Sheep in wolf's clothing

Privately, Angelique thought this entire idea was ridiculous. Most people would shy from hurting someone's pet and pets were far less likely to be noticed if they went missing by anyone other than their owners. Her idea last week had therefore been far superior to Sally's, but there was something about people who wanted to be evil that made them go directly for the cliché.

That was the difference between her and them. Angelique had no desire to be evil, she was simply hedging her bets by joining the Dark Followers (still a stupid name) and by working her way up the ranks when the opportunity was offered. The irony was that people who wanted to be evil generally couldn't stomach things that were actually evil. They joined in to be cool or to prove a point. What she was doing now? It was morally ambiguous but Angelique wouldn't call it evil.

Ariel Greyback had been chosen because he was a werewolf and therefore technically not pureblood, because he was somewhat interesting and because he was in Angelique's house. If she was going to be spending time with him she wanted to be (a) entertained and (b) above suspicion.

Right now, the unconscious boy was lying on the forest floor, his arms and legs pulled sharply behind him so that his back was arched and his ankles and wrists all tied together in a series of intricate knots.

However, Angelique knew that probably wouldn't hold him by itself. Around his neck was another loop of rope, the end of which was tied to the rope that bound his ankles together so that when he woke, Ariel would not be able to move his head without her permission.

He ought to wake soon. It couldn't be comfortable lying like that.


ooc. Don't know how you want Angelique to have captured Ariel, so feel free to make something up in your post, or we can RP it out later if you like.

The abyss of unconsciousness was beginning to ebb away from Ariel’s grasp and nothing he could do could make the allusive mistress stay. It was time to wake up and he had to brave the scornful reality he’d come face to face with. Seven years of successful secrecy had been washed down the drain with a few racist comments on the part of the young Ravenclaw that had no idea of the consequences to his actions. Ariel wasn’t about to prove the point he’d made and make him suffer for the pain he’d caused Ariel; instead, he remained silent and stoic about the whole thing.

But then, the Full Moon began to drift in and it was as if everyone had suddenly gotten themselves a lunar calendar. Ariel had never much minded being alone because it had been his choice. Now suddenly he found himself alone because people were making it so. They were making sure to avoid him instead of scuttling down the hallway to get out of his path. They would turn around and head the other way or would just cut ‘bravely’ in front of him. Ariel didn’t know how he was supposed to react to any of it. He didn’t know how they wanted to, or how he was supposed to so as not to get into trouble.

He’d stayed out of it for the most part, ignored the jibes and hexed only when necessary. He’d not thought for a second that someone would actually take advantage of the moon and knocked him out in his weakened state. He’d been vaguely aware of being moved, though. He presumed he’d been hit with something or stunned because his head throbbed like no tomorrow. Then, he’d fallen back into unconsciousness. Now though, he was being forced out of that.

Ariel’s nose filled with the smells of the forest and he opened his eyes, blearily looking around for the person that had brought him there. He twitched his wrists and hissed when he felt rope cut into his wrists. Ariel closed his eyes for a few minutes and re-opened them before attempting to move his head. That ended in more pain and he became increasingly aware of the knots and restraints around him. How practical.

It was then though, that his eyes fell on Angelique.

“You did this?” he spluttered, lost for words. “Why!?”

(OOC: I presume we're still adding in the Full Moon/Werewolf bit. If not I can edit some bits out.)

((full moon is fine. I assume Angelique took him before the moon actually came out, though.))

Angelique shrugged at Ariel's question. It wasn't one she could really answer herself. Usually, she disdained the activities of the dark followers, just as she disdained the group itself. It was not a group of people one could really respect.

You could respect people with passion. Anyone with a driving force, whether it was the driving force to conquer to world, or to get rid of prejudice or even to wipe out muggleborns. Some of those things may not be good or pleasant, but often they were terrifying enough that you just had to respect the person who was trying to do it.

The students in the dark followers were not driven. Maybe they thought they were, Angelique didn't know, but most of them seemed to just come out with the same, boring rhetoric she'd heard from her own parents and that she knew they'd heard from their parents. There was no life in any of that. The only reason she joined the club was so that she could do what she was doing; test her theories on other students with minimal repercussions.

"I guess I wanted to find out if I'd really kill you," she finally said.

"You of all people should understand, Ariel. You turn into a werewolf every month. Every month, you must wonder if you'll take a life this time."

There wasn’t a merciful bone in her body if she’d gone after her own housemate. Ariel kept himself away from these people to prevent this sort of thing. He didn’t associate himself with the Dark Followers because he had his own faction he had to deal with. His father was a task master and a half. Ariel had his hands full with him and the pack. They would be his only hope right now but Ariel didn’t even know if they were in Scotland let alone the forest. They’d been following the rogue band of werewolves down the east coast and had taken out a third of their pack. They were advancing and Ariel didn’t know whether the pack had returned to the forest or not.

Ariel was praying that they had. If not then he was in some serious trouble. He didn’t want to have to deal with this on his own. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Not like this. He refused to be humiliated like this.

Angelique’s reply made no sense to Ariel. He wanted to shout at her and tell her exactly how much bull-crap she was full of. He knew there was no point to it though. She wouldn’t kill him. Unless she was quick about it, he’d have out of those restraints the minute the sun went down. She had time. She could draw it out if she was fairly speedy about it. Ariel wanted needed to keep her talking though. He needed to stop her. He had no plans to die. Not yet, anyway.

“You wanted to see if you could kill me?” Ariel repeated. “Why would you want to do that? What in Merlin’s name have I ever done to you, you silly cow? Untie me this instant!”

Her next words struck home with Ariel and images of Risé flashed through his mind. Shaking her picture out of his mind, Ariel bit his lip. He did wonder but he had control over himself. The puppy didn’t want to hurt anyone. It wasn’t violent. He found against the disease too much. He didn’t embrace it as he should have done. He scorned it and so it did its best to please him. It was far more human than he was as a ‘person’. Still, he did wonder whether he’d slip. He did slip though didn’t he? He killed one of his own.

“That is none of your business.” He spat.

Angelique looked around and with a gesture managed to indicate the entire Forbidden Forest.

"The Dark Followers have some quaint ideas, don't you think?" she said. "They like things like ranks and I'm quite high up, but unfortunately not high enough to put a stop to this sort of thing. Since I had to go along with it, the least I could do was make it worth my while. Besides, I do have something of a reputation to maintain."

She'd been wandering around among the trees, but now moved back over to him and dropped onto the leaves directly in Ariel's line of vision.

"You've done nothing," she told him abruptly. "Whatever you might be guilty of isn't the reason you're here now. You were just a convenient target, that's all."

"Although," she sighed, "I had rather hoped you'd understand."

"I mean it's obvious you do worry. Do you think you're the only one? How do you think I feel? The chances of you coming out of this without injuries aren't very high. How do you think that makes me feel?"

Ariel sighed and tried to block out the sound of Angelique’s voice. He didn’t really care for the villain monologue. He’d always hated those parts of movies and he usually fast-forwarded them just to avoid the pain of having to watch it. This time, there was no remote control and he was the hero (figuratively) that needed to get out of the tight spot he’d gotten himself into. Ariel had no ideas. He wasn’t going to come up with a plan at the click of his fingers. He had absolutely nothing. So, what he did was let her talk. He just laid there while she filled the clearing with the sound of her voice. He laid there and felt the wolf’s anger pique. Fury bubbled up within the animal and Ariel knew that it wanted at Angelique and it wanted at her now.

Too bad, it wasn’t going to get her. The bonds were too much but if he could just last half an hour more then he’d be good to go, he could start straining against them. He had to keep Angelique’s monologue going. He needed to prompt her and provoke her as much as possible. He needed to prolong whatever she was planning in that evil little mind of hers.

“Actually, I think this idea is quite naff.” Ariel remarked slowly. “Aren’t you meant to be intelligent? People like the Death Eaters and your little band of school-yard bullies can’t think for themselves. The wars proved that. What is this? What’s the point of it all? You just want to one-up me, is that it? You want to be able to tell everyone you captured a werewolf and punished it? Well, done, sweetheart, I’m punished. Now untie me and let me go. Then maybe, I’ll think about not hurting you when the roles are reversed. You are a silly little cow if you think you can do this to people. How many others are missing? You’re part of a crowd – a pack – so who else is there?”

"No, Ariel," she leant towards him and whispered. "I'm not part of the pack. I'm more like a parasite, just coming along for the ride."

She pushed back and stood up again.

"I suppose I should be flattered if you think I'm with them, though. Shows how well I'm doing."

With that, she kicked him in the ribs.

"This isn't punishment. It's just enough to make Julia happy. She's the one in charge. And Sally Ruby. Remember their names, because they probably thought I'd kill you. Or at least torture you a bit."

Angelique looked at the darkening sky. The moon would be out soon and she knew better than to be around for that.

"But now, I have to go," she told him, as she pulled a sewing needle from the hem of her robe and dug it into the pad of her left thumb, letting blood drip onto the ground near Ariel's face.

"Have fun, puppy."


ooc: Angelique has left the forest.

Jack ran through the forest, Brayden and Samuel right behind her. She knew Traverse and Rookwood would not be too long behind her. She had had the element of surprise and had switched things up by taking a crazed beeline through the forest, and she was pretty quick- but no doubt, between the two of them, they would be able to catch her fairly soon.

Jack slowed as she approached another clearing and she crept into it, holding her wand aloft. Jack moved the beam of her wandlight onto the huddled figure and felt her stomach contract as she realized it was Ari. She felt her blood drain. First, from the knowledge that her closest and best friend was hurt. And second, because tonight was a full moon, and the forest was full of kids...

She observed the rest of the clearing and saw that he was alone. She rushed forward and dropped to her knees, saying, "Ari! It's Jack! Where's your captor? Did you take any potion?" She put her wand to the ropes and knots that held him locked in place and severed them. She pulled Ari towards her, brushing back his hair and then glancing back at Braydon and Samuel. She could hear Rookwood's voice. "There's gonna be trouble."

Brayden followed as quick as he could behind Jack pulling his wand out as well as Jack came to a stop before a clearing in the forest. Brayden followed slowly behind Jack while Jack observed the area and watched as she ran up to a boy in the middle of the clearing. "Is he alright?" He asked as Jack glanced at him. He stopped talking as he heard Jack said "There's gonna be trouble." then he also heard voices as well. "Oh no..." He said quietly as he ran over to stand beside Jack wand at the ready.

Ariel paid little attention to what she had to say as he felt the draw of the moon behind the clouds. He felt the dog get pulled to the surface of his mind and he gasped, his eyes widened as the first shoots of pain spread through him. He gasped and quickly the metallic smell of blood filled his nose, reawakening something that was usually left dormant within the dog: the hunter. Ariel turned over as he heard people on foot thundering towards him. He cried out as another shoot of pain tugged at his spine. His eyes closed as he braced himself for the next wave. It soon came but something broke through: a voice, Jack’s voice. He felt the constraints break and he cried out as another bout of pain ripped through him.

Ariel couldn’t keep himself from howling in pain as his spinal cord began to break. With it, every other bone in his body began to move and break. He shoved Jack away from him with the last ounce of strength he possessed and as he did so, the moon finally broke fully from the clouds. A howl tore from Ariel’s lips and there was a flash of light behind his eyes as he was forced back into the dog’s part of his mind and he found himself confined. The animal was awake, just the way Fenrir had always wanted. Ariel watched through the eyes of the animal as it approached Jack. It didn’t seem to have any violent intentions but that didn’t stop Ariel from trying to attack the thing mentally and get back in control. To no avail, though and the animal continued to stalk Jack.