01<@Ardweden> [Day: Saturday, September 25. Time: ?] 01<@Ardweden> [You've been traveling through the dreaming world, looking for Natalie. After some searching, you've come across a fairytale castle and a guard with a nervous twirl to his moustache. He wouldn't let you in! The nerve! But Joan promised him, on her honor as a knight, that none of her companions would cause harm within the castle. That seemed to be enough for him, as he let the lot of you in. Foolishly, probably.] 01<@Ardweden> [You step into the castle, which apparently meant stepping into a hallway - but an enormous one, with has high walls, a rounded ceiling painted a deep, dark blue, and hundreds of candles that float in the air well above you. Numerous paintings line the walls. The stained glass seems to be gone.] 01<@Ardweden> [Start!] 06* Joan appraises the castle. There's some total appraisal going on here, for sure. 06* Imp is chilling on his ride, the head of Hien. 01<@Ardweden> [It's old but seems well made, in Joan's opinion! It’s mostly stone, but there's some wood going on to make it less... stoney.] 06* Susano-o looks around at the castle, particularly looking up at the candles. 06* Hien reaches up, removes Imp, puts him on her shoulder, and has a look around. "Nat? You here?" 06* Imp blinks at Hien but doesn't say anything. 06* Kali steps along the way, eyes alert. Her eyes drift to the paintings every once and a while, but she's focused on the ahead of her, not really on the group. Which means stalking through the hallways commence. But dammit if she's not scanning those portraits for hints. 01<@Ardweden> [No answer to Hien!] 01<@Ardweden> [Kali peers at the pictures. Wait - that one with the woman in the witch's hat. Did that one move?] 06* Hien looks up at the candles. Waaaaaaay up. Imp should probably be glad he's not still on her head. "Hellooooooo?" 01<@Ardweden> [Hien's voice echoes impressively! Some nice acoustics in here.] 06* Joan peers at the candles as well. "I wonder why they do not 'ave torches instead." Or what keeps those up. 06* Kali 's sword draws out and she points right up to the portrait, stopping. "Right. Show yourself, then." 06* Hien blinks and looks at Kali and the painting. "Wait, what?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Show myself?" the old woman in the painting says, folding her hands primly. "I'm right here."] 06* Joan peers at the woman. "Floating candles, people in pictures that move... Are we in 'Arry Potter?" 06* Susano-o turns to look at the painting, cocking his head to the side. We could be? It's Nat's sort of thing. 06* Kali resheathes her sword and folds her arms, looking at the painting. Witches. Of *course*. "Right. I think we're looking for the master of this castle..." She turns her head to look at Hien steadily. "...right?" As long as we do not run into 'Arry and Draco making oot. 06* Imp makes gagging noises on Hien's shoulder 06* Hien starts to answer Kali, but is completely boggled by the fact that Joan is aware of Harry Potter slashfic. 06* Hien manages to regain a bit of compsure and looks at Kali again. "Yes. I think so." 06* Kali mutters under her breath, in response to Joan. "Well then. We know who to kill off first then." 06* Susano-o gazes curiously at Joan. 06* Joan is apparently oblivious, waiting for the painted wo-- erm, woman in the painting to respond. 06* Imp groans. "Hien, I never asked this question, but what class did she like the best? Broomsticks? Enchantments? Transfiguration?" 06* Hien scratches her chin, making a slight scraping sound, then stops. "Um... enchantments? She occasionally would pretend to cast spells when she thought no one was looking." 06* Kali frowns, looking down at the carpeting, voice still low. "But that's not...that's..." But then she quiets down. Did they work? 06* Kali steps away from the group with a gliding step. She's not associated with this group. Nope! I'm not sure what she was trying to do, so I don't know. Unless it was a spell to make other people want to leave her alone. 01<@Ardweden> [The witch clears her throat, hopefully getting Kali's attention again. "The headmaster is likely in his office."] That sounds a good place to start, where is it? 06* Kali hmms, tilting her head, looking back up to the painting. "Master? Not Mistress?" His? 01<@Ardweden> ["Down the hallway, first stair to the right, wait three clicks, second to the left right up, and straight on to the first tower."] The guy that dies on page 596 runs this place 06* Susano-o looks curiously now at Imp. Dammit, where's my notebook when I need it? 06* Hien looks around for something she can use to write down those directions. "This is a magic place, right? Summon pen and paper! Or feather pen! Or something!" 06* Kali nods to the portrait. "Thanks." She starts to walk, then stops, eyes tilting up to look at the painting again. "Who are you?" What can't I know a book? 01<@Ardweden> [The woman grins at Kali, pressing her index finger against the right side of her nose, before she poofs away in oil-painted smoke.] 06* Kali snorts and her attention goes back on the hallway. "Course. Why would I expect anything *less*?" She stalks. Down the hallway now. Others can catch up if they want. 06* Joan snickers at that. You can know a book. I don't know what you're talking about. 06* Hien looks around, notes the lack of magically-appearing writing instruments, exhales, and follows after Kali. Hopefully she remembered the directions. 06* Susano-o blinks at the painting, and the smoke, and then makes after the dragon. 01<@Ardweden> [The lot of you head down the hallway, which opens into a wide, tall room that - yes - looks like it's straight out of a Harry Potter movie, with moving staircases and teenagers that walk and climb stairs, sometimes in a hurry and sometimes not, in black robes trimmed with green, yellow, blue, or red. A few of them have wands out, and a number of them are carrying books or the like.] Oh, Dumbwhatever dies. 01<@Ardweden> [It's surprisingly sunny in here! Nobody notices you.] 06* Kali clips out to Imp, curtly, "No one cares." Before turning to the first stair on the right. Right? Right. 06* Susano-o blinks in the light, and looks around at all of the people, not moving. 01<@Ardweden> [There is a staircase to the right! It's quite long. Kali steps on right as a pair of girls step off, talking about... charms, or something.] 06* Imp shuts up looking at Kali confused. 06* Hien ignores Imp. That probably wasn't a spoiler for her, but still. 06* Joan watches the peoples not watch her. "Interesting. I wonder if zey see us differently?" Or at all... 06* Hien waves at one of the passing students. 01<@Ardweden> [The student - a blond boy with hair down to his shoulders - doesn't wave back. He just keeps walking down the stairs.] They normally don't till we make ourselves known 06* Kali nods and then reaches over to touch a nearby student suddenly on the shoulders and turn him around towards her. If she *remembers* correctly... Be gentle with him! 01<@Ardweden> [Kali makes contact, and the boy nearly jumps out of his skin with a shout when he sees Kali. The wand's out and pointed right at her face. "What-!"] 06* Kali gestures with her other arm as she lets go, paying him not any more attention than she has to. "See?" 06* Kali ignores him and continues up the steps, to a spot she can hopefully hear clicking. 06* Susano-o starts at that, and turns to look at Kali and the boy. "Be careful!" 01<@Ardweden> [The boy watches Kali go, blinking and confused, then sees everyone else and jumps *again*.] 06* Imp just grins at him. Don't mind us. 01<@Ardweden> [He looks at Kali, then the others, then Imp specifically, then Hien specifically, before he mumbles, "Yeah, okay," and hurries down the stairs. He isn't even out of sight when you hear him calling for Hagrid or someone whose name sounds a lot like Hagrid.] 06* Imp laughs falling off Hien's shoulder clutching his stomach. ...I don't think they liked dragons very much in the books. Maybe we should move faster. 01<@Ardweden> [Kali gets to the platform at the top of the stairs! Good for her?] 06* Susano-o takes to the first couple of steps, and looks up the stairs further at Kali. "We should catch up. Before anything else happens." 06* Imp laughs a bit more. "Oh can we do that some more?" 06* Joan heads up the stairs. "Or before zey move." 06* Hien heads up the stairs after the others. "Yeah, let's keep moving." 06* Kali stops, listening for clicks. Is it a floating platform or something? Landing? Magical castle academy here! 06* Imp will just bamf up onto Hien's shoulder. At least it's not the head? 01<@Ardweden> [It's a landing. Kali doesn't hear any clicks.] 06* Susano-o follows up behind them, looking down off the stairs cautiously as he goes. 01<@Ardweden> [Upon reaching the landing, everyone gets a vague, uneasy feeling. Kali, Imp, and Joan all see a bird-shaped shadow ghosting over them. Susano-O also sees the shadow, and while it doesn't follow a path that students can take, really, he can track how to get there across the maze of stairs and landings.] 06* Imp suddenly looks sad and sighs. "Yeah. Here we go." He doesn't sound too happy. 06* Susano-o squints and nods. "Yeah. We go that way." He gestures off with his chin. 06* Kali 's already stern expression turns into a frown as she mutters, barely audible, "Not yet...sheesh, you're gonna hover over us, aren't you?" She starts to move quicker onto the landing. 06* Hien looks around. "I missed something, didn't I." It's not a question. 06* Joan nods to Susano-o. "Lead on." 06* Kali pauses and turns to Susano-o, ever sternly. "Yes. If you know the way, lead on." 06* Imp stays on his perch right now. 06* Susano-o nods once, and then heads off decisively along the path he spotted. 06* Hien sighs and follows Susano-o. 01<@Ardweden> [Susano-O leads, and the others follow, and they head to where he had indicated without incident. Nobody notices them, and the student who ran off to find Hagrid doesn't come back (nor does Hagrid). That's probably a good thing. They reach a classroom right as the shadow passes, somehow, under the door.] 06* Imp sighs. "Through there?" 06* Susano-o nods. "I think so." I'll go first. 06* Joan nods. "Seems so." She looks at Hein. "Are you ready? You know what we might find. And what we may 'ave to do." 06* Kali nods. "Only one way to find out." And she goes to push open the door. 06* Hien looks at Joan and nods. "But I really hope it doesn't come to that." 06* Hien opens the door before Kali can get to it. 06* Susano-o waits as they go through. 06* Imp just rides in with Hien! 06* Kali doesn't caaaaare about your door, Hien! So long as it gets opened! 01<@Ardweden> [You open the door! On the other side is NOT gray mist; rather, it's a classroom with maybe a dozen students. At the front is a teacher - witch's hat (like the painting), severe bun... she looks like McGonagall, really - and a student with blue-lined robes, long black hair, brown eyes, and glasses. She points her wand at a stool with what must be a magic word, because it flexes its stool legs and starts galloping around the room.] 06* Imp stares at the stool. "Huh. This might be dangerous." 06* Hien blinks at the girl. "Nat?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Very good! Now please cancel the charm," the witch says, to which the student grins, says another word with another point, and the stool stops right next to Susano-O.] 06* Susano-o looks down at it stoically. 06* Kali turns to Hien for a moment for a response. "Is it?" 06* Hien ignores Kali for a moment and steps forward. "Natalie?" 06* Joan looks for the Raven. 06* Kali snorts and folds her arms. "She's not gonna hear you till you touch her, remember?" 01<@Ardweden> [Joan can't see the Raven. At least, not yet.] 06* Kali has a *lot* of arms to fold too! 06* Joan looks at the McGonagall then. Bad feeling about that one. 06* Hien shakes her head briefly. "Right." She walks up to the front of the room, reaches out, and hesitates. 01<@Ardweden> [Meanwhile, there's a lot of clapping going on, and Natalie goes to her seat: second from the front, near the center. McGonagall waves a wand, and words start appearing on the chalkboard; they're impossible to really read, but it seems like she's talking about magical theory.] 06* Imp braces himself, still on the shoulder. 06* Susano-o watches Hien go over, and nudges the stool slightly with his foot so it's less in the way. 06* Hien looks rather silly now, doesn't she? This is what one gets for hesitation! 06* Joan moves to the side of the class, where she could better position herself for fighting the McGonagall in case a fight breaks out. 06* Hien squeezes through the aisles, stands next to Natalie's seat, and reaches out to tap her on the arm. No hesitating this time! 06* Kali just mutters to herself and has her hands by her swords. Might be about magic theory. To Hien, again, "That's her, right? We found her?" 01<@Ardweden> [Natalie starts up at Hien. "Whoa!" Intelligent.] Natalie? Is that really you? 06* Susano-o tenses by the stool. 01<@Ardweden> ["It's a dragon!" the girl exclaims, and then what Hien said hits her. "You can *talk*!"] I'm... uh... 06* Hien exhales, trying to avoid breathing smoke. "It's me, Nat. Sydney. I've come to find you." 06* Kali nods in response, turning her attention to the teacher at the front of the room. "Great! We found her..." Walking forward, unsheathing her blade, she makes the best diplomat. I'd hope she could talk 06* Joan holds out a hand at Kali. "What are you doing?" 06* Kali stops at the Joan hand and narrows her eyes at her, but does cease her movements. Her head gestures towards the front of the room. "Taking care of the problem. That's why we're *here*, right? Like you did for Tony's dad?" 06* Joan eyes Kali right back. "What the 'ell is wrong with you?" 06* Hien is so intent on Natalie that she completely fails to notice Kali. 01<@Ardweden> [The girl blinks at Hien, confusion showing, then a little disappointment. "Sydney...? Sorry, but you got the wrong person. I'm not Nat."] 01<@Ardweden> [End!]