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Felixir · #1 (**permalink**) 12-20-2021, 01:52 AM

High above overlooking the lake and a section of the grounds are the castle battlements. During the Battle of Hogwarts, the battlements where used to defend the school from Lord Voldemort and his allies. This is also where Sirius Black rode away on Buckbeak the hippogriff, but keep that hush hush. Though some damage remains, the battlements remain fairly intact and provide an opportune place to be when an enemy is approaching.

The battlements provide a nice view from a high vantage point. More often than not, the Giant Squid can be seen bathing himself in the sunlight; thestrals (if you can see them) fly above the trees at the edge of the lake; and if you look closely you'll be able to follow the road that leads to the Entrance Gates. If you're feeling up to climbing the tight spiral staircase to get there, know that it is worth the effort. There are wooden crates and barrels for you to sit on at the top should you need to catch your breath.

Cassirin · 09-05-2022, 01:40 AM

Mercer Branxton had a plan. Maybe. He had parchment and a quill and his binoculars. Not all of the things that he planned came to fruition, and often they turned into an entirely separate adventure than what he originally planned... but that was half the fun.

He expected his Mitsuki friend to come along shortly, but in the interim, he was precariously perched on the edge of a battlement, parchment draped over one arm, ink pot on his knee, and quill clenched between his teeth while he thoughtfully studied the grounds below.

Some people prepared for classes, while other people were Mercer.

sweetpinkpixie · 09-06-2022, 06:06 AM

His Mitsuki friend was along and now she was here with her own project in hand. Perhaps not as unconventional as Mercer's, she did have her black cathedral art bag clutched in her left hand. What she thought she could accomplish in the art room was clearly meant to be done so here at Mercer's spontaneous invitation.

A notion that seemed all the more true seeing as he too seemed to be performing some sort of artistic talent and doing so with his mouth and teeth.

Not wishing to interrupt him in his deep and almost cross-eyed focus, she simply pulled up beside him and set herself down on the ground in front of where he perched before beginning to pull out her watercolor sketchbook and other supplies.

Cassirin · 09-08-2022, 01:03 AM

"Hey." Mercer dropped his quill and uncurled himself with more care than seemed possible, rolling backwards off the parapet and landing beside Mitsuki. "Hey." He said it again, this time with a crooked smile.

"What are you gonna make? You brought all this stuff? Did you even consider that I had plans for us? I have PLANS FOR US." Obviously, since he'd invited her up here. "But that's okay. What are you making?"

sweetpinkpixie · 09-10-2022, 04:25 PM

If only she were the sort to make a clever comment about how nice it was for him to drop in...well, then she would not be the same Mitsuki friend that he knew. It was for the best.

Though the drop and sudden stop surely did not feel good, even if he was built more burly and sturdy than herself...it did cause a moment of pause and brief widening of the eyes with concern. He seemed perfectly alright, however, and had launched right into the next things so she felt her concern unwarranted and thus tucked it away just like she was beginning to tuck away her sketchbook. "You seemed deep in thought and I did not wish to interrupt it, so I thought I might sketch you until it was finished," she explained easily with a small title of the head to the side and the slightest of smiles tugging at the corners of her mouth. "It seems you have finished your thought and now branched off to other thoughts."

Cassirin · 09-11-2022, 01:14 AM

"Don't put it away on my account. You can sketch whatever you want. Only, don't sketch me, because then you might trap my essence in your paper, right?" Mercer stretched out beside her and tried to untangle the sketchbook from where she was tucking it away. They could do projects together. She made him feel bad by being all logical. Much better when his sisters shouted at him, because then he could just carry on believing he was right.

"I was making a map of the grounds. So I could bury a treasure. Want to see it?"

sweetpinkpixie · 09-12-2022, 08:36 AM

She did not mind putting it away and so she continued. She had, after all, come up here at Mercer's request and not at that of her watercolors. "Only if I paint your opened eyes, which I would never do to you," she assured him with a smile. He was learning. Remembering. She did not resist his attempt to take her sketchbook, instead handing it over to him and folded her hand on to her knees.

She had only really finished his outline, paying special attention to the way the wind caused his hair to dance.

"I would," she nodded. She was typically interested in anything her best friend was up to. Though there were some concerns that even with a map he may remember where he buried his treasure. Mercer often happened upon such things by the delight of chance rather than purposefully.

Cassirin · 09-14-2022, 12:53 AM

"I'm gonna need my essence," Mercer flipped carefully through the sketchbook, pausing occasionally to show her things that he liked. Not that she hadn't seen everything, considering she drew it, but he thought she might like to know her effort was appreciated.

"And this is my map," he offered her a surprisingly to-scale drawing of the grounds from above. There was an inky fingerprint along one edge, but the linework was otherwise tidier than expected. "I haven't actually figured out where to put the treasure yet, but I think you need the map first."

sweetpinkpixie · 09-16-2022, 09:52 PM

She certainly did not disagree, therefore he had nothing to worry about with regards to her stealing it from him. Ever, as far as she was concerned. Her nose tickled while she watched him as he flipped through her work, many inked sketches of the backs of heads or almost profiles surrounded by dreamy watercolor sequences in which the majority utilized her salt technique. The only mild surprise may be the sheer number of sleeping portraits there were of a certain older Gryffindor by the name of Yumeki Kawatani. There were sketches of sections of the Hogwarts architecture, but never a fully realized portion as each section faded into watercolor and lines never fully closed. It was nice to have someone showing such a genuine interest and enthusiasm in what she enjoyed and she did not realize she had begun to smile a little more prominently as Mercer's continued to leaf through.

Her nose, however, was really starting to itch and rubbing it with her palm simply agitated the sensation further.

Every intention of showing Mercer the same diligence in examining his work, Mitsuki found her eyes watering a bit as the itch became insatiable and as soon as she opened her mouth to compliment him and instead sneezed. Loudly. While she had not felt her nose expel anything (because it had not) the thought that she had ruined Mercer's hard work with her bodily fluids was quite unpleasant. However, when the moment passed and the tingle in her nose subsided...her blurred vision was greeted with the sight of Mercer's map wafting up on the air just above their heads and in her hands a bouquet of light blue hydrangeas (her favorite), white roses, and white snapdragons that had seemingly manifested itself out of thin air.

Cassirin · 09-17-2022, 01:32 AM

Geez, if she didn't like his map, she could just hand it back. Mercer grabbed the parchment out of the air and crunched it protectively against his chest. It didn't phase him that she'd just manifested flowers with a sneeze. He didn't properly understand all sorts of magic, and his Mitsuki friend always had a sort of otherness to the things she could do. Probably most people sneezed flowers.

She'd sneezed on his map, though, to make those flowers. A tiny line appeared between his eyebrows, the scowliest Mercer face possible, and then he offered her a crumpled handkerchief with the hand not clutching the map. "That was a good one. Do daffodils next time."

sweetpinkpixie · 09-17-2022, 05:21 AM

She had sneezed once and she was about to sneeze again. Her eyes had only just stopped watering when she was overtaken by a series of softer sneezes in rapid succession. "ACHII!" A flower crown of more white snapdragons and rosses appeared atop her head. "ACHII AAACHI." Two more flower crowns, one make up of bold orange begonias and calendulas with the other made exclusively of black velvet petunias, popped into existence upon the top of her head before she even had a chance to reach for his handkerchief.

No daffodils, Mercer friend.

Finally able to accept the aide, Mitsuki was greeted with the very disgruntled face of her friend. It was an expression she was certain he had never made in her direction and it left her stomach feeling quite unsettled. Enough so that her lips curved downwards. "Why do you --- ACHII!" Suddenly Mercer had a shower of pansies in every color showering down upon him.

Cassirin · 09-19-2022, 01:27 AM

Flowers. Everywhere. A veritable garden of sneezy flora covered Mitsuki, the ground, her sketchbook, and Mercer. He shook petals from his handkerchief and waved it at her again. "Are you allergic to me? All of a sudden? You've never sneezed flowers before."

Wait. Was that something he SHOULD know how to do? No one in his family sneezed flowers, but it wasn't like they were the entire limit of magical learning. Mercer sat down hard, still cradling his abused map. "Was this our homework? Did I forget an assignment??"

sweetpinkpixie · 09-20-2022, 02:12 PM

Flowers everywhere. The last of them appearing in her cupped hands as more mulch than a proper bouquet. She wasn't sure how to accept his handkerchief when she had so much flora in her hands, so she simply dropped them to their feet in favor of accepting Mercer's favor.

"...allergic...to you?" She took a moment to consider the evidence and whether or not there was any weight to his claim. "No...certainly...ACHII---" Oh, there were your daffodils, Mercer, in a flower crown a top her head.

And then, suddenly, her nose no longer itched and her eyes dried ... and Mercer was thumping to the ground of the battlements. Something that would have probably been more comfortable if he had collapsed on some of the flowers. Because looming over him felt awkward, she joined him (though a bit more elegantly) and pursed her lips as she attempted to make heads or tails about any of this. "Perhaps a curse of the garden gnomes." Touching the flower crown atop her head - the daffodils - she slipped it off and leaned forward to place it on top of his.

Cassirin · 09-21-2022, 01:43 AM

"I don't even remember that chapter. I really try to remember it all," Mercer croaked out, miserable, as he adjusted the crown on his head. There was so much new information to learn all the time, he sometimes felt like the words were pushing out old learning. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a ring of childhood memories around his collar after every study session.

"Curse of the wicked seasonal allergies, seems like," Mercer fished for a second handkerchief, but he was fresh out. He offered his sleeve, in case she needed another wiper. "Pretty impressive magic, though."

sweetpinkpixie · 09-24-2022, 04:23 AM

Seasonal allergies did seem like a possibility. Magical illnesses had very peculiar qualities about them and perhaps the gnome that had bitten her in the greenhouse the other day had infected her with something. "Perhaps I should seek the advice of the healer later," she said calmly as she looked down at her hands with a certain fascination and paid particular attention to the lines in her hands. Mercer's extended arm caused he eyes to cross a bit, unraveling soon enough to look at her friend and ... not quite understanding what he was offering here. Her assumption was a hug of some variety, it was Mercer after all, despite the manner in which he had been looking at her so crossly moments earlier. Accepting the assumed invitation, she scooted closer and dipped under his arm to lean against him. "Your map is very impressive as well."

Cassirin · 10-21-2022, 01:41 AM

"My map IS impressive," Mercer agreed as he attempted to retract the sleeve she apparently did not want and found himself with a Mitsuki cuddled up under his arm instead. How did she do that? Was that a girl trick to get hugs? Could she do it again in slow motion, because he always wanted hugs?

"Um. Do you want to go to the Healer now? Because you've literally rained flowers from your nostrils, and that can't be good for you." That was a little graphic, but the point was the same. Sneezing flowers, if not a spell done on purpose, wasn't exactly the norm.

STILL. He was gratified she'd noticed the map while she was sneezing all over it. He'd spent ages on it.

sweetpinkpixie · 11-02-2022, 11:36 PM

That had been what she had said, yes. Nothing to argue with, Mitsuki remained tucked under his arm as he had clearly been offering and anticipating - so she would find it quite curious that he felt she had performed some sort of trick to be in this place. Mercer was a delightfully curious oddity though, and she thought so very fondly.

"Technically," she corrected as her nose began to itch and twitch yet again. "They simply appear and are not produced by any orifice." She paused to consider again, drawing a comparison from an unlikely place but also one that made perfect sense. "There is an ancient muggle documentary about a woman who could perform magic with a twitch of her nose as well...and she too was a witch." It was clearly the explanation to all this, she was a descendent from this same witch. Grandpa would be most pleased since he was quite the fan.

Cassirin · 11-04-2022, 01:29 AM

"You can't trust documentaries from Muggles on magical topics. They aren't exactly trusted sources." He dropped his chin on the top of her head and stared out over the battlement. From this angle, all he could see was the swaying tree tops, a glimmer of dark water, and dusky mountains that faded into an equally dusky sky, nothing worth putting on a map. It was a nice view, somehow, even just these fractious images of the world.

"If you never grow any more and I never grow any more, you can always be a good little chin rest. Consider it, okay? I need a chin rest."

sweetpinkpixie · 11-19-2022, 04:12 PM

Her neck sunk between her shoulders ever so slightly when he molded the underside of his jaw to the top of her head, but only briefly. She was not uncomfortable but simply surprised - though she really ought not to be by this point. "Perhaps we can grow in tandem," she suggested instead. "Though it is highly unlikely I will ever grow taller than you considering how much taller your family is than mine in general. Or, should I do so, it would only be temporarily before you catch up and surpass me." She paused to consider these statistics for a moment and smiles a little. "Regardless...a part of me will likely be available for your chin to rest upon."

She supposed that Mercer did have a point. In fact, one could argue that any documentary was not to be trusted considering the biased way in which history was written. Mitsuki was not particularly in the mood to argue (to be fair, she rarely was) so she did not make said point aloud and instead simply nodded. "It was interesting nonetheless. Perhaps grandpa can have us both over again and show us some of it." Her nose tickled again and she rubbed it quickly with her palm to try and prevent the inevitable.

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