The Snake and the Badger Pv Finished

Interacting with @Selim Faust
Outfit Ref

Willow had decided to return to the courtyard after her morning walk with Flash. The morning mist and soft hazy glow had called to her for drawing. After a brief trip to her dorm room to grab the appropriate supplies and rushed back out. By the time that she had returned out, the chill breeze brushing past her, there was a boy now doing... something. Fighting the air? Ah, perhaps martial arts. He was also by her namesake, a Willow tree. Once of her favorite spots to hang out because she felt like a kindred spirit with that tree.

She may be dumb, but she recognized this was not a person to interrupt just for tree time. Instead she sat cross legged in the still damp grass, not caring too much about it. Flipping open to a blank page she started sketching a few different fighting positions she saw the boy repeat. Human subjects were not often a point of interest for her in art. Normally nature always had her attention, but she wanted to diversify and who was she to deny a perfect opportunity when it presented itself.

Eventually the boy wore himself out, and Willow took this as an opportunity to go and introduce herself. She picked herself up from the ground, brushing off stray grass that stuck to her before bouncing over to the boy, making sure to round out her approach so she didn't sneak up on him from behind. A bright smile lit up her face as she introduced herself, "Hi there! I'm Willow Anderson, a first year Hufflepuff." She finally took the time to really look at the boy in front of her, scars apparent. It become more and more obvious that she wasn't the only one with scars, but she felt lucky for the fact that hers were easily hidden. This boy also looked like he needed about 12,000 hours of sleep and like he could pass out at any second he was... so pale. How was this kid just doing intense exercise?

After a substantial pause she hoped that just came off as waiting for a response she spoke again, "I've actually been watching you practice whatever it is you were doing, and I drew you. Would you like to see them? You can say no, I know this is really weird. But it felt weirder for me not to offer since... I was drawing you... without you knowing... Wow this is really creepy and I'm just now realizing it. I am so sorry. My offer still stands if you'd like to see my creepy drawings of you." Her bright smile dimmed to one that was more shy and passive. She really didn't know when to shut up sometimes.

@Willow Anderson

___ ___ ___

Selim had noted that someone had walked up on him while he was training, before going quiet, until all he heard was the scratching of a pencil. He ignored them, they weren't bothering him.

After he finished his training though, his observer approached him, turns out they were a girl. He looked up at her blankly while she spoke, still sprawled on his back. He noted her name, and contemplated telling his own to her, then decided it would do no harm. "Selim Faust, Slytherin, first year." His tone was flat, and stated as if he was reporting to a superior, very militaristic.

She then blurted out a lot of words, and he couldn't really be bothered to keep up with them other than a few key points. There was a stretch of silence, where the blank-faced boy just stared at her, before pushing himself up into a sitting position and shifting to face her.

Wordlessly he held out a hand in a gesture clearly stating that he'd like to see her sketches.

He didn't know why exactly he wanted to see him, and decided it was just a whim he'd follow. Usually his art was done with ink and brush, and he only did art if it was part of his lessons in the clan. He was good at it, but didn't care to pursue the skill.

He watched her with detached amber eyes, face still completely slack, and unlike he would've before the situation with the fox, he didn't bother reading her body language, there was no point, he simply didn't care about such things.

Besides, he'd probably be trained to do so again when he got back to the clan. Mentally he prepared for the upcoming exhaustion.

He definitely looked like a conditioned soldier, but even then, the emptiness of his gaze just threw the whole image off.

Interacting with @Selim Faust

Maybe she shouldn't have approached.

He wasn't immediately rejecting her presence, rather accepting it in an.. interesting way. He solidly looked dead inside though. Maybe this would cheer up his day? Or just make it worse if he felt like she didn't do him justice, which would be a totally fair assumption being that she was not at all good about drawing people. "It's nice to meet you Selim." A sudden urge to be more polite to someone her age kicked in with the unexpected monotone voice that came out of him. The awkward pause that filled the air had her looking at anything but directly at the boy. Eventually though, he reached out his hand wordlessly.

She scrambled to flip open her sketchbook to the appropriate pages, cursing herself for not bookmarking them before closing it before handing it over to them. "It's just those two pages, drawing people is not really my specialty so it took longer than usual." Not that he would know what her usual time for drawing is. On the pages Selim would find various forms of sketches, ranging from very rough outlines of a human form, to something that looked vaguely like Selim if he squinted his eyes or something. They weren't completely accurate but they weren't awful either. A healthy medium of mediocrity.

As he looked at them, she slowly sat down in front of him not liking the height difference between them at that level. It was something she was usually acutely aware of. How could people take advantage of her from all different levels. While she had more of an advantage standing to run, sitting down was more of an offer of passivity in a way, putting her at a distinct disadvantage with her clumsiness and small stature. Her eyes moved up to the willow tree, seeing it finally full regrown after the winter thaw filled her with joy. "She's finally back to her full glory, isn't she?" Her voice and eyes had a softness now, if Selim seemed confused about who 'she' was, Willow would point to the hanging foliage all around them.

Selim watched wordlessly as the girl scrambled to get to the right pages, before handing the sketchbook to him. He took it gingerly, glancing down at the pictures with a critical eye, scanning them. For a while, he was silent, before looking back up at the girl. "With some practice, you'll do well. Don't worry, I am not offended by your actions." His voice was a monotone as he stated this, before an idle thought entered his mind. He looked back at the book, "May I perhaps see your other art?"

He glanced back up as the girl sat before him, obviously not bothered that she did so. So he turned back to the sketches, there was some silence between him and the Hufflepuff, which was broken by the girl speaking once more, tone wistful. She spoke about the willow tree, personifying it, and he looked up before turning to look at the tree as well.

Its drooping branches seemed to encase them, their own bubble, isolated from the world and its burdens, a perfect place for him to train with no distractions, other than this girl who approached him without knowing of his harsh origins. A solitary snake meeting another creature who simply just wanted to converse.

He had studied her body language, and it gave no indication of ulterior motives, her gaze seemed almost clear, windows to a soul he had only seen a fraction of. He wondered what else lay beneath those crystal blue orbs, perhaps she was hiding from herself as well.

Finally, he spoke, "Indeed." He agreed. He used a simple word, spoken with a tone that seemed the slightest bit lighter than before. He liked willow trees, but what he would give to sit beneath the sakura ones back at the compound, there, he felt truly at peace among the drifting petals, blown ever so slightly by the breeze, with only his two snakes as companions.

He supposed when he got back... there'd only be one serpent to ease his stress... his only friend.

Selim's mind drifted to his nii-san, he would like to just sit under the sakura trees again with him, drinking tea without a care in the world, but ever since he had become a full-fledged assassin, his time with the older boy steadily grew fewer and further between.

At this rate, Selim would be alone again, like he always was.

At least now his Otou-sama and Okaa-sama wouldn't look at him with disappointment, because he had become what they wanted... surely they'd approve of him for once.

... Sometimes he wished he was a sakura blossom, alive for one beautiful instant, before withering away without any burdens to weigh him down.

Interacting with @Selim Faust

Willow settled into the silence, it was something she was used to existing in different circumstances whether for ritual purposes or just between two people like it was now. It gave her time to listen to the environment around her. The gentle breeze moving through the willow tree the encased them, the distant chirping of birds, even soft sound of pages rustling as the journal was passed from one person to the other. She let out a small hum of delight at the peace of the day.

Lazily she returned her attention to the boy in front of her as he commented on her art. A small smile appeared on her face from the small compliment, and the reassurance that he wasn't mad for becoming an unwitting model. Her eyes widened when he asked to see her other art. It was leaps and bounds better than the two pages that he presented him, but it was all fixated on fire. The fire consumed her like it had her common room at the beginning of the month, the explosion and raging flames that resulted stuck in her mind. It wasn't her normal subject for art, it mainly revolved around flowers, trees, grass, landscapes mostly. She did feel some obligation to show him the rest being that she had just stared at him while he thought he was in a private moment.

After a substantial pause of weighing the pros and cons she finally nodded. "Yeah, sure go ahead." She moved to sit next to him so she didn't have to watch his reaction as he flipped through. The pages were full of reds, oranges, yellows. Entire spreads dedicated to the Hufflepuff common room on fire, Willow encased in a fire with a peaceful expression on her face, campfires, a single candle flame. They were detailed, beautiful really, capturing the movement and viciousness of a fire spreading. She felt some need to justify it, to make him know that this wasn't typical for her. "Ever since the Hufflepuff common room fire it's all I've been able to draw. You've been the first thing I've drawn that doesn't involve fire." She pulled her knees up to her chest and laid her head on the top. In her eyes there was something like sadness, but it wasn't quite there. It was something different. Even Willow didn't know what the feeling was when it came to that night. There had been so much that had happened.

Selim glanced over as she moved to sit beside him, then began to flip through the sketchbook with a critical eye. His yellow orbs took in the details of the fire, summoning up memories of torches and candles that dotted his clan's compound. It almost seemed like the flames were alive, flickering in the reflection of his amber gaze.

The girl then spoke up. "Ever since the Hufflepuff common room fire it's all I've been able to draw. You've been the first thing I've drawn that doesn't involve fire."

He looked up at her, attention pulled by her words, eyes calculating, cold, but he was listening. He didn't know that the Hufflepuff common room had been caught up in a fire, it was odd that the news didn't reach him, with how raptly he paid attention to gossip among the student body.

The fact struck him as strange, the Slytherin common room had been caught up in a traumatic event too, now the Huffelpuffs as well? It was unusual for such events to happen within the same year, was it not? Were the professors just incompetent? Or was there something else at work?

How did that fire start?

He looked his impromptu companion over, eyes inquisitive, sharp, taking in every word, and assessing it clinically.

Finally, he spoke, after waiting to see if the Hufflepuff had anything else to say. "Something like that happened in the Slytherin common room. Two of my peers heard something when they were in their dorms coming from the entrance." He looked back down at the sketchbook. "A ruckus began, and soon almost everyone in Slytherin was down there, debating whether or not to open the door." His eyes narrowed in thought, "Amidst the chaos the door opened, and we were flooded by spiders. Mania broke out, students were falling down left and right, writhing in pain after being bitten, black stains marring their skin and spreading rapidly." His skin crawled thinking about the event, he wasn't traumatized by it, like many of his peers had been. No his previous trauma outweighed a bunch of spiders crawling through the common room. "One Slytherin cast a blinding lumios spell, the spiders disappeared."

His fingers tapped the art book he was holding in a rapid beat as he mulled over the experience, "Miss Jensen arrived after the whole thing and many were carted to the Hospital Wing. Turns out that the venom of the spiders was a curse, and the cure for it wasn't permanent, Students would have to get treated periodically..." He let out a sigh, "A lot of us were traumatized by the whole thing. I wasn't bitten, luckily, but was fixated on the even for a while afterwards, more paranoid and seeing things in the shadows."

He turned back to the girl, his expression still void of any emotion, "It's not odd that you couldn't stop drawing what happened, it's a part of coping, as far as I know."

His gaze wandered over the misty scenery around them, his form relaxed even as he mulled over the information he had gained. Something was off, pieces of the puzzle were missing, and now he wanted to find out what those pieces were...

What exactly was going on at Hogwarts?

Interacting with @Selim Faust

She didn't expect to come into this apparently spilling everything out that she had kept bottled up until now. Right after the fire she had made the decision to try and be a strong one for others, a person to go to with worries and fears despite sleeping in her best friend's bed at night to calm her own nightmares. Willow had no ties, no connections to the boy sitting next to her so it made it easy to be vulnerable. She might never see him again, and if she did it would be passing by in the halls or having a class together. What she wasn't expecting was for Selim to offer his own story of the Slytherin night in return.

A shiver ran down her spine thinking of waterfall of spiders pouring into the Hufflepuff dorm, she much preferred the fire. How is it that both the heads of houses weren't around when their house needed them most? Professor Browne was nowhere to be found during the fire, leaving the children to fend for themselves. "At my muggle school I never had to worry about any of this. I'd go, learn some stuff, and come back home. Now I go and try and make tea in the middle of the night and our common room literally explodes. I was the only one in the common room when the explosion happened but my back was to it so I have no idea what caused it." She moved her back as is if she could still feel the heat and pain of the impact.

She looked towards him, his expression was still blank, almost cold in a way. But maybe that's just who he was as a person. "Everything was caught on fire, I mean our common room is basically all wood how could it not? One wall was completely blown out. The poor plants that perished... Luckily we got the fire out but there were so many holes in the floor. People were falling through the floor left and right, Hogwarts really needs to work on their infrastructure if the floors disintegrate that easily." A hefty sigh came out of her.

"We're kids. People like the head of houses and the professors should be more available to find for help. A distress signal, or something." She wondered for a moment if Flash had been affected, he hadn't really talked about it at all. She should be paying more attention to him, maybe he was traumatized and she just missed the signs because she was always too focused on herself. "I'm glad you made it out okay. I'm sorry for your housemates though, having to go under continuous treatment. That's awful." Shouldn't there be a cure? With all the magic at their disposal there should be no reason for a cure not to be found sooner rather than later.

A creeping fear was starting to grow about what was waiting for them at this school, these two events happening so close together had to be something.

Selim listened to the girl speaking with great attentiveness, mulling over bits of information with deep interest, picking apart her words to try and make up a theory, something he could go on.

But there wasn't enough.

A thoughtful frown pulled down the corners of his lips after the girl finished speaking, eyes glinting with clinical calculation. His eyes were drawn back to her drawings, as if they held all the answers he needed, but they didn't. All he saw were expert strokes of red, orange, and yellow, dancing hypnotically across a pristine piece of paper. He could almost imagine being there himself, amongst the dancing flames, beautifully swirling in the air, elegant, yet dangerous, a raging inferno with unstable gluttony. He could almost hear the screams of terror as students frantically tried to put out the frenzied flames... as some fall through holes in the ground and the air around them gets devoured until it's hard to breathe, and all they can inhale is smoke.

An image straight from the depths of hell, full of tortured souls and wailing demons.

What caused this?

He wanted to know more, his curiosity was eating at the edges of his mind, coiling and merging with his constant sense of deep-rooted paranoia. These last few days have only built that up, first, the blood sample he took broke free and came to life and cursed the owl trying to carry it to his clan compound, then his meeting with that girl, @Opeila Seilun, which drew up a new set of concerns, then the letter from that boy, @Thomas Lestrange, and now this.

Something was stirring under the innocent mask of this school, something dark, something that wanted to harm him, harm the students...

And it seemed the Professors were unable to protect them.

He glanced up at the girl after a stretch of silence, filled only with his churning thoughts. "Thank you for your sympathy." He spoked, voice detached, professional. Then he cocked his head to the side, eyes still inquisitive, "Have you, mayhaps, noticed anything else odd in the school? Something out-of-place? An event, a person, anything?"

He needed to know more, he had to, this puzzle was practically taunting him. If he didn't figure this out there would only be more sleepless days and nights ahead for him, his mind would never turn off and give him even a minute of reprieve.

His life was no safer here then it was at his compound, no, even less than that. If what he was hearing was correct, then there had to be something coming, something big... and he had a niggling of when it was going to happen.

It seemed he'd have to prepare more for the upcoming blossom ball.

It was time to send another letter to otou-sama.

Interacting with @Selim Faust

This definitely wasn't how she imagined her afternoon going, spending time under a willow tree was in her plans, but not talking about the tragedies that had befallen the houses recently. It was a weird way to make a friend, bonding over a shared trauma in a way rather than mutual interests. She did find herself doing it more since she had come to Hogwarts. Everyone here had a lot more going on than they initially let on.

In the next stretch of silence as the weight of what had happened weighed on her mind for the first time she found herself idly running her fingers through the grass. She didn't pull any out, just enjoyed the feeling of the earth beneath her fingers. Willow often avoided about thinking about things that were too sad and why they happened, there didn't always have to be a reason for tragedy and she found that out the hard way through her childhood. Maybe there was no reason for all this happening, just the tragedy of living at a school of wizardry. Did other magic schools experience this? She really had no frame of reference to make that judgment call. She wanted to leave it to the adults of the school, let them figure it all out. But they were obviously never there when they needed them.

Selim's question made her think even more, had she? Slowly she shook her head, "No, I don't think so..." A noise of disappointment was made, sad that she couldn't help Selim in whatever he was trying to figure out. But then it hit her and her eyes lit up. Her body quickly moved to be fully facing Selim. "Yes! Actually! Professor Browne's birthday! His birthday was at the end of March, so a bunch of us badger's tried to turn the common room into a birthday party. It was headed up by one of our prefects Annie Morgan. Everything was going fine but then that weird visiting Headmaster was there... what was his name... Plott! Headmaster Plott. He brought cookies that were very delicious and definitely not poisoned, I should know I had two. But I think Annie thought they were and dumped them all, it was really upsetting." She shook her head, the cookies were not the focus of the story. "Anyway, he was looking for Jake Morris for some reason. Said he needed him for something? Which is weird because Jake really is one of the smallest of us so if he needed someone to get through small holes he'd be great but otherwise, he's just a really cute, kind boy."

She paused taking a deep breath, making sure that Selim was still following along. She wasn't the best storyteller, but she was doing her best. "Anyway, Papa Badg-- I mean, Professor Browne saw him and grabbed Jack Warren and sent him over, and Jack Warren brought George Henry with him. Jake seemed absolutely terrified, the boy was absolutely shaking. He even dropped the card he made for Professor Browne. So obviously there's some history there but I don't really know what. Then Professor Browne came over and led Headmaster Plott away for adult business probably, and Jake, Jack, and George went back to their dorm I'm assuming and I didn't see them for the rest of the party. Also, I was right there and Headmaster Plott didn't say hi to me, even though I said hi to him. So really he's just plain rude too." Taking another deep breath after really just going off with her story that definitely could've been shortened she smiled with pride, hoping her tidbit of information would help. "Do you think that could be something?"