Two Birds, One Stone
┏
Pericles had come to loathe the hospital wing, or as some came to call it, Hogwarts' secondary dorms. It was practically impossible for a student to reach graduation without at least one memory of the starchy white sheets and robes. Were it not for the many times that balls and battles had landed him here, he might have signed up as an intern, but merely crossing the threshold made the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. This aversion didn't so much as slow him down when he burst through the door with an urgent "Aly?" only to stagger to a stop when a scowling helper shushed him. They jerked a thumb in the direction of a bed, and Pear nodded his thanks, promptly closing the gap. He hesitated on the other side, cupping his hand to the privacy curtain and whispering loudly this time, "What happened? Was it a fight? Can I come in...?"┗ ┛
| @Aly Salinger |
Last edited by Pericles Dralt on 15 Aug 2025, 03:08, edited 1 time in total.
{ 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔞 𝔟𝔬𝔶: 𝔞 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢, 𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔟𝔬𝔶. 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔶 𝔰𝔞𝔶 𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔣𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔢𝔞. }
(iNPC: Madhup Hexum)
Two Birds, One Stone
Post Tracker: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
It is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.” —C.S. Lewis
✰✰✰
Normally Aly would have avoided going to the Hospital Wing unless she were physically forced to go there, especially after a Hogwarts ball when there was bound to be someone with a far worse injury, but glass dust in one's eye did tend to give the sixth-year Ravenclaw some pause. Not that she didn't love Peri, but she also liked her depth perception and the idea of keeping it, and though the idea of twinning with him in matching eye-patches was sort of tempting, she much rathered the idea of being able to see as perfectly as she had her entire life. Still, on her way back to the gala after leaving the Haunted Halls, she had still turned over in her mind the idea of simply going back to the dormitories in Ravenclaw Tower and washing out her eye and hair and face there, then just going to bed - no nurses or Healers or fusses required. It is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.” —C.S. Lewis
✰✰✰
Now, though, with tear-tracks carving paths in the dust down her freckled cheeks, she wanted nothing more than to delay seeing any of her friends for a long, long while.
In the twenty or so minutes since arriving at the Hospital Wing, Aly had already gotten semi-cleaned up. Some of the glass dust and debris had been siphoned from her messy curls, and her eye had been unceremoniously washed out and covered with a bandage that annoyed her most terribly and itched like the devil itself. There would be no permanent damage, but it needed to be kept clean for the night, or so she was assured. Her dress was still a mess and a half, bloodstained and dusty, and her face had yet to be washed entirely other than the splotches of clean around her eye, but Aly was in no rush to get tidied and return to the dormitories. After all, she'd managed to hold it in until the helper had pulled the privacy curtain around her bed with a promise to return as soon as they could tend to someone else who had just walked in; she'd managed to stop most of the tears from dripping down her face on the harried, hurried walk to the hospital, managed to hold the blubbering, heaving sobs tightly in her chest, but the second she was alone, they all came out. Hiccups and whimpers and weeps.
She could have been crying for the fact that the girl she loved - yes, loved, because it was real, there had been no potion or dosing or manufactured feelings, but just natural chemical reactions in her heart and in her mind - had spent the evening cosied up to some Gryffindor boy, but that wasn't quite it, now, was it? No, Aly was sobbing over the loss of the mystery - not from the gala, not from the night, but the mystery of the last few months. When she had been wondering, when she had thought that perhaps it could have been falsified, there had been some sort of curiosity, something to follow, some sort of interest and a path she could go down. Steps to take. Now, she'd hit a dead end.
You love, and you are unloved.
It was a stark, dead, cold reality, one Aly had never quite held in her small hands before, and it hurt more than almost anything she had ever known.
And as she sat there, dirtying the clean white sheets, sobbing, the privacy curtain around her fluttered, and suddenly a familiar voice was whispering permission to enter on the other side. It was as if all of the feelings vanished in an instant, a miniature Aly inside of herself shoving them down underneath a carpet of self-presentability and embarrassment, and Aly sat rigidly up, quickly wiping her face with the back of her hand and smearing dust and tears and blood alike over her cheeks.
Peri.
"Come in," she whispered, a slight hiccup in her voice. And when he entered, she would regard his unmarked form with an approving, if wistful, smile, trying to put on her best face. At least he made it out of this one unharmed. Good for him. "We've switched spots, eh? Now we match," with a gesture to her eye and another rigid posture correction as she felt herself once more beginning to slump over. "Don't worry. No permanent damage, and no, no fight. Just a ceiling - hic - collapse I had the misfortune of being near, but I think I got the worst of it. How, er, was your... your game thing?"
✰✰✰
✰ @Pericles Dralt ✰Charmer | Paragon of Health | Lovely Creature | Foulplay | Keen Eye
STA 10 | EVA 11 | STR 5 | WIS 17 | ARCP 7 | ACC 14
Paragon of Health allies: Dealla Prince, Pericles Dralt
Charmer & Lovely Creature are meant to affect everyone.
Items: Love Potion Antidote, wand, locksmith's knife
| Aly Salinger's ency |
| | |
STA 10 | EVA 14 | STR 5 | WIS 19 | ARC 7 | ACC 18 Charmer • Keeper’s Catch • Paragon of Health • Lovely Creature • Foulplay • Keen Eye who's afraid of little old me? |
| | |
Two Birds, One Stone
┏ ┗ ┛
| @Aly Salinger |
{ 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔞 𝔟𝔬𝔶: 𝔞 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢, 𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔟𝔬𝔶. 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔶 𝔰𝔞𝔶 𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔣𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔢𝔞. }
(iNPC: Madhup Hexum)
Two Birds, One Stone
It is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.” —C.S. Lewis
✰✰✰
Sometimes, in the first few months from Aly obtaining her cat Dauncey from the Magical Menagerie in her third year, he had taken it upon himself to puff up into a fat, angry silver hairball when he saw something that could have been dangerous to him or to his new owner, like a rat or a snake or a suspicious-looking dust bunny. Dauncey had grown out of it right quick when he'd realised that Hogwarts was a fairly safe place for a lazy bum like him, and Aly hadn't seen anyone bristle quite like it since... until now, when Peri entered her little zone of healing here in the Hospital Wing. At the sight of her, he seemed to grow four inches taller and twice as broad, looking very much as if he was about to explode - at least until she assured him that the damage was only temporary, and then he relaxed back into that casual, yet somehow still rigid, posture that she had come to know so familiarly from him. ✰✰✰
Her good friend - how had he even found her, anyway? - grabbed some tissues from the bedside and perched beside her like the bird he was both literally and figuratively, asking permission to wipe her face even as he groaned about the game being stupid. This elicited a chuckle from Aly as she nodded permission, and Peri took to blotting her cheeks dry of tears as he mumbled about her beautiful face and poor dress, though of course that simple, kind gesture only made her eyes well up again. "M-Merlin, sorry, I'm sure it's so blotchy right now. And the d-dress can be washed," she managed, trying so hard to not break down into blubbering folly, though the last bit of his sentence did make a ghost of a smile touch her dusty lips. "Though yes, I've - hic - had enough of m-mosps for one week." She rubbed at her eye instinctively, though pulled her hand away when she felt the soft touch of the cloth bandage, remembering that she was not, in fact, supposed to do that. "I think they said I could go tonight, but the helper had to go help someone else first. Should be back soon, though."
She peered up at him, even as he dabbed the tears away from her face; some were still leaking from the unbandaged eye, though she pretended they weren't there, as if they were just having a normal debrief in the Ravenclaw commons post-ball. "Why did you go with Eun-ji?" Aly had met the other sixth-year girl only in passing, on occasion, but knew her to be a former duellist similar to the white-haired boy in front of her; still, she'd never thought of her as one of Peri's particularly close friends, let alone romantic interests. "I didn't know you two... hic... had something, er, going on. Not like that, anyway."
✰✰✰
✰ @Pericles Dralt ✰
✰ @Pericles Dralt ✰
| Aly Salinger's ency |
| | |
STA 10 | EVA 14 | STR 5 | WIS 19 | ARC 7 | ACC 18 Charmer • Keeper’s Catch • Paragon of Health • Lovely Creature • Foulplay • Keen Eye who's afraid of little old me? |
| | |
Two Birds, One Stone
┏
"Why did you go with Eun-ji?" Those familiar with the bird's micro-expressions could see he'd been caught in something: he became very still, while his eyes widened a fraction, lips pressed as if holding back a secret. "I didn't know you two... hic... had something, er, going on. Not like that, anyway." If anyone else had asked, he would have glazed over the question. It was easy enough to simply say they'd gone as friends, but this was Aly asking. After a beat of stewing over how much he ought to admit- Eun-ji deserved her privacy, too- Pear gave in. It was hard not to when chatting with the resident Charmer. "We don't. Not really. Promise not to tell anyone...?" He shifted at the edge of the bed, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Eun-ji wanted to go with someone else, but he didn't ask her. I hoped that seeing her with another boy would inspire him to finally make a move. She and I get on well, and we worked together during another ball fiasco, so it seemed a strategic pairing. It doesn't hurt that she's an excellent dancer, either. But tonight was just a performance for him. Besides," the whisper became a grumble, "with Eve deciding to go off on her own, it wasn't like we were all going together again." As much as the line was intended as a passing comment, Pear's disdain made it obvious he was miffed.┗ ┛
| @Aly Salinger | mentioning @Dealla Prince, @Eun-ji Lee Hunt, @Hanako Tone, @Evelynn Decipio |
{ 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔞 𝔟𝔬𝔶: 𝔞 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢, 𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔟𝔬𝔶. 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔶 𝔰𝔞𝔶 𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔣𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔢𝔞. }
(iNPC: Madhup Hexum)
Two Birds, One Stone
It is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.” —C.S. Lewis
✰✰✰
With the deft hand that Peri used to wipe away the grime that had coated her face for near on an hour now, Aly could have mistaken him for a Healer if her other eye had been closed. She tried to return his smile, remembering when she was once a Healer intern herself, doing similar menial tasks - albeit to much more perfect strangers. "You're - hic - pretty good at this, Peri," she half-teased, though there was a bit of seriousness to her tone; referencing their reconnecting conversation in the dungeons from over a year ago, she added, "Maybe you're the one with the Healer's temperament." Still, despite her attempt at a joke, Peri's offer at a night in the Martial Eagle dormitory's cushioned sunken refuge brought on another round of teariness. He knew her so well, knew just what to say. Moving into the gender-neutral rooms in the eagle tower with all of her best mates had been one of the best decisions of Aly's sixth year thus far. "I'd love that. Dee was still in the Halls when I left with this new Durmstrang boy of hers - I'm sure she'll have plenty of details for the both of us, and it'll be a good distraction to hear all about it." The other message was silent, but clear: with Dee chattering on about a love interest, Peri and Aly would both be able to be quiet and relax - Peri because he was always quiet, and Aly because she needed it, particularly tonight of all nights.✰✰✰
In the meantime, there were other romantic developments about which Aly could hear; she studied Peri's face with her one unblocked eye, which was as keen as ever, noting the small widening of his gaze and the pursing of his already-thin lips. He was hiding something from her, and seeing as how his presence alone was already beginning to better her mood, she was about to press her fellow eagle for more when he willingly gave in to her anyway - a slight lean, a whispered voice. It was times like this that made Aly know that she and Peri were close. He trusted her, much like she trusted him, and she eagerly listened as he detailed his cunning scheme to help catch the eye of whatever idiot boy had ignored Eun-ji. (Aly may not have known the girl well at all, but she did know she was beautiful - so there was no doubt that whoever that bloke was, he was a massive git.) A grin spread over her face as she added in her own commentary, mostly "Ooh!"s and "Wow!"s and one final "Oh, that's horrid," at the end when the results of the Ravenclaws' plan were revealed. But it all dropped from her face in an instant the moment a name was grumbled in displeasure, clear contempt as plain on his face as the milky white eye in one socket: Eve.
She'd cried enough tonight. At the Gryffindor's name, her face simply went blank.
It took a few moments for her to collect herself enough to speak. The memories flashed over her face in the forms of emotions, pain and fear and hope and loss as raw as an open wound, in an instant before she even opened her mouth, and when she did, the hiccups were gone, replaced with a crackly tone as sore as the freshly cleaned skin on her face. To Peri, someone who knew Aly sometimes better than she knew herself, it would be clear that something more had happened. Still, her words didn't let on to as much: "Yes, I... saw her. She looked wonderful tonight."
✰✰✰
✰ @Pericles Dralt ✰
✰ @Pericles Dralt ✰
| Aly Salinger's ency |
| | |
STA 10 | EVA 14 | STR 5 | WIS 19 | ARC 7 | ACC 18 Charmer • Keeper’s Catch • Paragon of Health • Lovely Creature • Foulplay • Keen Eye who's afraid of little old me? |
| | |
Two Birds, One Stone
┏
Hearing the tremble in her voice, Pericles subjected Aly to the long look he singularly wore when trying to piece matters together. She was upset as soon as he mentioned Eve, that much he recognized, but the "why" of it all remained a mystery. A misconception hit him hard and took root. Eve had gone off on her datescapade, Pear was playing matchmaker, and Aly was left alone. Now they were too busy being bitter towards each other to realize where that put their friend. "Did we hurt you...?" Already sore from not knowing why Eve was standoffish all night, Pear was tired of playing guessing games with those he cared about. "You can tell me what's wrong, Al, even if it's my fault."┗ ┛
| @Aly Salinger |
{ 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔞 𝔟𝔬𝔶: 𝔞 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢, 𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔟𝔬𝔶. 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔶 𝔰𝔞𝔶 𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔣𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔢𝔞. }
(iNPC: Madhup Hexum)
Two Birds, One Stone
It is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.” —C.S. Lewis
✰✰✰
Aly chuckled slightly at her friend's crack at Healers. She had been an intern here in this very wing, years before, with dreams of St. Mungo's and bandages and curative spellwork, but that dream had long since passed her by - partially because she knew, deep down, that with the strength with which Aly felt her emotions, she could never be as impartial as the job necessitated. She simply cared too much. "If they're supposed to not care, I'm glad I won't be following that path," she grumbled, blinking her lone unhidden eye rapidly; in his careful grime-wiping, an eyelash seemed to have dislodged directly into her cornea. The mention of Dee's new boyfriend, though, distracted her momentarily... somewhat, at least, as her eye began to water slightly. "Oh, Madhup? No, not at all! Well - he seems nice, anyway." A haphazard shrug accompanied her half-knowledgeable words. "I'll admit I've only met him twice and both today, but he did come to cheer her on at the broom race this afternoon. Didn't know who he was at the time, I just met him tonight in the Haunted Halls, but he sure was... energetic about supporting her, to say the least." With a smile touching her lips at the memory of the Durmstrang student shirtless in the stands, her best mate's initial emblazoned in glittery blue and bronze upon his admittedly quite well-formed chest, Aly chuckled and glanced back up into Peri's eye for the briefest of seconds. "She deserves it. I don't know if they're dating, per se, but she seems happy. That's all we can really ask for after... you know."✰✰✰
The mention of the boy who had broken Dee's heart and Peri's vision hung unspoken between them for a moment, and then the silence was broken by a return to Eve. Eve. What a long six months it had been since the spring ball - it felt more like a year, honestly, since the sun had met the star, since the moon had gone blind, since all of the events of that fateful day. It was hard to believe that they were still dealing with the aftereffects, each one of them in their own different way, of course. But if one of them, just one, could be happy after it all... well, Aly was just proud to see that someone was.
She reached out, almost instinctively, to grab Peri's hand, squeezing his lanky, pale fingers tight in her own. "No. No," she said, fiercely, with her clutch on his growing tighter still, as if she could convince him through strength alone that he had done nothing of the sort, that he had never harmed her, that he never could. "It's not your fault. I was okay, truly - Dee and I got ready together, and I wanted to get there early anyway, so I just went by myself. Nothing's yours to take as blame." A wry smile danced across her lips, ghostlike, just for a moment. "I could never be mad at you even if it was you, Pear. But it's not."
Her heart beat a frantic rhythm in her ribcage; her mind was oddly calm, even as her pulse fluttered bluish wings in her wrists. She hadn't told anyone this. Not Dee, even, who was supposed to be her closest friend, her sister in essence rather than blood. And yet, somehow, it felt right in this moment to share this secret that had stayed trapped inside her perfect cage for months - something that had controlled her every move, that had sent her running from the redhead in the corridors, that had forced the brewing of a very unnecessary potion (the bittersweet aftertaste of which Aly still felt on her tongue, even now). If anyone could understand, if anyone would understand, it would be the white-haired eagle in front of her. He, too, had been different lately, especially about Eve. Six months ago, after all, the two had been matching at a ball, and now they were taking others as dates less friendly than what Aly assumed the spring ball had been and trying to, what, get each other's attention? Something had happened between them, too, though Aly doubted it was of the same variety as hers.
Eve hadn't kissed Peri at the Spin, after all. But she had kissed Aly.
A blush colouring her freckled cheeks, Aly couldn't help but drop her gaze and Peri's hand. Curling her hands into fists, crinkling the bedsheets within, she mumbled it, for even the calmest of minds still felt the fear of her heartbeat as she confessed something that had been bothering the young Ravenclaw for what felt like an eternity.
"It's Eve, actually," she muttered. She dared not say the words aloud, but the redness on her face was evident as she once more looked up into Peri's eyes and whispered, "It's... you know. Eve."
✰✰✰
✰ @Pericles Dralt ✰
✰ @Pericles Dralt ✰
| Aly Salinger's ency |
| | |
STA 10 | EVA 14 | STR 5 | WIS 19 | ARC 7 | ACC 18 Charmer • Keeper’s Catch • Paragon of Health • Lovely Creature • Foulplay • Keen Eye who's afraid of little old me? |
| | |
Two Birds, One Stone
┏
As far as Pericles was concerned, it was that he was tired of seeing his friends brought low. Finding Aly in this place- in her condition- stirred up a mess of feelings. Some of the worried creases smoothed from his forehead when she took his hand, though hearing he hadn't contributed to her state didn't put him at ease. "Then what? Or who?" His good eye was locked on Aly, trying to peel back the secretive layers veiling the source of her grief, which he couldn't fix if he couldn't identify. Her hand slid away, so Peri laced his fingers and listened in anticipation. He held his breath, leaning in ever so slightly, only to look clueless the first time she uttered Eve's name. The second time, it sunk in.
Realization made his face fall. Soon the tips of Peri's ears were as red as Aly's cheeks, and he was scanning the floor as if the solution to their conundrum was down there somewhere. "Oh." He hadn't forgotten the Mistletoe Spin, either, or the shock he'd felt on finding out that two of his closest friends had kissed. At the time, Peri passed the piece of information off as inconsequential. Some friends apparently felt easygoing enough to play those games together. But the kittenish kiss Aly placed on his cheek, and the stunningly intimate one Eve had planted on Aly, were two very different things. If he'd overlooked this, who knew what else he was missing? "Have you... talked to her?"┗ ┛
| @Aly Salinger |
{ 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔰 𝔞 𝔟𝔬𝔶: 𝔞 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢, 𝔢𝔫𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔟𝔬𝔶. 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔶 𝔰𝔞𝔶 𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔣𝔞𝔯 𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔢𝔞. }
(iNPC: Madhup Hexum)
Two Birds, One Stone
It is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.” —C.S. Lewis
✰✰✰
Her heart pounding, thumping an inexplicably hysterical rhythm in her chest but also in her neck and wrists, so strong it felt like the more fragile parts of her body might break simply from the force of her pulse, Aly immediately darted her gaze away from Peri's stormy blue eyes to look elsewhere, anywhere else other than him. Why she was so skittish at the very thought of him knowing her heart's most recent deepest desire, she had no idea. Normally she'd have been all over telling Dee and Peri, her two closest mates, everything about the person she'd recently come to fancy - Merlin knew she'd done it before, gushing details and what-ifs and laughter and excitement and hope to the two other birds. This felt so dissimilar, though, as far apart as two separate worlds in the night sky. ✰✰✰
To tell your friends about your latest fancy of a stranger could not even compare with admitting to those same friends about your heart's desire for someone they knew, even liked, even loved.
Perhaps that was why Peri's slightly delayed response - a simple oh - was so crushing in the instant it hit; she was so used to her own joy and exhilaration being mirrored back at her that to see the other boy as equally downtrodden felt like a final blow, a confirmation that to love the redhead was absolutely the wrong idea. But then again, Aly was sixteen and she had never loved quietly. Moments passed before the moon asked, quite hesitantly, if Aly had spoken to Eve; she sighed and shook her head, still refusing once more to meet his eyes. "Not in a while, no. I keep trying to, but every time I get near her my palms get all sweaty and I start clamming up and can't get any words out." A lightbulb, over her head. "Oh, you mean about this, not just in general? What do you think?" The words came out sharper than intended, and that was enough for Aly to look up at Peri with an apology in her gaze. "Sorry. It's just... you're the first one I've told. I honestly don't know that I'd really admitted it to myself yet, even."
Again, a hefty sigh made its way from her lungs. "It's just so much more complicated than all of the other folks I've fancied. If those go wrong, I can just... pretend they don't exist and move on with my life, but I can't do that with Eve because we're all so close. What if I told her and she thought I was mad? What if she doesn't even fancy girls?" Aly bit the corner of her cheek, a nervous habit. "And that's not even including that Gryffindor she's been all over lately. Dunno his name. The one she was sitting with when we left. Do you think they're..." The implication hung heavy in the air between them. Aly was unwilling to say it; was Peri?
Speaking of those other folks Aly had fancied, the mention of Aaron Jones had her sitting up straight in a heartbeat - not out of any long-lost love, for she held none anymore for the Hufflepuff, but out of surprise and realisation. The Ravenclaw girl had seen her friend chatting with her ex at the Spin, and had taken it as a bit of a negative connotation - that Peri had taken it upon himself to be friendly to Aaron, despite the past between Aly and the Hufflepuff of which her lunar companion definitively knew. In fact, she hadn't spoken much to Peri since then, having held on to a miniature grudge; there hadn't been purposeful avoidance like there had been with Eve, at least (not that they could avoid each other if they wanted to, seeing as how the moon and star shared a dormitory), but it had sort of always been there in the back of her mind. Until today, when it had seemingly slipped it. But now Peri was insisting, upon his own accord and without Aly having to bring it up, that it had been a less-than-positive interaction. That Peri had, perhaps, threatened Aaron on her behalf. That in and of itself was enough to lighten the Ravenclaw's heart momentarily, enough so for the ghost of a smile to pass her lips. These two were familiar with ghosts, in the end, so perhaps Peri would even see it.
"Did you really?" she breathed out in revelation, almost forgetting about the Eve conversation - almost. Instead, her brain was mostly tumbling through the memory of seeing the two boys whisper at each other - and only then did she recognise several key aspects: Pericles' umbrella specifically angled so as to not protect Aaron from the dripping wax, the look on Aaron's face throughout the next round of the Spin. Perhaps she had moved too quickly to misjudge Peri, her own speed her downfall. "That's... very sweet of you. He's certainly done a great job of it - I don't think I've seen him all school year." Still, she tentatively reached out and gently grasped Peri's hand in her own, a silent gesture of thanks passed between the two Ravenclaws in an instant. "You know, I yelled at his girlfriend a bit over the summer, once camp was over. Opeila, the Slytherin? Was sent to live with her family for a bit, and it didn't go well at first. Though I dare say we might even sort of be friends now." She chuckled dryly, sardonic words dripping from her mouth. "Not with... him, though. Never. So I appreciate it. You really were a knight in shining armour during the Spin, eh?"
Another memory flitted to the surface: Pericles leaving the Spin, leaving her alone on the dance floor, and in an instant her smile, as faint as it had been, vanished. Never mind that he had needed the moment - the Ravenclaw didn't know that, and had only seen the abandonment and betrayal of one of her best mates. Again, for those of you who might think her selfish, let us all remember she was sixteen and foolish. "But you did leave right when we were supposed to be paired together for a dance, so... there's that."
✰✰✰
✰ @Pericles Dralt (mentioning @Aaron Jones, @Evelynn Decipio, @Opeila Winters) ✰
✰ @Pericles Dralt (mentioning @Aaron Jones, @Evelynn Decipio, @Opeila Winters) ✰
| Aly Salinger's ency |
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STA 10 | EVA 14 | STR 5 | WIS 19 | ARC 7 | ACC 18 Charmer • Keeper’s Catch • Paragon of Health • Lovely Creature • Foulplay • Keen Eye who's afraid of little old me? |
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