Open to all - Popcorn room

[igotahamster]

The floor of the popcorning room was rather cold. He blinked owlishly down at his hand... wait. Stone? It'd been a long time since he'd seen a stone floor like this; so old, trafficked by feet so long it was smooth as marble

Comments

[usethepoker]

Susan didn't know why she'd gone back to the popcorn room, but she'd felt like taking a walk, and that was where her feet had carried her. The poker tapped against her boot as she went along, a nice staccatto rhythm, until she stepped inside and found she was not alone.

"Hello," she said, eying the somewhat confused young man--she could commiserate; she'd felt damned disoriented herself.

[igotahamster]

"Er," he offered, and then he swallowed and tried again. "Hello. I don't suppose you could tell me where I am." He smoothed the front of his vest carefully before stepping into full view.

[usethepoker]

Susan gave him a slightly crooked smile. "The popcorn room," she said. "You'll have...been away for a while, in all likelihood, and you probably won't remember it. I didn't."

[igotahamster]

"I don't remember much of anything," he admits, with a distant expression. "I remember being home, and then I woke up here."

[usethepoker]

Susan blinked, surprised. She knew memory loss was common to people who unpopped, but his case seemed remarkably severe, if he didn't recall anything of Hogwarts. She shook her head, suddenly immensely glad that her own amnesia had been relatively mild.

"Some of it may come back to you," she said. "You were obviously here before, or you wouldn't have shown up in this room. My own memories were pretty badly fractured, when I first woke up here, but they've come back, to a degree. Madam Nutter--our school nurse--is going to run some tests on River and I, to see if there isn't some way of returnng memory; maybe you should come with us."

[igotahamster]

"This place is familiar. It's.. just more like a dream than a memory. Like I wasn't myself when I was here." He blinked, and then looked up. "River... River Tam?"

[usethepoker]

Well, she could relate to that one. "So far as I can tell, the dreamlike quality stays with you," she said. "At least, it has in my case."

She looked at him curiously. "You know River?" she asked. "Yes, she's here--just recently unpopped herself, actually, with her memory rather more intact than mine."

[igotahamster]

Awkward. Walking around half-dreamy was a more or less normal state for him. This was... going to be a bit painful.

"My name is Dr. Simon Tam," he tells her, hands twitching into fists for a second. "She's my sister. Do you know where she is?"

[usethepoker]

"Not at the moment, though she's in Ravenclaw, so the common room would be the best place to look." She noticed his sudden tension. "She's all right," she added. "She doesn't seem to have suffered any adverse affects from the time she spent popcorned."

[igotahamster]

"Popcorned. Hm." Is that what it was called? He glances at the room again and sighed. "Good. At least she's all right."

[usethepoker]

"Don't ask me why people randomly turn into popcorn," Susan said, shaking her head. "There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, nor is there any way of knowing when a popcorned person will return. The effects seem to vary from person to person, but River has weathered it well." He seemed quite concerned for his sister's welfare--having dealt with many families, Susan didn't often see that kind of loyalty.

[igotahamster]

"She's been asleep before," he notes, thoughtfully. "Perhaps that's why." He straightened his shoulders a little. "Would you be so kind as to take me to her, please?"

[usethepoker]

"I'll certainly help you search for her--I'm not entirely sure where precisely she is, at the moment. Ravenclaw house is a good start, if you'll follow me--it's my house as well, so I can get you in," she said. "Hopefully the drunks haven't taken over the common room yet."

[igotahamster]

"... drunks?" He frowned a little and fell into step next to her. "So... you know my sister? Well enough to know what's 'well' for her isn't always 'well' for everyone."