[Corridors] Altered Perception (Bray)

[Felicity Locke]

For probably the millionth time that day, Felicity had taken out her badge and just stared at it. She ran her thumb gently over the smooth surface, a small grin found on the pale beauty’s face. Of course, whenever she heard someone coming or something, she’d quickly stuff it back in her pocket and pretend to do something else. It had only been a week or so after the term started, and she still couldn’t believe that Hubbles had picked her to be a prefect. Last year she hadn’t gotten into nearly as much trouble as the year before at least, so the choice wasn’t totally strange. The best thing about it was probably the fact that she was allowed to do it with Bray. Anyone else would probably be frightened by her mannerisms.

In the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but feel a little suspicious. Did Hubbles have that same messed up logic that Maxi did? Because the tall tree-like boy thought for sure that Bray and Fay were mad for each other. That was like incest for the two, because they saw each other in a brother sister sense. Plus Bray and Ellie were the couple that Fay planned on keeping together. She was the one that had given both a nudge in the right direction in the first place. Felicity the Love Guru Ellie had called her. The veela had only laughed at the idea, secretly pleased with the name. The matchmaker that was her.

The common room began to clear out as students stumbled up the stairs to go to their own rooms. Felicity waited until everyone else had left before deciding to go take her patrols. She walked up to the boy’s dorm and knocked on the door. When no answer came, she peaked her head in, looking for Bray. His room mates all walked around with basically just pants on, looking half asleep already. Felicity blinked, and then cleared her throat. It startled some, and she swore she noticed one guy flex. It took all her will power not to gag at him. “You mates seen Bray?” One pointed back toward where she was standing, and she flashed him a grin. “Downstairs already? Thank you!”

Bray wasn’t in the common room either, so apparently he was already on his runs. Shrugging, Felicity stepped quickly out of the common room and took out her wand. She flicked it lightly, and the tip began to glow. Grinning, she set off in a random direction, unusually eager to go track down some trouble making students. Hell, she was usually one of the kids sneaking out at night, doing what she could to avoid the prefects. Maybe that gave her an advantage, maybe not.

Something made a sharp, metallic noise that echoed down the halls all the way over to her. She froze for a moment, struck between confusion and curiosity. Something touched her shoulder and she whirled around, shoving her wand into the person’s face.

“Oh…er…hey Bray. Did I mention how much handsomer you look with this light in your face?” She grinned and lowered her wand, chuckling awkwardly.

(( Really random title. Yay (: ))

[Bradyn Reed]

Whoever decided to make Bray and Fay prefects together must not have known what they were getting into. Or perhaps they were just tired of finding those two out of bed after hours and decided to just make it okay for them to do. Either way, it was forcing Bray to lose some sleep and that was always something that messed with his sanity. Or maybe the fact that he had a minor growth spurt over the summer was going to his head. A whole two inches, now that was something to celebrate.

Unlike Fay, he wasn't exactly bothered by the Prefect title and just kept the badge pinned up on his robes next to the Claw badge, and a little kitty pin just to make fun of himself. He stuck one in Erys desk to make it a fake little 'official Kitty' pin but he had some suspicions that the Slytherin girl was going to whip it at some little kids head. Oh well, as long as no one went to the nurse claiming to have a cat-shaped wound, he should still be in the clear.

Bray went out for his 'rounds', not that he would really turn in most people, early that night when some kids were still sitting up in the common room. Watching them fall asleep would only make him keel over and pass out himself anyway. He made his way towards the Great Hall but stopped as he noticed that the suits of armor weren't exactly right. Meaning, one of them was tipped over and a mess all across the hallway. "Erm," He muttered to himself with a raised eyebrow. "That's interesting."

He pulled his wand out of his pocket like he was going to upright it again, but an idea hit him quickly. Perhaps it was because of how tired he was, but he was suddenly curious what he would look like wearing a suit of armor. It was still attached all attached from the waste up but the legs were in a mess.... and the boots did look about his size. Taking a few cautious looks down the hallway, he smirked down at the metal. 'Well, alright, maybe just for a minute.' Slipping his foot in, shoes and all, he found that it went far above his knees and there was plenty of room in there. Of course, the suit of armor was huge on him.

But even still, he slipped the other leg in and almost had a laughing attack. He was being a little kid but it didn't exactly matter as all the students should be in bed. "Well, guess I should find Fay now." He said to himself and left the hallway without bothering to take them off. He wasn't going to steal them, just return them before his shift was over. Plus, Bray was dying to see the look on Fay's face.

Each step was loud and echoed down the hallway with a thunk as he walked back towards the common room, quickly spotting her about to turn the corner in front of him. Thunk, thunk, thunk, and an eternity and lots of exercise later he was behind her enough to put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, check it ou--oww!" What, was she trying to blind him now? Bray squinted dumbly against the light and quickly brought his hands up to his face to shield them.

"Yeah, yeah, I'd say the same about you if I wasn't blinded." He grumbled sarcastically, tapping his foot impatiently only to then remember the heavy metal he stuck on them. But even after he stopped tapping, the thunk of the metal continued and continued to grow louder with each thump coming faster and faster.

"Er... I don't think that's an echo." Bray said, raising a brow and not daring to turn around and figure out what was coming their way.

[ *awkward turtles at this post* ]

[Felicity Locke]

Being Prefect wasn’t just something that one got used to. After going so long being the one that was getting caught by said people, it was a strange twist. She didn’t like to go around wearing the badge everyone, like some people she knew. Surprisingly, she was more subtle about it. Plus, when someone didn’t notice the gleaming badge, it was easier for her to sneak up and bust them. The looks on their faces were absolutely priceless as she pulled out the badge like she was flashing an F.B.I one or something. Ah, good fun.

If she kept dragging her feet like this, she’d probably create enough static to shock someone into a coma. It wasn’t her fault that this prefect business left one with little to no sleep. And then her professors were always wondering why she was half awake. Maybe she would go complain- talk to Hubbles about it later. Stupid night runs. It wasn’t like she could just switch off with Bray either, the damn school was too big for that. And she never really saw any of the other prefects. Well…save for Ellie, but that was a touchy subject with her kitty friend.

The school seemed eerily creepy as she crept down the halls, holding her wand out in front of her so the light could help her avoid tripping over anything. Everything, for whatever reason, felt off. The paintings even seem more irritable as she moved past them. Grumbles and curses in her direction were evident from the moody portraits. Obviously her light had woken them up. But, beyond that, she had heard strange stories for students lately. Stairs acting funny, doors leading to different places, sometimes suits of armor blocking hallways, it was strange. Felicity had her own little experience when she had tried to get to Honeydukes, only to end up in the Shrieking Shack.

Felicity lowered her wand sheepishly and her gaze followed. She looked down at what Bray was wearing and blinked. For a whole minute, she didn’t seem to react. That is until she tapped the boot with her shoe and snorted. “What the hell did you do to that suit of armor Bray? Where’s the rest?” The funniest part of the whole thing was probably how the boot took up half, if not more, of her friend’s leg. Actually, it was a wonder that he actually walked down the halls to find her with those things on. They must’ve weighed a lot.

“You can stop with the noise already, it’s getting-”

Her last words choked in her throat as her eyes widened. Felicity’s face paled, which was an accomplishment considering she was already pale. Her hand curved more tightly around her wand, turning her knuckles white.

“I think you should return the boots Bray.” She murmured, her lips barely moving as she did.

Coming down the hall was a pack of the suits, all stomping over to where she and Bray were standing. Fay gripped Bray’s wrist and tugged him back, dragging him backward with her until they were pressed up against one of the walls. She looked from side to side, trying to find a way to escape. The place where one of the stairs should’ve been was empty. Even the school was against them now. What the hell was going on?

[Bradyn Reed]

Bradyn's cheesey grin was wiped off his face at her accusation and he grimaced. "Hey, don't say it like that! You make me sound like a criminal." He said with a little pout while throwing his hand up and back towards the corridor he came from. "There was a suit of armor knocked over already... I just thought I'd give you.. proof?" Why was he making excuses to her? She knew his brain ran on stupid.

Seriously? What was that thumping? It was starting to get on his nerves and creep him out a bit. Especially since there were crazy rumors going around the school, probably meant to frighten the first years. Crazy stuff about the armor and the paintings being more hostile than usual. But his thoughts stopped dead at Fay's look of pure shock and he couldn't shake the suspicion that she was trying to pull his leg. "That's not me..." He said, though by now he figured that she'd come to that assumption.

Bray's hand immediately went to his pocket where his wand was safely tucked away. He rarely found himself needing the light the corridors this early since his cat-like senses liked to take over more at night since he was too tired to focus on the more human aspects of life. But now his wand was drawn and his hand was gripping it as if any moment now someone was going to try and rip it out of his hands. Just as Fay began to speak again, he dared turn his head in the direction she was looking and his face was pure shock.

"That sounds like a plan." He said, his voice plainly nervous. After letting Fay drag him a bit, he bent to try and pry the heavy metal off his leg only to find that off wasn't as easy as on. That, wasn't good. Especially with the encroaching gang of knights looking none-too-happy. "Er... Fay... I think they're stuck." Bray's voice squeaked on the last word and his eyes watched the Armor as they stopped a good twenty feet from them, arms drawn.

"Help me get them off!" He muttered impatiently, his voice still panicked. Being sliced by medieval weaponry wasn't exactly on his list of things to do.

[Felicity Locke]

“Weird, but I don’t doubt it. A lot of strange things have been happening lately.”

For everyone who knew Fay, they knew that it took a lot to actually stun the girl. Simple things tended not to frighten her because she overrode them with logic. But, there was absolutely no logic in this situation. She had always known that the armor could move, but usually it stayed in its spot and nobody was the wiser. It was creepy, for sure, but in a school like Hogwarts it wasn’t surprising to see inanimate objects being bewitched. Honestly, just look at the paintings. They all walked, and talked, and did whatever else they wanted.

Felicity was wishing by now that she had brought the Kneazle, Chinook, with her. But, he was sleeping in his little bed in the dorm. It wasn’t like the feline could’ve really helped, but it could probably run past the armor to go get someone to help them. Now it was just Bray and Fay, trapped in the corridor with no where to go except fall to their deaths. Or, better yet, they could go be sliced up by the obviously annoyed suits of armor. She couldn’t bring herself to tear her gaze away from the hulking suits as they moved closer, looking all the more menacing up close.

Bray seemed to be trying in vain to tug the boots off. Cursing under her breath, she kneeled down and grabbed one of the boots. “Hold on to something.” She hissed, clamping onto the boot. Fay tugged, and after a moment the boot came sliding off. It clanked onto the ground, but the suits didn’t seem to react. She moved onto the next one, tugging until that one popped off as well. The whole time, her mind was screaming at her to run like hell. But run where? Right into the menacing suits of armor? Yea, smart idea.

“Here!”

Fay tossed the boots over to the suits (haha, rhyming) and stepped back again, her wand still clutched in her hand. One suit broke rank and moved forward…on its hands. She waited for the others to do something, just eyeing them while trying not to do something irrational. Like blow a whole in the wall and run like hell in the other direction.

[Bradyn Reed]

Hmm, a lot of strange things have been happening lately? That probably meant that Fay believed all of the strange rumors, and he wouldn't doubt it. She usually was gullible about that kind of stuff and tended to try and see for herself. And evidently, they were going to get their own dose of it. 'Of course we have to get attacked by medieval warriors when I'm here.' He thought, unable to be serious even in situations like this. Typical, maybe he could sarcasm them to death.

And sadly, he was actually thinking if that would work but Fay bending down distracted him. "Hold on, why.. OW, Geeze woman!" Obviously as he almost lost his balance he should have held on and off was certainly not as easy as on. Helping her pull the second one off, he was surprised that his knee didn't fly up and nail her in the face when it finally came off. Maybe putting those on was one of the more stupid ideas he'd had in his lifetime.

"Er... Fay... they don't look exactly happy to have them back." He muttered, watching the legless one hobble towards the boots and stop before another one tossed over what Bray guessed were it's thighs. And disturbingly enough, they had to watch it put itself back together like it was nothing and then draw it's sword.

"...Am I the only one who found that disturbingly creepy?" Bray whispered with raised brows as the others walked forward so they were inline with their companion again. There were about four of them now that the half was whole again and it looked like they were ready to beat them down and kill them. Wasn't there some sort of rule against them murdering students? Maybe they were new guys.

Now, how were they going to get out of this? If it was just him, he could change into a cat and run for his life but that didn't seem to be an option for Fay. And Bray watched the Wizard of Oz as a kid and knew that those hunks of metal certainly didn't have hearts to fall victim to her charm! Gripping his wand harder and scooting back against the wall, he felt his foot brush against something on the ground. Breaking his gaze with the armor, he noticed it was a few loose stones. Pfft, of course, it just couldn't be something remotely helpful!

Or could it? Bray bent down and picked up up one of the larger stones before chucking it towards the armor. Sure, a spell would be more helpful but this might get their message across that they should leave them alone.... not that it did. The armor seemed rather peeved to be hit in the head and the stone rebounded off into a wall where it made a metallic sound. Why? Because it had hit one of the torches which now looked like it was going to fall off the wall and he heard scraping behind him.

The wall was opening. Obviously this was their time to make their escape. "Fay, run!" He hissed before grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her down the dark corridor and hoping to hear the scrapes of the wall closing after them.

But it didn't and he soon heard the clunk of the armor in pursuit. The door had just opened into the corridor on the other side of the wall instead of some sort of secret passage. It could be a good or bad thing, considering they still knew their way around but so did the people they were running from.

[Felicity Locke]

It was the boy’s own fault for taking the stupid boots and pissing off the suits of armor. All she was doing was walking through her rounds, minding her own business. Then Bray had to come clunking down the hallway like the childish idiot he was with this huge boots on. And now here they were, with a whole line of suits bearing down menacingly looking ready to chop them up into little bits. Bray and Fay kabob, oh joy.

“It’s your own damn fault for putting on these things.”

At least she warned him to hold onto something. Otherwise she would’ve just yanked and made him lose his balance. He deserved it anyway. Stupid man was going to end Fay’s life because he wanted to play dress up. Weren’t girls supposed to be the ones that did that? She scowled at the thought as she continued tugging, not really caring if she ripped off his leg or not. If she did, he could use one of those metal legs he was oh so fascinated with. It wasn’t like Fay was spiteful at all, no; everybody has scenarios of ways to torture their friend running through their minds all the time.

“Well, there goes plan A.”

Felicity’s eye twitched as it began to put itself together. It was rather…disturbing. She nearly gagged. It was only metal, true, but it still looked wrong. “I think I died a little inside watching that.” A shiver ran down her spine as she made a face at the suit. Sure, she gives back the boots and it has the nerve to draw its sword at her. How rude!

Okay, escape plans. There was always blast a hole in the ground and let the suits fall to their deaths. Could they even die? Who knew. Plan B would include her blasting a hole through the wall and her and Bray making a run for it while the suits were distracted. And Plan C was scream like hell and hope to wake up someone. If she wasn’t currently worrying over her immediate death, she might’ve took a moment to dwell on the fact that Bray could escape if he wanted to, but he stayed with her. Aww, cute.

“Are you trying to make them even more angry? I don’t think they like playing dodgeball.” She grumbled, eyeing the suits as they seemed to grow more irritable by the assault. There should be some spell that could make these things stop. But, if she shot anything at it, the spell would just bounce off. Stupid armor. Fay glared at the suits, tightening her grip on her wand like it was her only hope. Right now, it really was.

Bray’s hand clamped around her wrist and suddenly she was jerked backward. Fay stumbled a bit before regaining her balance and running as fast as she could. It didn’t take long for her to catch up to Bray, considering she had long legs and all. The fact that she could hear clanking metal running behind them also helped to boost her speed. Adrenaline pumped through her as she swerved sharply, gripping Bray’s arm and dragging him around the corner with her.

“We have to lose them some how.”

Even if they were running like hell now, they couldn’t keep this up for long. Soon, they would tire and their legs would begin to ache. The suits on the other hand could just keep going. It wasn’t like they could feel anything anyway. That was so an unfair advantage. For heavens sake they already had swords too! Grumbling under her breath, she swept her gaze around her, trying to look for a way to lose them.

“We could try and make them slip on the stairs, that’ll probably stall them enough for us to get back to the common room.”

If anyone could figure a way out of this situation, it had to be Claws. Hence why Fay’s mind was already concocting plans, trying to find a way to make it easy for the two to escape with their heads still intact, sure Gryffindor had bravery, they could very well bravely get their heads chopped off. It took smarts to get out of this mess.

“When we get down the stairs, shoot water back at the stairs with aguamenti then run like the devil’s chasing you because otherwise we’ll be piled beneath metal bodies of doom.”

[Bradyn Reed]

"Yeah, I'd say Plan A is way out the window." He grumbled sarcastically before rolling his eyes. Somehow he wasn't surprised that returning the.. borrowed objects didn't satisfy them. Well now it was time to put some quick-thinking Claw power to work. He wasn't placed in this house just because of his Reed name, though that was a good part of it.

Indeed, there was certainly something disturbing and highly indimiating about watching your opponent patch themselves back up. Almost like they were immortal. Bray shook his head to try and clear the thought but a grimace remained. Died a little inside, indeed! Disgusting things, he was never going to walk past them again at anything less than a sprint.

"Well excuse me! Just be glad that my little attempt at good sport got us an exit!" He huffed while trying to keep step with Fay, not sure if he was holding onto her or if she was dragging him along at this point. As long as they kept moving it didn't matter. And they were certainly hauling ass down the corridor, though Bray wasn't exactly noticing. His mind was whirling between spells that might work and where they would work best. Most seemed to be the kind that would work better if they were close, and based on the broadswords they were all carrying, that wasn't an option.

But what was? It seems that Fay was thinking too, obviously not as distracted as he was by the heavy thump of the quartet following them. Were they gaining on them? He couldn't exactly tell. "I don't think there's much of a chance of them slipping down stairs without us slipping too. You're not the most coordinated of girls." He huffed breathlessly while they ran but listened to her idea nonetheless.

It seemed like madness, that they should run down the stairs this fast and manage not to trip only to use a spell so soon after. They'd be crushed if they didn't face plant on the stairs! But it seemed they didn't have much else to work with.... or did they? The blur of a door that they just passed particularly caught his eye. Not because of it being overly decorated, but because of what it was. Tugging hard on her arm, almost overly so, he tried to turn them towards it.

"Not down, but up! The astronomy tower!" He shouted, turning straight towards it. It'd be safer to hike up the stairs and if they could make it to the top without being overrun maybe, just maybe, they could let the armor take a little tumble. Fay seemed to have the right idea about using a water spell, and if that failed, windgardium leviosa should work nicely.

The only problem was how far it was to the top of the tower and when you were racing against things that didn't tire... they'd have to pace themselves. "As soon as we get up," He muttered, as if they were going to overhear him. "You take the left side of the door, and I'll take the right. They'll charge straight in and, hopefully, over." That was his plan, and he figured that she would get that they would give them a little push if necessary. They could deal with Hubbles and pushing the suits over later when their lives weren't in jeopardy.

[Felicity Locke]

It probably wasn’t just the fact that these things were ultimately immortal, because it was obvious they were, it was the fact that they shouldn’t even be moving. Sure the suits of armor have always been a little…strange, but they’ve never actually gotten up and moved to a deliberate spot. What was even more frightening was the fact that they had banded together, like they actually understood that there was strength in numbers. A sense of dread trickled through Fay’s body as she mulled over these ideas, trying to find a way to actually destroy the beings.

“Lucky shot” She hissed out, trying to save her breath for the marathon she seemed to be running. Bray seemed to be puffing along side her. The fact that he had a rather petite body probably wasn’t helping his running. Fay was blessed with long legs, which were helping a lot right now. Though at the moment, they were straining in protest from all the running. The fear of being cut into bite-sized pieces kept her running though, even if she did ache.

“I was hoping to get lucky.” Felicity let out a breathy laugh before daring to risk a look behind her. She couldn’t see them in the dark corridor, but the sound of thumping feet announced their presence well enough. Her throat was burning from her ragged breathing, as was her chest from the strain it was putting on her lungs. Fay’s hand curled more tightly around her wand and she winced as she drew in another breath.

Bray stopped running rather quickly. Not only that, but the sharp tug he gave her threw her off balance. She lurched forward and landed sharply on her knees, wincing as she did from the impact. Her knees were stinging from the skid, but she scrambled up none the less. “Brilliant!” She hissed, wincing as she stood. Running up the stairs would put her and Bray at a distinct disadvantage, considering it would take them longer to make it up.

The stairs looked daunting as she turned into the corridor. She nodded to Bray and started to take the steps two as a time, trying to save time. Fay murmured, shooting the spell back at the base of the stairs. “If this works, I’m going to start jogging every morning. ” She muttered, trying to focus on not tripping. It was hard to try to not trip while trying to hurry up the stairs so she wouldn’t die.

Once she saw the door in sight, she lunged up the rest of the stairs and opened it quickly. Fay slid in and jerked over to the left side of the door. She kept her wand pointed toward the door, just waiting to hear the clatter of footsteps racing up the stairs. Faintly, she heard a crash at the bottom of the steps, and a grin filled her face. But, only a few minutes after, there was the distinct sound of footsteps stomping up the stairs.

If this plan didn’t work, they were pretty much trapped. They couldn’t very well run down the stairs, like Bray explained before they would trip. Jumping off the tower would result in death, unless one of them was magically a giant flying bird. Which, they weren’t. Plus, if they did manage to somehow escape, the pursuit of the suits would start once again. Suddenly, being a prefect didn’t seem like much fun anymore.