One crazy trip

[Vallon]

OOC: This is a thread continued from "Further down the rabbit hole" in the Entrance hall.

Vallon never really appreciated major changes in his surroundings. As long as he had one thing that he could recognize or hold onto, he would be alright. For him it was a cemetery. A place of quiet pondering as he viewed it. Most of the time Vallon was the only living being while he meditated in the cemetery. He figured that minimal living beings would present.

The sky was a clear blue without a cloud in sight. One of the gates of the graveyard was hanging wide open. The other looked as though the hinges were about to give in at any moment on account of the rust. The metal fence showed many signs of aging. A few bars in the fence were bent in odd angles, probably some beast of burden did the damage.

Vallon walked through the gates slowly. He would occasionally look over his shoulder to see if he was being followed. At one point he was, by a girl named Sin. But at the distance she was following, it looked like she was having second thoughts about it. She looked to be a little too timid to enter a place for the dead. Vallon happened to like it, dead people couldn't talk to him.

Vallon walked for a while through the cemetery. Only the occasional tree swaying in the wind disturbed the quiet. He didn't make a lot of noise while he walked between the headstones. He finally stopped when he saw a mausoleum, then took a seat against a wall on the side facing away from the gates. That way, if anybody did decide to enter and follow him, he could hear them coming before they saw him. Vallon sat quietly and pondered all that had brought him to this strange place, none of it made sense.

[joey crowe]

(After their rather chaotic meeting in the Entrance Hall, Joey was compelled by his own curiosity to follow the young lad. He was sitting....all alone......this told Joey that he was in deep thought. Joey sat back in the woods near the graveyard, the hallowed place of the mortal's rotting remains.

For the majority of his adolescence, Joey had longed to attain a place beneath the earth with the rest of the dead...where he had belonged.

Pushing these unpleasant thoughts aside, he continued to silently observe the young man.)

[Sin]

Night had not yet truly fallen, and yet a premature darkness engulfed them all as the trees surrounding them seized the sun behind their claw-like boughs. The earth was a rotten and barren wasteland, seemingly reduced to its current state by aeons of decay. Deep cracks traced the scars of liquid shadow around them. There was absolutely no movement, save that of the two people traveling slowly across the shadows’ land.

“Look at this place…” Sin half-whispered over the quiet whistling of the trees. There was no sign of life anywhere, yet an invisible presence had settled in her chest between her shoulders, as though something in the very air was watching their every movement. She was a little ruffled by the feeling but didn’t voice it.

Vallon had already disappeared. She knew he was his here somewhere, just...not in plain sight. Trying and failing to locate the shady young man, Sin finally gave up and stood, aiming to entertain herself by exploring some of the stone ruins just around the path. She quietly stepped over a line of her sleeping comrades and into the cool night air.

After a time her efforts were rewarded, for nearing her was an outcropping of stone thrust up from the endless flat abyss surrounding her. The stones were so arranged and carved that the structure could have stood as a marker, perhaps a gravesite. Sin knew otherwise, that its purpose was in fact to act as a mausloeum. She neared, and a mass of ghosts wafted from the stones. Undaunted, she stepped closer and stopped before it with unwavering eyes.

[Vallon]

An eerie feeling that he was being watched fell over Vallon. He knew that at least one person had followed him although he had made an attempt at being alone. At least one set of eyes were locked on his location. "Probably that girl who was following behind me is what I'm feeling right now." He thought to himself. Vallon sat quietly and listened as Sin came closer. The girl's footsteps crunching dead leaves and twigs let him know almost exactly how far away she was. He would have been able to pinpoint her exact spot if it had not been for the mausoleum to deflect and absorb the sound.

Vallon slowly arose from his sitting position. Each movement he made was slow and calculated. The only sounds that he made would appear to have been made by the wind. His ability to blend in to his surroundings had gotten him out of a couple bad scenarios before. Vallon listened closely to the sound of Sin's footfalls. She appeared to be about twenty to twenty five feet away. It would be plenty of time for him to make a move.

Vallon turned slowly, but not slow enough as to be mistaken for the wind. If the girl was paying close attention to her surroundings she would have heard the sound of something grinding for a split second on the ground. The noise that was issued from Vallon's movement was a bit too loud to be completely unnoticed. Vallon reached up with both hands to get a firm grip on the lip of the top of the mausoleum. He put one boot tip against the wall then heaved himself up to the top. Luckily he was able to maintain his composure and neither inhaled nor exhaled as he scaled the wall. Only the light sounds of his hands clapping onto the top were noticeable.

The top of the mausoleum was pointed upward in an almost pyramidal form. Vallon lay along the top so that he would not be visible to Sin or even Crowe. He reached back into the back left pocket of his pants and pulled out two long chords or metal studded leather. Vallon wrapped a chord around each of his palms and over the fist segment of his fingers. It would help for traction if he needed to move quickly. Lastly he pulled out a small pouch from the inside of the back of his pants. The pouch was tanned leather with a loop over an inverted cross for a clasp. Vallon slid the loop off of the cross then slid the contents out into his empty palm. It was a switchblade knife. If the matter of his privacy required a threat, the knife would get the point across one way or another. He replaced the pouch back into his pants then held the knife firmly in his right hand.

Sin would surely be coming into sight any moment and Vallon would be ready to move if he needed to.

[Sin]

Sin paced quietly through the worn stone corridors. Though originally an effort to help entertain herself, she found she was now wide-awake and intrigued by the ruins’ inviting mystery. The complex was of medium size, approximately that of a small church. She could see why many people speculated its religious purpose in times past: scores of runes adorned the time-weary stones, telling some forgotten spell or ritual. However, what remained was not in surplus. The high walls of the structure were essentially the only things still standing. It seemed time had picked over the entire place and left nothing. Though, as she moved about the ordered stones, Sin couldn’t help but notice the gentle eddies of the air felt like the stirrings of a sleeping beast.

She was on her second lap around the complex, still hopeful that maybe this time around something would stand out as different, when her foot caught on a upturned stone and made her stumble. She turned back to look at the spot with annoyance, yet it faded away as she took a closer look at the culprit. That stone was the only one out of the entire floor of the building that looked relatively different. (she knew, for most of her exploration had consisted of studying the texture of the flooring). That a single stone should stand out from the rest intrigued her. She looked at the neighboring stones and found an even line of dirt traced around on all four sides. Sin was unsure of its meaning, but the fact that she had found something sparked in her excitement. She leaned even closer, and as she did she placed the stone in her pocket. It had not always been there...fallen from the roof perhaps?

Pitter patter pitter patter

The roof gave a light groan and blended into the wind. Sin let out a gasp as the sound reached her ears, and instantly drew back. A long moment of silence passed as Sin contemplated her actions. Then, without any hesitation, she swiftly thrust her hand down into her pocket to retrieve her wand. Its shifting made a scraping sound before something beneath it gave a small cry of protest. Her spare parchment papers had most likely endured another hard thrashing. Sin was startled by the noise but didn’t have time to ponder it as something in the center of the ruins shifted. Giving a quick glance back towards the area where she had tread upon, Sin stepped further back to get a closer look at the suspected stone's former abode.

Past rigid teeth she whispered "Caeruleus Inflamarae"

The sudden bright light piercing the darkness made Sin jerk her hand back and blink several times. Cerulean flames burned unattended, without fuel or spreading beyond the sides of their conjurer's established limit. Flickering blue light reflected in Sin’s smiling eyes. As she watched the dance of the flames they multiplied, turning to smolders before igniting once more and leaving the graveyard in their ethereal glow. Sin waited for several seconds until the heatless flames formed a respectable mass. When she judged it safe to approach she stepped back up beside the original flame and its clones. Cautiously she touched the billowing orb.

"How about we do some investigating," she asked playfully. The self-sufficient fireballs needed no second bidding. Heavenly flames circled the end of her wand and rushed forward in numerous ringlets, a great many left behind to accompany their creator.

Had he chosen any other spot to hide perhaps he would of been spared, but as of right now...Vallon, was in for a nasty surprise.

[Vallon]

Vallon laid patiently in wait for Sin. He planned to catch her at the perfect moment. He would make her give him a straight answer as to where he really was. In all honesty, not even knowing which country his was in was really getting to him. Vallon heard Sin stop momentarily, then change direction. "Is she actually going inside this thing?" He pondered silently. The echoing footsteps confirmed that she had entered the mausoleum. Without thought or intent, his left leg jerked to the side. The muscle spasm forced him to kick the arched roof and incidentally drop a stone from the ceiling. Vallon heard the girl's heavy footfalls which told him that either she was doing a jig, or she stumbled on something.

Vallon looked away from the roof that he was upon over to a tree. It was near ten feet away, with some luck he felt that he could make the jump if he had to. He was always looking for an escape root although he rarely knew why. It was some sort of nervous habit or defense mechanism that Vallon couldn't explain to others or himself.

He heard the girl exit the miniature complex. She said some odd phrase or another, Vallon hadn't caught what exactly it was that she had said. His eyes locked onto the girl's wand. All he knew was that the girl had a stick that emitted blue flames. "Fire is not my friend!" Vallon grunted as he moved back a bit. He got to his feet in a crouched position. One foot was on the lip of the wall while the other was on the inclined roof.

Vallon jumped through the air. He soared over to the tree with great ease and landed with both feet one a sturdy branch. At least, that was what he envisioned he would do. In reality, as Vallon tried to jump away the stones that he was using for support fell away and dropped him to the ground. He pushed off with his feet but only managed to get about halfway to the tree. Vallon landed hard on his side in a "superman" pose with the knife in his right hand. The poor landing dazed Vallon for a few moments. He rolled over onto his back and looked at Sin. He caught a glimpse of the girl but his gaze was stuck on something else, the blue flames that licked at one of his boots. Vallon began to flail and thrash about in attempt to put out the flames. He never took into account that the flames didn't hurt in the least, he never actually felt them.

When the blue fire left Vallon's clothing he got to his feet as quickly as he could. He faced Sin and held out the switchblade toward the girl. "I'm warning you girl! Stay back or I'll kill you!" Vallon yelled with a fierce look on his face. He hoped that the girl would be intimidated or afraid enough to run away until he looked at his hand for a moment. The switchblade was a real threat, when the blade was out. The one vital step in scaring the girl away was the one that Vallon had forgotten.

He flicked out the blade with a quick hand gesture. The steel blade shined brightly in the dim light. Vallon looked at Sin, then at his knife, then back at the girl. "Oh, to hell with it." He sighed as he flicked the blade away and took a seat on the ground. Vallon gave up trying to make the girl go away, he really didn't care as much anymore. "Why are you following me? For that matter, what is your name?" He asked as he put the knife back into the pouch.

[Sin]

The day was deathly silent. There were no crickets to chirp their soothing melodies, nor were there owls to voice their opinions to the wind. Stone gray clouds crept across a setting sky. Scattered balls of flame drifted here and there, and steely tendrils of cold were starting to encroach upon the graveyard once again

Sin almost choked on a laugh.

Dust and colored light flashed as the boy leaped from his perch. There was a slight give, undetectable to everyone...but those who predicted it, expected it. Vallon pounced, yet in his confidence he had misjudged the jump. He ended up falling short of the tree and landed flat on his side. Sin giggled as the disgruntled boy pushed himself back up irritably, flashing his yet-to-be-drawn pocketknife. For the most part, he had done a reasonable job of landing.

“I'm warning you girl! Stay back or I'll kill you”

Even if her attacks were bolstered by simple virtue of magical capability, they wouldn’t be around long enough for it to make a difference if he continued to wave his knife is such a hazardous way. Vallon seemed to preoccupied with staring at Sin's wand to care one way or the other.“I don't think so,” she replied, wagging her finger innocently. The scattered blue highlights shifted back to her. Because she had yet to relinquish her spell, the heavenly flames collected in Sin's open palm once more. Soon lights danced like fireflies across the cemetary as more and more of the fireballs came. The flames veiled her highly visible hair and left only her eyes to be pricked by points of light. She had never cared much for threats. Sin wore a determined frown as she faced Vallon, raising her hand and waving at the condemned boy.

However... The meeting never occured. Vallon drew his blade, yet at the last moment recoiled from it's bloody lust. The knife fell to the ground with a clink followed by a layer of dust. Sin stood frozen with disbelief for a moment.

"Oh, to hell with it"... "Why are you following me? For that matter, what is your name?" She heard the boy voice his questions. He had asked her about her name, the reason behind her appearence... and yet she couldn't believe it. Was he really coming to reason, or had that fall finally knocked some sense in to him! Sin’s mouth fell ajar at this revelatian.

The bittersweet emotion of Vallon's trustworthiness was not held long though, for soon Sin found herself following the boy's lead. She lowered her wand, and the fire died down instantly, barely projecting a candle's worth of light. A vague curiosity had overtaken her.

"My name's Sin," she replied after a moment, casting a sideways look at his pocketed knife. The sun had gone to bed behind the horizon. Only the last pale orange rays still lit the sky. “As for why I'm ‘following, you’” Sin made quotation marks in the air with her fingers, “Well, let's just say, it would be nice to finally have a name to place the face to Mr....”

[Vallon]

Vallon made a careful note when Sin lowered her wand. The fire that spawned from it captured his attention immediately and began to wonder if a wand was included in his "school supplies". He would take a special interest in learning how to use a wand as soon as he got one.

"My name's Sin."

"Sin, that's an interesting name. Would that be a sin like the church term? Unusual name either way." Vallon thought to himself. "Well, Sin, it is... interesting to make your acquaintance. My name is Vallon." As he stated his name he gave a mock salute. Vallon stooped down and picked up his knife then closed the blade. He replaced it into the pouch as he looked at Sin. He scanned her up and down twice then pulled out a small camera. Vallon slid back the lense cover and waited for the camera to turn on.

"Do you mind if I take a picture of you? It's to help remember your name, in case we meet up any time again in the future." Having a picture with a name on it always helped him to remember names better, that way if he couldn't remember someone's name all he had to do would be look at the picture. Vallon looked at the screen again to see that it was still black. He closed the lense cover then reopened it, still nothing. He tried the process almost a dozen times before he checked the battery. The lights on the power supply showed that it was full, but the camera didn't register it as having any charge at all. Vallon put the camera back into his pocket then shrugged. "Never mind about the picture, my camera doesn't appear to be working right."

"Is there someplace around here to eat?" His last meal was breakfast, but he had made the mistake to eat light that morning.

[Sin]

ooc: Sorry about the late post. I have finals all this week.

So his name's Vallon. Finally. Sin smiled. “It's a pleasure to meet you Vallon,” she murmured in amusement. His salute had been unexpected, though impressive none the less. Sin did the same in turn.

“Now, about that....

Sin looked at the flickering object with curiousity and wonder in every line of her thin rosy face. What Vallon had identified as a camera, looked to be nothing more than a black colored box that seemed to envelop a transparent ball. So that was what the muggles called cameras. Sin watched Vallon try to take a picture and grin Muggle mechanics she thought They'll never learn With so many magical properties in the air, he’d be hard pressed to even turn the camera on.

"Accio photo", the Gryffindor student spoke again. Sin's eyes darted upwards just in time to see a small fluttering photograph come down at her. Once the picture was in her hand, the Gryffindor student quickly gave it a quick prod. Her minature self had apparently taken the liberty of throwing a party in her absence. "Come off it you lot, get out of here...go on, shoo!" she huffed angrily. Random screeches could be heard as each one of the photographic beings fell prey to a sharp jab in the face. “You can have this,” said Sin, flicking the picture at Vallon. "She's a right nuisance, but a good poke now and then ought to keep her in line.” Startled, the copy cat Sin looked out to see what the ruckus was about. She had hair the same color as her other, with perfectly straight bristles so micromanaged that not one of them stood longer than a pinky's length. Her skin was tanned, not darkly so, and not by means of the sun. It looked to be a combination of natural skin tone and pastels. The whites of the being’s eyes stood out against this darkened visage; her irises were very small, blue in essence, making the white even more haunting.

"As for a place to eat...well, there's the Great Hall, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley....take your pick” she added airily.