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 Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:37 pm
 Thankfully, right now, Marquis didn’t know that Mattie had walked in on them. It would just add insult to injury right now. The look he flashed the other boy was one of panic, mixed with relief. He didn’t know what Mattie had seen. What he did know was that a ripping pain was shooting through his left arm, the bullet passing through to hit the stone wall behind her. The subtle noise went unnoticed as the blonde keened in pain, eyes clamping shut as he buckled over. Gods it burnt! Still, even through the pain, he realised that the djinni – it had to be her – had moved her attention to Mattie instead.
Marquis wasn’t about to have that. Even with his arm throbbing, fingers barely moving from the pain, the smaller boy took advantage of the djinni’s distraction and pushed himself off the wall at her. It was enough to send them both careening to the floor, him on top of a figure that now looked like him, and his body aching like a b***h. His breathing was fast now, blood oozing from both sides of his arms leaving his hands sticky, and he did his best to keep the creature down.
”S’not ‘im ya ‘ave the problem with, mate. S’me. Mattie, get the ‘ell outta here.” Even his voice was shaky. ”And m’sorry if I offended ya, last time. Didn’t know what you were, n’all.”
Who knew if apologising would work, but he could try. Perhaps he could hold her down until Mattie got out. Oh Marquis, you’re so selfless!
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:05 pm
 Like hell if Mattie was just running! He’d just watched Marquis get shot in the arm, and wrestle… himself. Mattie felt himself go cold all over. He’d have to try and hit one of them. The gun had gone clattering off to the side, so even that wasn’t something he could mark the real Marquis by. He just stepped forward and blindly reached out to grab one of the Marquis’ and pin them back. Either he’d end up protecting that one or beating the living s**t out of it. He didn’t know yet.
And he didn’t know if he could. The idea of actually hitting Marquis was so… The Marquis he grabbed hissed in pain just on contact with the bracelet he wore. The metal bracelet. Of course! That was the fake Marquis. Mattie hauled the fake Marquis up against the wall as fast as he could, and pinned the pipe next to it’s face. He held it down with his braceleted hand. Whatever the hell it was. Mattie still hadn’t cottoned on that it was the djinni yet. At least not until the djinni morphed again into a likeness of his brother Jaye.
“How about me? Could you hit your own bro—“ Yes. And he did. He got a goot metal bracelet to the mouth. The creature howled and it’s form flickered back to the blue-skinned white-haired girl they’d seen three years back. Her eyes started to tear up again. “You’re meaaaan~” She whined.
“You shot my friend.” Mattie growled, tightening his grip. She didn’t seem to notice, twisting her neck at an odd angle to take a look at Marquis. She looked back at Mattie, and nodded, despite the grip on her neck. “Yes. He shot me first.”
She did something that made Mattie temporarily panic. She shifted down to a small moldy brick, where Mattie no longer had a grip on her, then shifted back to herself. She was sitting on the floor and looking up at him. “You’re awfully awkward for a human.” She remarked. “Isn’t there something like, uhm…”
She looked puzzled, and rubbed her jaw where he’d hit her. The glow she had about her seemed weaker there. Mattie kept her at the end of the silver pipe, not sure how to go about getting name from her anymore, or killing her. Or even getting out alive. “Etiquette!” She decided, brightening considerably. The good news was that now that she seemed to be ‘even’ with Marquis, she seemed to be in a rather cheerful mood.
She looked at Marquis rather oddly, though, as though she hadn’t understood what he’d said earlier. “How could you not know what I was? I was standing right there, silly~. You’re an awful liar.”
Mattie spoke up. “You looked fairly human at the time.”
“Did I?” The djinni looked like she was trying to remember something. “Oh yeah~! Heehee~. I diiid. But why would you ask my name? That’s so… cruel.” She looked like she was starting to tear up again. Damn it.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 5:02 pm
The djinni had managed to flip them, mostly because of Marquis’ aching arm, and the boy was about to panic when the weight was suddenly removed from him. A quick glance told him it was Mattie, and he instantly relaxed, if just for a moment. This entire issue had left him rather tired, and he let himself lie flat on his back for a few moments, the cold stone biting his spine through the thin layers of his jacket. He just breathed, slowly, trying to calm his pulse down and just recover. His arm was hurting like a b***h, but he could ignore that if he put his mind to it. Mattie had the djinni pinned, for the moment, and that was good but if he let her go...
Would she chase them again? Somehow, Marquis didn’t think ‘beating the hell out of it’ was going to really work for what Mattie wanted, but then, Mattie always was about brute strength. So he sat up, slowly and leaning mostly on his right arm. Any time a muscle even remotely connected to his left arm moved, a new sheen of sweat broke out on the blonde’s forehead as pain once again ran rampant through his body. It was a biting, searing pain rather than the bruises Marquis was used to, and he wasn’t quite sure how to cope with it. So he went for distraction, and looked right back at the djinni.
”Well, m’pretty sure tha only djinni’s I’d ‘eard of ‘fore then were in stories, n’it didn’t say nothin’ useful ‘bout them. Certainly nothin’ bout name-askin’ bein’ rude.”
The stone was getting a little too chilly now, so Marquis slowly, carefully, manoeuvred himself to his feet. The wince was quite noticeable when he shrugged a little, swaying. His sleeve was plastered to his arm with blood, by now, and he could feel it starting to trickle down his fingers and drip off the ends. He should get that looked at...
”S’polite, fer humans.” He continued, babbling now. He wanted to get out of here. ”Ta ask names, n’all. S’the first thing we do when we meet, n’I thought you were another student...”
He trailed off here, closing his eyes a moment to try and maintain his composure.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:26 pm
Even if Mattie wanted to, he couldn’t do much more than hover over Piper. She had managed to knock both of them out by hitting one of them. Mattie’s arm was hurting like hell, and he was starting to see a little fuzz. Damnit Marq, stay awake. He kept his energy as strong as he could, hoping that some of that would be sent back through the bracelet’s enchantment. An idea hit him. He could easily make Marquis feel better, but… Oh hell with it. He didn’t care anymore.
Mattie slowly slid backwards, maintaining a menacing look at Piper and using his good arm to keep the pipe pointed at her. He made sure he got in range of Marquis before he slipped an arm under Marquis’s. He couldn’t support him, not with his arm as bad as Marq’s (damn bracelets) but he could null a good portion of the pain. Veela charm came in handy for that kind of stuff.
Mattie grumbled, trying to keep the djinni’s attention on them, rather than on Marquis’ healing, or lack thereof. If they needed to make a getaway, it was a really bad idea for it to have forewarning. “You never really gave warning. Just attacked.” Mattie glared something awful at the creature, but continued to focus his energy on Marquis. His arm still hurt like a b***h, so he wasn’t okay yet.
Piper’s head tilted. “I suppose so… But my name? Polite? How… strange.” She seemed intrigued and a little nervous. “Well. Uh. You first. Your name, I mean. What is it?”
Mattie responded first, dryly, “Mattie.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:45 pm
The wound really wasn’t so bad, Marquis tried to rationalise to himself. I mean, you always saw those soldiers in the movies sporting at least one or two wounds like this and still saving the day. But by gods it hurt, and even though there was an imminent threat, he was starting to feel rather faint. He just wasn’t used to it, wasn’t battle hardened, and he was sure shock was stariting to set in a little.
Another wobble, and Marquis felt his attention leaning more and more towards his own staying upright than on the confrontation in front of him. A very, very quiet groan escaped him before suddenly, there was an arm around him. The djinni was still against the wall, and the pain gave Marquis a few moments more than normal to realise that it was Mattie who was wrapped around him. His eyes widened.
”Mate, no, yanno what happen.. s... “ As normal, Marquis’ protests were weak and short before the charm took over him. This made the boy gurgle happily, close his eyes and lean against Mattie’s upper-arm, breathing out slowly. Normally he’d be coming on a little stronger, especially this close, but with the fatigue and blood-loss it appeared as though Marquis had reverted to how he acted when they were younger: He got cuddly.
Mattie was talking, but Marquis couldn’t concentrate on that right now. The spearing pain in his arm was slowly muting itself into a dull ache, and he nuzzled into Mattie’s shoulder. ”M’Marquis... “ The reply was delayed, but dammit, Marquis was busy.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:57 pm
“Oh.” Piper nodded slowly. She looked nervous. “And that’s it? I just tell you my name, and we’re friends?”
Mattie glared. Friends? That was a bit far fetched. The pain in his arm told him to shut up and agree, though. He would really appreciate it if he wasn’t going to be attacked at random by a djinni. He nodded gruffly. “Yeah. Sure.”
Piper messed about with her hand, shifting it back and forth into random opjects. Flowers, pencils, glowing lights, torches. She seemed to be thinking. Or something like it. Mattie watched. Piper locked her eyes on the pipe pointed at her throat. She frowned. “Would you put that down first? It’s making me nervous. I thought we were friends?”
Mattie hesitated. He didn’t seem to have much of a choice. He really should’ve read up more on the intelligence of these creatures. She seemed pretty average, just clueless, but he didn’t know. She could be playing them both for fools. Slowly, Mattie put the pipe down, but kept a firm grip on it. He didn’t know if he’d be able to act fast enough if she attacked. His heart raced a little.
“Piper~!”
“What?” Mattie blinked, then scowled. “I put the damn pipe down.”
“No, no. It’s Piper! My name.” Piper smiled cheerfully. …Huh. Mattie somehow thought it’d be some long complicated ancient name. Weird.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 9:03 pm
Meanwhile, Marquis was... pretty much in a fluffy, pink cloud of bliss. Perhaps not pink, that was a bit too girly even for him, but it was certainly pastel, and he felt safe. Happy, and safe.
But there was still talking going on. Grudgingly, Marquis opened his eyes to watch the djinni lazily. He’d felt Mattie move a bit, but had ignored it other than to tighten his grip on the other man’s arm. He was just so comfortable here.
”Piper?” He repeated, sounding sluggish. ”S’a strange name... liked the Pied Piper? Do you control rats?”
Yes, he was starting to ramble. About rats. ”Piper... who’da thought... s’pretty, though.“
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 9:11 pm
“Yeah. Piper.” Mattie nodded. Piper on the other hand was freaking out. Mattie only had a lazy eye on her now. He wasn’t really sure what it was he was supposed to do to use the name, but she seemed to be really upset that he was even saying it.
“Oh, now you’ve done it!” She wailed. “Loyalty, to both of you!” She harrumphed and puffed in her spot by the wall. Mattie blinked at her. What on earth had they done? He couldn’t remember. Piper… What a weird name. He felt himself slowly getting dimmer and dimmer, and hardly able to hold himself upright.
“Hm. That sucks.” Marquis must’ve already passed out, since it wasn’t long after saying that that Mattie hit the floor himself.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 9:18 pm
It was warm. It wasn’t the fuzzy, cuddly warm he last remembered – Mattie’s charm, he knew it like the back of his hand – but it was comfortable, and safe. His arm was still throbbing dully, but it was no longer sticky or feeling like a thousand years of pain. Everything was... still groggy, though. Drugs, or some magic equivalent, he deduced hazily, rolling onto his good arm with a quiet grumble.
How had they gotten here? Weren’t they in a corridor before, with Piper? Wait, Piper? His struggled to open his eyes, slowly, only to have them assaulted by those damnable hospital lights. Another groan. Maybe he’d stay asleep for a while.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 9:27 pm
“G’mooorninng~!” A giggly voice whispered at Marquis as soon as he rolled over. Mattie was still asleep, but Piper didn’t sleep. So she was totally cool with sitting in the clinic and waiting for them to wake up. For hours. And hours. And hours. Humans could be so boorrriing. She’d amused herself by changing the patterns on her lampshade and confusing the nurses. Oh, that’s right; Piper was currently the shade of a desk lamp. Her eyes peered out of her base and blinked up happily at the blonde boy.
“Doesn’t this place have weird wallpaper?” she remarked shifting the lamp’s weight a little to gesture to it. Whoops. A little too much. She was gunna fall—Mattie’s arm reached out and caught the lamp.
“What the hell are you doing, Marquis? And since when do you care about wallpaper?” Mattie growled from where he’d stuffed his face under a pillow. He reached up and pulled the pillow off, and looked at the lamp. The lamp looked back at him. Mattie dropped the lamp, and it shattered. Mattie looked over the side of the bed, eyes wide to see if the break had hurt or killed the djinni.
Nope. The broken pieces were quickly reformed into a cushy looking embroidered pillow with the words “Free Love” embroidered on it. …What a weird djinni.
“Piper?” Mattie hissed.
“Hiii~” The pillow sang back.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 9:47 pm
Ah. Piper. Marquis had known it wasn’t just some sort of painful dream. He gazed up at the lamp, groggy and bemused as she rattled on about the wall-paper. Huh? Last time Marquis was here, he was pretty sure that the hospital wing didn’t have wallpaper, that it was stone like the rest of the place. Still, he hadn’t been in here a while... it mighta changed? Like he knew, it was all starting to blurr for him.
”M’not... “ He grumbled back at Mattie, rolling onto his stomach and burying his face into the pillow. It was likely Mattie wasn’t drugged up like him, so perhaps it was a good thing Marquis was: Otherwise Mattie would be feeling it to. ”S’the djinni...”
And then the lamp smashed, and Marquis winced into his pillow. It was so damn loud, like that time he’d drunk way too much with Zach over the summer holidays... the next morning had been absolute hell.
Oh. Zach. That brought back memories, and much more current ones too. Thankfully Marquis had his face buried in the pillow, otherwise Mattie would have seen the rather embarrassing blush staining his cheeks. He’d made out with Mattie... Piper!Mattie anyway. Gods, he hoped Mattie hadn’t seen that. He wasn’t, absolutely wasn’t, ready to ‘fess up about that yet... it wasn’t like Mattie swung that way, anyway. Or would take him seriously. Groan.
It was at that point the nurse, Poppy, floated in. ”Goodmorning, poppits! Mattie, you’re free to go, dear. You should be fine. Marquis, I have a few more potions for you to take!”
Double-groan.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:09 pm
Mattie responded to the nurse with a resolute “No,” and stayed buried in his bed. “I’ve got to wait for him. Assignment.”
Blatant lie, but whatever. It might as well be. Mattie had questions for Marquis. He wanted to know what the hell was going on when when he walked in on him and the djinni. Why the djinni picked his form. Why Marquis accepted Mattie kissing him. But he couldn’t very well ask these questions, so he’d settle for asking another lesser question. The nurse responded to Mattie with an uptight hmph! but didn’t fuss. She couldn’t. Mattie’s family could have her in trouble so fast, her head would spin. He hated having that as his excuse for getting away with everything. Someday he’d have to change that. But for now, it worked.
He waited till she’d supplied Marquis with some potions to perk him up a bit more, to throw a question. “Want to go get drunk?”
He not only wanted to see how comfortable Marquis was with this, he wanted to see how he took the question. Besides. He’d ask him more once Marquis was drunk. Mattie hadn’t drunk before, but he was sure he could hold his liquor. It couldn’t be hard.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:26 pm
The day Mattie left when ordered was the day hell froze over. Marquis wasn’t surprised in the least that the other boy decided to stay, so put his energies into grumbling about the nurse turning him over and force-feeding him potions. She was highly skilled at it, and in less than a minute she’d managed to get three potions – anti-pain, pepper-up and something anti-inflammatory – down his gullet. They tasted horrible, and Marquis gagged a little once she moved away, but it did wake him up and get him going again. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and groped around for his shirt – clean and fixed, now, ah magic – shrugging it on with a wince. Owie. Not quite healed yet.
The look he sent Mattie was incredulous. If he was going to guess, he’d say that Mattie had never been drunk before – if he’d drunk at all – so he was completely surprised he’s suggested it at all. And then his look turned slightly suspicious. ”Mate, yer gunna get serious hangover... m’mean, ya haven’t drunk ‘fore and all. Ya sure?”
Oh, right. He’d never mentioned to Mattie had he’d been drunk before – and with Zach at the time – and... now probably wasn’t the time. Well, he had the experience over Mattie’s weight... surely he could get the other boy tipsy quick enough and them both home safely.
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:40 pm
What the hell. Marquis had gotten drunk before? Mattie already knew the blonde had had girlfriends, too. The damn Gryffindork even had a gun first. Mattie was bloody pissed. Now he had even more reason to out-drink the short blonde. If he was going to be second, he was going to be best. Well, he was going to be best anyway, but whatever. “I’ll be fine.” Mattie grumbled.
“Can I come?” Piper pitched in.
“No.” Mattie threw back. He wanted to talk to her later. “We’ll find you later.” He wanted to corner Marquis on those questions, but to do so, he couldn’t have an inebriated djinni toting along with them. That’d just be stupid. Mattie sat up in his cot, and searched around next to him for his shirt. Finding it and pulling it on, he looked for his scarf and jacket. He hopped up and pulled on the jacket as he moved and threw on the scarf.
He turned around and stared at Marquis. “Ready?”
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Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:49 pm
Something in Marquis wanted Piper to come. He couldn’t quite say what, exactly, but he was having a few worries about this ‘drinking trip’. After all, they weren’t even meant to be down at Hogsmeade today, let alone at night, but that wasn’t what worried him. Getting caught, well, hopefully Mattie’s family thing could get them out.
No, he just didn’t know what sort of drunk Mattie was. If he was angry – how much angrier could he get? – Marquis knew he couldn’t control him. If he was sleepy, well, there was no way Marquis could get him back. Overall, going out for Mattie’s first trip was sounding worse and worse.
”Mate, n’way we could get it in here n’stead? M’dorm’s gunna be empty ‘gain tonight, ‘olidays comin’ and all, so we could go there... er... if ya wanted.” He hastily continued, so it didn’t sound like he was babying the other boy. ”Yanno, just in case we drink a bit too much n’aren’t so great n’gettin’ back here. Dun wanna collapse on our way up the ‘ill, or nothin’.
Whatever the other boy chose, he was ready to go.
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