Ilvermorny

Jay closed the door behind him leaving just himself and Faith outside of the common area, the sounds of duelling and conversation greatly muffled and the outside area was peacefully quiet in comparison.

He walked fast to catch up to her "Hey Faith you alright? You look kind of upset?" He questioned, concern etched into his features and overriding whatever nervous energy usually overcame him when he talked to Faith.

Faith had gone out into the small hallway off of the basement arena situated in the Wampus common area, making her way towards the stairs at the far end that went up to ground level. It was essentially empty besides her, people who were interested in the dueling were already inside or they were in other parts of the school going about their business, so each step sounded unusually loud in the relatively empty underground corridor. She had heard something behind her even before he actually spoke, but she didn't stop until he did. She half-turned.

"Y-Yeah, no, I'm fine, just... tired I guess, maybe I'll just go back to the dormitories." she muttered, though didn't exactly sound very firm in what she was saying. "I...tend to lock up when it matters; for whatever reason I thought maybe I would be over it, maybe it would be different this year..." she trailed off, not exactly sure what else to say.

There was sympathy in his eyes and his voice was soft and reassuring "Hey Faith trust me I get what it's like to freeze up, I know how easy it is to be hard on yourself but you'll get through it. You're a crazy talented witch. I mean look how well you did in your duel, against Joun no less. Tryin to do stuff under pressure doesnt just come automatic to everyone and that alright. You just gotta practice and stuff, we all freeze up sometimes."

He took a step closer and put his hand on her arm and gave her a friendly smile "Dont beat yourself up about it, just learn from it and move forward."

"Y-yeah... I know." she said with a small resigned sigh. "I mean, against John it was fine, because it was just fun; I didn't go in worrying about anything; trying to fix someone I just worry so much about what'd happen if I do it wrong. I would say it's hard to practice because you need someone who's hurt but...well... Thunderbird usually has that covered." she said with a small smile, trying to temper a bit of her frustration with a bit of humor.

"Anyway...thanks. Sorry, summer was kind of rough."

Jay let his arm drop and nodded thoughtfully "Mood, summer can sometimes be tough for me too. I won't say i know exactly what you go through but I feel you."

He cracked a smile at her joke and nodded "yeah you can always count on the Thunderbirds to act a fool and wreck their shit." He looked at her "you have the talent Faith you just gotta believe in yourself girl." He said with a softer smile.

"I'm not always so great at that, I guess." she admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"What about you though? You're talkin' about my duel and you whooped John too!" Changing the subject; she probably didn't even realize she was doing it, it was just something that happened, steering away from certain topics, or things that are too personal. It was also something she probably had to work on.

"Dueling's kind of your thing though, right, along with Quidditch? Thinking of being an auror, or going pro?"

At the compliment Jay looked sheepish and a hand found the back of his neck "Well ya know it was close and I still need a lot of practice. I'm always rusty after summer at least when it comes from the magic side of things." And at her second question he thought a bit shrugging a little "Well I think I'll likely try and be a hit wizard. Quodpod is is fun but not much of a pro audience globally and besides I want to do something that protects people. But Aurors have to be good at a lot of things that I'm not but hit wizards specialize in combat which I think I have a shot at."

Faith paused for a moment, sizing him up a little with her hands on her hips, looking contemplative for a moment before giving a nod of affirmation, "Yeah, I can see it; not my thing but you'd probably have a knack for it." she said in response to his mention of being a hit-wizard, as strange as a concept as that was. She supposed it was more bounty-hunter than police, it sounded neat either way, a fascinating occupation she had no intention of dabbling in.

"Yeah, Aurors are kind of like healers I think, have to know a little bit about everything so you know how to fight it. The testing requirements are sort of crazy, so studying this year might be a little bit of a mess."

Jerric felt awkwardness overcome him and a hear move to his face a bit as she essentially inspected him. A nervous smile came to his lips as she delivered her affirmation "y-yeah thanks, I just want to use my talent to help people you know and well I guess fighting the bad guys is the best way for me to do that." He said with a shrug.

Jay had looked down to the ground while he spoke but he looked back up at Faith "What about you? Planning on going into healing professionally? Gonna try to be a doctor or nurse or something?"