look up, not down pv mars tien Closed

@Noah Page
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Mars, of course, was out of bed. Blame it on the insomnia, if you will. Blame it on the heat of the Ravenclaw Dorm. Blame it on the homesickness. Whatever it was, the young wix was not in bed.

Scurrying through the halls, they were careful to say in the shadow of the corridors as to not attract any attention. This was certainly helped by the black attire they wore, forgoing the blue robes they normally adorned for their muggle outfit. They always felt more comfortable like this, wrapped up in a black sweater with the hood pull over a black baseball cap. They had ever-present heels and black jeans, blending into the shadows like a dementor.

They were on their way up to the Astronomy Tower. Once before they had tried to get in, but the doors were locked by a seal they couldn't break. There was probably also a warning of some sort in there that Mars didn't really want to face. But the allure of the stars was too much. They just wanted a place to watch the night sky, was that too much to ask?

As they meandered through the halls, backtracking occasionally due to getting turned around, they finally came upon the right corridor. Eyes lighting up, they looked around, and then started into a small jog as they saw no one. They reached the corner and went into a sharp turn. Unfortunately, they failed to notice the presence of a Slytherin boy coming back down in the other direction.

They collided with a crash, sending Mars reeling backward.

"W-wha..." the boy said. He had a look of shock on this face. Mars tried not to snort as they took him in; why did he seem so confused? They'd expected annoyance, maybe, apologies, but not shock. That was answered by his next statement.

"What are you doing out of bed at this hour?!"

Mars studied him with a look of amusement.

"I could ask you the same, darling," they retorted. Then, they shook their head.

"No, why do you think I'm down here? I'm trying to get into the Astro tower. Like a normal rebellious 11-year-old."

Speech color is first column, third row, if you feel so inclined to use it.

@Noah Page
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Mars watched as the wizard's face slowly morphed from surprise to slight disgusted. They tilted a head at him. Was he that much of a goody-two-shoes that he couldn't bear to see anyone breaking the rules? How boring. They couldn't name a student at Hogwarts who hadn't managed to sneak around the dark halls before—well, they probably could, but their point still stood.

"Well, unlike you, I'm only out of bed because I had to submit my assignment. There is nothing good about leaving your bed and trying to get to the Astronomy tower so late. You should be back at your dorm if you didn't have any work to do."

Mars raised an eyebrow at him, sliding their hand into their pockets. They wished they had a piece of gum right now, 'cause that was the perfect statement to snap a bubble at. He really was uptight. What a reason to be out here at this hour, turning in an assignment. Mars felt a slight flash of sadness and then a stronger one, something mischievous, a brewing idea.

They didn't like people, but they certainly enjoyed ruffling a few feathers.

The wizard had said this all with a strict tone and a disapproving look, but it was really just—amusing. They could tell he was trying to be the authority—they hadn't seen him around their classes, so he was probably a second-year—but authority, well, let's just say he made a weak case. He wasn't intimidating in the slightest, maybe more of a—puppy? Yeah, that seemed like the right description.

"Anyway," he continued, still with the same trying look. He turned to walk past them, "I can't sit around telling you to do things, I need to get back to my dorm, goodbye."

Mars could see the slight smirk he had on. What, did he think he had won?

Before he could go a step further, Mars caught a hold of his arm. They shot their own smirk at him, opening their mouth to retort, "Well, for one, we're standing, not sitting."

"And for another," they dragged him the opposite direction that he had been going, hand still firmly grasped on his arm, "You need to learn how to lighten up."

They had every intention of teaching him how to do this. The Slytherin seemed like quite the stick in the mud and Mars didn't know any better remedy for that than breaking a few curfews. Pulling him to their side, they took in his short brown hair and pale face as they continued to walk. The candles reflected a little too brightly off of his eyes for their comfort.

Reaching under their hood, they took the cap off of their head and pulled it down over his eyes. He could figure out how to fix it—probably. Still heading up to the Astronomy Tower, they said,

"I'm Mars, they/them. And you, my friend, are about to become a rulebreaker."

Reducio

Noah, it would be great if you could say something to Mars about how the Astro Tower is locked or Professor KK is still up there so that they can drag him over to the Lake instead, but it's up to you!

Noah's triumph didn't last long as the person grabbed his arm and his heart momentarily stopped out of the sheer terror he felt from someone unexpectedly grabbing him like that... in a poorly lit corridor at that too.

"Well, for one, we're standing, not sitting."

We're standing not sitting? What kind of a horrible joke was that anyway? Of course they were standing but that's just how the phrase went? What was so funny about making a pointless pun? Noah hated when people did that just to make him look like an idiot. But before he could retort, he was being pulled in the opposite direction.

"And for another, you need to learn how to lighten up."

Noah couldn't believe it, who did this person think they were? Did they not have any mannerisms? Did it not occur to them that this was a little rude?! "No, I believe I do not need to learn anything of the so-" But alas, he was cut off yet again by the clearly evil person taking their cap off and putting it onto Noah's head. Not asking him if he would like to wear or offering him the cap but directly forcing it onto him! The audacity of this person!

"I'm Mars, they/them. And you, my friend, are about to become a rulebreaker."

Oh yes so now they remember their manners, hm? No, thank you, Noah was not eager to become a rulebreaker or anything like that. "I'm not about to become a rulebreaker or anything like that and neither am I your friend! He said, choosing not to reveal his name either, what reason did he have to be polite to them anyway? This wasn't exactly the nicest handshake he had recieved in his life.

@Noah Page
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Mars was fairly surprised that the boy didn't try to fight it. He'd certainly squawked indignantly a few times, but the Snake didn't try to tear his arm out of their grip and head the other way, so it was certainly a start. They continued their way to the Astronomy Tower, pulling him along. He'd managed to fix the hat on his head. He hadn't taken that off either, huh.

"I'm not about to become a rulebreaker or anything like that and neither am I your friend!" he pouted. Mars let out a half-chuckle. That was all he had to say? No, hi my name is blank? Or at least a, why did you kidnap me you evil person!? They were faintly disappointed and more than amused.

"Darlin', you say that and yet," they pointed to the hat perched on his head with a grin on their face, "you haven't even taken that off. Seems like your actions don't quite line up with your words."

They didn't stop through the entire conversation, passing several suits of armor and lit torches in the stone hallways. They jumped into the shadows as they heard something skitter across the floor. Peering out, it seemed like it had just been a stray rat gotten out of his owner's dorm room.

Breathing a sigh of relief, they continued on. Hmmm. They wondered faintly if the tower would be open. They certainly hoped so. It would be nice to stargaze again.

Noah was quite taken aback by their absolute lack of regard for how angry Noah was, it was as if they had assumed Noah was okay with this and didn't have a single complaint with it, even though he obviously said otherwise and had made clear.

But then they said he wasn't resisting enough. Oh, of course, it was his fault that he hadn't resisted enough and that was good enough a reason to take what was going as perfectly normal. He took a second to process it and not scream and throw out a tantrum at how stupid all of this was. Being dragged across a corridor by some weirdo when he was supposed to be in his dorm, great.

"Well first, I didn't take the hat off because you would've just put it back on anyway and... well it would've been kind of rude to just throw it away." He said the last part and felt increasing levels of regret right after saying it, but he didn't take more than a few seconds to continue, "Anyway-! That doesn't matter, I'm saying I don't want to be here, I don't need to prove myself to you."

Noah almost had a heart attack when he heard something. He kept muttering "knew it knew it knew it knew it..." but it had just been a rat, he let out a breath of relief as his heart rate went back to normal.

But wait, where were they even headed, the astronomy tower...? There really wasn't any other place they could be going right now. "Hey! You aren't taking me to the astronomy tower, are you? I just got back from there! The professor is still in there, we can't go there!" He really hoped they listened to him, he didn't want to get involved in something like this and especially not get caught for it. It wasn't even his fault he was here!

@Noah Page
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With every complaint, it was all Mars could do not to laugh out loud. They stifled a snigger in their sleeve, still traveling up the corridor with the boy's arm in their grasp. This one was interesting, really quite interesting. Maybe if he hadn't been so—so puppy-doggish, hasn't reminded them so much of their brothers, they would have gotten annoyed with him long ago. But something in them just—couldn't. He needed to lighten up and Mars would be damned if they couldn't show him how.

Really though, it was quite odd to find someone so keen about rules. Especially a Slytherin. Maybe they would have expected it from an Eagle, but a Snake? It seemed that everyone here was actually intent on blowing the school to smithereens, so to meet someone like this? It was a rare sight indeed. So, Mars bore through the whining. It would probably pay off in the end, right?

The boy said something about the hat, then started muttering under his breath when the rat skittered past. Mars chuckled. Someone was jumpy. But that at his frantic comments about the Astronomy Tower, they halted, pulling him to a halt with them.

"The professor's still there?" they raised a finger to their lips. Well, this threw a wrench in their plans. Where to go now? All they wanted to do was star-gaze, was that really so much to ask?

Mars ran the possible locations through their head. Maybe... somewhere out on the grounds? Grinning anew at this idea, Mars latched onto the boy again and started back the other way.

"Thanks for the heads-up," they told him, not stopping, "And you still haven't told me your name, y'know." Their footsteps were quiet on the stone floor as they headed in the direction of a staircase. Down, down, down, they were going. They glanced at the Snake again, taking in his shadowed features. He'd probably have to get a little used to being dragged around. A flash of pity went through their chest. Mars came to an abrupt halt, crossing their arms.

"Why are you so uptight anyway?" they mused, "Do you really hate the idea of a midnight exploration that much?"

Noah had expected them to just give up and let him go back, of course, that sounded like the end of the plan to him but not so much to Mars apparently. They seemed to just have changed their destination, but he had no idea where he was being taken to next. He could only hope this wasn't going to end up with him getting in trouble.

His name? They really expected him to just be nice to them after all of that? To say the very least, he was not happy with their treatment so far. "Why should I? I don't have a single reason to." He said, trying to make his voice sound as powerful as he could. A difficult task for a mere twelve-year-old, probably not that intimidating.

But then he felt kind of bad too, they had given him a name, it was rude to just say no to them when they asked, so after a few seconds he muttered, "It's... Noah." Only because he was being nice, he could've stayed silent if he wanted to. He just didn't want to hurt their feelings or whatever.

And then they just stopped walking and Noah awkwardly stopped, he was barely paying attention to what he was doing, lost in thought.

Uptight? He wasn't uptight, he was just not as friendly as everyone else and he couldn't imagine anyone being friendly in the situation he was in. "I'm not uptight, you're just dragging me around when I really just would like to go back to my dorm. I don't have any intentions of breaking the rules, I never have and I don't want to either. You're just really not being very nice to me right now, this is simply not how you treat others! And I can't even imagine the fun in this anyway, I can walk around the day without breaking rules as well."

@Noah Page
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Finally, a name to go to the face. "Noah, hmm?" Mars rolled it over their tongue, getting a slight feel for it. It seemed kind of fitting for the boy in front of them. Internally, they were quite surprised he'd given to them after all, especially after that declaration. But hey, maybe he felt bad or something. Mars didn't care much.

They had to frown at his next words though. Wow, he really was against this idea. They wondered if he was scared of something- well, he seemed like quite a Goody Two-Shoes and with all his mentions of the rules, they had to assume he was probably scared of being caught.

The Ravenclaw stopped for a moment at that realization. Hmm. It hadn't really occured to them. Mars supposed that they'd always been resigned to such a fate- the worse they could get was detention after all, and that always seemed much better than boiling alone in the Ravenclaw Dorms. But maybe Noah actually had something on the line, like expectations he had to meet or something.

A pang of guilt went through their chest. It seemed that he'd extended a small modicum of kindness to them with his name, so they'd return the favor.

"You really wanna sleep that bad, huh?" they mused. It was kind of sad- they really did want to explore with him, try to get him to break his shell, but hey, if he didn't want to, they supposed they could live with it. "Alright, fine."

Mars stuffed their hands in their pockets and started back down the corridor, hand not clasping his forearm this time. They'd made it a few feet before throwing over their shoulder, "But you're missing out. The stars are always so much prettier when you're not supposed to be seeing them."

The Ravenclaw turned, noting with a touch of embarrassment that they'd left the hat still perch on his head. Oh well. If wanted to keep it, he could. "You're a Second Year, right? Or older than me, at the very least," they asked. Mars turned again, but not before calling, "You've gotta let up soon though. The time will be gone before you know it."