Fire!

[Elijah Inness]

"Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem," Elijah was saying in a rather bored drawl, the lengthy Latin sentence followed by utter shock as the stone gargoyle that blocked entrance to the dungeon's stairwell sprang suddenly to life. It yawned, its hideous mouth gaping horribly with its rough gray teeth and split snake tongue, and it twisted its head this way and that and flicked its ears and finally gave Elijah an almost huffy look.

"It's about bloody time you got it right," the stone creature growled and it stepped aside for the inmate to pass.

Anyone who had been in the corridor at any time during the past half an hour would understand the gargoyle's remark, because that is the approximate length of time that Elijah Inness had been trying variations of the Latin pass phrase in a vain attempt at recalling the exactly right wording of the correct one. But then, why should Elijah be surprised? It was Furiae, after all; a place that required its inmates to enter the dungeons regularly and then make the frequently changed password long and difficult? I mean, what else should he expect, really?

Staring down the dark stairwell that led downward, Elijah sort of wished that he hadn't gotten the password right after all.

Drawing a breath, he reminded himself he only had maybe a few more months to suffer through left, and decended into the blackness.

The. . .the well-lit, flickering blackness?

The further he decended, the lighter it got, and hotter, and smokier, until when Elijah very gingerly reached the sublevel for his particular experiment room he was faced with the problem: Huge rolling clouds of smoke billowed forth from around the doorway of Experiment Room Four. The door itself was smoldering, flames flickering out from its bottom and top edges, and it was very clear that it would not be much longer before it succumbed to the inferno behind it.

"Oh, oh my god!"

Not knowing quite what to do, Elijah backed a few steps up uncertainly into the stairwell. He half turned, still captivated by the emerging blaze, to bellow upwards, "Err - err, fire!"

Maybe the gargoyle would, um, hear him or something?

[Serpens Venere]

Serpens hated the smell of smoke. It dredged up various gory and disturbing memories for him, memories he'd rather ignore. So he was understandably pissed off when somebody managed to set the dungeons alight. He had been on his way back from his experiment, and would much rather go and sleep than help somebody in a fire. Smoke was billowing through the sublevels of Furiae and Serpens gave a hacking cough as it got into his lungs. He flapped a hand uselessly in front of his face to try and clear some air, but it was futile. Smoke stang his eyes and made them water.

There were times when Serpens very much hated his snake heritage. One of those times was now, with reptilian instincts poking him in the side of the mind and reminding him that this was the warmest he was going to feel in months. Serpens felt an overwhleming desire to go towards the flames, purely to feel heat on his scales.

"Fire!"

That decided it. Serpens was fairly sure that was Elijah Inness' distinct voice. Elijah, who was leaving in a few months. Poor bastard was so close to tasting fresh air, it'd be a shame for him to die now. A couple of months back, then maybe, but right now it just wasn't fair. Serpens spun on one foot and began running towards the boy's voice. The stone steps were treacherous, and Serpens began to fall, stomach lurching as his foot slid out from under him. He tumbled, arms wrapped instinctively around his head, protecting his fragile skull from the unforgiving granite. But the upside from being close to a heat source was that his head was clearer than it had been in a long time. Smiling despite the pain all over his body, Serpens straightened and caught sight of Elijah's frame. The snake boy darted forward, and curled his unnaturally long fingers around the older inmate's collar.

"Move, idiot!"[/i] snarled Serpens, smoke making him irritable, but warmth making him practical. Despite all of Elijah's good points, Serpens had little patience for people too stupid to run from a fire.

[Elijah Inness]

Elijah didn't know a lot about Serpens except that he'd made his way into House Tisiphone during Furiae's changeover, and pretty much everyone in Tisiphone were people that Elijah tried his damnedest to avoid.

Also: Houses Alecto and Megaera.

And the faculty.

Half mesmerized by the smoke, the inmate was trying to remember everything he'd learned from Smokey the Bear about fires, but wasn't turning up anything useful. Yes, he knew that only he could prevent them, but how and with what means?

That fucking bear didn't teach him anything at all!

"Should we do something?" He asked as Serpens jerked him from his thoughts, but he answered his own question by following the other boy. Running away actually sounded like a pretty good idea, that sort of policy was something Elijah could really take to heart as a personal motto: Let Furiae burn!

In agreement with his thoughts, the fire finally burst through the door, the flickering flames eating away at the remains of the charred wood and reaching out into the hallway.

[Serpens Venere]

"Should we do something?"

Dear God, Serpens thought, I've managed to find the only Furiae inmate with a social conscience. The boy followed him, though, as he stumbled blearily through the smoke. Despite the fact Elijah had answered his own question by fleeing the flames, Serpens felt it deserved some sort of responce.

"Unless you carry around fucking buckets of water, then no!"

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Serpens trying to be reasonable.

The smoke was getting in his lungs and irritating them, but Serpens continued running, and the blast of heat as the fire broke through the door behind them. Serpens began panicking, his breathing becoming erratic. He did not like being underground, and he did not like being in underground places that were on fire. Luckily, the dungeons were damp and there was little debri around to allow the fire to travel quickly, but any fire was bad fire in Serpens' book.

The pair stumbled as quickly as they could, before Serpens thought of something.

"Shit! Inness, d'you know the password?"

[Elijah Inness]

""Unless you carry around fucking buckets of water, then no!" cried Serpens as they booked it away from the fire. Let the marshals deal with it, Elijah decided internally, nodding in agreement. He did not carry buckets of water, no, but he also didn't appreciate the sarcasm, Serpens. His eyes narrowed somewhat, though it would be hard to tell in the smoke-filled corridors, and it really was all just show anyway; it wasn't like he would be getting into fights now, when it mattered the most.

Did the devil send you to tempt Elijah into Azkaban, Serpens? If so, you will not prevail!

The pair found the uneven stone stairwell and started up it, when Serpens poised the next question.

""Shit! Inness, d'you know the password?"

"Oh, motherf*cker!" Elijah swore, and finally came to a halt.

There it was.

The gargoyle.

Elijah personally couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't let them pass the opposite way without a password. The whole purpose was to keep Ministry officials away from situations that might be misconstrued or misunderstood, or were just plain incriminating. Ministry officials just somehow never understood things like using unwilling human test subjects for dangerous, altering experiments.

Wonder why!

Anyway, Elijah personally couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't let them pass the opposite way, but the fact was it wouldn't. It turned around and blocked their path, facing them with its cold, dead staring eyes, unmoving again, waiting and heedless of the smoke that now billowed up behind them.

"There's a fire, you stupid beast," Elijah tried reasoning, which got no response. He asked of Serpens, "Didn't you use it to get down here?" Shit, what was the thing he'd managed to say to get it to move?

"Antiquis temporibus, um, Antiquis nati temporibus - no, um, temportibat nati similus - f*ck!"