Just Another Routine Day [Dylan]

[Caitlin Collins]

Caity was slightly surprised to find herself sitting at the end of the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall, even if it was on her own. She typically avoided the place due to the high student numbers present at meal times, so that both she didn’t have to deal with too many people asking after her and asking why she wasn’t eating properly. Recently she’d started coming in occasionally just to see if she could notice any more people who should be there but weren’t. Any more people who had gone missing. Like Dylan, like that other Ravenclaw girl she only knew by sight... maybe even like Alessandro, if

She wasn’t really very good at looking though... usually she’d just look around when she came in, stare at her plate and maybe even eat something, then look around once more and leave. Not exactly the most efficient method. But it had become sort of a routine, and breaking her routines wasn’t exactly beneficial. It meant she’d forget to go somewhere else, like a class, because one thing followed on from the other. If she didn’t do the first thing, then she had nothing to prompt her to continue on whatever she was supposed to do next. It was the only way she could keep track of what she was supposed to be doing. But although she was turning up for meal times, she really wasn’t regaining any weight due to the amount of food she actually ate. She wasn’t losing it quite as fast as she had been before, but it was still going gradually.

This morning she had come in fairly early, having already been awake for several hours due to a nightmare. Her eyes were half closed as she played with a slice of plain toast – no butter, or jam or marmite or anything else to add flavour – not really eating it. Having a nightmare before she woke up always made her appetite (at least, what was left of it anyway) disappear. Her toast suddenly appeared burning and she rubbed her eyes wearily until it faded, not jumping as she would have once. She was used to the flames appearing everywhere by now; tired of it. If Alessandro really was trying to contact her, could he not do it directly? Rather than constantly making her see things. She knew he’d had some sort of Seer ability, but now it was like she’d inherited it from him, for whatever reason.

[Dylan Cooper]

The faint beams cast at the beginning of sunrise had just started to fill the dormitory, and Dylan watched them in the peaceful silence. Steadily they climbed the walls, seeking darkness out if only to infiltrate it. With a small, content sigh, he pulled back the deep navy covers of his bed and his feet drifted to the floorboards. Used to the slight chill the wood brought, he largely ignored it and stood out of bed, clad in his usual pajama pants and nothing else. He made his way across to the empty bathroom and shut the door, intending on a nice warm shower to fully wake him up for the morning.

Emerging, still dripping slightly, about fifteen minutes later, he strode over to his four-poster and found the trunk beside it. Opening it and ruffling past the robes he wore yesterday, he picked out a fresh set, as well as a pair of his favourite dark blue jeans and a white close-fit shirt. When he was fully dressed, he meandered across to the door and finally made his way down to the common room. He did not stop there for long, however, intent on receiving his breakfast for the morning. He rather liked the fact that, usually, his early rising meant he could beat the morning throng of students. Indeed, it was a relatively quite walk down the floors to the Great Hall. More often than students, he spotted the professors walking about at this time of day.

When he reached the magnificent main hall of the school, his eyes surveyed the Ravenclaw table. Finding no-one of real interest, he then quickly scanned through the other Houses. There were a few mild acquaintances located over at Gryffindor, but no-one he really had a passion to speak to. Slytherin contained only one person he might consider, but said consideration was not long. Hufflepuff was the only one to present any real opportunity, and desiring conversation or even just companionship, Dylan headed over to a significantly alone Caitlin Collins. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that you shouldn't play with your food?" he said in a jokingly friendly manner. He had noticed that her piece of toast seemed rather more of a mild entertainment than a food source, anyway.

As she lowered the toast and began to rub her eyes, he slid onto a vacant area of bench beside her and smiled happily. Having been gone from Hogwarts for so long, he found now that he was back, he had thoroughly missed his friends. Him and Caitlin weren't the best of friends, certainly, but they had been through a few things together, and he had definitely come to care for her. Dylan also noticed that perhaps she was a bit skinner than she had been the last time he had seen her, though monitoring the weight of women had never been high on his agenda in life. He could have entirely imagined it, was another possibility. "How are you?" His voice sounded as if he had genuinely missed her and wondered how she was doing, and for the moment he was taking no notice of the food on the Hufflepuff bench before them.

[Caitlin Collins]

Dylan’s first words only half-processed due to the fire in her vision, but they weren’t particularly useful in improving her temperament anyway. She didn’t want nor need a lecture right now about eating properly or sleeping properly and getting places on time or anything else she’d faced recently. Lectures didn’t help. Nor did snide comments – at least that was how she heard it, not hearing the jokey quality in Dylan’s voice. If she didn’t want to eat it, could people not just leave her alone? Not really recognising the voice, she ignored it as she rubbed her eyes, not expecting whoever it was to actually sit down near her, let alone right next to her.

When she felt the extra presence beside her, she did turn her head to view whoever it was with dull eyes, which brightened considerably upon seeing who her companion actually was. They also widened with shock – she had not been expecting him to be here at all, yet there he was, apparently fine and not in harm’s way. Temporarily losing her ability to talk coherently as she stared at him, she didn’t reply immediately to his question.

[yellow]”Dylan... you’re back!”[/yellow] was all she could come out with for a few seconds before she actually processed what he had said. [yellow]”Um... I’m okay...”[/yellow] It wasn’t a particularly well hidden lie. [yellow]”Better now you’re here,”[/yellow] she added quickly, this time in truth and hoping to avoid any more talk about ‘how she was’.

[yellow]”But, you’re here, you’re safe... When did you get back? Where were you?”[/yellow] Remembering seeing D’rorah looking very down and exhausted in several classes, presumably due to Dylan’s missing status, she wondered if the older Ravenclaw knew he was back. [yellow]”Have you seen D’rorah yet?”[/yellow] she asked, her voice quite animated compared to its usual deadened tone of late. A half-smile was daring to appear on her voice at seeing her friend safe, and the toast she had been not really eating anyway was left to go cold on her plate. [yellow]”And Susan?”[/yellow] she added as an afterthought, knowing how bad it must have been for the Gryffindor to be in suspense the whole time, wondering where her Elemental Master was and if he was okay. For now, any thoughts about whether Dylan had been told about Alessandro’s death were not running through her mind; she was just happy to have him back.

[Dylan Cooper]

As she finally turned to look at him, their eyes met and he saw how hers brightened so considerably. Practically beaming in response, he also noticed the slight shock. It wasn't as if he hadn't been expecting that from just about all of his friends, though. Waiting for her to reply, he simply enjoyed the sight of a friendly face and his mouth remained curved into a deliriously happy smile. Dylan gave a slight laugh as she spoke and registered that on top of the previously dull expression she had worn before realising it was him sitting beside her, she also hiccuped badly past his inquery. Stating that she was better now, however, the previous thoughts slid from his mind.

Laughing slightly at the torrent of questions, now that Caitlin seemed able to speak, he replied to each in turn. "I just got back from St Mungo's about a week ago. I've been trying to catch up with everyone, but I needed to sort out my homework first. The amount when I returned proved to be rather alarming," he said with a slight chuckle. "Apparantly, I got hit in the head with a Bludger. I remember going to the Quidditch Pitch to train on my own, but not much after that." He considered himself rather lucky that a student had been nearby and had enough sense to get him some rather urgent help. If only he could remember who it was and thank them... but the staff at Mungo's hadn't remembered what the boy had looked like, and Dylan's memory certainly wasn't much help.

He slid past her question regarding D'rorah with a quick, "Oh, yeah," and quickly proceeded to explain how he had been hoping to bump into Susan but as of yet had not. He was ambitious enough to think that he would spend this afternoon looking around for her, because he felt a small twinge of loss everytime he was reminded that he had not seen her in months. Not only was she his Shadow Warrior, but she was also his best friend, and he had missed her more than anyone.

"So what has been happening around here lately? I must have missed out on a lot. I haven't seen Alessandro in the dorm, either, has he been pulled out of school again or something?" he questioned, clearly having had no news transferred to him during his long absense. He had been incredibly surprised to have not seen Alessandro in his first day back, let alone the first couple of days. He couldn't actually fully remember how he had gotten back to Hogwarts that night, so he wasn't sure if he had seen Darko then or not, but he considered it very strange that the Ravenclaw hadn't been to sleep in his bed in over a week, or spent any time in the common room.

[Caitlin Collins]

Dylan’s smile and laugh were particularly pleasant to hear, and the smile on her own face was a similarly pleasant experience. Genuine happiness was not something Cait got to feel too often recently. In fact, she couldn’t really remember the last time she’d held a true smile on her face; one that wasn’t forced, or put on for show or anything else. Not since Mallan.

[yellow]”Ow...”[/yellow] she murmured as he explained the bludger incident, wincing slightly at the vivid images it produced in her head. [yellow]”Are you okay now?”[/yellow] she asked. It must have been pretty nasty if he had been carted off to St. Mungo’s because of it. She wondered for a moment why he had been thought missing if he was at the wizarding hospital the whole time... surely someone would have known where he was? It wasn’t really a difficult place to find someone, and you’d think that the said student who’d found him would want to tell people of their rescue effort; that was how most people would react, anyway. Just telling a few people, and the news would have travelled quickly enough – Hogwarts gossip tended to travel extremely fast, she had discovered in the few months she’d been here so far.

She could relate to the amount of homework he would have – being taken out of school for a month really hadn’t done much for her already suffering schoolwork, and to be honest she still wasn’t really caught up. She’d always generally been good at lessons before, with natural intelligence and generally a hark work ethic as well. But that hard work part had faded considerably, resulting in her being behind in a lot of her classes. Simply put, any chance of getting the high grades to become a Healer that had been so viable before were now a very distant bit of wishful thinking. Hopefully Dylan would recover from his time away a lot quicker than she had.

She was surprised not to see another smile on his face at the mention of D’rorah and how quickly he moved on to talk about how he was hoping to see Susan soon. Having not paid much attention to the gossip recently – and she usually heard it later than everyone else anyway – Caity had not heard of the encounter with D’rorah in the Ravenclaw common room. But she was very used to sliding past questions herself, and vaguely noticed it in Dylan’s words. She said nothing about the matter though, thinking that if he wanted to talk about it he would. They had always seemed like quite a private couple in the past anyway.

The mention of Alessandro pulled any trace of a smile away from her lips with an almost magnetic force, and her shoulders stiffened slightly at his name. [beige]Not again...[/beige] Once again it seemed that someone had not been told vital information, and it was left to her to explain. It reminded her of how annoyed she had been with Dylan when finding that he had not told Susan of Mallan’s death, leaving it up to her. Now it was the same again... why had D’rorah not told Dylan of what had happened to Alessandro? [yellow]”Did... didn’t Dee tell you?”[/yellow] she asked falteringly in a slightly rhetorical manner, knowing what the answer would be as she asked. If he had been told, he wouldn’t have asked.

Caitlin glanced up the table for a second, but no one was paying any attention to them. No one was listening to what they were saying. She turned back to him and began speaking, quietly nevertheless. [yellow]”Alessandro... he fell... from the Astronomy Tower,”[/yellow] she confided, closing her eyes after the first few words so she wouldn’t have to see his expression when he worked it out. [yellow]”When he was falling, he... he burst into flames. At the bottom there were just ashes left.”[/yellow] Seeing him fall all over again against the blackness of her eyelids, she opened her eyes again to warily glance at Dylan’s face. She wasn’t crying – mostly she could restrict that to when she was alone now – but there was a definite bundle of clenched up emotion behind her apparently neutral expression.

[Dylan Cooper]

Dylan gave a small laugh as she voiced an unfelt, but rather an imagined, pain. A bludger to the head had never been viewed as the most peaceful of experiences, it was true. His smile broad, he replied. "Yeah I'm better now. I keep having to take rather a disgusting tasting potion for the headaches, but other than that I seem to be alright," he explained happily. He detested the murky-looking potion that he carried around constantly in a flask at his side, but whenever he had tried to stop taking it for any considerable length of time the pain in his head became unbearable.

Given the amount of trauma his head had received, in fact, he wondered at how his brain still functioned properly. It must be some kind of medical miracle. Set on fire... pounded against the pavement, and now this, all within one year. He really wasn't setting a good track record, and he made a note to protect his head a little more. He'd always been a rather reckless boy, as his mother had often reminded him, but this year it seemed rather focused.

He was glad that she allowed him to glide past the topic of the other Ravenclaw Prefect; or rather didn't notice. Whatever it was, he was still grateful. And even as his own smile had faded, hers did much the same at the mention of Alessandro. His forehead creasing into a small frown as she did so, he wondered what could possibly have happened. Dylan paused slightly as she brought up Dee again, if only briefly. "Me and Miss Philosophy didn't talk about much at all, to be honest," he said in an unusually cold tone of voice, his jaw tensing. As she falteringly began in a very quiet voice, every emotion faded from his features. Gradually, that blank look formed into a dreadful confusion and sadness.

Swallowing hard, he opened his mouth briefly and, finding that no words came out, shut it again. He tried again, his eyes staring blankly beyond the table they saw before them. "When?" he asked in a subdued tone, lost for much to say at all. He was suddenly angry at how unnecessary all of this death was. Though, he could not show it, for his face was still masked by sadness for such a sudden loss. It was like students were just being ripped out of here for apparantly no reason at all, and the student body was dwindling in size. It all came back to Phoenix and her minions, and finally an angry little flair entered his eyes. They needed to train... To prepare themselves. People could not just keep disappearing like this.

[Caitlin Collins]

Dylan’s laugh at her reaction reassured Caitlin slightly that he was indeed okay, as did his answer that he just needed to take a potion to prevent headaches. At least he had something to use for side-effects, although she did feel sorry for him having constant headaches. She knew what that was like; really, not very pleasant at all. Hopefully the potion mentioned prevented them rather than being something he had to take when one developed.

The coldness was easily picked up on this time when the subject came to Dee again, and the odd formality of her name was strange too. She’d never heard Dylan talk like this before, and the fact that the subject matter was D’rorah made it even more out of character. She’d never seen the two of them argue, and this sudden change in attitude was really quite weird. But she didn’t ponder on it too much, due to the other topic at hand of Alessandro’s death. Instead she just sent him a quizzical look of confusion rather than actually mentioning it. Perhaps she could use it to change the subject later. It was better to concentrate on that mystery than watching Alessandro fall.

She could see her confusion emulated on his face when she looked up, along with a sadness that made her duck her head again to avoid looking. Subconsciously she placed her fingers over the scars on her other hand, so she could feel the indentations made previously when she was trying to stop her emotions overflowing, tracing them to distract herself from the expression on Dylan’s face and the similar feelings that evoked in her. She’d washed her hand so many times that night, just looking for something to do that would prevent her falling asleep and allowing the onset of nightmares that were sure to come. She’d washed Susan’s makeshift bandage as well, so that it was clear of all blood long before morning came in. It could have been done just as well with magic, but that was far too easy and quick.

[yellow]”A few weeks ago,”[/yellow] she murmured, her voice particularly quiet even for her. Tracing the scars really wasn’t helping – again and again, visions of Keaira’s angry face and the ashes that were all that was left of Alessandro and especially, Alessandro falling, kept replaying despite her eyes being open and staring past Dylan at a group of laughing Gryffindors just entering the Great Hall. It was so hard to get her head around; how everything went on as usual when someone died. Only a few, select people mourned. Everyone else just continued on their normal lives, unaware that someone who could not be replicated had left their midst forever. It was a lesson she’d learnt first after Mallan’s suicide, but now it was just repeating itself, and the lesson was not lessened at all by being taught a second time.

It was also a bit of a paradox how remembering the night of Alessandro’s death also brought back a slight happiness due to Wysteria’s return. She focussed on that for now, and the thought occurred to her about whether Dylan would know about the vampire’s residence in the castle. She’d have thought that D’rorah would have told him about that, but if she hadn’t even mentioned Alessandro’s death... maybe not. [yellow]”Although... there is Wysteria. Do you know about that?”[/yellow] she asked, her voice a little louder but not much. Hopefully she could move on the subject as quickly as possible.

[Dylan Cooper]

Dylan's eyes wandered, trying to find anything to preoccupy himself with. His mind focused on the thought of Alessandro falling from such a great height, of him burning to nothing but a pile of ashes and memories. While his mind was currently occupied, his eyes were caught by the nearest movement; Caitlin's fingers tracing across one hand. While he saw straight through them, he did in the back of his mind notice them. As she responded quietly, he knew that it didn't really matter when it had happened, only that it had. He was lost for anything else to say on the matter.

Gladly accepting the diversion onto the topic of Wysteria, his ears and eyes perked up. "What about Wysteria?" he questioned, his tone slightly happier. He hadn't actually know the girl, had really only ever heard of her, but it was a welcome change in conversation anyway. He couldn't imagine what would possibly be so relevant; though, given Caitlin's expression when she had discussed Alessandro, perhaps this was only a side-note. Maybe she was looking for a new subject just as much as he was. The main concern of his for Miss Edwin was in fact that she had once happened to be a Lightfighter; she had just happened to be on their side. Last time he had heard, anyway, though he also believed that she was considered dead. Unsure where this turn in conversation might lead him, he waited without any real idea of what might be discussed.

His eyes searched the table around them for a moment before he selected a few slices of french toast and some fruit salad. His plate was suddenly awash with food and he settled fully into his seat at the Hufflepuff table. Dylan's stomach growled in anticipation, eager for him to deliver what his eyes promised. One ear turned toward Caitlin, he took a few mouthfuls and then slipped one hand into his robes. Pulling out a small silver flask he removed the decorated cap and took a small, quick swig, almost as if he could lessen the foul taste if it was over with faster. No such success, and he took a few bites of fruit to rid himself of the taste.

[Caitlin Collins]

Caitlin was aware of Dylan’s eyes wandering but said nothing more, uncertain as to what she could do or say that would be positive. She certainly had no positive feelings attached to the event apart from those concerning Wysteria. When it came to Alessandro there was mostly just grief and confusion due to the images of fire she kept seeing everywhere.

She wasn’t sure from Dylan’s response whether he knew of her status as resident vampire or not; whether he just seemed nonchalant because he already knew she was fine, or didn’t know of anything other than the “fact” of her death. It made her slightly uncertain on how to phrase it. [yellow]”Um... she’s alive,”[/yellow] Cait started with, thinking the simple facts were probably the best way to go about it. She only hoped he wouldn’t get impatient for ‘stating the obvious’ as her brother so often did. [yellow]”She came up to the castle from the Forest on the night Alessandro...”[/yellow] She trailed off, pausing a moment before continuing. [yellow]”She’s in the Room of Requirement now.”[/yellow]

She didn’t mention Wysteria’s vampire status, because even if she was speaking quietly she was still in a room full of people whose curious ears might pick up on the word ‘vampire’ in a nearby conversation. Gossip was rife at Hogwarts, as she had discovered soon enough after joining the student population. Besides which, she really didn’t see the fact of her being a vampire as too massive a deal. It wasn’t as if she had changed sides or anything. She just had more to deal with than the rest of them.

She didn’t try to eat any more as Dylan helped himself. Although the food he picked would once have been very appealing to Caitlin, now it was mostly just all the same. Flavourless sustenance designed to keep her alive that she had to force down her throat every once in a while. However, the bacon and sausages just down the table did turn her stomach slightly when the smell wafted her way, and a slightly uncomfortable expression came onto her face as she turned her head away from it. At some point or other she had come across the knowledge that Dee was vegetarian and it had got her thinking... far too much. Now whenever she saw or smelt meat or fish she was reminded that it used to be a living thing, that had been killed before getting onto this table... and since death reminded her of far too many bad things, eating the stuff was completely out. Another fun task for the summer holidays – explaining to her parents how she had suddenly, without warning, become what was basically a vegetarian.

[Dylan Cooper]

"She's alive?" he repeated lightly. "But she's been missing for..." He trailed off, not fully knowing the answer to his own question. He noted that she had arrived back at the castle on the very night that Alessandro left it and his brows creased slightly at that interesting information. He didn't focus on it for too long, however, as Caitlin continued. "The Room of Requirement? Why isn't she in her dorm room?" he questioned. He might have taken a moment to consider that since no-one could really be trusted within these walls, it would not be wise to present herself after such a long absense. It would be news to unfriendly ears, afterall. But as it was, a small knot formed in his head at that moment and he swigged down a bit of the potion within his flask.

"Can we still use it? I mean, for training and getting to our Elemental rooms?" he questioned, wanting to get back into the routine of training as soon as possible. Despite all the work on his shoulders at the moment, he knew that readying himself for the imminent battle ahead was more important than anything else right now, and his priorities would not switch for anything.

Looking over his shoulder for a moment, his eyes searched the Ravenclaw table. Surrepticiously, his attention returned to the plate before him and a newfound smile crept onto his features; the kind reserved for first dates and small flirtations. Finishing off the rest of his plate and doing about everything but licking it clean, he set his knife and fork down before taking a small drink of orange juice to wash everything down nicely. "So apart from being better now that I'm here... how have you really been? With all this, I mean...?" His tone was light and his words very quiet, subdued even, and his eyes reflected his concern. He remembered all too well how things had gone after she found out about Mallan, how they went after she found out about any death let alone that of someone she knew, someone close.

Caitlin was one of the small few who still told of her aversion to this war, who cared about every single person in it, and if she needed someone to stick by her he would not let go. He knew it was foolish and had been completely out of his control, but he regretted that he hadn't been here when she might have needed someone, anyone, a little bit more. When all of this had actually happened. But all he could do was stand beside her now and reach out a hand.

[Caitlin Collins]

Caity was once again a little confused to hear that D’rorah really hadn’t told Dylan anything. Was there something the matter with them? She had to wonder again, but tried to put those thoughts aside. It really wasn’t any of her business and if there was tension between them he probably wouldn’t appreciate her asking. But that curiosity kept digging at her, making her want to ask.

[yellow]”Well... sort of alive...”[/yellow] she spoke quietly, not really sure how to explain this without saying ‘vampire’ aloud. [yellow]”It’s kind of complicated... Um, do you know what she was before? What she was in part?”[/yellow] Caity really wasn’t very good at hinting things, and if Dylan didn’t have a clue what she was talking about she’d just have to tell him some other time when there wasn’t anyone else around. If D’rorah wasn’t going to tell him anything, she had to. It seemed no one told anyone anything important around here.

[yellow]”Room of Requirement because... well, no one else knows she’s alive. I think it was supposed to be safer for her.”[/yellow] Cait wasn’t entirely sure on the reasoning herself, having just accepted it as the right thing to do. She didn’t exactly know all the intricacies of this war, but she was sure there must be a reason for Wysteria being in there. She just couldn’t remember it very well – she hadn’t been paying much attention to a lot that night.

[yellow]”I think you can still use it... I don’t really go in there a lot, I haven’t tried since.”[/yellow] Since receiving the news of Mallan in that room, when it had contorted itself to various nasty places, it hadn’t really been her favourite place. Too many bad memories, and it was the room that reminded her most of how out of her depth she was. Glancing up at his face again rather than just staring down at the table as she had been doing for most of this conversation, she saw him looking over at the Ravenclaw table and wondered if he was looking for D’rorah. Except the smile he held as he returned to eating didn’t really tie in with what she had surmised of their reunion so far. About to let her curiosity get the better of her and ask anyway, Dylan got there first just as she opened her mouth.

She closed her mouth again quickly at the question and returned her eyes to the cold toast still on her plate. She really didn’t like talking about her feelings to anyone, even though of all the people at the school Dylan was probably the one she had told the most so far since Mallan’s death. Before looking away she had seen the concern in his eyes and it made it even worse... there were so many more people who needed concern more than her – he was the one who had just returned from St Mungo’s, for one! But there was also the fact that she wasn’t even sure if Alessandro’s death was real... could she tell Dylan that? Could she tell him about the fire and visions she kept seeing?

Well, if she had told Wysteria she might as well tell Dylan... hopefully he wouldn’t think he crazy. [yellow]”I... this is going to sound strange...and crazy... and I’m probably just in denial like Keaira said... but, I don’t know if he’s really dead or not. He died by fire, which seems really weird because... well, you know what he was.”[/yellow] Probably best if she avoid all phrases that might raise suspicion. Elemental Master was probably one of them. [yellow]”And just after, I... I started seeing fire, everywhere. It’s not really there, but I keep seeing it. And then... I saw him, and he was made out of fire, but again not really there. He was trying to talk to me, and then I had this other vision... but that doesn’t really matter.”[/yellow]

That other vision had been even more complicated, if such a thing existed. She might yet go into that... but she’d wait for Dylan’s reaction first. She kept her eyes on the plate in front of her, waiting for him to say how yes, she probably was just in denial and she shouldn’t worry about it. But all the while this was going on... she couldn’t really grieve for him properly. She’d cried, sure, but nothing like after Mallan’s death. Nothing like what she probably would be if she had absolute proof that he was dead – proof more than ashes that could just be his clothes burnt up from the flames. What crying she had done had been more out of shock and not understanding what was going on rather than direct grief.

[Dylan Cooper]

Frowning slightly as he considered her question, he shook his head. "No, I never heard anything..." he said quietly, his mind running through what she could be suggesting. The best he could come up with was that maybe she was a werewolf three nights a month, but he really wasn't sure. He waited for her to perhaps tell him, to elaborate, but wasn't sure if she would given their current location. His eyes flicked down to his hands, one of which was currently wrapping around a loose thread at the base of his shirt.

Nodding slightly, he noted to try and use the room later on tonight, just to make sure that he could. His eyes returned to her as he waited for an answer, to see if she would tell him how she really was. She was certainly not rushing into saying anything, but he waited patiently, hoping that if not him, then at least that she had someone to talk to. However, his own slight of self-confidence was wasted, and she did indeed begin to respond. "It is slightly weird..." he agreed quietly, glancing around them to make sure no-one was catching their conversation. "Why would it seem like he had died, though? Did he fake it for some reason... or did someone else? I mean, I wasn't there. I didn't see it, but you're not really one for denial, are you?" he said quietly, thinking this new horde of information over.

It was true that strange things kept happening, and amongst the disappearances and strange activities, why not a fake death? But why not a real one as well. Phoenix wanted the Elemental Masters gone, and she was certainly not without the ability to have a bunch of school children gotten rid of... but maybe Alessandro had needed to make everyone believe he was dead. Feeling a small pain in his temple, he took a small swig of the liquid contained inside of his flask before replacing it neatly inside of his robes. "Listen, do you want to get out of here? Go somewhere a bit more... um... quiet?" he suggested lightly.

[Caitlin Collins]

Caity frowned along with Dylan when he admitted he hadn’t heard anything to do with Wysteria’s... condition. This public setting was difficult... it was hard to bring him up to date on things while anyone could be listening. It had been so much easier to talk with people when things were normal... no wars to worry about, no possibly-deceased friends, no dark creatures. But then, she had first met Dylan as a direct result of having come across shadows in the forest that time, when he had helped her with her patronus. But even then it hadn’t really been that bad. [yellow]”Oh... um... I can’t really talk about it here...”[/yellow] she murmured quietly in response to his lack of knowledge. [yellow]”Sorry...”[/yellow] Hopefully she would remember to tell him another time, because she knew all too well how it was to be left out on knowledge that others apparently took for granted.

She was relieved that he didn’t immediately reject her thoughts like she had been worried he would. With what she knew of Dylan, it seemed unlikely from an objective perspective... but objectivity didn’t really work very well for Cait when she was nervous about something. All reason and logic seemed to go out of the window. Of course, he didn’t accept it straight out either, and questioned it. She should have expected no less, especially since he was a Ravenclaw, but she had no answers for him and that made her feel as though it was even more ludicrous... [yellow]”I don’t know, I don’t know...”[/yellow] she sighed, the frustration prominent in her tone of voice and expression. This lack of answers was what was driving her crazy, and nothing seemed to be giving her any. Even her trip to talk to Wysteria hadn’t been particularly enlightening.

She shrugged a little at Dylan’s comment about her not being one for denial, thinking back to all of what Keaira and Zee had said to her recently and stared dully down at the table. [yellow]”Who knows. Some people seem to think I am. What do I know anyway?”[/yellow] she muttered, this time even quieter than the last. Caitlin had always had a tendency to take to heart what other people said... to be honest, she had a tendency to take everything to heart. Morals, insults, compliments, death, promises... Some might say it was a good thing, but it could most certainly have negative effects in situations such as that which she had been in for the last several months.

She nodded again at his suggestion, not meeting his eyes again as she pushed herself away from the table, abandoning the plate of cold toast she had never really been going to finish anyway. [yellow]”Sure, where do you wanna go?”[/yellow] She tried to think of those places which might be quiet, and came up with a few which were immediately dismissed. The library, it was far too easy to hide behind a bookcase and eavesdrop. Common rooms were an issue since she wasn’t even sure whether she could enter the Ravenclaw one with Dylan knowing the password or not. The Room of Requirement was quite a way away and they might not even be able to enter anyway, with Wysteria inside. [yellow]”The ballroom maybe? I doubt anyone’s gonna be in there and it’s quite close.”[/yellow]

[Dylan Cooper]

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