April 9th, 1891 — The Santa Antonia Shipwreck Scene

Raphael was... not a fan of the water. He would have said otherwise only a day ago, when he'd been leaning over the rail looking down into the ocean below, listening to the waves crash against the boat and feeling the gentle caress of the mist against his cheeks. He'd already been planning all the ways in which he would describe the beauty of the blue waters when he returned to shore. He'd talk about the choppy waves, the calm waves, the birds whose presence let him know they were close to shore before the captain could announce it, how he'd been lulled to sleep at night by the gentle back-and-forth motion of the boat.

But now things were different. He was trapped beneath deck, half the furniture in the room pressed against the door, and every attempt to clear the doorway with magic having been challenged by the gravitational pull of the sinking ship. He could have apparated, but everything was out of place now; he room was tilted at an unnatural angle he was sure that trying to apparate above deck would result in him apparating into the ocean, and that was out of the question.

He wasn't sure how many hours had passed, but he could tell things were worsening. He wanted to be free. He—and he wouldn't admit it to anyone, even to himself in the privacy of his room—wanted his mother. An hour had passed since his last attempt to escape, and Raphael had situated himself against the dresser... which was pressed against the bed, which was pressed against the writing desk, which was pressed against a chair, which was pressed against the door.

He was doomed.

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set by lady <3

Rowan would have been excited about visiting a shipwreck had they not actually been coming to extract victims. Perhaps a cursed shipwreck that was thousands of years old, but the prospect of finding victims who perished recently made her stomach turn. True she had little tolerance for many of those onboard and their status, but that didn't mean she wished to see them perish.

Mama and Papa weren't so excited for her to go either, even though the shipwreck had already happened. They were still worried that Ro had broken the Jade dragon - even more so that she had mended it before showing them. But this was her job and Rowan was determined to help where she could, especially seeing as she had no familial connection to anyone on the boat. As a compromise, Mama had insisted that Ro wear her sturdiest clothes and her Jade pendant.

As they approached the shipwreck, Rowan tucked the pendant into her blouse,  thinking the ship was a great deal larger than she'd imagined; though crushed against the rocks it looks rather a sad sight. Once helped aboard, Rowan wished Delight good luck and went to work. She had the schematics of the ship tucked into her belt and pulled it out every once in a while to get her bearings.

Some of the work involved moving furniture away. Some were out in the hallways just trapped, and others Ro had found them in their rooms. By the second hour, her palms, chapped with dried sea water were aching from pounding on people's doors to make sure she hadn't missed anyone. Wading through the water was quickly siphoning her energy and her back ached, but there was still more work to do and very little time to do it. Ro approached another door and, raising her fist, knocked loudly on it. "Hello?!" she called, her voice echoing, distorted, and muffled by the crowded contents of the hallway.

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Head leaned back and his eyes fixated on the ceiling of the cabin, Raphael could only think about his family and what they would do when he was gone. There were no more boys in his family, and his mother was too old to bear another son. It felt like a superficial thing to be concerned about, and now that he was facing death he realized it, but the years of being groomed into the role his father meant to him to play were not lost on him; he didn't want this to be his final disappointment. Death. Dying. In the middle of the ocean, in a cabin beneath deck because he couldn't use magic to escape. This was hopeless.

And then there was a knock. The voice was muffled, but with it came another, different sort of dread. He thought he recognized it. Of course, there was always a chance he was wrong—but why would his mind warp the voice to make it sound like hers? Nevertheless he scrambled to his feet, not about to pass up the opportunity to be rescued by anyone even if his pride was wounded in the process.

"Yes—I'm in here," he called back in a raised voice. "All the furniture's stuck against the door."

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set by lady <3

With all the voices behind doors she'd heard, this one sounded a lot like other people's that she'd rescued. She didn't think twice before thrusting open the door, wand aloft and lit to shine a beam through the furniture the room's inhabitant said was blocking the door. The first thing that caught her eye was the fact that the furniture - expensive-looking - had a multitude of dents gouged into it as if they'd all been slammed against each other at a terrific force.

Damn, she couldn't see through any of the cracks to see who it was. Ro placed a booted foot on a precarious edge of furniture, hoisted herself up to peer through the next opening and immediately almost fell backwards in shock. "Mr. Malfoy!" she exclaimed, both shocked and outraged at the universe for putting him here and putting her here.

But she was on the clock. She had a job to do. Stepping off of the edge, Ro raised her wand. "Stand back, I'm going to get you out of there."

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Shit, it was her. She looked just as surprised to see him as her head popped up through the crack of the door. What was she doing here? Had she also been on the boat—and if so, how had he managed to avoid miss her all these days? But then it dawned on him that she was probably on rescue duty; she was not a woman of means and likely had not been able to afford a ticket, but had always been the useful sort and likely found employment that had her doing this sort of thing. Or maybe it was just sheer dumb luck that she'd came knocking on his door. He wasn't about to question the universe's ways.

"I - Of course," he choked out, his tongue suddenly caught in a knot. He wanted to say something witty—something funny, even, something that would break the tension after hours of being stuck in his room—but all he could do was stand back and wait in anticipation.

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set by lady <3

Merlin, to say this was the world's most unamusing puzzle would be an understatement. Ro clenched her jaw in concentration as each piece of furniture was moved out. The problem was that each piece of furniture removed made it more possible for the largest piece - the wardrobe - to slide out and crush her in an instant.

Finally - finally - the last piece holding the wardrobe remained and Ro held her hand up to Malfoy, inwardly begging him not to move. In the end, it wasn't him that moved, but the ship. It jolted and threw Ro off balance at the exact same time the wardrobe broke through the last piece of furniture. Against her will, a yelp of fright escaped her as the wardrobe sped towards her, and she scrambled out of the way just before the wardrobe made contact with the wall with a sickening crunch.

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If it had been anyone else (literally, anyone else) he might have had no qualms standing back letting them pick off the furniture piece by piece until he was free, but this brought back memories of Miss Yaxley having to push his hand down and show him how to do something properly, and he didn't like the feeling at all. And yet—he knew doing anything might interrupt her method and only result in his own doom, so he was stuck standing there, wand out, resisting the urge to offer to help, to cast a spell, to do anything.

He grew more tense as the furniture was picked off one by one. It wasn't lost that the wardrobe was sliding closer and closer to her each time she managed to rid of one of the pieces, nor that it was angled in the perfect way to hit her if managed to slide past the other piece and towards the doorway.

And then it did. Raphael lurched forward, hand outstretched, but there was nothing he could really do as far away as he was, so it was all he could do not to let out a frightened yelp as she narrowly dodged the wardrobe (which had to have been thrice, maybe four times her size) and fell against the wall. Almost immediately the feeling of worry was replaced with mild irritation.

"You could have gotten yourself crushed," he scolded, shoving his wand back into the pocket in his sleeve.

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set by lady <3

Occupational hazards were part of the job when on a unit that was called Magical Accidents & Catastrophes; it was merely that more often it was the unit members who were the ones fixing the catastrophes, not causing them. Then, of course, sometimes they had to engineer the catastrophes. But, Rowan thought as she glared up at Malfoy, there was no use in explaining that to him. "You're welcome," she replied, shifting her weight onto her hand to gingerly get back up.

Glancing around, she saw that the rest of the rooms in the hall were already vacant. The water that was previously a puddle was now ankle-deep. "We need to get out of here, now." she insisted, taking her wand out again.

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She didn't seem at all concerned, but now with her standing across from him the little Ministry badge pinned to her shirt was visible and it suddenly made more sense. Damn Ministry employees lacked all self-preservation; he remembered his father's pressuring to enter the Ministry, remembered being told to enter any office that didn't require he do unnecessarily dangerous things. He'd, of course, decided to write off the Ministry altogether, but now he understood his father's meaning.

Raphael exited the cabin and peeked into the hall, shocked to see the state of things. He'd been trapped in his room since the ship had crashed, but now the corridors looked nothing like they had before. The carpets, once vibrant and beautifully patterned, were murky in color and covered in a few inches of seawater, and the portraits that lined the walls were either hanging at an awkward angle or on the floor, their frames busted or displaced.

They did need to get out.

"I trust that you know the best way?" he muttered, suddenly overcome with a wave of anxiety. He didn't like this. At all.

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set by lady <3

Rowan looked at him incredulously. Wasn't he the one of them that had been aboard this ship for the past week or so? How would she have known where to go? Luckily she had her —

Hand tucked into her coat and Rowan realized the map was gone. Her breath quickened and she padded her pockets, her inner coat pocket, her belt. Nothing. The color drained from her face. This wasn't good. Rowan could remember her way out of a simple building; given her training in the field she knew how to do that, but an entire cruise ship? This ship was practically built for people to get lost on purpose. For debutantes and married socialites to innocently get lost to meet up with a beau or lover.

"Not anymore." she murmured, dread coating her voice as she looked up and down the corridor. Thanks to the boat's shift, furniture had slide from rooms to coat the floor in obstacles that Ro had not encountered on the way here. Although, something about one end of the hallway looked familiar.

Grimacing, Ro motioned towards that end. Any chances of summoning the map were fruitless. It was soaked through by now and likely hidden underneath furniture that would tear it to shreds on its way back to her. "Though I think I came from that way." She pointed her lit wand to the right.

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He gave her a weird look but didn't comment, watching her rummage through her pockets in search of who-knows-what, but it seemed that whatever she was looking for was no longer in her possession. Great, just great, he thought, glancing back and forth down the corridor. He knew a number of exits that led to a number of places, but the thing about magical ships were that they tended to be very good about preparing for these sort of accidents—so good, in fact, that it became almost hazardous when they did get in crashes. Who knew what would lie behind a door they opened? The ships he'd been on in the past put sealing charms on all the doorways in the event that water somehow got in, so who was to say that opening a door to the stairwell wouldn't unleash a wave of seawater on them?

"I'm glad you think that," he said, his nerves beginning to eat away at his ability to keep his tone calm and polite. "Might be better to have a little certainty. What's it look like from above? I haven't - I'm not even sure what happened." If he knew what part of the boat was underwater and what parts were still above he might be able to offer insight into the best way to escape.

In the event she hadn't been paying attention... well, they'd be doomed, but at least he could blame her.

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set by lady <3

Despite the fact that they were alone, and no one who would care would hear if she snapped back at him, Ro still had a solid grip on her ability to remain semi- professional barring the fact that they didn't have a map anymore. "The ship is crashed against a large rock," she said, going onto describe what it looked like from the outside. Her general knowledge of ships was extremely limited but she knew climbing aboard that they'd crashed front-side first; information that she relayed to him as they walked down the corridor.

"That's all of what I know," She responded. "That and the captain of this ship is likely to face some serious questioning and reprimanding. Not necessarily in that order."

As they went through the hallways, Ro kept her wand aloft and lit, pointing it every which way now and then to make sure they were going the right way. But the thing about magical spaces was that one never knew what they would discover behind another door. Not to mention the plethora of possibilities that could occur when that magic was damaged. "Anything looking familiar to you?" she asked, keenly aware of the oddly expansive silence that the ship offered.

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Against a large rock? Surely the captain would have had more sense—that or the rock hadn't been as visible from the ship as 'a large rock' might suggest. She had said the captain would be facing reprimand and inquiry, though, and if stupidity was to blame for him being trapped in his cabin for nearly twelve-hours than the Malfoy family would also have a bone to pick with the captain. "It's always something," he complained as they moved through the hallways, stepping over broken pieces of furniture. Raphael was already mourning his fine leather shoes, which then prompted him to realize most of his luggage—luckily containing nothing too valuable or personal—was likely to be lost to sea as well.

The corridors were eerily familiar but with the distraction and without the distinctive portraits and small statues that lined the hall he had no indicator of where they were going except for a general direction. "We should run into a stairwell soon," he said quietly. There was no confidence or certainty in his tone; they would run into a stairwell eventually, even if it meant having to do circles in the halls, but the water was getting higher up on his ankles the further they walked in this direction. He hated this already.

Eventually they reached the end of the hall, revealing a familiar door he'd commented to a friend on the boat a few days ago that he thought was made out of mahogany wood. It looked worse for wear now, the paint a little chipped and the bottom of the door stained dark by the water, but he knew there was an exit. "The smoke room," he said, pushing the door open, "It connects to one of the dining halls that we can use to get above deck," he explained, stepping through and motioning for her to follow.

When they were both in the room, it was clear the crash had done its number inside. There were all sorts of ornamental objects scattered across the floor, and a few of the chairs had been knocked over. A feeling of unease set in, and as if the universe was set on proving him right the boat suddenly lurched again, turning one of the smaller but solid wood tables over, which then began to roll in their direction.

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set by lady <3

Making their way through the ship, Rowan could feel the heaviness of the accident; how terrified everyone aboard might have been to hear the scream of the boat as it collided with the sediment. She was about to turn to him offering her condolences for the crash; knowing it might have been some semblance of a peace offering for the way they'd met back during the holidays. But before she could do so, they came across a door.

She could see how beautiful it once had been. Elegant and expertly made. Now it was ruined, pregnant with the brackish water that they were almost shin-deep in. As they walked in, Rowan took the folds of her coat and skirts and lifted them slightly. They too were rather soaked through and their extra weight contributed to the fact that she was panting slightly.

Rowan heard the sound of the table rolling towards them. It made a horrible screeching sound as it slid, giving her a sliver of a taste of how the ship might have sounded during the crash. Despite it being one of the smaller ones, gravity ensured it picked up momentum. Doing the first thing she could think of, Ro threw her entire bodyweight against Malfoy, "Move!"

It might as well have been like throwing herself at a wall. She was briefly reminded that not only he was taller, but years of quidditch practice had made him built to take the brunt of a multitude of forces including but not limited to all 5 foot 2 inches of herself.

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   Raphael Malfoy

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He'd stumbled backwards as the boat lurched, and his focus was suddenly on the way the water began to flow towards them rather than the furniture that was rolling in their direction. Everything was happening at once, and he was still a bit disoriented after being trapped inside the stuffy room and then being thrust out into this nightmare scenario, so when her body suddenly and unexpectedly collided with his he did the first thing he could do: grabbed her upper arms as a means to try and steady himself. He was forced to step back, not just by the force of her body but also the slipperiness of the floor and the rattling of the boat.

His heel slammed into something—it felt like a something metal, maybe a fallen lamp or a candelabra or even a portrait frame—and he began to fall backwards, pulling her down with him. As he hit the ground a shiver ran up his body, the seawater coating the back of his pants and jacket and even his hair, and he let out a loud hiss at the sudden coldness. "Fuck," he yelped, pushing himself up onto his elbows and immediately feeling the soreness in his shoulder. It was the same one he'd hurt in quidditch the previous year; if he'd thought he might escape the shipwreck without needing to see a healer he now knew otherwise, because as he tried to push himself up into a sitting position with her still draped across his lap and chest it was all he could do from whining in pain.

"You could have left it at 'move'," he muttered, running a hand through his now wet hair.

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set by lady <3

She hadn't expected that. Rowan shouted in protest as she toppled over with him. Coldwater sloshed over them and Ro instinctively curled inwards and closed her eyes, clutching the nearest thing to her as she braced herself for anything to fall onto her. When none came, she opened her eyes and blinked rapidly again. Nothing. Glancing upwards, thankfully it appeared that they weren't in danger of anything collapsing on them. What would already be a risk had already fallen prior to their entering.

Having eliminated the more immediate danger, Ro finally registered his complaint. She shifted her weight to turn to him and retort, except she thought she would have to turn was not as much as she had originally calculated. At the exact same time of this realization she realized where – rather who was under her.

With another exclamation, she scrambled off of him. Or at least attempted to. Her coat had somehow gotten caught underneath him and she could only raise herself a fraction. "I wasn't entirely sure you would hear me." she hissed, for absolutely no reason at all other than to annoy him. She knew his hearing was perfectly fine. But she was soaked through now, her skirts were weighing her down significantly and - she realized as her stomach gave an uncomfortable growl - she was hungry. "Now if you would please get off my coat so I may remove myself."

Merlin help her.

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