Arya was hungry. And for some odd reason she decided she wanted to eat in the Great Hall as opposed to eating in the kitchens or outside. The girl still had a lot on her mind. Like this whole thing with Sabel. It was just plain weird, and she didn't know how to handle it. Talking with Ivy didn't do her much good as she was just as confused about it as Arya. If only Lady Lawson was here to talk to her about it. She would know.

Spotting a familiar face at the Ravenclaw table, she skipped over to the table and slide into the seat beside him. "Hey Kellen." Giving him a big smile, she pulled close a bottle of pumpkin juice.

It was only when someone talked to him that Kellen realized how focused on being irritated he was, and it took a few good, hard blinks to snap himself out of it. The slight ache on his eye sure helped, too. He turned in his seat and offered Arya a smile back, though it perhaps wasn't the most sincere he'd ever sent her way, "Hey. How's life?"

Arya noticed that something seemed off about Kellen. He wasn't his normal self. Taking a sip of the pumpkin juice, she shrugged her shoulders when he asked her how like was. She was so beyond confused about life that she didn't know how to respond. "How's life with you? You seem a little.....off." She couldn't have seemed much better, not her usual bubbly self. Guess they were in the same boat.

"Like milk left on the counter for an hour," he replied. Really, he shouldn't be feeling this bad for himself, it was just easy to do when he was left to his own devices for long periods of time. Still, talking about it was supposed to be a good thing, so, "Hormones are running rampant in this school, have you noticed?"

That was a odd analogy, but Kellen was odd. So she just assumed he was coming back into his normal self. Picking at the wrapping on her bottle, she bite her bottom lip, pondering a few things and almost missing Kellen's question. "Um.....yea." Brow furrowing slightly she looked up at Kellen. "Can I ask you something?" Hopefully he could answer.

It was only an odd analogy if you'd never tasted milk that had been left on the counter for an hour. Actually. Arya. Kellen watched her little fidgets, how she was picking and nibbling and pondering, and promptly decided that everyone in the school was going through a personality change. That was it, really. Some magical uber-jerk had cast a spell and they were all switching personalities. If there was a devil, Kellen would end up with Lexi's.

"Can...? Sure, anything you like." When did she ever ask if she could ask?

So. She knew he would say yes, but she still wasn't expecting it. How would she ask him. It suddenly felt weirder than it did with Ivy. With her best friend she was able to talk about anything. But she and Kellen had never really had a serious conversation. "Um......do you...would you...do you li-" No that wouldn't work. "Did anyone ever tell you they liked you? Liked liked you?"

He felt tempted to poke her, and would have if she didn't finally manage a sentence. Which still took him a minute to think about. Like like? Really? What was she, twel-- oh. Well, close enough.

"Maybe?" Kellen shrugged, sure that wasn't the answer she wanted to hear, "I'm kind of really dense about things like that. I guess... I've been told I'm cute."

Not that he agreed with it. Cute was for puppies. Kellen Stern was not a puppy. In fact, he was fairly certain that a few people at the school thought he kicked puppies. You tell one person that you thought about it once and the whole thing gets away from you.

Really Stern. Really.

Maybe was not an acceptable answer. Not being able to give a straight answer must be a guy thing. "What's maybe? Did someone tell you they like you or not?" She was getting a little frustrated with not getting straight answers. Arya completely ignored the bit about him being cute, cause really she had other, more important things on her mind.

"Sometimes," Kellen told her, injecting a good deal of better-than-thou into his voice, "someones don't have to tell you. They decide they'd rather show you instead." So there. He peeked down at her from his lofty position and answered, "If you're asking if I've ever had a girlfriend, the answer is no."

And at this particular point in time, he didn't even feel like that was a lie.

Siiigh. He was being difficult. Why could he not just give her one straight answer. And he said it in a voice that she was sure she was gonna grow to loathed. "I'm not asking if you had a girlfriend," You impossible Ravenclaw. "I'm asking if someone told you they like you." Maybe she needed to rephrase like with Sabel. "Has anyone ever showed you then?"

Kellen rolled his eyes at her, "Yes." There, a nice short answer for the badgering little badger. But if she thought he wasn't going to turn the tables, she was mistaken, "Why are you so on about this liking business, anyway? I thought you thought all boys have cooties or whatever." He reached over and grabbed the water pitcher, refilling his glass.

Finally, a straight answer. And one that she had been looking for. A small sigh of relief left her, feeling that maybe he would know how to handle the situation. Of course he would turn the question back on her, she was expecting it and immediately went into her response. "I do. You do still have cooties." Well.....not really, but she still didn't like them and whatnot. That wasn't important right now. "I'm asking you cause Sabel, our Sabel, told me that he liked me the other day when we were walking in the pumpkin patch, and I don't know what to make of it. What did you do when she showed you she liked you? Who is she?" Visual images, see.

"Oh, lies!" He mock-scoffed at her. Cooties, indeed. Scoff, scoff, scoff.

But then he was cut off mid-scoff by what she said next, "He what?" She didn't actually have to repeat it, it just... asking that allowed his brain a little more time to turn some gears. After a sip of his water, he finally spoke, "Well, he has been acting really strangely this fall. I keep trying to ask him about it, but things always come up and we never get a chance to talk. I'm going to guess that you don't like like him back?"

And as far as her other question went, "That doesn't really matter. We're not really seeing each other any more." Bitter. A bit.

Arya chose to ignore the bit about him not having cooties and just gave him a look. You have them Stern, accept it.

Nodding her head, she looked at him waiting for more. Well....she knew why he was acting strange all term and felt a small pain in her stomach when thinking about the boy's mother. She wasn't, however, certain if Kellen knew about her or not. Deciding that she would leave that for Sabel to tell him, she shook her head at the question. "No....I don't." She felt bad for not returning his feelings, but she couldn't help it. She didn't like guys.

She bit back her questions about who this girl was, for later, and she would ask them later.

"So?" Kellen shrugged at her, taking another sip of his water, "Tell him. Sabel is very selective in his idiocy; when it comes to friendships, he's actually pretty intelligent. I think," and if he was wrong, he was going to go join a monastery because clearly he would never understand relationships, "that Sabel would rather have you tell him and keep being friends, than let this big mess of awkward sit between you."

"He already knows." She watched him take a sip of his water. His answers were not helping her. Well.....not the way that she wanted help. It did make her feel better to know that Sabel wouldn't wanna end their friendship cause she didn't return his feelings. "That's good." She fiddled with her bottle. "But its gonna be.....weird. When where hangin out." It would be. There was no doubt about it.

"Only if you let it be weird." Kellen stifled a frown from appearing on his face, "I'm not some kind of romance guru, Arya. Honest, if Sabel knows you're not interested, he's not going to keep trying to be mushy with you." This was still a lot to get his head around. Arya was so much younger than he and Sabel. As always, this train of thought led to more questions, "Did he give any prior indication of it, or was it just... spontaneous declaration?"

"You make it sound much easier than it is." She stated slightly frustrated that he just wasn't getting it. He didn't seem as certain about his answers as she wanted him to be. Maybe she would have to write her favorite professor. She would know. Obviously she had been through it all. Peeling at the corner of the label on her pumpkin juice bottle, she frowned at it, pondering Kellen's question. "I don't know....we talked about it before hand, but that was about it. Do you mean did he do anything?" She wouldn't know how to distinguish between Sabel's actions when he liked her, and when he liked liked her.

"Because to me, it doesn't seem like a life-shattering ordeal." Why was she getting frustrated at him? "I'm a boy, Arya, in case you hadn't noticed. Boys don't look at these things the same way girls do." At least, he didn't. And if she was asking him for his thoughts on what was going on, all he could do was give his thoughts. He couldn't speak for Sabel as Sabel would.

And he honestly doubted Sabel would have done anything. Still, he shrugged, "Anything that, on reflection, you think would be more a like like action than just a friendly one? Like..." He tossed his hand, trying to think of examples, "Touching your hair... an extended hug... carrying you off somewhere..." That last was added more for comedic effect than anything else.

Fee walked to the Ravie table.
Maybe she would find one of her Ravie friends.
Or she would met someone new.
Fee loved to get to know people.

Arya just stared at Kellen. No help at all. Yea, she had noticed that he was a boy, but she had been hopping that he would be a helpful one. He wasn't. Him and that Ravenclaw mind of his.

Turning her gaze to the bottle, she pondered his question. Everything he had stated, was pretty much what they had done at sometime or another. Maybe not the hair touching, but the rest they had done on many occasions since her first year. Shaking her head, she looked back up at him. "I don't think so..."

"Okay..." It wasn't like Arya was being the greatest of help either. More like she was throwing a problem at him, giving him loosely helpful hints of answers, and then getting at stare-y when he didn't deliver an airtight answer. Not being the best with verbal things... must have been a Hufflepuff trait.

"Well, I don't know what you want me to say, Arya," he finally concluded. "Unless you think Sabel has some kind of hex or sickness on him that I could look up, I've given you all the advice I can think of. If you're willing to let your friendship weaken because of Sabel liking you, that's your choice. If not, I'd do some rug-tucking and keep on being friendly."

A sickness? Could that be it? Could he have caught whatever his mom had? She wasn't sure, but it sure was possible. He had never told her exactly what the woman had. "It could be a sickness," She shrugged, the hex was unlikely, but the sickness. Maybe. "Our friendship's not gonna weaken." She said almost defiantly. The girl just was just confused, and he wasn't helping her much with it.

Brigette!