Justice PV Group Finished

Amidst her brief reign over Thomas, Miss Procoppio elected to defuse the tension between Thomas and Howard. A curious choice to play mediator after effectively outmanning Lestrange, especially given her mistaken understanding of who’s actually in the wrong. It seems Badgers confused themselves as Lions these days, swift to act without reason. She either did not know Howard very well, or suffers from blind loyalty.

After Thomas not so eloquently demanded the girl’s removal, her focus shifted back to him. Thomas lay underneath unphased. Girls manhandling him has become a staple in his Hogwarts experience. As long as she did not execute the tyr attack, the boy would only sustain his glare of indifference. Taking offense to curse words confirmed her unfamiliarity with the majority of her present company. Just move, then? Maybe if he took away the word fuck, then she'd listen?

The sardonic formal approach was quickly interrupted, Warren chose this moment to force the girl from her place over Thomas, who offered a nod and smile, rising to his feet. “Thank you, Warren.” He could not spell the remnants of moist mud that now clung to his backside, but allowing temporary ire for an aggressive huffle to take precedence was quickly an afterthought. The visual of a temperamental Howard White, whose typical spiky hair sat lower atop his head from the pouring rain, was his sole focus.

It was not a secret, Lestrange could be brash, often prioritizing his objectives over preserving himself. He knew Howard White and Erin Ryan of all wizards would not peacefully adhere to his demands, especially in the face of such hostility. Thomas did not view this as a standard case of rule breaking. No, in truth the boy was more likely to look the other way if not for the involvement of his detrimental counterparts. This was an opportunity long in the making since he acquired the badge, they would soon realize Thomas would be calling the shots from here forward.

The babbling huffle quickly revealed why the inclination to side with Ryan, a simple case of being caught in her veela web. The boy remained mostly silent through the unpredictable turn, except to address the loquacious @Ami Procoppio. “You like to talk, don’t you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I appreciate your offer, but this is between me and him.” Howard declined any further assistance.

"Nothing good comes from a LeStrange, Over your dead body... Tommy," And Erin reinforced her stance on Howard’s side, at least this time.

With a miffed expression, Thomas’ eyes would lazily travel over to the veela.[As done in last post] Thomas retrieved his wand and offered an ultimatum for Howard, one he quickly spat upon. Thomas’ spell may have hit its mark, but the dhampir was a seasoned combatant, launching himself off the ground towards Thomas.

A sense of dread overtook his visage, but Thomas was not one to back down a physical challenge, as magic was not his forte anyway. Thomas rolled his wand in his grasp before letting it fall idly to the dampened grass once more. He turned his dominant left hand to Howard’s chest, raising his hands level with his face. Though this was not his opponent’s target, reaching out with a swift claw to swipe through his robes. The tear of fabric left three long gashes through the boy’s robes, exposing his chest. A moment or so passed before blood seeped through his wounds to mix in with the rain, giving the black and green a stain of red.

A gasp escaped his lips, though the adrenaline flowing through his veins left no time to hone on his pain. Not even a moment to consider the unconscious boy left sprawled on the grass behind him. Thomas would soon follow suit, but hopefully not without making an impact on Howard’s jaw. Curling his left hand into a fist, he turned his left shoulder back in an outside motion in an attempt to execute a hook labeled for Howard.

Attempting to punch Howard in the mouth, you determine success. You also have permission to be successful with your next action(whether Ami, Erin, or Howard attack). Which can knock Thomas unconscious and guarantee a date in detention.

@Frost Cira @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood @Flash Holmwood @Thomas Lestrange @Ami Procoppio

Thomas would step past the line that kept her at bay. The one thing that kept her from breaking her former ally in half as she chose Howard's. There was a time where she would have taken Thomas' side, back at a time when she was foolish and sentimental enough to believe that he chose to side with her. She kept her word and her promises. When he left, she looked. As the weeks passed, she missed him when others hardly noticed. She looked for him, she declared war. For him. She was not capable of love or affection, she was a force of nature, knowing he chose her was enough. She was not even capable of being angry or offended at his betrayal, not once she discarded her broken heart.

So she chose Howard. Howard had no affection for her, he never claimed otherwise. They both had the same plight, the hags. She chose Howard because he had what she never could, a life lived vicariously through someone so miserable he would never realize how much he had. She was not kind to him, she riled him up and she pushed him. She would never survive him and she did not really care, she did not expect or care to survive anyways.

The tension would devolve to blows, a fray that would end in blood would only bring the dhampir, or so she had come to presume, would put him into a frenzy. The confirmation would be when Howard bared his fangs. The fearless witch would not back ground, she did not know how to fear. She would not flinch or back away, if anything she looked at the elongated canines with a renewed fascination. He was looking a bit anemic, was that always the case? Unlike half the girls in this school, she did not spend time gazing in his crimson eyes. They were some shade of green, brown or blue before she was rather certain. She wondered if this was dhampir puberty or if he was a first generation. She was far from an academic, it was by the virtue of her pureblood heritage and the fact that much of her education hinged on aspects of the wizarding world that had been a part of her daily life since her earliest years.

The tackle, the flippendo and then the berserker rage... Howard's claws would slice into Thomas' chest. The dark crimson would sluggishly color his shirt. Erin would cringe, a sympathetic moment perhaps. Thomas would strike back with his fist. This was a playground brawl between a boy out of his depths. Howard would rip him apart. Not that Thomas did not deserve whatever fate Howard had in store for him.

She would kick Thomas in the back of his head hard with her knee. All she knew was it hurt her knee something fierce, the boy had an unnaturally hard head. No words, although there would likely be no question where the cowardly attack came from in a room full of allies, one lusty girl and a pair of enemies. Ami's straddle attack was minimally effective against the boy, perhaps it would have worked better on well... other people.

Her purpose was to render LeStrange unconscious, to stop him from further antagonizing Howard. He was as she had told the crones an endless stream. She saw it the day that they met. A boy filled with lies, not that he ever told her one. He just lied to the world. To himself. To those he loved. She was not really a part of any of those. If Howard were allowed to unleash his rage, little did Thomas realize, he would be a lifeless and apparently bloodless husk. "Could not stand his bitch'n," Erin announced. Perhaps LeStrange's lingering sconsious would hear what she had to say. It is said that one's sense of sound was the last thing lost.

"LeStrange as a Prefect, may as well register for our daily detentions now," Erin added as she gave Warren the side eye. He did not have a particularly keen interest in her, that much was rather apparent. Just a freakish interest in looking like her former paramour. He did not do much in this melee, she just simply wondered why he was as he was. It was one of the few things that truly agitated her, that was not an act. Not a forced action propelled forward by an addled and maddened mind.

"I'll drag his ass to medical," she offered. She never asked him why he pummeled or even if he actually did the dopey duo. She did not actually care. "Think you can manage the other," she asked Howard. Serena, Ami and Jack, "they can drag the last one." Yefim was taken out before she even arrived, his strange pale friend Valentin had not made a peep since her arrival. Had he fainted, overwhelmed by the sight of violence or due to a weakened constitution. She had no actual faith in any of their strengths beyond Howard, they were both rather physical creatures and she had experienced his potential first hand. Not to Thomas' extent of course. Hell, she envied that bastard Thomas. Perhaps in the end she would experience something that was hers, even a whisper -- that terror or fear rather than the acceptance and cool reality she existed within. One of neutrality. One that many would think would leave the emotional -seeming girl a steward of raw logic but rather she sought conflict and extremes.

"Fucking death sentence to keep them out here," in the end Erin was not evil. Just dangerous and chaotic. She had her reasons for believing such, the least of them the fact that she would be leaving their defenseless forms in the presence of a doppelganger, likely death witch Jack Warren. She did not trust Serena, too small to be a midget giant but her rise to power in her first year and her silent dismissal had always left Erin curious and concerned. The death witches were prolific, especially among the Prefects. A modicum of power combined with their corruption, they were not obvious in their apparent intentions.

If she was not stopped.

If she was not prevented, she would pick up Thomas. Despite their contentious relationship she did not want him dead more. She would carry him to the medical wing, if anyone asked she would say the truth -- "he ran into my knee with the back of his head and lost a fight with... a rake." OK, so not the whole truth. Still, she was headed to where any other reasonable person would take an injured person, the nurse's office. Well, most would have left him to rot on the pitch. Erin had her limits.

She would drop him in the nearest cot. "Blood loss and head trauma. He does not have much of a mind to lose," she claimed if someone was there to tell. If not, she would wait for their arrival before she relinquished his claim over him. He would likely wake in a few hours surrounded by concerned, thirsty girls. He would be fine. She would wait her letter.

If she was stopped.

She would fight for her right to Thomas' remains. She would not let Howard drink from him. She would not let Ami do whatever weird teen stuff she might want to do with him. She would sooner feed Jack his own teeth than trust him to oversee Thomas. Serena would likely be overtaken by a mean word or two, a non threat apparently but aren't those often the most dangerous when their intentions are known?

Maybe it was the daggers in Valentin’s eyes, or perhaps the deathgrip of his fingers grasping the unconscious Yefim. It could even have been the twisted arms of the broken umbrella hat echoing Yefim’s devastation, or all of these forces together that kept anyone from advancing further on Valentin’s last treasure. It didn’t matter. Valentin’s broken mind was left in peace, floating frozen in place, suspended over the anchor that was Yefim. Despite the ruckus breaking out around him, it was only some mysterious impulse that stirred Valentin to move again. He didn’t know what compelled him to rise any more than he knew what had caused the universe to first expand. However this compulsion, once stirred, bore the unstoppable force of an avalanche.

Still clinging to Yefim’s limp body, Valentin’s frail frame pulled with a power as if from beyond, hoisting the boy onto his back. They lurched forward. When had Valentin’s back become so broad? As he staggered on, however, Valentin's emaciated frame buckled under Yefim’s weight.

«Я накормил тебя шоколадными лягушками, не так ли?» ("I fed you a lot of chocolate frogs, didn't I?") whispered Valentin as he struggled to push back up off his knees against the suction of the mud. Unable to fully carry Yefim for more than three meters, Valentin shrugged Yefim halfway up his back and got to his feet again. One foot in front of the other, the pale boy dragged his comrade away across the rainsoaked earth. «Я не потеряю тебя, Ефим» ("I will not lose you, Yefim,") promised Valentin.

After the scraping sound of Yefim's body could no longer be heard, only a broken umbrella hat remained of them; the rain had already washed the blood into the depths of the dirt.

Valentin and Yefim leave the thread unless stopped; OOC permission given for Yefim.
@Flash Holmwood
Note: Valentin would have usually noticed Erin, but is too tilted right now for it to compute that she's there.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I appreciate your offer, but this is between me and him.”

"Then keep Thomas away from him. Nothing good ever comes from a LeStrange."

"Oh, okay." And that was it. It was like the world had shrunk to @Howard White, @Erin Ryan, and @Thomas Lestrange. Like there was no one else there, and it was just of the three of them, trying to beat Thomas' brains out with their bare hands.

Ami jumped backward with a bit of a yelp as she watched Howard get hit with Thomas' spell, caught between wanting to sucker punch Thomas in the face and rushing to make sure Howard was okay. Thank goodness she was frozen out of fear, because she watched in alarm as her teammate then rushed towards the Slytherin prefect, going as far as to draw blood, drawing a loud gasp of shock from Ami. Erin only seemed to egg him on, both verbally and physically, and Ami shot an anxious look towards Warren.

"Ah... fuck."

There was no talking her way out of this one, eh? She wondered if Thomas would accept a good word put in with Alexx as compensation for the combined actions of his three attackers, but they'd probably gone too far. And frankly, it seemed like the other two fourth years had their own preexisting beef with the snake, which she really didn't need to be a part of. Maybe a year ago, she wouldn't have hesitated in jumping in to deliver as many gut-wrenching blows as possible to Thomas, but she'd matured.

Plus, to be completely honest, she was more than a little intimidated by Howard and Erin, and together, she was practically shaking in her shoes. Closing her eyes tightly, she counted to five before opening them again. The Durmstrang students seemed to be making their exit, and Erin seemed to be... claiming Thomas' corpse? Was that something that people normally did?

Oh shit. Was Thomas... she cringed slightly as she realized she had literally thrown herself at him like a bowling ball. Was she going to get detention for that? The last time she had tackled a prefect, it hadn't gone very well, either... crap, and Peri had been a fellow Headliner member, too. The office was going to get real awkward, real fast, between all three of the prefects she'd gone head to head with within the past year.

She opened her mouth to say... well, something to Howard, but decided it would be a better idea if she just said nothing at all. Finally, all of the bloodshed and violence that would have normally sent her flying into an excited frenzy had shut her up, and she just sighed to herself. "White, I... I guess I'll see you at the after-party."

Shaking her head, mostly to herself, she clapped a hand on @Jack Warren's shoulder before picking up her broom from the mud and trudging over to the Locker Rooms. After all, she still had a team to look out for.

exiting to the hufflepuff quidditch team's locker room.

Interacting with: @Frost Cira, @Howard White and @Flash Holmwood's iNPC, @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood's iNPC, @Ami Procoppio, @Jack Warren, @Erin Ryan and @Thomas Lestrange.

She had no idea what to do. But it seemed like everyone else around her did. Everyone jumped in action within an instant, taking the situation from bad to worse. The Durmstrang kid turned his attention to Frost. Serena's eyes widened, "Frost!" She called out, rushing over to check on her. She pulled out her wand as she did, turning to face the kid who hurt her. Serena was not physically strong. But she was somewhat capable of casting a spell. A full body bind. That would stop him from coming closer -

Ami appeared, taking him on. Howard launched into action. The panic surged through her body as she witnessed the two destroy the child. Howard was not holding his punch by any means. His actions and tone made that very clear. It was nothing short of intimidating - and pretty terrifying.

Mental note: Never anger Howard...

Her heart pounded loudly, trying to figure out what the heck to do. The Durmstrang kid deserved it. This was not his first offence. He was a bully. And he needed someone to stand up to him. But that did not mean she wanted him to be hurt in return. She just wanted him to stop hurting people.

What was she supposed to do? Get help? Get a professor? Fire a spell?! Throw another fist into the mix, even though it might be a tiny one?

But there was nothing she could do. He fell onto the floor, emotions ran high as a prefect appeared, followed by Ryan. Why was Ryan here? Serena was almost relieved when a prefect appeared, hoping he took responsibility to help diffuse the situation. He did not. What even was his name? He was one of the Slytherin ones, if she recalled correctly... Uh.. Right! Lestrange! She overheard someone say it. The brief relief quickly disappeared.

"Wh- Wait no-" Serena started to mumble, trying to tell the prefect that it was not their fault, that they should not get anything and that he should really be focused on the injured students, rather than Howard. But Ami tackled him. Welp. There went any chance of diplomacy.

This was not their fault. They were right in hitting the Durmstrang kids. They were protecting their friend from a bully who started it for no reason. But tackling Lestrange out of the blue...Welp. And let's be fair, there was no way in her right mind that Serena would trust Erin Ryan to make this situation any better.

This whole thing was so unfair. Serena stood there, trying to find a way to diffuse the situation and make it better. Everyone was being so unfair! Well the Slytherin Prefect seemed to be being unfair. It almost seemed like he had a personal vendetta against Howard, with the way he was so focused on him and no one else. Wait was Ryan on Lestrange's side or Howard's here?! Wait why was she going for Jack?!

What in Merlin's name was going on?! "Can you all just stop please, for the love of Merlin," She said, trying not to cry - to absolutely no one's surprise. Her words were barely audible though. They were likely drowned out by the raised voices of everyone else, whilst they all threw hands everywhere.

And just as quickly as the chaos happened, it also dissipated. Serena sighed, releasing a breath that she did not even realise she had been holding. She turned to look for the injured boy, take him to the hospital wing but his school mate seemed to have a hand on him. "Fine." She replied to Ryan, who decided she would take Lestrange to the wing - wait, didn't she attack him? Serena was pretty sure she did. Then again, she had no idea what was going on anymore. She did not trust Ryan by any means but she also did not want to spend any time accompanying her, especially not for the other slytherin.

"Frost, are you alright? You should probably get that checked too," She said, turning her attention to Frost after noticing that the other injured students seemed to be on the way to the wing. The fight would likely erupt again there if they all ended up in the same location but hopefully the nurse's presence would stop them.

"Look, I don't know if you're on Lestrange's side or what but this is ridiculous. Neither of you were even here, you don't even know the whole situation. The bloody Durmstrang kids started this!" She told Jack, assuming he was still there. She sighed. There was nothing she could do to make this better. She wanted to shake that Lestrange kid and tell him it was not their fault but he likely wouldn't believe her anyway. Besides, it was a losing battle when he got tackled... And then knocked out.

Serena's shoved her wand back into her pocket, unable to do anything else. "Fuck..." She cursed under her breathe, annoyed by the whole situation but mostly anger at herself for not stepping in earlier to do something more helpful. Looking over at Howard, who was one of the few still here. She had no idea what to really say, "I'm sorry," She managed out, with a sigh.

Turning her attention back to Frost, she sighed, "Let's get you to the wing too," and with that, she turned and made her way back to the castle, accompanying Frost to the wing.

OOC: Massive apologies for the delay in actually replying x_x I just suck. There's no other excuses.

Serena and Frost (OOC Permission given) exit the thread

Howard let out a hiss of satisfaction as he felt his claws connect with Thomas. The elongated and thickened nails would tear through fabric and flesh alike, satisfying a deep and primal urge. Not but a moment later he would smell it before he saw it. Blood would begin to seep from the wounds he had afflicted and and with it carried a scent a familiarity. The sweet aroma would waft off of Thomas’ body like a fresh baked cookie, drawing Howard’s gaze. His red eyes would be transfixed on the crimson liquid that leaked from the Prefect. Oh what he wouldn’t give for just a taste! It was always sweeter when taken.

WHOMP

The left hook would make solid connection with Howard’s jaw. Little pops of light would dance around his vision as his head swam and his legs turned to jelly. Before he knew it Howard would plop down on his backside, sitting in the grass with a silly look on his face. The disorientation would last for a few moments and in that time Erin would bring the conflict to an end with a swift kick to the back of Thomas’ head. Shaking the last of the blurred vision away, Howard stood and looked around. The foreigner would drag his comrade away. Erin was going to take care of Thomas and all the other Huffles made there exit. There was nothing left to do now but to seek a change of clothes and a cold compress for his jaw. The rest of the consequences would be saved for another day.

Howard exits the thread.