Bouncing Tales of Lost Minds (Open)

[mcnutt]

It was safe to say, he was officially lost.

While he'd attended Hogwarts the last four years, Dustan hardly ventured out to find his way around. He knew where the hospital wing was, the library, the great hall, he didn't need to know where anything else in the school was, except his classes. However, it wasn't the adventure of discovering somewhere new that made Dustan wander down the hall in search of something familiar. Rather, it was the fault of something else, something not himself, unless one wanted to blame his curiosity of what magic would do to a muggle toy if he pocked and prodded enough to figure it out.

From the second floor, just outside the library, the Slytherin fourth year had chased a blue and yellow swirled bouncy ball, with his wand in front of him pointed at it the entire time, trying to make it bounce higher, faster, or just do something different than bounce down the hall like a normal bouncy ball did. Could there be a way to penetrate the rubber and make it do something different? Dustan was sure of it, however, he had yet to discover how to do it.

As he moved along behind the ball, he lost track of where he was heading and instead ended up stopping only when the ball did, and found himself at a loss of his surroundings. Where had he been lead? And why?

Looking around, he wanted to spot something familiar, but all he could see that were markings on the wall was that of a brass framed picture of an older gentleman, peacefully resting being rims of gold and a statue at the end of the hall he was in, it looked to be made of stone, but he wasn't close enough to figure out exactly what it was or made of.

As he took a few steps toward it, he paused after hearing another set of footsteps that didn't belong to him...
"Hello?"

((OPEN))

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

Patrolling the corridors, for Tianne at least, was quite fun. It was fulfilling to be able to help those, and really, Tianne was a nice prefect; she rarely ever got people into trouble. She didn't like that part of the job, but the people at Hogwarts never really involved themselves in things that were really dangerous, in fact, Tianne hadn't yet found someone that was doing something that could harm someone, or themselves. The students at Hogwarts were an alright bunch of kids.

As they were nearing the end of the school years, Tianne's fifth year at the Magical School, she had learned these halls to the bone, she knew the corridors better than the back of her hand. Of course, before she was elected as a prefect, she sometimes got lost, but now, she was more than capable of getting around. Patrols really had benefited the girl.

So there she was, finishing the end of her patrol, but before Tianne went back to her dormitory, she was hungry and she had missed the last main meal, so why not stop by the kitchen. The girl was on the fourth floor, so she had to go down a bit, but it was worth it to be served by the Elves, they really were gourmet geniuses.

Making her way fairly quickly down the stairs, her robes sitting neatly on her figure, Tianne couldn't help but grin in excitement. What would she have? And more importantly, would the Elves mind making it for her? The girl didn't treat them horribly, not like some, and in some cases she had even sat down to eat with them. Surely, they'd make something for her.

But the girls footsteps were halted by the sudden call of Hello? that had rung through her ears. Okay, so who was this boy, Tianne had guessed from the tone of the voice, and who was he talking to? Could it have been Tianne? Stepping closer to the voice, Tianne saw a boy, who looked slightly younger than the newly sixteen year old girl. Tilting her head on the side, in a questioning way, Tianne greeted the boy with a sweet smile.

"Everything okay?"

[mcnutt]

Slowly turning toward where he heard the footsteps, Dustan suddenly realized he didn't hear them anymore. And then, not even two seconds later, he not only saw a face with a questioning look and a friendly smile, but heard a voice attached to it. It was good thing the voice wasn't disembodied, ghosts still kind of freaked him out a bit, especially when you accidentally walked through one, that was just chilling to the bone, seriously.

"Umm, yeah, I was just, uh... " scared? Frightened of who was slowly creeping around the corner? Yeah, sounded really manly, even to him.
"Well, I mean, I uh... " Again with the stumbling over the words. Why couldn't he just talk to girls normally? Without all the pausing and hemming and haughing.
"I just didn't know who was here, uh, besides me."

Wow, this really was going somewhere.

Quickly, he dropped his gaze to the bouncy ball in his hand, trying to think of a way out of this. A way to talk to her without stumbling and stuttering, and a way to not look like a fool in front of any girl. Maybe concentration on something as silly as a swirly rubber ball would help.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

Tianne was slightly afraid that she had scared the boy; she had kind of creeped up on him. That wasn't her intentions, of course, but somethings happened without mean, and Tianne seemed to be accident prone like that. He had probably heard her footsteps approaching, yes, but Tianne could never be sure; people approaching around a corner always freaked Tianne out a little, maybe he was the same.

Nevertheless, Tianne stood there, a smile upon her features, staring at the boy as he stumbled over his words. She was still trying to figure out whether she knew the boy, but after a few seconds of thought, she realized that she had never even seen the boy before this meeting. He was younger, but she had already established that; Tianne guessed around fourteen or fifteen, and she wasn't sure what house he was in.

A lot of the time when Tianne met new people, she had already known of them, their name, their house, and their year, but she didn't actually know them personally. Around the castle, she can see a lot of people, so basically, she doesn't know them, she knows of them.

Offering the boy a smile as he replied to her original question, Tianne bopped up and down on the spot, however subtle it was. This was something she did when she was talking to people, it was like her nervous tendency. "I didn't mean to give you a fright, sorry if I did." Looking down towards the boy's hand, Tianne tilted her head on the side, in a questioning way. "So, um, what're you doing?" She asked, gesturing towards the boy's hand, in which a ball was sitting in. She was curious, that was all.

[mcnutt]

With his eyes looking away from her, Dustan didn't see the smile she gave him. Rather, he was so concentrated on the swirls in the ball he held. But he could feel her moving, even if it was kind of odd, or rather, he could hear her moving. The fact of the matter was, he was completely aware of her presence so nearby him. But not in a creepy way, he could just hear her moving near him and he wasn't sure what to do.

Shrugging, he tried his best to pull of the I'm macho act, but of course he had been a little frightened hearing someone coming up close on him, though he was glad someone had so he could be pointed in some right direction or other. he was trying not to come off as odd to her, but he had a feeling it wasn't working very well. he was after all, averting his gaze, trying not to be a freak by staring for too long, but he was being a freak by not looking at all now.

Shrugging, he continued to try the macho act.
"I uh, was just uh, trying to uh," why couldn't he act like girls were normal people? They weren't one of the guys and he knew it, but he wanted to pretend they were just so he could talk to them. All girls made him trip over his words like the biggest freak in the world.
"Make this ball do osmething with uh, magic." he was such a dork.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

Tianne still couldn't get over this guilty feeling that she had. Although she kind of wanted to stay, she felt that the boy didn't want her there. She didn't really know why, but she wasn't about to pry or anything. Maybe she stank, really, really badly, and the boy was just being nice. Maybe she had something on her face, and the boy couldn't look at her without bursting out laughing. Tianne didn't know, but she knew that she either had to do something about it, or leave.

Wiping her nose on the sleeve of her jumper, well, hiding herself sniffing, seeing if she did stink, Tianne then followed to wipe her hand over her mouth, just in case. Nodding as once again the boy stuttered once again, Tianne didn't know what to do. "Cool. So, are you sure you're okay?" She said, trying not to chuckle as she did. "I'm Tianne by the way."

Rocking back on her heels, a goofy grin across her face as she waited for the boys reply, though she didn't know how fragmented it would be. She wasn't being mean, no, she just felt kind of taken aback; she knew it wasn't anything personal, but it was nice when people stuttered when talking to her, unless, you know, it was a severely debilitating problem that the boy suffered from. "So, um, do you want me to go, or somethin'?" She offered, gesturing back to where she came from.

[mcnutt]

Now he was worrying her, or that's how her tone of voice sounded to him. She wanted to know if he was okay, and yes, he was, but he must've done something to make her not think so, being as she was asking. This was ridiculous. Just a girl, that's all she was, a girl. And girls weren't normal people, they weren't one of the guys, they were a whole other species. Even his mum was one of them, she wasn't normal either, what was wrong with all of them? Did they really live to make their lives living, bloody hells? he was beginning to believe so.

"F--fine," he managed through another stutter. When she gave away her name, he glanced up finally, giving a nervous look and a semi-smile.
"I--I'm Dustan M--McNutt."

Such a simple name, but so hard to get out when nerved. he watched as she rocked back and forth, and couldn't help but wonder what she had to be nervous about. She looked pretty, she wasn't having problems finding her voice, and yeah, she was pretty.

"N--No. You don--don't have to go. You can stay, unless...did you want me to go?" Maybe she was using that secret code language where she wanted to be alone, right there, that girls used.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

What was Tianne doing? This boy really didn't seem to want her around, but she was drawn to him. He seemed like he needed help, and Tianne was there to give it to him. It was the niceness coming out in her, she just couldn't not. She didn't know whether the boy always stuttered, stuttered in front of girls, or whether it was her in particular that was making him stumble, but she didn't really mind, she didn't really pay attention to how things were said, but what was said.

"Sweet." She said, nodding as she smiled. Continuing to rock back and forth on her heels, Tianne really didn't know what to do next. The boy told her that she didn't have to go, but was that him being sarcastic, did he really want her to go?

Tianne knew that boy's were usually upfront with what they said, but she didn't know about this one. He sounded rather unenthusiastic. What would Tianne know anyway, she was a girl, that couldn't read men's minds. It was better just left alone.

"This was your spot first, how could I ask you to leave? Anyways, I wouldn't want to, you look like you're having fun." She said with a soft laugh, a sweet, nice smile upon her face. "So uhm, you're a fourth year? I'm guessing?"

[mcnutt]

{sorry about the hiatus}

Givign a nervous, fleeting smile, Dustan's eyes returned to the ball in his hand. Tianne, it was a pretty name, but she didn't seem to be on he way, which he couldn't say he minded. Company was always good to have around, just that he didn't stutter with guys. What was it about girls that made him do that? It was like he just couldn't talk, like they hypnotized him when they arrived on the spot and gave him those looks girls always gave. He got along with girls justfine, but they had to get past his stuttering mouth that wouldn't stop. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get it to leave. His mother told him it was cute, he thought it was annoying. Girls were just regular people, or so he kept trying to convince himself.

"Uh, well," but thankfully he didn't have to finish. How could she ask him to leave? Easy, she was beautiful, older, and by the looks of the badge on her robes he'd barely seen in a glance, she was a prefect as well. There were a number of reason to answer that, as to how she could ask him to leave.
"Ye-yes, F--fourth," he nodded his slightly curly dark haired head. "Sly-slytherin. And you're a, you're a Rav-ravenclaw, yes?"

The blue on her robes set it off for him, but she looked intelligent, too.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

[ Eh, happens all the time x) ]

Tianne couldn't help but smile at the boy's inefficiency to speak properly. Again, she didn't know how much it affected the boy, but it was cute, nonetheless. It created an innocence about the boy, and made him seem younger than she knew he was. Tianne knew that the boy probably hated it, but who wouldn't? She guessed that he tried to perfect it, but for onlookers, it was quite a cute characteristic.

Winking at the boy, a smile still sitting on the spot that it was accustomed to being shown, Tianne sighed. "Ah, the good old fourth year. Mine was ... very bad." She laughed, thinking about her fourth year and how she disliked the majority of it, except for meeting Matty, Ryan and Seth. Other than that, it was bad, that was for sure.

"And yeah, Ravenclaw. I'm in my fifth year here, though." She nodded, still continuously rocking backwards and forwards on her heels. "So, have you been at Hogwarts since first year? Not meaning to be rude or anything, i just can't remember seeing you around the castle, is all."

[mcnutt]

Catching the wink she made, Dustan's face glowed red, and he looked back down at the floor, trying not to think too much about anything. She was nice, and she was talking to him, even if she was really pretty he had to pay attention. But when she told him her fourth year had been bad, he glanced back up, frowning a little. His year hadn't been so bad, his plants wree blooming well and his friends hadn't up and left him, but he was dreading the next year. While he wasn't worried about all the extra work, he was worried about what the tests at the end of the year would have to say about him.

So, she was older. This made his nerves go even more crazy, an older girl was being nice to him and talking to him.

"Yeah, since fir--first year. I'm just real-really good at blend...blending in." He stayed with his friends, his plants, and his books. Everyone else, well, they just didn't know him.

[Tianne Webster-Barrett]

Tianne almost felt that grabbing the boy's head and pulling it upwards, to get him to look at her. Okay, so he was nervous, weirdly enough there were a few guys that didn't seem to act themselves around Tianne, but usually they got over it once their pleasantries were exchanged. Sure, she didn't mind that the boy was having trouble with his communication, but obviously things would be much easier if she was being spoken to properly. She wasn't being horrible, nor was she purposely intimidating the boy, but he seemed... afraid.

"This is going to seem so rude, and I'm so sorry." She said, rocking back on her heels nervously. "Do you always have this trouble talking to girls?" Tianne continued rather timidly, hoping that the boy didn't hate her. She always got herself into trouble by meddling, why on earth did she still do it?

"And I'm sure you stand out from the pack." She said, offering the boy a sweet smile. "I'm just pretty ignorant, that's all."