Asher Tallow
June 18, 2005 11:30 PM
Somnabulating by Asher Tallow
There it was, stitched in black thread, the numbers sized as large as her palms- and the realization that allit took was a date on a calendar to make her feel all of five years old again. Her eyes shuttered closed, and Asher tried to think of other things.The dust storm was the latest buzz. It sprung up during the second years' CoMC lesson, and practically blew the whole lot of them indoors. One of the more social portraits had whispered secretively of Professor K's mad dash across the school, her skin lacerated by the storm's brutal winds.
One of the sleeping girls shifted, and the zephyr created jostled the calendar's edge.
Asher sighed, rolled away from the walls, and stared sightlessly at the ruffled edge of her comforter. The stiched squares only reminded her all the more of why today's date was so significant. There was no helping it, she finally admitted to herself. Even with three years of absence, she still loved- and missed- her mother very much.
Three years earlier, to the day, her mother opened the singing birthday card her children had made, laughed at the 29 candles charmed to sing along on her cake, and then Apparated away.
A letter arrived in the Floo for her father not five minutes later, an explanation Asher had yet to hear contained inside it. Her father read it twice, shrunk it, and then disappeared into his greenhouse. Asher and her brothers silently put away the the unopened presents. Later that night, Asher took the cake they had all toiled over so meticulously, and smashed it on a rock outside. It was her brother Jamie who found her the next morning: asleep in a filthy pile of ruined birthday cake and sticky patches of dried tears on her cheeks. She swore to never cry again after that, not over her mother, not ever.
She turned back over and watched as the date refused to change. She lifted a leg from beneath the warm confines of her bed and purposely ignored the calendar as she crossed the dorm room, silent but for the soft sounds of slumber. She gave up a brief bit of thanks for the early hour; it gave her a much needed privacy while going through her normal ablutions. When she emmerged from the steam filled room half an hour later, hair damp and loose down her back, not a soul had stirred.
The calendar glared at her back as she left the room for the much cooler confines of the common area. The common area's grating glowed predictably with a heatless fire. Asher practised smiling, not expecting much success, and when a grimace resulted, she reasoned it only showed the truth, after all. She sprawled out on one of the sofas, stared into the fire that burned falsely, and then sighed.
"Happy birthday, Momma," she said aloud, and then silently, her mind added involuntarily, 'come home soon.'\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Asher Tallow
Somnabulating
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Asher Tallow
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Jenna Howard
June 23, 2005 11:45 AM
I bet that has to do something with sleep... by Jenna Howard
Jenna had always had trouble sleeping, sometimes not sleeping at all for days. This night was no different. It was very lonesome, but she didn't mind it very much. Over the years, she had learned how to make the best of this time when she was almost always the only one awake. Usually she would read, sometimes at home she would concoct potions.Tonight she lay on one of the big red couches, donning pajama pants and a white shirt that would make her sister gag. She was reading the potions almanac she had taken to all her classes with her last year. Some of the pages were torn and wrinkled, but she couldn't do much about it seeing as she wasn't very good with charms. And there was no way she was going to go to Jordanna for help.
Right now she was reading about the uses of dragons in potions. Their eggs, blood, liver, and horns were could all be useful, although quite pricey. In fact, there were twelve uses for dragon’s blood. Jenna wondered what the uses for prairie elf’s or house elf’s blood could be. She didn’t think anybody had ever thought to use them in potions before; they were more popular in aiding in the creation of the potions. They obviously hadn’t met one of the prairie elves that plagued Sonora.
Her eyelids were getting heavy, and she closed the book. She felt like she was going to doze off soon. She knew she better get up to her dormitory, but the couch felt so comfortable… no one would mind if she fell asleep right then and there, right?
She heard footsteps coming down to the common room. She jumped up in surprise, and a second later she was sitting up, quite alert and quite awake. So much for going to sleep. She watched the person sit down on the sofa across from her and watch the fire for a moment, before saying something. Jenna didn’t quite get it, though. Was she talking to her? She wasn’t making eye contact, but still, the girl had said something, and Jenna was the only other person in the common room. She put the beaten up almanac on her lap. She hoped the girl was talking to her; otherwise, it would be quite embarrassing. It didn’t matter really; she messed up conversations all the time back home. She would probably end up going back to her almanac and reading, and that was okay too.
“I beg your pardon?” Jenna asked.\n\n
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Jenna Howard
I bet that has to do something with sleep...
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Jenna Howard
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Asher Tallow
June 26, 2005 9:23 PM
Sleep walking to be exact. by Asher Tallow
"I beg your pardon?"So startled was she by the sudden utterance of those four words, Asher practically jumped from the sofa, her heart racing and cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She loathed being embarrassed; she had thought the common room empty! Her mouth opened twice to reply with a quick explaination, only to close just as many times with nothing said. When her mind finally caught up with her, the words' owner- and meaning- at last registered.
"I beg your pardon?" or, in easy translation, 'I didn't catch what you just said, so I'm asking for a quick repeat.' And since the person saying this was none other than the nice Howard of the Howard sisters, Asher had little reason to be suspicious. Well...Jenna Howard was still a Howard. Perhaps a bit of caution would be necessary.
Willfully, Asher commanded her face to finishing its flushing and turned to replying. "Nothing, really. Just talking to myself." She gave a non-chalant wave of her hand. "Sorry if I bothered you; I guess I didn't notice you."
Her gaze traveled down to the book Jenna had in her lap. In the dim light of the fire, she caught sight of the word 'potions' but that was it. She lifted her eyes back to the girl's face. "I don't think we've actually talked before, but I'm Asher. Obviously, I'm in your sister's year." She failed to hide her total dislike for the younger Howard sister from her voice, but she brushed past that. From what she had observed before, the two sisters didn't actually get on all that well.
"So, I take it you like potions to be reading about them?" A positively horrible idea planted itself in Asher's mind, and despite the heady rush of emotions that still churned in the back of her thoughts, she pulled that one idea forward. Thoughts of her mother could wait for a much later time. "Know anything about sleeping draughts?"\n\n
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Asher Tallow
Sleep walking to be exact.
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Asher Tallow
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