daddy's got a new .45

Winter Syaoran-Monroe. He/him. 35. Formerly US Army. Currently Sergeant on the Eastern Squad. Points: 275. Current Cases: Haunting at the Elgin Theatre. Murder at Cooperstown High. Haunted Bridge in Huntington. Strange Sightings in Bronson

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

bethlehemramsey‌:

     “If they’re not, they will be, right? At least that’s what the cops seemed to think. That’s why they thought it was me – because they thought I had some bullshit reason to have a vendetta against all of them.”

She shrugged, now, but the anger was gone from her voice, the stubborn energy giving way to something else. She sounded tired of going over it again and again and– for a second, Beth felt bad. Whether or not they’d broken up, it sounded like Mary-Lynn and  Trip had been together for a long time. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like, to have something like that happen to someone who had meant a lot to you, even if you’d grown apart. 

     “Either way, like I said, I told the cops everything I know. I don’t know what you guys want from me, but you’ll probably be better off getting it from someone else who knew him.”

     “Right,” she answered, before Winter could question Mary-Lynn again. “We’ll do that. Do you know where we might be able to find his sister? Karly Lee?”

Just that quick, there was something alive in Mary-Lynn’s eyes again, something bright and panicked – something strangely suspicious, though Beth couldn’t be sure what exactly it indicated.

     “Leave Karly Lee out of this,” Mary-Lynn snapped, her voice coming out fast, the words almost jumbled. “She’s been through enough. Her brother’s dead, the last thing she needs is shitty crime writers like you bringing it all up again.”

He was about to open his mouth to keep going, but Beth spoke before he could, and he had to admit it was probably for the best. He didn’t really know how to handle kids, after all, was much more use to questioning adults, both witnesses and suspects. It was a whole different world when questioning someone so young, and Beth knew what she was doing with teenagers. So he silently accepted that that was all they were going to get from Mary-Lynn for now. It had been more than enough, after all, considering they had come in expecting her to be the one hiding her magic. At least that possibility had been all but ruled out, even if it still seemed to him that she knew something about it that she was refusing to say.

And a hint of that was only confirmed as soon as Beth said the name Karly Lee, as if that was the puzzle piece they had been waiting for. He knew better than to jump to conclusions, but it was hard not to when there was so little hard evidence to go off of in a case like this, when so much was coming from teenagers’ relationships.

He probably should’ve just assumed that the way she snapped had to do with the stress of it all, worry for her good friend, knowing what she had been through already, but there was something in the intense change, the look in her eyes at the mention of her name, that made him wonder if it was something else. Whatever it was, there was no possible way they could leave her out of it now, not after a reaction like that.

“I understand the hesitation, but we’re here to help. If the detectives aren’t going to solve it, the least we can do is try to make sense of it. For Trip’s memory. Burying it all down isn’t going to do anyone any good, especially those kids who are still missing.”

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

janusharley‌:

Winter is perceptive. Even if Jan doesn’t know him terribly well beyond the odd encounter at the bar, he can see that much… and maybe it’s not surprising, given his history not only as an auror but as a soldier, but it is interesting. While certainly intellectual, while he’s out in the field himself he tends to operate mostly on intuition, collecting data only to confirm what he’s already sensing all around him. Winter seems… closed off to that kind of approach for whatever reason, and he says about as much… Janus is sure he has his instincts, just like any decent auror, but their source seems different somehow, derived from what he can plainly see and evaluate in front of him… He knows it’s probably easier for him that way, given the things he’d undoubtedly done and seen in the war… but honestly he can’t imagine not being able to rely on his own feelings to help guide him… Jan certainly wouldn’t be where he was right now, standing almost shoulder to shoulder with him in companionable enough quiet, if he hadn’t followed his gut nearly the whole way there.

“Ready when you are,” he nods as Winter lays out their plan and they move towards the bridge, laughing easily at his friendly joke. Oddly enough, Janus had been thinking much the same thing, that they should maintain some kind of physical connection so they hopefully aren’t separated by whatever power or entity was hanging around preying on unsuspecting pedestrians. But being on such unfamiliar terms with Winter, he’s not entirely sure the gesture would be welcome. Instead, as they begin to cross, Jan silently puts his hand on his partner’s shoulder; not gripping tightly, just resting there solid enough to be felt so they’d both notice the change if something were to get between them. The atmosphere on the bridge is almost electric- he feels the fine hairs on the back of his neck and along his arms stand on end, and the cryosphinx skull tattoo on his neck burns more and more and more the further they walk… What’s most remarkable to Janus is that the air around him seems entirely dead, and impossibly cold… apart from a steadily moaning wind and the oddly muffled sound of their footfalls, there’s nothing… not even birds singing.

He notices the instant it starts snowing, because it’s so sudden and because it’s paired with the strong stench of blood in a way that is horrifyingly familiar… For a moment, his heart leaps into a panic, but by Winter’s lack of reaction he deduces that the other auror isn’t necessarily experiencing the same thing he is… This is further confirmed when the snow that falls on his hand isn’t cold like it should be… and rather than melt away, it doesn’t appear to accumulate at all. He doesn’t know what to make of that, but he’s willing to save it until after they’ve made it to the other side safely to know for sure. Apart from that, there doesn’t seem to be much out of the ordinary… but he’s still a little relieved when his feet touch solid ground again. He slips his hand carefully off Winter’s shoulder and glances at his watch, noting the time.

“Notice anything?” he asks, glancing over to him once he’s confirmed that their trip didn’t take them more than the necessary few minutes of walking. The Eagle and Flag isn’t far off… he can see an American flag waving over an appropriately sized and located building just down the hill. He doesn’t think there’s any more they can learn here just now, not until they know what they’re looking for at least…

Something is off, that’s clear enough as they start crossing the bridge, and he’s glad to feel the weight of Janus’ hand on his shoulder. That simple gesture makes him feel grounded, but it’s also a good precaution; that way they’ll both know if something goes wrong, if the other is suddenly gone. Not that there was anything in the case file about disappearances, but it does seem like a possibility, and maybe in this one case it’s better to be safe than sorry. The thing is, at least at first, there’s nothing. A strange amount of nothing for a bridge over waters; the air feels completely stale and still, noticeably so to the point that Winter can’t remember ever feeling something like that before, almost suffocating just from its stillness. And cold, significantly colder than the air was just before the bridge where they had just been standing. It was enough of a change to make it clear in his mind that something had happened to this bridge, something that made it seemingly immune to everything around it, or maybe even in a different sort of space.

He feels the slightly twitch of Janus’ hand on his shoulder, but it doesn’t move from the spot, and somehow he’s almost afraid to look around at the other, and see if something has happened. They’re close to the end, after all, almost across, just a little bit further, and as long as he’s still got his hand on his shoulder, there’s no concern.

Only just as he’s made his peace with the strangeness, accepted the fear creeping up in the back of his throat, he hears the sound of gunfire, not too far off, along with shouts, and the sound of hooves against the ground. And it’s impossible not to flinch, not to speed up and cross over to solid ground again, without thinking that maybe he should take in what’s going on, the strangeness of it all. Because the thing is, the moment he’s off the wooden planks of the bridge, it stops. His heart keeps beating fast, pounding against his chest, threatening the familiar panic that he knows all too well, but it doesn’t get to the surface, realizing that not only was it not real, but it wasn’t in his mind, either. No, this had to do with the bridge.

“Definitely didn’t feel good, that’s for damn sure,” he says with a breath of laughter, although unamused. He shakes his head, trying to clear it of the familiar memories trying to break through, and looks back at Janus. “Could hear things that definitely weren’t there, as if we needed any more confirmation that something’s fucked with that bridge.” He pauses, finally getting his bearings again, and nods to the building in the distance, motioning to start towards it. “You feel anything strange?”

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

bethlehemramsey‌:

There was a split second in which the look in Mary-Lynn’s eyes seemed to scream that she knew she’d made a mistake – not a long one, in fact short enough that Beth almost thought she’d imagined it, that it was wishful thinking that Winter had stumbled across something important. She seemed to recover quickly enough that Beth could have been imagining it, and yet she was fairly certain she hadn’t – Winter, she thought, saw it too. 

     “I think freak accident is a stupid fucking excuse for what happened to him. I told the cops as much. It’s not like there’s a fuckin’ boogeyman in the woods making high schoolers disappear. It’s some sick freak, a serial killer or something. Anyway, if it were a freak accident, you two creeps wouldn’t be here. That’s what you want to hear, isn’t it? Freak accidents don’t sell books: murders do.” 

     “You think it was just some serial killer, randomly picking off kids in your class? All of whom you happen to know?” If she hadn’t been keeping a straight face, Beth would have grimaced a little at the way the question came out – she didn’t have quite the hang of interrogation that Winter did, she was beginning to realize: she’d never had too much use for that particular skillset, in her work prior to this. She’d have to ask for some pointers, if she was going to be sticking around the squad for much longer, as Winter had a real skill for it. 

     “Yeah, I know all of them. I know a lot of people. I know most of the seniors because, and I’m sure you two wouldn’t know anything about this, but I’m popular.”

And there it was, the split second of widened eyes that told him she knew she’d slipped up. Of course, it was hard to say whether it was a mistake in that she simply thought it might be a murder, but there was something there in her eyes for a split second that made him think that she knew it wasn’t just an accident. She could go on about how stupid that was all she wanted, but even the no-maj police had agreed that no one could’ve done what had happened to the poor boy on their own, to the point where the best explanation they could come up with was freak accident. This girl seemed sharp enough to have found something out that no one else knew, after all.

It was a fair point, that their cover wouldn’t make sense to be here unless there was a reason, that it had to be something besides just a freak accident, and again Winter wished they had been given a cover that was maybe a little less on the nose, although it was working to get people to talk, at least. Beth’s question held a key insinuation, one that he hoped might get her to give something else up, but he also wasn’t sure that Mary-Lynn was quite at the point with them that she would be one to break, at least not yet.

Hell, he wasn’t sure she would at all. That one moment of recognition might’ve been the best thing they’d get from her, given how stubborn she seemed. But there was another slip up there, one that was maybe even more telling, and worrying.

“You’d be surprised, kid. Most people who are actually popular don’t have to go around telling random ‘creeps’ that they’re popular, but that’s just from experience,” he shrugged, raising an eyebrow. “Listen, you’re smart enough to know what we’re getting at, obviously. We’ve been around before, we’ve seen things like this; these sort of ‘accidents’ aren’t caused by random sick freaks. They’re usually done by someone who knows the victim already. Or in this case, victims. You did say serial killer, didn’t you? So you think the other missing kids are dead, too?”

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

lolatkins‌:

In all honesty, she was half waiting for him to push her away, to just close the door and ask her to come back later when it was time to leave. He had the right to, after all, especially after how she had behaved. Nonetheless he started talking, almost explaining to her what had happened. Lola wasn’t sure why, but something inside her felt relieved that this was the path things seemed to be taking. 

She listened intently, and when he finally gestured for her to go in, she took a couple steps inside, not really sure what to do or where to stand. Instead she looked around his apartment. The place was very Winter but in a detached way. Not that she actually knew what being Winter meant, since she didn’t know him that well; but somehow it reminded her of him and at the same time it looked like it could reflect his personality so much more. It wasn’t anything like her and Salem’s place, filled with their stuff everywhere. As she placed the coffee on a nearby table, Lola took a second to consider his words. 

“But you fought the dragon anyway.”, she said softly, once again walking towards him. It was an instinctual move, as if the fact that she was moving closer to him meant she could prevent him from running away, from closing off once again like he had done the night of the gala. “How do you do it? How do you snap out of it?” Her voice was tender, despite the depth of her questions. She wasn’t one for small talk, and she wasn’t going to waste time with pleasantries or pity parties. She figured Winter had enough of that already. “It’s very brave, you know?”, she spoke again, this time her hand did reach out to touch his arm, though it was just a brush of her fingers. “that you’re still here. That you decided to stay and fight.”

Once they were both inside, he closed the door, and went immediately towards the kitchen, mostly looking for something to do rather than focus entirely on the conversation at hand. He was hoping, in some small way, that she would let it drop there, that that would be enough to satisfy the questions, but he knew that wasn’t the case. She was here, after all, and even if the apology was over, now it was his turn to do some explaining. The thing was, though, that he had never been good at that sort of honesty and vulnerability. He had made mistakes, too many mistakes, but the worst part about them were that they hadn’t been by his own choices; it was all because he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now that wrong place and time came back to him at the drop of a hat.

When he turned back around, she was coming toward him again, and his eyes immediately went to the hallway towards his bedroom, instinct looking for an escape. That wasn’t fair, though, not when they were about to go out on a case, and not when she was obviously trying even coming there at all to apologize for what had happened. And maybe there was a small part of him that wanted her to understand just a part of it, so that she would see that he wasn’t just the sum of his mistakes, that he could be better than that.

“You don’t snap out of it,” he started after a second. The words came out wavering a little, not used to talking about those feelings, but the light brush of her fingers encouraged it. “It’s always there, somewhere, but some moments make it come out, then it just fades again, and you suddenly remember where you are, that you’re not down in the trenches with bombs being dropped around you, all your men dying, and you’ve gotta keep going. You’ve gotta get your job done, at the end of the day. And I don’t want to see anymore death, when I can prevent it. This is the only place I can do that, I couldn’t leave, even if I wanted to.”

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

bethlehemramsey‌:

Fifteen minutes ago, Beth wouldn’t have been surprised to find Mary-Lynn sitting in exactly the spot where she’d seen the powerful magical residue on the bleachers earlier, but now that they’d talked to Jessica, well… it was something that had fit with her earlier theory, of Mary-Lynn, heartbroken over the break up, losing control of some repressed magical force and accidentally letting loose on the boy who had broken her heart, and the school newspaper editor, and the… well, the list went on. It had been a neat theory, wrapped up in a little bow, but now, face to face with the girl herself, Beth knew, deep in her gut, that it had been completely wrong. 

Mary-Lynn wasn’t what she’d expected. There was a certain look no-maj born wix hiding their magical abilities got, subtle but always there. Hollow-eyed, tired looking. It took all the fight out of them, trying to hide. She saw that look in Salem, sometimes, even now, even this many years after it all. She saw that look in the mirror, when she was a kid. She saw it just about every day, before her department had been shut down. But Mary-Lynn didn’t have it. She had a bright sort of energy, harsh and angry but an energy nonetheless, and a confident one. If she had any magic to her, she was using it, and without remorse or fear. Not by accident, that much was certain. 

But Beth didn’t think she was. Didn’t think she had. Which left them with the question of who had left that magic on the bleachers, right where Mary-Lynn was sitting now. 

     “Well,” she said, “what else would you suggest we do? If we wanted an inside perspective, to get into the minds of the people involved.”

     “I don’t know, maybe don’t harass the kids who are traumatized because someone they care about was horribly murdered?”

He was taken aback by her reaction, but it only seemed to confirm the suspicion they had gotten from Jessica that maybe she wasn’t the one they were searching for. Or, maybe more accurately, if she was the person who had done all of this, it wasn’t in the way they had initially thought, not some sort of burst of uncontrollable magic. No, she was angry and aware, he doubted that she was hiding something like that, because someone certainly would’ve found out about it before now and helped her use it properly if this was how she acted with the theoretical magic, too.

Either way, instinct said that she wasn’t who they were looking for, thanks to Jessica’s insight and now seeing her in person, but that only made it all the more puzzling, to think it wasn’t her.

It wasn’t funny, really, what she was saying, it was accurate–the cover for what they were doing was pretty fucked up, and now he couldn’t help but silently curse Snow for choosing something so completely screwed. But even if it wasn’t funny, her bluntness actually made him smile, a little, reminding him a bit of himself when he had been her age, bold and confident, not afraid of honesty, even if it made other people uncomfortable.

And that meant that it wasn’t going to be the easiest thing in the world to get anything helpful from her, if how she was reacting so far was any indication. It was fair, of course, given the circumstances, but he was hoping for more of a Jessica again. Things were never so simple, though.

“Harass is a strong word, at least to me, but I see your point. I’m sorry if we’re overstepping. One thing, though...you said murdered. So you think it wasn’t a freak accident, like it was ruled by police? You think maybe someone did this to Trip? Maybe the same person responsible for the other disappearances,” he prompted carefully, hoping that he wasn’t being too straightforward. She seemed like the sort of person, though, who would rather that than dancing around everything, and it was interesting that that had been her word choice.

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

holymosesgraves‌:

Moses stops just sort of doing a little dance of joy once they’re out of the office. “I’d say we were right on the money,” she agrees with a nod. With a bit of luck they might be able to wrap this whole thing up by sundown. If they can get a proper testimony from the NoMaj, really see what they saw, then they can know for certain that whatever this creature is means no harm. Maybe they can even identify it and relocate it. Make sure there’s no more trouble and that nothing hurts the creature itself.

She tilts the address toward Winter one more time, makes sure he gets a good look at it, and then Apparates herself. When she lands, it’s before a tidy little house with a wrap-around porch. Not too big, but with plenty of land all around it. That seems to be par for course when it comes to Michigan, though. Once Winter arrives, Moses gives him a sheepish sort of look. “So, the only problem is, I don’t really know the spell to counter Obliviation. Do you?” That’s the problem, sometimes, with running in half-baked. There could be larger snags in the plan…

It isn’t a total waste if Winter comes up empty-handed on that front, though. They have the full testimony in the newly-received file, after all. It would just be colored by the NoMaj’s fear and confusion, likely. The memory itself would be more objective.

He looks down at the address she offers, and then apparates a second later to the location of the no-maj witness. It’s a nice home, in a beautiful location, which is no surprise considering where they are; he can’t help but note that the street seems to be empty, and the houses far enough apart, anyway, that there’s no way someone might stumble in during their questioning. With any luck, he’s hoping they’ll be able to come across the memory easily enough, and then take care of the creature.

That is the real problem, though, just as Moses points out, he has no real idea of how memory charms can be undone. He knows there is a way to undo them in certain cases, but it’s not something that non-Obliviators seem to be taught, and even then, he assumes that not many possess that skill, just as not many who aren’t in that field have perfected memory charms.

“Since we know what memory we’re looking for, even finite might do some good. There’s always legilimency, but I’ll admit that’s never been a strong suit of mine, and I doubt I’d be able to manage to get to a memory that’s been hidden with magic,” Winter sighs, shaking his head. “The only way I know for sure to break a memory charm is torture. Memory charms can be broken in cases like that. But I wonder if there’s something not nearly as harmful that might have the same effect. People can resist charms, maybe if we ask the right questions, they can break it.”

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

bethlehemramsey‌:

     “If Mary-Lynn was the one that had gone missing, I’d say we have a suspect right here. But it doesn’t sound like Jessica would’ve wanted Trip to get hurt.”

It did, however, seem like Jessica was upset about something, and Beth had a feeling it was something more than just the fact that the boy she had an unrequited crush on had been murdered. There was a missing piece to Jessica’s story, one they hadn’t teased out yet, but she doubted they were going to get anything more out of her, especially without a real reason to detain her that wouldn’t get them into trouble with the no-maj obliviation department. 

And anyway, Beth could tell she wasn’t guilty: she didn’t have the look that repressed magical abilities gave someone. The haunted, exhausted kind of look that came with an unconscious effort to repress something natural, something more powerful than you. Jessica just seemed like a shy kid with a hopeless crush. 

     “We should still find Mary-Lynn, though; she could always be hiding her feelings so she doesn’t look guilty. And even if she isn’t, she might give us a better idea of who might have wanted to hurt Trip, or any of the other missing kids.”

He hummed along with her assessment. As it was, though, it seemed like they could at least cross her off the list, which wasn’t the most helpful thing, but she had given them a better understanding of the state the kids were all in, how they had felt about each other, and every little detail was going to help when it came to a case like this one. There still seemed to be a glaring hole in Jessica’s whole story, the sort of thing that a teenagers most certainly wasn’t going to discuss with two strangers, especially ones supposedly working on a book, but knowing that there was something missing was more helpful that being utterly in the dark, after all.

“Agreed. She’ll give us a clearer picture, one way or another,” Winter nodded. He looked around, partially hoping she might be right there, at a locker just down the hallway, but there was no such luck. One of the bad things about starting at the end of the school day was just how quickly everyone cleared out for the afternoon, eager to get to their clubs and practices, or pretty much anywhere, but school. 

There was the instinct, though, to head back towards the field, and the spot they had found the traces of magic in the first place. And instinct proved to be helpful, as he caught a glimpse of a flip of short hair rounding the corner, heading away from the field, towards the parking lot.

“Mary-Lynn?” Winter said, tentatively, voice soft. Knowing that she very well could’ve been the one who possessed such dark magical abilities made him more cautious than usual. Taking her by surprise wasn’t going to help anyone.

When she snapped around, staring at them both with a frown, for a second it felt like maybe the answer was right there.

“I’ve already told the police everything I know, and I’m late for a study date,” she cut him off before he could get another word out, the excuse well practiced, as if she knew they were coming. She looked between the two of them expectantly, as if challenging either of them to push.

He paused for a second before going on, undeterred. “We’re actually not with the police. We’re writing a book about what’s been going on, and we were–”

“You’re writing a book about a murder, and you came to a high school to ask about it. Bet you two are fun at parties.”

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

bethlehemramsey‌:

She shook her head, almost as soon as Winter had asked it, her frown deepening at the mention of Mary-Lynn’s reaction, and then put her backpack over her shoulder, moving to closer her locker with the other hand. For a moment, it looked like she wasn’t going to answer, but then she started to speak, a little faster than before, like there was something bothering her about it.

     “Mary-Lynn didn’t talk about it, much. She kept saying she ‘deserved’ better, which seems stupid, seeing as they’d been together forever. I don’t know if she said anything else to Karly, but that’s all she said to me. But… Trip was pretty broken up about it. He was really in love with her, I think. Had been since middle school. He thought it was all going to blow over, after a week or two, but it didn’t.”

It didn’t sound like a lie, Beth thought. More like she was upset about the situation, though it wasn’t clear if she was more upset about Mary-Lynn not being upset, or about Trip being upset. Either way, it didn’t seem like the kind of break up that would make Mary-Lynn accidentally hurt her ex-boyfriend with dark magic… Beth had been expected a broken-hearted teenage girl in love, but it sounded like Mary-Lynn had been the one to do the breaking.

     “Did you know any of the other students who have gone missing?” she asked, taking out the notebook with her notes written neatly inside to check the names. “James, or Eleanor, or Laura?” 

     “Not really. Just from, you know, around. Look, my ride’s probably here already, I should get going…”

Her answer threw a bit of a wrench in the fairly clear picture that they had from the case file. It had seemed pretty clear that Mary-Lynn was the one they should’ve been looking at, given her negative connections with all of the missing, as well as the recent breakup with Trip, but now it sounded more like it had been her idea to breakup in the first place. It certainly didn’t sound like the kind of breakup that would produce accidental dark magic. It was curious, though, that she had told Jessica that she deserved better, and he made a note of that wording, thinking it might help shed some light on everything that was only becoming more complicated.

The intricate workings of teenage relationships. It felt a whole lot like it would’ve been easier to wrap his head around all of it and guess what was going on with this web if he had been about fifteen years younger. Either way, though, it was clear she was done talking about all of it, and so he offered her a smile and a nod.

“Of course. Thanks for answering our questions, it’s a big help. Go catch your ride,” he said. She looked back and forth between the two of them, like she was waiting for one of them to take that back and ask more, before nodding, and hightailing it out of there, down the hallway.

Winter let out a sigh, and turned back to Beth. “Teenage love triangles, gotta love ‘em. Doesn’t sound like Mary-Lynn cares it’s over quite as much as it sounded like in the file. But it sounds like Trip might’ve had other admirers, too,” he reasoned, jotting a few notes down in his moleskin as he spoke.

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

lolatkins‌:

Lola was quite talented at reading people, knowing exactly how they were going to react. That was the reason she enjoyed being unpredictable, putting others in situation where they were forced to improvise. Now, however, she was the one improvising. She had never made such an offering of peace before, and something about the possibility of Winter not reacting the way she wanted to made her extremely uneasy. It would have been so simple for him to just roll his eyes, hand the coffee back, and close the door; pushing her completely away for good. For a moment there, she actually thought that was what he was going to do. Until he spoke again. 

“I know he doesn’t. I wasn’t trying to be anyone’s saviour. I can’t help to protect the people I love, you can’t fault me for that.”, she sighed, realising she was once again getting carried away. “But trying to intimidate you into telling me what happened was wrong. I guess I-” needed an explanation, was what she wanted to say but go stuck inside her throat. “I didn’t think it through.”, she chose instead; because it was easier than to tell him about everything going on inside her mind right now. It had been barely a month since she had met Winter for the first time, and the amount of things they had gone through already was completely insane. She wondered if that was the way things were supposed to be between them; intense, and burning bright. 

She cocked an eyebrow at his next words, and without realising it, took a couple steps towards him. “That’s bullshit.”, she stated - her voice firm, stubborn, but soft. Lola reached out to brush his arm with her fingers, but her hand fell to her side before she followed through, unsure of how he would react to her touch. Still, when she spoke again, she was looking into his eyes. “Being an Auror is not a reason to be fine. We can be vulnerable, just like everyone else.” Her voice was suddenly lower, almost like a whisper, considering they were still standing in the hallway. “Something happened, didn’t it? With the dragon.” 

It was a surprise that she was admitting that how she had gone about asking what had happened had been the wrong way to do it, and it made him wonder if maybe there had been something to that feeling he had gotten, the one that he hadn’t quite been able to brush away, that there was more to her than she wanted people to see. Either way, it was a curious thing, and it meant something, that she was standing there apologizing, making sure he was okay.

He frowned at her. It was bullshit, of course it was, but it wasn’t the first time it had happened, and it wouldn’t be the last, knowing how these things went, how everything seemed to creep back up on him when he was least expecting it, reminding him of everything he wanted to forget the most. Her eyes locked with his, though, and it felt wrong to keep brushing it aside, to keep insisting that he was completely fine, when she already knew half of what had happened the last time he had felt that terror. He wasn’t sure he was ready to explain it all, hell, he wasn’t sure he’d ever want to get into the gory details of what had happened with anyone at all, it felt safer to keep it locked up in his mind, safe from harming anyone else. But maybe something would be alright, especially knowing they were about to leave on the case together.

“It reminded me of things I never want to be reminded of. The sort of things that led to that accident in the first place. When things come out of nowhere like that, it just happens. Suddenly you’re not really where you are anymore,” he said, voice quiet, looking away, not used to offering any sort of vulnerability. Winter shook his head slightly, realizing just where they were standing, before gesturing with his free hand to follow him inside his place. “Come on. None of this is talk for the hallway. And since you’re here already, we might as well get ready to leave early.”

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

holymosesgraves‌:

Moses tries not to pump her fist when Horton hands over the file. She’s half-listening as Winter speaks to the Obliviator, more focused on the documents in hand. There in black-and-white is the NoMaj’s name and address: Casey Duran. Without a word, she taps the address on the paper to make sure that Winter gets a look at it too.

At Winter’s question the Obliviator looks as if she’s trying hard not to roll her eyes. “Right they said they felt that way. But… Well, if you read the rest of the testimony, you’ll see. She was all about God’s punishment this and the devil’s offspring that. I think it just made the most sense to her that whatever it was wanted to possess her. Besides, NoMaj’s generally don’t have much of an idea of what they’re talking about.”

Moses has to snort a laugh at that and nod her agreement. “So, in your opinion, this beast isn’t much of a worry?”

Horton looks uncomfortable, shifting a little and then shrugging. “I mean. If you ask me, yeah. But I’m not a Magical Creatures expert,” she adds. “And my bosses sure thought it was a big deal. Or, at least, that Solkin is a big deal. They wanted it all cleaned up, you know.”

Moses nods, passing a sympathetic look to the woman. “We certainly know how that goes.” Looking over to Winter, she closes the file and nods to show that she doesn’t have anything more here. Besides, they got what they came for – the NoMaj’s name and address. “Well, I think we’ve got all we need from you. But you’ve been a great help, Officer Horton. Thank you for that.” Lifting the documents, she gives them a little wave. “And for this. If we hand any follow-up questions, we’ll let you know.”

Even easier than expected. At this rate, maybe they’d fix this whole thing without even having to deal with anything too difficult. His eyes flicker to the spot on the file that she taps, the name and address of the No-Maj who had given the testimony on the sighting, even as the Obliviator goes on. Everything they need, right there, just handed to them like it was nothing.

Maybe if it hadn’t been so simple, he would’ve said something about the No-Maj comment, letting them both know that his parents are No-Majs and likely knew more than both of them combined, but there’s no need for that fundamental differences fight now, when there’s work to do. Instead, he shakes his head, and rolls his eyes, but stays silent as they both continue.

So Solkin thought it was a big deal; of course, he did. Winter has a strong suspicion that the reason this got brought all the way up to them in the first place is because of the wandmaker, and not necessarily because of any real danger that had been perceived by experts or non-experts. Either way, they have what they need, so he nods as well, and offers Horton a smile, too, before turning and leading the way out of the office and back towards the elevator. As soon as they’re out of earshot, he looks over as Moses with a wide grin. “That was easier than expected. And sounds to me like we’re right about the beast. What do you say we check this No-Maj out and get it all cleared up nice and tidy?” he asks, same grin on his lips.

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

daniellobo‌:

Biting back a grin, he rolls his eyes teasingly as Winter’s foot comes in contact with his leg once again. It probably would do him some good too, not drinking alone that is. Ever since the case that’d first pulled him off the Eastern Squad he’d been trying to avoid making any new friendships, knowing all too well just where they could end up if things went the way they had before. But Winter’s was not a new friendship, he reminds himself, in fact out of all the aurors in the squad, Janus included, he’d known him the longest. 

Nodding his head in agreement, he takes another drag of his cigarette as he slumps further down into the steaming waters. “You got yourself a deal than,” he grins, as he rests his head back against the tub’s edge, eyes closing in the process. “And who knows, maybe we’ll throw in a the occasional bath if you get me drunk enough.” 

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

lolatkins‌:

He looked like a mess. It wasn’t something obvious, of course - they were all trained to mask that. Part of being an Auror was hiding all those feelings; the anxiety, the despair, the hopelessness, everything that could take over you. It wasn’t a subject in the Academy, or at least not in Cuba. There wasn’t some snobby teacher who was going to help you learn how to compartmentalise - that was something one kind of managed on their own. That didn’t take away the feelings, though, and for someone in a situation like Winter’s, Lola could imagine that was when things started to get messy. She had been around no-majs all her life, and she had seen her own fair share of war. Guerrilla was a common occurrence in her country, even before Fidel Castro and the revolution. She had heard the gun shots, the screams, the executions. It was borderline horrifying to think what living that up close could do to someone’s mind. Maybe that was the reason she was so worried about him; perhaps that was the reason she could see how messed up he was, despite his crafted walls.

“You’re not late.”, she hurried to reply, almost cutting him off. Pursing her lips, she slowly offered him the coffee in her left hand. It took her a second to process the situation, what she wanted to say. As usual, she hadn’t thought this through. If she had been more careful, like Salem, or Janus, perhaps she would have come better prepared for this confrontation. She wasn’t, though, and now she had to deal with it. 

“I’m sorry.”

There it was. The words had been circling inside her brain for days and she hadn’t been brave enough to say them out loud, not until now. 

“I shouldn’t have come for you like that in the middle of that party, and I shouldn’t have said what I said. Cedric is my friend, he was one of the few people to be nice to me, without caring about what people were saying, or where I came from. I was just trying to protect him.” She sighed, “I just wanted- I needed to know you’re all right.”

When she cut him off, he fell silent, now a little less caught off guard then before. He looked down at the offered coffee with a frown. It was tempting not to take it from her, to let the upset she had caused spill over into now, but they were about to go on a case, and no matter what he was in his personal life, he was a professional when it came to the work. Never would he do anything that would jeopardize the case, even if that meant accepting a peace offering from someone who had brought up every worst memory he possessed right before the dragon had nearly triggered another situation like the one he had put Cedric in back on the Central Squad.

Winter took the coffee, though, but didn’t take make any move to drink it, go back inside, or let her in either. It was a shock when those two words seemingly tumbled from her lips, though. She didn’t strike him as the type to apologize, especially for something she had seemed so triumphant to bring up to him in the first place. The apology seemed sincere, though, and that had to mean something, even if this was the last thing he wanted to talk about right now, a few days removed from the whole night, and the horrible situation that had come from it, not just socially.

“Everything that happened to Cedric, because of me, is on me. I can promise you, he doesn’t need anyone else making me feel guilty for what I did. Already do, and have for years. I get wanting to protect a friend, but he doesn’t need protecting from me; I’ll keep apologizing to him for what I did in my weakness until he either accepts it, or curses me, too,” he said seriously. It was even more of a surprise to hear she wanted to know if he was okay, though. He wasn’t so used to so many people checking in on him, didn’t know how to handle it. “I’m fine. I’m an auror,” he shrugged, although his voice wasn’t quite so confident.

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

aurormolina‌:

When the dragon’s flames finally die out, Jo lets go of their side of the barrier almost immediately, every muscle in their arm crying out in joy as they finally release the death grip they had on their wand. Stumbling over to Winter, they flop down on the floor in front of him, paying no mind to what all was going on around them. 

“I… can’t…  believe…,” they begin, pausing after each word to catch their breath, “we fuckin’ did that.” Tiling their head to the side they look up at Winter from their spot on the ground, flashing him the widest, most exhausted grin they’d probably ever given in their life. “You better catch your breath soon, partner, because you’re carrying me out of here.” 

After insuring the beast truly was dead, Snow walks over to the two aurors, looking down at them with- if Jo can believe it- pride? “Well,” he chuckles breathlessly, “you can check killing a damn fiendfyre beast off your to-do lists. How you two doin’, think you can make it outta here without me having to try to haul your asses out of here?” 

Jo looks up at him with a grin, before turning back to Winter, “Nope, I already found my ride out of here.” 

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

daniellobo‌:

He listens intently as Winter goes over his past few years, the story is an abridged one, with a few of the more grittier details left out, but he can respect that. He wasn’t going to go poking into anything Winter didn’t want him to, just the same as he didn’t want Winter to do to him either. What events exactly brought Winter here, he finds doesn’t really matter as long as he’s here. Clearly Snow thought he was fit enough to carry on with field duty, so whatever took place between him and his partner mustn’t have been so bad to sack him entirely. 

“I get that,” he nods, exhaling a stream of cigarette smoke from his nostrils, “I took a bit of a detour myself for a while before coming back again a few months ago.” The question Winter poses is a complicated one, and one he’s not entirely sure how to answer. Given the auror’s own honesty though, he figures he should return the favor, in an abridged version of his own. 

“Well let’s see… I came here, worked here for about… two years?”, yes it had to be two. He and Janus had gotten involved not too long after he’d gotten here, and they were at least together two years before Blue Ridge. “Then I got injured on a case, got a nasty jinx to the shoulder,” he adds, sitting up enough to show off the pale tendrils of the jinx scar that fanned from his shoulder down to his chest. “That put me out for a while, then after that I needed a bit of a change in scenery too. Got a transfer over to Pacific, stayed there for five years doing undercover stings, and then here I am.” 

He’s left out a fairly large part of the story, mostly that involving the other eastern squad member, but he doesn’t quite feel up to venturing down that particular road quite yet. If this catching up of their’s turns into a routine, then maybe, but as for now he’s perfectly content with where they find themselves now. Leaning forward he takes the bottle back from Winter, and takes a couple swigs. “We should do this more often,” he comments, before adding with a grin, “the catching up, not the shared bathing mind you. Don’t need you getting any ideas.” 

He hums along in assent, having heard a little bit about what Danny had been doing before ending up back here as well. That was how it was, after all, people talked, there were always going to be rumors about the cases people had taken, especially the rough ones, the dirty ones that were left silently, wanting to be forgotten. And he had heard a thing or two about what had happened to Danny, although, not in any real detail, most of it seemingly speculation.

Even as he explains his past few years, Winter can tell that it too was something of a shorthand version. There’s something else there, but he isn’t going to pry, not tonight when it’s the first time they’ve actually really gotten back together since they’ve both been back on the same squad. The amount of honesty they had both shared so far seemed like a rare thing, just from the way they had both trailed around some of the grittier details. Despite himself, when Danny sits up to show off the scar, he leans forward, cigarette clenched between his lips, and trails fingers lightly over the top of it, as if feeling the story as he tells it. It’s a small thing, and he leans back again and grabs the bottle before it’s been more than a few seconds, but in a way it feels nice, to know these things.

“Sounds like you’ve had a winding road, my friend. Glad both of our roads ended up crossing here, though. Makes it all feel like it’s worth something,” he nods. A grin spread across his lips as he grabbed the bottle back from him. “Damn, and here I was thinking we could start sharing baths on the regular. But fine, I guess I wouldn’t mind seeing you around fully clothed, too. Been a while since we’ve gone out drinking together, and drinking alone gets a little depressing after a while. Besides, it’ll be like the good old days, won’t it?” Winter smiles, nudging his leg with his foot under the water.

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

bethlehemramsey‌:

     “You should ask Karly, or Mary-Lynn, if you really want to know. We were just lab partners, he didn’t really– We didn’t spend a lot of time together outside of school, usually. He had other friends, and everything, I was just, you know, his sister’s friend.”

She looked down at her hands, as she spoke, her voice quiet, and Beth could see that she was picking at a hangnail, the sleeves of her sweater pulled down over most of her hands. She was nervous, that much was clear, but Beth didn’t get the sense that she was nervous about them, about talking to them. It just felt as if talking about Trip, for some reason, made Jessica nervous. 

     “You said that he left your house, and then that you were at a sleepover with Mary-Lynn and Karly later that night?”

Jessica nodded, and started to put her books into her backpack now – it was hard to tell if she was doing it as a sign that she needed to leave, or just to avoid eye contact.

     “We finished up our lab report and he biked home while I had dinner. My mom’s really strict about family dinners, so she drove me over to Mary-Lynn’s after we all finished eating. They’d both gone right there after newspaper, but I didn’t mind because Trip… I mean, because we had to finish our lab report for Monday, and I didn’t want to have to do it over the weekend.”

The little slip up was clear, hard to miss when she was already seemingly nervous talking about this subject at all. And even if it had been a long time since he was in school, he had a few clear guesses as to what she was going to say, but had changed her mind about. He didn’t want to prod too much too quickly, though, especially when she seemed so nervous about the subject in the first place.

“Of course, who wants to work on lap reports over the weekend?” he agreed, attempting to make it all a little more human. “Was Trip a nice guy, then? From what you saw, anyway, did people seem to like him, mostly?”

“He was nice to everyone, so most people liked him, it seemed like, anyway. He’s always been nice to me, even though we were just lab partners...” she trailed off for a second, zipping up her backpack, and looking back at them with a frown. “I guess maybe he should’ve have been, after the breakup, but he still was...”

They were venturing into even more delicate territory, and he wasn’t sure that the next question wouldn’t just make her up and leave. He still wanted to try, though.

“Did he mention anything to you about the breakup? Or did Mary-Lynn ever mention it being rough?

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

aurormolina‌:

With Winter’s words of encouragement still ringing in their ears, they refocus their efforts onto maintaining the bubble’s strength, pushing through the growing pain shooting through their arms. The pain, no matter how discomforting, does seems to help though, allowing them to keep hold of the beast that lay restless inside them, using its strength to carry them through this final leg of the fight. They’re not sure if it’ll be enough, with the full moon still weeks away, their hold on the beast is unstable, and they have to actively keep hold of it while focusing on their own section of the bubble at the same time. 

It is just as the dragon’s fire seems to finally begin to diminish, do they feel a brush of air behind them. In order to fight off his own section of the fiendfyre it appears Janus is working up his own magic to snuff out the flames. Whatever he’s doing seems to be working, and even takes some of the growing air pressure off the bubble’s increasingly unstable walls, as they feel it begin to shrinking around the weakening dragon held within. 

“Just a little bit longer!” Snow calls out from his own side, as he begins stepping forward along with the shrinking bubble. Jo follows suit, still fighting off the growing urge to release, as they struggle to hold on to their own side. 

It feels a whole lot like if he has to hold on much longer, he’s going to burst a vein, but he pushes onward, taking his own words to heart just as it seems Jo does, knowing that it’s got to be over soon. It feels like a small eternity before the beast’s flames start to dim, the bubble seemingly doing its job, but it’s not just the bubble, apparently. A burst of air that seemingly stabilizes the air pressure in the room, keeping the walls of their bubble strong, just as it starts shrinking.

He follows Snow’s lead, gripping his wand tightener than he could remember having done before, starting to walk forward, shrinking the bubble as he goes, holding on with the last ounces of strength it feels like he has left. The adrenaline still pumping through his body makes it easier, gives him that finally push to keep going, just a little longer, just a little longer, repeating over and over again in his head.

And then, a little lamely, the dragon finally peters out in a small puff of smoke, there one second, dimming, and then nothing the next. As soon as the smoke rises and it’s clear the dragon’s gone, Winter released his half of the spell, immediately dropping down to his knees from the exhaustion, feeling a whole lot like he’s not going to be able to lift his arms again. There are still a few smaller fires around, being taken care of by others, but it’s over, finally, they did it.

“Not with a bang, but a whimper, as they say,” he says, short of breath still, looking over at Jo.

[wintersyaoranmonroe]

fawnward‌:

The hand at her waistband brings her a little back to focus. She’s not going to actually let him fuck her right here, in the hallway, at the President’s Gala. But if they could slip away… How unwise would that be? To sleep with someone on the squad, someone she isn’t even sure she always likes? Someone as fucking cocky as Winter is?

Her mouth opens to halt but never gets the chance. Instead a burst of sound and panic from the other room. Something like… No, there was no way there’s a dragon there. When she pulls back, Fawn immediately looks to his eyes to see if he’s also registering what’s going on. And there’s something specific over his face, something haunted and hunted. If Snow’s voice didn’t break through the chaos, Fawn might have stayed a moment longer. Checked that Winter was all right – because she’s seen this before, or something like it. Meadow has talked about it too, they called it “combat fatigue” at the hospital though it wasn’t common as not too many wix were involved in the nomaj war. Winter was, though.

But the screams, the sound of fire, Snow shouting. Fawn has to trust that Winter is a big boy, can handle himself for the moment, and darts off to help.