Anandani Aeknov
Sixth Year Prefect Seeker Advice Columnist Slug Club Member
let me be your everlasting light
Posts: 29
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Post by Anandani Aeknov on Aug 7, 2012 16:39:26 GMT -5
we're all young and naive still we require certain skill the motive changes like the wind hard to control when it begins Just another night patrolling the halls.
She'd already given out a few detentions and warnings - Friday night was always busier than the rest of the week. People were always going out and about mingling in other dormitories or empty classrooms or even outside, losing track of time... she had to admit, she herself had stayed out past curfew more than once. But the difference between her and all these idiots was that she was exceptionally good at not getting caught in the first place. The one time she did get caught she just started crying and apologizing at Ted. Which, you know, might have been a teeny bit evil of her, buuut she could always rationalize that option, so. She wasn't going out and making shitty life choices - she just so happened to have friends in other houses, who she liked to visit with. And sleep issues.
So.
You know.
Whatever.
That being said, she was a bit lax with the kids who "lost track of time" (which was really only a legitimate excuse until midnight, then it was just bullshit). She gave out warnings two times to those kids before dishing out a detention, and then a detention every time after that when they were caught for two months, and then the third month, two more warnings. Consistency was key, and she rarely let anyone off the hook. She could tell from ten feet away whether someone was under the influence of alcohol or drugs no matter how good they thought they were at concealing it. And that was a whole different matter - that she brought right to Sinistra. ...The person themselves. Right then and there. Since Sinistra was batshit and awake at all hours. There were other little issues here and there that could be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but besides that, Ana got shit done. Which pleased her immensely. She was very good at getting shit done.
Anandani was beginning to get a little bit bored of things, you see, as she dawdled through the hallways, wand light lazily bobbing out in front of her. ”Quand il me prand dans ses bras, il me parle tout bas…” she sang softly to herself, turning a corner into her favorite hallway in the entire history of the world ever besides the floating staircase one, if that counted as a hallway at all. …But it was the hallway with the suits of armor and she was rather fond of it. They also offered a fantastic hiding place for her to jump out at people and then give them detention, since, you know, that was clearly effective. ”Je vois la vie en rose…” she finished the verse as she wiggled between two suits, settling in and then listening close for the familiar sound of scuffling feet in nearly complete silence. ”Quiet, all you lot,” she muttered to the suits, who had all been bewitched to talk and move around. At first when she started hiding between them they’d yell at her, but now, they appeared to be on her side; whenever she caught someone, they cheered her on and taunted the culprit. She raised them good.
In the meantime, she examined the intricate designs (her only light source being the moon, which wasn’t exactly substantial) on the suit of armor she was smooshed between. This one had lots of nice swirls and ridges, she thought, but she was squiting and it was hard to tell… she reached up and felt with the very tips of her fingers, suddenly wondering if this was what it was like to be bli… oh fucking damn she was pinching a nerve in her leg shit shit shit ugh… she shifted her weight and adjusted her position, letting out a sigh and resting her head back on the suit of armor situated behind her. That was terrible of her body to do that to her, wasn’t i - …footsteps. She heard them approaching, just barely, and they got closer and closer and she slowly began to slide her body out until the person was close enough and Ana leapt off of the ledge she was on and exclaimed, ”I have you now, miscreant!”
…And then she was blasted back by a stunning spell.
Well, shit.
That was just plain rude.
BENJI !
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Post by Benjamin Burke on Aug 7, 2012 18:19:43 GMT -5
It felt like over the past week, all Benjamin had been doing was apologising to people. He was starting to believe that it was beginning to get on people's nerves, but he couldn't seem to get himself to stop. He'd apologised to Rose at least ten times (in one day). In fact, the only person he'd only apologised once to was Ian, and that was because Ian...well, he had this way of making you feel guilt-free even though you knew you should feel guilty. Or maybe it was just because Ian knew him so well. He just had this way of looking at Benjamin with a certain expression and Benjamin just knew that he was forgiven, truly and honestly. Maybe it was their time together, or their friendship, or the fact that they could both read each other easily - whatever it was, Benjamin hadn't apologised to him again. Although deep down he knew it would be at least a little while before he was entirely forgiven and things completely went back to normal (probably because of Benjamin's own guilt complex), he at least didn't hound his best friend about it. And Benjamin still had a rather lengthy list of people he needed to apologise to. Although he found that some of them were rather confused, probably because he didn't exactly talk to them on a daily basis, but he simply wasn't sure who he'd been an arse to and whom he'd simply ignored, mostly because that phase of his life had been a blur of depression and he only remembered about half of it. And not because he'd been intoxicated throughout most of it or anything like that (he'd refused to touch alcohol during the entire time; it was just too easy, too weak to numb the pain. He'd wanted to feel it all). It was just not a part of his life that he particularly wanted to remember. As a matter of fact, he'd rather just forget it all ever happened. (Including the part where Marlene had to die, but that part was the most difficult to forget; he didn't think he ever would forget it. He didn't deserve it, that would be too easy, too).
Anandani Aeknov was another person who'd been on his list. Although he had never been outwardly cruel to her (at least, he hoped not, because she was a very sweet girl and he would hate to have done and/or said anything to hurt her), he'd made it completely clear that they were not to patrol together. She'd taken it pretty well, considering Benjamin had been rather short with her, and they hadn't patrolled again since. This had continued onto this week, too, since Ana didn't know yet that he was...well. He loathed to say "normal Benjamin", but that was kind of what it was, wasn't it? Strangely enough, he missed the times when they occasionally walked together. She was a quirky soul, and definitely a good friend to have around. He appreciated her intelligence and liked to listen to her talk. So, he supposed that meant he missed her, personally. It was why he kept an extra lookout for her tonight on his patrols. Hogwarts was an enormous castle, so it was no surprise that he'd been roaming the halls for over half an hour with no sign of her yet. He had caught several couples snogging in the strangest places, and had sent them along on their merry way, he'd helped a lost first year. You would think that after almost seven months, she would know where her common room was. But then again, the castle can be an overwhelmingly scary place at night, so Benjamin supposed he could sympathise. Plus, she reminded him of Rose, especially when it turned out he was escorting her to the Hufflepuff common room. Benjamin even went as far as giving the eleven year old an affectionate hair-ruffle, although she didn't seem very pleased by that. He'd also caught a mischievous fifth-year Gryffindor trying to set off dungbombs in the path Filch took most often, and although Benjamin was sorely tempted to let him continue (Filch had been a nightmare for Benji his first year here, constantly sending him to detention. Granted, Benjamin had deserved it, but still), he confiscated them and ordered the student back to bed.
Honestly, he was beginning to lose any hope at all of finding Ana tonight, and was starting to wonder if he should simply give up on that and simply find her in the common room tomorrow morning. He'd just thought it might be nice to continue the rest of the night patrolling their area together, for old time's sake, but they could always do that tomorrow night anyway. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Benjamin continued down a random hallway that he knew to be lined with suits of armour, on the lookout for any more mischief-makers. He certainly hadn't expected anyone to jump out at him from between them and Benjamin's reaction was purely instinctual, his hand wrapping around his wand, yanking it out and pointing at the "attacker", shouting "STUPEFY!" The bright red light illuminated the corridor and Benjamin realised his mistake, just as the jet hit the girl's body. "Oh fuck!" he exclaimed, dropping his wand arm and hastily diving forward to catch her before she hit the floor, carefully lowering her body with her head in his lap. "Shit, shit, shit, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, even though she couldn't exactly hear him since he had rendered her unconscious with a spell and fuck he was such a bloody idiot! He should have known better! Even if it hadn't been Ana, it could have been another student and he still shouldn't have stunned them! (But at least now he knew he was perfectly capable to handle a surprise attack).
Fumbling with his wand, Benjamin lightly tapped her face with the tip of it and mumbled, "renervate." Thankfully, she came to almost immediately and she opened her eyes. "Blimey, Ana, I'm so bloody sorry," he spouted immediately, looking guilty as hell - as he very well should. "You just...completely caught me off guard. I thought you were attacking me. Jesus. I was supposed to come and apologise, not stun you. Fuck." He heaved a sigh and then helped her up carefully, keeping a light grip on her arm in case she felt woozy. "How uh...do you feel? Sorry. Again." He really couldn't seem to stop apologising lately.
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Anandani Aeknov
Sixth Year Prefect Seeker Advice Columnist Slug Club Member
let me be your everlasting light
Posts: 29
|
Post by Anandani Aeknov on Aug 15, 2012 7:55:25 GMT -5
we're all young and naive still we require certain skill the motive changes like the wind hard to control when it begins She opened her eyes, dazed, and stared around. Up. She stared up. At Benji's face. "Was that you?" she mumbled, confused, reaching up and grabbing his face to be sure it was him. Well obviously it was dark and there were shadows and it sounded like him but - well yes it was him, those were definitely his cheekbones. "You need to shaaaave..." she muttered so quietly, she could barely even hear herself. Anandani laid her hands back down on her lap and smiled at him appreciatively for allowing her to grope his face. Not that it had been the first time she'd done that to him, but that was beside the point. He... he had stunned her. Benji Burke stunned her. ...That was obviously absolutely hysterical. ...Then again, so was the fact that she jumped out at him thinking he was some sort of wrong-doer. Nope. Just Benji. Her fellow prefect. ...Aaaahahahahhah. Hah.
.......Hahahahahahahah.
Her amusement at all of this became obvious, as she started giggling, trying hard to hold it back because he was trying to have a sincere moment, for whatever reason, oh my gosh did he seriously think she was upset he had done that when it was absolutely hilarious. She slowly sat up and began to stand, her head spinning a little; luckily Benji had a grip on her, so the teetering she did was supported. She had a mischievous look in her eye when she looked at him. "You know, I think that was the kindest thing anyone has ever said to me after using my body for target practice. Normally I'm just tossed to the side, you know," she explained, talking animatedly. "Completely forgotten about until the next time my services are needed. But you, Benji Burke,"
[/b] she said, pointing at him and narrowing her eyes, a grin teasing at the corner of her lips. "You are a real gentleman." A full smile spread across her face and she reached forward, rubbing his arm gently. He seemed quite distressed about it, but there wasn't any need for that. "Great aim, by the way," she mumbled, glancing to the side with a pleased smirk on her lips. Oh god she just cracked herself up. "Wait a minute, apologize for what?" she asked quickly, staring off into space, trying to put the pieces together. Did she miss something?! Something sounded awfully funny about that one thing he had said, about apologizing and not stunning... what... But she continued without really leaving any room for him to answer. "And really, it's fine. I feel just fine! I probably would have done the same thing if I had been jumped out at! Most of the time I scare myself when I do that, you know, but I do it anyway. Got a reputation to uphold. Gotta keep the hooligans on their toes. Sway them from their shenanigans, since obviously the fear of being pounced on by a Prefect with the ability to punish them is enough to keep them from getting it in," she babbled some more, very matter-of-factly. "Seriously, though, I don't mind at all. You didn't let me fall, did you?" she asked, squinting up at him, a hand reaching back to feel her head. It didn't hurt. Nothing hurt. Not that being stunned was particularly painful, but if you'd ever blacked out when you were standing on a concrete floor you knew it wasn't exactly a comfortable landing. "Seriously, though, apologize for what?" she asked again, remembering that she had gone off on a bit of a tangent and gotten off topic as she usually did, but her question went unanswered. Clearly a problem when you wanted to know everything about anyone and anything ever. Ana quickly went over every interaction they had lately in her head, trying to recall a time where he had wronged her. Unfortunately nothing came up. Wait. That was it. Was that it? He hadn't been particularly... chatty lately, to say the least. She knew one of his friends had died, Marlene, and she figured that was it because after that happened, he told her they couldn't patrol together. And she understood that just fine, thank you very much, she knew people needed to mourn in different ways and that was probably his. He just... needed time to digest it. That was one of the most important aspects of the healing process, at least in her experience. Time. It didn't keep her from checking up on him, because she was concerned, but even they he barely said anything. She considered Benji to be a very dear friend; they were in the same year together, same house, shared so many of the same activities. Ana and Benji were constantly in each others presence... but she could only recall a few moments actually talking lately, and this was the first time he'd approached her in... months. She certainly had missed him, but she didn't see why apologies were necessary here. That is, if that was why he was apologizing in the first place. [/blockquote][/blockquote][/color]
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Post by Benjamin Burke on Aug 22, 2012 10:27:26 GMT -5
Honestly, Benjamin was just glad he had caught her, because otherwise this could have turned out to be much, much worse. She could have hit her head, which could have caused a serious concussion, or she could have landed awkwardly on a limb and broken it or seriously injured herself and then Benjamin would have felt even guiltier. As it were, she only seemed a little befuddled by the entire thing, and she seemed to be slowly regaining her bearings. He couldn't help but smile a little when she told him he needed to shave; it showed that she, at least, wasn't in pain. Not that he'd thought she would be, since generally when you were stunned, unless you crashed to the floor, it wasn't at all painful. And that was only further proved when she started giggling and he raised his eyebrows, wondering if this was after-effects from the stunning spell, and then the speedy return to consciousness. But then he remembered what he knew about Anandani and reconsidered: it was definitely Ana just being Ana. His smile only grew with amusement, even though the guilt remained, clenching his stomach in knots, and he shook his head.
"Usually?" he repeated, uncertain whether to laugh or be concerned. "Do people often use you for target practice? That doesn't sound too good." Then again, he figured if she really did make a habit of jumping out at unsuspecting people, it figures that she would wind up getting hurt sometime by trigger-happy people such as Benjamin who hexed first and thought later. At that, his stomach rolled with guilt once more and he was, again, thankful that he hadn't caused her more harm than he already had. "Thank you," he responded, unruffled by her compliments since he was too busy studying her face carefully, making sure it wasn't unusually pale. No, she seemed perfectly healthy. She was smiling, even, and although her balance had been slightly off when he'd first helped her up, she seemed to have regained her bearings by now and was standing quite without his help, although his muscles were slightly tense, ready to leap forward and catch her again if their were aftershocks or something of the sort. When he had finally decided that she wasn't about to crumble at any instant, Benjamin finally let himself relax, pocketing his wand and standing back a little to give her - and himself - a little more personal space. Why he appreciated about Anandani was that, even though she was the type of person who liked to be incredibly touchy-feely with her friends, she respected his need for distance at times and kept the physical contact to a minimal. Most of the time, anyway.
Smiling, he shook his head a little at her as she proceeded to burn through about ten topics in one breath. If it weren't for Rose's tendency to babble and, thus, Benjamin's eventual ability to pick up on the questions he needed to answer and topics he needed to address, he probably would have been completely lost. He waited until she finished speaking before he proceeded to attempt to respond to anything, idly brushing his hand over his hair in thought. "Maybe you ought to find a new technique of scaring people into being good, since this is just getting you hurt and might wind up being a very ugly situation indeed." He felt he had to point that out even though he didn't want to tell her what to do; he was merely acting the ever-concerned friend he was trying to be again. "No, I didn't let you fall. Managed to catch you in time. I didn't want you to hit your head and end up with a concussion. It would have made this all so much worse," he admitted, placing his hands in his pockets and shrugged casually, and if it was no big deal. It wasn't; it'd been the least he could do. Well, no, actually. The least he could have done was not use Stupefy on her. But hey, little victories or whatever, right?
When he realised he now had to address her question about his apologies, Benjamin hunched his shoulders, looking uncharacteristically abashed and uncertain. Clearing his throat, he shifted his weight onto his right leg and scratched the back of his neck, watching her carefully. Before he could speak, some comprehension seemed to dawn on her and he could see in her eyes that she was starting to draw conclusions. Whether they were the correct conclusions, Benjamin wasn't sure because she didn't say anything, clearly waiting for him to speak first. He doubted she had failed to notice how distance he had been, but he was starting to think she'd been one of the few who hadn't been bothered by it at all, probably because he hadn't been a jerk to her outwardly. Not as far as he could remember, anyway. Much of those months had gone by in a blur and Benjamin was almost positive that, even though he hadn't had a sip of alcohol, some things had still managed to somehow escape his memory. It was a haze of insomnia and nightmares and tears - on Rose's part, at the very least - and hands reaching out to him only to have them be metaphorically bitten by him. "I haven't really been myself lately," he started, and then inwardly cringed because wasn't that the understatement of the century? "I'm not sure if I've done much more than ignore you, but even that is bad enough. And I'm sorry. I've...improved significantly since then. And I promise not to act the same way again, if I can help it." He smiled uncertainly. It was a vague and simple explanation to something much, much more complicated, but it was the most that Benjamin was willing to say. He'd never been much for opening himself up to people; tonight wasn't any different, even though he did still feel guilty about hexing her. "So. In light of my...ah, change. Would you to patrol with me? I could protect you for any other oncoming danger like myself." He said the last part jokingly, even though it was entirely possible. If he had done it, surely someone else would, and with actual intent to wound, too.
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