Open Captured and Tangled

[Arachne Westwick]

Open after a few replies back and forth between me and Rowan (Nessie), we'll put a note when it's open

Arachne had thought the costume wouldn't be too bad, but she had underestimated how hot it got in this fly suit. She glanced over at Nessie, who was wearing their dad's old spider costume. Their dad had once matched with his brother as spiders, but Uncle Edmund hadn't been able to find his own old costume. So instead of a spider, Arachne was now a fly. It had been the closest they could find, and it still fit together, sort of. Arachne grew increasingly sweaty as she stood and chatted with her sister. Well, attempted to chat. It wasn't very easy with their costumes. Arachne spotted some of her roommates at another part of the great hall. She couldn't see very well and she was curious about their costumes, so she finally took off the head. Arachne gasped softly at the fresh air hitting her face, wiping away the strands of hair that stuck to her cheek. "Nessie, take it off for a bit, it's so nice to breathe." She said encouragingly to her sister.

 

[Nessie Westwick]

Nothing at this miserable school went right. Nothing. Nessie had been sneaking around and avoiding her wretched house at all costs, doing her best to stick close to Arachne at all times, but even now, on the most important day of the year, they were separated. Her dad's old costume fit well, but Nessie silently cursed Uncle Edmund for losing his half of the set. The fly costume was... appropriate enough, but it wasn't the same. It wasn't right. They should match. Her hidden frown deepened when Arachne took the head off her own costume, glaring pointlessly at her sister behind the mask. "That's not the point!" She hissed. "You're not going to scare anyone like that."

 

[Arachne Westwick]

Arachne took another deep breath. She could feel Nessie's glare from behind her mask, and she could picture it perfectly in her mind, but it did lose some of its power nowt hat she couldn't see it. She huffed out a small laugh, blowing another bit of hair out of her face. "I wasn't really scaring anyone as a fly anyway." She said lightheartedly. Her gaze drifted over to where she thought she had seen her roommates earlier.

 

[Nessie Westwick]

Nessie scowled, glare deepening. "Plenty of idiots are scared of flies." She snapped. "Besides, it's a pair costume. We're scary together." Nessie seethed as she watched her sister's eyes wander. "Put your head back on."

 

[Arachne Westwick]

Arachne thought she had seen Eloise or January but now some other people were blocking her view and she couldn't see very well anymore. She frowned a bit as Nessie snapped at her, taking a small step away from her sister and shaking out her hair. "Not yet." She said, surprising herself by how firm she sounded. Maybe the spider head really was helping, if anything, it made Nessie less scary. "I will in a minute." She added placatingly. "Um, so I was thinking.... maybe we could go say hi to some of my f- roommates? They're nice." She said hopefully, despite knowing how Nessie would probably answer.

 

[Nessie Westwick]

Nessie gritted her teeth, eyes widening in disbelief. When had Arachne gotten so disobedient? Every horrible thing she had ever thought about this nightmare school was coming to pass. "Why would we do that?" She hissed, before reconsidering. "Actually. Why not? Put your head back on." She repeated, grinning wickedly. "Let's go "say hi"."

 

[Arachne Westwick]

Arachne sighed softly before biting her lip. Why had she suggested it? She opened her mouth to argue, but then she heard the change in Nessie's voice and just knew she had cooked up some horrible scheme. Her shoulders sagged a little, but she gripped the costume head tightly, still not putting it back on. "No, never mind. I don't know where they are anyway." She said quickly. "But- but it's good to get to know them, maybe you should try talking to your roommates?" She asked helplessly, though she wasn't sure who was in Nessie's dorm. With how little her sister had been there, she wondered if Nessie even knew.

 

[Nessie Westwick]

Nessie was glad that her sister couldn't see her face drop inside the spider's head. It would have been a good opportunity to warn those overly friendly Hufflepuffs not to go near her sister. Arachne was still carrying on though, and she gritted her teeth in frustration. "I'd rather boil my own head than get to know any of the idiots in this place." She snapped. "They're all worthless."

 

[Arachne Westwick]

Arachne worried her lip between her teeth before responding, taking a moment to look around the hall again. She hadn't planned on starting this conversation right now, but maybe she should, while Nessie was wearing the silly spider head and she could pretend not to notice how displeased she was. "Maybe it's less bad than you think." She said, trying to sound optimistic. "You're going to share a room with them for seven years, it wouldn't be... the worst thing if they're nice and maybe you can make friends too?" She asked, the last bit coming out in a rush. She felt her cheeks turn pink, realizing she had probably played her hand.

 

[Nessie Westwick]

Nessie's whole body tensed, shot through with fear that quickly boiled into anger. Arachne had been toying with this stupid, miserable idea for far too long, and something had to give. "I don't care if they're nice. I don't want friends, and I definitely don't want nice ones. We don't need friends, we have each other. We've been over this, we aren't making friends." She said firmly, hoping her sister could feel the fire of her gaze through the spider head.

 

[Arachne Westwick]

There was no way Arachne could pretend not to notice Nessie's anger, it was practically coming off her in waves. But for the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt a small spark of anger in return. Deep in her chest. Why was it always Nessie who decided everything for them both? She had never noticed that with her dad and uncle, they were also together a lot but it wasn't like one of them always decided everything. "Well, maybe you can find some not nice friends." She said, still trying for a nice tone but realizing it came out a little snippy. To her surprise and mild horror, she then kept going. "And it's fine if you don't want friends- but maybe I do. And maybe I already made friends." She said, her hands clenching into fists, her voice a little shaky. "I need you- but it's not bad to also have other people- um, too." she stopped, her voice faltering. "Mum said so." She hurried to add, hoping it would help her argument somehow.

 

[Nessie Westwick]

The crack in Nessie's heart was loud enough she would have sworn you could hear it from the Quidditch pitch. She ripped her stupid, horrible head off, Halloween forgotten, and rounded seething on her sister. "You don't have friends." She hissed, eyes burning as she backed Arachne towards the nearest wall. "You don't want friends, you don't need friends. You have me." Her teeth were gritted so tight it felt like they would crack. "Mum isn't a twin. She doesn't get it. We have each other."

 

[Arachne Westwick]

Arachne's head sank as her sister turned on her. As she pulled the spider head off, she realized again that she never would've been brave enough to say any of that if her sister hadn't been wearing it. Not just because her sister was glaring at her, but also because she could tell how hurt she was. But when Nessie was hurt, she lashed out. When they were much smaller, her sister had pinched or hit her whenever she got upset, mostly when Arachne wouldn't do what she wanted. Once they got older, she no longer needed to do that. But Arachne worried a little that she would now. Had the Slytherins learned any hexes yet?

Arachne backed away until she hit the wall, shaking her head. "No- it's not like that. Of course we have each other but I can also have friends- we can do both-" She winced as her sister seemed to tower over her, despite being the exact same height. "Nessie, stop it!"

Out of Character:

now open for anyone to join

 

[Ivara Caldwell]

Ivara had been standing from afar, watching the spider and the fly. She wasn't a spider person, but flies were important for feeding frogs so Ivara was watching out of a dim curiosity, but also wondering if Roger was okay upstairs. She'd elected not to bring her frog to the feast - something she was regretting as he was her anchor of comfort - but was distracted from her thoughts when she noticed spider and the fly seemingly get a bit tense. Ivara didn't like that. She rushed forward in her dress, almost tripping for a moment, before confronting the spider. "Hey!" she called out loudly as she approached. "Are you being mean to the fly - I mean - this girl? Because that's not okay. Just because you're a spider doesn't give you the right." Seemingly the essentialism of these costumes was a given to Ivara.