Plymouth turned all the way around to look look at Tino. "Are you asking because you're on my side and want Daphne to keep me? Or are you wanting to replace me?" Hmmmm? Plymouth was asking in his usual good ole' boy friendly way, but..what was with the inquisition? Hmmm.

"Hehe. Here." Plymouth stabbed a potato with his fork and offered it to Daphne.

"That's dumb," stated Daphne with a crinkle of her nose. "If you like someone you shouldn't throw things at them. You give them things. Obviously." Duh. Flattening her skirt on her thighs Daphne ignored BOTH Tino and Plymouth.

She didn't have to tell Tino anything. It was her prerogative, thankyouverymuch. And, no, she didn't want potatoes either, thankyouverymuch.

"You ask too many questions for someone who should be studying for their NEWTS," said the blond sourly, her little nose in the air. "Although, I guess you can't help it. Ravenclaw and all."

Plymouth looked at the potato. "Hehe." HE liked Daphne and he was trying to give it to her. Her logic was a little flawed, but ... maybe he was just being Ravenclaw. Either way, the fork went to his own mouth and he took care of it.

"Ravenclaw," he swallowed. "We have to ask lots of questions." But Plymouth did send Tino a look. A LOOK before speaking to Daphne again. "I find you to be so much more interesting than NEWTs though." That was true enough. Plymouth Glen had studied Daphne Hopton a LOT MORE than he had studied anything else all term.

Wooooopsie.

"Throwing things at someone is sorta like giving them stuff," Tino pointed out, pointing his drumstick at Daphne's snub little nose. "Just--faster." He knawed on the side Plymouth hadn't touched. Sometimes he cared about germs. Today was one of those days.

"And Plym the Mouth, I'm asking because I wanna know. What do girls like? How did you get one? Is kissing all it's really cracked up to be? And why is it important to be tall?" Tino directed his questions at Plymouth, then Daphne, then Plymouth, then Daphne again. He really wanted to know about the tall thing. If that one was really important, he might have to get some platform Kenneth Coles.

"Thank you, I guess," said Daphne to Plymouth's erm, confession? She knew that much. Well, at least she hoped. It was only proper that Plymouth found her more interesting otherwise--why were they dating?

"I think, Tino, you shouldn't be worrying about any of those things." He should be worrying about...his sanity, probably. Yup.

"Let's see, let's see. Girls like different things, really. Different girls, different things. You have to pay attention and figure out what those things are...," Plymouth answered question one. "I don't know the answer to the second. I don't know how I got my Daphadil other than luck."

Plymouth slid in close to Daphne, closer than before. He didn't kissy kiss and tell! Hehe. "Height doesn't have much to do with it, I don't think? You should be good. Who do you have your eye on?" Plymouth picked up a strand of Daphne's hair off her shoulder and LOOKED at it.

Didn't put it in his mouth, but he was STUDYING it. "You're WELCOME, Daphne," Plymouth started making his cutesy faces at the hair.

Tino made a mental note: Talking to the girl's hair was an acceptable form of adoration. "It's different for every girl?," he said in disbelief. "How am I expected to keep up? There's got to be an easier way than paying attention. . . doesn't every girl like flowers or something?" He'd suspected the hamster wheel of ideas and jumbled trails of thought rolling around in his head were going to cost him someday. At least, more than academically. He was who he was, right? And so far this 'disability' hadn't affected him much. "CHICKEN!," Tino exclaimed. "Oh, how I love thy dark thighs!"

He forgot about his current stance on germs and tore into the rest of the meat. Chewing slowly, Tino half-closed his eyes and savored the juices. Mmmmmmmm. One eye popped open in response to Plymouth's question. "I dunno her name," he shrugged, licking the bone. "She's a Hufflepuff and she has freckles and I like looking at her." 'Nuff said.

"I think..." began Daphne but stared at Constantino briefly. He was.... Shutting her eyes, the blond took a deep breath and held out her hands. "You need to just relax and be yourself."

Because--really, what else was he supposed to do? "But I'd start by actually talking to her and maybe then you'll know what she likes. Oh, and erm, don't go eating around her just yet." His eating habits left a lot to be desired.

Tsk. Tsk. Hufflepuff, huh? "Maybe Garret knows her."

"Hehe." What a perfect little strand of hair. Plymouth rubbed it against his nose in a completely distracted way for a bit.

"It'd probably be useful to get her name, too. I think most people, girls being people, like it when you know their name." Oh YEAH. Garrett. "Garrett is quite the little ladies man. But maybe you should just ask her, T-Bone. Walk up. Tell her you like looking at her. And ask her name. But no touching. No touching at first meeting."

Maybe no touching ever for Tino. Hmm.

Tino obediently placed the chicken bone on the step beside him and wiped his hands on his socks. "No eating. Check." This might be a bitty problem since he was almost always nibbling cheese, but he supposed he could sacrifice the gouda for the chance to converse with Freckly Fairy. "Aaaand. . . no touching."

Tino folded his hands and put them between his knees so they wouldn't be tempted to touch anyone. "Does Garrett know all the Huffie girls?," he asked curiously. How was that even possible? He'd have to talk to like. . . everyone, every day. Maybe that's what Huffies did instead of study. Hmmm.

"Okay so, I walk up to her and I say 'Hello Freckly Fairy, I enjoy looking at you very much. Please tell me some of your interests so I can impress you with gifts. Oh, and what are you called?'" Tino leaned forward hopefully.

If anything, Constantino was a quick learner--sort of. It made up for all his short-comings, or at least so Daphne Hopton though. Poor little fella. Instinctively, she reached out and patted his head gently. "You almost got it--except, I wouldn't phrase it...that way exactly."

Because now he just sounded a little creepy. "You should say something along the lines of 'I think you're rather pretty'. I would leave out the Freckly bit too, just in case."

Just in case the girl had some huge complex about her skin. Or...hair nomming. Wrinkling her brow, Daphne twisted in her seated position to figure out just what Plymouth was doing with her hair. "Plym. No," she mumbled in a low voice and took power over her hair.

PATPATPAT. Saliva check? All dry.

"Take the 'rather' out," Plymouth suggested. "Just say she's pretty if you think she is. Ask her to Hogsmeade? You have some spare knuts?" If not, Copernicus was good for loans. Hehe.

Aww... cue sad puppy face. Plymouth hadn't been eating her hair. Just... nuzzling it. Sad. Sadsadsadpout.

"Hogsmeade?," Tino said thoughtfully. "Hmmmm. Hogsmeade. But what if I can't entertain her that long. . . you know, there's the walk down, and then what do we do once we get there, and what if we run out of things to talk about? I suppose I could buy her stuff. . ." He pulled a galleon out of his pocket. "I found this the other day. See, isn't it shiny?"

To be honest, Tino rarely had money at Hogwarts. At home with his uncle he could run errands and dig ditches for spare knuts, but here there weren't many money-making endeavors (except crawling on the floor underneath the staircases).

Tino smiled. Daphne had patted his head! "I think you're rather pretty," he beamed, trying out his new mad skillz.

"There is NO rather," Plymouth said again, this time with MUCH feeling because it was about Missy Daphadil. THE prettiest girl in the school, by far, by miles, by light YEARS. "She's beautiful." Plymouth beamed at Daphne, totally ignoring Tino for the moment.


...


"Hehe." Then he fixed Tino with a look. "You not be able to entertain? Really? You... well you've got skills, T-Bone. No one tells a story like you. You can tell her all about your... cheese."

"You can't possibly run out of things to do and talk about, Tino," responded Daphne. To the Ravenclaw boy, the Gryffindor raised her brows. Honestly, when had Constantino ever run out of things to say while Daphne had known him.

Not once. "You're the most entertaining person I've ever met. Strange, crazy and at times disturbing but entertaining."

Right? And for his compliment he got another head pat. Rather Pretty. Sigh. Her own fault. It was better to concentrate on what Tino had said than what Plymouth had said. It wasn't actually working to keep her blush at bay. Rubbing one pink cheek, Daphne smiled sheepishly at her shoes.

"Cheese. Everyone likes cheese....or something like it."

Tino's eyes widened. "You really think she'd like to hear about my cheese?" Whoa. "What if- she likes cheese, too?" Whoa. He'd never thought about that before. Meeting someone who enjoyed dairy products as much as he? Suddenly the possibilities seemed endless. "I wonder what kind is her favorite? I can't really say. . . they're like, all my favorite! But I would have to put havarti and brie and gorgonzola at the top. Maybe there's some cheeses she hasn't tried yet! Maybe she'd go visit a cheese factory with me!"

Tino was becoming dizzy with excitement. "OH! I know! We can double date! We can have a double date at the cheese factory! It's kinda smelly in there, I know, but they have samples! And you'll just love her, I know it." A dreamy expression crossed his face. He was already picturing his girlfriend--forget her name--and how lovely she would be with a bit of Roquefort in her cheek. And when they kissed, it would taste salty.

He'd never wanted to be kissed so badly.

"You guys are the best," Tino enthused, jumping to his feet. "When I get her, d'you want to come to Hogsmeade with us? She'll want to meet the couple responsible for her lifelong bliss."

Plymouth opened his mouth to say SURE, then shut it quickly. Granted a cheese factory sounded cool to him, definitely something he'd never done before. And anything with the word DATE and DAPHNE in it was more than okay with Plymouth.

But...


Plymouth would just let Daphne answer. He was smart - a true Ravenclaw - like that. Very good boy. If Daphne didn't want to go anywhere with Tino, well, then they wouldn't go anywhere with him. Tino was different. Maybe Plymouth could third-wheel and help Tino out if Daphne would rather not? To make up for his lack of answer he filled his mouth with a bit of everything from their shared-plate-picnic-on-the-stairs. Nom. Chew. Nomchew. Hehe.

All of a sudden, the moving staircase (and Daphne's ear canals) were filled with words of Constantino Kolytiris. As best as the blond could, Daphne nodded eager to actually understand what the Ravenclaw was saying.

Cheese Factory was all she needed to catch to be sure she needed to run away. Soon. Very soon. Right now?

Smiling, Daphne forced out a few chuckles. Her finger played with each other as her hazel eyes swept towards Plymouth's face. "Lifelong bliss?" she repeated.

Clingy.

"Double Date?"

Cheesy.

"In a cheese factory?"

Extra Cheesy. "I don't suppose no is an answer." Daphne needed to be there to save this girl. It was her duty as a representative of the female race. Also--it was partially her fault now that Tino wanted to spend the rest of his crazed life with the poor bystanding/stalked girl.

Plymouth leaned over and slid his arm around Daphne. He just... wanted to. "Lifelong bliss," he repeated, too. Hehe. It was a nice dream? One that Plymouth certainly wouldn't be shooting down.

"Take it from me, Tino - ask her first. Then ask her again to be sure you got it all clear. You do NOT want to go ASSUMING. So... ask her and if she says yes, then me and Daphadil will ... go." Ish. Probably. "Hehe."

Plymouth touched his nose to Daphne's hair and nuzzled. Mmm.

Aly yawned and skipped up a couple stairs before plopping down on one. She was too tired to really do anything, but the common room was so loud. She shrugged and leaned her head against the railing of the staircase and closed her eyes. Her head was pounding and she was glad it was quiet here.

Emiliano walked up towards his common room, although he knew there'd be a party celebrating the end of the year. Sigh...he didn't want to go through that, yet. Maybe, he'd hang out by the corridors for a while.

As he got hold of the staircase leading to the seventh floor, he noticed Aly, the girl he'd met at the library the other day, before the exams a bit...off?

"Alyssandra...are you alright?" Em asked worried as he touched her shoulder for her to look up.

Her head shot up and she blinked when she heard her name. She regretted it immediately as pain shot through her head. She groaned and held her head. "Yeah, just a really bad headache. I haven't been sleeping well." She mumbled, peeking out from behind her hand at him. "How are you?" She asked, smiling a bit.

Ugh, headaches! "I'm sorry...maybe you should go see the nurse...." Just a suggestion Em said, or she'd go lay on her bed and take a long nap. Many possibilities.

He smiled back to Aly and sat next to her. "I've been alright. Just finished NEWT's and ready for the end of the term..." I think... An inside thought, really. Emiliano didn't want to leave. Lucky Anna...she'd be in Hogwarts for four whole years...

"Yourself? Besides the headache, of course?" Em chuckled a bit as asking that question.

"Mmmm. Nurse. Maybe if it gets worse." She nodded, then clutched at her head and whimpered. "I'd go lay down, but the common room is just a big ol' party. They're too loud."

"That's awesome. How did you go?" She asked, putting her hands in her lap. "I really don't want to leave again, because...I don't think I'm coming back next year." She sighed and leaned her head against the railing again.

"I'm really going to miss this place."

"Kind of my story...parties to celebrate the end of the year are surrounding the school events now..." Em said letting out a sigh. "Well, you can go outside to the lake and rest a bit of time on the grass..." Endless things she could do to finish with the annoying headache.

"It went well...I think. I got over-stressed...but I should pass..." Em was not so sure, yet...it was his last year.

"Whoa...why are you not coming back next year?" Em asked, a bit of a sad expression in his face.