Arriving [Open]

[Jory Addison]

"Um..." Jory shined his light down the corridors, then chose one without thinking and immediately moved back to the conversation instead of thinking about the dark castle. "I like sunsets. It makes all those different colors, like red and orange. Sometimes you get lucky and get colors like purple, like in the rainbow." He loved it when he got lucky enough to see a rainbow when it rained.

[Sheridan McKie]

"Jory?" Sheridan called lightly. Why was his voice getting quieter? She turned around herself a few times, panicking. Where did he go? Finally, she saw his shadow moving away in the opposite direction. "Uh-oh." She sighed before running to catch up to him. Her heart was racing, mostly from being scared at the thought of being lost in a dark corridor in the middle of an unfamiliar, and incredibly creepy, castle. "Sorry, what did you say?" Sheridan asked, matching his pace.

[Jory Addison]

"Huh?" Jory asked, looking over at Sheridan. "Oh, um...just that I like sunsets better, especially when there's purple." He hadn't even realized he had walked off without her. He thought she had been following him. Apparently not. He also didn't realize he had subconsciously edited out the part about rainbows.

[Sheridan McKie]

Sheridan nodded in agreement. "You said you were new, too, right? Is this your first week?" She asked. Sheridan had so many questions about the school she was about to burst. She noticed the light at the tip of her wand was dimming. Her mind was fishing with so many questions, she completely forgot about her wand. She tapped her wand in mid-air and whispered "Lumos!" The light immediately brightened.

[Jory Addison]

"No, I've been here since the beginning of term, but I moved from another school," Jory said, shaking his head as he glanced over at Sheridan. "I still don't know many people, though, and I still get lost, so it still feels like I'm really new." He shrugged and took another turn down a corridor, hoping that they were closer now. He was half hoping that he would instinctually find the common room if they kept talking.

[Sheridan McKie]

"I can imagine it's incredibly easy to get lost here. There are so many different corridors and they all look so similar!" Sheridan marveled. It was taking them a long time to get to the Common Room. Did it normally take this long? Were they lost? She really hoped not. Her trip was beginning to take a toll on her and she was getting pretty tired. Sheridan let out a yawn, unable to stop herself. "Oh, excuse me!" She said covering her mouth with her hand and her cheeks immediately darkened.

[Jory Addison]

Jory shrugged, "It's okay," he said as he caught sight of the Portrait in front of them down the corridor. "Everything does look the same, especially at night. During the day it's a lot easier, though." He still left a little early for class so that he was certain to have enough time to get where he needed to be.

[Sheridan McKie]

Sheridan could hear one of the portraits snoring especially loud and off-key. It was a rather large portrait of a rather large woman who looked as if she was just barely able to fit into the picture itself. She could see some of the other portraits glaring at the fat lady, unable to sleep with her snoring going on. As they got closer, the snoring got louder and Sheridan was able to make out some sleep-talking from the picture as well. It reminded her of her oldest brother and how it was impossible to sleep anywhere near him. This made her laugh which caused some of the paintings to stir in their sleep.

[Jory Addison]

Jory glanced over and raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?" he asked, tilting his head. He didn't think a snoring portrait or two was worth bursting out laughing at. He didn't know what else she would be laughing about, so he soon pulled his eyes from her and started looking around to see if there was anything he had missed that was laugh-worthy.

[Sheridan McKie]

"Do all of the portraits snore this loudly?" Sheridan asked. "I guess it reminds me of when I visit my brother. It's impossible to sleep anywhere near him." She couldn't stop laughing. She knew it really wasn't that funny. She must realy be getting tired. She covered her mouth with her hand and stifled her giggles. "I'm...sorry..." She said still laughing lightly.

[Jory Addison]

Jory let out a light laugh near a giggle himself and shook his head. "It's okay, the portraits are kind of ridiculous, aren't they?" His eyes were momentarily caught by the bouncing curls of Sheridan's hair, but his attention was quickly refocused on one portrait of an old, bitter looking wizard. "I wonder if he looks so mad 'cause of that stupid hat they put him in," he said, grinning as he glanced back at Sheridan.

[Sheridan McKie]

Sheridan couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, no. The hat is good for him. It does wonders for his height! He looks about two feet taller." She moved over to a portrait next to the one with the grumpy old man. "Here we go. He's upset because this man's hat is not only taller, but his shoes look as though they sparkle. He's completely jealous."

[Jory Addison]

Jory chuckled and took a few hopping steps to the portrait. "I would kill for some sparkling shoes," he said, tilting his head at the shoes on the man. "They so aren't that bad. They just have a little sparkle in them." He was being serious when he said he wouldn't mind some sparkling shoes. He couldn't help it that he had always kind of wanted to be able to go out and dress up like that.

[Sheridan McKie]

Sheridan pointed her want at his shoes and muttered a spell. "There you go! Now you have sparkling shoes." She looked at them as one of her greater accomplishments. Sometimes her wandwork wasn't exactly perfect. She half expected his shoes to turn pink. She then pointed her wand at her head and a large pointy hat emerged like the one in the portrait. "Perfect." She said grinning.

[Jory Addison]

Jory hadn't known what Sheridan had in mind when she had pointed her wand at his shoes, but he couldn't say he didn't approve. "They're great!" he said, shining the light of his wand down at his shoes and moving his feet to show off the sparkles. Then he looked up and laughed all over again at Sheridan's hat. "Oh it fits you perfectly," he teased.