thirty-eight detention slips

[delincuente]

[The benefits of being brutally murdered are few and far between - nearly nonexistent - but this is one of them: on a cold Thursday night, Alex is actually sprawled on the library floor with a small collection of spell books around her. She's tried this before, the sudden and uncharacteristic attempt to learn something for once, but there's more motivation behind it this time. Most of the magic she uses on a daily basis is for fun or her own personal ease. What she needs now is defense. Something to ensure that never happens again.

She pulls at the scratchy collar of her sweater, and wrinkles her brow, reminded of something.]

So, what's the most losses anyone here has? 'Cause I think the castle slapped me with another. Like getting sliced open isn't enough, I can't even emotionally recover in pajamas. It keeps sticking me in ugly sweaters instead.

[There's a pause. She's trying to keep her voice light and humorous, as per her usual, but even after a few weeks it's a bit listless and grim. She keeps thinking about New York, and her family, for the first time in what seems like ages. And how, for a few months, she had them again, before being returned promptly to Paradisa.]

... Next time this place sends me home I'd better not come back. Four losses would just be great. What a joke.

Comments

[teenagebadboy]

That's tough. I knew you could get returned but not that the bloody castle added yet another loss, like we wasn't suffering enough already.

[delincuente]

Yep. Get dragged back here or kick the bucket, and you've got another. Like, here's your punishment for your life sucking so much!

[teenagebadboy]

Fee, so you can't even leave this place and be in peace? This place just get worse by the minute.

You get losses when you dies as well? That seems weird. You're not suffering from it then.

[delincuente]

Mm-hmm. I was only at home for a few months before it decided it liked me too much. That was two years ago now, I guess. But yeah, whenever you die you get to wake up with a shiny new permanent loss.

VERY UNHAPPILY FILTERED HI THERE

[heirofficium]

Sliced open?

[ THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT SOME CRAP THAT JUST WENT DOWN. ]

WELL HI THERE SIRIUS

[delincuente]

[... Shit.

Alex is just... quiet, probably for a few long minutes. Then, in a shaky, solemn voice: ]

Hey, I told you I had a rough month.

Re: WELL HI THERE SIRIUS

[heirofficium]

[ Well. That's pretty telling. There's a pause on his end. ]

Where are you right now?

[delincuente]

... I'm in the library.

[Can the floor just swallow her up now please. Castle, can you arrange that? No? Dammit.]

[heirofficium]

Be right there.

[ And with a loud CRACK-- and a yell? ] Shit--!

[delincuente]

[She lifts herself up out of her floor-mope at that, and scrambles for her journal.]

What was that?!

[heirofficium]

[ He can't answer you right now, Alex, because he has crumpled to the floor holding his armpit. ]

Shit... Think I splinched something...

[delincuente]

... What the hell does that mean?

[She's got an idea that it's nothing nice, though, and is already picking herself up off the floor, and pushing past her small pile of books to head for the hallway.]

sorry dude i don't have a pain icon, this needs to be fixed

[heirofficium]

[ Somewhere between all the pained moaning, anyone listening can make out the words: ]

Sometimes... when you Apparate... you can leave a bit of yourself behind.

[ A grunt as he tries to push himself up on his elbow. ]

Usu'lly happens when you do it when you're distracted... Fuck, that hurts...

[delincuente]

[Okay, that's definitely got her in motion. There's the sound of a door creaking open and closed.]

Aw, how sweet. I distracted you into a gruesome injury.

[Her words are as dry as a desert, though.]

Guess I'm coming to find you, instead.

[heirofficium]

Yeah, I guess... [ When she finds him, he's managed to sit up, but god his armpit hurts like a bitch. Yeah wow, no never doing that again. He thinks. ]

Um. I'm not... bleeding, am I? I don't feel anything but I don't really feel like looking...

[delincuente]

[She was legit expecting to find him with like a limb missing, so when she comes around the corner to something much less gruesome she lets out a sharp sigh.]

Men are such babies, oh my god.

[She crouches down, sliding over to take a tentative look at the injury, poking at his shirt fabric with her wand.]

I don't know, I don't see any blood. Doesn't look terrible.

[As she's crouched over, the neck of her oversized sweater falls away from her skin, gaping widely. Yes, it is quite a magnificent view, but the important part is the ugly scar leading right down the middle of her chest. Usually a well-hidden reminder, but she's too distracted right now to cover it up.]

[heirofficium]

Have you ever splinched your armpit?! No, I don't think--

[ He stops stock still, stops her, and stretches out his hand. He'll apologise for the concerned badtouching later, just let him touch his thumb to the top inch of it and wow what the fuck is this why does it look like something out of a Muggle horror film Alex what have you been doing-- ]

... Alex?

[delincuente]

[She freezes completely at the contact, letting her wand fall still in the folds of Sirius' shirt. Her breath catches at the concern in his voice, and after a few awkward moments she reaches up to adjust her sweater, and sits back onto her knees. She swallows, trying to work her throat into producing sound, but it takes another minute. In the meantime, she focuses on Sirius' arm, pretending to focus on checking his injury.]

... Yeah, I... that's from...

[Her fingers prod at his armpit a bit more, absently, as she chokes on a deep, shuddering breath.]

... I sort of got murdered.

yeah fuck thanks i'm crying now

[heirofficium]

[ Sirius can't even really think straight. How even-- But...

His voice is hollow, his throat suddenly dry as he reaches for one of her hands. ]

... What happened?

[ Not here too, Merlin, if the same things back home were happening here he couldn't handle that. He doesn't have James here anymore, they don't have Peter, and in a way that's good, but no.

People dying here is not something he can stand for. Never. ]

;-; /holds you

[delincuente]

[She takes his offered hand, and squeezes it gently. As grim as she's looked since his return, she's been doing her best to keep up at least a thin facade. That's gone now, as her eyes darken and she seems to fold in on herself.]

There were these... things. The Gentlemen. Monsters, I guess. They showed up back in September, and just stole everyone's voices at first. But then they started ripping out people's hearts. Needed them for something. They'd hold you down and cut it out while you were still alive, and no one would hear it happen.

[A shudder goes through her, and she can't seem to meet Sirius' eyes.]

I was so dumb. Shouldn't have been in the hall by myself.

/endless cry-cuddles

[heirofficium]

[ Sirius tugs her close before he thinks anything of it, just giving her a strong, tight hug. It's always helped Remus at least a little, even if turning into a wolf once every month is not really at all the same as being murdered. He's distinctly disgusted and terrified at how it was done, but that is not really the most pressing topic.

One of his own friends was killed, here in the castle, while back home his classmates and neighbors are disappearing in droves, by the day.

It hits Sirius too close to home, far too close. But he just, holds her there for a very long, ongoing moment, while he keeps processing everything Alex just told him. ]

I'm sorry... I could've helped you, Alex, I'm so sorry... could've helped protect you...

[teenagebadboy]

Bloody heck. This is as far from Paradise as anything. Can't even do something about getting dragged in again and bam, another loss. At least you can keep yourself from dying. That's what I will. I'm not planning on getting killed any time soon.

/;~;/

[delincuente]

[She wraps her arms around his back tightly, and presses her face into his shoulder, right there on the hallway floor. There are no tears, finally after all these weeks, but her back shakes when she breathes.]

I wouldn't have let you, stupid. Thought I'd be fine.

[A tendency of the young to believe they're immortal, that one guy had said. Damn right about that.]

[delincuente]

Yeah? Good luck with that, dude. I wasn't either.

[teenagebadboy]

How did you even end up in a situation where you was risking your life in the first place?

[delincuente]

Funny thing about getting murdered - it doesn't ignore you because you're just being chill and doing your own thing. Unless "walking down the hall" counts as risking my life.

[teenagebadboy]

Then you got to fight back to not get murdered. If someone is out to get you he or she won't care that you're not doing anything. But I get a feeling this castle just kill people for laughs. That's sick.

\> ^ <\

[heirofficium]

Wouldn't have let you stop me, flower. You don't know what's going on back home.

[ He had avoided telling her when he first arrived, mainly because he'd been too worried about why she was hiding something from him and too worried about whether Remus was still there. He'll tell her now, though, if only to jusitfy how worried he is. ]

[delincuente]

[She shifts a bit, pressing her nose into his neck. Her voice is muffled and small.]

... Do you want to tell me?

[delincuente]

Believe me, fighting back wasn't really a thing this time. But that's what I'm trying to do now. Learn some defensive stuff, or something.

[teenagebadboy]

Sounds like a good idea.

[delincuente]

Guessing you're pretty new here, then, the way you talk.

[teenagebadboy]

Yeah. I've been here about a month so far. Can't say I'm that impressed by it, just annoyed at the castle.

[delincuente]

Just wait and see how unimpressed you'll be after three years. At least there's that to hold on to - it's always gonna be worse.

[teenagebadboy]

So I've been told.

[heirofficium]

[ A long pause, and then: ]

We're at war, Alex.

[ He sighs a little, shifting so he's cradling Alex's upper body and tucking his face into her hair. ]

So, there's this dark wizard in Britain, who calls himself Voldemort. People were only just starting to talk about him when I first came here, but since then... he's gotten a lot of followers. Gained a lot of power. People're saying he's trying to overthrow the Ministry of Magic.

Thing is, he and his cronies— Death Eaters, if you'd believe it— they target Muggles and Muggleborns. (Jamie told you about that, right? People without magic? And wizards who didn't inherit their magic from anyone?) Think they pollute the magical world. They even call Muggleborns 'Mudbloods'. Go after half-bloods and sympathisers, too.

And they're not just thugs and punks, Alex. Whole families are disappearing. People're being found dead. They torture people into doing their bidding, or else just use blackmail or magic to control them. They don't just have human followers. Rumour has it he's been recruiting werewolves, and even giants...

Right now, where Remus and James and I live... you can't trust anyone, Alex. Not when the papers talk about disappearances and murder every day. The Ministry's trying to keep it under wraps, but they're completely at a loss, and Muggles are dying too...

I can't let my friends here die when things are so bad back home. It's the only reason I'm happy to be here right now.