Siobhan's Q & A Session (Sept 10)

[Snick]

"Alright, we're gonna get things started now, so y'all listen up," Anna had waited as long as she was going to wait for everyone to arrive. It looked like most of them were there to her. Tardy students would be cleaning the risers with Q-Tips after the meeting. She didn't mess around with impolite and inconsiderate people, and there wasn't much that was more inconsiderate and impolite than showing up late for no good reason. Meeting and appointment times were scheduled because people had other things to do. Especially considering the importance of this particular meeting. Students that didn't show would get a knot jerked in their tails, figuratively speaking. Though she wasn't above corporal punishment, and she did give the occasional whipping, she preferred to be more creative with her punishments.



She rapped her pencil against the desk to be sure all were paying attention. "As you should all know by now, there was an incident at the dance," Anna started. "Siobhan, here, was taken by an unknown person. This meetin' is for gettin' the story out before rumors and assumptions spread. As we have not yet elected this year's student and legacy councils, we've chosen y'all at random to serve as temporary reps. Your task is to get the truth out to the rest of the students and to pass on what we share with you, as far as protectin' themselves and takin' precautions.



"First, we'll do the question 'n' answer session. Each student may ask me, Mr. Castilla, Siobhan, or Phrixos one question," Anna took a sip of her water and cleared her throat. "Siobhan has the right to decline givin' an answer, and Mr. Castilla, Lorccan, and Phrixos also have the right to suggest that she doesn't answer a question. Don't ask about anything other than the abduction. So, don't ask where she got her shoes or if she's free on Friday night."



She looked sternly to a few of the students in turn. Those that were known for taking serious matters much too lightly. "After that, we'll discuss what measures are bein' taken and will be taken to prevent this happenin' in the future. Y'all will have a chance to make suggestions, too. Any questions? And, no, it doesn't count as your one question as long as the question is about the meetin' and not about the abduction."





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Siobhan looked from her place between Mr. Castilla and Pratt. She glanced at Lorccan who was just to the other side of Mr. Castilla. Anna Bell sat to the other side of Pratt. She hoped it didn't get too personal. This was a little frightening. She wished she could hold Pratt's hand, but that would be too obvious. She let the side of her foot touch his ever so slightly for a second instead.



She looked out at the group. Her friends were there. There was Esther. She gave her a timid smile. There was Pratt's brother. She nodded at him. There were a couple of the new kids. Cam, who hated her. Zot, she waggled her fingers at him in a tiny wave. Walker, who got another half smile from his friend Soybean.



She was glad all the veritaserum was well out of her system.



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Lorccan kept glancing over at Siobhan, knowing she was nervous about this whole thing. He was also rather annoyed Mr. Castilla insisted on sitting beside her, like he was any comfort to her. But what could Lorccan do? Knock the teacher out of his chair and take it for himself? He gave Siobhan an encouraging smile whenever she glanced his way.



He didn't like Professor Anna Bell at all and was glad he didn't have to take History this year. In fact this is likely the only time he would be stuck in a room with her. Fortunately he could totally ignore her and just focus on making sure nobody upset Siobhan. If they did and the staff wasn't quick enough to put them in their place, Lorccan intended to throw something at the offender. He didn't really think anybody would.





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Elizabeta listened to Mrs. Bell as she started the meeting. She was quite eager to hear what information the staff had figured out since the kidnapping, but more importantly she wondered if any came to the conclusion she did herself. As for questions regarding the meeting she didn't have any.



She did have a question which she intended to ask once they moved from questions regarding the meeting to questions about the abduction itself. Till that time she decided to keep silent and observed the faculty and students included in this meeting. Did any look worried or guilty or simply fit to rush forth to protect Siobhan from future harm. The last thought came to mind as Elizabeta looked at Lorccan, sitting on the edge of his seat, one hand in his pocket like he intended to whip out his wand the instant he sensed danger.



Why Pratt was sitting up there next to Siobhan, Elizabeta wasn't quite sure about. He had been dancing with Siobhan when she was grabbed, perhaps that was why. Or maybe its more for moral support or as a representative of the new Lighthouse Keepers perhaps. Her eyes looked upon Mr. Castilla a moment, adviser to the Lighthouse Keeper and maybe one who knew the most about the sentient building. Yet a part of her felt Walker was a better source at this point. She could always talk with the older wizard at some later date.



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Christopher had made it to the choir room before the meeting and set towards the back. He really had not understood why they had picked him randomly serve as temporary reps. Having been here for over a week, he thought they could have notice that he was not one that would do well in the council so would have skipped over his name. He listens though to everything and thought about if he could have come up with a question to ask them about the abduction.



He turned looking at everyone there and remembered most of them from the dance but not talking to anyone to get to know them. He only really known one of the students here and it had been Lex. That was because they been in all their classes together and first year. Then he known a little more about Lorccan from the day after the kidnapping happen and they met outside of the lighthouse.



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Once it seemed nobody had questions about the meeting itself, Elizabeta raised her hand so she could ask the one question she was able to ask. She highly doubted Siobhan or Pratt would know the answer so she looked at the faculty present.



"The one question I have is if any of you have figured out how this kidnapper learned who the new Lighthouse Keepers were?" Elizabeta scanned the faces of Castilla, Cook, Bell and even glanced at the gathered students while she waited for her answer.



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Castilla acknowledged the girl's question, although it was less about the actual kidnapping and more about speculation--solving it was for the faculty and the authorities to do.



"Any of the students or faculty could have written home in the last week, Miss. And many have. The list of who the new keepers are each year even goes out in the parent newsletter, as will the new legacy members next month. A shame to waste your only question on something so obvious," he added drolly.



"Next question?" he asked, looking out at the group.





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He sat next to Revan, wondering why he kept getting picked for this kind of thing. He had left the dance after a few songs, having grown too nervous and embarrassed by his attire after long. It was after he had left that he found out Siobhan had been taken. She seemed like a nice enough girl, and had talked to him in the library, though it was, in Zot's mind, just to see if he was ready to come back and join the group at the last meeting.



Thinking about that, Zot twitched somewhat hard. That had been a bad day. Well, a bad morning as the afternoon ended up becoming awesome. He had earned himself a friend in Revan and had gotten to spend some time in the water. He shot a shy smile at his friend beside him before looking back up at those assembled where the risers were. He noticed Siobhan seemed to be waving toward him. The tips of his ears turned a bit pink before he considered that maybe she had been looking at Revan or someone behind him. Of course she wouldn't be waving at him, he was just Zot.



When Bell stood and began addressing them, Zot sat up a little straighter. She was the faculty advisor for his brother's legacy, and hopefully his someday soon. He tried to keep himself from twitching at all, which made him twitch a little more. When she opened the floor up to questions, he began to stand, wanting to be the first...only to be beaten out by Elizabeta. He listened to her question and waited until Mr. Castilla, who was one of his favorite teachers, answered it before fully standing again. He waited until he was given the nod before voicing his question.



"Obviously someone unauthorized was able to get onto our grounds and then leave with one of the students," he began with a slightly cracking voice, nervousness clear in his tone. "What precautions is the school taking, in the interests of our safety, how can we help and how will that impact our daily lives here? I guess what I mean is, will there be more security measures? Limiting trips to Wright Towne? Earlier curfews? Stuff like that..." His voice trailed off as he began to fidget, which only served to enhance his twitch as he stood there, on the stop.



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Cam was slumped in her chair, arms crossed over her chest and hair almost black from her displeasure at being chosen for something so ridiculous. She had no plans on helping anyone, nor talking about something that happened at a dance she hadn't attended. So that nosy, needlessly jealous little shit Siobhan had gotten herself kidnapped. Who cares? Maybe it was karma for forcing her to go to the nurses office.



Her foot fidgeted as she waited until they could all be dismissed. She was over this school and had some books to get back to. After all, a magical school wouldn't keep a girl without magic. It would be pointless.



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Lex felt completely out of place at the meeting. It made a lot more sense that she had been chosen randomly because no one in their right mind would ever choose her to be a representative. She was half surprised that they hadn't simply picked someone else when they saw her name due to her past issues. She would be lying if she said she wasn't glad to be there, though. Now she held power over the other students. People would be asking her questions and she would be one of the few to have the answers.



Lex tried to pay attention to what was being said but was distracted by the twitching boy near her. She had never met anyone with tourette's and kept staring at him every time he ticked. She wasn't trying to be rude but Lex was not aware of the fact that what she was doing could be construed as such. She looked on more with curiosity than with annoyance. Two questions had already been asked and Lex waited for the answer to the twitchy boy's question before she tried to say anything herself.



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"Yes, Zot," she answered a little flatly, thinking she just told them that after the questions, they would talk about the precautions and added security measures planned and even take suggestions from the students. Had he not been listening? She smiled a little sadly at him. A shame he wasn't more like his big brother.



"We will be discussing what extra security measures the entire school is going to take," her voice was crisper, clearer, as she forced the southern accent into hiding, as if her drawl and clipped -ing's made her harder to understand. "As soon as everyone has asked a question, if they have one. And we will even take suggestions from you, the students."



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He saw the disappointment in the teacher's face and the sadness of her smile. Zot completely deflated as he sat back down. He had missed that comment she had made before opening up for questions. Sometimes his attention span played tricks on him and he thought he had everything well understood. It was just another one of those times. It's a shame it had to happen in front of Bell.



With a sigh he bowed his head, feeling the frustration well up within him. His tics picked up a bit of speed and he closed his eyes. No, he would fight against it this time. Zot refused to let this damn disorder get the best of him, yet AGAIN. He tried focusing on the feeling of air filling his lungs and emptying them, but it wasn't entirely working.



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Walker raised his hand amidst the throng, and when called upon, rose. "Are you alright, Siobhan? Is there anything you need from any of us? I, uh... That was two questions, sorry." He said, only mildly apologetic. He guessed they wouldn't have her out here if something truly vile and violent had happened to her, but that didn't mean that she was automatically fine. Besides, Walker wanted to hear the answer to those questions from her, and not from the faculty. He trusted her to be honest with him, but since the teachers here had to deal with liability issues and all that, he didn't know how far they could be trusted to not cover up or obfuscate the truth.



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Siobhan felt relief at Walker's question. He was a lot older than she was, but he was still a friend. "Thank you, Walker. Yeah, I'm okay. I wasn't hurt physically. It's only been a couple days, so I think some of the things that make me a little jittery will get better with time, but I like keeping one or more of my fellow fireflies nearby."



Should she tell them all that the dark freaked her out? Not with Cam there glaring at her. She would probably use it against her. She tried to help the girl and made an enemy. She'd probably use Peruvian darkness powder around her just to spite her if she knew how much the dark terrified her. She could tell Walker privately.



"If my friends will just be a little extra patient with me, that's all I need."



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"I will always be there for you Siobhan." Lorccan leaned forward in his seat so he could look at Siobhan around the bulk of Mr. Castilla. 'You need company for anything Shi, you know you can count on me."



He worried about his sister, he could see she was still very freaked about this whole kidnapping thing and he doubted Pratt or any of the other lighthouse keepers new or old could give her comfort like he could. He knew what would make her feel safe.

[Snick]

Pratt didn't like being made to sit up in front of everyone, but he endured for Siobhan's sake. When her foot tapped his he smiled slyly and cast a sidelong glance her way. Mrs. Bell gave the itinerary for the meeting and, in turn, gave Pratt an opportunity to give a couple of gentle pats to Siobhan's knee and smile reassuringly to her. When the first question came from Elizabeta, he expected something better. Something actually pertaining to the kidnapping, perhaps. This meeting wasn't about finding out who was behind things. It was about what actually happened, separating truth from rumor.

"This meeting is such a waste of time," he muttered after Zot went next. Where were the questions about the kidnapping? Why weren't they asking Siobhan anything? Were they afraid of asking? All the administration had told the students thus far was that Siobhan had been taken from the dance and returned soon after, unharmed. They should be asking if the culprit or culprits had been identified, how she got back, what the abductor had done to her and why... things like that, in his opinion. Picking students' names out of a hat was the worst idea, ever. Granted, that wasn't exactly what they did, but it was the same basic principle. Before having the names drawn, they should have removed those of lackluster students.

They had to be fair, he figured. But how was it fair to Siobhan to have such a motley crew of misfits and mentally challenged people act as buffers against vicious rumors? Shouldn't they have just chosen the smartest, most influential, popular, well-spoken, and trusted students to tell everyone? In the very least, they could have chosen compassionate students, he thought, eyeing Elizabeta and Cam.


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Liliana ducked into the room considerably late, looking high strung, severely upset, and oddly guilty all at once. Ignoring the glare and taut jaw of Anna Bell, she scuttled over to Victor Castilla and whispered in his ear. As she murmured to the Keepers' advisor, her eyes shifted to Phrixos Pratt. If one were to look at her, they would see that the hand she held up to shield her lip movements from the students was a deep red.

"Sorry for my tardiness, everyone," she said, addressing the entire room. "Please, continue."

She took a seat on the other side of Lorccan O'Brien, smelling of urinal cakes, wet fur, and blood and bouncing one of her legs nervously.

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So far the meeting had been totally boring. The last three questions had been completely worthless, according to Lex. The first question had been so easily answered and then the older boy's question could have been asked by him after the meeting. Why would he even bother taking up his one question with something like that? Lex wondered. Lex wanted to know more about the actual kidnapping and what had happened. Siobhan was fine now, clearly. She hadn't been murdered or hurt badly enough that she couldn't be here. Perhaps people were too concerned about offending her or upsetting her, but not Lex. As far as Lex was concerned, if she was able to sit here in front of them than she was fine.

After Walker asked his question Lex figured she would go next. She briefly looked around at the others to see if anyone was about to jump up before she stood up herself. "Were there other kidnappers there or just that guy that came in for the dance? Like, was it just some lunatic acting alone?" Lex sat back down once she was done, folding her arms again. Had there been multiple people involved it would make it something totally different than just one crazy guy who maybe saw Siobhan walking around outside of school. If it was just someone after Siobhan than maybe they weren't all in danger. Lex hoped that more people would ask questions about the actual kidnapping after hers.

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Siobhan winced at the memory. ''Yes, he wasn't acting alone. There was a lady there, with the fat guy. She helped him force me to drink the serum when the threats about my brother wouldn't make me talk. I got the feeling there were more. I was hooded the whole time. But someone had been in that other room cutting off some poor Muggle's ear . . ." she shuddered and bit her lip. "I'm sorry," she whispered, remembering a faint scream from a distant room that had been suddenly stopped, funny how it came back to her now when it had barely registered then. The lady seemed too lazy to be the one who mutilated and likely killed the Muggle. She looked at her hands, remember the feeling of blood and flesh and cartilage and feeling slightly nauseated. No, there were more than the two of them. "Then the lighthouse saved me," she finished, her voice soft.

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Lorccan look over at Principal Cook and noticed her hand was all red, like it was dipped in blood. She also stank...smelling like those pucks one puts in urinals. When she sat down next to him he wrinkled his nose.

"What happened to you?" He asked, looking at her. "Smells like you've been wresting with a wet dog...and lost.." His eyes look at her hand a moment but he looked away when he heard the uneasiness in Siobhan's voice as she started answering Lex's question.

He stood up and walked over behind his sister and put his hand on her shoulder. "It's alright sis, not your fault what those sick bastards did. They'll get what they deserve soon."

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Patrick raised his hand. "Nothing personal, Siobhan, but you aren't rich, your family isn't powerful, and you aren't old magical blood, or a pawn in some big magical conspiracy . . . you're just Siobhan O'Brien, a nice. bright witch that everybody likes . . . I mean, if I was some big, ugly kidnapper, I'd go after one of us Pratts or Esther there, or one of the Geminis . . . or any number of richer or older blooded or more powerful families. Was there anything in their questions or in the way they acted that indicated why they went after Siobhan?" Here he looked at Principal Cook, noticing her multicolored hands, her disheveled appearance, her flustered blinking, and inadvertently, asked his question of her.

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"Mind your own business, Mr. O'Brien," she said softly, refusing to look at Lorccan. Then Patrick posed a question to her that probably would have been better posed to Siobhan. Turning her pensive and shifty eyes to him, she answered hesitantly, hemming and hawing with surprise and confusion. "They, um... They wanted information about the lighthouse. Uh. Information only the lighthouse keepers and advisor would have access to. This year's keepers, specifically. Information they were, um, sworn not to share."

Cook was obviously frazzled, which was a rare sight indeed. Very seldom did anything have such an effect on the very together, calm and collected principal. That she didn't even realize, until Lorccan pointed it out, that she was very stinky and disheveled was a major sign that something, somewhere was very, very bad. Excusing herself to the back of the room, Liliana waved her wand over herself with a trembling blue and green hand to tidy up her clothes and extinguish the urine and dead animal odors. Once she was at least presentable and lacking in a scent, she went back to her seat. She was still, however, very clearly on-edge. Anna Bell once again looked annoyed at the interruption, but tried to keep things moving right along by asking if there were any more questions.

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When Principal Cook entered the meeting late and in such a disheveled state, Elizabeta followed her with her eyes. She noted the blood stained hand, a potent odor which reached her nose not long after she walked past, and the general air of being quite shaken up. What happened?

She listened as Principal Cook gave her rather nervous sounding answer to Patrick then watched as she cleaned herself up afterwards. Something was definitely up, unless Principal Cook had very odd pass times on an early Sunday afternoon. She studied the woman, suddenly far more interested in what happened to her than learning more details about Siobhan's attack. Afterall Elizabeta had already figured out what the kidnappers most likely wanted so having it confirmed didn't really make the situation any more interesting to her. Why Cook was looking like she had to deal with something that left her hands blood stained... Elizabeta was very tempted to slip out of the meeting and seeing just where the principal had come from.

"What do you think happened to her?" Elizabeta whispered to Walker. She had sat beside him when she entered the meeting and noticed him also included.

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Pratt glowered at his brother and muttered unkind things under his breath. How dare he assume she had nothing of any value to anyone! Fame and fortune weren't everything. Neither were influence or old blood.

"I wish it had been one of us," he muttered loudly. "Jackass."

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Revan saw the look on Zot's face when the teacher scolded him. Honestly, what did she want from them? Obviously the girl was okay, since she was sitting right there in front of them. At least they knew what the kidnappers wanted. The way things had been described, it was hard to tell what was safe to ask and what was not. The important thing now was for them to secure the grounds, using all their resources.

Honestly, Revan was shocked they had had her here. Not exactly something she would normally get involved with. And seeing the many questions getting shot down, it seemed almost dangerous to ask anything else - at least, as far as she could tell.

"It's okay." She whispered to Zot. "Honestly, I do not know why we are all focusing on her. The important part is protecting all of us." She rolled her eyes. "I understand it was scary but there are more important things at hand."

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Though he hadn't fully managed to get his tic under control, Zot couldn't help but open his eyes and look at Revan. It was nice of her to try and calm him down. It worked in a way. He offered her a shaky smile and nodded.

"I'm glad Siobhan's ok," he whispered back. "But...if they got on the grounds once, what's to stop it from happening again?"

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Magryta, as the eldest member of BTP, had heard about the kidnapping. However, by the time it had occurred, she had already left the dance and was a bit busy with a certain young man. Thus, she had not gotten many of the details as to exactly what happened. Granted, stories were circulating but that was the reason they were here - to get the truth.

At Pratt's question as to why this girl would be taken over one of those of the more important family's, Magryta silently agreed. She did not know the O'Brien family, they were not among the annals of the more likely kidnapping candidates.

Listening to all the questions, it was obvious that most questions that could be asked were already expressed. However, they needed to get down to the truth, something that was awkward getting around to. Finally, Magryta rose to her feet to be recognized. "I understand that we are only supposed to ask one question.

"However, some of us are unaware of the situation, as it was. All I know is this girl was taken from the dance and I can tell you there there are at least ten different stories going through these halls about how it was done, why it was done, and what it meant.

"If this is a meeting to get all our ducks in a row, would it be out of the question for Miss O'Brien to relay what happened in as much detail as she can remember? If we are here to deal with the issue, then I believe that we should at least have the facts.

"Not what they asked about," Magryta stated, assuring Mr. Castilla that she was not snooping for secrets, "But what she remembers from the second she landed as to smells, sounds, the tones of the people talking, what happened when she returned to the lighthouse, etc. You have stated we will not be involved in finding or capturing but that does not mean that they apparated onto grounds and then portkeyed out. Maybe she will remember something important and if we hear another student mentioning a similar feature in their 'version' of what they think happened, it can be correlated and checked as a possible witness later."

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Walker glanced at Elizabeta stoically, and shook his head. "Smells like she was down in the school's septic system... And fell in?" He then turned his eyes to the principal and frowned a little. "She's acting weird. Looks guilty." He commented almost casually, even though those bits of information did nothing to clarify what exactly the woman had been up to. "Maybe she found a dead body down there or something. Dead clown body."

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"If that was the case, I doubt we can ask her what happened." Elizabeta paused in her whispering as the elder Gimini rose to speak her mind. In a way she agreed. The way this meeting was setup wasn't all that great. Why should they pepper Siobhan with questions when she could just give a summary of what happened. Even then, who cares about the rumor mill? It will generate all kinds of version regardless of what the truth is anyway.

But she found she was more interested now in Principal Cook's accident than Siobhan. Elizabeta knew she wouldn't be expected to solve the mystery and what information she found on her own, didn't amount to much. As for increasing defenses in the school, well making sure unexpected guests can't just pop in and pop out with portkeys without some sort of alarm sounding was one way. Students can travel in pairs or packs but fat lot of good that'll do if they toss more Darkness Powder to confuse the crowd.

"This whole thing is just putting more pressure on Siobhan..." Elizabeta confided to Walker. "The Principal or Mr. Castilla should just an official statement to the school in the Auditorium about what happened and any new security measures that will be implemented."

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"No way!" Lorccan protested. "No way am I am going to have my sister have to relay everything that happened to her in great detail again. It was hard enough for her to just answer Lex's question."

"My sister was kidnapped and the Lighthouse saved her, brought her back safely. That's all the detail you need. Or anybody...Q&A is over, lets get to figuring out how to stop this sort of thing from happening again!" Lorccan knew he was over stepping his bounds but he hated the fact his sister was being put on the spot. Who cared about stupid rumors anyway? Ignorant pricks likely to pester her anyway, this was just torturing her more far as he was concerned.

[Snick]

If Cam had brought sunglasses, she would have been asleep behind them. This meeting was pointless. If the faculty's intent was to keep rumors at bay, then they should have just called an assembly like any other school would do. Tell all of the students at once instead of counting on those they had gathered to slowly spread the word. What was to stop one of those present from starting a rumor?

...Now that was an idea! A very slight smirk turned the corner of her lip as her mind began whirling. She could make the life of Siobhan and Phrixos very hard if she wanted to. Spread a rumor that it was all a trick by his legacy so that he and Siobhan could sneak off to be together. When they realized they were going to get into big trouble, they acted like she got kidnapped. After all, they were both lighthouse Keepers and were the only ones there at the time. Who is to say it wasn't true?

Inside, Cam was chortling with maniacal laughter. Outside, she looked completely bored and on the verge of sleep. Her arms crossed over her chest as her leg continued to bob. As Lorrcan suddenly exploded in protest, her eyes narrowed slightly. It would be a shame to lose him as a potential friend after he had actually been so friendly toward her, but if it meant making that nosy little bitch cry and watching Pratt squirm it would be worth it. Besides, she wouldn't be at this school much longer anyway if she could help it.


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Maggie smiled inwardly. She began to imagine a million mean things she could do to that little boy in the future for yelling at her. To do something to him here in front of the teachers would be suicide.

However, he could not stay around them for forever.

"This is a tragedy for your sister but the only way that she will eventually start the healing process is to begin talking about it. Any psychologist would tell you for $400 a visit. And the more she looks at the situation, the more she may remember for those who are searching for these people and why they wanted what they did. "

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Victor pushed down his stomach fluids when Lil whispered to him. The principal reeked . . . the woman was not fit for human company . . . and of course Pratt had nothing to do with the death. His alibi was air tight.

"Mr. O'Brien, you are not in charge here, and you will behave if you wish to remain here." Victor told him, his voice cracking like a whip. "You are, however, correct in one aspect."

The muggle studies professor turned to regard Margryta sternly. "I'm not sure what you're seeking to learn by your question, Miss Gemini. What details are you hoping to glean that the faculty, authorities and Miss O'Brien's family have not already learned in the several lengthy interviews she's had with them?"

"The faculty and the FBI know where Miss O'Brien was taken, have discovered the kidnappers' footprints and fingerprints at the scene, as well as those of his accomplice.. We know that none of the students at the dance saw who kidnapped her, and no students who weren't at the dance have reported seeing anything. If you have heard something that you believe to be pertinent and not gossip, then by all means, come to us with that information."

"Finally, this is neither the time nor place for anyone to play amateur detective or armchair psychologist."

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Siobhan looked from her brother to her adviser. "I gave all the little details to the FBI and the faculty. But I can share what happened from my point of view, if you think it will help clarify things. I was dancing with Pratt, when it was suddenly dark, and I was pulled out of his arms by someone very large. I didn't have my wand with me. A hood was put over my head, and my hands were tied behind my back. I screamed and kicked, but it didn't do me any good. I was port-keyed away. I wouldn't answer their questions." She shuddered again, remembering the ear and the threats to Lorccan and the Muggle's screams. "I was force fed veritaserum, a lot of it. Then the lighthouse came and got me, before they could start asking me questions again, and put me right back with the keepers." She had nearly said back in the arms of the keeper I belonged with. "I know for sure there were two of them, but I think there may have been more."

She smiled uneasily at Margryta, embarrassed by the way her brother had yelled and the way her adviser had chastised the girl. She couldn't believe Gemini had meant any harm. And she'd rather she ask her here than outside this room. "I hope that helps."

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Lorccan inhaled sharply, ready to tell Magryta to take her $400 shrink and shove it up her ass but Mr. Castilla's sharp reprimand caused him to hold back his nasty comment. He looked over at the older man and simply nodded. When he turned and repremanded Magryta too, Lorccan grinned. At least Mr. Castilla saw merit in why he spoke up. He did like his Muggle Studies teacher.

Lorccan had no reason at all to take Muggle studies, he was very familiar with Muggles and their habits and history given he folks ran a Muggle style bar serving mostly Muggles. But it was an easy course and Lorccan needed some classes he can get a good mark in without his sister's help. He looked at his sister and smiled.

Between what Mr. Castilla said and the brief summary of his sister, Lorccan hoped that was the last of the questions directed at his sister. He glanced over at the Principal and still found she looked like hell even after cleaning herself up a bit. As he was already told to mind his own business he wondered why none of the other teachers here said anything to her yet.

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Esther raised her hand and waited to be recognized "Siobhan, or Principal Cook, or I'm not sure who . . . what I want to know, is after today, how much are we allowed to talk to Siobhan about what happened? Are we supposed to not question her about it at all, or wait until she brings it up, or just talk to our legacies and tell them the topic is closed, or what? I assume this meeting is to stop gossip before it starts, so do you want us to tell them one unified story and then to leave Siobhan alone, or if they have more questions, is it okay for us to talk to her about it, especially if she's already a friend?" Esther asked, looking at Siobhan, hoping she knew she'd never hurt her.

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Pratt didn't notice that the principal looked his way when she whispered to Castilla. If she didn't look like shit, and smell like it too, he wouldn't have even noticed her arrival. Lorccan overreacted, surprise, surprise. At least Magryta was asking the right questions. At least she seemed to understand what the meeting was all about. Then Siobhan told a summary of her story.

Now they knew he was the one that failed to protect Siobhan. Failed to stop the big, smelly guy from taking her away. And now they also knew that was why he was there, at the front. It wasn't just because he was a keeper or because he was providing moral support as a friend - it was because he was a stupid, slow, weak, useless failure. Pratt bowed his head enough to hide the shame in his face from the group of students. At least she hadn't told them he had been the one to 'catch' her when she returned. It was bad enough they would likely talk about them dancing together, think he had something to do with it, and call him a useless coward. He didn't need speculation about why the lighthouse sent her to him on top of all that.

Expecting at least a few of the next questions to be directed at him now, he braced himself, knuckles white on the arms of the chair and jaw clenched tightly. The bile in his stomach could already be felt churning and rising. "You're in a safe place, you're in a safe place," he chanted under his breath.

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"You will leave Miss O'Brien alone. If she chooses to speak to you about that night, that is her choice, but no questions regarding it. If you have questions, then come to me. Is this understood by all?" Victor asked, eyebrows raised and scanning the room.

He glanced down at his two keepers in the room. Pratt looked none too comfortable at the moment either. "That goes for all of the keepers. Pratt, Makepeace, and Green as well. They are a team. All four worked together and stick together. None of them are to be questioned."

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She could sense his anxiety rising. She shouldn't have said she was pulled from his arms. It wasn't his fault, but he blamed himself. What, his 130 pounds against that evil beast's 390 pounds? What chance did Pratt have? Siobhan's foot moved behind Pratt's and her toe moved inside his arch just barely and brushed his; then casually moved back as if the whole thing had been an accident, but the message was clear: I'm here for you as much as you are here for me. She glanced at him, "talk later," she whispered.

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Magryta did not blink when the Muggle Studies teacher turned on her. What did she care what he thought? Just because she was going to have him for the next year did not mean he could intimidate her. And then when Esther was nice enough to repeat Magryta concept in a way that more people seemed to understand and accept as a kinder approach, she too was rebuked. The whole thing was rediculous.

"Honestly," Magryta spoke up once more. "From what all has been said, you teachers come back saying we aren't to the point that most of us think is of the gravest ordeal. Or it is none of our business. All we wanted was the truth so that we knew who was starting rumors and who had the truth to keep rumors from continuing. People will come to us when they know we were at this meeting yet you tell us to say nothing and then demand we keep them from harping on Miss O'Brien? I understand wanting to protect the girl but we are here to get to the truth - not start a rumor mill.

"I thank Miss O'Brien for actually answering the question asked. Whereas it seems that she is physically unharmed and our services towards her mentality is not needed, I think this whole meeting is a waste of all our time. Obviously, the lighthouse residents are really the only ones that are necessary for anything at this school, especially where you are involved, Mr. Castilla." Magryta stated, feeling quite certain of this fact. She had been Salem long enough to know it was the truth.

"Now that we have more information on the kidnapping, our input on the more important topic, protecting the rest of the student body, will be better constructed. If you are actually willing to listen and consider our suggestions and not just going to tell us that we are wrong or that is out of our scope, then let us move on to that topic. Otherwise, dismiss us. As two of you are aware, the teachers in this fine facility are more than happy to pile on work, despite the fact that the school year is just begun."

Magryta knew that she was probably going to get in trouble for this but she was an adult. This was the school that had helped mold the mind she now had. If they were going to encourage such a thing, only to crush it down, what was the point?

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"I'm quite sorry, Miss Gemini, that you feel that your time here is being wasted, and that the trust we're placing in you to represent your Legacy is such a burden to you." Victor replied to the girl, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You wanted truth? You were given the truth. Then you wanted Siobhan to go into explicit, painstaking detail about the whole of her abduction. Not so you could know the truth, but by your own words, so you could check it against the rumors going around and correlate it. Since you were told that the authorities and the faculty are handling this investigation, insistence upon said details are none of your concern, and place a great deal of pressure on Miss O'Brien."

"Further, thank you for seeing fit to again comment on Miss O'Brien's state of mental well-being. Let me assure you that she did not want to be here today, and that I was against this 'press' conference, as well, being, as you have pointed out, very partisan towards the safety of my students. I believe you will be able to understand better than most what I mean when I say that she is putting on a brave face in light of what she has been through." He said. Whether it was intended to be a low blow or just to give the girl some perspective was left up to her as he turned to look at Anne and Lil.

"I'm going to call an end to the Q&A session." He announced, rather imperiously. "Let's move on to discussion of the school's security, and for that, I'll hand things over to Ms. Bell and Principal Cook." He said. "We can publish something in the school newspaper if we want to make a statement to the student body about what happened." He said, turning a particularly hostile eye Liliana's way. This whole debacle was her idea in the first place. "And, Miss Gemini, if you have anything more to say regarding the Q&A session, you may come see me in my office, and we will discuss it over detention."

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"Finally." Magryta muttered, returning to her seat. Detention...again? Yeah, that was something new for her. She would feel bad but it was obvious from the looks on some of the students around her that they agreed with what she had to say. At least they were finally getting to the important part of the meeting.

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Christopher set there listening to everything that was going on. He really was starting to wonder why in the world they had picked him to have joined this group. Most of the students acted as if they had never heard of kidnapping. He would admit that he never actually seen one but heard plenty of it in news. Understanding all of that it made sense on why she really would have not wanted to talk but why would the teachers have wanted to just randomly pick people and hope that they will tell everyone what happen and to stay away.

He had been overjoyed as they were now talking about the school security. Christopher had not really wrote anything to his parents because he not seen that it be worth it. Lorccan had talk to him yesterday about how everything before this year had been boring. He been thinking on everything and wondered if once the security had been put in play that would have happen. He had turned towards both the teachers that would now be taking over the meeting. Christopher hoped they would make the security a whole lot better so that no one else would get taken and have to go through this again.

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Seeing that Principal Cook was not making any moves to begin the next segment of the meeting, Anna Bell stood and cleared her throat.

"As you have been told, security is bein' beefed up," she produced a notepad out of thin air and flipped a few pages. "Here are the steps we have taken and will be taking, please listen carefully. We have rounded up and destroyed every last portkey that leads to and from the school. All fireplaces have been sealed shut, except for those that can be monitored. A search will be launched to check all students and living quarters for unapproved substances, such as Peruvian instant darkness powder. All weekend trips off the grounds will be faculty escorted, indefinitely. At some point, we may allow younger students to be escorted by responsible upperclassmen. All incoming and outgoing owls are being screened.
"Visitors to the school will be constantly escorted, as well, and strict limits will be placed on who can visit and how many can visit at one time," she paused to sip some water. "Spectators for home Quodpot games will be prohibited from entering any portion of the campus other than the loading bay for the Visitor's section of the bleachers. Last, but not least, we have hired a number of elves from Wight Towne as security. Now, I open the floor for questions and suggestions. One at a time, please."
Before sitting, she leaned over to address Siobhan, Phrixos, and Lorccan quietly. "Ya'll can join the other students or make like a tree, if you do not wish to stay," she smiled kindly, hoping that the keepers would stay, at least, to give suggestions. They were there, they may have a better perspective for finding holes in security.

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"Thank you, Ms. Bell," Siobhan answered equally quietly. "I'll stay."

She raised her hand and waited to be called on. "What about boat access? There is a boat dock in the elf town."

[Snick]

Cam scowled, as she hadn't gotten the opportunity to ask the question she had in mind. Now, an impatient teacher had decided to switch topics and the chance was lost. She muttered under her breath about her displeasure, not that anyone would care. Instead, she slouched further in her chair and leaned her head back until she was gazing up at the ceiling in boredom.

She hoped there weren't too many questions during this part of the meeting, otherwise she would probably fall asleep. Her hair dulled itself out in color, looking closer to purplish gray than an indigo black.

As the teacher with a funny accent spoke of security measures, she snorted. Searching student rooms? Screening owls? Where had their right to privacy gone? What were they going to do next? Search girls diaries? Hell, as ordered by the nurse, she had some hateful letters to write. Would they confiscate those too? What purpose would that serve?


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While he waited for Siobhan's question to be answered, Zot politely raised his hand, wanting to go next and hopefully reverse his earlier folly. He had a few questions of his own, and knew that (no offense intended toward Siobhan) the student body was more worried about safety since everyone knew she was back safe and sound. He wanted to do his best to represent the underclassmen in the dorms.

He waited patiently, twitching only slightly, for the teacher's attention. He ignored the rude chick with changing hair, though he really wanted to call her out on it. Couldn't she see that this was important?

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Victor stood once again, and looked at Siobhan. "There are only a few boats authorized to dock on the island -- The houseboats belonging to Mr. Bryant and Ms. Buskirk, The Mayflower, which takes our students to sporting events at other schools, and the fishing boats belonging to the elves. No other boats are allowed to approach the island. The Lighthouse won't allow it."

He then turned and looked at Zot. "Mr. Drake?"

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Rebecca, representative of the Hippies, tapped the forehead of the now-gray-haired girl sitting in front of her. "I didn't get to ask my question, either," she leaned in and whispered, having heard her mutterings. "We can just ask each other, it would be just as helpful with as much as they're tellin'."

Not that the teachers and Siobhan weren't doing a good job. The students just weren't asking very good questions. Rebecca wanted to know if they had a record of which teachers brought visitors onto the island recently. Kinda stupid if they didn't keep track of that sort of thing. And it wasn't like they had to manually check in, it was magical. Like the way all magical children's names are recorded when they are born. Faculty probably had the ability to modify the magical register, though. She also wondered if all faculty had their wands checked for prior incantations immediately after the incident, before an opportunity to erase their spell histories. It was very suspect if they hadn't.