The Aftermath Closed

Søren laughed at Ana’s banter, happy that she was starting to act like her normal self. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he decided to visit her, but he surely didn’t think she would be up for their usual repartee. “I think I’d forfeit the right to being your favorite person if I have to be nice to you. It would be off-brand for me,” he decided, sticking his chin up in mock arrogance. “Don’t worry, though. Your similarities to ol’ nan are all good things. Mostly.” He observed her drinking coffee from the ornate mug while dressed in a hospital gown that rather closely resembled a potato sack. It seemed like the most normal thing in the world; if Ana could get her hands on a cup of coffee, everything would be alright. She would be alright.

Ana assured the new Beckett twin that nothing was wrong with the flowers, but the girl seemed unconvinced, narrowing her eyes at Søren. The girl echoed Ana, assuring Søren that she wasn’t allergic to the roses. Breathing a sigh of relief, he set the bouquet down on the bedside table and laughed as Ana continued her crosstalk by playfully teasing her twin. He studied the two, trying to decipher ways of distinguishing them. He didn’t have to look too hard as the twin was clearly shorter than Ana, with grey eyes that seemed out of place. Though, it just could have been that he was so accustomed to Ana’s brown orbs.

“So, what’s the problem then, Miss…?” he paused, hoping the twin would offer her name. He should have been more comfortable with her, seeing as she looked exactly like one of his closest friends, but she was clearly unhappy with his presence here. To make matters worse, a chill ran down his spine and he turned to see another girl quietly approaching. An upperclassman, it seemed, as Søren could vaguely recall seeing her in the Slytherin common room, but not in his classes. Unwilling to be part of a crowd around a patient’s bed, he thought that he should probably pluck up the decency to leave soon and give Ana some time with her girlfriends, but he really did want to know why the roses ruffled the twin’s feathers.

He nodded to the newcomer, smiling and hoping to be introduced when a thwack drew the attention of the party of four. Søren could only spot a girl with an odd look on her face before she disappeared. The twin voiced his thoughts, asking if Ana knew the girl. He looked expectantly towards Ana for an answer.

@Anastasia Beckett
@Ivy Bellamy
@Astrea Soleil Neptune

@Astrea Soleil Neptune | @Ivy Bellamy | @Søren Silverwood
Mentioning @Elspeth Gollens | @Rafael D'Spacito

Ana's focus switched from breaking up the budding brawl between Ivy and Søren to a new and relatively unexpected visitor. She wasn't in the mood to moderate them bickering about flowers. If they really wanted to fight about that, she could just pretend to pass out or something to kick them out. She would save that for later if their nonsense continued. "Astrea, hi," Ana said when the Slytherin greeted her. Alright was definitely an optimistic take on Ana's current condition, but she supposed she was on her way to alright. She was conscious and not horribly scarred or anything. The mildly vain Gryffindor was deeply grateful for that latter bit. She wasn't sure what she would have done if she had to go through the rest of her life as anything less than her lovely self. "Glad to see you made it out of that debacle in one piece."

Astrea wasn't someone Ana would have expected to visit her, but she was glad the other girl was there. They hadn't spoken much before the ball and yet Astrea hadn't hesitated to follow Ana into danger and even took a jinx for her. She was certainly someone Ana considered a friend, even if they didn't know one another that well. After all, that was along the lines of what had caused Ana to befriend Rafa. God, she didn't want to think about him right now. How she had gotten herself set on fire because of the flowers that he'd asked her to keep an eye on and then been knocked unconscious by someone she was only fighting because the person had tried to attack Rafa, all while Rafa was running off to do who knew what. She wasn't someone who got angry, really angry, at her friends very often, but at that point in time, she was absolutely livid at the person she had thought was one of her best friends. A part of her was hurt that he wasn't there in the hospital wing, but another part was glad because she 100% would have reinjured herself by leaping out of her bed and punching him in the face. So, it was probably a good thing he wasn't there.

The way Ivy dragged out the word "sure" made Ana think that she vehemently disagreed with Ana's sentiment but was going along since Ana was in the hospital. Ana made a mental note to use that on people later on. After all, how could people be angry at someone who was in the hospital? Sure, an argument could be made that Ana had majorly contributed to putting herself there, but details, details.

A loud thud interrupted Ana from her thoughts of capitalizing on her predicament. She glanced towards the door in time to see the back of a retreating figure. Probably the weirdo who was staring at her earlier. Ana was more irritated at the girl's behavior than she probably ought to be. Still, Ana was the one who was on fire and subsequently knocked out for three days. This was about her. This was the Ana show, not the random traumatized bystander show. Ana really didn't care how her injuries and her trauma affected some insignificant plebian, and she was incensed at the idea that someone was making it about them and not her. If she wanted to be traumatized, she could go set herself on fire and stop trying to leech Ana's trauma...

"I don't think so," she told Ivy, trying and likely failing to keep her murderous intentions from leaking through to her expression and tone. It wasn't like she could actually do anything at the moment, which was infuriating, so it wouldn't do any good for any of her companions to know about it. Ana was spirited, violent, vivacious, homicidal, full of life, whatever you wanted to call her, so being forced to stay in this stupid hospital bed was easily one of the worst things that could have happened to her. After being set on fire, which was admittedly pretty bad.

Poor Søren was still rather focused on the flowers and Ivy's seemingly instant dislike of him. Or possibly how similar Ivy looked to Ana. That could be unnerving at times even for Ana who had had some time to get used to it. Although truth be told, the resemblance wasn't what bothered Ana so much as the lack of explanation for aforementioned resemblance.

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word count 650| text colour #274E13
abilities terrible presence | position at the foot of the bed
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mentions @Anastasia Beckett, @Ivy Bellamy, @Søren Silverwood, @Elspeth Gollens

Ana, as worn as she looked, seemed- ehh- relatively decent enough for the situation. New skin pink against the crisp sheets of the bed, she at least looked unscarred and in as much of a good mood as you could ask for. Apparently being practically pork roasted didn't ruin much. That was good. Intrusive thoughts check: Astrea had been fearing for the worst- irrationally of course, because Ana wasn't the type to let fire best her like that-, though she knew that after a few days in the hospital wing tended to by the nurses, things were going to be fine.

"Glad to see you made it out of that debacle in one piece." "Likewise." She gave a slight smile, hesitant and fleeting it was but warm nonetheless. In one piece she was, in one piece all of them were. They had taken the best possible outcome offered to them, a bittersweet survival that had been threatened from the moment the lights flickered out with an orchestra of buzzing. Even her wand was still in her possession, kept safe under layers of clothing after she had momentarily flung it out in an accidental backfire of a spell. Seeing the mosp close-up as she crept forward, avoiding its line of sight as she tried to get her wand back and risk a point-blank attack was not fun. It was so- fuzzy. And insectoid. And big. And gross.

Mentally shaking herself out of her recent memories, she was more than content to allow Ivy and- whatever his name was- to bicker. Yeah no, those roses were problematic. Ouch. Ah well, their concerns could quite easily be solved with a simple explanation. Or maybe it was about the very strange near mirror that Ivy and Ana were to each other? A quite unnerving thing, something that Astrea had realised the moment she had seen them together, but honestly Astrea really didn't care enough to outright ask. How uncouth. Better just to simply brush it off. Astrea's good at brushing it off, quite usually. She supposed, at least. Maybe less ignoring it and more accepting it. Now, she was good at that. Resigned acceptance. Perfect.

A heavy thwack from near the doorframe made Astrea turn slightly to look back, only catching a glimpse of the panicked girl fleeing from the doorframe, a downed book upon the shelving the culprit for such a noise. Whoever the motion-blurred figure that had been there was, Astrea had no recollection. And if the curious looks upon her companions' faces were anything to go by when she turned back around, they didn't have much of a clue either. Nor much concern. Vaguely Astrea wondered if the other would be alright. Vaguely, she wondered, looking back at Ana, if the injured Gryffindor was going to be okay. After all, for months after the Slytherin attack, Astrea hadn't been able to think about the cold- bone-chilling, crawlingly haunting venom- and tingly. And compared to Ana's whole "pillar-of-flame" situation, it seemed like nothing.

The Hospital Wing didn't do much good for Astrea's cautiousness either, and while she had an excuse technically to leave after checking up on Ana, she really didn't want to. There was an excuse, but not a valid one because in all reality Astrea would not pursue a faceless, nameless unknown, because the other was freaking out in the face of another's- her friend's?- vulnerability. See, Astrea had a kinder heart than what her mother would like, but at the same time, she had much of the same apathy her father had for others. That and three days of avoiding the Hospital Wing also meant three days of attempting to go through the days as if everything was fine, ignoring the constant gossip and purpling bruises upon her arm. So, no. Astrea quickly disregarded the thought to go after the girl. Like claimed before, Astrea was the accepting sort.

@Anastasia Beckett @Astrea Soleil Neptune @Søren Silverwood

If you really thought about it, it made sense that the boy didn't know the significance of the roses and the impact they had on Ivy. As far as she knew, the rumours going around spoke only of the flames and not of the cause - and besides, no one had really taken notice of Ana before she was set on fire. Very few people knew that roses, seemingly sweet and an innocent token of love, were the cause for Ana's pain. "The problem?" she asked haughtily. Ivy was ready to tell the boy the reason why she was so bothered by the roses' presence, but with a quick glance at Ana, she thought the better of it and shut her mouth.

Not in front of her. Ivy imagined that Ana most certainly didn't want to relive the night of the Ball - not now, not ever. The Gryffindor's eyes flickered over to where her doppelganger was sitting and back to the boy. "The Ball happened," she said vaguely. "As I'm sure you know." It was a very bad explanation, one that would raise more questions than it answered, but Ivy was saved from having to elaborate when the girl in the doorway made her clumsy exit.

Ana seemed to be making an effort to keep calm, but her tone held a note of venom. Ivy couldn't blame her. She had been through hell and back, and now everyone was staring at her like she was an exhibit at the zoo or something. The previous day, Ivy had caught a cluster of girls peeking through the door, undoubtably at a sleeping Ana. It should be noted that they had fled when they saw Ivy glaring at them - although how the Gryffindor felt about this was complicated, to say the least. She was pleased that the girls were no longer staring, of course... and yet she couldn't help but wonder if she was nothing more than Ana's lookalike to the rest of the school.

Ivy shifted uncomfortably in her seat, displeased with the thought itself - although perhaps now wasn't the time to be contemplating this matter. There wasn't much she could do or say to stop herself from thinking about it, though. She could practically feel the conversation fizzle out, and with every second of silence, the urge to say something to start it up again grew. Ivy opened her mouth, then shut it. Merlin, how do people even talk to each other? Perhaps it wasn't just her - there wasn't much they could discuss at the moment.

The tension was thick. Suffocating, even. The discomfort Søren felt was cumbersome, though he tried pushing it away for Ana’s sake. He really shouldn’t have the right to feel uncomfortable in this moment. Not when Ana had quite literally caused the party to light up, resulting in her spending three days unconscious in the drab hospital wing.

The girls all seemed lost in thought, but he hadn’t the faintest idea of what they could be thinking. It was like all three of them had taken to clipped conversation and he felt as if his prowess in social awareness was being beaten down to its bitter end the longer he stood in their presence. Even Ana, who was always full of things to say, didn’t press for a conversation. Søren couldn’t tell if he should press on either. The twin, whose name he still had no grasp on, had been looking at him with eyes full of fire, clearly unamused by his attendance at Ana’s bedside. The other girl, Astrea, as Ana had so kindly helped his cause, put forth even less than the twin.

He couldn’t help but think that his presence in the room was the factor that kept each of them from sharing more than they wanted. Or did they even want to share more? They came, offered their pleasantries, and became rooted to the ground. Somehow, it felt like a standoff. Who would depart first?

The twin spoke to him again and suddenly he understood why there was so much irritation towards the flowers. Had roses been involved in Ana’s accident? There was no way he could possibly know that, of course. Running from the ball before the first mosp laid its attack and avoiding any and all talk of Ana. He really had no clue of what happened after he dipped out. Still, he could have been more insightful to inquire if roses were a good gift for – No. He wasn’t to blame here. He couldn’t be. But if the roses were really a problem, he had no issues removing them from the equation.

“Well. It was nice to meet you both. I’m Søren Silverwood, by the way. I do wish for us to have a pleasant time if we meet elsewhere. Ana, I hope you’re back on your feet quickly. Feel better, okay?” he spoke quickly, but warmly. Eager to escape the tension but still concerned for his friend. Bidding them adieu with a nod, he left the hospital wing, making sure to grab the bouquet of roses on his way out.

Exiting the thread unless stopped.

@Anastasia Beckett
@Ivy Bellamy
@Astrea Soleil Neptune