Evening... Closed

Clary hummed quietly to herself, wandering along the corridor with no exact destination in mind. A few days had passed since her visit to the infirmary, and she'd been loaded down with work she'd missed on a variety of lessons. Of course, being a Ravenclaw, she'd managed to recover quickly, only now finding herself with enough free time to take a leisurely stroll without the impending anxiety of an essay being due on the three types of potions: mental, physical, and environmental! The corridors were eerily empty at this time of night, and she realized with a jolt that most people were probably finishing up with dinner in the Great Hall and heading back to their common rooms. Apparently, she was a peculiarity, wandering the hallways of the second floor that was far off from her home in the West Towers.

The blonde slowed, smiling softly to herself as she recognized a slightly misshapen set of armor up ahead, remembering the very moment when she'd first encountered, or rather ran into, the energetic Hufflepuff girl named Rosie in this hallway. After successfully knocking down the set of knightly armor with her amazing grace, the two girls had managed to re-assemble it, if a bit awkwardly, and it now stood tall once again, its left arm a bit crooked at the elbow hinge. She made a note of the location, deciding she'd bring Rosie back later if they wanted to reminisce about the past, and froze, hearing a voice call out to her up ahead.

"Hey again!" The voice called out, evidently male. The sound reverberated across the hallway and she paused, twirling around quickly to scan for any other inhabitants in the room. It wasn't really a voice she recognized. Could it be Kaegan? Cameron? Lucas? James? Evan? She scanned her memory, trying to identify the voice when she finally spotted Anatole leaning against the wall, looking a bit like he'd just been chased through a marathon. 

Clary wandered up to the boy, an eyebrow raised, and replied, "Hi, again? Didn't think you'd be quite so ecstatic to see me."

Marissa was daydreaming, like always. This time she was thinking about the boy and girl she met at the grounds earlier on in the week. James and Ava, a couple of interesting people. She daydreamed about what was said in their interactions and what she could possibly changed to make it better. Replaying their conversations in her mind made Marissa slightly more anxious, always a what if.

As she walked down the corridor, Marissa heard some distant talking. As if almost instantly, she shyed away. She did not like strangers, it was always awkward when they first met, especially if she was on her own. But then she recognised her twin sister, Claryssa’s, voice. She perked up more and skipped towards the voices.

Finally making it close enough, she saw Anatole leaning on a wall with a red face and Claryssa standing nearby. She wondered what they were doing together, last them they were together it seemed like Claryssa wanted to rip Anatole’s throat out. She shrugged and continued to walked towards them.

As she finally came up to the two, she smiled and waved to both. She linked arms with Claryssa and gave her a tight squeeze, a special hello. She gave a polite nod to Anatole and smiled.

Kaegen had been following The girl for the past 20 minutes or so. Always one step behind. He had been practicing walking on the hard ground, and figured he might as well follow the first person who was headed somewhere on their own. He had been trying to not be found, and so he hadn't been found. It had been harder, but he was satisfied with the result. It was nice to know that if necessary, he could avoid detection, even on the stone and wood floors of hogwarts.
That was when they heard the voices, turned the corner. It was that girl he had run over, claryssa. He hoped that she wasn't still mad at him, he had carried her to the infirmary, but it had been his fault that she had to be carried in the first place, so He wasn't honestly sure if she was mad or not.
Stepping out from behind The girl, Kaegen gave a tiny little wave with his hand. "Hi" And then he turned and looked at the girl he had been following. He had to know if she had just been pretending to not notice him, or if he had actually managed to stay hidden.
"Did you notice me following you?"

At first the boy was not-so-pleasantly surprised by first seeing Claryssa, rather than her sister that he expected to see. Then that feeling was almost doubled noticing another Ravenclaw he had never been introduced to before. Maybe he was one of Claryssa's friends? Well, could he be a jerk just like she was to him earlier? Either way, he wasn't happy about this encounter.

His face cooled as he felt the need to reply to Claryssa. "Yeah, just happy to see a North around here, you know! The two of you are so nice!" Anatole pretended like he was expecting to see Claryssa. "Who's your friend?"

Of course, he expected her to say 'Oh, it's my friend I know from my house.'

Instead, he said, "Did you notice me following you?"


Okay. So then maybe he was a stalker and could also be mean? Ugh, Anatole's mind hurt from all the options.

He approached the man, passing through the orange-tinted windows, his small hand outstretched to shake as usual. "Anatole Evans, Gryffindor. Pleasure to meet you." He looked up into his eyes with a smile. Hopefully he wasn't creepy.

As Marissa came up behind Claryssa, he smiled and nodded. Aha. That's who he was looking for.

Anatole seemed a bit more delighted to see her twin, as Marissa wandered up right in the middle of their conversation, offering Clary a bit squeeze on the side of her arm. She offered a quick smile and nod of her head at her twin, informing her she promised not tear at Anatole's throat and raised an eyebrow at his words. "From the strange expression you're giving me, it's pretty evident you mistook me for my sister, but I'm glad you two are getting along now," Claryssa replied in Anatole's direction, a bit amused at the fakeness of his expression.

She twirled to the side, Mari still in tow, and noticed Kaegan approach, feeling a bit of conflict on how she should react. The kid was strange, that was for sure, and although they'd had their disagreements and mishaps in the limited time they'd known each other, they still had a sort of strange alliance of friendship ever since the fire ant and booze incident. Plus, Kaegan had never meant to run into Clary when fleeing the woods, and he'd managed to get her back to the infirmary in one piece, so, although the kid may seem a bit strange, or perhaps, very strange, he still had a good heart. "Hey, Kae." She returned his gesture with a smile and half-hearted wave of her own, raising her eyebrows at his words. 

"Why exactly were you following my sister?" She couldn't find it in herself to be mad. It was Kaegan they were talking about, after all. The kid was just full of curious surprises.

"The floor, I needed practice. So, did you notice me? I want to know if I did it right."
Kaegen looked over at the girl he'd been following. It would be pretty disappointing if she had known the whole time. He had even shushed his pets. Tried his hardest. And when Kaegen tried his hardest to not be found, it was almost impossible to find him. Some might say it would be impossible. Hiding had taken up most of his childhood. Hiding, and being quiet went hand in hand, the creatures came second. Then came anything that interested him.
A drop of red liquid hit the ground, coming from inside his robe. He didn't seem to notice as he kept thinking, looking for a better answer than the one he gave. It did seem rather quick, but he just hadn't wanted to give a long one. Talking didn't really come naturally to him, he had to think about it.
"Did you sense me at all?" Well, that was worse. He had asked another question instead of answering the first better. Giving up on giving a better reply, he just looked at the boy. Kaegen didn't think he had seen him before, had he? It didn't really matter, he would find out eventually, and the matter wasn't all that pressing.

Anatole just casually retracted his hand, supposing he didn't want to shake it. From Claryssa's earlier comment addressing the boy, he thought his name was Kae. It was almost as if he completely ignored him and asked Marissa these awkward questions. Yes, he wished he could help her out, but he didn't want to make a mountain out of a molehill. "I suppose she might not have, since I didn't notice you until you stood beside them? If that makes any sort of possible sense?"

Yes, he was also good at being awkward. His eyes drifted back over to Claryssa, who he felt uncomfortable calling her by anything but her full name. "Oh, and...yes, actually. I originally did mistake you for Marissa, if I remain honest. But, yes, we are all on good terms now and it makes me more than happy." Yet another lie. He still felt extremely uncomfortable around both North girls, especially with their stalker friend who was dripping with...uh... pomegranate juice (he did not want to consider the more morbid option on this first year)?

Anatole cleared his throat and motioned to the male Ravenclaw. "And speaking of being on good terms, I hope we can get to know one another better...Kae, isn't it?"

Marissa shook her head at rhe stranger. She did not hear a sound, which she found very confusing. The boy was a little bit taller than her, as Marissa was quiet small for her age group. She had no idea who he was, which was weird as he was talking to her as if he knew her. Then it finally dawned on her, he might think she is Claryssa. She and her twin sister were not completely identical, they wore their hair differently most of the time.

Turning back to Anatole as she unhooked her arm from Claryssa, she waved and smiled again. She did not have much to say today, so all she did was action and little mimes. This would be fun. She motioned for the others to join in the group chat, which was weord for her. Maybe Marissa was finally growing in confidence? Better not jinx it, keep doing what you are doing. She focused out her daydream and olayed with her robes, waiting for someone else to break the awkward silence. Maybe Claryssa knew the boy who folllwed her, maybe. She wondered what his name was and why he followed her, Marissa found it slightly creepy.

Clary resisted the urge to scoff at Anatole's lies. She believed the truth about the Mari mistake. Although the sisters weren't identical twins, they were still sisters and both shared the same characteristic blonde hair and striking blue eyes, though Mari had a somewhat fairer skin tone while Clary was slightly tanner than her sister. No, the lie was the fact that they were all on 'good terms' now, a fact he knew was far from the truth by the wary expression on his face. She frowned as Anatole shifted uncomfortably back and forth, wondering what had happened to make him so unhappy. After all, she'd only been mildly hostile or rude to him once, and he and Mari seemed relatively friendly with one another. 

She raised her eyebrows at Kaegan's comment, noticing his expression screaming that he was suffering from social interaction. Glancing in his direction, her gaze flickered to one of curiosity as the red liquid dropped onto the stone floors of the corridor. It was getting late, and Clary had no time for Kaegan's antics that day, but something told her she didn't have a choice but to get involved. Of course, she shouldn't assume right out that the liquid was blood. Based on the way it dripped, perhaps it was just some new type of elixir or drink to feed one of the many creatures he carried around, tucked in jars and pockets concealed in his cloak. "...Kaegan, are you alright? What's that liquid?" Her eyes narrowed at the drop of red liquid, tossing her friend a concerned look.