21 Dec 2018, 11:50
A Winters Afternoon
[font=Times New Roman]Private between @Isabella Hills and @Kaegen Deathmote3:59pm
Wednesday 19th December 2018
The Great Lake
It had been snowing earlier in th day, while all the students of Hogwarts had been nestled warmly is their classes - filling their heads with useless knowledge that would probably be forgotten tomorrow. The snow had covered the Grounds completely, making it look as though someone had simply sifted icing sugar over the castle and its surroundings. Pure and untouched, not a single footprint lay in the snow - except for those of the groundskeeper, who had likely been trudging back and forth all day between the castle and the gamekeepers cabin. With a creak and a bang, the doors of Hogwarts opened and a little girl exited the castle - disrupting the peace and silence of the outdoors.
Trudging through the snow, the young Isabella Hills made a beeline for the Great Lake. The was getting deeper and harder to walk through for a child as December wore on, and it was a wonder why she even visited the lake anymore. Not even she knew the answer. Sometimes, when she had something bothering her, she would find herself drawn to the Great Lake of Hogwarts.
The water of the lake calmed her for some reason, and it was not unusual for her to take refuge there. It was beautiful in the summer, but there was somehow something majestic about it in the winter. Although she loved the warm sun, and the cool summer breeze that came along in the holiday months, winter always had a calming effect on her. The pure, white snow pleases her and reminded her that even in a world where everything’s made imperfect, you could still find those wholesome things if you knew where to look.
And today, she had come to the lake with a problem. In the light of her brothers death, her mother had picked up and herself and what remained of the Hills family to the other side of the world - namely New Zealand. It was like she was trying to run away from both the home that had been the place for so much loss within the smal family, and everything they had ever known.
And if there was one thing a small girl barely the age thirteen could know, it was that running away from your problems was nothing more than a bad idea. They will always catch up to you in the long run, and not even a small country at the bottom of the world can save you.
Sitting down at the edge of the lake in the snow, Isabella rested her chin on her knees and stared out at the icy water of the Great Lake. Sometimes, life was a big, fat, steaming mug of hot mess - and she sat there in the snow contemplating this.
With all that had happened in her life, one could hardly be surprised if they knew of the thoughts that had been bouncing around in her little brain for the past few weeks.
She didn’t want the world to see her, because she didn’t think that they’d understand. When everything’s made to be broken, she just wanted to know who she is. Who she really is. Because you can’t fight the tears that aren’t coming, or the moment of truth in your lie. When everything feels as scripted and staged as the movies, you bleed just to know your alive.
Finally, she came to the conclusion that she had been, unknowingly, putting up a mask between herself and the world - to hide the fact that she was constantly and always confused by the why in life.
Smiling as the opinion of ‘a thirteen year old shouldn’t be thinking this much about the depth of life’ came into her brain, she shuffled slightly - hoping to try and regain feeling in her numb, built in, sitting cushion.[/font]
You see? Even death has a heart.
24 Dec 2018, 04:15
A Winters Afternoon
Snow was something new, something he had first seen only last year. The fens had ice, but not the soft fluffy kind. And something he had learned really early on was that snow was amazing. He had leaped into the snow a few hours ago, and had burrowed around underneath the crusty layer on top like a mole, shoving the snow to the side and behind and slowly crawling forward. This activity had lasted him about 1 hour. He had been trying to make a series of escape tunnels that he could use to evade the pursuit of the villainous bean. But after that hour of digging, his eyes had drooped shut, and hadn’t opened, the little body curling up into a ball, concealed from view under the snow.
He woke up to the sound of someone moving towards him, which immediately made him start to worry. But aside from the worrying he was also freezing cold, with one half of his body soaking wet and threatening to go numb. He knew he had to move, to get blood flowing. He knew he had to get inside and warm up, or make a fire, but he was too scared to move. And so he stayed like that, still curled up under the snow. He had no idea how long he lay there, but eventually he had to move, and he hadn’t heard anything from the person he knew had to be close by in quite some time.
It was obvious what was going on, even a complete fool could have figured it out. They could sense his body heat under the snow, knew exactly where he was and were waiting for him to make a move they could act on. They were probably expecting him to go back through his tunnels, which left only one option available to him. It was likely that they saw this coming as well, but there was a small chance they didn’t, a small chance that he was going to make an escape.
The boy launched out of the snow in a miniature blizzard, momentarily blinding himself as he cast about, trying to figure out who the person was, or where they were, so he could make his escape. But he hadn’t reckoned on snow getting in his eyes, and was a bit too caught up in the moment to use his other senses.
He woke up to the sound of someone moving towards him, which immediately made him start to worry. But aside from the worrying he was also freezing cold, with one half of his body soaking wet and threatening to go numb. He knew he had to move, to get blood flowing. He knew he had to get inside and warm up, or make a fire, but he was too scared to move. And so he stayed like that, still curled up under the snow. He had no idea how long he lay there, but eventually he had to move, and he hadn’t heard anything from the person he knew had to be close by in quite some time.
It was obvious what was going on, even a complete fool could have figured it out. They could sense his body heat under the snow, knew exactly where he was and were waiting for him to make a move they could act on. They were probably expecting him to go back through his tunnels, which left only one option available to him. It was likely that they saw this coming as well, but there was a small chance they didn’t, a small chance that he was going to make an escape.
The boy launched out of the snow in a miniature blizzard, momentarily blinding himself as he cast about, trying to figure out who the person was, or where they were, so he could make his escape. But he hadn’t reckoned on snow getting in his eyes, and was a bit too caught up in the moment to use his other senses.
Shade-Beacon, Master of the Castle of Avarice
24 Jan 2019, 09:47
A Winters Afternoon
[font=Times New Roman]Running a gloved hand through the snow next to her, she traced patterns in the white that covered the ground. It was mostly just lines, reorganised to look like a pattern - but hey, she wasn’t gonna judge her nonexistent artistic capability just yet.
Sighing, the brunette took off her left glove and sat her hand in the snow. The cold came as a shock at first, but soon her hand became numb and it was almost, well, nice. Pushing her hair out of her face with the gloved hand, she looked back out at the lake - only to be distracted by what seemed to be a miniature blizzard that erupted from a snow drift next to her.
Jumping to her feet, Isabella whipped her wand out of its home the sleeve of her jacket. Thinking some sort of dangerous creature had escaped from its place in the Care of Magical Creatures Class - Merlin knows what sort of creatures the new professor had brought along with him - she ran through the list of spells she had learnt both last and this year. Settling on Incendio, the fire making spell was the only spell Isabella felt comfortable using. She knew she was pretty good at it, after setting both a fifth year bully and the Slytherin Common Room on fire last year.
Now she just needed a shadow, something to aim at. Rubbing the snow out of her eyes and off her eyelashes that had settled there in the unnatural blizzard, she relaxed her stance when she saw it was only a boy - one around her age - that she figured had lept out of the snow.
Boys will be boys, she thought bending down to retrieve the glove she had dropped in her rise to her feet. Pulling the now damp glove onto her hand, she stuffed her wand back up her sleeve and approached the boy.
“Hello! I suppose that was you that caused that mini blizzard. What were you doing under the snow anyway? Funny place to be, you must be cold. You gave me a bit of a scare when you jumped out there. My name’s Isabella anyway, but everyone calls me Bella. What’s yours?” With the commotion over, and all prior thoughts pushed aside in the disturbance, she was back to her normal chatty self.
Eager to make a new friend, Isabella chatted away to the stranger with a smile on her face - not really giving him a chance to get a word in edgeways until the end when she asked his name. Sticking her hand out to shake his, she waited for him to take her hand with the smile she usually wore when she’s meet new people.[/font]
You see? Even death has a heart.
2 Feb 2019, 10:36
A Winters Afternoon
What was wrong, there was no hostile retaliation he could see, which was entirely unexpected. When the snow blinded him, the ex-prefect was sure that someone was going to seize the opportunity and strike. And yet here he was, faced with a solitary girl sitting down in the snow. Kaegen was shivering as one hand furiously wiped at his eyes, pupils already beginning to move in ways not at all human.
He hopped backwards a bit, and stared with wide eyes that, even when charged with adrenaline, still fought against sleeplessness, that steady pull that got increasingly stronger, harder to fight against. Worrying. Everything about the boy seemed off, it always did. From the moving pupils to the slender, long fingers tipped with dully pointed claw-like fingernails. Even his canines were far longer and sharper than they should naturally be.
When the girl started talking, he listened, hoping it would clear something up. But it did not, it only served to confuse him further, or at least to keep him in the dark he consistently found himself in. She seemed innocent, nice even. She asked him why he was under the snow like she didn't know, said he scared her and then asked for his name, saying hers was Bell. Or bell-something. It didn't matter, her name was bell now.
As far as he could tell, she gave normal responses, the kind that would be expected of a random witch sitting out in the snow. He really couldn't even be that suspicious of her. Which is, of course, how the boy knew she had to be evil. There wasn't such a thing as a peaceful student minding their own business. Everything in this school was out to get him, and he happened to lump other students into the "everything" category.
"No, you can't fool me. You can't pretend to be something that doesn't exist. My name is Kaegen Deathmote, Fens-born Scarf-wielder. He who was called fat tadpole as a babe suicidal idjit as a toddler and earned the name Eeh before arriving at Hogwarts. He who lost two and gained one. He whose names are given authority by grandfather, whose name was given authority by the conqueror of the 14th dark place. And I challenge you to reveal yourself."
He hopped backwards a bit, and stared with wide eyes that, even when charged with adrenaline, still fought against sleeplessness, that steady pull that got increasingly stronger, harder to fight against. Worrying. Everything about the boy seemed off, it always did. From the moving pupils to the slender, long fingers tipped with dully pointed claw-like fingernails. Even his canines were far longer and sharper than they should naturally be.
When the girl started talking, he listened, hoping it would clear something up. But it did not, it only served to confuse him further, or at least to keep him in the dark he consistently found himself in. She seemed innocent, nice even. She asked him why he was under the snow like she didn't know, said he scared her and then asked for his name, saying hers was Bell. Or bell-something. It didn't matter, her name was bell now.
As far as he could tell, she gave normal responses, the kind that would be expected of a random witch sitting out in the snow. He really couldn't even be that suspicious of her. Which is, of course, how the boy knew she had to be evil. There wasn't such a thing as a peaceful student minding their own business. Everything in this school was out to get him, and he happened to lump other students into the "everything" category.
"No, you can't fool me. You can't pretend to be something that doesn't exist. My name is Kaegen Deathmote, Fens-born Scarf-wielder. He who was called fat tadpole as a babe suicidal idjit as a toddler and earned the name Eeh before arriving at Hogwarts. He who lost two and gained one. He whose names are given authority by grandfather, whose name was given authority by the conqueror of the 14th dark place. And I challenge you to reveal yourself."
Shade-Beacon, Master of the Castle of Avarice