Music Of The Night (Elleon)

Guest

Reienne hadn't been sleeping well. Since her arrival at Hogwarts for the beginning of her fifth year, the young Hufflepuff had awoken every night either obnoxiously sobbing or quietly screaming. She hated it, not because of the distress it put her under but because of how she kept disrupting the sleep cycles of those around her. It wasn't fair to her fellow Hufflepuffs to awake in a panic and bring everyone into misery with her. She wasn't meant to make people miserable. She was meant to make them happy.

Tonight, Reienne decided she would go up to the astronomy tower to isolate herself from those she may bother with her undesirable issue. She wanted to suffer alone, yes. But she also hoped that perhaps being away from everyone would help her get to the bottom of what had been keeping her awake at night because she had no idea.

So far, the dreams had been cryptic. It wasn't always a dream that woke her up, even. Sometimes, the young girl simply awoke crying as if it was a normal state for her to be in. There was seemingly no cause. But some nights, there were. Some nights, she would be dreaming pleasant like a field or a forest and the scene would be warm and welcoming. And all of a sudden, everything would turn to darkness.

The night before had been a dreaming night. Reienne had been with Rocco in a field filled with daisies. She'd never been there before, but it felt familiar to an extent. And it was warm, but the sun had only peaked through a little bit. She was riding her horse through the deep green of the grass and the wind beneath her hair felt almost real, as if she could reach out an arm and grasp the wind between her fingers. It was sublime, until it wasnt.

It was like the man running the machine magically pulled a lever from sweet dream to nightmare all of a sudden. The next step Rocco took,
a shadow-like snake coiled up from the ground and pierced its fangs into the leg of the horse. Rocco cried, spooked. The next thing Reienne knew, she was flying off of the horse and back into reality; a screaming,
sweaty reality.

"I won't let the snake anywhere near him this time," Reienne whispered as she made her way up the stairs and into the astronomy tower.
She hadn't quite thought the plan through, but she was pretty sure that if all went well and there was nobody here, the tower floor would be her bed for the night. It would be one night. Just to feel out the dreamworld for real life clues. Because these nightmares had to mean something, right?

"Hello?" She called out at the last step to the top. "I just want to make sure I'm not intruding." She took a deep breath and hoped to be alone.
For her sake, and for everyone else's.

Guest

The vibration and flashing lights of his alarm clock woke Elleon up from a deep sleep. His dorm mates had been fascinated with how it worked and how vibration could wake him up. It had take some explaning of how his other senses were heightened because he was Deaf that simple vibration could wake him up. The interest in him soon wore off as they got used to all his technology, but he didn't mind, not liking being the center of attention anyway.

Throwing the covers off, and shutting down his alarm clock, Elleon's gaze moved to the window and he smiled. The moon shone brightly, it's cold light cutting through the darkness of the night sky. Around it, stars twinkled and danced, unhindered by clouds. It was perfect for what he had in mind.

Grabbing his prepacked suitcase - and a jacket in case it got cold - he exited the dorm as quietly as possible. He'd made the mistake once of slamming the door to hard and waking up his dorm mates. Since he couldn't hear the sound, he hadn't realised what he'd done until the lights turned on and he found them staring at him.

Smiling a little at the memory, Elleon made his way to the astronomy tower. He'd received a request for a painting of the night sky with its constellations and moon. While he could've just painted it from imagination, he wanted a glimpse of the real thing to spark his inspiration. Nothing could compare to the real deal after all.

He pushed the door open, slightly winded from having to climb all those steps, and made his way to the balcony after shutting the door behind him. He took a moment to appreciate the view, eyes roving the sky and noting every detail shown in nature's canvas. He was going to do an oil painting and he wanted it to be perfect.

He set down the suitcase and removed the small portable easel from it, setting it up together with the stool that came with it. Next, he set out his brushes and paint, mixing a few until he got the colours he wanted. He had to work fast, knowing how quickly the sky could change. Done with his prep, he dipped his brush into the paint and began.

He didn't know how long he'd been at it when a feeling crept up the back of his neck. He'd learned to listen to his gut because he could not hear what was going on around him. Setting his brush down carefully so that he wouldn't ruin his work, he turned around, eyes picking out the figure of a girl at the top of the stairs. His eyebrows raised in surprise but was quickly replaced with a warm smile.

He wasn't sure if she'd said anything but he beckoned her to come closer, hoping she'd understand that he didn't mind her company and that he posed no threat to her.

Guest

Reienne was both disappointed and embarrassed that she'd walked into someone else using the tower. She had been sure that no-one else would be here at this hour; the rest of her classmates were usually asleep by now. But there was someone here, and he seemed friendly enough. He didn't say anything, but it appeared to her that the boy had smiled and beckoned for her to come closer.

As she moved closer to the stranger, the Hufflepuff realised that this wasn't really a stranger at all. She didn't know his name, but Reienne recognized this boy as a Hufflepuff prefect. He was a year or so older than her and she remembered him as being a relatively friendly person. There was something else about him that she'd heard, but the girl couldn't quite remember what it was.

"Hi," She said softly, waving a hand in accordance with her words. "I'm sorry. Were you using the tower? I can leave if you want." She then noticed the art supplies that the boy had with him. He was standing in front of an easel, different paints and brushes laid out beside him. He had come to the astronomy tower to paint. Looking closer, she saw that he'd been painting the sky. She smiled, unable to think of many other people who would come up to a dark, lonely room with an intention as pure as painting the sky.

"That painting is lovely," She told him. He probably wasn't done, but it was clear that the boy knew what he was doing when it came to laying colours down on a canvas. It was also clear that he was painting something that changed frequently, something that was probably changing as she spoke.

"You probably need to focus on the sky, no?" She asked. "I apologize if I'm being a bother."

Guest

The girl took a few steps closer and from the dim moonlight, Elleon finally recognised her. His memory supplied him with the name - Reienne Thompson. He didn't know much about her, just that she was a transfer student in the same house as him, but one year lower.

The bad lighting of shadows and moonlight didn't help him in reading her lips, but he caught enough words to figure that she was apologising for intruding, going on to compliment his work. "It's okay," he mouthed, shaking his head and hands. He didn't own the tower and anybody could come up here whenever they wanted.

In case she misunderstood him, he dug around in his suitcase, pulling out a thin notebook and a pencil, scribbling the words: It's okay. No need to apologise You can stay; I don't mind. And don't worry about the painting, I have the image in my memory. Hoping his writing was legible, he passed the notebook to her.

He was more than curious why a girl would be up at the astronomy tower this time of night. The only thing that made sense to him was that she had a nightmare and somehow couldn't sleep. Or perhaps she wanted to study the stars, though that would be more of a Ravenclaw trait than that of a Hufflepuff.

While he was a prefect and part of his duty was to make sure students kept to the curfew, he wouldn't tell on her. After all, he was breaking the rules too being up here after hours when he was supposed to be sleeping.

Guest

As people often did, Reienne expected the boy to respond in a "normal" way. A.k.a, she'd expected him to verbally reply. Instead, the boy reached into his bag for a notebook and a pencil. Once in his hands, he spent a minute scribbling onto the book. Reienne quickly scanned his written response, trying to deduct why he hadn't said anything. Perhaps he was mute? Or maybe he had laryngitis.

She then remembered the whisperings that she'd heard about this boy. They weren't rude or gossipy whisperings, simply statements of fact that people had mentioned every now and again. His name was Elleon. Last name began with a C, but she couldn't recall just what. And he was deaf.
Mentally, Reienne slapped herself. She'd been so insensitive! Well, she hadn't said anything insensitive out loud, but thinking it was bad enough.

Reienne spoke English, Latin, Spanish, Korean, and French. She'd never felt the need to learn sign language until now, but it was obviously too late. She made a mental note to learn sign language just in case this wasn't her last encounter with Elleon. But for now, writing would have to do. She was sure the boy could read lips, but it was so dark in the tower that making him do that wouldn't be fair.

She didn't have a pencil on her, but she did have her wand.
"Accio pencil," she whispered, watching as the pencil flew out of the boy's hand. She gave him a friendly smile to show that she hadn't done it out of malice. She hoped he wouldn't take it the wrong way. It was a harmless bit of magic, right? Right?

Pencil now in hand, she wrote quickly and neatly at the same time.

"Thank you. I needed a quiet place to think outside of my room. I haven't been sleeping so well and it isn't fair to my roommates to wake up in a panic every night. I didn't expect anyone to be here at this time, but I guess it's as good a time as any to paint the sky.

I'm Reienne."

She handed the book and pencil back to Elleon, smiling softly.

Guest

Elleon was pretty sure that his reputation for being Deaf had gotten around the school quickly, even to new students and transfers. He wasn't sure exactly if Reienne knew that he couldn't hear, but he was going to assume that she didn't know. It was how he always treated people. That way, he didn't put expectations on them and wouldn't get upset if they were none the wiser.

He watched her closely after handing her the note, not outrightly staring at her or creeping her out but noting her features in a few glances to gauge her reaction - if she'd expected him to respond verbally or not. He couldn't really deduce from what he saw though. If she was surprised, he didn't see that.

Eyebrows rising a little in surprise as she took her wand out, Elleon waited to see what she was going to do. The next moment, the pencil flew out of his fingers and ended up in hers. He mentally chided himself for not thinking to give her the pencil to respond, automatically assuming that she'd speak to him verbally like most people did and expect him to lipread everything. He wasn't the best at it when he first came to Hogwarts but after seven years of lipreading all lectures and conversations with partners and such, he'd gotten better at it. Still, if people smiled, had facial hair, covered their mouths with their hands, or the lighting was bad, he struggled a bit. Lipreading was more of guesswork than anything else.

He took the notebook back from her with a smile, reading what she'd written. Placing the tip of the pencil on a fresh page, he wrote a reply.

"I'm sorry to hear that you've not been sleeping well. If there's anything I can do, please let me know. Don't let my presence here chase you away. Smile

The past few nights have been cloudy but tonight's clear and I have a good view. I find the night sky a comforting thing to look at.

I'm Elleon."

» The Joy of Communication (Elleon)
» Homework Hassle [Elleon] [TW: Swearing]
» Elleon Caverly's Test
» Wrong Turns (Elleon)
» The Struggles of Being Deaf [Elleon]