Collecting Debts

It was loud in here.

Which of course, begged the question of why in the world Afonka Alkaev was there in the first place. But he had an answer to the question. Pushing a strand of his dark hair out of his eyes, he glanced around, spinning the bottle of butterbeer between his fingers. Loud noises set him off, so by putting himself in a loud environment and forcing himself to stay, he'd get over it.

At least, in theory.

It could always turn him into more of a mess. Shuddering at the idea of being like this forever, he closed his eyes momentarily, leaning back in his chair. Thinking of Tessa - well, that didn't calm him down, as his heart raced at just the thought of her, but it at least made him feel normal. Wishing she was here with him, he sighed, opening his eyes with a shake of his head. This was something he had to do by himself. Sipping his butterbeer, he continued looking around, constantly fighting back the urge to wince and flinch at the voices of witches and wizards who'd had too much to drink.

A cold mask resided on Ksenia's face as she entered the busy tavern, the hood of her cloak covering her hair. It was easy to get lost in the sea of faces that occupied the room right now, especially now with her simple attire that blended in very easily with those around her. A dark brown cloak of average quality covering robes that were just a few shades lighter, no jewellery, strands of loose hair framing her face.

"Butterbear," she said to the bartender, her voice quiet, yet even as she observed those around her. It was good not to have the second version of an annoying guard breathing down her throat when she was outside of the school walls for once though she as sure that he was somewhere close. The Slushatel wondered why she came to the tavern in the first place. Perhaps it was because she was tired of sitting inside the school walls or being stalked by a manwhore the rest of the time. Yes, that was probably it. She simply wanted just a little bit of freedom. Wanting that freedom of course meant that she needed to be more careful, and that was why she took the extra precautions with her dress style. The girl took a small sip of her drink after sitting down at at table in a corner, watching her fellow patrons.

Still looking around the tavern, Afonka rubbed his temples. He was going to get a headache; sooner or later, all this noise was going to get to him. Sighing softly, he leaned back in his chair, unable to hide the look of boredom on his face. It was too loud for him to follow any of the conversations going on around him, and glancing around, he couldn't recognize a single person in the place. Just because he was here for it's loud atmosphere didn't mean he couldn't talk to someone.

If he was able to carry on an entire conversation with someone here, wouldn't he be able to talk to anyone without being distracted by loud noises? Breaking out into a relieved grin, he glanced around again before standing up. Noticing someone sitting alone in a corner, he hoped that they weren't waiting for someone as he made his way over.

"Um, hi." he said softly, waving awkwardly, "Do you mind if I sit here?"

Ksenia raised her head as she saw someone approach her. It was a fellow Durmstrang student, of that she was sure though she has never spoked to him before. She didn't say anything but waved her hand, gesturing for him to take the seat opposite her. The Slushatel wondered why someone would approach her here, you would hardly be able to hear anything.

Sighing softly in relief, Afonka sat down, and almost instantly began rubbing his hands together restlessly. He had no idea what to say. Shaking his head and mentally kicking himself for not coming up with something to say, he glanced up at the hooded figure.

Well, she was a girl, and he vaguely remembered seeing her around the school. "You're in Slushatel, right? I've seen you around." Pausing, he shook his head before continuing, "I should - I have a name. I'm Afonka Alkaev." he said with a smile.

Ksenia was amused slightly by the younger boy's awkwardness. "Yes I am. I am a Slushatel Prefect, Ksenia Sokol. Do you need any help?" she raised her eyebrow at him slightly. She took a small sip of her drink, her posture straight but relaxed at the same time. She kept her expression straight as she waited for his answer.

Shaking his head, Afonka drummed his fingers against the table, "I don't, thank you. It must be cool to be prefect," he said softly, a dreamy expression flickering through his eyes, momentarily imagining himself as prefect. Shaking his head to snap himself out of his daydreams, he glanced down at his butterbeer.

"I - I don't know," he muttered awkwardly before flicking his gaze up to Ksenia, "I just want to talk to someone. About absolutely anything."

"You do know that this is not the best place to talk to a person, right?" Ksenia raised an eyebrow at him. "One comes to a place like this to avoid talking most of the time. Or perhaps to talk about something they don't want anyone else to hear," she said, a slight frown of disgust covering her face as she watched the other people in the tavern.

"I'm not most people," Afonka breathed, sipping his butterbeer in an attempt to seem calmer than he was. He didn't know why, but this girl - along with most people these days - intimidated him. Shrugging it off as just him worrying, he glanced around, wincing as the noise level suddenly spiked.

Turning back to her, he cradled his bottle in his hands, "Loud noises - well, I don't do well with them," he admitted, "so I came here to get over it. And being able to talk to someone here, that'd prove that I'm fine."

Ksenia glanced briefly at him before returning her gaze to the other occupants of the room. "A lot of people say that. What makes you better than others?" she raised her eyebrow at him. Her expression remained composed, with boredom slipping into it from time to time as she sat across from the boy.

The Slushatel nodded her head slightly at him. "That is good. There are many that just choose to ignore their weaknesses and by doing so they are making themselves even weaker," she sated before taking another sip of her drink.

Shaking his head quickly, he said, "I - I'm not better than other people. I'm just - I don't know. Me." Pausing for a moment to think about who he was, he gave a slight nod to himself. "I'm just a boring nice person who likes chocolate." Shrugging, and not feeling like giving his whole life story to a stranger, he took a sip of his butterbeer.

Smiling slightly, he muttered, "Thank you." Though, he wasn't doing this because he felt weak. He was only doing this so he could feel like his normal self again.

Ksenia frowned at him slightly turning to face him. "You know, when you join a person at a table, it's quite rude to bore them with stories of your perfectly normal little life. If you have something of importance to say then say it. Otherwise move yourself somewhere else," she stated rather bluntly. Of all the things people have knocked her down with before, those things were never boring. What she was facing now was another sort of problem that she had no intention of being stuck in this situation for any longer.

Wincing, he looked up at her for a moment, "I - I'm sorry." nodding, he added, "For boring you. I - I guess I can't really apologize for having a boring life." Laughing nervously, Afonka began looking everywhere but at Ksenia.

She was right. He didn't really have anything important to say to her. So, he turned back to the prefect, giving her a little smile, "So, erm, I guess - bye?" Playing with the drink between his hands, he glanced down at his butterbeer, waiting for her answer.

"No you can't apologise for that," Ksenia said, her eyes drifting over the room once again. "But you can do something about it," she stated simply as she got up from her chair, finished with her drink. "It's been good meeting you, Alkaev," she called over her shoulder as she walked out of the tavern, having had enough of the people who behaved like animals.