Branching Out Friendships PV Alexx Helm Closed

It was just Alexx's luck that today was mostly free. She wasn't chasing after the Prefect duties anymore, nor was dealing with anything out of the ordinary for the day. It was nice and peaceful, the way that she liked it. And to add to that, she decided to stroll around the grounds for a bit. There were fresh air and the beautiful scenery which delighted her to no end. Luckily it wasn't extremely crowded, either. Alexx hated the scene, and all the kids running about and being loud and obnoxious. She preferred a crowd of one or two people that were sincere and at least half-way matured.

Just when she thought she was escaping her duties, she heard a very subtle voice call out, though it sounded distant. "Anyone around?" The voice asked. Now, Alexx didn't know if this qualified as a job or not. It wasn't her responsibility to go rescuing people. She wasn't Thor. And she could only assume that this was akin to a job because why else would someone be calling out? Still, she held her title with pride, and that was why she went looking for the voice.

Peering around, there was no one in sight. Where could this person be hiding? She thought to herself. "I'm... Here?" She called out, a confused look on her face. Was she answering to God? She didn't even believe in God, she was a Pagan! Who was she talking to? Alexx felt as though this was what a midlife crisis felt like to women in their thirties who drank wine for breakfast. She was talking to herself in the middle of the grounds, probably looking absolutely insane. Well, that was one way to decide to step down from being Prefect. Realizing that she had lost her marbles. How would she explain this to Professor Jensen? "Sorry for the last minute decision, professor, but it appears that I have gone absolutely insane and need to resign. Best regards." No, that didn't sound right at all. What would the other Prefects think?

Nevertheless, she was determined to prove that she wasn't going mad. "Uhm... Je suis désolée, but where are you?" She called out again, crooking her head to peek around trees. It was to no avail because whoever needed her attention was either a really good hider, a ghost, or non-existent. The more she looked, the more she managed to doubt herself. It wasn't like her, because usually, she had an abundance of confidence. It was what made her so fierce and motivated. Maybe she was losing her mind and she was grieving over it. What was it again... The stages of grief? Perhaps she skipped a few steps and went right into acceptance. No... No! She wouldn't accept this! That wasn't how life worked! She held the reins, no one and nothing else!

There must be a reasonable explanation for a mysterious person calling out to her that she couldn't see. This was Hogwarts. Ghosts existed in the castle, so who is to say that they also weren't entities of the woodlands, too? It had to be a ghost. That was an acceptable thought. Only... Which one? Surely, if there was a ghost on the grounds, she would have heard of it? Suddenly, she remembered that she knew very little about the spirits of Hogwarts. Oh... Thinking about this was only going to make her more upset!

She realized that all this thinking was happening in a very short amount of time, and she recalled that the voice hadn't even had a chance to respond and inform her of the location. She was sure that this would all factor out into being a big misunderstanding, and that it was a human, flesh and blood, who was just really well hidden. That was a more reasonable explanation than trying to figure out if God was making contact with her.

Shaking her head, Alexx sighed, taking a moment to process her panic. This would all sort itself out, and she could go about life normally and not have to quit being Prefect because she became senile prematurely. It would play out just like that, and everything would be perfectly fine. This was a school filled with magic, after all. There was a better explanation than what her thirteen-year-old brain was coming up with.

The ground was too far away. There was no way to come down gently. The wind was mildly blowing, making the tree feel as though it was shaking ever so slightly. The branch that Bloom knelt down on, balancing on the balls of her feet, felt as though it was moving up and down from the wind. If she closed her eyes, it felt like she was on a boat in calm waters but it still moved from the mini waves.

It was no use. There was no one outside. Most people were either studying, catching up with their friends inside or even getting ready for dinner. No one was going to be outside taking in the fresh air like her.

Would anyone notice me? she thought, thinking about all of her friends. Honestly, it made Bloom realize that perhaps the friends that she had already met were close friends. Who did she hang out with on a daily basis? No one. Who did she always study with? No one. She did not have that "best friend" that others had. Here she was, a second year, and without a best friend... Without someone to be looking for her right now. In a way, Bloom felt alone.

Ben was my best friend, she remembered, thinking about her ex-boyfriend and the masked student. Though, she also reminded herself of how often he disappears from her and how often they hardly see each other than spend time with each other.

Bloom, her arms wrapping around the trunk of the tree, heard a voice below her. Her heart pounded with excitement to hear someone's voice. Looking down, it was hard to see who was below as the leaves of the tree were thick. For a moment, she could have sworn that the person who mentioned they were there began to speak a different language. Confused, Bloom replied.

"I have no idea what you've said, but I'm up here!" she blurted from the top. To try to get the student's attention, she tightened her left arm around the tree trunk and moved her right arm to a small twig connected to the branch where she shook it intensely to show her whereabouts in the thickened tree.

"Who are you?" she asked, wondering who was keeping her company during her terrifying moment.

There it was again! That blasted voice! It had no idea what she said, so that ruled out God and ghosts. She was now left with one option: this was a person! Unless God was deaf. No, that didn't seem right. It had to be a person, then! There was no other explanation. That made her extremely happy because Alexx had no idea what she would have done if an unearthly being or the undead was trying to make contact with her. The fact that they spoke English ruled out aliens, too. She now felt safer, and way much more sure of how she was to go about this encounter.

Letting out a sigh of relief, she started out again, this time looking up towards the sky and speaking a bit louder. "Right, Je suis désolée! I'm Alexx Helm, Prefect of Slytherin. Who are you? And... Where are you?" She called out again, not being able to make out anything or anyone for all the leaves and branches that clouded her vision. It felt a little odd to announce herself to an unknown figure. She never really announced herself to anyone, really. Usually, the badge that proclaimed her title, stating, in fact, in bright green letters, 'PREFECT', spoke for her. She wasn't used to going about, shouting her name to the treetops. That seemed silly, and out of context, she still felt rather insane.

It wasn't every day that the trees spoke to someone. If Alexx remembered correctly, the Muggle story told that the Lorax did that. Then again, Alexx had little time for Muggle stories or Wizard stories alike. It was something that her younger sister, Emmaline, might be more fond of. Instead, it wasn't in her tastes. These days, Alexx focused on comic books and whatever else occupied her. She was too strung up in her social life even, so comic books were few and far between as well.

Muttering to herself, Alexx let out an exasperated "Jésus-Christ,". This was a term that she learned from her second older brother, Tex. Tex often said things that Mikey asked her not to repeat, but this term was not one of them, so she decided that she was rather free to repeat it. However, the Muggle people back home in France sometimes didn't like it when she said this term. She thought that it might have been offensive, but she really didn't care.

The blonde girl kept making attempts to peer past the green of the leaves, but she didn't succeed. There was much left to desire, and she was curious as to who it was that resided in these branches. It was rather fateful that Alexx stumbled upon the talking tree, which for now, given that there was no evidence stating otherwise, was what this was, because she was rather bored. This was an interesting encounter, so it occupied her greatly for the time being. Alexx had no objections to sticking around and having a conversation with this tree, either.

Alexx was not typically alone, because being Prefect, she made more encounters than she would like to. It got rather tiring because it felt as if people only knew of her, but didn't really know her. She couldn't really pick out who really was her friend and who was not. More to it, who knew her and who did not. She had Reid, of course, who she tolerated more than she tolerated most people. He was a kind boy, who she enjoyed being around more than she did anyone else, but even with him, she was unsure if he knew much about her. She supposed that it was hard to really know anyone, simply because they all had busy lives that took them away from one another. But what Alexx wanted, in general, was just companionship. Someone to be around for more reasons than giving them detention.

What language is she speaking? she thought, listening to the person below going in and out of English. It sounded muddled and very nasal. Bloom, unaware of how other languages sound like, was wondering if the person below her was a "creature" of some kind. Maybe they were Veela or perhaps a Centaur! Who knew? It sure wasn't the language most of the United Kingdom spoke.

"I'm Alexx Helm, Prefect of Slytherin. Who are you? And... Where are you?"

Great... Out of all the people who could be coming to save her, it was a Prefect, let alone a Slytherin. Bloom did not have great experiences with Slytherins-- well other than Corvus Dravere where they both spent detention together the night prior by getting caught going into the Restricted Area. Overall, it seemed that the shaking of a branch did not help the Slytherin Prefect find Bloom's whereabouts. What else was she able to do?

Having a conversation was one.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you're difficult to understand. You've been saying things that don't make sense," she started. Perhaps it wasn't the best way to start the conversation. No one likes to be told that they are hard to communicate with. But was honesty a virtue at this point?

"I'm Bloom Silverton, Ravenclaw. I used to be a Ravenclaw Prefect last year. But I have no fancy title anymore," she said, joking with the Slytherin. She remembered the days of being a Prefect and using that as a part of her name. It had a sense of power and authority-- one that she had nothing of anymore at school and definitely at home.

This was pointless. The person below her knew just as much as she did when it came to magic. There was no way for her to really help her down from the tree. Bloom was stuck and the only way to get down was going to be on her own. The first step was to get to the first level of branches. She, currently on the second level of branches, needed to find a safe way to climb down. The trunk of the tree was too thick for her to grab onto and shimmy her way down. There had to be another idea, but what?

"Do you have any ideas of how to get down from here?" she asked, seeing if Alexx had a clue.

Ah, she had ventured back into the language of French, hadn't she? It was a habit of her to jump between French and English, and her accent was thick nonetheless. Though, she supposed that might all change once she was able to get closer to the person in question. Bloom. That was her name. What a pretty name, Alexx thought, smiling to herself. Bloom seemed like a rather enjoyable person, and so far her witty replies were entertaining Alexx.

"My apologies, Bloom. It was French." She informed the Ravenclaw who was stuck in the tree, chuckling a bit afterward. "I could come to you and perhaps help you down if you'd like? Sorry that I can't be of more use. I come prepared for a lot of things but admittedly, I've never gotten someone down from a tree before." Alexx recalled over the summer when she had that sleepover with a few other girls and they climbed the tree in order to get into Alexx's home. That was rather exciting! If that group of girls, disregarding Aurelia who found another option, could climb their way into Alexx's manor, then Alexx could go and get Bloom.

It wasn't exactly delicate to climb up a tree, and her father certainly would not refer to it as being ladylike. However, it was a skillset that Alexx had thanks to having two older brothers. Mikey and Tex taught her how to climb the tallest pine trees and hide within the long leaves of the willow tree. So, without waiting for Bloom's response, Alexx went to the tree that the voice seemed to be coming from and hoisted herself up onto the lowest hanging limb. It didn't seem so bad; she had climbed more trivial trees, after all. "Since this might take a while, seeing as though you seem to be slightly further than I am at the moment, do you mind if I ask why you climbed all the way up there to begin with?" The blond girl asked, gripping another limb.

Alexx's idea was as followed: get close enough to grab her hand and be sure that she got down alright. That was all. While it wasn't foolproof and had a 50/50 chance of failing, Alexx never promised success. Only an idea. It was good enough for the time being because they seemed to not have many other options. "You really picked an uncomfortable tree to get stuck in, I have to say." Alexx jested, looking down and then back up. She wasn't making much progress, but she supposed that if Bloom hadn't fallen out yet, then she likely wasn't going to anytime soon.

She was rather curious about Bloom. While she had likely seen her around, the name didn't ring any bells. She almost felt bad, seeing as though Bloom was previously a Prefect. Perhaps she should be more aware as to who came before her? But it wasn't only that. Clearly, Bloom was an interesting person. Alexx determined this by deciding that boring people simply just did not get stuck in trees like this. Being stuck in a tree was a reserved activity for interesting people.

Oh, so the language she was speaking happened to be French. It was a unique sounding language, one that Bloom had never heard before. It was one that was a bit on the nasal side versus a lot of UK-English speaking languages that were very open and resonating.

"Explain to me how you coming up here will--," Bloom was interrupted by the noises below. It seemed that without caring for her answer, Alexx was making her way up the tree. Bloom was utterly confused. How could her coming up the tree solve the problem that she was stuck in the tree? It was not like Alexx was a ladder to help Bloom down. Though, one things for sure is that the company was surely going to be nice. At least she would not be stuck in the tree alone.

Soon enough, the most embarrassing question had been asked: how did you get up there in the first place? Should she lie and say that she wanted to enjoy the sunset or tell the truth that she was randomly chasing a lizard and did not realize the amount of stupidity that was to follow?

"I was chasing a lizard across the grounds and he went up this tree." The truth it was. As her mother had taught Bloom and her sisters, the truth always has a positive end. "He then went down the tree," she added, noting her failure at not even catching the lizard that she had been on the hunt for across the grounds for a few minutes.

"I didn't choose this tree. The lizard did," she added, taking the blame off of her and to the creature that had chosen one of the most difficult trees on Hogwarts' grounds. Bloom then found a bright side: at least it was not a tree like the Whomping Willow. Then there would be a lot of problems. "How's your climbing progress coming along?" she asked, keeping the conversation going, still confused as to why Alexx is choosing to climb up than to get help.

Looking up, she was starting to see the outline of the girl. "Explain to me how you coming up here will--," She had heard just moments prior, but the sentence was cut off. To be fair, Alexx had made an impulse decision, and it probably seemed irrational. However, it was the best she had aside from retrieving a professor. The nearest ones weren't professors she particularly wanted to approach- Griffith and Ryker scared her if she were being honest. Then there was Davis, who seemed nice enough, though she didn't know her well enough to ask for her assistance. Instead, she went with her gut instinct.

Gripping the next branch and pulling herself up, Alexx decided to reply to the original question. "The plan is to help you down the way I came up. It's worth a shot, anyway." She concluded, looking back down at the progress she had made. "It's going pretty steady, I don't think you're all that far up." Looking back up, she realized that she was right. Smiling at her success so far, it encouraged her to keep going. And, perhaps, the want to meet this mysterious person who had chased a lizard into a tree.

A lizard. A likely story. She meant that, too. Alexx could believe an inquisitive Ravenclaw chasing a lizard up a tree out of sheer curiosity. "Well, that wasn't very nice of the lizard to just leave you up here. What a rude reptile." The Slytherin joked, chuckling at the end. She hoped Bloom appreciated her humor, because Alexx didn't find herself very funny, in truth. Rather, she was caught up in trying to make people like her, so when it was a raw conversation, she really knew very little about what to do. It was much like chess; she knew she had to make the moves, but she was unsure about which were the right ones.

Finally reaching the branch just below Bloom, though not without a slip of her foot which caused some broken bark to tumble down (and some getting into her shoe in the process), she smiled sheepishly at how she was just barely holding on. "Mind me asking how you could get all the way up here but not back down?" She joked again, propping herself up on the branch more comfortably. She looked down, noting that it was high. If height had been the issue, then why did Bloom climb the tree to begin with? It didn't add up entirely, but she wasn't one to judge. A few select French words wanted to slip from her tongue the more her eyes cast down and she took in the height, but then she recalled that Bloom was not skilled in French, and it might be considered rude to exclude her from her thoughts. Instead, Alexx did so in English. "Holy shit." She mumbled, shaking her head.

Tilting her head down, Bloom was still unable to see Alexx. She could, however, hear her climbing up the tree by the shuffle of leaves below her. Taking a deep breath, Bloom clawed the branch's bark with her short-trimmed nails. In a way, it was therapeutic and psychologically made her feel stable on the tree.

Moving ever so slightly, Bloom saw Alexx pop out of nowhere to her level on the tree. She made sure that there was enough room for her, but still keeping herself very "safe" from falling. "When you're so focused on something, there's never a reason to look back... Or in this case, to look down. My dad taught me that as some sort of life lesson," she said, answering her question that she asked while she was climbing up the tree.

"Holy shit."

Bloom could not help but to laugh. It was definitely what she had been thinking this whole time, but leave it to Alexx to verbally express it. She wondered if they would be stuck together on the tree for awhile. There was no way that one could remember all of their steps that did coming up to go back down.

"Well now that we're both stuck here, we might as well be best friends," she joked, finding some sort of bright side to their predicament. In a way, she wasn't really joking. A best friend would be nice as throughout her first and most of her second year, Bloom hadn't been close to anyone in particular. She was close to Reid Kovacs and obviously Ben Eckenrode, but there were hardly any girl friends that she became close with.

Snorting a bit, in a non-sarcastic or crude way, but just because it was a humorous situation, she nodded. Leave it to Alexx, the genius, helping-hand, kind individual that she was to just make it worse on both ends. "Okay, admittedly, a professor would have been more helpful in this situation." She sighed, nodding. "Yeah, may as well be best friends. So, new best friend who likes to chase lizards up trees, where are you from? Nothing better than a good game of 20 questions while I figure out which will happen first; branch breaking, falling, or a strategic plan of how to get down." She kept her eyes on the ground until it made her a little nauseous, and then she looked up at Bloom, smiling sheepishly.

This was indeed a compromise that she had not been intending. Being a Prefect entailed many things- getting stuck in a tree wasn't one. There wasn't really training or criteria lessons that she went through, she was just told how to do her job. Right now, she really wished that Professor Jensen had handed her a manual that included "how to deal with Bloom Silverton getting stuck in a tree". However, this was not an anticipated situation. When Alexx patrolled the grounds, it was because, well... She was patrolling the grounds. While she ran into many things, such as fights and minor theft, anything that constituted detention, really. But never, in all her nine months, had she been caught climbing up trees to save people.

It was sort of funny, being in her position. Any peeping Tom could see up her skirt right now, and her long socks wouldn't do much to hide what could possibly be on display if the trees failed her. However, the safety of others was more important than her own dignity. Somehow. Someway. Damn, how did a Slytherin become so selfless? When did her moral compass change directions, and suddenly she was putting others first? She could almost groan, but then again... that might seem a little rude to Bloom, so she wasn't going to. But she could if she felt like it.