Don't wanna be stitched up, out of my mind

"Constantine Inigo!"

Stella hollered across the hallway as she spotted a familiar figure walking around with his little sister. The young man in question paused for a moment, frowning curiously as he turned around to see who was calling his name. "Do I know you?" Constantine asked Stella easily as she finally came up to him, stopping a few feet before the other teen. "Possibly, I'm Stella I'm in charge of the school newspaper. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about the farm incident from last year."

"Why? I wasn't kidnapped."

"Well, I remember that you were one of students that went with us when the teachers were going to stop everything and from what I heard you had actually gotten into the arena. Didn't your brother -"

"Get to your point, please." Constantine looked down at his sister, noticing how she frowned at the other intrusive girl. Both of the siblings had been managing to deal with the death of their older brother, but it didn't help to have this girl come up and try to throw it in their faces after so long.

"Well, what was it like being in the arena? Was it really as bloody as everyone says it was? Did you happen to see who was in charge of everything? How many people died?" Stella leaned forward expectantly, moving her notepad up to her pen in hand - waiting to hear any potential information that he could give her. The fact that she was still asking about the kidnappings annoyed quite a bit of people, but the fact of the matter was that so many people were incredibly tight lipped about it and mysteries drove the girl insane more than half the time.

At Stella's leaned forward though, Constantine shifted uncomfortably. "I don't think I'm the right person that you should be talking too." Once again, the young man looked down at his little sister. Ever since he had to tell her about Dion's death, it seemed as though she had started to change a little bit. For better, or for worse though he wasn't quite sure yet.

Door open or closed? This was the question Zak had fixated on for the past several minutes, ignoring his school work and instead getting up to shut and open the door every minute or so. Not like it much mattered- he had never been the type for studying, but at the same time he had never been the type to over-think something as simple as whether or not to leave a door ajar. His room was clean and organised, for once, so there was no issue with people looking inside at his personal space. On the other hand, his soon-to-be company knew his room number and would likely have no problem determining where to go on her own. An agreement to study, in his room of all places, with a person of the female persuasion, was not a circumstance that he would like to deal with again at the rate of his decision-making.

For one, Zak wasn't exactly the most social of people. While he may have been charismatic and persuasive, he was not by any means outgoing and much preferred doing things on his own. He also tended to be substantially less comfortable around girls, especially cute ones. Women were just difficult for Zak to understand, what with their abundance of emotion and tendency to prioritize the social over the logical. ((Note: Zak is an ass)) Even avoiding all that, he practically never needed to study and had no clue why he had decided to accept the invitation of company. As he considered the open/closed conundrum once more, Zak's mind kept falling back to why he had accepted in the first place.

His tenth time rising from his made, clean bed to close the door, he finally heard voices down the hall. He peaked his head out curiously and glimpsed at who was soon to pass, his large eyes widening with a sort of relief as he saw who was approaching. She didn't look comfortable by any means, but was still seemingly occupied, and as they neared closer Zak's mind raced considering what he was going to do.

Clearing his throat, Zak leaned further out of the door and waved a braced arm. "Um, Delia! Over here!" he called down the hall as she approached, hoping he was saving her instead of disrupting whoever she was with- her brother he was familiar with, living a few rooms down, but with the other female she wasn't acquainted. Anxiety overcoming him, Zak silently prayed the others would leave them be and he and his classmate could get on with work.

((i love how zak is simultaneously an asshat and an anxious baby omg))

"How could you not be the right person? You were there in the action, I'm sure you have some things that you could tell me." Stella once more stared at Constantine expectantly, quite satisfied with herself that she was already aware of one of his weak spots. She had found out that he was quite a push over when it came to women bossing him around and the teenager in question was planning to abuse that as much as she could. The sudden sound of another person, briefly caused Stella to look over and notice Zak leaning out his door.

The person in question that he was calling too though, looked back and welcomed the relief from the tense situation that Stella had put her and her brother in. "H-H-Hey Z-Z-Zak" Delia said to the avian boy, moving away from her brother and walking over to the young man in question.

Frowning because he didn't recognize Zak (despite the fact their rooms weren't that far apart), Constantine waved at Stella in a sort of dismissive manner and started to walk with Delia in a very protective brother sort of manner to see who this other guy was.

With her brows flying up high, Stella followed after the two, "No, no you're not getting rid of me that easily." She said to Constantine, then glancing at Zak once more "Can't you see I'm trying to ask him some questions?" Stella said to Zak in a snobbish manner, as if he was the reason Constantine was trying to get rid of her (which wasn't completely far from the truth).

Zak sighed in relief as Delia approached, smiling and waving her over as well as he could with his wrist brace on. "Delia! You alright?" he said more quietly as she approached, looking behind her at those who followed. "What's going on?" he inquired, nodding in the direction of the other two students. Before she had the opportunity to respond, Zak's unwanted visitors were upon them.

He gulped as he looked up at the taller male, stepping slightly back into his room as the two rapidly approached, accidentally nudging his makeshift doorstop from his place, the door swinging shut on him. He jumped with the sharp pressure between his shoulder blades, looking desperately at Delia and then to Stella. All he wanted to do was sit down and study!

"I-I didn't do anything!" Zak stammered, pushing the door off himself and holding it open with his foot, nodding at his classmate to enter. He straightened up and looked Stella in the eye, frowning ever so slightly. "I believe you're the one harassing students in their personal living space, madam," he retorted as he regained his composure, brushing down at his large sweater and nodding. "And beyond that, it seems quite clear to me that these two want none of your business." He looked at Constantine and gave him a slight nod, empty gaze, and lip furl that hinted he should enter as well, despite the fact he didn't live more than a few rooms down.

"Y-Yeah," Delia replied to Zak simply, wondering when this Stella girl would leave. How did she even manage to get into the Emerald Dorm's in the first place? Unless she sneaked in behind them, someone had to have let her in. "T-Th-This g-g-g-girl was t-t-trying to a-a-ask C-Constantine s-s-s-some ques-questions." Delia tried to inch her way into Zak's room, only to stop suddenly as the door collided with his back. Looking up at the boy with a little bit of shock and concern, the girl was distracted though once Stella started directing her attention toward Zak.

"Oh, la chérie. There's is no such thing as harassment in the world of pursuing knowledge." Stella smirked at Zak then, inserting herself in between Zak and Constantine before Constantine had any sort of chance to respond to Zak's signal toward him. Turning her attention toward Constantine once more, she smiled sweetly up at the young man. "How many people did you see die?"

Constantine eyes widened at the girl, completely baffled by how to react in this situation. He had never interacted with this girl that had made a name for herself by getting into people's business, but somehow she knew his name and what had happened to him. "Only one." Constantine replied simply, frowning down at the French girl. In the mean time, Delia started to inch toward Zak once more - trying to figure out any way that she could escape this uncomfortable situation.

Zak gulped uncomfortably, standing back and holding the door open wide for Delia to enter. He looked at her and shrugged, feeling sorry for the extreme discomfort being forced on all of them. He made a dramatized exasperated face in an attempt to amuse Delia before returning his attention to Constantine and Stella.

"Bonjour? Madame? Vous parlez anglais, oui? Ou est-ce que vous parlez seul langue du stupide?" Zak smirked, hoping his insult would only be understood by Stella. He wouldn't want to ruin what little reputation he had of not being too much of an asshole. He brushed a lock of curly hair from his vision as he stared at the woman. "I think that you breach the veil of harassment by breaking into male emerald dorms without permission, stalking these two students, and barraging them with morbid and triggering inquiries. Do you not see these two are both very clearly uncomfortable?" His eye contact remained with Stella as he gestured towards Constantine and Delia.

"Ma chérie, as you say, even the acquisition of knowledge has its limits when it comes to human decency," he finished icily, giving her a cold smile. While he had no real issue with this woman at the moment, aside from her terrible rudeness, he sincerely hoped to scare her off more than anything.

((Translation for big section: "Hello? Miss? You speak english, yes? Or you you only speak idiot?" this is all I learned in 4 years of french classes ayyy lmao))

Finally as Delia managed to get into Zak's room, the young woman hid behind Zak in an awkward sort of manner - catching the calculating glance from her older brother. Stella on the other hand, continued to remain immune to the groups emotions. It was when French started to grace her ears that the young woman turned quite suddenly on her heels back toward Zak with raised eyebrows. "<< No, I'm afraid I only speak romance, sir. >>" Stella smirked at the boy as she reached up and tapped his nose lightly with her finger, as if to emphasize who was actually in control of the situation.

In the meantime, both Constantine and Delia were confused by the exchange of French going on. It was only when Zak changed back to English that Constantine seemed almost relieved. Stella on the other hand was amused and charmed at the same time in regards to Zak trying to scare her off. "If I cared about people being uncomfortable, I would have stopped what I was doing a long time ago."

Stella opened her mouth to respond once more to Zak's comment about human decency, but it was then that Constantine finally decided to speak up. "Hold on, I'm tired of hearing whatever this is. Delia, what are you doing with him?" Constantine asked his little sister then, moving forward only to brush arms with Zak in an attempt to get closer to his sister.

"I-I ... w-w-we w-we-were going to w-work on s-s-some home-homework t-together." Delia responded anxiously to Constantine, regretting having not told him earlier why she was there in the first place. In just a few seconds, Constantine gave Zak a long hard look - then broke it to glance at Stella and shake his head. "That's all I needed to know, have fun with this one." Constantine directed his comment toward Zak as he left the three, stuffing his hands into his pockets and making his way out of the dorm.

Stella stood there shocked for a moment, conflicted in between chasing after her story and finding out a new one with the dark haired fellow that stood before her.

Zak scoffed at Stella before his attention was stolen by the other male, his calculated retort stolen by Constantine's questioning. He looked back at Delia as she stuttered out her response, feeling particularly apologetic for this whole situation as he noticed just how nervous she was. When Constantine left he turned to look at Delia, taking a deep breath, wide-eyed. "You alright?" he asked, managing a small smile and a nod as he stepped a bit further inside his room, pushing the door further closed.

"<<Do you have anything else you need, miss?>>" Zak inquired sarcastically in french as he began to close the door, the smile that was on his face gone once his eyes moved back to Stella. He admired her sass, but not so much her shaky grasp on morality. At this point, all he wished to do was be rid of this rude girl and get to work. It wasn't every day he spent time with other people, doing homework or not.

With the absence of her brother, Delia was left still hiding behind Stella wondering why the girl was still there. Wasn't it her brother that she wanted to talk to anyway? Despite that Stella ended up giving Zak a more than stubborn look as she moved her foot up to the door to stop the young man from closing the door anymore. "<<You've caught my interest, I'll be seeing you again very soon.>>" Stella moved her foot back then, winking at Zak before waving a hand at Delia and walking off in the same direction that Constantine went.

Finally with the absence of the nosy girl, Delia looked up at Zak once more hesitantly - "W-was that F-French t-that you t-t-two were speaking?" Delia asked the young man curiously. Even though she was born in a decently well off family, Delia still had a hard time telling the differences between certain languages and always found it admirable to meet someone that knew more than just the English language. "I-I d-d-didn't know t-that you could sp-speak that?" Delia then said in a more inquisitive manner than anything else. Briefly glancing around Zak's room, the young girl was beginning regret her decision of coming to study with the young man. Even though they were friends, it was hard to not be conscious of the fact that they were opposite genders. At least, Delia found herself being overly aware of a lot of things nowadays.

Zak's face flushed a light pink as Stella winked at him, both embarrassed at his own previous confidence and at Stella's forwardness. Not knowing how to react and almost unable to move, he stared at the door blankly for a moment, hand lightly covering his mouth, before slowly turning to respond to Delia.

"Um, y-yes. Yes." He nodded, taking a deep breath, then smiling. He sat down on his bed and nodded at his work chair, offering her to sit. He looked around his room for a moment, taking the time to relax from the eventful minutes before, eyes wide and fists clenched anxiously. Although he had cleaned as best he could, a thin layer of dust still settled over some of his furniture and his work desk was still too messy to do much on, parts and pieces for a watch he was taking apart and altering scattered across the dark oak surface, glinting silver and gold and iron pieces littering the area. He should have cleaned more, he decided. His projects could wait.

"Yes, um, french. Yeah." Zak cleared his throat, then gave Delia a polite smile. "I was home-schooled until I came here. My parents uh, they're both scientists of sorts - dad's an ornithologist - that's a bird nerd-" he paused for a moment to laugh quietly at his own joke, "and my mom was a biologist for a really long time. Um, she teaches at a university, now." He gave Delia another small smile before continuing. "So, you see, when they traveled a lot, my mother often gave lectures at international conferences and schools. My mother is kind of a... stubborn woman, and really hated the whole 'translation' part of lecturing internationally. And since she already had a lot of experience with linguistic, she became fluent in bunch of latin languages so that she could lecture easier in europe."

He looked out of his window and idly played with his fingers, taking a moment of pause before continuing. "So um, when I was born she stopped lecturing. But she kept practicing languages. With european friends, with me. So growing up I spoke english, french, and spanish. And italian, from my dad. My grandparents are from italy and they're really, really bad at english." He smiled and laughed. "Um, it's funny though. I'm actually really bad at learning languages. Now, I mean. I've been practicing chinese with my mother since I was 13, and I still barely understand it. I probably wouldn't be able to speak any of the languages I know if I hadn't been taught them from birth. Like, I'm that bad." He laughed again. "To be honest, I'm getting really bad at spanish and french since I can't practice much anymore - when I was still home my mom and I would talk in different languages to keep in shape. But we don't do that much these days." He nodded and sighed, biting his lip. There was a cut on it, and he had to resist the temptation to pull on the scab.

Zak looked back at Delia and smiled, playing with his fingers nervously. "Do you, uh, speak anything else? I'm, uh, sorry for going on. I just don't get the opportunity to talk about my parents much." He sighed and looked at the floor, nerves getting to him once again. "I miss them, sometimes. But I belong here, I guess." He nodded solemnly.