[Lk] Sunbathing!

[Prof. Algernon Moncrieff]

Algernon hears Thom's cries but as he is emotionally devistated as well as being painfully aroused, he cannot come to help. He will feel very guilty for this later.

(( No worries, Ethelion and Rainer are coming soon to be serious and clear this all up! ))

[Novella Sandler]

At the metalic tang of Thom's blood, Novella came back to herself. With a cry of disgust, she fell backwards, chin red and dripping. She brings a hand up to touch it, looking at the blood, and then up at Thom in horror. "I'm.. s-sorry..." She stutters.

[Thom Moen]

Thom stopped himself from crying the devasting incantation just in time. Novella back away from him, and with agony he kicked at the ground, pushing himself away in shock and disgust. "Wh-what were you doing?!" he demanded, almost in tears. "Get away from me!" he shouted. He dragged himself up by the branch of a tree, and still holding his wand in a trembling hand, began to stumble away fearfully. He could feel the blood pouring down his arm, trailing off the ends of his fingers. It felt warm and wrong.

[Novella Sandler]

Novella scrambles to her feet unsteadily, beginning to advance after Thom. "No, I didn't -- I mean, I thought you were-- I thought I was--" She is helpless to explain and tears jump to her eyes. Loiosh, still unable to fly, climbs up her leg and body to perch on her shoulder, deftly licking the blood from her face and sending calming thoughts into her head, but Novella is beyond his comfort. "Please, just-- let me fix it, I know a spell!"


Behind them Darin flees the lethifolds, snapping at the tendrils of darkness as they get too near. He is almost to Novella and he will surely make it.

[Thom Moen]

Thom's expression was cold, his eyes like steel. "Don't come any closer." he commanded, his voice thick with hate. "Or you'll regret it." His wand moved to point at Darin.

[Novella Sandler]

Darin knows that Novella is too emotional and will do something rash if he asks for her help, so he directs his cry only at Loiosh.

So Loiosh takes wing, leaving the last of the sticky pink substance behind on Novella shoulder. He flies high and fast, to avoid any spell the nasty Hufflepuff might cast after him as much as the lethifolds. Then, swooping low, he lands on Darin's back.

They vanish from view and Loiosh grips the fur of Darin's back, straining small wings to lift them away, back to Novella, who, in her grief, has not noticed their departure. They tuck themselves beneath her robes.

<There's nothing you can do. The boy won't let you near him. He'll live. Get away before you can hurt yourself.>

Nodding vacantly, Novella follows their direction, turning away from Thom and, as an after thought, sending a quick incendio spell toward the closest lethifold.

[Thom Moen]

Novella turned away, and as she took her sight from him, he let his hand collapse to his side. Although his threat towards Darin had been a bluff, he had still felt capable of killing the small creature, and with shame he realised he deserved the pain throbbing through him for such a capability. Swallowing dryly and forcing his wand up once more, Thom cast the spell he had intended to us on Darin at a lethifold instead.

"Sectumsempra!"

The closest lethifold split open, black matter pouring out. Thom knew that if it had been Darin, it would have been blood.

[Ethelion Eriksson]

Ethelion follows the scent of his wand to what appears to be, for all purposes, a battlefield. There are an uncountable number of lethifolds, random objects scattered about (A bicycle, a juicer, and several small bear cubs, for example), as well as a large couch upon which Professor Moncrieff appeared to be sleeping. Several students were present also, in various states on conciousness. He ran up to what seemed to be the most active student, a Hufflepuff bleeding profusely from the arm. Quickly returning to human form, Ethelion tapped him on the shoulder. "May I inquire as to what exactly is going on, young sir?" He asked coldly, as if to imply the accusation that this was all his fault.

[Thom Moen]

Dazed, Thom turned to encounter Professor Eriksson. "I... the wands... the wands were after us, and we went into the forest to escape, but we got teleported here... and the lethifolds attacked... and it's all going wrong!" he said desperately, speaking faster and faster. "You've got to get rid of them, please!" Thom gripped the front of Eriksson's robes pleadingly, bloody pouring onto them.

[Lisa Lycott]

Lisa sat in shock, too frightened to even move. She knew the Lethifolds were dangerous, the strange man who had confronted Moncrieff was just as bad, but she never would have guessed a fellow Gryffindor would injure anyone trying to help.

She broke out of her reverie as the Lethifold above them suffered Thom's curse, splitting open. Turning to Thom with wide-eyes, she noticed another professor near Thom. Pulling herself up once more, she walked slowly toward them, her fingers numb with the tight grip on her wand.

[Ethelion Eriksson]

Ethelion stepped back with some distaste, disliking the prospect of Thom's blood staining his robes. Besides, the wolf wasn't entirely gone as of yet, and it smelled good. "The wands were after you?" He asked. After a moment, he raised his arm. His wand flew down from the sky to land in his hand. "We'll see about the lethifolds in a moment. First, your arm. That looks like a nasty bite." Ethelion knows that lethifolds do not bite, but he chooses not to comment at this point in time.

[Thom Moen]

Thom began to cry, a mixture of relief and pain. Holding out his arm, he waited for Eriksson to heal it.

Lisa appeared next to them suddenly, and he jumped, startled, for a moment convinced that it had been Novella come to attack him once more. He smiled at her, but it was not a happy one. "Oh... there are other students - invisible ones... they're hurt too..." Thom sobbed through his tears. He seemed to be reverting back to a child, but he did not care.

[Ethelion Eriksson]

Ethelion ignored the Hufflepuff's tears, pressing the tip of his wand to the vein on the underside of his arm. Red light spilled from it, trailing over the wound and closing it, skin and blood vessles reconnecting until there was no more pain and the only indication that the skin had ever been broken was a half-moon scar.

"There you are, good as new." He told him, somewhat kinder now.

[Thom Moen]

Thom continued to sob now, but a little quieter, seemingly number than he was before. He stared at the cresent-shaped scar on his right arm for a long moment before looking up at Eriksson appreciatively. "Thank you, professor," he said quietly.

Turning to face the scene, he saw that there were still hundreds of lethifolds left. The overwhelming number of random object's caught Thom's eye now, most of all Moncrieff lounging almost passively on the sofa. "What are we to do?" he asked weakly, raising his wand regretfully.

[Erich Aubry]

Erich walks up to Novella without incident, reading the tension of her psychic rapport with Loiosh and Darin. The girl is crying.

And you always cry, don't you? He asks comfortingly and blocking out, with practiced grace and precision, the voice of her companions whose thoughts are loud and jabbering away at the back of his mind. Rejection is difficult to live with but you will have to deal with it for the rest of your life. This is your life now. He pushes at her nerves like the dial of a pay phone or typewriter and it calls to her. She tastes blood in her mouth and it feels good, it feels right. You can decide whoever it is you want to be. He replays the strength of her body, the great joy and rush of pinning Thom beneath her and going in for the sweltering mouthful. The kill and her body so full of power, so athletic with heat. Stop crying. And together they remember what it was like to be strong.