Closed Personal Questions

[Kiara Thompson]

With the schoolyear now slowly progressing Kiara tried her best to juggle classes, studying for NEWTs, prefect duties, working on some wild patch plants and trying to find time for her friends. It was a lot but she didn't really mind. They were mostly things she enjoyed after all. Walking into the great hall for lunch today she had noticed Demetrius at the Hufflepuff table, walking over to sit with him without any hesitation. "Hi." She smiled at her friend as she sat down next to him and glanced over at the food in front of her. Outside of the prefects meeting and some classes Kiara hadn't seen too much of him yet but she had heard some rumours and couldn't help but to wonder if he was alright. None of those previous situations had seemed like the right place nor time to ask him about it though and she hoped that perhaps today she could. She just couldn't come right out with it, that would be rude, so referred to some less personal topics first. "So how's patrolling with Monday going?"

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Demetrius was tired. He hadn't slept well, and the stress of NEWTs was starting to play on him. Add to that his newfound responsibilities of prefect and he didn't feel like he had much time to do a lot else. His breakup with Veronique was still weighing on him as well; he was struggling to move past it, gone to the stage where he was trying to just ignore it and move on. But it wasn't working. He was playing with his food a little when Kiara showed up at the Hufflepuff table. He hadn't gotten to speak to her, or to many of his friends, over the year so far. He just hadn't felt up to it. "Hey," he greeted with a half-smile. "Patrolling...it's kinda tiring but Monday's helping me get to grips with it." Demetrius' prefect badge really had come as a surprise - but he wasn't displeased. "How's it going for you?" Demetrius asked politely.

 

[Kiara Thompson]

Kiara leaned her chin on her hand while she listened to Demtrius' response, although she couldn't help but to notice he looked a little tired. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for a seventh year and yet she was more keen on knowing what exactly was going on since he was her friend. "Yeah, you'll get used to that. It's nice you got paired up with Monday though." She smiled, although she wondered if he would get used to it. He only had this year as a prefect so it wasn't like he could start next year being better prepared like most of them were because they will have graduated by then. "It's fine, my patrol partner's sweet so that's nice." Kiara replied honestly, leaving out the mention of being used to the extra tasks like she had initially wanted to. "And aside from prefect stuff, how are you doing? You look a little.. tired. Is it NEWTs? Something else?" She asked with the best of intentions.

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

"Yeah, Monday's great," Demetrius said, though there wasn't the usual level of enthusiasm in his voice. "He's done well making head boy too." Demetrius was proud for his friend - it really was an accomplishment. He nodded when Kiara explained that her patrol partner was nice. He was glad that was the case - he was sure there was always a chance that someone wouldn't get along with their patrol partner. Demetrius then bristled a little when she asked why he looked tired. He didn't want to talk about it and just thinking about Veronique made him feel irritable, and somewhat annoyed - an overreaction but one Demetrius couldn't help. "I'm fine," he replied somewhat curtly. "Just haven't been sleeping great is all," Demetrius half-lied. It was true that he wasn't sleeping well, but Kiara didn't have to know why. Hopefully she wouldn't dig further.

 

[Kiara Thompson]

Kiara considered Demetrius a friend and even though she was sure she didn't know him through and through she did like to think she knew him good enough to notice when he seemed a little off. Like right now. "Oh, well, seventh year is quite stressful so I don't think that's strange." She replied with what felt like an understanding smile but probably looked far from it. Talking to friends about their troubles wasn't something Kiara was used to doing since she had been so used to keeping to herself. It also made her debate her choice of bringing up Veronique. On the one hand she was fairly certain that if Demetrius wanted to talk about that he would bring it up himself, on the other she had this gnawing feeling she'd be considered a bad friend if she didn't ask him about it. "Are you sure that's it, though?" Kiara asked, treading carefully as she shared her worries. "I mean, I, uhm, I heard some things about you and.. Veronique.. and, yeah, I just, uhm.. wanted to make sure you know you can talk to me.. You know that, right?"

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Demetrius felt a flare of irritation. He was tired of thinking about Veronique, tired of people talking about Veronique, and here was another person doing just that. What had she heard anyway? How Veronique had just up and dumped him just like that, without a care for how he felt at all? It came upon him so suddenly that he spoke without thinking, the impulsivity of anger surging within him. "What's it to you?" he snapped, feeling a sense of release as he let the words tumble out. He just had to let out more. "Why do you want to know about it? So you can feel sorry for me, is that what this is?" With each word he felt the anger grow, but also the relief. It felt good, and part of him knew he should stop but he kept going. "So you can feel better than me? Thanks but no thanks, Kiara." He said her name in a sharp, patronising manner. He was so sick of it - of all of it. He just wanted it to stop.

 

[Kiara Thompson]

Kiara wasn't entirely sure what she had expected of Demetrius. She hadn't expected anything really. If he didn't want to tell her about Veronique he had every right to, she just wanted to make sure he knew he could talk to her should he want to. Which he clearly did not. "I- What? No.." She stuttered what barely counted as a response. Kiara stared at him in silence as he continued, feeling what could only be described as a mix of emotions. Surprise. Disbelief. Hurt that he would think anything like that would've ever been her intention. Even if perhaps his emotions were overruling his sense of clarity at the minute. "Right." Kiara nodded as she blinked back a few tears and got up from her seat. There was no need for her to cry in the middle of the great hall just because he snapped at her. "Forget I said anything." She added, offering a watery smile before quickly turning on her heels.

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Demetrius' anger slowly subsided as he saw Kiara's reaction - but too little too late. The words 'wait' couldn't even form on his lips as she'd already fled. He thought he saw some tears in her eyes and now the guilt was filling the gaps of where his anger had been. She'd probably just intended on being nice. That was all. Asking after a friend. "Damn it," he said under his breath, the anger that was left shifting to himself, rather than Kiara. He'd messed up. He didn't know what to say, what to do. He had class soon so he just sat there, stewing in his own emotions and hoping no one else had seen his ridiculous display. Demetrius rubbed his forehead and sighed. Why was he like this? Why did he lash out at people who were just trying to help? Annoyance weighed heavily on him as he stewed in his own bad decisions.