Look to the skies, to see the end of all creation

[Ratatosk Richter]

They're waiting for the second coming again...Ratatosk stared into the night sky. She couldn't believe how pessimistic she sounded. She was not normally that way. She played with a braid in her hair and sighed.

"I'll bring you down all on my own..." Ratatosk whispered, reaching up to the sky as if to touch the stars. "See with your eyes...my army of flies...She laughed lightly. She felt silly whispering to the sky. She felt silly all by herself, standing alone in the dark. Who knew what kind of shady people lurked around by this time of night.

As she thought to herself, she heard something that made her jump. Immeadiately following she flushed red and turned around. She didn't see anything but now her heart was pounding. She wasn't a fan of being scared, but she knew she's was asking for it and setting herself up to fail by standing alone in the dark. Ratatosk took a deep breath and called out.

"H...hello?" Rattatosk stupidly asked, she felt silly but...it was the only thing she could think of. "I...is someone there?"

(OOC: Its open to anyone who wants to join!)

[Cassandra Robinson]

Cassandra stepped out of the shadows, a scowl set deeply in her features. "Excuse me," she said tightly, both her dark green eyes and prefect badge picking up the faint starlight, "but what are you doing out so late?" Of course, as according to her duties as prefect, she'd been walking the halls one last time before she retired for bed, and had almost been done when she'd heard a small sound echoing down the stairwell. Needless to say, she had to go investigate. Whether she'd briefly contemplated pretending to ignore the sound and go sleep was unrelated.

"If you would, I'd like your name and House, please." That "please," though, did very little to mitigate the obvious irritation in her voice. Unnecessarily climbing long stairwells made her particularly ill-tempered.

Honestly, teenagers these days. Why did they insist on breaking curfew?

[Ratatosk Richter]

Ratatosk jumped at the sound of the lady's voice. She had been expecting there to be someone, just not someone so...angry. Or it to be a prefect at that.

"Ratatosk Richter of Slytherin." Ratatosk spoke softly and bowed. "I'm sorry, I had no idea how late it was. I had just got back from visiting family, I flew here on a jet and...I guess the jet lag has gotten to me. I'm so sorry."

Ratatosk didn't know what would happen next. She had never been in trouble before, or broke curfew. Her heart started to pound and her knees started to tremble, the next thing she knew would happen was that her eyes would start to tear up, but she fought the feeling. She started fidgeting with her hands and waited anxiously.

"I'm so sorry..."

[Cassandra Robinson]

Cassandra stared impatiently as the girl bowed, the terror obvious in her quivering knees. Really, if she was going to go all weak-kneed on her because she'd been caught in the act of breaking curfew, wouldn't it make more sense if she had just stayed safe and cozy in her dungeon dorm? Chh. Slytherins these days. First she'd had the misfortune of witnessing a certain Cyan Reed disrobing in the library, and now a Ratatosk Richter was out and about well after curfew? Cassandra resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the ceiling.

Teenagers. Technically they still were missing a part of their brain, but. Really. Was a little basic knowledge too much to ask?

"Your apology is accepted, Miss Richter," she said dryly, her eyes narrowing imperceptibly in what might have been humor. "I've also only returned from visiting family as well and I do realize it's difficult to adjust back to the school routine." At this point, though, her voice regained its steel quality. "In light of that, 10 points from Slytherin as a warning for blatant disregard of curfew hours. I'll be taking 25 if you repeat this offense, so please be sure this doesn't happen again."

....Unless she was meeting someone, and they had thought the Ravenclaw Tower, perhaps the most romantic location at Firefox after sundown with its glittering stars and open-aired windows, would be an appropriate rendezvous point, even though it was perhaps as far as one could get from the dungeons of the Slytherin common room?

Completely unacceptable.

"Was there any reason you chose to take the trouble to walk so far from the Slytherin common room, Miss Richter?" There was no mistaking the annoyance in her expression. The Ancient Runes test on all 24 symbols was tomorrow, and Cassandra simply could not have a second poor showing in Professor Monolayre's class. Being tardy was bad enough, she didn't need to add a failed test to the pile.

[Ratatosk Richter]

"Oh, no ma'am! I promise!" Ratatosk was a little shocked. Ratatosk hadn't really made friends here. She supposed it was because she was so weird. "And I'm sorry again for breaking curfew. I won't let it happen again."

Ratatosk looked around her again. She blinked twice in trying to get the burning sensation in her eyes to go away. She was a criminal now. And that means...panic time.

"I'm a criminal now! Oh no!" Ratatosk started to hyperventilate. "Grampa will be so mad at me! I don't wanna be a criminal! I don't wanna kill people! I didn't mean to break curfew!! Oh no! I'm a terrible person!"

Ratatosk's eyes spilled over with tears. She tried her hardest to compose herself, but the thought of having to murder others made her cry harder. She didn't want to hurt anyone else. Her small frame shook with every sob that escaped her trembling lips.

"I'm so sorry! Miss R-R-Ravenclaw!" Ratatosk's voicce, unbearably shook too, making most of her words sound like she had a stuttering problem. "P-p-please don't m-m-make me k-k-kill people! I d-d-didn't mean to!"

She didn't care if the 10 points were taken from her house at all. She cared but she didn't. At the moment she felt like she had a major crisis on her hands. Becoming a murderer...a criminal.

[Cassandra Robinson]

Getting a promise out of a Slytherin not to repeat an offense and likely preventing others from doing the same? Excellent. Getting an incoherent stream of tears, snot, and babbling? Do. Not. Want.

On most people, the sight of a young girl in obvious distress would've triggered an emotional response. Awkward attempts at comfort was one response. So was hugging or other calming physical contact. Bargaining, too, to make the crying shut up.

Too bad Cassandra had already been steeled against such teary faces thanks to her three younger brothers, all of which had at one point or another called upon such a face, often for matters as trivial as bedtime or picky eating or a scraped knee.

The Ravenclaw prefect brought a hand to her forehead, thumb and forefinger kneading at her temples as the demand of I-want-to-sleep-now by her brain manifested in a familiar ache. For goodness' sake all she had done was take a few points--entirely insubstantial in the long-run--and it had made this girl break down into a blubbering mess, convinced she was a murderer? Honestly, any person that might have walked in on their conversation at this point would've thought Cassandra was some type of mob boss threatening maiming if Ratatosk refused to complete the job.

Murder. Right. Like Cassandra was totally capable of ordering assassinations.

"..........Calm down," she intoned in a fine rendition of her Stern Older Sister voice. Stern as in stop what you are doing immediately or you are going to regret it. All this crying was intensifying her headache and was so not helping the situation. "You've broken curfew. That's it. You haven't murdered anyone. You are not going to be murdering anyone. As long as you don't stay out past curfew, there won't be a problem."

Teenagers. So emotional.

[Ratatosk Richter]

Calm down.

Ratatosk tried as hard as she could. She stood there, breathing in quickly, wiping away any tears that escaped while in her works to try and calm down.

She felt an odd comfort at the words the prefect spoke. She felt a warmness go through her as she realized that's what her older brother used to say to her when she would start crying. She hadn't seen her brother since the day of his burial, and the fact that she found comfort in those two words made her feel odd inside.

Ratatosk looked up to the Ravenclaw. Doing her best to do as she was told. As she looked into the prefects face for the first time, she saw how pretty she was, and how authoritative she appeared, much to her surprise, it was much like Erra, her big brother. She could also see the impatience in her eyes, and how red they were. This prefect was in need of sleep...desperately.

"Yes s-...ma'am." Ratatosk answered her like she used to do to Erra, quietly but full of determination. She felt like she needed to prove to this prefect that she wasn't just a baby. And it shocked her when she felt the old desire to make her older sibling proud of her, and to prove that she wasn't baby anymore.

"I swear on my life that I won't break curfew again."

[Cassandra Robinson]

ooc: sorry for late late late D:

Cassandra stood there, eyebrows faintly raised, fingers still kneading at her temples, as the Slytherin in front of her attempted to calm herself down. Okay. This was an improvement. No bawling, no wailing, no onslaught of snot and tears. Logic and rationality were pushing out unreasonability.

"Good," she replied to the girl's promise--oath?--never to break curfew ever, finally returning her hand to her side. Cassandra's voice was firm, though touched with the barest hint of amusement at this student's peculiar extremities. Well, better a student like this than one flippant of the regulations of the school, she supposed. "However, should a catastrophic event occur after hours--such as a fire, for example--please do feel free to break curfew for your own safety." She paused, briefly, then breathed out a faintly pitying sigh as she took in the girl's appearance. Flushed skin, reddened eyes, drying tracks of salt, fingers wet with tears--yeah, if she went back looking like this, it'd only cause more trouble. Cassandra drew her wand out of a robe pocket and conjured a small square of white cloth dampened with cool water, offering it without further ado to the Slytherin.

"Now then, Miss Ratatosk, will you be able to find your way back to the Slytherin common room?" Her tone, though brisk, wasn't as sharp as earlier. "I'd like to accompany you there, or perhaps even part of the way; it's always safer in pairs, wouldn't you say? A large dark castle in the middle of the night is a bit intimidating."

[Ratatosk Richter]

Ratatosk gratefully took the small white cloth from the prefect. Her hands trembled when she got near the Ravenclaws hand, fearful she would hit them like Erra used to do when she annoyed him. She dabbed at her face and wiped vigorously until she was sure her face was redder than it had started. The small little cloth was damp and wrinkled from fervent use, but she sighed a little and smiled bravely.

She felt the her heart jump as the prefect said 'catastrophe'. Could something even happen like that at this school? It was a school after all, she was sure the headmaster wouldn't let such things happen. But if, being picked on regularly by the other Slytherins' for not being mean, and for being to much of a push over was a catastrophe then, she encountered catastrophes on a regular basis. But, she was thinking the only other thing that could cause such a dangerous event to occur would be monsters. Like vampires and werewolves and the like. But they were only fairy tales, nothing more than a scary story to tell around a campfire. They couldn't possibly be real....

Could they?

"What kind of...catastrophes happen here Ms. Ravenclaw?" Ratatosk felt a little weak-kneed again. She was never good with confrontation, the most she could manage was a distraction by tripping and falling, and if the bad men decided to take their time to bother with a klutzy, 16 year old girl who sounded like a child, then she at least gave the others fighting chance of getting away. They can't say she didn't do anything to help.

She fidgeted with the cloth, wrapping it tightly around her fingers then pulling away from her hand, then weaving it around her fingers and unraveling it. She could taste the fear in her mouth, and her heart started to pump unnecessary adrenaline, forcing her to close her eyes and try to grab a hold on reality. She wanted to hide behind the prefect when she felt danger coming, like she used to do with Erra, but she was quite sure that the prefect wouldn't take to that as well as her brother.

She responded to the question of wanting to walk together to the common rooms by taking a single step in the direction of the castle, the now fearsome, intimidating harborer of dark terrible secrets. No longer was it her place of solace and sanctuary.

[Cassandra Robinson]

After the Slytherin vigorously scrubbed any remaining traces of tears off her face with the cloth Cassandra had given her, the Ravenclaw prefect couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at the bright red of her face, a red saturated enough to see even by only what light time well after dusk could give. She refrained from sighing. Well, surely the walk down to the dungeons would give time enough for that red characteristic of kneading one's face to fade. It was, in any case, much less a tell-tale sign of crying than the alternative of crusting snot and tears.

"What kind of...catastrophes happen here Ms. Ravenclaw?"

Cassandra almost snorted at the question, but managed in time to change it into a neutral sound in her throat. "Well, Firefox University is a school for learning magic, and a place that has such a high concentration of young witches and wizards is bound to attract attention. We are close enough, too, to the Triangle Tunnel, the capital of Spain's wizarding world, and house a forest of lycans in Fenrir's Wood on the edge of our school grounds." Cassandra cast a wary eye on the girl. "Now, I'm certainly not trying to needlessly frighten you, but I do believe it's in your best interest to be aware of what risks you may encounter in the future in order to better respond to them."

It was better to be scared now than completely shocked should the day a "catastrophic event" occur, right?

"Now then," she said briskly and flicked her wand. "Lumos. I'll walk you to the Slytherin common room. It is quite a ways off to the dungeons, after all." The light from her wand lit the room awash in cool clarity, and Cassandra stepped pointedly towards the stairs. It was goin to be a long, long walk, and she really did like to get back to her dorm to sleep, but this was the best way to ease her mind. She was a school prefect, after all. Something like this was quite natural.