29 Sep 2020, 19:13
Opacity
| - | By SK[/right] | - |
October 3, 2020
Around 9 am
On a normal Saturday, Dealla would be sitting at breakfast right now, drinking a cup of tea, eating cereals or toast. She might still be a bit sleepy, eyelids heavy, chin resting in her hand, or chattering away with her friends. The same had been true today, until a few minutes ago, when a rush of wings and feathers had entered the Great Hall, as every morning, and delivered the post.
She hadn't paid them much attention, there had been no reason to, as she hadn't expected any of it to be meant for her. The only people ever sending her letters were her parents, and they had sent her one only a few days ago. She had been all the more surprised when a small package with a letter was dropped in front of her, and she'd reached for it, curiosity shining from her eyes exactly until she'd picked up the letter and recognized the seal. And then the neat cursive her name was written in, and then the heavy, expensive, high quality paper of the envelope.
Suddenly, her appetite had been gone, her mouth dry, and for a moment, she'd stared at the envelope in her hands as if she was worried it might bite her. Just before it became conspicuous, she'd put a brilliant smile on her face, let the package and letter vanish in her pocket with a twist of her hand, and told the people she'd sat with that she'd forgotten something up in the dormitories.
And then she'd headed out to the lake, without a glance back.
It was interesting, the way her immediate reaction had been to get away from everyone who might notice something was off. Dealla was not someone who held things back, usually. Her feelings, her opinions, her concerns, all of those were free for anyone around her to hear and see. If she was mad, people felt it. If she was sad, people saw it. But this... everything that concerned her family, her grandparents, was different. She couldn't really tell why. But she knew that the last thing she wanted right now was to talk to Ileen, because her best friend would see right through her.
Dealla was sitting cross-legged next to the lake now, jeans on damp grass, no concern for grass stains. She was turning the package between her fingers, the letter on her knee, both unopened. Her lips were pressed into a tight line, eyebrows drawn together. It was small, the package, hard and box-shaped under the wrapping paper. Dee didn't think she wanted to know what was in it, didn't want these seeds of doubt to get air or water. She'd buried them deep.
After that one letter last May, Dee hadn't heard anything from her grandparents, and she'd done a terrific job forgetting that letter ever existed, hidden away in the corner of her trunk as it was. Despite their suggestion that she should visit them during the summer break, they hadn't made any further attempts after Dealla had ignored the letter. Until now, apparently.
With a sigh, Dee slipped both the wrapped package and sealed letter into the front pocket of her hoodie, but then made no further move, instead staring out over the lake, unblinking as the sunlight broke on the water. It was a little cold, she was out in a hoodie and it was October, but she didn't feel the cold, yet.
She'd open them later, she decided. Tonight, alone. Not now.
@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood
Last edited by Dealla Prince on 26 Jan 2021, 17:12, edited 1 time in total.
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
2 Oct 2020, 05:19
Opacity
Aida had gotten up late on this lazy Saturday, hidden away in the usual corner of the Room of Requirement. It was unlike her to head out to the lake this late in the morning, so as if to make it right Aida ran the whole way, even through the halls. She was not as fast as she once was, but at least there was a spritely urge in her to run now despite having gone several months without it. In order to make it all the way to the lake in one unbroken burst Aida had to slow down several times, gasping for air. For most of the run she felt like she could not go on but she forced it anyway. Thus Aida arrived at the lake side with her head spinning and hardly aware of her surroundings. With a thud the pale girl threw herself down onto the shore right beside where Dealla sat on the grass. As Aida gasped for breath, however, immediately the scent of citrus and thyme leapt into focus. Bolting upright in shock, Aida turned to face Dealla. Clearing through the haze, the gears of Aida’s mind spun into motion as she started reading Dealla’s face and demeanor in order to figure out why the fellow Ravenclaw was here.
Squinting, Aida looked over Dealla again and again. Hmm… Something wasn’t quite right. Aida truly had no idea why Dealla was there, nor what seemed a bit off in general. Maybe it was a stray line in the girl’s face. It was hard to know why her feeling was there. While Aida said nothing about it, her face depicted her inner struggle and confusion crystal-clear.
“Dee… Good morning.” Blinking hard twice, Aida of course could not hold in her questions. “Why are you here? At the lake...” Frequently coming to procure fresh fish, Aida was used to observing the comings and goings of people to the lakeside. She hadn’t seen Dealla here before since Aida had started her new routine.
Squinting, Aida looked over Dealla again and again. Hmm… Something wasn’t quite right. Aida truly had no idea why Dealla was there, nor what seemed a bit off in general. Maybe it was a stray line in the girl’s face. It was hard to know why her feeling was there. While Aida said nothing about it, her face depicted her inner struggle and confusion crystal-clear.
“Dee… Good morning.” Blinking hard twice, Aida of course could not hold in her questions. “Why are you here? At the lake...” Frequently coming to procure fresh fish, Aida was used to observing the comings and goings of people to the lakeside. She hadn’t seen Dealla here before since Aida had started her new routine.
@Dealla Prince
18 Oct 2020, 09:54
Opacity
| - |  By SK | - |
When a body plopped down on the grass next to her, Dee turned her head to the side to face the newcomer with all the mental presence of a sleepwalker. She hadn't actually been thinking actively, it had been more a staring into nothing, her thoughts drifting lazily, curling towards and then shying away from the two objects in her pocket. Either way, she'd been too preoccupied to notice the rapid approach of her white-haired friend. Aida only swam into focus when she blinked, once slowly, then another time, her gaze which had been far away clearing up.
At the sight of her friend, her lips curved up into an automatic smile, although it lacked a bit of her usual spirit, her sparkling brilliance. It wasn't dim, by any means, but it was a little... off. Just a trace too wide, maybe, her eyes not bright enough. It wasn't an intentional reaction, but still an honest one: She was always happy to see Aida. And still... right at that moment, she'd tried to get away from her friends. She needed time to get her bearings, to put the letter and present in a box at the back of her mind, the way she'd done with the first letter, too. Aida wasn't as bad as Ileen, maybe, but she was a hell of a lot more observant than Dee felt comfortable with at the moment. She didn't want to talk about it, because talking about it would force her to think about it, and she wasn't ready.
So she'd have to make sure that Aida didn't notice anything. She'd managed to forget the letter in spring, she'd do the same thing again.
"Aida! Good morning," she greeted back, her smile deepening, trying to hide how off-balance she felt. "I just... wasn't feeling the Great Hall this morning, I guess. Not hungry. And the weather's nice." It was, arguably. While there was a thick cover of clouds hanging on the sky, hiding the blue, the sun managed to break through every once in a while, pouring its light over the castle and grounds. Those moments were the pretty ones.
"How about you?" Dee had of course noticed that Aida hadn't been in the Great Hall during meal times for a long while, although it had taken her a bit to notice, since Aida got up so much earlier than Dee ever would, voluntarily. It had also been hard to ignore how Aida had gotten thinner and thinner at the end of the last school year, although she seemed to be doing better now. Did it make her a bad friend that she hadn't done anything, not even inquired about it, Dee wondered?
@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
2 Nov 2020, 06:01
Opacity
Dealla smiled upon seeing Aida, but the brunette's smile lacked the brilliance and spirit it usually had. Aida, for her part, was an extremely perceptive child and noticed the change right away. Even after greeting Aida, when Dealla’s smile grew deeper, it seemed off. It was a bit too much. It reminded her of those smiles she had seen on Alexander lately. Overemphatic, fake, hiding something. In combination with the other information Aida had passively gathered, Dee’s having skipped breakfast and suddenly showing up at the lake, Aida concluded that something unpleasant or somehow troubling must be on her friend’s mind. However, Dealla was already turning the conversation back on Aida.
"How about you?" asked Dealla.
“I’m always here in the morning it’s just… I’m a bit later than usual since… I guess I slept in. I was worrying again. I can’t believe I got up so late...” prattled Aida as half of her brain was already occupied with trying to come up with what might be bothering Dealla. Had the house elves poisoned her and stolen her memories? Did her parents suddenly think she was dead? Was she beginning to have hallucinations, too? No, no, those things all seemed far too implausible. Probably.
“Something… Is something bothering you, Dee? You seem… different,” observed Aida in her typical blunt fashion.
"How about you?" asked Dealla.
“I’m always here in the morning it’s just… I’m a bit later than usual since… I guess I slept in. I was worrying again. I can’t believe I got up so late...” prattled Aida as half of her brain was already occupied with trying to come up with what might be bothering Dealla. Had the house elves poisoned her and stolen her memories? Did her parents suddenly think she was dead? Was she beginning to have hallucinations, too? No, no, those things all seemed far too implausible. Probably.
“Something… Is something bothering you, Dee? You seem… different,” observed Aida in her typical blunt fashion.
@Dealla Prince
4 Nov 2020, 23:03
Opacity
| - | By SK | - |
Dee snorted slightly, leaning back onto her hands at Aida's words. "Between you and Ileen, I think I have a talent for befriending early birds," she said, shaking her head in disbelief. This was good, this was easier - directing the conversation away from herself would also keep her thoughts away from what was bothering her. "How is this late? Weekends are meant to sleep in." But the slight smile on her face, the corners of her mouth curving faintly upwards, showed she was only teasing. "But why are you here? Oversleeping aside, I mean."
But of course, Aida didn't make it that easy for her, and for the first time, Dee cursed herself for having friends this intuitive and observant. It was usually rather convenient and sometimes pretty funny that her friends could read her like an open book, but... not this time. Not now.
Her body had tensed, muscles readied as if in preparation for a fight-or-flight reaction. Her hand twitched towards the pocket containing the letter in an involuntary gesture, but she quickly moved it to her shoulder instead, pressing her fingers into the tight muscles there. "No, I'm..." she started, but then broke off. Skirting the truth was one thing, but if there was one person she didn't want to lie to, it was Aida. Aida, who had been hurt so much by the deceit of humans, and valued animals for their honesty. She didn't want to risk losing her trust, so she slightly changed course.
"I'll be fine," she corrected herself, her shoulders slumping slightly and the smile slipping on her face, turning into a slight grimace. "It's nothing... bad." It wasn't - was it? She didn't know, she hadn't read the letter. Was her grandparents contacting her a bad thing, in and by itself? Different from half a year ago, Dee wasn't sure she knew the answer to that question. "Just got a lot on my mind." Her smile returned, but it was a little pleading, hoping that Aida would recognize by herself that Dee didn't want to be pushed in that direction - wouldn't be pushed in that direction.
@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
15 Nov 2020, 06:09
Opacity
It seemed to Aida that Dealla did not want to talk about whatever was bothering her. Though the albino usually asked more questions than most people were comfortable with, once a question of hers met with resistance Aida usually backed off. She understood what it was like for something to need space and was eager to respect that of her friends’.
“Okay, well if you want to talk about it I’m here for you,” offered Aida, a small tinge of sadness to her voice. The girl could not seem to break free from being useless to whom she cared for, or at least, that was how she saw it.
“Why am I here?” repeated Aida, blinking. She had thought it was common knowledge what she was doing at the lake so regularly since she thought she was perfectly visible, but then, she had not actually explained it to Dealla and there was no reason the other girl would have known. “Ah, well, I have… a fishing pole. I fish here,” stuttered the pale girl, not sure how to explain the rather awkward situation of her nearly starving over the summer, the house elf incident, the entanglements of Alexander’s stolen memories, and her heartfelt promise. “You know, it’s good food,” said Aida, poorly mimicking Dealla’s tone. Aida was terrible at hiding anything, so everything she thought or felt could usually be read on her face as clear as day. In this case, her tone made it clear that her problems, too, were complicated... and that furthermore she didn’t assume Dealla would care to hear the details of such a ridiculous and quite possibly unintelligible account of the year’s events.
“If you like fish I can fry one for you sometime," offered Aida with a broken smile.
“Okay, well if you want to talk about it I’m here for you,” offered Aida, a small tinge of sadness to her voice. The girl could not seem to break free from being useless to whom she cared for, or at least, that was how she saw it.
“Why am I here?” repeated Aida, blinking. She had thought it was common knowledge what she was doing at the lake so regularly since she thought she was perfectly visible, but then, she had not actually explained it to Dealla and there was no reason the other girl would have known. “Ah, well, I have… a fishing pole. I fish here,” stuttered the pale girl, not sure how to explain the rather awkward situation of her nearly starving over the summer, the house elf incident, the entanglements of Alexander’s stolen memories, and her heartfelt promise. “You know, it’s good food,” said Aida, poorly mimicking Dealla’s tone. Aida was terrible at hiding anything, so everything she thought or felt could usually be read on her face as clear as day. In this case, her tone made it clear that her problems, too, were complicated... and that furthermore she didn’t assume Dealla would care to hear the details of such a ridiculous and quite possibly unintelligible account of the year’s events.
“If you like fish I can fry one for you sometime," offered Aida with a broken smile.
@Dealla Prince
2 Dec 2020, 22:20
Opacity
| - | By SK | - |
Dee latched onto the change in topic in relief, happily grasping onto any straws that would lead the conversation away from her, her problems, and most importantly, the objects hidden in the pocket of her hoodie.
"Oh?" she asked, brightening up slightly, her hand slipping from her shoulder as the tension in her muscles lessened. "Is that why you don't eat in the great hall anymore? I don't remember seeing you there at all this year. So you just... eat fish?" The brunette Ravenclaw eyed her pale friend curiously. "Where did you get the fishing pole?" She smiled slightly, the most genuine smile she'd mustered in this conversation. "Does the squid not complain that you keep stealing its food?"
It was a little funny how her mind latched onto this new information, this hint of a mystery, flooding Aida with questions. Sure, she might have found this interesting under normal circumstances, too, might have asked the same questions in time, but not with such single-mindedness.
"How do you fry them?" she continued, eyes alight with curiosity. "And sure, I'd love to try one of your fish. I guess." She frowned a little. "But why do you catch your own food?" It seemed odd to her, that Aida would insist on catching her own fish, when the house-elves had meals readily available for them, which were likely much better than what Aida could muster out here with the minimal ingredients and facilities she had.
Slowing down a little, Dee noticed she'd be prodding, digging, while at the same time she'd been grateful that Aida hadn't done the same to her, had just let it go. "If... if you want to tell me," she added, a little awkwardly. "You don't have to."
She paused for a second, a quiet 'Thank you' on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed it down, unwilling to bring the attention back to herself. Surely... surely Aida didn't mind. She probably knew, anyway.
@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
4 Jan 2021, 23:39
Opacity
Interacting with @Dealla Prince
Mentioning @Alexander Varellion @Ileen Knight
“Mm. Now I only go to the Great Hall for assemblies. It’s probably better for Scheherazade anyway since then she doesn’t have to go inside for mail deliveries. She’s a bit of a claustrophobe, you know? But yeah, I mainly eat what I make out here. I take from the local vegetable gardens and fruit orchards, and sometimes I get rabbits from there too… but fish are the most reliable way.” Aida laughed shyly and half-heartedly. ”I figured everyone knew about my weird habits through the rumor mill...” Then, at Dealla’s next question Aida seemed to perk up a little. Her long white hair flew back as she dashed over to a nearby tree and scooped out of its crown what at first appeared to be a branch, but then when brought close to Dee, was indeed a long fishing pole. ”I made it! I learned how to make a lot of things out on the ranch.” Aida seemed slightly happy again, much as Dealla had looked happier at the change of subject.
”I’ve never met the squid… I really wish I could one day. I bet it’s magnificent… It seems to be tolerating me well enough, or perhaps I am frightening...” said the white witch, thinking about a particular deer that frequents the lakeside but never gets too close to the girl. ”I cook the fish in a cast iron pan Tòry gave me last summer. He said I was looking too skinny… Anyway, you can see my firepit over there!” chirped Aida, gesturing at a patch of ash and charcoal rimmed with a small stone circle.
"But why do you catch your own food? If... if you want to tell me. You don't have to," pressed Dealla gently. From Dee’s reticence Aida could tell she was asking for a real answer. Looking up at the tree tops Aida thought back about all the fake words and smiles she had seen Alexander give others over the last several months. Yet, though Aida could smell when someone was lying, she just didn’t have it in her to avoid a direct question, especially from a friend.
”I... lost a memory. How do I say this… I think the house elves are tainting the food at Hogwarts. I think they’re causing people to lose their memory of short, or even long, periods of time. I don’t know what is really going on, but they don’t want us to know something. Maybe they feel they’re protecting us, but I don’t want to be protected from the truth. Besides, I promised I would remember...” said Aida quietly. ”So, I can’t eat food at Hogwarts anymore. I have to keep my promise. During the summer I ended up not eating much at all, but… Ileen showed me another way to keep my promise. I don’t have an excuse. I know how to get food from the land. Now I will make sure to remember. Someone has to watch out for what is going on.”
Just then Aida seemed to realize that she had revealed something major to Dealla that was much larger than Aida the girl. Whatever the house elves were trying to shelter people from, Aida would not support their deception. ”You’re strong. I should have told you this long ago,” she finished, violet eyes downcast with remorse. ”… Please know, I do want to look out for you.”
Last edited by Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood on 14 Jan 2021, 01:32, edited 1 time in total.
13 Jan 2021, 21:54
Opacity
| - | By SK | - |
Dee blinked through Aida's explanations, trying to keep up. Scheherazade... right! Aida's owl. Where had her attention been lately? How hadn't she noticed any of it? She really was terribly self-absorbed sometimes, wasn't she? "A vegetable garden?" she asked, dazed, then winced at the notion of killing rabbits. Like many people, Dee was completely comfortable eating meat - as long as she didn't have to hunt and kill it herself. Or... even see it before it ended up on her plate. Aida was... less bothered by that, apparently. More sincere, in a way. It fit her, Dee had to admit after taking a second to think about it. The white witch was braver than her in many ways.
"I don't pay much attention to rumours," she admitted, shrugging. "Most of it is just gossip, anyway, why waste my time with that?" Truth be told, Dee was almost notoriously out of the loop concerning gossip. Experience showed that she didn't even recognise many of the school's most famous or infamous faces if they hadn't personally introduced herself to her, and especially if the rumours were about her friends, she wouldn't bother listening to them. But Aida seemed more cheerful with the change of topic towards cooking her self-provided food, and her enthusiasm made Dee smile. It was a welcome distraction, if nothing else.
Following Aida's gesture towards the small firepit, she grinned. "Oh, you should definitely cook for me some time, then. I love campfires, we used to sometimes have them in our garden in summer."
But the smile faded from her face as she listened to Aida's explanations. It sounded... far-fetched if she was honest, but... this was Aida. Aida was probably the most honest person she knew, so... What if? It seemed hard to believe, and yet she couldn't not believe Aida. Dee hesitated, a small frown forming on her face as she considered Aida's words. She hadn't noticed anything odd, about the food or otherwise, but... if it erased her memories, would she have? She'd like to think that the answer to that was yes, but could she be sure? "How did you notice this?" she asked slowly, searching Aida's face. "Who knows this... What is going on?"
There was more in Aida's words, talk of promises and Ileen and it had Dee wondering. If Ileen knew about all of this, why hadn't she told her? Ileen was still around the Great Hall, eating her meals there. So she wasn't concerned like Aida was?
"How long has this been going on? You didn't eat during summer, so before that?"
@Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood
"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
16 Jan 2021, 07:51
Opacity
"How did you notice this?… Who knows this... How long has this been going on?" asked Dealla, searching. Aida always appreciated how inquisitive Dee was. It was a rare occurrence for someone to fire off as many questions as Aida was prone to, and for Dealla to match her at that made Aida feel less strange and out of place. In a way, that was one of the things about Dee that made Aida feel companionship from her while Aida usually felt alone in a room full of other people. Trying to put together the still-incomplete puzzle for her friend as Aida spoke made her explanation jarring and awkward, but she had to try.
“I was quite sick… Nauseated… but somehow I found myself inside the Hogwarts kitchens. There were gaps in time, and this feeling of lost time made me queasy. We had been there before, and the elves were controlling us. They accidentally slipped out that information even though they had been trying to hide what was going on. They drugged Celynne. She forgot our names– ours– Alexander was there too. He…” Aida halted. She didn’t want to say anything about Alexander that he didn’t want made public. Though Aida was repulsed by the idea of manipulating information, especially by lying, she understood that the Slytherin boy relied upon such abilities. The last thing Aida wanted was to say something now that would jeopardize his mission to get his memories back. Taking a deep breath, Aida started up again.
“They wiped our memories, the house elves, using drugs. This could have happened repeatedly. I want to reclaim my lost memories, and those of others. I want to know what’s going on. In order to always remember and to not allow them to hide the truth, I stopped eating the prepared food at Hogwarts. As you can see, Celynne, Alexander, and I all experienced this in early May of last year. I told Ileen during the summer. She saved me...” Aida’s eyes shone brilliantly in an errant fleck of sunlight. “I’m sorry, I should have told you sooner. I just… have been having some problems and it has taken me a while to get my head on straight.” With a smile Aida tried to reassure Dealla in the face of having just revealed such dark secrets.
“If you have problems, I want you to be able to talk to me about them too… even if I’ve been a bad friend in staying quiet so long. I want you to know I want to hear about anything that’s bothering you, if I can even help by just listening...” sighed Aida. How could she expect Dealla to open up when she herself hadn’t done so?
“I was quite sick… Nauseated… but somehow I found myself inside the Hogwarts kitchens. There were gaps in time, and this feeling of lost time made me queasy. We had been there before, and the elves were controlling us. They accidentally slipped out that information even though they had been trying to hide what was going on. They drugged Celynne. She forgot our names– ours– Alexander was there too. He…” Aida halted. She didn’t want to say anything about Alexander that he didn’t want made public. Though Aida was repulsed by the idea of manipulating information, especially by lying, she understood that the Slytherin boy relied upon such abilities. The last thing Aida wanted was to say something now that would jeopardize his mission to get his memories back. Taking a deep breath, Aida started up again.
“They wiped our memories, the house elves, using drugs. This could have happened repeatedly. I want to reclaim my lost memories, and those of others. I want to know what’s going on. In order to always remember and to not allow them to hide the truth, I stopped eating the prepared food at Hogwarts. As you can see, Celynne, Alexander, and I all experienced this in early May of last year. I told Ileen during the summer. She saved me...” Aida’s eyes shone brilliantly in an errant fleck of sunlight. “I’m sorry, I should have told you sooner. I just… have been having some problems and it has taken me a while to get my head on straight.” With a smile Aida tried to reassure Dealla in the face of having just revealed such dark secrets.
“If you have problems, I want you to be able to talk to me about them too… even if I’ve been a bad friend in staying quiet so long. I want you to know I want to hear about anything that’s bothering you, if I can even help by just listening...” sighed Aida. How could she expect Dealla to open up when she herself hadn’t done so?
@Dealla Prince