InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "We are Groot"

Angelina Johnson (fiercebird) wrote in pandorarpg,
@ 2012-01-18 12:53:00

Entry tags:

!status: complete, ^date: november 12 2003, character: angelina johnson, character: michael corner

It's like one of those muggle zombie movies!
Characters: Angie & Open
Setting: Diagon Alley, near Gringotts, 11:30 AM
Summary: Angie goes to get some money out from the bank, and steps out to absolute horror.
Rating: Worksafe

Last night hanging out at Alicia's flat had been mostly fun, until Alicia's inevitable nightmare struck. However it hadn't seemed as bad, so maybe there was something to Michael's potion after all. Angelina was still glad she'd stayed over Alicia's flat anyway; she'd rather be there for her friend than not. Eventually though, they both had to go start their days, so Angie left, went home and got changed, deciding she might as well head over to Gringotts and get some money changed. She got there before eleven, and had to wait longer than expected. She didn't mind though. She wasn't terribly hungry or busy, and she could go and grab a bit to eat after she left.

However, when she left half an hour later, she stepped out into chaos. There were people in the street, dozens of people dressed all the same walking - no, more like shambling - in a slow irrepressible onslaught. As she watched, sickened, a small group of them destroyed a shop window and crawled inside. People came flooding out of stores, some running back inside Gringotts as though the banks strong walls would protect them.

Angelina had told Cade Warrington less than a week ago that she wasn't afraid - specifically of him or consequences - after fighting in a war, right before she punched him in the face. But she hadn't been talking about this. This looked like the undead, like inferi, like muggle-style zombies or something. They looked like the living dead, one of the few things that terrified Angelina beyond reason. Face gone grey, Angelina drew her wand but held it limply. She was too scared to move, and deep inside, that made her angry at herself. But the anger wasn't enough to move her. Fear was too great and he had to do something because those things were getting closer and causing nothing but destruction along their way.

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mlcorner
2012-01-21 10:30 pm UTC (link)

Michael had been inside the Leaky Cauldron, chatting with Tom to clear his head after his previous whirlwind night with Lavender when everything began to happen around eleven. They heard screaming and the breaking of glass out in the alley and had rushed out to see what was happening. Michael told Tom to fortify the entrance to the Leaky and he would do his best to keep whatever was happening from entering through the pub and going into Muggle London if he could because they would have enough problems here in Diagon Alley without having to try to keep Muggles from getting hurt as well.

It was a bit weird, how easy it was for Michael to flip this switch into this mode of fighting and defending that he had not been in for five years now. Maybe it had always been in him, but without the proper use one would think that he'd have forgotten what he was doing. But he could see people screaming and running for help and he felt compelled to help. In particular he saw one woman standing near the entrance to Gringotts, wand out but not moving as a shambling body came nearer to her. She seemed frozen in fear and it took him a moment to realise that it was Angelina and she was not going to move in time and seeing that these things weren't exactly friendly, she was probably not going to get out unscathed.

Michael felt a familiar ripple pull through his body and soon he was racing forward toward Angelina on four legs instead of two. He leaped from the ground in a graceful arc toward the shambling corpse, grabbed hold of one of its arms and yanked it to the side away from the frozen woman, knocking it off balance and sending it to tumbling to the ground with him. The inferius grabbed and clawed at his fur, ripping tufts of it out making Michael yelp in pain but he snarled and snapped back at the monstrous creature, trying to get out of the tangled mess he was stuck in with it.

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fiercebird
2012-01-22 12:45 am UTC (link)

Angelina would have been so much more in her element, so much more ready to fight if it hadn't been a near-horde of walking dead. Or at least that's what they looked like. They were so close to her boggart that she froze where she was, slackly gripping her wand.

Fight or flight. Those were instincts and Angie's was usually to fight. She didn't run away and she couldn't take that option now. Even though this thing was coming for her, she couldn't move.

Then suddenly there was a blur of fur and teeth and Angie's eyes went wide. She snapped out of it then, gripping her wand tighter, a dozen spells leaping to mind at once. She didn't cast any of them though, not yet. There was a wolf fighting the thing that had nearly gotten her. A wolf that had probably just saved her life.

Logically she knew it couldn't be a normal wolf. It had to be an Animagus, but it wasn't as though she kept track of who was registered or as what. That didn't really matter though because now the wolf was in trouble and Angie couldn't let it get hurt because of her.

She lifted her wand and with pretty impressive aim shot a bolt of light directly at the thing's head. Ship clipped its ear though, but that that was enough to make it remember someone else was there. It didn't seem too hurt by what she'd done, but she'd granted a moment's distraction.

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mlcorner
2012-01-22 08:29 pm UTC (link)

Michael saw the light out of the corner of his eye, felt the grip of the inferius-like creature slack in his fur and he was able to scramble away from it and back toward Angelina. As he moved toward her his body shifted from fur to skin, walking on four legs to two and he was human once more, with that shaggy dark hair people knew him most by.

"Angelina, are you alright?" he asked her when he had reached her side and he touched her arm to sort of show her that he was real and there. As far as he could tell when he first arrived she had been in some sort of state of shock and that wasn't good for this situation. "I don't really know what's going on yet, but it doesn't look good."

He turned so he could keep an eye on the street and make certain they weren't attacked while he spoke to her.

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fiercebird
2012-01-23 03:54 pm UTC (link)

Relief flooded through Angelina with such swiftness she nearly sank to her kneed when the wolf blurred into the familiar form of Michael. Angelina was not exactly capable of looking to see the differences between a regular wolf and a werewolf when she was already nearing panic mode, but her brain refused to accept that anything worse than living dead were here at the moment. Still though, it was reassuring to see she did know this wolf was someone here to help, not harm.

Seeing him, feeling him touch her arm, snapped her out of it and she exhaled explosively. "I'm...all right. I can't handle walking dead things, sorry." She mumbled the apology angry and embarrassed at having to admit a fear such as that aloud. "Let's get out of here and maybe I can function better away from this." She darted looks around her, seeing if any of the things had decided to approach again.

She looked back at Gringotts as is considering whether that was the best place to go, because she was damn sure she was too shaken up to try to Apparate right now. Wait. The Leaky! She gripped Michael's arm, likely just a hair too tight. "Is the Leaky safe?"

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mlcorner
2012-01-23 06:02 pm UTC (link)

Michael shook his head at her. "No need to apologise, love." Even if it wasn't a fear for someone, he could still understand someone getting unsettled by these things. They were quite off, the way they moved and seemed to just keep coming no matter what you did. They did not respond to any of the normal spells that inferi would.

He didn't mind taking her to the Leaky Cauldron, but he did not plan to stay there. He was going to continue helping if he could because he - well he just had to. "It is right now. We've been doing our best to keep it walled off so that they can't get through to Muggle London and cause even more problems than we've already got. C'mon, I'll take you there." Michael held his wand out, even though it seemed rather useless at this point. It slowed them down but never stopped them for good.

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fiercebird
2012-01-23 07:32 pm UTC (link)

Pull yourself together, Johnson, Angelina scolded herself, straightening up as she did. It bothered her that all she wanted to do was get away from these things. She wanted to fight, but how did you fight something that looked so much like your greatest fear?

Like a Gryffindor that's how. Angie glanced at the things again and shuddered, but she wasn't a coward. She wasn't going to run. "Good, so someone's inside keeping it safe. But I'm not the only poor sod caught off-guard by these things. I'll be honest, Michael they scare the shite out of me, but I'm not going to run and hide. I'll help you fight them off."

She lifted her chin, held up her wand and cast reducto, blasting one of the creatures back a good dozen feet. If she could just keep them far enough away from her, maybe she could keep it up.

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mlcorner
2012-01-24 06:39 pm UTC (link)

Michael eyed her carefully. "Are you sure?" he asked. "If they freak you out, it's okay to step aside. There's nothing wrong with being afraid, Angelina." It wasn't like he'd never been too scared to fight before and if he beat himself up for it, he'd never be able to get over it.

One of the shambling creatures was coming from an alley between Magical Menagerie and Gringotts. Michael sent a slashing hex toward it, slicing a huge gash through its leg. It began to bleed profusely and stumbled which slowed it down, but it still inched forward toward them. It was as if they did not care what was done to them so long as they could continue to cause whatever mayhem they could.

"I've got your back either way, love. Just be careful - they are ruthless and they do not react to fire or light; I don't think they are normal inferi, if they even are inferi." It had obviously been the first thing he had tried, remembering the leaflets that had been passed out in their sixth year. It hadn't made a bit of difference though.

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fiercebird
2012-01-25 03:23 am UTC (link)

Angie gave him a thin smile. "I'm sure. I'm proper scared Michael, but I'm a Gryffindor. This is what we do. Don't you know bravery is often just stupidity in the face of danger?" She reach over and squeezed his hand, more for her own reassurance than anything else. "Thanks. Now let's see what damage we can do, yeah?"

Strangely hearing that they might not have been inferi almost made it better, though it was harder to tell what to do to them to make them actually stop. Blasting the shite out of them seemed to work well enough though. Angie cast another spell at one, slicing down the inferi's arm. It was a nasty cut. If she'd been a little less bothered by them, she could have severed it.

It didn't stop moving. It didn't even hesitant really. Just like t eone Michael had it, it bled profusely and kept coming. Angie swore. "What are these bloody things?"

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mlcorner
2012-01-27 02:10 am UTC (link)

Michael nodded and squeezed her hand back. He may not have been a Gryffindor, but he'd had his share of stupidity in the face of danger during his seventh year, so he understood what she meant. "Alright, love, let's do this."

He watched the inferius-like creature that she slashed continue toward them and sighed. "I have no idea! This is ridiculous. I think I'm going to go wolf again though, my teeth do better than my spells so long as they don't get hold of me. Maybe if you cut them and I bite them we can get them to stop." Michael kissed her on the cheek and turned toward the street opening.

Michael ran toward the one that Angelina had just attacked and gnashed at the arm she had already slashed and yanked on it. He heard bone and muscle snapping and ripping as the arm detached from the socket of the shoulder, but he had accomplished what he was trying to do, which was delimb the creature.

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fiercebird
2012-01-27 02:46 am UTC (link)

Angie exhaled and nodded assent. That had seemed to have some Kind of minimal effect before. So when Michael went wolf, Angie steeled herself and went into the fray. It was bloody terrifying, but she kept doing it.

They weren't inferi. She had to keep reminding herself that. They might still have been dead, for all she knew, but no matter what she tried, nothing seemed to hurt them. She resorted to blasting them again, and then, with sudden insight set to work slicing off arms and legs. When they were stumps, they couldn't really do much but bleed there, right?

Michael delimbed one, and Angie cut its legs out from under it, crowing in triumph when he fell the the street and couldn't sou much as crawl, though tit tried. It tried and didn't stop trying.

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mlcorner
2012-01-27 03:24 am UTC (link)

When the creature fell to the ground without its legs, Michael barked in response to Angelina's spells. It was obvious that they were going to have to take care of them by making them immobile, but would they have the time to do this to all of them? Even this one was trying to use its remaining arm to pull itself forward still. Michael whimpered and moved forward and snapped the arm at the elbow with his teeth, making the creature unable to use it. It still tried to, but it was breaking its own bones more as it did.

He turned and barked at Angelina again. If they could break their limbs, the creatures would make it worse for themselves apparently by trying to continue to move. Maybe a combination of both would keep them moving fast enough. Michael ran toward the other one he had sliced earlier that was now trying to break into Magical Menagerie; he grabbed it by the ankle and clamped down pulling it away from the building.

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fiercebird
2012-01-27 02:06 pm UTC (link)

As unpleasant as it was, Angelina was preparing herself to continue to delimb the things until Micheal barked. She watched what happened, and then when he barked again, she understood. If she just incapacitated them enough, their continuing efforts would finish the job.

So following his lead she switched to breaking limbs rather than trying to slice them off. Just as she'd seen happen before, one crumpled to the ground and continued to moved, further breaking its own limbs and rendering it immobile. Mostly. It was still moving but it wasn't getting anywhere.

Behind them, security came rushing out of Gringotts, flying into melee with little reservation. Thank Merlin because a hand full of people against a couple dozen of these things were not pleasant odds, especially when it took so much to bring one down. But with help, they were starting to weed through them.

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mlcorner
2012-01-31 03:54 am UTC (link)

MIchael noticed the security running out from Gringotts and hoped that they would not attack him because of him being in wolf form. Not that there was anything against a wolf being in the streets and Angelina could tell them, of course, but things were moving quickly so you never knew what might happen.

He saw one veering toward the Leaky Cauldron and made tracks after it, head down toward the ground, ears flat against his head so he could move as quickly as possible. His paws clacked against the street as he made his wide strides but he was on the creature soon enough, tearing at the back of the creature's knee so he might break another leg and keep it from getting to the Leaky or most importantly, Muggle London.

The creature seemed to notice him on the way there though, and batted at his left shoulder, knocking him off step and making him stumble on his stride, scraping his paw underneath him. He whimpered.

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fiercebird
2012-02-01 09:33 pm UTC (link)

Angelina didn't scare often or easy, but a sure fire way to distract her from what fears she did have was to put a friend in danger. She shoved the thoughts of the creatures aside, doing her best to swallow down that fear and rushed in when she saw Michael stumble. She wasn't sure she heard him whimper, but she didn't have to. She was not letting him get hurt when he'd showed up to save her.

Anger and fear lent her spells a vicious edge and she sent hex after hex at the not-inferi that had hit Michael. True the things didn't feel pain or stop, but they were certainly hampered but spells that wouldn't stop coming. But Angie couldn't keep it up forever.

Luckily, she wouldn't have to. Behind her, she heard sounds and became dimly aware of the cavalry coming. The DMLE had arrived and their skills and numbers would turn the tides.

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