Trial by Fire [Open]

[Bishop Santos]

December 15, 2005. Per the norm, on the day of the full moon, someone else was covering Bishop's class, though sometimes he'd have to take multiple days just so it wasn't super obvious to the uninitiated that the moon was the cause of his absence. He said to his students he was needed back with the ministry every once in a while to help with potions and the like and he wasn't entirely lying. He was doing things with potions on those days, but ever since his conversation with Nigel, he'd decided that he had to finish his research. Other people needed the chance to live a relatively normal life and not have to bend over backward to get what they needed.

So leading up to this absence, Bishop had been looking for a worthwhile place to do further experimentation, and thanks to the gamekeeper he'd been able to find the perfect spot. It was fairly deep in the forest, a collapsed building with a sturdy stone cellar. He'd already made most of the preparations. Normally, he just needed to get away from where people could see him and wait the night out, but he didn't know how his body would react to this new tincture.

He had managed to lock the iron door that blocked off the space he was in, chains in place to keep him from being able to easily get out. He'd taken the mix at about the same he always took the regular mix and now it was just a matter of waiting. This was easily his least favorite time and if this didn't go right, it would be even worse. Though it'd been a while since he messed up so poorly in his mixes that someone got hurt other than himself.

As he stood there waiting, the darkness outside telling him that it was a matter of minutes, his heart was racing. Something about the way he felt standing there with the moon rising into the sky told him, "Fuck," he muttered under his breath, "It's not going to work," he said, but it was too late to fix it. He'd just have to grit his teeth and bear it, "Please work," he muttered, though he was redirecting that wish to the chains he'd used to semi-bind himself... and then the pain started, but it was even more intense than it usually was. It took all of his effort to not just black out from it. He tried to focus instead on the ingredients he'd used this time, trying to do a mental inventory of the ones he'd used before-...

Anyone who would dare enter the woods that night would likely never make the mistake again hearing the sounds coming from those stone halls, sounds that only ended when the morning came. Bishop had not made any indication that he had planned to be absent longer than a few days around the full moon, the day after being one of them, but some would note that he still had not returned come the 17th...or the 18th..which wasn't much of an issue considering it was the weekend, but when his class still required coverage on the 19th, some voiced either concern or frustration, unsure of the reason for his absence.