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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Apr 17, 2010 16:54:32 GMT -5
Al ran his hands through his hair as he walked swiftly towards the Gargoyle that protected Kirkland's office. He was in such a hurry that after he threw out a sharp "Liquorice," he didn't notice that the Gargoyle hadn't moved.
He bounced off the stone and landed on his tailbone. "Ow." His face scrunched up and he stood. "Ugh, that was last year's, wasn't it?" His sighed heavily, working to remember what the new one was. "It's his family motto or something like that. Um. 'God and Law?' No, it wasn't that easy... in French? 'Mon dieu et...' What was the second part?" He groaned.
"Dieu et mon droit?" The gargoyle swung up. "Thanks."
When the stairs reached the door, he entered, looking around for the shorter head master. "Kirkland?"
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Apr 17, 2010 17:09:06 GMT -5
At the sound of the mildly boisterous tone ringing throughout the office, it was at that moment that a few books decided to clatter on the floor in utter surprise, wondering why they'd had to spread it's ink onto such a cold surface.
Arthur muttered as he gathered a robe up to pick up the books themselves, appearing out from somewhere behind the staircase leading up to his living quarters. He glanced up, blinked for a moment, before sighing at seeing who the figure was.
The books were gathered up, dropped onto a nearby circular stood and the male approached forwards towards the desk, robes billowing out behind him slightly. The barn owl sitting on the perch seemed to study the taller figure in the room for a moment, before deciding it wasn't worth the bother. Some of the Portraits blinked. Most of the other staff at least knocked, first.
"What is it, Jones?"
His arms folded and he stopped just short of his desk, not finding any real reason to sit down at the moment. Surely Alfred was just here to remark some useless, unncesscary problem or some such that he could have easily dealt with himself?
He was sure he'd done that at some point last year, at least.
"And knock, next time. You gave half the portraits a heart attack."
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Apr 17, 2010 17:20:51 GMT -5
Al gave a sheepish look to the portraits and mumbled an apology automatically as he sorted out what he wanted to say. He really just wanted to blurt out 'I think Mattie's cursed,' but something told him that doing it that way wouldn't get him what was needed.
"I have reason to suspect that Mattie was cursed." There, THAT was a bit more respectable, he should list the reasons too... "I know he was victim to an abusive relationship with another magic user, and he's closed himself off to just about everyone - that's just not like him - and he's been invisible more often the last few months than pretty much the entire time he was at school..." Al trailed off vaguely.
"I'm worried about him."
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Apr 17, 2010 17:47:40 GMT -5
The Brit blinked for a few moments as he listened to the American, before he sighed.
A chair was pulled back, the male was seated and he motioned the male before him to do exactly the same. A hand was motioned to the tea as it poured two cups out by itself, Arthur picking up one of them.
Well, this was interesting. Arthur himself didn't know too much about the 'curse' that Matthew was under, but he'd certainly thought that Alfred may have known. They were pretty damn close. He remembered them being close during his time as a student at this same school.
A sigh of relief somewhat emitted from Arthur, taking the time to place the cup gingerly back down. Emerald eyes blinked back up at Alfred.
".. And why exactly are you coming to me about this?"
It was sudden, he had to admit.
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Apr 17, 2010 18:02:41 GMT -5
Al sat, then hesitated at the question. Why had he gone to Arthur? Well, honesty was the best policy. "Not sure, exactly. It just doesn't sit right with me. I mean... I would have expected Mattie to tell me everything, considering his ex is dead and the curse should have worn off, but he hasn't. I had to figure out that he was cursed on my own." Al's brows furrowed together in confusion and hurt.
"He's my best friend, and he couldn't tell me anything. It's hurting him, and I think it might eventually interfere with his teaching. If he can't get close to anyone, then there's going to be students left needing a father figure where the head of house would normally be." Al sighed and pushed his glasses up to pinch the bridge of his nose.
"I'm his best friend, and I won't sit by and watch that curse ruin his chances of happiness. I suppose I want your help in studying it and finding a counter to it, if there is one." He let his hand fall from his face and opened his eyes, finally spotting the tea. Normally he wouldn't drink any, but seeing as it always calmed the Briton down, Al reached out to take the second cup and drank it carefully.
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Apr 17, 2010 18:34:24 GMT -5
Fingers splayed a little against his cheek as Arthur leant his jaw on it, eyes unblinking as he listened to the male. He paused slightly to take a sip of his tea, then nodded.
"... Well yes, Matthew is under a curse. What the curse is exactly, even I don't know."
Alright, so Arthur wasn't really sure if he should be discussing such thing with a member of staff. There were certain exceptions there, though Arthur did feel like he was breaching someone's privacy.
"It's in his official ministry records as a trained wizard, though. An emotions curse, shall we say." He murmered.
Most of the grasp of what he'd learnt, it was really quite depressing.
Because he could remember what the Canadian used to be like. He hadn't talked to him much since, but he did know him enough to know that sometimes things weren't really quite the same as that young boy he'd known...
Arthur sighed.
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Apr 17, 2010 18:48:35 GMT -5
Al gave him a flat look. "Abusive relationship. It's pretty commonsense that a wizard who tricks someone into that kind of thing would force their victim to avoid people they care about."
The American took another sip and scrunched up his nose, coffee was so much better, but the tea was relaxing him a bit. "I'm more worried about how powerful it is." He paused, then swallowed his hesitation. "It should have stopped when his ex died. It's still in affect, though; he'd've told me otherwise."
Okay, so he had to say something to convince Arthur to at least help with research, he could tell by the way the conversation was starting to almost not quite circle. "You're the Headmaster, Arthur. Isn't part of your job helping the innocents under you? The students and the teachers?"
He turned his blue eyes to Arthur's green ones with as much plaintive, begging, and humble force he could. "He needs help, you know it."
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Apr 17, 2010 19:05:05 GMT -5
Arthur rolled his eyes.
"Just because it looks like I don't do anything doesn't mean I simply have the time to jump up and pop over to the resticted section of the school's library -- and even then, I get a great suspicion that information might be attainable somewhere out of school, if at all."
Arthur had known about the curse, but he hadn't really been prepared to do anything about it. Not unless the point had popped up, and the chance had..
Eyes studied those flickering, blue own and Arthur had to look away before he felt his cheeks colour.
"... I suppose I can see what I can do, though. Just because he's one of my own staff."
He mumbled.
"Some curses have been known to continue on even after the caster's death - sometimes right until the victim's death. It's very, very rare but it can happen. It could be due to the fact that the thing 'binding' the curse and the soul together, so to say, wasn't the caster. Not much has been discovered on anything else."
He wasn't used to this.
The headmaster sighed.
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Apr 17, 2010 19:09:56 GMT -5
Al's face split into a brilliant grin. "Thanks Arthur. This means a lot." He stood, clearly from how thankfully and excited he was to know the Arthur was willing to help - and then reality hit him slightly.
"Uh... I hope this won't be cutting into your time too much? I wsn't really thinking when I came up. Kinda found out that Mattie's been half-starving himself because of that guy and... Kinda lost my head. Sorry."
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Apr 17, 2010 20:51:40 GMT -5
And that's when Arthur blinked.
Wait, what?
".... Hold on-- what?"
His tea cup was placed down.
... He'd been..?
".. W-Whatever the hell would he be doing that for?"
He couldn't have one of his staff like this! This was just...
Arthur sat there, slightly stumped and flustered.
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Apr 17, 2010 21:05:04 GMT -5
Al clamp an hand over his mouth. 'Oh shit! I shouldn't have said that!' He swallowed, then sat back down shakily, letting his hand drop.
"His ex called him 'fat'. I'm pretty sure it's a non-magical issue there. Abusive relationships are known to do that, make the victims dependent and obedient to the abuser even to starving themselves to please." Al grimaced in distaste throughout his explanation then slumped in the chair and rubbed his face. "Since I caught on to it I've been making sure he eats something at every meal."
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Apr 18, 2010 10:41:10 GMT -5
Arthur just blinked. Again.
He leant back in his chair and resorted to running a few fingers through the blonde head of hair atop of his head, his expression contorted into something that was a lot like confusion and mild horror.
"... And how long has this been going on for?"
This was...
Why couldn't Matthew see past anything like that anymore? The man was dead, Matthew was /fine/ - not too thin or normal (not that Arthur had really looked /too/ hard but he could just tell)
He supposed it was a good idea that Alfred had told him about this, actually.
There was a groan, and Arthur promptly facepalmed.
Well, this year was already calling to be much more 'interesting' than he'd gathered..
Ugh.
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Apr 18, 2010 12:56:17 GMT -5
Al closed his eyes and slumped further into the chair. "He was in the relationship," he spun that word with heavy sarcasm and disgust, "For a year and a half. I can't believe he managed to hide it that long; I mean, sure, I didn't get much of a chance to visit him because of teaching, but still, he hid it from me..."
The American swallowed thickly, trying not to show how much it hurt him that Mattie hadn't trusted him enough to bring it up. "The not-eating thing has to be fairly recent. He hasn't lost too much weight yet, but he's still thinner than I've ever seen him." He shrugged helplessly and stared up at the ceiling.
"Honestly, the curse is the least of his problems. The emotional scarring would be... so much worse."
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Apr 18, 2010 13:06:49 GMT -5
A moment later and Alfred would feel a tap against his jaw. Upon looking up, he'd see Arthur staring at him. Determination glazed at his eyes a little.
"... We'll fix him. We have to. I am not letting anybody under my care and enrollment have to live their life like that."
He did remember what Matthew used to be like. Really polite, really caring....
There was a sigh, and Arthur glanced to his window.
"... I'll try and talk to him sometime. For now, make sure he's okay. I suppose enrolling here was a huge distraction for him."
What else could they do, really?
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Apr 18, 2010 13:25:23 GMT -5
Al met Arthur's eyes again, his own diamond-hard determination shining back. "Thank you. It means a lot that you'll help." He glanced down at his watch. He debated going back to his studies or continuing talking to Arthur, then remembered something Arthur had said earlier. He pulled out a quill and a parchment with a list on it and scribbled 'Purely emotional' on it.
"You mentioned that it was and emotional curse. What do you know of it? Anything could help narrow down the possibilities."
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Apr 19, 2010 10:07:46 GMT -5
After a moment or two, Arthur had stood up. He was pacing a little now. Thinking, imagining... Well, it's not like he could just bound straight up to the Charms teacher and go "Hey, we need to rid you of this curse! Let's go!". God nows how that would go down. Even so, he bet Alfred might have tried that by now if it would have worked.
At the question itself, he blinked and let his gaze drift again. A second later and he strolled over towards his vast bookcase.
".. An emotional curse is something that attatches to the core emotion of a human being, obviously. Or a creature, I've never checked that point. But it affects it as in it'll change, damage or completely wipe away a certain emotion or many. For example. A curse can be made to attach to someone to prevent them from being happy. They're made in a similar way to memory charms, I suppose."
His fingers brushed over the spines of a few weathered books, and he paused. He stared down at one.
".. This is why the curse isn't simply 'broken' when the curses dies. It's attached to something so raw and bare and so.. so human that it takes more than just a counter curse and the death of the attacker to overcome it. Willpower."
He slid a book out of one of the shelves and tapped at it for a moment, before flicking through a few pages.
It was placed down on the desk.
".. That's the only thing I have vaguely resembling it, personally."
It was a book titled Curses that aren't always seen.
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Apr 19, 2010 10:41:06 GMT -5
Al gave a soft sound, then reached out to slide it closer. He started riffling through his pockets for fresh parchment. His robe crinkled and rustled from various notes he had taken to carrying on him, "Seriously? I've ran out of clean parchment?" He mumbled, then held a sheet up triumphantly. "Ah ha!"
He quickly went back to reading and taking short, nearly illegible notes on the clean sheet.
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Apr 19, 2010 13:14:45 GMT -5
Arthur was off again; he went as far as wandering over to the open window, smiling briefly as some sort of orb landed on his shoulder.
"... To be honest, I'm not sure that there has been too much research to put into it; committing an emotional curse in the first place is really quite unknown and effects on the caster himself aren't still really known, so you'd have to be really risky and have to be quite powerful, I'd imagine. It takes a lot of magic for it to be effective after the person's death."
He sighed. The owl sat somewhere beside him murmered and Arthur gave it and absent-minded stroke.
He needed to figure this out...
He turned around to face Alfred. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at how messy his parchments were.
".. Otherwise, if we want to sort this out, I think we're going to do this the old fashioned way: Keeping an eye on him."
He sighed.
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Post by Alfred F. Jones on Apr 19, 2010 13:31:48 GMT -5
Al tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I did try to visit him a few times each vacation if I could. If the curse was a gradual thing that reacted to even platonic love... Well, it would have been triggered a lot during..." He frowned, not liking the potential that he had harmed his friend even indirectly. "There's a chance the caster might have 'reset' it. The extra time recasting it could have strengthened the spell."
He slipped the papers away and straightened up. "Watching him will be the easier part."
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Post by Arthur Kirkland on Apr 19, 2010 13:56:50 GMT -5
Arthur nodded.
"... Make sure to report back to me if you discover anything. I'll keep an eye on him too."
Just in case.
God knows how this could affect anyone, after a point...
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