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lavender is sure that living is worse (lavishly) wrote in pandorarpg,
@ 2011-10-24 17:53:00

Entry tags:

!status: complete, ^date: october 31 2003, character: alicia spinnet, character: lavender brown

Characters: Lavender Brown & Alicia Spinnet
Setting: Outside Rising Loaf in Diagon, around 8 a.m.
Rating: General public
Summary: After another poor night's sleep, Lavender Brown is starting to dig for answers.

Lavender let out long breath as she popped the last tray in the oven. Wiping her forehead with her forearm, she ran through all the product she had produced already, making sure she wasn't forgetting anything. The breakfast push should be taken care of, which meant that she might actually get a spot of breakfast herself, before starting in on her treats for the day. "Hey," she called grabbing the attention of one of the assistants working the counters, "I'm going to take my break now and there's a tray in the ovens that will need to come out in fifteen minutes - do you think you can handle it?"

Once she had confirmation that nothing was going burn or be ruined, Lavender untied her apron and hung it on the hooks near the back door. Rather than sneak out the back, she walked through the kitchen to the front of house intent on stealing some coffee and maybe a scone she didn't really feel like eating. Lavender wasn't normally a coffee person, but she needed something to jolt her out of this feeling that she hadn't been able to shake since she woke up.

There was nothing fun about four a.m. and yet Lavender had found herself far too relieved when her alarm went off this morning. It was another night of nightmares, only worse and somehow far more real. She could still feel them biting into her flesh and that laughter echoing in her head. And it was still over a week away from the full moon so she knew it wasn't from that. No, this was something else, which was why this morning called for coffee and a few of her old Divination books to see if she could make something of it.

Bundled up for the early morning chill, she headed for the outside tables. Between the inevitable flour smudges, bags under her eyes and hair pulled back carelessly, everything about her said that today was not a good day. And worse yet, it was only just beginning.

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spinrightround
2011-10-24 11:43 pm UTC (link)

Alicia had spent most of the night wide awake, but not for the usual reason as she hadn't worked last night. However, not long after her head had hit the pillow, she'd been overcome by a nightmare that had been terrifying in its unfamiliarity. It was almost as if her nightmare and some stranger's had been switched overnight.

A woman's voice had been whispering cruel things into her ear as something had wrapped around her neck, strangling the breath out of her. She could still feel the sensation of her air supply being cut off...

She'd needed something to help her face the day - this time she didn't have someone to cast a cheering charm for her, and they never seemed to work right when she cast them on herself - and had a feeling it would definitely be a long, long day, what with the gala that evening. She decided that once it was proper daytime, she'd treat herself to breakfast at the Rising Loaf, as that often helped get her mind off of bad nights.

They thankfully had her favourite double chocolate croissants, and she ordered two just to have an extra should she feel peckish later. The bag and a cup of tea in her hands, she exited the bakery to have a seat outside where the cool air would help keep her in the moment.

She found a seat and started pulling out one of the croissants when she saw someone come outside. The girl looked somewhat familiar, but Alicia couldn't quite place her. "You look like you've had the same kind of night I've had," she said, offering a weak smile.

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lavishly
2011-10-25 01:19 am UTC (link)

The crisp October air woke her up a little bit more, which was good. She would need to have her brain at least half-working if she was going in search of answers. Honestly, she wasn't really sure what she was looking for, but she felt so unbalanced, like something was wrong, really wrong, and she needed to find her bearings again. She couldn't help but wonder if the nightmares were wide-spread again.

Lavender looked over to the brunette, a polite smile falling across her face in response. "You know, I'm really hoping that it's not becoming a thing, or even that someone is really trying to push the use of dreamless sleep potions."

Maybe she was hearing what she wanted to in the initial comment, but it did validate her feeling. Once night indicated a possibility of something happening, but twice? That seemed more like an event. "Although from what I've overheard from customers, some people actually got a decent night's sleep."

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spinrightround
2011-10-25 02:30 am UTC (link)

"Well, it's good to know someone could sleep last night," Alicia replied with a shake of her head. "I don't know how much of a 'thing' it is or what not - honestly, I didn't dream the night before. I did see something when I was awake, though."

Her lips pursed in thought. "Though I like that idea - it's a conspiracy to up the sales of dreamless sleep! It's better than the alternative, for certain."

She took a sip of her tea. "You look a little familiar. Gryffindor?"

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lavishly
2011-10-25 02:47 am UTC (link)

"Visions?" she repeated. Totally meant there was definitely some strange psychic phenomena happening here. So, she had the right instincts digging out her Divination books. Maybe she would write to Professor Trelawney later and see if she had any insight on to what was happening. She knew she wasn't going to solve this on her own. If only if it was a conspiracy.

She nodded, motioning to the empty seat across from the woman. "Lavender Brown, I was in Harry's year." Hogwarts might not have been that big of a school, and even sharing a house or a secret organization, didn't make everyone not in her year instantly recognizable. It had been over five years and people changed a lot since then. "And you were on the quidditch team, right?"

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spinrightround
2011-10-25 02:54 am UTC (link)

Alicia nodded. "From what I've heard, that's the pattern - nightmares for those asleep, and visions for those that were awake." She shook her head, trying to push away the memories. "Though I discovered that a good cheering charm helps quite nicely on the latter."

She nodded at the mention of the girl's name. It was vaguely familiar, but she hadn't really known anyone of that year, other than Harry, very well. "Yeah, I was a chaser. Alicia Spinnet," she said, extending a hand in introduction.

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lavishly
2011-10-25 03:18 am UTC (link)

Lavender set her book and breakfast down on the table so that she could shake hands and go through the expected pleasantries of meeting, or re-meeting someone. "It is weird, right?" She paused to take a sip of the coffee, grateful for the bitter taste on her tongue.

"I mean, last night, not exactly my normal brand of nightmare." Sure, it was something with teeth eating her, but it had never been Cornish Pixies before. The pixies didn't even really make sense, just so vicious. Absent mindedly she rubbed her right arm where it had been particularly bad. "Not to mention visions and nightmares on a mass scale."

Right now, Lavender Brown just needed someone to talk this through with. It didn't matter if it was someone she knew or not, all that mattered was that they were interested in the topic.

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	spinrightround 2011-10-25 03:41 am UTC (link)
	"Well, from what I've heard, the first batch of visions and stuff were rather... personal," she began cautiously. "I mean, mine was very personal. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd have said it was a boggart." She frowned. "But last night, it was almost like looking through someone else's soul. Like it was happening to me... but it wasn't." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lavishly
2011-10-25 04:00 am UTC (link)

Lavender took a moment to think about it. That was a good way to divide the two of them, although it still didn't make any more sense. "So, what I have someone else's soul in me now? Or someone has my soul in them like we swapped?" The words came before she really had any time to think about them and that was probably for the best. Any thought more intense than what she was already functioning wouldn't get any better results.

"Which would make sense because I just don't feel right." She was both grateful and disappointed that Alicia wasn't someone who knew her enough to fully appreciate what happened when Lavender Brown had feelings. But at least it would be a chance to sort it out a little now before talking to someone who knew her later. "I should have brought my cards with me."

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spinrightround
2011-10-25 04:16 am UTC (link)

Alicia shrugged. "I don't think so - though what do I know. I was never really into Divination or anything, but while I feel the dream was weird... I don't feel off, like someone else, if that makes any sense."

She nodded as Lavender explained that she didn't feel right, wondering if their experiences had been different somehow, or if they'd simply experienced different facets of the same thing. "Maybe it's for the best. I don't know about you, but... there are some things I just don't want to dwell on. Maybe there are some things, especially about the future, that we don't want to know."

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lavishly
2011-10-25 04:31 am UTC (link)

"I don't know. I mean, I would always rather have some sort of idea than nothing." Lavender had always found comfort in Divination, turning the subject into something of a religion. Some people prayed the Rosary, Lavender Brown pulled out her favorite tarot deck and did a few readings, checked the star charts and the planetary alignments just to make sure there was some sort of plan happening.

(She tried not to think about how she never found any sort of answers for what happened to her.)

"Although I wonder if people swapped fears or why only some people were effected." She wasn't surprised that if only some people had nightmares she would be one of them, Lavender always thought of herself as someone particularly attuned to the greater cosmic picture, but here she was sitting across from someone who also had a nightmare last night but wasn't really into Divination.

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spinrightround
2011-10-25 05:11 am UTC (link)

She respected the idea of wanting to have an idea, but she didn't share it. It was in all truth a touch of cowardice, but one that Alicia held to. So much had happened in so few years that she worried she might have made different choices had she known ahead of time what would happen. Perhaps she would have done something differently, and... everything would change.

"You know, I never considered the idea of swapping fears," she replied, impressed at Lavender's line of thought. "That's kind of a brilliant idea! If only I knew who's afraid of being strangled..."

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lavishly
2011-10-25 07:25 pm UTC (link)

While Lavender Brown was never gone to be considered particularly bright or smart, she wasn't as dim as some people might thing she was. She had always been very intuitive and seldom able or willing to just let those things go unspoken. However, once she had the ideas it didn't mean that she had any clue what to do with them.

"Maybe someone needs to get a list or something, get it all together in one place. And then also maybe how intense it was because last night it totally felt like I was being eaten alive by pixies." Lavender shuddered at the thought, not really wanting to think about it anymore, but unable to really let it go.

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	spinrightround 2011-10-27 12:03 am UTC (link)
	"A list is a great idea," Ally nodded. "I'd offer to do it myself, but I'm already working two jobs..." She nodded to her companion. "You should do it, Lavender. I'm sure everyone would appreciate having someone to go to on this." Despite the subject matter, she tried to smile encouragingly. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lavishly
2011-10-27 02:02 am UTC (link)

Lavender's eyes went a big wide at the suggestion that she be the one behind the database. That was so not her thing. More importantly she didn't really think that anyone would find her any sort of authority to assemble anything of that nature.

"Maybe I'll just pass the idea on to someone smarter than me." She nodded. That sounded better. She took another sip of her coffee and caught track of the time. It wasn't that she didn't trust the assistant to pull the tray at the right moment. Well, no it was exactly that and if she ever wanted to get out of here at a reasonable time, she needed to head back to the kitchen. "I should really be getting back to work." She stood up. "It was nice to meet you."

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