who needs the world

So this is water's edge, Iris thought as she walked further down the rocks. Her time at Durmstrang was going to be over soon and she wanted to do a last minute exploring.

She smiled lightly to herself as she let the cool breeze blow her hair. It was nearly midnight, quiet, soothing and she loved it. She was always a night person anyway. She briefly thought of Kait and hoped her sister was safe and well at Hogwarts.

Checking her high heels were in place and not about to fall off her feet, Tshering skipped all the way from the Housing to the Water's Edge. She'd been staying up late for the past couple of nights usually crying tearlessly in her bed, and it was all a certain Hitroast's fault that she was behaving like this.

The breeze let her hair fly over her back like a curtain, and the Ravenclaw thoroughly enjoyed that. She noticed a silhouette in the distance, and called out, "Oi! You there!"

Iris froze when she heard someone yell and immediately zipped up her jacket, making sure her arms were covered. Thankful that she chose to wear jeans tonight, she turned around and called out, "Who's there?" She got up and walked towards the source of the sound. She sighed in relief when she saw it was her friend.

"Oh hey Tshering," she greeted with a grin. "What are you doing here?"

Tshering raised an eyebrow at the question Grayson had offered her, and she merely crossed her arms as a reply before she could think of something witty to say. After all, it was a rather daft enquiry, or at least, Tshering thought it was.

"Oh. I'm out here because it's daytime and I love bask myself in sunshine," she remarked, placing her hands in her pockets. She then rolled her eyes, "Honestly, Gray - why the hell o you think I'm here?"

"It's a genuine question, alright? For all I know, you could be planning an evil scheme," Iris smirked and sat down once more, looking towards the rough seas. A part of her just wanted to jump in and swim towards nowhere, but the rarely used rational part of her told it wasn't a good idea.

"I think you're out here cause you got to meet someone," she told with a wink and laughed. "It's pretty awesome out here, isn't it?"

"Pft," Tshering replied, rolling her eyes. It was during these moments when she would usually light a cigarette and raise an eyebrow at people, but the lack of a pack of cigarettes or even a lighter with her made that possible, "evil scheme is so not part of my vocab. Don't you know that?

"I don't know anyone, so I don't have no one to meet," the Ravenclaw replied, barely caring, "and it's not 'awesome' out here; it's chilly."

"No my darling Tshering, I really didn't know that considering you are quite the mystery to me," Iris remarked with a smirk. "Makes me think what else isnlt a part of vocab." She got out a bottle of vodka and took a sip, finding it to be warm.

"So what are you doing here?" She questioned again. "Lack of sleep? That's the one for me," she replied. She couldn't help but laugh at the Ravenclaw's discomfort. "A little of cold won't do no harm Tshering."

"Am I such an enigma that no one knows anything of me?" Tshering asked, her tone a little teasing, "and I don't know what else is not part of my vocabulary, Gray. I'll only know when someone says some shit I hate or something."

Raising an eyebrow, the Tshering mimed putting a fag into her mouth, and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't sleep anymore, so I can't say I have a lack of sleep," she replied, rolling her eyes for no particular reason at all.

Iris shrugged and replied, "I don't know about others but to me you are a mystery." She chuckled at the Ravenclaw's response. "I'm guessing a lot of people pissed you off with shit? Cause trust me, I know how that feels like," she muttered.

"Turned into a vampire?" She asked wryly. "Sleep ain't that bad Tshering. What's got your knickers in a twist? And stop avoiding the question," she told bluntly. "I won't push you if you don't want to say." She drank some more of her vodka.

"Everyone always pisses me off," Tshering snapped, crossing her arms and covering her chest. She pressed her arms on her body so she could resist the tears. She wanted to tell someone she trusted... but did she trust Gray?

In a split second, she decided that she did. "Well, don't tell anyone I fell in love with a bastard," she snarled, "the boy in the party, yeah? Well, we've been snogging since summer and he fancies this other girl in his year and I love him." She cried, "I am so effing stupid!"

And the waves crashed onto the shore.

Iris looked at the Ravenclaw, in surprise and amusement. Reaching into her pocket, she got out another bottle of Firewhiskey and handed it to her friend. "Take it if you want. Looks like you need it anyway."

"Charles Prentiss, you mean?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "He seemed..nice, I guess," she shrugged. "You're not stupid, so stop saying that. Does he know you love him?"

As if by instinct, Tshering snatched the bottle of Firewhiskey in the midst of all her tears and downed most of it in one breath. It was a wonder that she didn't manage to choke on the fiery stuff, really.

"He knows," she whispered, "that's the worst part: he knows."

Iris stared at the Ravenclaw before shaking her head amusedly. "Slow down, will you? I don't think that's a good idea."

She sighed and said, "What's the big deal if he knows? And more importantly, what was his reaction?" She wondered if she should tell Tshering about the summer incident. "Want to hear something depressing that happened to me?" She asked with a humourless smile.

"Oh, who gives a fuck if I choke or whatever?" Tshering snapped, reaching around for another bottle, "don't they have an alcohol cupboard around here?"

Tshering frowned. "I don't want to talk about his reaction," she snarled, particularly because there was no reaction to speak of. He had reacted relatively calm, as if he knew before she told him. "Go on, Gray," she sighed, "I might as well do."

"I give a fuck actually," Iris said bluntly, looking at the Ravenclaw. "They don't have alcohol cupboards so that people like us don't die," she muttered.

"He acted like he didn't care, didn't he? All guys are pretty much good at doing that," she chuckled, though there was no humour in it. "Right, while you were busy falling in love, I was locked up in a cell for six months along with my twin sister." She took a deep breath before downing another shot of her vodka.

"Oh puh-lease," Tshering scoffed, "I doubt that one casualty is going to freak anyone out, especially when that casualty is someone as insignificant as I am."

"Oh, how would you know?" the angry Ravenclaw snarled, her eyes growing wide with fury, "you have a boyfriend who probably reciprocates your feelings. I've had a crush on like, four guys in the past two years. Oliver disappeared, I don't know what happened to one," - her throat seemed to fill with fluid as she thought of him - "one of them is dating the scariest person in Hogwarts and... well, Charles broke my heart."

"Six months?" Tshering echoed, a sly smile displayed across her lips, "that's an awful lot of bonding time, isn't it? And you have a twin sister? Who is she?"

"Shut the fuck up Tshering and stop saying shit about yourself," Iris growled. "But then again, you've always been a drama queen, huh?" She muttered.

She rolled her eyes and said, "That just shows you'll need to go through a lot till you find one that feels the same." Her tone softened and she sighed. "I don't know what to say Tshering, and even if I did, you would just ignore me outright. Just don't get yourself screwed cause of a guy, it's not worth it."

"Sure, getting tortured with a bunch of curses and spells, being starved and all is definitely bonding time," she commented sarcastically. "Her name's Kait and she goes here at Durmstrang actually," she replied with a smile. "But she's in the exchange program as well. We're not identical twins, by the way."

"Not always..." Tshering whispered, thinking about the days of her youth. She and Nat and Danielle... she wasn't dramatic back then, right? Show-offy, perhaps, but surely not dramatic...

"As much as I don't like to declare so, that sort of lifestyle doesn't suit me," Tshering mused, "I have learned that this year from going to social gatherings with constant sexual prompts around me that I am not made for fun flings. And I don't like to admit this either but I am emotionally weak." She shuddered at the thought.

"I see..." the Ravenclaw responded, her head nodding in approval, "what's she like?"

"Not always?" Iris repeated with a raised eyebrow. "What changed?"

She rolled her eyes at the Ravenclaw's statement and said, "I'm not asking you to screw every guy you see, Tshering. I wouldn't want you to go have fun flings either," she shrugged. "Really dangerous actually."

"She's like me," Iris replied and smirked almost fondly. "Maybe a bit more uncontrollable, but definitely the Grayson type."

Saddened, Tshering took a deep breath. "I don't like to talk about it," she half-snapped, half-growled, crossing her arms. The sheer thought of Nathalia - or was it Natalia - made the blood flow away from her face, leaving cold, sallow bone behind.

Grayson's words couldn't help but make the Ravenclaw ponder on them. "Have you had a fling before?" Tshering asked, an eyebrow arched, "or at least something close to it? You have no idea how exhilarating it can be sometimes..." She sighed, thinking of summer camp. They were blurrier now, but the flirtationships she had were still clear.

They were the ones that haunted her the most.

"Holy fuck," Tshering gasped, before her lips formed a smirk, "two Graysons running around the world? We all better lock ourselves in our homes before anything goes awry."

"You can't hide from the world forever Tshering," Iris remarked, though she herself as been trying to do the same. "But it works well, doesn't it?"

She chuckled humourlessly and shook her head. "I've done many things, including murder, but surprisingly, I've never had a fling." She admitted. "Exhilaration is exactly what leads to temptation," she stated. "Trust me on that."

Smirking back at the Ravenclaw, she shook her head slowly. "No, there are three Graysons actually. The third one is an older brother who is apparently a spy. How fun," she muttered.

"It works, Grayson," Tshering breathed, her gaze unmoved from the earth beneath her feet. Her tone denoted nostalgia, perhaps a pang of regret. "That's the best part about hiding. It works."

The Bhutanese-blooded girl began to laugh at the girl, but it was a hollow sound. "Oh my God, someone as physically appealing as you are has never had a fling before?" she asked, shaking her head, "that's a surprise."

Cocking her head to the side, the Ravenclaw shook her head. "Oh," Tshering muttered, "you've got to be fucking kidding me." She shook her head. "You're lying, right? You've got to be lying!"

No matter how much Iris wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to disagree with the Ravenclaw. Of course hiding works. No one cares about the truth anyway. "But how long are we going to hide, Tshering?" She murmured.

"I was never that great with boys, honestly," she told amusedly. "Almost every guy I've met, I've ended up beating the crap out of him for one reason or the other. And by the way, thanks for acknowledging my sexiness," she remarked and winked at her friend.

She couldn't help but laugh at Tshering's reaction. "Nope, not kidding or lying; it's true. I wish I was kidding though. And hey, is it so bad for three Graysons to be running around?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

The Ravenclaw stumbled mentally upon this question. "I don't know," she replied, suddenly emphasizing the 'know', "we can hide for as long as we want to." But how long did she want to hide? That was yet another question.

Tshering rolled her eyes, "Dammit, Grayson. I wonder how the hell you manage not to beat up your boyfriend after saying that!" She tittered, because finally, her future looked minutely brighter. "Your sexiness is under debate just because you said that!" she mused.

Talking about that made her feel like a normal teenager again, and that helps.

"Of course it is!" frowned the brunette, "do you think you'd like three assassins running across the world?" Tshering shook her head, crossing her arms. "Damn. I wish my family was that cool."

Iris looked at the girl for a moment before turning away once more. "Yeah, we can hide for so long that the disguises we place in front of people becomes so extreme that even we get fooled," she said and smiled humourlessly.

"That's because he hasn't done anything to piss me off Tshering," she said with a chuckle, as though it was the most obvious thing. "In fact, the boy is worried about me leaving and doing shit, not the other way around." She smirked, "No debating, I am sexy. Case closed."

"We are not assassins! Well, at least me and Kait are not," she replied, still grinning at the Ravenclaw's comment. "Besides, things didn't so great between me and him. I practically yelled at the guy for not finding us sooner and right now, I'm pretty sure he hates me," she sighed.

"I'm sure your family is just as cool, Tshering. You are a part of it, right?"