Mindset is half the battle

Kaius continued to watch his old friend get swallowed up by useless words until Shale blocked his view. But it was as if he stared right past her. It was only when she touched his arm did he look at her. His eyes widen and he slapped her hand away, “No, don’t touch me!” He wanted to back away some more but he couldn’t. So he just crouched down, as far away as possible from her, burying his face and hugging his knees. No, he didn’t want to see her turn into.. that. He didn’t even want to hear it. Even from a distance, her murmurs of no meanings continued to crawl into his ears, filling up his mind. He always wanted to hear Sora’s voice again, but not this one. “I.. I don’t want to turn you into that thing too…” His voice, cracked and muffled, shaking his head subtly.

Shale was invisible to him, he stared past her, as if she were made of glass. But when she touched him, Kaius finally responded. He slapped her hand away. Taken aback, Shale retreated a few steps back. What was wrong with him? Waves of fear were rolling off him, his eyes huge and just staring at the girl.  Kaius crouched down and buried his head in his arms.  “I.. I don’t want to turn you into that thing too…” she heard him mutter, his voice cracking. Thing? What thing? The murmurings of the girl reminded Shale of her presence. That thing? Kaius obviously knew her, and her presence obviously tormented him.

The only good thing about Halloween is the candy.. | Event 2 | Kaius & Shale |

31st October, Shale’s favourite time of the year. Costumes, parties, going for haunted houses? Worth every minute spent waiting for Halloween to happen. Back at home, they used to celebrate Halloween every year without fail. It was a family thing. Shale was afraid Halloween wouldn’t be a Half Blood Institute thing, but when the lecturers presented the class with cat ears (adorned with bells, to boot), Shale laughed at her silliness and put them on straight away.

Time for some air~ [Open]

"Oof!" Shale grunted softly and looked up at the person she bumped into. "Oh, hi!" She looked down at her packet of chips and gave the packet a little shake. "Want some?" 

Kaius swatted her hand away and rolled his eyes but couldn’t hold back a smile on his face. But he stared forward at the lecturer, pretending to listen very tentatively, even subtly nodding every time the lecturer looked at them, but not really listening at all. “Because,” he said, shrugging a shoulder.

Unlike Kaius, Shale wasn't even trying to pretend to pay attention. Class was extremely boring and disturbing Kaius was much more entertaining. She could read up back in her room. "Hoho! Was that a smile I saw? Wasn't that hard now, was it?" She tilted her head knowingly. "Hanging out with me will leave you no chance to be mopey and lonely, I assure you!" Shale did a thumbs up and grinned.

  Kaius stared down at his book as the lecturer walked right between them and off to the back of class. He was about to turn to see what was up behind but a textbook with weird doodles slam right into his face. “Sooo… Do I need to be either a giant or a dinosaur or a flying egg to be fun?” He put the book down to face her, amused as he raised an eyebrow. “I don’t really think I can comprehend what ‘fun’ is. What would… fun be?” Kaius shrugged back at her and turned back to the front of the class as the teacher continued with lessons, occasionally sneaking glances back to her.

Shale tilted her head as she grinned at him, "Wellll, first off, you need to lose that grumpy-old-man-tired-of-life stuff! It puts people off, really. Why not try being more lighthearted for a change?" She tentatively put her finger at the corner of his lips and turned it up into a half smile. 

"That isn’t the first time someone told me that," Kaius rolled his eyes and chuckled at her as she started poking at him. "I’m not exactly sure either. Maybe I am a grumpy old man tired of life," he shrugged and immediately clammed his mouth when their lecturer turned their way.

"But being--" Shale saw why Kaius suddenly stopped talking—their lecturer was walking towards them with a none too happy expression. Dang, were they caught? She held her breath as the lecturer sailed right past them to collect a worksheet from the back of the class. Whew! She spotted a picture of some hills and a city in her textbook and doodled in some giants, a couple of dinosaurs and some flying eggs. She pushed the textbook under Kaius' nose. "But being grumpy is no fun!" she shrugged.

  Nicola bit her lip in thought while looking at the bird. “As long as it’s not scared of me than sure!” She slowly raised her hand to the ball of feathers and gently used her finger to stroke the bird’s head. “You must really have a love for animals,”

The bird chirped at the girl and Shale grinned. "Yeah, I do! Been living right next to the forest since I could remember." she put the bird back down on the grass, "I'm Shale, by the way!" She smiled.

  Kaius flipped to the next page of that fiction book he had and spun his pen around. Slowly letting her voice and the book drown out the words coming out of the teachers mouth, exactly the same as what he’s already read up on. “Probably have, probably always will be.” He shrugged, glancing to her for a second with a small tug of the corner of his mouth.

Shale smiled slightly, poking his elbow gently with the back of her pen, "Heyy, you sound like a grumpy old man tired of life! What's up with that?" Kaius was so closed up, it was difficult to read him, much less understand him. Worth a shot, though.

Nicola turned to the girl and let out a light laugh “Whoa, whoa, calm down I’m perfectly fine,” she smiled reassuringly then looked at the bird. “That’s so nice of you, is it okay? I think my I might have hurt it more than it hurt me!”

"Oh, phew!" Shale sighed and held the bird up, peering at it. "Well, I hope it is!" she said, ruffling the feathers of the bird. I hopped up and stretched out its wings. "You wanna pet it?" Shale smiled, bringing the bird closer to the other girl.

  Kaius opened his mouth to reply but the teacher strolled in, starting class in a heartbeat. Guess that explanation will have to wait for later. People turned open their textbook and Kaius just flipped open the same book he had, holding onto a pen, pretending to be all prepared. It’s not like he doesn’t want to pay attention, it’s just that he’ll listen when he needs to. And now wasn’t one of those time. “Sometimes, people just need to get over the fact that you won’t die being alone,” he sat up straight and adjusted his position as he muttered even softer than before, “It isn’t that bad really…”

Shale paused in her scribbling to glance at the guy beside her. He was staring ahead, his pen poised over his textbook, but showing no signs of wanting to take notes. Did he not need to take notes? She turned back to her notes. "You make it sound like you've been there." she sighed softly. 

  Kaius let out an amused grinned as Shale looked so worried about getting his name wrong. “It’s fine really,” there were worst out there who don’t really care about your name so having someone partially remember it is more than enough, “Yeah that was quite awhile ago… uh, update, I got yelled at for that.. machine.” Kaius shook his head subtly, chuckling as he remembered the old jeezer janitor wagging his finger at him when Kaius told him about the broken coffee machine. He took a quick peek to find out where he stopped in that new book before closing the book, leaving it on the table. He followed Shale’s glances around the classroom and he shrugged, almost as a matter of factly, “Survival of the fittest. It’s just the social game, who can get friends before they get left out.” It was as if he knew a lot about it but it was just merely his observations in the past. Every new class people will be scrambling for a friend, like being alone is a taboo.

Shale raised her eyebrows, " You got yelled at? Whatever for?" she giggled and tried to stifle her laugh, " You should have left the scene of the crime when I did." she shrugged. Just then, the teacher walked in and started the lesson. "More like, being alone is scary, I guess. It's the same for me, that's why I was so happy when I found out that we are in the same humanities class that night." Shale whispered, flipping open the textbook to the announced page and getting ready to take some notes.

Kaius continued to read while he multitasked having a conversation with Shale. “Really? And I thought I was the only one encountering scary people…” he muttered, stopping to glance around the room, making sure none of those familiar people he knew were around, or at least close by. When she asked something again, he was on his way to tuning her out, but somehow it brought back a nostalgic feeling. Like he was back in Med school. And subconsciously he lowered the book down to his desk. “Yeah.. It’s Kaius,” he nodded his head as he smiled, “Good to see you again, Shale.” He blinked and paused before his smile melted with doubt, “Uh, right?”

Shale heaved a sigh, "Phew! I was getting ready to bury myself if I got your name wrong. I'm hopeless at names." Shale grinned, "Yea, I'm Shale, nice to see you too. It's been a while since that coffee machine." Shale smiled at the memory of it. Come to think of it, Kaius was holding a book then too. Did this guy have a library in his room? And he seemed like he wasn't even interested in paying attention to the lesson.. Shale leant back to peek at the people around her, no one else she knew. "Why does it always seem like everyone knows each other." she sighed softly.

"Ouch!"

Kaius had already read up on today’s class and he was just sitting in a corner, reading a new book he picked up from the library last night. It was a new class, what more could they teach other than the first 2 chapters? 3 at the most so he might as well blend in with the background and do something more productive. And then there was a voice. Crap. Was it to him? There’s a low chance of that right? He peeked up from his book to see a familiar face staring straight at him. The memories came back from that night when he agreed to sitting beside her during this class. “Ah… hi,” his book drooped down a little as he raised a hand to wave to her. No one was sitting beside him so he glance down to the empty sad chair and pull it open for her. “Uh.. how’s school been?” What else was he suppose to ask? Should he say anything at all? His face slowly turned back to the book in hand.

Shale heaved a sigh of relief at his reaction, good thing he hadn't forgotten about that conversation! It would have been so awkward if that happened, not like it wasn't, right now. He said hi and went back to his book. Shale stood there, not really sure what to do. But he pulled the chair beside him out for her and Shale quickly plopped herself down beside him. "School's been not too bad, apart from some people...some people scare me." She shuddered and fished out her textbooks and shoved them onto the table. Without turning to look at the silent guy beside her, she asked softly," Um...I er..just to confirm this..you are K-Kai..us, right?" God forbid if she got his name wrong!

  Artemis smiled. “I’m glad you like it. I seem to have taken to it, myself, though I’m still not entirely sure.” She tilted her head. “Hm. I see. Well, if you ever need to have those intimidating people put in their place, let me know. There’s not enough to hunt around here, anyway.”

Shale looked around. "It really is a charming place. I love the atmosphere here, actually. It sort of...magical, to put it cheesily." Shal laughed. "I don't think going after newly made acquaintances is a good idea, but yes, if it gets too much, I know who to go to."

  Kaelyn grinned, the cat finally acquiesced. “Well… Maybe it’s ‘cause you’re here. I mean, it never did this before.” 

"Animals know what you're feeling, even if you don't show it." Shale looked at the girl, all serious. "If you're hesitant, it will be too. If you're welcoming, it will be too!" She nodded.