What an inconvenience ((Ruby, then Open))

[Wynd Lehane]

Wynd slowed as he neared the secret entrance between Platform Nine and Platform Ten. Someday, he thought. "Why does the train have to hide itself from these muggles?" Wynd asked his sister. "It's disgraceful. Like the train has to hide from filthy muggles!" He pulled at the pull-over hoodie that he was wearing. Muggle clothing was so ugly and they put so much starch in everything. Was it really necessary to hide in muggle clothes, like some kind of convicts? Wynd cringed at that thought. That was still a painful topic for his sister and himself. Probably always would be. Of course the ministry that hides itself from muggles would believe that they were innocent. Dumb muggles could do no wrong in the eyes of the ministry. Wynd was comforted by the thought that someday his sister and he would rule the muggles. He smiled as an old muggle woman struggled with her luggage. He really wanted to use his wand to make her luggage explode but he was not of age yet. Wynd and Ruby were very careful to follow the rules. They hated muggles and the ministry that protected them, but they weren't stupid.

Wynd walked towards the entrance to Platform 9^3/4 signaling Ruby to follow. What did they care if a muggle saw them? Muggle's minds were so easily erased and manipulated. Wynd was sure to read about how to do that in the library at Hogwarts. The library was an untapped resource. It was because of Dumbledore that all the good books were in the restricted area. That was fine though. Ruby and Wynd had their ways of accessing what they needed. Once the horrible world of King's Cross Station was behind them they saw the train to Hogwarts. "Phew, Ruby. The mudbloods are especially smelly this year." Wynd smirked at his own joke as he pushed the cart with both their trunks and Ruby's cat, Desdemona, toward the car that was traditionally Slytherin only.

Wynd and Ruby found a compartment that was empty. Well, empty after Wynd sneered at the first year who thought he could have a compartment to himself. Wynd settled in his seat. He chose the side that would be riding backwards. He always liked that view better. That's how you view life, after it happens, not before. "What an inconvenience this is. Having to hide the train in a cloud of smoke from the muggles. Hogwarts should update it's system and install a floo network. If mudbloods and half-breeds want to ride the train that's fine. But there should be a decent mode of transportation for true wizards and witches."

[Ruby Lehane]

King's Cross Station...ugly, horrid, full of filthy muggles and their children. Screaming cries of babies, the babble of idiotic conversations about what cars were better modes of transportation. Cars...those filthy ugly things her father had made them ride in on the way to King's Cross today. Why couldn't they just take the damn'dable Floo Network? They were pure-bloods, not these mere mud-bloods and half-breeds. No they were pure, more important than all the others with tainted blood. But here they were, pushing their trunks toward the hidden pathway to the platform. The words of her twin brother, her best friend, floated into her ear on the right. "They hide because they are weak, Brother. They view themselves as weaker beings to these horrid muggles. These muggles that are vicious, cruel, and untrainable. They are nothing more then mere dogs, except you can train dogs. These..." waves a hand to the crowds of muggles around her, "These are simple minded creatures with no future, except to be our slaves...if they're worthy enough..." Ruby responded...her dark blue orbs seemed to be dancing with plans for the future. Their future that would bring all the difference to the wizarding world. Would make it better...stronger.

Ruby let her brother continue on toward the wall leading to the platform until he signaled for her to follow and she did not hesitate. She followed, not caring if all the people in the world saw her cross over that threshold at that moment. They could run and follow if they like, by the end of the day she'd be able to use her wand again and that meant all the built up frustration from the summer would be gone as she started using her magic again, be damned who it was upon. Blue orbs closed before crossing from the horrific world behind her and when they reopened she found herself staring at the train that she had come to love. The train that took her to her future. She smirked at Wynd's words and nodded her head as she scrunched up her nose. "We'll have to teach them how to keep their stench hidden from us pure-bloods," Ruby smiled as she pictured the nearest mud-blood being tortured by her hand in her head. "Yes, we'll have to teach them lots."

Ruby smirked as she watched in amusement as the first year bottled in tears from the room. She watched them run past her and she couldn't stop her foot from coming up and tripping him one last time for good measure. The kid cried harder as he got back up and took off. She snickered as she turned back to the room, sliding into the seat across from her brother. Twins...both had plans for their lives...both almost opposite in their views. Ruby sat, watching the world come at her from the window...that was how she viewed it. Her blue orbs were always focused on the future, never on the past, save for one thing, but it was the future that drove her. It was the future she wanted to deal with. She was determined for the future to be of her making and that future would hold so much strength and power for the pure-bloods. Her mind wanted to keep wandering to the future, but her brother's words brought her back and she smiled as she looked at him and she said in a certainly sarcastic and mocking voice, "But Wynd, we have to learn to get along with the muggle-borns! The ministry wouldn't be strong without them!" She scoffed to herself and laughed. "It'll be much stronger when we take over."

[damien]

Damien stood leaning against the side of the entrance to Platform 9 ¾, the side that didn’t melt behind your back of course. He was waiting, as he usually did, for Odette. But seeing as he had been waiting for nearly an hour now, he supposed she was coming in her own sweet time and that he would just save a seat for her instead. There was no point standing around for her so long, she would find him eventually. She always found him; whether he wanted to be found or not. Odette just knew him well enough to know where to look. Then again, finding him on the train couldn’t be too hard; there weren’t many places she’d have to look. Damien rolled his eyes, honestly frustrated by his lack of company as he rubbed his forehead and looked around again. Still no sign of her, but he’d wait five more minutes just in case. His hand reached up, straightening the hat on his head. It was a heavy material that no normal person would wear during the summer, but Damien had his own reasons for wearing it. Particularly the symbol it boasted on the front. Overall Damien looked rather out of place. He wasn’t dressed in typical muggle clothes; jeans, t-shirt. Instead he looked rather like a member of some military or other. And if you knew the style well enough, you might have recognized it as a Russian military standard of dress. The coat he wore was long, reaching down to a little below his knee, and it was grey. This was the lighter one however, so he wasn’t completely burning up. It was buttoned up, starting at the waist and underneath it he wore black dress pants and a grey turtle neck shirt, finishing it all off with black dress shoes and black leather gloves. He looked like he might indeed have been a member of some military force. Though he most definitely wasn’t.

As if those things weren’t enough, the single most obvious thing that singled him out, was the large white falcon perched easily on his shoulder. While it sat quite still, it’s eyes darted back and forth around the station, clearly agitated by the noise level Damien pulled himself from the wall, causing the bird to shift slightly on his shoulder, and then walked around the corner and straight through the entrance to the platform, leaving Kings Station far behind. Obviously Odette had not chosen to meet him, though he knew he’d see her soon. Damien made his way past all of the hubbub of families saying goodbye to their children, finding the easiest route around them all. When he was about to board the train, the bird on his shoulder stretched its wings carelessly, and then tore away from Damien, most likely beginning its journey to where it would soon be awaiting it’s master at the far away castle where he, and the rest of the people riding this train, attended school. As Damien walked onto the train he groaned loudly and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. Oh how he hated trains. He had already ridden one half way across Scotland, and then another from that stopping point to this station. It seemed almost pointless because as far as he could tell the train he was on now was just going to head back in the direction he had come from! Why did they require all students to take the same mode of transportation? It seemed so pointless and so time consuming. Damien could have probably gotten to Hogwarts from his home in less time than it took him to get all the way to London. But nonetheless here he was, boarding this bloody worthless steam engine.

Damien made his way down the car he was on, but he didn’t waste his time looking in any of the compartments he passed by. Like I said, Damien had already been there for an hour. Which gave him quite enough time to have already found a compartment, and place his trunk inside of it. Damien yawned as he neared that particular compartment, the one he and Odette had shared for the past four years of their schooling, and then frowned as he heard voices. Damien’s eyes flashed with anger, but that feeling was quickly joined by confusion as he heard the last bit of the conversation the people in his compartment had been sharing. Damien reached the doorway and turned his body to look inside, crossing his arms and looking at the two with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. “When you take over?”

[Odette Boswell S4]

Odette was livid. More than livid. Odette was outraged. The one thing she hated about being St. Petersburg during the holidays was the fact that she had to take so many modes of transportation to get to King’s Cross. She couldn’t wait until she could apparate. Odette stepped out of the black limousine that had pulled up outside of King’s Cross, obviously angered that they were running as late as they were. Odette was never late. Damien was probably rather angry, too, now that he was sure to have realised she wasn’t going to meet him at the barrier. Odette scowled as the chauffeur lifted her trunk from the boot of the car and then set it on a trolley, pushing it toward her. He set it down and then took off his cap as if he were waiting for her to dismiss him. Odette raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side in an accusatory sense, “Do you really think I am going to push that on my own?” The chauffeur stared at her and Odette never broke the gaze. Finally, he seemed to stammer over his own feet and pushed the trunk toward the entrance – leaving the limo in a no parking zone. Odette smiled, pleased, and headed into the station, her eyes looking around. Muggles. Everywhere. A sigh escaped her and a shake of her head made her hair fall into her eyes. Odette didn’t loathe muggles, in fact; she thought they had some very interesting techniques when it came to certain things – she felt that pure blood wizards could learn a lot if they studied muggles instead of using all their energy hating them. Mudbloods and half bloods were different, though. They were the product of something disgusting. A wizard and a muggle together or worst yet! Two muggles! Mudbloods deserved no magic. They had no lineage that presented that they should have magic. And yet, the wizarding world ran amok with them. It angered and depressed Odette.

Her eyes flickered to the barrier that led to Platform 9 ¾ just in time to see Damien stepping through it. He had waited longer than she had expected him to and that was something that made Odette grin. He was faithful. Almost like a little puppy dog. Odette led the way to the barrier and turned to the chauffeur, “You may go. I don’t need your terrible service any longer.” The chauffeur removed his cap and inclined his head a bit before turning on his heel and hurrying out of the station to save his limo from any towing that might done just as Odette turned and entered the platform with her trunk in front of her. She broke through and looked around at the platform, at all the people who were saying goodbye to each other and kissing each other’s cheeks. A sigh escaped Odette as she headed toward the blasted train engine that was a hideous shade of scarlet. Why scarlet? Wasn’t that showing favouritism? Odette lifted her trunk from the trolley and stepped onto the train, heading toward the compartment that she and Damien always shared on the train ride to and from Hogwarts. Her trunk rolled behind her as she dragged it down the hallway, her eyes straight ahead and her head held high. When she reached the compartment, she was surprised to see Damien standing in the doorway and not actually inside the compartment. She froze in her steps, though, when she heard him question someone. Odette furrowed her eyebrows and stepped beside Damien, her trunk balancing beside her. Two older Slytherins who looked like they could be brother and sister, twins even, were seated in their compartment and that made Odette even more livid.

“When who takes over, Damien?” She didn’t address the other two, because at that particular moment those two weren’t someone worthy of her addressing them. Her eyes remained locked on them, though, for a few minutes before she turned to look at Damien, “Put my trunk up.” With that she entered the compartment and stared at the girl, her brown eyes intense. She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head, her eyes boring into the older girl. Odette felt no intimidation by the fact that the girl was older. Odette was still better; “Are you going to move? Or will I have to force you to?”

[Ruby Lehane]

If there was one thing Ruby couldn't stand it was rudeness, especially from lower beings than herself. It didn't matter what kind of beings they were, pure-blood or not Ruby was to be treated as royalty. As her family practically was. However, some children didn't seem to get that concept. No, they spent their lives being hateful and rude and never earning their right to be powerful. They flew by on daddy's money and never once earned it. Not that Ruby was different. She'd been taken care of since she was born as was her brother, but they...they weren't snobs. They were the way they were because of blood rights and the power they wielded, not because they were rich. So when Ruby's icy blue orbs landed on the girl, whose mouth should have been sewn shut when she was born, Ruby couldn't help but let the cold smile slither across her lips. How infantile her demeanor was. Ruby's gaze fell over the girl, looking her up and down, calculating her stature, realizing that she was nothing more than a mere pawn in a game she would never win. The girl thought herself a queen in the game of chess, but really she never would be. However, Ruby would let her pretend for now. She would look to that age old proverb, ”Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” So Ruby simply let the girl stand there. She noted everything about her, the mere 5 foot stature, the brown hair, which Ruby had often seen parted unevenly so that it could fall over one of her eyes, as if it were stylish or something. When she finished passing judgment on the girls appearance she felt the tension heighten in the compartment. Blue orbs danced in humor at the girls words and she simply leaned back in the seat, crossed her left leg over her right knee, and then her arms crossed over her chest in defiance.

"Hmmm...She wants me to move Brother...move or be moved," blue orbs connect with her brothers in humor before returning to the girl. "So feisty for being so small. Intriguing though. I suppose I'll allow you to sit in my presence, only if you watch that dainty little mouth of yours. Really you should mind your manners. You never know who might be your leader in the future." Ruby leaned forward at this time her hands coming up, allowing her fingers to touch briefly and she sat there staring at the two intruders. Though she knew perfectly well who they were. She was always listening, seeing who would be loyal to her cause. It was her nature to do so. What bothered her about their intrusion though was the nature of their eavesdropping. One should never repeat another's words out loud unless for good measure. This was not for good measure, but for mockery and in that was complete and utter disrespect, especially for the Lehane twins.

"Now...please sit," Ruby gestured to the seats beside her brother and her. "Unless of course you would like to continue to test me?" Ice...cold, frozen water seemed to stare out of Ruby's head where her eyes had been. She was in no mood for disrespect. It didn't matter if they were the same age or not. She would not be treated any less than she should be treated. She knew this girl before her was a pure-blood, as deep a pure-blood as Ruby and Wynd were. She would not...EVER...let this girl talk down to her. However, she was not the one to start the fight...no she was the sort that would manipulate, deceive until the other threw the first punch...not in the muggle sense, but in the metaphoric sense. Orbs stared down the girl before her, hands returning to her lap and feeling the soft, spiraled wood in her fingers. It was hidden well enough and she knew that no one could see it, but it was there if she needed it. It was one thing to not start a fight, it was another to not be prepared for one. She was anything but prepared at that moment. She had a good year of schooling on this girl and she was ready to use it if she had to.

[Wynd Lehane]

Wynd turned his head away from the window to see a fourth year Slytherin standing in the doorway. He asked a rude question as if to mock Ruby's previous statement. How dare he try and mock his sister. His sister who had suffered so much. This boy could have no idea how much truth there was in Ruby's words. Let him laugh. It was the Lehane twins that would have the last laugh. Wynd opened his mouth to speak but he could not as another Slytherin entered the compartment. She was a girl that was younger than Ruby and Wynd and yet she acted as if they were less important. Wynd liked her vibe but not her attitude at this particular moment. She chose to engage Ruby in a staring contest. Somewhat insulted, Wynd knew that she would soon regret the choice. Ruby was the stronger of the twins. He was a great wizard, make no mistake, but she was a fantastic witch. She excelled at wand magic while he was better at magic that used the hands, such as Potions. She asked his sister to move, not gently like a Hufflepuff, but forcefully like a true Slytherin. He caught Ruby's gaze as Ruby mocked this girl who didn't back down. Still, Wynd had no doubt that Ruby was going to win this confrontation so he looked at the window again. At this angle he was able to see their reflection but still enjoy the scenery.

The train had pulled out of King's Cross by now and was slowly making the journey back to the school. Wynd sat facing backwards and Ruby looking forward. This was more evidence of why they worked well together. While she was focused on the future, he was learning from the past. He listened as Ruby talked down to the girl. He loved the way she worked. She was in complete control of the situation but she never once raised her once or even lost her temper. Wynd knew the way to manipulate a situation was to control your emotions while the other party let go of theirs. Ruby was doing just this. Wynd watched in the reflection as Ruby raised her arms and touched her fingers together briefly. A secret sign to Wynd to grab his wand and be prepared. Wynd nonchalantly scratched his nose and when his hand returned to his lap his wand was already grasped in the other. Hidden of course. That was just the first sign. Ruby was still testing the waters to see if these were true enemies.

In the reflection of the glass Wynd studied the boy. Wynd recognized him as Damien Vasska. He had brown curly hair and brilliant blue eyes. What he was doing here with this girl, Wynd couldn't imagine. For that matter, why was he outside listening to their conversation? For being a pure blood he didn't have a lot of manners. He listened intently for the girl's response when Ruby offered them both a seat. He knew that she would want the girl to sit on his side of the compartment where Ruby could watch her. Ruby truly believed Keep your enemies closer and all that. "Yes, do sit down." Wynd said still facing the glass. "Your little starlet act bores us."

[damien]

Damien was pleased to hear Odette’s voice ring not too long after his, he knew she’d find him. Then again it wasn’t hard to find him in the same spot he was supposed to be in, however, these two intruders had most definitely thrown off their plans. Damien looked over at Odette as she asked him what he had meant, and then instead of speaking, he simply turned his gaze back to the two people inside his compartment. Yes, his compartment. His trunk being already inside it, not to mention his presence there for the past four years, had most definitely qualified it as his. There was no possible way anyone was going to remove him from it, be them younger, or older. And he was most definitely not going to be swayed by the likes of these two. Damien didn’t care a bit that the twins sitting in his seat were a year older than him, as far as he cared they were just as much scum as anyone else compared to him and Odette. Damien stood and waited as Odette observed the situation and smirked when he noticed the boy’s mouth move to say something, only to be cut off by Odette. The fact that the boy had allowed himself to be cut off only further showed his weakness. He looked quite a lot like the tag along brother. Sure, Damien often times gave the impression of being Odette’s tag along, but when it all narrowed down, he and Odette were on nearly the same level. He was a partner in their decisions. Damien could tell just by looking at the older boy that he probably had no say in anything of importance. He did what his sister told him to and that was that. Damien nodded his head as she told him to put away her trunk. He waited till she had moved into the compartment, and then followed her inside, pulling her trunk in with him. His trunk was already nestled in the place over the obnoxious girl’s head, and so now he would be putting Odette’s over her half witted brother’s head.

As Damien hoisted up the trunk and let it drop heavily onto the seat in which the brother was sitting, he listened to the conversation going on behind him with a smirk. Damien turned his head around to look at the girl Odette was addressing. “You know, you should really start to practice what you preach. Or else you’re going to look rather like a fool when things don’t fall your way, eh?” He chuckled to himself and turned around, pushing the trunk up onto the top rack where it would sit for the train ride. He closed his eyes and listened and he could hear the movement of the boys robes sitting in the seat below him. Back home, living in practically arctic tundra, Damien had grown quite accustomed to listening very closely before moving. You never really knew when a reindeer would pound out of nowhere and trample you. The snow normally crowded your eyes, so you had to listen well, and look well if you really wanted to make it into town without getting lost and freezing to death. Damien’s eyes and ears where that of a hawk. When Damien had opened his eyes, he glanced down to see that he boys hand had moved slightly and the muscles in his wrists were tight, as if he were holding something. Goodness, couldn’t anyone be inconspicuous? Of course, his face gave no appearance of having recently grabbing his wand, so Damien was slightly impressed by that fact. At the same time, he wanted to burst out laughing over how simple these two thought Damien and Odette were. At that moment Damien’s hands twitched slightly, knowing that he could easily have the older Slytherin’s neck in his hands before the boy even knew what was happening.

The girl’s voice behind Damien broke him from his violent thoughts, and he rolled his eyes, groaning loudly. “If this is a test you’ve already failed, Ruby Lehane.” Damien turned around and then glanced down at the boy. “And don’t even get me started on you.” Yes, Damien knew quite well who the two were. Not many people got past Damien. He knew who nearly everyone was. Damien waited to see if Odette would take a seat, knowing full well she would, but in the mean time he did smirk at the Lehane boy. “You might as well put your wand away. It would truly do you no good if a fight did break out. Besides...we’re not muggles correct? Quick to be at each other’s throats...” Damien couldn’t help but smirk more at his own inside joke.

[Odette Boswell S4]

“Allow?” Odette repeated, an eyebrow arched up in a perfect shape, “Allow, Ruby? I don’t need permission from anyone, not unless I desire it. I can allow you to stay in our compartment, but it wouldn’t do any good because you don’t desire my permission, do you? Therefore, you wouldn’t really take into account whether or not I would allow you to stay.” Odette smiled sweetly and brushed her hair out of her eyes before turning slightly to see Damien hoisting her trunk up above the other boy’s head. She turned back to Ruby and eyed the girl with a light in her eyes. Odette wasn’t below brown nosing, but she was above hating. She didn’t have the energy inside her to hate, because she honestly knew that if she hated anyone it would come back to haunt her. Odette watched her step with everyone because she couldn’t afford to have enemies in the future, she just couldn’t. And she wouldn’t have any either. People might consider her an enemy of them, but Odette would never consider herself an enemy of anyone else. “Likewise, Ruby. You don’t know who your ruler in the future may or may not be; not even a seer would know that.” Odette’s smile remained sweet as she stared at Ruby with intense brown eyes into Ruby’s blue ones. The thing with Odette was she didn’t have it in her to be nasty the whole time to people, she didn’t believe in making people so angry with you that they could turn around and ruin you. She didn’t think that was a smart idea. Which was precisely the reason why she didn’t snap at Ruby and tell her off the way she would have normally.

Odette laughed at Ruby’s testing comment, and then turned to Damien as he replied – her eyes bright with mirth, “Oh, yes, please… Wynd, put your wand away… we are not the type of people to fight over something so insignificant. At least, I’m not…Damien, however, is perfectly capable of lashing out at someone for the smallest of things, right, Damien?” She eyed Damien a moment, her eyes flashing a smile as she took a seat beside Ruby gracefully and crossed her legs. Her eyes remained on Damien a moment before turning back to Ruby with a bright smile, “Why so much hostility toward us? We have not done anything worth being hostile about, but of course; if you feel we’ve done something to offend you, please tell us what you think it is so we can remedy any misunderstandings that we may have. I assure you, I am not the kind of person who strives to make enemies, and although I do not believe you two are better than Damien and I… I do believe you are on a higher plane than most people; thus, why make enemies of valuable assets?” Odette smirked over at Damien, her eyes flashing a hint of malice. Odette, while she could be very diplomatic, still had the ability to get under peoples’ skin and she knew she did. She didn’t try to be kind about that, she said what she was thinking – most of the time- even though it might offend someone else. The thought in Odette’s mind was that she could be just as offensive as anyone else could and the Lehane twins were most definitely being offensive toward her and Damien. Wynd had called her a starlet, had he not? For someone who is so plainly against muggles, it is awfully amusing to find he is using a muggle term that you do not find in the wizarding world…

Her eyes rolled to Wynd as she thought of his muggle term usage and she stared at him a moment before turning to Ruby again. She was, obviously, the only one who wasn’t Damien in the compartment that was worthy of Odette’s attention. Wynd had no backbone, he did seem to be a tag along to his sister – doing whatever his sister said for him to do. And while Damien was rather a tag along, he often put Odette in her place and often put in ideas that Odette would not have thought of before. Damien and Odette were a team, and it appeared that Wynd and Ruby were not. They were not a partnership, they were a president and a vice president of a company. That was a weakness. That was a huge weakness. Odette smiled secretively as she looked over at Damien again.

[Ruby Lehane]

((Forgive me for replying so late. I've been busy and lacking inspiration. However, I have finally finished this. It's been in work since early November, so I hope it all makes sense))


Of all the days to have a run in with these two, Ruby thought to herself. It wasn’t a mystery as to who these two were. It had never been. Ruby had an eye for people, not all of the time, but she did her fair share of observations, as did her brother. Each noticing other parts to a person and combining their observations later. It was how they worked. Some might not see them as a team per say, but they were. Ruby just happened to be the one that spoke first. Wynd was far from being the incompetent of the twins. Neither of them was incompetent. Wynd didn’t speak much, but when he did he commanded the silence, commanded it and owned it. He was after all a Lehane. And Lehane’s commanded the attention of others, but then again it was only in Ruby’s opinion. Whether it had truth to it or not was a different question and one that Ruby would never really answer. She steered clear of talking about herself and her family for the most part. Things were only pleasant with others, that’s how they had always been. She did not trust…especially outsiders. So she sat and watched as her own words passed into the ears of the ones before her. She knew they played the same game she did. Most Slytherins did, but she wasn’t going to disregard them as being incompetent either. In that compartment, at that time, they were all equals and Ruby wasn’t about to be treated as a lesser. Always test a stranger’s water before diving in, the words of her grandmother rang through her ears. Testing, that’s what she was doing. She was testing their waters, seeing how far she could push them, seeing how far it would take before they lost their cool.

A smile fell across her lips at their equal response. They were truly worthy of their attention and by far on the same level. Ruby’s smile was genuine this time as she nodded. “Very true. If I desired your permission I would have asked, but as it is, I’m not in the habit of asking permission to sit in a compartment that could very well have been anyone’s,” she responded in the typical politeness that had accompanied her voice many times over the years. It was cordial to say the least. She had always been taught the proper ways of a pureblood and it didn’t matter if she liked the pureblood she was speaking to or not. The fact remained that politeness was the key. Politeness could always be interpreted as a want for friendship, but usually in Ruby’s case it was interpreted as trying to gage a person’s true personality. Ruby may have found them equal, but they were far from allies and she wasn’t about to trust them. They still had to prove themselves worthy of her company.

Ruby laughed coldly at Damien and Odette’s response. She nodded to Wynd, letting him know that things were fine. They truly were more observant than she first gave them credit for, even though they had managed to discern their names. That fact of course did not necessarily mean they were observant enough to realize more important matters. Ruby quirked an eyebrow up at Damien at Odette’s response about him. She had heard something about that before, about the way he didn’t seem to have a heart at all, but Ruby didn’t know much about that, nor did she care. As far as she was concerned they were of no real threat, if they had been then they’d already be cursed, or so Ruby would like to believe.

Ruby kept any facial reaction to herself as Odette began to speak. I wonder why I have hostility toward you? Ruby thought sarcastically in her own mind as she watched Odette closely. She was good…really good. Ruby wasn’t an easy person to manipulate, probably because she had done so much manipulating herself. So as Odette was speaking Ruby couldn’t help but feel that she was trying to manipulate her, trying to feed her some diplomatic bull that Ruby could have seen coming a long way off. However she didn’t let Odette know that she was impressed with the tactic, or with what she was saying. Ruby wouldn’t let her know that the manipulation wasn’t working; she’d let Odette believe whatever she likes. Assets Ruby thought to herself. That was rather a startling word to use. Wynd and she would have to watch over Damien and Odette now, the word far more unsettling than Odette had probably meant it to be. Ruby smirked when Odette was finally done speaking and she looked between Damien and Odette, before cold blue orbs landed on her brother. “Hostile Brother?” she laughed softly, “we’re being hostile?” The remark was rather sarcastic as she looked back at Odette and then at Damien. “I do believe, unless I’m mistaken, that there was plenty of hostility toward us for sitting in this compartment. Of course I always had a hard time of discerning hostility and befriending.” Ruby knew it sounded harsh as it left her lips, but she had every right to speak her own mind, if Odette wanted to know what it was the needed fixing then Ruby would oblige.