Into the maelstrom....

[severus-snape1.livejournal.com]

~The man who has introduced himself to Snape as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce strides purposely before him through the curling, chilled mists of Level One. The two men are of similar height and build, and if any were watching, they may have thought Snape to be a mere shadow of the first, except that Snape walks with his head down. But no one watches them; the shades here are as oblivious to their wanderings as Snape once was. They are too caught up in their own pain, whatever it was that lay just out of their grasp, to care about the two men who pass by. Price had tried to get others to join, but has given up.

Snape can't help but wonder why Pryce had had success rousing him from his own personal torment, but seems to have no luck with anyone else. He had been as oblivious of the other shades until Pryce had interrupted the visions that haunted him, and had motivated Snape to leave his window and try to find answers to the questions he had. It had been difficult at first, but now Snape finds it easy enough to avoid looking at the soft inviting glow that beckons to him from each window.

Pryce has been marking their progress with small strips of his clothes, which he ties to the outside of the houses that have things like porch railings, nails that aren't quite driven completely in, and so on. Snape prefers not to get that close to the windows and so digs a heel through the dirt on occasion instead. They have traveled this way, resting here and there, for what seems like weeks.

Yet now it seems like their persistence is about to pay off; the wind is beginning to pick up and blow the mists in little eddies, thinning it and, unfortunately, making it even colder. Snape lifts his head and sniffs the air. It smells faintly of ozone, as if there is a storm approaching.~

Do you smell that?

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[deadwesley1.livejournal.com]

The wind is picking up. This is new; this is good. Perhaps we're making progress.

*Wesley plunges ahead, determined to leave behind the pain of level one. He glances at Snape to see how he's faring. He sees tension in his eyes and wonders if he is also experiencing the slight pain behind the eyes, like a migraine.*