Teen Angst

[Isabella Chaos]

Things had been at a standstill for Isabella. She had been keeping low after the argument between Hoshi and what's-her-name because she was already doing poorly in class, so she didn't want Professor Maneteia to think anything worse of her. Though she was disappointed that Prefects were now chosen in 5th year, she was a little relieved that she had time to make up her grades now. In personal matters, she had finally come to terms with Aiden's departure and rarely ever thought of him at all, and she had revealed to Harri that she liked Mike, but she had rarely spoken to him at all now.

But all that aside, Isabella was bored with herself. B-O-R-E-D, bored out of her mind. The thirteen year old girl exited the dungeons in a simple white cami and a cute black skirt and made her way down to her favorite spot at Hogwarts, the lakefront. She wore shiny sequined flip flops but took them off when she reached the edge, so she could dip her blue painted toenails into the water. She sat down on the edge, careful not to get her clothes wet, and sighed, a hint of frustration escaping the tone of her voice. She was so ready for the school year to end. Why had things become so dull for her? It was so uncharacteristic!

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

Tichondrius had just returned back to Hogwarts. Since his father was grooming him to inherit the family business, he had begun to take over certain aspects of it, and doing so had called him away from school for the better part of the school year. Although he was pretty sure being a first year, it wouldn't have much impact, Tichondrius was still somewhat miffed at missing so many lessons. Grabbing a few of his schoolbooks and shoving them into a slingbag, he made his way down to the lakeside, hoping to at least catch up.

Upon reaching the lakeside, he hauled himself up a conviniently placed tree and began reading. After a while, he heard the sound of footsteps, then the gentle lapping of water. Turning his head to the direction of the sound, he saw a girl seated at the edge of the lake dipping her toenails into the water. As he watched, absentmindedly scratching the scar over his face, he saw her sigh, fustration colouring the sound of her voice. Flipping his books back into the bag, and leaving it hanging from the branch, he leapt down, landing lightly on the grass.

"May I sit here ?" he asked, indicating the ground next to her.

 

[Isabella Chaos]

Isabella was just thinking of finding Alyssa so the pair of best friends could do something together when she heard someone next to her, asking if they could sit. Isabella tore her gaze from the glistening water in the distance and looked up to the person who had addressed her. She was slightly startled by the scar on the person's face but of course kept her face calm and void of emotion.

She was curious to get to know this person, mostly because of the scar, she wanted to know how someone could get that. And secondly, because she liked to know everyone at the school and the gossip about everyone, so the fact that she had never seen him before intrigued her. "Sure," she replied with a small shrug, her voice calm and nonchalant, clearly masking the curiosity she held towards him. "I'm Isabella," she decided to introduce herself with a small yet polite smile.

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

Tichondrius inclined his head in greeting. He noticed she was showing no reaction to his scar. She's probably used to not showing things on her face, he mused. He folded his knees and sat beside her. "I'm Tichondrius Illitharis." he said, smiling.

"You must be pretty used to keeping your face clear of emotions," he said, staring at the waters of the lake before them. Tichondrius tilted his head to look at her. "Most people stare at my scar, and I'm sure even you are curious about how I got it."

 

[Isabella Chaos]

Isabella raised her eyebrows in interest when he introduced himself, quite an interesting name to match an interesting appearance. "Isabella Chaos," she replied regally, nodding her head in greeting. When he said she must be used to keeping her face void of emotion due to the her lack of interest in his scar, she allowed a light chuckle to escape her lips. "Yes, I am used to it," she said agreeing to his statement, "but mostly I was raised with manners and was told it was impolite to stare," she said, once again nodding her head respectfully. "Though you are right, I am curious. Do you mind sharing the story?" she asked, her angry temper quickly melting away now that she had a distraction, and a rather interesting one at that.

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

"Nice name," Tichondrius said. He tilted his head back to stare up, just picking out the form of Hayate wheeling in the skies above."It is good manners not to stare, I suppose. But there's a time and place for everything. Don't you ever get tired of pretending not to want to stare?" he asked, genuinely curious.

He shrugged when she asked if he minded sharing the story. "Nope. I don't. I've told it to quite a few people already. My home was attacked, perhaps unwisely, by pirates while we were out in the middle of the Atlantic. They didn't listen to our warnings, and we were too far for any ship to help, so we had to deal with them ourselves." Tichondrius smiled wolfishly, the scar adding a rather menacing tone to his face. "I'm pretty sure the pirates didn't expect to be boarded by us. Luxury ship in the middle of the ocean, they probably thought we would be easy pickings. They found out otherwise. This," he jerked a finger at the scar, "was a momento one of the pirates gave me. It actually isn't as bad as it looks. He barely scratched me, or I'd be blind in this eye. As it was, he was much worse off." He chuckled darkly.

Scuttling back a little bit, Tichondrius stretched out his legs and arms and lay on the soft grass. "Sounds like a fantastic story, doesn't it," he said softly. "My father's reputation earned him many enemies, and our family fortune even more." He shook his head.

 

[Isabella Chaos]

"Likewise," she commented with a smile when he said her name was nice. Isabella pursed her lips in thought when he said didn't she get tired of pretending to not want to stare. "Well, yes it does, but it's just the way I was raised, show no emotion otherwise people will find your weakness," she said with a dull shrug. She remembered her father and especially her uncle telling her this repeatedly, though she wasn't a 30-something year old man who could just hide their feelings, Isabella was a girl and if she was mad or sad, she wanted the world to know, it was just in a teen girl's nature.

Isabella listened intently to his story, glad that he didn't mind sharing it with her, a complete stranger. As he described the attack, Isabella allowed herself to stare at the scar in detail as he pointed it out himself and though he said it wasn't as bad as it looks, Isabella winced slightly. She put a small hand up to her face as if she could feel it herself but felt nothing but smooth skin underneath. When he said 'sounds like a fantastic story' Isabella smirked and said, "Sounds a little far-fetched," but her tone of voice was a playful one, only joking.

Since he had said his father's reputation earned him many enemies, Isabella decided to ask, "So, got any other scars from battles?" She wore a skeptical smirk on her face though her eyebrows were arched in curiosity.

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

He raised his eyebrow when she asked him if he had any other scars. "Plenty," he said,"But some in places that aren't as visible as this one." Tichondrius paused then shrugged. "What the hell," he muttered. He rolled up the left leg of his jeans. An ugly scar started above his knee and led up into the jeans. "It ends here," he said, indicating his right shoulder. "This one was the memory of an accident. Was on a whaling boat in a storm, and there was a big wave, jerked the whole boat up. One of their hooks wasn't secured tightly, and lashed me from shoulder to knee." Ti paused again, in the throes of recollection. "I was six then. Damn near died too. Never been near a whaling boat ever since."

He shook his head, then smiled. "If you ask me, Isabella. Being courteous has its place, but out here, you should just be who you are. If you're angry then show it. If you're sad then cry. If not in public, then at the very least in private."

 

[Isabella Chaos]

When Isabella saw Tichondrius rolling up his jeans to show her a scar, she grew excited. Not at the thought of seeing another battle scar but because she felt like she had a similar story to share. However when he showed her where it ended, Isabella quite literally gasped and put her small hands up to her mouth to shut herself up. "Sorry," she apologized, once again, brought up to think that gasping at something was impolite. She bit her lip as she subconsciously rubbed her right shoulder lightly as if she could feel the pain as he described how he got it. She let out a low whistle when he finished and nodded her head when he said he'd never been near a whaling boat again; if that were her, she'd never be near the water again, but that was a ludicrous idea, since she loved swimming. Why else would the lakefront be her favorite spot?

"Well, my story is nowhere near as tragic or gruesome as yours," she began, feeling rather pathetic in the sense that she had experience no real danger or adventure, "but," she said, as she twisted her leg to show a scar just below her knee, about three inches long. "It's not anything like yours," she said with a shrug while looking at it, noticing how faint it seemed compared to his. "But I got it when I was visiting my uncles house when I was eight years old. To this day I swear that it was his poltergeist that pushed the mirror and caused it to shatter!" she said rather heatedly. Whenever she told her parents or her aunt and uncle this, they always told her that they didn't have a poltergeist, but she knew they did.

She smiled when he said what she had just been thinking about her emotions and chuckled as she shook her head softly. "Anger is the one emotion I am allowed to show," she said rolling her chocolate colored eyes, "but even then, it's always bottled up," she concluded. It was weird how as a child she was allowed to cry and throw a fit whenever she didn't get her way, but now as she was older, if she cried, she didn't get what she wanted. It was so confusing and frustrating to her that her parents were so hypocritical when it came to how she should act and how they act. For example when her father and uncle used to constantly tell her that she had to marry within the pureblood line to keep their family line pure, yet her father had gone out and had an affair with a Muggle which resulted in a half blood, Wendy, and he ruined their family line. "Being a girl sucks sometimes," she said with a laugh. There was always a certain way they had to act and things you couldn't do, so many restrictions; it's the reason Isabella was so uptight and rule-abiding.

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

"A poltergeist, eh? Wonder what Alaric would make of that ..." Tichondrius mused. "Alaric is a friend of mine. He's several years older, is psychic, and he's been learning to be an exorcist. Or something along that line," he said by way of explanation. "I don't know if he's really psychic, but over the years I've given him the benefit of the doubt, and he's pulled some weird stuff. And I can do magic."

"I'm sure there are boys who'll say the same thing. Mmmm ... Well, instead of bottling up, why not take it out on something. Like if you ever get angry again, instead of screaming at the person, go bash up a punching bag or something." He nodded sagely. "It'd be much better than bottling it in."

 

[Isabella Chaos]

"You have interesting friends and family," Isabella said with her eyebrows raised in amusement. After seeing the scars he had, she was no longer skeptical of the tales he told. It made her life extremely dull in comparison. She wasn't even allowed to play video games at her cousins house if it had violence! To Isabella this was just another example of how boys had it so much easier than girls, and also of how hypocritical her family was. They swore against violence and crime yet she knew that her uncle was a Death Eater. Thankfully her father wasn't. Isabella imagined living her life with Death Eater parents and having to hide things about your family and she was glad she didn't have to do that.

When Tichondrius suggested she take her anger out on something, Isabella laughed lightly. "That's a good idea but sometimes when I'm mad I just wish I could take it out on the person instead," she admitted through her laughter. Isabella rarely ever wanted to physically hurt someone to shut them up but there were a few people that popped into her mind that she felt deserved a good punch in the face from her, Joceline, Hoshi, and Adira, all younger Slytherins, surprisingly.

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

Tichondrius laughed. "I know. Though with the social status of my family, it's pretty much only the interesting and sincere ones who become my friends. I'm very good at sorting those out from the apple polishers," he said. He gazed out at the sun, squinting slightly at the glare. "Well," he said. "You may think it bad to be a girl living in a rather, from the sound of it, strict family, but it could be worse. A lot worse. Your parents could be Death Eaters for example. Or you could not have parents at all."

"Why not then? Take it out on the persons in question? Are they better fighters than you?" he asked, then turned to look at her, sweeping her with his gaze. "In the first place, can you fight? Or rather, would you if you had to?"

 

[Isabella Chaos]

Isabella nodded her head slowly in agreement with Tichondrius' explanation that it could be worse. She remembered she had never put it in perspective like that until she met her sort-of friend, Abbey that year. "You're right," she agreed barely above a whisper. Though her parents annoyed her to no end, she still wouldn't know what to do if she didn't have them.

Isabella laughed at Ti's suggestion for her to just act upon her desires to fight when she wanted to. She vigorously shook her head and looked at him with wide doe eyes as if the idea were ludicrous. "Ladies are never supposed to fight!" she replied, her answer already indicating that she couldn't fight. It still didn't stop her from wanting to though, whenever she was around those annoying brats. Would she if she had to, yes; but did she ever have to? Not really. She had been brought up to ignore those lesser than you seeking a fight just to make themselves feel better, but sometimes she did want them to just shut up.

On that note she was reminded of something so common in the petty arguments she had with her enemies. Isabella adored being in Slytherin, it was the only house possible for her, but she hated the stereotypes that came with it, like all parents being Death Eaters. Isabella was reminded strongly of Joceline and Adira who had threatened her by saying they'd get their fathers on her and she rolled her eyes. She was sick of them getting their Death Eater relatives to fight for them, she liked to fight her own battles.

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

Tichondrius watched her carefully, as she replied. "'Ladies are never supposed to fight', eh? My mum must've missed the memo on that one. If that's what you want to do, then do it. I never said you had to go around bashing everyone to bits. What I asked you was, if you had to, absolutely had to, would you fight? Or would you stay your own hand and regret it for the rest of your life?" He stood up, flicked his wrist, and the jewelled dagger he recieved from his grandfather shot out into his hand. He balanced it on his finger by the tip of the dagger, the jewels wrought into its hilt glittering finely in the sun.

"You can choose not to fight. That's fine. In fact that's what I do. However, should someone choose to fight with me, and he cannot be turned away from the fight, then I will oblige that person. Peace is fine, but peace without strength will falter." He knelt before her, the sunlight sillouhetting him perfectly. "Which will you choose in the end? Peace with out strength ..." He unfolded his empty left hand. "Or peace with strength." The dagger glinted in his open right hand.

 

[Isabella Chaos]

Isabella half chuckled when Tichondrius said his mom must've missed the memo about ladies not fighting. She couldn't help but purse her pink-gloosed lips in thought when he stated his question again, clarifying what he meant. Having been brought up to avoid anything physical if it could hurt her, Isabella was programmed to immediately open her mouth and protest.

However before she could utter another word, Ti brought out a dagger, expertly balancing it on the tip of his finger. One eyebrow arched up with piqued interest at the sight of it, forgetting all the lectures she'd heard her entire childhood.

Peace without strengh...or peace with strength.

Isabella shifted her chocolate brown eyes back and forth from Tichondrius' empty hand to the dagger in his right. She could hear the many voices of her parents, her caretaker, and her uncle as they lectured her all at once. There were so many voices in her head she couldn't even make out what they said so their warnings became void as well. She bit her glossed lip before she looked down at her hands, folded neatly over her lap as she wore a skirt 'just like ladies should.' Suddenly Isabella realized that everything she did was because she had been brought up to do them, wear skirts, wear pantyhose and stockings, dress elegantly, condition and curl your hair, never wear jeans, make up is bad, you must be in Slytherin, on and on. What was the last decision she made for herself? She looked back at Tichondrius' open hands, this was the first decision she could make for herself, which would it be?

Isabella reached out a small, delicate hand and placed it over Tichondrius' right hand, a dagger between their palms. She wrapped her fingers around the cold object but didn't pick it up, she wasn't planning to, it was just an indication that she had made her choice. A smirk appeared on Isabella's face and she said, "Thank you," to Ti as she let her hand fall down to her lap once more. From now on, Isabella was going to make her own decisions based upon what she wanted, no more of this rule-abiding, tongue biting, kiss up little sheep. Her last name wasn't Chaos for nothing after all.

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

Tichondrius watched, almost able to see the gears turning in Isabella's head, watched as her eyes flickered from his left to his right. Finally, she reached out a small hand, and placed it over the dagger, indicating her choice, before letting it fall back to the ground. The corners of his lip curled, and he nodded, flicking the dagger back into his sleeve. "Your welcome," he said quietly.

"So you have decided to live up to your last name of Chaos, have you? I have to admit, I was slightly disappointed when I discovered that someone who bore the name of 'Chaos' was so prim and proper." He laughed. "Although, I guess it was unrealistic of me to expect to meet a living personification of Chaos." He shook his head, mirth still on his face.

 

[Isabella Chaos]

Isabella laughed lightly when he said he had been a little disappointed that her personality didn't reflect her name. "Well I'll see to it that I personify my name from now on," she said with a sly smirk on her face though she couldn't think of how she'd do that. She was still so used to the way she was brought up, but looking up at Tichondrius made her determined to shake it off. She ran a hand through her hair subconsciously, thinking that she'd spend this summer stripping herself of the goody-two-shoes image she'd adapted and find a new style that would reflect her new attitude. If she was going to stop acting like a rule-abiding girl, she needed to at least dress the part first. She was a teenager after all, and was allowed to go through many changes in her life.

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

"Oh?" He smiled, but the smile was somehow more mischevious. Tilting his head back, Tichondrius eyed the sky. "So what's the first thing you intend to do? Rebel against your parents? Play pranks on someone?" He turn back to one-over her. "You're gonna change your appearance first, aren't you?"

 

[Isabella Chaos]

Rebel against her parents? Well wasn't that what every teenage girl already did? She laughed lightly when he asked if she'd play any pranks and rolled her chocolate brown eyes as she said, "That is soo first year." Her mind instantly thought of the annoying brat Hoshi, the girl she was always at war with. Sure they'd had a minor battle in the Great Hall but really it ended up with her getting a new enemy in Adira. Isabella had it out for Hoshi, and she wouldn't be surprised if the goth girl was aiming for her as well. Bring it on., she thought in her head with her new found rebellion in her mind.

She let out a laugh when he guessed correctly that she was going to change her appearance first. "Well yeah I mean first impressions are everything," she said as if this were the most important thing in the world. "I want to look the part," she added with a girly smile but she quickly put a small hand over her mouth as if she'd said something wrong. "Oops, I guess I'm gonna need some work on my new attitude huh?" she said with a guilty look on her face. Fashion was definitely not a rebellious girl's typical topic of conversation.

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

"We-ell. You don't have to change the way you look. Rebellion through conformation. You can continue to dress the way you are, but you simply change the way you act. Even roses have thorns, you know," Tichondrius said.

 

[Isabella Chaos]

A small rush of relief washed over Isabella, she really did love dressing the way she did, but part of her still wanted to throw all her clothes away, since her parents had been the ones to tell her that was the way ladies dressed. If she didn't dress the way her parents had brought her up to dress like, then she'd be rebelling against her parents, which was one of the first things on her list of acting more chaotic. She had a lot of thinking to do. "You're right," she finally replied with a grin, perhaps her sweet and innocent look would throw them off guard anyway.

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

He laughed. "You actually love dressing the way you do, don't you. That's alright. Like I said, roses have thorns too." Tichondrius flicked his dagger out, and started balancing it on the tip of his finger. "Sweet and innocent on the outside, but still very capable of hurting."

 

[Isabella Chaos]

"I can do away with it if I had to!" Isabella pretended to pout. If someone she had only met already knew that she was a goody-two-shoes fashion obsessed 'glam girl' then she knew that others who knew her as well would think the same. She really needed to shake up her image, not necessarily in the way she dressed but in the way she acted.

Bella watched as he began balancing the dagger on the tip of his finger and studied him closely as he said sweet and innocent on the outside, but capable of hurting. She narrowed her eyes curiously at him and said, "Just like you..." It hadn't really occurred to her that he might be playing the same act that he had suggested to her. "What house are you in?" she asked curiously, feeling rather dumb that it mattered to her.

 

[Tichondrius Illitharis]

Tichondrius roared with laughter. "I'm sure you can. But you don't really have to. You look good like that." He flipped the dagger up into the air, then caught it as it dropped back down, then flipped it up again.

"My house?" he said, as he caught and flipped the dagger again. "Hufflepuff. Or to quote a new first year, 'Wussypuff'." The corner of Tichondrius' lips curled at the memory. "Just like me?" He chuckled. "Do I honestly really look all that sweet and innocent to you?"