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It had been several hours before Zara regained consciousness. Waking slowly with a groan, she placed a hand atop her head as her eyes fluttered open. She stared at the ceiling for a good moment before realizing that the only thoughts that were in her head were her own. It absolutely astounded her at how quiet her mind was. Pulling in a deep breath, she brought her arm down and caught sight of the bracelet dangling from it. Zara raised a brow in question before remembering a voice she had heard before she passed out. The doctor must have placed this trinket on her. She scrunched her nose in annoyance; now she'll have to thank the shrink for actually helping her.

Her lips blew a raspberry before she attempted to stand. Other than feeling a bit sore from thrashing about, everything seemed to be in order. She cleared her throat and fixed the undershirt draping across her torso- only then just remembering she was still in Felix's clothes. Closing her eyes she push back her emotions, she made her way out of her room in search of the doctor. She might as well get the thank you over with before he did something to further irk her.

As she went in search of him, she passed by the map room and noticed a large shadow hovering over the map. Zara hesitantly walked to the doorway and peered inside. She watched as the caretaker was mumbling and whimpering to himself as he started to scribe. Gulping, she took a small step forward until she realized he was mumbling her name.

"Zara...Zara...Zara..."

She sucked in a quick breath at the hushed whispers of her name. Nothing good could come of her name being on his laps as his eyes were glued to the map. Worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, she sat down in the chair opposite him and kept her eyes on him. She barely realized that she couldn't hear his thoughts, only his words. Zara wanted to help him, to end his pain. Yet, she knew that his scribing only meant that a new case was on its way. A case apparently that she was going to lead.

----***----

Her eyes widened in awe once she appeared in the front hallway of the house. It had only been a few hours since she was approached by the ORO and Beatrix still couldn't believe that she was given this opportunity. Yet, she didn't quite know what to expect- all she was told was that her ability could come in handy for some special cases. What type of cases, she didn't ask. All she knew was that she was finally going to have a bed to sleep in tonight. And possibly get some decent grub into her stomach. She really couldn't care less what else was in store for her.

Or so she thought.

As Trix made her way down the front hall, she couldn't help the ominous feeling that was creeping its way along her skin. Where she had been expecting to see a few people, there had been none to welcome her. Did no one expect her to show? Surely someone at the Ministry had told them she was coming. She continued to walk down the hall and stopped when she heard faint mumbling. Raising a brow, she walked towards the mumbling and approached an open doorway. Bea looked in just as tears of blood started running down the caretakers face. Sucking in a quick gasp of breath, the eyes rolled back in her head before she passed out, hitting the floor- not without her nose turning into a pig's snout.

---***---

Hearing the intake of breath and crash on the floor, Zara blinked and turned her head in the direction of the noise. Seeing the new girl on the floor, she tilted her head. "Well...And a howdy do to you, as well." She turned her head once more towards the caretaker once she heard scribbling. Watching as he started to write in his blood, she took a shaky breath and stayed stock still. She didn't want to interrupt him in any way.

Wasn't long before the caretaker stopped writing and took several steps back. With a whimper, he nodded to Zara before making his way to his room. Zara got to her feet and hesitantly walked over to the scry map. She took a breath as she looked it over. As she took everything in, she groaned and closed her eyes. "Danvers State Asylum....Yay for even more crazy people."

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The shower was helping a lot actually. Kieran pried his eyes open and shivered, as he preferred to keep the water bone chillingly cold, but thoughts about Twycross, the unpleasantness in the kitchen, and even the sight of Zara having a seizure seemed to swirl down the drain along with the water. The feelings of doubt and uselessness drained from him, as if he was adopting the same icy indifference of the water that was cascading down on him. And as he thought about how liberating it was, it became easier to see how Corrigan had ended up the way he did. Not that he felt like that was a particularly good thing.

The water turned off with a small screech. While part of him wouldn’t have minded soaking the day away, he had plenty of work to do. Not to mention the prospects of getting sick didn’t sound all that appealing.



THUNK

The thick book slammed closed with a note of finality, signaling the end of Kieran’s patience. For all his brilliance, Damocles’ monstrous potion was a complete mess from a technical standpoint. Its ingredients were unbearably expensive and correctly brewing it required a herculean amount of patience and attention to detail. If the need for it had been any less, the potion would have been considered by and large as an unambiguous flop. But try as he might, the werewolf had been completely unable to make much headway on improving the potion on either of those fronts. The ingredients had no simple substitutions, especially the main ingredient Aconite which would have burned through most of Kieran's pay if it wasn't for DeVito. Not to mention the brewing process itself seemed to be a hairsbreadth away from not working at all in the first place, so any changes to it almost instantly resulted in failure.

The dark haired man rubbed his temples, exasperation practically dripping from his pores. It wasn’t productive to work like this, as he was all too prone to make mistakes he would later regret. A break was likely in order, but didn’t sound particularly attractive as it had only been a few hours since the uproar that was End’s arrival, leaving Kieran not too enthused to risk running into other residents of the Dormum. But sitting here and staring down his mounting sense of ineptitude didn’t sound all that pleasant either, so with a sigh of resignation he got up from his seat and left his room, which was even more cluttered with heavy tomes than usual.

The hallways of the Dormum seemed even more uninviting than usual, which didn’t really come as a surprise considering that they had lost the few Regulators that had seemed to have made it their mission in life to liven the place up. As he walked through the quiet halls, Kieran found it difficult to miss them, because despite having worked with them for quite some time, he had never truly gotten to know any of them. His steps were heavy, as the poor sleep he had been getting the last few nights were starting to wear him down, but the exhaustion wasn’t readily apparent in his expression.

The werewolf had been intending to get a breath of fresh air outside, but as he made his way to the main entrance of the house, a loud crashing noise caught his attention. ”Oh what now?” he muttered, but his curiosity got the better of him so he changed his course to the map room.

The sight awaiting him was almost normal enough. Greenwood was helping the caretaker get through a scrying. Normal. At his feet though, was a young girl with gray hair. Sadly, even that wasn’t too unusual due to his line of work. The pig’s snout that had taken up residence where her nose should be though? Not normal. Not even by his awfully skewed standards.

Since Greenwood was too occupied with the caretaker, Kieran took a knee to get a closer look at the stranger, making sure she wasn’t dead or dying in their house. While her breathing seemed relatively normal, the fingers he had placed on her neck told him that her heart rate had spiked. He was about to ask the Legilimens what had happened to her, but the sight of the caretaker hobbling past him caused the words to catch in his throat. While he did his best to keep the old man supplied with potions to ease the poor creature’s pain, he had his suspicions that they didn’t actually help much. So for now, a small nod was all he had to offer him.

His attention was brought back to the present though with Greenwood’s remark. So their next case was going to be in an insane asylum. Lovely. ORO should seriously consider putting together a recruitment campaign with the slogan, “Join us to see what your nightmares look like in real life!” The werewolf was certain it would draw in a plethora of applicants.

”So who’s the metamorphmagus?” he finally asked his colleague, finding it surprisingly hard not to prod the pig snout for science. ”And why is she sleeping in our map room?”

---

@Sailorsadie

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After getting over the initial shock of their next case, Zara hesitantly opened her eyes to glance once more at the paper in her hands. She scanned over the name of the building and cleared her throat. It made sense that she was going to be in charge of this next case- it'd be easy peasy for her to find all the crazy dead people. Probably also meant that it was something that relied heavily on her skills, seeing as how the last case was solved by Emory's hand. She shook her head and set the paper back down on the table. The woman wanted nothing to do with anymore crazy people. She had enough crazy in her life for the moment, thank you very much.

As she tried to talk herself into forgoing the case, a voice caught her ear. It stunned her enough to jump and a hand quickly went to her chest. She glanced over at the doorway and noticed Kieran knealing next to the new girl. Her eyes went to the bracelet around her wrist and she let out the breath she had been holding. It was definitely going to take a lot to get used to, not hearing people's thoughts and all. With a small clearing of her throat, she shrugged her shoulders and stepped away from the map. "I don't-"

Her words were interrupted by Emory's explanation. So. He did know that there were going to be others showing up. Though, what he said highly surprised her. The girl was fresh out of Hogwarts? Folding her arms across her chest, she rose a brow at him. "You mean to tell me, the ORO seriously recruited a kid?" Her eyes stayed on him as he grabbed the map before leaving the room. With a quick shake of her head, she was about to hurry after him before walking into the new doctor. Biting the inside of her cheek, she waited for him to be finished before nodding. "Good. Cause my mind's off limits." She cleared her throat once more before holding up her wrist. "Thanks for the block, by the way..."

Before he could respond, she hurried out of the room and followed Emory into the apparition room. She played with her hands and drew in a deep breath. "I know you're busy, but uh...I don't want things to be weird between us..." Zara ran a hand through her hair and nodded towards the map. "He was saying my name when he did that. Don't know if it means much."

---

The feeling of another person touching her started to bring Beatrix back to the surface. Her ears soon picked up the muffled voices of others relatively close to her, as well. Was she dreaming? With a small groan, the young girl's eyes slowly fluttered open- only to realize that she was looking up into two very strange faces. Sucking in a breath, her hands clenched into fists- and her ears morphed into those of an elephants. Her eyes searched the faces of the two men hovering over her before she meekly spoke. "Uh, no, no....I'm fine, thank you..."

Using the heels of her hands, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. One hand went to the back of her head with a wince; she must have hit the ground harder than she realized. She looked around the hallway and rose a brow at where she sat. Wasn't there a man standing in front of her, just moments before? Or had she hallucinated? Shaking her head quickly, she looked back at the men standing near her. "Uh, yeah, hi. Hi. I'm Trix. And uh, I could have sworn there was a man over there...He was-" She stopped herself, not wanting to admit to what she thought she had seen. "Uh, nevermind."

Bea's hand automatically went to push the silver locks away from her face when her fingers draped across something far larger than her normal ear. Her eyes widened and she looked around for a mirror. Finding one, she hurried to her feet and ran over to see her reflection. She gave a strangled squeal; one hand wrapped around the top of her head to try to cover her ears, while the other hand went to her snout. "Oh, this isn't happening, this isn't happening..."

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Tariq teleported to the one place he remembered best. The family mansion. He couldn't deal with all the tensions and commotion happening in the life at ORO. Always in a place...Tariq always felt out of place of. Though isn't that normal? "Don't I always feel out of place?" he asked himself as he stood in the dimmed room the shades shutting out the moonlight the windows locked close creaking in the harsher below 20 degree of winter storms...especially with wind chill.

Tariq looked round the room as he noticed the filthy wall paper with its crimson, red appearance with the white star like marks patterned all round it every inch up, down and to both sides. It seemed like a creature came and clawed parts of the paper down from the wooden boards hiding behind the once simple paper. This sight caused Tariq to tense up a little. Glancing around he noticed the black curtains shredded at the bottom along with the bed half way off from the framing and the sheet seeming to be half way pulled off.

"What happened here?" He keeled down and picked up a picture. It was a picture of a delegate featured a woman with darker hair. It had a cream coloured look to the picture as it was supposed to be black and white. The woman had a slight smile under the cracked glass of the frame. As he flipped the frame around, he undid the back and slipped out the picture. Folding it up and putting it right into his pocket. He slowly got up as he looked around once more. The room looked like it was deserted and ransacked. Going to the door, he put his hand on the chilling brase doorknob.

Letting go of the door knob he looked around and went right in middle of the room. He couldn't go out into the rest of the house. He just needed a moment alone and at the ORO the tension was great. Tariq knew he was blamed for the reason of the intense situation, and he was embarrassed for that.
Sitting down in the middle of the room, he crossed his legs and cupped his hands on his knees as his eyes closed. Breathing in deeply and exhaling fully. He breathed in and out slowly. Calming himself before everything fell into silence. Just the wind again the old glass windows and rustling of the wind against the old boards of the house. Tariq sat there and started to meditate. Going into a quiet place in his head trying to figure out why he's acting like this. Asking himself why he is taking out his anger on Emory. Why his friends always disappear and die.

Hours later

He opened his eyes quickly. Standing up quickly and whipping his wand he disappeared once again. Slamming himself into the floor of his room. Tariq was never good with landings after teleporting. As he got up slowly dusting himself off he removed his jacket throwing it onto his bed.

As he made his way out of his room he started going placed that Emory would be. Moving around the house quietly and swiftly he didn't really care to talk to anybody else. Especially Dr.End for making a fool of himself. Tariq found himself looking everywhere except one place.

He was standing by Emory's room now and combing his fingers through his hair. "He's not in there..." He couldn't hear anything as he kept walking. Tariq didn't want to really talk to Emory for he was embarrassed at his actions. Though he felt like it was right to do what he was about to do.
Tariq ended up in the apparition room as he saw Emory standing there. He knocked on the wall showing he was entering. "Emory." He clearly said as he sighed and looked to the ground. "I'm sorry. I'm just angry..." Tariq stated as he looked around and wouldn't look at Emory at all."I didn't mean to make myself a fool like I did...to you and Dr.End...It's just...I don't know. I'm trying to say I'm sorry." At the end of the sentence Tariq's voice started getting rougher and frustrated sounding."I just wanted to say that..." He didn't know how to apologise and he especially didn't know how to communicate with his own boss and ex-friend. "I see your busy right now...I can do this later if you want." Tairq stated as he moved his hand around slightly and finally looked at Emory. Tariq made it sound like he wasn't even talking like he was physically doing something in that sentence. It was a difficult wall to pull down. He usually never showed his emotions so; it was a major problem for him to talk...especially with emotions to another male individual.

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Before he knew it, Kieran was scoffing at the ORO’s unofficial leader. The dark haired wizard found it a tad presumptuous for Corrigan to assume that he and the whelp that was passed out in front of him would get along well, but even Kieran had to concede that he had a point that there was perhaps some common ground between them due to their shifter natures. And from the looks of it, this Reynell’s condition didn’t seem completely voluntary either. Although with that said, Kieran would take randomly growing a pig snout over Lycanthropy any day.

End’s comment caused the werewolf to raise an eyebrow. Not only because anybody with eyes could tell that she had fainted, but also because he couldn’t help but wonder just how much medical paraphernalia the doctor kept on his person at all times. It was hardly worth mentioning though, so he went to reach for the salts, but stopped when he noticed that the subject in question had started to stir.

Kieran backed up a bit to give Reynell some room as she sat up, but as she did, he saw just how young she looked. The girl barely looked old enough to have finished her schooling at Hogwarts, much less graduate from ORO’s “graduate program.” He balled his hands into a tight fist, his thoughts echoing Greenwood’s comments. ’It took me four years to become a full-fledged Regulator. Is this kid simply just that good or is the Ministry actively trying to get her killed?’ he wondered as his usual frown deepened even more, feeling a strange sense of protectiveness despite himself.

After all, it was one thing to lose a colleague that had known and had been prepared for the risks that came with the job. It was quite another to see some kid die when they had never even understood what they had gotten themselves into in the first place.

Reynell started babbling about a man she had seen, pulling Kieran out of his thoughts. It didn’t take a genius to figure out she must have meant the Caretaker, which if she had seen the old man scrying, that could be one explanation behind how she had ended up in a heap on their floor. ’But if she’s really that squeamish, she is definitely going to be in for a rough time.’

Kieran blinked. He had been staring at her since she had woken up. And with a look that seemed far too much like one of concern no less. That wasn’t like him. He made his way towards the map, trying to focus on the upcoming job and not the girl who was currently desperate to hide her ears and nose. The werewolf couldn’t help but shake his head, already having a sinking suspicion that it was going to be a rather long day.

”Looks like we picked up another lively one,” he muttered, his total lack of enthusiasm for the entire situation before him perfectly captured by his tone.

---

@Sailorsadie

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At the comment Emory's aura and demeanor darkened and caused the room to become heavy. Tariq's lips formed a little smirk on them. Like he was pleased with something as if he just caused an old memory he favoured to crawl back into his mind. "I hope you do the same for me." Tariq snaps back right after the last word drifts out of Emory's mouth.

Watching Emory's hand run down his chin he then looked up into Emory's eyes. Tariq was always observant of body language or movement. He took satisfaction in learning about what means what in body language. "What new girl?" Tariq's brows furrowed as he seemed confused. ...Was I gone longer then I thought?…he internally questioned himself. It only felt like hours though he could've been gone for a little longer. "Two new people in such a short time....now I'm just thinking somebody's signing them up for death row." Tariq comments before turning on his heel and walking right out the door to go get ready.

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His statement allowed for the girl to relax a bit. The last thing she wanted was to lose a friendship over a silly little kiss- one that just happened to constantly stick to the back of her mind. Clearing her throat, she studied him as he spoke about the Caretaker. She could tell it was frustrating him to not know the exact details of what was to happen. The thought made her fingers itch to pull the bracelet from off of her wrist. Yet, taking it off terrified her. Zara didn't think her sensitive mind was strong enough yet from the onslaught from before.

Before she had another chance to think about it, Tariq's voice broke through. She only slightly jumped this time at the surprise- yet she was pretty sure she would never get accustomed to the silence in her head. She glanced over at the man and rose a brow at his demeanor as he apologized. Not being able to tell if he meant what he said or not was eating at her. Then Emory's voice dropped and she tensed. Looking over at him, she sucked in a breath at his expression. All she wanted to do was to help him. Fix him. Somehow. Taking a step towards him, she blinked and stopped herself.

"Emory, I-" Realizing what he said, her eyes widened slightly. "Wait...You're not coming?" She watched as Tariq left before her body fully tensed. Returning her attention back to Emory, she finished her walk over to him before she stood directly in front of the man. Her eyes held a fear that she wasn't used to showing. "Emory, you can't not come...You just- you have to be there. It's a state asylum, Emory. Do you not realize what that means? Crazy people- crazy crazy people, Emory! Please, you have to come...You have to..Please.." Her voice was practically begging as she searched the man's face.

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As she continued to stare at herself in the mirror, she tried to will herself to calm her nerves. That was the only trick for her features to return to normal. She gulped and tried to settle her mind- tried to think of anything else besides the multi-creature look of her face. Her eyes slid to a close as she leveled out her breathing. In, out. In, out. Bea started to sing a Welsh lullaby to herself, just under her breath. It had been one that her mother used to sing to her when she was a child. It always reminded her of happier times.

Wasn't long before her ears and nose shrank back to their normal size and shape. Ending the song, her eyes slowly opened and her reflection rewarded her with a small grin. She nodded slightly and glanced back at the man who had found her. He looked confused- not at her, but with himself. Raising a brow, she watched as he walked away. She followed him slowly into the room where she had seen the man and woman from earlier. Trix looked around and took a breath before realizing the man finally spoke.

His voice was smooth, yet dull. He seemed incredibly bored and unimpressed- and she soon realized he was speaking about her. Cringing, she clasped her hands together and watched him. "I'm sorry...I didn't...Well, she said that I would be needed here. Wanted here, even." Still watching him, she sucked in a breath before looking away, her eyes catching sight of the map. She spoke under her breath to herself. "Guess she was wrong about both of those..." The girl shook her head before once more looking at him. With a hesitant grin, she reached out her hand in greeting. "I'm Beatrix. Or Trixie. Or Bea. Or, well, whatever you want to call me, really. Except Beatrix. I don't like the full name. Annnddd I'm rambling." She gave a nervous giggle and shrugged. "Sorry. Haven't really talked to many people in quite some time."

@Sarcelle Renard

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Resting his hands on the map table, the werewolf leaned forward slightly as he took in the information in front of him. From the looks of it, the Regulators were taking on another job in America. The asylum was in Massachusetts to be specific, not that Kieran had any experience with the place or really any idea what he would be up against. Greenwood had skimped on the actual briefing part of her job before she went chasing after Corrigan. ’Is something going on between those two…?’ The thought left his mind just as quickly as it had come to him, as he was far more concerned with figuring out what potions to bring rather than worrying about work place love triangles.

The kid interrupted that process though, as she had followed him to the map and had been busy rambling for the past minute or so, something that she was kind enough to point out herself. The werewolf turned his head, his dull brown eyes giving her a rather hard look, as if he was measuring up everything she ever was and ever will be. Yet no matter how hard he tried, what he saw before him was not a prodigy, but just some kid that had ended up someplace they had no business being.

”You seem to misunderstand me, Reynell,” he started coolly, his hands ignoring her offered one by remaining firmly planted on the map table. ”It’s not that you aren't wanted by ORO, on the contrary we need all the help we can get as we are down a few members, but from where I'm standing it seems like you are woefully unfit for this job. You look young and inexperienced, both in regards to the darker sides of magic and how cruel people can truly be.” Kieran paused for a moment and cocked his head ever so slightly to the side before continuing. ”So, speaking only for myself, I highly recommend you find a new career before you get yourself or anyone else killed.”

While his words were awfully pointed, his voice had been neither malicious nor disdainful. In fact, everything about him seemed completely impersonal at this point, but on the inside he was in turmoil. For the life of him, Kieran couldn’t understand why he had said all that, much less make such sense of why he made such wild assumptions about a person he had barely met. Was he overcompensating because of what had happened with Twycross? Or had he simply snapped because of the frustrating lack of progress he had been making with the Wolfsbane Potion?

The werewolf’s dark eyes finally left Reynell’s after a handful of uncomfortable moments. It didn’t matter anymore. What was done was done, so for now he would just leave it at that.

”The name’s Kieran, by the way.”

---

@SailorSadie

Athos slowly left his room. He had changed into all black and still looked like hell. He looked down at the albino spider he was carrying and exhaled. His two crows on his shoulders as always while he walked. He had no idea where he was going, but at this point he didn't care.

He paused outside the room with the map when he heard the sound of voices. He paused by the doorway and listened. Another new person...he exhaled and entered right as Kieran released his pointed words at beatrix.

Athos felt a brow raise. "Harsh" eclipse meanwhile choose that moment to jump down and crawl onto Kieran. the spider waved up to the werewolf while clinging to their chest before Athos made a whistle sound. Eclipse turned and went back to his owner/father figure and crawled into athos' arms.

"Beatrix huh? You came at a rather trying time..." Athos was still broken inside. At least the long sleeves of the black collared shirt he was wearing covered his arms that are coated with scratches from trying to get to..him

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Why was he doing this? Why did the Ministry need him all of a sudden, especially when a new case was coming up? One where she was apparently in control of....It didn't make any sense to her. What did they want? Why did it have to be now? She couldn't handle being apart from him- he was a huge reason why she was able to keep her thoughts calm for as long as she did in the last case. The feel of his hand gripping hers greatly centered her mind and thoughts- what would she do without him?

Before she could panic further, she felt his hand come up to rest against her cheek. Zara blinked and glanced up at him, her eyes trying to search out any clue that could be hidden in his expression. Her stomach sank as he spoke; his words giving her little confidence. She had this? She couldn't even stomach the thought of this. Not to mention the fact that they each faced the risk of each case being their last, with Felix being the latest victim. Her eyes welled with tears at the fear rising in the back of her mind. She'd go to the asylum, work the case...All with a great possibility of never returning to the house. To him.

The last thing she wanted to think about was looking after a kid. Sure, she loved children. Even dreamed of having some of her own someday. Maybe. But, teenagers...Teenagers were a different story. It wasn't too long ago that she was one herself; she knew how annoying they could be. Zara didn't want to have to worry about a newbie on her own. Not with everything else she would have to worry about. But his lips on her forehead released a strained breath from her chest. Closing her eyes, she leaned into him and nodded slightly. It was then she realized- for him, she would do anything.

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The grin that took up residence on her face soon dwindled as the man started to speak. Her hand slowly dropped from a place of greeting to fall limply by her side. He spoke to her as if bored, uninterested in anything that she was, or could ever be. Trix cringed and shifted her feet, not knowing what else to do as he spoke to her. He didn't even know her- why would he make all these assumptions about her life? He didn't know what she had been through the last year or so- he didn't know the bullying she grew up around- he didn't know anything about her brother- he didn't know.

Her eyes stayed on him as he continued to speak to her, only glancing away when he finally did. She pulled in a long, shaky breath as she gathered her nerves. The girl had lived her entire life being a spectacle for others to beat down. Trix was done being bullied. She joined ORO for a chance to have a new, fresh start. It was not going to start out this way. With a clear of her throat, she looked at him and folded her arms across her chest. "Okay, you win. You're right. I just turned eighteen and I never graduated from Hogwarts. I dropped out with two years left. So, yes. Young and inexperienced."

With her eyes quickly tearing up, she bit the inside of her cheek. She could feel her body start to shake from pent up frustration. "But don't you dare assume that I don't know how cruel others can be. You saw first hand what happens to me when I get scared, or nervous. My features change without my knowing. For that, I've been bullied relentlessly my entire life. Puberty sucked. Kids are cruel enough on their own- but let's jump forward to the age of sixteen. Fun and sweet, right? Life was getting better. Till I found out my brother used to be a Death Eater. Cool, right? Yeah."

She gave another shake of her head and finally looked away from him. "I ran from home that night. Been living on the streets ever since. You can only imagine how easy it's been for a young, pretty teenager to be on her own, living in those types of conditions. Wondering when your next meal is gonna be. Who you'd have to run away from tonight. Where the next safe place will be to sleep. Yep. Just peachy."

The breath left her lungs in a whoosh as she let out the rest of her pent up nerves. Shaking her head, she glanced over her shoulder to see Athos- and a huge spider. Her eyes widened slightly before giving a small nod of her head in greeting. "I, uh....uh, yeah....I'm, uh...beginning to see that...Um...You, uh...That's a...Um...Do you know that's a spider?"

@BlackPanther @Sarcelle Renard

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Natalia’s room was quiet, the only sound being that of her pencil scratching against paper and the slight slurping noise she made when sipping her medicinal tea made from fresh herbs.

Mom,

Things are...she stopped writing, tapping her pencil on the desk as she brainstormed for the right words to use...the same as they've always been here. We’ve recently lost some friends, but we’ve also gained new members. It's hard, nonetheless, especially when you consider most of them family.

I hope you're doing okay

Natalia suddenly turned around, her heart rate skyrocketing after she was sure she'd heard some noise from within her closet. The young woman only stared for what seemed like an eternity before she put her pencil down and got up to slowly walk towards the closet door.

"There's nothing there, there's nothing there, there's nothing there... she repeatedly told herself, hoping that there was some truth to her words. She paused in front of the door to take a deep breath, then slowly clutched the doorknob and turned it.

Natalia's own instinctive reaction made her stagger back as she saw her step father emerge from within the closet with a belt in hand. The figure that stood before her was hazy and not really very clear, but its presence was very chilling nonetheless. The dark features on the man's face toyed with Natalia's childhood fears, and she couldn't help but stand still as her entire body shook. Part of her realized that she was hallucinating, but another part of her was also scared as to what the figure may do, and that always made the experience so frightening.

Her step father then took another step towards her, and as Natalia stepped back, she tripped and fell. The woman saw her chance to fight back when she looked up and saw her wand sticking out the edge of her desk. She quickly grabbed it and aimed at the figure of her step father, but it was in those very seconds that the figure disappeared without a trace. And just like that, Natalia lay there alone, her breathing a bit ragged from the experience as a wave of relief started to slowly wash over her.