12 February 1894 — Diagon Alley

The urgent owl had come in the middle of attempting to wrangle a herd of cattle whose leader had a tempter that seemed to rival an Erumpet’s. Thoroughly covered in sweat and dust, Avery had seen the owl from atop Sundance just as she was finishing up. In any other situation she might have tried to take the note and read it quickly, but she wasn’t willing to risk it with the wild beast. Sundance was an excellent cutter, but even the best cutter on a ranch back home was never a guarantee of someone’s safety. With her gloves thoroughly caked in a thick layer of dust, Avery accepted the letter from the owl and read it hastily. “Shit.” There went her lunch break. Thankfully she wasn’t further than 2 apparation spots away from Diagon Alley. Taking a wet rag to wipe down what dust she could, Avery dismounted Sundance and gave her to one of the farm hands. “Thomas would you be a darlin’ and make sure she gets a good cool down? I’ll be back to fetch her after this.” She said gratefully with a smile at the young man who proceeded to blush about 10 shades darker than his normal color.

Blowing a lock of hair from her face, Avery stomped out the dirt from her boots and got her bag. She would have to improvise on the way, hoping what she was going to face in Diagon Alley wasn’t worse than an irate bull.

She heard the commotion before she saw it. The tell tale ivy symbol of one of the local tea shops quickly came into view with a crowd hastily dispersing. “It’s alright everyone, it’s alright!” Avery hastened over to the frantic bodies, immediately pulling out her wand whilst fishing something else out from her bag. “They’re more afraid of you than you are of them, just be calm!”

First angry cattle and now a swarm of angry, magically modified bees.

Avery cast a shield as far as the furthest insect; unfortunately, that meant trapping not only the insects, but people in as well. Upon further inspection, the swarm had gathered just below the awning of the tea and bakery shop. “Imane wasn’t kidding…” Avery muttered to herself, then sought to direct the nearest person to her. “If you would be so kind as to calm the others down while I take care of this, I’d be much obliged.” She drawled, before holding up the small jar of salve in her left hand. “Anyone who’s gotten stung can get treated too.”

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   Salvatore Howlett

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avery speaks with a mixed south appalachian drawl

Salvatore had only come to London to visit an independent medical symposium, he had not expected to encounter a swarm of bees, nor had he expected someone to trap him and a large group of people in with them. It was typical protocol of wizard animal control, but still, it did put a dampener on the day.

A young woman, wand in hand, turned to the doctor and requested that he keep the others calm, handing him a small bottle of salve to cure any potential stings, she was prepared for this it seemed. "OK, I can do that." he smiled and nodded his head in confirmation.

"Right everyone, this lovely woman is going to deal with our bee problem, if anyone is allergic, try to stay calm, but make yourselves known, if you are stung and you aren't allergic, then you'll get some salve and a sticker and be on your way." he laughed, trying to be reassuring to the potential patients. Bees didn't like to sting people, but flailing people could easily force the issue and end up badly stung. He looked back towards Avery Davenport to see what her situation was, wondering what her role in all of this was, was she expecting the bees? If so, why?

He looked back at the scared mass. "There is a theory that bees tell each other how to find food by doing a little dance for each other, so if any of you chaps have a serviceable pasodoble, now is your chance to be a hero." there was a a slight laugh amongst the panicked people as he sought to charm them.

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Dorian was feeling particularly morose in the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day. It was far from his first time being alone for the holiday and, truthfully, it hadn't ever bothered him before. He'd been perfectly content to dance and flirt with whomever caught his interest that evening without so much as a second thought. And now, all Dory had were second thoughts over his abilities.

He could still dance, not as fluidly or effortlessly as before, but enough that it would be passable for the types of parties he attended. He'd need to take at least one potion for the pain beforehand and even then it wasn't a guarantee that he'd make it through the whole party without requiring another. It shamed him to be reliant upon something he so frequently dismissed before. How many hospitalizations had he suffered through without complaint? How many times had he chuckled at the healers with a shrug and comment of it'll pass?

That was the thing, though. This wouldn't pass. This wasn't capable of healing the way he was accustomed to.

Fucking dragons.

He was almost beyond the thrown up shield — almost escaped the shrieks of terror coming from behind him — before he was forced to turn around and face the intense buzzing. The uninjured Dorian would have been the first to reach for the salve jar and start helping others, it was his job after all to jump into chaotic situations with a calm demeanor. (Another thing he could no longer effortlessly do.) This new version of himself lingered just far enough away to avoid being stung with his wand drawn towards the bees. "Do you need any assistance subduing them?" He called to the American woman.

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beautiful set by lady

She thanked God that at least someone seemed to have a good hold on controlling the crowd to prevent people panicking. The constant buzzing the bees made did nothing for anyone’s nerves; in Avery’s experience it only served to add to the panicked mood. With the jar of salve taken from her, she turned her attention to the other man who was facing the colony with an apprehensive look on his face; which she quickly recognized as another client of hers though completely different from the insects in front of her.

The fact that she knew him was his saving grace, otherwise she’d slam his wand down and out of the way to avoid any further injury. Instead she reached out to place her finger on the tip of his wand and pushed down. “Bless your heart darlin’ but if I did need help subduing them, that’s not the way you’d wanna go about it,” She smirked before reaching into her bag and pulling out two vials. “Put that thing away before someone gets hurt and hold onto this for me.” She reached into her bag again to pull out an empty jar and shoved it in his hand.

Uncorking one of the vials she moved to pour a clear liquid into the jar before craning to see past the tall fellow and to the first man. “Sir if you could start assessing everyone, make sure they don’t have any bees on them and let them be on their way one by one; do not let any of the bees out.” She commanded, entirely unenthused at the prospect of having to herd more of them than she needed to. The extra drifters would follow eventually, but keeping the swarm as contained as possible was her priority.

“And as for you, Mr. Fisk,” She murmured with a wry smile. “I hope you’re not scared of bees.” She leaned down to pick up another bottle and unstoppered it. “I’m going to put a few drops of this into the jar. It’ll start to smoke and evaporate. I need you to pour it over the bees; they won’t react if you don’t. The formula will calm them down enough so I can search for the queen.”

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   Salvatore Howlett

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avery speaks with a mixed south appalachian drawl

Dory took the vial as instructed and eyed both she and the bees critically. There was no possibility of him surviving this situation unscathed, not when the bees were modified and angry like this. Already, he was shifting uncomfortably on his bad leg and considering how he'd manage a run. He hadn't tried anything more than a brisk walk since before the accident and even that saw him flat on his face less than a minute in. How was he to flee murderous bees?

Still, he had a job to do, and he wasn't about to leave innocent civilians to a potentially terrible fate.

Hell, maybe he'd get lucky and the bees would take him out like the dragons had failed to.

Her smile took him back, as did the use of his name. Dory was confident that he'd never met her before, even if her voice was vaguely familiar. "Not scared, no." He answered shakily. No, he was bloody fucking terrified of them. His fingers were clammy around the vial as he stepped forward to do as she instructed. "What does the queen look like? Has she been altered in any way too?"

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   Salvatore Howlett

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beautiful set by lady

Salvatore got to work checking the people for bees and for the odd sting. "Miss, please can you assist me with checking the female patient's?" He asked of a young, well dressed lady who must have been around fourteen or fifteen. "Me?" she asked nervously. "Yes please, please check in the folds of the ladies clothes that no bees have been trapped, if any of then have been stung pass them to me." the girl seemed nervous but did her part as instructed.

Salvatore was finally able to begin to let people out of the bubble, there was a couple of stings, but by staying calm, most people had avoided the ire of the angry insects. Luckily no bees had managed to escape the bubble so far. Salvatore was curious what the plan of Avery Davenport but he was a professional and would do his job, he could be nosey later. The other man she had enlisted seemed quite keen to act with the wand. If he Howlett was honest that would have been his first response too if he had not been given other duties, but apparently it was incorrect.

Salvatore heard a screech from further down the line as a woman panicked, having decided that this was the moment to sample her purchased sweet preserves. Her husband was quickly helping her put them away but Salvatore had to excuse himself from his current patient to now treat several stings on the lady who had attracted the creatures to herself.

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Avery Davenport Dorian Fisk

  

Mr. Fisk looked a tad unsettled at the entire scenario, as any pedestrian might when dealing with something they didn’t know about. Not scared, no. Avery let out a soft chuckle at his response. She guessed as much, but she didn’t have time to hold his hand through this if they wanted to get out in a timely manner. “Nuh-uh, queen shouldn’t be too aggressive, long as we stay calm. Imane didn’t say they were altered so I’m hoping that’s not a surprise we have to manage.” She sent the hope up to God before sliding one of the lids of the boxes back. The bees had already started to make some honeycomb - a simple levitation spell saw the pieces float peacefully into the box.

“The bees’ll start following the honeycomb, but I need to find the queen before transportin’ them much further.” She explained, watching as Mr. Fisk poured smoke over the swarm. The buzzing sound quieted to a low hum; a good sign. And Avery took off her glove and dipped her hand into the pile of insects. Once on her hand, she drew them close to her face, looking for the larger form of the queen. “She’s larger in size than the others, but you have to look close if you wanna catch her.” She explained.

A shriek from behind them caused Avery to look over at the fuss. A woman had started to panic as a few bees hovered around her head. The dolt had tried to open some sweet preserves. “Idiot,” She muttered under her breath, perhaps only audible for Mr. Fisk to hear her, but she was too focused on shaking her hand into the box. She took another scoop. “You doin’ alright over there?” She called, only as a courtesy before she shook her hand again to deposit the bees in the box. “And you, Mr. Fisk?” She added quietly her gaze drifting up towards the man peering over her.

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   Violetta DeCroix

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avery speaks with a mixed south appalachian drawl

Dory really didn't want to be sorting through bees. He didn't want to know the differences between a drone and a queen. He wanted to run, to flee, to disappear from the hoard of angry bees buzzing about. But, this woman apparently knew him (her voice was vaguely familiar, but the face he would have pictured with it was entirely different) so it wasn't as though he could go with his honor intact. No, he had to somehow corral these bees towards the honeycomb without them getting angry at him.

He began moving slowly through the swarm and pouring the smoking vial as instructed over the clumps of them. He kept his eyes peeled for the queen, though between the smoke and his fear they all looked mostly the same to him. "Any luck yet?"

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beautiful set by lady