What’s that in the woods? Why, it’s a nondescript blonde gymnast!

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

Watch the right. You favor your right when you turn.

Steph took a deep breath, and started a series of handsprings, occasionally aiming at one of the person-shaped outlines now covering a small circle of unfortunate trees. The outlines had red targets for fatal injuries, white targets for temporarily debilitating injuries, and pink targets for injuries fatal if not given immediate medical treatment.

Instead of batarangs (Spoilerangs, because she had painted them eggplant!), Steph was trying her luck with hexes. Using a weapon you didn’t immediately discard was hard to get used to.

She took a break to inspect the damage, and was happy to see that none of the red targets were hit. One of the trees was turned into a chicken, but you had to pick your battles.

((Open RP! Feel free to train/spar/bug/go chicken hunting with Steph.))

Comments

[battlefranky36.livejournal.com]

Franky walked over to the woods, humming. Today, he needed some lumber, so he was going to punch over a few trees. And, hopefully, a monster or something would attack him so he could beat the crap out of it. While he was thinking this, he saw a girl jumping around, shooting hexes at trees. "Oi oi, what the hell are you doing?!" Franky yelled at the girl.

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

"Studying my charms. We are at a school." Honestly, this couldn't have been the strangest thing this guy has seen at Hogwarts. She put on her best grumpy-Bruce face. "What are you doing, interrupting someone's training?"

[battlefranky36.livejournal.com]

"Stopping you from making a huge mistake! Think what would happen to the tree's wood if you hexed it! The lumber would be completely unuseable!" Grinning, Franky cracked his knuckles. "Besides, if you need training, nothing beats sparring."

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

"This is a school, not a lumberyard." Of course, most schools didn't condone fighting, but Steph was willing to let that slide.

"Sounds good to me!" She put her wand down and crouched into a defensive position. "What do you practice?"

[battlefranky36.livejournal.com]

((Sorry for the wait, life basically punched me in the throat.))

"School or lumberyard, it doesn't matter! Somebody still might need wood!" Franky posed right before saying it, trying to emphasize his point.

"Eh? I don't practice any specific type of fighting, I just fight with what I have," Franky said, getting into a boxer's stance. "Why don't you take the first shot?"

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

((I know the feeling!))

"Dude. We're in a forest. I think they'll be okay." Steph winced when Franky posed- that looked like murder on your spine. Also, there was the lame factor.

"With what you have?" Steph appraised the guy. There was muscle, and not much else. She couldn’t match him hit for hit.

"Gladly!" Instead of running towards Franky, Steph leapt over him, grabbed a tree branch, and ricocheted back towards the big guy. She stuck her leg out, aiming for a kick to the back of his head.

((Up to you if it hits or not!))</small

[battlefranky36.livejournal.com]

Caught off gaurd, Franky stumbled forward. "Damn, now I'm dizzy," Franky muttered to himself. Turning around, Franky breathed in, puffing out his chest. "Fresh fire!" Franky said, and shot a large fireball from his mouth towards Steph's general area.

((In case you don't already know about Franky, he's a cyborg. As such, most of him is covered in a good layer of metal and he's full of various gadgets. Also, up to you whether or not Franky's attacks hit or not, most of them have enough build up to evade.))

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

*Demyx, proving once again that the "no-apparation" rule inside Hogwarts also applies to dark portals, tumbles out of the trees. Having abandoned the official Organization coat as likely to cause comment, he is dressed in a blue Hawaiian shirt (stolen from Marluxia before he left), jeans, and black boots, because he doesn't own any other shoes. Currently, he's also wearing about half a tree's worth of leaves. He looks up at Steph.*

Uh, hey.

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

Oh god. The chicken was bad enough. Steph covered her mouth in horror.

"Please tell me I didn't just transform a tree into a person."

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

*The Nobody stands, brushing himself off.* You didn't just transform a tree into a person. I just fell out. 'Course, I didn't exactly expect to end up in the tree in the first place... *He mutters something that sounds like "Stupid anti-apparation ward messing with dark portals."*

Anyway, I'm Demyx. *He holds out a hand.*

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

"That's a relief. Is teleporting in and out of foliage a hobby, or a one time thing? Also, when do they teach us to teleport? 'Cause sign me up!"

"Steph. Nice to meet you! Glad you aren't a tree."

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Nope, not a tree, just a Nobody. I mean, nobody in particular.

The teleporting in general is just something I do - although apparently whatever stops the local kind messes with the dark portals, which is why I was in the tree instead of on the ground. But then, I was never the best at it to begin with.

I think they might teach it here, but don't quote me on it - there was an Apparation professor on the staff list, so either they teach how to teleport or how to be a ghost. And I've got no idea when. I didn't learn it here; learned it back home. They call it using the "Dark Corridors." 'Course, the place is full of Heartless, so if you've got a heart, it's pretty dangerous.

Oh, shit. I don't suppose you can forget what I said about not having a heart, can you?

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

"That's definitely something to look into. As I happen to be in possession of a heart, I'll try and learn it the old fashioned way."

Not having a heart was pretty interesting, but Steph actually respected people's privacy from time to time. "It's already forgotten, tinman! I'm pretty good with the secret keeping."

[terrorofme.livejournal.com]

First move after Sorting: find and get settled in Gryffindor. First move after getting settled: explore the grounds. And since the suit was not something he cared to wear all the time, Manticore was exploring in street-clothes. If anyone recognized Justin Sinclair, well... he'd have to deal with it case by case. It wasn't like his secret identity was the best kept secret ever, anyway.

Coming across the training ground meant that exploring was put on hold for a bit. "Interesting setup."

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

"Oh, thanks! It's-" Don't say attack pattern alpha, don't say attack pattern alpha "-extra credit for defense against the dark arts. No chickens were harmed in the making of this extra credit assignment."

[terrorofme.livejournal.com]

"I suppose turning the bad guys into chickens is one way to do it." Chickens moved fairly slowly, and weren't that dangerous even with a psycho super in a chicken body. "What's the plan for the other targets?"

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

"Disable them, while avoiding physical interaction. Or the chicken thing, in a pinch." She smiled and stuck out a hand. "Hi, I'm Steph. Enemy of trees."

[terrorofme.livejournal.com]

He shook her hand with a smile. "Manticore, recent arrival." It didn't take long to decide to use his hero-name instead of his civilian name - just because he was okay with the idea of someone recognizing him or eventually going by his real name didn't mean he was going to use it in introductions right off.

She had the same height, same build, and same voice as the girl calling herself Robin he'd met at his Sorting. (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1206770.html?thread=61619186#t61619186) Not that that meant anything - he'd met an evil alternate-universe version of himself several times - but if this was the same girl, he had both of her names now, and probably at least owed her his real first name at some point.

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

"Wow, you're not even trying for the civilian identity thing, huh?" Steph smiled, very amused. "Or is Manticore your birth name? Parents were hoping you'd grow up to front a death metal band?" She could just envision the painted van/living space.

"It's me." The 'girl at your sorting swinging around in strangely flattering spandex' was implied. "I'd prefer Steph, if that's all right. When out of uniform."

[themountie.livejournal.com]

Fraser was just out for a run with Dief, in his civvies, when the wolf announced that he'd picked up the scent of... live chicken? "Surely you're mistaken," Fraser protested, but the wolf was already off running to investigate; the Mountie had no choice but to follow.

What he found, he had to admit, he was not entirely expecting, although this being Hogwarts he couldn't say he was surprised. Dief was stopped at the edge of the clearing, sniffing enthusiastically at what did, in fact, appear to be a live chicken. Fraser came to a stop beside him and sighed. "All right," he said to the wolf's dirty look. "My apologies." Oh, he wasn't going to live this down for a while.

Muttering to himself, he looked up into the clearing to see Stephanie there. "Ma'am?" he called. "Is this your chicken?" he asked, more out of curiousity than anything else.

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

So that's where the chicken went! Steph ran the edge of the clearing, and picked the thing up. It seemed docile enough. "I suppose so. Not sure how to change it back into a tree."

She held the chicken up to eye level. It clucked. "It seems pretty content, being a chicken." She turned the thing around, so that its beady chicken-eyes were looking right at Fraser. "What do you think?"

[themountie.livejournal.com]

Fraser took the question in stride, leaning forward obediently to study the fowl. "...As far as these things go," he agreed after half a moment, straightening with a nod. "It doesn't appear to be actively complaining, at least, and I've found that it's quite difficult to keep an angry chicken contained, particularly a rooster like the one you have there." They could be nasty creatures.

Much like, say, half-wolves, like the one who was currently snickering at him. Fraser shot Dief a glare. "Yes, yes, I do understand, thank you." Wolves. Honestly.

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

"Maybe that's due to its tree-ness? I guess it's used to standing around. You said it's a rooster?" Steph looked at the thing again, but couldn't see a difference. "I think this is actually the first time I've ever handled a chicken that wasn't deep fried." To that, the rooster gave an indignant squawk.

Huh. She couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "Does your dog mock you a regular basis?"

[themountie.livejournal.com]

"Well, I suppose it's a tree," Fraser mused. "But then, that opens up an entire philosophical debate... at the moment, yes, it is occupying the body of a rooster. A Buff Orpington, if I'm not mistaken." He rarely was.

At the question, he flashed her an incredibly weary look. "Diefenbaker is a wolf, actually. And yes, I'm afraid so. I merely expressed the opinion that I found it unlikely that he'd picked up the scent of a domesticated chicken out here," he indicated the woods at large, "but I suppose I forgot to take the presence of magic into account." At his feet, Dief whuffed amusedly. "Now he's going to hold it over my head for ages," he sighed, compressing his lips tightly.

[busty-robin.livejournal.com]

"Buff Orpington? That might make a pretty good chicken name." It wasn't like she could leave rooster-tree-thing alone in the woods. It would be dinner by nightfall.

"So he's not one for the 'don't bite the hand that feeds you' adage?" Pretty wolf, even if he was cocky! "How did you get a pet wolf, if you don't mind my asking? They aren't exactly in the window of your local Petco."