April 16th, 1891 — Voyager, At Sea — Early Evening

Alfred was tired. Partly it was because he rarely slept, and even when he did it was punctuated by little interruptions from watch-standers with reports to deliver to him as Captain. Mostly it was more than that, though; it was the sort of tired that set into your bones after seeing too many dead bodies and going too long without hearing anyone laugh in a way that didn't sound hollow. The crew was tired, too, and he could feel it in the air as he walked through the Voyager. They'd only found one more life boat since the last of the scheduled portkeys had departed the ship yesterday morning, and he was sure the small group of survivors wanted nothing more than to be back on dry land. With that in mind, Alfred had sent a report to Minister Ross informing him of Alfred's intention to set a course for England once again. Ross might want to send him back out, and if so he would go, but Alfred personally thought everyone who was likely to be saved from the shipwreck already had been, and the corpses they mostly found now were better left to the sea. Even if they ended up back out again, it would do everyone good to spend half a day in port, and it would do Alfred's nerves a great deal of good if he could empty out the Voyager's cargo hold of her growing collection of corpses. He knew there wasn't anything to most old nautical superstitions, but still. Nothing good could come from the living sharing quarters with the dead.

"Make all reports to the quartermaster," Alfred told the hands on the quarterdeck, and the officer of the watch repeated it back to him with the addition of aye, captain. Nothing eventful was likely to happen in the next several hours as they sailed north to England, and with the typical reports diverted to his second-in-command, he thought it would be possible to get some solid sleep.

On his way from the quarterdeck to his cabin, an odd sort of ripple on the water perhaps a dozen fathoms from the ship. Alfred paused, wondering if his eyes were starting to play tricks on him in anticipation of finally being able to close for a few hours. He moved over to the rail, watching for a moment, but whatever he'd seen was gone.

Then, something rumbled ominously — like thunder, but coming from the wrong direction.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

These times were an ever loving nightmare for Liliana Emily Selwyn. Stuck on a rock for days. No end in sight for so long. Would she have starved? Would she have been attacked by more crabs, like the… second? Third day she had been stuck on that rock. She had pointed out the troubles she had been trapped on to her one lone companion. The fellow young lady had not come near her since they had finally been saved by the ship.


Now they were on their way home and Liliana was nothing but anxiety and snippiness. One could write it off as trauma, and part of it was. But mostly? It was just how Liliana was without a filter. And now she was fed, yet still stuck at sea.


Part of her simply wanted to sleep until they reached home, but she found her way onto the deck, wandering half lost in her own thoughts, when she saw some unusual ripples that put her on edge. "W-what is that?!" She shrieked in the girlish way one might expect from stress and exhaustion.

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Magic by Athena

After spending the last few days wishing for nothing more than a clean bed and a long night’s sleep, Dionisia found that she was incapable of finding either. They were alive, but so many weren't—so many she could have helped save if they'd had more hands and more time. Years in her line of work had taught her to cope with death and to cope with the guilt of not being able to save every single victim from it, but it was easier said than done when below the decks of the ship laid the bodies of those they'd recovered. She'd settled above deck to sleep, which had gotten increasingly easier to do since they first set sail a week ago. The cool ocean breeze felt night against her sticky skin, but the constant rocking of the boat did nothing to help lull her to sleep.

She told herself she might have slept better if someone was there—Zelda, maybe, or even Ari—but she knew it wasn't true. No one would be able to provide the comfort she needed. A hug wouldn't rid her of the lingering anxiety. The warmth of another body wouldn't release those snatched by death's icy grip. She would have to cope for now and hope that a return to shore and normalcy would provide some relief.

At first it had taken a while to get used to the rhythm of the waves, but soon it provided the only source of comfort. The first wave of vibrations caused her eyes to flutter open, but unwilling to spare a second thought they fluttered back shut—until it happened again.

And again. And again. The rumbling was getting more intense, and Dionisia moved to her feet. She moved across the deck, glancing from passenger to passenger until her eyes finally caught on a familiar face. "Benedict," she greeted worriedly, reaching a hand out initially to provide a comforting touch, only for it suddenly to become a matter of steadying herself as the boat lurched.

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Were he a Divine Being, Clifford would have lodged a formal complaint with God regarding the third day of Creation. Not that Clifford was truly convinced the Church was right about a seven day creation, but for the moment, it made aiming his truly heretical complaints easier. Damn the ocean to the bottom of its own depths, he truly hated the sea. A week ago, he had no ill will toward the roaring tides, but after a week adrift pulling the dead and dying from the waves, he had every right to change his opinion.

Trudging from the belly of the ship’s hold where he said a short prayer for the dead, as was becoming his grim habit, Clifford set eyes (and unfortunate ears) in the shrieking Miss Selwyn. Were he an unmarried illegitimate trapped at sea, he may shriek as well, but he rather liked to think he would ponder his damaged prospects in silence and spare the other survivors the noise. But what knew of the debutant’s mind could fit on the tip of his wand.

Before bothering to look at the water where he expected to see only water, Clifford slapped on his best ‘Healer knows best’ smile and approached. “Come Miss Selwyn, I am sure it is just a trick of the starlight. You should rest while you can.” And please, for the love of all good things, hush so that I may sleep. He added to himself. Then he heard the rumbling. “I don’t see a thundercloud in the sky.” He mused allowed, looking heavenward anyhow.

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Alfred had looked up instinctively at the noise, even though he knew it hadn’t come from that direction, and frowned at the cloudless sky. “Nothing good,” he muttered to himself, though likely far too quietly for any of the people around to hear. There were more people on deck than he would have liked, for something mysterious to be going on, but it was still just after the dinner hour and he couldn’t really begrudge anyone a chance to get out from their crowded rooms while the sky still held some light and the wind hadn’t turned quite so icy yet. Still — whatever was making that noise was unnatural, and he didn’t like that it seemed to be so close to his ship, and if he was going to have to deal with something strange he hardly wanted to do it while trying to navigate between healers and bloody debutantes.

“You might get belowdecks,” he called to the woman nearby, as he turned and made his way back towards the quarterdeck, intending to tell the officer of the watch to unroll a few more feet of sail to give them a little extra speed. Whatever was going on around them, Alfred wanted no part of it. He had just reached the ladderwell when the Voyager lurched beneath him, and Alfred’s eyes widened. They hadn’t hit something — he’d reviewed the charts himself before he’d told them to make reports to the quartermaster, and he knew exactly where they were. There was nothing here for them to have hit. No, something had hit them.

“Get your wands about you,” Alfred ordered the stragglers on deck. He didn’t know what this was, but it couldn’t have been good. “But don’t do anything stupid with them,” he added almost as an afterthought — the last thing he needed was some panicky woman blasting a hole in his damn ship.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Things certainly weren't looking all too well. For Merlin's sake, if this was going to be another shipwreck, she would likely have a full on meltdown. The kind that would lead to bruises and blood and not likely to be all hers. This was a nightmare and she was never going on a ship again.


What wasn't helping her mood was the man who gave what was clearly an utter disgrace of a smile and began speaking to her. There was that little nagging in her mind that gave her the inclination as to where her wand was. She was in no mood to be handled and had no trust towards any men at sea. "Stay away from me." She snapped, to then be greeted by a lurching of the boat.


Naturally, she shrieked and backed away from the railing of the boat. Wand, yes even the captain mentioning a possible need. But hers was back in that sorry excuse for a cabin.

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Magic by Athena

In Benedict’s line of work, there never seemed to be a dull moment. After having been pulled out of the frigid waters (by his lover’s wife, no less), Ben knew he wouldn’t feel safe until he was back on solid ground. Even then, he had learned he would never truly feel at ease unless he was with Ari.

At this point in their journey, he’d gotten used to the constant rock of the boat; honestly, after having had to navigate the crashing boat, any type of rocking was preferable to having to change his whole perception of space and time. Walking on decks that were supposed to remain fairly parallel to the horizon was weird, to say the least. Still, it was the salty air that seemed to ground Ben, and he used it as means to keep himself awake for as long as he could. He was used to long hours, and even as his eyelids felt heavier, he fought against it. His efforts were fruitless, as he soon found himself waking up to someone shrieking.

His eyes opened and he shot up from the sitting position he was in, hand already inside his pocket for his wand. Once he was on the main deck, he lit his wand, though the illuminated tip of it only did so much; it had a blanket of the night sky to combat with, and the slight mist of the sea seemed to provide a sort of screen for them to only peer through. Lips grimly pressed together, he directed his wand light onto the deck, dimming it slightly so the figures on the deck would be softly backlit as opposed to harshly blinding everyone including himself. Dionisia had to be around here somewhere - perhaps she’d gone below deck to get some well-deserved rest.

Hearing his name, he turned and reached out to her just as the boat lurched. Widening his stance, Ben seized her hand just as she grabbed onto him. "Steady," he said, more as a reminder for himself than a command for her. The groan that rattled through the air next made him freeze. In all his years, Ben had never heard anything like that. He motioned to guide Dionisia towards the middle of the ship before inching towards the edge of the starboard railing where the noise was coming from.

All of his Auror training told him this was both the place to start investigating and the moment to back the fuck away. The sound emanating from in front of Benedict seemed to reverberate all around them — a cold, rattling sound that could come from nowhere else but a large object. If Ben’s brain had a diagram, the arrow would be pushing past the DANGER zone. The next he knew, a wet slapping sound crackled through the air, and droplets of water sprayed everywhere. Ben dove to his right.

There it was — just to his right, a massive, slimy tentacle curled onto the deck, right where Ben had just been standing. "Captain Darrow!" he shouted, directing his wandlight to the giant object.

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The following 2 users Like Benedict Sterling's post:2 users Like Benedict Sterling's post
   J. Alfred Darrow, Zelda Darrow

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Alfred was halfway up the ladderwell when he heard someone shout for him, and turned to see —

Oh, fuck. Alfred’s eyes widened and his heart skipped several beats all at once. That was certainly not meant to be on the deck of his ship, and he’d seen nothing like it in all his years of sailing prior to this. As an explorer he wasn’t one to shy away from the unknown, but this was the wrong kind of unknown — he wanted it off his deck, immediately.

“Make all sail,” he shouted to the officer of the watch, an order which would see the crew aflutter with activity as they loosed everything that had been tightened and unfurled every sail. Alfred didn’t know what this thing was or what it wanted, but he knew he wanted all of the Voyager’s speed available to him as he tried to wrest the ship from its clutches. He turned and jumped back to the main deck, because as much as his command might be needed on the quarterdeck he could not just walk away from whatever that thing was.

He drew his wand, but didn’t know what to do with it. The thing that came to mind most readily was to set it on fire — fire could hurt anything — but a poorly placed spell could put the ship in more trouble than she was currently. “Relashio,” he shouted after a second’s pause. The tentacle flailed and released its hold on the deck, but only to wave wildly in the air a few feet above where it had been.

“Watch out!” Alfred yelled to those nearest the thing — Dionisia and the auror, by the looks of it. Merlin, don’t touch Dionisia, he prayed. Ari’s not going to be quite so supportive of me joining the family if I let his wife get killed by a sea monster.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Clifford had little interest in fairy stories and the tall tales that accompanied adventure. Unless they led to some deeper truth, he had better things to do. At the moment, fairy tales seemed angry at the snub. As Miss Selwyn screeched like an ungrateful harpy - pity she got her sire’s pretty face but not his calm under pressure - Clifford was considering stunning the woman so she couldn’t make the evening more vexing.

As he was planning something ungentlemanly, like silencing ungrateful dead weight, he heard a wet slap and a noise that reminded him of something he had heard far too often in the last few days. “Delightful, the ocean has its own death rattle.” He grumbled before he could think better of it. Then came the orders and the shouting.

Clifford had his wand out at their captain’s orders, but before he could make sense of the thing flailing across the deck, he felt a splatter of seawater down the neck of his shirt. Looking up, he saw the blow coming as it blotted out the light. “Move!” He barked as he grabbed for the annoying blonde woman hoping to pull her free of danger. “Protego!” Whatever the hell was assaulting the ship slammed down on his shield will a fleshy smack, the jolt rocking the deck. Daring to stare up through the shimmering magic that kept him from smashing through to the hold, Cliff spotted suction cups pulsing and sucking at his shield, looking for a hold. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Captain Darrow, it’s coming from port and starboard!” If he sounded as shrill as Miss Selwyn for a moment, it was warranted. This nonsense was not covered in his pre-voyage briefing.

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There were protocols in place for time like this, for emergencies. Thrice a year the hospital went over their disaster protocols, and twice a year they did active drills to prepare for them. They'd covered plenty of situations—magical catastrophes, creatures running rampant, another pandemic—but nothing in those drills had ever prepared her for this. Her legs were wobbly enough as the boat swayed with the waves; now that something was actively attacking their ship, holding her balance was an impossibility. Fortunately it was her lack of balance that saved her in that moment. The large creature gripped the boat with its tentacle, causing the entire boat to sway, sending Dionisia in the opposite direction as Benedict. It happened so quickly she hardly was able to catch a glimpse before the outrageously large appendage slid off off the deck and back into the water, but it was clear what it was.

"That's - that's a giant squid!" she yelled to no one in particular, but her eyes found Ben first and she cast him a hopeless sort of look. She struggled to her feet, but was almost immediately knocked back to the side. Her hands caught onto one of the railings and she was able to steady herself (though she wasn't sure if steady was the proper word, as it took all of her upper body strength to keep herself upright as the tentacle once again struck the deck).

She let one hand let go of the railing to fish her hand in her pocket. She found her wand—although, really, would it be possible to get any sort of aim?—and pointed it in the general direction of where the creature had appeared from, hoping to hit it when it reappeared.

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Hearing from the younger chap that the monster was attempting to attack them in both directions made Ben’s heart sink to his stomach. Merlin please let them all come out of this in one piece.

In any normal situation, Ben had generally observed that the larger the animal, the slower it moved. Naturally, one would expect the same rules to be true when combatting a monster of the deep that could easily level the town of Hogsmeade, but if it was possible, Ben thought this giant creature moved faster than any monster he'd ever encountered. He could only stare in horror as the monster made more attempts to gain purchase on the boat, it's appendages unfurling and flexing with horrific strength. In any other capacity where their lives weren't in immediate danger, Ben might have been mildly intrigued by the beast, however, after the careless actions of the captain of the cruise ship, this was NOT something he wanted to stick around for.

Dionisia’s exclamation reached his ears and he turned to meet her eyes and watch helplessly as she slid to the opposite side of the boat from him. It was all he could do to cling for dear life - if he had to venture his best guess, practically none of them save the captain and his crew looked like they had any sort of sea-faring bone in their bodies.

He had to get over to Dionisia - if she perished during this he wouldn't forgive himself; wasn't sure Ari would forgive him either. As the boat rocked once more, Ben launched himself across the deck, wand arm aloft to cast a shield above him in case anything were to fall from the sky (not an egregious assumption given the circumstances). As he got to the middle, he clung to the mainmast as the boat threatened to launch him back to where he came from. Once over-corrected, Ben lunged for the same railing Dionisia was at. Before he could reach it, there was another awful groan and the Auror turned to see the many arms of the monster coil around the ship’s sides.

It was trying to pull them closer.

“Quick!” Benedict bellowed to anyone within earshot, changing course and running toward the now mass of tentacles. “Stop it from grabbing on!!” He proceeded to point at the appendages and shout “Diffindo!” to try and cut through the sea creature's arms. As his spells hit the monster, the air immediately vibrated with a sound that could only be the monster in pain. Ben staggered - he thought he had heard deafening sounds before this. Trolls, dragons, erumpets...nothing he'd heard so far was as loud as this…

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Perhaps she should have been grateful, or at least considering being nice. But there was a certain smugness about being right and Liliana was a petty person. "I told you so!" She snapped at the incompetent man - well, more like shrieked - as they ran. After the initial distance, she gave his hand a hard smack before pulling away quickly and stumbling towards the inner workings of the ship. She needed her wand. Perhaps the debutante really should have paid more attention in defense class, but perhaps charms to the stupid creatures eyes will distract it.

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Magic by Athena

Port and starboard; this wasn’t good at all. The words ready guns port and starboard were already on his lips before Alfred remembered that he didn’t have guns port and starboard, because this was a rescue mission, not an anti-piracy defense. They’d offloaded most of their artillery in order to lighten the Voyager’s draft and increase her speed before they sailed from England, and what was left belowdecks was certainly empty of ammunition. Wands were their only recourse, then, though against something so big that it could grip both sides of his ship at once they seemed a rather paltry defense.

The noise ripped through the air as the auror injured it, and Alfred flinched at the deafening sound. This was something, though, that they’d been able to hurt it — it gave them a potential avenue of escape.

“Make ready to haul out on the starboard side,” he called up to his watch standers. “On my word — you,” he said, directly this last to the debutante who was starting towards the door to the interior. He’d told her to do that several minutes ago, of course, but now it hardly seemed like it would do anyone much good; he’d meant to get her out of the way and she was already in the way. “When I give the word, repeat it, loud as you can. You can manage that, yeah?”

He didn’t wait for her response before making his way across the deck towards the auror and Dionisia. He was more sure-footed than any of them, having the experience to navigate the ship while she was bucking from heavy winds and seas, but the motion inflicted on them by the creature had a different rhythm than a storm and he found himself needing to grab on to a line at one point as he crossed to keep from falling. “Anyone who has a wand, ready it on the starboard side. I need an opening to get her clear,” he called. “Ready? And —”

Before he could give the word, the injured arm that the auror had hit a moment ago flailed upwards and caught the nearest sail, tearing through wood and fabric and bringing debris raining down on the space between them and the monster.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

The more she tried to focus, the more disoriented she found herself. She was still trying to process the movements of the boat, where to put her feet, and what to hold onto, and with the added stress of trying to aim for the creature who continued to disappear into the ocean before she could strike Dionisia found herself growing increasingly frustrated. Her feet slid forward on the deck, and the upper part of her back slammed into the wooden railing. She let out a hiss but quickly steadied herself, her hand beginning to shake as she tried to hold her wand back up.

At the same time Benedict moved forward the entire boat lurched, and Dionisia squeezed her eyes shut and let out a yelp that went unheard as the creature let out an ear splitting cry. She opened her eye just quickly enough to spot the creature flailing about in what she could only guess was pain. She felt a pang of sympathy, but it did not last long; the creature's tentacle flew up in the air and smashed into the sail, sending a flurry of debris.

Dionisia tried to duck, but to no avail. A large piece of wood landed on top of her, bouncing off the side of her forehead and sending her face-first onto the deck floor.

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The following 1 user Likes Dionisia Fisk's post:1 user Likes Dionisia Fisk's post
   J. Alfred Darrow

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Alfred dodged back and put a hand over his head to shelter himself as wood splinters rained down on the deck. His ship! She was wounded now — wounded and therefore less capable of making a quick getaway from this creature. Wounding it had become more important, then. If they were only limping along, they needed to make sure the monster couldn’t sprint to catch them.

Dionisia was down, he’d seen her fall, but he couldn’t stop to think about it. If he hesitated now, the whole ship might be lost. “Fire!” he yelled out to everyone in earshot. “Hit it hard and keep hitting!”

Spells blazed out left and right, from any able bodied man with a wand in hand. The sea creature reeled back, cried out in pain once again…

“Haul out to starboard,” Alfred yelled back towards the deck, towards the woman that he’d asked to repeat his command, but heard no answering cry. He glanced back and she was gone. Had she ignored him and gone belowdecks, or had the monster pulled her into the sea while he’d been too busy calculating the damage to his ship to notice? Either way, she was useless at the moment. Alfred scrambled back towards the ladderwell, hoping he could shout loud enough that his watchstanders would hear him over the pained shrieking of the beast. “Haul out to starboard! Now!”

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

After some time of looking, Liliana had made her way back to the deck of the ship with her wand. What she hadn't expected was the sudden slimy grip around her waist before she was suddenly in the air, wand flung who knows where. Barely a scream had left her mouth when she was flung back on the deck and everything went black.

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Magic by Athena