Something was coming. Something was happening, and it was impossible for her to ignore it. This morning, she had thrown away the last of her dreamless sleep potions. One of the worst parts about visions was how vague they could be-- how much information was omitted.

 There were specific students who, whenever she saw them, she felt a chill. A dark feeling in the pit of her stomach. When she checked in on them (eagerly and urgently, she'd admit), the responses had not been helpful. Nothing was going on with them, yet. Mai was certain that she had worried some and traumatized others.

While Mai had known very many seers in her life, the only one she knew particularly well was Dreogan Eleor. And Dree wasn't here. Luckily for her, Hogwarts had a new Divination professor who also happened to be a Seer.

She knocked on the door to his classroom, not waiting for a response before she entered. It was empty. Perfect. "Hello." Mai greeted awkwardly, unsure of how to approach this. Very well then, might as well get to the point.

"Are you having visions too?" The witch asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

The knock made Sid struggle; a scuffle was heard as she turned the doorknob, a needle shoved under a cushion and his sleeve hurriedly rolled down. His breath had caught in his chest, hard and tight. Her timing was perfect, in a sad sort of way - she'd caught him about to give in, caught in a whirl of frustration and desire.

But when the door opened fully Sid was a perfect picture; sprawled at his desk, dressed to the nines, his classroom draped in elegant silk and awash with incense. It was less classroom and more of a den - only a cracked-open window pulled some of the haze away. It glittered with lanterns, with decorated bowls of shimmering water.

It was theatrical, but it always was. Sid could hardly stand to have his surroundings be dull, especially if he had control over them.

Instead of the needle he'd been fighting with, he drew a cigarette, his fingers only barely shaking. Imported and expensive, the smoke they made was a purplish blue; he took a long drag before he spoke, slunk in his chair as if he'd expected her the entire time.

"Miss Biladaeu-Yukawa, isn't it?" He asked instead of answering, smiling warmly. "Terribly sorry we haven't been properly introduced -" He held out a hand for her, the handshake firm. Normally he might have kissed her hand, but she seemed rather flustered already.  "Sid Blackburn."

He took another drag before he answered, waving her towards one of the chairs opposite. "I assume you mean in relation to Hogwarts' troubles, as of late?" He watched her through the smoke, yellow eyes curious. "Yes."

"Sid. Pleasure." She replied curtly, though she added a small smile when she realized her tone. "I prefer Maiko." The witch wouuld rather be on a first name basis with her colleagues. Besides, her last name was a mouthful. 

Everything about this guy seemed... Fancy. Elaborate. It reminded her, in many ways, of Darian's tastes. And if she remembered correctly, those two were friends. They led lifestyles much more extravagant than her's. Mai suspected that they put in effort in order to make it seem... Effortless.

"I assume you mean in relation to Hogwarts' troubles, as of late?"

She nodded in confirmation, taking a seat and crossing one leg over the other. Mai tried not to be unsettled by his eyes-- but they would take some time to get used to. "So." If they were both having visions, it gave hers some more credit. Despite how limited they had been as of late. She was kicking herself internally for that.

 "What are your visions like?"

Ah, the question. All Seers must get it at some point, he assumed, but he couldn't help but wonder if they all struggled to answer it, as he did. He interwove his fingers, thinking a long moment before replying. His yellow eyes studied her carefully as he thought.

"My visions are...not always helpful, I admit. They are impressions, images, feelings - sometimes of the past, the present and the future all in one. It takes me some time to interpret them." And too often he needed more information, things only making sense after they'd occurred. It'd made working with his more serious visions rather a burden, when he'd struggled for context with an imminent feeling of doom.

Not unlike now, in fact. Portents were all he had.

"I am not blessed, as some are, with specific visions. It can be hard to tell metaphor from fact..." He rubbed his lower lip. "For instance, I have seen a lake turn red as blood. Is this literal? Does it imply a time of day? Or is it a portent that the shock of spilled blood will obscure the truth from those who seek it?"

Seeing came in many forms-- for some seers, the visions were more metaphorical. For others, they were direct. She and Dree were the sort of seers who tended towards visions on the more direct side. She had known many whose visions weren't, and it seemed that Sid was one of them.  Mai understood the struggle of trying to interpret visions-- often, vital information was left out. Sometimes her visions were hazy.

Her eyebrows furrowed together when he mentioned a blood lake-- was it metaphor or fact? Bodies of water that ran blood were common metaphorical visions-- usually a sign of impending death. The ones Sid had listed were also, very viable possibilities.

Either way, she had seen it too. She had also smelled it. Her nose wrinkled in distaste at the memory. It hadn't felt metaphorical, but how could she tell?

"I--" She sighed, "My visions have been leaking over into my waking hours." Mai explained, "A little here, a little there. Phantom smells. Seeing things in my peripheral that are not really there. There are specific students that I keep... I know something's wrong. Or something is going to be wrong." Mai didn't mention just how inevitable this wrong-ness felt. 

Sid considered her carefully. Such effects he experienced, too, but they weren't exactly a part of his visions. Flashbacks he had fully discounted years ago, knowing they were a lingering effect of the drugs he used to get to his inner eye open at all.

Maiko didn't seem the substance abuse sort. He tilted his head and considered; the beaded ring he wore through his nose shifted as he moved, jiggling gently. "A gut feeling, then? Do you see specifics around these students, or merely a cloud of misfortune?" Some people had those hazes over them by their sheer nature, in his experience. He tended to avoid them as a matter of course.

"And smells...what kind? Do you think they have to do with your visions?"

"It's a gut feeling. I walk by them and I feel chilled from the inside out." She hesitated, "Have you ever been around a dementor..? It's, it's like that." Mai explained, "Not as intense, of course. But enough for me to know that something is wrong. Or is going to be wrong." She was certain about this, and this certainty filled her with dread. "I know them. They aren't usually like this."  She had been working at Hogwarts for well over a year now, she knew. 

"As far as smells go..." She began, "I smell flowers. Strong. Rose and Jasmine. And blood." Maiko let out an exasperated groan, "I've been taking dreamless sleep potions before bed. Like an idiot. It blocked out visions in my sleep like I wanted, but this shit is leaking over into my waking hours."

Sid frowned, brought the tips of his fingers to his lips - gaze not on her but in the middle distance. Gut feelings were often how he found his way to his visions, too, but they could be just as tricky as the images themselves.

"Thankfully, that is an experience I've been lucky enough to avoid, but I've heard it decribed." If anything counted as a gut feeling, that'd be it. "I know that I myself have had such portentious feelings; but they may not be fully connected. Bad fortune can hang around a person in such a way, for those of us semsative to it." Misfortune was nearly tangible, sometimes, when its outcome was dire.

He leaned forward and regarded her intently, head tilted slightly as he smiled. "Perhaps making the effort to see their fortunes might put your mind at ease?" He suggested. "Or give some direction, if nothing else."

She agreed that bad fortune had it's way of hanging around people, but it was more than just someone being prone to bad luck. No. It was more than that. It felt more concrete than that. Mai had already expressed this, and didn't see the point in repeating herself. So, she listened as Sid offered suggestions.

"Perhaps making the effort to see their fortunes might put your mind at ease? Or give some direction, if nothing else."

Mai nodded gravely. "And, perhaps you're right. That is how I need to approach this." She let out a humorless laugh, "Though trying to figure out what a vision means and putting efforts to stop it is... An entirely different kind of challenge. Nearly impossible." How many times had she seen seers try to prevent their visions from happening, and how often had it put that vision on its' course? How often had she done nothing and watched while visions came true anyway?

At least in the case of the boat capsizing, they were able to evacuate all the students. Sometimes, sometimes her ability was a gift more than a curse.

"Thank you." She finally said, giving her colleague a small smile, "I will.. Think on this some more."

He inclined his head in response, silently accepting her thanks. He watched her for a moment longer, fingers to his lips as he considered. He might object to some of what she'd said, but this was hardly unusual; Divination was a very individual art and what worked for one might yield no result for another. He'd no desire to engage in a semantic debate.

"These students...are you familiar with them, personally?" He asked, even though he'd assumed she'd been intending to leave. "I apologise - the lack of professor and the delay in classes has made me unfamiliar with which of our students have taken an interest in my subject." He folded his hands in his lap, reclined effortlessly against the desk. "But if any of them have an interest, or training..."

He trailed off, but the thought hung there clearly - it was a link, something usable.

Well, her polite attempt of an exit didn't work. And it would have been rude to walk out.

"I am familiar with the students." Mai replied, quirking a brow. Of course she was. She was one of the few staff members who had actually lasted over a year here. She was a Head of House, and the school counselor. She was also well known for providing sweets to anybody fortunate enough to run into her in the hallway, as well as hot chocolate to those who poked their heads into her office. So many times she had slipped up and cussed in front of students before quickly pleading that they wouldn't tell. And of course they probably did, the little shits. She loved them anyway.

"A few of them have some skill in divination." Virgil in particular. He had a lot of potential.  There were a few others too, who took divination. Mai didn't want to share their names though, she didn't want to scare them more than she already had.

He quirked an eyebrow for a moment as he considered, mulling over the options. It wasn't usually best to tell someone they had a pallor of ill luck about them - though he had, on occasion. Sometimes that was what people wanted to hear. But in this case, when it was genuine foreboding...

"Then perhaps engaging them in the subject may help you explore your concerns further," he said. "You may not be able to stop or change the future you see, but then you - and they - might be better prepared for it."

Sid inclined his head politely; when he looked up again, he was smiling. "I apologize, I've kept you, haven't I?"