Group #11

[James Riley]

• James' breath caught in his throat for a moment when Eze started talking. We'll take them off your hands? Could he get more suspicious? James had no desire to play rescuer. He was perfectly content to get the hell out of there, and then write the Ministry and have them bail these folks out. The Ministry was the one who'd gotten them into this mess, after all, not James and his friends, and James saw no reason that they should have to stick out their necks for the other group.
  
  As previously stated, James had absolutely no desire to get shot for the Trail.
  
  "They sound like real idiots," he said, his tone a warning to Ezekial. If you go out on this limb, I'd sooner cut off the branch than let you bring me down, mate. No hard feelings, but I'm not getting taken prisoner, so back off before you say something too stupid. "Magic sticks or no, it's no good to fight with ladies who have guns--espeically not when the ladies are otherwise so hospitable."
  
  And don't think I don't appreciate the hospitality, James thought to himself, wondering what his chances were of getting out of all this relatively soon, and thinking that they were probably decreasing sharply with every word that came out of Eze's mouth. He just hoped Ev and Cal stayed quiet--if they left him alone, maybe he'd be able to talk his way out of it.

  

[Callum Baines]

• Cal wondered briefly if it had been wise of James to act...almost comfortable with the idea of magic in the women's presence, and offered up a quiet "They don't sound like wholesome folk in the least," for good measure. Idly, the man wondered how easily it would be to apparate out of there and back to the village if the need aroseùand if that would qualify as desertion, which was more concerning. He was damned if he would be shot, even for ten galleons, but he had little desire to be ripped asunder by some foolish preventative measure.

  

[Morgan Ilkin]

Morgan looked suspiciously at the man that asked the question first. Why was he so eager to take those prisoners away? Did he know about who was she talking? The woman soon decided that she will keep an eye on him until the men leave. The others seemed to be harmless, but this one... There was something sneaky about him. If he was lying, he definitely was not good at it. She then looked at the other members, especially the one who was talking about parents. It hit her soft spot as a mother.
"I suppose it's that." The brunette sighed heavily. "Indeed, sir. We do not have any ill will towards any of the strangers, but if they try to hurt us, we must protect ourselves." The woman agreed to James' words, leading them towards the houses the Irvingly citizens lived in. "Now, you all know my name, but if you are to dine with us, I think it's only appropriate for me to know something about my guests." Her tone changed from threatening to a little more friendly. The woman missed presence of other people not from the small village, no matter how much she hated to admit that.

  

[James Riley]

James knew he coudn't get too comfortable, despite the fact that her tone was considerably lighter and the majority of the danger seemed to be passed. "Well, like I said, my name is James. I'm a doctor of medicine," he said, choosing his words carefully. Growing up in a city full of Muggles meant that he at least knew the proper words. Oh, now that he thought about it, that was probably a very good, muggle-friendly thing to talk about. "I'm originally from London, but now I live--around here somewhere. I'd say the direction, but we've been travelling for weeks and I'm afraid I'm not really sure where we're from in relation to here."

The we seemed to need some sort of follow-up, and the more he said about his group mates, perhaps the less they would feel obliged to say about themselves. "These are all friends of mine," he said, confident he could call them that after their adventures on the Trail together. "Everett and I share a house there. We're both eager to get home--I've got a girl I'm courting who I'd like to see again, and he has a young daughter. And we've been out in the wilderness far too long," he said, hoping this would ellicit some sympathy from the women.

  

[Everett Grimm]

Everett wondered if it was possible to strangle Eze without moving. Perhaps by some form of mental telepathy he could just smother his mate and nobody would notice? Probably not, so it was probably a good thing James took over the speaking bit.

As his name was mentioned, Ev nodded deeply. "Mmm, Ella's just about five months now." If he did the math quickly, looking at James for confirmation. Their living situation always made him laugh. Two guys, living together with an infant, it was a great rumor running about town. Ev never paid much attention to them, but hey, you had to care to let it bother you and he didn't quite care. "It would be quite nice to get home." He gestured off vaguely in some direction indicating perhaps they lived off that way. "It has been some time and I miss my girl and my bed." He chuckled, hoping the tension of their arrival would dissipate with a little humor and an easy topic of discussion Of course too many details about their reasons to be in the woods could get sticky fast and Ev did not want that.

Talking about Ella just made him want to get home even more and Merlin help him if Eze opened his mouth one more time, Everett really was going to reach out and strangle him.

  

[Callum Baines]

• "I've kids of my own!" the caretaker piped up, unwilling to be left out. Riley might have had his Felicity and Everett an ill-timed infant, but Callum had a proper family back in the village. Mind, Enid had left him ages ago and Dylan was hardly in need of a father at his age, but the girls still looked up to their daddy, or at least Cal liked to think. "Dylan, Gwen, and Bethan. The sooner I'm home to them, no doubt the better I'll be for it." Belatedly, the wizard realized he had omitted his name, but no doubt Eze of the Big Mouth would make up for that shortcoming when the others were no longer sending him glares that threatened slow death.
  
  That James was a ædoctor' might work in the group's favour, Callum thought. No doubt this rag-tag band of gun-toting women were a bit short on medical help. Then again, that could prompt them to keep the drunks captive. Forever.
  
  This line of thought was not a happy one.

  

[Nancy Ingrahm]

With the village in plain sight and the promise of refreshments having been made, it occurred to her that it would be best to fix it as soon as possible. It was partly as an excuse to put distance between the strange men and to get rid of them as soon as humanly possible but she figured they would be taking the men to Morgan's house and she may as well help. "I'll go 'elp get some food 'n drink ready, shall I?" She left shortly thereafter, running towards one of the buildings.

She had been tempted to enlist the help of some of Irvingly's men to see the strangers off but decided against it. She probably ought not to have left Morgan so outnumbered but couldn't see that she would have made much of a difference had she stayed anyway. She was a poor shot with a gun, much to her dismay.

Readying some refreshments that included some nearly stale bread, a little cheese that had likely seen better days and a few other modest things that didn't need any cooking or major preparing, she set it out on the table and was apparently just in time as she could hear their footsteps approaching. She had made sure not to select the best from Morgan's pantry, to have done so would have been not only rude but a waste when she felt no desire to be hospitable to the men. "Just a little somethin' to replenish y'strength," she called out, assuming they were within earshot.

{{I thought I'd cut to the chase since I think we all want this to end sooner rather than later xD}}

  

[Ezekial Aesalon]

Eze had the distinct feeling that, should he speak, someone was going to strangle him. Probably Everett, because Everett was tall and had a basement to hide in. (Specifically, James'.) He supposed it would be bad form to hex the ladies and get out of there. Also, he didn't want to be violently ripped limb from limb by his group mates.

So Eze stayed silent. He wondered if it would be rude to take out his liquor and play the 'every time you feel like it, take a drink' game. He decided it would be.

He wrapped his hand around the wand in his pocket and hoped nothing imploded.

(not-so-coherent filler post)

  

[James Riley]

James could tell that the second woman, the one who wasn't Morgan, wasn't exactly thrilled about giving them food--and with good reason, from the look of the meagre little house they might not have had much besides what was seen here--so he made sure to observe every curtesy, giving her a very gentlemanly bow as she laid it out. "We are very much obliged, miss," he said as he took a seat around the little table, wondering where Morgan had slipped off to--Morgan was the one that talked most frequently, and, as a result, was the one James felt most comfortable around. "Your hospitality is really remarkable," he said, hoping the compliment would soften her a bit.

Just as they were sitting and before they'd even had a chance to eat, however, a strange noise caught James' attention; it was a voice, muffled by walls (or perhaps it was coming from below? Hard to be sure, with it sounding so distant), but one that sounded vaguely familiar, in any case. The words were impossible to make out, but he could have sworn he'd heard it--

And then it occurred to him, out of nowhere. Moira Prewett.

Shit. That was Moira Prewett, screeching from somewhere within the house.

Shit. Now he bloody well had to attempt to get this idiot group rescued. He glanced at Eze and hoped the boy wouldn't feel the need to "help" him any, as his mind wheeled.

By the time Morgan reappeared, he had his lie at least somewhat ready, though his heart still beat quite quickly as he said it. "I could hear--your other guests," he said delicately, trying to walk lightly here, knowing he was on thin ice. "That must make it awfully hard to live here. Are they hurt?" He hesitated a moment, as if shy of saying the next sentence. "I am a doctor. Though without my tools."

That was a lie; he had his tools, his wand and a bag of potion ingredients, but he wasn't about to demonstrate his spellwork to a band of know wizard-haters. Merlin, let this work, he prayed. He didn't know why he was risking anything for Moira Prewett--he just knew that Fee would probably be very angry with him if he didn't.

  

[Everett Grimm]

Everett wanted the hell out of here, but no it appeared they were going to sit down and have some flipping little dinner party... Ev's patience for this were wearing thing and he hoped to Merlin that James was concocting some kind of actual plan to get them out of there. He was tempted to go with whatever Eze had in mind, blaze a path and get the hell out of there, but somebody would end up getting shot and that would be no good.

He sat, rather begrudgingly as everybody else did, watching James carefully. He could see the wheels turning in his best friend's head; that was a good sign. A muffled scream, it sounded like, came through the floorboards? Ev couldn't quite tell, but he had to wonder if that was the other Hogsmeade group, trapped in the basement. Perhaps they really should just leave them down there and let the ministry come after them. That was probably the best choice.

"Truly delightful." Ev added as an afterthought, trying to at least appear grateful, though he was anything but.

  

[Nancy Ingrahm]

Nancy wasn't sure what she was supposed to do other than feed the 'guests' and make sure they didn't get into any mischief. There was only so much she could do, after all. She thanked them begrudgingly for their compliments about hospitality, though she couldn't say for sure that they were genuine.

There came a shout from one of the hostages and Nancy froze. That wasn't good. She wasn't exactly sure why it wasn't good but she could feel that it wasn't. "I don' know. I don' look after 'em!" she snapped in what was an over defensive manner. How much was she supposed to tell them, how much was she allowed to tell them? God damn it! Why did they have to kidnap them in the first place? They were just trouble. They ate their food and drank their water and gave nothing back but difficulty. She was so sick of them! Why couldn't things go back to how they had been before. "I think one of 'em got shot... Some of 'em looked pretty banged up but we ain't done that. But y'shouldn't go down there, y'not allowed. Morgan won' like it." Despite the fact that she highly doubted it would go well for her if she was in any way negligible for any trouble, she privately wanted the strange people to just take their crazy people away with them and be gone for good.

  

[Morgan Ilkin]

Morgan had enough of that idiot woman who insulted everyone she could. So when she came back to the other group, of the much nicer men, she was tense, to say the least.
"One of them is hurt, indeed, because of her own stupidity. She refuses anyone to take care of the gun shot wound, though, so I do not know if she'll allow you to touch her, sir." She sighed heavily. "We do have some basic tools if she does let you take care of her.

  

[James Riley]

James' heart was pounding and his throat was tight, but he managed to keep his cool, for all that. "Show me to them," he said immediately, rising from the table with all the level-headed authority he could muster. "I'll take a look and see what can be done." No matter who they were, it was his job to help them, as a healer--even if one of them was Moira Prewett. Or should that have been especially if one of them was Moira Prewett? He didn't know, and made a mental note not to bring it up around Felicity.

Felicity.

He glanced around at his companions, a glance that said trust me, and please don't do anything stupid, the last more for Ezekial's sake than anything. As he walked to the door, his air all business, he hoped that they would have good reason to trust him. Did he know what he was doing?

Oh, Felicity. Why was he on this damn trail?

  

[Morgan Ilkin]

"Alright then, follow me." Morgan agreed, nodding her head and leading the man to see that horrible woman.

  

[Ezekial Aesalon]

Eze winced at the sound of shouting from the basement. He could only imagine that whoever was stuck down there was not happy, and was fairly certain that if he had been locked down there with them he would have been banging his head against a wall. Repeatedly.

But he wasn't stuck down there, thankfully. Eze took a brief moment to pray to whatever was listening that Josephine Lovelace wasn't down there, because he didn't want Jed to kill him. Or be mad or whatever. Kitty probably wouldn't be pleased either, and she actually would hit him.

James appeared to decide to actually do things now, and Eze watched with one eyebrow raised as he went downstairs. He returned the look with one of his own - Idiot? Me? Never.

Eze turned to the blonde woman. "So the witches," he said, "did they have anything with them?" He somehow doubted that anyone would be pleased if those idiots didn't have their wands on the way home, except perhaps the Ollivander that would have to sell new ones.