entrancelogs | [OPEN MINGLE] Or perhaps in Slytherin

[OPEN MINGLE] Or perhaps in Slytherin

Who: Slytherin House! (And friends and visitors, of course!)
Where: Slytherin Common Room, Quidditch Pitch, various places around Hogwarts
When: Duration of the event
Rating: G (will edit as necessary)
Summary: Slytherin open log!
The Story:

The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling, from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in carved chairs.

The common room has changed, somewhat, from its historical description, thanks to the decorative powers of one Mettaton. Though it still extends beneath the lake and thus retains a greenish, aquatic cast, it's much more brightly lit, its cold, damp atmosphere replaced with dazzling MTT-brand warmth. Even the giant squid, occasionally peering in as it does its rounds of the lake, seems just a shade more glamorous inside such a charming space.

Students - and a ghost or two - can be found nestled within its confines, plotting mischief around the fire, studiously doing their homework (as good students do), or perhaps trading Chocolate Frog trading cards. Though Slytherin is not especially well-known for its wide-open, trusting nature, Slytherins are known for not snitching on each other; if a guest or two were to creep in for a while, then odds are, nobody saw anything.

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[That's a good point. They certainly don't want to learn how to - how to kill anyone. At least, not...not like that. Their eyes light up as Souji gets one of the rats to patter over their way with a flick of his wand, watching eagerly.]

I guess...that one, then. The one you just used.

[It seems the least - well, maybe the most forgivable of the unforgivables. Or is that paradox?]

[Souji would agree with Frisk - unless the caster is an asshole, it doesn't typically cause the victim pain.]

The Imperius curse. The spell for it is "imperio." [One wonders how Souji got good enough at it to not say that when he cast it on the rat.]

Tell me what you know about it.

It controls the mind of whoever you say it to.

[But that's common knowledge, as far as they know. Though they don't really know much, and that's why their here.]

I also hear that you...um, you have to mean them. The curses, when you say them. But no one really explains what that means.

You understand once you use them.

[Souji has never used the killing curse, but the other two? He's not innocent when it comes to their use.]

Have you ever wanted someone to hurt? It doesn't matter the reason. You just want them in pain. Any kind of pain.

[A momentary darkness flickers across their features. Is it like...like a reverse Patronus, maybe. Instead of summoning the happy memories, you think of the bad, the dark, the ugly. You rake away the ashes concealing those live coals and let the fire creep up into your soul in a scalding inflorescence.

Think of the people they want hurt.

Think of the people they want to burn for what they did.

Think of the people that laughed when they cried, kicked them when they opened their arms, set them down on a park bench and said they'd be right back.
* I just couldn't handle the responsibility.
Think of the people that hurt them.]

[Frisk raises their wand, and says without hesitation:]

Imperio.

[The rat jerks under their control and, with a vicious, savage excitement coiling in their cut, Frisk tells it to roll onto its back and play dead. It shivers against the order, trembles on the flagstones.

"Don't you dare fucking talk back to me, you little ░██▒█."

And then the rat flips onto its back obediently, paws curled comically over its chest.]

[Souji lowers his wand, watching this. Frisk certainly has the idea.]

This curse can be pleasant for the one under it. They don't have to worry about any responsibility for their actions. But that doesn't mean their actions won't hurt others or them after it's removed.

[He's imagined it in many ways, how much someone being controlled could ruin their whole lives. It wouldn't matter that they had no choice: the damage would have been done and couldn't be undone.]

[Good, Frisk almost says, viciously. But that'd be creepy. So they don't.

They keep the rat where it is, unsure of what to do with it next. Whether to just relinquish control and...let it go.]

Is there a way to turn it off? Or does it just...go away on its own?

"Turn it off..." That's probably the best way to put it. You have to stop controlling them of your own will.

[Though there's something that bears mentioning.]

This curse can be resisted. Not often, but by some powerful wizards.

Not something like a rat, then.

[They twitch their wand. It lashes its tail once, then obediently rolls onto its feet.]

It would take...practice. To resist it. Wouldn't it?

[Souji nods. He doesn't think he could, if he had to. He won't say that though.]

Animals are easier than humans to use this spell on, but you can still do harm with them, if that's your intention.

[And while they still have control of the rat...]

Do you want to stop here for today? Or do you want to learn the next one?

Edited 2016-10-24 07:10 (UTC)

What's the next one?

[He already knows their answer. Some part of them, if admittedly a small part, wants nothing more than to give in. But most of them rejects that notion utterly. They don't give up. That's not what they do.

So they keep going.]

The Cruciatus Curse.

[Raising his wand again, he takes advantage of Frisk's hold on the rat to cast the spell. This time he does have to speak the word - crucio - out loud. He's less skilled with this one, because, really, he doesn't like to inflict unnecessary pain. But he's certainly used it.

The rat writhes, squeaking at first, and then giving a high pitched, animal scream of pain. Souji keeps it up, waiting for Frisk to speak. Do they really want to go on?]

[They flinch, if only slightly, a small and reflexive jerk of their head to one side. And for a moment they -

They do want to give up. More than ever. Inflicting pain, pain of this physical, inescapable sort, it's...it's something they never want to do. Never want to mean.

But...how else are they going to protect the ones they love? What happens when something like the Imperius Curse fails, and isn't enough? It'll be their fault. Their fault, for not taking advantage of this when it happened.

Frisk points their wand.]

Crucio.

[The rat utters a single, pained squeak, but then falls silent. It's trembling with exhaustion. Their curse wasn't -

They must not have really meant it.]

[Souji's having a similar thought.]

It's just an animal. It hasn't done anything to you.

[He considers, then uses the Imperious curse to have the rat skitter over to Frisk and bite them hard on the leg, a bite that's likely to draw blood.

Now it's done something to them.]

[They try to summon up those thoughts again, thinking of everyone who ever hurt them, but - but they might want them to go away but they don't want them to hurt all the time. Sometimes, on the bad nights, they curse and tear at their hair and hope those people choke on their own filthy words.

Then the rat's tiny teeth sink into the skin of their ankle, and Frisk's reaction is instantaneous. A harsh, shuddering jolt, and a flick of their wand, and -

And they think they said the word but they're not sure. They just know the thing is screaming.]

[Souji nods. He thought that would work.]

You just have to have the incentive to mean it. I'm sorry I gave it to you, though.

[As established, he doesn't particularly like causing others pain. But if he's going to teach Frisk these curses, he's going to do it correctly. A half-hearted curse is still a curse, but it can go wrong. More wrong than something that's unforgivable in the first place, somehow.]

It worked.

[There's a grim satisfaction to the words, even as they release the hold the curse has over it, and lets the rat scutter off to safety. The poor thing is trembling.]

That's what matters.

[Souji watches them for a moment. This whole "lesson" has been taking a toll on Frisk, and he doesn't think they should go any further. Besides, the last of the curses is the one he least wants to pass on. Even if it causes less pain to the person it's cast on than the other two, it's the only one that's completely irreversible.]

Let's go back to the common room.

Okay.

[They're glad he suggested it first. They don't back down, not without a reason. But like this, it...it can be his idea. They slip their wand back into the sleeve of their robes, steadying their breath with a bracing inhalation, trying to relax their shoulders in a failed attempt to ease the tension there.]

Let's go.

[Souji had a feeling it needed to be his suggestion. Kids - and Frisk is barely a "kid" anymore, but just close enough - typically don't like to back down. They can use him as an excuse to avoid learning the third curse for as long as they want to put it off.

He gets the door.]

You did well.

[Not just in casting the curses and getting them to work, but in having the stomach to do so at all.]

[They open their mouth to refute it. Play it off with an air of nonchalance they don't feel. But the way the rat writhed, its tail lashing like some fat, overgrown worm, the way its squeals split the air, and how willingly it had bent to their will -

That shuts them up before they even say anything.

Frisk lowers their head, and nods, and finds they can't bring themself to smile triumphantly like they were planning to.]

Thanks.

[Souji raises a hand and briefly, very briefly puts it on Frisk's shoulder.]

It's late. You should get some sleep when we get back.

[If they can sleep. He couldn't after the first time he'd used any of the curses.]

Yeah.

[They flinch slightly at the contact but allow it regardless. They're too tired to say or do anything to resist it, and they're - they're better than that. Doing this kind of thing is...it leaves them utterly drained.

They need to leave.]

I will.

[They'll try. That's about as much as they can do.

As soon as they get back, they slip off in the direction of the room they share with Chara. Maybe...maybe they won't tell them about this just yet.

Not just yet.]

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[OPEN MINGLE] Or perhaps in Slytherin

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