Final Assembly Of Light [OPEN]

[dahlia jade leloup]

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October 31st, 2028

Today was Halloween and the full moon was only two days away. Dahlia had just finished purchasing her bottle of Aware Wolf. The monthly change had not been easy since her accident, the week lead up to the moon being far more difficult than she had ever remembered it having been before. Combining the long-lasting concussion symptoms with the agony of the incoming change, to put it lightly, fucking sucked. To make matters worse, she hadn’t told anyone that it was a struggle. Which was completely on her, and she knew that. Asking for more help at this point was really difficult, and she felt like doing so would make her look weak. It was stupid to hold onto to burden alone, especially when she had been offered help by Rhys and Max. But her dumb ego and want to be better - to be perceived as better – prevented her from getting any assistance.

With the sun close to setting, Dahlia slowly meandered up and down Horizont Alley. She had bought a cup of tea at the bakery on the corner and intended to go into the florist shop, but it was closed already. She didn’t have work in the morning. Or the next day, or the day after. Killing time until it was dark out and seemed like she should head home was essentially what she was doing. Boredom had become boring.

Finding a bench that was situated across from florist, Dahlia took a seat. Just slowly walking around was still exhausting. That really cemented how out of shape she had become in the last seven months, concussion aside. Sipping carefully on the tea, it burned the tip of her tongue, and she made a disgusted face at it before popping the plastic lid off to try and cool it down. Just taking in the quietness of Horizont Alley made her brain feel better. A block away, parents were bringing their little witches and wizards around in costume. Hearing the soft echoes was calming, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to stand it if it was around her right now. Behind her, a streetlamp kicked on. Once it was fully dark out, she would make her way home. For now, she was going to relax.

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[geethanjali amaryllis root]

October 31, 2028

The full moon's arrival was never an enjoyable time, and it was frustrating for Geethanjali that it fell so close to Halloween that year. If that wasn't annoying enough, the full moon hadn't had the decency to come on a weekend, so she had to be miserable at Hogwarts all week beforehand and somehow drag herself back to campus for her classes on the Friday afterwards. It wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last, but it diminished the usual pep in Geethanjali's step as she walked through Horizont Alley. Her parents were going to take her younger sibling trick-or-treating through Diagon Alley and into Horizont Alley, but she had opted out of the festivities in favor of finding something to eat.

As she was considering her options and became fairly certain that she would pop into the cat café for a sandwich, Geethanjali noticed a young woman seated on a bench who looked sort of familiar to her, not that she could place who she was. As with a lot of people, she had probably just seen her around before. Not living at Hogwarts anymore—like some of her peers still did—gave her more exposure to the rest of magical society.

Geethanjali nodded to the young woman politely as she approached her. "Happy Halloween," she offered. "Is anyone sitting with you?"

dahlia jade leloup
OOC: I'm totally cool with Dahlia recognizing Geethanjali as a werewolf, since she's the Minister's niece. Also, bringing her into this academic year… 😅

[dahlia jade leloup]

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The nice part about tea was that it seemed to cool quite a bit faster than coffee ever did for her. Not that it was impossible to strategically cool a cup down with magic, just that the natural decline in temperature was sort of a pleasurable experience with tea. She had popped the plastic top off briefly as she sat down, letting the autumn air whisk away some of the steam that was billowing off of it. Now that she had had months of slowing down, it was sort of intriguing how nice the world actually was. So much of her childhood and time in school had been absorbed by fear an uncertainty. While she still had a bit of that, mostly coming from the fact that her injury seemed to not want to go away, not all of it was bad. Dangerous, sure. But she finally had the chance to take a good long look at it and see that there was a place for her. That had never happened once while she was in France. They had never wanted her, and the feeling had been mutual.

Dahlia was brought out of her thoughts as she heard a voice asking her a question. She looked up to see a girl standing there, asking if anyone was sitting on the other part of the bench. Shaking her head, Dahlia scooched over and made room. The girl definitely looked familiar, and it didn’t take too long for her to remember where she was from. ”You are the little wolf I’ve seen at the hotel,” Dahlia said, her voice scratchy from not talking for what had to be hours now (aside from grunting out ‘tea’ at the bakery). She silently hoped that life was easier for the girl than it ever had been for herself. None of them deserved it, but it was what it was. ”I suppose tonight is when those like us are celebrated.” How gloomy of her. She took a sip of her tea to try and take the edge off a bit.

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[geethanjali amaryllis root]

October 31, 2028

As good as she and her parents were about taking the necessary steps to ensure her safety during her transformations, sometimes it was better to err on the side of caution and go to the "werewolf hotel" in Horizont Alley, Claustrum de Lupus. Though it was often called a hotel or an inn, the accommodations were basic, since chances were good that someone would end up destroying something while in werewolf form. The young woman she had approached mentioned that recognized her from there, and Geethanjali nodded her head in affirmation as she sat down. "Hi."

The young woman seemed more upset by the holiday than she was, commenting, "I suppose tonight is when those like us are celebrated," with a tone that was hardly celebratory.

"Oh, I don't mind Halloween or Samhain or anything," Geethanjali replied. She didn't feel that the occasion was offensive. "It's just not as fun when I feel like this." She wrinkled her nose slightly, but she could guess that the young woman she was sitting beside also didn't feel the greatest.

Despite having experienced years of full moons, it sometimes felt to Geethanjali as though her body hadn't truly adjusted to the lycanthropy. Potions only helped so much, and her parents were hesitant to give her anything too strong because of her age. Geethanjali didn't want to take anything unnecessary, either, yet it was sometimes hard to find a good balance between relieving symptoms and experiencing unwanted side effects. The worst, though, was when the two events that could be described as "that time of the month" for her overlapped.

dahlia jade leloup

[dahlia jade leloup]

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Ten years of full moon preparation had unfortunately allowed Dahlia to build up a bit of tolerance to the usual aches and pains caused during the lead up. There were never any guarantees, of course, and with switching to AwareWolf, the week-long jitters had certainly changed the way she went about things. None of it was ever as bad as the concussion though. That thought had constantly gone through her mind over the last several months. Waking up following that first transformation right after she'd been sent to the hospital had been brutal. Dahlia had held a slim hope that while in her werewolf state, some sort of magic would activate and heal her completely. That hadn't happened, and her headache was only exacerbated by the full moon.

"I do not mind it either. Just..." That they were treated like freaks the other 364 days of the year? Because that was how it went. The non-magique got a pass because they didn't know werewolves were real. Magical folk did know though, and that was where Dahlia took offense. They had to be on a government list because of their affliction, and almost all of them had been unwillingly put in this position too. Unbeknownst to most, she hated the wolf just as much as they were scared of it. Why would she ever want to become a raging beast once per month? No reasonable person wanted that. Her opinions on the matter had changed over the years. Now that she was less of an angry, misguided teenager, she could see the real world problems that being a werewolf caused. Dahlia sighed at that.

At least there was an understanding amongst all of the younger ones in London. They only wanted to be normal. She had never felt this level of acceptance at all in France. "I hope it has been easy for you so far," Dahlia finally said after a long pause of silence. "And that it will continue to be."

geethanjali amaryllis root ● 333

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[geethanjali amaryllis root]

October 31, 2028

The young woman seated beside her clarified what she had said before, saying that she didn't mind Halloween, either. She sighed before she could finish whatever it was she was going to say, though. Geethanjali didn't mind. As talkative as she was normally, she understood exactly why the other werewolf didn't really feel like talking. When she did speak again, the young woman expressed, "I hope it has been easy for you so far. And that it will continue to be."

"Thank you." It wasn't what Geethanjali would have called easy, but she had adapted. She had been a werewolf since such a young age that, while she could still remember life before being attacked, it had been close to a decade for her, too. "I was eight," she volunteered, "so it's… nothing new." As werewolves went, she was in a better position than most. Her parents—her adoptive parents and her birth parents alike—and her siblings were supportive of her, as were at least some of her extended family members. She hadn't started working yet, so that was still up in the air, but she knew that discrimination against werewolves had been far worse for older ones.

"I'm Geethanjali," she introduced herself with a small smile. "Er, you can call me 'Gee' if that's easier. Like the letter."

dahlia jade leloup