Absit Omen RPG

Cole entered Defense class alongside Feliks and Sulwen as per usual. The trio had been talking in soft whispers to each other, nothing of consequence, just idle chatter, but they made sure not to be too loud as to draw ire from the old Professor.

She settled into her seat as Storm began the lesson and looked the various objects over. The box of sneakoscopes had caught her attention, and pretty much everyone else's, the instant they burst to life. However it was the Secrecy Sensor that had Feliks speaking up.

"The box on the end is filled with Sneakoscopes. Probably the most well known of Dark detectors but not exactly the most useful. They go off when detecting deceit but considering how often people lie to each, I imagined it'd be going off non stop at school."

Cole spoke matter of factly without a hint of malice. She hadn't been scorned or blighted by a friend or a loved one, she simply believed it to be human nature to deceive. Besides, after growing up with a brother like Kyson she was hard pressed to take anything at face value. Not to mention her own mother was the PR director for their family's company, she basically lied for a living.

Cole nodded, hiding her surprise that Sulwen knew her brother's name. After all most people in the house tended to over look her biological brothers, all three of which were in different houses, in favour of her adopted brother Kyson who was a Slytherin as well, "yeah. Harrison's in Gryffindor. The twins are in Ravenclaw."

She let herself chuckle at her friends and flashed them a sly smile. She was happy to take credit for the idea even though she had really only grabbed the jumper because it was the easiest thing to slip on quickly.

Cole took the book from Feliks and flipped through it, "I can't believe you made copies." She was impressed. She hadn't expected something like this from her friend. Not only that, the spell was really well performed too. She found herself wondering if she should ask him to show her how to do it.

Cole chuckled lightly then politely covered her mouth when her Uncle swore. It wasn't like the language was out of place for Kurby but she had spent so much time with kids her own age she had almost forgotten what it was like to speak with adults.

As Kurby moved to look over the shelves of books Cole began to browse the room herself. As she had mentioned earlier, this was a great place to hide while Playing. Which meant she was usually huddled by the door listening to whether or not she was about to be found. She rarely got a chance to really look around the greater room herself.

Cole bristled when he asked about school. She waited for the scolding to follow but when it didn't come She realized she'd actually have to answer the question, "it's alright. The classes are interesting and I've made a few friends." She paused, wondering if she should admit the one thing that actually bothered her about her school life. Perhaps if she drew attention to her other problems, it would keep him from asking about her letter, "it's just . . . I thought I'd be in Ravenclaw like Grant and Kelly," she looked closer at a book title, "or even Gryffindor with Harrison but I'm not." She pulled the book out, "I'm in Slytherin," there was obvious disdain in her voice, "the first in my family. I mean, Kyson's in Slytherin with me but he's not really my brother."

While Feliks spoke Cole watched Sulwen out of the corner of her eye. The other girl seemed to look over her clothing choice with a mix of surprise but also something else, as if she was impressed? Did she approve? Nicola wasn't sure but it wasn't hard to miss the look of disappointment when she tucked the necklace under her jumper. Cole felt a light flush to her cheeks. She had been so focused on being quiet she hadn't even thanked the other girl for the effort she had put into it. She couldn't even thank her now, too much time had passed . . .

She nodded and added quietly, "Yes, the trophy room sounds like a good start." She made towards the entrance to the common room before adding, "we'll have to put extra preparations into the night we want to go to the Restricted Section."

As the trio moved to leave she sidled up to Sulwen, "one of my brothers is a Gryffindor. This used to be his jumper."

Dressed in her nightgown Cole had stared at the note that had been waiting on her pillow. The writing was obviously Sulwen's though the other girl hadn't signed it due to the very nature of the note itself. She had sat in bed for a long while thinking it over, listening to the other girls in their room slowly fall asleep. She was feeling torn. Sulwen had made it clear earlier that she had no interest in a secret exploration club, so why had she sent the note?

When she heard someone stirring, she whipped the covers over herself and pretended to sleep until she heard her name being called. She dug herself out and saw Sulwen pulling aside the curtains on her four poster. Her eyes widened when she heard that Feliks was waiting for them and in a flurry of quiet motion she got herself dressed.

---

Down in the common room Nicola joined Feliks with Sulwen. She had grabbed the first things she could find in her trunk that caused the least amount of noise - a pair of thick leggings and one of Harrison's hand me down jumpers - she accepted the glowing pendant and tucked it under the dark red jumper emblazoned with the Gryffindor Lion.

"So, where are we going first?"

Cole was out of breath as she pushed open the large doors to the ornate office and swiftly closed them behind her. With her back against them and her chest heaving she barely noticed there was someone else in there with her until her Uncle spoke. She gave a start and whipped her eyes to him, there was never ever anyone in here. It was just her luck that not only was the room occupied, it was currently occupied by the one family member she may have been actively avoiding all night.

"Nicola, Done with the crowd already, then?"

"No," she panted and indicated for him to wait as she finished catching her breath. She pushed off from the door and entered the room properly, "the cousins and I were playing hide and seek. This is always the best place to hide. No one comes in here and most of the littler cousins believe it's haunted." She gave Kurby a sly smile, as if she'd ever believe that sort of drivel.

She looked him over and her curiousity got the best of her, "what are you doing in here? Playing hide and seek as well?" She was hoping that if she kept the conversation light and playful she could avoid the scolding she was certain was coming. After all, she had lied to Kurby in order to get information on The Lycan and the Tenacious Twine. That lie had then spiralled out of control and got the Headmaster in trouble. She had no doubt that she was the cause of all of it and while she had already done her duty in apologizing to Greyfriar, she had kept her distance from the werewolf hunter.

Nicola's expression was quickly stoney again. A habit she had developed early in life, whenever she felt more undesirable emotions she expressed no emotions at all. Nicola had perfected her Resting Wix Face by age seven. She was disappointed in Sulwen but then again she wasn't entirely surprised. The other girl had seemed excited at first but then just as suddenly dismissed it all, even going as far as hexing her own notes.

Personally she had been more interested in Feliks idea of an adventure club than the thought of any of the other clubs the school had to offer. Then Sulwen was shooting it down like it was all a bad idea. Before Nicola could say anything to convince her otherwise Rigel reappeared in the conversation.

Nicola's brows rose ever so slightly with how curtly Feliks had cut the senior student off. Instead Nicola smirked before addressing him, "I can fly just fine, thanks for the offer. My brother Kelly taught me. He's on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team this year now that our cousin has graduated. Peyton's now playing pro for the Tornados." Nicola had puffed a little, her family and Ravenclaw pride clearly showing. She didn't think she had ever mentioned Peyton before. She had only learned from Kyson last year that the Quidditch player was even related to them. She knew the revelation had caused her mother a lot of stress at work but didn't know all the details.

She was visibly shocked when Feliks changed the subject to the holidays and asked if she had talked with her uncle. This time she not only bristled but turned pink. She thought to her conversation with Uncle Kurby in that old ornate office at Grandma Bagnold's house, "Uh yeah." She answered, decidedly not elaborating.

Nicola had leaned back comfortably. Sulwen seemed to be relaxing as well which was good. She didn't want the girl to think too much on the meeting, that would only lead to unnecessary anxiety.

She smirked a little when Feliks went off about an exploration club they could make for themselves. That was certainly an idea and one that was likely to be more fruitful than trying to attend SAWS again for the trio.

"This is a really big castle. I bet you could go here all seven years and still not find all it's secrets." There was a small twinkle in her eye at the thought of finding things in the castle no other students had found before.

"It's for students who already know everything about werewolves, And for those who want to fight for no good reason."

"Well it shouldn't be." Nicola said plainly, "They'll have a hard time getting new members if they're only catering to such a small percentage of people."

She glanced over at Rigel, wondering if the older student was still going to be part of their conversation, "If they want people to have sympathy for their cause, namely werewolves, education needs to be an important part of that."

She gave Sulwen a small smile, "You not knowing isn't your fault. It's theirs. They should have done better and they simply didn't" she looked to Feliks, "but I would be interested in going again."

Cole was about to tell Feliks that they had already eaten Supper and he had cookies at the meeting in response to his invitation to the kitchens, when the meeting seemed to continue. She regarded both Tim and Zeta. There wasn't necessarily anything wrong with the older Hufflepuff's leadership but there wasn't exactly anything right either. After the mess of outing Lucinda they could certainly use a stronger hold on their meetings and perhaps (once everything left this room) better PR. She almost cracked a smirk thinking of how her mother would have had a field day cleaning all this up.

She did however smile when Feliks mentioned Zeta shouldn't be making promises she couldn't keep. She didn't disagree, though she understood the sentiment. She didn't doubt that at least some effort would be made if the group ever made it to a second meeting.

Cole nodded along with everything that was being said but also signaled to Feliks that she was ready to go. She wasn't entirely sure she hadn't bristled when Zeta asked if anyone knew any adult werewolves to come speak. She didn't think asking Uncle Kevin to come meet them would be a shining example of adult werewolf life.

Cole had followed Feliks from the meeting down into the kitchens. She playfully teased him for wanting more food after they had already had Supper, not to mention the sweets and cookies the blue haired Hufflepuff had plied them with in attempts to salvage the meeting.

She had been at his heels when they entered the common room but had made a beeline to the older students at the fireplace. Kyson had caught her eye and she knew she wouldn't have a moment's peace until she told him about the meeting. While omiting the details about Lucinda she mentioned  that the meeting had been a bit of a disaster and the older Hufflepuff's lacked leadership skills and organization. 

Cole managed to flee before he could ask anymore questions and came to sit next to Feliks only to find Sulwen asking how the rest of the meeting went. well if you had stayed for the whole bloody thing, we wouldn't have to tell you. she mentally her housemate while keeping her face expressionless. She had just finished explaining all she needed to to Kyson, she wasn't about to go through it again.

This was a mess.

Cole kept close to Sulwen near the back as everyone started yelling at Rigel. Her own focus was on the werewolf. She was trying to decide if she was dangerous. She didn't look it, at least not right now. Her scars looked painful and she could only imagine how much all of that had hurt when it first happened. She looked scared and almost pathetic? That wasn't quite the right word but she was too angry to think about all of this logically.

The three at the front - Rigel, Ayla and Zeta - were practically adults (if they weren't already) How had they let this get so out of control? And why was no one doing anything to help Lucinda?!

As she watched the fourth year retreat to the back of the class Cole straightened her back, held her head high and marched up to the front. She gave all of the senior students an 'you should be ashamed of yourselves' look before grabbing hold of the discarded clothing. She walked back to where the werewolf was huddled and silently offered her back her shirts.

"I think you're still human." She said softly, catching her fellow first year slipping out from the corner of her eye. She suddenly wondered if Feliks would follow Sulwen or stay behind and stick by her side.

Cole lifted a delicate eyebrow when Zeta had motioned that she'd be keeping an eye on her. Despite her own sass she was actually there to support the group. She didn't agree with her brother's assesment of werewolves and she had never met her Uncle Kevin. As far as she was concerned Kevin Cavanaugh was a horrible father, abandoning his children when they needed him the most but that had nothing to do with being a werewolf (as far as Nicola was concerned)

However it didn't take long for things to go from bad to worse. She was still stung from Rigel having yelled at her when the older Slytherin took over the meeting and just word vomitted over all of them. Her grey he eyes were wide with shock at everything he was saying and when Sulwen called to Feliks, the youngest Bagnold got to her feet as well.

She cursed under her breath when Lucinda exploded. Was she supposed to defend Rigel? Could she even do anything that would help him? She knew a few spells but nothing that could help. Before she could think of what to do the blue haired girl near the blackboard had her wand out and threw up a shield between the two though Nicola couldn't tell if it had been put up in time to stop the werewolf's second blow.

Cole slipped in as quietly as possible. She had arrived a little late and it sounded like the meeting was already getting started. She spotted Feliks and Sulwen near the back and slipped into the chair next to her best friend. She gave his hand a quick squeeze to let him know she was there but also to let him know he didn't have to say anything to her and end up getting himself in trouble as the older students were calling for everyone to be quiet.

She turned her attention to Zeta at the front. Earlier she had been undecided in how she felt about the older student given all the drama surrounding the package Feliks had received months before. Now however, after hearing how she had attacked Cole's brother, she wasn't too happy at all. In fact the entire reason she had been late was due to the fact that Kyson had been trying to convince her not to go. She had finally convinced him that she'd be his spy and tell him all about whatever indoctrination the older students were planning. He had relented and she was finally able to make it up to the fourth floor.

She scoffed perhaps a little too loud when Zeta mentioned that one of the core rules was to respect each other. When Feliks asked a rather Feliks question, Cole's sass was turned up to Eleven, "That all depends on how you fancy puking slugs."

Cole watched the Professor carefully and intently as he spoke to them. Though it appeared that he was not angry with them for the small deception on their part, it was clear to her that there was something underneath. Something he didn't want to share with them. She recognized the behaviour as something her mother was rather adept at. Cole instantly associated it with a PR tactic.

She thought on what he had said about other people's prejudices and felt her face flush. Part of her felt as though she should have known her uncle would have reacted as such. One doesn't simply join the Werewolf Capture Unit without some sort of axe to grind. She felt uneasy again. Perhaps a letter to her father was in order this time, ask him about how far Kurby would take this. Then again that would mean she's have to admit what she had done to her parents. She wasn't sure she was ready for that.

She suddenly became aware of Feliks looking at her and exchanged his own bored but interested look with one of slight surprise. Had she completely zoned out? She doubled her effort to pay attention but didn't entirely like what she had heard.

"Your family hunts werewolves?" She looked at Feliks as if she was seeing him for the first time and a bubble of mixed emotions rose in her stomach. She was still undecided on the whole 'werewolf thing'. Professor Greyfriar seemed perfectly well adjusted but then Uncle Kevin was a complete mess. She supposed they were no different than any other witch or wizard but she also felt her Uncle Kurby's job was necessary. Wherever she ended up landing on the topic, she categorically did not like the idea of hunting.