InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "SHUN the nonbeliever!!!"

Beyond the Pages ·|· NPC Journal (pages_of_npcs) wrote in beyondthepages,
@ 2010-06-12 09:33:00

Entry tags:

1st task, 2023 11, brian avery, champions, lily evans, niles lexington, tristan moore

RP: The First Task
Characters: Anya, Isabeau, Jacob // Open to observation/interaction in the stands.
Time/Date: Starting around 10 AM and progressing; finishing around noon
Location: Hogwarts grounds
Warnings/Rating: teal deer, fire, champions
Summary: Avery gets a note to Tom? I mean, um. The chimeras breath fire or something
Status: Open, please jump in. And track.
Visitors from out of school welcome. So jump the eff in. EVERYONE. Use it to further plot or something. Like, Gellert or Avery could show up. Idk, have fun.

Jacob had the questionable fortune of being the first one in line. Sure, he'd be done first, but he wouldn't have the foggiest idea of what to expect. Not that he really had that now, what with them giving him nothing - absolutely nothing - to go on save the task itself, which was to capture an egg.

It sounded deceptively simple, and he wondered what was between him and the egg. The last one had had dragons, everyone knew that. So was it dragons again? Did the tasks remain static over the years?

He remembered how Harry had won it (oh, he'd read up on that tournament in preparation for this one), and he thought about doing something similar if it looked like things could lean in that direction.

When he was called, he stepped out into the ... arena, for lack of a better word, and squinted to the far side of the field. Was that a ...

... what the hell was that? Jacob tilted his head, studying the creature crouched in the mouth of a shallow cave. Creatures? It looked like there were two ... three ...

Oh, shit he mouthed upon realizing what it was. He almost had to laugh; hadn't Tristan guessed it was this at the start of the summer? Man, for a wild guess, that was kind of ... wow.

Jacob licked his lips and started forward. He was aware of the hush that fell over the crowd and he would have sworn he felt the tension spike. Shuddering slightly, he continued to move closer to the beast, drawing his wand. Going for the simplest spell first, he tried to summon the egg. He didn't think it was fair that it was not able to be summoned; if he'd really been hunting chimera eggs, they wouldn't have been charmed.

He was pretty sure.

Either way, it got the attention of the creature and Jacob was painfully aware of six eyes on him. He was also painfully aware of the fact that each pair of those eyes was set in a head that was capable of breathing fire - right? All the heads breathed it? - and he was nervous.

Staring at the serpent's head, he blinked slowly and felt kind of ...

... no. He couldn't be hypnotized. Right? They didn't do that. He was just ... shocked. Licking his lips, he continued his silent face off with the creature, starting to edge around it while trying to think of what to do. Not wanting to take his eyes off the chimera, he did anyway to try to locate the egg.

The creature lunged forward then, though it was jerked short by a chain. Not so short that it couldn't spew fire at him - and it did. With a sharp cry, he twisted out of the way, dropping to the dirt and rolling until he collided with one of the rocks set up in the arena. Panting, he laid there for a moment before he eased up to his feet.

The chimera was regarding him again, the serpent head swaying as if it could hypnotize him. Jacob peered into the cave and licked his lips again. What if he summoned something behind the egg, and the egg came along with it? Classless and possibly verging on cheating. It wasn't bound to win him a lot of points, but ... it should still get the job done. In theory.

Pointing his wand carefully, positioning the objects he wanted to summon firmly in his mind, he once again used the accio spell. He watched as the whole nest of rocks or whatever else there was scooted forward. The egg he was after tumbled free at roughly the halfway point, and he cringed. The chimera started forward, but so did he. Racing like his heels were on fire and his arse was catching, Jacob shot in, crouched and turned and snatched the egg even as he felt a jet of fire searing the back of his robes. He cried out and tumbled, wrapping his body around the egg as he rolled across the dirt. He heard a whistle distantly, and officials were flooding the field to take the creature out of the arena and set up for the next champion.

He was led back to the tent so the healer could see to him, and he anxiously awaited the results. Isabeau was on the field, and he could feel Anya itching to ask him what was out there ... but no way was he going to tell her.

_______________

Isabeau had been on her way out before Jacob had come in, and she waited nervously until the official directed her forward. She strode boldly onto the field, though she quailed slightly when she saw what awaited her at the end.

Keen eyes picked up the fact the creature was on a chain, which meant she had a range to work within. Add to that the distance the fire could reach ...

Isabeau surveyed her scenery, noting possible uses for everything that littered the field. Spying a large, flat, thin rock, she crossed over to it. Murmuring a spell, she transfigured it into a large shield, cast another charm on it to lighten it, then coated it in ice. She lifted it, testing the weight of it, and she nodded to herself.

Gesturing to a smaller rock, she transfigured that into a close-enough replica of the egg she meant to go catch. Striding toward the beast as if she were utterly unconcerned with the fact it could kill her with a wink, Isabeau made her way to the estimated edge of the chain's radius before she threw the false egg as hard as she could.

Getting a proper grip on her wand, she darted toward the cave as the beast lunged toward the false egg. Feeling rather pleased with herself, she reached for the real egg. The collective gasp-scream-shriek of the crowd alerted her to the fact that something had gone horribly wrong, and she turned to see the creature coming at her, effectively blocking off her escape route.

She shoved the shield forward, though it did little good against the hundreds of pounds of charging chimera. She felt something hot lancing her calf, felt the blast of fire against her suddenly flimsy shield and staggered, stumbled, fell.

Gasping, sobbing at the pain in her leg but completely unwilling to release her prize, Isabeau moved determinedly forward, using a combination of physical and magical attacks to keep the creature at bay as well as she could ... but it was something of a losing battle. She wondered honestly if they would let her die here on the field, but even as she wondered, the beast backed off and two brawny wizards were lifting her up, pulling her out of the rock pile. She was bleeding in a dozen places, singed and burned and she was aware that half of her hair was missing somehow. Burned off? Sheared through? She didn't know, nor did she care as she let them carry her off the field, her arms still wrapped tightly around the egg.

As she lost focus on her spells, the shield became a rock and slipped free, and she succumbed to the pleasant darkness of unconsciousness.

_____________

Anya had very nearly panicked when she heard the screams from the arena. She glanced to Jacob, but he wasn't saying anything. Letting herself be led off to the field, Anya swallowed. Part of her didn't even want to go out there, but she didn't think the headmaster would appreciate it much at all if she caved before the first task.

So she stepped into the arena, glancing around quickly until she spotted her challenge. Get the egg, from the rather irate looking chimera.

No problem. No problem at all.

Chimera breathed fire. That much she knew. They had three heads, so she either had to subdue three heads of a fire-breathing chimera or somehow get in behind the creature. She recalled the screams and thought it in her best interest not to engage.

Instead, she cast a disillusionment charm over herself and took the very, very long route to the cave, keeping her eyes on the creature guarding the nest of eggs. Once she was close enough that she thought she could get in and out without an issue, she flicked her wand to send an illusion of a pack of dogs racing past the creature, adding a tweak to the spell so they'd run in circles for a longer distraction.

Carefully but quickly, Anya slipped into the cave, snatched up the egg, and slipped back out. Just as she hit the edge of the cave, it appeared the chimera recognized the distraction for what it was. It turned toward her, but even as it turned, she was already running and was out of the range of the chain before it could do more than attempt to blaze fire at her.

Dropping the charm, she lifted the egg aloft. They hadn't seen much, surely - but that was rather the point. She'd done magic, accomplished her goal, and stayed safe. All in all, she felt rather proud of herself.

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Tristan, open

not_an_orphan
2010-06-12 05:54 pm UTC (link)

Tristan was fully decked out in everything Ravenclaw he could find, though he had drawn the line at a raven-head cap. But he had a scarf, a pin, and had even charmed his robes to alternate between blue and bronze.

It was something of a disappointment then, the way Jacob handled his task. It wasn't awful, it was definitely logical, but it hadn't ended as well as it could. He did make a note to visit him in the infirmary later, if he wound up there.

Settling against the bench to watch the other two champions, he grinned. "You know, they should have people wandering around selling popcorn and hot dogs and things like that. Or peanuts." Tristan grinned over to Landon, nodding firmly. "It'd make things easier on my stomach."

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Tristan, Landon, James, Peter, Rose, open

foureyedwonder
2010-06-13 08:42 am UTC (link)

"I hear you mate," James said. "If we'd thought ahead more, we could've knicked down to the kitchens and got some snacks before coming up here, but guess we didn't... oooh, that's... not good. Bet that's gonna hurt come morning," he remarked, cut off by the action on the field. "Bloody hell. I both do and don't want to be up against a chimera. You reckon it'll be around after the match, so us normal students can have a go at the challenge?" he grinned around to anyone who happened to be listening to him and wanted to comment, though doubted that would actually happen.

"You could die though," Peter said, quietly shuddering from his place just behind them. "It's not like the medi witches and wizards are jumping in to come to the champion's rescue..."

"Course not, and I wouldn't expect or need them to," James gloated. "Nor, I expect, do the champions. They'll lose po... oh blimey that one must've hurt. Did she get the egg though? Can you see? OI! DOWN IN FRONT!" he made vague gestures to the students all standing up to gawk as the chimera charged on the second champion. "No courtesy for the blokes sitting behind them. At all."

"Maybe you should have picked seats that were closer to the match," Rose offered, rolling her eyes at James' dramatics. "Or you could always try standing up. See if that helps you to see over their heads."

"You 'claws are always so bloody logical," James scoffed. "Honestly. I was trying to prove a point."

"And, what point was that exactly?"

"Ha! She did get it!" James said, distracted either purposely or accidentally from Rose's question. "At least, I think she did. Eesh. She looks in bad shape. Think she'll lose points for that?"

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Tristan, Landon, James, Peter, Rose, open

not_an_orphan
2010-06-13 08:56 am UTC (link)

Tristan laughed quietly at James' question. "Yeah, mate. Didn't you hear? Hagrid's got dibs on one of them and he's going to leash it around for the third year Care class to supplement Professor Goyle's lessons." He paused, his brow furrowing very slightly because that wasn't exactly an impossible scenario, all things considered. Well, no. No one would let it happen, but ... it wasn't like Hagrid wouldn't try.

"There was a sign-up sheet at any rate," Tristan continued. "In our commons, anyway. Wasn't there one in yours?"

Landon laughed softly even as keen blue eyes followed the action in the arena. He cringed slightly as his mind picked out flaws in each approach. Not that he necessarily would be doing any better ... and he knew it was a lot different to be safe and observing than to be out and doing.

He probably wouldn't be thinking completely clearly either, if he was confronted with that particular task.

Reaching over, he took Rose's hand to squeeze it lightly as James dodged her question. "He doesn't have a point," he stage-whispered to her.

"Yes," Tristan said. "They had to come in and carry her off the field." Which sort of made him (very morbidly) wonder if they would have let her die. Wasn't that a risk of signing up? Possible death? "So she's not going to get full points. Definitely last place," he agreed.

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Tristan, Landon, James, Peter, Rose, open

foureyedwonder
2010-06-13 09:43 am UTC (link)

James' eyes widened significantly at Tristan's comment. "Really? Didn't notice a sign, but you know how I am with those? Oi, was there a sign?" he turned to any Gryffindors that were in the area. Peter just got wide eyed and shook his head in a way that indicated to James that he didn't have the foggiest, but maybe he'd pester Remus and Sirius about it later if they were too busy to answer him now.

There probably hadn't been, but a bloke could hope, right?

"Is it too late to sign up, then? You'll have to tell me how it goes, mate, if it is. Or maybe I'll take the period off and come watch you fight it. And here I'm assuming that of course you jumped at the opportunity to fight one."

Rose grinned, squeezing Lan's hand back and stage whispering, "This is really the one from the history books? Are we sure that it isn't just someone impersonating him? A potion must have exploded an infected the school the day they were choosing Head Boy."

"Oi, you two, I can hear you whispering there and I can't say that I appreciate it," James said, shooting at glance to Rose and Landon.

"How else would you recommend that we have a conversation over your shouting?" Rose asked. She did wonder about Tristan's assessment that the Beauxbatons champion would come in last. Who was to say that the Durmstrang champion was going to do any better?

She really wasn't sure that she liked this at all. She could see the entertainment value in it, but only if she suspended her knowledge that this was real people fighting real beasts. Who really wanted to kill them. It created a great unease in the pit of her stomach that she was trying to ignore so that she could just enjoy the match. They'd signed up for this, after all. They'd known what they were getting into. Sort of.

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Tristan, Landon, James, Peter, Rose, open

not_an_orphan
2010-06-13 10:40 am UTC (link)

"Definitely too late. You had to sign up before you saw what was out here," Tristan said solemnly. "That whole element of surprise thing. I didn't sign up though because I knew what was out here." Well, he hadn't known, which made his random journal entry over the summer kind of hysterical to him. He could pretend he knew all along and cite the "evidence" to prove it.

"Though maybe someone knew you wanted to do it, and put your name down," he said with a shrug and a sly smile. "Not that I would," he added with a soft laugh. "But someone might have."

Landon grinned. "It's entirely possible. Maybe the dead really aren't returning, and people are just pretending to be long dead ... sort of notable people," he added with a pointed look at James. Which was ridiculous of course. He was quite certain no one would be impersonating the Dumbledores, or Snape, or any number of people who had returned.

He rubbed his thumb lightly along the side of Rose's hand as he watched the field for a moment. The conversation Tristan and James were having was amusing, but he was interested in the outcome of the events. If this one didn't blow up in their faces, there might be another one. He was pretty sure it was every four or five years, so he wouldn't be able to participate, but he could pass along his observations to some ambitious second and third years.

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Tristan, Landon, James, Peter, Rose, open

foureyedwonder
2010-06-13 10:56 am UTC (link)

"You guessed," James accused, wishing that the mates who could actually back him up on this weren't distracted with something else at the moment. Or maybe they just liked watching him suffer like this. "You couldn't have known. Bloody hell, I doubt even the tournament committee knew." He paused, "Though if I was you mate, I'd go with the idea that the tournament committee stole your good idea of having chimeras out here. I'd buy that."

He turned his head in Landon and Rose's direction again. "Oi, again with the bloody whispering. I'll have you know that I'm 100% James Potter. You can't impersonate things this good. Ask Pads. He'll tell you. He's tried."

His eyes turned back to the field as the Durmstrang champion moved her way onto it, and it felt like he blinked and she disappeared. "Oi, did you see where she went?" he said, eyes moving quickly along the field before he caught sight of her moving - or at least, he thought it was her moving - "Disillusionment, d'you think?"

"Probably," Rose said, her eyes following the faint outline and impression of the girl as she moved around the ring. She kept glancing to the chimera as though expecting the beast to catch on - assuming it hadn't already - to the trick, ignoring James for the most part. He was just another loud mouthed Gryffindor trying to reclaim his position as top of the heap when he was miles behind everyone else. There were other things to be worried about then whether or not the Mauraders were all impostors. "Not everyone has an invisibility cloak, after all."

James rolled his eyes. Another one of his precious secrets out there for the world to know and talk about. What was a returned bloke supposed to do about this injustice?

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Tristan, Landon, James, Peter, Rose, open

not_an_orphan
2010-06-13 11:12 am UTC (link)

"Oh, no," Tristan protested. "I knew. But you're right - I should definitely run with the accusations of them having stolen my suggestion of trotting out some chimera for the champions to play with. I mean, if I'd known they were stalking my journal and taking my ideas, I'd've had them put something more interesting in there."

"More interesting?" Landon laughed softly. "What, exactly, would be more interesting than what's out there already?"

Tristan looked kind of thoughtful. "Suppose you've got a point there. All right. Three headed fire breathers are pretty interesting."

He nodded to James' guess; that was hardly any fun for them to watch. A big empty field with ... oh hey. Crazy illusionary dogs. Nice. "Points for cleverness, anyway," he declared.

Lan elbowed Rose playfully. "Hey now. Just because you know all about their secrets ... including the you know what in the you know where ... no need to go spilling them where people could hear." Not that there was a you know what you know where, but ... he was kind of enjoying the way James reacted to everything and didn't mind poking a bit.

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Tristan, Landon, James, Peter, Rose, open

foureyedwonder
2010-06-14 08:36 am UTC (link)

"Right, 'course you did. Don't know what I was thinking there," James said, rolling his eyes again but he grinned all the same. "What's the next one going to be, while we're at it? Think it'll be taking on the giant squid?"

He watched - well, as best he could anyway - as the Champion moved into the cave and sent the dogs running, but then the chimera seemed to turn. "Oh, this could get ugly," he said with a grin, but he figured they were looking at the winner of this match either way.

Rose raised an eyebrow at Landon before she caught on. "I wouldn't talk about the you-know-what in public, even to joke about. It wouldn't be smart."

Yeah, okay, this was fun. She tried to keep that off her face though.

"The... what?" James turned his head, his eyes darting quickly between Lan and Rose before they narrowed. "What are you two going on about now?" He glanced to Peter hoping for clarification, but the boy just looked confused.

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Tristan, Landon, James, Peter, Rose, open

not_an_orphan
2010-06-14 02:01 pm UTC (link)

"Hey now. The giant squid is gentle and non-combative. I doubt he would have agreed to attack one of our own students. The foreign witches, maybe, but not one of our own, and how's that going to be a task?"

Tristan tried not to grin at Lan and Rose's teasing of James, though it was kind of rare to see Lan initiating jokes like that.

"Oh, I think I've said too much." Landon feigned shock, pressing a hand over his mouth and widening his eyes. "I ... I just can't talk about it anymore. Though I'm surprised you don't know about, Potter. Thought you knew about everything that goes on at this school."

He paused.

"I'm pretty sure LilyLuna knows about it. It's the only secret she's managed to keep, ever. That's how ... amazing the you know what is."

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Tristan, Landon, James, Peter, Rose, open

foureyedwonder
2010-06-16 04:34 am UTC (link)

James snorted. "Gentle and non-combative. Clearly you've been a good little prankster and stayed on its good side," he smirked. "Wormtail knows what I'm talking about, eh?"

"I'd rather not think about it," Peter all but whimpered, closing his eyes.

James chuckled. "That one make it into the history books? Where we tried to charm the lake different colours on Halloween and ended up nearly drowning? Ol' Squid tossed Peter right up into the air..."

"Seriously, James. Please."

Shaking his head, James turned more fully to face Landon, eyeing him and Rose in annoyance. "Bloody hell, don't play this with me. I know every single bloody nook and cranny of that there castle - I mapped it, for merlin's sake - and there is nothing about it that I do not know. But you are going to have to be more specific about what the bloody hell it is you're talking about."

It was driving him a bit batty.

Rose was finding it was taking a great deal of effort to keep a straight face.

"I... don't think he does know about it," she told Landon, sounding surprised. "Shocking really, when you think about it. They do know so much about the school." She regarded James seriously for a moment. "If you did know about it, you would understand why we can't talk any more about it. It really is for your own good."

James scowled. "Bloody hell. This is ridiculous. Spit it out already."

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Tristan, Landon, James, Peter, Rose, open

only_an_orphan
2010-06-16 04:39 am UTC (link)

"Sure," Landon agreed. "You know the school before the war and the rebuilding. But after the rebuilding, there were a few additions. Though I'm pretty sure the place where they keep the you know what was an old place. You know. One you should know about."

Landon sighed and shook his head. "I ... I'm starting to doubt all the legends we've heard about you. Especially if you're letting your mates get tossed about by the squid..."

Tristan ducked his head and snorted back his laughter. It was brilliant to see his influence had finally paid off, what with Lan telling these tall tales and even getting Rose into the fibbing.

"Definitely for your own good, mate," Tristan agreed solemnly to James. "I mean, I only ever saw it once, but ..." He made a 'whew!' sort of noise. "It was something."

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