Another day (Dylan and Dee)

[D'rorah Philosophy]

D'rorah's last encounter with Dylan had been quite pleasant. She had started off the encounter feeling stressed and overly emotional... and by the end, it was as though she had recovered a good friend. It was nice to have a confidante again, someone who would listen and empathize when she felt the need to release. Certainly, Dylan's emotional nature made him quite good at empathizing with others. She sat at a table in the common room with her texts spread out before her. As usual, she was busily working on one of the many translations that helped her to gather information for the war that was all around them. It was exactly this sort of research that had taught her new chants to use against Shadows. She had also learned details about the Mage's tactics in the past and was trying to construct a way to use that information constructively so that the Lightfighters might be more proactive in this war.

Working away quietly, she was lightly aware of the others who flowed in and out of the room. Being the end of the year, things were rather busy with students studying and others constantly coming and going. Despite the fact that table space was at a premium, no one shared the table at which D'rorah sat. The other three seats sat empty, even though she had considerately left room for someone else to share the table if anyone wished.

She was accustomed to being off to the side in daily school life. She carried out her prefect duties flawlessly, ensuring general harmony among the Ravenclaw crowd and alway making her patrols on time. It was easy enough to wield her authority, given that her quiet, direct nature tended to be seen as intimidating by the younger students... though, there were a few who were unruly. And so, whether because most of her housemates thought her strange, or scary, or just too unfriendly to be around, she rarely had to worry about anyone wishing to share her table space. After the incident in the common room, people were more prone to stare, but few bothered to actually approach her. After all, any surviving human with that many scars had to be dangerous on some level, right?

And so, amid the general din of the room, she worked quietly, the only sound emanating from her being the light scratching of a quill across sheaves of parchment and the turning of pages. She experienced a fair amount of surprise, however, to see and hear the chair across the table from her scrape back against the floor and looked up, a slight smile crossing her features as she beheld Dylan. [blue]"Good afternoon, Mister Cooper."[/blue]

[Dylan Cooper]

Entering the common room via the appropriate sixth floor corridor and brass knocker guardian, his eyes automatically scanned the room for anyone he knew. Or anyone, rather, that he might wish to talk to. His satchel slung across one shoulder and a large textbook in his arms, he crossed the room directly toward a rather full table. Of course, there was only one occupant, as usual, but a large proportion of the surface was covered in the usual texts that the other Ravenclaw prefect seemed to have permanently attached to her. Grinning in spite of himself at such a typical sight and wondering if she would ever change or if he ever would want her to, which he doubted, he scraped back a chair.

Noticing her smile as she greeted him, he couldn't help but be overjoyed at such a friendly reaction. Before their last encounter in the Room of Requirement, he would likely have received a highly arched eyebrow and perhaps some hostile little comment. Immensely glad that was no longer the case, he smiled brightly in response and took the seat. "Hey, Dee," he replied happily, loosening his backpack and sliding it onto the floor. "Working as usual I see," he added in his usual quiet voice, a slight smile still evident along with the comment. "How are you?" he questioned lightly, the text that had previously been hooked under one arm now finding its way onto a patch of free table space.

He had been hoping to discover her sometime soon, just to talk and hopefully get back into the routine of being able to be around each other. He felt that though she was presumably still torn between himself and Kerridon, it couldn't hurt to be entirely present in her life as much as was comfortably possible. Selfish as it may be, he wanted to be chosen, and he hoped that them getting to know each other again couldn't be a bad thing for that. Setting himself up for what could potentially just be them spending a few hours together, even just in comfortable silence as they worked, he retrieved some writing material from his bag and set them onto the table, flipping open his textbook to somewhere near the middle.

[D'rorah Philosophy]

D'rorah felt gratified to see a smile from Dylan in return. It seemed he had already moved on from blaming himself over everything that had happened between them while he had been under the influence of the Mage's potion. D'rorah was happy with the change... though she'd never considered herself a very social person before, she found that now that she had had the experience of having a few close friends at Hogwarts, she rather enjoyed them and wanted them to continue.

She looked back down at the texts before as he remarked that she was working as usual. [blue]"I would hardly recognize myself were I not,"[/blue] she replied quite seriously. [blue]"In fact, I think seeing me without any sort of work to be done would be suspicious enough to question whether you were actually encountering an imposter."[/blue] She looked back up at him as he asked how she was, and slid a few of her own texts closer in to herself to free up a bit more room at the table as Dylan slid his own rather large tome into one of the patches of free space she had left.

[blue]"I am doing faily well,"[/blue] she replied quietly, tapping her quill against the page of her notebook briefly as she thought about the question. [blue]"The year is finally coming to an end, and I must admit that I am quite grateful for that. It will finally free up time for me to attend to other matters. I have a good deal of business to attend to over the summer... and a great many things on my mind requiring long deliberation..."[/blue] she trailed off, not allowing herself to think more specifically than that, her mind stopping her before she had a chance to begin thinking about Kerridon and risk someone else finding out about them. [blue]"Do you feel quite prepared for your examinations?"[/blue] she followed up quickly, not wanting to give Dylan a chance to start pondering the things she might have to think about either. One never knew who might attempt to look into one's thoughts... espcially in a busy place like the common room.

Already her quill had resumed its flight across the sheaves of her notebook. And, though she was listening, she was also concentrating keenly on the translations before her. Time was precious, and though she wanted to catch up with Dylan, she figured he would understand that she was busy and would thus prefer to talk and write at the same time.

[Dylan Cooper]

Grinning softly in reply to the comment that she wouldn't recognise herself were she not surrounded by texts and working, he privately agreed that it was a rather special occasion when such a thing occurred; almost cause for celebration. As she shifted a few texts to allow him more room and continued speaking, he listened with a light smile covering his features. Thinking that the end of the year was indeed coming up very fast, for himself at least, he noted that he was not at all in his usual state of fervour over studying. Normally he would have begun his rigorous study timetable weeks ago, but his mind seemed to have been so caught up in everything else recently that he was not at all his usual self. Of course, last year he had not held anyone near to himself, not had any real friends to notice this difference.

His thoughts directing themselves toward the 'great many things' that she mentioned, he felt another small burst of hope swell within him, though he wasn't entirely sure why. It might be immature and slightly naive of him, but he couldn't help but believe that they would work out, that Dee would want him... He couldn't really help that feeling, despite the logic of his brain telling him otherwise. She moved on quickly from that topic and he was once again called back to think on the upcoming exams. Being in his fifth year, of course, he was fast approaching his O.W.L's. "Not as prepared as I have been in the last few years," he replied truthfully, thinking that perhaps more time spent studying and less time spent mulling over certain events that he could not change might indeed actually take his mind off things and help him to relax. 'Relax' wasn't generally a term thrown about when approaching exams, nevermind ones as important as O.W.L's or N.E.W.T's, but lapsing into the rhythm of study always seemed to have a calming effect on Dylan.

"But I'll quickly catch up to where I need to be," he added thoughtfully. "My exams usually turn out alright, though I'm hoping this year doesn't break that trend since they're rather important." Of course, in the entire scheme of things, they could all be dead before they even sat the examinations, so he was still doing his best to keep things in perspective. Training was of utmost importance and he was now spending practically every spare moment he possessed, when he wasn't in classes, eating or doing homework, inside the Room of Requirement. Occasionally he even managed a run around the grounds, avoiding the shady call of the forest.

"What about you?" he queried quietly, assuming the answer was obvious since she was usually always top of her year. Taking his quill in his preferred right hand and dipping it gently into the well of jet black ink, he resumed work on his two-foot long Potions essay about the properties of Asphodel in potion-making and it's benefits to the wizarding world. Having finished his outline and introduction that morning, he started work on the first paragraph, his small, neat writing utilising the mass of space on the parchment.

[D'rorah Philosophy]

She saw the hope flit across his face as she mentioned her ponderings and felt her heart wrench a bit, knowing full well what he would be thinking about at that moment. She was thankful that she moved on quickly from the subject and that Dylan seemed to move along with her.

"Not as prepared as I have been in the last few years,"

D'rorah nodded slightly. She understood completely. She herself hadn't put forth nearly as much time in studying for her NEWTS as she normally would have put for studying for any test. Of course, given the current situation at Hogwarts, she felt her priorities were perfectly in order. She hoped her grades would not suffer as well, given that the results would likely be a strong determining factor in the opportunities available to her later in life. That was, of course, assuming that there were later years in her life to be had.

As the question was volleyed back to her, her quill paused and she looked up at Dylan. She inhaled slowly and then exhaled. [blue]"Admittedly, I have not devoted nearly the time to studying that I would prefer, so I can certainly empathize with your own concerns in that area. Nevertheless, I feel adequately prepared for my examinations this year. Fortunately, I have worked ahead throughout the year so that I have a bit more allowance in my schedule for the various other intrusions into my life of late."[/blue] She arched an eyebrow and looked back down at the book she was translating. [blue]"Even someone who enjoys research as much as I do finds herself frustrated by the fact that the amount of research to be done greatly outstrips the amount of time available in which to do it."[/blue]

She set her quill aside and looked back at Dylan. [blue]"I have been attempting to moderate my time spent working, after having promised to pay proper attention to my eating and sleeping habits. As a result, I feel as though I am accomplishing much less in the time available than I would like... I am trying to comfort myself with thoughts of the extra efficiency I have gained by being better fed and slightly more well-rested."[/blue] Of course, nightmares always interrupted her sleep, but she decided that the meager sleep she could get was better than not attempting it at all. She shivered slightly, a sharp chill causing her hand to tremor slightly and leave an inkblot on her parchment. [blue]"That is something I would love to discover a cure for,"[/blue] she muttered darkly, carefully wiping away the smudge from her notes.

[blue]"Did you have any plans over the coming weekend? I need to make a shopping trip... and as much as I loathe shopping, I would much prefer not to have to go myself. Plus, I assume it is much safer not to leave the school alone."[/blue]