Letters to an Imposter PV Closed

Not having Aurelia around was... weird, to say the least. Xailah had just been getting used to the fanfare of sneezes and glares, that once welcomed her in the mornings. Now when she woke up, she was greeted with silence- which wasn't something to complain about. She liked the quiet, but now it just seemed alien. What happened to the snark comments directed towards Schrödinger? What happened to the uncanny aura that filled the room when Aurelia was near? What happened to Aurelia? That was the million dollar question. What happened to Aurelia... No one seemed to really know. The girl just disappeared one night. Like a memory. Yes. In the matter of a few hours, Aurelia became nothing more than a memory. A presence that was no longer there. It was unusual.

Something wasn't right about the whole thing- and it wasn't because Aurelia seemingly vanished into thin air, no, it wasn't right because things that should have vanished with the girl, remained at the school. Things, meaning her owl. Aspen. Xailah wasn't one who frequented the Owlery. She didn't really have much of a reason to. She rarely got mail; plus many of the owls that inhabited the space, often made attempts to kidnap her cat- or maybe they were just trying to attack him. It was hard to tell. However, on one rare trip up to the owlery- to collect owl pellets- Xailah took notice that Aspen was huddle up in one of the roosts. She thought nothing of the bird at first- simply mistaking it for a regular old owl. That was until she saw the pile of letters the bird was guarding.

That was last month. Since then, Xailah had taken it upon herself to make weekly trips to the owlery to collect Aurelias mail. Not that it was any of her business to do so. But seeing that Aurelia was the metamorphs roommate, and that she was currently missing in action; one could say that it was reasonable for Xailah to play postman. The changeling Gryffindor usually just gathered the mail, arranged it into a neat pile, and then stored it in her absent roommate's trunk. Sometimes- and only sometimes- she would open a letter or two. That was where things started getting weird. The letters that Aurelia had been receiving were from very concerned family- nothing out of the ordinary really- hardly something to be bothered by. The concerning letters, were the ones from the boy that Aurelia had evidently been betrothed to. They seemed gross and normal enough at first glance, but the longer one read, the worse they seemed to get. They were nothing more than a confusing, and spiraling web of manipulation. The words scrawled onto the parchment were sick. It seemed that the boy knew Aurelia was missing, and was trying to reel her back into his life. So, Xailah tossed those letters away. Every single one of them. They were no good.

Now, Aspen was a seemingly loyal bird, she didn't hand the letters of her mistress over to just anyone. After some trial and error- as well as a lot of screeching- Xailah discovered that Aspen would only allow Aurelia to take the letters she had been protecting. Or someone who looked like Aurelia, at the very least. Lucky for Xailah- or unluckily depending on the situation- she possessed the ability to change into anyone. Meaning she could "become" Aurelia for a few minutes, during the days she collected mail. But the ability did come with limitations- and not to mention restrictions that the metamorph had set in place, as to not abuse her gift. She couldn't make herself smell like Aurelia, or even emit that same twisted air that followed the girl like a shadow. The change in appearance was enough though. It provided a few seconds- which was all that was needed in order to snag those well-guarded envelopes.

Schrödinger had been left in the dorm, while Xailah ventured to the Owlery in her temporary Aurelia guise. Bringing the cat along was too much trouble. He excited the owls. The Gryffindor quietly skipped up the winding owlery steps, and eventually up to Aspens roost. "Hallo Aspen." The lioness cooed, as she approached the bird. "I've got some goodies for you today, in exchange for those letters." A gloved hand rummaged around in a pocket, producing a small bit of twined parchment. Inside was a slice of ham from breakfast. A free hand would act quickly, manuvering around the feathered beastie, in order to grab todays mail. Somehow the Gryffindor had managed to do the mail collecting for several weeks without provoking reactions, or suspicions from others. Today that would change.

The patter of swift footfalls from behind, alerted the Metamorph of someone else being in the room with her. It wasn't anything out of the usual- people often came a went, in the Owlery. What was unusual, was the speed at which they were walking- running? Were they running? From something? To something? To someone? The person who was advancing, would call "Aurelia" by name- their voice wavering and cracking as they cried towards an imposter. Xailah would ignore the cry at first, believing that the stranger was addressing a different Aurelia. Aurelia had been a popular name once upon a time, and if the metamorph recalled correctly there had been several sorted into Gryffindor. It wasn't until the stranger was directly behind Xailah- she decided that she needed to turn around and do something. She would feel something spindly, wrap around her abdomen. It made her squirm in protest. "What-" Surprised, she would turn quickly, her hand with the letters would aggressively come down in the direction of whatever had latched onto her. "Get off of me!"

Aurelia was one who was oddly quite aversed to physical touch, Heinrich had noticed. He'd seen how uncomfortable she got, with just a mere tap of her shoulder to summon her attention across the dining table back at home, her shoulders would tense up and whatever look she was sporting would be replaced with that of slight agitation and a hint of alarm. Despite knowing well of his sister's reserved nature, Heinrich was at times selfish, but not in the way one would think. Unlike Aurelia, Heinrich craved physical affection - required it, demanded it and depended on it. More often than not, whenever the situation called for it, the reluctant and unwilling older sibling would fall victim to one of his hugs.

However, Aurelia had always tolerated his hugs - no - tolerated him no matter how much of a hassle he was at times to her. After all, they were siblings. This was why the older girl's sudden outburst had taken the child aback. Never once had Aurelia reacted aggressively. With a swipe, a flat open palm came down upon his head. A sharp slap would resonate through the owlery as the hand connected with the firm base of his forehead. Instinctively, both in surprise and momentarily pain, Heinrich would release the victim of his far-from-ill-intended hug.

"OW..." Heinrich whined, as he drew his arms up to rub his already reddening handprinted forehead the smack had produced. The silhouette-like figure of slender five fingers connected into a palm was very much noticeable. His emotion-filled gaze would find the girl's hues. Moisture was beginning to well up in those pair of doe-like eyes. She had slapped him.

"It's me..." The eleven-year-old would go on to say. Heinrich could not say how for sure, but there was something off. Perhaps it was because he had not seen her in months, but Aurelia was not quite herself. Only recently was Heinrich equipped with a few perks that came with his lycanthropy. It had given him abilities, allowed for enhanced hearing, sight and scent. Her scent, there was not one bit of Aurelia that he remembered originally present. Instead of floral accents were cat fur and... silverware? But perhaps the lack of her usual scents might be the cause of him using all her toiletries recently. Her overall visage was not any way quite different than who he remembered originally. Aurelia was as much as a stunning visual as she was when Heinrich last saw her.

But then he identified the flaw... or rather he saw the flawless. Having lived in the same household for months, Heinrich scene those scars she went out of her way to conceal. The main scar, the bite mark on her neck was no more, replaced by a normal patch of skin. The boy's brows furrowed, without much thought, he had gotten his wand out, the weapon now directed at this person whom he suspected was not-auri. Heinrich had no spells under his arsenal, but he was undeniably stubborn. "Aurelia would never hit me." Boldly, he claimed.

Despite what some were inclined to think, Xailah had never exactly been the physically violent sort. Nor was she one to hit children. Especially those younger than she. But this stranger had scared her. And badly. She did not like being touched- grabbed, and she certainly detested being snuck up on. The stranger had done both. Even if he didn't exactly sneak. The embrace was just too sudden- too unexpected. The consequence to the strangers action, was a firm bap in the face. It was merciful in comparison to what else she could have done. Recent happenings had molded the Metamorph into an extremely cautious creature. People put her on edge. Especially the touchy ones.

But when she felt the silk of her gloves connect with the rotund flesh of the younglings cheek; she knew that this time, she had done wrong. The collected letters left her hand, and flittered to the floor. Xailah had expected a monster, or some human enemy at the very least. Not a child who looked like they still wore Huggies. Though there was the small chance that this child was indeed a monster, donning an incredibly clever disguise. The entwined sense of warmth that only came from a squeeze, quickly fell away. The tween had released his grasp. Xailah brought a hand up to cover her nose and mouth, in expression of temporary shock. She passively noted the throbbing heat that was beginning to rise in the palm of her right hand. No doubt the young boy she had just smacked in the head had it worse though. The telltale marks had already started to reveal themselves on his forehead.

Time seemed to stop for the metamorph. For a moment, her hair appeared to quiver on its own. It was habit- one that couldn't be helped. It could have been noted as a flaw in her guise. It was a flaw. Or maybe it was an illusion cause by some... unfelt draft in the Owlery. Though it wouldn't be the thing that gave the skin changer away. The one time she failed to be attentive to details, would be the unraveling of her disguise. Blue eyes locked onto the yearlings face. Xailah didn't dare to move. Expressions flipped across the lads skin, like the pages in an old flipbook. Shock. Hurt. Suspicion. They each appeared. One, by one. Xailah watched the tears climb into the boys eyes. His eyes- there was something incredibly familiar about them. But why

The young badger that stood before his sisters imposter, possessed a pair of brilliant blue hues. A very specific sort of brilliant blue. Xailah had seen eyes like that before- but on who? Little did she know, she was presently wearing them. "I'm sorry-" Xailah blinked, removing her gloved hands from her face. Oh he's going to cry. He's going to cry isn't he? That was the last thing she needed. "Um. Please don't cry." She was the absolute worst at consoling small children. And what she failed to understand with this boy, was that he did not need consoling- the poor squirt needed an icepack. Maybe a sprinkle of false hope too. Its me- the child had said. Was Xailah supposed to recogni- oh. No. Aurelia was supposed to recognize the boy. Well. This was a problem.

The scent of cat hair, and polished metal weren't the only smells the boy would be able to detect. There was the overbearing scent of fennel, and vanilla- and two others that accompanied the sweet smells, yet they were incredibly faint. The other two scents were that which belonged to a home. But not Aurelias home. They were the odd odors of moths and deadly nightshade. And, while Xailahs sense on smell was not nearly as good as that of the young wolf cub, she too had taken notice of one very strange smell that lingered on the boy. She had gotten a whiff when he had moved away from her. He smelt like Aurelia- or similar to, at the very least. Though the young metamorph couldn't be sure.

It would seem that Xailah had successfully managed to get herself into an undesirable position. How are you getting out of this one? Getting caught- cornered, wasn't the plan. It was never the plan. But it had to happen eventually. She knew that if she wasn't careful, she would run into someone who knew, and liked Aurelia enough to approach. And today was the day that would happen- now who was this kid again, and why did he know Aurelia? There were a number of questions that Xailah wanted to ask, starting with "Who". Only she couldn't ask the who, do to reasons that were blatantly obvious. So what was she supposed to do, when presented with the claim that Aurelia would never hit the boy? Don't confirm. Don't deny. Brilliant. A flawless plan. "You startled me." Xailah stated plainly, before bending to scoop up the letters she had dropped. "Shouldn't you..." What did children his age do again? "Be in class? Or outside playing? Or-" She fumbled with one of the parchments on the ground. "Why are you here? Do you need to send something out?"