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| 7 Minutes; Jude, Calleigh, ? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 1 2010, 12:46 AM (702 Views) | |
| Calleigh Bancroft | Jan 1 2010, 12:46 AM Post #1 |
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Silas defintely knew how to throw a party. Not that she had been near him all night. Tension as still running high from their little, interrupted rendevous in the Shrieking Shack. Still, with Sebastian coming to this shindig, she hadn't a hope of escaping with her tact still in place. It was for that reason that she found herself with a glass of elfish wine in hand, her fourth or fifth of the night. Needless to say, Calleigh had lowered her inhibitions effectively, while still maintaining a level head. Of course, any drunken person would tell you the same thing. She found herself in the middle of a grand den, complete with immaculate wooden cabinets and several closets. It seemed the perfect setting for studying, working on things in private, or hiding things you wouldn't want anyone to find. It seemed like a very personal space, though she couldn't help herself from perusing the books that littered the shelves. From A to Z, stocked full of books on Gringott's, wizarding stock. It wasn't a very interesting topic, she thought lazily, swirling her wine around in her glass. As a matter of fact, the entire party had been a bit dull. Either because she had been avoiding everyone she knew or because she wouldn't join in the naked swimming in the hooker pool. Calleigh backed out of the room through a door that led straight into a living room where most of the more sober guests had been residing, talking and listening to the newest additions to the wizarding top 40 radio. Something had to liven up the party. She took a swig of her drink and over the top of it, caught eyes with Jude. It had been an awkward moment, at best. She had been avoiding him, most of all, since the shack. Having the decency to blush, Calleigh lowered her eyes to her glass and turned her face away pointedly. "Let's play 7 Minutes in Heaven!" One of the people called out to the crowd of students in the room. She heard a murmuring of agreement and turned herself back to face the living room. Another girl, thankfully, asked the question Calleigh had been too shy to ask. Her party days hadn't begun yet, she was a school, home and work body. "We take a bottle" the boy said, twirling a wine bottle around in his hand, "And we split into two groups; one for the blokes and one for the birds." Calleigh listened intently, her eyes not leaving the bottle that was being spun and tossed in the air quite skillfully. "Someone spins a bottle for each group and the two people that it lands on have to be locked in a closet for seven minutes, doing anything they want." Calleigh's eyebrows rose high on her forehead. Anything? She remembered the last time she had done something so bold, being alone with a boy. Her eyes found Jude's again and she felt a very hot flush along her exposed chest, neck and all the way up to her face. "I'll play," she said daringly. She found a spot on the floor and planted herself down onto her knees, watching as a handful of other girls sat down in a circle next to and around the bottle. Her eyes sought out those of the boys. She saw Jude join them and lowered her eyes again quickly, hoping he didnt see her glancing at him yet again. The bottle was thrust into the hand of the girl next to her, a blond, drunk girl. She placed the bottle on the floor and took three tries before she finally got the bottle to spin. Her eyes followed, round and round until it slowed. And it pointed directly at Calleigh. All of the girls began clapping excitedly. Each of them looked over to the boys' circle. Calleigh watched the bloke who had declared that they should play the game. His eyes were bright and red; she guessed he had been smoking knotgrass outside with the others at some point. Then she watched as he lowered the bottle and spun it around, faster than the dizzy blond that had spun her bottle. It went around the circle of boys twice and then finally stopped. Calleigh raised her eyes to the person it landed on and heard hersef gasp quietly. Of course it would be Jude. As if it had all been planned out in advance, just to torture her. She closed her eyes and gulped before daring to look up at him again. Sebastian's friend, friend of Silas, boy that had already seen her nearly naked. She wanted to hand the bottle over to the dizzy blond, but knew that it would be an act viewed as cowardice. She'd never live it down. So, she stood up, wine in hand and downed it in one drink. "Lead the way," she said, in a lower tone than she had meant to use. |
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| Jude McFadyen | Jan 5 2010, 02:35 AM Post #2 |
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“I heard there’s a fight going on outside.” From his place beside the mantle, with his shoulder resting casually against the dark, polished wood, Jude turned to meet the widely grinning features of the boy who’d just approached him. Tom Lynch. Fellow Gryffindor. One of his more mischievous mates. A trait that just so happened to be on open display in the expectant, knowing glint his gaze held. Jude’s mouth took on a wry, answering curve as he looked away. “I’m not getting involved, if that’s what you’re here for.” Tom let out a huff of disapproval, shifting once on his feet. The movement caused the contents of the bottle he was holding to slosh against the tinted glass. “Why the hell not?” Around them, scattered groups of people lounged and idled, chatting over the soft sounds of music that filtered into the large, warm living room from an unseen radio. Jude surveyed it all with his usual calm ease, but just as he opened his mouth to reply to his disgruntled friend, something odd happened. His skin began to tingle. Tiny little pinpricks of sensation that were so subtle he almost overlooked them. Without knowing why, his gaze flickered toward the doorway. Calleigh. Looking right back at him. When she noticed his attention, she flushed a faint pink and quickly lowered her eyes to the glass of wine in her hand. Jude, however, didn’t avert his stare, even as he resumed speaking. “Because I’m trying to enjoy myself,” he answered simply. His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly as he continued to watch the dark-haired girl from across the room - a strange intensity in the careful study. But in another moment it was gone. His expression was wiped clean by the time he finally broke away and swiveled his stare back to Tom, eyes gleaming faintly with repressed humor. “You know… have a nice, relaxing evening for once.” “Sounds like a right bore,” Tom drawled, taking another long swig from his drink. Before a response could be made, a loud voice carried throughout the room that effectively brought everyone’s conversations to a halt. “Let’s play 7 Minutes in Heaven!” Jude turned, immediately catching sight of a very lively-looking Samuel Davis near the center of the open space before him. The boy’s grin was wide and encouraging, his charismatic presence having an instant effect on the group of people who occupied the room. One sentence and the energetic building of anticipation was almost palpable. “How do we play?” a girl near the opposite wall asked curiously. "We take a bottle,” Sam began, lifting a wine bottle in one hand and giving it an expert twirl as he spoke, “And we split into two groups; one for the blokes and one for the birds. Someone spins a bottle for each group and the two people that it lands on have to be locked in a closet for seven minutes, doing anything they want." “Now we’re bloody talking,” Jude heard Tom mutter next to him, delight lacing its way through the boy’s low tone. It really wasn’t a surprise when he ambled off quickly toward the middle of the room, clearly in no need of further convincing. Jude felt a faint rustle of laughter escape him. But then another voice cut through the air. "I'll play.” Even before he moved his gaze, he knew who it was. Calleigh’s features were expressionless, but there’d been a note of conviction in her clearly spoken announcement. And there was that odd feeling again, that strange prickle. He watched as she moved gracefully across the room and sank to her knees where there was a clear space on the floor. Other girls giddily followed suit. Someone nudged him suddenly, and he discovered he was being offered a bottle of ale from a smirking Sebastian. “C’mon, McFadyen,” he said. "Seven minutes in heaven. How can you pass that up?" There was only a moment’s hesitation on his part. His eyes swept back to Calleigh – a fraction of a second – and then they returned. The distant, instinctive feeling he always got right before he was thrust into a dangerous situation began to make its presence known in that halting moment. It was the sort of feeling that usually guided most people in the right direction—namely, away from the impending danger. But Jude wasn’t really most people. One last beat, and he was accepting the ale, giving a small, almost sardonic smirk of his own as he relished the feeling of the cool glass against his warm palm. “Right,” he agreed. And then he followed Sebastian across the floor, taking a long pull from his drink as he walked. Somehow, he suspected he’d need it. They sat beside each other near the rest of the blokes, and Jude rested a long arm on one of his knees, the bottle in his hand tapping idly against the side of his leg as they all waited for the game to begin. Almost involuntarily, he found himself looking to where Calleigh sat, but her lids were lowered. He bit the inside of his cheek and tried to focus his attentions on the bottle in the center of the circle instead. When it was finally spun, everyone seemed to grow still. It whirled in place, over and over, and then stopped, landing directly on… Calleigh. The girl side of the room giggled and clapped excitedly. The boys, however, were a mass of tensed, uncomfortable bodies. All of them were pointedly trying to avoid Sebastian’s suddenly lethal stare. Sam, however, seemed completely oblivious. He quickly retrieved the bottle, giving it a skillful turn that immediately sent the entire room into stillness again. Everyone held their breath. Even Jude didn’t realize his tapping had stopped, fingers curling around the neck of his ale a bit more tightly than they’d done before. Why he was surprised when it landed on him, he had no idea. His head had been a whirl of confusion ever since the day he’d stumbled upon Calleigh and Silas. Suddenly thoughts that had never spared her any sort of serious consideration in the past could think of little else. It really was a mess, the whole situation. Keeping the secret from Sebastian so he wouldn’t tear Silas limb from limb… dealing with this strange new weight in the pit of his stomach whenever he happened to catch a glimpse of the dark-haired girl in class or the Great Hall… trying to come up with a sensible reason why it was there at all. If he was a shallower individual, he could chalk it up to the fact that he’d seen her in her knickers. Almost every inch of smooth, unexpectedly gorgeous skin on display. But that explanation was like attempting to use the wrong piece of a puzzle. No matter how hard he tried, it just didn’t fit. He gave a start when Sebastian suddenly clapped him on the back. The action jolted him back to the present, and he became aware that his friend was speaking to him. "Sorry mate, hopefully you’ll find heaven another time,” he said consolingly. And then he grinned. “Well, at least, I'll not have to beat anyone up tonight." Jude didn’t respond, just forced a tight smile and hoped he didn’t look as pale as he felt. Sebastian was another issue entirely. One he really didn’t want to think about right now. Right now, all he had room for in his addled brain was the act of rising to his feet, of inhaling deeply and taking one last pull from his drink before setting it down again. Only then could he bring his stare to meet Calleigh’s. "Lead the way," she said, her voice a low hum. Holding back the urge to whoosh out another breath, Jude gave a slight nod and turned. Once he reached the nearest closet door, he opened it and stepped aside so she could enter first, the habit so ingrained in him by now it was almost involuntary. After she had, he lifted a hand to the back of his neck, absently rubbing the skin there before he followed shortly after and shut the door behind them with a soft click. Darkness engulfed them instantly. The room was tiny, barely large enough for two people, and as a result their bodies were only separated by a space that could probably be covered in one small step. Maybe two. He could smell clean linen and something else that was light, warm, and pleasant. Calleigh, surely. It triggered a memory of when her skin had been pressed tightly to his, bare and soft and carrying the very same fragrance that filled his senses now. Probably not the best thing to be thinking about at the moment, all things considered. Shunting away that dangerous line of thought, Jude tried to relax as he rested his back against the shelves behind him in a casual movement that was more akin to his usual self. His hands found refuge in the pockets of his trousers. He was a calm presence in the tiny space, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows, sandy hair falling in its usual roguish way across his forest green eyes. And for a moment he simply regarded her, feeling his inherent knack for lightening almost any atmosphere slowly return, undaunted by the effect her proximity was having on him. “So,” he began, measuring out a pause before his lips curled marginally upward, eyes glinting in a way that would have made it almost impossible to tell whether he was teasing or not. “Shall I kiss you before or after you Obliviate me?” Perhaps he wasn’t. |
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| Calleigh Bancroft | Jan 5 2010, 07:59 PM Post #3 |
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If it hadn’t been for Jude’s resolute nod and the confidence that seemed to shine from each step he took, Calleigh was almost positive she would have backed out and ran out of the Matthews house. She could feel some eyes still linger on them as she took that short walk to the closet door. What surprised her was Jude’s display as a gentleman, holding the door open for her to enter first. As she passed him, her nose picked up an earthy scent, something fresh and herbal. It was different from the usual, reeking masculine smell. His aroma wasn’t salty, or sweet, but something distinctly Jude. She reached the wall of the closet in two easy, small steps and turned lazily to watch Jude enter the closet behind her. The door closed and they were drenched in darkness. She blinked several times to adjust her eyes to the lack of light. Jude’s outline became clearer and she found herself perusing him from head to toe. It was turning into a habit, scrutinizing him as if trying to find some magnificent fault. So far, she found nothing that put her off from wanting to look at him. Except for their embarrassing confrontation at the Shrieking Shack, when she had been about to shag Silas Matthews. It was probably the worst idea she had ever had and deep down, she thanked Jude for interrupting. Part of her saw his disruption as a sign that she was making the wrong decision. Another part of her wondered why it was this fascinating, friend of Sebastian’s that had managed to gain her intrigue. She watched him openly now in the dark, feeling as if some thick blanket was laid between them, a veil of sorts. He seemed so blasé, very collected, as he leaned back against the shelves in the closet. Whereas Calleigh stood with a straight back, her lips pressed together. Her anxiety was vicious. The detail of his scruffy face came into sharper focus the more she watched him. She could see the small smile grace his face without squinting. “So,” he said and she felt herself grow more rigid. “Shall I kiss you before or after you Obliviate me?” Calleigh exhaled sharply, her lips parting to expel further fast breathing. She glanced down at her feet, fueling herself to tell him she was sorry, yet again, for attempting to curse him for what he saw. Her eyes blinked rapidly and she saw her hands working around each other in the way they always did when she was nervous, or guilty. Her eyes snapped up to his. He had actually meant to come into the closet to kiss her? She drew in another distinct breath. Perhaps she hadn’t thought the game through thoroughly enough. Sure, the idea of doing anything in a closet for seven minutes caught her interest enough. And, sure, she was brave enough to face Sebastian after such a thing happened. But this was Jude. Jude who had happened upon her in nothing but her knickers. Jude who had made her feel a strange, uneasy fascination. If someone had tried to take her memories, she wasn’t sure she could be so quick to forgive. Jude, however, had completely baffled her and even tended to a wound from Silas the Bulldozer. Even further than that, he had agreed to keep her secret hidden from her overbearing brother. “You want to?” She asked him bluntly, her eyes a little larger than normal and steadily staring at him. In the beat of a second, she cut off whatever answer he might have thought of replying with and clarified. “Kiss me, I mean.” Her mind backtracked for a second when it dawned on her how uncertain the question might have sounded. Calleigh had a certain, emphatic belief that she was a beautiful, desirable girl. The way that she spoke to Jude almost sounded as if she weren’t absolutely sure of it. For a minute, she imagined it happening; his lips on hers, her hands curled into his shirt… She regarded him further, not able to help the chic eyebrow that raised over one of her hazel eyes, or the smallest upward twist off of her lightly painted lips. “Excluding any imminent cursing, of course,” she added quickly, to reassure him. |
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| Jude McFadyen | Jan 10 2010, 05:07 AM Post #4 |
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It felt natural, making light of the Shrieking Shack situation now, days later and miles away. Jude had a way of handling life as simply as possible, obstacles rolling off his back with ease, taking charge when he needed to and never, ever letting his feet stray far from the solid earth below, even at his most reckless and carefree. He could joke about it now for the same reason he could joke about most things. Life was, for the most part, completely ridiculous. And if you didn’t take it too seriously, you could have a hell of a lot of fun along the way. Besides, she hadn’t actually Obliviated him. And apart from a few awkward moments around Silas and Sebastian, they’d all escaped the incident relatively unscathed. If you didn’t count head injuries and a few bruises. And yet the girl who stood a few scant inches from him in the tiny closet didn’t appear to share in his easygoing, mirthful reminiscence of the event. Calleigh was as rigid as he was relaxed with her perfectly straight posture and averted stare. Her hands twisted themselves into knots as she wrung them nervously in front of her. And though he supposed he should feel something akin to guilt for being so blunt about it all and causing her what was so very clearly a large amount of anxiety, he found all he could really feel was… amusement. It glinted in his stare, a light in the dark, and he almost smiled when she looked up wide-eyed and caught off-guard. Proof of how very little they knew of each other, really, despite having one close, common association in Sebastian. If she had known him, she wouldn’t have been so taken aback at the casually spoken comment. “You want to?” she blurted, surprise etching across her fair features. “Kiss me, I mean.” For a moment, Jude’s grin dimmed, stilted by the response. It was so much more serious than his own words had been, so unexpected and earnest, that he found himself being the one caught off-guard this time. It was her expression, it was the quiet note laced within her tone that hinted at bafflement, as though she couldn’t imagine why he would want such a thing. But more than anything else, it was the realization that his teasing remark may not have been all that entirely teasing after all. They were in close quarters, close enough to feel each other’s warmth, to be able to pick out small details in the darkness like the slope of a cheek or the fullness of a lip. Jude’s strange fascination with her flared in that moment more than it ever had before. His eyes were two steady flecks of green fixated on hers, and there were no boundaries, no Sebastians, no friendships to honor, nothing that mattered at all besides the fact that he was a boy and she was a girl and wasn’t that enough? “Excluding any imminent cursing, of course,” she was quick to stipulate, mouth quirking in a small smile. And just like that, the weight of the moment lifted. She was Calleigh. He was Jude. They’d shared one interesting afternoon together, and now they could talk about it lightly, with grins and banter. Nothing else. So he let out a soft laugh through his nose and cracked a slight smile as he turned his gaze downward. “Well, I’m no Silas,” he warned mockingly, shooting her a quick upward glance that gleamed with ill-concealed humor. “So don’t expect to be swept off your feet.” Barely a beat passed, and he went straight-faced as his stare moved to roam speculatively about the small area they occupied. “I’d need at least two more yards or so for that.” He returned his gaze to hers and, fighting back another grin, continued on in an offhanded sort of way, tone ripe with wisdom. “Tackling’s a very exact business, you know.” |
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| Calleigh Bancroft | Jan 10 2010, 10:26 PM Post #5 |
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His laugh was the most reassuring sound she could have heard at that moment. Sure, she was a confident girl, but Calleigh still wanted his approval. For what reason, she couldn’t fathom an answer. She chalked it up to Jude’s friendship with her brother. And she knew how lame it was even as she thought it. “Well, I’m no Silas,” she regarded his teasing tone with a halfhearted scowl, smile still on her face. “So don’t expect to be swept off your feet.” She felt her face mimic his as he seriously surveyed the closet. “I’d need at least two more yards or so for that.” The inexplicable, throaty laugh that left her came of its own accord. She pressed her lips together to keep in any more that would follow it. “Tackling’s a very exact business, you know.” “You’ll have to show me exactly what to do then,” she said after a second, her eyes surveying his undeniably handsome face. “In case I ever find myself in a position to take someone out.” Deciding that she should relax, appear as devil may care as Jude seemed to be, Calleigh let herself lean backward against the wall of the closet. “We-,” her words were cut off as she gave a surprised yelp. In the same instant, she was falling backward. This was what she got for trying to appear calm and collected. A poxy, faulty wall. She stretched her arms out as she fell and caught each side of the closet. The entire wall behind her simply vanished as if she had pushed some magical button. As she righted herself again, finding her proximity to Jude closer than it had been since they had entered the closet, Calleigh turned around in a quick, whipping movement and gaped at the sight before her. What was once an off-white colored wall was now glaring darkness. She felt Jude stir behind her and glanced back to him, her astonishment reflected in the way her jaw seemed unhinged, her eyes wide. A secret passage? her eyes clearly conveyed her words. When she finally turned back to the black mystery in front of her, Calleigh took a tentative step and fumbled around her waist to find her wand. She wondered if bats would fly out of it, or if there was a secret experimental creature that was going to pop out of the shadows and kill them both. A strange need to protect Jude overcame her. Not that she thought he needed protecting, but because she knew she might. He couldn’t do that if he was being ripped apart by some magical Frankenstein. “What do you think…” A buzzing sound filled her ears and she stopped talking to watch whatever it was that was happening. Suddenly, there was no more darkness. The secret passage, she confirmed, was lit up with dim torches running along stone walls. “Shiiite,” she dragged out the word with a breathy disbelieving sound. Calleigh wasn’t sure if she was moving of her own will or if it was Jude’s hand on the small of her back, guiding her forward. She kept her fingers wrapped around her wand, ready for any sort of attack they may come across. She found the entire situation eerie. Turning her head to look back at Jude, to gauge his reaction, she caught the sight of a thick, black spider on the wall and shrieked. Her body jumped backward and she collided into Jude. From outside of the closet, she heard a whoop from one of the blokes, she was sure, and realized what the cry might have sounded like to the ears of someone who couldn’t see what they had just discovered. “Well, their imaginations are sated at least,” she said, unable to shake the raspy hitch in her voice. It was then that she realized she was sitting in Jude’s lap, his body pressed back into the shelves of the other wall. She tried to ignore whatever comfortable feeling was nestling itself in her thoughts. “You should go first. Being a strong and strapping bloke ‘n all,” she told him as evenly as she could muster. In fact, she was not feeling very calm at all. Perhaps this was the adrenaline rush people referred to when they were in dangerous situations. |
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| Jude McFadyen | Jan 16 2010, 06:06 PM Post #6 |
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“You’ll have to show me exactly what to do then,” she answered lightly, eyes flickering over his amused expression. “In case I ever find myself in a position to take someone out.” Jude’s responding half-smile was small and crooked, and in the slowly adjusting light of the closet’s extraordinarily tiny space, he allowed himself a moment to study her. Dark, almost ebony-colored hair framed a porcelain complexion, full, rosy lips and burnished hazel eyes—so very different from Sebastian’s fair features. Why hadn’t he ever looked at her before? As he pondered this, he watched her rigid posture finally begin to relax, shoulders dropping as she leaned against the shelves behind her and opened her mouth to speak again—but the words cut off in a startled, jagged gasp when the wall at her back miraculously… opened. Jude made an instinctive, jerking movement forward the moment he saw her teeter backwards, but Calleigh was quicker, catching herself on either side of the newly revealed space. Astonishment bloomed across both of their faces. He didn’t even blink when her hair whipped across his chest as she whirled back around, both far too focused on the fact that she’d somehow managed to discover a secret bloody passageway. Only Silas, was all he could think. Almost involuntarily, he took a step forward, eyes peering keenly ahead into the darkness. Calleigh craned her neck up to catch his gaze with her widened one. “Bloody hell,” he breathed out quietly, still a bit stunned. Calleigh was already fumbling for her wand, and the step she took forward made him suddenly and uncharacteristically nervous. Which was a bit annoying, really. He didn’t get nervous. As she moved again, murmuring something, he clenched his jaw and made to reach for her, but a very odd, unexpected sound brought both of them to a standstill. It was as though a switch had been flipped. Suddenly the dark passageway was alight with the flicker of torches that traveled down, down, down until they could no longer see them. “Shiiite,” Calleigh whispered, disbelief lacing the drawn out word. Shite was right. How far did it go? Maybe he'd get to sweep her off her feet after all. There was definitely two yards of extra space now. And then some. He didn’t know who moved first. Perhaps the tentative, curious steps they took forward were in tandem. Whatever the case, it mattered little, because they’d barely breached the entrance to the tunnel before something scuttled on the wall beside them, and Calleigh surged away from it with a sudden, piercing shriek. Jude caught her about the waist the moment she crashed into him, but the impact sent them falling backwards into the shelves on the opposite end of the closet. Faint woops and hollers sounded almost immediately from the group outside the door. Brilliant. He really hoped Sebastian hadn’t heard that. “Well, their imaginations are sated, at least,” Calleigh noted somewhat shakily. Jude’s, meanwhile, was a bit too sated—an undeniable product of the fact that she’d fallen directly into his lap. Distantly, he registered how very not good this was. And yet he wasn’t moving. In fact, he felt the strangest urge to laugh, suddenly. Absurd situations were really getting to be a habit with them, weren’t they? Even with the wrongness of it all, the risks, it was almost… fun. “You should go first,” she decided in a voice that was still a bit breathier than her normal one. “Being a strong and strapping bloke n’ all.” He couldn’t tell if it was fear that caused the slight tremor in her tone, or if his proximity was the reason she was unable to speak evenly. The latter, of course, was just an assumption, but since her comment had caused an upward spike on his ego charts, his crooked, stupid grin decided this was the explanation it was going to go with. “Strong and strapping, am I?” he repeated, the undeniably cheeky words spoken lowly just above her ear. He waited a purposeful beat before finally sliding them off the shelf and onto their feet again, and when he made to move past her, he shot her a good-natured smirk. “Well, it’s a step up from ‘Peeping Tom,’ anyway.” His stride was careful, but confident as he moved forward into the dimly lit corridor beyond. He retrieved his wand from his back pocket and held it loosely in one hand, though the assurance in his gait and posture belied just how ready he was to use it should the need arise. Not that it would. This was Silas’ home, after all, not some villain’s secret lair they’d managed to stumble upon. Hmm. That actually hadn’t sounded as comforting in his head as he’d meant it to. “Never a dull moment with you, is there, love,” he observed lightly, the tone providing a stark contrast to the dark, eerie atmosphere that surrounded them as their steps carried them further into the gloom. It did nothing to deter the small, playful smile that tugged at his lips when he turned to shoot a glance at her over his shoulder. “I think I may have been hanging around the wrong Bancroft all these years.” Ahead, the path curved slightly, its torches sending ominous shadows dancing off of the dark stones of the walls. For a moment, Jude felt as though he were back at Hogwarts again, traversing some obscure corridor in the dungeons with Silas and Sebastian on some misguided, but well-meaning mission. Granted, this was likely far less adventurous, as he was sure the tunnel merely led to something unremarkable like another den or office, but the mystery of it all was more than enough to send an enticing flare of intrigue through him. What did Silas say his father did for a living, again? He never got the chance to recall. The thought, errant as it already was, faded swiftly and easily from his mind the moment he noticed a very distinct shift in the feeling of the air around him. It was difficult to describe, at first. His brows furrowed as his steps slowed to a more hesitant pace, uncertain what exactly had changed, but knowing something had. The farther he walked, the more intense the feeling got. The temperature dropped. The air felt damp. An odd haze began to fill his vision, and though he tried to blink it away, it refused to recede. Through some trick of the light, he didn’t see the thick, white fog blocking his path until he was almost upon it. And by then it was too late. He jerked to a halt, sensing the danger even though his mind felt as though it had been gripped in a vice he had no control over. The mist gathered and swirled around him like something sentient, filling his lungs when he sucked in air, coating his skin in a way that suffocated. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn't move. His shoulders hunched. Tiny, steadily fading tendrils of thought were all he had left, and he focused them desperately on the girl who followed him. “Calleigh—” he choked on the word, finding it almost impossible to speak. One hand reached out behind him in a halting, unsteady gesture, his voice strained and tight. “Stay... stay back.” He had no way of knowing whether or not the warning was given in time. Barely a second later, his vision whirled violently, the mist so thick now he could no longer see the corridor, or even the walls beside him. There was a distant ringing in his ears—one that got louder and louder until it was all there was. Until he was no longer there, and faces swam across the darkness, his mind taking him places he hadn’t allowed himself to think of in years. The unbearable heat and how it kept drying his tears into stiff tracks that felt like scars on his cheeks. The awful noise of it all, shouts and splintering wood and shattering glass. He needed to find someone, didn’t he? He was looking for them in the chaos. They weren’t there. Why weren’t they there? His lungs were on fire. Flames. Everywhere. They were burning him down. Someone was gripping his hand too hard. Someone was screaming. Running towards the flames. He couldn’t breathe. Too scared to move. To follow him. Angry and hurt and terrified—what if he disappeared too? He didn’t feel it when his knees buckled and hit the floor below with bruising force. Couldn’t see when his white-knuckled hands gripped the stone—body hunched and tensed as it desperately tried to withstand it all. Entirely unaware when a strangled name ripped through his throat like something jagged that opened old wounds on the way out. Escaping the place he’d tried so hard to keep hidden away forever. “Ian…” |
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| Calleigh Bancroft | Jan 22 2010, 02:22 AM Post #7 |
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The overwhelming shiver that passed through Calleigh’s body due to Jude’s breath in her ear startled her more than it ought to have done. She was sure that he was just Jude - Sebastian’s friend and her own acquaintance that knew far too much about her personal life. But in that moment, Jude was more than that. He was Jude. Sexy and devilishly witty. And then the moment passed. She was moved onto her feet and he had placed distance between them. When he smirked at her, she tried her best to smile back unaffectedly. It fell through, of course, when she noticed just how charming his smirk was. “Well, it’s a step up from Peeping Tom, anyway.” She at least had the decency to blush. The smile she shared with herself as Jude strode past her would be kept forever a secret. Watching him prepare for whatever lay in front of them was like watching a chimera prepare for a hunt. Slow, steady and confident. Very much unlike her own slightly shaking movements. In the back of her mind, she wondered what they would encounter. Silas couldn’t possibly have something dangerous down here. It was Silas. He wasn’t dodgy. “Never a dull moment with you, is there, love.” She welcomed the jibe, smiled again even. Jude was simply the most intriguing person she’d ever known. So carefree in the face of the unknown. It was … something. “I think I may have been hanging out with the wrong Bancroft all these years.” Calleigh suppressed her grin the best she could. Somehow, Jude’s approval meant something to her. It made her feel special. She never felt that way, being the middle child in a sea of other girls. Having his attention was nice. Different. It was an odd sense of trust that she put into Jude. To lead them safely into whatever lay ahead in this secret pathway. She noticed that it grew darker where the wall obviously turned and wondered if there were some sensors to pick up their movements. There was something very eerie about the passageway. Much more than the fact that it was hidden and had obvious creepiness. Like the weird shift of torch light a few paces ahead of Jude. And then he stepped into it. She paused a few steps behind him and let her arms roam around the mist. From top to bottom in the passage, from side to side. There was no way to miss it. Except to go through it. At first, everything seemed fine. He stopped walking inside of it. Motionless. Something seemed to grip him. He tensed and she jerked forward to grab him. “Calleigh--” she paused, realizing his normally confident tone was absent. Jude was struggling. “Stay…stay back.” And she did. She pulled herself backward and watched, her hand tightening her wand. If he showed any sign of distress, she’d go after him. So far, he just seemed tense. As if waiting for something. She didn’t realize that her body had tremors rolling through. She didn’t hear herself call his name, to try and get him to respond. All that she knew was that he was not answering her. Not making a movement to show he was alright. He was still. So still. Calleigh fought her instinct to dart into the mist to grab him. He wanted her to stay back. And she was struggling to do as he said. From her viewpoint, he seemed to start shaking first. And then his hands were moving to his hair, and then they were gripping, pulling. And then he wasn’t. She could barely hear the pained whimpers coming from his throat. But they were there, and it scared her. She finally moved when he collapsed to the ground. A thud echoed around the passage, stifling her shriek of fright. The call of his name froze on her lips as she rushed forward toward him. The instinct to keep herself save was overpowered by seeing him on the ground, obviously distressed. “Ian…” As she entered the mist, her breath was held and her wand drawn forward with a Lumos spell lighting the tip. Hopefully that would be enough to get her through, to get to Jude. To get him away from whatever was taking him under. She had to hope to whatever God was listening that the mist didn’t seep into skin, or something equally disturbing. She paused automatically as she stepped into the change of air. It was instant, the feeling of everything around her swirling, crushing, attempting to break whatever barrier she had put up. Instinctively, she tightened her clamped mouth. Jude was only half a step in front of her, on his knees, head down, completely defeated. She flicked her wand, thinking the words that she couldn’t speak. Moblicorpus. Her own voice was furious and terrified inside of her mind. It took a beat before he was lifted. Her wand pointed in the direction past the mist. She hoped their was clear air ahead. There had to be something. Had to be. Jude hadn’t moved. Hadn’t uttered a single word. He was simply moving through the air as she directed him. The encompassing mist was lost after exactly ten paces. She was out of breath. Jude dropped to the ground as she lost her concentration. Dizziness bubbled up inside of her. She gasped for breath and let her hands fall to her knees as she lowered her head. “Jude,” she whispered to him, short of breath. “Jude, please say something.” He moved then and her relief was evident in the sigh she let go. Her eyes stayed locked on his body as he sat up, and eventually stood. There was silence as she glanced back to the mist and back to Jude. Their eyes met and she couldn’t decipher the expression he was giving her. She took an automatic step back from him. “Are you alright? You’re shaking…” The concern was laden in her wide, green eyes. “What the…hell… was that?” Her voice held a smidge of disgust, awe and wonder. “Who’s Ian?” Probably an illusion. She’d never seen magic quite like that before. And Jude was positively stricken, rendered completely immobile by it. Her eyes caught a flicker of light and she couldn’t help her sudden compulsion to see what else was in their path to … wherever they were going. Because, God be damned if she were going to turn around and force Jude to endure whatever he had gone through again. She wasn’t even sure of the properties of the mist. Maybe it hadn’t affected her because she was female and he was male. Or maybe it had something to do with… she didn’t know. “I’ll just… give you a minute,” she said to him absently, taking a step forward toward the newly lit corridor. “There’s something over here.” Her body was trembling, her steps were slow. Cautious. She was terrified for Jude. Afraid that whatever she had seen in his eyes was directed toward her. Another step, followed by another, and soon, she found herself rounding a corner. Torches lit along this new corridor, and she spotted another curve of cement. And another. And another, until she was facing a solid wall. There was nothing. Nothing. “What the fucking hell is this place?” She asked herself in a harsh whisper, trailing her hand against the cement. A sharp piece of concrete sliced open her finger and she hissed before bringing it to her lip and sucking the wound. And that was exactly how she approached Jude a minute later, nursing her finger and looking completely dumbfounded. She wasn’t sure how to speak to Jude after seeing him so dismantled from his usual collected stature. She chose to be quiet, avoidant, and preoccupied. She kept her eyes focused on the finger planted against her lips. Her voice was distant. “There’s a dead end around the corner, so if we’re going to keep going, we’ll have to take the passage right there.” Her head nodded toward the wall to their right. “Or we can turn around and go back, but I don’t know if…” She didn’t want to inadvertently call him weak. But she was afraid for how quickly he had changed. So polar opposite from his sharp wit and quick smirk. “Jude, are you okay?” She finally brought her eyes back to his and dropped her hand from her face. “Is there anything I can do…” Edited by Calleigh Bancroft, Jan 22 2010, 02:25 AM.
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| Jude McFadyen | Apr 2 2010, 02:31 PM Post #8 |
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Ian… Ian… Ian… His brother’s name, the memory of his face, of screams and flames and fear – it was all there was. They were the bars of his prison, suspension in the ether, shutting him in and keeping everything out. Every horrific, scarring, soul-rending memory he’d ever had was churning to the surface in one swift, violent, ruthless roil, and he was completely powerless to stop it. This was drowning. This viscous, suffocating altered reality where no free will existed save for the desperate prayer for release. He wanted out. He wanted to breathe again and push these dark things away where they belonged, to some deep corner of his heart where they couldn’t hurt him, because that’s how it went. That’s how this worked. Hope only sparked when the picture shimmered behind his eyes and the sharp edges began to suddenly lose their focus. The screams faded in his ears – piercing wails that grew dimmer, dimmer, dimmer until he felt real and whole and here again. There was the ground digging into his knees, oxygen in his burning lungs, and a voice that pulled him slowly from the wreckage of his past. “Jude. Jude, please say something.” Calleigh. The corridor. The eerie fog. He remembered it now; dimly at first, then more clearly as the scattered pieces of him reassembled and his mind became his own again. The ghostly chains that had rendered him immobile were gone, and he found he could move freely once more, though his body ached in immediate protest when he tried. His muscles felt stiff and strained from being too tense for too long, an aftereffect of the weight he’d been forced to bear in the strange mist. But somehow he managed. He sat back, blinked away the blur, leveled his breathing, and clenched his jaw through the effort it took to rise to his feet again. Only after he’d rested his shoulder on the wall of the corridor, needing the support it provided, did he wearily swivel his stare to meet Calleigh’s. Her eyes were bright with overcome danger, wide with apprehension and concern, but the air between them shifted as they continued to gaze at each other—and for one arresting moment, they were strangers. Jude’s stare was too hollow. Too raw. The green lacked its usual vibrancy, robbed of its signature spark, its life. He must have looked unrecognizable without it. Reason enough for her to edge away from him – away from the intensity that lingered around his rigid form, the bleakness that was so slow in abating. This wasn’t him. “Are you alright?” Calleigh asked tentatively, fragile with worry. “You’re shaking…” And he was, he realized. Tiny tremors shivered across his skin in a way that had gone unnoticed until now. His brows drew together as he glanced down at his hand and turned it over carefully, studying the trembling fingers as if they were some strange, new addition. Everything felt unnatural… off-kilter. His voice would have surely quavered too had he trusted himself enough to speak. At the moment, he didn’t trust much of anything. “What the… hell… was that?” Calleigh was bewildered, the breathless words flowing out of her quickly, almost distractedly, in the wake of the narrowly averted and completely inexplicable disaster. Fear and confusion marred the pale contours of her features, her profile lit by the dancing flicker of the torches that lined the treacherous passageway as she stared towards the sinister mist now at their backs. But before he could give her a response – if, indeed, he was even capable – another question fell from her lips. And this one he couldn’t answer for a reason far removed from something as simple as failed vocal chords. “Who’s Ian?” He faltered. Felt his heart give a sharp, unpleasant lurch in immediate reaction to the name that had become taboo somewhere along the way. Had he lost himself so entirely he’d actually uttered it aloud? A troubled frown creased his brow as his jaw grew taut and his throat tightened – defenses borne of instinct. And just like that, he was unreachable again, closed off from his surroundings, from her—only this time, the walls were of his own construction. “I’ll just… give you a minute.” Calleigh’s features softened slightly in understanding as she began to back away, motioning to the unexplored passage beyond. “There’s something over here.” It wasn’t until her steps had carried her out of sight, around a bend in the narrow corridor, that he could let the air out of his lungs, close his eyes and curse quietly under his breath as he tried to shake himself out of the dark place his thoughts had carried him to. It shouldn’t have been this difficult. All these years, and he’d managed to keep it together. How could he lose it now? Here? It wasn’t an option. Never had been. Iron determination sat at his core, a refusal to be ruled by his splintered past. He could do this. Calleigh’s soft footfalls announced her arrival before her voice did. Jude took another breath and lifted his gaze to meet hers, but she avoided his stare. “There’s a dead end around the corner, so if we’re going to keep going, we’ll have to take the passage right there,” she said, indicating the opening to their right with a faint cant of her head. “Or we can turn around and go back, but I don’t know if…” Back. Jude didn’t have to turn to see what still lingered behind them. He could sense it, as thick and cloying and unnerving as ever, swirling and swishing through the corridor’s slightly damp air like a malevolent ghost. He tensed out of instinct, body and mind recoiling at the notion of going through it again. “Jude, are you okay?” Calleigh asked softly. Genuine worry seemed to thread its way through every tentatively spoken syllable. “Is there anything I can do…” It was the oddest feeling. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d been so vulnerable in front of another, laid bare and open to things like concern or pity. This was exactly what he’d never wanted, never asked for, never allowed, and the sheer unfamiliarity of it tempered to life something sharp and biting and bitter inside him. Him, who was never any of those things. Him, who knew better. “I’m fine,” it made him say, too curtly to pass for honesty, his usual amiable tone replaced with an unfriendly edge. It was the reason his eyes never strayed to her, not once. It was the coldness in the air about him, the denied access to that secret corner of his heart that no one, barely even himself, was privy to. “We should keep moving,” it offered, unfeelingly, propelling him forward before a response could be given, not caring who it hurt. It only took him three strides to come back to himself. Three strides to slow to a stop, remember who he was, remember who she was, and, perhaps most importantly, remember what he was not. The bitterness seeped away with astonishing quickness the moment he realized just what it had made him sound like. What it had briefly turned him into. Ian. His eyes closed and another low curse was given under his breath before he spoke again, softer now, genuine, the old Jude. The real one. But even he couldn’t have predicted what eventually came out of him, unfurling like fingers from a clenched fist. “My brother,” he said, the low words drifting off into the darkness. There was something in them, a nearly undetectable roughness, the only hint of complex emotions stirring just beneath the surface. A moment passed before he turned, finally meeting her fire-lit gaze with his own, no longer cold, no longer empty. “Ian, he’s… he’s my brother,” came the quiet clarification, the belated answer to her question. A line formed between his brows and his stare traveled momentarily away from her, downward. “Was,” he amended, though his tone was filled with uncertainty, as though this was something he’d never considered before, something that had revealed itself unexpectedly, a complicated equation that would require time and patience to solve. Time that wasn’t now. A venture for another day. Any traces of lingering confusion vanished by the time he raised his eyes again. He realized, as he looked at her, that he hadn’t planned on revealing this much. It was a subject he had always been successful in pointedly avoiding in the past, and yet it seemed to come so naturally now. The words didn’t stick in his throat. Perhaps it was the vulnerability he couldn’t quite seem to shake entirely after the exposure to the odd mist—the opened floodgates. Perhaps it was their strange predicament, their peculiar surroundings, the need to fill the cold silence that had been his doing. Perhaps it was something else. Whatever the case, when he looked at her again, he felt something unnameable shift inside him, bringing a new feeling to the surface. Like his admission had changed something unalterably. “Thank you,” he told her softly, motioning towards the fog with a faint tip of his head but never once looking at it. “For what you did. I shouldn’t have…” The words faded, and a slight frown caught the corners of his lips as he recalled his shortness with her. Calleigh, who’d done nothing to deserve it. Calleigh, who’d pulled him so mercifully back to the present. Calleigh, who looked somehow different now in the warm, flickering firelight, expression inscrutable, eyes bright and green even in the muted glow that surrounded her. Jude swallowed hard staring into them. “I’m sorry,” he finished, quiet and low. Strangers no longer. |
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| Calleigh Bancroft | Apr 19 2010, 08:32 PM Post #9 |
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Something wet slid down the goose pimpled skin of Calleigh's neck as she watched Jude gather himself, almost as if it were second nature. She blinked, wondering fleetingly where he had adopted the strength to move so quickly after being fully incapacitated by whatever had kidnapped his mind so thoroughly. But then his words pierced her ears and she jumped slightly in place. "I'm fine. We should keep moving." He was short with her, not even allowing for some type of contact to let her know that he was alright. Unharmed. 'I'm fine' was something that girls said when they were cross with their boyfriends, or when they were annoyed with a teacher in class, but were still expected to behave cordially when asked if something was wrong. She was being blown off. And it twisted something that felt like regret around her insides. She took a couple quick steps to catch up to him, but remained behind Jude, rather than coming to his side. She nearly collided with him when he stopped walking. A droplet of water fell on her forehead and she brushed it away as if it were an annoying bug. Staring at Jude's back, and, consequently, the tense muscles underneath the shirt that was now clinging to his body, Calleigh resisted the urge to place her hand on his shoulder and call the entire adventure off. Argumentative words hung in her throat, unspoken. 'No, we should find the quickest way out of here and leave,' she thought of saying. Or, 'I won't think any different of you if you want to get the hell out of here.' But, she didn't grow up with Sebastian without learning what things could damage a man's pride. So, she kept her mouth shut and her hand drawn tightly to her side. She stared forward quietly, her eyes focusing on the back of Jude's neck. She wondered if he knew that there was a small, light freckle where his neck met his shoulders. "My brother." It was so soft, she thought that maybe someone had imagined Jude speaking. It was a rather awkward few moments where they stood still, silent and lost in their own, respective minds. Even the distant dripping water was beginning to seem melodic, rather than bothersome. "Ian, he's... he's my brother." Jude had a brother? Sebastian never mentioned... Her perfectly sculpted eyebrows were drawn together, her eyes shining with confusion as his eyes pierced hers. She couldn't even find the decency to look less curious. It wasn't until he looked away and he seemed truly vulnerable in front of her, that Calleigh's eyes softened. "Was." A rushing wave of something akin to guilt crashed through her body. It was mixed in sympathy, pity and understanding. She never knew what it was like to lose a sibling, but some of her worst nightmares consisted of her stupid brother finally doing something so idiotic that he'd be beheaded by the Queen of England. To lose a sibling would be like losing a best friend. The thought made her blood run cold; she could never imagine one of her brothers or sisters dead. She shivered, even under the warmth of the torches. When he lifted his head to look at her, she noticed how worn his face now seemed. Like the immediate stress of whatever he had been forced to endure in the mist had caused him to lose all of his natural mirth. “Thank you. For what you did. I shouldn’t have…" Suddenly, overcome with grief on Jude's behalf, Calleigh insides uncoiled and her entire focus was driven on getting him the hell out of here before they ran into anything else that might cause one of them to go mad. She wanted to force him to talk about it, make him relive what he had experienced in the fog. Calleigh knew better, though. It would be selfish. Undoubtedly unhealthy for Jude. "I'm sorry." The hushed tone caused every curious thought to flee from her head. In front of her stood a man who seemed almost defeated. Not nearly who he was before they had embarked on their little journey through the hidden passages of Silas Matthews' house. Everything she wanted to know about Jude's brother, Ian, and how he died and the smallest details that he could give, now didn't seem to matter as much as getting Jude past this obviously awkward moment and back into his usual jovial manner. She finally found something useful to do with her hand as she placed it on the front of Jude's shoulder. Her pale, manicured hand rested there, while Calleigh resisted the urge to squeeze reassuringly, as she spent a fraction of a second considering Jude through cautious eyes. She wasn't exactly sure what to look for, but there was a sliver of trust set in his dark, jade eyes. Her heart sped up for reasons that she would analyze later. In fact, the entire feeling of swooping nausea that she felt the minute that she realized it was difficult to look away from him, would have to be investigated. "There's nothing to apologize for," she told him in a clear voice that left him no room for argument. With purely platonic intentions, - and it was strange that she had to remind herself of this small detail - Calleigh slid her hand from Jude's shoulder, down to his limp hand, and wrapped her hand around his. Whatever was slithering around inside of her, making her feel half-heated and half-embarrassed, was shoved aside as she flashed Jude her best impression of the Merry Men smile. And, without so much as a warning, she stepped around Jude and yanked him onward through the dimly lit corridor. “I guess we know where Silas gets his… peculiar personality, then,” she said lightly, testing the waters of conversation. It felt comfortable, but that could have been due to the fact that she was now in front of Jude, instead of facing him. During the hurried paces, Calleigh’s eyes searched either side of the cement walls, knowing that the only place this path led to was a dead end. There had to be something… anything… that would allow them to bypass that horrible mist again. She glanced back at Jude, trying to make her expression even, rather than worried and nervous. Before turning back around to look where she was going, her sights slipped down to their joined hands. It seemed natural. Not like the feeling you got when someone invaded your personal space and made you feel claustrophobic. She realized after a long beat that she was practically stalking their hand-holding and snapped her eyes back to the drab, grey hallway. “There has to be something…” she trailed off, pulling Jude over to the right, just under a sconce that was burning a very bright, yellow flame. Really, adventure and mischief was not part of her nature and the only mystery that she indulged in was the occasional novel by Burben Hessain. Even his novels never revealed how to make a passageway appear out of thin air. Using her free hand - and she assured herself that the reason she was unwilling to let go of Jude was because she didn’t them to separate and come to any harm - Calleigh reached into her pocket and withdrew her wand. Every impulse that she had screamed at her to kick the wall, pound at it, anything to get some hidden door to open, and yet she remained calm and aimed her wand at the torch. “Dissendium,” she whispered, giving her wand an expert flick. Instead of revealing a hidden hallway, however, the sconce moved to the side and showed a small, black switch. She eyed it cautiously and looked back to Jude. “What do you think the chances are that I flip this switch and a troll comes barreling down the corridor?” She tried to force amusement into her tone. A small smile crept on her face. She turned back to the switch and reached her wand hand out. Prodding the switch with the tip of her wand, Calleigh took an instinctive step backward. Straight into Jude. Her eyes closed, waiting for something atrocious to wash over them, but nothing came. No sound. No movement. Nothing happened. “Well, that was anticlimactic…” Of course, as soon as the words left her mouth, Calleigh knew that she had spoken too soon. Edited by Calleigh Bancroft, Apr 19 2010, 08:42 PM.
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| Jude McFadyen | May 15 2010, 01:00 AM Post #10 |
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It was strange. The moment her hand reached up to rest reassuringly on his shoulder, Jude felt it inside—an inexorable, inexplicable force that rid his skin of tremors, calmed the distraught rhythm of his heart, eased the pain and worry from his eyes. He looked at her and did not feel the need to hide. “There’s nothing to apologize for,” she said with quiet strength and an honest stare. He realized then, for the first time, that he could be friends with this girl. This girl who had never been anything other than ‘Sebastian’s sister.’ The kind of friendship that was solid and reliable and effortless. The kind that lasted. Before he knew it, the weight of the moment had lifted, and her fingers were laced within his own, lips parting in a bright, beaming, heroic grin that did absurd things to his ability to form thoughts. It was impossible not to return it. A small smile broke slowly over his serious expression, re-lit the twinkle in his eye. Other things were kindling, too, things buried deep where only careful, private ruminations would unearth them. But for now, all he could focus on was her hand in his as she led him on into the black void ahead, and how such a simple connection had heartened them enough to be bold. “I guess we know where Silas gets his… peculiar personality, then,” she ventured airily as their careful steps carried them onward. Jude’s stare trailed over damp stones and rusting sconces, wary but interested, even as his grip on her hand tightened briefly and a soft, humorless rustle of laughter escaped his throat. “For our sake, I hope not.” He said it thinking of Silas’ many idiosyncrasies and how often they’d gotten the boy into all kinds of bloody trouble over the years. If he and his father were anything alike, then they’d be enormously lucky if the strange mist was the worst of the hurdles they’d face in here. Whatever here was… By the time Jude abandoned his scrutiny of the walls, Calleigh had swiveled her gaze around to meet his, unreadable save for a faint flicker he recognized as remnants of the worry he’d seen in it before. Almost not there at all, really, but he made a point to keep his angular features calm and concentrated, hoping it would ease whatever remaining fears or concerns she may have had. It wasn’t faked. He felt stronger, the further they walked, and there was a firm readiness in his frame that hadn’t quite been there before, when he still thought this was just some harmless, ordinary trek down a passageway that had been placed there by Silas’ eccentric father. Now that he knew the nature of what the consequences might be, he wouldn’t be caught off-guard again. “There has to be something…” Calleigh murmured when they reached the end of the corridor, her eyes scouring the utterly blank wall for an aberration of some sort. Jude, meanwhile, watched her. The determined line her mouth had formed, the way she resolutely kept her hand in his while her other retrieved her wand and aimed it at the torch. He didn’t know why, but for some reason it coaxed his lips into something of an amused grin, so faint only the occasional flicker from the firelight above them revealed glimpses of it. He’d underestimated her. “Dissendium.” Her hushed voice cast the spell with a sharp turn of her wrist, and the sound of grating stone was its immediate response. The sconce had moved, revealing a rather ominous looking switch that wiped clean Jude’s lingering amusement and replaced it with alertness. His brow furrowed as he studied it, sharp eyes moving once again over the wall’s stones and edges in search of any hint of a possible passageway beyond. “What do you think the chances are that I flip this switch and a troll comes barreling down the corridor?” Calleigh asked, her tone holding a touch of anxiety beneath the humor. Easy to tell she’d only been half-joking. Still, he considered it as he shot a short, measuring glance over his shoulder down the passage behind them. “Too narrow,” he dissented casually. “Now, a blood-sucking bugbear, however…” The words trailed off with nothing more than a teasing glint in his stare, and they conquered their apprehensions with traded smiles. With little else to do, Calleigh raised her wand in one decisive motion, flicked the switch, and retreated almost instantaneously until her back hit Jude’s chest. Together they held their breaths and waited, tense and prepared for anything. Jude was aware only of the empty silence that surrounded them and the furious beat of Calleigh’s heart, the rhythm of which he could feel faintly through his shirt. There was nothing else. No stone grinding against stone to reveal yet another passageway. No hostile growling from some unleashed beast. Nothing. Calleigh exhaled once, shakily. “Well, that was anticlimactic…” It was impossible for Jude to hold back a wince. When you’d done as much adventuring as he had, you learned pretty quickly what a horrible, horrible idea it is to say things like that. Because that was the floor’s cue to disappear. “Bloody—!” Frighteningly fast, amidst a shower of dirt and scattered pebbles, they fell through the gaping hole that opened directly beneath their feet. Down, down, down they slid, on what turned out to be a terrifyingly steep, smooth decline and not, thank Merlin, a sheer free-fall. The echo of Jude’s curse and Calleigh’s piercing scream followed them into the pitch blackness, and just when he began to fear they’d fall forever, Jude felt himself hurled through empty, open air before landing roughly on hard, unforgiving earth. And he’d barely had time to groan before Calleigh fell directly on top of him. He caught her about the waist with a low grunt, mind still addled from their speedy and entirely unexpected descent, but after a moment he blinked and his vision refocused. Her features swam into view above him, shock still lingering at the edges of it, and through a slightly strained, labored breath, Jude spoke with the beginnings of an absurdly out of place grin tugging cheekily at his lips. “You know, Bancroft, if I didn’t know any better, I’d start suspecting you of being overly fond of falling on me right about now…” |
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