One of those days {{Anyone...please?

[artemisackart]

"...one-hundred-and-one, one-hundred-and-two, one-hundred-and-three..." The mumbles came from Artemis as she counted her footsteps to the middle of the Field. She'd counted the number of steps that took her all the way across the field last night, and now, dividing that number in half, she was headed toward the direct center. Her goal: to stand for hours on end in the middle of the field. The point: nothing. Artemis just needed a break.

Lately Artemis had been feeling different, almost sick. Her throat was so sore, she was always tired and she felt heavy as if something was holding her down, but she didn't mind because she had no life anyways. She was no longer living for anything, she was just trying not to get thrown in jail again. It was like a poker game, only this time Artemis was betting Anya's life. See, nobody cared about Artemis Ackart, they all wanted Anya Agar. It's a shame that woman died so many years ago.

Artemis hung her head and shrugged her shoulders a bit as she watched her feet push down on the soft grass, a dull thud rising up from the ground. She dressed in plain black robes and her brother's old combat boots that she always wore to remind her that she tried. Her short hair was messy and stuck out as always and, despite the warmth from the late morning's sun, she wore a gray scarf. She was trying to protect her throat from any further damage, little did she know that it was much more complicated than that.

As Artemis walked on she looked at the watch on her left hand, which was also holding a handkerchief. It was eleven, she should have opened up the library by now, but she didn't feel like it. The bags under her eyes did give it away some. Right now she didn't care about the students waiting at the door all longing to get some quiet studying time in, or read a new book. It didn't matter to her at this moment. To be frank she felt like crap and she didn't think she had the voice to yell at anyone who spoke louder than she.

"...one-hundred-and-twenty-two..." she continued to count before stopping to burst into a coughing fit. Artemis raised her handkerchief to her mouth as she coughed. When she was done she noticed her handkerchief was stained with blood. Though she had a hunch she didn't exactly know what the blood was from, even though it wasn't there before. With a shake of her head Artemis took out her wand and bleached the stain till it was gone.

Taking one more step, Artemis stopped counting. She stood now in the middle of the field. And from that point on she just stood.

[claire]

After breakfast that morning, Claire's destination had been the library. Finding the doors closed and locked, the short brunette witch had been rather perplexed. Deciding to wait, she curled up on the floor against to the wall, her legs tucked up under her, a text book opened on her lap and a parchment on the floor next to her. Quill dancing across the parchment in swirling notes, Claire had occupied herself for a while there on the floor. Her penmanship was one of the things she was proud of, the letters small but not illegible, delicately curving but not loopy, slender and slanted but not cramped. In truth, she'd been a bit vain of her handwriting when she was younger, thinking it quite elegant. Now, of course, the pretty handwriting was just habit, and she'd written so much in her five years at Hogwarts that she didn't really care what her writing looked like--well, not much anyway.

At the time ticked on, and more people began coming to the door, seeing it closed, giving Claire a slightly odd look for being on the floor instead of, being back in the common room or something, she decided that her waiting was fruitless. Picking up her notes carefully and blowing a light stream of cool breath on the last lines she'd written to avoid smudging anything, Claire tucked the parchment inside the text book, and packed the book and quill in her book bag, making certain that they were in exactly the same place she'd removed them from earlier. That was, unfortunately, one of her annoying compulsions--when she put things in her bag, it all had to remain in that same place until she switched out the contents of the bag. Standing up carefully (she was wearing her school uniform skirt, after all) Claire brushed the dust from her skirt and slung her book bag over her shoulder, deciding as she glanced out a window to go outside to the lawns, or the lake.

Sashaying down the corridors and the staircases, Claire landed on the ground floor shortly, adjusting the strap of her book bag on her shoulder as she pushed open the tall, heavy doors to exit the school. The warm sunlight engulfed her as she blinked momentarily in the bright light. Brushing her curls from her eyes as a gust of wind disrupted the previously organized curls, Claire made her way down the front steps and down to the lawns. Her flat black shoes scraped the pebbles on the dirt as she picked her way over to the grassy fields. Though she turned her gaze upwards to the distant fields and lake instead of the ground after a moment, she could easily tell when she stepped onto the grass because of the soft feel under her feet. The grass was almost springy as she waltzed across the fields, a figure in the distance catching her eye. Curious, Claire changed her direction from heading towards the lake, to go over to the figure.

The closer she got, the clearer the figure appeared. As she approached, Claire could tell that it was Ms Ackart, the librarian. But why was she out here instead of in the library? It was late morning already, the library surely ought to have been open by now...Perhaps something was wrong? Making her way more deliberately over to the librarian, Claire spoke up as she reached the taller witch. "Ms Ackart?" She asked impulsively in her soft tone, "Is... is everything alright?" Claire finished a little more tentatively, thinking after she'd finished speaking that it was perhaps none of her business, really.

[artemisackart]

Artemis watched as more and more students began to fill the grounds. The way she saw it she was performing a public service by standing around in the middle of the lawns. She was saving the students from being stuck inside the library on a beautiful day like this. No matter how cold she was. Not to mention she was watching every single one of them to make sure they didn't do anything stupid. Not true.

Artemis stared at the ground. She wasn't watching anyone that was boaring. Because the ground is so much more amusing. That being said Artemis really wasn't paying attention to anything that was going on really. Especially the time. She didn't want to know that she was doing a bad job of the work she was being payed to do. She didn't want to know that finally it was time to drag her ass back to the monument of dullness. No matter how much she liked to read, hanging out at the library was a drag. But she knew that she was at least half safe and that's really all the reassurance that she needed.

Now. Artemis had been standing there for a long while. She might have even begun to fall asleep in that time. She was tired and standing was so relaxing. She refused to cough and life was good for a few moments. She held her coak tightly around her, she hung her head to look down and she probably looked like she was some depressed emo chick. But she wasn't, because those good looking moments of depression were the happiest Artemis had been that week.

But because Artemis was falling asleep at the wheel, not literally. SHe wasn't falling asleep. And she was certainly not at the wheel, she did not notice the little keen and avid reader coming towards her who'd been patiently waiting for someone to unlock that library door so that she could step into the world of literature. Artemis, of course did not no this and would rather not be bothered, however she still had enough manners to look at the sound of her name.

She recognized the girl from somewhere. She knew that much, but from where? She couldn't place it, not that she really cared. But she was annoyed for certain at the question that so many continued to ask her.

Artemis just looked at the girl for a moment, trying to figure out if that was all she wanted to say, wasting her time on that pointless question to which she only answered "Fine" in a rough and scratchy voice.