Early afternoon, Flynn's day off

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It had started when Flynn left his living room window open when he went to work. It escalated when he had failed to close it before going to bed.

‘It’ being the giant bug colony that was threatening to take over his flat. Flynn had tried everything short of muggle pesticides to get them to escape—and while Mildred was doing a fantastic job of hunting, pouncing, and snacking on insects, it was still a problem. Henry was absolutely useless, and actually fled from a lacewing fly. The mixture of bugs were both magical and non-magical, but that didn’t matter. Flynn Hughes was fed up.

It was time to seek help from outside forces, forces that truly understood and could deal with these wretched creatures.

Luckily, the co-captain of Flynn’s friendship ship was such a force.

The wiry, slightly-out-of-shape healer sprinted to dear old Cassidy’s flat, bursting through the door without knocking.There was no time for polite niceties. This was a bona-fide emergency.

“CASSIDY OAK MACQUEEN!” Flynn bellowed, paying no mind to the fact that they lived in an apartment complex. He paused only a few seconds to catch his breath. “I am in need of your assistance! I have a valiant quest for you! There are lives at stake!” Plant lives.

Cassidy was hardly out of bed when his best friend so courteously barged into the little apartment, out of breath and shouting nonsense about valiant quests. On a normal day, Cass would have been up and about ages ago, his nose in several books at once and a quill scratching away notes in the margins of the pages (because he was one of those people); as it was, he had trudged through a night shift at the hospital and gotten home in the wee hours of the morning, where he collapsed without undressing and slept until noon.

The scene that Flynn intruded upon was one of Cass at his desk, an owl-adorned mug of coffee in one hand and a Muggle newspaper in the other, glasses perched on the end of his nose as he perused the stories, and still dressed in clothes from the day previous. As it was his day off, the obvious bachelor had found no reason to rush his morning routine and had yet to change into new attire.

Cass didn't even flinch when Flynn threw open the door and called him by his full name - in eighteen years of friendship, Cass had learned to expect all sorts of eccentric behavior from Flynn. Very little surprised him anymore. He calmly set his cup down on the desk and folded his paper up, a little disappointed that he wouldn't be finishing the story of the dog that had learned to play the piano.

"Well g'morning to you, too," Cass couldn't help but offer his friend a half-smile as he pushed his reading glasses to the top of his head and got to his feet, "It must be quite an emergency if you're referring to me by my full name, mate. Though I think we might need to talk about what it means when you say 'lives are at stake.'" Flynn had a tendency to exaggerate, as Cass well knew, but he had to admit that he was curious about what could possibly have gotten his friend so worked up. Probably something to do with his plants or that cat of his.

He ran his fingers through his hair vigorously, causing his hair to stick up in all sorts of wild angles. Flynn looked rather much like a mad scientist. It was clear that Cassidy was not taking things as seriously as Flynn wanted him to. Did he not realize that this was urgent? This was a matter of life and death!

To be fair, Cassidy couldn't exactly take anything seriously if he didn't know the details. Flynn barging in like this was probably a regular occurrence, so no one could really blame Cass for his reaction. He was most likely desensitized by a far too many years of Flynnsanity (and the insanity of Flynn's relatives as well.)

"Just-- Follow me!" He exclaimed in exasperation, "Bring your supplies!" What supplies? "My plants are being eaten" It wasn't unusual for Henry to choke on a leaf from time to time.

"Bugs. Insects. Creepy-crawlies, everywhere!" Flynn turned on his heel sharply and left Cassidy's flat, running down the hall to the stairs. Once he reached the end, he ran-crawled up the staircase, rambling about some sort of centipede that was inhabiting his rare Norweigan Cat-Faced Cabbage.

He finally reached his place, face (and ears) bright red. It was time for battle.

Something was clearly out of sorts on the floor above, where Flynn's apartment was nestled, and it appeared that he was not going to let Cass finish his paper or his coffee before the two of them dealt with whatever the problem was. However, Flynn seemed to be telling the story backwards, slowly revealing enough details until Cass could get a picture of just what in heaven's name was going on.

"Supplies? Plants eaten?" Cass arched an eyebrow in question, still utterly confused as to what his friend was shouting about, "I swear, Flynn, if this has something to do with your cat, you can just leave me out of it. Last time I tried to help that creature, I almost lost a few fingers." A couple of exclamations later, though, Cass had changed his tune. If these were insects they were dealing with - or creepy-crawlies, as Flynn had so affectionately referred to them - then it was an entirely different story. To say that he had an entomological obsession would be saying a bit much (the word 'obsession' had always sounded so unsettling to Cass) but he was certainly fascinated by all things bug-related.

Flynn had taken off at full speed before Cass could respond, but it took only a moment before Cass was dashing off after his friend. He slipped into his worn-out loafers, grabbed his case full of bug containers and other similar tools (the aforementioned 'supplies' that Flynn had requested), and was just out his door in time to see Flynn scramble up the staircase like a maniac.

Cass took a slower pace at a fast walk, but his curiosity ran wild as he thought of what sort of critters could have possibly ended up in Flynn's apartment. He reached his friend's home shortly after Flynn himself had arrived, and took a deep breath before heading into the unit, not quite sure what to expect.

"Dear god, Flynn, how did this happen?" Cass wondered aloud, wide-eyed as he took in the scene before him. There was a small colony of all sorts of insects, looking as though they had decided to throw a house party inside of Flynn's home, much to the dismay of the dog and to the sport of the cat. 

Cassidy was not hurrying as quickly as Flynn wanted to—so he reacted in the only reasonable way possible: Bellowing. The noises that came fro his throat sounded like something was dying. “That’s the noise my plants would make, if they could cry!” He insisted. Finally, Cass appeared next to him—good. If bugs in the flat wouldn’t convince him to come over, Flynn would seriously be worried about his friend’s well-being .

A beetle that looked much like an oversized purple ladybug began to crawl towards Cass’ feet. Mildred, a rather crotchety looking tabby, lept out from behind a potted plant and caught it between her paws, before making it her afternoon snack. She slowly looked up at Cassidy, as if daring him to stop her. Flynn was unconvinced that his cat had it out for Cass, but Mildred’s actions would prove him otherwise.

“Do you see this?! ALL OF THIS?” Flynn nudged his Fanged Geranium. It didn’t even try to bite him. “That’s not good.”

It seemed he was avoiding Cass’ question. Probably because he knew it was his own fault the bugs got there in the first place. “My venomous tentacula doesn’t even try to grab anything anymore! Thank Merlin that they haven’t gotten to my lab, yet!” He had placed a bug repelling charm by the second bedroom that had been converted into a research and potioneering area.

"How they got here doesn't matter! Can you fix this?"

Cass could not help but cringe slightly when Flynn made a horrible noise that was apparently supposed to be in imitation of his plants (though Cass was pretty certain that nothing in existence could ever recreate such a sound). He ignored his friend's ravings, his eyes finding the ground where a large, radiantly purple beetle was scuttling across the ground. That had to be a hybrid of some sort, perhaps a violet ground beetle mixed with something or another. Cass couldn't help but be ecstatic at the prospect of adding such a creature to his collection, and he hurried to get a container from his bag. Before he could make his move, however, a feline pounced out of nowhere and gobbled up the insect. The look that contorted Cass's face was one of disgust and sadness.

"No! You cretin!" Cass shouted at Mildred, crouching to the ground in the hope that there would be a way to save the little bug; it seemed that it was lost forever, though, and Cass knew that he wasn't imagining the dreadful cat's smug expression as it challenged Cass. He narrowed his eyes at Mildred. "You have just made a very dangerous enemy, cat," he threatened, pointing a finger at Mildred that she immediately swatted at.

Standing to his feet, Cass turned suspiciously to Flynn, noticing that he chose not to admit the reason for the bugs being there in the first place. Knowing Flynn, Cass assumed that he had probably left a window open for far too long, inviting all of the neighborhood's insects to freeload off of his apartment. Cass looked pensive as he put a hand to his chin and moved his gaze from Flynn to the odd array of bugs before them.

"Yes, of course I can fix it, as long as you keep that animal out of the way," Cass assured Flynn, shooting a glare in Mildred's direction, "Your home will be happy and bug-free in no time." Cass himself didn't see why it was such a problem as long as they were contained, but he knew that Flynn would be able to rest much easier if there weren't all of these insects crawling over his floor.

Poor Cassidy’s hopes and dreams were mugged and cursed in an alleyway, and Flynn had to witness every second of it. He wished it had been the first time, but his cat was eerily good at ruining Cass’ life. Flynn completely denied it, but deep down, he knew it to be true.

No matter how many insects she killed, Flynn couldn’t see how Mildred was in the wrong. He scooped her up into his arms and held her protectively. “She was doing her job! Ridding my flat of vermin!” She mewed pathetically, nuzzling her nose into Flynn’s chest. A master manipulator. “You hurt her feelings! She has a sensitive soul.” No she didn’t. That cat had leapt off of many a guest’s head, yowled at Flynn’s family, and scratched Cassidy on multiple occasions. She was the vindictive spawn of Satan and Voldemort.

“But fine, I’ll keep her out of your way! She needs my love and comfort.” Flynn huffed, but Mildred squirmed-- she was being held prisoners in his arms for longer than she wanted to be.

 From the kitchen came a loud yelping noise. Henry. What sort of creature could've startled her[1] this time?

1.	Henry is short for Henrietta

Knowing that Flynn would take that infernal cat's side over his best friend's, Cassidy didn't argue as Flynn coddled the demon in his arms, claiming that her feelings had been hurt. Mildred even seemed displeased at being in her owner's arms for too long. If that creature even had the ability to have its feelings hurt, then Cass might feel a little bad for being so mean to her; as it was, she did nothing but evil and Flynn never seemed to reprimand her. Cass swore that she was far too intelligent to be just an ordinary, old cat.

There was a cry from the kitchen, which Cass could only assume was coming from Flynn's other pet, Henry (the better pet, in Cass's opinion). Flying to the other room to hopefully save poor Henry (and scoop up whatever insect had frightened her), Cass slid to a stop once the dog was in his line of sight. Now that he could see what was going on in the kitchen, he didn't blame Henry for yelping for help.

There had to be at least fifteen insects crawling toward Henry, most likely not meaning anything malicious, but scaring the dog nonetheless. What's more is that they were bugs that Cass had never seen before, not even in pictures. Many of them almost looked like combinations of multiple insects.

"Where are they all coming from?" Cass wondered, mostly to himself, "There are just so many, and so many different kinds!" He turned to Flynn, his eyes narrowing to slits. "What did you do to the insect community? It seems like they've raised an army against you." Or maybe they had come for Mildred. That would be nice.

Mildred began to make loud groaning noises. Flynn didn’t have the patience for that right now—there were more important things at stake. So, he briskly walked down the hall and threw her into his bedroom, closing the door and locking her in.  The bugs hadn’t infested his room yet, and Mildred wouldn’t bother Cass there.  Or at least, she wouldn’t jump Cass there.  Her yowling may bother him, but Flynn really didn’t want to put a silencing spell on his cat.

Henry yelped once more—one of the bugs was actually beginning to crawl on her. The yelping escalated to rather panicked yapping. Flynn rushed into the kitchen and stepped on a spider.

“Henry, I’ll save you!!” He exclaimed, as more bugs began to crawl on the canine. He pulled out his wand and levitated his dog. “I’ll get them off you!” He shook his wand, and the dog with it. Whatever bugs were left were thrown off. He levitated Henry into his arms, the poor dog was trembling. Whether it was from the trauma of being surrounded by insects, or from Flynn shaking her like a giant furry maraca, we will never know.

“I didn’t do anything to them!” Flynn insisted, “They just want to eat my magical plants!!! My precious plants!”

The cat's complaints could be heard from the bedroom, but Cass did his best to block it out. He was just happy that the beast had been locked away, where she wouldn't be able to eat any more of the bugs or trip Cass by slinking around his feet. Henry, meanwhile, was busy being bombarded by insects and seemed to not have any idea how to get herself out of such a situation. Talk about a damsel in distress.

"Henry, you're bigger than the lot of them!" Cass tried to reason with the dog, confused as to why Henry was not even fighting back or at least running away, "You don't have to be a victim!" Luckily, Flynn swooped in to save the day, stepping on a spider in the process. "Oy, watch where you're stepping!" Cass shouted frantically, hoping to save the most lives that he could.

"I dunno, mate, they seem pretty united against you," Cass teased, folding his arms across his chest as he scoped out the different species crawling across the kitchen floor, "Don't you have some sort of bug repellent on your plants? Charms? Muggle insect spray? Anything?" Cass found it difficult to believe that Flynn wouldn't have some sort of protection on his plants; those things were basically his children. 

From under the doorway to Flynn’s bedroom, Mildred’s paws were stretching out, scratching the carpet in a futile attempt to escape.  Her yowling had yet to subside. In fact, it only seemed to be growing more shrill the longer she was locked up. Flynn had grown to be rather good at ignoring Mildred’s cries. She did this often enough for Flynn to  be surprised that he hadn’t heard any noise complaints yet.

He kissed the top of his trembling dog’s head, “You’ll be just fine~” He cooed, “Uncle Cass will take care of those monsters for you.” Henry wasn’t anywhere close to recovering from her trauma. She had never been the brightest of dogs, but she was an absolute delight and was loved nearly as much as the plants.

“I use charms!” Flynn exclaimed, “No other bug repellant!” He paused. His charms. Why weren’t they working?  Either some of these bugs were resistant to the charms, or someone had removed them. Flynn was absolutely not that someone.

Maybe the bugs weren’t here just because the window was open for days.

Perhaps this was an elaborate prank.

“Cass, quick! Who have I angered recently?” As if Cassidy would know.

It was honestly rather amusing to watch Flynn get so worked up over a little pest control problem, especially one that Cass could so easily fix. However, Cass was in no hurry to eradicate the insect population that had taken up residence in Flynn's apartment, for more reasons than one. He scowled slightly when Flynn referred to the bugs as 'monsters'; that was a bit uncalled for, in Cass's opinion, especially when each insect had a purpose in the circle of life. Some people.

In a moment, Flynn seemed to have come to a conclusion. There it was - though Cass was shocked it had taken as long as it had for Flynn to realize that his charms had been tampered with. For them to be completely taken away, however, it probably would have been the work of someone who knew of the charms in the first place...perhaps someone who was very close to Flynn...

"Hell if I know," Cass shrugged, not quite set to give up the charade just yet as he leaned down to gently push a lavender mantis into a case that he had just opened, "Maybe it was someone from work. Or someone in one of the apartments who finally got sick of hearing your cat's screeching." Closing one eye, he carefully examined the newly-captured insect that was calmly crawling around the plastic container. "No broken limbs," Cass observed quietly, before sighing in disappointment, "Sadly, not all of the bugs have been so lucky." He turned to glare pointedly at Flynn, wondering how many of the bugs had been devoured by Mildred or stomped to death by Flynn himself.

“Cass, work your magic! Literally!” Flynn exclaimed. “Why is it taking you so long?!” Pest problems had never taken his friend so long to deal with before… Why in the world would he be taking his time with these plant lives at stake? He counted himself lucky that he kept his research area safe with several different protective charms, otherwise the bugs would’ve gotten into his wolfsbane hybrids and totally destroyed all of the progress he had made.

Henry let out a small whine and Flynn set her on the ground. She was promptly chased by a rather scaly arachnid.

From one of the hanging plants, came a loud, angry chittering noise.  A war cry.

A unique string of profanities escaped from Flynn’s mouth. “WATCH OUT!”

Henry dog-screamed as an obese grey squirrel lept onto the dog and used the momentum of the jump to leap towards Cassidy.  It's lone eye, missing patches of fur and half an ear revealed that this squirrel was an elderly, fierce, war-worn creature.

The squirrel landed at the dark-haired healers feet, and did absolutely nothing but stare…. And while staring at Cass, it picked up an insect and promptly bit it’s head off.

"Bloodeye Nutters, we meet again."  Flynn muttered darkly, narrowing his eyes at the harrowing creature.

Before Cass could provide a snappy comeback in return for Flynn's demands, there was a great commotion and many things all happened at once: an unidentifiable (to Cass, at least) animal noise came from the corner, Flynn cursed, and Henry reacted the only way she seemed to know - with the sad whining noises of one who was used to being a victim. It took a moment for Cass to find the source of the chittering, and by that point it was almost too late.

A rapid looking squirrel had propelled itself from Henry's back and was quickly hurling itself in Cass's direction. There was definitely a bit of foam at the mouth of the creature, and it looked hungry as it lunged for Cass - whether it was hungry for Cass's blood, however, that the healer could not know for sure. Thankfully, Cass had better reflexes than some mangy, grizzled squirrel, and so all he had to do was take a step back and watch as the rodent landed in a heap at Cass's feet.

In what seemed like slow motion, the beast picked up an emerald cricket and brought it to its muzzle. No, Cass thought with horror, not Jiminy. He cringed as the squirrel viciously decapitated poor Jiminy, staring Cass dead in the eyes as it did so. Somehow, this disgusting creature was even more horrible than Mildred.

Cass turned his head when Flynn seemed to recognize the squirrel; the name by which it was called was something that Cass recognized. "You mean...you mean Bloodeye Nutters is real?" Cass wondered. Sure, he had heard plenty of stories about it, but he had always just assumed that it was Flynn's imagination being over-active.

“Of course he’s real, Cassidy Oakbeard MacQueen!” Flynn raised his hands in exasperation, “Did you think I was making him up? I would never!” Actually, making up a crazed squirrel that lived in potted plants most definitely sounded like one of the healers’ rather dramatic tall tales. Flynn never understood why anyone didn’t believe him when it came to Ol’ Nutters.

Bloodeye’s chittering almost sounded more like maniacal cackling as it continued to chomp on the emerald cricket previously known as Jiminy. When it was done with that insect, it’s eyes narrowed on Cassidy’s well-loved, worn out penny loafers, still on his feet. The squirrel lept onto Cass’ feet, and tried to chew on the diamond-shaped cutout that was so characteristic of this type of loafer. The most sadistic type of methodical vandalism that Flynn had ever witnessed.

“Cass!” He gasped in horror, “Your shoes.” As if his friend wouldn’t notice a squirrel on his feet.

It was then that Flynn began to question why an assortment of rare and annoying insects and arachnids were roaming his flat. Why were his charms taken down? Only someone who knew they were there would’ve even bothered…. Nobody knew about those charms besides his family, Fauna and.... Cassidy