[Corridors] En Garde, Your Armored Fool You.

[Cairo Blackwell]

{ Shoot me if we aren't supposed to do the strangling suits of armor yet, and I'll take this down. xD }

It came as quite a shock, the naming of her as one of the Slytherin prefects. At least this way she could deduct house points if they tried to light her hair on fire again, right? It all worked out. In fact Cairo Blackwell still had the crumpled letter in her shaky grip as she continually drew it up to stare at it, as if making sure it was real and not some trick parchment from the joke shop in Hogsmeade. "Why me?" She murmured absent-mindedly, curiosity striking her voice and raising it. Feeling a tap on her shoulder as she advanced amiably down the hallway the Slytherin turned, wide eyes widening even more as she saw the suit of armor standing there. "Uh.. Hi?" She murmured, her forehead wrinkling as she tried to determine if someone was inside it and trying to prank her or if perhaps they had jinxed it instead. "Did you.. Er, want to.. Go for a walk?" Cairo finished lamely, figuring that if the person in there was going to kill her, they might as well get it over with. Strangely enough it nodded, slowly and mechanically as if it were a robot or a zombie, but she wasn't smelling an excess of motor oil or rotting flesh, so everything was alright.. For now.

"Do you have a name? I just, I've never spoken with a.. Suit of armor befor--" Cairo's sentence ended with a sputtering gag, as cold, metal fingers wrapped around her throat. "Wha?!" She choked, struggling against its solid grip and--in a spur of sheer stupidity, uh, intelligence--brought her foot up swiftly between its legs, hoping to whatever was up there that this.. Thing was male. To her utter delight it wasn't, and she recoiled, drawing her toe back and doing a strange gallop in one place as if trying to hop around and nurse her injured appendage. No use really, it had her dangling above the ground in a deathgrip that resulted in her immediate loss of breath. "Can't.." She wheezed, tears springing to her eyes as it slowly crushed the life out of her. "Hel-hel.." She tried to yell, but it came out as nothing more than a breathless whisper. Thrashing with her last bits of strength Cairo punched at its helmet, but it only crashed to the floor, as something dark and smoke-like hovered where the head should be. Her eyes widened once she saw it, but they were already starting to flutter closed, when she saw someone running towards her. Oh, awesome.. Saaaaaavvee meeeee. She thought, then suddenly smelled eggs. You really thought odd things when you lost oxygen circulation to your brain, hey?

Something the stranger did had the armor dropping her, and she tumbled to the floor, gasping for air as deep purplish bruises began to tint the skin around her neck in thick, finger-like splotches. As Cairo's hands flew to her neck she dove to the side, leaning over and coughing up blood.

[lylie]

(( Hope you don't mine me joining (: ))

It was easy to get lost in one’s thoughts when sitting all alone. So, it was no wonder that while Freya was seated on one of the benches outside in the courtyard, she was lost in her own little world. Placed delicately on her lap was one of her many over read books, which was obvious by the bent page corners and the fact that the book looked rather beat up. But, if someone loved the story, why not re-read it? Wasn’t like it was hurting anyone by doing it, plus when you read it again, you tended to pick up things that had been missed before.

Freya’s vibrant hair fell from behind her ears and slid forward to hang on either side of her face, like a scarlet curtain. Her eyes were alight with amusement, and a small smile had her lips curved upward. But, alas, her fun could only last for so long. The noise level started to rise as more students wandered outside, taking seats on the benches and chatting with friends. Frey drew the line when someone sat down next to her and was peering over her shoulder at the book she was reading. Invasion of personal space was not on her list of ‘how to get on my good side’.

Sighing in frustration, she stood up and walked away, leaving the bench open for another space invader. Maybe the two could be friends or something. Grumbling softly under her breath, she continued to walk, barely paying attention to where she was going. Usually, her feet would lead her to the Claw common room, with no questions asked. Today seemed to be a different story, considering she was now standing in some random hallway, facing the back of a suit of armor. Strange.

The head of the armor was kicked off by some flailing limb, and with wide eyes Freya instantly saw the girl struggling in the giant’s grasp. Wasn’t death by suit a little farfetched? Fumbling with her wand, she finally drew it out and pointed it at the back of the suit. She inched forward and grasped the helmet in one hand, while with her wand she directed her book to slam into the back of the suit. That clearly caught its attention. It released the girl, who collapsed spluttering on the floor, and half turned to face her. Freya dangled the head in the air, leaving it suspended with magic. The suit took a step forward, and in a flash the girl sent the helmet sailing behind her.

Without a second thought, she raced forward, wrapping one arm around the girl’s mid-section and tossing the slim girl’s other arm over her own shoulders. It wasn’t hard to help the girl stand, she weight barely anything. Luckily for them, the suit seemed preoccupied with finding its head, giving them a chance for some sort of escape. “Come on, you need to get up.” She murmured, as if the metal thing still had a chance of over hearing them.

[Cairo Blackwell]

Wiping a bit of blood from her lips the Slytherin blinked up at her savior, finding everything a bit hazy at the moment, she was unable to identify them. As her arm was tossed over their shoulder Cairo was heaved up, as if she weighed barely nothing. Well that may be true, but she was still a walking zombie, they'd have a little bit of trouble at least, unless they were strong for their age. "Hhh?" She murmured, wobbling a little before staggering into movement. The pair was soon hurrying down the hall, albeit with her dragging a little with the notion of being completely out of it. Directions changed and she was tugged around corners, up staircases, and finally outside on the lawns. Perhaps the other girl thought that with more people around they wouldn't get attacked again? Stumbling to a halt the Slytherin landed with a soft thud on her behind, and she rubbed a hand against her temple with the hopes of clearing her head. "Thank.. You?" Cairo managed to say with a small smile. Well this was certainly new! Someone saving her instead of trying to hurt her; usually it was the other way around, at least with people of her own house, anyway.

Swallowing a little at the taste of blood in her mouth Cairo waited until she was balanced enough to stand again. "I'm really grateful you saved me, I thought it was going to kill me!" She added with a wider smile. "How can I repay you?" Scrunching her face up in thought while wringing her hands a little, her eyes brightened when the idea came to her. "I know, I'll give you house points. How many do you want?" Laughing a little, knowing she wasn't allowed to just hand out thousands of points, the Slytherin would probably settle at 25, though she'd rather give out much more than that. After the girl finished--assuming she didn't refuse the points, but Cairo was going to do it whether she liked it or not--the Slytherin introduced herself. "My name's Cairo."

[lylie]

It wasn’t helping that the girl could barely stand. If she fell even a little Freya would probably go down with her. Grimacing slightly, she shifted her weight to her other foot, hoping both she and the rather slim Slytherin wouldn’t go tumbling to the ground. The sounds of the suit’s footsteps were slowly receding, until Freya could barely hear it. She glanced back quickly, making sure nothing else was out to attack them, then started moving forward.

After a while, she slowed her pace, deeming them far enough away that they couldn’t be caught, much less found, but the suit now. Freya’s arms were starting to ache anyway, as were her legs. Stumbling outside, she released her hold on the girl, only to see her fall to the ground. “Sorry.” She muttered, grimacing again. Besides the bruises forming on the girl’s neck from the strangling, she didn’t look that bad. The girl’s small grin was met with one of her own, and she nodded lightly in recognition. Though, in the back of her mind, Freya found it rather strange that the girl seemed surprised that she had saved her. Wouldn’t anyone else help her in that position?

“It wasn’t like I was just going to leave you.”

The Claw girl plopped down onto the grass and leaned on one hand, facing the Slytherin girl. “Repay me? There’s no need for-” It seems she was cut off though by the girl’s enthusiasm. Laughing softly, Freya just shook her head, keeping a small smile on her thin lips. “Honestly, I don’t want anything. That’s very kind of you though.” By now, the fact that the girl was being so nice to her struck her as odd. Not that all people were absolutely horrid, but most didn’t worry this much about repayments. Half the things she loaned out she never saw again.

“Nice to meet you Cairo, I’m Freya.”

Freya stuck out the hand she wasn’t leaning on and waited for the girl to take it. So, maybe handshaking was a little old fashioned, so sue her. After the introductions were said, Freya bit down on her lower lip. Her curiosity was probably going to get the best of her, so why not ask the question? “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what happened before I came? I’ve never seen a suit do that before.”