[RC.Room] a photograph of holidays (Laney)

[Bradyn Reed]

There were two things about emotional Bray that were easily noticed. That being that he had the shortest fuse and the sharpest temper for a man and that he had a lot of trouble hiding his anger. So did that make him easy to read? Not quite, since he could brood in silence for ages, as he's been doing for who knows how many weeks. The Claw retreated to studying and reading to ignore his emotions and it was doing wonders for his marks. Who knew how easy a test could be if you read the material first, instead of hearing it talked about and filing the information away the way the Claw usually did.

Currently Bray was working on just that and a big book of Transfiguration in his lap and staring at it without paying much attention. That wasn't quite something he needed to study up on, he'd already done a task that was impossible for those of his age and only because of his sister's ministry connections was he successful. But it wasn't who he was that was keeping him from staring over the information again, but the song in his head that was making him feel oh, so guilty.

'Did I ever really know him?'

His head flipped the lyrics a touch so that the amount it applied to his life at the moment was uncanny and as much as he wanted to stop thinking about it he couldn't stop it before it pointed out the most painful lyrics to apply to himself.

'Bradyn Reed's Secret
Will harm me again
Do I really need to know him?'

A frown was visable for a few seconds before his lips were pressed tight to show no emotion and a line appeared on his forehead as he knitted his brows together, trying to seem like he was focusing really hard on the book in front of him that he was barely even seeing. Then, his catlike reflexes brought him out of his momentary coma to alert him that someone was close and paying a particular attention to him. He couldn't really say he was mad, since it was easier to ignore his own mental taunting if he was talking to someone.

But that wouldn't stop him from putting up the tough-guy front to whoever was fretting. "You need something?" He muttered, figuring that it was Fay stalking behind him and trying to be discreet without knowing how impossible that was for a veela. But as he looked up he noticed it wasn't exactly who he was thinking of, but Max's little changer instead.

"Oh... hi Laney." He said quietly, and almost a little shyly. Now that was out of character for the boy who used his arrogance and sarcasm as a shield.

{ Lyrics modded from Rick Springfield - What's Victoria's Secret?.
that's one hot old man. }

[Carolanne Roberts]

It wasn't like Bradyn Reed to pick up a school book and study, thats why when she saw him that morning in the common room, nose buried in a Transfiguration book, she had to stop and take a second glance to see if it was really him. Sure enough, it was the kitty boy. Laney shrugged it off at the time and left him to his studies. He'd come out eventually, or at least thats what she thought.

All morning consisted of the same events. Breakfast, studying in the Library, a little get together with Girty and Maxi then off to send her mother another response to her many letters. The only odd thing out of the whole morning was seeing Fay walk around by herself; no Bray to speak of. Those two were pretty much inseparable, you didn't see one without the other somewhere slightly behind. when she had asked Fay about the boy, she just shrugged and said something about him studying. There it was again, the word that shouldn't be said in the same sentence as Bray.

Finding it hard to control herself, she turned into her natural curious self and went back to the common room. Once again, there was Bradyn Reed staring down at the same Transfiguration book he was earlier in the morning. She was starting to wonder if he had even turned the page. She ran up to her dorm quickly and grabbed a bag of Bertie Botts Beans and came back down before standing behind him and looking over his shoulder at the page below.

He heard her, like she knew he would and smiled back down as he looked up at her. The tone he said her name in wasn't the Bray she was used to. Usually, he'd fine some sarcastic remark to say to her but not now. She walked around the arm of the couch and took a seat next to him. "Hey, Bray," she said casually, acting as if she didn't hear the shyness in his voice. She opened up her bag of Botts Beans and held them out to him, "Could I interest you in a tasty Bertie Botts Bean?" she asked with a smile trying to distract him from the book that sat in his lap. She figured if Bray wanted to talk to her about anything, he'd do it on his own. She knew he didn't like it when she pried.


(ugh, suckage post, Sorry Nicole. Tried my best at least but I still feel ashamed for the horrible post that is above)

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn was still a little shocked at it being Laney who decided to come talk to him and drag him away from his book, but for some reason he certainly wasn't complaining. The company was nice and his lips pursed in thought for a minute before scooting over a bit as she plopped down next to him. Obviously, she wasn't going to go anywhere and that kind of blunt showing was something that was usually necessary against a non-angsty Bray...

It was actually odd to be analyzing himself like that and his eyes flickered down to the book in his lap to try and distract himself from the thoughts only to see 'the illegality of underage animagi' on the page like a neon sign. Closing the book quickly out of slight irritation, he placed it on the arm of the chair carefully hoping that it wouldn't topple over as soon as he looked away. Plus, it would've been awfully rude of him to just sit there staring at the book while Laney was attempting to talk to him or fatten him up like Fay always did.

Bertie Bott's every flavor beans, oh he had the worst luck with those things and at times he suspected that Fay saved the worst ones for him to laugh at his facial expressions. Even so, he wasn't going to outright refuse and just let a small smirk cross his face at the gesture. Sarcasm, that's what he'd normally say. Probably something about fattening him up, or maybe something about being a gentleman and relieving her of the sugary treat. Instead he just grabbed one and tried not to make her drop the bag or get his germy fingers all over them. "How could I refuse with such great advertising?" He said, continuing with her little ploy much less enthusiastically than normal for him. It was too serious of a comment to be Bray-like but he hoped she wouldn't see through it.

Popping the bean into his mouth, he quickly frowned at the taste and swallowed quickly to relieve himself. "Cough medicine." He said with an animated wince before sticking out his tongue at her playfully. "Could be worse, I guess." Really, some of the flavors just made him think they were sadistic. Acid, centipedes, and diesel fuel weren't things he planned to stick in his mouth any time soon. At least she was distracting him from his little self-pity fest but the thought of it dug up the lyrics again so they were swarming his head. Shame, he used to love the song but then again Bray loved most anything that could be considered musical.

Noticing the silence that fell after her little offer and realizing that he must get back to being distracted, Bray shifted to the side slightly so he could face her better and let his arm rest up on the top of the couch. It looked odd considering he was short and almost like he had to stretch out his shoulder so his elbow reached. Oh well, he'd long gotten used to being 'vertically challenged' as it was so cleverly labeled.

"So," He said, drawing out the word without really knowing where he planned to take it. Small talk wasn't his thing unless it was sarcastic. "You and Max have been good? Must be nice now that you don't have the older brother breathing down your neck, ay?"

[ warning: above text is lousy. prepare for brain-melting. ]