attack of panic ((open))

For the past hour, Thius was sitting on the floor of the common room playing a game of Solitaire. He didn't get very far as about twenty minutes in, the thoughts began to haunt him.

Break the window and join the squid.

No!

Touch the fire with both of your hands.

He couldn't!

One hand gripped the edge of the table with beads of sweat dripping down his face from the panic that was writhing in him.

"5... 10... 15... 20.... 22.."

Agh! Now he had to start over!

"5... 10... 15... 20... 25... 26!"

He did it again! Was he ever going to feel reassured at this point?

"5... 10..."

Bellona was sitting in the common room one evening with Parzival Rowle, and she was glad he seemed to be impressed with her love potion she had ordered through owl mail. Although it wasn't quite as powerful as Amortentia, it should make someone into an absolute slave for twenty four hours. That was enough to enjoy it.

She did deliberate slipping it into Parzival's tea, but he seemed to be smart enough not to drink anything while around her. Damn it.

As she drilled Parzival with her usual outcry of frustration towards the people she hated in the school, she was interrupted by a sound coming from by the fire. Annoyed, she looked over and saw Burke sat there looking as though he thought the ground was going to explode. She walked over to him, and sat on the carpet opposite him, gazing across at him with a stoic expression. "Burke. Your face is melting."

@Melanthius Burke

His frequent attempts at counting up to 100 in intervals of five were interrupted by one of the Lestranges. Great! He was going to have to start all over again until he felt at ease.

"5... 10... 15... 20..."

Was his face actually melting? Oh no, oh no, oh no. Thius touched his face, relieved that none of his flesh was slipping away or burning onto the rest of his body.

"My face isn't melting! Are you determined to drive me insane?!" He looked over at her upset that she was sabotaging his ritual; why didn't most people understand the importance of it? Her sister's actually insane, she needed to worry about that!

@Bellona Lestrange

Her eyes widened and she blinked a few times.

"Er... it's a figure of speech, Burke. Of course your bloody face isn't really melting. It's just sopping wet. It's disgusting."

She grimaced as she looked over how sweaty he was.

"Are you too hot or something? Got a fever?"

She had heard him counting over and over again before: some people made fun of him for it, others just pretended it wasn't happening so he'd stop being strange. Bellona actually felt quite sorry for him.

@Melanthius Burke

He already feared that he was becoming delusional, but being told that it was a figure of speech didn't reassure him in the slightest bit. Sometimes he'd be in class and then a random thought would pop into his head.

You're a golem.

What if you're under the Imperius Curse to act normal?

You were born sick. You were born sick just like grandfather Petros. You'll always be sick, sick boy.

It took a lot of will and strength to not yell in the middle of lecture for the thoughts to stop.

"I don't have a fever... I'm NOT sick!"

Now that was setting off another one of his anxieties. He rolled up the sleeve of his robe and rested his arm against his forehead.

@Bellona Lestrange

"Then what's the problem?" she asked, frowning.

@Melanthius Burke

"You wouldn't understand!"

His head felt a bit warm, but he didn't have any other symptoms. Except now he could feel his heart beat with haste. Thius looked over at the fire and took off his robe.

"I'm just overheating..."

5... 10... 15... 20...

@Bellona Lestrange

"You could try sitting further away from the fire."

Just a suggestion.

Bellona sighed. It wasn't like her to show concern or empathy, but there were a very few people in this world that she could stand and they should show a bit of compassion in times of need. She knew really that there was something afflicting him that didn't have anything to do with a physical illness. But, if she could help...

She reached out her hands to him, slowly, and placed them gently on his cheeks. Her touch was abnormally cold. Ice cold.

@Melanthius Burke

"That's an excellent idea, why didn't I think of that?"

His eyes slowly moved in Bellona's direction as her hands reached closer and closer to him.

Shuddering, Thius froze in shock feeling her brisk palms.

"What are you? A corpse?"

Or was she just made of snow?

Merlin, was he delusional enough to think she was legitimately made of snow? Made of ice? Like some advanced transfiguration?

5... 10... 15...

@Bellona Lestrange

"No I'm bloody not a corpse!" she protested, moving her hand to his forehead now and heaving a great sigh. The moisture on his face was simply reacting to her touch, as though there were ice in her hands. "I was just... born with this thing- not everyone has it, okay? It's rare but it's not completely unheard of."

It was a sensitive issue sometimes. No one liked to stand out for the wrong reasons.

"You know a freezing spell? I can do that without a wand, or from touch. Amongst other things. Anyway," she removed her hand slowly. "Bit better?"

@Melanthius Burke

She was born with it. Whoa. That was better than being a psycho like one of her many sisters. Way, way better.

"Your hands just do that?" Thius looked down at them amazed; if only he could stand out in that way, One of his closest friends was a metamorphmagus. All Thius got was the potential for insanity. Yipee.

His body and head began to feel more relaxed, his heart rate reducing to some state of normality. "Yeah, a bit...."

At least, for a moment, the thoughts weren't running through his head.

"Is it genetic?"

@Bellona Lestrange