Closed Well that was stupid . . . PV Mahlioz Evethisawe + Jordan Niveo

It was Sunday morning, and Mahlioz had gotten up wayyyyy too late. On school days, she got up early, 6AM to 6:30. But last night she had read until nearly midnight, and her alarm clock for 8 o'clock on the weekends wasn't loud enough to wake her. So, at ten fifteen, when she opened her eyes, she had to scramble out of bed with a muddled brain full of guilt and stress.
She didn't even have a proper breakfast, though she probably should have, because her stomach was beginning to grumble. But she'd agreed to meet up with Irina this morning and if she took too much time it would no longer be morning! She just quickly put her hoodie over her pyjamas - who cared about looking good anyway - and raced out of the common room and up to the main floor. She bumped into at least seven people on her way outside, but when she got there she stopped to take a breath. Where had they said they would meet up again? Oh yes, the big oak tree thing. She started towards it.

The weird thing was, as she got closer, she could not see Irina. The tree was definitely big enough for her friend to be hiding behind it (and she wouldn't really have been surprised if she had), but the young Slytherin then heard a shout from up above. A very recognizable shout. "Rina?..." she said, debating whether to look up or not because you really never knew when it came to Irina. "What the..." she whispered when she finally ended up succumbing to her suriosity.
Irina was in the tree. In the Old Oak. At least a dozen meters high. What in the world was she doing there?? Mahlioz had no idea how she had even gotten there in the first place. The tree had barely any branches near its bottom. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" she yelled, both confused out of her mind and worried for her friend's health (both physical and mental). Obviously Irina was in the darn tree. It was Mahlioz's fault for not coming earlier and persuading her not to. She slapped her forehead. "You're worse than Reltyl..."

Looking up again while shielding her eyes (it was quite a funny view, honestly. It looked like Irina was an angel that had flown down and accidentally gotten caught in a tree), Mahlioz wondered what they were going to do. They were supposed to be talking about the Room of Requirement, but the first year had a feeling something was going to get in the way of those plans. "RINA, COME DOWN!" she cried up to her friend. First waking up late, then this... what a stressful day it was becoming. She hoped nothing else would happen.

But oh, she could not have known how wrong she was...

Speech: Cayenne
Thoughts: Teal

Interacting with @Mahlioz Evethisawe and @Jordan Niveo

It made Irina giggle to see Mahlioz looking around for her. And then the shock on her face when she saw where Irina was . . . 'You can almost hear her thinking, "Galloping Gargoyles, this kid is crazy,"' Irina thought with a mischevous grin.
Mahlioz slapped her head and muttered, "You're worse than Reltyl..."
Irina beamed down at her. "I take that as a compliment!" She knew it was a childish thing to say but it was true! She loved being the reckless, kinda stupid friend who always managed to pull it outta the bag and come out unscathed.
"RINA, COME DOWN!"
Irina peered through the dense branches at this and sensed that although Mahlioz was laughing up at her, she might actually be slightly stressed. This sort of thing was fun until the other person didn't find it fun.
She didn't want to cause Mahlioz any unwanted fear so she began climbing down . . . until a branch underneath her body gave way and her slow, controlled descent became a chaotic fall from the heavens.
She didn't fall far before her body caught on a branch, causing her to fall feet first rather
The air rushed past her, there was a sharp pain in her side, blurred images and gasping for air. Then a crack that seemed to fill every crevice in her body and reverberate across the grounds . . . followed by a mind-consuming moment of pain. She gritted her teeth and gave a muffled scream. It felt like freezing fire had been stabbed into her ankle. "Son of a Bludger," She cursed, teeth still clenched, now clutching at her ankle.
The initial pain had now subsided, replaced b a throbbing, overwhelming pain instead. It caused her to teeter on the verge of unconciousness, blackness clouding her vision.
She peered through the cloud of pain to Mahlioz, mumbling, "Well, that was stupid . . ." And as she fell backwards to lean onto the ground, she heard a second pair of footsteps nearing them.

Saturdays were full of opportunity, and Jordan wasn't one to let that go by unnoticed. When they woke up in the morning, they looked out of the ME Dorm windows to judge the weather for the day. Sure, there had been forecasts in the prophet, but, having grown up with Muggle weathermen, Jordan didn't trust the paper's predictions for a fine day. They preferred to judge with their own eyes.

The shining sun was the first clue that the Prophet was right, and the movement of the leaves below further cemented their idea of the perfect weather. Jordan decided that a quick trip to the Pitch and then maybe some study time by the Lake was entirely called for in this weather. They dressed in a simple outfit of jeans and a baggy softball-style shirt, gathered a couple of textbooks, some parchment, and a few pleasure readings to choose from, then headed out.

The Great Hall had the normal spread of food to choose from, so Jordan stashed an apple in their bag, refilled their water bottle, grabbed a muffin to-go, and headed out. Their eyes had not deceived them, and the day was absolutely perfect out. There were all sorts of students heading in different directions - including two lines of Quidditch players, who seemed to be rallying each other up for a skirmish this morning. Never mind on the Quidditch Pitch, then.Those kinds of things always drew much too big of a crowd for Jordan, so they decided to start with the studying by the Black Lake part of the day.

They veered off towards the tree line when suddenly they heard shouting just off to their right. Some girls seemed to be meeting up with one another, though at very different heights. The giant tree they had chosen to meet under had to be over a hundred years old from the diameter of its trunk. Closer inspection of its leaves proved the tree to be some sort of Alder. Jordan's mind jumped to a book they read on medicinal barks once, as the Alder's bark worked similarly to the Willow's in its anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing capabilities; hence why it is considered nature's aspirin.

Suddenly, the girl who had been in the tree fell preposterously hard. The sound of the impact was enough to turn a couple heads, and Jordan found themselves running over to her. That could not have been good, thought Jordan. Before thinking about it, they were by the girl's side, assessing her injury.

"Are you okay?" Jordan said, trying to hide any panic. "What hurts and how badly?"

Mahlioz liked Irina a lot, for many different reasons, including her recklessness. It was what made her... well, herself. But sometimes things went a little too far, and today seemed like one of those days. Irina had - much to Mahlioz's relief - begun climbing down the tree. But the fates apparently decided that the Slytherin's day should become more stressful. The branch Irina was standing on went "Nope, thanks" (or at least, it seemed like that) and broke, leaving Mahlioz's friend with nothing to stand on but air. And air was not very sturdy. So Irina fell.
"IRINA!!" Mahlioz yelled, running to where she had landed. She had not liked the sound of her hitting the ground one bit. Something's broken for sure... She tried to help her friend but had no idea what to do. Irina was laying down on the ground now... should Mahlioz help her up? Or let her go unconcious? Because it sure looked like that was the way this was going. "Are you okay??" she asked, because she had nothing else to ask, but of course it was a stupid question. No, Irina was not okay. And Mahlioz had no idea what to do.

The hospital wing, her brain told her. Right. She had to get Irina there. The hospital wing, the hospital wing, the hospital wing. She whispered it to herself like a mantra, looking around for something or someone to help her. She was stressed out of her wits, terrified for her friend. Would she die? What had happened? Mahlioz's brain was going to the worst case scenario. She knew Irina wouldn't die, they had magic to fix these kinds of things, right? Whatever "these kinds of things" were. How many bones had she broken? Mahlioz's mind was racing with a million different things, but none of them could help her.
A stretcher. Like those muggle ones. She needed one of those, because she definitely couldn't make Irina float. Or a teacher. Or anyone. She needed someone to help because she wasn't strong enough, or smart enough, or magic enough to do this on her own and if she didn't do something quick Irina might die and- Shush, Mahlioz told herself, before looking around. And she realized her wish had been granted. Oh thank the skies. Someone was here. They asked Irina if she was okay, and what hurt, but since Irina didn't really seem to be in a state to reply very much, Mahlioz decided to do it for her. Her introvertedness could go jump off a cliff. This was important.
"She is definitely not okay," she said to the newcomer. "I don't know what's wrong but something is wrong and we need to get her to the hospital wing." The hospital wing, the hospital wing, the hospital wing. She tried to breathe slowly and not hyperventilate, but she was having a hard time. "Can you help me bring her there? Or - or so something to help her? Or to make her stop hurting?" Anything. Anything to help her friend.

Thoughts
Speech

Irina came into conciosuness and gave a quickly muffled groan. Her ankle was still throbbing with a consistent, overwhelming pain whilst her side felt hot and sharp, as if it were filled with prickles - Irina suspected a broken ankle and a bruised rib from where she had hit the branch. Her head was beginning to clear slightly so she opened her eyes. To her confusion, she could see two blurred Mahlioz's, swimming in and out of focus. "Ah, dungbombs," she cursed, "Now I'm seeing doubles!"
She blinked and realised that there actually was 2 people! Mahlioz and another person, male or female she couldn't tell. But they were leaning over her, similar pictures of concern across both faces.

She vaguely heard the newcomer asking if she was alright and Mahlioz suggesting they should go to the hospital wing. "No! Really, I'm fine!" She attempted to push herself upright, grimacing at the renewed stabbing pains in her side. With the aid of Mahlioz Sorry, should probably have asked for godmodding permission! Hope this is okay, if not I can edit xx, she stood up and gave a half-hearted grin. "See! I'm alright!" She took a step forward . . . and almost collapsed to the floor again as fresh waves of pain enveloped her. "Ugh, not fine. Definitely . . . not fine," she croaked, clutching Mahlioz tightly. "Alright, I guess maybe we should head up to the hospital wing."

It wasn't that Irina was averse to hospitals - she'd been there many a time before - and due to her constant rash decisions, she was often in the position of injuries. But in her opinion, if she wasn't losing tons of blood and could function near enough normally, there was no need for hospital.

As they began walking (or hopping in Irina's case) back to the castle, Irina suddenly realised how scared Mahlioz had sounded earlier. To delirious to notice anything but the pain, Irina hadn't picked up on it. Now however, she turned her head to Mahlioz saying, "Mahlioz I'm so sorry. You're such a great friend to help me out like this and not be mad. I can't even imagine how stupid you think I am right now." She groaned, half from shame and half from the painful twinges a her ankle.
She was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "I know you're probably going spare right now but I swear I'll be fine! Trust me, I've done a lot worse than this." She gave a cheery wink. "I'm just sad we didn't have a chance to talk about the Room of Require . . . errrm."
'Double dungbomb,' she thought, 'Imagine having such a big mouth I go and say something like that with someone else here!'
To gloss over her slip up, she turned to the newcomer and smiled. "I never thanked you for coming over to help! That was super kind of you. What's your name?" She hesitated for a moment, unsure whether the question she wanted to ask was considered rude or not. She decided to be bold and go for it. "If it's not rude, could I ask what your pronouns are?"

Interacting with @Mahlioz Evethisawe and @Jordan Niveo

The person who had come was keen on helping, thankfully. They suggested supporting Irina from her shoulders, and because Mahlioz had no better idea, she nodded and tried to help. Thankfully, Mahlioz's friend had regained consciousness, and seemed to be in a better state than the young Slytherin had expected. She said she was fine, but wasn't able to get up properly without hurting herself, and in the end admitted the hospital wing was a good idea. Mahlioz was glad she hadn't needed any more convincing.
"Okay, we got this," she said, mostly to herself. The person who'd come to help was gathering their things as Mahlioz tried to help Irina in the ways that she could. She knew nothing about injuries, and she had no idea how to get Irina to the hospital wing... A stretcher, like she'd thought, would have come in handy. The first year was trying her best to think rationally and not let her emotions take over. Because if she did, she would become too stressed to do anything. There's nothing to be stressed about. She's going to be okay, she tried to convince herself. But she didn't know, really, if Irina would be okay. She didn't know anything. She's talking, so that's got to be a good sign, right? It had to. Mahlioz's sanity depended on it.

As the twelve-year old tried to find a way to help Irina with her ankle, the Gryffindor started apologizing. Although Mahlioz was stressed out and decently annoyed at her, she was still her friend. "It's okay, it wasn't completely your fault and anyway, I know you well enough by now not to be surprised. I don't think any less of you, I would just rather appreciate it if you were a little less reckless sometimes." She'd tried to be truthful. It was obvious Irina felt terrible about it all so she didn't want to add anything else to it, as annoyed as she may have been.
But she couldn't help being exasperated to the limit at her friend's slip-up. She could have said anything else - "our little project", or "you-know-what", or even just "I'm sad we didn't have a chance to talk", period. But no - she basically outed them. Sure, she didn't really finish the sentence, and yeah, maybe the other person was a few meters away, but she was Irina. She'd been speaking loudly. Just one glance at the newcomer confirmed that they had heard what she'd said, and very probably knew what they were talking about. This day's just getting better and better. Mahlioz didn't say anything, because she didn't want to get mad, and if she said a word she would end up doing so.

Irina tried to cover up her mistake - the key word being "tried" - by thanking the other person for their help and asking who they were. From their stuttered and embarrassed reaction, they were pretty much as introverted as Mahlioz. And their pronouns were they/them, just like Reltyl. When they asked the same for the other two, Mahlioz tried her best to smile (it was difficult, but she managed it), and said, "I am Mahlioz, Mahlioz Evethisawe. My pronouns are she/they." It was the first time someone had asked her pronouns in her whole life. It felt weirdly nice.
The newcomer joked, somewhat nervously, about writing home about this whole misadventure, and code names. Mahlioz nearly glared at them when they suggested theirs be The Bookworm. "Hey, if anyone's gonna be called The Bookworm here, it's me," she said, a little too heatedly than she should have - both out of annoyance and out of stress because of everything else. It was just a nickname, after all. But she was proud of her books and proud of how much she read, and she felt it was injust that this person got to show it off and not her. It was childish jealousy, she knew. In all honesty, this Jordan person had Mahlioz's approval. Not only had they helped Irina immediately without even knowing her, but they were also introverted and apparently loved books. She was just a little miffed at the fact that they might be named The Bookworm and not her.

"Okay, how are we going to get you to the hospital wing?" she asked Irina, looking down at her. There was no reason to sulk over everything that had gone wrong. Now, they had to deal with it and fix it. "Can you... hop on one leg? Or does that hurt?" Again, she had no clue what to do with injuries. Maybe hopping on one leg was a terrible idea. In any case, Mahlioz hoped Jordan (or Irina) knew more about all this than her. Although she wanted to help, this was not exactly her forte.

Interacting with @Mahlioz Evethisawe and @Jordan Niveo

Irina could have kicked herself at such a big slip. This wasn't at all like her usual self - normally she was great at keeping secrets! She had never let something as important as this slip out before!
'I mean I did let slip that Idril was the one that spilt the juice . . . but Mahlioz must be so mad! She's gonna think I'm an awful friend,' she thought miserably. Looking sideways towards her friend, she thought she detected a trace of anger, but Irina couldn't be sure as she didn't say a word.
Irina was so engrossed in her worries she almost missed the new kid's next words. They introduced themselves as Jordan and from their hesitant stuttering, Irina got a similar first impression to when she had first met Mahlioz - friendly and lovely but preferring to be alone than meeting new people.
Irina had never met anyone with they/them pronouns before. She stared curisously at Jordon before realising how rude that was and looking vaguely into the sky. Questions began boiling in her brain like a potion in a cauldron, but she suppressed them for the moment. She didn't want to seem too rude.
"M'name's Irina! Irina Shevel. I'm she/her."
She turned her head when Mahlioz said her pronouns were she/them - she didn't even know what that meant. Feeling guilt and overhwhelmed with intrigue, she silently berated herself. 'You need to find a better time to ask this sort of thing! But crikey do I have a lot I need to leanr!'
Her mind began racing frantically when Jordan mentioned codenames. That was right up her street! At home, her codename was Dumb Monkey, a nickname Idril had come up with which had, unfortunately, stuck. 'As long as they don't call me that I'll be fine.'
She paused as Mahlioz snapped at Jordan's comment about being called 'The Bookworm.' Under ordinary circumstances, Mahlioz probably would have been delighted that they were a fan of books, but the stress (' . . . and probably annoyance at me and my big mouth,') was probably getting to her. Irina desperately wanted to hug her friend and apologise for everything and make sure everything was okay with them, but she didn't do any of this as she worried Jordan (or Mahlioz) might find it awkward.
She tried to break the tension slightly by saying, "Reckon we could come up with a pretty good name for me in reguards to all this,' she gestured at her ankle and side. "I think Reckless Bonehead has a nice ring . . . or Crazy Loon? Any ideas guys?"

Irina pushed herself into a standing position and glanced at Mahlioz. I reckon hopping'll be fine as long as you guys support me." She gently applied pressure to her ankle and almost buckled as she was overwhelmed by a wave of dizziness and nausea. "Yeah, nope . . . walking isn't an option." She cautiosuly touched her side where the branch had caught her and winced. The pain wasn't as excruciating but something was definitely up. Maybe a bruised rib? She opened her mouth to say this but quickly closed it again - she didn't want to stress Mahlioz out anymore than she already was! "Just be careful of my right side. It's . . . a tad sore. Aggh, I could really do with some ice or something to dull the pain. Lets get up to the Hospital Wing fast."

The trio began hopping back to the castle and Irina gave a small giggle to imagine how weird they must look to a casual observer. To distract herself from the constant tweaks of pain, she brought her mind to her favourite topics; flying, exploring, climbing ('yeah, maybe not that one') wands . . . Irina gave a small start, followed by a small yelp of pain as she twinged her side. She hadn't asked to see Mahlioz's wand yet!
Normally, Irina asked anyone she thought interesting or to have friend potential if she could see their wand. It told her so much about a person, especially if she was having trouble reading them or they weren't to keen on opening up about it. Irina had studied wand lore since she was pretty young, so she was fairly intuitive when it came to understand the conncetions between wand and wizard/witch. However, she usually kept her findings to herself, as she didn't want people to be freaked by it. So unless they asked on her findings, she wouldn't say anything. 'Maybe I didn't think to ask to see Mahlioz's cause I was so certain she would be awesome,' she pondered, the feeling of guilt seeping into her thoughts again.

Determined not to dwell on this until something could be done, she looked at both Jordan and Mahlioz and asked, "This is gonna sound super random, but would you mind if I looked at your wands?"

Speech: Cayenne
Thoughts: Teal

Though initially shocked by Mahlioz’s defense of the Bookworm title, Jordan was able to ignore that in light of hearing that Mahlioz liked to read, too.

“Okay,” said Jordan. “So neither of us are the only Bookworm, then. Perhaps something more specific is in order.” After pondering for a moment on what that might be, Jordan offered, “I could do something plant or nature-related instead. The world of foraging and botany has always been a special interest of mine.”

Taking in the shared looks the students before them were passing, and the feeling of honesty that Jordan heard in their voices, Jordan decided that they trusted these two. At least, trusted them enough to let them go on with their secret Room of Requirement things without turning them in. Maybe I can find a way to get invited along…

Jordan laughed at the nicknames that Irina had tried to christen herself. “No,” they shook their head. “Nothing that insulting. Maybe Daredevil or Bowtruckle, though.”

While they had tried to help Irina to her feet, it didn’t seem that they were getting anywhere. “Well,” said Jordan, looking between the other two. “Should we try to carry her together, or maybe call someone else over?

Jordan was a smart kid, but that didn’t mean that they thought everything through properly. In fact, on many occasions, it was their brain that got them in trouble. They’d figure that if they could just do something exactly the correct way (no matter the percent probability that they would) that they could do anything.

This character flaw or amusing trait - depending on who you ask - meant that Jordan was willing to try just about anything. It fed into their curiosity, and led down some interesting paths. From the time that Jordan brought home a slightly venomous snake from outside, swearing that they could extract its venom for an antidote if ever there was an issue (a promise that cost them a few months of occupational therapy on their left hand) to the careless way that Jordan simply handed over their wand at Irina’s request.

Jordan realized quickly after handing their wand over that if their judgment call had been wrong, this could go sideways very quickly. They’d only be armed with their fists if it came to a scuffle. With a gulp, Jordan watched Irina closely, hoping that they, indeed, had made the right call with this one. They looked over to Mahlioz as well, to see if they would hand their wand over, but couldn’t glance at her for more than a second before their eyes went naturally back to their own wand of hornbeam wood and dragon heartstring. Please don't be evil. Please don't be evil. Please don't be evil.