Closed Highland Hunt

Sophia wasn't fond of early mornings, especially on days she had class. She would much rather sleep in, but sometimes there were things she had to take care of during the early hours, and this was one of them.

Amelia, Sophia's owl, was nocturnal by nature. It was such a simple fact, but a lot of accommodations had to be made accordingly. For instance, Amelia loved a 'late night snack,' which, technically for Sophia, was more of an early morning snack. And, goodness, was the girl picky. She wouldn't settle for simple owl treats early in the mornings. She wanted fresh meals, such as small bugs, worms, or even field mice if they were small enough.

So, Sophia sometimes found herself waking up hours before class, sneaking out to the grounds, and letting Amelia go on her little 'hunts.'

Part of Sophia hated waking so early, but another part found watching Amelia swooping from the sky and gobbling a worm to be so, so cute, so she was content to keep with the routine.

Usually, Sophia could expect to see few other people, but today was different. Today she could see a figure running in the distance of the Castle Grounds. It was a familiar figure. She'd recognize him anywhere, be it from the hair, or the kilt. It was Colin! He was running in the direction of the Greenhouses, and Sophia could stop her curiosity, so she didn't. Instead, she followed Colin from a distance.

Watching curiously, Sophia shot a quick glance to make sure Amelia was still okay, and, when she saw the owl pecking at something in the dirt nearby, she turned her attention back to Colin. What on earth was the boy doing? She knew he was a bit eccentric, but he was sniffing around in the air and pouncing like a wildcat. Was the boy okay?

She crept up behind Colin just in time to see the boy leap into a heap of junk - stones and lumber, to be specific. He was looking for something, but what? Sophia slowly, carefully walked up to the boy, noting that only his feet were sticking out of the pile of stone and wood. His bare feet. Sophia felt a bit of mischief coming, and she certainly loved mischief.

Stealthily tiptoeing to the boy, she was careful not to look down. She'd heard enough jokes about what a Scotsman wears under his kilt, and she was certainly not keen to put herself through that embarrassment today, thank you very much. Instead, her eyes focused on the boy's bare soles. She carefully extended her hands, and, in a flash, began tickling Colin's feet!

Aha! That'd get him!

@Colin McCoire
Mwahahahahaha

Colin was focused intently on the task at hand. He'd gotten three already: two he'd jammed into a pocket of his plaid shirt with his right hand; the third was in his left hand, but that was out of reach of any pocket because his had ended up over his shoulder somehow.

Then a fourth came into view! Och! If only I had two more hands! There was nothing for it but to wriggle his body around a bit and grab it in his mouth. This he did and in that instant, Colin's entire world was thrown into confusion!

Something warm grabbed his feet and began to tickle them mercilessly!

"YEEEECK!" Colin squeaked with surprised. His legs jerked about reflexively and his toes wiggled ineffectively, trying to ward off his attacker! "RRRRRK!" he squeaked again.

THUNK! --- "Ow!" Colin's head banged a piece of lumber with a loud thump. The attack was relentless! Who could possibly know Colin was this ticklish? Only one name came to mind.

"LIAAAAM! Is that you, lad? Gerroff me already!" he cried. His voice was a bit muffled due to his mouth being half full. And still the attack didn't stop! His feet twitched and Colin laughed between squeaks and growls. At last he was able to wriggle himself back out of the heap of rubble.

He managed to get one leg free, which he kicked about wildly, though never came in contact with anything. Then his torso fully emerged and then at last his arms and shoulders and head. Colin tried to keep his balance after wiggling out of the pile, but his plaid shirt had gotten all bunched up around his arms and shoulders and the bottom part ended up over his head like a weird hood. His black hair was scattered all over the place!

"Nnnnk! Nnnnk!" Colin shook his head as he danced about, but his shirt remained obstinately twisted. Colin was pretty sure he looked like some kind of comical monster with a shag of long black hair and two arms flailing about in the air.

It suddenly dawned on Colin that his attacker couldn't possibly be Liam! Liam knew Colin well enough that he'd have pressed his tickle-tackle on to Colin's belly, which was far more ticklish than even his feet!

Colin suddenly collapsed to the grass and tried vigorously to get his shirt and his hair to cooperate. He suddenly realised that whoever his non-Liam attacker was could clearly see his birthmark and scars! The heart shaped birthmark just to the left of his breastbone, over his heart, he didn't mind if anyone saw that. But the scars --- he would rather have shown those to someone he trusted! Two giant arcs of puncture marks on his upper right chest and numerous rows of jagged claw marks on chest, back and flank.

"'Rap! 'rap!" came his muffled cries of terror. Whoever this was that had attacked would surely be able to put two and two together and figure out what he was! All the more so when, at last, he was able to wrestle his shirt off of his head, his attacker would see mice in both hands and one lodged in the side of his mouth, its tail dangling limp.

Colin looked up into the face of his attacker. He was still panting from the exertion and he brushed his half undone braid and hair back behind his head. it wasn't Liam at all! It was --- a girl!? Red haired. Ravenclaw. Sophia??

*poot!* Colin spat the mouse from his lips. "Er. I know what this looks like! I can explain everything! I --- I --- er ---"

He shivered violently and he looked up into her eyes. He wondered what she would think. He knew he had to tell his friends --- and they deserved the truth. But even so, he wondered if she would puzzle it out and what she'd do to him when she did.

@Sophia Nelson || Open to interaction with other friends (or enemies)!

Colin was wrigglin' somethin' fierce, and Colin's growling and muffled yelling morphed into laughter and frustrated pleading.. Sophia almost felt guilty when she heard the light thunk of something slamming into a piece of junk from the pile, but she knew the saying well: all's fair in love and war, and this was war.

So she kept the tickle attack going relentlessly until, eventually, Colin managed to use his free foot to kick and flail around. She'd had enough head injuries from similar defenses, so she knew her tactics well enough to know when to let go and step back, and she was right! Colin's leg only barely missed her face. Thankfully she wasn't wearing her glasses!

Amelia was just watching her from a short distance, judging her. She couldn't blame her owl for judging her. She was quite a bit of a handful.

After a moment, Colin fought free of the rubble, but his shirt was in complete disarray. Sophia reached over to try to help him, but Colin seemed intent on fighting her every step of the way. She tried to pull the shirt back down where it belonged, focusing her every bit of willpower on not looking at the shirtless boy's bare chest. She was a lady, and she needed to act like it.

"Hold... still!" she said as she tried to pull the shirt to its right position.

But then she made a terrifying realization as she tried to focus on Colin's eyes. There was a mouse of all things in the boy's mouth. Further examination told her that, yes, there was another one in his right hand and, based on the movement of his shirt, there was probably one in there too.

Sophia stumbled back, giving up on pulling Colin's shirt back down, but she still couldn't allow herself to look at his bare chest, mostly due to her modesty. She didn't know why it was 'okay' to look at shirtless boy at the beach, but not in everyday life. She didn't write the rules, she just followed them. Regardless, she turned her eyes up vaguely in the direction of the sky to allow the boy some time to compose himself and fix his shirt.

To her surprise, he just threw the shirt off, which pulled her attention back down to earth. A mouse scurried out of the pocket of the green shirt, and Amelia swooped down to gobble it up, which was adorable, but now was not the time!

"C-Colin, what's with all the mice?" she asked, looking everywhere she could manage away from the boy, since he was still shirtless. He spat the mouse out of his mouth, which pulled her attention back to his face, at least, but she had to look to the ground to avoid the mouse.

"Er. I know what this looks like! I can explain everything! I --- I --- er ---"

"W-what is there to explain?" she asked with burning cheeks, "You're collecting mice for the owls or something, right?"

That was the only explanation that made any sense, but she was happy to hear Colin out if that wasn't actually the case.

@Colin McCoire

"Gerroff! Gerroff! LIAAAAAM! GERROFF ME!" Colin bawled as his attacker kept tickling his foot and then began to Cornish wrestle him and ended up yanking his shirt off.

"Hold ... still!" Wait! That's not Liam's voice!? --- Who's this fighting with me? he thought.

He caught sight of red hair. And the voice sounded familiar! At last his attacker let go and stood back. He gave up on his shirt and threw it to the grass, panting. "Wh' 'rr 'ou 'oing!? Ngg?" Colin bent over and quickly straightened up again, so that all his hair would fly back behind his shoulders. He stood back from his attacker and looked into the face of his wrestling victor.

"'O'HIA!"

*poot!* Colin spat the mouse from his lips. "SOPHIA!?"

"C-Colin, what's with all the mice?" she asked.

Someone's owl swept down and snapped up the mouse he'd spat out. "Hey you mangy old owl! Come back here! That was my breakfast!"

"Aw, drat!" Suddenly it dawned on Colin that he'd just all but admitted to his --- er, condition --- to Sophia. "Er. I know what this looks like! I can explain everything! I --- I --- er ---"

Sophia turned red. "W-what is there to explain? You're collecting mice for the owls or something, right?"

As bright red as Sophia had turned, Colin paled, as if she'd sucked all the blood right out of him, like some blood crazy Dhampir. Colin began to shake uncontrollably. "C - Collecting m-mice for the owls? Er ---" He sighed and stopped shaking.

Colin looked down. "No. Not for the owls." Suddenly tears began to well up in Colin's eyes and he looked back into Sophia's own. "You're going to tell. I know! You're going to hate me. Th - those mice. They --- I was going to --- um --- they were my breakfast." His words got quieter and quieter as he spoke.

The tears rolled down his face and dripped onto his feet and into the grass. He just stood in front of Sophia. "I ---"

@Sophia Nelson || Open to interaction with other friends (or enemies)!

Sophia was just relieved that Colin wasn't squirming as much as he had been. He was standing relatively still, for Colin, and he seemed to have calmed from his strange little frenzy he'd been in when digging through the rubble. Sophia smiled at the boy, despite his odd behavior.

Then he said something that made her blood boil.

""Hey you mangy old owl! Come back here! That was my breakfast!"

Sophia couldn't recall any times in her life that she'd been so overwhelmingly angry that she had tunnel vision. She was normally a very positive person. Sure, she was quite sad pretty often, especially since her parents died, but she was not often angry.

That all changed when Colin called Amelia 'mangy.'

"Mangy!?" she shrieked.

As the embodiment of fury, Sophia charged the boy, hitting him as hard as she could in the chest. Her blows kept coming and coming, and she was putting every bit of strength she had into them. How dare he call Amelia mangy!?

After a moment, though, she calmed down and got a good look at the boy's chest. It didn't fluster her as a bare chest normally would. No, she couldn't feel flustered because of the sheer amount of pity she felt for the boy. It looked as if he'd been flayed alive and somehow miraculously healed.

She rested one of her open palms on one of the scars, meeting Colin's eyes. He was crying, and something was very, very wrong. His admission to eating mice for breakfast wasn't exactly normal, but that couldn't warrant the sadness in his gaze.

"Colin, my God, what happened?" she asked as tears began to form in her eyes. She didn't even bother crossing herself this time. She didn't even notice her own slip up.

"If you have some weird diet thing where you like eating mice, that's fine. It's whatever. But jeez, Colin, are you okay? Who did this to you?" she asked as her tears slowly trailed down her cheek, but they weren't only sad tears. They were angry tears too.

"Tell me who did it, and I promise! We'll - we'll, well I don't know what we'll do!" she said with a trembling voice, "B-but we'll do something!"

Knowing that there wasn't much she could do, however, Sophia pulled Colin into a tight hug, hoping to comfort him as best she could. She couldn't let him deal with this alone, whatever it was. If he cried, she would cry with him. If he screamed, then her voice would match his own. She made a silent vow, before God and any who would listen, that she would make sure he got through this and that he wasn't alone.

@Colin McCoire

Colin didn't notice the Jekyll and Hyde transformation that was taking place right in front of him. He was ticked off at that horrible owl for absconding with his breakfast, and now Sophia saw that he was going eat a mouse! His eye was still on the bird who had flown only a short distance away. It very slowly and very deliberately pecked at his mouse. My mouse! he screamed in his mind; Not yours! The owl kept its huge eyes on him with --- each --- and --- every --- bite.

As it dawned on him that Sophia would surely figure out his --- condition --- Colin still had thoughts of rescuing what was left of his hard own breakfast! He was just about to sidestep Sophia when something very strange happened.

Sophia shrieked!

And not any kind of scared girl shriek either --- she shrieked an actual word!

"Mangy!?"

It was only then that Colin realised that Sophia no longer stood in front of him, but some sort of crazed banshee, a veritable harbinger of death --- and she focused all her rage on Colin! She literally lunged at him and started beating him up!

"Ow ---!"

She whacked his chest with her right fist!

"Hey ---!"

She bashed with her left fist!

"Sop ---!"

She pounded him with both at the same time!

Colin felt suddenly hot. He clenched his fists. He snarled at Sophia! For a brief moment --- he wanted to knock her down, put an end to the attack.

NHRRRRRLH!!!

NOOO! COLIN! No! She's our friend!

Sophia didn't notice --- she just kept pounding away at Colin! His chest, arms, sides, belly --- any place she could hit him!

Colin felt horrible and suddenly sick. He actually --- snarled --- at his friend! Oh God, how could I do that to her! --- Kim will turn me over for sure when she tells him! I'll end up in Azkaban for sure! --- Or worse. Oh. Crap!

And then as suddenly as Sophia's rage began, it ended. Like it never was. What just happened here!? Colin tried to explain everything --- he knew it was a lame excuse. Collecting mice for the owls? he excoriated himself. A likely story! She saw that mouse we'd chewed up, right?

Tears welled up in his eyes. Not from the pain she'd caused. No, from the pain I'm about to cause my friend! "I---" Colin began crying. She placed her hand on his chest and touched the scars. No one had even seen his scars since the night of the attack, let along touched them, and now Sophia was just looking at them. She touched them gently, as if memorising them. Colin felt completely exposed. Vulnerable.

And then she asked him what had happened. Sophia began to cry as well. She said something about him having a weird diet thing. Colin shook his head --- did she just say that? "Weird diet thing? Is that your idea of a joke, Sophia? I ---" he couldn't even finish his sentence. Just as well, because Sophia just kept going like a solid bludger.

"It's whatever. But jeez, Colin, are you okay? Who did this to you?" she asked.

She wanted to know who did this. She said they'd do something about it. [/i]That wasn't --- normal --- was it? Did she not know what his scars even were? Couldn't she see the teeth marks?

And then Sophia did something Colin was not expecting at all. She pulled him close and hugged him. Colin began to sob. Uncontrollably. He just collapsed into his friend. He roared and raged. Tried to fight her off, but she wouldn't let him. She held on to him. He fell to the grass crying. He didn't even care that she'd just tried to kill him. He just let her hold him until his tears stopped.

Colin, my God, what happened? --- He knew he'd have to tell this story over again to all his friends. His trusted friends.

He drew several ragged breaths. At last he was able to look Sophia in the face. "You're going to hate me. I know it. I --- I have to tell you. Because you're my friend. But I know our friendship will be over soon." He rocked back and forth as more tears flowed. "I should just turn myself in, and have done with it," he muttered. "Azkaban. It'll be easier for everyone. Especially my family. They'll just put me quietly out of my folks' misery."

Colin sighed deeply. He pushed her away gently, just a little bit. He pointed to the scars on his chest and side. "I got bit. Soph. I didn't want to believe it for a long time. It was kind of fun at first, scampering around --- looking for mice. Cute and furry! But then, well, I --- I was hungry. And no one was around, so --- so I ate it. Well, mostly its insides squirted out all over my shirt. But, I'd never eaten a mouse before! But eventually, I had to believe it. My little sister knew even before I would admit it to myself. You see, Sophia: just before I came to Hogwarts, I got in a fight. I thought maybe it was a wolf or a wild dog. It --- it was a werewolf. It attacked us and I had to defend my sister and brother. So. I took the bite and all the scratches."

Colin hunched over, utterly defeated. "I've got it, Soph. Lycanthropy. I'm a werewolf too now." He didn't say anything for a few moments. At last Colin said, barely a whisper: "You've been a good friend to me Sophia. But, we can't be friends anymore. Right? I mean. I might try to hurt you. I couldn't live with myself if I hurt any of you. Even that blasted pigeon of yours!"

Colin shivered. Not from any chill in the air, but from the cold that had gripped his heart. "I feel inside here, Soph." He pointed to the birthmark over his heart. "I don't know if I can handle this. I've got to tell the others, too. I wasn't going to tell you first. Quinn's my first friend at Hogwarts. I should have told her first. And then, well, I've got to tell Bailey. Jarael --- Oh God! How am I going to tell Jarael? She's --- she. Soph, she's Eyes of Sky! I haven't even told her yet I --- Um. And now I have tell her to stay away when I don't want her to stay away at all! But I can't hurt her --- not ---"

Colin fell silent. Tears flowed down his cheeks and splashed onto his chest and down to his kilt. His breath came ragged. "I'm all alone now."

@Sophia Nelson

Sophia felt horrible for her little outburst, especially as she held a sobbing Colin in her arms. Of course, they were sobbing together, but that didn't change the raw emotion and turmoil the boy was feeling. It was a relief that he was able to let it out in this moment, and Sophia was going to get him through this. Her vow before God was made silently, but she would always take it seriously, lest her own soul be damned!

"What do you mean, you should turn yourself in, Colin? I could never hate you! You're such a sweet, kind person!"

Sophia didn't know what this, this... Ass-cabin was, but she couldn't let Colin go there. Not just because of the profanity in its name, but because he belonged here. With his friends. But who would possibly put Colin out of his poor misery just for being attacked? That was purely barbaric, and Sophia wouldn't stand for it!

"No one will hurt you, Colin. Not even your family. Even if they turn on you, we'll figure something out," she said, voice steady with determination. Her tears were falling, but she wouldn't let them get in her way, "You can stay with me and my grandma, if it comes down to it! My grandma's a Catholic too, so she'll welcome you wholeheartedly! Nothing is happening to you, and you won't go to the, uh..."

She paused, took a deep breath, and said the word, "Ass-Cabin!"

Sophia listened to the rest of Colin's story with the patience of the nuns who'd attended to her when her parents died. There wasn't a shred of judgement, or fear, in her eyes as she heard Colin's story. Heck, she hasn't even known werewolves were real at all, but if they were all like Colin, then maybe they weren't something to be feared anyway. Then he'd expressed his fear of hurting the people he cared about. His fear of being alone.

"Colin," she said gently, tracing his scars with her finger, "I'm so sorry you've had to go through this, but I promise you will not suffer it alone. I will never abandon you. I didn't even know about werewolves until you told me they exist just now, and I know I'm kind of stupid when it comes to normal wizard knowledge, but I do know one thing. God brought us together for a reason, Colin, and I think He knows what you need and what you're capable of. Everything happens for a reason, and we wouldn't have been brought together if it wasn't meant to last. No matter what happens, I promise that I will always be your friend, Colin."

She pulled him into a tight hug, squeezing him hard, "You don't have to tell anyone that you don't want to. It's your story, Colin, and no one has a right to it but you."

"As for telling people to stay away," she said as she reached a single hand up to scratch behind Colin's ear comfortingly, "You don't have to do that either! There are so many people here who care about you Colin, and if some of them are - are - are assholes about it, then you're better off without them anyway. Everyone that cares about you will always care about you, and I'm sure that includes Eyes of Sky."

She pulled away from the hug and smiled sadly at him, "And I'm sorry I hit you, I don't like when people are mean to Amelia. Can you forgive me?"

@Colin McCoire

Colin let Sophia's words wash over him. Her voice was comforting and her embrace kept him from falling into despair. They'd figure things out --- he wouldn't be alone --- everything happens for a reason.

A small part of Colin's brain wondered what an ass cabin could possibly be. Must be something muggle.

He focused when she spoke of him determining who he should tell. She made sense. There were only a small number of people he actually wanted to tell and now most of them knew anyway. There was really only person now that he really had to tell. And she was the one he feared most to tell. Colin had convinced himself that she would reject him and maybe even try to harm him.

He knew it was a stupid reaction. So far Quinn and Sophia had responded positively. Even Red Charlie wasn't terrified, though Colin thought she wasn't particularly enthused by the prospect of taking on a werewolf for a friend.

But --- Eyes of Sky --- Jarael. She was a different matter. She'd offered to be his friend when they first met, and he accepted. But there was something different about her and he felt more strongly about telling her the right way. Or at least not in a way that would end up too comical! He was actually afraid to tell her anything, most especially this.

And so, for now, Colin just let Sophia hug him and rock him as his tears flowed.

And then she asked him a very odd question. It was about that horrible pigeon of hers that had stolen his hard won breakfast. She was sorry she'd hit him? Her pummelling wasn't all that bad. Under other circumstances, it would have been fun! In stead, she seemed to be so worried about Colin that she was actually asking him to forgive her for hitting him. It should have been the other way around! It should have been him asking her to forgive him for excoriating her bird.

As he was rocked and soothed, he could only say one word. And it came out in a small, almost little boy, voice. "'es."

Interacting: @Sophia Nelson || Mentioning: @Quinn Root | @Charlie Grace | @Jarael Morningstar || Open to interaction with other friends (or enemies)!

Colin was silently allowing Sophia to embrace him, and she softly hummed to the boy, in an effort to soothe him. This was a lot to take in, him being a werewolf and all, but Sophia didn't mind. After all, she'd been told in Church her whole life that witches were real, and evil, but then she'd come to Hogwarts and learned that witches were just, well, people.

How were werewolves any different? She was told in movies and books that they were monsters for all of her life, but who was to say that they weren't just people too? After all, she'd met Colin, and he was a werewolf. He was one of the sweetest - if not a bit odd, admittedly - people she'd ever met. The poor boy deserved love, and love he would get.

After Colin, much to Sophia's relief, agreed to forgive her for her violence moments ago, Sophia's hug tightened on the boy. After a moment of comfortable silence in which they shared their hug - and some tears - Sophia asked, "Whatcha thinkin' about, Colin?"

It was such a cliché thing to ask, but she had to know what was running through the boy's head. After all, after today, there was a clear bond here, so asking about his thoughts and feelings was natural, right?

As her stomach growled, though, Sophia was embarrassed to be the one interrupting their moment. She broke their embrace reluctantly, making sure their arms were still closely looped together as they stood side-by-side.

"Want to go grab some breakfast together before class?" she asked, gesturing to the castle with a nod of her head, jokingly adding, "You can sit with me at the cool kids' table."

Reducio

We should have more threads after this, like hunting with pax

@Colin McCoire