Unfortunately, there was a small child threatening to escape back into the darknes, so Lachlan didn't have the the presence of mind to care about rustling leaves. Him assuming that's what it was and all.
Seeing that he had the girl on board, however, he allowed himself a smile. He also shifted his wand around so that she couldn't quite see where the small lights were coming from. No need to shatter the illusion when she'd bought it so easily. And that wasn't a complaint, seeing as he didn't think he had much more in him today. "Very mature of you, ma'am." It was a default setting to fall back into his usual banter, but his companion didn't seem to mind as the "sparks" had enthralled her completely.
And she was holding his hand just moments after. Glancing down at her small frame, Lach found himself growing more irked by the second. This was fine, he wasn't going to shove her off or make a spectical of himself, but the emotional warfare wasn't appreciated. For the sake of the challenge, he'd deemed himself too sensitive. He was very sensitive, but something seemed very off here. Now that he wasn't preoccupied with chasing her down, as well as focusing on staying safe...It was the slowly dispersing fog, that had once been as thick as pea soup. It was the darkness lifting...
They needed to leave now.
Guiding her carefully back to where he'd first entered the treeline, Lachlan suddenly felt a lack of warmth in his hand. What?....Suddenly alarmed, because he thought something else was about to descend upon him, and had snatched the child just out of his grasp...his eyes landed on the dummy. Wearing the little girl's outfit. A dummy wearing the girl's clothes. It had been...a dummy all along...
He didn't know if this made him feel better or worse. For several seconds, he stood there silently staring, trying to puzzle through the strange feeling of outrage settling in his chest. It wasn't real. It hadn't hurt anyone...but he was still furious.
Startled by the sudden appearance of a person materializing out of thin air, Lachlan shoved his wand in his face; his first instinct to protect himself in anyway necessary...but then his blue eyes landed on the badge fixed to the man's robes, and he slowly lowered it.
What....in the hell was all this then? Portkey? Stands?...
Not uttering a single word, Lachlan simply took the portkey, eyes still glued to the floating dummy, before there was only darkness.
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.................................................. ..................Paradise comes at a price that I am not prepared to pay.
.................................................. ..........................................What were we built for? Will someone tell me, please? |