Placing the last photograph of Cavendish and Professor Drake back in its drawer, Victor pushed the drawer shut with a sigh of defeat. No key here. No key anywhere. No spell, no charm… nothing. Fortunately for the boy, years of training with his father - his entire lifetime so far, really - had taught him to keep calm in moments of stress, no matter how gloomy his mood was at the moment. Emotions are the mortal enemy of logic, he would say. You're better off without them.

So, as Mondai continued practicing her breathing exercises and tapping determinedly at the blackboard, Victor had decided to make himself comfortable, taking the same pose Cavendish had had when he had walked into the room earlier. Resting his feet on the man’s desk and grabbing a nearby Rubik’s cube, Victor decided to make solving the colourful puzzle his one and only goal for the night. Yes. Not only would this help kill time, but it would keep his mind from MacGhilleseatheanaich while at the same time exercising his mind a little.

However, it was a little difficult to concentrate with the constant, incessant tapping of Mondai’s wand on the blackboard. “Whatever you’re trying is not going to work, Mondai,” said Victor calmly, twisting and turning the pieces of the Rubik’s cube in his hand.

"Revelio," Airi said, watching carefully for any sign of activity from the desk, but there was nothing, absolutely nothing. It didn't move, and the text remained the same, no secret compartments came shooting out to reveal a list of instructions, nothing! "It has to be something to do with the blackboard... Why else would he draw attention to it," Airi said, thoughtfully biting her lip. She just needed to think....

The professor had talked about humility... He wanted them to humble themselves, how could they do that? What associated itself with being humble.. Kindness, modesty.. Honesty..

HONESTY! Cavendish had said the truth would set them free after all, maybe they (she and Victor) had to tell the truth? But about what? It wasn't like they were hiding anything from the Professor.

"Actually, I think I figured it out," Airi said, turning slightly to Victor who was... Playing with a rubix cube? And he was acting like SHE was being unhelpful? Whatever. "I think... He wants us to... Tell the truth... I just don't know what about," Airi added, frowning slightly as she turned back to the blackboard.

“Oh.” Victor set the perfectly-solved Rubik’s cube back on the ebony desk with a little more force than he had originally intended. “Wants us to tell the truth, you say?” he asked, turning in the Professor’s seat to face Mondai with a raised eyebrow, gently tapping the tips of his fingers in a very Mr. Burns style. “I would have never figured that out by the very obvious clue he left on the blackboard.” He disconnected his hands to gesture at the board then, before standing and walking away to the student desks.

Being near Mondai was only making his mood worsen, and he needed to get away from that before he blew up and lost his characteristic calmness. As much as he tried to ignore it, his brother's voice kept echoing inside his mind - "Mate! You're not gonna believe it! McGit and Saint Airi kissed! Right there in the Entrance Hall, in front of everyone! It was hilarious!" What might Mondai have thought of the gesture? She must've loved it, surely. MacGhilleseatheanaich was her 'hero', after all.

And if he is, nobody cares, Vincenzi. Starting with you, the boy tried to assure himself. No, he didn't care about this. Not at all. Who Mondai kissed or didn't kiss was none of his concern, he had more important things to worry about. Like how to get out of this bloody cell.

Airi had been feeling rather pleased with herself for having figured out Cavendish' little problem (nothing made the girl happier than solving a puzzle), and she was just giving herself a little mental pat on the back when of course, Victor had to step all over her. "If it was so obvious, why didn't you think of it?" Airi said, turning angrily to Victor, only to watch him slip away from the desk and make his way to the student's chairs.

Was he behaving a bit... Strangely? Airi thought he seemed rather keen to avoid looking at her, but maybe that was just her thinking, unless he was angry with her about something? No, that couldn't be it, angry Victor didn't shy away from people, he menaced them and out them into little corners.

"It really isn't that simple though, if it was we'd already be out.. There must be some weird condition.. Something to embarrass us," Airi said, her annoyance fleeing from her as she went back to dealing with the problem at hand.

Suddenly, the text of the blackboard began to re-arrange itself and after a few seconds a new massage appeared.

Well, done Miss Mondai! You've guessed my little trick and as a reward for your puzzle-solving skills you will be granted a few creature comforts!

On the desk, suddenly there appeared two of Airlia's favorite things; a pot of tea and a tin of butter cookies.

Now! If the two of you want to be out of this little room anytime soon you must tell each other truths of an embarrassing nature to HUMBLE yourselves. Each time you reveal a truth you will be rewarded until you receive your final reward of freedom! Have fun! - Professor Cavendish.

Victor ignored Mondai’s comment and wandered deeper into the room, toward the rows of bookshelves that occupied the back wall. The greater the space between himself and the Ravenclaw girl, the better. Perhaps if he was lucky her stupid nerdy little boyfriend would apparate and get her out of his sight. I think that’s enough MacGhilleseatheanaich thoughts for today, Vincenzi.

“There must be some weird condition… Something to embarrass us.”
Victor raised an eyebrow at this, despite the fact that he had turned his back to Mondai to better examine the spines of the books in search of a secret compartment, her conclusion made perfect sense. It would be perfectly in-character for Cavendish to put the kids in a situation where only embarrassing themselves would save them. How very typical. So what, then? He wanted them to tell embarrassing stories about themselves, and the door would magically unlock itself?

Victor turned around, ready to comment on the stupidity of the plan, when the words on the board began to move around, forming new sentences. First Mondai was awarded a pot of tea and cookies (that’s what brought her comfort? What a simple creature), then the words moved again, confirming Victor’s suspicions: only embarrassing stories would get them out of this room.

Classic Cavendish.

“There you have it, Mondai,” said Victor gesturing toward the board. He proceeded to make himself comfortable in one of the chairs in the middle rows. “Go on, then. Spill all your dirty little secrets.” Because he was totally not participating in this, nope. Mondai's secrets should be enough for the both of them.

Unfortunately for Airlia, learning the secret to the puzzle wasn't even half the trick of it. Oh no, the real mischief and trouble lay with what was to come next; the truth. And not just any, run of the mill, little truth, but the sort of things she would rather keep to herself. What else would Cavendish have her do? Dress up in a toga and sing the school a sonnet about how her passions for Victor Vincenzi burned with the white hot eternity of a thousand suns? At this point Airi believed it was totally possible.

Airlia eyed her reward wearily, she felt certain her tea things were poisoned or had been spiked with veritiserum, maybe she could get Victor to taste it first... Oh no, that was an awful thought, that was definitely a product of his influence. Raising her wand again, Airi did a quick diagnostic spell and after satisfying herself that her tea things were just tea, she poured herself a cup.

“Go on, then. Spill all your dirty little secrets.”
Airi stopped mid-sip. She had a feeling he would say something like that, because, of course Victor Vincenzi was not going to start telling embarrassing stories about himself, and usually Airi would have been hard pressed to do the same. This time however, the young girl was just eager to be as far away from this stupid room and the perpetually confusing Victor to try getting out of this.

"Fine, fine I'll start, but i have a condition," Airi said, putting down her tea and gritting her teeth, she was already dreading the next hour of her life. "Anything said in this room, dies in this room, no one hears any of this stuff and... We can't use it against each other," Airi said, feeling nervous and impossibly tense.

Victor waited patiently as Mondai began pouring herself a cup of tea. Like her, he also assumed the stuff must’ve been spiked with veritaserum; so he was a little proud though also disappointed of her clever thinking to check on the liquid before taking it in. It would have been kind of amusing if she had accidentally taken in veritaserum. It certainly would’ve made the task of being embarrassingly honest much easier.

The boy listened quietly, leaning back into his chair with crossed arms, as Airlia began to list her rules. Fine. They were do-able enough. Except for the last one, that one would be hard to keep. But he wasn’t about to admit that. “Fine. You have my word.”

"Fine, good," Airi said, picking back up her tea and draining it in one go like she would a shot, before pouring herself another, this time taking small sips. It was surprisingly delicious and the warmth slipping down her throat was as soothing and calming as a sensation as Airi had ever enjoyed.

It had been several minutes and Airlia had still not fessed up a single thing, and judging from the way she clung to the Professor's desk, she seemed nervous to even begin.

This was stupid. This whole thing was stupid and embarrassing and unfair and Airi wished more than anything she could avoid this. She needed to think, she needed to think about a story that had nothing to do with Victor, but was still embarrassing enough to count... "When I.. When I was younger.. I stole books from a muggle library and I still feel guilty," Airi said, shrugging uncomfortably at the memory.

Poof! The professor's chair turned into an incredibly comfy armchair just for her, and Airi sighed.

"When I was younger.. I stole books from a muggle library and I still feel guilty."
Leave it up to Mondai, Saint Airi of the House of Ravenclaw, to consider stealing books an embarrassing memory. Had Victor not been so distracted with whether the story was enough to get them out of detention or not, he might have felt amusement. As the girl's chair then transformed into an armchair, the boy's face lit up with hope.

"Did it work?"
Obviously the professor - or the blackboard, whatever was making the letters on it move - was pleased with the confession. The boy got up from his seat and tried opening the door again but, nope. While Mondai's confession had caused some progress to be made, it wasn't enough to open the door. Frustrated, Victor turned away from the door and returned to one of the desks lined in the room. He seemed to choose a different chair each time.

Stupid Cavendish and his 'special' detention, stupid Mondai having the most innocent embarrassing memory of all history. The crazed Banana Man would never let them go with a confession that harmless! Victor decided it was his turn to go, and though he wasn't eager about it, he just wanted to get out of that bloody room already. He furrowed his brows thoughtfully for a long moment before speaking, "During our fourth year, Hall and I hosted our first party. It was a costume party, of course" - Hall loved those, and this story was the reason Victor had grown wary of them - "And I met this girl in... red robes. She said she was Little Red Riding Hood." Victor cleared his throat, deciding details weren't necessary, "I'd had too many butterbeers and when we returned to the common room, she took her mask off." He cringed. "She was actually Thomas Greenport. That bloody blastardo that never cuts his hair." Victor glared out the window as he remembered the traumatizing experience. Greenport was a weirdo, everyone knew he had a thing for boys, and to this day Victor still walked the other way whenever he saw him coming near.

Airi had thought it would take some serious coaxing to get Victor to begin confessing things, so she was rather surprised when the boy, of his own accord, began telling her a story. She listened quietly, and didn't interject no matter how much she wanted to, after all, Victor had remained silent throughout her little confession.

Airi remembered that party, she and Vi had snuck into it dressed as ghosts, goodness that felt like ages ago. Airi listened intently as Victor talked about meeting some girl dressed as Red Riding Hood, and how after one too many butterbeers they had made it to the common room (how was Airlia feeling jealousy for something that had happened three years ago?) and-
It was Thomas Greenport? Wait. Did that mean, had Victor.... Thomas and Victor hadn't.. Kissed had they? Oh no, this was kind of hilarious, but she couldn't laugh, that would be so mean, no. Airi had to physically turn away from Victor and bite down hard in her knuckles to keep from laughing.


On Victor's desk there appeared a large and elegant decanter full of the finest Firewhiskey you could buy and a beautiful goblin made pair of glasses along with it.

"That could.. It could have happened to anyone.. I'm sure," Airi somehow managed to say, after her urge to laugh had subsided. Though, she still couldn't look at Victor as she quick trip to the door to check if it had unlocked, a quick turn of the knob told her that was not the case. "Damn... Okay.. Well... My turn then," Airi said with a fake cheery voice.

"When I was thirteen... Back when, you know.. We all starting becoming closer... I um, I had a... I had a crush on Vince," Airi admitted, cringing at the stupidity of her thirteen-year-old-selfs taste. It had been the most fleeting of crushes and had lasted all of two weeks, but she still found it horribly embarrassing.

Poof! A record player appeared in the corner of the room along with some of her favorite records all neatly piled together. Well, that was certainly a nice sentiment, but Airi didn't see how it was very helpful, also, wasn't Victor's reward just a tad inappropriate? What was cavendish thinking? The obvious answer? He wasn't.

Victor didn’t miss the clear amusement that suddenly lit up Mondai’s brown eyes, and he almost regretted his confession, had it not been for the beautiful decanter filled with firewhiskey that appeared on his desk at that moment. He noticed that it came accompanied by two glasses instead of just one, and wondered if this was Cavendish’s way of telling him to invite Mondai for a drink. Well, if that was what he wanted, the man must not have known Saint Airi very well. Victor highly doubted she would trust him enough to have a drink with only him around, after all they had been through.

The boy was absentmindedly pouring himself a glass of the alcoholic treat when Airlia checked the door. Nope, still locked inside. No surprise there. It seemed Cavendish wanted them to confess every possible secret before letting them out, until they were completely bare. Naked.

“Bloody git…” Victor muttered under his breath as he took a sip of firewhiskey. Despite himself, he was rather eager to hear Mondai’s following confession. What did she do this time? Write out “80085” on a calculator?

“I had a crush on Vince.”
Victor coughed, slamming the glass back down on the desk. WHAT?! Seriously?! Mondai had a crush on his stupid brother?! Sure, she’d said it had happened when she was thirteen, but still. That was only three years ago! Vince? Really? The strange thing was, Victor felt certain this was supposed to be funny. Hilarious, even. He was supposed to be laughing hysterically at this, teasing Mondai by threatening to tell his brother. But instead, he felt this weird, strange twist in his stomach. An unusual feeling, one he had become familiar with since Mondai had declared that idiot McDweeb her ‘hero’; a feeling which only grew in force when Vince told him about the kiss.

The kiss.
Victor had almost forgotten about that. With Cavendish’s mysterious puzzles and rewards, the boy had almost forgotten that he was sitting across from Robert MacGhilleseatheanaich III’s new girlfriend. That unpleasant wave of anger and irritation crashed over him again, and Victor finished the rest of his glass of firewhiskey in one large gulp in an effort to distract himself. But the thoughts were still there, and that uncomfortable feeling was still there. Suddenly he seemed to remember all too clearly the way the Ravenclaw’s face had lit up when MacGhilleseatheanaich had walked out from behind that statue, the way she had run to him with the brightest of smiles, the way she complimented his handiwork like he had actually done something out of this world. It had only been a stupid glisseo charm, nothing even special.

“First my brother, now MacGhilleseatheanaich… You certainly have an interesting taste, Mondai,” said the boy, unable to help himself. He knew he shouldn’t have said anything, that he was just starting unnecessary trouble at the most inappropriate of times, that he was breaking every rule his father had taught him about remaining cold-hearted and logical. But he didn’t care anymore. Mondai owed him an explanation - why exactly, he didn’t even know, and neither did he want to figure out - and now was the time to hear it. He would probably never get another chance to speak with her alone like this, so he might as well bring it up now.

Airi jumped back as Victor coughed on his firewhiskey and violently slammed down the glass into the desk, of course, after the slight shock had faded, Airi felt concern over take her for the boy, but resisted the urge to ask him if he was alright, the last time she'd shown her concern for Victor she'd ended up with glass in her foot. Why wasn't he laughing at her? Her confession had been ridiculous and even though it made Airi cringe, even she could see some humor to it, but Victor wasn't laughing at her, and somehow Airi felt that was worst, it almost felt like she had disappointed him, or let him down in some way with her poor past choice.

Why wasn't he teasing her mercilessly about this? The more she thought about it, the more it bothered her. Airi would have thought that her little crush confession would have the boy wringing his hands together with evil glee, while he threatened to tell Vince (as well as the whole school), about her little *crush*. Instead, he was drinking down his firewhiskey like it was water and looking... Angry? What could she have possibly said or done in the last few minutes to make him angry? Perhaps he was just getting annoyed with the situation, that made some sense.

"Excuse me?" Airi said, her dark eyes blinking in surprise as Victor coldly mocked her "taste", well, she had expected that, but she hadn't expected him to bring Robert into it. What was he getting at? Was this because she had taken Rob's side earlier when Victor had berated him? No, Victor wouldn't be so petty, besides, he hated her and her opinion or loyalty was unimportant to him. "What do you mean "and now MacGhilleseatheanaich"? I-I'm not into Robert, if I was, I wouldn't have pretended to be on a date with you to get away from him," Airi replied, feeling slightly nervous. She was really hoping he knew nothing about that gross, stupid kiss earlier. If he did find out he'd certainly think less of her...

"It's your turn.. did you... Did you, um... Did you kiss Little Red?" Airi asked, partly trying to distract the boy from their conversation and party very eager to find out if her suspicion was true, this was her only chance after all!

Victor was distractedly re-filling his glass with firewhiskey as a startled Mondai spoke with confusion. ‘I’m not into Robert.’ Yeah right. When she made a point about their fake date during the party to get rid of MacGhilleseatheanaich, Victor shrugged his shoulders. “Or perhaps your intention was simply to make him jealous.” Yeah, that seemed more likely. And to think he’d been foolish enough to believe he had been the mastermind behind that stupid plan. “Fortunately for you, it worked. MacGhilleseatheanaich’s been more daring than usual lately.”

Victor took a sip of his firewhiskey and watched Mondai closely, examining the way she suddenly seemed to turn nervous and flustered. Still, she didn’t mention the kiss. Instead, she questioned him about a rather unpleasant topic, and if she thought she would be getting an honest answer, she was sorely mistaken. There was no way Victor Vincenzi was going to confess that he’d accidentally kissed a guy. “No.”

And if she thought he was going to drop the MacGhilleseatheanaich subject, she was wrong. Again. “But I did hear you shared a kiss with MacGhilleseatheanaich just a little over an hour ago.” The boy kept his icy gaze fixed on the little brunette; he didn’t want to miss any nervous twitch or blush or stutter.

Her trying to make Robert jealous?! The idea was the most illogical thing to have ever come out of Victor Vincenzi's mouth and Airi was flabbergasted. She had no idea where all this was coming from, sure she and Victor hadn't had the best... Friendship, these past few weeks, and yes, teasing and making her uncomfortable was kind of his thing, but this was different. He didn't seem to get any sort of pleasure out of watching her discomfort.

"I was doing nothing of the sort! And if you recall, Victor, the whole plan was your idea," Airi said, fixing with a stare of disbelief. As if Airi, kind hearted and completely guileless as she was, would resort to a trick like that to get someone's attention! The idea was completely absurd. Daring? What did he mean by that? Surely he had no idea of what had happened, right? Right? Airi began to feel a little nauseous. She put down her tea and shoved the cup as far away from her as the desk would allow.

Airi had the feeling he was lying to her, but as she had no way to prove it and with him giving her that death glare, she felt the best thing would be to just drop the subject for the time being... Maybe she could come back to it later when he had gotten a bit drunk...

“But I did hear you shared a kiss with MacGhilleseatheanaich just a little over an hour ago.”

Oh dear, oh dear. No, no that was just... This was just so embarrassing. Airi was redder than a quaffle and her stomach was in knots, and all she wanted to do was to run from the room as fast as her legs could carry her. How did he even know that? Who had told him? The answer came to her in an instant. Vince, Vince must be spreading the little tale of her uncomfortable encounter all around the school.

Should she lie? Pretend it hadn't happened? What would be the point, he'd see right through whatever half-truth she told. Looking down at her hands, Airi took a very deep breath and was about to answer when a squeaking like a rubber duck came from behind her.

During their little conversation (more like interrogation) the letters had been rearranging themselves to create another message, this time specifically for Victor.

Naw-uh Mr. Vincenzi! No Lying Here! For Your Little Deception You Will Be Deducted One Article of Clothing! And For the Rest Of The Evening, if Ether of You Lie, Tell a Half-Truth, Or Even Tell A Boring One, You Will Lose Your Clothes! HAVE FUN KIDDIES! - Professor Oslo Cavendish, A. K. A. Drizzy's BFFL.

That must be a joke, a little joke to tease them and frighten them into submission, because no Professor, no matter how crazy, would punish their students in such an inappropriate manner. And just as Airi had convinced herself of this, Victor's robes vanished, seemingly of their own accord.

Airi's eyes widened. "Cavendish is mad," She said, and then quite suddenly her own robes where gone, leaving her only in her dress shirt, tie, plaid skirt, socks, and shoes.

I HEARD That Miss Mondai!

He really wasn't kidding, oh this was just ridiculous now. He had taken the naked truth thing to a whole 'nother level. With all this craziness Victor's little question had conveniently slipped from Airlia's mind.

“So it seemed.” The plan stopped being his idea the second Mondai twisted it around to make McDweeb jealous. She had probably wanted the rumours that followed after the party, it explained why she’d agreed to leave the party with him and why she’d even allowed him to kiss her. Since when was Mondai as cunning as a Slytherin?! (Or Victor was just demented. The latter was obviously the reality of the situation).

But before the boy could say anything else, his robes had magically disappeared, leaving him only in his dress shirt, Slytherin tie, trousers and shoes. Okay, really? It wasn’t bad enough he was locking them in here, the professor had to go and undress them, too? Was this detention even legal anymore? Normally Victor would have been outraged by Cavendish’s daring, but tonight he didn’t care. The robes were feeling too warm anyway, once he’d started his firewhiskey.

Victor took a sip from his glass and watched as a flustered Mondai commented on the professor’s madness. He ignored the words on the board, his mind not really on the puzzles or the confessions or any of that nonsense anymore. Instead, he began to fill the second glass on his desk with some of the firewhiskey the professor had awarded him.

“Join me for a drink, Mondai.”

Airi raised an eyebrow. Join him for a drink? This was hardly the time for it, after all they were locked away, being forced to reveal themselves to one another, and now they were losing their clothes and drinking was not going to solve anything. Though... The firewhiskey did look temptingly delicious in that decanter.... And it would probably soothe her frayed nerves far better than the nauseatingly sweet tea. Maybe a glass wouldn't have been so awful.

Before Airlia could change her mind, she had nodded her assent and crossed the room to where Victor sat, nursing his own glass (how many had he had? Two, three? He certainly seemed more relaxed). Airi took the beautiful little glass in hand and was about to take a drink, when a thought occurred to her. "Did you check this before drinking?" Airi asked, staring into the depths of the glass as if she were asking it the question.

She knew she was being a bit paranoid about this, but Airi, weary of Cavendish and his antics, was certain he would try to poison them or slip them some amortentia without them knowing it, and was determined to avoid ether situation.

Victor watched as Mondai - surprisingly - joined him. Good, good… the closer he had her, the easier it would be to take her hostage should she decide to run away at any point during the interrogation. He raised an eyebrow at her question. She was easily the most paranoid person he had ever met, though he couldn’t really blame her. They were in a Dee & Nicks Production RP, after all. Anything goes here.

“No.” The boy eyed his glass for a moment and took another long drink. “But if Cavendish spiked it with something, can it be worse than being locked in a room forced to tell truths until we’re nude?”

The boy placed his glass back on the table, crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair, watching the Ravenclaw. “You never answered my question, Mondai.” It had been more of a statement, actually, but still. She had neither confirmed it or denied it.

Airi didn't want to sit, she had too much nervous energy in her to even think about sitting right then, so the girl continued standing instead, her arms wrapped around her body in that defensive stature she always adopted when she felt nervous, cornered, or worried (in this case all three).

The Ravenclaw cringed, did he have to say that so casually? Didn't he realize how much panic that word brought to her? Actually, he probably did and was doing it on purpose. "Point taken," Airi said, taking a long sip of the firewhiskey, sighing as it's slow heat slipped down her throat.

No, she definitely had not answered his.. Question (for lack of a better word), and as Airi sipped her drink, she steeled herself. There was no avoiding this, it was ether answer honestly or lose her shirt and she'd rather the latter. "Um.. Well.. After you used levicorpus on Robert, I brought him back down and well, he started to cry and i was comforting him, it was a totally friendly gesture, nothing else! And then.. " - She was really dreading her next words - "And then he kissed me, and I almost immediately pulled away! I didn't want it at all! I'm not even remotely interested in him, not even a bit," Airi said, speaking very quickly, trying to make him understand.

Victor listened attentively to Mondai’s story, and though he knew what to expect, hearing it from her lips, in her voice, just made it sound so much worse. ‘I was comforting him’, of course, what else could one expect from Saint Airi? And the mere fact that she felt the need to clarify that it had only been ‘a friendly gesture, nothing else’ only made the image in Victor’s head all the less ‘friendly’. He finished his firewhiskey and placed the glass back on the desk gently, rotating it with his fingers. “Almost immediately?” he repeated, paying an astronomical amount of attention to her word choice. “Y’know, for someone who has no feelings for the git, you sure seem desperate to prove that point, Mondai. It almost makes you seem… suspicious.”

Why was she still standing? Didn’t she understand formalities? Manners? When invited to join someone for a drink, the expected thing to do is to sit with that person. But instead of asking the girl to sit, Victor decided he would join her, coming up from his chair and slowly walking around the desk to stand beside her.

This was totally just a casual chat. They were friends, weren’t they? He just wanted her to feel more… comfortable. “So, why didn’t you pull back immediately, if you hated it so much?” he asked, looking down at the girl expectantly, the hint of a smile on his lips. He was just a curious boy making an innocent question, is all.

"Yes, almost immediately," Airi nervously echoed, her dark eyes focusing on the now empty glass of firewhiskey in Victor's lightly tanned hands, she watched, seemingly fascinated as he turned the glass with his long fingers. It was much easier to speak if she could avoid looking at him. "Suspicious?" - Airi blinked, vexation taking over - "I'm desperate because I'm trying to explain myself to someone who is ignoring every valid point I make!" Airi said, gesturing towards the young man himself to emphasize her point.

Why was he being so unreasonable? Airlia didn't understand it at all and she was beginning to feel rather trapped in this little room with a strangely aggressive Victor Vincenzi. And now he was closing the distance between them, and staring down at her with that dangerously cold smile of his and Airi had to fight against every instinct she had to keep from running off to hide behind Cavendish's desk.

"I was surprised, i-i-it took me a little time to gather my wits enough to, well, pull away," Airi said, looking down at her shoes as if they were terribly interesting. "W-w-why are you asking me all these things?" Airi asked, after taking a very long and fortifying drink of her firewhiskey (which was now quite empty).

Mondai’s answer didn’t give Victor much to work with (in other words, it made it difficult for him to twist the words around and turn them against her), so he ignored it. Instead, he moved on to her following question, his smile suddenly widening but never quite reaching his eyes. “How adorable. You’ve even inherited his stutter.” The boy reached out toward the girl and took the empty glass in her hand, only looking away when he turned to refill it. Fortunately for him (and sadly for her), it seemed that the decanter magically refilled itself so that it was never running low on firewhiskey.

“Because, Mondai, that’s the key to getting out of here, isn’t it? Asking questions and sharing embarrassing information?” He offered her her glass again, this time full of the magical liquid.

He stared at her for a moment before continuing, “Tell me. How did it feel? Was it as terrible as when I kissed you by the Ravenclaw tower?” he asked, taking a step toward the girl. “Do you plan to avoid him for the rest of the week now?” Before she could reply, he smiled again and shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t do that to MacGhilleseatheanaich, would you? To your hero?” By the time he uttered the word, like it was some filthy disgusting thing, the boy’s smile had faded, and the anger and frustration he’d been feeling for the past couple of hours began to make its appearance in his usually cold and distant blue eyes.

Victor's words felt like a slap to the face, he was being so mean and so vindictive! What had she done to bring this on? Maybe it had nothing to do with Airi, maybe he was still so angry with Rob and was just taking it out on her? It was the only thing that made sense. She was so offended she couldn't even respond to his little barb, all the girl could manage was an angry glare as he took the empty glass from her, turning from her for just a second to refill it.

This short reprieve from Victor's politely cold smile ended quicker than Airi would have liked. As he explained the objective of the whole detention to her in that cold, patronizing tone of his, Airi gritted her teeth, and coldly accepted her drink, careful not to touch his hand as she did. "Yes, but you seem awfully interested," Airi snarkily replied, taking a long sip of her drink. She was beginning to feel warmer now, and she knew she ought to stop drinking, but it was helping with her nerves.

He was staring at her again, his crystal blue eyes devoid of emotion as usual, but his lips curved into that unpleasant smile and Airlia felt her skin begin to heat up and knew that she must be flushing under his gaze, and then he started verbally attacking her, all the while his voice held that politely friendly air, even as he further closed the already minimal distance between them.

The kiss, their kiss. She couldn't believe he was using their kiss against her. Her stomach lurched, and her heart, her poor stupid heart was in her throat and beating painfully quick. But, that kiss hadn't been terrible, it had been perfect. Airi thought despite herself, as Victor continued speaking, this time asking her if she would avoid Robert for the rest of the week, and Airlia felt shame and anger slip through her all at once. How dare he! How dare he use these things against her! It wasn't right! Especially when she had done nothing wrong!

Something changed, his eyes shone with anger and the polite smile had vanished from his face as he asked his last question venomously. Airi couldn't help it, she took a step back from him. "Robert's kiss was awful, and I intend on avoiding him as long as I can, and you are being vicious and cruel for absolutely no reason," Airi slowly, but angrily said, taking her time least she stutter again.

"Why did you kiss me? Why?" Airi asked, unable to keep the question from slipping past her lips, her anger getting the better of her.

Victor knew that Mondai’s words should have brought a wave of relief, that her reassurance of McGit’s kiss being ‘awful’ and her plans on avoiding him should have him dancing around the room. But, for some reason, he felt no such relief. No, no matter how much Mondai insisted on the awfulness of the kiss, and even if she truly believed it, the fact remained - they had kissed. Robert MacGhilleseatheanaich III had kissed his— friend, and she hadn’t even had the decency to punch him in the face for him.

“I’m merely curious,” the boy said in his defense when Mondai accused him of being ‘vicious and cruel’, though the words had really no effect on him.

When the girl asked why he had kissed her, a slight flash of the old Victor seemed to make an appearance in the boy’s surprised gaze. He hadn’t expected her to ask that question ever again. He had hoped she wouldn’t ask that question ever again. And though he had brought this upon himself, it still irritated him that she would bring it up. Especially after he had made it so clear to her over the weekend, that this question was to be dropped and forgotten.

Why did you kiss me? Why? the question echoed in his head for a moment as he merely stared at her, taking in the anger in her own features. She looked just like that emoji, and if she was trying to come off as brave and intimidating, she was failing miserably. “Because…” You looked beautiful. “I was bored.” The words came out before he could think about it twice, and as soon as they cut through the air, he knew he would never be able to take them back.

But that inner cruel and vicious side of him seemed to feed on the possible consequences of his actions, and encouraged him to go on, to break the helpless girl in front of him into as many tiny pieces as he could. “You’ve known me long enough, Mondai. You know the routine. Hall hosts a party, I meet a girl, we leave the party together…” He smiled again, that cold, emotionless half-smirk had returned. “I’m certain I don’t need to explain the rest.”

Curious, sure because the main motive in interrogating someone was always just plain old curiosity. Sure, right. Airi took another long drink, her glass was almost empty again and she couldn't find it in herself to care, she was far too concerned with the boy in front of her. If Airi hadn't known better she would have said he was acting... Well that he was acting almost as if he were.. Jealous, or something, but jealousy only came about when you liked someone, as in had feelings for them and Victor had made it clear he had no feelings in general, let alone for her.

Just when Airlia believed Victor would never answer her question, and that it would simply hang in the air between them until Cavendish came for them days from now, when Victor finally started to speak.

"Because… I was bored.”
Oh. Oh. Well. That was. Not wasn't. Airi didn't like this feeling at all, it was a hard lump in her throat, a painful twinge in her chest. Otherwise, it hurt, and Airi had to call on her previous anger to calm herself. That blastardo! That evil git! She had known all along he was just playing with her emotions! She had been so foolish. "Bored? Bored?" Airi repeated, anger and pain welling up within her as she glared at Victor, who only smiled and continued on.

I’m certain I don’t need to explain the rest.
Just when Airlia believed she couldn't feel more misused or mortified, Victor made sure to say the absolute last thing she would want to hear. It was much worst than him being bored, much, MUCH, worst. It showed just how little respect he had for her, and how little regard for their friendship he held, and though anyone else might have felt flattered, Airi only felt embarrassed, and angry, and hurt.

"You! You!! YOU!!" Airi began, unable to say anything else, she was so angry, she put down her drink and punched the boy, hard on the chest with both fists, though, half way through this, Airi was forced to pull away when Victor's shirt and tie magically disappeared, leaving the boy's beautiful torso completely exposed. Airi blushed bright red, but though she was embarrassed, she kept up her tirade. "How Dare You! I thought we were friends! Friends don't try to take advantage of each other like that!" Airi said, feeling stricken. She turned away from the young man, no longer able to look at him and his cruelly smirking face.

Airi was so distracted by her feelings that she completely forgot that Victor losing some article of clothing was evidence of the boy's falsehood.

Victor’s smile only widened - and there was possibly a hint of honesty in it, too - when an infuriated Mondai began to echo his words before suddenly deciding that he looked like a proper punching bag. He had never seen her so angry before, so violent; actually, he had never seen her violent at all. Physical attack simply wasn’t the girl’s style. Except when it came to his insults, it seemed, and some sick twisted part of Victor relished in this. He absorbed this knowledge with a sort of giddiness that sparkled in his cold blue eyes when she punched him ferociously, her little fists far from causing any real damage.

Still, the boy took a step back from her, and next thing he knew, he was shirtless. BLOODY CAVENDISH. Victor glared at the board, as if expecting to find the man’s face there; he turned back to Mondai with a little more concern than he had meant to show. If she realized he had been lying… well, that would put him in a very uncomfortable position. Because naturally, he would only want to lie further, but Cavendish would continue ratting him out by magically taking his clothes.

Fortunately, it seemed that Mondai’s moment of anger was too much for her to fully acknowledge this clue, though her cheeks had turned a lovely shade of red. Victor’s smirk widened slightly at this. “But we are friends, Mondai… that’s why I feel…” he spoke slowly, taking another step toward her once her fists had lowered, “that it is my responsibility to tell you…” He slid an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, “When you’re kissing gits.” He leaned in dangerously close, his lips gently brushing her own sweet, pink ones…

… And then he pulled away abruptly, as if some invisible force had caused him a severe burn. “And you reek of that bloody git.” Angry, and already forgetting the fact that he was losing clothes at an alarming rate, Victor turned away from Airlia to refill his glass with more firewhiskey.