 Lovely™ | Captain Hurted | Ariana's Bane | Resident Antagonist | Unparalleled Delight
Nem was unconcerned with the Headsman's tone, it wasn't so unlike talking to Rosier, whose cool, calm, and collected demeanour had appealed to them, until it was gone. It was less fun, of course, but often much easier to deal with a level-headed opponent in certain situations. That went double when Nem just wanted a relatively straightforward conversation, which had been known to happen.
No, it was the reply itself that might have been a red flag, if only they had been more attuned to danger. They did cut the Headsman a glance when he spoke, but quickly dismissed it. Something and nothing.
Stepping inside the office and closing the door behind them, Nem had a good look around just from where they stood. They'd been in here plenty, and now found little had changed on the surface, so it took no more than a few seconds for their eyes to dart about the place, finish their inspection, and return to Trent again. "Thank you."
But Nem didn't launch into it right away, or move from the space by the door. They stood for long, long moment, watching the Headsman behind his desk, trying to ascertain what, if anything, they felt at seeing him back in what had been the Big Man's place. There was no sense of who should or should not be sitting there, no grief, no sentimentality regarding which conversations may or may not have been exchanged here, the events put into motion. Nothing at all, excepting an unidentifiable hollow ache, which Nem impatiently brushed aside. Business as usual. Strength to strength.
They went to sit down at last, one hand now in their other pocket, where they still kept the name tag from that morning's lesson. "It's funny, now that I think about it... not amusing-funny, the other kind. It's almost the same thing I came to ask you, that first day when you were actually Rosier." Funny, too, the steadily escalating chain of events in their life that came after, possibly as a direct result of one simple little question. "I was just wondering if I could take some NEWT exams early, at the end of this year. Maybe five or six." |