The temptation truly was real. Vera had found herself a spot in which to perch on the ground, directly facing the pendulum as she watched it swing back and forth... back and forth. How fun would it be to use that as a self swinging er... swing. Don't get her wrong, the swings from the climbing tree were excellent but this was a NEW location AND it appealed to her sense of sloth.

But how could she get up there? And was the pendulum really sturdy enough to hold onto? At least it wasn't fast enough to probably fling her off...

She cycled through all the different thoughts, reaching for her bag and pulling out a piece of chocolate as she did so - nomming on it while she considered to stare.

It was too bad she hadn't even noticed the ruins or the weird window yet.

Sailor had already stared at the pendulum before, as a first year, maybe second year. For research. It didn't do much other than its very obvious function of precise time interval and of keeping the clock tower running, and he had definitely taken notice of the imprints on its steel and iron surface. However, he hadn't cared enough to know what those runes and stars meant. He had wondered what would happen if the clock tower ever just ceased to work one day, all of a sudden. Would Hogwarts break down? Would it cause mass hysteria? Would they think it was the end of the world? Would the woodchuck chuck wood?

The Ravenclaw was on his way to the grounds to find something interesting and worthy of his time, after having spent way too long holed up in the castle going through the book, for probably the third time now, that Levi had gotten him for Christmas. Sailor didn't see what was wrong with it, but his parents in their last letter to him had insisted he go for a walk outside for fresh air and to 'touch some grass'. The latter was probably an affectionate joke, but jokes often flew over this fourth year's head. Grass was not interesting.

Sailor found his path blocked by one Vera Thanatos, whom he approached with a raised eyebrow. He swerved around while he kept his curious eyes on her, and paused behind the Gryffindor to follow her gaze. The pendulum. Of course. She looked concentrated. What a shame it would be if he bothered her. "Hypnosis." He offered, no context whatsoever.

Leave it to Sailor Zhang to observe something for the sake of what information could be gleaned from it, rather than the opportunities of fun. Even Vasco was not as text book of a Ravenclaw as his dorm mate.

She wasn't sure if it had been his intention to sneak up on her or if it had just been happenstance, but the lioness did not notice the approaching Eagle so the voice directly behind her certainly came as a surprise. One that was only met with the slightest of jumps seen visible in her shoulders as she leaaaaaned her head back to look up at who had joined her. As if she hadn't already known. There were few people she could think of that would greet her with simply a word that seemed entirely out of context. But that was probably as close as he could get to actually bothering her. Sorry Sailor, she was just better at being the bother-er than the bother-ee.

As for hypnosis? She wasn't sure if he was drawing a conclusion on what the point of the pendulum was for or if he was telling her he had a new experiment that he was trying and she just got picked as guinea pig. In case it was the second one though, she simply gave a small shrug. "I'm down - I've always wondered what it would be like to be hypnotized." And then as almost an after thought added. "But you can't make me do anything super weird." Where the line of 'weird' was was entirely unknown, considering Sailor had both already seen her schlep through Weasley swamp and she'd shared using slugs as part of her attempted beauty regime but... still, it would have been irresponsible to not add it.

Information is fun, Vera Thanatos, especially the interesting kind. That was Sailor's opinion, at least. Whatever is interesting is entirely subjective.

The Ravenclaw will take the shoulder-jumping shock, considering it was still a reaction which meant he had been successful, and so he allowed himself the faintest of smirks for a...job well done. Sailor would agree that she was the better botherer anyway, thinking that was basically embedded into Vera's being and she could not go on a day or so without bothering anyone. It just so happens that he was on the receiving end of it on some days.

Sailor had meant more of the first train of thought, that he was convinced that the pendulum was capable of hypnosis if someone looked at it too long and too intently. He momentarily raised an eyebrow at what Vera was saying, about being down for hypnosis. "Why would you want to be hypnotised?" The fifteen year old had to ask. He would never want to be. He didn't like giving people the control over him, no matter how temporary. But if Vera was so willing...hmm. He tucked this bit of information in his head somewhere. Maybe he'll bring this up with Levi and they could think of something interesting to do with such a willing test subject. Sailor was certain they could learn something about how the brain worked here.

For research, of course.

Had she been able to hear that thought, she would have vehemently disagreed with him. At least... in the context of the learning she assumed Sailor did. Did she sometimes enjoy a little bit of snooping and gossip? Absolutely. But random knowledge about the Goblin Rebellion? Pass.

She was fairly convinced bothering Ravenclaw's was one of her favorites. With perhaps the exception of one Gryffindor, though the nature of that had certainly changed as of late. So perhaps first place COULD go to the Eagles, namely her beloved twin and his dorm mate currently in front of her. Which was why he was a lucky recipient as often as she could. You're most welcome, Sailor [s]Moon[/i] Zhang.

His question was ridiculous to her. And her facial expression clearly showed she thought as much as she blinked at him. "Why wouldn't you want to be hypnotized?" Where Sailor liked knowledge, Vera liked experiences. Hypnosis was truly a very vulnerable position but she was certain he wasn't interested enough in anything she wouldn't want to share to be concerned about that. Instead, she just wanted to know what it felt like. If she'd remember anything after. If she'd be conscious of whatever she was asked to do without the ability to actually not do it. Didn't it sound fascinating? She supposed it also came with a certain level of trust she apparently had in Sailor, which was perhaps a mistake on her portion but... c'est la vie. "Is hypnosis why you're down here?" It didn't seem to be, which left her wondering what the Ravenclaw WAS up to.

And if she could crash his plans.