Downward Spiral

[Espen Manning]

The outdoors, somewhere where Espen was able to take a deep breathe and perhaps even empty his worrisome mind is where he would calm himself down if his sister was nowhere to be found, if her soothing voice and the closeby warmth of the tight embrace he could always count on was unavailable.
Perhaps a hug, or the comfort of her voice would have been better now since Espen was feeling like he was about to have a full-on panic attack; his lungs felt like they were about to snap, cut open from the inside-out and force all the oxygen that he collected with the couple of deep breathes that he had taken.

The sudden darkness that slithered inside his mind, that was clouding his continuous bright judgement that had been going on for a couple of weeks now. Things seemed to be working out, he was on the right track again and he even managed to have some moderate fun at the Yule Ball instead of nicking some liquor for the elves and drinking it until he'd pass out in one of the broom closets.

Letting his body fall down, up against a tree and sliding down it; Espen let out a restrained grunt, like he was hurt and like he was trying to fight something that threatened to take over. An internal fight that started to show on the outside as well; his skintone became paler than it usually was, those bright blue orbs an almost transparent blue that leaned towards an almost piercing white. This was not going well; he felt like his lungs were only swelling up more, that they would snap in the upcoming seconds if he wouldn't get a grip back on reality.

 

[Min-Ji Song]

I have to get up early, Min-Ji had told himself multiple times that semester. It's no good saying you like sunrises and never being up to see one. He did, truly he did, but for some reason the teen could never wake up in time to greet the glorious morning. He supposed it would be life-affirming to do so, but these days it was enough to just be on time for class; sleep was a commodity. It was a weekend, so, despite having homework, Min rolled out of bed at eleven and was delighted to find the weather to be misty and cool. The sun was pale and made the day seem like the morning, anyway, so it seemed he'd gotten his wish in an around about way. It was also a perfect opportunity to walk down to the lake- there was nothing more atmospheric than a low fog over a glassy body of water.

Min hadn't exactly expected to be alone, but he was surprised to come upon another student almost immediately and as soon as he saw the other boy, all thoughts of mysterious mornings and dewy grass left his mind. The Hufflepuff (thought he didn't know them to be so, at first) looked to be in acute distress, and though Min's instincts urged him to hurry forward, he approached more cautiously and crouched in front of Espen, giving him a gentle and concerned smile. "Hey," murmured the Ravenclaw, wondering if it was alright to touch his shoulder. He seemed a bit disconnected. "Are you alright? You're very pale. Are you sick?"​

 

[Espen Manning]

The surroundings seemed to fade, slowly blurring his vision as anxiety only seemed to increase; unable to keep his mind off all of his worries and the things to come. At this point, he was overthinking about everything, something that someone should not do in the current state he was in. His hands fell down onto the grass that was moist from the misty morning that caused the lakefront to look almost spooky; if it hadn't been for the Yule Ball that passed only a week ago, you could consider it a fitting weather for Halloween instead of the cheerful holidays of Christmas.

When someone approached Espen, he barely noticed them; hands tightening onto the muddy ground, his fingers digging into the grass and further into it; causing mud to get under his nails and leave a messy trail of remnants of mud and pebbles. "Ehh-" Not sure what to answer, eyes widening as the fellow student came a little closer; Espen's bright blue eyes showning no decrease in its worry, distress and overall state of panic. "J-just- j-ust-.." Unable to cough out any reasonable sentence at this point, but nevertheless the attempt at conversation caused him to feel somewhat of a relief to wash over him. "C-cold." He wasn't that cold, but there was a chilly sensation crawling over him that he wished would be gone. Maybe the other could do something about it, perhaps some magic; Espen could not think of any spells or charms to help him out. Neither would he be able to produce any of them without hurting himself in the progress. When he wasn't focused, it would be devastating to use any of the magic he had been taught so far in his years at Hogwarts.