Walking the Maze (Xadrian and Annabella)

[Annabella Valentine H3]

As soon as the Headmaster had stepped aside, to allow everybody into the maze, Annabella adjusted her Yellow halo that was above her head. She turned to Xadrian and smiled. "Shall we?" as she began to walk into the maze. Her and Xadrian had decided to team up, for the fright fest. Not only would it give them a chance to catch up, but also have some fun.

After a little while of walking around, going down hall after hall, and going around turn after turn, Annabella suddenly stopped and turned to Xadrian, as they came to an intersection with four possible ways.

"Hmm which way should we go?" she asked as she peered down, each way and try to figure, which one was better.

[xadrian]

Xadrian spun the blue horn headband that he picked up in his hands. He wasn't quite scared, but more nervous for what might lie in the maze ahead of him. Xad wasn't must for Halloween, but he knew he didn't want to miss out on the fun or food. Plus, he knew that he could help earn some house points for Ravenclaw if he participated in the event.

The fact that Annabella agreed to do the maze with him also made him feel a little better. He knew she was a lot of fun and that she wouldn't be the type of girl who would simply scream and duck behind him the whole time- at least he didn't think she would be like that.

When he heard her voice, he gave an apprehensive smile and then a quick reply. "Better now than never," he said, following Annabella into the darkened maze. Annabella seemed to be navigating quite well through the dungeon walkways, so Xad was fine with simply letting her lead. Directions weren't his strength anyways. It would be his memory that he hoped might serve them well.

As they came to a four point intersection, Annabella stopped and asked for his input. Thinking about it for a second, he answered. "Why don't we just go right, and then if we get lost, we can trace our way back and go right again until we find the first pit stop. My guess is that it isn't too much farther."

[Annabella Valentine H3]

Annabella nodded at Xadrian's suggestion to go right, she then laughed a bit as he said that if they got lost, they could always retrace their steps. So giving him another nod she began to walk down the, right path.

After a few moments of walking, Annabella began to notice that it was getting slightly darker, the further they walked. Thinking that it was just her imagination, she decided to ask Xadrian if he was expierencing the same thing. "Umm Xad is it just me or is it getting darker, the further we walk?"

She continued to walk as she waited for his answer, they turned a cornor and Annabella stopped. There was a door in front of them. "Think this is the checkpoint?" she asked him. And began to open the door.

[xadrian]

Annabella seemed apt to taking his advice, and she started walking down the hallway that led right. She did laugh a bit too, after his comment about getting them lost. Shrugging, Xad just figured it was part of doing a maze anyways. The chance that they would get the whole way through without making a wrong turn was almost impossible.

As they walked a little farther, Xad was surprised that there wasn't more to the maze yet. So far, it was basically just a dark cluster of walls with lots of twists and turns. But just as he was pondering the lack of complexity, Annabella made a good point. "Yeah," he said in agreement, "it does appear to be getting slightly darker as we go. "Maybe we are reaching a dead end or something," he said in a puzzled voice.

Just then, Annabella made another turn. Around the corner, a door blocked their way. Xad thought he heard voices from behind the door, and then Annabella suggested that it was probably the first checkpoint. "You're probably right," he answered quickly, hoping that it was simply a checkpoint and not something worse. Slowly, Xad reached out and opened the door. To his relief, he saw other students inside the room. Squinting, he noticed that they were blindfolded and doing something else. Looking at Annabella he gave a smile. "Looks like we got to the first pit stop," he said excitedly, waiting for what they should do next.

[Little Lindsey Volunteer]

((Thank you both for writing the colour of your headbands as you were supposed to. )

This was a first for Hogwarts, and Lindsey liked it. Having volunteered for the Fright Fest, she had started to work on her costume early enough. She was a dead child, her long blond hair was in pigtails and she wore make up that was smeared. She wore a too small dress that had tears and holes in it. Her stockings were black and white stripes and went to her knees and she wore black mary janes. She always loved Halloween, and this was just made Halloween that much better. As Lindsey waited for the maze to begin, she talked with a few other volunteers. Finally, the lights went out and spooks appeared. After about ten minutes, the first group entered and they were led to the room where they would complete their first task. Lindsey felt bored, as she waited for a group to come for her to take. Finally, one did and she smiled to herself before walking over there and bending her forefinger - motioning for them to follow her.

She led them to a dark room, where there was nothing but a table with bowls on them. She smiled crookedly at them and then led them to the first bowl. She picked up the blindfolds by the bowl and put one around each of their eyes. Once that was finished she began in a small voice, "Once in this town there lived a man. T'was years ago, on this very night, that he was murdered out of spite. They say these are his remains." Lindsey took the boys hand and led it to the bowl, placing it inside the bowl which held a substance that was supposed to be brains, then she did the same with the girl's hand, "Here is his brain, which now feels no pain." Lindsey watched the two students and then whispered in their ears, "Make a guess as to what it is, but don't be wrong... or you won't go on."

((Hopefully, both of you have read the rules. But just in case, you must both guess the correct thing. Which shouldn't be too hard if you two are in communication with each other. Guess anything that you might think could be used to feel like a brain.))

[Annabella Valentine H3]

Annabella smiled and nodded as they both entered the room, she smiled as she discovered that, it was indeed the first checkpoint. She looked around the room and saw a table, with many bowls and what looked, like blindfolds beside them. Soon after they entered somebody came up to them, they were dressed as a dead child, Annabella assummed for the way her costume looked, and how she had her hair.

They were led over to the table where their guide, then placed a blindfold over their eyes, Annabella began to get a little nervous as all her other senses, began to work. The girl then began to speak in a small voice, relaying a story to them. Annabella listened closely and when she was finished, it was silent for a few minutes, before her hand was guided into one of the bowls. She could feel Xad's hand in there as well, she turned her head to the side, slightly as she heard the girl whisper that they had to make a guess, as to what was in the bowl.

Annabella moved her hand around a bit, before leaning over and saying to Xad. "brain right....hmm I'm guessing by the feel of it...spagetti...like all compressed together...what do you think?" she figured that they could work it out, before they gave their answer.

[xadrian]

Before long, a girl dressed in a costume approached. Her face looked lifeless, with smeared paint, and her clothes were tattered and filthy. Overall, the effect was creepy. To top it off, she motioned for Xad and Annabella to follow her with a creepy moving of her finger.

Once they walked over to the girl, she quickly blindfolded them and then started telling them a story about a man who was murdered. Then, she said something about his remains, at which Xad felt his hand being submerged into a bowl that had something wet and squishy in it. It sure did feel like a brain. Then, the costumed girl told Annabella and him that they were to guess what was actually in the bowl that they were feeling.

Xad instantly thought of jello, but then hearing Annabella's response, he thought she may be right. "Yeah, it kind of does feel like spaghetti or some other type of mushy pasta. Alright, we guess spaghetti," he said, waiting for the girl to answer. He wondered what would happen if they were wrong. Would they get another guess or would they simply be out of the challenge. Anxiously, Xad waited to hear the girl's voice. In ways, he wished he could see what Annabella's facial expression was like. He wondered if she was as nervous as he was.

[Little Lindsey Volunteer]

Lindsey watched as they made guesses, she always loved this part of Halloween and was glad they had included this kind of task into the maze. They both decided upon spaghetti molded together. She peered into the bowl and nodded, although they couldn't see her. "Very well, let's move to the next, maybe then you'll really have a test." She guided both of their hands to the next bowl and set them in, curling the girls hand around a bunch of "eyeballs."

"These are his eyes, still frozen with surprise." She whispered, making the next bowl a little bit easier. Eyes were always the same tihng in Halloween bowls. Lindsey looked at them and again spoke with that eery whisper, "Make a guess, but don't get it wrong.. you have to go on."

[Annabella Valentine H3]

Annabella stood beside Xadrian as she waited for the girl, to deem them wrong or right, after he had confirmed that their guess was spagetti, she started to get a little anxious and nervous. She bit her lip as she wondered what was going through Xad's mind right now, was he nervous? was he calm? Although this was just a fun game, she still couldn't help but feel this way, she wanted them to keep guessing correctly so that they could move on, to the next task.

Annabella smiled brightly when the girl said that they were right, and they moved on, to the next bowl. "Xad..we got it right..haha." she said excitily. She waited as her hand, was guided into the next bowl, as the story was continued. She smiled slightly as her hand was curled around, what was suppose to represent the eyeballs. Moving her fingers around she took her other hand, and searched for where Xadrian was. Placing it on what she hoped was his arm, she smiled.

"Xad..I'm gonna guess....grapes?" replied Annabella as she kept moving her hand around, "Yeah..grapes."

[xadrian]

Shortly after Xadrian confirmed their guess, the girl acknowledged that they were indeed correct. Lucky Annabella was on top of things by mentioning spaghetti. Xad let out a small sigh of release, and the girl continued on with the story of the murdered man, placing their hands into another bowl.

This bowl was filled with many cold, spherically shaped objects. They really did feel like eyes, and they were surrounded by a mush. Annabella quickly provided her thoughts on the contents of the bowl. This time, Xad was thinking the same thing. He was sure that they 'eye's had to be grapes. If they weren't grapes, what else could they be, he thought.

"Well, I'm not going to argue with you Annabella," he said with a chuckle. "You were correct on the first bowl, and I don't see what else could possibly feel like eyes," he added. "So, our final guess is grapes," he said assuredly in the direction of which he thought the girl was standing.

[Little Lindsey Volunteer]

Such uncertainty in all their actions, Lindsey observed. But then, that was the way among blindfolded people - learning how to cope without one of their senses never came easily. They were much more assured about their answer, though. She paused for a moment, the silence loud around them with the faint sound of echoing footsteps elsewhere in the dungeons. She gave the bowl a cursory glance. "Then to the next one, this might not be fun," she said in hushed tones and then shifted onwards towards the next bowl in line.

"Here is his heart. Be careful lest it start!" she warned them solemnly as she guided their hands to the bowl. Still in her whisper, which was by now firmly stuck in her own head, she urged them, "Make a guess, but be right, or you'll go no further tonight."

[xadrian]

Xad waited for the girl to respond, but she didn't. At first he thought that they might have gotten it wrong. But then, she started on the next part of the story and their hands were soon in another bowl, this time feeling what was to represent the heart.

Xadrian felt a cold slimy mass at the bottom of the bowl. They must have coated whatever it was with some liquid to make it feel like blood. Xad knew that hearts were hollow, but he thought that whatever was in the bowl was somewhat firm. It almost felt like a piece of uncooked meat. He thought, and then said the only thing that came to his mind. "Do you think it might be a raw chicken breast?" he asked Annabella. It seemed logical to him, and he figured a chicken breast might be a pretty good resemblance to a heart, especially if it was died red. Xad waited for Annabella's response to see if she had any better ideas.

[Annabella Valentine H3]

Annabella let out a sigh of relief, that she had been holding when the girl finally spoke. She had gotten a little nervous when she didn't say anything, after their last guess. So there were given the next part of the story, and their hands were guided into another bowl. This time it was the heart.

Annabella moved her hand around the substance, it seemed to be sitting in some type of liquid, probably juice or something to, represent blood. She listened to Xadrian's guess and moved her hands around again. The texture seemed right and consistant, she nodded and said "Yeah...I do. So our guess is a raw chicken breast." as she turned her head slightly and waited.

[Little Lindsey Volunteer]

Lindsey smiled in appreciation of herself at the girl's absolutely obvious show of relief. She was glad to see she was managing to give them a sense of suspense, although they hadn't reached the more scary part of this task or the next yet. She nodded at their guess, glancing into the bowl to see the sight that actually did look disgusting in this case as well as feeling disgusting. Being able to see it, she wouldn't put her hand in herself.

"All right, then on to the next," she said in completely unruffled tones and guided them to the next bowls. With a cursory glance at the mess in these bowls she plonked their hands in for them. "Now have we his hair, which was once so fair!" she told them. "Make a guess, but make it sound: there's further to go than just this round."

[Annabella Valentine H3]

Annabella smiled as they had gotten another one right, they were doing good so far, she wondered how many more they had left to go. "Xad...were doing good...lets keep it up." she said to her friend as she listened to the next part of the story. Their hands were guided into yet another bowl afterwards. Annabella frowned a bit as she, moved her hand around.

To her it felt kind of like corn silk, the dry silky thread that was usually left on corn. "Xadrian...it feels kind of like corn silk to me...what do you think?"she asked her partner, as she kept feeling around the bowl, dry...a little silky...yeah she was sure that was what it was.

[xadrian]

They were three for three. Xadrian was beginning to wonder if their luck would soon run out. He smiled after hearing Annabella's words of encouragement. It was odd having to wear the blindfold throughout the task. For a second, he was starting to forget that he was actually in a maze that probably had so much more to go through after this portion. "Yeah," he said shortly, "we are doing well. Let's hope that we can keep going. I think we still have quite a few bowls left to go though." As the girl began another part of the story, he felt his hand touch what was supposed to be the hair.

When she first mentioned hair, he thought back to the spaghetti from the first bowl. It was his initial guess as to what the hair might be, but once he felt it, he knew it was something that was thinner and a lot drier. It really did feel like hair, so it was hard to think of what else it might be. Possibly animal fur he thought, but then realized it had to be some sort of food. Of course animals could be food in some cases. Annabella's voice interrupted his thoughts. Corn silk, he thought. What a great guess. He remembered husking corn with his sisters at home. He always hated trying to make sure all the silk was peeled off the cob. "This does feel an awful lot like corn silk," he agreed. "I can't see what would be a better guess, so I'm not going to argue with you there," he said optimistically, hoping Annabella's initial guess was correct.

[Little Lindsey Volunteer]

Lindsey listened to the interplay between her two guests with her head tilted. They were too rational. This was Halloween, and while rationality might rule at all other times it didn't on the Eve of Terror. But then again, that might still go out of the window - or rather the cracks in the walls since there were no windows here - when this rather mundane entertainment turned a little more scary.

She contemplated the bowl momentarily before ushering them on soundlessly to the next one and placing their hands in. "And then there's his skin, all peeled and paper thin." she narrated. "Take a guess, but not in error, or you'll find further terror."

[Annabella Valentine H3]

Annabella bit her lip as their guide was again silent after they had given their answers, she held her breath and was about to say something to Xadrian when she spoke gain, after sticking their hands into another bowl. She smiled...they had guess right again. She listened to what they were to be guessing about now. The skin....she moved her hand around. "Hmmm Xad...I'm gonna guess ....raw chicken skin."

She bit her lip again as she kept feeling it. It had the feel and texture of raw chicken skin to her. She smiled a bit and turned her head to the side, to where she asumed Xadrian was. "What do you think?" she asked him.

[xadrian]

The process continued, with Xadrian and Annabella getting yet another guess correct. He smiled wider, thinking that Annabella was doing really well with this task. Her creative thinking was helping them to get through the challenge quickly, or at least Xad thought so.

Again, he felt his now sticky hand being placed into another bowl. This time, he almost pulled it out as quickly as it touched the contents of the bowl. Having the blindfold on really was starting to mess with his mind, causing the things to fell almost real. He was also starting to really just want to take the blindfold off, as the darkness was giving him a headache, but he knew he must keep it on. They were doing so well to stop now.

This time, he wrapped his fingers around lumps of something cold and wet. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that this really was heaps of some poor man's skin lying all bloody and limp at the bottom of the bowl. However, when he heard Annabella mention chicken skin, his mind was set to ease. He could tell she made a good guess, as he remembered helping his mother cook chicken before. Until the skin was cooked, it had the same slippery feel that felt similar to human skin, only more wet. "I don't know how you come up with these things," Xad said with a sigh, "but I think you have a good guess. Raw chicken skin it is," he concurred. He waited silently, hoping that the girl would continue just as she had each time before.

[Little Lindsey Volunteer]

Lindsey shook her head at their guesses, smirking just a little to herself as she looked at what really was in the bowl. "You're far from right, without the aid of sight." she told them, pausing as someone screamed a little further ahead. She waited a moment before whispering conspiratorially to them: "I'll grant another chance, but you still cannot glance."