Secret Blossom Ball Event Finished

Interacting with: No one
Mentions: Vladimir Athanatos, Jack Burnett, Rafael D'Spacito, Opeila Seilun, Flash Holmwood, Willow Anderson, Selim Faust, Tyranni Whitethorn, and Marion Davenport

Well, she'd been successful. Vladimir hadn't gotten the chance to pulverize the kid, a first year boy she was pretty sure she'd seen around the Slytherin Common Room. Now what? Her intention had never been to attack the older boy until he was knocked out or anything. He wasn't some monster they had to destroy, right? He was still human. No more fighting necessary unless he initiated it.

She evidently wasn't the only one to decide Vladimir didn't get to beat anyone into a pulp. Opeila hit him the Dancing Feet Spell and Bridget sent the girl a nod of approval. The spell might not fully incapacitate him, but it would at least make it harder for him to get into fist fights. Then, Jack Burnett tried to... dump water on Vladimir? What? The brunette wasn't sure how that helped, but from her limited contact with the other Slytherin he seemed pretty intelligent. Maybe he had some sort of potion? Or acid was mixed in with the water? The attack missed, though, so it was impossible to know.

A glance around the Pitch made it evident no one was on fire anymore. That was good. The not so good part was that fires were still blazing. Hopefully anyone with their wits about them would be able to avoid the flames, but if the Masquerade Ball had proved anything, a fire left alone to rage wasn't good. Being outside at least meant the smoke had somewhere to go, but smoke inhalation was an issue. In one of the patches of flame, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain was doing something Bridget would classify as bad. The bag Marion had been in possession of was in the center of the fire. Tyranni and Thora had been trying to get it originally, stuff had gone down, and now the Gryffindor had it. Not good. Sure, she would have been fine if he was looking through it. Yes, the bags were personal property, but after everything she couldn't bring herself to care much. In her mind, investigation was a worthy cause. Burning something without knowing what it was wasn't.

Bridget was very clearly all over the place. First over confronting Marion and unfreezing Tyranni, then more or less stopping a fight, and now? She didn't know. Looking back over her shoulder, it was clear Flash and Willow could use her help. Willow seemed to have been stung, or rather stabbed, Flash had a bloody nose, and they were being attacking by one of the mosps. Still, she couldn't let Rafael D'Spacito incinerate the bag. Jack Burnett seemed to have the same idea, rushing over with another water bottle and attempting to dump its contents on the fire. So... maybe it was just water? Whatever, it didn't matter. She ran after him, wand at the ready, planting her feet and squaring up once in casting range.

What to cast, what to cast? The obvious choice was to extinguish the flames, of course. But Jack was on that and she doubted Rafael would just let them stop him. She had to find something that would save the bag if it worked and play to their advantage if Rafael stepped in front of it. Maybe she could use the Knockback Jinx against the bag, but that was more likely to drag it through the flames and break whatever was inside than anything. The Levitation Charm, though... now that could work. With any luck, she'd be able to lift the bag before it caught aflame and if Rafael took the hit, also with some luck, it would lift his clothes just enough to make movement difficult and not enough to be weird. And if it went badly, well, she'd deal with that once she got there.

"Wingardium Leviosa," she incanted with a swish and flick of her laurel wand. Please work. Please don't be on fire.

Action | Casting Wingardium Leviosa on Victor's bag to levitate it out of the flames (hopefully before it catches fire)
Stamina: 5 | Evasion: 9 | Strength: 3 | Wisdom: 9 | Arcane Power: 7 | Accuracy: 8
Sixth Sense | Evasive Maneuvers
Outfit | Broom: Nimbus 1700

interacting with @Crystal Jagger | Mosp #7
mentioning @Mildred Wilson
═ ∘◦❦◦∘ ═

Lizzie quickly opened one eye to see she hadn’t been stung. She was even giving it a free sting. How dumb could the mosp (Huffle Hater) be? Obviously, very dumb and very blind. Exactly like Lizzie. She sighed and opened the other eye while letting her hands swing next to her body.

She wouldn’t be getting a long rest. The mosp obviously was very angry with her. It knew what her intentions were and it wouldn’t stop until it got it’s revenge. Which wouldn’t be very good on Lizzie’s part since she didn’t want to have to sit through a lecture from Cassie when she would have finally made it to the Hospital Wing.

She looked around and saw the girl, that had been sitting with Mildred, was gesturing to her. She squinted her eyes so she could understand what she was saying. It was hard to see in the dark and even harder without any glasses.

The Ravenclaw nodded her head along with the Hufflepuff’s. She was pointing to a chair and then herself, Lizzie and then finally at the mosp. She kept repeating this over and over again. The blonde was trying to figure out what she was saying. She couldn’t understand anything.

It was not one of those moments where Lizzie was feeling proud of herself. She looked at the chair next to her and gasped. She knew exactly what the girl was talking about now. The blonde looked over to her companion and nodded her head frantically.

She grabbed the chair by the legs and ran over to where the Mosp was. It obviously wasn’t her day because she froze. What was she doing? Hitting something that only has the instinct to hunt and protect itself. It was totally barbaric but it was the good of the students who had already gotten hurt. They were the ones she was trying to protect.

Lizzie opened her mouth widely, “Hey! You shoudn’t go around hurting students.” She lifted the chair above her head and hesitated yet again. She didn’t know what to do. Was she going to hit it or not? The musician had finally made up her choice. She was going to slam the chair over it’s head.

Hopefully, she was facing the right direction. She wouldn’t even know if it was in her vision. Lizzie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and brought down the chair really praying to hit the Mosp. If it had hit a table or anything around it that defiantly would aggravate the Mosp. She really wished something would not go wrong now.

═ ∘◦❦◦∘ ═
word count : 437

Action: bringing a chair down (hopefully) on Mosp #7 (Huffle Hater)

| Sta 5 | Eva 5 | Str 7 | Wis 7 | Arc P 6 | Acc 5 |
Charmer -1 accuracy to enemies around me

Interacting with: @River Dewlight and @Ariana Walker
Mentioning: @Katrina Walker

Permission to Godmod @Ariana Walker

Open to interactions!

They were still in the air.

It had caught her completely off guard, but Janet’s clumsy spell rebounded causing her and Ariana to be temporarily blinded. She blinked, her head spinning as she struggled to grasp reality. Was she conscious? She was interrupted from her vain struggles as the broom gave a violent jolt, losing height as it dropped a few meters. Had Ariana been caught by the spell too? Panic dashed through her, how was Ariana going to control the broom now?! Janet never thought she would regret not paying attention in class but she certainly did right now. Contrary to her predictions, Ariana managed to swerve the broom in the air so that she avoided any obstacles. She was certainly glad of Ariana’s quidditch skills at this moment and she trusted that they wouldn’t fall to their death while she was flying. The girl in front of her had both her hands occupied with holding on but still managed to avoid the dangers now floating mercilessly in the air.

Janet squinted, as by now she was regaining her sight, shaking her head violently as she attempted to clear her mind. She looked up just in time to witness Ariana kick a mosp right in the head, so that it tumbled down to earth, defeated and dead.“Nice one Ari!” she croaked weakly. She was shocked at her voice, it was raw, and soft, faint from her previous daze. She cleared her throat, coughing as she inhaled smoke from the scene below. Her eyes were stinging and it was with immense strength and effort that she forced them open again. She needed water.

Ariana had turned back to glance worriedly at her Janet and abandoned all hopes of escape as she flew down to one of the tables. As they dismounted the broom, Janet followed her lead to a jug of water and gratefully accepted the cup she was offered with a muttered “thank you”. It was perhaps not the best idea to land right near the tables where the only feeble shelter they might have would be underneath a table but they took their chances. Janet’s eyes wandered around taking in her surroundings, the previously majestic Quidditch pitch was now in a state of chaos, the lights were still off but by now her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, most of the tables were upside down, no doubt from desperate students attempting to shield themselves.
She noticed another fellow gryffindor, accompanied by a hufflepuff, standing by the brooms, obviously in search of an escape. Janet felt a pang of urgency to help them, even if it required the loss of their only transport away from the chaos. Ariana walked a little slower due to the fact that her ankle had taken slight damage from her heroic kick at the mosp. One of the two girls dashed off however, and Janet was left to approach the Hufflepuff girl, now and then turning to check behind her if Ariana was faring okay.

“Hey take our broom!” she offered, holding it out to the girl urgently. She gestured to Ariana, “I don't think she's in a fit state to fly at this point, escape while you can.” Turning back to Ariana she gave her a weak smile, scrutinising her face as she searched for approval on the idea.

Stamina: 6
Evasion: 5
Strength: 10
Wisdom: 2
Arcane Power: 3
Accuracy: 9

Action: Abandoning hopes of escape and giving away our broom to @River Dewlight

Interacting with @Lydia Cooper and @Rafael D'Spacito

Finally! As he swung the music stand this time, he struck gold! The mosp recoiled from both his and Lydia's hits, and it missed its attack on Lydia once again. The other mosp missed too, leaving the two Hufflepuffs clear to execute the plan.

"Lydia, let's run!" Aaron said, (gently) grabbing her hand and pulling her with him. Once she started running with him, he let go of her and led the way. He knew that the mosps would be following them, although he still didn't have much understanding why they were so attracted to Lydia. As they entered the rest of the ball, several things jumped out at him. The most pressing was the sudden smokescreen that had engulfed the pitch, which reminded him of what happened during Wizards Batting back in December. Someone must've cast the smokescreen spell. Why would they do that? It was a lot thinner than back then, though, so he could still make out the layout of the Pitch.

Aaron wanted to get to the brooms by the entryway and pass them around, encouraging people to escape and get back to the castle. However, between the stage (where he and Lydia were) and the entrance, several things were happening. There was still some sort of altercation on the dance floor, but Aaron knew getting involved would be pointless. He had no idea who was on what side, considering Opeila had only given him a sentence or two on the plan. So, he and Lydia ran past the dance floor to the center of the ball, only to find that there was a fire.

A growing fire. On the pitch. And everyone seemed more concerned with the two people on the ground rather than his precious pitch! Aaron would immediately regret this phrasing in his own mind, recognizing that the two people who had been burned should be the priority. But it looked like several people were already helping them, so he kept his attention on the growing fire.

Aaron stopped here, looking at Lydia apologetically. "We've gotta tame this or the whole pitch will go up!" he said to her. He wished he could just lead her to the exit and encourage her to escape, but this was their mess. They had to help clean it up! The young wizard took his wand from inside his suit jacket and gestured at the flames.

"Extinguo!" he shouted, hoping that for once, things would go his way. He had relied heavily on physical attacks against the mosps because he didn't believe in his spellcasting ability. He openly struggled with magic, something most of his friends knew well. So for him to be risking the fact that a mosp would be stinging him soon, forfeiting defense to battle the fire, meant he was much more concerned for the pitch than his own well-being. He never would've suggested the Quidditch Pitch as the location if he had known the ball would end in fire! Why was he so stupid?

"Hey, we can't let this fire spread! Help extinguish!" he shouted, to the people who might be around and not aiding the burn victims. It was then that he noticed someone standing by the fire and staring into it. Rafael D'Spacito. Aaron's face twisted rather unpleasantly as he noticed the boy. "D'Spacito, help extinguish! Get a bloody move on!" he barked, unaware that Rafael had been the one to feed the fire in the first place. He had no idea that Rafael was on a mission to burn a bag, which Aaron didn't even notice.

It was bad enough that Aaron had to interact with the Quidditch Captain at all, especially after Lydia had almost shed tears for what the boy had done. Ignoring her on their date! And after "asking" Aaron for permission to accompany her in the first place! And now, Aaron begrudged the fact that he was asking for help, but he knew he couldn't battle these flames on his own. For once, he was actually hoping that he and Rafael could be on the same side. The Quidditch Pitch meant a lot to the both of them, so surely he would want to help save it, too, right?

Action: Casting Extinguo at the fire by Rafael and shouting for others to do the same

-Interacting with: @Aaron Jones -
-Open to other interactions -

When her shoe finally hit the giant bug, Lydia felt incredibly proud of herself and mentally patting herself on the shoulder before quickly dodging yet another attack from the mosp. Before she could even take a breath, the second mosp came for her, and she had to quickly jump to her left, the giant stingers getting way too close for her liking. As Aaron gently grabbed her hand, she managed to quickly put her shoe back on, before running after her friend.

The centre of the pitch looked quite different from the way it was at the beginning of the ball: the beautiful decorations, together with the lovely scent of flowers were gone, replaced by chaos and smell of burnt flesh. The strong scent made Lydia slow down, as she realises that seeing was way more difficult over there, because of the smoke that was surrounding them. She looked around, and could see a fire burning bright, and some people around it; she wondered if the students were still aflame, the dreadful silence replaced their agonising screams, and Lydia thought about the worse. The uncomfortably familiar feeling of the incoming panic attack spread through her body, as her hands started to slightly tremble. They couldn't be dead, the ball was supposed to be safe!

The blue-haired girl slightly registered Aaron's words about the fire, but she agreed: it needed to be put out. "I'll cover you from those bugs, I've got this," knowing too well that she was in no way in the right mental state to cast any spell, and that her just standing there would have been completely useless, Lydia took the music stand from Aaron and gave him a determined nod as she stood behind, before turning around towards the direction she assumed the mosps would have come from.

The smoke made it more difficult to see, but the Hufflepuff girl was determined to protect her best friend from any harm. She held the music stand tight, as if it was a baseball bat, ready to hit the first bug that would have thrown itself at her. She really hoped thatch would have been able to dodge those stingers again, 'cause now that Aaron wasn't there, Lydia was by herself facing two aggressive monstering-bees.

As the first mosp appeared in from of her, Lydia let out a high pitched scream and swung the improvised bat, hoping to hit the flying creature.

Action: attempting to hit Mosp #9 with the music stand.

Stats:
Stamina: 5
Evasion: 5
Strength: 5
Wisdom: 5
Arcane Power: 5
Accuracy: 5

Abilities:
Part-veela

Reducio

Lydia's updated outfit

@Ariana Walker | @Janet Jackson
Mentions | River Dewlight

May was really mad at mostly the world. What were people doing? And what was she doing? She had hurt someone that hadn't done anything to her. But yes, he had distracted her patient, and she had runned away to tackle him. Of course, her burns would be much more grave with her on the floor! She could even get infected! Well, maybe infected of anger that is. Who would wand to stand up and tackle someone (probably bigger than herself) and injured! May didn't seem to find a answer to this question. Probably anger, it was.

May didn't want to just stand there and look at the people burned, and at the mosps standing everywhere. She had a plan. Or did she? Well, no,,she didn't. The only stupid plan she had is to see her friend Janet Jackson and Ariana Walker, and see that the Gryffindor (Janet) was hitting a mosp with something May couldn't make up. But that was not the point. She had to go help out her friends. She couldn't bear see her friend in problems. But she saw that they were more than better without her. Well, more than better in this Quiddich Pitch state.

She decided to go and ask anyways. <<Are you guys alright? Y~you need my help?>> she asked. Why, she didn't know what to do. Was she important? No she wasn't. The important people were the burned, not the ones in distress and panick. Like she felt inside.

<<I~is Ari alright? Sh-should I call someone else?>>

She looked at her friends state, and Janet was...hurt? May didn't dare see. But she knew she didn't feel alright. At least May knew it when a friend wasn't ok. And Janet wasn't.

<<you want to rest or what? Do you know the Extingushing spell?>> May said, her hands shaking. She herself, didn't know Extinguo, but she knew Verdimillious. That could help with the bugs. Tho she wanted to help terribly, she didn't know what to do.

Action
Trying to help and going with Ariana and Janet

╔══════════════☩══♛══☩══════════════╗

Interacting With: N/A
Mentioning: @Ruka Tân @Aaron Jones @Lydia Cooper

╚═══════════════☩══✦══☩══════════════╝

[font=Segoe Print]

Status • Closed for social interactions.

[/font]

[font=Segoe Print]The universe retaliated against the Captain’s efforts just as he’d anticipated. Cold, hard, and unforgivingly.

It was funny, he couldn’t even remember what was going on anymore, what with the spells flying through the spring air, mosps ominously buzzing about the pitch, the hot orange fire eating away at the bag he was so errantly guarding. He couldn’t even feel pain anymore, strangely enough, or whether or not the aim of his adversaries was true. All he could really feel was the numbness in his chest, a dull sort of feeling spreading throughout his veins like ice as he idly gazed forward, trying to make heads or tails of what was going on. Was he protecting the bag anymore? Was he even awake? He was hurting, that was for damn sure, now that his senses had returned to him – a horrible headache had taken control of his livelihood, leaving him dizzy, discombobulated, confused, his hands shaking in the slightest as he tucked them into his pockets, forgetting for a quick moment what he was intending to do. What was he even doing anymore? Where was he? What was going on?

“…help out your girlfriend over… leaving her to tackle… wasps by herself…”

The words came in spurts of sound, sneaking into his ears between the pounding of his heartrate and washing over his brain like a gentle wave of relief, albeit a cold, startling one. Yes, he was at the ball, where everything was fucking damned to fire. Should he even be awake, coherently absorbing the information on his feet with two open eyes, he would soon have a moment to properly consider the words of Ruka Tan, his old punching bag and drowning buddy – Lydia was in danger? The boy’s eyes, gaze weak and wavering, would survey his surroundings for the winged demons trying to hurt his friend, meeting an assortment of people and creatures. Surely enough, there she was, holding a music stand? Wasn’t Aaron supposed to be protecting her? A quick double take of his surroundings quickly cleared up his confusion – surprise surprise, her boyfriend had ditched her. The very sight of the Huffle Demon walking up to the Captain, waving around his stick of doom around in the boy’s face and barking orders, sent the child’s anger spiking in a moment – no, that wouldn’t do. However, it wasn’t the time for revenge. He felt his hands twitching, jaw tightening as his gaze locked on to the Angel Girl once again. Lydia was in danger. The monster within him could try to stop him, but it wouldn’t be any good. He’d made up his mind, the bag could wait. May it burn in hell, eliminating the danger its existence warranted.

It was a shame, that things were ending like this. Well, if the curtain’s close was near, then he’d better make one hell of an exit.

His feet began moving, his steps erratic as he pushed past the Huffle Demon that had invaded his train of thought, one staggering foot in front of the other. Whether it was Vladimir’s beating, or the sight of the fires, or the emotional turmoil the child now faced, he felt weak, sleepy, strength suddenly and unexpectedly waning. But that didn’t matter. He made sure his hood was pulled up, his eyes shaded from the discombobulating and strobing shades of disharmony around him as he began sprinting at his target. The fucking mosp would never forget what a human was like, he’d make sure of it. [/font]

[font=Segoe Print]

Revised Action • Attacking Mosp #14 with his fists

[/font][font=Segoe Print]

OOC • Post was cruddy, sorry everyone~

[/font]

Entering thread from the castle. The post is based off last mod post

He was running; running as fast as his legs would carry him as he made his way down to the pitch. On his way he passed by the ladies and called out, "I'll meet you two there!" He knew that he should wait for them but they were right behind him and if he could start helping the students who were most likely hurt by the Mosps, then he would do so. Reaching the field, Artemis stopped and inhaled sharply.

Fire. Nothing but fire and chaos surrounded the field with a few prone students. What the hell was going on here? How the hell did a group of students manage to get into so much trouble in such a short time? The screams were deafening; the pain-filled ones and the fighting ones. He had to give the students trying to ward off these Mosps some credit. A handful of them was holding their own. He looked up at the stands but could barely see into them as there was a fog filling the area where the students were. However, Artemis could see slight flashes of lights from spells being shot through the air and he figured the children were alright for now. He would tend to those in the stands once he managed to help out a bit on the main field. Turning back to the firey chaos, Artemis moved closer to the middle of the area. He saw three of his students coming his way. Unfortunately, one stopped. He had a table leg in his hand and turned around and threw it at a flying Mosps heading toward one of the Slytherin boys. Artemis shook his head. "What the hell is that boy thinking?" he gritted his teeth as he made to move in the direction of @Wyatt Starkey but then he stopped as he approached the two students Wyatt was with.

He noticed them immediately: one Ravenclaw boy named @Vincent d'Arque who seemed to come from a very aristocratic family and one of his Slytherins, @Santario Martin. The girl was in bad shape; pale and bleeding profusely from a chest wound. Artemis wanted to take the girl from the boy but he seemed to be capable of carrying her. Instead, Artemis dropped the broom he forgot he was carrying at their feet gently and gave them the option. "Take the broom and Miss Martin and fly back to the castle as fast as you can. Stay there and do not return to this field, Mr. d'Arque. You should hopefully find Mr. @Piérre Marchonné waiting near the Entrance Hall to help any of the wounded...if he stayed and heeded my orders." If the duo took him up on his offer, they would hopefully and successfully fly away back to the castle.

Artemis would pause and look around again. There was so much to do and so little time to do it in. He then saw something that made his mind spring into action on what to do first. It would be hard to imagine that this child would still be alive after literally laying down and burning alive, but Artemis would have to try his very best to save the lad. Rushing forward, Artemis would see that the boy had a girl nearby saving him from any more damage and the man nodded at the girl. "I will send a cot your way and help you with him if no one else does. Stay safe and continue to extinguish those flames if they get too close."

Artemis would, regretfully, leave the girl and the unconscious boy alone and run back into the thick smoke. He heard the buzzing above him and saw two students trying to run toward the front of the dance floor with two mosps chasing after them. It was hard to see through the smoke but he could see the two tiny students and aimed his wand at the mosp (14) ready to take it out to help those kids as best as he could. He would have to leave the fire to the students and to his partners.

The others will survive until Cypress and Kateri arrived.

Action: Casting Bombarda on Mosp (14)

Mentioning @Cypresse Lian @Kateri Karr @Wyatt Starkey @Victor Moore @Aaron Jones @Lydia Cooper

Interacting with @Santario Martin @Vincent d'Arque

Stats: Stamina: 12 / Strength: 6 /Evasion: 8 / Wisdom: 20 / Arcane Power: 12 / Accuracy:12

Never had Kateri expected this from a Hogwarts event. Regardless of the things she had heard, whispers or gossip that she mostly assumed had been amplified by the schools reputation. Smoke appeared to be rising from within the pitch the closer the trio came, thick curls blanketing the sky. Sliding her wand from the holster on her hip, Kat rushed alongside Cy not wanting to leave the young woman behind. "Just a little closer. I can't see anything yet..." Squinting into the darkness she cursed under her breath. If she were able she would have used her other set of eyes, but it would have meant leaving her friend to fend for herself as the three professors made their way to the Quidditch pitch. Artemis had taken off ahead of them after calling out to them. Kat gave a quick nod and reached out to Cy, taking her hand to continue leading her away from the castle and towards the chaos. "There's so much smoke... Lian, it might be a large fire but there has to be something else going on with all the yelling."

As they closed up to rank with their colleague, Kat stopped abruptly and tightened her grip on Cypresse's hand. "The students... they're fighting off something.," Smoke already was coiling around her lungs and stinging her brown eyes. Artemis was already into the fray before Kat could call out to him, a buzzing distracting her. The entrance was already burning all around her, flames eating at the grounds and whatever it could get its fiery tendrils on. Including students. "There's fire all over the pitch," Kat continued to quickly describe all that she could see to her friend, giving direction to various students nearby who were fighting, "Mosps, I can't tell how many." Beyond the smoke it was hard to gauge just how many creatures were out there, though from the flashes of spells flying and yelling, Kat could only assume it had to be more than a handful.

So, so much fire. Kat slid her hand from Cy's and stood next to her in case she needed to maneuver the young woman in any which direction. "Vernatis is already ahead of us." She remarked and turned to see a number of brooms still on either side of the entrance. "Brooms on our sides, some of the students can use them to escape." Trying to take note of whatever the Transfiguration professor might find useful. First things first. The flames.

"Extinguo!" Turning to her right where some students still stood appearing in shock, Kateri directed her wand towards a wall of fire eating away at tables, the ground and whatever else it was deciding would be a tasty treat. If they could lessen the fires and smoke would die down, some of the students could escape and they could get a better handle on the situation. As much as she had considered all the wide array of ideas of detentions she could hand out one by one, seeing the amount of chaos first hand, the student's safety became a quick priority. Detentions might have to wait...

Action: Extinguo towards the right of the entrance at fire covering the ground where a student had been rolling around on fire prior.
Stats: Stamina: 8 | Evasion: 11 | Strength: 9 |
Wisdom: 20 | Arcane Power: 10 | Accuracy: 12 |

Permission to God-mod her character given by @Santario Martin

Vincent watched Wyatt run off towards the boy laying against the toppled table and saw the bug being hit by the broken table leg. “That as a pretty good throw.” Vincent thought as he tried to walk on while also keeping an eye on Wyatt, who was now under attack of the creature. The collision with the table leg had obviously hurt it, injured even perhaps, Vincent couldn’t see clearly through the thick smoke, but that didn’t stop it from coming after its attacker. He then heard Wyatt attack the bug with another spell, causing it to squeak in pain and fall from the sky and crash rather heavily on the floor. The next spell that hit it, made it move in a very peculiar way, its legs and proboscides flailing wildly around like branches in an autumn storm. Seeing Wyatt seemed to be in control – sort of – Vincent decided to fully focus on getting Santario and him safely out. He admired the courage and selflessness of his, hopefully, new friend. Once this was over he should look him up.

Fortunately the added weight of the camera bag wasn’t a problem for Vincent as it wasn’t overly heavy. Especially since Santario had stopped wriggling about in his arms now that she had her bag back in her possession he should be able to make some progress. Nevertheless, despite indeed making some progress now, the painstakingly slow and careful tread he had to maintain in order to cause as little sudden moves as possible still left them in grave danger for much longer than he wanted. Each step took them closer to safety, but each step also held the risk of hurting Santario even more or, Vincent couldn’t decide which was worse, attract the attention of one of creatures in the now somewhat diminished swarm of bugs. Suddenly Vincent consciously noticed a swinging movement to his right that, as he realized now, had occurred every time he took a step. He risked a gaze and noticed it was Santario’s wand that she still held clutched in her free hand.

Vincent looked at Santario who had her eyes closed and looked like she was slipping in and out of consciousness. He hoped that was only his imagination and that is was not a sign of her deteriorating. He lowered his head closer to her. “Santario.” He whispered in her ear. “Try to stay with me please.” Then he got an idea. “Do you think you’re capable of casting anymore spells?” he asked her, trying to smile reassuringly. “We just lost our bodyguard and my hands are pretty much otherwise engaged, so I really cannot defend us.” He kept walking as he awaited her reply, his eyes darting from his goal – the exit - to his surroundings and back, on his guard and prepared to dodge any hostile movement coming his way. Knowing evading any attack would be difficult with Santario in his arms, he hoped she was strong and alert enough to assist him with her spells. Before she could reply however, a shady silhouette emerged from the smoke right in front of them, coming their way rapidly.

Initially alarmed, the approaching silhouette causing a flash of a memory to briefly run rampant through his mind, Vincent braced himself and prepared to dodge from whatever was heading their way. However, the second he recognized the silhouette he relaxed. It was a human, judging by the size an adult, so no need to jump out of the way. On the contrary, an adult meant it was probably a professor and that would mean safety. Vincent sighed in relief as the silhouette approached. He recognized the person, it indeed was one of the professors, Vincent remembered his name was Vernatis. Vincent felt rather than saw the professor scrutinizing him and Santario and for a moment it seemed he considered taking Santario from his arms. However, for some reason he decided against that. Vincent saw the professor carefully drop his broom right in front of his feet instead, addressing him at the same time.

"Take the broom and Miss Martin and fly back to the castle as fast as you can. Stay there and do not return to this field, Mr. d'Arque. You should hopefully find Mr. @Piérre Marchonné waiting near the Entrance Hall to help any of the wounded...if he stayed and heeded my orders."

With that the conversation, or rather the monologue had ended. Vincent saw professor Vernatis scanning the surroundings to, as Vincent assumed, assess the situation and figure out where his help was needed most. He watched the professor run off to a boy that was surrounded by flames and seemed to have been burned rather extensively and then looked to the broom on the floor. “Thank you professor.” Vincent absentmindedly muttered. If he could somehow figure out a way to strap Santario to the broom, securing her from falling off while flying while also providing him with the necessary room to be able to fly and, of equal importance, steer the thing that would most certainly be their best bet to get out safe. He looked around, but didn’t see anything he could use. Then he saw the camera bag. Santario’s gear must be quite extensive, judging by the size of the bag, and that might provide the solution to this problem and, eventually, be their salvation.

Vincent looked Santario in the eyes. “I’m not sure if you heard the professor, Santario, or even me right now, but thanks to the professor I think I have found a way to get us out of here fast. It might hurt a bit more though.” He started. “He left his broom for us to use. I’m going to put you on it Amazon style and I’ll sit close behind you. It might be a bit awkward and definitely uncomfortable, not to mention shaky when flying at best, but I don’t think we are in any position to have any demands” Vincent took a second to softly smile to the girl before he continued. “I’ll use the shoulder strap of your camera bag to strap the two of us together so if you have problems staying upright I’ll be your counter weight preventing you from falling off.”

With that said, Vincent walked to a nearby chair, gently put the girl on it, making sure she was secure and grabbed the broom. He then untied one of the sides of the camera bag’s strap, wrapped it around Santario’s and his waist and tied it back on the bag Santario still held in her lap. It was a tight fit, but that was only a minor inconvenience given the circumstances. Vincent then positioned himself on the broom as best as he could. He carefully helped Santario get up, an action that made her flinch regardless, and made sure she was secure on the broom stick. “Sorry Santario, I have no choice.” He whispered as he took the wand from her free hand and put it in the camera bag. He addressed her once again. “If you can, grab the broomstick for extra security and balance.” He looked at the girl as he waited for her to grab it.

She was very pale, probably a combination of stress, weakness and blood loss and he noticed the wound in her chest was still bleeding. Not as profusely as before, but still. Vincent hoped it was because the bleeding had actually lessened, but it could also be because of a lack of blood altogether. Her clothes were, or at least seemed, pretty much soaked, she must have lost a considerable amount of blood. The view send a shock through Vincent’s body. He realized there was no time to waste. He helped Santario get hold of the broomstick, wrapped one arm around her waist and grabbed the broomstick himself with his other hand. He wasn’t a bad pilot, but he certainly wasn’t Quidditch material either and he didn’t really feel confident about this.

Nevertheless, realizing this now probably had turned into a matter of life and death for Santario, he committed without hesitation. He attempted to fly off as fast as he dared given the darkness, the smoke curtain and the precarious position of him and, more important, his passenger.

Action: Attempting to leave the Quidditch pitch by broom with @Santario Martin[/mention]