Closed The Difference Between PV Marshal M.

♤♧ Say not that we age, but that our beauty develops with time ♧♤

@Kit Paine

Clouds were an unfortunate addition to the great equation of life. They were bland, colorless, and robbed the world of the sun's life-giving light, as well as the warmth and comfort thereof. They were altogether gloomy, and frankly, Marshal hadn't ever met anyone who held any particular love for them. He was personally no exception, either.
But despite the dreary performance put on by the clouds overhead, the young student was determined to enjoy himself, as was consistent with his everyday attitude. There was no point in dwelling on just how much he missed the sun, for doing so would only lead him into the depths of despair, or something dramatic like that, the way he imagined it. Marshal was quite familiar with despair, and had no interest in making its unruly acquaintance again. Besides, it was no secret that clouds were temporary, whereas the sun would eventually return in its full glory. So it was merely a matter of waiting it out.

However, he was not content to wait indoors until everything outside was joyful and bright once more, so here he was, skirting the edge of the lake in search of possible adventure.
Muted tones of gray colored the surrounding landscape, but he still found the area beautiful. He gazed across the lake, the water rippling slightly in the breeze. The weather had grown chilly, and he wore a hoodie to counteract the cold, though the hood was down, exposing his blond hair.
His personal moment of peace was interrupted, however, when a faint voice met his ears. Turning his gaze up the shoreline, he spotted the source; another student stood beside the water, waving one arm about the air. From this distance, Marshal couldn't quite tell what they were doing, but he supposed it had something to do with magic. Most things around here did, after all.

He quickened his pace, eager to meet someone new. The interruption to his solitude was perfectly fine with him, as he did like other people a great deal.
As he drew closer, the voice grew louder, and he could make out the words they spoke. Sure enough, the shouted words seemed to be various spells, the wand in their hand quickly becoming apparent. Oddly, nothing of note appeared to be happening. The individual's frustration was obviously mounting - considering the increasing volume of their voice - but the success of their spells didn't seem any better for it.

Now he was very near, well within shouting distance. With the stranger's back turned to him, he couldn't make out any distinguishing features, but he would certainly find out soon enough.
His quickly concocted plan was to see just how close he could get before being noticed. In general, he supposed sneaking up on a spell caster with a wand would be far from advisable, but judging from this person's evident magical prowess - or lack thereof - he wasn't exactly concerned about getting turned into a frog. As long as he stayed out of stick stabbing range, he should be just fine.
His plan was quickly derailed, however, when the stranger lost their footing and fell gracefully to their rump. Determined to lend a helping hand, Marshal broke into a jog to close the distance faster. But before he got within twenty feet of the stranger, something unimaginable happened. Or perhaps it was imaginable, considering that he had only witnessed related events in his imagination.

A tentacle far larger than it had any right to be emerged from the water, wrapping itself around the helpless stranger before they had a chance to react.
Caught entirely by surprise, Marshal came to a halt, shoes skidding in the mud. Hazel eyes the size of dinner plates stared in disbelief, and he may later regret that his very first thought was something along the lines of, 'That is awesome!'.
His feelings of ecstasy didn't last long, as his mind quickly shifted to a frantic list of things he might do to help. He could charge the tentacle and stab it with his handy stick, but that approach seemed slightly flawed. Using magic seemed like the most logical route for a wizard, but he admittedly knew very few spells. A stage magician might be of more use at this point, but still Marshal doubted the effectiveness of a fluffy bunny, no matter how dramatically it was produced.
Everything including the bunny raced through the Gryffindor's mind in less than a second, but he quickly came to a decision. He had to act before the accosted stranger was pulled under the water.

Sliding his wand from the pocket of his sweat pants, he pointed it straight in the air, opened his mouth, and... forgot which of the two spark spells was intended for use in the case of emergency. Wand still above his head, he clasped his free hand over his chin in a classic 'oh no' position. Why did he have to have the recollection powers of the mud under his feet? Was this really the time to prove his mother right about that?
Let's see, he thought to himself. There's Periculum and Verdimillious. Periculum's red. That seems like a good color for emergencies. Not to mention, the wand movement for Periculum was much simpler.
Redoubling the effort behind his pointed accusation of the sky, he thought back to a day not long before, when Evelynn had witnessed his tragic attempts at casting these particular spells and elected to give him a tutoring session, of sorts.
Mentally reciting everything she had said, he shouted the word. "Periculum!"
Immediately, a shower of bright red sparks erupted from the tip of his wand, shooting high into the air.

With no time to revel in his success, Marshal sprinted toward the attacking tentacle, a partially insane idea popping into his head. It made no sense. The thought of using such a spell in this situation, quite frankly, would have been hilarious to the first-year five minutes ago. And yet, no other option seemed any more plausible.
Giving the task as much focus as he could muster, he once again thought back in time, bringing the incantation to mind. Moving his wand accordingly, he aimed at the tentacle where it met the water and exclaimed, "Tarantallegra!"
Would the spell work on a magical creature? Marshal didn't know. It might not even drop its prey if the spell did work, which would make for a rather unpleasant experience from the perspective of the stranger he was trying to assist. But that couldn't be any worse than being dragged under, could it?
He also had no clue whether the 'dancing feet spell' would work on a creature that lacked... well, feet.

Much to the black-haired student's surprise, a blond boy was suddenly coming toward them and soon casting a spell to shoot red sparks into the air just as the tentacle was tightening its grip. Before it could lift the girl off the ground, the boy was casting a second spell, just as well-practiced and smoothly as the first. The magic from the spell shot from his wand tip and toward the tentacle, causing the limb to let go of its captive immediately and start flailing about.

Bright blue eyes stared, dumbstruck, at the thrashing tentacle; its owner clearly having trouble getting it under control as the lake began to churn not only with one unruly appendage, but several more under the cover of the water's surface. The giant squid, apparently disgruntled at having been forced to dance against its will with all its long, powerful limbs, quickly retreated under the lake to swim as far away as it could from the cause of its new plight. It took some effort, especially with how tricky it was to swim using a largely disobedient body, but eventually the water's surface stilled.

The girl sat soaked on the lake shore. She breathed hard, looking as dazed and befuddled as she had since the tentacle had first reached out to grab her. Eventually, she pushed herself back onto her feet, shivering, and turned to the young man who had apparently rescued her, bowing deeply.

"Th-thank you," she stammered. Cold, fright, or a combination of the two caused her body to quake and teeth to chatter as she hugged herself for warmth. In spite of her somewhat pathetic-looking condition, she tried to smile when she lifted her head to meet his gaze. "Th-th-that was...really quick th-thinking!"

@Marshal Mozor

♤♧ Say not that we age, but that our beauty develops with time ♧♤

@Kit Paine

A lakeside stroll on a cloudy day, a firework show and a dancing squid. Just a typical day at Hogwarts. At least, that's exactly how Marshal planned to frame it in his next letter back home.
In reality, the first-year stared in amazement as the giant tentacle relinquished its grip on the stranger, dropping them to the muddy shore before raising high into the air, almost as though it just didn't care... It wiggled and waved as the squid's limbs simply misbehaved. Okay, I'm done.
Great droplets of water were thrown towards the sky, showering the two of them lightly as some of the liquid reached them, though neither of them seemed to notice as they stared in awe, entranced by the performance of what Marshal would hereafter refer to as the Squid Squiggle.
They watched until the great beast retreated deep into its aquatic home, the churning water finally settling, until no evidence of its presence remained, save for the small waves that rippled outward from the epicenter of the drastic activity.

Marshal's hazel gaze remained fixated on the water for a few moments after the creature disappeared. And then the hilarity of the whole thing hit him like a fire truck.
It started like the sound of someone choking on a chicken wing, a snort or three thrown in for good measure, then evolved into full-on laughter. But not just any laughter; it was the sound of pure, unadulterated mirth, sounding long and loud. In that moment, the Gryffindor was quite certain that he had never witnessed anything quite so glorious in his lifetime. The level of comedy was the stuff of legends.
He doubled over, placing a hand on each knee in an effort to prevent himself from ending up on the mud-caked ground.

After several minutes of uninterrupted joy, tears began to form in his eyes. He gestured one hand vaguely in the direction of the lake, turning his head to look at the stranger, as though attempting to share the moment with them.
Bright blue eyes met his, and his laughter ceased immediately. Within those eyes was not amusement, nor joy. Instead, all he saw was fear and shock. The haunted expression slammed into him, and shame spread throughout his body, like the cold of her icy gaze.
He mentally cursed at himself for being too interested in the show to think about helping the girl to her feet, rather than laughing like a clown. What kind of knight in shining armor was he? His father would have been terribly disappointed.

The girl bowed to him, then voiced her gratitude, her voice understandably unsteady. He couldn't imagine that doing the Tentacle Tango with a giant squid was an overly enjoyable experience.
Add the Tentacle Tango to the list, he noted to himself, the corners of his mouth twitching upward as he fought off the powerful urge to burst into laughter once more. He refused to let that happen again, for her sake.
"Don't mention it," he replied dismissively, returning her smile with a soft one of his own. He figured it was now his duty to comfort the girl as much as possible, and he wouldn't want anything less. "That guy was a little too handsy, in my opinion. I just thought it was time you broke it off with him." His soft grin grew into something larger, and entirely more cheesy. He could only hope the girl's mood could be lifted by way of lighthearted jokes. In his experience, they were a perfect tool for distraction from undesirable thoughts. If that approach backfired on him, then... he supposed he would have to craft a plan B out of thin air.

He noticed the way she hugged her arms around herself in the best embrace she could manage on her own, saw how her body trembled. Compassion leaked from his heart and trickled into his eyes.
Reaching behind his head, he pulled the hoodie off of himself, his arms slipping from the sleeves, leaving them mostly bear, as all he wore underneath the hoodie was a red t-shirt.
"I think you need this more than I do," he said softly, holding the hoodie out to her. It was slightly damp from being worn in the splash zone, but wasn't nearly as wet as the girl's own clothing, which clung stubbornly to her form.

He waited for her to put the extra layer on, and would deflect any objections she might have. He refused to be warm while she shivered.
Once she was finished, he moved closer, reaching to place an arm around her shoulders, a gesture meant to comfort and keep her as warm as possible. Whether she allowed him to do so or not, he would point to a small, grassy hill nearby, well away from the lake's edge.
"Let's get you away from the water. I know how much you like the local wildlife, but I think you've had enough excitement for one day." A cold wind bristled against his exposed arms and through his thin t-shirt, but he ignored it. "Help should be on the way."

The girl blinked rapidly in growing alarm at the sounds of what she thought at first must have been choking before quickly recognizing the sound for its true nature. From there, it wasn't long before the contagious noise affected her along with the realization for its reason and she was leaning forward and breaking down into peals of great, shaking tremors of laughter herself. Fortunately, she managed to keep her balance enough not to tip over or slip on the wet ground to land on her sore bottom yet again.

At long last, she noticed the boy who had saved her cease laughing as his hazel gaze settled upon her form and she realized she was the cause, instantly mirroring his silence with the shame of it. Perhaps it was also reflected shame, for her savior, too, suddenly seemed sheepish for his beahvior. At least after she thanked him, he seemed able to smile again; gentle and tamed though it was. She thought she preferred the full force of his whole-hearted happiness from before rather than the guilt-tinged fraction visible in the gesture now. His new comment about the squid being 'handsy', however, provoked new delight in her and her grin grew with his.

"Probably my fault for getting too emotional and throwing things into his lake," she answered with a crooked sneer. "If I had behaved more reasonably, maybe he would have, too. But I appreciate you saving me from my own stupidity."

When she saw him began to pull off his hoodie, she began to vehemently shake her head in protest. "Oh, no, please don't worry about me! You got wet, too! I just need to get inside and dry off and I'll be fine!" His bare arms caused her to cringe at the frigid air he was sure to be feeling on them. She urgently tried to press the clothing back into the possession of its generous owner. He may have wanted to deflect her objections, but there was a set, stubborn determination in her features that would not be so easily swayed.

"You may have been brave and quick-thinking, but you're not proving yourself to be very smart, are you? You have less layers than I have! While you might be worried about me catching a cold, you might get hypothermia! And then where would we be?"

@Marshal Mozor

Graphic by Leonard Oaksworth

[font=Times New Roman]@Kit Paine

Her smile and sarcastic response to his comments made him feel better than she could have known. If she was joking, then that must mean she was all right. Then again, he tended to make jokes even when he most certainly was not all right, but he was quite different from most people, as his mother would tell you.
In any case, the girl was alive, and that was all that truly mattered. Inwardly, he wondered if he was something of a true hero now. He had always figured that he could be one if such an individual was ever needed, or that he would give it his best effort, at the very least. Though, now that he may actually have saved a life, he felt less heroic, and more like he simply had serendipitous timing. Not to mention the sheer amount of absurd luck that had caused his strategy to actually work.
But even if he wasn't a hero, there was certainly nothing that could stop him from being a perfect gentleman; his upraising simply wouldn't allow it. In other words, the first-year wasn't about to stay toasty warm while a girl who had narrowly escaped a watery grave shivered from cold, and certainly some amount of shock.
"I just witnessed you almost get pulled into a lake by a giant squid, and you tell me not to worry?" he questioned in a slightly incredulous tone, still holding the hoodie out to her, in hopes that she would change her mind. "Say you're fine all you want, but frankly, I'm not sure you should ever be left alone, seeing as the universe obviously has a vendetta against you. Someone should be there to catch you when the earth decides to randomly open up and swallow you whole." His impish expression left no doubt that he was teasing the girl.

Much to his chagrin, she continued to push away his offer. How could one be a gentleman if their respected lady wouldn't give their efforts the time of day?
Pride swelled in his chest, however, and a small smirk tugged at his lips as she continued her argument. Had he been brave? He hadn't noticed. Quick-thinking? It had entirely slipped his mind, though he supposed his course of action had included a little sprinkling of genius.
His expanded ego lived a short life, sadly, as she informed him of his distinct lack of intelligence.
Despite his deflated pride, the expression of arrogant bliss that had formed upon his countenance remained. "Who's trying to prove anything? Nobody ever accused me of being a rocket scientist... or being able to read, for that matter." Of course he could read, but she had no way of knowing that. "But when I help someone, I go the full distance. If I found someone who had been lost in the wilderness for months, I wouldn't lead them back to the main road and leave them to find their way back home from there. That would be terribly rude! So I may have saved you from the squid, but that doesn't mean my work here is finished. What kind of savior saves someone from their death, only to let them catch it from being soaking wet in the cold?" He shook his head and dropped the hoodie on the ground between them, then folded his arms in ultimate refusal. "If you're going to freeze, I'm going to freeze. At least you'll have company that way." He nodded in self-satisfaction, suppressing a shiver that threatened his body as a result of another gust of frigid air.
The solution may have been lacking in mental prowess, and perhaps was even slightly childish, but it gave the stubborn Gryffindor peace of conscience.
"So," he spoke again, "While we're standing here, freezing our magical tushies off, we might as well get properly acquainted!" As was his customary greeting, he extended one hand in an offer to shake. "The name of your hero is Marshal Mozor. Food-lover by day, Dancing Devil by night," had she grasped his hand, he would release his hold to perform a dance move vaguely resembling the Squid Squiggle, as recently showcased by the school's resident limb-flailer, the giant squid.
Apparently the Dancing Devil was officially his superhero name. Maybe not so glamorous, but that's what he was going with.

The girl shook her head, laughing lightly as the boy continued to hold the hoodie out to her and spoke of the universe having a vendetta against her. With a mischevious look in her eye, she turned back to him asking, "And what if I was a boy? Would you think I shouldn't be left alone then? Or is it just because I'm a girl you're so worried about me?"

She giggled as he went on to point out that no one had accused him of being a rocket scientist...or even being able to read. When he explained that he wanted to 'go the full distance' when it came to helping someone, she blinked and listened, curious. Then she beamed at him. "If you're not the kind of savior that saves someone from death only to let them catch it from being cold, you better not be the kind of savior who neglects his own health at the expense of someone else's. Otherwise, it'd be a wonder you're still standing here today."

The girl picked up the hoodie as it was dropped, quickly dusting it off as she didn't want it to get dirty or wet just because the both of them were too stubborn to wear it. "You're far too kind, good sir. You ought to be careful or that kindness could get you into a lot of trouble," she told him as he told her that he would freeze with her. "Like I said, I have more layers than you already! I'll be fine!" She tossed the hoodie playfully at his face then, trying not to laugh as she did so and failing.

When the boy introduced himself, she grinned and took his hand, shaking it eagerly. "Pleasure to meet you, Marshal Mozor. I'm Tymiko Waters. Thank you again for being my hero. But 'Dancing Devil', you say? Do you dance, then?" She raised a brow at him speculatively. "Eat your food by day and then use the energy gained from it to dance by night?" She supressed another giggle when he showed her a dance move and he brought to mind a superhero who danced as his way of attacking. Then she applauded his move, still grinning.

@Marshal Mozor