Hallucinations? PV Zykeal Lane

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After having spent the last few nights at the Inn in Diagon Alley, he had been, slightly sad that he had to leave the actual world where witches and wizards openly practiced magic without restrictions. The long train ride didn't make things any better, he sat mostly alone, needing to collect his thoughts before the beginning of the new school year. Reminding himself of the focus that he needed to hold and that the games that he used to play were primarily in the past. The boy had grown over the summer, more so than in the school year previous.

The boy wasn't that tired though, surprisingly, the excitement to be back to learn more of the world he knew so little about was radiating through the second-year; he wouldn't let this show though. Emotions were always kept in check, a mask, to keep those from prying too much into his personal thoughts. With his trunk being taken to the castle, Zyk just had a satchel that held very few items. Zyk heard the voices of prefects and others telling them that they no longer took the boat over to the castle, instead, they took carriages that seemed to automatically move along the pathway. Letting the rest of the students go first, deciding against joining the lot of them, he waited until there seemed to be an empty one that he could at least get on alone.

Walking over towards the old-style carriage, he slung his satchel up into the center and was about to board when he heard a faint sound of a voice carry to his ear. Golden hues darted towards the front of the carriage and he spotted a girl that was recognizable; thankfully, her robes made it clear who she was. Zykeal was not one to sneak around much, he was too proud for such things, so his voice came clear and was directed towards the girl at the front, "Opeila, please don't tell me you've gone crazy too...." he sighed, lifting a hand to start to scratch the side of his head, "Normally, talking to yourself in the dark, is not a good sign," he offered, a sympathetic smile slowly dawning upon his features.

For her sake, or so he thought, he decided to walk over to stand next to her in case anyone were to overhear the poor girl talking to herself and see that she wasn't alone when she was doing so.

@Opeila Winters

@Zykeal Lane

A familiar voice behind her caused Opeila to turn around. It belonged to a Gryffindor boy, who she had met last year, Zyk. She opened her mouth to greet him, but then stopped in the movement, confused. Talking to herself? Did he actually miss the horse creature standing in front of them?

"Not disagreeing with me slowly going crazy, but... Talking to myself? Zyk, you should get yourself some glasses." The Slytherin smiled. The playful meaning of her words was obvious, but the joking tone was weaker than normal. Opeila had not been joking around with anyone for a while.

"How was your summer? Recovered from Loras' attack?" She could remember Zyk's unsuccessful attempt to play with her cat too well. Hopefully that didn't stop him from liking cats. Loras was one of a kind... a very different kind. Right now the little monster was in his transport box and finally accepting his fate. Before they had entered the train, he didn't stop fighting the box.

Again she looked to the horse creature. "Do you know what they are?", she asked Zyk. "They are obviously no normal horses. Are they aggressive, do you know if one can touch them?" Opeila was tempted to stretch out her hand and touch the horses... was it fur? It almost looked like it was only skin. Leathery skin.

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Alright, Zykeal had officially thought the entire castle was bat-shit at this point. Clearly, the girl couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't if she was trying to convince him that she was actually talking to something right now. A dumb-founded look crossed over his features for a moment as he looked over the girl as she turned to face him. Tilting his head to the side in a quizzical way, he looked over towards Opeila and the invisible thing she was speaking to, "I don't glasses would help me see nuthin' love'," he shrugged.

Taking a few steps forward so that he could look closer upon the girl, he did a quick once over upon the girl and found that she had grown very much different from what he remembered from over the summer, "You look, different," he offered as she asked after his summer and the cat attack which caused him to chuckle, "I forgot about that, a few scratches is all," he couldn't help but smile for a moment at the memory, "it's been good though," he nodded, still worried about the girl and wondering if she lost her mind.

When she persisted in asking more about whatever she saw though, he figured something was awry and continued to move closer towards what she described as horses, "Honestly', can't see shite'," he confirmed, come to stand right next to the girl and looking directly at what she was obviously seeing, but he, not. "If you' gon' touch somethin though," he said, a sudden thought to either confirm which of them was the crazy one, "then you guide my hand and we touch it together, ya?" he asked, his golden eyes shifting to look into Opeilas own.

@Opeila Winters

@Zykeal Lane
Opeila was torn. Was he trying to make her think she was going crazy? Hallucinating? If so, her opinion about him was right now falling pretty far. Her family was never far from craziness, Opeila knew that well. She could not do well with jokes such as this.
The little girl had long stopped and even avoided questioning her own state of mind, because it tended to lead her in circles. If she was actually going insane, her own judgement was nowhere reliable ayway.

Or he was actually not seeing a thing. And that would be fascinating. What creature was able to choose who it was seen by? Or... Opeila's had jumped at the thought. She had read many books last year, on spells as well as potions or legends. She knew that omens existed. Was this creature an omen? Was it announcing something that would happen to her? Or her family?

Her heart jumped again when Zyk said she looked different. Different how? Were the horrors of summer visible on her face? No, that couldn't be what he meant, if he was able to see it in the dark, Flash would have been able to see it too. Or did he maybe and just kept silent? "That's good to hear.", was all she answered on both his next claims, glad about the change of topic. That Loras only gave him a few scratches and his summer was good. "I'm glad to be back at Hogwarts. I missed it over summer."

Zyk again claimed he could not see anything. "Okay, erm. I see something that looks a little like a winged horse. But not quite. It has the size, but the skin looks a little like um... leather maybe? And it looks like the skeleton of a horse that someone pulled that skin over.", she described.

At least he seemed to take her serious. He suggested that Opeila guided his hand and they touched the creature together. "Sure." Opeila held her hand out to him. "I just hope it doesn't react aggressively..."

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This was an odd series of events, hell, when was it not when it concerned this girl and their interactions thus far. It wasn't as if he was trying to make her feel as if she was another crazy student, but, he had his suspicions regardless. One thing that he did resonate with what she had mentioned though was the fact that she had missed Hogwarts, he did as well, "Yeah, it's good to be back here," he said, offering a slight smile over towards Opeila.

Listening to her explanation of what he assumed she thought she was seeing, he quirked an eyebrow in her direction and looked slightly shocked at the description of the creature, "Wicked'," he mentioned, actually feeling a bit of excitement rising through his being. When he had offered to touch the creature with her, it was with morbid curiosity that crossed his mind, a twisted excitement that brewed from the unknowing depths of the magical world that was still new to him.

When she held out her hand to him, he smiled, trying to reassure her that he was with her together in this situation that they were about to endure. The comment of the unknowing aggression of the invisible creature intrigued him, thinking, she must actually think she sees this creature and isn't toying with him. It'd be nice to not be toyed with anymore, as he so often was, with the students in this school he was attending. "Well, if it bites me, you owe me," he stated, those golden irises boring down into the Slytherin girls' own once again.

Overlapping his hand upon her own smaller one, the touch of her hand was cold to him, but this did not bother him as he waited for her to guide his hand towards this unseen creature that her vivid description detailed, "Whenever you're ready love'," he offered, the smile pulled across his features once more.

@Opeila Winters

Zyk's reaction to Opeila's description made the Slytherin give the boy a look. "You don't believe me, do you?", she asked. Actually, it wasn't even a question really, but honestly, she would likely feel like someone was messing with her, if she was in Zyk's position. She had to think of Jack Burnett on Flash's last birthday. He had taken Flash's cloak and tried to tell them both, that it was a lethifold. Opeila had no idea what a lethifold was back then, so she had also been unsure whether to believe her housemate or not. Things that others couldn't see... The possibilities in the magical world seemed endless, but they also seemed to make the possibilities for pranks endless.

"I'll prove you, there is something." Hopefully it wasn't a ghost or something like that. That would certainly make the situation more complicated. Maybe there was a possibility to take a picture or something? Or would it stay invisible to Zyk? If nothing worked, she would just go through the magical creatures section in the library and show him when she found it. Actually... maybe she would just go through it anyway, she had no idea about this animal.

"... If it bites you, I will from now on give you a sickle every time that an animal attacks you because of me...", Opeila said, smirking, when Zyk said that she owed him, if the creature bit him. The Slytherin could remember too well how her cat attacked Zyk when he attempted to play with the little monster.
At least Zyk was down for trying it and gave her his hand. Carefully Opeila guided his hand towards the horses skin and placed it on its neck.

The Slytherin was watching the horse's head carefully to check if it stayed calm, when she gently touched its skin. "... This actually feels like leather a little.", the little girl commented.