JADE'S WRITING
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Needed somewhere to put the writing I come up with here, didn't I, hmm? This is just going to be the place I store any extra writing I do for this site which I will definitely have as time goes on. Literally anything could end up here honestly, but most of it probably be trashy bits of writing that are just too long for people to need to bother with. However, since it looks like I'm pretty much over here now I might as well use this opportunity to go back to basics. It says "writing" on the tin, so I might as well try a few things that aren't just oneshots... right? What the hell, I might try poetry. Or even first person. Either way, here's a thread I hope you guys enjoy, and remember, please, don't post here messes with my brain. If you want to comment on something, leave a comment over [here]. Enjoy!
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Miscellaneous Oneshots
No Place Like London
Iron and Salt Water
Bluetooths Off
Snowdrifts + Puffy Coats
Get Off My Couch
A Fork In the Road
Fanfiction
Campfire Chaos (Thrilling Intent)
another theoretical fanfiction
a slightly more metaphysical fanfiction
Experimental Writings
a study of nothingness
a blank, white page
a slightly more metamagical experiment
[color=transparent]© jade
[shadow=white,left]gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society[/shadow]
advanced -- link hub -- wow
[shadow=white,left]at night a candle's brighter than the sun[/shadow]
NO PLACE LIKE LONDON
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SEPTEMBER 9TH, 2009 -- MARIE STARK & IAGO RICHELIEU -- THE WIZARDING WORLD -- 3702 WORDS London. Views and opinions on the large, English city vary from person to person, usually depending on a person's personal experience in the city. After all, it wasn't what one would call one of the most pleasant of places. Full to the brim with people of all walks of life, different backgrounds. It was because of the diversity and generally high population of both wizards and muggles that Marie had decided to settle in this city. Not that she was still in the wizarding community. Not at all. But still... for some reason still living within a ten minute drive from King's Cross and other wizarding locations was just... oddly comforting. The familiarity wasn't something she was quite sure she was ready to abandon quite yet.
The thought almost made her pause. It showed her how much college had changed her mindset. God, when she'd been in Hogwarts, the thought of staying in England for the rest of her days would have sounded like torture, with all the things in the world there were to discover. But now... now she just wanted to be safe. Which for Marie, meant working a steady, respectable job as an English teacher somewhere. Which is exactly what she was now. Working a job as an English teacher, keeping out of the way. Living alone in a small flat. However, it didn't mean she was ever alone in her flat, really. Usually there was someone dropping by, an old college buddy stealing her couch for a few nights or something like that. Or one of her elderly neighbors stopping by to have a cup of tea. Or a relative of some kind staying the night -- she was the only one in her family to be living in the city for the moment. She was typically obliged to be the housing for any Blackpoolian family member that was in town for whatever reason. With a combination of these things, rarely was her little flat lonely.
That didn't stop her from being stressed beyond anything she'd thought possible right now. It was a little after four o'clock, and the brunette had finally escaped the confines of her first day working at the school of teenagers. To say she'd gotten a bit of a culture shock was an understatement. Marie had been hoping for a calm, predictable class of students, but with her luck it had definitely not worked out that way. In some strange twist of the school system, she'd managed to get the rowdiest kids in her class. It had taken her quite a bit of time to get them quiet in the first place, and after that she'd practically had to trick them into focusing on what she was saying.
Her thoughts were rather conflicted, which potentially made it even harder on her. She wanted a peaceful job, hell, she needed one, after what she had been through. It had been why she'd gone to university, getting a degree in English education. But the problem was, it wasn't exactly what she'd made it out to be in her head. There were some times where she'd felt like she'd been dropped in a war zone by the class she had. Which wasn't exactly good when you were looking for peace. Or am I?
After all, it wouldn't be too unlikely that maybe she'd somehow, subconsciously, gotten herself into this predicament. Maybe she'd ignored her advisors and professors when they told her teaching wouldn't be easy. Maybe it isn't easy for some, but I know what I'm doing. Her words sounded pretty big-headed now that she looked back. Her confidence had gotten in her way... and her adventurous spirit. It was going to be the death of her, God, she knew it. But just like her magic, it was hidden away in some corner within her subconscious. So far hidden that even she couldn't find it anymore.
Thoughts swirling around her head, she wasn't paying attention to the direction she was going. Her general goal was to get herself to her flat, probably to lie down on her couch and make a cup of tea for herself. Maybe watch a soap on the telly, who knows. Just because that was her intention, it didn't actually mean that was the true direction she was going. After all, she'd only moved to London a few months ago from her dorm in Westchester.
The direction she was really walking was toward Diagon Alley. It was a pretty long walk from her flat; she usually would go there on her motorcycle if she planned on going there. Why walk for an hour when you could get there on your motorcycle in 5 minutes? She was still dressed in her clothing for teaching. She wore a navy and with a simple white lace collar. It was this along with a pair of white lace converse she had on and a black backpack, she honestly looked like your typical schoolteacher. This became even more obvious when she was holding a folder of papers in her arms. However, her hair was slightly messier than it had been indoors from walking outside. It was a combination of walking for about 30 minutes at a quick pace and not particularly paying attention to where she was going that managed to make her run straight into someone.
She'd actually run into him with a decent amount of force, enough to send both her, the folder of papers, and the guy she'd run into flying. The brunette woman was pushed backward, landing on the concrete, only just catching herself before she hit the ground. The man she'd run into had been slightly luckier, grabbing onto a parking meter before he could make contact with the ground. The moment she'd actually run into someone, that was the moment she'd snapped back to her senses.
Immediately, alarm and embarrassment kicked in, though mostly worry for whoever she'd accidently body-slammed. The person she'd run into looked equally as startled as she did, if not more so. He looked like he was probably somewhere in his mid-forties, his brown hair starting to slowly turn silver around the top. He was wearing a navy suit with a white shirt underneath it. Her first thought was businessman, probably with a paycheck a lot bigger than her teaching salary. Not that any of that mattered; he was hanging onto a parking meter like his life depended on it right now.
He'd been carrying a bag, which had fallen to the ground just like her folder. She couldn't actually see what was in it, but she could tell it wasn't just typical groceries. But she was far too flustered to question it right now. Her brown eyes were wide as she looked at him, concern since she had just knocked the man over. "Oh my stars, I'm so sorry! Are you okay, sir? I need to pay more attention where I'm going. I-I didn't see you...-" her voice faded off, sounding almost slightly shaky. She'd had one hell of a day, and the fact she actually run into someone potentially made it even worse.
The man pulled himself up with the parking meter, and for a moment he looked properly angry with her. She wouldn't blame him for that if he was... but it only took a few seconds for that to melt away. Almost to where she didn't know if had been her imagination or not. After all, his eyebrows were rather angry-looking. There was a small pause before he actually spoke, as if he was trying to figure out what he was supposed to say. "It's fine, there's no harm done. I wasn't paying much attention where I was going either, actually," he stated, sounding slightly resigned. First he grabbed the handles of the bag he'd dropped, straightening it and moving it behind him before he moved over to her. He stood over her, holding out a hand to help her up. "Need a hand?" Polite concern was in his light blue gaze.
She exhaled, reaching out to take his hand, though she froze as she saw her own hand. She apparently hadn't gotten out of the fall completely unscathed. The palms of her hands were scratched where the flesh of her hands had made contact with the concrete. She hadn't felt it until now. But as soon as she did, she retracted her hand, waving off the man. "No, ah, it's fine. I can get up on my own," she stated, using her unscathed fingertips to push herself to her feet slowly. The man stepped back a pace, the polite concern still in his gaze. His hand was still hovering near her, in the way someone would when they thought the person in question might fall over. Do I really look that bad? Apparently she did. "Are you sure you are okay? You're bleeding," he asked, his eyes focused on the small brunette woman.
She glanced at her hands, staring at them for a few long moments. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just been a long day. I should just... get home." The silver-haired man nodded in agreement, before bending down and picking up the bag he'd been carrying in addition to Marie's folder, having to step on a paper that was trying to make a break for it out of its confines. However, he didn't hand it to her immediately, asking a question first.
"How far are you from your flat? I could walk you there," he stated, the man's Scottish voice edging on almost genuine concern for the stranger. She could tell from the look in his gaze. Marie almost wanted to accept to offer, but she'd already had caused this man much more trouble than she should have. After all, she'd run into him. She was lucky she wasn't getting yelled at or something worse right now. She took her folder and the paper from his hand, wincing slightly as the plastic surface made contact with her raw palm.
"I think I've caused you enough trouble without having you going out of your way and leading me back to my flat. You've probably got stuff to do...-" she watched as he shifted the weight of the bag he was holding, as if momentarily considering this. He was looking at her carefully, debating if he could actually leave the woman alone to get herself home. From the look in his blue eyes, the answer to that question was clearly a "no."
"How far are you from your flat?" he repeated, causing Marie sigh, glancing around their surroundings. It actually took her a second, because usually she just passed this area on her motorcycle without giving it a second glance. It took her looking a street sign to figure out her location. She hadn't gotten as far as she thought... she'd been going in circles. "A few blocks away... the building across from Shoreditch Secondary," she responded softly. He glanced over her shoulder in the direction, frowning slightly at the distance it was. Well, he’d already committed to bringing her home, despite the fact he had many other things he needed to be doing right now.
Iago Richelieu, after all, was a busy man. He had to pick up some supplies for his transfiguration class, and he was to basically walk immediately back to the school. However, he had gotten slightly distracted. It had been quite a while since he had last been in London, so mild curiosity had lead him to wandering a bit deeper into the city than he had previously planned. This had resulted in him running straight into the brunette.
From her outfit and generally the way she talked, Iago immediately assumed she was merely a muggle. After all, why would a wizard really be in this part of town, other than if they were just wandering aimlessly like he was? But, witch or muggle, he could tell the woman was having one hell of day. She looked only a few steps away from pulling her own hair out, and for some reason the silver-haired man sympathized with that. Which is why he actually found himself offering to lead her home. Probably not the wisest idea, but for some reason he felt like the woman needed at least one small kindness today.
"It shouldn't be any trouble. Only a couple minutes to get you back to your flat, and you look as if...-" he paused, about half-way though that statement realizing he was probably overstepping his boundaries with this perfect stranger. After all, he wouldn't want a person inquiring on the state of his well-being right after having a particularly unpleasant day. The only person on the planet who got away with that was Nydia Mastowski, and that had only been after he had known the woman for years. Not to mention she wasn't particularly the type to bother.
He'd already had asked her is she was okay. Even offered to walk her home, God knows why. The woman in front of him tilted her head, just slightly. Her eyebrows were raised, and somehow he knew he wasn't escaping that slip up without her saying something, "I look as if-... what? If you were going to say been through a tough day or something... well, you wouldn't be wrong. Part of being an English teacher," she responded, her voice surprisingly calm. He was looking for traces of sarcasm, but was mildly surprised to find not a single trace of it. I've been spending too much time around Nydia. Then what she said registered. Teacher? Well, she did say she lived next to a school.
"I understand the pains of teaching teenagers. I think we might share similar occupations," he inquired, the ghost of a smile touching his face. It had been quite a while since he'd smiled. He almost thought he'd forgotten how to. She glanced up at him, her eyes focusing on him for a moment instead of the ground. She'd hidden her hand away in her pocket as they started off in the direction she had indicated.
"Education? You teach at Shoreditch?" she asked, causing one of his bushy eyebrows to rise slightly, before he shook his slowing in response. She spoke again, waving her uninjured hand dismissively. They turned the corner, walking onto a less crowded street. "It was a long shot. I still don't know half the staff that works there. Well, if don't work at the Secondary school, where do you work?"
He didn't actually have time to formulate an intelligent and logical lie to respond to that particular question. Just as the question was posed, he saw something out of the corner of his eye flying toward him at an alarmingly fast pace. With everything the man had been through over his life, especially as now he became a more known figure in the wizarding world, it meant there would be more attempts on his life. Especially walking down a street in the middle of London.
Instincts kicked in, and faster than one would have thought possible, his wand was out and he was casting a spell to counter whatever was coming at him. A shield charm burst from his wand, the spell cascading in front of him to protect himself from whatever was being thrown his way. It was actually quite a dramatic sight, the silver-haired wizard casting the powerful blue-white protection spell. But he was a millisecond too late in casting it. He was hit in the shoulder with it... a black and white football. The football in question bounced off, hitting the other side of the shield charm before rolling onto the concrete sidewalk.
The charm dissipated instantly, an embarrassed look in the man's gaze as he stared at the football, which was rolling slowly into the gutter. He had just attempted to protect himself from a football flying at him, something which hadn't even worked because he'd been a bit too slow on the draw. He'd just preformed magic in broad daylight, on a muggle street, and in front of...-oh fuck no.
"Oh my stars." the brunette woman mumbled under her breath, her eyes on Iago. The anxiety that previously been in her brown eyes had increased tenfold mixed with shock. It had been empathy that had lead him to wanting to assist her in the first place. God knows he had some rough days in his life, and he had sensed the woman was going through something similar. Also, the draw to actually help someone, without any self-serving motive had also lead him offering to walk her home. But he should have know it wasn't going to be that simple. Now he had to clean up the mess he had made. Fuck.
He gripped his wand a little tighter in his hand, setting the bag slowly on the ground next to him. He knew what he needed to do. It was his fault this had happened, not hers, but it wasn't like he had a choice in the matter. She would be much better off not knowing about the magical world. There would be too many things that could go wrong in result of this. Besides, she was only a muggle that he'd never even see again. But for some reason he found himself staring into those shocked brown eyes of hers. And as he took a step forward, his wand in hand, she took at step back. "Don't you even think about it! Whatever you're thinking about doing... don't." She was standing in a defensive position, her hand was out, held up to keep him back. It was the hand that was bleeding, she'd forgotten. The other was reaching behind her, gently touching the lamppost that was behind her.
He looked past her, both checking to make sure no one else was walking up the street, and tearing his gaze away from hers. This is what I get for trying to help someone for once. Fuck. He looked at her again, though this time he wasn't meeting her gaze. The professor's eyes were stormy, which alone was enough to make her take another step back. She wasn't taking her eyes off him, not yet. It was as if she thought she could stop whatever he planned on doing. It was too late for that already, there wasn't any force on Earth that could slow this man to a stop. Not right now, at least. His wand was already raised slightly at his side. "I'm sorry." He was moving forward now, toward the stranger. Her protests came onto deaf ears, ignoring her words as he focused on the spell he was about to preform. He needed to be precise, as to not remove anything of importance. All the memories involving me.
"No, no, no you don't understand...- wait!" She started to back up more quickly, glancing quickly from side to side as she looked for an escape, like a cornered rabbit. It was just as she took a step to move out of the way that Iago cast the spell, flicking his wand.
"Obliviate."
She froze before his eyes, the emotion-filled brown eyes going completely blank as soon as the spell made contact with her. He slipped his wand into his pocket, making sure they didn't have a repeat of the same incident. Especially since there were cars now moving down the street. It gave him an idea, but first he had to make sure the woman didn't fall over. After the spell, it seemed, her knees weakened, causing the woman to sway a bit where she stood. The professor moved over to her, grabbing her arm to prevent her from making contact with the concrete a second time today. She was leaning into him for support, which wasn't too surprising. Memory charms usually were quite a bit disorienting, especially when they were preformed for the first time, like in this case.
One arm supporting the stranger, his eyes scanned the streets. Thankfully, it was only a few seconds until he spotted what he was searching for. A taxi. Before making sure she wasn't going to fall over, he moved to the edge of the street, flagging the vehicle down. He opened the taxi door with his free hand, gently helping the woman into the cab before shutting the door. The driver opened the window, giving Iago a suspicious raised eyebrow. Before the driver could say anything, Iago held a 100 pound note through the window.
"She had... one too many drinks at the pub. When she wakes up, take her wherever she wants to go, understand?" The driver nodded vigorously, snatching the money from Iago's hand. Satisfied, Iago took a few steps back, watching as the driver rolled up the window and began moving down the street. Problem solved. Despite the fact that wasn't real money. There were some perks that came with being the transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts.
As the taxi drove away with the woman, a thought occurred to him. It was enough to actually push away many of his misgivings about the woman. Where the fuck had the football come from? Probably some kids. Some muggle kids. He glanced around his surroundings, looking for signs of life around him. But the street was empty, except for the occasional passing car and stray cat. No one who looked like they might be the owner of a stray football. Feeling a small chill moving up his spine, for some reason he had a feeling that there might be something more to this story than just a stray ball and a anxious stranger.
Who threw the ball? The question haunted him, enough the where he picked up more than just his bag of supplies as he prepared to leave. The silver-haired man also knelt down, fishing the football out of the gutter and brushing a crimson leaf off of it as he stood. He glanced around one last time, before picking up his bag with his free hand and walking down the street again as he been. But this time, the next time he turned the corner, he was gone. Disappearing like the original owner of the football.
SHE WAS HIS REASON AND HIS LIFE AND SHE WAS BEAUTIFUL
AND SHE WAS VIRTUOUS AND HE WAS NAIVE
[div style=" width: 500px; height:30px; background-image:url(http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lywsg6...o1_500.gif); background-position: bottom;"][color=transparent]© jade
[shadow=white,left]gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society[/shadow]
advanced -- link hub -- wow
[shadow=white,left]at night a candle's brighter than the sun[/shadow]
IRON AND SALT WATER
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MARCH 20TH, 1789 -- ASHTAROTH AND ORION -- THE SUPERNATURAL UNIVERSE -- 3331 WORDS It was a cloudy night over Toulon, France. It had rained only a few hours ago, but as the night had gone on the clouds slowly lost it's desire to look as ominous and threatening as they had earlier. It was as if after raining for a little while, the sky had lost the will to rain with the fervor it had before. The best way to describe it was just... weary. It definitely matched the sad-looking building underneath it. It was for the most part, silent. Birds and other wildlife had vacated the area at the violence and noise created by the humans during the day, which left an almost eerie silence come nightfall. Not that there weren't some humans who still insisted on making noise even as the night progressed.
"Obtenir dans votre cellulaire, 12666." To your cell, 12666. The words were spoken to a pale, currently sopping wet individual. Honestly, just looking at the state of the man was just depressing. It was like looking at a cat that had just had a bucket of water dumped on it. The white shirt and red vest he wore stuck to his body, covered in a thin layer of dirt. The yellow prison pants were stained many shades darker with mud. A mop of knotted black hair was partially covering his face, but it was hard to miss the very alert blue eyes that peered out from the hair. Honestly, the bedraggled being standing in front of this guard was nearly unrecognizable as the scholar Valentin Petit, and even less so as the demon Ashtaroth.
He stood as still as a statue, staring the guard down in front of him as a woman transferred the location of the chain around his right ankle. She carried it from the guard's hand to a spot inside the cell that was currently his home. It was only by a bit of luck and some demonic charisma that he'd gotten himself in a cell of his own instead of sleeping in the barracks. It was after the woman had vacated the room that he finally took a step back from the doorway, tipping a head to the guard. Despite the glare the two men were currently exchanging, Ashta's words were as calm as ever. "Bonne nuit, gourgane." Good night, guard. Sure, officially "gourgane" meant "beans," but all of the prisoners had taken to calling the guards after the food served to them... and Ashta knew that the more he seemed like the average prisoner, the better. The guard grunted in response, flicking a hand, signaling the female servant to shut the door.
The demon stared at the door for a few long moments, before cursing under his breath after he assumed the guard was far gone. His words switched immediately into English upon the first moment possible. After all, he was slowly learning to loath the French language, along with everything else about this country. "The moment I'm out of this place I swear...-" He was cut off by a thunder of a voice.
"Silencieux!" It was this word, followed by the sickly ironic bang of something hard hitting the door his cell (if it could even be considered a cell, more like a box)... the loud noise causing him to jump a step back as far as the chain would allow, with his left hand flying out defensively. The open hand immediately closed back into a white-knuckled fist, remembering himself. Now was definitely not the time to let old instincts take ahold of him. For once he was glad of that damned iron door, because it meant the guard didn't see his reaction to getting startled. After all, it had gone silent again after the bang from the guard, which meant that it was likely he'd be gone within the next few minutes. For badness sake, if I have to hear one more command in French... I will show them what a real criminal looks like.
Ashta had to admit, this was definitely not the way he wanted to spend the last three months. He could think of many places he'd rather be right now than, well, this particular slice of Hell on Earth. And this was coming from a being who definitely had his fair share of experience in Hell. If I'm here much longer going below is seeming like a nicer and nicer option. Hell was terrible, sure, but honestly humans were so much more creative when it came to particular forms of torture. He clenched his jaw, slowly sitting down on his makeshift bed. With a slight glance at the door, he snapped his fingers, and instantly the demon was dried off, the tension in his muscles dissipating as the water did. He still looked like a mess, but at least he was dry. It was one of the few tricks he could still pull. He pulled his knees to his chest, the chain clanking and scraping against the floor at the movement as he leaned against the wall. His eyes were focused on the chain, glaring at it.
As a demon, there were many ways for him to potentially get out of here. Teleporting out being amongst the most obvious. But he was faced with two problems in his way. First, the chain around his ankle was not a normal chain. Well, it was for this prison but in Ashta's eyes it was the one metal he couldn't quite get a handle on. Iron. Sure, as a demon of a higher level, it didn't cripple him like it might others (if he was a normal demon, he probably wouldn't still have an ankle), but it still prevented him from just teleporting out. The only time he could possibly try to do that would be the one time the chain wasn't in contact with him... and whenever that happened there were always people watching him. It would cause a scene he just couldn't cause, or else this situation would get even worse for him. Would Hell really be worse at this point?
There were some days he was starting to wonder whether the Bagne of Toulon was a punishment for humans or demons, because it worked as a torment for both, at least if the demon happened to be attached to their vessel. Specifically iron chains around the clock to keep you from escaping, forced silence during the night and in the day...- the demon's forehead rested against his knees, a shuttering breath escaping him. Salt water, a lovely product of being on a prison where the hard labor required of you was being a gallery slave on the Mediterranean Sea. It was why the first thing he did after getting a moment alone was get the water off of him. Having a bit of salt around wasn't usually a problem for him, but having a thin layer of salt coating him 18 hours out of every day was slowly starting to actually weaken him, to his surprise.
The extensive exposure to the iron chain had given him a temporary limp. He was completely certain that the vessel's ankle was near breaking after this long, but there was a lingering pain there now as well that went past the material pain of the vessel. He suspected possibly a month more, before the situation became desperate enough for him to need to vacate his vessel and just get out. However, the weakening due to the salt made his estimates a bit cloudy. Actually, it made everything a little cloudy.
He ran a shaky hand through his hair, pushing the locks out of his face. It was March, and the cold air from France was slivering it's way into his cell. It was one of the few things he was used to. He'd spent enough time in Hell to be accustomed to the cold. However, Hell wasn't a place he looked back on with fond memories. The fact that any place on Earth could remind him of Hell itself disturbed him on many levels. His eyes closed, leaning his head against the wall, arms folded across his chest. Projecting his thoughts in the best way he could, he did what many of the bagnards had stopped doing long ago. He was praying. To one very specific person.
"Orion, you bastard, I've learned my lesson not to blatantly disregard the rules the humans build for themselves. I still think they're strange and petty, but in the meantime I've learned how barbaric their punishments are...first-hand. Now will you please hurry your feathery butt down here. Why is it taking so long it's been... I-it's been three months."
He'd said various other prayers to Orion over the course of the last couple months, however as one-way conversations went, Ashta was starting to wonder if the angel was even getting his messages. It was a very human thing to wonder, as most of the life forms on Earth spent an alarming amount of time praying to the Heavens in the uncertain hope someone was listening. But Ashta knew better, and his thoughts were starting to slowly become worried. Orion hadn't come to get him yet, and usually after getting prayed to only a few times Orion would, albeit grudgingly, come to figure out what the fuss was about. Usually he didn't have anything better to do. But it had been three months.
Ashta was starting to worry. Mostly for his own safety, of course, but also for the safety of his angel. If Orion had somehow gotten himself into some form of trouble, there was no way for Ashta to know to that. He wouldn't even know if the angel himself had gotten thrown into this place... not that Orion would care he'd just jump vessels and continue about his business. After all, just about anyone in this city was a possible vessel for the angel at this point, as religious as the people currently were in these times. Even still, this added to the ease at which he could probably get into the prison which again lead Ashta to question why it was taking so long.
Not that any of this reflected in his prayer. The one thing he knew how to do, was pray. He knew that if the prayer was directed at a very specific person, it was like a one-way phone call without the receiver being able to answer back. Well, they're been times when that had been possible, but the time that Ashta had still been able to tune in angel radio was long gone. But he knew that praying the same exact thing over and over again would generally get pretty annoying, which is why he often changed up the wordings completely, never letting himself dwell to long on one subject. Another thing he choose to not mention: the actual state he currently was in. Not that Orion wouldn't be able to deduce something was wrong by the sheer amount of times he'd prayed recently.
His eyes remained closed for a long while even after he'd stopped praying, his position eventually shifting to laying on the bed. Unbeknownst to him, he was shaking ever so slightly, however since it was something that had been consistent for at least the past 2 weeks, he wasn't quite aware of it anymore. Everything felt raw, like the top layer of his skin had been burned off from every part of his body because of the salt. Also his muscles ached the absurd amount of rowing in the gallery. Not to mention he was starting to get progressively more worried about that pain in his ankle. It all was slow, excruciating torture that his demonic mind hadn't even fathomed before being dropped in this situation. But mostly, he was just exhausted. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, the situation always offered him something that made everything a just a bit harder to manage.
Rather like last time, as soon as he began to relax and get a few breathes in, there was another bang at the door causing him to jump, eyes snapping open as he scrambled to sit up, just as the door flew open. The uniform was the first thing that caught his eye. It was an inspecteur of all people which was never a good...- wait. The demon stared at the human, his eyes wide when he realized, no, this was no human. He recognized that look anywhere, no matter who's face he was currently wearing. The inspecteur pulled the door to, just as recognition hit Ashta only after about two seconds of him being in the room. His eyes flickered black momentarily, unsure yet if he should be glad to see him or just really pissed. "Orion...-?"
"Ashtaroth, you look terrible." It was what the being said instead of a greeting, moving forward as his eyes scanned over the demon, worry tinting his movements. The angel's usual serious demeanor was now backed by mild concern for the demon in front of him. Add in the tired air that the angel possessed, and he looked downright intense. However, right now, Ashta was currently settling on being slightly pissed at the angel, at least for the moment. Ashta got to his feet slowly, chain jiggling angrily around his ankle as he did.
"This is what happens when you leave me in a French prison for three months, Feathers." The anger was clear in his tone, staring at Orion. The sentence was punctuated by the sound of the manacle on his ankle clicking open and falling off of him at Orion's will. Orion's attention was momentarily on the chain, however he spoke to Ashta, momentarily distracted, "We both have feathers, so I don't know why you insist on use a name that could be used to refer to either of us."
"Shut up, Orion. THREE months. Why the hell did you leave me in here for three months?!" He stepped forward, making sure that it was on his left instead of his right. It would be best that Orion didn't learn the full extent of his injuries until they were on safer ground, because better to deal with it later than now. Which didn't take longer than a moment. It was almost as soon as he stepped closer Orion placed a hand on his shoulder, and the scenery around them changed completely. They were still in France, but they were now in the capital city, Paris. In the apartment that the two of them shared. He was silenced for a moment however, stomach turning at the sudden angelic transport. He would've much preferred teleporting himself, but honestly he was just glad to be out of that place. Orion removed his hand from Ashtaroth's shoulder, something in his demeanor darkening.
"I thought you would be safer inside the prison than out here," he stated, his eyes quickly scanning over his demon while he recovered from their flight here, seemingly sensing something was off. "I had planned on retrieving you a few hours after you had been incarcerated, but I was drawn unwillingly in to the pre-planned events happening within France." Ashta gave him a slightly incredulous look, staring at Orion like he'd grown a second head. For just a moment, he actually had the urge to slap him. But instead he took a step back, running a hand through his long hair after a moment.
"There are many things that I could say about that place, but demon-friendly isn't one of them," he responded, shaking his head at Orion. He glanced away momentarily, glancing down at himself before glancing back toward the bedroom. Automatically, he snapped his fingers, and in the blink of a eye the prison garb and dirt disappeared into the nearest trash can, replaced by a clean, black shirt and pants, and dark red overcoat on top of the outfit. He looked like he'd just taken a shower, his hair impeccable as it usually was. However, he almost immediately regretted the slightly petty use of power. It was about then he realized just how low on power he was, because as soon as he snapped his fingers grey and white spots flooded his vision, all energy leaving him. He swayed on his feet slightly, focusing on keeping himself upright as he squeezed his eyes shut.
"Ashtaroth. Ashtaroth. What's wrong?" He didn't see Orion's reaction, but almost immediately he felt the angel at his side, a hand grabbing his arm to balance him. The mild concern that he'd felt coming off Orion early had increased tenfold. He felt himself getting lead over in the direction of the couch, part of his weight currently being supported by the angel. "That wasn't the brightest idea I've had all day," Ashta murmured as he dropped onto the couch. He felt Orion sit down next to him, and almost as soon he felt the angel's weight next to him, he felt a hand being pressed against his chest. The angel was trying to figure out what exactly was wrong via angel scanning. The two sat like this for a good minute, Ashta's head pulsing as Orion sat next to him, hand on the demon's chest. When eventually the wave of dizziness subsided, he found the gaze of an almost panicked angel next to him. "Ashta, what happened to you?"
"Why did you take 3 months?" the demon countered, the anger drained from his tone. Now he just seemed beyond tired. He didn't have the energy to muster staying angry at Orion for longer than a few minutes, however Ashta wasn't going to let Orion hear the end of this for a while. The angel leaned back at this question, his eyes flickering off Ashta for a moment, flickering around the room. Orion paused, before looking back at Ashtaroth. "The events that happen in France in the next few years, they are going to shape the coming centuries very significantly. Enough to where... Heaven is interested."
Ashtaroth froze, staring at Orion in shock. It had been a very, very long time since they'd heard anything from either Heaven or Hell, long enough to where the mention of Heaven being involved in anything was enough to stop him in his tracks. As he processed this, Orion continued, "I only learned of this after you got taken in for arguing with that officer. I learned when one of the seraphs found me." He glanced down, looking at his right arm. It was just now that Ashta had unraveled himself from his on problems that he noticed... Orion had been only using his left arm. Orion wasn't doing too well either. "I've been trying to stay very under the radar since my first encounter...didn't end well, but they are looking for me now. I get the feeling they don't want anyone other than humans and themselves in France right now."
"Do you know many ground troops Heaven actually sent?" Orion nodded after a moment, slowly getting up and looking around the flat. He was significantly less dramatic than Ashta was, but with the wave of a hand, any items of significant importance were packed into 6 large bags making a semi-circle around the angel. They didn't have many belongings with them here (most of their stuff was packed away in various places around the planet). Probably 3 of the bags consisted of just Ashta's current wardrobe. Orion looked tired, but for the moment he currently had more energy than Ashtaroth, which truly wasn't saying much right now. "I know of eight seraphs currently in France which means...-"
"We need to get out of this country."
THE SUN IS STRONG, IT'S HOT AS HELL BELOW
LOOK DOWN, LOOK DOWN, THERE'S TWENTY YEARS TO GO
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[shadow=white,left]gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society[/shadow]
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[shadow=white,left]at night a candle's brighter than the sun[/shadow]
BLUETOOTHS OFF
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MICKEY DONOVAN X HOWARD HUNTER-- MUCH OLDER SUPERNATURAL WRITING -- 1870 WORDS The two had been working for six straight hours. Six. The amount of time the pair of geeks had gone without sleep was debatable, as it was a topic of discussion neither wanted to talk about for the moment.
Mickey was sitting the on the bed cross-legged, papers strewn around her in an order that probably made no sense to anyone except the young hacker. Howie only had a vague idea of where anything was, and that was only because he had looked over every paper that was on the stack. The male was currently sitting on the end of the bed with his eyelids drooping, a large volume with letters in Latin written across the spine.
The reason the two were searching so much was because they had still not identified what creature had managed to drop 6 bodies by bleeding them out from their wrists, was immune to silver, and caused a localized rainstorm over the town of Waterville for a week and a half. Not to mention it/she had managed to give Electra a black eye. Which, taking into account that Electra could intimidate an angel with the right weapon, was slightly significant. But even with so much searching, the two teens whom made up the research department of the group couldn't find squat.
The silence was broken when Mickey poked Howie with her toe to wake him back up. The brunette jerked awake suddenly, nearly falling off the bed in the process. The male blinked at her, instinctively murmuring something that was probably the last phase of Latin he had read before falling asleep. Roughly translated, it sounded like it had something to do with croissants in France. The male looked about as awake as she felt. The ginger closed her laptop with a snap, swinging her legs off the bed and making eye contact with him.
"Okay, it's been an hour and a half since anyone bothered to update us on Bluetooth, which means one of three things. They got eaten, they are secretly going to get food without us, or they forgot we existed. Either way, we need to take a break." As Mickey got up, Howard pinched the bridge of his nose, before nodding.
"That's the best idea I've heard all day," he responded simply, stretching as Mickey crossed the room and slipped on a worn pair of converse on over her socks. She was still in her day clothing, so there was no need to change into anything different. However, she did put a jacket on over her clothes, zipping it up. She felt the brunette's eyes following her as she moved around the room. It was only after she came to a stop next to the door that Howie snapped to a more conscious state. He got to his feet, pulling on his shoes.
"Wait, isn't it practically flooding outside right now?" he asked, while Mickey grabbed the handle of a pale blue umbrella.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, it is. And the Subway is a block away and we haven't got a vehicle. The rain will help wake us up," Mickey inquired.
"Yes, but I also don't want to get swept away in a storm literally caused by Zeus," he reasoned, referring to one of their possible theories to whom was causing the storm. Mickey rolled her eyes, before taking one of his hands, and leading him over to the door. The mere fact that Mickey was now holding his hand (oh my gosh) shut him up rather quickly.
As she exited the room, she clicked the button on the umbrella's handle, immediately shifting the large umbrella so it above their heads. It was only about 5 o'clock, but the storm clouds that were straight out of a cliché horror movie darkened the sky significantly. The moment they stepped outside, lightning flashed above their heads, followed by a deafening crash of thunder, causing Mickey's grip on Howie's hand to tighten even more.
"You know, a couple months ago I would have thought this comment was the stupidest thing to say in the world... but it seems like a possibility in this situation..."
"Spit it out, Howard," Mickey inquired, as she led the brunette along to the sidewalk. He didn't have much of a choice in the matter, since she was the one with the umbrella. Already, her feet were completely soaked from the water, which was up to her ankles in most spots. It was taking a rather large amount of self-control not to climb up Howie like a cat would when faced with water. Mickey loathed the outdoors. Rain just made it even worse. However, the desire to get something to eat won out over sitting in the hotel room and possibly playing a card game or something peaceful like that. My blood sugar is probably low again. Her scattered thoughts were brought back into reality when Howie spoke.
"Is it possible that this storm is literally out to get us?" His statement was punctuated by another clash of thunder that sounded alarmingly close.
"Quite possibly," Mickey reasoned, watching where she stepped to avoid stepping on anything she would regret stepping later.
"You are not the most reassuring person, you know that?" he inquired, causing her to look up at him for a moment.
"Me? Not reassuring? Where did you ever get that idea from?" Mickey smirked at him, halting a moment as they reached the curb of the street. The Subway was in sight, but they still had a road to cross. A road that, at this particular moment, was completely flooded to where it was basically impassible unless you wanted to go for a swim. Mickey listed their options out loud.
"Okay. We can wade through what looks to be about a foot of water and then get food... or we walk back in defeat and start working again." It took two seconds for him to make a choice. Mostly because the threat of more work was a rather daunting prospect.
"As long as we don't encounter the Loch Ness Monster on the way there," Howie remarked sarcastically, before looking and seeing the expression on Mickey's face. She had frowned slightly at that comment.
"What?"
"You know, that's nearly as bad saying "It can't get any worse." If we meet the Loch Ness Monster, I'm blaming you for its appearance," she stated, taking a step out into the street. The water was higher than it looked, taking into account the water splashed up to her calves. Howie followed after her, placing a hand on the umbrella to prevent it from flying off as they went through the water.
"Wait... Nessie is real? That could actually happen?!" he asked, startled, as they carefully moved forward in the water. Mickey barely heard him, a disgusted look on her face brought on by the liquid sloshing around them.
"After all that I've seen in the past few months, it makes you a little more open-minded," the redhead stated simply, before getting distracted again. However, this time the distraction was Howie.
The brunette had managed to slip in the excessive amount of water, causing Mickey to have to switch on her protection mode. Sure, Howie had gotten a bit of training since the vampire incident, but that didn't mean he suddenly wasn't a nerdy ball of fluff with little sense of coordination.
Still holding the umbrella in one hand, she hooked an arm around his upper arm, preventing him potentially getting swept further down the street. Mickey heard the man make a rather confused squeaking noise that wasn't particularly the most masculine sound to come out of Howie before, which was ignored for the moment. One arm hooked around an off-balanced Howie and her other hand holding the pale blue umbrella, she dragged both off of the water-logged street/river. The moment they hit the sidewalk, Howie was rambling.
"I could have literally died just them. I could've fallen and broken something, and then drowned. And it's only going to be thirty minutes until we have to walk across the water again if we ever want to get back to the hotel. And what if the others need...-"
He was cut off when the front of his shirt was grabbed by a particular hacker, and he was pulled into a kiss. If there was any way to properly shut Howie up, it was this. She felt him momentarily freeze in surprise, but after about two seconds he returned the kiss, his eyes closing. Mickey had to be on her tiptoes to reach him, and after a second the pale blue umbrella sagged to the side, causing both of the eighteen-year-olds to immediately get soaked by the rain even more. Just as Howie fully got over the shock and laced his hand around her waist to pull her closer, they were interrupted by the familiar sound of the Bluetooth earpieces turning back on. The two broke apart, matching blushes materializing on both of their cheeks. It was only luck that the sound of rain covered the sound of the two geeks kissing. Especially since it was Luka who was on the other end of the line.
"Where are you guys? Is that rain I hear?"
"One second Luka!"
Mickey silently mimed at Howie to stay quiet by putting a finger over her lips quickly, before waving a hand and vigorously pointing at the Subway. He nodded quickly, and both began hurriedly walking over to the fast food place. The woman at the counter gave them a confused look. The moment the two made it inside, she heard Luka in her ear again.
"Mickey?"
"Umm, yeah. We decided to go get food because you guys were taking too long. Six hours is too long for me to go without eating and such."
Luka's voice crackled over the line, "Oh... right. Got it. Well, we're back and we've got news on what's happening," he stated, before the voice changed. It was Electra speaking now.
"Where are you, we can pick you up instead over having you swim home."
"Umm, the Subway about a block away. It's the closest thing. Also, I would suggest you don't bring the impala, since it is a low-riding car. It might literally just float off on this street. It's a river out here," the next person to speak was Blair.
"Noted. I'll drive the SUV out there with anyone else who wants food. Which isn't everyone after [i]that hunt. Gah."[/i]
Mickey exchanged a look with Howie, before talking into the Bluetooth, "Well, talk with you later. Don't drown."
"And watch out for the Loch Ness Monster," Howie added weakly, before Mickey hung up the line. The second the line hung up, the two eighteen-year-olds collapsed into a booth. Mickey exchanged a look with Howie, whom was still grinning at her like an idiot. It was adorable, in all honesty.
"That was close," he remarked, causing Mickey to grin slightly.
"Remind me the next time I kiss you to turn the Bluetooths off next time."
"Well, it's hard to remind you when you don't give me any warning."
"Shush, you. Now, go order two sandwiches before the others get here."
BECAUSE WHEN THE SUN SHINES WE'LL SHINE TOGETHER
TOLD YOU I'LL BE HERE FOREVER, SAID I'LL ALWAYS BE YOUR FRIEND
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[shadow=white,left]gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society[/shadow]
advanced -- link hub -- wow
[shadow=white,left]at night a candle's brighter than the sun[/shadow]
CAMPFIRE CHAOS
text
THRILLING INTENT FANFICTION -- MARKUS, AESLING, KYR, GREGOR AND THOG -- 3951 WORDS "Come on guys, just gather around the campfire. I swear it's not even half as dangerous as the last one... Ashe stop looking at me like that." Markus was the one speaking, glancing over at the white-haired one when she gave him a doubtful look. Come on, it wasn't like his campfires where always dangerous. Sure, there was that one fire that he'd lit on a table outside the bar that leeched all of the warmth from the air for at least a week, but this wasn't that kind of fire, sadly. That fire had been one of his more impressive creations... when he had still been a Sorcelock. It partially registered in his mind how long ago that had actually been. However, he didn't dwell too long on that thought, quickly realizing that he'd coaxed Ashe to a location that wasn't too far from the fire, leaning against a rock.
She was a logical distance away, in contrast to Kyr who was way too close to it, poking experimentally at it with a stick. But she wasn't the furthest from the flames. Gregor had fallen asleep a number of feet away (that kid always went to bed right on time), and closer than Thog... who was Gods know where right now. He'd wandered off for a smoke a few hours ago and hadn't come back. Nowadays it wasn't even too unusual. Thog had wandered off the longest time in the middle of that ginormous war between the clans, and it had only been later they'd found out he'd been in the Banlands. Even still, he wasn't too surprised the gun-wielding man had slipped away to avoid anything that could remotely be considered "bonding."
"Markus, why are you trying to be so nice right now?" Ashe's yellow eyes were fixed on him for the moment, her fingers unconsciously fiddling with the edge of her tunic as shifted, trying to find a comfortable position leaning against the rock. Automatically, Markus pulled a blue pillow out of his bag, tossing it to a now bemused Ashe.
"Because this is the first time we've all been in one place for... well a couple of weeks." He glanced over at Kyr, who nodded in agreement. Kyr held something else over the fire, something that definitely wasn't a stick. It sparked menacingly, causing Ashe to slowly pull her feet away from that fire again. "And it honestly feels like it's been a lot longer than just that."
"Sure... okay but, what are we going to do around a campfire? Tell ghost stor-..." Ashe was cut off by a squeak from Kyr, the large man shuffling away from the fire and slinking behind Markus like an oversized puppy. Markus' eyes also widened in surprise at the comment, only adding to Ashe's confusion as a sudden side conversation sparked between Markus and Kyr... sparking like the device Kyr had dropped in the fire in his haste. Ashe tensed up, only half paying attention to the two idiots as she made a dive for the fire, using her foot to kick the device clear of the fire.
"G-G-G-Ghosts?!? Markus, she said ghosts."
"SHE SAID GHOSTS."
"Well, at least she didn't mention skeletons."
"Oh Gods, skeletons...-"
The two made blubbering noises for a solid two minutes, not really paying attention to their white-haired friend who was currently throwing a now ticking device as far as she could from the fire. Ticking + something Kyr had been messing with? Oh, she knew what the end result was going to be. This thing was definitely going explode. She had no doubt in her mind whatsoever. Her experience with all of his devices had been generally... if anything extreme effected them they were gonna go boom. As the beeping sped up, her adrenaline kicked and with a panicked shout she threw the device away from the campsite, as far as she could into the air. The device soared into a nearby tree, exploding with sparks.
However, there was something distinctive about those sparks. It wasn't your average Kyrplosion. No, there was something that sounded and looked very similar to one of Markus' eldritch blasts. In addition to that, Ashe felt the magical shockwave of the explosion hit the air. It was definitely not a good feeling. She stared at the explosion for a long moment, her yellow eyes glowing in shock. She glanced over in the direction of the two idiots. She couldn't even relax for a few hours. Within a second, she exploded, gesturing wildly as she shouted.
"MARKUS. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"
By the time she turned back around, both of the two had stumbled to their feet, actually still taking about ghosts right until that explosion. Markus lifted a finger, glancing around dramatically before his gaze rested back on Ashe, his finger moving to point at the explosion. The tree the explosion had hit was still shouldering. He only half-answered Ashe, still sounding like he was mostly talking to Kyr. "That isn't good. That really isn't good."
"WHAT ISN'T GOOD."
Kyr nodded to Markus, staring at the now smoldering tree, "Yeah that's definitely an emergency. Ashe, why did you throw that?" The attention finally turned back to Ashe, who was now shouting at the top of her lungs. Gregor was slowly walking up behind Ashe, his glaive in hand as his attention flipped between the talking people, looking surprisingly awake for someone who had been sleeping two minutes ago, before everything went to hell (as usual).
"HOW IS THIS MY FAULT?! IT WAS TICKING when Kyr's things start ticking that usually means they're about to, you know." She made an exploding motion with her hand. Markus shook his head, waving the comment away quickly. "No, no, this wasn't a bomb. I don't know how you could have mistaken it for that. Ashe, that was our only weapon against the giant, magical spiders." Kyr nodded vigorously, while Ashe looked between them in a mix of shock and growing panic. It was just as she got an instinct to launch forward and strangle Markus for being such an idiot, she felt something cool touch her cheek. The flat of Gregor's glaive. She felt the annoying instant calm spread over her, the magic cooling down her heated temper. Gregor's voice came from a few feet behind her.
"It'll be okay Ashe, we can easily defeat a couple of magical spiders. Everything will be fine," he intoned, his brown eyes looking around at the forest around them as he spoke. Ashe swatted the glaive away from her cheek, annoyed that the tranquil magic of the glaive actually managed to calm her down to a less ear-splitting volume. She calmer, but still not exactly collected. After all they'd gone from almost relaxing next to a campfire to apparently preparing for battle in under two minutes. Apparently a battle against... "Spiders? Why are there magic spiders?"
Markus was the one to answer this, and she could see an eldritch blast now building in his palm. His eyes were fixed on the trees, scanning cautiously. His words were still casual as always, but there was definitely a hint of true concern lacing his words that he was trying to keep hidden. Markus stepped through the campfire (fireproof as always), moving to stand slightly in front of the three others. The gesture wasn't lost on Ashe, since it was usually Gregor who did that, not Markus. The blonde tiefling usually kept his distance, since he was more of a long-range spellcaster. He glanced back at Ashe, answering, "Ah, yeah, that's kind of one of things I was going to discuss with you around the campfire but... all you need to know is they're not normal spiders that a rival tiefling is currently trying to use to kill me. And we should run."
"Markus...-" Ashe's voice cut off when she heard the snapping of tree branches, something coming in on them from both sides. From the direction Markus was facing, a huge spider glowing with dark, blood red energy slowly walked out of the brush. It looked like a black widow, sleek and deadly, a red hourglass on it's belly. From the opposite side, came Thog, running at full speed, an almost wild look in his eye as he stared at Markus. His gun was out and cocked, pointed at the ground.
Ashe looked at Thog, a bit incredulously, "Thog?!?" The dark-haired man just shook his head, looking at the place the eldritch spider-repellant device had exploded. He mumbled a few words, which vaguely sounded like, "My middle manager sense was tingling," before taking a few steps forward, standing next to Markus with his gun pointed directly at the spider. It was as Gregor ran forward to attack the spider that Thog hurriedly asked, "Okay, what's the situation?" Markus flung the blast of eldritch energy he'd been saving, the ball soaring over Gregor's head and impacting the spider in the face. The attack did effect it, but not by much. It paused momentarily, blinking it's many eyes before moving forward again. "Basically there's a giant spider from hell here that's come to kill me."
"What the fuck."
It was as Gregor's glaive hit the beast that the red energy around it crackled, shocking Gregor like some dark electricity and sending him flying several feet back, slamming into Kyr and sending both tumbling into a pile on the ground. Thog and Ashe both stared at the two, almost identical expressions of shock on their faces. Ashe, cursing under her breath, skidded to her knees to check on the two. Kyr had the wind knocked out of him, but he seemed no worse for wear. Gregor, on the other hand, was completely unconscious, his glaive laying a few feet away from him. Ashe's hands pressed against Gregor's chest, assessing the damage.
"I'm pretty sure the best option is run? Just accept our defeat and get far, far away from here." Kyr nodded in agreement, looking even more scarred as the spider approached. Ashe just gave them all an incredulous look, before looking back down at Gregor. It was like he'd been stuck by some kind of magic lightning. It wasn't something that was going to be repaired quickly, but she had a feeling they needed to move, like now. Her hands sparked with green energy, and she placed her hands on his chest, the healing magic running through him, a quick attempt to keep him stable while they ran for their lives. She got back to her feet, picking up Gregor's glaive as she went, looking at the engineer "Kyr, grab Gregor and get him out of here. I'll need to heal him more later. Head back to the bar."
"Yeah, yup, I'll do that. Uhm, doing that," he picked up Gregor bridal style, before running the direction Thog had come from earlier -- away from the spider. It left Thog, Markus, and Ashe still facing the monstrous spider. Thog shot a barrage of bullets at the thing, all of them seeming to melt as soon as they got closer than 5 feet from the creature. Markus sent another eldritch blast at the thing, which was the only attack that seemed to have any remote effect on it. Ashe made an aggravated sound, grabbing both of them by the collars, pulling them back.
"Didn't we agree that we're running and not fighting?!"
"I'm not arguing with that," Thog grumbled, clicking the safety on is gun and moving quickly for the edge of the forest, glancing back as he got to the edge of the trees. Ashe had begun to follow him, right up until she realized there was a certain blonde teifling not following behind. "Markus, come on. Don't go Gregor on me and try to preform some stupidly brave stunt," she grabbed his arm with both of her hands, pulling him back away from the spider, relatively easily (the man was still as light as a feather). But the man slipped out of her hands, before falling over a log into the campfire. It was only after a moment's consideration he syphoned off the fire from their formerly idyllic campfire into a large ball of flame in his palm, before throwing it at the spider's face. It turned into sparkles upon impact, which actually managed to blind a few of the eyes momentarily. "MARKUS. HURRY UP."
"I totally planned to do that," he blurted, before he was yanked but by the arm by Ashe, getting pulled away again. This time the blonde-haired tiefling didn't hesitate to follow, stumbling after the white-haired healer. Thog kept pace with them, generally leading the way in their impromptu retreat. Ashe didn't protest in the slightest, after all Thog probably had the coolest head when it came to these things (usually), and not to mention he'd just come from this direction anyway... so maybe he actually knew where he was going...?
"THOG do you happen to know a place to hide from the giant hell spider!?"
"Ashe, you can't hide from...-" he huffed, slowly becoming out of breath from the running, "...-giant-hell-spiders. You can only defeat them or put a shield up to hide from their location. A shield that Kyr and I made and you just heartless cast in a oof...-" Markus was interrupted when Ashe finally hoisted him around the middle, giving up attempting to make the light-weight mage run to speed this along. And it definitely did speed things up. They probably increased in speed at least 3 KPM without the mage slowing them. Carrying him was much more convenient.
"Kyr dropped it the fire before I threw it! AND IT WAS TICKING, MARKUS."
"TICKING MEANS THE SPIDER IS CLOSE BY, ASHE. Not to throw it into a tree! The device can't withstand impacts, Ashe! Didn't you read the manual I gave you?" He was currently flung over Ashe's shoulder, and honestly from this angle he seemed even more like an idiot now. But Ashe did remember something...
"Manual? Do you mean that piece of wood Kyr handed me earlier with the word "Emmanuel" carved into it? I thought it was kindling for the fire."
"YOU THREW IT IN THE FIRE." She felt Markus freeze, even with while she was carrying. She grumbled a complaint when he repositioned, looking over her shoulder. The spider was still coming, as expected. She felt Markus' hand disconnect from her shoulder for a moment, risking a bit of balance to cast another spell. She felt the familiar feeling of an eldritch blast forming in his hand, but way too close to her ear for comfort. But it didn't last long, since almost as soon as it formed he threw it at the creature, and again she heard it make contact, followed by a groan from the creature. "Ashe, if we would have stayed by that fire, it would have exploded after 243 minutes exposed to flame! That's the automatic self-destruct!"
"Markus, you've been spending too much time with Kyr, damnit, you know how crazy that sounds, right?" She had finally caught up with Thog, attempting to keep pace with the man for a few moments, however Thog still had the advantage of much longer legs. Thog spoke to Markus as soon as they caught up, sounding either exhausted or exasperated or both... it was hard to tell.
"Markus, Do you have any ideas of how to defeat this thing? Because we don't have time to make one of those shield things and we'd have to find Kyr again to even start making one of those things, I'm guessing. So WHAT'S THE PLAN other than running for our lives?!"
Markus' jaw clenched slightly, glancing back at the spider for a moment as he did. He was silent for a moment, before he suddenly wiggled out of Ashe's grasp, falling gracelessly to the ground, scrapping his hand a bit in the process. Ashe immediately skidded to a halt, Thog skidding to a halt at least 3 yards behind the other two. Ashe's yellow eyes went wide, glaive held defensively as she usually saw Gregor do, as the spider came down upon them, with a shout of "MARKUS."
"I saw Inien do it once I'm sure I can manage it, easily. No problem..." he was speaking mostly to himself, kneeling with one knee to the ground, his blonde hair blowing in his face as he ruffled around his bag, looking for something. It would have almost looked awesome if he wasn't so frantic. He soon located what he was searching for, pulling out a clear container that looked like glass. It was the same kind of container he kept that wisp in. Whatever he was doing though, his time had run out. The spider was looming over him now.
Ashe took a step forward, her heart catching in her throat, ready to summon her in-case-of emergency, definitely-not-magic if whatever Markus was doing went to hell, possibly in a literal sense. He raised his hand slightly, concentrating for a moment, his eyes closed, before his eyes snapped open just as the spider lunged forward. "Reduce creature." A variation of the Inien's variation of his enlarge person spell. And it definitely had the desired effect. Just as the spider flew forward, it shrunk to the size of a tarantula, the momentum sending it flying straight into the open glass container in Markus' hands. He immediately slammed the top onto the container, trapping it. As soon as he did this, he wrapped the glass container in shadow until it looked like nothing more than a grotesque ball of shadow held within his hands.
Ashe was staring at the ball of shadow in a state of near-shock, both confused and mildly disgusted by the appearance of the shadows. Not to mention, it registered again in her mind that something felt very different about Markus' magic. Thog, on the other hand, seemed rather unbothered. If anything, he just looked mildly annoyed, as he walked up to the two, pulling Markus back to his feet by his arm. "Why didn't you just do that earlier?" Thog grumbled, straightening his shirt, which was partially unbuttoned.
"I didn't think of it earlier... also I don't think this is a permanent solution. I doubt the spell is going to last much longer than it would on Gregor... wait." He paused, glancing back over at the other two, still rolling the ball of solidified and gross shadows in his hands. He looked specifically at Ashe, meeting her gaze. His voice was actually touching close to one of his rare moments of seriousness. "Gregor, you still need to heal him. Not to mention Kyr is probably crying by now in a corner."
Ashe balled up her fists, before just balling up her fists and nodding, whatever calming magic that the glaive had was actually keeping her from completely going off at Markus. She had forgotten that the glaive was in her hand instead of her own sword. It gave her arm a weird tingling sensation. However, Thog spoke before she could. "Okay, but first, we're taking care of the spider. Markus, that thing is small. Get rid of the shadows we're squishing it."
"But...-"
Ashe spoke up, glancing at Thog, "I'm pretty sure that's the second-best idea I've heard all day, if it would work... we can't have a murderous hell spider trying to kill you, Markus," Markus glanced between the two of them, thinking about it for a moment, before sighing and unsummoning the shadows around the glass jar. "It should work, but if it doesn't... everyone needs to run." With saying that, he took the top of the container, emptying the spider onto the ground. At the exact same moment, Ashe's foot came down on top of it, exacting justice onto the thing for both injuring and trying to kill her friends. However, the satisfaction didn't last long, since almost immediately upon squishing it she heard and felt the juices of the spider burning clean through her boot and soon, her foot. With a yelp, she jumped back, kicking her acid-burned boot off aggressively as she leaned against a tree. Thog's expression betrayed mild concern for Ashe, while Markus looked concerned... he was more just examining the oozing dark purple acid that remained of the spider.
She grumbled in annoyance, watching Markus as she lifted her foot to her hand, sending a few green sparks through it and knitting the skin back together. It wasn't much, but it would definitely be enough to keep it how it was supposed to be for as much time as she needed. In the meantime they needed to find Gregor (who still really needed some healing and Kyr (who was probably panicking). Also she had to prevent a certain blonde tiefling from tasting the spider acid. Which was more likely than anything else since the acid-resistant being had already stuck his finger in the mixture, after bottling some of it in a vial. "Markus, Thog get-..."
"Already on it," Thog responded, batting Markus' hand away from his mouth before it could enter his mouth, and to be even more safe generally pushing the arm behind the man's back. Markus sent an overly- dramatic look over both of them, "I'm just trying to figure out what branch of hell the spider was from. Could give clues into who is after me," he explained, mostly just looking at Ashe when he said this since Thog was partially behind him, holding his arm behind his back. There was still his usual gravitas placed in the words, but he did seem.. there was no better word than just tired. It was about then when she remembered what Inien had said, about Markus having been through a lot over the time they were separated.
"Markus, we really need to talk but we need to find the other two first. Thog, you're on carry-Markus duty," she inquired, starting to walk around, both to check her healing magic had worked an to get used to the fact she was missing a shoe. Markus exchanged a quick glance with Thog before taking a step towards Ashe, reaching into one of his bags as he spoke, "What do you think I was trying to gather all of you around a peaceful campfire for, Ashe? But it seems we're getting rescheduled yet again," he found what he was looking for, pulling it out of his bag and tossing it to Ashe. The white-haired woman caught it, finding it to be an identical replica to one of her boots. He'd already proved to have identical copies of all their clothing, she shouldn't even be surprised. After quick inspection, she pulled it onto her foot.
"Thanks Markus," she added, before nodding at Thog. The middle-management professional took that moment to pick up Markus grudgingly, under the white-haired one's orders. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Markus boop the man on the nose, as she turned around to look for some sign of finding the tracks of the two in the dark. It wasn't too dark since the moon was high in the sky, but it would still be more of a trouble than usual. It was only luck that she noticed a place where all the branches were broken from a direction they hadn't come from. It looked about Kyr-sized. On closer inspection they seemed slightly singed which confirmed it even further. "Come on, they went this way."
"Are you sure...-" with their usual amount of bickering, the three disappeared into the forest in search of Kyr and Gregor, Ashe in the lead and Thog carrying Markus in the rear.
ANOTHER SNAP, ANOTHER FLASH, YOU'VE MAGICALLY DEPARTED AND
IT'S JUST BEFORE YOU CATCH YOUR BREATH YOU REALIZE YOU'RE WHERE YOU STARTED
[div style=" width: 500px; height:30px; background-image:url(https://66.media.tumblr.com/05632f83c32c...o3_500.gif); background-position: bottom;"][color=transparent]© jade
[shadow=white,left]gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society[/shadow]
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SNOWDRIFTS + PUFFY COATS
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JANUARY 5TH, 2015 -- MARIE STARK & IAGO RICHELIEU -- THE WIZARDING WORLD -- 4628 WORDS Marie was waiting for the man in front of his classroom, leaning against the adjacent wall. On this particularly cold January morning, the woman was wearing a puffy, marshmallow-like jacket. It was a light, grey-ish blue color that didn't really match the rest of her clothing, but it was necessary for where the two of them where going. Of all the times they could've planned to go to Hogsmeade, Scotland had planned a blizzard. The temperature outside was in the negatives, and they were going out in it. They might have rescheduled, if it wasn't for the fact that all the other professors had also rescheduled. But there were still students who wanted to go despite the terrible weather, which meant there had to be at least one or two teachers in the town in case of an emergency. Which happened to be Marie and Iago.
She was about to call into the room and tell him to hurry when the man emerged from the door, pulling an overcoat on as he came into view. He took one glance at her, and his eyebrows raised immediately. It was just at that moment she remembered that this was the first time he had encountered the puffy coat.
"You look like a marshmallow," he stated, a touch of playfulness in his tone that was reserved for the brunette in front of him. She nudged him on the shoulder, which was an experience comparable to getting hit with a pillow with Marie's current jacket. The woman began speaking with him as she began walking in the direction of the entrance hall.
"I am aware I look like a marshmallow. It's freezing, it's kind of necessary. I get cold way too easily. You know that," the woman stated, folding her arms across her chest. She walked backwards for a few steps, facing him while talking. The drafty halls were mostly empty except for them, so it was actually relatively safe for her to do this for the moment. Iago responded, his hands folded behind him as he walked. To the casual observer, it would appear Richelieu was still in his "strict, big bad deputy mode," and Marie was just talking with him. But it didn't take much effort for Marie personally to see straight through that. Honestly, his eyebrows had a habit of giving him away.
"I do know that...- wait, maybe we shouldn't go out. We don't want you getting sick ag...-"
"Iago, that is what the marshmallow is for. It's fine, hopefully we won't stay outside long anyway, right? Besides, you need to stop worrying so much about me. It isn't like I'm just going to randomly fall over."
Marie switched to walking in step with him after a moment, as they exited the castle. She looked up at him, meeting his gaze. She could see the worry in his gaze, it was still there after all that had happened a few months ago. It was something that she had feared from the moment she had told him everything. The worry that he would never look at her in the same way again. And in some ways, her fear had come true, but in not the way she thought it would. While he was even more protective of her and he often worried a bit too much over the little things, he did respect her more in his own way. Marie planned on addressing it... just not now. Despite the cold weather, Marie had plans on actually enjoying herself this winter day.
"Besides, we've got more important things to focus on. Like getting a carriage that isn't stuffed with kids." There was only a small pause before Iago nodded slightly in agreement.
The carriages that lead to the trains were in front of the school a bit closer than usual, to prevent people from having to walk farther than necessary in the cold. Snow was falling down in windy waves, making it so you could hardly see more than three feet in front of you. Marie pulled the hood of the jacket up as she walked from the cover of the castle. It wasn't a far walk, but her hand found Iago's anyway. Couldn't have him disappearing off into the snow, now, could she?
The first few carriages were completely full. After they walked past two or three, Iago spoke to Marie over the wind, voice raised a bit.
"The last few carriage should be empty. I doubt there are many students who would truly like to walk around in weather like this... ah, here." He pulled her to a stop next to him, pointing to the carriage the last carriage which they were now beside. Like the rest, two of the usual skeletal creatures were pulling the carriages, looking fairly unbothered by the current weather. Marie took notice that Iago's gaze had paused on the creatures, before he opened the door of the carriage for the brunette beside him. She raised an eyebrow at him slightly, before she took a step up into the carriage, plopping down in the seat facing toward the thestrals. Iago stepped up, sitting in the seat beside Marie. It was almost the second that the door shut that the carriage began to slowly roll forward. The witch pushed her hood back, looking at Iago.
"Seems like we were just on time," she muttered, glancing behind her at the now moving line. Iago didn't respond, his gaze already on the window of the carriage. Snow frosted his silver hair, though as the carriage warmed, it was slowly melting and dampening his hair to a slightly darker shade. On the other hand, Marie had evaded most of the snow with her giant coat.
"I knew it was supposed to be snowing today, but I wasn't expecting this much," the former witch inquired, causing Iago to glance up at her momentarily. He shrugged, leaning back into the seat as he spoke.
"Well, it is Scotland," he stated, his accent becoming slightly more prominent as he said this. Marie smirked slightly, nodding slightly in agreement.
She paused slightly, before she spoke again. "I grew up in a somewhat colder climate, you know. I just happen to somehow still be really cold-natured. I don't actually know how that works." This statement was met with a slightly confused eyebrow raise from Iago. Mostly because he was slight surprised he hadn't asked the question before now. Now, curiosity was alight in the man's crystal eyes.
"Where did you grow up?" Marie paused momentarily, thinking for a moment. However, as Iago would know in a matter of seconds, it would be to purposely thicken her original accent over the London accent she'd picked up after her prolonged time there.
"You can take the girl outta Blackpool but you can't take the Blackpool out of the girl," she remarked. The accent sounded slightly strange coming out of Marie, but weirdly it didn't sound too strange. Now that it was noted, if one paid attention they could find bits of Blackpoolian in her voice, usually when she either sped up her talking pace or if she was shouting for some reason. Iago looked as if someone had just told him everything in the world is a lie. His blue eyes had widened slightly, and he had frozen. Marie continued after a moment, her voice switching into her usual accent as she spoke. She was smirking a bit, apparently amused by the silver-haired man's shocked reaction.
"Lived in Blackpool with my parents until I graduated Hogwarts. After college, I moved to London. Got a little apartment. Haven't left since... I like my little apartment in Shoreditch."
Iago tilted his head slightly, giving her a curious look. "Why London? It's not one of the... most pleasant locations in the world. Especially for someone who wasn't involved in the Wizarding World."
She shrugged, folding her arms across her chest. Her gaze went to the window, which was nearly impossible to see out of with the amount of snow. "I don't know... I just didn't feel like moving around too much, after... you know," she paused slightly, before continuing quickly, not lingering on the still slightly sensitive topic, "I made a home in London. Got a steady teaching job in the secondary school. Paid the bills and taxes. Became an upstanding citizen of England."
"But you wanted to travel the world?"
Marie looked back up at him, offering him a sad little smile. Well, she had definitely wanted to. It'd just been her dream. But who ever really gets to live out their childhood dream? Besides, she had changed her dream to fit her situation. And now she was living it, as a teacher. "Who doesn't?"
"Yes, but not everyone attempts to center their lives around that by going into journalism."
"Well, just because I kept a flat in London didn't mean I didn't travel at all. Any extra money I had was saved for traveling... but you can only get so far on the average teacher's salary. I've managed to get myself to every possible corner of the British Isles. If it's possible to drive there...-"
It was at that moment the carriage lurched to a rather sudden stop. It was enough to cause both of them to slide forward, causing Marie to instinctively put her hand in front of Iago. It was a protective sort of action, the kind a mother would do in a car if a car crash seemed evident. Iago noticed the action, his gaze going to Marie's arm to Marie. He didn't say anything, however. Marie's focus was more on the windows of the carriage, before she caught Iago's gaze as he spoke.
"That doesn't sound particularly good."
Marie nodded slightly, her hand moving to the handle of the carriage, looking at Iago, "I swear we can't do anything without something happening. I think that means we have to investigate." The carriage lurched again, slightly downward this time, and this time Iago's wand came out. Marie clenched her jaw slightly, sighing. She knew, after the last couple of months they'd been having, it was logical for both of them to be a bit jumpy. Marie would have her wand out too... if she could actually use it. That didn't mean she didn't have it. It was hidden in the puffy coat somewhere. But Marie was going to make sure this was a good idea.
"Are you sure we need to go in wands blazing?"
"Better safe than sorry. It's been a long couple of months."
"Fair point. We just don't want to start a fight if it isn't fight-worthy."
Marie held Iago's gaze for a long moment, before he nodded slightly. He slid his wand back into his robes. The moment he did, Marie opened the door slowly, peeking outside. It was still freezing, but the snow had lightened up to where you could actually see. It seemed sort of peaceful, but she couldn't see anything that would have warranted a sudden stop of the carriage. But she could only see so much from her current angle.
"I don't see anything.... I'm going outside." At this comment, Iago looked at her in a "does that really sound like a good idea right now" look. Marie ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head. "Don't give me that look; I know that look. It's fine."
Marie pushed the door open completely, stepping out of the carriage slowly. She felt Iago directly behind her. Now that she stood outside, it was rather obvious what had brought them to a complete stop.
"Snowdrift. We hit a snowdrift. I swear, this is just our luck," Marie inquired, pulling up the hood of her puffy jacket. The front left wheel had slid to the side, straight into a pit of snow. The wheel had come off in the process, and it had disappeared into the snow without a trace. And it wasn't like they could hitch a ride on another carriage, because they were in the last carriage.
"It shouldn't be too hard to fix, Marie," Iago stated, taking his wand out as he spoke. "Just a couple of simple spells..." he paused, holding his wand aloft. Marie glanced at him, and his crystal gaze met hers immediately. She couldn't quite decipher what the man was thinking, but she could definitely tell it had something to do with her. However, it was a long moment until he actually spoke. Marie's eyebrow quirked upward as the silver-haired man returned his wand to his pocket.
"What?"
"Like I said, this is simple, everyday magic. Just a matter of three spells. A levitation charm, a summoning charm, and a quick repair..." Marie's eyebrows raised higher at the man. He had transferred into teaching mode, which happened to be rather odd when you were on the other end of it. However, she could tell the direction he was going with this, and Marie slowly began to shake her head.
"Are you suggesting-...?" he cut her off before she could finish her statement.
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting. You need to start somewhere. You have your wand, right?"
"Of course I have my wand, I still don't leave home without it. But that doesn't mean I can even remotely use it. I'm a muggle I can't do magic anymore. I've tried, I just can't do it anymore."
Iago walked over to her, standing beside her, "I have seen you successfully carry out spells before without even noticing. It takes a very gifted witch to pull off a defensive shield without even a wand in her hand."
"First off... we don't even know if that was me."
"It was-..."
"Hush, no we don't know that. And even then, you're not really a witch if you can't cast a spell when you want or need to." Iago's hands were folded behind his back now, as he looked at the carriage. The thestrals were still there... if anything they looked kind of bored. There was a short silence, before Iago glanced back over at the brunette. There was a calm determination in his gaze about this, but at the same time he was treading carefully. After all, this was relatively close to talking about the past, and he wasn't quite sure either of them were ready to approach that particular topic yet. But for some reason, this seemed like the time to approach this topic.
Despite the fact he knew Marie had a firm disbelief that she couldn't preform magic, Iago knew that she was capable of it. If she was actually still fully connected to that part of herself, she could achieve much more than she was currently doing. He had only seen the smallest glimpses of the potential she had and Iago felt strangely responsible for doing something about it. After all, Marie had always been there for him though everything that had transpired over the course of this year. She'd just appeared out of nowhere, a friend. The woman deserved better company than himself, and yet here she was. If there was something he could do to help her in return, he was going to try his hardest to do so.
Especially in something like this. While he wasn't the best emotional support, he was a professor for a reason. He knew how to teach and he knew how to help people realize their potential. It would be a different dynamic, of course. He was helping someone who was an equal to him, not just a student. Not to mention, Marie already knew all the information he could give her. From the conversations he had with her in the past, she definitely knew the facts of how to preform spells. It was just a matter of reconnecting Marie to her magic. It was a challenge that truly interested Iago, on both a personal and professional level. He met her gaze after a moment, his hands still behind his back as he gently nudged her shoulder.
"Humor me. Just try."
Marie paused for a moment, staring at him for a long moment. Finally, she sighed, reaching into the inside pocket of the puffy coat and pulling her wand out. The cypress wand was held loosely in the woman's fingers, like she was a bit tentative to actually be holding the weapon after so long. Which was a slight contradiction in itself, since she thought she was no longer capable of preforming magic. She slowly moved her right hand up, taking a deep breath and focusing her thoughts.
There were three spells required of this situation. Accio to get the wheel. Reparo to repair it. Wingardium Leviosa to levitate the cart a few inches out of the snowdrift. However, just because she knew this information didn't mean she could actually do any of it. No matter how much she wanted there to be some kind of miracle and for it work, she knew it her heart it was a lost cause. She made eye contact with the man's patient gaze, slightly saddened already that she'd be disappointing him. She glanced away, focusing her attention on the spot the wheel had disappeared. Subconsciously, she took a step away from him to give herself more room.
"Accio Wheel!" She flicked her wand, preforming the spell perfectly. There wasn't a single flaw in her form or in the way she worded it. If Iago hadn't known Marie and her history, he would've completely expected that wheel to come flying out of the snow to meet them. But as the brunette woman had hypothesized, nothing happened. Other than the fact it was slowly being to snow again, making their job just that bit more urgent, at least in Marie's mind. She looked back at Iago, lowering her wand again, hand going to her hip.
"There, satisfied? It isn't going to work, Iago, I've been through this before," she glanced at the sky, which was currently blowing even more snow at them, "albeit in a much warmer environment."
"You've convinced yourself that it can't be done, but it can be...-"
"Iago I can't, at least not anymore..-"
"Yes you can, just just try. I've seen you preform magic before," he stated, watching at her intently. This statement immediately brought confusion to her brown eyes. With good reason, since Marie didn't actually know of any instance that she'd somehow managed to pull off a spell in front of him... ever. Unless he was referring to what had happened in the forest. Her expression became slightly anxious, taking into account she was still tentative to go into those events, even now after it had been over a month.
"There's no way of saying that was me. Maybe the spell just backfired somehow," Marie said slowly, though she was slightly surprised when Iago shook his head, just slightly. Wait, did that mean he wasn't talking about what had happened in the forest? She'd paused in her actions, taking another step away from him, a certain intensity in her light brown eyes as she folded her arms across her chest. Despite the seriousness of the topic, it was definitely a challenge to take her completely seriously when she looked like a marshmallow.
"I'm not talking about that," he responded, waving the comment off, as to quickly move past mention for the forest. It was still a bit too soon to discuss those events, especially twice in one discussion. Maybe it would always be too soon. Either way, it wasn't what he was talking about. He took a step forward, walking over to the carriage as he spoke, but keeping his eyes on her. You remember when I got poisoned?"
"It's not the kind of thing you forget," she murmured, before tilting her head slightly. Confusion passed through her gaze. "I don't see how that relates to me and my inability to preform magic." Her eyes followed him as she moved, slightly curious to where he was going with this but at the same time, she was starting to reach the point where she was too cold to care for too much longer. She didn't fancy standing out in a blizzard for a couple of hours.
"It matters...-" he began, moving around the carriage and looking at the spot the wheel disappeared. He watched his feet, as to not meet a similar fate as their carriage. He paused, looking back up at Marie, "-...because when you were in the Hospital Wing, you did cast a spell. There was a water glass you handed me. A full water glass."
"Again, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Marie, the glass was empty before you touched it."
The brunette professor froze at these words, and not just because the wind could have turned you into a solid block of ice. She ran over the movement in her head. It was something she barely remembered from 2 months ago. Marie had been so focused on Iago at the time, she hadn't even given the motion of grabbing a cup of water a second thought. She remembered getting it, but it was too long ago for her to remember exact details, other than her worry for the man standing in front of her. Unlike Iago, the moment had no reason to be remembered in her brain.
"Maybe you just... imaged it. You were still just waking up when I handed that to you. Could have been dreaming still or something."
"I wasn't dreaming." Iago went quiet for a moment, his wand reappearing out of his pocket. He paused for a moment, glancing over at Marie before he quietly murmured the proper spells under his breath. It was only within a few moments that the wheel was back in its proper place on the medieval vehicle, and the carriage was back on the road. He glanced up, immediately finding Marie's curious gaze on his. He gave an explanation before she could open her mouth to question it. "But just because I know I didn't dream that up, I also don't want you to freeze to death in a blizzard."
He pushed open the door, and faster than he would have thought possible Marie was back inside of it, curled up inside the relatively warmer space. He hardly saw her pass by him, she moved into the carriage so fast. She was more like a flying blue-ish marshmallow. A small smile touched his face after a short moment, glancing inside the inside of the carriage after the woman with a raised eyebrow before getting in after her and closing the door. Almost as soon as the door closed again, the carriage started moving, as if the thestrals had been waiting on them.
"It isn't too cold."
"You're only saying that because you're used to it. Shush, you," she responded, gently nudging his shoulder in a playful manner before taking shelter again in the puffy coat. He found himself momentary watching the brunette, who was currently pulling her legs up to her chest to keep herself warm. Honestly, it was hard to admit for the word "cute" to not float into his head right now. All he could really see of her right now were the large brown eyes peeking out from the inside of the coat. She was adorable; it was merely a fact.
After a minute or two, the worries he may had about them getting attacked on their way to Hogsmeade faded to the back of his mind, enough for him to actually relax and actually just... enjoy the moment. He knew these few moments of calm would probably become more rare as time went on, especially as certain parts of the war began to progress faster than he'd first thought. Clearly they were preparing for something and the question didn't even lay in what. He knew as well as other members of the Order... and honestly anyone with a bit of knowledge about history knew the death eaters would plan to take out the muggleborns and muggles first. The question was when.
It could be any random moment they decide to attack. Sure, they had intelligence from the Order, but regrettably that wasn't as reliable as it used to be. So it meant he always had to be on alert for any signs of impending attacks. Especially with Malady in the wind, which knowledge of what her name was. The witch probably knew every single detail about Marie now, past and present. The fact that she'd seen Marie with him just made her even more of a target.
And though he didn't quite understand it yet, he couldn't stand the thought of losing the brunette woman. He'd only know her for a few months, and yet he was probably closer to her than he'd been to anyone in his life. The only person who came close was Nydia, and that was a purely professional relationship. With Marie, he actually felt as if he could relax with her. He glanced over at her, slightly surprised to find her curious gaze directed at him, her chin resting on her knees.
"You when I said shush, I didn't mean for you to get lost in that head of yours for the rest of the trip," she inquired, a gentle smile touching her lips. A small smile also appeared on his face, mirroring her expression for a moment before it faded slightly. An eyebrow got raised at this, though she didn't say anything. There was no need to. After a moment, she did change the topic.
"So... after we get out of the carriage, assuming everyone is too cold to really cause trouble, we make a break for the Three Broomsticks and stay there until it's time to turn around and head back to Hogwarts, where it is significantly warmer." She glanced over at him, and he nodded slightly in response, letting himself get distracted in chatting with the brunette again. After all, it wouldn't be long until they go there now, with the carriage actually moving again. He shifted in his seat, glancing out the window as he began to speak.
"Probably the best plan to avoid the snow. Also, the pub will probably be the warmest and least crowded place right now."
"Warmer than one of the shops, at least." It was after this statement the carriage began to slow to a stop, a signal that they would be to be braving the blizzard soon once again. It had begun to snow again like before, the wind carrying the white flakes nearly sideways inside of down. It wasn't showing any signs of letting up as the carriage rolled to a stop. There was a small glance exchange, before Iago touched the handle of the carriage with an eyebrow raised at Marie.
"Ready?"
She nodded, before Iago opened the door in one quick movement as they both slipped out of the carriage. It was significantly worse actually being in the snow, enough to even bother the Scotsman slightly. He could only see a few feet ahead of himself, and on the street they were on, he could barely make the Three Broomsticks a couple of yards away. Almost as soon as they got outside, he felt a hand grab his. Marie. He might have glanced at her questioningly on any other occasion, but in this snow he'd honestly be worried about the small woman getting lost in the blizzard or something. Which they couldn't have. However, he did glance at her when she squeezed his hand. It was her way of telling him to hurry up. He nodded unconsciously, a small smile touching his face as he glanced away before moving in the direction of the Three Broomsticks.
[align=center]I WANTED TO SAY DON'T YOU SHIVER, SHIVER, SHIVER
I'LL ALWAYS BE WAITING FOR YOU, SO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I NEED YOU
[div style=" width: 500px; height:30px; background-image:url( http://31.media.tumblr.com/3fd03dc0a93de...o7_500.gif); background-position: bottom;"][color=transparent]© jade
[shadow=white,left]gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society[/shadow]
advanced -- link hub -- wow
[shadow=white,left]at night a candle's brighter than the sun[/shadow]
GET OFF MY COUCH
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AUGUST 20TH, 1999 -- NYDIA MASTOWSKI & IAGO RICHELIEU -- WIZARDING WORLD -- 5833 WORDS It was your average August evening, and Nydia was bussing table. Usually it offered a bit of time to get lost in your own thoughts for a bit. And honestly, the thing that was on Nydia's mind right now? The fact that she wasn't going to be standing on platform 9 and 3/4 quarters in 10 days. It was old habit now, she'd been going to the school ever since she'd been in England... and the fact she wasn't going now just felt downright strange. And while her classmates had all planned to go get jobs or something as soon as they had gotten out of school, she had no fucking clue what she was supposed to be doing. Well, not everyone could be an auror. There had to be someone running the bars of the Wizarding World, like the Leaky Cauldron. What was there more to want?
Her thoughts were broken when one of the other waitresses -- Mindy, her name was -- tapped her on the shoulder. Mindy was the type of girl you would honestly expect to see as a Hooters waitress back in the States. Blonde, gorgeous, a bombshell... however that's as far as the graces went for this woman. Dumber than a goldfish, not that Nydia was going to say this. Mindy also happened to be her senior for the moment. Nyd glanced around at her, before seeing where her finger was pointing. "That one's yours, Nydia. He's in your section. I'll finish this."
"On it," she mumbled, raising an eyebrow at her before she walked off, first walking off behind the bar to wash her hands, before she grabbed a notepad, walking over to the man sitting at the table. With a green blazer and a mop of brown curls, he looked like he'd missed the last bus back to the 80's. An eyebrow already slightly quirked, the young woman stood next to the table, making eye contact with him.
"Nice jacket, man. So, what can I get for you today?" He straightened when he was spoken to, the look of a man not-too-professional trying to be professional. She knew the look, it was the look she saw in herself whenever she tried to act like a real person and not a sarcastic asshole. She worked in the service industry, after all. There was a fine line between being cute and being an ass, and she was reminded quite often by her superiors she needed to stay on the right side of that line... at least most of the time. And the times that she didn't need to be on the right side, were the times in which she proved why they kept her around.
"Yes, it is a nice jacket. I'm having a very important meeting. Top-secret and all of that," the man inquired, lowering his voice and leaning in slightly when he said the words "top-secret." Which Nydia honestly found mildly amusing, since he had a Scottish accent and just a general presence that she couldn't take that seriously. But, he definitely took himself seriously... which somehow made it even more amusing.
"A very important meeting... in a pub?" Nydia said slowly, though this didn't seem to faze him in the slightest. In fact, he just elaborated on her statement, turning it in his favor.
"A popular location that links the muggle and wizarding world," he countered, leaning back in his chair, his fingers lacing behind his neck in a relaxed sort of way as he looked up at the waitress. "Easy to access by multiple parties, you get me?"
"I get you," she responded, her hand on her hip as she repeated him, with an almost undetectable trace of mocking, "...but this still is a pub. Whatever, none of my business anyway is it? You said secret so doesn't that mean not blabbing the purpose of everything you're doing to the waitress?" she inquired, mostly as a method to get him to shut up and actually tell her what the hell he wanted to drink. Didn't go to plan, though.
"I might tell you a few of my secrets if you tell me a few of yours," he flirted, to which Nydia rolled her eyes to. And of course he was flirting... with pretty bad pick up lines, she might add. Scottish dude flirting with her, what else was new? However, Nydia being Nydia, couldn't overlook the option to have a bit of fun with it.
"How about this, if you tell me what drink you want to order, maybe I'll let you buy me one later," she responded with a small smirk. Hey, she never said she would. She said maybe. And if it got him to stop flirting long enough to actually say what he wanted to order, she would consider that mission accomplished. And she wasn't disappointed; her tactics worked.
"Firewhiskey will be fine," he inquired, "Now... tell me what your drink of choice is Miss...?" He got a response of Nydia tapping the nametag on her chest, which read ɴʏᴅɪᴀ in bolded letters. He squinted at the nametag, enough to where Nydia was mildly convinced he might be using it as an excuse to check out her boobs. His eyes didn't linger long, as Nydia made quite a point of making eye contact with him again.
"And you are?" It was the name that was gonna be on the bill anyway, she suspected. He opened his mouth to answer, but a Welsh voice behind her spoke first, answering the question for her.
"Iago Richelieu." She spun on her heel, turning around to face the man who was standing behind her... way closer than she thought. She took a step back, feeling her back hit the table. She had good reason, the dude was probably a foot taller than her, and she was in heels. He was currently giving her a look that was that of someone who thought she was worth about as much as the gum you scrapped off from under the tables. With a quick glance at Iago (who had straightened up; clearly this was the person he was meeting), she took the arrival of the guy as her cue to get the fuck out of the way.
More gracefully than she'd expected of herself, she slide out from her position between the big dude and the table, before twirling back around when she was a few feet away, looking back at the dude. After all, she still needed to get his order... she made eye contact with him for a second, before he grumbled, sounding perpetually pissed off, "Beer," he stated, without elaboration. Giving the man a slow thumbs up, she quickly penned it down before slipping off to the bar.
It didn't take her more than two minutes to get the drinks. After all, it was just filling a glass with firewhiskey and grabbing a beer. Definitely still in her range of skills. Whatever they were talking about seemed at least somewhat serious. When she walked over, the Big Guy (at least, that's what he was being called in Nydia's head) didn't even acknowledge her as she came over. However, Iago's eyes did wander over to her walked over, smirking at her and making eye contact with her and actually winking. Well, she had to give the guy credit, he was pretty confident. Not her type at all, but hey. She admired the effort.
After dropping off the drinks, she went over to quickly take the orders from a mother and daughter pair that had sat down in her section. Actually, the mum was a regular -- an auror who worked for the Ministry. The reason she was actually with her daughter today? Well, it was late August... Nydia guessed some late supply-getting from Hogwarts. There were a lot of those people coming through around now. It was like Christmas shopping -- most Hogwarts supplies were also picked up at the very last second.
After quickly filling this order though, she got tossed a soapy rag by Mindy. Thank god for good reflexes, or she would have gotten a face-full of soap. She raised an eyebrow at her slightly, before examining the green rag momentarily, holding it between her thumb and forefinger with a slight grimace. She walked back to behind the bar, beginning to wipe the surface down, occasionally picking up a stray glass and dropping it in the sink.
As was the job of a waitress, she kept an eye out on the people she was supposed to be serving. After all, there was always the chance someone would want a drink refilled or something of that variety. It was when she glanced up to check on them she noticed something she probably wasn't supposed to. Iago had glanced back around to look at her for a moment, honestly giving her what could be best described as puppy dog eyes. Determined, I'll give him that. However, this was not what caught her attention. The moment Iago looked away, the man he was talking to used this as an opportunity. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small sparkle, something Nydia of all people recognized. A vial, something you'd find in a potions classroom. She glanced away from Iago just in time to catch the man he was sitting across from him pour the contents of a vial into that firewhiskey.
Oh shit. And to add to this, Iago was too distracted in his half-assed attempts at flirting with the waitress to notice. And she was that waitress. Iago had gone back to talking with the Big Guy about whatever was being discussed, leaving Nydia frozen for a moment as she stared at the table. She didn't know what the fuck to do, but she needed to figure it out fast... because she guessed she only had a minute or two to piece together what to do before he took another sip of that drink.
She couldn't confront the guy directly, unless it became absolutely necessary. Getting in the middle of a bar fight was not something she felt like cleaning up. Not to mention, if it got to close combat she had a feeling she was screwed. Sometimes it was hard to remember that you were merely a 18 year old girl. Which meant she had to keep everything magic-based if it came to combat.
Why am I so determined to help this guy? It was a legitimate question, taking into account she was currently debating what kind of tactics she could use in trying to confront the situation. However, as much as she'd rather not admit it, she knew she would feel pretty damn guilty unless she somehow fixed...damn it.
Nydia had taken too long in her consideration. That drink was already in his hand, and he was raising it to his lips already... and she wasn't stopping him. She could've shouted out at him for him to stop, to not drink whatever the fuck was in that drink. But she didn't. Why? As much as she hated it, she already knew what her plan was. And she was going have to rely on the effects of what that poison was to be obvious enough to catch the attention of the other patrons in the bar. She was also going to have to rely on her own skills at potions to reverse whatever it was.
She wiped her hands off on her jeans, slowly circling around to the other side of the bar, focused on the two at the table. Iago was talking, and slowly setting the drink down. However, he didn't get that far. The spiked drink was already taking effect, and the glass slipped from his hand, smashing against the ground. She could tell Iago was already unconscious before he hit the table. All eyes in the pub were now on the smashed drink and unconscious man, the loud noise bringing a hush over the room. The Big Guy stood up, waving a hand at Iago. "My friend here must've had one two many drinks tonight...-" He was cut off by Nydia.
"Well, that's the biggest slice of bullshit I've seen served all day, and I'm a waitress in a pub." She was standing about a foot in front of the bar, her wand pointed directly at the man. Nydia was in this now, and now that she was committed, she was going to stay that way. The Big Guy gawked at her for a moment, enough for her to get another line in. As she spoke, other patrons moved to the sides, getting out of the line of fire. "People don't pass out after one since sip of a firewhiskey, unless it's not just firewhiskey. So tell me... what did'ya spike his drink with? I'm dying to know what creative concoction you death eaters are coming up with nowadays."
"You bitch...- do you know what you're getting yourself into?" he growled, starting to take a step forward, pulling his wand out. The moment his wand was in his hand, Nydia flicked her wand, red light dancing out of her wand in a quick attempt to disarm him in an unspoken spell. However, it was blocked. It spun off in another direction, causing a woman to be disarmed of the fork in her hand. He did look mildly surprised at the speed in which she'd cast that though. She kept her wand held aloft in front of her, and slowly they were now circling each other. Nydia backing up a bit in the process and the Big Guy moving forward, more toward the center. Nydia raised an eyebrow slightly, smirking at him.
"Do you know what you've gotten yourself into?" she asked, taking a step back again, her heel hitting the back of the bar. However, while she was against the bar... the man was now standing in the center of the room. He chuckled at what she said, and even more when she was apparently cornered against the bar. He took another step forward, and her wand was still held aloft, however she wasn't casting anything yet. "I think you're in over your head, little girl."
"I think you've forgotten that I'm not just any little girl, I'm a waitress in a pub. A waitress who knows who her regulars are. For instance, she knows when she's in a room with 3 aurors, all of whom right about now are probably registering your face from some file they have stored away, amongst the many wanted posters of death eaters that are still active," she stated, her eyes sliding quickly to the people along the wall. Sure enough, two men had their wands out, and they were slowly moving to strategic locations around the man (who was now in the center of the room thanks to Nydia). In addition, the woman she'd been serving early was standing in front of her daughter, wand also pointed at the thug, along with the others. The Big Guy was also coming to this realization as well. And he was definitely pissed. Specifically, at the waitress who'd drawn the attention to him.
"You are going to regret this-..." he lifted his wand, and some instinct told her Protego wasn't going to cut this. She dove down to the ground, just as something green flashed over her head, and as another three flashes of red from the aurors wands went straight into the Big Guy. When she looked up, the man was laying against a table, very unconscious. It was only after a few seconds that she registered what spell had just flown past her head. "Holy shit, that fucker," she muttered under her breath, frozen for a second in shock as she stared at the blackened spot that the curse had hit the bar. If I had been any slower. Jeez. She was broken out of her trance only when she felt the hand of the auror touch her shoulder. It was the woman she'd been serving. She was actually kneeling next to her, a look of concern in her eyes.
"You okay, Miss...?" Nydia pulled her arm away, however, for once not in a particularly rude way, before getting to her feet with the help of the edge of the bar. Which she then leaned against for a moment, mostly to make sure her legs were actually still functioning. The shock was starting to catch up with her after all, though for the moment she was going to force herself past it... after all she had to deal with Ministry workers.
"Nydia. And yes, I'm feeling wonderful. I just dodged a Killing Curse, I'm just swell," she inquired, raising an eyebrow at the ginger auror. The woman was hovering slightly over Nydia, almost as if she was expecting the waitress to fall back over again. And honestly, she'd probably be annoyed if she didn't find the woman rather cute. Married, with a child Nydia. Slow down. But still, she was an auror a.k.a a Ministry worker which was disappointing.
"Are you sure? We could give you something for the shock, and you could be on your way. Not to mention, I think the other two might want to talk to you -- that display was pretty impressive for just a waitress," the auror stated, watching as Nydia detached herself from the bar, slipping her wand in her pocket and taking a few steps forward. Not that she got very far. A certain blonde waitress by the name of Mindy launched herself at Nydia, nearly knocking her over again in the process with her hug. As Mindy made incoherent noises that sounded like something half-way between crying and relief, Nydia looked over the woman's shoulder back at the auror.
"I'm fine, I've been through worse. Just wasn't expecting that guy to get a curse in like that. Also, if you want a witness to talk to, I'll be willing to bet you have more reliable ones then me. Get your buddies to talk with someone else. Like Mindy here." She gently peeled the blonde waitress off her, gently leading her to a seat at the bar in front of the auror, before taking a step back. "Besides, I've got something to take care of first." Before the auror could stop her, she took a step back, turning to the crowd. At first, the auror made a move to grab Nydia's wrist to prevent her from going anywhere, but she was distracted when Mindy tackled her, hugging her and crying into the auror and sufficiently preventing her from going anywhere.
Nydia slowly made her way across the room, her eyes glancing at the Big Guy (whom she still didn't know the name of) for only a moment as she made her way back to the unconscious Iago. Surprisingly, there wasn't an auror next to him yet. Both of the male aurors were more than focused on the Big Guy still, and the cute ginger one was still entertaining Mindy the waitress.
She crouched next to him, her eyes not going to him at first but the glassy remains of his drink. Whatever it was, it had definitely knocked him out. Right now she was hoping it was some muggle knockout drugs, and not what she was suspecting it was. Nydia gently pressed two fingers into the puddle of firewhiskey, before sniffing it. She grimaced slightly at the smell of stale whiskey, but the real reason she looked bothered was the fact she smelled nothing but whiskey. And there was only one poison she knew with that characteristic that knocked someone out like this. A quick check of his pulse confirmed her suspicions, and she groaned.
"If my day couldn't have gotten any worse. Of course it had to be the Draught of Living Death," she mumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose. Nydia paused, before she checked his pockets, actually finding his wallet on the first one. She peeked inside, before patting his shoulder, which obviously she got no reaction from. He was dead to the world. "Well, looks like whoever you are Iago Richelieu, you're rich. Which is lucky, because otherwise I might not bother paying for the ingredients for the antidote myself. I might've just let them bring you off to Mungo's. Which I doubt you would like, top secret whatever you're up to. Not to mention, what takes them 3 months will take me 12 hours to brew. You can thank me later."
Iago didn't respond, which was again, not surprising. With a quick glance around to check if any aurors happened to watching her (nope, still distracted), she gripped one of Iago's arms with one hand, while her wand was in the other. She closed her eyes, picturing her apartment only a floor above them. With a quick wave of her wand, both of them disappeared from the dingy pub without a trace left behind.
[align=center][color=black]*twelve hours later*
Nydia was sitting at the table in the very corner of her room, a large variety of different potion ingredients around her. Well, at least what used to be potion ingredients. Now it was more or less just a bunch of empty vials and containers that were now empty or at least partially so. In the middle of the table was an old pewter cauldron, that was currently filled with a surprisingly pink liquid.
"Salamander blood, salamander blood... where have you run off to? Ah, there you are." The waitress picked up the vial, examining it for a moment before she looked back down at the cauldron. She looked exhausted, with good reason. She'd had a pretty stressful day. Also night... it was only now that she noticed that the sun was actually rising. Guess it was actually tomorrow, but honestly Nydia wasn't considering it as such. It wasn't August 21st until she slept. Sure, staying up all night was something others might do easily, but she was fond of her beauty rest.
The brunette uncorked the salamander blood, before she slowly poured it into the cauldron. Within only a moment the potion turned from pink to an almost neon shade of green. At the very moment it did, Mastowski turned the heat off of the cauldron, corking the remains of the salamander blood and setting it on the rack of vials she had. She leaned to the side for a moment, letting the potion cool off as she rested her head against the wall.
Goodness, she was tired. But she still had a dude to wake up from his fairytail style cat nap. It was the poison that usually came up in all that muggle lore. However, true love's kiss was far from the answer. It was Wiggenweld Potion, which was the green potion currently sitting in her cauldron. She could probably even make a bit of a profit by selling what she had left over on the streets. Either way, she grabbed an empty vial, slowly filling it to the brim, leaving the rest in cauldron. She'd put the rest of it in vials later. This bit was to wake up Iago.
She stood up, carefully keeping an eye on the vial to avoid unnecessarily wasting any of the fluid. Iago was currently situated on the light blue couch that was pushed against the wall. The piece of furniture was something she'd gotten with the apartment, and she was too lazy to replace it. Not to mention, it brought a little color to the otherwise pretty colorless room. The only other colors to speak of were the dark blues of a former Ravenclaw, like the blanket that was on the bed. Which still kind of went with the light blue couch... almost.
"Now, you better not bite me or something, because if you do I swear you're gonna get a broken nose," she stated to the comatose Iago as she knelt beside him. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the 12 hour long silence to be broken the moment he woke up. Nydia place a hand under the man's neck so it was slightly tilted, so he'd actually swallow it and didn't choke to death on the liquid. Exhaling, she brought the vial to his lips, slowly pouring the entire vial down his throat.
She was expecting some sort of shocked reaction, as what was supposedly common of someone coming out of a magically induced sleep. It was probably one of the reasons she didn't jump out of her skin when the man grabbed her wrist suddenly, causing her hand to automatically release the vial she was holding. It would've shattered on the floor if she hadn't caught it with her other hand, pocketing it. Iago stared at her with an uncomprehending look for a moment, her wrist still gripped in his hand as he glanced around (rather tightly, she might add). It took a few seconds for recognition to reach his crystalline gaze.
"You were the waitress, serving drinks," he said slowly, staring at her in confusion. She couldn't blame him, she'd be confused too if he woke up with almost perfect stranger staring back at him. Nydia nodded slowly, with an air of sarcasm as she nodded. "Yes, and this waitress would like her wrist back, if you don't mind," she grumbled. He blinked at her, before what she said registered and he released his grip on her wrist. It actually ached enough to where she almost wondered if she was going to have a bruise in the morning.
"Sorry. What happened? Why am I... is this where you live?" Nydia was standing up now, wiping dust off her jeans as she got to her feet. She was wearing just an oversized t-shirt and jeans now, the black shirt advertising the Doors. Other than that, she was wearing a pair of fuzzy purple socks. He sat up slowly as she stood up, pulling his legs in toward his chest as he looked around his surroundings. Nydia ran a hand through her hair, before answering the question slowly (mostly because she had no desire to repeat herself).
"In summary, that dude you were having a chat with? He spiked your drink with a vial's worth of Draught of Living Death while you were making puppy eyes at me. Aurors got him, after I made a scene and tipped them off in the process. Also, don't judge my living quarters. I'm a waitress, not a warlord," she stated, before flopping down on her bed, the springs squeaking in protest at her sudden weight. She rolled over slightly, her hair covering her face as she looked at Iago, whom now staring at her with his mouth hanging open slightly.
"Close your mouth, Richelieu, you'll catch flies," she grumbled half-heartedly, causing him to shut his mouth immediately. There was an uncharacteristically long moment of silence, as Iago gathered his thoughts and Nydia half-considered just letting herself fall asleep on the bed and let Iago figure out his own way back to wherever he came from. Finally, he spoke, just as Nydia shut her eyes under her wave of hair.
"Living Death? That sounds pretty fucking bad; how long was I out for?" the alarm in his voice was enough to get her to sit back up, leaning her head against the bedpost and looking at him with a raised eyebrow. It was either a raised eyebrow or the fact she was leaning against the bedpost so it was stretching her face up a bit in the process. "You were out a little over 12 hours. Sun's rising now."
She saw him glance outside at the window to confirm she was right. From the window you could see a few shreds of sunlight flickering out from under the London clouds. Which was more sun than they usually got in London. Iago's arms were perched on his knees now, his fingers laced in front of him. After a long moment, he looked back at Nydia, looking slightly perturbed. "Well, how about that for first mission? I get poisoned before I can get the chance to get myself even tipsy. And I wake up to find that a girl that's been down my trousers while I was out. Just brilliant."
Nydia's eyebrows shot up at that last part, particularly at the sleazy smirk she got afterwards. However, the woman was hardly shaken by it... in fact she seemed downright amused. "In your dreams, Scotland. You're not really my type," she responded, actually going into a pretty accurate Scottish accent at the word "Scotland." Enough to get a slightly raised eyebrow from the brown-haired man. She'd had an Irish accent up until that very Scottish one.
"Are you really sure about that? Because we're already up in your room.... what other reason would you have gone through all that trouble for?" Nydia stood up at this statement, walking slowly toward him with her arms crossed. From the look on Iago's face, for a moment there he actually thought that line had worked on Nydia. Right up until she broke character and snorted with laughter, before falling into a fit of giggles. Once that was done with (and Iago looked properly disconcerted), she responded.
"Sorry, you're just really not my type. By that I mean you are too needy and.... oh right, male." The flirtatious look in his eyes finally dropped from his demeanor after Nydia said this, a slightly surprised look in his eyes at her bluntness. However, of all the things she could've said, it seemed, this is what could make him chill out. He relaxed back into the chair, seeming a bit put out. "Oh, right then--... wait, needy? Seriously?"
"I'm a waitress and I just saved your ass from a death eater; the fact that you needed to get saving from me is pretty pathetic. Not to mention the terrible flirting... I've heard better from the regular drunks." Her words were harsh, mostly due to the fact she hadn't slept in... how long again? She'd forgotten. He oddly didn't seem too swayed by her words, a puzzled look entering his eyes. It really wasn't the reaction she was expecting.
"Okay, if I'm so terrible then why did you "rescue" me?" He did quotation marks with his fingers as he said the word rescue, and honestly it was mostly for the purpose of bugging the brunette just a bit more, as if testing to see if he could push her to getting properly angry with him. At least that's how Nydia was perceiving it. But she resisted the urge of whacking him in the head with something, instead actually bothering to respond somewhat calmly, genuinely. She took a few steps away from him, wandering off to clean up the various extra ingredients in the room.
"You're in here because before I raised the alarms, all of the aurors in the room weren't on alert when you went down. If you were with them, then the moment you hit the floor they would've been on top of that guy. And since that death eater poisoned you with something as nasty as Living Death, you're clearly not one of theirs either. That in-between space on not liking the Ministry and not liking the Death Eaters is where I am, and apparently also where you are. I felt obliged to lend a hand." She was corking bottles, putting them where they were supposed to be, also putting a top on the Wiggenweld Potion as she did so. Nydia felt Iago's eyes on her as she crossed the room, silent for a moment as he processed her statement. It was only after she actually made eye contact with him again, eyebrow raised, that he responded to her, slowly. It was the first not flirtatious or sarcastic thing to come out of his mouth.
"I'm starting to see why you would able to outsmart that death eater."
A small smile quirked on her face at this... she had a feeling that was the closest thing she was going to get to a genuine compliment this morning. This is as far as it went though, because she turned her attention back to the vials, grabbing a particular rack and carrying it over to the mini fridge. Notably, it wasn't even plugged in. It was enchanted to stay cold. She slipped the rack into the fridge, at the same time pulling out a plate of something to get it all to fit. Of all things, cookies.
Now, take a plate of cookies and get off my couch. My shift is in 6 hours, and I want to get some sleep without a Scot talking in my ear." She handed the cookies to Iago, picking one up and taking a bite as she went along... mostly so he stopped looking at them like they were poisoned. They'd been some leftovers from the bar from 2 days ago that Nydia had kidnapped. After all, otherwise they were just going to toss a bunch of fresh cookies, and she couldn't have that. He looked at the cookies in mild confusion, just staring at them blankly for a second before he slowly got to his feet. It was as he stood up Nydia flopped back down on the bed.
"As much as I would love to keep you from sleeping a little longer, there are probably people wondering where the fuck I am," he glanced between the door, the waitress, and the plate of cookies in his hands. There was a slightly awkward silence, probably because he probably thought he should be saying more to the girl who just saved his life... either that or he was just buffering. It was then Nydia spoke, laying back on the bed and staring at the ceiling. "Do I need to get up and show you where the door is or can you do that yourself without assistance?"
She heard his footsteps move away from her, followed by the squeak of the door opening. She could feel his gaze on her again as he paused in the doorway. It was enough to get her to lift her head to make eye contact with him yet again. It was then he spoke, slowly, "See you around, Nydia."
"I'm sure you will. After all, someone is going to have to drag your sorry ass out of the fire every once in a while," she said as form of a farewell. She heard something that sounded somewhere between a scoff and a laugh from Iago, before the door finally clicked shut behind the brunette man. Nydia rolled over after he left, repositioning herself in he bed and getting under the relatively thin blanket. She didn't even need to change clothes -- she'd been ready to sleep for the past 5 hours. It only took about 2 minutes for Nydia to be out like a light.
HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
C'MON, HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
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A FORK IN THE ROAD
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THE HIGH SCHOOL YEARS -- MICKEY DONOVAN -- SUPERNATURAL UNIVERSE -- 1100 WORDS "Miss Steiner, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
The hacker was sitting in the guidance office, sitting a bit too straight in the faux leather chair across from the counselor. Her legs were crossed in the chair, her knees resting on the armrests. Mickey was clearly trying to come off as relaxed, but lying was definitely not one of her strong suits. Even in the eyes of a low-paid social worker, it was clear that the ginger was nervous. Her short fingernails were tapping against her knee, at least one part of her body moving at all times. This isn't going to be fun.
A series of events had lead to where Mickey was now. The main one being she was going to be graduating within a few months, and she had barely chosen a direction she wanted to go. For most people, it was one of the most important decisions of their lives. The ultimate fork in the road. To go to college, or to not go to college. A few years ago, she would've had no question in her mind of where she was going. For her entire life, she had always wanted to go to college. Even from when she was young, it had been her goal. To become the best hacker in the world, or something like that. She had been young... and her goals were set a bit high. But she was still pretty damn good at her area of expertise.
If she had been living a normal, apple-pie life, she would have no qualms with saying the statement "I want to go to college." In fact, she would have made it clear moment she stepped into Skowhegan High for the first time as a freshman. But it was much more complicated than that. Complicated is an understatement.
She was a hunter. Senior in high school by day, completely badass hacker by night. It almost sounded like a bad television drama. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, minus the superhero girl with inhuman powers. All they had were a bunch of humans. Well, Electra is pretty close to superhuman sometimes. With all these factors, it meant that if she told the guy the truth, he would most likely get her tested for drugs. Which would mean way more trouble than Mickey would want, as it would probably mean Marcus would get involved. She had probably already gotten Blair worried, taking into account she had been pulled out of English for this.
Mickey regarded the man in front of her. The man was relatively young, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. He had only been to counselor for this past year, after the last one had disappeared. (i.e. got freaked out when he learned that monsters were real and needed to take some time to reevaluate his life.) The bespectacled man in front of her would probably react in a similar fashion if such a thing became reality. She banished these thoughts for the moment, responding to his question in her usual manner.
"Probably going to end up working in a fast food joint as a waitress," Mickey responded, keeping her voice as level as possible. She was lying, and it was blatantly obvious. For some reason, the man didn't even blink at this answer. It was like he was expecting it. Without saying a word, he reached under his desk and placed a stack of papers in front of her, folding his arms. Mickey tilted her head slightly, leaning forward and looking at the paper on the top.
"Do you know what these are?"
"Obituaries for Skowhegan?" Mickey guessed from the top of her head, taking into account the size of the stack. It was the counselor's turn to give her a weird look. So much for not coming off as a complete nutjob.
"Uh, no. Quite the opposite. These are the letters that we have gotten from colleges that want you. And in my few years of being around, I've never seen so many offers from colleges for one single person. And, Mickey, these aren't normal colleges either," the man stated, holding up a couple of pages.
"Yale, Brown, Harvard... some of these are ivy-league schools. Yale is even offering you a free ride, which I've never even heard of before. And you've got out-of-country groups as well who want you. Stanford for instance. They want you in their information technology programs. You've sent waves in the world of technology, and they've noticed."
Mickey chewed her lip, not making eye contact with the man now. She could feel her heart beating faster now, actual nervousness starting to kick in. It seemed lying through it wasn't going to work. He knew about her hacking abilities, and there was no way of sneaking her way out of that one. It wasn't like she could say oh, those letters are for another Mickey Steiner. She already knew about it, though she hadn't dared tell anyone. Not even Luka. She knew if they heard about all of the colleges that were trying to get to her, they might flip out. She couldn't even fathom Marcus' reaction. The ginger didn't speak for a long moment, before speaking slowly.
"It's more complicated than you would think. I can't just leave and go to college. There are reasons, very important reasons, that I need to stay here. Commitments I can't just walk away from."
"What commitment could be more important than college?"
"My... um, family is involved in a business. A business that involves traveling around the country more often than not. I can't really attend a college if I'm in Maine one day and in Utah the next." The man paused at this, clearly thinking about what she had said. Probably trying to figure out what the kids in the mansion do for a living, in all honesty. She was surprised when his next question wasn't what they did for a living.
"Mickey, have you ever considered taking online courses?" The ginger looked up suddenly, her eyebrows knit together. It was like a light had turned on behind her eyes. The fact was, no, she hadn't considered that. But as her brain processed it, she slowly began to realize that it would work. She would make it work. Mickey looked at the man, a smile slowly growing on her face.
"Not until just now. You don't happen to have about twenty pamphlets about it, do you?"
[align=center]I DON'T WANNA BE THE ONE TO TELL YOU THAT THE WORLD IS BROKE
BUT YOU'RE SO INNOCENT YOU CANNOT SEPARATE THE FIRE FROM THE SMOKE
[div style=" width: 500px; height:30px; background-image:url( http://i.imgur.com/gsGloXf.png); background-position: center;"][color=transparent]© jade
[shadow=white,left]gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society[/shadow]
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[shadow=white,left]at night a candle's brighter than the sun[/shadow]
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