puttin' my defenses up (grey)

[Deleted]

Being stationed at Hogwarts as her last step of training was the best thing Rai could ask for. Not that she didn't mind moving on and all that, but it was nice to be able to keep Hogwarts safe from all the darkness that happened last year, to prevent it from happening again. They had a few aurors stationed there last year, due to the kid who was killed on the train, but not nearly as many as were there now. The Minister at Mrs. Granger were really putting the hammer down on things. Not to mention the Headmasters warnings and words at the banquet. She knew that things were going to get bad again, as much as she didn't want to. The worst part was that she knew her half brother, Uriah, would be involved. It was obvious, and it wouldn't be a surprise if he ever flat out told her that he was one of them.

She had been kidnapped too, back in April, and the experience had a different effect on her than it did on a lot of the other kidnapees. She wasn't afraid, for the most part. More than anything she came back with a stronger conviction than ever to take those people down, especially after she heard about what had happened to Marcia and Cain in there. Cain, being part vampire, had a hard time around blood, of course, and the kidnappers had taken Marcia, cut her up a bit, and then thrown her in a cell with a starving Cain. That in itself was enough to send Rai to Auror training, even if she wasn't planning on going already.

Walking around the perimeter of the Hogwarts grounds, Rai tried to shake off the memory of seeing Marcia like that, especially now that she was gone. She kept her arms at her sides and her wand in her hand as she kept her eyes out for trouble. She partly hoped that the baddies would wait to stir something up, but she also just wanted them to show themselves sooner rather than later...

grey xavier slater

(surprise you get a thread! takes place sometime in September, you can decide when if you want to be specific)

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

Too much had happened far too fast for Grey. He didn’t get frustrated easily, but having to deal with Addilyn’s problem with Theodosia had been too much for him, and just before that he found out Claire was one of the Aurors stationed at Hogwarts. Funny how she conveniently forgot to mention that to them. Now he couldn’t talk to one sister, fearing her bully would go after her again, and the other one, well, there really wasn’t much between the two of them. Grey thought about going to Claire for help with Addi’s issue, but to do that he felt like he’d be giving in. Why that was, he couldn’t figure it out, for the time being he just had to deal with it on his own.

With all of this on his mind, Grey had always found that walking around the grounds helped clear his head. So there he was, mindlessly shambling around, not really caring where his feet were taking him. For the influx of foreign students now at the school for the tournament, the grounds were relatively quiet today. Maybe if he was lucky he could find a nice spot to relax for a few minutes and forget about everything that had happened recently. Situating himself up against a tree on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He was sure if an adult found him there he’d get reprimanded, but that was the least of his worries right now. The forest wasn’t exactly the worse place in the world during the day. Grey had always told himself that he’d keep well clear of it at night though. Stories of unimaginable creatures that lurked within scared him more than Theodosia ever would. Shuddering at the thought of encountering one while he sat there, Grey made sure his wand was at the ready. He’d rather be overly cautious than to be caught off guard. Tilting his head back against the tree, Grey closed his eyes, attempting to remove all of his problems and think about something else. Quickly he drifted into a light sleep.

grey xavier slater & @railynn
346
Ashes of the Wake by Lamb of God

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

As Rai continued onward, eyes sharp, she saw a shape up ahead. Someone leaning against a tree. It seemed harmless enough, but she still moved forward slowly. When she got close enough to realize who it was she smiled. He looked like he was sleeping, which sounded like an incredibly nice thing to do right now. She had an image flash through her mind of just sitting there next to him, leaning on the tree herself, and taking a short nap right along with him. But, she was on duty and she needed to stay sharp, obviously. Plus, this was a rare opportunity. What could she do to Grey while he was sleeping?

Now, she knew better than to assume that he was in a deep sleep, she wasn't that lucky. No, he was probably just resting his eyes and then happened to drift off a bit... so she couldn't do anything that would take very long. She needed something quick, something goofy, and something that would probably wake him up to see her smiling over him with a big satisfied look on her face. She stroked her chin for a moment before an idea came to her. She grinned and then pulled out her wand, casting a non-verbal spell that would cause the entire lower half of his body to be encapsulated in a green gelatin like substance.

grey xavier slater

@railynn

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

The problem with dreams was that they were regularly affected or affected ones surroundings. With the severe lack of sleep the Gryffindor boy had received over the years, it was no wonder that he was accustomed to extremely strange dreams, sometimes lucid, sometimes daydreams, and others were down right weird. Of course that was only when he was asleep, or on the verge of sleeping, which was more often than not. If inquiring about it, Grey could tell anyone that the dreams he feared the most had to do with falling or swimming. Because of his irrational fear of the Black Lake (and the giant squid that swam through its murky depths), a location that he deemed one of the more dangerous points of interest on the school’s grounds, the majority of Grey’s swimming dreams focused on trying to escape the creatures in the lake. The other common swimming one was where he found himself stuck in a bathtub and couldn’t get out of it for some reason. Needless to say, the Black Lake dreams had more of an impact than the bathtub ones did, and he had kept clear of it as much as possible. Today he had a different kind of swimming dream though. It was similar to the bathtub ones, and it had taken his sleepy mind a few seconds to realize that he wasn’t trying to climb out of a tub, but a pool of gelatin. This was surely a strange change from his typical nightmares. After a few moments of trying to pull himself up, Grey came to the realization that he wasn’t asleep, and this wasn’t a dream. He was actually stuck in the gelatin, still leaning against the tree he had sat down at earlier.

Struggling for a few seconds, Grey was at a loss? Was there some kind of creature from the forest that put this on him? He had heard stories about the oversized spiders in there, but this was too close to the school for them, let alone gelatin, not a web. Flailing his legs around a couple more times, he stopped and looked up, his eyes meeting Rai’s. “Really?” he growled. “What is this stuff anyways?”

grey xavier slater & @railynn
367
Turn The Other Way by Avenged Sevenfold

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Rai kept her lips tightly shut as she watched him struggle to break free, trying not to laugh. Finally, he looked up at her and the look that followed was one that easily sent a chill up Rai's spine. The right side of her lips lifted into a mini half smile as he spoke, growling as he did so. She shrugged, "eh, I'm not really sure what to call it. One of my trainers taught it to me," she explained. Then she side and bent her knees so she was level with him. She pointed her wand again and muttered the countercurse, causing the gelatin to dissolve away in a puff of sweet smelling powdery smoke. She coughed, waving her arm to ward the stuff away, "that's the worst part," she explained before standing up straight again.

"You know it's not safe to sleep by the edge of the forest, right? I really don't recommend it," not that Grey couldn't handle himself, but with everything going on she was actually a tad annoyed that he had allowed himself to do that in the first place. She didn't know if he had any enemies personally, but who were they to say who the attackers wanted to hurt and who they didn't? She was almost more annoyed at herself being annoyed than she was at him sleeping out here... she cleared her throat and folded her arms, raising an eyebrow, "what were you doing out here anyway? Just exploring?' she added.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

Grey struggled a little more as Rai watched him. She didn’t need to laugh out loud for him to know that she thought this was hilarious. Grey wasn’t exactly upset, more shocked because the goo, jelly, thingy, whatever it was, had yanked him out of his half-sleep. Rai just stood over him and smiled, explaining that she didn’t even know what it was. He could definitely add this to his list of strange magical experiences. It was right at the top of his list as of now. Not much could beat a glob of goo that constricted someone. “I’m glad I’m still your test subject. Now I know what to expect in training next year.” Trying to move his legs again, Grey gave up as he watched Rai kneel down and make the stuff disappear. He had the wonderful luck of inhaling right as it evaporated into a cloud of vapor-goo-thingy, the smoke causing a slight burning sensation in his throat. Coughing it out immediately, Grey hit his chest with his hand a few times, hoping that would help get the rest of it out of him. “Merlin’s beard that’s nasty. I can see how that could be useful…” He could barely manage to get that out before coughing again.

He didn’t even need to look at Rai to know that she was probably disappointed in his carelessness. Being careless was allowed as long as he was in control, as contradictory as it sounded, it was possible. Falling asleep on the edge of the forest probably wasn’t the smartest thing in the world, he’d admit to that. “Guess I’m lucky you were the first to find me then,” he said, grinning at his friend. “I was taking a nap, duh.” While that was true, even he wasn’t sure why he picked that spot, among numerous other perfect areas on the school grounds. There were definitely better sleeping spots than the Forbidden Forest. “Maybe the edge of the Black Lake would have been a better place…I think I’ll save that one for tomorrow.” Grey still couldn’t tell if she was mad at him or not. When they had talked at the opening ceremony, he had forgotten that she was here to protect the students, not to mess around and have fun, despite almost drowning him in his sleep with a mystical goo substance. “In all seriousness, I have no idea why I’m all the way out here. I guess it just gets a little stuffy in the castle with all the extra students and security.”

grey xavier slater & @railynn
424
Purple Stain by Red Hot Chili Peppers

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Well, he had one thing right, he was still her test subject. That wasn't going to change any time soon. She felt bad that he breathed in the gross vapor stuff. As he said it could be useful, she nodded, "yeah, it's pretty neat. I'm sure there are ways to get out of it though, I'm not sure if it's resilient to anything so," she shrugged, "I'll teach you," she promised, "not only are yo my test subject, but you're my protege too," she chuckled and reached a hand out to ruffle his hair. Halfway through that motion she got a weird feeling, though, like that was a strange thing to do. She pulled her hand back and scrunched her nose in thought for a moment.

She was still irritated at his careless nature, but she was also glad that she was the first one to find him. his explanation about 'taking a nap, duh' being what he was doing caused her to reach out and punch him in the arm. "I saw that part," she glared. At his suggestion about the black lake she simply scoffed then moved to sit on the ground across from him. She didn't like him having no idea why he was out there, but the explanation about the stuffiness of the castle and such caused her to nod, "well, sorry to be part of the problem," she said with a slight chuckle, since he had mentioned security. "I get it, though. I'm just glad I'm stationed outside today. Granted, when winter rolls around that'll be a little harder," but in all honestly she loved the snow. Heck, she pretty much loved every season. "How have you been?"

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

If someone ever managed to get out of the gelatin substance, he would personally congratulate them. The stuff was gross, and the more he had struggled, the harder it was to get out of it. “Fire might work. Although I don’t think igniting my entire lower body would have been the best way to escape it.” Fire spells had always been tricky for him, their demand for extreme control was something he couldn’t do, despite having a steady hand with most charms and transfiguration spells. He always chalked it up to having to do with needing to fuel the fire with more energy and emotion, both which could be hard to manage in the thick of things. “Whatever you say, master.” He slipped out as Rai ruffled his hair. Obviously the two of them were on some sort of the same wavelength, Grey having admitted to Finn near the end of the summer that he had always looked up to Rai. In a way, she was one of the reasons he kind of wanted to pursue being an Auror. He’d probably never outright admit that, but it was definitely one of the many factors.

He laughed as Rai sat down across from him and apologized for being a part of the stuffiness problem. “It’s all for our protection though, I understand that. The tournament could invite all kinds of unsavory people.” It was inevitable. Any kind of large magical event was due to draw a crowd, and an event like the Triwizard tournament was larger than most; pitting the best student from each school against each other in dangerous tasks was insanely entertaining. Who wouldn’t want to watch that? “I’d take being outside over being stuck in the castle any day.” He had always wondered why the grounds were so enticing. The castle wasn’t really as close-quarters and stuffy like he had made it out to be, and there were any number of spots to find peace and solace inside. Grey was still pondering this as Rai asked him how he had been. That questions required a long answer, something he wasn’t exactly sure how to explain just yet. Still, it was worth a shot getting Rai’s perspective on all of it. “I’ve been okay I guess. Tried to help Addi out with a problem she was having with a housemate, but I think I might have made it a lot worse. And then there’s Claire. She didn’t say anything to either of us about being assigned to the school this year.”

He wanted to be extremely careful with what he said about Addi’s bully. Rai could potentially help him out with getting in touch with his sister, but he didn’t know if that would break the deal he had made with Theodosia. That little girl scared him. “Other than that, the usual stuff. Put my name in the goblet a few days ago, so we’ll just have to wait and see if I’m worthy enough to win it all for good old Hogwarts.”

grey xavier slater & @railynn
504
Yeah by OMFG

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

She wasn't sure why she was feeling so moody right now, but she wasn't going to dwell on figuring that out. He suggested fire might work on the gelatin stuff and she nodded, "I just worry about testing that because, like you said, it might burn you in the process," then she chuckled, "though, I wouldn't mind if my enemies tried that and it didn't work out for them, I guess," they'd be incapacitated either way, right? At his calling her master she gave another little smirk.

Rai nodded as he agreed that the extra security was all for their protection. She sighed, understanding that this year was indeed full of more threats. At his next words she sighed, agreeing with him. "Exactly. Claire is stationed in th-" she stopped. She knew that bringing up Claire was a bad idea, and she cleared her throat to stop herself. Gods, her life would be easier if those two got along. But then he mentioned her anyway, talking about how Addi was dealing with some bullying and that Claire didn't tell either of them that she was coming. Rai nodded, breathing in deep, "yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I... didn't think it was my place," she spoke slowly and awkwardly, something that Rai did not do very often. Looking weak and nervous was not her specialty.

As Grey said he had put his name in the goblet she felt a little jump in her stomach. Excitement and... worry? She forced a smile, "you'd be great," she had said that in the past, but there was nothing that bad about repeating it, right? She breathed in deeply again, "don't feel so well," she said with a slight forced chuckle.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

Hitting a bad guy with the gelatin and having them try to burn it off was more than likely possible. Grey had heard that those types had a special place for fire spells, sending them off wildly to cause as much collateral damage as possible. They were awful people. It would be worth it to see one get roasted while trying to escape Rai’s goo spell. “I heard fried bad guy is pretty popular these days. Maybe eventually you’ll get your chance.” He could tell Rai would get a kick out of all of that, especially the master jab. It was technically true though, Grey had told Finn over the summer that he had always looked up to Rai. She was more of an older sister and mentor figure than Claire had been. On that note, the conversation had switched to Claire, exactly how he had figured it would. He didn’t mind talking about his sister, but it seemed like it had been happening a lot more lately. Apparently that was what happened when talking to family members. None of that was Addi’s fault, of course, because it was inevitable that he needed to get over his issues with Claire. “No worries. Obviously she doesn’t want anything to do with me. I’m far past that point with her now.”

Every time he said that, he felt like it wasn’t true. At the same time though, it was pretty blatant that Claire was avoiding him for a reason. He had made an attempt to confront her while he was still home, but was shrugged off like usual. “Addi seems to think there’s something going on with her, but there’s no way to tell if she barely talks to us. I’d swear she’s married to the job.” Grey shrugged his shoulders. He really didn’t know what was going on with his sister, let alone himself half the time. It wasn’t his business if she had secrets to keep and didn’t want to share them with him. Rightfully so, too. If Grey had learned anything, confiding in him was probably not the best choice in the world these days. He reached down and started plucking grass as he Rai said he’d be great in the tournament. She had already covered that when he had mentioned at the opening ceremony, but it was reassuring that she thought he’d do a decent job. “Still have to get picked first though.” As he finished talking, he heard her breathe in and say she didn’t feel well. That was…uncommon, to say the least. “Like physically sick, the vomiting kind?” Grey said quickly as he turned to face Rai, a few blades of grass in his hand still. Without thinking, he put his other hand up to her forehead to see if she had a fever. “Think it could be something you ate? You don’t have a fever.”

grey xavier slater & @railynn
480
Once by Roo Panes

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Rai chuckled and nodded, "well, it'd be nice if I could serve some of those bad guys up to Azakban on a kabob, I guess," Rai didn't really believe in killing anyone, unless she had to, but seriously maiming them in order to get them off the streets... well, if it was the only way then she didn't have a problem with it. She wasn't afraid to do what was necessary of course. If she was then she wouldn't have wanted to be an auror in the first place.

Rai sighed, she knew all about siblings wanting nothing to do with them. her half brother, Uriah, had flat out told her that he didn't want to ever see her and didn't want her to even try being a part of his life. The memory that day at the club when he said all that... that caused her to furrow her brow in annoyance and sadness. She lookd down at her hands and nodded, "I don't really know about Claire but... I don't think you should give up," she spoke so softly that she wasn't even sure if Grey would be able to hear her. But if she wasn't giving up on Uriah, then Grey shouldn't give up on Claire. Heck, if Grey gave up then Rai might give into that idea too and she not want to do that.

At the mention of Addi thinking there was something going with Claire, Rai looked up with an eyebrow raised, "she might be right..." she decided she would try ot talk to Claire... when the time was right. She kept her eyebrows knit together, "I just wish it was easier to talk... I mean, my brother doesn't even wan-" she stopped. She didn't' want to hijack the conversation to herself right now. "Maybe Claire just needs space for a while. For whatever reason." Siblings, gods, they were one of the touchiest subjects to discuss, weren't they?

She smiled weakly as he mentioned that he still would have to get picked for the tournament, but those thoughts about that were replaced with his asking if she was going to vomit. Her brow was still furrowed as he reached up to put his hand to her forehead. She was silent for a moment, looking at his face, studying the worry he was showing. After a moment she nodded her head just a little, not enough to shake his hand away though, "yeah, that must be it," she guessed. She forced a smile, "I'll be okay, though. You're cute when you're worried." she chuckled, even as her brow was furrowing again in confusion.

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

Rai had a point. Giving up on Claire would make him just as bad as she was; Grey knew that his older sister didn’t really care about what he did, it was obvious. Even Addi was aware of what was going on between the two of them, so it didn’t take a rocket scientist to understand their debacle. It was so easy to not care about her though, they had zero connections other than being related, and that Grey was going to go into the auror program as well. Outside of that, nothing. If Addi and Rai were right though, and Claire had something going on that was making her the way she was, then maybe he had been approaching everything from the wrong angle his entire life. Grey had only ever considered what he could see directly in front of him: the constant need to be the best, the pressure from getting high grades, and succeeding in life after school. Claire had eaten that ideology up, no questions asked, Grey, not so much. He had always thought it was that simple. The only way to ever figure it out though, meant that he needed to talk to her, which was easier said than done. “Maybe…siblings are weird. Once you start to understand them, or think you are at least, then something happens and you’re back at square one.”

He didn’t know why he still had his hand on Rai’s forehead. He knew she didn’t have a fever, even after they both confirmed it. Finally he dropped his hand and returned it to his side. It was unusual for Rai to be like that, distant and quiet. Grey felt assured when she turned her comment about being fine into saying he was cute when worried. Typical Rai right there, albeit a strange choice of word to use, even for her. Maybe the sudden sick feeling had to do with when she started to talk about her brother. Grey had decided not to pursue that conversation since she had cut herself off in the middle of it. Always a good sign that it wasn’t necessary to talk about. Even though he had known Rai for a long time, there were still things he was unsure of about her, kind of like how he didn’t understand Claire. He assumed only more time would tell. “So any good stories you have from your patrols so far? I’m sure there’s a few students testing their luck with the extra security out and about.”

grey xavier slater & @railynn
419
Monody by The Fat Rat

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Siblings were a touchy subject for both of them, that much was clear. Rai sighed at his words, nodding and chewing her lip on one side. "Or you don't even get to square one in the first place," she sighed, her shoulders slouching. She wasn't even sure if she had mentioned Uriah, her half brother, to Grey as long as they'd been friends. Uriah and her had never been at the school at the same time and once he graduated he made it a point to disappear. She hadn't even spoken to him in years until this summer... She cleared her throat, unsure if she wanted to go on.

When he removed his hand she smiled softly albeit a bit awkwardly. When the topic change came, his asking about her seeing anything interesting on patrol, she perked up, "oh! I should keep moving." She pushed herself up until she was on her feet, knees still bent in preparation to stand, "do you wanna walk with me?" she offered, holding her hand out to him so she could help him up. Maybe if she got moving again she'd get feeling better as well as be able to talk a little more freely. Rai liked her moments of stillness, but she functioned better when in motion. She would wait until they were up and walking, if he did join her, to answer his question and possibly - finally - get back to the subject of her brother...

grey xavier slater

[grey xavier slater]

The Monsters

walk among us

It seemed like both of them were having issues with their siblings, and it seemed like Rai had even more on her mind about it than he did. The constant sighing was definitely a good indicator of that, as well as the unusual change in tone during their conversation about family. He couldn’t recall who had actually mentioned Rai’s brother before, it surely couldn’t have been her. That seemed like the kind of detail that wasn’t normally omitted from friends unless things were seriously wrong. Grey still wasn’t sure if that was the best course of action to take considering the way she was acting, so he decided once again to hold off on asking about her brother. If Rai really wanted to talk about it, then she’d probably make a comment that was difficult to avoid. For the time being though, Grey stayed silent. Getting passed square one wasn’t always a bad thing, at least in his experience. Look where he was now, having finally let Addi into his life and now he was straight up ignoring her again. It was for her safety though, so he couldn’t really complain. If only he had been able to tell her about it before it all went down…

Contemplating all of this, Rai suddenly stood up and said that she needed to continue patrolling. They hadn’t been talking long, but it was still her job to walk around and make sure everything was going well. He was a little sad that she had to keep working, since they hadn’t really been able to catch up much. When they had met over the summer they had gotten caught up on their adventures since the end of the previous school year, and while that had only been a little over a month ago, a lot had already changed for both of them. It was weird to think that talking things out with Rai would be comforting, since their relationship had always been focused on brute strength and competition. “Yeah…I think I’ll tag along for a little while. Don’t want to fall back asleep and get stuck in goo again.” Grey reached out and took Rai’s hand, using her leverage and his own strength to pull himself to his feet. Brushing off the back of his pants, he stretched his back. “Shall we?”

grey xavier slater & @railynn
389
The Art of Subconscious Illusion by Avenged Sevenfold

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

Rai was happy to be moving again and glad to have some company. She nodded as he got up with her help, ready to go. As they started moving, she gave him a frown, "you know, now that I'm an auror I'm not allowed to beat you up without it being warranted. Or else I might get in big trouble," she snickered, letting the frown for her usual smile. She shrugged, "I'm sure you'll still give me plenty of reasons, though. Talking back and whatnot." She kept her eyes away from him for the most part, scanning the grounds and the edge of the trees like she was supposed to be doing. She liked her job so far, but she'd prefer to be on the preventative side of things rather than the 'cleaning up messes' side of things. That's why she wanted to patrol outside for the most part, to catch anything nasty before it got in.

Unless this was anything like last year, in which case it would already be in... she had to shake that thought off, though. Being kidnapped was enough to shake her up, but it wasn't enough to break her down into paranoia. That just wasn't Rai.

She shuddered, ready to take her mind off that.

grey xavier slater