brighter than the sun [torsten]

"..and the photographers are ready? Backdrop? Quills? The ink-refilling ones right?"

Lulu Prescott stood prim in her deep purple robes, her nails the palest blue and her lips colored in a nudeish pink tone. She was discussing with one of the department interns the logistics of the publicity event that was scheduled to begin soon. Her boss, Mr. Thorne, had asked her personally to ensure that this event went on without a hitch and the pressure of making sure so many things went correctly was starting to wear on her. She kept picking at the undersides of her fingernails as she questioned and worried and checked and doublechecked and questioned again everyone around her, to make sure everything was going as planned.

Of course, it wasn't. Two photographers from the biggest news outlets were late. They hadn't had the correct address of the event and were now hurrying to get there in time. The backdrop for the photoshoot had been set up in the incorrect spot and was now a hassle to move it with all the chairs and stanchions already in place. The quills were green and not blue, like the sponsor had requested. And Lulu had no idea when the players were supposed to come. They were already a few minutes late.

She tried to take a deep breath and calm herself but as she saw two of the interns try to levitate the backdrop to its correct location and promptly drop it on one of the photographer's foot who yelped in pain, all hope was lost. Lulu rushed over and levitated the backdrop once more, assisting the interns even in her frazzled state, and finally got it set up where it was supposed to go. One of them tapped her on the shoulder and pointed over her shoulder with a wide-eyed look. Lulu glanced behind her and saw the four players just within the doors of the building. She internally panicked slightly before walking over, her red heels clicking across the cement, and opened the door and shut it quickly behind her. She was happy that the fans hadn't seen them yet at least.

Mr. Thorne, the head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, had set up this event to announce the new sponsorship for the Montrose Magpies. It was a small press conference followed by a photograph and autograph session with four of the Magpies players. The event was being held outside the sponsor's building, a large spacious courtyard area with a large circular fountain in the center. There were a few rows of chairs set up in front of the fountain and a long table where the players and sponsorship representatives would sit during the press conference. The backdrop, recently relocated, was off to one side and featured the Magpies emblem as well as the sponsor's logo. There were two small high top tables, dressed in long flowing black clothes, and set with several quills for the autographing.

Fans lined both open sides of the courtyard, many with cameras in hand. They were eager for a chance to meet their favorite Magpies and an open autograph and photograph session was draw enough to get a large crowd assembled. If she weren't so frazzled, Lulu might have wondered why these people were here at all. Didn't they have jobs?!

Nevertheless, Lulu's love of quidditch gave her the knowledge and background of being familiar with each of the players scheduled to attend the event, but beyond that she knew one of the players personally. She spied Torsten Trickett and gave him a polite smile, but was a little warmer than the ones she gave the other players. "Hello everyone. My name is Lulu Prescott and I work with Mr. Thorne in the DMGS," she said using the common abbreviation for her department. "It'll be just a few more moments until we start the press conference so if you would wait here for just a few more minutes, I'd greatly appreciate it."

She gave them her brightest smile and then turned on her heel to one of her interns behind her. "I forgot the name plates for everyone! Hurry, see if someone at the office can owl them to us!"

One thing Torsten Trickett hated was the press. He disliked the fact they were having a press conference to announce their new sponsorship with Floogart's Fizzy Fountains. It was probably one of the hardest names to say and Torsten was stuck repeating the fountain drink's brand over and over again so he would not mess it up. Basically he would have to promote the brand and say good things about it. They were paying for him to get a raise and a few other players of the Montrose Magpies. They were also putting a lot of money into receiving new equipment. That was nice because most of their practice equipment was a few decades old. Some of their quaffles were falling apart and some of their snitches were not very snitchy... They needed a lot of work. Tor was just mostly excited about earning a little more money by saying he liked some soda. He really did not drink much soda. He perfered coffee or tea, but he was making money with saying it. His manager set up a press conference along with the company. Torsten was volunteered for the press conference, only since he was one of the rare beaters who face was not smashed in yet from bludgers to the face. He could bring a pretty face to the soda brand. He did not mind as long as it was not super long. Press was annoying. They were vultures.

Torsten was forced to wear his uniform. It was black with dark blue cloak and white edges. On the chest was a magpie and the back had the name TRICKETT. It was nice to have such a familiar name on quidditch uniform. His family was large and he was just glad he could support them with just his name on his back. His family was his everything, even though many people did not know that. Hopefully the press asked about the brand and not about his personal life. The other couple of players that were with him were busy trying to make themselves pretty for the camera. There was two girls and another male. They tried to make it equal. It seemed like they picked the seeker, one of the chaser, keeper and then him one of the beaters. One of each rank. The press would probably ask questions about their positions and what they were looking forward to the season. He could answer those questions.

As he waited before getting to the table and chairs that were located near the fountain someone caught his eye. Lulu Prescott. She was friends with Sindri in school and a little something more with Leifr just once. He heard the story from Leifr one night. He couldn't help to laugh, but it was more about Lulu. She was a sweetheart. She looked beyond stressed from the situation though. He smiled a toothy, dimpled grin at her and lifted his hand to wave. Some fans must of thought he was waving at him cause screaming began. He couldn't help to chuckle a little more and waved at them. He was hoping that would calm them down. With his luck it did the opposite. They screamed even louder.

He waited for the moment where it was time to sit down. He did not see their name tags where they were going to sit but maybe they would come soon? He had no clue. Torsten waited for his new company to go up there and introduce the players along with their coach. With each name they came up. First it was the Keeper, then the chaser... then him, and finally the seeker. Each person got a loud cheer from the crowd that was rising. Each cheer got louder from each person. Torsten sat where he felt was right. He glanced at Lulu and back at the crowd. He smiled brightly and waited for the questions to start. He hoped none would be for him. He always feared they would change what he would say to something different like what was happening during war. At least someone he knew was there and if he needed help he would just grab her.

"What do you mean they can't find them?!" Lulu whispered hysterically to one of the interns that were helping run the event. She was stressed out and frazzled and nothing seemed to be going her way.. although she did do a really good job at smiling her way through the stress. Still, some of the news outlets who said they would be here were not yet in attendance and in danger of missing some of the press conference, the name plates were apparently lost and would not make it in time, and there was gum stuck to the bottom of her right heel. Could this day get any worse?!

Lulu tried to take a few deep breaths as the emcee of the press conference got things started. One of the interns, bless her little heart, brought her a tall glass of water, which Lulu sipped at gratefully. With that done, she tried to gather her wits about her and deal with the issues at hand. She forgo the name plates. It was too late for them considering the press conference was already starting and besides, she hoped that fans would know the players names without the need of name plates. What kinds of fans would they be if they didn't? If any of these loons out here today were fans of the Magpies like she was a fan of the Puddlemere United, then she wouldn't have anything to worry about.

As the press conference went on, Lulu paid only half attention to it. She was concerned about the set up of the autograph and photograph session so she took the time to see to those details rather than sitting back and watching the whole press conference play out. The players did well, she thought. They were amiable and well-spoken for the most part and when the media members were through asking their questions, she had just finished prepping everything for the next part of the event.

She smiled as she neared the players once more to usher them to the backdrop where the autograph and photograph session would take place with the fans. Her department had hired a few security personnel to police the general area and look after the players' safety, but it seemed like they were doing more crowd control than anything else. Lulu realized there were loads of fans here, much more than she expected. She ushered each player over to where she wanted them, on either side of the hightop tables that were in front of the backdrop, spaced out evenly so they would each have room on the table to autograph whatever items fans brought to them.

When the players were in place, she motioned to the security personnel to drop the lines that had been acting as a barrier. The fans had been screaming and waving and calling out the players' names up until this point and Lulu was happy for their excitement. It would lead to good press for their event, happy fans were more likely to spread the word right? Lulu smiled as she stood off to one side of the backdrop, closest to the Magpies beater, as security allowed fans to approach the area for autographs and photographs. What Lulu had not anticipated was the fervor that these fans had. Once those lines were dropped, fans ran at the players and Lulu knew what it was like to be in the path of a stampede. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as she looked between the fans racing across the courtyard, the players were about to be accosted by the over-excited fans, and the security who were in no way able to handle that amount of people.

Lulu had never worked well under pressure. Now under stampede-like conditions, she was no better. She stood there, dumbstruck and overwhelmed with what was happening.

This beater felt like many of the questions were only directed towards their seeker and keeper. He felt bored instantly. The man did keep her composure and listened intently, well pretended to listen. Torsten kept taking drinks from his water and focused on the fuzzy specks that would appear in the glass. When occasionally his questions were asked, he would answer something simple and nothing to big. He still had to deal with the large groups of women that would scream when he show his dimpled smile. The questions felt like they took forever when they really did not. Torsten just wanted to escape already and go home. This man just really wanted a cup of coffee and cupcake. When they were told it was autograph and photo session he was prepared. He ruffled up his hair and checked his teeth in the reflection of the mirror. Everybody was positioned in their own place.  Thankfully they did have security. Some of these women could go crazy over a dimpled smile. When the lines dropped and it was time to do some autographs, Torsten was excited... until he noticed the mad crowd of people. They were excited, but they were overly excited. It was hormone raged teens and older women who were holding shirtless pictures. Oh dear Merlin. He glanced at the security, he noticed one guard come towards him. The first thing Torsten did was put his focus on Lulu Prescott. She was the closest person to him and no way was she going to get caught in the mad rush of people.

Torsten quickly went over to the girl and grabbed her arm. He did not mean to be rough but he just wanted to get her out of harms way. The security guards was trying to push the crowd back while the whole team escaped. The keeper and seeker went back towards some pub. The chaser and some other public relations members went another way. That meant Lulu and Torsten were going to go the opposite way. He had no clue where to go but they needed to go hide somewhere just until the crowd of hormones went down. He heard the guards yelling at the group and Torsten ducked into a small alley with a storage shed located there. He went in, waiting by the door. "You coming?"

He waited and thus proceeded to close the door. The storage shed was dusty and smelled of straw. There was a few canned goods located on a shelf. There was a wheel burrow against the back of the shed but it was not super big. Maybe enough room to fit three more people, just that. Torsten leaned against the door holding it back from anybody coming in. He slid all the way down finally catching his breath. He was exhausted. "Uh-- so you were not planning that, right?" He raised an eyebrow at Lulu and chuckled slightly.

Lulu stared with wide eyes and tried to think past her panic of what she could do to fix this situation. It was like a stampede coming towards her and honestly, it was frightening. She wasn't even the target in the fans' pursuit so she imagined it might be even worse for the players. Focus, Prescott! Focus! a voice reprimanded her in her mind and she winced as she glanced quickly from player to player. She knew she was responsible for this event and allowing any of them to get a scratch on them would be completely her fault. Fretting about that suddenly became her concern and the urge to flee was overwhelming.

She was contemplating if she could apparate all of them away at the same time, but just then Torsten grabbed her arm and she glanced up at him with surprise. Then he started running and Lulu didn't mind being dragged away. It was easy for her to go along with someone else's decision to flee especially since it had been on shoulders to fix the situation. Now she had a reason why she couldn't stay: she was running for safety. Except.. running wasn't that easy in four inch red heels. She hurried along with Torsten, him leading and her just trying not to fall in her shoes. These were definitely not for any activities that involved speed and at one point, just before they ducked into a narrow alley, Lulu misstepped. Her right ankle rolled beneath her and she gasped as needles of pain shot up her leg.

It wasn't far before Torsten found a small shelter to hide in and Lulu limped, tears pricked at her eyes, in after him. She folded her arms across her stomach as she leaned a shoulder against the wall, shifting her weight so that it fell mostly on her uninjured ankle. She sniffed as she tried not to let the fear and adrenaline and pain overwhelm her. She wasn't really doing a great job. The fact that the other players were running away from crazy fans and their safety was in question was worrying. The thought of Mr. Thorne being upset about the fact that the event was now ruined made her want to hole up in wherever they were and not ever face them. And, if that wasn't enough, her ankle was killing her.

But you'll make it through, a voice whispered to her and for some reason, she felt a little of her resolve come back to her. She glanced around for something to sit on to relieve the pressure off her ankle and found a bucket near the corner. With a grimace, she turned it upside down and then sat on it rather ungracefully as another shot of pain radiated up her leg. Her eyes flicked to Torsten and she sent a half-smile in her direction with a shook of her head. "No, I didn't plan on the fans stampeding at you and you having to run for your safety," Lulu replied, trying to go for a playful retort, but ending up even unhappier.

She was about to say something else to him, something to continue the niceties that would also distract her. But then she suddenly remembered that she had a two-way mirror in her jacket pocket and one of the interns had the other! Her eyes widened with hope and she fished around in her pocket for a moment before her fingers brushed across the smooth surface. She held it up in an aha moment before peering into it's surface with determination. "Mina?" she asked into the mirror. To Torsten if way of explanation, she said, "Two way mirror. My intern has the other." Then she turned back to the mirror. "Mina?" she called again. "Are you there?"

Lulu paused and then waited a little bit longer. Mina didn't appear in the mirror and Lulu sighed with disappointment. Glancing back up at Torsten, she said, "I was hoping that she could tell us how your teammates are. I hope they got away ok.." Lulu trailed off as she reached down to rub at her ankle, hoping the pain would lessen.

Torsten never thought that the fans would be that crazy. He was more concerned with protecting the smaller people. If he heard that anybody got trampled after this event he would feel horrible. He would feel more responsible. Not because he felt all the women loved him, he wasn't that conceited, he felt like it was his fault because of the event... He took a deep breath jokingly, whipping his forehead with the back of his hand from the comment she said. He knew she was trying to joke, but did not come out super happy. He was trying to make her laugh, but that moment really did not call for it. He watched as she pulled out an object and started to talk into it. He knew what it was from working with the muggle artifacts department in the ministry for two years. If he was not a quidditch star he probably would have been a muggle artifacts worker the rest of his life. He knew many of the enchanted objects that we used that muggles used in return, both different uses. "Do you think she dropped it?" He raised an eyebrow asking her. Hopefully that wasn't true. He wanted to know when it would be safe to get out of here.


When she mentioned his other teammates, he smiled. "I am sure they are fine. If anything the fans probably would just tear off their clothes... I am glad I escaped that." He chuckled gently at her. He was trying to make her laugh again. Torsten watched her rub her ankle, he looked up at her with concern. "Are you okay?" He kept his back on door "Mind if I look at it?" He was going to do it anyways. Before he went close to her he moved a heavy box in front of the door and then went in front of Lulu to study her ankle. "Where does it hurt the worst? I get hurt a lot. I know a little about injuries." He smiled at her. "You can trust me... or I will just tell my brother you were mean to me.... actually he might just laugh at that." He hoped that she smiled at that comment. He was just trying to calm her down. He was scared and nervous himself, but he just wanted to make sure that she was calm and collected. He cared to much about everybody else.

He took off her red heel, holding her foot in his hand. "I am going to rotate it. When I do it, just let me know when you can't take the pain and where it is in a scale of one to ten." He stared to move her ankle softly. He made sure it was gentle and careful. He did not want to hurt anymore. Yet if she told him where he could tell if it was break or sprain and what spell that they could use if any to fix it.

Lulu held the mirror cupped in both her hands on her lap and kept glancing down every few seconds, hoping to see Mina's face appear. It disappointed her and worried her a little more each time she only saw her own reflection looking back at her. Torsten's question had her glancing up at him and she responded with a shrug. "Maybe?" she answered with more of a question than a statement, unsure herself. "Or maybe she just can't hear me? Maybe they haven't made it to a relatively safe place yet so she hasn't checked it? I'm not sure..."

She tried to smile back at the Trickett because he was trying to bring a little levity to the situation, but truthfully, the thought of fans getting close enough to tear their clothes off them made her pale. She could see the headlines in the Daily Prophet now. 'MINISTRY SECRETARY FIRED FOR ALLOWING HARASSMENT OF QUIDDITCH PLAYERS' The next time she saw Mr. Thorne it was not going to be good. She wanted to sigh heavily and maybe cry a little at the thought of tomorrow, but because Torsten was here she tried to put on a brave face and a smile that she hoped looked sincere. "Maybe they'll just have outrun all those crazy fans?" she offered hopefully.

When he asked about her ankle, she looked at her with surprise. How did he know-- Oh. Duh. She realized belatedly that she was rubbing her ankle without even realizing it. She wouldn't normally want to call attention to something silly she had done, like oh roll her ankle while running in four inch heels. But since he had noticed and asked, she nodded for him to go ahead. When he came closer, she could smell his cologne and thought it smelled divine. Her eyes followed him as he sat in front of her and when he moved to take off her shoe, she thanked Merlin that she had just gotten a pedi! Her little toenails were dusty pink and perfectly shiny.

"The whole area feels like its on fire," she said not-so-helpfully as she felt his cool fingers on her skin. She tilted her head and the thought of him tattling to his brothers actually made her smile. "Which brother?" she asked with a small smile. She knew both of them, honestly, but she knew Sindri much better than Leifr. Or well. If one looked at all the facts, it could be argued either way. But Lulu didn't want to think about that. Not when she was trapped in such a tight space with their other brother. Merlin, why were all the Tricketts so good looking? It was a question she had posed to Erika a few times before. She still hasn't gotten an answer.

She leaned back to keep her balance in check as he started to move her ankle. She grimaced, hating the anticipation. She knew it was going to hurt and she didn't want to-- "Ow! There, there, there," she told him as he rotated her ankle to the right. On a scale from one to ten, that was probably a 12. Maybe a 13. Lulu didn't play quidditch for a reason. Her pain tolerance wasn't very high. "Do you know a charm to take the pain away?" she said to him in a near whisper as the pain of the rotation still lingered in her tone.