21 Jun 2022, 04:10
Running to Nowhere
Seren ran, headlong, down the corridors and up staircases, away from the Spring Ball. There were tears running down the face of the girl, and she looked pale and upset. The long skirt of her dress flared out behind her as she ran, the front edge flapping softly against her ankles. Her expression was one of distress, and it was very clear she was not paying enough attention to where she was running, because she barely glanced at the various corridors she passed, just turning every so often, or go up the next staircase she encountered.
Finally, however, she ran out of energy and started to slow, then eventually she basically stopped and half-collapsed onto the edge of a window, sobbing softly. Even as she cried, she looked around and realized she was nowhere near Ravenclaw Tower, which had been where she had intended to go. She gave a soft gulp, trying to figure out where she had ended up instead.
None of the portraits she was looking at were familiar, and she bit her lip, eyes filled with sincere worry.
"Where... Am I?" The words were softly spoken, in a voice that trembled with her fear and worries about the way this whole day had gone. However, soft as they might have been, the words echoed more than she intended, and the sound of that echo caused the slender girl to jump and almost fall of the ledge she was leaning on. She barely caught herself, then righted herself fully, while trying to mentally map where she had run, but realizing she did not remember what turns and twists she had taken. "Oh... Oh no. How... will I get back?"
Reducio
WC: 280
@Geoffery Donovan
@Geoffery Donovan
Last edited by Opeila Winters on 21 Jun 2022, 12:31, edited 1 time in total.
Lovely Creature | Metamorphmagus | Sta: 2 | Ev: 9 | Str: 1 | Wis: 10 | Arc: 8 | Acc: 5
22 Jun 2022, 06:13
Running to Nowhere
|
|
|
It was rather unlike him, passing up on a party. On any normal day he'd have given any excuse to go to one but today he just felt...off. And there was nothing much to say about today aside from the planned festivities. Hogwarts had been abuzz with all the planning and decorating for what felt like weeks to him now, yet through it all he'd felt particularly blasé for reasons unbeknownst to even him. It'd gotten bad enough that he even mentioned it in a recent letter home in hopes that they could maybe enlighten him, maybe even encourage him. To his annoyance, their response (which came just that morning) did just the opposite. They expressed some confusion and lots of concern but, as least as far as he could tell, little else. So he set it aside with a promise to reply when he was in a better mood so he could sincerely thank them for at least trying, and opted to spend the rest of the day meandering about the castle.
Away from the Midspring Celebration.
Still, massive as it was he could still really only go in circles. Left to his own thoughts since morning, he'd made little progress in improving his mood on this extended walk. If anything, much like the letter from home, it seemed to only worsen his mood. Not sour, per se, but...just...
Blah.
"I don't think I've ever felt 'blah' before," he said, crinkling his nose a bit as he turned a corner. "Could that even be considered a feeling?"
The corridor ahead carried faint echoes of the party just beyond, which brought him slowly to a stop.
He listened quietly, allowing himself to wonder about it all—the food, the games, how everyone looked in their dress robes. For the briefest of moments he felt a tug toward it, a flicker of his usual, outgoing self that he quickly put out. Instead he sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets, turned and headed back the way he came.
On he walked, aimlessly through Hogwarts castle until his thoughts mercifully idled as he stopped to look at the view of the grounds from a nearby window. The sun was just setting, casting its usual shades of oranges, purples and pinks against a darkening blue sky as it dipped below the hills beyond. For the first time in what felt like days, the corners of his lips turned up into the smallest of smiles.
But the sounds of footsteps and sobbing wiped it off his face. Annoyance came first, though was immediately squashed by guilt for feeling it at all, then worry and concern. He kept his eyes on the sunset, the view now quite sorrowful despite it's beauty, the background sounds of a young girl crying the cause for the sudden, drastic change in mood. When the crying faded and she finally spoke, he chanced a glance toward her and, to his surprise, recognized who it was.
"To the party?"
[ WC · 509 ]
@Seren Yong
Sta · 7 | Eva · 7 | Str · 5 | Wis · 5 | Arc · 5 | Acc · 6
Blindvision
Blindvision
22 Jun 2022, 06:35
Running to Nowhere
Seren jumped to her feet, startled, and turned to face the speaker. She had not realized she was no longer alone until he had spoken, and her blue eyes were huge in her pale face. There was a long moment where the girl was just frozen and then she... Visibly relaxed, because she realized she knew who was speaking and did not feel threatened, which was honestly exactly what the poor girl needed in that moment.
Someone she trusted, someone she had never felt would hurt her, someone who had been kind to her in every interaction.
She licked her lips shyly, despite that, because she really would have preferred that no one would see her like this, upset and with tears dripping gently down her face. But it was what it was, and at least with him there, there was a decent chance that she would be able to ask him to help her find her way back. His question, however, still hung in the air, a soft reminder of how rude she was being by just staring.
"I... Oh no, no I do not wish to go back to that... party." She almost spit that last word, though not in a way aimed at him. It was just fairly clear that whatever was going on, the party had something to do with it. "No, I meant back to places I know. I..." She blushed, embarrassed at having to admit how she had gotten herself lost. "I was very upset as I was heading this way, and I accidentally got myself lost."
She looked down at her feet, shuffling them softly. "I... Would you help me find my way back to somewhere that we all would know?"
She was openly silent about why she was (still) crying, in a vague and probably foolish hope that he would not ask what had happened.
Reducio
WC: 313
@Geoffery Donovan
@Geoffery Donovan
Lovely Creature | Metamorphmagus | Sta: 2 | Ev: 9 | Str: 1 | Wis: 10 | Arc: 8 | Acc: 5