Sunday, January 10, 2010. 4:24PM
Outfit

Mysti had gotten up somewhat early and made her way to the library.  Only one week into classes after the break and she’d learned just how much work she had left. The time at home had been a blessing.  She’d been rather stressed already in the first part of the school year.  As much as she hoped for a bit less craziness this semester, she knew it was probably too much to wish for.  Despite fewer classes than the previous year, there was still a lot of work involved in those classes she was taking.

But Mysti decided it was time to leave the library.  A change of scene was needed.  She gathered up her books and just started wandering.  First she wandered down to the third floor, but instead of continuing down towards her common room, she ended up taking a walk.  She realized she hadn’t been taking much time to slow down yet, and it was probably a good idea to take a breather every so often. Mysti glanced around at some of the portraits on the wall.
Amid her wandering and getting lost in the scenery, Mysti found herself in one of the lesser-used corridors in the castle.  She remembered one time awkwardly running into Trent in this corridor.  But he was gone and graduated now.  Doing something in photography, she hoped, or had heard. He was good at that.

In the quiet of the hallway, she realized something that was missing. Peace. Quiet. When she was home, her brothers were causing noise at almost every hour. At most places in the castle there was usually someone else around.  But oddly enough, there wasn’t anyone else wandering in this area except her.  Mysti decided to use this moment to pull out the new journal she’d gotten from her mother over the holidays.  Use it to keep your sanity this semester. her mother had said.  That sounded like a good idea.

So in the odd area of a corridor, Mysti took a seat against a wall and pulled out a quill.  And then she began to write.  Words, phrases, whatever.  Anything that made sense, and things that made little sense.  And it felt nice to have somewhat of a distraction.  But Mysti was too involved in her writings that she didn’t even notice that someone else had joined her in that quiet corridor.

Ligeia loved returning to Hogwarts where the grounds provided more room for her hobbies. Like crossbow shooting.

Mould-on-the-Wold, where the Canterbury Estate was on the wizarding side of the parish, didn't have the same variation of topography. It was always much more satisfying to set her animated targets floating along the edges of the forest for shots with Terminal Terminating Bolts.

Thus her coming inside under her heavy furs[1], crossbow strapped to her back, her closed parasol as a walking stick in one hand as her other traced idly with her wand to hover one of her targets behind her. A wooden wraith cutout, snarling and painted black, with a few bolts dead center.

Out of habit, both from walking extra distance to get blood pumping through her veins and being in a Prefect mindset, she meandered her way up through the castle to Ravenclaw Tower by going to the out of way places. Just to check if anyone was up to questionable activities, not that she ever found any, but younger students fighting Monster Books or trying to sound out horrible hexes usually went running when they saw the gleam of her prefects badge.

Coming along the Third Floor Corridor on the right hand side she did see somebody. A Hufflepuff in her year you had one of her favorite names. Mystique.

"Hello dear." Ligeia greeted, a smiling pale head out from a bundle of grey furs thicker than Yeti hide. "Writing?" she asked, oblivious to the muttering and growling that had begun when she stopped next to Mystique.

1.	Kind of like this, it's also in her avatar array

Being distracted in an abandoned corridor may potentially lead to being startled when the corridor becomes un-abandoned. Which was most definitely the case when Ligeia came down the hallway.  Mysti wasn’t expecting to be discovered by the prefect carrying a crossbow and trailing a somewhat terrifying looking wraith cutout. So of course Mysti was startled and jumped a bit, or as much as someone sitting could jump.

“Merlin! You gave me a fright.” Mysti said, picking up the quill that had fallen from her hand. “Yeah. Or at least attempting to write.”

While Mysti kind of knew the girl, she hadn’t really spent much time with her outside of classes. And that meant she hadn’t know the prefect was prone to archery. Ligeia’s all-together look was something to see. Between the crossbow, the furs, and her pale complexion, she looked pretty awesome to Mysti. She had one of those unearthly looks to her, which was pretty neat, in Mysti’s opinion.

“I didn’t know you did archery. Also, you kind of look terrifying. But in a cool way.  As in, I’d love to see you sneak up on some first years and see their reactions.”

Hopefully that didn’t come off offensive in any way. Mysti sometimes had a way of saying things that didn’t seem bad to her but might sound different to others. And now Mysti realized she hadn’t talked to too many people since coming back from break, except at the quidditch training the day prior.  And she kind of missed talking to people.

((OOC: Augh this totally slipped out of sight, sorry! >.<))

Ligeia smiled plainly when Mystique jumped, startled. Giving frights, especially when they were unattended ones, were one of her favorite ways to say hello to people. The sudden jolt reminds you you're alive.

"What are you attempting to write?" Ligeia asked as she descended to sit next to Mysti, her train of furs flowing outwards from her legs so it looked like she was under a blanket.

"Papa Argyle originally got me into archery. Said it would help improve my vision." She removed the crossbow from her back and set it to one side. "I don't sneak around," she said, unperturbed. "I think it would be overkill to have the crossbow at the ready on Prefect patrols. Though there have been first years that have been running away screaming before I ask them what they were doing up at that time of night. I don't know why. I've always like your first name, it's far grander than mine."

As they talked, a presence watched them from atop a ruined pillar. A one-eyed black cat wearing what looked like a red scarf, looking down at the two ladies with a guttural purring.

“Well, I think poetry. But it’s not seeming like that. It’s more just jumbled thoughts and feelings. I don’t think it really makes any sense.” Mysti said, taking a look at the notebook page in front of her as the other girl sat beside her.

Honestly, she’d never been very good at poetry or writing. But for some reason it had seemed to help. Mysti had at least realized that getting thoughts out, no matter how incoherent they were, was good for the psyche. Which was probably something her mom had realized, and was why she’d given her daughter this notebook.

“That’s pretty neat though. I always grew up just playing quidditch, but I think something like archery would be fun to try.” Mysti laughed a little at the thought of first years running away from Ligeia. “First years are normally pretty skiddish. So it probably doesn’t take much to make them run off screaming, especially if they know they’re doing something they’re probably not supposed to be doing.”

Mysti took a moment to look around for the source of the purring.  When she saw the cat atop the pillar, she smiled. She liked cats, and had grown up with one. Even with a missing eye, he still seemed like a good cat.  And was a rather good purrer.

“Is he yours?” Mysti realized it was probably stupid to ask, since the cat hadn’t shown up til she’d seen Ligeia. “He seems nice.”

"Ooo, poetry," Ligeia said, delight gushing from every pore like a series of popped pimples. "I have a collection of Ingolfr the Iambic's[1] poems, including the Dark Passages he was said to right with a blood quill." Ligeia did not dog-ear her pages but that section of the poetry collection was well worn compared to the rest.

"At the basics, archery is about pointing and shooting. Though there are other bits in-between. Your breathing is important. Joshua Harcroft does proper archery, with a long bow. With this," Ligeia held out her customized crossbow, "I shoot more for accuracy over greater distances."

Ligeia looked up to the crumbled pillar. "Oh there you are, Yomiel." Ligeia beckoned him down with rubbing her fingers together. Her other hand felt around under her coat. "I think I had a kipper somewhere."

Yomiel landed without any wasted effort and sat with critical eye towards Mysti, a kink in his ashen grey tail. "Papa adopted him from a recent Ministry intervention. He's a smart cat, not even a week at Hogwarts and he knows his way around the castle I expect."

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HP Wiki

“Yeah, I’m not that great at it though. And I’m not sure I’ve heard of him. Wait. A blood quill for poetry?  I guess that’s literally writing with your pain. That sounds pretty interesting!”

Mysti wasn’t much of an expert of poetry, but it was definitely a good way to put down feelings.  Sometimes it could be so hard to talk about such things, and putting it down on paper seemed very much a better alternative.  Keeping things locked in, Mysti realized, wasn’t so easy.  And it wasn’t a good idea when too much was built up.  Especially when you are a metamorphmagai and things change when you get too upset. Which of course, she’d been working on. But emotions can cause slips in training.

“That’s pretty neat. I didn’t realize he was an archer as well. Do you go hunting at all? Or just have it as a hobby?”
Mysti then watched as the cat came down towards Ligeia.  He watched her as he sat down, and Mysti gave him a smile.  He was very stealthy and silent in his movements, more so than most cats seem to be. She found herself intrigued by him.

“I’ve always thought cats were pretty smart.  He seems to be well advanced over most others. And probably smarter than me. It took me well over a week to get used to all the corridors in the castle. Does he like to be pet? I’ve known some cats who don’t take so well to such.”

Mysti slowly held her hand out to him, but not too close at first.  Hopefully he wouldn’t scratch at her, but it wouldn’t be her first cat scratch if he did.

"I think Ingolfr was the first to use a blood quill so artistically. Those things originally had a benign purpose, for the writing in blood of magical contracts or similar documents." That history marred down by more sadistic folk in history (the more recent being an educator) utilizing them for strict torture.

"This is mostly a hobby but Papa Argyle plans at least three hunting trips each season. Arguably the crossbow is one of the easiest ways to hunt Nogtails." Provided that you'd been taken to such hunts and cut your teeth with modified archery since the age of six. Ligeia had even needed dental charms from a healer afterwards. She found the shriveled remains of the kipper and held it out above Yomiel's head.

"He even tried hunting the manticore we were following on our Grecian vacation, but that was a particularly gigantic one."

With the last of the dried fish in his lips, Yomiel stared up at Mysti's hand with his one good eye. There was a throaty growl from his chest, a pondering purr ambivalent of pleasure at this moment. In a fluid movement he slipped under the hand and had all fours on Mysti's legs, head still cocked inquisitively.

"He doesn't like to be manhandled though that's mainly from the way he was first captured be the Ministry." The trauma sustained by one worker who learned the danger of brushing the cat's fur the wrong way had to be sent to St. Mungo's. The injuries (minor) were cleared up within hours though he was still given two days of bed rest for the calming peace and quiet. "He doesn't have near the same kind of stress he had then. Only three of my textbooks have been shredded opposed to a department's worth of ministry paperwork."

“It was probably unheard of to actually write recreationally with the blood quill. I doubt that I’d be able to.”

And that was true. Mysti could only really tolerate pain when she had to. Or, wanted to. She had a little higher pain tolerance than most people (probably due to sustaining more injuries than most kids because of quidditch growing up with her brothers), so it wasn’t that bad. But she figured that most people would prefer not to deal with pain.

“Nogtails? And manticores? That’s some intense hunting there. It seems like you’ve been doing it for a rather long time though, so you and your family are probably some of the most experienced. A hunt seems like it would be rather exciting.”

Mysti tried to imagine herself on a hunting trip. It would probably be rather quiet, trying to hunt something.  But she stopped when the cat came up onto her lap.  She gently started petting him, and smiled.

“Poor cat. I’m sure that couldn’t have been fun. It’s good that he’s got you now, then. Think you’ll ever take him on one of your hunts? He’s probably a very good hunter, right?” Mysti asked

"Plenty of times," Ligeia said as she smoothed out her warming furs. "Papa originally got me into the crossbow. Said it would train my vision up. Mother had to take a respite to Florence that weekend."

Much of the taxidermy in the front hall of the Canterbury Estate was pelted on these trips, with only one or two pieces not slain by the family on a trip.

"I should think so the next time we have a trip, though Papa is being hush on the details. Yomiel would be able to take care of himself. He was rounded up when the ministry had an incident with a gathering of Red Caps."

On Mystique's leg the cat unsheathed its claws on all paws, the rear hind leg jerking up to scratch an ear.

“So I take it she didn’t really approve of you learning the crossbow?” Mysti asked.

She then started wondering what her own mother would say if she started to learn such a skill.  Granted, it wasn’t really something that would relate to anything Mysti would do in the future.  It could potentially help in accuracy or hand-eye coordination for quidditch though. At least that’s what Mysti was thinking. Whether or not that was true, she was becoming more interested in trying as she talked to Ligeia.

“Red caps? They’re pretty nasty. He must be pretty strong to have survived that, so he should definitely be able to handle himself hunting.” She said, dropping her hand as Yomiel started scratching his ear with a hind leg. The claws came out, but didn’t really claw her, so Mysti let him be for the moment.

“Have you ever thought about, or given crossbow lessons? You’ve kind of got me interested and I think it would be neat to learn.”

Mysti found herself rather glad that the other girl had wandered down this pathway.  Had she not, there was a good chance Mysti was just still going to be sitting there sulking to herself for things she shouldn’t have been that upset about in the first place.  Granted, the lack of action from the past semester had been rather difficult, but as she was back playing quidditch and being active, it was better.  But sometimes she couldn’t help but slip back into a little depression, despite not wanting to. 

"Oh, she was teasing Papa that time as well. Mother will sometimes do that." The term 'seventh helping' was bantered about from Hannah sometimes, as she was Papa Argyle's latest wife in a long line of marriages. "She doesn't disprove herself, although it's not something herself or my sister Polka Dot would do. Dear Dot hated most of those hunting trips."

With his ear scratched Yomiel tiled his head, licking the red cloth wrapped around his neck. He left Mystique's lap. With a wall boost he leapt up to the half pillar he had been on earlier.

"According to the reports Yomiel had been claws out on the side of the Red Caps that were attacking the vacationers but that's a falsehood," Ligeia said importantly, unknowing of any other interpretations of what a cat living amongst Red Caps was like. "He must have been after their fish paste sandwiches, he was half starved when they captured him."

"Given lessons?" Ligeia played with the notion in her mind. She had helped tutor the younger students several times with their work, charms or potions usually. Ligeia had never tutored anyone in relation to her own avocations. The thought pleased her immensely so there was nothing like starting right away.

"The first important thing is to feel the weight of the crossbow," Ligeia said as she proceed to take her loaded and primed crossbow (bow string stung and quarrel shafted and the trigger off safety) and pressed it into Mystique's hands.

Mysti watched as the cat leapt back up atop the pillar as she listened to Legeia talk about how Yomiel was found.  Poor thing.  She honestly didn’t understand how people could be so cruel to animals. He must have just been abandoned out in the wild before he was found.  Starving to death in the wild wouldn’t be too fun, especially with such creatures as Red Caps out there.

She was definitely caught unprepared when the other girl put the crossbow into her hands.  When she’d asked about lessons, she was thinking perhaps another day, if they both had free time together.  Not at that very moment.  Then again, both of them were free at that time, so it wasn’t like she had anything to do. Mysti let out a slightly nervous laugh as she held the crossbow in her hands.  It was a bit lighter than she’d been expecting. She thought such a weapon would be really heavy, but it wasn’t.

“O-Okay. It’s different than what I was expecting.” She said, after the initial shock had somewhat passed and she held it up a bit. “Now what? I suppose standing up would help.”

As Mysti carefully stood, she realized it was probably one of the more interesting things she had done lately. And if anyone were to be passing by, it would probably be something they’d decide to walk away from.  Two girls in a hallway with a crossbow? Definitely not something you see every day, even in Hogwarts.

But while it may not be the safest thing, Mysti was starting to enjoy it.  Now that she was standing, holding the crossbow was a little bit easier. Then she looked to Legeia for what to do next.

"What a crossbow does is automatically have a weight of tension behind the bowstring, which has to be done manually with a regular bow," LIgeia said as she stood next to Mystique, pulling off the hood of her furs. "How you hold it depends on what kind of shooting you want to do. For long distances I have the end mounted on the tripod but for you..."

Ligeia guided Mystique's hands. "Have your left on the grip under the stock before the lath," that was a hand placed under the bow front, "then let your right curl around the trigger as you keep the butt under your arm."

"When you line up a shot, you could use the scope once it's been calibrated to the right distance." With a deft movement Ligeia unclipped the scope. "But for a closer range you can always align the basic sights, having your target between these prongs at the end. Then when you're ready squeeze the trigger. A deep breath helps."

Mysti listened intently to what Ligeia said.  She moved her hands to where the other girl said they should be.  It was very much a different feeling, holding a crossbow.  If anything, the hufflepuff girl was used to a broom, or quaffle.  She had never had anything such as the weapon in her hands. It did feel a little weird, but rather exciting too.

“Oh, okay.” Mysti said, her head jerked back a little as the scope popped up.  She relaxed a little as she looked through it. “This… it’s loaded? Are you sure I should be shooting this inside the hallway?”

She did know that the crossbow was loaded, but since she had little knowledge of the sport, knew nothing of the type of bolts that were loaded.  And Mysti knew nothing of Terminal Terminating Bots, nor that they existed.  Shooting a loaded crossbow in a hallway, even with a prefect, could potentially get them in trouble, especially if someone were to wander down the somewhat deserted corridor.