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Post by Keaira O'Connell on Aug 20, 2008 22:45:46 GMT -5
Keaira had all she could do to suppress a loud bursting laugh as Tommy guess that she belonged to the Hufflepuff house. It wasn’t that she held anything against them, it simply put seemed more than a bit odd to think of herself among one of the people who wore that yellow badge that valued loyalty and friendship above all. How would she have survived if she put her friend above her own self? Surely by now if she had done that she would be sporting more scars than she was, and maybe she would have been better at protecting her friend than she was. And just possibly she would make friends easier than she did. But alas she was not a Hufflepuff, among those that value their friends. She was a Slytherin. The home of those who seek their own betterment, putting themselves before others, always pushing to reach that higher goal, that was her home and would always be.
She never was one for many friends, or even for few friends. She was a person for herself. She learned to juggle to amuse herself. She learned to play the tin whistle for herself, and to meditate alone. Her only reason to learn to fight with a sword and a bow was to protect her life. And yet, she always brewed enough of a potion to help multiple people. Was it to ensure that they persevered because she liked them, or because she needed them? She wasn’t sure. She could easily say it was merely for her own benefit. But what would that make of her? No, she helped her allies because she would be saddened if most of them died. So was she different now than when she was first placed in the Slytherin house? Surely some things had changed, and other had not. She was less of a shut out person than she had been, and yet she was still a loner, and still worked best on a team of one or possibly two. But she had made more than passing acquaintances; she had made friends, ones that she would risk herself to help. Maybe she should have been placed in a different house. Then again maybe not.
She smiled quietly at Tommy, hoping that he wouldn’t jump away from her at the first mention of what her true house was. It seemed that she was making a bit of progress where the boy’s jumpy behavior was concerned. Letting her arms fall down ward away from her body, she tried to look unaggressive as she could so she wouldn’t put out vibes that would make her look scary or even intimidating to the boy. Softly she spoke to him, hoping he wouldn’t jump too much at her acknowledgment that she might be someone he should fear.
“No, I’m actually in the Slytherin house. But I try not to be the stereotypical Slytherin girl.” She paused a second waiting for his response, and noticed that he was gazing toward the sky. It brought her eyes upward. The eclipse had ended, it was time to go. As she looked to the sky she noticed how quickly the boy aside her moved. His voice stuttered as he quickly moved away from her, and closer to the door. As she watched his movement she wondered whether his sudden movement had to do with her announcing that she was from the Slytherin house. However she didn’t wish to pursue an answer to said question. So she instead let out a soft sigh, and stood slowly to her feet.
“Well I’m not in such a rush to get out of here, and go back to not sleeping, but if you are ready to go then I suppose I shall walk you to your dorm and then take my night travels somewhere else.”
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Tommy Bryce
Gryffindor
[red]1st Year Gryffindor[/red]
You bend and you bruise me while you try to control me
Posts: 104
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Post by Tommy Bryce on Aug 21, 2008 13:51:31 GMT -5
Tommy could sense Keaira’s amusement at his suggestion that she was a member of the Hufflepuff house – apparently he had picked one of the least likely – and blushed a little. Still, at least she wasn’t angry. And he could relate to laughing at what someone else said well enough... he remembered the conversation with Cavan, who had confused Buckingham Palace with “Birmingham Palace”. If there were any palaces in Birmingham, he had completely missed them for the whole time he had lived there. He still had hints of a Brummie accent from his time in the city, but it had faded a lot compared to what it had been several years ago. Having realised her humour almost immediately, he was unsurprised by the smile she sent his way. Her arms dropped away from herself and he hoped that meant she wasn’t cold any more.
“No, I’m actually in the Slytherin house. But I try not to be the stereotypical Slytherin girl.”
Tommy knew of the traditional house stereotypes, but with such doubt in his own placing he didn’t put a lot of stock in it. Slytherin had almost certainly got the worst deal from the view on their values and personality, but he guessed that that was partly due to the effect Salazar Slytherin’s departure had had on the school at the time so many centuries ago. It was sad, really, that one person leaving was still having an effect on the house they founded even now.
Now almost next to the door, Tommy wasn’t prepared for Keaira to also rise – he’d forgotten that she had said she would walk him back to his common room. He just had to hope that the Fat Lady would be awake, and in her portrait rather than visiting others. He didn’t really want to wake her – she could get quite ratty when that happened, and although he knew very well she was only a portrait it was still an instinct to not make other people get into a bad mood.
“Well I’m not in such a rush to get out of here, and go back to not sleeping, but if you are ready to go then I suppose I shall walk you to your dorm and then take my night travels somewhere else.”
Hearing that she possibly didn’t want to leave, Tommy’s worry increased. From experience, he’d learnt that the easiest way for someone to get in a bad mood was if they felt they had to do something they didn’t really want to. “If you don’t want to you can stay here, I’ll be fine. I can look after myself,” he assured her truthfully. Sure, he might sometimes get hurt when he looked after himself, but he was always okay eventually. He couldn’t see that anything that would be in the school corridors that would be any more of a danger to him than his dad or the creature in the forest.
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Post by Keaira O'Connell on Sept 1, 2008 14:07:50 GMT -5
Keaira was already moving toward the door, and Tommy, when he began speaking. She shook her head gently at the idea of simply allowing him to return to his dorm alone. It really didn’t take her out of her way any bit, and she had nothing to do aside from toss and turn in her bed with nothing but nightmares for company. She put a light smile on her face, and looked at the door.
“Tommy, it isn’t out of my way to ensure that you get to your dorm, and I have nothing to better to do. Besides, it is part of my job to make sure that the students are in their dorms at night. So that’s what I’m going to do. Let’s get going together then shall we?”
Keaira moved to open the door, and pushed it in gently and as she moved through it she leaned her back against it and held it open for Tommy to walk through. She knew there was the chance that Tommy would continue arguing with her about whether or not she should walk him to his dorm. So, to help quell those arguments early she held her hand up to him, and swiftly added to her previous arguments.
“Really, Tommy if a professor caught you out of your dorm after hours, you’d be in some bad trouble. With me with you, you’ll be in less trouble.”
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Tommy Bryce
Gryffindor
[red]1st Year Gryffindor[/red]
You bend and you bruise me while you try to control me
Posts: 104
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Post by Tommy Bryce on Sept 1, 2008 14:55:28 GMT -5
With Keaira moving towards him, Tommy couldn’t help but step backwards quickly to get out of her way. It wasn’t really that he thought she was going to attack him anymore, but more an instinctual thing. If someone is coming in your direction, make sure you’re far enough away that they can’t lash out suddenly. He was vaguely reassured by the smile she sent his way, but still wasn’t totally convinced. There must be something better she could be doing than walking him to his dormitory, even if it only involved sleep. He wasn’t worth the effort of this anyway – he’d been the one breaking the rules in the first place, and now she was trying to make sure he got back to Gryffindor common room safely, of all things.
He nodded once, doubt and confusion visible in his expression, as she spoke again. She held the door open for him to pass through, and Tommy could hardly do anything else but walk past her at such close proximity. He got past as fast as he could, though, and once he was a safe distance away again turned back to face her. She had started talking again, giving yet another reason why she should accompany him. Bad trouble... he didn’t like the sound of that.
“What kinda trouble?” he asked timidly, “and won’t you get in trouble too? For not telling someone I’m breaking the rules...” he trailed off, not sure if that had been a good thing to say or not. What if she changed her mind and decided to report him now he’d pointed that out? But, he couldn’t let her get punished for trying help him, it just wasn’t right. He waited for Keaira to start walking before following, not wanting to set a pace she didn’t like.
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Post by Keaira O'Connell on Sept 6, 2008 0:52:07 GMT -5
Keaira wasn’t sure whether it was his shyness or his own self doubt, but there was something endearing about Tommy. Whatever the characteristic was she silently hoped that he would keep it for a while, and perhaps learn to grow around it, and become a slightly more confident boy. After all, for an eleven year old, he was cute. As he moved through the door and past her she got the distinct impression that he was still very uncomfortable when he was near her. Maybe that was just part of who he was. Maybe not.
Pushing off from the door, she moved away from it so it could gently swing closed behind them. She watched it close and then turned around to address Tommy’s question concerning what kind of trouble might come of this night. She smiled at him, knowing that he probably had yet to be caught doing something he shouldn’t have in his so far, short Hogwarts career.
“Well mostly detentions, and point losses. But it’s the detentions I would worry about. Depending on which professor finds you it could be quite the horrid experience. I’ve had to go through and separate different poisonous, but not fatal, herbs so that the good ones were in one pile and the bad were in another. “
Keaira paused for a few moments, and took a few steps forward, not quite certain where she should be headed, but knowing that it had to be in that direction, merely because behind them was the Astromony tower, and classroom.
“After that I was pretty sure I would never try anything as stupid as what caused me that detention ever again. And no, I probably won’t get in too much trouble. As a prefect they tend to be more lenient on me. Besides we only get in trouble if we linger about long enough to get caught. Now, how about we get going? You’re going to have to lead the way; I’ve never been to the Gryffindor Common room.”
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Tommy Bryce
Gryffindor
[red]1st Year Gryffindor[/red]
You bend and you bruise me while you try to control me
Posts: 104
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Post by Tommy Bryce on Sept 7, 2008 8:33:45 GMT -5
As the door swung shut and Keaira moved away from it, Tommy took a light step backwards, just to maintain that distance of safety. It seemed very unlikely that she was going to punish him now after all the opportunity she had just had atop the astronomy tower, but there was nothing wrong with being cautious. Some might call it over-cautious, but his father could change moods so quickly that such a carefulness was now built into who Tommy was – it was just instinct to him. No thought process was usually involved with his self-preservative actions.
His stomach clenched slightly when detentions were described as “horrid experiences”, automatically fearing the worst. Point losses were nothing in comparison, although he would rather avoid that simply to avoid angering his housemates. But then, she went on, describing one of her previous experiences. That was... nasty, but nowhere near as bad as he had thought. You weren’t getting hurt, just... put through an unpleasant experience. That knowledge made him feel a little less terrified of ever getting caught doing something wrong. He’d still avoid it, but some of the dread at what a punishment might be lessened.
“How do you become a prefect?” he asked curiously in his normal, quiet voice. He didn’t usually ask questions of other people as he was of Keaira, but she didn’t seem about to bite his head off. And the idea of some leniency on prefects was appealing, on the off chance that some teachers did in fact go for more traditional, corporal punishment.
He followed her as she walked, and when she inquired as to which direction to go he took a few quick steps so that he was parallel with her. Not leading, just directing. “This way,” he motioned, taking a left turn as the corridor split. The distance between them was still there, and he still glanced up at her occasionally, but he was much more relaxed than he had been when she’d first found him on top of the tower. Turning right at another junction, a thought occurred to him and he sent another nervous look in her direction. Biting his lip slightly, he decided to ask. “W-why are you wasting your own time trying to stop me getting punished as bad if a teacher finds me?” he inquired uncertainly. That had been part of her reasoning, but he couldn’t understand it. If he got punished that was his own fault, not hers. Why was she bothering to help?
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Post by Keaira O'Connell on Oct 5, 2008 22:43:55 GMT -5
Keaira didn’t seem to be bothered at all by the late hour as they began their trip to return Tommy to his common room, and herself to her own. It was late, but when you were hardly getting sleep on any given day, it didn’t seem like such a difference to miss out on a few more. She never yawned, or even felt her eyes drooping, in fact the mere thought of returning to her common room, and then her dorm, to experience another nightmare, chased all thoughts of sleep away instantly.
The vivid image of Alessandro being tortured slowly came quickly to her mind, assaulting all of her senses for a few short seconds before she could push it away. She shook her head slightly and forced herself to focus entirely on what Tommy was saying. If she could only keep her mind off of those thoughts and images maybe she would have a small chance of slipping back to sleep in a few hours.
Becoming a prefect, that’s what he had asked… She thought about it for a little bit, trying to figure out what it was that had made her eligible for being sanctioned a prefect, but only came up with a few things. None which she could say with entire confidence were one hundred percent correct.
“Well the prefects of a house are always 5th year students, and a chosen, or at least recommended by the head of their house. The students who are chosen are supposed to represent the best of the house, people who don’t break the rules, or have good grades, or an air of authority. I suppose it really breaks down to you need to be a good example for the other members of your house, and you need to be able to take charge in an emergency situation. And of course the headmistress gets the final say in who is selected.”
When they came to the intersection, Keaira was happy that Tommy knew where he was headed, as it would keep them moving and hopefully they could get to his dorm without getting in trouble. After he was safely within his common room it wouldn’t matter anymore. She could take care of things by herself, and it would be safer at the least. As they turned another corner, she heard him speak up once more. The small stutter that remained in his voice, made her a little nervous that he was still so uncomfortable around her. And yet, it brought a small smile to her face to hear it.
“ Well I already told you that I couldn’t sleep, but I suppose it won’t hurt if I tell you a little more. Tommy, it’s not entirely safe here at Hogwarts. There are things going on that most of the adults either don’t know, or don’t want us to know. And they are dangerous things. Students have been attacked, and even killed, and some of the adults are covering it up. I don’t mean to scare you, but there are more than just dementors in the forest to worry about, Shadows and Wraiths, both of which can and will kill without remorse. And there isn’t a spell that can be taught to help protect you from them. There are people in the school that have the capabilities to defeat them, but they can’t be there all the time, I just figured if I can keep some people safe, I should try.”
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Tommy Bryce
Gryffindor
[red]1st Year Gryffindor[/red]
You bend and you bruise me while you try to control me
Posts: 104
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Post by Tommy Bryce on Oct 6, 2008 13:56:59 GMT -5
Unlike Keaira, Tommy could feel his eyelids getting heavier with every step he took, but when they closed for almost an entire two seconds he became aware that his guard was dropping with tiredness and his eyes flashed open again, more alert now. Normally he wouldn’t be so careless while walking next to someone he’d only just met in a shadowy corridor. But her frequent attempts to make him less wary of her and general friendliness directed towards him had apparently worked on his subconscious in some way he hadn’t intended or even registered until now. He was usually only this relaxed when on his own, or sometimes around Cavan. Weird... he couldn’t help thinking.
Looking up at her, he noticed the shake of her head and expression on her face as her thoughts turned to the less savoury matter of Alessandro’s torture. He recognised that look, that... hauntedness. Hauntedness? Is that a word? Shaking his own head, he moved on from the question of whether he had just made up a word in his head, and watched carefully. He saw her attention turn back to what he was saying but stored away what she was saying for later processing. Instead of replying, he kept an intent gaze on her, a tiny frown creasing his forehead. He’d seen haunted looks before – at The Funeral, especially. Having only been to the one funeral, for his step-mother after her untimely death in the Forbidden Forest, it had at some point become capitalised with a ‘the’ added to the beginning, in Tommy’s head. It was certainly an important enough occasion in his eyes to gain the emphasis. That was something his mind tended to do for important events or places or people. Add extra emphasis in his head. Quite often it transferred when he spoke those words out loud as well, and since to most other people they had no significance whatsoever, he often got odd looks.
But people only got that haunted look when they were thinking about something sad, from what he’d worked out. He’d seen it on his own face in the mirror when he was thinking about his dad, loads of times. Was someone hurting her too, or had something happened that made her sad? It must be, why else would she have had that look on her face? He felt a little anger rise up on him at the thought of someone hurting her, and seeing a screwed up ball of paper on the floor (an abandoned bit of homework? A page torn out of a library book? A note passed in class no longer needed and dropped on the floor?) he kicked it into the wall as he passed. It bounced, and he glared at it as it slowly rolled to a stop again as it lost its momentum in front of a flight of stairs. Level with it once more, Tommy went to kick it again, aiming down the stairs. He wasn’t looking at Keaira anymore, and the small frown had turned into an outright scowl as he watched the ball of paper drop down towards the floor below. The staircase suddenly began to move, and he found himself watching as it flew off the end and properly fell, doubtless to land on a floor very far below and litter there instead. He felt a surge of satisfaction and the anger slowly faded, leaving him feeling quite foolish. A slight redness rose in his cheeks and he kept his gaze on the floor until he felt it leave, then returned to staring up at the older Slytherin.
She was smiling again, he saw with relief, and had moved on from the subject of prefects. Now she was saying how it wasn’t “entirely safe” at Hogwarts. Just watching her fixedly, it took him a second to understand what she was saying. Not safe? Well... of course it wasn’t safe. Nowhere was entirely safe from getting hurt or bad things happening. He would have said so too, except that he didn’t want to interrupt her. She continued and he realised she was talking about more important things than just getting hit. People being killed... but he already knew that, too. The Forest, where they’d found The Monster – two other capitalisations in his head – was part of the school grounds. She began talking about shadows and wraiths, the latter being a creature he had never heard of before, that lived in The Forest, and his need for information was perked. Could that be what had killed Helen? He certainly hadn’t noticed any remorse, it had just looked big, terrifying and hungry from where he was in the tree above. A barrage of questions rose to his lips that would not allow themselves to just rest on the tip of his tongue and stay silent.
“How can you keep me safe? Or are you one of those people with those capabilities? And those wraiths, are they like The Monst– I mean, big, and dark? With claws and stuff. Kinda like a bear? And if they’re in the forest, and we’re inside the school, it won’t come here, will it? How could it get in? ‘Cause I’m not going into The Forest again, ever, so aren’t I safe if I stay inside? How’d other people get killed from it, did they go in The Forest?”
He’d rushed over the description of his Monster, not wanting to dwell on that memory. Even with all that he’d gone through with his dad hurting him, that memory definitely held the most blood for him. A shudder ran through his body, and he had a feeling that The Monster might come back into his dreams again, as huge and terrifying as ever. It was always chasing him, through The Forest, shouting with his dad’s angry voice. He’d trip over The Bricks, and the stars would start falling down as well, hitting him, piercing, as if they too had turned against him. He’d hear The Monster coming, still shouting like his dad, and he would try to scuffle back to get away, but then it would pounce. Then he’d wake up. Sometimes Nick and Shane would also be there, and one of them would fall behind but he’d have to keep running with the other because he knew if he turned back then they would all end up in the same position. But mostly, it was just him with The Monster. And he hated that dream.
Pulling his thoughts away from The Monster, he refocused on Keaira, watching her again. He noticed that she looked tired – maybe not the obvious signs of yawning and lowering eyelids, but something more. As if she was getting sleep, but not particularly... restful sleep. The only reason he could recognise it was, again, because he had seen it on himself plenty of times. If his dad hurt him just before he went to bed it was usually very difficult to get to sleep to start with. The aching all over made it very difficult to get comfortable, and if skin had been broken, and it often was, that meant he had to be careful not to get blood anywhere. That was a sure way to invoke his father’s anger the next morning. Not to mention that sticky dried blood attracted all sorts of insects once he was finally settled; the wards against insects put in place before The Funeral had long since worn off, and only been replaced in the main house, not his attic room. He loved his attic room, with its roof window he could stare at the stars out of, but the insects did get annoying when he was trying to get to sleep and hurting anyway. And then nightmares of what had just occurred meant that when he did drop off, he was constantly tossing and turning, sometimes accompanied by The Monster.
“You are tired,” he found himself saying, biting his lip a moment later. But, he’d already started, he may as well finish. He sounded like he was accusing her of lying, though. The only reason he’d said it was because he’s made an observation and had wanted to stop thinking about The Monst– the dreams. “Th-there are potions, you can use to get to sleep. I think. Sorry, you might not be tired. You just look... sorry,” he muttered, not finishing. His voice got lower and lower in volume and he turned his head away again. It was none of his business anyway, why was he bothering? And since it was none of his business, that meant she probably wouldn’t want him talking about it, or bringing up the subject at all. He was tempted to apologise again, but worried that that would annoy her even more, and he didn’t want to annoy her.
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Post by Keaira O'Connell on Nov 3, 2008 20:47:35 GMT -5
As Keaira and Tommy traveled the halls Keaira couldn’t help but notice the way Tommy was fairing for the evening. His eyes every now and then drifted down, and even though he was still walking, they closed for a few seconds. Of course the boy never allowed them to remain closed for very long, but still he seemed tired. Her eyes never faltered, even though the hour was very late, and by all means she should be exhausted. Though it seemed that when he became aware of what he was doing he pulled himself together, and kept his eyes open. An admirable effort, punctuated by his heartfelt kicking of the scrap of paper. She watched the paper as it trailed across the floor, and then to the stairs, and even down into the abyss that would lead to the ground floor of the castle.
As she watched the paper fall to its fate, she knew that later she would see that same scrap as she headed to her own dorm. There was little silence between the end of her words and the beginning of his questions. He was curious about many things; however she wasn’t sure that she would have the right answers to give him. There was silence for a few moments as they continued down the path ever closer to Tommy’s dorm. He posed some strong questions, and she wasn’t sure if there was a right answer.
“….I-…I don’t know if any of us can be kept safe…They…. They aren’t that simple to explain….Its like an evil, a darkness, not much substance to them…Just pure evil. And although they tend to remain in the forest, they are not bound to it, and can leave during the night. Any where there is darkness, they can go. That’s why there is a curfew. To help keep the students inside after dark, and to prevent future accidents.“
She knew she was slightly vague and didn’t answer all of his questions. After all, even if he was only a first year, that didn’t mean he was innocent. For all she knew he could be a spy, sent to gather information from the light-fighters to report back to his mistress. Of course she had a hard time thinking of this boy who seemed to have experienced so much hurt as spy material. Then again there was no way of really telling unless felt compelled to search his him for answers… But she had not been sleeping well, it was wearing her down. She couldn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t be sloppy if she did. He would know someone was searching his thoughts.
Her thoughts were pulled away again as he broached another subject. Was it really that obvious? Did she look like she hadn’t had a goodnights sleep in a month? Had it been more than a month? She couldn’t really remember, it had been a while. Even though she ended each night with a concoction designed to slow her thoughts, and keep her telepathy at bay for the night, it still hadn’t helped her sleep better. She had even thought of upping the dose, but the more she took at night the higher the chance that she would not wake up the next morning.
When Tommy suggested that there were potion she could turn to she stopped. It was one of those moments when she knew she had to decide something. Of course there were always consequences to what she was thinking, but if she didn’t than she would not be able to explain things properly… She nodded her head softly. And looked at Tommy, her eyes searching his own, and willing him to understand what she was about to say.
“Tommy….I’m not normal. Even by witch standards. I-…” Keaira’s breath caught in her throat for a moment. She was afraid to tell him, but not because of any violence he might offer her, or even in case he was a servant of the mage… She was simply afraid that if she did tell him than he would treat her as if she had some disease, or worse like she had violated him with her gift, even when she had yet to use it on him. She let out a breath that she had been holding, and looked up at him.
“Tommy, do you know what a telepath is? It’s a person who has the ability to pick up on any thoughts that another person, or a group of people have. I am a telepath. Every day I have to devote a large portion of my own energy and strength to keep barriers in my mind, that block out everyone else’s thoughts. I take a special mixture of herbs, tea, and three different calming, and numbing drafts, to keep my mind from spilling out, and mixing with the thoughts of others around me. I practice meditations to keep my mental barriers up, in hopes that I can keep my mind alone. If I took a larger dose of the calming potion, or even mix it with other types of calming, or even sleeping drafts, I run the risk of never waking up….”
She ended her short speech with her eyes on the floor between them. It wasn’t something she shared with people… not ever. In fact most of the people who know of her affliction are either close to her through the ties of the light- fighters, or have been on the wrong end of an attack. Tommy is the first person she had let know of her ability in a situation as such. She wondered how he would react to it.
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Tommy Bryce
Gryffindor
[red]1st Year Gryffindor[/red]
You bend and you bruise me while you try to control me
Posts: 104
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Post by Tommy Bryce on Nov 5, 2008 5:51:54 GMT -5
Tommy kept his gaze focussed on her as she replied, and realising soon enough that the wraiths she had mentioned were not like the image had in his head of The Monster. It was something different... but which sounded quite terrifying nevertheless. Just another reason to never venture into The Forest again, as if he’d ever plan to do that again anyway. He didn’t even like to go near it when he was outside.
Anywhere there is darkness, they can go. That certainly got him thinking. Darkness... there was darkness everywhere at night. Hogsmeade as well as Hogwarts. And did she mean literal, night-time darkness? Or evil-like darkness? Either way, it was a danger, both to himself and everyone else in this school, and his brothers in Hogsmeade. Again his questions bubbled out with curiosity before he thought them through.
“Are they like the shadows you said about before, and dementors? And can they get through doors? And what do you mean by darkness? Like, night-time-darkness... or more, um... evil-darkness. Like in people? Is there a curfew in Hogsmeade too, to keep people safe, ‘cause there wasn’t at the start of the year when I came here.” He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts before he started questioning again. She had more knowledge, he was sure of it, but she wasn’t saying it all. And since they were already on the subject, he might as well ask now before deciding she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “How many accidents have there been? What happened? ...And why are they in The Forest anyway?” The last was more of an afterthought, but the more he pondered it the more he didn’t understand. It was next to a school... what did they want? There was evil and dark in The Forest, that was for sure, so why would they venture out of it?
When he finally finished asking questions, Tommy noticed that Keaira seemed to be thinking hard. Without warning she had stopped and he found himself a few feet ahead of her. He swivelled quickly to face herShe gave him a searching look and he met her eyes, curiosity still burning in his own. He wasn’t usually this forward with questions, but she had knowledge, and he wanted to know it. Although she’d been hesitant about some things and simply hadn’t given answers to others, he was still finding out more.
Hearing her mention the word ‘telepath’, Tommy found his body tense up slightly before his brain had even had time to work out why, and before she’d admitted that she herself was one. But when she did admit it, he froze, completely tense and staring at her with wide eyes. The curiosity he’d had a moment ago had been replaced by fear as the conclusions of that filtered through. He hazed over the talk of her trying to suppress the thoughts of those around her, and her explanation for not taking a sleeping draught as his heartbeat accelerated and his body was flooded with adrenaline, as it always did when he was scared. It had prevented countless injuries from his dad in the past, but would not help him now... he couldn’t protect himself from mental attacks by running... well, maybe he could get out of her range. But it was a bit late. Even now he had thoughts of being hurt by his dad going through his head; everything he didn’t want her to see, or hear, or feel, or however it was it worked, was being brought up. He couldn’t avoid thinking about all of that when he was so desperately trying not to. She couldn’t find out, he couldn’t let her do anything about it, but now he couldn’t do anything about it.
He’d taken a few stumbling steps away from her, stopping himself from running as the adrenaline and instincts were ordering his body to do. He needed to find out how much she knew, although that was probably everything by now, but he had to make sure. “W-what... I... You can’t tell anyone, p-please, don’t tell,” he managed to gulp out. “It’ll just make it worse, you can hear my thoughts, you know why.” He quickly brought up memories of the many threats that had been made if he told anyone to the forefront of his mind. There were enough of them, she’d get the message. “Or see, or feel, or sense, or whatever it is that makes it work.”
Even now he still had that same curiosity as he had before, but it was being overruled by fear. It never occurred to him that she hadn’t actually heard every one of his thoughts since coming across him, nor that some of the things she had said wouldn’t make sense if she had indeed done so. He hadn’t listened properly when she’d been talking about barriers, and assumed that being telepathic meant you automatically heard all the thoughts of the people around you. That was his preconceived notion of how telepathy worked, and the panic that had created had prevented him from finding out otherwise. If worst came to the worst, he could always do a memory charm on her... but now she’d have heard that too! This was impossible, how were you supposed to outwit someone who could hear your every thought?! Do something without thinking, sure. Running away without warning he was fine at – that was pure instinct, and he was itching to do that right now anyway, but what good was that at making her forget what she’d found out? He had no ideas, and was just poised on his toes, ready to escape if he had to, to stop her finding out any more. He could make it back to the Gryffindor common room, she didn’t know where that was... except she did now he’d thought of it. But still, he was good at running. He could run for as long as he had to in order to prevent her from hearing more of his thoughts.
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Post by Keaira O'Connell on Dec 1, 2008 0:00:19 GMT -5
Tommy seemed to have an endless supply of questions. Not that it was a bad thing or even a bother for her. She wondered how to answer his questions but really never got the chance. When she revealed her condition to him Tommy reacted much like she thought he would. Like most people, he had worried about her invading his privacy, knowing things he didn’t want know.
His first statement was slightly unexpected, what was so important to him that he was so concerned with her telling other people, what had she just missed? Perhaps what she had been thinking were merely other students bullying him was something of a more personal nature. What did he mean? Tommy must have assumed that she had spent the entire meeting listening to his thoughts, which she had not. But still, that idea hurt a touch however, she tried to keep the feeling of being distrusted buried deep inside her.
A soft frown had creased her face as she let that sunk in. Somewhere in Tommy’s mind was a secret that he wanted kept so severely that he was pleading to her not to tell anyone? It seemed ridiculous, what would be made worse if she told someone else? It seemed so unlikely that he would have to deal with such dire things as a young student, and yet he was truly worried about it.
Never in all the time that she had been a telepath had she been begged to keep a secret and she wasn't even sure what this one was. It both saddened and worried her beyond anything else she had to deal with now. Taking in a deep breath of air she brought her eyes up to search his own.
"Tommy relax I have no clue what you are talking about. Did you hear a word I just said about the numbing effects of the potions I use? I really haven't been listening to your thoughts. I mean if I had I wouldn't have needed you to guide me to your common room. Really whatever your secret is I don't know it. But if you keep projecting like that it might just make it loud enough to break through my barriers and the haze that I am in. Listen, I can't promise that I won't ever use my telepathy to invade your mind because it has saved peoples’ lives before. What I can promise is that unless you are in danger I won't go intentionally looking for things. But you can't tell people what I am. I really don't know if that's good enough for you, but it’s what I can offer."
With her eyes meeting his own, she hoped that he would gather the sense that she was being completely sincere and honest with him. She may not be able to promise never to find what worried him so much, but she could promise not to go intentionally looking. At least as long as he wasn’t in some kind of danger.
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Tommy Bryce
Gryffindor
[red]1st Year Gryffindor[/red]
You bend and you bruise me while you try to control me
Posts: 104
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Post by Tommy Bryce on Dec 12, 2008 8:34:34 GMT -5
Unknowing as he was of the art of telepathy, Tommy was unaware that he might have insulted Keaira by assuming she knew what he was thinking. He had no idea of the lengths she went to, to avoid doing just that; did not understand the strain of constant thoughts in your mind. Instead he was just panicking about her knowing. He’d spent so long making sure no one else found out his secret that now the possibility had arisen he didn’t know how to react.
But... what was that she was saying? That... she didn’t know what he was talking about? He blushed at the rhetorical question had he been listening, because he had... he really had. But apparently not attentively enough. When she mentioned about projecting his secret to her if she kept thinking it... ‘loud’ enough... he immediately tried to redirect his thoughts elsewhere. It was still all a bit blurry and manic though, not staying still long enough to make much sense out of. Occasionally his mind flew back to the matter at hand but as he tried to keep thinking of other things, it came back less. Instead he thought about how close the Gryffindor common room was – just round the next bend – and wondering how the next quidditch match would turn out.
”Oh... I... I... sorry,” he muttered, looking down in embarrassment. He’d just jumped to the conclusion so quickly he hadn’t actually thought it through. He didn’t like being wrong, it made him feel bad inside himself. He did wrong things so often at home he tried to avoid it as much as possible. As she offered her reassurance he raised her head a little to look up at her, and could see the sincerity in her eyes. He could rarely see such genuineness so it made him a little more sure that his secret was safe. She might be wondering what it was, but he made no more mention of it know he realised she didn’t know. He nodded, saying nothing in reply but showing his understanding.
He began walking again, a little more cautiously due to the start he had just given himself. Sure enough, round the corner was the portrait of the Fat Lady, and luckily for him she was still there, and awake. He could just hear her tutting to herself about him being out so late – she hadn’t been too keen on letting him out to start with, but couldn’t do much about it – and it made him blush again in shame. He knew he was breaking the rules, but he hadn’t been able to resist. As they approached, he looked up at Keaira again, honesty in his own voice as he spoke. ”I won’t tell anybody,” he informed her seriously, fully intending to keep his word.
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Post by Keaira O'Connell on Dec 30, 2008 23:51:56 GMT -5
“It’s alright.”
She said the words with barely a pause, and with a smile. She didn’t blame him for the way he reacted; she only wished that she could have set him at ease to begin with. She received that reaction sometimes, when she shared her secret with other people, and so she was used to people jumping to conclusions. Maybe that was why she didn’t tell as many people as she did when she was younger.
As they rounded a corner a few short moments later, Keaira could already hear the disapproving noises coming from the portrait. And sure as the sun shines, there was a fat lady tsking the pair as they grew closer. Keaira assumed from both the direction of their path and the looks that she was giving them, that this fat lady was the portal to the Gryffindor common room. Tommy’s last statement, seemed honest enough, and it brought a small smile back into Keaira’s features. They boy was still young, and even if he did blab there weren’t many people who would actually believe him anyway. But still…
“Thanks Tommy, I appreciate that. Anyway, get to bed, and try not to be out so late, next time there’s a cosmic event you don’t want to miss, clear it with your head of house, or even a prefect, just get someone to accompany you, it’s safer that way.” Keaira turned to the portrait and smiled her perfect prefect smile.
“Good evening Ma’am. I’m Keaira O’Connell, Slytherin Prefect, escorting Mr. Bryce back to his dorm, sorry to keep you up and all, but please allow him to return to his dorm, after giving the password.”
Turning back to face Tommy she smiled and brought her eyes to meet his. It was an interesting evening, and with any luck it wouldn't be an event that Tommy repeated, it was after all, dangerous out there, even if she was with him.
"Good night Tommy."
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Tommy Bryce
Gryffindor
[red]1st Year Gryffindor[/red]
You bend and you bruise me while you try to control me
Posts: 104
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Post by Tommy Bryce on Jan 7, 2009 19:12:42 GMT -5
Tommy was happy to see a smile on Keaira’s face, and concluded from it that he couldn’t have upset her that badly or she wouldn’t be smiling now. That brought the corners of his own lips upwards in response, although he hoped that she didn’t regret telling him. He wouldn’t blame her if she did, considering his completely unwarranted reaction, but he tried to tell himself that she didn’t if she was smiling now. He half-convinced himself, but didn’t want to ask.
He nodded at her advice, wondering if next time he would actually have the courage to ask her if she’d watch it. He didn’t want to go up with a stranger, so if she said no then he would go alone, although would probably feel guilty about it the whole time. But she had seemed to like watching it tonight, so maybe she might actually say yes... It was a while until the next one anyway.
He glanced at the portrait and gave the password, not worrying about Keaira being there. This password had been the same for a while now, it must be due for change soon anyway. Judging by the way the fat lady rolled her eyes and tutted again at his actions as she parted for him, that change would come sooner rather than later. [red]”Good night. Thank you. And... sorry again,”[/red] he added, really not wanting Keaira to think ill of him because of his negative reaction to her secret.
Giving her one last smile, he entered the common room and made his way up to his dormitory. The other occupants were still fast asleep, and he quickly pushed his trainers off. He didn’t worry about getting changed, the tiredness having overcome him now he was away from the risk that probably wasn’t really a risk. Pulling back the covers he slipped into bed, curling up into a ball and letting them drop over him again. Five minutes later and he was fast asleep for what remained of night, a tiny smile stuck on his face.
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