Valkyrie was tired. Very, very tired. The sun was burning through her clothes as she walked around in a completely foreign place; the maze. She wore completely normal clothes. Or that would say, normal to her. Others would call it weird. She wouldn't care. She sighed and pushed the huge rose in her hair out of her eyes and back where it belonged. The skull hanging around her neck glinted in the sunlight.

She sighed and saw a bench. About time. She walked over and sat down on it, stretching her legs. This was no fun. What was happening to her was no fun. She felt like falling down and sleeping, and probably would have if people weren't sending her looks all the time, whispering among themselves. Some had come up and asked for an autograph, but luckily there seemed to be few people in the maze this early in the morning.

Val leaned back and her thoughts drifted to Anscom. Out with a girl. She shouldn't care. She never had, why now? She'd always been one of the people who pushed him to date others, but now that it was happening... Well, she didn't like it. And she certainly didn't like that she didn't like it. Confusing. Well, honey, love often is, a small voice piped in her head, and she was about to nod when she raised an eyebrow. Okay, she might be a bit ... something, but she certainly didn't love him. Definitely not.

She felt anger boil in her as the small voice tried to tell her otherwise. She got up from the bench and moved quickly, trying to get the rage out of her system. She was so annoyed that she didn't really see where she was going, which was not a good thing when walking in a maze. She didn't notice anything before she crashed into something and fell onto the ground. She yelped in surprise and looked up, noticing it was a someone.

Parker's body still ached from the events of the previous week. He was so, so tired but he could not stand it to stay still for any too long a time. He felt constantly on edge, even more paranoid, bust most of all numb. Despite everyone telling him he needed to stay in, not go out cause it could be dangerous, he left. He aparated to the maze, a place he'd visited before, and was able to feel honestly very peaceful. Just able to wonder and think. As he walked in, he brushed the hair out of his eyes with his hand and then moved his hand down his neck over several bandages from still healing cuts. They'd have been healed by now if it wasn't for all the sand that had gotten into them. They still felt constantly irritated but he had to let muggle healing methods take their course.

He lowered his head and closed his eyes as he made his way deeper into the maze, using sensitive magive to guide him. A calming and controlling exercise he hadn't been doing much of at all the past year. Him and Pyxis had hardly talked since they got out of the hospital. She didn't seem to want anything to do with him after he screamed at her. And a part of him was still actually angry at her. Why would she put others in danger for him. He didn't get it. He didn't get her.

And now instead of coming back with an apology or fiery anger, she was off hanging out with some guy he'd never even seen before. He didn't like it, but it was a different sort of feeling he couldn't be bothered to try to figure out. He just needed to get back into his right mind for when school started, he had a job to do. One more year after this and he could just leave and never have to worry about this. well, again. Wouldn't be the first time running from this school.

He sighed, his concentration broken as he was walked into. His eyes snapped open and he stumbled back a bit. Looking down he was that the woman who'd bumped into him had fallen to the ground. Why did he always do this, running into and knocking people over. He knelt over to help her up, "I'm so sorry about that, wasn't paying attention. Hope I didn't dirty your clothes..." he asked, concerned. It certainly was an interesting ensemble with all her accessories and such, it'd be a shame to have ruined it.

Valkyrie looked up at the guy standing there and took his hand when he offered it. She got up on her feet and gave him a soft smile. "Don't worry. I wouldn't walk around in things that couldn't take a bit of dirt. That's just senseless," she said with a grin. She was very glad that he hadn't recognized her. He clearly wasn't a fan. And she was really happy about that. She immediately wanted to talk with him because of that.

"I'm Valkyrie," she said kindly, reaching out a hand for him to shake. She then remembered how annoyed and tired she really was, but now she'd laid the egg. Besides, talking to someone she didn't know might actually be a good thing this time around. Maybe he'd even understand her dilemma. She sure as hell didn't. All she knew was that she was seriously dreading to see all the pictures in Witch Weekly of Anscom walking around with a girl looking superhappy.

And then and there, Val was that close to punching herself. Shouldn't she be happy for Anscom? Yes, she should. Why wasn't she? She was not going to find out about that. Not now, not ever. Even though she was pretty sure why. She had known feelings like these before. Like when Jaycie and Cae are together. She seems invisible to him. And that's no fun. He's her best friend. Val sighed and looked at the guy.

Parker gave a small smile in return as he easily helped her to her feet. "Take a bit of dirt? They look so fancy though..." he said trailing off. He could hardly even afford a good set of robes, he couldn't imagine having enough money to casually wear such nice things out. It might not have even been as expensive as Parker thought of it, but it was still way beyond anything he was usually exposed to. it suddenly made him feel very inadequate. He let out a short, nervous laugh, directed at himself. Why did he always compare himself ot other people..?

He glanced at her hand, hesitating slightly before reaching out his and shaking hers. Even her name was all...unique. "Parker." Boring, old, uninteresting Parker. Dusty muggle jacket, worn down shoes and all. That coupled with his usually not very good attitude it was no wonder he didn't have any friends outside some from school. even then he felt cut off from them.

He especially felt cut of from Pyxis, and it was starting to hurt a little bit. But he only had himself to blame for that. Parker sighed and looked at her, realizing they sighed at the same time.He gave another small smile. "Well, sorry for interrupting your walk. I wasn't paying any attention since not many people, if any, come out here."

Valkyrie laughed at his expression. Sure, the clothes were a tad expensive, but her profession didn't render her poor. But she had a feeling it wouldn't be a good thing to brag about the fact that she could just go to her personal cleaner for help. She was pretty sure that by the looks of his face, he thought he'd really messed up something. "Don't worry, it wasn't expensive. Besides, it's just dust. I'm sure it'll easily be brushed off," she said with a kind smile.

Val smiled to him when he gave her his name. "Parker. I like that name. It reminds me of Spider-man," she said happily. Then she figured that he might not be muggleborn and that he wouldn't know what the movie was. "Oh, that's a mugglemovie about a superhero," she explained quickly. She honestly thought it was really nice to meet a person who didn't know who she was. And she felt like it wasn't right to go by the name Valkyrie then.

"Eh, but I have to say, Valkyrie is my stage name. I'm a singer, so, yeah. My real name is Matilda," she admitted.

She listened to when he excused himself again and she shook her head. "Don't worry about it. Honestly. You have no idea of how many times I've stumbled into people as well. It's equally as much my own fault as yours. I mean, I wasn't watching where I was going either," she said with a big smile.

She then looked around. "Yeah, it's kinda quiet around here. I suppose that's why I chose to walk here. Thinking time and all," she said. She had noticed his sigh earlier when she had sighed and she wondered if it would be too personal to ask him why he was walking around here, but she honestly wanted to get a new friend. She needed a new friend.

"So, what brings you here? Thinking, you too?" she asked in a healthy curious manner, but not being overly curious as to hear what he had to say about him being here.

Parker looked a bit more relieved when she told him not to worry about it, that it was just dust. He nodded, running a hand through his hair, scratching the back of his neck, "Yeah, that's true." He smiled a little bit, at how down to earth she seemed? Most girls that dressed like that, he assumed would freak out even walking through this maze, letting alone getting their fancy and expensive (he didn't care what she said it was expensive for him) outfits dirty.

His hand still resting on the back of his neck, Parker's face seemed to light up as he drew his eyes to the floor feeling a bit embarrassed as she compared his name to Spiderman. He'd gotten that before when he was younger, but it was from the other kids in his old neighborhood who were teasing him. It was never meant as a compliment before and it caught him off guard. Actually, he wasn't used to getting complimented at all, so just that fact had him all flustered. When she started to explain, he let out a small laugh, bringing his eyes to her, though his head was still lowered slightly. "Wow, uhm, thanks, yeah, I know. Peter Parker. I've heard that before.." He said, well, kind of blurt out, any ability to form a sentence had apparently left him.

He lowered his hand from his neck, putting both hands into the pockets of his old too- big coat, one he remembered was his fathers who was a bigger man then he was. When she confessed what her real name was, that Valkyrie was a stage name, Parker tilted his head to the side ever so slightly. "Oh, a singer?" He then smiled a little. "Well, Matilda is just as nice a name." Parker never understood performers, using other names, wearing costumes, seemingly hiding themselves form a public they so readily put themselves out in. And a thought suddenly struck him, might she have been famous? Her clothes might speak that, but not her personality. (though when the only time he really dealt with celebrities was when they were injured, he couldn't really be a good judge of what a normal celebrity personality was.)

He smiled and nodded when she said it was equally her fault. "It takes two, I suppose." He nodded with her when she explained needing thinking time. He chewed on his lip when she asked what brought him there. "Yeah...same. I come here quite a bit actually. It help when I need a quite place to meditate." Something he felt like he hadn't done in ages and it was really taking a toll on him.

Valkyrie smiled at him, happy to have someone to talk to that seemed pretty decent. He was very down to earth, something she was happy about, because he was very handsome, and handsome guys usually know they're handsome and uses it. That's just annoying. One thing Val did notice, though, was that by the way he was scratching his neck and stuff and being a tad shy, not really knowing what to say, it seemed like he wanted to vanish underneath the earth. She'd have to change that.

And then he flushed. Val didn't smile or laugh at him. It was okay to get a bit flustered by compliments. He didn't seem to know what to say to her compliment, and she was about to save him from having to say anything by changing the subject when he blurted it out. She then beamed at him. "You know the movies then?" she asked happily. It would've been embarrassing if she was just standing there, talking gibberish and he didn't understand a shit.

Val nodded. "Yeah, I'm vocal for the Wicked Wizards. Don't know if you've heard of us, though, I must say without meaning to brag, we are pretty famous," she said with a big grin; she still wasn't used to people screaming her name. But she didn't know what it was, but something about him just told her that he didn't listen to a whole lot of music, be it because he didn't like it or because he didn't have time, she didn't know. She shrugged. "Yeah, I don't really like it at all. But it's okay. I went with Valkyrie because I've got a sick obsession with Norse Mythology," she said innocently, "But people usually just call me Val."

She was glad when he admitted that it would have to take two. "You know it. You can't bump into something without something bumping into you. Other than walls and stuff, but if you bump into a wall, you don't really have much to apologize to, other than being annoyed at yourself and in pain," Val rambled senselessly. She liked to ramble, though she did keep it at a minimum so she wouldn't annoy other people. That was no fun. They left her on her own then.

Val smiled at Parker. "Yeah, it's a good place to think, though I must say I've never really tried meditating since I was a student at Hogwarts myself," she admitted. She then looked around. "When you meditate, can you walk around with your eyes closed?" she asked curiously.

After calming himself down a bit and being able to find his words after getting flustered at the compliment, he smiled back at her." Yeah. Yeah, I do. I'm, uh, muggleborn so... no need to worry about references like that." he said, so she'd not have to worry about explaining anything like she tried to.

Parker nodded and gave an impressed sounding 'oh', though he really didn't know them. It sounded familiar but he wasn't really one for music nor was he in touch with all that celebrity crap. The whole idea of paparazzi freak him out, what a gross invasion of privacy. It would freak him out if he had to always worry about being followed around. Well, he did have to worry at the moment, but under far different circumstances and with people that most likely wanted to keep out of the news. "That's great though, takes a lot to get recognized nowadays."

"Well, while I don't get the whole stage name thing, it's nice. Can't go wrong with Norse Myths can you?" He shrugged, giving a small smile as he turned a little to look down the path he had been walking. "Want to keep walking?" He asked, taking a few small steps as she started to ramble. He smiled to himself, very willing to listen. Listening was something he was very good at and he didn't mind rambling or ranting at all.

When she mentioned having gone to Hogwarts he glanced at her. "Oh, did you? When did you graduate." As he was starting to get on his his years (damn, just thinking like that made him feel so old) it was strange to think there were people out there that he'd not been at Hogwarts with. Granted as of now it was just the 18 to 20 year olds, but still.

When she asked about the meditation, Parker nodded a little. "Uhm, yeah. I've been doing meditation for a long time. Uhm, and I've started to learn how to...well, project my magic, kind of like a bat sonar, to sort of sense my surroundings." he then smiled to himself."You can...feel everything around you, and it's a great feeling, actually."

Valkyrie beamed at him. She could see that compliments was not very normal for him. He seemed all too flustered to have heard too many compliments in his life. Which Val found to be weird. He seemed like a pretty nice guy, not to mention that he was pretty good-looking, there was no denying that. But Val had a feeling that he was not aware of this fact. "Really?" she said happily, "I am a muggleborn too!"

Sure, she knew a bunch of muggleborns, but most of them tried to act like purebloods, and it was driving Val mad. She really hoped Parker was nothing like them. She then grinned at him. "Not many does understand. But I guess it is just my way of keeping up with my privacy. With paparazzi and the like hanging about, the stage name is like my only way of keeping a separate line between me and the stage. I think it keeps me from walking the same path as many other singers and stuff. Though that might just be me," she added thoughtfully, wondering whether or not she even made sense.

She nodded and started walking along side him, twists and turns everywhere. She liked the maze a lot. It was so ... messy. And it made her relate it to her own life. "I am 23 years old, so, six years ... Holy Merlin! Has it already been that long?" she said, stopping dead for a second and then laughed before she continued walking. "Wow, time really is not on your side," she mumbled surprised.

Val looked at him in awe, and hoped he noticed it. Being able to meditate is a very hard feat. Especially at that level. She sighed. "I wish I could do that, but I seem to lack the concentration. It must be very relaxing though. And I am sure it would help my nerves when I walk onto the stage," she said with a even bigger sigh. Nerves... They always felt like they could kill her.

She grinned up at him. "What is your profession then, Parker?" she asked him.