Open No Expectations

[Eric Holland]

Ever since his argument with Minnie, Eric had been in a foul mood. His fight with Kas didn't help either, and he was avoiding both of them now. He had been stupid to think they were ever his friends, especially Minnie. She hadn't even said she wanted to be his friend, they had just had one nice time making a stupid blanket fort. A time he had probably blown up in his mind and had meant nothing to her, as she had made it very clear what she thought of him. Her sharp words kept ringing through his head, especially one of the last things she had said in their conversation.

I’m sorry no one expects you to do anything but punch people.

That simple sentence hadn't left him alone, and it made him so angry he wanted to- well, punch people. Which only made him more angry, because Minnie couldn't just be right about that. But after a while, he knew he had to do something to get rid of some of the anger. He'd made his way to the Duelling Chamber, and had tried his hand at shooting spells at some of the dummies. Maybe if he could prepare for the duelling tournament and do a bit better than he had in the past, it might be useful too. But something about sending spells at the dummies just... didn't feel satisfying. It wasn't long at all until Eric threw his wand to the side and gave the dummy a punch square in the face. His fist hurt, but a grim smile appeared on his face. This was more like it.

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Since she'd managed to become duelling champion last year, Sydney knew she couldn't let up on her practice now just because the tournament wasn't till next semester. Especially after getting some extra help from Ava Lancaster. Entering the duelling chamber however, she was disappointed to see it was already occupied, though her frown twisted into a mocking sneer when she realized who exactly it was. "Finally picking a fight with someone on your intellectual level, I see," She said haughtily, moving across the room and giving Eric a wide berth. Sydney had no doubt she could probably jinx Eric before he could get to her right now, but as great as that would feel, it would cut into her practice time. She wasn't able to give up her time just because Eric decided he wanted to have a temper tantrum down here.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric punched the dummy again, and again. He didn't care that it was starting to hurt his knuckles a lot. He barely felt it. He scowled as he heard Sydney's familiar voice, turning around angrily. He hadn't even heard the door open, he had been too occupied with what he was doing. "Shut up." He spat at her. "You're on a level below this thing." He added, kicking the dummy vaguely in her direction. "Did you come here to feel less lonely?" He added with a sneer. "I bet these dummies almost pass as friends for you. Probably the only things that actually want to put up with you without running away screaming."

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Sydney sneered as Eric unleashed the expected slew of low-brow insults. Nothing particularly inspired or even worth responding to, though Sydney's mind was already whirring through a comeback, her blood hot with rage at Eric's words. But at the reminder of why she had come here, to practice some spells, and with Eric's wand laying uselessly on the floor, Sydney changed her mind, insults forgotten as she leveled her own wand at Eric. "You always have such vile, useless things coming out of your mouth, this'll be no different," She said venomously before slinging the frog-vomiting hex at him that Ava had taught her, already flooded with a sense of vicious victory to have Eric so defenseless. "Now your insides reflect your outsides, you miserable toad."

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric was pleased to see that Sydney was hurt by his words. She was always better at him at cutting words, so he was glad he had managed something to hurt her in return. He clenched his fists, wondering what she would say in response to this. But it seemed like Sydney was beyond the point of words. Eric realized the predicament he was in too late, as he reached for his wand in his pocket only to remember it wasn’t in his pocket, he’d thrown it on the floor. Eric’s eyes widened in shock as the flash of light hit him straight in the chest. He fell back with a groan, then sat up angrily again. But before he could spit curses at Sydney or do anything really, he doubled over. A horrific feeling overcoming him as he felt something practically crawling up his throat. Eric gagged, and to his horror a frog landed on the floor. He snarled in rage, but couldn’t do anything as he burped out another, and another. He tried to reach for his wand, blindly, too focused on the horrific creatures coming out of him to do much else.

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Sydney watched with glee as her spell collided with Eric before he could make a move for his wand, grinning in triumph as he hit the ground. Even if she hadn't managed the jinx perfectly, hitting him was satisfying enough, but as Eric sat up, mouth open for some other droll insult ready no doubt, Sydney felt her grin grow even larger as he doubled over before gagging a frog onto the floor. "Oh I see there we go, the toads are much better company for you," She said, unrestrained, smug glee dripping from her voice as she lowered her wand, content that she needed continue jinxing Holland with him like this. "Suits you," Sydney added, brushing her hair from her face before making to move towards the door. As fun as it was to watch this, she likely needed to leave before any one else saw this; Things were incriminating enough even if Eric likely wasn't going to be able to tell on her until he stopped spitting up frogs.

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric felt angry and humiliated as he felt a fresh wave of frogs coming up. It was disgusting, and for Sydney of all people to see him like this was the worst part. He grit his teeth, trying in vain to get it under control. But just as he thought it might stop, he felt nauseous again and knew it wasn't over yet. He glared up at her, tears of frustration pooling in his eyes that he angrily wiped away. But as she said it suited him, something snapped. He let out a sound of rage, pushing himself up and rushing forward a few steps to shove her. Just as he did, he expelled more frogs from his mouth, and even in his rage, he had enough clarity to aim them at Sydney.

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Sydney was still feeling smug as she strolled away, though she realized it was a mistake to turn her back to Eric almost immediately. She flinched, spinning around to grab for her wand when he made a furious sound, but her movements had been too slow and Eric was able to shove her, Sydney reeling as she tried to keep her balance and keep ahold of her wand. She'd been defenseless to the stream of slime and frogs that Eric had retched up as she flailed, face twisting into a disgusted snarl as they slapped against her robes, leaving a horrid trail. "Ugh, get away from me," She screamed, flicking her wand to push him back as she stumbled away further. "Everte Statum!"

 

[Eric Holland]

If nothing else, at least the sight of the next stream of frogs landing onto Sydney was something Eric could take away from this terrible encounter. But he didn't have long to enjoy it. The spell hit Eric squarely, and he flew backwards until he crumpled onto the ground in a heap. Before he could say anything else, more frogs made their way up, and Eric had no choice but to vomit them all over the ground. The room was filled with frogs hopping around, and tears burned in Eric's eyes. At least it seems like there were less and less each time it happened, but that didn't make it any less awful. He needed to get to the hospital wing, but not before Sydney left. He hoped she would just run away now, leave him in peace to deal with it. "I'll get you back for this." He croaked, glaring up at her from his position on the floor. "You'll pay."

 

[Sydney Townsend]

Sydney wanted to take more satisfaction from knocking Eric away, but she was too busy trying to wrest the disgusting mix of slime and frogs from her robes, lip still curled in a snarl. "Oh shut up you slimy little cretin," She called back to him, flicking the last frog from her robes and stalking from the room, only comfortable to turn her back on Eric now that he was well and truly away from her and without his wand.