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Post by arianna on Apr 25, 2006 23:33:20 GMT -5
{Occurs the night after the murder}
Three showers. That was how many Arianna had taken today. One to get herself clean of the dust and cobwebs she had brought back from the shack, another after dinner just because it helped her feel better, and now another to keep awake. Even though she was exhausted and it was past midnight, Arianna was trying to stay awake. Anytime she dozed, the girl would have a nightmare and wake up in a sweat. After doing that three times already, she felt it was best if she didn't sleep at all.
With her hair still wet, her blue blanket with the dragon embroidered on the front, Goober on one shoulder, and Juniper in her arms, Arianna settled into the comfiest chair near the fireplace, drawing in her little notepad. All she was missing at the moment was Parsnip, but the little owl was on her way home to deliver a message to the girl's parents. Snip would be back soon, though, and Arianna would have another pet to comfort her.
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Kellen McCrea
Wizard
Healer-In-Training
Hey. Don't lose your spirit.
Posts: 152
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Post by Kellen McCrea on Apr 27, 2006 2:12:58 GMT -5
Kellen walked softly down the stairs from his dormitory into the common room. He felt like he should have been exhausted, but he didn't feel tired at all. Besides, he could usually get by on five hours of sleep or less with no ill effects.
What he didn't expect was to see another figure in the common room. Sure, it was pretty common to see and Eagle or two up at any time of night, studying or just being their usual oddball self. But this day--this day had been different. He'd imagined everyone would be exhausted, trying to sleep to forget about what had happened. Apparently, he'd been wrong.
"Ari?" he asked softly as he approached the figure. "Hey, what are you doing up? It's late, shouldn't you be sleeping?" He was worried about her. He didn't have all the details, of course, but he'd heard enough to know that she'd had a rough day, to say the least.
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Post by arianna on Apr 28, 2006 1:19:33 GMT -5
Arianna jumped slightly, not expecting anyone to be up. She had dozed a bit and was on the verge of another nightmare full of angry voices and that body, the body of a teacher whom she had known from classes and only since returning from break, lying there motionless, knowing the woman would never teach another Runes class again. Fortunately, Kellen's arrival in the common room had stopped her from approaching another dream.
"I'm okay," the girl replied, shaking her head slightly. She turned her head to the boy and offered a small smile to show that she was, indeed, perfectly fine. It might have done the trick any other day, but tonight the poor girl looked terribly exhausted and scared, as though at any moment the same fate that befailed their teacher might come upon her soon enough.
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Kellen McCrea
Wizard
Healer-In-Training
Hey. Don't lose your spirit.
Posts: 152
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Post by Kellen McCrea on Apr 28, 2006 1:29:56 GMT -5
Kellen raised an eyebrow skeptically. "No, you're not," he said gently. "You don't have to pretend for my sake, you know. Or for yours." He took a deep breath and sat down in the chair across from her, ang glanced at the fireplace, momentarily entranced by the flames.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
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Post by arianna on Apr 28, 2006 2:07:08 GMT -5
"No," Arianna replied immediately. Though it might be best if she did, Arianna certainly did not want to discuss the day's events. She felt she had done enough and wished again that it would all go away.
Falling into silence, Arianna scribbled away on her pad of paper, letting herself get carried away in picture that was forming. Though dead bodies flashed behind her eyes every so often, they had not found their way onto the paper. The people upon it had looks of soberness about them, but it whether it was the result of a death or something else was not known.
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Kellen McCrea
Wizard
Healer-In-Training
Hey. Don't lose your spirit.
Posts: 152
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Post by Kellen McCrea on Apr 28, 2006 2:15:45 GMT -5
"Okay," Kellen said simply as she turned down his offer. He hadn't really expected her to say yes. He lapsed into silence as well. He wasn't one to talk just for the sake of breaking the silence, and besides, it felt like silence was the best thing for the moment.
He shifted in his chair until he found the most comfortable position to watch the fire for a while. Sure, he wasn't talking, but he felt like it would be better for Ari not to be alone, especially if she decided she did need to talk after all.
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Post by arianna on Apr 28, 2006 11:48:29 GMT -5
The silence was good. For a little while, anyway. If anyone new Arianna, they would know that she coudn't stand silence for very long. Unless she was extremely pissed at something, but even in that condition she didn't play the not-talking game for very long.
"So....what are you doing up?" the girl finally asked, pausing in her drawing for a bit. She had though everyone would be asleep and hadn't expected anyone to be down here at this time of night.
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Kellen McCrea
Wizard
Healer-In-Training
Hey. Don't lose your spirit.
Posts: 152
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Post by Kellen McCrea on Apr 28, 2006 23:21:28 GMT -5
Kellen looked away from the fire and back at Ari. He glanced breifly at the drawing she'd been working on, but only for a moment. "I couldn't sleep," he said with a small shrug. "You know, there's just so much going on, and with today..." He paused, and looked down. He probably wasn't the best one to talk about 'today'...he'd never even spoken to their late Ancient Runes professor, and he certainly hadn't seen anything, like Ari might have.
"I just wanted to get up and walk around a bit. I didn't figure anybody would be up," he said finally. "Probably same as you."
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Post by arianna on Apr 29, 2006 1:06:29 GMT -5
Arianna nodded with understanding. She couldn't sleep, either. For the same reasons, apparently, thought she knew her own were slightly different from Kellen's excuse.
"I'd rather be asleep right now," the girl admitted quietly, returning to her work. Her earlier shower had helped to wake her, but Arianna was already feeling the effects of an extremely overwhelming and tiring day. "Every time I close my eyes..." She bit her lip as she realized she had said more than she wanted to.
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Kellen McCrea
Wizard
Healer-In-Training
Hey. Don't lose your spirit.
Posts: 152
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Post by Kellen McCrea on Apr 29, 2006 11:16:33 GMT -5
Kellen looked at her sympathetically. "You see...what happened," he filled in softly. He didn't know what else to say. Trying to relate would seem false, even petty. Explaining it would be equally useless--besides, there was nothing he could explain.
Then, an idea struck him. "We could go to the hospital wing," he began. "I know there are some sleeping potions there--I'm pretty sure there's one that supresses dreams, too. I mean, if you want."
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Post by arianna on Apr 29, 2006 17:28:22 GMT -5
"Well...yeah," Arianna wasn't about to point out she really hadn't seen anything, only heard it. But even that was more than she wanted to discuss at the moment. Maybe tomorrow would be better. Arianna doubted it, though.
"That might be a good idea," Arianna agreed, with a small smile, to Kellen's suggestion. She didn't normally like using potions to get to sleep, but tonight she would give anything to get some rest.
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Kellen McCrea
Wizard
Healer-In-Training
Hey. Don't lose your spirit.
Posts: 152
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Post by Kellen McCrea on Apr 29, 2006 21:49:44 GMT -5
"We're not supposed to leave the common room, especially at this time of night, of course, but I'm sure we'll be fine," he said, determined. He wasn't really worried about consequences like that. "I even know where it is, in there. We might not have to wake up Nurse Johnson. I mean, if you do want it. It's up to you."
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Post by arianna on Apr 29, 2006 22:03:58 GMT -5
Arianna blinked a few times. Oddly, it wasn't the suggestion that they sneak out of the common room so late at night that surprised her. Heck, anyone would do that if a friend needed help. It was the other part, taking the potion without first talking to the nurse, that didn't seem Kellenish.
"Oh...yeah, sure," the girl replied, setting her things aside. She gathered Juniper in arms and stood, ready to go whenever Kellen was.
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Kellen McCrea
Wizard
Healer-In-Training
Hey. Don't lose your spirit.
Posts: 152
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Post by Kellen McCrea on Apr 29, 2006 22:09:52 GMT -5
Kellen stood too, ready to leave. He really hoped they didn't run into anyone along the way down. It wasn't that he was worried they'd get into trouble, he just didn't feel like dealing with anything. "Well, I guess we should get going."
As he headed for the porthole, something occured to him. "I don't mean you to think we should steal from the hospital wing, or anything. I work down there sometimes, organizing and whatnot. I'd leave her a note, and explain tomorrow. I just think she's probably had as bad a day as anyone else here. Losing a colleague and everything, plus there's probably been an influx of upset students in to see her, know what I mean? And, if she's up anyway, she's up."
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Post by arianna on Apr 29, 2006 22:50:49 GMT -5
"Oh! I didn't know you worked in the Hospital Wing!" Arianna exclaimed a bit enthusiastically as she followed Kellen out of the common room and post Old Stony. That made things a lot better. They weren't really stealing if they left a note, were they? And it really was better than having to wake the nurse up if she was, by chance, asleep.
"How long have you been working in there?" she asked. Now that they were outside, Arianna set Juniper down so he could walk. He did so, but was careful not to go too far.
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