Comments | hogwarts_hocus: Closed RP: Susan is Not Happy (and when Susan ain't happy, NOBODY is happy)

usethepoker in hogwarts_hocus

Closed RP: Susan is Not Happy (and when Susan ain't happy, NOBODY is happy)

Feb 23, 2008 12:59

((Backdated to February 10, just after Stephen's popcorn-letter))

( Hope you have got your things together/Hope you are quite prepared to die/Looks like we're in for nasty weather/One eye is taken for an eye/So don't come 'round tonight/It's bound to take your life/There's a bad moon on the rise )

camilla macaulay, charles macaulay, henry winter, john ryder, mr wednesday, susan sto helit

Comments 117

part 1 of 2 charlesmacaulay February 23 2008, 23:51:11 UTC

Charles had a key to Susan's room, just as Susan had one to his. While their informal loose little arrangement didn't strictly demand such a thing, it was convenient for each to have the other's key (plus it had the serious potential to irritate Camilla ( ... )

part 2 of 2 charlesmacaulay February 24 2008, 00:09:12 UTC

He wrote two messages as quickly as possible.

Ryder,

I think I understand what you were talking about now. Something's happened to Susan and I don't know what, except that it looks really, really bad. Bad as in she's carrying a scythe around and she looks like she's planning on using it.

Any ideas?

Charles Macaulay

He was hoping Ryder would know what to do about this. God, was he hoping.

The other message ... well, maybe it wasn't necessary. He didn't know. He wasn't willing to take a chance.

Henry,

Take Camilla somewhere safe. I don't care where or how, just do it. Hogwarts is not a safe place to be right now and I don't want her in danger. I'll explain later if you want to hear.

This is not a joke. This is not a trick. I don't give a damn what you think about me but I need to be sure Mil Camilla is safe and I think you would agree with that much.

Charles

Once that was sent he wasn't sure what he wanted to do next, or what he ought to do next. He wasn't sure where Susan would go next, either. Maybe ( ... )

Re: part 2 of 2 johnryder February 24 2008, 00:18:08 UTC

Ryder read the owl, wondering what in the hell Charles had done to her. Oh, fuck, this was...bad, and what was more it was waaaay outside his ability to deal with. In fact he only knew of one person in the entire school who could probably handle Susan, if she had really gone China Syndrome. He dashed off two owls, each in his untidy scrawl.

Charles,

Just hang out--I'm going to go get Odin.

-Ryder

He gave the note to the owl, but didn't let it leave yet--it was going to have to do double-duty, since he didn't have time to go and get a second.

Odin Mr. Wednesday,

I don't know what the fuck happened to her, but apparently Susan's gone critical. No way in hell can I field this one--can you help?

-Ryder.

in the Owlery charlesmacaulay February 24 2008, 01:14:15 UTC

Charles received Ryder's message first. He was still sitting in the Owlery, unsure where else to go, and more importantly where else he could go without doing something damned foolish. Part of him wanted to go chase Susan down and try to fix things. Part of him knew that was utterly futile and would only get him decapitated. Part of him didn't care about getting decapitated. Part of him just wanted a drink, and that was the strongest part of all, strong enough that Charles felt almost certain if he did leave the Owlery he'd head straight for the Ravenclaw bar. That couldn't be allowed to happen.

He read it. He blinked at it. He read it again.

Just hang out, Ryder wrote. What? As if Charles could just sit by and let all this happen ... Oh. Well. Charles guessed that was actually what he was doing. All right.

I'm going to go get Odin, Ryder wrote. Odin? As in the Norse god Odin? Or maybe a superhero Odin, like the comic-book Thor. Maybe Odin was the name of some kind of weapon or vehicle. Charles rubbed at his ( ... )

Re: in the Owlery johnryder February 24 2008, 01:34:21 UTC

Knowing he would be of no use whatesoever to Wednesday, Ryder instead went to hunt down Charles, intent on finding out just what in the name of all hell could have triggered this. Something had to have really upset her to get her to such a point, and given that Charles had been the first to spot her, either A.) he knew what it was, or B.) it was his fault.

So he hoofed it to the Owlery, bringing both his knife and his gun despite the fact that he knew both would be useless. At this point, he just wanted to be armed, and fuck practicality. Fortunately, Charles had indeed stayed put, and in one piece.

"Hey, kid," Ryder said. "Good, she didn't kill you. All right, what the fuck happened? Susan's not the kind to get set off like that for nothing."

Thread 91

callmewednesday February 24 2008, 00:40:39 UTC

Wednesday enjoyed the finer things in life. Good cigars, good liquor. He was smoking the one and regarding with appreciation a glass of the other when a very unwelcome owl arrived.

He swore, his profanities gutteral and unnameable and indecipherable, as old and cold as polar ice. He crushed out his cigar with real regret.

He jotted a reply on the back of the parchment.

Where are you and where is she?

Wednesday

After all, he knew the names of the gods and demigods and so forth. He didn't magically know their locations.

johnryder February 24 2008, 00:46:11 UTC

Ryder did have some small ability to locate people--it worked a lot better when he was actually at 'work'; there he could track people across half of Texas, if they lived long enough to run that far. At Hogwarts it was almost entirely dormant, but it could at least give him a general idea.

Wednesday,

I'm in Hufflepuff, about ready to head out. Charles didn't say where exactly she was, but I can feel her somewhere not far from the Owlery--I'll bet you somebody's left kidney she's gonna try to leave the grounds.

-Ryder

callmewednesday February 24 2008, 01:04:34 UTC

Somebody's left kidney indeed. Wednesday knew Ryder was right. Susan would be headed off-campus, for happier hunting grounds. The no-kill enchantment on Hogwarts would make that a given.

He'd finished pulling on his boots and a thick overcoat when Ryder's reply came. He was ready to move fast.

Ryder,

Thanks. You may want to corral Charles before he can make what would be, on the whole, an admittedly prudent escape. I'll see about Susan. With any luck I can catch her before she gets far.

As Wednesday had pointed out on diverse occasions to diverse people, he was a lucky, lucky guy.

Moreover, he had at his disposal a Firebolt. Its ash-wood handle had been a branch harvested from a very special tree.

usethepoker February 24 2008, 01:24:02 UTC

Susan was, in fact, on her way off the grounds--more, she was already halfway to the Whomping Willow. Tracking her would be an easy enough proposition even for someone who wasn't a god; one of the unpleasant side-effects of her being what she currently was, was that even the grass died beneath her feet. She was still human-shaped, but that was about as much as you could say--nothing else about her even remotely hinted at humanity, not even the way she moved. A creature in skin that was all wrong for it, bound, even as her grandfather was, in a shape created by humans.

She felt Wednesday's approach--he was a god, it would have been damned hard to miss--and turned her black eyes to him. In the darkness all that could really be seen were the arctic-bright blue pinpoints of light at their centers, cold and remote as distant stars.

DON'T FOLLOW ME, she said, shifting her grip on the scythe. I HAVE NO QUARREL WITH YOU. Nothing about her suggested attack--instead she was far too still, a stillness that was somehow more terrible than any ( ... )

Thread 25