InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "They call it BOOGIE FEVER!"

Dora Tonks is (polymorphic) wrote in vas_captio_rpg,
@ 2009-09-14 18:15:00

Entry tags:

!shelved, connor temple, day 23, location: clock tower, nymphadora tonks

Who: Tonks and Connor [Anyone else in the vicinity of the clocktower?]
What: Tonks wakes up less alone than she went to sleep.
Where: The Clocktower
When: Day 23, 630-ish
Rating/Status: Low, Incomplete

Tonks was, honestly, more infinitely grateful for Connor coming for her than she let on. Though she kept up well enough in the journals, the witch was just a little more scared than she wanted to show. It wasn't that she was too tough-girl to accept help, just this shouldn't affect the Auror as much as it did. But it did affect her. The zombies had freaked her out.

Zombies were close to Inferi and those were some frightening creatures. The undead were frightening creatures. And it was understandable, being scared, but generally the pushed through it. She had to. At least when it came to scary things at home. Here at Vas Captio should really be no different. So why was this one so different? She kept trying to figure it out, going over and over what was so different. The only theory that she could come up with was that it wasn't different. Not really. Death Eaters would do the same exact thing. And that frightened Nymphadora Tonks. Especially because her friends and family were still there, fighting.

Normally, Tonks would have gone to Sirius and Remus with these rushing thoughts. She would have talked with them and joked around or let spill a little of her worries. But Sirius wasn't here and Remus had no idea about the war. It was going to stay that way, too. So that automatically crossed out Rose, since she too was friends with Remus. Tonks was going to just stick in her head, but Connor..saviour with a thing for dinosaurs..spoke up. He eventually got over to the clock tower, which really was a stupid stupid thing considering said zombies..but still. And Tonks spent the nite talking with him and joking around. It was comforting.

It took a while but she was finally able to go to sleep. It wasn't terribly deep or restful, but sleep all the same. She would have slept a little longer, since it was still dark outside, but there was some weird (gross) smell that was rousing her from the fitful sleep. Tonks sat up, looking around bleary-eyed.

"What is that smell?" Asked groggily, wiping at her eyes. If she were more awake, she might have teased Connor about needing a shower. But as it was, she wasn't fully awake. That is, until she looked over to her side and found a decaying Luna Lovegood staring at her glassy-eyed.

Tonks didn't scream, but did make a noise. A lot of noise. The first was a gasp, quickly covered by her hand, and the second was her clumsily trying to back away.

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polymorphic
2009-09-15 05:42 pm UTC (link)

She was coughing, gagging on the smell, and nuzzled her nose in the collar of her shirt, trying anything to get away from the damn noxious odour. "Fuckin' management.." Oh, Luna. Palming her eyes as to wake up more fully and to stop them from watering, Tonks nodded. But, other than that, she didn't look away.

"I knew her. She was from my..world." Whatever they wanted to call it. Her hand balled into a fist then, wanting for all the world to just hit the people who did this. Not that it would do any good, but it might have made her feel a tiny little bit better. Tonks knew Connor was there, and knew that they'd have to get away from the smell soon, but she still couldn't look away.

"What if this is just it?" Asked quietly. "They get tired of us and, at best, put us back in our world..but make everyone else deal with this." She fingered the hem of her shirt. "What if this--" What if it was what her friends and family looked like at home?

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leconnortemple
2009-09-15 08:40 pm UTC (link)

Connor's heart sank. He hadn't considered back home in some time. Honestly, they were fighting for survival every day in this place. It was kind of hard to think about much of anything else. But Tonks' words brought him crashing back down. Back home, something had happened. They noticed he was gone, surely. But how? And what was left? What if they'd all been taken, wound up in places like this? The conspiracy theory lover in him was having a field day. Too bad this one actually involved him.

But that wasn't exactly what Tonks needed to hear just then. Getting to his feet, he edged his way around the small body and knelt at Tonks' side, gathering her into a hug. Geeks were sometimes very good at hugs. "Shhh," he said softly, giving her a squeeze. "I'm sure that's not it at all. Maybe... Maybe in your world she's considered missing. No one knows. This could be bad witches, see. You're an Auror, you arrest them." He was trying to keep some levity in his tone, but it was difficult with those lifeless blue eyes watching them.

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polymorphic
2009-09-16 04:43 pm UTC (link)

Tonks wondered a whole bunch of things at the same time very often. It was sometimes difficult for her to turn off her brain, hence thoughts like that. She didn't register the hug for a moment, but then turned and offered a wan smile in thanks for it.

Looking back at Luna, Tonks took a breath..and started coughing again. Bad idea, that whole breathing thing. Connor was right, attempting to joke aside. She was an Auror and arrested people like the management. She could do this. Right? Honestly, she wasn't too sure anymore. "How long is this going to go on?"

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leconnortemple
2009-09-16 05:44 pm UTC (link)

"I don't know," Connor admitted, leaning back on his heels. "Till they get the results they want? We're a science experiment, right? Usually, an experiment has a set time. Once the results are achieved..." Of course, he didn't know what results they were looking for. How long until all of them died? That wasn't exactly helpful. How long it would take to drive them all mad? Also not helpful. "Or maybe they'll lose funding, it's got to take a bloody fortune to keep this place running, you know?" Keep trying to be logical. It was the only way Connor knew.

"We should... You know." He nodded his head towards the body lying there on the floor. She'd probably been quite pretty once. Was that a trait among all witches, he wondered? Girls would probably find Chris pretty fit, too, and he was a witch, as well. Strange, the places one's mind went when they didn't want to face up to the fact that they were dealing with a very dead and decomposing body in front of them.

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polymorphic
2009-09-17 02:19 am UTC (link)

He sounded so precise, so..logical. It was actually a good thing. Tonks nodded and then pushed a hand through hair that went mousey sometime during the short time period of the ordeal. She closed her eyes for a minute and then nodded again.

First things first though. She crouched down again and reached over, fingers passing over Luna's open eyes to close them for her. It was a stupid, little thing really. But Tonks felt it was the least she could do. She looked up at Connor then, eyebrows furrowed together.

"I've never--" She paused, shrugging up her shoulders. "I've never lost anyone before." Well, she had, but she didn't know about it. So it didn't count.

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leconnortemple
2009-09-17 03:16 am UTC (link)

Connor's eyes closed for a moment. It was one thing to know this woman had been a living and breathing person, but to befriend two people who'd obviously cared about her? It made her a thousand times more real, and she deserved a moment of respect as Tonks carefully closed her eyes.

"I have," he said quietly, a moment later. "A few, actually. It's...my line of work, I guess." How many times had he seen employees of the ARC get trampeled, diseased, or attacked? And then there'd been Tom and Steven and... "Before I got here... Right before, I lost someone. He was...everything to our team. I don't know how they're managing without him now." Biting his lip, he shrugged, then knelt down next to the rotting corpse. Despite her current condition, he couldn't help but have his heart go out to her. She didn't deserve to end up this way. No one did.

"Have a dog handy?" he asked, attempting a small smile. "They could dig for us." Ugh, that was a morbid thought.

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polymorphic
2009-09-17 11:28 pm UTC (link)

"You'd think I would have..but we've been really lucky so far." With the fighting and drums of war sounding. "And I'm so sorry." She couldn't imagine losing the integral people of the Order. Tonks couldn't imagine losing any of them.

In spite of herself, Tonks laughed. It was a quick laugh, unexpected even from the woman who was fast to that sort of noise, and was followed by coughing at the stench. All the same, she glanced over to Connor with a small smile of thanks. Then ruffled up her hair again.

"I dunno of any dogs running round..but I think I could do the digging." They'd need a shovel. She looked around the area, eyebrows drawing downward as she sought maybe a piece of wood that could be fashioned into a shovel.

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