Morpheus Commons (Connected to Dining Hall; Leads to Dorms)

The plain-ish doors separating this room from the Dining Hall, Tunnel, and Dorms are meant to lend a feeling of comfort: nothing so luxurious one feels they must stand on ceremony, but yet it's not at all grungy. Sofas and other seating varieties built with the intent of comfort are scattered about the room. A small fireplace-like niche is often enchanted with the illusion of flames to give the area a more homely feel. The colors of the room create a warm atmosphere, just like a "family den" should. Photographs and portraits of those present - and those that are gone but by no means forgotten - line the walls.

Various devices and games of muggle and magical origin... not exactly litter the room, but there doesn't really seem to be too much of an order to how things are arranged. Except, perhaps, for the bookshelves: a nigh constant sense of order is maintained there. How or why is somewhat of a mystery.

Come on in and relax a bit!

Rossalyn entered the common room her book in hand.

It was the poetry she often heard her father read, it always cleared her mind and she heard his voice when she read it.

She sighed it had been 5 years since she had last her either of there voices.

But it was like that with all the kids here wasn't it, she hoped everyone agreed to go back and stop war with the purgers before it really started.

"Never fear, Uncle Edwin is here!" Edwin joked, entering the commons. "Hows it going, Rossa?" he asked, leaning back against the wall. He had a bit of dirt on his hands from working outside and smudge of soil across his forehead.

Rossa laughed when her "Uncle" entered the room.

"Not bad, just reading, what were you doing?" she asked indicating to the dirt on his face.

Edwin shrugged, wiping at the smudge with the back of his hand. "Just messin around. Poetry? That's good."

Rossalyn nodded, "Yep its me favorite..... Dad used to read it all the time, now I can't get enough of it" she said.

"Ah okay." his smile faded naturally as he crossed his arms. "So... do you know where Tav is? Better yet, do you know where Valerio is? Everyone appears to have evaporated."

Rossa blinked, "No haven't seen either of them today.... why?"

"Nothin, just thinking about asking one of em a question." he sighed and straightened up from the wall. "See ya soon, Rossa." he smiled. Whistling a cheerful tune, he left the commons heading for the kitchen.

Rossalyn nodded "Aye, See ya Uncle Edwin!" she said with a smile and a wave as he left the room.

And she returned to her Poetry.

Demyan entered the Commons just as Edwin left, slowly and quietly sidling up behind the chair Rossalyn was sitting in. Though he couldn't really see what she was doing from the back, he was fairly certain she was reading.

As he approached, Demyan quickly reached forward and gently covered Rossa's eyes with his hands. "Guess who?" he chortled, doing very little to disguise his voice.

Rossalyn giggled, "Oh who is it I wonder?" she said on teaseing type voice.

"The big bad wolf?" she said with a smirk on her face.

"Oh no wait, don't tell me...." she pretened to think.

"You're that lepricon, here to give me a pot of gold he owns me" she said trying to talk in a serious voice but failing mirserbly.

"Hmmm no... not him.. Oh I wonder who it is? I have no idea sorry...."

Holding back a laugh she muttered a tickleing charm at the teen covering her eyes.

"The big bad wolf?" Rossalyn guessed. He laughed.

"Nope... not that furry," Demyan murmured playfully before she told him not to tell her. He had no intention to, hence why the grin on his face widened.

"You're that lepricon, here to give me a pot of gold he owns me"

"Well, my family did leave me money, and you got the color right... but the rest is way off," Demyan laughed, also failing in his attempt to be serious.

Before he could react to her words, though, he was hit with a tickling charm. Unlike his father, he was not so resistant to being tickled. Because he'd been leaning over the high back of the chair, Demyan found himself perfectly balanced on the upholstery even as he released Rossalyn and laughed. The boy squirmed as he was forced to endure the affects of the charm. "haha... Hey! hahaha... No - ha! - fair!" he panted and muttered the reversal between laughs.

Catching his breath, the teen allowed himself to sink into the chair, reclining on its arm while his legs from the knee down dangled over the back. "So, what's up Rossa?" Demyan asked, grinning from ear to ear. It was both because he was happy to see her, and an after-affect of the tickling charm.

Rossalyn laughed as she watched her handy work and looked at Demyan in amusment as he worked the effect of the charm off.

"Oh Demyan I never would have guessed it was you" she said though the tone of her voice said the exact opposite.

"I am not doing much just reading poetry, clears me head" she said as she snapped her book shut and put it on the table beside her.

"What about you? besides sneaking up on me" she said as she playfuly poked him in his side.

"Seen anything interesting?"

Demyan grinned regardless of whether she knew it was him or not. It was pretty obvious she knew it was him, for he didn't really try to disguise his identity at all. "Poetry's cool..." he muttered just loud enough for her to hear after Rossalyn closed the book. It was no secret that Demyan enjoyed writing poetry almost as much as reading certain forms of it.

The teen laughed and shifted when Rossalyn poked him in the side. "Not much really. Mostly looking at Mom's old potion book... or portfolio, whatever you want to call it. ... Really, though, it's only half: Lynn has the other half," Demyan volunteered willingly. "Rallying some of the others still. The Keep's a fairly big place... you'd think everyone was playin' hide and seek or something." Another laugh punctuated his sentence.

A smile curled the boy's lips at her question. "Nothing out of the ordinary... though I suppose with magic being a constant in our lives means that our definition of 'ordinary' is subject to a wide variety of interpretation, huh?" he asked.

"What about you? Didja go to the Chapel yet?" Demyan inquired curiously. He hoped Luci hadn't gave her too hard of a time. Given what Demyan knew about the wizard's ghost, it was rather a lot to hope for!

Rossa smiled and nodded, "Aye, thats right, your Mum was a genius when it came to potions yes?" she asked, she could have sworn she had heard her mother say how good Professor Viper had been.

She laughed at his next statment, "Aye I know what you mean, I haven't seen Tav, or Edan at all to day... or very much of anyone really, saw Edwin breifly just before you came in, that is about it for today"

She nodded "Yeah, suppose you're right" she said in amusment.

At mention of the chapel, Rossa face darkened conciderably.

"That could have gone better, I can see why ya don't like, whats his name? Luci is it?... I can handle a few ghosts insulting me. I know in there eyes I am only a kid who doesn't know anythin...." she turned her gaze to her fathers poetry book.

"But.... that gives em no right to insult my parents, calling them Mudbloods and it'd be a waste of there time to teach kids of there's....."

An angry tear rolled down her face....

"Its fustrating, hear someone talk trash about them who didn't even now them, and not being able to do anything about" she said the fustration, anger and hurt clear in her voice.

"Yeah. She was teaching us a lot of the not-so-dangerous stuff by the time we started walkin' on our own. Real simple stuff..." Demyan confirmed with a smile and a nod.

Concern crossed his features when he noticed mention of the ghosts' residence didn't seem to set too well with Rossa. The teen propped himself up on the arm of the chair with an elbow as he listened, nodding darkly upon hearing the name. A surge of heat climbed up his neck upon hearing that Rossalyn had been insulted, though he kept his temper in check. "They pretty much think the same of me: a kid that wouldn't recognize a niffler if it bit me on the nose," Demyan voiced pretty much the thought he was having at that moment. Though, he wasn't thinking about nifflers...

Mudblood. He'd heard the term before, but it wasn't often uttered by those around him unless he went to see the Kaminski great-grandparents Zakhar and Ivanna, and even then it was a limited usage. The importance of bloodstatus hadn't really been emphasized too much with him, even though he was told he came from two pureblood dynasties. A hot-headed coloring stained Demyan's face uncontrollably. Why couldn't they have insulted his family, instead of hers? Was it really their ideals on blood that made them act differently towards her?

Demyan decided he wanted to be present the next time she went to see the ghosts... if she went back to see them at all. Regardless of whether she did or didn't, the next spare moment he was marching up to that chapel and having a word or seven with 'Luci'... and they weren't going to be pleasant words.

Especially not after seeing the tear sliding down her cheek. Though nothing had been directed at him, Demyan couldn't help but feel a wrenching sensation in his chest he couldn't describe. It pained him to hear the hurt in her voice...

Without even thinking, Demyan reached forward and wiped the tear from her cheek and attempted to dry the patch of skin beneath her eye with his thumb in gentle strokes. "I'm sorry they hurt you... If I'd have known..." Demyan murmured, face lightly tinged pinkish-red with temper. He immediately shifted to a more serious seating position upon the chair's arm. "I guess I should've gone with you. Not that it would've done any good with Luci.

"They didn't insult my parents, which is odd I guess... I understand how you feel though: Lara's always bashing mum. Not the same, I know, but still..."

Rossa was slightly startled when Demyan brought his hand up to wipe her tear away. Not that she would say that was a bad thing, no not at all.... just unexpected, yet not unwelcome. It felt nice actually, subconsciously she leaned into his touch.

"I don't think there is anything you could have done to change their opinion, Demyan" she said with a sigh. "They are from a time when blood status was everything"

"But I thank you for the thought, really I appreciate it." she said smiling slightly in gratitude for his support, and placing her hand on his shoulder in thanks.

"...but I really did nothing to help the situation with my smart allic comments, and taking Luci's bait, making all three of them mad at me at one point...More they insulted me family the more I insulted them..... Although I could have sworn one of them got a snicker out of them me "Bloody Pureblood" comment" she said with a slight chuckle.

"They would have nothing against your parents Demyan, both your mother and father came from pureblood families. You're right it is not same.... but I am sure the way you feel about it is..." she said with a look of understanding.

"And don't worry about me with Luci, he assumes I am incompetent, I will just have to show him and the other two just how wrong that assumption is" she said with a wink.

"I will be going back to them, they have knowledge we need. I am fine learning spells, and potions from them.... And proving what idiotic ideals they have on blood status" she said. "I can deal with them, me parents taught me and me brothers well before they died... I know what they say about them is wrong"

Though Rossalyn was likely correct, that didn't stop Demyan for being unhappy with the fact that she had been insulted. The fact that she had leaned into his touch only increased his opinion of how unfair their treatment of Rossalyn had been. "Not at all," he replied automatically when he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"From what I seen, it doesn't take much to get Luci pissed. He'll just have to get used to smart aleck remarks... I threw quite a few at him when I first met him, too," Demyan replied. "And that's understandable..." He snickered at the 'bloody pureblood' comment. "Ha... that's probably Maxi... Maximus is his whole first name. He's got a sense of humor, unlike his brother Luci."

The teenager nodded. It did feel about the same, only he could not recall a time when he had been so angry as to transform into his animagus form at the extent that he had. Why, if any of the three were living and dared approach... his level of temper would have warranted a nasty bite or two despite the possible lethal repercussions. "It still doesn't give 'em the right to insult other peoples' parents..." the lad fumed. "It's a modern world, and they could really use a wake-up call."

A grin surfaced. "I'm sure anything they could do, we could do better... with a bit of practice," he said encouragingly. Demyan was glad that the trio's behavior hadn't 'scared her off' so to speak. That was one thing he liked about Rossalyn: she wasn't to be ignored when you claimed you were better than her, or she would most definitely set one on their rear end if they got too confident.

"Wonder which one of us - that is, you or I - ticks off Luci more?" he wondered aloud, with a chuckle. "Think we should make it a contest?" Emerald orbs practically sparkled with mischief.

Rossa smiled slightly, "Yeah good thing not all three of them are like Luci aye?" she siad with a laugh.

She nodded to his statment about the ghosts "wake up call".

"How do we do that? they seem pretty stuck in there ways... I.. I tried telling them about me mums accomplishments and they just roll there eyes at me, as if I was talkin nonsence, and passed them off as no big deal" she said as pinch of iciness behind her voice as she recalled the converation when the 3 ghosts disgressed her mother.

"And as they are already dead, it might be kinda hard ta wake em up" she said in attempt to lighten the mood.

Rossa had to chuckle at his statment, "You bet we can, that is my motto afterall.." she said in amusment.

She then laughed at the mention of the contest to drive Luci bonckers, "Oh I don't know I got Luci, pretty ticked with one comment, so much so even Maxi, glared at me and the other one threatened me... with what I don't know.... hmm what was you worsed comment to em? I tell yeah mine I you tell me yours" she said in amusment.

"Yeah... I'm not sure I'd be able to stand it if they were better known as the Luci Triplets..." Demyan replied with a grin.

The mood darkened and then lightened again, the latter for which Demyan was actually grateful. "That is a bit problematic, isn't it? Only way to give 'em a wake up call is to prove to 'em we're not as ignorant and incompetent as they think we are... Whether or not it'll be enough or even matter to them's another story, though."

Demyan nodded. He knew good and well that was Rossa's motto. A good part of their childhood had been as rivals, but mostly just friendly rivals. While they were much closer now than they were years ago, every then and again Demyan or Rossalyn would initiate a round of phrases with the same motif that was none other than what had been dubbed as Rossa's motto. It was actually quite fun.

"You even got Maxi and Mal to glare at you? Wow..." Demyan chortled, clearly sounding impressed. "The worst thing I said? Hmm... that's a tough one. Let's see... I asked him if he woke up on the wrong side of the sarcophagi. Though, I think what really did him in was when I implied he mighta been gay... see, when I asked them what their next plan of action was, I'd meant after I'd asked everyone. Y'know - like if they were gonna just launch into teaching or if we needed to look into them getting physical forms first. Luci got all smart-ass on me, but eventually said that I had the charm and cunning - and to use it.

"Well... I wasn't sure how to take it, so I kinda hesitantly thanked him. I swear he's bipolar because he said asked me if I really thought it was confidence, 'cuz it was far from it. That was when I told him: 'Well, with a word like 'charm' in there, I wasn't quite sure what you wanted me to think... but for the record: I'm straight as a board. Not to mention you're probably at least as old as my father!'" Demyan explained, dissolving into laughter for several minutes. "You should've seen the look on his face - I almost thought he was gonna explode..."

Finally, a deep pink in the face from his mirth, Demyan asked, "What... what was the worst thing you said, d'you reckon?"

Rossa nodded "Yeah... you would be surprised how senitive three ghosts can be.." she said sheepishly.

Rossa burst into laughter at Demyans theory that Luci was gay. "Oh that is Hilarious, Demyan, I would have loved to see his face" she said with a snicker.

Still chuckling she said, "Oh mine wasn't nearly as funny as that.. I though it was Ironic they were giving my parents a hard time about blood status when they are bloody bloodless, ghosts" she said.

"Needless to say none of them found it amusing.... or found the ironic view in it. If they was alive right then and the I doubt I would sitting right now... I looks could kill" she said with a little amusement.

"Love see what they would do if we gained up on em aye? Think Luci could handle it without poping a vain.... if he had one of course" she said with a smirk.

"Lessons should be interesting with em hmm?" she asked.

Demyan snickered openly, practically in unison with Rossalyn. "It was great. Rarely've I ever seen someone that pissed!" he exclaimed.

"Bloody bloodless ghosts..." he echoed with further chuckles. "Still funny, though. Or at least I find it funny. Wonder if deep down Maxi liked it? He's got a sense of humor, at least.

"And yeah, if looks could kill I wouldn't likely get a chance to see my twentieth birthday. But it is ironic: ghosts talking about blood when they don't even have any anymore..."

The teen continued to snicker at the thought of ganging up on Luci. "Hell, he doesn't think we're capable... why should we think he's able to handle us? I can just see it now: all the right comments and -poof!- Ectoplasm everywhere! It'd be just like that one muggle movie about aliens..." Demyan roared with mirth. "Only thing is, Luci doesn't look like a giant bug... maybe we can try to change that..." the mischievous grin indicated while it was a thought, the possibilities of it actually happening were rather slim.

Demyan nodded and uttered a noise of agreement. "I think... interesting'll be the tip of the iceberg..." he agreed, offering a smirk and a wink.

((Sorry It took me so long Sub... I kinda forgot about it XD))

Rossa laughed whole heartedly at the mental image of Luci exploding. Yes it did sound like something out of a Science fiction movie, She could just picture it and thought just made her laugh more.

"Ohh that would be wonderful...." she said with a happy look on her face. The sour ghost had diffinitly not had gotten on her good side. She still need to convince Edan to join them.... He would probably take insults to there parents worse then she had.... there was no telling how it would go.

She chuckled at his statment, "I can imagine the choas now," she said with a sigh as she leaned her head in her hand on the edge of the couch.

"So who have you told about them? I am going to talk to Edan soon and tell Tav about it, not sure what Tav will do about it though" she said.

((np. lol, I kinda forgot about this, too. xD))

Demyan chuckled and grinned at Rossa’s enthusiasm. “It’ll be wicked!” he exclaimed with mischievous glee.

At the question on who knows, Demyan reviewed the mental list of people whom he had told. “I haven’t spoken to either of them yet. So far it’s just us, Will, Lara, Michelle, and Val,” he explained.

“Y’know... I wish we could come and go from the Keep as we please without having to worry about anything,” Demyan sighed, deciding to change the topic.