September 15, 2023 – 9:17 AM
But I guess you dive in day to day or you’re dead on arrival
And dear you’ve got to find the difference between life and survival
14th September, 1893 — Somewhere in London
“Please,” Jemima sobbed, “someone – please –”
Help, she meant, but she kept choking on the word. It was probably a little too late for help.
And she didn’t know what to do with the man’s mangled body* in her arms, but she couldn’t just leave him. So she was still kneeling there on the dirty cobbles of the street, clutching desperately at the corpse. Her hands were bloodied from trying to press down on the wounds soaking through his chest where he’d been gored. Her clothes were bloody from trying to catch him when he fell. Jemima had watched it happen. She’d watched it all happen and she couldn’t fight a dragon so – she hadn’t seen a way to save him. So she couldn’t leave him; but she couldn’t look at him either, particularly not his face – or what little remained of it now. It had been mostly clawed off.
Some of his flesh was hanging off in shreds, bits of skin flapping loosely in the breeze. She was going to be sick. Or the dragon was going to come back and find her before anyone else did.
*stay tuned to find out who~
September 17, 2023 – 4:55 AM
Caltheus Rookwood — Played by Lady
It was bloody fucking hot. It was September and it felt as if the entire city had been drenched in fire. That was obviously because it had been. It was by sheer coincidence that Cal had taken a day off today and was within the vicinity enough that he heard the roars of the dragons echoing throughout the city. This meant that he was also in his muggle clothes instead of his healer robes when the memo from the hospital poked at his shoulder before zooming into his hand.
Tugging off his tie, he unbuttoned the top of his collar as the waves of heat rippled over the screaming crowd. Wincing at their pleas, Cal tried to ignore the screams for help along the way. Instinct was tough to fight, especially in this sort of situation (as if this was anything normal), but those that were crying for help were fully able bodied and running away from the river. There was little he could do except for work against the crowd and hope that they were able to escape in time. All he knew was that he needed to get closer to the site where the hospital workers would be deployed.
He finally worked his way through the crowd and managed to get where it was a bit more sparse and could break into a run. It was because of this that he almost missed a weak call for help, and he almost skidded to a halt. Instead of panicked and shrill like the rest of the cries he’d heard, this was broken; desperate. Trusting his instincts, Cal doubled back and eventually came upon a gruesome and pitiful sight. The young woman had clearly tried everything she could do to save the poor man. His body was broken and shredded to pieces and the horrible tang of blood hung heavily in the air. Already not liking the odds, Cal hurried over to the two figures on the ground, throwing his suit coat to the side and rolling up his sleeves. “How long ago did this happen?” He demanded, skipping pleasantries as he kneeled next to the body
September 18, 2023 – 8:23 PM
How long ago? Left alone with him, it felt like time had turned to blood or treacle (congealing slowly around her). There was his blood under her fingernails where she’d tried in vain to keep his insides
in. But it hadn’t been long, she thought. Hadn’t been long, and was already too late.
She looked up at the man who’d come to kneel beside them through her tears.
“I d-don’t know,” Jemima stuttered, face crumpling as she pictured how it had happened all over again.
“The dragon came down and it – it looked at me, and then he – and he tried to help, and it – it’s my fault,” she sobbed, because it had turned to him instead and attacked.
“I killed him. I killed Minister Urquart!” Well, as good as; and she meant the
former Minister, technically – she wasn’t sure what anyone called
Balthazar Urquart these days – but being entirely accurate about people’s professional titles wasn’t at the top of Jemima’s priorities for the moment, because he had once been Minister of Magic and also previously a father (and also sort of handsome in a middle-aged man sort of way, before... what had happened to his face here). And now he was
dead.
Unless... unless this man could save him? But as soon as she looked at the body again, she realised how stupid that hope was. He was too pale, his hands already gone clammy and cold, and his last raspy few breaths had quieted some time ago. It had just been Jemima and her own sobs in the silence since.
November 3, 2023 – 10:09 PM
Caltheus Rookwood — Played by Lady
“Ah yi sshi…” Cal had to cut himself off to avoid swearing in front of a lady, even if she might not have understood Korean. But fuck. It was the goddamn Minister under her hands. It didn’t matter when it had happened anyways. One look and he was completely beyond saving. The poor lady had done her best to keep the man’s internal organs inside his body to absolutely no avail. The pallor of his skin had already lost any sort of indication that there was circulation. Even so, Cal reached down and pressed two fingers to the inside of the man’s wrist whilst the girl started to recount what had happened. Sometimes recovery efforts had to be made purely for those standing around, even if all signs pointed to a loss of life.
From the sound of it, they were simply in the wrong place and wrong time; he had come to her rescue and the dragon had seen fit to completely mutilate the man. Pressing his lips together, he reached over to gently place his hand on the girl’s forearm. “You didn’t kill him, Miss, I can promise you that.” He said firmly, leaning forwards to try and make eye contact with her. “Do you hear me? You were not at fault.” A dragon attacked and Minister Urquart did all he could to prevent her from being injured, and he’d succeeded (well, in the physical sense, there were certainly arguments that could be made as to the current status of the young woman’s mental state, but that was entirely besides the point).
November 19, 2023 – 1:27 AM
Though she did not realise it here, Jemima had never paid less attention to a gentleman right in front of her in her life. Dead bodies would do that. Even the most dedicated husband-hunting ingenues were not immune.
So he could have been speaking English or Gobbledegook or complete balderdash for all she knew; it hummed right past her ears, just watching him in a disconcerted daze. He was checking the corpse – he came to the same conclusion as her, of course – and then he was talking to her again.
Jemima didn’t argue, but she couldn’t help but think she had killed him. Accidentally, but he had come to help her, and she was almost sure he had called her Ruby at the end – she and Ruby Urquart were the same age, and looked alike enough that he might have thought he was rescuing his daughter. You were not at fault just didn’t sound true.
“We should move him,” Jemima said thickly. “We have to get him away from here.” She finally managed to look at the man who was here helping her now (– was she going to get another man killed today? –) but that proved too much: her face crumpled and she began to cry again, this time silently.
January 5, 2024 – 8:26 AM
Caltheus Rookwood — Played by Lady
On second though, perhaps more focus should be put on the young woman’s mental state. Cal could only sit and watch as she looked up at him, then completely broke down, tears running down her cheeks. He had to be impressed that she was at least still thinking of the late Minister even in her distress. There wasn’t much time for any other thought to cross his mind, and he nodded, agreeing quickly and hoping that it wouldn’t take too much more out of her to do so. Cal stood up and summoned his suit coat, this time to drape it over the young woman’s shoulders. “We’ll need to be quick about it, then.” He added before encouraging her to stand up as he took his wand out.
Quickly conjuring a shroud, Cal lowered the cloth onto the body before levitating it up so Minister Urquart was hovering around hip-level. Another wave of his wand saw the shroud wrap itself snugly around the body; there were giant creatures flying around, the last thing Cal wanted to do was accidentally catch the attention of one of them with a loose end of the cloth. He looked back at the woman. “Can you walk? Are you hurt?” His eyes scanned her person, looking for any signs of physical distress.
January 31, 2024 – 1:48 AM
Thank goodness he seemed capable, because expressing the need to do something was about as much as Jemima could manage here. At least he agreed, and had draped her in his coat and Mr. Urquart in a conjured cloth before she had gotten far enough to do anything to help. She clutched his coat tighter around her as if it were a shield, and nodded unevenly at him. She was looking determinedly at him, now, glancing down the street for dragons, anywhere but at the floating corpse. (Jemima couldn’t fathom how, but for some reason it was worse now that he was covered – the image of his body was still seared on her brain. She still had his blood on her.) “No, no, I – can walk,” she whispered, edging nearer him as if she were scared to be left behind. “Do you know the way?”
The way where? The way the dragons weren’t, she supposed; she had lost track of everything, after what she had seen.
