Well... I'm back... on Labyrinth Gardens

Stephen Baxter

April 27, 2007 10:51 AM

Well... I'm back... by Stephen Baxter

OOC: Looks like Ty is back as well, so... yeah. Welcome back, Ty. BIC:

Stephen told himself that he wasn't shaking.

He'd left Ty and Geoff, because they had to return to their own commons... and he'd made his way this far... but one look at the armour and the passage behind him and Stephen had turned back, finding a spot on the outskirts of the gardens - venturing further into them didn't appeal either - and now he just couldn't seem to keep on his feet any more. He dumped his trunk and slumped down to sit with his back against it, his knees bent and his head slowly descended until it was cradled in his outstretched fingers, his elbows on his knees.

This was stupid.

As if it hadn't been bad enough on the wagon. He'd thought he was going to fall to pieces when he saw it coming in to pick them up. He'd held it together though, he didn't want his parents to see him fall apart. He didn't want Ty or Geoff to see it either. His grip on Fido had increased until there was a creak of protest and he had confined himself to short, shallow breaths. He was pretty sure that his face had lost a lot of colour by the time that they boarded the wagon - he had to force himself to take the steps - but Geoff had been sensible enough not to mention it, and Ty... well, she never was never the most talkative person. He had made sure he had the middle seat, and had felt bad, because Ty was a girl and she'd had a horrible set of recent experiences too, and Geoff was both younger and taking this route for the first time.. but that wasn't enough to stop him from needing to know there were people between him and anyone else.

He didn't think he'd ever felt so... pathetic.

And now he couldn't even face the passage to the Pecari common room. What would everyone think if they knew? But it was just so... so small. So confined. Just thinking of walking down there, and he could feel the walls moving in, the darkness rolling over and trapping him. He had to stop his train of thought and force himself to take several deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. Stop panicking. They had the guy - he was locked up. He wasn't coming back. He wasn't going to be trapped again. It was all going to be fine.

He sat there, quietly trying to get his head back in the right space, for a long time. He wasn't entirely sure how long it was, but the shadows had moved and a mild breeze had picked up, wending its way through the gaps between the bushes. He had heard the passage of several other Pecari students making their way to the commons, but none had come near where he was, on the other side of a hedge. The steps he could hear now were coming closer though.

Stephen took a shaky breath and quickly checked that his face and hair were as people would expect them to be. He kicked his legs out in front of him and put his arms behind his head.

"Hello," he said, as he caught sight of movement in the corner of his eye. He didn't turn to face whoever it was though, but kept up the pretence of relaxation. "Those elves sure do a good job cleaning up the snow around here. You'd never know this area was covered with it just a matter of days ago. And the weather is warming up quite nicely too."

He was pretty sure he sounded like he was trying too hard, so he stopped before he could comment further. And he deliberately decided not to go on with 'good holidays?' simply because that would be to invite the question himself.

He settled with "it's good to be back."

39 Stephen Baxter Well... I'm back... 49 Stephen Baxter 1 5

Jennifer Zucchero

April 27, 2007 11:20 AM

Which is good, as we couldn't function without you by Jennifer Zucchero

Jennifer had had a fairly impressive amazing break, all things considered. The first week of it had gone fairly well, with her mother and her gettng along better than normal, and then she had gone off to California for the wedding, which had been a blast. Well, with the exception of Juan showing up, and the escalating fight that resulted. Still, that was over and done with, and she and Jake were back to normal, or at least to as normal as they could have been.

Still, by the time she'd returned to her mother's house and spent a couple more days there, she'd been pretty much ready to go back to school. Pleasant as the break had been, it had also been strange, and Jennifer had never been a fan of weird events. Routine was of amazing importance, and not having things completely go haywire.

It wasn't only the lack of order and the unexpected events that thrown her off, though. She'd missed her friends, even if it was only for a few weeks that she'd not seen them, although she had been busier than she'd have liked in the last few weeks of break. She'd actually been too busy to manage to give Lizzie about the whole Ash thing (honestly, Jennifer was glad that they were finally doing something but did it really have to happen in the middle of the one game Crotalus won?), and it had seemed a bit ridiculous to write a letter over a two-week holiday.

So, as soon as Jennifer had gotten her stuff back into the dorm room and organized, she'd headed off to the gardens to see if she could find her friend, since that seemed more likely than, say, the library, which she could swear Lizzie hadn't entered more than five times per term. However, as she made her way through the outer sections of the library, it wasn't Lizzie that she ran into, but Stephen.

She stopped as soon as she saw him, mostly from shock. She'd heard about what happened, of course (the Daily Prophet was incredibly useful) but it had seemed a bit unreal. She'd actually tried not to think about it, as horrible as it may sound, because she wasn't sure what the entire situation would have done to either him or Geoffrey, although Geoffrey had been her immediate concern, both because she saw him more, and because the poor boy already appeared to have enough family problems, particularly if her suspicion about WAIL was correct. He didn't need a felon as well.

Jennifer had been fully prepared to just walk away and just not say anything, since she had no idea if Stephen wanted to talk to anyone as of now. However, he appeared to have spotted her, and had begun to talk, so there wasn't really anything she could do, no matter that she couldn't think of a single thing to say.

"Hey," she replied, trying to sound just as carefree, despite the awkwardness. "I know what you mean. Still, it is Arizona. Mud would be highly inappropriate." She paused, then decided quidditch was a nice, safe topic. "So, looking forward to the Teppenpaw vs. Pecari game? It's in a few weeks, isn't it?"

0 Jennifer Zucchero Which is good, as we couldn't function without you 48 Jennifer Zucchero 0 5

Stephen

April 27, 2007 1:25 PM

well, you've 2 1/2 more years - make the most of it! by Stephen

Jenny, Stephen identified the voice, but still didn't turn to look at her. Pureblood. Purebloods had taken him...

Don't focus on that.

Pureblood. She'd probably have read something about it in the paper. A version of events had made it out, he'd been told. She wasn't saying anything though. Maybe she didn't know. Maybe she didn't pity him, or revile him or realise how weak he really was. He deliberately didn't pay too much attention to her tone, so as to avoid knowing if possible, and was relieved that the topic remained safe.

"Yeah, should be a good game," Stephen said, trying not to focus on the blurry memories of his flight home that were flashing through his head. "I suppose I'll have to find Sorrel and Ash when I head inside - find out when they're planning on having us training. No way they're going to let us lose to Jake and his team again. If you're a betting girl," he tried his old smile and found it came with a little prompting but still a twinge from his cheek, "I'd advise against putting your money on your boyfriend. It'd be a terrible waste."

There. Just the right kind of thing to say. Clearly he was fine, and when he got up and headed in, he would have no problems with entering the passage and getting to the commons. No one would suspect a thing, so he wouldn't have to talk about it. Ever. Which would make forgetting about it easier. If he could just push everything to the back of his mind, everything would be ok.

39 Stephen well, you've 2 1/2 more years - make the most of it! 0 Stephen 0 5

Jennifer

May 01, 2007 10:08 PM

I'm sure we all plan to by Jennifer

Jennifer studied Stephen carefully as he replied. He still seemed like the old Stephen, for the most part. Same type of jokes, same grin, same slight arrogance. If it weren’t for the fact of what she had read, she would have honestly thought nothing was different. Well, and that he seemed slightly in his own world, if how he still hadn’t looked at her was any indication.

Still, it wasn’t her place to pry if there was something wrong, nor did she really want to. If she were Stephen, even not knowing the details, she had a feeling she wouldn’t have wanted to talk about anything either. So, fluff it was.

“Yeah, I would imagine the Cravens, and the lot of you, would be a bit anxious to win. After all, can’t let that massacre like the championship last year happen again, can you?” She debated moving close for a second, then decided that, for the moment, she’d just stay where she was. After all, while he didn’t seem any different, one never knew…

“Still, in order to win, I think one of the captains and one of the chasers would have to actually separate themselves for an extended period of time, and I don’t know if they could handle that.” She shot him an amused grin. “I heard you had a fairly big part in that whole thing. I want to extend my gratitude, as with any luck Lizzie’s going to have now stopped complaining about what an idiot Ash is. Or at least at the frequency she was.”

She lapsed into silence, not quite sure where to go from there. Despite her best intentions, her mind kept drifting back to the various articles she’d read, and when trying to think up another topic, she couldn’t get off of that one. So, once again, she waited for Stephen to say something, to continue to act like his old self.
\r\n\r\n

0 Jennifer I'm sure we all plan to 0 Jennifer 0 5

Stephen

May 05, 2007 2:20 AM

Let's just hope I can keep keep it together for that long by Stephen

She was still there, and still talking to him. Clearly he was getting this right so far. Stephen almost sighed in relief. This was entirely doable. Or it would be if he could maintain this pose indefinitely. The bruises had mostly faded, thanks to the ministrations of the mediwizards who had been his almost constant companions from the night he had arrived home until just that morning. He was fairly sure he looked almost the same, all things considered, except he was still too thin. It was going to take a little time for the effects of being starved to be completely redressed, he'd been told, but at least with the warm clothes needed both because it was still cold and because he was more susceptible to the cold at the moment it wasn't quite so obvious how much thinner he had returned to school.

"Oh, you know," he said nonchalantly. "There was only so much of those two skating around the whole issue that anyone can take, and I have to share a room with Ash. But I don't think it'll be an issue on the field... unless you know something I don't know. I..." and for the first time he faltered. Blinking and swallowing, Stephen attempted to get back on track. "I didn't really hear from anyone over the holidays," he managed, mostly by distancing himself from the words.

For a moment he was back in that room again, and it was all he could do not to flinch. As it was he was holding himself in an unnaturally still pose. He forced himself to relax again. He forced his smile to return. He thought he had it right. He was starting to feel more anxious though. How long could he keep this up? How long would Jenny want to talk? If he couldn't get through a simple conversation without all this... this stuff... how was he supposed to get through the rest of the year? He stopped the line of thought before it could cause his breath to more than quicken slightly. Panicking would not help.

"So, anyhow... I'm just going to relax and take in the atmosphere here for a little bit," he said. "No need to hang around if you don't want to. I'm guessing you were headed somewhere..." He let the sentence drop off, but even then he wasn't able to bring himself to look at her in any other way that by the corner of his eye. If he moved, he wasn't sure how he would keep up the pretence.

39 Stephen Let's just hope I can keep keep it together for that long 0 Stephen 0 5

Jennifer

May 07, 2007 8:15 PM

Good luck with that by Jennifer

It was horrible of her, and Jennifer felt beyond guilty about it, but she was more relieved than she could say when Stephen basically dismissed her. It had just been such a strange conversation so far, albeit a very brief one. Perhaps strange because it was so brief. There were only so many pauses one could have before the conversation became too much of a strain.

"Honestly, I know nothing," she replied, looking as innocent as possible. "Well, besides the fact that they couldn't manage to separate themselves for the length of the Aladren/Crotalus match, and their general attitudes. Still, they're both ridiculously competive, so I suppose it would work out."

She didn't miss Stephen's tensing, no matter how quickly it happened, and frantically thought back to his last comment to try and keep the conversation back on track, since the last thing she wanted to do was make him uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the only things she could think of were about how nothing important happened (besides his whole being kidnapped drama) or something along those lines. Which really wouldn't work, given the circumstances.

So, naturally, she was grateful (felt awful about it, but grateful nonetheless) when Stephen gave her an out. "Actually, yeah," she replied with a slightly sheepish grin. "I was looking for Lizzie, as I need to talk to her about a few things. Sorry if I disturbed you." She paused. "I guess I'll see you around in classes and such." With that, she exited, although she managed not release her sigh of relief that he had asked her to until after she was well away.

0 Jennifer Good luck with that 0 Jennifer 0 5