This is eventide.

[gryphon]

Not really thinking about how unsafe it was to be lying across the thick stone railing, the slender form of Gryphon Withercom dressed in some skinny jeans and an overly long sleeved, grey sweater; contemplated nothing really. Her long hair crushed beneath her head, the occasional blonde strands lightly catching on the wind. Legs crossed at the ankles and ghostly pale hands rested at her sides. The warmth of her palms pressed into the cool cement. From this position all she had to do was look straight ahead to see the open night sky. And truly beautiful was that sight before her.

When Gryphon had been younger she had thought that it was aliens that had lit up those bright stars. She hadn't really believed in angels or even the real science of it. No she had thought aliens had done it. What ever aliens were really ...
Silly thing to think, Gryphon couldn't help but smile at the thought now.

Her blue eyes traced over the distant stars, winking down at her. It wasn’t so cool tonight not much snow had fallen through the day so the Dallin tower balcony was still swept relatively clean of the winter elements by the house elves.
Tiny white specks floated down from high above speckling her clothes and cheeks. She had been lying here long enough to have a few caught on her eyelashes too, though it hadn't been the novelty of snow that had brought her here. No it had been the view, the soundless night sky.

[lara]

Nothing but ancient memories brought the electric blonde girl to Dallin tower. She remembered the time her and Ethan spent an entire evening, throwing words around and casting conversations like an old mixtape. Back then, they had no real sense of time. Time was only an illusion. They laughed for hours on end, no real thought involved in their highly stimulated conversation. There were far too many moments, in far too many places along the school and in Hogsmeade that reminded her of him. Ethan was precious, and she held him in her heart.

Lara stood on the landing of the tower, gazing around at the empty space that was before her. She wore a pair of low rise jeans and a white T-shirt, exactly how she’d dressed when she was up here many years ago. The stars glimmered in the sky beyond the windows, and she wished she could go back and time and find this moment where Ethan was standing beside her, looking out at the stars. But it was silly to dream, and silly to hope for such things that didn’t exist. Magic only got you so far, and there were limitations. It was hopeless trying to stretch those limits, trying to bring back the dead and whatnot.

Somehow, Lara managed to climb up onto the railing. Very carefully of course. And she was surprised to see another girl up there. The girl lay on her back, staring up at the stars, with her blonde hair surrounding her. She looked almost like an angel. Only an angel wouldn’t be dressed that way. Lara crouched down, trying not to scare the girl, but also trying not to fall off the roof. She wasn’t even sure why she had went up there in the first place. But maybe she was supposed to.

“Um… hello.” She said almost in a whisper to the girl, her emerald orbs scanning her slightly. It was ridiculous how closely she resembled herself. Then again, she supposed that a lot of blondes looked the same. But there was something about her that seemed uncanny. Lara moved to sit down, kind of beside the girl, and she let her legs bend so that she could wrap her arms around them and rest the side of her face against her knee, waiting for the girl to reply.
[/font]

[gryphon]

Funny how one can look for so long at something and never lose interest. How one could get so much out of merely staring and wondering over something that would never be answered. Alone here, away from them all. The hustle and bustle of lives going about their lives. It was nice, peaceful to be here and not think about it. On the stone edge Gryphon refused to hold onto any recognition of her little life at this school. And to just freely dwell on dreams as she looked toward a dark heaven far above.

The soft voice had come to her as softly as it was said. A whisper from the area back on Earth nearby. They had climbed to the top like her...

Dazed and too comfortable in her mind's thinking Gryphon turned her head to see an older girl. And as they both looked at each other a small smile came to Gryphon on those paled lips that couldn't find better words in return than a simple answer. "Hello."

This other had come so silently Gryphon hadn't heard her until she had said the unsure greeting. The surprise was minimal for some unknown reason, not that she expected this girl with similar blonde hair and look about her. She had expected nothing of this night at Dallin Tower.
The girl looked curiously a lot like Gryphon, though it may have been the lighting. Gryphon couldn't help but think they did childishly. The only different feature she was sure of, besides the age and deeper understanding of everything, was what this girl held in her eyes. It was different but too hard to understand. All Gryphon could connect it to was that this girl was lost, but then not really. She obviously knew where she was just the timing perhaps was the devil that maybe clouding her mind. The devil that clouded most older student’s minds.

A devil which was made up of memories and pain and change.

Then again this was just interpretation. What Gryphon thought she saw in the shadows of this very high roof top. Innocent this young Mihael was to any devils of the past.

Sitting up slowly, Gryphon crossed her legs still watching the girl whom had sat beside her. She couldn't help but stare as it was so strange for someone else to be with her up here of all places. It was naturally curious but in the same sense silently wonderful. How long had she been here alone hoping someone may come and find her? Without realising she was hoping such things it seemed she had been waiting forever with this hollow Astronomy Tower.

"Do you come up here often?" A small question with an unintrusive voice. A little more behind it than just simple small talk.

[lara]

Lara turned her head a bit more, getting a better look at the girl as she murmured a hello right back at her. Smiling a bit, Lara nodded. She was happy that the girl accepted her company so willingly, or at least she hoped so. The girl moved her body, almost poetically, sitting up just as Lara had. Lara admired her briefly. For some reason the girl appeared strong, as though she had pushed the tides aside in an effort to become… whatever it was that she was. Lara could feel this invisible bond, although it wasn’t intentional, nor was it even logical to think that the two of them had a kind of connection. But for some reason Lara could sense something, something she had sensed in many other people. A sense of hope, and although it was an illusion, she could sense the dreamy thoughts that brewed in the girl’s mind.

Her lips curled into a brighter smile as she shook her head, a gesture to the girl’s question. “No, I’m afraid I haven’t been up here in a long time.” Her voice still a mere whisper against the wind. She turned her head away from her, looking out into the vast velvet sky that spread out before her. There were moments in time that she could hardly remember. They seemed locked away, and she tried to remember but they seemed blocked off. She hardly recalled being up here once, with a dark haired boy. She remembered training. Who was he? Her visions were a blur nowadays, and she couldn’t recollect these memories just yet. But with time, she imagined they’d heal and she would be whole once again.

“I’m Lara.” She said finally, after moments of thought. There were many people she was set to find, but the journey would seem endless. And this girl beside her, was much younger. But perhaps she knew somehow, of Lara’s past? But she highly doubted that. No one recognized her, because everyone she knew had graduated and disappeared without her. Silly Lara, thinking that she could have frozen time.

“I used to come up here. A long time ago.” She went on, glancing over at the girl and cracking a small smile. “It’s strange being up here again, looking at the same stars I’d looked at years ago.” She gave a soft sigh, almost a sad sigh. It was difficult, coming back to the place she feared. The place she had run from.
[/font]

[gryphon]

Staring as people do when they can’t get a thought away from another thought which is bound by what is seen; Gryphon’s eyes remained on the older girl. Lara she had introduced herself as. And it was just as it always is with questions, hardly ever a time when you can ask a question and leave it at that single one.

It is how puzzles fit together until they are finished and the picture is there before you.

In complete opposite to Lara’s reply, Gryphon came up here almost every night. There was some sort of need behind that. But the Dallin tower being so large it was possible others could have come up here nearly every night too without Gryphon's knowledge. Very possible.

Her features softened and what smile Gryphon held dimmed as the other words from Lara formed. There was the friendly nature that seemed evident the moment she had appeared but the mystery was there too… And the sigh. Looking away now she thought on those words for a moment before answering them. She didn’t like leaping into words, mainly because she could see herself saying something that the other person may take the wrong way. The sentence she may create would most likely be too personal. Gryphon could always find that in people. It was a rather horrible thing to be able to do. Younger she had upset a lot of people with such innocent words. Now adays she didn’t even have to think about holding back from such forward questions or statements. It was simply involuntary.

The way Lara had put looking at the same stars from years ago, here now seemed to bring a cool comfort to Gryphon and then in the same sense, of dread. Mixed emotions. She could always come here to find them but at what ever point that would be, would she wish to? Would she avoid them like Lara had. Wishing to hide from what memories they brought back.

“I keep them company most nights here.” Gryphon said re finding that small smile again. “The stars, that is. Even on cloudy nights they still are clearest right here.” A small pause thinking again over how Lara had said she hadn’t been here for a long time once more. And then again. “I’m Gryphon. It's nice too meet you Lara.” And the smile became all of a sudden more warmer and though Lara couldn’t see it, grateful.

“Welcome back,” Gryphon looked out toward the beauty of the night, glancing at Lara in the corners of her blue eyes briefly. “I believe they’ve missed you…”