Admissions {Trent}

[Liander Hughes]

It was Monday night and most people had already gone to bed. Liander though, hadn't wanted to go to sleep quite yet. He had too many things on his mind right now, least of all the conversation he'd had with his younger brother today. Who'd have thought Elliot would be growing up so quickly? He'd rather hoped he'd keep his childhood innocence a little longer. He was beginning to see the darker side of everything already.

Sitting in the common too, Liander found himself staring into the flames and letting his mind drift. There was just too much on his mind that he didn't even know what to think of first, so it seemed he wasn't thinking at all. He was just staring into the flames with mild fascination at they way they danced and jumped. Before Liander knew what was happening, his eyes had drifted shut and he fell into a light sleep.

A noise from somewhere near him woke him with a jump and he rubbed his eyes.

[lukejordan]

As he finished the last page and closed the book, Trent emerged from the 1750 'Treatise on Glamouries and Their Nature' that he'd been poring over since lunchtime like waking from a deep sleep, only to find that the afternoon and now evening had come and gone without him. The commonroom was lit only by flickering firelight, and as far as Trent could see he was the only one still awake, hardly an unusual occurrence.

Putting the book down on the little table that he had claimed more or less as his own over the years, Trent muffled a yawn and shivered slightly. His mind still buzzing with the contents of the treatise, he knew there'd be no way for him to get to sleep any time soon unless he calmed down, and so got up and moved over towards a chair closer to the warmth of the fire.

Trent's body cramped as he moved, joints and muscles stiff after hours sitting hunched and still, and so before he sat down again he arched his back and cracked his neck with a soft groan of relief. Not soft enough however, he realized as a dark lump of shadows in one of the armchairs woke with a start and turned out to be a person.

Walking over, Trent took the chair next to them with an apologetic smile. "Hey, sorry about that. I didn't know anyone else was still awake." He chuckled wryly. "Or asleep, as the case may be." Cocking his head slightly, Trent tried to identify who his mystery companion in insomnia was, but the low-light and his current lack of night vision prevented him from making out any identifiable features.

[/justify]

[Liander Hughes]

Liander hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep never mind anything else, so it was more the shock of being asleep that surprised him, rather than the being woken up part.

He looked around and saw someone moving towards him. The fireplace held glowing embers, and most of the other lights in the common room had been dimmed significantly. Where he sat now, he was almost completely in shadows. No wonder he'd fallen asleep...

The figure sat in the chair next to him before they spoke. Liander chucked too. "I didn't know I was asleep either, Trent." He recognized the voice of his friends almost instantly. "What are you doing down here so late? No wait, let me guess, you were reading?" He grinned.

[lukejordan]

Trent realized the identity of his companion as soon as they chuckled along with him - Liander had, after all, always had quite a distiInctive laugh. Trent smiled, laughing softly along with his friend before turning to face Liander and raising a questioning eyebrow, asking in faux-concern: "And is this a usual occurence with you, Lia? Sleeping without knowing you're doing so could be a dangerous habit - I recommend a stay in St. Mungo's that will probably be extended when they uncover all of your little quirks and oddities."

Chuckling ruefully, Trent nodded. "You know me too well - you are quite correct," He made this admission with a wry grin, "I was, as ever, lost in a book - why change the habit of a lifetime, eh?"

Looking over at his friend, Trent had to think for a moment to remember the last time they'd spoken - school and assessment and the effort involved in setting up Lachie's new relationship had left him short on time to spend with his other friends the last few weeks. "So, long time no speak - how've you been doing? Any new and exciting news from the world of Liander Hughes to tell me?"

[/justify]
((OOC - Argh! So bad - muse is still burned out from a week of storytelling. I promise I'll do better next time ^.^))

[Liander Hughes]

"I'm sure that would result in being locked on their mental ward for life and deemed incurable." There was a touch of bitterness in his voice as his thoughts drifted back to a conversation he'd had with his sister after he'd come out to her, and she'd asked him whether he was going to 'get fixed'.

Shaking himself of the memory, Liander concentrated on the here and now. "They do say old habits die hard, don't they. You never know though, Trent, you might discover there's a better definition of fun in the world if you put the book down for a night." Quite often Liander would let himself get lost in a good book too, it was often a lot better than facing down reality.

It had been ages since the two of them had spoken even though they were in the same house and crossed paths quite a bit, it just seemed that there was always something going on that kept them from talking.

Liander shrugged and straightened himself up in his seat, rolling his shoulders and feeling the clicks and pops that told him he'd been sitting down here far too long. "I've befriended a Slytherpuff... that's about it for news." Liander grinned as he thought back to the evening in the kitchens and he shook his head. Talk about insanity, that was for sure. "And I'm now an honorary Huffleclaw."

Liander snickered. Yeah right, that'd be the day. "So pretty much no, how about you? Been up to much mischief recently?"

((You are totally not allowed to reply to this again until you've given me a post in the great hall in Unwelcome News *glares*))

[lukejordan]

Trent frowned slightly at the bitterness in Liander’s voice, hesitating slightly as he pondered whether or not he should resist the urge to comfort his friend. His half-started gesture towards his friend’s knee was aborted however, as Liander shook himself out of the memory and steered the topic of conversation in another direction.

Willing to allow Liander his privacy, Trent went along with it. "A better definition of fun than the one that can be found at night between the pages of a book?" He gave a wicked grin, well aware of the insinuated comparison he was making, "I’m not sure such a thing exists." Winking slyly, Trent chuckled softly as he relaxed into the chair.

"A Slytherpuff?" Trent was intrigued – and not just by the newly created word; the grin on Liander’s face and the undercurrent of laughter in his tone suggested that there was some kind of fascinating story here waiting to be told. "I shall presume you have discovered that after our greener schoolmates shed their skins they can occasionally be found to be human after all, then?"

"Me – mischief? Never." With a low chuckle Trent gave an idle shrug, gesturing helplessly with his hands. "But seriously, very little has been happening since Lachie and Chase decided that the siren song of the fairer sex was more interesting than brotherhood and manly bonding." With a wry grin, Trent gestured back at the pile of books beside which he’d been sitting. "Hence – you know – the books."

Watching the fire leap and crackle, Trent smiled, reaching out to nudge Liander in the shoulder. "It's good to talk to you again, Lia. Feels like ages since we’ve seen each other, for all that we live practically next door."

[/justify]

[Liander Hughes]

"Yup, Slytherpuffs and Huffleclaws exist. I must say blue baders look more than a little strange." That had been quite the day, hadn't it? Who'd have thought he'd end up with a Slytherin for a friend, and a rather strange Slytherin at that. "Some do seem to have a human side after all, yes. Though they also seem to be rather peculiar."

Liander gave Trent a look. While his friend always acted all 'by the book' most of the time, he was pretty sure that there was a rebel side to him there too that would only come out every once in a while, but when it did, it would be for something truly unforgettable. "You could always find a siren song of your own. Then rather than telling of the latest adventures of your book characters you can join in with their...comparisons or whatever they talk of." Liander didn't really have a clue. Sure some of his room mates would talk about girls and stuff, but he usually tuned it out if they did it when he was near. Talking about relationships and girls and stuff? Not really his thing, considering...

He nodded and nudged back. "More like diagonally across... But yeah, I know what you mean. You think that every once in a while free time would overlap a little more, wouldn't you?" He grinned and looked over to the fire, watching the glow. Time seemed to move too fast and life was too demanding. There never seemed to be any time to just...chill. Really chill.