Day Out | Karmian

Damian had almost forgotten what it was like to be away from Hogwarts. He'd been there since midway through last August, apart from the occasional trip to Hogsmeade. That didn't really count, in Damian's mind. Hogsmeade was practically an extension of Hogwarts.

At the moment, the thirteen-year-old was laying on the seat of a booth, feet resting against the wall as he sampled the beans from the box of Bertie Bott's resting on his chest. Asric had allowed him to join him on a trip to Diagon Alley, and at the moment, the man was off doing something important that Damian didn't need to know about. Figured. At least he was getting along with his mentor, again.

Mostly.

Damian made a face as he bit into a vegetable-flavored bean, but swallowed it anyway. He was bored. Maybe he'd go get a butterbeer or something. Or buy something for Max at the Emporium. It'd be better than staring at the Leaky Cauldron upside-down.

The boy continued eating his candy.

Karma stepped into the leaky cauldron, a small sad smile on her face at the prospect of being alone. She walked toward the bar, asking for a small butterbeer, seeing as she'd probably need to stop drinking. She took the mug and walked in search of a table, smiling as she went towards the hufflepuff she saw upside down. "Mind if I join you, Ian?" She asked with her head to the side. "You're upside down, you know."

Damian leaned his head back a bit farther to see the person approaching him a bit better. He'd thought that was Karma he had heard asking for a butterbeer.

"I don't mind," the boy replied. He widened his blue eyes in false surprise. "Really? And I was just about to ask how you'd learned to walk on the ceiling!"

Karma laughed and slid into the seat next to him, taking a sip of butterbeer before laying on her back on the seat also, her head hanging off the side and her boots on the wall. "I do know how to walk on the ceiling. Vampire Powers, you know."

She turned her head to the side and looked at him, her eyes laughing. "Are you alright, Ian? You look kinda..." She trailed off, not wanting to continue. "You know what? Pass me some beans." She put her hand out for some. "I need some candy after the night I've had..."

"Right," Damian said with a laugh of his own. "I almost forgot."

He looked back at her inquisitively. "Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Probably better now than I've been all year. Why?"

Obligingly, the boy took a large handful of beans and passed them to her. "Been partying again?" Damian asked, only half-teasing.

Karma smiled. "That's what I meant. You look happy. I missed your smile."

She sighed, moving her fistful of bean to her mouth and chewing them all at once, as she always did. She swallowed the beans with a grimace, the mix of flavors almost causing her to gag. "Yeah. Another party. I need to stop having those. Never get into drinking Ian, it makes you do things you'll regret..." She smirked and reached into her pocket for a chocolate frog, sliding one over the table so it'd land on his chest. "Here." She said, unwrapping her own. "Chocolate is the one true healing potion."

Damian tilted his head thoughtfully. "I think I am. Mostly," he agreed, then his voice grew soft. "I mean... I still miss Theo, but... she's gone. And Bryce is already dead." The boy shrugged. "Her death won't be for nothing." The boy slowly chewed on a peppermint-flavored bean.

"Yeah, tried that at the last party I attended. Asric caught me after," he grimaced slightly. He never called his master by his name face-to-face, of course. It wouldn't be respectful. Still, it just felt weird to refer to the man as 'my master' when speaking aloud. Damian blamed his muggle upraising. "Then, I had the hangover the next morning. It sucked. And the stuff doesn't even taste good."

He caught the frog before it could slide from his chest to the floor.

"Thanks," Damian said. Opening the package, he grabbed the frog, waiting for it to stop squirming before eating it. "Chocolate's definitely the best." Blue eyes turned to study the girl. "How've you been? We don't usually talk much. You alright?"

Karma frowned. "He caught you? Must have been... awkward...." She shrugged. "I guess if I still had a master, I wouldn't be allowed to drink, but seeing as Demonboy up and killed him off..." She shrugged, realizing that the hurt and anger that used to come whenever she thought of Cobalt was almost completely gone, the feeling replaced by a warm sturring in her gut that she'd come to associate with the Hothead himself. She smiled softly thinking about it, but returned her eyes to the ceiling.

"I've been..." Karma stopped talking, a long sigh escaping her that felt soul deep. "I'm not in a good time right now, Ian." She said softly. "But I figure it has to get worse before it can get better..." She looked over at him, her eyes tired. "I'm just hoping the better part comes sooner rather than later..."

"He was pretty angry, but... well, I'm still alive," Damian joked. "It was actually sort of a good thing. We talked." He decided it best not to remark on what had happened to her master. Damian wasn't particularly fond of Arsen Salvator, really, but from what he'd heard, Karma was dating the guy.

"Sorry to hear that," the boy murmured quietly. "Anything I can do to help? Maybe beat someone up for you?" He added the last part with a wry smirk.

Karma smiled. "Talking is good, I guess." She said, her eyes returning to the ceiling. "I suppose that's what mentors are for, anyway." She shrugged. It wasn't as if she knew.

She grinned. "Actually, yeah. Do me a favor and punch Arsen in the face the next time you see him... And Rhys Haines too..." She debated telling him, weighed the pros and cons before up and saying it. "You didn't hear it from me, but I think Demonboy's feeding on your girlfriend." She frowned. "I don't like it." She bit off her chocolate frog's head and chewed slowly, her eyebrows furrowed. "I told Iva to stop... but I don't think she'll listen..."

Damian smirked in amusement. "I'll be sure to remember," he said.

The boy's teeth ground together audibly. Iva was his, and no stupid half-demon had the right to touch her, for any reason.

"Feeding how?" he gritted out. "Like a vampire? Or -?" Damian couldn't even continue the thought. He was too angry to even keep talking.

Karma looked over at him in faint amusement, her eyes sparkling. "No, not like a Vampire." She said. "From what I've read, Demons take Life force, not just blood. It leaves her a bit of Immortality since she has to drink back to survive..." She shrugged one shoulder.

She tsked and shook her head. "Ian, Ian Ian..." She said softly. "You need to be smart about this. When I want someone to stop doing something, I don't go straight up to them and tell them to stop. No, they'd just lie and keep doing it. No no no. You'll go about this all wrong." She looked over at him, taking in his anger. "You're allowed to be angry, yes, but it's what you do with that anger that makes the difference. I know Arsen. If you go up to him and tell him to stop feeding on Iva, he'll laugh in your face and leave. No no no. You don't want to be doing that..."

She sighed and ate the rest of her chocolate frog, debating it. "You need to claim something that's his to get back at him, Ian. That's the only thing that works..." She nodded in agreement with herself. "That's the only way to get at him..."

Damian shoved the box of bean onto the tabletop so he could sit. "He's your boyfriend," he growled, though, his anger wasn't really directed at her. "Why don't you tell him to stop?" Staring at the candy, he swiped at it, sending multi-flavored beans scattering across the floor.

"Like what? Guy doesn't seem to care about anything. And I heard that stupid little dog of his can tear apart a hippogriff." Truth be told, Damian liked said little dog - it looked cute, and the boy loved animals. Still.

The boy narrowed his eyes. "You're planning something..."

Karma smirked at him and sat up, her eyes sparkling. "Ian." she tsked, watching the beans scatter across the floor. "Arsen is... fine, my boyfriend." She said, fighting down the blush that threatened to flash across her face. "But I have no control over him. I can manipulate him, sure, and I can ask, but he'll probably just say no, and then it would be a sore topic. I don't want such an idle thing like feeding to get between us. Just like I don't want it to come between you and Iva. Which is why I propose we go to each other. I'll talk to Iva, and you talk to Arsen. Iva should be the easier one of the two, but we'll both have to cross our fingers for the Hothead."

She flicked a bean that remained on the table at him. "Don't be rash."

Damian scowled. "He's a prat," the boy stated bluntly. "And like you said, he probably wouldn't listen to me, anyway.

"You're contradicting yourself, y'know," Damian pointed out, picking a bean off the seat to flick back at her. "Either you think talking will work, or you don't. I think it won't. As I said, I think your boyfriend's a prat. No offense."

Karma grinned. "I know he's a prat." She said. "He's a major prat, but he's useful, and he's nice to me." Her expression changed to confusion for a split second, but she hid it just as quickly. "It's not if he listens to you." She said bluntly. "It's whether he backs off once Iva denies him. If you say something, and Iva says something, and others point things out, he'll do it, and think it was his own idea."

She smiled, flicked a bean at him, and then reached over the table and poked him on the forehead. "If I was making complete sense, you wouldn't be paying as much attention as you are now." She said with a smile. "Confusion insures that you'll think back on it later. Remember that."

She flicked another bean across the table. "So talk to Hothead, throw a few punches for affect. Fight smart, not hard, and you'll be fine." She smiled.

Damian gave another snort. "If you say so," he muttered. He tucked one leg underneath himself in an unconscious move to give himself a bit of height. Even though he had started to grow, the boy was still rather short for his age.

"Why're you dating him if you think he's a prat, too?" Damian wanted to know. "I mean, there's a lot of guys who like you. Why the demon-prat?"

Karma's eyebrows furrowed. "It's hard to explain... it's like..." she bit her lip in thought. "Arsen's like... snow." She decided clasping her hands on the table and focusing her eyes on them. "Cold and harsh at first, but somehow beautiful... and you miss it when it's gone." She unclasped her hands and cupped them. "But if you hold it close enough and long enough it... changes... It melts." She blushed, glancing up at him but refusing to act embarassed for something she was not ashamed of.

"It's hard to explain why you..." she stopped short of the L word, almost physically shrinking away from it. "...w-want to be with someone. I mean, could you easily explain why you want to be with Iva?" She crossed her ankles under the table, trying to stop figiting. "Even if you can, I'm not really... good... with feelings. All I've ever done is lose people, and it's strange to gain some too." She shrugged one shoulder. Her eyes focused on the table top as she took another sip of her butterbeer, halfheartedly flicking a bean in his direction.

She smiled suddenly, looking at him. "You're welcome for setting you two up at the dance, though."

Damian blinked at her. "Yeah," he said, "You make him sound a lot more complicated than I'd have given him credit for." He wasn't entirely joking.

"Well... uh, not really... she... I..." Damian floundered, blushing. He squinted at her a bit.

"What do you mean, 'setting us up'?" he asked. "We actually went to the Ball together. Iva asked me. You kissing me on the cheek got me in trouble with her, by the way."

She grinned at him. "Ian. Really. Think with that big brain of yours. I know you went together. I told her she'd never get up the courage to ask you, and she did. I kissed you on the cheek to make her jealous, start an arguement, and chase after you. I knew she'd follow you, and I knew you'd forgive her. I did it all on purpose. I want you two to be happy." She grinned. "And I know you don't really want it or need it, but you have my blessing." She sighed. "Besides, what good is a relationship if you can't get through a few arguements? If you can't get past someone speaking down on you about it?" She shrugged one shoulder. "I admit it, I played the part of Cupid."

Damian smirked at her. "Just like a snake," he scoffed, though there was a teasing glimmer in his eyes. "Thanks, then. I... she's..." He ducked his head, messing up his hair with one hand before sitting back and shaking it back into place. Some of it still stuck up.

Karma smiled a true bright smile. "Don't tell anyone I'm intentionally making anyone happy. It'd ruin the whole 'snake' thing, eh?" She slid her Butterbeer over the table and set it before him. "Right, I have to actually get home now. Merlin knows what I'd do if the Headmaster got here and asked me how I disappeared off campus a day before break started..."

She slid from the booth and stood, smiling down at him. "See you around, Ian." She kissed him lightly on the forehead. "And for Merlin's sake, can you not get kidnapped by that monster? Don't go anywhere alone, okay? I don't want to have to kill the damned thing." With that tidbit she left, stepping around the spilled beans and slipping through the door onto the London streets.

Damian scoffed. "I already -" he broke off, deciding against confessing he'd actually seen the thing before - that he had, in fact, let it loose in the first place. "- know," he finished with barely a pause.

He waved after her retreating form. Wiping the mouth of the glass meticulously with his sleeve, he then took a sip, slouching back in the seat as he waited for Asric to return.