InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Forgive thy enemies."

Faustus Stirling (secretson) wrote in beyondthepages,
@ 2010-05-24 14:30:00

Entry tags:

2023 10, faustus stirling, sasha godina

RP: Brooding Away
Characters: Faustus, open
Time/Date: 23 October 2023, after dinner
Location: The battlements, Hogwarts
Warnings/Rating: None
Summary: Faustus practices his brooding.
Status: Complete if no responses

Faustus was not a natural brooder unlike many of those in his House. He had too strong a sense of the ridiculous to really be comfortable with brooding so he’d had to pick up the skill over the years. It occurred to him as he settled into a small niche in the battlements for some serious brooding time that current events were likely to upgrade him from amateur, part-time brooder to a real champ.

It wasn’t as though he didn’t have much to brood on really. A father who now knew about him but had left him wondering if he should be on alert for the man in case he decided that the best way to deal with the problem was to get rid of the problem. Death Eaters back who might be able to recognise something of his father in him and thus be dangerous. Or who might not and it was all a storm in a teacup. And now Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort himself, was back and Faustus was going to have to teach the man who had order his father killed as though it was nothing.

So nothing really was on his mind.

He breathed a mirthless laugh and let his head tilt back against the stone wall as he stared up at the stars. Hopefully he’d hidden himself away where the students wouldn’t find him though he supposed he was still fair game for the teachers who knew of this spot. The students didn’t need to see that one of their teachers was strongly contemplating a breakdown of some description. Though given his opinions on making a public spectacle of himself, a breakdown seemed far too flamboyant and over the top for his liking.

And he was doing a lovely job of not dwelling on the main thing that had brought him up here. Though why he’d ever thought his father might accept him was really beyond all of his Slytherin instincts. He knew what the man was like. He knew what had happened. He should just count himself lucky that he was alive and unhexed and be done with it.

He sighed and closed his eyes, his arms resting casually on his knees. No point dwelling on it. What’s done is done and all that. Time to tuck it all away in a box and move on.

And maybe if he told himself that enough times, he’d be able to do it.

(Post a new comment)

i_submit
2010-05-24 05:15 am UTC (link)

Moving to where she needed to in the castle as a mouse was tedious at best. The castle was huge, and her tiny mouse paws were tiny. So she preferred to move as secretly as she could in her bipedal form to where she intended to start her spying, and shift there before she started to sneak around.

One of her paths took her across the battlements, and she'd yet to encounter anyone up there. Scurrying along on feet clad in fur-lined slipper-shoes, Sasha was nearly upon the man before she noticed him.

Skittering to a halt from her purposeful forward motion, she pressed her hands to her mouth. She was wearing her dark red robes, and the battlements were shadowy - but she couldn't imagine he wouldn't have seen her as close as she'd gotten to him before she'd noticed him.

Dark eyes were wide, and for a moment she struggled to compose herself and not panic. She was allowed to be up here, she assumed. No one had indicated anywhere other than the forest was off-limits. But the fact that she'd been moving with a purpose and the idea he might have seen, have noticed, was frightening to her.

Sasha decided she was still new enough here that she could convincingly play the 'I am lost' card, though by the time she'd decided that, she thought he surely must have noticed. Silently, she waited to see how things would play out.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

secretson
2010-05-24 07:31 am UTC (link)

It was the movement that caught his attention more than anything else. Seven years in the Slytherin dorm and then two years as a teacher had made him more alert to movement than speech. Slytherins were quiet when they were gaining revenge and students were always quiet when they were up to mischief.

And this girl certainly looked like that's what she was up to. She had all the hallmarks of it. The scurrying steps, the furtive looks and the stunned frozen surprise when spying an adult. It was hard to tell in the dim light but she didn't really look like any of the students he knew but then he'd only been here for a couple of years so she could be.

Not that he really cared if she was up to mischief. It wasn't near curfew yet after all. That was part and parcel of being a student and as long as no one caught her actually doing something wrong then she was fine. Of course, if she was caught then she'd face he consequences. That was the way of life.

"You are allowed to be up here," he said, his amusement obvious though so too was his distraction. "Don't mind me."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

i_submit
2010-05-24 02:06 pm UTC (link)

"I vas not certain," she said carefully, trying to keep her words understandable and not too heavily accented. "Perhaps this is for professors only, I thought vhen I saw you." Which was a lie. She'd used this particular path often enough to know it wasn't off-limits and was usually deserted.

"I did not ..." She hesitated as she fumbled for a word. "Disturb. Interrupt. I did not mean to invade into your time." Her brow furrowed, but this wasn't so terribly difficult. It wasn't as though she had a giant sign on her that said she was gathering information for her Headmaster.

"I am Sasha. Of Durmstrang." She wasn't sure, honestly, if the Hogwarts professors knew them on sight yet. There'd been introductions all around of course and she knew the professors names, but perhaps he would not know hers. It was only polite to distract him with that. "I vas exploring of the castle, and perhaps vas a bit lost."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

secretson
2010-05-25 03:17 am UTC (link)

"No, no, free for all to wander to their heart's content," Faustus said a little absently as he tilted his head back again to stare up at the stars. he wondered briefly if Firenze could tell him what they said then reminded himself he thought Divination was a bunch of hokum... not that he'd ever say that around Firenze. The centaur provided good, if somewhat, obscure companionship most of the time.

"You did but that's okay," he said with a shrug. "If I wanted to brood in private, I'd have tucked myself away in the dungeons somewhere."

He nodded though he wasn't sure she would see it. Stammery, hesitant little thing. He wondered if it was the difficulty with the language or something else then dismissed the idea. Did he really care? He had enough on his plate as it was without trying to invent conspiracy theories wherever he went. "Faustus Stirling. Potions Professor. And you're not far from one of the main drags. Out the door, turn left, take the second right and you're back in the main part of the castle. Easy enough."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

i_submit
2010-05-25 03:30 am UTC (link)

Sasha shifted her weight uneasily. Was that a dismissal? But she had admitted to being lost, and she did have some spying to do. "Then I vill vish you luck vith your brooding and show myself back to the castle proper," Sasha said with a shy little smile.

"It is my pleasure to be meeting you, Professor. Perhaps ve vill haff a less surprising meeting at some time," she continued before she took a step back, intended to turn to head that direction. "Thank you for the instructions," she added.

Polite, polite. Smile, smile. Nothing going on here.

With a timid little wave, Sasha turned and began to walk away, much more casually than she'd been approaching. She'd simply have to find another way to where she was going.

(Reply to this) (Parent)