Final Stand Closed

Erin was a fast bugger, an athlete in a dress. She vaulted over the bed after she harmlessly disabled the doppelganger and sprinted for the door. She was the sort of girl that punched fear in the face and yet she was fleeing. It was a calculated choice, she was outnumbered and her enemies had her surrounded. Egress was her only option if she wanted to be able to fight another day.

One by one every single person she knew disappeared. Not a word. Not a trace. Nobody even seemed to notice that they were gone. Nobody except for her. They treated her as if she was mad. Perhaps she was, but that did not mean that she was wrong.

She would not get far. To her back someone, Paracelsus's clone that is, would declare his word of power with cherry wood wand in hand. "Tarantallegra!"

Erin was a victim of the dance. Far from graceful, in fact there was no grace at all as the rhythm-less youth bopped about with an energy that exceeded her actual vigor.



Erin's incredible dance moves would block @Leah Isbell's clear passage into the hospital wing. Erin of course had no control over these erratic movements or understood the cadence of the rhythm that was left unheard but not unfelt by her feet. "You have got to be kidding me..." she muttered as she hopped, skipped and jumped side-to-side.

She let out an irritated shriek, it was somewhere between a very angry parrot and a wet cat. Jack was a dead man.

"Let."

Hop.

"Me."

Jump.

"Go." 

Before I kick your pretty ass...

Santario narrowed her eyes as he avoided answering her question but instead answered her question with a question. A manipulative distraction she saw her grandmother use all of the time. “Why aren’t you answering my question about a potion you handed me and called a salve. Since a salve is an ointment and not a drinkable potion just like burn and bruise potions which are salves/creams. To answer yours it’s because Ferula isn’t just for bandaging it splints broken bones and helps relieve pain at the same time. This would allow the arm to be supported, promote the bones to regrow straight with the skelegrow, and relieve pain. It would cut down on potion consumption which can lead to dependency issues in some cases.” She watched him carefully, but even she couldn’t deny this amount of pain for much longer.

Even then she was starting to doubt herself… Was she allowing Erin’s paranoia to affect her? Was her issues building up with Kyle clouding her judgment? Perhaps, even the adrenaline from the fight tonight had caused all of these things to allow her imagination to run rampant. Santario was a confused little 11-year-old girl on the brink of tears now because she didn’t know what to do anymore. Everything was spiraling out of control as she looked at VanCleaf with glassy eyes and a shaking wand hand. The right words from either of her friends or possibly even VanCleaf himself could placate her into drinking the potions and just lying down.

Barely was she paying attention to the scene behind her Jack casting on Erin, Erin now dancing in the doorway like an 80’s child on a sugar high. To top it off the poor girl who wanted to get into the infirmary but now couldn’t because of this scene. Santario would be no help to them she was barely a help to herself at the present time.

[font="Monotype Corsiva"]

Quinn had for much longer then he intended retreated into what was essentially his happy place. It was a very small private area he kept hidden in the deepest parts of his psyche. He was fairly sure that his personalities didn't know about it or if they did they never bothered him when he retreated their. Whether this was respect or some weird base rule they could not break Quinn never bothered to understand. It was his shelter where he retreated when he needed to.

When the redhead had truly come to he was gripping Rosie's hand a bit tighter then he meant to but he was happy to have her there. For all intents and purposes he did not hear anything that Santario or VanCleaf said. His body just went on autopilot. He saw the potion in his hand and a distraught looking Santario. Instant regret and grief came upon his well defined and rough features. Her look of skepticism and possible distress alerted him and overrode whatever feelings he was having at the moment. "Santario whaet's wraeong. Why dae ye loak so on edge?" A genuine question. The now slightly dulled pain echoed once again through his whole being. That Kyle could sure pack a punch.

Well whatever was going on it didn't look good so Quinn with a loud groan. Stood up causing the beds to creak in relief from the weight that was lifted from them. Lumbering over to Santario potions in hand. Gingerly he let go of Rosie's hand to go and stand between the nurse and Santario. His friend was distressed. He didn't know why and despite the pain he was in dammit. A Healy always defended what they held close and those they cherished in whatever capacity that might be. He was a gentleman first and foremost afterall. "Look ah deon't know whaet's goin on but 'ow bout we get patched up and get out of ere aye? No need tae go flingin 'hat wand aroond willy nilly. Ah think we're both hurt of enough." He suggested looking between the two. "Permitted someone don't go and assault me again? Because this time...ah won't hold back." A clear threat to Kyle. Surprisingly no anger was in his voice but his eyes were another story. There was no mistake his sole concern was the situation in front of him and gods if it didn't hurt too much he would laugh his right arse off if he saw Erin. But for the moment she was not his concern.

[/font]

“Why aren’t you answering my question about a potion you handed me and called a salve. Since a salve is an ointment and not a drinkable potion just like burn and bruise potions which are salves/creams. To answer yours it’s because Ferula isn’t just for bandaging it splints broken bones and helps relieve pain at the same time. This would allow the arm to be supported, promote the bones to regrow straight with the skelegrow, and relieve pain. It would cut down on potion consumption which can lead to dependency issues in some cases.”

He let out a low chuckle. "Madness, yes..." He would approach the young girl with her wand drawn. "Your... and I suppose her name?" He was referring to Erin. His not in his hand at the very least with his palms facing them. Not that it mattered, if a name was shared or not he would shrug his shoulders. "Drawing a weapon... in school... at another person," he shook his head and made is tsking noise with his tongue. 

He approached Santaro. "But if you would allow... me..." he would attempt to pluck the potion from her hand and pull the stopper from the bottle's mouth. The bit of cork would fall onto the floor. He would start his lecture. "Salves are often topical products where in this case the star grass is extracted into a vegetable oil, in this case by maceration at room temperature for quite some time. The roughage is then filtered out, leaving a potent substance. The star grass oil is then combined with beeswax so that the product solid at room temperature," he explained the process of making a salve as he sniffed the bottle in his hand (if it was in his hand). "Vulnerary, star grass salve is used to heal wounds which you do not have. Star grass is also edible, used by muggles to treat colic but in your case I am using it for its anti-inflammatory properties." If the potion was in hand, he would down the contents in a single gulp. He frowned a bit, the potion had a bitterness to it that made him cough but he did not die. 

*Cough*

"Just a basic concoction, salve being used as a term for its ability to ameliorate your discomfort, the difference here being also the bottle that holds it despite the use of the same name. Salves are cream or butter-like, yes. In addition, they are stored in wide mouthed, squat vessels so that the contents can be *cough* liberated as needed." He grabbed a grass of water and mouthed, God that was gross. "It is about as addictive as Motrin," he claimed. But it tastes about one-hundred times worse.

He saw the other paranoid girl hopping about in front of the door. It was like the odd child was given a pogo stick and a bucket of sugar. He would look over at the caster, @Jack Warren and the edges of his mouth would tug downward. "Stop with the horseplay," he snapped as he verbally intervened in their domestic dispute. "Someone else" @Leah Isbell "is trying to get in and your shenanigans are preventing her from doing so." He was shooing Jack and Erin away. "If you... if any of you" he eyed @Santario Martin "want and will actually accept treatment," he took a breath. "Then stay," he then pointed towards the door and the wildly dancing girl. "...Otherwise leave."

Some of the children here were quiet, not causing any issues such as @Kyle DeRook (post man, post!) or @Rosie Parker (you're forgetting us too aren't you) who were just sitting/standing there. There were others, such as @Quinn Healy that seemed somewhat beat up but preparing for a second fight for whatever reason. 

"Try to get in around the jumping one," the exasperated man announced as he tried to also wave Leah in. "I will try to not poison you."

The parts regarding the potion being consumed only happen if Santario does not resist the nurse taking the potion back to consume. He will not forcefully take it from her.

The pain was too much to take and everything going on in her head was clouding her judgment. She wanted to be alone and she was craving isolation, but there were too many people here. She swallowed hard more than once her eyes darting around but eventually landing on Vancleaf as she was once more addressed. She had been readied to cast on him before, but now her wand arm lowered as he approached and as he did the flood gates opened and tears poured down her cheeks like a waterfall that had been held back for way too long. Santario was good at pretending to be tough and she could fake it for long enough in most situations, but she had never been in these situations and she didn’t want to be tough… She wanted her mother’s healing hands and her father’s soothing voice to lull her to sleep.

He took the potion from her and she did not resist him as she stared up at him listening to his explanation. “I-I’m sorry… Please f-forgive me.” It was barely above a whisper and her normally confident and silvery voice hitched with the weight of the emotions and insecurities inside of her. She looked at Quinn who had moved to come to her defense, however, a little too late as her mind had been made up. Not that the girl was anymore hurt but she had severely embarrassed herself. Something still nagged at her about being wrong, but then again… what wasn’t. “I’ll be fine Quinn… She moved over to the bed that she had originally been sitting on and fully climbed on top of it with her legs stretched out over the bed.

Staring at her bare feet through eyes that wouldn’t stop being moving glass she uncorked the skelegrow… Taking a deep breath she brought the bottle to her lips and tipped her head back. Forcing herself to swallow the burning potion as fast as possible. If she had not already been crying her eyes would have been watering from the burn. It would elicit a cough or two before Santario would uncork the second potion and drink... Just let today be over. 

Kyle had been sitting off to the side silently watching the Situation unfold. His hands resting in his pockets as his eyes moved from one person to the other in turn. The room was filled with noise, smells, a cocktail of emotions and one hella creepy nurse. He didn't trust them or anything in any of the bottles. After all, there wasn't a potions to treat a concussion. Otherwise he would have gotten one the last time he was in here for the exact same thing. And what made it even worse was the nurse was way too eager to get people to drink their potions or leave. Odd.

Kyle's eyes narrowed as he examined the nurse further. Something about this entire situation felt entirely off, And while most in his situation may lament that they sat here without a wand, Kyle was not most people. After wall, there were chairs in here. Cast a spell with a chair busted over your head. Regardless...he was not going to drink the potions or leave. Either he was right and he was going to defy whoever this charlatan was, or he was wrong and he would get detention again. Like that was scary?

He uncrossed his arms and stood tall, hardening his Gaze at the "Nurse". "Say I dont want to drink your fake potions or leave? What are you gonna do then? Make me?" there was a dark edge to the last of his sentence. "Cause I am totally down for Door number three if you are"

After taking one last confused look at the scene before her, Leah carefully slipped around the dancing girl and headed towards the nurse, who had just called her over.

Around her, others seemed to be talking about poisons and things, but she really wasn't sure what that was all about. After all, this crowd had already caused enough trouble for one night, and she didn't want to get involved in it all, just get something for her tiny injury.

Finally getting past the obstruction, she turned to the nurse and said, "I'm sorry to, er, distract you from this group, I was just wondering if you had anything for bruises, or minor pain, or something?"

She glanced around the room. They had missed the whole fire, hadn't they? Was it her place to mention it, or was there a better way? Maybe she shouldn't worry anyone else, but there were capable adults here. Then again, the fires had died down when she left, so maybe no more help was needed.

So it couldn't be too bad to mention it, just so they were too shocked when they heard about it later. And she didn't want to be hunted down for not telling them.

But how to break the news gently?

Of course!

"Also, if you have anything for breathing in smoke, that would be great," she added. "Just to ease the coughing. For a friend."

When Jack had been taught the spell that made folks dance, there was an expectation for... actual dancing. What Erin was doing was not dancing. He couldn't help but wear a poorly concealed grin as he watched the girl rhythmlessly bounce around. The dower look on her face made him weary, and he could tell that he may have made a mistake. Mistake or not, he took to his feet and began to walk towards Erin. She was seriously injured and the young Hufflepuff did not want her to run off before she could get treatment.

The paranoia that seemed to have infested the room like a worm through dirt was lost on Jack. Anything that the other injured parties said had fallen on deaf ears. Sadly that was a problem with a one-track mind and the power of selective hearing. He didn't seem to notice anything else that was happening, until the sharp words of the man nurse. Cringing at the words Jack couldn't help but give Leah an apologetic smile. The only reason she was apart of this mess was because of him. Because of his stupid good looks, Leah was punched directly in the face. Faces and fists don't tend to mix very well. Everything just ends up black and blue.

Finally with he had reached the target of his 'jumping wildly' spell because again there was no dancing that he could see. "I'll let you go only if you stay here and get some help, right? Because if not, you are gonna dance until legs fall off." An ultimatum seemed appropriate. That is totally a good idea, right? If Erin agrees to his terms, Jack will release his spell. Otherwise, the spell will continue the invisible rave.

Erin was no dancer. The world now knew it. Her ankles also as she bounded back and forth with the summoned hyperactivity of a toddler on a sugar rush that would make the Candy King [Galton] jealous. The stab of pain in both her broken limb and twisted ankle sent spasms of discomforts through her. Her tried to brace her fractured, somewhat flailing arm with her better. She struggled to find her wand, dresses like the one she wore were not intended to store items such as wands. Hers behind her, slipped into the back of her dress. She released her own hand, it shook violently with her movements as she slipped her hand behind her, brushing her temporarily blonde hair aside. 

Leah would be the only one with the proper vantage point to see them, the scars on the part-Veela's back. Just a glimpse however as Erin pinched the end of the wand between her fingertips and slid the chestnut wood wand free.

Erin never had anything less than a crazy look in her eye, sometimes the madness traveled to the rest of the young girl's face. Today was one of those "manic days" one could say. She had every reason to think that they, Jack included, were trying to kill her. One by one she had watched her classmates disappear without a word. It was as if they never even existed. Her classmates did not seem to notice or even care. The Prefects and Professors never even mentioned them again. They were here one day and gone the next. Perhaps her former dormates, as insufferable as they were, never existed and they were a fabrication of her overactive imagination. At times that felt ostensible.

She had confessed her fears to Hugh Lowe, a Prefect she had not had a previous run-in with yet at the time. Listing the names of people gone missing and the possibly that he too was in peril was responded to with nonsense -- "A knight has his duty. Fame or glory is only secondary to the task at hand. So my father taught me." [Source] She later confronted Quinn Healy, verbalizing months of mounting paranoia and fear that she thought that he had something to do with (he ate) @Thomas LeStrange. That she knew about the disappearances. That she knew he was somehow a part of this. [Source] He fled. She pursued. His stride being twice hers, he quickly outpaced her. But they would meet again. And again. 

At this point she was certain her friend, at least the only person who ever claimed that they were her friend, was dead. She was not much for making friends. A sad fact, but it made it no less true. She just wanted his bones. Something that nobody seemed willing to give. She would have dug the hole herself if they willingly divulged his resting place. 
 
She tried to get help, she even told the Head of House Professor Browne. [Link] As her sanity slipped, her fear and paranoia grew until it was tangible. Her words and her actions, hardly more than that of a brute. She had gotten everything that she wanted, less her friend and yet something inside this dullard she had become screamed that something was wrong. That despite all of her fear, she was not scared enough. 

Nobody seemed to notice. Nobody seemed to care. Because they were all in on it! Σ∨εℝγ Lαδτ θη∈ σ∮ τh∃m!

"I'll let you go only if you stay here and get some help, right? Because if not, you are gonna dance until legs fall off."

Jack Warren announcing, breaking Erin's train of thought. Beads of sweat starting to form, the exertional activity was exhausting. She clutched her wand in her good hand and wordlessly pointed it in Jack's direction. 

The blonde girl was making Finley dizzy. How can one little girl have so much energy. Energy to be absolutely cracked. Energy to argue with everyone. Energy to try to flee. The boy she was yelling at should have let the little lunatic go, but instead he stopped her. Now back and forth she bounded like a child with way too much sugar in her diet, complaining still.

The little girl [Leah] was able to get into the room. She would have had to time her ingress just right, there was a rhythm to the wild hopping. It was like skipping rope with a toddler having a tantrum. Near impossible but with a bit of luck…

She would hop on past.

"I'm sorry to, er, distract you from this group, I was just wondering if you had anything for bruises, or minor pain, or something?"

He looked over at Santario as he said it.

“Star Grass Salve”

He would wait a moment.

“Topically administered.”

He did not look behind him as he gave some basic instructions. “Small silver, wide-mouthed, squat container. Might be unlabeled, contents should be a pale green semi-solid, creamy. smooth substance.”

Was this going to set the little girl off?

“Just show me the container and you can be on your way,” he let out a low cough. “Just try to not get yourself shot.” He was referring to Miss Martin’s wand which was pointed at him. He let out a second cough.

Leah did not seem to notice the tense standoff they were already in. Jack had cast a spell on Erin. Santario was threatening people with her wand. Quinn was just a big and scary -looking guy, he really did not need to do much as all. Jack was wheeling and dealing with his hostage, Erin. The boy was dead, maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But that crazy little girl was going to kill him.

"I'll let you go only if you stay here and get some help, right? Because if not, you are gonna dance until legs fall off."

She was still on about it being poison. “It would be much easier for me to kill you with violence…” Finley announced in a flat, humorless tone.

She would eventually comply with the budding terrorist’s demands/ Kids these days…

"Also, if you have anything for breathing in smoke, that would be great," she added. "Just to ease the coughing. For a friend."

The little girl added. Being the only one not actively threatening someone or looking like you might have stabbed someone in the last 24 hours, he addressed her immediately. “Third shelf, cabinet near the door. Possibly unlabeled, screw cap multi-dose bottle. Can be a few different colors depending on the brew, show me which one you take, they are dangerously close to the laxatives.” If she wanted to run off with the wrong vial, that was on her. Managing the outcome could be the responsibility of these children when the served detention.

Paranoia swept over them like a plague. He was poisoning them. With what and why? Did he seem like the sort of man that enjoyed hurting children? Well, sometimes he wanted to. There was that strict impulse. That burning sense in his chest and the bitter gall in the back of his throat as he swallows his frustration time and time again.

He just had to remind himself that they were just kids. Yes, they were just impulsive brash little brats… No-no, they were kids. They were just kids.

Kids that were threatening his with a wand, the wizarding equivalent to a gun but a hundred times more dangerous. He just had to stand his ground, not panic. They were of no threat to him even if they… best to think of better things. Good things. Back in his day, students would never have done something like this. People have a habit of looking back with rose-colored glasses, Finlay was no exception.

Just take the potion himself, swallow the acerbic contents and let it swim in his unsettled stomach. Show them it was just a very harmless herbs. Herbs that tasted like the lawn, but none-the-less herbs.

Then the girl went from a raised weapon to tears in a labile display of emotions only a teenage girl was capable of. She pleaded for forgiveness before she positioned herself on the bed’s edge and took a drink for the Skele-grow.

“You might want to wait—" 

He started to say. Wait for something to ameliorate the pain. While effective, the process of rebuilding bones was painful. It was a deep pain that could not be braced. It could not be seen or touched but it could most certainly be felt. The knit and the grind as broken bones grew back together.

"Say I dont want to drink your fake potions or leave? What are you gonna do then? Make me?"

And we are back to crazy town, first second and third stop paranoia city. Population: every injured student in Hogwarts.

"Cause I am totally down for Door number three if you are"

“Has mental illness become contagious?”

An exasperated nurse complained.

“Then stay out of the way of the students that actually want help.”

Nurse VanCleaf announced.

“Or, I will have you restrained.”

He warned after a moment’s hesitation. He really did not want to wrestle some hormonal teenage boy and tie him down. But he had every right to defend himself and the students in his immediate vicinity.

“In fact, please give the boy some space in case he gets aggressive. Young lady,” he was referring to Leah Isbell. “Please stand behind me,” he gestured behind him with his band before he took a defensive stance. His wand was not drawn. However, there was something strange about him. He put on a pair of glasses, but it was obvious that these glasses were not the sort of glasses someone wears to read or drive. Small glass spectacles that look like they are from another age, the light gleamed off the glass in an uncanny manner. Like a kaleidoscope of light, flashes of color.

“Girls, and boy [Jack Warren] close your eyes and look away, everything is going to be fine.”

There was something soothing, calm about his voice but there might be this nagging sense of dis-ease.