Raise Your Glass (Nia)

Aquila was... restless was as good a word as any. He couldn't quiet place what kind of mood he was in. He wasn't exactly upset, per say, but he couldn't say he was completely as upbeat as he usually was either.

He just felt like he needed to -- blow off some steam? He didn't even know what he wanted to do.

Except get into trouble. He could feel it in his bones, whatever this evening lead to, it was going to include mass amounts of trouble.

He was walking down the hall trying to plot his next move - all of his usual antics just did not seem like enough - when a door appeared. Tilting his head he shrugged and walked in.

Only to find what appeared to be a bar or pub in the middle of the school.

A smirk slowly grew on the young boy's face. Now he knew what he wanted to do.

"Now this is more like it," he laughed waltzing up to the sleak, wooden bar and leaning on it.

Only there was one problem. He had the enviroment...

But he didn't have the booze.

Ksenia glanced up from the back of the room, her eyes narrowed as someone else entered the room. She sat at one of the tables, a bottle vodka and one of her textbooks in front of her. That is how she liked it. And being alone. It was the perfect solution for her miserable life.

"What, prey tell, are you doing here?" she asked the younger boy coldly. He shouldn't be there in the first place. Didn't she lock the door when she entered herself? It wasn't unusual for her to be spending her time in this room like this. But she rarely had any visitors.

Quil started at the voice, he turned around to see a girl sitting in the back of the room. He hadn't noticed her when he had come in.

He figured if this was anything like the room at hogwarts, this must be her creation. An interesting desire for a young girl, but then again, it had suddenly mirrored a desire in himself, so who was he to judge?

He gave a little smile, "Looking for a drink?"

Ksenia raised her eyebrow and leaned back in her chair. "No, I believe I have my drink right here," she said calmly, nodding to her bottle of vodka. "You will not find any others in this room." She studied him for a few moments. He was young. The transfer student from Hogwarts. Yes, she heard about him. "Aren't you a little bit too young to be looking for a drink?" she asked him. He wasn't like her, she could see that in his eyes.

Quil tilted his head and he thought about that question. It was true that he was young but... was she really that much older than him? He guessed she'd probably be Ceph's age.

"I guess you could look at it that way," the boy said slowly, "But I like to think of it as starting early. Gettting some practice in?"

"And what is the reason you want to get some practice in early?" Ksenia asked coldly as she studied him. "Do you just want to get yourself into trouble or do you have a real reason for coming here?" she asked. Her whole demeanor was chilling. She didn't support underage irresponsible drinking, which was the kind most people her age lost themselves in. They just drank to have fun, and they went too far. And some ended up dead because of it.

Aquila didn't waver under her gaze or buckle away from her tone. Instead he paused pretending to really think about it. Which did lead him to some acutally thought.

What was he here for? He remember his odd mood before, and after a moment he shrugged.

"I can't deny that I have a knack for trouble but right now..." he trailed off before giving her a wan smile, "Homesick?"

Ksenia sighed at the younger boy. "What is your name? I am not going to get rid of you that easily so you might as well tell me," she said before taking a sip from the bottle.

She laughed slightly at his words. "If all of the students turned to alcohol when the were homesick then most of them would be drunk half of the time," she shook her head slightly still laughing. 'That's not good enough."

"Of course you're not going to get rid of me," he smiled impishly, "I'm very hard to get rid of - that might just be a reason to give me a drink right there."

"Aquila Turrow. Quil if you'd rather, I do not mind."

Tilted his head, "Fair enough - though I'm not every student." He mock pouted for a moment, "My homes so very, very far away."

He leaned back on the bar stool, bracing himself against the bar as he thought.

"How about... my brother won't let me drink at home so I might as well try when he's not here?"

'If I really wanted to get rid of you I would have done so," Ksenia stated bluntly. There really was no reason for her to tolerate annoying younger students. But at this time she didn't mind. At least he distracted her.

"Ksenia Sokol," she nodded in return.

Ksenia couldn't help but laugh. "You are so childish," she shook her head, still laughing.

"My home is non existent," she said coldly. "You just want to get drunk to find out what it feels like."

"I shouldn't stop you," she said as she slid the bottle over to him. "You are far too innocent to end up a drunk. You will certainly regret this. Don't say I didn't warn you later on when your head feels like it has been smashed into a brick wall a few times."

Quil didn't mind her calling him childish - he really was. "Ah, but you're laughing so I must be good for something."

"Maybe I do," he said with a shrug, "But hey isn't it all part of growing up. Besides... I can get myself in much more trouble on my own."

Trying not to look too excited - but probably failing at it - he hopped up and made his way across the room.

"Oh I've had that feeling before - last time I smashed my head into to brick wall."

"Maybe you are," Ksenia said with a smile.

"There are a lot of things that are more important then getting yourself in trouble when growing up," she said. "Plenty of things. It just seems that most people do not seem to understand that getting into trouble is one of the last things you should be doing."

She raised her eyebrow at his obvious excitement. "Go on then," she nodded towards the bottle. "And trust me this will feel much worse," she warned him.

Shrugging, Quil took the bottle and slugged it back.

Only to choke a bit as it burned its way down his throat.

"Worse than falling from a roof of a house?" he gave an impish grin, taking anohter sip and not choking this time. "Because I've done that one too."

Ksenia just laughed at him and watched as he drank her vodka. He was proving to be quite entertaining. "What else have you done? ' she asked him. She wasn't usually one to talk to people, but he was not asking her any questions. That was the main thing. As long as he stayed like that she didn't mind.

He leaned back in his chair and took another swig of the drink. He was finding after the first sip, that he rather liked this.

It was strong, true, but it had a certain... something to it.

"Well, got mauled by a dog once," he said with a little laugh, "I like to say it wasn't my fault, but... I might have taunted it once or twice... but it wasn't like I knew I should pull on its tale. I was like, four and never seen a dog before."

Ksenia raised her eyebrow at him. He truly was amusing. And immature. But she did not carer about that at the moment. It was not like he was going be her friend. They closest thing she had to a friend was Jaelyn, and they never shared their secrets with each other.

"Fascinating. What else?" she asked as she rested her chin on her hand.

Quil slugged back some more, feeling oddly tingly as the booze spread through his body, and then he grinned, thinking back to some of his more colourful antics.

"I almost cut off my hand with the kitchen knife," he grinned impishly, "That one had a lot of blood. Oh, and I almost got my cousin to agree to an unbreakable vow - something along eternal servatude to me or something."

"Do tell me how you survived long enough to come to school," Ksenia asked him, leaning forward slightly. "Didn't you have parents to look after you when you were young?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. She was watching with amusement in her eyes as the alcohol started to take its effect on his body.

Aquila laughed and shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. Sheer luck is probably a good option."

He took another hearty sip, set the bottle back on the table, and leaned his elbows on it, resting his chin on his hands.

"I find, surprsingly, that- that I am suprisingly hard to kill."

He shrugged at the parents comment.

"They're better at coming in afterwards, rather than watching, watching," he stated slowly. "I got a brother though - he tries to keep me out of trouble, tries being the keyword. If you wants to know a -a -a," he was starting to struggle to remember his Russian. "A secret, Cephelicous is probably why I survived to go to school."

"I am not surprised," Ksenia said dryly. "The fact that you still walk on this Earth is a miracle in itself." she said before frowning. "I think I will be taking this," she stated as she took the bottle of alcohol from him easily. "I don't want to be responsible for the death of a child. From what you are telling me you would be extremely lucky not to get yourself killed on your way back to the common room." She frowned to herself slightly. Why on Earth did she think it was a good idea to give alcohol to a kid like him? Now she had to make sure that he didn't hurt himself.

Quil shrugged as she took the bottle away, not too concerned at the moment. In fact he didn't seem to be concerned about much - he never particularily was, but now... it was even less. He kind of liked it.


"Hey! I'm not a kid... I'm... a... Student, yes - that sounds better," he nodded his head glad that he had made that decision.

"I doubt I'd die - I'm, its turning out, extremely hard to kill completely," he laughed and leaned back in his chair, tipping it slightly. "'side you could just blame me - not you. No one would doubt it was my fault."

Ksenia narrowed her eyes at him, finally losing her patience. The kid was unbelievable. The young witch rose from her chair and walked over to Quil to lift him out of his by his arm. "I do not want to carry any responsibility for your death. I am taking you back to your common room," she stated firmly as she dragged him unceremoniously out of the room.

Aquila stumbled a bit as she unceremoniously grabbed him and began to drag him out of the room, but far from being phased by such action. In fact, in his more than a little intoxicated state, he laughed.

"I can walk myself you know," he stated. "Though the commonroom is boring."

Ksenia didn't say anything, she knew from her own experiences that from this state he won't be able to take anything in. She would talk to him tomorrow if she had the chance, once he became more sober. She almost felt like a mother with a young child on her hands.

"There we are," she said as they came to stand in front of the Uchitel common room.

(ooc: nia said i can join the thread, jjeh - is that okay?)

---

Lena had been drunk tonight, but it wasn't from one of those precarious parties with Haze. It was from her own doing, and she had drunk about a litre of vodka that night. Needless to say, she was ridiculously intoxicated, and she was flying like a butterfly... or she thought she was.

"Whee!" she grinned, as soon as she saw Quillie and Nia outside the Common Room. "Heeey! Quillie! Let's go hunt for the hippogriffs!"