{l a y m e o n t h e g r o u n d} reed

A host of expletives left the brunette witch's lips as she found herself back to back with Reed. This was.... this could end really poorly. She groaned, really disliking this part of the obstacle course, as she gripped her wand harder and tried to adjust to the darkness. Peruvian instant darkness powder was no joke, of course, but it was important for an Auror to have first hand familiarity with the substance. At least in her mind. Not many people shared her her views on the subject which was why she was always short a training partner. A lot of wizards and witches tended to wuss out on her though she'd admit she had a bit of a ... reputation for being destructive and volatile during training.

It didn't really register that people could be scared of her. She was a good height, sure, but she wasn't exactly stocky enough to be intimidating. She was lithe and agile with plenty of toned muscle but she was overall ... not what you could really call physically imposing. She did like to destroy things, however, especially if it presented a challenge before the actual blowing up. She wasn't exactly sure how she'd acquired Reed as her sometimes-training partner. Her mind flickered towards thoughts of Ashley before she pushed those down. She spent enough time with that man already and he was currently the reason she needed to blow stuff up, the idjet. If she was going to get both of them out of shenanigans without fatal harm befalling them both she needed to really zone her reflexes.

Color her surprised that she was partnered with someone that was even less likely to heed a warning than she was. She never thought she'd get to the point where she was the level-headed one. She'd pull out her own teeth before admitting she'd grown rather fond of the American, as much as their current assignments were forced upon them, though.

She also would not admit that having Reed at her back when she couldn't see anything and still felt shaky from her last little outing was a familiar comfort. The adrenaline that was currently pumping through her helped to get her mind back in the game, sort of speak. "You ready for level eleven, then?" she asked breathlessly, fighting the urge to bolt through the darkness. It was utterly disorienting. She had a vague idea of what was out there, of course, and it made anticipation swell in her heart. She could heart the suits of armor dragging heavily across marble floors and it made goosebumps erupt across her arms. It was now or never, she supposed. "Try not to fire anything we can't walk away from, yea?" she said wryly, laughing, as she inched even closer towards Reed. Part of her acknowledged she shouldn't be quite so comfortable being plastered across the wizard but she dismissed the thought. "The armor's protections enable spells to be deflected back at the castor and then its sort of over from there." she added, using the mans presence to ground her as he instant darkness powder robbed her of her senses. She used her words as a reminder to herself more than anything.

As much as she wanted to blast her way through this she knew that doing so would be ill-advised. She also didn't want to fire something so strong that the rebound did Reed any lasting damage.

@Reed Stringfellow

Training with Roslyn was not like the time he spent with... pretty much every other witch he knew. Reed had tried to hit on her several times, but Roslyn was the most fiercely focused person Reed had ever met when they were training. She was all business, and she could back it up, and Reed respected that enough to stop attempting to distract her with innuendos and charm. Well... most of the time, at least.

It was most difficult when she came to the training course dressed like that. There was something innately seductive about a witch who was dressed to kill, and he knew Roslyn could do just that. She was a good sparring partner, but he liked the days when they ran the gauntlet the most. It was never the same twice, the levels changed constantly, and the system was enchanted so well that it could anticipate and prepare new strategies organically. It was a masterpiece, really, and today, they were going to blow it up.

Dressed as casually as he ever dared to, the wizard had lost his sweater somewhere on the last level, and his shirt wasn't long behind. He pulled the shirt over his head and used it to stem the tide of sweat beading upon his face and neck, and turned to Roslyn. "Ready," Reed said between heaves of labored breaths and wiping sweat from his forehead. "You can walk away from anything, Ros; everyone knows your too stubborn to die," Flexing and smiling, Reed took a moment from the seriousness of training to crack a joke, and even though he couldn't see her face through the Peruvian darkness, he was pretty sure he could picture the look she had.

The suits of armor scraped toward them, one heavy footfall after another, and Reed closed his eyes to center his other senses. His heart raced, but he ignored the sound and focussed only on the sounds of armor clanging closer. Silently Reed held his wand to produce a drip of light in a sea of darkness and then flung it out in front of him. It radiated out from the pair of them, expanding until it hit something and bouncing, and began to bounce around the room, leaving eerie traces of light where the suits stood.

"Let's use their strength against them, Roslyn. What would you say to a little ping-pong?" Reed grinned wickedly at the idea of using a calculated spell to hit one suit and have the spell reflect off to hit another and then began a volley of spells that were sure to dent some metal. "Keep your head down!"

How many suits of armor are hit in magical ping-pong:
This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d6 : 2, total 2

Ros easily ignored flirtatious behavior as just general good-naturedness and teasing. She didn't really take it seriously or personally because she was incredibly friendly herself. Reed's antics didn't really register to her with any serious intent. She didn't really delve into why she took such things that way but she did acknowledge that the compliments and banter did please her. The vain, girly part of her basked a bit in the attention especially with a man as attractive as Reed. Not that she'd tell him that, since she was fairly certain he lived to attempt to get her to blush. He'd been close but so far it hadn't happened, thank Merlin. She also couldn't help appreciating the fit image he made shirtless despite the brevity with which she got to enjoy it.

Sometimes it felt like he really was tempting her, putting all that skin on display. She liked to pretend that it was the tattoos she was admiring as opposed to the skin under (and consequently the man attached to it) it because it felt wrong to ogle your sparring partner like that. Actually, scratch that. With how Reed usually hit on her he deserved no less, the little flirt.

"That's true." she chirped, grinning rather wolfishly at the man. She took a second to appreciate the wizards idea before her gaze flickered over towards the beaming light. She was... quite impressed actually. Something appreciative in her expanded before she refocused her thoughts. Right. Her head needed to get back into training and focus. Her eyes automatically tracked the movement of light before moving forward towards Reed's voice as soon as she caught sight of movement. She cursed before propelling her body forward and simultaneously casting a shield spell. She ended up slamming into a pair of very] sturdy arms and a very well built chest. "Warn a girl a little better, yea?" she managed, gasping for breath, as her danger meeter got down to a more manageable level. Her grip on the arms that held her loosened before she ducked again and cast a banisher towards where she saw the closest suit of armor.

{banisher hit or deflect}

Rolled 1d6 : 4, total 4

It was hard to tell if his spell had the desired outcome in the relative darkness, but Reed heard the sound of metal clunking loudly and counted it like one counts thunder before lightning. Two strikes, two down, and an unknown number to go. Sucking in a breath, he howled with laughter as Roslyn slammed into him, his strong arms moving to catch her before she could fall and take him along with her.

"To be prepared against surprise is to be trained." He half-whispered to the witch clinging to his chest, his voice low and raspy before she let go of him to cast a spell. Roslyn had good aim, but Reed wasn't going to take any chances as he moved from where he was standing to face the direction opposite her spell. Prepared for ricochet, he saw the flickers of magic as it knocked out another of the suits of armor.

Mirroring her spell and her footwork Reed complemented what Roslyn had done by casting another banisher spell at the other end of the room. Like a double-bladed sword, they cut through the suits of armor one by one. A spell whisked past his head, and Reed managed to duck out of the way, but the next one caught him right in the chest, and he coughed loudly. The wind knocked straight out of him; the dark wizard had only moments to regain his composure. "Left flank," He said between coughs, casting the most powerful defensive spell that he could without speaking an incantation. Silent magic was useful, but it was never quite as strong when it came to the big spells.

Two suits of armor, glowing in the aftermath of the last Lumos they'd cast, were moving in on them from the side, and Reed knew it was now or never. He cleared his throat before casting a curse at the suit of armor, careful to aim for the corner of its armor so that it would reflect and bounce into the suit next to him.

"Impediamenta!"

[impediment curse hit or miss]

Rolled 1d6 : 3, total 3

His whispered words tickled her ears quite pleasantly but she didn't let it distract her too badly. Not letting herself be distracted by Reed was training in and off itself, she mused privately. She appreciated that he could keep up with her and that he seemed to enjoy this as much as she did. A lot of wizards were quite ... lazy, to put it mildly. She watched in satisfaction as their spells complemented eachother lighting up the room at either end. Even as the swirl of colors from their spells disappeared the adrenaline kept her sharp and steady. That is until she heard a choked off sound.

The brunette retraced her steps, moving towards where she heard Reed loudest before the light of a shield drew her attention. She was running by the time Reed cast his hex, the splash of light illuminating long enough for her to catch the grinding spark of a rebound and she lunged forward. Casting another heavy banisher at the armor in the hopes she could smash the closest set into eachother and clearing their imediate circle. She finally made contact with Reed, this time with enough force to send them both tumbling onto the ground.

Oxygen forced itself out of her lungs but she still had the presence of mind to cast a strong shield charm even as her whole body buckled from the impact. "Gotcha." she managed to gasp out, breaking into a trill of giggles and laughter. Her face was smooshed into the wizards neck and she fought to catch her breath. "You alright?" she murmured between her laughter, as she kept a tight grip on her wand and willed her shield to hold long enough for her to determine if Reed was alright or not.

{banishing charm hit or miss}

This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d6 : 6, total 6

"You alright?" Reed heard Roslyn ask through the near darkness, the little bits of light floating in the room illuminating the lines of her face. "I mean, I could be worse," He said, squeezing the bit of her body his hand rested on playfully as what just happened replayed in his mind. He'd cast a curse, but it had bounced in the wrong direction, nearly stopping the both of them dead in their tracks. And Roslyn, being the maverick that she was, had apparently chosen to tackle him to the ground rather than allow either one of them to be impedimented. It was a bold move, it was on-brand for the Auror currently on top of him, and Reed loved it.

"Thanks for that," Reed said, meaning the way she had saved them both, but gave her body another squeeze before repeating himself. "And for that." Lying on the ground, his back felt sore from the impact, but his front was reasonably distracted, so Reed didn't mind. It had been a good hit and only served to remind him never to cross Roslyn for real. She had managed to take him and a suit out in one go and then put up a shield. It was impressive. Reed could feel the shield she was holding up around them, and he knew eventually it would fade, especially if he kept distracting her, so he got his head back in the game.

There were still at least four suits, maybe even more, but he had counted that many before being knocked on his ass. Roslyn was still on top of him when he heard metal scraping against the ground entirely too close to their heads, and without budging, Reed's wand shot toward the sound, and he cast another banishing charm.

[banishing charm hit or miss]

This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d6 : 2, total 2

And she finally failed in the not blushing department, damn him.

Her cheeks went a nice rosy hue as she felt a bum squeeze, twice, before she made it a point to dig her elbows into his ribs as painfully as she knew how."Behave, will you? Pretty sure I just saved your life, theoretically speaking." she huffed, both amused and exasperated that flat on his back Reed was still taking the moment to try to make a pass. He was incorrigible, really, and she fought the desire she had to bite his fingers playfully. Something told her that letting her mouth anywhere near him was a bad idea. (A really good bad idea but still a bad idea) Men like Reed weren't serious she admonished herself, trying to focus on keeping the shield spell up instead of focusing on the man beneath her. (It was a good position and she was quite comfortable there despite the general ache from tackling a large man onto the ground)

"You're welcome, now stop trying to distract me and be on your best behavior, please." she said dryly, willing the heat on her cheeks to dissolve.

She was quite proud of herself though. Her shield was still intact and she'd managed to banish one armor into eachother, successfully taking them out. As a bright flash of Reed's banishment charm left his wand she knew it was too close in proximity to avoid the ricochet. She grit her teeth, bracing herself, as she fed more magic into her shield willing it to absorb the volley. "Less groping, more casting." she quipped, muscles tense. "I'm going to bring the shield down and flip okay? Count to three and we set off some banishing spells." she said, bitting her lip as she took in a gulp of air. "One." she started the countdown. Ugh. Either they'd fail at this and end the course or they'd finish it. "Two." Merlin but there was nothing quite like the rush of adrenaline, was there? "Three!" with those words the brunette dropped her shield and rolled onto her back, shooting off another banisher blindly, hoping the gambit would work.

Sometimes it was all or nothing, and it was best to be prepared for that.

{banisher hit or miss}

This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d6 : 1, total 1

It was still dark, the remnants of the Peruvian dust clinging to the hot air around them, but not so dark that Reed couldn't see the rosiness gathering in her cheeks. Smiling wolfishly, he shrugged his shoulders at her as if he had been behaving the entire time. Being good was not something Reed was well versed at, but damn if he didn't know how to make being bad look good. Roslyn had said please, and Reed supposed he could acquiesce, for now.

As he cast another banishing charm, Reed felt her squirming on top of him in an attempt to keep the shield she had conjured in place and prepared for the blowback. It was a good thing, too, because he was two for two when it came to charms bouncing back at them, and—of course—he blamed Roslyn for being so distracting.

 "You got it, boss," Reed quipped as she ordered him to get ready for more spell casting, and Reed waited for her to countdown with a held breath. Roslyn moved off of him and onto her back beside him in a fluid motion, and before he had a chance to make a pun about her wanting him to be on top, the shield was down, and magic was sparking through the air. Reed followed her lead and quickly cast a banishing charm at the suit opposite the one Roslyn was targeting.

[banishing charm hit or miss]

Rolled 1d6 : 5, total 5

Roslyn narrowed her eyes, vaguely catching his grin, and dug her fingers sharply onto his sides again. This was not lamenting. He was obviously quite pleased with himself but she couldn't even really stay mad it him. She supposed that was part of his charm, wasn't it? She wished she could summon ire with him but... having known him so long now that was difficult. He'd been just as obstinate when they were younger, too, though he was definitely less of a bully now. She'd loathed him quite a bit at first but somehow she'd grown to respect him after the second time they'd destroyed eachother on the pitch. Gryffindor and Slytherin games were... definitely rough. There was a lot of bad blood there, really, and she was always a little surprised they'd not managed to kill eachother while in school.

Somehow it had morphed into something a bit softer and more manageable that by the time her OWL's and his NEWT's had rolled around it was just reflexive banter. The only thing violent leftover was when she'd genuinely try to knock him off his broom during a match. She'd excuse her behavior by saying that it was character building for him, though, and that he absolutely deserved the rough treatment. At this point, though, they'd known eachother long enough that most things just rolled off her shoulders and she took for what it was.

Him being a sneaky little shit.

She winced a little when she felt her spell glance off the top of a metal armor, knowing she was too slow and too winded to put up another shield up so quickly. Reed's banisher blasted the armor right into the pathway, though, and the thing got slammed twice. Once by his spell and once by the ricochet. At this point there weren't very many left. Maybe three? Still on the floor the brunette witch heaved a large gulp of air, green eyes sliding closed for a second as she laughed. "Honestly about bloody time you started pulling your weight. I was beginning to think you'd gotten weak in your old age." she teased, opening up dazed green eyes before she slid up to her knee's and back onto her feet. She strained her ears, hoping to pick something up before she caught the sound of metal against marble and she let another banisher rip in the direction.

She was honestly beginning to tire and wasn't sure how much energy she had left to keep casting. Considering they were both in pretty peak physical condition the jibe, she was sure, would roll of his impossibly broad shoulders.

{banishing charm hit or miss}

This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d6 : 1, total 1

Reed's spell hit with a tremendous amount of force, and if he had the time, the wizard would have surely paused to admire his own handiwork. Instead, he rolled onto his side, pushing up against Roslyn, as he avoided the bit of magic that did manage to blowback their way. "Oh, piss off, Hayes," Reed hissed, but the laughter wasn't far behind as he followed her and got back up on his feet. There was something special about the sense of comradery earned from fighting against each other for years only to turn around and work together. The pair had spent the better part of the Hogwarts careers at each other's throats, and now, they were watching each other's backs, and that certainly created chemistry.

"I am in the best shape of my life, don't pretend like you haven't noticed," Reed flexed again, regardless of the lighting, and hoped she'd see. He worked out more than the next twelve wizards he knew put together, and despite drinking and smoking, he was quite healthy. There were still in the middle of the battlefield, and while the number of suits moving toward them had dramatically decreased, Reed knew they weren't out of danger yet. Roslyn cast another spell, and Reed was quick to arm himself as well. This was the longest they had ever survived on this level, and he could practically taste the victory on his tongue. It was too close to give in, and he wasn't going to stop until they won or went down trying.

"How many more? Can you see them?" Reed asked as the dust kicked up one last time around them, temporarily rendering his eyes useless and forcing him to rely on his other senses yet again. Reed backed up slowly, the hand that wasn't firmly gripping his wand reaching out into the darkness until he felt the soft fabric of Roslyn's pants. Pressing his back up against hers, Reed sent another curse across the room and prayed for a hit.

[banishing charm hit or miss]

Rolled 1d6 : 3, total 3

Fucking finally.

She’d wondered where his snark had been hiding, really. (Actually she knew exactly where it had been hiding, thanks. Beneath the charm and ridiculously broad shoulders and unfair biceps hid the snakey snake she’d grown up with. It really was unfair that he’d grown up into this.) She grinned innocently, though he probably couldn’t really see it, and patted herself on the back. Men got so touchy when you mentioned age.

“I think I see flab where your abs should be.” she said with some faux regret. “Maybe lay off carbs, dear.” Lies. He looked amazing. With his stupid eyes, his stupid face, and his stupidly stupid arms, shoulders, and collar bones and- well. Yes he did in fact look amazing. His damn flexing was distracting, the jerk. “I suppose your eyes are still rather fetching though.” she tacked on rather truthfully, as her own eyes flickered over the show of his face. Secretly her favorite feature. His shoulders were... crowd favorites, though. Could make a patronus weep.

Anddd she’d let herself be distracted. Also a very very bad idea. She didn’t even get to respond to his inquiry which definitely didn’t give them enough time to dodge or throw up a shield as two rebounded banishing charms came hurtling from the darkness, slamming them both against the wall. “Ugh.” she managed, taking a gulp of air as starbursts of light made her eyes water. Fuck.

At least Reeds bulging pectorals were a nice cushion for her back. She swore if he grabbed her bum again she’d poke him hard enough to bruise. She let her head lean back against his chest, taking a second to just breathe as she flicked another banisher towards the where the rebounded spells had come from and just putting up a shield charm preemptively. “You shoot, I’ll shield.” She managed tiredly.

They were so close to beating this level she really did not want to give up.

{banishment charm hit or miss}

This dice roll has been tampered with!
Rolled 1d6 : 6, total 6

Reed didn't take her insults seriously, partly because of how he could see her eyes moving over him but also because he was the sort of wizard who knew his exact body fat percentage. And the athlete knew he was entirely flab-free. "I'll remember you said that," He promised, his puckish grin growing.

Soon enough, the suits were moving again, and the pair were slinging spells. Some missing, some bouncing back at them, it was pure chaos, and Reed relished it. The sights and sounds of magic hitting metal danced around the room, and he smiled wildly. A charm narrowly missed them, only for two more to slam into the team and throw them against the back wall. Reed hit the bricks first, and then Roslyn crashed into him. His arms moved around her to keep her from bouncing off and against the floor, and he felt her rest her head against his chest. From this angle, Reed's height proved quite useful, and he admired the view of her chest that he was presented with.

He could hear it in her voice, she was wearing out, and he felt it too. They had been at this for a while now, longer than any other time, and in the back of his head, the overly ambitious Slytherin alumnus was sure they had just beat the course record. "Understood," He managed between thick breaths; he could smell her perfume. Heart pounding in his chest and breathing barely under control, Reed shot out another banishing charm. It rippled through the Peruvian darkness and offered them a clean line of sight. The magic that kept the arena darkened was starting to wear thin as well, and he could see that only two suits remained. It was now or never.

With Roslyn's shield up, Reed aimed a calculated spell that, if effective, would knock out both suits of armor and win the gauntlet.

[banishing charm hit or miss]

Rolled 1d6 : 6, total 6

"They say elephants never forget." she quipped, bursting into laughter a second later. It was unbearably fun to tease him especially when you took into consideration how much time they'd spent truly making eachother miserable in their younger years. It was an interesting thing to her, how a relationship could evolve like that. House were sort of the worst, in a way. They let you get very close to your housemates but somehow also let you alienate and make bitter enemies with people from other houses.

She couldn't deny it felt nice to be this close to him, either. There was a certain level of safeness and camaraderie she felt while being in his bubble which expanded when they had a common goal. She could almost feel their imminent victory and it was gloriously heady. It came to the surprise of no one that she was both extremely competitive and loved to win. Both traits, she was sure, were mutually shared between them. It wasn't a surprise that they frequently trained together like this. She could feel his heavy breathing and was beyond pleased they'd made it this far. She was pretty sure this was the farthest they'd made it, as quickly as they had.

One last spell from Reed made the remaining two suits of armor clash and smash against eachother before falling to the ground uselessly. The Peruvian instant darkness powder was barely keeping them obscured but as soon as the armor was down the room started to rapidly clear up. She drapped her head against Reed's chest, sighing in satisfaction, but needing a moment to just sort of catch her breath. "I think we deserve to celebrate that. After a shower, I think." she suggested, feeling both wobbly and exhilarated. Part of her wanted to just crash and the other part of her wanted to go on a sprint so that she could get the rest of the jitters out of her system.

Reed held his breath as the spell rippled through what was left of the darkness, waiting and watching, as it smashed into the first knight followed by the second. The suits of armor fell to the ground with loud clangs, and the rest of the powder faded as the system realized the game was over. They had won. They had won. "Nice work Hayes," Reed declared, feeling genuinely proud of the work they had done and all that they had achieved.

He was sweaty and tired, and he was pretty sure there was Peruvian powder in all the wrong places, but they had finally finished the gauntlet. It was quite the feat, and he already knew the system would magically write their names at the top of the board next to the door. They were the top dogs; bragging rights included.

Roslyn leaned up against him, her head on his chest, and he could feel how fast her pulse was going through the shared contact. Reed was pretty sure his heart was matching it. "Are you inviting me to join?" He asked, that smirk not gone for long, as he tilted his head down to get a better view.

"You too, Stringfellow." she complimented, eyes bright and lively. She truly did love to win. "They're going to be so upset." she said with a healthy amount of satisfaction. The 'they' in question was obvious of course. She really meant everyone. She couldn't wait to brag to Ashley about it, already envisioning his annoyed expression.

Her attention was drawn back to Reed as he spoke and she resisted the urge to agree. That would be... bad. Momentarily wonderful she was sure but also bad. There were times when her brain genuinely considered if his suggestions could be deemed genuine but she usually shot those thoughts down rather quickly. She knew herself enough to not get into something physical with someone because the moment she did she knew she wouldn't be able to separate her emotions from it. Probably why did just didn't bother with dating most of the time. That and her fear of exposing her heart to something that would injure her.

As much as she was tempted to grab the wizard before her and lure him into a very satisfying shower she knew herself better. With how much of a horrible flirt Reed was she figured his offer was more teasing than any real sort of offer, anyway. "You have enough witches inviting you to join, I'd wager." she said with a little roll of her eyes as she took a step back, detangling from his equally as sweaty limbs. "You don't need me to stroke that ego of yours." she said, a mischievous little twinkle in her eye. "Go get cleaned up and i'll buy you some lunch though? You can let me in on all the little torrid details of your life the past month." she was sure he had many a tale. "Meet you at the front?" she asked, walking towards the front, before pausing as she waited for his response.

She couldn't wait to scrub off the dark powder off of her. And glance at her name written across the top. She had to take a second to admire that, too.