Dying on The Inside (Evalyn, openish)

[Natalie St. Clare]

There weren't a lot of people that Natalie could truly say she trusted. Because of her abilities, she knew too much about most people. She could see right into their hearts, whether she wanted to or not. There were a lot of people who seemed good, but deep down, their hearts were black. She trusted her father, of course, and Isabella and Voltaire. She liked Rori (though she wasn't sure about the older girl's boyfriend), and trusted Lily Evans and of course, she trusted Severus. Most people might have thought she was odd for trusting the Slytherin, but she could see such goodness in him, more than even he knew was there.

After talking to Eva, Natalie decided that this girl was also trustworthy. Most people wouldn't even think about the fact that a vision would cause her pain, but Eva did. Natalie found herself smiling softly.

"You're a nice person," she said. "I'd like to be friends."

[Evalyn Chambers]

"I--well, thanks," Eva replied. "I'd love to be friends." She smiled at the girl. She wondered what her life had been like, seeing into other people like that. Eva had enough trouble just with her own life; she shuddered to think what it would be like to have to know everybody else's, too. Talk about responsibility. The fact that people looked down at her for being different was wrong.

[Natalie St. Clare]

Natalie had talked with a lot of people; some of them were nicer than others. There was something about Evalyn that she liked.... even without the use of her power to sense the girl's emotions. She sort of reminded her of Sabrina in a way. She got the feeling that the older girl felt sort of protective of her, and she liked that.

"You remind me of my sister," she said, somewhat abruptly. "I think she would have liked you."

(Sorry so short)

[Evalyn Chambers]

"Oh, you have a sister? How old is she? Does she go here?" Eva asked, not catching the past tense "would have". Even if she had, she didn't know whether it meant anything or not.

Eva glanced out the window and realized it had stopped raining; it had gotten down to a sort of drizzle. The Ravenclaw common room, since it was on the west side of the castle, had a beautiful view of the mountains. She loved it. She had spent an hour at a time just staring out windows. Eva wouldn't do that now, though; that would be rude to her companion.

(That's all right. By the way, I was waiting for Remus in the other thread, think I should just respond?)

[Natalie St. Clare]

Natalie's expression grew sad. "Her name was Sabrina. She would have been a fourth year now," she said. "She died last year. I saw it happen in a vision, and I couldn't prevent it from happening."

Sometimes, Natalie could still feel Sabrina's presence, in the places she'd been and the things she'd touched. Occasionally, she even saw her, not as a ghost, but as a spirit watching over her. Her mother was there sometimes, too, but less often.

"She was pretty, with long blonde hair. I don't think I look much like her. I look like my dad, and she looked like my mother... she died, too. It's just me and my dad now."

[Evalyn Chambers]

Eva's heart broke. That was awful. She couldn't imagine not having her mom, or her little brother, for that matter. "Oh. I am so sorry," she murmured. Natalie had even known how Sabrina would die, and she hadn't been able to do anything about it. That would be even worse. "At least you still have your dad, though, right?" she added, though she didn't know whether this would be an encouragement or not.

Once again, Eva found herself discovering how easy her life had been compared to this girl's. She frowned as she considered how selfish she had been to take some things for granted. She was one of those people that wasn't exactly spoiled--she just usually got what she wanted, just because that was how it worked out. Evalyn decided she would start saying "thank you" more often.

[Natalie St. Clare]

Natalie thought that was the worst thing about her visions. She could take the headaches, the nightmares, the isolation from others, and people thinking she was "weird." But seeing horrible things happening to people--whether she cared about them or not--and not being able to stop them... that was the worst.

Not all Seers saw things as vividly as she did... sometimes they just saw vague visions leading up to certain events, but not the outcomes. Other Seers made predictions or prophesies. Natalie, however, saw her visions like a movie in her head, and she felt everything the person in the vision was feeling at the time, whether it was pain, fear, anger, or hate. This was why the visions were so crippling to her. It was like it was happening to her.

Professor Simple had explained that, as an Empath, she was not really seeing the person's future, she was seeing the emotional path the person was on. The only way the future could be changed was if the person's emotional path were changed... and that could ultimately only be changed by the person in question. In other words, they had to want to change. Being warned of a dire future usually wasn't enough to change a person, and so they would continue on the same destructive paths. That was what happened with Sabrina. She had become obsessed with the idea of avenging their mother's death, and nothing Natalie could do could get her to change her mind. So she came face-to-face with their mother's killer... and now she was gone.

"At least I have my Dad," she agreed, managing a light smile. "I almost lost him, too... I'm lucky that he's still here."

[Evalyn Chambers]

Eva had a curse that some people liked to call a very bubbly, outgoing attitude. The reason she thought of it as a curse was because whenever life turned serious, she always got bored of it too quickly, and didn't want to have to accept any bad thing in life. This outlook was probably what led her to change the subject. "Natalie, would you like to play some wizard's chess?"

She hoped the younger girl wouldn't take the change of topic as an insult; she had only good intentions. Maybe if Natalie just did something fun with someone for a change, she could block out all of those other visions and feelings of everyone else, at least for a little while.

[Natalie St. Clare]

Even as a small child, Natalie had never really been the type of girl to play and laugh. She had liked to play with dolls, but it was different from other girls. She mothered her dolls, taking care of them as seriously as if they were real children. And part of that was because she had projected her power onto them, giving each one real feelings and thoughts and identities. In fact, she still had the dolls, because she couldn't bear to abandon them when they felt so real to her, only she didn't bring them to school with her.

But regular games and things were not something Natalie was used to.. Not that she had anything against them... she just had difficulty concentrating. Still, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to try....

"I don't know how to play wizard's chess," she said. "My dad tried to teach me once, but I have trouble concentrating. I can try, though, if you help."