A face forgotten PV Finished

@Nico Shymane
Trophies. Glittering cups of gold, with inscribed names of alumni past. Markers of accomplishments small and huge alike. Students would come here to marvel at the accomplishments of those who had gone before, to draw inspiration from exploits long unimportant, but still remembered. Kaegen was here to glower, to seethe at the trophies, to hate them with every fiber of his being.

Why were they here, where were his? He had done more than these people, he was better than this albus doubledoor or whoever. He didn't even know any of these people. How important could they be if he didn't even know any of them? He knew himself, he knew himself pretty well. People feared him, they fled from him in the halls, they left rooms when he entered. He was clearly powerful, clearly strong. Did they run from these trophies? Did they cry when whoever earned the trophies stared them down?

From an analytical standpoint, Kaegen wasn't doing much. He didn't look like much. Small, skinny. wild, tangled hair black as a puddle of ink. His robe was long and frayed and faded and a bit too big for him. His fingers barely peeked out of the long sleeves, long and thin, tipped with dull, dirty claws. His skin looked like a sickly wonton wrapper, it looked dead, clammy, diseased. His eyes were a soft blueish grey, but even those were disturbed by a ring of bright red that circled his pupils.

From the perspective of a human, however, Kaegen was monstrous. He was death, waiting to strike. Waves of terror lashed out from his frail form like so many shadowy tentacles. The lights seemed to flicker and fade around him, shadows pulled close. It was a horrible presence that you could feel even before you saw him. Many students theorized that he was more than just a dhampir. He had to be, the few other dhampirs in the school were often unsettling, but none reached Kaegen's level of terror.

He shifted back and forth, staring at the trophies, listening for the footsteps of students he knew wouldn't come. They had a surprisingly swift gossip network. Usually, the rooms were already empty by the time Kaegen arrived. For him, the castle was almost always empty. An abandoned castle for him alone to explore.

Shade-Beacon, Master of the Castle of Avarice
A face forgotten PV Finished
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The Trophy Room.

Nico had decided to explore the castle some more as she heard of some rooms she didn't see before. The Trophy room was one of them. It was big. Bigger than expected. But then again, the History of Hogwarts was long and dark. She had gently opened the door and walked in, quietly closing it behind her.

In awe she watched the big Quidditch trophies shimmer and shine as the little amount of light that fell in, reflected on it. Many names she didn't know but had heard of before. She moved on to some other plaques that seemed to spark her interest but she suddenly felt... as if she... actually wasn't alone. A presence that felt familiar. Not necesarrily a very pleasant one, but she knew it.

Taking a step away from the plaques on the shelves, she carefully looked around. The reflections on the glass cases and cups, didn't seem to give her much of a view of the room. Sighing softly, she cautiously continued to walk around the room. With every shelf she past, Nico came to realise how big this place is. And then, at the end, she saw a figure.

Narrowing her eyes, curious yet afraid, she approached the figure slowely. It wasn't easy to figure out who this person was as he was standing in a more darker area of the room. But then it hit her...

She stopped in her tracks, a few meters away from him. Kaegan. It had been awhile since she saw him after he dissapeared without a trace. Well... not really without a trace since people did still talked about seeing him around. But... he didn't tell her anything after the Blossom Ball.

What now..? Was she... was she going to be a bother? Was he going to flee as soon as he noticed she's present? Would it be better to step away and act as if she didn't see him... No. That would be the worst...

Carefully, she rested her hand on her elbow and stood her ground.

'K-..Kaegan is... is that you?'

You're gonna need a bigger boat
A face forgotten PV Finished
He heard the figure before it said anything, but just by about 5 seconds. He was using the reflection to try and determine who it was, keeping his back turned so that he would have the element of surprise by virtue of the figure being wrong about it having said element of surprise. It was a brilliant plan, as far as Kaegen was concerned, and indeed it probably would have served him well had the figure gotten closer, instead of holding back and calling out his name.

His eyes widened when he saw her. The first thing he noticed was that she was here. She had breached the walls of fear that kept out even the bravest students. Only very few took the perilous trip towards the monster known as Kaegen, more widely known as simply "that monster". Kaegen was already a local legend of hogwarts, how could he not be? Wherever he went, the other students did not. His presence in a room made little girls cry and made older boys turn pale.

Even though his eyes had only widened in surprise, they were still terrifying to behold. Blueish grey for the most part, but his pupils were surrounded by bright red rings with rays like twin bloody suns that burned and blistered and shone with a hellish light. Shadows moved around him like living things, and the torches seemed to be trying their best to escape his presence. Kaegen was the monster of hogwarts, he didn't look human, or feel human. He wasn't treated as human, and certainly didn't wish to be.

The girl, the girl had a name that he knew, but it wasn't coming to mind. The only things that really stood out about her appearance was the fact that she had bright red hair, and the fact that she looked nice. He wasn't sure why he thought she looked nice, because logically, it was just fleshy skin, eyes ears a nose and mouth. Human. There wasn't anything nice about that, that just reminded him of prey. But still, if he had to describe her, it would probably be "nice".

"I know you..."

His mind was grating, shifting gears as fast as it could. He did know her, she wasn't a threat. Someone that wasn't evil, that meant he had to be polite, right? He could manage that, he just had to focus.

Kaegen closed his eyes, and gradually the shadows quieted down, the light grew brighter, the air felt less chilling. When he opened his eyes, they no longer glowed. They were just there. Eyes. He was just a boy, and the entire castle seemed to sigh in relief at once.
Abilities: deactivated

Shade-Beacon, Master of the Castle of Avarice
A face forgotten PV Finished
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Kaegan turned around. Their surroundings seemed to scream in fear, yet they didn't know how to. Except they shivered and shook. Flames flickered on the verge of dying out. His presence was terrifying, like a haunted house. But ...

He wasn't new to her. Yes, the first few words are always the scariest. She feared he would attack. That he would flee out a window or into the shadows. Her hand resting on her elbow, gripped her sleeve tight surpressing her fear and nerves.

Yet he didn't run and he didn't flee...

"I know you..."

Surprised, Nico looked into his eyes. She had been too busy observing the restless furniture. His eyes were dark and twisted. There was something intruiging about them. The color...

Once he closed his eyes and he knew she wasn't a threat, his intimidating presence got replaced by a calm nearly non-existing one. Her fingers loosened their grip on her arm and she could breathe normal again. No need for wanting to run...

Nico could tell that some wooden shelves creaked in relief.

'Y-you remember me? I'll be honest I didn't expect you to...' She averted her gaze watching a silvery trophy nearby. She noticed it hadn't been cleaned in a while. Did they have cleaning House Elves for things like that? Did they... Did they clean next to cooking food in the Kitchen?

She never thought about it. And now... wasn't the time for that either.

Looking back at him she let go of her elbow. 'Do you... remember the Blossom Ball?'
Bringing up that event felt like a taboo to her. Lots of things happened. She got nearly beat up, she met someone new, the dancefloor was on fire... She ignored her duties and got caught by Professor Griffith. It was still quite fresh to her...

'Where have you been?.. And.. what brought you... here?'. It was worth questioning. This room wasn't really the most obvious place where you'd run into a berserk dhampir boy. Except... remembering how he wrote down his last name. Well.. last names... Maybe gaining or reaching something victoriously... Something related to pride...

Maybe that was a reason for him to be here?

You're gonna need a bigger boat
A face forgotten PV Finished
"I wouldn't expect me to either. You don't look like someone I would remember.

It could easily be seen as something said to be hurtful, however to Kaegen, it was just speaking the truth. She didn't look overly dangerous, and as far as he knew she wasn't dangerous. And given all that information, why should he remember her? If she wasn't overly helpful or harmful, and just fell somewhere in between, she was more or less forgettable, irrelevant information.

"Was that the event thing? Didn't you invite me for information, or something?"

It was a surprising amount of recall for him from an event that he didn't care about. Then again, something had happened that day, something important enough to highlight the rest of the events in his mind. Maybe that was why he was able to remember this girl, because her face received that residual highlight. He wasn't positive that was the cause, but he didn't really care. Having her memory didn't slow him down, so he shouldn't care or wonder that it was there. It was a waste of time.

"I've been... here. In Hogwarts. I haven't died, yet, and I think I've gotten stronger. I don't know why I'm here. Why are you?"

Shade-Beacon, Master of the Castle of Avarice
A face forgotten PV Finished
Image posted by the member
"I wouldn't expect me to either. You don't look like someone I would remember."

Ofcourse, it always seem to come to this. She was but a speckle in his busy... off the radar life. It had been a few months, alot of time to think. He was different. The same kind of- Well... Not entirely the same kind of different. They shared that they were both dhampirs. She tried her best to blend in, to be a part of 'regular' students. That they would be seen as the same. Dhampirs and non-dhampirs. Sadly, it wasn't that easy.

Kaegan on the other hand, had a different mindset. More... rough and untamed. She remembered that he shortly told her about where he came from. A place with mist and widespread hills. A mysterious place. With magical being that he couldn't really perfectly describe. Leaving alot to the imagination.

"Was that the event thing? Didn't you invite me for information, or something?"

When he asked that, her cheeks flushed abit red. Her foundation masked most of the redness, now only showing a faint pink upon her face. She felt abit ashamed that he still had this effect on her.

For information... Sure. He wasn't entirely wrong.

'Yes.. Information. I wanted to know more about you.' She rubbed her elbow slightly nervous, her eyes looking at the ground for a brief moment. Soon, he'd maybe get scared of her behaviour. Him being here. She already felt it wouldn't be for long.

She looked up at him again, dropping her arms next to her side. 'If it meant anything... I'm the one with the.. living drawings. Just to.. confirm that, I'm that person.' Letting out a groany sigh, she straightened her back a little and folded her arms. 'To.. be frank... I.. I wasn't happy that you... just took off and left.' Her sentences became hesitant and shy again. How could this still mean anything to her... Clearly he had no idea of what her intentions were. Everything he encountered, had to have meaning. A title.

At that moment it started to sink in. Was he... here because of... these famous people? Because their names were everywhere so people could remember them? These people has a meaning... It seemed to make sense...

"I've been... here. In Hogwarts. I haven't died, yet, and I think I've gotten stronger. I don't know why I'm here. Why are you?"


'Stronger?'Slightly tilting her head, she observed him. His outfit hasn't for sure. She knew that Kaegan was strong, no doubt. After all the stories of kids being attacked by a crazy Ravenclaw, a monster, she knew he was capable of great things. Horrible great things.

'Oh.. Ehm.. I'm... Well.. I didn't have much to do today.. So I wanted to explore the castle some more. This place is quite big and..' She smiled abit sheepish, rubbing her head. '..easy to get lost in.'

She looked over her shoulder once more, observing the space of the trophy room. The different achievements glittering in the little light there was. She liked it. 'I had heard of this room before but never got a chance to actually see it... so...'

Turning back towards Kaegan she dropped her arms back to her sides. 'That's why I'm here...D-Did you maybe.. come to see these peoples titles?..'

It was risky to ask him, but she was curious. She could only hope he... sighs .. didn't flee again.

You're gonna need a bigger boat
A face forgotten PV Finished
"I didn't really understand why. I'm not unique, I'm just not human."

This meant something entirely different than it usually would coming out of someone else's mouth. Kaegen was someone who saw himself not as a human, but more at home with the beasts of the fen. He was a predator, not a student. He just happened to be a predator that was studying. In that way, he was very much like many of the predators that walked the woods, and therefore not unique. It made sense to him, he just belonged somewhere else, he belonged with those who did not look like him, true. But they acted like him. And that was enough.

"Right. The power. Back then, I really thought I needed it.

He was remembering all too much. Kaegen hated to remember. He didn't like to work on anything other than instinct because it usually hurt. That humanity was a curse was something he had decided on long ago. He didn't want anything to do with sentience, or thought. He knew it was necessary, but if he could fully trust on instinct, like an animal, maybe it wouldn't be. Maybe he'd be able to simply live. But that was foolish. Dwelling on things that couldn't be was folly.

"Right. I suppose if you wanted to ask questions and didnt get to, that would not be happy. Do you want to ask one now?"

He listened as she basically spun a tale of having nothing at all to do, wandering around and getting lost, only to find a room that she had wanted to visit anyway. That checked out with him, it wasn't exactly odd. Seemed reasonable, all things considered. Hogwart's halls were indeed treacherous, and easy to lose your way in.

Her question was odd, and caught him off guard. He took a half step back, before he realized he wasn't entirely sure. But if he had to sum up the reason he was here, it would probably have to be something like...

"They're not me."

He had come to hate, and now had no hate. So he was left wondering as to his previous, truer motive. It is hard to think like you did when you were full of hate, sometimes it even seems as though that was a different you, a you that you had nothing to do with creating. Kaegen forced his arms to hang loose at his side, and although he swayed slightly, partly due to his nature as something that never truly stopped, and partly due to the fact that he was having trouble staying lucid, he was focused.

Astoundingly, surprisingly, near impossibly focused.

Shade-Beacon, Master of the Castle of Avarice
A face forgotten PV Finished
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'I.. Ofcourse you are unique. S-Sure there's a possibility that somewhere.. out there in the world.. There would be someone just like you. But here at Hogwarts, you are quite different. Maybe even one of a kind.'

His logic was always present. There was no way around it. Maybe Nico was too emotional. Too focused on her emotions that her logic just ... faded for a while. Until whatever triggered her, had vanished. Her emotions were her guide. They gave her insight and strength. The power of empathy maybe.

But what if.... What if Kaegan acually did follow his emotions to a certain extend. Nico wouldn't know what indicated that but... It was something to ponder about in the back of her head.

He allowed her to ask another question. Nico seemed to stop talking. Right now? She could ask him anything right now.... How could she think of something decently. She had no clue he'd be here. If she had, she could've thought about it. Her mind raced through the events from the Blossom Ball, trying to find a question there. But that train of thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

Her iceblue eyes rested upon his face as she hated to admit this: 'I-... I didn't expect you to be here. I have some questions. I know I do... But...' She rested one hand on her forhead, as if she had a slight headache. 'I... I honestly can't think of one to ask you here. This was... This meeting is too sudden.'

She hated this. This was maybe the only time where no random student would suddenly intervene or something totally different would pull his attention. Why would her mind stop working now... She sighed and dropped her arm back down, letting it rest next to her. 'I hope... I could maybe ask you some other time...'

The question pained her. What were the chances she would run into him again. Unless... 'Would it be possible to meet again?' Carefully, she looked up at him.

His response to why he was here caught her abit off guard. They're not me... Slightly puzzeled the little dhampir tilted her head. 'Do you wish... to be them? To... maybe... be known for.. certain things? Achievements?'

You're gonna need a bigger boat
A face forgotten PV Finished
"No. Not anymore."

She was weird. Why did she talk like that, stuttering and pausing and acting all jittery. She was acting like some sort of rabbit, and it bothered the little ravenclaw. He just wanted to be left alone, or at least to talk with someone who knew what they were talking about. It was almost as if she was just bored, and trolling him because there was nothing better to do. Her skin was perfectly, immaculately white. He couldn't even make out a single pore, it was as if her skin was made out of porcelain, and it was unnerving.

Was she even something alive? Was she a creation of some sort of spell that forgot to add in any flaws? Kaegen's spidery hand started to move up to his neck, but stopped halfway, lowering again to where it hung by his side, dull claws barely peeking out from fraying sleeves. He slowly swayed back, studying the girl in front of him. What was her deal, if not to troll him, then what? It clearly wasn't information gathering.

Kaegen's left eye twitched quickly, the closest thing to a cringe that he had. She didn't know? How could she not think of anything, right after claiming that he was unique? Unique things were different, that was what that word meant, right? People wanted to know about different, new things. They had questions about them. She had nothing, none of that? The little ravenclaw's eyes narrowed slightly, and he moved his right foot just a little bit back, just a little bit off his left heel. He bent his knees just a little as he listened, getting ready.

"If you don't have questions now, why would you have them later?"

It was something about everything. How she had invited him to the event-thingy, how she had that drawing magic. How, for some reason Kaegen could not hope to fathom, he thought she looked nice. How she seemed to have almost no physical flaws. It was almost as if that was a weapon of hers in and of itself. Was it hiding something dangerous? Why did she want to meet again, was she caught off guard and needed time to prepare some sort of devilish trap?

"To be who? can you name these trophies? Any of them? What they mean?"

Shade-Beacon, Master of the Castle of Avarice
A face forgotten PV Finished
'I will have questions later. My mind... I'm sure it doesn't work the same like yours does. I need time to think. Because... I realise that if I ask the wrong ones, if I don't manage to fully explain what I mean, that I'll regret that.'

Nico wasn't sure if she was rambling or actually making sense. By now, she knew that Kae might be getting tired of her... nonsense.

'I know that you have a different way of thinking. Maybe you see things clearer than I do. Maybe... it's easier to look at things the way you do than I do...'

What was she on about? Even Nico didn't know for sure anymore. What was her point? In a fast short motion, she shook her head before being able to face the Ravenclaw boy again.

'Either way... Ehm... These trophies? I'm not really sure either who all these people are. I do know that they... must've done something right to be shown here. Some of them might've been top Quidditch players. Others could be professors who invented a new spell. Maybe even some explorers who discovered new species.
That's how trophies work in my world back at home atleast. It may be the same in this magical world.'


With a warm smile, she looked over shoulder once more, eyeing at the many golden obejcts.

'What would you like to be known for, Kaegen?'

You're gonna need a bigger boat