History had been, as per usual, outstandingly boring, so it didn't really come as in sort of surprise that the second he was out of class, Bran Blackwell took off to finding some form of... relaxation. As it so happened said relaxation could've been found near the Ravenclaw tower, for said distraction's convenience, of course. With his shirt barely buttoned, his jacket swung over his shoulder and his tie barely hanging around his neck, Bran wasn't exactly in the best of states to go trudging back downstairs towards his dorm.

But luck so had it that just as he was passing by the entrance to the tower, someone was just exiting. And my, my... this was just getting better and better. He hadn't talked much to the guy, he'd been appreciative from afar, maybe thrown a comment or two his way, but not much else. But, it would be simply rude of him to just pass up on this opportunity. With a halfhearted, almost shy smile Bran took a few hurried steps towards the Ravenclaw. "Uhmm, hey..." he tried for sweetly helpless. "Elijah, right?" he smiled nervously and passed his fingers through his curls, which were certainly not up to the best of standards at the moment.

"Ugh" he fidgeted intentionally for a second, then grabbed his tie from one side with one hand, and the other with his left hand. "Do you think, you could, heh—help me out for a second?" he pulled the ends of the tie forward, bashfully (not really) casting his eyes downwards. "Wouldn't want to meet Storm, err, looking like this..."

One of Three Owl Standard’s latest singles was being hummed under the eccentric Ravenclaw’s breath as the boy headed down the grand staircase toward the corridor outside. Slung over his shoulder was a bag filled with various odds and ends and between the boy’s teeth was a blood flavored lollipop. The flavor was repulsive, but Eli knew it was his solemn duty as a half-vampire to enjoy the taste of blood, even though the coppery taste left Elijah wanting to gag.

There was a spring in the boy’s step as he left the common room. It was still early enough to get a couple hours of studying in, and though Elijah wouldn’t be doing his arithmancy work, he’d be learning nonetheless. When he noticed the boy in the hall, the tune died in his throat and he raised a single eyebrow in an obvious question.

What was it with Eli always running into snakes?

Elijah nodded slowly, “Yeah, I’m Eli… and you’re Bran,” Wasn’t that obvious? Though he wouldn’t say that he and the Slytherin were friends, you didn’t exactly go to school with someone for six years and not know at least their name. “I’m sorry, I’m a little busy,” He said, and turned to walk away. He got two steps down the hallway before biting his lip endearingly and turning back to the boy.

It really would be a shame if he got in trouble for looking like he’d just been tussling with some hussy in a dark corner. “I suppose I could help… but just for a moment,”

Attempting to play coy when Grimlish was sucking on a lollipop was definitely... challenging. Seeing the round red head of the candy disappear into his mouth was,  ugh... Something, alright. But that was fine, he was Bran Blackwell. He could contain himself. Hopefully.

"Heh, yeah, that's me" he said awkwardly, smiling softly. "Bran." He looked at his feet for just a second, only to pout, that adorable little pout if his, when he heard Elijah's dismissal. "That's... okay" he said dejectedly. He let out a strangled noise, as if starting to say something, on seeing the guy actually steeping away. That was rude, but it was fine. He did like a little bit of a challenge.

When he turned around, Bran hid a smirk and took the few steps between them, nodding with an excited smile at him. Pulling the ends of his tie forward again, he offered them to Elijah, stopping to look at himself, lips curling in an O shape. "I suppose I should, ughbutton this first" he said, bashfully, letting a deep flush spread over his cheeks. Without making eye contact with the Ravenclaw, Bran unbuttoned his shirt and then set to buttoning it properly. "We—I... got carried" he said apologetically in a barely audible voice.

When all but his top button were done, he lifted his head slightly, fleetingly watching Eli intently. Then he offered back the ends of his tie. "I appreciate this" he smiled fondly. "And I'm sorry to be keeping you."

Elijah shoved the hard candy into his mouth and clucked under his breath as the Slytherin handed him the ends of his tie. The plastic handle sticking from the sucker was awfully close to Bran’s face, but Eli didn’t really have any other choice. It would be a sin to get sticky red juices all over the tie, so Elijah’s mouth was the only logical place to hold it… which only made it impossible for him to speak.

That didn’t stop him from trying though…

After a couple of attempts to warn Bran that his behavior would eventually come to bite him in the backside, he gave up. His mumbles weren’t helping the situation and he didn’t exactly want the other boy to think of him as a nutter. Eli didn’t even know why he wanted the bloke to like him, but it was obvious in the way that he held himself that it was true.

As he buttoned the last button on Bran’s shirt, his finger brushed the collarbone underneath the fabric and a shiver ran up Elijah’s spine at the contact. He deftly knotted the tie without making eye contact with the snake, and when finished took a hearty step backward before looking up.

He removed the lollipop from between his lips and spoke quietly, “You should be more careful. Professor Storm is a hard man. You do not want to get on his bad side. Plus, your uniform is important, you should take better care of it,” Eli wasn’t sure exactly why his uniform was important… but it was!

Bran's eyes almost went cross, looking down at the stick of the candy, and he couldn't help let out a little snort. He instead focused on the way his lips seemed to move, sounds lost at the back of his throat as he was attempting to tell him something and Bran's lips curled into a little smirk, thinking on... other such circumstances.

He sure was a strange bloke, a little quiet, a little awkward, but he was gorgeous and Bran didn't really need anything else. He was also quite fascinating... Bran knew everything, but the fact that he didn't know quite as much on Elijah, as he would've wanted to sure bugged him and only spurned him further.

When the Ravenclaw's fingers brushed over his skin, Bran let out a noisy exhale that soon turned into an amused little huff at Elijah's obvious disinclination to watch him in the eyes. He was still smiling lazily when the boy got away from him as if burned and finally looked at him. At which Bran raised a curious brow. He was almost adorable. "Thank you" he said with a fond little smile, eyes darting over the place where the lollipop disappeared into his mouth.

Bran let out a little snort at Elijah's warning and shook his head a little. "Oh,I  don't know... I wouldn't say hard—maybe severe"he mused a little, looking at the Ravenclaw intently. "I don't really mind hard men" he added after a pause, head lowered, voice a little softer as he watched him bashfully. He was done playing coy, it didn't really suit him, as much as he tried to convince himself that he could pull it off.

"But thank you for your concern" he quickly added in a less meaningful way with a sincere smile. "But I'm afraid I must disagree on the uniform front" he grinned brightly. His wardrobe included pieces that were much more tasteful and costed small fortunes. And their uniform was droll as the day was long. He settled instead for, "I have about five of them. I keep... losing or misplacing them" he explained with a tight smirk. Which was definitely true. But on the other hand, he had collected enough uniform pieces to make up full uniforms for all four Houses.

Taking a step towards Elijah, he crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head back watching him through narrowed eyes. "What are you sucking on over there?" he asked with a perfectly expressionless face and, hopefully, innocent curiosity.

To say Elijah Fitzroy Grimlish was out of his element with the Slytherin would have been the understatement of a lifetime. The flirty behavior exhibited by Bran was lost completely on his Ravenclaw companion. Sure, Eli had been kissed before, but it was an awkward affair in which the lass pretty much had to attack his face before he understood what was going on. After that things seemed to go downhill pretty quickly…

“Yeah, perhaps severe is a more apt adjective. Or stern, he’s pretty stern,” Eli ran his free hand through his hair as he thought about what Bran had said. “This is a blood flavored lollipop. Tastes disgusting, but since my pop’s a vampire, I figure I’ve gotta keep up with appearances and hopefully when I finally meet him, he’ll be proud. I’ve gotta kinda make up for the fact that I’m a vegetarian. I’m sure a blood sucking being wouldn’t be thrilled with that… but I couldn’t imagine hurting a poor animal just for me to satisfy my stomach, y’know?”

Eli was rambling, simply because he wasn’t aware of how to assess the situation. When social situations became awkward, the boy vomited words at random until something either made since or things blew up at nuclear rates. Things tended to end with the latter. When Eli started rambling about a non-existent vampire that supposedly sired the adopted twins, that’s when things usually turned for the worse.

“I’ve probably got some Bertie Bott’s in my bag though, if you wanted a shack… SNACK, I mean… I totally meant to say snack,” Elijah’s cheeks turned a bright red after his embarrassing slip of the tongue, he was only trying to be friendly!

"Are you often in the habit of tasting things that are disgusting, in spite of the taste?" he asked in an amused voice, eyebrows raised in question. His face grew warmer, more relaxed at his next words, however. "I'm sure your father would be proud of you regardless if you have a taste for blood or if you are a vegetarian, Elijah" he said almost fondly, leaning in closely with eyes narrowed and a cryptic smile. "Anybody that judges you based on your tastes, preferences and views is nobody worth your time, honey. Even if they are your parent" he chided, tilting his head to the side to smile brightly at him.

At the boy's offer Bran gave an amused little giggle and shook his head a little. "Hmmm. Thanks for the offer but I think I'll—"And just like that, with an intense focus on his face he made a few steps until he was close enough to breathe on his face and pulled the lollipop from Elijah's hand. He watched it curiously for a few seconds, raising it to his eyes to see the consistency and tucked it between his lips giving it a cautious suckle. It really was blood-flavored and his nose crinkled as soon as the taste hit his flavor buds. Then again, Bran tended to bite on occasion so he wasn't completely unfamiliar with the taste. "This is rather dreadful" he mused giving it another slow lick, thoughtful expression on his face.

"And dunno about snack or shack, now shag on the other hand" he said cheekily with a shit-eating grin, raising his eyebrows slowly only to end in a little chuckle. "I'm only kidding, sweetie" Bran added, in a tone of voice that said he was most definitely not. "Would you like this back?" he asked again, perfectly innocently, waving the lollipop a little.

“My grandmother always makes us eat beets, though I think they’re disgusting. Sometimes you have to eat things you don’t enjoy because they’re good for your health, don’t you agree?” Eli smiled awkwardly at Bran, the thought that this boy could be flirting with him dawning in his eyes. “I mean, in theory a father should love you no matter what… but this dude’s a bloodsucking vampire. Who knows what vampire daddies are like, perhaps they only support their children if you prove yourself worthy,” The eagle shrugged at the snake. All this heavy talk was a bit awkward and Elijah couldn’t wait until the conversation steered itself into calmer waters… or at least waters that didn’t include chatting about Eli’s non-existent vampire sire.

When Bran snatched Eli’s sucker from his hand, the blush on Eli’s face deepened considerably. So the bloke didn’t want jelly beans, but he had no qualms taking a sucker from Eli that he’d already had in his mouth. Then, as the boy was busy licking the dang candy, he said he wanted to… wanted to… well… do things with Eli. Elijah had barely kissed another person, doing more was simply unheard of! This conversation was certainly something odd and unexpected. Not… that Elijah would mind necessarily. Bran had a face that was pleasing to the eye, and his personality wasn’t horrid like many snakes. But what was the point in even thinking about things like that… Obviously the other guy was just kidding. Right?

“Uh…uhm… you can keep it if you’d like?” Did he want it back? The flavor was, as Bran had pointed out, dreadful. Then again, if Elijah ever wanted to be socially less awkward, he’d eventually have to start flirting back… and isn’t that what one does when flirting? You eat candy after someone else? That, for some reason, didn’t seem exactly right to the Ravenclaw, but perhaps he was wrong.

“Uhm… not that it’s any of my business… but why would you be way up here if you had to meet Professor Storm? His classroom isn’t even close to being near here,” He asked, looking around in case the professor in question was hiding behind a suit of armor or something.

"Well, I wouldn't know about that" he said musingly, with a little smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "I've always diligently eaten my greens. They—ah... help with stamina" he winked nonchalantly and giggled softly "And skin, of course, they're very good for the skin" he added more seriously, absently rubbing at his own cheek. "I wouldn't judge based on one's magical status" Bran offered with a shrug of his own. "I'm sure your father loves you regardless of your blood ingestion habits." The Blackwells had been lucky enough to have a very loving and accepting family... He couldn't really relate.

Elijah's blush and his obvious confusion was rather endearing as long as it did not border on complete discomfort. He could work with confusion... Bran waved the lollipop for another moment and then slipped it back between his lips. "Suit yourself" he said around it, tongue darting to lick at the corner of his lips, subtly shrugging. "I'll owe you one" he smiled toothily, stick of the candy coming out from between his teeth.

With a little pop he extracted the vile lollipop out of his mouth and shook his head amused, and chuckling softly. "No, no—what I mean was, I wouldn't want to run into Storm, while looking like this. I wouldn't be willingly meeting with Storm" he rolled his eyes a little and shuddered. "Wouldn't want the whole dreadfully fashion impaired"thing to rub off on me, would I?" he said in a very serious manner, lips thin and brows furrowed.

"Cheeky aren't you?" he teased with another wink and sly smile. "I was getting a lesson in—hmmm... anatomy, from one of your fellow Ravenclaws. You are all so... knowledgeable, after all" he offered with a shamelessly innocent smile and a bat of his eyelashes.