Enough of That

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

Outside, the sun was shining, bright, hard, and with great power, though not quite managing to wilt the spirits of the students, who resiliently refused to surrender the day off. The lake looked deep and blue, the willow leaning far over and letting it's branches cascade down to form a neat, drooping curtain.
There were few clouds in the sky, and those that were there were small and very quickly moving away. It seemed as though everyone was outside, either romping about or simply trying their best to enjoy a Monday that normally would have been quite dreary.
However, there were the few people who chose the dank, stifled halls and corridors of the castle instead of the open grounds, and Arion was one of them. In fact, she was actually trying to find a book she had left in a few hallways off of her room, behind a door that had been painted a creamy yellow, looking bright and happy at the time. She hadn't counted on not being able to find it again.
Wistfully, Arion glanced over her shoulder, noting how her shoes left prints on the dust coated floors. That part of things she hated, the ancient grime always appalling her. But the room she had been in yesterday...that had been clean and orderly. And it now also contained her book.
Sighing, she trekked on, past a window that let a kind of frightened light inside, dust particles swimming languidly around as she passed by.

[Professor Liam Imura]

As a dog again, as he usually always was when he was alone and didn't have a class to teach- or even sometimes in class when he felt like messing around, Liam padded through the corridor, keeping his jowls shut to prevent an overdose of inhaled dust, which would cause him to sneeze or hack continually, which would then stir up more dust and probably cause him to pass out, which was something he didn't plan on doing that very moment in time. Through the black-and-white spectacles that were his eyes, Liam spied Arion and snuck up behind her, leaving large pawprints in the dust before nudging her with his domed head on the back of her knee, bounding backwards just incase she took that moment to fall.

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

Arion started, almost jumping though she managed to catch herself in time, inhaling suddenly. She spun around fast, her mind blank except for that instinctual command it issued that ordered her to tighten her muslces and to stop breathing. Eyes wide, she looked down and saw, with great relief, that it was only Liam.
"God, Liam, you scared me!" A smile broke across her face, with it a flush that took away that momentary paleness that had tainted her cheeks. Her eyes were alight with a sparkling kind of radiance as she leaned against the wall, sliding down to the floor near Liam.
Her hair, which had been up in her trademark messy bun, bunched up around the back of her head as she leaned against the cold stone wall, relaxing her shoulders and reaching her hand out to scratch Liam behind his ears, exhaling and still in a little bit of a shock. For some reason, her heart refused to stop it's frantic beating, and her face retained that delicate pink flush.

[Professor Liam Imura]

He gave a doggy laugh and trotted towards her, putting his paws on her shoulders and licking her cheek as if that were atonement for scaring the daylights out of her. His glossy red coat, usually meticulously and immaculately spotless, was coated with dust, but he didn't seem to mind at the moment- he could always go to the lake and doggy paddle around a bit to cleanse the dust from his fur if he pleased. He couldn't technically see the flush in her cheeks, but he could smell the rush of blood to fill in the places there and he could see the general area shadow to a darker shade of gray. Enjoying the petting, he rolled over onto his back, exposing his stomache, ribs, and chest to her, as if to beg her to pet him there.

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

Arion laughed a little, squeezing her lips together and wrinkling her nose as he licked her face, then gave him a look of mock disapproval as he rolled over to expose his underside, whining in a sort of begging tone. "You know, Liam, I am a lady, and you, after all, are a gentleman." The statement would have sounded absurd to any passersby, especially with Arion of the floor, her robes bunched up around her legs and talking to a dog that seemed to be refusing to admit his true identity.
Rolling her eyes, she ruffled the fur on his chest, saying, "You'd better help me find my book after this, Liam. It's the least you can do after frightening me like that."

[Professor Liam Imura]

His tongue lolled out on the side of his mouth and he wagged his plumed tail, his fur long because his hair in his human state was lengthy as well- he aboslutely refused to get a haircut, as it made him seem too hawkish, as mentioned beforehand. At the remark about her being a lady and he a gentleman, he closed his legs with a snort of sorts that could be taken to be meant as a: 'Oh fine, have it your way,' sort of thing. However, he was delighted that she relented and scratched his chest, his right hind leg moving rapidly as most dogs' did when they were scratched in a certain place. Upon her request or rather, demand, he gave a nod, not being able to speak in a human tongue in his current state, and finally rolled over after he was satisfied. Into the dust, he scratched, "Want me to change states?"

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

"Whichever you're more comfortable in. I'm just thinking about how funny it would look if a student walked in to see me having an animate conversation with a random, wandering Irish Setter." Arion found humor in her concern and tried to conceal her smile but couldn't. She stood up, using the wall to support her weight as she dragged herself into an upright position. "Now, I know I left it around here somewhere...the trouble is, I can't find the door. It's very annoying, actually, because I remember so vividly where everything was and now....well...do you think it could have moved?" Arion remembered once having to track down a nomadic door in her fifth year, her teacher highly skeptical about how the door had ate her homework, which had actually been the entire truth.

[Professor Liam Imura]

He chose to become human again, that way Arion wouldn't be labeled as completely crazy, no matter what her students already thought of her- not that that could be a bad thing: Liam didn't know how Arion's students treated her. He only knew that the ones that he had needed to learn a bit of respect in the classroom and by God, he was going to teach it to them! "I like this one- I don't like being below people- makes me clautrophobic," he said with a soft laugh, brushing dust from his silver, black-lined robes, making them semi-spotless again. "Okay, so...where'd you see it last?" he asked, looking around the dreary room. "Why go in here with a book anyways?" he asked in playful skepticfullness (is that a word?), his gray eyes curious.

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

(I....don't think so...Maybe...no...I don't know.-sigh-)

"It wasn't in this room...the door was...butter yellow...Maybe the color of the door changes, or something?" She moved around now, noting how the hallway had ended. "I know it was in this room..." She let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing her hand over her face for a moment, covering her mouth as her eyes narrowed, looking strait ahead at the blank gray stone in front of her. A sudden idea lit up her face, and she moved up against the wall, her hands trailing over the surface and rubbing through the crevices gingerly, testing to see if perhaps the wall concealed the door.

[Professor Liam Imura]

ooc:// it is now xD

"Oh," he said softly with a nod, looking around again as his eyes finally changed back to their colour-spectrum-seeing selves. "Walls 'ave been known to eat doors, or hide them, and doors love to change, especially the pert ones to confuse students and new teachers," he said with a slight frown, very cross at the bloody doors now for making the pair of them have to stay inside instead of enjoying the nice day outside in the sun, wasting time that Liam could probably be using to teach Arion how to play Quidditch. As Arion began to feel around for the door, he took care of the crevices above her arm's reach to save her some trouble.

ooc:// I do believe I have to go. >.<'' I'll be back eventually, have no doubt!

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

(Ok, I'll wait.)

Arion took a sharp intake of breath as she felt Liam so close, just up behind her, his arms reaching over head by about three feet to test the parts of the wall she couldn't reach. She was facing the wall and was glad that he couldn't see her face flush, her pupils wide and her throat dryer than normal. She coughed slightly, suddenly very aware of everything, the heat generating from his body to her own, her breathing echoing his, and the emptiness of the room.

[Professor Liam Imura]

ooc:// I have a bit of time...they take forever to get ready.

He didn't really notice, being innocent of mind at the moment and not the one with a very tall person looming over him, for the only person who could really do that was his father, who was roughly about seven feet and four inches, a good head or two taller than his only son and a great foot taller than his oldest daughter Sarentegra. Yes, it was very tall and not a drop of giant blood there- that's what came of many years of people marrying into tall families- Liam would be about his father's height if his mother weren't so short, as she barely topped five feet, all of her children taller than she. He lost his balance and stumbled a bit, brushing up against her for a moment before rocking back onto his feet where he could steady himself. "Oops, sorry 'bou' tha'," he said, his lilt escaping a bit more than usual, a blush dappling his cheek, suddenly aware of how close they had been for those few seconds.

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

Arion felt a shiver run through her entire body as he brushed up against her, and her face turned horribly red, her back straitening. "It's fine." But her voice was higher than usual, and she moved on to the next spot of the wall, her stomach churning uncomfortably. She coughed again, this time following it with words. "So...so how did you rest last night?" The question sounded to her as boring as if she had asked about the weather, but she couldn't suck her words back any more than she could take the same breath twice, so she let it hang there in the air, as fake and plastic as it sounded.

[Professor Liam Imura]

He felt her uneasiness and chose to move to another section of the wall and come over and aid her when she asked for it, not wanting to seem like some whoremonger or anything- yes, a whoremonger...it was a word he loved using when describing men who went after anything in a skirt, so to speak. "Ah...better than usual with a full meal in my stomache. What about you? Well, I hope," he said sincerely, glancing her way, curious as to why she was so damnably jumpy today.

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

"I guess I slept well. I mean, someone's owl was causing a ruckus just outside my window this morning. I got up a little earlier than normal to let it in and re-direct it towards it's proper destination." What she meant by redirecting was feeding, watering, and petting the creature until it was full and content, then sent it on it's way. "So...how's that Ginny doing? I haven't heard anything else about her in the last eight hours or so.Have you decided what to do with her?"

[Professor Liam Imura]

He nodded, glad that she had slept decently if not extremely well and voiced such thoughts aloud. A large pallet of dust fell on his head and he stopped, took a deep breath to bide down his temper and plucked the horrid thing from his hair, muttering something very rude to it in Gaelic as he always did when he didn't wish to curse so people could understand him- which was all of the time- and tossed it elsewhere, dusting the rest from the top of his cranium with his hands. "I haven't heard much about her yet, so that's good. I'm almost a bit relieved not to have her in my class. But there's once thing I can't figure out: it's how she's a third year and she's a prefect- aren't prefects supposed to be third years?"

ooc://Alright, I'm off for real this time. xD

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

(Ok.-makes sad face-)

"Maybe the Headmaster made an exception? I mean, after all, she's gotten away with enough things this year without facing explusion. Perhaps she's a special case." Inside, she felt the onlything special about her was her thick-headedness when it came to following rules, but she said none of this, feeling Liam already knew it.
"I haven't spoken with Bish yet, but I'm planning on going down there tonight to ask him if it's alright if I bring a friend. So you might want to read about Battle Rituals sooner than you thought." She let a smile break through, pushing her other feelings that didn't belong off to the side.

[Kira Rose]

"Proffesor!" Kira yelled jumping down stairs and running towards her. "We need help..." she said panting.

[Professor Liam Imura]

Liam shrugged as he continued searching, finally finding the crevice in which the wall 'ate' the door and tapped his wand to the wall, revealing the warm yellow door. Leaning over, he tapped Arion's shoulder with a warm smile, jerking his head in the direction of the door. "Erm...Battle Rituals?" he said with raised brows, not really planning on battling a full-grown centaur male. Sure, he was a great dueler and usually fearless, but he took time to steel himself usually, and not against immortals. To Kira, he turned and raised his brows again. "How'd you get in here?" he asked, knowing that the corridor changed constantly.

[Kira Rose]

Kira sighed, professors where so predictable. "I've just been running down corridors looking for help, but all is ok now." she added, thinking she saw a bit of concern in his gaze.

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

Arion glanced over her shoulder, her mind fuzzy and trying to groggily work things out. Liam's reaction was razor sharp, his question meant to confuse the student, or so Arion thought. Wandering corridors wasn't against the rules...but the sharp tongue of a teacher could sway a student quickly into believing that it was.
However, Liam's question was almost conversational, had it not carried that slight darkness that suggested he was irritated. The student caught none of it, only Arion did, especially since her mind seemed focused on small details. Whether or not she was deciphering things correctly, she did not know.

[Professor Liam Imura]

Liam was puzzled now, to a grand extent. He rubbed his temples to rid himself of an oncoming headache and looked back at Kira. "Alright then...what's taken care of? What was the problem?" he inquired, teacher mode finally taking over past curious young man mode, the mode he had been in around Arion. But sshh...don't tell anyone! Tee hee. As his hair tickled his nose and almost made him sneeze, he held back the reaction and magicked his long locks tied for certain, finally relieved that it was out of his face.

[Kira Rose]

Kira sighed again "While you two where doing god knows what..." she said looking at the professors. "A student went through some sort of unconsciousness, she was screaming and acting weird.".... "So I came for help."

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

Arion could see Liam's frustration building and decided it was time to cut him a break. Fighting through the fog in her head, a knife-like sharpness rang through her mind, and she stepped forward, her eyes trained on the Gryffindor. "Whatever it was, perhaps next time it would be more effective if you told a teacher that was in a more obvious place. I can't imagine why you'd be looking for teachers in a supposedly empty corridor." She paused, noting the harshness of her tone. Softening her voice a little, she added, "If you have a problem, we're all here to talk about it. Just make sure it's worth tracking us down about." In truth, Arion felt a stab of irritation when the girl claimed it was nothing a few moments after charging like something gone mad through the castle. But she was getting used to such barbaric behavior from her students and simply let it pass, forcing herself to accept that drama was clearly the new fad.

[Professor Liam Imura]

'Easy Liam...easy...' he told himself, knowing his temper was mounting over something silly. For Christ's sake, he was married! Giving himself a mental slap, he looked at Kira with a sigh. "We were looking for a book. We weren't exactly anticipating a student going into unconciousness- it doesn't exactly happen every day. Which student was it?" he asked, trying to keep bitterness out of his voice, and actually succeeding for once.

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

Arion's head buzzed with questions that swarmed and stabbed and snarled, fighting their way to her lips and burning her throat as she held them back. Liam had asked a good question, one that deserved to be answered without interruption. Somehow, Arion already knew who it was.

[Kira Rose]

Kira turned and walked down the corridor. If she really wanted to get a lecture she might as well set another student on fire. "I don't have time for this." she mumbled to herself. "It was Hannah, from Gryffindor." she yelled back with a wave over her shoulder, before walking up a staircase. Before she left completely she turned back. "Oh and it was a lot more serious than finding a book and you two were the only help around." she said somewhat bitterly before finally turning and heading up the staircase. "Alot of help they were." she said sarcastically to herself once she was out of earshot.

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

Arion felt a flare of anger at the girl's disrespect, knew that she shouldn't allow it, yet kept her mouth shut. If it ever happened again...she inwardly promised herself that she would deduct five House Points from Gryffindor. But today she would let it slide, soothing her anger. I snappish retort would have made her feel better, but she had no desire to display that part of herself to Liam.

[Professor Liam Imura]

He felt anger rising in his cheeks and he grabbed the girl's shoulder firmly, though not enough to hurt- just enough to keep her there. "There are more teachers than just Professor Arion and I around, and I passed a lot of them on my way here where they were doing work in their offices with the doors open- you could've gone to them," he growled lowly, not liking being talked back to. He knew that he would have to get used to female tempers when it came to his girls, but he had plenty of time to steel himself for that. But for now, this girl was a student- not one of his, but a student nonetheless, and he a Professor- there had to be some respect there. "If I hear any more lip out of you, I'll deduct House Points," he warned, gray eyes flashing. He wasn't exactly cruel in that sense, only he had high expectations for a member of Kato's House.

[~*..::Arion::..*~]

Gratitude washed over her as Liam took the reigns, making the situation clear to the student. She found herself appreciating this stern side of Liam, especially since her's was always an act, wheras his was dead-serious.