31 Mar 2025, 01:27
Prophesy and Paranoia
Date: April 28th
Avis slipped a caramel into her mouth as she stole out of her last class of the day, slipping up the stairs from the potions classroom and out the door. It was finally, finally a decent enough day to go outside without any sort of winter cloak, and it made the dreary potions classroom dungeon all the more discouraging.
Those were the worst sorts of days, when Avis was stuck in potions - by far her worst class, when the only thing she wanted to do was get out, away, and up. How the Slytherins dealt with a sunless common room, she would never understand.
Exiting the dreary building, Avis flicked her eyes downward, giving her eyes a moment to adjust to the bright sunlight sneaking it's way past the never-ending clouds, before pulling them back up to watch where she was going. As she crossed the grounds, she inhaled a deep breath of freedom, relishing the fact that potions was finally done and over with. It wasn't that she didn't like the professor, it was just she didn't like anything else about the class.
The April breeze stretched it's way across the ground, the slight wind whipping her hair into her eyes. She brushed the hair away and dug into her satchel for a bandana, which she deftly tied around her head, pulling it back, all without pausing.
Dozens of students had already made their way onto the grounds, lured by the promises of fresh and warm air, and the white noise of students at the end of the day filled the air as they claimed seats throughout the grounds.
With a quick scan across the grounds and a glance over her shoulder that was becoming more and more common, Avis began walking. Purposfully, but with no purpose. She forced herself to hum a tune, and her fingers danced across the side of her leg as if it were a piano.
@Emily Shephard
Last edited by Avis Marlong on 27 Jun 2025, 03:50, edited 2 times in total.
Avis Marlong | ”She won't cry or beg for help...she'll isolate from the world and fight her own demons so that nobody can throw it in her face later.” |
"The odds of hitting your target increase dramatically when you aim at it." Benji Marecos |
31 Mar 2025, 22:23
Prophesy and Paranoia
April 28th 2025
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
@Avis Marlong
Two weeks wasn't long enough to consolidate the time spent without "Auntie" at Emily's side. The Easter holidays would be the only thing she would be able to hold on to until she would return home again for the summer break. However, Emily felt she had blossomed a lot mentally in the time she spent back home. She was happier and a lot more productive during the day, whilst getting ample rest at night. All thanks to a reaffirmation of routine and spending time with people who would dedicate themselves entirely to her with all their hearts if they wanted her company.
A far cry from what she was dealing with way back near the start of the year where it was the complete opposite. Emily shivered. How grateful she was to be out of that mindset and back to her squishy self!
Naturally with some of the newfound lessons she had come to realise for herself the day she decided the Mark would no longer possess her, she was spending time outside of class and revision time pondering what exactly it all meant. Well-- obviously she knew what it meant, but she didn't know what it meant. For her in the long run.
Not all fears are real.
That was Emily's first lesson and by closer examination, her big push towards her healing. Emily knew she was scared of a lot of things. She had a phase of being iffy of the dark when she was small. Scorpions freaked her out a little. But those were natural, trivial fears. So what about her loneliness disguised as independence? That her friends only stick around to pity and babysit her? That's when Emily started realising she was stepping too far into ludicrous territory. Scout wouldn't have stuck around if she didn't care. Colin wouldn't be mending her injuries if there was a chance he enjoyed seeing her in pain. No one would have put up with Emily if they really couldn't care less.
Being able to brush off the voices that tried to convince her of the worst case scenario never felt so gratifying. Emily was still smiling smugly at the feeling.
As she took a walk through the grounds to get a lungful of the fresh air she'd been craving for the last while, she spotted a young birdie. A familiar face. Neither Brookie nor Ophelia, Emmanuel nor Aston. The other one. Her newest birdie acquaintance.
"Avis...?"
She puttered over to where she finally got a look at her face. She seemed well, if maybe a bit distracted. Emily waved a small hand in front of her, smiling warmly. For all the stubbornness attributed to Avis, Emily was also acutely aware that it wasn't her that was present on that night, which kept her soft spoken when she addressed her.
"It's been some time since we've run into each other. How've you been? Good I hope..." Or at least something that wasn't anything like Emily had gone through in the weeks following Gideon's scheme. She was involuntarily casting glances at Avis's hands to find any marks on them before she had to will herself to stop herself, at the risk of being seen as some kind of creep otherwise.
"So... Have you, um... Been feeling alright since..."
After Emily experienced, she didn't want to tread too deep into what Avis was probably thinking since that night. But she had to know if she was suffering. If there was even the slightest chance Avis was feeling what Emily felt, then she needed help. Now.
Word Count: 600
Stats: Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace
Trust Yourself - Love Yourself - Be Yourself
iNPC = Casey Stone
1 Apr 2025, 01:26
Prophesy and Paranoia
"Avis...?"
Avis jerked a step back instinctively, her breath catching a moment, flinching harder than she would have liked. It showed nervousness, weakness. She hated this, this jumpiness that seemed to slice through her attempts at stoicness. Her arms crossed around her chest, and her eyes narrowed in defense. How had she allowed the Hufflepuff to skid through her vigilance?
She angled her eyes upwards at the older girl, though she kept her head straight. Eventually, her eyes would start to hurt, but that was eventually. They flicked to Emily, behind the Hufflepuff, back and forth, before back to the Huffie. She tried to entice a smile onto her face, but all she managed was a strained grin.
"It's been some time since we've run into each other. How've you been? Good I hope..." Avis smirked bitterly. Right, okay, sure. They were going to do this facade. This joke. This whole pretending they were just casual friends, whose last encounter wasn't a nightmare in the forest. "I'm alright," she muttered, too softly for the bite to slip into her words.
Catching Emily's glance toward her hand, Avis pulled her hand up, palm face out towards Emily, allowing the girl to see her mark hovering between them like an wall, glaring at the girl. It didn't hurt, didn't itch, but it pressed in, boring an image into her eyes and tenderly reminding her of what it meant. After a pause, she pulled it down and began to wring her hands. She began to shift her weight from one foot to another, secretly pacing while she stood in one spot.
"So... Have you, um... Been feeling alright since..."
Avis stiffened, meeting the girl's hazel eyes with shining brown ones. "He's lying, right? Gideon's lying?" Her words barely made it past her lips, barely more than a thought. She lowered her eyes, speaking more to herself than Emily. Her fragile voice cracked as she spoke, and she attempted to reign it in."He has to be, he has to be."
@Emily Shephard
Avis Marlong | ”She won't cry or beg for help...she'll isolate from the world and fight her own demons so that nobody can throw it in her face later.” |
"The odds of hitting your target increase dramatically when you aim at it." Benji Marecos |
1 Apr 2025, 17:39
Prophesy and Paranoia
April 28th 2025
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
@Avis Marlong
What was it with Avis being so grumpy whenever Emily was being nice to her? Or was this her way of being friendly? It certainly wasn't the kind of friendliness Emily had seen on anyone else before... And she was friends with Ava Winchect, arguably one of the most sweetly sour friends she had ever made coming into Hogwarts. Avis, however... she just seemed to be a sullen girl even when the sun was shining.
Emily couldn't find it in her to lose her patience though. Some people were just wired like that, she guessed. That was probably why Emily let her get away with it. She had her hands up, surrendering all power to her.
"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. I think we're all a bit spooked by that night."
Then Avis surprised her by throwing her hand in Emily's face, giving the Huffie a good look at the angry dark mark that was on her skin. Emily's mark paled by comparison. A solid indication Avis was not okay, with or without the brave face.
Emily frowned. "We need to do something about that..."
Then Avis whispered something that Emily could just about pick up with her ears, but her eyes said everything else. Avis could entertain Emily with her cold bravado but even a little birdie like her couldn't hold up the weight both of them were forced upon with by Gideon. Emily remained calm and soft.
"I don't know what he's up to but we both know he can't be trusted. The fact that he talks to that tree like the two of them are old friends concerns me, let alone the fact he had us give it blood. Who knows what he's been doing to it before we came along, or to how many other students he's done this to. I've come across many strange magical plants before but I've never heard of a tree sustained by human blood before... That can't be right. And with what happened after..." Emily shivered as she trailed off. She didn't even want to think about what happened afterwards, what with the nightmares, hallucinations and endless shrieking voices. Avis was right to be worried.
Emily took her by the shoulders gently. "I think we can get you through this. Dare I say I think I've worked out how... But I need you to trust me. We don't have to be friends if that's what you want but what I want is to help you, whether you accept it or not."
She stood back to give her space. "So, what do you say?"
Word Count: 400
Stats: Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace
Trust Yourself - Love Yourself - Be Yourself
iNPC = Casey Stone
1 Apr 2025, 22:55
Prophesy and Paranoia
"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. I think we're all a bit spooked by that night."
Avis frowned, eyes downcast at the ground. That hadn't been what she meant at all. She had thought Emily was the one avoiding the topic, and now it was all wrong. It seemed that everything she said had the complete opposite meaning, like those puerile "opposite days" Alaina and she had played when they were younger, doing the opposite of whatever trivial tasks the other cast. Except now it had meaning. Except now it was real. Now it had actual living consequences.
The problem with trying to come across as stoic and untouchable was that sometimes it actually worked.
"We need to do something about that..." Avis bit her lip, holding back the wave of sarcasm threatening to erupt over. Best not to make things worse. Instead, her wringing of her hands became more desperate, displaying her panic, and she twisted over and yanked at her hands until she winced at the pain. She shoved them deep into her pockets as if they were the problem. She was fine, normal, and it was her hands, and if only she could cage them, make them disappear, her problems might be fixed.
Silently, Avis listened to the Huffie, her gaze fixed upon a particularly interesting patch of dead grass a few feet behind her.
"I think we can get you through this-""We?" Avis interrupted sharply yet softly. Who was we? Who else had she told? She shrank backwards, shrugging out of Emily's grasp. The last thing she needed was a rumor flying about the school. Whether or not it was true. Other people didn't need to know. That made it real.
"I think we can get you through this. Dare I say I think I've worked out how... But I need you to trust me. We don't have to be friends if that's what you want but what I want is to help you, whether you accept it or not." What? No. Avis shook her head almost imperceptibly. That wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to be friends. Or her heart did, in any case. Her mind, Avis wasn't even sure what her mind wanted anymore. She fidgeted.
Emily was sweet, concerned, kind. Avis liked the Huffie, she really did, but trust was a luxury Avis could really afford. Not that she had been consistently betrayed, but Avis was a loyal girl. It only took one.
"So, what do you say?"
Silently, Avis pulled her hand out of her pocket. She rubbed the back of her neck hesitantly, before digging into her satchel, pulling out a small crumpled note. She had kept it, for some reason, and now she pressed it firmly into Emily's hand.
"I think I'm way in over my head."
@Emily ShephardAamon,
I had a vision last evening and you were fighting yourself. Avis was there and she tried to kill both of you. I think she might succeed. Be careful.
Giddy
Avis Marlong | ”She won't cry or beg for help...she'll isolate from the world and fight her own demons so that nobody can throw it in her face later.” |
"The odds of hitting your target increase dramatically when you aim at it." Benji Marecos |
4 Apr 2025, 23:54
Prophesy and Paranoia
April 28th 2025
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
@Avis Marlong
Avis was very good at composure. For the most part. But Emily had learnt first hand that words weren't the only way to communicate. She took one look at Avis's eyes, catching a glimpse at the struggle behind them. Emily silently applauded Avis's courage. It could match any Gryffindor's but as a Ravenclaw, she should know that she can't be suffering with this on her own. Emily did it and despised the experience. She shouldn't have to watch Avis follow in her stride.
Avis's face twisted between a state of haunting and bitterness before she withdrew from Emily's touch, her own hands going into a pocket and lifting out a used slip of paper. Reclaiming Emily's hand, she deposited into it. Emily looked down at what she was given. A note of some sort. Not incredibly detailed.
But enough was there to send a worried chill up Emily's back.
"Gideon wrote this? Did he say anything to you? When did you get this?"
What was it that Gideon had planned sending a note like that to Aamon? Was it even true? And if it was... How did Avis fit into all of this, much less as the role of a murderess?
"Avis... Have Gideon or Aamon approached you? Because if they have and if they've said something to you about this... Then..."
She trailed off. Gideon was a man who could charm anyone into bloodshed if he really wanted to. He appeared to be a man who waited patiently in the shadows and celebrated what he sowed with undying pleasure. The ghostly remnants of a corpse probably stirred a secret fascination within him given the girls' last run-in with him, and look how well that went.
Emily narrowed her eyes in thought. She wouldn't put it past Gideon to be capable of such wanton malevolence, targeting Avis and twisting her into a false identity, if that's what was even happening.
"I have a bad feeling about this..."
Word Count: 354
Stats: Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace
Trust Yourself - Love Yourself - Be Yourself
iNPC = Casey Stone
5 Apr 2025, 00:23
Prophesy and Paranoia
"Gideon wrote this? Did he say anything to you? When did you get this?"
Avis' hands slid back, wringing themselves around each other restlessly as she cast a glance around the grounds. "I-yeah. At Beauxbâton. I was in a cabin with him-and Aamon-and Mathias." A sharp glance of annoyance flashed across her face at whatever numbskull set that up. "He was being all cryptic and Gideony; he was baiting me." He had baited her again. A bait that she had fallen for, hook, line, and sinker.
Gideon was good.
Too good.
A fact that Avis knew all too well, a fact that she really wished she didn't know. Because ignorant control is better than wise uncertainty. Because if you don’t know the truth, you don’t have to act on it. You don’t have to fall apart. In Avis' black and white mind, uncertainty was unacceptable.
A fact Gideon probably knew all too well.
"Aamon never saw it." Because Avis had taken it. She had been forced into a fork and had picked the selfish option, the option that was most likely to prevent Aamon from being scared of her, and most likely to keep herself safe. That made her a coward. Guilt tugged at her mind, and she yanked hard at her fingers, nails digging into skin. That was the good thing about physical pain, it distracted from the mental pain. Physical pain played fairly.
"Aamon...no, they haven't. I don't know if Aamon knows. And I can't go up to him him." She took a small step back as if she could retreat from the thought. "Becuase...what if it's true? And Gideon...I can't-He can't see this" She gestured to her mark. "I can't give him that satisfaction. It'll only make things worse."
She raised her gaze back to the older girl, desperate for a guiding hand, repeating what she said before. Filled with fragile hope. Hope the width of a nanometer, shatterable if even breathed on. "What if it's true?"
@Emily Shephard
Avis Marlong | ”She won't cry or beg for help...she'll isolate from the world and fight her own demons so that nobody can throw it in her face later.” |
"The odds of hitting your target increase dramatically when you aim at it." Benji Marecos |
8 Apr 2025, 01:28
Prophesy and Paranoia
April 28th 2025
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
@Avis Marlong
Mentioning: @Scout Fu-Hai and @Colin McCoire
Good God.
How has Avis not been murdered after being cabin roommates with both Aamon and Gideon? How did she even get to being in the same cabin as them in the first place? Scout thought being in the same cabin as Casey, Colin and Cursa was a mad one... Wait until Emily tells her that a first year had to spend time with a brotherhood that might just get her killed.
She crinkled a brow at the mention of someone she didn't know. Mathias. Sounded like another shifty figure to watch out for if he was anything like the other two boys. If Aamon attracted trouble and Gideon delivered it, then what was Mathias like? Or maybe Emily was getting paranoid. Still, she had good reasons to assume the worst out of a crowd like that these days.
She nodded as she took in Avis's explanation before turning off to the side to think aloud. "Okay... So Aamon doesn't know about this yet by the sounds of it..." She looked backdown to see Avis's exterior breaking away to show the anxiety underneath. Poor girl. Emily instinctively placed a calming hand to the birdie's shoulder, smiling gently.
"I know it's hard, but try not to panic. Gideon wants to see you upset and afraid. I reckon that's how he likes his entertainment. He must be after something if he's using you like this."
The thing was though, what was Gideon even trying to accomplish? Did Emily even want to know after the disaster that befell the girls weeks ago, knowing that's what he was capable of? Emily shuddered.
But a semblance of an idea did pop into her head. She smiled faintly at the image of a boy and his mop of platinum hair.
"I've a friend who's in the same house as Aamon. He's very good at sniffing out trouble. I think if I talked to him, he might be able to give us some insight on what Gideon might be up to. Leave it to me!"
Because if anyone could sus out a man's shiftiness and bring some justice back to the field, Colin could. He did it once before when Emily was at her lowest. He played a crucial part in helping her claw her way back to herself. Without him, Emily probably wouldn't have healed as much as she had been. She smiled at the thought of him. How blessed she was to have him as a friend.
She blinked when she realised she lingered on her train of thought for too long. "But for now..."
She took Avis's hand, the one that bore the Mark, holding it carefully.
"Let's do something about this".
Word Count: 438
Stats: Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace
Trust Yourself - Love Yourself - Be Yourself
iNPC = Casey Stone
8 Apr 2025, 16:27
Prophesy and Paranoia
"I know it's hard, but try not to panic. Gideon wants to see you upset and afraid. I reckon that's how he likes his entertainment. He must be after something if he's using you like this."
Emily was speaking softly and encouragingly, as if it wasn't actually Avis' fault. That was a change; Avis had just sort of assumed it was. Compassion was an alien Avis wasn't used to recieving.
If Gideon was just looking for some menial entertainment, it seemed to Avis that he could find better ways to do it rather than messing with her mind.
Everyone's got a defense mechanism. A way to almost protect themselves when they really don't know what to do. In Avis' case, she wielded sarcasm like a sword. Sharp, biting sarcasm. Although the worse the circumstances were, the less sharp it was, the less biting. Like butterknife rather than a sword, dull and shaking in her grip. Though it may have sounded sharp in her head, the minute it formed itself into solid words, it became desperate, almost regretful.
"Right, because everyone in Slytherin's the same." She muttered, her voice brittle. The words offered no point, no comfort, just clattered to the ground and lay there, useless.
As Emily grabbed her hand, Avis stiffened. Instinctively, she curled her fingers around in order to try to hide her mark, hoping Emily wouldn't notice how her hand trembled. It was embarrassing, really; what sort of idiot allowed themself to be manipulated like that? Even as she snatched a glance at Emily's hand, the other girl's mark didn't seem to be as large as Avis', didn't seem as dark.
"Let's do something about this".
Avis stared at the grass at her feet, saying nothing. She couldn't; that would be admitting, asking for help. But she didn't pull away either, just stood stiffly, her feet rooted soundly to the ground.
@Emily Shephard
Avis Marlong | ”She won't cry or beg for help...she'll isolate from the world and fight her own demons so that nobody can throw it in her face later.” |
"The odds of hitting your target increase dramatically when you aim at it." Benji Marecos |
16 Apr 2025, 16:37
Prophesy and Paranoia
April 28th 2025
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
@Avis Marlong
Mentioning: @Colin McCoire and @Ava Winchect
Emily's ears picked up on Avis's small statement on Slytherin and frowned. That wasn't strictly true. Emily had many good friends in Slytherin. There was River. And Kaitlyn. And Ava! She wondered where she had been lately. And of course her dear Colin. Emily gently squeezed the Ravenclaw's hand.
"Slytherin isn't all bad," she finally said. "Well, it's not completely all full of people like Aamon nor Gideon if that's what you mean. Gideon is in Hufflepuff, so I guess in a way we can say we both know a Huffie that's far worse than even the most cunning of snakes... You only need to dig a bit deeper to find some truly good-hearted people, no matter what House they are in."
How the Hell Gideon was sorted into Hufflepuff with the kind of air he walked in was a question she doubted even the smartest of scientists could answer. Emily frowned again, this time at herself. She never wanted to think like that about anyone, but Gideon was making it excruciatingly difficult for her to think of a reason to forgive his... Suspicious behaviour.
Emily could feel through Avis's hand how tense she was being. She couldn't blame the birdie, not after all she's heard so far about what she's been through. She watched Avis looked away from her and smiled reassuringly.
"Did you know that there's more than one way for a person to quietly ask for help?" she said kindly. "Now then..."
She guided Avis's hands to her chest, flattening her palms straight across her. Emily held them there for a few brief seconds before she let go.
"Start from what's in there, where it counts..." she resumed. "... And think about all you're feeling. You don't have to think about why you're feeling them but try and remember what makes everything about you, 'you'..."
She patted Avis on the shoulder gently. "You have to put yourself right... To find yourself again. But in order to do that, you have to want to put yourself right."
Word Count: 341
Stats: Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace
Trust Yourself - Love Yourself - Be Yourself
iNPC = Casey Stone