The Birdcage

To Be Wise

A/N: Alludes to suicide and murder. But that seems par for the course by now.

"Ugh, this sucks." Nyx groaned; laying her head back against the wall of the empty corridor. "Everyone is laughing at me."

"Well, you're one of the weird ones now. Welcome to the club." Perry said, quirking a smile. "Although no one knows what you were doing, so you can make it work if you're smart."

"Can I just hit them if they make fun of me?"

Perry chuckled. "Technically, I can't stop you. But it's best only to start fights you know you can finish."

"You think I couldn't?" Nyx asked, half-jokingly.

"I don't know, can you?"

She thought about it. "Depends on the fight."

"Very wise." Perry approved, hooking Nyx's arm through theirs as they began to walk slowly down the hall. "Beyond all else, always be wise."

Nyx chuckled. "How profound."

Perry shrugged. "It's good advice, in my experience."
There was a brief quiet between them. "So what were you doing scurrying about under a rosebushes?"

"Uh... Looking for clues..." Nyx said sheepishly.

Perry quirked an eyebrow. "Is this to do with the people jumping out of windows thing?"

"... Why would you think that?"

"You were asking about it at lunch, duh. It's kind of obvious. Why, have you found something out?"

"I don't know." Nyx said truthfully; chewing her lip as she weighed up how much she could trust this person. "I saw something- in a vision. You're not to tell anyone, got it? This stays between us unless I say otherwise. I don't need everyone weighing in an opinion on me 'seeing' things."

"Who am I going to tell? I'm weird, remember." Perry shrugged. "And I totally understand seeing things others don't; at least yours is magic, not a medical condition."

"They're visions of the past." Nyx said. "At least, as far as I know. The one's I've had before were."

"And you saw someone jump?"

"I saw someone fall. I don't know what happened. But I was in Doctor Montgomery's office when I saw it, so I went to explore under his window- that's where the rosebushes are. What I found was a stone slab- like a gravestone, or a memorial. There was writing on it; most was worn away or covered in dirt, but I managed to see what I believe were the words 'memory' and 'Bernice'." Once she'd gotten going, she found Perry was surprisingly easy to talk to; listening and encouraging sincerely as she explained. "That would be 'In memory of Bernice' or something similar, wouldn't it?"

"Hmm..." Perry thought about it. "Well, I don't know of a Bernice, but that doesn't mean there wasn't one. There are ways to find out."

"Records room?" Nyx sighed.

Perry smiled slyly. "There may be other avenues worth exploring first, before you go about breaking and entering."

"Wiser avenues?" Nyx asked pointedly.

"Now you're getting it." Perry chuckled. "Come on, Blackberry girl, let's go to art."

"Blackberry girl?"

"It's the taste of your name, and I decided I like it. Pair that with your evident fancy for brambles..."

"It was a rosebush." Nyx said, elbowing Perry playfully in the side.

"Maybe I should just call you thorns instead, because of all these sharp edges." Perry laughed, elbowing her back. "Come on, let's go, before they scold us for rough-housing, or lolly-gagging, or existing in too close of a proximity to each other, or something equally as ridiculous."

Nyx snorted with laughter; covering her mouth as the sound echoed down the corridor.

"Chin up, don't let them get to you. Otherwise they win." Perry said to her as they approached the door of the art room. "Embrace the weird. Oh, and another thing; maybe don't tell Ronnie about your visions and all of it quite yet? She's lovely, but she can't keep a secret to save her life. That, and we really don't need her freaking out more about monsters."

I don't know if this chapter actually seems redundant in the end as it brings little to no new plot information, but I got inspired and like the interaction.

Tell me what you think! :)