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I'll Bust a Cabaret in Your A** Started by: Thomas_OMalley on Jul 16, '19 19:55

The noise was light at first... Almost peaceful. Inviting. Coaxing one back to the awoken world and out of dreams... Unfortunately for Isabeaux Duquette, she wasn't at home to hear it. It was her friend Betty that sneaked into the dark room and turned off the alarm. "Where is she?" Betty whispered softly to herself, worried for her friend. "She's never this late..."


 

Instead, Isabeaux awoke to the sounds of alarms, sirens, and pots clanging loudly together all at once in a startling, wake the dead kind of racket. She screeched and turned to look at Thomas who was still sound asleep. In absolute frustration she grabbed her pillow and went to swing it at his face just as he stretched and yawned... Open mouth, the pillow smashed into his face and as she pulled it away, he blinked at her in confusion.

"I'm awake!" he called out and the racket stopped immediately. The look on his face begged the question, -What was that for?-...

Thomas shook his head and rolled out of bed, "Good morning to you too, doll..." The look of exacerbated fright still plastered across her face mixed with the pale, ghostly color of her skin made him chuckle. "My apologies... I suppose I should have told Kovi to wake us softly... I didn't even think about someone else in the bed. It happens so very little."

Standing at the foot of the bed, Thomas wrapped a towel around himself and dropped his skivvies. "I'm gonna shower, then you can have at it. Kovi will have your clothes cleaned, pressed, and waiting before you're done."

As he walked away he gave her a flash of his bare ass, the towel falling to the ground once he was in the open bathroom. He started the water and the steam began to hide his view, just enough that it cast a perfect haze over his midsection as he turned to face her, winked, and shut the shower curtain.

Calling out over the running water, he added... "Kovi's in the kitchen, go ask him for breakfast, he will make anything you want! And don't forget! We'll go handle Vinnie today!"

She'd hear him humming as he began to wash himself clean from the day before... But in reality, he was plotting and planning in that beautifully wicked brain of his...

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Beau slid out of bed, keeping the flat sheet pressed tightly to her chest as she gingerly rummaged through the closet. Slipping a plain button down from one of the hangers, she shivered as the astoundingly smooth fabric glided over her shoulders. The shirt draped comfortably over her slight frame, just long enough to barely conceal her soft curves. 

Once she was acceptable covered, Beau tip-toed her way into the kitchen; her keen eyes sweeping over the every inch of the house as she went, as if bracing for an ambush around every corner. Creeping quietly into the kitchen, she was greeted with the large, glassy eyes of Kovi the house elf. "Good morning, Isabeaux Duquette. Kovi appologizes for startling Isabeaux with Master's alarms this morning. It was not Kovi's intentions. Master does not wake easily. Kovi must rouse master roughly. Kovi has noted that Isabeaux is a much lighter sleeper. Kovi will take this into consideration in the future," the small creature nodded as he prattled on, his dumbo-esque ears flopping loudly. "Special arrangements for Master's 'Special'," Kovi grinned at her in a uniquely pervy kind of way, which - coming from an elf - made Beau intensely uncomfortable for reasons she couldn't quite pinpoint, "Kovi will make special breakfast for Master's Special Isabeaux, yes?" 

Kovi's eyes blinked up at Beau with an uncomfortable kind of hyper-attentiveness that made her squirm in place. "Um, o...okay," Beau mumbled softly, "Can... can you... um... make me something non-muggle-y? Something fun." Beau nodded with an air of finality, but the tone of her voice pitched up in a telling kind of way that made it all to clear she had no idea what that might be. Kovi, on the other hand, cackled with glee as he set to work whipping together a culinary contraprion of epic magical proportions... dishes literally flying and spoons stirring of their own accord as ingredients marched themselves into bowls to the tune of Thomas humming away happily from the bath/bed room. 

Beau watched with equal parts awe and alarm, suddenly wondering what she'd gotten herself into even as she simultaneously made a mental note to GAWK a little less. She'd have to acclimate much faster than this if she was to fly under the magical radar. As Kovi worked his magic, she set about doing her best to be stoic and non-reactionary. Making a face that... she thought... looked like she saw such things every day. 

To her dismay, her expression was met with a billow of laughter that danced down the hallway as Thomas rounded the corner in a fresh bath towel; dark serpentine waves trickling water as he grinned goofily at her... and Kovi's slowly forming magnum opus.

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Thomas shook his head. "You didn't give him any direction, did you?" More laughter followed his question as he watched Kovi work. "Shower is all yours. I know I promised Kovi would have your clothes ready and dried before you were out, but I'm not certain breakfast will be ready before you're..." Thomas hushed as he heard a knock at the door. Grabbing Beau's arm, he stepped close and whispered, "Go... Get in the shower. I'll get rid of whoever it is..."

Thomas shooed her along as he hurried to the door in his towel. A second impatient knock resounded.

"Yes yes, I'm coming, I'm coming..." he prattled out.

The knocks came yet again as he swung the door open, "For fuck's sake I said I was coming! What?!"

"Mr. O'Malley. It seems the antique shop has resurfaced again," the voice from behind the door answered with a sardonic tone. "Perhaps if you take me this time we can actually acquire the items you've been asked to steal? I'd hate to see you fai~"

"Thanks," Thomas interrupted and slammed the door in the fellow wizard's face. Turning, he grumbled as he made his way back toward the bedroom to get dressed... "Who does he think he is, trying to push himself off on me, that fucking little twit..." He looked at Kovi as he walked, "He's proven useless on every mission he's ever been on, and yet still holds a third class seat in this organization... How, I'll never know. I swear the Ministry just needs a spineless..." He trailed off as he walked beyond the doorway into the bedroom and saw Isabeaux not in the shower yet.

"Well don't just sit there!" he laughed... "You're not going to just clean yourself! Well... Wait... I reckon you will, but, you get what I mean!"

"You're wasting water!" He laughed and stood her up, pushing her off toward the shower and shut the bathroom door. "Get yourself clean!"

Thomas took to getting dressed, but this time he put on the last suit he'd ever wear... Or so he told himself every time he put it on. It was a white, long sleeved button down with cufflinks, a black pair of slacks, black suspenders, black socks, a black vest, and a black, fitted, single breasted, two-button suit jacket. As he buttoned the top button, he turned and waited for Beau to exit the shower...

Soon as she would, he grinned and winked. "Do I look like I can afford a cabaret?"

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Beau's ears perked and her skin prickled as she listened closely to the muffled conversation going on in the main room. Her fingers, slowed by her concentration unbuttoned her borrowed shirt at a snails pace. And by the time Thomas made it back to the bedroom, she was just folding it neatly on the bed. 

He seemed to pay no mind to her bare chest as he shooed her toward the bathroom, the door closing sharply behind her. Beau blinked shyly at the slick tiled room, wondering what might jump out of where as she slipped into the running shower. The water was HOT on her delicate skin and she gave a sharp hiss as she frantically searched for the knob through the heavy fog that permeated the room. Much to her amazement, and glee, the water seemed to adjust itself without her help... cooling to the absolute perfect, relaxing warmth. And she moaned audibly as leaned her head back under the faucet. 

Beau scrubbed herself quickly, taking only a moment extra on her hair, before setting out to dry. Except... where... were the towels. Half afraid to touch anything at all, Beau stepped carefully out of the shower and began rummaging through the hamper to no avail. Drenched and shivering, she tip-toed to the small linen closet near the toilet, but could not for the life of her get it to open. Not only did the door appear stubbornly jammed, but when she pulled on it, the door pulled back. It was so shocking that, as she released the knob with a startled gasp, she sliped on the slick tile and busted her wet bum hard enough to make the bathroom door jostle. 

With a dejected 'hmph' Beau, called softly through the door, "Um... towel??" 

A soft 'pop' echoed off the tile beside her, where - to her shock and dismay - Kovi appeared with a fresh white towel. For a moment she was stunned, blinking up at the elf as if she could even be surprised by the strange goings on in this house anymore. Rolling his eyes at her befuddled expression, the elf tugged her roughly to her feet... with surprising strength and ease for one so small... and took it upon himself to quickly dry her off and wring her hair. Beau, utterlybaffled and somewhat horrified, remained frozen in shock. Wrapping the towel tightly around her, the elf disappeared with another small 'pop', leaving Beau to exit the bathroom alone... looking somewhat dazed and confused. Which, of course, Thomas seemed to find somewhat endearing. 

Blinking at his smooth attire, Beau couldn't help but grin coquettishly. "Why, Mr. O'malley, I think you could afford the whole damn block, if you wanted," Beau crooned... only half-playful. Her gaze devoured him as her teeth sank into her bottom lip. One hand tracing the top edge of her towel as she debated letting it drop to the floor. But a lound 'DING' from the kitchen distracted them both as the house filled with the warm smells of... well, Beau wasn't really sure WHAT is was... only that it made her mouth water. Licking her lips, her eyes darted between the hall and the tall glass of 'yes, please' in front of her. There was only time for one meal, she was sure. She'd have to pick carefully. And as more tantalizing scents snuck their way down the hall, she decided... just for today... that real food was probably the better idea. 

"You wouldn't happen to have something I could slip into for the moment, would you?" 

Beau batted her lashes at Thomas with an almost-expectant smile as she waited to see if he'd litreally pull something out of thin air... or just hand her back his shirt. Though... something about her expression begged to be impressed. "I'm afraid I certainly don't look like I could afford a Caberet. And I'm not sure if that helps or hinders your graft." It was a perfectly good reason... and total bullshit. But she was eager to learn how he operated, and how he'd respond. And the more she smelled the deliciousness resonating from the kitchen, the more she hoped he'd do it quickly. 

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Thomas smirked, her hungry eyes saying more than she probably intended them too... But at the same time, his growling stomach and her sniffling of the flavorful air said just as much. Breakfast, was served. Thomas turned to her and pulled his wand from behind his back, under the jacket, and paused for a moment as he though...

With just a few moments, and some hmm's, Thomas waved that magical little piece of wood around and then flicked his wrist... The towel twisted and grew around her, drying itself and her even more as it began to shift shape. It moved so swiftly that there wasn't a chance for him to even catch a glimpse of her in the buff... Even if she'd bared her chest to him already by incidental accident...

A dress began to form, and eventually she was surrounded in a silky, black, floor length gown with shoulder straps that spoke to her new position on his arm.

"There... That should do just about right. Perhaps a nice hat as well..." And with a flick of his wrist, a black, lace-y hat popped onto her head...

"And lastly..." Thomas reached for the closet and gripped at the air... A black fedora appeared in his hand as he began to raise it towards his head... The hat twirled in his fingertips and rested, slightly crooked to the side, atop his head. "That should do the trick, hey'a toots?" He winked and smirked.

"Anyway... Breakfast smells delicious, and Kovi is an amazing chef. We shouldn't keep him waiting. I'm sure he's bouncing up and down, ready to serve it."

Thomas led Beau into the dining area where a table had appeared set for a fancy dinner with candles and fine china arranged perfectly. With a chuckle he pulled out a chair. "For tha lady..." He allowed Beau to sit and pushed her up before taking a seat at the other side of the small table. The table that hadn't been there last night. There were two glasses in front of each of them; one with what looked like fresh squeezed orange juice and the other which appeared to be fresh milk.

"Kovi brings food now, yes?" Kovi called from the kitchen as he waddled toward them with multiple plated balanced on each arm and even one on his head. He made his way to the table and sat the plates of food in front of both of them. "Master's 'Special' asked for non-muggle food. So Kovi made her special food. Kovi has made Butter Beer Cup Cakes, fresh squeezed pumpkin juice, cold Dragon's milk, sugar quills, and a poached Gryphon's egg to share..."

"My my, Kovi... You have outdone yourself. Take the rest of the day to yourself. Go see your family. You deserve reward." Thomas smiled, and Kovi also smiled back. "Kovi thanks Master. Kovi will clean up after breakfast then go... Kovi will come back when you summon him, yes?"

"That is acceptable Kovi. Thank you."

The two nodded to each other before Thomas finally looked at Isabeaux. "Well, you asked for magical... Here you have it." He chuckled and took a sip from the Dragon's milk.

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Beau gasped and giggled as her towel turned dress. "I'm wearing a towel," she laughed softly... in awe and amused wonderment, "I'm wearing a towel to the biggest day of my life." Giggling, she shook her head as she twirled and admired the dress. But as Thomas continued her work, she stopped mid-spin to wrinkle her nose and shake her head. That hat was definitely not it. Laughing, he nodded and gave another flick of his wrist; the hat turning, instead, into a sassy fascinator... which, by the look they exchanged, they both found far more fetching. 

With a bashful, blushing nod, she allowed Thomas to lead her from the bedroom. After everything she'd seen this far, the table should have been the least of it. But it made her giggle with glee, nonetheless. She beamed at Thomas as he pulled out her chair... and Kovi, too, as he placed their plates with practiced balance and ease. 

She blinked, wide eyed and amazed at all the food; mumbling under her breath with astounded emphasis 'dragon's milk?'. 

Wiggling in her chair, she smiled at the little floppy-eared elf as he waddled back to the kitchen. "Thank you, Kovi. Truly." Still smiling from ear to ear, she turned her attention back toward the table. Carefully selecting a cupcake... surely those were safe enough, right? ... and squinting at the rest of the meal. "Okay, what exactly is a 'sugar quill," she asked Thomas softly, eyeing the LARGE egg in the center of the table. Her fork danced around it, as if she was not quite sure where or how to start. And after a short while, she simply laughed and motioned for Thomas to do the honors. 

Kovi quietly went about his business in the kitchen... dishes floating and washgin themselves as drawers opened to suck them up. In a jiffy the little bugger had everything spick and span, and disappeared from th e kitchen with a soft 'pop'. 

After eyeballing her cupcake for a long moment, Beau took the moment of privacy quietly whisper across the table, "So... do I... like... need to know anything about eating any of this? I'm not gonna turn purple or start sparkling or... like... lose the pitch of my voice for three days or anything, right?" She wrinkled her nose in acknowledgement of the absurdity and silliness of her questions. And yet, there was part of her that was enitrely  sure such things were possible. 

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Thomas snickered as he watched Beau react to the food layout. Her glee, and her wonder, and her confusion all in one, mixed with the absurdity of her questions, it all made him smile wide.

"Let's see. Yes Dragon's milk. Yes they're real. The sugar quills are just sugar and syrup cooked into the shape of a quill pen. Really a candy more than anything, but Kovi loves them... The cup cakes are delicious and none of this will mess with your body in a physical way... Though there's a chance that some of the food messes with you slightly since you aren't used to butter beer, dragon's milk, and gryphon's eggs."

He took a knife and cut into the egg, allowing the delicious looking, dark yellowy-orange yolk to seep down into the glass that held the egg in place. Taking her plate, Thomas cut some of the egg-white away and placed it, cracking some pepper over it and then tilting the glass to pour a little of the yolk.

"There you are!" he exclaimed happily as he sat the egg in front of her. "Soak the egg up with the muffins, love. I know you'll love the explosion of flavor. Or, drink the Dragon's milk with the muffins. Either is a good pair. Though I feel I should warn ya, the milk is not like from your cows. It's a bit spiced, almost like a morning spiced rum, but without the impairment." He smirked and then poured some of the egg and cut a piece off for himself.

"Ohhhh Kovi really went all out this morning." He lifted the pumpkin juice and took a swig before taking a bite of the egg... "Ohhhh that's good. That's really good." He eyed Beau waiting to see if she'd give it all a try. Certain she would, he wanted to see her reaction to the way things tasted.

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Beau dug into her egg with an audible moan. Truth be told, she was famished. Despite having spent plenty on lunch the day before, she'd gotten to eat terribly little of it after Thomas' revelation. Now, her stomach echoed like an empty, hollow pit. But, she was almost glad... because it meant all the more room for this mind... and taste-bud... blowing experience.

The egg was dense and far more creamy than expected. The milk, on the other hand wasn't, and it took Beau by surprise even despite Thomas' warning. It was sweet and spicy... almost like eggnog... but flowing and satisfying. Beau liked it far better than the pumpkin juice... to which she wrinkled her nose.

The cupcakes, of course, were amazing. And, having a famously notorious sweet tooth, Beau had several... each dusted with a few pieces of sugar quill. "These are my favourite... thing... ever," she piped between bites, washing it down with more milk. "The sweet with the rum-spice is AH-MAZING. Can I hire him to cater for me?" She chuckled softly, filling up far more quickly than she'd have liked.

She wanted to savour everything... just in case she woke up tomorrow and it was all a dream. But, soon enough, she was full to the brim. And cleared her throat softly, "That was wonderful. Positively wonderful, Thomas. Thank you." She smiled sweetly as she folded her napkin and laid it across the table, "I'm so happy to have had this opportunity with you. No matter how today goes."

Standing from the table, she smoothed her dress and, kissing his cheek softly, she offered him her hand. "Shall we, handsome?"

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Thomas chuckled as he finished and set his utensils down. Kovi reappeared with a simple *pop* noise and immediately began cleaning up. "I trust Master and his Special were pleased?"

Thomas nodded, and chuckled at Isabeaux's mouth having one more muffin stuffed in so she simply nodded as well.

"You've outdone yourself, Kovi. Thank you. When you're done here, go enjoy your day. You know I'll call if I need something. Otherwise, spend time with your family. I appreciate all you do for me." Thomas bowed his head, and Kovi practically beamed. "Master's praise is too kind, as is his treatment of Kovi. Kovi is glad to be of service to Master." The floppy eared creature bound off to the kitchen, plates and other dirty dishes floating behind him in a march like manner.

Turning his attention to Isabeaux, Thomas nodded. "We shall, and don't worry about today. I'll wipe his memory and Scat's and restart the conversation every time something doesn't go right. If I have to, anyway..." He chuckled and stuck his arm out, headed for the window where they'd come into the home just the night prior... Back to the dumpster door it was for the two of them.

 


 

The alley was bustling busy for the morning, and Thomas had pushed the dumpster's door open multiple times until he hopped out and waved Beau along to hurry and join him. Once out in the world, he kicked it shut and allowed it to swing open and reveal the garbage that was kept in it. Pointing with a smirk, he chuckled in happiness as yet -another- display of magic was right before Beau's eyes. As if he had to convince her any more of the validity of his claims to the arts.

Arm in arm, they strolled along with the crowds and back to Scat's hangout where Scat and the gang were already up and about, riled up. They could hear Scat yelling out to his boys as they neared...

"We ain't lettin' this sick son-a-bitch run these streets no more, boys! It's time we take it to Ole Vinnie tha Vulture an' teach 'em a lesson he ain't -EVER- gonna forget! Thomas an' that fine kitten will be here soo~" Scat was interrupted by a point from one of his players and spun. "Well I'll be a Cat's uncle! Speak of tha devil and he rounds tha corner! You clean up nice, O'Malley! Lookin' like a right proper cat now!" Scat laughed out loud and Thomas joined in the chorus...

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut it, Scat!" he laughed out. "I still remember where I came from. Unlike some-a-yous!" He pointed at a few of the guys who scratched their heads and shrugged. "Ain't our fault O'Malley, ya know we just can't recall where we been!"

"Oh yeah, I know, ya magically fuckin' forgot! Convenient!" He chuckled, but shot Beau a knowing wink. Because they -HAD- magically forgotten it... Some of their backgrounds weren't so pretty... Others? Needed to believe they hadn't done what they had. Sometimes forgetting was a beautiful solace and relief.

Everyone laughed again, but Thomas waved his hand. "Come on fellas... We're gonna let the kitten lead the way, and she's gonna go in and have a go with tha Vulture before we bother. Maybe she got them magic words that makes you fellas get dumb when people ask yas where you're from!"

Again with the laughter, but Thomas knew, and he knew Beau knew... Only problem was, he wasn't sure exactly how she felt about knowing what he'd done...

He looked her over for a bit, eyeing her face, until he smiled. "Lead on lovebird, lead on!"

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Beau caught his look. And it was clear that she knew, he knew that she knew. But she didn't seem to mind... or at least she didn't seem off put. Whatever he'd done, she was confident that he did it with good reason. The tenderness and trust in her eyes as was almost too much to bear as she nodded back... ever so nonchalantly... with a graceful, doe-like gentleness. 

She was keenly aware of the many eyes on her as the troupe made their way toward the cabaret. She was used to beign watched, of course, but this was different entirely. The air seemed to vibrate with an air of tense expectation... a voltaic stirring that made her skin crawl. Where usually people parted in awe, recognition, or admiration, today they scurried past and away in anxious trepidation. It was disconcerting... but also empowering in an indefinable way that made her feel no small amount of shame for how much she liked it. 

It gave her a sense of power and control that she hadn't felt... well, ever, really. For the first time she could remember, she actually felt in control of her life... and it was deliciously liberating. Clinging, white-knuckled, to that fleeting feeling, Beau waltzed into the cabaret and marched herself into Vinnie's office with all the authority and confidence her small stature could muster. Leaving Thomas and his posse in the lobby below to await her. 

 


 

The lobby was still and silent for a few long, agaonizing minutes. A stiffling tension laying over the whole of the building like a suffocating cloud. The weight of it made Thomas stir-crazy as he passed the red-carpeted floor. The pressure seemed to squeeze the air from the room... tighter and tighter with each passing minute like a reticent timebomb... until finally the heavy silence was punctuated with the sharp percussive clap of a hard-fisted blow. The telling sound of Beau toppling over her chair and into the adjacent wall echoed down the stairs, as the lobby exploded into a cacophony of murmurs and whispers. 

Thomas almost couldn't hear the pained and paniced yelp that followed as he bouned effortlessly up the stairs and through Vinnie's very-locked door. Vinnie was stunned, utterly confounded, as the door swung open without resistance. His split-seocnd pause gave Thomas just enough time to take in the breadth of the scene... his cat-like reflexes absorbing the weight of the situation all at once. A squat, hulking brute of a man stood above Beau, growling down upon her with the butt of his pistol raised to strike yet again. Beau, dress torn from her shoulder and shoved well above her knees, laid crumpled in a heap against the far wall; a tell-tale smear of crimson smudged across her lips and cheek. 

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"IMMOBULUS!" were the first words out of Thomas' mouth, shouting as he noticed the butt of the gun raised with his hand outstretched at the scene before him. The way his hair fell over his face, hiding his gaze from Vinnie, was noticeably unsettling for Vinnie... Or perhaps it was the fact that he couldn't even bring himself to stand and confront the man before him. For a few moments, everyone was frozen in place... Thomas, Isabeaux, and Vinnie, all locked in a three-way stalemate as everything processed through Thomas' head. It was the cat call from below that got his attention and broke the silence.

"O'Malley, what's the prowl, baby?" Scat called up the stairs...

Turning his back on the scene, his hand falling to his side, he moved to the door and yelled... "Get 'em out. ALL of 'em. Girls, customers... I don't give a fuck if you beat some of the clients if they give you shit. This is a takeover..."

"You okay up there cat?"

"Yeah... I got this. Vinnie's gonna pay... His skins gonna crawl right off his fuckin' bones." The air if seriousness and finality in Thomas' voice was, perhaps, more frightening to Isabeaux than to Vinnie who didn't understand that it was Thomas that had held him in place and not the man's own fear and confusion.

Turning back to the scene, he released the hold on Vinnie and the man stood...

"Who do you think you are, kid? Waltzin' in here while I'm handlin' business? Huh?" he turned the gun on Thomas.

"You just think you can bust in my door, startle me, and keep me out of my own place? HUH!? HUH!?"

Thomas took a step forward and Vinnie shook his gun at him.

"One more step and I'll shoo-"

Thomas twirled a finger as he whispered, eyes closed, in a language that Vinnie was uncommon with... "Reducto..." The gun flew from Vinnie's hand and Thomas took another step forward.

"Now wait a second, son..." Vinnie called out, holding his hands up like he was helpless... Thomas knew he wasn't, but he wasn't sure what Vinnie was hiding. All he knew was it wouldn't matter momentarily. Throwing his hand to the right, the door to the office slammed shut and Vinnie paused, looking between the door and Thomas. A slow twist of Thomas' hand and the trio heard the door's lock 'CLICK' into place.

Thomas rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, loosening his muscles. His jaw cracked... Fingers... His back... Finally he raised his head and his eyes looked like a cat's, like the eyes of a predator toying with it's prey before literally preparing to rip them to shreds...

"You have two options, Vincent." Thomas pulled his wand from the pant's loop where it hid along his back. "First option, is you sign everything over to your dear friend Isabeaux right this instant... Or seco-"

"NO!" Vinnie interjected and Thomas swiped his wand to the right, Vinnie's head twisting with it... A laceration across the man's face appearing.

"Think again before interrupting me. I deal in things your pathetic mind couldn't begin to understand, and never will because I won't let you. Fuck, you won't remember your God given name if I so -FUCKING- please. So..." Thomas walked closely and put the wand against Vinnie's throat and tapped it. "Don't interrupt."

Vinnie tried to talk, but nothing would come out, he gasped for air, hyperventilating and aspirating as he tried to say ANYTHING intelligible.

"Beau... you okay?"

Thomas called over his shoulder before looking back at her... "I think there were some things you wanted to speak with Vinnie about? He's ready to listen. I'm certain he won't try and inter~"

Vinnie launched himself at Thomas, attempting to catch him off guard but... Something about the grace of his moves would almost make Beaux believe that he was more feline in nature than he let in... Slipping JUST barely out of reach, Thomas side stepped Vinnie. He tried to yell as he planted himself face first into the door, rolling over and spitting blood, along with the tiniest tip of his tongue, out of his mouth.

"That's fuckin' it... I was gonna give you a ch-" He felt the lightest tug on his pant leg and paused, looking down to Beau...

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Beau had both arms wrapped so tightly around her chest that it looked like she was literally trying to hold herself together. And as her blue eyes peared up at Thomas, pleading and fearful, her whole being tremmored and shook in an unearthly way that made him think that just might be the case. Waves of palpable heat rolled off of her like an unnatural fever as she fought to keep her composure. Sweat dripped from her flushed face, matting her bright blonde curls to her face as her brow knitted with exertion. "We... have... to go," her voice shook with the weight of her effort and her terror, "Tom... we... have to go...NOW.

Beau gasped and tremored again, her whole body quivering with such force that it knocked her breath away. Fists balled to her sides, she doubled over, screaming in tangible anguish as another scorching wave slammed into the men. "Something's... wrong..." she gasped between pained breaths as the air around her crackled and poped, contorting like heat mirage on a hot deset road. 

 

Something was, indeed, very wrong... in a very 'Thomas' kind of way. And Thomas sensed it. Like an animal fleeing before a natural disaster, every nerve and instinct in his body was tense and screaming. It was an overwhelming but unnamable sense of impending doom that wracked his mind so thoroughly that he nearly forgot about the muted madman he'd made of little Vinnie. 

Vincent, despite being mute and bewildered, pressed his advantage. While Thomas was distracted, he lunged once more... but not at Thomas. That strategy had failed twice already. This time, he lunged straight for Beau... 

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The lunge from Vinnie was enough that it snapped that animalistic 'freeze' out of him. With a whip of his wand hand, Vinnie flew across the room like he'd been punched in the gut and slammed against the wall, blood starting to run from his gut as a second laceration appeared. Thomas, still angry but more worried about Beau, quickly yelled a few incantations strung together... "Colloshoo furnunculus incarcerous langlock!"

As Thomas turned back to Beau, Vinnie quickly found his shoes stuck to the floor, his body tied up, his tongue literally stuck to the roof of his mouth, and boils beginning to form over his body. He screamed as best he could in the dire situation, but he still couldn't make a sound with his mouth...

"Beau... Beau, listen to me. Everything is okay. You're just feeling a surge of energy. Have you ever felt this before? I've seen this once... A young wizard who didn't know they were magical... Much like you, but also much younger. It was just a surge. But I need you to breath, slowly... Inhale nice and deep... Can you do that for me?"

He worried, very much worried... He was sweating from the intense heat being generated by Isabeaux's body and the rapidly twisting vortex of energy within her... Crouching, he gripped his wand in his teeth and reached out with both hands, fingers outstretched. "Beau... I need you to breef deeph, an' trush me... Pleash?"

Sweat dripped from his brow and he shook his head, tugging his own shirt up to wipe away the salty menace to his eyes... The heat was enough of an issue for vision, the waves and steam literally radiating and swirling away from her.

"Breef deeph, an' t'ink calm t'oughts, aye?"

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Beau was no longer 'there'. Her usually blue eyes were a glassy black; glossed with fear and an unknowable history as she stared through him. The bright flush of her cheeks began to spread down her neck and arms as the air shifted and wavered around her. She wasn't speaking... barely breathing; a vacant expression and nothing more. But as Thomas reached out to her, everything changed. Beau recoiled as if she'd been struck, screaming and whimpering like a struck childl. "DON'T TOUCH ME," she screeched and wretched, backpedaling away from nothing in particular. The heatwaves dancing in the air around her reacted to her fear, contracting and concentrating like armour. 

She tried to breathe, but the air came in scorching and short. It felt like fire in her lungs... like molten lava coursing through her veigns, coalescing in her heart, searing and squeezing until there was no room for air. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think, she couldn't feel anything but fire and fear. Raw, primal, childlike fear that overrides everything else. 

Slowly, the carpet began to sizzle and blacken around her... a sickly chemical smoke beginning rise in long twisting tendrils. She couldn't breathe, but she could smell it. And the familiar scent sent her over the final precipice. Recoiling from the smoke as if it had bitten her, Beau began to shake her head furiously. Panic evident as she backed away from it... to no avail. You can't run from something that comes from you. 

Mummbling frantically, "It wasn't my fault. It wasn't. It wasn't my fault." The heat in the room increased with every utterance, coalescing around her like a physical force befor ereaching critical mass. For a split second, it seemed as if time stood still... as if the whole room froze. In that singular moment, Beau looked at Thomas and he was sure she really saw him. Through the pain and terror of whatever she was reliving, she met him there with an expression of alarm, dismay, and placid acceptance. Meeting his gaze, her eyes snapped down to pin-point pupils, the shrill panic in her voice disapppearing entirely as she stated dolefully, "RUN."

In a flash the heat that had gathered itself around her like a shield exploded in a blazing whirlwind of fire and flames, turning the entire office into a budding inferno. In a matter of minutes, the whole place would ignite. As it stood, Beau cowered - sobbing - in a cyclone of spontaneous combustion. 

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Barely any reaction time. Hardly a chance for ANYTHING... Including turning to run... Flames surrounded everything, permeated the building, and lashed out into the streets as Scat and the gang managed to exit with the last of clients and dancers. Turning back to stare the flames in the face, Scat yelled out...

"NOOOOOOOOO! O'MALLEY! BEAU GIRL! OHOOHOOO MAAAHAAALLLHEEEEYYY!!!!"

Scat crumpled to his knees and one of the girls rushed over to him. "O'Malley? Beau girl? Do... Do you mean Isabeaux?" Betty croaked out as tears began to swell in her eyes. Scat looked up and tears fell from his, nodding slowly. "Yeah... That sounds right. Isabeaux an' Alley Cat..." The two erupted into a chorus and sobbing and wailing, others looking on as the flames crept up the cabaret, higher and higher, as black smoke filled the air. The sirens could already be heard in the distance as onlookers gathered and gawked... Some of the males began to choke up as they heard it was their beloved Isabeaux, Duchess of Diamonds, who was left in the fire... Along with Vinnie, a beloved friend who brought their cabaret girls! And some riff rat street raff that MUST have been the reason for the fire in the first place...


 

The only thing Thomas could think to do was dive over to Vinnie and throw a small item on the ground. He huddled up with the man and watched as black fire exploded from the thing and surrounded them, effectively warding off the encroaching flames spewing from Isabeaux's body. Now with a moment to think, Thomas stared at Vinnie. "Ya know, I'm of half a mind to let you fucking burn you piece of shit. But, even though it's against the laws, I'm going to just... Let you suffer a bit then I'll kill you swiftly. Sound good? Yeah." He growled a bit and then pointed his wand at Vinnie the Vulture.

"Crucio..." Thomas' wand creaked and almost groaned as one of the unforgivable curses spilled from his mouth. The Ministry of Magic would certainly try and take his credentials and erase his mind for use of such barbaric and treasonable actions, but at the moment he lacked care. He would fight it and become a wanted criminal for all he cared.

Vinnie was released from his silence and cried out, screaming in agony, unable to make anything but shrieking noises and miserable wailing. It was so loud that even those outside could hear it as they pictured someone literally burning alive... Unlike the shock and pain of burning alive though, Vinnie wouldn't fall unconscious due to this pain... Magical in nature, it kept his body just on the edge like a beautifully crafted torture device. There was a reason it was one of three unforgivable curses...

Thomas stepped through the black flames as he incanted, a barrier swirling around him as a vortex began to suck the oxygen from the room and suffocate the fire's source. He slowly moved toward Beau until he was close enough to see her. She was cowering in a corner, mumbling and berating herself... "It's wasn't my fault..." she repeated over and over... Thomas sighed and closed his eyes, sorrow and understanding coming over him. He called out to her...

"It wasn't your fault... It's okay... You had no idea, and the only ones who could have helped you, failed you..." Thomas moved a step closer.

"I'll have to look and see which of your family shrouded your gifts, or even theirs... Because it's their fault. They shouldn't hide you away. Power without training results in outbursts like this..." He took another step...

"I need you to try and go somewhere calm in your mind. Find your happy place... Is it on the stage? Perhaps it was even breakfast this morning and the realization that magic, is in fact, real..." Another step forward, Vinnie's wailing and caterwauling spurring a smirk across his lips. That bastard was paying nicely for sending Isabeaux into a tizzy like this.

"Kitten... Beaux... We can make this never happen again... At least not without control. We'll have to train you, but you'll -have- to forgive yourself first, and understand that none of this is your fault. You harbor no guilt... Hell... I'm more guilty than you. I should have began training you instantly... Well, technically I should have reported you to the Ministry, but, there's no fun or honor in sending you to be studied and then locked away. It's fucking wrong. So... breath, think cool thoughts, maybe..." He closed in and flung his wand outward and spoke... "Aguamenti!"

Water shot forth from the tip of the wand and soaked Iabeaux... Hopefully that would cool her off...

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The scorching heat radiating from crumpled blonde cooled almost immediately... but that didn't help the flames that already engulfed the rest of the building. The place was literally burning down around them, and yet none of them were harmed. Well... except for Vinnie, who continued to screech and howl like a dying animal. 

Beau blinked calmly, almost vacantly up at Thomas; her expression hollow and uncomprehending. Some part of her was present with him... but it seemed more animal than 'kitten' as she squinted toward the torturous noise erupting from the flickering shroud across the room. Tilting her head to one side in a distinctly avian manner, Beau blinked blanky at the black bubble before giving a soft and silent flick of her wrist. 

Silence fell over the office like a suffocating cloud... thicker than the smoke enveloped the room, blanketing the ceiling and blackening the windows. A sickening thud echoed through the office, leaving no doubt about what had occurred, as Vinnie's body collapsed to the floor. 

THAT... definitely was her fault. But it was the least of their worries right at this moment. 

"I like him better when he's quiet," she whispered with a cyincal empty ring. "Seen and not heard. Well... not seen either, I guess," she tilted her head back to Thomas... her gaze still glasslike and eerily sinister, "We should let him burn. It'll destroy the evidence." 

Breathing heavily... and choking slightly on the groeing smoke... Beau righted herself with some effort. Pressing her eyes tightly closed, she stepped foreward, wrapping her thin arms around Thomas' waist as she pressed her face into his chest... like a small child, begging to be hugged. Safe inside his bubble... in more ways than one... her chest heaved and shook as she sighed; silent for what seemed like an eternity. 

After a brief, agonizing moment, she spoke again... her voice nearly returning to normal as she gazed up at him with tearful, crystal blue eyes, "Breakfast was wonderful." Her voice shook as she tried not to look at the surrounding emergent situation, "You need to go. ... You have to go." 

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He saw her mannerisms before he heard the thud... The deafening silence that followed... The uncharacteristically cruel whispers that reverberated in his head as she spoke... Then he felt her arms around him, felt her chest pressed against him. Looking down at the almost child-like woman whom he'd dare say was at -least- interesting enough to think about giving love a chance, he cracked a smile.

Silence overtook them in the safety of his charm, no overbearing heat, no flames licking their clothing... NOTHING reached to them but the two together. Until she finally looked up and spoke.

-Have to go?- he questioned in thought. His head, this time, the one cocking sideways in a mimicking avian manner before laughing...

"I have to go? My dear Beau, I think you misunderstand... I'm going... Nowhere..." He cackled, his eyes flooded with a wickedness she'd not seen from him before today. He was still drunk with the overcome anger, and he'd not leave until he smelled the burning flesh of wickedness, to smell the flesh as it crawled off of Vinnie's bones, exactly as he'd promised. Well, perhaps not -EXACTLY- as he'd promised, but that was negotiable.

"When this is finished, -WE- can go." He turned them so her back was to Vinnie and he could watch as the flames crawled toward the corpse... He could fix the man. Bringing back the dead? It wasn't -unfathomable-... Even if it was unethical. What did THAT matter though? He was certain that the charms and alarms were blaring in the Ministry for his use of Crucio... If it hadn't gone unnoticed due to his constant cloaking and stealthiness from his animalistic nature. Wizarding camouflage at it's best. There was a reason he had been one of the best Aurors the Ministry had ever seen up until his disappearance. But, that was a story for another time...

The flames crawled quickly to Vinnie's body, and Thomas watched happily. "Let me know though... If you're ready, I will walk you out and then come back to make sure this is finished properly and no one is led to you, or me. I'll even erase the traces of magic left behind."

He pulled back from Beau and grinned at her, wickedly...

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Beau winced as he smiled, hiding her face in his shirt as she shied away. Something in the way she shrank and burried her face again told him she'd seen real wickedness before. And she couldn't bear to acknowledge it in her savior... at lease not now. He soft cheek pressed against him through the thin fabrick of his dress shirt as she nuzzled her way beneath his suit jacket. She was safe, she told herself. In this little bubble, she was safe. Even if he was a slightly psychotic lunatic, he wasn't cruel... at least not to her. And he would keep her safe. And... honestly... was she any better? Afterall... with what she was... and what she'd done... didn't she kind of deserve a little psycho? Really, in some sick twisted way they were kind of perfect for eachother. Together the were like 'fuckmaste'... the fucked up in me recognizes the fucked up in you. 

With a heavy sigh, she breathed him in... trying desperately to block out the hauntingly familiar scent of burning flesh... looping her fingers into his belt as he gazed over her shoulder. If he wanted to stay and watch the light show... she didn't really care. She was too tired and hollow and numb to care. So instead, she just clinged to him... like a life raft in a raging sea. How insane... that he shoudl be her sanity and saving grace. 

"I'm so sorry," she whispered into his chest. "You shoulda just left me on the street. Then I never woulda got you into this whole mess," she rubbed her cheek against him tenderly, refusing to look up as he watched the fires burn. Squeezing herself tightly against him, she mumbled into his shirt, "I swear, I'll do whatever you need to fix this." Finally looking up, she met his darkened gaze with wide, sad eyes, "Even if it means I forget you." 

She held his gaze for a long moment, her pealy teeth... even more shockingly white against the backdrop of thick smoke that filled the room... sank into her soft lips as she thought. Her pale blue eyes, normal size now that she'd calmed (some) went wide as she was struck by a horrigying thought, "Are you gonna be in trouble?" His expression spoke volumes as he smirekd and shrugged it off. He could try to deny it all he wanted, but she knew.  "They won't hurt you, will they," she asked with guileless care and concern. Such a silly thing, it seemed... for her to be worried about him at a time like this.  "Say it was... all me," she implore him with guilt-stricken panic, "I'm a dangerous oddity. You tried to intervene, but it was too late. It wasn't your fault. I was out of control. There was nothing you could do. Give me up. I don't care. Just please tell me they won't hurt you. I couldn't stand it. I'd die if they did anything to you." 

The smell of Vinnie-barbeque had all but faded... replaced with the toxic, gaseous odour of insulation and melting drapery as the floor boards beneath then began to creak and warp. The ceiling moaned and shrieked as molten sap began to seep and drip from the crossbeams... wallpaper scroching and peeling away as flames peeked through the office walls. Still, she clung to him... an accepting martyr, a tragic embodiment of desperate faith. It was almost sad... no, it was sad, really. As it stood, she was entirely out of options. He was it... all there was. A single shining beacon of inconceivable promise in an otherwise destitute dystopia... her Obi-wan, her only hope. 

But even in that bleak and dismal knowledge, she found solace in the fact that it was him. Even if  he was her last and only option... she was still oddly glad that it was him. Enough to break her melancholy, pleading silence with the faintest glimmer of a hopelessly devoted smile that plated at the very corners of her mouth as she stared ardently up at him through the smoke and the flicker shadows. 

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Thomas stared quietly as she went on abut blaming her and saying everything was her fault...

-No

About how she'd done it and was dangerous, how he'd tried to intervene and stop, but it was too late...

-No-

Give me up...

"No!" he finally spoke out, almost commanding her to stop rambling and worrying all at once. He smiled down at her, his gaze softening, relaxing... It was his true smile, then one that said -Don't worry, Kitten, I got this...- without even speaking...

"Honestly, it wouldn't matter... If I turned you in, they'd still do an inspection on my wand... One spell, and they would see I cast an unforgivable curse on our friend. They would see it came from my wand. So even if I wanted to blame you, which I don't... And wouldn't... It wouldn't matter."

He laughed a bit cynically, then paused as he felt the boards give way slightly...

"Ooookay, we need to leave here. Hang on tightly."

He looked around, hugging her tight, and then took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

"Breath deep, and HOLD IT!"

As he felt Beau take a deep breath of the last bit of -clean- air in the room before he released the charm and smoke shrouded them, Thomas closed his eyes...


"And exhale..." he coughed out as he released Beau from his grasp.

The busy noise from the street, the semi-fresh city air mixed with the taste and smell of smoke, the smell of burning wiring, the sirens from the fire trucks, the cries from people? These were all the sounds and scents that flooded Thomas, and he was certain Beau as well as he slowly opened his eyes and looked down at the beautiful mess before him...

"Here Kitten, lemme fix that..." he gestured at her dress and waved his hand, giving it a -slightly worn and burned, but not ripped and revealing- kind of look.

"Listen. Don't worry about me, and don't you -EVA- go thinkin' you can forget J. Thomas O'Malley, baby... You're stuck wit' me."

He chuckled, but knew he'd be suspect... It was only a matter of time before the Ministry knew he'd returned. They'd hunt him for sure... However, that was neither here, nor now. "Ready for a show?" He scooped Beau from her feet and began coughing and stumbling toward the street, carrying her across his arms.

"Help!" he cried out and coughed as they rounded the corner... "She needs help!" He looked into the group and spotted Scat who perked up hearing the voice...

"O'Malley?" Scat whispered softly as he turned, then yelled... "O'MALLEY!" The taller, younger male jetted through the crowd of people and skidded, falling to the ground beside Thomas and Beau...

"Thomas, you okay? Beau girl? Wha-? What happened in there?! I thought you two were..."

Thomas chuckled and shook his head. "No, we need to get Beau some help... She's cut up and she needs to rest... It'll take a little more than a small fire to kill this old Alley Cat..."

Thomas snickered, then coughed... Not a fake one though... It was real, and he spat up blood. "Oh, that's not okay..." He looked at Beau and Scat. "Vinnie put his mitts on Beau. He's dead." ihe coughed again and spat more... "He ain't ever touched me, but... But somethin' ain't right. I need... I need to..."

Thomas fell hard and planted his face square on the ground as he heard Beau and Scat's voices fading into obscurity. Who knew where or when he'd wake up... But it was probably a giveaway that Scat and Beau would make something happen...

Or Kovi... Kovi was always watching like a good little servant.

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The world was suddnely an onslaught of sound and sensation as the two appeared, suddenly and without warning, amidst the chaos raging outside. Beau wretched and whimpered, very nearly losing herself again she squeezed Thomas tighter. It was almost too much. Even the sound of him calling out to Scat grated against her tenderized senses... the scent of his silken dress-shirt the only thing that anchored her in the midst of this squall. But all at once, even that dissolved into the turmoil around them. 

Beau toppled to the pavement as Thomas collapsed with her still in his arms... a bright rash of scraped skin raking across her chin as the pavement rose up to meet her fall. Any other time, the impact would have been jarring... but she was already mid-recvoery, even as her teeth clacked together from the jolt. Shoving herself away from the sidewalk, she shot Scat a ghostly-pale look of terror and worry as she scurried - hands and knees - back toward Thomas. 

He was out cold. And she was beginning to sweat. The crowd that pressed in around them faded into a pinprick of bustling, suffocating faces as her vision tunneled down to near nothing... her pupils so small that even the scorching glare of the fire seemed dim in the mid-day sun. "Not good," she mumbled to no one in particular. And indeed, this was very 'not good'. Squinching her eyes closed, she tried to drown out the cacophony as the air around her bristled with heat haze. At least she could blame it on the fire, she snerked to herself cynically. 

"We need air," she said... softly first, just to Scat. But the man was too flustered, and far too concerned with his friend to heed her hushed petition. The vice-like, clenching pressure that gripped her ribcage tightened and squeezed. No one was listening. Everyone was mulling and rubber-necking in a mixture of morbid fascination and shocked concern. "We need AIR," she insisted again, her voice only slightly louder than before. Still, no one listened. 

The air around her shivered with the combined heat of her fire and fury. Squinghing her eyes tightly closed she fought desperately to remeber the scent of butter beer cupcakes and sugar quills. No change. More heat. The taste of dragon's milk... the air stilled for a moment, but as people pressed in around them, she was jarred by a man stumbling over her folded ankles. It was gone. And she was even more furious han before; a pulse of crushing heat litreally nudgin people back as they shifted away from what they thought was the fire's intensity. "Fuuuuck... fuuuuck... fuck!" Beau cursed beneath her breath. She had to control this. 

As the slowly-closing tunnel of her remaining vision swept across the quickly-devolving scene, her gaze landed on Thomas' peaceful face... a trickle of crimson barely visible at the corner of his mouth... and she whimpered softly. She couldn't lost him. The tremor of fear and remorse and longing that washed through her was enough to nearly wrench the breath from her lungs. And as it shivered down her spine like the cold, steely sensation of being watched, she felt the tension in her melt ever SO slightly. With a gasp of epiphany and shock and sheer recognition, she leaned forward to caress his face tenderly. The sound of popping streetlights and crunching glass echoed in her ears as their empassioned entrance into the Bon Marched played in her head like a tiny dancing ballerina in a child's jewelry box. Tears slipped down her cheeks as the sweltering heat wave began to dissipate into the warm summer breeze. "I'll keep you safe," she whispered softly, biting her lip as the memory of his kiss stilled her fear and fury, "It'll be okay. I'll keep you safe." 

Almost like the flip of a switch, her devotion to him spurred her to action... calm, collected, assertive action. Grabbing Scat by the lapels, she pulled him close to her face and shook him menacingly for emphasis, "Listen. To me. Now." Her voice was calm but deathly serious and commanding, "We have to get him out of here. He can't go to a hospital. We can't let him be taken to a hospital. You know the buzzers will be waiting to hang this on someone, and Tommy's head is just the pin they'll be looking for." 

Scat stammered, his gaze flickering helpless between the two as if arguing with himself. Beau, holding him fast by his collar continued, "I have connections. Hell, I have dirst on half the doctors this side of the bay. I can bring in help... leverage it is I have to...but we have to get him out of here." With her assurance, Scat finally nodded. But the dumbfounded look on his face told her he would be little help. Sighing softly, she released him. For all the help Scat wanted to be, she'd have to sort out the plan on her own. Pausing for the briefest of moments, she took in the scene... fire billowing out of the cabaret windows, crowds rushing about to put them out, help the girls... or just to gawk... pressing in on her like children at a zoo. And, indeed, she felt she belonged in a zoo just now... or worse. But... if Thomas was right... and who was she to deny it now, maybe that could be to her benefit. 

Kissing Scat's head, she met his gaze. "I need you trust me. Follow my lead, and let me work." Scat was hesitant for a brief moment, but a shuttering, choking gasp from Thomas solidified his dedication in an instant. With a nod from him, Beau stood... best stage-face on... and rounded on the crowd that had gathered around them. "We need air," she commanded with a feigned, begging tone, waving her hands frantically at the crowd. "Please! we need ai..." a flick of her finger amidst the thatrical flouncing, and one of the windows across the building exploded outward... spewing flames and raining glass and debris on to the fearful onlookers below. 

Concentrating all the presence she could muster, Beau gasped as a hail of splinters littered the street, accompanied by a riot of startled screams. No one was hurt... too badly. But it was enough to serve her purpose. "Oh my god. Somebody help them," she cried in near histrionic fashion... pushing ever so slighly as she did. "We've got this guy. Help my girls!"  And, as if on cue, the whole of the crowed turned and scurried toward the orchestra of chaos she'd just created. If he wasn't... well, somewhat dying... Thomas would've been impressed. She thought. 

"Okay. .....okay.... okay...." she mumbled softly, her gaze frantically searching their surroundings. Now that the suffocating crowd had dispersed she had room to think. Room, but no time. To her relief, amidst the pandemonium, several good samaritans had stopped mid-commute to assist the scene. One such sap, it just so happened, had stopped so abruptly he'd left the engine running. And as the pitchy exhaust caught Beau's eye from across the terrace, she whispered a silent prayer to whatever magic-god might be listening. "Come on," Beau hissed to Scat, grabbing Thomas feet. "Help me." 

Awkwardly, and with no small amount of effort, they toted his dead weight to the car and  - rather unceremoniusly - Scat shoved him flat into the backseat as Beau slid behind the wheel. 

"HEY! THAT'S MY CAR!" A man called across the green, running to catch up before she took off. Beau, in prime fashion, batted her butterfly-blue eyes at him and stated in the most convincing tone she could muster, "I know, mister. But my friend's hurt real bad." Again, she batted her lashes as she pushed her energy toward him, "You're doing so much help here, I don't want to pull you away. I'm sure you don't mind if I use it... just for now. It might save his life. And I'll have it valeted at Bon Marche by tomorrow evening. You have my word. I swear it." 

Like a love-struck puppy the man smiled and nodded, backing away, "Yeah. Yeah, sure thing. I'll pick it up tomorrow. No problem." Scat, bewildered, shook his head as he moved to climb in beside her, "Some men are so stupidly gullible."  Beau, holding the passenger door closed, shook her head. She didn't try to push Scat. She knew she didn't have to... and it wouldn't work anyway. "I need you here," she pleaded with an air of finality. "You and your boys are my eyes and ears right now. Get a head count. Get the girls somewhere safe. Spin as many different stories about what happened in there as you can. Witness statements, the whole nine. And keep 'em off our trail. I'll send word... and a location if it's safe... as soon as he's stable." She didn't ask if he understood. She didn't have to. She simply nodded into the rearview mirror as she sped away. 

One arm over the backseat, she held Thomas' hand as she drove. She didn't have any contacts... not that she could call in with out a roof and room. She could get a hotel, but explaining the situation would prove difficult. Too many red flags. She probably couldn't get into Thomas' place even if she tried... and even if she could, was it the best place to go, considering what'd he'd told her? She had nowhere to go, no idea how to help, and no one else in his world to call. He was the only thing like her that she knew, except for Kovi. And he was just a.......... 

But was he? 

Would that work? COULD that work?? 

Dear GOD she hoped so. At least there would be SOMEONE who knew their way around this crazy world. 

Squeezing Thomas' hand tightly, she called out as forcefully as she could... reaching with all her emotion for the tiny creature. "Kovi?" her own voice echoed in her mind emptily, and she squeezed a little tighter. "Kovi, it's Beau. Thomas is in trouble. He's hurt bad. .... I don't know if this is how this works, but if you can...." 

The windows in the car shook with a loud *pop* as the tiny creature materialized in the reareview mirror, causing Beau to shriek and swerve. Kovi, undisturbed by her startle, gave Thomas a quick once-over... cheweing his lip as his large ears flopped against his shaking head. "Let go," he barked at Beau with more force and command than she'd ever expected from the demure elf. For a moment she was confused, but with a flick and twirl of his long fingers, the steering wheel wrneched itself from her hands and began to move of its own accord. "Kovi will help master on the way. Car will take us to safe house. Special should ACT like she's driving." 

Blinking into the mirror, Beau did her best... poorly... to act as normal as possible as the car conducted itself through a twisting maze of turns and double-backs before stopping infront of a dilapidated warehouse on the Waterfront. Without so much as a glance away from his work, Kovi flicked his willowy fingers again, and the car disolved around her, gibine way to a small, warmly lit loft that she assumed was inside the warhouse... or a crate in the warehouse.... she wasn't sure. At this point, nothing was true and everything made sense. 

Moving Thomas to the bed with an amazing amount of strength and grace for such a small thing, Kovie hissed at Beau. "Special should sit," he insisted, materializing a chair for her, "Sit. Be quite. Pray if you do. AND WATCH." It was an odd thing, beign bossed about by such an... odd thing, but Beau silently and gratefully did as she was told. From where she was sitting, it would be no small miracle if Thomas pulled through. And she would spend every moment by his side until then. Perhaps, she would even learn something. Kovi nodded as Beau took her chair, "Good. Thank you." It was almost added as an afterthought. "Kovi will see to Master. Then Kovi and Special will talk," he shot her an almost parental kind of look before returning his focus wholely to the task at hand. 

He was diligent. Beau was silent and observant. Neither spoke, nor barely dared to breathed for what felt like hours as Kovi went about mumbling and wabing his hands... casting spells, she assumed... and summoning various items, herbs, and stranger things from the small kitchen. Beau clung to Thomas' hand all the while, her eyes growing dark and heavy with worry and exhaustion. More than once her chin dipped to her chest as the day's events overtook her, but always she returned with devotion and zeal to her long and silent vigil. Until finally, as the sun begain to peek through the thinning, burlap curtains, Kovi sighed and stepped away. 

"Kovi has done all there is to do. Master must finish the journey on his own, now," for a brief moment the house elf glared at Beau like a chastizing parent. But the expression faded and melted into beleaguered fatigue. "Isabeaux should rest with Master. Kovi will wake Isabeaux if there is any change." Flicking his wrist, the chair diappeared, and Beau gasped, bracing for a fall. But, to her amazement and slight confusion, she was lifted effortlessly onto the bed, and tucked in carefully next to her sleeping... whatever he was. "Body heat will keep Master warm.  And contact will help Master's body heal faster," Kovi insisted as he patted the blankets down around Beau's form. With a heavy sigh, he patted her head, "Sleep for you both." 

Beau tried to resist and argue, but as Kovi pet her head again - with a nearly inadubile whisper this time - the world around her faded into an undeniable swirling haze that coaxed her into an uncombatible sleep of the deepest kind. The loft melted away, her worry and strife disolcing with it until all that remained was the slow and steady, calming rhythm of Thomas' breathing as his chest rose and fell in perfect comforting time beneath her head. Whenever she would start in the night, that rhythm was there... assuring her everything was still marginally alright... still stable, still hopeful. Followed shortly by another pat from Kovi that sent her deeper still into her shared recovery. 

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