The Inspection

[acciomod]

On the whole, the weather had been temperamental lately. One minute, it was absolutely bucketing it down, and the next, it was bright sunshine. The amount of rain had turned the ground into a muddy mess, but at least the tents provided perfectly adequate shelter, and a gazebo had been erected over the community dining table to protect everyone from the elements.

Despite the temperamental weather, however, it had been fairly warm throughout the past two weeks, so the chill in the air during dinner that evening was particularly noticeable, even before the dark, hooded figure by the Ministry's representative's desk had been seen.

Nervously, the Ministry representative approached the table.

"I'm afraid we have a visitor," he said, addressing everyone at the table and hoping that anyone not there could hear him. "This is a Dementor, one of the Guards at Azkaban. It's a high security prison. He's just here to, well, ensure that a certain escaped criminal isn't hiding amongst you.

"I don't expect he'll be here for more than an half an hour, so do try not to worry too much. They can make people rather, well... uncomfortable."

Bowing his head slightly, he left the Outsiders to their meal.

[And so, a Dementor is lurking around the camp, just in case one of the Outsiders is secretly Sirius Black. They're known to sap the happiness out of the environment, and - in cases where there are true horrors in someone's past - cause traumatic memories to resurface.

The chilly, depressed feeling can be lifted by the deliciousness of chocolate, though the Outsiders will need to discover this on their own. Good thing there's dessert.]

Comments

[unexculpable]

Doubtful considering the ministry brought it here.

[followthenose]

Ehh? [Okay so Usopp is a little out of the loop, something which has nothing to do with cowering inside his tent all evening. Not at all.]

They're crazy! That thing shouldn't be allowed around normal people!

[unexculpable]

... You really haven't been paying attention lately, have you?

[followthenose]

...Not exactly. I've been more focused on trying to get out of here. Trying to find my nakama. They need me, you know. [Or so he'd like to think]

Buut I'm normally an astute kinda guy so I pick up on most things really easy.

[unexculpable]

They call that thing a dementor. It normally guards a high security wizard prison so they don't usually have them around "normal" people.

[followthenose]

[He shivers and rubs his arms]

That sounds like a horrible prison. You...you don't think they'd...go after pirates do you? You know, just hypothetically.

[unexculpable]

I'm not sure, it's not like I have a hell of a lot of experience with these things. But I guess if a pirate broke some major piece of magical legislation they might.

[He scoffs a bit, shaking his head.]

Jeeze, what am I saying. I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that being a real thing.

[followthenose]

[Well he doesn't plan to break anything on purpose, so that's a relief.]

Weird, isn't it? I mean magic...that's the stuff of legends and stories. I'm still not entirely convinced it isn't some big joke. [Though he wishes it were a joke. He wants to wake up on the Sunny and for it to be a bright day and sailing straight for adventure]

[unexculpable]

Sounds like a pretty sick joke if you ask me.

[Not that he wasn't hoping the same thing himself...]

[followthenose]

Sick? You think so? I mean, the magic part is pretty cool. [If only it came without the big scary demented things that made his bones like ice.]