Wax & Wane, .closed. Options

[Icarus Falls]

That morning, Icarus had awoken (traditionally something he did in the mornings) and realised with alarm that today was the day that shipment of the new TV Guides would be happening. He wasted no time in returning to bed and sleeping in three more hours before hastily stumbling out of bed and writing a pleading letter to his Grandmother with whom he took care with during the holidays. Because not keeping up to date with his soap operas plots was a crime if there ever was one. Yep, Icarus enjoyed watching British Soap Operas. He wasn't proud of it. Then again, he wasn't ashamed of it either. Fairly indifferent to it I guess you could say.

The letter was brief and to the point.

"Send me TV guide
From Icarus"

Very heartfelt and appreciative as I'm sure you can all tell. Knowing his Grandmother, it would be there in about two weeks. She liked to keep him hanging out in suspense. So cruel. Ran in the genes.

Icarus paused at the Great Hall on his way to the Owlery. He considered taking a couple of bread rolls for the birds but decided against it because a} birds were filthy and he didn't want them crawling all over him b} they already got fed and c} fat birds = slower mail. So Icarus ate the bread rolls for them.

Fed and full of bad mood, Icarus was now fully prepared for the rest of his day. Which would begin as soon as he shot up to the Owlery (which was painstakingly far away) and sent his exceedingly short letter. Note, really. And so Icarus set up and off to the Owlery, groaning and complaining the whole way there. It was terribly good fun.

Finally reaching his destination, Icarus stopped short. Now for the hard part. Getting an owl and holding it long enough to attach his note to it. He didn't feel so good about this. The smell of the place, their funny eyes, beaks and feathers... it did not bode well with Icarus. This could take a while longer than intended. If only he didn't hate birds and animals so much and he could have been done by now.

Boy, was it hot in here or what?

[Ananke Czymbor]

Ananke awoke that splendid Saturday morn to the sweet fragrance of... owl droppings?

Odd... never remembered the girls dorms smelling quite that awful, Ananke thought, crinkling her nose as she let out a huge yawn. I suppose those other koritsis* went overboard on the perfume... Sighing, Ananke stretched her tanned arms high up in the air, flexing her fingers to reach for the yellow curtains of her four-poster bed. Nothing came into the stout child's grasp, however, and she opened her ecru eyes in a desperate search for the missing drapes. There were no curtains or four-poster bed, now that she looked. As a matter of fact, there wasn't a dormitory, either.

"What the-"

Ananke sprung to her feet, running her fingers through her dark hair as she did so. Bits of straw were embedded in her stringy dark hair, and when she looked at her palms, lo and behold, they were doused in what appeared to be green ink. A single piece of parchment and what remained of a broken quill fluttered out of her lap and onto the dropping-strewn floor of the Owlery as Ananke hastened to get up.

"How did I end up here?" Ananke wondered aloud, her voice reverberating through the tower. It was vacant except for the occasional owl flying in and out of the open window and a single melted candle flickering on the floor. Ananke hunched over to retrieve the candle. The embers gave a soft sputter as the candle's soft glow illuminated the girl's face. Ananke grinned at the feeble flames. She remembered now why she was here. She was supposed to be writing a letter to her Pateras the night before, but had obviously drifted off to sleep. He was probably wondering why she had neglected to contact him in recent weeks. Pateras worried about things like that. Ananke continued to smile dreamily as she groped for the broken quill and the parchment.

Then Ananke realized that her considerable lack of usable writing utensils might pose a problem.

Scolding herself, Ananke stumbled off to the Owlery door as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She would wash up, change, and come back later with a new quill and ink so that she could send Skordo, her barn owl, with a halfway-decent letter. It was not such a big deal. Just as she approached the large wooden door to the Owlery, however, it swung open with a bang. Ananke let out a shriek as her pudgy hands dropped everything including, to her dismay, the flickering candle. Sparks showered in every direction as the candle sputtered and died. A few decided to cling to the Hufflepuff's robes and, still screaming, Ananke began to stomp on the hem of her robes in a desperate attempt to smother the flames.

Talk about one heck of a wake-up call.

*READER'S NOTE: "Koritsis" is Greek for "Girls"

This post has been edited by Ananke Czymbor: Mar 21 2008, 09:59 PM

[Icarus Falls]

It seemed Icarus's minor problem (not really that minor actually; kind of a big problem where his TV guide was concerned) would be put off for now. For as Icarus opened the door to the owlery, a flock of owls descended upon him and ate him! Well, not quite. Instead there was a Hufflepuff girl jumping about and screaming as if she was on fire. Imagine that! Icarus stared vacantly, waiting for her to finish her little act so she could pick her stuff up and get out of his way. He had a mission! And this could take a few hours so it was best he got started as soon as possible.

This was taking a while. Icarus sighed loudly and obnoxiously, tapping his foot a little. "Can't you do this little dance of yours elsewhere? I have some serious business to be doing here," Icarus said with ATTITUDE. And not because he was a gentleman or anything, Icarus bent down and picked up her things. He didn't hand them back right away. Let her sweat that he was gonna steal them. Who knows, maybe Icarus could find special uses for this still-warm candle? Excellent.

Over her shoulder, Icarus could see the birds staring at him. Feathers and beaks and round glowing eyes. He shuddered in repulsion and shoved her things into her hands, trying to keep himself occupied rather than looking at them. They out numbered him. How many knockback jinxes could he possibly produce if they attacked? They were conspiring against him, Icarus just knew it! He was on to them! Was a TV guide really worth running the risk?!

Yeah. It really was. So he'd have to work with what he had. "I picked up your stuff. You have to do me a favour now," Icarus informed the Hufflepuff. Come on, big bad forboding Slytherin? How could she possibly refuse him! And yet they always seemed to anyway...

[Ananke Czymbor]

The flames soon were smothered beneath Ananke's overlarge feet. She sighed, brushing back a few strands of stringy, dark hair from her round face as she bent down to figure the damage. Oh dear, Ananke thought, moaning as she examined the hem of her school robe beneath her hands. There were several charred holes in the black fabric.

"Can't you do this little dance of yours elsewhere? I have some serious business to be doing here." A voice said from above Ananke. Her head shot up and she found herself face-to... um, face with a pair of... tapping feet? Upon gazing hesitantly upward, however, Ananke realized that the feet were attatched to legs... which was attatched to a torso... which was attatched to a neck... which was attatched to the face of an older boy she did not recognize but whom, judging by the annoyed tone of his voice, she probably did not wish to meet. Ananke hastily looked back down at the tattered hem of her robes.

"I am, uh, perilypos- I mean, I am sorry for causing you tarasso- I mean trouble! I mean...," Ananke stuttered, jumbling her Greek and English. She felt her cheeks begin to burn as she glanced around for her dropped supplies. The sooner she could get out of here the better. She'd just have to come back for Skordo and the letter some other time. However, when Ananke scanned the dropping-strewn floor for her parchment and candle, she found nothing. Where could it have gone? "Ah... have you seen-?"

"I picked up your stuff." The lad said curtly, and Ananke, doing a double take, saw that he was quite right.

"Oh..." Ananke forced herself to smile as she straightened up. Even still, she was several inches shorter than this boy. "Um... thank you..." She began to absentmindedly brush dust from her robes as she got steadily more nervous. This only accomplished her smearing olive green ink all over her clothes, and she winced. Well, look at the bright side, she noted to herself, there's not much else you can do to these ftochos* robes...

"You have to do me a favour now," The boy continued matter-of-factly. Ananke raised her thick eyebrows. Well, she supposed he was right. After all, no matter how intimidating this person happened to be, he had still helped her. Maybe it was one of those weird English traditions to do this kind of thing...

"Well..." Ananke began slowly, but at the sight of the boy's face, she sped up, "A-Alright. I'll help." As Ananke said these words, she sighed. This was probably going to be a very long morning.

*READER'S NOTE: "Ftochos" is Greek for "poor".

[Icarus Falls]

He really was anticipating some grand refusal. It was so typical in the grand scheme of his conversations with girls. So naturally he was quite surprised when the girl agreed and even seemed a little intimidated by him. Imagine that! Icarus being intimidating to someone! What a joke. I mean... very good! They should be! He was a big bad Slytherin fourth year after all. And he had a Coconut wand. While not exactly relevant with the whole tough persona, it was still very important to note.

"Really?" Icarus asked dubiously, scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly. What was he demanding she do again? Glancing down, Icarus noticed the note in his hand. Oh yes! How could he ever forget the stench of the owls? It was pretty overwhelming. "Well of course really, I just picked your things up," Icarus said hurriedly, incase she changed her mind and he had to do it himself. And that was just not acceptable.

He took a few brave steps further into the room, felt the birds stirring and paused. If he was any more tense then he'd be concrete. "I'm going straight down to breakfast and I don't want my hands dirtied by the owls," Icarus explained, gesturing to the pile of mouse bones and owl droppings on the floor. Ugh, despicable creatures. Would it kill them to master the toilet? Honestly.

"So what I need is for you to attach my letter to an owl," Icarus explained. His arm threw itself voluntarily, offering her the small folded piece of paper that she was to attach to one of the (foul, disgusting, diseased) owls. He stared at her a moment, waiting for some challenging sneer or something of the likes. Waiting for some form of argument.

[Ananke Czymbor]

"Really?" The boy absentmindedly scratched the back of his neck as his eyes gave away a sense of suprise. Ananke was a bit taken aback by his response. Well, of course! She'd just said she'd do whatever he wanted her to, right? A sense of regret at her acceptance of this task crept up on her like the ocean tide. What terrible feat was she supposed to accomplish, anyway? Just as she thought this, the boy stepped cautiously into the center of the room, his back stiff and his eyes suspicious.

"I'm going straight down to breakfast," The boy began, eyeing the scattered piles of mouse skeletons and droppings warily, "And I don't want my hands dirtied by the owls. So what I need is for you to attatch my letter to an owl."

Say what?

Ananke raised a thick eyebrow in response. Was that all? What kind of menial task was that? Even Ananke, the klutzy coward that she undoubtedly was, could master such a feat. Oh well, she thought as the boy held out the miniscule slip of parchment, It's not for me to judge, I suppose.

"Here," Ananke muttered, smiling sheepishly as she delicately took the paper from the palm of the stranger. In the back of her mind, she hoped her Greek accent wasn't too terribly obvious "I can do that. I'll show you how if you like, Mister... umm... umm..." Uhhhh... what was his name again? Ananke's face turned a rosy shade of pink as she searched her mind for a name, any name would do. None came to her, however. Embarrassed, Ananke turned away to locate Skordo, her barn owl. If anyone would be able to manage a task, it was him. She especially did not want to ruin her chance at this task, seeing as she had already messed up this boy's name (and he had been so nice as to pick up her supplies). Come to think of it, did he ever introduce himself? "Skordo!" Ananke whispered to a feathery mass on a wooden owl perch, "Skordo, wake up!" The owl rested one bleary eye at the short child and gave a resentful hoot of annoyance. Ananke rolled her ecru eyes at the ceiling. "Skordo!" She hissed, waggling the piece of parchment for him to see, "I have a job for you! Please don't let me down, this is spoudaios*!"

*READER'S NOTE: "Spoudaios," is Greek for, "Important"