just because everything's changing [alice]

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Lysander didn't want to go to the Tournament. He didn't think it was much use, considering he wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening, but he was going to go anyways. He was going to go, because Alice was going to be there, and if there was one person who could drag him out of his funk, it was Alice Longbottom. He needed to see her. Sander had left before everyone else in order to get to the stands at a reasonable time, especially considering he had the added bonus of having to walk extremely slowly - he had learned his lesson about walking too quickly with his cane. Sander glanced towards his ankle, and then realized he couldn't see whether or not it was still swollen, or what shade of purple it had decided to take. He took a deep breath to try to hold himself back from anger, and then turned his eyes forward again, hoping that he wasn't going to get lost. Thankfully, though, the directions he had been given were good ones, and he was able to find his way to the stands that had been set up. There was no one else there - Sander could tell by the lack of colors, first and foremost - and that was a relief to him. He didn't want to have to fumble his way past people. Instead, Sander sat in the first seat he could find, collapsing his cane and laying it across his lap, his last shield between him and the world. Now all there was left to do was wait for Alice to come.

@alice

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Alice hadn't been sure whether or not she wanted to watch the first task. She had heard from her parents how... brutal the Tri-Wizard tournament could be, and Alice really didn't want to see creatures such as dragons chained up for the amusement of others; though she doubted her father would have let her come without a fair warning. So, Alice decided it couldn't be all that bad if she decided to come. Plus, she would get to see Lysander and from her understanding, he probably needed a friend right now. The Hufflepuff alum made her way to the stands, having just left her parents and telling them she would see them at the task. It was weird having both her parents at the school now. And when Phil got back from Brazil, she would be the only Longbottom not at Hogwarts. Which was doubly strange to think about.

The blonde didn't want to get in the way of her father speaking to the champions and such before the task, so Alice had headed down fairly early with the hopes of running into maybe Albus or someone else along the way. Though, she didn't spot any familiar faces until she reached the stands and saw that of Lysander in one of the first seats. A smile instantly spread across her face as she made her way over to him. It occured to her then that maybe just showing up near him and then speaking would frighten him, since he... couldn't see her coming anymore. So, as she headed toward him she called out his name. "Lysander!" Then she stopped just in front of him. "Hey. I'm happy to see you down here," she smiled, albeit a little awkwardly.

@lysander

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Lysander heard his name being called, and he didn’t even need to decipher the color to know who the voice belonged to. “Alice!” He called back, turning towards the sound of her voice. When Alice next spoke, though, she was right in front of him, not where her voice had been earlier. Sander corrected his angle, and tilted his chin slightly upward, hoping that he was looking at Alice’s face and not someplace embarrassing like her chest. “I’d say I’m happy to see you too, but I can’t see you.” Sander answered, struggling to keep his voice with its normal factual tone. Halfway through the sentence, he failed at keeping up the façade, and his voice warbled slightly. He swallowed back the tears that suddenly seemed to be prickling his eyes, and reached his hand out for Alice, hoping to get a better idea of where she was in space in relation to him. “I am happy you’re here, though.” Sander paused and swallowed again, knowing if he didn’t take a break from speaking his voice would crack on his next words. “I’ve missed you so much.” He had missed her even before the accident, but now, in his own dark little world, Sander was confused and scared, and the only people who seemed to be able to sort out his confusion were his mother and Alice. Seeing as his mother had failed, Sander was hoping that his friend could help him figure out what he could do now that everything was changing.

@alice

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Alice's smile faltered slightly when Lysander commented about not being able to see her. She could hear his voice waver a little and it made her frown briefly, but she quickly plastered a small smile back on her face, not wanting to make Lysander feel worse than he seemed to already. "I'm happy to see you," she said, taking his hand and using it gently as leverage to step over a seat and to sit herself next to him. Her family would understand if she was absent for a few minutes. "How are you? Besides..." her voice trailed off, wanting to help him change the subject to something else so he didn't have to dwell much on the fact he couldn't see. Alice had been expecting it to be different talking to him, but it surprisingly was much the same.

@lysander

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Sander managed a small smile when Alice said that she was happy to see him. She was trying so hard to seem happy, and he appreciated the effort. Alice moved to sit next to him, and Sander leaned into her as soon as she was beside him, trying to get used to the way it felt to be close to someone when he couldn’t see how close they were at all. She asked how he was, blindness aside, and Sander shrugged. “I haven’t talked to…you know…since we argued about the Goblet, so I guess that’s the end of that.” He said softly. Honestly, Lysander didn’t blame his now ex-friend from running away from him. He wasn’t much good at friendship, and everything only got scarier when you added blindness into the mixture. “I also fell down the stairs, so my ankle’s been a little tender, but it’ll heal.” Everything healed eventually. Even broken hearts.

@alice

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When Alice felt Lysander lean into her, it brought a genuine smile to her face. It made her feel a little better, just knowing that the friend she had been fortunate enough to find in Lysander trusted her this much. Alice steadied herself so Lysander could lean on her as much as he needed and she listened as he spoke about Carcer's brother. Alice made a sympathetic face, as she knew Lysander had been waiting on the owl from RJ over the summer. She began to wonder why, but was brought out of her own thoughts by Lysander's next piece of news.

Alice's eyes grew wide as she looked at her friend. "You fell down the stairs?" She repeated. "Were you by yourself? Someone should have been helping you!" She began to spew out words of worry for her friend, not realizing how strong she was probably coming off as.

@lysander

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Ah. Maybe he shouldn’t have said that he fell down the stairs. He had expected Alice to be upset by the fact, but her level of distress was even higher than Lysander had anticipated. “Yes, I fell down the stairs.” He said, repeating the information for the third time. She then asked if he was by himself, and Sander nodded slowly. “It was my first day out of the hospital wing.” He said, to give Alice some context to the situation. “I didn’t want to bother anyone.” Which was the truth, but Lysander also didn’t want to admit that he needed help. That was…humiliating. He wasn't one for ego, but anyone would feel bad needing help to walk. Sander sighed. “It’s fine. I’m fine now.” Now came the information that would probably shock Alice. “I was thinking that maybe I could…have surgery. Get my sight back.” He told her quietly.

@alice

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The fact that Lysander had fallen and no one had been around to help him upset Alice. All these extra students there this year and no one could be around to help him? More importantly, he wasn't escorted back to his dormitory his first day out of the hospital? "Well, that's not right that someone wasn't helping you," she said crossly, folding her arms across her chest indignantly. But, if Lysander said he was fine, Alice wouldn't push him. She didn't respond as Lysander then said he was thinking about getting surgery for his eyes. Her head snapped back to the side to look at him with slightly wide eyes. "W-what?" She said, baffled. "Really? How... what would they even do?"

@lysander

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Sander reached out for Alice, and eventually found her leg to put his hand on. “I’m fine, Alice. I wasn’t totally alone.” He probably should have mentioned this earlier, Lysander thought guiltily. “One of the foreign students found me, after I fell. She helped me get back to the dormitory.” Which had made the whole situation markedly better – if he had tried that on his own, it probably would have ended much worse. Sander could feel Alice moving beside him, turning her head, probably. She asked how that process would go, and Sander shrugged. “I’m not sure. I can’t read, and there are few people who have the time and the expertise to help me look through the medical archives that they have.” He turned to look where he thought Alice’s face was. “But I’d get magical eyes. Has your father told you about Mad-Eye Moody? My mother told me a story about him. And that could…be me. The mad eye.” Hopefully not mad, but Sander wasn’t going to qualify his wishes for an eye with any adjectives other than ‘working’.

@alice

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If Lysander had tried to put his hand on Alice's leg just a couple months ago, she would have flinched away in fear. But now she was fine with him touching her. Of course, Alice still wasn't comfortable with just anyone touching her but Lysnder was a Ravenclaw and this was a big step for Alice. Though now it was like second nature, after spending the summer with Lysander and becoming closer with him. Alice was comforted by the fact that someone had indeed found Lysander. "Well, that's good. I'm glad at least someone ended up there," she said unfolding her arms from her chest. Alice blinked as Lysander spoke. The name 'Mad-Eye Moody' did catch her attention, however. "Yeah," she said. "He has..." She imagined an eye like the one her father had described Alastor Moody having had sounded a bit troublesome. But she would easily support any decision her friend made. "I can help you," she shrugged. "Research them more, I mean. I wouldn't mind. My own studies have been a bit slow since the tournament started." Alice had been hoping perhaps she could get close to any creatures they were using for the tournament, but so far she had not had any luck.

@lysander

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Sander nodded when Alice said it was good that someone had ended up there to help him. “I would have found my way back eventually.” He tried to say, though the statement lacked any sort of conviction. It was true that he would have found his way back to the Ravenclaw common room eventually, but eventually had a very loose definition, and Sander was sure that it would have been good for him to try to navigate the school alone. Alice said that her father had told her about Mad-Eye Moody, which was a relief for Lysander, because he didn’t want to have to try to explain the moniker. When Alice offered to help him research, Sander’s heart nearly stopped. “…Would you really?” He asked after he managed to calm himself down enough that he didn’t sound desperate in his question. “It would mean a lot to me, Alice, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to.” She was a working adult now, after all, and Lysander wouldn’t want to make her life any harder by adding unnecessary work.

@alice

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Alice felt she and Lysander were a lot alike because of their likeness to want to do things alone, or learn on their own without the help of others. And while Alice understood the feeling, she was still glad that Lysander hadn't had to make that trek alone. So she left it at that. Besides, seeing the look on his face when Alice offered to help him research was enough to make her forget what they were talking about. "Really," she reassured him with a nod and a smile. "It's okay," the blonde waved a hand dismissively out of habit. "I'll probably be here at the school a lot anyway for the tournament so we'll be able to meet up more often than normal. Plus, work isn't too busy right now." She shrugged happily and nonchalantly.

@lysander

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If Sander’s tear ducts hadn’t been closed when he was blinded, he was certain that he would have been crying from happiness. The sheer joy of it all was disorienting him a little, but he threw his arms out where he thought Alice ought to be and hoped that he didn’t accidentally clock her in the nose while trying to give her the tightest hug he had ever given. “Thank you.” Sander said softly, simply. He wasn’t sure if there was anything else that he could say. “Do you think there will be more magical beasts?” He asked. He didn’t know what this task even was, but was a little too embarrassed to ask anyone the setup. If there were animals involved, and he missed seeing it…Lysander chose not to think about that, choosing instead to focus on the euphoria that he was feeling. “Are they starting soon?” Sander asked suddenly. He hadn’t been able to look at a watch in forever, and not being able to see light messed up his Circadian rhythm royally. Time was nothing more than dust in the wind anymore.

@alice

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Seeing Lysander throw out his arms for a hug brought a smile to Alice's face. It was good to have a friend like Lysander, one who wasn't so outgoing and over the top like all of Alice's old friends had been but one that was much more like herself. If anything, it was odd that she had not befriended Lysander earlier. If she had known how similar the two of them were, she definitely would have been his friend long ago. He probably would have helped kept her sane during the whole James and Natalia drama last year.

Alice looked around when Lysander asked her questions. She bit her bottom lip as she did so. "I don't know if there are," she said slowly. "Dad isn't really in the loop either with the details, I think. So he hasn't told me." The blonde's eyes looked down upon a group of official looking people then. "It looks like they may be starting any minute," she replied.

@lysander

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Sander nodded when Alice said she didn’t know whether or not there were any magical beasts in this challenge, adding that her father wasn’t in the loop. Even if he was, Sander doubted that Alice would be able to tell him anything, since he was in school and could theoretically pass the information on to one of the Champions. He wouldn’t do that of course, but there was always the chance, and when the prize was the Triwizard Cup, Lysander could understand not wanting to take any chances. Alice then said that they were about to start, and Sander turned towards where he thought the task was, though he had lost track of all of his twists and turns and could have possibly been facing the exact wrong way. It didn’t matter much to him – he could hear everything that happened no matter which way he was facing.

@alice
(do we want to end this now? since the task has been over for a while)