Griffin Lockhearst

when the stars go blind and the darkness starts to flood your eyes when you're falling behind i will carry you.

[waynetowered-blog]

“Yeah, see – that’d probably be more entertaining than watching me punch this thing until I get bored,” Rhys countered with a slight twitch of a smile, relaxing exponentially upon realising it was Griffin. “I – guess I didn’t sleep too well,” he said by way of an answer, fiddling with the side-stitching on the punching bag as he turned back to it, using his other hand to stop its sway.

“And as fascinating as I am, I assume you didn’t come here this early just for me.”

[curseproof-blog]

Griffin leaned up against the cold cement wall of the training gymnasium and fought the urge to shiver as the chill seeped in through his jumper. “Probably,” he admitted, letting the ghost of a grin creep onto his mouth. “But much less productive, I’m sure. And anyway, my shoulder’s acting up, so my proficiency with the funky chicken is gonna be way off.”

“Are the nightmares about Whitestag, or are they the usual fare?”

[waynetowered-blog]

It’s 7am, and the orange-luminescent glow of the lights in the gym are prickling at Rhys’ eyes. He huffs out a breath, shallow and wet with exertion – hands balling into identical fists, white and stubborn. A step creaks the floorboards behind him and he tenses, closing his left hand around the cool plastic of the training knife in his pocket; twisting it around his fingers as part of a perfunctory, archaic habit. His voice rumbles, filling the space.

“You just gonna stand there and stare, or what?”

[curseproof-blog]

“Yeah, I’m mostly just gonna stand here and stare, unless you want me to break out my dance moves.”

“You’re off your game, St. Allen. Usually you can tell it’s me by my footsteps. Or have I finally stumbled upon the secret to sneaking up on you?” 

[waynetowered-blog]

Yeah, yeah – suck it up, flyboy. Food’s on me tonight, alright?

…yeah, suppose. If I’d had it my way, though, totally would’ve picked someone way cooler. Less stoic. More willing to drink whiskey with me. But I’ll guess you’ll do, chief.

Fine, fine. It’s not so terrible having you as a personal therapist. Lot better than the four-eyed assholes back in St. Mungo’s, anyway. I’ll stay faaaar away from Angelette. It’s a good blackmail plan, however.

[curseproof-blog]

Well I’m not gonna say no to that. I live for someone else footing the bill. 

Well, we’re all bound by fate, I suppose. In another life you might have gotten someone with halitosis, so if I were you I’d be thanking my lucky stars. Plus, someone cooler than me would also be way less patient than me, and therefore way less willing to put up with your meandering morning routine. 

[waynetowered-blog]

Okay, you are – a thousand times worse than me. But, yeah, actually. Burgers and fries and three extra sides of everything for you so you don’t bloody faint on the way home, idiot.

Then again you were – annoyingly – always able to decipher me, even when I wouldn’t speak a word of English. Which is both creepy and amazing, depending on your stance. … Right, got it. 

Totally going to advertise you to Sage.

[curseproof-blog]

Part of me wants to say no just out of pride, but the other part of me can’t imagine anything better than three extra sides. And a butterbeer. Godric I would kill a man for a strong butterbeer. 

Yeah, well, that’s what brothers are for. But let’s go with amazing, huh? Just while we’re in public. 

Don’t you dare even think about it. If you do I’m going to accidentally leave the key to your office on his desk, and you can have fun scraping the frosting off the walls. 

[waynetowered-blog]

Four hours? Merlin, Griffin, you’re becoming worse than me.

Hmph. Wonderful. Suppose they all had to be initiated to the not-so-fabulous life of being an auror at some stage. Mhm – welcome to the wonderful land of decomposing bodies and fluids where you’d really hope they wouldn’t be.

I – I know you’re not, just. I don’t know. Guess seeing a body like that – it … was more difficult than I thought. Which probably makes little to no sense, considering everything that I – … whatever. Look, honestly, thank you for the – offer, but. It’s a quiet night getting totalled for me. Which you’d be more than welcome to join, if I wasn’t totally worried about you becoming a walking zombie. This thing works both ways, you know. Did you eat today?

[curseproof-blog]

Yes, I definitely ate today. Or...was that yesterday? Maybe it was yesterday...no, wait, that kid ate my cronut yesterday...okay, okay, point taken. Wanna grab a burger with me? 

It makes perfect sense to me. But yeah, don’t mention it. The offer always stands. Only for you though. Don’t let the word get around, because last time I told Heather she could talk to me about anything I emerged from my office four hours later completely caught up on the entire plot of Gossip Girl. 

[waynetowered-blog]

Alright. Good. It’s – not their style, anyway. Rearranging the entrails like that, it’s – they’re – geez, I guess – messier. If that makes any damn sense. But, yeah. Rest would be good. Rest which you also need, you know. 

Coddling? Eh, a little. But they’ll be happier for it. That was – tough, to say the least. Honestly, a little shocked we didn’t get more projectile vomiting than we did, but. Hey. Guess that’s a good thing.

I – don’t know. You’ve got stuff to do, Griff. No point coddling me, too. I’ll do with the more adult version of cookies and milk and sleep. It’ll be fine. 

[curseproof-blog]

Don’t worry, I’ll get my rest. I logged four hours last night. Aren’t you proud of your boy?

Well between you and me I think Beaucourant was looking a little green around the gills, and when he stepped off to “smoke” I get the feeling he left more behind than a cigarette butt, but who am I to judge? 

Yeah, I’ve got stuff to do, like talk with you. Besides, Denna’s checking in on the kids, so I’ve got a few minutes before I have to sweep up behind her. I’m not coddling you. I won’t force you to talk but if you want to, you know I’m here. 

[waynetowered-blog]

Yeah. ‘Course. Uh, as for the pattern … nothing I’ve seen. Nothing – well, Order related, as far as I know, anyway – if that was a line of questioning, at least. Whatever. I can take a look at a couple pattern recognition books, even dip into runes – see whatever the hell it could mean.

… right, yeah. Sorry, boss. Just – weird day. I guess.

[curseproof-blog]

Not a serious line of questioning, in any case. Marian will do a full autopsy, then we’ll have some more information about the case. Until then, I think we can probably call it a day. I think we’ve been through enough to have earned a couple of hours’ rest, don’t you?

Well, rest for you, tend to the Junior Aurors for me. I want to make sure they’re doing okay after what they saw today. I even bought some cookies and milk to give them...do you think that’s coddling? 

Do you want to talk about your weird day?  

[waynetowered-blog]

Yeah, yeah – that makes sense. Anybody got any kind of timeline going –? Say, brought to the clearing, attacked, tried to run – coat was grabbed, she fell, possibly broke the wand at this point with her own body-weight or on point of collision, and … then I guess the bastard killed her. Merlin. It – is unfortunately a little too late for that. But, sure. Water, coming right up.

[curseproof-blog]

We’ll have to talk to some of the witnesses before anything like that starts to take shape, probably. You’re probably not far off, though, if you’re off at all. What about the spiral pattern? Do you recognize it from anywhere? 

Well, you’re a big boy, I trust your decision-making skills, it’s just, you know, there’s a psycho murderer running around and if I have to go on a chase anytime soon, I’d like my best guy by my side, and fully functional. 

[waynetowered-blog]

Lured away? Kidnapped? Drag marks from the clearing to the final resting place of the body; no sign of a struggle otherwise, so – knocked out before she got here, or came here willingly? Neither her money or valuables were taken, and any murderer worth half their salt would at least’ve taken what was there. But then again, it’s been obvious from the start this case isn’t anything close to average. As for the spells… I suppose it’s possible that the caster wasn’t her. Why break the wand if it wasn’t in an attempt to destroy evidence –? Not that it worked, mind.

…yeah, I’m gonna need a lot more whiskey to get through this.

[curseproof-blog]

It doesn’t look like a clean break, so maybe she or someone else fell on it. It’s my guess, anyway. What’s making me think she was conscious for most of this is the coat. Like whatever was going for her grabbed the coat and shrugged it off and tried to run. Didn’t make it far, obviously, but that’s my guess. 

I’d rather you keep your senses sharp.

[marian-rose-deactivated20160810]

“And that’s what rules out the creature, at least on their own.”

“My thoughts right now is that it was staged. Whoever did this wanted her to be found a certain way, to send a message. I think the evidence we found is supposed to be that message, but I can’t quite figure it out yet. Did you see any evidence to say she was actually killed there?”

[curseproof-blog]

“Well, no I suppose not. She could have been side-along apparated. It doesn’t really jive with her wand and stuff being here, and the pouch of moonflower petals is definitely strange, too, but it’s possible. And here I was, lecturing Terranova on making assumptions.”

[marian-rose-deactivated20160810]

“And that’s what rules out the creature, at least on their own.”

“My thoughts right now is that it was staged. Whoever did this wanted her to be found a certain way, to send a message. I think the evidence we found is supposed to be that message, but I can’t quite figure it out yet. Did you see any evidence to say she was actually killed there?”

[curseproof-blog]

“Well, no I suppose not. She could have been side-along apparated. It doesn’t really jive with her wand and stuff being here, and the pouch of moonflower petals is definitely strange, too, but it’s possible. And here I was, lecturing Terranova on making assumptions.”

[marian-rose-deactivated20160810]

“And that’s what rules out the creature, at least on their own.”

“My thoughts right now is that it was staged. Whoever did this wanted her to be found a certain way, to send a message. I think the evidence we found is supposed to be that message, but I can’t quite figure it out yet. Did you see any evidence to say she was actually killed there?”

[curseproof-blog]

“Well, no I suppose not. She could have been side-along apparated. It doesn’t really jive with her wand and stuff being here, and the pouch of moonflower petals is definitely strange, too, but it’s possible. And here I was, lecturing Terranova on making assumptions.”

[howlatme-howland]

By “your day”, I obviously just meant when things were cooler, not that they aren’t cool now, because I’m sure anything you do is cool, half the department wants to be you and the other half wants to date you and it’s just… yeah. It is your day.

That’s…. Oh, fuck. We are all about to have a really bad day, aren’t we? Wait, did you say tied to a tree and mutilated? God, she…. She deserved better than that. A lot better.

[curseproof-blog]

Cute. A for effort, Ashley. I’ll try to spend some time on Urban Dictionary in the meanwhile. 

Yeah, I think just about everyone deserves better than what she got. Anyway, you should get some rest tonight. It’s gonna be a long few months coming up, and a lot of sleepless nights. I’d invest in some aromatherapy if I were you. 

[waynetowered-blog]

Torn open. Merlin. I haven’t seen anything so barbaric in – … a long time. Right. Anyway. To, ah – to claw open another person’s stomach requires not only a vicious amount of strength and some tool – claws? Sharpened nails? – and a kind of animalistic intent – to dehumanise her in such a way … it’s difficult to imagine.

… Such is the job. Thoughts?

[curseproof-blog]

Yeah, and the questions just come right after each other. What was she doing out alone in the middle of the night without her security detail? Why were the last spells she used slinging spells instead of stunning spells?

[marian-rose-deactivated20160810]

“What stands out to me the most is obvious. The raggedness of being torn open shows me that this was either a magical creature, or someone very strong and angry. The fact that the sweater is torn and found so far away is intriguing as well, don’t you think?”

[curseproof-blog]

“Yeah, but a creature that ended the night by casually tying her up like that?”

“Things aren’t adding up, and the thing that’s really not adding up is this: what is a 112 year old woman, Majority leader of the Wizengamot, doing out in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the night, without a single member of her security force?”

[undcrthewillow-blog]

Willow crossed her arms over her chest and leaned as far over the Auror’s tape as she possible could, talking to the closest person to her. ”So it’s pretty damn obvious the murderer’s a show off, you don’t just split someone’s stomach open for shits and giggles, unless you’re doing some satanic ritual – actually, don’t write that off. But anyway, I’m not her to state the obvious – or sorry, should I say not not here to state the obvious, so I’ll get on with it. I’ll say that the murderer’s a bit of a goddamn attention seeker, probably something to do with a lack of thereof during their childhood or something, but once you get a suspect in, you’ll need me there for proper inspection of a reaction to what they’ve done, ‘cause to me it looks as though they’re quite proud of it, and if they were looking for attention, they damn well got it…”

“Long story short, someone better put me on this damn case before I put myself on it.”

[curseproof-blog]

“Can I help you?”

“Because last I checked, you had neither the security clearance nor the Chief’s permission to be here right now, and you certainly don’t have mine, so if you want to stay out of the cell I have waiting for you with your name literally engraved above the door, I hope you have a good explanation for what you’re doing here right now.” 

[howlatme-howland]

It’s…. oh, for the love of scarves, why do I do this to myself? 

Uhhh, in your day you would probably invite someone over to watch a horror movie, offer to hold their hand during the scary parts, and then….

Sex. It’s basically code for casual sex. Not that I have a lot of that, or– or anything. Um. And now that I’m thoroughly embarrassed… Will you tell me what the “not” is?

[curseproof-blog]

In my day? How old do you think I am? 

The not is Elder Whitestag, whose mutilated body was found tied up to a tree. I hope you took advantage of the stretch of down time where all we had to deal with was the artifact dealers, because this is about as bad as it gets outside of a successful assassination of Minister Gloryflower.