[LOG] Jailbreaking Azkaban

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

Who: Alison Mallory, Kahvi Sidhe, Ora Yang, and the Order of the Phoenix
When: New Years Eve, 1998
Where: The Burrow, a remote English suburb
What: The Order of the Phoenix jailbreaks Azkaban, and the girls are help out

*~*~*~*~*

Ora stuffed her sash and a spare change of clothes in her bag, and bounded down the stairs to grab her winter coat from the closet in the hallway. "Mum! Dad! I'm ready!" she shouted, stuffing her arms through the sleeves and doing a quick check through the list in her mind to make sure she had packed everything she needed, and everything that would make it seem like she was going to a legitimate sleepover at the Burrow.

"Mm hm," Ora's father said simply as he folded his copy of The Daily Prophet and set it down on the sitting room table. He shot his daughter a dubious look. Ora smiled up at him cheerfully, as if nothing was wrong. She mitigated it a little when her father's look turned more severe.

"You know if you get lost, Ora, you're breaking curfew."

Ora rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Dad, I know. But I'm eighteen! I can Apparate properly; I'm not going to get lost or end up in the middle of the woods."

Ambassador Yang's mouth twitched as if he didn't completely believe his daughter, but had to actually refrain from telling her so. "I'll leave the wards down for five minutes," he said simply, drawing his wand from the fold of his robes, "so if you get lost you can Apparate back."

"Okay, Dad," Ora said. She rolled her eyes again.

"Have you got everything?" Ora's mum asked. She rose from the couch and looked pointedly at Ora's bag.

"Yup," Ora said with a nod. "And if not, I'm sure Alison can lend me something."

"Toothbrush?"

Ora nodded. "Packed it already, Mum."

Ora's mother simply nodded and smiled, and came around the sofa to give her daughter a hug and a kiss. "Well, Happy New Year, and enjoy the night with your friends."

"Thanks!" Ora gave her mum and dad a hug and a kiss each. Her father still did not look entirely happy as he closed his eyes and hummed the chant to lift the anti-Apparition wards surrounding their house, but Ora still managed a smile as she waved and then thought very hard of the Burrow.

*~*~*~*~*

Ottery St. Catchpole was even colder than London, and even in a thick scarf and coat Ora was shivering. She had appeared about one hundred meters out from the Burrow, and was throughly cold by the time she got to the door and lifted a hand to knock politely at it. Even though the house seemed quiet from the outside, Ora wondered if anyone would hear here--after all, she could not imagine that a rescue the proportions of breaking in and out of Azkaban would take any less than a good chunk of the Order.

Comments

[firespice.livejournal.com]

While her wand was generally pointed towards the ground, Kahvi was looking up at the cracked and dirty windows.

"I'm a little worried as to what the other portkeys and passwords are," she snickered. "But you're right, I don't see any chairs, and I don't remember if Mrs. Weasley mentioned how long it would be before the groups get here."

"The windows may be a problem," and here she pointed up towards the windows all around the top of the warehouse. "You wouldn't happen to know any spells we could use to temporarily black them out, would you? I have no idea where we are, but if we want to try and make some brighter light in here, I don't want to draw any attention."

Her wand light twitched suddenly toward a small noise, illuminating an equally startled rat which scurried behind a large red barrel. "For all we know, there's Death Eaters next door," she muttered as she continued to survey the area.

There were only a few piles which were tall and narrow enough to be unstable in the open half, while the far half of the warehouse appeared to be divided into rows of wide mesh metal shelving, something like part of a home improvement store. The warehouse had likely been chosen for the layout, as it left few places for ambushers to effectively hide.

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison shook her head slightly, still smiling. "As long as George packed them, and not Fred."

She looked around, watching Kahvi survey the area. "I can cast a disillusionment charm on them," Alison said in response to the other girl's question, studying the windows and realizing that Kahvi was right. If they wanted real light, it would be better if no one knew they were in here. Even if there weren't Death Eaters next door (and she certainly hoped not), anyone who noticed light somewhere it oughtn't be could be a problem. "I can make it look like it's still dark in here, that's probably better than blacking them out." She cast a grin over at her friend, picking up her broom. "It's a good thing we brought this, then, isn't it?"

She kicked off from the ground and went round the warehouse, casting the same charm on each window as she passed. Now anyone looking in from the outside would see exactly what they expected to see: a darkened, empty warehouse interior. They could even climb up the roof (assuming there was access) and look inside, and they would still see nothing but empty space.

She checked around the warehouse eaves as well - no point in being anything but thorough, and she was already in the air - but there was little out of place and even less of interest. There were a few nests and more than a few spiderwebs, but nothing more dangerous than that. Alison landed and set the broom aside, pulling fingers through her hair and hoping she hand't gotten any spiderwebs tangled in it. "More light should be okay now. I can transfigure some of this into chairs; we might have a while to wait." The entirety of the Order hadn't been gone from the Burrow yet when they'd left, and she imagined it would take them some time to set up their perimiter and infiltrate the prison. No sense in standing about 'till then.

[firespice.livejournal.com]

"Good point, the disillusionment means we can still see outside, which could be of help."

Given the darkness outside the warehouse, she idly wondered as she watched her companion fly around to all of the windows whether there was anything to see that might give them some clue as to their current whereabouts. Several of the building materials had company tags and marks on them, but they were different and from various places all over the country. The labels at least seemed to indicate that they were still in Britain, not that Kahvi had expected to be anywhere else.

Alison seemed to be giving the rafters a good check, too, so Kahvi investigated some of the shelved area near the warehouse entrance. Stacked neatly in pallets, the bags seemed to be organized by grades of cement and sizes of gravel. She stuck a paper shrieking ward on a sacks of gravel on the end of the shelf, which would go off if anything human passed within ten feet of it a minute after being placed. The shelf of wooden beams appeared to be organized horizontally by widths and vertically by height--certainly a fairly organized group of builders. Heavier, metal I-beams had been stacked along the wall, and she stuck another shrieking ward to one of them. The rest of the warehouse was open enough that they would likely see anything approaching.

In one corner, there also were several metal objects that, from what she could discern, were probably meant to be part of some artistic sculpture piece. She grabbed an approximately round, concave piece of the metal pieces and brought it back to where there things were as Alison landed, thinking it would make a decent brazier. Nothing else had seemed particularly useful at the moment.

"We'll just have to remember to transfigure things back before we leave," she smiled as she set down her makeshift brazier in the center of a few items Alison seemed to have picked out for turning into seating options. Tapping it with her wand, a cheerful blaze erupted from its center, crackling as if it had been a campfire hungrily devouring logs. Another flick of her wand sent several faerie lights floating in the air around their heads, casting a soft glow in a circle around them. "Hopefully that's enough light?" She blinked a few times unconsciously to allow her eyes to return to normal before plopping down in one of the freshly-transfigured plush chairs.

"So," Kahvi smirked, now reasonably reassured that there was nobody else in the warehouse and that any entry would be noticed, "I finally got to see the infamous Weasley twins, and they do seem quite fond of you." A corner of her lip curled with amusement, although her eyes continued to dart around the building periodically. "However do you decide between them?"

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

It was short work to transfigure two old sacks of what appeared to be sand into much more comfortable armchairs; Kahvi set up a large curved piece of metal neaby, and seconds later there was a cozy fire warming the air. Another flick of her wand and a number of lights floated to life around their heads.

Alison nodded, grinning a little despite their current circumstances, and sat down in one of the chairs. "Much better, that'll be fine." The fire cast a warm orange light throughout most of the warehouse, and they could keep a lookout on the few shadows beyond its reach from here. No Death Eaters would be sneaking their way into here without significant trouble, Alison thought determinedly, glancing over as the other girl sat down as well; she remembered the knives strapped to Kahvi's legs, and was just debating asking her about them when the other girl spoke first.

Her grin turned a little rueful, and she glanced down at the fire for a moment. "I, er, haven't, exactly... and I don't think I'll have to," was all she said for a moment, but that definitely warranted a bit more explanation before the other girl came to possibly erroneous conclusions. "I mean... I like them both. And they explicity told me they didn't come separately. It's... kind of unconventional, I know, but it's worked all right so far." She bit her lip, watching Kahvi for a moment. It wasn't that she was ashamed to tell her, but Mrs. Weasley hadn't exactly taken the news well, and Alison hadn't even told her dad yet. She fervently hoped she wasn't about to get another lecture, or worse, the cold shoulder. But Kahvi was her friend, and she was all right, and she would understand...

[firespice.livejournal.com]

Kahvi's eyes snapped front and center on Alison in surprise and a slightly awkward moment of silence passed as her words sunk in.

"Wow... a two for one deal..." She struggled with what, exactly, to say--she had no idea how that sort of a relationship would work, but from her observations and Alison's own words, apparently it did. It was absolutely astounding, albeit weird. "I... it... That's pretty phenomenal if you three have actually managed a functional relationship.. I mean, there's plenty out there that have enough trouble just between two..."

Yes, two could be as sad as one, or so the song went. And more so when two became one, that much Kahvi knew. How much more terrible, then, must it become if three became one--both of Alison's beaus were out there right now, perhaps on the threshold of Azkaban at this very moment. One of them had obviously been injured, possibly on a previous Order excursion, which was only going to bring the possibility of losing them home. It had probably been untactful for her to bring the relationship up, and Kahvi chided herself silently. This was hardly the sort of thing Alison needed to be thinking about.

"Well, it's going to make for a... very unorthodox wedding, at any rate," Kahvi snickered a bit, hoping to relieve her friend's discomfort. "But they're definitely a handsome pair. And two Order members--that's quite a catch, Alison!" Strange as the situation was, Kahvi had to admit she was impressed. "Heh, you're more dangerous than you look--I guess that's where all that so-called Slytherin ambition went!"

[OOC: Is it a bad thing that immediately my mind pops up one of those innocuous Doublemint Gum commercials with the random twins riding on tandem bicycles and playing tennis? "Double your pleasure, double your fun...?" In my defense, I have a pack of mint gum on my desk XD]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison smiled a little more softly, commenting, "Those two are certainly enough trouble between them... just not in a way I mind." They were definitely always plotting and planning some new scheme, whether it involved a new WWW product or just ways to get their siblings riled. Though lately their schemes had been somewhat more subdued, though no less creative - they were helping the Order and the Ministry in ways that Alison was sure would really help their side, in the end. Just because those two ran a joke shop didn't mean their hearts weren't in the right places.

She just hoped everything else would stay in the right place - she wasn't so worried about them, as they should hopefully be relatively safe where they were, but there was no real 'safe' tonight, not for Order members, and not being so worried and not being worried at all were two very different things. But there was no use dwelling on it; they were resourceful and they'd watch each other's backs. She fully planned to see both of them well and whole (or, mostly, in George's case) before the night was out.

And she couldn't help but laugh as Kahvi mentioned a wedding. "I don't think their mum would really appreciate that kind of wedding," she had to say, thinking of the way Mrs. Weasley still seemed to watch them like a hawk whenever she could. "I don't think she minds me so much, she treats me like one of her own, but I think she still thinks we're playing and that someone is going to get hurt." She shook her head. "It's not that way, though. It just seems to work out."

Though speaking of dangerous... She glanced over at Kahvi, cocking her head a bit and still smiling. "Though I don't know, I get the feeling you might be just as dangerous... did you have throwing knives?" She glanced down a bit; "I don't mean to pry, but I thought I saw... well, that's what I thought I saw, anyway. Do you really have some?" She'd always been more than a little impressed with Ora's abilities to defend herself so gracefully, and honestly a little jealous, too. She wasn't really one for grace - sure, Ora had taught the entire DA a few of her tricks to keep alive and out of reach in a fight, but Alison's fighting expertise was generally much more suited to brawls on the Quidditch field (of which there were a fair few, and thankfully what she lacked in height she could make up in speed). But if Kahvi could defend herself as well as Ora could, then she was much better off than Alison had thought, which was both a relief and a pleasure to think.

[OOC: ::dies:: XD No, because I've thought of something like that too. I think it was Skuld's fault, though. Apparently the twins just... do that to people. :D;;]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

"Eh, me?" She laughed a little as her friend mentioned the possibility of her being dangerous, but blushed at the mention of the knives. "Ah, you saw those, then... I was afraid of that. I think Ora might have noticed, too." Kahvi rubbed the back of her neck with embarrassment, "That was clumsy of me. I had figured I should keep them hidden since there's a lot of Wizards who don't take too well to anyone carrying mage slayers," she explained quietly.

"But obviously mine don't have the casting seal on them, so they're really not all that bad..." Alison had Muggle exposure and was fairly solidly of European stock, so she wasn't as likely to be up in arms about them, but one was never sure. There were always those whose family lines had passed down the horrible stories of magically immune weaponry used to subdue and ultimately kill the wizards and witches of yore. Ora... well, the fact that Ora may have noticed the mage slayers might be trouble for another day, depending on her family's view on the items.

Lifting the two front flaps of her coat, she revealed two symmetrical straps of the stone throwing knives: one on each leg, and ten knives a piece. "Would you like to see one?" She pulled one out and offered it, handle-side out, to Alison for inspection. "They're reasonably sharp, and that's the pain rune on them, so try not to cut yourself," she warned.

Kahvi did, however, wonder at the level of Alison's combat abilities and experience. Quidditch meant she'd be agile airborne, and Alison seemed pretty sturdy with a wand, but if she was disarmed... Her eyes stayed very close to the blade in her hand, waiting to see how Alison might grasp it if she chose to examine it.

[OOC: I think my inner Rambo is getting loose or something... or my inner knife freak :/

But it's good to know I'm not crazy for hearing the Wrigley's gum commercials around the twins :P

Bah, whoops. Accidentally posted with the wrong account ^^;; Fixed now!]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison shrugged a bit, mostly to show she didn't mind that Kahvi had them. Sure, she'd learned what mage slayers were in history class (that had been one of the more interesting classes, and she could count the number of those on her hands without running out of fingers). But a weapon was only as good or bad as the person who wielded it, and she was rather sure Kahvi wasn't about to throw one of those things at her, or anyone she cared about. In fact, the more of them that ended up in Death Eaters, the better, as far as she was concerned.

"I don't mind," she said aloud, "and it's a good idea to be armed, in any case. I mean, I've only been in one real tussle with Death Eaters, but it was pretty... overwhelming," she admitted, still remembering the chaos that had brought an early end to Bill and Fleur's wedding festivities. They weren't likely to go through something like that tonight even if Death Eaters did follow the escaping groups, but you could never be too careful. Knowing that Kahvi was armed and knew how to handle herself made Alison feel better, not worse.

Kahvi lifted her coat to show the straps holding the knives in place - they were dark-bladed, made of what appeared to be low-grade jade. When she offered Alison one for inspection, she couldn't resist. Nodding, she reached out carefully for the handle, not wanting to accidentally cut Kahvi either, in that case. It was a bit heavier than she'd expected, but then, she'd never held one before; it was very well-balanced, though, even she could tell without any previous experience with throwing knives. She turned it over in the light from the fire, trying to hold it like a weapon instead of a kitchen knife, which were admittedly the only sorts of knives she'd ever held in her life.

She glanced up, smiling slightly. "It's rather pretty for a weapon with a pain rune inscribed in it, huh?" She did recognize the rune, but only from glancing through her Divinations textbook, which had a section on runes at the back. She'd never taken Ancient Runes, herself, figuring it was subject matter she'd never need to know on the Quidditch pitch. "Have you ever used them... uh, in battle before?" Clearly Kahvi wouldn't be carrying them if she hadn't practiced with them, but Alison realized she knew next to nothing about Kavhi's past, aside from where she lived. She turned the knife enough to offer it back to Kahvi, handle out, so as not to cut either of them.

[OOC: XD Nah, knives are cool!]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

Her grip in the solid stone knife told Kahvi most of what she'd wanted to know, knife-wise, but it hadn't been too much of a surprise--sports brawls were generally carried out with fists, and Alison appeared to be verbally confirming some of the worries Kahvi hadn't spoken out loud. But if the girl had her broom, she would at least be able to get out of harm's way and perhaps find help, which in and of itself was a valuable skill. She wondered idly if it might not be a bad idea to offer Alison the flare gun she'd brought.

"I've admittedly got a bit of a fondness for carved stone items, so I've always admired these," she smiled. The knives had been polished smooth, largely for aerodynamic properties, but the finish and the faintly marbled stone lent a certain aesthetic quality.

Kahvi cocked her head to the side a bit in response to Alison's question, pondering the most tactful way to answer. "Not this particular set, no...," she struggled with exactly what to say. It was actually the runeless set which she was supposed to be wearing right now, but bringing up a second set of mage slayers in her family's possession would only make her sound even more suspicious. "The, ah... Mage slayers with pain runes are usually only used in fairly dire situations, since wearing them, um... introduces vulnerabilities..."

She winced as she realized that while it was tactically wise to let Alison know about the knives' effects, it probably wasn't about to make her feel any better about possible attacks. Some things simply sounded very tactically unsound when spoken aloud, so perhaps a little understatement would be best. "I've got twenty--well, nineteen, now--of these on me, which means I've got twenty or nineteen pain runes on me until I start tossing them. If I so much as scrape my knee, it's going to feel like a couple of strings of firecrackers blowing my kneecap off." No sense mentioning what might happen if she were unlucky enough to be hit with a Cruciatus with all knives in stock.

"But I'm usually pretty good at avoiding damage," she added apologetically as she leaned forward to retrieve the knife from Alison, tucking it back into its place amongst its fellows. "My survival knife and gurkha, on the other hand, I have used in a fight before," she added, patting her side and lower back where said knives were strapped to her torso under her coat. "Admittedly, that wasn't a fight with Death Eaters or even wizards... where'd you run afoul of Death Eaters?"

[OOC: ...and this is me severely minimizing Kahvi's weaponry, because as I pare down the list, it becomes ever more apparent to me that Kahvi is kind of hard core o_0]

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

[OOC: I totally expect to be seeing knives all over the place at the Battle of Hogwarts. :p Just saying. XD

Also, I believe that Alison and Ora, have actually had two altercations with Death Eaters. The first being when Draco let in a group at the end of HBP (did all of Dumbledore's Army participate in that one? I was under the impression 'yes,' but you'll have to double-check me on that one. Wasn't that the fight where Bill got scratched by that werewolf guy?), and the second at Bill and Fleur's wedding.]

[ad-exia.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Oh, that's right! I'd totally forgotten about that bit at the end of HBP... I think most of the DA was involved, though I don't remember... I just flipped through the book and there were definitely students and DA members involved, so I suppose we can assume that we were, as well~ :D;

AND wrong journal but hey, it lets me edit the comment so I'm leaving it. XD But I just realized that since we're Slytherins, we might not have been, uh, alterted to the whole Death Eater break-in as quickly as the rest of the DA? Unless you heard from Draco... I guess I'll just be kind of vague about what happened. >>;]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Ha ha, we'll see about knives all over the place :P As far as I've ironed it out, the Tarikhaan style is pretty much a specialization in wandless magical martial arts and knives, so you probably won't see too much fighting wand-work from Kahvi. I guess that does mean knives all over the place ^^;;

Man, you Slytherins live exciting lives o_0]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

"So that is how they work, then..." Alison had vaguely remembered something about the caster being just as vulnerable to the spells placed on this kind of knife as the intended target, but she hadn't been sure they still worked that way. It had always sounded so unpleasant that she'd hoped people might have found a way around it. She glanced over at Kahvi as she handed the knife back. "Well... be careful, then." She offered a small smile. "Protego is definitely your friend. I can watch your back if... well, I hope I won't have to. But I can." She was aware that she was somewhat better at defense than offense, when it came down to real brawling, but that could be an asset if Kahvi was any good with those knives.

She watched as Kahvi replaced the knife with the rest, nodding and hoping the other girl was as adept at avoiding getting hit as she said. They still weren't likely to have to put that to the test, but the idea of her friend in pain because she'd offered to help was not a pleasant one. Alison desperately wanted this raid to go according to plan. They could all use the good fortune...

"Well, I guess I've met with Death Eaters twice if you want to be specific... but the first time was the middle of the night and there was... a lot going on," she said softly, remembering the blur of events that had happened that night. It wasn't something she wanted to remember. She had liked Professor Dumbledore and his odd, quirky personality a great deal. The events surrounding his death were not something she liked to think about. "The only time I really fought with any Death Eaters for any length of time was at Bill Weasley's wedding. They killed the Minister of Magic and crashed the wedding reception right after. It was pretty... tense," she said, remembering how time had seemed to slow to a crawl and curses had flown every which way, along with the wedding guests. "But we drove them out. I don't think that's how anyone wants their wedding night to go, though." Of course, that was rather an understatement. "And I certainly hope tonight will go much more smoothly."

She offered another smile and glanced up at the windows, though there was nothing there to mark the passage of time. But things must be moving along by now... she glanced at the bag of Portkeys on the ground and wondered if she ought to get one out, to be ready. "I hope they haven't had more trouble than they expected getting in."

[OOC: XD Go hardcore Kahvi! Alison's much more of an on-the-fly sort of fighter, but thankfully she's pretty quick, good on the broom, and good with her wand. XD But definitely very un-stylized fighting. ::shakes head::]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

"Mm... well, if it really does come down to that, worry about yourself first." Kahvi wasn't about to have Alison share the same fate as Timothy. "Take to the air. It'll keep their attention divided if they've got you above them and me on the ground to deal with." It was a reasonable enough plan, and Alison would be at her most nimble in the air, while Kahvi would be at her most nimble on the ground. It would also make it easier for Kahvi's dodging not to accidentally direct fire at Alison...

"Twice!" She was impressed, but also dismayed--was Alison a target due to her association with the Weasley boys? Either that, or the Death Eaters were more brazen than she'd initially thought. From the other girl's reaction, it didn't look like either encounter was pleasant to recall. "Oooh, and at their wedding, too," Kahvi shook her head in sympathy for the couple... Death Eaters at a wedding was a rather nasty way to mar what should have been an everlasting memory of happiness. "Hopefully nobody was hurt... but that is a fairly awful way to remember the start of a marriage. The nerve of those Death Eaters!"

Following Alison's gaze up towards the windows, Kahvi found herself also wondering how much time had passed since they'd arrived. "They seemed prepared," an observation which was true as far as Kahvi could assess from her wait in the Burrow. "Even in spite of the warning, they were pretty well prepared for trouble. They know what they're getting into. Besides, the most help we can offer them right now is to focus on making sure we hold up our end of the deal."

She scanned the quiet warehouse again, hearing nothing but few occasional skitters of rodents and occasional gusts of wind whispering against the sides of the building. There didn't seem to be any clocks on the walls, either. "I wonder where Ora and Lysienne ended up. Or where we ended up, for that matter..."

[OOC: Hehe, Kahvi is fairly on-the-fly, too, but she likes having a plan. And knives, apparently :P]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Take to the air? Well, Alison supposed it seemed like a decent enough plan. It would be more confusing for any attackers if their targets weren't in the same place. She nodded thoughtfully, glancing over to where her broom lay just out of easy reach next to the bag of Portkeys.

"No one was hurt too badly, thankfully," she said, elaborating on the wedding incident. It had been chaos, but it had also been over quickly, and while there had been plenty of damage done, there had been no loss of life. She was just as glad for Bill and Fleur about that as she was for everyone else. To have your wedding anniversary also be a remembrance of fallen friends... that was just too much to ask of anyone, she thought.

Alison's eyes skimmed the darkness just beyond the fire's glow as she nodded. "I suppose we should keep alert. The first group must be nearly ready to go by now..." Her grip tightened on her wand as she glanced to the side, but the sound she'd heard had only been a large rat, presumably looking for food among the abandoned supplied. "I do wonder where we are, but I suppose there's no way to tell from in here. I didn't recognize the area outside the windows, but that doesn't mean much, I guess." She paused, doing a quick visual check of the rafters above their heads. "I suppose it's safest if we don't know where anyone else is, but I hope they're doing all right. I really don't think the Order would put any of us in any danger they could avoid." But there was always the danger that couldn't be avoided, and working with the Order ensured there would be some danger, at least.

She pushed herself up off the chair, suddenly feeling restless; she paced back and forth a little bit, eyes on the bag of Portkeys and her broom. "I just want this war to be overwith. This wasn't how I wanted things to be." But then, it wasn't as though she had much say in any of this. Very few people did, in the end. "I hope this never reaches as far as your home."



[OOC: Sorry it took me so long to reply! It's been a long week. o.o;

So do we want the first group to come through pretty soon, I'm thinking? And I'm thinking maybe it's the second group that ought to be the one that's followed, so we think everything is going well and then boom! It's not? XD; Though just let me know if you have another plan you'd like to try, I'm open to whatever~]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

Kahvi nodded--it was probably getting close to showtime, and in this sort of environment, restlessness was contagious. "You're right, I think we're likely in the safest place of all the others." Her eyes continued to flick about the room on occasion, and she sat more stiffly than usual with the anticipation of a surprise. "But safest doesn't necessarily guarantee safety," she added quietly, and perhaps mostly to herself.

"I'm not sure this is how anyone wanted it to be, including... well, it might be close to how he envisioned it, but minus one apparent hero still on the loose." Her smirk was grim. "It'll be a while before any of them start moving on the island--it's remote, difficult to get to, and not worth the trouble for the small population just yet." It was true, even if not comforting, and she reckoned that even the craziest of Voldemort's bunch would think twice before attacking a country known for having a wing of dragons as a pivotal piece of its Wizarding military. However, if things fell through here, it wouldn't be a matter of if, but when. 'Yet' had been the key part of the statement.

"Oh, don't wander too far from your chair... it's the closest and most solid cover we have right now."

[OOC: No problem, I'm beset with the parents at the moment, so I may be a bit intermittent myself :/

Sounds like a plan to me! Start things rolling whenever you like ^_^]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison smiled, if grimly, for a moment. "True - Potter's been good so far about keeping out of You-Know-Who's way. I just hope he can keep at it." She didn't know what he'd set out to do, and Ron had been less-than-helpful with the details. She didn't like putting all of her faith in Potter no matter how reliable he'd seemed to be in the past, but she supposed it was all anyone could do at the moment. Trust Potter, and try to help out in the meantime. Like with this raid.

She hadn't even thought about it, but she realized Kahvi was right - her chair would be the best cover if she needed any, so she paced back over to it and leaned against the back, watching the fire for a moment. Silence fell between the two girls for only a moment before it was broken, and by neither of them.

There was a blast of salt-smelling cold air, and suddenly there was a large group of figures standing just beyond the fire. Alison gripped her wand tightly in her right hand, tensing as her other hand gripped the back of her chair. There was shuffling and stumbling amongst the figures for a moment that seemed to stretch out into eternity. Her mind was racing - was this the first group they'd been waiting for? Or were they Death Eaters who had somehow discovered the waystation location -

There was a large figure at the head of the group - he stepped into the firelight and Alison immediately recognized him as Kingsley Shacklebolt, though she'd never spoken to the man before tonight. He looked down at the two tensed girls from his much higher vantage point, his face unreadable; then, after a few seconds, he nodded brusquely.

"Quickly, the Portkey," he said, holding out one large hand. His voice was deep and seemed to fill up the entire warehouse. "I do not mean to alarm you, but there were a number of Death Eaters waiting for us and they may be following. I cannot stay to aid you; I must get these people to safety."

Alison glanced worriedly at Kahvi even as she dug through the bag beside the chair quickly and pulled out the first portkey - an oven mitt with a tag that read "blueberry."

[OOC: I'm thinking that either Death Eaters can trace the travel of this group and get in that way, or maybe just come on the tail of the second group? It seems more likely the later groups would be followed than the earlier ones to me, but if wizards have a way to trace where someone else has gone then the Death Eaters could send a group to try and clear out the waystation and ambush the second group too.]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

The familiar smell of the sea was only momentarily welcome; by the time the imposing figure stepped into the firelight, Kahvi had a mage slayer concealed in one hand and her wand at the ready in the other. Her eyes flew from the man, the agitated group behind him, to Alison--while she wasn't expecting a group of Death Eaters to pause before attacking or look quite as ragged, there was no sense letting her guard down until she saw some sign of recognition. Unfortunately, this also made Kahvi keenly aware that she was relying almost entirely on Alison to recognize group leaders and/or Order members.

His voice, like his physical form, seemed impressively strong, yet not unkind. As the reverberations died away, she wondered whether Death Eaters might arrive alongside Order members, she might not be able to distinguish between them... Hoods seemed like the usual m.o. of the Death Eaters, but what if they didn't always wear them, and what if they impersonated prisoners to get to the final locations, where surely there were other Order members who would not be expecting an attack. Apart from the mark on their arms, there was no sure way to visually determine whether or not a person was a Death Eater.

Alison, too, seemed troubled by the news as she pulled an oven mitt out of the over-sized burlap sack and handed it over. In a way, they'd been expecting Death Eaters, but they had also been banking on not getting into a tussle with them, either. What they'd really been ready for was the possibility of Death Eaters, and now they would have to face a higher probability of that possibility becoming reality. Kahvi nodded to her partner in as assuring a manner as she could.

"Thank you for the tip, sir, we'll be ready."

The tall man thanked Alison for the portkey, and nodded curtly to Kahvi in acknowledgment of her statement before returning to tend to his people, who appeared physically unharmed, but mentally shaken. As abruptly as they had come, they were gone, leaving only the rushing sound of wind filling the vacuum left behind previously occupied by bodies and the ghost of Shacklebolt's deep voice calling out the portkey's password.

[OOC: Hmn, I am not sure how the portkeys work exactly, but I didn't think they were traceable? May need to look this up or something...]

[prime-veridian.livejournal.com]

[OOC:Portkeys, to my knowledge, are not 'traceable.' That is why the Order is using them during transportation. However, anybody touching somebody who is touching a Portkey will get transported as well. Our plan for getting Death Eaters is that two of them will be tagging along, quite literally.]

[ad-exia.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Okay; I plead momentary insanity because my brain has not been functioning at full capacity lately. XD I'm definitely thinking that having them tag along makes more sense. I can't edit the comment, so, uh, just assume he said something to that effect. I don't know what I was thinking, other than I probably wasn't. ^^;]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison shuddered a bit, involuntarily, as the wind whistled by them to fill in the space that the departing group of escapees had left. She glanced over to Kahvi, worried now that their evening was about to get a good deal more interesting.

She hadn't gotten a very good look at any of the people standing in a huddle behind Shacklebolt. She didn't know if any of them were people she knew, and she could only be glad that none of them had appeared injured or ill before they'd left again. It had all happened so quickly - but then, she realized that was how all these sorts of situations seemed to go. You had to keep alert and be able to react quickly if you wanted things to turn out in your favor.

She walked back to her chair in the firelight, gripping the back of it but not sitting down. "I guess we shouldn't get too comfortable, then," she said quietly, noting that Kahvi was still tensed and ready for action. "If Death Eaters are likely to tag along with the next group, they might not have much time to warn us before things start happening." Of course, Kahvi looked quite ready to handle an invasion at the moment, and Alison wondered if maybe the other girl was probably better-prepared to handle this than she was, herself, all experience aside. "You look like you've been in fights, before."

[OOC: Sorry it took so long to reply!!]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

Kahvi cast a worried glance at Alison as she paused by her chair, not sitting down. She herself had remained seated throughout the episode, and now put her knife back with its friends in the holster, and nodded in agreement with her friend's assessment of the updated situation.

"I have," she said plainly in response to Alison's last comment, searching for the simplest explanation. "I... my mother is..." Kahvi started, sighing a little with frustration--she was still tense from the appearance of the first group. "To make a long story short, let's just say it's more or less written in stone that I'm going to be a part of the Tarikhaan military, and I was brought up with that in mind." A few years' resentment, not of the idea of military duty, but more of the idea of being paraded around in the public eye, welled up like an angry lump in her throat for a moment before she could recover. Not the time for it, and people always looked at her with different eyes once they knew who and what she was.

"So you'll have to forgive me if I get a little bossy," she smiled apologetically. "We have to plan now for an attack from the inside--I'd been predominantly worried about discovery of the location and defending it from outside attacks, admittedly." She pressed a finger to her lips and absently played with the end of her braid a bit with her other hand as she mentally went over the warehouse and possible positioning.

The group would likely arrive in the same spot, out in the open area. The Order members would know to go for the portkey, but it wouldn't help any of them to leave part of the group behind--it would also need to be kept out of the way to protect the members at the next leg of the journey.

"When the group arrives, if there are any stowaways, we should undoubtedly outnumber them unless the Death Eaters have gotten ahold of the portkey and used it themselves... in which case, take the portkey and run. We need to be positioned for ranged attack, with cover. For you, this means somewhere high; they probably won't have their brooms after the portkey." Kahvi turned and pointed sharply to the top of one of the shelves, adding "The bags of cement at the top of that shelf will give you decent cover from below, and you should have enough headroom to take off if needed."

"We should hide the portkey in the rafters; it's less likely to be found or damaged. Perhaps tie it down, in case someone gets clever and tries to use a summoning charm. We can leave the rubber chicken in the sack by your chair, in case they know to look for a portkey in a sack. We don't retrieve it until any and all Death Eaters present are subdued."

"You'll also want to transfigure a double of yourself seated in your chair, preferably looking shocked or stunned--that way they won't be expecting you to be elsewhere if they already know we're two to a station. I'll stay here. I should be able to keep out of harms way so long as there aren't many Death Eaters."

She fidgeted anxiously. It felt odd to be speaking at such length, and she didn't particularly like that she appeared to be giving Alison orders, but time was short and formalities useless. "You're better able to recognize Order members than I, so you're in charge of the portkey. However, I do need to know anything you can tell me about identifying Death Eaters before we take positions. Do they always wear those dorky black robes? Anything other than the Dark Mark that I can use to identify them?"

[OOC: No problem :) I think I'm assuming that Shacklebolt basically warned us that some Death Eaters have been taken along with at least one of the portkeys already. That makes the most sense, I think... and is most easily followed by his "can't stay to help" comment.

Hopefully Kahvi's suggestions make sense--it was literally me rattling things off the top of my head, since if I thought too hard that might be unrealistic :/ Sorry if she's too bossy T_T]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

"... Oh." Alison had to admit, she hadn't quite been expecting that kind of explanation. But then, it did suddenly make sense - why Kahvi had come armed (and it might be a good thing she had, if matters got out of hand), and why she looked ready to take charge of this operation like it was a military maneuver under her command. Alison bit her lip, thinking. Was she really all right being "bossed around" by Kahvi? The other girl was clearly trained to take charge, and had more knowledge about fighting than Alison had ever thought possible. Alison had assumed she would be the one instructing Kahvi on what to do, but that was clearly not the case.

But what was the case was that Alison had not been in more than two serious fights, and most of her fighting was limited to punching, kicking, and knocking people off their brooms. None of which was particularly suited to the type of fighting they might encounter if a group of Death Eaters decided to tag along with the next group of escapees.

And so she shook her head, admitting, "Actually, we're probably a good deal better off if you do know what you're doing. You know a lot more than I do, at any rate, so boss away." She offered a wan smile - she knew when to take direction, and more especially not to take it personally. Slytherins might be ambitious, but right now she particularly wanted to stay alive and well - and keep everyone on their side in that state as well - more than she wanted to pretend to take charge when Kahvi clearly knew what to do.

She listened, nodding, as Kahvi snapped off a list of instructions that sounded like a very decent plan. "Let me do that now," Alison said, taking the sack with the last Portkey and levitating it up into the rafters so that it rested at the intersection of two of the beams in the corner, away from any windows but easily within reach of a witch on a broom. Taking said object into her hand, she thought about how to best transfigure a double of herself and also about Kahvi's last question.

"I don't think I've ever seen them wear anything but," she finally admitted. "They wear dark robes and masks, and their Mark is usually pretty visible. But that's really about it - they come in all shapes and sizes, but I don't think any of them would take off their mask to try to blend in." That would make them just as conspicuous, she thought - everyone fleeing Azkaban knew who had been there, and who had put them there. She had never been sure whether the masks had been more to preserve anonymity or to instill fear, but she'd always thought it must be at least a little of both. She'd never seen a Death Eater remove one.

"I suppose you should just be on the lookout for anyone who either doesn't look like they've been through hell, or wearing a mask," she finally said a bit ruefully, thinking about how she'd prefer to have Kahvi not use her knives, if it was all the same. They sounded pretty dreadful, even if they would be a good advantage in a serious fight. "But don't go throwing knives unless you really have to - though I imagine that's what you were already thinking, hm?"

[OOC: Nope, Kavhi is definitely the more knowledgeable one here, so Alison's happy to listen to her. :D; She can recognize when someone is better than her at something! And yeah, it does make sense then that some of the Death Eaters have already tagged along with at least one group, so assuming that is quite fine with me~]

[firespice.livejournal.com]

"You've got to be joking. They actually always wear masks?" Kahvi was astounded--it had seemed too silly to be true, so she'd written that part of the story off as fiction or special occasions for frightening folk. "Huh, I really thought that was just rumor. I guess it's a good thing at least one of us has encountered these people before." At least she was reasonably sure she knew what the Dark Mark looked like; a skull with a snake in it, right?

"So... is it also true that they don't particularly distinguish between friend or foe? Have you ever seen one accidentally cast an Unforgiveable on one of their own?" Rational people were much easier to fight against, and Kahvi's specialization was offensive rather than defensive. If they really were berserkers, the fight would get ugly... and they might not be able to get people to medi-witches in time if the fight lasted too long. She shuddered, suddenly worried that Dementors might be able to tag along via portkey, too; fear was too powerful an enemy, and fighting the unknown was bad enough as it was.

Kahvi sat silent for a few moments after Alison's last question, unsure of what Alison's reservations were and unsure how to phrase the answer. "They... aren't lethal, unless you hit vital points on the body. The idea with pain knives is to cause pain, not to kill, and the wounds are really easy to heal once you pull the knife back out," she attempted to reassure Alison. "But my reasoning is that Death Eaters are used to having the upper hand, and not used to actually being hit with things that really hurt. A little pain should distract them enough for them to be captured." Hmn, had she erred in her assumptions? Would there be enough resources to capture the tag-along Death Eaters?

"The knife won't keep them from disapparating away, either, and the pain may convince them to do just that, which will buy us time..." Kahvi left the caboose of the statement out. It would buy them time if they didn't apparate back for reinforcements. "Or, um, did anyone in the Order mention putting any anti-apparition charms at the portkey points?" Kahvi tried to disguise the worry in her voice as simple anxiety over a dangerous situation, but had the sinking suspicion that Alison knew where that last thought had gone.

[OOC: She's knowledgeable in the ways of fighting, but Alison's the one that knows about the enemy--that's important, too! Also, very seriously hoping the Order had the foresight to put up anti-apparition charms, or the fight could get serious fast D:]

[beater-serpens.livejournal.com]

Alison shrugged halfheartedly. "They actually wear masks," she echoed, thinking about Kahvi's next question. "Well, I haven't ever seen any of them cast an Unforgivable on another, no. But... I guess it's more like, not all of them seem too terribly bright. I mean, not that I'm saying everyone in the Order is a seasoned spell-casting machine, but..." she paused, secretly glad that Fred and George - and their entire family, really - did seem to be rather proficient at spellcasting in sticky situations. "Well, they make mistakes. But they're not as disorganized as I'd wish, I suppose." They weren't all stupid, and much thought she hated to admit it, the people (and, ultimately, person) making the calls weren't stupid either.

"Well, with something like tonight, I guess the Order has the advantage," she said, trying to think it through logically. "They planned this - the Death Eaters are just reacting, and there's no guarantee that they had any sort of contingency plan in place in case anyone escaped from Azkaban." She smiled grimly. "Probably because only one person has ever done it. So hopefully they'll be disorganized and reacting... though I guess that could be bad, too." She thought about how disorganized fights went, and had to admit, they could get pretty ugly.

She hefted her broom on her shoulder and looked around for something decent to transfigure into her "other self" while she thought about what Kahvi had said about her throwing knives. Picking up a large, half-empty sack of what felt like concrete, she heaved it onto the armchair as neatly as she could. Finally, she said, "You're definitely right about the knives, though - I think there's no way they'll be expecting anything like that. It could buy us time, but be careful. I'm sure you know how much pain you can handle, but... " She grimaced. "The less you have to handle, the better, you know?" She knew that people could fight through pain, and was reasonably sure Kahvi had been trained to do that. But it was still pretty distracting, and she didn't want Kahvi to end up worse off for it.

"I don't know about anti-apparition charms... We're supposed to apparate back to the Burrow when we're through," she said, suddenly realizing why Kahvi had asked. "We could try to set up some sort of shield charm to make it harder for someone to locate this place, or apparate in..."


[OOC: I'm thinking they probably did put up some kind of protections, though if there is an anti-apparition charm, I don't know if they can work one way only? Like, you can apparate out, but not in? It doesn't seem to me that they work that way, but I could be wrong.]