⫶ chat - great hall

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "I'm wearing a black suit so you don't have to match. But... Maybe I could get a flower that matches the color of your dress? You know, like... We belong together?", he suggested, his voice getting quieter and quieter towards the end, his shoulders pulling up towards his neck rather shyly.

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：everett seong。⁰⁵ "... That's not how it works", Emrys reminded his brother with a slightly worried expression on his features - was his brother about to lose it now? What was that babbling about speaking French and France? - before every single emotion all but melted off his features and he breathed: "I... Don't get it. What? Why did you just woof at me?"

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "Both cherries ," Caterina frowned, picking up her half-eaten wrap, taking a bite out of it while Emrys talked. "Okay, dorms it is. Um. What are you planning on wearing? Do we like, match? Like they do at prom? Or. How do you want to do this?"

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "Okay, but are those /real/ cherries? If you're talking about those neon red ones, then I strongly disagree", he said, rubbing his arm with a little frown, but his eyes were sparkling with humor. "Actually. I'd like to pick you up? If that's okay? At, your dorm. I'll be here a little early, knowing me. And I don't want to stand around, waiting."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "Shut up," Caterina laughed, lightly whacking his shoulder. "Cherries always tasted weird to me. I always gave the cherries on my sundaes to my friends whenever they serve ice cream for dinner. More for you, I guess. And more strawberries for me. Anyway. About the Yule Ball thing. How did you want to do that? Just meet up in here or...?"

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "They talk about france and probably say stuff in french, that's close enough for me" He waved Emrys off, not particularly interested in going further into movie politics. "... No, it is not because you have a cat." Everett said slowly, a little confused that his brother didn't make the connection; and what an amazing joke it was, he was kinda chuffed about it. Maybe this would help: "woof.". It had been a while since the whole Clarisse situation, as far as Everett knew, Emrys hadn't dated anybody or shown any interest but who's to say that Everett just didn't notice?

@－ ❛ s ❜：braeden laclaire。⁰⁵ He expected to be asked to ditch the ball for some library time. This was surreal. "What-" his voice was a whisper. His eyes grew bigger behind the lenses of his glasses, his mouth gaping like a fish's as his genius wanted to tell Braeden that he'd indeed pick him up, and remind him that he was going the wrong way.
As soon as Braeden left, Seamus' head hung over the book, not taking in any more words. Instead, he had a belated reaction of his face heating up and, sooner than later, the bang of his head against the open pages dully spread across the Great Hall. How did this happen? Suddenly, he has a date. He's going to the the ball with the unbelievably handsome Slytherin. Well, feck.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：seamus byrne。⁰⁶ As the older's eyes landed on his, braeden's mind went blank. He stared back at the ravenclaw for what felt like an eternity, willing his brain to find the right words. "Great," he said simply, he could feel his palms sweating, "you'll take me." he got up, lacking his usual grace and poise. "pick me up at 7, don't be late," he threw a sorry attempt at his usual smirk over his shoulder before stumbling back to the slytherin table. forgetting that he was coming from entirely the wrong direction.

[ the urge for emerald to get up and embarrass braeden ]

@－ ❛ s ❜：braeden laclaire。⁰⁵ Immersed in his book, Seamus almost fell off his seat when a very familiar voice popped a question. Not the question he's been secretly thinking of, but close. Scared of his shock being exposed, he cleared his throat and fixed his glasses. "Well, hello to you too, Braeden," he started with a quiet reprimand of the other's typical lack of manners before the words settled in. Why was the Slytherin asking? "No, I'm not going with anyone. Why?" Under the table, he was rubbing his suddenly sweaty hands. It couldn't be, could it?

@－ ❛ s ❜：braeden laclaire。⁰⁵ @－ ❛ ɢ ❜：kaladin ravenwood。⁰⁵ The moment Kaladin walked away from her table, another person immediately caught her eye. Tall and absolutely suspicious looking, the glanced he spared their way not going unnoticed by Emerald. She tilted her head with interest and smiled as she watched her best friend, Braeden, make his way over to the—to her surprise—Ravenclaw table. "Huh," she made, forking at a piece of shrimp and popping it in as she watched the interaction from afar.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：seamus byrne。⁰⁶ braeden slipped into the great hall like a burglar on a mission. with a quick glance over to the slytherin table to make sure he hadn't been seen he turns in the opposite direction. sure steps guided him to the book baring, glasses-clad upperclassmen sitting in his usual seat at the far end of the ravenclaw table. slipping in across from him, he spoke without much introduction. "Are you going to the ball with anyone?" his hands clenched into fists, the confidence that brought him here had conveniently left him as soon as the words left his mouth.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "What happened to not giving a about this entire house thing?", he jested with a shake of his head, mirroring her wide-eyed expression mockingly, reaching for her glass to take a sip as if to pull her leg, lifting one shoulder slowly. "And I don't like strawberries as much. Don't get me wrong, they're still fantastic. But if I'd have to choose? Cherries over strawberries, always."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "I could have, but I /am/ a Ravenclaw. If people heard me complain about finals!" Her eyes went wide, hand coming up to cover as she gasped mockingly. She laughed at her own antics and rolled her eyes, taking one more sip out of her drink before placing it down behind her tray of food. "I don't like cherries that much. But yeah. Very yummy. It's my favorite."

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "I changed my mind", Emrys grumbled, his bottom lip jutting out into a pout. "I don't like you anymore. You could have lied to me to make me feel better", he teased then, leaning forward to take a sip from her drink, careful not to coat the entire straw with his spit. "Oh, that's actually really good. I normally mix banana with cherry juice. Not as a smoothie, but you know. It's yummy."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ Caterina laughed with him, her eyes filled with amusement and adoration when he glanced at her. "Finals are pretty good! Smooth sailing, actually. /Wow/, I sound pretentious." She chuckled, taking a sip out of her strawberry-banana smoothie. She made a sound to get his attention, offering the drink to him by pointing the straw in his direction. "Want some?"

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：everett seong。⁰⁵ "That's not a French movie, idiot", Emrys snorted in return, never shying away from being a lot more outspoken and loud with his twin, if not a little teasing sometimes. Then again, they both were. "That's /Titanic/ and I'm pretty sure it's an American movie", he sniffed then, eyeing his brother with very obvious confusion. "Why is that ironic? Because I have a cat? She does too, just saying. Well... Huh. She does. We're taking it slow, anyway. Gives me time to warm up to the entire... Dating again thing."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "I never said it was a bad thing. It's just cheesy, something you see outta a romance film or something. What was the french one? You know what I'm on about, the drawn me like one of your french girls one." If she teased Emrys then that was already one point in her favour, but what Emrys said next had Everett choking on his tea "Caterina? So her name is Cat? That's ironic." Everett snorted, placing his cup down. For all that he ragged on about relationships, Everett could see in his brothers eyes that something was different, something special and he was happy about that. "Look, I know I'm taking the piss and I can't promise I won't continue doing that, but I'm happy if she makes you happy."

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：everett seong。⁰⁵ "Lame", Emrys deadpanned in return, his brows shooting up on his forehead as he fought the sudden urge to throw his napkin at his brother's face. "She's teasing me a lot", he confessed then, heaving a sigh as he pushed his plate away from himself, cradling his water between both his hands. "Her name is Caterina Sun. And, honestly, she found me, not the other way around. Why do you sound like that's a bad thing? She's the complete opposite of Clarice, by the way."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "That's... really lame." Everett cringed a little, already hearing the disdain in his voice. It was a little hard to keep it out though, even for his romantic of a brother, so he knew he'd have to reign it in. "I'm glad you found her? I guess, as long as she's nice to you." He said, Everett wasn't really sure how to feel honestly, he was a touch miffed because he hadn't heard anything about this girl until now. He hadn't even seen or heard anything when wandering around the castle "What's the birds name?"

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "again, considerate", Emrys shrugged while poking around in his bowl, pushing a tomato to the edge of the bowl so he could get it onto his fork. "God, /kill/ me", he chuckled then, sending her a puppy-eyed look. "I have no idea what I'm doing. Pretty sure I'm nailing journalism, though. What about you?"

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "She would have," Caterina agreed, picking up her veggie wrap from her tray. "But she knows I wouldn't have liked it, so." She shrugged, taking a bite out of her food. She waited until she swallowed to speak. "I do. But you didn't make them do anything. They're just weird. Anyway. How are you? How are your finals?"

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "Oh, huh", Emrys made, shielding his mouth with the back of his hand even though he had already swallowed his bite. "Makes sense. That's really considerate. In a... Slightly weird way. After that little wave your friend gave me I was pretty sure they'd throw every possible question at me as soon as I returned to the table. Don't you have class with them, though? I didn't want to... I don't know. Make them leave."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "Think they wanted to leave us alone," Caterina confessed without an ounce of hesitation. There was no reason to cover up for them, anyway. They could have stayed and introduced themselves, but for some reason, thought it was better to just up and leave to give Caterina the limited time she had with her... well. None of them knew what to call him. "They, um, aren't really used to seeing me /with/ a guy. If you know what I mean."

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：everett seong。⁰⁵ "What's with that look?", Emrys shot back almost immediately, popping another bite of food into his mouth as he leveled his twin with a rather deadpan stare. "Well. So." He cleared his throat then, taking a sip from his water to wash down his food, before he leaned a little closer. "She caught me drawing her in the library and approached me because of it. We've been talking ever since. She's a Ravenclaw. Second year, though so... She's a bit younger. Than us, I mean."

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² "Have... Fun?", Emrys provided rather hesitantly, his eyes flickering back and forth between Caterina and her friends, all of them simply getting up and leaving them behind. "What was that about?", he asked then as soon as they were alone, taking the first bite of his food as his eyes followed the small group for only a heartbeat before he turned to look at Caterina, clearly not really buying the "class" thing.

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ Emrys had better not, otherwise Everett would ki-... Er, well, he wouldn't be happy about it. Oh well, they could move on to greener conversations now that that was out of the way. "You were going to tell me about a girl you've been seeing. A lot of in fact." Everett's eyebrow cocked up slightly, sipping at his tea in a quiet slurp "That you never told me about."

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "Nice to meet you too!" her three friends chimed in, out of sync but equally enthusiastic across the board. "We're actually gonna go to our next class. It starts in ten minutes so... bye Cat."
"Bye," Caterina waved, watching as each of them stood up with their food in hand. Her eyebrow was arched and there was a knowing glint in her eyes. Their class doesn't start until thirty minutes, those sly es. They only left to leave Caterina alone with the so-called "hot guy". Oh well. She couldn't complain.

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：caterina sun。⁰² He hadn't expected eating with Caterina today - let alone her friends - and the thought suddenly terrified him. Girls were a different kind of intimidating to him, always had been and always will be - and he couldn't help but feel like the pressure was on, now. "Sorry", he muttered as he sat down next to Caterina, cradling a bowl of Quinoa salad against his chest. "Oh, uh. I'm Emrys, by the way. Nice to meet you", he said then, addressing the general direction her friends were sitting in, for a moment looking anywhere but at them.

@－ ❛ s ❜：emrys seong。⁰⁵ "Okay," Caterina said, turning back to her friends as soon as Emrys left.
"Oh. My God." Seline exclaimed, her jaw wide open as she looked at Caterina dead in the eye. "/That's/ the guy you've been talking to? He's hot!"
"I know." Caterina grinned, stepping over the bench to sit back down.