Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter world, nor Avistrum, nor any of the songs. I am not, however, going to list off all the details on the songs. Suffice it to say, I do not own them.
A/N: Please review? Please please please please please please please please please please please please please?
A/N2: This is a mostly (not entirely, but mostly) silly chapter, but it's one we've been looking forward to since chapter five, so bear with us for this one.
Chapter 21: At the Very Leash
Name: Rhys Levinson
Pseudonyms: The Musician, Pied Piper
Dates of Activity: April 2002-November 2002
Captured by: Clark Dowling, Dark Hunters
Skills: Exhibits strong ability at mind control, evidenced through his musical compositions. Music covers a broad range of genres, though his preferences seem to fall toward technological, zydeco, and certain classifications of classical, specifically requiems, dirges, dies irae, and nocturnes. Exhibits two distinct levels of control. The first acts as a more passive control, leading to his nomenclature as the Pied Piper, causing those who hear his music to head towards the source. This has a distinctly lower success rate when recorded, but the impulse is still there, it simply can be fought when not in person. The second is a full control kin to the Imperius curse; the sheet music is still in the labs to ascertain whether or not the Curse is actually spelled into it. Those hearing this music will do whatever is suggested by the subliminal messages within the music, which seem to be indications more of the artist's intent that actual instructions written into the music.
Downfall: Ear plugs
Death toll: 58
Held under heavy guard under Alcatraz until May 15, 2003 before being transferred to the high risk containment cells under the Hexagon. Executed by imbibing of Hemlock, by prisoner's request, on May 23, 2003. Body was preserved and remains in study at the labs.
Name: Danu Desreines
Pseudonyms: Mama Alder, Lady of Winds
Dates of Activity: December 2002-July 2004
Captured by: Clark Dowling, Dark Hunters, 7th SWAT squadron (Bushwhackers)
Skills: Exhibits strong control over natural elements, specifically fire and wind. Skilled at carving penny whistles, flutes, and pipes, usually from the wood alder, whereupon the playing of the whistle would call and raise the winds. Often called fire and wind as one, additionally spelling curiosity spells into the instruments she sold that would cause bystanders to purchase or play them, wreaking havoc in many public areas, both wizarding and muggle.
Downfall: Non-specific
Death toll: 304
Killed in capture July 9, 2004, body remains preserved at the labs for study.
Name: Verdandi Seligsdottir
Pseudonym: Siren
Dates of Activity: September 2004-April 2005
Captured by: Clark Dowling, Dark Hunters, 11th SWAT squadron (Pitbulls)
Skills: Incredibly accomplished vocalist, believed to have been at some point an associate/lover of the Musician. Exhibited many of the same talents in control, both passive and active. Also possessed a magically enhanced range that could cause damage within the human body, specifically at the highest ranges. Assisted by Her with the creation of masks to perfectly disguise herself so as to continue giving public performances and recitals.
Downfall: Ear plugs, cracked mask
Death toll: 187
Held until May 15, 2005 under heavy guard in Alcatraz, transferred to high security containment cells in Hexagon. Execution date moved, per prisoner's request, to May 23, 2003; executed by application of Killing Curse. Body is preserved and held in labs for further study.
Name: Rafael da Lucca
Pseudonym: the Painter
Dates of Activity: June 2005-February 2006
Captured by: Dark Hunters
Skills: Sketch artist and painter, preferred mediums oil a/o acrylic on canvas. Employed an ancient spell entitled Psycho Benedictus to invest the ghost of a soul in the painting to make attachments to the soul of the viewer. Strong method of control, much like the Imperius, and incited its victims to extreme violence. Wreaked havoc in circles of the wealthy muggle artistic-effete. Distinguished as the first minion to directly attack the Dark Hunters at their source, the Avsitrum Academy of Sorcery.
Downfall: Attached curiosity
Death toll: 53
Through extenuating circumstances, the Painter will not be executed, and is held in maximum security at Alcratraz starting February 11, 2006.. Has freely entered into extensive interviews with researchers and analysts. Will serve a life sentence without possibility of parole.
Name?
Psuedonym: the Scupltor
Dates of Activity: February 2006-?
Captured by: N/A
Skills: Still unknown. Mode of operation seems to be kidnapping his victims, but more than that has not yet been discovered.
Downfall: N/A
Death Toll: Unknown
Still at large.
Sighing, Kushiel set down the reports and calmly started banging her forehead on the flat of her desk in the staff room.
"Does that help?" Her Head of House's voice asked dryly behind her.
"It loosens the bark so the desk will grow better," she answered flippantly. She shifted around in her chair, legs dangling over the back of it, and quirked an eyebrow at the sight that met her eyes. "How can there be a mission when you don't know anything?"
Professors Ward and Bloodthorne and Headmaster Dowling stood in a ragged line before her, the black leather dusters they normally wore on missions closed about them, which was in itself unusual. Their habit was to let the armor show; it was an intimidation thing, or so they claimed. The Eye of Horus blazed about the Headmaster's right eye, the black cowboy hats pulled low to cast their faces in shadow.
"Not a mission," Clark replied, leaning against the ginormous oval table in the center of the room. "We've been called to the Hexagon on a conference of pure speculation."
"Ah. Sounds fun." She cocked her head to one side, her hands gripping the edge of the chair back on either side of her legs, her heels kicking lightly against the back of the seat. "Any particular reason you're coming to say goodbye? I mean, I'm touched, to be sure, but I can't recall that I was ever in the loop of need-to-know."
Clark made a slight face as he heard Kraven and Tyler snorting behind him. "If you should happen to find anything in your research, you can go to Professor Kobiyashi," he told her. "She'll be in charge while we're gone."
"Okay. Have fun storming the Hexagon." Kushiel grinned a cheeky goodbye to the other two professors and turned around to get back to her study, though it was seeming somewhat fruitless at the moment. She heard, rather than saw, the three men leave the room, the door closing quietly behind them.
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"Guess what!"
"You've been making out too much with my brother and suddenly have a craving for raw steak?"
Carriegan made a face as she sat down at the library table with Cliona and Kushiel. Leaning forward, she kept one eye out for Mister Argiletum. "I just found out that Howl is doing a Karaoke night tonight. We have to go."
"No!" Kushiel and Cliona protested at once, their voices echoing slightly in the library. They winced as their friend shushed them urgently, and they all waited in silence in case footsteps came near their retreat in the back.
"Are you crazy?" Cliona continued. "They still haven't let us off property since New Year's."
"The Headmaster and Professor Bloodthorne are both gone," she told them. "Fineus was making plans to prank them, but they got called to the Hexagon. They're the only ones that are at all hard to get around, and they're completely a non threat. Tonight's the perfect night to go, and we haven't been anywhere in over two months. I don't know about you two, but I'm going stir crazy!"
"And you want to see Cúan," Kushiel pointed out absently, mulling over the risks involved. She quirked an eyebrow at Cliona. "You know, it is actually manageable."
"Kush!"
"Sweet!"
"And if it's Karaoke night, the crowd will be very different," she added. "Less risk, really, of doing anything that would get us in trouble if they did found out."
"And just TripletS," Carriegan announced. "So that's even less dangerous, because it'll only be the three of us, so we won't have to worry about coordinating across houses."
"I'm not in your house."
"No, but you might as well be, and your head of house is gone, too," she retorted. "Come on, Cli. Think about it. You can spend time with Callum without having to worry about any professors walking in and taking away points."
"I highly doubt she remembers to worry about it," Kushiel snickered, and the werewolf glared at her. "I'm in."
"Cli?"
Sighing, Cliona shook her head. "I'm in, if only to keep you two on a leash."
"Ooh, leash."
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Hein wiped out a clean glass, drying it off and setting it over the bar in its rack, keeping an eye out as he always did. The club was starting to fill, and while there were a fair number of regulars, there were some other faces there, too, faces that he only saw on the annual Karaoke night. Glancing towards the door, a slow smile crept across his face as his favorite girls came in. They saw him and waved, which he returned as they came towards the bar.
Cliona, who had always been the quieter, more subdued of the group was definitely coming out of her shell, he decided. Then again, the steady boyfriend might have been helping with that. She wore a tightly laced bodice and an extremely short skirt, both in black leather, with thigh hi fishnets and leather boots. A rhinestone studded collar encircled her throat, and attacked to it was a black leather leash whose handle could be found in Callum's hand.
The poor boy didn't look anymore comfortable in his clothes than the first time Hein had laid eyes on him. He wore a black beater with nearly painted on leather pants, his feet clad in clunky boots and his eyes rimmed in eyeliner. Leather cuffs surrounded his wrists and neck, studded with silver pyramids, and the hand not holding his girlfriend's leash kept running nervously through his auburn curls.
Carriegan had changed her hair for the occasion, adapting it to a short pixie cut with long side swept bangs in a vivid streak of blue against the black of the rest of it. It was obvious that leather was their thème du soir. A miniskirt clung tightly to her, open lacing up the sides revealing that there couldn't possibly be anything underneath it, the back fishtailing slightly so that it swished flirtingly. A bodice that cut off an inch or so below her bust line emphasized strongly certain attributes, draping leather laces crossing her collarbones making a tease at modesty. It too was open laced up the sides, with black knee high boots, a rhinestone studded collar, and leather leash to complete the ensemble.
The handle of her leash was held by none other than the newly reinstated boyfriend, whom Hein recognized as one of the Bunny Baiters. In a marked contrast to Callum, Cúan was entirely comfortable in the mesh shirt under the black wife beater, tight leather pants showing a similar freedom to his date. A black fedora perched on his slightly messy brown hair at a rakish angle.
Kushiel was once again pulling single, but with what she was wearing, he didn't have any doubt she'd attract company by the end of the evening, as she nearly always did. A bodicelet like Carriegan's cut down even lower, until the off the shoulder, stomachless black mesh shirt was the only thing keeping her in. Black leather pants so tight you could see her muscles moving hugged extremely low, rhinestone studded double thong straps curving out from the pants to tease along her full hips. The mesh continued down her arms, clinging down her hand to slide around her middle finger in triangles across the pale skin. Her collar was also rhinestone studded, but the other end of the silver chain link leash was looped around her own wrist, her blood red hair pulled back from her face but tumbling down her back in a spill of long curls, her emerald eyes heavily outlined in black. "Boyo!" She called as the quintet came to lean against the bar. "How have you been?"
"I haven't seen you lot around in quite a while," he noted. "What happened, your grades start slipping up at college?"
"Something like that," Carriegan giggled.
Seeing something across the club, Kushiel paled drastically and clutched at Carriegan and Cliona's arms. "Shit!"
"What is it?" the other girl asked, following the line of her friend's gaze. Her mouth fell open. "Oh, shit."
Puzzled, Hein looked towards the stage, where two men were currently performing Livin la Vida Loca in black leather and mesh. "You know them?" he asked, an awful suspicion starting to creep into his mind.
"We might," Cliona hedged anxiously.
"Yes, especially if you're students at Avistrum who are sneaking out without permission," he snorted, and all five of them turned to him in astonishment.
"You know about Avistrum?" Carriegan asked after a moment.
"I graduated from Avistrum," he informed them with a smirk. "Three years behind your Headmaster there. Those three come every year for Karaoke night, though they occasionally bring some of the women with them, too. You'd best run before they see you."
"Too late," Kushiel groaned, seeing Tyler Wards eyebrows raise from his seat at a table near the stage. Clark and Kraven hadn't noticed them yet, but they would, and soon.
Upside,
inside out she's livin la vida loca
She'll push and pull you
down, livin la vida loca
Her lips are devil red and her skin's
the color mocha
She will wear you out livin la vida loca Come On!
Livin la vida loca, Come on!
She's livin la vida loca.
"So how old are you guys really?" The bartender asked, his voice hard. He had no problem with giving alcohol to those above eighteen if they could convince the bouncers not to mark them, but younger than eighteen he drew the line.
As if sensing his thoughts, Kushiel shook her head. "We're all eighteen," she assured him. "I'm the youngest, and I turned at New Years."
"New Years."
"Yes…."
The shaven headed barkeep leaned forward so that his face was mere inches away from the redhead's. "Meaning that a certain hickey happened when you were still jailbait?"
"I certainly wasn't going to report it," she retorted, blushing slightly.
"Mmhmmm." He stood back up and regarded them thoughtfully. "You owe me, Diamonds, and I'll get that revenge tonight. As for the rest of you…" They winced and steeled themselves. "Here." Cautiously, they opened their eyes to see him pouring five tequila shots, shoving the salt and plate of lime slices towards them. "Drink up. You'll need it for your profs."
Laughing, they did as they were told, and thus sustained by the support of their favorite barkeep, Carriegan even whistled when Kraven turned and shook his leather-clad ass at the rest of the club.
"Come here, Diamonds."
Stifling a squeal of surprise, Kush allowed Hein to pull her leash away from her and tug on it until she perched up on the bar stool. From there, he reached out and lifted her over the bar, setting her on the inside edge. "I told you I'm getting my revenge," he reminded her. To the startled cheers of her friends, she submitted to the man's attack on her neck, her fingers clenching in his black silk shirt when he grazed a particularly sensitive spot with his teeth. When he pulled away, he left a large red spot ringed in a perfect bite mark on the side of the neck, with it showing every promise of turning into a brilliant hickey. "See, now you're legal," he chuckled.
"Um, the song is done," Callum pointed out quietly, and the redhead dove back over to the other side of the bar.
She was just in time, as it turned out, because Kraven and Clark, thirsty from their exertions up on the stage, decided to come over to the bar to remedy that problem. They didn't notice the girls at first, though Tyler winked from behind his two colleagues. "Coors Light and a Rum and Coke, please, Heinrich," Clark ordered for them both.
Hein got the requested drinks, knowing better than to use any kind of rum other than Captain Morgan's for Kraven's, and slid the glasses to them. "Is it wrong that it frightens me that you do that song every year?" he asked them conversationally, waiting to see if the girls would bolt or if they'd ride it out.
"They didn't have the instrumental track for the Numa Numa song," Kraven answered with a straight face, sipping from his drink.
"So how are things going up at the school?"
"About as well as can be expected, I suppose," Clark sighed. "But we didn't escape only to talk about it all night."
"Of course not," Hein agreed, grinning at the smirking girls. With only so recently learning that Hein was a wizard, they'd had no way to learn that he had been in Colubrae. They were about to find out. "Actually, though, could you give me an update on the Queens? I haven't seen them around in a while."
Coors Light spilled out in a pale amber stream over the polished surface of the bar. Clark didn't even notice the toppled drink. "THIS is the club they always came to!"
"Well, of course, why not?" Hein queried innocently, already reaching for a rag to wipe down that section of the bar.
"You have to be eighteen to get in the door!"
"But they are eighteen, aren't they?"
"They didn't used to be!"
Cliona snorted and promptly ducked down behind the side so she wouldn't be seen laughing silently.
"I've missed them," Hein commented. "They were always good for a laugh. That and they're really hot." He didn't miss Clark's blush or Tyler's appreciative grin. "Will you tell them I said hello?"
The sight of Clark gaping at his former classmate proved to be just too much for the girls, and they died laughing, leaning against each other as the merriment took control. Clark and Kraven's heads slowly turned, but the Head of Colubrae's only reaction was to sigh and drain his glass, holding it out to Hein for a refill.
"What the hell are you girls doing here?" Clark demanded furiously.
"It's Karaoke night," Kushiel told him ingenuously, green eyes wide and innocent.
"You were strictly forbidden from leaving the grounds."
"And you were supposed to be at the Hexagon," she pointed out sharply. "Whatever happened to respecting those who've died by not taking names and events in vain?"
"One-zero to Kush," Tyler murmured to Kraven, who merely shook his head and watched the impending train wreck.
"We were at the Hexagon," Clark countered, blushing. "The meeting finished and we came here."
"Rather than returning to the school and your charges? Because maybe, just maybe, with everything that's been going on, you need to get out and just relax for a night? Let loose with some friends, some booze, and some karaoke?"
"I think that makes it two-zero, Kush's favor," Kraven muttered.
"We are not students-"
"No, you're even primer targets, because you're the ones that have been pissing her off, and she blames you for making her cause the death of a child," she shot back.
"Three-zero."
"Will you two stop that!" Clark cried out, slamming his bottle down on the bar for extra emphasis.
"Clark, you're not going to win this one," Kraven pointed out reasonably. "You said yourself that you mean to lift the punishment some time ago and hadn't gotten around to it yet. And, at least this way, we're here to keep an eye on them, rather than sending them to look for someplace else to go crazy."
The Headmaster still looked mutinous, but eventually, he reluctantly nodded. "No booze," he ordered bluntly. He entirely missed the conspiratorial wink Hein gave the three students.
"We will not order any drinks," Kushiel promised him. Kraven nearly choked, but he didn't say anything, and she was beginning to think that the girls might have more allies on the faculty than it seemed.
"So do we fit in with your dress code, do you think?" Tyler asked them humorously as they came around to the front of the bar. They looked over all three men's clothing. Tight black leather pants slid over heavy boots, black beaters over mesh shirts. Their dusters, which had obviously been closed to hide the clothing at school, lay abandoned over chairs at their table near the stage, and only Tyler still had the black Stetson.
"You don't have a leash, sir," Carriegan pointed out. Without even blinking, she grabbed the handle of Kushiel's and held it out to him. "Here you go."
Ignoring what probably would have been Clark's protest if it had been finished, the six four redhead gravely accepted the leather handle, looping it around his wrist. "Thank you," he told her. "I would have been upset not to have matched."
"Sorry, sirs, no leashes for the two of you," Cliona chuckled, more relaxed now that they weren't getting in trouble. "No more girls, either."
"One of them didn't know what to do when he had one," Carriegan muttered under her breath, causing the other two queens to dissolve into laughter.
"Are you three going to go up?" Hein prodded, jerking his head towards the stage. "It is, after all, what you came here for."
"Absolutely!"
"The next person up left a few minutes ago green around the gills," he told them wickedly. "If you go up now, they'll sneak you in rather than making you wait."
All three dashed-well, started to dash. They were brought up rather short when the sharp tug reminded them of the leashes. Sheepishly, they returned the very small distance to claim the handles from their holders. "And just think," Kush sighed. "This is when we're sober." They escaped before any of the professors could make comment on that.
"Do you know what they're going to sing?" Clark inquired of Callum in resignation, but the healer shook his head.
"I didn't ask," he answered. "I didn't want to know."
They didn't have long to find out.
The girls stopped for a whispered word with the DJ running the karaoke machine, then mounted the stage, clumping around the mic to whistles and cheers from much of the male half of the audience. A few moments later, the opening sequence to I Will Survive blared out through the speakers, the name of the song and the artist blinking across the large television screens facing the crowd for the lyrics.
"That's fairly mild," Clark breathed in relief.
Kraven and Tyler, who perhaps knew the girls much better, didn't comment, reserving judgment until all evidence had been gathered.
The trio waited until the proper point, grins splitting their faces, and launched into song.
At
first I was afraid But there you are Go on now go I will survive It took
all my self control Go on now go Go on now go I will survive Go on now go Go on now GO!
I was petrified
When you said you had 10
inches
Lord, I almost died
But I'd spent so many nights
Just
waiting for a man that long
That I grew strong
And I knew
that I could take you on...
Another
lie!
I was ready for a Big Mac
And you've brought me a French
fry
I should have known it was so small
Just a sad pathetic
dream
Have known there was no Anaconda
Lurking in those jeans
Walk out the door
Don't you promise me
10 inches
Then turn up with only 4
Weren't you a jerk to
think I wouldn't notice it pop out,
Don't you know we're only
joking
when we say size doesn't count?
I
will survive
Cuz as long as I have batteries
my sex life's
gonna thrive
I will always have good sex
with a handful of
latex
I will survive
I will survive, hey hey!
not to laugh out loud
When I saw your
little wiener
Standing small and proud
But too bad about your
ego
And to hell with all your needs
Now I'm saving all my
loving
For a cordless multispeed
Just
make a dash
Last time I saw a dick that small
I was treating
nappy rash
I should have asked for confirmation
Should have
asked for pictures, please!
Then I wouldn't have you waving that
wee winkie thing at me
Just hit the
track
Don't you bring me home no little worm
I'll always
throw them back
The only thing that I could do
with a dick
as small as yours
is to stick it with a tooth pick
and then
call it a hors d'oeuvre!
I will survive
Cuz as long as I have batteries
my sex life's gonna thrive
I
will always have good sex
with a handful of latex
I will
survive
I will survive, hey hey!
Get out
of my sight
I'm going back to my appliance
Cuz I know its
length is right
And if I ever see your tiny pecker peckin' at my
door
You'll be counting your 4 inches
as you pick them off
the floor
"I should have known I was speaking too soon," murmured a wide eyed Clark.
Callum blushed fiercely. "Where do you even learn songs like that?"
"Why, curious?"
He gave Hein a withering glare.
Cliona marched up and grabbed Callum by the hand. "Come."
"Bunny, where are we-"
The others watched bemusedly as the pair disappeared around the corner to the bathrooms.
"Does Spades get a little excited after live performances?" Hein asked delicately, and the girls snorted as they joined them. While Clark was still staring after the normally mild Enigmite, Hein took advantage of his back to pour Carriegan and Kushiel shots of Jack, which they knocked back without blinking.
It was perhaps twenty minutes later that the pair returned, flushed and disheveled, in the middle of a very baaaaad rendition of Unbreak my Heart. Those audience members closest to the bathroom broke out into whistling cheers and applause.
"I don't want to know, I don't want to know, I don't want to know," Clark chanted to himself, and seeing as the man's eyes were closed, Hein sent scotch on the rocks flying towards both werewolves.
Carreigan could only laugh, snuggling against Cúan. It seemed Hein had his own agenda tonight, but as long as the girls were benefiting from it, she certainly wasn't going to complain. "We've seen the other two up already," she commented casually to Professor Ward. "Are you going up, sir?"
"In a few songs, I think," he told her, Kushiel's handle wrapped about his hand again.
Eying the gap thoughtfully, the redhead managed to squirm in between the Care of Magical Beasts professor and the bar, her back flat against his chest. "Hey, Hein, can the Yeti here get a Jameson?"
"Yeti?" he leaned down to murmur in her ear as the grinning bartender got a glass.
"You're over six foot tall, that makes you a yeti," she retorted.
"I'm a yeti," he mused.
"Dare we tell him the rest?" Carriegan snickered, taking long pulls from her HyperCaptain whenever Clark wasn't looking.
"The rest of what?"
In response to Kush's gesture, the metamorph leaned forward. "We gave you that name second day of third year," she confided, nearly yelling over the caterwauling emerging from the speakers. "You were tired as all hell, and at one point you caught yourself rambling, sighed, and started going 'yada yada yada'. So you got your name."
"What name?" he asked her, going back through it in his head to see if he'd missed it.
"Professor Yadayada Imayeti," the girls gasped, laughing helplessly.
"Tyler, you're up," Hein told him, and the tall man reluctantly handed Kush's leash off to him.
"Don't let her get away," he ordered with a wink and a saucy grin.
Cliona sidled up alongside Kush, nursing her scotch close to her side to keep it from the Headmaster's eye. "So I'm thinking you won't have the same problem with this one?"
"I'm thinking much along the same lines," Kush agreed. "Funny that."
"You know, in my days we had rules about students and professors."
They turned around to look at the bemused Heinrich. "We have rules about that," the redhead replied mildly. "We just treat them with the same respect we give all the other rules."
"Good to know."
The music started and Kushiel cheered as she recognized Cowboy Mouth, a band out of New Orleans that Professor Ward had introduced her to over Christmas. Tyler had a wonderful voice, if partially unsuited for the twang of the song, but he was having a lot of fun doing it, and milking the cowboy hat for all it was worth.
Here I sit in prison, guilty of a crime
Yes, it's true, I killed a man, but it was justified
Yes, he was a friend of mine, he came into my home
Made off with my woman, and left me here alone
Yippe-i-yay, yippee-i-yo
Damn, these iron bars are cold!
Yippee-i-yay, yippee-i-yo
Here in prison I'll grow old
Here I sit in prison, she often visits me
Tells me that she's sorry, and she wishes I were free
Says she never loved him, only wish she'd stayed
I wish she would stop talking, yes, I wish she'd go away
Yippee-i-yay, yippee-i-yo
Damn, these iron bars are cold!
Yippee-i-yay, yippee-i-yo
Here in prison I'll grow old
Here I sit in prison, I don't give a damn
I'd shoot the bastard over, if they gave me half a chance
I only wish for one thing, I only wish instead
That I had kept on shootin' till the both of them were dead
Yippee-i-yay, yippee-i-yo
Damn, these iron bars are cold!
Yippee-i-yay, yippee-i-yo
Here in prison I'll grow old
Here in prison I'll grow old!
He came off the stage to cheers and applause, gratefully accepting the fresh Jameson he was handed. "You going to go up, Callum?" he asked the British apprentice.
"I am nowhere near drunk enough to attempt that," the young man refuted, shaking his head quickly. He didn't dance, and he didn't sing, and those two things were not going to be altered any time soon. He supposed if he and Cliona got married, he would have to learn to dance for the reception, but that was-wait…married!
Oblivious to her boyfriend's sudden panic, Cli pouted adorably. "You won't even sing for me? Callum? Callum?" She tugged on his black wife beater, slightly worried.
"I'll sing for you in private, Bunny, if you can get me drunk enough," he promised her absently, threading his fingers through hers.
Cúan pulled a handful of request slips from the glass bowls of peanuts and rooted around until he found one of the small, stubby pencils. "Okay, everyone take on so we can really get the party started."
Clark took advantage of Kraven going up to perform Rose Without a Thorn to address the girls. He thought it might be a little easier with the number of beers he'd knocked back by that point. "You know that what you are doing ish incredibly irre-irre-…" he trailed off mournfully, unable for the life of him to recollect the end of the word.
"Irresponsible?" Kushiel suggested, claiming her leash back from Hein to pass to Tyler. It was the little things that were so important.
"Yesh!" He carefully set down his bottle and turned to face them on the stool, nearly overbalancing and toppling. "Rulesh are in place for a reason, and they're for your own shafety."
"Is shafety anything like safety?" Carriegan uttered lowly.
"I think they may be cousins," Kushiel quipped back under her breath.
Drawing breath to scold further, Clark lost his balance and was saved by falling forward onto Kushiel, his face making contact with mesh covered cleavage. When he showed no inclination to recover, Kushiel sighed and pushed him off. "That's impressive," he told her with a goofy grin.
"Thank you," she told him dryly. "But they're not yours to touch."
"Yes, you lost that chance."
It suddenly occurred to Tyler that he would need to be veeeeery careful if he actually were to pursue any kind of relationship with the petite redhead; Carriegan and Cliona would know everything, and would probably take the chance at needling him in a thousand ways for every mistake. Then again, he had the perfect example of what not to do sitting in front of him, in the form of Clark Xavier Dowling. He pulled the Colubrae girl closer until she stepped up onto the bottom rung of the stool, putting her in perfect range to lean down and rest his chin atop her head.
I don't
need to hear you say Faces, new and with the
times
that we can never be the same
I got
different plans so hear me out
will leave old thoughts behind
it's time you know
"I have a new drink for you all," Hein announced, pulling forth three double shot glasses. "I wasn't going to give it to you, because you would certainly have recognized that the liquor wasn't muggle, but I daresay it's safe enough now."
They watched him with wide eyes as he carefully layered Black Goblin and Red Ashwinder into the glasses, creating four alternating levels of sparkling red and black. Both liquors had actually been banned from many wizarding bars for the sheer strength of them. Even more carefully, he spooned a layer of straight up Firewhiskey on the surface. He struck a match, holding it shielded in his hand. "When I say so, grab them and knock them back," he instructed. Quickly, he set the match to the surface of the three glasses and ignited the whiskey. "Drink!"
Ignoring the safety instinct that was screaming at them not to, all three girls grabbed a glass and knocked it back with the flames still licking at the surface. Swallowing, they all gasped, laughing as soon as they could breathe again.
"That's-" Carriegan cleared her throat so that her voice didn't come out as a squeak again. "That's wonderful! What is it called?"
"A Flaming Queen," he told them smugly, and willingly took the assault with peanuts that ensued.
Look at
the boy with a girl
doesn't beauty lie skin-deep
thru the
eyes
of who's looking at you baby
now it's the time
they
have the right to it all
and to be together
this is more than
just a song
it's a poem to right what's wrong
anytime to change
forever!
"They just called your name, Carriekins," Cúan told her, nuzzling at her neck. "I think it's your turn."
"Oh, right," she said, sliding down off his lap. She was actually blushing a little, so Cliona and Kushiel had the feeling that she was about to do something rather saccharine. Hmm…could they tease her for it later…?
Mounting the stage, Carriegan waited for the music before training her gaze on Cúan, never looking away during the entire song.
Whenever sang my songs
On the stage, on my own
Whenever said my words
Wishing they would be heard
I saw you smiling at me
Was it real or just my fantasy
You'd always be there in the corner
Of this tiny little bar
My last night here for you
Same old songs, just once more
My last night here with you?
Maybe yes, maybe no
I kind of liked it your way
How you shyly placed your eyes on me
Oh, did you ever know?
That I had mine on you
Darling, so there you are
With that look on your face
As if you're never hurt
As if you're never down
Shall I be the one for you
Who pinches you softly but sure
If frown is shown then
I will know that you are no dreamer
So let me come to you
Close as I wanted to be
Close enough for me
To feel your heart beating fast
And stay there as I whisper
How I loved your peaceful eyes on me
did you ever know
That I had mine on you
Darling, so share with me
Your love if you have enough
Your tears if your're holding back
Or pain if that's what it is
How can I let you know
I'm more than the dress and the voice
Just reach me out then
You will know that you're not dreaming
Darling, so there you are
With that look on your face
As if you're never hurt
As if you're never down
Shall I be the one for you
Who pinches you softly but sure
If frown is shown then
I will know that you are no dreamer
"Awwww…" Cliona and Kushiel whispered together, snickering.
As soon as the metamorph came back to the bar, Cúan pulled her to him and kissed her deeply, one hand sliding through her temporarily short hair to tease at the nape of her neck. "Thank you, Blue Eyes," he murmured.
"But her eyes are black," Tyler pointed out to Kushiel.
"It's a joke from an old, old operetta," the redhead explained. "It drives her nuts, so he calls her that almost exclusively."
Hein passed all eight, now including the professors in his free rounds, a Banshee, the bubbles in the drink shrieking every time they broke the surface. "Hurry, before anyone notices," he urged, grinning as some of them handled the strong drink better than others.
The look on Cúan's face when he got called up for his turn at the mike left his sister with a distinct feeling of foreboding; he was about to be enjoying himself far too much. The music started, with almost a classical feeling, something you would expect to hear in a forties and fifties movie, Fred and Ginger dancing a graceful ballroom scene. Then she actually started listening to the words.
I don't want my arms around you, no, not much
I don't bless the day I found you, no, not much
I don't need you like the stars don't need the sky
I won't love you longer than the day I die
You don't please me when you squeeze me, no, not much
My head's the lightest from your very slightest touch
Baby, if you ever go, could I take it? Maybe so
Ah, but would I like it? No, not much
Sitting on her boyfriend's vacated stool, Carriegan silently seethed. Sure, the song was sweet, in a backhanded sort of way, but still…There were certain principles to be upheld.
Like a ten cent soda doesn't cost a dime
I don't want you near me, only all the time
You don't thrill me when you hold me, no, not much
My brains get hazy from your cool and crazy touch
Baby, if you ever go, could I take it? Maybe so
Ah, but would I like it? No, not much
No, not much
He came down to slightly befuddled applause, the liquor having been most free flowing by this point in the evening, and looked expectantly to Carriegan, who lightly punched his arm. "Hey! Abuse! Abuse!"
"Abuse, my ass," she snorted. "You certainly weren't screaming that when your sister was beating the crap out of me."
"Ah, yes, but then she was defending my honor," he teased, pulling her close in spite of her half hearted struggles. He leaned down and licked the curve of her ear, dropping his voice to a bare minimum. "Let's go someplace else," he urged.
"Where?"
"Who cares?" His wicked grin made her stomach do funny things. "The profs won't even notice. As long as we meet everyone in the alley a couple minutes before two, they'll never know. Come on, Blue Eyes." Resting his forehead against hers, he said the words that melted her resolve. "I've missed you."
"Let me tell Diamonds and Spades," she breathed. A moment later, it was done, and she and Cúan were sneaking out the front door.
Kraven regarded Callum steadily, absently swirling his rum and Coke in its glass. "So, are you going to go up now?" he inquired.
Callum shook his head. "There's not enough alcohol in the world to make me go up there."
"Wanna bet?" Hein joshed him, and he glowered at the barkeep again.
"Come on, Callum, let's get some air," Cliona suggested, tugging on his hand. A quick wink at Kushiel let her friend know that she was going the path of Carriegan. Well, not the exact path, because then she would be seeing her friend and brother do things she didn't want to be seeing, but a very, very similar path.
Kushiel sighed and shook her head. Great. Now she was all alone with the professors, and despite being comfortably ensconced in the circle of Tyler's arms, she was fairly sure it wouldn't progress any further than that, and she had the vague feeling that she would wind up helping them babysit the very soused Clark. It was getting later, though, and the songs were getting more mellow.
"Aren't you going up?" Tyler's rich voice washed over her.
"No," she replied. "I had my kicks with the girls, but I prefer singing with not so many people to hear me."
"Shy? You?"
"Sometimes."
An innocent looking girl who had only been let through the door because her parents were there with her got up onto the karaoke stage, her hands trembling with nervousness. Her voice, when it emerged, was thin with fear, but clear and sweet, as she sang a song popular amongst the younger teenagers. Safe against Tyler's chest, with no fear of being overheard by the bar at large, Kushiel sang along, for Tyler's ears only.
There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again
I'm awake in the infinite cold
But you sing to me over and over and over again
So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours, I pray
To be only yours
I know now, you're my only hope
Looking rather pale, Clark finally excused himself and made his way towards the bathroom.
Sing to me the song of the stars
Of your galaxy dancing and laughing and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that you have for me over again
Kraven watched the entrance to the bathroom for the rest of the song, but the Headmaster didn't emerge. "Excuse me," he sighed to Kushiel and Tyler, setting down his drink. Years ago, he'd promised Sachiko, who regarded Clark much like a little brother, that he would look out for her friend and colleague, who was a decided lightweight when it came to drinking.
Teacher and student stood in stunned silence for a moment, and Hein rolled his eyes, leaning forward to tap Tyler on the shoulder. "Try moving away from the bar for a bit," he told them, glancing briefly over at one of couches tucked away in the far back corner. It was usually for the band to chill on between sets, but there was no live band tonight, and all who remained at this time were still clustered about the stage.
"You know," Tyler said after a second, "that's a very good idea."
Snickering, Kushiel allowed herself to be led across the club by her leash, a light tug sending her tumbling into Tyler's lap when he seated himself on the couch.
"Now, this is much better, wouldn't you agree?" he asked conversationally.
Resting her head against his chest, she could both feel and hear his heart beating. She wasn't drunk, but she was definitely buzzed, having once again found the limit of that wonderful potion. She didn't mind, though. Muffled by corners, she could still hear the low, sultry tones of someone singing Every Time We Say Goodbye, and she allowed herself to float for a moment on the music.
Every time we say goodbye, I die a little
Every time we say goodbye, I wonder why a little
Why the gods above me, who must be in the know
She jerked back to awareness with a finger lightly tracing the hickey on the left side of her neck. "Now, this is an interesting souvenir," Tyler commented. "More in keeping with Aurelia, though, isn't it?"
"Hmm, if I were Aurelia, there would be a great many more," she pointed out. "Besides, that was Hein's revenge for finding out that I was underage when I made out with him in November."
"You made out with Hein?"
"Only once," she protested with a laugh.
"No wonder he's so fond of you girls, then," he noted, a humorous gleam in his blue eyes. "It's a little lopsided, though. It's only on one side."
"I'm sorry, would you like me to go back to the bar and ask him to fix it?"
"Well, you could, if you really wanted to, but I'm sure I could manage to fix such a simple thing as that."
She twisted around in his lap so she was straddling him, regarding him carefully. "It wouldn't bother you that I'm your student?"
His hand slid up the length of her arm to cup the back of her neck, bringing her face just a breath away from his. "Does it look like we're on school grounds?" When she mutely shook her head, he closed that barest distance, his lips brushing against hers teasingly. He came back, kissing her softly and deeply, taking full possession of her mouth in the dark corner of the club. When they absolutely had to pause for air, he licked and nibbled a careful line down the right side of her neck, and she gasped when she felt his teeth and lips latch onto a very sensitive spot near her collarbone. She could feel the sting of it before he even moved away, and smiled.
"Am I balanced now?" she murmured.
"I don't know, let me check," he whispered back, once again claiming her mouth with his.
There's no love song finer
But how strange, the change
From major to minor
Every time we say goodbye
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True to their word, Callum, Cliona, Cúan, and Carriegan were waiting for them in the alley behind the club, safely tucked away behind the large pile of boxes they used as their Apparation. The returned girls noted the new hickey, practically framed between the black strap of the bodice and the rhinestone studded collar, but in long standing tradition, they didn't point it out where others would hear them. That would have meant that Kushiel would be allowed to point out several marks on their own bodies, and they didn't think the professors would be entirely thrilled with that.
Kraven was supporting the stumbling Clark, which amused them all a great deal. Kushiel pulled the handkerchief portkey from her cleavage and made sure everyone got a hand on it. Right before they all felt the characteristic tug behind their navels, she felt Tyler's lips press softly against hers, as if in goodbye.
They next found themselves in the Entrance Hall of the school, Clark retching pathetically. Portkey wasn't exactly kind to the already liquor impaired stomach. They found Sachiko and Robin waiting for them, obviously furious. While still hidden behind the shield of the professors, Cúan made his lingering goodbye and walked out, heading to the gates to he could Apparate back to the Den.
"Where have you been!" Sachiko demanded sharply, taking in the three men and completely missing the girls concealed behind them. "You said you were called to the Hexagon for a few hours, and now it's two in the morning!"
"And you're drunk!" Robin added, foot tapping a fast beat against the stone. "Where have you been?"
"We've been at Howl," Kraven told them sourly, nose wrinkling as he Scourgified the vomit from off his shoes. "It was their annual Karaoke night."
"And you couldn't have just told us this? You couldn't have said, hey, we're going to go to Karaoke Night after we get out of the important conference?"
"I suppose we could have," Tyler agreed whimsically, eyeing the distance between him and the dungeon side hallway. If he timed it just right, maybe he could create a diversion and allow the girls to sneak behind him towards the Colubrae dorms…
"Cliona!"
Whoops. Too late.
Robin's eyes narrowed fiercely, her hands on her hips. "You have students with you?"
The three girls shared a look, coming to a silent consensus on the best tactic to use. They could come clean and take the blame for it, or they could allow the enraged females to pin it all on Clark, as the Headmaster, who was far too drunk to defend himself.
They chose the latter.
They shrugged.
Kraven, understanding their choice, shook his head subtly when Tyler opened his mouth to speak, and the Headmaster spoke instead. "They sang a naughty song," he giggled, a very unsettling sound out of a man in leather and mesh. "It didn't match the lyrics on the screen, though."
Sachiko and Robin both looked at the girls, who merely shrugged again, then back to Clark. "Do you think he realizes that he's not getting a hangover potion in the morning?" The infirmary keeper asked in resignation.
"Best tell that to Grasella," Kraven reminded her, giving serious thought to fobbing the drunk man off on a house elf to care for. "She has a soft spot for him."
"That's because she used to babysit him, and she won't appreciate the sweet little boy she used to care getting drunk off his ass."
The girls snickered at this newest piece of intelligence. Absolutely priceless.
"He's getting heavy," the Divinations professor ground out. "Can we please continue this discussion in the morning?"
"That depends. Do we need to lessen the house points for Colubrae and Enigmus?"
"No," Kraven answered after a moment's thought. "They weren't doing anything their professors weren't doing, and they certainly showed more restraint than our Hairmaster."
"Kraven!"
"What? He is the only person I have ever met who can retain a perfect hairdo while drunkenly puking his guts out."
They couldn't laugh, they couldn't laugh, they couldn't-oh-dear gods! "Can we get off to bed then, sir?" Kushiel choked out amidst the desperate need to not laugh out loud.
"Yes, off with you."
Cliona and Callum headed off to the Enigmus dorms and the private rooms by the infirmary respectively. As Carriegan and Kushiel rounded the corner on dungeon side, the redhead glanced back in time to see Professor Ward blow a teasing kiss. Smirking, she turned back around, more than ready to go to bed and have pleasant dreams of ginger haired yetis.
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"Kush!"
"Wha-huh?" Torn from dreams of phantom lips and fingers at her neck, Kushiel sat straight up in bed, her wand in her hand and pointed at the sound of the voice before her eyes were even open. As soon as she could clear the sleepies from them with her other hand, she opened her eyes to see her target.
It was Carriegan. A very pale, and obviously frightened, Carriegan.
"What's wrong, Hearts?" she mumbled.
"I had a Dream."
"Hearts, you dream all the time-"
"No, I had a Dream," she repeated, laying special emphasis on the word.
"What is it?" her friend asked her, suddenly awake and alert.
After Carriegan had related the dream, Kushiel puzzled through it in tense silence. She didn't have the Sight, but she was damn good at interpretation; it's why she and Carriegan worked off of each other so well in Advanced Divinations. "We need to go to Professor Bloodthorne," she said finally, sliding off the bed to find her flipflops with her feet. Her hand groped automatically for her dark green chenille dressing gown, the early spring equivalent of the baby blue blanket.
"Now? Kush, it's five o'clock in the morning."
"And this can't wait, come on."
"You think it means something big, then?" The metamorph asked, reaching for her own black nightrobe.
"It might be."
The two girls snuck quietly out of the dormitory, careful not to wake up the other occupants, and down the hall to the common room. They had to convince the portrait of Caterina to let them through, but when they explained they were going to their Head of House, she let them pass with a worried frown. They almost dashed the short distance through the open halls to their Head's office. The door was always unlocked, so that students could come in if they needed to, and on his desk was a bell. It was spelled to an alarm in his quarters in case of emergency, but they couldn't actually remember the last time it had been used. They shared a long look, steeling themselves, then Kushiel reached out and rang the bell strongly.
A few minutes later, they heard muffled swearing and loud thumps that could only be their half-awake professor stumbling towards the door connecting the office to his rooms. The door yanked open and he glared. "What is it?"
"Carriegan had a dream, sir," Kushiel told him calmly, holding her friend's hand.
"And this couldn't wait until class why?"
"You haven't heard the dream yet."
Pushing aside his surliness with an effort, Kraven actually looked at both the girls, at Kushiel's grimness, and Carriegan's lingering fear. Neither was healthy on its own, but together? Sighing, he shook his head and opened the door wider, belting his robe more tightly about his lean frame. "Come into the study," he told them. "At least it has a couch."
The two girls followed him into the study elegantly appointed in deep browns and golds. They sat on the couch while he settled himself into a wingbacked chair facing them, building up the fire with a swish of his wand. "Tell me," he ordered simply.
Carriegan took a moment to pull her thoughts into order, making sure she had as many details as she could before she began speaking. Backtracking could interfere with the sense of the dream, and could greatly alter interpretation. "I was looking at a waterfall," she began slowly, her violet eyes losing focus as she saw the events again. "It was a strong one, though not terribly, terribly tall. It crashed strongly, creating lots of foam, then calmed as it started to twist its way through stone. All of a sudden, there was pain, blinding pain." She glanced down at her hand, which was twitching in sensate remembrance. "Then the river was gone," she continued after a moment, "and the water fell as rain onto a lonely graveyard of statues. It didn't look like it was meant to be a graveyard, though, like it was something else originally. When the rain ceased, one of the statues was crying, and a Phoenix tumbled from the tears before they hit the stone ground. When the bird hit the ground, it set fire to the water on the surface, and everything was burned away. When the ashes cleared, there was just a flat plain of stone, with a dried rose in a scorched circle."
Kraven listened silently, his eyebrows drawn fiercely together in a scowl. He had come to the same conclusions, or nearly, as Kushiel, and he didn't like them. "I'll bring this up with Clark as soon as he's sober," he promised them. "You were right to be concerned, Kush, it's almost identical to Dreamer Herare's vision. It doesn't give us any specific ideas, though."
"Why in the morning, sir?" Carriegan asked curiously. "This is the type of thing he normally likes to know right away."
"Because until the sun streams through his window and blinds him with pain, he will be entirely oblivious to everything," he informed them wryly. "Thank you for bringing this to me. Now back to bed, both of you."
"Yes, sir."
The two girls left through his office, returning to the dorm after assuring the portrait that they were all right. Caterina may not have gotten along with the other Founders, but she was fiercely protective of her own house. They settled back into their beds in silence.
Finally, Carriegan turned onto her side to face Kush's direction. "Diamonds? What do you think it means?"
"I think it means we're not far from finding out what the Sculptor has been up to," she answered gravely.
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Cliona, Carriegan, and Kushiel walked into lunch the next day a little warily, not entirely sure if the Headmaster was belatedly going to give them trouble.
They needn't have worried.
Clark sat in his chair up at the High Table, staring at a bowl of chicken noodle soup and goldfish, squinting at the too bright light pouring in through the windows. When they glanced at Tyler and Kraven, both professors nodded reassuringly. Apparently, Clark didn't remember a thing.
The trio sat down at the nearly deserted Colubrae table. It was, after all, two in the afternoon, a bit late for most lunches. They could see Kraven talking quietly with Clark, presumably about Carriegan's dream, but they weren't entirely sure if anything was penetrating the hangover haze.
Not long after their pizza appeared on the table between them, a great bald eagle swooped into the hall, dropping a sterile white envelope in front of Clark. He blinked at it for a moment, then opened it. All trace of alcohol effects faded from his face, along with all color, and he gestured to Kushiel to come join them.
"What's going on?"
"I dunno," she murmured in reply to Carriegan, but she had a sinking feeling. The only bald eagle she'd ever seen quite like that had been delivering a report fro Dennis Andrews, which could only mean a governmental issue. She came to stand before the High Table. "What happened?"
"The Tourgique Institute of Enchanment has been attacked by the Sculptor," he informed her darkly. "We'll be taking in the survivors for the remainder of the year."
"Survivors?" she echoed.
"And Dennis has specifically requested your presence at the school when we go to check it out," he added, his dark eyes heavy in their regard. "Rafael da Lucca suggested that you might see things more clearly than anyone else."
She tried to fathom the idea of an entire school being wasted to the point of sending the students away entirely. "When do we leave?" she asked quietly.
"As soon as we're changed," came the answer. "Mistress Craefter is going to quickly cut down a coat for you, so you'll have that defense at least. There's really nothing we can do about armor. As soon as you're changed into something suitable, meet us at the cottage. We'll be leaving from there."
"How many are dead?"
"They're still counting."