Open Learn to let go

[Elio Zephyr]

Elio knew he had to make the most of the time had to get to know himself better than he currently did. Right now he put a lot of effort into making sure other people were happy to the point were he could literally feel himself falling away. Since coming back to Hogwarts he'd been working hard to getting himself settled and making sure that he was keeping up with lessons, which had been a success and he'd been awarded too with a badge he never thought he'd receive. That being said there were still many things about himself he didn't understand, and the older he got the more they were confusing him. One of the things he didn't understand was his fear of heights. It wasn't as though it had stemmed from a particular incident, so much as he just always felt a little strange when he was at a height. Maybe it was was irrational, but he wanted to understand himself more than ever before and it seemed like a good place to start. After summoning the courage to go up to the North Towers, Elio had been standing a few steps away from the wall that would protect him from the huge drop below, not quite up to peering over it yet. It reminded him of when he'd tried to for the Quidditch team and had gotten stuck in the hoop for an hour, all of his cells just wanted to make sure he was holding on to something at all times. The Gryffindor loved to climb, only sometimes he forgot his own limits. Was it even possible to break through things like this? Elio groaned and stared up to the roof as he tried to rationalise it all in his mind. So many other people could just admire the view from above, why was this so hard for him? ​

 

[Elsie Baros]

Fifth year had been... interesting, and it wasn't even over yet. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting specifically, or even if she had been expecting anything, but she certainly hadn't expected everything that had happened so far, and the year was nearly over. She felt like everything had happened at once, and maybe it had. Her relationship with Agnes aside, Elsie had managed to be involved in a lot of things that had nothing to do with her, somehow. She barely even paid attention to the people around her most of the time and yet... She headed up to the North Tower for some air. She was going over some of the Ancient Runes stuff from last semester, just getting in early before exams and it was all beginning to do her head in. She didn't know why Rowan was so good at exams, Elsie never had been. Her sister barely even needed to study to just know and get things right and yet Elsie had to sit there for hours slaving over a spell book. Maybe she was looking into the wrong career paths. Surely dancing or something more creative would be better, since she could do that with her eyes closed, she definitely had Rowan beat there. Of course that wouldn't be what she wanted. She was still trying to decide between Healer and Auror, though she was leaning more towards Auror since there would already be a healer in the family. She knew Vegeta wanted to be a healer, or it was something he was considering anyway, since he'd told her about it. She was proud of him, doing everything he could to change who he was. It certainly wasn't easy and she was trying to help him as much as she could, though it wasn't easy with no one quite able to understand. She'd tried explaining it to Zennon and Rowan, Zennon who hadn't known she'd been getting bullied and Rowan who was determined not to believe a word out of Vegeta's mouth, but she saw the change in him. He hadn't picked on anyone in ages and the roses he'd sent out - though she didn't tell anyone who received them who they were from - were heartfelt. She did think he should have signed them, but that was his choice. Elsie was confused for a moment when she found someone else in the towers, and then relaxed a little when she realised who it was. "Are you lost, Zephyr? This be Ravenclaw turf."​

 

[Elio Zephyr]

Elio tried his best to think back to when he was a kid, getting into trouble by climbing everything and anything in his site, but as far as he was aware he hadn't actually had any particularly bad falls, or anything that would trigger this fear in his mind. It was just another one of those things that didn't seem to make any sense about him. He lowered his head when he heard a voice, placing it quickly to his Arithmancy partner. Elsie for sure made the subject more interesting, and since becoming friends with her he'd not regretted the choice to keep going with it. "Physically or metaphorically, Baros?" he grinned at her, watching the Ravenclaw move further into the room. Elio knew Rowan was spending more time with her sister now and he had to wonder how much Elsie knew that was going on between them, but he could only assume Rowan told her most things. Nevertheless, Elsie felt like a breath of fresh air in these parts, which was exactly what he needed right about now. "You know, I never would have made it as a Ravenclaw," he mused aloud. As fun as it would have been to share a house with Elsie and Ava, the idea of coming up so high as the towers every single day was enough to make him feel queasy, let alone have him sleep well every night. ​

 

[Elsie Baros]

"That sounds pretty big," Elsie responded, raising an eyebrow. She hadn't meant her greeting to be so on point, though she supposed she wasn't all that surprised. After what Rowan had told her about what happened by the lake, she'd wondered what had been going through Elio's mind. She didn't want to interfere, because it really wasn't her place, but she couldn't deny she was incredibly curious. To be honest, she did what she could to distract herself from the things going on with her and Agnes. It wasn't that she was lost or unsure about Agnes, but mostly she was trying to protect what they had and it was difficult to do that when all she wanted to do all day was wrap Agnes in her arms and kiss her. She knew Agnes was terrified of her family and finding things out and after learning what she had at the dance she couldn't blame her, but that didn't make her any less needy. Elio and Rowan had their own problems too, but at least they had the option to actually be together, if that was what they decided on and if thy decided not to be, it was their decision and not someone elses. She was glad Rowan wasn't in her position, she wasn't sure how her control issues would have taken this. "We're certainly not the house for the feint of heart, it's true." She said, tilting her head to look at him curiously. He seemed troubled, though they probably all were these days. Everyone had something going on and it was really with great effort anyone could pull anything out. "There's plenty of other places to get a good look at the grounds and the lake, something about the towers take your fancy?"​

 

[Elio Zephyr]

Elio shrugged, still not moving from his position a few feet away from the ledge. “Well it’s true. I don’t come up here by myself and you know, fifth years been a bit, hard.” He didn’t know whether or not Elsie would care to press him for answers. He wondered whether she knew more than she let on but if she did ask he didn’t mind talking to her. Despite only really coming together for one class, that class was at time quite a personal one since they’d done readings for one another, and it was safe to say that Els was one his best friends, one if which he’d even allowed to steal a rose from him. Thankfully it hadn’t had a note. Elio hadn’t really had a chance to take to Elsie about what came after either but since her words in the stands he knew better than to push it. “I’m not.. a faint heart.” He squinted at the Ravenclaw, “I mean I could never live so high up here. I’m just. I think this is a good spot to test some fears.” He admitted. If Elsie wanted to leave him to it and not get sucked into his own irrational thoughts then now was the time to leave. “What are you doing?”​

 

[Elsie Baros]

Elsie would never admit it, but there really was just something about Elio that made her curious. It really was probably something to do with the way he loved her sister, which made her happy when they weren’t hurting each other, but she liked him, enough to stand here awkwardly talking to him about whatever he was going through right now. It was hard to say really. “Well, the OWLs stop for no one.” She said laughing slightly. It wasn’t that she was enjoying the OWLs at all, well, she was to a certain extent, but she mostly liked pretty much owning the school. They could pretty much go anywhere to study and unless the seventh years were there they could basically ask anyone to leave too. The power. She watched him near the ledge, frowning slightly. He said he wasn’t a feint heart, but he wasn’t exactly doing anything to shut the accusation done either. “So you’re standing near a ledge to test... a fear of heights?” That seemed like an odd way of doing it. “I was trying to get away from studying, I work so hard all the time and I still have to study, so I was going to just feel the air on my face, maybe practice.”​

 

[Elio Zephyr]

Maybe it was just a Ravenclaw trait that made them always talk about their studies. Then again he knew a bunch of other students that weren't in Elsie's house that did that too. "Yeah. Sure. OWLs." he said. They really were the least of his worries now, although he knew if he wanted to be a good student he probably should have been given them the attention they needed and deserved. Elsie seemed confused for his reason to be here, but it seemed probably the safest thing he could think of and yet still challenge himself enough. "Yes," obviously she'd managed to avoid seeing his spectacular attempt during tryouts. "Doesn't bode well for someone to likes to climb," he smiled. When he was younger especially he would climb more than he did now, not even remembering his fear until he'd reached the top. He wasn't the only one that had come up here for the air and the space though. "You've got a recital coming up, right?" he asked, trying to relay what infomation had told him about it. ​

 

[Elsie Baros]

Clearly, there was something more on his mind than he was letting on, and as much as Elsie considered Elio a dear friend, she'd never specifically let him know how much he meant to her, so really, she had no way of knowing how far he would let her pry or how much she could even try to do so. She wasn't a nosey person especially, but she did like to know what was going on and since she'd somehow managed to find herself in a group of friends she'd never expected to have - since she was not now nor had she ever been good with people - she found that she'd liked being included in things, in their lives. Still though, this was Elio and she often felt a little like an outsider, especially where Rowan was concerned. She felt like she would be prying into Rowan's business by prying into Elio's which, admittedly, was dumb since they were two different people, though she did question that sometimes. She'd never properly followed up about what had happened after she'd cried with Rowan on the cliffs, but, still, this didn't seem like her place to tread. "So not OWLs then?" She asked, though she hadn't really thought it had been anything to do with their impending exams. People handled stress differently, but she'd never taken Elio for a stress head. She stepped closer to him, looking down over the grounds. "Want me to push you?" She asked, only half-joking. It would probably solve a lot of his problems. "You'll have your test results pretty quickly I'd wager. What, take say... a minute to hit the ground?" She said, turning to grin mischievously at him. "Promise I'd catch you with a featherlight charm... maybe." She stepped back when he asked about her recital and nodded. "Mm, Rowan's been helping me prepare, it won't be enough though, Harriett is always better than me and it's always annoying because she sticks it in my face." She said, rolling her eyes.​