[Corridors] Unusual (Cairo/open)

[Coeus Linde]

Coeus sighs as he walks down the halls of Hogwarts. Today has been uncharacteristically dull... usually there's at least an explosion in potions class, or a rash outbreak in Herbology, but today? Nothing. Just... class. Plain old read the text, answer the questions class. His shiny black shoes scuff the stone hallways as he shuffles down his path, wishing something interesting... or at least mildly entertaining would come along.

He looks up as he passes a stained-glass window of the Hogwarts coat-of-arms. He pauses and tilts his head. Although he's seen the crest many times since coming to Hogwarts... there's something different about it today. It almost looks like the edges and lines of the crest are... smudging! 'That can't be... it's glass! he thinks, thrilled that his wish came true. He sets down his book satchel and proceeds to climb the wall up to the window ledge.

After a couple minutes, a few scrapes and scratches, and many odd looks from fellow students, he manages to fling himself up onto the small landing so as to get a better look at the picture. Once he catches his breath and he is just about to begin inspection of the window, something else catches his attention; a familiar figure on the floor below, clad in black and emerald robes. "Hellooo down there!" he calls jovially.

[Cairo Blackwell]

She wasn't here. The other one, anyway. It was just Cairo in Cairo's body, and she couldn't be more relieved. Maybe the other one was sleeping? If that was the case, lets hope it was long enough for her to apologise to.. People she knew. The mention of even his name in her thoughts was enough to wake the other one inside her from slumber, and the Slytherin wanted to maintain enough control of her body for as long as she could before becoming overwhelmed again. So she would refer to Bryn as him, instead of, well, Bryn. After cautiously searching for him throughout the halls--it wasn't as if she could poke her nose inside the Gryffindor common room, she'd get eaten alive in there--Cairo halted in her tracks, sighing gently, but frustratedly. He was probably on one of his dates, he had so many lined up, it was so unlike him!

"Hellooo down there!"

Startled from her thoughts by a familiar voice calling to her, Cairo Blackwell tilted her head to the side curiously, eyes wandering for the source. Took her a moment or two but the Slytherin found him, Coeus, perched on the ledge behind the stained glass window of the house crests. Closer inspection of said window had her wondering if she needed glasses--it was smudging! "Hi Coeus." She murmured with a small smile, finding it relief to use her soft, usual voice after the episode a few days ago in the Great Hall. That poor Hufflepuff girl.. "So are you the artist of this masterpiece?" Cairo questioned him playfully, gesturing to the smudged lines on the stained glass. She'd been in a few classes of him, and they were generally aware of each other, as she hung out with Ravenclaws a lot, so he saw her enough to figure out she wasn't a Snake. At least.. Up until recently. With her inside.

Cairo generally didn't have much upper body strength, but it was silly to just stand there gawking up at him during their conversation, so she might as well try to climb up. "Any room up there for one more?" She asked, and if the answer was yes would begin to hoist herself up.

[Coeus Linde]

Coeus tilted his head interestedly at the lovely Slytherin girl's plight below him. He wanted to ask if she was alright, but he also didn't want to intrude on her private thoughts. His mood lightened considerably when she acknowledged him, "Of course I am! Don't I seem like the sort that would go around manipulating historical art masterpieces?" He laughed and shook his head, "No, unfortunately I am not the mastermind behind this trick. I'm trying to figure out who--or what--is. Please, join me," he said kneeling down and offering his hand to her. He waited for her delicate, careful hand to be placed in his so he could assist her ascent to the ledge. He wasn't certain she would accept his help, but he thought it was the only gentlemanly thing to do.

"What do you think it could be?" he queried her once she arrived safely on the ledge with him. He ran his hand across the glass to see if some rancid amount of dust could have blurred the window so badly that it simply looked smudge, but when he viewed his hand after the wipe, it was as clean as before... maybe even cleaner! "The house elves do amazing work..." he said, impressed at the level of dedication it must take to keep the castle so completely and utterly spotless. He looked at Cairo out of the corner of his eye... she nearly glowed in this light. He turned his attention back to the window's anomaly. "So, um, are you... okay? You seemed distress a moment ago."

[Cairo Blackwell]

Scrunching her face up for a moment in scrutiny, Cairo then shook her head, laughing. The sound, once foreign and stale on her lips, was slowly growing on her. She liked it, this laughing business. "No, not the sort at all." She echoed, smiling, her hesitation at the offered hand only slight as she slipped her own into his. As she clambered up with his help the Slytherin watched as he pressed his palm to the glass, wiping at it as if he thought the blurred edges were due to the school's lack of an appropriate janitorial staff. But his skin drew back clean, as pale and untouched by grime as her own. Realising then as she released his other hand that he had asked her a question, a light pink touched her cheeks, "Faulty job, perhaps? Could be like the portraits littering the walls, how they change. But I haven't seen this crest change before." Her wide gray eyes flickered to the symbol, as blue was blurred into yellow, red into green; the entire circle was slowly starting to smudge. Each house's colours were not the perfect, untainted shade they had been before.

Are you okay? He asked her, and to this Cairo paused noticeably. Parting her lips with a ready answer she quickly closed them, finding herself troubled at putting her thoughts to words. "I.. Dont know." She answered cryptically, lithe fingers fumbling together as she fought to keep a level head on the matter. A sudden laugh, though humorless and shaky, billowed from her mouth, and she glanced away. Crazy. Definitely crazy. "You're going to think I'm insane." Cairo's eyes fell back on his, painting a picture of silvery doubt within them. "I just.. With all this happening at the school, its been affecting people, you know?" Hugging her knees to her chest the Slytherin broke off, knowing he would get the hint that something had happened to her too. She wasn't sure when the.. Other one, would come back, or for how long. She just didn't want her sitting here with Coeus and doing who knows what to hurt him. Or worse, kiss him. If anyone were ever to do that, she'd rather it be her in her body, instead of some alien who looked like her, but wasn't her. Cairo herself would never hurt him, but she wasn't sure about the other one. One of these days she should give her name, might make things easier on everyone rather than referring to her as 'other one' all the time.

She tapped a finger to her temple. "Someone else is up here, and they like to take the reins from time to time." Watching him warily, expecting a reaction nothing short of wierded out, his blue eyes stopped her for a moment. She could never get over how striking they were, even knowing him in a remotely frail way. She liked looking at them, his eyes. Please, please dont let her hurt him. She thought, biting her lip. Cairo would rather rip every eyelash from her face than do that. When they switched places and the other one had control Cairo then became the voice inside her own head. She figured it had something to do with Multiple Personality disorder, at least thats what muggles called it, but she couldn't be too sure. She found her hair colour was a bit different when the other one was present, but again, couldn't be too sure.

[Coeus Linde]

Coeus couldn't help but smile a bit as the lovely Slytherin girl joined him on his perch. As they inspected the strange window he pondered her theory, "Changing like the portraits..." he mused. "Perhaps... but how? And why now?" he tilted his head and leaned in towards the glass, his breath fogging the window pane ever so slightly as he studied the moving shapes and colors. He shrugged, and then took a seat beside Cairo, one foot set firmly in the window, the other dangling off the ledge. He watched his friend's internal struggle as she explained what she was thinking so worriedly about. Concern filled his placid features as he gazed at the girl beside him.

He watched her ball up, like a hedgehog faced by a predator, only for her, the predator was within her. His blue eyes met her grey ones and he reached out a hand,"Insanity is not reality in association with you," he said with a smirk, "You're too real to be crazy." His fingertips met hers and took their place at her temple, "And it's not your fault," were the only words he could think to say to her. "Something weird is going on in the castle, and something strange may be going on inside of you," he said as he brushed the hair away from her face, his eyes moving from her eyes to her forehead and back again, "But what... she does, isn't your fault." He smiled comfortingly at her.

[Cairo Blackwell]

Yes Cairo.. How? Echoed a drowsy murmur, and her muscles locked for impact. The other soon faded into sleep again however, and at the false alarm Cairo visibly relaxed. "I disagree!" She laughed shakily, sticking her tongue out in a rare moment of play. "Crazy people are real. You're looking at one." His gentle fingers almost fluttered against her skin, and she sighed softly. "You keep telling yourself that when she strangles your owl to death." Or kisses him. Cairo thought miserably, knowing full well that if her other were to pop up thats probably what she would do. Thats all the other one was; anger, lust, and pain. All three of which she would rather keep bottled up instead of unleashing it on some poor person.. "But you are right. Perhaps.. It is only because of whats happening at the school. She might disappear." A faint glimmer of hope sparkled in her eyes, and she snaked her fingers into his, squeezing briefly. "Thank you." The gesture was terribly quick for her taste, and she didn't often have friends whom she would ever use it with, so it was probably clumsy and unexpected, but still.

"Are you alright?" The Slytherin murmured, concerned eyes flickering over him as she inspected him for polka dots or house elf ears sprouting from his face. "You look like.. Whatever all this crazy stuff is, hasn't touched you yet." Her cheeks once again flushed a light, rosy pink at the awkwardness of her choppy words, but she didn't often have full conversations with people, and he understood that. He would get what she meant by it anyway, she was sure of it. Drawing a hand up to rub her fingers against the smudging lines, she narrowed her eyes, curious and irritated as to what this was. A small rumbling noise, like moving stone, and a little cloud of dust whirled from behind her, but she thought nothing of it, figuring one of the paintings had just fallen down. She was angled away from it after all, how was she to see what it was?