15 Sep 2020, 09:11
Fish in a Lake
Aida walked along the edge of the lake, bleary-eyed in the early morning as she looked for the tree where she had stashed her fishing pole. Fortunately the Room of Requirement had not begun to hide itself from her and its magic had not worn out, so she was again able to get a good night's rest in its sheltering embrace. Were it not for the feather bed there she might have tossed and turned all night thinking about the thestrals she had seen earlier that day, pulling the carriages of returning students. Seeing a thestral for the first time in real life, for a moment Aida had thought she was seeing the ghost of Manticore or a hallucination of the Undead King. Yet, with so many thestrals there it occurred to her that these were their own creatures: the very same that she had read about in the library when she first came to Hogwarts, and the very same she had dreamed about when she first received her magical powers after months of failing in the classroom. In the thestrals' skeletal frames Aida saw reflected back what she had become over the summer, emaciated and hollow. But today was not a day for living in the past, Aida decided, finding her fishing rod sticking out amongst the branches of a low-hanging tree. Manticore was dead and she had made it through the summer alive. I’m not alone anymore, thought Aida, trying to convince herself. I will regain my strength so that I can be useful to my friends and creatures in need.
Thrusting her white hand hand down into the lake silt, Aida’s fingers weaved about until grasping a squirming worm. Slowly, carefully, Aida's other hand negotiated the rod’s hook through the body of the poor invertebrate. Aida would not go hungry today and she would make sure she caught enough for Alexander while she was at it.
Last edited by Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood on 2 Oct 2020, 04:44, edited 1 time in total.
16 Sep 2020, 05:57
Fish in a Lake
Aida squatted over by some reeds at the lake’s western edge, getting comfortable knowing that she would not be casting a shadow from this position. She could barely see her face reflecting in the water through the foliage, but it was there alright. Still gaunt, but not as haunting as it had been earlier that summer. There was still quite a bit of work to be done if she were to regain the strength she once had. Winding back her arms, the white witch pitched the fishing rod forward and the still wriggling worm splashed into the water gently at the end of the line. Aida still had many questions and was anxious to get back to the library to research whatever she could find about time magic, magically-induced memory loss, and house elves. Even after all this time, Aida was not sure if she needed to do something in the future in order to preserve Alexander’s survival in the current timeline. Yet, more than ever Aida wondered if her experience of the death of Alexander had all been a product of her crazed state of mind since the Forbidden Forest and house elf incidents. How could she know? As her nightmares ebbed with her reunion with Alexander and eating better due to her new determination to reclaim her strength, Aida’s hallucinations had disappeared with the final days of the summer. Most days she was even happy again, reunited with friends, but there was always a shadow hanging over her mind. She had to figure out what had happened to her and Alexander during their lost time… What about the fortune teller’s words when the Slytherin had asked what dominated his past? Something about Death, secrets, duality. Duplicity. Squinting, Aida thought back over the false smiles she had seen Alexander give during the summer.
Then with a sudden tug Aida knew she had something. Gently the white witch pulled back on her stick, knowing that if she moved the wrong way that the fish would come loose. Yet, the thin girl still had to put her back into the motion and as she tugged she felt something come loose. Indeed, the hook came flying back at her empty, snagging on her sleeve. Shaking her head and removing the hook, Aida decided to collect a stock of worms knowing this could take a while. Pulling a hidden bucket out from behind a tree, Aida leaned her pole against its bark and walked away to distance herself from her perch. Then, plunging both hands into the lake mud Aida began to feel around for more worms. The sensation reminded her of the mud squishing between her toes the night she had found Alexander again. Remembering the smells of that night, Aida squinted and tried to think about why the fight club had happened. The pain in Alexander’s eyes from that night haunted her even now. If only she could see what he had seen. Coming up with hands full of worms, the white witch dripped the squirming beasts into her bucket, accidentally dropping one worm back into the water. Sighing, Aida remembered a time when a boy knocked over a bucket of toads. She wondered if the deer she saw then still frequented the lakeside. Aida’s stomach then growled loudly and she smirked, agreeing with her previous assessment that it was better for the deer if it stayed away from her, though she felt it would be a shame to kill it after it had witnessed both that and the night of the mosp burial. Somehow it felt more like a spirit than a deer anyway, if just by association with those memories. Washing her hands in the lake, Aida picked up the bucket and returned to her fishing perch. Picking up the rod, Aida turned around. She felt like someone was watching her.
Aida understood that someone, or something, was there, but she could not make out what it was. Aida’s nose crinkled and she listened, but she could only hear the wind in the trees.[d20 : 15]+10 In the end, the result was: 15+10=25
[Thread closed.]