Magical Masquerade: The entrance

Interacting: @Evelynn Decipio
Mentioning: Gideon, Finn, Becca, Aly, Dee, Piérre, Jack, Meenauh, Dusana

┏		┓
	A gentle Ventus breeze blew away the smoke, providing a clear view of the chilling sight: snakes attempting to restrain a boy (Gideon), and Finnigan, the one he'd left Becca by, with a dark stain spreading on his shirt. Before Pericles could process what he was witnessing, a potion bottle pressed against his lips. He closed his eye, tilted back his head, and swigged the Calming Draught too quickly to think about the crocodile heart dissolved in it. Some irony that was. He had specifically brewed the potion for this event, yet hadn't stopped to consider he would be the one consuming it. It would prove to be a small blessing. Although Pericles would have to suffer through the physical loss, the Drought Eve administered would lessen the psychological impact of the incident. Shouts, spells, pain and the deafening bugle of an elk, his mind had crackled with overstimulation. Now a blessed tranquility smothered it all, like throwing a wet blanket over a small flame. He could breathe, he could think, he could help. While his situation meant he missed the back-and-forth between Aly and Dee, Pericles would turn his attention back to the danger in time to see Piérre going off on them both. "...as a firm believer in 'Equal Rights, Equal Fights' I am NOT A-F#&$ing-FRAID to hit a Goddamn woman! Do I make. Myself... PERFECTLY! ...Clear?" A low groan reverberated in the Ravenclaw's throat, but whether it was a result of his condition or the spectacle was anyone's guess. While he kept his right hand closed around Eve's to stand steady, the left was already raising his wand, eye swiveling as he scanned the situation to determine his next move. The Draught did its job, eliminating anxiety, outrage, and fear. All that was left in its place was a steadily worsening exhaustion. It was strange how heavy he felt. "Thank you. I'm ready." Ready to go on fighting, not to go outright. "We need to leave," "But, Becca and Aly...." The argument would go unfinished. As much as Pericles wanted to stay and aid the others, not only would he be a liability, there were other confirmed competent casters present, like Dee and Meena. He would have happily overlooked the severity of his injury in the moment, but Eve, ruthlessly efficient, would not allow him to be so careless. Her softly spoken please sealed his choice. Though the Draught dulled the worst of his emotions, Pericles still managed a disappointed, faintly pained frown. Yet he relented in the end with a small nod, releasing Eve so she could sort through her satchel. A last reluctant look swung towards the chaos. The mad elk was breaking free from the soil, and the urge to join the fray sparked again, though the nurse's voice continued striking sense into him. "Oi! Girl with the broom! Hospital Wing! Now!" They were right. He needed to leave. He was robbed of his adrenaline, rendered so tired, he could hardly stand without swaying. Before he could see something that would convince him to stay, Pericles forcibly turned to join Eve on the broom. He sat behind her, trying to maintain a gap while holding onto her, still conscientious of pressing his blood-stained vest to the back of her beautiful golden gown. "Get us out of here." Despite his best efforts, it wouldn't be long until he was slouched against her for support.
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Action: Drinking a Calming Draught
Flavor: Unless stopped, exiting with Eve to the Hospital Wing

Reducio

HP (850/1000)
﴾ Stamina - 10 | Evasion - 12 | Strength - 4 | Wisdom - 12 | ArcPower - 10 | Accuracy - 14 ﴿
Perfectionist 1 + 2, Keen Eye, Spell Spread, Animagus
Inventory: Potions, wand, Fit
Posts: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - you are here

🅵 I N N E G A Nxx🅲 O N N O R
xxxGRYFFINDOR SECOND YEAR THE MASKED BALL

Magical Masquerade 13th of April 2024

xx

For a short moment, it seemed that the Hufflepuff's end was near. Glistening scales constricted around the young boy, enveloping him in a deadly embrace. The snake's forked tongue flickered, its body tightening and contracting, intent squeezing the life out the boy, or so it seemed. But before Finnegan could act, Gideon had already wrestled himself loose, and the aggravated snake fell hissing to the ground. The thick smoke that had scratched at his throat was dispelled by a gust of wind, a spell, that much was certain, but where from? The wind carried a voice—Rebecca's voice—calling for him. "Bex..." he croaked, the sound barely leaving his pale lips. The world was a sickening blur of overwhelming noise he longed to escape. Out of nowhere, two strong arms flung around him, steadying him first, then pulling feverishly at him. He lurched backward. Hot and sticky blood gushed from the wound, streaming down his leg, his skin turning ever paler. No, I have to help! He struggled against her, but he was no match for her. His feet refused to find purchase anywhere and slipped in a puddle of his own making until, after some distance, his legs gave out completely. Like a popped balloon his strength slipped away, his body becoming dead weight in Rebecca's arms while she dragged him back, leaving a dark trail in his wake. Finn, hold still. Hold still. You have to put pressure on it, that's the first rule of bleeding, I think "—becca...?" Somewhere along the way he had finally hit the dirt. It was a strange relief to be flat and low to the ground, where the world was small and manageable. But his relief wasn't to last. A cold rush came over him when she exposed the thin, babbling mouth of a wound to the open air. No, Rebecca, no, get away, leave it, please just leave it! Every instinct screamed to keep away from it. Fading away here was far preferable to having someone muck around, poking at his intestines. His cold hands pushed up uselessly against hers. Don't touch it! He writhed as she pressed down hard on his abdomen, trying to stem the bleeding. The horrible squelch elicited a sharp gasp from him. A thin film of clammy sweat mingled with dirt on his face as he twisted in agony. There was another rush of cold air. His head lolled to the side, fearful eyes looking up at Rebecca, her hands slick with blood. She'd stopped pushing down. Why had she stopped? "Don't leave me!" He tried to reach out for her, grab hold of her, to keep her from abandoning him. A dark figure appeared in his vision @Mateo Sáez, composed and resolute. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it. How strange a twist of fate it was that the man responsible for an unjust detention had now come to save his life. Hold still. The voice sounded. I am holding still! he thought back hotly, but his mind and his limbs had divorced a long time ago. The librarian would need a steady hand or Rebecca's help to keep him still, as he continued to groan and writhe. HP: 500/1000. Action: Nothing. Just bleeding out. Any struggle on Finn's part in this post is for flavor and can be considered ineffective. Mentions: @Gideon Athanatos, @Rebecca Lark, @Mateo Sáez.

Stamina 10 ✶ Evasion 10 ✶ Strength 2 ✶ Wisdom 4 ✶ Arcane Power 5 ✶ Accuracy 10

Interacts with: @Xailah Alptraum & @Piérre Marchonné
Mentions: @Jack Warren, @Pericles Dralt, Gideon and Mathias

Tossed Piérre the skull.
Attempting to leave topic

Attempting to leave topic.

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I swore that if I did not keep my hands on them, they would slip away from me quicker than water through a sieve. Indeed, even as my brother transformed into his tiny form that I had first met the last summer, my fingers reached for him only to only feel the whisper of feathers on the very tips of my fingers and then completely elude my hand. "Piérre...!" I choked out a hissed warning, but he was already gone--towards that scuffle of epic proportions that had very quickly seemed to implode upon itself and then explode outwards into a cacophony of cries, disorder, and slung spells.

Taking a step forward, I stopped myself as a nearby bystander [Scout] was suddenly petrified with a wayward spell. My eyes scoured the area, searching for an in that lacked the rebounding spells. Now was not the right moment, even as a swirl of pink and green interceded itself between a stabbing wand and a withdrawing pair of heads of white and red [Pericles & Evelynn]. This time I cried out a bit louder, taking another step forward and trying my best to begin pushing through the riot and the panic that was now like a resistant creature against my bulk. It would not even occur to me that Mikael had at some time appeared by our sides, even if a small shadow of an impression of a presence would begin to resonate on a deeper level like that of a chill as a cold splash of panic began to run down my spine as I watched my brother struggle against the much stronger boy that was wielding the wand like a weapon. "Piérre!" I cried, pushing again. "PIÉRRE!"

Valentin went before me, towards my brother as he managed to not only wrangle the wand from the boy but then to secure it. The boy then proceeded to... transform into an elk?! "Animagus..." I murmured before suddenly pushing again, this time making some headway. "Valentin! Piérre!" I didn't want to hurt anyone, but... "Get out of my way!" I finally growled, breaking through and then rushing to my brother's side just as he was starting to ramble in a collection of disjointed and panicked words. Something about disappearing and being buried... as the boy was magically compelled to be drunk up by the very earth itself by the spell of of an adult--a rare sight in my eyes, most regrettable as that fact was.

Valentin spoke to me, and I looked between him and Piérre with anxiety in my eyes. Something afflicting Piérre's spirit? That much was an understatement, I knew only a fragment of the things that Piérre spoke only in passing to me about--it was like this part of his life was a total secret, complete with these sorts of horrors he never breathed a word to me in reference to. "I know, I just..." But Piérre was already spinning off again, turned towards something else--unloading on a pair of girls. "Piérre..." I sighed heavily, my eyes softening in exhaustion only for a second before returning to attention. Valentin... "No, he probably isn't... But he's never... I wish he would just tell me what's going on...!"

Something that I was sure that many could say of me, ironically enough.

No sooner had my twin finished his tirade that I instinctively threw my arms around him, my hands sweeping for injuries as I did so. "What in the Hell is wrong with you?! What are you talking--no, not that... figure that out later... what in the world were you thinking, you could have been--" I continued to watch the fray over his shoulder, watching his back even as I assessed any potential injuries--which he didn't appear to have any. "Calm down. Try to speak clearly. One thing at a time, and don't hyperfixate." He was whole and healthy... somehow.

Piecemeal by piecemeal he began to explain, but even as his words tumbled from his lips I was re-scanning the area, trying to cut through the confusion and the disaster--trying to find something to anchor to or to recognize as being a potential adversary to my twin in his moments of vulnerability. "And you never told any adults because...?" I probed suspiciously.

My eye was drawn to a cluster of movement complete with that of moving... snakes? One wailing boy [Finnegan] had his hands pressed to his stomach, another girl [Rebecca] was trying to start pressing a fabric to that place, and a third small and blonde one [Gideon] was shrieking about another girl [Astra] having been the one who had stabbed the first boy and was seemingly trying to clear his presence from the area immediately.

I didn't want to leave my brother... but...

I took only a few steps from Piérre, my hand lingering on him for as long as I could before I could not longer touch him, and I angled my wand towards the boy whose hands were red with his own blood. My eyes narrowed. I wasn't sure of the gap that I would be able to shoot, but I was confident in my abilities just enough to make an attempt--hopefully bandages enough to staunch the wound. If nothing else, perhaps I would be able to get some better bandaging material than that of a fabric dress. The chaos of the moment, the situation as it laid at the moment could be remedied and unraveled in its own time. The priority was making sure that everyone was alive to testify--God forbid that it come to that.

"Ferula." I incanted calmly and smoothly--the one peace in my mind was the recollection of the spell, and the first and most important step of on-site casualty care. "Get him out of here and somewhere safe! The longer he stays here, the more at risk he is for further injury!" Admittedly it was less of a suggestion and more of a command. "Check the temporary bandages when he is somewhere safe for effectiveness, replace or re-pack if needed, and then move on through the other steps: airway, respiration, circulation, burns, hypothermia and other superficials."

I couldn't be everywhere at once... Piérre needed me. Perhaps, if I was able to, I would be able to come... and... but this was the best I could offer to them, at least for now.

My eyes fell on the Nurse now that I had Piérre's words ringing in my ears. I was not convinced of my twin's words... but even I knew when my brother had good reason to believe the things that he believed. I hesitated to suggest the Nurse, even if there were the best chances to be found with her help--but perhaps the children would be able to trust her enough themselves, enough so that I would not have to either support or combat having the medical personnel's assistance in any way.

I returned to my brother. I looked to Valentin. "Piérre, Valentin. We should get out of here too." A thought struck me. "Greta. We should find Greta too. The other Horntails--where is everyone? Can we get a headcount?"

I would not even notice Johannes, though I would look out over the undulating masses all the same in search for him. I was trying to find everyone, but the movement and the lack of consistency with the placement of people was only making it harder and harder to tell where people had been, where they were going, and where they currently were. Too much, too loud...

My hands lightly covered my ears. Too much noise--too much thunder, too much ringing of lightning in my mind. Like a carnival... like a circus, that maddening collection of sound and laughter and screams of awe and terror. But this, as I removed my hands again, was a world of terror and not of delights. This was real. I had to be a part of it whether I liked it or not. I had to participate, to keep a cool head. If I could not do that, how could I expect anyone else to?

Trying to get answers out of Piérre, but Casts Ferula on Finnegan's Wound

Reducio

Wand [Redacted] | Italian Longsword [Peace-tied] | Bear Masque [Worn]
Osiria Rose Boutonniere [Worn] | True Love's Locket [Worn] | Medicine Notebook [Carrying]

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Entourage ~ Honeybear ~ Eidolon

Click HERE for Ency

Outfit:

Reducio

Valentin looked around to assess the state of the ball, then returned his gaze to Piérre with a grim shake of his head.

“There’s already enough pain in this world. This is no way to party.” Watching Romeo turn his gaze to the bleeding boy on the other side of the ball, Valentin nodded with appreciation. He knew he could count on Romeo to take care of it. Neither of them could be everywhere at once, but by working together, they could come closer to that ideal. It was more of a temporary farewell than stating what Romeo already knew when Valentin brushed Romeo’s shoulder, tipped his head, and said, “I’ll take care of Piérre. Go.” Val’s tone of voice itself asked for Romeo to not get severely hurt in the process.

Standing by Piérre, Valentin observed that those he had been guarding (Evelynn and Pericles) were well on their way out of the ball and would probably not be needing further help from him. Instead, he would hover around the littler Marchonné like a thundercloud ready to strike anything that deigned to approach Piérre. While Valentin stood guard, he watched Romeo issuing commands to those around the wounded boy and going through his usual field medic protocols. The seeker’s violet eyes softened as he sighed to himself, What a hero. Stribog, how I love that man. Valentin couldn’t just stand there and watch, however, as he had his own roles to play in taking care of people.

Looking back towards Mikael, Val exhaled with relief that the other hadn’t ended up drowning in the lake while Val was occupied with other things. It felt like the void was forever ready to swallow the other up if Valentin simply got distracted for too long.

"What is wrong with him?" Mikael asked, regarding Piérre strangely.

“I want to know the same thing,” replied the Frost Captain, words slipping out as fluidly as liquid mercury. He couldn’t ask Piérre to open up more on the spot now, but he could certainly push the topic of what went so wrong with the one who had become a skeleton. Looking over at Johannes, Valentin indicated the skull with a jerk of his neck.

“Do you see anything about this skull or in the area that might tell us more about who was using the pitch as a burial ground, who the victim was, or why?” The champion’s voice was as frozen-over as Mikael’s, showing no emotion over the affront to human (or humanoid) life nor the disrespect done to the sacred place that was the quidditch pitch. He could unpack his feelings about it later when everyone was accounted for and unwinding in a safe location. Instead, Valentin observed as Mikael stared at the skull with wide eyes and muttered something in Norwegian. Cursing himself for not having had the time to study Mikael’s mother tongue, Valentin still had enough empathy to speculate over what Mik was experiencing. It had not been that long ago that the other boy’s mother died – an experience Val himself was acquainted with, in addition to the discovery of his father’s body only last summer. Mikael reached out and grabbed Val’s sleeve, still staring down the skull as its empty sockets stared back.

“Misha…” was all Val said as he leaned over to try to hold the other boy. Running his hand through the other’s hair, Valentin’s marble face showed no expression, but the cracks of his “non-mask” seemed to twinkle with a bit more luster through its pitch-black cracks. Attempting a gentle squeeze and to lay his head on Mikael’s shorter shoulder, the gust of a deep sigh escaped Valentin’s lungs. The look Misha was giving him earlier – was Mikael also picking up on what was threatening to split Val open from the inside out? Standing there with Mik, Val felt as if he were holding a dark version of himself. Misha’s pain was his own. “Mishka…” With one more stroke of the other’s hair, Valentin stepped back to look into the other’s eyes. Val’s amethyst-and-mithril gaze seemed to speak its own language even when nothing more was said. Why? Yes, that was right. Why? He wanted to know, too. Why were their mothers dead? Why was this other person dead here now? Why did people have to die at all?

“Let’s try to understand,” breathed Valentin with affection. “Then maybe we can stop this from happening again.”

Just then, Romeo returned from treating the boy who had been stabbed on the other side of the ball. Valya’s eyes greeted him with the simple joy of seeing the other return. Still, Mikael would see the strain at the corners of Val’s eyes. The same look could be found on a hunter who had not been able to find sustenance for days on end. It would be easy for the Norwegian to conclude that whatever was wrong with Val was strongly associated with the extremely tall Italian. It was as if Valentin had not stopped asking why, even when the other returned. Fundamentally, this gaze invoked the same kind of “why.”

Romeo was covering his ears, as if overwhelmed. Valentin could feel it just watching him. This was a recurring condition, and just like there was something wrong with Piérre, with Val, with Mik, and with that cold, dead skeleton, there was something wrong with Romeo as well. Valentin reached out and placed his hand on the side of Romeo’s face, as if by simply leaving his palm there it would absorb some of his strife. Romeo went on to remove his hands from his ears, and Val knew that despite the other’s existential migraine, his co-captain was still ready for the fight.

“Yes, it seems we’re all okay for now. We have Misha, Hanya, Piérre, and you, making us five. There’s another of our comrades over there.” Valentin nodded at Nikolai Volkov in the distance, who seemed to be doing just fine. Concluding that Evelynn and Pericles had left, Valentin did not include them in his appraisal. “I can’t see Greta from here but from what I can tell, the other half of the ball seems quite tranquil by comparison…” Then, with a snort, Valentin looked back at the skull. “Then there’s this one here, who doesn’t seem to be doing so well.”

Basic Stats: STA 8 - EVA 20 - STR 3 - WIS 16 [18] - ARC 1 - ACC 16
Abilities:
Keen Eye / Charmer / Evasive Maneuvers / Fearless / Comprehend Languages: Parseltongue

Inventory (being worn): A golden locket, a silver earring from the Horntail Horde piercing excursion, and a golden ring from Yefim. The niffler is never seen without this bling.

Ency/Trunk: viewtopic.php?f=314&t=17006#p269554
Godmods of Valentin are consensual throughout this and other threads for Romeo, Greta, Mikael, and everyone else playing a Durmstrang character.
Light godmods of Mikael and Romeo received consent in advance.

Action: Physically bodyblock if anyone or anything would come near Piérre (including spells and bodily aggression)
Free Action: Asking Johannes and Mik to examine the skull or dig site to check for clues; also, trying to physically comfort Mikael and Romeo.

Mentioning: Romeo Marchonné (@Piérre Marchonné), @Pericles Dralt, @Evelynn Decipio, Mikael Halldorson (@Percival Rainwood), Johannes Sauer (@Astrea Soleil Neptune), Nikolai Volkov (@Matthew Campbell)

Open to Interaction

Outfit

Calming Presence in Effect;
Romeo Marchonné, Valentin Schnell, Greta Fransson & Figaro Affected

It was for the better that Prince chose not to engage. Better for the fragile ego not to engage with the thing that could pierce the veneer of control with a trained silver tongue. It was the hybrid blessing and curse of the Jester, the greatest strength and loftiest weakness in one--for another day, at least, the tenuous grasp of the world in the girl's own mind as far as her mind was able to comprehend it would remain intact. Long enough for another sun to rise and for the sun to set to the lack of interest from herself--for after all did not the world revolve around her?

A bubble of Salvio Hexia sprang into being, surrounding a good portion of the crowd to include Dealla, Aly, the elk boy, Gryffindor Captain Meenauh, the other Gryffindor Co-Captain Galton, and the achingly familiar but not familiar enough to Piérre himself Vladimir who had a skull in his hands.

His palms began to sweat as a hot flash ran through him in tandem with an acceleration in his heart rate. His head became light at the same moment as Valentin began to probe him, and with a quiet voice only just loud enough to be conversational with him Piérre wrung his hands and only continued to watch the situation from afar for the moment. "People. Students. People I know, and people I don't know. I see their faces one day and the next they're gone." When he had been younger he thought it had been strange, but then he had started to pay attention and had started to lay down his ears around the area to discern if those that had suddenly departed were because of reasons that were related to family or for 'normal' reasons. It was usually young students. Other than a few rare exceptions... "I don't know. I don't know why, but they do. And then people, people I know and people that I've spoken and interacted with... don't..."

They didn't remember. Even the faces to Piérre himself grew fuzzy over time, as if they were not supposed to be remembered. One of the rare few that did stay was that of Victor, and that was because of the circumstances around which the boy had fleetingly interacted with him, the memories of the strangeness of it all. Vladimir, though perhaps not in the current shape or visage that he held now, was also familiar, but only because of a certain article in the Daily Prophet in January of 2021 that had spoken to his expiration. Only those who had been safely drawn out and then replaced at this school had evaded such a fate as this, he supposed... the rest had decidedly not been as fortunate.

"They don't come back. People just... forget them. I... Sometimes I don't think even I can remember them--other than impressions. Like Deja vu, I remember the motions but..." He thought it was a curse of his, and perhaps it was in a strange and unfortunate way, the fact that coincidence would be hard pressed to align this well with pattern with its tendency and nature of random chance. "Names vanish but their faces are everywhere. I see them, and they're just close enough. Enough to slip through my hands..." Who buries them? "Hogwarts has rumors of Hags, Hags that ate children who wandered too far into the Forest. I thought maybe it was them, but now, after the papers said they were found dead, I don't think... if they aren't still around, or even if they are..."

Green eyes alighted on the Nurse once more, narrowing suddenly as he bared his teeth with rage. Yes. Yes, it all checked out. This was the cause, he was looking directly at it. This creature, this monster, was the cause of all of the pain and the fear and the vanishings now that the dark had allegedly been vanquished--and if it had not been vanquished, then this was part of the dark covenant that had enabled it to survive and to thrive for as long as it had. The Nurse. It always seemed to come back to the Nurse, didn't it. "They're being helped. There is someone who gains from this."

Romeo's words softly came to him in the midst of a hug that while it jostled the boy did not prevent Piérre from looking under his twin's arm and continuing to maintain eye contact at the creature. "Because there's one among them that's the cause of it." His words dripped sullenly like a frozen vengeance. "I'll not tell an adult because they'll tell It. The Nurse." Piérre's hand slowly raised in a full-palm point towards the Thing that had caused the earth to consume its next victim. "It makes people disappear--starting with Finlay as its first face and now this alleged 'Sabo' as its most recent one. Brumby was the only one who had been true, Brumby was the only real one--and he left, after Finlay escaped. The Nurse has conducted all of this from the beginning. Working with hags. Using dark magic."

Keen senses piqued again as the Nurse shouted something about a snake?! As Romeo had gone to do something else, and after he himself had ensured the safety of Evelynn and Pericles, Piérre took one firm step towards the bubble. A snake?! AND, brazenness of all brazennesses, telling--no, instructing--Evelynn and Pericles to go to the Death Wing of all places! Piérre rebuked this as quickly as he could, but perhaps not fast enough. "NOT to the Wing! Not while the NURSE is there!" He cried to the skies. "Evelynn! Don't let Pericles out of your sight! Don't leave him ALONE in there!"

The Wampus hair would finally collect a thought, an emotional one--a desperate and fearful one...

"Sectumsempra!"

In a dark black smoky fog, a boy was crouched under a hospital bed--the Hospital Wing's hospital bed--trying to peer out of his hiding place towards the confrontation between two twins in which one had cast the severing curse on an unknown target. A splash rang in the vicinity, and then sluggishly ran under the cot. The boy's fingers turned red as it seeped between his fingers.

'The Nurse... the Mad Nurse...!'

A sharp pain in the back of his head as a concussive force split the ground and caused him to hit his head on the cot. The world spun in darkness, in blood and in vomit before turning sideway and slowly fading out like a candle in a suffocating night.

"G-get a-a-away..."

And then there was no more.

In the present, Piérre would turn on the Nurse, raising his wand. "I won't let you take them too!" Another tear finally split down his cheek. "Not while I still breathe!" The yew wand trembled in his hand, that master of living and dead that knew its place so well--that scream of magic that wailed in his bones, that demanded outlet after being held down for so long. Even something as simple as a charm, a curse, a jinx... Salvio Hexia was very little taken away from his repertoire. The Nurse was already well-acquainted with the boy's ability with the Oculitumescere Curse, but there were so many other spells that It was not acquainted with yet. So many tools in the boy's toolbox that he could use... And that snake, another minion to the master...

The most direct route was often the best one. The wand began to move in the pattern of a checkmark with a hook, the incantation starting to come to his mind as his lips began to move in the first syllables of the Knockback Jinx, but there was a gleam of light in the air as Piérre's attention was suddenly distracted by an object in the air. His eyes turned just in time to see the skull, the skull that had been in the ground and then in the hands of the Dead Man now coming for him. Instinctively his right hand reached for it like he were receiving a softball or football, ready to cup and catch it against his body as opposed to let it fumble to the ground.

The Nurse--for better or for worse--was safe from the boy for now. While the boy was collecting the fragments, trying to find the pieces, he could not maintain full attention on the dark creature who was surrounded by others that were just as capable of potentially defeating it if they knew. If only they knew...

Romeo had returned. Piérre saw the elk drag itself from the earth as his twin was trying to get a headcount. "U-uh Romeo?" Piérre nudged his twin as he watched the elk form of the boy that had stabbed Pericles free himself from the confines. "Romeo, I think we should go too. Elk." Piérre's eyes widened as he gestured towards the looming wild animal. "Elk." He repeated again.

The Dead Man was leaving... Piérre's eyes followed him like a ghost's. Why? Why?

Too many questions, and not enough ability to formulate the correct questions to ask or the time to ask and have them answered.

Stopped short from casting Flipendo at Dusana (thankfully?), Focused on Catching the Skull

Statistics: Stamina 7 | Strength 5 | Evasion 18 | Wisdom 12 | Accuracy 16 | ArcPower 5
Hummingbird: Stamina 1 | Strength 1 | Evasion 18 | Wisdom 1 | Accuracy 9

Abilities:
Keen Eye | Calming Presence | Beast Master [Cat] | Cat's Grace | Animagus [Hummingbird]
Hummingbird:
Flight | Observation (50% Chance [Flight/V. Small) | Stealth (25% Chance), +2 Stealth

Items:
Wand [10.2 inches Yew and Snallygaster Heartstring] | [Sharpened] Locksmith's Knife
[Red] Deck of 52 Playing Cards | Soda | Firebreathing Potion

Figaro the Silver Bengal Abilities: Cat's Grace | Claws and Bite Action: At the Main Ball Thread [With Greta] Status: Calming Presence (Piérre)

Beast Master Familiar: 200/200