Roleplaying as Casey Stone from Ilvermorny

December 21st 2024
Speech: Bold #257379
Thoughts: Bold Italics
OOC Notes: About time I gave him something to do
A lil' bit more language than usual in this one too (just a heads-up!)

There he is... The slimy bastard.

And about time too. The Dalnuis Reserve was so big it was easy to completely miss him. But there he was, right through the window of one of the offices for Casey to see.

Casey's in-person appointment with Marvin Bronks was long overdue. His responses to Casey's incessant letters got fewer and fewer and now, he had been ghosting him entirely just when it seemed like he was one step closer to learning what happened to Nick. Needless to say, but Casey's patience had run thin.

He could go in now and demand to see him, but if Bronks saw him now he'd run for the hills. However, Casey was not prepared to wait half a decade for the man to come out. Instead, he camped out under the window amongst the bushes, waiting for everyone else inside to leave the estate, or to at least catch Bronks in a position where he was alone so he could clobber him for details.

Can't have the spineless jellyfish screamin' for help if people are still around.

However even though the building was slowly clearing out of workers who were punching out of work until the estate was near bone silent, Bronks showed no sign of budging from his desk where Casey saw him. After fifteen minutes passed Casey's patience dwindled further.

No way in Hell does he do overtime...!

Eventually Bronks shifted away from his desk and disappeared into another room through the door on his side, leaving the office suite vacant. Casey could see loose sheets of paper hanging by Bronks's space on the desk. Arching a brow, Casey hooked his fingers under the window and to his surprise, he discovered it was open. Lifting it up slowly, he slunk his way into the room.

He was greeted with the musty smell of scribble labour and wasted hours, mixed in with the remnants of old drink bottles and food scraps. It could all easily rival Casey's bedroom. The office was cramped and overflowing with filed away parchments, most of which gathered in piles lining across the floor. Casey scowled at the whole thing.

I thought this was a Reserve, not a pigsty... Which... Honestly didn't seem all that shocking, all things considered.

Casey snuck a glance at the documents at Bronks's desk. Financial budgets and refurbishment plans for the estate. Nothing important then.

He flicked through some of the piles on the ground... Nothing more than scrawny written reports on past events and training exercises. He honed in on the poorly stacked timeline of official events, flicking through them with nimble fingers. Fundraisers, plant protection, land restoration--

Bingo.

Scouting expeditions.

He pulled the documents out like it was Kerplunk and got a better look. 2020... 2021... 2022...

There was no 2023.

Hardly a coincidence. That was when he vanished. That alone seemed to spark something.

Casey dropped the documents before moving to explore the rest of the room. A bin of crumpled up sweet wrappers overflowed by a cactus plant, both of which sat beside three large bookcases on the other end of the room. He skulked over to them but just as he was about to reach out to inspect the dishevelled books and poorly filed away papers that rested on the juniper shelves, the door to the room suddenly opened.

Casey and Bronks made eye contact, culminating in the latter bolting out of the room in a panic.

"HEY!"

Casey charged after him down a large corridor, bypassing other offices and storage units, his legs working significantly faster than Bronks's due to his more thinly and athletic stature which trumped Bronks's more well fed body. After they both burst outside into the open area out the back, Casey finally tackled Bronks to the ground, pinning his arms and digging his knees into his lower back to try and restrain him as much as he could.

Struggled noises from both lads filled the tense silence between them. Casey pinched Bronks's neck and grabbed a fistful of his rattail hair, using it to reel his head back so he could talk in his ear.

"It's been a while, Bronks... So what's this? Gettin' in more hours for the extra galleons?" Casey's gritted smirk was a clear indicator to Bronks that the boy was in no mood to play about.

"Get off me, you little shit!"

"Answer a few of my questions first and then I'll gladly forget all about your sorry hide!"

"If this is about Nick--"

"Of course it frickin' is!"

"Then just piss off! I already told you everything I knew!"

"Everything except the "traumatic" stuff. So spill it! What happened that day??"

"I'm not saying a damn thing! I don't have to, not to a pipsqueak like you!"

"Asshole!"

A swift knock to Bronks's nose shut him up, though not for long when Casey whipped his wand out. He burst out cackling. "Really? A wand?! You want to risk prison for underage magic outside school?!"

"If it gets you talkin' then so be it! I'll get arrested knowin' I've carved something frickin' useful outta you! Now talk before I start settin' you on fire!"

The fire in Casey's eyes was menacing enough already. A low growl of intolerance rumbled in the boy's throat. What Bronks did next was up to him and the man knew it. He relented with a sigh.

"Fine, FINE! Just put that shittin' wand away! I'll tell you what I know." It didn't help either when he would end up feeling bad if the boy got put away for something like this. Forget being the next dark lord or awol wizard.

"That's better." Casey put it back into his sleeve and turned Bronks over onto his back so he was facing him. "Y'know, if you answered my damn letters, I wouldn't be tacklin' you like this right now."

"Whatever..."

"Right..." Casey dug into his inner jacket pocket and lifted out the withered notebook, the sight of which had Bronks eyes widen comically. Casey gave a half amused smirk. "I'll bet you recognise this, if not for the front that is. It's company property after all."

"How-- Where did you get that??"

"My best and brightest found it near her school grounds. So what was your little troupe doing all the way in Scotland, hmm?"

"Scotland? I--I don't know. No one's left for Scotland--"

"Like Hell!"

"I swear I don't know! No one in the Reserve has gone to Scotland in the last several years!"

"Well, someone dropped this some time ago and was found by my friend just last month. And I can tell you exactly who."

Casey hissed the name into Bronks's face. "Luciel Stramberg"

The name had Bronks's blood run cold throughout his body, his face paling. "Luciel...? But that-- that shouldn't be--!"

"Possible? Was that what you were gonna say? Because I disagree." Casey leaned back, pushing all his weight into Bronks's lower half to stop him from getting away. "Last year, there were seven including Nick that went up to those mountains last year. Three were found dead and buried. You and Grice were found alive. Nick and one other person weren't accounted for, reportedly missing after the alleged "attack" in your statement to the authorities. Nick went missing. As did Luciel."

Casey pinched Bronks on the shoulder. "And since this is Luciel's notebook judging by the crappy handwriting and faded overwhelming doodles, Luciel is alive. Now... You, Luciel, that coward Grice and Nick are a part of this Reserve group... Am I right in assuming the others were too?"

Bronks's swallow was all the confirmation Casey needed.

"That trip y'all took wasn't just a summer getaway, was it? It was a Reserve scouting regiment...!"

The penny dropping for Casey made him just as mad at himself as he was with Bronks. He should've been able to guess from the start when Emily found the fabric and how eerily similar both logos were on them, despite their mangled states. If not for the logo that was just barely readable on the side of the cover, Casey never would've been able to predict his search would lead him back to where Nick was prominent most outside of Ilvermorny. Now with more context slowly coming to light, Casey never felt closer to finding him than right now.

"When Luciel and Nick disappeared did none of y'all think to go lookin' for them?? You guys do nature trails and hiking missions for crissakes!"

"Grice did! He went up and down that mountain and came back with nothing! We figured those two just died in the river or sunk into the earth, or something...!"

Casey growled and threw another punch at Bronks. "Then explain why Luciel's notebook managed to crawl out from the accident and all the way to the outer perimeter of Hogwarts! Nick and Luciel have been alive this whole time! If either of them had even half a braincell, this would be one of the first few places they'd come back to! So where are they??!"

Bronks writhed under Casey, nearly threatening him to fall off of him as he pinned him down. "I keep telling you, I don't know! Yeah, Luciel went missing but that doesn't mean he ever came back, because he never did! For all we know, the bastard's upped and died ever since your friend found the damn notebook. Maybe someone took it and used it for themselves before dropping it where they did. And for another, we don't even know if Nick is alive either! Even if Luciel was, who's to say Nick is too?? You've no proof, boy! Everyone this entire time since last year has been trying to get that down your throat! Just give this shit up!"

The two brawled on the grass. Punches, kicks, spits and curse words were thrown at each other like cats and dogs. Several long minutes passed with nothing more than pain and effort noises between them. The urge to cast every spell Casey knew in his book was strong. After a good five minutes, Casey called time-out and gave up first, moving away from Bronks. He could feel where the older boy scratched and pommelled him in the cheek and arms.

They sat facing away from each other. Bronks sung another tune of curse words under his breath while Casey fought against his other urge to cry, the corner of his eyes glistening with pent up tears of fury.

He blinked them away quickly. Showing weakness to Bronks would've set a new low in his mind.

"Could you at least tell me what you know about the other members that went with ya? Or anything at all about what actually happened at the accident? Please..."

A long, agonised hand brushed down Bronks's face before he rose to his feet, dusting himself off and straightening himself up.

"Fine... I can get you the list of those who went with us from the records. I'm only going to tell you what I remember as well, got it? No speculation. After that, we're done. No more of this crap between us. You hear me?"

Casey gave him a dead stare but ultimately nodded. He needed something to help follow through with what he started.

Acknowledging that Casey was capable of at least some patience, Bronks nudged him.

"Right then... Follow me."

To Be Continued...

_{Word Count: 1982}

_{For The Know-How (Le Plot)
@Scout Fu-Hai - @AngelFyre McCubbin - @Simon Kincaid - @Colin McCoire - @Ophelia Northwell - @Ava Winchect - @Eugenia Karageorgiadi}

Stats: Stamina: 8 | Strength: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Wisdom: 6 | Arc Power: 6 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Fearless| Poison Resistance

Roleplaying as Casey Stone from Ilvermorny

December 21st 2024
Speech: Bold #257379
Thoughts: Bold Italics

Bronks begrudgingly led Casey back inside through the dark wooden hallway, past the locked doors and back into his musty office, pushing the door open with a little force as they both entered the room.

Casey leaned against the wall beside the desk with his arms folded as he watched Bronks go to the bookshelf where he lifted out a file block, inside containing more untidy papers. He flicked through them until he took out an unfinished report.

"Grice started working on this before he took sick leave," Bronks explained. "The details aren't the most fleshed out but the names you're wanting are in it at least."

Casey looked down at the document handed to him, his eyes raking over every detail that was on it, despite it being quite barren on the grand scale of things;

Date: 07/21/23
Objective: Habitat Survey

Marvin Bronks
Harvey Clippin
Atticus Grice
Nick Stone
Luciel Stramberg
Fauna Trooperstown
Dennis Walls

"Wow... Really detailed report. Not even a damn location." Casey huffed and rolled his eyes. "And you won't tell me either...!"

"I'm trying to stop you from poking your head into things you shouldn't. What happened out there isn't something I'll forget, or wish on anyone else. Not even my worst enemy." Bronks scratched his arm, the movement revealing some long, pink scars that ran upwards. Casey peeked at them, pressing his lips together suspiciously.

"So... What happened? With three dead and two missing, something must have gone down."

It took a while for Bronks to answer, seemingly struggling with whether or not to tell him. In the end he relented. "Animal attack. Bears. They wandered near our camp and we got nervous. Luciel struck first and everything went wrong."

What? That's it?? Nothing else? No lead up, no further context, nothing more??! What good use is any of this to me? This is nothing!

Casey played with the words in his head. Not entirely ridiculous but it still didn't sit right. All this nonsense because of some bears? Casey rubbed the side of his head in denial. yet since Bronks wasn't going to say anything else, he took it with a grain of salt.

"Fine. Bears. We'll go with that. Seems reasonable enough for those fancy marks up your arm."

Bronks had a startled glint in his eyes, like dread had completely washed over him at the signal of Casey's words. He brushed it off quickly before Casey had a chance to ask him. "I've told you all you should know. We're done now."

Casey crinkled the paper as he forcefully shoved it into his jacket pocket before marching out of the room. He wasn't going to get anything out of this guy, nor from Grice. This road had now reached its end.

"See you never."

He barged through the door on his way out without a single glance back at Bronks or even a mutter of a goodbye. By the time Casey made it back outside, the sun was getting ready to set. His chest heaved with anger. A whole day wasted for nothing.

He kicked a nearby fence, a grunt of frustration rolling from his mouth before he slunk to one knee in defeat. His bangs fell over his face as he stewed in his emotions.

Useless twit.

He pulled out the paper he received and read through it again. Nothing about what happened, how exactly it all started, medical attachments... Not even a location!

Damn you, Grice. Lazy, cowardly sack of s--!

Hold on. Maybe there was still something. He scanned the list of names again and zeroed in on one in particular.

Harvey Clippin.

He had a cousin that went to Ilvermorny. Casey had seen her a few times in the corridors before.

"She'd be in Fifth Year now..."

Interesting. Interesting indeed.

Though what Casey had in mind would have to wait until after the holidays.

_{Word Count: 716}

_{For The Know-How (Le Plot)
@Scout Fu-Hai - @AngelFyre McCubbin - @Simon Kincaid - @Colin McCoire - @Ophelia Northwell - @Ava Winchect - @Eugenia Karageorgiadi}

Stats: Stamina: 8 | Strength: 7 | Evasion: 7 | Wisdom: 6 | Arc Power: 6 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Fearless| Poison Resistance