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Post by Karstiana on Nov 19, 2007 22:32:49 GMT -6
A dozen pictures lay spread out on Avis Vincent’s bed. Each was different except for two things. Each was a picture of his younger sister, Lark, smiling for the camera. Each was also a missing person’s report. Some were in places where Muggles could see them. Some were in places where only witches and warlock would read it. It had been four years since she had disappeared, four years of torture from not knowing and almost endless study trying to learn what he might to find her. Today was to be a strange pause in his usual routine.
He picked up the pictures one by one, letting himself linger only few seconds to look at only one picture. It had been Lark’s birthday, her thirteenth, a seeming eternity ago. He opened up his trunk with a flick of his hand and placed the pictures carefully in the chest. He sighed and closed the chest, this time with his hand.
He walked over to a mirror and adjusted the tie he was wearing. He tugged and pulled and took it off. He didn’t like ties much and saw no reason to wear one now. He picked up a mask from the dresser. A masquerade was a unique experience for the time it took he would try to keep Lark in the background. He would try to have fun, something he hadn’t done much in the four years since he lost his sister. Lark would have hit him over the head, but Lark wasn’t there.
Holding the mask loosely in his hand, Avis walked over to the door. He opened it and walked down the stairs into the Ravenclaw common room. A few of the younger students were still in the room. One girl was sitting at the fireplace warming her hands. Two boys not much younger than him were talking by the window. When you were a tenth year, just about everyone was younger than you. Even one of the teachers was younger than him. It amused him, but hardly anything he cared about one way or the other.
He left the room and waited for the stairs. Though the way the stairs moved was still strange, it was no longer a novelty to him. So as he had for nearly ten years, he waited for the stairs. Once they arrived he stepped onto them and climbed down. As he walked toward the next floor he contemplated the five floors below him. He could make out the people wearing robes walking, some running around. Others, he could tell, were dressed up in something much more fine.
A few minutes later found him at the bottom of the stairs, little knowing nor carrying what had transpired to get him there. He said hello to people as he passed them, startling the few who recognized him, the action was so uncharacteristic.
Avis left the building and walked down the path. There were fewer people along the path, but given another twenty minutes or so, he imaged the path would be full. He reached the gates. There were carriages lined up waiting to take students to the masquerade. None of them had anyone in them. Like the outside path, they would soon fill up.
Ignoring the carriages, Avis focused on the building and pushed open the door. Inside were a few scattered people. He put up his mask and offered to help with what remained of set up.
As time went on the room became more and more full. He talked to a few people, but despite his resolution Lark was, as always, heavy on his mind. He walked over to the refreshment table to get a drink, wishing for a distraction.
[[Admin Edit: 2 galleons given by Gin.]]
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Post by Gin on Nov 23, 2007 19:29:24 GMT -6
Erin had, much to her amazement and disappointment, told Remy good-bye for the night after only two hours. Her head hurt and she wasn't quite sure why. It may have been all those spins and turns he had led her into while they had danced or maybe it was God's way of punishing her for abandoning her diet for one little bite of pleasure of a decorated sugar cookie. It had been so wonderful though.
She abandoned her position at Remy's side, heading back over to the drinks in hope that the warm cider a few adults were setting out would help her head. There was already a long line for the liquid and her head was pounding. Just as she stepped into the line, just ahead of an annoyed looking Slytherin, the band started back up, choosing, for the first time that night, to play something loud and upbeat. Erin clutched at her head, cupping her white hands around her ears and moaning quietly for a minute. Her eyes closed to the pain but opened second later, searching out for the front of the line. If she could just get up there, if the line would just move... But her eyes caught something even better. There was a boy a few feet over by the cookies, his hand wrapped around a cup with warm mist swirling out of the top.
It was all she could do to step over to him and tear the cup from his hand. Before he even had a chance to object to a girl swiping his drink, she tilted back her head and poured it down her throat. The cider was burning and yet it felt better than the pounding in her head. The liquid was a quarter gone when she sighed and lowered the cup from her lips. Erin closed her eyes slowly, savoring the haunty peace coming over her. The warmth had calmed the pain, easing it just enough for her to look up at the person she had stolen her cure from. He was about a half foot taller than her with short black hair. She gave him a sheepish smile and held the cup back out to him.
"Sorry," she said quietly, still trying to keep from making loud noises and ignoring the noise around her. "My head was hurting and I just couldn't wait in line." With her mask still sitting alone on a table by Remy, she face this boy with red cheeks and just a red face in general.
[[Edit: 1 galleon given by The Galleon Mistress]]
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Post by Karstiana on Nov 24, 2007 19:42:06 GMT -6
Avis watched in silence as the line formed at the table a few feet away. The girl serving drinks watched him bewildered. She seemed to think he was taking up valuable space or something. Avis supposed he didn’t blame her. He wasn’t much to talk to these days. He just wanted to find Lark.
He sipped his drink, warm mist tickling his nose. He brought his hand down savoring the taste in his throat. Then, the cup wasn’t there. He looked up and watched in amazement as some girl took his drink and most of it down her throat. What was she thinking? And who was she anyway?
Her eyes were closed as she seemed to savor the drink as he had only moments before. He studied her wearily. Her hair was somewhat short, not quite to her shoulders, blonde. She was shorter than him, but then he was over six foot and most girls where not. She also was missing her mask. He still had his on, but her lack of one didn’t give him a clue as to her identity. He didn’t really remember many students any more and few people talk to him . . . his own fault. She opened her eyes and he raised one dark eyebrow at her. She seemed to give him a once over, as if assessing him and then she offered him a sheepish smile. She handed back his drink, what was left of it anyway. Didn’t she know it was bad manners to just take someone else’ drink?
"Sorry. My head was hurting and I just couldn't wait in line." Well, at least she apologized. She must have been awful desperate for a drink if she couldn’t wait in line. Her face turned red as she watched him. “Are you all right?”
He wondered who she was. Should he ask? Or would she like most people disappear rather than continue a conversation with him? It wasn’t that he wanted to avoid human contact, it’s just he had a hard time relating to them any more and most people didn’t want to stick around to find out why.
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Post by Gin on Dec 27, 2007 1:08:17 GMT -6
With a single eyebrow raised on his handsome face, Erin blushed and knew he would want recompensation for the drink she had just taken. She sighed, resigned to waiting in line anyway. When he only asked if she was alright, she was shocked. Erin could only blink, her blue eyes roving up to look into his darker ones. there was nothing there to alert her except obvious sorrow.
"Yea-no... No, actually... My head is still throbbing but I can't hear the pounding now. So it's a little better," she whispered, trying to keep her pain under control. Erin dipped her head down again when a single stab of pain cursed through her forehead. Her hand cupped her forehead but her eyes tilted back up to the boy.
"What's wrong with you. You look as bad as I feel."
Erin was blunt, to the point. There was no sense beating around the bush and not saying what you want to say. It had always been her family's philosphy. But, then again, when you had 16 people living in the same house, you didn't want everyone going around assuming what the others were thinking or saying, you wanted to know for sure. Erin had dutifully carried this ideal right into Hogwarts when she told Denis Renolds where to go for dumping her at-the-time best friend after one date.
The Gryffindor's head throbbed again and she took a seat; Not at a table or a chair as one would typically expect. No. Erin was in no way typical. She folded her legs beneath her and sank to the floor, leaning against the side of Avis's leg. She tilted her head back into his leg to look up at him with a smile halfway between sympathetic and "I'm fine, really."
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Post by Karstiana on Jan 7, 2008 19:00:47 GMT -6
Avis noticed that the girl looked surprised when he asked if she was all right. It seemed the normal thing to say under the circumstances. Most people didn’t just take drinks from people. And she had said her head was hurting.
"Yea-no... No, actually... My head is still throbbing but I can't hear the pounding now. So it's a little better." As soon as she whispered this, probably whispering to help ward off the pain, she seemed to have pain running through her. She put a hand to her forehead as she looked back up at him. “That doesn’t sound like much of an improvement,” he said in his own whisper just in case whispering helped. He didn’t want to cause anyone pain. There was enough of that going on without him adding to it.
"What's wrong with you. You look as bad as I feel." Now, there was a question. Should he answer? Did she really want to know? He decided the only way to find out was to answer. “It’s my sister, Lark. She disappeared four years ago, and we never did find out what happened to her. I’ve tried so hard to find her, to find anything that might give me a clue, but there’s nothing. I think about her most of the time, too much of the time some people say, if they notice at all.”
That was when the girl slid down his leg to slump on the floor, leaning him, probably so she wouldn’t fall completely onto the floor. She looked up at him with a look that was probably trying to reassure him, but did little of that. He stooped down so that he could get her up. “Come on, we are getting you into a chair.” He glanced over at the girl handing out the drinks to the people in line. “She already seems to think I’m taking up too much space.” A partial smile formed on his lips for just a second before resuming his normal dour expression.
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Post by Gin on Feb 4, 2008 20:14:01 GMT -6
Erin was trying to focus on Avis but the purple dots blocking her eyes were doing their best to turn her attention else where. He was saying something but she only caught snipits.
“... my... Lark... disappeared... we... I’ve tried... hard... anything... me a clue... nothing... think about her... too much... say... notice.”
She blinked, just staring at him. She opened her mouth but her tongue refused to mold the words. She settled for just mumbling something like "Mrry." But then he was kneeling down. Erin tipped back slightly but steadied herself against his bent knee.
"Don't do that..." she mumbled just as his voice filled her own ears.
“--getting you into a chair. She already seems to think I’m taking up too much space.”
"She who?" Erin asked, glancing around. Her head fell back on his lap and she looked up at his chin. "I see a he, not a she."
And then she shook her head and lifted it from Avis's lap so she might attempt to stand up. She grunted as she tried it, stumbling against a table in front of her. The music was playing, a quick pop song. Erin grumbled and pulled herself up on top of the table. A blonde about her age walked past and stopped, giving Erin a dirty look.
"Well, bugger off then. Don't you judge me." She growled at the girl. The blonde huffed and stomped off to a perfectly tan, blonde boy standing in the line.
"You see that?" she whispered to Avis. "They always do that. Judge people they don't know."
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Post by Karstiana on Mar 14, 2008 19:17:30 GMT -6
“Mrry.” Avis was getting really worried about this girl. She leaned against his knee. "Don't do that..." Do what? Had he done something to offend her? He did that sometimes, not on purpose, but sometimes he just didn’t know how to handle a situation.
"She who?" The girl was lucid enough to complete a sentence, Avis thought slightly relieved, though not by much. Then, her head fell into his lap looked up at him, his face turning bright red as she did.
"I see a he, not a she." Apparently she saw, what, only him? “I was talking about the girl at the refreshment table,” he mumbled. “How are you feeling?”
She tried to stand, answering his question as she stumbled. He stood quickly, moving to get her help. He felt a smile tug at his lips when she climbed onto the table. Odd thing to do, and he didn’t know if she would normally do that, or if it was a result of whatever was causing her to feel so bad.
A blonde walked past them and gave the girl a dirty look. He glared at her. Impolite and rude girl. Couldn’t she see that the girl was in pain and needed help not rude looks.
"Well, bugger off then. Don't you judge me." He made a face as the blonde joined and blond boy in the refreshment line. “Bore,” Avis muttered under his breath.
"You see that?" The girl whispered, bringing a nod from him. "They always do that. Judge people they don't know." He nodded, again. “People like that rarely learn.” He looked at her up on the table. “Come on, I don’t think you are suppose to be on the table, huh?” He grinned a little as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her over to a plush chair.
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