Defeat is not the worst of failures.

[helmetdoesnothing]

WHO: Mituna Captor and anyone
TONE: Stressy
RATING: PG-13 for Mituna's likely swearing
WHEN: May 2nd
WHERE: Library
WHAT: The OWLs are coming up, and Mituna is slowly realising he might never be prepared for them
STATUS: Ongoing

---

If he made too much noise again they'd ban him for the rest of the week, but it was difficult to keep himself quiet when trying to study felt like he was reading ancient Greek.

What made it all the more frustrating was being able to remember a time when this was easy. Two years ago this would have been nothing, he could have coasted through his OWLs with next to no studying and be sure that he'd done well. Now? Now he was struggling to keep his place in a textbook and having to read most sentences twice to make sure he grasped the meaning.

Mituna groaned softly, dropping his head to his book on top of a page about manticores and pushing one hand into his hair. He was going to fail everything, he just knew it.

Comments

[hearnoevil]

Mituna had the right idea about studying, which was why Meulin was making her way over right now. When she spotted him, she smiled and began to make her way over to him, but the closer she got the more she realized that something was up. She placed a hand on his back when she saw his defeated pose and raised the other hand in greeting hoping to get his attention. She tried not to talk in the library, given how difficult it was for her to moderate her volume.

[helmetdoesnothing]

He didn't expect company. When Meulin's hand touched his back he jumped, twitching away from it with enough force to almost topple him off the chair. He hissed out a curse, but quickly simmered down when he saw who it was.

"... Oh. Hi, Meulin." Mituna rubbed his face with both hands and straightened up in his chair. "'Th up."

[hearnoevil]

Meulin winced and flailed a little as she reached out to try and steady Mituna's chair. An unnecessary action since he had managed just fine himself, but she had acted on impulsive.

"Sorry," she whispered, which was the closest she could get to talking in a moderate voice, "you look like something is eating at you, Tuna. What's up?"

[helmetdoesnothing]

That was probably for the best. His ability to keep himself upright even on something with four legs could be shaky at the best of times. At first it seemed he wouldn't answer her, as if it wasn't obvious what was bothering him and why was she even bothering him about it--

He stalled that train of thought and for a moment just rested his face against his hands. Then, he picked up a quill and wrote in his usual messy script on a piece of parchment.

im going to FAIL

The final word was underlined fiercely enough to tear the parchment under it, the tip of his quill snapping against the table.

[hearnoevil]

Her heart went out to him. Meulin couldn't imagine how hard it must be for Mituna to retain information, but she remained as ever optimistic. She pulled out one of her own quills and wrote.

No you aren't, Mituna. But maybe sitting in a stuffy library isn't the best way to learn for you. Let me help you and we can both learn. :)

[helmetdoesnothing]

Maybe she had a point. He looked at her with a small frown pulling between his eyebrows, then his shoulders slumped and he pushed one hand through his hair.

"Ok," he muttered, pulling a few books towards himself. If he was going out of the library there were still a few books he needed to take along. "Where thould we go?"

[hearnoevil]

"Lets go outside. It's a beautiful day and there is much more room." Maybe something more practical would make Mituna remember things better? She knew that tended to stick more for her if the subject was something she wasn't especially interested in.

[greenmoonrising]

Bruce tries to keep an eye on the younger students from his House, especially the ones who struggle a bit.

Mituna definitely fell into that category.

Bruce had actually been in the library to do his own bit of study and research, but then he'd heard the noises of distress from around the bookshelves. Recognising that particular tone of distress, Bruce came around and found Mituna slumped over on his books.

"Mituna? You okay?"

[helmetdoesnothing]

"No." He couldn't have sounded any more like he wanted to sink into the floor if he tried. It was muttered against the pages of his book before he sat up and leaned back, letting himself go half limp in his chair because right now he didn't really care if he fell out of it.

"What was your first fucking clue?"

[greenmoonrising]

Ignoring the swearing and sarcasm, Bruce came closer and glanced at Mituna's open books.

"... Want any help?"

[helmetdoesnothing]

He regarded Bruce steadily for a moment (or as steadily as he could - his attention tended to wander even when he was concentrating) then shrugged and straightened up.

"Thure, if you think it'll be any uthe."

[greenmoonrising]

"Can't hurt to try, unless you throw a book at me."

He took a seat by Mituna and glanced at the books. "What subject were you covering?"

[helmetdoesnothing]

"Care of Magical Creatureth." Undoubtedly the one causing the most concern - how did they expect him to take a four hour exam? At least he enjoyed the class.

"I'm not going to throw a book at you, they'll kick me out if I thtart doing that again."

[drubbings]

Terezi is nestled in between two shelves, surreptitiously flicking her tongue over the pages of a giant tome. The librarian said if she caught her licking any of the brittle pages again, she'd have to do all her reading in the presence of a professor, but doing it this was just so much more convenient than sniffing constantly over each paragraph.There was a lot of studying to be done after all! Her ears perk up at that groan and she pokes her head around the shelf to get a proper "look" at whoever it is that sounds particularly miserable.

The shock of delicious liquorice hair down against the book made her curious enough to slide her own book back on the shelf and approach him.

"Those old chicken scratch passages are the absolute worse."

She was trying for sympathetic but there was a certain laughter to her tone.

[helmetdoesnothing]

He recognised her voice before he turned around, as well as hearing that laugh in her voice. It was only by virtue of the fact she wasn't outright mocking him that the 'fuck you' was only dully muttered against the pages his head was resting on.

Mituna sat up, glancing over at the younger Ravenclaw.

"... Are you licking the fucking bookth again."

[drubbings]

Terezi was far too use to hearing Mituna's unique tick from across a quiet common room to take any real offense to him. But on principal she still shot a "Rude!" back at him. She leaned forward on to her cane with her fingers threaded together over the handle. She tilted her head down in the direction of his book, nose twitching.

"Contrary to popular opinion, one little lick won't hurt them!"

Although that may not be the point. For some reason people seem to dislike the idea of someone's saliva all over public property. Terezi still didn't understand the fuss.

"What subject is this?"

[helmetdoesnothing]

The last thing on Mituna's mind right now was the issue of someone's bodily fluids being on the book he was reading (and really, there were far worse ones than saliva, let's be real here) but as she said that he looked down at the book in front of him, one side of his nose wrinkling slightly.

"Manticoreth," he huffed out, sliding the book over so she could sniff it.. or.. lick it.. or whatever she felt like doing. "Trying to thtudy ith a fucking nightmare."

[drubbings]

She was already dipping down by the time he slid the book over, nose hovering a few centimeters from the worn pages. While giving the page a good sniff-over, she reached into her bag and fished out a handful of writing supplies and parchment. Immediately, she popped the end of her quill into her mouth with a satisfied sound.

"At least manticores are interesting! So, Mr. Prickly-Pineapple, what exactly is the nightmare?"

[helmetdoesnothing]

That they were interesting was the only reason he hadn't already closed the book and thrown it across the room, really. Mituna sighed pointedly and looked over at her, despite the fact she couldn't see the expression on his face.

One day she was going to run out of nicknames for him.

"The amount of information outweighth my ability to retain it," he muttered, sounding as if he was repeating something he'd been told, rather than coming up with that particular explanation himself.

[littlefairybull]

As usual, Tavros wasn't all that quiet with his heavy steps and creaking metal braces. Other students tend to glare at him as he passed by, but it wasn't his fault! So he kept his head down, trying to make himself seem smaller and less noticeable as he moved along, like that could some how also mask the noise.

He paused when he heard a groan, and spotted Mituna near by. Hopefully the other boy wouldn't mind a bit of company?

"Uh... Hey, Mituna."

[helmetdoesnothing]

"Hey." He'd heard him coming. Of course he had, who didn't? It hadn't really given him much inclination to make himself look less like the typical long-suffering student, though, so it was only when he was addressed that he lifted his head up and looked over at him.

"'Th up, Tav." Leaning back, he slid a chair out at the other side of the table as an invitation for him to sit, if he wanted to. "Thoundth like you need a thilenthing thpell on thothe thingth."

[littlefairybull]

"Haha yeah! That-" And there's a creaking clank once he sits, making him wince slightly. ".. probably would be a good idea. At least, in the library."

He eyed the book Mituna had. It was likely Tav knew far more about magical creatures than the people actually about to take the exams. "Are, uh... you okay?"

[helmetdoesnothing]

"No. What wath your firtht clue?" The irritated expression seemed to ease slightly when that creaking noise stopped, but he still looked a little annoyed and none of it was really directed at Tavros.

"Jutht that here thoaking in my intellectual inadequathieth."

[littlefairybull]

"I could, uh... possible help you, with your studying." He smiled nervously, hoping the other boy calms down a bit.

"I know lots of things, about magical creatures, at least?"

[helmetdoesnothing]

He'd get there, eventually. Having someone around who didn't treat him like an idiot was always a plus. Rather than snap at Tavros again he simply pressed his face into his hands and let out a few hissed curses against his palms.

It seemed to help some, and he at least appeared markedly calmer when he dropped his arms back onto the table.

"What do you know about manticoreth?"