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Post by Maureen Brady-O'Brien on Jun 29, 2015 19:42:24 GMT -5
The Celestial Lake looked so beautiful under the setting sun. Dragonflies skimmed along its surface, dipping and twirling. The water was cool and comforting between her toes. For some reason, she was playing patty-cake with Fin. Who played patty-cake anymore? She was fourteen years old and beautiful and part of a powerful family and she shouldn't be playing patty-cake.
"Patty-cake, patty-cake, baker's man ... "
Fin looked strange, though. He was wearing the uniform she'd seen in his trunk. It was muddy and torn and red and it hung off his shoulders as though he couldn't fill it out anymore. As though he were hungry, terribly hungry. Ah, that's why they were playing patty-cake. Cake for Fin.
"Bake me a cake as fast as you can ... "
He hadn't taken off his shoes to stand in the water. That was silly. Why was he wearing boots in the lake? What a strange man. What an incomprehensible, unknowable brother. How far away he seemed. Come home, Fin. Come home.
"Pat it and shape it and mark it with a 'B' ... "
She thrust her hands under the crisp, clear water, holding the bloodied uniform between her palms. She needed to scrub, scrub, scrub. She needed to get rid of the bloodstains. Oh, but it hurt ... there was something wrong with her fingers. What was wrong with her fingers? Oh.
"And put it in the oven for Baby and me!"
Where had her fingernails gone?
For a brief moment, Maureen's eyes fluttered open, and she saw the stony face of her cousin. "Aedan?" she murmured.
"Shhh. It's all right," he whispered. "It's going to be all right."
"Get Fin," she pleaded, before falling back into her reverie.
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Post by Eamon Flynn on Jun 29, 2015 19:47:41 GMT -5
Eamon did not know if the allegations made by Enzo Antonucchi were true. At this point, he did not care in the slightest. Whatever had happened, Enzo was trying to start a war. Eamon had already ended a war in his lifetime, he was hardly going to sit down and let another power hungry bastard do what he wants. The current path of action was obvious, of course, he did not need to be told that Enzo, Pietro and River needed to die. He could clearly see that the students needed to be evacuated. And then Pietro murdered Gawain, and he could feel true, hot anger in him. How dare he? How could anyone murder a man, a good man, in front of hundreds of children? Did he not care? Was he no longer human? That must be the explanation. That was how generations of men had been able to go to war with one another, by convincing themselves that each other were not truly human, but something less, something animalistic.
"Students, return to your common rooms. The hall is no longer safe. It appears that our esteemed Headmaster has decided that education, and protection of his students are worth nothing." His wand was firm in his hand, and he kept his eyes on the unholy trio that stood in front of the hall. "Professor Gawain Reid was a better man than any of us. It is unfortunate that you must, in the near future, join him in the afterlife." Eamon kept his anger held down, bolted to the floor, ready to fight any or all of the three if need be. "Your cowardice will become legendary, Enzo. You will go down in history as the most despicable Headmaster that this school has ever had. You low, pathetic worm." Eamon knew that despite his skills, taking on these three monsters would more than likely be far too much for him. So he would accept his death as just, were he to kill the man who had released Gawain Reid from life. "Finding an early grave would be far too kind a fate for any of you."
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Vinayak Dar
Aer Student - Year 6
Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.
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Post by Vinayak Dar on Jun 29, 2015 19:50:25 GMT -5
Vinayak was terribly afraid. What was all of this? How did it make any sense? Why had Maureen been brutalized?
Was this what would happen to him and Theo if they were ever found out? God, but could he face anything like this without Theo at his side?
Serafina already had one of Theo's hands, and the other was resting on his thigh under the table. Vinayak threw all caution to the wind, reached for Theo's hidden hand, and squeezed it.
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Theodore Keating
Aer Student - Head Boy
Haven't you heard the word of my wanting?
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Post by Theodore Keating on Jun 29, 2015 20:03:25 GMT -5
What... what the fuck did he just watch? Theo like to think that he had seen some really fucked up things in his life and this... this took the cake. Maureen tortured, a Professor now dead; killed in front of everyone eyes. Serafina had his hand in a death grip and he looked over at the girl who had tears in her eyes. She had always been sweet on the man that had just killed someone right in front of everyone eyes, and to have whatever illusion she had built for herself...
Vinayak hand came under the table and took his and Theo swallowed. There was so much he wish he could say to the boy right now, he wished he could kill him and comfort him but...
"Students, return to your common rooms. The hall is no longer safe."
Right right he needed to get the younger students out of here, he was the head boy for god sake and so he let go of Serafina's and V's hand before saying. "Serafina you are gonna have to help with the first and second years, I'll take third to fourth." Everyone older can make their own choice weather to stay or leave but the younger kids had to get out of here.
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Post by Cordelia Thatcher on Jun 29, 2015 20:13:33 GMT -5
Seated with her Aqua housemates - Annabel and Mary - Delia froze in her place as the events before her began to unfold. What was happening? One of her fellow students had been mutilated, and now her Potions professor had just murdered her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in cold blood by instruction of her Headmaster?! Why in the world was all of this going on? The murder shook her to her core - having enjoyed her DADA professor - and for a minute, she thought she might wretch. Her friends around her were in shambles, and she knew it but couldn't bring herself to her senses. She was freaking out and beginning to panic, and all of her emotions were threatening to flow out of her like a busted waterline.
Another man entered, instructing the students to leave, and she definitely didn't need to be told twice to get her buns out of there. So, in a frenzy of emotions, she jumped to her feet in the now nearly silent room and bolted out the doors to the dining hall, which some students were already doing. Tears were streaking her face, and she needed fresh air. Why were none of the other professors doing anything?!
Were they just as scared? Probably so, but she didn't have time to ponder that. Her eyes were set on the lake, wanting somehow wash herself of the images now burned into her retinas, but she found herself stumbling to a stop. The sight of a crumpled body near the lake's edge caused her to fall to her knees as she tried to slow herself, sliding in the grass a few feet before coming to a complete halt.
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Post by Nixie Auttenberg on Jun 29, 2015 20:29:16 GMT -5
No, no, no! Pietro - a man she considered a friend - had just destroyed another man she considered her friend. Gawain had been nothing but kind to her since her arrival to the school and had even gone out of his way to bring her a small bag of supplies to try and help her better transition into place. Now he was lying lifeless on the floor with vacant eyes and an empty soul that had been released from the floor. The most unforgivable curse had just been performed right in front of her eyes on a man she knew to be innocent. Or, at least, she thought he was innocent. At this point, she wasn't sure if she knew anything for certain.
Suddenly, a head filled of blue hair jumped up from one of the tables and bolted out the doors. Nixie knew that head of hair all too well, and it belonged to Cordelia Thatcher - one of her most emotional students. Wherever the girl was going, Nixie knew that she needed help calming down... Explosive anger and sadness controlled that tiny body of hers.
Instantly, her reflexes kicked in, and she vaulted over the table she shared with the other teachers (probably not a good idea for her 'cover'), walking towards the three men with trembling ankles. No, she wasn't afraid, she was... Hurt. She felt betrayed by all three of them, and the confusion that consumed her mind was on a whole new level. She paused, looking deep into the eyes of both Pietro and River with a cold, offended glare. How could they have done this to that girl? To Gawain? And where did that blood on River even come from? Maureen wasn't bleeding enough for it to belong to her..
"God will not forgive you for this," she told them flatly, accent powering through her words. One more second of a deep glare, though, and she had nothing else to do here. She had to go collect her student and make sure she was alright, so she moved past the men and broke into a sprint out the door - able to spot the girl making a turn towards the lake.
'This is war all over again...'
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Post by Serafina Latini on Jun 29, 2015 21:05:21 GMT -5
The man she loved had just murdered someone right before her very eyes.
Never had Serafina seen even a glimmer of cruelty come from the man standing next to the podium as he now loomed over her deceased Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. There were no emotions in his eyes, nothing but blackened, empty darkness that seemed to stretch for miles and miles. How could he do this? How could he perform these horrendous actions? Her tears were flowing so heavily now that she was nearly gasping for air, but she refused to make that much noise. She was too scared of what attention it might draw to her, so she simply held tight to Theo's hand... Until he released it.
He was right. They needed to handle the situation as head boy and girl, and she looked to him with a single nod before wiping the tears from her eyes. After all, the little ones couldn't see her being a hot mess of emotions - it would only scare them further. So she put on her game face and got to her feet, forcing her emotions out as she released her usual confident voice - amplifying it to speak over the rest of the whispers in the room.
"First year and second year students," she began, stepping towards the end of the table closest to the exit. "All of you will line up in an orderly manner and follow me back to your house common rooms. Do not run, do not panic, just walk quickly and stick together. Do not separate from the group," she said as she began to motion them towards her. "Once we have left the dining hall, Theo will escort all of the third and fourth years back to their houses. For the fifth, sixth, and seventh years, you must take it upon yourselves to get back to your common rooms. Go in groups of at least four."
She paused, swallowing thickly, nervously, as she waited for the students to line up. She wasn't looking at Pietro, only at them to ensure she collected each and ever one of them. Once they were all lined up, she looked back out over the students once more. "Please be careful, all of you. There is a danger lurking in our school that none of us understand," she said with a certain reference being aimed at a certain someone. And with that, she cast one final glance at her lover - one filled with not only sadness but anger, disgust, and disappointment as well - before averting her gaze and exiting the hall with her students in tow.
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Post by Annabel-Lee Atkinson on Jun 29, 2015 21:40:31 GMT -5
"Make it stop... Make it stop..." Annabel whimpered with her hands over her ears as she choked back tears. Why why was this happening? Why did all these people want to hurt each other? Why was that girl tortured so badly? And she wanted to leave so badly, she wanted to get up and run far away from this room but she couldn't move. She couldn't get her feet to work...
Then that green flash happen and Annabel couldn't help it, she screamed at the feeling of her professor soul being ripped from her body. Oh god, oh god... no no she couldn't handle it. Annabel eyes fell close and she fell onto the ground. Her mind and body both giving out it was just too much.
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Post by Elsie Beren on Jun 30, 2015 0:41:00 GMT -5
Elsie wanted to go home. Clearly, everything that she had been told about Americans was true, that this entire continent was insane, and oh God she wanted to go home. That girl, Elsie had seen her around the school so many times but she'd never had a chance to talk to her. And now the headmaster had tortured her and treated her like she wasn't even a person, just a pawn to be used in his games. She was filled to the brim with utter revulsion at the actions of the school staff. Professor Reid was dead, and now the librarian, Mr Flynn, was going to fight the Headmaster, and the two Professors Holland on his own. She wanted to do something to help, but she was already in way over her head. Her expertise was pranks, and mild revolutions, nothing where people were actually willing to kill each other.
Immediately, she realised that what she could definitely do was fly, and her big mouth might actually come in handy for once. Technically following the Head Boy and Girl's instructions, she grabbed a handful of her fellows and took them with her on a beeline to the Fuego dorms. She explained her plan to them as they ran, and all four of them leapt from windows in the dorm on their brooms, flying as hard and fast as they could to the town. The other students had a better idea than she did of who were the best adults to inform post haste about the Headmaster's sudden and inexplicable insanity. They had divvied up the locations between them, promising to meet in the square to fly back together. None of them wanted to be alone for any length of time, not now.
One of them pointed out a popular, primarily magical bar called the Underground (she didn't ask how he knew) and she peeled off from the group to burst inside. "The Cascade Headmaster just killed the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher!" she yelled as soon as she was inside. "And tortured Maureen... Maureen something. I can't remember. Please, help."
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Post by Viola Tilly on Jun 30, 2015 14:23:45 GMT -5
She flinched, she flinched, she flinched. Violence, that's all there ever was. Even the school supported it, respected it; that's why there is Quidditch. No one is safe, nowhere is safe. That's just the way it is. O'Brien, Antonucchi. Mafia families, the crime families... mainly because of alcohol, mainly for the rush from abuse. It was nothing new, but God, if there truly was one in the heavens just beyond the grey skies, the sting was just too much.
She wasn't even enjoying the meal. Viola's stomach had been feeling scrambled since the night before, a sense of woe and destruction nagging at her. It meant something bad was going to happen, that there was an unavoidable turn of events. The kind that would poison the youth surrounding her for years to come.
The food on her plate was mixed together, unshrinking in quantity since it had been served. To be honest, she was adjusting herself to stand up and leave when the chaos began. Slowly, she pushed her tray away, trying to keep her eyes from the scene. She was far too familiar with that atmosphere of pain to want to stay, to see, to be ignorant.
Acidity in the pit of her gut only worsened. So many bodies lifeless and nearing their endings, Viola grew paler. The flashing lights of demise plucked goosebumps onto her arms and, like a child without a teddy bear, she squeezed her eyes shut. There was a single tear that escaped the corner of her eye.
Professor Reid, he was a good man. So, at least she thought, were Professors Holland... She refused to open her eyes, feeling like the hopeless child she is back home. Good men killing good men, she couldn't stomach it. Finally, a voice brought some comfort, return to your common rooms. Viola managed to peel her eyes open, knowing she shouldn't keep herself blind.
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