Topic: Aftermath (Open)

[~Harry Potter~]

((Based after the actions of Broken Glass

Rhyme sat depressed, curled up in the side of an overstuffed couch as he stared mindlessly into the fire burning into the fireplace.  As he stared he tried with all his might to see through the block in his memories.  The blackouts were always confusing, but this last one was scary.  Where he ended up, with all the carnage around him, he didn’t know who caused it but deep within he feared it was himself.

In his normally neutrally purple hair, now there seemed to be a streak of grey or two.  His eyes had bags under them from his loss of sleep.  He just seemed to lose the glow he always had around him.  Before there was always a buzzing around him from the music he was listening to.  For the first time in over two years, he did not listen to music.  

Happy people walked around the Common Room laughing and talking to their friends as they did their normal things.  Some played Wizard Chess; some were playing with a miniature broom.  In the far corner some girls were gossiping.  If Rhyme really wanted he could listen in but now even that didn’t pick up his mood.  

[Alexis]

Alexis walked into the common room with her arms full of books.  Mainly spellbooks and textbooks for she had just came back from her potions class.  She feared that she could fail for the year, so the stress was beginning to build up to become overwhelming.  She wasn't used to this pressure, not from school at least.

Alexis looked around the room.  It was unusually packed for this time of day.  She figured most of the students would be going to their next classes.  It was discouraging because she was hoping to get some quiet time to study.  Alexis prayed that getting caught up in her classes would relieve some of the stress she had on her back.
No, she was just in desperate need of a break.

Alexis sighed quietly, and sat down on the couch near a boy whom she didn't recognize.  She turned to him and smiled weakly.  
"Bad day, huh?"  Alexis sighed again.

[potter_fan122]

Stacey took a deep breath before stepping int the common room. She knew exactly how the powers of everyone around her would hit her as she neared them; she could already feel them like an always-present tingle in her mind. Sometimes she really hated her powers, but she couldn`t exactly get rid of them, now could she?

While her eyes rolled a dark grey, she stepped into the dim and loud area that was the Gryffindor common room. She looked around, meeting most peoples` gazes as she felt the powers hit her in a sudden rush. This was absolutely nothing compared to when she went to the Ministry.

Humming softly to herself, she made ehr way to the worn armchairs and sat down with in legs curled under herself. She was lucky-- she didn`t have to take the final tests. Her grades were some of the best in the school, so she didn`t have to take the finals. She then saw Rhyme. He didn`t look good at all. She noticed for the fist time that there wasn`t any music playing around him and she stopped humming.

"Rhyme?" She asked softly.

[~Harry Potter~]

When Alexis walked in Rhyme turned and watched her walk over.  He didn’t remember hearing her much around school, he guessed they just never took the same classes.  He tried to give her a smile but failed, having it come out as only a half hearted attempt. 

“Eh, more like bad week” he said simply. 

He then turned and watched as Stacy walked in.  He could tell right away when she entered from her humming.  Each person just sounded different as they walked or talked.  Some people always jingled, others gnashed their teeth while even others shuffled their feet .

”Rhyme?”

He jerked slightly at her voice, it reflected somewhere deep inside when she talked to Artemis during his blackout. He gave her a pained look of confusion, despair and fear.  He was not sure how to broach the subject of Hogsmeade.  He was afraid of what he may find out. 

“Oh, hey Stacy, how’s it going?”

[potter_fan122]

((Add an E in there, Rhyme. StacEy.))

Stacey nodded and gave a small smile. She blinked a few times and took a deep breath. She could tell easily enough that he was thinking about the day in Hogsmead and she chewed her cheek thoughtfully, also unsure how to open the subject.

"Really bad week?" She offered, hoping that would help bring the topic to discussion. She knew Rhyme couldn`t read minds, but he should at least get the hint. She looked at Alexis and smiled to her. Her grey eyes were getting darker as she ran through different thoughts.

[~Harry Potter~]

Rhyme nodded sadly to Stacey’s comment.  He guessed it was a bad week.  What he could remember from it.  After that everyone including teachers have been giving him strange looks, like he grew a second head or something.  They treated him like another person.

“Yea, a really bad week.” and then distinctly in his mind it flashed I wish I could remember it.

[potter_fan122]

Stacey`s eyes fluttered closed as the thought hit her softly. Much more gentle than when Ginny spoke to her, but Rhyme probably didn`t know that she could hear him. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times.

"Hm. Maybe it`s for the better." she offered outloud as she gattered the powers she would need to send her thoughts into Rhyme`s mind. As far as she knew, Rhyme didn`t have very strong mental abilities when it came to thoughts. She didn`t know about Artemis, but she doubted it. She sighed softly.

I remember it, you know." She sent the thought into Rhyme`s mind gently, trying not to startle him if he wasn`t used to it. She didn`t know much about the boy in front of her, and she hadn`t ever really spent any time with him to get to know him, and didn`t know what areas of magic he was aware of. I was there when... when it happened.

[~Harry Potter~]

((Sorry for delay, graduation this weekend and then first classes with my summer program))

Rhyme’s eyes flew open for a moment before he put them back in their depressed state.  He wasn’t sure if it was normal for a person to speak in his mind.  It sounded a lot like Stacey but slightly different since it wasn’t warped by the air or his ear. 

He could hear the uneasiness in her thought though.  That made him even more nervous.  What could have been bad enough to freak her out this much?

Really?  …was it….bad?

[potter_fan122]

((Haha, it`s okay. My computer has a virus and I`m forced to use the library computers when I`m actually at home. I keep messing up because the keys are different than mine.))

Stacey smiled in her mind. No. It wasn`t too bad, But you have to remember what I`ve seen. She thought in reply. She could tell that Rhyme hadn`t had anyone put their thoughts into his mind before. It could become a rather dangerous process, if used the wrong way. but Stacey never intentionally did anything for the worse of someone else. Depending on the person, of course....

Uh, do you know who artemis is? She added, sending the thought to him. she had no clue if Rhyme was even aware of what happened and who made it that way.

[~Harry Potter~]

Artemis?  That is my real name, though nobody calls it that.  My mom came up with the nickname Rhyme since she used to say all the time, “There is no rhyme or reason to what his powers are”.  Wait, only one person refused to call me Rhyme, it was my father…

Rhyme flinched mentally at the mention of his father and it caused him to shake slightly on the physical realm.  As he sat there he zoned out a bit as his mind was flooded with memories of his father.  Some of which he actually did remember so they were basically whole.  There were scenes of his father yelling at him to do the magic right.  Then the memories become more fragmented as it went into his fugue state. 

Stacey could probably see these better then he could since his mind still didn’t want to process them.  There were flashes of his father locking Rhyme within the basement with an evil grin on his face.  The words “use magic to get out” being said.  Another flash was of Rhyme in the corner crying his eyes out for his mother or anyone to help him.  All of this played to the disturbing mental tune of Never Again by Nickelback. 

From deep within his mind, trapped under much of the weight of his upper consciousness a small but strong laugh could be heard.  It was confident and calm, just biding its time before it could come out again.  If someone could actually look closely at it they would see that an overly large women, a representation of Rhyme’s mother stood guard before this person.  This was because the loving memories of Rhyme’s mother and sisters are what kept Artemis locked away for most of Rhyme’s life. 

[potter_fan122]

"Rhyme?" Stacey asked softly. Her eyes flooded grey and she pushed off of the chair and kneeled in front of Rhyme. "Can you hear me?" She asked, not seeing what was in front of well because of the memories that hit her mind. She did not, in fact, see the memories clearer than Rhyme himself. She saw what he thought, so if he only saw part of it, so did she.

With a small gasp, she forced her way out of the boy`s memories. She took hold of both of his wrists. She noticed that even his skin felt warm against hers.

"Rhyme," She said, louder and clearer, "Pull yourself away from the memory. Listen to my. Look at me." She instructed, hoping he would listen. She had had enough experience with fighting memories to know what would help. She was confident this should work, because it worked on herself and her memories were fighting against her soul, not her mind. As Ginny had often told her, the mind and the soul are separate.

[~Harry Potter~]

Through all the shattered memories a small voice could be heard.  Stacey’s voice got stronger and stronger the longer he heard it until he could see her face in his mind.  This created a calm spot in the tempest of his memories which he focused on.  With his focus on her, the storm of his memories lost their power and slowly drifted by down to the subconscious level of his brain. 

Rhyme was breathing hard mentally as well as physically.  He felt like he just ran a 100 yard dash.  He didn’t like bringing back all those bad memories and his hands turned clammy from the cold sweat that formed on them. 

“Thanks.” Rhyme said weakly. 

[potter_fan122]

Stacey let go of his wrists and sank down into the other side of the couch. "No problem," she said meekly, "You don`t know how many times someone has had to do that to me, and then take me to Ginny to have my mind scanned, or whatever it is that she does." She rolled her eyes, which were now a soft.

"Rhyme, if you don`t mind me asking, do you have any idea of what happened yesterday? At all?" Her eyes loked on his, and she looked so sincere and caring. She was truely worried about Rhyme.

[~Harry Potter~]

((Okay, the main reason why this is so late can be summed up in 2 words…”College sucks”))

“Nothing that is really important.  There is a big 5 hour gap in my memories.  Blacked out in an alley and woke up in a crater.” 

He said this with almost no emotion.  What little emotion he did speak with was of depression. Blackouts weren’t unusual though he didn’t enjoy them; he learned to deal with them. 

“It sounds like you did see it though.  If I give you the canvas can you paint the picture?” he said hoping she got the figurative language. 

He meant that he would project the basis of the magic and then she could tap into a little of his to show her memories on his base.  His powers took a lot of practice to get right; a person could steal the basis of his power but not the skill he built up using them.  When he unknowing warped the world around him, it depending more on just skill as well, his emotional state played a large role on what happened. 

((And I suggest Music or the Misery by Fall Out Boy for the scene, it is a good example of the conflicting nature of his two sides))

[potter_fan122]

Stacey nodded slowly. She had been there. In fact, she had been caught right in the middle of it. She hadn`t been much help, and Ginny had ben the real hero, but she was there and she had tried.

"I think so." She replied to his last question. She wasn`t even going to try to use Rhyme`s powers. It wasn`t like she had been around him that much, like she had with some of the students. Rhyme`s powers seemed to be so different from hers. She couldn`t even explain it.

"I can tap into it and play back my memory into the screen, but only if the screen stays up." She said, trying to think quickly as she spoke. She had never done something like this, never needed in such a way. It was almost a little scary. Rhyme had blown up an alley, and probably hurt people. It wasn`t something that she had been exposed to. Yes, she had had extensive training. Yes, she had fought with people, had hurt and been hurt. But this was still different. She couldn`t do anything about it at the time, and that`s what had bugged her the most.

"I`m not sure how you want to do this. I don`t know how you do it, but just.... make the screen, or whatever it is, and I`ll jump in." She said, wincing at herself.