Strange Enough -closed

[Rebekah Esser]

Memories keep rushing round
Cause nothing ever stays the same

Rebekah packed her bag that was sitting on the chair in front of her desk slowly, methodically, double checking that she had everything that she was going to need for this evening. She was stalling, she knew it, but the few extra moments that her snail’s pace afforded her were absolutely necessary for her mental preparation. Fortifying herself for socializing. She hated how damaged that sounded, hated it even more for how stereotypical it was for someone in the system like she was. How terrible the system was to warrant the stereotypes that ended up being true enough. She frowned, not particularly wanting to follow that line of thinking tonight. She was having a pretty okay week, there was no reason to turn it into a bad one. She glanced at the clock and knew that she had to leave momentarily if she wanted to make it to the library with enough time to get a table for their scheduled time. It would look terrible if she was late for the first session after Reid had asked so politely. She knew that it was strange to be nervous to meet someone in the library, especially when she saw that person every day. They took classes together, he was the team captain; they knew each other. And still, the thought of this extended period of time that they were going to be sitting and interacting with each other on a one-on-one level made her hands shake as she zipped her bag up.

She took a quick breath and looked at the ceiling, as though the stones that surrounded her were going to lend her their strength for a time, before shaking her head and picking her back up off the chair it had been sitting on. Bex turned around and walked out of the girl’s dormitory into the common area; her eyes dropped to the floor immediately. She waved her hand in the direction of one of the other players that said hello as she passed. Everyone that was on the team with her had known her for long enough at this point to not be offended if she didn’t look up or smile at them. She glanced up periodically as she made her way out into the hallway, making sure she didn’t run into anyone or anything, but for the most part her eyes remained on the ground just in front of her feet. Comfortable. She ran through all the things she had put in her bag in her head, checking again that she had remembered everything she needed for the two of them to get through the essay they were going to be working on. She had a brief moment of panic, because she couldn’t remember whether or not she had put her notebook in her bag. But hadn’t that been the second thing that she had grabbed? Must have been. She had to have it. There was no need to get worked up over something silly. She shook her head again as she kept walking, making her way towards the library, eyes downcast trying to get there quickly.

Only when she was through the doors to the library did she actually look up, a broad sweeping glance over all the tables and faces that were already there. About as many people as she expected to be here around this time; the regulars, people she recognized but didn’t speak to. Though that was most people if she were being honest. Standing in the doorway for a moment, she scanned for a table that was still empty. There was only one in the center of the room, surrounded by completely full tables. A group must have just left. She felt nauseous for a moment, of course it would be the only one left. Crowds made her even more nervous than face to face interaction. And she and Reid were going to have to be talking to each other, so the tables around them were probably going to be annoyed with them. She didn’t want a confrontation of any kind, even one as small as being told to be quiet. With a pained expression, her gaze fell back to the floor and she walked towards the table, twisting this way and that to avoid brushing against the people quietly sitting at the other tables. Every step further into the crowd increased the pace of her breathing slightly, her hands at her sides clenched into fists. The feeling of her nails biting into her palms helped to ground her a little, stop just short of hyperventilating. She sat on the side of the table facing the door so that when Reid came in he could see her. She put her bag on the chair next to her, fishing out her things and laying them out in front of her to try and distract her from how heavy the air felt. Trying to make herself as small as possible, she flipped through her notes from the important classes without really looking at the words and waited.

Tagged: Reid
Words: 843
Wearing: This
Notes: surprise, let me know if anything needs to be changed

[Reid Harker]

There were just some days, where sleeping was next to impossible to wake up. Though for him those nights only came after he had had the crap punched out of his face. Perhaps that was strange, to most. People didn't usually like being in fights, but those people didn't have the same father that Reid did, didn't have the same familial obligations that he did. Most of the time, Reid was a fairly relaxed man, but given the right time and reason, he liked a scuffle as much as anybody. Sure, his jaw was split along the underside of his face, and yes, his eye was a sickly purple shade – he felt wonderful. Had been raised that this was a sign of a successful day in his family. Pain was something to be proud of – and Evan was a worthy opponent. Even if he couldn't explain what had happened to anybody that wanted to know, he wore the bruises like badges of honor. Later, during practice, he was going to like them even more. As it was – the low he had sunk into after riding that adrenaline high, had put him into the most wonderful sleep coma. He should have just asked Rebekah if they could meet in the common room. Would have made a good deal more sense. For his own, purely selfish reasons. He didn't want to pry himself away from his bed, didn't want to get up and put on clean clothes or shower – but he would, because that was what was expected of him – and she was doing him a favor. He already owed her, in his fathers terms, for doing something like this. Father always said, that nothing's ever free. He knew that to be true, and he would figure out a way to repay her or something so kind. She certainly didn't need to be wasting her time – she was bound to have much better things to be doing. Reid didn't want to assume that he 'knew' her, but he did know she had a hobby or two – and with today actually having sunlight free of overhanging clouds, she most certainly could have been off doing other things. So drag himself out of bed he did, and down to the showers and ready himself. Presentable, anyway. He should have tried to cover the marks on his face – ice them maybe, or something about it. Though, whenever Evan had come up to him in the middle of that crowded hallway – so pointed and breaking every one of the rules to their unspoken social contract, he knew it had been something important. To say the least. With the level of rage he had been exhibiting, something had worked him up really good – and as it wasn't anywhere near his place to ask, but it had been fun. He had his own personal issues to punch out after the holiday break.

In fact, Reid was fairly certain that there were less people currently in the castle than there had been in and out of his house over the holiday. One of the major drawbacks from having such a large, huge family...was having a large family. All cousins and aunts and uncles all passing through in order to pay homage to his father – the one that they all looked to. The one who he was supposed to replace in the near future. Though, until then, he needed to figure out how to pass Transfiguration....and astronomy...and a good handful of his other classes. It was just hard, for him to concentrate on things like this whenever he knew that it wasn't going to matter after he graduated. He wasn't supposed to have come to this school in the first place. A traditional, muggle education would have suited him and the family business a good deal more. Having to cram all of that information into his head over the summer break while also having to learn all of this during the school year, his brain wasn't meant to handle that much information. Had to work just that much harder because he constantly had split focus between this whole new world he desperately wanted to find a place in – and the world he was born into. At least, if nothing else, by having cleaned himself up and gathered his things in his bag and started toward the library, Bex could help him figure out the work, at the very least. He had a couple of classes that he just, couldn't get his mind right in. No matter what he did. He wasn't one of the lucky ones. He studied all of the time and just, never got anywhere.

Down the halls with a gait too slow for how many minutes from being 'on time' he was getting at. He just didn't like making people jostle around him. He was a tall man, despite how skinny he was. Those sharp elbows of him could cut somebody, and he didn't want to worry about that. Rounding into the library, Reid scanned over the people seated sporadically around the library. Pouring themselves over books or hitting themselves in the foreheads with the ends of writing instruments. A surprising amount of noise, most likely due to the strange lack of a librarian...she was likely smoking again. Ever since he caught her in his second year, he was never going to let her live that down. Not ever. While Reid know the names of most of the people here, he wasn't in this room often enough to count them as anything other than acquaintances, didn't think of more than a handful of people in this castle his 'friends' at all really. Though Bex was easy enough to spot – at her table in the center of the room. His feet never pausing from entrance to table as he moved to sit with her, taking the seat right next to her to keep the loud talking at about the same level as the rest of the room, his bag placed in the empty chair beside him. “How did you manage a whole table to yourself?” He started in lieu of a proper greeting. Light Italian accent almost hidden under the inflection. For speaking three languages, he liked to think that he did them all justice, not crossing from one to another too often...but it was still a habit he was very much working on. “Hexed them into submission did you? It's always the quiet ones...” He grinned softly, clearly teasing her as he moved for blank paper. Parchment never suited him properly, didn't feel right against his hand. “I'm stalling...in case that wasn't clear,”