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

[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?"

[littlefairybull]

Tavros perked up a bit at that. "I have, a couple books on them, actually." Though he has a feeling more books might not be a way to help with the anxiety.

"What sort of way, helps you remember lessons and facts? Seeing things? Or, uh... maybe listening?"

[helmetdoesnothing]

"If I can thee it, that helpth." Being talked at didn't do much for him, and it was hard enough to pay attention in class without having to take notes too. Normally, he could copy them off someone else later, at least well enough to be able to retain the information to do his homework.

There was very little that would actually help the anxiety - general exam nerves coupled with his own personal jitters over finally being proven completely incompetent when it came to schooling.

"Got any bright ideath?"

[littlefairybull]

"Well I, uh... don't have any manticores, that I can show you." He chewed his lip, then pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill, then spreads it out on the table.

With Mituna watching he tried his best to explain manticores while drawing little pictures, all their different parts and how they interact with other species. There's probably more information than Mituna really needed to know, but it ended up like something of a comic book in the end.

[helmetdoesnothing]

Even if it didn't all sink in, the fact that Mituna stayed still and quiet while Tavros explained things to him was a testament to his abilities in keeping the teenager's attention. He flicked his eyes over the drawings, not having any questions just yet, but no doubt he'd have some eventually.

"Hehe, you thhould teach."

[littlefairybull]

"You, uh... you think so?"

He'd never really given much thought about what he actually wanted to do with himself, let alone having teaching as an option to fall back on. "Tutoring, seems to be going well at least. I think."

He offered the other boy a bashful smile.

[helmetdoesnothing]

"Thith ith good, I can uthe it." He tapped one finger to the drawings and notes Tavros had made. Mituna wasn't much of a liar - in fact he was pretty bad at it - so the other boy could count on his being honest.

"Tho.. what do you know about acromantula?" It wasn't a case of trying to dig out information.. he'd put a question mark next to their entry in his textbook and promptly forgotten why. It didn't hurt to ask, if it might have been important.