The Stars We Follow Finished PV Adlai Rod

Group projects were NOT Adlai’s favorite thing in the world. She found them rather annoying since she was usually given all the work. But as time went by she didn’t mind it as much since astronomy was one of her great loves. Heck, if planets and stars were people she’d marry all of them on the spot.
“Good afternoon.” the boy beside her said flashing a smile.
“Don’t you mean evening?” She laughed as astronomy was held late at night for first years. She didn’t quite mind it though it did take a toll on her the next day.
As the stranger began to talk again he yawned mid sentence. Understandable-she thought as his yawning ignited hers.
“S-sorry about that. I… I have all the formulas written out right here, so we can just plug in the data we need and be finished.”
“Perfect, let’s get started then.” She said as she began to skim through her notes on the instructions they were given. This doesn’t seem so bad- she thinks to herself.

“My name is Flash. If there’s anything at all you need me to help with or explain, don’t hesitate to ask.”
Flash? I know that name- In a sudden state of panic she looks up at the boy. He fit the description she was given and that name...“You don’t happen to be Flash Holmwood?” She asked.
She was a bit worried as the things she had heard about him were not the best. On top of that the harsh words that were spoken came from the mouths of older Hufflepuff’s as well...which definitely meant something. But so far he didn’t seem anything like what she heard thus, in the back of her a voice told her to investigate.

OOC: So Sorry for the late reply!

Things got off to a wonderful start as she seemingly forgave his foibles and set to starting the work right away. He would be glad to split the work right down the middle and have it take half the time to complete, then he could rest his brain and prepare himself for the next day. It wasn’t to be, however.

She recognized him, which wasn’t something he was entirely unused to, being that his name was rather memorable, but this was the first time he was being recognized while accompanied with a look of distaste, mixed with apprehension. She had heard not of his heroics, nor his kind, gentle nature. Apparently, people had started to talk about his other side. It hurt him to his core to see it unfolding before him.

Her hijab rested on her shoulders, not at all concealing the fact that she wore Hufflepuff colors. That made it rather clear, the way Hufflepuffs were, Flash had been attracted to them like a moth to a flame, though somehow it was always them that got burned. With Willow being as popular as she was, and not to mention the fight he had with the Hufflepuff prefect, he wouldn’t be surprised if his face wasn’t plastered on a dartboard in the Hufflepuff common room. He knew more than a few of them wouldn’t so easily forgive him, even though Willow had.

Instead of losing himself in the numbers, he was put into the position of having to defend himself again. Since it was his fault his reputation had soured so badly, he couldn’t feel upset. But still he felt so tired.

”Yes. That’s it. I suppose you’ve heard of me.” Even though she hadn’t said anything outright, Flash didn’t want to ask what all she had heard, it would hurt too much. ”I would ask you to decide for yourself what to believe. For starters, why don’t you tell me your name, so we can be properly introduced?”

Flash smiled again, turning his shoulders to face her. Eye contact. The work they had to do was not a concern of his, if they split the workload between them, it would take no time at all. He was much more interested in healing his ailing reputation.

@Adlai Rod

He knows...- She says to herself as she also squares her shoulders to face him properly. He had asked for her name it was only fair she obliged.
Sticking her hand out to him, straight and true she spoke, “My name is Adlai, Adlai Rod.”

He knew what she had been told, she could hear it in the way that she he talked to her even if his movements were clean and crisp. As a Slytherin’s movement’s should be as they were defined as cunning ,or in the words of her more mischievous housemates, “sly.” She has met many Slytherin’s before. One being her closest friend outside of the Hufflepuff.
They always seemed to kind and gentle to her, but after the rumors she’s heard she’s begun to question them. If they were really being truthful or just trying to wiggle their way up the social ladder by befriending the house of the loyal.

Nonetheless, she would not let herself be manipulated in such a pitiful way. Thus she sought to seek the truth as the voice in the back of her mind had now grown into a full blown roar. If she asked the right questions and observed carefully, it should not be difficult to do.

@Flash Holmwood

Flash took her hand gladly, shaking it as he was always taught to do: firmly, but undemanding. A handshake was of paramount importance as a sign of character, there were some who would base their entire opinion of you off of one handshake, so it was important to show no hesitation, and smile graciously. This lesson had been drilled particularly hard.

”Miss Adlai, it’s a pleasure.” A common nicety, but one worth saying.

She seemed to have accepted his terms, having not said anything to the contrary. He preferred people who simply let the obvious be accepted without wasting their breath on over-explaining everything. As much as he enjoyed scrutinizing people’s word usage and learning more about them, there was an elegance in silence. Flash had always tried to keep his speech concise and clear, depending on his audience. Too many words and one was sure to lose the thesis of the argument and get lost in the details. He was always glad to cut down on unnecessary things, they wasted his precious time.

He picked up his quill and swished the feather in the direction of the blackboard. The questions for the group project were written on one of the blackboards that Professor Equinox had revealed towards the end of the class. They were supposed to show their grasp of the materials by discussing it with a partner, but Flash had nothing to discuss. He had been trained on how to study properly by his oldest brother, in that if he had any confusion about the lecture, he would either ask the Professor or read up on it in his free time until he grasped it. These early lectures played it easy on the young student, assuming the work was too dense and complicated for children their age.

Because of that, many of the calculations they were doing were simply testing their understanding of the formulas, making sure they were using sidereal days rather than solar days, and giving them time to practice it before moving on to the next lesson. He had already promised to the young girl that he would help her if she needed an explanation, and felt he could offer little more. As for defense of his character, it was best not to appear too eager. He himself was easily annoyed at people who tripped over their feet trying to be understood. In general, he only spoke when spoken to.

”I’ll do questions 1 thru 10, and you can do questions 11 thru 20.” He put his quill down to the paper to start jotting down both the questions and answers. He needed to reference the chart in order to find the numbers to plug in, but it was a matter of putting the pieces together without any guesswork, like a child’s jigsaw puzzle. All the hard work had come before class had started.

@Adlai Rod

“Fine by me.” She said as she took her quill and began to write. Astronomy wasn’t very difficult for her as she did enjoy it and knew several formulas by heart already due to her excessive reading on it in her free time. It was something she was rather proud of.

Every now and then she’d look around the class room. She heard something or someone calling her name. But who? Or what? She was half way done with question 16 when she heard it again.
She tapped Flash lightly in the shoulder, “I’m sorry but, do you hear anything?” She asks trying to make sure she hasn’t gone completely mad.

During her time at Hogwarts she has seen some things that have caused her to question her sanity, that have caused her to ask herself if this is all a dream and that any moment she will wake up at home to sound of her younger sisters laughter, her father watching the news, and her mother’s clinging and clanging of pots and pans.

But no...instead when she awakes here she hears the same thing she hears every night, a hissing voice that calls to her, that begs her beyond the potions classroom. To the deep down below...

@Flash Holmwood

While picking away at the work, Flash couldn’t help but notice the girl’s mild, intermittent distraction as her head would bob up from her work suddenly, then slowly return. Before he had much time to be curious, she clued him in to her irritation. It was some sort of noise drawing her attention. Off the cuff, Flash didn’t hear anything unusual. At that time of night, everyone except teachers and prefects were tucked away in their common rooms. The only sounds at the moment were the scribbling sounds of quill on paper, the quiet mutterings of sleepy first years, and the occasional fluttering sounds of the owls hunting for mice.

He couldn’t hear anything unusual, and he really tried to. It was strange, why would she mention it if it wasn’t loud enough for her to hear? Certainly she didn’t just possess extra-human hearing, well, unless that was something magic could do. Flash would have to remember to look it up later.

”Nothing. Why? Where is the sound coming from, what does it sound like?” Flash posited a few burning questions. If it wasn’t just tinnitus, it could be an auditory hallucination. Or something worse.

He couldn’t have a repeat of what happened in the common room. Students heard noises that no one else could hear there, too. Something was wrong in the school, and Flash didn’t want to take any chances. In his urgency to know more however, he had become a bit brusque and demanding. He took a moment to draw back, as to not instill a sense of panic.

”Excuse my outburst, I have my reasons for being suspicious of sounds only one person can hear. You don’t need to describe it if you don’t like.” Flash placed his folded hands on the table to stop himself from over-gesturing and looking erratic. If he explained the reason, he was sure she would see his point of view. ”Late last month something like that happened in the Syltherin dormitories, down in the dungeons. I wondered whether it might be related.”

@Adlai Rod

Adlai gave flash a confused look when he finished talking. To know that other students may be hearing the same thing as her was surprising and comforting at the same time. “It’s ok, I don’t mind it all.” She reassured him only to again look around the room, the voice more aggressively calling to her this time.

“It sounds like a hiss...where it’s coming from? I’m not sure. It changes every time, sometimes there is more than one. That’s all I can really say, since it’s all I know.” She said.

The voices began a week after she came to Hogwarts. At first they were faint and hesitant as time went on they became louder and soon learned her name. How? She wasn’t sure but it scared her. She first thought it could be her dorm mates pulling a prank on her but every night they were fast asleep.

One day, she decided to follow the voices and she ended up at the potions classroom. They tried to persuade her further but she turned back.
She was and is frightened of them. She has so many questions that are yet to be answered. Maybe, they could be her chance.

“You said something like this happened in the Slytherin Common room, right? Do you know why? What did they hear?”

@Flash Holmwood

Flash was grateful she decided to share the information. It seemed she was willing to put aside whatever she might have heard about him in favor of finding out more about the noise herself. She seemed almost too eager, as though she had been wanting to say something for a long time. How had she decided Flash could be trusted with that information? Did his words and manner already convince her that she had nothing to fear, or was she just that desperate to talk about this… voice?

It was disconcerting. People didn’t just hear voices. He didn’t want to be put into the position to decide whether she was hearing something speak to her, or chasing a schizophrenic episode. She didn’t seem like she was too terribly plagued by an affliction-- no bags under the eyes from insomnia, nor any sign of bodily discomfort. She looked alert, curious, and for all accounts healthy.

He couldn’t let the information simply leak through his fingers. Perhaps it was moot to begin with, he would have always gone after the more interesting option.

Voices… more than one, like hissing...

Roll to remember esoteric information (Wisdom):
DC 10 (average)
d20 (4) + 8 = 12 (success)

Parseltongue, it’s a language used by snakes. Salazar Slytherin was supposed to be one of them. She had described it as hissing, so it was the natural first conclusion. Had he not looked into the four houses before coming to Hogwarts, he might not have known that detail. He didn’t know all that much more about it, but it made him wary.

Wouldn’t that mean there were snakes in the castle trying to talk to her? It was a question Flash was curious to know the answer to, it could be something that no one had thought to look for. After all, what if the voices were trying to help?

”In the commons… we have no idea what happened. Everyone is scrambling, trying to figure it out. I was hoping you would know something.” Flash looked around himself briefly, to see if their lively back-and-forth had drawn the attention of any of the other students nearby, but it seemed most of them hadn’t noticed, or simply didn’t have the energy to pay attention so late in the evening. ”Tell me, have you ever tried to follow them? To see where they’re coming from?”

Flash began to lower his voice intentionally, leaning in a bit closer. ”I would go with you. I want to know what’s going on. I’m tired of being kept in the dark.”

@Adlai Rod

“I have followed them before. But I’ve never gone beyond the potions classroom.” She said looking around again before looking at Flash. “Like you I don’t want to be left in the dark but at the same time I’m not sure if now is the right time to act in this. We’re just first years...yet I don’t want to let something that could possibly be important slip by. That’s the only reason why I’m telling you this.”
On top of that she’s only told one another person. Her friend Virgil, he is her closest friend outside of Hufflepuff and coincidentally he is also a Slytherin.

Again, many questions were rushing through her heard. If Virgil had been there why hadn’t he told her yet? Does he secretly think she’s crazy? Are there really others who are experiencing what I am or is Flash just stringing me along for the fun it?- she thought.

Taking a deep breathe she turned back to her work and continued onto the next question. She needed to be calm. She didn’t want Flash to notice her anxiety about the situation, that may make him suspicious. However, she was becoming desperate. If the hissing got any louder she would start to loose sleep, and she certainly didn’t want to get any Professor’s involved. At least not yet.

@Flash Holmwood