all's fair in love & war — yan & uly magic au
Jan 9, 2023 13:49:39 GMT -5
Post by fox on Jan 9, 2023 13:49:39 GMT -5
U L Y S S E S
You leave the private potions store room at night, two pilfered jars of boomslang shoved into your robes, and suddenly Marcus Spencer's leaning against the door frame, face twisted into a grin that feels utterly brutish. Hm, so he'd followed you out of the dungeons.
"What were you doing?" The tone he uses isn't to your liking. His smile grows slicker, posture relaxed.
"Your mother."
Marcus grabs you as you push by him. There's a snarl on his face now. His voice is a low hum in the quiet of midnight, eyes flickering to the storeroom and then to your pockets. He reaches his hand towards them, "Oh, you're in fucking trouble."
You are. Your jaw tenses at the grip on your shoulder.
He ends up in the hospital wing with a crushed hand and a curse that ties his tongue into a knot. He's fed two tablespoons of skele-gro for the broken bones. Then, the healer on duty finally manages to untangle his tongue after six failed counter-spells that left it more and more grotesquely tied.
Marcus whimpers your name as soon as he can speak.
The boomslang, however, is safely tucked away in your room.
You get detention for the next month. Which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that you had it with, of all people in this fucking school, Yan Li.
Professor Cao walks a few paces ahead towards the sprawling woods, glancing at you two in intervals, a certain expression on his face that reminds you of a rat in some odd way. Maybe it's how he scurries about the halls. Maybe it's the way he squirms in discomfort when another professor speaks over him.
He had said your punishment would be to collect sage and mallowsweet in the forest for class, and you'd retorted with "I thought it was Forbidden."
He'd only given you a quelling look.
The sun is setting over the grounds, golden yellow and orange across the lawns. The castle is silhouetted by light, the towers looming tall and solemn at dusk. You pass the herbology greenhouses, and the beams shifts as the trees start to thicken.
"What are you here for?" You admit you're curious. You speak under your breath to Yan, eyes still on the swish of the professor's robes as he walks. Cao doesn't turn around. You raise your voice a little. "Torturing some poor first year to do your bidding?"
