The school, the school, the school is on fire...

[liquidsky]

Who: Anyone who wants in on it!
What: The school is on fire.
When: Days 420 around sundown and after.
Where: The school in Odin's district.
Rating: We'll see!

The sun is slowly going down and Barty Crouch jr is in Odin's district, as he's been every day for a good while though, since he first realized how easily Will Graham fell into habits. The difference is that today he isn't headed to the cafe they always meet at right away. Instead he stands leaning against a wall, ever now and then glancing at the school and waiting for a sign. He has placed the mirror - a present from Albus Dumbledore himself - in just the right position fixed it to the corner of a building and waited for the sun to hit the reflective surface at the right angle.

Dumbledore had talked of smoke and mirrors and now Barty had found the right tinder. He waits until he can see smoke, faintly but there. It would be another hour, he suspects, maybe even more before the fire spreads far enough to be noticed. But it would burn, of that he had no doubt.

It is starting to get dark when he takes the mirror back, making sure to remain unseen, and he heads down the road to meet Will. He doesn't know if anyone is still in the building he just set on fire, he doesn't much care either way. The flames would rise high and Severus Snape would feel the heat.

[OOC Notes: I purposefully set this up like an event log, so just like for them, feel free to make a header comment detailing what your character is doing at any given time. If you want to do any more last minute plotting, head on over to the plotting post! Also, here is the IC post with some of what led up to this if you want to read up and/or still tag in! I backtag forever. Slowly.

If your character has been near/around/in the school before the fire started and would thus be a suspect and/or suspect other people he or she has seen, you can play that part out here too!

Times: Before the fire, during the fire, right after the fire. ...duh.
Places: The parts of the schools that will be affected are: The library, the auditorium and several classrooms as well as Evy's office.
Obviously you can also have your character be outside the school or in the hallways or any unaffected part if they want to use the chaos to, I don't know, mess up Snape's office a little.

I just ask that no one saw Barty do what he did, so we can have more fun with various suspicions cast about.]

Comments

[proudofwhatiam]

[When Evy's waved over, she doesn't recognize Ellie for a moment. But the voice, however scratchy it sounds now, is just familiar enough to be recognizable from the network--not to mention the school corridors.

She shakes her head no at the question, then reaches out awkwardly to pat the girl's shoulder.]

[tonsofpun]

[It's been some time since Ellie's come here, and she's starting to get used to the apparent culture of comforting young people with touch. She only flinches a little bit- she recognizes Evy, too.]

Hey- you okay?

[Scratchy as it is, her voice softens when she realizes that something more must be wrong.]

[proudofwhatiam]

[Oops--well, she draws her hand away soon enough. Sorry, Ellie.

Meanwhile, the poor thing has clearly been through the wringer today, and it doesn't seem right to confide in a child anyway. Even if she isn't Ellie's teacher, Evy's a teacher; her job, so far as she's concerned, is to be a steady presence in the lives of her students (and also, ideally, infallible).

So she tries her best at a don't-worry-about-me smile and nods before gesturing to Ellie. What about you, are you all right? Please don't have died.]

[tonsofpun]

[Ellie tries not to be annoyed when Evy brushes off her concern -- like her age somehow makes her exempt from reality. But she's too used to it for her to be bothered for long.

Thankfully, she's got a lot of experience with interpreting Sandy's gestures and expressions, and she nods.]

M'okay. A lot of smoke but Riley got me out.

[She seems vaguely embarrassed about this, but also grateful. Riley deserves this credit.]

[proudofwhatiam]

[Smoke's not good, by any means, but she'd far prefer seeing Ellie injured than dead. Evy nods, glad.

And then she repeats RILEY? silently, curious. She doesn't know anyone by that name here.]

[tonsofpun]

[Ellie points her out nearby, helping out. She's a lovely, dark-skinned girl a little taller than Ellie, with an easy smile and bright eyes. While the girls look nothing alike, there is a quality of familiarity in the way that Ellie looks at her.

They go back a long time.]

My best friend from home. She hasn't been here all that long.

[proudofwhatiam]

[Evy looks over at the girl. She'd assumed this Riley was a young man, by the name, but she's also been informed that Meredith is no longer considered an appropriate name for a gentleman. Things change, it seems.

The smile she gives Ellie now is a rather more genuine one, even if it's still sad around the edges. Having a friend from one's own world is an invaluable gift, and she's glad for the girl. It's a pity she hasn't got the paper to express the thought just then--the best she can do is nod and mouth GOOD.]

[tonsofpun]

[Ellie returns the smile, complete with that sadness, and reaches up to tug at her arm gently, invite Evy to sit with her. She looks dead on her feet, and her throat must not be working right.]

Is your voice hurt? From the smoke?

[proudofwhatiam]

[Evy settles down next to Ellie, quietly glad to have reason to sit. This has been a lot to take in, and she's starting to feel a little shaky on her feet.

At the question, she nods, then shrugs, as though to say what a surprise. And then she gestures as though writing something, giving Ellie a questioning look. It's likely too much to hope that the girl might have pen and paper on her, but answering in single words is growing a little wearisome.]

[tonsofpun]

[Ellie shakes her head, shrugs sheepishly. No such luck.]

... that's weird, you don't look as much like hell as the rest of us.

[proudofwhatiam]

[Well, that's all right, Ellie--Evy won't hold it against you.

Without paper, unfortunately, she's less inclined to try and explain herself to Ellie. She hardly knows the girl; she's not about to mouth the word "dead" to her. After a moment's consideration, her expression far darker, she shakes her head slowly. No, she supposes, she doesn't.]

[tonsofpun]

[Very carefully, she watches the look in Evy's eyes, the darkness, the vaguely haunted look, the struggle to maintain composure.

She's watched enough people do this by now to have some sense of when someone has been very, very badly hurt and doesn't want to talk about it.]

Don't worry. I won't ask.

[proudofwhatiam]

[That, at least, she can answer. THANK YOU is easily enough said, even without a voice.

Ellie's a good girl. A good young lady, in all fairness. Especially at this moment, it's easy to see just how mature she is, despite her age.]

[tonsofpun]

[Ellie nods, gives her a small, humorless smile of understanding. It's how it is, sometimes. But even that makes it easy to put it together.

Hopefully, she'll regain her voice.]

I bet somebody around here has a notebook. Any idea where the fire started?

[proudofwhatiam]

[Evy shakes her head. The drawback--one among many--to dying in a closed room is that one doesn't come back with any useful information. "Not in my office" is the best she can manage.]

[tonsofpun]

[Ellie ends up shaking her head too.]

Not in the underground. Didn't make it's way down- down there.

[She holds back more coughing.]

Looks like one of the upper floors?