Guess we're off to...a start (Alexander) on Cascade Hall

Nicholas Pierce

December 24, 2022 7:42 AM

Guess we're off to...a start (Alexander) by Nicholas Pierce

Nicholas had always been an early riser, but even he had had the thought this is ridiculous when he'd woken up at his usual time on the first morning of school and had realized that according to the clock, his usual wake-up time was now about four-thirty in the morning. What was there to do at four-thirty in the morning? Unless he could remember whatever it was he'd done to break out of the nursery when he was tiny, he couldn't even roam the library here at that hour because (aside from the pitch-black dark; he had indulged in enough illicit practice with his new wand in the little time he'd owned it that he thought he could probably make a light, most of the time, but the dark was still a factor) of curfew and what it seemed to do to doors. He'd tested the secret door that led to the rest of the school just to be sure, but it hadn't budged and he'd therefore spent an hour roaming the common room instead, only to then doze off in a chair and only wake up completely again after other people had started coming downstairs. It had then proved fortunate that he'd gone ahead and gotten dressed and combed his hair (or at least approximated doing so) at four-thirty, because he'd then bolted out of the room so fast that he'd been halfway across the library before he remembered that, oh, yes, he probably should find the bag with his textbooks and note-taking supplies and wand in it before he went out, not to mention grab his glasses....

Once he had obtained those items, though, he'd returned to making a rapid beeline for the Cascade Hall, grateful to whatever forces might exist that he had a good spatial memory and silently promising them that if they were anthropomorphic, he definitely wouldn't stab them if ever given the chance. According to the clock, it was seven a.m. when he found his way to breakfast. According to his brain, it was already nine in the morning and he should have already breakfasted, done light, stretching exercise, and started his first lesson for the day.

He tried not to think about the contrast, because it was dreadfully disorienting. He also tried not to wonder what had already happened on Mt. Pierce today, because it was...uncomfortable, somehow, even trying to imagine. Unfortunately, suppressing his thoughts in two directions at once was nearly impossible, and so, as he looked for his brother, he couldn't help but think: what have they been doing all morning? What are they doing right now?

The second question was, he supposed, at least partially answerable: his parents were probably already working for the day, since May had had the job of supervising them between breakfast and mid-afternoon. What was May doing, though? She was married now (arranging this, Mom had explained, was the sort of obligation one had to good employees), but that still probably wouldn't mean a schedule that necessarily looked much like Mom's or Grandmother's. But even their parents might not have started the day normally - it was so strange to think of them having breakfast together without him and Alexander there, too, so had they done that? He knew, in an academic sort of way, that they must have done things together without him and Alexander before he and Alexander had been born, and that they had in fact done things together (including both meeting and later deciding to get married) in this very room, long before he and Alexander had ever been born, but.....

Oh, there was Alexander. Thank Merlin.

He reminded himself not to slump in relief at the table, as it was bad manners. "Are you..." he began, then reconsidered. "How...." No, that wasn't right, either. "What...." He shook his head, trying to clear it. "I guess they were right about how you never know what's going to happen next here, huh?"

16 Nicholas Pierce Guess we're off to...a start (Alexander) 1565 1 5

Alexander Pierce

January 13, 2023 6:31 PM

It does seem that way by Alexander Pierce

Alexander had never in his life slept by himself in a room before. Well, Nicholas tended to wake before he did and sometimes got up and wandered out of the room while Alexander was still sleeping, so he guessed in those instances, he had, but he hadn't known he had until he wasn't asleep anymore, so it didn't really count. He'd had trouble falling asleep with only his own breathing in the room, and kept waking up with the feeling that something was wrong, something wasn't where it should be.

Alexander wasn't where he should be.

Well, he'd been sorted into Crotalus, so yes, he technically was where he was supposed to be, by school rules, but more metaphorically, he wasn't with Nicholas and he wasn't in Aladren like every other person in his immediate family, and . . . he was alone. He was a twin, he wasn't supposed to ever be alone. He hadn't even had the womb to himself. He was pretty sure his Aunts the Anns would literally die if they got separated like this.

But they hadn't been. They had both sorted into Pecari together because they were proper twins who weren't so different from each other that they got put in different Houses. He and Nicholas had similar interests though. They both liked learning, they both liked reading. (That was a defense mechanism - nobody could survive living with Mom and Dad without learning to appreciate reading or they'd die from the disappointment heaped upon them.)

When it finally felt like an hour had been reached when it was socially acceptable to get out of bed and give up on sleep entirely, the clock claimed it was only four thirty in the morning, so he flopped back down and pulled his pillow over his head, trying to pretend he was trying to drown out Nicholas snoring or moving around, but he knew he was alone in the room and it didn't work. It was too quiet even with a pillow over his head.

He tossed and turned some more. He tried counting hippogriffs. He checked to see if it was six or seven yet, but the clock said it was four thirty six.

Alexander groaned and threw himself under the covers, burrowing deep where it was nice and dark and curling up like some hibernating mammal in a den. He might have slept. He wasn't sure. He tried to. When he emerged feeling even more tired than when he'd gone in, the clock said it was four fifty nine.

He waited for it to turn to five o'clock even and decided that wasn't a horrendous hour to be awake, especially given the time difference between here and New Hampshire, and got out his History of the Goblin Rebellions book and started reading it.

That at least helped to advance the clock to when the Hall opened for breakfast, according to the schedule in the green folders, and he got dressed, sorted out the books and supplies he'd need for the day, and arrived in the Hall enough after it opened that it didn't look like he'd been waiting all night to be allowed to leave his room.

He found the Quidditch Sign-up and put his name on it, then looked around for his brother. Nicholas was always an early riser . . . yes, there he was. Alexander smiled in relief that he was okay, if looking a little more rumpled than their parents would approve of. Nicholas had probably also been up ridiculously early, but hopefully he had at least slept first. There were three boys in Aladren this year, so Nicholas could have maybe been able to trick himself into thinking one of their breathing patterns was Alexander's. He wouldn't have had the unrelenting silence Alexander had been stuck with.

He was sure he'd heard somebody say that anyone could sit anywhere at meals other than the feasts, so he headed right for his brother at the Aladren table. He might not be one himself, but that was no reason not to spend most of his meals at their table if that's where Nicholas was. Even if they had to sleep in different rooms, they still had the rest of the day with the same itinerary.

Alexander could tell the moment Nicholas noticed him: he looked as relieved to see Alexander as Alexander was to see Nicholas, and he was nearly incomprehensible in his first attempts to speak. Feeling calmer with Nicholas right there and being flustered enough for the both of them, Alexander sat down beside his twin, tucking his school bag under his chair, and began to fill a plate with comforting breakfast foods. He already felt a hundred times better than when he'd gotten out of bed this morning. Still tired, obviously, but the world felt like it had been reset back where it should be now that Nicholas was beside him again.

He smiled as Nicholas finally found words to string together. "Hopefully today will be a bit more predictable," he agreed with the statement Nicholas did eventually get out coherently. "Go to class, learn new things, make new friends. Did you sign up for Quidditch yet?" He hadn't seen his brother's name there, but he was a little bit sleep deprived so he might have missed it.

1 Alexander Pierce It does seem that way 1566 0 5