Its Quiet Up Here PV B. Collins Closed

@Illowy Magnard | Outfit

Though the lengthening days held the promise of chillier temperatures, the world outside beckoned with the vibrant colors of dying leaves and the threat of snow looming in the not too distant future. Bridget knew she should get out there while she still could, and today that meant a run across the grounds. Duelling could be a fairly strenuous activity, just of a different kind of exercise. Staying in decent physical shape was worthwhile, she knew, and so afternoon runs a few times a week had become routine.

She was at the end of today's run, emerging near where Flying class was held. Though she'd switched away from Quidditch, Flying was still one of her favorite electives. With minimal homework and a chance to try new maneuvers on a broom, what wasn't to like? Her pace had slowed to a walk, lungs breathing in the crisp air as she recovered. The autumn chill felt really good right now, contrasting her flushed cheeks. Movement above caught her eye, and she turned her head to watch a figure dip and spin through the air. It didn't matter who it was, so long as the person possessed control of their flight they were mesmerizing to watch. But this someone looked familiar. It was the clothing style that first clued her in. This brunette, flying rather well, couldn't be Illowy, could it? Just last year she'd tried to help her friend gain some level of comfort on a broom with little success. But with so much time having passed, perhaps she'd been working at it, perhaps it was possible. A dip in the flight pattern brought her close enough for Bridget to confirm it was Illowy.

It must have been some sort of secondhand excitement that rushed in, leaving the run's fatigue mostly forgotten. Opportunity shone like the slowly setting sun, and just like that she took off again, hurrying into the castle and down several flights of stairs to her dormitory. Grabbing her broom, she started the trek back up, hoping Illowy would still be there.

She wanted to praise her improvement, yes, but concern also drove each quickened footstep. Illowy had been distant recently. One moment they were spending a part of summer together, exchanging pieces of the differing environments they'd grown up in, and the next it was camp and she barely heard from her friend. She couldn't help but wonder if perhaps it was her, that she'd done something wrong, but maybe that was just projecting her issues with Katrina. There was no moment of issue she could pick out. Something had changed, though, and Bridget had done a poor job of getting to the bottom of it, making sure Illowy was okay. She'd told herself last year she would be there more for her friends, and yet she was stuck in the same pattern of getting too caught up in her work.

Illowy was still there, movements ceased so she was simply hovering. A puff of wind seemed to sigh in relief for her as she swung her leg over the shaft of her Silver Arrow and kicked off. It occurred to her now that perhaps she should have grabbed a sweatshirt while she was down in the Common Room, a mere t-shirt appropriate when running but not this high up. Too late now, though. There would be no fancy flying from Bridget today, simply a gentle ascent to even out near the other flier. "Hi." The single word wasn't spoken very loudly; it felt peaceful up here, and she didn't want to change that.

@Illowy Magnard | Outfit

Illowy clearly hadn't noticed her until she spoke, starting in her perch. Maybe she shouldn't have come up behind her while they were so far off the ground, though they were past the jumpy greeting quickly. "A bit," she admitted. "Though I was just on a run, so it's not bad." That was the truth, body heat still clinging like a coat, especially as she'd also run up and down all those stairs. When that went away, she surely would be cold, at which point she'd ignore it for as long as she could. She was finally--hopefully--ready to make sure Illowy was okay, push a bit for answers if she needed to, and interrupting that to retrieve a sweater would seem out of place.

Admittedly, she was tired of this. So much time was spent worrying, stealing sleep and making it harder to enjoy waking moments. Something was just always wrong, it seemed. Kidnappings, attacks, curses, arguments, family issues. And she could hardly be mad since it wasn't their fault, since caring about someone involved the good and the bad. And they'd done the same for her, hadn't they? Illowy and Flash had been with her to search for a cure to the spider curse, Thora comforted her through what couldn't have been a very enjoyable train ride. But there was definitely a part of her that wished things were easier.

Maybe the problem was her own inability to do anything about it most of the time. She couldn't make those things go away. Even if she got Illowy to open up with little issue, what were the chances there would be something she could do to help? A listening ear had to count for something, right? And ignoring the problem was never a lasting solution.

So, allowing a last moment to just breathe in the autumn air, she pressed her palms into the broom shaft, leaning forward. "I noticed you've been more closed-off since summer camp started." There was probably a way to ease into this conversation, but she didn't know it. And, honestly, anything else would have felt like stalling. "Is everything okay?" She knew the answer to that was some shade of no, or else they wouldn't be here. The hope was the question provided a start.

@Illowy Magnard | Outfit

Thinking about it rationally, she knew the moments swelling with silence after her question were only natural. She often needed time to collect her thoughts, and with something this heavy, of course Illowy wasn't going to reply immediately. But maybe there was always going be this doubt she'd done something wrong, crossed a line. Illowy might not want to talk about it. Bottling things up, from experience, probably wasn't the healthiest, but she didn't want to force her into something she didn't want to do. And sure, they'd helped each other through the curse, sharing insecurities, but that had been a common struggle. What if this was personal business she shouldn't be poking around in?

Before she could second-guess herself too much, or debate if she should back-track, Illowy started with a question. Her cousin, Kyle DeRook. Right. Whether or not lllowy was looking, Bridget nodded in recognition. She'd known that, but it never seemed to fully click. Maybe it was the House difference, or the description Illowy gave. Big and angry weren't the first words that came to mind when she thought of the girl in the air with her. And beyond the fact he was her friend's cousin, familiarity was rooted in Quidditch, being in the same year, and talk in the halls of his aggressive nature.

The who was established; the issue was the what. Incident. Missing. Those words meant nothing good, and her brain was quick to come up with all sorts of possibilities. Had he run away? Was there some sort of attack or kidnapping? Clarification followed, and it seemed to be something in between those. He'd run away because it had been that or be... taken, or something. And Illowy had wanted to follow. It was terribly selfish, but a part of her was glad that Illowy hadn't gone with him. Then it would have been her here, wondering where someone she cared about was and if she was okay and when--or if--she'd ever hear from her again.

But as it was, Illowy was the one going mad from worry, and what could even be done to ease that? She knew the feeling; her brother had fallen into a coma last year and it had dominated her thoughts, afraid of what might happen and wondering if her decision to return to Hogwarts after break was the right one, even if she couldn't have done anything either way. The personal comparison didn't give her much in the way of ideas. Most of what she remembered was an embarrassing amount of crying and outbursts. Nothing but the news he was fine had really helped, and she couldn't give Illowy that.

A start, she supposed, was letting Illowy know she wasn't the only one who found it concerning. Someone their age feeling they had no choice but to go off on their own? Kyle's fate wasn't justified just because he wasn't the best person. "No, I get it. He's family." Even though time apart and the disconnect of her magic had weakened her bond to her parents and siblings, she still knew she'd be devastated if anything happened to them.

Her first instinct was usually to provide a logical solution to issues like this, but she couldn't think of anything. What was Illowy supposed to do if she had no idea where he even was? And if he'd left in a hurry, there wouldn't be clues to find; he probably hadn't had a destination in mind. Maybe there was some way, magic or otherwise, to locate him, but would that just put him at risk? How well could he be faring, out there on his own? If anything, his experience fighting would be to his advantage, but that did little for obtaining the necessities to survive.

She drummed her fingers against the broom shaft, knowing she should have something to say if she'd been the one to bring it up. Something like I'm sorry came to mind first, but that was cliched, not particularly helpful. And there was something bothering her: who had come for him, and why? The wizarding world seemed to have different standards of danger, yes, but that certainly didn't just happen, right? "Why did people... come for him?"

It occurred to her about as soon as she'd asked it that this was maybe not the place for tearing apart every detail. For curses and hags, asking as many questions as she could think of made sense; the same did not apply to the present, more personal situation. The answer could be family business, for one, and it wasn't going to help. Illowy had probably already thought through this plenty. "Sorry, you don't have to answer that," she corrected quickly. She certainly wouldn't stop Illowy if she wanted to voice thoughts, fact or speculation, aloud, though.

With a little more time to think, she returned to the question of how Kyle was surviving. If he was, but she didn't want to consider the alternative, much less bring it up. At their age and with the situation Illowy had described, it was unlikely he had money on him. He might be able to steal things? And they were wizards, at their age equipped with an arsenal of decent use, which might be able to cover certain survival needs. But there was something in that: they weren't supposed to use magic outside of school. If he had, the Trace would have alerted the Ministry of Magic to his location, to the best of her knowledge. If they picked him up, his parents would have been told, and they wouldn't be here. "So, you haven't heard anything?"

@Illowy Magnard

If she was doing a horrible job of this, Illowy didn't seem to mind. Then again, what job was there to mess up? Illowy had asked nothing of her; if anything, Bridget was prying. She could hardly feel apologetic for it, though, when concern over the cause of Illowy's distance had been gnawing at her so. You didn't just leave it be when friends drew away unexplained. So now she knew, knew that Illowy was dealing with the tremendous weight of her cousin's absence, and she did want to pull on the hat of a problem-solver, a comforter, but she frankly was at a loss for what to do with that information. A few hesitant questions formed her attempt to be those things, but she could tell it was, at best, minorly successful. Not a fiasco, but nothing that would even begin to aid the situation at hand.

That was perhaps just Bridget's problem. How did finding out what was wrong so quickly become a pressure to do something about it? Well, she could at least play the part of a listening ear, and tried to just do that instead of striving to connect every bit of information Illowy gave like puzzle pieces. She could tell, anyway, that there wasn't enough to form any coherent picture. It was a story filled with unknowns and she lacked knowledge of any backstory that might be relevant. She leaned forward on her arms, palms pressing into her broom shaft. It was starting to get cold, she noticed, and while it was mostly the evening chill finally getting to her, the idea of Illowy and Kyle running in fear of strangers with uncertain intentions certainly added to the cold.

Illowy made an attempt at some sort of optimism that, in Bridget's opinion, was incredibly weak and dry. She even said sure twice, like she was trying to convince herself, and that was quite probably just what it was. Eyes cast at the ground below, Bridget's expression was something somber. What was she supposed to say to that? There had to be something she could do to ease the worry-induced madness Illowy had described.

A little idea came to root in her mind, and after a moment of determining it wasn't absolutely worthless, she piped up. "Well... if you ever want to just, take your mind off it for a bit, I would be up to duel." A practice duel, of course, in the duelling room. The rush of adrenaline and mental demand of the sport would be enough to ground her in the present for a while, right? And wouldn't it be nice to forget for a little while? "Or we could fly, too, if you like doing that now." In spite of everything, she smiled a little at that, head lifting to look at her friend. "I'm impressed." Illowy had come an incredibly long way from the disaster of that first time she'd tried to tutor her in flying.