With the capture of Verandi Farley and several high-ranking Trossach members, the British wizarding world has finally caught a break. The rate of rogue werewolf attacks have started dropping at a steady rate and, hopefully, things will stay that way. The Ministry is starting to loosen some restrictions, like not arresting werewolves standing on the street for loitering, however there’s still an obvious power imbalance between wizardfolk and werewolves.
The Cotswolds pack are continuing to advocate for the rights of werewolves and petitioning to change the legislation that has been set in motion by the current Minister for Magic, whilst the remaining Trossachs members are trying to stay out of the spotlight and keep a low profile… for now.
Whilst the British wizarding world seems to have calmed down, the same cannot be said for over in Northern Europe where a rebellion of magical creatures has risen. The state of things has gotten so bad that the European Ministry has enacted protocols to protect those under eighteen whilst their adult witches and wizards fight to keep control of their countries.
Students from Durmstrang have been sent to Hogwarts to keep them safe and those not old enough to attend school have been sent to live with relatives or designated British Ministry officials outside of Europe for the time being.
Will the low rates of werewolf attacks in Britain continue? How long will Durmstrang students stay at Hogwarts? Will the creatures usurp the wizardfolk in Northern Europe? Only time will tell.
SEPTEMBER 2019 It's been a very long, eventful summer in the wizarding world. A baby was stolen, several high ranking Trossach members were imprisoned, and werewolf attacks have drastically dropped as a result. What will happen now school has returned?
MAY 2019 An attempt to capture the beta of the Trossachs has been launched. Were the Aurors successful in their mission? Go read more here!
Post by MAEVE LOCHLANN on Dec 12, 2019 5:02:30 GMT
she's sweet, but a psycho
Maeve liked the quiet of the park at night. Had she been told off for loitering there after hours? Yes, many times. Did that stop her? Never in a thousand years. She could enjoy the park during the day, like a quote 'normal person,' but there was something blissfully cathartic and wrong about an empty playground in the shadows. The world was a loud and terrible place, but the shadows were silent.
Maeve wasn't sure when she'd taken off her shoes or why, but she didn't need them. The gravel on the playground and digging into her feet, but she didn't mind. She hummed to herself as she explored the empty playground. She heaved herself up onto the monkey bars and stood upon them, balancing as she walked over them rather than swing from bar to bar. When she got to the other end, she turned back around and walked back before jumping back onto the platform and climbing the stairs to the slide, which she slid down.
Once she was down the slide, she made her way back to the swings and took the seat in the middle. She swang slowly, pushing back and forth, moving so that her toes didn't leave the ground. She hummed along as she listened to the rhythm of the squeaking iron as she rocked back and forth, back and forth, like a child in the arms of their mother.
When she stopped, it was sudden, the silence crashing through the night air. "I can hear you," she said. "Come out of the shadows now." Though her tone was gentle, only a fool would mistake her words for a request.
Post by EMMA MOUNTBATTEN-SMYTHE on Jan 1, 2020 13:54:49 GMT
Heels were not the typical footwear for making your way across uneven ground at night, but it had seemed like a good idea at the time, and Emma was not the sort of girl to give up so easily. Besides, it was a short cut, and though no cut could be as short as Apparation, she just wasn't in the mood. Losing cases was not, with all due modesty, something that she was used to, and so tonight, she felt as though she needed a long, quiet walk in the darkness to put her head back in the right place. She couldn't afford to lose her concentration, certainly not now.
The lock on the park gates had presented no challenge at all, and she almost felt as though she could have opened it without the use of magic, though she sensibly resisted the urge to try it; fumbling around attracted attention, whereas if the lock just sprang open, everyone assumed that she had a key and therefore a right to be there. Psychology could be a very useful tool if properly employed.
Her feet crunched on the gravel, but fell silent as she stepped onto the grass, and that suited her far better. Most people would not be annoyed by the sound of their own footsteps, but then again, most people were not quite as irate as she was tonight. Though the ground was more uneven here, Emma's balance was good, and she didn't so much as stumble as she made her way towards the playground, not for any particular reason but more because it was a target to aim for-
There was someone there.
Stopping sharply, the brunette tilted her head slightly, listening. That was a swing creaking, or possibly a seesaw, and probably not a child at this time of night, which left only worrying possibilities. Which got a whole lot more worrying as someone addressed her. Inwardly, she cursed; she used to be better than this... But there seemed no option, and so she took a few steps closer, watching the shady figure that emerged from the darkness as her fingers went gently questing towards her wand. Better safe than sorry.
Post by MAEVE LOCHLANN on Jan 3, 2020 18:18:05 GMT
she's sweet, but a psycho
Maeve pivoted in her swing, glaring at the mass of shadow that was approaching her, heading into the light. Whoever the person was they seemed...small. Smaller than Maeve at least. When she could finally see the other woman properly she raised an eyebrow at her and looked her up and down.
"Bit dumb to be out in the park in the middle of the night, isn't it? Especially as a woman" Maeve asked, conveniently ignoring the fact that she, too, was a woman alone in the park in the middle of the night. "I could be a rapist or a serial killer or something. Not that I'm a rapist, of course." Her tone implied that she might have been joking, but she wasn't.
Maeve lit a cigarette and raised an eyebrow at the woman's drawn wand. "You can put that down, if you like. I'm not quite in the killing mood right now. It's too nice a night for murder." Again, her tone implied she was joking and simply had a dark sense of humor. Granted, her humor was dark, but not like that. "You want a fag?" she asked, holding up the box of cigarettes.
Post by EMMA MOUNTBATTEN-SMYTHE on Jan 4, 2020 11:32:21 GMT
Emma shrugged, relaxing a little as it became apparent that the woman probably wasn't about to stab her and take everything she had, which was just as well considering that most of what she had on her at the moment were legal papers. Very important, true, but she doubted that they would be an especially impressive prize. "Perhaps I'm just in the mood to do stupid things." This was very seldom the case, it had to be said, and when it was, she tended to be more inclined to spend her evening in a bar drinking to excess than she did to go for nocturnal rambles, but there were stranger things under the sun.
"Thank you, I don't smoke." To be honest, she'd never seen the point, but she didn't think that this was the appropriate moment to have that conversation. "So, what brings you out here all alone?" Emma had a strong feeling that she didn't really want to know the answer to that question, but she had to say something, and she only liked awkward silences when they were intentional.
Maeve laughed heartily at the prospect of the stranger being in a mood to stupid things. Honestly, the joke wasn't that funny, but Maeve found it hilarious. "Oh if there's anything I can relate to it's to someone doing stupid things knowingly. That's like...most of my life choices, really." Maeve didn't exactly allude...intelligence, but she was very clever in many ways. She knew how to dispose of a body. She knew how to get away with murder. She could kill someone using only her teeth and fingernails if she wanted, but those weren't exactly skills you put on your resume.
When the woman asked why Maeve was out there on her own, Maeve shrugged ans started twisting around in her swing, the chains grinding and clinking against each other as she started to spin. "I haven't decided yet. I'm either trying to lure a lover or a murder victim and now you're here so...we just need to figure out what category you fall under." Maeve's tone implied that she was joking, and she was....mostly.
Post by EMMA MOUNTBATTEN-SMYTHE on Jan 11, 2020 12:15:53 GMT
Which, Emma reflected, was perhaps what had led to the woman being here on her own in the middle of the night, with nothing better to do than spin around on a swing. But these were probably not the best circumstances in which to start doling out life advice; besides which, considering that she seemed to be in more or less the same situation herself at this precise moment, she probably didn't appear to be in any situation to do so.
"Well, I'm open to suggestions, but I imagine you can guess which way I'd prefer to go." She kept her tone light, but she was by no means happy; of course, few would be when threatened even so jokingly as this by a complete stranger in the middle of a park at night. "Though if it's to be the latter, don't you think I ought to at least know your name? Of course it doesn't matter so much for the former..." Emma was quite accustomed to not knowing the names of those that she had, on occasion, spent an amorous evening or so with.
"I'm always open to suggestions. By all accounts, I'd hope to make this an enjoyable experience for such a lovely lady. A gentle death or a brutal tumble. In either case, you wouldn't be able to walk once I finish with you," Maeve continued, smiling still.
This was a new sort of experience. Usually, Maeve didn't get to be as much...her self in these kind of situations. Sure, she got to flirt, but most people became uneasy when she suggested murder. Not even when she brought it up in terms of other murders, but at all.
Maeve gestured to the swing beside her, indicating that Emma sit down with her. "Why not take a seat while we figure out where this evening is going to take us? The swings are quite fun. It's a shame only the children get to use them."
Post by EMMA MOUNTBATTEN-SMYTHE on Jan 26, 2020 20:45:07 GMT
"An enjoyable death," Emma reflected with a wry smile. "Not a phrase one tends to hear very often, but better than the alternative, I suppose. No one wants to not enjoy their last moments on Earth, do they?" At least, she assumed not; the brunette couldn't say it was anything that she had any prior experience with, but then there always had to be a first time. In this case, of course, it was also very likely to be a last time, but they did say that you only lived once, and whatever the truth of the assertion, it helped to lend an added piquancy.
With a shrug and a nod, she seated herself on another swing, beginning to rock gently back and forth and trying not to care about the damage that all this was going to do to her rather expensive shoes; she had bigger things to worry about at the moment. "Well, I'm in your hands."
"If you can't image an enjoyable death then we've clearly lived different lives," Maeve said. Not that she needed that tidbit of knowlege to see that she and Emma were from exteremly different backgrounds. After all, Maeve didn't really have her own place and clearly Emma was very put-together. Not that Maeve minded. She was content where she was. "I know most people wanna go slow and quiet, but not me. I want to feel the life just...pull out of me. Savor it like a glass of bitter wine...I suppose that's not a popular opinion though."
Maeve gave Emma a calculating look before she started to swing herself a bit again. "You know, I've gotta say you're a lot more adventerous than most of my victims. It's fun so I'm thinking I won't kill you...yet. Unless you want me to, in which case I'm at your service."
Post by EMMA MOUNTBATTEN-SMYTHE on Feb 6, 2020 22:29:44 GMT
"Clearly," Emma agreed, pleasantly enough. Of course she was well aware that she had been reasonably privileged growing up, and she was quite happy to admit it, just so long as no one expected her to apologise for it. She couldn't help it, any more than Maeve could help whatever disastrous set of circumstances had brought her to be sitting on a swing in a park at this time of night. "I don't know about going slow, though. I think the less time you have to think and worry about it, the better." Emma definitely didn't want to slip away by inches, watching her youth and beauty disappear a little more each day and the sympathy on the faces of those around her grow ever more pronounced. No, she wanted to go out at her best, in a blaze of glory.
"Well I'll be sure to remember that if and when the time comes. If anything, I'm a courteous killer." she said with a smile.
"I don't except most people do want to die slowly. I don't expect I'll make it to old age. Let's be honest, someone's gonna get the job done before that happens. I just hope that I end up poisoned, or I slowly bleed to death or something. You only die once so why not actually experience it? as you can see, i'[ve clearly given this far too much thought."
Post by EMMA MOUNTBATTEN-SMYTHE on Feb 9, 2020 13:14:02 GMT
The brunette nodded with a smile. "I suppose I ought to thank you for that." Although death at the hands of someone like this was scarcely glorious. A finely honed assassin, dressed in black and brought over from the Continent at great expense by some rival in business was one thing; to be stabbed unceremoniously in the middle of a park at midnight was entirely another and not one which Emma found at all appealing. "Well... Whatever satisfies you. It's your life. Or not, of course." So long as she escaped this park with all her limbs intact, she didn't really care.
Maeve giggled a little bit and reached out to give Emma a small touch on her chin, pulling away almost as soon as she'd reached out. "Don't you fret, love. I'm only teasing you. I'm not going to kill anybody."
And she wasn't...at least not tonight. Murder was a whole affair. You had to make a night of it to really do it right. "Sorry if I made you uneasy. I have a bit of a sick and twisted sense of humor."
Post by EMMA MOUNTBATTEN-SMYTHE on Apr 21, 2020 11:06:15 GMT
Emma raised an eyebrow. "Oh, well; that's rather a disappointment," she remarked wryly, contemplating the other woman for a moment. It was a strange fact, but she found being patronised a rather more unpleasant experience than being threatened with murder. No doubt it was a deep subconscious issue which many a psychologist would be thrilled to get to grips with, but the brunette had rather too many little secrets tucked away in her mind to like the idea of anyone else getting involved with it.
