Post by Ceiced on Apr 16, 2006 17:04:38 GMT -5
It had been a while since he'd been up and around the castle, so when Ceiced was walking through the hallowed halls of Firefox he was quickly becoming quite winded. Only two weeks ago had he finally awakened after being struck by the blade of Rob Scorpius at the Triangle Tunnel. While he was perturbed to find nearly a month had passed, he was even more shocked to hear of the events that had followed, and the evident razing of Drakborough. Classes had continued on with no regard to this one ruffled student who had been under the effect of a curse, and now he had a pile of classwork to be done on top of trying to find out just what was actually going on. To this end, he was approaching the Headmaster's office. If anyone could sort things out, it would be him.
Surely in a time of crisis such as this he would be an over tasked, busy individual, and perhaps even wanting to simply chat with Talon would be considered impudence, but even men like him needed a break now and then, and it had to count for something that they were friends. That at least should warrant him a few minutes of the Headmaster's time. Cradled under one arm was a simple wooden board for playing Wizard's Chess he'd borrowed from the Ravenclaw common room (as it was such a good way to exercise the mind and knowing how knowledge minded Ravenclaws typically are it should come as no surprise there was a set lying around), hopefully it would be a way for both of them to relax and spend a bit of time together outside of the school atmosphere. Those days when Talon had been something of a mentor to him seemed long past, and he hadn't had a chance to reconnect since he'd arrived at this new school. All of these reasons bustled about in the Ravenclaw's head as his feet beat a path to Talon's office.
Eventually he arrived, standing in front of the brilliantly carved ruby phoenix statue. It only occurred to him in that moment that there would be some sort of password to get into the Office and he didn't know it. His face settled into that thoughtful expression it often took when working out the angles of approach on a problem. Was there a spell to get him past it? It wasn't a locked door so Alohomora was out of the question. He wasn't about to destroy such a pretty statue and at any rate his need to get in wasn't so dire as all that. So he simply sighed and moved close to the statue and said clearly,
"Talon, if you happen to be in your office it's me, Ceiced. I thought we might play a game of chess?" that sounded rather feeble in his ears, but hopefully it would be convincing enough, and all Talon would have to do is say he was busy and Ceiced would leave. He hoped that wouldn't be so, but chances were the Headmaster wasn't even present. Traveling hither and yon righting wrongs and quelling mischief was part of the job description as far as he could see, so he would just wait a few minutes then leave. There was more than enough schoolwork waiting for him to just sit idly around in dank hallways and twiddle his thumbs.
So the Ravenclaw sat against a wall and placed the board next to him and began reflecting on what had happened after the Triangle Tunnel. It had been like a very long, frightful nightmare as he thought back on it, filled with darkness and cloaked figures, Killing Curses and apparitions of Scorpius. The man was terrifying in his own right, but the curse on the man's sword caused the nightmare to become an inescapable fever dream. This is what the nurses would later tell him baffled them, he just slept peacefully after the wound had closed up, and no number of magical treatments would wake him. Maybe if he hadn't done what he did, inside his head, he would never have woken up. After what had seemed like months of traveling dark roads and barren places he had been encountered by what looked to be Scorpius himself. Unbeknownst to Ceiced at the time, it was only the curse taking the form of it's caster. The apparition had demeaned him and insulted him, calling him weak to have fallen so easily to his attack, weak for not being able to defend Talon, weak for not being able to fight the Shadows. The more the apparition spoke, the less energy Ceiced felt in him, as if the words themselves were causing it. Spells to fight back with had left his mind like sand through clenched fingers, and soon he was left on his knees helpless before the figure of Rob Scorpius.
It was only the thought of Talon, standing resolute before the most powerful figures in the Society of Shadows and defying them, Talon's innate sense of bravery showing through in his Gryffindor heritage. That was what allowed him to stand up, taking just a portion of what made Talon such a strong leader and looking that apparition of Scorpius in the eyes and saying, "Get out." At that, his wand had appeared in his hands and the simple act of thrusting it at the specter caused it to erupt into black smoke, along with the environment around him, plunging him into darkness but almost instantly causing him to awaken. Then the real darkness that had settled over the school became apparent, upon hearing of the attacks and the imminent threat.
If anything could be said of the experience, it was that he came away with something more than he had begun with, a measure of courage. 'That still hasn't gotten Talon to open his door.' he observed dryly, looking at the phoenix statue and thinking maybe it was time to leave.
Surely in a time of crisis such as this he would be an over tasked, busy individual, and perhaps even wanting to simply chat with Talon would be considered impudence, but even men like him needed a break now and then, and it had to count for something that they were friends. That at least should warrant him a few minutes of the Headmaster's time. Cradled under one arm was a simple wooden board for playing Wizard's Chess he'd borrowed from the Ravenclaw common room (as it was such a good way to exercise the mind and knowing how knowledge minded Ravenclaws typically are it should come as no surprise there was a set lying around), hopefully it would be a way for both of them to relax and spend a bit of time together outside of the school atmosphere. Those days when Talon had been something of a mentor to him seemed long past, and he hadn't had a chance to reconnect since he'd arrived at this new school. All of these reasons bustled about in the Ravenclaw's head as his feet beat a path to Talon's office.
Eventually he arrived, standing in front of the brilliantly carved ruby phoenix statue. It only occurred to him in that moment that there would be some sort of password to get into the Office and he didn't know it. His face settled into that thoughtful expression it often took when working out the angles of approach on a problem. Was there a spell to get him past it? It wasn't a locked door so Alohomora was out of the question. He wasn't about to destroy such a pretty statue and at any rate his need to get in wasn't so dire as all that. So he simply sighed and moved close to the statue and said clearly,
"Talon, if you happen to be in your office it's me, Ceiced. I thought we might play a game of chess?" that sounded rather feeble in his ears, but hopefully it would be convincing enough, and all Talon would have to do is say he was busy and Ceiced would leave. He hoped that wouldn't be so, but chances were the Headmaster wasn't even present. Traveling hither and yon righting wrongs and quelling mischief was part of the job description as far as he could see, so he would just wait a few minutes then leave. There was more than enough schoolwork waiting for him to just sit idly around in dank hallways and twiddle his thumbs.
So the Ravenclaw sat against a wall and placed the board next to him and began reflecting on what had happened after the Triangle Tunnel. It had been like a very long, frightful nightmare as he thought back on it, filled with darkness and cloaked figures, Killing Curses and apparitions of Scorpius. The man was terrifying in his own right, but the curse on the man's sword caused the nightmare to become an inescapable fever dream. This is what the nurses would later tell him baffled them, he just slept peacefully after the wound had closed up, and no number of magical treatments would wake him. Maybe if he hadn't done what he did, inside his head, he would never have woken up. After what had seemed like months of traveling dark roads and barren places he had been encountered by what looked to be Scorpius himself. Unbeknownst to Ceiced at the time, it was only the curse taking the form of it's caster. The apparition had demeaned him and insulted him, calling him weak to have fallen so easily to his attack, weak for not being able to defend Talon, weak for not being able to fight the Shadows. The more the apparition spoke, the less energy Ceiced felt in him, as if the words themselves were causing it. Spells to fight back with had left his mind like sand through clenched fingers, and soon he was left on his knees helpless before the figure of Rob Scorpius.
It was only the thought of Talon, standing resolute before the most powerful figures in the Society of Shadows and defying them, Talon's innate sense of bravery showing through in his Gryffindor heritage. That was what allowed him to stand up, taking just a portion of what made Talon such a strong leader and looking that apparition of Scorpius in the eyes and saying, "Get out." At that, his wand had appeared in his hands and the simple act of thrusting it at the specter caused it to erupt into black smoke, along with the environment around him, plunging him into darkness but almost instantly causing him to awaken. Then the real darkness that had settled over the school became apparent, upon hearing of the attacks and the imminent threat.
If anything could be said of the experience, it was that he came away with something more than he had begun with, a measure of courage. 'That still hasn't gotten Talon to open his door.' he observed dryly, looking at the phoenix statue and thinking maybe it was time to leave.