Very early Tuesday morning, outside the Principal's Tower

[sneerkite]

A figure dressed entirely in black, head to toe, made its way to the Principal's tower in the pre-dawn hour, carrying a can and a length of twisted cloth. It emptied the contents of the can along the length of cloth and around the base of the tower, then laid the cloth in a fuse some distance away.

And then it struck a match.

It looked up briefly, and one might get the feeling it was smiling, before it dropped the match onto the cloth and, as the fire grew, darted back into the darkness from whence it came.

[ooc: done entirely with permission, for those in the know, and posted a bit early to make sure we can get it all in, yeah? Identity of the arsonist is NFB]

Comments

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," John said, coughing against the smoke. He let go of her hand and pulled off his shirt and handed it to Zoe. "Here, use this as a mask, try to cut down on the amount of smoke you breathe in."

John ran for the kitchen, dodging around the flames as best he could, managing a tight grin of triumph when his hand closed over the small extinguisher kept by the stove.

He used it sparingly to get back to Zoe, then started towards the door. "Stay behind me," he told her.

[bigdamnprincipal]

If Zoe wasn't quite as frantic, she would have made a comment about John forcing her behind him, but she decided that that could be saved for later. As soon as they were at the door, she went to Steerpike, checking him with concern. "Are you all right? We've got to get...thank you," she said.

[sneerkite]

Steerpike had some serious burns across the left side of his face and down onto his left shoulder. As the adrenalin left his system, he ended up just kind of blinking vaguely at Zoe.

"Was out for a walk," he said. "Saw the flames. Came to help."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"And you did help," she said gratefully. "Come on, let's get out of here before anyone gets hurt worse," she added, ready to let him lean on her or John if necessary.

[sneerkite]

Despite the pain, which was really quite extraordinarily horrible, something in the back of Steerpike's mind was gleeful.

Hero Steerpike. It had totally worked.

He stumbled to his feet.

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

"Clinic," John again, keeping his words short as his lungs worked to get non-smoke filled air into them. He reached out a hand to steady Steerpike on his feet. "Come on son. It's not too far."

[sneerkite]

Steerpike nodded, letting out a low hiss of pain with the movement. His sense of dignity didn't let him lean on anyone unless it was absolutely necessary, and so it was for the most part under his own power that he made his way to the clinic.