch than anyone else, huh? She's a terror, that one. But look at the new guy out there, I think she's training him. He's beautiful," she told her with a giggle.

She tilted her head at the new girl, a small grin quirking up one side of her mouth. "'course I know how to try out. What House are you in? I think the only team this year without a captain yet is Hufflepuff, but I can tell you about the other teams." She leaned forward in her seat, turning slightly so she could more comfortably explain whatever Fallon wanted to know.

"You'd have to try out, there's a flyer somewhere detailing the times each team is scheduled. I imagine you'd need to sign up, at least so the captain would know who they're dealing with." And then Fallon's last question filtered through, and Jace was laughing.

"You're in my house! I'm Jay Wood, you?" She shook her hands in front of Fallon, as if doing so would make her forget everything Jace had told her just moments ago. "You'll want to talk to James Potter. Bit anal on perfectionism as far as team stuff goes, but the rest of the team is great. I play chaser, by the way. Are you any good?" she asked, quickly surveying the other girl with another grin. "I'll be there for tryouts anyhow. Me da's got me a new broom this year. Rian broke my one from last year and Margot wouldn't let me get a new one. She's coordinator as well as annoying elder sister." Jay rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

open

The sound of a soft, hesitant clicking emitted from the small heels of a new sixth year Gryffindor as she walked through one of the many Hogwarts hallways. Fallon had been at the new school for all of one week and the confusion she felt while walking it’s halls still hadn’t left her. Maybe it was the fact that those damn stairways seemed determined to change whenever she was sure she was headed in the right direction, but she was completely turned around. She knew Hogwarts would be large, but this was kind of obnoxious. Honestly, was there even enough students in this school for it to be this big? She doubted it.

She had thankfully found her way outside to castle and onto the Quidditch pitch. It felt like it’d been an hour of searching, but she’d done it. Quidditch wasn’t exactly her sport, but she was planning on spending some of her break just flying around the pitch. She just wanted to get back on her broom, it had been too long. But it didn’t seem like that was in the cards for her, because by the time she had gotten to the pitch it looked like one of the teams was already practicing. “Fan-fucking-tastic.” She grumbled, watching the players flying around, tossing the quaffle around in the air as they did so. Instead of walking back into the castle and spending the rest of her break in the dining hall - she didn’t need to eat any more carbs for the day - she found her way into the bleachers. She got a bit of her homework done, but most of the break was spent watch the team practice. She hadn’t actually ever attempted to play Quidditch, but she’d seen River play, and now watching this team, it looked kind of promising. Noticing there were a few other students littered around the stands, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask about the teams. “Hey!” She waved at them, gaining their attention. “Do you know how to try out? Is there like a Captain to talk to… or a sign up sheet? Or do I just go out on there the next time Gryffindor is on the pitch and join in?”

[gdijay]

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It'll be our little secret," Jay assured him, winking at Scorpius as he'd passed him. It was actually really cute that the guy had this sort of innocent opinion of him. He'll let him live with it for now, but he couldn't help toying with the idea of throwing him for shock value. With Scorpius' colouring, he'd flush beautifully.

"Oh good!" He actually found it was better that Albus knew about the tunnel in the first place, but the satisfied grin he bore quickly melted off into a scowl. "Ew, I don't want a thousand people coming through this tunnel!" Yes, he was upset about that fact, but he was also not surprised. However, he couldn't exactly see Lucy or Molly traipsing through the dirty dankness of the tunnel to sneak out. "Tell them they can't come. Wait, no! Don't even remind them of it so they won't be tempted to. You wouldn't happen to know of a spell to make someone forget something small like that?" He'll have to ask Damien.

"Even if it's for just a day?" Jay asked, suddenly really disappointed that Scorpius may not be joining him and Albus in their binge-watching day. He had to remind himself that he hadn't originally been invited in the first place, but the more the merrier, right? "What show? I have a few picked out, but nothing quite set in stone. Maybe I'll have him sit through the nonsense that is Adventure Time because it's amazing. It'll be made even better if we get your fort-making idea a reality. Alb wouldn't be able to argue both of us down, so this means you have to come." Jay felt he was being very clever.

"I think they're more likely to cause the room to spontaneously combust. Valuable life lessons are usually only taken up by the gullible, and our boys decidedly won't fit in that category, nope." Jay finished that statement off with a little 'pop' on the 'p'. He continued walking where Scorpius was pointing, not really giving much thought to it as he blindly followed direction. It ought to have bothered him how easily he was trusting this guy, but it was Scorpius Malfoy, Prefect, he was with, so he could be forgiven for letting his guard drop, right? "I think the other students will be fine. Damien and Albus are too stubborn to let a whole meeting go by without someone learning something. At least Damien is, he's a really good tutor and potions comes like breathing to him. The club is lucky he hasn't protested."

my ninja moves are better than yours

[gdijay]

Okay, so maybe the whole 'bite me' comment was meant to be rhetorical, but fucking hell that hurt and he yelled out in protest. He responded in the only logical way he knew how: he bit back. Blindly, he veered forward and latched his teeth on the first available patch of skin, at the junction of his neck and shoulder.

When he was released, Jace scrambled as quickly as he could to get away, get away, but Steven would not shake off. That was the problem with fighting someone bigger than yourself, but that only managed to infuriate Jacen even more.

He yanked back his arm, forcefully shoving Steven away once his grip had been relinquished. He knew he had to be quick, and he ducked, by chance happening upon a wand. He wasn't able to process right away whether it was his own or not, but that wasn't really the point. He'd been practising his nonverbal magic, you see, and so he brandished the wand violently forward and stopped it abruptly in the centre of Steven's chest.

The immobilisation spell worked quickly, and the moment Jacen knew it, he let out a loud huff of air and finally yelled out his frustration. And then he was talking, casting another lumos spell, and then searching for the missing wand. The garbled mess of words escaping his mouth finally started to make sense at this point, and when he found the other wand, he exchanged it for Steven's that he had apparently been using.

"You think we know each other." He was laughing, sounding breathless and the tremble had only just started to abate from the hurried whispers from before. "Didn't think about asking questions before you attacked me, did you? D'you have any idea the heart-attack I fucking thought I was having? And not only that, but look at what you did!" He motioned to the angrily welting bruise on his shoulder, the row of crescents stark against his pale skin. "How'm I supposed to explain to Damien where these mysterious teeth marks came from? These shouldn't be yours!"

my ninja moves are better than yours

His opponent was wiggling around like a hyperactive hamster in a tiny tube, and Steven had to make an effort to keep his limbs wound as tightly around the other, but he didn’t give up. ‘Bite me,’ the person said, so Steven did just that. He sank his teeth into a shoulder and bit with all his might, but promptly let go when he felt two thumbs pressing hard into his stomach. The sharp pain distracted him enough to release his hold, giving the other a perfect opportunity to slip out and away.

Of course, Steven got up as fast as he’d fallen down, coughing loudly because, fuck, the point where Jacen had pressed his thumbs hurt like hell. Then, his opponent’s words registered in his brain and Steven resorted to grabbing whatever he could to keep the other there. 

He settled for a sleeve, but he couldn’t keep holding on to it and the material slipped out of his fist. Steven thought he’d recognised the voice, and now he didn’t want to attack the person anymore, he just needed to know who it was. If it was a student who was following him, he’d get his revenge later, but he needed to know who it was. 

“Wait!” Steven called out, not wanting to lose whoever was in the passage way with him. “You’re a Hogwarts student, right?” He winced- his back really hurt after his manoeuvre and his stomach hurt as well, and fuck, where was his wand? 

“Dude, stop, I think we know each other!” He didn’t know if that was necessarily true, but he hoped that it might keep his opponent here. If he did know the person, he could reason (or threaten) with them. If he didn’t, he’d get to know them and see if they were indeed following him or not. 

[gdijay]

Jacen giggled, pulling his bottom lip in behind his teeth to keep it from becoming more than that because he didn't want to make Scorpius think he was laughing at him. "I think you like that word just a little bit," he pointed out, grin peeking through despite his best efforts. "Why would I tell? I've been told I have a filthy mouth and the only one worse than mine is Griff's." Which was true. There were times he'd gone into their dorm only to hear something he wished he could bleach out of his brain the next moment. Ah, the benefits of communal living.

He slowly relaxed as Scorpius essentially began repeating the hypothetical situation he'd thrown out on the fly. "You're not a very good liar, love," he told him, tone filled with an odd mix of sympathy and amusement. He moved closer to pat distractedly at Scorpius' arm in a there-there motion. "As far as I know, it's just me, you, and Damien who know so far. It can still be kept a secret if none of us tell." But the probability of Scorpius not telling Albus was very real, so he added with an off-handed, "You can tell Alb."

"Oh! Speaking of our strawberry-haired mutual, I'll be going over to his place sometime during the summer, or some holiday from school. I'm going to make him watch a thing and you should totally come. It'll be fun, we can make a fort." Because Jacen Wood was actually a second year. The mention of the owl and the Potions Club had him cackling before he even had a chance to process the words. "You're welcome! I think Shafiq is actually just a sadistic old man. He sits and watches the school and picks out random people and makes them do things together because he knows they'll hate it."

And there he went again, on another tangent. At least this time he realised it before he got too far off-topic. Grinning sheepishly at Scorpius, he motioned for them to continue on their way. "I wasn't lying about being front and centre. It'll give me better reaction time because I can keep an eye on Damien. He has very subtle tells for when he's done dealing with shit, you know?" Because Scorpius would know, right? Albus was just as mercurial as Damien, and that was probably why they hated each other so much. "They're really very alike. They were either going to get on like a dead tree on fire or hate each other like oil and water. Any in-between isn't plausible." It surprised him by how matter-of-fact that statement was.

my ninja moves are better than yours

[gdijay]

The lumos spell cast by Scorpius added to the light from his own wand, and Jacen was able to get a decent look around the tunnel for once. “Shame, Scorp, taking Morgana’s and Merlin’s names in vain. How could you?” he teased, though he was actually glad that it was someone he was friendly with that he’d run into. Scorpius was in his year, but that didn’t stop Jacen from being a little bit pleased that he was in his company. Wait until he told everyone that he’d sneaked out of the castle with Scorpius Malfoy!

But that brought about a whole new round of questions. “I dunno, Mister Prefect, how do I know you’re not just making a sweep of a tunnel that everyone supposes is a secret?” he pointed out, crossing his arms, and thus casting the lighting at yet another weird angle. It wasn’t that he cared much for being caught - he’d been in detention so many times already that he was sure there was a bet going on by the professors on whether he would set a new record. If so, he’d demand a trophy. The Weasley twins got to keep a swamp for the better part of the year when they escaped the school, why couldn’t he ask for something much more sensible and permanent? (He would totally ask Damien to help him sneak it into the trophy room for the rest of forever.)

“Is it true, then? Is this really not a secret tunnel?” he asked, a frown marring his face. He still had yet to uncross his arms, so he ended up looking like a put-out house cat wanting to be consoled. Precisely two head pets, and that’s all, thank you. “It would take out all of the fun from it being a secret tunnel,” he pointed out, twitching his nose in distaste half a second before dropping it altogether. It wasn’t as if it was Scorp’s fault if it was. “I watched this thing on the telly where they sang a song about a secret tunnel. It was pretty great, it was all ‘Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel! Through the mountain! Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel! Yeah!’” And then he realised he’d just sang at Scorpius Malfoy and nearly choked on his tongue.

my ninja moves are better than yours

[gdijay]

“I missed you too,” he cooed, for whatever reason wanting to keep their conversation to themselves. It wasn’t even like they were talking about anything private. It was a reunion and in the middle of the open floor; he could practically feel the burning gazes of the students around boring into them. But they weren’t invited to this.

Jacen clung to Damien, legs locked around him and letting himself be supported. His hands, refusing to stop touching, to keep to himself, smoothed through Damien’s hair, pushing it out of his face and exposing the imposing red of minuscule lacerations. Fresh. “What’ve you done to yourself, amore mio?” he asked, words pitched for his ears only, but also laced with an underlying worry that made ice creep up his spine.

Damien didn’t do things by halves.

Jay should’ve insisted that he be allowed to spend the summer with Damien; it would’ve saved them both from apparent hardship. Not only did his family have to deal with his incessant anxiety and paranoia during those few months, a byproduct of diagnosis from years prior, his bad habits had only been made worse. His worry was obviously not misplaced.

He scratched at the nape of Damien’s neck when he bowed his head, his lips ghosting Damien’s brow, and only then did he let himself relax into his arms. It didn’t last for nearly as long as he needed it to, because then he indicated he was ready to return himself to the ground.

Something wasn’t right and he needed to find out what that was. Hooking his arm around Damien’s waist, he laced his free hand with his Ravenclaw’s, grinning up at him like he was the sun to his endless night and the world was right again. “Are you okay?” Because no matter how good an actor Damien was, Jay could tell. He was there for the worst, the scariest worst of his life, and he could see when something was off. “You’re beautiful, I love you, what do you need?”

i taste you on my lips and i can’t get rid of you || damien & jacen

[gdijay]

"But why would you want to hibernate when you can build snowmen and snow angels and create the biggest igloo on this side of Scotland?" Because although Jay was warning Flenn, he also wanted the guy to know how pretty it could be, especially in the mornings when the sun hit the snow just right and it looked like the glitter gods had blessed the grounds before allowing people to walk on them.

"I'm not frozen because I was born here," he giggled, finding Flenn's reaction hilarious. "Da's Oliver Wood. I dunno if you'd know of him, being a transfer and all, but we're Scottish. Me and Rian don't really have the accent, but spend any amount of time with Margot and you can't miss it." Because if anyone has a thick Scottish accent, it was her. "And yeah, she's quidditch coordinator," he helpfully supplied.

"Victoire is the best, I don't know what you're so worried about. Unless you're set out to annoy her, and then I'd be afraid. She can definitely be scary if you set out to annoy her." In fact, he didn't know of anyone alive who'd done so purposefully.

Jacemblématique. Jace let out a peel of laughter. He hadn't known what to expect as far as the nicknames were involved, but that one was a first. "And you've done mine in. You're a cute," he told him, reaching out to poke Flenn in the cheek. And he was; cute enough that Jacen had been wooed into giving up his jacket and continue to converse with him even though his breath was visible when he spoke. The massive ego stroking wasn't causing any hardship either. "Yes, thestrals. Though I did get in trouble for it. They were more scared than anything and I felt really bad afterward. I try to sneak them in more snacks from the kitchens now. You can come with me the next time I feel the urge to sneak out," he offered, as if he didn't just invite the kid into his first bout of rule-breaking.

The intensity in which Flenn grabbed Jay's arm and declared Hawaii better than any land on the planet because you could surf made Jacen blink at him. Twice. And then he returned the stare and dead-panned. "Take me to Hawaii."

If that nasty bout of frosty, bones-chilling, fingers-biting weather wasn’t deemed cold, Flenn didn’t want to think about January. But he did, because his brain was unhelpful and traitorous, sending a shiver down his spine as he imagined being completely blue and frozen over. Why had he thought he’d survive three years in the northern hemisphere, again? “I will hibernate and you won’t see me until March, just a heads up.”

Beaming even though he almost caught the jacket right in the face (he could be coordinated, it had to be the cold numbing his usually flawless reactivity), he draped it over his shoulders, squeezing it tight around his arms and torso like somehow he could become a burrito in a borrowed jacket. “This is so nice, thank you! Won’t you be cold, though?”

Mention of the Weasley person and Margot Wood dismissed his concern and he near jumped in place. “Hey, I heard about her, she’s our mentor right? I haven’t really met her yet but I was told she was hella scary and all, even though she looks dreamy. I heard about your sister too, the quidditch coordinator, right? She looks super rad, you’re lucky to have her!” More tales of Jay’s general awesomeness and rank were told, and Flenn was counting his blessings. To pop up next to someone this cool so soon in the year, and to not have them send him away or anything? The stars were aligned in his favor that day, no doubt.”Well, Jacemblématique, I think it’s safe to say you have hereby conquered my heart and soul, and I’m your biggest fan. Thestrals, really?”

Jay’s expression upon hearing Flenn’s reason for transferring– well, it was nothing the new kid hadn’t seen before, but it was always nice to know some people still had compassion in them. Grinning, he nodded in agreement before stopping dead in his tracks, gripping Jay’s arm tightly like he had seen a ghost. “But wait! In Hawaii… You can surf.” This followed by the saddest face ever known to mankind.

[gdijay]

wrong in all the right ways || Victoire & Jacen

Jacen was in desperate need of some girl time. She adored her family and friends to no end, but let's face it - there were hardly many people in her life with a knack or flair for princess pampering. Sure, Damien loved to spoil her and Rian had hir moments, but it just sometimes made her feel like the odd one out. Like she didn't belong.

She stood before her mirror and stared at her reflection, trying to decide whether it looked like she was trying too hard or not hard enough. The comments, the ones that speared into her and stuck out at the wrong times and left gaping wounds when she was at her lowest, kept coming back to her. 'Boy in a dress.' 'Confused.' 'He'll come around.' As confident as she was most days, she was just as human as the next person. Probably even more-so when she felt the strings of her well-being pull taut and threaten to snap.

Applying the very last touches to her makeup, she took a deep breath to steady herself. Her fingers shook minutely as she ran her fingers through her short-cropped hair. It was growing longer than she usually preferred, but she wasn't as quick to get it touched up this time.

And then Jacen felt bad for being so vain.

Stepping back into her dormitory, she shrugged out of her chosen attire today and pulled on a simple pair of robes. It was the weekend, but she still felt it a better option. Before leaving for the day, she climbed back into bed with Damien, waking him with butterfly kisses and the simple need for the affection she'd missed out on during the summer.

She hadn't really expected to turn up where she did once she ventured out, but when faced with the door she wasn't really surprised. She knocked, following that up with a meek, "Vic?"

[gdijay]

You're too sweet and cute for him.

Nice try, chick pea, but I’m not sweet, and if you’re going to call me cute you have to specify whether you mean like baby animal cute or cute enough to bang mercilessly

[gdijay]

That's one way to tame a beast...

Not really the point, but let’s hope not or it won’t be any fun. I like the beast xD