Curious Returns

The girl was looking at him, expression a strange contortion between a sneer and a smile, and Reid restrained his own facial muscles from reacting. She wasn't backing down. At least not verbally. 

Curses it was then. Or a well-placed jinx or two. What an absolute drag.

Unless.....Reid's eye caught movement, as the girl shifted back slightly. She was faintly discomfited by his proximity. His highly honed perceptive skills left no doubt behind it. Reid blinked once, slowly, and released the hold of his legs on the above branch.

He was no idiot. He had jerked sideways simultaneously, and he landed right side up; legs stretched widely to the sides. He paused for a second, then made a choice; he never had hesitated to press an advantage if he had one, after all. Reid slid forward in a sinuous motion, and placed his right hand on the gnarled tree trunk, right next to the girl's shoulder. His head shifted forwards, closer.

"Comfortable, are you." The not-quite question was spoken in a soft, rustling tone. His left hand strayed forwards, almost unnoticeably placing itself on the wand gripped in the girl's hand. "What about now? Or..." He shifted close enough, for their breaths to mingle. A barely there whisper. "Now?" 

Two roads. Either the girl would shriek and jump down from the branch, or push him down. The uncertainty was rather......interesting.

Reid smiled.

He'd noticed her discomfort and was now attempting to use it to his advantage. Damn, the boy was good. He was obviously as perceptive as her, something that was hardly common in someone their age. She'd have to be more careful around this boy in future, not wanting to give anything more away.

The girl remained still as the other teenager purposely invaded her personal space. But she didn't to move. Vivianna refused to give him the pleasure.

He was close enough that she could feel his breath, close enough to kiss without straining. "Nice try," the redhead stated softly, pulling her wandhand out of the boy's reach.

His smile was the unnerving kind of smile. The kind that said I know something you don't know, and I love it. The kind of smile that was hardly uncommon to find upon her own features. After all, the Slytherin plotted revenge often enough.

Her cousin had once joked with her that she'd meet her match one day. That this someone would be alike her in almost every way, and that she'd drive herself insane with the knowledge that there was a person whom wouldn't fall for a single one of her tricks. At the time, Vivianna had scoffed. But now, as Allya's words ran through her head, the student felt a cold sensation slowly make its way down her spine.

She wasn't moving. Whoa.

So calm, so still. The wind rustled the leaves around them, and Reid stared on, unrelenting, into the girl's eyes. Even a muscle refused to twitch on her face, except a particular traitorous one jumping in her neck. Anxiety perhaps. Or adrenaline. He could find no leftover traces of anger, or even irritation, and Reid restrained his eyebrows from flying upwards at that realisation.

"Nice try." She told him.

"I know." He informed her right back. Her absolute lack of reaction prompted Reid to up the ante even further, but he desisted. Her eyes seemed almost too closed down, even apprehensive. Reid felt a strange sense of satisfaction settle in his chest. It was mildly discomforting to think that there were people out there who could be utterly unaffected by him. He felt he was finally back in control.

Which was a strange way to think, because Reid had never given a shit about getting one up on a girl before.

Then there was a fluttering sound behind him, and Reid half-turned his head, wand at the ready. It was unnecessary though. A winged, black shape shot out at him, and Reid's body eased, relaxed at the familiar sensation of talons digging into his shoulder. His hand stroked over the black raven's head, "There you are." Then, with an almost amused smile to the curly-haired student, derision coloring his words. "Now I even have the ability of getting your eyes pecked out. Do comply. Its getting tiring."

((OOC: I'm sorry, but you had to know I was going to do this. ;P))

He was infuriating. The witch didn't show it, but the boy's mocking I know, made her very blood boil. And he was so close. So very, very close. Just when the girl was about to do something about the twat who had the gall to invade her personal space, a sound distracted her.

It was a bird, an oddly familiar bird. Vivianna wracked her brain, trying and failing to come up with where she'd seen the raven before. It only took a moment for her to deduce that the creature the other teen's pet. He certainly seemed well acquainted with it, and the unfriendly-looking bird appeared mildly pleased with the male's touch.

Having only paid minimal attention to the snarky words the grey-eyed wizard had spoken, the redhead waived her left hand in a casual way. "Quite tiring," she echoed lazily, not bothering to put much effort into her response. After all, figuring out where she'd seen that bird was far more important than coming up with something impressive to say.

Staring deep into the eyes of the dark avian, something sparked within her memory, this very bird had perched on the shoulder of another teenager not too long before. Erika Dixon's shoulder. The mere sight of the raven had terrified the other girl, and the note it'd carried had certainly done nothing to curb the Ravenclaw's fear.

The other girl had said something. A name, an odd name. It was long, and Vivianna was almost certain that it began with an N, or was that an M? Tapping the fingers of her left hand slowly against a branch, the redhead pushed her brain to recall the word.

"Nostradamus," Vivianna murmured after a moment. Yes, that was right. It had to be.

"Nostradamus."

All of the control in the world could not have stopped Reid from reacting. His hand resting against the tree trunk tightened, his shoulder and back muscles stiffening. He looked straight at the girl and found a curiously thoughtful expression there, like someone trying to recall the name of a childhood pet.

Except that had been the name of his pet. The one he had possessed since four years, and one that had been named and recognized by a girl he had never met before.

Reid hated the feeling of ignorance. The girl knew one more thing about him, than he her. Knowledge was power.

But how...how could she know? There were only three living people in the world who knew Nostradamus. His mother was a Muggle, isolated from the magical world, and Reid could bet his right hand that Zane didn't go about spouting the name of his best friend's familiar to random people. That only left.....

Reid felt his lips lifting up into a smile. It wasn't a particularly kind one. "So dear Rika has actually made friends. How....surprising." It was. Especially because Rika was just as, if not more secretive than him, and it must have taken a hell of a lot for Rika to even take the name of his familiar with her lips, in front of someone else. At the best of times, she liked pretending as if he didn't exist. 

Oh, he wasn't going anywhere now. Cursing was off the list too. Pity, that. "So, what else has she told you?"

He felt threatened. Oh, this was brilliant. The redhead hadn't even stopped to think about how the other teenager would react to the name, but this was certainly better than anything she could have expected. Now he was probably wondering what else she knew about him, that she probably knew his name and all sorts of other things while he knew nothing of her.

But then he spoke, and Vivianna wasn't exactly sure what to think anymore. She continued to keep her expression thoughtful, but hell if that wasn't an unexpected development. Erika and this stranger knew each other? From the nickname the boy had used, they were almost certainly quite well acquainted. One thing was certain, they didn't get along. If the expression on Erika's face upon seeing the bird wasn't proof enough, then the tone in which this boy spoke of her definitely was.

Vivianna knew this it would be crucial for her to think before her next words. She had two true options; defend Erika, or adopt and air on nonchalance. The last would probably be better. After all, she still had no idea exactly how the two secretive teenagers were connected.

"I wouldn't quite call her a friend, it would probably be more correct to say that we share a mutually beneficial acquaintance," Vivianna stated carefully. In her own mind she liked to think of Erika as a more distant or casual friend, but friendly acquaintance probably was closer to the truth. "She's quite adept at collecting potions ingredients, did you know?" the Hogwarts student added lightly. There, now it sounded like Erika collected ingredients in turn for Vivianna looking out for her or something. Perfect, now she could twist this conversation any way she needed to.

"You know," the witch started, "I've never been a fan of giving up my cards to people I don't like. I certainly don't like you, so my sincere apologies and all that." She was smirking, oh how Vivianna loved this. This was her revenge for all those stupid threats; now she was the one with the upper hand.

He was trying to call her bluff. The bloody twit. Just because she had phrased something dangerously didn't mean that she was going to just hand over her upper-hand. She refused. Narrowing her eyes at the idiot whom she'd had the misfortune to get pulled into conversation with, the redhead rolled her neck back until it cracked loudly.

So he knew Erika well. And apparently Erika hated magic. Oddly, that made a lot of sense. Why the Ravenclaw was so good at theory but not practice, why potions was one of the few subjects she seemed actively interested in. Alright, she could work with that.

"She hardly collects ingredients for me," Vivianna corrected, allowing some cold contempt to creep into her tone as if the very suggestion had offended her, "she collects ingredients with me." The witch wondered what he would say to that. After all, it was the truth.

"Besides, you've clearly underestimated Erika's ability to make enemies. Dangerous enemies, at that," Vivianna announced, raising a single eyebrow. After all, when one didn't know how to properly deal with her, Henri Finch was certainly one of the most dangerous enemies one could make in Hogwarts. Right after Vivianna herself, of course. There was a student two years ago that the girl had loathed so much, she'd brewed a, intestine-dissolving potion to slip into her food. The Slytherin still considered the sixth year lucky that she'd gotten expelled before the redhead could use it.

"Lesson number three," the student started with a wicked glint in her eye, "when you do not have the upper hand, do not assume that it is non-existent from a sentence that could hold many differnt meanings. Lesson number four. Never, not even for a moment, think that you know more about your verbal combatant then they do." Vivianna had even used her fingers to count off the points as the other teenager had. This would either enrage him, confuse him, or have no impact. Really, none of those options could hurt her.

She was contradicting herself. Reid couldn't decide if it pleased him, or drove him up the wall with irritation.

Time to ditch 'lessons' and put things into action.

"Elementary mistake, Watson." Reid raised an eyebrow slowly, shaking his head slightly, as if tutting at her error. "If you were indeed not friends, but acquaintances as you have asserted, then she would have done nothing with you. One of your two assertions must be false. I am inclined to believe the former."

The chuckle which permeated the air next was particularly amused. "Dangerous? Enemies? Are you sure we're talking of the same person?" Of course, nothing showed on his visage; not his whirring thoughts, his confusion, his doubt; induced so perfectly by the girl's words. His words were the picture of assuredness, "Independent or not, she flees from conflict. You wouldn't find a greater coward than her anywhere."

Ten year old Reid shivered, but looked up clearly in a vain attempt at valiance. "I'm not scared of you."

"Aren't you kiddo?" The buck-toothed, muscled guy with the Behemoth hoodie jeered at him, then pulled his fist back. Too late.

In a flash of movement, there was a cry, a whizz of fists and a grunt. Wellington howled and clutched his nose, blood pouring out of it liberally. Spluttering and wiping at the mixture of snot and copper liquid coating his jaw, he directed a hateful glare at Reid's shadow, and backed away.

Reid turned, folding his arms, voice flat yet petulant. "That's the third guy you've punched this punch. You don't want this to become your trademark, do you?"

Rika ran a hand through her messy hair tumbling down her back, knuckles gleaming with blood. Her lips quirked up into a smile, "Is that such a bad thing?"

Reid found himself breathing out, fast. His features twisted into a tight, stretched expression, difficult to deduce. "Of course. I presume you know lots of things." His voice was imperceptibly harder, more bitter. "Has she told you about Brenda yet? Or her phobia of practically everything that moves, including the touch of her family? Or better still....." His teeth bared into a smile. "Has she told you about me?"

"You're sh!tting Sherlock," the redhead spat back, pleased that she'd understood the reference. Bertie had given her those books to read a few years back, and the redhead had quite enjoyed them. "We're friendly acquaintances," Vivianna replied with an eye roll. The idiot was refusing to give her an inch of slack in any direction.

"Well I'm talking about Erika Dixon, I don't know who you think you're talking about," the redhead stated, face a marble statue. "And yes, she has enemies. She may try to stay out of the way, but if someone pushes her buttons just right," Vivianna paused here for a dramatic moment, "she is rather adept at breaking noses." The Slytherin had to admit, she was inordinately proud of the way Erika had managed to break Henri's nose. She wasn't pleased with the fact the Ravenclaw had done it, but she was oddly proud that she could.

Now the boy was testing her, but there was an odd edge to his voice that made Vivianna think that he might be upset. The girl couldn't be sure, but it was a novel concept. "Yes, I know about Bren," the female responded immediately, attempting to keep her voice as calm as possible. "I am also aware that she dislikes touch," the Slytherin continued. Well, now she was at least. It did explain why the Ravenclaw had flinched away from her.

The next one would be a little harder to answer, but if there was one thing the teenager had learnt from her git of a father, it was that sometimes you just need to fake it. "Admittedly, I know less about you. Erika dislikes speaking of you. You scare her, among other things," Vivianna informed the boy, not mentioning how terrified Erika had been by the note he'd sent. That would've felt too much like betraying the other girl. This whole conversation did a little bit, but the witch was a Slytherin. Slytherin's were all about gain, in the end.