, the random and the purpose. [brice]

[avyx]

He should have known better. Rather, he had known better than to wander off from the group. As a group, few dared to initiate action with or upon the pureblood elitist. It was a protective zone of people who felt compelled to respond harshly upon indiscrimnate or what was deemed to them to be an inappropriate act towards any of them. Even so much as regarding one of them without the proper title was rebuttled with unkind words of belittlement from most every party. But alone... the stakes weren't nearly so high and yet his pride had always fought to tell him otherwise and convinced him more often than not that he could handle himself. In many cases he actually could and very well at that. However he was not always given the upper hand, particularly in cases where people would all but gang up on him. Whether they were marauder's fans, or vengeful, bitter blood traitors and mudbloods who quite clearly didn't know their place. Even the occasional pureblood with a personal vendetta had been known to fire off a hex or a round of insults - like a certain Potter boy. Whatever the case, the Black's and fellow elitists had countless enemies and they most often sought to move in groups, especially upon weekend visits to Hogsmeade.

Despite that, Regulus had gotten up from the safety of his chair at the Three Broomsticks, dismissing himself with little to no explanation. He had merely wished to take a walk in order to clear his head; mind having once more of recent, fallen prey to various unexplained and highly inappropriate thoughts - by his definition - regarding several other males in the vicinity. For the most part he was an passive party, typically quiet within the group and prone to being observational rather than conversational unless directly acknowledged so his wandering gazes had gone realtively unnoticed until he himself realized it. For that, his departure was an almost irrational one and, boy was he paying for it now. Never should he have been so fleetingly careless. All it took was for him to be standing just off the road into Hogsmeade; the long blades of dancing grass up to his knees and his thoughts focused on reorganization, taking corrective measures. And the next thing he knew, he was thrown back into the trunk of a massive tree, pain searing up through his back and against his skull by what appeared to be whiplash - given little to no time to respond before another spell was fired, resulting in the bark of the tree to fold in on him, wrapping over his arms and pinning him to it without so much as the freedom to access his wand.

The only fortune to be had from it, was the fact that they; a mousey looking elder male and two other sniggering friends had merely left him there rather than proceeding to making him feel entirely inadequate for being so utterly reckless. For what seemed like an hour (despite it only being several minutes) he struggled to get his arms free enough to dig the wand out of his pocket. But even a Black knew when it was futile and he gave up accordingly, with nothing left but to hope reluctantly (expecting to humour), that his group would spot him on their way back up to the castle, or better yet that the tree would somehow unwind itself from his flesh based form - the incompatibilities between the two carbon based organism, plaintive. It appeared however, that such would not be the case and that he would merely have to wait until someone found him - however long that would take. Part of him wanted to panic, but he knew better. The moment his name went unchecked on the list of students who'd returned from Hogsmeade, the school would send out a search party - which to him seemed far less humiliating than being found by his group or another student. So with that in mind, he merely opted to rest against the tree unable to do much else.

[BRICE PAUL BECKETT]

There was almost something strange about being back in Scotland again during the autumn time and yet not being there for school purposes. Honestly, it was not what he had planned on doing just a few months ago. Even though Scotland was a nice enough place even though it was a little cold, but his plans had been far different. Seemed a far better idea to have a nice flat in London somewhere, working for the Ministry as an auror. Yeah that was the basic idea. Hopes and dreams and all that jazz. But it was true enough that the best laid plans of mice and men did often go array, there was no denying that, and that was just the way it simply was. A person could plan all they wanted but once the dice of fate were cast there was no changing it, in fact all a person could really do is try to make the best of it and that was exactly what he was trying to do. Everything had changed for him so rapidly that it was enough to give a person whiplash, and without a doubt it had effected the wizard some. After all, no reaction at all would merely equal that the thoughts and feelings of what he was going through was nothing less then various repressed feelings that would sooner or later find the surface of his conscience and there indeed would be a reaction. All he would manage is to delay the pain. It would not change the fate that the cast had given him. There was no way to change the past, that was for sure.

Brice locked the door of his flat, and took the stairs down from his second story domicile. It wasn't what he was expecting but home was home and it wasn't all that bad. Hogsmeade wasn't a bad place to live and even though he spent more then a few of his evenings working on various broken things, it wasn't as bad as it could be. At the very least, there wasn't any sort of threat of muggles finding out anything. Not that there was anything wrong with muggles but it was sorta nice being in a place where he didn't have to fret over the use of magic in general. Though there were more then a few things he missed about living around muggles and other things that he found completely strange when living with wizarding folk. But he would get use to it, he always did. And it wasn't like the change of scenery meant no seeing muggles at all, Hogsmeade sure didn't have everything and thus a trip to Diagon Alley really would have to happen at some point or another. Provided he even had money to spend, though working at Dervish and Banges wasn't a bad gig. Paid well enough and that was just the way it was, nothing worth complaining over. For now it would do fine just as long as they didn't figure out or mind him clocking out early on the full moon. After all, it was just bad business when an employee managed to turn into a very aggressive creature and tried to kill their customers. The wizard smiled despite himself. Though he knew that would never be the case, made better sense for them to fire him long before then or fire him the moment that they found out. After all, there were very good reasons that muggles and wizarding folk alike feared werewolves. Even if the wolf in question tried to be careful and tried not to kill anyone the fact of the matter was that they were still very much so dangerous beasts and some did like to try to get themself in just the right area to do some damage to the non-infected.

But the wizard chose not to think about such things today. Even though there were times where he himself was rather cynical about the way that things were and the general sourness of the world, for now he chose to forget that and remained remotely cheerful instead. Plus it was just terribly hard for a person not to find a certain amount of joy when in Hogsmeade during the autumn time. There was just something about the idea of combination of the crispness of the air, the beauty of the foliage changing colour and the wonderful aroma of the local bakery that lingered through the air. That alone was enough to make a person's mouth nearly water, being combined with other things made it nearly pure bliss. And since it was his day off, there wasn't a chance in hell that he was going to waste such a day and a walk seemed like a pleasant enough bit of relaxation seeing that he had been spending most of his free time unpacking his things. Hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans, he took stock of the stillness around him as he went to this street and to that one, dodging more then a few witches and wizards on his way around. Though he had to admit some did seem to be giving him strange looks but that was just the way it was sometimes. He guessed the reason to be his choice of attire but it was not like he was the only one in muggle clothes. Perhaps it was just rarer in some places more then others.

Honestly things really were just great if one took out the werewolf card from his deck at the moment. Things were fine. Perfectly fine. At least until movement by a near by tree caught his eye. Was that boy trapped? Brice peered at the tree and the boy in question. Indeed, it did seem like the tree oddly had a hold of him. It was surely the work of a spell or something seeing as there was only one tree that actually did harm to people that he could think of off the top of his head and secondly, the bloke was not screaming so he was surely in no danger. The wizard stepped through the tall grass and nearer to the tree, looking at the situation. It was doubtful that anyone would actually want to be stuck by a tree so that question failed to find its way from the wizard's mouth instead he said: "Are you alright? Need help?" Yeah, they weren't the best of questions but there was always that slim chance that the boy didn't want helping. Maybe he was hoping to attract a female by looking helpless. As crazy as that did sound, there was a Hufflepuff a few years ahead of him that tried the helpless routine to get on the radar of a girl and it didn't end well to say the least. Though seeing as the odds really were against that being the case, the wizard began to think how he was going to help get this fellow out of his current bind.

Words;; 1,169
Outfit;; Click
Tagged;; Reggie. xD
Notes;; Poor Reggie
Lyric Credit;; Inside My Head. Digital Summer.

[avyx]

The Slytherin boy remained bound to the tree for what seemed to pass by well into an hour - left to the breeze and the shade of the branches overhead. It wasn't cold, per say, but he was growing less and less comfortable in his state. Following the throbbing that had been a result of being thrown back against the tree in the first place, the experience was just downright unpleasant. At the very least, he was alone - with the quiet sounds of nature chirping in his ear and the occasional bug crawling down his neck. He would have expected someone to have walked down by now, though he found himself dreading the notion every time he thought he heard voices. The heir of the Noble House of Black, jinxed and entangled to a tree; the concept was utterly humiliating on its own - and yes, he was quite capable of feeling that. Contrary to popular belief, Regulus was still very much human. He may be willingly to set aside everything else for the pride of his family name and uphold such a state in the face of adversity, but he still felt things internally. Though more often than not they were battled in frustration more than anything. Or just plain irritation.

Which, to be fair; he was already feeling - the guaranteed headache minding about along with the inability to move his body, much less his arms. Fate, for one reason or another had always had a bitter hand for him - though he would never admit to it. After all, he was the Black Heir and the position had all but tumbled into his grasp and very recently so, and he was oh so very proud to bear the weight of such a title. It was just... everything else. A 'bout of cynicism really, but considering his situation he wasn't feeling too hot right then and it was perfectly justified. Clenching his fingers; for all that that did, he set her head back gently against the bark of the tree, his eyes cast to the clouds looming in the heat of the sun. Things could have been much worse. Things much worse had happened before. And if it were not for his Pride alone that was preventing him from yelling out for help, it was just that. Plus the confidence that someone would find him before nightfall. Even if he was hungry and fighting the urge to piss himself; someone would still come looking for him - and he was far from being off the beaten path - something that was still viewable from where he was.

Casting a glance towards it at the thought, a figure emerged, as if by mere coincidence. And noticed him - thankfully without him having to call out. He didn't appear to be anyone he knew right off. Facial hair, taller than him and likely older by the looks of it. And he was wearing... muggle clothes. A scowl became imminent, albeit temporary as he muled over the fact that even he had been required to wear such queer attire when leaving the property of his own home. It made attending Hogwarts so much more tolerable for that fact alone. As to why this man was wearing it, he chose not to seek an answer for the betterment of his situation opting not to think about it. He was merely a stranger. And while Black's were entitled to regard them with skepticism and their usual disdainful mannerism, until it became apparent what they were; Regulus refrained from mis-labeling. It helped that he was currently a tad more lenient - what with being bound to a tree.

As he approached, Regulus' face fell cold, regarding the man carefully until he spoke. His lips thinned, unable to stop himself, "Does it look like I'm here out of sheer will?" He responded dryly to the strange man. Was his luck really that bad that an imbecile of all people had the pleasure of finding him? At the very least, he seemed willing to help, and frankly - being bound to a tree was not an experience he wanted to prolong. Giving a look a sigh of defeat he looked back towards the man, "... I would be most grateful if you could remove my person from this tree," He said, voice practicing nobility despite his predicament. "If you wish for something in return such as payment or otherwise I would see to it that you get it." He paused, then added, "..So long as I am removed in one piece, that is."

[BRICE PAUL BECKETT]

It wasn't every day that a person just happened to run into another that just happened to be trapped by a tree. And it was even more so unlikely that the person found would actually be trapped by the actual tree and not bound to it by a rope or something of similar nature. But then again, the area itself was not at all in a state that most of the population of Britain would consider normal. Most cities weren't home to all wizarding folk either. So maybe that in itself was the reason that the whole scene should not have all together seemed strange with the number of spells that were all too often cast this way and that without so much as a simple regard for the fact that they might not only hit the intended recipient but also someone of innocence. Though the odds were with the current case before him that this was without a doubt a spell that had hit the correct person. At least that was what he would have to guess seeing as (or at least he would hope) that someone would have let the poor bloke out of his rather embarrassing situation long before he himself had come upon the scene. Not that the whole thing was made any better. Honestly, the whole idea of pranking, cursing and hexing other people was so juvenile, really people just needed to grow up. The whole thing really did do more harm then anything else as the wizard saw it. Luckily he managed to avoid the whole thing as best as possible during his school years. Sure his friends joked from time to time but it was nothing harmful or whatever cursing someone so they were trapped by a tree was. Magic was something of a gift after all, and here such people were degrading it like it was just their right and that they could do anything they wanted with it. Perhaps he just had a different view of the whole thing being muggleborn. Regardless, the whole thing really was a complete and total mess.

Brice wasn't exactly surprised at the student's (unless he was a bad judge of age) remark. After all, it was more then slightly embarrassing being stuck by a tree and what the wizard had asked was a bit of a no brainer but still. He was told all those years ago that there was no such thing as a stupid question. Though there was more then a few questions that Brice could think of off the top of his head that were without a doubt considered stupid and that they should never be asked in the first place but maybe that was just his view on such things and not someone else's. "Well, you'd be surprised. In my third year there was this bloke who actually blew himself up like a hot air balloon in hopes of getting the attention of this girl he liked. What he didn't know is that she was sick that day and while waiting for her a big gust of wind hit him and sent him floating away over the Black Lake. He was gotten down before any harm was done but its safe to say, mate, its not worth it. Stick to something less dangerous. Like flowers. Can't go wrong with flowers." Not that every male operated that way but for some reason every time he saw someone in that sort of situation that was the first thing that came to mind. And the fact of flowers were the truth too. For some reason they were not just for muggles and it was hard for flowers to go wrong. Unless there happened to be something with flowers that could do wrong. Really he couldn't think of it off the top of his head but there surely had to be something.

"Guess we should see to getting you out of there." He pulled his wand from his jacket pocket looking over the situation. Now the question was which spell that he was going to use to get the trapped person out of the current mess they were in. There really were all sorts to chose from but the fact of the matter was that he did not want to risk hurting the fellow in the process. No, it wasn't about the reward or payment that had been offered (sure was a bonus though) really there was just something not good about causing him pain, or worse, causing him to bleed. After all, he wouldn't be very helpful to anyone if that scent came to him. There was just something about it that caused darker thoughts and unhelpful things. By far that was something he wanted to avoid. "Not to worry though, not to worry I'll get you out. Can't be too hard." Brice concentrated to the best of his ability, pointed the wand at the tree. "Finite." After all that was a good place to start spell wise, anyway.

Words;; 835
Outfit;; Click
Tagged;; Reggie. xD
Notes;; Poor Reggie
Lyric Credit;; Inside My Head. Digital Summer.

[avyx]

Regulus couldn't determine if luck was for or against him with the surfacing of the stranger. He appeared harmless, but left the Slytherin with an unsettling feeling. One he made no effort to question; merely noting that the man had the same oddly soft appeal that flickered a sense of familiarity. Like he'd seen something in him before but wasn't sure where. A brief image of the famed marauders stroked his thoughts but was effectively shoved off, part paranoid that they might appear at the mere thought of them. The last thing he needed was his brother and that conceited Potter of his to stumble upon his more unfortunate state and fling him with insults just to remind him how humiliating his situation was. It was a bitter thought and it left a bitter taste even if he'd managed to swipe them away. Swallowing what he could away, he regarded the bizarre man with more skepticism as he began babbling on about something Regulus felt to be entirely unrelated, despite what the other party seemed to think seemed to think.

"What a senseless fool." He had to scoff in response to the story he'd just had the reluctance to sit through, smug at the idea that someone would be so mentally delicate to have to resort to such... such nonsensicality. He could never imagine doing something like that for attention, much less for attention from someone who probably wouldn't derserve it in the first place. Even if he wasn't annoyed that he had to sit and listen to this obviously brain sensitive git babble on, he would still find the acts of foolhardy love to be highly shameful. "That he was a Hufflepuff does not surprise me in the least. But I feel inclined to ask where this has any relevancy to my situation. I may indeed be stuck as that stupid boy was, but I am not here as a result of my own intents. To assume there to be any relation apart from that, is insulting," He replied cold, but level so his frustration didn't actually reflect too harshly on his attitude. He honestly couldn't see how such a random story had any purpose in being told, at all. Much less why the man felt inclined to bring up flowers. He didn't find that particularly funny, taking it as something of a jab at the fact that he was trapped by their big, bulky older cousin. It was funny how cynicism seemed to play on the oddest relations. He fought back the need to snarl.

"Indeed," he stated with a sardonic note on his tongue, his patience obviously being tested as the man contemplated on how to go about removing him from the tree. He watched the man with something akin to skepticism, wondering if such a loose-marbled person was even capable of handling a wand without getting it stuck up his nostril. Tentatively reassured by his words he found himself holding his breath, the man casting the simplest spell in the book. He looked down at the tree that was wound about him. Finite. It was anyones first guess at ending spells but the spell that was cast had already been through its magical cycle. The tree was wound up in him in solid form - there was no magic in its existance there. Not once it had stopped moving at any rate. He drew a careful sigh, preventing the dramatic one that wanted to pass through his lips, "The magic is done and gone," He said, "You can't end a spell thats no longer in affect. Unfortunately, it would appear that this tree has been reformed to bind me while still in a natural state." If you had any practice in earth magic, you would know that. He bit back the words so as not to piss the man off and be left stranded, "You'll have to try reversing the spell." As for how to go about that without accidently blowing him to pieces - well, he hadn't quite figured that out yet. It hadn't helped any, that he hadn't heard which spell it was that was cast.

OOC: I'm pretty sure I'm bullshiting my way through this earth magic deal - seeing as there is little written on it but FUU. I like to think he's just being a smartass. Also, also this kinda got crappy in some places. Sorrryy <33 ilu!

[BRICE PAUL BECKETT]

For some reason it never dawned on Brice that the story that he was telling the trapped student had nothing to do with the lad's current situation. But it was safe to say that the whole thing never really came to mind and thus a puzzled expression formed on the wizard's features when the fellow retorted with what may or may not have been a insulting thing that came from the young man's mouth. Honestly there was a certain part of the wizard that was not all that surprised by the attitude of the one that was currently trapped by the tree and on the other hand he very much so was. While he had to agree it was one of those things that was very embarrassing considering he was not there at all by choice and whoever hit him with the spell, well they must have not liked him all that much, and at the rate he was going the wizard really could see why. He didn't really seem to be a very nice bloke. But even at that, maybe that wasn't enough to justify trapping someone with a tree, not that he was in any real danger but it still wasn't something that Brice found all that amusing but then again the wizard never did seem to find humour in a person using magic for such things. Perhaps it was just the way that he viewed things but without a doubt he felt that magic was a gift that should be wielded with respect and not used for such flippant things. But that was surely something that a person would blame on the fact that he was a muggleborn and thus viewed magic in such a manner. Odds were the person would also continue to say that he barely had the right to have that gift as it did seem that people that made such comments did have the odd idea that magic was only meant for those of pure lines, whatever the hell that meant. Seemed to him personally that most if not all of the pure bloods that liked to say such things were borderline inbred which really did explain a lot.

And that was slowly what he was beginning to think of the student that found himself stuck by a tree. Maybe even if it was not exactly right for a person to use magic the way that they had, every time the bloke opened his mouth, the act was being justified more and more. He was not a friendly sort that was for sure and his view on Hufflepuffs caused Brice's eyebrows to rise ever so slightly. The boy was surely narrowed minded or perhaps he was just frustrated with what had gone on, that was very much so possible but it was hard to believe at best. Odds were he was just that general sort that thought himself better then nine tenths of the bloody school, if not the world for that matter. And while he stood there trying to figure out a spell to free the bloke despite what he was beginning to feel towards him, the general idea of placing the boy began to take place. Considering he was a Hogwarts student, there were odds that he might have at least seen the student at some point. After all, he was very much so far from being a first year so there were pretty good odds that he was place-able, even though they did run in different circles. It didn't take knowing the fellow's name to understand that much. But even with that knowledge placing who the fellow was, was not something that he found himself able to do so instead he focused once again at the task at hand even though there seemed to be little point in helping such a git.

It was safe to say with the various theories that Brice was formulating in his head about the fellow as he set to work about freeing him, when what he considered to be the starting point spell did not work things went from bad to worse. No, he was not all that surprised that the spell failed but sometimes it was the simple spells that fixed things and yet so many were all to apt to dismiss them without giving them a shot. What made things worse was that the student had taken to insulting him now. Unintentionally or not it seemed close enough to an insult to the wizard's ears that he fixed the other with a warning look, perhaps even laced with ice. Here he was taking time out of his day, taking his free time, which was so little, to help what was nothing less then a miserable little prick. Yes, in that moment Brice had lowered himself to labeling something that vulgar. He did have better things to do then helping such a person, after all, and the added weight that he was a ticking time bomb was not helping to defuse the quick fueled anger that he wanted to unleash upon the helpless student. "Has it accrued to you that you really are in no position to be correcting me?" His words nearly came out icy to his own tongue and there was that part of himself that disliked his own tone and mannerism. But he did not correct himself and did not apologize. Honestly the bloke maybe did need to sit there for a while and reflect on his own behavior. Wasn't like he was in any danger and the fact of the matter was, he wasn't very nice.

He slipped his wand back into the pocket of his muggle jacket. "I don't have to put up with your snide remarks." Brice added and even though odds were that he was going to dislike himself in the morning for now, he started away from the trapped boy.

Words;; 985
Outfit;; Click
Tagged;; Reggie. xD
Notes;; Sorry this took so long. Love you. <3
Lyric Credit;; Inside My Head. Digital Summer.