Brigid Shacklebolt

A sound of surprise came from Gunnarr as a lynx came his way, recognizing the animal he’d seen in the snowy forests of Norway and elsewhere before. Still— he was certainly not expecting a little lynx to be pouncing at him rather than the girl. He sat there for a moment with the lynx before he simply said, “Now that’s not fair. I don’t wanna hit a cute little cat.”

The rumble that escaped the lynx could almost be a laugh at his shock, but when he called her cute, she bared her teeth with a growl. She wasn’t cute. She changed back, a hand to his throat. “If I had my knife, you would have lost just now.” 

Xio let out a sigh of relief at the not-scorched figure of the woman who popped up in the hole she’d made in the window. She winced a little, though it was an easy fix with magic, she really didn’t want to hear a lecture about breaking property. “Of a kind,” Xio lifted the wand, “Lightning Spear, a combination of runic magic, charms, and transfiguration of a sort, it’s… testy right now. I got annoyed the magic seemed to just… go boom,” She glared at the stick of wood that was still sparking, the little bit of electricity rolling down to pop little burns on her skin, her feeling in her hands had long since been shot since she was young, working in a forge left one with a high pain tolerance. “I swear I wasn’t trying to murder you, ahhh…. sorry I’m Xio, Xiomara de Leon,” she held her hand out, with a bright smile.

Bri stepped through the hole and waved a hand behind her, the broken shards of the window coming together once more. No mark showed what had occurred. “No harm done.” Her eyes were wide with fascination when the woman explained what she’d been doing, looking down at the spear. “That is a work of art. How much for it once you have finessed it? Or one like it?” Imagine fighting Dayo with that? She may not be a warrior by trade, but she did still have a healthy appreciation for weapons, and this was unlike any other. “Ah, I am hard to kill, don’t worry.” She shook Xio’s hand with a laugh. “Brigid Shacklebolt, but you can call me Bri.” 

“They definetly do!” beaming, she wrapped an arm around Brigid’s shoulders, “They won’t know what hit them! Literally! I plan on covering them underneath several inches of snow!”

Turning to face Dayo, a pinched look of annoyance settles on her features. She abhors him, has hated him since the first day of class. Because… now, she can’t exactly remember why she hates him so much, but she is sure her past self had a very good reason to hate him. She is very smart, he must have done something horrible. “I am not little.” she complains, looking up at him and then down at Brigid. “It’s hard to believe the two of you are related.”

“This is going to be beautiful. I also want to take Gunnarr down. As well as Os, and this giant here.” Bri jerked her head towards Dayo with a smirk. She was used to people being annoyed with her brother, so unless they actually insulted him, she was happy to ignore it. 

“You are little.” Dayo smirked, patting Bella’s head. “Bri is just littlest.” 

Bri snorted. “He gets it from his mother’s side of the family. Oloye is very tall.” It wasn’t the first time they’d had comments about how different their heights were, but then, they were half-siblings. 

“And Mama was short, just like you.” Dayo teased affectionately. 

As she kicked, he went to catch the foot— giving it a hard twist in an attempt to try and throw her back to the ground. Even though he was big, he was faster than most people anticipated, simply because he’d done his best to work on such a thing, knowing that many would expect it to be something to best him on. “I already told you,” he said with a little laugh. “I’m better than her.”

“Unfortunately I cannot help but be charming,” Milo said gravely, “But, angel, if you do not wish anything more than an innocent friendship I will not deny you.” A smile came over his face. He meant those words, Milo never wanted to hurt a woman. He released her hand as if to signify he would cross no more limes.

Taking him seriously, as she liked to believe the best in people, Bri nodded. "Thank you. I would hate to knock you over the head because you couldn't listen." She hated it when people flirted with her, it made her feel flustered which was a feeling she never got, so she always shut it down. She flashed a playful grin. “Well, I think I’m going to find out who I can scare next. It’s been lovely talking to you, Milo.” 

“Clearly you do think there is something wrong with people who do ‘it,’” Moira pointed out, “If the mere mention of it is enough to make you uncomfortable. I have not given any graphic details, but if we were friends you would want me to ignore vast chunks of my life out. Don’t you have any friends or relatives that are married or have sex? The world demands they hide anything pleasurable and you are demanding that too.” She had no problem with Brigid wanting to remain celibate but the idea that she wouldn’t even try to become comfortable with the fact that humans frequently had sex seemed impossible to her. “I would not ask you to refrain from speaking about your church because I do not believe in your god.”

"No, I don't. My brother is fond of the activity, I've been told, and I don't judge him for it. Just as I don't judge you. Yet you seem to think you can judge me. I have never once in my life claimed to be perfect, and my two greatest flaws are my temper and the fact that I get embarrassed over this. You can do whatever you want in life, I support that completely, but a friend would be understanding that I never know what to say when this topic is brought up." She held her hand up in a supplicating gesture, not wanting to fight with her. "Besides, I never once said you couldn't talk about it, just that I always react that way. I can accept you as you are, all I ask is you accept my fluster as part of who I am."

“He is Dayo, he is will be terrible. No, no, Brigid, don’t use logic or arguments” he said raising his hand to halt her, “Just let me have this.”

Bri couldn't help it, she poked his cheek, teasing him now. "You just smiled. I saw that. I didn't know you were capable of it."

“You’d think that with magic and everything that we know about magic we’d have found a way to make the sun feel warmer or even keep warmer for longer,” he looked forlornly at his carpet with a smile as he fondly remembered all of the times he’d spent in the sun with it. It was an old possession that he’d inherited from his mother. “How much?” he asked immediately. Abraxas was aware of the exploits of the Shacklebolt family, however he’d never really had any extended interaction with any members of their family, until now. “I think I’ll need several of your cloaks, and if you can teach me to apply the same charms to my own clothes that would be greatly appreciated.”

"With the magic we have, we can keep warm. We cannot stop the tides or the changing of the moon, I suppose the sun is another of those forces beyond mortal control." The light of excitement filled her eyes at the chance to go business. "It depends on the exact number, what material you'd like, and whether you'd like simple or ornate fastenings, hemming, and hoods." A sly smile crossed her face. "I'll teach you the charm, but only after I've made a sale. I can't give away all my secrets, this is my business."

Juno swaggered around Hogwarts with a lackadaisical manner, these stone walls wouldn’t offer her a thing. It served only to curb her wildest adventures and instead offered a way to ‘tame’ her. When her Father packed her things and her Mother tutted her disappointment in the girl she wasted time in teaching. There were no dragons to slay here, no bandits to defeat, no villages to save, no glory could come from books and corridors. So she moved about Hogwarts, nose in the air and a flair of annoyance about her. “I see that Hogwarts rumor mill has already caught wind of my feats,” she flicked her hair over her shoulder, “but yes, I did. It was quite a fortnight trying to escape the damn thing, I have a few dragon scales from where I nicked it with some spells,” though she had failed she had trophies of her work. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

Bri laughed in amazement and delight. "That certainly sounds like an adventure. I've never faced a dragon, crocodiles are bad enough, and they don't fly or breathe fire." She bobbed into a little courtesy without thinking, it was a habit. "Bri Shacklebolt. Sorry to just walk up to you like that. It's just... growing up, so many of the other girls didn't want to get their hands dirty, so my sisters and I had to go on adventures alone or with our brothers. It's nice to meet someone else who is just as inclined to do something reckless."

Another easy target. Did no one at this school feel the need to keep up some walls with other people? She took a seat across from Brigid, looking genuinely excited to meet her. “Amazing! I had no idea you were a witch! You’re so talented, I can’t believe you’re doing both.” She leaned forward, as though starstruck.

She shook Brigid’s hand firmly, still looking as though the other woman had completely charmed her, “You’re far too humble, Miss. Shacklebolt, you have such a beautiful gift you should share it with everyone!” She blinked, as though just a little confused, “Your brother? Do I know him?”

Bri waved off the compliment. "I'm a talented seamstress, that's all, really." While she was good enough at wandless magic, she didn't consider herself a brilliant witch, just one that had been lucky enough to get a good education. Even with fighting, unless she was challenging someone, she didn't make claims she couldn't live up to. 

"Please call me Bri." At home, with so many siblings, it got confusing when people referred to "Miss Shacklebolt" as there were several of them, so none of them ever insisted on formalities. "I'm trying to share my work with everyone, I swear. My prices are very fair." She didn't just sew for the rich, she'd also done repairs and basic designs for those with less money. Everyone deserved nice clothes. "Oh, Dayo. My eldest brother, he's a student here as well. If you haven't met him yet, I'm sure you will. Everyone does."

Cora laughed as Bri hugged her, not hesitating for a moment to return the embrace. “I think it’s only fair to give us both credit.” She nodded eagerly with Bri’s words, all too excited for what lay before them. “I think I’ve actually got a class coming up but— I’ll find you after and we can continue our diabolical plotting?”

"Well, of course I'm a genius too." Bri joked, although she knew that intelligence wasn't her forte. She wasn't one for book learning, if she had been raised by a different family, she'd never have the education she'd had forced on her. "I will see you later."

When he saw where she was aiming, he reflexively tensed his abdomen so the blow wouldn’t hit as hard, though he would most likely still end up with some sort of bruise. In a quick moment he regained his footing as she skittered away, standing once more into an at the ready position some few feet away from her. “I’m sure you do but- unfortunately we can’t always get what we like,” he tease once more.

Bri rolled to her feet, also in the ready position. "It sounds like you've had to learn that lesson. Was it hard to learn? I wouldn't know." She spun around in a kick, a wide grin on her face. Being so small, she was often not taken seriously when fighting, but she was always happy to prove herself. Even though she knew she'd lose, she would still be proud to just hold her own. “I knocked your sister down, so I’m sure you’ll be easy.” Of course, Siggy had won, but once again, that wasn’t the point. 

Dearest Bri,

Merry Christmas! Truly, being reunited with you at Hogwarts was one of the brightest highlights of my year, and I’m overjoyed to get to call you friend every day and in person! I hope you had a wonderful year, and here’s to having another one.

As for your present, I’ve been discovering I’m actually rather decent at gem magic and the like. This one should help you out with any little scrapes and the like that you might get in your spars or from dastardly needles! It can’t do anything big, sadly. But it should be nice enough to get you through some injuries!

I also had an artist (a darling little Italian man) make a rendition of the exact face Dayo made the moment he realized what we’d done to him over dinner as our prank.

                                Very much love,                                          Cora