Mariska walked into the corridor which contained a rather intricate and detailed tapestry, wondering why this had been the place Elizabeth had asked to meet her. Of course, Mari also wondered why she was being asked here since usually Elizabeth didn't have to send her notes to talk to her so it must be important.

She found her best friend pacing the floor and Mari stopped, crossing her arms as she did. " You look like you...really needed to talk to me." She said with a little smile for her friend. " What's going on? You seem really bothered by something." Her green eyes narrowed as she picked up on cues that other people wouldn't, like she usually did anyway. She wasn't suspicious...completely, anyway, but she did want to know what was bothering her friend.

Elizabeth stopped pacing as she realized Mari had arrived, silently disappointed at herself for not remembering her best friend was now better at sneaking up on people than she'd ever been. Turning to look at the other girl, she moved back to lean against the wall right next to the tapestry. The fact Mari's expression had subtly changed in the middle of her questioning hadn't escaped her, and it only made her more nervous. "Um, well, yeah," she said, wrapping her arms around her midsection protectively in an almost unconscious move. "I guess you could say something's bothering me." Well, not really. Except for when it came to thinking about Mari herself. "I just wanted to tell you something. Before you heard about it from anyone else." Like the gossip mill, or Cayden. And it was kiling her to see Mari look that suspicious, because she really hadn't meant to hurt her. And if she could have changed how she felt . . . okay, maybe not. But it was the thought that counted, right?

Mariska watched with one brow raised at the way Elizabeth finally acknowledged her presence which was by stopping her pacing and leaning against the wall, as if using it for support. She kept her stance, only moving closer when Elizabeth seemed to forgo her usual eloquence when speaking. This had to be important if it had Elizabeth at a loss for words. Like the stuff Mari had kept referring to during their conversation earlier...so Mari was at least glad Elizabeth chose to tell her if something was bothering her.

Mari nodded when Elizabeth reiterated that something was indeed bothering her, but she was beginning to grow a bit worried at her friends words. " Alright, well...it sounds like it might be upsetting, but just tell me what it is. Like you said, it's better coming from you than anyone else, right?" She said, studying Elizabeth closely while she waited for her answer.

Elizabeth grew the tiniest bit more tense when Mari moved closer to her, even though she was fairly certain her best friend was only worried about her. Everything was just so turned around, and even though she was happy, she knew she wouldn't be satisfied until she knew Mari knew. And hopefully was okay with the whole situation. Because right now her previous idea that Mari would be was flying out the window, and she could feel her mind trying to shut down to protect herself.

But she took a deep breath as the other girl simply asked her to explain, agreeing with the thought that it would be better coming from her. Maybe if she just got it over with, quick and hopefully painless. Swallowing a little, she took another brief pause before trying to look at Mari. "It has to do with Robert," she said hesitantly. "Or, Robert and me." At that, she semi-panicked and shut her eyes so as not to see her best friend when she said the next part. "Wekindofaredatingnow," she blurted out quickly, practically not breathing between words since she wanted to get the whole thing over with. And then maybe hide. Especially if Mari seemed like she took it badly.

Mari was officially worried because she could sense all kinds of nervous energy coming from Elizabeth, the sort she would have felt no matter any of her unique qualities, as Elizabeth put it. For a few seconds, Mari was afraid that Elizabeth would be telling her next that she was going back to California for some reason and Mari panicked silently at the thought of having neither of her best friends around. It was bad enough that Asteira had gone, but if Mari lost Elizabeth too she'd be extremely upset, to say the least.

She bit her lip, almost holding in a breath as Elizabeth started talking again and Mari was actually so relieved that she said it only had to do with Elizabeth and Robert ( although she wasn't exactly pleased that Robert was in the equation, because...well she still felt guilty for what she'd done to him) that it didn't really matter what her friend said next. However, a moment after her relief swept through her, Mari realized her friend was including Robert and herself in the matter. Mari's green eyes narrowed again and then widened in surprise a few moments later when Elizabeth made her confession.

Mari stood silently for a few moments, taking in the information. " I could say I'm surprised, and I am...but I saw this coming. I could read you both like open books, you're both quite terrible at keeping your thoughts hidden even from...people with less aptitude at discerning these things." She said after a moment. She bit her lip and was surprised at the brief sweep of jealousy within herself, but it was gone as soon as it came to her. " I can't lie, it will take some time to get used to. But as long as it makes you both happy, I can't say anything against it. After all, I'm the one who broke up with him." She offered with a weak smile and a little shrug. She joined her friend in leaning against the tapestry, her arms folded across her front. She didn't know what else to say then, which was a first for Mari.

Elizabeth felt her nerves get even worse as the immediate response to her confession was silence from Mari. And the urge to run and hide grew even worse, until her best friend finally spoke. Opening her eyes again, she looked at the other girl once more, not entirely sure how to take the comments that were coming at her. Especially the part about how they were horrible at hiding their thoughts. Because as far as she could tell, most people didn't seem like they had expected to find them together. Or at least, Lyra hadn't.

But as she saw Mari bite her lip, her guilt came rushing back. "I'm sorry?," she said hesitantly. "It wasn't exactly something I expected. And I didn't want to hurt you. And I know it won't help whatever you're feeling, but I think we are. Happy, that is." She tried to smile back, but once her best friend had shifted to lean against the wall next to her, her worried expression came back. "I guess if you don't want to see me anymore, for a while, I'd understand," she said faintly, after a few seconds, hugging herself even tighter. It would be hard, because Mari had always been the one she went to when she had anything important to say. But at least now Cayden couldn't go to her and tell her about what had changed, hoping the surprise would help his argument. She hoped. Just as much as she hoped eventually Mari would be okay with her and Robert. Because she wasn't about to sabotage her relationship with him just to make her guilt go away.

Madame Kohan listened carefully as the Gryffindor rapidly spoke. "Not an issue at all." She answered with a wave of her hand as she stepped out of the library and followed the boy down the hall towards the tapestry.

Once the duo had arrived, she immediately noticed a girl and boy sitting together nearby. Slowing dramatically, she finally reached the two and bent down next to them. "What seems to be the problem?" She couldn't tell if he had any overt physical injury; it didn't seem so; so perhaps it was just a sick sort of feeling, like one someone experienced when they had a bad cold or whatnot.

Mari looked over at Elizabeth when she finally spoke again and she sighed a little. " It wasn't, but I had a few ideas. It is like you said, I did not expect it." She said with another slight smile. She listened to Elizabeth again and she shook her head. " No, I don't want that," She said, thinking for a moment before speaking again. She pushed her hair behind her ear and spoke again, in a slightly more confident sounding voice. " I just think we'll have to talk a lot more in the dorms than anything else for a bit. Until the idea is normal to me." She said with a nod. Then she thought about what Cayden would say. She wasn't quite sure about that part. He was either going to be happy about it, or look at it as another one of Elizabeth's supposed betrayals. Mari sincerely hoped it was the former, not the latter. " I'm...sort of mixed up about this, but I'm not angry or upset. That I can promise you." She said, and then she stood back from the wall again. " When did this happen then?" She asked, folding her arms across herself as she spoke and regarded her friend with an outwardly calm expression, which was easy to do considering certain things.

Still rocking backwards and forwards, Jake's wide eyes snapped up to the next person to come down the corridor. He eyed her suspiciously... but she was with the boy that Dani said was good. Not one of Them?

Maybe...

"Dani... Dani... is she one of Them?" he whispered, staring up at the woman, shaking a little. What where they going to do to him?

Good sweet Merlin...

Something.

Was.

Up.

Dani jumped a little at the sound of the librarians voice. "No Jake, she isn't one of Them." She wondered what she should say to the librarian. "She's gonna help us Jake." She kissed him on the forehead before standing up and walking over to the librarian. "He thinks people are after him." She whispered. "I don't know if they are or not, but I'm worried about him. I didn't know what to do so I sent Lucas to find someone and the Library was the only place on this floor." She started crying as she spoke and when she finished she had to wipe her face on her robes.

She.

Was.

Scared.

Mari's repetition of the fact she had suspected but hadn't actually expected anything to happen made Elizabeth relax a tiny bit, but she still felt like she had let her best friend down or something. Until Mari said she didn't want to cut herself off, and the grip Elizabeth had around her midsection eased some and she looked over. "You don't?," she asked, unsure, before nodding slightly at the next statement. "Okay." She could do that. The dorms would be more private, anyway. Except for the other girls. But they never really seemed to pay attention to the two of them anyway.

She chewed on her lower lip as her nervousness kicked in again at the pause from Mari, but a faint hope set in when the other girl spoke finally. She was having a bit of a difficult time believing that her best friend wasn't upset, but she had no reason not to accept the promise. "Alright," she said faintly, before she tensed up again a little at the question. "When did the two of us happen?," she echoed, as if she really needed clarification. Swallowing some, to calm herself down, since Mari looked like she was at least trying to stay calm, she finally answered. "The day after all of us talked in the common room. When you met Tino. Robert and I met in the room of requirement because I was supposed to help him with his charms work." Not that they had ultimately done any schoolwork, because of the fact neither of them could decide what to work on. But she wasn't about to say that to Mari.

Madame Kohan's frown deepened as she watched the interaction between the two students. What on earth? She was certainly not the person to deal with this; not in terms of treating this anyway. This young man needed the nurse. "Don't cry dear. We'll figure out what the problem is."

"It'll be okay." She spoke soothingly as she stayed down near the floor, not wanting to rise just yet in case the boy found it intimidating. "I can bring you to a place where you'll feel safe." She offered.

"S-safe?" Jake repeated, watching the woman who appeared be the librarian with wide eyes. He... he should go with her... yes. She was apparently okay... so... Jake could trust her, yes?

Yes!

Hopefully.

"I... I wanna go there..." Jake nodded firmly, looking positively determined.

Dani held out her hand to Jake to help him up. Her face was still wet with her tears, but theyhad stoppeed flowing. "Thank you." She whispered to the Librarian. This was good. The Healer would make Jake all better again. Right? She hoped so. "Come on Jake. This nice lady is going to take care of you. I promise." She hoped it wasn't a lie.

Jake.

Would.

Be.

Okay.

She smiled slightly to herself.

Headmaster Bontecou was crawling through a secret passage. It was most definitely a rarely used duct. How in Merlin's hairy nostrils had a basilisk managed to wriggle around through the school in these things? He cursed as his knee found a small skeleton which painfully ground into the sensitive joint. He pressed on while attempting to rub the sore spot and ended up tumbling out an opening. He was caught up in a tapestry. Stealthy. What was wrong with him? Stealth was one of his fortes and here he was acting like a complete jinx.... Hmmm.... He stood up and attempted to extricate himself from the tapestry while contemplating that line of thought. He was filthy and he'd probably see better with out his glasses for once considering the state they were in. His pants were wet in a pattern that could be mistaken for having had an accident. He had cobwebs clinging to his brown hair, dust all over, and slivers of mouse bones sticking out of one pant leg at the knee. Sexy. Real sexy.

"IT'SONEOFTHEM!" Jake yelled out, scrambling away from the tapestry that suddenly burst into life. Covering his eyes so that he couldn't see the horror that lay within, Jake dived behind the librarian, shaking. "Don't let it get me... Don't let it..."

Baaaack and forth... Baaaaack and forth... He rocked himself, chanting in his head.

Dani jumped and pulled out her wand once more. "Jake calm down." She looked at the thing that had crawled out of the tapestry. It was a person. "Don't move or I'll...Uhh.. I'll curse you!" She said, hoping to sound convincing. She didn't know any curses and Jake was freaking out and she was scared. Whoever it was had just made the whole thing work. They had finally calmed Jake down and now look at what happened.

Headmaster Bontecou had on his "huh?" face and said as much aloud in case no one realized he was confused. "Huh?" he said, whipping off his glasses and 'cleaning' them on his dirty shirt. So, instead of cleaning them he actually just smeared the dirt around some more. He put his glasses back on and squinted through them.

Huh?

THAT WAS A NOISE OF PURE CONFUSION EVIL!

"Back, evil fiend, BACK, I SAY!" Jake exclaimed, keeping his eyes tightly shut and waving his hands in a kind of warding off gesture towards what he didn't recognise as the headmaster. "You can't trick me with your fake confusion! HAZZARRRR!!!!!"

Dani dropped her wand when she realized who it was standing in front of her. She'd seen him in pictures and stuff. The Headmaster. And she had just threatened to curse him. Oops. She rerached back and swatted Jake on the side of the head. His insanity was starting to bug her. Why hadn't someone just got the nurse already. "Are you okay?" Her voice took on the worried tone that it had held quite a bit lately. She wiped a stray piece of cobweb off the Professors shoulder. "Umm.. Hi. You came out of a tapestry." She said, stating the obvious. How strange. She wondered where he had come from.

Curiosity.

Hmm?

Divination textbook in hand and open to a chapter on birds, Anna Greingoth made her way down the fourth floor corridor. She was en route from the library to the common room, and she'd barely made it two feet out the library door before she was already flipping through the book she'd checked out. "Bird divination...bird divination...b---....," she mumbled to herself, stopping sort of abruptly on that last word. She glanced up from her book, closed it, then allowed her eyes to flicker from Jake...to Dani...and finally to the headmaster. He looked...different, to put it rather nicely. To be quite honest, though, he looked to have just stepped away from the scene of a natural disaster, like, say...a flood. She momentarily panicked, but then stopped herself on account of realizing that no flood...of any kind...would leave just a tiny amount of water on someone's pants in a manner which indicated an accident had occurred. Ewww.

"Headmaster Bontecou? Are you alright?" she questioned, her eyes glancing back to Jake and Dani. Upstead was, of course, nearing panic status. "Jake! Jake!" she called out, ducking as his hands nearly made contact with the side of her face. A broken jaw, no matter how easy it may be for Healer Avalon to heal, just simply wasn't on her 'To Do List' today. "Jake, it's alright...honestly!" She glanced back at the headmaster, taking in the sight he was currently in, then added, "I...I think. Nothing's happened, sir, right?" she asked. When Dani spoke up, mentioning that the headmaster had appeared from a tapestry, Anna narrowed her eyes in confusion, but otherwise kept her attention on Bontecou. Appearing from a tapestry? That was...actually...pretty cool. As long as nothing terrible had happened, of course.

Recognition finally hit him and he almost hit himself in the head. The strange boy Kazimeriz had led up to his office. "Perhaps you should go see the healer," he suggested and wondered if perhaps a consultation with St. Mungo's would be in order. Clearly the by was insane.

Quote:

Originally Posted by krazypenguin

Dani dropped her wand when she realized who it was standing in front of her. She'd seen him in pictures and stuff. The Headmaster. And she had just threatened to curse him. Oops. She rerached back and swatted Jake on the side of the head. His insanity was starting to bug her. Why hadn't someone just got the nurse already. "Are you okay?" Her voice took on the worried tone that it had held quite a bit lately. She wiped a stray piece of cobweb off the Professors shoulder. "Umm.. Hi. You came out of a tapestry." She said, stating the obvious. How strange. She wondered where he had come from.

Curiosity.

Hmm?

"I'm well, thank you. And yes, I did seem to appear from the tapestry. Silly things," he said and swatted playfully at it as he smiled. Oh lovely, another student to witness his disheveled state. Now all he needed was some of the female professors to arrive and the day would be complete.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Divination textbook in hand and open to a chapter on birds, Anna Greingoth made her way down the fourth floor corridor. She was en route from the library to the common room, and she'd barely made it two feet out the library door before she was already flipping through the book she'd checked out. "Bird divination...bird divination...b---....," she mumbled to herself, stopping sort of abruptly on that last word. She glanced up from her book, closed it, then allowed her eyes to flicker from Jake...to Dani...and finally to the headmaster. He looked...different, to put it rather nicely. To be quite honest, though, he looked to have just stepped away from the scene of a natural disaster, like, say...a flood. She momentarily panicked, but then stopped herself on account of realizing that no flood...of any kind...would leave just a tiny amount of water on someone's pants in a manner which indicated an accident had occurred. Ewww.

"Headmaster Bontecou? Are you alright?" she questioned, her eyes glancing back to Jake and Dani. Upstead was, of course, nearing panic status. "Jake! Jake!" she called out, ducking as his hands nearly made contact with the side of her face. A broken jaw, no matter how easy it may be for Healer Avalon to heal, just simply wasn't on her 'To Do List' today. "Jake, it's alright...honestly!" She glanced back at the headmaster, taking in the sight he was currently in, then added, "I...I think. Nothing's happened, sir, right?" she asked. When Dani spoke up, mentioning that the headmaster had appeared from a tapestry, Anna narrowed her eyes in confusion, but otherwise kept her attention on Bontecou. Appearing from a tapestry? That was...actually...pretty cool. As long as nothing terrible had happened, of course.

"I am quite fine, thank you. Nothing to be worried about. Just..." What was he doing? Snooping around? Like the headmaster should need to do that. "Inspecting the castle." That sounded good.

A healer. Yes, indeed. That was definitely what Jake needed. This was her first time seeing the boy since he'd shoved a suit of armor on top of her, and predicatably enough, he hadn't seemed to have changed a bit. Nevertheless, she smiled warmly at young Jake, hoping that at some point on down the line he'd settle down a bit. She did wonder, though, what had happened to cause him to dramatically change in the course of just one summer. When the headmaster started speaking again, Anna turned from Jake to Bontecou, listening carefully as he explained his sudden...and unusual...appearance.

She nodded slowly, eyebrows still wrinkled in confusion, when he said he'd been inspecting the castle. Of course he'd been doing that. He was the headmaster, for Merlin's sake. Not only that, the castle was currently being flooded...surely a cause for inspection, she'd say. "Oh? Inspections? Routine inspections, or are you looking for something in particular?" she asked. A second later, she sort of thought that maybe her questions had been a little...bold for a student. I mean, this was the headmaster after all. "I mean....sorry, sir. What I meant was...perhaps we can help you?"

"Ooooooh, no healer. Healer don't like Jake," Jake muttered, stopping the waving of his hands after Dani hit him and the rest started being all *talks*. "Rawrr. No healer. BWAHA."

...

Ahem, yeah.

"Annaaaaaaaaaaaa..." Jake then droned, tilting his head as he stared at the girl. *STARESTARE*

Dani looked around at everyone now slightly confused. What was going on? She looked at the Headmaster. He was still all dirty and nasty. She felt around in her pocket for one of the enchanted balloons. She tossed it at the Headmaster. Water got rid of dirt. Right? He smelled funny too. Maybe the water would help with that as well.