Selina rolled her eyes less annoyed and more bemused by his smirk and wink. With a smirk of her own she said, "Ah there is the Grayson Bay I know, wink and all..." Honestly, it seemed that Grayson's eyes had some sort of spastic syndrome with all of the winking, but she did not want to ask. It was Grayson's thing and thus far it was innocent, annoying but innocent.

When he commented that he knew that she had taken his hand away from her face politely, she shrugged, "Good, I wasn't asking your permission." She joked.

Grayson smiled at her and said, "I think we'll both be fine. We're too stubborn and bold alike to burn out each other." That's all it took to make friends. To realize that you are quite alike yet very different. That's what made friendships so strong and fun.

He had to chuckle at her comeback."Better to ask forgiveness than permission." he remarked.

Selina smirked at his remark and nodded, "I have to disagree. I think I am way more stubborn than you are, Bay. Anyway I have to go... See you later."

Trekking all the way up to the seventh floor from the Hufflepuff Common Room was no easy feat when carrying a vase full of flowers. But finally she had managed to do it. Her logic was that the Seventh Floor was in serious need of some colour as it was the highest up floor and people probably wouldn't want to come up here if they could help it other than to go to class or the Room of Requirement. Okay, so she went here all the time anyway to go to the Room of Requirement with Zayden...but that was besides the point.

Speaking of the Room of Requirement, she had seriously debated leaving the vase by there, but she had settled on this spit as well. Poor Lachlan the Lanky didn't get much traffic by passing students where as the Room of Requirement probably got a lot more. The flowers could keep him company.

Heading over to him, Amelia placed the clear vase with beautiful flowers at his feet. There. Now he had some pretty flowers to brighten this lace up and keep him company.

Starting to hum a tune, she skipped off.

Selina was exhausted. The end of this school year had been tougher than most years previously because her visions had been acting up constantly as of late. Of course, these were not the most pleasant of visions that she had been seeing. They were all of Kurumi and her mother, but how could Selina go and tell her best friend all that she had seen? All that she knew? It was something she was not comfortable divuldging to her best friend. It would destroy her.

She pulled on her red bow that was sitting in her blonde hair and sat down next to the statue in defeat. It was all too much for a fifteen year old to have to deal with on her own.

Even with all the studying he was doing for the upcoming exams, Gideon could only take sooo much time in the library. So after an hour of hanging out there, looking over transfiguration texts to help make sure he had all the spells straight, the fifth year was ready to head back to the common room. Making his way up the stairs to the seventh floor, he spotted a girl sitting down next to the statue at the top but it was only when he was on the landing that he reconized Selina.

A very sullen-looking Selina.

"Hey," Gideon greeted quietly as he approached. "What's wrong?" he asked, having noticed a change in her demeanor but chalked it up to her mirroring her best friend's mood. However this time it seemed different.

The bewitched blonde wiggled her toes in her sneakers as her eyes scanned the floor. The last thing she wanted to do was look out and down the corridor just in case a familiar face came down the hall and saw her. The last thing she needed was questions as to why she looked so defeated. It was not exactly something she could explain easily. Only two people knew about her sister and her visions. Others knew about the visions, but this was a complicated problem that involved both issues. She felt as if she were failing Kurumi by nit bwing able to save her Mum, but what else could she do?

Then she heard a pair of footsteps and when the voice echoed in her ears she knew it was Gideon. Then, like he always did, he picked up on her attitude. He could read her like a book, it was like a superpower of his against her. She sighed at the question and produced a smile, "Nothing... I'm fine. Just a tad stressed."

Gideon watched her and waited for an answer, not sure if he should really be surprised by the fluffed over one that he in turn got. Selina could be allusive when she wanted to be and apparently she so very much wanted to be today. Her smile seemingly put on for his benefit. There was just the matter of knowing how to try and get around her without pushing too far and while he wasn't an expert, he was getting better at it.

"Just stress?" he questioned sitting down beside her, his head tilted almost inquizatively as he looked at her. "Ye sure?"Though he supposed it could be seeing as while she didn't have OWLS this year and quidditch was over for the term, there was plenty else to bother someone.

She nodded, "Yeah just stress." That much was true. In many ways, Selina was not lying. Kurumi's mother's impending death was a lot of stress for the Gryffindor lioness. She was finding it harder and harder to deal with the knowledge of Kurumi's mother, especially since now Kurumi knew her mother was dying. But it was not something Selina was good at facing. Death was not something she was very good at handling. Most times, where death was involved, Selina just shut down instead of dealing with it. It was easier that way. There was no need to get involved or attached. Perhaps, running away was not a Gryffindor trait, but she had bravery in enough areas to even it out.

When he clarified about the whole stress thing with his cute little ye, Selina genuinely smiled and nodded, "It's nothing I can't deal with."

Then she cleverly changed the subject, "What are you doing up here anyway?"

Aspen Odessa didn't usually hang out in the corridors. lurking in the shadows of Lanky statues. But.... well, today she was. She was tucked in beside Lachlan, with a mug of pumpkin juice on the statues base. She had a letter, a seal, and of course some homework spread out on her lap.

Egbert, her small and friendly fruit bat, was hanging upside down from Lachlan's nose and yawning at regular intervals.

Mortimer was not sure where he was going. He was out of sorts. The upcoming summer had him almost giddy. HE WAS TAKING A GIRL HOME TO GREECE. EEEP!

As he was passing the Lachlan statue he spotted... "Is that a BAT?" he asked loudly... to no one apparently. He wasn't looking for the bat's owner, it it had one, he was just saying it ya know. Stepping closer to Lachlan he smiled as he PEERED at the critter. How awesome was that?

Aspen studied Mortimer, just as he was studying Egbert. She realized he hadn't noticed her yet, so she had free reign to watch him without any guards.

Egbert beat his wings a few times, then wrapped them securely around his little bat body. He wasn't the most social of bats.

...

"He's shy," Aspen finally explained in Egbert's defense.

Oh LOOK AT the little thing. He was cute! Mo smiled brighter still and moved an inch closer.

...

VOICE! There was someone there. EEEP! Mortimer managed to NOT to jump back, but he yelp slightly. Breaking his gaze on the bat he looked down to see a pretty girl with books and such. Smiling at her he scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Well we have that in common," he said quietly. "Hi. I'm Mortimer."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinky

Oh LOOK AT the little thing. He was cute! Mo smiled brighter still and moved an inch closer.

...

VOICE! There was someone there. EEEP! Mortimer managed to NOT to jump back, but he yelp slightly. Breaking his gaze on the bat he looked down to see a pretty girl with books and such. Smiling at her he scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Well we have that in common," he said quietly. "Hi. I'm Mortimer."

Aspen knew who he was. In fact, she knew most everyone at school. Though, she'd probably only met 2% at most. She wiggled up from her hiding place to standing and pushed her hair back out of her face.

"Aspen," she helped him, knowing he probably didn't know her name. "Hi." Pausepausepause. This boy was in the same year as Cornelius Rune. They shared a dorm together. Aspen found herself smiling and smiling and and and GRINNING at this Ravenclaw. "If you're very, very gentle, you can rub his head. He doesn't bite, I promise."

Gideon nodded, letting it slide for the moment seeing as Selina was remaining firm in her answer. No good would come from pushing, that much he knew, he would simply need to work on it at a later time. And if it continued to effect her, he hoped she would eventually just offer the information up herself. The fifth year smiled back at her when she appeared more relaxed almost as if the first had been the way it was because it was sudden.

"Just coming back from the library," he answered as she changed the subject over to him. A small book he had checked out laying forgotten in his hand and without his robes there was no place to have slipped it.

"YOu can call me Mo, though. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Aspen." SMILES! Pretty girls made him blush without meaning to. HEHEHE. "I promise I'll be gentle!" Mo said excitedly and nodded his head a bit.

Reaching out his hand slowly he CAREFULLY laid his fingers on the bat's head and rubbed it. Chuckling slightly he looked back at Aspen and grinned. "The Head Boy has a pygmy marmoset as a pet and I thought that was strange. I have a gecko." He wasn't making sense... and he knew it, but he was NERVOUS!

He thought that was strange? Meaning he thought her bat was stranger than a marmoset? Aspen's smile faded as it tended to do, and was replaced with her usual thoughtful expression. Her bangs fell back across her brow.

There was something off about Mo. He smiled and chuckled and seemed a bit skittish at once.

Why?

"My brother would probably love a gecko. Do they make good pets?"

Mo wanted to brush her hair from her face... but he would NOT dare such a thing ever in his life. He would die from embarrassment.

OH! "They don't do much, but I think they're pretty awesome. You wanna see mine?" he asked as he shoved his hand in his robe pocket. He, of course, had Dionysus with him at all times. Hehe.

Did she? OF COURSE. Aspen came closer to Mo, out from her hidey hole between the wall and statue. She cast a glance over her shoulder quickly to Egbert, considering quickly whether or not if he'd be bothered by a gecko. Better safe than sorry, she went around Mo and put herself between Egbert and Mo.

There.

Better.

She waited on tippy toes to SEE. "What's his name?"

SHE WANTED TO SEE HIS LIZARD. HEHEHE. Pulling him out of his pocket he gently held him in both hands. "His name is Dionysus. He's a Westland Green Gecko. They're indigenous to New Zealand. You can hold him if you want."

He was beginning to relax a bit around the girl with the bat. HEHE. She was interesting, she was.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinky

SHE WANTED TO SEE HIS LIZARD. HEHEHE. Pulling him out of his pocket he gently held him in both hands. "His name is Dionysus. He's a Westland Green Gecko. They're indigenous to New Zealand. You can hold him if you want."

He was beginning to relax a bit around the girl with the bat. HEHE. She was interesting, she was.

"Dionysus??" Aspen asked, half in wonder, half in disbelief. What an interesting name for a gecko! She looked at Mo imploringly, hoping he'd explain further. Naturally, she reached her hands out to hold the little gecko, unbothered and unafraid.

"How did you end up with a New Zealand gecko? That's so far from here." She had to wonder how the upkeep for a gecko from half a world away would be. Did he have to have food shipped in? What about the frigid winters here at Hogwarts?

"Like the Greek God of wine. The bull God. I am Greek and I have always loved the mythology," he explained as he gently placed the gecko in her hands.

"My brother used to travel a lot when he ran a Travel Agency. He went all over the world looking for exciting new wizarding areas for people to visit. He saw the little guy about to get eaten by a bird and saved him. Brought him back to me," he said with a smile. One of the nicest things Coeus had ever done.

The library, right. Selina for a moment was genuinely concerned as to why Gideon was in the seventh floor corridor, but then she realized that the Common Room was there. He had a reason to be here besides just checking up on her. She swore that visions made her more suspicious of everything. When time made no sense, it seemed that the rest of her thoughts followed in suit.

It all clicked in her mind and she nodded at him, "The library, right. Are you studying for your OWLs then?" She assumed he was. After all he was a fifth year and it was the end of the term. It only made sense that his life would be consumed by the library more often than not now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pinky

"Like the Greek God of wine. The bull God. I am Greek and I have always loved the mythology," he explained as he gently placed the gecko in her hands.

"My brother used to travel a lot when he ran a Travel Agency. He went all over the world looking for exciting new wizarding areas for people to visit. He saw the little guy about to get eaten by a bird and saved him. Brought him back to me," he said with a smile. One of the nicest things Coeus had ever done.

Aspen soaked up that information like a sponge in water. A Greek Ravenclaw, with a New Zealand gecko with a Greek name, and a Greek brother who rescued animals...

"... a rescued gecko," Aspen whispered after taking the little animal between her palms. Ohhhh. He was so little! "Do you take him with you to class? I bet he's easy to conceal all the time. Egbert's gotten too big. He gets grumpy in robes these days."

If Gideon had been aware that it might have seemed odd for Selina to question where he was doing there he made no point to make it obvious. The question could have easily been about where he had come from or what he had been up to seeing as there hadn't been classes at the time.

"Aye...unfortunately," he replied using his free hand to rub the back of his head. "I wish I could begin to narrow down where I want it all to lead to help decide what tests to take and make it easier on myself." Gideon inwardly wondered if Kurumi had the same issues as a fellow 5th year but then shook it off. No doubt the girl had no such troubles seeing as she was much better balancing things then he was.