History Section

[Guest]

Alys loved her house. She loved that she was part of a huge group that acted as one, she loved the fact that it had a mysterious past, she loved how it was conveniently located on the second floor and within easy reach of so many classrooms and The Archives. Most of all, she loved that she had managed to make friends there. Whatever certain Geschik students said about Muhe, it couldn't be denied that her house was the best. Just yesterday, she had noticed a first year Verstand being bullied by three third year Geschik students and had stepped out of the corner to help when from nowhere, two prefects of her own house had descended upon the bullies and stopped the whole thing in record time. Yes, Muhe really was turning into her family, The Doctor had been right at the sorting.

But it couldn't be denied that the witch hardly knew anything of her house history. And when she had tried asking Professor M, the older witch had only given her a cryptic smile as she rushed off to her next class. Alys had taken that to mean her Head of House wanted Alys to find it out herself.

Which was why the blonde was now at The Archives, in the history section no less looking for her own house history. After trying her best to make the thousand year old librarian understand what she wanted, the witch had given up and started wondering the shelves herself. It seems Durmstrang was pretty old. Finally, she spotted a tome that looked helpful. Sadly, it was on a shelf a whole head higher then she could reach and the witch looked around for a ladder.

[Guest]

Tarragon was sat in between the many shelves of books, pouring over a book on broomstick care. He wanted to check that everything he had been doing to his Firebolt had been right. He paused for a moment, looking at the shelves around him, before laying his eyes on the young witch from his house.

"Alys," He called a little too loudly across the library. Getting up he made his way over to her, "Need a hand with that book?"

He reached up and pulled down the book in front of Alys' outstretched hands, she only just couldn't reach it, bless her. He eyed the book suspiciously.

"And what are you reading up on?"

[Guest]

The witch turned around at the sound of her own name and waved to the boy across the room making his way to her. She wondered when Tarragon had came to the archives since she hadn't seen anyone on her way in.

"Thank you," she said as he helped her take the blood red tome down off the shelf. She saw him eying the single word written in grisly pink letters on the otherwise red cover warily. The book looked creepy indeed, the word "Schmerz" looked smeared on it.

"And what are you reading up on?"

"Pain," she replied simply, pointing to the title off the thick volume. "I figured it was time we learned a bit more about our own house, and I think Lehrer M wants me to read up on it."

[Guest]

"Right..." Tarragon replied a little uneasily.

He wasn't sure as to whether Alys really wanted to be reading up on this or not. He personally thought that the first introduction to their house and the giving of blood to get in was enough knowledge of pain for his liking.

"Wanna join me at my table and we can go through the book together? By which I mean you can read and I'll nod and agree to whatever you say." He chuckled softly, he wouldn't really sit there and say nothing, but he did want to finish his book as well.

[Guest]

"Wanna join me at my table and we can go through the book together? By which I mean you can read and I'll nod and agree to whatever you say."

"Tarragon!" the witch pouted, elbowing him sightly even as they started towards the table the boy had been occupying before she had seen him. "Don't you want to know how our house was founded, what principals the founders held dear? I personally think it must be pretty darn interesting."

Setting the heavy book down in the table, the witch took a seat and swept her blonde hair back. "Now let's see, where did I put my hairband?" she asked going through all her pockets with her free hand as the other still held back her golden locks.

[Guest]

Tarragon laughed before she elbowed him in the ribs, it wouldn't have hurt normally, but he winced slightly in pain.

"Watch it, yeah? Some of us have bruises still!" He chuckled, he wasn't angry with Alys for forgetting. "And I suppose it's interesting, but look at my book!"

He pointed down to his book with a big smile on his face.

"Besides, I'm sure you will take great pride in telling me all about it, and I prefer to listen."

[Guest]

Alys looked down at the boy's book and just the illustration on the front page was enough to tell her it was broomstick related. Of course, knowing him, it would be. He polished his Firebolt religiously and flew with a kind of fanaticism that could only be matched by those who all but worshiped Quidditch.

"Alright then, I'll read the thousand year old text and you can just sit and listen," she said, motioning him to take a seat beside her. The witch finally found her hairband in her bag and proceeded to tie her hair back before opening the book. For something so old, it was surprisingly clean and free of dust. Maybe the thousand year old librarian wasn't as incompetent as she had first thought her to be.

"Fantastic," the witch muttered under her breath as she opened to the prologue. "Its written in Old German."

[Guest]

Tarragon took the seat next to Alys as she had motioned him to.

"Its written in Old German."

He leant over to see, before laughing aloud.

"You have fun with that then!" He said as he patted her head mockingly. He pulled his book towards him and flicked it to a random page, just looking at the pictures. "I would say that if what your looking for is what they did or what they believed, it would be a pretty good guess to say that our House founder was very much like The Sweeney, and not a force to be reckoned with!"

He leant back over to the book Alys was holding.

"And anyways, I'm sure you are clever enough to be able to read it, I'll help you if you get stuck."

[Guest]

"I don't need your help," the blonde lied petulantly, miffed at being treated like a child. Her Old German wasn't the best but she could still make do, couldn't she? She had survived the scrolls The Doctor had assigned them for class reading in Runes so she could certainly cope with texts from... the girl checked the dates at the bottom... the fourteen hundreds.

However, her irritation at the boy beside her began to fade as she read down the length of the first page. The writing appeared to be by hand, not printed which made sense seeing as copiers weren't available back then and all manuscripts had to be duplicated via a simple copying charm in the original writer's hand.

"Wow," she breathed out as she continued reading the spiky handwriting and the tale it told.

[Guest]

Tarragon looked over at the writing as he heard Alys go "Wow".

"So are you going to tell me what it says or just sit and say random words?" He asked cheekily.

History had never been his favourite subject, but he supposed Alys was right about getting to know the background of their houses, it would make the reason for giving blood all the time a little more sensible he supposed.

[Guest]

"The forwards is by Vikticus Steinergraft," Alys began in a whisper, paying no mind to Tarragon's attempts to annoy her. "He says that pain is the only thing that sets humans and Gods apart. And those mortals who can overrode pain or gain the power to cause and take it away... they rise above mere humans." Thee witch laid a ling index finger on the page, tracing the spiky handwriting reverently.

"For he and only he who can feel true pain can live, if he doesn't perish in the dying of it." The blonde read out the text directly, her voice low and full of wonder.








(OOC: House history based on the info given by the administrators, additional details are Alys' own invention and not "legitimized" by any means. However, she has no qualms if others choose to use it in their RP.)

[Guest]

Tarragon raised his brow slightly, he didn't fully understand what Alys meant.

"So basically, you're saying that we have to learn to not feel pain to be able to inflict pain on others?" His voice was incredibly unsure at this moment.

He was beginning to not like fact that his house was to inflict pain on others whilst not feeling his own. That was rather weird in his eyes. He shivered at the thought of causing others pain, well unless it was a certain Geshick student.

"And what does it say the characteristics of being part of our house are? What makes us different to others to be in our house?"

[Guest]

"So basically, you're saying that we have to learn to not feel pain to be able to inflict pain on others?" His voice was incredibly unsure at this moment.

"No... it doesn't talk about causing pain specifically..." the witch trailed off, turning a page as her eyes roved hungrily over the ancient text. "It says more along the lines of pain being a weakness - and weakness makes a mortal, not something higher." Indeed, the forwards was full of ideas that would ordinarily creep her out but right now, she was just fascinated. "The founder seems to think that the greatest achievement mankind can claim is to not feel pain at any level."

Tucking a lose strand of hair behind her ear, the witch continued. "Pain is a part of life, but suffering doesn't have to be..."

OOC: Dark font will be appreciated by my poor tired eyes.

[Guest]

Tarragon didn't think that what Alys was reading was going to help, not feeling pain would be impossible. He thought about the time on the roof and the pain that had caused him and winced. He couldn't understand how anyone couldn't feel pain.

He looked at Alys as she tucked her hair behind her ears and continued to read. After her last sentance he held his finger to her lips.

"Alys, do you think it possible to no longer feel pain?"

He studied her face carefully, unsure on what her answer may be.

[Guest]

The witch blinked in surprise at being silenced in such a way. Looking up at Tarragon, she wondered how to best answer his question.

"I don't know," she said quietly, avoiding his eyes. Pain was something she had always taken for granted. You fell down, you bled, you accidentally dropped a flask of smoking potion, you got burnt, you missed your parents, your chest ached. Perhaps that's what that founder meant by pain being a human trait?

"But I have come to realize that it doesn't hurt as much if you keep doing it. The first time I pricked my finger to get in our common room, it hurt. And it hurt the second, third and fourth time too. But now I barely notice it anymore." Did that mean she was immune to at least a little physical pain? She had hurt herself in that duel with Ava and thought nothing of it. Did that make her stronger?

[Guest]

Tarragon looked at her, he still felt the pain of getting into the common room, he didn't want to admit that though. He didn't want to look silly in front of Alys. He thought for a while.

"Maybe I'm in the wrong house, Alys."

It wasn't a question, more a statement. He felt pain a lot more than he probably should. He got angry more than he probably should. He thought maybe it was his childhood that had broken him. He didn't know.

"Carry on."

He looked away after his last sentance, he didn't know what else to do.

[Guest]

"Maybe I'm in the wrong house, Alys."

The girl looked thoughtful at that. She herself hadn't thought of any particular house when she held the compass. She had no idea why it had chosen Muhe for her but the girl had never questioned it. She had just been glad to belong to a house with other people in it. Why would Tarragon feel like he didn't belong? As far as Alys knew, no one had been rude or nasty o him, no one from their house at least. Even older students made an effort to ensure the first years were always looked after.

"The next chapter is on thresholds," she said, looking down at the book again. "It says that pain is only felt when the pain threshold is crossed. It says some people have a higher threshold than others.."

[Guest]

Tarragon waved his hand for her to carry on, that was a given. He leant on his hand, watching as her lips formed each word. He liked to watch people, it told him a lot of things. He could see Alys was enjoying reading into their house history, to him it didn't really matter whether he was in Muhe or any other house. He never felt he belonged anywhere, and Alys' findings made him feel less a part of their house. But he supposed being in Muhe allowed him to have a friend in Alys, and that was all he cared about at the moment.

[Guest]

"The ability to feel pain in itself is a strength, though not one unchallenged," The with frowned at the line, wondering what it could mean. Scanning down the old text, the witch frowned even more.

"It says that only those who have the power to bear great pain do so. Like, you only feel a lot of pain because you're strong enough to. Otherwise you would "enter oblivion" which I guess means faint. So that makes the one with the greatest pain stronger because only they have the power to bear such pain. It says "Be not afraid of the hurt but of the one who hurts more'.

The following chapter was on body parts and pain receptors and looked fairly boring. Apparently it listed which parts of the body were more responsive to pains and how they could be enhanced or dulled. The blonde skipped ahead, sure that if she stared at any of the diagrams for a longer time, she would start feeling queasy.

[Guest]

"I think I'd rather feint than bare the pain to be quite honest. I mean, who in their right mind would want to feel pain to that extreme?"

He looked at the pictures as Alys turned the pages. He liked to just look at the pictures rather than read books. It took him too long to read a book, so pictures made them more fun.

"So is your next task to try to numb all your pain so you can be a 'super being' or whatever you wish to call it?" He asked mockingly.

He hoped Alys had enough sense to see that this was just a book to try to mind control young people.

[Guest]

"So is your next task to try to numb all your pain so you can be a 'super being' or whatever you wish to call it?" He asked mockingly.

"No," she replied absently, not catching on to his tone. "The book doesn't tell us what our next task is. It doesn't seem like an instruction manual so far." Flicking another page, the girl ran her fingers over the text, trying to read as clearly as she could. "In fact, the only thing that is like an instruction I've read here is to "not fear pain". and even that sounds more like a suggestion."

According to what the witch had read so far, pain was the only thing that made you stronger. And the founder said to fear it would be to fear oneself because pain was always a part of you, something you couldn't get away from. Alys agreed with that much. But than how could you stop feeling it to become the "super beings" Tarragon had mentioned just now?

"I think I'll have to check this book out. I can't possibly read it all in one go and it doesn't look like the kind of text you can just skim through."

[Guest]

He waited for Alys to finish explaining and smiled. She didn't believe the book to be the rules of their house and that was always a good thing.

"I think I'll have to check this book out. I can't possibly read it all in one go and it doesn't look like the kind of text you can just skim through."

He nodded, "I think I am going to check this book out as well, it's got some handy tips for broom maintenance."

He lifted the big book up, offering his hand to carry her book for her as well.

[Guest]

Alys handed him the book, grateful for the help. It was an extremely thick tome and the witch had no idea how she was going to lug it around. Maybe Laika in third year could help her out. Everyone in Muhe knew Laika carried tons of books around in a magically enhanced bag or something. The blonde resolved to find the older student that evening.

"Thanks," she said as they made their way to the ancient librarian to check both books out.

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